SEPTEMBER 19, 2006Well, I’m back. After several weeks of playing Mr. Dad
it’s not so bad to be back in the land of budgets and
breakthroughs, builds and benefits.
I’ve finally had a chance to go through all the email I’ve received from this blog. Overall there has been a very positive with readers happy to see more marketing/sales dialog. A number of thought-provoking issues have been raised which I’ll try to address as I go along. (Ryan, do you want to mention a couple, to whet readers’ appetites?)
One popular topic involved various forms of “how can FileMaker help me to grow my business” or “how do I work together with FileMaker to grow my business”.
I always love getting this question it because this means a FileMaker-related company is trying to grow. The more success by 3rd party businesses the more the overall FileMaker business will grow.
This topic is worth addressing, but it will take a few blogs to do it justice.
In the first blog (the one you are reading) I will rant a little on a basic but critical point: a FileMaker business is a business first and FileMaker second. Even a consulting company based 100% on FileMaker must still be run as a business. It is important to have a business plan. And be sure your plan covers sales and marketing.
What are your growth objectives? How are you going to position yourself? Who is your competition? What is your unique selling proposition? Who is your target market? How will you reach them? References only? Outbound marketing? How good is your web site? What kind of budget do you have to reach customers?
This may seem obvious but you would be surprised how many people I’ve met who struggle with these basics. FileMaker does tend to get people excited. They build a great solution and say “I could sell this”. Or “I could help other people build things like this”.
Saying “I/we have great FileMaker skills” is not a good enough business plan. Nor is saying “I’ll rely entirely on FileMaker, Inc.” enough. There are ways to leverage FileMaker but in the end if you take control of your own business plan you will be much happier (and more successful).
OK, fine, fine, you agree you have a business. You’ve set objectives. You have a plan.
Now, how can FileMaker help? I’ll start talking about that in my next blog.
FileMaker and Your Business (part 1)
I’ve finally had a chance to go through all the email I’ve received from this blog. Overall there has been a very positive with readers happy to see more marketing/sales dialog. A number of thought-provoking issues have been raised which I’ll try to address as I go along. (Ryan, do you want to mention a couple, to whet readers’ appetites?)
One popular topic involved various forms of “how can FileMaker help me to grow my business” or “how do I work together with FileMaker to grow my business”.
I always love getting this question it because this means a FileMaker-related company is trying to grow. The more success by 3rd party businesses the more the overall FileMaker business will grow.
This topic is worth addressing, but it will take a few blogs to do it justice.
In the first blog (the one you are reading) I will rant a little on a basic but critical point: a FileMaker business is a business first and FileMaker second. Even a consulting company based 100% on FileMaker must still be run as a business. It is important to have a business plan. And be sure your plan covers sales and marketing.
What are your growth objectives? How are you going to position yourself? Who is your competition? What is your unique selling proposition? Who is your target market? How will you reach them? References only? Outbound marketing? How good is your web site? What kind of budget do you have to reach customers?
This may seem obvious but you would be surprised how many people I’ve met who struggle with these basics. FileMaker does tend to get people excited. They build a great solution and say “I could sell this”. Or “I could help other people build things like this”.
Saying “I/we have great FileMaker skills” is not a good enough business plan. Nor is saying “I’ll rely entirely on FileMaker, Inc.” enough. There are ways to leverage FileMaker but in the end if you take control of your own business plan you will be much happier (and more successful).
OK, fine, fine, you agree you have a business. You’ve set objectives. You have a plan.
Now, how can FileMaker help? I’ll start talking about that in my next blog.
Email me your comments.