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11 ways to build credibility for your business

By Aaron Hoos on May 17, 2013 in Business

Prospects are more likely going to turn into customers when they feel that they will be buying from a company that is credible. The more credible you are — the more trust and authority that prospects ascribe to you — the more likely you are going to win their hard-earned dollars when they are ready to buy.

So how do you build credibility for your business? Some entrepreneurs are fooled into believing that any marketing builds credibility but this isn’t the case. Many businesses market but only a few build credibility.

Here are 11 ways you can build credibility for your business. Mix and match them to build your own unique credibility (even if your competition is already doing some of these).

#1. CRITIQUE OR EVALUATE SOME ASPECT OF THE INDUSTRY

Every industry has its popular aspects and its shadowy underbelly. Your competition is trying to shine the light on the best parts but you can build credibility by being honest and up-front and showing quantitative comparisons or frank critique about the industry.

One example is a grocery store near my house: They usually have a couple of shopping carts by the front door, loaded with products, showing how much you’d pay at their store compared to a couple of the other major chains. It’s an effective way to position themselves as the low cost option.

#2. SHATTER MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

Consumers are outsiders. They only encounter your industry and your business when they need your product or service. Therefore, they develop myths and misconceptions. You can build credibility by educating them about these myths and misconceptions.

A good example here, in my opinion, is Chris Brogan. Brogan does a great job of shattering the misconceptions of social media by coming back to the ideas of listening, building trust, and connecting to your network rather than focusing on the number of followers or how to explicitly sell on social media.

#3. REVEAL SECRETS OF THE INDUSTRY AND YOUR BUSINESS

This is similar to the above idea, I guess, but it’s different enough that I wanted to include it separately. Every business and industry has secrets. They aren’t always bad, they just haven’t been explained to customers. Pricing is one secret. Ingredients is another common secret. And while you may want to keep some parts of your business a secret for competitive reasons, you might gain credibility with your prospects by revealing some secrets.

One example is from McDonalds. In this video posted on Mcdonald’s Canada’s YouTube site, the McDonald’s Executive Chef explains how to make a Big Mac, and he reveals the ingredients that go into the “secret” sauce (which, he points out, isn’t really a secret at all).

#4. CREATE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

Many industries suffer from “same-as” syndrome, where all the competitors offer exactly the same product or service as every other competitor. I have been very critical of the real estate industry for this very reason but I could list a number of industries that suffer from this problem: Financial advisors, dentists, chiropractors, optometrists, locksmiths, roofers, mechanics, and I could go on and on. You’ll build credibility if you break out of the mold and offer something different. It doesn’t have to be massively different — even just slightly different is good. (The Business Model Canvas and Blue Ocean Strategy are both good ways to innovate your business model). And click here to read my best advice on innovation.

I’m going to piss some people off by mentioning this example: Property Guys is providing a very innovative solution in the real estate industry. (Note to my real estate friends and clients: Don’t let their growing success annoy you. Rather, let it spur you on to further differentiation in your business).

#5. SHARE CANDIDLY

Many businesses maintain a barrier between themselves and their customers. I think there are a number of reasons that this happens (depending on the business, I’d guess that profitability, receivable-collection, competitiveness, privacy, and safety are all potential reasons). But customers want to connect with the businesses they buy from, and they are more likely going to buy from people they know, like, and trust. And when things go wrong, customers feel like they can reach out to a person instead of a faceless corporation. You can build credibility by being yourself. Or, if you have a large company, you can build credibility by having a representative be the face of your company. But as you’ll see in a moment, it doesn’t have to a specific person. The point is to share.

One example of a business that shared candidly and built credibility with their sharing is Domino’s Pizza. They have had an amazing transformation since their pizza turnaround commercial. That’s just an example of how one company used sharing in a one-off way. I think Twitter and Facebook give businesses the opportunity the share on an ongoing basis.

#6. SURPRISE WITH MORE INSIGHT THAN YOUR COMPETITION

Businesses put a barrier around what they know. There is a very distinct scope of information in a business’ marketing and a very distinct scope of information in their deliverable. The internet has really challenged many businesses to rethink how much they share before they deliver their deliverable. Some businesses share, for free, as much as 90% of the value they provide customers for free, leaving the 10% as their monetized value. This is smart but it’s not widespread, which means that many businesses can build credibility by educating their market and providing further insight.

One example was given by Perry Marshall a couple of years ago. (I’d link to it directly but I can’t find it). Perry described a local home repair company that produced a book — a beautifully bound, full-color book with pictures and how-to instructions. Perry rightly suggested that any home maintenance/renovation company could produce a similar book for their type of work — a plumber could produce a book about basic household plumbing; an electrician could produce a book about basic household electricity; and so on. They wouldn’t even have to give away the “secret sauce” of their business but rather just establish credibility by showing people how to care for that part of their home. You may be able to do the same thing in your business.

#7. DEMONSTRATE YOUR SOLUTION

I have a secret fascination with product demonstrators. They’re like carnies. They entice people to their booths and show them how sharp their knives are or how absorbent their shammy is. They need to do this because these products sell well when they are demonstrated. We have gotten away from demonstrations in our infoproduct world but products are still being demonstrated. Can you demonstrate some aspect of your product? You’ll build more credibility if you do.

I recently heard a consultant who demonstrated his methodology on a recorded call with a client. He got their permission first (of course), and then performed his consulting process on them while recording the call. Then he used the call to help sell the consulting service he was selling. This is a brilliant way for a service-based business to demonstrate a solution to build credibility.

#8. CREATE BEST PRACTICES

As industries grow, old businesses exit and new businesses enter. The growth is organic and messy. Years later, industries become complicated and fuzzy and even sometimes difficult to understand. You can build credibility by creating industry best practices. Even if other businesses don’t follow them, you’ll still position yourself as a pioneer. Your best practices don’t have to be all-encompassing or industry-wide. You just need to pick one thing and establish best practices. Codify them and establish yourself as an industry leader.

Many of today’s “gurus” in the world of B2B services have done just that. Seth Godin created what is ultimately a set of best practices around permission marketing. Dan Kennedy created what is ultimately a set of best practices around direct mail. Chris Brogan created what is ultimately a set of best practices around social media. I just wrote a report for a client who is building a certification process in an industry that has none.

(Note: It’s easy to overlap this idea with the “create an innovative solution” idea, above. But in this example, you’re not actually doing something new, necessarily; you’re just codifying it for others).

#9. PROVIDE DEEP ANALYSIS OF YOUR PROSPECT’S SITUATION

Successful sales people understand their prospect’s problems and use that knowledge to sell more effectively. The more you know about your prospect, the better. But often, that knowledge of the prospect’s situation is gained and then used to sell. But you can build credibility by gaining that knowledge and then feeding it back to your prospect. You’re not telling them that they feel a certain way. Rather, you’re telling them why they feel a certain way, and you’re listing and quantifying the many, many, many factors that contribute to their problem.

One example of a company that does this well is SAP. They’re a huge software company and they write a lot of whitepapers and reports. Those reports focus on the problem their customers have; not just the problem but the deeper, underlying reasons for that problem, along with the “cost” of the problem. They gain credibility by exploring the problem in-depth and, of course, positioning their software solutions as the answer to their customers’ problems.

#10. EMPATHIZE WITH YOUR PROSPECTS

Your target market doesn’t want to buy from you. And, in fact, they don’t even care about what you’re selling. They’re thinking of themselves and their problems or needs and how those problems can be solved or those needs fulfilled… not only that, they’re focused on themselves and they have much bigger lives than the problem that your product solves. They’re also thinking about how they’ll pay for their kid’s braces and they’re trying to remember to pick up milk on the way home from work. They don’t want to buy from you. They want to solve a problem with the help of someone who understands. You can build credibility by understanding — activity listening and seeking to see through their eyes.

I hate to say this but I’m having trouble thinking of an example here. I see it happening a bit… but not nearly to the degree that it could happen.

#11. BORROW YOUR CREDIBILITY FROM OTHERS

All of the examples I’ve given so far are credibility-builders that come from you. But your credibility doesn’t have to come from you. There are many ways that you can build credibility by “borrowing” it from others. For example, you should collect testimonials, write case studies, take before and after pictures, encourage customers to provide reviews and to tweet about you and provide a backlink to you on their site. If you’re an author, get a foreword written by someone famous. If you own a restaurant, get a food critic to visit. If you have awards, credentials, and degrees, these can all help with your credibility.

We see this in the film industry all the time: When a movie is about to be released, the trailer is full of accolades by critiques and film festivals, and it will list actors and actresses who have won (or even been nominated) or major awards.

Customers buy from businesses that are credible. Mix and match from these credibility-builders to help you establish authority and trust with your target market!

How social media can save television

By Aaron Hoos on May 15, 2013 in Business

When I was a kid, my family set aside Thursday nights as our “family TV night”. Dad would bring home a bag of chips and a bottle of pop. He’d turn on the TV a couple of minutes before the show started and the four of us would sit there on the couch and watch Family Ties and The Cosby Show (and maybe something else? It’s a little foggy now).

TELEVISION VIEWING HAS CHANGED

My parents were the last generation of people who may or may not have had a TV in their house. I’m in the generation that grew up with television — usually just one in the house. The generation(s) since have grown up with more televisions and more channel choices. Today, the entertainment choices have grown beyond “television” (in the strictest sense of the word) and the very existence of television as we once knew it is threatened.

Once, viewers were at the mercy of whatever was showing on the available channels. Some people had more choice because they had cable or satellite. My family couldn’t afford that stuff so our TV grabbed whatever was broadcast through the air. I remember it being someone’s job to adjust the rabbit ears on top of the TV to improve reception when things got fuzzy.

Other technology changed how we view television (and I should also include movies here, too): VCRs and DVDs allow us watch our own entertainment choices when we want. PVRs allow us to delay watching our chosen entertainment (and skip the commercials if we want). Other services (like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, AppleTV, etc.) are all changing how we are entertained by giving us more choice and more control.

WHAT IS REALLY CHANGING?

Entertainment is not going away. And neither is watching something (i.e. a “television device” — whether it’s a big screen TV or a tablet). But what is really at risk is what we might call “real-time” television. Maybe there’s a better term for it. By “real time” television, I mean sitting down to watch a show from start to finish, including commercials, at the time it is broadcast.

I never watch shows when they are broadcast, and you probably don’t either. I use my PVR almost always, to fast forward through commercials and to watch shows on my time. And the occasions when I happen to watch a show in “real time” (when it is broadcast), I feel impatient and impotent because I can’t fast forward through the commercials. In fact, if I happen to see that a show was on that I wanted to watch, I usually prefer to record it on my PVR and return to it about 20 minutes later just to skip the commercials.

WHY TV PRODUCTION COMPANIES WILL FEEL THE SQUEEZE

Most channels earn their money from commercials. But people are skipping the commercials so the value isn’t there for show providers anymore. To counter this effect, we’re seeing other monetization techniques like product placement or on-screen marketing broadcast in the corner of the screen during a show.

Real time television is at risk. But I think it can be revived. I think people will watch real time television once again.

And I think this is where social media is the answer.

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CAN SAVE THE DAY

My wife and I love NASCAR and we PVR the race because we usually fast forward through the pre-race show and the commercials, and because sometimes (depending on when it airs) we might not get to see it right at the very beginning.

The PVR gives us a lot of control, which we love. But there’s a drawback: If a driver does something that I want to tweet about, I don’t… because my tweet will seem almost silly coming a full hour or two after it actually happened. And, Janelle and I both avoid Twitter before and during the race because of our self-imposed PVR-delay. We don’t want to know who won the race if we’re still only at the halfway point in our viewing.

It’s almost enough for me to want to watch a race live. And if I had more friends or followers who were as avid race fans as I am, that might just happen. (But my network of people who are also NASCAR fans isn’t that big so it’s not likely going to happen any time soon).

If that’s the case for me, it’s going to be the case for other people, too — for other shows or sporting events. In fact, the “second screen” phenomenon is a growing industry in itself and I think we’re only seeing the start of it: The second screen — a mobile device or tablet or laptop screen — becomes a way for people to act on what they’re watching. They can research, shop, find news, and interact with others.

TWO SCREENS + SOCIAL PEOPLE = DEEPER ENGAGEMENT

In my opinion, television hasn’t caught up to the second screen phenomenon yet. It’s still broadcasting as a real-time medium in an on-demand world. For TV to survive, it needs to give people a reason to watch real time TV again. We’re seeing the very first elements of that happening — mainly through hashtags or encouraging people to view more online or play social games. But a lot of those efforts encourage participation after a show is complete. Can TV do even more?

Here are some ideas:

  • Pose questions for people to answer in a forum or with a hashtag. Instead of just inviting people to talk about the show, give them something to talk about.
  • Encourage live commentary/discussion during the show (perhaps on Facebook or some kind of Twitter-like discussion page)
  • Get crowd-sourced decisions that will adjust how characters deal with a situation in a show. This could be done either in a live show setting, which would be very awesome, or on a delay until the following week.
  • Split a story across multiple screens — sharing the first hour on TV and the last 30 minutes online
  • Provide deeper plotlines on multiple screens — sharing the main storyline on the first screen and a secondary but intersecting storyline on the second screen. You could follow the lives and adventures of secondary characters this way, fleshing them out more fully for avid fans.
  • Broadcast a post-show talk show (similar to what AMC does with The Talking Dead, a talk show that follows The Walking Dead). Broadcast it online if you don’t want to use up air-time.
  • Split a show (perhaps creating a 45 minute show instead of a one-hour show) with actor discussion part way through — answering questions live.
  • Drop clues during commercials that people have to watch for, perhaps something that will help them understand the show or interact more fully online.

I’m sure there are more things that could be done. As I write this, I’m seeing some major themes: More intentional splitting of the story (or characters or storylines) across screens. More intentional interaction/involvement required of viewers. Discussion. Dissection. Learning more.

The production companies and channels that create these shows will need to invest more time and effort but the result will be deeper engagement from viewers and the cultivation of a group of people who watch the show in real time.

Which is better — a sure thing or a gamble?

By Aaron Hoos on May 14, 2013 in Business, Finance, Real Estate

My friend is facing an interesting dilemma and I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I finally decided to write it out as a blog post just to get it out of my brain and because I sometimes do a bit of my best thinking while writing. I guess that’s a bit of a warning that there may not be a cathartic conclusion at the end of this post. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them. Just add them in the comments.

Here’s the situation: My friend is selling his house because he’s moving to another city for a new job. The housing market in Winnipeg is strong and his house looks good (particularly after some renovations) so we know his house will sell.

Here’s the dilemma: He was going to list his house on the market but he was recently offered a price for his house from a buyer prior to listing. Should he take the sure thing or should he gamble on the market?

The “sure thing” price is pretty fair and about what his asking price was going to be. It’s about in line with what other similar houses are listing for. But the gamble is also an option because the housing market in Winnipeg is a little weird right now and it’s not out of the question to have someone bid higher than the asking price. (Note: I’m not going to reveal the prices here on my blog to protect his privacy but also because I realized that the price itself doesn’t really matter. The same ideas would hold true for other price points as well).

So when he posed this dilemma to a group of friends at a pub a couple of weeks ago and the table was divided. We were each adamant that we were correct and the other person was making a mistake. I said he needed to take the “sure thing” price and others said he needed to gamble and put his house on the market because his house might sell for more.

So here’s why I said he should take the sure thing price. Actually, I’m going to draw it on the following graph, which shows the price and possibilities (or price differentials might be a more boring way to write it)…

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-01-blank

Here’s what could happen if he put his house on the market. The house could sell for a lower price or a higher price. (Theoretically the line could go right to zero and could go substantially higher but the line below represents the likely sale price scenarios:

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-02-market

Here’s what could happen if he sold his house to the buyer without actually listing it. The house would sell for a fixed price:

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-03-offmarket

Putting them both on the same graph to compare them, you get the following:

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-04-marketandoffmarket

There’s another price that I think is useful to know. It’s the price he bought the house for. And again, since I’m not displaying actual numbers here, the line represents his initial purchase price. Regardless of what he sells his house for, he’s going to generate some capital gain from the sale — whether he sells with the sure thing or by listing his house.

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-05-3prices

The gamblers said that he should list his house because it was likely that he would earn a profit above his sure thing price. They felt that the money he could make above his sure thing price was going to be additional profit. They asserted that my friend was giving up a potential additional gain by going with the sure thing. They admitted that there was a possibility that the price could come in below his sure thing price but felt that the reward of the gain was worth the risk of the loss.

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-06-gamblersguess

I, on the other hand, felt that the sure thing was the better choice. And the reason I felt this was because my friend is moving to another city and he’s starting his new job soon and has to also move with his wife and their young child. If he listed his house, he would have to commute back to Winnipeg to work on his house, and then go through the hassle of listing, showing, signing papers, etc., all while making the lengthy and expensive commute… and all while starting a new job.

On the other hand, the problems and headaches are immediately eliminated by selling now for his sure thing price. I asserted that the loss of that additional potential gain was the cost of the peace of mind that he would have to take care of that major stressor in his life. Although there was a potential gain, I argued that the gain wasn’t worth the amount of effort involved. Selling his house with the sure thing model was zero effort, zero additional cost, zero additional stress, zero additional commuting. Selling his house with the gamble would bring in potentially extra money but would cost in other ways.

aaron-hoos-writer-selling-dilemma-07-surething

Reflection: I called one a “sure thing” and the other a “gamble”. But in reality, both are gambles, aren’t there? By listing the house, my friend is gambling that the market will pay more than the fixed price he was offered. By taking the sure thing, my friend was gambling that the fixed price would not only be higher than one potential outcome of the market but also would be more rewarding because it would minimize the effort required to list his house.

I’ve tagged this post as a business, finance, and real estate post because it really does connect to all three. In fact, I can think of scenarios in the world of business and in the capital markets where this issue is a regular dilemma. And although it’s tempting to chase the highest dollar value as the most obvious answer, I don’t think that’s always the best answer. After all, there are costs and intangible rewards that could potentially be worth more than money.

What are your thoughts?

(Oh, and in case you’re wondering which one my friend chose, I don’t know yet. Last time I asked him, he hadn’t decided).

The 2 things that your prospects and customers are desperate to hear from you

By Aaron Hoos on May 8, 2013 in Business

I think businesses make the sales process too complicated. They present their offerings. They overcome objections. They ask for the sale. They deliver.

These same businesses see themselves as one choice out of many and they often sell into that mindset with marketing and sales communication that answers the question “why choose us”.

And although that sales process and the one-choice-out-of-many mindset does exist, I think prospects and customers are actually desperate for something else…

They’re desperate to hear two things:

  • Prospects and customers want to be told what to do
  • Prospects and customers want to the confidence to act

This point was driven home for me recently with an equity newsletter I was writing. I’m pretty clear in my newsletter that I do not give out stock advice. I can’t legally tell people what stocks to buy or sell and I’m very strict about avoiding that situation. But I frequently get emails from people asking, “which stock should I invest in?”.

This point was further driven home by a real estate investing client of mine. He trains other investors and his students frequently ask him questions like, “should I invest in Minneapolis or Ohio?” or “should I flip houses or wholesale houses?” And as he helps guide people to the answer, he encounters another problem: His students are afraid to move forward. They’re scared of different things that could go wrong and it halts them from taking action.

People are looking to be told what to do and they’re looking for the confidence to act. Let’s look at these ideas a little closer:

THEY WANT TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO

Prospects and customers want to be told what to do. Here are some examples from my own work, writing for business, finance, and real estate audiences:

  • Entrepreneurs want to be told exactly how to start and grow their business.
  • Equity investors want to be told what equities to invest in.
  • Real estate investors want to be told how to invest in real estate.

Perhaps there are other things they want to be told, and maybe there are more specific things I could have mentioned, but these are the three that I see regularly.

A couple of caveats about what I’ve just written:

  • This has to be done legally (for example: Unless you have a license, you probably can’t tell your customer which equity to invest in).
  • This has to be done respectfully. Our customers want to be told what to do but they want to feel like they’ve done it themselves.

What are your prospects and customers desperate to hear? Chances are, the product or service they buy from you is only part of the solution. They want an answer. A way. A method. A key that unlocks what they were hoping to achieve.

THEY WANT THE CONFIDENCE TO ACT

Prospects and customers get a lot of ideas and advice and suggestions from experts (some of it is free, some of it is paid for) but they don’t always act. There might be a lot of stated reasons about why they don’t act but it really boils down to confidence that they won’t cause more harm by acting on what they know or have bought.

As business owners, we need to not only provide the right solutions to our customers but we also have to empower them to use those solutions — we need to give them the right instructions, motivate them with reminders (which also helps to eliminate buyer remorse), and show them how other buyers are using the product or service successfully.

Your customers buy from you but do they get everything they need? They’re looking to be told what to do and they’re looking for confidence to act. Don’t forget to give that to them!

The power of free: Why you should give stuff away for free in your business

By Aaron Hoos on May 7, 2013 in Business

Free has always been a useful way to get more business. Thanks to the web, free is even more important today.

I love “free” because it is so powerful and valuable and I really believe that all businesses should adopt some kind of free incentive in their business. Check out some of my thoughts about the concept of free at the following blog posts: Free and 5 levels of content monetization.

So it’s no surprise that when a friend sent me the following video — The Power of Free — I watched it and took a lot of notes. And I think you should, too.

This video is from Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income who gave a presentation at New Media Expo 2013 on the power of free and why you should have free offers in your business. His video is almost an hour long but worth every minute!

Aaron Hoos’ weekly reading list: ‘Developing awesome personas’ edition

By Aaron Hoos on May 5, 2013 in Business, From the desk of Aaron Hoos

Aaron Hoos: Weekly reading list

Businesses can market more effectively when they identify who their customers are. I don’t just mean that they create a generic label for the group of ideal customers. Rather, they should create rich, in-depth descriptions of who these people are. In marketing-speak, these are called “personas”.

I’ve created a persona for each of my clients: On a 3×5 card I’ve pasted a picture (just to help the person feel real), what their typical personality is like (based on Myers-Briggs), what their interests and hobbies are, what their family life is like, etc. Not all clients will fit into this profile but it sure helps to write for someone very specific.

This week I’ve gathered a few persona-related articles together for you. Enjoy!

A rant about business plans: When was the last time you looked at yours?

By Aaron Hoos on May 3, 2013 in Business

When was the last time you looked at your business plan? Last week? Last year? Last decade? The day before you officially opened for business?

In my experience, surprisingly few people write a business plan (I made exactly that mistake!); and those that do, write it and then let it grow dusty on the shelf, as if the plan was just a small and annoying step that needed to be checked off of the list. I’ve met many people who spent more time fretting over a new car purchase than the start of their business. They don’t mind pouring over vehicular statistics and comparing models of the car they’re going to drive (which will immediately depreciate as soon as they drive off the lot) but they’ll cringe at the thought of writing some ideas, strategies, and financials down to give a little proactive thought to an investment of their time, money and effort that should appreciate over the years. Heaven forbid that they do a little business planning now to figure out the trajectory of their company for the years to come!

I think part of the problem is the we we perceive business plans. They are often thought to be stuffy, formal documents. They are thought to overflow with buzzwords that would make any MBA drool. Their numbers are said to be nearly meaningless. In many ways, these documents need to be written at the worst possible time — usually the point when the aspiring entrepreneur feels the most passionate and energetic about their business and they just want to get out there and take action… they don’t want to get bogged down in research and details and buzzwords and proformas. Business plans are perceived to be soul-crushing documents that are purely optional and typically only written by the anal retentive and extremely cautious.

But good business plans aren’t like that. They shouldn’t be stuffy or stuffed with buzzwords. A good business plan doesn’t have to be arduous to create and highly formal in how it’s structured and written. A good business plan shouldn’t crush your eager-to-start spirit — it should stoke the coals of your imagination and motivation by sharpening your focus. (Mixed metaphor alert).

A good business plan is meant to be used, not stored on a shelf. A good business plan should be both strategic and tactical, and something that a business owner can refer to every single day. Yes, a business plan is a high level document that you might use for banks or investors but it should also contain your operational plan, your sales funnel (your marketing and sales plan), and contingencies for when things go horribly wrong. It should inspire and guide… EVERY TIME YOU LOOK AT IT.

Heck, don’t even bother getting a professional to write it (unless you are going to use it to help you find investors). Just sit down and do it yourself. Roll up your sleeves and dig in. Write your goals and then the steps you want to take to get there. Create financial statement projects and proformas that are useful for you. (Tip: Create 3 versions of each financial statement — a set of high projections, a set of medium projects, and a set of low projections). Research. Add information based on what you’ve seen so far (if you’ve been working in the industry already). Create a document that you can hand off to someone else while you go away for a year-long vacation and when you get back, they’ll have built the exact business you had dreamed of!

Starting and running a business is like going on a long journey — it’s best accomplished when you have a map that you can refer to, which will help you get to your destination.

Like a map for a long journey, it’s not something you should write once and put away. It’s something that you should leave open on the seat beside you while you drive. When you’re not sure where to go, you can consult your map. When you’re tempted to veer away and chase new ideas, you can be reminded of the original plan. When you are forced to take an unexpected detour, you can get back on track. THAT is the value of a business plan.

If you haven’t looked at your business plan in weeks, months, or years, go get it right now. (Do you know where it is?) Dust it off and look it. Is it practical? (Probably not since you haven’t looked at it in so long). So figure out what you can do to make it practical. My suggestions are:

  • Erase the buzzword-filled nonsense that doesn’t help anyone. Replace it with some unpolished ideas in raw form — specifically, big-picture goals, smaller-picture goals, and the actions you’ll take to get there.
  • Write about how you want your business to grow, what you plan to do to get it there, and what you’ll need to scale up along the way.
  • Create financial projections that actually mean something by doing a bit of research and writing 3 sets of financial statements, with high-priced assumptions, medium-priced assumptions, and low-priced assumptins.
  • Add an operational plan.
  • Add your sales funnel (a marketing plan and a sales plan).
  • Add in your document templates, logo variations, branding rules, operational checklists, etc.
  • List contingencies and plans to implement them if the need arises.

If you have never created a business plan, do it now. Here are a couple of good sites to start with. These sites contain a mix of information, step-by-step instructions, and even templates to get you started.

Go and make your business plan useful to you!

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