BACK IN THE ROOM

Ok, at last back in the room. I can't say the old brain is functioning on all cylinders again but that was probably never the case anyway. 

Whatever we do, there is one great leveller and that's health. The last week has been very strange, mainly because through a virus my sight and ability to think one thought in front of another was so impaired that all the forms of communication with the outside world (anything outside of my head) was denied to me. Being ill wasn't exactly a creative time, but it does mark a threshold in the creative process as well as my thanks for all the good wishes.

Over the last couple of months I have been working at a fairly quick old pace to reach my goal of a viable business that has the ability to develop rapidly into a large turnover, which meets two of the fundamental table legs of any enterprise, the strategic leg and the financial leg. The other two are man management, and last but not least two I aways club together as they are undoubtedly the driver behind any business sales and marketing.

So with this last leg, if you'll for I've the pun, in mind...the first aspect we need to concentrate on is the unique selling point of the business. From a marketing perspective I've set up a domain name and web site some months ago to get some google rankings even though I had only a vague idea of the finished business concept. If your going into business it is good to get something on line just to establish this presence irrelavent of any trading ...this is marketing and the fortunate thing about the Internet is you can set up a trading business in about 24 hours.

With regard to web site builds I've taught myself how to create whatever site I want over a couple of days in the  last month with access to change it at will. This is not a templated site, but more of your easy pro with no HTMl. It will cost about £50 for the software and a weekend playing, and your off with a domain name and years hosting included.

So now it's driving traffic to the site and that's pay per click. Google will give you an account manager who will walk you through and set your account up in a matter of an hour so you can start to receive enquiries and control your budget on a daily basis which can be as low as a couple of pounds. 

Remember with marketing it's not money out, it's the cost of money in you need to think about...if £10 per day gets you £20 of business  with a good margin then its worth it.If you're a plumber then you're best up on the first page in you local area for a plumber as you are supplying urgent need, so your enquiries will need to be handled quickly, efficiently and make customers feel their problem is in your capable hands of being fixed. This is your USP, why should someone choose you over the other fellow? So you might want to think  trust, no hassle, no mess, quick resolution, price guarantee, immediate 24 hour call out etc etc.  If you start to get too many enquiries you need to shut down your spend till you catch up..otherwise you will be surprised how quickly you get a bad rep in a local area for not dealing with your inbound leads effectively.

As I said, plumbers like many businesses are needs based that means no one is going to ring you out of pleasure. But for The Game we are introducing a new concept into people's lives so this takes a little more thought to establish a flow of paying clients as well as process to deal with them that makes sure a sale comes from an enquiry.

 But for a moment back to the plumbers business, as you will be offering services confined by a geographic nature of how far you will travel you will potentially want to make sure a call is handled by an operator, so a virtual office with a regional number and a nice lady on the line can be set up for around £30 per month, it adds to credibility but make sure you put a mobile as people want an immediate fix.

Analyse how your customer would think from what you would want, but don't fall into the trap of thinking all people think the way you do. If you are not very good on the phone, practice, role play, be coached or delegate ...every call is money so think how much time you would invest into looking for a lost £20 note and invest into your own ability to deal with clients. 

One part of business that is essential to learn is you are learning every step of the way if you haven't done it before (and even if you have), so business can be an expensive education or a success, it's up to your ego to choose which. This is where a business start up coach is useful, and whilst I totally in favour of people training in this area to advise people, the bit I'm not in favour of is people paying to become business coaches and being start ups at the same time. Running a business by the book is all very well but its the difference between real life and school, and I think you'll agree it's rather large, but each to their own.

One thing you will always find is critique, people love to criticise, take it in the chin and move on, remember you are the one doing, it's so much easier from the safety of the spectators box. 

With The Game the market is not regional, its global, and this takes a different kind of mindset. Over the last couple of months I've conducted many conversations on product to get not only the right feel for the market, but also what feels right for me. It's not about money, it's about doing something you get a kick out of, I mean a pleasurable kick , not in the head every day, otherwise you end up just in another prison. If you mean to build a business and sell it on, well you can suffer for so long as the exit strategy is in place from the starting blocks. But if you've just got a passion for running your own show, ask yourself how long that passion will last,preferably  before you enter into a relationship with the business you own, or a business that may very quickly end up owning you with a divorce that will see your life's work and wealth in settlement.