As you may recall, in the name of shameless self-promotion, I sent out a notice a few days ago announcing that my biz blog, The Freestyle Entrepreneur, had been named one of the best blogs for entrepreneurs.  That tickled me.

But what really got me giggling was a card I received a few days later from Dean Lund, my insurance agent with American Family.  The card, with a hand-written note and a copy of my email announcement, caught me totally by surprise, especially since of the hundreds (thousands? Millions?) of people who were sent the notice, Dean was the only one to send a congrats note.    (And, no, no, no, this is not criticism of anyone; we’re all busy.)

This does explain why Dean is my insurance agent and has been for about 15 years.  Now, I could probably find insurance cheaper, and I get offers in the mail all the time.  But Dean has always been there for me, even now that I live more than 150 miles from his office and haven’t actually seen him face to face in at least 10 years.  I need service or have a question? He or one of his staff makes sure it is taken care of 100 % of the time.    

My point:  Nothing that Dean does is all that mystical or extraordinary.  He just always walks the walk when it comes to top-of-the-line service.  Most of all, he is aware of his clients and knows how rare it is for people to receive an attaboy (or attagirl).  We are all pretty much starved for appreciation; yes, even an old dog like me.  (Scratch me behind the ear and say, “Good fella,” and I’ll wag my tail for hours!)

The bottom line:  The five minutes Dean Lund took to send me that card not only made me giggle and earned my appreciation, but it also earned my business for a long time to come.

So, work hard, make money, have fun, and find a way to make your customers giggle.  — JRI   

 * * *

The Freestyle Entrepreneur — winner of the 2010 Top 35 Entrepreneur Blog awards from OnLine MBA.

For details, call 920-559-3722 or email john@thefreestyleentrepreneur.com.

John R. Ingrisano
204 Lakeview Drive
Algoma, WI 54201
john@TheFreestyleEntrepreneur.com

Well, I’ve spent the last 25 years living in small towns in Wisconsin. I guess I know maybe a dozen or so millionaires. It’s hard to tell, since most of these entrepreneurs dress like the thrift shop had a special, tend to drive either pick-up trucks or nondescript Fords or Buicks, meet at the local diner at 3:00 PM each day for coffee at a community table, and tend not to take themselves too seriously. In fact, they’re downright fun-loving, full of practical jokes.

No, it’s not quite like Andy of Mayberry, and don’t ever think these folks are anything but sharp as tacks – well-read, often well-educated, with a gift for knowing when to skin somebody on a deal and when to shake hands and do a fellow a favor … without ever mentioning it. They’re genuine.
They’re a different breed of cat from their big city cousins. So, here’s to you small town entrepreneurs. You rock!

The Freestyle Entrepreneur — winner of the 2010 Top 35 Entrepreneur Blog awards from OnLine MBA.
John Ingrisano
The Freestyle Entrepreneur
204 Lakeview Drive
Algoma, WI 54201
(920) 559-3722
www.TheFreestyleEntreprenuer.com

I want to thank all our readers for helping The Freestyle Entrepreneur be included on the list of the 2010 Top 35 Entrepreneur Blog awards from OnLine MBA.   

Want more biz tips and support?  Visit www.TheFreestyleEntrepreneur.com.

Let me explain by asking a question.  What’s the difference between the various banks in your community?  Or the grocery stores?  Or even the fast-food joints?  Too often, darn little, just enough to motivate customers to keep moving their business … playing each business off each other.  (When it comes to restaurants, my friends and I know just where to find the “buck-a-burger” night on Monday, “Taco Tuesday,” and “Fabulous two-fer Friday” specials.”  But that doesn’t buy our loyalty for the rest of the week.)

So, why lock yourself into an exhausting, low-profit, head-to-head, toe-to-toe competition over weekly specials and tiny price differences?   (“Mortgage rates at our bank are .25% lower!!!” or “Peas this week only, save 7 cents!”)?  Big woof!  They do not work.  Let me repeat that:  They do NOT work.  Sure, they keep you from falling behind the herd, but they sure do NOT put you in the lead.  (And remember,  “Unless you’re the lead sled dog, the view never changes.”) That’s kind of like having air conditioning.  Big deal.  You have to.  But it doesn’t bring in business.)    

Instead, let me take the example of grocery stores and show you how the lead dogs do it, starting with Fairway Foods in New York/New Jersey.  Fairway is a fairly small, privately-owned mini-chain, with a funky personality that turns shopping into an adventure.  One of their owners, Steve Jenkins, travels the globe periodically to find unique products and purchase them directly at competitive prices.  (I could be wrong, but I think they have the biggest olive section in the world.  And their cheeses.  Well, Jenkins has become a self-taught — and world-famous — cheese expert, and finds cheeses that make you want to go to Fairway for them alone.)  It’s a quirky, cramped, friendly place … and people love it.  Yes, their prices are competitive, but their real competitive advantage is the experience of just wandering the aisles and discovering foods you’re not going to find at the Super-store chains.

Then there’s Trader Joe’s, another funky grocery store that tends to place their stores in inconvenient places, offer limited choices and provide gourmet selections at reasonable prices.  They have created loyal followers that are the envy of every grocer.  It’s not the products (well, it is, kind of), but the experience.  They do limited advertising, offer no weekly specials, and drive the other stores crazy.

Finally, take Aldi foods, which I used to think of as low-quality, low-rent stores.  I was wrong.  First of all, Aldi’s owns Trader Joe’s, bought them back in the late ’70s, and their owners, two German brothers, rank among the top five richest people in the world!  Aldi’s dominates the grocery business in Europe.  They have made their fortunes by offering excellent quality at up to one-third lower prices, with limited selections (see why they bought Trader Joe’s?) and a no-frills atmosphere.  They succeed by buying directly, managing overhead ferociously and providing quality.

The point:  If you want to compete (and you’d better want to), get outside the box and find a way to make you and your products and your business unique.  Give yourself a special competitive advantage and skip the weekly specials.  As with Fairway, Trader Joe’s and Aldi Foods, make what you have to offer so compelling that customers come to you … and keep coming. 

So, work hard, make money, have fun  … and learn to compete on your own terms.  [Mini-ad:  Need help finding your marketing groove and your unique competitive advantage. Call me.] 

For more info, visit www.biztalkwithscore.com or www.scorefoxcities.com.  Also, we’d love to hear from you.  The call-in numbers are 281-1150 in Appleton and 877-887-1150 outside Appleton (Green Bay, Fond Du Lac or Oshkosh).

How to survive and thrive in a tough economy:  It’s not the big things; it’s not the little things.  It’s both the big things AND the little things that will make it a slam dunk.

Example:  Recently, a friend needed a new alternator for her car.  I shopped it around.  One place charged me $37 to do a diagnostic (since I wasn’t sure it was the alternator going in) and then said they could replace it for $460. 

Business # 2 said they could look at it, no diagnostic charge, and if it needed a new alternator, the cost would be $370.

Business # 3 said they’d look at it, no charge and, if the work was necessary, the cost would be around $350. 

Business # 3 got the business based on the cost and because we knew them from previous work.  That was the big thing.

Now for the little thing.  A piece of molding on the driver side door, by the window, had been loose for some time.  About a week after the alternator work was done, we noticed that the molding had been fixed – at no charge and without even a word about it from the shop. 

Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  Talk about a neat, little five-cent extra that warmed our hearts and cemented our loyalty.  That was a little thing that made a big difference.  So, guess where we’ll be going for ALL our future repair work? 

The moral to the story:  Work hard, make money, have fun, and remember that it is both the big things and the little things that make you successful.

P.S.  Giving credit where credit is due, if you live in the Kewaunee County or Door County area of Wisconsin, the name of the shop is Sahs Auto, on County S between Algoma and Sturgeon Bay.  Check ‘em out.  

Want more biz tips and support?  Visit www.TheFreestyleEntrepreneur.com.

As a small business owner, you don’t follow the herd.  You lead it … and if anyone else follows, that fine.  If not, so be it.  (One of the best bumper stickers I ever saw read:  “Unless you’re the lead sled dog, the view never changes.”) 

You’re holding your business together and making it work because you cut your own path, go your own way, make your own rules.

That’s what a friend of mine has done.  In this lousy economy, with its even lousier housing market, he started a “home detailing” business.  He approaches home sellers and for a fee, spruces up the home and makes it more attractive.  While others are going broke, he is so busy that he is hiring people … and still can’t keep up.  That’s a man who made his own rules, and he’s profiting handsomely as a result.

The bottom line:  During these tough times, you cannot afford to stay huddled in the box.  It’s time to get out of it.  Think about new ways to make money, cut costs, keep on growing (not just surviving) in this recession.

We love to talk about our products, our services, our business, ourselves.  Sure, the prospect needs to know who we are and what we do.  However, if he or she has to fight to get a word in edgewise, the sale is in serious jeopardy.

A better way: 

1. Know when to shut up.  Once you’ve told your story, practice keeping your mouth closed.  Bite your tongue if you must, but zip it.
2. Ask probing, inviting questions.  Get the prospect talking about what he likes or what she does.  Questions like, “Tell me about that,” or “What is your biggest challenge these days?” give the prospect the opportunity to tell you things you might not otherwise learn. 
3. Listen.  This involves more than just being quiet.  Pay attention to the words and their nuances.  Learn to listen so hard that your ears ache at the end of the meeting.

Now get out there and work hard, make money, listen, and have fun.

The bad news:  Somebody shot my dog.  The good news:  I’m teaching my cat how to hunt.  Let me explain.

The recession caught me between a rock and a hard place.  First, my small consulting business crashed, losing more than 50 % of my business in six months. 

Even worse, it caught me with my pants down.  I was tooling along on autopilot until, all of a sudden:  “Hey, where’d the business go?”  I assumed that my business was fairly recession-proof.  After all, it had been in the past.  This time, no.  Like trying to herd pigs in a cornfield back through a broken fence, I’d shore up one contract here, lose two there, as clients desperately tried to save their own businesses by cutting back.  One 20-year client sadly told me, “You have to understand, John, I cannot submit ANY outside invoices this year!”

Definitely not business as usual.  The game had changed (as it has for most of us), and I had missed the signs (as have many of us).  Somebody shot my dog, one that for 20 years plus had been stirring up super business like a keen-nosed pointer in cornfield stubble crawling with quail.  

The good news:  I’m teaching my cat how to hunt … and it’s one smart, keen-eyed stalker of a cat.   Poignant metaphors aside, I finally woke up. I didn’t know how I was going to retool my business, but I knew I had to and was going to.  Here’s what I did:

• I studied what had changed in the markets.   The biggest change:  Customers were cautious.  It wasn’t a matter of cutting costs.  Instead, I recognized that, while they still had needs for my services, I had to do a better job of  presenting the value of those services in helping them achieve their goals. 
• I studied what had changed in my business … or for me, what had NOT changed.  I realized that I was operating under a 1999 business plan and marketing mindset.  Back then, my competitive advantage was that I was not only the best in terms of teaching clients how to maximize their profits by kick-butt marketing strategies; I was pretty much the only one in the markets in which I worked.  That void had filled in over the last decade, and I was locked in keen competition with interlopers. 
• I re-evaluated my competitive advantage.  What made me special?  Unique?  I found two things:  First, experience. I’ve been a blood ‘n guts business owner for 25 years.  During that time, I’ve seen it all, experienced it all.  Second, when I analyzed my records and talked to my clients, I found that, on average, my clients receive roughly a ten-fold  ROI on my services.  So, if my services cost $5,000, their direct return tends to be $50,000 in the first year alone.
• I set out to bang the drum long and loud, telling my story and connecting with clients old and new.  I now summarize my top competitive advantages by telling my prospects and clients, “What do I bring to our relationship?  ‘Twenty-five-ten.’  Twenty-five years of business experience that helps assure my clients a ten-fold return on the price of my services.”  
• I plan to review my plan every year.  I have no intention of getting caught flat-footed again. 

So, somebody shot my old dog.  Fortunately, my cat’s working out just fine.  Plus, I have a litter of new puppies I’ll be training and turning loose in the coming months and years.