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| Advice Marketing A Small Business |
Question:
I am a professional hypnotherapist
based in the UK and have been in private
practice for about the past 3 years.
Only recently have I begun to
take the business
side of things seriously and I am
now very keen to get to grips finding
creative ways to generate new business.
I have many ideas for generating new
business
but lack basic understanding on how
to put these ideas into practice.
Firstly, can you guys recommend some
good books on perhaps small business
marketing, publicity, and writing
sales copy / effective advertising?
An example of a problem I have is
this: I know I could market
my services to the local emergency
services, offering reduced rate sessions
for stress management. However,
I am stumped as to how to go about
doing this. Who would I need
to contact and how frequently? What
kind of information would they need?
How would they disseminate information
about me and my services to employees?
i.e. would I provide posters,
leaflets, etc.?
Another example is: there are lots
of local businesses some with over
600 employees. To me this seems
like an absolute gold mine for potential
business when I think of the numbers
of people in these companies who smoke,
would like to lose weight, are overstressed,
etc. etc. but again, how do
I go about doing this?
Also how do I go about generating
free publicity? I have contacted
the local papers a few times with
interesting cases etc. trying hard
to make it not look like I'm trying
to get some free advertising. But
each time they rejected the idea.
Again, I think I need to find
some good books on the subject.
A famous and very successful hypnotherapist
said "after your training you
have to learn to become a good hypnotist,
then you have to learn to be a good
therapist, THEN you have to learn
to be an entrepreneur and this can
be as demanding, if not more so, than
the first two stages" There may
be some truth in that statement
Answer:
For general marketing for a small
business,
I would recommend "Guerrilla
Marketing".
For publicity, I'd recommend "High
Visibility".
For advertising, I'd recommend the
clic "Ogilvy on Advertising".
And now for my standard advice I give
to those with on-going businesses.
:-)
"What I recommend you do is determine
what's your sales territory (a.k.a.
pull range). What's its radius?
Take out your customer list
(or have a "win a free [whatever]"
give-away for those putting their
business
cards in a fishbowl . or ask for their
zip code when they make a purchase)
and plot them out on a road map. Plot
all of them. If they're from
the same city/town, keep track of
the number so you can get a distribution
picture. To determine your radius,
you'll need to make a judgment call
on which of the far-out pins is within
your sales territory and which should
be discounted as oddities. Draw
on the map the outer perimeter. Measure
that line from your business'
location. Double that and add
a healthy 10% more distance then go
and talk to people out that distance
that are in the same business
you're in. Literally drive there.
Do not do the following over
the phone or email or through snail
mail. Show up on their doorstep
during the slow time of their business
day. Tell them that you run
a similar business
at such-and-such a location and ask
if they consider you competition.
If they say you are, drive further
away from your proposed business
location until you find a business
that says you won't be. If you
have to go to a different country,
do so. Don't let state or national
borders play any part in this decision
process.
If your business'
sales territory is theoretically the
world (i.e., a mail-order catalog
or an online-only business),
forget about the territory stuff above
and simply look for businesses
that are doing business
HOW you're doing yours but NOT selling
the same thing(s) as you. For
example, if your business
is a mail-order catalog that sells
special dusters for silk top hats,
go and talk to people that sell food
by mail-order but not anyone that
sells clothes. Hunt for them,
find out their corporate addresses,
and go visit those closest to you.
HOWEVER, do not interview franchisees.
They are following a very detailed
plan on how to run their businesses.
These plans
are very good, but the franchisees
have done nothing to write those plans
up and literally just bought them
thus are useless to you and your pursuit
of knowledge. Franchisees are a murky
mutant between an employee and an
entrepreneur. Their franchiser is
the one that figured out how things
are to be profitably done and the
franchisee is just following suit.
As for franchisers, don't talk
to them either or you will have just
given them their next expansion location.
Once you find a business
that says your two territories won't
overlap, ask if they wouldn't mind
answering some questions about how
they run their business.
Play to their egos and they'll
love to talk to you. Everyone
likes to feel important and worth
listening to especially business
owners when it comes to their businesses.
Have a list of questions written
out on a notepad, but do NOT write
down their answers. Instead,
bring a tape recorder (yes, put it
right out in the open no need for
spyware and besides it plays to their
egos as their words are being treated
as worthy of being recorded) and concentrate
on getting as much information out
of them as possible as well as picking
up the other half of the answers they
give in body language, which would
be something you'd miss if you were
jotting down notes. If they
say something you don't understand,
speak up and ask for clarification.
Let them wander off your list
of questions since where they wander
to might be a place you never thought
of asking questions about and should
have been. However, keep an
eye on the questions you've written
down and try to ask them all before
the interview concludes. Of
course, always yield to customers
that come in, but, naturally, try
to continue the interview after the
customers leave so you get answers
to all your questions.
After you've interviewed one owner,
don't interview another but go home
and digest what was said. Listen
to the tape on your way home. Think
it over. Adjust your business
plan accordingly. Adjust the
questions on that notepad and then
on your next free day (or the following
day if you've got both off), head
off in another direction and do the
same thing. Try to interview
at least twenty business
owners. A hundred would be ideal.
Interview the good, the bad,
and the ugly. If you're lucky,
you'll interview one that is going
out of business
or has just went out of business
so you can hear about the dark side
as well as possibly pick up good equipment,
inventory, and supplies for a song.
Likewise, interview those businesses
you think are bad. Keep in mind
that since they're still in business,
they are probably doing something
right if just being the only game
in town for your products/services.
Share as you give. Let them
know what you think is a good idea
and they may tell you their own gems.
Don't get paranoid that they'll
steal your good idea. They will!
Or rather, you should HOPE they
will as that means your ideas are
actually good ones. These are
the individuals that are the best
judges of your business
ideas. However, you'll never
know if your business
ideas are good unless you tell these
business
owners them or blow a ton of money
actually doing the idea and thus finding
out the hard way. Also, if you're
not willing to share, don't expect
them to as well. In fact, it
will likely take you telling them
your best idea for them to tell you
theirs. Also, ask them to read
over your business
plan right there before you. Naturally,
don't leave a copy of it behind. What
one of these business
owners is going to tell you will be
better than ALL the advice from ALL
the business
professors on the face of the Earth.
Even from the ones that are
going out of business!
These business
owners are DOING IT RIGHT
NOW whereas business
professors live in the fairyland of
academia. Oh, and that smack-down
goes the same for SBA's Small
Business
Development Centers (which are manned
by business
professors and burnt-out business
executives) and SCORE (which is an
abbreviation of the Latin phrase:
"Grumpy Old Men Waiting to Die").
Don't forget these individuals after
you interview them. Once you
get home from interviewing them, send
them a nice thank-you snail mail letter
for taking the time to answer your
questions.
Now if you want to really succeed,
see if the good ones are also willing
to sit on your Board of Directors
(or Board of Advisors, if you don't
want to give them any control power).
The rest of your Board of Directors
should be made up of marketers (at
least have one) and one and only one
accountant. I'd recommend the board
number nine. Your Board of Directors
will help you keep the big picture
in mind and an eye on the future.
Do the above at least once a month,
if not once a week. And for
one afternoon, make this part of any
vacation or business
trip you take anywhere. The
above learning process worked great
for a little-known starting-out pizza-parlor
owner by the name of Tom Monaghan
the founder of Domino's Pizza.
Additionally
"Work on a business plan. Regardless
if you're going to get a business
expansion loan or not. No matter
if your business has been in business
since the dawn of time. A business
plan forces you to think of all aspects
of your business. Question every
aspect of it. Think how you
can do it better, cheaper, and faster.
Always remember to K.I.S.S.
it. Keep It Simple, Smart. [Yes,
I know it is usually said as "Keep
It Simple, Stupid", but it is
the smarts that make things more complex
and difficult than they need to be.
Stupid people keep it simple
(usually too inadequately simple)
because they're stupid.] And
forever keep in mind that this is
a business you're running and a business
is to turn a profit. It doesn't
turn a profit and it's just an expensive
hobby of yours. Your goal should
be for the business to work for you
and not you work for it. Your
end goal should be that you don't
have to even show up at the business
for it to turn a profit. Golf,
anyone? For if you need to always
be at the business for it to turn
a profit, the only thing you've made
is a job for yourself. If that's
all you want, close up shop (and all
the headaches it entails) and just
go work for someone else.
As for how much time to invest into
your business
plan, studies have shown that those
that work less than six months on
their business
plan have a 90% failure rate. Those
that work six months or more on their
business
plan have a 90% success rate. And
to start off, get a copy of Michael
Gerber's "The E-Myth" (Harper
& Row, 1986). Its real value
is helping you determine if you're
a Technician, Manager, or Entrepreneur.
Be honest with yourself and
you'll save yourself a lot of grief.
If you're a Technician,
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