The importance of strategy in your business
XYZ Support
http://www.xyzsupport.com.au/why-choose-us.php
which is chock full of benefits rather than technical mumbo jumbo that few of us understand or relate to.
Journey of Flavour Car Rally
I came across this article on the Borders Book Retailers/Angus & Robertson failure last week. It referred to the company as one that always 'followed' and never 'led' the industry despite its considerable size. When its competitors moved on-line, the company focussed on bricks and mortar sales; at the same time it made a push to sell CD's, the rest of the industry was transitioning to digital; when everyone else worked on e-readers, Angus & Robertson/Borders worked on selling through its website.
For me the moral of this story is not to 'chase' but to figure out a strategy of staying ahead of your competitors. Devote at least several hours each week to "working on" rather than "working in" your business. Stay abreast of industry trends and compare the performance of your business against industry benchmarks. We have more than a hundred benchmarks covering a range of industries available for your use. Please contact either Wendy or myself at Council. I am sure you will find a focus on strategy as an excellent investment in the future of your business.
XYZ Support
Last week I visited Zoe Pogonowski at her home-based web design business, XYZ Support in Port Macquarie. Zoe is an accomplished mathematician and web programmer who has learnt much of her small business skills through intuition and by remaining alert to new opportunities. She is a great case study of entrepreneurial attitude.
Four things stood out as I chatted with Zoe:
1. Her focus on the core elements of her business as defined by her Unique Selling Proposition (USP) - see suggestions below. Zoe actively promotes her business as "Building Awesome Websites". Setting your business apart from your competitors with a succinct statement is not easy to do and this is often a hot topic for discussion in our business development courses. Using just three words, Zoe has done this very well.
2. Her focus on strategy. Zoe mentions her desire, one day soon, to start a family. Hence she is actively positioning her business through a process of succession planning so that, when the stork does appear, her business will not be heavily impacted upon.
3. Her focus on having fun in her business. I think this probably comes easily to Zoe as she has a very bubbly personality. This is complemented by her partner (Dennis van Mill from Solid Stairs) who, Zoe tells me, is insistent on making sure the couple regularly take time out away from their separate business commitments.
4. Her focus on 'benefits' rather than features. Check out Zoe's website:
http://www.xyzsupport.com.au/why-choose-us.php
which is chock full of benefits rather than technical mumbo jumbo that few of us understand or relate to.
52 competitors lined up for the inaugural Journey of Flavour Car Rally on Sunday, 27 February. It was a great day with a number of competitors calling in at a number of food and wine businesses over a number of hours - quite a few of whom they hadn't come across before. Click on the link below to find out more.
Finding Your USP
Your Unique Selling Proposition is a statement that effectively communicates what your business is good at.
To create a compelling USP you need think about:
· The benefits that are unique to what you have to offer. Almost every business has some uniqueness. The trick is finding it and not to assume that others know why you are special.
· Who is the target market most interested in this benefit.
· What USP's are already used by your major competitors in this market.
This brings to mind rent-a-car company Avis who, many years ago, were strongly challenging market leader Hertz. The USP statement they used was "we are second so we try harder". Love it!
