At the start of a business venture, there are a lot of things to consider. Some of the considerations revolve around market research, putting together a business plan, assembling a team among other things. The one area that doesn't get as much consideration is you and what you bring to the table. You are the key to your companies' initial brand.

As I said in [a previous] post, how well you manage the internal aspects of your business will dictate how positively the public perceives your business. In the beginning of a companies' life cycle, the business owner is the foremost dictator of how things play out in their business. This is why when you consider your companies brand, you identify concisely what you want to be known for.

Once you have done that, you can then identify what you personally bring to the table. Start by looking at your strengths, your weaknesses and what resources you bring to the table. One of the personal assessment tests that I took a couple of years ago was the Kolbe A index. This assessment breaks down 4 categories: Fact Finder, Follow Through, Quick Start and Implementation. It scores you on how heavily you rank in each category and there is no right or wrong to the assessment it just shows how you get things done and how you process information. One thing I have found with entrepreneurs is they tend to score high in the "Quick Start" category which means they don't take a lot of time to think about moving forward on an idea which can be a great asset for an entrepreneur. While they tend to take action quickly I have noticed that entrepreneurs aren't "Follow Through" people. Again this isn't good or bad it just shows how you do things.

The follow through aspect is the most tricky for entrepreneurs. Because they don't normally have the attention span to see things to completion, things always fall through the cracks. They don't return calls or e-mails on time, they are frequently unorganized and unprepared for important meetings, communicate poorly and most importantly activities that need to be accomplished seem to pile up. These areas affect customers, vendors that do business with you, partnerships and employees. Ultimately being poor in these areas affects your brand as it starts to break the trust that you are trying to build with these different groups.

This is why I mentioned putting a list together that identifies strengths and weaknesses. Look at where you are weak and then figure out what personnel or system needs to be in place to make up for your deficiencies in this area. The Kolbe test is one great resource for helping you hire the right team. A common mistake that I see business owners make is hiring an assistant to help them with follow through and then you find out that the assistant isn't strong in follow through either. Math is still the only area I have seen where 2 negatives can become a positive.

There are resources to help you create a great image for your company and insure that your weaknesses don't become your firms weaknesses and ultimately cripple your brand in the process.

What resources have you been able to use to ensure that your company operates smoothly and your weaknesses aren't exposed?

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 24, 2009 at 4:28 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

I don't know if I have been writing a bit too much lately on the subject of making calls, but when it comes to our own challenges in overcoming CALL RELUCTANCE, part of me feels like it just cannot get too much attention.

There is a saying (and I don't know if it is very common) that goes, "If you don't make the call, someone else will." I don't think that's always the case, nor is it the worst thing that could happen. The worse thing that could happen is that NO ONE will make the call, and your prospect's needs, which are often very important, will go unfulfilled. Continue reading ...

Keith F. Luscher is author of the book Prospect & Flourish, and is a Marketing Representative with Principal Financial Group. Prior to joining Principal, he served professionals in the insurance and financial services industries as a management consultant. In that role, he advised producers on issues related to marketing and prospecting, and developed groundbreaking educational curriculum. Luscher is also a nationally known author, speaker, and expert in media, interpersonal communication and marketing.

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 15, 2009 at 2:05 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Measuring results is important for any organization to have long term sustainable success. Before you can understand what results you need and why, you need to make sure that you understand your business at its' core. Before you mearsure results, you mist have clarity in place.

I have already talked about why mission, vision and values are important to your business. They really are the foundation for everything that you do and your results are no different.

Many small business owners wander ahead with their business without understanding the fundamental questions about their business. Questions such as: Why do I exist? Where do I want to go? What's most important to my business? Knowing these questions will then allow you to create the results that will make the answers to the aforementioned questions a reality for your business.

To be sure, your business can have success without having solid clarity behind it...in the short term. Businesses who have success without defining mission, vision and values do one of two things. They either realize that to sustain the success, they are going to need to understand their business better because they aren't sure why they were successful or they end up failing because they can't duplicate the success in the long term.

Business can even have success without defining results...also in the short term. The reason businesses don't define results is due to the lack of clarity or for other reasons that I will discuss later this week. Having success without defined results or an understanding of why results happened is the most dangerous kind of success because at that point you have grown your business which means more liabilities and more customers to answer to. Not having a plan in place to manage your results then becomes suicide for your organization.

What's the first step? Get results defined for yoru business but before you do that make sure that you understand why your business exists in the first place and where you want it to go. The long term success of your business is counting on it.

Brandon Allen is a business and vision coach with The Business Blueprint. Brandon focuses on helping businesses get clear on their vision, mission, core values and leadership. Brandon is the author of the small business blog Build Your Soul Purpose ( www.buildyoursoulpurpose.com).

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 10, 2009 at 4:30 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

This is by far my favorite time of the year! The fall weather is beautiful and football season is finally here! According to Vince Lombardi, "Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy." Nowhere is this level of competition more apparent than in advertising. For a football team to be successful, they need to have a balanced approach. All aspects of the team need to work together for the common goal, winning the game. Advertising is no different. All aspects of an advertising campaign need to be balanced and coordinated to win the ultimate prize, a new customer! The dilemma is then, how to achieve this balanced approach in advertising.

With the advent of technology, it has become easier for advertisers to deliver a consistent message across a wide array of media. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through Key Word advertising. There is no better vehicle to engage potential customers across different advertising media than through key words. A key word is a specific word that a potential customer can text via a cell phone to a specific number. The potential customer then receives a message on their cell phone directly from the advertiser. This message can be in the form of a coupon, a special promotion or just a branding message. The beauty of key words is that they can be included in any form of advertising from print, to radio, to email. The use of the same key word across a wide variety of advertising vehicles, gives the consistency and balance to engage the consumer.

Another way to balance advertising is to use a traditional text message campaign in combination with an email campaign. The text message can initially capture the potential customer's attention, and the email can be used to reiterate that message and provide additional information. The more times an individual sees an advertisement, the greater the chance they will act upon it. Presenting the same message to an individual twice in a short amount of time is an excellent way to increase the response rate.

In football, in order to score the team has to cross the goal line. If they come close to the goal, but loose the ball, all their effort is wasted. If you have a successful advertising campaign and drive potential customers to your site but they don't convert for you, you have also wasted your efforts. Ensuring that the website you are driving potential customers to is attractive, easy to navigate and in keeping with your advertising message is essential. Creating a landing page with the same look and feel as the advertisements will help you achieve the ultimate goal of making that prospect a customer!

Finding new clients is a challenge all advertisers face. As competition in the marketplace grows, it becomes increasingly more important to have a balanced approach to advertising campaigns. By relaying a consistent message across many different media and producing a website that mirrors this message, your organization can cross the goal line and win the game!

Posted by Betsy Larson, CollegeRecruiter.com on September 3, 2009 at 10:51 AM | Leave a Comment (0)