Small Business Basics
Last week I was invited to speak to a class of seniors at a local privat school in my town. The Careers teacher had a segment to cover on Entrepreneurship. Not a surprise, but half the class came from homes where one or both parents had their own business. Let me rephrase that…the parents of these students were “self-employed.”
One of the emphasis I placed on the topic is the difference between business owner and self employed. Using Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
The two books that affected me the most on this particular topic of owning the business versus being employed by yourself were first of all Michael Gerber’s book The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
If you don’t have these books you should add them to your library.
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The Consumption Chain
It is possible to uncover opportunities to position your product or services in new and interesting ways you may not have thought of yet. In the Harvard Business Review, authors Ian C. MacMillan and Rita Gunther McGrath, write in their article “Discovering New Points of Differentiation” that companies should examine the customers’ entire experience with a product or service – that is “The Consumption Chain” – in order to discover new points of differentiation. MacMillan and McGrath list a set of questions to ask about your business:
- How do people become aware of their need for your product or service?
- How do consumers find your offering?
- How do consumers make their final selection?
- How do customers order and purchse your product or service?
- What happens when your product or service is delivered?
- How is your product installed?
- How is your product or service paid for?
- How is your product stored?
- How is your product moved around?
- What is the customer really wanting your product for?
- What do customers need help with when they use your product?
- What about returns and exchanges?
- How is your product repaired or serviced?
- What happens when your product is disposed of or no longer used?
By asking yourself or your team these questions you may uncover opportunities to
- improve on your product
- add to your product line
- add a disposal or recycling service for which the customers will pay for or be alerted to restock your product
- solve problems before they arise
- discover new places to find customers
- redesign your product
- overcome objections
- improve service
- add service for your product
- rewrite a more attractive guarentee which may attract more customers
As small business owners we sometimes think we’re too busy to pay attention to our marketing. Yet this creates much more work than necessary. It’ s like pumping for water, endlessly and everytime you stop pumping the water stops. So to whenever you stop “pumping” for business the revenue begins to dry up.
It’s possible to schedule an appointment with yourself for 1/2 hour to 1 hour each week to work ON your business so that the time you spend working IN working in your business. I think you’ll fnd it worth the time you spend as your revenue begins to pick up.
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