Small Business Trade Show Marketing - Keep Conversations Short and to the Point


Most businesses are at expos and trade shows for the purpose of finding prospects that can be turned into customers. The greatest advantage of this form of face-to-face marketing is the ability to engage people in conversation about your products or services and their needs. Oftentimes the greatest challenge is keeping the conversations short.

Typically, effective trade show marketers like to talk. Give them a new product or service that they are excited about and there is no holding them back. While this level of enthusiasm is appreciated at most social settings it can actually prove to be detrimental while prospecting. For every person you engage in conversation another potentially interested person could be walking by because they do not want to interrupt.

Limit conversations to the information needed to determine if you have a prospect. Then efficiently collecting the contact information and moving on to the next person will assure that you maximize the number of people you can talk to, usually 6-10 per hour.

Try to make eye contact with people who appear to be hovering around waiting for you to be available. A nod and a smile will let them know you are aware that they are waiting to talk to you. If it is at all possible, draw them into the conversation you are already having.

Some detriments to your success can be other exhibitors who want to chat about last night's game or long-winded visitors who are not likely to ever be a prospect. The worst case scenario is the disgruntled customer (even if it is a competitor's disgruntled customer) who wants to itemize each and everything that went wrong with his transaction. Your professionalism in handling these situations will separate you from the amateurs.

Immediately terminating your conversation with the fellow exhibitor should be easily understood, in fact you'll be doing him a favor by showing him the proper way to work a show. The long-winded person can be moved along with comments like "There is a lot to see at this show and I do not want to take too much of your time". He may react with a "no, that's okay" or he might actually catch what you are really saying. Either way, thank him for stopping and focus your attention elsewhere.

The disgruntled customer is the biggest challenge. Nobody needs to have somebody complaining to them while they are trying to find prospects. People walking by will hear the complaints and feel a negative impression. If this person is actually your customer, promptly give him your business card and ask him to contact you at your office where you will have more time to address his concerns. If he is not your customer, and not likely to become one, let him know you are sorry for his experience and focus your attention elsewhere.

If neither of these options gets the person moving, you might actually have to walk him down the aisle. This is particularly effective if you have someone else helping you staff your booth. Make a move, while still talking, like you are going out of the show area to go to a restroom or make a phone call and it is more than likely this person will walk away with you. When out of the exhibit hall, give him some recommendations on how to proceed with his complaints through normal business channels. Then let him know that is all you can do for him at this show.

Though all of these suggestions focus on ways to limit other people's conversations, the more likely challenge is limiting your own. Effective exhibitors ask qualifying questions, then listen to the answers.

3 Free and Effective Ways to Market Your Small Business


"I don't have $10,000 to run a targeted keyword campaign, or 2 weeks worth of advertising in my local newspaper, or 100 radio spots on the local stations." I hear this all the time from small business owners and these once-facts were certainly true 5 years ago. However, the Internet has successfully replaced or nearly replaced just about all forms of traditional media and has effectively connected consumers with products from all over the world.

I try to avoid paying for traditional forms of media, and want to teach you exactly what I do to save money and get huge exposure at the same time. For your benefit, I compiled a list of the most efficient and effective ways to market your product for free (or very close to free):

1. BLOG- It's a critical step you must take in 2009 to position your business or product as the expert in your industry. A blog will help you instruct and educate your clients or potential consumers about your company and it's services or products. A blog is different from a website because it's interactive and people submit questions and feedback; in addition, the blog is simple to add content every minute of the day if you would like.

2. CREATE A STORY- This is my favorite strategy because it helps separate you from the competition and it brings exposure to your doorstep without ever asking for it. As you will notice, my story is Secret Service Veteran and it helps to add credibility to my branding campaign; along with separating me from the competition. It has strategically positioned my product on major Radio networks and it can do the same for you.

For example, let's say you sell pillows. Selling pillows sounds boring and tedious, but let's look at how you can make it pop and attract people to buy from you versus the competition. First, create a story. Can you create a sleep contest at your place? Maybe it's the city's largest sleepover! Either way, create a story and the press will be there in no time at all.

3. DON'T SELL, HELP - Incredibly, incredibly effective. Don't bore people with your sales pitch. They don't want to know about you, they want to know how you can help them now and right now. Let's examine two fun and easy-to-follow hypothetical examples- one is bad, one is great.

First, the bad one: Hi, my name is Steve and I sell books on weight loss. Would you like to buy a book from me? I can give you a great deal today if you buy 2 or more. (This is bad, it's boring, and the consumer or person you are speaking to may feel turned off by your hard sell tactics. Your aren't helping the person, you are selling them books based on numbers only.)

Second, the great one: Hi, my name is Steven. I help people look and feel younger. If you want to learn simple ways you can look and feel younger, feel free to visit my website where you can learn free ways to healthy weight loss and gaining back your self esteem. (To me, this is a no-brainer approach and sets up for a long-lasting relationship based on helping someone and not just selling them something. Again- show people you are concerned with helping them and be genuine.)

Study these 3 strategies and put them to use every single day. Live by them, grow by them, and eventually earn more by them. Good luck, the world is yours for the taking. Go out and make it happen.

Small Business Planning Guide - 7 Steps Towards Success


Putting up a business is not a joke. Even if you only decide to put up a small business, you have to know that it also entails a lot of hard work as well as dedication from your part as the owner. You need to have not only the skills and knowledge but also the sheer passion and determination to succeed.

If you are thinking about putting up a small business, here are the seven steps you must do to start working your way towards the road of success.

Step One: Choose your business
The foremost step you have to do in the planning stage is to choose the type of business you want to engage in. In this step, it is crucial that you select something that you like and you know something about. This is because it is more likely for your business to succeed if you are passionate about it and if you know what you are doing.

For example, if you are an animal lover, and you have previous work experience in veterinarian clinics, then a pet shop would be a great idea for you. If you are a sports fanatic and you know so much about different sports, it would be a smart move to try out putting a sports store. If you love chocolates and you know how to make them yourself, a chocolate shop is the right kind of business for you.

Step Two: Think of a name and logo for your business
Your name and logo are the representations of your business so they should be relevant, easy to remember, and will stick to the minds of your customers or clients. It is always fun to think of creative names for your business but you should always remember that the name must be professional at the same time.

Step Three: Find a location
If your business requires people traffic, like if you have a restaurant or a retail shop, then it is a must that you choose a location that will work best for your business. Choose an area where your target market will most likely be at. Select a place that is safe and has a friendly ambience so that your business will have a good reputation. Remember, it is more probable for a customer to come back to your place if you have good products or services as well as an accessible location.

Step Four: Formulate a business plan
Your business plan should contain valuable information about your business including company description, goals of the business, marketing strategies, methods for financing and many others. It should be detailed, organized and should be able to illustrate your competency as a business owner. This is important because if you plan on taking out a business loan, a business plan is one of the major requirements.

Step Five: Develop your financial methods
Another important step in planning for your small business is to plan the ways on how to obtain capital. You can take out a business loan, use business credit, or use your personal savings.

Step Six: Plan your hiring
It is imperative that you develop a standardized hiring procedure that will include intensive interviews and critical employment background checks. Background checks are important because they provide essential information such as educational background, employment history, driving records, medical records, criminal records and many others.

Step Seven: Develop your marketing strategy
Study carefully your different options when it comes to distributing and marketing your products or services and choose the methods that will be most feasible and most effective for you and your business.

We cannot deny the fact that most large businesses have humble beginnings. This is why as a small business owner, you should strive hard to make your business grow and flourish.

Growing Your Small Business Earnings Online


The Information Age is here with us. And just as civilization has gone through revolutions such as the Agrarian and Industrial Revolutions, the Information revolution is unfolding right before our very own eyes. With its emergence, vast commercial frontiers have been unlocked for not just the big corporations but small enterprise too. Today's global economy runs on the wheels of real-time online technology, and with it comes the money.

The conventional sole proprietor runs an office or shop from which goods are sold and services rendered. Every inquiry and order will be made from this focal point. This is the address to which communication more often than not must be directed. Customers buy these products in person, or can phone or email to get responses to inquiries. This takes time, money and effort. The biggest challenge to the sole proprietor's success is his inability to churn the numbers.

For such a business, the Internet provides an incredible opportunity for making plenty of money online. Proprietors usually want to grow their businesses. But the cost of doing business using long-established methods can reduce profit margins substantially. Worse still, their market share might not necessarily be on the ascent. How then can a small business enterprise make money online?

The first step in this direction is for the small business to have a good website. It instantly expands market reach and establishes a global market presence. Against this backdrop, the business is transformed into a 24 hour operation. The website constantly sells the enterprise whether the proprietor is at work or asleep and therefore offers considerable added value.

All the goods as well as services can be sold online. E-commerce is an option available in online transacting. Small businesses can co-opt a merchant system within their websites to accept credit card payments. If this option is not possible, third party payment systems can be incorporated to offer secure real-time financial transaction processing. These systems will take care of the customer service, shopping cart, credit card support, and billing inquiries at a small fee.

A major consideration for making money online is increasing staff size. Considering that there will be no significant overheads, the proprietor can reflect on the need to bring the business closer to the people who may not personally buy online. Sales staff will then execute order placement online. This negates the need to have both the customers going to a physical shop as well as salesmen operating from one physical location.

No doubt, there is a tone of money to be made online. Small business entrepreneurs should consider the huge profits that can be raked in with online transactions. Besides, the financial sector is pressing for credit card penetration into the market thus providing a ready market for such transactions. The benefits far outweigh costs.

If you need money now, like I mean in the next hour, try what I did. I am making more money now than in my old business and you can too, read the amazing, true story, in the link below. When I joined I was skeptical for just ten seconds before I realized what this was. I was smiling from ear to ear and you will too.

Imagine doubling your money every week with no or little risk! To discover a verified list of Million Dollar Corporations offering you their products at 75% commission to you. Click the link below to learn HOW you will begin compounding your capital towards your first Million Dollars at the easy corporate money program.

Small Business and Recession - Time to Empty the "Too Hard" Basket For Great Benefits at Little Cost


1 Review Your Systems

You probably have systems that need changing to better achieve business goals. Look at all your systems. Streamline them for improved operation.

2 Crosstrain

Improve your flexibility and reliance on individuals by crosstraining. Key tasks shouldn't be held up or slowed because only one person is competent to do them. Now's the time to crosstrain.

3 Redesign And Reorganize

There's almost certainly some reorganization you've been "putting off". It could be a stockroom or storeroom that needs "tidying up", a display that needs redesign or a work flow deficiency that you've "learnt to live with". Fix it now.

4 Records

Are you frustrated because the information you need isn't easily accessible from your records? Do you know exactly what you want from your records? You have time now to review these issues.

5 Statistics

"Wouldn't it be good if we could..." Now's the time to review the statistics you're getting and change them if necessary to reflect your needs.

6 Credit Terms, Leases, Loans And Like Matters

Review all of these. Are you getting the best possible terms from bankers, financiers, suppliers, contractors and consultants. A recession creates a favourable renegotiating climate.

7 External Training

Is there a particular course or seminar that you want someone to do but haven't been able to "spare" him or her? Now's the time. I don't advocate "training for training's sake". But it's worth looking at.

Conclusion

I've made a few suggestions. You build on them to meet your needs. You'll keep your people busy. If you manage the review professionally, you'll improve teamwork, participation and co-operation. And you'll gain significant business improvement at little cost: not bad in a recession.

Leon Noone invites you to contact him on http://www.leonnoone.com where you can collect your free copy of his 42 page Special Report: "5 Proven Methods For Improving Employee Performance On The Job". He's published books on staff selection and team development as well as various video, text/audio and self instruction programs on selection, training, motivation and performance systems.

Small Business Coaches Make Business Transition Planning Possible


Experts say there are four distinct phases in the life of a business. Transition planning then is the process of getting from one phase to the next as effectively and as efficiently as possible. Isn't this where small business coaches come in?

The Start Up Phase:

This is when companies are just getting up and running. This is when every action, from ordering business cards to selecting an Internet provider, and on and on are being done for the first time. This is also when the initial business strategies are being developed and implemented.

It's at this point when any mistake may be the one that dooms the enterprise before it even gets off the ground. What did your small business coach experience in their previous life (before becoming a small business coach) or from their other start up clients that gives them special insights when working with people during the early days of their business?

The Survivor Phase:

The survivors are those businesses that have escaped the failure common to the vast majority of entrepreneurs and their start up companies. They have beaten the odds, from having to worry about paying their suppliers on time to a company that is looking for more and better employees, new equipment instead of the junk they started with, and they are beginning to consider themselves a real business in need of an actual professional management team.

The Coasting Phase:

Since virtually all companies are owned by a single individual or a small group of them, and since the owners are most likely to be about the same age - and going through the same changes as one another, at some point they are likely to hit a "flat spot" in their developmental process.

That's because they are making money doing what they've already figured out how to do and there are no challenges worth risking it all for. Also they have not started thinking about what is going to happen to the company when they step down, because it is too painful to contemplate alone.

Small business coaches do most of their coaching with business owners in this phase. This is the time when business owners know they should be doing something, they just don't know what. Don't you think this is an area where you can add value to the equation?

The Exit Phase:

During the next 10 or so years we'll see the largest transition of wealth and management in history. The post WWII boom, not only in the United States but globally - companies were founded in the late 1940' through the mid 1950's in record numbers. The successful ones - the ones who outlasted their initial mistakes, their competitors, and in most cases survived into the second generation are now passing the torch to those who follow them.

Every business is where it is now because of where it was 10, 20, 30 or more years ago. The organization's history determines where it is today and where it will be in the future. Understanding that history is a key steps toward successful business planning because it gives everyone a sense of how you got where you are now.

Small business coaches who focus, during their initial intake interview, on simply trying to understand where the organization and its people are right now are missing the most important information that will be necessary to truly understand the unfolding future of the company.

Small business coaches whose insights come from their willingness to invest their time learning the company's "story" - how the company got to where it is from where it started will be superior to anything they are likely to hear from anyone else.

Business coaches will ask you just who do you think is going to run the place in the future? The training, experience, and abilities of the successors will generation managers are crucial factors in transition planning. Small business coaches help you recognize whether your next generation people are being properly prepared to take on the business in the future or not. Small business coaches help business owners develop their next generation managers.

The most commonly recognized components of business planning are the technical ones. How the company is organized and what are the latest strategies to maximize the organization's value, reduce taxes, and many other things. Small business coaches are not selling anything, not selling specific solutions or products, have no financial stake in the products or services you buy and are not scrambling around trying to protect their past advice.

However small business coaches who have extensive experience in your industry may understand more about the planning possibilities than their existing advisors. This puts them in a position to work well with your existing advisors, help you recognize when it's time to look for new advisors, and coordinate the activities of their advisors - so they always work with your goals and objectives.

Small business coaches who are integrated into the life of the business become vital cogs in the never ending transition process. They will help you see how farm you've come. Their questioning skills are put to use uncovering what you and your employees want to achieve. And they'll help you pick up on the challenges, possibilities, and concerns that are along the way.

Successful business owners understand the importance of developing relationships with competent professional advisers who will work together as a team to insure their long term success. They also realize the valuable impact that [http://www.familybusinesscoaches.com]business coaches have on them and their business, sorting out what's important and then working seamlessly with their traditional advisors, helping them help you insure your future success.

Business owners who undertake an assessment of their businesses goals, objectives, obstacles, and opportunities without a business coach as the quarterback on their planning team will be sub-optimizing their results. Business coaches are uniquely qualified to work successfully as a conduit between you, your family, and your traditional professional advisors. To learn more about the roles business coaches play helping successful businesses become even more successful, visit our web site at http://www.FamilyBusinessCoaches.com and participate in the discussion.

Just like you, Wayne Messick is concerned about the continuous refinement of his strategies for productivity in these challenging times. He is the author of dozens of articles for mainstream businesses, emerging professionals and association executives and now in phase III of his career spends hours each week creating articles from his experiences.

5 Small Business Opportunities That Mean Big Business


Here in the United States, there is no generic story that we like more than the story of the triumphant underdog: the constantly rehashed tale in which a nobody rises up, challenges the establishment and their champion, and comes out on top, becoming a somebody. There are probably many cultural and anthropological reasons that we as Americans love that formulaic story so much, but one of the biggest has got to be that to some degree, we all at one point feel like guppies just trying to survive in a sea of sharks and whales. In the business world, this is especially true with a small business. Even if a small business gets past the threat of failure, in many cases it still seems like a pipe-dream to believe that it could ever amount to anything really profitable. But as you look at the prospect of starting your own business, don't give up hope on making it big. Take a look at a few business opportunities that have already proven that they can swim with the big fish, and are looking for new franchisees to start off a new business on the right foot.

HomeTeam Inspection Service

If you've ever bought or sold a home, you know firsthand just how important a role the home inspector plays. In many ways, he makes or breaks the deal depending on what problems he finds in the house. A HomeTeam Inspection Service franchisee becomes that essential ingredient to a successful purchase, but with this franchise, he doesn't do it alone. As the name might lead on, the HomeTeam Inspection Service model sends small teams of inspectors to look over 400 designated inspection points. With the housing market as vibrant as it is, this effective, collaborative, and comprehensive system greatly expands the growth possibilities for a HomeTeam Inspection Service franchisee.

Global Broker Systems

Similar to HomeTeam Inspection Service, this work-at-home franchise's prospect for success is founded on current market trends: if the businesses you serve are doing well, so are you. And even in a slow economic climate, there are still plenty of ways to make good money with this franchise system. Providing all kinds of financial services to client companies, Global Broker Systems has the opportunity to grow as big as the franchisee wants it to go. The greatest part is that the demand for this franchise's services is always high. As long as companies need lease financing, capital loans, debt restructuring, and other services so important in our current economy, a Global Broker Systems franchise will likely never stop growing.

Real Property Management

One of the most recognizable names in an ever-needed industry, Real Property Management's future success as a premier property management franchise is highly likely, as they've already proven to be one of the best and fastest-growing in their market. Moreover, with a third of the nation's houses not inhabited by their owners, there is still plenty of expansion space for this already highly lucrative business.

Any Lab Test Now

With a name like that, you pretty much get the gist. What makes this medical franchise a prospect for big success is that it fills a hole that is constantly expanding, and not many companies are jumping into. With increasing frequency, employers are requiring drug screenings for employees, and at perhaps a higher rate, baby boomers are retiring and needing a lot of medical testing. With so much demand, regular hospitals can't keep up, and Any Lab Test Now has huge room for growth.

Billboard Connection

One of the most prominent means of advertising is billboard use, but most small and medium businesses don't have direct access to billboard companies. Billboard Connection makes those connections happen, linking smaller local companies to the billboard groups that can advertise for them. Because no new medium has yet to oust billboard usage as a primary advertising strategy, and there are far more smaller and mid-sized businesses than mega-corporations, the outlook for this brand of home-based franchise is very good in nearly any city.

Most franchises begin what seems to be a very small level of business, and there's nothing wrong with being a small fish in a big pond. In fact, some people are better wired for it. But those who are best suited for large-scale operations don't have to avoid small-business franchise opportunities for fear that they'll never get to work on the scale that they want to. Realistically, the whole reason that franchise businesses exist for purchase to begin with is that an initial business simply grew to be too big for a single person to operate, which really makes the outlook for any small-business franchise just a little bit rosier.

Small Business Coaches Make Business Transition Planning Possible

Experts say there are four distinct phases in the life of a business. Transition planning then is the process of getting from one phase to the next as effectively and as efficiently as possible. Isn't this where small business coaches come in?

The Start Up Phase:

This is when companies are just getting up and running. This is when every action, from ordering business cards to selecting an Internet provider, and on and on are being done for the first time. This is also when the initial business strategies are being developed and implemented.

It's at this point when any mistake may be the one that dooms the enterprise before it even gets off the ground. What did your small business coach experience in their previous life (before becoming a small business coach) or from their other start up clients that gives them special insights when working with people during the early days of their business?

The Survivor Phase:

The survivors are those businesses that have escaped the failure common to the vast majority of entrepreneurs and their start up companies. They have beaten the odds, from having to worry about paying their suppliers on time to a company that is looking for more and better employees, new equipment instead of the junk they started with, and they are beginning to consider themselves a real business in need of an actual professional management team.

The Coasting Phase:

Since virtually all companies are owned by a single individual or a small group of them, and since the owners are most likely to be about the same age - and going through the same changes as one another, at some point they are likely to hit a "flat spot" in their developmental process.

That's because they are making money doing what they've already figured out how to do and there are no challenges worth risking it all for. Also they have not started thinking about what is going to happen to the company when they step down, because it is too painful to contemplate alone.

Small business coaches do most of their coaching with business owners in this phase. This is the time when business owners know they should be doing something, they just don't know what. Don't you think this is an area where you can add value to the equation?

The Exit Phase:

During the next 10 or so years we'll see the largest transition of wealth and management in history. The post WWII boom, not only in the United States but globally - companies were founded in the late 1940' through the mid 1950's in record numbers. The successful ones - the ones who outlasted their initial mistakes, their competitors, and in most cases survived into the second generation are now passing the torch to those who follow them.

Every business is where it is now because of where it was 10, 20, 30 or more years ago. The organization's history determines where it is today and where it will be in the future. Understanding that history is a key steps toward successful business planning because it gives everyone a sense of how you got where you are now.

Small business coaches who focus, during their initial intake interview, on simply trying to understand where the organization and its people are right now are missing the most important information that will be necessary to truly understand the unfolding future of the company.

Small business coaches whose insights come from their willingness to invest their time learning the company's "story" - how the company got to where it is from where it started will be superior to anything they are likely to hear from anyone else.

Business coaches will ask you just who do you think is going to run the place in the future? The training, experience, and abilities of the successors will generation managers are crucial factors in transition planning. Small business coaches help you recognize whether your next generation people are being properly prepared to take on the business in the future or not. Small business coaches help business owners develop their next generation managers.

The most commonly recognized components of business planning are the technical ones. How the company is organized and what are the latest strategies to maximize the organization's value, reduce taxes, and many other things. Small business coaches are not selling anything, not selling specific solutions or products, have no financial stake in the products or services you buy and are not scrambling around trying to protect their past advice.

However small business coaches who have extensive experience in your industry may understand more about the planning possibilities than their existing advisors. This puts them in a position to work well with your existing advisors, help you recognize when it's time to look for new advisors, and coordinate the activities of their advisors - so they always work with your goals and objectives.

Small business coaches who are integrated into the life of the business become vital cogs in the never ending transition process. They will help you see how farm you've come. Their questioning skills are put to use uncovering what you and your employees want to achieve. And they'll help you pick up on the challenges, possibilities, and concerns that are along the way.

Successful business owners understand the importance of developing relationships with competent professional advisers who will work together as a team to insure their long term success. They also realize the valuable impact that [http://www.familybusinesscoaches.com]business coaches have on them and their business, sorting out what's important and then working seamlessly with their traditional advisors, helping them help you insure your future success.

Business owners who undertake an assessment of their businesses goals, objectives, obstacles, and opportunities without a business coach as the quarterback on their planning team will be sub-optimizing their results. Business coaches are uniquely qualified to work successfully as a conduit between you, your family, and your traditional professional advisors. To learn more about the roles business coaches play helping successful businesses become even more successful, visit our web site at http://www.FamilyBusinessCoaches.com and participate in the discussion.

Advertising - For Small Businesses (Part 1)

Is it right for you?

If you decide to advertise your product
or service then you must ask yourself - "Will potential
customers read this publication and will they take action
having read my ad?"

National newspapers - Read by a huge cross section of the
population. If you're inserting a display ad then it would
need to be professionally designed and you'd need to be in
it for the long run. It would be expensive and I don't see
any small to medium sized business justifying the cost. It
may suit you better to use the classified advertising in the
national newspapers - again, it depends on the type pf
business you're in. Check out what your competitors are
doing and if their in it, then perhaps you need to be.

Local newspapers - May be more appropriate for your business
particularly if you only want business from the local area.
Again, you must be prepared to consider an ad every day or
at least once a week for several weeks. Classified ads may
be more suitable for your business particularly if you have
a product or service that people would look up the
classifieds to find.

Business/Trade magazines - There's a magazine published for
almost every business you could think of. They are often
produced by Trade Associations. If, for example, your
product or service is used by plumbers and heating
engineers, then it makes sense to advertise in their
magazine. Use the internet to find the magazine or
association you want.

Consumer magazines - If your product or service is used by
the consumer, then this is for you. These again can target
specific markets. I know of an image consultant who also
does wedding makeup. She advertises her makeup service in
wedding magazines. She also, separately, advertises her
image service to the mother of the bride in the same
magazine. Think about the people who buy your product or
service and there's bound to be a specialist magazine that
they read.

Magazines last longer - You'll get more mileage out of a
magazine as they tend to be read several times. They mostly
come out once a month so people take more time to read and
re-read them. You'll find a list of business and consumer
magazines at: www.refdesk.com/mag.html

Advertising - For Small Businesses (Part 2)

How to do it

People skim through newspapers and magazines and they aren't
necessarily looking for information on products or services
(unless they're reading the classifieds) It's therefore
absolutely vital that your advertisement grabs their
attention and encourages them to read more. Many ads are
designed merely to create awareness of a product or service,
however, small to medium size businesses need a result.

Use words that attract attention in your headline - The two
most powerful words in a headline are - YOU and FREE. Other
great headline words are - How to - New - The Secrets of -
Amazing - Breakthrough - Announcing - Discover - Protect -
Facts you - At last

Don't worry too much about a photograph or a graphic - A
good headline is what you need to grab attention and
differentiate you from your competitors. There are several
ads in my local paper for plumbers. All but one has the name
of the plumbing business at the top of the ad - "Fred Smith
Plumbers." One of the ads has "DYNAMIC PLUMBERS" at the top
of the ad. I had to read more to find out what made this
plumbing service "DYNAMIC." To me - one plumber is much like
another; however, this one grabbed my interest.

Offer something free - A sample - an hour of your time -
information - a drink - a coffee - some food - a place for
children to play - a book - an audio or video tape. Offer
something that has a high perceived value for the customer
but a low cost for you. Remember - you want them to respond
to your ad, not your competitors.

Use simple language - Get to your point FAST - remember,
people will only spend a few seconds looking at your ad, so
don't beat around the bush.

Offer benefits - Tell the customer how your product or
service benefits them or solves their problems. Don't start
sentences with - "We do ……." start with - "You will ……."

No jargon - Watch out for abbreviations, jargon, buzz words
and technical information. You might understand the language
but does the customer?

Don't be boring - Don't use words like -"Quality service"
(What does that mean?) - "Established in 1862" (Who cares) -
"We provide an individual service" (Doesn't everybody?) Look
at what some of your competitors say in their advertising
and do something different.

Touch the emotions - Make your ad look and sound human, warm
and friendly. Perhaps put a name in - "Call Jim now for a
FREE quotation."

Use testimonials - Put in the names of people and businesses
that you've worked with and what they said (with their
permission of course)

Call for action - Your advertisement must prompt people to
do something. You must ask them to phone you - come and see
you - ask you to see them or place an order - NOW! Make it
as easy as possible for them to do that - a free phone
number - a freepost address - a simple tear-off coupon to
complete - something free or any other incentive for them to
take action NOW!

Small Business - Big Business...What's the Diff?

Well a lot actually!

I become frustrated and angry at the government’s paying lip service to assisting small business. It appears as though all governments, bureaucrats and many accounting advisers do not know what a real small business is.

In Australia the government’s definition for a small business is one which has less than 100 employees. Who are they kidding? In my consultancy that’s a big business.

They believe that ‘small business’ is the same as ‘big business’ on a smaller scale, that ‘big business’ is ‘small business’ with more of the same.

Wrong! About 99% of small business employs less than 10 employees and what is beneficial to the 100-employee firm may be downright dangerous for the 10-employee firm. Governments must know that. They can’t be so stupid not too… can they?

We Aussies are ready to believe anything about our politicians. We have met so many of them and none of them seem any brighter than the fellow next door. (In fact, none of them seem to know as much as I do).

When I decided to go global I was certain that the situation would be different in the USA. I was wrong.

The USA Small Business Authority has set a size standard for most ‘small business’ enterprises. In the full Table of Small Business Size Standards Matched to SIC Codes published by the Small Business Authority it is annual turnover that limits the size of small business firms.

In my consultancy of restaurants, coffee shops, florists, hairdressers, electrical retailers etc. the turnover limit is $5 million. In Australia there are NO single shop establishments achieving that sort of turnover.

In Australia a hairdressing salon working a 7-day week at an average price of $70 per client would need 30 clients each and every hour on ever day of the year. Impossible in Australia and probably in the USA too.

This does clear up an anomaly I had noticed in the different approach business plans took in Australia as opposed to that taken in America.

When Australian business began to use the Internet almost all the business plan software was from the States. The plans, although meant for small business, were not appropriate for Australian firms because they focused entirely on obtaining venture capital.

There were very few venture capital providers in Australia and of those that were few were interested in providing capital to the majority of our small ‘small business’. Business Plans languished in the filing cabinet and were hardly ever seen again.

The Australian consultants began to oversee business plans that focused on their being used as management tools. The planning itself was a vital element in the success of the business…and the plans were used to chart the course of the firm.

Each month the actual results were compared to what had been expected in the business plan. Tactics were formulated to overcome shortcomings or build upon favorable results.

Are you a small business owner who has studied all the books and web information that you can get hold of, and it is still not happening for you?

Perhaps it is because the information was directed to firms much larger than yours - firms with 100 employees or $5 million in sales. You need information more suited to your own business size.

Various organisations publish benchmarks for your industry. Compare your own results with the industry average. This will show where you should be concentrating your efforts for improvement.

You should seek out advisers and information that applies to ‘mini’ business – firms that are your size whatever it is. Perhaps you own accountant can help you find it.

But never be so foolish as to believe that what the government says is good for small business will be necessarily good for you.

Small Business Pricing Strategies

TACTIC #1 -- Never simply slash your prices, unless you're trying to empty obsolete inventory. Instead, try repackaging your prices so they're more affordable in the short-run so more prospects can afford them. For example, rather than pricing your service for the year, "Our monthly newsletter is only $39 for the year." Instead, try "Our monthly newsletter is only $3.25 per month." If you accept credit cards, it's very easy to set up reoccurring monthly charges that are billed to your subscribers without having to intervene every month beyond the initial account set up. The upside to offering your subscription on a monthly basis is that you can now market a $3.25 headline versus a more expensive $39 headline, i.e. you're able to offer services at a more affordable rate without slashing prices.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Here's another example. Just last night I was on the phone with a potential marketing client. As a small business owner she's trying to get some marketing help and is on a tight budget. My standard hourly consulting fee is $225, which is not always appealing to some businesses. However, in trying to work within her budget I suggested that my services could be more affordable for her if she allowed me to help her through email instead of face-to-face or on the phone. Let's face it, when you're on the phone with a client it takes longer to accomplish what you're doing since you're not only answering their questions, but you're building a relationship and talking about unrelated topics. It's difficult not to. In fact, you should! No matter what type of consultant you are, building a successful business is not about the initial sale, it's about establishing a long-term relationship with customers.

One-off sales don't lend themselves to growing a profitable business; rather, deep customer relationships do! However, since I was able to establish a trustworthy and comfortable relationship with my prospect on the phone, she thought my marketing services through email would be a win-win. Did I slash my prices? No, instead I found a more efficient way to offer my services, whereby I could offer them in less time and therefore, my client will pay less money. This strategy could work for business coaches, fitness experts or personal chefs, when the latter prepares meals in her home rather than in a client's home.

TACTIC #2 -- Create tightly niched product or service offerings. For example, if you're operating a personal concierge service, rather than just offer errand services at $25 an hour, try prepackaging specific errands with associated lower pricing. Why? Because you can offer a more aggressive price when isolating your fee to one particular service. If your customer challenges your reduced price as compared to your higher hourly fee, your response is simply, "I'm able to offer this lower packaged price because of economies of scale. While I'm out delivering your bundles to the Post Office, I'm also delivering packages for five other customers." Ultimately, your customers will never know how many other customers you're delivering for that day; however, the key is not to simply slash your pricing because you believe that reducing your prices will bring you more business. The key is to provide consistent and professional pricing practices.

Small Business Operators - 7 Reasons You Should Change Your Accountant

A recent survey showed that only 28.7% of small business owners were happy with their accountant, and only half of those would recommend him to their friends because he was too busy already.

The following are the most common reasons small business owners give for their dissatisfaction. Do any apply to you?

1. The accountant in charge is not accessible and never returns phone calls. In the early stages he couldn't do enough. He used to come out to the factory at least once a year to have a look. Now he seems to have time only for the big fellows. It seems I'm too small for him to be bothered with.

2. I am forever being foisted onto less senior staff who just do not know the answers. They have to research the matter or get hold of someone more knowledgeable It means delays and wasted time that I am being billed for.

3. The change-over in staff is frustrating. I have a complex structure and I have to explain it anew every time I visit. It would be lovely to build up a relationship with someone permanently. (or at least for two years in a row).

4. I deliver my work in plenty of time but the accountant sits on it like a clucky hen for months. Sometimes I receive fines from the Tax Office which are not my fault. My accountant reimburses me if I kick up a stink about it, but I am afraid I am building a bad reputation with the tax people.

5. Even though the work has been in his office in loads of time, the completion always seems to be hurried. Work is sent to me with errors. Surely this isn't right? Now, I insist on seeing the work in draft form first, and I am able to pick up most of the errors

6. He charges for everything. I rang him to point out a mistake his firm had made in my account and he charged me $35 for fixing it.

7. The fee he charges is out of all proportion to the service he gives! The fee goes up each year while his service gets poorer. I don't mind paying the appropriate fee but he charges like a wounded bull.

These are the perceptions only from disgruntled clients and may be colored by many things. They may be even untrue! I am sure that the accountant would tell another story, but...

Before you engage an accountant or even in dealing with your present accountant you should clarify his terms of engagement. You wouldn't go to a mechanic and say, "Fix my car. Do whatever you think is appropriate. Never mind the cost just send me the bill."

Nor should you with your accountant. Your accountant may be performing a service you don't need and don't use. How will he know if you don't tell him?

On the other hand, there may be a service you really do need which he is not doing. Ask him to give you an estimate. Don't be put off with,"It's a bit hard to estimate I charge an hourly fee".

Once his tasks for the year are nailed down why shouldn't he have an idea of how long each task takes.

The charge out rate for each employee may range from $60 to $500 dollars per hour according to the skill and experience of the employee. The Accountant should be able to estimate the fee using the rate for the appropriate employee. If during the year a specialist just happens to do some data entry over the weekend to get the task finished you shouldn't have to pay his rates.

The most important attribute of a good accountant is his ability to act as your confidente. You should be able to tell him anything.

You won't be able to if each time you are in his office you are worried about the fee he is going to charge for the visit.

Small Business Owners - Form a Relationship with Your Bank Manager

It's just like a marriage

To expect a bank manager or officer to play such close attention to your account that he (or she) knows when you intend to deposit money and to know when to hold back a cheque is a hopeless dream.

He has neither the time nor the resources, and you can complain until your blue in the face but, in the end, you have the sole responsibility to manage your bank account.

All small business owners have a relationship with their bank and like a marriage, the relationship can be harmonious or stormy or somewhere in between. You have to work at having a harmonious and happy marriage. You have to take into account the feelings and wishes of your partner before taking a position or making a decision. So too with banks.

Learning how to develop a skill in handling your bank is only one skill the small business operator must learn, but it may be the most important because it cannot be entirely delegated to your accountant.

Communication is everything

If you write a cheque that may take your balance over the limit let your bank manager know or better still let your bank know a month in advance.

After all, you prepared a projected cash flow at the beginning of the year, didn't you? And you are monitoring and adjusting it month by month, aren't you?

If you haven't prepared a projected cash flow statement to give you an idea of how much money you will need for the year then you are really managing by the 'seat of your pants' and anyone who manages 'by the seat of their pants' will end up with the 'seat out of their pants!'

Make your banker your friend

If the period of your shortness of funds is an extended one then talk to your bank about a higher overdraft or an increase in your present loan. To get a loan from your bank it's essential to have all the information which answers any concerns the bank might have about your ability to repay the loan.

Once you get your money keep your bank informed about how your business is travelling in both good times and bad.

It's not a one-way street

Your relationship is not a one-way street and you should expect your bank to provide you with the standard of service which you expect from all the firms with which you deal.

8 points for a better relationship

The Australian Society of CPA's has provided an 8 point checklist for a better banking relationship.

Point 1

Can you easily contact your manager when you need to?

Point 2

Do you have a good working relationship with your bank manager and does he or she understand your business and the needs of that business.

Point 3

Are you confident in the ability of your bank manager and his support staff? In particular, can you rely on the financial advice given by your bank manager and does the staff have a good working knowledge of the products and services relevant to your business.

Point 4

How soon can you get appointments to discuss important financial agreements? Unacceptable delays must be discussed with your bank. Are you satisfied with the location of discussions about business matters, whether it be at your premises or the bank's?

Point 5

How long does it take to receive a response on the application for a loan facility. Is this time acceptable?

Point 6

Does the bank keep you fully informed of the charges for business current accounts, loans and overdrafts with statements of account provided regularly?

Point 7

How frequently are errors made and if there are any, how are they handled?

Point 8

Are you satisfied with the service and attitude of the branch staff?

Finally

Finally, and most importantly, review periodically the service which your business receives from the branch and determine whether the bank is providing good value for your expense. Remember - ask yourself if you would recommend the branch where your business account is kept to someone else who is considering opening a business bank account.

Marketing Your Small Business - The Top 10 Brilliant Ideas

A Brilliant Marketing Idea... sounds great but what is it? Is it the idea that results in the mailman ringing your doorbell, signaling in a caravan of postal workers with mounds of letters (all in response to your latest advertisement)? Is it the idea that brings a 20% response rate on your direct mail campaign?

Surely these ideas would be considered brilliant marketing ideas...right? Well, maybe. It depends on the costs incurred generating the response. If the cost of the marketing was greater than the income it generated, it doesn’t matter how great the response, it’s not very brilliant.

The following ideas will get you started marketing brilliantly in no time!

BUSINESS CARDS

Print (or stamp) something on your business card that will prompt the holder to contact you (and/or to keep the card). Examples: “Return this card for a FREE loaf of bread” (baker), “10% off on next purchase” (retail store), “Send for your FREE copy of our Special Report: Brilliant Ideas for Marketing Your Small Business” (small business marketing specialist).

VALUE-ADDED SERVICES

Success means standing apart from the competition. This is done by developing (and promoting) your value-added services. If you don’t think you have any, think again...and then if you still don’t, develop some! (Sometimes it is something you are already doing/offering, but you just haven’t recognized it as a value-added service or product.) Example: With each printing order, you also get free design consultation services.

BUSINESS FORMS AND STATIONERY

Use all company forms to promote your business--it costs no more to design them with promotions than it does to design them without! Examples: On your stationery, list your services or products, your value-added features, and/or the benefits of doing business with your company.

ENVELOPES

Use the left-hand side of the envelope to motivate the reader to open it and to read what’s inside. Example: What’s inside for YOU? 10 Tips for Marketing Your Business!

FAX COVER SHEETS

Design and create a FAX coversheet that not only identifies the person who is to receive the FAX, but also promotes your business. One brilliant idea is to include your current promotion. Example: A hotel could promote a “$66 Weekend Ski Package.”

VOICE MESSAGE

Your voice mail recording should market your business. Example: “Thank you for calling The Rocking Chair – Mountain View’s largest antique and collectables shop. At the corner of Main and Sylamore, we’re open 10-6 seven days a week. Please leave a message, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”

INTRODUCTION

Business professionals are frequently asked “what do you do?” Practice your 10 second answer to this question; be sure it includes the benefits your business provides to your customers. It should also identify the customers you are looking for. Example: “I work with small businesses, sales professionals, and entrepreneurs. I provide them with inexpensive ideas for promoting their businesses and for serving their customers so they promote their business too. I do this through workshops and through my website http://www.brilliant-marketing-for-small-business.com.”

DATABASE UPDATE

On a regular basis (every 6-12 months), contact “old” customers. Let them know you are updating your database and need to confirm the information you have. Although this is not a sales call, it is common for lost customers to begin doing business with you again simply because you contacted them.

24-HOURS VOICE MAIL... for your convenience

If you have 24-hour voice mail (or an answering machine that is not also your home line), advertise that it is available 24 hours for your customers and prospects; include for your convenience. This is especially effective since many people review the mail and newspapers early in the morning, late in the evening, or on weekends!

STORIES SELL!

When telling people what you do, use examples. Example: “I help people protect their property; I’m an insurance agent. In fact, last week I wrote policies for newly married couples needing renters insurance.”

Anyone can promote a business with an unlimited marketing budget, but it takes specialized knowledge and commitment to get the same (or better) results on a shoestring. These brilliant ideas are only a fraction of the thousands available in the Brilliant Marketing! ™ System. Look for future editions of this e-zine for more Brilliant Marketing Ideas!

Small Business and Branding - Why and How?

When we speak of branding most of the time people try to relate it to big business house, however, the fact is that every business needs to establish their brand in order to survive the competition. This is nothing new; experts and management gurus had been preaching the same sermon for years now but what they have not told is why you need to brand your small business? How is branding going to help you to establish your business? How can you establish your brand without spending a fortune on it?

You might be having a very small business but would you like your client to perceive your business as a small time entrepreneurial effort? Definitely not, and your business cards, letterheads and other marketing collaterals does just that. They create an impression to your clients that you are an established business house of considerable strength and not just a mom-n-pop shop.

While you have read till this much, you might have started to plan to get a few home printed business cards or visit the website where you saw the preformatted business cards being sold for peanuts. Beware! The quality of your business card is an indication of the status of your business and your clients are intelligent enough to understand the difference between a standard designed perforated business card and a professionally designed business card printed on good quality card stock.

Most of us, including you, would prefer to consider the stability of a company before making a purchase decision. Once you have established your brand with a professionally designed logo, business card and other marketing efforts it becomes much easier for you to build your credibility among the customers.

Getting a professionally designed custom logo is one of the very important elements of branding a business. A logo is not just a symbol or a piece of graphics; it is actually your corporate identity. A properly designed logo can leave long lasting impression on your clients and will never let your business slip out of their minds. It also makes your business easily recognizable. Just think, wherever you see the Golden M of McDonald’s do you really need to think twice, what company is that referring to? A good logo should ideally exude the nature and attitude of the business.

Once you have got a logo for yourself it becomes easier for you to establish your brand. You can use that logo in your business cards, letterheads and other accessories. Don’t you think it is going to make a difference if the pack that you use to deliver your products to your customer has the logo of your company on it? And if you are using a reusable pack, your customer might just use the same pack to pass on some other goods to one of his friends- what happens then? Yes! Your logo gets noticed by one other person, you add one more name to the list of your potential customers. You are on your way to establish your own brand.

Similarly with business cards, as they get passed on from one person to the other, more and more people knows about your business and the potential customer base increases.

Having a business card or professionally designed logo also shows your commitment towards your business.

A short, easy to remember punch line is another useful tool for branding. Getting a tag line printed on your business cards or your business stationery makes it easier for people to understand the nature of your business. Ideally, your tag line should not only say about what you do but also speak about your USP.

Having said all that, the ultimate question that most of the small business people would have is, how much does it cost to get all these things done? I’d say, “not much”. Money is always a problem for most of the small businesses (that’s why they are small, otherwise most of us would like to open a Microsoft and be as rich as Bill Gates) but if you know where to look for, you really don’t need to spend a fortune to get a professionally designed logo or a business card. There are loads of websites that offer them really cheap and some even allow you to decide the price that you want to pay.

Small Business Success - It's a Matter of Confidence

I was floored! I couldn’t believe what they were saying! But there they sat -- three of the biggest film stars of our age -- telling the world they had issues with confidence. I was watching an interview where Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore were talking with Oprah Winfrey. Their conversation gave me a lot to think about in regard to small business success.

It started with Meryl making a comment about a movie she’d starred in. Her joke was about the fact that she actually quit the movie before it began filming and then ended up following through with her commitment after all. At this point, Nicole and Julianne chimed in. "I do the same thing!" was the cry. As I watched these three huge film stars go back and forth with their issues of insecurity, it dawned on me that I had something in common with these movie icons.

As a small business owner, I constantly question myself. I wonder if I have the imagination, the talent, the skills, or the drive to make it online. Yes, I’m earning a full-time living on the Web. I’ve done so for quite some time now. But that fact seems to play a tiny part in the establishment of my self-esteem.

Like most small business owners, and apparently at least three giant film stars, there is a constant struggle with what we *think* we can do, and what we can actually achieve. Self-doubt creeps in and - if we let it take hold - we want to quit. We question our abilities and even our successes. It has the potential to be devastating.

There is something else I learned from this interview, however. While all three of these ladies had gone so far as to call their agents and tell them they weren’t making the movies they were contracted for, they still did them. Even with high levels of insecurity, they got themselves together and marched onward.

What was the end result? Most of the time, a box-office hit and millions of dollars! Yes, there have been a few "failures" for each of them. However, generally speaking, each time they made an effort something wonderful happened.

There are three things I don’t think I’ll ever forget about that interview.

Everybody - even the "rich and famous" - doubts himself or herself from time to time. Small business owners are no different. Wearing all the different "hats" of a small business owner creates the perfect environment for insecurity to creep in. It’s something you will likely not completely rid your life from, but it IS something you can overcome.

If the risk is a calculated and reasonable one - suck it up and move onward toward your goal. Take into consideration the "logical" aspects of success. Is the risk you’re about to take (expanding your services, taking on a new client, launching a new product) one that stands a good chance of success? Weigh your options. If you decide the risk is worth taking, then don’t let fear stand in your way.

Oprah DOES have some good shows from time to time! :)

So many small business owners quit before ever "making it." That’s a shame. They let their doubts and fears take over, and it drives their dreams right out of the picture. If you love something - if you truly want to do a particular thing and earn an income from it - don’t let anyone (including yourself) tell you that it can’t be done. I think Meryl, Nicole and Julianne would agree!

Why Small Business Must Turn to PR

If small business had no important outside audiences, it wouldn’t exist.

But since they do have external “publics,” it’s doubly unfortunate when those same small business owners seem unconcerned about the very outside folks whose behaviors can place a choke-hold on their business!

And worse, are so casual about public relations, the best way to move those behaviors in their direction.

Is that you? What’s the problem? Can you think of any other way to marshall those groups of people you need so badly if your business is to succeed?

Face it. You must turn to public relations if you are really serious about getting those important outside people to support what you are trying to do.

And the best part is, there’s no mystery about how to do it!

Start today by listing your important outside audiences in priority order. No doubt, customers and prospects will place #1 and #2. But think carefully about your local and trade media as well as community residents and leaders, suppliers and the like. The test for adding an external audience to your worry list is this: if left unattended, could its perceptions and behaviors hurt your business?

Since there is no other affordable way to find out how each of your target audiences perceive your business, products, services and operations, you must take the time to do it yourself along with your colleagues. Interact with members of that key target audience and probe their perceptions with plenty of questions. Watch for misconceptions, inaccuracies and rumors that need to be corrected. Stay alert to negativity of any kind.

This will let you decide how much you will try to alter perceptions among each audience. It also becomes the behavior modification goal against which you will measure your progress.

Now it’s message time. What will you say to members of your target audience to alter that negative perception that surfaced during your conversations with them? Your message must be persuasive, so stick with the facts and present them clearly. By identifying honestly what is really at issue at the moment, you impart a sense of credibility to your comments, and their timeliness adds a compelling dimension to your message.

What’s the best way to get that message to the eyes and ears of members of your target audience?

Here, you have an embarrassment of riches with dozens of communications tactics including news announcements, op-eds, letters-to-the-editor, speeches, community briefings, broadcast and newspaper interviews and many, many others.

Progress can best be tracked by interacting all over again with members of the target audience. While you’ll ask questions similar to those you asked in your earlier monitoring sessions, this time you’re looking for signs that your message got through. In other words, signs that your message succeeded in altering any negative perceptions of your business.

You should also monitor print and broadcast media, key customers and prospects for similar indications of success.

Should progress not be fast enough for you, you’ll want to consider increasing the number of communications tactics you employ as well as the frequency of their use. Your message should also be re-evaluated for its factual basis and clarity.

Gradually, your monitoring will playback perception changes among that target audience, and that means the behaviors you seek will not be far behind.

Success Tips for Small Business Owners

Running a small business requires many skills. However, to do this successfully you need to organize yourself first. Avoid procrastination - read the following and take action.

Successful Small Business Owners Look After Themselves First

Exercise regularly, eat healthily and be around positive people. Feed your mind by attending personal development courses. Read self-help and motivational books, listen to tapes. Stress management levels will be much more effective when you look after yourself.

Do the right thing by yourself and you'll have heaps of energy, be motivated, have more balance in your life which in turn will help you be more productive and successful.

Successful Small Business Owners Clean out the Clutter Regularly

You will save yourself heaps of time, energy and money if you clear out your work and home environment…paperwork, books, old equipment etc. You'll be able to find things, save money because you won't have to buy what you already have hidden somewhere, plus you'll be less stressed. Organize your office and your small business premises regularly…keep the clutter out. Eliminating clutter will help you to avoid procrastination. It's too easy to avoid getting things done if you are overwhelmed with clutter.

Successful Small Business Owners Use the Right Tools

It's no good having the latest whiz-bang computer when the desk that you sit at is too small to accommodate it, or the chair has poor back support, or the lighting is dull causing you eyestrain and fatigue. All these factors heavily influence how you work. Invest in a decent desk, purchase a desk lamp or change the light globes.

Don't avoid the warning signs your body gives you. Take action now before you have eye, back or neck problems.

Successful Small Business Owners Use a Diary or Digital organiser

With so much to organize in your small business, you need to record your appointments and things to do and goals somewhere. Preferably in a paper diary or digital organiser that you can take everywhere. This is the most effective way to get things done, plan your work and your life. Balance is extremely important. Top achievers are great at time management (even if they have to pay someone else to organize them).

Successful Small Business Owners Learn to say "No"

To dramatically improve your productivity and do more of the things you want, you have to be firm with others and let them know if you cannot, will not or are unavailable to fulfil their requests. If you constantly say "yes" to everyone else's requests you will never have the time to do what you really want to.

Book yourself into a self-assertiveness course to learn these skills if you feel you need to.

Successful Small Business Owners Do What They Do Best and Delegate the Rest

See what tasks you can delegate tasks which would suit someone else's talents. Many small business owners are spending heaps of time on mundane secretarial tasks which would take a person who is trained in that area a quarter of the time to undertake. Stress management is an important part of running your small business. Reduce the stress by delegating or outsourcing wherever you can.

Use a bookkeeper, personal assistant or virtual assistant. Always ask yourself, who else can I get to do this? Use your time management to focus on what you do best.

Successful Small Business Owners Only Have Meetings if Necessary

Make sure the meetings you organize in your small business are relevant and run effectively. Avoid procrastination - always make sure there is an outcome and all actions are followed through.

The Final Word

By following these simple yet very effective time management tips for small business owners you will have more control over your work and your life. You'll have more balance, experience less stress and be more proactive.

Avoid procrastination…take action today!

Why Small Businesses Need Both A Logo And An Identity System

Experts urge small business owners to “brand” their business – to use a logo and a set of consistent marketing materials. But, they rarely go into the reasons behind this advice. Here’s a list of some of the benefits to having a professionally designed logo and marketing package:

Not to look so small - Home-printed business cards with perforated edges, or cards printed with standard designs available through Microsoft software or online business card vendors (like Vistaprint) scream, “Small-time vendor!” to your potential clients – and you’ll be similarly compensated.

To increase your chance of getting venture capital or selling a business – If you present a thorough business package, including marketing materials and graphics, your business will look more complete.

To attract more clients – Some clients look for a well-defined company look-and-feel as part of their qualifiers for making a purchasing decision.

To brand yourself – If you’re a consultant, you need a logo in order to build an image and a brand that’s bigger than just yourself.

To convey that you are established – A logo and professionally printed materials show that you are committed to both your business and to your clients.

To give clients a sense of stability – You may not have been in business “Since 1908”, but if you’ve invested in an identity, you’re much less likely to fold in the eyes of your customers. It goes a long way toward building the all-important “trust” factor.

To be more memorable – Forty percent of people better remember what they see better than what they hear or read. So having graphics associated with your business and having consistent graphics on your business materials make you more likely to come to the forefront of potential clients’ minds when they have a need for your goods or services.

To explain your company name – If your company name contains a little-known word or an acronym, the logo gives visual clues to its meaning.

To endear your company name to your clients – A difficult-to-pronounce or -remember company name may make it difficult for your clients to hire you. When potential clients have the need for your services, they can’t recall who you are! But if you reinforce the name with interesting, compelling graphics, they’re more likely to remember that hard-to-recall name, and to pick up the phone and hire you.

To explain an unusual line of business – If your business is nontraditional, or in a hard-to-explain industry, a logo can help to explain exactly what it is that you do.

To show what practices differentiate you from your competition – A well-designed logo can have many subtle meanings, and it can begin to tell the story of how you do business – what special practices make you stand apart from the competition.

To stand out in your field – A well-designed logo and an identity system can put you far above the competition, especially if they are paired with a strong marketing program.

In some industries, a logo is just expected – In the creative services industry, especially, having a logo is an industry standard.

Lastly, do it for yourself! – To show your commitment and for the sense of personal pride it will add to your practice.

These are just some of the benefits of having a professionally designed logo. If your business could use the kind of boost that having a logo provides, then contact us today for a free estimate!

How to Promote Yourself to Small Business Riches

You've heard it before; we're living in an information age. The business world is no longer driven by tangible products but on information and ideas. Internet based companies or other companies that use the Internet as an integral marketing tool that don't tap into information-based products or services could soon find themselves without customers or with lackluster sales.

Small business owners, many of whom are on a tight advertising budget, can use all the help they can get to promote their product or service. Providing free information to sell yourself and your company may seem like an oxymoron but it is in fact a legitimate marketing strategy. It allows small business owners to reach large amounts of people and establish themselves as a leading expert in their respective industries

Small business owners have several options to achieve their marketing goals:

E-books - Offer free e-books on your site to encourage traffic and repeat visitation. Your e-book can include references to your site, newsletter, or special offers. You can also allow others to redistribute your e-book and allow other sites to include your e-book in bonuses or contests.

Forums and Newsgroups - Helping other people within your industry is a great way to increase your visibility and gain credibility. You'll be surprised at how much traffic you get just from your forum posts alone. It's always important to be familiar with the forum you're participating in. Advertisements are not only unnecessary but in most cases they are unwelcome and can cause you many problems. So stick to helping people and answering questions. Most sites allow for some sort of signature that is included within all of your posts. If your information is helpful, people will want to learn more about you.

Submitting articles - Writing articles related to your area of business is one of the best ways to increase your visibility. The great thing is that many people are constantly looking for free information to enhance their own efforts and will appreciate your contributions. You'll get a great deal of traffic from the articles you submit to various e-zines. Each article should include a copyright notice and a brief biography with a link back to your own site.

Seminars - If you'd like to expand beyond the web and you're comfortable with public speaking, you can easily and quickly set up a seminar related to your industry. Many hotels offer conference room rental for affordable prices that you use and give free seminars. Announce your helpful even on the web and local newspapers. People are constantly looking for ways to improve their lives and their businesses. You can have low-cost reading material printed out and make sure you have plenty of business cards handy. You'll soon build an impressive list of prospective customers and affiliates. As you become more experienced, you can even begin to enhance your seminar and charge a nominal entry fee.

Conferences - There are all sorts of conferences out there today where organizers are looking for qualified speakers to assist their audience. You can submit informative press releases that establish yourself as an expert and include a notice you are available for speaking engagements.

E-zine - Starting your own e-zine can allow you to offer valuable information to your prospective customers. You can also build valuable relationships with other business owners looking to form joint ventures. You also have free placement for any special offers, events, and contests you'd like to promote.

The objective is to establish yourself within your industry and by doing so you can build an extensive database of qualified prospective customers. Your collection is an invaluable resource for your sales efforts and will produce majority of your sales. The key is to build relationships and produce genuine prospects, not suspects. A small business can't afford to waste time or money on "suspects" or untargeted consumers who may not have an iota of interest in your product or service.

Business Checks are an Added Cost to Your Small Business - Try Making Them Yourself!

Starting and managing a small business is no fun chore, especially when it comes to the accounting. There are a few common sense ways that you can help that bottom line.

Business checks can be quite expensive when you use a third party to manage your payroll and payments. Your small business can save money by printing your payments from your desktop.

This option may not be best for all businesses. But if you have the time to manage it yourself, it may be very beneficial. The check blanks can be found at many office stores, and there are some good ones online. Many of them don’t need a special software program to manage the process.

There are some pretty high tech programs out there as well. You may decide to check them out as they are needed. Usually, you can download a sample of the program to use for a while, testing it out to see if it is good for your applications.

Printing your own checks will also allow you to create your own design or place your logo on the checks which can serve as a reminder to potential customers.

It will be worth your time to at least check out some of the options that are available. If you haven’t looked because you thought they would be too expensive, you might be happily surprised.

How To Make Sure Your Customers Still Trust Your Small Business

The stock market is still on a wild roller coaster ride. Trust in business is at an all time low. Do your customers still trust you? Here are seven ways to help you make sure.

1. Go the extra mile. Under promise and over deliver - a time worn concept that still works every time. Be there for your customers and show them how reliable you are. It's your actions that count, not your words.

2. Provide spectacular customer service - every time. Have a friend or colleague visit your business and provide feedback from a customer's perspective.

3. Make sure your front and back office work like a well-oiled machine. Do your front line employees and back office staff tell your customers the same thing?

4. Manage your customer relationships - return customers take the least amount of effort - use that to your advantage. Keep in touch often.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate - with your employees and your customers. Nurture those relationships. Ask for feedback often.

6. Take responsibility. Don't pass the buck. If you can't personally handle a customer issue, make sure that you hand the customer off gracefully.

7. Meet commitments. Commitments guarantee that something will get done. They're also a way to manage the customer's expectations. Make commitments you can keep. A kept commitment builds trust. A missed commitment destroys trust. And once trust is broken, it takes much longer to rebuild.

Smart PR Tactics for Small Businesses

Small businesses need Public Relations, possibly more than large corporations, to put them on the map. If you consider that time is money, however, you may find that handling your own public relations is a daunting task and not necessarily worth the monetary savings. Here are some ideas of how to get the best bang for your PR buck by thoughtful outsourcing:

Use your business library. If you are savvy enough to identify the best media for your primary target audience, your local library or the nearest city library near your very small town has valuable informational tools to assist you at every turn. The librarian is a public resource that your tax dollars pay for anyway.

Having identified your target media, find a PR agency that charges by placement success instead of a standard six months or yearly contract. In that way, you can share the PR burden by supplying the media to be targeted, and pay only for premier hits. Besides, if the placement is impressive enough, you can put it on your website, and get incredible mileage from it.

Market your business service or product in the corporate fashion
with mat features to print and online newspapers nationwide at half the price. A young service like Points of Persuasion Syndicate provides PR preformatted newspaper features free to editors nationwide. Their columns get printed exactly as written when the mentions are subtle and useful for the publication's reader. These trademarked, non-copyrighted features are picked up regularly by suburban daily and weekly papers, and remain on P-O-P-S' editorial website for six months to a year for instant downloads.

People talk of Public Relations as free compared to the expense of advertising. PR is never free but used strategically, it is more believed than its more costly brethren. Each time a placement is made your business is getting the endorsement of the editor of the publication, or host of the radio and TV show. The public depends on these consumer advocates to help them make the decisions important to them and their families.

5 Small Business Management Questions to Help Choose Marketing Programs

As small business managers, we juggle limited resources in a quest for success. To an extent, when we focus on success in one area we forego attention elsewhere. Limited money and time mean we must choose from seemingly endless -- and often conflicting -- advice and recommendations from marketing service providers; management and marketing consultants; and internal experts. This creates a dilemma. How do you choose which recommendations to embrace and which to pass by?

Consultants, marketing service providers, and/or other departments within your company will eagerly give advice from their viewpoints. You will hear the benefits of focusing on "___" (fill in the blank with appropriate specialty). This is not a bad thing; it is their job to sell you on the advantages of their specialties. It is your job to probe for the downsides and tradeoffs.

Different Perspectives

Back in my brand management days, it was sometimes frustrating when individual departments could not grasp The Big Picture. The graphics department and the outside ad agency wanted to focus strictly on graphical elements when other aspects of a campaign were just as critical. Manufacturing was worried about throughput and efficiency, never mind what the customer wanted. Each department was doing what it could to optimize its own function, but this did not always work in The Big Picture. A catch 22 of small business management is if all functions are "optimized," it could be to the detriment of the business. When resources are spread too thin and timelines expand, implementation suffers.

In the online world the same Big Picture problems occur. Each specialist knows much about her or his own specialty, but often little about how it affects other areas. Most of the advice makes perfect sense. Toss in a dose of reality, however, and you may stretch your resources too thin if you simultaneously try for perfection in all areas.

The Big Picture

When reality hits, you find it is simply impossible to optimize all areas of your business. The obligations associated with small business management do not allow you to stop ongoing activities while trying to obtain detailed perfection. God may be in the details, but profit is in the implementation. As small business manager or "chief cook and bottle washer," it is your job to make it work by bundling the advice into a profitable implementation package.

Once you accept that some areas are going to be initially less than perfect (providing you with opportunities to improve over time), the challenge is to figure out what makes sense for your business and site. When is it critical to optimize and when is less than perfect acceptable? When considering advice from a marketing consultant or other expert, ask yourself these five questions:

1) Does it solve a problem?
One of the best ways to comprehend the importance of an action is to relate it to a problem. If you think strategically - first identifying your major problems, then designing solutions to solve those problems - your business is more likely to thrive.

2) What are my alternatives?
There is always more than one solution to a problem. If you evaluate different approaches, you will ultimately make better decisions.

3) What are the downsides?
Perfection and optimization are in the eyes of the beholder. What you see as a disadvantage may seem trivial to the specialists. Ask questions and do some research on your own to uncover the downsides.

4) Is it likely to be profitable for me?
Larger companies can afford programs that smaller companies and individuals cannot. If you have to go into debt or dramatically reduce other critical activities to implement a program, your cost increases dramatically. In these cases, carefully weigh the resources required against the potential gain.

5) What happens if I do not do this?
Some activities are "niceties" and some are necessities. Know the difference. If you are losing customers to other sites or businesses, for example, taking action is critical. Some activities - those you want to do but do not help solve a significant problem - can be pushed to the back burner.

Incorporating The Big Picture into your decision-making is critical. When you ask yourself these five questions, you are in a better position to make the right decision. Your small business depends on it.

Women and Small Business

In the book Women and Small Business author gives all the guidelines and tools need to start, operate and succeed in a business of their own. In the mentioned book she tried in the fist part to explain how has changed the role of women in the world along centuries. In the second part she researched all neccesary abbilities of women who like to start up their own business,make differences among women and men owners and gave advices to them.Additionaly, she made some very important questions which need answers for all prospective owners,as following:

What is my reason for starting a business? What type of business can I start? What skills, interests, and personal qualities will I bring to the business? What are my strengths and weaknesses as a business owner? What fears must I overcome?

In the third part she gave Case study based on MS Project which could be on a special use for their business ideas from the very beginning to their realisation in praxis.This information will help them form some opinions about the overall climate and how their idea might fare given current conditions. As they become more convinced of its potential, they can delve deeper into specifics that will ultimately become part of a formal business plan. Everything they discover will contribute to their idea's potential for success Dr Mirjana Radovic pointed that ideas are the currency of entrepreneurs and therefore they must play with many ideas and see which ones bring money and success. The reality is that some businesses may not be profitable enough to provide a living. Other business ideas simply aren't marketable in some trade area or there might be too much competition already. They may or may not have enough capital to get the business off the ground or to secure adequate business financing. So this book provides the tools with which to make decision whether or not to open own small business.

In the fourth part of the study she presented the latest results of researching related to women leaders and their position in the business world,i.e. how does people look at ( divided into sex,ages and level of education) women leaders and if they trust them.She compared results of one of the latest researching in the USA with the results in Serbia and Montenegro.Her scientific task was to make some conclusions and to point out some special characteristics of Balkan region .In the fifth part of the book she wrote about some limitation in achiving business success-Enterprenurial Phobia,Intuition and Managers desease among women.Finally,she gave some key points of her researching work and presented conclusion with the stress on the future position of women engagement in the business, where was long domination of men.

Organizing Tips for Small Business Success

If you discovered the bottom line in your business depended on the organization in your office, your reaction could range from complete composure to sheer terror. Organization certainly has an effect on your bottom line – and just as significantly – on your peace of mind. For the small business or home office professional, effective organizing can mean the difference between business failure and success. For the 11.1 million workers who have their offices at home, organization skills can have a significant impact on their personal lives as well.

At no time in history has there been a greater need for getting organized. There are three major reasons for this:

(1) Information is accumulating at a faster rate every day. The speed of the microchip doubles every 18 months - with no end in sight. Every day we are bombarded with new opportunities and challenges. Having the right information at the right time can turn a prospect into a client, a disaster into an opportunity.

(2) Not only do we have more to organize, but the demand to organize it continually increases. Computers, fax machines, cellular phones, and on-line services enable us - and require us - to do more than ever before. If I can e-mail you a question in 20 seconds, why can’t you respond with equal speed? And if you don’t, I’ll move on to your competition!

(3) Small businesses owners rarely have sufficient cash flow to administrative assistants to keep them organized, so they are faced with organizing themselves. Support staff that are available are given more and more responsibilities. Many entrepreneurs have no support staff. Streamlining procedures and eliminating unnecessary steps to minimize personnel time required to complete each task is essential.

Organizing effectively requires continually asking the questions: “Is this the best way to do this?” “Is this the best time?” “Are these the best people?” Let’s look at six aspects of organizing any small office or home office:

1. People 2. Finances 3. Information 4. Things 5. Space 6. Time

Identifying the right person to do the right job is a key component to reaching your desired goals. That assumes, of course, that the desired goal is clearly defined and measurable! (If not, return to “Go!”) If your company has a “staff of none,” you have to wear a lot of hats. Outsourcing aspects of your business, from word processing, mailing, or bookkeeping to sales, marketing, or project management, is often very cost effective, and good organizing skills will significantly increase your ability to use that avenue. Using family members in your business can be a good strategy – and tax deductible. (My children started doing my filing when they were 10 years old!)

Lack of capital is often cited as one of the biggest causes of failure in a small business. Great ideas and products without solid financial planning, and more importantly, effective execution of that plan, will never reach the marketplace. It’s often easier to save money than to earn it – keep those overhead expenses at a minimum. And it’s cheaper to keep a client than to get a new one, so take good care of the ones you have (unless your client is expecting you to give an unrealistic discount because of longevity – in which case you may be better off finding a new!)

Research shows that the average person spends 150 hours a year looking for misplaced information. Identify what information you need to provide the products and services your company offers. Take a proactive approach. Don’t wait until the filing cabinets are too full to file, but there’s no time to make decisions about what to throw away! A few hours with an organizing consultant before there is a problem can prevent weeks of grief later on.

Many offices are filled with things no one uses, while unnecessary time and energy is spent looking for things you really need. Identify a “Office Organizing Day” – wear comfortable clothes and order pizza for lunch for everyone. (Give that old printer to a school or non-profit organization that doesn’t have any – and, as a bonus, write it off as a tax deduction!) Repeat the event annually as a good business practice.

Offices everywhere are getting smaller. Organizing space requires arranging things in such a way that everyone can easily use the right thing at the right time. The best source of additional space are often the walls. Bookshelves, open shelf filing systems, and workstations with “working walls” can be a major boon to the perennial space problem. If you’re working at home, make sure your “home office” is a place you love.

Creative minds (a requirement for any successful business) always have more ideas than the physical body can carry out. Recognize that fact and spend time planning to identify the most crucial activities. Working smarter, not harder, is in the best interest of business and family. The carpenter’s axiom - “Measure twice; saw once” - is good advice for any business.

My definition of organization is very simple: Does it work? Do you like it? And, if what you do effects other people (and it will if you plan to stay in business), “Does it work for everyone?”