Brenda Bence

In the second of a three-part article, we will discuss the next two resources that will make successful marketing possible for your business, whatever your budget may be.

We have already discussed the #1 marketing resource that every business already has at its disposal – Positioning – that can build your brand or business successfully at low cost or no cost at all. Now, let’s cover two more.

Resource #2: EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Many companies put their focus first and foremost on trying to market to new prospects, but I contend that the key to success is to market to existing customers and let them help you bring in new prospects. In fact, statistics indicate it costs 6-9 times more to attract a new client than to keep an existing client happy. You can grow your business faster – and less expensively – by marketing to your existing clients.

It’s all about creating a dialogue and building a relationship. So, it’s key to keep your business or brand name in front of your clients regularly. That way, when the need for your product or service arises again, yours is the first business that comes into your customer’s mind.

What are some inexpensive ways to do that? Provide regular two-way communications with your customers in the form of a newsletter or regular e-mails where you can offer them important industry updates. Make sure to keep existing customers aware of any new products you are offering and/or of any new product or service improvements.

Make sure your existing customers are happy with your offerings. How can you be sure existing clients will keep coming back for more? Get to know them and their needs as well as you know your own business. If you don’t have the money for a full-blown market research initiative, and you don’t have the time to sit down with every customer and ask questions, you can still:

• Do DIY Focus Groups – Informal, in-house research sessions are ideal for testing new products, understanding attitudes, and getting immediate feedback.
• Treat Complaints Like Gold – A dissatisfied customer is your best resource for information on how to make your business better. Make it easy for customers to complain, and watch for trends.
• Conduct “Man on the Street” Interviews – Ask prospects, new customers, and returning buyers about any unmet needs they might have.

Resource #3: PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

I’m always surprised by the number of people who tell me they don’t regularly use the products or services they market. This is a big mistake. There’s nothing like personal experience to help you form an opinion. As such, your company’s offerings are a continuous source of inexpensive marketing information.

Give your products and services a regular “test drive” and look at them with the fresh eyes of a prospect. Your never-used-this-before perspective will help you scrutinize every aspect of what you sell, giving you insights about potentially vital improvements.

Better yet, get some unbiased people to “mystery shop” your products and services and hear what they think. No one on your staff should know those individuals are mystery shoppers – they should remain anonymous – then ask them to use your products or services, write up what the experience was like, and share it with you. It doesn’t cost you much, and you’re likely to glean great new perspectives from it.

And, of course, it’s also important to be honest about whether your products or services are “truly” superior to the competition. Are you really selling a better mousetrap? If you are, is that superiority immediately visible and noticeable? If you do have superiority that is noticeably different to your customer in a single use, get your product in the hands of potential customers – even if you have to give it away free the first time. If it’s that good, customers will be back for more.

If you don’t have superiority, or if your superiority is hard to prove, create or focus on a meaningful point of difference. Find a niche need in the marketplace, and cater to the people who need exactly what you have to offer. Turn that into a competitive advantage, and make it ownable/exclusive.

Look up “Smarter Marketing without Breaking the Bank Part 3” to discover the two remaining marketing resources you already have which can help you build a better brand without breaking the bank.

In this first of a three-part article, we will discuss how smart branding and marketing is always possible, whatever your budget may be.

Why do 90% of businesses fail when times are tough? It’s the same reason that any business can fail when times are good: faulty marketing.

Faulty marketing (or no marketing at all) means no customers. And that means no sales, no profits, and no business … fast. Marketing to build a powerful brand is all about identifying the needs of a target market and taking action to satisfy those needs better than the competition. So, embracing a customer-led mindset throughout the company is critical to success. Every decision on all aspects of your business – from product design and pricing to supply chain and distribution channels – must revolve around customers and their needs.

Empty Pockets, Full Marketing Plan

I often hear business owners and managers say, “That sounds good, but I don’t have enough money, people, or resources to market effectively.” The key to success is to change your mindset from what you don’t have to what you do have. In fact, I guarantee you already have five powerful resources in your company that can help you market effectively. For business owners who are prepared to build and maintain a solid marketing foundation, these five resources can be leveraged to bring you greater success.

In this article, we’ll focus on the first marketing resource. But, we’ll cover four more in upcoming articles:

• Resource #1: Positioning – The way you want customers to perceive, think, and feel about your business versus competition.
• Resource #2: Customers – We’ll talk about how to effectively market to keep your current clients coming back for more.
• Resource #3: Your Products and Services – Learn to review your portfolio through the eyes of your customers, and drive more business.
• Resource #4: Your Team – Uncover powerful ways that your team can help you market, day-in and day-out.
• Resource #5: Your Competition – How can your competition help you grow your own business? We’ll explore this in the final article of this three-part series.

First, let’s turn to Positioning.

Resource #1: POSITIONING

Why is positioning important? Without positioning to differentiate your brand or business in a meaningful way, your products or services become commodities, and you end up competing on price alone – a precarious market position at best. So, businesses without well-defined positioning statements are not in the driver’s seat. After all, if you aren’t exactly sure what your company stands for, how can your customer be sure? In fact, if you don’t take charge of your positioning yourself, there’s a good chance your competition will step in and define your positioning for you.

I often hear business owners say, “But, positioning is only for big companies or companies who sell direct to consumers.” Or, “We’ve never written it down, so we don’t even have a positioning.” The truth is: Your company already has a positioning whether you know it or not. Large or small, your company’s positioning is how customers perceive, think, and feel about your brand or business versus competition. Since your clients are already out there perceiving, thinking, and feeling about you right now, your positioning already exists in their minds. The question is: Do you have the positioning you want?

Another popular myth is that small companies don’t need positioning. In reality, it’s just the opposite: Smart positioning helps level the playing field for businesses with less resources. While large companies often have deeper pockets to help communicate what they want their business to stand for, companies with fewer resources must work smarter to identify and solidify that one particular “sweet spot” that they, and they alone, can and want to own.

Taking charge of your existing positioning is one of the most powerful activities you can do to stand out from the competition and win in the marketplace. And, it doesn’t have to cost you a lot.

How to do that? The key is to spend quality time with your management team defining and aligning on the six core elements that make up your company’s positioning: Target Market, Need, Competitive Framework, Benefits, Reasons Why, and Character. These six fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to form your Positioning Statement. Once defined, your positioning should become a mantra of sorts for your team, guiding everyone on a daily basis and helping to make important decisions. That’s how you build a powerful position in the market without spending a lot to do so.

Look up “Smarter Marketing without Breaking the Bank Part 2” for the second of this three-part article to learn about the next two marketing resources that you can use to create a powerful, but inexpensive, marketing plan for your business.

I have some exciting news to share! I submitted a quote, and it got selected to be featured in the Woman’s Advantage 2010 Shared Wisdom Calendar.

Today – January 15, 2010 – is the day that “my” quote will appear on the page-a-day calendar.

The reason I wanted to share this news in particular is because the quote I submitted and that was selected for this year’s calendar holds a very special place in my heart. You see, my father – who passed away 6 years ago – often recited these words to me throughout my life and, even now, this phrase continues to have an impact on me.

So here it is! I hope these words bring you as much inspiration as they have for me over the years….

“There’s always room for the best at the top. It’s your job to get there.”

Visit the upper right hand corner of the home page of www.womenentrepreneur.com today (January 15, 2010) to read the quote. Then, visit the site daily to view a new, inspirational quote from the Woman’s Advantage Calendar. I really enjoy reading advice from so many dynamic woman – and I hope you will, too!

All the best to you -
Brenda Bence

What would you say is the most critical success factor for business growth in your company? If you’re like 91% of the respondents in a recent study of CEOs in North America, Europe, and Asia, you would say “developing leaders.” In this article, we’ll explore why leadership development has become more vital to business success than ever, and why companies are now overwhelmingly choosing a previously-untapped resource – Executive Coaching – as a key part of the solution.

Executive Coaching On the Rise

In a Fortune 500 survey, 43% of CEOs and 71% of senior executive team members said that they have worked with a coach, 63% of companies said they plan to increase their use of coaching over the next five years, and 92% of leaders who have used a coach in the past plan to do so again.

Why? The statistics indicate a clear answer: Coaching works. In a study of 370 participants who had worked with executive coaches, the group went from the 50th percentile in performance to the 93rd percentile. Amoco Corp./BP evaluated the impact of executive coaching over a ten-year period and discovered that managers who were coached received 50% higher average salary increases because their performance was so much better.

So, what does this mean for you and your company? It means that coaching is a powerful option when you need to transform managers into leaders who can handle today’s ever-changing world. Executive Coaching allows you to dramatically improve your leadership bench strength.

But why turn to an outside source for developing leaders? A brief history of business over the last three decades may shed some light.

Leadership Skills – Yesterday and Today

In the 1970s and 1980s, corporations used a pyramid structure with the CEO at the top. Most executives had three or four direct reports and could therefore spend quality time providing on-the-job training for them. If you had solid functional skills during that era – marketing, finance, and sales, for example – that was all you needed to win as a leader. Termed “hard” skills, these were considered most important, while “soft” skills like team management and communication were deemed of lesser value, if not altogether dispensable.

Then the 1990s arrived. Wall Street became tougher on companies, demanding better and better results. Most markets had tapped out domestically and started to look internationally. All of this brought about a surge of mergers and acquisitions resulting in larger and larger organizations. These huge conglomerates, too big to use pyramid structures, turned to flattened matrix organizations. The result? Managers suddenly had 8-12 direct reports, less time to train each individual, and they also found themselves with different bosses in different locations for different functions. The complexity of doing business had increased dramatically.

Other critical changes took place at the same time, intensifying the pace and challenges related to change:

• More and more women entered the workforce, resulting in more diversity in the workplace.
• People were living longer so, for the first time in the history of modern capitalism, four generations were working under the same roof.
• The rapid changes taking place in technology meant that the “work week” had become 24/7 for many organizations.
• Working across hemispheres created the need to manage time zones and cultural diversity, upping the importance of strong people skills.

Dramatic Changes in Such a Short Period – The Outcomes?

In this environment, functional skills have now become the price of entry. Previously considered “soft” skills are now the “hard” skills that are vital to becoming a successful leader. Universities and MBA programs rarely teach those skills, and the flattened organizations of today allow little or no time for the busy leader to receive direct on-the-job coaching.

As a result, employee loyalty has dropped dramatically, bringing the average tenure in any given job to three years. Employers find it increasingly difficult to retain their best employees. The pace of change and increased scrutiny – including new regulations from government – are relentless. Last – but not least – as baby boomers (the largest group of people ever in the work force) begin to reach retirement age, companies are starting to realize an even greater shortage of good leaders for the future.

The result of all of this means many companies and HR departments are turning to outside executive coaches to develop and strengthen their leaders.

What is Executive Coaching Anyway?

There is a myth about executive coaching that it’s about “fixing” behavior problems. Nothing could be further from the truth! Coaching isn’t consulting, counseling, or therapy. It isn’t about regretting a past that can’t be changed. It’s about focusing on a future that can be changed.

An executive coach is a skilled professional who develops an ongoing relationship with the leader-client and focuses on helping that individual to take action toward bringing to life those stated goals. A coach serves as a combination of a mentor, manager, personal trainer, and sports coach. A good coach doesn’t provide solutions to the client. Instead, the coach draws out solutions from the client. This helps already successful leaders achieve positive, lasting changes in behaviors that allow them to transform themselves and their teams, ultimately leading to better overall business results.

How Can an Executive Coach Help?

A recent survey revealed the top two reasons that companies engage executive coaches:

• 48% said they used a coach to develop high potential employees or facilitate a successful transition into a new position.
• 26% said leaders used a coach as a sounding board.

So, what exactly can an executive coach help today’s leaders accomplish? The list is long, but here are just a few examples:

• Strengthen leadership skills/core competencies.
• On-board managers into a new company or position.
• Improve time management and work/life balance.
• Reduce / better manage stress.
• Develop more productive work relationships.
• Enhance conflict management skills.
• Implement a new strategy, vision, or direction.
• Build an existing business or launch a new one.

What to Look For in an Executive Coach

It’s one thing to know that an executive coach can be an asset in developing leaders within your organization. It’s another thing to know how to choose a good coach. Make sure the coaches you consider are…

- Well-trained. Ask to see training certificates from an accredited coaching school.
- Certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF). See www.CoachFederation.org.
- Trained or certified in assessments like MBTI, StrengthsFinder, FIRO-B, LPI, EQI, CPI.
- Versed and experienced in both business operations and human/organizational behavior.
- Non-biased, non-judgmental, 100% focused on the client.
- Able to maintain 100% confidentiality.
- Open to allowing you to speak to past clients. At a minimum, you should read past client testimonials.

How Do You Know if a Coach is Right For a Specific Leader?

Good chemistry is key to success with an executive coach. A coach may have stellar credentials but may not be the right “fit” for the leader in question. So, request a free trial session when you have narrowed down your list of potential coaches. Then, don’t be afraid to ask some tough questions:

• What types of people and issues have you worked with, and what were the outcomes?
• What is your coaching model and process?
• Is there any client you would turn down?
• How do you deal with resistance?
• How would you define the difference between therapy and coaching?
• What is your greatest strength as a coach?
• What is your plan for keeping key stakeholders in the loop?

Cost and Payout?

What does executive coaching cost? The range is wide depending upon the coach’s level of experience and track record. Harvard Business Review has reported that rates range from $300-$3,500 USD per hour. One thing you can do to keep costs down is ask for a volume discount if your company has multiple managers who need coaching.

Make sure you get a good return on your investment (ROI) when it comes to Executive Coaching. Two recent large-scale independent studies amongst thousands of executive coaching clients across the world said the return on their investment was anywhere from 600-700% of the cost of the initial investment. Nonetheless, take the time to quantify the results of hiring an executive coach. The costs of weak leaders in today’s marketplace are great, but the benefits of having strong leaders is priceless.

The Starbucks brand of coffee can teach you a lot about your own brand as a leader. How? Well, consider this for a moment … When coffee is in its natural coffee bean state, it’s a commodity that sells for just 1-2¢ per cup. When you add packaging and a brand name to it and place it on a grocery store shelf, the price of that coffee goes up to 5-25¢ per cup. Throw in service and personality by offering that coffee at, say, Dunkin Donuts, and the price rises to around 75¢ to $1.50 per cup.

But then, there’s Starbucks coffee, which sells for $2-$5 per cup. How does Starbucks do that? And what does Starbucks have that those other cups of coffee don’t?

It isn’t just a better tasting cup of coffee. What Starbucks offers is something so much more than taste – it offers a rewarding coffee experience. When we buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, we’re paying for the experience of taking a break during the day … the experience of enjoying a jolt of java with friends … the experience of relaxing with a mocha latte after a night at the theatre. It’s those experiences that differentiate Starbucks from so many other coffee brands.

The same is true of you and your own leadership personal brand. If you want to earn more money, advance in your career, and keep moving up the corporate ladder, think about the experience you offer as a leader in the workplace. If you could step into the shoes of those you are leading, what would it feel like to be part of a team with you at the helm? In short, would you want to work for YOU?

Because you’re not in your team’s shoes, it can be difficult to answer that question. But if you don’t, your leadership personal brand will suffer. To make sure your individual brand is bringing you success and growth in your career, you need to learn how others perceive, think, and feel about you as a leader at the office. Only then can you find out if your brand needs help. And that means getting regular, helpful feedback.

That can be easier said than done, of course. If no one is offering you feedback because of your heightened position, or if you don’t feel you’re getting honest feedback from subordinates, it’s your responsibility to go after it. There is no better way to accelerate both your career and, ultimately, your company. Here are four tips to give you an idea of what it’s like to work for you:

1. Use 360-degree feedback tools. There are literally hundreds of them on the market, so choose carefully in order to find the one that will help you meet your specific objectives. For example, if you want to improve your leadership skills, use a leadership assessment tool like Leadership Agility 360. If you want to better manage your emotions on the job, try an emotional intelligence assessment like Emotional Capital Inventory (ECi 360). Ask to see an example of the report outcome you will receive, and check to see if you need a certified coach to administer the assessment.

2. Ask for feedback, regularly. In a one-on-one environment, sit down and ask for feedback from your subordinates, your boss, and key colleagues. (If you try to have a group meeting for feedback, no one will be honest with you.) Let each individual know that you’re sincere in your request and that you want candor. Listen intently, and write down what you hear. Don’t allow yourself to become defensive no matter what is said. If you do, the exercise will backfire, and chances are you’ll never receive honest feedback again. When they’re finished, simply say “thank you” and nothing more.

3. Audio or videotape yourself conducting meetings, then sit back and review them objectively. This can be a real eye-opener. As you watch or listen, put yourself in your team’s position, and imagine what it felt like to be in that meeting with you. Are you communicating the leadership brand you want? If you find it difficult to assess the recordings, ask a trusted colleague for honest feedback.

4. After you’ve gathered all of your notes from your feedback and from watching and listening to recordings, look for the common elements and themes. Based on your learnings, what are the key behaviors that you want to focus on improving? Choose the top 3-4, then create an action plan to begin to change those behaviors. Find an executive coach if you feel at a loss as to how to put the feedback into action or if you feel you need extra motivation to change some non-productive habits.

Work on these changes every day, but don’t expect immediate success. Long-lasting changes in behavior require time and persistence. Most of the behaviors you will want to change have been long-time habits, so you first need to become aware of when and how the behavior takes place. Then, you’ll be in a position to stop yourself and do something different.

Even if the feedback stings in the beginning, you will soon discover the many rewards of strengthening your leadership personal brand. When you succeed in changing an ingrained limiting behavior, you feel a strong sense of accomplishment. And, the respect you receive from your team as a result of listening to their feedback is invaluable. They will feel empowered by the fact that you took their comments to heart, and you will become a great role model for how they can use feedback to improve themselves in the workplace, too.

Only through strengthening your leadership personal brand can you continue to grow as a leader and further your career. That’s how you enrich the experience of working with you and make yourself someone you’d be happy to have at the helm.