Do Small Businesses Make it Difficult for Customers to Buy ?

When customers visit most large retails outlets - such as a supermarket, or clothes store, the buying process is remarkably simple and straightforward.

And the store owners help encourage the buying process in several ways :

* Helpful signs show buyers where to go to find the products they want
* Goods are displayed in a manner which makes viewing easy
* Additional information is provided, such as diertary guidance, and size information
* Clear pricing enables customers to choose the product which best suits their needs
* Access to customer service is available to deal with post-purchase queries.

The above applies whether the store is a physical one or an online store.

By contrast, I have found the buying experience at some small businesses quite different and often difficult - particularly with online shops.

Often it can be difficult to locate the products of interest - and the customer may have to hunt around to find them. It can often be difficult to find out the pricing for specific products and services. Either it's not available, or the business owner will advise that they need more information in order to provide a quotation.

And the process of making a purchase can be difficult too. In a recent case I encountered a business where I had to write and ask them about the process of placing an order for their services - because it wasn't on their site !

For business owners, its important to be aware, that any one of the above situations can be enough to deter a customer from buying from your business, and going elsewhere, and never coming back.

To avoid this situation I recommend you review your buying processes - whether you have a physical shop or a website - and test the customer enquiry, ordering, and support processes. Or better still get someone else not connected with your business to do it for you and give you some honest feedback.

Their feedback could mean the difference between you winning and losing future business.

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Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Have you Considered the Cost of Networking ?

The theory behind modern-day networking is that you need to meet, like, know and trust someone (MLKT) before business can be done. If you consider a nominal charge rate of say £30 - 40 per hour for your time, then such a meeting would cost you around £120 - 160 + travel costs. That's the cost in unbilled time to your business for you to attend the networking meeting.

And interestingly, in a recent survey of salaried sales people, the cost of a sales meeting was found to be in the range £75 - £300 per meeting, so that stacks up with the earlier estimate. This is why people in these roles look to pre-qualify all sales meetings.

So is MLKT a necessary pre-requisite in your experience for business generation ?

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Tomorrow's Customers May be Different to Todays

The customers you currently have (or are targetting) may be different to those you need in the future.

Over time your business will evolve, and change, and if successful grow - but your customer base will change too.

Their needs will change, their demographic may change, and even their locations may change.

So every business owner should bear in mind who tomorrow's customers will be and where they'll come from.

Particularly in changing economic times, this is an important factor to remember.

Is it in your business development plans ?

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Email Marketing Works - if Used Properly

I recently cancelled my car insurance policy with a well known insurance provider.

A year earlier I had written to advise them that their double-digit hefty premium increase was unjustified because of my history as a driver with a good record and no claims, since being insured by them. I warned them I would review future policy renewals.

Yet, one year later I still received a renewal notice with a further double-digit premium increase. It was clear they hadn't read or responded to my concerns. I did not renew the policy this time.

But still a week later, I received a marketing email telling me that my insurance policy would soon expire, and to renew if I wanted to continue to receive the great benefits!

Their email only served to further reinforce my belief that this supplier was disorganised and did not listen to their customers.

It reminded me that Email Marketing can be a valuable and cost-effective means to maintain customer contact - but not if you send out generic emails and don't take account of customer feedback.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Have you Prepared your Autumn Marketing Campaigns ?

As the summer holidays draw to a close, and with schools about to re-open, it's a useful time to check that your business is geared up and ready for your autumn marketing campaigns.

It's quite common for customers to defer decisons during summer holiday periods, and hence this is a good time to make contact and make them aware of your product and service offers.

So what should you be getting ready ?

Marketing Considerations

Here is a simple checklist you can use :

• What is the scope of your campaign - who do plan to target ?
• Have you got uptodate contact data for potential new customers ?
• Do you have tempting product/service offers to use in the campaign ?
• What is the campaign timing - will it relate to specific events ?
• What channels will be used to reach new customers, eg email marketing, telemarketing etc. ?
• How can you raise maximum awareness, though additional publicity ?
• Are you geared up and ready to take and fulfil new orders ?

This check list is not exhaustive, and may need fine tuning for your particular business. But it will help you to focus your thoughts and make key recisions to ensure you business marketing gets off to a flying start this Autumn.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

Has Networking Replaced Traditional Sales & Marketing ?

Over the last decade there has been a hugh growth in networks of all kinds.

Online networks like Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter have provided an easy way to connect with friends and colleagues, spurred by the greater availability of broadand internet and smartphones.

Offline networks, like Chambers of Commerce, BNI, and many others offer the opportunity to network over breakfast, lunch, or evening snacks, with like-minded business people eager to make similar contacts.

It has been argued that the availability of such networks means that traditional sales and marketing is no longer necessary - because now the customer has the tools to seek out the right suppliers to serve their needs. The customer will lead the contact-making process, whilst suppliers need only wait to be contacted, provided their information and details are widely available. True or false ?

What Business Networks Offer

The current generation of business networks are like modern-day learned societies and institiutes. They are places where business people can meet, chat, exchange viewpoints and ideas, meet suppliers, conduct research, and discuss current practices. They serve a useful and important role.

But they are not primarily involved in business generation. That is an activity left to individual members to conduct themselves, in their own preferred way. Yes, a network may sometimes generate a referral for its members, but to rely soley on that route for business generation would be very risky.

Sales & Marketing is still Key

Networking offers business owners a useful toolkit to support their business, but it doesn't replace the need for business owners to have and operate their own Business Development processes, selecting from the myraid of marketing, sales, and customer service techniques, just the right ones to ensure their business survival and future growth. This is particularly important in the present Low Growth economy, where the fight for sales becomes ever more competitive.
 
Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk

How useful do you find attending Business Exhibitions ?

I ran a poll recently on the above subject a couple of weeks ago, amongst small business owners. They were located on Linkedin and on a Facebook Business Group.

I've summarised the results I got below.

Some 30 - 50% of respondents find them useful, and pick up one or two useful ideas or product / service suggestions. More so on Linkedin

Few respondents found them completely unspiring.

Linkedin users do recommend using them for business development - less so here in the Facebook group. But in the Facebook group there was a significant number – some 60% - who just don't attend these type of events - unless there's a specific person or seminar they wish to see.

Overall I didn't get a strong feeling that Business Exhibitions were rated as a 'must-do' activity - there weren't comments or feedback saying how successful people had found them.

I attended three business exhibitions in May - a national event, a local regional event, and a local networking event (at which I also exhibited). In this case the most useful was the local regional event - because I made a good contact who has since become a contributor to a business news magazine I edit. But it could be different next time.

At one time the majority of business to business exhibitions were mostly trade shows, where people in the same industry sector got together and updated themselves on the latest developments, and made new contacts. These ofocurse still go on, but more recently there's also a lot more general business exhibition events, and in this area its more difficult to measure ROI because the participants come from such diverse fields. It is something exhibitors need to focus on if they want them to succeed in the longer term.

Regards

George Montgomery

GBS Group - Business Development Consultants

http://www.gbs-group.co.uk