A USP is what sets your company apart from your competition. It is the driving reason why people should buy from you, regardless of if your price is higher. It should provide a very clear benefit to the consumers that no other competing company is able (or willing) to offer. Always make sure that your USP is simple for the consumer to understand why they should be buying from you. When you do this, you are attempting to negate the consumers belief that they should be purchasing from your competition because they are cheaper.

Competing in your market on the basis of price to consumer isn’t the only way to get their attention to your brand. Just because you are offering a comparable product or service for a lower price, doesn’t necessarily mean you will win their business. Offering things like personalized service, additional value adds etc, can help you win clients over who would be willing to spend a little more to enjoy that level of service.

An excellent example of a company that sells on the basis of price is Walmart. They have the capability to offer the products that they stock cheaper than any other retailer. Other retailers often get frustrated that they can’t compete with Walmart’s prices and try to lower their own prices to draw some attention. Of course, this is a failing strategy. What these retailers could do instead, is develop a USP that demonstrates additional value to the consumer. In this case, where their prices may not be as low, they are making up for it by over delivering services to the consumer. For example, while the pharmacy at Walmart may have the lowest prices on pharmaceuticals, your local mom and pop pharmacy can offer to pick up your prescriptions, drop off your filled order, and give you a much more personalized experience overall that Walmart could ever offer. There is certainly an audience in the market that would be very interested in paying a higher price for more dedicated and personalized service.

There will always be a part of markets that will want to only purchase on the basis of price. The sooner you realize that this is not the entire market, the sooner you can start developing a USP and demonstrating to consumers how you are offering added value that no large competitor would ever be able to offer. Once you have your USP established and in place, it’s time to tell the masses! Do whatever it takes to tell your current and potential clients that you are doing something completely different from everyone else!

First off, you need to take a look at the daily tasks that take place within your business no matter how miniscule they are. Quite often, it is the smaller tasks that are actually the most time consuming when the amount of man hours that goes into completing them daily is tallied up. On an average day, head to the office with a simple mindset- “Could someone do this task instead”. As you complete your daily tasks, jot down in a notebook different tasks that you think could be completed off site and sent back to you. At the end of the day, compile this into a list and go through each one and give each some serious thought. Think about how the task would be completed, how much it would cost you to have it outsourced, as well as how long the turn around time for completion is.

Do you employ email marketing? Do you use a website and have an in house webmaster? What about E-Commerce, do you sell anything online through your website? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you could easily find someone to efficiently complete outsourced tasks.

Once you have this list narrowed down, take to the net or fellow small business owners and ask around about the different merchants they use for outsourcing. Gather another list, this one of vouched for outsourcing merchants and contact them to see what services they provide and whether or not their services would be conducive with the work you need outsourced. When looking at pricing for merchants, don’t dwell exclusively on price. You need to find a good balance of price, quality, and turn around time so that you don’t end up with either poor quality yet cheap work or good quality yet overly expensive work.

After you have found the perfect merchant for your small business it’s time to get down to business. Draw up a contract that allows for you to test the waters. You don’t want to sign a long term contract without knowing for sure if the tasks you need completed will be needed for a long duration and also you don’t want to end up signing a multi year contract before you are 100% sure the cost effectiveness of this merchant is present. If you follow these steps as well as research others, you will be on the path to more profits for you and your small business.

We want to hear from YOU! Have you ever successfully outsourced tasks? Any outsourcing horror stories? Let us know in the comments!

A good 25 percent of the entrepreneurs I talk to don’t bother validating their ideas. They build products without talking to prospective customers in their target market. If you engage seriously with your customers, there’s no way a business can fail. And if the business idea is not right, you would realize very early that you should give up.

The rest of the interview with Patterson is infinitely readable, entertaining and worth a glance for the quotes alone:

Read the full piece here, and be sure to visit our own Sunshine NY Managing Partner Joe Raby’s top 5 small business mistakes.

1) Say “Thank You.” – It is really important to understand that saying “thank you” to people you work with will leave a lasting impact. A lot of times people don’t ignore saying “thank you” out of spite, but more because they forget or believe the person does not need to be thanked for doing their jobs. Again, showing them that you are willing to go out of your way to acknowledge their efforts is always appreciated.

2) Communicate – People often fear explaining a problem to someone they’re working with out of fear of being rejected or put down. Never be afraid to communicate a problem to your clients or a colleague. Open communication with these people will result in a lot more trust than if you ever attempt to cover up a problem.

3) Ask for Clarification – At any point during an interaction with a client or colleague if you believe something was not made clear, be sure to politely ask for clarification. While many people fear that this may indicate that they are not understanding, On the contrary, this shows that you are making a tremendous effort to meet their needs and specifications to the best of your ability.

Let’s face it. Regardless what industry you work in, creating and maintaining relationships are key to a lucrative ongoing business. Keeping these three very simple concepts in mind when you are doing business will help keep your relationships strong from day one.

“A lot of people start with a kitchen table idea,“It’s a great idea you come up with your cousin at dinner…then the business booms, and your growth gets out of control. You need a plan.”

“I can be in a great conversation, but when we start creeping up on that 30-minute point, I’m aware of it and ready to go onto the next thing…it’s something I’ve ingrained in my head.”

There are many, many more words of wisdom in the full article at Inc.

We at Sunshine have been excited about the launch of Brightmap for a while, as it serves an exciting and needed purpose in the landscape of social tools–to network businesses to one another. Launched by Ultra Light Startups’ Graham Lawlor, Brightmap is, company by company, connecting businesses, services and vendors in important and revolutionary ways.

On Tuesday June 8th, during Internet Week, Ultra Light Startups and Brightmap are hosting a discussion on “Social Networking Your Business”. Featuring Sunshine’s own Cheni Yerushalmi and one of our resident Shiners Sabir Semerkant, this event is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to learn how to unleash the power social tools like Brightmap truly hold for their businesses. We asked event coordinator and Brightmap/Ultra Light Startups’ own Graham Lawlor a few questions about his history in business, his work as an entrepreneur and the future of social media for small businesses.

Sunshine: What’s your history in business and interest in small businesses?

Graham Lawlor: I think my first business started when I was 3 years old.  I took kindling wood my father had chopped for the fireplace and offered it to our next door neighbor for ten dollars a bundle.  They offered ten cents and I immediately accepted.  It’s much easier to move down in price than to move up, I always say!
After various lemonaid stands, paper routes, and car washes, my first profitable business after college was in real estate.  I was living in Chicago, moving apartments, and met a real estate broker.  He kept showing me apartments in all these identical 3-unit buildings in a rough area of town.  In places they were literally building for of these right next to each other on one side of the street and another four on the other side simultaneously.  I inquired about the economics of the building and the broker offered to sell me one on the spot.  I bought it with a partner, my live savings, and lots of leverage.  It turned out to be a good idea, as I lived in it free and it’s been profitable from day one.  I still own it and my equity has multiplied many times, even after the current real estate bust.  Later I invested in several other real estate developments, all with good returns, until I moved to New York and sold everything except the first building, which is still going strong with my partner managing it.

Sunshine: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

GL: I recall wanting to be an underwater welder at one time.  I took a welding class in high school and made the strongest weld in the history of the school (they kept track).  I heard welding underwater sounded crazy yet fun.

Sunshine: How did the project that began as Techo ecosystems and is now Brightmap come to be?

GL: I call it a spinoff of my other project, Ultra Light Startups.  Ultra Light Startups is a networking group for technology entrepreneurs that has been going for almost two years.  In that time I know dozens of business deals that have taken place there.  Mainly between startups and professional service providers – lawyers, accountants, web developers, designers, PR firms, media firms, etc.  The ’social directory of companies’ concept was initially a feature of a new Ultra Light Startups website that I was designing.  It was a way for members of Ultra Light Startups to connect and collaborate online.  After many rounds of design, usability testing, and redesign, I came to realize the directory was its own product, that would live separately, outside of Ultra Light Startups.  In many ways, BrightMap and Ultra Light Startups are the same business just done in different ways.  They both connect businesses, but one does it at in-person events while the other does it online.  There are many synergies between the two and I uncover more every day.

Sunshine: how do you envision Brightmap helping small businesses, specifically?

GL: Think of two categories of companies that might use BrightMap – B2B companies and B2C companies.  B2B companies are lawyers, accountants, web designers, PR firms, recruiters, office space providers, etc.  They all sell to businesses.  Then B2C companies buy products and services from the B2B companies (and B2B companies also buy from other B2B companies).  BrightMap will make it easier for consumers of B2B services to find the right providers and it will make it easier to vet these providers through references and personal connections.  And it will make it easier for B2B service providers to market themselves and demonstrate their skills, client lists, and references.  Finding the right providers is critical to any business’s success, and BrightMap will make that much easier.

Tickets are on sale now for “Social Networking Your Small Business”.

Business Card Handling Services:

Both of these services handle business card management. They’re painless to use and can help you save a lot of time managing your contacts. With each of them, you simply take the business cards that you acquire and send them to the service. You can physically send them in, or snap an image with your cell phone’s camera and email them in. Each of these services will receive your cards, scan the data, and convert the data to an easy to manage CSV format.

• Showboxed: We covered how to use ShoeBoxed in our past post about how to utilize their service to handle your receipts. Shoeboxed can also scan business cards and enter all the data from them into a CSV. The genius behind this is that, like with receipts, they will give you an image of the card, as well as convert the data on it to text. While this may not seem important, it is great in the event you wrote notes on the card. Shoeboxed is structured as a monthly package. You determine how many cards (and receipts) are going to send in and pick a package accordingly. They have plans that start at just $9.95 per month for up to 50 scans.

• Cloud Contacts: Cloud Contacts is very similar to what Shoeboxed offers. The primary difference is they don’t offer monthly solutions. You can simply use Cloud Contacts when you need cards scanned. Cloud Contacts will pick up your business cards if you live or work in NYC and are having over 300 scanned. They also take all of the guess work out of ordering. When you place an order and you’re not sure how many cards you have, they will let you know and give your the option to adjust your order accordingly. The only downside of this solution when compared with Shoeboxed, is the pricing. Scanning 100 cards will set you back $29.95, or $0.30 per card, on their lowest plan. The lowest plan Shoeboxed offers, would let your scan your cards for $0.20 each.

Web Based Contact Managers.

Once you’ve scanned all of your contacts, you have a few options about how to manage them. Ideally, keeping them online will help ensure that you can access them from anywhere you are. There are many affordable and free solutions that will help you do just that.

• Google Spreadsheets: Since each of the card scanning solutions will provide you with the data in a CSV, you can easily store this file in Google Documents and access it from anywhere. A quick search will help you find any record that you are seeking with ease. Sharing access to the spreadsheet is painless and requires only a few clicks. This is a really simple, free solution to get your contacts online, but there are plenty of others.

• High Rise HQ: High Rise is a very simple, easy to use contact manager. It makes it easy to record notes on each contact and leave yourself simple indicators about when to follow up with them, if nessecary. The biggest benefit of High Rise is the ease of use. It’s practically “so easy, a caveman can so it.” It is completely free to store up to 250 contacts with 2 users, but if you need more space they offer paid plans from $24 per month.

• Batch Books: Batch Books is a little more elaborate than High Rise. It offers some powerful capabilities such as their unique “Super Tags.” Super Tags allow you to add fields to certain type of contacts and then sort by those fields. Interesting enough, more power doesn’t come with a higher price tag. They offer plans that start at just $9.95 per month to manage unlimited contacts. It certainly gives High Rise a run for the money, but both are terrific solutions.

Keeping your contacts organized can help streamline your small business. Better follow-up communications will result in more sales. When you are aware of who you need to contact, when you need to follow up with them, and have all of their information handy, you can be assured that your better organization will pay off!

Passion at Work
“Waiting to do work you are passionate about is like saving up sex for your old age.”
Warren Buffet

If you are reading this, you are probably an entrepreneur or working for a new or early stage business. For some of you, this career move was part of a master plan or you have always liked being part of the start. For others, it was the only alternative you had once you lost your job or your drive in the corporate world.
No matter how you got here, chances are you are working very hard at building something new and it may be time to just take a breath and ask yourself three important questions:

1. What are my interests? Interests include topics or courses of study that you are curious about. You can gain insight into your interests by looking at your internet history, the tv shows you watch or the books next to your night stand.

2. What are my talents? I define talents as those things you do well that also give you energy back. At this point in your career you probably have a lot of skills but of those skills, the ones that are a combination of enjoyable and challenging – the activities you may be resistant to delegate are probably your known talents. You also may have other talents you have not explored, developed or mastered yet—these hidden talents are important to consider as well.

3. How can I better leverage my interests and develop my talents at my current job? The more you engage in what you are curious about and do things you love, the better you will be at your job and the more energy you will have to get through the challenges you face.

In addition to asking yourself these questions, you may want to involve your team in this conversation. I worked with a team in Atlanta who discussed these questions at an annual team retreat and then used the answers to develop strategy. From this inquiry, they decided to make their recreational passions part of their marketing plan. They now develop client relationships through golf and blues events. In addition, a team member decided to make film making (formally a hobby) an integral part of his job with the support of the CEO who realized using this talent could improve the company’s website while motivating a key employee to be more engaged at work. Passion at work is good for morale and productivity.

Laurel Donnellan is president and co-founder of Three Giant Leaps. She has a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. Laurel’s work has been influenced by her assignments in Fortune 100 companies as well as the study of yoga and traditional Native American Culture.
If you are interested in learning more about our approach to leadership and career development, please contact her directly to set up a consultation at laurel@threegiantleaps.com. In addition, Three Giant Leaps are offering all Shiners a free advanced copy of Laurel’s new book/audio set called Born To Do: The Practical Guide to Loving Your Work. If you would like a copy, contact our CEO, Paul Lanzarotti at paul@threegiantleaps.com or stop by his desk at the Lafayette Sunshine location.

Resource #1:  Meetup.com

Meetup.com is a website that enables you to connect with others based on your common interests. If you are not already searching for relevant networking events on Meetup.com, you are missing out  huge networking potential.  The number of meetups available on any topic is mind blowing. It makes it so easy to find local professionals to connect with.  Every member of each meetup has a profile page where you can describe what you do and who you are looking to connect with.  Since everyone attending the meetup is local, you should be able to make solid contacts.

Attending these meetups is a fantastic way to meet people who have similar interests, whether business related or personal.  This is a great way to start getting to know people in your industry, discuss and exchange ideas.  Attending meetups regularly can dramatically help you increase your contact base as well as gain exposure for your brand.

Some meetups are more organized than others. Check the reviews of a meeetup to see what prior attendees thought of the event.  Most meetups are free, while others cost a few dollars.  Regardless, it is up to you to determine if the time is being well spent.

Resource #2: Industry Trade Shows

Based on what industry you are in and where you are located, you may be able to do some fantastic networking at trade shows.  These shows will usually have educational sessions in addition to networking events.  Unlike meetups, trade shows tend to stretch over multiple days.  Trade shows will often cost a reasonable amount of money to attend.  While these are often stellar networking resources, the value of the event comes down to how active you participate.  If you choose to attend a show, make sure that you are doing the best you can to maximize your time.  Attend sessions that will provide quality, actionable information.  The rest of the time should be spent networking with colleagues in the industry.

Resource #3:  Shared Office Space

Shared office space is a very new and interesting approach to networking. An essential feature of a community office space is the daily interaction with other people who are working to build their own business.  You have the ability to meet people who have knowledge of all different facets of running a small business.  You may or may not attain new clients from your office, but the education opportunity makes it worth it.  Sunshine is just one of many providers who offer this type of solution.  Check what type of shared offices are available in your area.  Go on a tour of the location and check out the vibe of the space.  If you feel comfortable with it, go for it.

With each of the three networking opportunities above, the value of each will always depend on how well you are using your time.  Make sure to evaluate our post on Tuesday that covered 3 Crucial Networking Mistakes.