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Focus pays off for service business

Written by: Roger Pierce

Article Overview: There are plenty of organizations out there that need your help. All you have to do is figure out what they want and deliver it. “I saw a market niche that fit perfectly with my background,” says entrepreneur Jenny Faucher.

Focus pays off for service business

There are plenty of organizations out there that need your help. All you have to do is figure out what they want and deliver it. “I saw a market niche that fit perfectly with my background,” says entrepreneur Jenny Faucher.

Faucher owns Managing Matters Inc. (www.managingmatters.com), a boutique association management firm that provides on-demand support services for professional, industry and trade associations. For example, an association of young entrepreneurs would hire her firm to manage its database, organize member events and keep accounting records current.

“We are often approached by associations that are being run by one person in a home office,” explains Faucher. ”We provide a virtual support team for the association to help it manage all functions.”

Faucher followed the advice frequently given in this column to start a business that fits with her background. “It was an opportunity to use my years of experience in association management and event planning to support Boards of Directors and Executive Directors. I know how associations work, what they need and how to create smooth-running infrastructure.”

She says many entrepreneurs start out supplying some sort of support service like graphic design or bookkeeping, but often stumble because they don’t focus on a particular market. “If you hone your services to support a certain type of customer, you’ll get known as an expert in that area,” comments Faucher. “People understand what we do and who we serve, so our focus is paying off.”

Faucher is further sharpening her company’s marketplace position by focusing on “turn-key” association support services. “Change can happen quickly within organizations, so we offer fast and responsive on-demand services so a client operation won’t miss a beat,” she says.

She believes getting the word out about your service business is best done through business networking. “I think people are more likely to do business with people they already know,” she says. “Attend select networking events and try to make meaningful connections with like-minded people.”

Building the perfect service business

They say a perfect business makes money while you sleep. Chasing new business all the time is expensive and exhausting, so try to develop a model where your customers can buy more, buy more often and buy on their own. Here’s how:

* Bring in money frequently . An ideal service company does something for customers every month (or week) so you can charge them again and again. If you can only sell once to a customer, you’ll be forever hunting down new sales.
* Offer long-term service . Build a business model to serve customers for a year or longer. It’ll give you time to develop customer relationships, deliver stellar service and achieve revenue stability.
* Think scalable. While charging out your time by the hour sounds appealing, in reality you can only bill for a fraction of your work week. Doing the books, running out for office supplies and fixing your computer aren’t billable client hours. Be sure your business can handle an increasing number of customers by planning to hire others to do the work, automating procedures or taking operations online.
* Spend a little more. The simple question, “Would you like fries with that?” has built McDonalds into a huge multinational company. Give you customers the chance to spend a little more by offering a warranty, service plan or upgrade option.

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Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve. - Hello List. I have been sitting on this business plan of mine for some time now - still incomplete. I work in the industry and I think there is an opportunity for this product/service to grow as it is simple and attractive because it is branded/associated with the a fortune 100 company. So for customers to subscribe, they would see it is not some little five and dime startup. My problem is that I am not sure whether paying some market research company to go out and interview my demographic would give me a good indication of whether I should go forward or not because of the fact that I don't think my demographics knows of this service yet. My other idea is to build the prototpype - advertise (online & offline) and get subscriptions to use the service for free and then after a tipping point where I have attracted and retained, I then charge for the service. What are your thoughts?


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