calisthenic sawdust: Why Small Businesses Throw in the Towel and How to Not Be THAT ...

How are you doing today? ?Feeling good about your business or are you feeling like throwing in the towel?

Before you throw in the towel, stop and think about why it is that your business isn?t achieving the outcomes that you intended. ?Research shows that the biggest reason that businesses fail is that they simply don?t have enough of the right information to make good decisions. ?Most of the time, that information comes from running surveys. ?And most small business owners think that running surveys is either too hard or too expensive. ?Nothing could be further from the truth ? especially with today?s technology.

Run these surveys first ? before you bail on your business

There are really only two reasons why small businesses don?t generate the income they aspire to:

Not targeting the right customers
Not selling what customers want the way they want it

There is a survey for that.

Let?s start with targeting the right customers. ?You probably have a profile of who YOU think your target customer is. ?Take a moment to define them. ?Start with their demographics:

Gender
Age
Education
Location/Geography
Income
Existing usage or consumption of the product and service that you are selling. ?i.e.?Do you currently own a car

Don?t stop there! ?Demographics are only part of the puzzle. ?Another important element in making sure you?re targeting the right customer is knowing how they think and what matters to them.

Another great question to ask your customers is about what is important to them ? what matters to them when they are buying what you are selling. ?For example, say you are a moving company, you might as a question like this:

When you think about hiring a moving company ? what goes through your mind?

Are you going to break my stuff?
Are you going to be there on time?
How do I know you won?t steal my stuff?

Remember that people purchase products and services based on event triggers. ?An event trigger is something that happens that forces you to go out and purchase. ?So if your computer dies ? that is an event trigger to get you searching for new computers. ?If you discover that you?re having a baby ? that is an event trigger that forces you to start thinking about baby clothes, furniture. etc.

So your next step is to brainstorm all the possible event triggers that should get your ideal customer thinking about you. ?And you can create a survey question about that:

Which of the following have you experienced in the last week?

Gained a new customer
Lost a big customer
Added a new sales rep
Launched a new product

Make sure you?re selling what they want to buy

Most marketing texts and experts will tell you that you have to STAND out and be unique. ?And you probably think that means selling something that no one else is selling. ?This is COMPLETELY WRONG. ?Your goal is to sell something that people are buying FIRST ? then look for unique ways to distinguish your product from the many others that are being sold.

Here?s an example ? I love shoes ? in fact, I probably have something like five different kinds of boots. ?I have flat boots and high heeled boots, suede boots and leather boots, brown boots, black boots, casual boots and dressy boots ? do I need to go on? ?The product us BOOTS ? and I like buying boots and I will keep buying boots so long as they are different from the ones that I already have. ?So the next person that offers a blue suede boot ? is likely to sell it to me.

Your product or service is the boot. ?Your competition is selling black boots ? what kind of boots will YOU sell?

And this is where an online survey can come in really handy -

Do you buy boots?

How likely are you to buy boots with your favorite NFL team?s logo on them?

See how that works?

Don?t guess or wonder ? just ask

If you?ve been holding back from interacting with your customers and doing surveys ? this could be killing your business. ?Instead of wondering and guessing ? just ask your prospects and customers what they think.

Start with some general conversations. ?Then take what you?ve learned and put it into a survey that asks some very specific questions. ?Share the survey via your social media channels and with your customers. ?Be sure to offer an incentive or a reward of some kind to entice them to participate. ?See what they say and take their opinions into consideration when you take your next step.

Bonus survey hint

Before you put your survey questions together ? be sure to write down all the decisions you?re trying to make ?

Should I make red boots or blue boots
Should I deliver in 30 minutes or less
I need to sell at least 100 units per month to be successful

Then structure your survey so that the responses are answers to these questions and so that you can make that decision. ?Here?s what I mean. ?Say you need to sell 100 units per month of a specific product or service ? you might ask

Do you purchase these widgets monthly?
If yes ? how many widgets do you purchase each month?
This is a widget that sings and dances the cha cha ? would you buy this widget if it were available?
How many cha cha dancing widgets would you buy each month?
How much are you willing to pay for a cha cha dancing widget?

Doing this kind of survey with your customers can mean the difference between success and failure. ?Don?t fail until you?ve tried this.

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