Starting Your Own Business- Part 3

Starting Your Own Business
(A three part series) Part Three:
GO! Launching Your Enterprise Successfully

by Michelene Malosh

You’ve hung up your shingle. The shelves are stocked; the counters are set. Your flyers are printed. The doors are open. The business has begun.

Are you running your new business by the adage from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come?" Just because you know you have a unique and needed product or service, it doesn’t mean that the public will stumble upon your business and discover you like Christopher Columbus found the Caribbean.

How do you market your business? How do you target and inform your customer base of what you have to offer. And, even just as critical, once you’ve got them in the door the first time, how do you keep them as customers?

In order to survive in your first year of business and continue to thrive, there are some basics as a business entrepreneur you will want to follow. Two elements are critical in generating the cash flow and clientele necessary for success. The first is marketing, which will attract and build your customer base. The second is customer service, which will help you retain that customer base.

Marketing to make a name worth remembering. When people think of marketing, they often think of big advertisement campaigns and the expenses that go with it. When starting your business, you are probably not going to use any major, professionally handled ad campaign. In fact, in your first year, you are just establishing your identity.

Marketing is an important part of making your business work. It is essential whether you are in your first year of a mature business entity. Marketing is equally important in slow times and when business is booming. The time and expense you use to market your business is an investment, and when done strategically, will pay off in return business.

Promoting your business in the first year is critical. Since you are new, you must find creative and practical ways to get the word out to your targeted customers that you have arrived, and entice your customer-base to try your product or service. To become regular customers, they’ve got to become customers for the first time. So with a limited budget and cash flow in your first year, how do you market your business?

Be selective with your marketing techniques. The main consideration should be, will this tactic produce results? Secondly, be focused with your campaign. Will this promotion reach my targeted customer? With these in mind, keep your initial marketing activities simple and reasonable in cost. What are some things I can do to position and distinguish myself from the rest of the pack?

Marketing is more than just advertising or direct mail. It is a broad assortment of tactics and practices. It is a process, not an event. Some of your best marketing techniques relate to the quality, convenience and consistency of your product and services.

It can not be overstated how important word-of-mouth, or indirect advertisements from satisfied customers, is in building your customer-base. Even a few instances of being out-of-stock, late, or unresponsive can start your business off on the wrong foot. For service industries, in particular, reputation is everything; it’s your commodity. Once you lose that you’re branded, often irreversibly, in your industry’s circles.

Here is a list of a few small, inexpensive, but powerful marketing ideas to incorporate in your business practice to help establish your name and attract customers.

Public Relations: Cultivate media contacts to gain publicity. To succeed, you’ve got to use imagination and offer interesting newsworthy information and have the persistence to follow through and see that you get the coverage that you want.

High-tech Computer Applications: Create and revise up-to-the-moment mailing lists, information databases, and computer graphics. Publish and distribute your own newsletter by direct mail. Utilize the Internet to establish your own web-site.

Trade Shows, Exhibits and Fairs: Attend to learn and network. Or attend to display, sell and prospect. In either case, don’t forget to follow up with contacts within 10 days.

Convenient and Customized Hours, Delivery, and Service: When establishing a niche for your business, you want to stand out in a positive way. In the 1990’s we live in a society that covets time and convenience. Many people are willing to pay extra for desired amenities. Study the customer of your industry and identify what would give you an edge. For example: Kinko’s, a nationwide, franchised office support superstore, has distinguishing themselves as a 24 hour/7 days per week operation that offers customized, technical support services to the small business-person.

Packaging: It is said that first impressions are lasting impressions. In creating a professional image and attracting a quality clientele, you must be mindful of the aesthetics of your entire business - from the office furniture, to your menus, business cards, invoices, displays, wrappings, dress, communication and sales style.

In all industries, from large, international corporations to the small convenient store down the road, there is a growing realization that the customer drives the marketplace. Simply, if you do not provide quality, timely, courteous and convenient goods and services on a consistent basis, your customers will take their business elsewhere. Due to the recent UPS strike and it’s aftermath, we find UPS, the recognized industry leader, currently putting on a multi-faceted customer service blitz to gain back those customers who were temporarily inconvenienced by the recent strike.

"Superb customer service is becoming a requirement for survival in our fragmenting, fast-changing, quality-conscious, and ever more competitive markets," said Tom Peters, management consultant guru.

As a new small business, what are some service practices that would help you retain customers? Here are some basic ingredients in creating a positive environment that will make the customer want to come back.

Interact with customers: Greet customers with a smile, listen and be attentive. Whether answering the phone or greeting a customer face-to-face, there should be a positive, warm, inviting atmosphere conveyed by all staff members at all times. Learn to be a problem-solver when customers present their needs. Be honest if you do not have a solution, but leave the customer with something, such as: a pleasant experience, an appropriate referral, an alternate suggestion or a few of your professional ideas. Remember, even if you can’t meet your customers’ needs today you want them to return in the future.

Hire good people, train and coach them and pay them well. Your staff and associates represent you and your business. Be deliberate and systematic in your hiring process. Continually train, coach and reinforce your staff in the behaviors and results you desire. You want both personable and knowledgeable employees who have good problem-solving skills in dealing with the business and the customers. And don’t be cheap. Pay good employees good wages. You’ll cultivate loyalty and longevity that way, and decrease the expense of turnover and inexperienced workers.

Survey and follow-up your with customers. Customer service does not happen in the shop or during the initial interaction. Use innovative ways to create a client base of information and keep in touch with your customers by mail and phone. Actively seek your customers’ opinions on practices and products and make adjustments accordingly. Let the customers know that you value their opinion and show them when you use their input. After transactions, make selective follow-up calls as a courtesy to see how the customer is doing (especially in a service industry, such as consulting).

In launching your new business, besides closely monitoring of the logistics of the day-to-day operations, the one key ingredient in making your venture a success is getting customers in the door and turning them into regulars. No matter how good your product or service is, it just doesn’t happen. You have got to make deliberate, systematic efforts to market your business and to create exceptional customer service practices.