As a Business Growth Specialist I can offer you 3 very important pieces of advice.
1. Who is your ideal client? Look for:
A) What is the size of the company revenue wise,
B) Which Industry is your ideal client in?,
C) What will your ideal client need from your services and why?,
D) What other products and services will your ideal client need after
your services?
This is obviously assuming that your client's will be businesses.
Defining your ideal client is VERY CRITICAL.
2. What are your objectives? Your success will partly depend upon
the objectives you set for your business. The more specific you are
about your goals and objectives the easier it will be to help answer
your question. To set effective objectives they need to be:
A) Specific
B) Measurable
C) Achievable
D) Relevant
E) Time Orientated
E.g Google Web Solutions will retain 600 clients in it's database
from the state of California by 2007.
Never set more that 4 objectives because your business will loose
focus. The best way to think of objectives is to imagine a plane
taking off from the airport, it's destination point is already
pre-programmed. The pilots are left with the responsibility to guide
the plane to it's destination safely and efficiently.
Your the pilot, your business is the plane and the objectives you set
will be the destination point. VERY CRITICAL.
3. Don't fall into the trap that many start-up business owners fall
into by thinking tactically. Think STRATEGICALLY. Acquiring
customers/clients is the first and most obvious concern for start-ups,
that's tactical thinking. Your first concern should be about what
position you want to hold in the mind of your client/prospect.
Why should a client seek out your services and not anyone else?
What?s unique about your service compared to your competition? What?s
your unique selling point/proposition (USP)? Focus on the benefit to
your target market. Your USP should be specific and clearly defined
to meet the needs of your target market.
E.g If your target market are small businesses needing to establish a
web presence in order to open up another pillar for gaining customers.
Your USP will address how your web solutions can attract customers
like a magnet and build perpetual streams of revenue for them.
?Google web solutions will provide your business with 120 different
ways to make your website more profitable and your customers 20 x more
loyal. And if we can?t deliver, you will get a 100% 12 month money
back guarantee.?
This is just an example. Your USP here could be that you provide more
solutions (120) than any of your competitors. Or that you?re the only
Web Design business that provides a 12 month guarantee on your work.
Your USP must me specific, quantifiable and client benefit orientated.
Most important of all, you MUST be able to substantiate any claim you
make.
A well thought out USP (usually takes a week to form a powerful USP)
will form the foundation of ALL your marketing efforts. Without a USP
you can either die very quickly as a business or at best, stay very
mediocre.
Do you have a well thought out USP in place?
VERY CRITICAL.
Hope you get some ideas here to help you in the future..
Wish you all the best in your new venture!! :) |
