The Death of the Quad-State Business Journal Reveals Business Opportunities
The date was back in July of 2009 actually, but my reality occurred only in September when I called to chat with my friend Peter Heerwagen, (former) publisher of the Quad State Business Journal (QSBJ).
"The post office put the Journal out of business, Steve," was his explanation. Of course, he was talking of his 100% off-line QSBJ. "I can't make any money now."
Our 'Quad State' area covers a stretch of contiguous counties boarding on Interstate 81 from approximately Chambersburg, PA in the north and Winchester, VA on the south encompassing Washington county in Maryland and three West Virginia counties in its footprint.
This is sad. I've known Peter for 18 of the 20 years he's published the Journal. I wrote his only published 'how to' book on building a business in the Quad State region for him. I was regularly on Peter's case in the 1990s on 'doing more' win-win stuff with his data base. Now he is just sitting on it. I urged him to do something online...'at least a blog of some sort' I implored. His response?
"You know I don't do Internet stuff, Steve! Why don't you do something?"
Thanks, Peter. I think I will.
BUT LAUNCHING THE QUAD STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE?
I've decided it will not be a chamber of commerce (although that opportunity is still up for grabs).
Note: the words 'chamber of commerce' are not copyrighted or trademarked in any way and, as a former executive director of my own Washington County C of C told me, "Anyone can form a chamber of commerce..." But one truly must think through the ramifications of having a platform such as this. What are your members going to expect? Are you up to the task?
If you would like to tackle a Quad State chamber, I am willing to lend a hand. With none other than the administration of President of the United States attacking the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and hence the hundreds of county chambers, all those of us who stand for freedom in commerce must stick together. The hippies and radicals of the 1960s are now in power.
What I would like to do is develop a business network in my area and put my progress, warts and all, on this blog. I have come to the conclusion that our current administration is ultimately anti business--not just big business. I note with irony that the administration now has a program out to 'help small business' but making it easier for business owners to borrow. I can't wait to see what will probably become another program with the devil in the details.
My Quad State Business Network is developed solely with the business health of all the 35,000 businesses in its footprint in mind. I see that businesses must stay networked to keep on top of news and events, but also must develop their own version of what I call a residual customer network.
First the Local News...
The more awareness one can foster in digging up and reporting local business news and events, the more the region's businesses become aware of each other.
Our local TV station WHAG-25 is trying its best to be all things to all people, including businesses, but really leaves a gaping hole to fill for the region's business news. Same thing with the independent newspapers in the region. In this decade of the niche, people are looking vertical for solutions that give more of an in-depth treatment to subjects. And that gives rise to...
Secondly, the Regional Network...
It's not enough for businesses to be aware of each other, but they need to be bound to a common base. Their logical self-centeredness for the health of their business and their employees is a given. Their local C of C is a great place to launch from. Yet there are thousands of home-based business owners who quietly earn a full time income from E-Bay, have a traveling craft business going to shows to those who just earn money through affiliate marketing in key word development are often left with no social, let alone business, networking.
A regional network can not only tie in surface interests as a planning tool, it can become a platform upon which business owners can develop their own synergies with their own residual customer platforms (see the third area below). This one area of strategy has now become, to my thinking and looking over our geo-political landscape, the single most opportunity-laden mother lode of revenue for individual business owners.
Thirdly, the Residual Micro Intra-Business Network...
There are two parts (of several), I want to focus upon in this and forthcoming blogs. One part ia a Residual Customer Network (I'm giving it a name or RCN) where the individual owner puts his customers into one or more areas of a database. This database is not divided in terms of any accounting terms but rather by product, and if too few customers come from that gambit, by strategic 'bunching' of product interest.
Many businesses are just now getting used to the fact that they can cross-market disparate products or services with a single communication going to their customer list. (And yes, I know the number of business owners who sadly do not even have their customers in some sort of contact list (offline or online), let alone interest breakouts, are legion.) There is no 'new concept' about this gambit, but there are whole businesses that exist on the face that hundreds of owners are discovering newsletters, blogs, postcards and so on for the first time.
These product or interest divisions enable the business owner to jump into the world of keyword marketing and deployment on their websites and blogs with tremendous revenue effectiveness.
The other way (as I say, among several we are going to explore) once you have your customer list is by cross marketing with other non-competitive businesses with their lists AND/OR with a national marketer with a vertical product to your list.
A Quad State Business Network will work on the behalf of businesses, not politics as the local chambers of commerce often are faced with. It is my quest that others will see the area in and around them to develop their own regional network.
Keep thinking...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Building Groups As a Customer Retention Gambit
Should We Not Think of Our Customers As Being in One Group--Ours?
No. Here's why--the times, they are a-changin' to throw in a little 60's Bob Dylan. A person in business for 5,10, 25 years often looks at his or her customers with the idea that they are simply one homogeneous group--their customers.
But are they really one group? The thinking person would have to say, "No, of course they are not one group. They have different demographics and psychographics as to their makeup. Yet they are still this person's customers. That is one thing they argree on by the virtue of their wallets."
OK, granted. I've mentioned the National Association of Business Coaches (NABC) that I created in the mid-1990s with my 'recovering attorney' friend, the late great Hal Wright who is now with the Lord. (Some of the following may be construed as criticism for my buyers of NABC, but it is not intended.)
For Example, Different Backgrounds Coming Together as Business Coaches
At NABC we had folks who wanted to be trained as business coaches who were very successful business owners themselves, some were retired, but just wanted to 'give back' to the market or niche that made them successful. They didn't need the coaching fees but their clients needed to pay them.
There were others who wanted to make business coaching a vocation and only work with women business owners. Still others only wanted to work in the corporate environment and work in the peer to peer niche. Others only wanted to work with speakers, only medical people or only retailers.
My point is that although the 'niche' of our business may be looked at as being narrow, i.e. 'just business coaches,' in reality our membership was comprised of many varied interests. It is too bad that I often hear back from past members who continued with my buyers (it is the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches--they couldn't improve on the name that much), telling me that they are uncomfortable that there is a pervasive 'feminine' attitude throughout the organization now. [Believe me, this is an opportunity for someone, not 'something they will just have to get over and live with as I have been told!]
Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Customers With Retention in Mind
Maybe with my NABC example above, there needs to be a 'men' angle and 'women' angle (political correctness notwithstanding) to divide the gender from the get-go. The time for this type of thinking should occur back in the strategic planning stage in conjunction with what kinds of back end product or service you want to provide. Our focus then, being customer retention, should bring some questions to mind that need noodling as you are faced with an ever-growing array of competition possibles. Ask yourself...
1) As I look over my customer list, are there some natural 'divisions' I can see in the likes and popularity of one or more of our products and services?
2) Do I feel there are enough people to warrant a separate 'club' or promotional activity to them? Who else feels that way that I respect? Who does not feel that way whom I respect?
3) Could I build enough margin into a special back end product just for my identified niches so that I do not HAVE to have a 'quota' of people? [eg Creating a special big-ticket coaching or 'how to' package that could be fulfilled by you or a qualified employee where you DO NOT have to even have any number of 'quota'. You simply advertise the service along with your regular out-going customer communications and when you get a bite on the big-ticket back end, you have the time or staff to fill it as the opportunities present themselves.]
4) Would/Could this new backend activity be an everlasting, ongoing part of my business?
5) Would/Could it be always 'evergreen' in presentation to customers? (Meaning it never goes out of date and has little if any decline on the effectiveness of the product/service in the lives of your customers.)
Do not get 'creating group blinders' on. Think why your customers chose you when they have a plethora of your competitors to go to....or stay away from. You may come up with a new product or service that DOES NOT need a group--just a sales effort. Building groups is tough work, but once identified, built and functioning (you are to the 'tweaking' stage), the lifetime value of a customer shoots up dramatically.
We will be getting into building congruency in your groups, your offers and products, in a more pointed manner.
Good stragegy,
Steve
No. Here's why--the times, they are a-changin' to throw in a little 60's Bob Dylan. A person in business for 5,10, 25 years often looks at his or her customers with the idea that they are simply one homogeneous group--their customers.
But are they really one group? The thinking person would have to say, "No, of course they are not one group. They have different demographics and psychographics as to their makeup. Yet they are still this person's customers. That is one thing they argree on by the virtue of their wallets."
OK, granted. I've mentioned the National Association of Business Coaches (NABC) that I created in the mid-1990s with my 'recovering attorney' friend, the late great Hal Wright who is now with the Lord. (Some of the following may be construed as criticism for my buyers of NABC, but it is not intended.)
For Example, Different Backgrounds Coming Together as Business Coaches
At NABC we had folks who wanted to be trained as business coaches who were very successful business owners themselves, some were retired, but just wanted to 'give back' to the market or niche that made them successful. They didn't need the coaching fees but their clients needed to pay them.
There were others who wanted to make business coaching a vocation and only work with women business owners. Still others only wanted to work in the corporate environment and work in the peer to peer niche. Others only wanted to work with speakers, only medical people or only retailers.
My point is that although the 'niche' of our business may be looked at as being narrow, i.e. 'just business coaches,' in reality our membership was comprised of many varied interests. It is too bad that I often hear back from past members who continued with my buyers (it is the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches--they couldn't improve on the name that much), telling me that they are uncomfortable that there is a pervasive 'feminine' attitude throughout the organization now. [Believe me, this is an opportunity for someone, not 'something they will just have to get over and live with as I have been told!]
Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Customers With Retention in Mind
Maybe with my NABC example above, there needs to be a 'men' angle and 'women' angle (political correctness notwithstanding) to divide the gender from the get-go. The time for this type of thinking should occur back in the strategic planning stage in conjunction with what kinds of back end product or service you want to provide. Our focus then, being customer retention, should bring some questions to mind that need noodling as you are faced with an ever-growing array of competition possibles. Ask yourself...
1) As I look over my customer list, are there some natural 'divisions' I can see in the likes and popularity of one or more of our products and services?
2) Do I feel there are enough people to warrant a separate 'club' or promotional activity to them? Who else feels that way that I respect? Who does not feel that way whom I respect?
3) Could I build enough margin into a special back end product just for my identified niches so that I do not HAVE to have a 'quota' of people? [eg Creating a special big-ticket coaching or 'how to' package that could be fulfilled by you or a qualified employee where you DO NOT have to even have any number of 'quota'. You simply advertise the service along with your regular out-going customer communications and when you get a bite on the big-ticket back end, you have the time or staff to fill it as the opportunities present themselves.]
4) Would/Could this new backend activity be an everlasting, ongoing part of my business?
5) Would/Could it be always 'evergreen' in presentation to customers? (Meaning it never goes out of date and has little if any decline on the effectiveness of the product/service in the lives of your customers.)
Do not get 'creating group blinders' on. Think why your customers chose you when they have a plethora of your competitors to go to....or stay away from. You may come up with a new product or service that DOES NOT need a group--just a sales effort. Building groups is tough work, but once identified, built and functioning (you are to the 'tweaking' stage), the lifetime value of a customer shoots up dramatically.
We will be getting into building congruency in your groups, your offers and products, in a more pointed manner.
Good stragegy,
Steve
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