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As the owner of a small business you often have to wear a number of different hats; manager, technical expert, marketer, problem solver and more. Which role you believe to be the "real you" will determine how much net profit your business makes.

Most people start their business in a "technical" area in which they are qualified in or skilled. They could be a builder, a chef, a musician, an inventor, an accountant, a computer wizard, a writer, or any number of other professions. Let's refer to this as being an expert.

Initially you spend most of your time working in that area of expertise but as the business grows you might find yourself spending more time in management and administrative roles.

Is it more profitable to focus on being a manager or on being an expert? The answer is neither! Your business will make the most profit if you think of yourself first and foremost as a marketer.

You are a marketer who also builds houses or a marketer who also runs a restaurant or a marketer who also plays music or a marketer who also does whatever your business entails. If you think of yourself first and foremost as a marketer and develop a passion for it then you will make every decision and take every action based on increasing your share of the potential profit from your market place.

A builder who thinks of himself as a builder will build well for personal pride or to keep the customer satisfied. If that leads to more business it is almost a happy accident.

A builder who thinks of himself as a marketer who also builds will build well as a marketing strategy to gain more business and higher profit business. He will have a system in place to capitalize on the quality of work and gain referrals. He will take before and after photos to use as marketing material. He will hire workers with good people skills as well as good building skills, because he understands that everything he does can potentially build his business or break his business financially.

The business owner who is first and foremost a marketer is focused not only on cost effectively providing the customer with what he wants but also on making sure that the customer is fully aware of all the benefits he is getting by dealing with this particular business. He knows that every customer is potentially repeat business and that every customer knows other potential customers.

A business owner who sees himself first and foremost as a manager or as an expert will rely on the technical expertise of the business to generate customers. The business owner who sees himself first and foremost as a marketer believes that his primary responsibility in the business is to ensure that the business is gaining more customers and better quality customers, then to use the technical expertise within the business to service those customers' needs.

A business owner who is first and foremost a marketer will make a priority of investing a percentage of the business profits into a marketing campaign that builds the size and quality of the customer base. He will also ensure that the business is getting the best returns for each marketing dollar spent because he judges his effectiveness in the business by the growth rate of annual profits.

All self made billionaires are first and foremost marketers and all small businesses that grow into big businesses are the ones that are owned or run by people who see themselves first and foremost as marketers. I wonder how much more profit your business could generate if you became passionate about marketing.

Learn more about this author, William Hii.
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