Goals, when the going gets tough...

Heading into 2012 many of us are thinking about goals and what we would like to accomplish during the new year. Thinking back to last year you might be thinking about how many things you either did or didn't end up accomplishing. Many of us started last year with good intentions for our business, personal life, health and a variety of other things. We likely made some progress but fell short of our goals. It will probably come as no surprise then to find that research has found that goals get tougher to reach the closer we get to them.

When we set a goal we are recognizing our current state of affairs, the state we want to get to and the gap between now and then. This discrepancy promotes us to take action. As our actions close this gap and we get closer and closer to the goal state our motivation decreases, seemingly because our current state more closely matches our goal state and as humans we tend to satisfice, meaning close is usually good enough for us.

So how do you overcome good enough? It is suggested that you periodically reset your reference state from the initial state to the current one. As a simple (and popular) example we'll use weight loss goals. If you currently weigh 190 lbs and you started at 220 lbs with your initial goal being 175 lbs you should reset you reference point to 190 lbs. Taking time to thoughtfully recognize the current gap and set a new goal should help re-establish your commitment and theoretically prevent you from settling for 190 lbs being good enough.

So as you head into 2012 think about continually monitoring progress, adjusting your goals and deciding if close really is good enough.

Leadership vs. Management

There is a lot of debate about whether or not a leader is something different than a manager. I've heard leadership defined a number of ways. As an example it's been said that managers exist to maintain whereas leaders drive change.

Part of the problem with the word "leadership" is that it's not a word invented by academia but came into being over a period of time. While academia gives words very precise definitions words that "evolve" tend to apply in a variety of contexts and are fairly general. Leadership is one of those words.

Everyone wants to talk about leadership but no one really knows what it is. There are more books about leadership than you can ever read and researchers continue to do studies and surveys on what an effective leader does. Still, no one can decide what a leader actually is or does. Does being a leader mean that you have been gifted with a set of traits that make you a natural leader? Does being a leader mean practicing a specific behaviors? Is it contextual? Is it simply being the right person at the right time? As a member of the International Leadership Association and avid reader of research on leadership I see these questions all the time, without any real consensus. The literature is inconclusive.

What I mean is that I think leadership and management are different from each other, but a manager must have a reasonable level of leadership skill and a leader, ideally, has good management ability.

I'd like to sum all of this up though with an idea. Leaders are magnets, managers are lasso's. When an organization adds people those people have different ideas and motivations. Managers exist to attempt to align the personnel's behavior and use of resources with what the organization hired them for. This is done by setting expectations, monitoring progress and providing feedback.

Leaders, I think, are more like magnets. Instead of aligning personnel behavior and motives through corralling behavior (think of a cowboy on a cattle drive) a leader pulls people toward them and/or the cause. This might be done through personal charisma or by simply being the right person in the right place at the right time, think of a group of people lost in the wilderness, the leader is the one with the compass and orienteering skills. Many times a leader simply emerges because a situation demands one, other times a leader emerges because they have taken upon themselves some mantle or cause which people are drawn to. As an example, Steve Jobs wasn't a leader because he signed the paychecks but he was a leader because followers believed that he was the right person with the right ideas to lead Apple.

I hope this gives you some idea on the difference between leadership and management. The truth is however that no real consensus exists on this matter, at the end of the day as a leader or manager we're in the business of getting things done.

3 indicators that say HIRE AWAY!

Jobs, it's on the top of every one's mind. It's been awhile since we've had any great news on the jobs front. Unemployment remains high and the answers still seem unobtainable. One opinion remains constant however, small business is going to be what fuels jobs growth. Sure, lenders are tightfisted and as a small business owner you might be a little wary about adding help, since everyone else seems to be so reluctant. How do you know when it's time to make the jump?

Here are 3 hints that might help you decide.

1. Productivity. Are your employee's maxed out? Ask them. Can you re-work task flows to increase efficiency? If you can't lighten the load with work flow changes you might have to think about adding some help to keep your staff happy and working hard.

2. Growth. Your company continues to grow and things are trending upward. We're not talking about a one or two month spike, but if you are adding new products or services and customers keep coming consider this growth a key indicator that adding an employee might not be so risky.

3. Opportunity. Are there opportunities to expand or grow but you and your current employees can't find the  the time (or lack the skills) to pursue them? It might be time to add staff.

In the perfect scenario you have eliminated all waste, your staff is working hard and creatively, you are finding and retaining new customers and you recognize an opportunity for additional growth or stability that you could take advantage of by hiring help. Hire away.

Adding staff is a big commitment, if you are unsure about the future, or an opportunity you can try a temp worker, or even an intern to avoid the long term commitment. Growth and success requires risk however and our nation depends upon you.

Two Types of Customers

A great debate came up in our house this year regarding how businesses get customers. A little back ground: I have worked in advertising for the last 8 years and my wife works in Public Relations. The debate began one night after dinner followed by a little TV of our favorite recorded shows. Somehow, since the invention of the DVR, I seem to have lost control of the remote. My wife’s a strong advocate for what she likes to call “efficient TV watching” so she likes to fast forward through all the commercials. I, on the other hand, appreciate some commercials like an art. I mean who doesn’t love a talking baby, or gecko, or oven mitt for that matter? So my argument is if we fast forward through all the commercials how will I know what car to buy, cereal to eat, or movie to see? She calmly replies, “Just ask someone or research”. (This is when my head explodes.) To clarify, I am not an easy sell, but the wife is. I view advertising almost like a job interview; the company has a certain amount of my time to tell me why they are better than their competitors and why I should choose them. My wife loves to talk with people. She’ll look at reviews and make her decision based on what other people say about the product or “word of mouth” advertising.

There are two types of customers the risk taker and the researcher. The risk taker is the type of customer who pays attention to advertising and does not mind trying something new because it looks, sounds, or smells great. The researcher is the customer who waits until they know a little more about something. They will wait to see if the product or service is accepted by others before they try it. Which began the debate of which is better for a company: advertising (paid audio or visual promotion) or public relations (paid or free word or mouth)? The conclusion is that one isn’t necessarily better than the other. In fact, without one it would be very difficult to have the other. Without the risk taker taking a chance on a product or service there would be no one for the researcher to analyze, no reviews, and no ratings except for industry award companies. So to all you marketing and advertising budget makers: include a good mix of advertising and PR for your 2012 budgets. Take it from us, the Risk Takers and Researchers in the world.

The Mobile Movement

Remember the Dynatac? 1983, Zack Morris...well mobile phones have come a long way and it has serious ramifications for business. Smarter phones means smarter shoppers. 

Here are three ways mobile has changed the way people buy:

1. New ways to shop: QR codes, mobile aps and mobile websites means consumers have been given a whole new way to buy. Whether its one click purchasing via Amazon, a mobile store or adding an item to a shopping cart via QR code people can purchase in whole new ways.

2. Information gathering: Whether its through social networks, reading reviews, price comparisons, loyalty points, online chats, mobile coupons, text promotions, group deals or check ins people gather information on the fly and in real time. More than once have I delayed or changed my mind about a purchase due to a review I read on my mobile phone while standing in the store, product in hand.

3. Payment options: Payments can be collected online, via a mobile credit card or using a phone number or text. It's about convenience. Mobile options empower people to pay.

These are just some of the ways mobile is impacting commerce. More and more people are shopping online, mobile websites are becoming more common by the day, whole new industries are rising up around mobile marketing and shopping is becoming more informed and social. 

What does this mean for business owners? That depends. Certainly mobile is changing things and different industries require different levels of adoption. At the very least you should recognize that people are now experiencing your website via a mobile device. If your current site isn't mobile friendly then its time to design something that people can read on a mobile screen and which has clearly visible contact and location information. Adding features such as a mobile catalog and mobile coupons can come later.

Online Advertising, what's happening now?

Web based advertising is big...and changing. Remember the days when the flashy annoying pop up ad's were everywhere. Thankfully those seem less prevalent and advertisers have better options these days.

So what's happening now with online advertising?

1. Eureka!!! Social advertising isn't about "likes", it's about content worthy of being shared. People share ideas, not brands. Create content worth something.

2. Be sniper accurate with targeting. The internet is nothing more than data. All that data means you can really target your audience. Facebook ad's can be used to target folks by age, geographic location etc. You can search Twitter by hash tags to pick up on interesting conversations to take part in. Google Adwords can be honed down to very specific terms if you are willing to put in the time on research and running "split test's". Speak to your niche with accuracy, they are the one's who buy into and share your ideas with others.

3. As I said, the internet is data. That means you can actually measure ROI. If you aren't using analytics (Google and others) then you really have very little idea about how well your online advertising dollars are working.

4. Be BOLD! No-one shares stuff that is boring. Say what you really think. "Like us" is a weak call to action. Why?? Are you interesting? Do you have new ideas? In a world where viral and organic traffic can create an overnight sensation to the bold go the spoils. No one likes boring. Say something new, interesting, candid. Of course there is a difference between speaking your mind and sounding insane. When writing and conversing via social media just write like you would talk, let your mind empty itself out a bit, but don't turn off your filter. A person is always more interesting than a stuffy news release. In social media people talk to people not brands.

What in the world do we do with Social Media?

Arguably it all began in 2004, the year blogging caught the attention of the world. Fast forward just 7 years and whole industries have popped up around it and the world has completely changed because of it. A generation of people will be defined by it and business are still trying to figure out what to do with it. So what do we do with it?

While social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.) has been around for a half decade or so, business, particularly small businesses haven't figured out what to do with it. Sure, its simple to set up a Facebook or Twitter account but what does it mean to actually use it the right way?

That answer is easy, social media is social! That's it. It's not about broadcasting and advertising it's about conversing. It's about engaging and responding. Its about inbound marketing and attracting attention because of value not because of an image or brochures. People want valuable content, provide it and you will get followers who hopefully turn into customers.

Can you ignore social media? Well, there is a lot of debate about that these days. Some "experts" are saying it only works for some types of businesses, others say you can't afford to ignore it. The truth is ignoring it is still an option for now, but it isn't going away. More and more people sign onto social media every day and the search engines are making it a bigger part of their search criteria all the time. Eventually asking "should you be using social media?" will be like asking "Should you have a website?" or "Do you want to be found on Google?".

Ignore it for now at your own risk, ignore it in 5 years at the expense of your livelihood. More on how to use social media in a future post, for now go be social.

Establishing Your Brand - Word Of Mouth

When I worked in advertising, I contacted hundreds of small businesses a year to discuss their advertising budgets and when I would ask them how they currently advertised their business, the overwhelming majority of small business owners told me they relied on word-of-mouth to bring in customers.

Of course, many of these businesses were on the verge of closing up shop, so it was evident that either word-of-mouth wasn't working, or the word wasn't very good.

Even though I have a history in advertising, I'm a believer in the power of word-of-mouth - both good and bad. Good word-of-mouth can mean a daily line out the door of a local restaurant. Bad word-of-mouth (or in most cases, no word-of-mouth) can mean layoffs and cutbacks and unpaid bills.

So what are people saying about YOUR business? Is it what you want them to say? Are they even talking about you at all? How are you HELPING people talk about your business? (Later in the series, we'll talk about what I mean by "helping" people talk about your business and even provide some tips.)

If you're not sure what people are saying about your business, there are simple tools you can use to find out.

1. Listen. If you don't directly deal with your customers, take some time to observe the transaction process. Spend a day answering phones, working the front counter, or responding to customer emails. Some of the most successful small business owners make sure to spend a lot of time interacting directly with their customers. Think about it. The best restaurant owners walk around and greet diners. And they're LISTENING to what their customers are telling them about their experience. Think about how you can spend more time with your customers and then do it. It's worth your time.

2. Google yourself. And not just you, the business owner, but your company. Are people reviewing you on review sites? Are people blogging about you? Google is an easy yet powerful tool, so use it. You might be surprised at what you find.

3. Survey. Ask your customers to rate their experience on a satisfaction surveys. Send them to your database of customers, or if you don't have one, leave them out in the open at your establishment or on your website so people can see them. The majority of people probably won't take your survey, but people that have extremely positive or extremely negative experiences will tell you about it. You just have to give them a way to do it and ask for it.

4. Observe your employees. Employees are an often overlooked source of some of the most important kind of word-of-mouth. If your employees aren't happy, chances are they're badmouthing you or your business to their network of friends and family. Even little things like "He's always late for his appointments" or "our competitor is cheaper" can make a huge impact on a prospective customers perception of you and your company.

For more information on word of mouth and small business visit us at http://www.DiamondHeadStrategies.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6484217

BRANDING

Branding plays a key role in growth and stability for any business. Branding helps you establish a consistent image in your target market's mind while enabling your current customers to help you with word of mouth advertising. 


Here are five steps you can take to kickstart your brand today:

Define - Create your elevator pitch of what you are and what makes you unique in your industry. Think 30 seconds or less.

Research - Your market, your industry, your competition. Where do you fit and how are you distinct?

Decide- Ask yourself who you want to target. Who wants your product/service? Work at your brand & stay consistent.

Develop- Business relations are key. Find people on the fringe of your industry and get to know them. Trade leads or services in business. You can never have too many friends.

Spend- Invest in yourself. Spend a little extra on your logo, website, advertising, etc. Brand yourself as the first person someone thinks of in your industry. Spend advertising resources in places where you know your customer base is looking. Consider industry specific places such as trade magazines, websites, etc.

Opportunity

Opportunity, it can be so many things. It can be about being in the right place at the right time, it could be about having the right resources in the right situation or it could be about seeing something which no one else see's.

Business decisions are routinely made without realizing the full breadth of opportunities available. In daily life we make decisions constantly without ever noticing the possibilities for alternative choices. This is for the best of course, otherwise we would never get anything done. However, making decisions of major tactical importance or choosing options in situations that involve the movement of substantial resources require a more robust evaluation of the opportunities.

The first stage to making a better decision is to scan the environment, both within the company and outside of the company, to identify opportunities which might be capitalized upon. This might be a new market or new product, a new distribution system, financing options, political, economic, sociological, technological changes among others.

Once you have identified the opportunities available which you might be able to capitalize on you can turn these into options for strategic action. Perhaps a political change has resulted in new government financing opportunities for your business or technological changes have given you new opportunities to expand distribution channels.

Think about opportunities. Sometime's the right place and the right time is right now.

Mixing up your Marketing

MARCOM is industry slang for Marketing Communications and its all about how you mix up your marketing options to attract customers. There are five traditional elements or options to this mix. Here's the rundown:

Advertising: Paid promotion to a large dispersed audience. Impersonal one way communication. Tends to be expensive but has high exposure. Builds brand image and legitimacy, might help stimulate some short-term sales.

Personal Selling: Built on relationships this is your most powerful tool for building buyer preferences but also the most time consuming and expensive, particularly because it's typically done by a professional in house sales force.

Sales Promos: This includes coupons and contests. It's all about purchase incentives and may help boost sagging sales, though short lived and not very effective for building long-term brand preference.

Public Relations: This includes news stories, events, sponsorships etc. Typically highly credible and the most under-utilized elements of the mix. It's usually inexpensive and has solid impact.

Direct Marketing: This includes phone calls, direct mail and some online marketing. It has four specific characteristics, it's nonpublic, immediate, customized and interactive. It's a good bet for highly-targeted marketing campaigns.

In trying to decide what mix to use think about your total available budget and set your mix from there. Aim for an integrated approach however and make sure you are devoting enough resources to each component.

For help setting your marketing campaign strategy and mix e-mail us at contact@DiamondHeadStrategies.com and check us out online at www.diamondheadstrategies.com

Lean Startup...Lean Everything.

Lean, it comes from the manufacturing industry, and it is all about avoiding waste, both in time and in money. Steve Blank coined the term but it's truly the conglomeration of work from a number of key individuals including Steve Blank and Alexander Osterwalder.

At its core Lean Start-up is about waiting to scale the company until you have verified that you have a viable product that people will actually buy.  The concept revolves around the idea of creating a "minimum viable product" and taking it to the customer for feedback based on the actual product. Through a series of iterations or pivots (taking the product back to the drawing board and tweaking it) you find the product-market fit.

Once the product finds its fit then it's time to scale up and spend money on marketing, staffing and launching.

The attractive thing about this concept is that it not only makes sense but it forces you to innovate.

Perhaps even more intriguing is that this concept can (and should) be applied to many other aspects of business, not just start-up's looking to scale to multi-million dollar sized corporations. Small business owners can use it to test new products and services, to test new website designs, sales tactics, marketing materials, business models and so much more.

We're big believers in the future of Lean and its applicability to Start-up, small business, innovation and business development. So much so that we've just recently launched our Lean Development consulting services and sponsored a Lean Start-up meetup group in St. Louis. Check out our Lean consulting services and our whitepaper and consider joining our Lean Start-up meetup group.

Strategy School: The Strategy Process

Concept: Strategic Planning Process

What is it: A framework for applying strategy tools

Today’s business environment is as challenging and dynamic as ever. Technology is changing the world, and changing business. Primitive methods for planning put businesses at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to those that engage in a more sophisticated strategic planning process which takes into account multiple factors and drives an action oriented strategic vision for the future.

The strategic planning process is a five step process and provides guidance for applying the tools of strategy formulation.

1.       Mission and Objectives: What is the vision? The values? Long term oals? Future opportunities? Using this vision you can then make measurable goals and set your objectives.

2.      Environmental Scan: Internal analysis and External analysis. How is your company doing on the inside and what forces are presenting threats and opportunities to it from the outside?

3.      Strategy Formulation:

a.       Competitive Advantage: What area should you seek to be better than everyone else in?

b.      How can you leverage your strengths to overcome your businesses weaknesses while taking advantage of outside opportunities and avoiding outside threats?

4.    Strategy Implementation: This is where the strategy that you formulated is put into action. New programs, policies, budget planning etc.

5.     Evaluation and Control: You must measure the impact your choices are making on the company and make adjustments where necessary.

That’s the strategic planning process. It’s a powerful tool for companies who want to stretch their vision and grow while fending off competitors.

To learn more about our Strategic Planning Workshop's e-mail us at Contact@DiamondHeadStrategies.com

Tools for LEAN

Lean in the sense of low cash burn, not body composition.

The idea of lean started in manufacturing where managers found that they were wasting resources on things that provided little or no actual value.

As an entrepreneur you are always looking for more cost efficient ways to do things. Here are a few low cost, high impact ways to grow your online presence.

1.   WordPress- An open source way to build a slick site for cheap.

2.   Google Analytics: A free way to track visitors to your website.

3.   Google Website Optimizer: Test different website designs to see which drives the most conversion.

4.   Mailchimp: Free, easy, professional and trackable e-mail campaigns.
For more info on LEAN check out http://www.diamondheadstrategies.com/#!lean
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The Ultimate Patient

 Not all patients are created equal. Of your current patients some of them spend more and some of them spend less on your services. Some add stress to your life and others make things easy. Some patients question you while others take your words as gospel. But when talking about the ultimate patient we’re not talking about spending, stress or faith. We’re talking about people who are so loyal and enthusiastic about what you do that they not only return to your practice time after time but consistently refer other patients to you. These “Ultimate Patients” have a lifetime patient value that is hard to measure. Clearly they are more valuable than just the revenue that they generate with the services they personally receive. These people fuel the organic and viral growth of your business which is more valuable than any ad or mailer.

The question then becomes, “How do I get more of these Ultimate Patients?”

The first question should be however, how many of these patients do you currently have? If the answer is “I don’t know” or “zero” then it’s time to start asking some questions. One question in particular. 

The Ultimate Question.

The question is a simple one.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 how likely are you to recommend my practice to a colleague or friend?”

That’s it.

If you’re not collecting feedback from your customers then you’re missing out on some of the most valuable information you can obtain but if you’re not asking this question then you are missing out on the single most important piece of information available to you, for free. How likely are you to recommend our services to a colleague or friend?  Get more information at  http://www.diamondheadstrategies.com/#!chiropractic http://www.diamondheadstrategies.com/#!__dc

Sales Logic

What makes us want to buy something?
Logically thinking it is the basic thought that your life will be better with a product or service than without it.
What this means is that the Return on Your Investment = Value. Your "return" is the product or service you purchased and the "value" is the quality that product or service brings to your life. So obviously you want to make a good investment when you purchase a product or service.

As a seller of goods or services, you probably ask yourself, "Why would someone not buy my product or service?" To put it simply, it all boils down to one simple point: The perceived Risk is greater than the perceived Value. The Risk in 90% of all purchases is the amount of money the customer would invest. When presenting your product or service, the Value must be greater than the Risk for the transaction to take place.

Two Easy Ways To Overcome Risk vs Value
1. Differentiate yourself. The more unique or customized your product or service is, the higher the perceived value.
2. Create a need. Demonstrate what would happen if the customer chooses NOT to purchase your product or service. For example, your customer's situation could worsen or cost them even more money down the road. This technique is used often for health care products,  home maintenance services, and insurance plans.

At the end of the day we all have something to sell. And when you take "Risk" out of the equation, it make the decision to buy that much easier.

Our Philosophy

At DiamondHead Strategies we apply the highest standards of strategy creation to develop high-imact plans with lasting strategic value for our clients. We strive to contribute positively to our community and local businesses and are determined to ensure all of our clients are enthusiastically satisfied.

Why websites are important for a small business

Believe it or not some owners of a small business still do not have a website. I know amazing right?  The truth of the matter is some people do not like to do things just because others are doing it. They need a reason or sometimes a kick in the butt of knowing what they are missing by the simple fact of logic. Well here is the simple fact of logic. (For the small percentage of business owners that my stumble upon this and read it. Ha!) Look at it this way you are being hired for your product or service by the customer not much different in you hiring someone for a job at the business you run... Following so far? If someone came in for a interview and just gave you a card with their name and number on it would you hire them? Or say your UPS guy said "I know a guy named Joe who would be a good fit for what you are looking for," would you bite? Exactly, so why would your customers just choose you without seeing your resume? This is your website, a virtual resume and your virtual store front representing your business and the products and services you provide. Just as you want your resume looking professional you also want your website represent you as best as your abilities truly are. Please either take the time to put together a website or hire someone to do it. One of the biggest mistakes in a small businesses websites is they build it and leave it be. Your website is a living breathing representation of your business capable of bringing endless amounts of customers your way. Take pride in it! The world has changed and a professional website is more important than having a professional business card. Speaking on behalf of all consumers out there please take your web presence seriously it could mean me choosing you or your competition.

 

DiamondHead Strategies

It's 2011, we exist in an ever-changing dynamic and complex environment, one of economic uncertainty, social upheaval and technological innovation. A new, plugged in generation of consumers and workers are changing the rules of the game. We've taken the highest level strategy and consulting techniques, usually unavailable to small businesses, and customized it to fit your business in light of this generation of consumers and workers.The rules are constantly changing, it's time for consultants who understand that change.