The biggest crime in small business today is crime of being forgotten. Think about it-you can recover from most other crimes by installing an alarm system, filing patents, or buying insurance, but if your business falls victim to crime of being forgotten it is on fast track to failure. There are opportunities every day for your business to be forgotten by existing clients, potential clients, your best employees, surrounding businesses, your neighborhood, vendors, media, and your potential investors.

SIGNS OF THE CRIME

Have you fallen victim to crime of being forgotten? Here are some of signs of being forgotten:

• Lowered top line sales • Few people visiting your website • Less customer inquiries • Losing large accounts • Losing long-time accounts • High employee turnover • Inability to attract top candidates to help run your business • No "new" news • Fewer repeat buyers • Less revenue

STEPS TO SOLVE THE CRIME

There are many things you can do as a small business owner to help people remember you. I am not of opinion that hiring a big PR company is only solution. Here are some things you can implement today:

1. Focus on question that every customer and client wants to know: What's in it for me?

At end of day, every client is selfish. With so many things out there vying for their time, attention and money, they have become more and more cynical and self-centered. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but more a self-protective measure.

Your job as a small business owner is to tell them what your service can do for them personally and remember-they do not want to spend time looking for answer. The answer to this question must be one of first things your clients see on your website and in your company-wide communications. If your clients are going to remember you, you must first answer question "What's in it for them?"

ACTION STEP: List everything your client receives from your service or product. Closely examine all of your corporate communications with a critical eye. How accurately and consistent are they in answering this question to your clients and customers?

2. What differentiates your service or product from everyone else?

If you believe there is nothing new under sun then you must recognize that for every product or service you provide, chances are very good that someone, somewhere else does almost exactly what you do.

Then question becomes, not WHAT do you do, but HOW you do it. In other words, what is your U.S.P.-your "unique selling proposition"? What can a client get from you that they cannot get from anyone else? Perhaps it is your broad-based expertise or that every solution is completely customized to meet their needs or your company's 100% satisfaction guarantee. You must determine what differentiates your business from anyone else and market that point.

When defining your U.S.P., one of keys to being remembered is to not use either of these two characteristics: quality or service. The reason is that EVERY business says they provide quality and service (even though we know they don't). Therefore quality and service have become meaningless when it comes to differentiating your service because every customer EXPECTS quality and service and will not do business with any company that doesn't have both already. Your U.S.P must be creative, yet accurately reflect who you are and what you offer that no one else does.

ACTION STEP: Set aside a few hours this week to brainstorm with your partner and employees on what your company offers that other companies do not. Do some research to find out how other companies in your field are differentiating themselves. Be sure to develop a U.S.P that your clients will not confuse with your competition's.

3. All of your communication must be emotionally impactful.

As entrepreneurs we all struggle sometimes with managing our time effectively. I once heard an entrepreneur say that of people he knows, his entrepreneur friends are worst people when it comes to managing their time and priorities. Too often we fall prey to misguided notion that being busy is same as making progress.

There are many areas involved in effective time management: • your attitude • goal setting • setting priorities • planning • scheduling • analyzing your progress • dealing with interruptions • meetings • paperwork • delegation of tasks • taming procrastination • time teamwork

KEY PRINCIPLES

Here are some key principles I have found to help me manage my time more effectively:

1. Good habits are key to good time management. The essence of good time management is creating good habits. A good habit to develop is to focus on results. Setting goals and striving to reach them must become a habit. Before your next meeting, think to yourself-what is my goal in doing this or meeting with this person? What specific results would I like to see come from my time? You must learn to place a high value on your time. There are a million things, advertisements, books, media events and people vying for it. You must distinguish between what and who is important and what or who is not. This might sound a little harsh at first, but focusing on results in developing your habits will help you focus yourself and your time.

2. Good habits start with setting goals.

There are several points to remember when setting good goals.

First is to write your goals down. Studies have shown that you are much more likely to accomplish your goals if they are committed to paper. As someone once said, "A short pencil is better than a long memory."

A second point is to break down your goals into three categories: short, intermediate and long term. I would advocate that you should have a separate list for your personal, professional and life goals. The personal goal list would cover areas like: personal relationships, use of free time, personal growth activities, reading up on a particular topic, taking continuing education classes or seminars, etc. Your professional goal list should be clearly focused on building your business, increasing revenues, cutting costs, strategic planning, marketing, employee management, creating partnerships and meeting beneficial business contacts. Your life goals would cover broader picture of what you want to accomplish in life and what who you want to be remembered for.

3. Pursuing specific goals is key to reaching success.