We spend our time on dull things, working on small tasks and small talk. We remain with the comfortable and those elements that are repeatable, even predictable. It’s what us humans are very good at. We rarely ‘push the boat out’ seemingly focused on doing more of what we already do. Perhaps I’m being a little unfair?

However, there is a gap, a gap between what we know and what we think we know. Customer service is a classic example. We believe we are giving a great service, in reality, it’s probably mediocre. It’s important to be realistic about it, even brutal, because what we know can’t hurt us.

In a small business, amongst the plethora of other items, we need to concentrate just as much on what we don’t know as on what we do. Perhaps then we can manage expectations better, avoid catastrophes and those major impacts that can damage our business significantly.

Especially at the start up phase.

The only thing we can truly predict is that we do not know what the future holds so why do we write business plans and forecast financial returns when they are usually no more than fiction. It’s always fascinated me….and I’m prepared for the backlash from my financial and bank friends on this one. It really is a question meant to stimulate debate.

History, we know, does not give us a good indication of the future. Forecasting is usually no more than a finger in the air to see which way the winds blowing or a guesstimate (seriously it’s nothing more.) Pulling financial forecasting together for a bank, venture capital funding or whatever is, at worst fantasy, and at best, a load of b*!!*&cks. Previous performance tells you that, what happened in the past, not what you are going to experience in the future. And if you’re a start up what’s the past? Just because you performed in the comfort of a proper job as an employee, doesn’t guarantee success in your own business. It’s amazingly different, considerably challenging and you start all over again on the curve of learning.

Often the more information we give people at our start up stage, the more they read into it. You give people ‘noise’ and, unfortunately, they and you mistake it for informed data. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t be setting targets, I’m a great advocate of purpose. But goals have to be tangible with clear added value attached to them. There needs to be a significant dose of realism so those starting up businesses beware.

Those forecasts about numbers of customers, profits, turnover, cash flow can make you resistant. They can make you vulnerable because, at this critical stage, you are too focused, too narrow and we often don’t build in improbable factors. Recognise the limitations of forecasting, don’t concern yourself if you don’t hit them. At start up, the most important factor is being able to have the courage to change, reflect new conditions and react to competition and innovation. It’s about having the guts to just go out and do it!

Been helping a couple of small businesses with some overwhelming time management issues recently. As usual no time to improve and think about developments for the future because the majority of the staff are engaged in fire fighting. It comes from the ‘top’ and therefore is a problem for the ‘top’ to solve. Time management, I believe, is a cultural issue. It’s no good individuals on their own attempting to manage their time more effectively if other people are not respecting it and adhering to the boundaries or working parameters, great time management requires.

We can work quite inefficiently, we often get distracted by random factors in the working day. We prioritise based on noise but work doesn’t come from thin air, it comes from the commitments we make. We came up with a quite a few exercises to help the process. Here’s one:

1. Make a list of all of the outstanding work you have at the moment. Write down how long the task has been outstanding for and the number of hours it would take to complete the task. When you’ve picked yourself back up off the floor. You now know what your backlog looks like and how big or small it is!

2. Collect a days worth of incoming work. Write it down. You now know what you have to do just to stay on top!

3. Put all of your backlog work into a folder then collect all of your work for one day and deal with it in one batch and do that for three days.

4. Spend the fourth day dealing with your normal incoming work but start the process of clearing one item on that backlog list and do that first thing when you get in the office. Keep doing it until the backlog is gone.

Remember whenever you take on something new, something else has to give.

Hit the link below to see an interesting video Malcolm Gladwell presented in 2004 (yes I know it’s 4 years ago) but it’s fascinating. Malcolm is the author of the ‘Tipping Point’ and ‘Blink’ both fascinating books. He is always worthwhile watching. Hope you enjoy it!

www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html

The task now is not just promising what you do but to deliver a real, authentic experience. Being as good as the competition is not good enough, being different is. Copying ideas and ways of doing things from other industries isn’t fraudulent, it actually makes great business sense just call it creative swiping. There are many examples.

Innocent Smoothies are very similar to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. They were founded by old friends and have similar visions and values. Their marketing represents a ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ way of communicating with the marketplace through packaging, language and tone. They have a social conscience as well as being expensive and premium. Even banks have succumbed, HSBC has recognised it is a retailer on the high street and adopted that approach by creating January sales just like the clothes stores do.

You will think of others. In essence there is nothing to stop small businesses from doing the same. Consider Starbucks who didn’t invent coffee but created a whole new experience for the person in the street buying coffee. Not only that but they make us wait longer and charge three times the price it used to be. 

Tyre service companies could do with looking at the same approach. Rather than dirty, oily waiting rooms where the coffee machines are covered in grime, why not make it a pleasant experience. Most people waiting for their tyres to be replaced are in smart clothes even suits. Sitting down isn’t tempting in most of those environments, and if you do, it’s a swift visit to the dry cleaners round the corner afterwards.

Providing clean seats, coffee machines that work, spotless toilets and relaxing music wouldn’t go a miss and wouldn’t cost the earth, but, would provide that all important competitive advantage. There is nothing wrong with the tyre service industry looking at coffee shops and copying what they are doing, in fact, it’s innovative thinking, trend setting and simple to do.

Could you do the same in your business?

Coherence in marketing is important, consistency is boring. Being creative and reinventing your messaging/story/tune every so often is critical. Sparking ideas and doing things your market place has never done before delivers that differential advantage. 

Few companies can afford to coast nowadays and, at their peril should they choose that particular strategy. Consistency is about delivering similarity, it’s a result of messaging and selling, it’s about being tidy. Coherent is about clear communication, variety in what you have to say and clarity in all the marketing approaches you adopt. You’re ability to be creative when being consistent is severely inhibited but being coherent can allow the ideas to flow.

New ideas compel, they captivate, old ideas simply fade into the distance. Grabbing peoples attention with new information has always worked and if it’s done coherently it can lift you apart and take you to the next level of communicating those important marketing messages. Change isn’t an option, it’s safer to create and execute new ideas now than wait for your competitor to do it first.

He doesn’t disappoint does he? And, as usual, gets you thinking beyond the norm. Go to it at:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/pithy-quotes.html

We have all heard of the four p’s in marketing. With that infamous phrase went the selling of features and benefits. Not too sure either are relevant anymore. Customers are rejecting marketing messages that are similar and that’s what features and benefits communicate, the same stuff all your competitors have.

They are bored, cynical and marketing resistant, so new ways of getting across what you do need to be found. Perhaps it’s now about working out what your values are and selling those, after all they are unique to your business.

It’s as important as ever to see your customers as a community of people/individuals who have a relationship with you, not a database or group of people who just buy from you. Traditional client to supplier transactions are just that, transactions. 

Cultivating participation in your brand is critical, Lego have done it with thousands of subscribers on its website. Oddbins are teaching it’s customers about wine and holding wine tasting evenings. Apple hold workshops in their stores to educate people about their new purchase. Big brands, I know, but perhaps we could learn a thing or two about how sophisticated the customer relationship has become.

It’s not just about selling product anymore nor, is it just about making the sale. In a world where it costs ten times more to go out and get a new customer, getting people to buy into your brand, feel part of the customer experience and be provided with services that add value is fundamental.

There is an interesting article on the BBC news website. It’s an overview about how the current economic climate is affecting small businesses on the high street here in the UK. Go to the following link to read more:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7656423.stm