Are you growing your business?
Or…….…Does your business happen to be growing?

The Small and Medium Enterprise or Business (SME or SMB) is typically characterized by a strong entrepreneurial spirit in the founding partners. This is often accompanied by an innovative product or service offer. Too often the vision ends there. Sadly, all that is of limited use if it is not taken effectively, quickly and profitably to the potential buyer. Witness the following reported facts-

1. In terms of percentage the small businesses account for 98.74 per cent out of a total of  2.53 lakh sick units in the country.
2. The State Directorate of Industries have been requested to de-register 8,87,427 small businesses found closed during the recently concluded survey of the Third All India Census
3. Statistics the world over show that 4 out of 5 businesses fail in the first 5 years of existence
4. In another survey, 92% of respondents cited the difficulty of attracting and retaining clients as their biggest challenges.

There is also, no reason to believe that the scenario in the exploding service sector is any different. If the evidence and inevitability is so glaring, what then ails the SME owner? Why is he so hesitant to search for and put in place a competence that he so obviously needs? Maybe past initiatives have turned sour, sometimes an inherent distrust of all ‘salesmen’.

Some entrepreneurs equate business development skills with entrepreneurship. So they expect and seek the answers within themselves. This confusion can be costly, even sometimes fatal to the business. Many business owners and entrepreneurs find themselves becoming disappointed and discouraged at their apparent inability to control and prevent the cyclical ups and downs of their business. They go back and revisit the areas they know best. Product variants, quality systems, service, etc. But soon their dream loses its shine, and becomes a grind. Suddenly, they no longer own the business – the business owns them.

Unfortunately, the function of marketing or business development has for the most part been poorly understood, often clouded in fog. Overplayed by views that has mystified the process with skills like ‘aptitude’, ‘gut feeling’, ‘knack’ etc. Underplayed by views that are very blasé` or cynical…’we tried that before....’, ‘there’s nothing new in that…’ or even ‘there’s nothing to it…..’ etc. Nothing is further from the truth!

We use proven, systems to market and aggressively grow business. To speak of marketing and systems in the same breath may seem odd to many. But the fact is that marketing is a competence, not a shot in the dark. And like other competencies – legal, financial, information technology, etc – it must be acquired or outsourced. You cannot be passive about it.

Man has been selling to man from time immemorial. The most basic drivers in man may have remained unchanged, but our understanding of the dynamics has vastly improved. Along with that, is the development and sophistication of the triggers that motivate decision making and buying.

That is what is systemized by us, like no other organization. Tested, proven actions that produce results with high predictability. Time after time. Brought to the business owner by one who has walked the talk, for better than 20 years, working as a network of international business development specialists, using 444 proven strategies, and methods. Combine this approach with systems that locks in the methods and processes into your organization, and you have a business that you can grow, and is fun to manage.

James M. Cecil said - There are only three types of customers         

1. Those with a spear already in their chests or who see the spear just before it's  going to hit them
2. Those who see the spear at a distance heading for them but determine that the danger isn't as imminent as the urgent matters they're currently addressing
3. Those who never see the spear coming at all

Can you ignore the statistics?  Do you see the spear coming?  Would you like to talk to us?

Koshy ( Sep’05)

A Big Mistake in Business ...NOT ATTENDING MORE LIVE EVENTS
 
As a business owner, director or manager, you probably get several invitations a month to attend local or national business events.
 
Like most senior managers you are very busy in your business, you consider you don’t have the time to get up very early and travel on busy roads or trains to get to crowded venues, then after a hectic few hours or full day you have to face the journey back tired from the experience of it all.  So why bother?
 
Well instead of sitting in your office doing mundane tasks, you could attend a live event, you will rub shoulders with like-minded, entrepreneurial people who share the same interests, passions and goals as you do.  There is something special that happens when you bring together a group of passionate, like-minded people.  Relationships are made, ideas flow and joint ventures and mastermind groups are created.
 
Attending live events also gets you out of your daily element and puts you into an environment that allows you to review your current business practices and helps you to expand your thinking on how to make dramatic improvements in your business.  In essence, it helps you to "work on your business instead of in your business."
 
No matter how good (or bad) the event was, you should always come away from it with some great contacts from exhibitors and people you meet.  Follow simple networking practices and you will make contact and start building relationships with like-minded business people, who may be your next clients, or even become one of your best “referral introducers” to several prospective clients.  
 
If you work a good event properly, you should go away with at least 6 – 8 business cards from warm, receptive, like-minded people, who have talked to you and found you an interesting person to know (as long as you talk least about yourself and have more interested in them).  You will never get such good contacts from other marketing strategies such as advertising, telesales, mail-shots, Internet etc.  
 
When you intend to follow-up on your new contacts you can plan and use several approaches that will all end in a further meeting i.e.  
 
“It was good to meet you the other day at ……… event,  
 
I have an interest in some of the things you said, can we meet up and discuss some ideas on how we could work together to benefit our businesses?”
 
Or
 
“You stated you had a problem with competitors and acquiring new business, I have thought about your challenges and have a couple of ideas to share with you”
 
Etc….
 
When done properly, attending events can be very successful and productive, especially niche events for certain markets.  If your niche customer market is IT, retail, professional, leisure, engineering etc.. then you must attend those events that cater for your customer market, be it from meeting exhibitors or attendees.  
 
A far better and more powerful networking tool than business cards are referral cards, which are A6 (postcard) size, which easily fit into shirt and jacket pockets, ladies bags etc. and using both sides of the card can say much more about you, your company, your products and services and the benefits you can give etc.  
 
So before you decline the next invitation to attend an event, think about how that event could work for you and your business on gaining vital information, education, motivation and the potential of meeting several like-minded people who could help you in your business.