To celebrate my husband's birthday this year, we spent four days in Las Vegas.

It was the first time visiting for both of us.
We both had a great time, but we enjoyed very different things.

While the iconic hotels were gorgeous and exciting, I'm still completely baffled by the gambling. I just don't understand the allure of risking hundreds of dollars on chance...and a little strategy.

Maybe it's because I'm from a small town in a state that doesn't even have a lottery?
Maybe I'm too risk averse?
Maybe I've come to realize that keeping money is sometimes harder than making it in the first place?

Whatever the reason, it's now official since I've been to Las Vegas: casinos are simply not “my thing.”

But my husband grew up where state lotteries and Atlantic City were just a car ride away. He enjoys the thrill of it all. He's the guy that always gets a lottery ticket when he travels.

One afternoon we decided to split up and enjoy our own “things.”
I laid by the pool and finished a great book. He explored the strip and tried his luck at a few tables. Later, he returned to the hotel and we caught each other up on our afternoons.

He found himself at a blackjack table where he turned $200 in $700!
Even someone like me can appreciate that ROI.

As he shared his strategy, I couldn't help but think about small business owners.

You see, if he starts out with $100 and somehow (through sheer luck or strategy...you decide) turns that into $150, he'll put that initial $100 aside and then only continue to play with the “profit” he's made.

In recounting his big win, he proudly stated that he had made about $200 on his first $200. So, he put $200 of his now $400 aside so that he knew in a worst case scenario he wouldn't lose anymore than he came in with. He only continued to bet with the “profit.”

At one point, he went "all in" on one hand ($250).
If he lost, he lost the $250. If he won, he'd have $500.
Luckily, he won the hand, took his money, and met me by the pool...$500 richer.
But in either scenario -- win or lose -- he would have "broken even" on his time at the table.

Sounds smart.
After all, just breaking even sounds like a pretty great goal. You get hours of entertainment, drama, and competition for basically free. At no cost to you.

This is a wise decision when it comes to gambling, but no one would ever admit to applying the same strategy in their business.

Blackjack is recreation (for most).
Business is business.

Would you start a business with the goal of breaking even?
Would you invest $10,000 only to make $10,000 in a year?
Would you work 60 hours a week and not expect to take home any of the profit from your work?

Of course not.
Most people start their own business to either make more money or make more time in their lives.

Unfortunately, though, a lot of small business owners unknowingly treat it like a game of blackjack – using all the profits to keep playing the game.

This is usually cloaked by the excuse of wanting to grow the business.
Business owners want to grow their business, so they put everything (sometimes sacrificing their own salaries) back into the business in order to make that growth happen.

But what's the point of growing the business if you don't get any profit from it?

No one starts a job and expects to be paid the same amount over the life of their career. They want more. They work harder to earn more. Yet, a lot of small business owners I know pay themselves less than minimum wage when you calculate how much they work in their business.

There's truth in the idea of re-investing the profits into the business.
But it's also true that you do not have to invest all of them in order to grow.

I first discovered this concept when reading the book, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I highly recommend this if you own a business or are thinking about starting your own business. You can buy it here.

The idea is that you actually pre plan how much profit you want to make.
Then, reverse engineer your business model around that goal.

In my husband's scenario, when he made the first $100 off his $200 (so $300 total in his hands), he would have simply put a few bucks of that profit aside along with his initial investment. So, let's call it $225 instead of just $200 that's now in his pocket. He'd continue playing with the extra $75 of profit. And every hand that made money, he'd commit to taking a little sliver of that profit and tucking it away, then enjoy playing with the rest.

This means that if you “lose it all” in the next hand, you still walk away with more money than you started with.

Pretty easy concept to follow, right?

How much more should the Profit First strategy work for your business – assuming you've picked a business with better odds than a Las Vegas casino.

Having a plan for your profit does two things:

1. It gives you a reward for the risk of your time, capacity, & resources.
2. It proves that the business can (and should) function without 100% profit reinvestment.

The important thing to remember is that your profit plan doesn't have to be a huge percentage. In fact, starting with a small percentage of just 1% each month can be just as impactful and life changing as taking home an extra 25% of the profits. Small, consistent steps are often how we create the most meaningful, long term effects.

I'm sure you're at least familiar with Dave Ramsey.
He is a popular money managing expert and has helped millions of people get out of debt.

There are a lot of money gurus out there, so I was surprised to learn exactly WHY his debt strategy was so effective for so many people. Anyone who begins his program, starts by organizing all their debts from smallest to largest.

Sounds logical.
You need to know what you owe in order to come up with some sort of payment plan. But here's the reason why it works:

You begin by paying off the smallest debts first.

The numbers person in me thinks this is irrational.
For instance, $1,000 at 18% interest in credit card debt is “costing” you way more than the $100 cable bill that's one month late. But the Dave Ramsey plan encourages you to pay that smaller $100 debt first.

The reason why this plan helps so many people to get out and stay out of debt is because it implements consistency over intensity. It teaches you to whittle away at your seemingly insurmountable pile of debt one little bill at a time. By scratching off those small debts first, it gives you the emotional experience of small “wins,” consistently, at the very beginning of the process. Which keeps you engaged and committed to the process of getting out of debt.

And because of those small wins, you eventually tackle the $1,000 at 18% interest.

This is why the Profit First plan can be so revolutionary to your business.
By starting small and allocating as little as 1% of profits into your pocket, it gives you small, manageable, and consistent “wins.”

You quickly realize not only does it feel good to see 1% of that profit in your bank account, but taking 1% doesn't endanger the growth (or life) of your business. You can enjoy a small reward for your work without worrying that your business will fall apart next month because of that 1%.

And really, you know that if 1% is a “make or break” decision for your business, you probably don't have a good business model to begin with! But, this process of starting small is a way of realizing both the emotional reward of earning your profits and realizing what truly impacts your profit margin the most.

Once you start small, you can slowly increase that 1% to 1.5%, then next year to 2%, until you get to the ideal profit goal you want as a small business owner.

Stop using all your profits to keep playing the game.

Create a strategy so that you can enjoy experience and even if your next bet doesn't pan out, you leave the table with more money than you started with.  

Let's talk about converting a sale into a customer.
This is an expansion on the saying:
“Don't get a customer to make a sale. Make a sale to get a customer.”

The point of an irresistible offer (see Part 1) was to make a sale to gain a CUSTOMER.

A business will not survive off one-time sales.
You need repeat business or a convincing referral who will advise others to do business with you.

Yet, so often, this is how we market our businesses:
We spend our marketing dollars on intensity versus consistency.
We just want the sale (intensity) & give little thought to creating a customer (consistency).

We spend $1,000 on a full page ad in the newspaper and once we've submitted the ad to the editor, that's it – we've done our part and there is nothing left to do but hope it works.

Or, once we've made the sale, we're done and there is nothing left to do but wait for the next one and hope they come back.

But in reality, we do not have to succumb to this powerless “wait and hope” mentality. If you've followed Part 1 and Part 2, the ball is in your court to increase the chances that leads will come in and increase the chances that one sale will create a customer.

The power is in the follow up.
And the follow up can happen before and/or after the sale.

If you're like me, I used to have no idea what follow up meant or that it applied to my business. It was a foreign concept to me that there was a step beyond just “publishing an advertisement.”

But this is why you trade an irresistible offer for customer information.
So that you can follow up with them!

After they've signed up for your offer, give them a call to see how you can better assist them in making an appointment or visiting your business. Shoot them a reminder email if the offer is about to expire or win some extra trust and tell them you'll extend it for one more day.

If they've come in and redeemed the offer, give them a call just to say “thank you” for shopping local. Send them an email with a helpful tutorial or tip relevant to a topic you discussed while they were in your business. Or, call back a week later to make sure they're still enjoying what they purchased.

This is a completely new way to think about customer or potential customer interaction. And here's the thing:

IT WORKS.

Most people and businesses don't do it, automatically giving YOU the competitive advantage to be different, memorable, and more valuable to your customers.

Let's consider two scenarios.

Scenario #1
Imagine for a moment that you were in a very busy high school.
You want to sell your delicious chocolate chip cookies.
So, you pick a room on the busiest hallway, put a big sign on the door about your cookies, and wait for kids to come into the room to buy cookies. You have a cool sign on the busiest hallway. You've done your part. So you just hope and wait.

Scenario #2
You choose a room on a hallway, you open your door, and put up your sign...but you add a tear off ticket for one FREE cookie. You see a couple of kids grab a ticket and go tell their friends. You watch their friends come back to get a ticket of their own.

Now, tell me in which scenario would you be more comfortable “following up” with these high school kids? Which one naturally lends itself to follow up?

In Scenario #1, if you were to venture into the hall and flag a kid down, the only natural question is “Did you see my sign about cookies?”
To which, you probably won't get a high (or enthusiastic) reply rate.

There's no opening to create a conversation.
So your only course of action is to talk about your product.
Which can sound "salesy," or pushy. 

This is what makes scenario #2 different.

Scenario #2 creates an opportunity for conversation.
The kids who have taken your ticket are naturally looking for direction on how to get their FREE cookie. In fact, they'd probably welcome your question:

“Hey, would you prefer to come get your cookie before or after class?”

When they come in to get the cookie, it would be more natural to ask which kind of cookie they prefer or how often they eat cookies. You can easily suggest they try the peanut butter cookie, too. You might naturally sell a box of your cookies because they want to take some home. And they would be more interested in the text you send next week about the cookie delivery service you offer on Fridays.

You just practiced a successful follow up.
The reason it was easier is because the kids were already familiar with you.
They read your sign, took your ticket (offer), and were more “ready” to talk with you about cookies.

All you had to do was start the conversation.

This makes perfect sense when you're selling cookies to high school kids.
Yet, we tend to opt for Scenario #1 when it comes to our businesses.

We put all our dollars into a fancy sign on the busiest “hallway” with little to no focus on creating leads. It's really flashy and really big, but not very effective. Even worse, the only question left to ask is, “Did you see my sign about cookies?” This is what so much of traditional marketing has been like for us as small business owners.

It's all intensity, no consistency.

“Intensity” is trying to get in shape by going to the gym one day for eight hours.
That's not how you get into shape or lose weight.

"Consistency" is going to the gym every day for twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes accomplishes nothing by itself.
But when done consistently, over time, your body changes.

Follow up is consistency, not intensity.
The people who have given you their information are already familiar with you and your offer. It's like walking into that room filled with kids who took your ticket and are ready to talk about your cookies!

The ball is in your court.

Follow up means creating a conversation.
Follow up means writing thank you notes every week.
Follow up means emailing them advice or tips relevant to their needs.

One email, one phone call, one thank you note accomplishes nothing by itself.
But when done consistently, over time, it creates more leads, more sales, and more customers who come back again and again.

If you're looking for a way to create this sort of marketing and follow up strategy in your own business, I highly suggest you check out Main Street Marketing. It is an incredibly powerful, easy-to-use, software system specifically designed for  small businesses just like you.


P.S.
All credit to the consistency versus intensity argument goes to Simon Sinek.
If you would like to hear his full explanation, click here.
I also highly recommend watching his Ted Talk here.

Once you have created a really compelling offer that “hooks” potential customers, you should be prepared for those potential customers to come into your place of business.

This is where your “marketing” hands the baton to “sales.”
Remember, the best test of marketing is whether or not it results in people talking about your business and most importantly visiting your business.
The whole point of the “hook” is to get them IN.

Here is where most business owners drop the ball.
They think that the mission is accomplished when a potential customer steps through the door.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

When people step through your door, your most important job becomes to affirm their decision to visit your business. Otherwise, you'll end up with the one-time visitors who only purchase the $11 item with their $10 gift card.

There are three ways to assure your customers that they've made the right decision to shop with you.

1. Make it obvious that they are welcomed
You'd be surprised at how often this is overlooked.
But if you really think about it, how often do YOU remember being greeted upon entering a store? Can you recall what words are said or better yet, can you remember the face who greeted you?

Probably not.

Most business owners (and especially their staff) are too afraid of being “salesy” or “hovering” over their customers. And it's true, you don't want the negative feeling we've all experienced at one time or another of an overbearing salesperson. However, most of us highly overestimate the likelihood that genuine hospitality will be received as “salesly.”

In this day and age, when you can order products or services from the comfort of your home, it is imperative that we go the extra mile to show appreciation to those that do come into our store!

• Ask open ended questions.
• Make it known that you work there (or are the owner).
• Make it obvious that you are eager to help them.
• Tell them a little bit of your “story” (WHY you do what you do).

2. Have something of value (beyond your “hook”) to offer them.
This is the best way to turn a “hook” into a bigger sale and create a greater sense of value to your customers. Have a higher margin product that compliments your offer or an educational resource that your customer will most likely find valuable if they're redeeming your offer.

This allows you another reason to interact with your customer and to offer them something of value. It affirms that your customer has made the right decision to do business with you and helps to establish you as an expert in your business.

3. Make it memorable.
This is really the key to an experience.
Make sure the customer has some reason to remember their visit with you.
Whether it's a conversation, a glass of champagne, or bag of popcorn, strive to offer something that your customer can remember about coming into your business.

Think this sounds too “fluffy” or “un-measurable?”
Think you can't afford to spend the money on “extras?”
Consider this fact:

Every business, on average, loses about 15% of their customer base each year. Of the customers who leave, 86% say they do so because of “indifferent customer service.”

Indifferent is defined as “having no particular interest or sympathy; unconcerned; neither good nor bad; mediocre.”

They do not leave because of an outright negative experience.
They do not leave because you drop the ball and make a mistake.
They do not leave because you have higher prices or inferior products.

They leave because they aren't convinced their business matters to you.

The next time you go shopping, notice how you are treated by the staff.
Do they greet you? What do they say? When do they speak to you?

Chances are, at most businesses you don't genuinely interact with a human until you're in the checkout line. And even then, it's usually minimal and forgettable.

So, don't make the mistake of getting potential customers into your store using an irresistible offer (or HOOK) without having a plan of what to do when they walk through the door. Be so confident in your in-store experience that you know they will become a customer if you can just get them IN.

There's no need to be afraid of offering something irresistible if you are confident you can convert those leads and offers into lifetime customers.

• Let them know you CARE that they entered your door
• Give them more value and establish yourself as the expert
• Make it MEMORABLE

In the next post, we'll cover the last step of creating lifetime customers:
Follow Up.

Unless you're in a high price service industry, you've probably never had a customer service plan for after the customer leaves your store. I'll explain how you can create a simple way to follow up with your customers after they've made a purchase.

We're continuing our thoughts on the idea of how to increase foot traffic in our business.
Specifically, how we convert that foot traffic into paying customers.
Last week, I mentioned that we should provide three things in our marketing efforts:

1. a “hook” to get them into the store
2. an in-store experience that confirms their decision to shop with us
3. a way to re-target and re-engage them afterwards

Today, we'll be focusing on what I mean by a “hook” to get them into your store.

A HOOK IS A VERB.
First of all, a “hook” should be just that: something irresistible that people feel they cannot pass up.
It hooks them in! It grabs their attention!

Most businesses fail miserably at creating an irresistible offer. And here's why:
They've been burned in the past by giving away profits in attempts to gain leads or customers.

So, they anxiously offer “10% OFF” or “$5 OFF $50 or more” in attempts to prevent those nasty old “coupon chasers” from taking advantage of them again.

But let's be real...10% is not a “hook.”
It's not irresistible.
It's basically sales tax.

Here's what really happens when you offer 10% OFF:
Since it's not an enticing offer, chances are the only people who will take advantage of it are people who already shop with you!

These are people who were already prepared to pay full price for your product or service!

So, you effectively give away 10% of your profit and gain no new customers.

I get it. I've been there, done that.
That's why I'm writing this. So you don't make the same mistakes, too.

What I've learned is to focus on creating something so truly valuable that someone (by all rational thinking) would be crazy to pass it up! This will actually grab people's attention and call them to action.

And guess what? The more irresistible the offer, the more buzz it gets.
Existing customers tell their friends.
New people who got the offer tell their friends about it.
Everyone wants it and everyone talks about it.
You get fresh foot traffic into your business and (if you create that affirming experience around it) you get new customers who are so impressed with your business, they come back!

THERE MUST BE A REASON.
The second guideline in creating a hook is this:
There must be a REASON for your offer.

WHY are you offering something in the first place?
The best reasons are real and honest.
Here are two examples:

“You've probably driven past our store a million times, but have never been in...so we want to offer this gift card to you so that you'll have a chance to stop and shop!”

“We've got a new coffee mug that is guaranteed to keep your coffee warm for 9 hours! I want you to know that it really works – so come in this Monday and get 40% OFF your first mug!”

In these two scenarios, the reasons are real.
The first example business has obviously been around for a while.
The business feels like tons of people drive by, but just haven't stopped in yet. So, the “reason” its giving away a gift card is to give you a reason to finally stop instead of driving by!

The second example is a business that wants people to know about something specific it offers. This is best used when you think the particular product (the mug in this scenario) could be a “gateway drug” of sorts to the rest of your products or services.

For example, if you own a paint store, you offer a FREE gallon of paint.
Sounds exciting for anyone contemplating a quick DIY project over the weekend.

But you offer a free gallon, knowing full well that most projects need more than just one gallon of paint to be completed. Oh, and by the way, be sure to grab some extra drop cloths, paint trays, and brushes.
You just turned that FREE gallon into a $75 sale!

THERE MUST BE AN EXCHANGE.
This is the most important guideline that nearly every business owner misses when creating an offer. It's one that can make all the difference. Creating an “exchange” is how you protect yourself (and your offer) from getting abused. Creating an “exchange” is how you can leverage an offer into a profit!

Offers are simply a mode of exchange between you and a potential customer.
We are not just giving something away, incurring all the expense, and gaining nothing in return.
An offer is a two way street!
If someone wants what you have to offer, then they should be willing to give you something in return.

Normally, in our world, that's money.
Here, we're creating a “hook” to get people into the store.
So, we'll view that exchange in the form of information a potential customer is willing to give us. The beautiful part to all this, is that the better the deal, the more information we're able to get!

Someone might be hesitant to give you their email address in exchange for a 10% OFF coupon. But, I guarantee they will happily supply it in exchange for a $20 gift card!

In fact, if you've created a really irresistible hook, they'll probably give you anything you ask for:
full name, mailing address, phone number, & email!

THIS is where the money is: present value & future value.
You will have created present value in the form of sales when people redeem your offer. You will have created future value by attaining their personal information.

Not only will your offer get people through your door and into your store (present value), but you will have created a database of people who are most likely to become repeat customers (future value)!

So there you have it, the most important three guidelines for creating your own “hook.”

In the next post, we'll cover how to create an affirming experience.
One that confirms your potential customer has made a smart decision by grabbing your offer and coming into your store.

This is how you turn something FREE into a sale.

Depending on how this title hits your ears, it may sound counterintuitive at first.
Our wildest dreams as a business owner include a steady stream of foot traffic through out store, right? But obviously we need that foot traffic to convert into paying customers if we want to pay the bills and make money!

Often times this is where we get stuck. And understandably so.
After all, we're the ones with all the skin in the game.
We have to pay the rent whether or not people come in.
We have to pay for the product up front to stock our shelves in the first place.
So naturally, we want to make sure that we have more than “window shoppers” or “browsers.”

We want them to BUY SOMETHING, too.
So we hyper focus on making the sale out of fear that the customer may not come back again.

Here's the problem with that thinking:
it's not focused on the value of a lifetime customer.
To be clear, the problem is not that we want to make money, the problem is that we don't take into consideration the value of customer retention.

Isn't that the point?
You want them to come back?

We should focus on providing three things in our marketing efforts:

1. a “hook” to get them INTO the store
2. an experience that confirms their decision to shop with us
3. a way to re-target and re-engage them afterwards

If we've really created something of value that people want, then we should rest in the fact that if we can just get them in the door once (marketing efforts), then their experience will confirm it was a good decision and they'll come back.

Therefore, in theory, even if we have to spend money to get them in the door the first time, our efforts will still be profitable because we will have truly created a CUSTOMER, not just a sale.

In the next two posts, I'll flesh out what this process can actually look like.
We'll cover HOW to create a “hook” to get them in, and how to use those “hooks” (even if it's a coupon) to make more money. I'll also give you a practical way to re-connect with them AFTER they've left your store to ensure they come back.

Customer retention is really the key to increasing your sales and your profit.
Statistically, every business loses 15% of its customer base each year.
That's a national average. A hard, cold fact.

So, if you think the key to growing your business is simply appealing to more people or getting new people through your door, then you'd have to add at least 15% more new customers to your business each year just to “break even” on customers. Wouldn't you come out better just focusing on retaining more customers every year?

We do need to focus on getting fresh, new people through our doors.
But the goal should be that we focus on making those people customers, not just dollar signs for the day.

I'll show you how to get new people through your door, but most importantly, I'll tell you how to keep them coming back.

As we talked about in last week's blog, the world has changed rapidly in the last fifty years. We live in a truly globalized world created by the advancement of technology and communication. We can now shop in the comfort of our home for millions of products or services from virtually anywhere in the world. Regardless of time zone or what type of currency is in our wallet.

Have a question?
Get an answer at the touch of your fingers within seconds.
Wonder where you are or how to get home?
Get turn by turn navigation instantaneously on your phone.
We can now tell our lights to turn on or our thermostats to turn down without even being in the house.

This is a remarkable time to be alive. Especially considering the majority of Americans didn't have electricity in their homes until the 1930s. Home internet access wasn't available until 1991, cell phones didn't become common until the late 1990s, and the first iPhone (our modern day smart phone) is only 12 years old.

Everything moves faster, better, or cheaper today than it did yesterday.
The world is constantly changing, and generally for the better as a consumer.

But how are we, a small business, supposed to compete with this?
Where does this leave the small family owned store on Main Street that doesn't have an online shopping cart?

Last week we discovered that not only can we compete in today's market place...we can WIN. We just have to find our slingshot. If you need a refresher on last week's topic or the word “slingshot” just came out of left field for you...I would encourage you to read last week's blog. You can find it here.

When you're finding your “slingshot,” that thing you can do better than the big box stores, it allows you to fight and win situations that seem too difficult for a small guys like us.

So, today I offer you another empowering realization:
You don't have to offer the best product or service to win.

I know this one seems incredibly counter intuitive.
So, I'll reference one of history's most successful advertisers to ease your mind.

David Ogilvy, known as the “father of advertising,” worked with the biggest accounts in Manhattan in the 1950s. The television series, Mad Men, is loosely based on advertising agencies during that time period.

Through his years of experience, Ogilvy suggested this concept – you don't need to have the best product on the market to win.

“In the past, just about every advertiser has assumed that in order to sell his goods he has to convince consumers that his product is superior to his competitor's.

This may not be necessary. It may be sufficient to convince consumers that your product is positively good. If the consumer feels certain that your product is good and feels uncertain about your competitor's, he will buy yours.” -Ogilvy on Advertising, p.19

You don't have to be the best.
You don't have to offer the best.
You just need to be the unquestionably GOOD option.

This actually makes a lot more sense when you understand how the brain processes choice. No matter how rational you think you may be, we (as humans) rarely make rational decisions. It takes a lot of energy to process multiple options, facts, and possible outcomes. Our body has to burn energy to make decisions. Our body's instinct is to make the best decision using as little fuel as possible in order to stay alive. So, the harder it is for us to determine what the best decision is, the more inclined we are to take the easiest choice or simply defer the decision (quit).

This is the reason ubiquitous products have different labels.
Imagine this scenario:

You have a real problem with soap scum building up in your shower. You are not a soap scum expert. This is simply an inconvenient issue that comes with the luxury of having a shower. It is your only day off this week and you have to tackle this issue before your out of town family arrives to visit for the weekend.

So, you walk into a store and immediately gravitate towards the aisle with a dozen different bathroom cleaners. You purchase the one that says “knocks out soap scum in minutes” underneath the name brand.

Do you think for one second this was a rational purchase?
Did you read every ingredient in each option?
Would you even know what is the best chemical formula for fighting soap scum?

Nope.

You made your purchase because it most successfully communicated a solution to your problem. In fact, the generic bottle beside it probably had the exact same ingredients. But you paid more for the brand name bottle because it best communicated the problem you were trying to solve: soap scum.

Your choice convinced you that it was the decidedly GOOD option.

Your success is based on how clearly you communicate, not “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Especially today, we are obsessed with “the best.” This isn't limited to personal consumption. Even as business owners we seem to think THE BEST is the only differentiation between products or services. We wear ourselves out trying to have the best sign, fighting to get something into our store before somebody knocks it off for less, making sure the store down the street doesn't copy our latest style, or worrying that at any moment someone else will offer the same thing at a better price.

Knowing that you don't have to have the best frees you from this rat race.
Striving for excellence in what you do is important. That should be a baseline standard for any business.
​
As a business owner, you are first and foremost the #1 marketer of your business. You decide its message. Clear communication of what your customer needs and how you are a decidedly good at meeting that need is what makes you WIN.  

You can compete in an industry that creates the same thing.
This means that if you can speak more clearly and effectively to your customers, they'll choose YOUR product or service over the thousands of other choices out there. You don't have to be unique or new idea to be successful. Your message just has to clearer than the others.

Even if you are a niche business, there is always the worry about other businesses selling products that may bleed over into your niche. No problem. If you can communicate to your customers more clearly than them, then you still win.

You do not have to play dirty to win.
You do not have to convince your customers that your competitor's product is bad. Instead, you simply focus on convincing them that your product is decidedly good. You are playing a game in which the competition is an afterthought. Your sole focus is your customer's need and your ability to meet it. You then communicate that so clearly that they can't help but see that yours is an easy choice because it is positively good.

Don't worry about being perceived as the best.
Strive to be the positively good.

You don't have to go back very far in history to discover a time where owning a small, family business was considered a viable career path. One that was the main source of family income and put food on the table every night.

Not too long ago, most people lived in the same small town their whole lives. Venturing out from a town where everyone knows you and you know everyone was not common nor particularly easy to do. Sure, if you had a car, you could physically travel. But, there was a significant lack of basic conveniences we take for granted today: fast food, safe, clean hotel options, and directional or roadside assistance.

While some major department stores opened in the 19th century, those were mainly located in cities – not small towns. Shopping local didn't need a branding campaign, because there really wasn't an alternative. For most people, shopping local was the only way you bought groceries, clothes, hardware, and anything else you wanted.

By these standards, if your business met a need and had a visible spot on Main Street with decent operating hours, you could expect to do pretty well just by turning the OPEN sign around in the mornings.

Today is very different.

What's interesting, though, is that we (as humans) still love the social ideal of a small town. We love feeling a “part” of a community. We love knowing others and being known by others. We consistently rally behind political platforms that preach the importance of family values and small business.

The problem is that although the social ideals of shopping in town or supporting “local” still appeals to us emotionally...the truth is, we simply don't shop that way. “Shop Local” has become an actual term because there are so many other alternatives today!

The OPEN door policy on "Main Street, U.S.A." doesn't work anymore. You can't assume people will come through your door simply because your door exists.

So does this mean small business is dead?

Absolutely not.
It just means that we have to do things differently than our grandparents did.

You are already, by definition, different than Wal-Mart, Amazon, & every other “big box” store. All you have to do is figure out WHY being different is valuable to your customers.

To be very clear:
You are NOT competing with these guys on their terms. That would assume you are doing things the same way and you have the potential to do it better than them. You are not and you don't. That would be like David trying to take down Goliath with his own sword.

You (a small business) simply cannot compete with Amazon, for example, on the value of price or variety.

Instead, you have a very clear objective:
IDENTIFY WHAT YOU CAN DO THAT AMAZON CAN'T.

Sound like an impossible task?
Not at all. It's just one we fail to consider. We tend to focus on everything Amazon or other big box stores can do and fall into despair.

It's true, they can do some things far better than we can. But it's also true that we can do some things far better than they can and sometimes we can do things that they will never be able to do.

This question is something you have to seriously ask yourself as a business owner. And, truthfully, if you can't think of anything you can do better, then you should probably consider that your business may not be a profitable idea at all. Harsh, but true. Better to not waste thousands of dollars and countless hours playing a game you can't win.

On the bright side, most of us can do a handful of things better than the “big box” stores. What's surprising is that a lot of this is so common sense, we've never considered it leverage before.

Be the local expert.
We can access more products or services online than ever before. But what that access cannot do is advise us on which product or service is most beneficial for our specific situation.

YOU are local.
YOU have the ability to listen & assess your customer's specific need.
YOU have the knowledge & experience to be an advisor for their unique situation.
YOU are the expert.

Your story cannot be copied.
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume none of us have a personal connection to Jeff Bezos. He's never emailed you or called you or sent you a hand written thank you note, right?

Why does that matter?
Because as much as we love our Prime membership or our “one click” ordering, as soon as someone else figures out how to do that bigger, better, or cheaper...we'll move on to that.

As a small business owner, our major leverage is WHO we are and the STORY our business tells about us. If this is your first time hearing this concept, I'm sure you are having the same gut reaction I did:

“This is fluffy and cheesy. No one actually cares about my story or the face behind the business.”

My gut reaction was wrong.

Remember what I said earlier?
We all still love the social ideal of “small town, USA.” It's true.
That's why we chant “shop local” while we renew our Prime account for another year. Despite our sometimes insatiable hunger for convenience or instant gratification, we deeply long to “fit in” and be “a part” of something bigger. It's why we don't live in isolation. We like to make connections with others. That's why billions of people are on social networks: to reconnect or share their life with others.

Your story as a business owner is the most important, unique offering you can leverage. You (the owner) can personally assist your customers, call them to follow up, and have the ability to know their personal stories as well.

Connecting to others through your own story is a powerful thing.
If you do it well, chances are that you'll be top of mind the next time they need something you offer. And chances are, they'll choose YOU regardless of what is “bigger, better, or cheaper.”

If this still sounds too “fluffy” to you – try this:
start calling customers one week after they've purchased your service or product just to say thank you. Not to sell them on anything. Not to tell them about this week's offer, but just to say “thank you for shopping local with me.”

Let me know what happens.
I think you'll be surprised.
And I bet Jeff Bezos has never done that.

Create a value beyond your product.
By becoming the local expert in your industry & sharing your unique story, you begin to create something that has value for your customers beyond your product or direct service. As I said before, especially with the “big box giants,” us small guys simply can't beat their value of low price or wide variety.

That would be like David fighting Goliath with the same weapons.

So we find our “slingshot” to deliver the best value to our customers.
When you position yourself as an expert with a unique story or mission, you start to build an arsenal of valuable content for your customers that builds trust. The best way to identify what your customer considers valuable from you is to listen to what they say!

In my store, I noticed that we kept getting the same five questions about how to use our products. So, instead of repeating them over and over, I put together a video tutorial you could watch online. I created a way for customers who were interested to sign up to receive the “FREE” video series.

485 people signed up in two weeks.
That was obviously pretty valuable to a lot of people.

In conclusion, small business owners should take great pride in today's marketplace. We tend to focus on our "smallness" as a weakness instead of an asset. But realize that having to differentiate yourself actually sharpens your service and makes you more valuable to your community. You are contributing something no one else can. 

How do you beat the “Goliaths” of your industry?
Not by using the same swords they use.

You beat them when you find your slingshot.

I've grown up in a small business.

Both of my parents own their own businesses. My dad owns his own construction company and my mom opened a gift store in 1992 while working full time for a large corporation near my hometown. Their work ethic is unparalleled. I am incredibly proud to belong to them. 

So, when I say I've grown up in a small business, I mean it quite literally.

I also come from a great community. One that is reminiscent of Andy Griffith's Mayberry. A small town where everyone knows your name & how you're doing. But even so, I've noticed that it seems some people view local, small business as a “community project” of sorts. Something to “give to” on Small Business Saturday that, otherwise, exists to decorate the sidewalks of their downtown Main Street.

There are basic misunderstandings about small businesses, how they operate and why they exist. This blog is intended to explore those myths and provide a factual, realistic answer to them.


This blog is for you: a small business owner.


It is intended to create a safe space where you can grapple with those
hard-to-balance issues of running a business in a small community. It openly acknowledges and gives answers to stereotypes and misunderstandings you battle every day. It is designed to empower you with a renewed sense of purpose.  

I believe small business matters.
I believe it shapes lives & can be a vehicle to serve its community the best. 
I believe a small business can both fulfill a dream & support a family.

Admittedly, I do not know everything, but I do believe my life experience has offered me a better understanding of a small, family owned business than the “average Joe.”

Long Live Small Business.