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Small and Home Business
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Welcome to Econosystems'
Small and Home Business Market Monthly eNewsletter

Published by Anne Ramstetter Wenzel
http://www.econosystems.com

To subscribe, visit:
http://www.econosystems.com/newsletter.htm

January 15, 2004
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HELLO AND MARKET TIDBITS FROM ANNE
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Happy New Year to all our new and continuing subscribers:

I hope this issue of Small and Home Business Markets finds you well after a happy holiday season. The U.S. economy appears to be humming along, and so many small business owners expect 2004 will be a good year for sales and profits.

The recovery remains uneven, however:  here in Silicon Valley ,job growth is non-existent.  November 2003 payroll employment was down 3% from November 2002 levels in Santa Clara county, and we’ve lost 75,000 jobs since the official end of the 2001 recession.

Nationwide, 3rd quarter 2003 output of final goods and services increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 8.2%, a brisk rate of growth not seen since 1983 (when the nation was also recovering from a recession).  Job growth has been minimal, however, so salary and wage earners aren’t seeing much of an increase in income.  Instead, corporate profits and proprietors’ income (after inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments) have been growing briskly.

Total nonfarm proprietors’ income increased by 5% during the 3rd quarter of 2003 (from 2nd quarter levels), and corporate profits increased by 10%.  Employee wages and salaries increased by less than 1%.

If your business sells to other businesses, rising profits and proprietors’ income could be good news for you.  After more than 2 years of belt tightening, businesses may be ready to listen to your sales pitch if you’re selling something
that can help them grow or improve their businesses.

Information Week magazine’s “Outlook 2004” issue (Jan. 5, 2004)
reports results of a survey of 400 companies.  Three of the top business priorities reported could lead to improved sales opportunities for home based and small businesses:

1) The trend towards OPTIMIZING BUSINESS PROCESSES boosts business opportunities for:

* Business consultants specializing in working with clients to improve operational efficiency.

* Software resellers or vendors providing business process automation solutions, such as project management, data management, and financial and business planning software.

* Writers who can provide content for business publications, offering tips on improving office or operational efficiency.

2) The trend towards IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE boosts business opportunities for:

* Hosted web survey software companies that provide easy to use customer satisfaction surveys.

* Marketing consultants who can help businesses measure and improve customer satisfaction and implement customer loyalty programs.

* Customer communications training consultants.

3) The trends towards ORGANIZING AND USING CUSTOMER DATA boosts business opportunities for:

* Administrative and virtual assistants who can organize customer information into databases, perform desktop publishing and manage customer relationship campaigns (e-mail & direct mail communications, special events).

* Resellers or vendors of Customer Relationship Management software.

* Marketing research analysts who can combine external data (industry, consumer and competitive trends) with customer transaction and profile data to recommend improvements in companies’ products/services mix, methods of distribution,
and marketing campaigns.

The U.S. economic recovery is here, but it’s very uneven, so small business owners are going to have to continue to stay in close touch with their customers, and on top of competitive trends, to be able to grow and prosper.  This month’s Market Brief provides info on an interesting way to keep up with online competitors:  In “Get to Know Your Competitors Using Alexa,” Megan Corwin (creator of WAH Women) informs us about a Internet traffic analysis web site that provides great information about specific web sites’ traffic, including a “People who visit this site also visit” section and web site rankings (my traffic rank is 2,018,157, up by 2 million over the past three months…).  And in our “Marketing from the Trenches” column this month, executive and business coach Tamar McLachlan, MSW, writes about “Servant Marketing,” a way we can sow seeds for future business sales while contributing to our community.

Enjoy this issue of Small and Home Business Market Monthly, and please forward it to your colleagues if you think they'll enjoy it, too.

Wishing you the best,
Anne Ramstetter Wenzel
Econosystems

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MARKET BRIEF
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Get to Know Your Competitors Using Alexa
By Megan Corwin
All great marketers know that in order to be the top in your field you need to know your competitors. But researching each one can be time consuming and a treasure hunt at best. Using Alexa ( www.alexa.com ) can be an invaluable tool for you to find out what your competitors are up to on the web.

What is Alexa?
Alexa is an Amazon.com company that maintains information about website traffic. You can find out the most popular sites in a variety of categories such as business, sports, recreation, and shopping.

How do I use Alexa?
To access this tool, simply go to http://www.alexa.com. From there you can browse the topic of your business or type in a specific website in the 'Search the Web' box. Let's use the gift basket business as an example. First, go to Alexa's home page and type in 'gift baskets' as a search. When your search results appear, look at the end of the description for the link titled 'Site Info.' This is where
you will find your research gold.

What can I learn about the top ranked site?
When you click on the 'Site Info' link, lots of valuable information is displayed. The first thing to note is the traffic ranking of the website. The top gift basket site is
ranked 119,370. Not bad considering there are millions of pages online at any given time.

Other useful information listed on this site info page is other websites that visitors also went to and the number of sites that link to this website. Other sites that link to the site can be very valuable - what search engines is the site listed in? Where are they advertising?

Next, click on the 'See Traffic Details' link near the top of the page. Look at the traffic for the site and note that in the last week the number of visitors has increased by almost 100,000.

Wow! What could be the reason? The holidays? A contest? Their keywords and titles? An advertising campaign? Take a look at the site and see if there is a spectacular giveaway or something very attractive going on.

Summary
Alexa is a very powerful tool for researching your competitors. Also, be sure to look at your site's listing to find out how well it is doing compared to others in your industry. As you analyze your competitors, look for their strengths so that
you can emulate them and also their weaknesses so that you can set your business apart.

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Megan Corwin, creator of WAH Woman, has combined her marketing and web site development skills with her love of Internet surfing to become an online marketing coach. With over eight year’s experience developing software and marketing for a software company, she enjoys sharing her talents with small
business professionals to help them enhance their online presence.  Become a member of WAH Woman at http://www.wahwoman.com, the fastest growing community for online marketing information for the work at home woman.

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MARKETING FROM THE TRENCHES
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SERVANT MARKETING:  Attracting Clients by Giving of Yourself
by Tamar G. McLachlan, MSW

As an executive and business coach, I work with a wide variety of businesses who are interested in expanding their growth potential. One of the most effective ways I have found to attract clients and grow a business is through "servant marketing". The concept behind this is to attract clients by giving of yourself. Almost all of my clients have been the product of servant marketing in some form.

One example is a large corporation who hired me to facilitate a team building retreat. My contact was referred by his wife, a client of mine. She had met me through a workshop I volunteered to provide as part of a program offered through
a major magazine. I had already spent over a year, building a relationship with the magazine, offering myself as a resource. All of the hours I offered, the energy I volunteered in assisting this magazine in establishing a coaching program, may have seemed unprofitable.  However, ultimately, it led to a lucrative contract with a large corporation. Of course, I could not have known this would be the outcome while I was offering myself as a free resource for over a year.

Servant marketing is fueled by the energy of inspiration and passion about your business. The more excited and energized you are about the service/business you provide, the easier it will be to offer this to your "ideal clients."  By clarifying what you provide for your clients, you will be able to offer your services easily and freely. The more you establish yourself as a resource, the more desirable and attractive you are to clients.

Although servant marketing is about giving, you should put purpose into your efforts by first asking yourself the following questions:

1) WHAT?  WHAT do you give clients? What will clients get from working with you?

It is important that you are clear, with yourself first, about what you want to give your clients. What is it that you want your clients to know/remember about you? About
your services? About what you offer?

2) WHO?  WHO are your ideal clients? Describe them in as much detail (for yourself) as possible. The clearer your picture of your ideal clients, the easier it will be for you to identify and attract them.

3) WHY?  WHY will clients want to work with you? Why will they benefit from your business/services?

4) HOW?  HOW are your services provided:  easily, efficiently, profitably?

TRUST is key.  Establishing trust is immensely important in attracting clients. The more your potential clients trust you, the more likely they are to purchase your services. However, trust takes time to build. It is most effective to establish
trust over time, by establishing yourself as a reliable, informative resource.

Your volunteer efforts will attract more clients if you keep in mind three guiding principles:

1). Establish yourself as an expert.  Let your potential clients know that you have special knowledge/expertise in the areas you wish to work in. Offer yourself as a resource. Remember, word of mouth is KEY for growing a business.

2) Always follow through.  Show that you are diligent and reliable. Always follow up with information or resources that you offer. If you don't have the information, offer to find it, or suggest a resource.

3) Energy excites, so make sure you really enjoy your volunteer activities.  Clients will be attracted by your energy and excitement. Remember what it is that excites you about your business and let that shine through.

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Tamar G. McLachlan, MSW, is an executive and business coach in the San Francisco area. She works with clients locally and internationally. In addition to coaching individuals, she facilitates team building retreats and works with both small and large businesses to achieve their potential most effectively and profitably. For more information, visit www.CoachingInMotion.com.

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FUN SPOTS
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AURORA BOREALIS (The Northern Lights) on the Web: The Aurora Page at Michigan Technical University, features beautiful aurora photographs by Jan Curtis that can be viewed at http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/images/aurora/jan.curtis/index.html

Also, to learn how auroras are created and where they can be found, visit http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras/index.html and click on the "Self-Guided Lesson" button.

Are you ready for VENTURE CAPITAL?Visit http://www.startupjournal.com/financing/ and click on the "? Online Quiz" icon to take the Resource Center's Online Quiz. The VC quiz is made up of 20 simple, multiple choice questions. You receive a customized "report card" that includes helpful suggestions and tips on how to improve your concept for investors.

------------------- Econosystems' Web Site Update -------------------
Are you thinking about updating your business plan for 2004?For a complete business plan template and expert guidance, read "Your Business Plan: The Seven Essential Pieces," by Anne Ramstetter Wenzel.  The article can be viewed at http://www.econosystems.com/Articles/bizplan7.htm

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Copyright 2004, Econosystems. All rights reserved.

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