This is part of a series of posts on what you can do to be more successful in your business this year. To get a free report full of success tips for your business, click here.

There is a famous scene in Miracle on 34th Street where Santa Claus is working at Macy’s. A customer is looking for a specific item, and Macy’s doesn’t carry it. Santa Claus immediately recommends to the customer to go over to Nordstrom’s, because he knows they have the product. The management at Macy’s is aghast at first. But then a strange thing happens. Customers start to flock to Macy’s. It seems the story of what Santa did spread pretty quickly and created some very positive buzz for Macy’s.

What got me thinking about this is a piece of advice that Marisa Wikramanayake gives in our free report, The #1 Thing a Small Business Can Do to be More Successful in 2010. Here is what she says:

Add value to what you are selling. You can do this by taking a genuine interest in your customers and helping them out as best as you can. I offer free cups of coffee over the free initial consultation for my writing/editing services and if I cannot help them, I make sure to refer them on to the other 90+ editors, writers, and web designers that I know. My point here is that from start to finish when my customers/clients deal with me, I want them to know that I want them to get the best solution possible for what they need. If I am not the best writer or editor for the job they have in mind, then I need to find that person for them. Even if you don’t make a sale, the clients/customers become your fans and then they and refer more people to you. Word of mouth marketing means you need to be someone worth talking about. Aim to be the person people cannot discuss without smiling by adding intangible and tangible value to your service/product.

Santa Claus and Marisa set a pretty high standard. Recommending that your customer go to a competitor is easier said then done. But it is true that if you are concerned with what is best for your customer, that it will translate into loyalty. Will you have streams of new customers if you send one to someone else who can better serve them? Probably not, at least not on “movie scale.” But there will be at least 2 people that know your true value. Your customer will appreciate what you did. Chances are good that they will recommend you to friends and even come back to you for the services you do offer. Just as importantly, you will know that you are truly acting in the best interests of your customers. You can take real pride in yourself for that.

You’ll Get a Reputation

You will get a reputation if you conduct yourself in this manner. Its not just the customers you will send away. That level of caring will effect every aspect of your business, and the customers you keep will benefit from it.

You’ll also get a reputation for excellence. The business that knows when to send a customer somewhere else also knows what it is they are good at. By focusing on your strengths, you are showing customers a lot. For one, you are not desperate for business. For another, you care so much about providing the best “x” that you won’t try to do something outside your area of expertise. The more narrow your niche or expertise, the more satisfied your customers will be. Also, the more likely you will have to refer would-be customers elsewhere.

Know What You Sell

The key is to know what you sell. If you don’t sell what the customer needs or wants, send them to someone who does. It is your job to qualify the customer to your product or service. If you find they don’t fit, be like Santa. Tell them that you don’t sell that product, but you know someone who does.

Know Who to Recommend

In order to do this right, you really do have to know someone who does offer things you don’t, but in a related field. For instance, I offer web design and some marketing services to small businesses and professionals. I don’t get into building big, fancy, corporate sites. For that, I would recommend a friend, such as Bella Web Design.

I know of Bella Web Design because I network on Twitter. You need to network too, wherever you are most comfortable. Get to know your “competitors.” Chances are good that you will find some in the same industry, but with a different focus than you. Get to be friends, get to know their work, and get comfortable recommending them.

You do your customer no good by saying you can’t help them, but then not being able to point them in the right direction. Build up your network of similar businesses. Trust me, good things will come of it.

I would be interested to hear if you have ever had a “Santa Claus moment,” where you ended up recommending a competitor to a customer. Let me know in the comments below.

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Bradford Shimp builds web sites optimized for small business at BroadRiverCreative.com. His favorite movie of all time is The Princess Bride.

The Staples stickK to it! Business Challenge is an interesting program. It is a free service for businesses, or anyone really. What it does is this:

First, you pick a category for your goal. The categories are: Get Organized and Increase Productivity, Green the Office, Improve Working Environment, Maximize the Bottom Line, and Professional Development and Marketing. Within in each of these categories is a series of goals that you can choose from. I chose to work on the Business Plan goal in Maximize the Bottom Line.

When you choose your goal, you are asked to agree to a commitment contract. The idea is to buy into the fact that you really need to achieve your goal. The deadline for all goals with this program is April 12th of this year.

Once you pick your goal, you can select a referee. Since this is a free service, you need to come up with your own referee. This should be someone who you are close to who can report on the status of your goal. You can also invite friends to support your goal. Referees and supporters will be asked to set up their own account and will be able to monitor and comment on your progress.

The experts at stickK have developed this program with your psychology in mind. They know that if you have a goal, if you have accountability for that goal, and also if there are incentives tied to meeting the goal, you are far more likely to reach said goal.

For this program, the goal must be chosen from the list provided by Staples and stickK. While this is a little limiting, there are a wide variety of choices, and you can better define each goal yourself.

The accountability is provided by your own friends and colleagues. To that end, it is important that you find people that will check the site weekly and who will stick with it. I imagine the best scenario is to team up with a friend who will have his or her own goal and then referee each other.

As for the incentives, Staples has stepped in to reward EasyPoints for hitting different aspects of your goal. For instance, sending in your weekly report on time may get you 5 EasyPoints. These points are redeemable at Staples for office products and services.

If you are looking for something a little different to help you achieve a goal, I really think you should check this program out. It takes advantage of a great system of contract, accountability, and rewards. It is a system you may want to apply to more aspects of your business. If you have employees, why not get everyone involved? You can referee and support each other. It will be a good community building experience and will help you achieve important business goals.

You can sign up for this free program at staples.com/goals. Want to monitor my goals progress? Leave a comment or email me and I will invite you to support my goal.

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Bradford Shimp helps small businesses succeed at BroadRiverCreative.com

In theory, asking current customers for advice and opinions should be pretty easy. If you are in business to please the customer, then it would seem that would be the first place you would look for feedback. Need to raise your prices? Wouldn’t hurt to ask customers about it first. Want to change the way you do something? If its going to effect the customer, you should bring them in to the conversation.

But alas, asking these kinds of questions of customers is just something that most of us don’t do. The best of us toy around the edges by sending out customer surveys from time to time, but we get nowhere near the focus group level of larger corporations. Focus groups get a bad rap, and justifiably so. I am not advocating that you try to create a vanilla company that pleases every one.

For a small business, your customers are a pretty specific and handy focus group. They are also the most important thing to your business. So, treating them right and including them in the process isn’t a bad idea. You should not be afraid that by asking for customer input you will be giving up the uniqueness of your business. You wouldn’t let that happen, would you? But you do need to know what customers like and dislike, and how they will handle changes, etc.

In my experience, there are two reasons why small businesses do not ask their customers for advice. The first is hubris. These are the type of people who take advice from no one. Apparently, that’s how Apple operates, and it works out. If you want it to work for you, you had better be pretty unique.

The main reason, though, that businesses do not ask customers for advice or opinions, is because they have no steady back and forth communication channels built. The only communication comes during the sale, and it is often one way.

With the tools available now, there is no excuse not to be having ongoing conversations with your customers. But if it were just the tools that were holding businesses back, we wouldn’t be needing to have this conversation. While the tools have changed, mindsets have been slow to follow. The business world is moving in the direction of more communication. Conversation marketing is more and more important.

However, most businesses are not used to staying in contact with customers. And if they do, they have not maintained it on a personal level, where there is give and take. Asking questions of your customers is a great way to start this.

I think it would be a good thing to institute a question of the week with customers. Instead of a long survey at the end of every sale, you could send short, up to the date and pertinent questions to your customer base. Things like, “thinking about introducing a new flavor of ice cream, would you prefer wild cherry or vanilla caramel?” or “gas prices are going way up again, how should we handle increased delivery costs?” The more comfortable you get with your customers, the more pertinent questions you can ask.

Imagine if you did this regularly. Wouldn’t your customers feel more in touch with you? They would feel like they have influence and connection with your company. And you would have all of the information you need to make any hard decision. You wouldn’t be guessing so much. Sounds like a win-win to me!

So, why don’t you try it. Asking customers things shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Just start doing it. In the process, you will also be able to ask them for things like online reviews, referrals, and more business. And they will be able to ask you things back. It will be a good relationship.

Neal and I make a great team. We intuitively understand each other, despite never having met in person. We both have creative energy that allows us to bounce ideas off each other and move our business plans forward. That is something that I don’t have, at least not on a daily basis, at the family business. Everyone is too tied up in their own tasks to really interact on a creative level.

Having a great team can radically alter your business and your life. In fact, I often hear investors talking about the team as the most important aspect they consider when deciding whether to take a chance on a start up. So, what makes a great team?

The very best teams have skills that compliment one other. They have great trust in each other. Also, and this may be the most important component, they constantly energize one another.

Without Neal, I would have never moved past the idea stage with Idea Anglers. Together, we are constantly pulling each other forward and reigniting the fuel of dreams that got the whole project started. This is what good teamwork should do. A team is an engine that doesn’t run out of gas.

There are, of course, dangers in business partnerships. Sometimes, things go bad. If you are building a business with partners, be sure to have everything clearly laid out legally ahead of time. Always use your head, this is business after all.

That being said, no business is ever exceptionally successful without some level of teamwork. Whether you have business partners or a great team of employees, working together is the way to succeed. And that is another key to a good team. Everyone is in it together, in the same game with the same goal to win.

I hear a lot about solopreneur’s and one-person armies. For some of my start ups, it is just me and my lonesome self. There is nothing wrong with getting started by yourself. It may be a while before you hire your first person. Heck, you may never hire anyone as your employee. But let me tell you this. You need to start building your team from day one. Whether you will hire people full-time, use contractors and consultants, or whether you will just build a network you can go to for advice, you need the input of a team.

Start building your team now if you don’t have one. If you do have one, start improving it. If you have employees, do you have a true sense of teamwork, or is everyone just busy doing their individual tasks? If you don’t have employees or partners, start building your network, both offline and online. Find a mentor and lots of friends who are successful in small business. Then, don’t be shy about tapping them for advice.

Consider this. You should start a board of advisers for your business. This is a volunteer board with no power in your business. It should be made up of people who you respect who are successful. You can go to them for advice, share business plans, and more. They can provide you with the valuable feedback of an outside perspective.

Take some time to work on your team. The benefits will be tremendous for your business.

photo credit: popofatticus

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

While you can’t create extra time out of thin air, you may be able to make time by systematizing some time consuming tasks. If you can take just one time-eating task that you do on a regular basis and either find a way to save time on it or systematize it so you can hire it done cheaply, you will be able to save time for some bigger picture work. And you must be doing bigger picture work if you want to grow your business beyond a job.

Identify the Time-Eaters

The time-eaters are different for everyone. I know of sales organizations that spend a lot of time filling out contracts and getting them signed. For some, its the process of invoicing. For others, its packaging the products so they look perfect. What inspired me to write this post was the task of putting together a tips post with over 80 contributors. I had to copy and paste each tip, along with a quick bio and pic, from email into a document. This proved to be seriously time consuming. The thing is, it is worth doing. Most time-eating tasks are either worth doing or necessary, otherwise you just wouldn’t do it. So, there is no option to just cut these tasks out completely.

With my time consuming task, I already know several things I will do differently next time that I compile a tips post. Instead of getting the tips sent to my email, I will have people fill out a Google Form so they will go straight to a spreadsheet, for instance. From there, I will try to find a way to auto-generate the post, using the spreadsheet as a database.

Automate and Simplify

The question you need to ask yourself is whether there is any way to automate even a portion of the task. If you are doing proposals, this might mean using a template with the basics already filled in. The same goes for preparing for presentations. Get one that works and repeat it over and over again. How much of a contract can be auto-filled from a CRM program? When you are producing or packaging, what can you do in batches? What building blocks can you create to make the task go by faster?

Systematize and Outsource

There is almost always a way to make a task go faster. However, sometimes you just can’t make it go fast enough. If it is still eating into your time, you need to seriously ask yourself if you need to be doing it. And if you do have employees doing it already, you need to consider whether it is taking them too much time, and whether you could do it cheaper through systematization and outsourcing.

One task that I have recently outsourced is online research. Getting customer information online is relatively easy, but it is time consuming. Often, it gets put off until it is needed really badly. If sales people do this task, it costs the company a lot of money, because it eats into their time like nothing else. So, I tried crowdsourcing. Using SmartSheet, I was able to get the information I needed researched quickly and much more cheaply than I could have possibly done by myself or by having sales reps do it.

Even if you are a solopreneur, you should consider getting some help on those time consuming projects. If what you are doing is easy, but time-consuming, you will be better off getting help. Through options like crowdsourcing and virtual assistants, you can get a lot done. While the task is getting done for you, you can be focusing on growing your business. Imagine yourself going out and getting a new sale while the necessary research is being done for a current client by someone else. If you have to do that research, you can’t go get the new sale. Your growth is limited by the time you spend doing time-eating tasks.

Take a moment to identify your big time-eaters. What can you do to simplify and systematize them? Maybe you can cut them down enough so that you can manage them better. Or perhaps you will want to outsource them. The first step, in either case, is to create an efficient system for accomplishing the task.

If you are ready to make your business simpler and free up some time, I might be able to help you. I know some good virtual assistants and would be more than happy to talk to you about crowdsourcing with SmartSheet. And I would love to hear about tasks that you have made simpler or that you struggle with because they take up too much time. Fill me in with a comment below.

photo credit: Junior Silva.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow Bradford on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

There is no doubt that a well implemented CRM is an asset to any company, and according to this

A lot of these companies will have taken on a CRM after reading the blurb about “Sales Force Automation” and “increasing sales”. The emphasis is on new sales and reducing the work taken to make those sales. This is all great stuff and  true to a degree. But in our rush to automate any process and especially one which concerns the interaction of people to benefit the company, you need to be very mindful of those people interactions and their ongoing value to your customers and your ongoing sales.

Part of the trick to CRM is that it should allow and encourage communication about customers within your organization (not just the sales people). But all too often what happens is that the sales people guard their leads and don’t put everything in the CRM. Sales then end up in a totally different system and silo within the organization. This happens because the old methods of working are continued and the true nature of the system is not utilized by improved processes.  A business is a team and CRM works best with a team approach.

The team can be damaged by too much automation. It happens in any process, automation is only as good as the people involved. It’s all well and good setting up great work flow which pushes the lead or document along the process to the anticipated outcome but, if you do not design for people to be a major part of that system it will hit a big snag. So before you implement a CRM take time to find out how your people work and how they don’t. Find out where they can improve then work to make that happen.

Look at your sales team, are they a team? Or a group of individuals? Do they all chase individual bonuses or team bonuses? If it’s individual you may as well forget CRM unless you are willing to change that first. What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do you assign leads and customers? How do they work together to overcome obstacles?

In a recent post on AllBizAnswers Bradford Shimp posed the analogy that going after “that sale” was never a straight line, rather you needed to craft a good arc to get over the obstacles. Read the post here for a better understanding- it’s worth it! The thrust of this post is about overcoming obstacles in your sales process, obstacles you cannot barrel your way through, but have to work out how to go around or over them. Automation does not do this, it cannot even provide answers for how you should do it. Because all too often these obstacles are human in nature and they need human solutions.

An individual sales person could easily give up at this point and move to an easier lead. This happens all too often. But in a team this obstacle could be looked at with fresh or experienced eyes. Tossed around in the group until a solution is found or another team member takes it on board or shares the effort. In this team approach with shared benefits it is in the interest of the more experienced staff to support the less so. Do this by having regular meetings where each member brings news and  issues they need help with. Think of it as sales training and team building all rolled into one. Encourage constant sharing, If you are not doing this now start before you implement a CRM.

When I was reading Bradford’s post and his analogy of a basketball court I started thinking about how it’s not just that final curve ball which needs to over come the obstacles. First you need to get across the court to get yourself set up for that final curve ball. Again this means team work. But this time it’s a team of different players. This team is made up of all the other people about whom you record information in your CRM. And this is the other potential pitfall of the whole automation approach. Especially for a small, mostly local, business.  If you classify everyone as a “lead” or an “opportunity” you miss those who are potentially part of your team but not a sale. CRM is not just about your sales it’s about all your customers and all your interactions. Treat everyone as a customer and one day they will be or they will bring you others. So use your CRM not just as a sales tool but as a repository of customer and contact knowledge.

You need to be able to see who you can pass the ball to get around an obstacle. You don’t have to do all the dribbling. Let contacts help you get set up for that final shot. This may sound like affiliation, but not necessarily. This is networking and it can work both ways. You become part of their team and vice versa. This has always been part of  business. But if you do this with CRM then all your staff are able to play the game, they can see which of their colleagues is in contact with a person who can carry the ball for you on this occasion and can pass the ball for you. You can build a shareable map of the court on which you are playing and learn how best to move that ball around.

Remember it takes a team effort to move the ball, it is not going to move itself.

photo credit: quinn.anya

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Andrew Nimick is a projects director through his company, Point Concept. Read Andrew’s blog at blog.pointconcept.info.

Myopic vision will stunt your growth. And you thought it was coffee causing the problem. But no, we are talking business here, and if you have a serious case of seeing the tree and not the forest, you need help.

If you run a small business, it can be very easy to focus really hard on the product or service you are offering. For you, everything revolves around that. You are constantly improving it, constantly tweaking it, constantly selling it. It is your world. And you get really good at that one thing.

Passion for Product Has to be Matched With Passion for Customer

There is nothing wrong with having a passion and a focus for your product. You don’t ever want to neglect it. However, you may be missing out on the rest of the world that revolves around your business. This is a world that you should be paying attention to, because it is populated by a strange and interesting folk, your customers.

Your customers appreciate that you have a great product. But, no matter how great your product is, it is only a very small part of their world. They have other stuff going on. A lot of other stuff. Unlike you, they have a life. Ooh, ouch. Elbow to the rib there. But really, are you so in touch with your product that you are actually out of touch with your world?

If you insist that your business is all about your product, no matter what it is, then you are missing some big opportunities. A business should never be about a product. Instead, it should always be about the customer.

Plumber Only?

Joe is a plumber (of course). His product is plumbing services. He makes a decent living at it. He is passionate and does a fantastic job. His customers really appreciate his good work. Joe could continue on the rest of his life focusing on his craft. He is lucky, because his services are probably not going to become obsolete in his lifetime. Everyone has to flush.

But Joe has a problem. He can’t grow his business. He could hire more plumbers, sure, but no one is as good or as friendly as Joe. So what is Joe to do? Well, he could just keep plugging away, seeing the tree of his plumbing business. Or he could take a step back and look at the forest of his customers.

Joe’s customers don’t live and breath plumbing. In fact, they don’t even notice its there until there’s a problem. That’s when they call Joe. Plumbing is a very tiny part of their world, at least when it comes to paying someone to fix it. What Joe needs to start thinking about is who his customers are. In his case, the majority of his customers are homeowners. Since he does a great job and charges a little more, many of those homeowners are on the wealthier side of the scale. So, Joe has a customer base made up of wealthier home owners. What he needs to do is start thinking about what else is important to these homeowners. What else do they need and want?

There are a lot of things Joe could do to start growing his business once he takes his focus off plumbing and puts it on his customers. He could bring in affiliate businesses and start marketing more heavily to his customer base. He could start a side line of bathroom remodeling, where he would do the plumbing work and a partner would do the rest. Once he started thinking forest, there would be countless possibilities for Joe.

The World of Your Customers

How about you? Are you so focused on your product that you don’t see the customer? You really need to get out more. If you start to focus on your customer and their world, new business opportunities will open up. Often, there is a service or product that you can add on easily that makes a whole lot of sense for your business. I am reminded of a story in The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes of a carpet cleaning company that spent a lot of time cleaning the kind of carpet you can roll up and move, like oriental rugs. These carpets had pads under them that were worn out. They were missing an opportunity to sell new pads to the customers because they were so focused on just cleaning the carpets. In fact, this company found several areas where they could do more for the customer than carpet cleaning.

If you get to know your customer, you will find out that he or she has needs that go beyond what you offer. Chances are, you can fulfill some of those needs. Look for things that are complimentary to your business. Some things you might do yourself. Others, you might bring in affiliates. If you do it right, it will mean extra profit to your business. And since you will be selling these add ons to your current customers, the marketing and start up costs will be minimal.

Focusing on the customer is not just about being able to milk more dollars out of their pocket. That is just a nice side benefit. You need to get intimate with your customer’s life so that you can fulfill their needs and desires as best as possible. You also need to be able to spot new trends so you can be the first and the best. You will also be able to get early warning signs if your current product is becoming obsolete, and will have time to adjust. None of this can happen if you keep your head in the sand of your product or service.

So, take a walk through the woods. What business are you in? Do you sell plumbing, or home services? Build your business around your ideal customers. Go ahead, do it. You’ll thank me for it.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow Bradford on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

photo credit: Javi Vte Rejas

Making information available immediately to the people who need it can increase your efficiency.

One area where you can greatly improve your efficiency is in the area of information sharing. There is always information that is needed to move through the different procedures of the day at any business, from sales materials, to contracts, to notes, to financial reports. A small business needs information to run.

The problem is, information is often scattered and sometimes hard to dig up. Either one person knows where it is, and everyone else always has to go to that person to find the information, or no one knows where it is. Neither is ideal.

Organize Your Information

The first step to increasing information efficiency is to organize your company’s information. The scatter shot approach does not work. Put everything into categories. If the information is digital, create separate folders for each category and make sure all of the pertinent information gets put into the pertinent folder. Sale contracts should all go together. Same with sales materials, and on and on. Use the same approach for printed information materials, having specific folders and locations for the different categories.

Use Tools to Make it Accessible

Getting it organized is great. Now, you need to make it accessible. Employee’s shouldn’t have to interrupt each other’s day just to find general information. Everyone who needs to see information needs to have access and knowledge about where to find it.

There are many ways to make information accessible. Some of the best ways are within programs that your company uses to run its daily procedures, such as a CRM that can hold files. More on that next. Here are some tools that you can use to share general information across your whole business.

• Google Docs – You can upload or create documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and slides with Google Docs. You can then share them with anyone you want. This is a great place to put all sorts of documents, from general information sheets to more customer specific documents. If you have multiple people working on the creation of specific customer documents, such as a proposal or contract, Google Docs lets you not only share it, but have more than one person work on the document. (Note: If you use this tool, train each employee on how to create folders on their Google Docs account so they can keep everything organized and highly accessible).
• Basecamp – This is a tool from 37signals that allows you to organize documents around specific jobs. This is great for all of those customer specific documents that you need to share with a team of people. Upload the proposal, the contract, emails, and messages about the customer and the deal. You can also share specific documents with customers using Basecamp.
• Landslide – This is a CRM-like tool that is designed specifically for sales people. One of the great features is the ability to post information documents and tie them to specific parts of the sales process. So if you have a white paper that goes out to the customer at a certain point in the sales process, a link to that whitepaper will be available to the sales rep at that step in the process.
• Other tools – There are hundreds of great tools that you can use to share information across your organization. Don’t be afraid to look around and find just the right ones for your business.

Tie It All Together

After the information is organized and accessible, you can go a step further. You noticed that one of the tools, Landslide, makes information available right when it is needed. As much as possible, you should adopt this approach throughout your business.

I mentioned earlier that you could upload files to a CRM. You should always keep customer centric information together. This means that if you have all of the customer information in one place, on a CRM from instance, also put things like the contract, the sale detail report, and the invoice, with it. That way, anyone can view pertinent information and you have also created a history for that customer that can be useful later on.

Be sure to include communication between your customer and your employees as information to bundle. All of your emails back and forth should be organized and placed with all of the other customer information. In an ideal world you would also record every phone call and post it with the rest of the information. There are tools available that allow you to record calls inexpensively. I believe that you can never have too much information. And if you bundle it all in one place, it can be very useful.

Your general information materials have to be accessible when they are needed as well. A sales rep has to have access to the promotional material when he needs it. A production worker needs access to the procedure checklist when she is producing a product. Many of these materials are printed. So be sure to place them where they can be handy. Have a magazine rack full of your promotional materials, for instance. Create operational binders for every workstation and post procedures in big type on walls. Information is worthless if it is not seen and used.

Everyone Enjoys a Buffet

When you take these steps, you will make everyone happy. That one employee who knows where everything is will no longer have to drop everything to grab information for another person. You will erase the frustration of trying to find a key piece of information but not knowing where it is. Plus, you will stop information loss, where you work hard to create materials, only to lose it and not use it because it is inaccessible.

When everyone at your company can get immediate and easy access to the information they need, you will be information efficient. As you know, higher efficiency leads to higher productivity and less frustration. So organize, share, and tie all of your information together.

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow Bradford on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com

So Much Information, So Little Time

Every day, most of us tap the endless font of the web for some useful piece of information to keep us moving forward.  An email address, a market size statistic, someone’s bio, a competitor’s prices, a prospect’s address, etc. So much immediately available information of any kind makes us wonder how we did it in the old days.   The only constraint on the amount of information we can mine is the clock on the wall.

Imagine cloning yourself 1,000 times so that you could perform the same lookup for 1,000 of anything you needed all at the same time.  That’s what’s now possible.

Crowdsourcing for Real Life Business Needs

As the co-founder of a technology company focused on communications, I was spending a lot of time cataloguing journalists, bloggers and smart people who care about productivity.  Who are the influencers and how can I reach them? What do they care about?  What types of stories are they writing? What types of information interests them?  There are two parts to this type of work.  The first part is the slow, arduous process of compiling names and contact information – the part that should be outsourced.  The second part is developing a relationship with the journalists and/or bloggers that matter, figuring out what they like to write about and brainstorming creative, clever ways to tell our story in a smart and interesting way.

Somewhere along the way, I noticed that journalists that must publish frequently about local content were particularly apt to troll the Twitter airwaves for ideas.  And since Twitter makes it impossible to ‘ramble on’, it’s a great way to take that first step in building a long-term relationship if you can provide some value.

But now I had to go back to step one.  Compiling a list to start from and finding out if any of the people I noticed were Twitter users.  And then I realized this was a perfect scenario for Smartsourcing.

For this example I’ll focus on the small business reporters at the daily papers in the 50 major metros. I supplied a list of the 50 biggest cities to the virtual workforce, and in turns, they gave me back:

• The names of the daily papers in those cities
• The names of the business reporters at those specific papers
• A link to their most recent article
• And, finally, for those I deemed a fit, the email and Twitter aliases

To clarify, NONE of this information was harvested from a list or a relationship someone had with a journalist.  It was all out there, on newspaper web sites, bio pages and personal blogs.  The virtual workers just found it for me.  On my end, it was as easy as creating the columns of information I wanted (like adding titles to columns in a spreadsheet) and then writing a description of what I wanted filled into each by the virtual workforce.  Then I went about my day doing other things.  Occasionally, I would check in on my sheet to view the progress.  It’s an understatement to call my feeling ‘awe’ seeing the information automatically appear as workers completed their tasks.

After 14 hours and $68 dollars, I had my list.  Now, I’ve looked for consolidated lists of small business reporters and Twitter aliases.  They just don’t exist – until now.  Here’s the list:  Major Metro Small Business/Technology Reporter List. I made it editable so we can start adding to it, updating errors and making it a useful and valuable tool in an ongoing way.

DISCLAIMER: If you are going to use this list to spam the writers with press releases, please go away.   Use it to build relationships, to start following and reading and thinking before you engage.

Making the Subjective Relevant Through Sheer Numbers

For any business person, the possibilities with crowdsourcing are only bounded by your creativity with questions and data.   Here’s a more complicated, but also real example.  Recently, our founder asked me which of our target bloggers had a savvy audience of readers.  He was trying to find out which bloggers typically received thoughtful commentary on most blog posts vs. peanut gallery smack talk.  I found loads of rankings for different blogs and online publications, but literally nothing to characterize readers based on the insightfulness of their comments on any one blog.  I told him it was impossible.

But it wasn’t.  Something I considered to be way too subjective was actually feasible to pinpoint using the power of the crowds.  How did he do it?  He started with the top 25 ranked tech bloggers as ranked by TechCrunch.  He asked the crowd to fill in the most recent 10 articles posted by each journalist, and for each article, he asked 20 people to read the comments and rank the readers by their posts – so 200 opinions per blogger.  Half the people ranked whether they thought the posters were productive at work, and the other half ranked the quality and substance of the comments themselves.

Once we had this, we averaged the data in a couple of ways to show us which writers have the most productive readership.  Thus the ‘Reader Quality Score’ was born.  Plus, the data accompanying the scoring was extremely fascinating.  Many of the virtual workers spent extra time explaining impressions that led to their rankings. You can see the full story here.
From Disbelief to Everyday Tool

Ten years ago, people didn’t believe that it would be possible to index so much of the world’s information and make it available online to anyone anytime in a useful way (e.g. search engines).  Expect the same for human driven information assembly.  The sooner you accept that the world is your database, and that humans can be the processors, the sooner you can get to supercharging the productivity of your business.

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Guest post by Maria Colacurcio, co-founder of Smartsheet.com. She’s now advising the company’s strategic communications on an average of 2 hours a day as she raises her 2 year old daughter and 9 month old twins. Prior to Smartsheet, Maria worked in B2B marketing for 10 years at companies including Microsoft and Onyx Software. She can be reached at www.twitter.com/mcolacurcio

Okay, okay, as good as it feels to be able to say that, lets face reality. You can say the same thing about yourself. There are thousands of things you know that I don’t have clue one about. In fact, you can take any two people and be certain that both know things that the other doesn’t.

As a business person, you simply must embrace this fact. There are people who know things you don’t. You’re job isn’t to try to learn all of those things. Instead, it is to tap the knowledge of others for the improvement of your business.

What Other People Know

If there is a secret bit of knowledge needed to be a successful business owner, maybe its this: know how to find the right people. People, as a group, know so much more than you do.  Collectively, the knowledge of the readers of this blog dwarfs my knowledge. Its like comparing the Sun to a speck of dust. Beyond that, specific people have specific knowledge that is way beyond your own in certain areas. For instance, I can design a nice looking website, but my skill is dwarfed both by the graphic designer who is really an artist, and the coder who can make a web site do whatever she wants it to.

The point is, people know a lot. As a business owner, you should tap into this knowledge. Some of the standard people you need include a banker, a lawyer, and an accountant. But the list shouldn’t stop there. Depending on your business, you can benefit greatly from a vast array of specialized knowledge. Your job is to know where your business is going and then finding the right people to help you get there.

I Can Barely Afford Myself

Some businesses just think that they cannot afford people. Its funny, but the best advice for you if you are in this situation might be to hire someone to help you figure out how you can make more money. But, if you are not ready to put down the cash for people right away, start with a little self education. There are plenty of books and websites that can help you out. These will give you a basic knowledge, and will hopefully point you in the right direction. For specific knowledge however, you are going to have to tap people.

Starting off, work on building your network. If you have friends and mentors in business, you can often get some pretty good free advice. That’s a start.

The next step would be to hire experts in pieces. In other words, if you can’t yet hire a full time accountant, perhaps you can bring one in to consult for a specific period of time. Through that consultation, you can have the accountant look at your books, give you some tips, and show you how to better manage your finances (so that eventually you will be able to hire a full time accountant).

After limited-time consultations, the next step in paying for people knowledge is to outsource some work. This is for when you are not ready for full time or don’t need full time. In fact, for some jobs, having someone outside the business doing it may continue to be the best bet for the long term. For instance, you will probably never need to hire a full time landscaper so that you can keep your lawn mowed.

You can outsource almost any kind of work. If you are just starting out, you may want to work with a virtual assistant before you bring in a full time secretary. The professionals I mentioned earlier, banker, lawyer, accountant, are usually outsourced in small businesses. Outsourcing allows you to pay only for the work you need done.

Lots of times, it makes sense to bring in full time help. Employees are hired to get the job done. Sometimes, you don’t even consider their knowledge, and how it will compliment your own. This is, of course, a mistake. You need to hire people for what they know. You can teach people, it is true. But you can only teach them what you know. So, if you hire someone for sales and have to train them, you will only be able to take them as far as your own skills. If you want to hire someone with limited knowledge, make sure that they know how to learn and have a passionate interest in the subject. You may be able to get people cheap this way, but it can hurt you if they can’t learn the stuff.

The safest route is to hire people who already know their stuff. They should be able to teach you. And you should be okay with that. Remember, your skill is finding the right people to accomplish your goals.

What If You Are Super-Skilled

If you started your business based on your skill, you may be having a hard time with all of this. Maybe no one can bake cakes like you. While having a specific skill may be an obstacle to running a business empire, it can usually be overcome. I jest a little there. Go ahead and embrace your skill, especially when you are just starting out and when your business is smaller. As it grows, you will probably have to give something up. Perhaps you won’t be able to work with every customer. Maybe you will want to keep doing the skill work and will have to let someone else take the reins of the business.

Even though you have a super-skill, you still need to tap into what other people know. Maybe I should say especially since you have a super-skill. If you are an expert cake decorator, your business will suffer if you need to spend your time doing the books, or selling, or whatever. Find the people with the knowledge that you don’t have, and plug them in.

More Knowledge Means More Business

Do you have to pay for the best knowledge? Yes, of course you do. So you may have to take it in steps. Start by bringing in the knowledge that will give you the most bang for your buck. But here’s the thing. If you realize that you need a strong team, and start paying for one, your business will benefit.

Bring in the people who will take your business places. Be the person who gets these people together in a room and all focused on one thing, making your business a success. Do this, and you may not be the most knowledgeable person in the room, but you will certainly be the smartest!

photo credit: Ben+Sam

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow Bradford on Twitter @bradfordshimp.