Help on improving business

[JazzyJust]

I would like any hints & tips on how I could improve sales as my business is not doing as well as I think it can do.

Any help would be appreicated.

[inbakumar]

Hi Justin,

I have had a quick look at your site. I think the main problem is that you are trying to do too many things too quickly. Therefore I would analyse the business using the following framework:

(1) Competitive analysis

• The relative bargaining power of suppliers
• The relative bargaining power of customers
• The rivalry within the industry
• The availability of substitute products
• The barriers to entry e.g. Capital required, Govt legislation


(2) The Who, What and How analysis

• The What? – What are you going to sell
• The Who? – Who are your customers going to be. (At present you are targeting both business and end-user customers).
• The How? – This is about how you are going to deliver the products to your chosen customers

The above doesn’t need to be done in the order mentioned above. You can start with any one of them. For example, if you want to use the Web as the only marketing channel then that is your “How” (of course it will require a killer website that appeals to your target customers). Then you could say I want to sell Snooker Cues – which would be your “What”. The final question would be the types of clients i-e the “Who”. This could be boys who are just learning snooker.

Use the above analysis in a formal manner for each product group you sell. This will show you the problems you are facing and how to resolve them. I have a feeling that your business is not ‘focused’ enough and; your marketing efforts are spread across too many products and customer segments. Unless otherwise you have a large marketing budget, you should reduce the market segments catered-for at present. Think how companies like Tie Rack, The Body Shop, Toys’r’Us, BMW etc are executing their strategies and doing better than their larger rivals.

My last three words on your chosen strategy are:

Execution, Execution, Execution .

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further help.

Good luck,

[JazzyJust]

Hi Joel,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you think I should just look at selling just snooker or pool cues but not both within the same site. The thing is I've got another website template sitting her on my PC ained directly at American Pool so would be more in my interest to get that online as well

Also do you think it would be more in my interest to just sell to the end user only.

If I reduced what is actually on my site and aimed at selected area ie snooker players would that make it better and more marketable.

Thanks again.

[inbakumar]

Hi Justin,

It is difficult for me to answer your questions without knowing enough about your business and the industry dynamics. (FYI I last played snooker more than 5 years ago and my maximum break ever was 27 ). Please invest some time and do the analysis I mentioned previously.

From a strategic point of view, it would be better for you to concentrate just on snooker cues and accessories associated with snooker cues. Also it would be better for you to concentrate on end users (business to consumers “B2C”) rather than both business and end users(B2B & B2C).

However, in order for you to rank well within the web you will need “killer content”. The content needs to be based around the usual search terms associated with snooker. Take a look at http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/ for ideas. I would also include general information such as a tournament calendar, world ranking of players, gossip etc.

Moreover, the website needs to have a user friendly interface. One of the best B2C websites around is www.Amazon.com. Take a look at it and see how they have organised products and related content. In your case, for each make of cue I would provide the following:

• A picture and pricing details
• A detailed description of the product such as manufacturing methods, the history of the manufacturer
• Environmental issues such as whether the wood used comes from rain forest etc
• The famous players who use it (or used it in the past)
• Rated reviews of people who have used/bought it from you
• How to look after it and the accessories that could be useful

Obviously, you need to understand a lot about your target customers before you embark on building your website. For example, if you target customers are likely to be teenagers then don’t forget to include things they care about these days, such as Environment. It will make your site popular.

Also don’t underestimate the power of building an email list of your visitors. You can entice them to sign-up for an email newsletter by offering to send them latest news on snooker events, a “ten part” snooker lesson written by a professional etc. Such things will make your visitors to trust your business, which will make them buy from you and tell others about it. Having said this, your pricing needs to be competitive and service excellent. The last thing you want is for them to learn all the info from your site and then go to their local JJB Sports outlet to buy the cues.

Hope this helps. Please keep us posted on how you progress.

Good luck.

[JazzyJust]

Hi Joel,

Thanks for your reply.

I will look at www.digitalpoint.com and I will also have a look at www.amazon.com for more ideas.

So if I make www.baizeltd.co.uk solely for the purpose of selling snooker cues and accessories also including your ideas about tournament fixtures, a current world ranking list and a newsletter, and the other site current under development on my PC for the American Pool Cues and accessories with a tournament fixtures list and ranking list from the both the tours in the UK & Europe, and ranking lists list from the tours and a newsletter.

Would that make good business sense so that I am targeting two different customers on two different site instead of the one and confusing possible customers.

What is your stance on having forums on website?

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by JazzyJust

What is your stance on having forums on website?

It is a two edged sword as a vibrant interesting forum will bring loads of traffic to your site but it isn't as easy as people think to get any forum to the stage of vibrancy or interest that makes it worth people's while to return.

I have toyed with the idea of a commercial finance forum attached to my website as the theory would be that if there was any commercial finance business to be placed they would automatically come to me. The problem is that there is nothing to stop broking competitors as well as finance companies themselves joining my forum and "doing the deals" themselves so I have shelved that idea.

[peterjhale]

Believe me - it takes a lot to get a forum going

[inbakumar]

Originally Posted by JazzyJust

Hi Joel,

Thanks for your reply.

Would that make good business sense so that I am targeting two different customers on two different site instead of the one and confusing possible customers.

What is your stance on having forums on website?

Hi Justin,

It is difficult for me to answer your first question without understanding your industry dynamics. Please do the analyses I mentioned previously (these are some tricks I learnt at the best business school in Europe ) and take an informed decision. Only fools rush and I don't think you are one as you have already demonstrated to me that you are not afraid to ask others for help and listen, traits I associate with smart people.

As for your question on having a Forum, I think it would be good for your business. However I would leave it to last. It will take-up a lot of your time and you have so many other things to do first. Please remember that the selling process involves the following:

1. Attention (i-e you have to get the attention of the potential customers. For which you have to rank high on Google/Yahoo. Also having a good brand helps)
2. Interest (i-e when they reach your site, they need to get interested in what you are selling)
3. Desire (i-e they need to be made to want the product)
4. Action (i-e they need to be persuaded to buy the goods from yourself with easy payment options, secure site etc)

Think about each step and design your website accordingly. I personally believe that a forum will help you with (1) and (4) above.

Also as a separate point why did you choose your current domain name? It could be difficult for people to remember. As an idea how about www.green-cues.co.uk or something similar?

Regards,

[JazzyJust]

Hi Joel,

Thanks for your compliments.

The reason I chose my current domain is because it was going to be called Cues'R'Us but my late mate who helped my set up the company thought it sounded a bit cheesy.

I've got some question about the points you made.

1) You said about getting a high ranking on Google/Yahoo I understand that I'm working on that at the momemt with keywords & metatag, but what I don't understand is the bit about having a good brand.
2) How would you suggest I get them interest in what I'm selling as I've not got a clue as I have not got a clue about marketing. How about on the a certain pool cues manufacture I put something along the lines of This model of cue is used by and put a well known pool players name by it.
3) Do you mean by your 3rd point make it an offer they can't refuse like doing packages for like people who are just starting a snooker or pool, and advance players.
4) Do you mean allowing customers to pay in installments when you say about easy payment options. Also how do I go about setting up a secure site.

What would you suggest is the best places to advertise offline is, I've tried Yellow Pages & Yell.com but it didn't genarate much business I've thought of cuesport related magazine to do with snooker/pool etc but not everybody who wants anything to do with snooker/pool etc will read a cuesport related magazine, but I don't where else to advetise.

Sorry about all the questions.

[BIZAL]

Justin

Lots of questions and lots of things you can do. When you start talking about advertising though and the best way to do it I start to get concerned. Having read the posts on this so far, before you spend money on any advertising, promotion etc I would strongly suggest you start by getting your sales and marketing strategy done which will save you a lot more time and money in the long run.

Sales is a process and things need doing in order. Miss a stage out and it will cost you money.