Monthly Archives: September 2013

Business Strategy , , 3 Comments

Market Research: Benchmarking and Your Positioning Strategy

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Every few months it makes sense to do some benchmarking and find out how your services,  marketing message buzzwords and delivery systems compare to that of competitors.  Whether you are a start-up or a veteran entrepreneur,  market research in its many forms is an important barometer of the environment in which your business operates.  Fail to keep your finger on the various pulse points of the marketplace and you can miss the boat on either a lucrative opportunity or a shift in business practices or customer priorities that will leave you out in the cold and scrambling to catch up.

As we approach the fourth quarter,  it is useful to start thinking about the new year and how you can refine and confirm your services offered,  targeted clients,  business model and delivery of services.  The results of your benchmarking research can be used in the marketing or operations sections of a business plan,  to create a marketing or operations plan or to measure the success of a current ongoing plan.  Start the process by following the advice of the late,  great business strategy guru Peter Druker,  who famously noted that getting the right answers begins with asking the right questions.  Some important questions to pose include:

  • What drives targeted clients to hire outside help  (that is, Freelancers)  to perform the types of services your organization provides?
  • Who is providing that service for them now and what is the level of satisfaction with the deliverables?
  • What would those clients like to see included in the service itself or in its delivery that is not now being provided?
  • Does the client anticipate any changes in demand for this service within their organization?
  • What does the client feel is a fair price to pay for these services?

In market research,  there are primary and secondary sources of information.  Primary source information emanates directly from the client or competitor. Secondary sources are anything that has been published.  Because Freelance solopreneurs typically do not have market research budgets,  a DIY low or no cost strategy will be necessary.  Primary information can be collected from current and prospective clients through surveys and questionnaires that either appear on your website or are emailed separately to those who you feel will respond.  Provide an incentive to participate,  such as a free half hour consultation.  Also,  clients,  prospects and referral sources can receive from you an invitation to have coffee or lunch,  so that questions about their organizations’ needs and priorities as relates to your services can be asked and answered.

Competitors are another source of primary information.  If you attend a seminar outside of a competitor’s working geography,  he/she will likely be comfortable about sharing information.  Over time,  certain competitors that you encounter on a regular basis at business events may drop their guard just a bit and share a couple of pearls with you.  It is for that reason that establishing good relationships with competitors is a smart idea.  What they share will be limited,  but it could be beneficial.

You may want to begin your research with secondary information.  The easiest DIY market research tactic is to visit the websites of four or five of your closest competitors,  that is other Freelancers who offer similar services to clients that could be yours,  if you play your cards right.  It’s a good idea to monitor the sites over the course of months or even years and make note of any additions or deletions of services.  Changes in the available services of more than one competitor could very well indicate a change in client priorities and should prompt you to start asking some questions of your clients.  Periodic explorations of client’s websites is also a good idea.  A new service could suddenly appear and give you a new opportunity to make money.

Take your secondary research a step further and do an internet search of clients and competitors. You may find articles and press releases that yield useful information.  Periodic checks of competitor’s LinkedIn profiles is also a great idea,  especially if the two of you share a connection.  That will grant you access to a competitor’s page without making that person a connection.  Lots of juicy details about the competitor’s activities may await you.  How can you create a second degree,  strategic connection?

Give your business an important reality check with some good market research.  Obtain information that helps your business identify niche markets or glean more billable hours from current clients.  Use the December Christmas build-up weeks to conduct your investigations and make plans that will set you up for a successful new year.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

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Press Kit Recipe

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Public Relations experts say that creating a good press kit is as essential as creating a good website.  Both items reflect your brand and are important marketing tools for your business.  Make your press kit one-stop shopping for a busy journalist,  prospective customer or potential referral source who would like information about you and the products and services that your business provides.  PR pros say that a useful press kit contains the following ingredients:

Company overview    AKA the “one sheet” gives a thumbnail sketch of your business: company name,  year formed,  contact info,  name and contact info of the company’s media spokesperson if the business is not a single person entity,  a succinct description of the products and services provided and two or three key benefits,  value addeds or outcomes derived.

FAQs    Differentiate your company from the competition and provide helpful information with a Frequently Asked Questions page,  if you desire.  Use as a guide questions that prospective clients ask when you meet to discuss doing business.

Bio   The founders,  principals,  C-level executives and major investors should submit a one page bio for the press kit.  The qualifications of the leadership team should be made known.  Lou Hammond,  of the public relations firm Hammond and Associates,  recommends that three paragraphs is the ideal length of a bio.

Testimonials    Customer testimonials allow those who have done business with you to sing your praises and add loads of credibility to your professional capability.  Invite your three best customers to write a sentence or two and extol your virtues.  Again,  keep the testimonial segment to one page.

Press releases    Include three or four recent press releases,  so that the press kit recipient will know what you are saying about your business activity: new product or service launches,  business partnership,  speaking engagements,  webinar presentations or participation in a local charity event,  for example.

Article links     Formerly known as press clippings,  include links to articles in which your business has been mentioned to let interested parties know that you’ve garnered press coverage.

Photos    Invest in a session with a professional photographer and get an attractive head shot of yourself and each leadership team member.

Audiovisuals    A link to a short video clip of you or a leadership team member speaking at a prestige event,  accepting an award and/or demonstrating a product can be included.  Customer testimonials can also be presented in this format.

Press kits are usually compiled and distributed electronically.  Nevertheless,  there can be reasons to have ready hard copy to present to select individuals on the spot.   A physical press kit represents another opportunity to communicate good things about your brand.  Create an attractive and informative package.  Enclose the information in a portfolio folder in your company’s signature color.  Attach a pre-printed label that contains your company name and logo.  Print documents on good quality paper stock.  Remember to include your business card.

Despite the rise of social media,  the relevance of traditional media outlets,  whether print or online,  has not diminished.  No matter how many social media followers you may have,  mention of your name in the business section of a legitimate publication gives real credibility to you and your business.  Invest the time and money necessary to create an informative and attractive press kit and update its contents each year.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Your Brilliant Idea, the Set-up and the Pitch

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You envision a project concept that has the potential to significantly benefit both you and a particular organization.  You wrangle a meeting with either the decision-maker or one who has influence.  Convincingly,  you show that the proposed project will add money or prestige to the organization and that you are uniquely qualified to put the plan in motion and make it work.  You are invited to submit a formal proposal and you see dollar signs twinkling for all concerned.  Needless to say you are stunned when the proposal,  which you perceived to be a confirmation letter since you received the decision-maker’s unqualified invitation to submit,  is shot down.  What the heck happened?

Kimberly Elsbach,  associate professor of management at University of California / Davis,  has done research that shows it’s not only the perceived value of the project that is at issue,  but also the perceived value of the seller—you. According to Elsbach,  the decision-maker makes a judgment about your ability to generate a genuinely creative and beneficial idea and that prejudgment diminishes its perceived value.

Elsbach reached this conclusion when she studied the Hollywood film industry,  where filmmakers regularly  “pitch”  movie concepts to studio executives.  She also attended meetings where entrepreneurs pitch business concepts to venture capital investors,  yet another venue where brilliant ideas are proposed to those with the potential to fund them.

Elsbach emphasized that there are no reliable criteria on which to base creative potential,  so decision-makers rely on purely subjective and often inaccurate evaluation stereotypes,  which kick in very early in the pitch meeting.  From that point on the decision is made,  no matter what they tell you.

However,  Elsbach discovered that there is sometimes a way to redeem oneself.  The trick is to make the decision-maker feel that s/he is participating in an idea’s development.  In other words,  rather than bringing it in all wrapped up in a red ribbon,  showing that you’ve thought things through and you’re basically ready for the roll-out,  devise something for your decision-maker to do to feel needed and  important.  Make the decision-maker feel like a creative collaborator.

First,  set the stage and gain the decision-maker’s empathy by finding common ground or perspective.  If you’ve worked with this person before,  then mention some shared memory of mutual success.  “How is that program going these days?  I so enjoyed working on that project.  It is great to know that your customers have responded well…”  If you’ve not worked with this person previously,  go to their LinkedIn profile and look for common ground there.  After the greeting and other pleasantries,  slip into a shared experience or perspectives story,  whether it’s a project you did for him/her,  or an accidentally-on-purpose reference to a company that the two of you worked at  (“So you worked there, too? I remember the days…”)

Second,  when you segue into pitching your proposal,  show the proper level of excitement and passion.  Moreover,  resist the temptation of being so thorough that you don’t give your decision-maker,  who has an ego,  a chance to put their hands in it and impact the project.  As you are enthusing about the features of your proposal,  ask qualifying questions that will engage your decision-maker in a discussion of what the organization and its customers really need from the concept you are pitching and together with the decision-maker be willing to improvise and compromise on your original proposal.  If you can make the decision-maker feel some ownership,  s/he is much more likely to identify with and support you at the meeting where projects and proposals are reviewed and the executive team finalizes what gets funded and what doesn’t.

Coming up with a brilliant idea is the easy part.  Selling the idea to the organization with the means to fund that idea is the hard part.  Psychology is a sales resource and the successful sales professional makes expert use of it.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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The ABCs of Time Management

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Setting priorities and establishing boundaries are the heart of time management.  These behaviors are closely linked to productivity and the achievement of important goals and objectives.  There are inevitably instances when conflicting responsibilities and demands threaten to overwhelm us.  Deadlines loom.  Manipulative people scheme to insinuate themselves into our lives because they enjoy the attention and control.

Procrastination ushers in avoidance behavior that sabotages the fulfillment of obligations and may prevent us from reaching our full potential.  We may disappoint those who deserve our support.  The cold fact is that certain responsibilities and people are more important than others and we must be mindful of that reality when allocating the most precious resource we possess,  next to our health.

Julian Birkinshaw,   Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School and Jordan Cohen,   Productivity Specialist at the global firm PA Consulting Group,  have  spent the past three years studying how knowledge workers can become more productive.  The two found that knowledge workers spend 41%  of their time on discretionary activities that don’t necessarily bring much value.   To make the most our time,  it is not enough to merely draw up a to-do list and throw oneself into as many items as hours and energy allow.   It is necessary to give some thought to the implications and potential impact of what must be done,  as well as the consequences of failing to do it.

In his 1973 time management classic How to Get Control of your Time and Your Life,  Alan Lakein recommended that we evaluate each task by establishing SMART — specific, measurable, achievable,  realistic and timely- — goals when deciding where to devote our time and what to do first.

SMART goals are used to rank and label what we must do as an A,  B,  or C task.   A-level tasks /goals are the most important.  Lakein says A-level tasks are where one devotes 80%  of available time.   The remaining 20%  of available time will be divided between the B-level and C-level tasks,  with C-level tasks receiving the smallest percentage of time.

To achieve important goals and objectives and in general accomplish whatever it is you intend to do,  make a to-do list and start with A-level tasks.  Lakein emphasizes that in order to get beyond mere efficiency,  in which a laundry list of essentially unimportant tasks are completed,  and on to productivity,   we must understand and do what is most important.   He urges us to work smarter,  by doing what brings value-added and not harder,  by frittering our time on busy-work that could either be ignored or out-sourced.

Birkinshaw and Cohen suggest that we sort the C-level tasks into three groups:  quick kills,  meaning it’s possible to discontinue these tasks with little or no negative consequences;  off-loads,  meaning what can be delegated or out-sourced;   and long-term redesign,  meaning projects that need to be restructured or re-thought before they can be assessed for value-added potential.   The idea is to make more time available for A-level tasks or leisure activities that allow us to re-charge our energy stores,  relax and enjoy ourselves.   Work – life balance is an important component of quality of life,  preventing burn-out and enabling us to operate at our productive and creative peak.

Thanks for reading,

Kim