Increase your productivity: The 2 Minute Rule

David Allen wrote an amazing book on productivity, Getting Things Done, which made him a best-selling author.

What David Allen has to say about his 2 minute rule: I have a two-minute rule that says: If you determine an action can be done in two minutes, you actually should do it right then because it’ll take longer to organize it and review it than it would be to actually finish it the first time you notice it. If you don’t avoid the question about what’s the next step, lots of two minute items could be done right then. Now, there are many times that you have a next step that’s going to take longer amount of time, like drafting some big new spreadsheet. You wouldn’t want to do that in two minutes. It’s a good idea to keep a whole lot of little things to do when you get those strange little windows of time, like clean up old e-mails, or purge some of your files. There’s a lot of things around me to do when I get a weird little window of time and when I don’t have a lot of energy. Let’s say I finished a big phone call and I don’t have another one for seven minutes, I’m likely to just be cleaning spam out of my e-mails or you know purging a file, or perhaps going and getting a cup of coffee.

The rule is super simple to implement:

- If it takes less than two minutes, then start right away

Building Brand Awareness

How a small retailer is building Brand Awareness

Brand Awareness is your business’ identity. A high brand awareness does not guarantee that the consumer will prefer your business over another, but without a distinct and well-known identity, your business won't even be in the running. You have to create a memorable brand through marketing and ad strategies, more people will get to know your business — and you will see increased sales and even better - repeat business.

Brand awareness is essential not only because it brings customers to your business for the first time, it encourages them to keep coming back. People like to buy from names they trust and that they can identify with; when your logo and tagline are easy for them to remember, your brand comes to symbolize your company and it’s the first thing to come to the consumer’s mind when they’re ready to buy.

Below is an illustration of The Marketing Funnel, which clearly displays that Brand Awareness is the first step in attaining customers, customers who might become loyal or even Brand Advocates.

Here is how (tactics) a little independent retailer is building Brand Awareness with little or no budget

I have been consulting a small independent wine store, and in the below texts, I will reveal the simple tactics we have used to grow this business.

1) Great Products

You need products that your customers want to buy and a product range that will satisfy your customers’ needs and desires. The products must also deliver a profit for you to have a successful business.

How: The business owner is importing wines from wineries in France, Italy and Spain. Each winery has a unique story, the common element in this case is; that all wineries are small, they all make wine like they think it should be made, and not dictated by market demand.

2) Superior Customer Service

Real customer service is not about offering tons of sales or monthly specials—a decent salesperson can sell anything to anyone one time. But to encourage customers to come back to you again and again, there has to be more to your customer service plan. Building relationships is the key.

Pay attention to your customers’ feedback. It may be tiresome to hear about all the things your business is doing wrong, but listening to what your customers need is crucial to improving their experience.

Having adequately trained employees is essential, as well. Each employee should be thoroughly instructed in the principles of good customer service and how they relate to your business model. Empower your employees by giving them permission to make minor customer-pleasing decisions without having to consult a manager.

Do more than is necessary. Help employees to lead customers to the products they’re inquiring about, not just simply handing them a leaflet. Give employees the tools and encouragement they need to answer customers’ questions, offer instruction or advice on using products, interact with customers in a positive way or go the extra mile whenever possible.

How: Lots of people knows about wine, in this store will you get a very professional story and instruction about the wine and use. Additionally will the staff help you load your car, deliver for free.

3) Logo design

Your company logo is your company’s face to the world. It is one of the first things someone will see before and during the visit to your store. A unique logo is one of the main ways people remember your company. It should link your website with your marketing materials. It should give those who see it a feeling for what your company does just by looking at it. It should give people a sense of trust to buy from your company.

If your you just started your business, I strongly advise you to have your logo designed by a professional graphic designer.

How: When the business was founded were a very simple logo designed by the owner. This has now been undated by a professional designer, at a very reasonable price.

4) Location and Storefront

Location, location, location. History has dictated that this is one of the most important factors in the success of a physical store, and still to this day it will have a major impact on your success. Maybe you can not afford a premium location, but consider these elements before choosing a location:

• Demographics
• Competition
• Traffic Patterns and accessibility
• Merchant Associations

Additionally should ensure your storefront is looking good. The outside of your business is what the customer will see first, so it makes sense to focus on exterior improvements before making interior improvements.

An attractive storefront should be well-lit during the evenings, and should be clean, simple, but modern. All exterior wordage should be easy to read to passersby. Windows should be kept clean at all times, and burned-out light bulbs should be changed immediately. Sometimes all that is needed to boost sales is a storefront makeover.

How: the biggest asset with this particular location comes down to traffic patterns and price. This is a very inexpensive location, but on a street with much traffic and easy access parking.

5) Build a Mailing List

Ask for your customers names and email adresses to build your own mailing list. Send email to your customers is a very powerful tool and probably the best way to build an engaged audience, generate traffic, sell a product online or create hype around your next big event

How: Keep a sign-up list on your counter and remember to ask all customers to sign-up. Inform them about what you do, and how signing-up will be good for the. Like VIP invites to luxury wine tastings and great promotions.

6) Build a Website

If you do not have a website, make sure to get one fast - and have it made responsive to mobile and tablets. A website is not just a brochure it is your part of your branding strategy. Think of your site as a sales person that works for your business year round, never messes up a sales pitch, and communicates effectively with otherwise unknown clients

How: This business had an awful website, which did not at all match the impression you would have from visiting the showroom - it would confuse you and make you doubt the business. The new site matches the experience, it it light and easy to navigate. Now to the business gets much more business from other cities, and brand ambassadors is spreading their experiences with their network.

7) Get a Facebook Account

By now should it be clear to everybody, that social media is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. As a small business owner, do you have a great opportunity, when you use social networking sites effectively promote your businesses in powerful ways.

Facebook pages are excellent places to gather together your customers, prospects and fans to provide reviews, share opinions, voice concerns and offer feedback. You can build a community on your Facebook page in a number of ways, including:

• Posting useful, relevant and interesting links
• Asking fans to contribute with comments
• Organizing contests and promotions
• Providing a place to leave reviews and other feedback
• Offering incentives for activity on the page

Additionally is a facebook page good for SEO and several other good things…

How: facebook is great for small business, because you communicate directly with your customers and can give the quality advice, like no other. Further can you get your “brand advocates” to share your postings to their network.

8) Host events (wine tastings)

Hosting an event is a great opportunity for your business to gain exposure, especially to local potential customers. People attend events, because they are interested in the event itself. This is especially true if they have to pay a fee to participate. Surprisingly, paying for attendance does not deter people. In some cases, a paid event has an air of exclusivity, as if the activities and workshops are premium experiences that they would not be able to get for free. Guests who are willing to pay the price to attend an event often anticipate that their experience will be valuable or, at the very least, they are interested and curious about what you have to offer.

How: Hosting wine tastings is now an essential part of the business and being carried out quite often. The is several great thing about these events; You have people attention for a long period of time to leave a solid brand impression, additionally is this a good window to sell featured products. This business sends invites per email, informing about the event, asking them to bring a friends, spouse, co-worker…  this spreads fast, now are companies and groups booking tastings.

9) Public Relations

Small business can really benefits from good public relations. To have good public relations does not mean you need to hire an expensive PR firm. To develop a plan, think about your audience. This includes more than just customers. Additional members of your audience may be local media or employees. Use these additional resources to communicate your message.

PR is more than writing a press release. In today's public relations field, professionals utilize more than the traditional press release. PR professionals commonly use facebook and similar to convey their message to the public. Social media is changing the public relations industry as it allows businesses to communicate with a larger community. Instead of sending a message to just your local audience, businesses can now communicate globally. As the scope of public relations increases, professionals need to adapt and take advantage of new avenues to communicate with the public.

There is a good beginners guide to PR behind this link.

How: This business is reaching out to the local media. It participates in the papers wine tastings and it writes press release about the growth, new vendors and similar.

10) Guerrilla Tactics

Guerrilla marketing works outside of the mainstream, making a disruptive impression that gets a brand or business noticed, and in an extended period of economic downturn, that gets even more important. That’s why guerrilla marketing is more relevant than ever- finding a cost-effective way to stand out from the crowd is what guerrilla is all about.

There is a number of good and relevant cases behind this link

How: This store is to date used one simple and old school tactic with great success. They are having some kids distributing / placing flyers with coupons in windshields in cars parked in a relevant location to the store. The output is a combination awareness and the immediate effect of redeeming the coupon, which translates into trial and sales.

The 6 Best Ted Talks on Marketing

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.

Working with Sales and Maketing, do I find Ted.com a very vauable source of inspiration. I have shared with you 5 brilliant videos, each with a compelling story about marketing.

1) Seth Godin: The tribes we lead

Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so.





2) Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing

Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding.




3) Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce

"Tipping Point" author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.




4) Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value -- and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.



5) Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread

In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.




6) Renny Gleeson: 404, the story of a page not found

Oops! Nobody wants to see the 404: Page Not Found. But as Renny Gleeson shows us, while he runs through a slideshow of creative and funny 404 pages, every error is really a chance to build a better relationship.

Maximize the impact of email marketing

A few weeks ago, I had a really interesting discussion with the owner of a small independent retail store. The stores is a specialty wine store, who started this business out of his garage.

The owner told me about his struggles, he like everybody else, wants to increase the customer base while driving frequency with his regulars. With this challenge comes a close to non existing budget.

Can you make efficient marketing on a shoestring budget? YES, he can make a simple 3 legged strategy, which can elevate to a higher level.

• Location and shopping experience

This point is aced. When you enter the showroom, which is in a nice location, on a busy street, you are greeted by the owner, who is passionate, knowledgeable and present.

• Word of Mouth (brand advocacy)

The shopping experience customers receive, is way above average, the owner gives his customers a good experience, and the do tell about their experience, and he experiences that traffic is increasing, however not fast enough.

• Email marketing

The big key is build a solid mailing list and set-up an emailing program which takes advantage of the content of this mailing list, to segment the content to different mailing groups

Learn about guerilla marketing.

Building an effective email platform is NOT expensive but requires hard work. Here is my advice:

• Take advantage of the personal shopping experience and ask customer to join the mailing list. Throw them a bone…. inform them what to expect from the email they are to receive and why they are relevant. Exclusive sales, invites to tasting events, competitions and relevant product information

• Ask the customer to leave more than their email. They should leave the following information: First name; last name; email; postal code; gender; age; preference as a minimum   

• Form a number of relevant segments (mailing groups) based upon the above mentioned details, examples of this:
• Group with young men, who is willing to strop in the market and learn about wine
• Group of men, who is interested in the best deal
• Group of women, who like other types like rosé and white
• Etc.

• Write content that matches the segmented groups. consider that each email should hold about 3-4 topics, some can be generic, which others must be targeted directly to meet the expectations of the group.

• Start sending emails. I prefer to use mailchimp.com is a very user freindly platform, that is free to use in the standard format with list <2000 subscribers.

• Remember to include social media sharing options

• Never stop testing, test placements, links, colors, buttons, headlines and much more.

This program will do well for this independent wine store, and it would do well in plenty of other businesses. The key to maximize performance starts with building a high quality mailing list and using the details of the list to get as personal as possible.

Personalized information will always be better over the generic emails. If you get this and the design and landscape of the email right, you will experience high opening rates, click rates and conversation rates.

For the wine store, this will drive enough revenue to invest more into the business and expand it further.

Good luck

Keep your sales team motivated

It is absolutely essential for your business health, that have motivated and energized sales team. Think of a salesperson as the soldier fighting in the frontline, what does he need to keep motivated and energized to keep up the fight and bringing home those orders.

In addition think of the personality of salespeople as strikers in football / soccer team, they are goal scorers. They depend on their confidence and the ground work of other members of their team. They also play the first level of defence, as they master relations and get valuable market information before everybody else.

Here is 8 points you need to consider to keep your team motivated and bringing home the orders:

1) Transparency

Keep your sales staff in the loop. You will have to be clear on targets, informing about new products and other relevant information. Information like this very valuable for the sales person, not only because it is important that he or she has this information, when talking to customers, but also for emotional reasons. Keep them involved.

2) Pay commissions promptly

Salespeople is competitive by nature, you should enforce this instinct with a compensation package, where a substatial part of their paycheck is based on their performance.

When the salesperson reaches a target, make sure to pay compensation straight away. Pay bonus every month over every three months or yearly.

Paying promptly encourages salespeople to sell more, at they quickly see the results of their work.

3) Keep sales targets reasonable

Make you sales targets thoroughly and ensure your salespeople gets paid for their results. Do not set to ambitious targets, but set targets which can be reached and bonuses can be paid.

4) Do not undercut them

Your salespeople should be able to offer the best possible price, period. Customers should not be able to find a lower price on the company website or by buying directly. This will upset your salespeople and in worst case make them leave the company.

5) Distribution of leads

Make sure you spread your leads fairly among your salesstaff, each should get an equal number of good and poor leads. If you prioritize some reps over others, some will have a negative opinion about this. Keep in mind, you can cultivate new talant this way, over just feeding the "the usuals".

6) Support their efforts.

Make sure that your sales team always has access to leadership and senior staff, who can assist them negotiate and close deals.  Make sure, that the most popular products are available to the salesstaff, for them to demonstrate, which is important to close a sale. 

In addidion, give them support and convey learning from failures and success, to help develop.

7) Give them time to sell.

Do not overload your sales staff with administrative reporting and trackers that "steal away" their time, that could be spent selling.  CRM may create great reports, but at what cost?  Have a support function, to assist with reporting and such.

8) Have fun

Sales should always be fun. Fun do not they should not work hard, but rather a place where people experiencing success, feeling supported, learning, growing and enjoying what they do.