Inner Circle Media

Here’s a recent article I wrote for AnnArbor.com…

Last week I was talking with a friend in Wisconsin about how she markets her successful small company. While she talked about the variety of tactics she planned to use in 2011, she had an insightful realization.

“I’ve heard people say a thousand times ‘marketing is everything.’ It’s the life blood of your business,” she said. “But really, everything is marketing. It’s not just my online ads or monthly email blast to my customers — it’s everything my company does.”

She continued, “In fact, if you’re in a committed relationship, you understand the meaning of marketing. You know how to attract a partner (or customer), and you know what it takes to stay in that relationship and keep each other content.”

My friend is right. Marketing is about customer relationships — not just initiating them but sustaining them. And like all relationships, every little thing you do and say matters.

As we approach the end of January, most companies are one month in to implementing this year’s marketing plan. They’ve determined their marketing, communications and advertising initiatives, and they’ve allotted money to be spent on each of these items. They’ve assigned someone to implement each step in the plan, and it’s likely that those implementing the plan have job titles like “marketing director” or “communications coordinator.”

But marketing is not just the responsibility of the people in your marketing department or the agency you hired to help with your next advertising campaign. Marketing is everyone’s responsibility. Every person in your organization is a representation of the company, and everyone impacts customer relationships. Marketing is…

• The way your team members answer the phone.
• The way your office or manufacturing area looks.
• Each invoice you send.
• Every email that leaves your office.
• Your parking lot (and your un-shoveled sidewalk).
• The way your president behaves while she’s out to dinner at a local establishment.
• The frustration someone feels when they can’t find your contact information on your website.
• The efficiency and kindness employed when a customer calls with a question or complaint.

All of the seemingly small things you do may increase or decrease the likelihood of someone purchasing your product or service for the first time or the 20th time. Your response to a Facebook posting could make the difference in someone’s decision to recommend you to a friend. Marketing is truly all-pervasive and a long term relationship. It’s in everyone’s job description, and it’s the sum of all parts.

Carrie Hensel is co-founder and CEO of Inner Circle Media and co-founder of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw. She writes this monthly column with other members of the WXW board of directors.

In July, I wrote an AnnArbor.com article called “How can women-owned companies close the revenue gap?” The article discusses the fact that women start companies at twice the rate as men, but according to the Center for Women’s Business Research, men-owned firms are twice as likely as women-owned firms to earn more than $1 million in revenue per year. Moreover, the average revenues of majority women-owned businesses are still only 27 percent of the average of majority men-owned businesses. In the article, I offered a few ways women business owners and leaders might begin to get over the hurdles of growing a successful company.

In August, Dianne Marsh wrote her own excellent article called “What defines business success?” where she references my article and explains that many companies are choosing to stay small, and that “success” isn’t necessarily defined by your company’s revenues or number of employees. Bigger doesn’t always mean better when it comes to companies. I agree with Dianne – my own idea of success is not to grow a massive company. Success for me as a business owner means building and sustaining a good group of clients and retaining a strong, happy team. I’d also hope that my company contributes to our community (through volunteering, donations, teaching, and leadership).

Regardless of our own definitions of “success,” I do find it very interesting that there is still a huge difference between companies that are women owned and male owned.  Here are more stats from the Center for Women’s Business Research:

• 85% of all women owned businesses were sole proprietorships
• 6% of women owned businesses were incorporated (C corporations, excluding S corporations)
• The 6% of incorporated women owned businesses accounted for 45% of receipts of all women owned businesses
• Just under 69% of women owned businesses had under $25,000 in receipts, compared to 5% of all businesses with under $25,000 in receipts.
• Only 2% of women owned businesses had over $1 million in receipts, compared to 5% of all businesses with over $1 million in receipts.
• Only 16% of women owned businesses had paid employees
• 70% of women owned businesses operated in the retail and services sector

What does all this mean? The stats show that women are starting a lot of companies and increasing their revenues; but most of these companies are small, earn less than $25,000 per year, and do not have employees. While women-owned firms may define success in different ways, I worry that because most of our companies are very small one-woman shops, our abilities as business leaders may be questioned or ignored. Are we achieving our full potential? Are we making our voices heard by government, impacting public policy to our benefit, or positioning ourselves to participate in Michigan’s economy as the state recovers in the coming years?

Carrie Hensel and Debra Power, Co-Founders and Co-Presidents of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw have received the Small Business Administration’s prestigious award for Michigan’s Women in Business Champions. The Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw is a nonprofit women’s business organization, which develops and hosts educational and networking events for women business leaders. In its two year history, WXW has helped women find jobs, create connections, generate referrals and make friends.  WXW is run by volunteers and its success would not be possible without the ideas and efforts of hundreds of women in Southeast Michigan.

Debra Power (Power Marketing) and I are going to be regular contributors to the Ann Arbor Business Review. Since Debra and I are the co-founders of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw, the Business Review hopes we’ll be good spokespeople for the region’s business women. Little do they know that they asked two outspoken and sometimes brassy women to gab about their favorite topic!

After WXW’s April Exchange Session called “Sales – Finding Customers and Sealing Deals,” I wrote an article about women and sales where I pondered the question, “Why are businesswomen often so averse to selling?”

If you’d like to read the entire article, here it is – “Women in business – Start selling like a girl”

I think we cut ourselves short if we think women have to be power sellers with smooth pitches and a quick answer for everything. Often women have inherent skills that help them bond with prospective clients, ask good questions, listen intently, and ultimately determine if a business deal is likely. Here are some tips to help you sell like a girl:

• Build trust like a good friend. Encourage people to talk to you by asking how you can help them.

• Be nurturing like your favorite grandmother. Listen intently to your prospects, so they feel heard. Give them praise for their hard work.

• Be assertive. Guide your prospects through the sales process. Be direct with your questions, so you can thoroughly understand their needs, goals, and intentions.

• Promote honesty and transparency. By being open, truthful, and real with your prospects, you’ll encourage them to behave in the same way.

• Make lasting connections. Realize that many prospects won’t end up being your clients, but that’s OK. They can still be referral sources, trusted advisors, and even friends.

In celebration of WXW’s yearly forum (May 15) and because WXW women tend to be so gol’ darn lippy and self-assertive, Concentrate asked five WXW participants to “talk about women in business, the opportunities and challenges of doing that in Michigan, what you’d like to see improved, where things are going, etc.

Here’s an interesting Harvard Business Review article by Boris Groysberg (I found it on the BNET website). In his article, Groysberg says when star performers switch companies, they often fail to be star performers at the new company – except if they’re women. Groysberg found in his study that women are more successful in transitioning from one company to another. Here are the top reasons why:

• Men typically form in-house bonds at their company, while women are better at building external relationships and networks with customers, mentors, colleagues, partners, vendors, etc. outside their own company. When they leave one company and go on to the next, they take these strong connections with them.
  

• Men typically consider compensation first when selecting a new position. Women are more likely to evaluate a variety of factors when considering a new job –especially cultural fit, values, and managerial style. Women often choose to work at companies that are receptive to female talent, open to a range of personal styles, and impartial in their performance measurement systems. Because women select new jobs based on a strong personal fit, they are more likely to find success in those jobs.

If this topic interests you like it does me, then this might interest you too (especially if you live in Ann Arbor / Southeast Michigan). We are forming a new women’s group called the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw. Our focus is on helping women build and lead strong companies. The first WXW event will be held in early May. We’ll feature a panel of high-powered business women (a C-level corporate leader, a successful company founder, and a soon-to-be successful entrepreneur). Unlike many other local business groups, we’ll also have break out sessions where all participants will discuss struggles and solutions common to growing and leading companies. The event will end with the happiest of happy hours (my favorite). Topics and agendas for future WXW events will be determined based on the outcome of this first event.

Please let me know if you want to know more and/or get involved. More info will follow on this blog, on the Chamber website, and in the press soon.

Good things come to those who talk. ICM was founded by two women who have grown our business by talking to EVERYONE. As Carrie mentioned in a previous post, we truly believe in good business karma, and often our business benefits from networking and collaborating. Women are notoriously good at talking, so when Marisa Smith’s company The Whole Brain Group was looking to move out of her home office and into downtown Ann Arbor in 2006, Carrie suggested she come check out our new space, as we had an area that was ready to be developed. Within a week, Marisa took the leap and started working on a plan to move into the new space. A year later, Whole Brain has grown from 3 to 6 employees.

Besides the shared space, Whole Brain and ICM have collaborated on a variety of business issues: we share the same fantastic bookkeeper and we developed a website for their product AccrediStation. Both of our companies develop web-based applications and sell web-based products. Both of our companies work with universities, we share a great telephone system company, and we have swapped IKEA ideas for our office equipment and furniture. Our lawyer gave us a good explanation of how to protect our reusable work product, (i.e., code we developed that we want to use across multiple projects), so we shared the ideas with Marisa so she could intelligently talk to her lawyer about it.

Marisa even loaned me maternity clothes when I was pregnant with my son–now that is true collaboration!

Carrie Hensel, one of ICM’s fearless leaders, was recently profiled on the Michigan Innovators blog, discussing ICM’s future expansion goals and content management system. Carrie is one of many leaders discussing their business and their role in the evolving Michigan economy.

Bud Gibson, one of the founders of the blog and a teacher at the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University, has been busily adding profiles of Michigan entrepreneurs and business folks to a “highly visible repository of stories that showcase the modern, innovative spirit lurking in the Michigan economy.”

Catherine Hayes and I are often asked by local women graduates, “What’s the best way for me to find a job?” While it’s still true that the field of IT is dominated by men, we have some practical tips for female IT graduates in their search for that first post-college job:1. Tap into your network: The majority of available IT positions aren’t posted online or printed in the newspaper. Find out about unpublicized jobs by using your personal connections. Talk to your network of friends, family, acquaintances, college professors, and advisors about your job search. And make sure to use your current contacts to develop new connections.

2. Join IT industry organizations: Find out where employers seeking IT professionals like to mix and mingle. In Southeast Michigan, organizations like the Ann Arbor IT Zone, Digital Detroit, and Automation Alley are great places to meet company representatives, as well as IT professionals.

3. Cast a broad net: Over 90% of IT workers work for non-IT companies. Make sure your job search covers a wide range of employers including IT and non-IT companies of all sizes, as well as colleges, universitites, nonprofits, and government agencies.

4. Market yourself (not just your technical skills): Make sure your resume clearly captures your technical proficiencies. At the same time, employers also look for someone who has good “kindergarten” skills. Promote your personal traits that are valuable to employers – like attitude, reliability, communication skills, time management.

5. Polish your interview skills: Expect that interviewers will ask questions to determine how you interact with a team, how you communicate with clients, and how you solve problems. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of insightful questions during your interview. Employers (my company included) like to hire people who show genuine interest and inquisitiveness. And remember – you are evaluating the employer at the same time s/he is evaluating you.

6. Promote previous experience: If you’ve already held an IT position, then promote related accomplishments. However, you may have gained relevant experience as an intern, volunteer, or with a school project. Promote any IT projects you’ve worked on, as well as training and certification programs. And be sure that while you are searching for a job, you’re keeping up with IT trends and new technologies.

7. Freelance while you’re searching: Just because you haven’t landed a full-time corporate gig doesn’t mean that you can’t earn money for your expertise. Since my company is smaller, we don’t hire full time employees too often, but we’re always looking for good freelancers to fill in with coding, programming, and design. And many of our current employees were initially our contractors/freelancers. It made perfect sense to hire them since we knew they did good work and we knew we worked well together.

ICM is a women-owned firm, established in May 2001. We’re proud of that status, especially when we saw the stats that show women-owned businesses are growing at a rapid, healthy pace.

The number of women-owned businesses grew much faster than overall businesses over the latest period studied, a report released in late 2006 by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy says.

During the five years between 1997 and 2002, women-owned firms grew by 19.8 percent while all U.S. firms grew by 7 percent. The report also found that, in 2002:

> Women owned 6.5 million nonfarm firms (28.2 percent of the total).

> Women-owned firms that were employers had an annual
payroll of $173.7 billion.

> Women-owned firms accounted for 6.5 percent of total
employment in U.S. firms and 4.2 percent of total receipts.

> Significant proportions of women-owned businesses were in professional, scientific, and technical services and in health care and social assistance.