Marketing Plan e-Book

a FEW SOLID SHEETS is what you need; for small business owners and entrepreneurs

McKinsey:A Marketer’s Guide to Behavioral Economics March 16, 2010

Filed under: idea,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 9:19 am
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Hi ALL,

I have been busy and unwell the last 1-2 weeks. sorry for not writing for quite a while. But that didn’t deter me to read some good articles on marketing, strategies and business.

Below is the link to a solid brief on Marketing and behavioral economics. It also contain some strategies for your tacticals in your business. i am very sure you will like it. For more of this type of article you should go to mckinsey.com have fun!

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/A_marketers_guide_to_behavioral_economics_2536

What do you think? You can also subscribe to Mckinsey Quarterly. I highly recommend it! Cheers!

 

Marketing Strategy: Supply Chain Management February 22, 2010

Filed under: idea,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 11:24 am
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I am trying to expand marketing as we know it. Since my proposal is, marketing as a strategy and customers are central to marketing, it directly impacted the way organisation look at strategies and types of deployment towards the customers we serve. One of the things i would like to touch is Supply Chain Management and Logistics Management.

This content is rather unique to be captured but i personally think it is relevant. In fact, assuming you have your Chief Marketing as the 2nd man, supply/logistic chain is a major concern. On the other hand, assuming you are your own boss, wouldn’t you be concern about these as well?

I am trying to rationalize marketing beyond advertising, sales or technology. Like i said in my Marketing Plan S6PEC, marketing is a strategy and a strategic business tool. And i am going to stick to that. I try to make this post light and yet meaningful. if you found this useful, let me know because i think it is timely to expand (rather change), marketing to broader understanding.

Logistics management is a subset of supply chain management. Whilst supply chain management focus on the overall integration of business functions and the supplies from suppliers to stores and customers, logistics management focus on how those items and data being transported and disseminated and support the overall supply chain management. Logistics management is key to supply chain management planning because it helps to determine the effectiveness and efficiency that effects the topline and bottomline of a business.

Supply Chain Mgmt Main Components

Definition of logistics management from Council of Supply Chain Professionals:

“Logistics Management is that part of Supply Chain Management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements.”

One example is assuming an aluminum smeltering plant that is located at Sarawak. The suppliers or raw materials are located at Sabah. The question logistics management should as is “How do we transport those materials or supplies to the plant to be processed?”. Say we choose land transport, next we need to know is the cost effectiveness, time and also risk. Wouldn’t it be better if the smeltering plant is set up in Sabah instead? Probably.

On the same example, supply chain management questions would be, “how much of those materials do we need to buy from Sabah?”, “Is the raw materials can be found somewhere else that is much more convenient?”, “Does the quality meets the customer’s requirements?”

Definition of logistics management from Council of Supply Chain Professionals:

“Supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.”

Second example is let say we managed to transport those items to Sarawak from Sabah using land transport, logistics management should ask how do we transport those items to the customers e.g. distributors. And assuming majority of our distributors are located in Pahang and some are importers from Taiwan. Logistics management then again has to rationalize the transportation plan to the distributors. Other than “physical transport”, logistics management also concerns about the infrastructures such as how information technology can assist all the information integration such as designs, shipment tracking, data processing vis-à-vis the orders from distributors, warehousing and also availability of such transport especially for an international operation. In some instances, logistics management also has to look into the security of the logistics.

Supply Chain Mgmt vs Logistics Chain Mgmt

Thoughtful and Well-Planned SCM and LCM helps to serve customers better and increase profitability.

On the same scenario, supply chain management will look into matters such as inventory, supplier’s contracts, product design, production sourcing and also pricing.

Unless the manufacturer works up to only distributors, logistics management has to also expand its planning up to reaching the actual consumers that consume or use the products. Nevertheless, in logistics management planning the manufacturer can decide whether to own the transport or outsource or partner with other companies to smoothen the operation.

Logistics provider such as 3PL (Third Party Logistic) partner e.g. UPS, Federal Express and DHL are good example how logistics management can be a separated altogether in a supply chain but pertinent to the overall supply chain planning.

I still believe that focusing on customers as main driver of profits and lever to increase business profitability will be here for the next 50 years or so. With current development in many emerging economies and BRIC, more and more customers will have the power to buy and make purchase decision. Furthermore, did you know that it’s only less than 50 years ago that women beginning to have purchasing power? What about teens now? Where they have higher disposable income from their parents? These are customers. And yes, they are multi-segments and ultra fragmented.

Cheers!

 

EIGHT + ONE Tips on Pricing February 12, 2010

Filed under: business,idea,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 3:57 am
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Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC is READY! Buy it HERE (ONLY USD 19.90 WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT)

 

You Need Hands! February 11, 2010

Filed under: business,idea,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 4:48 pm
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I was captured by the following paragraph i read in Paco Underhill‘s “Why We Buy” book. Indeed a very good book especially if you want ideas but for a retail business, this is  a must read. Let me recite the paragraph:

“A woman is carrying a handbag, and that she’s wearing a coat, which she’ll probably want to remove once she’s inside the store, meaning she’ll have to carry that, too. God gave here two good hands but she’s shopping with one. If she selects something, the free hand carries it. Now she’s down to no hands. Maybe, if it’s small and light, she can tuck the purchase under one arm. Perhaps she’ll sling the handbag over a shoulder or forearm. Then she’ll have….let’s call it a hand and a quarter. If she picks one more thing, though, she’ll run out of hands. Only an extremely motivated buyer will persevere. Human anatomy has just declared this shopping spree over.”

What do you get out of that? I said, “I need my hands!!”. And i want to relate that to strategy.

Having extended hands definitely move you faster!

Strategy, in that story is our “business” hands. If we are too occupied or “full” with strategies we are going to get stucked. Just like that woman’s hands. There was one CEO i know that has his hands full of strategies until he can’t carry it anymore. In our hands, we can only carry certain things for a limited time only. then we have to unload.

With our strategies (hands!) also, business can pick and choose what they want and what they do not want. For example for a food retail business, they can choose to sell inside the mall or outside the mall. Both require different strategies. What if they want to sell both inside and outside the mall? Chaos! I have seen in Malaysia, whereby few retail brands try to have “captured both sides” of the mall but fail to do so because people are confuse. Customers are confuse on two things. Firstly, why do you need to have two outlets in the same mall? And which one should i go to? One thing about customers, when we are given options to choose most of the time we fail to choose. Customers go somewhere else to other outlet that has single message per outlet.

On the other hand, for business to business (B2B) businesses, having “hands” definitely very important and have to set it right from the start. i recently learned that large companies operation is very complex. A lot ogf stakeholders and usually steps taken are far too many and planning is on very long range too. Therefore, making sure the “hands” are picking up the right strategies are very crucial.

View Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC HERE

Alternatively, business hands also can be extended. Say you want to expand to new market in new country, you definitely cannot do it alone. We need a helping hand. This is where friendly parties, partners, sponsors and networks play very important role. We need to talk to them, identify and select them accordingly to become our extended hands for our business.

I recently met one CEO of a growing global university and he shared me a story. he said that in some African countries, people are still don’t want to spend on education. people save money under their pillow because they are so worried and have low access to information. they don’t trust bank so much and they live a traditional life. he also added, to set up a global university there definitely a big challenge, but the moment the country wakes up (just like China!), it is going to give a handsome return. So how he plans to do it? Find strong local partners and support them. This is because local partners, most of them have less money and do small trading business. The idea of effective and efficient are definitely alien to them but they are hard working.

I personally found this approach is very interesting and unique. Nevertheless, a good example of extended hands are needed if you want  to go beyond your home base. But what if your hands are still full?

One, is to pray to God for a stronger back and not a lighter loads! Two, you need to prioritize. Prioritization is easy said than done. Even i sometimes overlook prioritizing, especially during busy period. I remember someone said, “when the going gets up, everyone is very happy!’. This refers to stock market bullishness, when it’s up everyone starts to forget basic things. But it certainly helpful to get our priority right.

I normally write down and prioritize based on time, processes and outcome. Lastly i also measure ROI. Sometimes, certain things you do is very painful but it’s going to give the highest ROI, so i choose to do that first. But as for you, you need to decide what’s best.

I will discuss more on Maven marketing in my next post, how to use it as your extended hands for your business. Cheers!

Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC is READY! Buy it HERE (ONLY USD 19.90 WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT)

 

TEN Tips for Successful Marketing Implementation January 31, 2010

Filed under: business,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 5:12 am
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How much do you spend on your marketing initiatives? How much is your ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment)? What is your sales right now? Does your sales increased? Why your sales team not in the field but in the office? When is your new product going to launch? When is the competition going to end? Who is your competitors? Check out the following TEN Tips for Successful Marketing Implementation:

1. Have a plan
- i’ve been emphasizing this for many years; in fact my book Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC is addressing this issue; we need a marketing plan. Without plan, we are directionless and we lose money on daily basis. I recommend you to check out my book Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC for FREE Download the Summary.

2. Over communicate
- often when we implement marketing initiatives, only the marketing department busy with all the collaterals, strategies, PR, CSR, campaigns and they donned everywhere in the company as if they (the marketing deaprtment) is the most important department in the world! They are wrong! If you are a marketing manager or business owner, i suggest you to over communicate and start realizing that your job is to make champions from other departments, not the only champion!

3. Price correctly
- this is exception when you are new in the business or launching a new product line that you never had before. For example if you all the while in IT business, suddenly you diverse into restaurant business, chances of getting wrong pricing entry is high. when you already in the business for quite sometimes, try few types and levels of pricing vs your offerings. Try price discrimination.

Buy Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC here. Only USD 19.90 (WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT!)

 

4. Talk to your distributors
- having a network of distributors are really cool but if they are not performing why keep it silent? Most of the time, only 20% of your distributors work hard and sell your product. others are dormant or actively selling your competitor’s product. it is hard to have exclusive distributor nowadays unless you have lots of $$$$ incentives to offer. One way to make them love you is to talk to them. make them important and the secret is “give them target and incentify”.

5. It’s the customer, stupid!
- i’ve repeated this many many times. in fact other marketing gurus also said it. Moreover in my recent reading of Harvard Business Review that the role of Chief Marketing Officer is going to be obsolete because now there is a new trend of Chief Customer Officer especially in MNCs. This customer is KING not going to go away for at least the next 50 years! Unless you plan to do business to years from now, let’s focus on the customers!

6. Advertise Advertise Advertise
- i believe in advertising. advertisement allows you to promote, acknowledge, inform and sell about your products and services. for small business owners and entrepreneurs, advertising will make them a little more like celebrity and they rather shy away and be “the background person!”. I learned it from the hard way. I know a self-proclaimed internet marketing guru that set up a Facebook Fanpage on social media but he himself the only fan there! Advertise!

7. The experience
- let’s don’t even think of launching when your product is not ready. Experience lasts forever same as first impression! At least create the plan on how to approach your launch. I recommend you to read my Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC because i cover this section.

8. Budget wisely
- not having budget at all for promotion is sure way to fail. I realized that many small business owners and entrepreneurs too rigid on allocate some money for promotion. Did you ever wonder why a large pool of customers only go to large businesses or retailers? BEcause these large companies put aside $$$$ for promotion and campaigns. But i don’t think we should do the same, but at least we make and show presence in the market. And never accumulate what you spend on your marketing and business, and end up sum it up and said, “i can buy a new BMW with this $$$$ spent on my business!!” wrong thinking my friend!

9. Give time
- when you do something on your business, it takes some time for people to know you. I have set up this blog almost a year ago, coupled with Entreprenovator blog but only recently i got some traffic and have better presence. I also recently launched my book and i am not in a hurry to make money. Because my bigger goal is to democratize knowledge to the masses especially small business owners and entrepreneurs like you. After all my Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC is only USD 24.50 (ONLY USD 19.90 WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT!)

10. Corrective plan
- while usually the final point is more soft like “have faith!”, i rather be realistic. we all have faith but we don’t normally have corrective plan. plan down a lot of ‘what if’s” and ‘how about”. Sometimes what we plan don’t turn out to be as planned. But you can only have corrective plan once you started something. otherwise your corrective plan is counterproductive! You follow?

Honestly, the TEN Tips for Successful Marketing Implementation is just the tip of the iceberg of my book Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC, Download FREE Summary. I highly recommend you to spend just USD 24.50 (ONLY USD 19.90 WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT) to get your marketing right and at least manageable. What is USD 24.50 (ONLY USD 19.90 WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT!)? sure way to manage and get results of your following $$$$ marketing initiatives!! Isn’t that worth the money? :)

Buy Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC here. Only USD 19.90 (WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT!)

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Any inquiry please email to entreprenovators@gmail.com

 

Marketing Plan Breakthrough_S6PEC_An Introduction January 26, 2010

Filed under: business,e-book,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 10:07 am
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The truest low budget and high impact marketing; by having a plan

Having a plan let you see the interaction that is taking place and about to take place. It gives you the freedom to choose and the given time.

Should you consider of purchasing the full version of the Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC, Buy it HERE

 

You Saw This on Facebook? January 25, 2010

Filed under: business,e-book,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 9:09 am
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Hi Entrepreneurs and Business Owners,

Welcome!

You probably have clicked the side ads on Facebook. Well now you are here. Thank you for clicking and i shall begin and end this note quickly. If you want to buy the full version of Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC HERE! Now ONLY USD 19.90 with LAUNCHING DISOCUNT.

The Marketing Plan Breakthrough and more efficient!

The More than 10 (TEN) Benefits of Marketing Plan Breakthrough:

1) It is SIMPLIFIED!
2) Portable format that you can print, read in laptop and even compose your own slides for presentation to your partners, bosses, directors etc..
3) Cover all the bases you need in a marketing plan.
4) Affordable source of knowledge! Very cheap!
5) Information provided based on real case studies, happened before, practical approach and honest.
6) One time download, shareable slides for all your business units and staffs.
7) Extra resources on the blog http://marketingplanbook.com
8) Another resource blog http://entreprenovator.wordpress.com
9) Written not by academia or journalist but by practitioners!
10) Combined marketing knowledge from all around the world.
11) Nicely presented with diagrams, colors and highlights.
12) Save lots of $$$ for a marketing consultant or anyone so called consultant!
13) Save lots of $$$ on marketing software, licensing and applications!!
14) Step by step approach.
15) Post worldwide-crisis marketing approach which focus on what-works and profit centric!

Click this link so you can go straight to view the Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC Framework content. I think you should at least view before you make any commitment and i think having the knowledge is very important too, so you can prosper and bring your business further.

Buy the full version of Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC HERE!!

I am ending this soon. If you find the content useful and would like to own it, well that’s the whole idea so you can make reference and continue upgrading yourself. The content is priced at USD 19.90 ONLY, WITH LAUNCHING DISCOUNT. While stocks last! Haha..actually i am putting this price only for Facebook Ads visitors.

What you need to do after this?

1. Visit the content and view it. Its the full content. You can view and don’t have to pay! :)
2. Click here to go direct to the content (Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC Framework)
3. Click here to go to business blog http://entreprenovator.wordpress.com
4. Check us out on SlideShare.com/Entreprenovator (i have a copy of this book here too!)
5. Make decision to purchase by email to entreprenovators@gmail.com

“Marketing is the Business” – Anonymous.

 

Marketing Plan E-book – What Say You? January 20, 2010

Filed under: e-book,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 6:30 pm
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This is the full version of Marketing Plan Breakthrough S6PEC for your viewing pleasure. If you would like to purchase the full book please click HERE

Appreciate your feedbacks and brickbats! Entreprenovator rocks! Email to entreprenovators@gmail.com

 

What You Really Need in A Marketing Plan? Quick Run January 20, 2010

Filed under: business,idea,strategy — entreprenovator @ 5:39 pm
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Just a few sheets of paper and rigorous implementation. That’s all. :) Sound easy? It is supposed to be easy, but many fails in both planning (or writing) the few sheets of paper and rigorous implementation. I may not be able to help you with the rigorous implementation because it requires resources such as many and people to hire to “rigour” it, but i can surely assist you in fighting the other half; the solid few sheets of paper. Which i refer as “marketing plan” for small business owners and entrepreneurs. i am fully confident that small business is going to thrive in the next century and going to become “d” business not far from now. So you still want to know about the “few solid sheets of paper”? You should be because it’s going to save your business, not to mention other than that.

Few months ago i gathered substantial amount of information (both in theory and practical application) from various sources. Sources are from books like philip kotler, malcolm mcdonald, sergio zyman, levitt, jack welch, fenwick (digital marketer) and many more. other sources like harvard business review, MIT Sloan Management Review magazine, mckinsey, boston consulting group, gartner reports, tns and so on. I also chat with few local and international marketing practitioners, and lastly my own experience as marketing and strategy consultant. What i gathered? You only need to have a few solid sheets of paper to plan and make your marketing work.

1. Your customer
This is key in any marketing plan and business. You don’t equate your customer with other business customers. For example if you are selling Japanese car, you can’t equate the need of your customer with the one that going for European car. They are just different. Always look at your customer and write down every single thing about them. Ask the 5W 1H questions to yourself, people around you and the customers.

2. About You
As business owner, i know sometimes we get too deep into our own idea and we were blinded by the beauty and joy it brings but guys, when something going too sweet, you got to be careful. It is like when you first dating a girl and you like her so much; that whatever your friend tell you was ignored. That is the same feeling when we are too engrossed with our own ideas. We need to open up and look for other angle and ready to accept criticism of that idea. I have been there and i have lost quite a bit just because i fondle the “business” and drown together! :P

3. What is your business
You need to ask this question from the practical side in terms of its capability and capacity. Capability is skills set and capacity is ‘engine size” – how much can you do. For example as a new restaurant you have the capability to cook nice food but you don’t have the capacity to do food delivery yet. You follow? And when you ask this question, do not ask and answer intellectually because you end up confuse yourself. Plan for 6 months first before looking at how the business should be in 6 years.

4. Distribution
In distribution principle, the bigger your network and distribution channel the better your business is. this is fact and true. Check how else can you distribute. If non-perishable and dry product, you will find it easier but can you afford to buy bulk and warehouse it? If food or perishable item, you will find a bit challenging. if you are in service, can you duplicate your service using network or join venture with other similar service provider but in a different market? Think of this.

5. Promotion
If you don’t announce it, people don’t know. Put aside some budget to spend on marketing campaigns, and please try using online marketing as one of your strategy. Global business is not so global anymore, transportation is getting cheaper and if you are in knowledge business, you can do it online now. If physical product, make sure you tap sources like social media (Facebook, MySpace and Ning), blogs, websites, online banners and search engines. big billboards, tv ads and print ads are traditional media and exorbitantly expensive. The ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment) also very low. I recently with a client and compare to Phase 1 and Phase 2 marketing spending, they shaved almost 50% spending in Phase 2 and getting better results!

6. Employee
If your business is labour intensive like restaurant, service counters or manufacturing then you need to look for competent people that can run machine, understand operation and willing to work with haphazard processes (unless you run a franchise business). Simply because as a new business and small, or new product, we dont know how the product or business perform in the market. It can be a bomb or doom. But what i learn is we need to give some time to let it grow.

7. Fliers
For a new business, fliers is a must. don’t start the business without it because you are risking a lot of eyeballs especially if you have a physical shop. You want to attract people to come to your fish shop, trading shop, saloon, data centre and so on. While eyeballs don’t give direct business, eyeballs can develop trust, reach and build confidence. my experience in restaurant and service business, the moment i put in fliers, i can safely sure i will get the next 2 months business. Yes, it is that powerful but there will be a lot of wastage too. Especially if your business is on green product, you gotta think again! :)

8. Pricing
Price determines your profit. I just got to know my client today (a new Head of a Food Division) just told me that the previous Head screwed up on the pricing for their newly operated food court. Now after 3 months operation, they are heavily debted and this is because the food court was well received and jammed-packed daily and it runs 24 hours. the problem is, with every customer they sell they are losing money. You follow me? So, the more they sell while they have the volume but because the pricing is at below cost price (for some internal reasons and overly subsidied), the food court makes losses in 3 months! be careful about pricing my friend. Have a pricing plan and pricing points. it is ok to give discount and promotions, but you need to plan it.

9. Risk
Starting a new business or new product always come with risk factors. I am not going to brag about risk management just like some investment banker, typical consultant (that never run real business) and academician (intellects that never be in the real market!) because they don’t really know what we are facing down (or is it up!) there. Risk comes and goes on daily basis but we need to identify what type of risk. is it bearable? are they harmful? how long you expect to last i.e. crisis? how do you plan to recover? what is the cut-off point? what is the business impact? who is involved and get affected? how you want to compensate or recover? what is your nett risk/loses? These questions, are brushed aside or “simplistically” not important by those 3 categories of people. When in risky situation i have only one advice: search for information and data aggresively. dig dig dig!

10. Strategy
What you really need is a few great strategies. in fact i currently practice, at maximum is three solid strategies. enough to make a difference, even a small step but it is still superior than not moving at all right? it is better to own and run a slum laundry but with solid strategy rather than an exclusive laundry without strategy. you lose money greatly without strategy. but from my observation, good strategy need some time to get effect, so give it time to flourish. nonetheless, it shouldnt take too long because if it is too long and persist, consult your doctor!! :P

I am sharing more of these findings, views, knowledge, experiences or “whatchaever” you call it in my Marketing Plan E-book which is in the 2nd final process of editing and polishing. it should be released in a couple week time. READY!! You can BUY it NOW ONLY USD 19.90 with LAUNCHING DISCOUNT!

I highly recommend you to purchase it, and i guarantee you it is going to be very cheap and worth money spend. it is so low that you will not believe it. i shall put the content to be viewed on SlideShare/Entreprenovator so you can know what are you buying. Like i said, in marketing you just need a few solid sheets of paper and you are ready to go guys. Forget about marketing software and all those bombastic name gadgets/technology for marketing, as small business owners and entrepreneurs we have our guts, instinct and balls to keep the business afloat and running. So, let’s just do that first and make your money and more profits.

Cheers! Should you require any further information please email to entreprenovators@gmail.com

 

Customer Service in Marketing January 18, 2010

Filed under: business,marketing,strategy — entreprenovator @ 10:36 am
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I was invited as a member of a professional marketing organization, to a seminar facilitated by Scott Friedman. The seminar titled was “Connecting with Customers and Employees” and it was held at Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Heck it was fun but i learned one thing; “fun can be shared to more people and more often and funnier, if only you want to and allowed to”. As for Scott seminar, it was fine (could be better) but i was there to learn and i came with empty cup so i gathered quite a bit (almost half empty after that). :)

Perhaps i can add on what i have learned from the program and more on my personal experiences as a restaurateur, waiter, service man, consultant and also a human being. Since i’ll be launching a Marketing e-Book real soon, i thought maybe i would like to touch a little bit on customer service as a marketing tool for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

I always approach my thinking as a customer except when i do consulting because in my consulting practice (where i deal with strategic issues and high level), there are aplenty of customers. If we only focus on the customer (as in client), they are most likely not the user of the product/service and we focus only to the user of the product/service, we might overlook the policies and business governance of the client. Therefore a good mix, suppored by data and abreast with both or multiple customers are very crucial. That aside, what do exactly small business owners and entrepreneurs can do for their customer service? Here are some pointers.

1. Speed
As Scott Friedman pointed out, that speed is the currency of today’s business. If you can deliver faster, better, sooner and so on, you are likely to be the favorite of your customer. Nevertheless, to make sure you are speedier or at least speedy enough, the use of technology is a must. For example, during my seminar with Scott, my client called and wanted some data for her top management presentation, should i say “i can’t attend to you customer because i am busy attending a customer service seminar??” Funny? That exactly what went to my mind just now. Customer 1st i said, so i rushed out and attended to her data she wanted and emailed to her. I saved my day!

2. Honest
The big mistake that many marketing people and customer service do is to lie to their customer on their state as if “this problem is beyond my control and i cant do anything about it and i have done enough to mitigate it”. In the seminar a guy said that he was expecting his newly-bought furniture to arrive 24 hours earlier but all he gotten was “natural disaster seemed to attack his transporter to deliver the furniture on time”. You follow? He called them up a few times, but the transporter said “traffic jam, lorry breakdown, tire punctured, furniture was heavy and so on”. What they could have done is tell him the truth, that “we’ll be late and we can only reach you 24hours from now”.

3. Genuine
This is difficult to do, really. Most of the time i find myself feel awkward because whenever we meet new people, sometimes for business reason and we meet them at a seminar like what i attended. I tend to give away my card without or less talk about my business or trying to convince them what i do. i prefer to ask them about what they do because i am interested in their background and how they do their work. I once being stalked by a salesman and he said he wanted to show he is very interested to do business with me!! That’s ridiculous and i almost call the police station for that.

4. Be Innovative
I agreed with innovation and it has to be something that the customer wants. As small business, we have limitations of resources such as money. We dont have much to spend (or rather invest!) in lavish dinner or golf set or expensive tour for our clients. Therefore we need to use creativity. With constraints, creativity will flourish. I remember one of my close friends said, ‘When you dont have enough money, use creativity”. He is from zubedy. And because of that zubedy over the years has come up with numerous creative stuffs.

5. Talk to your customers
When i ran my restaurant i like to talk to my customers, what i realized was there are things that i like but they don’t like. and vice versa. I found this disturbing because as the owner, i want to craft it the way i want it right? Wrong! So i changed a lot of things to meet my customer needs, but alas my restaurant was shortlived because i dont have enough money to sustain it. I remember one day i was at a small cafe and i happened to be their 1st customer. I was very early and had a fried rice. Then a guy approached me and asked whether the curry taste good, i said yes and it’s yummy!! he thanked because he said he usually ask that to all 1st customer of the day. :)

6. Give Give Give
i dont see any reason why we shouldnt give to customers that buy from us. i mean give give give service. i despise businesses that are too cost-centric to the extent they are overly calculative to their customers. For example, i like businesses that give trial and stop the service for easily after the trial period with no string attached. I love restaurant that give a side portion to my daughter like potato wedges or chips because the kid’s portion is rather too big or maybe a half scoop of ice cream. i admire transport company that send in furniture earlier than expected.

from my experience, customer service must come from the heart and it needs a lot of examples so it can be followed. I still remember a business owner that sells 2nd hand car. He approached and tried so hard to convince me to buy his car, but later he realized that the model i wanted is not in his list. What did he do? Instead of saying “bye-bye” he asked my phone number because he is confident he could find a friend or someone who might have the car that i wanted and he does it freely; he offered the service. isn’t that a real wow?? he just called me and i said “big thank you bro!!!”

he just make my day! God bless him!

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