GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: What’s in a name?

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Who you gonna call? The name of your company is one of the most important aspects of building your business. The scary thing is that you have to have a name to even start a business. So, you have to come up with the right name even before you leave the proverbial parking lot to start your business ownership journey.

This means that you have to come up with the right name from the very beginning. And I mean getting it right immediately because you are going to have to live with that name forever. Once you start your marketing and branding it is incredibly difficult to change the name of your company.

With that in mind, here are some tips and ideas to consider when choosing your company’s name:

  • Avoid hard to spell name (Tell me about it! Check out my name, you can’t spell it you can’t say it! And you sure as heck would not want to be stuck with it as a company name which is why I used my initials, DB Management Group
  • Use names that might put you at the top of any directory listing. (Some people live by this rule, frankly I’m not sold on this idea)
  • Use a name that means something, a name that indicates what you do is a good idea.
  • Don’t pick a name that indicates too narrow business capabilities, something that could limit your company’s growth in the future.
  • Use a name that is catchy. A name that people will remember.
  • Conduct a domain name search. Sooner or later, you are going to have a website. You will need a domain name, make sure you consider this when choosing your company name. In fact, you should conduct a domain name search and choose your domain name as part of the naming process.
  • Check out the legal viability of the name you choose. Check out trademarks. Check it out with your Secretary of State. Make sure you are not inadvertently stealing someone else’s company name.
  • Ask your friends and family what they think of the name you are thinking of using. This is a case where more opinions and insights are better than going it solo.
  • How does the name sound when you say it aloud? Some names look great on paper, but they sound like something else when said out loud.
  • And finally, make sure you like the name. You are going to have to live with that company name forever, so make sure it is a name you not only like, but actually love!

Naming your company is just about the first important decision you will make when starting a company. Make sure you treat that decision with the importance it commands. Choosing the right name can go a long way for growing your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Be different

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

There are a series of books out about what is called Blue Ocean Strategies. The premise is that most businesses operate in the same ocean, “the Red Ocean”, but to truly succeed a company has to swim in their own ocean, the Blue Ocean. This is all fancy metaphor talk for being different, being better, finding a way to do things differently. A way that will change everything and wow your customers to the point of not only improving your business, but dramatically changing your market as well.

Some examples of Blue Ocean companies are what Uber did for paid ridership and what BnB did to the hotel industry, what Door Dash did for food take out services and, yes, what Instacart did for grocery shopping.

And, of course, there is the biggest example of Blue Ocean strategy, what Amazon did to the retail business…not only changed everything but literally took it over to the point of outright domination.

Okay, let’s get our head out of the clouds and back to earth. What can you do about your particular industry, and marketplace? What kind of Blue Strategy can you come up for your business?

Now, I don’t claim to have all the magic answers, I don’t know your particular business as well as you do, but I can show you how these companies did it.

It’ simple: they focused on their customers. They used their imagination to take them out of their proverbial box of business as usual.

They followed George Bernard Shaw’s advice as often quoted by Robert Francis Kennedy, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.”

And they ignored the advice of Charles Holland Duell, the commissioner of the U.S. Patent office who, in 1899, wanted to close the office saying, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”

So how about you and your business? “What can you do to dream things that never were and ask why not?”

Here are a few steps to help you along the way:

  • Sit down and think about your business. Put yourself in your customers’ place. If you were your own customer, what would you like from your business?
  • Forget what has come before, what you did before and think of what you can do now, and better yet, what you can do tomorrow.
  • Dream a little, or a lot. Don’t let facts and existing barriers get in the way of your imagination. Just let yourself go wild and when you come up with a new great idea…then walk backwards to figure out how to do it.
  • Take a look of the world around you. Research what similar companies in other parts of the country, and the world, are doing. Learn more about your own industry, network with other owners in other parts of the world and get some ideas and inspiration from them. The nice thing about being a local business is that if you discover a great Blue Ocean idea from someone in your industry in Salem, Oregon, or London, Ontario, there is nothing wrong with taking the idea and bringing it into your local area.
  • The most important thing here is to dare to dream, to find a way to do it, not only differently, but better than anyone in your local marketplace has done it. Create your own Blue Ocean to swim in. And that’s a great way to grow your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: The power of a simple “thank you”

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Last week we received a Thank You card from the company who had just completed a roofing job at our house. It was not a large job as far as roofs go, just a couple of porch roofs that needed to be replaced. And once again as far as costs for putting on a new roof this was a not that expensive…relatively speaking.

The company did a good job, they worked fast, were efficient and cleaned everything up and took it away, all in one day, “easy peasy,” as some people like to say.

But then the Thank You card came in the mail. A real official Thank You card with the receipt for our payment enclosed.

Now some people would think that did not mean much…and I might have been one of them. But I was surprised at how much that one small gesture touched me. After all, this was a roofing company, not a car dealership or other such company where the sales team is trained to send out cards and notices, even birthday greetings, and yes, I do appreciate those “small touches”, but I have come to expect them.

Now to get this card, this small token of appreciation for my business, was truly touching. Not only personally but also professionally as a person who trains companies to make the extra effort to thank their customers.

That card showed me that someone was paying attention. That someone was actually thinking about the customers and working at finding ways to stand out in front of those customers. Someone in that company was making an effort, to look and act professionally.

Think about that for a minute. This was much more than just a card. This was an indicator that this company was focused on being better, on standing out on being memorable and yes, most of all hoping that someone, like me would not only notice, not only appreciate but would tell others about it.

And guess what? It worked because here I am telling you about it.

Always remember that even the small things, like sending out a receipt enclosed in a Thank You card will go a long way in making your business outstanding. And it is a great way to grow your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Be careful what you say

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

A true story. One of our relatives in a nearby town was having trouble with her furnace and needed a repair person. She called the man that had been taking care of her furnace for years. He came over and found that all he had to do was reset the furnace and everything would be fine. He said that there would be no charge and showed her the switch so next time she could reset the furnace herself. He was not gone 15 minutes when the furnace conked out again.

Not wanting to bother the repairman again that night she and her daughter, who was visiting, decided to add more blankets to their beds, tough it out and call the repairman in the morning.

The next morning the daughter called the repairman, and he proceeded to blast her for bothering him, read her the proverbial riot act for bothering him, but in the end, with some persuasion grumbled he would come later that day.

He never showed up!

Whereupon the daughter called another company, they sent a man out right away. There was something wrong with the furnace, it was missing a part. They fixed it in 30 minutes, handed her the bill and went on their merry way.

Now here is where the story gets interesting.

The daughter was very active on social media, especially Facebook…I think you can see where this is going.

The daughter promptly got on Facebook and told the story including naming names and recommending that no one should ever use this repairman again. Her post went out to over the 200 people to whom she was connected!

Wow! What repairmen should have realized was that in this new world order people are connected, and people talk to each other, especially when they have been poorly served enough to be angry.

Just imagine for a minute the kind of negative publicity this repairman is now getting!

But the real point here is that no person or company, or organization, should ever talk to their customers the way this repairman did. Nor should any person serving the public ever complain about doing a job for a customer.

The rule of thumb pre-social media used to be that if a customer has a complaint, he is going to tell a number of people and in the end, about 100 people would hear about it. Now in these days of social media that number increases to literally hundreds if not thousands of people. And if the story is bad enough it could go viral, then millions of people could see it.

Those of us in business should always appreciate our customers and the business they send our way. The minute we stop doing that, and let the customer see, that is the day your business will stop growing. And that my friends is no way to be growing your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Show you care – Support your local organizations

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

There is nothing more beneficial than donating to local organizations. From churches and synagogues to Little League and Girl and Boy scouts to local school,there is no better way to spend your money than to support local groups.

This is true for all communities but especially true for small communities, like we have here in Maine. Here are some things to consider when someone comes knocking at your door for a charitable contributions:

  • You have the opportunity to portray your company favorably to everyone in that organization. They will be grateful for helping them and will not only patronize your business but will urge others to as well.
  • If the donation is for an event such as an auction, donate a gift certificate for your product or service. If you own a restaurant, for example, and you donate a $50 gift certificate, chances are the person who buys the gift certificate will bring others for dinner at your place bringing you more business. If you are a landscaping business, and you donate a gift certificate for your services, you just paid $50 for a new customer, which is a very good deal since the average cost of new customer acquisition is up around $500.
  • If you get the opportunity to sponsor a team. Grab it. That is a gift that keeps on giving and giving. Those athletes are actually a walking billboard for your company. And every member of the athlete’s family will love you for it.
  • It’s the right thing to do if you want to be accepted as a stellar member of the community. And since the community is made up of your customers, that’s a good thing.

True story:

Last Christmas my wife sent me on a search for ribbon candy. I’m not sure why, but she did. She also told me what store to go to first because when she was collecting donations for our church’s silent auction that store had been very generous. So, I went to that store as she told me, because I always do what my wife tells me to do. And I ended up buying not only her ribbon candy but assorted other sundries like chocolates and other goodies as well. I spent over $75. When the owner, like all smart owners should do, asked me how I found out about his store, I told him that my wife had told me about it. And then as a member of the finance committee of our church I thanked him for his generosity. Upon hearing that he smiled broadly and said, “No, thank you! And your church for all you do for our community.”

And that is how business in a small town (or any town for that matter) should work. That store owner knew that donating to a local church charity was absolutely the right way to grow his business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Take care of your customers in need

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by Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

Years ago, one winter when I was out of town on business, enough snow had fallen – as it will tend to do here in Maine, – that my dear wife was concerned about the snow load on the roof. When she saw a crew working clearing a neighbor’s roof, she put on her boots and her winter coat to go talk to them. The fact being that she had been on the phone all morning trying to find someone to come over and clear our roof, so she was relieved when she saw the men across the street working on a roof.

When she approached them and found the man in charge, she asked him if he had time to clear our roof as well.

He looked at her, smiled and then told her they were all booked up, but he said, “I might be able to fit you in but it’s going to be expensive.” “How expensive?” she asked, knowing that be­cause we have a big house with a lot of roofs, what it should cost, and so she thought she was prepared to pay the price she normally paid, which yes, was not cheap but worth it.

But she was hit with sticker shock when this man quoted her a price that was well over twice as much as what she normally was used to paying.

“Are you sure?” She asked, “That’s much more than we normally pay the people who did it last year.”

“Sure, but they’re not here, now are they? Sorry, lady, but that’s the price, take it or leave it… and I could charge you even more if I wanted to. So, what’s it gonna be?” he said impatiently.

Not seeing any other way, and the snow falling heavily with signs of it keeping up for the rest of the day, she reluctantly agreed to pay the price he asked.

Now, as you can imagine after that, my wife would go out of her way never to use that man’s company again. In fact, although not a vindictive woman, she could not help but tell many people the story of what had happened. And yes, we never used that company again. In fact, it has been years since I have seen his truck around the neighborhood, so I suspect that he has gone out of business. Not a surprise, really.

If you want to run a successful business you have to always ask for a fair price for the services you perform. Sure, you can play that supply and demand game if you want. You can raise your prices when the demand is high, but in the end, you have to be fair and treat people fairly because if you don’t, if you take advantage of people, especially when they are in need, they will never forget and when things get back to normal, they will never buy from you again.

On the other hand, if you come to their aid when they are in trouble, when they really do need your help…and you help them, you’ll have a customer for life and that is the best way to grow your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Always be asking for references, referrals, recommendations, and endorsements

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

The very best way to grow your business is to get other people talking about you in a good way. Your customers bragging about your products and services to their friends, neighbors and family is the very best way to gain new customers, without a doubt.

Think about that. What do you do when you are considering buying a new car? You’ll ask someone who already has one, right? I mean you won’t just ask people you know, you’ll stop, and ask complete strangers in the Hannaford parking lot what they think of their car, if it’s the same brand that you are thinking of buying. Why do you think so many car commercials feature real people talking about how much they love their new car?

What about choosing a contractor, or a painter, or a plumber? You always ask the people around you who they can recommend and why they recommend them? Most of the time, if people have had a great experience, they’ll be happy to talk about it and even try to convince you to use the same people they used to the point where it is almost like they want you to join the cult.
The same applies to restaurants. People love telling other people about a great meal they had at that new Italian restaurant down in Winthrop, right?

People love telling people about great products, and services, and yes, meals, they have experienced.

But you as a business owner cannot be satisfied to just sit back and wait for those endorsements to come your way. You have to find a way to get those referrals about your company to come to you on a regular basis.

Obviously, the best way to get great referrals is to be the best. The best car dealer, the best contractor, the best restaurant. That is a given. But many times, that is not enough. Sure, many people, your customers will be happy, even delighted with what you are selling, but that is not enough. You have to be intentional in your quests for referrals. You have to ask for those recommendations. And if you go about it the right way, your customers will be more than happy to provide them.

Here are a few suggestions to seek and get referrals from your customers:

  • Right after you have completed a service or sold a product, and the customer is delighted, ask him for written endorsement for your sales literature.
  • If you are a contractor, ask the happy customer if you can take photos of your work to show prospective customers and, yes, ask again for the customer to give you an endorsement and also a reference.
  • Offer your customers small incentives. A gift card to a coffee shop, for example, if they will refer you to the people in their own network.

Sales expert Jennifer Gluckow said it best in her book Sales in a New York Minute. In today’s social world, the repeat customer, the recommended customer, and the referred customer are the heart of business success.

Whatever you do always be asking for references, referrals, recommendations, and endorsements from your delighted customers. It is without a doubt the best way to grow your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: Finding a great strategic partner

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

No matter what your customers ask, always find a way to help them. If they ask for something that you don’t normally do, then find a way to do it. IF it is a service that you don’t or cannot possibly do then find someone who can provide that service and either partner with them to provide your customer what she needs or introduce them to the customers. Regardless, the role of any service company is to be helpful in any way that we can.

Here are a few examples:

You run a successful landscaping company and your customer’s fence is in need of repair or replacement. This is not something that you do, but you know someone who does. It’s in your best interest to make the introduction. Actually, you have a choice of either making the introduction or acting as the prime contractors and handle the fence repair company as your subcontractor. Thus, not only servicing your customer but expanding your business and your revenue as well.

You run a car repair shop specializing in revitalizing classic automobiles. Your company handles all the mechanical and electrical as well as the body work, but you don’t do interiors; upholstery and such. That’s when you find the best upholstery and interior rehab and you partner with them making you a full service provider. Your customer benefits, your new partner benefits, and your company benefits, it’s a win, win, win situation and it does not get any better than that.

These kinds of partnerships all start out with you trying to meet your customers’ needs in the best way you can.

The best result of these kinds of strategic thinking is that it will allow you to scale your business well beyond your own in house capabilities.

The second best part of this is that as you start partnering with more strategic partners, they in turn will provide you with some business opportunities, as well. This will be additional business that you don’t have to take the time to chase.

When you share with strategic complementary businesses you all grow and profit to the point where you all get much more stable and stronger.

But the key is to find the right partners. Here are a few suggestions for what to look for when looking for the right partners

  • Make sure they are the very best at what they do. They are going to be representing you, so you want to offer your customers the best in the business.
  • Make sure they have the same values, ethics, and morals. If not, this will not work.
  • Make sure there is the right chemistry between your companies. You can partner with the very best company in the world but if you don’t get along it will not work.
  • Make sure they “allow you to be generous”. You want a partner who is truly going to look out for you as much as you want to look out for him. If your partner is always measuring and comparing both of your contributions to combined business effort, that will not work.

Always remember that a true partnership is when entities come together and accomplish things far greater combined than they could individually.

Developing true synergistic cooperative partnership is one of the best ways to make your customers happy and, yes, of course, grow your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS: How does your place look?

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

The way your place of business looks is important. It is a visual indication of how your business is run. The way your business looks, in many ways let’s your customers know a great deal about you.

In my business, which is working with electronic companies all over the country, I’ve talked to officials who audit these companies to qualify them to be able to build high technology products for the military. These auditors tell me that one of their “secrets” is to not only check out the work areas but also the common areas like rest rooms and the cafeterias. They claim that the way these areas are kept is the true indicator of how the company runs.

Think about your place of business. Think about your store, is it well maintained? Is it clean? Are the shelves well-stocked? Are all the lightbulbs working?

How about your restaurant? Obviously, cleanliness is a requirement in a place where people come to eat, right? How does your restaurant fare? How does it look to your customers?

When we lived in Wisconsin years ago there was a restaurant that everyone went to for breakfast. The food was great, and inexpensive, and the place looked great. But then the owner sold it to another person and retired. It soon became obvious that the new owner did not have the passion for the business that the former owner had. We started noticing the differences immediately. The tables were seldom bussed so half of them had the remnants of half-eaten meals. The floor was not washed, and the place was just generally a mess. Actually, the food was just as good since they had kept the same kitchen crew, but the place was too messy for most of the regulars, and we started to leave. In fact, the last two times I went into the place I got syrup on my shirt sleeves since the table had not been wiped. That was it for me.

That restaurant closed after six months of new ownership. It closed after 35 years of being in business. And get this, when it closed the new owner, instead of realizing that he had not done a good job, blamed his failure on the fact that a new chain restaurant had opened up in town, taking away his customers. Interestingly enough the new restaurant was a Chilis and they didn’t even serve breakfast!

Take a look around your business. How does it look to you? Be careful now, because we all get so used to how our place of business looks that we tend to overlook that broken window, those burned out light bulbs, the cracked plaster, the torn booth leather, the weeds growing in the parking lot.

No, take a fresh look at your place of business, from your customers’ point of view. What impression does it make? What does it say about you and your business? Be honest now, because if your business does not look good it will reflect on everything for which your business stands. And that is no way to grow your business.

GROWING YOUR BUSINESS – Purpose: what is your purpose?

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Growing your businessby Dan Beaulieu
Business consultant

“Corporate purpose is at the confluence of strategy and values. It expresses the company’s fundamental – the raison d’etre or overriding reason for existing. It is the end to which strategy is directed.” – Richard Ellsworth, From the new book, Red Goldfish, by Stan Phelps. Here is what Mr. Phelps says about Purpose

“Purpose is becoming the new black. It is emerging as a guiding light that can help businesses navigate and thrive in the 21st century. Purpose is an aspirational reason for being, that is grounded in humanity, is at the core of how many companies are responding to the business and societal challenges of today.”

Okay, here is my take on this. When you talk about purpose you are talking about the reason why you are in business, why your company is in business. Think back to when you started your business and try to remember why the business was started way back then?

Every single company was started to fill a need. Somebody at some time saw a need to provide something that would fill a need, whatever that need was. That is and has always been the basic reason for any business to start…to fill a need.

Now think back, what was that need? Why did your company start in the first place and what need did it fill then? Is it still filling that basic need today? Is your company still doing what it was founded to do in the first place?

Focusing on your company’s true and basic purpose is the very best way to find your direction if you have lost it. It is the perfect way to re-align your company if it has come out of alignment or keep it in alignment at all times.

  • Purpose instills clarity.
  • Purpose guides both short-term decisions and long-term strategy at every level of an organization, encouraging leaders to think about systems holistically.
  • Purpose guides choices about what not to do as well as what to do.
  • Purpose channels innovation.
  • Purpose is a force for and a response to transformation.
  • Purpose motivates people through meaning, not fear. It clarifies the long-term outcome, so people understand the need for change rather than feeling it is imposed upon them.
  • Purpose is also a response to societal pressures on business to transform, to address global challenges, and to take a long-term, more comprehensive approach for growth and value.
  • Purpose taps a universal need to contribute, to feel a part of society.
  • Purpose recognizes differences and diversity. Purpose builds bridges.
  • Purpose helps individuals/teams work across silos to pursue a single compelling aim.

Now let’s talk a minute about the differences between an organization’s Mission and its purpose. Mission is always talking about where we want to go, it focuses on where we want to be someday.

If your company has a clear and well-defined purpose it will help you not only attract the best people with the same passion for the same purpose, but it will keep them passionate and engaged for years to come.

Now ask yourself, what is your company’s purpose? Why are you in business in the first place? And probably the most important question: is the purpose for your company the same today as it was when the company was started years ago.

And one more question: is your company’s purpose obvious? Does everyone in your company, and I mean everyone, know why you are in business? What is the purpose of your very existence? Having a strong and clear purpose is the best way to grow your business.