Category: Blog

In a highly competitive market, promoting a small business can be a real struggle. Owners and entrepreneurs can face an overwhelming amount of marketing information and advice, and with limited budgets, it can be hard to know where to invest your time and resources.

In this guide, we’ll look at the top eight things a small business can do to successfully promote its products, services and brand.

 

Step one: Who is your customer?

Market research is essential in understanding who your target customer is. This research will also help you identify market trends and keep an eye on what your competition is doing.

Understanding who your customer is, forms the basis of all your other marketing efforts. Even if you think you know who they are, it never hurts to do some research every now and again; things might have changed.

Learn more about the importance of understanding your audience.

 

Step two: Organising your customers

Once you understand who your customer is, you will need to learn a bit more about them so that you can organise them into groups (segments).

Trying to promote your products and services to absolutely everyone on your target customer list will be extremely expensive and ineffective – even if you believe everyone can use or benefit from your product/service.

Grouping or segmenting your potential customer based on particular characteristics will allow you to focus your marketing efforts – and find that low hanging fruit. This grouping could be based on:

• Geography
• Demographics (age, gender, occupation)
• Behaviour (loyalty, readiness to buy)

Learn more about organising your customers to grow your business.

 

Step three: Understand yourself

Once you know a bit more about your customer, it’s easy to assume you can jump straight in and start cleverly marketing your business in all the right places. But why should someone buy from you? What makes you different to your competitors?

Sounds simple, but formalising this ‘Know thyself’ stage is often overlooked.

To do this, you need to clearly understand what your unique selling propositions (USPs) are. What makes your business stand out from the crowd. Why do your customers buy from you instead of your competitors?

Once you understand this, you can then develop your marketing message.

Learn more about developing your USP.

 

Step four: Create a clear message

Your business offering needs to be straightforward and easy for people to understand.

All your communications with clients and prospects should include how your business can solve a particular problem. If you’ve done the research and successfully segmented your customer base, you can start tailoring messages based on each group’s needs.

You should always try to avoid industry jargon and assume the reader is relatively new to the market. For example, we’re business and management consultants. However, we can’t assume everyone knows what that means. So, following this business classification, we elaborate by saying, “we help small businesses grow and become more profitable”.

Learn more about creating a clear, strong marketing message.

 

Step five: Create a marketing plan

A marketing plan needn’t be an overwhelming, complex document full of clever marketing terms. A good marketing plan outlines:

• Where you’re spending resources
• Why you’re spending resources – applying it to your customer research
• What you’re going to say (message and design)
• Where you’re going to say it (online, in a magazine, via email)
• What you expect the outcome to be

For example, your marketing budget might be small, so competing against larger competitors on social media, Google, or on billboards might be too expensive. Therefore, you might want to construct a guerrilla marketing campaign – a low budget means of being creative and an unconventional way of sharing your message. View HubSpot for more information on guerrilla marketing.

Learn more about creating a successful marketing plan.

 

Step six: Build a database

Your database is the lifeblood of all your marketing (and sales). Building your own database will help you directly and regularly communicate with your contacts.

Remember, all those contacts you have on LinkedIn or Facebook aren’t yours. If LinkedIn stopped tomorrow, could you still speak to your connections?

Your own database allows you to send things like monthly email newsletters and promotions that will help nurture prospective clients into leads, and ideally, customers.

Learn more about building an effective marketing database.

 

Step seven: Build loyalty

Your customers are the key to your success, so it’s essential you look after them and encourage loyalty.

Typically, someone who uses your business for the first time isn’t particularly loyal. Their first-time experience with your company determines their return. Developing loyalty and trust with that customer can transform them into advocates, someone who is willing to refer your business to others. And ultimately, you want to develop all your customers into brand ambassadors; those who believe in your business so much they act as an unofficial sales team.

Loyalty is usually earned by focusing on delivering exceptional customer service and exceeding their expectations on multiple occasions. However, you can encourage loyalty by rewarding customers for their repeat business by creating a loyalty scheme (like Costa, Boots, Ikea and Tesco).

Learn more about building customer loyalty.

 

Step eight: Monitor, review and learn

It is important to regularly monitor and review your marketing activities to ensure they achieve the desired outcome, such as increased sales.

Ideally, you should review your marketing plan every three months. Today, it can be relatively easy to determine what marketing activity has led to a sale. Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRMs) can track customers’ behaviour and identify what information they saw before a sale.

Continually monitoring and reviewing your marketing will allow you to build on what is working and change what isn’t.

Learn more about measuring your marketing success.

 

How ETC can help

If you need help with your marketing and obtaining new clients, please get in touch.

If you are new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Video calls with colleagues, clients and even family members have become a standard way of life since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virtual meetings are flexible, time-saving and environmentally friendly. Many businesses have thrived as a result of reducing their office overheads and travel expenses.

So, as businesses plan for a post-pandemic ‘new normal’, will face-to-face meetings return, or should we encourage the continuation of the virtual meeting?

 

The impact of lockdown

At the start of the pandemic – once we figured out how to use Teams, Zoom and Google Hangouts – it could be easy to assume that face-to-face meetings would die out.

Setting up a meeting with a colleague, client, or prospect is now easier than ever. Generally, people now have access to their own diary (fewer gate-keepers), and you don’t have to factor in any travel time. You can now arrange to see a client on the other side of the country or world in a matter of minutes.

However, now that restrictions are easing, businesses should be asking themselves: should we continue with a virtual approach?

The convenience of a virtual meeting doesn’t always outweigh the value of meeting someone in person. Few calls are without their technical challenges. How many of us have uttered the phrase “you’re still on mute”. We’re also asking a lot of virtual meeting participants to remain 100% focused when they’re using the same device they work from – it’s so easy to become distracted by other things on the screen.

And after weeks of lockdown and social isolation, most of us are craving face-to-face communication.

 

The benefits of face-to-face interaction

Meeting someone in person can be an essential step in building positive relationships with our clients and prospects.

According to a recent study by Great Business Schools, 84% of people still say they prefer in-person meetings.

Having a conversation with someone face-to-face allows for a more fluid and dynamic exchange of ideas and collaboration. Unlike in a virtual meeting, we’re not subject to time delays that can make the responder seem less friendly or focused, and it’s harder to misinterpret essential non-verbal cues. 

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, once said; “There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can be developed by email and iChat. That’s crazy. Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.”.

To support this, think about your personal life. Virtual connections aren’t new. Facebook has been widely available in the UK since 2005, and there is an estimated 3.96 billion people who use social media worldwide, according to Backlinko. Yet, despite this overwhelming access to virtual connection alternatives, we still meet our friends in pubs, clubs and at the park.

 

Getting back out to business

Many businesses will soon face increased expectations of meeting in person, whether that expectation comes from a client, prospect or your staff.

Restrictions as a result of COVID-19 will likely be in place for a while yet, so it’s inadvisable to rush straight back into in-person meetings. We should all be careful and ease back into them to keep us and others safe. This is particularly important for owners of SMEs who stand to lose a lot if they become unwell.

However, all businesses should anticipate an increase in expenses. As restrictions ease, it’s unlikely remote working and video meetings will disappear overnight. However, any decisions to keep virtual working will need to be weighed against your wellbeing and the value of relationship building.

Those businesses looking to remain completely as a home working environment should seriously consider their employees’ mental wellbeing and the consequences of not having organic, free-flowing conversations.

Businesses who gave up offices at the start of the pandemic, but are now looking to move back, should consider a more hybrid working function (office/home-based working). This will help minimise overheads and maintain social distancing. You should also take into consideration your new office size, to ensure you can maintain social distancing – what used to be called a small office space or meeting room might now be too small.

 

How ETC can help

Over the past year, throughout the various stages of the pandemic, we’ve worked with businesses to help them create comprehensive ‘bounce back’ plans that outline how best to return to work and take advantage of new opportunities.

All the businesses we support found that an external, experienced consultant added real value to their return to work plans. Let us help you get back to business; please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Again, thanks to the NHS’s stellar efforts and the vaccination programme, the UK is slowly reducing restrictions and ending lockdown.

From Monday 29th March, the stay at home rule will end, meaning offices can start to re-open and allow more staff to return to the office.

From Monday 12th April, depending on the infection rate, we’ll see all shops, hairdressers, beauty salons, gyms, zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centres all open again. Pubs and restaurants will also be allowed to serve food and alcohol to customers sitting outdoors.

As we saw last year, reducing restrictions creates massive opportunities for all types of businesses.

Those in the service industry who have been closed for most of 2020 should expect a massive and sudden rush. Make sure you’re prepared and have thought about efficiently meeting demand inline social distancing and Covid-safe regulations.

For those businesses who have stayed open throughout lockdown, peoples habits are about to change; think about what fewer restrictions mean for your business. For example, we may see less online traffic, and disposable income might now be spent on outdoor activities instead of at home-services.

Your number one priority at this time is to prepare for change and a safe return to work. To help prepare you for a return to business, we have created an essential three-step guide:

 

1) Prepare for a change in behaviour

As restrictions reduce, more people are going to want to travel. Therefore every business needs to ensure it can accommodate change while operating safely.

At this stage, preparation and communication is essential. Here are some information points you should consider making available to staff and customers:

• Are you reopening the office fully, continuing to work remotely or adapting to a hybrid model?
• How many people can you safely have in your office/store at the same time?
• Do you have sufficient cleaning and PPE available?- it goes down faster than you think.

Top tip: If you haven’t already, start consulting with your employees about returning to work. Consider that personal circumstances might have changed. For example, an employees’ child-care situation may be affected.

 

2) Invest in marketing and PR

Marketing is an essential element of bouncing back from lockdown. 75% of consumers say that brands should inform people of what they’re doing.

Whether you have a big or a small budget, there are plenty of marketing options for promoting your business. For larger budgets, we recommend you invest in content creation and advertising. This can include:

• Google Ads
• Remarketing (Retargeting) – Getting people back to your website
• Targeted Facebook and LinkedIn advertising

In addition, and for those with smaller budgets, we recommend you focus on Social Media and Guerrilla Marketing. This can include:

• Social meida marketing
• Competitions
• Email marketing (think about email automation)
• Content marketing

Again, think about people’s changing behaviours. People are likely to be spending less time online and more of their disposable income in-person rather than online. Be on the lookout for changes in behaviour and prepare to adapt your marketing communications.

 

3) Be consistent and clear

After you’ve invested in PR and worked with your staff to return safely, you must ensure you follow through. It’s great to have handwashing stations and social distancing in place, but people may become anxious about what the protocols are if they aren’t clearly visible.

Messages about ‘safe’ have become more important as lockdown has eased. Larger brands are opting for a clear, positive, inspirational, and helpful tone over humorous, witty, or casual.

According to a study by Econsultancy: one in five consumers have actively stopped purchasing from a brand because of its response to the coronavirus outbreak. This included not providing a safe working environment for its employees.

In the same study, 62% stated that they were more likely to spend money with companies that prioritise the health and safety of their staff.

The full study can be found here: coronavirus impact on marketing, ecommerce & advertising

Without noticeable, tangible changes to improve safety, all your PR and messages will be wasted – and potentially counterproductive as it may appear disingenuous.

Finally, on a more serious note, the importance of these Covid-safe measures cannot be stressed enough. If COVID-19 gets into the workplace, everyone exposed will need to isolate, which may include some difficult conversations with customers.

To protect your business, get your cashflow going again and rebuild customer trust, don’t just give COVID-19 safe the lip service – it’s the key to ending your business lockdown.

 

How ETC can help

Over the past year, throughout the various stages of the pandemic, we’ve worked with various businesses to help them create a comprehensive ‘bounce back’ plan that reduces recovery time and identifies ways to take advantage of new opportunities.

All the businesses we support found that an external, experienced consultant added real value to their return to work plans. Let us help you get back to business; please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

A few years ago, we wrote an article on the value of client retention. Part one outlined some common reasons companies lose customers and how to keep hold of customers if you’re losing them on a regular basis.

In part two, we want to expand on client retention’s true value and give you four simple to implement retention strategies to inspire loyalty, maintain your client list and increase profits.

 

New vs Retained Clients

New clients are exciting, and depending on the service, you could be justified in charging more money than you do existing clients for similar work. So, why not go after new clients all the time?

The answer: It’s because the cost of acquisition is so much higher. The actual cost of obtaining a new client is often overlooked. A typical new client acquisition might include:

• Marketing
• Advertising
• Networking
• Introduction meetings
• Proposal creation
• Sales meetings
• Briefing meetings
• Project management meetings (reviews)

And what’s your sales conversion rate? – how many times do you need to do all this to win one new client?

Some studies suggest client retention can cost 2-25 times less than client acquisition. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

If you haven’t already, spend time working out how much it costs you to obtain a new client – you’ll be surprised.

For more information on the value of holding onto clients, read part one.

 

Four client retention strategies

 

1) Onboarding

Onboarding is all about teaching your customers how to get the best from your product or service. When users first start working with your product or service, they may get frustrated if they don’t understand how to get the best from it. Deadlines and external pressures may lead them to discount your solution over the smallest detail. Onboarding helps users learn intricacies and how to problem solve challenges themselves.

As an example, if your company build websites. First, your onboarding strategy might include a guide for someone who has no idea how to build a website – this could consist of a technical jargoon breakdown to help ease any language barriers.

Next, once the website is built, spend time with your client teaching them how to use the website, update their content and add new features.

As a result, you’ll have fewer support requests, and they’ll feel more ownership and pride. At the very least, they’ll know what’s possible and how to ask for it in a language you both understand.

 

2) Customer feedback loop

Although we also covered this in part one, we wanted to elaborate further on the importance of Feedback.

It’s hard to know what you’re doing right or wrong if you don’t ask. If you get feedback, it should always be looked at in two ways.

Say, Mrs Jones hates the flowers you sent her because they died within 3-days. First, address the individual needs of Mrs Jones and ensure that the client is happy – or at least answered. Following this, take a step back and look at the broader picture – removing all individuality – is this a bigger problem, and only Mrs Jones is speaking out?

More often than not, one person’s voice is an indication of how others might be feeling. Mrs Jones’ flowers might have died after 3-days because they were sitting over a radiator. How many other people are doing that, not telling you and thinking it’s your flowers. Why not use this as an onboarding process and include a handy ‘get the best from your flowers’ guide with every purchase.

The same goes for positive feedback. If someone loves your services, how can you get the most from it- is there an opportunity for a new product or service?

After this comes the ‘loop’ part: When you implement a new idea based on feedback, pay attention to customers’ responses and follow the same steps of gathering feedback and implementing new ideas.

Customers love to be heard. If you’re open and transparent with your feedback, you’ll not only increase loyalty, but your product and services will improve – helping you attracts new clients and retain the clients you have.

 

3)Lapsed client communication calendar

Keeping track of all your customers (past and present) can be challenging. Smaller clients who only worked with you once and contributed a small amount to the bottom line can be overlooked. While it might take some project management time to get lapsed clients on board again, it’s still more cost-effective than attracting a brand new (cold) client.

Create a date in the diary each month/quarter to review lapsed clients in a batch can reduce the overall time expenditure. Include details of new products and services that weren’t around the last time you worked with them or a case study of a successful project.

 

4) Newsletter

A company newsletter is a simple and cost-effective way of reminding customers of your brand, products and services – helping to retain customers.

Today, sending, scheduling and automating these emails is simple. Platforms like Mailchimp can help you create personalised, dynamic content that looks like the email was written specifically for the individual, not the masses.

 

Hold onto clients

Following these four steps will not only help hold onto clients, but it will help you deliver a better service.

1. Onboarding customers will build relationships and help promote brand advocacy.
2. Feedback will help you deliver a better service. You’ll build better relationships with your customers and demonstrate your willingness to progress.
3. Keeping in contact with lapsed clients will dramatically reduce ‘client churn’; you’ll also build a specific target marketing segment for new products as you know these clients are interested in what you can deliver (low hanging fruit).
4. Newsletters will remind customers of your brand every time they open their inbox. They may not need you all the time, but your brand will be remembered when they do.

 

How can ETC help

If you need help in retaining more clients or understanding the cost of obtaining new clients, please get in touch. 

If you are new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Business success is a result of careful planning. Yet, even the most considered, well-thought-out business plan is just a stack of paper if you don’t implement it!

Throughout your business plan, there should be clear goals that outline what you want to achieve. Some of these goals might include employing a new customer support executive or downsizing the office due to increased homeworking.

To help ensure you achieve these goals, consider adding an implementation or action plan as a supplement to your business plan. This supplement should further break down the specific actions required to accomplish each goal. For example, when recruiting for a new employee, you might create a list of things to do, which might include:

• Outline job specification and salary
• Speak to a recruitment agency or post on job sites and LinkedIn
• Arrange interview dates
• Create contract with HR

Next, you need to turn this list into an implementation plan.

 

Step 1: Assign accountability

There is one sure-fire way to achieve your business goals, and that’s implementing the actions you set out in your business plan. The best way to accomplish this is to assign accountability.

To help break it down further, detail who is responsible and who is accountable. These might be the same person, or they could be different. For example, one person might be responsible for posting the new customer support executive’s job specification because they are more experienced at recruitment. However, it might be a different person who is ultimately accountable for approving the hire.

Although the hiring process is heavily reliant on the person responsible, it’s the person accountable that needs to drive the process and ensure it’s complete.

Even if you are a small business or sole-trader, someone needs to be accountable for achieving your business goals. However, in these circumstances, the best person might not be yourself. If you’re in this situation, you know what will happen; you’ll be too busy doing the work to focus on the business itself.

This is where an independent business consultant can add real value – they can hold you accountable.

Learn how the co-founders of Eaglet Business Systems Ltd, completely turned their business around by working with ETC to assign accountability and make time to focus on the business. Eaglet Case Study.

 

Step 2: Create checkpoints

The simplest way to ensure you’re moving forward, implementing your actions and celebrating milestones is to hold regular management meetings.

It might seem like an arduous exercise that takes senior people away from day-to-day operations, but it’s a critical element to achieving your goals. Yes, you might not see giant leaps forward between each meeting, but this is better than suddenly realising you’re heading in the wrong direction when it’s too late in the day to course correct.

Also, you can be sure that most of the activity actually happens right before these meetings. It’s likely that without them, other distractions will take priority and you won’t achieve as much.

 

Step 3: Celebrate and reward achievements

When working towards larger goals (that might take more than 1-year), it can be easy to forget to see the wood through the trees.

All objectives should be timebound, as should each item on your implementation plan. When you meet milestones, celebrate and assign an appropriate reward (even if it’s just a special mention at the next meeting).

It’s natural to have negative associations about regular progress meetings and assigning accountability. However, positive enforcement can encourage you and others to continue to meet targets.

So, next time you achieve something, make sure you celebrate the win!

 

How can ETC help

If you need help creating or implementing your business plan, please get in touch. 

If you are new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

Everyone has an idea of where they want their business to be in the future. Your ultimate goal may be to earn enough money to retire early, create a legacy for your children or it could be world domination.

The best way to achieve this future is to create a road-map of how to get there: otherwise known as a business plan. However, when you are planning for the future, it’s essential to keep your goals in mind. Everything you put in your business plan should be centred around achieving your goals.

If you haven’t already written a business plan, we recommend you read our Business Planning for 2021 article, which outlines how to structure and write a plan.

 

Setting goals

When we set goals, business owners tend to solely focus on their business. This is not surprising as it’s what you do for a living, and business goals are vital to maintaining motivation and drive. However, it is essential not to forget our personal goals – where do you, personally want to be in 3, 5, 20 years in the future?

Your business facilitates your personal goals. Therefore your business and personal goals must be aligned, but separate.

For example, a personal goal might be to own a beautiful chalet in the Swiss Alps where you can ski to your heart’s content. To achieve this personal goal, your business goal might be to earn £100k per year and have management staff to run the day-to-day business.

It is the personal goal that motivates and inspires you. The mechanism to achieving this goal is the business goal of earning £100k per year and employing management staff.

 

Setting achievable goals

Continuing with the example above: If you currently earn £30k per year and your goal is to make £100k in 6-months, you’re probably going to need a considerable business scale-up programme and investment – now, we’re not saying this isn’t achievable, but it’s perhaps unlikely.

Is not hitting this goal going to motivate you to continue? – probably not.

When setting goals, it is important to challenge yourself, but they should be realistic and achievable within a specific timeframe. One proven strategy for goal setting is to use SMART.

Goals should be Specific – make it very clear to you and everyone else what your goal is.

Goals should be Measurable – can you quantify success? You can also try putting milestones (mini-goals) in place to make sure you’re heading in the right direction.

Make sure your goals are Achievable – can you, or your business accomplish the goal? The point of a goal is to challenge and motivate yourself. If your goal is too high, it can cause stress and decrease the chance of reaching your goal. Likewise, if it’s too easy, it will stop you from pushing yourself and doing more.

Are your goals Realistic? – ambition is a powerful trait, but you need to ensure your goals aren’t fantasy. Successful business people don’t just become successful overnight.

Finally, remember to make your goals Timebound – When are you going to have achieved your goals by?

 

How long should your business goals be?

In business, it is important to have a mixture of short, medium and long-term goals to keep you motivated. What defines the actual length of these goals in terms of time is based on you and your business.

For example, a business start-up with young directors might want to have some goals that stretch as far as 20-30 years. However, someone starting a business in their 50s probably would prefer to be achieving their goals a lot sooner – but, they might want to leave something behind for their children.

If you have ambitious, achievable goals that will take a few years to accomplish, then we recommend breaking those down to become more manageable. We mentioned setting mini-goals (milestones) above in terms of setting measurable goals. Milestones are a brilliant way of keeping you motivated when you’re working towards long-term goals (5, 10 or 20 years into the future) as they create the opportunity to celebrate success and achieve a ‘win’.

 

Setting goals for 2021

It’s no surprise that many people’s annual goals in 2020 were seriously interrupted or shelved. Certainly, at the start of the pandemic, businesses were operating on a day-by-day basis.

When setting goals for 2021, it is important to have learned from the unexpected, unprecedented nature of 2020. 2021 promises a large deployment of the vaccination and ‘business as usual’ by Easter. It could also bring a different strain of the virus and more lockdowns. Which do you prepare for?

The answer should be both. Throughout 2021, keep reviewing your goals and milestones to check that you are heading in the right direction. You will need to stay flexible and adapt to change. Try not to be stubborn and set rigid goals.

Finally, remember that ‘business as usual’ will be more like it is today than it was in 2019. Technology has dramatically advanced the way we do things forever. Consider the new opportunities now available to us and the new ways of working. As an example, we are more likely to have more meetings over Zoom than face-to-face than we did in 2019 – so, do you want a fleet of business cars anymore?

 

How ETC can help

If you need help setting SMART business goals or creating a comprehensive business plan for 2021, please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

There’s no denying it, 2020 has been a rough year for pretty much everyone – and it’s not over yet. You may be thinking: ‘what’s the point in creating a 2021 businesses plan? All my plans for 2020 went out of the window’.

Over this past year, every business has had its strengths and weaknesses exposed, and we’re sure to see the impact of coronavirus continue into 2021. This year has taught us that adapting to change quickly is vital to business success.

Spending time planning for 2021 now will help you consider potential roadblocks and identify unknown factors. This plan will help you prepare for the year ahead.

Here’s our guide for creating a successful 2021 business plan.

 

Where to start?

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. So, while we can remain optimistic, make plans for some tough decisions.

Top of your list should be cashflow. Positive cash flow will give your business more flexibility to invest in new opportunities and grow.

It’s also worth considering starting a rainy day fund. While the government have been supportive (for many) in helping businesses remain active, we shouldn’t rely on continuous support. You may need access to cash quickly to seize a new opportunity or to tide you over for a little while.

Budgeting is essential to help keep your cash flow on track. For more advice on how to budget, take a look at our 7 easy steps to successful budgeting.

 

How to plan for business in 2021

The principals of planning for 2021 are no different from any other year. Perhaps the only contrast is there is more evidence to suggest things may get more challenging. And this is why planning is essential.

In 2021, consider the national tried system. How will your business continue to operate in another full lockdown, and then work from there? Consider how you will switch on and off services based on these restrictions. Agility in these circumstances will be the key to helping you survive and thrive.

 

What should your 2021 business plan include?

You don’t need to overcomplicate the process. If you have a business mentor, now is the time to get them involved. They can help steer you in the right direction and identify hidden factors.

When writing a business plan, it’s always helpful to use the SOSTAC model. Here are some guidelines to help you create a successful 2021 business plan:

The purpose of your business

It is always important to keep the ‘why’ you’re doing business at the heart of your business plan. This will help ensure the content within your plan supports your business purpose. It also provides context for anyone outside the company reading your plan.

To understand more about the importance of ‘why’, we recommend you check out ‘Start with Why’ by Simon Sinek – also available on Amazon.

Situation

Document where you are now so that you can measure progress. For example, how did you handle lockdown? What challenges did you overcome? How many products do you have, how many customers, how much did you spend against your 2020 budget, sales numbers etc.

Objectives

Where do you want to be: both for the business and personally? Set Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timebound (SMART) objectives for each of the steps required to achieve your goals.

Strategy

How are we going to get there? Broadly, how do you plan to achieve the objectives you’ve defined? For example, if one aim is to increase sales, the strategy might be to start selling in new markets.

Tactics

What are we going to do? With the strategies outlined, you’ll need to decide what tactical elements are required to achieve these. Looking back at the example above, let’s say one strategy is to penetrate new markets, one tactic to achieve this may be having an online store.

Action

What do we need to do, by when, and by whom? This is the list you’re probably used to making. It’s the task list for each of the tactics you outlined above. Sticking with the same theme of selling into new markets, and using a website to do that, your actions may include things like:

• Build an e-commerce website
• Research shipping fees
• Review pricing
• Review packaging options

With a list in place, add to it who will do what and by when. Day to day service delivery can often get in the way of delivering on an action plan, so be realistic when deciding on deadlines.

Control

How are we going to measure and monitor success?

Outlining precise, defined metrics or milestones will help you record and recognise success.

An easy mechanism to establish success against your goals is to attach accountability to the objectives, strategies, tactics and actions. Regular management team meetings, or if you’re a smaller business, scheduled meetings with your business coach will encourage you to stick to your plan.

It sounds logical, but you’d be surprised how many plans are written but not followed. There are so many distractions as a business owner; it’s easy to lose sight.

 

How ETC can help

If you need help creating a comprehensive business plan for 2021, please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, governments are introducing new lockdown restrictions to keep everyone safe. The introduction of the new covid three-tiered lockdown system in England aims to avoid national lockdown by classifying areas based on the rate of infection. And in Wales, the short, sharp “firebreak” lockdown returns the country to nationwide lockdown for over two weeks.

Throughout the pandemic, there has always been a warning before a change in restrictions. However, this notice is usually days, and as a business owner, this poses the question: How prepared is your business for a change in lockdown restrictions?

Depending on your area’s circumstances, you may need to turn services on and off quickly to comply with social limitations.

Here are four simple steps to preparing your business for a sudden increase in COVID-19 restrictions.

 

1. Flexibility

Planning ahead and developing flexible operations could help keep your business running through new lockdown rules.

Office-based business
It’s likely travel restrictions will limit access to your premises. Ensure your business can run remotely. Focus on protecting staff (both physically and mentally) by implementing quality remote working solutions now. Poor internet connection, file accessibility or restricted access to vital systems can hinder productivity and damage employee morale. Streamlining procedures and investing in quality equipment and applications can connect remote workers and help you deliver excellent customer service. For example:

• Do you have a customer relationship manager like HubSpot to ensure notes on a client are logged
• Project management tool like Monday.com can help keep track of team tasks
• A virtual assistant like I’m your PA can help manage calls and your diary

Public-facing business (shops, bars and restaurants)

Footfall is likely to drop, or stop. Therefore, you’ll need to evaluate how best to deliver your services in the most efficient way possible.

• If your shop shuts, do you have an online store? Is this optimised for conversions and upsell?
• As a pub or bar, do you serve substantial meals? Could you operate a takeaway service? Have you considered an app to limit customer and staff interaction and speed up delivery?

Personal note: I heard a story about a client who went to a pub and waited over 40mins to receive their first drink. The pub was operating table service and the staff were run off their feet delivering menus, taking orders, serving both food and drink and taking payments. As winter approaches, having customers wait this long outside is not ideal. As a result, the client admitted they wouldn’t go back.

A simple, low-cost solution to this would be to provide quality WiFi and a QR code that links them to an online menu and order form. A better solution would be to offer an app to handle the whole order and payment process, allowing the bar staff to focus on delivery and customer service.

 

2. Promote COVID-secure

Regardless of your local restrictions, or what type of business you are, you should be promoting your business as COVID-secure. All your communications should enforce this message.

Let customers know you are safe to do business with.

As restrictions and local guides are different, there is usually some confusion about what your customers or employees should be doing. Therefore, ensure your message is clear and visible. Make it easy for people to follow the rules.

• Place signs up around your place of business for both visitors and staff
• Use your website to explain any changes your business is making to keep people safe
• Send email updates and evidence of any changes to your customer list
• Use social media to demonstrate how you’re safe
  • Why not use videos and pictures of people in PPE delivering services?
• Include information with posted packages to reassure customers you’ve taken extra precautions

 

3. Act COVID-secure

Working hand-in-hand with promoting that you are COVID-secure, is acting COVID-secure. This is absolutely vital to your business.

Keeping customers and staff safe is imperative and can help avoid a business shutdown. If a member of your staff tests positive, you will have to close your business. If they spread the virus to other members of the team, you might be closed for a long time. Not to mention the loss of faith or trust customers will have in your business.

If you say you’re going to keep customers and staff safe, make sure it’s obvious you’re doing so, any advice is simple to follow, and the rules are enforced. For example:

• Create large, simple to follow guides for any visitors
• If you operate a one-way system, use signs and tape on the floor and place do not enter signs for anyone approaching the other way
• Have hand-sanitising stations
• Use perspex dividers
• Encourage masks or appropriate PPE (whenever possible)

 

4. Focus on customer service

At this time, quick, efficient service delivery is what’s going to see you through any changes in lockdown restrictions. Systems, processes, and operational mechanisms should all focus on exceeding the customer’s expectations.

Customers are more open to change than ever before – so long as it keeps them safe and doesn’t put barriers in their way. 

A simple way to identify barriers is to talk to your staff and customers directly. Understand their ‘pain’ points and look to resolve them. Feedback should be welcomed and encouraged.

You can also use this feedback to convince others to use your product or service by turning them into online reviews through Facebook or Google My Business (an essential element of SEO). Even bad reviews, when addressed, can be a positive thing.

At a time of uncertainty, be the clear guide and focus. This will help to delight your customers.

 

How ETC can help

If you need help creating a comprehensive plan to help prepare your business for a change in lockdown restrictions, please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

In business, there’s nothing more frustrating than a missed sales opportunity.

During the lockdown, many businesses either had to shut down or had to adapt to a new way of working. In many cases, this has resulted in a backlog of work and sales.

A backlog of sales can be a positive thing, as it shows a high level of customer demand as well as future financial stability. However, if you can’t work through the backlog in a reasonable time, then you’ll start missing out on opportunities and potentially tarnish your company’s reputation.

 

How to effectively work through your sales backlog

 

1) Update your sales pipeline

Before you start anything – is your pipeline and work priority list up-to-date?

It doesn’t matter if it’s on a project management software like HubSpot, an excel spreadsheet, a whiteboard or a scrap of paper, take the time to outline everything. Without this, you won’t be able to assign priorities.

In the long-term, this information should be put into a more robust system so it can become a process. However, on a short-term basis, the important thing is to understand the scope of the task at hand.

If you don’t have a process-driven sales pipeline, read our The importance of a sales pipeline article to learn more about the tremendous impact having one will have on your business.

Top tip: Don’t be tempted to tackle any project until the list is complete- even if, as part of the process you write something down you just remembered you should have done, keep going until the list is done.

 

2) Manage workload

Once you’ve updated your sales pipeline, your objective is to prioritise.

An increase in backlog orders doesn’t mean you should focus all your energy on them and forget the day-to-day work or new sales opportunities. New leads are essential, they’re warm and, depending on the age of your backlog list, may need less ‘effort’ to convert.

Remember, a sales backlog isn’t always a bad thing. By regularly communicating with clients, you’ll be able to manage expectations, giving you time to work through both new and old leads methodically – more on this to follow.

Set out a plan to manage your workload effectively and assign priorities to both new and old projects. An alternative is to spend a proportion of your day exclusively working through your backlog.

 

3) Manage expectations

Continually communicating with clients and prospects is one of the essential keys to business success.

If you’re working through a backlog of orders, let your prospects know. Using your priority list, let them know when you’ll meet their need – and make sure you do. In having the conversation you may discover they’re no longer interested, they were after something more, or they’re happy to wait longer because they’re going on holiday.

Likewise, if it’s a new prospect and you can’t meet with them straight away, let them know and set their expectations.

This stage is vitally important. Yet, it cannot be achieved without a plan. If you can’t deliver on your word, your company reputation may suffer. However, managing expectations effectively can help to increase loyalty and boost your company’s reputation.

 

If you need help managing your sales backlog, or in creating a sales pipeline, please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.

NOW is the time to ramp up your marketing and PR to get your business bouncing back from lockdown.

It’s difficult to avoid the ‘doom and gloom’ when reading the news. On the 12th August, the government announced that the UK is officially in a recession, we’re also continually being reminded of increasing redundancies, and that travelling abroad could result in a two-week quarantine – but it’s not all bad news.

The UK lockdown is continuing to ease. Theatres, indoor skating rinks, casinos, soft play areas and bowling alleys are all now open. Also, the new Eat out to help out scheme has helped the hospitality sector begin to recover – there were a staggering 10.5 million claims in the first week.

While the weather is good, people are more willing to get out and spend. This is the time to inject some rocket fuel into your marketing to get your business bouncing back.

Invest in marketing and PR

Marketing is an essential element of bouncing back. Marking and PR should be your primary focus over the next few months. 

Face-to-face business conferencing is still set to resume on the 1st October, so while you prepare for this, online marketing remains the primary way to connect with people.

Whether you have a big or a small budget, there are plenty of options for marketing and promoting your business. For larger budgets, we recommend you invest in content creation and advertising. This can include:

• Google Ads
• Remarketing (Retargeting) – Getting people back to your website
• Targeted Facebook and LinkedIn advertising

In addition, and for those with smaller budgets, we recommend you focus on Social Media and Guerrilla Marketing. This can include:

• Social meida marketing
• Competitions
• Email marketing (think about email automation)
• Content marketing

Your primary objective is to re-establish connections with your audience – PR. Remember, your audience is also seeing the same doom and gloom stuff on the news too. Remind them that you’re still here, you’re still offering great products and services, and you’re safe to do business with.

For more advice on using marketing and PR to get your business out of lockdown, read our The key to ending your business lockdown article.

Planning ahead – events

Face-to-face business conferencing is still set to resume on the 1st October. However, is it going to be the same as before? We suspect not. 

Before lockdown, we saw a glimpse of what business conferences in October are going to look like. Expect social distancing, limited to no contact with your branded items (business cards, leaflets and brochures) and fewer delegates.

Yet, there’s plenty of opportunities to take advantage of these situations. Its likely events will be cheaper to entice an audience. You’ll also have the opportunity to stand out from your competition by creating captivating, easy to understand banners and videos on your stand to replace brochures. Also, all attendees will need to register, and it’s likely that more contact details will be shared with attendees and exhibitors, so this is the time to create engaging followup emails to WOW visitors.

Keeping safe

If you’ve been out shopping or into a restaurant lately, you’ll have seen the number of people on the high street begin to increase. Confidence is starting to be restored. However, at this present moment, it’s not going to take a lot to lose it again.

We must not be neglectful of the measures in place to keep us safe. Keeping staff and customers safe at this time is vital to keeping your business open. Anyone confirmed COVID-19 should self isolate for at least ten days. This could result in key members of staff being unavailable at critical times. It could also damage your reputation with other staff and customers and negate all the hard work you did in bouncing back.

How ETC can help

If you need help creating a comprehensive ‘bounce back’ plan to reduce recovery time, take advantage of new opportunities ETC can help, please get in touch.

If you’re new to ETC, why not contact us for a free new business review? We’ll spend two hours with you, giving you professional coaching and will leave you with actions for immediate implementation.