A couple of weeks ago we discussed how successful
entrepreneurs are good at 'sticking to the knitting'; in other words,
concentrating on what they are really good at or are the best at
in their sector.
For many people, even this first step is beyond
their grasp, as they try to be the best at everything or at too
many different things at the same time.
But one way of looking at it is to think of someone
who is good at or exceptional at a particular sport. You might enjoy
playing and be reasonably good at tennis, golf, cricket, football
and badminton, but you wouldn't be able to make a career out of
or become one of the very best players at more than one of these
sports. If tennis was your real forte you would concentrate on becoming
a winner at this, turning it into your career and aspiring to be
a champion at one level or another. You would still play the other
sports, but they would be secondary or incidental to your tennis.
It's the same when you start a business. Sensible
entrepreneurs will recognise what their strengths are and what they
believe they can become as good at or even better at than everyone
else.
If you are a specialist consultant in direct marketing
but also know a reasonable amount about finance and IT, it would
make more sense for you to concentrate on finding clients who need
help with improving mailshot responses rather than help with VAT
or computer problems, because direct marketing is what you are BEST
at and is the area where you stand the best chance of setting yourself
apart from other consultants.
The fact that you can also help with finance and
IT will stand you in good stead once you have a client who needs
marketing help. But you will stand the best chance of recruiting
a new client when you stick to the knitting, and promote yourself
as a consultant who can get results with marketing response rates.
To help you stick to the knitting when you start
up or are running a small business, there are five prompts we often
suggest when we see entrepreneurs who are taking their eye off the
ball, or who can't find a ball to play with in the first place.
To see how focused you are in your enterprise, consider
the following:
- What is it that you are better at doing than
anything else, and believe you are as good at doing as anyone
else?
- Once you've defined what this is, can you HONESTLY
say that is what your enterprise is primarily focused on or is
going to be focused on?
- Can you describe your perfect prospect or customer,
what problems they need to solve and why you think they will want
your service?
- Can you describe what you will sell in terms
of the benefits your customers are looking for? For example, a
PR consultant will be far more focused on the needs of their customer
if they sell 'help with getting free publicity' rather than 'help
with writing press releases'.
- Have you written down a plan that outlines how
you will go about selling your product or service, ie how you
are going to ensure your sales messages reach your target audience?
Answering these questions will quickly help you
realise whether you are focusing properly on the business you are
in, why you are in that business, and what you should really be
selling to your target audience.
Weekly
business tip
Improve your e-mail efficiency.
The purpose of e-mail is to communicate. It's not
to store newsletters, to forward jokes to your friends, or to deal
with customers, colleagues or contacts that you'd rather not speak
to personally. E-mail should be a support for businesses, but many
users find it more hassle than help, as they battle with spam-clogged
inboxes and constant interruptions from new message notifications.
What many people forget about e-mail is that it
can be easily copied and forwarded, it hangs around in cyber space
pretty much forever, it can be monitored, and it's really difficult
to get it back once it's been sent. Therefore, the most important
thing to bear in mind when composing e-mails is what you need to
say, who you need to say it to, and whether it's the best mode of
communicating the information as opposed to using the telephone
or arranging a physical meeting.
The following tips will help you to improve your
e-mail efficiency:
- Don't send it to the wrong person. This is the
number one mistake that e- mail users who are tired, stressed
or just plain negligent make. Common howlers include clicking
on the wrong name in your address book, hitting 'reply' instead
of the 'forward' button, and replying to everyone on a mailing
list instead of just the sender. A good way to make sure you don't
send an e-mail embarrassingly to the wrong person is to fill in
the 'To' field last of all. However, the best way to avoid cringeworthy
e-mail mistakes is to double, then triple check everything before
clicking the 'send' button.
- Don't use e-mail as an excuse. The speed, simplicity
and perceived anonymity of e-mail can make it a tempting alternative
to making a difficult phone call, giving bad news, or dealing
with a customer complaint. But negative information always looks
worse in e-mail form, as it's difficult for the reader to infer
tone and expression. E-mail is a brilliant advance in business
communication, but sometimes only a personal call or face-to-face
meeting will do.
- Flag e-mails to be followed up, or for importance
or confidentiality. Most e-mail software allows you to flag your
messages as 'Urgent', 'Important', 'Personal' and so on. You can
also flag messages in your own inbox to follow up on by a certain
date. But use these tools sparingly, and never flag a message
as 'urgent' if it isn't. We've all heard the story of the boy
who cried wolf...
- Use your delete button. A major problem with
e-mail systems is storage, and keeping your inbox at full capacity
could mean that an important message doesn't get through. Use
your archive system to keep messages that are genuinely essential,
read newsletters as soon as they arrive, print out anything useful
and then delete them, and when you know at a glance that you'll
never read an e- mail again, delete it straight away. And make
sure every month you give your inbox and sent items folder a thorough
spring clean, and permanently empty your bulging deleted items
folder.
- Check the format of forwarded e-mails. If you're
really sure something is worth forwarding (and most forwarded
'jokes' aren't), check that your forwarded message won't annoy
receivers by being difficult to read. You can do this by cutting
and pasting the message into a word processing program, and deleting
all the irritating little arrows and so on that clog up many forwarded
messages.
- Beat the spammers. Spam is a major problem that
is plaguing businesses worldwide, particularly those that have
websites with their e-mail addresses clearly visible. One way
to minimise it is to set up a spam filter in your e- mail software
to operate on incoming mail.
- Don't check your e-mail obsessively. Some people
find it hard not to check every hour for fear that something hugely
important that needs immediate attention might have arrived. But
this wastes time and can take your attention away from other important
tasks. Set aside two or three designated times each day when you
will check and respond to e-mails - first thing in the morning,
after lunch, and an hour before you head home are good examples.
You can improve your time management efficiency in one simple
step by disciplining yourself to ignore the little e-mail flag
that pops up when you're in the middle of something else.
- Be aware of the risks with free web-based e-mail.
This is a newsworthy topic, since Google is in the process of
introducing a free Gmail system to rival the services offered
by MSN, Yahoo and so on. Free e-mail accounts may seem too good
to be true - and they are. For a start, they're not free - you
pay indirectly for the service, through the banners and pop-ups
that plague you when you log in and the tagline at the end of
every e-mail you send that advertises the provider. You also run
the risk of losing your e-mail account, and with it all your contact
addresses and saved messages, if your host goes out of business,
so you should consider a backup account to use in emergencies.
By following this advice you can make sure that e-mail
provides you and your business with an efficient form of communication.
New
business idea
Each week we provide you with summaries of some
popular or emerging business ideas in the UK.
Here is this week's idea:
Just
one word
Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just
about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your
general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts
of personal and business situations.
Do you know the difference between the two commonly
mixed-up words 'infer' and 'imply'?
Which word means to make a suggestion or insinuation,
and which means to deduce or make an assumption based on fact?
Answer at the end of Bulletin.
Did
you know?
Microsoft has issued more security alerts
Microsoft has released four
more patches to cover some 20 flaws within its Windows operating
system. The patches, which are part of the software giant's monthly
security update, are claimed to provide comprehensive protection
against the latest series of flaws. Microsoft admitted that several
of the flaws could expose users to viruses like the MSBlast worm.
Windows users are advised to run personal firewalls to reduce risk
of contamination, and to install the new patches as soon as possible.
Amazon has launched a new search engine
Amazon has launched a test version of its new search
engine, which has been developed to challenge Google's domination
of the market. A9.com
has been unveiled with very little hype, despite incorporating new
tools that claim to make web searches easier. Users can sift through
search results and store search history, and the site includes a
toolbar that blocks pop-ups. The service is being previewed for
feedback from current Amazon customers and others who register with
the site.
For more details, and to see the search engine,
go to:
http://a9.com/
Worth
a visit
Rare books online
Bibliofind, the online bookseller that allows users to search for
rare and out-of-print books, has teamed up with Amazon to create
a vast resource for buying and selling rare and used books over
the Internet. Click
here for more details.
The office of the future
The small business office
of the future is being piloted at the University of North Carolina.
Scientist Greg Welch is pioneering research and development of new
technology for businesses that will change the office environment.
Innovations include wraparound computer screens, desks that sense
when you are stressed, and software that recognises when a participant
in a conference call has been distracted and provides a typed summary
of what was said. Some of these ideas are already under development
by firms like Microsoft and IBM, and could be in use only five years
from now.
Worth
a read
Business communication in a digital age is covered
in this book, from writing effective e-mails to recording to-the-point
voicemails. For straightforward advice on how to sound authoritative,
improve your clarity and avoid common grammatical errors and style
mishaps, check out:
And for a glimpse into some more cringeworthy e-mail
catastrophes by people who obviously haven't read our advice, have
a look at this book by US People magazine's Internet manners expert:
Just
one word answer
To infer is to make an assumption, whereas to imply is to make
a suggestion or insinuation, or to drop a hint.
You can infer that your customers are happy with your products,
because their positive feedback implies it.
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Good luck
The EnterQuest Team
This
information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable
efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the
information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible
for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences
of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought
where appropriate.
