tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84831180004828813832023-11-15T10:29:12.612-08:00Small Business Expert BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-60229726614736443562008-11-14T00:32:00.000-08:002008-11-14T00:33:54.149-08:00Words, a powerful tool<span style="font-size:130%;">Words are not just a way of communicating, there are instruments that can help you close a deal, or not. Good words used good times can get you a closing deal, but when you negotiate with someone, a wrong words can change the whole negotiation in a bad way.<br /><br /><br />That is why I have tried to make up a list of words that you should avoid when you are making a sell:<br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">1. “Yes, but….” – You have to avoid this phrase because it produces a negative connotation in the buyers mind. Let’s say that you are trying to sell him an expensive TV set. The buyer will say that is has the same characteristics with a cheaper model. You CAN`T say “Yes. But it has a different start button” If you say this, than the buyer will understand that you agree with him that is expensive and don`t worth to spend money on it.<br /><br /><br />2. “We have a team of experts” - When a customer asks you something about the product and you don`t know the answer, don`t say that you have a team of experts that will contact him in a couple of days and explain everything to him. In 90% of the cases the customer doesn`t return to hear the experts explications.<br />3. “To be honest with you” – Bad expression used by many sales agents. When you talk to a client and in the middle of the dialog say “To be honest with you, I would …..”, that is practically saying that have lied to him until now. Until now you haven’t been honest, but now you are.<br /><br /><br />4. “I will try” – “I have tried, but it wasn`t possible” - This expression doesn`t bring much confidence to your customers. Have you ever heard a surgeon say “I will try to make the operation”? He inspires a lot of confidence in the eye of the relatives, doesn`t he?<br /><br /><br />5. “I am sorry” – This is a phrase that that is very used by sellers. Don`t use it. Try a different approach if you have made a mistake, like: “It`s a very unpleasant situation, let’s see what we can do to fix it”.<br /><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-64254945863680174232008-11-10T13:53:00.000-08:002008-11-10T14:12:10.365-08:004 Golden rules to respect when you make a commercial<span style="font-size:130%;">I have tried to point out some of the mistakes that some people tend to do when they are trying to make their first advertisement for their small business.<br /><br /><br /></span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />1. Don’t use you face – Don’t use your picture to promote the business, we know that you are a very important person, but let de advertising agency to find a model.<br /><br /><br />2. Don’t use pets - try to concentrate on the advantages that your product brings to the customer, don’t concentrate on what kind of dog appears in your commercial, Lets say that you are advertising in roof tiles, you want to use a pet for what? They are nice, but they don sell roof tiles (if you know what I mean)<br /><br /><br />3. Don’t try to copy other, and especially your competitors. Don’t make similar ads. The customer would not distinguish you from your competitors unless you come up with something new and innovative.<br /><br />4. Don’t put your ad everywhere; you will spend your money for nothing. Try to understand that not everyone is interesting in your product, so instead of throwing money away, try to advertise in places where your future customers are. Let’s continue with the example of roof tiles. For that kind of product you should advertise in DIY stores or specialized magazines.<br /></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-43401218696350028172008-11-07T01:52:00.000-08:002008-11-10T14:12:40.518-08:00Employees in the crisis, hiring opportunity<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;">With the crisis that we are dealing with many companies that have very competent people are on the brinks of bankruptcy. That is why is a good moment for you to hire excellent and very competent people with minimum costs.</span><br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:130%;">Also is a very good time to try to devote your time and resources to your most valuable employees and try to make your best (if you are a manager) to not let go your most reliable employees. Hard times pass with devoted employees.</span></span><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:130%;">If you are a manager it’s a good time to listen to any ideas that your employees may have. You will never know where you can discover a talent. You can implement their ideas and make your business more efficient, they can have ideas on how to reduce the costs or how to be more productive.</span></span><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:130%;">Some companies tent to leave all regarding to the company’s management, don’t make this mistake, try to involve all your employees in this process, you will only discover new and good ideas. </span></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-4401792961168402472008-10-31T01:10:00.000-07:002008-11-10T14:12:55.554-08:00A low-cost selling strategy<span style="font-size:130%;">Telemarketing was a very good strategy to sell products from big and small companies as well. But this was 15 years ago. Even thought there are not as effective as they used to be telemarketing agents can bring you nice profits. The phone bills will be a small amount to pay when you will have high profits.<br /><br /><br />I will give some advices regarding telemarketing strategies and methods:<br /></span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><br />1) Don`t try to sell products over 1000 $, they will be practically impossible to sell, try products under 200 $<br /><br />2) Try to simple products that the costumer could understand the description over the phone, complex products are not likely to be sold<br /><br />3) Using telemarketing you can study the market and the trend, you can anticipate the trend and come up with new products that will satisfy your customers<br /><br />4) Telemarketing will not work if it is your only product for your marketing campaign, try combining it with other marketing techniques<br /><br /></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-67386368806699693012008-10-24T01:21:00.000-07:002008-11-10T14:13:29.625-08:00Is it good or not to enter on a competitive market?<span style="font-size:130%;">A few days ago a friend of mine said that he wanted to bring on the market a new product, that in other countries was a success, but on our market it hasn`t been sold before. He was so excited, that I was a little bit of sad when I had to ask him the next question: “Did you think why that product is not yet on our market?” It’s a very thought decision that you will have to make. </span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><br />Every situation has ups and downs.<br /><br /><br />Let’s take for the first example the situation when your company enters a market that is very competitive. You will need many resources, quality products, good prices and a good marketing strategy to success. But because that are so many companies in that segment of the market it means that those services or product have a high demand in the market, and that is very good.<br /><br /><br />In the second example, when you decide to bring a new product or a new service on the market you will have to put yourself the question “Why does this product is not on the market?” Maybe some other people found out that there was no demand, it didn`t bring high profits, the necessary investment was too big. On the other side if you come out on the market with a new product that is a hit, you will make money very quickly and profits will be very good as well.<br /></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-84984661626683493012008-10-05T14:23:00.000-07:002008-11-10T14:13:42.609-08:005 mistakes that managers do<span style="font-size:130%;">1. They don’t have well defined purposes – As a manager you will always have to have clear objectives. If you, a manager, don’t have a purpose in the company, how would you expect your employees to have one?<br /><br />2. You are not organized - If you are not organized, you will lose important documents, you will lose client data and won’t find what you need in time<br /><br />3. You are too conservative - Try to think out of the box, try to bring innovation in the company.<br /><br />4. You don’t assume responsibility for your mistakes - When things are not going as you wanted to, it’s easier to blame someone else for your mistakes, but a true lieder always takes responsibility for his actions.<br /><br />5. You don’t know how to assign jobs – You have to be efficient and assign the right jobs to the right people that would do the their work in as little time as possible.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-41501756607044777212008-09-30T13:55:00.000-07:002008-11-10T14:17:04.264-08:005 ways to take your business to the next levelUntil now you have tried to make your business profitable with steady growth rate. Now when you have passed the first stage in business and have made a successful business is time to expand and take it to the next level. Here are some pointers that could guide you with your expansion:<br /><br />Expand with another location – First of all make sure that you can financially support a new location. Don’t rush into renting one that is cheaper; find a location that matches your business needs.<br /><br />You can invest into new domains – Domains that have a connection with your current business or domains that are completely new. For this you have to do a lot of market research.<br /><br />You can target other markets – Make new products that are destined to other markets, and match consumer’s needs. In this way you can increase rapidly your revenues. But be careful with the market research, it has to be correct.<br /><br />Franchise your business – In this way you can increase you brands awareness with minimal costs. Be careful, so those who buy your license keep your high standards.<br /><br />Buy a business - If you want do diversify your portfolio, you can buy a business. In this way you have a client database, already established. The hard part will be to merge the two companies together.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-10904262530628316942008-09-19T13:50:00.006-07:002008-09-27T08:47:16.355-07:00What do you do with a product that doesn`t sell<p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">You spend a lot of money and time in the research of a new product and when you get it out on the market, it doesn`t sell as much as you waned, what do you do? Well, you have two options: </span></p><p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">1. You change something : design, price<br />2. You get it out of the market – in the world 30 % of new products are taken out of markets within the first year. </span></span></p><p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">I would suggest a combination: get the product out of the market, is much more cheaper and doesn`t involve as much risks, and then when you revise your marketing strategy and position the product better, with small modifications you release the product again. This strategy is called: “turnaround strategy”, it is believed that a brand restyling is cheaper than launching a new product.<br /><br />The product must have something new, to attract more clients and to satisfy new needs, people won’t buy a product that has old features. But be careful you could launch a much more innovative product that the market is demanding, you could be ahead of your time, and that is not good either.<br /><br />Every product has a life cycle, from the day he is launch till the day it is no longer produced. Usually engineers and designers begin work on a new product with a couple of years before launching. In the car industry they start working on a new project before the latest model is launched.<br /><br />So try to stay in front of your competition, but not in front of your customers.</span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-35622948533802315732008-09-19T13:50:00.005-07:002008-09-27T08:48:08.936-07:0010 ways to save your business from bankruptcy - Part 2<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:georgia;">This is a continuation of my post </span><a href="http://business-fortune.blogspot.com/2008/09/10-ways-to-save-your-business-from.html"><span style="font-family:georgia;">10 ways to save your business from bankruptcy </span></a></div><div align="justify"><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">6. Don`t ignore your competitors mistakes - usually in business publication you can only read about successful entrepreneurs and successful businesses, nobody writes about bankrupt businesses because that kind of business doesn`t sell the paper. Try to get in touch with business owners that got bankrupt and ask their advice, I know it is hard to do that but try it; it will help you a lot. </span></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">7. Having lots of clients – I know that sound normal, but think of those companies that have exclusive contract with just one client. In the beginning they will think that is going to be easy dealing with just one client, especially if it is a long term contract. But what if your “big” client decides to end the contract because you are not doing your job right? What would you do then? </span></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">8. Always get the experts opinion – Most times business people avoid asking business advices from certified companies, because they say it is a waste of money. But trust me a good certified opinion may save you a lot of money, even after you pay the experts fee. </span></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">9. Keep in touch with the latest technologies that go around your business – you will lose many clients and most important your competitors will go in front of you if you use the same old products or services.<br /></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">10. Be careful when you launch new products – if you launch on the market new products that need a lot of recourses from your company make sure that you have studied that market very well and taking in consideration the risks. If the product is not a success your company may have lots of financial problems.</span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-19953319416494776452008-09-19T13:50:00.004-07:002008-09-27T08:48:18.111-07:00How to sell<p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">Try not to sell the product, try to sell the experience, the feeling. The item is just a pretext; you sell the experience to your client. If you are a Bentley dealer, you don`t sell a car, you sell the sensation of luxury. Let`s take another example: People who get sophisticated phones, but they have nothing to do with all those features, they just want to seem important and busy. You don` buy a Rolex because it`s a very good watch, you buy one because you want to show the whole world that you are rich.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="fullpost"></p><p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">You should be asking yourself two questions before you sell something:</span></p><p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">1) What am I selling?<br />2) Why would anyone buy my product?</span></p><p align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">The great psychologist Abraham Maslow made a pyramid of 5 needs that people should be satisfied with.<br /><br />1. Physiological needs – food , water<br />2. Security needs – a job, medical insurance<br />3. Social needs – friend, co-workers<br />4. Ego needs – respect, responsibility<br />5. Self accomplished needs – achieving in life<br /><br />For a sell to take place a certain need from the Maslow pyramid should be satisfied, and before you make you offer it is very important to understand what kind of need motivates the client to buy.</span><a class="cssButton" id="publishButton" onclick="if (this.className.indexOf("ubtn-disabled") == -1) {var e = document['stuffform'].publish;(e.length) ? e[0].click() : e.click(); if (window.event) window.event.cancelBubble = true; return false;}" href="javascript:void(0)"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span><div class="cssButtonOuter"><div class="cssButtonMiddle"><div class="cssButtonInner"><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span><br /></div></div></div></a></span><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-9617602083732087942008-09-19T13:50:00.003-07:002008-09-27T08:48:27.009-07:00Sudden problems in a company<div align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">They are very rare the cases when a company gets suddenly in a whole lot of trouble. Usually the sudden crash of some companies is not made by a problem, it is made by lots of smaller problems that managers should see, and take care, like: </span></div><div align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">- Staff fluctuation – employees work for your company only short periods of time<br />- Work related expenses rises but your cash-flow doesn`t<br />- Credit lines are always taken to a maximum and paying them is always done in the last moment<br />- Similar products appear on the market<br />- Your business only depends by one or two clients<br />- You argue with your partners more often than usual, regarding the direction of the company<br />- You don`t bring anything new</span><a class="cssButton" id="publishButton" onclick="if (this.className.indexOf("ubtn-disabled") == -1) {var e = document['stuffform'].publish;(e.length) ? e[0].click() : e.click(); if (window.event) window.event.cancelBubble = true; return false;}" href="javascript:void(0)"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> </span></div><div class="cssButtonMiddle" align="justify" style="font-family:arial;"><div class="cssButtonInner"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></div></div></a><div align="justify" face="arial"><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">- Your clients pay you late<br /><br />So, you should expect pretty hard times if some of the elements above are translated into your business. Good luck!!</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-24875956612768219962008-09-19T13:50:00.002-07:002008-09-27T08:46:10.559-07:0010 ways to save your business from bankruptcy - Part 1<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">A friend of mine, that wants to start his first business, asked me the other day what are the most important things to watch out in order to avoid bankruptcy within the first year. So I came out with 10 factors you should watch out when you start your own business.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />1. Watch out about the small loses you have in your company - Over 50% of the companies discover that their balance sheet is not so good as they hoped because of loses that relate with their activity, like: employees that you don`t need or unused space and equipment.<br /><br />2. Lack of interest for human resources - American scientists discover that the management is so busy to maintain the profitability of the company and they neglect the human resource department. A manager should always take care of his employees, if they are unhappy they wont work as well and the team relations will disappear.<br /><br />3. Building your business with your family - Don`t get me wrong, it is good to have a family business, but watch out if you hire a family member that is no so good trained as an other candidate for the position, it will drag down your business. You should forget about feelings when you discuss business.<br /><br />4. Keep your files in order - If you don`t keep them in order you can have problems with the IRS, and you may scare your future clients when they see you have lost their order.<br /><br />5. Costs - Don`t forget about costs. For a successful business you should always keep your costs as lower as possible. You may find out that by reducing costs, your business may become more profitable.</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-13378802839736492402008-09-19T13:50:00.001-07:002008-09-27T08:53:00.830-07:00Finance your business - Problem or Challenge?<div align="justify">"I don`t have money to start my own business", I hear that very often. People all over the world use those words when they want to express their fear of entering in business and becoming a successful entrepreneur. They say it like have everything except money, they have the knowledge, the experience, they have studied the market, they have the rare business sense, but no money.<br /> </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><span class="fullpost"><br />You need money to start your business? of course you need. A lot? That depends on the profile of your future business, you have to calculate for yourself all the costs that are involved. You may have a surprise to discover that the costs are not as high as you thought and, in fact are relatively small. Your business seems to have a bright future. Why does everyone think that a business can only be started with tens of thousand of $. You are right to say that, if you look at a couple of successful businesses you will see that they didn`t started with a small amount of money.<br /><br /><br />They have luxurious cars, lots of employees, big office buildings, you see their names everywhere, and you say to yourself that you don`t stand a chance. You are forgetting a crucial aspect regarding those businesses. They didn`t appear over night, they have a history of 10 -20 years, and when they started they didn`t have luxurious cars, big office buildings, they started just like you. They were happy if they didn`t go bankrupt, and their growth was small but steady. If we take a look at global companies like Gillette or Nike we will see that they started with a small amount of money. If they could do it, why can`t you?</span><br /> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-6677816261040447392008-09-19T13:50:00.000-07:002008-09-27T08:54:22.521-07:00What does your staff want?To have a successful business is not just to develop services and products. Many entrepreneurs concentrate on increasing sales and revenues an forget about the human factor. This factor is very important because without out it the business could not run. In this post I would like to show you some suggestions regarding the relationship the owner has with his employees.<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />1. It is wrong for you to think that your employee cares only about money. He looks for recognition of his efforts, to be appreciated for his work, also he wants to know exactly what he has to do in the company. Statistics have shown that 60 % on the staff complains the lack of communication they have with their boss regarding what they have to do for the company.<br />Some entrepreneurs think that they could obtain the best results if they adopt a cold and distant attitude with his employees. They want their staff to see them like a rough officer that gives orders to his soldiers. This technique is not good in a company because unlike soldiers that can`t leave, employees can. That is why you should congratulate your staff with every good work .<br /><br /><br />2. Signs that people from your staff want to quit Do you think that when your employee gives you the 2 weeks` notice before he quits is a sign that he is looking for a new job? WRONG. The search for a new job started perhaps months ago, and now he found what he was looking for.<br /><br /><br />Some of the real signs are: a newspaper on his desk opened at the small publicity section, the increase of days he spends in medical leave (he has to go to interviews, doesn`t he?), he is not as active in the meetings as he was before (could mean that he doesn`t care anymore about the company) </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-27346106847978303042008-09-15T23:11:00.000-07:002008-09-27T08:55:20.589-07:00Get money from "angels"<div align="justify">If you don`t have money to finance your business, you should consider all your possibilities. It doesn`t matter if you need 5000 or 100.000 euro (7200 or 145.000 $), a business angel may help you to start your business. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><span class="fullpost"><br />The business angel concept it`s similar with the capital – venture financing. In both cases, investors and entrepreneurs put their money together in order to get the business started.<br />Some people may have brilliant business ideas, but if they don`t have any money to start them with, it is no use, like Thomas Edison once said: “An idea is worthless unless you use it”. A business angel can help you to start the business. An “angel” is just like you, an entrepreneur, but one with a little more experience, and a little more successful businesses. </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><br />In order to get the “angel” on your side and become partners you will have to know your business very well, because if you don`t, he won`t invest in a person who is not sure what he is doing. Another thing in attracting the investor is that you will have to be completely honest with the numbers and the profits, because before he invests he will make a market research and eventually he will find out the truth. It has both good and bad sides of having an angel as your partner.</div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"> The good side is that he has a lot of experience and can help you with different things, and you will learn a lot from him. The bad thing is that he usually expects high profits, and doesn`t struggle as much as you to make the business work. </span><br /> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-9993226461763895522008-09-15T02:05:00.001-07:002008-09-27T08:59:54.246-07:00How do you make a business plan?Making a business plan can be very difficult especially for someone who has little or no experience at all. You will find on the internet and a lot of books with a lot of models for business plans. You could make your own business plan, but it has to contain some part that is obligatory.
<br />
<br /><span class="fullpost">
<br /><strong>The structure </strong>
<br /><strong>
<br /></strong>It is not a standard structure for all models, you should structure it according to the purpose of making it: for share holders, for the management, for getting finance. But all business plan should have the following parts:
<br /></strong>
<br /><strong>The product / services</strong>, and what market it`s addressed to.
<br />
<br /><strong>The competition</strong> - What technologies are they using, what is their market share, who are their clients
<br />
<br /><strong>Clients and suppliers</strong> - Who are your suppliers (remember, you should always have more than one supplier because you should not depend on just one.), who are your clients.
<br />
<br /><strong>Marketing</strong> - Market size, the segmentation of the market, who is your product address to.
<br />
<br /><strong>Risks</strong> - You always take in consideration the risks and you should minimize them
<br />
<br /><strong>Management</strong> - Who is the management of the company, what experience do they have </span>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-80674871003223542322008-09-12T01:31:00.000-07:002008-12-27T06:12:48.480-08:00How do you choose betwen a niche and a general business?<div align="justify">Niche businesses can be successful if you chose the right strategy, but also business where there is a high competition can be very profitable and can bring you lots of satisfactions. I will try to present you the pro and cons of each type. </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span class="fullpost"><br />If you are a business man that has already a couple of businesses in his resume, that could invest in any opportunity that the market gives you, because you have fleer, resources and experience. </div><div align="justify"><br />If you are a young business man that is a beginner, you could have more chances to success if you choose a niche business that needs a smaller investment and fewer resources.<br />Choosing niche business or a general one? </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br />A niche market is always interesting because it challenges your abilities to find new opportunities and new market demands. If you decide to start this kind of business you should know your clients very well and build long term relations. In order to run a successful niche business you will have to specialize: on a service or product, on quality or price. A niche business can bring you high profits if you run it right, and a general business gets high revenues. </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br />If you decide to choose a general business you have to provide services and products that have something unique, special, that none of your competitors have. You have to stand up with something so the clients chose you over your competitors, like: smaller prices, less time to get the product, post sale assistance. </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br />Usually niche businesses are formed in the shadow of big business, to help customers with a service or a product, that the big companies don`t care because they think that the market is too small. </div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br />Either types of business you will decide to start with remember that you should be very informed about that domain, and put passion in it.</span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-36813111337059787342008-09-09T14:05:00.000-07:002008-09-27T09:02:22.826-07:00A picture is worth more than 1000 words<div align="justify">Today I decided to talk about the importance of images in the daily commercials. Images not only bring a design contribution to commercials, but it also brings a much important thing, credibility.<br /><br /> <span class="fullpost"><br />You should be very careful when you choose the picture, don’t put a random picture, and put one that your future customer will identify with.<br /><br />A could recommend you some options that you have:<br /><br /><br />1. Put a picture with the product you are trying to sell. In the customer mind will form the idea that the product really exists.<br /><br /><br />2. Put a picture with the qualities of the product - You should publish a picture in witch your product shoes some qualities, qualities that your competition doesn’t have.<br /><br />And as a last advice, I will suggest you should leave it on the hands of professionals to make the design of the commercial, you did your part in choosing the picture.</span><br /> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-61006100733311948852008-08-30T13:23:00.000-07:002008-09-27T09:03:39.334-07:00Make a mark with your business card<div align="justify">At a first look a business card doesn’t seem like a powerful marketing tool, but it is one of the most an important and cheap parts of the marketing plan. Just think about the production cost of a business card, very cheap, and now think of what an impact it can have. Of course, do not expect to say everything about your company, just to make a very good first impression that will remain in the customer’s head.<br /><br /> <span class="fullpost"><br />Choose a business card with a design that matches your company’s profile. Just think if you are a financial consultant, or a Forex market broker, a business card with pink flowers will end up in the first garbage can. That is why when you choose your design try to choose the image that your company wants to promote. Usually that means you would have to choose from around 5 styles.<br /><br /><br />1. Simple style - The card in this category is usually printed black on white. You choose this type when your potential clients are serious people that don’t like anything else except fact and figures.<br /><br />2. Picture style - When you put your picture on the card you will make the client to remember you better. Also you can choose to put on the card a picture with your product, remember, a picture makes more than a1000 words.<br /><br /><br />3. Multi - functional style - A business card makes more than you show the address and the phone number of the company. You could print on the back a map of the location of the company, or a calendar. In this way you could make it useful for the people who have it and maybe they won’t throw it away.<br /><br />4. Touch style - The shape of the card could be unconventional or if it is not made out of cardboard, it could be kept because it is special. You also could give it the shape of your product, lets say a car, and the business card would be easier remembered.<br /><br /><br />5. Crazy style - this style allows you to make anything you want with the card, anything to draw attention on it.<br /><br />With all that said, I wish you good luck, and remember to verify 10 times the address and telephone number to be printed correctly. </span><br /> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-65523254209317207062008-08-28T13:19:00.000-07:002008-09-27T09:06:51.032-07:00The secrets of top managersWhat makes you a good manager? Did you ever think of that? Is it something you were born with or something you learned in time? A recent study made by Gallup showed some interesting things. The study was made with 80.000 top managers from all around the world. The study has shown that they follow a certain pattern, even though they work in different parts of the world.<br /><br /> <span class="fullpost"><br />1) Top managers has to set the financial goal of the company but leaves the decision on how to reach those goals to the rest of the team<br /><br />2) Top managers try to offer the employees new challenges. They try to make changes so people don’t get bored at the work place and as productive as they can.<br /><br /><br />3) The top manager has to understand each employee, to know what are they good at, and give them an assignment that matches their working profile.<br /><br />In conclusion top managers have to understand people they work with and to stimulate them to reach their professional best at their work place.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-17924092862725753702008-08-27T13:22:00.000-07:002008-09-27T09:09:19.067-07:00How to transform client complaints into a gold mineStatistics have shown that one client out of four is not pleased with the services / product he receives from a company, at one point. The client that is unhappy usually complaints, in average, to another 12 people, that he didn’t like the service / product.<br /><br /> <span class="fullpost"><br />Also statistics has shown that only 5 % of the unhappy clients report to the company what they did not like. The other 95 % believe that if the notify the company about their problem nobody would care. In conclusion they chose to go to another company that would satisfy their problems. That is why you should always listen to the problems that your clients have. To earn a new client you will have to spend 8 times more than you would have spent to keep one client with the company.<br /><br /><br />You should ask yourself a couple of questions to anticipate your customers demands<br />1. How many steps should a customer take in order to get what he wants?<br /><br />2. The front desk employees do whatever they can to resolve the customers needs?<br /><br />3. Are they willing do go around the company system in order to resolve client problems without creating an obligation from the company?<br /><br />4. The business procedures are made for the company or for the clients? In order to get answers to these questions you need to discuss with your front desk staff, they are the best people to ask about the customer’s problems.<br /><br />Also you should try to make your customers complete surveys about your company. With all of that said, I wish you good luck! </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483118000482881383.post-27395173646947406812008-08-25T13:21:00.000-07:002008-09-27T09:11:23.629-07:00How to get free publicity<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Newspapers are always looking for hot new subjects or subjects with what they can fill their pages. They are looking for new products or services that are on the market, so if your company has a new product, you only have to send a press release to newspapers.<br /><br /> <span class="fullpost"><br />There are big chances that they will publish an article about you. Editors get a lot of requests daily from companies that want an article published about them, so the competition in very stiff. Here are some rules you should follow for your press release to be in pole position:<br /><br /><br />1. Make sure that your article has a lot of pictures with the product and what is the product good for, remember, a picture makes more than 1000 words.<br /><br /><br />2. Send your article to the magazines that your customers are likely to read. It’s very important that your future customers to learn about your product and to make them want it.<br /><br />3. The article should de written by a person who has some experience with the press and has knowledge about how it should be written. Also he / she has to know about the product, to point out its best functions.<br /><br />4. Insist on the qualities of the product. Try to point out as much good things as you can, and how it can improve our lifestyle, remember, people like to hear that.<br /><br /><br />With all that said, I wish you good luck! </span><br /> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0