PRESS RELEASE
Janet W Christy, author of 101 Winning Marketing Actions for Small Businesses and Capitalizing On Being Woman Owned has released the fifth edition of her annual “Top Ten Resolutions for Small Business Owners.”
The 2011 edition of the resolutions draws on Christy’s eight years of consulting to Small Businesses and the agencies who help them. Some of the resolutions come directly from her latest book of Actions for Small Businesses.
The top three resolutions from the new list are:
1) If a task or decision is nagging at you, take action. Most likely if something is stuck in your brain and thwarting your good mood or continuously hammering at the edge of your thoughts it needs to be dealt with. If there is some chore or project that you know you should handle, then handle it. If there is a decision that you have avoided but continue to think about, make the decision. If it is bothering you it is probably important and may be the missing piece in a larger puzzle. Taking action will not only put the nagging voices to rest, it will probably move you forward on some significant goal. You will also save mental, and possibly physical, energy because you are doubtless spending more time and effort evading than you would doing.
2) Be certain you know who your customers/clients are. Bankers and Small Business consultants say the biggest obstacle for all Small Businesses is that they do not really know who their customers/clients are. If you are too general in the description of your customers (using words such as “all” or “every”) you will likely be too general in your message and not stimulate actual purchases. If you do not bore down to specific customer/client types you will probably spend some of your time, effort and money marketing to the wrong people. Look back at the misses and successes of the last two years and use that data to help you reassess your idea of your real customers/clients and prospects.
3) Speak in the language of your prospects, customers and clients . Remember that you are not selling your products or services, you are meeting the needs or solving the problems of your prospects and clients/ customers; package and market your products/services in a way that addresses that need or problem. Look at it from their view point. Knowing the language of your customers/clients means you must know who they are as discussed in the previous resolution.
The entire list of resolutions can be seen at http://www.businesshospitalforwomen.com/2011Resolutions.html.
Janet W. Christy is the founder and President of Leverage & Development, LLC, a consulting firm that helps Woman and Minority owned businesses use their status to their advantage. Her services include marketing research and planning, certification assistance, sales guidance, and assistance in government bidding. She is based in Greer, South Carolina; she does offer phone consultations.
