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June
2009
No Better Time For Market Research
Why Old-Fashioned Networking Still Rules In Electronic Times
Drive Down Vehicle Related Expenses
Positive Medicine For Your Business
 
No Better Time For Market Research
The economic downturn is no time to guess what your
clients are thinking. Before investing in gut
feelings or past remedies, find out what your
customers – and ex-customers – want. Just ask.
It’s existing clients who offer the most
potential for growth, and at the lowest cost.
Talking to them is a good way to further develop
or to start a customer relationship management
program.
Market research will enhance the informal feedback
you gather every day and could prevent you from
making costly planning mistakes. No longer just
for the big corporations, small and medium
businesses usually know their customers well
enough to do their own primary research –
information direct from the source – on a scale
that can still reap effective results. Here are
some tips on structuring do-it-yourself market
research:
1. Many ways to get in touch
A direct mail campaign is the ideal method to
survey customers, if your budget permits. Or,
email or internet surveys are good low cost
options. If you have time, but no budget,
consider including questionnaires with invoices
or statements, or with direct mail campaigns
already budgeted in the marketing pipeline. For
the personal touch, sales consultants could
distribute printed surveys on client visits or
do them by phone.
2. Design for answers that give direction
Prune any questions that don’t directly contribute
to collecting and analyzing information for
making business decisions. If possible, design
questionnaires with a single purpose, such as
feedback on customer satisfaction or to test
interest in a proposed new service. If seeking
opinions on a few different topics, divide the
survey into clear sections.
3. Plan for easy analysis
A plan for measuring results with uniformity is the
first priority. Multiple-choice is popular
because it’s easy to both answer and analyze,
but you must accommodate all responses,
including “don’t know” or “other”. A ranked
answer system should include no more than five
items for assessment because it becomes
difficult to order preferences the more items
are listed, making the answers less reliable.
4. Style for accuracy
Questions should follow each other with smooth
transition. Watch the tone doesn’t pre-suppose a
position or assume the respondent has particular
information at hand, such as budget percentages,
financial details or past purchasing statistics.
Avoid vague terms like “most” and “least”, as
everyone’s perspective is different.
5. Ask single focused questions
Each reply should be about one topic. Seeking a
“yes” or “no” to “do you like our color and size
range?” won’t work if you need to know whether
your size range in particular is on target with
buyers. Short questions save people’s reading
time and also prevent you inadvertently biasing
answers or creating confusion through
over-explanation.
6. Seek truthful answers
Anonymous versus identified participation will
affect the honesty of replies. Some loyal
clients might simply not want to hurt your
feelings by expressing their legitimate
complaints; others may hesitate to answer about
spending intentions and prefer to under-estimate
in fear of sales pressure. In general, make sure
your questions are non-threatening and make
privacy policies clear if seeking special
details.
7. Keep it brief
One page is the best length for a written
questionnaire, and a ten-minute commitment is
ideal. Any longer and respondents might set the
task aside or give less thought to their
answers.
8. Consider incentives
Even token rewards are welcomed by survey
respondents. Corporate gear featuring your logo
is likely to be as effective as items with a
high monetary value. For even better response
rates, promise the gift on completion. Tailor
your ‘gift’ to the respondent. A CEO might
require more than a free pen or movie tickets to
be tempted to complete your questionnaire.
9. Cover letter essentials
Your personal introductory letter should be
friendly, brief and persuasive. If there’s no
tangible incentive to participate, appeal to
their business integrity with your willingness
to listen, particularly if you are looking for
suggestions on how to keep your business growing
in slow times. Include how long the
questionnaire will take to complete to increase
response rates, particularly if it’s genuinely
in the five- to ten-minute range.
10. Edit for variety
Change the question style throughout the survey to
keep it lively. If 20 questions start with “do
you think ...” the respondent might develop a
rut of responses to match. Be creative in the
writing style to keep the reader’s attention.
11. Ask why
It’s the most powerful question of all. Many
respondents will be keen to elaborate on their
opinions and their qualitative responses could
prove to be highly valuable. Even complaints are
important opportunities for business
improvement, so make it clear that further
comments are welcome. Provide a place to include
it on the survey or an email address for sending
additional feedback.
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Why Old-Fashioned Networking Still Rules In Electronic Times
Despite the benefits of online contact any time,
from anywhere, personal interaction is as good
for business now as it was 20 years ago. In the
world away from your desktop, your competitors
are shaking hands with your potential customers
over lunch or a laugh right now. What are you
waiting for? Get out of the office and network.
Making personal business connections may take
longer, but they are potentially as important as
driving web traffic and planning your
advertising campaigns. For relatively little
expense, seeking industry events and other
face-to-face business opportunities should form
an equal part of your marketing strategy.
When business is slow, mass marketing or email
marketing your existing clients seems the
obvious low-cost option to generate sales, but
forging personal networks with face-to-face
contact brings a unique set of advantages. And
there’s no ‘delete’ key.
Networking builds trust
The important thing missing from online contact is
the real connections that create genuine trust.
The advantage good networkers enjoy is access to
more private or useful knowledge only available
through personal contact. Filing unmanageable
amounts of downloaded documents or exchanging
emails is no replacement for conversations that
spill over into further mutual contacts and
unexpected opportunities.
Meeting with people also brings different skill
sets to a business relationship. Online, you
tend to stick to one topic or problem. Where a
gathering incorporates socializing, common
interests outside business tend to crop up too,
leading to wider networks and experiences.
In person, you are also more likely to discover how
someone’s organization works. The more ‘flat’
management structure of businesses today means
that the ‘say’ in decision-making is spread
widely among managers and employees. You could
be chatting with one of the company’s key
influencers, regardless of their title. The way
information flows through a company is an
example of the important detail you may learn
from a real conversation that is unlikely to
come up otherwise.
For potential clients, time spent seeking quotes
and meeting new suppliers might be happily
avoided by using a personal contact met through
networking. If you made a good impression in a
semi-social setting, you might simply get the
order or at least a chance to quote along with a
current supplier.
Consider taking staff along to networking functions
or sending them to represent you if you can’t
attend. This will boost employee engagement,
particularly in uncertain times when spending
cut-backs are threatening morale and motivation.
Types of networking
Depending on your industry and your business’ stage
of development, there are events of all sizes
and costs where you can meet peers, suppliers,
potential customers or neighboring companies.
Chambers of commerce, local governments, community
and industry groups are in the business of
connecting small business operators. They
welcome new members and participants for
speaking, presenting workshops or sponsorship.
There are niche events for women only, for small
business and for new businesses. Trade shows
often have after-hours events attached designed
for networking.
During annual calendar events like, “small
business week” or similar, there are often a
series of activities designed for education and
networking. An internet search should find when
these are coming up in your city.
Tips for successful networking
Once you’ve identified the best networking
opportunities for your available time, make the
most of them:
- Be organized; arrive on time
and take lots of business cards. Keep a positive
attitude about the event and an open mind about
the people you meet.
- If you’re nervous, focus on an
outcome to suit your comfort level. Simply aim
to “approach three strangers for a
conversation”, or “meet the keynote speaker” or
have a similar goal that makes attendance
worthwhile.
- Smile, look people in the eyes
and give a firm handshake. Give your complete
attention, use people’s names and note special
information on their business card for future
reference.
- Listen. Switch off your phone
and be ‘present’. Ask questions. You never know
where a conversation will lead, or who other
people know.
- Have a sentence or two ready,
describing your business, tailored with the
listener in mind – ideally framed as a problem
of theirs that you can solve. Don’t just list
off your services or latest achievements.
- Make a note of how people
prefer to be contacted. Some welcome phone calls
over email; for others, only social networking
like Twitter will get their attention.
- Don’t ‘oversell’. Pressing
business cards on people before moving on to new
‘targets’ is a turn-off. Save the sales pitch
for a follow-up meeting.
- If you promise to forward information or put a
new acquaintance in contact with someone, do it.
You’ll be remembered for being reliable which
has immeasurable value.
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Drive Down Vehicle Related Expenses
The current economic downturn may have pushed fuel
and vehicle costs lower for the time being but
that’s not going to outlast the first signs of
improvement. If you want to avoid being held
hostage by increasing fuel costs in the future,
it’s time to look at how you can manage your
vehicle related business costs now.
Limit the use of company vehicles to company work
Allowing employees to use company vehicles for
private jobs or to take home for the weekend is
opening you up to large scale abuse. They are
burning through the company's fuel and putting a
lot of wear on the vehicle.
Claim all mileage allowances and vehicle related expenses
People using their private vehicle for business
journeys can claim tax free expenses for that
journey. Most small businesses could legally
increase their tax allowance claims simply by
keeping better records of their business related
journeys. Log each day’s journeys and any
vehicle related expenses incurred during the
day. Put the information in a spreadsheet for
your accountant to use at the end of the year so
you don’t lose track of the real amount expended
and short change yourself.
Keep your vehicles properly maintained
Poorly maintained vehicle can boost fuel
consumption by up to 15%; a clogged air filter
by 10%; just one 8 psi (56 kPa) under-inflated
tire can reduce its life by 10,000 miles and
increase fuel consumption by 4%. The type of
tire used can have a dramatic effect on fuel
efficiency and vehicle running costs -
on-the-road trials of newly developed ‘green
tires’ have resulted in major savings by
companies that have invested in them. Keeping
your vehicle in top operating condition saves
fuel and money, keeps it reliable, preserves
resale value and reduces long term maintenance
costs.
Consolidate your trips
Plan errands and deliveries so that you do them
together, rather than as separate trips. Schedule deliveries in particular areas
for particular days. Invest in a GPS and plan
the daily run to take the shortest overall
distance or most efficient route instead of
zigzagging between destinations.
Lease your vehicles
There are advantages in leasing over outright
purchase such as: no huge down payment; fixed,
known monthly payments; getting exactly the type
of vehicle you want; and even reduced
maintenance and servicing costs. There may be
tax benefits as well. There are, however, some
potential disadvantages to leasing over
purchase, the most obvious one being that the
vehicle is never owned by you. The maintenance
agreement can run against your interests as
well, making you responsible for too many of the
costs. Lease vs. hire is one of those situations
where you need to do the math carefully and get
a number of quotes (ensure they are comparing
apples to apples) before making the decision.
Minimize insurance coverage costs
Your commercial car insurance should be a business
tax deduction and a proportion of your personal
car insurance should come off your business
taxes also if you are using it for business
related purposes. Different companies can charge
very different premiums for the same coverage –
do some price comparison checking on your
vehicle insurance needs.
Change vehicles
Use the most efficient vehicles for the purposes
you are putting it to. Doing the bank run in the
company truck is not efficient. With the
government's stance on the environment,
eco-friendly vehicles that improve fuel economy
and reduce road tax are becoming more appealing.
Lower emission vehicles are now available in all
types of vehicle from small economy cars through
commercial light duty up to heavyweights
weighing 18,000 - 33,000 lbs gross vehicle
weight.
To Top
Positive Medicine For Your Business
As a business entrepreneur in a increasingly challenging
economy you need to be conscious of keeping your
team feeling energetic and positive about the
future of the business. Positive emotions have
been demonstrated conclusively to improve
performance, reduce turnover, and boost profits.
Share the success
Holding a meeting? Start by sharing some positive client
feedback, or get everyone to share a recent
success story in a minute or less. At the end of
your session, ask everyone to acknowledge
someone or something that made them more
effective that week. Sharing success stories
increases team bonding and overall moral.
Prevention is better than cure!
Research has shown that if a person’s strengths
are not in sync with his or her duties, then no
amount of training to boost their weak areas
will work. Instead get with their strengths. Ask
employees to take strengths assessment (such as Gallup's StrengthsFinder,
or see authentichappiness.com). Take it yourself
too! Now try to realign the team member’s
responsibilities so the person can do what he or
she does best each day. Get a copy of
Now, Discover Your Strengths by M. Buckingham to
learn more about this (available through
libraries, bookstores on online book vendors).
Criticism seems to actually reduce the ability to perform
efficiently. Many workplace studies have
demonstrated that workers who feel appreciated
solve complicated problems faster and perform
better. It is said that happy comments and
encounters must outnumber negative ones 3 to 1,
since bad emotions are so durable and damaging.
Look for positive attributes
Skills can always be taught and learned. It is far more
important to hire team members with the
appropriate character and emotional strengths,
such as a sense of purpose, optimism and
emotional intelligence. Again, look at those
natural strengths identified by
Gallup
and attempt to match the employee’s tasks with
their character and strengths. Those employees
will more likely go beyond the call of duty and
are also (by Gallup's measure) 38% more
productive and may make better decisions.
Plan a business booster shot
Set aside an hour or even a half-day if you can manage it, to
hold a workshop with the team and discuss the
business’ larger purpose and their contributions
to achieving that. Use it to tap into the team’s
ideas for systems and processes that may
contribute to improvements. A number of studies
have shown that identifying with the business
vision meant that workers were more
conscientious and more likely to contribute
valuable ideas, such as ways to cut costs or
raise sales.
Get The Edge
A budget isn't a plan; it's simply a financial
interpretation of a plan. If you want 2010 to be
a good year, you need to be serious about
planning; and you need to start now. Here's how:
book an annual planning day for the entire
management team - no exceptions. Hold the day
offsite to avoid daily work distractions. Try to
meet ahead or the night before to deal with the
socializing before the planning sessions begin.
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