In her very good article in the Sunday Times, Carmel Fisher sums up what a small business can do in the face of serious adversity, be it tough economical climate or corporate competition.

Mark Rubbo is the founder of Readings, Australia’s largest independent book and music group. Carmel describes how Rubbo decided to fight Borders when they announced in 2003 that they were moving in 100m down the road from Rubbo’s shop, in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne.

“Small Independent booksellers had been known to wither and die once a Borders Store opened nearby, but Rubbo was determined to fight them”

In a nutshell here is the list of what Rubbo did, as per Carmel’s article:

• Monitor his competition
• Monitor his existing loyal cli
  

Imagine being a fly on the wall when two of your customers got together and started talking about your business. What would you like them to say, how in your wildest dreams would you like them to describe their customer experience when dealing with your staff or you as the business owner?

Ok you’re not a fly on the wall so you have to create this vision. Write it down with the same approach as writing your “Stretch Goals”: the ones that don’t sound realistic! Now you are starting to draw an idealistic picture, shouldn’t that be the way you define your vision, your business dream?

Think about the best customer experience you have ever had with a company, and think about ways to improve it 10 folds. Avoid realistic considerations like �

As you will know the “One Day Deal” site s have flourished all over the Internet. It can be regarded as an easy way to generate new leads, make them part of your customer database and if you have good up-sell/cross sell skills you should be able to increase the customer lifetime value of these new leads…If they ever become loyal customers that is!

You see the main reason why these customers come to you is that you give a 50% discount. You effectively bribe them to use your product or service. What does that tell you about the category of leads they belong to? You’re right, they are the bargain hunters! Chances are they will trot along to your competitors when have got a deal going as well. How likely is it that you will turn them into your A typ

A real business is an entity that allows some form of leverage, employment is the most obvious one. In other words you must have some things being done and money being earned without your direct input. This is said with all due respect to sole traders an operators whose business is entirely dependent on them. To help entrepreneurs take their business to the next level, a new and less committing form of employment has arisen world wide thanks to the internet: outsourcing.

If you have ever heard the famous saying:” all the tasks in your business should be delegated except for marketing”, you will be aware that remaining at the coal face is not a sustainable way to own a business. So before you hit the burnout syndrome or stagnating cash

Over the last few years I cannot believe how many ads I have seen that don’t have a specific offer. When you advertise you want people to take action, you want the phone to ring or the traffic into the premises to increase. You also want people to take action NOW, because in a few minutes they will have forgotten about your ad, or whatever promotion you are running. Here are the 6 steps to implementing a killer offer in your marketing.

Step 1-Think about your target market, and in particular the top 10% of your clientele (you know, those who often provide 80% of your turnover). Get into their minds and think of what would sound like a great value offer to them. Beware “token” offers are the best way to give your business