Why you must be brilliant at the basics when building your small business

By award winning Chartered Marketer Dee Blick, the author of the amazon bestseller Powerful Marketing On A Shoestring Budget For Small Businesses.

When I started out in marketing over 26 years ago, it was drilled into me by my elders and betters that successful small businesses that achieve the coveted status of becoming a successful brand, don’t simply focus on adding the small and stylish touches to what they offer.  They start by getting the basics absolutely spot on.  They constantly review their products and services and the way in which they are delivered to ensure they are more than fit for purpose; that they’re precisely what their target customers need and desire.  It is this constant cycle of reviewing, changing and rolling out new or improved products and services that propels them into the elusive spotlight reserved for brands that are in demand.

This good advice has stayed with me. When I’m working with a small business, one of the first things that we do is to put their products and their services under a critical spotlight.  It’s a process that encompasses talking to their clients too, finding out at a grass roots level exactly what they think about the business – good, bad and indifferent.  Whilst this may seem like a dose of commonsense if you’re running a small business, what I would say is that in my experience many small business owners overlook the basics, preferring instead to chase the marketing miracle they think is waiting for them at the end of the rainbow.

Let me illustrate the importance of getting the basics right with an example that inspired me to write this article.

I recently stayed in a bed and breakfast establishment that was not my first choice, but due to unforeseen circumstances it had to be.  The owner, when showing us our room spent what seemed like an inordinate amount of time telling us about the fresh milk in the fridge, not to mention the filtered water and the complimentary fruit basket.  We were duly shown the earl grey tea bags, the choice of CDs and given a detailed account of the organic breakfast that would be waiting for us in the morning.

All wonderful stuff… had it not been for the fact that the exceptionally cramped accommodation was most definitely a triumph of style over substance.  The bed to put it mildly had seen better days with a mattress that was long past its sell by date.  The curtains didn’t join in the middle and so we spent most of the night squinting as the glare from the streetlight invaded our room. The portable television which was several years old was placed at such an angle that it was impossible to watch it without developing neck ache and to add to this ignominy, the shower alternated between freezing cold and red hot.

Reflecting on this experience, it was apparent that the B&B owner had focused on getting the small touches right to the obvious detriment of ensuring that the basics were delivered to a high standard.  It’s a lesson that we can all learn from.  Stand in the shoes of your customers and look at the landscape through their eyes.  Be critical.  If this particular B&B owner had actually spent a night in this bedroom she may have arrived at the conclusion that change was needed and it wasn’t just about filtered water and fruit baskets!

Tags: Dee Blick, small business, SMEs, Starting a Business, Starting a Business - Advice, startups

Posted by Dee Blick on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 am.

Filed under Features, SMEs, Starting a Business, Tagged as: , Dee Blick, small business, SMEs, Starting a Business, Starting a Business - Advice, startups.