Sakanashi and Associates Blog

Social Media - Can the average small business monetize it? - Follow up one year later

2012-01-14T20:17:00.000-05:00

A year ago I posted an article titled Social Media - Can the average small business monetize it?. During the past year I have had the opportunity to work with several small businesses and can happily report that yes, the average small business can indeed successfully monetize Social Media...

... but not without a plan.

The businesses that were successful carefully built their social network and created content that was meaningful and engaging to their audiences. Common to all was a tactical plan - frequent, regular postings. Some used paid advertising to increase traffic, others did not. Content that worked well showcased products and services and told a story of benefits and happy customers. In addition they all used complementary online venues to reach their target market. They all measured the results of their efforts against expectations.

Yes, they built it and people came, and once they came, a defined sales process took over and to make a long story short, business was closed. As a result, each business gained more opportunity for word of mouth and referrals to develop.

Was it easy? No.
Did it happen by itself? No.
Were the results random? No.
Did it take a lot of time commitment? Yes
Was it worth it? Yes
Is a plan important? Absolutely!

Good selling,
Richard

Social Media - Can the average small business monetize it?

2011-01-27T20:21:00.000-05:00

Social media is a great way to build awareness and a following of people. The challenge continues to be converting the followers into paying customers.

Monetizing the success of prospect generation is a sales function and must be addressed accordingly.

Social media is a marketing activity, and as any good marketer knows, you must measure the results of your activities. How many prospects are being generating compared to the time you are spending on your social media sites?

Are they quality prospects?
Are they really potential customers?
Are you talking to them on on one to find out?

Unless you put on your sales cap, I expect there is little chance of monetizing your hard work. Sooner or later you will have to talk to them. In the mean time, review your other marketing activities and compare the results. Is social media working or is it time that might be better spent?

I do see the value and power of Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and the rest of the options, but do make sure they are working for you if you choose to use them as part of your Internet strategy. I see a lot of people spending a great deal of time online, but do not always see results that support the time investment.

If you build it they might come, but will they buy?

Good selling,
Richard

Is it a sales or marketing issue?

2010-11-29T21:09:00.000-05:00

The line between marketing and sales can be easily blurred in a small or micro business. In organizations where there are marketing and sales departments, the lines are clearly defined and in some cases are not to be crossed.

Marketing produces prospects, while sales activities result in customers.

When one wears both marketing and sales hats, the activities can easily run into one another. You may set marketing objective to meet five prospects at an industry event. You meet prospect number two and the conversation turns into a qualification and before you know it, a future meeting is set up. Good work!

The issue is that the event is now over and although you have qualified a prospect, you are short three, based on your marketing objective of meeting five prospects.

At the next sales review, you find that sales did not meet forecasts. Is it a sales or marketing concern? In this case I would suggest that sales may not be the issue. You have proven that you can close.

What I see is a shortage of prospects, and that would be a marketing concern. You will want to increase your marketing efforts to meet your marketing objectives.

So before you begin to question your sales abilities, make sure it really is a sales issue.

Good selling,
Richard

If you do not grow with your business, it may stop growing

2010-11-26T15:56:00.001-05:00

Many things happen when a business grows beyond the capacity of one person to operate successfully. One of the owner's tasks is to determine if their role in the business will change. In many cases the owner will want to step back from day to day operations. New hires, once trained, will be entrusted with that responsibility, affording the owner opportunity to work on the bigger picture - managing the business. They will be kept up to date on the day to day details via regular management meetings and only become involved when circumstances dictate.

Decisions made at the top now begin to affect additional people. The more people that are affected, the more the owner needs to weigh the consequences of these decisions.

One example: We all know how disruptive it can be when meetings or events are called unexpectedly with little consideration as to the amount of work required to re-arrange schedules. In earlier days, impromptu internal meetings and events were easy to arrange as the owner was more involved in day to day activities.

The less involved in the day to day activities the owner is, the more important it becomes to have regular management meetings to avoid becoming disconnected. Once disconnected, the owner has only one point of reference - what is was like when they were engaged in daily operations. What might follow is a loss of employee confidence in your leadership abilities.

How can you avoid becoming disconnected?

Have regularly scheduled meetings with agendas, with the emphasis on "Regularly and agendas" - and make them a priority - don't cancel them without a very good reason.
Use a Town Hall format for some of the meetings and open the floor to everyone.
Be consistent with your messages and behaviour - meet commitments to your staff as you expect them to meet commitments to customers.
Avoid 'bulldozing' your ideas into action.
Avoid calling last minute meetings.
Don't say it is urgent if it is not.
Remember who your internal customers are.
Make a point of being visible when you are in the office.

Some of the above activities will also help prevent your employees from disconnecting from you.

Personal growth applies to everyone and it starts at the top.

Richard

Now posting on Toronto Business Development Centre Blog

2010-11-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

I am now posting Thoughtful Thursdays at Toronto Business Development Centre.

Good selling,
Richard

Do You Know Your Costs of Operations?

2009-11-23T23:38:00.002-05:00

Inputs + Work = Output

If there is one part of a business that can silently kill, it is operations. Whether service or product based, if you do not know your operations process, you will not know your real costs of providing the products/services your business offers.

What logically follows is not not knowing if the business is making or loosing money.

If you haven't mapped your operations process lately, I would suggest that it be made a priority.

Here is a simple exercise that may be helpful. Take some inputs:

One unopened package containing a loaf of bread - any kind will do
One unopened jar of peanut butter - I prefer smooth
One unopened jar of jam - strawberry is good
One knife
One tablespoon
One towel
One plate
One cutting board

Output specifications

One peanut butter and jam sandwich
No end slices of bread
Sandwich to be served on a plate
Sandwich cut diagonally
Crust on sandwich okay - I like the crust attached
Use one tablespoon of peanut butter and one tablespoon of jam

Write down each step of the process to make the sandwich, without actually doing it.

Now test your instructions and see how far you get before you have to stop the assembly process. Did you remember to take the lid off the jam, or remove the seal on the peanut butter?

This exercise is meant to be fun, and demonstrate how much we take for granted. It is what we take for granted that can turn into unbilled hours, and unbilled hours are profit killers. When I was with the General Electric Company, I learned the value of knowing the operations process and to be mindful of taking steps for granted.

The obvious benefit to a business by knowing their operations is profitability, another is the ability to jsutify your pricing. If you can not be competitive with operations that are in place, the business will not likely survive for long.

You can base pricing on what the market is demanding, but if the product/service can not be delivered profitability, why do it? Do you really understand your business operations?

Richard

How Fast Do You Want To Get There?

2009-11-06T22:03:00.002-05:00

Let's say you live in Toronto, Ontario and want to drive to Vancouver, British Columbia.

If you hopped in the car, headed in a westerly direction, and kept north of the the United States, I would say that eventually you would get there.

But if you wanted to get there faster, at the very least you might consult a map and maybe use a global positioning device of some sort to minimize the chances of going off route, insuring arrival at your destination in an expected time frame.

Plan or not to plan? - How fast do you want to achieve your business goals?

How much money can you afford to burn before breaking even and turning a profit.

Need I say any more?

Richard

Follow Richard on Thoughtful Thursdays

2009-11-03T21:03:00.000-05:00

Please follow Thoughtful Thursdays on the Toronto Business Development Centre Blog where I am contributing weekly sales thoughts and insights.

Richard

Welcome

2009-11-03T20:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Sakanashi and Associates Blog. We will be posting tales and truths about marketing, sales, operations and finance.

We thank you for visiting and look forward to you receiving your comments.

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