5 Most Dangerous Trends Facing Small Businesses in 2009

A corporation fails every 3 minutes

A company changes control every 15 min

96% of ALL companies fail within 10 years with 80% of those failing within the first 2 years

The Ultimate Sales Machine – Chet Holmes 2007

26,000 new products and brands are introduced every year

16 – 30% of consumers change brand loyalty in one evening of watching commercials

74% of consumers buy outside their “favorite” brands

The Ultimate Sales Machine – Chet Holmes 2007

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #1 - Fighting the Clutter Factor In 1992, the average consumer was presented with 3,000 commercial messages per day. In 2006 – that number has reached 30,000 ! * The number is even HIGHER for business owners . Pacific Bell study Attention has become the scarce resource of the information economy. – Wired Magazine

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #1 - Fighting the Clutter Factor The advertising and information clutter only worsens when it comes to your Inbox. According to Ferris Research, in 2008 we'll waste 21 hours per year deleting spam e-mail , compared to 2.2 hours in the year 2000. Even though we’re already overwhelmed, buried in information and deafened by constant voices pleading for our attention – and already unable to discern what’s valuable and what’s waste – more and more information is being presented to you daily. – Rich Schefren

… but every company must market…

60 MILLION are on the “Do Not Call” registry

69% of consumers purchased ad blocking technologies

65% of consumers feel they are constantly bombarded with too much advertising

56% of consumers avoid buying from companies who advertise too much

The “Attention Age Doctrine”

Consistently Communicate to Your Network What Makes You Unique and How You BENEFIT Them.

Select a Narrow Specific “Ideal” Target and Market Continually.

Market Through Your Partner Relationships to Benefit Their Network .

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #2 Customers Leaving You for Perceived Indifference Why customers leave you… 1% Death 3% Move 5% Buy from a friend 9% Sold by a Competitor 14% Product Price 68% Perceived Indifference The “US News and World Report”

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #2 Customers Leaving You for Perceived Indifference Most companies spend their hard-earned marketing and sales effort attempting to attract elusive new customers when they probably have most of the business they will ever need sitting on their database. – Jay Abraham

Major global corporations now lose,

and must replace, HALF their customers

in just five years.

A typical company's customers leave at a

rate of 10 percent to 30 percent per year , and this number GROWS annually.

Frederick Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect

A typical business hears from only about 4% of its dissatisfied customers. Fully 96% just go away, and 91% will never come back.

Most customers just go away because they believe their complaints will not do any good, not worth the trouble or personal stress, or don't know where or to whom to complain.

With the INCREASING number of choices for customers, retention is more difficult.

WaiterBell Wordpress – April 2006

56%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you.

A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about it. And approximately 13% of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem.

It costs five to six times as much to get a new (first time) customer as it does to keep a current one.

It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident.

Create a System of Surveys and Ongoing Requests for Feedback.

Dedicate Someone to do Client Relations Tasks and Monitor Results

Send Consistent Beneficial Communications to Your Network Via Mail, E-Mail, In-Person & Phone.

DANGEROUS Trend #2 Customers Leaving You for Perceived Indifference

Now, more than ever… companies MUST utilize and actively embrace new technologies like: RSS Feeds, Wikis, Social Networks, Mashups, Blogging, Streaming Video, Webinars, Tweeting, Video Blogging, etc.

Bart Decrem, a founder and former CEO of Flock, calls Web 2.0 the "participatory Web" and regards the Web-as-information-source as Web 1.0.

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #3 Lagging Behind Web 2.0 Technology on the Internet Emerging Channels Can Complicate Matters Forrester’s Q4 2006 Marketing Benchmark Survey Over 50% of internet marketers surveyed, are now utilizing or expect to pilot the following marketing channels because of recent market shifts: - RSS - Podcasts - Interactive Banners - Ads Within Online Video - User-Generated Content - Blogs - Social Networks

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #3 Lagging Behind Web 2.0 Technology on the Internet Most Small Businesses are racing to play catch-up with companies that are prospering with Web applications that establish interaction, dialogue and deep connections with their Customers, Prospects, Employees and Partners. Adapted from IBM e-magazine article, Feb. 1 st 2007 The Internet has shifted the balance of power to the customer, and companies that fail to empower customers – risk losing them to competitors who are only a short click away. - island data 2008

Survey Your Database to Determine Which Technologies They’d Receive Benefit From.

Brainstorm with Your Team on Which Technologies You Can Actually Take Advantage of First .

Develop an Actionable Plan to Systematically Implement Into Your Marketing.

DANGEROUS Trend #3 Lagging Behind Web 2.0 Technology on the Internet

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #4 Increasing Marketing Costs with Decreasing Effectiveness Pacific Bell study It now costs 3 X more in 2008 than it did in 1992 to reach your prospective buyers. In 1992 – it took an average of 4 attempts to reach your buyer. In 2008, it now takes 8.4 attempts . Therefore, ½ the results from the previous same efforts are commonplace.

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #4 Increasing Marketing Costs with Decreasing Effectiveness Pacific Bell study As the popularity of Search Engine Marketing has increased, so have the costs of playing the game. Pay-per-click advertisements are being driven up in costs as the demand for online advertising space increases . Organic search engine marketing is a long-term, uncertain and often costly endeavor. – Implied By Design, LLC. The recent postal rate increase is inflicting HIGHER COSTS on small publishers, and no business that uses the mail to reach its customers is escaping unscathed. – LA Bsn Journal 2007

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #4 Increasing Marketing Costs with Decreasing Effectiveness Nonprofits were hit with increases in expenses last year that were 2 and 3 TIMES the rate of inflation, driven by a hike in the federal minimum wage and the ever increasing cost to raise a dollar . – Jan 1, 2008 Entrepreneur.com Newspaper advertising rates GREW and average of 18% between 2005 and 2007. - NewspaperMedia.com

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #4 Increasing Marketing Costs with Decreasing Effectiveness Adapted from Strike Fish Market Study Brand Loyalty is continually DECREASING… Surveys in 2002: 56% of consumers demonstrated brand loyalty. By 2003: 53% May of 2005: 46% As of 2007: approximately 39% of surveyed consumers felt loyal to their current product or service provider.

Implement Marketing Strategies That Begin with the Lowest Cost for the Highest Reward .

Implement 3 to 4 Ways You’ll Systematically Seek Referrals .

Continually Test Your Advertising, Sales and Marketing Campaigns for Their Effectiveness.

DANGEROUS Trend #4 Increasing Marketing Costs with Decreasing Effectiveness

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us DANGEROUS Trend #5 Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures Did You Know…? That there are over 60,000 new businesses started EVERY YEAR? – SBA Training Network The Hispanic Market: In 2007, there were approximately 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the country. By 2010, there will be 3.2 million Hispanic firms. - Sources: Small Business Administration, HispanicTelligence®

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us We are in the midst of the largest entrepreneurial surge this country has ever seen. – FORTUNE: March 2007 Nearly 672,000 new companies with employees were created in 2005. That is the biggest business birthrate in U.S. history! 30,000 more startups than in 2004, and 12% more than at the height of dot-com hysteria in 1996. - Small Business Administration projections DANGEROUS Trend #5 Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us 96% of ALL businesses Fail within the first 10 years… 80% of those Fail within the first 2 years . Empire Research Group study DANGEROUS Trend #5 Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures

Over the lifetime of a business:

only 39% are profitable

30% break even

30% lose money

with 1% falling in the "unable to determine" category.

Many Reasons Include: * Lack of sufficient capital funding * Poor management skills * Lack of sales DANGEROUS Trend #5 Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures

Spend an Hour Per Day or Per Week with Your Team Working ON Your Business (and Not Just In It).

Build a Sound and Tested Process for the Way You Sell to Your Prospects, and Add Value to Your Clients.

Create a Workable Plan for Strategically Marketing Your Business.

DANGEROUS Trend #5 Increasing Competition & Increasing Business Failures

Have a FREE Business Assessment done to determine the key leverage areas.

Have your Lowest Cost / Greatest Reward Sales and Marketing Strategies identified.

© 2008 GrowthStrategies.us The information contained in this Executive Briefing is brought to you by: Growth Strategies and Empire Research Team www.GrowthStrategies.us [email_address] 800.261.5034 ● 770.601.0949