Archives for June 2014
How does an entrepreneur with the greatest idea, fail in business?
Sometimes businesses just fail. It's a harsh reality, but it happens more often than not. The trick to preventing your business from failing is to understand why so many others do.
In most scenarios, it's not just one thing; there are almost always numerous reasons why businesses fail to become successful, or suddenly fail after a promising start. An entrepreneur could have the greatest idea in the world, but if he or she fails to properly follow the proper steps to turning that idea into a successful business, then it's all for naught.
Here are a few of the most common reasons why businesses fail:
- Not enough demand for the product or service. Simple enough; there just aren't enough people willing to pay for your service, and profits don't come in. The old
adage that sales cures all is inaccurate. More profit is what keeps you afloat, if more sales drives more profit – awesome! But, this tends to be a problem for small companies starting off and trying to compete against large corporations right off the bat. You need to be able to determine your niche, and how you can market to that niche to find early success. To create that demand, you must have a strategic marketing plan and not succumb to “tactics everyone else uses….”
- Inability to manage growth. This might be a surprising reason for failure, but it's more common than you'd think. In this scenario, a small business sees some big-time early success, but expands too quickly and soon becomes too big to manage. Sometimes in the early stages of a business, less truly can be more. Ramping up too quickly is a classic mistake. The talent it takes to manage $250,000 in revenue is not the same talent it takes to manage $1.25 million!
- Poor accounting. You'd be amazed at how many small businesses engage in terrible, negligent accounting practices. Shoddy bookkeeping, bad math, you name it and it
happens. Even if you've hired a third party to take care of your accounting, you can never assume that they're doing the best possible job. Always double check, and keep accurate records. Set goals, set firm targets and gain the understanding of your team – it's critical they be in-the-know. Then report performance and expect accountability. It's all about the numbers!
- Poor management. Maybe it's the fault of the owner or manager that the business isn't taking off as planned, or is seeing a sudden decline. A lack of vision or planning, low operational standards and more can be key contributors to the failure of a business. Who hasn't started a business because they loved the product or service like a great hobby? When that hobby turns into a business to manage…..the skill-set needs to follow.
- Poor marketing. You need to be able to extend yourself into numerous marketing channels if you want to have any hope of people finding your business. Stay ahead of the curve with technology as well, so you are constantly on the cutting edge in customer communication. Those businesses that fall behind are likely to stay behind. However, make sure the technology you use or the software you incorporate is effective, efficient and does not need you sitting behind a monitor. Also, just like your accounting, make sure you have reports that track the effectiveness of your marketing – you've got to be able to make decisions from intelligence and not from emotion.
- Inability to adapt to market trends. Perhaps your business is in a declining market and you have sudden issues of lack of consumer demand. Maybe there are new trends in your market that you have been slow to adapt. Whatever the situation, businesses need to remain flexible and adaptable at all times, or they risk being left in the dust. Get out from behind your four walls and talk to your customer in their environment, attend conferences or seminars to stay fresh, work on your business and not just in it. Always be educating yourself for tomorrow.
“Where performance is measured, performance improves. Where performance is measured and reported, performance improves dramatically. Where performance is measured and reported publicly, performance improves exponentially.” ~ Clate Mask, CEO & Co-Founder of Infusionsoft
Understanding these reasons for failure is a great method of concentrating on how you can make your business a success. Contact us today at Viral Solutions for more information on how you can avoid failing with your company, and instead achieve the goals you established at its outset.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Investigate Your Customer Before You Work With Them
Not so long ago, one of the most effective ways of building a strong customer relationship was to make sure that you had excellent records of your customer's preferences after you've worked with them. You know, that legal pad of notes you kept in a file folder. That way, you would remember everything about this customer in the future, impressing them with your memory and making sure that all of your services were fitted to their needs in the future. Like the name of their dog, spouse, place of birth or college they attended. Hopefully you made notes well enough to remember whether it was the dog or the spouse they brought back from college.
Are those days are gone? Does that stuff matter anymore with all this electronic gadgetry we live with? More than ever!
However, to some degree the sustainability of a high touch customer relationship is gone. The business world caught up to that standard long ago, and it's now no longer enough to personalize your services to your customer after beginning a relationship. Today, successful businesses need to be able to know exactly what a customer wants and likes before they even work together. Otherwise, you quickly fall behind the curve.
This means your customer already checked you out anonymously. 80% of their decision to do business with you is made up before they contact you. You should be doing the 
same. But how exactly can you do that? Here are some ideas:
- Every click-able link on your website could have an equivalent tag that correlates to an interest. This could have to do with your product or service capabilities, size and fit, weight, color, design, style, etc.
- Make sure you have the ability to document interactions with your online articles, eBooks, eZines, videos, blogs and brochures so you can predict how customers will interact in the future.
- Change your bidding or quoting process to appeal to the stereotypical personality of a given profession or customer type. You should have a good idea of who likes a more technical process and who is more likely to appreciate layman's terms.
- Analyze information given to you in your quotes and note any special requests or emphasis on certain features. This will tell you a lot about your potential customer.
- Research any ancillary services that could enhance your product or service that you don't already offer.
- Track the kinds of problems that your customers most commonly come to you with so that you are prepared to respond to them before they even arise.
The depth and strength of a relationship with a customer is still important in the business world, but today you need to lose your memory and instead focus on solving problems and fulfilling requests and expectations before they even arise. By profiling your average customers and tracking the way people interact with your online presence, you will be much more successful at this.
Feel free to contact us at Viral Solutions for more tips.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing
Once considered ânew media,â social media has been around for over a decade. In fact, Facebook recently turned 10. No longer ânew,â social media marketing appears to be here to stay. After all, users continue to flock to social networks, and so do marketers. Whatâs in it for your business?
- Traffic and exposure – Social media marketing allows you to reach a much wider potential audience as your followers interact with your social profiles. In addition, many businesses periodically and strategically link to their blogs, websites, and landing pages from their social media pages which further drives traffic. In addition, you can keep the majority of your status updates social and informative and then encourage users to opt into an email campaign where you have the opportunity to guide them toward a buying decision.
- Loyal fans and brand advocates – Engaging users on social networks breeds loyalty. In addition, many of your most satisfied customers will share their enthusiasm for your products and services with their own networks.
- Leads, leads, and more leads – You can also use social media to generate leads. For example, you might offer a special report, ebook, or whitepaper on your blog or
Facebook page in exchange for an email address.
- Marketplace insights – Some social networking sites such as Facebook also provide you with detailed analytics. For example, you can quickly see the demographic makeup of your Facebook followers. In addition, you can target specific demographics through Facebook ads.
- Improved rankings in search engines – Search engines want to serve up relevant results to their users. Having an active social presence with a great deal of engagement, likes, shares, and comments can signal to search engines that your website is highly topical and authoritative.
- Increased sales – Who doesnât want to increase sales? Social media with its ability to deliver additional traffic, loyal fans, and leads can positively impact your bottom line by driving sales.
- Lower marketing costs – Social media marketing is not free, but itâs also not overly expensive. For example, you can sign up for Facebook and Twitter for free and then interact with followers without any upfront costs. That said, your time has value, so donât forget to factor that in. In addition, youâll need someone to write quality content for your blog, email newsletters, content marketing campaigns, and so on, and you may want to invest in targeted ads to attract the right following. According to HubSpot, inbound leads cost 61 percent less than outbound ones (social media is a form of inbound marketing).
- Business partnership opportunities – Finally, social media is a fantastic place to network with other business professionals in your industry as well as potential partners. Start by joining LinkedIn or Facebook groups and becoming an active contributor.
These are but a few of the many benefits you can expect from social media marketing. Your customers, prospects, and potential business partners are using social media. This means that you should, too!
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Where to Find Images for Social Media
Photos consistently get the most engagement on social media. In fact, last year SocialBakers found that 93 percent of the most engaging posts on Facebook were photos while just 3 percent were plain status updates, 2 percent were links, and 2 percent were videos. Clearly, posting photos is a good idea, but sourcing images for social media isnât necessarily a simple matter especially due to concerns about copyright infringement. Use this list of image sources to start your search for photos to share.
- Shutterstock – It is a leading global provider of high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations and videos to businesses, marketing agencies and media
organizations around the world. Working with its growing community of over 55,000 contributors, Shutterstock adds tens of thousands of images each week, and currently has more than 35 million images available. Headquartered in New York City, with offices in Berlin, Chicago, Denver, London, and San Francisco, Shutterstock has customers in more than 150 countries. The company also owns Bigstock, a value-oriented stock media agency; Offset, a high-end image collection; Skillfeed, an online marketplace for learning; and WebDAM, a cloud-based digital asset management service for businesses.
- Flickr – The Commons: Flickr has partnered with various institutions to catalog the worldâs public photo archives. Some of the participating institutions include: the Library of Congress, the British Library, National Media Museum, New York Public Library, and the National Maritime Museum. Whether youâre looking for photos of the British royal family, wine bottles, railroads, or old-fashioned bicycles (or anything else for that matter), youâll likely find some amazing vintage photos to share in The Commons collection.
- MorgueFile – Though its name conjures up unpleasant images, the MorgueFile is loaded with beautiful images. Though photos in the MorgueFile section are all free, the MorgueFile website also contains royalty-free stock photos that you can purchase from iStock, Getty, Dreamstime, DepositPhotos, and Fotolia.
- Wikimedia Commons – Another site loaded with photos, Wikimedia Commons allows users to submit their photos under a Creative Commons license. Youâll want to make sure to look at the license to ensure that you adhere to any attribution requirements. Some may restrict commercial use.
- Ancestry Images – This highly specialized site contains images of antique prints and maps, all of which are offered for free.
- Wylio – Wylio bills itself as a free picture finder for bloggers. Youâll need to sign up for a free account, but once you do, you can search for free photos that have the right type of Creative Commons license for your needs. Whatâs more, you can resize the photos by dragging a slider and Wylio will automatically include all appropriate license details and attribution within the photo itself. You can either download the photo or get an embed code. Either way, the photo will be properly attributed.
- PhotoPin – PhotoPin allows you to specify the license type desired (commercial or non-commercial) as well as enter search terms. From there, it will search Flickrâs Creative Commons selection. It also includes attribution, but it is not embedded into the photo. You will need to download the photo as well as copy and paste the HTML attribution into your blog post.
- Canva – Want to make your own beautiful, share-worthy images? Canva is an easy-to-use design tool where you can drag and drop photos into place, add text, and more. Though itâs free to use, there are charges for some of the photos that are offered.
These are but a few of the many options available. Start by bookmarking your favorite image sources and use them regularly to create more engaging social media posts.
Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100âs of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.
Building Confidence â One Day at a Time
Need some help with building â or just re-awakening your confidence? A great way to start is by keeping a confidence diary.
Youâre good at what you do. You know it. Sometimes in this world of âNOâ itâs an easy thing to forget.
If you are surrounded by people who donât acknowledge your talents, or if you just want a reason to âFeel Goodâ, start a confidence diary. It is a smart tool to just remind yourself just how good you really are and what you have to be thankful for and pleased about in your life right now.
Either buy yourself a notebook or diary and once a week for the next month, answer the following:
Put yourself first for the 10 minutes per week it takes, sit down and jot down your thoughts to:
1.  What have I got to be grateful for in my life right now?
2.  What am I happy about in my life right now?
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3.  Why am I happy about these things?
4.  What did I accomplish last week?
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5.  What am I excited about in my life right now?
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6.  Who do I love and appreciate in my life? Who do I like hanging around? Why?
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7.  Who loves and appreciates me for what I am?
Answer these questions at the start of each week and it will set you up for success.
If you need a booster midweek, answer them again.  Appreciate everything you have going for you, and be thankful.
Use this as a tool to help you focus, feel centered and appreciated.
You are amazing! Never forget that.
Christine Kelly | Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.