Marketing Strategy Blog - Small Business Marketing - Page 6

The lose comment "I just got lucky I guess" is a load of horse radish. Seriously, if I hear one more person say that again I will scream!

While luck may play a role, and serendipity certainly cannot be ignored, very few business people have succeeded without having a good product or service, knowing how to market it and working incredibly hard with the right team in place.

Listening to veteran public speaker Shep Hyken at the recent EO Miami University, reminded me that more than ever, hard work, understanding the customer and their needs is part of the parcel of building and sustaining a company that is profitable, industry leading and competitive.

"Be better than average," Shep spruiks.

An updated on our story of expansion from a recent speech:

Everywhere I go, people say “are you crazy… you left the sunshine, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, kangaroos, koalas and the great barrier reef for this.

I always pause, almost second-guessing what I am doing. But every single time, I come to the same conclusion.

I have a dream and that dream is to build a global small business firm that helps businesses realize their full potential.

Walking into Caribou in Buckhead, Atlanta this morning, I was quietlly disturbed by a very loud American woman asking for her coffee. 

"I would like a double mocha grande with a dash of skim milk, and a bit of vanilla. Oh, and I would like some sweetener with that. Make sure it isn't too hot. Actually, I don't want a grande, I want a tall. So that will be..."

I waited patiently for her to repeat her order over and over again until it was my turn.

How familiar are you with your clients?

Do you remember their birthdays? Their children's names? Where they last vacationed?

There is such a thing as being too familiar - you know the type; when a person comes up to you and invades your personal space. However, in business, putting aside the touchy feely stuff, being familiar by remembering important details about your clients, their habits, and perhaps the way they take their coffee, can ensure that your client feels comfortable sharing things with you that perhaps they would not do to a "stranger".

First meetings are always key to ascertaining what level of playing field you will be on in the relationship going forward. That means, if they share important information like the fact that they are married and have three children or like to ski, then ensure you capture this data and use it in the future. In ski season, perhaps you send them a new pair of gloves or a scarf.  

Yesterday, I met with a company in Atlanta that was headed by an Australian man. Immediately, we had something in common and were able to conduct the rest of the meeting with a sense of familiarity. Going through the same issues of settling in a new country, gives a sense that we are both on the same page. This makes the whole process so much easier because there is a sense that we both know where we are coming from thus helping Marketing Eye win this piece of business.

Food for thought!

Phew! Exhausted. Seriously. Whoever said that expansion was a walk in the park needs their head read.

While the first week was the most exciting time of the year to date, the second week was riddled with sleep deprevation, home-sickness and a case of missing the basic home comforts that I have come to enjoy.

On top of that, I realized that although getting new clients was relatively easy (for today) it is twice as hard to get everything else organized around that from an administrative point of view when you don't have your entire administration team at your disposal.

And... the time difference means that instead of 12 hours a day at work it was now 16 hours a day with little time to spare and if I was really lucky, I would get Sunday off, but probably not, because there is so much to do.