Entrepreneur Ready Claremore!

I've posted a time or two about the work underway through a federal EDA grant to create a corridor of entrepreneur ready communities in northeast Oklahoma.  We have our first community signed up to go through the process.  Read about it here...Claremore is set to be Oklahoma's first Entrepreneur Ready community! http://ht.ly/51FHE

Current Customers vs. New Customers

There's a bank in town that's been making substantial efforts to gain attention.  They're sending out two of their loveliest bank tellers each day to make rounds through area businesses, passing out pens, notepads and suckers.  I happened to be in a business when one of these 'cold calls' occurred.  The bank tellers stumbled in the business and stood awkwardly at the door, trying to quickly assess the situation and identify the decision maker. 

About three long minutes later, the business owner cut them some slack by acknowledging their presence.  This required neglecting the customer she was serving long enough to spout out a very kind 'Hi, can I help you find something?'. 

The girls grew the courage to step away from the door a few inches and assert themselves into the situation. 

Here's a brief rendition of the uncomfortable conversation:

Shaking girls:  'Hi, we're from XYZ bank and we brought you some pens and suckers to give away to your customers.'

Business owner:  Okay, thanks, just leave them on the front desk there.

Shaking girls:  Sure thing, we also want to remind you, we're open on Sunday.  If you bank with us, you can make your business deposits on Sunday.  (keep in mind, the business they were soliciting isn't open on Sundays and would never in a million years need that feature)

Business owner:  Oh, okay.  I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

The nervous girls were happy to have finished their prescribed task and wasted no time exiting the business.  Mission accomplished.  In their mind anyway. 

The problem with the scenario starts far above the girls just doing what they're told.  The problem is in the overall business level strategy of the bank.  The bank is obviously reacting to lack of customers at the local branch.  The real issue isn't lack of new customers but instead is unsatisfied current customers.  There's a reason people don't bank there. 

This leads to the point that I've preached a million times:  marketing is everything one does to promote, educate or sell the business.  XYZ bank is pulling out the promotions puzzle piece while ignoring the customer service, bank hours, policies and procedures, etc.  Having been a customer at that bank before, I can honestly say that every experience left me with a bad impression of the bank.  They don't have a local number, they don't return phone calls when you finally do reach a human, they don't open on time, they don't over solutions when a customer has a problem, and the list goes on.  I've wondered quite often how long they'll remain open because their business practices are unbearable. 

But keep sending your tellers out to spread the free pens and suckers - that will help.

Bug Report

Each semester I assign a project to my students called the Bug Report. The students are required to make a list of things that bug them in life. I don't mean things like 'my wife' or 'my kids'. I mean things like:

1. headphones get tangled
2. my lip gloss is too sticky
3. takes too much time to load toilet paper on the hook

The Bug Report is the first assignment they do in my class. They usually over think it because it's college - it's supposed to be hard and cumbersome. I don't intend for the assignment to be hard, in fact, it's probably the easiest college assignment ever. I just try to spur creativity and the assignment is a great prelude into writing a business plan.

The overall purpose of the assignment is to generate ideas about problems we face in life. Before innovation can occur, problems must be identified. In fact, the entire point of marketing is to solve problems. One of the most difficult things to do in marketing is solve a problem people don't know they have.

I just ran across a website that takes the Bug Report concept and puts legs under it.  http://www.quirky.com/.  The website has anything but quirky ideas. The products sold are truly useful products. For example, the Boil Buoy - floats in the pot, rings when it's hot. Or how about the Plug Hub - your desk, untangled. My husband is convinced that headphone fairies appear at night and tie our headphones into knots. Some call them headphone fairies, I call them kids. Either way an inventor has invented the Wrapster, wrangle the tangle.

Not only are all the products actually very cool, they are priced right and would make great gifts! What makes the site even better is it supports local inventors and gives a great sneak peek into the process of turning an idea into a commercialized product. The cost to submit an idea is $10. Ideas are picked and the process begins. Innovative website, we'll watch and see how it progresses.