Ventureweek

The White House announced Monday the launch of the Startup America Partnership, a private, nonprofit entity aiming to accelerate entrepreneurship in the United States. As part of President Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation, the ultimate goal of the new entity is to promote growth and create quality jobs here at home in the most forward-thinking industries, like clean energy, medicine, advanced manufacturing, information technology, and others.

The Partnership will be chaired by AOL co-founder Steve Case and will receive funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Case Foundation. Carl Schramm, CEO of the Kaufmann Foundation, will serve as a founding board member for the Partnership. Besides Case and Schramm, David Washington will be leading the new organization as interim CEO. Washington currently leads Partnerships for Purpose, a group whose sole goal is to bridge businesses, governments and philanthropy foundations with the aim of stabilizing the economy and creating vibrant communities.

” Keep Knocking on doors until you find the person who will say yes to your dream. That person is out there. You just have to find him or her. Persistence ALWAYS pays.”

Donny Deutsch

Advertising entrepreneur and media personality

EcoMom a site where moms can shop for healthy and environmentally-friendly goods, just raised $2 million in a first round of funding. The site is a basic e commerce venture that markets environmentaly friendly foods and baby products that are also healthy and affordability. The site gets about 40,000 hits per month with a 10 percent conversion rate. It’s a business that can be easily replicated for any market or country.

Beyond the Rack is an exciting online Canadian success story based out of Montreal. Launched in March 2009, Beyond the Rack is a private online shopping club where members get exclusive sales. The site began by offering only high-end clothing and expanded to other items such as household goods and electronics.  Beyond the Rack competes with a number of sites from the U.S. and Europe in this fashion space.  The company has a projected revenue for this year at $50 million. A tremendous growth rate for  a company that is barely 2 years old.

Originally Posted on the Franchise King Blog

1. Define Your Purpose. Why are you here? Are you here because you want to reach as many potential customers as you can, or are you seeking to increase your share of customers? Your share of customers is more really important, as it is how we keep customers longer and grow them bigger.

2. Define Your Voice. Define your voice by assessing who your franchise is. The core values that you bring, what makes you so much better than the competition (be sure that this is correct and also know what makes them better than you). How are you going to earn your share of customers through your social media marketing efforts?

3. Create Your Vision. Creating your vision is mapping out how you will go about taking the next steps to bring the purpose and voice to life. This road map is very important as it encompasses not only your voice and purpose, but also your customers themselves as well as the employees.

4. Establish a Plan. Establishing your social media marketing plan is crucial to the success of your efforts. What platforms make the most sense for your franchise(s), how are you introducing yourself to the online community (profile name), who is the voice behind the profile (is it one person or multiple people); do you employees have requirements to either support the efforts or not; where do your customers hang out? How do they like to be reached? What listening stations will you be creating to monitor franchise, industry, and even local mentions?

5. Develop Platform Profiles. Build your identity on the platforms by incorporating your corporate identity and focusing on that one thing that you do best. Cross check the platforms to ensure that your name (ie the franchise name with distinguishing characteristic) is available across the board. Consistency and the attention to detail avoids confusion.

6. Learn the Platforms. We all know now to post a status update right? That is beginning of learning how to use the platforms. How does your target engage? How do they wish to be contacted (ie in a direct communication or do they prefer to be more responsive where you ask a question and they respond?). Taking the time to learn this prior to implementing and moving forward with the plan is going to pay off in the long run.

7. Be There. Being there is not just limited to monitoring and responding to brand mentions. Being there is being answering questions, concerns and complaints, supporting the local community and consistently providing the customers that connect online with a user experience that supports not only the share of customer, but provides customers and potential customers with the reassurance that you are not just there to promote the business. Showing that you actually care and are responsive goes a long way.

8. Be Relevant and Timely. Being relevant and timely seems pretty elementary, however we see it over and over where either the updates were automated or the account was not given the proper attention and an update is put up that is out of date. The credibility of the business suffers as the attention to detail is missed.

9. Avoid Overexposure. Overexposure where you cannot deliver. When creating your plan, be sure that you know your limits. How much time or workforce is being dedicated to support the social media efforts? Are you able to be there on each profile and be an active community member? Are your employees aware of the profiles and how they are being responded to? It does not bode well when an employee is unaware of any special offers, events, etc. A customer knowing more than the employees about the offerings does not engender trust.

10. Avoid Over Discounting/Couponing. Discounting and couponing are very viable marketing techniques except when they are overdone and confusing. In social media the attraction is to offer something to gain the visitors. Offering a discount on each of your marketing efforts tells the customer that your regular prices are inflated and they should not have to pay regular price. This does not create loyalty to the brand, it creates loyalty to the discount

1. The fine line between persistence and stalking.

The trick is to call consistently, and if you leave a message, tell the customer precisely when you will call them back – and then stick to it. I usually say something like:

Dialogue: “If I don’t hear from you by March 15th, I’ll call you back on the 16th.”

I get return calls more often, because my prospects know that I will be calling them if they don’t get in touch with me.

Most experts agree that it takes at least 4 attempts to reach your prospect. Realistically, I find that number can be closer to 8. But some of my best customers today are those who I was initially the most patient with, and to whom I made multiple calls over a period of weeks, or even months.

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2. Create a deadline.

After every conversation, you should gain agreement from the prospect as to next steps, and the date they will be accomplished. That way, when the time for the follow-up call comes around and the prospect doesn’t show up, you can leave a message like:

Dialogue: “I’m calling because the last time we spoke, we agreed to chat today about….”

Reminding them of your agreement will help move them to call you back. If they don’t return your call in a couple of days, keep calling, and gently remind them of your mutual agreement.

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3. Prepare for the “Final Approach.”

 Whether in voice or email, when you’re ready to permanently write an uncommunicative prospect off, let the customer know that this will be the final attempt you’ll be making to reach them. Try something like:

Dialogue: “I notice that it’s been X weeks since we last spoke, and I’m assuming that’s because you are no longer interested in our product. That’s OK, I understand that we are not a fit for everyone. The last thing I want is to become a follow-up pest! If you’re still interested, you can reach me at 111-1111. If I don’t hear from you, then I’ll assume that you are moving ahead in a different direction, and I won’t call again to interrupt. I wish you all the best on your project, and thank you for considering us.”

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4. Have some fun – and take a risk!

Dialogue: “Hi Bob, this is Greg from ABC Corporation. I’m beginning to feel that we have a love-hate relationship with your answering machine – I love to leave messages, you hate to return them. Maybe we can talk soon. Thanks.”

i9Sports is a growing franchise in the Unites States centered around youth sports leagues, tournaments and camps. The company and its franchises offers an exciting array of sports choices for kids of all ages. It’s a fun concept that promotes team work, sportsmanship, leadership and physical fitness. Since 2003, i9 Sports has grown to over 130 franchise locations servicing 400,000 members nationwide and is on track to open its 200th location in the United States by the end of 2012. This is a great  concept that could take off in Canada.

In  Federal Court on Monday, Fairweather said it is seeking up to $250 million in damages for alleged trademark infringement, and wants an injunction to block the U.S. Target chain from using the name in Canada.

Toronto-based Fairweather has owned the Canadian rights to the name for 10 years. They purchaed the assets from bankrupt former BiWay owner Dylex Ltd. Dylex had registered the “Target Apparel” name in 1981. This could hamper and or delay Target’s entry in the Canadian marketplace.

According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, red tape cost businesses $30 billion per year. The Harper government is looking to further reduce red tape that business face. The financial burden could be slashed by at least 25% without harming meaningful regulations that protect workplace health and safety, the CFIB said. The CFIB will release a provincial report card related to red tape this  Tuesday.

The Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (www.hbr.org).

1. Follow company policies. Most companies have protocols in place to make allocation decisions. Look to your boss or HR for guidance so that you are aligned.

2. Tie awards to accomplishments. Bonuses are only motivating and meaningful if they are connected directly to specific achievements.

3. Be transparent. Make it clear from the outset what people need to do to earn rewards. When delivering the news, be open and honest about how you came to the decision you did.”