I am honored to receive several emails every week from entrepreneurs looking for advice. Last week I received several from those looking to get their new products to market. What I found to be most interesting about all of these emails was the fact that while their products were all in and of themselves interesting and even technically brilliant, each of these entrepreneurs (I believe, far smarter than myself) seemed to be lost when it came to answering the question, “who could really benefit most from this innovation?”

Cart Before the Horse It really is a “cart before the horse” conundrum. Should you spend more time developing a great product and figure out a way to attract people or should you look to the marketplace for specific needs and develop your product accordingly?Well both, of course. But I suppose it could be argued that you should spend even more time trying to understand the market for your product than actually designing it in the first place. If there is no market (or the market is too small) it is irrelevant whether the product works or not.A Better Mousetrap The deadly combination of unbridled enthusiasm for technical innovation and inattention to market issues is so frequently a cause of product failure that some industry watchers have come up with an expression for the result: the better mousetrap that no one wanted.The Value of Research There is no question that the ability to do a proper market assessment separates the better performers from the poorer ones. Market research is the ongoing process of analyzing customer needs, market size and composition, the competitive environment and industry trends. The goal is to thoroughly understand the marketplace to reduce risk and make better decisions. Market research can help reveal threats and uncover opportunities. A thorough market analysis can help companies avoid common pitfalls such as overestimating the number of potential customers, underestimating the strength of competitors, or pricing a product at a point where customers refuse to buy it.Where to Start It is important that entrepreneurs start looking at market issues early on in the product development process to focus scarce development dollars effectively. Why waste money and time developing product features that customers aren’t willing to pay for or perfecting a product that isn’t sufficiently differentiated from competitors’ offerings? At an even more fundamental level, why develop a product at all if the market isn’t big enough?Necessary for Funding What potential funders are looking for is not so much a great product or service but rather evidence that a product addresses a reasonably large and growing market. They also want confirmation that entrepreneurs have a solid understanding of the complexities of their intended markets and can answer questions like: “which competitors pose the greatest threat,” or, “which customer segments hold the greatest promise?”Competitive Intelligence It is critical that we take the time to fully understand our competition. Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese warrior said, “Know thine enemy.” In order to cost effectively compete in the marketplace you must “know your competition.” I have devised a very simple way for you to gather intelligence about competitors. It is completely ethical and devastatingly effective.Become Their Customer The best way to understand you competition is to “become their customers,” at least for a bit. Few entrepreneurs or small business professionals do this, yet it is probably the most effective way to understand what your competition is all about. Call, visit and research on them. Ask them plenty of questions. Don’t tell them you are a competitor but truly become a potential client for a moment and try to understand what makes them tick. I am constantly amazed at the number of organizations who launching new products that fail to do this. As a consultant I perform this task for all of my client’s with regard to their competitors. And as I say, it works magnificently.What Makes Them Different What makes this so effective is a tool that have have devised to systematically evaluate their product or service. I call the “Competitive Landscape Profile” (or the CLP). The CLP allows us to plot the proficiency of each of our competitors on a chart that gives us a very clear picture of who they are, what they do, where they fit and how they are different.The C.L.P. The chart includes their position in the market, client strategy, distribution profile, pricing strategy, customer service rating, product differentiation, branding strategy, ect. The CLP is a graphical chart that allows everyone to see precisely how each competitor fits into the marketplace. I addition I also recommend that marketers obtain the following information from their competitors in order to fully complete the CLP:  Archive competitors ads. Take a month or two and track where and when they advertise as well as what they say in their advertising. Price list and shipping and return policies. Brochure and promotional material like POP, mailers, packaging, etc.  Analyze their web presence. Commit their names to memory. Research the names of their best clients.In short it is through fully understanding your competition and the market that you plan to operate in which will dictate the ultimate success of your new venture. So I encourage all of you entrepreneurs to take some time to fully understand “who wants what you got” BEFORE you begin developing you even begin developing your product or service.I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mdeo@sbanetwork.org.Mark Deo

Remember the old days?

Our fathers and grandfathers worked for the same company for 20, 30 or even 40 years. Generations of sons and daughters toiling under the protective arms of the “COMPANY.” 

Today it’s more likely that we will outlive any organization that we work for. 

It has snuck up on us. We turned our head and all of a sudden Corporate America is dying. 

It is the result of a powerful force that has emerged in our society. Not a company or a new technology or even a new industry. It is the evolution of workers themselves. For the first time in history, there are more workers operating as “free agents” than there are people working for Corporate America. Fortune 500 companies no longer form the bedrock of our workforce. 

How Has This Happened?This evolution has been rapid and decisive. It has occurred for a number of reasons. First, the social contract of job security has long been broken. Jobs are no longer sacrosanct at Fortune 500 companies. One day these firms are in expansion mode and the next they’re “laying off” 35,000 workers. Second, e-commerce and automation technologies have leveled the playing field so that smaller companies with less people could provide the same benefits as larger multi-national firms. This resulted in corporate re-structuring and downsizing. And finally the loyalty/security pact of the previous five decades has been broken. This was evidenced in the mid nineties when IBM broke it’s “full employment policy” by reducing it’s payroll by a whopping 120,000 employees. In this century, being loyal to a company does not guarantee job security.

What Does The Future Hold?Today the largest private employer in America is not Ford, General Motors, or even Microsoft. It’s Milwaukee’s Manpower Inc., a temporary help agency with over 1,100 office throughout the United States employing over a million workers. Temporary staffing has grown from a $1 billion industry to more than $80 billion while employing over ten million temps nationwide. It is estimated that there are over 33 million solo, self-employed workers. And there is an emergence of a new category called micro businesses. These are small businesses employing just 2 or 3 people to drive particular initiatives on either a full or part time basis. In fact, more than half of today’s companies have fewer than 5 employees! Don’t look to our government to reconcile this societal evolution. They’re a full century behind. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics still divides all workers into two categories: farm and “non-farm.” Figure that out. 

What Free Agents LoveThe work ethic of free agent entrepreneurs is considerably different than corporate employees. These entrepreneurs crave, freedom, control, security, and loyalty. If you think about it, these are the very job benefits lacking in Corporate America. Today free agents come in a variety of forms, entrepreneurs, independent contractors, consultants, advisors, 1099ers, hired guns, nomads, etc. But their focus is on producing a measurable result for an organization rather than performing a specific role within it. Free agents tend to provide a higher return on investment for organizations because of their accountability to themselves rather than to a hierarchy.

FreedomFreedom is the ability to exercise one’s own will. Within the corporate cocoon freedom takes on the meaning that the company as a whole projects. Some companies smother their employees in affection others try to purchase individual freedom with stock options and incentives. Free agents can choose to follow their own work ethic. This extends not only to what they believe, what they do and where they do it but also WHEN they do it. Free agents have succeeded in melding work time with home time. Gone is the Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm ritual. Today they balance a full time home life with a full time work life.

ControlLife in Corporate America is about lining up behind the company culture and philosophy. Free agents can control their own destiny. Consequently they develop skills in areas which they desire to excel. They build relationships with those that match their business culture and paradigm. They focus on selling insight, talent, expertise, ideas, creativity and solutions rather than just performing tasks. They realize that what matters in the course of a day is what is accomplished not how many hours are worked.

SecurityThe last decade has been one of prosperity. Members of Corporate America had job security but that prospect is diminishing. While a high standard of living has reached deep into middle class many members of Corporate America do not feel that their lives have improved. This dichotomy has altered our expectations of comfort and prosperity. People are looking forward to more than just a comfortable retirement after four or five decades of “work.” People are realizing that it’s not good enough to work to make money and survive. They desire to work to make meaning for themselves and their families. 

LoyaltyWith free agents loyalty does not run up and down an organizational chart. It runs from side-to-side in allegiance to clients, colleagues, teams, projects, vendors and industries. In this sense free agents are far more loyal than company men and women. Companies can also afford to be more loyal to free agents because they lack the overhead that employees bring. Both benefit from the free agent structure because whereas vertical loyalty within an organization depended on one connection (boss and employee) this new horizontal loyalty depends on many connections.

How It Impacts YOU!In the end I believe that we will see the free agent philosophy infiltrate every industry, profession and area of expertise. Those that are most prepared for this transition will benefit the greatest. Think about your own business. How could you use the “free agent mentality” to bring efficiencies to your business? If you’re an employer, how could you increase productivity and reduce overhead by employing free agents? If you’re an employee, how could you deliver greater production to your employer and increase your earning capacity by utilizing the above free agent infrastructure?

Let me ask you a question. Where do you find inspiration from? Movies, music, books, magazines, seminars, friends, family, co-workers? – Maybe from all of those places.

Let’s face it inspiration comes from stories that we hear from other people tell. How they beat the odds, achieved growth, or found a better way, it’s all in the story.You know storytelling has been around for hundreds of years. From the beginning of time, storytelling has been the means by which cultures and societies have preserved and celebrated their memories, passed on their values and belief systems, entertained, instructed and reported. Long before there were written records, storytellers taught through the oral tradition. It was true in the bush, it’s true in the boardroom and it’s true everywhere in between.In fact I think true leadership is the effective communication of the story. Our American culture seems to underestimate the power of storytelling. But think about how powerful a story can be when you’re in front of a client. Tom Peters says, stories are the red meat that meets our reasoning process. Stories give us permission to act, they are photographs of who we aspire to be, and they cause the most emotional responses. Stories are how we connect with people.Remember the movie, Amistad by Steven Spielberg. In the movie there was a trial taking place over the status of rebellious slaves. Representing the slaves was a black abolitionist lawyer played by Morgan Freeman. However Morgan was being advised by Anthony Hopkins who was playing former U.S. president John Quincy Adams. Freeman went to Hopkins asking for advice on how to prepare this very critical case in defending the slaves. Hopkins turned to Freeman and said, “early in my career as an attorney, I found out that he who has the best story wins. What’s your story?”Here are some tips on how to move people through storytelling:1. Don’t worry about your communication ability. We are all storytellers. It’s the way that humans communicate, store and pass on information. Each of us tells stories every day: about the horrible traffic jam on the way home; about the way the kids acted at the grocery last night; about the great movie we saw over the weekend.2. It is not necessary to tell them at the level of a professional. In fact it’s far more powerful to relate your story in a simple, down-to-earth manner.3. Don’t worry about memorizing a story. Storytelling isn’t about exact words. It’s about images, and emotions, and sharing those with your listeners. The trick to telling a story isn’t knowing every word that is written on the page. Rather, it is the feelings of those in the story. Why they do what they do, and sharing that knowledge and understanding with your listeners.4. And where should the content from these stories come from. Everywhere! Your experiences and relationships. They can be in the form of case studies, events that might have occurred with clients, employees, management, vendors or even the guy or gal on the street.5. For more information about how to effectively use storytelling read one of our previous Business Updates, “What’s Your Story” by going to http://www.sbanetwork.org/articles_view.asp?id=135So what’s your story? C’mon get involved, inspire your coworkers. Storytelling is a fun way to educate, influence and inspire one another. It’s an opportunity for collaboration, and a great way to focus on professional development in a wholly interactive way.Clothing truth in the form of a story is a powerful way to get people to open their minds to the truth you carry. As someone once told me, “the naked truth sometimes must be dressed up to be seen.” New ideas need room to grow. Tell it like it is. But consider telling it in the form of a story.I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.comMark Deo

Not a week goes by that I don’t get an e-mail from a budding entrepreneur asking advice in starting a new business. So I thought it was time focus on some of the key elements that make a new business venture a success. By the way, if you currently have a business don’t tune out because in the economic downturn such as we are experiencing today, many of these foundational basics can help to strengthen your business as well.

Too often people start a business with a good idea or product that they feel would be successful in the market place. A few succeed, but many invest so much time, effort and money in their product that they forget about the basics.Consequently, a good product or service sits unused because insufficient planning has occurred prior to its launch. Here are seven areas that all new companies should consider before they start offering their products or services.1) What are the needs of your customers, and how many customers do you expect to have?Carefully consider your potential customers. In relation to the product or service that you are about to offer, what are the needs of your potential customers. For instance, when someone buys a shovel, his or her need is for a hole or ditch. The shovel is just the implement required to fulfill the need.Try to get an idea of how many customers there are in the region that you expect to service. Try to find out as much as you can about them; where do they live; how old are they; what are their interests, what price are they prepared to pay for your product.2) How will your product satisfy the need of your customers and how many other companies are offering the same product or service?Having determined the need of the customer, and the size of your potential market, it is now time to look at your own product and others like it in the market.It is important for you to consider what will be your ‘unique selling proposition’ or in simple terms the message that you will communicate to your customers.How many other products are already in the market? If you are competing with several other similar products then it will increase the amount of effort required for you to enter the market effectively. Effort can also mean financial investment. It is important to remember that it will take time for you to capture a share of the market – later in this article we will look at how to maintain it.From the answers to the first two questions you should be able to predict your market size. From this you should also be able to determine the number of sales that you will need (market share) in order for you to operate profitably. In order to determine this you will need to know your margins. Be realistic about your projected turnover. Often businesses think that they can sell a thousand units a month only to find they sell one hundred initially and only climb to a thousand after a year of trading.3) What is the message that you want to tell your customer?What makes you different from your competitors? Have a look at all the advertising and promotional material of your competitors and see what they are saying about themselves. What will make you different from them? Is it the product, location, customer service, price or some other aspect that will ensure you stand head and shoulders above the rest?Your unique selling point will be a statement that you can use in all your marketing material. It should motivate your customer to buy from you rather than your competitor. It may be that you have more than one message that you want to tell your customers.4) How are you going to deliver this message to the potential customer and how much will this cost?Having determined the who, where and what (who your customer’s are, where they are and what you are going to tell them) you are now in a position to decide how you are going to deliver the message. There are many choices including direct marketing, advertising, public relations, seminars, newsletters, etc.There is no simple rule to help you decide which of the above to choose. The aim is to choose the right method that will generate the lowest cost per sale. For instance, if you spend $1,000 on an ad and got four responses but only one sale then the cost of that sale is $1,000. If you spend $4000 on a direct mail campaign which generated 40 responses and results in ten sales then it is a better alternative. It’s all about value!However, if you had placed a second or third advertisement, then your awareness may have gone up and by the forth ad you may have generated 40 responses and 10 sales. The only advice is to choose a strategy and stick to it. Don’t spend little amounts in lots of different places. When choosing the right strategy, it is important to reach as many people as possible, but you must reach them in the right place at the right time. Editorial coverage can often be a very cost-effective method. A single news release can be sent to many publications.5) What process do you have in place to take care of your customers when they come to purchase your product and after they have brought?Think of all the money you have spent to get a potential customer to walk through the front door. Too often, the customer’s experience during their first contact is not managed. They are left waiting, a quote is promised but not delivered on time, a promised meeting is not kept, or the receptionist just isn’t friendly. The customer leaves, not wanting to return. Not only have you lost an immediate sale but you have also lost several future sales and probably a few referrals as well.Managing the experience of a customer is crucial, and if you can’t do this properly then the success of your business will always be an up-hill battle.6) Keep a database so you can get to know you customerAn effective database is one of the most powerful tools that any business can possess. This configuration of names and details is a wealth of information that can be used to generate many additional sales. There are many very effective software programs available today such as ACT!, Goldmine, Outlook, and others.The more you know about your customer the better your relationship with them can be. The better the relationship, the more likely you are to get repeat sales and referrals.7) Finally, consolidate your marketing, production and service activities into a business plan.This plan should reflect the realistic prospects for the business. It should be broken down into quarters (three month periods) and outline the activities that will take place, the anticipated resources required and the associated costs. Most experts recommend that you have funding for the activities for the first year. This means having some of your own financial resources and possibly a loan. There are some fantastic loan opportunities available through the SBA and other governmental agencies.

Congress created the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in 1953 to help America’s entrepreneurs form successful small enterprises. Today, SBA offices in every state , the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico offer financing, training and advocacy for small firms. The Agency also works with thousands of lending, educational and training institutions nationwide. 

The SBA enables its lending partners to provide financing to small businesses when funding is otherwise unavailable on reasonable terms by guaranteeing major portions of loans made to small businesses.The Agency does not currently have funding for direct loans nor does it provide grants or low interest rate loans for business start-up or expansion.The eligibility requirements and credit criteria of the program are very broad in order to accommodate a wide range of financing needs.When a small business applies to a lending partner for a loan, the lender reviews the application and decides if it merits a loan on its own or if it requires additional support in the form of an SBA guaranty. SBA backing on the loan is then requested by the lender. In guaranteeing the loan, the SBA assures the lender that, in the event the borrower does not repay the loan, the government will reimburse the lending partner for a portion of its loss.By providing this guaranty, the SBA is able to help tens of thousands of small businesses every year get financing they would not otherwise obtain.To qualify for an SBA guaranty, a small business must meet the SBA’s criteria, and the lender must certify that it could not provide funding on reasonable terms without an SBA guaranty.The SBA can guarantee as much as 85 percent on loans of up to $150,000 and 75 percent on loans of more than $150,000. In most cases, the maximum guaranty is $1 million. There are higher loan limits for International Trade, defense-dependent small firms affected by defense reductions, and Certified Development Company loans.How It WorksOnce a small business borrower meets the lender’s requirements for credit, the lender may request a guaranty from the SBA through SBALowDoc procedures. It’s a quick, two-step process:The borrower completes the front of the SBA’s one-page application, and the lender completes the back. 
The lender submits a complete application to the SBA and receives an answer within 36 hours.Interest RatesInterest rates can be negotiated between the borrower and lender, may be fixed or variable, are tied to the prime rate (as published in the Wall Street Journal), and may not exceed the following SBA maximums:Follows 7(a) Interest Rate structureCollateralTo secure the loan, the borrower must pledge available business and personally owned assets. Loans are not declined when inadequate collateral is the only unfavorable factor. 
Personal guaranties of the principals are required.MaturityLength of time for repayment depends on:Ability to repay, and 
The use of the loan proceeds. 
Maturity is usually 5 to 10 years. For fixed-asset loans it can be up to 25 years.EligibilityA business is usually eligible for the SBALowDoc if:The purpose of the loan is to start or grow a business; 
The existing business employs no more than 100 people, has average annual sales for the preceding three years not exceeding $5 million, and the business including affiliates; the business and its owners have good credit; and the business owners are of good character.Issue: SBALowDoc 
Loan Limit: $150,000 
Maximum SBA
Guaranty %: 85% 
Guaranty Fee: 2% on Guaranteed Portion 
Eligibility Decision: Relies Heavily on Lender Checklist
But SBA Still Reviews 
Revolving Lines 
of Credit: Not permitted 
Turnaround Time: 100% Within 36 Hours 
Forms: Revised 1 Page Application Form That Requires More Data, But Same for ALL SBALowDoc Loans Regardless of Amount 
Collateral: Follows 7(a) Policy – Lack of available collateral will not be the sole basis for decline of any loan 
Credit Decision: By SBA With Credit Scoring 
Reconsideration: Permitted in Field Offices Under SBALowDoc or Regular 7(a) Policies and Procedures. 
Secondary Market: Can Be Sold 
Lender Oversight: Field Offices Responsible for Lender Review as Coordinated with OFA and OFO in HQ 
Liquidation: Lender Liquidates Non-Realty BEFORE Buyback
For More InformationThe SBA has offices located throughout the United States. For the one nearest you, look under “U.S. Government” in your telephone directory, or call the SBA Answer Desk at 1-800-U-ASK-SBA. To send a fax to the SBA, dial 202-205-7064. For the hearing impaired, the TDD number is 704-344-6640. For information on your rights to regulatory fairness, the telephone number is 1-800-REG-FAIR.For questions concerning SBA LowDoc processing, please contact a LowDoc processing center: 
LowDoc Processing Center in Hazzard, KY – (606) 436-0801
LowDoc Processing Center in Sacramento, CA – Phone: 916-930-2410; Fax: 916-930-2180To access the agency’s electronic public information services, you may contact:U.S. Business Advisor: www.business.gov 
For a free copy of The Resource Directory for Small Business Management, a listing of for-sale publications and videotapes, call your local SBA office or the SBA Answer Desk.All of the SBA’s programs and services are provided to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.
*Last Modified: 10-09-01

While this weekly publication most often deals with challenges facing those currently in business, I do on occasion receive questions from those interested in STARTING a business. Their initial question seems to be, “where do I start?”

I thought this would be a good opportunity to put myself in the shoes of a budding entrepreneur looking for some practical knowledge of how to get a business started. What are the first things I should do?

Wow! What a nightmare!

The first thing I did was perform a search on the Internet for starting a business.
I expected a checklist or step-by-step instructions on how to select and evaluate business ventures. What did I come up with? – franchise opportunities, multi-level marketing companies, get rich quick schemes and a horde of shady DBA and incorporation services.

I explored nearly 100 of the top links and found only ONE link that was even remotely helpful. That was the Small Business Administration, www.sba.gov. Short of that my search ended in frustration and failure. I can imagine that many dreams of self-employment are shattered at this early stage.

Most are familiar with the statistic that 95% of all businesses fail in their first three years. But why? And more importantly, what can we do to ensure that we are not one of those statistics? I’d say that’s step one for any business startup.

First, let’s look at some of file reasons that business start-ups do fail. I believe there are three primary reasons:

1. They do not develop a business model that meets the emerging needs of their marketplace.
2. They have never become proficient in the business practices necessary to prepare and implement a successful strategic plan.
3. They failed to develop quantifiable standards and scalable systems that are necessary to achieve the business plan and ultimate growth.

In this business update I will examine the first of these three reasons and what we can do to avoid or at least lessen the chance of failure. In the coming weeks we will look at the other reasons and discover what we can do to improve our chances for success.

Fatal Error #1: They did not develop a business model that meets the emerging needs of their marketplace.

A lack of market perception and understanding is rampant even among those IN business for many years. Most businesses survive by sheer momentum. They entered the marketplace when their business model was immature and captured a sufficient share of the market for their target area. As a result, many have achieved a degree of success over time. They acquired loyal customers and partners so their business has grown primarily based on referrals.

This momentum has sustained them for a period of years – maybe even decades. Yet as the business model for their industry began to change, their market share began to lessen. The smart players either radically alter their business model or sell-out while they are at the top then move on to the next rage. But without modifying their business model to adapt to the new market conditions they will ultimately fail as well.

Of course a new start-up has no momentum. They don’t have referrals. They don’t have partners or even any customers yet. So they pattern their start-up after existing business models. Typically they identify the most successful market leader and pattern their business after this organization. The problem with this strategy is that the market leader is likely at the top of the curve in market momentum and has no where to go but, you guessed it, DOWN! So the start-up is basing their entire strategy on a model that is at its peak and heading for, decline mode.

Creating an attraction-based strategy can help us to avoid this fatal error. Like attraction-based marketing, attraction-based business start-up management is focused on finding the “gap” in the marketplace. The gap is the business model that is both competitively innovative and closely matches the emerging client needs.

By understanding all of the players in the marketplace and identifying their respective business models we clearly identify the laggards, market leaders and vanguards so we can select the correct business model rather than one which is in decline or one which is so esoteric that its appeal is very limited.

Here are some of the tools which are useful in identifying some of the most viable business models:

1. The “Competitive Landscape Profile” defines the players in your marketplace, their strengths weaknesses, threats and opportunities.

2. The “Innovation Continuum” identifies areas of innovation opportunity so that you can achieve “breakthrough innovation for both the internal reality of your business as well as the external perception of clients in the marketplace.

3. The “Business Proficiency Scorecard” allows you to rate your proficiency in the most critical areas of marketing and management. This will help you to establish some specific goals so that you can change your expectations for the future. By understanding your skill levels you can gain the knowledge needed to implement the marketing and management initiatives that will ensure that your new business model is successful.

In our Attract More Business program we use some of these tools and put them into practice in order to significantly increase our chances of success.

Have a great week!

I hope that this “Business Update” has been helpful in assisting you to improve the performance of your organization. For more information on how the Small Business Advisory Network assists companies in improving their performance, please feel free to contact us at 310-320-8190 or email mark@markdeo.com

Mark Deo

We’ve had numerous requests lately for good information on starting a new business.  What should you do to ensure that you aren’t one of the 95% of businesses that fail in their first 3 years?  First, read this article.  Second, go get our Free Guide to Starting Your Business. Third, check out our Attract More Business Program.  If you have any specific questions on what to do, be sure to contact me and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Too often people start a business with a good idea or product that they feel would be successful in the market place. A few succeed, but many invest so much time, effort and money in their product that they forget about the basics.Consequently, a good product or service sits unused because insufficient planning has occurred prior to its launch. Here are seven areas that all new companies should consider before they start offering their products or services.1) What are the needs of your customers, and how many customers do you expect to have?Carefully consider your potential customers. In relation to the product or service that you are about to offer, what are the needs of your potential customers. For instance, when someone buys a shovel, his or her need is for a hole or ditch. The shovel is just the implement required to fulfill the need.Try to get an idea of how many customers there are in the region that you expect to service. Try to find out as much as you can about them; where do they live; how old are they; what are their interests, what price are they prepared to pay for your product.2) How will your product satisfy the need of your customers and how many other companies are offering the same product or service?Having determined the need of the customer, and the size of your potential market, it is now time to look at your own product and others like it in the market.It is important for you to consider what will be your ‘unique selling proposition’ or in simple terms the message that you will communicate to your customers.How many other products are already in the market? If you are competing with several other similar products then it will increase the amount of effort required for you to enter the market effectively. Effort can also mean financial investment. It is important to remember that it will take time for you to capture a share of the market – later in this article we will look at how to maintain it.From the answers to the first two questions you should be able to predict your market size. From this you should also be able to determine the number of sales that you will need (market share) in order for you to operate profitably. In order to determine this you will need to know your margins. Be realistic about your projected turnover. Often businesses think that they can sell a thousand units a month only to find they sell one hundred initially and only climb to a thousand after a year of trading.3) What is the message that you want to tell your customer?What makes you different from your competitors? Have a look at all the advertising and promotional material of your competitors and see what they are saying about themselves. What will make you different from them? Is it the product, location, customer service, price or some other aspect that will ensure you stand head and shoulders above the rest?Your unique selling point will be a statement that you can use in all your marketing material. It should motivate your customer to buy from you rather than your competitor. It may be that you have more than one message that you want to tell your customers.4) How are you going to deliver this message to the potential customer and how much will this cost?Having determined the who, where and what (who your customer’s are, where they are and what you are going to tell them) you are now in a position to decide how you are going to deliver the message. There are many choices including direct marketing, advertising, public relations, seminars, newsletters, etc.There is no simple rule to help you decide which of the above to choose. The aim is to choose the right method that will generate the lowest cost per sale. For instance, if you spend $1,000 on an ad and got four responses but only one sale then the cost of that sale is $1,000. If you spend $4000 on a direct mail campaign which generated 40 responses and results in ten sales then it is a better alternative. It’s all about value!However, if you had placed a second or third advertisement, then your awareness may have gone up and by the forth ad you may have generated 40 responses and 10 sales. The only advice is to choose a strategy and stick to it. Don’t spend little amounts in lots of different places. When choosing the right strategy, it is important to reach as many people as possible, but you must reach them in the right place at the right time. Editorial coverage can often be a very cost-effective method. A single news release can be sent to many publications.5) What process do you have in place to take care of your customers when they come to purchase your product and after they have bought it?Think of all the money you have spent to get a potential customer to walk through the front door. Too often, the customer’s experience during their first contact is not managed. They are left waiting, a quote is promised but not delivered on time, a promised meeting is not kept, or the receptionist just isn’t friendly. The customer leaves, not wanting to return. Not only have you lost an immediate sale but you have also lost several future sales and probably a few referrals as well.Managing the experience of a customer is crucial, and if you can’t do this properly then the success of your business will always be an up-hill battle.6) Keep a database so you can get to know you customerAn effective database is one of the most powerful tools that any business can possess. This configuration of names and details is a wealth of information that can be used to generate many additional sales. There are many very effective software programs available today such as ACT!,Goldmine, Outlook, and others.The more you know about your customer the better your relationship with them can be. The better the relationship, the more likely you are to get repeat sales and referrals.7) Finally, consolidate your marketing, production and service activities into a business plan.This plan should reflect the realistic prospects for the business. It should be broken down into quarters (three month periods) and outline the activities that will take place, the anticipated resources required and the associated costs. Most experts recommend that you have funding for the activities for the first year. This means having some of your own financial resources and possibly a loan. There are some fantastic loan opportunities available through the SBA and other governmental agencies.Interested in LEARNING more about this? Check out our latest workshop:

Attract More Business One Day Workshops 
By popular demand, we are now offering the Attract More Business one day workshop. This full day workshop incorporates content from our “Attract More Business” learning program and 8 week class. The workshop will be held from 9am to 5pm on June 11, 2005 in Long Beach, CAand August 25, 2005 in Pasadena, CA. Attendees of the workshop are eligible for 2 follow up 30 minute coaching sessions. As a special bonus when you attend the Attract More Business one day workshop, you will receive our audio CD on “Branding in the 21st Century.”Sign-up at: Attract More Business One Day Workshop.