Established Businesses: Self Reflection Mini-Audit

If your company already exists, audit your company’s position.  Make a simple questionnaire and send it to your employees, asking the following:

Ø      Who is our target customer?

Ø      What benefits do we offer that our competition doesn’t?

Ø      If you could use just two sentences to describe what our business stands for, what would they be?

You may be surprised at the answers.  Once you’ve checked in with your employees, call a few of your customers on the phone (you do have their numbers handy, don’t you?) and ask them the same questions.  Place a stack of comment cards on your counter and encourage people who come into your store to fill one out.

New Businesses

If your business is new there’s still one step that you can take in this audit: Show your new advertising to some strangers.  Ask them the same three questions:

Ø      Who is our target customer?

Ø      What benefits do we offer that our competition doesn’t?

Ø      If you could use just two sentences to describe what our business stands for, what woud they be?

If any person you ask can’t answer these questions after reading your ad, think twice (maybe three times) before spending a penny running it.