Advice: The ‘one percenters’ – a list of small things every business should/shouldn’t do

If the world of business was able to borrow just one phrase from the world of AFL Football, then I’d hope it was the concept of the ‘one percenters’ – the idea that it’s all the little tiny things that players do that win the game for their team. Get enough ‘one percenters’ going your way, and you’ve got the game in the bag.

The world of business – and especially small and solo businesses – desperately needs a couple of dozen ‘one percenters’ to be pointed out and dealt with. In most cases, the points on the list below should be very easily corrected, for some very quick gains! See how many your business does/doesn’t do…

Get a domain name *before* you print business cards

That way, you email will be you@yourdoamin.com.au, instead of you@yourisp.com.au. $50 for a domain name for 2 years – even for the smallest of businesses – is the ante to play in the business world. To not have a permanent online prescence doesn’t help your percieved stability nor your longevity.

Use your domain name for your email address

Now that you have a domain name, use it! Your ISP-based email is now only for recieving bill from your ISP – nothing else. Using you@yourdomain.com.au promotes your web site, promotes your name, and doesn’t promote your ISP.

No phone number/email on web site contact page

Make yourself available by whatever means you wish, but match it to the medium: for a web site, at least give an email (because your customer is currently online!); for a business card, at least give a phone number. Be responsive on those contact points – replying to emails and responding to calls/voicemail.

Using a contact form on a ‘contact us’ page

An email form does help to ’suggest’ to your customers what they might like to contact you about. But 9 times out of 10, it’s a restraint that no-one will appreciate. Give an email address, make it a clickable link, and let them write/ask/order what they want.

Having a ‘contact us’ page at all

If you only have one ‘contact us’ page on your web site, is it easily found? Is it linked to from *every* page? Better still, do away with a ‘contact us’ page, and put your contact details on every page, in plain sight. Apart from the convenience, Google can then match your page for location-based searches, eg: ‘my product, victoria’.

Common branding, marketing and advertising

Branding is the long-term campaign – it doesn’t change from month to month, but it can evolve from year to year. Marketing is the middle-term strategy, it’s the same message for a season or two. Advertising is the short-term tactic – it’s the right message to promote a product of service to a particular customer.

Change your advertising headline regularly, and change your marketing plan to suit the climate, but don’t change your branding on a whim: if you have a logo, use it in a standard fashion, every time. If you have corporate colours, use the right ones for the right media, every time. If you have corporate fonts, use them, every time.

Simplify your products or services

If you don’t fully understand the ins and outs of your current ‘offer’, then chances are that your customers won’t understand it either. Simplify how you offer your products or services by categorising them into ‘good’, ‘better’, ‘best’, or by reducing the add-ons or upgrades to the bare minimum. Don’t offer complex price savings measures for multiple purchases – unless that’s your only point of difference to your customers. Go for clear features/advantages/benefits and clear price points.

AB out