A. The value added challenge to the SME (pdf version)
B. You need to be fit to perform effectively (pdf version)
C. How well do you really know your customers?(pdf version)
D. Can you afford to throw away £5000 on your e-mails?
       (pdf version)
E. Three ways to GROW your business turnover (pdf version)


A. The value added challenge to the SME

(pdf version)

In August 2003, the DTI estimated there were 3.8 million businesses in the UK. More than 99% were small to medium sized enterprises (SME) with less than 50 employees. Later that year (Dec 2003), the London Development Agency and Business Link for London published the London Annual Business Survey that stated that 90% of 300000 companies interviewed were SME's. Collectively, these businesses generated almost £1200 billion, more than half of the total UK turnover, and employed over 13 million people, about 50% of the UK workforce.

Small to medium-sized enterprises form the very backbone of our industrial society in the 21st century and contribute substantially to the financial and social welfare of the country. Yet, many lack sales and marketing staff, resources, and market knowledge that could equip them properly to compete effectively in today's business jungle. Customer demands are changing rapidly, markets are becoming increasingly competitive, and technological innovations are impacting more substantially on business services and their performance. The challenge facing business owners and directors is to ensure that they have the right tools and systems in place to help them focus on the best market opportunities, train their staff accordingly, improve their efficiencies, and generate the optimum financial return for their businesses.

What else did these surveys find?

Does your business compare more favourably?

The London Development Agency survey suggests that six out of every ten companies currently fail to plan their sales and marketing activities. Do you have an up to date marketing plan that defines your focal strategy, identifies where you are strong and weak, highlights your best opportunities for success, shows the barriers that you may need to overcome? Also, one that lays out a structured route to your financial security, offers you an alternative way forward should the going get tough, and a vision of a successful long-term future for your business? If not, you need to address this key issue now.

Do you know how well you are performing in your marketplace, against your objectives, and your competitors? Do you know what your customers think of you and your competitors? If not, then maybe you should be adopting performance measures that monitor how well you are progressing against your financial and marketing plans, find out what your customers think about your company, your products and services, and address skills gaps in your workforce to improve their sales and marketing performance.

Is there any benefit in planning your marketing better or adopting performance measures to check if they are working? Well, if the results of the London survey are representative of what happens elsewhere, you might find your turnover and profitability increases substantially.

For help in developing effective marketing strategies or measuring the performance of your marketing, call TigerSMART Marketing on 01908 330770 today to arrange for us to visit you.

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B. You need to be fit to perform effectively

(pdf version)

To perform at our peak, we need to be fit and healthy. Would our top sportsmen and women in athletics, football, sailing etc. have won all their medals at the recent Olympics in Athens if they hadn't been fit enough to enable them to compete at their maximum performance?

In business, the same principles apply. Companies also need to be fit and healthy if they are to operate at the peak of their performance. After all, they will want to take full advantage of new market opportunities or deal effectively with their competitors.

So how fit is your company? How healthy is your marketing? Do you know your marketplace and each of the key players within it? Have you defined exactly what you want to achieve from your business? Do you have business measurement systems in place that will enable you to monitor your marketing performance regularly? How do you really know you are doing the right things right and are not actually wasting your money investing in marketing activities that don't work?

Unfortunately, many businesses never seem to review their marketing regularly or take time to measure how their sales and marketing activities are actually performing. This means that they never really know if their marketing investment is generating a positive return, or not. Consider building in objective measurement elements to help you assess customer response to your advertising and promotions. For instance, count the number of responses you receive, or compare the number of orders you get before and after a campaign period, or if you carry out a PR programme, count the number of column inches you obtain with your press releases or articles.

Before you decide to do ‘some advertising’ because it seems like a good idea, or choose an 'off the shelf' solution you have read, or heard about, think carefully about what it is you want your marketing campaign to achieve. Once you have done this, decide which type of activity is likely to promote your products and services most effectively to those customers you want to get business from.

Don’t repeat old advertising campaigns just because you liked them first time round, or because adverts were available when you needed one for publication. They might not be right for your business this time. Choose your marketing tools carefully and target them where they are needed most. That way, you are likely to get a more positive result from your marketing, and a better return from your investment. To assess whether, or not, your marketing is working, why not give it a regular check-up?

Free Marketing Healthcheck

TigerSMART Marketing has recently introduced two new marketing healthcheck systems, MarketHealth10™ and MarketHealth101™ to help small business owners and directors review and assess their marketing activities to see if they are healthy and effective enough to deliver the results they want.

 MarketHealth10™ , available FREE, contains 10 questions and provides a basic assessment and report of your marketing strategy and activities.

MarketHealth101™ contains 101 questions on your market environment, marketing objectives and strategies, promotional activities, and marketing measurement systems and costs £57.75. Your final report provides an advanced assessment of your market situation and recommendations you may consider for your future activities.

TigerSMART Marketing can help you to check whether your marketing is healthy enough to deliver the results that you are looking to achieve. We can develop marketing performance measurement systems as well that allow you to see if your marketing really is working. To arrange for us to visit you, e-mail us at info@tigersmartmarketing.co.uk or call 01908 330770.

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C. How well do you really know your customers?

(pdf version)

Could you name your top five customers without going back to check your records? If so, can you rank them in order of importance to your business? Or, identify the products or services they buy from you, and how often they purchase?

Do you know what your customers really think about you, your products, your services or those of your main competitors?

If you weren’t able to answer these questions easily, according to the survey carried out by the London Development Agency and London Business Link in 2003, you are not alone. In fact, as many as 2 out of every 3 business owners or managers who completed the survey were not able to identify clearly the proportion of their total business that they obtained from their single largest customer. Customers are the lifeblood of all businesses and yet, many firms just don’t know who they are, what they buy, how often, and the relative contribution their orders makes to their profitability.

If you don't know who your customers are, or how much they contribute to your business, or worse still, fail to communicate with them positively when they buy from you, how can you expect them to continue buying from you in the future?

Markets are becoming increasingly busier as more and more competitors fight for market share. This means that customers, including some of your most loyal ones, will be tempted to try the products and services that your competitors offer. And, no doubt, some will actually do so, and seriously consider switching to your competitors, especially if they make your customers feel important.

There is no question that for businesses working in mass market sectors, such as food and clothing, it is more difficult for business owners and managers to develop close one-to-one relationships with their customers. However, this does not stop them from developing customer loyalty initiatives to maintain communications with their customers, and encourage them to repeat buy.

Whatever business sector you are in, you should consider the value your customers bring to your business and the contribution they make to your profit returns each time they order from you. Consider how you can build on the business they give you, get to know them better, and make sure you retain their custom. It's certainly a lot less expensive trying to gain more business through existing customers than hunting for new ones. In fact, by keeping your existing customers happy and satisfied, you may find that not only do you improve your turnover and profitability, but you also begin to open doors to further sales opportunities, sources of information, and contacts who may be influential to your future business success.

If you haven’t done so already, perhaps you should consider developing and implementing some form of customer relationship programmes to ensure you safeguard the future of your business. For instance, by carrying out customer satisfaction surveys to help you to understand your customers' needs better, as well as their likes and dislikes. Also, you may even consider a customer loyalty programme that will reward your customers continued custom, or incentivise them to purchase more frequently or in larger volumes.

Keep your customers happy and satisfied with the products and services you offer. And as competitor activity continues to increase, keep them out by making sure you retain your customers’ business at all times.

If you don't really know what your customers think about your company, its products or services, or don't communicate with them regularly, perhaps you might consider implementing customer relationship programmes to ensure you safeguard the future of your business. We can help you do so as well as undertake customer satisfaction surveys to help you to improve your understanding of your customers' needs. To arrange a meeting at your earliest convenience, email us at info@tigersmartmarketing.co.uk or call 01908 330770 today.

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D) Can you afford to throw away £5000 on your e-mails?

(pdf version)

11th December 2003 - the date when the new directive on 'Privacy and Electronic Communications'(2002 / 58 / EC) became law in the UK. Today, you need to have PERMISSION IN ADVANCE from your customers to use e-mail or fax marketing to promote your products or services. If you don’t, it could cost you £5000 if you were to be found guilty in a magistrate’s court. And it’s not only e-mails and faxes that are affected by the legislation. If you use your website to sell your products or services, then you will need to inform your customers if you use tracking devices, such as 'cookies' or other hidden identifiers, and why you use them. You will also have to give your customers the opportunity to decide whether, or not, they want to have them stored on their computers.

Why produce this legislation?

There are a number of reasons for it. However, its main purpose was to protect the personal privacy and data of computer users, as well as aiming to reduce the growth in unsolicited commercial mail (UCE) or 'spam' that now permeates the Internet. According to Brightmail Inc, in 2003 ‘spam’ accounted for approximately 50% of all e-mails sent. With the total volume of ‘spam’ being estimated at over 30 billion items per month, this clogs up networks, affects business efficiency, is extremely costly, and irritates consumers.

How can avoid falling foul of the legislation?

Speak to your commercial legal representatives who are likely to be more expert on the legal interpretation of the new legislation.

Although this legislation may make it more difficult for you to communicate electronically with your customers, you can continue using e-mail, fax, or SMS to promote your business. However, you need to be aware of some of the main conditions that will affect your marketing activities.

You may only use the contact details you first obtained from your customers when they bought from you initially.

It is also important to remember that this new directive contains many other measures not covered in this short review article. Therefore, we suggest that you discuss any issues about the directive with your legal representatives.

If you would like to find out more about the new legislation, consider visiting:

www.dti.gov.uk
www.businesslinksolutions.co.uk
www.europa.eu.int
www.marketinglaw.co.uk
www.asa.org.uk
December 2003

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E) Three ways to GROW your business turnover

Your objectives for your business are clear - increase your sales and make more money.

How will you achieve your goals?

This short article considers three common ways that can help you to grow your business turnover and help to improve your profitability:

Let's suppose that you decide you want to DOUBLE your sales? What do you need to do?

The simplest solution would be to:

But how realistic would these options be in your market sector?

Another way of arriving at a similar result, but perhaps less dramatically would be to consider the value of the ‘ACCUMULATOR’ model.

Let’s suggest that it was possible for you to grow your customer base by 50%. At the same time, your customers could increase the frequency in which they order from you by 20%, also, you believed that your market wasn’t particularly price sensitive and would be able to accept a price increase of 10% without affecting your sales.

If you were able to achieve all three of these options for growing your business, you may be surprised to find that your turnover would grow by a whopping 98%, almost DOUBLE that which you had previously.

Now, most of us realise that business in the real world isn’t always that simple. However, by applying even small changes to the ways you market, sell, and price your products or services, you can deliver significant returns.

For instance, if you were to increase the number of customers you have by only 5%, plus increase your prices by the same percentage, and encourage each customer to buy 5% more, or order 5% more frequently from you, your sales turnover would grow by 16%.

So, if your business isn’t making enough money, you can do something positive about it.

Take a look at the ACCUMULATOR model opposite to see how it may help you to improve your financial return.

The table below provides some simple illustrations to show you what can be achieved:

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