SIX "HONEST BUSINESS FRIENDS" - THEY GUIDE ME IN ALL I DO

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.
(RudyardKipling, from "The Elephant's Child" in Just So Stories).

A few days ago I posted a very simple question on an Internet Marketing Forum. I knew I would kick myself when I heard the answer.

And I did.

DNO - "Do Not Open". Obvious really.

What I hadn't expected was to be flamed for being stupid by an, allegedly, 12 year old MENSA member. While I am old enough and thick skinned enough to cope with his response it did cause me to reflect on the nature of learning and Kipling's words. Words that still provide the basis of my business philosophy today. i.e. If you don't know, ask.

So I got to thinking. Is there a modern business equivalent to Kipling's six honest serving-men?

To be fair, Kipling is a bit of a hard act to follow. But thats not going to stop me?

KIPLING UPDATED: THE SIX MOST POWERFUL BUSINESS ACRONYMS OF ALL TIME

Here we go - 6 acronyms that have the capactity to transform any business.

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - the most famous business acronym of all time. SWOT provides a great framework for brainstorming sessions. Done honestly and openly your SWOT analysis holds a mirror up to your business that highlights just what you do well and can exploit, and what you dont do well and which your competitors can exploit.

To get started take each term in turn and answer the following questions:

Strengths:

- What are your businesses core strengths?

- What are you really good at?

- What makes you stand out from your competitors?

- What proprietary tools, technology or process do you

have?

- What do our competitors see as our strengths?

- What do our customers see as our strengths?

Weaknesses:

- What dont you do well?

- What do you want to improve?

- Where do you lose out to your competitors?

- What dont your customers like about you?

Opportunities:

- What changes are taking place in your business

environment Social, Technological, Economic,

Political, Legal, Environmental (STEPLE - another

acronym snuck in there)?

- What do customers want that you could deliver?

- What are your competitors weaknesses?

- How else could you exploit your strengths?

Threats:

- What is your competition doing?

- Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?

- Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

- Could any of those STEPLE factors threaten your

business?

Use these questions to get started. Remember, you are meant to be brainstorming - anything goes.

Your SWOT is the starting point. Your real challenge is to use your SWOT to develop a strategy and plans that you can pursue to turn your weaknesses into strengths, your threats into opportunities, and to maximise on the opportunities that are presented.

SMART

If there is one key to turning busy, ineffectual organisations into models of streamlined efficiency then this is it. Probably as well known as SWOT, SMART turns goals, objectives and tasks into concrete deliverables.

More accurately SMART ought to be SMARRRT. There are at least three equally valid definitions for the R.

OK, the 10 second introduction to working smarter:

SPECIFIC: Be completely clear on the outcome expected of the goal, objective or task MEASURABLE: Phrase the statement of what is to be achieved so that the achievement of that outcome can be clearly measured. ACHIEVABLE: The idea is to clarify and motivate. There is nothing more demoralising than carefully constructed, but utterly impossible, goals. REALISTIC: Given your current situation: is your goal realistic? RELEVANT: Is this specific task, or goal relevant to the overall aims of the company or plan? RESOURCED: Are the relevant time, people, facilities and equipment available to deliver the desired outcome? TIME BOUND: Make sure there is a claim time limit on the completion of the activity.

Properly applied, SMART transforms your business.

WIIFM

"Whats In It For Me?" WIIFM should be at the top of your thoughts whenever you think about your prospects or customers. But is has nothing to do with you at all.

To get to the me you must put yourself in your ideal customers position. Think like that customer. Try to walk a mile (or several) in their shoes.

Ask yourself :

- What problems plague their lives?

- What are they afraid of?

- What are they angry about?

- Who are they angry with?

Stay in your customers shoes.

Imagine someone is trying to sell you your own product or service. Ask yourself (repeatedly) - Whats In It For Me? How does it solve my problems? How does it make my life better? These are the benefits your product or service must deliver to your customer.

You should apply this simple principle to every piece of sales and marketing material you use. Does it call out to what your customers really want? Is it written in terms of your customers viewpoint? Does it promote the benefits?

In short does it tell me - your customer - Whats In It For Me?

AIDA

No, not the Opera. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

AIDA has been in use in advertising for over 100 years. It is just as valid today for use on the web as it is for crafting sales letters, brochures, radio broadcasts, your elevator pitch....

In fact, just about any marketing pitch.

ATTENTION: If you are to sell anything you have first got to get peoples attention. The normal way of doing this is to use a benefit Driven Headline. Some famous, proven headlines include:

How to Win Friends and Influence People
101 Ways to Quit Smoking Now

Are You Too Busy To Make Any Money?

Eye movement studies show that 95% of the time people don't read advertisements. Even worse for marketers, of the 5% of readers who might read your advertisement - 95% never read beyond the headline.

You do use headlines in all your advertisements and marketing materials don't you?

INTEREST: You've got your readers attention. Now you must make them interested.

This is where all that work thinking like a customer comes into play.

Dont mess around. In the first sentence fire your biggest gun. Hit your readers with the biggest benefit that your product or service brings to them. Explain how you deliver that benefit and then hit them again with the next biggest gun you have. And keep on doing it.

Got more benefits? Good, keep them coming. Marketing copy cannot be too long only too boring. Keep it interesting, keep firing your benefits and your message will get read.

DESIRE: You've aroused interest. Now create desire. Make it impossible for your prospects not to buy.

Make them an irresistible offer. Add some urgency:

- Call now - offer applies to the first 100 customers. -
- We can only keep this price until the end of the month.

Add a no quibbles, iron cast guarantee.

Add free bonuses (Free is the second most powerful word in the English language).

Use your imagination. Give people a great reason to want to buy now.

ACTION: You've done the hard work. Your customer is ready to buy. So make it really easy for them. Tell them exactly what they need to do right now to make an order:

- Call 01636 605 707 now, ask to speak to Keith and quote ad001.

- Click this button to place your order now.

- Register for our newsletter by filling in this box now.

Keep it simple. Make it clear and quick to do. The easier it is to do business with you the more sales you will make.

SWAT

SWAT is not actually an acronym. It is a compaction of the question so what?

You see, one of the biggest problems that even experienced copywriters and marketers fall into is being clear on what benefits their product or service actually delivers to their customers.

SWAT provides the solution.

Here is how it works:

- Take a piece of paper. Divide it into columns one headed features and one headed benefits.

- Under the features column list all the features you can think of.

- Under the benefits column list all the benefits you can think of. (Dont worry about neatness there will not be a one-to-one correspondence between features and benefits)

- Now, get yourself back in your customers mindset. Take each feature in turn and ask yourself SO WHAT?

- And keep on asking the question if the answers you produce until you can't think of any sensible answer.

- Do this for every feature in your list and then for every benefit

It is pretty certain that the same benefits will occur many times over as you run through this exercise. That's fine. These are the ultimate benefits you have been looking for. These are the benefits you will 'sell' to your customer.

KISS

KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid needs little introduction. In all business environments there is a tendency to over elaborate. In marketing the problem is particularly acute. Marketing is populated by creative wanabees. There is always another idea to try. A more eye-catching and creative design. Dont fall into this trap.

Remember KISS.

And taking my own advice that's where I am going to leave this article. Over to you. What do you think are the most powerful acronyms in use today? Which do you think are the biggest waste of time. Drop me a line and let me know. I will feature the best comments and suggestions on the JKL website.

Just keep it clean :)

Keith Longmire is a business development and long-time business change programme manager. His company, JKL Business Growth Solutions, specialises in helping smaller businesses achieve rapid, sustainable growth. Keith works exclusively with the owners of owner managed businesses to bring main stream corporate expertise within the reach of smaller companies. http://www.jkl-small-business-marketing-solutions.com