For anyone with lots of ideas but having trouble selling them click on the link below:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/what-to-do-with.html

The two are distinctly different yet we use the two words far too interchangeably. As Professor Levitt said in his book “Marketing for Business Growth” in 1974, “Creativity thinks up new things. Innovation does new things.” He said it a while ago but its still as pertinent now as it ever was.

To our detriment in small business, we do mix the words up in our definition. Small businesses are usually a hot bed of ideas and creativity, it’s what makes them so special yet, quite often, we fail to implement the ideas. Both creativity and innovation are crucial to small business. They are the difference between an average and exceptional one.

Innovation in it’s most basic sense starts with constantly asking the questions about every aspect of your business. In it’s most sophisticated sense, it actually simplifies your business. Whilst creativity will generate lots of initial work, innovation should always make things easier for you, if it doesn’t it is actually complication.

Innovation turns lots of ideas into meaningful action. It asks creativity the question; will this add value? And it’s not just about customer interactions, production efficiency, product development or financial investment. Innovation can work just as easily when improving the way you deal with your people!

Innovation constantly asks these questions:

1. What is preventing us from doing what we talk about doing?

2. What do we need to do to improve and add value to our customer experience/employee experience?

3. What is standing in the way of me (owner) getting what I want from the business?

4. What is the best way to do this?

Not only does it force you to think about improving things, it’s a great way to invigorate a team by getting them involved and engaged with the process. Makes innovation a lot easier to implement too!

I don’t normally talk numbers, I find them a little boring if not intimidating (flashback to my school days I’m sure.) I talk a lot about marketing, leadership, strategy, small business, team building and customers. All exciting, challenging and interesting but worth not one jot on their own. On their own, they can lead right down a blind alley with nowhere to go!

There are certain things you need to know about your business, because if you don’t measure it, how the on earth do you know whether any ideas or improvements you implemented are working? Chance is a precarious position to be in and small business owners can be fairly reluctant to measure what really matters. Ask any small business owner how many sales opportunities they had last week, few would be able to give any specific answer. It’s strange, because by asking that precise question and understanding how to channel those opportunities might well increase sales. How would you like to grow sales by 10% next month?

Whilst it’s a little more work, the investment in time is worth the result! And the outcomes can be staggering. Start with something easy such as existing customers…well you know the most about them don’t you? Brainstorm what questions you need to ask, but start with these four:

1. How many existing customers repeat purchase?

2. How many existing customers asked for quotes and how may sales were made from that?

3. How many existing customers did you speak to yesterday/last week/last month/last year?

4. How many existing customers are referring other customers to you on a regular basis?

I’ve just pulled these ‘out of the hat’ but there will be some more fundamental ones. Seek the answers to the questions and then set targets for improvement. Do it right across the business, with your marketing, your people, your customer aquisition strategy, your ideas generation and anything else you feel would benefit.

It’s simple, without numbers your don’t know where you are, never mind where the hell you are going!

It’s a strange word and a perplexing one! On the one hand you need your minimum standard customer service to be consistent right across your business every time you come into contact with a customer. You need your people to consistently come into work each day. You need your marketing tactics to consistently happen throughout the year, yet, the the last thing you want is standard, boring or mediocre activity.

You don’t want repeat business or customer acquisition to remain consistent. You certainly don’t want your people to consistently deliver the same thing year in year out and you don’t want product development to stand still. As usual a difficult balancing act! There is a difference between being consistently average and consistently great!

Perhaps identifying what you want to be consistent in your business through basic standards, a minimum performance level might help. Embed that in your business, make it habitual and ordered, then let your people know where they can concentrate their efforts…..the more creative stuff that makes you great. But don’t let the minimum performance standards run the business or you’ll suck the life out of it. They should be natural, subconsious behaviour. Get that right then you can innovate to being great.

Here’s a little bit of ingenious, clever fun (with a serious aspect) regarding brands. Click on the URL below:

http://www.brandtags.net/

Well actually, perhaps its an interesting way of looking at your own brand identity and seeing what word/phrase comes to mind! Even better, try it on your customers and people. Bet you get some interesting thoughts……

…with a bit of true grit and determination. Great video. If you haven’t bought his new book, “Tribes” and you are into developing your leadership skills look no further!!!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/the-seed-the-pi.html

Like this post by my colleague, Mark, over at Total Marketing Solutions. He offers some statistics to support the case for marketing in the current climate…very rare.

http://www.blog.totalmarketingsolutions.co.uk/2008/11/25/everybody-is-offering-advice-on-marketing-in-a-downturn-part-3/

An employer pays his/her employee money in exchange for time. For that time an employee traditionally gets told what to do when to do it and within what parameters (job descriptions). There is a degree of control. It’s been a one sided affair for many decades/hundreds of years….perhaps I’m being a little unfair? But on the whole an employee is at the beck and call of us employers….why?

An employer may be giving a salary or a wage but the employee is giving up their time. It’s just as tangible, just as important as money and of equal weight, yet the relationship in many, if not most businesses, is lopsided. In the past that’s because employees had little choice. The employers factory was the only one in town and there were only a few people at the top who provided all of the employment in the surrounding area.

As this real life scenario rapidly dissolves it’s changing the ‘power’, things are becoming a lot more balanced. Employees have more choice. Employment is not provided by two or three heavy weights. Business is changing, we are selling intellect and less materials, we are managing our employees imagination not production lines and the business world around is changing very fast, small businesses themselves are changing but not as fast and the leaders of those small businesses, on the whole, are hardly changing at all.

We still see the employee as ‘ours,’ that they belong to us and that we say what goes. I’m not advocating breaking company rules or values but there is a shift. Employees really can choose where they work. They will increasingly make choices, understand where they fit and will leave quickly when they don’t fit.

Increasingly, small business owners will need to learn how to lead these changes and provide a working environment that is less centred on one person making the decisions. They must stop managing people and start leading, understanding that the employee has more choice than ever before. They can stop working and go travelling, they can stop working and do a degree, they can stop working and have a break from work and worse of all, they can stop working for you and go and work for the competition.

The balance has to be restored. As employers we must recognise that our employees can do a hundred things instead of being where they are with you right now. The relationship must not be lopsided and less based on control, order, authority and more on change, emotion, trust, influence and motivation.