Well that may be true, but it doesn’t necessarily mean each customer is right, for you. Recently I was approached by a prospective client who was asking for assistance with marketing his business. I listened to him explain everything that he felt was wrong with all aspects relating to his business and its operations, mostly external. This lit the master caution light in my mind. Sure, there are those clients who just don’t start out running their businesses very well, and they struggle along the way. Some crash immediately after takeoff, yet some manage to get a little air, but no significant altitude.

We’ve all dealt, in one way or another, with those who have tried to fly their business by the seat of their pants – their only engine on fire, a hole in both wings and no change for the prayer phone. You can hear the crew screaming at each other and watch as passengers bail out once they’ve experienced the first few minutes of the flight. Those who make the whole trip are definitely not happy with the experience.

Do yourself a favor before making a proposal or entering into a business agreement. Do some investigation into the potential client before making a commitment. In this case, I discovered several red warning lights burning brightly. Sure, some were biased, but there were others that came from reliable and trusted sources. A simple check with the BBB might cause you immediate reason to abort before takeoff!

He was also completely out of the loop as far as what his customers were reporting about him and his business. He wasn’t connected, linked or even dialed into the main mode of modern communications…the Internet. It was something he chose to ignore for unknown reasons – reasons that are probably trivial, compared to the information it could have provided him. Those facts clinched the decision not to accept this client as a customer.

There are only so many things you can do for some people. In this case we declined the job, firmly believing that his predisposition left little room for improvement. Failure is not imminent when poor practices are in place as long as there is an understanding that those practices will need repair and a strategy put in place to overcome past issues. Failure is most probable, however, if nothing is intended to change but the outcome. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

What would you have done?

The chipmunk works hard and plays hard from spring through fall. It stuffs its cheeks full at one of our bird feeders, then scampers off, repeating the process again and again – filling a chamber in its underground home to feed its young ones and storing up food for the winter. Then it disappears for the winter and rests from summer’s frenetic activity.

It’s a strange balance, but balance nonetheless.

What does this have to do with small business marketing tips?

1. The chipmunk doesn’t stop filling its cheeks because it’s hot or it’s raining. If there’s food to be harvested, it works.
   Face it, marketing is seldom, if ever, convenient. We need to approach our marketing activities with the same qualities of diligence and perseverance as that chipmunk. Do you know how much you can accomplish if you commit to 30-minutes of focused business building each and every day?
2. If food’s not readily available, the chipmunk seeks new sources.
   When business slows down, or preferably before then, evaluate where you’re promoting your business. If you’re primarily promoting off-line, where can you supplement your efforts online? If you’re not reaching your market online (or even if you are), put some time and effort into also developing an off-line strategy. Don’t replace one promotional avenue with another. Diversify and broaden your reach.
3. When it’s playtime, the chipmunk holds nothing back.
   Has business taken over your life or have you reserved time to play? We’re happier and more productive when we get away from the office regularly … and it usually makes us easier to get along with!
4. The chipmunk watches for predators and chases away competitors.
   Do you know what your competitors are up to? At the very least, set up Google Alerts for your top competitors – and if you haven’t done so already, set one up for your business name and your personal name too. This is part competitive intelligence gathering and part reputation management. You need both.
5. And in the dead of winter, the chipmunk sleeps – conserving its energy and food supply to survive until the next season.
   When business slows down, not only should you be evaluating new sources, but just as important – conserve your resources. It’s easy to whip out a credit card for an expense that normally comes out of the checking account, but it may be far wiser to forgo the expense until you actually have the money in your checking account.

We’ve made the commitment to build our business debt-free. This was a decision not made lightly and it probably isn’t the best decision for everyone – but it took our decision making process for expenditures out of the gray zone. We either have the money saved for major purchases or we don’t – in which case, we wait until we do.

What business principles have you learned or had reinforced from quietly watching or pondering something in nature?

Time doesn’t stand still for any of us. Whether you’ve shortened your work day as I have, or are working 40+ hours each week, we all have a limited number of hours to get the job done. Is the time you invest in your business, time well-spent? What about today? Will today’s activities move you toward achieving your small business goals, or are you running a parallel course – as in, you can’t get there from here?

The Pareto principle states that 80% of effects stem from 20% of causes. For most small businesses this means that 20% of our clients provide 80% of our income, 20% of our advertising produces 80% of the results, and say it isn’t so … only 20% of our time is truly well-spent!

Where’s your 20%?

Clock by Chris Halderman on flickr

If you set your own hours and especially if you work from home, it’s crucial to set boundaries. When my husband and I tell others that we both work from home, we’re usually met with an incredulous “I don’t have that kind of discipline … how do you do it?” type of response. The truth is that it begins and ends with boundaries.

I can easily stay busy 12-hours each day on the computer – and just as easily accomplish little. There’s always one more email that needs a response, one more blog post begging to be read, one more idea to be learned to help propel one’s business to the “next level.” But at the end of the day, if billable work or priority tasks haven’t been accomplished, all that busyness of a 12-hour workday is a waste of time … time we could and should be spending more productively.

• Shorten your workday.
• Set time limits for your tasks.
• Focus in 55-minute segments with a five-minute break.
• Get more done in your morning, evening and weekend – not work related.
• Setting reasonable boundaries helps you free your mind to get more work done during working hours.

The timer is your friend.

I have a small kitchen timer on my desk and a time tracking tool installed on my computer. I set the kitchen timer for 55-minutes, and punch into Toggl (my time tracker) with a quick description and project name, then focus on the task at hand. This gives me six focused time periods throughout the day. And guess what, folks: you can do ANYTHING for 55-minutes. No distractions allowed! At the end of the day, I log billable project time, make a list of what’s needed tomorrow, then walk away.

Side benefits:

I’ve reclaimed my mornings, evenings and weekends … those hours between work days that we call “life.” We’re eating better because meals have become more than a happy accident. I’ve found time to exercise and keep the house ready for company. Best of all is a sense of peace because I’m living a more balanced, healthy life.

If you’re working too many hours and not getting enough done, check your boundaries. Could you get more done in less time if less time was all you allowed yourself?

What have you tried that helps you to be more productive?

If you truly believe that your products and services offer world-class solutions, then you are doing your customers a disservice by not making it very easy for them to introduce these benefits to their friends.” ~ John Jantsch, from The Referral Engine

I’m on my second reading of The Referral Engine by John Jantsch. Yes, it is THAT good – and I highly recommend you order your copy today.

The first reading was a bit hurried, as I had promised a review by a certain date. Now I’m taking my time and taking lots of notes. It’s not that what he’s written about is new or cutting edge, but rather that he breaks it down and makes it real. Expect plenty of head-smacking and wondering, “Why am I not doing that?”

I’m one of those people who have always had a hard time asking for referrals. It has always felt awkward. But that frame of mind can be easily dismissed by thinking in terms of serving your customer. Making it easy for a customer to refer you might even be seen as a function of customer service. It’s certainly not restricted to marketing!

Imagine that! To give the best possible customer service, you must make it easy for your customer to refer you.

Scott Alberts of Alberts Illustration & Design (who also happens to be our lead graphic designer on the Zero To Sixty Marketing team) does an excellent job of this. He sends out a regular email newsletter featuring all of his latest work to all of his past and current clients. What a sweet way to get back in front of people you’ve already done business with! And it’s easily and readily shared.

What are you doing to make it easy for your customers to refer you?

Image by ckaroli on Flickr.

My battle cry this past year to any small business person willing to listen, has been to add a blog to their online marketing arsenal. The reasons are simple … an active, on-target blog increases your online visibility. It gives you an easy way to connect with your readers on an ongoing basis. And it’s a learning tool (if you’re a kinesthetic learner like me).

But what if you simply have no time to write? Let’s face it … if your business is growing, you’re already very busy! If your business is down in this economy, you’re likely just as busy trying to turn things around. So how do you find time to blog when you’re already working at full throttle?

The simple answer is that sometimes you don’t. We all have to work within the ebb and flow of our daily commitments.

We’re in that very busy business growth stage here. In fact, we’re finally making that important transition from self-employment to business ownership. It IS a transition, because you don’t simply wake up one morning with all the plans and networks in place.

My husband and I have opened a new business, Zero To Sixty Marketing LLC. We’re building on our combined strengths of marketing, copywriting, SEO, Web site development, and knowledge of and involvement in the hobby industry.

Zero To Sixty Marketing is a full-service virtual marketing firm, supported by a talented team of independent graphic artists, copywriters, marketing specialists, and web site development experts. We opened for business in late August and have been running at full throttle ever since. New projects have included a major trade Web site redesign, building an assortment of niche blogs that support that same site, entry into the magazine publishing business (more on this later), lots of new SEO copywriting assignments, even partnering with a consumer product manufacturer to bring a very useful item to the marketplace.

To bring this back around to the subject of finding time to blog – it’s obviously been an issue. My last post was near the end of September. I’ve given myself some leeway, because it’s just not possible to prioritize everything at once. But, if you want to kill a blog … just stop writing. Since, blogging has meant the difference between success and failure for Express It Write, it’s time to make time for this important activity.

For now, my time will be spent between this blog and our new Zero To Sixty Marketing blog. Expect to see some articles from our team and some guest posts from time to time. Expect greater frequency as well. We won’t be returning to five posts per week, but one or two per week sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

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