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Bistro Kids provides better food for schools, to improve nutrition and academic performance.
By Kate Leibsle
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Small companies show they have big hearts when it comes to helping those in need.
By Kate Leibsle
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A franchise offers an established path to small business ownership.
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Chemidex uses online world to bring chemists and manufacturers together.
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Kansas City inventors and organizations join together for the Year of Innovation.
By Kate Leibsle |
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Poor returns due to rapid asset expansion predate current economic downturn
The results of a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation defy the popular belief that the venture capital industry is a necessary condition in driving high-growth entrepreneurship. According to Right-Sizing the U.S. Venture Capital Industry, venture capital will continue to be crucial to some forms of high-growth companies, but the size of the venture capital industry must be reduced to be viable. |
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Small Kansas City area architects are leading the way in cutting-edge designs and proving that bigger isn’t always better.
By Kate Leibsle |
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Defying business gravity that holds your company back starts with discovery diagnostics.
By Margaret Reynolds
To achieve escape velocity (or accelerated growth) for your business, it is imperative to start with an understanding of the environment in which you will operate and the conditions you will likely face. Your business is not an isolated organization; it functions within an economy, industry and market that influence the opportunities you have and the challenges you encounter.
To develop an effective growth plan, you must understand these forces as they are today and as they are likely to be in the future. It requires a macro or "big picture" look at the market you serve, as well as a closer inspection of the micro factors unique to your business or niche.
Discovery is a process that transforms data into information and forms the foundation of decision making on the best growth alternative for your company. There are three reasons why discovery is critical to your growth planning.
1. Accuracy
Using real data means you are able to make a well-informed decision. You take out guesswork as much as you possibly can. There is always room for experience to serve as a guide and even for anecdotal information about your business and the market you serve. But it is wise to lace decision-making with a heavy dose of reality. You may be surprised how often perceptions and facts don't align.
2. Objectivity
Using facts also removes some of the emotion of decision-making. Rather than have a lively debate about what is or is not true, data can make the picture much clearer in terms of defining historical trends, identifying issues or topics that are most important and focusing the team where they can make the most difference. This means your team can all start on the same page relative to what you need to talk about and what you should consider in your decision-making process.
3. Confidence
It increases your confidence in the plans you make so that you are more inclined to stay the course. You know that the data you based your decisions on was not your best guess, but rather real information gathered to give you insight into your business and its operations. When the path becomes difficult'and it will from time to time'you are more likely to be committed to the journey because you carefully researched the market and the business, and you understand what is needed.
The critical steps in the discovery phase include the following:
- Diagnostics – Define the gravitational factors (or what is holding you back), as well as the space or the environment in which you compete and how it might change in the future.
- Determine Options – After understanding what the market looks like and where it is going, you are ready to determine what the best opportunities are.
- Decide Opportunities – After investigating the opportunities available to you and applying standard business evaluation, use objective-based decision making to prioritize your opportunities.
The diagnostic activities of the discovery process are also broken down into the few key activities listed here.
Market Assessment
Identify the current market in which you are operating and determine key trends or changes you anticipate. Some questions to ask include:
- How big is the industry in which you compete and how fast is it growing?
- What changes in the industry will be most relevant to you and your company?
- What companies are gaining or losing share and why?
Competitive Assessment
It is important to understand who your competitors are and what they offer to customers. Customers have a choice in their purchase decisions, and not all customers will choose you. In fact, you are not trying to appeal to every customer, as that means you are not distinctive in your offer. Different customers seek different benefits. But you do want to understand the other choices customers have in the market. Develop a "map" of the competitive set to better understand what choices customers have and where your current competitive advantage lies.
Business Assessment
There are three key areas involved in business assessment:
- An understanding of organization goal achievement – Review company goals for the past few years and assess whether they were met or exceeded, as well as the reasons why. Was a certain type of goal met and others were consistently not met? What gets in the way of goal accomplishment? Are these factors within your control?
- An assessment of internal capabilities – Understanding relative strengths and weaknesses is important in defining the growth opportunities that are the best fit for your company. What are your biggest strengths and greatest competencies? What do you do better than your competitors? What do they do better than you?
- An evaluation of financial performance and trends – How well you are doing against plan, what costs are rising the fastest, which customers are contributing the most to margin, which products contribute the most to revenue and new customer acquisition are all important things to understand in the diagnostic phase. Developing a growth plan that doesn't consider your financial model and how you make money is not likely to maximize your success.
Completing a thorough analysis is critical to laying a strong foundation for a growth plan. Lack of information or erroneous information means you are making uninformed decisions.
Obviously, you will never know everything you would like to about your markets, your competitors or the future. None of us has a crystal ball. It is also true that the future is not always an extrapolation of the past. Your job in completing the diagnostics is to look for a game-changing impact. You want answers to some key questions:
- Where are you spending too much money and what can you do about it?
- Where is the market heading and how might that affect your business?
- Where is the market underserved and how can you capitalize on that?
- What are the potential challenges to growth and how can you avoid them?
This kind of analysis sets the stage for defining your growth options, which is the next step in the journey to achieve escape velocity growth.
Margaret Reynolds is managing principal of Reynolds Consulting, LLC, which has a number of tools and resources to help clients complete their diagnostics. (816) 350-7680// |
Know how to talk to the media so you're in control.
By Beth Paulsen, APR
Now is the time to bolster your communications efforts. The more your company's name is in front of customers, the more likely they are to remember you when they are ready to purchase your product or service. Resist the tendency to scale back publicity efforts today, and you will reap rewards tomorrow. Companies that go "dark" will quickly lose customers to their more visible competitors.
Earned media is one of the most powerful, cost-effective tools for small to mid-size companies to raise visibility among customers. It also enhances credibility and can help take your business to the next level.
Unlike paid advertising, earned media is when the media write or talk about your company without direct compensation. You must "earn" the right for the media to select your story by having something to say that has broad appeal.
The media is a tool for announcing new products, promoting your services, featuring a new client or for offering helpful advice to customers. Consistent, positive media exposure keeps your name in front of your target audiences.
Be Savvy
Publicity-savvy companies know how to give journalists what they need to create good stories. It is the reporter's job to get the best story. It is your job to help the reporter come up with that great story. Good, creative ideas are what generate media exposure.
Give the media something they can use by connecting your company to a current event or trend, identifying a human interest story or offering information on a specific topic that can be helpful to your target audiences.
Once you develop a story to pitch to the media, determine which audiences you want to reach, which media outlets they turn to for news and information and which reporters to approach with your story.
Be Prepared
The adage, "He who fails to prepare, prepares to fail," is particularly true in working with the media. The last thing you want to do is be unprepared when the media calls. Just because you know your company and the topic does not justify going into an interview "cold."
How to Prepare
- Do your homework. For example, ask what type of story the reporter is working on, and if he or she will be using other sources for the article. Find out the reporter's deadline, and if a broadcast story, whether the interview will be taped or live.
- Determine the three brief and concise points you want to convey and practice saying them out loud. For example, instead of rambling on about various product features, say that your product has a great return on investment and produces results.
- Do not use industry jargon or "alphabet soup," i.e., words and acronyms that people outside your industry will not understand. Instead, use words that are broadly used among the general public.
- Provide real-life examples to paint a picture in the minds of readers, viewers and listeners. This will help them remember you.
- Avoid hypothetical "what if" questions. If asked a hypothetical question, say, "I'm sorry, but I am not able to address 'what ifs;' but I can comment on actual circumstances."
- Never say "no comment." This can make it appear that you are hiding something. There are times when you cannot comment on an issue; for example; a pending litigation case. Instead of saying "no comment," say "I am not at liberty to comment on this because it is a pending case. But I can comment once the case is over."
- Assume everything you say may appear in print or broadcast. The interview is not over until the reporter has left your office, or hung up the phone.
- Unless you have a good working relationship with a reporter and he or she has agreed prior to the interview that your comments are "off the record" and for background information only, nothing is "off the record." Anything you say during an interview may be quoted.
Publicity is an effective business-building tool. Use the media to gain recognition, credibility and market share. All it takes is a bit of work and creativity.
Beth Paulsen, APR, is president of Paulsen Communications Inc. (913)669-3319// |
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Load 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out
Small businesses play a key role in transportation's big economic driver for the region.
By Kate Leibsle |
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