Why should you describe your business to others in 5 to 10 seconds? How long do you think you have to get anyone's attention? 5 minutes? 2 minutes? 30 seconds? It is actually 10 seconds. I know it does not seem like a long period of time but you will be amazed what you can say in 10 seconds. It is enough time to put your foot in your mouth and then try to get it out again, and it is also enough to tell someone your expertise and have them smiling and wanting to converse about it. Of course, I w More..

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Effectively Completing the Operations Plan Section of Your Business Plan

The Operations Plan is a critical component of any business plan as it presents the Company's action plan for executing its vision. The Operations Plan must detail 1) the processes that are performed to serve customers every day (short-term processes) and 2) the overall business milestones that the company must attain to be successful (long-term processes). Everyday Processes (Short-Term Processes) Every company has processes to provide its customers with products and services. For instance, W More..

Successfully Adding a Service To Your Business

There will come a time in your business where you feel ready to add another service offering. To make this successful, there are ten tips to consider before moving ahead. 1) Revisit your business plan. If you don't have one, write one for your business as it currently exists (even a one-page, brief summary will work fine). Compare how your business plan will be the same or different with the addition of this new service. 2) Will this new offering build adequately on what you already have in pl More..

A Small Business Consultant Can Help in Many Ways... But One Thing He Can?t Provide

A consultant must remember that the business belongs to the client. There is always a danger that the consultant will take a dominant position to the detriment of both of them. Let me tell you a story of when this was forgotten? It's not often a small business consultant will admit to a failure in a small business but my first adventure into small business consulting was a failure. I closed the business within two years. In 1980 I had planned to offer Mom-and-Pop sized businesses cheap but ef More..

Who Makes the BEST Alliance

What types of companies do you want to align yourself with? What is the best company to align with? It is a company that does not quite compete with your core business. By this we mean that the company has offerings that dovetail into what you have to offer. If you were selling tire rims, then you would likely want to form an alliance with a company that sells tires. The relationship would work for both companies. Even though you are in the same industry, you both have a different focus. By for More..

Finding the PERFECT Alliance Partner

Where do you look for the appropriate alliance? One of the most asked question is "Where do you find a good alliance partner?" It is actually fairly easy. You can find potential alliances by taking some time to research potential partners. Remember that you should start by focusing more on finding the potential partner than you do on implementing the alliance. You should rely on your own business relationships and referrals from your current customer base or contacts. It is through referrals t More..

Keeping a Partnership ALIVE and THRIVING

What are the best methods for keeping a good business relationship? Once you have a business relationship in place, you need to work on that relationship to keep it intact. As a matter of fact, people nurture their business relationships more than they do their families! The first and most obvious method is to follow up with questions and requests in a timely manner. This rapid response to queries does more for the relationship than sending out regular information. Customers or business partner More..

Become The Squeaky Wheel and Watch Your Business Skyrocket!

Providing high quality customer service is a must for any business to survive. Following up on all contacts and leads is also crucial in order to increase your sales and client base. If I had a nickel for every time I have had to remind a new client about the importance of following up... The truth is, life can be hectic. A typical business day can evolve around numerous telephone calls, deliveries, new orders and so on which can make following up on your days contacts rather difficult. Add More..

How to Create an Employee Manual

Large corporations use employee manuals to both educate employees about policies and protect themselves legally. Whether or not you need an employee manual is your decision, though it can be a great tool for keeping your policies consistent. Make sure you have your employee manual reviewed by a lawyer to make sure it is compliant with local and federal laws. Some employers also require employees to sign a document stating that they have read and understand the policies in the guide. The follow More..

Leveraging Business Relationships for more Profits

When should you leverage the relationship? Leveraging sometimes brings a negative connotation to the mix. It does not have to be that way. Leveraging with alliances can work into a win-win situation were both parties become more profitable and they form more solid business relationships. Leveraging should be taken seriously and not as a way to step on another business to make your own headway. If you work with the alliance partner, you will both be able to leverage the relationship for mutual b More..

Making Your Product Desirable For Alliance Partners

How do you make sure you have the business solutions or services that your alliance partner needs? You can only make sure that what you have to offer a company fits into their goals and mission if you do your research on what drives that business. If you go in "cold" you are not likely to win any business as you do not know enough about the company and they certainly do not know enough about you. You should never go to a cold call under any circumstances. You should find a way to learn more abo More..

Keep TRACK of your Business Relationships and Gain Profits

How do you know when an alliance needs to be monitored and tracked? More often than not, an alliance needs to be monitored and tracked. If you ignore your alliance partner at all, you will be losing ground and your business relationship will not be what you expect. If you ignore anyone, they tend to forget about you, or at least they will not take you seriously and will find other people to pass the time with. The same is true for an alliance partnership. You should remember to treat them just More..

Alliances: Drawing The Line

How far can you go based on your relationship with an alliance partner? The imaginary line you draw in the sand will let you know when an alliance is getting close to failing. I would suggest setting the line a little higher than the disaster point. As a matter of fact, the line should sit around the seventy-five percent position. This way you can work with the partner before the relationship dips too far down. A partner that experiences lulls in sales may be a fairly normal occurrence, but whe More..

Alliances: What works, what does not

Why Alliances Fail When do you know an alliance is falling apart? An alliance will surely fail without good communication on both sides. It will also fail if the alliance partner is not capable of completing the tasks set out in the service level agreement. Service level agreements are usually put in place so that milestones in the process can be monitored. The agreement also helps to alleviate the number of complaints by the alliance partner (and also the complaints about the service being pr More..

How to Promote Your Business by Entering Contests

You are probably hard at work promoting your business (and if you're not, you should be!), but if you haven't submitted your profile to any contests yet, you may be missing a golden opportunity. Receiving an award for your business can increase your company's credibility. Winners can brand their businesses as "Award Winning" in subsequent advertising and often receive a logo or emblem to note the achievement on web pages and promotional materials. Participating in events like these can generate More..

Maintaining Your Carpet Extractor in Your Auto Detail Shop

Auto Detailing: Maintaining A Commercial Carpet Extractor You should drain your carpet extractor at the end of each use or at least by the end of the day. Do not dump the excess dirty water or soap into a storm drain. Dump it into a toilet, sink or on a lawn. It is not allowed in the storm drain that is for storm water only and not the kind of scum, which is found in the discharge tank of a carpet extractor. If you leave the fluid in the tank more than a couple of days, it will be very difficul More..

The Key to Small Business Growth? Buyer Alignment

Unfortunately for all buyers, each selling organization and their individual sales professionals are unique and often require immense amounts of energy to build a relationship with. This keeps buyers guessing, which in turn keeps the sales organization guessing. It's a constant game being played out across offices across the country. To help both sides, it may be prudent to go back to root cause of these ambiguity. The only common denominator across all sales organizations and all buying organi More..

Its Spring - Time For A Compensation Program Tune Up

Now that winter has passed, the annual ritual of spring cleaning is in full swing. Spring cleaning is more than cleaning the windows and clearing the cobwebs that hid in the corners during the winter. "Spring is a time to take a serious look at your compensation program and begin planning for the next budget cycle. Depending on your organization's fiscal year, it may also be time to determine appropriate market adjustments and pay increases for the coming year," said Michael Maciekowich, Nationa More..

Do You Really Need a Toll-Free Number for Your Business?

Do You Really Need a Toll-Free Number for Your Business? The answer is YES! If you run a home business, whether it's a direct sales business, a part-time venture, or if you work full-time from home, if you don't have a toll-free number, you could be leaving money on the table. Studies show that a potential client is 50% more likely to contact a business who has a toll-free number. Marketing via the internet draws potential clients from all over the globe. That's what makes the internet such a p More..

Small Business - A Thing Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Badly

A thing worth doing is worth doing badly. Yes I know that it should be 'well'. My grandma drummed into me that whatever I did I should do it as well as I possibly could. But grandma said that there was another side to it. If it were worth doing, even doing it badly was better than not doing it at all. "Never be put off from doing something that ought to be done because others can do it better", said Grandma, "The others may not do it and then it never gets done". So it's hard for you to estim More..

Direct Mail - For Small Businesses

We hear a lot of talk about junk mail nowadays. Many people will tell you that they dump it straight in the trash. But why do you think so many organisations send out so called junk mail - because it works! I dump most of my junk mail just like everyone else, but every so often I'm attracted and respond to something that comes through the mail.Whatever it is, grabs my interest just at the right time. Sometimes it's a mailing I've seen several times and I've been slightly interested; however, th More..

Share Ad Expenses to Boost Profits

The challenges of the small business owner are well documented. They must battle for market share against larger competitors, run all aspects of their business, and even pay higher rates for advertising and other marketing related expenses. Small businesses generally do not qualify for volume discounts when it comes to buying advertising space or marketing materials, and thus they end up paying higher rates for the same ad space or marketing materials purchased by their corporate counterparts. More..

Small Business Marketing, According to Seinfeld

What could Seinfeld possibly have to do with marketing a small business? As it turns out, all small business owners could take a few lessons from the show that brought us such popular phrases as "Man Hands" and "master of your domain". The Coffee Shop - Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine spent countless hours in the coffee shop, talking about "nothing." You should spend some time there as well, but instead of talking about your parents or your date last night, get together with other small busin More..

Speed Kills on the Web!

I only have to point to the 555 plus failed .com companies (according to Web Mergers) as the poster children of the "speed at any cost" business mantra that clearly doesn't work. And these were companies who burnt through significant amounts of capital (in the millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions in many cases) while they were rushing to get to market. Do you wonder why every time you talk to someone he or she seems to be in such a hurry that they don't really have time to talk wi More..

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