Is there something in the air lately?  I’ve noticed a lot of small business owners feeling a bit stressed out, overstretched, and in general feeling in a bit of a funk.

Perhaps we can  point to the economic situation, which some claim isn’t recovering in the way it should.

Perhaps we can say that this is just the transition of the seasons – our antipodean friends are winding down while things heat up in Europe and North America.

Or perhaps we’re all just sick and tired of this social media junk: Tweeting, Facebooking, Foursquaring, Search Optimising, Email Newslettering, Blogging, PR’ing… it is enough to drive one mad, right?

Recently I had a customer who bought our small business dashboard (it’s nifty – if you haven’t, check it out) say they just couldn’t get their to do list down to a manageable size. I understand: when everything you stop doing has a consequence, the only option is to work yourself into the ground, and hope for the best.

Or not.

First Things First

My opinion is unequivocal on this point: your first, and only, number one priority is to deliver a REMARKABLE product or service to your customer.  You simply must not lose focus on this – if you need to drop something to pick up the creative energy to deliver that hospitality, do it.  If you are cutting corners in order to make room for some new media thing, stop.  The heart and soul of a tourism business is you and what you offer – loose that and the rest is no longer important.  You can’t undo bad reviews or bad customer experiences, so you can’t let them happen.

Your special thing.  Your wow factor.  (Old school marketing jargon: USP – unique selling proposition).  That is number one – always, always, always. If that is failing you right now, please stop reading this and go fix it, right now.

Then What

After your key priority, your customers, are taken care of, then you need to prioritise the rest.  And, well, I am not you so it is hard to tell you what is important and what isn’t.  When I started out, someone gave me a piece of advice that said something like do whatever is the next step closer to an invoice.  There’s something to be said for that – after all, the reason most small businesses fail is because of a lack of cashflow, not because their idea was bad.  So, is there something you could do that would be a long term cash flow generator – finally writing up that new tour offering you have, or actually using that email list you’ve been building but afraid to use.  I like to take a long term view here – unless you actually do have a serious cashflow problem – and ask yourself what can you be doing that is building a good foundation for the long term.

After that, you just need to do some hard thinking.  But the most common problem here, as the customer I mentioned above has, is wanting to put everything on the list.  You are human (unless you’re an alien – *waves hi* – aliens please stop reading here.) You cannot do everything.  So stop trying.

The best advice I have here are the two things we mentioned in last month’s new media myths and misconceptions podcast:

• Tips from the world of yoga:  Do what you can do, and leave the rest behind.
• Tip from Theodore Roosevelt:  Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

To Learn More

If you need help managing your priorities, our TOP Travel Business Toolkit can help – it is filled with fresh perspectives, realistic tips, and suggestions on how to do more with less.  Click the banner to find out more and download a copy today.

Photo by shermee

I’ve just spent a few weeks in America’s Pacific Northwest.  Specifically, I’d like to reflect on the bustling city of Seattle – birthplace of Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft and other amazing brand names.  It’s also the home to the iconic coffee brand, Starbucks, who brought luxury coffee and the high-end café experience to countries throughout the world.

Starbucks has blanketed the Pacific Northwest with retail outlets.  It is rare to walk more than two or three blocks without seeing another Starbucks.  While the region has a plethora of other chain coffee chains, Starbucks remains visible and top of mind, without question.

But what does expensive coffee have to do with small businesses and tourism/hospitality?  A great deal.

Meet Monorail Espresso

If you’re in Seattle, opening a coffee house seems like a totally stupid idea.  How on earth could you survive?  But that didn’t stop the owners of Monorail coffee, a small coffee chain on Pike and 6^th avenue in downtown Seattle.    Keep in mind:

• There’s no iconic signage pointing you towards their establishment.  A neon sign says caffeine.   Persuasive, perhaps, but not outlandish or terribly visible. (it’s not on a skyscraper, folks)
• There’s no indoor seating, let alone free Wifi.  It’s a drive-through window on a sidewalk pavement.
• There’s no case full of different sandwiches, cakes, and pastries, only a few select options.  And by few, I mean 2 or 3 things.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?  A tiny business about to be demolished by goliath for their lack of choice and ambience or experience, right?

How Monorail, the Underdog, Wins

Monorail coffee has queues as long as the block, and is doing bustling trade.  What’s the secret? They don’t need all the tourist trade or the traffic.  Monorail coffee isn’t something for everybody.  It’s really amazing coffee for somebody who appreciates excellent coffee without the bells and whistles. It’s a small business with little overhead, so the services they offer and the revenue they bring in are plenty (I assume – I didn’t ask).

But what makes them a winner?

• Their baristas pour some of the best coffee in Seattle.  The people who appreciate coffee talk, and those that respect them listen.  How do you think I found out?
• Their pastries are handmade the night before.  My chocolate chip cookie tasted of creamy butter, salt, fresh chocolate…as if someone’s grandmother made it fresh that morning.  People talk.
• Monorail dominates online media like Foursquare, Yelp, and other review sites – WITHOUT lifting a finger.  Looking for the best coffee in downtown Seattle?  Yelp says Monorail, not Starbucks.  So does him, and him, and him, and her, and her, and him, and her.  People like to do business with people they know, and before I even went I knew a great deal about the people at Monorail.  If you didn’t know anyone in Seattle but went online to find good coffee downtown, you wouldn’t find Starbucks, you’d find Monorail. Proof that having great products and services works.
• Monorail knows what their product and service is and who their customer is: coffee lovers.  It isn’t a café experience.  It isn’t a food and dining establishment.  They make the best coffee in downtown Seattle, no fluff and no hassle.  There’s nothing else in the way of their vision.
• Their service is next to none.  From the friendly smiles to the top-notch latte art, every staff member at Monorail knows what their ideal customer, the coffee lover, loves.  They overdeliver.  As a coffee fiend (come on, people, I’m an entrepreneur what did you expect?), I was blown away.

Ask Yourself

If a tiny coffeehouse can survive in the shadow of the almighty Starbucks, than surely you can do your special thing wherever you are.

• Do you know what your special offer is?
• Do you know who your special offer is for?
• Are you focused resolutely on improving and mastering your game, instead of worrying about what everyone else thinks or what the big guys are doing?
• Are you focused on a mind-blowing experience for your ideal customer?

Big doesn’t mean a winner.  Offering a quality product in line what consumers want is what is a big win.

Learn More

Need help understanding what it is that makes you special?  And how to find your ideal customers and explain that to them?  No problem: we can help.  Why not take our free assessment (be sure to tell us what’s bothering or worrying you), and we’ll make you the talk of the town, wherever  you are.

Photos by ChrisDag, Laura604

I really can’t have predicted that today I would be writing about a volcano disrupting the travel sector.  But I suppose stranger things have happened, and the economic impacts of this event are just starting to surface.  The media are already talking about the death of many large businesses, such as airlines, but what about the small folk?  What should you do when disaster strikes?

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This article is part of our series on Lessons Learned at South by Southwest 2010, a popular technology conference.

The thing I loved about SXSW was that it was a conference of like minded people, not aligned to any particular vertical or industry, but just a group of people who liked new and exciting ideas.  So imagine my chagrin when I learned a powerful lesson for the world of tourism (or any business area that matter) during a conversation with Reese and Carl Nelson.

Carl is deep into the world of dance, and he was telling us about the power of dance – it was a great story and was one of those moments where you felt like jumping up and shaking out a little jive, just for fun.  But the point that really blew me away was when we were talking about getting people up onto the dance floor.

Everyone knows the story.  The DJ is cranking up the tunes and things are really getting into a groove, but the dance floor is empty.  It takes someone to start the momentum.  But the problem is, the first guy takes all the risk.

Here’s a great example.  Is this guy a total idiot, or is he where all of the action is?

The overview also mentions other people that take on some risk.

Your challenge is to go out and do great things.  Know what you are afraid of, then take the plunge and do it.  Be first. The first guy takes all the risk, but (s)he also gets the reward!

To Learn More

Want some help getting organised and focused so you can be first?  Then check out our TOP Travel Business Toolkit.  It’s the perfect tool to get your priorities in order and make sure you’re doing great things with the right amount of risk.

Photo by Parksy

I’d like to ask you what might be a difficult question:  are you really managing your small business?

Managing Your Business

Life can be pretty hectic as a small business owner, right? You spend all day out with your clients and “doing your thing” and then only have a few hours in the evenings to catch up on emails, do a little marketing, and check in on your accounts. Maybe you work an extra day here and there to do special projects. The process repeats itself each week, so there just isn’t a way to squeeze in much more, or to evaluate and change course where appropriate.

Only about 40% of small businesses manage to be profitable in the long term; most fail with in the first 2-3 years. What will your statistics be?

Manage Your Business Better

Making your business more effective isn’t about spending hours and hours in meetings or paying by-the-hour rates to consultants for months to come up with your latest business strategy. All you need is here in our TOP Travel Business Toolkit:

Inside you’ll find both our TOP Business Guide, a short guide to help you understand the principles of a forward thinking, holistic approach to your business.  Alongside that, there’s the TOP Business Dashboard: an organised set of worksheets you can use to make effective business decisions.

Entrepreneur Rachael Acklin said “It’s kind of a no-brainer – I believe your long-term business perspective, as well as your explanation of SWOT and how to create a SWOT analysis, was DEFINITELY worth the price and more. Seriously.”

Click here to check out the details and download your copy today.

Photo by stuartpilbrow

Awhile back we talked about the persistence effect and how, despite the fact that it is a very old school marketing phenomenon, it still applies in the world of social media.

Today, we’re tackling another old school concept that might be preventing you from being a remarkable business: prospect theory.

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I’ve just finished reading Trendwatching.com’s December 2009 briefing, which includes amongst other things a few consumer trends that they envision for the year 2010.  What I found the most interesting is the overarching theme of this year’s briefing, which is wrapped up nicely from this quote on their site:

Opportunities aplenty in 2010 for those obsessed with satisfying consumer needs in new ways

Here at TOP we’re obsessed with satisfying customer needs, and I actually think we can translate several of these key trends directly into inspiration for small businesses in travel and tourism.  So let’s explore…

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