Turning Your Retail Customers into Groups--Finding Markets Within Markets
Not a revolutionary idea of course. There are some interesting twists these days. And many of the ideas we cover will have you finally turning that "if you build it they will come" website of yours into a revenue-generating machine. Interested?
This is one area where many of our retail brethren miss out.
Many in niche retail--and I speak of 'successful' retailers here--have yet to put their customers onto a database let alone see what kinds of niches can be mined in those customers.
What are we looking for in turning your present customers into niche groups?
The first item is quantity. Do you have enough customers to create a niche group? Be careful that you do not dismiss a low number out of hand. We know of businesses where the owner has a nice four-figure monthly virtually residual niche with as few as 300 customers AND other interested parties. So you will need to bounce ideas off your business coach or other battle-scared advisor to help you recognize the potential demographics and/or psychographics.
The next item is a continuing interest.
[Sidebar: In BBG, we talk about several ways to format your niche--including building a membership website, blog or off-line club. You will also need a good autoresponder to hold your leads, customers and promotions. I mention what I feel are two of the best that come with a special offer that I have for readers of this Building Business Groups blog at the end of this post. Of course you can Google 'autoresponders' and come up with a plethora of options--some good and some that will be a nightmare to figure out let alone operate. REMEMBER: When we talk of business groups we are inferring a residual side to your business. Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming...]
Continuing interest may take some noodling and analysis on your part and the part of any advisors you bring to the table. Yet with some, all it takes is to put their antennae up and they will see SEVERAL potential groups within your customer base. There is a lot we can say here about what is contained in the phrase 'continuing interest' but we will cover it in a later article. Just know that you are looking for a product or a service within your items available for your customers that has a natural 'fan club' that is already developed or can be developed.
This natural fan club can take on a 'whole business' look and feel OR be a niche. An example of the 'whole business' model is the gunsmith who loved to work with other gunsmiths from secret stock oils and finishes to bluing compounds and new ways to restore old guns. The result? He charges $39/month for other gunsmiths to be part of his discovery process. At last count he has a little under 600 other gunsmiths as part of his 'club' who feel he gives way more than $39/month in value.
The niche model includes instore clubs and promotions. Say you are a boutique butcher shop market. Maybe your Aunt Alma makes a to-die-for pastry that has been selling well. Maybe you have a unique blend of coffee that your customers rave about. Maybe your business is dressing up in characters and telling stories that character would tell--Ben Franklin, Cinderella, the Tooth Fairy and so on. (Don't laugh, there are a BUNCH of profitable niches!) Maybe it is a service or employee that is attracting above-average customer attention. To wrap up...
1) Determine the true quantity. Don't be concerned if it is only 50. If you can build an ongoing back end product or service to match interests at a low margin, there can be nice residual revenue. Have others look at this issue with you to determine any matches.
2) Determine the continuing interest. Again, do not rely on your own judgment. Involve others and their ideas. Make a list of things where you have on-going interest. Others may come up with unique add-ons or twists to build revenue. I have seen whole new businesses sprout up in this manner. Oftentimes we as owners are too close to the forest to see the proverbial trees. If you absolutely cannot come up with others to look at your opportunity, take a customer survey. Customers are a huge under-used and often untapped resource goldmine of intelligence.
3) Determine what business model is appropriate. Whether it is a membership site software, an off-line club or membership you will need to have the right kind of autoresponder to house your database, marketing tests and hands-free 'courses' to keep customers interested.
Resources--Keeping Track of Customer Groups and Niche Promotions
I have got a special offer for the two resources below. Just follow the link. I have opined as to my choices for what function, but please read what the manufacturers say and juxtapose with your needs. Shoot me an e-mail if I can be of help.
Autoresponders--
Best for individual projects, products and promotions:
http://www.getresponse.com/index/SteveLanning
Known as the most popular and 'Cadillac' of autoresponders for all uses:
http://aweber.com/?329918
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why Develop Your Own Business Group?
What is a business group anyway?
Also ask the 'unspoken' next question add-on "...and why should I care?"
What is currently taking place politically in Washington, DC should be of extreme importance to the business owner. No longer will it be good for you to simply build a sustaining business on just 'customers' in a mobile society such as ours.
No such thing as customers anymore? Oh, we will have customers. But the customers I am thinking of are the customers who once pledged allegiance to our brand(s) may just drift away faster than the fickle fairy of fate that they were previously infected with these days. The 'standard' customer for many markets is going the way of the Dodo Bird.
Yes, even Seth Godin is touting building your own business group...so, very simply...
You must build a platform...out of your customers...out of your market--anywhere there could emerge win-win commerce--now or in the immediate future. No more must we look at a geo-political boundaries in our more 'formal' business groups--such as a chamber of commerce in such and such a county.
Take for example the Quad State Chamber of Commerce...
This is a major project I am looking to build as a model of a business group that crosses not only county lines, but state lines as well. I will be letting followers in on it at every step--warts and all.
In addition, along the way we will be exploring the 'new platform' I am looking at for businesses--retail to wholesale to medical, health care and more. As to 'kinds and purposes' of groups, I was once part of a vibrant venture capitalist breakfast group that was hosted by a large firm with specific products to sell.
FIRST, let me profer my concept of what I am defining as a 'business group' or platform.
Again, what IS a business group...?
Technically we are talking about a federation. Existing in many aspects, diversified business (or corporate) groups are the ones that consist of legally independent entities or firms for the purpose of potentially generating a profit with new product, service, audience and/or market for both/all parties within the sphere of the other. This operating in multiple markets, are ubiquitous in emerging markets and even in some developed economies.
This platform concept can express itself in a myriad of usable formats from an association, coffee club, product user's group, specific independent research project (beta computer software comes to mind), buyers group and so forth that is made up of independent entities. Blogs, websites and newsletters are key communication outlets for these specific platforms all within a specific keyword family.
Please. I do not want to turn this blog over to an acedemic exercise. As all entrepreneurial minded souls, my quest--hopefully as is yours--is to cause business comerce and profits to come to pass for our clients.
Other schools of thought on the political economy of corporate groups, on groups and monopoly power, and on groups as networks are discussed next. Of course political landscapes come into play, too.
There will be some very valuable input from actual marketplace group-builders that you will not want to miss. And along the way, I will be looking to get your group commercially linked with another group of a non-competing and complementary nature (and you leaders can decide what kind of win-win deal you put together).
Of course, over the last 35+ years I have experienced some painful lessons I will reveal for your profiting (as in either stupidly leaving money on the table or allowing others 'more sophisticated than I' run roughshod over me--resulting in more money lost.
But there are the delicious situations where you can sell your business group to a competing or non-competing group and how to avoid the pitfalls and pratfalls (talking of self here!) that hound both the savvy and chunkheaded business group developer alike. We will talk about the formatting possibilities you have with your group--membership websites, pay-as-you-go concepts and more.
Would This Stuff Work for a Non-Profit or Not-For-Profit Group?
In a word, yes. However, the question connotes a much more formalized approach that we want to get into here--PLUS--we want to concentrate on creating commercially viable groups and groupings that mostly exist WITHIN your current business framework. Fair enough?
As this is Post #1, I realize this is introductory stuff, but feel free to comment. I am basically giving away my life's work here; hence, I promise you will not be bored!
Resource List for Building Business Groups
Autoresponders: (For those who have websites or blogs)
For vertical group or single project development:
http://www.getresponse.com/index/SteveLanning
For the Most Robust Autoresponder in All-Around Use:
http://www.aweber.com/?329918
Building Commerce, Building Individual Success,
Steve
Also ask the 'unspoken' next question add-on "...and why should I care?"
What is currently taking place politically in Washington, DC should be of extreme importance to the business owner. No longer will it be good for you to simply build a sustaining business on just 'customers' in a mobile society such as ours.
No such thing as customers anymore? Oh, we will have customers. But the customers I am thinking of are the customers who once pledged allegiance to our brand(s) may just drift away faster than the fickle fairy of fate that they were previously infected with these days. The 'standard' customer for many markets is going the way of the Dodo Bird.
Yes, even Seth Godin is touting building your own business group...so, very simply...
You must build a platform...out of your customers...out of your market--anywhere there could emerge win-win commerce--now or in the immediate future. No more must we look at a geo-political boundaries in our more 'formal' business groups--such as a chamber of commerce in such and such a county.
Take for example the Quad State Chamber of Commerce...
This is a major project I am looking to build as a model of a business group that crosses not only county lines, but state lines as well. I will be letting followers in on it at every step--warts and all.
In addition, along the way we will be exploring the 'new platform' I am looking at for businesses--retail to wholesale to medical, health care and more. As to 'kinds and purposes' of groups, I was once part of a vibrant venture capitalist breakfast group that was hosted by a large firm with specific products to sell.
FIRST, let me profer my concept of what I am defining as a 'business group' or platform.
Again, what IS a business group...?
Technically we are talking about a federation. Existing in many aspects, diversified business (or corporate) groups are the ones that consist of legally independent entities or firms for the purpose of potentially generating a profit with new product, service, audience and/or market for both/all parties within the sphere of the other. This operating in multiple markets, are ubiquitous in emerging markets and even in some developed economies.
This platform concept can express itself in a myriad of usable formats from an association, coffee club, product user's group, specific independent research project (beta computer software comes to mind), buyers group and so forth that is made up of independent entities. Blogs, websites and newsletters are key communication outlets for these specific platforms all within a specific keyword family.
Seeing How People Interact...
The study of groups, a hybrid organizational form between firm and market, is of relevance to industrial organization, corporate finance, development, economic growth and other domains of economic inquiry. Even a well-planned wonk gathering around a narrow business interest can often be deployed in a win-win-win manner.Please. I do not want to turn this blog over to an acedemic exercise. As all entrepreneurial minded souls, my quest--hopefully as is yours--is to cause business comerce and profits to come to pass for our clients.
Other schools of thought on the political economy of corporate groups, on groups and monopoly power, and on groups as networks are discussed next. Of course political landscapes come into play, too.
There will be some very valuable input from actual marketplace group-builders that you will not want to miss. And along the way, I will be looking to get your group commercially linked with another group of a non-competing and complementary nature (and you leaders can decide what kind of win-win deal you put together).
Of course, over the last 35+ years I have experienced some painful lessons I will reveal for your profiting (as in either stupidly leaving money on the table or allowing others 'more sophisticated than I' run roughshod over me--resulting in more money lost.
But there are the delicious situations where you can sell your business group to a competing or non-competing group and how to avoid the pitfalls and pratfalls (talking of self here!) that hound both the savvy and chunkheaded business group developer alike. We will talk about the formatting possibilities you have with your group--membership websites, pay-as-you-go concepts and more.
Would This Stuff Work for a Non-Profit or Not-For-Profit Group?
In a word, yes. However, the question connotes a much more formalized approach that we want to get into here--PLUS--we want to concentrate on creating commercially viable groups and groupings that mostly exist WITHIN your current business framework. Fair enough?
As this is Post #1, I realize this is introductory stuff, but feel free to comment. I am basically giving away my life's work here; hence, I promise you will not be bored!
Resource List for Building Business Groups
Autoresponders: (For those who have websites or blogs)
For vertical group or single project development:
http://www.getresponse.com/index/SteveLanning
For the Most Robust Autoresponder in All-Around Use:
http://www.aweber.com/?329918
Building Commerce, Building Individual Success,
Steve
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