27 More Business Ideas

This began as a personal list but thought I’d share here.

• You are your USP
• Do your most dreaded tasks in the morning
• Book think time every single day
• Be crystal clear on what you offer
• Really wanting it, is not a strategy
• The best social network is talking with people
• Build a strong mastermind group
• Opinions are a distraction
• Choose with whom you do business
• Trust is earned not bought
• Stop asking for permission to be successful
• Get out of your own way
• You can't change the past
• Take breaks
• Focus on your business
• Yes you can do it
• Your Klout score is irrelevant
• Playing it safe won’t get you there
• Keep your energy on positive momentum
• Work with the best, period
• Don’t let distractions take you off your game
• Ask for help
• Deliver what you say you will deliver
• Avoid naysayers at all costs
• Collaborate with the best people you can find
• Trust your gut
• This is supposed to be fun

Kneale Mann

image credit: educatorslife

Inflating Expectation

Do you know how customers or clients perceive you?

Do you know how they talk about you? How they feel about you? What they tell others about you?

Create or Deliver.

You may have heard the story of Frank and Bob - the managers of two different oil and lube places.



Both got the idea of offering a free car wash to every customer.

Frank printed up pamphlets, put a sandwich board out front, painted the window, put another sign by the customer service desk and devised an abrasive advertising campaign, all to tell the world about his special offer.

Bob simply washed customers' cars.

Who got more complaints?

Which guy had a line-up of satisfied customers who told everyone and which guy had to endure complaints from customers who were unhappy about their less-than-perfect previously promised car wash?

Bob exceeded expectation. Frank created inflated expectation.

Surprise and Delight.

Perhaps tuck in a little something extra when merited without making a fuss or a previous promise.

Possibly the under promise over deliver model is alive and well.

If you do those unexpected things your USP will become a lot clearer.

Do you think it will work?

knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

Image credits: oilchangecoupon | carsabout

Surprise And Delight

Do You Know?

How your customers or clients perceive you? How they talk about you? How they feel about interacting with you?

Do you? Really?

Have You Ever?

Put yourself in the place of your customers? Walked a proverbial mile in their shoes?

Have you? Really?

Definition: Customer Service


You may have heard the story of Frank and Bob - the managers of two different oil and lube places. Both got the idea of offering a free car wash to every customer.

Frank printed up pamphlets, put a sandwich board out front, painted the window, put another sign by the customer service desk, devised a big advertising campaign featuring yelly-screamy creative – all to tell the world about this awesome extra thing he was offering with his service.

Bob simply washed people's cars before returning them without their previous knowledge and thanked them for their business.

Branding Only Happens
Between Customers

Which guy had a line-up of satisfied customers who told everyone and which guy had to endure complaints from customers complaining who were unhappy about their less-than-perfect previously promised car wash?

Bob had exceeded expectation and Frank had created inflated expectation.





Looking For An Avantage?

Maybe just surprise and delight. Possibily put your ego aside and just give great service. Perhaps tuck in a little something extra without making a fuss. If you do those extra little unexpected things your USP will become a lot clearer.

Do you think word
will get around?

@knealemann
Let’s create experiences, not campaigns.

Now That's Customer Service!

No Running on the Pool Deck

A couple of weeks ago, I came home to a delightful little lake in my dark hardwood floored kitchen. Fun times. After spending about 10 seconds in disbelief, I immediately turned off the water valve. Two hours and many towels later, I dried the surface water off the floor.


Did Somebody Call a Plumber?

The next day I bought a new facet and had it installed by a professional plumber who searched the house for more culprits. This plumber was recommended by a friend and was at my house within 12 hours.

I thought the problem was solved.
The slight warping would dry out, right?

Wrong

A week later, I called my insurance broker to report the claim. An hour after our call, a local agent called to arrange things. Two hours – yes, hours – after my original call, a local restoration company was in my kitchen assessing the damage. It’s been three days of noisy fans and plastic mats but they are on the case.

Free Cable and Internet

If this doesn’t work – and most have their doubts – the entire first floor of the house will be repaired, sanded and refinished. This will require what resembles a full move. Everything must be moved out, the floor takes at least a week to repair and redo and it might mean hotel livin’ for a while. Like I haven’t seen enough of those things! But they are all over it.

Surprise 'em All!

It’s not done yet and I know this post is premature but from the broker to the insurance company to the restoration guys – it’s been an amazing string of excellent customer service.

USP: Step One

If you want a unique selling proposition – treat your customers well. You are not at their beck and call, you are there to solve a problem, fix the pain, better their lives, enhance their experiences. Be all over that.

The cynic in me is alive and well and will only rest when this is all over. Something else you should keep in mind when dealing with clients. If you don't think they know, you're sunk.

Are you all over it with your customers?

@knealemann
knealemann at gmail dot com

Let’s create experiences, not campaigns.

Setting Up Your Strategic Plan

Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it.
Brian Tracy

Yesterday, I mentioned the dreaded business plan that takes months to develop which includes grand ideas that no one refers to once the planning meetings end. Been there? Yeah, me too.

Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.
Virginia Burden

Today, we talk about how to set up your strategic plan. The most difficult part of this process is buy-in from all involved. Once that happens, the rest is easier than drinking a glass of water.

A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of themself and their contribution to praise the skills of the others.
Norman Shidle

Have you ever felt yourself shut down in a meeting simply because you didn’t feel your ideas were being heard? Did you ever walk out of a meeting wondering why others hadn’t contributed? Are those two things related? Are they not simply the opposite sides of the same meeting?

No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.
H.E. Luccock

I often talk about how you can find your competitive advantage or unique selling proposition. Most think it’s about building a better widget or delivering your service faster than the other guy. Neither have anything to do with it.

Many hands make light work.
John Heywood

Have you ever had the privilege of launching something? If so, do you remember how it felt to be part of the co-creation? Did you notice that ideas were freely shared and everyone was involved? That is the starting point of a great plan.

Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Vince Lombardi

I was in a meeting yesterday and mentioned my days of 50-page business plans and the person thought that was my preference. My preference is a plan that works – no matter what length it is. That’s the point. In fact, the shorter the better.

Here are 13 things you need to build a proper strategic business plan.

1. Open and honest dialogue with everyone involved. It may include people outside of your organization.
2. Titles are irrelevant.
3. Appoint one person as leader – not the highest ranking official!
4. Keep each meeting to no longer than 45 minutes.
5. End each meeting with the phrase “Who does what by when?”
6. Begin every follow-up meeting with a list of completed tasks.
7. Make your plan simple, executable, realistic and flexible.
8. Disregard your competition. They may be doing it wrong.
9. Keep your focus squarely on your customers and potential customers.
10. Use simple language everyone can understand.
11. The final document should be as short as possible. Edit if needed.
12. Choose no more than three objectives for the next year.
13. The entire process should be completed in no more than five meetings.

Good luck. And let me know how I can help!

P.S. If you are the boss, you must afford everyone the chance to be right. This is not about you.

Thursday: What is Integrated Marketing To You?
Friday: How Can Social Media Help?

@knealemann

Sleeping Satellites

Is this the beginning of the end?

This is not news, this is not even shocking, and this has been on the way long before the economic downturn that is being used as the reason for all faltering businesses these days.

Bad business plans, crushing expenditures and time constraints will affect any company during any economic climate.

Satellite radio – as we know it – may be on the way out

This is bad news for investors and customers. Sirius and XM have spent millions attempting to beat terrestrial radio at their own game. They have done countless radio and television campaigns, purchased major sponsorship affiliations; hired Howard Stern for $100M U.S. a year, while offering hundreds of crystal clear “commercial free” radio choices.

The now merged venture is drowning in debt.

It was announced yesterday that Sirius XM is going to file for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. The fingers are pointing in all directions on this mess.

This was not a newsflash for company officials this week. They have known the costs and timeline since inception. The price tag on a satellite is $1.5 to 2 Billion and building hundreds of audio entertainment choices then market them is an enormously costly endeavor.

To believe that Sirius XM management wasn’t aware is like saying that the people running AIG didn’t know about the problems until they were 80 Billion in debt. Wouldn't alarms go off at around (say) the 10-15 Billion mark?

A quote here from Business Week:
The few poor souls who still hold Sirius XM (SIRI) stock may get poorer still. "I'll lose $1 million," says Michael Hartleib, a longtime activist shareholder. "They completely destroyed a perfectly viable company." Shares of the company closed at 11.39¢ on Feb. 10 after The New York Times said the company is preparing for a possible filing for Chapter 11 protection from creditors. Sirius declined to comment on the report.

I have given the radio industry over two decades of my life, and it is one of my true loves. Radio can be immediate, can react quickly and can create magic.

But if you start a business with no money, convince a bank to lend you some, then rack up your line of credit miles past your company’s ability to see the top of the pile, it is doubtful that you will be able to build quickly enough to write black ink.

Sirius XM have balloon payments due this year in the millions - and there just isn't the money to pay them.

Subscription based radio remains a foreign idea to most people and the offering has to be sweeter. Tell me why I need to buy gear and pay a monthly fee. Apple seems to have found a way to do that.

Add to that, the troubles in the auto industry which is where a significant number of pre-installed units were giving listeners an introduction to the services. Less cars sold, less new listeners.

Other issues for radio include: dwindling younger demos listening to satellite or terrestrial radio as well as consistent and better content. A morning show and music all day isn't enough. And there is a large percentage of people under 20 whose lives don't include radio. Younger becomes older and older becomes the target audience very quickly.

More from the Business Week article:
A bankruptcy filing by Sirius XM would have widespread implications not just for holders of the satellite radio company's debt and shares, but also for millions of listeners and for the celebrities like Howard Stern whose fat paychecks have made it harder for the company to pay its other bills.

A lot has been said about the Stern contract and the price of satellites in the atmosphere and the debt load. At the core of the issue are the discussions that took place at that first meeting when the idea began.

Too often companies attempt to retro blame some unforeseen factor. Satellite radio is a cool idea, but not an overnight fix or quick money grab. Anyone who claims they didn’t know that is not being completely honest with themselves.

What are your thoughts about satellite radio? Tried it? Like it?

Do you want Sirius XM to survive?

km