Ivana Taylor

An economic downturn has a way of getting everyone focused on what’s really important. And the good news for those of us who are in charge of getting and keeping customers is that you can still achieve many of your objectives with very little cash investment.

The bulk of your investment will come in getting VERY clear about who you are, what sets you apart and why your ideal customer should choose you. But once you’ve got those straightened out, the communication portion of the puzzle is not only easy, but fun.

Let me show you some examples of savvy businesses that have taken traditional word-of-mouth, referral marketing and direct marketing principles and combined them with today’s technologies of e-mail, blogging, videos and social media to build their brand and clear a path to their door. read more

Reality Check” is a monster of a book. It has 94 short chapters and runs about 460 pages – but it is such an easy, entertaining and hilarious read, that you would never dream that it was that long. In fact, I previewed the book digitally and had commented to a few people that it was a short read. And in a way it is. You can read it any way you like; you can start from start to finish or you can grab a chapter or two whenever you have about 3 minutes to spare. That’s about how long it takes to read any of the chapters.

I’ve been reading this book over the last week or so and it’s a shame that it’s so big because it’s one of these things you want to take everywhere you go – for those few spare minutes where you want to read something short that you can think about and noodle on later.

The book is written in a form that’s a cross between a blog post, a presentation and a conversation. You run into the blog-post style in the introductions and in the commentary throughout the book: read more

This economy is a gift. It’s perhaps the best thing that could happen to small businesses in a long time. Now, before you spit at the screen, read on for just another sentence or two.

Having too much easy money makes for rash and stupid decisions.

You know what I’m talking about. Admit it. You’ve probably done something similar to this: When I started my business I blew all my hard earned and saved money on designs, logos, business cards, phone systems and a few other things I can’t really remember. NONE of these expenditures moved me closer to the primary goal of any business: making money. If you’re going to spend money, it needs to be invested in anything that’s going to get and keep customers and/or get you chosen over any other alternative. That’s it.

Less money = More focus.

Having less access to streams of cash gets you very focused on what really matters (see above paragraph: getting and keeping customers = making money). read more

The very best thing you can do to GROW your business today is to disregard what you read, see and hear and think what you want to think.

When the talking heads want you to think that you have NO control over the economy or the future success of your business; thinking what you want to think is the most empowering thing you can do for the success of your business.

What if Galileo decided to believe that the Sun revolved around the Earth? What if the Wright Brothers accepted that people didn’t fly? What if Columbus believed that the Earth was flat? What if Bill Gates or Steve Jobs believed computers weren’t for people, just companies. All of these people thought what THEY wanted to think. They held on to what they believed was true and their life was a pursuit of bringing that truth to life so that other people could see it too.

Re-Think Your Marketing Mission

Take just one day and don’t listen to the news or read the paper. Use this time to truly re-think your industry, your customers’ needs and the role of your business in fulfilling those needs. Your objective here is to look at your customers and their needs WITHOUT the economy muddying the real issues that they are having. What’s happening in the economy is happening on paper. What’s happening in your business is real dollars and cents. So don’t let paper value interfere with real on-going value that you provide.

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I’ve been told that every business has to work with “Difficult Customers.” In fact, there is a multi-million dollar training industry built around the assumption that we all have to work with difficult people. Well, I don’t buy it.

In fact, I agree with Seth Godin, who says to fire difficult customers ; you’ll be happier and more successful.

But if you’re like me, it might have taken you a while to get to the point of having the guts to politely say “there’s the door” to difficult customers. Nobody wants to admit defeat. The natural tendency is to hang on, try to adjust what WE do, and hope it gets better.

Even worse, money fears drive us to keep those difficult jerks around. Customers are not easy to come by — we fear the loss.

But here are two dollars-and-cents reasons NOT to work with difficult customers: read more