The U.S. Commerce Secretary Locke announced a new Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Department of Commerce and the launch of a National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
What does this mean to you?!
The current economic challenges have lead many Americans to look at starting their own business and for many of these budding entrepreneurs, the need to know where and from whom they can get reliable advice.
According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation (the world's largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurism) "More than half of Fortune 500 companies were founded in recession or bear market."
According to Locke:
"The mission of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is to unleash and maximize the economic potential of new ideas by removing barriers to entrepreneurship and the development of high-growth and innovation-based businesses. One of its goals is to drive policies to help entreprenuers translate new ideas, products, and services into economic growth.
The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will advice the Secretary and the Administration on key issues relating to innovation and entrepreneurship. The Council will identify and recommend solutions to issues critical to the creation and development of entrepreneurship ecosystems that will spawn new businesses and jobs."
THEY PLAN TO MAKE entrepreneurship.gov A VIRTUAL ONE-STOP DESTINATION for government resources, programs, information, and data for entrepreneurs.
"The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will include successful entrepreneurs, innovators, angel investors, venture capitalists, non-profit leaders, and other experts on these issues. All meetings of this council will be open to the public."
So, all of this begs the questions, "Will these initiatives be any different than every other government initiative?" "Will we see any actual economic stimulation from these efforts?"
Only time will tell.
If this can make the navigation of complex federal systems easier, that alone could be a success.
Thoughts?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Excellent TeleSummit: Listen for FREE to 15 of the world's most successful consuting experts!
Follow the link below to the Consulting Masters Telesummit.
Each consulting expert has a 55 minute segment, and you can listen to as many or as few as you would like, FREE!
The link below will give you a breif bio on each of them, and how you can register to listen.
http://bit.ly/consultanttelesummit
I thought it was all great content!
Let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Each consulting expert has a 55 minute segment, and you can listen to as many or as few as you would like, FREE!
The link below will give you a breif bio on each of them, and how you can register to listen.
http://bit.ly/consultanttelesummit
I thought it was all great content!
Let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
There are THREE ways to grow your top line revenue; traditional marketing and advertising (including social media) focus on ONE.
Do you know, and work all three?
When thinking about growing their business, most think of getting their product or service in front of more potential customers. Even the online social networking and media, that is growing so quickly these days, is entirely focused on that ONE area!
For some businesses, it might be very difficult or very expensive to get in front of more prospects. Plus, if you are not sure what it is that you are truly offering to your customers, if your message is unclear, getting in front of more prospects will just be a waste of time and money.
Are there ways to increase your top line without spending more money on traditional advertising?
ABSOLUTELY!
And that’s what we’ve been helping small businesses do for over 15 years.
There are THREE ways to increase the top line revenue that your business is bringing in:
1. Increasing your prospects
2. Increasing the conversion ratio of prospect to paying customers
3. Increasing the value and worth of each individual customer
Traditional marketing and advertising focuses on just ONE area, why not focus on all three?! Are some ways more cost effective than others? Of course! DO NOT spend money on getting in front of more prospects without first identifying, leveraging, and optimizing the marketing assets you already have within your business.
First, make sure you know what it is that you are selling. Are you selling eye glasses like so many others, or, are you selling the fact that you can get it done in about an hour? Are you selling pizza like everyone else, or, are you selling 30 minutes or less?
ALL of your marketing efforts must be designed around what makes YOU unique. You must differentiate yourself. We could go on and on, there are many terms that can be applied here: branding, positioning, just to name a couple.
Doesn’t it make sense to start here first before spending any time and money in other areas? Anyone who answers your phones must be selling what makes you unique, your sales force needs to be selling it, your USP or unique selling proposition must be integrated thoroughly into your operations.
Before getting in front of more prospects, make sure you're getting the most value out of each customer, past, present and future. Make sure your conversion ratio of prospects to paying customers is respectable. Then and only then, after your house is in order, do you even think about spending money on getting your product or service in front of more prospects!
If you need to grow 20% as quickly as possible, don’t just focus on getting in front of 20% more prospects. How easy will it be to get in front of that many more customers? Rather, a small increase of just 5% or less in all THREE areas will create exponential growth with the potential of much more than 20%. Can you see the potential?!
Let me know what you think!
When thinking about growing their business, most think of getting their product or service in front of more potential customers. Even the online social networking and media, that is growing so quickly these days, is entirely focused on that ONE area!
For some businesses, it might be very difficult or very expensive to get in front of more prospects. Plus, if you are not sure what it is that you are truly offering to your customers, if your message is unclear, getting in front of more prospects will just be a waste of time and money.
Are there ways to increase your top line without spending more money on traditional advertising?
ABSOLUTELY!
And that’s what we’ve been helping small businesses do for over 15 years.
There are THREE ways to increase the top line revenue that your business is bringing in:
1. Increasing your prospects
2. Increasing the conversion ratio of prospect to paying customers
3. Increasing the value and worth of each individual customer
Traditional marketing and advertising focuses on just ONE area, why not focus on all three?! Are some ways more cost effective than others? Of course! DO NOT spend money on getting in front of more prospects without first identifying, leveraging, and optimizing the marketing assets you already have within your business.
First, make sure you know what it is that you are selling. Are you selling eye glasses like so many others, or, are you selling the fact that you can get it done in about an hour? Are you selling pizza like everyone else, or, are you selling 30 minutes or less?
ALL of your marketing efforts must be designed around what makes YOU unique. You must differentiate yourself. We could go on and on, there are many terms that can be applied here: branding, positioning, just to name a couple.
Doesn’t it make sense to start here first before spending any time and money in other areas? Anyone who answers your phones must be selling what makes you unique, your sales force needs to be selling it, your USP or unique selling proposition must be integrated thoroughly into your operations.
Before getting in front of more prospects, make sure you're getting the most value out of each customer, past, present and future. Make sure your conversion ratio of prospects to paying customers is respectable. Then and only then, after your house is in order, do you even think about spending money on getting your product or service in front of more prospects!
If you need to grow 20% as quickly as possible, don’t just focus on getting in front of 20% more prospects. How easy will it be to get in front of that many more customers? Rather, a small increase of just 5% or less in all THREE areas will create exponential growth with the potential of much more than 20%. Can you see the potential?!
Let me know what you think!
Finding your "Hidden Marketing Assets"
A great checklist, or marketing evaluation, to help you find the “hidden marketing assets” already INSIDE your business:
Using the following checklist, identify the marketing potential you think your business has:
_____ Past Customers
_____ Present Customers
_____ Special knowledge or expertise in your industry
_____ Unique product or service
_____ Underperforming salespeople, both inside and outside sales
_____ Advertising that doesn’t presently get results
_____ Good relationships with vendors and suppliers
_____ A high percentage of satisfied customers
_____ Knowledge of the average sale amount or average invoice
_____ Products or services that can be offered after the initial sale
_____ Good community relationships
_____ Prospective customers
_____ Good location
_____ High level of employee or staff expertise
_____ Knowledge of the competition’s strengths and weaknesses
_____ Unique packaging or combination of products and services
_____ Good relationships with complementary businesses
_____ A great story to tell about your business or products
_____ A clearly defined target market or demographic group
_____ Successful advertising or marketing in the past
_____ A product or service on the “leading edge” of your industry
_____ Unique efficiencies in the business operations or production of your product
The more of these possibilities you checked, the more leverage you can receive by better optimizing your assets. And this can be done without spending more money or making costly and time-consuming changes in your operations.
Good luck!
Using the following checklist, identify the marketing potential you think your business has:
_____ Past Customers
_____ Present Customers
_____ Special knowledge or expertise in your industry
_____ Unique product or service
_____ Underperforming salespeople, both inside and outside sales
_____ Advertising that doesn’t presently get results
_____ Good relationships with vendors and suppliers
_____ A high percentage of satisfied customers
_____ Knowledge of the average sale amount or average invoice
_____ Products or services that can be offered after the initial sale
_____ Good community relationships
_____ Prospective customers
_____ Good location
_____ High level of employee or staff expertise
_____ Knowledge of the competition’s strengths and weaknesses
_____ Unique packaging or combination of products and services
_____ Good relationships with complementary businesses
_____ A great story to tell about your business or products
_____ A clearly defined target market or demographic group
_____ Successful advertising or marketing in the past
_____ A product or service on the “leading edge” of your industry
_____ Unique efficiencies in the business operations or production of your product
The more of these possibilities you checked, the more leverage you can receive by better optimizing your assets. And this can be done without spending more money or making costly and time-consuming changes in your operations.
Good luck!
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