Jumpstart Your Business

The headline comes from a Story posted in the Portland Mercury this past December 10th.

The reporter while trying to spin the news about the impact of the economic downturn on the Portland Small Business Community leaves the reader with the impression that it is everyone else’s fault but the entrepreneur’s.

The point that is not made is that businesses (small or large) fail to get it - if the product they’re selling is of minimal or no value, the consumer goes somewhere else.

Why would anyone want a Tibetian silk scarf in this economic climate?

Also if the small business gets a federal bailout, will that bring the customers to the door and make them buy irrelevant products or services?

At least the business owner has the right idea….go off to Tibet and contemplate his navel and try to come up with product(s) that people want.

How will you quickly deploy technology and handle customer support requests for help?
Web applications are being put in use especially where there is a need to interface to customers and even in today’s world of heavy web usage in the home and in business, there are still a lot of users who are not web literate. As we deploy the web into our customer community, we’re forcing users who are unfamiliar with browsers to be very dependent on them. This could be very detrimental to the growth and success of today’s business. Put in place training for both your employees and your customers so that you web applications become easy to use. A help desk may be the right solution.

Do you really understand what drives your customers?
We all live and think inside a box that is defined by our economic circumstances, our wants and needs, our social backgrounds and our value system. To understand how our product or service can bring value to a customer is to understand how that customer thinks. Thinking inside the customer’s box is critical to providing satisfaction to the customer.

When last have we just asked for the customer’s opinion?
Another basic step in understanding how a customer places value on a product or service is to ask that customer. This works especially well when an entrepreneur decides to expand the customer base by going after new customer sets.

In tough economic times, when credit gets tighter, businesses need to understand their financial landscape so that they can position themselves to raise necessary capital as needed for growth. Don’t wait until you need it, plan ahead. Get the advice of your banker and financial planner and restructure your loan portfolio and asset base so that your business is able to raise capital for some of the opportunities that will present themselves in a sluggish economy.

Never describe your products or services in terms of their list of features or their accompanying benefits.
If you have thought inside the customer’s box, you can easily relate the value that is most important to the needs of your target customer

Very simply put, this represents your life line of support and should comprise the following types of resource: Lawyer: Insurance Broker; Accountant; Major Vendor(s); Business Advisors (SCORE, SBDC); SBA or other government entities;

Pay attention to your competitors and the steps they will be taking in reaction to the economic downturn. Most of your competitors will tend to lower investment in advertising and marketing in tough times when the opposite is the right strategy. Many will downsize and let experienced employees go and this may be a source for you to tap into. They also tend to drop prices rather than create additional value and this may be the place where you can capitalize on their weaknesses..

I am attaching a very interesting article that talks to this topic. Any small business owner who is not looking at networking sites as a way to expend the reach of the business is missing a good bet.

http://forpros.lowes.com/viewArticle.cfm?articleID=1352

The official U.S. Government Link where you can find compliance information, contacts to multiple government sites and forms.

The National Business Association where you can get information on your likelihood of obtaining an SBA guaranteed loan.

The U.S. Census Bureau where you can find population, housing, economic and geographic data.

SBA Online counseling and training for entrepreneurs and startups.

SCORE Free counseling and business plan preparation

Legal advice, forms, contracts and other legal stuff

Are you considering going into business? Do you want to increase your chances of success? Then here are ten tips to help you do just that: