22Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on January 28, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Has anyone seen the recent Office Depot commercial about the small business barbershop? Dan, the small barbershop owner has a look of concern as a big chain barbershop opens across the street from his little shop. The sign out front of the big chain store says, “$6 Haircuts”. The grand opening was full of the normal pomp and circumstance that you see in most openings. The manager of the big chain looked confident and sure.
The story is about Dan, who saves money because he shops at Office Depot. He reinvests his savings and buys a huge banner that says, “We Fix $6 Dollar Haircuts”. Six months later, the big chain store goes out of business.
I am not necessarily promoting Office Depot or their claims of savings. What I love about this commercial is the idea of the small business owner taking on the big giant chain store. This really hits home with my wife and I as owners of THE original basket boutique, a custom gifts and gift baskets shop in Gulf Breeze, FL. We find ourselves always competing against “big chain” stores who flood the market with cheap gift baskets. This is the nature of being a small business owner in America today.
Small business owners today, have to be smart, creative and forward thinkers to compete in this market place. This isn’t a new story. When Wal-Mart came in to towns many years ago, everyone thought it was the end of small business America. At first it probably looked like small business wouldn’t survive, but this wasn’t the case. Small business owners needed to adapt and find creative ways to effectively compete with the chain stores.
In this commercial, while it isn’t outright said, Dan’s strategy was to sell quality. He couldn’t compete on price and survive, but his advertising banner that says, “We Fix $6 Haircuts” made a huge statement about quality. Small business owners that survived the onslaught of the big chain stores learned to adapt to a new target market. Instead of competing directly with the chain store, they competed around it. The fact is there is enough market for a lot of business if you can figure out your target market.
One of the best examples of overcoming big chain stores that I know was my In-laws’ gun shop in Fairfield, IA, Outdoor Ventures. For the longest time, Outdoor Ventures was a very successful gun and archery shop in a small rural town in Iowa. People would travel from hundreds of miles away to buy guns from my father-in-law. Why you might ask? Because he carried what people wanted, unique guns and archery equipment, hard to find ammo and so on. Then one day, here comes Wal-Mart. There was no doubt that my in-laws were concerned. Instead of quitting thought, they changed their strategy.
They couldn’t compete with Wal-Mart for selling standard ammo or arrows, but they had something Wal-Mart didn’t. My father-in-law was a master wood worker and gunsmith. Wal-Mart sold cheap guns and ammo, but my father-in-law could fix them. Once a person saw the quality of his work, they were more likely to use him for special orders and work. He adapted to a new target market. They sold the business several years later to retire in Florida.
It is easy to see why I love this subject. It is a part of my life now and in the past. There is no reason a small business can’t be successful in a market with big chain stores. So what are my recommendations? Figure out your target market. Then analyze your target market for opportunities that are not being met by the chain stores. Once you identify your opportunities, change your business focus and strategy to capitalize on your findings.
Most importantly you need a plan. Don’t go at it half hearted and think everything will be ok if you just keep doing what you have always done. Your business plan will keep you on track and focused on your goals.
I would really like to hear some of your ideas. Leave me a comment or send me an email. Make 2010 a great year!
David Beckham, MBA
MarketProMBA Small Business Developer
1Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on January 4, 2010 at 11:42 pm
I guess we have all heard the old saying, “Don’t dwell on the past”, but I think in order to move forward, we sometimes have to look at where we have been. It goes without saying that 2009 presented many challenges both on an individual level and from a business owner’s prospective. The economy seems to be the topic of choice when talking with most people. Whether you own a business or work for one, the economy has had some affect on your year.
As a business owner, we were not untouched by the economic woes of 2009. Sales were soft, vendors were often short of products, and we found ourselves constantly adjusting and readjusting our marketing and business plans. Still, the year proved to be better than 2008. We sold 5 new franchises in the U.S. and many more in Canada. So even with the touch economic times, we still saw growth. We also picked up many new customers and managed to secure more market share in our region.
Working for AT&T Advertising Solutions in 2009 was also filled with challenges. Since many businesses were having a tough year, it goes without saying that we saw a decline in advertising revenues. This decline forced the company to make some very tough choices, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs. Many of these people were personal friends, so it was not an easy to watch this happen.
Last year I made a commitment to become more involved with our Gulf Breeze Chamber of Commerce. I took over as chair of the Small Business Development Committee and was picked for the 2010 – 2013 Board of Directors. I was also nominated for 2009 Emerging Leader of the Year and our business, THE original basket boutique was nominated for 2009 Small Business of the Year. So despite the challenges, I will still look back to 2009 as a good year.
Now that 2009 is behind us, we need to look forward to 2010. I truly believe this year will build on the successes of the past and I expect 2010 to be another year of recovery and growth both personally and professionally. In order to make 2010 a great year, we have to add some structure around our plans. To be honest, it is January 5th and I really hadn’t thought about any plans for 2010 until I read a January 1st post on Chris Brogan’s blog. (A big thanks to my friend Betsy Wuebker of www.passingthru.com for introducing me to Chris Brogan!) I really like Chris’s approach to goal setting. He selects three words to guide his goal setting and keep him on track to his objectives. I think this is a very good way to plan your year and it is easy enough to keep you focused.
As I started to ponder on my three words, I realized that this wasn’t as easy as you might think. I was having trouble with one word, let alone three! Chris describes his three words as something that would take more than one sentence to describe. His word sits upon his actual goals and acts as his guiding principles. These words need to have meaning and life to them and not just be a description. In the past, like many people, I have set resolutions for each new year but like many years previous, they didn’t have any solid goals or structure to back them up. By the 2nd quarter of the year, many of my resolutions were already just a memory because life has a tendency to throw new challenges in your path which takes the focus away from your “new year resolutions”.
After some careful deliberation and a little soul searching late into the night, I came up with a list of words that had some meaning to me, but I still needed to narrow them down to three. Growth. Flexibility. Vision. Bend. Flexible. Change. Stretch. Expand. Teach. Spread. Time. Fix. Course. Tack. Tool. Path. Plan. Gift. All of these words have some meaning to my goals for this year, but when I narrow it down, my three words are: Expand. Tool. Bend.
Expand: This year, my personal growth plan is to expand my horizons and education. I want to become better at online marketing & business strategy. I order to achieve this goal; my strategy will be to become better educated by reading more expert blogs and books. As a business goal, Expand means that I am going to increase our business footprint, regionally and nationally. This goal will be achieved by my increased knowledge of online marketing and business strategy.
Tool: You can’t build a house with out a hammer. In this decade, you can’t build a business with out a website, blog or social marketing. These relatively new marketing tools have become the norm in business. This year, my goal is to build more tools for our business. I plan to develop more sites, better email marketing and increase blog posting. I am also going to start pod casting, twittering and an online video blog. My strategy for “Tool” builds on the “Expand” goal to become better educated on alternative marketing.
Bend: You might have figured this one out. I need to learn to bend, be flexible and embrace change much better. The only constant in this day and age is change. Bend means that I need to be ready to change on a moments notice to capitalize on opportunities. My goal is to be flexible and open minded to new ideas. I will look at challenges as opportunities for growth and development. I will bend, but I won’t break in 2010.
Well, there you have it, My Three Words for 2010. I hope that my three words help you to come up with your own so you can effectively plan your 2010 to be one of the most successful years of your life. Good Luck & Happy New Year!
