Today’s post comes from one of our members, Troy Hinchco. Troy felt compelled to write this letter to the editor “after sitting up most nights hearing the big boys crowing about instability in small business”.

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Open Letter to the Australian Consumer – at large.

I write this letter as someone whose only regular exposure to Letters to the Editor are those which my wife reads out to me because she thinks they will touch a chord, amuse or infuriate me.

This letter is not a direct reaction to one of those letters, it is instead to ask Australian consumers to consider a small thing when making purchasing decisions in the future.

The Australian consumer – and I know this because I am one – is being given messages of security, assurance and confidence in their purchases of goods and services from some of the various industries biggest heavyweights. Corporations are being caring, sharing, and responsibly warning you of the insecurity of dealing with Australia’s ‘little guys’. Gerry Harvey politely points out the plight of the small operator in retail, as do a myriad of other comparable business celebrity’s offering comment about ‘the security of larger, trusted brands, businesses and services’ as we struggle through this economic pressure point. Normally directly or indirectly in reference to their own business.

The greatest threat that the courting of consumers by large businesses, regardless of industry, is that in times like these when consumers are at their most susceptible to influence from the comforting arms and scripted promises of ‘safer’ corporates, they can do the greatest damage to Australia’s community of small businesses.

A small businesses reason for creation differs slightly from industry to industry, for the most part the emergence of smaller businesses is normally because of their ability to service a portion of the market better, more economically or with slightly more customer-centric differences from that of the larger corporate brethren.

The larger corporates whose creation story may evoke tales of the humble start-up and the emergence from their own challenges and trials does this because it encapsulates the basic elements of the Australian dream – the dream of going out alone, being your own boss, making something for yourself.

But all corporate businesses whether started from a double garage in Sutherlandshire in Sydneys southern suburbs 100 years ago or being created with a Big Bang approach in the 90’s with the heavily funded launch through IPO’s and big hitting investors – all larger businesses detune their customer focus at some point. At some stage in their evolution being driven by striving for absolute customer satisfaction at a transaction by transaction level is replaced by measured acceptable failure levels benchmarked against other ‘comparable’ corporates around the world. Standard and ongoing application of the 80/20 rule optimising returns on investment and the resultant dumming down of their service offer to fringe, niche and ‘non-ideal’ customers gives new businesses who are built around those needs, a reason to exist.

In times like these though the larger businesses make noises about their changed service commitment as they react to tougher times and struggle themselves to achieve key financial objectives. If they do adopt new customer focus, will it stay, is it something that has come about as a short term grab for business they ultimately don’t think ‘suits’ their model for optimised profitability? Probably not.

Is there a place for large the corporate ? Yes, of course, they are vital to our economy as booming entities of business able to tap into resources unlike anything comparable from the realms of small business collectively or not. They employ large numbers of hardworking Australians, they contract and sub-contract out millions of dollars of business to small businesses and trades people every year. They are, where suits and is congruent to their branding, philanthropic to a fault. We simply need big business and we are better for them.

Do I buy from large corporates? Of course, we shop at Coles or Woolworths for 70% of our grocery and consumable products , we buy petrol from the local Caltex, because it’s accessible and might even be a reasonable price but, we also make a point to buy as much fruit and vegetables from our local Market, meat from a local butcher and bread from a local bakery as we can.

Are we doing this because the produce is a higher quality, the service a million times better and because they know our names? Sometimes yes to all of these – and - sometimes no to all of them as well.

We do this because we know that when we compare a local, national and global market with a mix of large corporate entities and smaller Mum and Dad businesses we as consumers and members of a greater community are given the better range of options in all areas of goods and service.

If you are buying a product, a service or even advice – take the time to compare some of the smaller operators in that field – quite often they may be cheaper, faster, more open to offering a slightly customised product based directly around your needs - but - greater still there is a chance that you will be dealing with someone who will pay themselves last as they strive to fulfil a service that you will be satisfied with, a service that you might talk to others about and may ultimately lead to growth in business for them through word of mouth. They won’t be investing in broad brush advertising on the backside of a yellow bus just to satisfy a ‘brand recall’ matrix some guru from America wrote about years ago. Their money and time and dreams are fully committed to their business and their own fulfillment of the Australian dream – not to retire at 38, drink French champagne and eat Russian caviar – but to be their own boss, to prove themselves to themselves as capable and contribute to the countries emergence from the global economic struggle.

On behalf of Australian small business owners, employees and suppliers I implore you not to accept the corporate route to quality product and service as your default, as this would make the media and high level corporate crowing about instability in small business a self foreseeing prophecy. Instead allow us at least the chance to stack up and compete for your business. All we ask is the opportunity to be considered.

Thank you.
Troy Hinchco
Very Small Business Owner

(TIAG Australia Pty Ltd, Select Home Products)

Congratulations if you’ve just launched a new small business. No doubt it took a great deal of work to conceive the idea and to get the business ready for prime time. Even though you might be convinced this is the best idea ever dreamed of, it is going absolutely nowhere if people do not know it exists.

Marketing is the next critical step for your new small business and initially, it can be very time consuming. It is important to plan carefully to ensure your marketing works hard and brings the desired results.

The traditional methods of advertising don’t work for all new small business and can be very costly. An advertisement in the local newspaper can cost anywhere from $50-500 (or more) depending on the size, scale and frequency with which the ad runs. Similarly, to make an impact in the Yellow Pages, it may cost hundreds, even thousands.

Most traditional marketing methods are only as effective as the people who notice the ad whether it be print, television or radio. As a new small business with a small budget, it is likely your message will go largely unnoticed in these mediums and the cost versus the return is not warranted.

Outside of this, there are many ways to advertise your business and a lot of them depend on having an online presence, particularly a website. It is critical in this age of information technology to have a website that will promote your offer to prospective customers. Whether you are selling a product, service or information, a well designed website is invaluable to your business.

Once you have an operational website, you can use the power of the Internet to drive visitors to it. Some ideas for driving traffic are to create a blog about the industry your business is in, join a forum, create a press release, upload a demonstration video to sites such as YouTube, participate in social networking (Facebook, Twitter) and to generate keyword-rich content for search engine optimization. And the great thing is, a lot of these tools don’t cost money, just your time.

All these tools not only serve your customers by providing great value for them, they help your website get noticed by search engines such as Google. The more you get noticed by the search engines, the higher you site will appear in users search results. And the best part about this is that the leads to your business are free because you aren’t paying for an advertisement to get these people to notice your business.

Marketing your new small business is the next step after launch. While it can entail some work, a good plan and careful consideration of the different methods and costs involved will ensure your money works for you. So take the time to plan your marketing and the leads, sales and growth will follow.

Until next time
Samantha

Listening to customers is not all about the old adage of “the customer is always right”. Rather, it is inviting them to talk to you, listening to what they have to say and taking some positive action to improve their experience with you and your business.

The importance of listening to customers was highlighted to me recently. I was in a room full of business owners - new, existing, long-term, short-term – of all types. I spoke to quite a few of them during the breaks, and later it struck me that, in every case, it was a very one sided conversation. That is, I was the one doing all the talking, asking all the questions and finding out more about these people.

Noticeably, not one single person that I spoke to asked me anything about myself or my business. Not one. This really struck me later and got me thinking about whether or not these people are listening to customers, or even attempting to invite conversation with them. If not, how do they connect with their customers, if in fact they do at all? To my way of thinking, if you want to know what’s going on inside people’s heads, particularly your customers head, you need to ask.

We were given 2 ears, 2 eyes and 1 mouth. These tools need to be used in that ratio - listen, watch and then speak. Ask you customers’ questions and if you are in front of them, watch as they speak for unspoken cues and body language.

Listening to customers doesn’t always have to take place face-to-face. It can also be achieved through other ‘ears’ such as survey and feedback forms, particularly online. The important thing is that you have your ears open and are listening. As Richard Branson says below…”Listen, listen, listen, it doesn’t cost anything to listen”.

Once you’ve been listening to customers, then you can start to speak and communicate, but only if you can add value or help solve a problem in some way. Don’t speak just for the sake of it. Don’t try and sell them a blue widget when it is quite clear they are not a widget person, but more of a gidget person, and would probably prefer pink anyway.

Listening to customers is an important skill for business owners and it is foolhardy to expect too much from your business if you are not doing this consistently and regularly.

Until next time
Samantha