When contractors and employees collide

A Strategic Consulting Form With An Affordable Twist

New to hit the .com offerings that utilize technology to reduce consumer costs, here’s an option that brings more focus to your business. This strategic consulting firm has one goal in mind—to create greater consumer demand for your business.

Purple Cow LLC challenges the traditional concepts that have intimidated the small to medium sized business owner. Christine Kane, Founder and CEO of Purple Cow LLC remains dedicated to bringing practical strategies to every business that may be struggling to grow in a more competitive environment. “We would like to see the smaller business owner successfully compete in what’s becoming and chain driven market. Smaller businesses simply do not have the purchasing power to keep their pricing lower; often these companies create a self-limiting mindset of attempting to compete in a game that has already been won by a larger operation. Creating a demand and offering the consumer a unique experience creates an advantage that franchise and large chains are not immediately able to duplicate. Company culture, innovation, branding and creating a unique consumer experience are key elements to healthy, profitable growth in the years to come.”

Purple Cow LLC has designed systematic strategic sessions that can be easily personalized to any organization. Questions personal to the individual business owner can be addressed through a tele-consult session which provides a valuable opportunity to gain insight into critical issues that may be affecting sales and positioning. With no retaining fees and long term commitments, this is a time efficient and cost effective method to access a knowledgeable strategic consulting team.

Knowing the critical issues that are affecting revenue and hiring the right consultant can be hit or miss. With this online option, you have control. Visit www.purplecowllc.com and take advantage of the tele-consult service. It’s the “purple cow” of consulting that will bring more focus to your strategy.

Creativity In Courting Consumers

If you’re a business owner and the concept of considering a “customer first” attitude is news, you’re lucky to still be in business! Today’s buyer doesn’t have to walk far to find someone else to buy from…..and they will—even if you have great service. We’ve grown accustomed to being catered to, and we expect it. In fact, a business is lucky, fortunate, thankful, to have me as a customer!

Is great service enough? Not anymore. We expect it. So perhaps it’s about the price. Will having the lowest price keep them coming? Let’s hope, for all our sakes, that price war isn’t the way to stay in business.

So what is the magic touch?

Experts have cycled through customer value theories to offering a unique product—how about a creative concept—to buyer experience. In some cases, doing all of the above will get you patronage, for awhile. What are they called? Oh yes, red oceans—the body of water that is filled with competitors of all sizes waiting to feed on your customers.

Now our advice is to find, create, innovate your business to swim in the blue ocean—the pool of water where no other competitor exists.

We’ve found a local blue ocean, strangely enough from a strategic consulting company that specializes in creating demand for small to medium sized businesses. Purple Cow LLC—great to see innovation from an organization that is in the business of inspire you to be more creative. This blue ocean strategy offers an efficient, easy, hands-on method for a business to work with a team of consultants. Better yet, you can have the attention of a strategist, share critical issues, and get practical concepts that you control within your organization. They offer a variety of “Model Systems” that are the tools to the trade for a consulting team. Compare pricing which can range from $30 to $400 for a complete system to the cost of leadership groups. Have a question? Get a 30 minute answer for under $100.00.

One great advantage to being small is the capability to respond to trends faster than the big guys. This is a great solution for any business that wants to stay focused on future growth, without all the red tape!! Log on to www.purplecowllc.com, and browse the products and services. May be the most profitable consulting relationship you’ll develop in 2008!

Does Your Personnel Know What Your Customer Wants?

Better yet, do YOU know what your personnel know?

The most powerful and successful business owners and executives observe their frontline employees, competitors, customers, suppliers, and sales personnel on the job!

It is amazing to see the preponderance of businesses that increase their profitable success by heeding the words of their front line personnel. Who else better than the individual that daily interacts with your consumer to tell you what brings them back to your service. Your best sales personnel are the individuals that know what your competitors are doing. Perhaps you are, as the owner, more aware of business trends; consider that it is the interactive members of your team that may be able to tell you what interests the prospects in your community-whether you’re behind the times or a trend setter. We cannot stress enough the importance of the inclusion of representation from all layers of your personnel and management in your brainstorming sessions. An owner who acknowledges the importance of every team member and listens to every innovative solution or brainstorming creation recognizes the influence of innovation in gaining market share and dominating word-of-mouth marketing. Make it a point to know what your sales team is experiencing. Spend time with your front line personnel. Stay informed, aware, and proactive. Establish a principle of “go and see”.

Is this enough to ensure the growth of your business is in line with upcoming trends? No! For any consumer product or service, listening to potential customers can open the doors of prospects that may never have had your product or service on their radar.

Psychographics—the study of personality, values attitudes, interests and lifestyles may indicate possibilities, or save you from a costly disaster! If through psychographics you find that your target prospects would be willing to try something new, and your product/service is effectively marketed, detailed attention warrants the inclusion of variables such as texture, color, fragrance…any of the myriad of variables that will separate you from your competitors. This is especially true if you are considering a global strategy. Placing significance in local cultural preferences eases a transition into an identifiable market. Simply stated, is your target “growing” audience willing to try a new product, and how can you adapt to their natural preference? This can be an effective tool to entice and soften your introduction. This concept is very personal to a product/service and may not be applicable to your business. However, for those of you who do find this applicable, considering local cultural trends and habits may make a substantial difference to your success.

Taking this philosophy of first hand involvement one step further, embrace ethnographic research—which helps to identify problems faced by customers. Observe your customers. Establish methods to solicit insightful feedback from your customers and suppliers. Become a guest of your dominant competitor. Look for issues with you packaging, presentation, service, follow-up…. Are you asking Toyota’s “Five Whys”? Asking five why’s when uncovering a potential customer concern can often lend insight into the root disturbance.

Is it enough for you to be the only member of your team that is observant? Absolutely not, teach all members of your team the realities of foreseeing potential areas of consumer concern and asking why. More eyes provide greater expansion and awareness.

Ask your team questions. Establish well defined goals that demonstrate the importance of customer feedback. Manage your team by helping them see work issues and develop pro-active solutions. Motivate your team to build customer relationships and pursue innovative strategies. You will be demonstrating the importance of each individual member which extends beyond their personal role in function. You will be creating distinctiveness to your business that paves the way for higher consumer value, and the individual value of each member of your team!

Christine Kane is President and CEO of Purple Cow llc a Strategic Consulting Firm located in Scottsdale Arizona
www.purplecowllc.com
480-659-3808

It's The Little Things

How many times have you walked away from a small business knowing full well that their days are numbered? Perhaps the store was less than tidy. Maybe they were disorganized. Did you feel as though they wouldn’t even care if you came back—much less even notice? In today’s market, is it enough to know your business and do it well? Probably not! Today, the consumer has all the control, power—and a myriad of YOUR competitors as a recourse option!

How many times has your pool cleaner broken? The basic scenario, you walk into your backyard to look at the sunset, and you notice that the pool hose has nothing attached to it. Maybe you’ve gotten a phone call from your pool service to say that they are looking at it—note to self, plan for extra on your monthly statement. With all these broken pool cleaner units, how many times have you walked into your backyard and found another cleaner? That’s the service that ARIZONA POOL SERVICE provides. For the cost of keeping a back up unit and adding 3 lbs. to your delivery truck weight, they have a long-term customer that feels valued. It’s a little thing—a solution oriented proactive standard that actively communicates the value of that customer, AND can save time, money and energy for the pool worker and the business. It’s a WIN-WIN.

If you are a consumer, look for those little things that communicate your customer worth. If you own a small business, do those little things—it’s too costly not to!

PURPLE COW LLC
www.purplecowllc.com
Business Development