World Business Web

Have you ever met with a prospect who thought they knew everything about your product or service? But, after talking to them you discover they have been misinformed or did not know as much as they thought they knew?

With search engines like Google being such an easy place to get information for your prospects, you may find prospects who are educating themselves before talking with you. The real challenge becomes making sure the information they are researching is really good information to help them in their decision process.

Imagine for a minute you’re going to have a kidney transplant and you decide to do some research on the internet before hand. Do you take that information and tell your doctor how they should be doing the surgery, or even how you plan on buying their service? My guess is you would probably not do that, but it is just a guess.

Your doctor would probably do a good job of explaining how the procedure was going to go, what things you should be aware of, where to expect pain, why they’re doing what they are doing, etc. If you have good rapport with the doctor you will allow yourself to fall under their care, guidance, and protection.

So the ultimate question you need to ask yourself is who is the expert with your product or service? You or the prospect? Just because somebody read some information on the internet does not make them an expert. Remember that you are the expert in what you do, it’s now time for you to take charge and act like the expert.

Let me share how I go about guiding my prospects through the key areas they should be concerned about as it relates to growing their small business. There are two main areas I share with them.

The first area you want to be aware of is where can you achieve business growth. You have three opportunities to grow your business.

Growth Area #1: You can sell to more clients.

Growth Area #2: You can increase your frequency of sales to your clients.

Growth Area #3: You can increase your average sale.

The second area you want to be aware of are the four disciplines in your business to achieve growth in each of the three areas.

The first discipline is getting in front of enough new prospects.

The second discipline is converting your prospects into paying clients.

The third discipline is expanding the current client relationships you already have.

The fourth discipline is getting the right people on your team to execute the disciplines.

So after I share this information I ask my prospect the following. “Mr. Prospect, as you and I talk about growing your business, do these areas and disciplines make sense, and more importantly, are they relevant to the conversation you and I are going to have?” My experience is that after starting the conversation together like this, my prospects are in complete agreement with me.

If they are in agreement I always ask if there is anything else we should add to our conversation to make it worthwhile to them. This makes sure that any other items they may want to discuss are added to our meeting together.

There was a time where I had been instructed to ask people what they wanted to accomplish together and it almost always lead to nonsense. When I say nonsense I mean prospects said things like, “I want to find out how much it is, who else you work with, why I should buy from you, etc.”

I’m not saying these things are not important, but they never shared their real issues openly. All that other stuff is just intellectual fluff and not the real emotional goals and frustrations that drive prospects to buy.

By sharing the structure of the areas we help small businesses grow I have been able to guide prospects on the key areas that are either helping or hindering their business growth. I promise you that people want to be lead, and as small business owner it is your duty to lead them in the right direction.

Now it’s your turn. I want you to think about the areas or structure of what you do that helps your clients. How can you do something similar to what I created?

I have a client who sells furniture. We helped them define the best objectives for clients in the areas of comfort, quality, and style. By creating a basic outline you give yourself a framework to operate within. It also gives your people responsible for building business relationships great confidence, and helps you manage the process more effectively.

Your objective is to now go and brainstorm the components of structure that will help you guide your prospects. Then you can help them discover you are indeed the best fit to help them achieve their goals and overcome their frustrations.

Cash flow is one of the biggest challenges that small business owners face. One of the reasons is because usually not enough attention is paid to managing it, until a crisis hits. Small business owners are often so focused on growing their businesses and making sales that they fail to see how their operational costs are eating into their profits. Suddenly, there are bills to pay and clients haven’t paid yet; as the business owner, you have to figure out a way to get cash in fast. However, if you are diligent about managing your cash flow, you can foresee and set up contingencies for situations like that. Here are a few tips that can help you to stay ahead of the game.

Know Your Operational Costs

Right from the start you should know what it costs to run your business on a monthly basis. Certainly, there will be some variable costs that change on a monthly basis but you should still have a rough idea of what they are so you can form a budget. If you do not capture all your expenses then you are quite likely to forget about some of them. A few hundred dollars here and there can quickly add up. The easiest way to do this is to draw up a simple spreadsheet. Capture fixed expenses such as rental costs and salaries first, and then have sections for income such as stationary, telecommunications and fuel. These operational costs should form the basis of your budget. They define your break-even point of your business. Bring in less income than that and your business will be in trouble. Always know the target that you need to reach in terms of turnover.

Define Your Payment Dates

Try not to have all your expenses payable at the same time of the month. Most landlords require that you pay the rent up front yet many insurance companies, for example, will allow you to schedule your debit orders for the 10th or 15th of the month. What this does is spread the load of your payments throughout the month. Instead of having to make sure that you have a lump sum of cash available at the end of every month, you need only a portion of your expenses to be covered then and have some more time to get in the balance of your cash before the next batch is payable. It may initially seem like a mission to split up the payment dates but it can make a huge difference to your cash flow.

Be Strict with Your Debtors

This is a trap that too many business owners fall into. They do not want to offend customers and potentially lose out on their business so they bend over backwards to accommodate them and let them get away with paying late on a regular basis. Large companies often use this tactic to help balance their cash flows. The longer they can stave off paying a small business, the greater benefit to them. You don’t have to be aggressive when chasing payments. From the outset with clients, make sure that you clearly communicate your payment terms. Ideally, small businesses should operate on a cash-on-delivery basis but in many industries, this is not possible. Try to have as short a period as possible for payment. Ideally, it should be seven or 14 days. At the outset, it should never be more than 30 days. If it is seven days then clearly state this on your invoice and when you make delivery. If after the eighth day you have still not received payment, make a phone call to find out if it has been processed. If it has but doesn’t yet reflect in your account, let your client know that you will call to confirm as soon as it does. This is a polite way of letting them know that you watch and manage your cash flow closely and that they cannot get away with delaying payments.

Make Sure You Have a Wide Customer Base

Many small businesses start with just one or two major clients. While this is great initially, think of what will happen if that big client delays payment or doesn’t pay at all. How will that affect your cash flow? It is much better to have lots of smaller amounts of cash consistently coming into your business than to depend on one or two large payments every month. To have large clients is great but make sure you can break even without their payments. That way, you will always have a strong cash flow.

Have you ever seen those vinyl banners advertising sales and grand openings and wondered how you could get one for your business? This is a great question because not only are banners durable, cost effective and eco friendly they are really easy to order and buy. There are few things to consider when ordering and designing your vinyl banner that will help you make the best choice.

When considering where to buy vinyl banners be aware of what good construction means when speaking of quality banners. All vinyl is water and weatherproof but not all vinyl is the proper weight for most applications. 10oz vinyl is very common and is very cheap compared to heavier weights. This weight will look cheap, crease quickly and be ruined easily by weather elements.

On the other end of the spectrum is 16oz and 18oz material. Many companies advertise using this weight of material; however, while it is sturdy it is often too heave for most traditional uses. This weight is really only good for street banners which are placed high on a pole and have no backing support. They will experience higher winds and be left out for much longer than a regular sales banner. This extra weight can even make it harder to hang your banner and make it more likely for your banner to fall. The weight you should look for is 13oz material. This offers the durability you need while being light enough to be hung easily. It is also more affordable than the 16oz or 18oz.

Other construction elements you should be aware of are the stitching and grommets, if any. The stitching should go all around all four sides of the banner, otherwise fraying will happen too easily. The grommets, or holes, in the banner should be reinforced with metal and be spaced every two to three feet depending on how large the banner is. Three feet apart is acceptable for very large banner but smaller ones will do better with two feet between. This placement will ensure that your banner is easy to hang and will lie well without billowing out. You will not need to cut slits in the banner to prevent this; proper hanging will allow the banner to hang without a problem.

As for the actual ordering of your banner you will do well to look online. Few retail stores offer banners in anything but cheap, small varieties that are used primarily for birthday parties and anniversary parties and other similar celebrations. They are cheap looking and unprofessional for your business. Online companies offer a greater variety with more better quality.

Attracting Customers normally assumed to already have a product or service of excellent quality and all that remains is to find your ideal customer, know where they are, put together the right message and go get them. But today I want to talk just this part, service or product we offer.

Because no matter if we have a really good niche, if our message is perfect for that niche market and if we are to achieve and the channels we offer the best return on our investment, because it all goes to fret if the product or service is not attractive by itself.

So how must be a product or service so that it is attractive to customers? What features should it be?

Here are five characteristics that product or service must have to be attractive to customers:

1. You must solve a problem. If not fix, repair, amend, improve or alleviate a problem, pain, condition or situation, why would people want it? Why would pay for it? There must be a hefty profit, recognizable, noticeable and measurable to buy and use your product or service.

2. It should be appealing to many. You may have done the best invention of the world, but if only one in ten million people need or want, you will not have many sales. To be worthwhile, you’d have to sell at a high price and then would become even more difficult to sell. It offers a product or service that many want, and sell it will be easy.

3. It must be unique. If your product or service is the first in the industry, that’s better. The truth is that there is very little new under the sun, so your product or service should be different and offer different benefits than it does the rest. If you sell a rose a different name, no longer a rose, but if you can sell a rose that never loses its petals.

4. It must offer instant gratification. If your product or service will use it within a year, why buy now? People do not want to buy seeds, instead, prefer the tree planted grown and bearing fruit. Humans are generally very impatient, and the media have made us even more. As customers do not want the fishing rod, we want fresh fish, filleted, seasoned and served ready to eat.

5. Must be demonstrable. You could say that is a law: seeing believes. For a product or service attractive, the customer should be able to see for yourself how easy it is to use or how fast you can get the benefits. The samples, complimentary sessions and testimonials help us to this.

Analyzing these five points, your service or product … is it attractive?

Accepting credit cards is necessary for both off-line and online business. If you are having an online business and if you are not accepting credit cards, it means you are losing seventy percent of your business to your competitors. By not accepting credit cards, it is not only online businesses face loss, but the same applies for off line businesses too. The same figure of seventy percent is applicable for off-line business too.

According to a survey conducted, many Americans carry few amount say five or ten dollars. Almost all Americans pay their bills and shop only with their credit cards and debit cards. So if you are an individual having online or off-line business and do not accept credit card, you are sure to lose your sales. Accepting credit cards have become a necessity for increasing sales in both online and off-line business. Even the cost of product or service you sell is even less than five dollars; customers prefer to pay using their credit cards.

Many people prefer to pay using credit cards as it is not only convenient to carry with out the fear of theft but they also get reward points and incentives when they use their credit card to the maximum. So if any business, small or large, should get in to the method of accepting credit cards for increasing their annual turnover. There are many business people who give them offers or give them incentive when they use their credit cards. This make them buy most of their products or services using credit cards.

There are people who use credit cards on a compulsory basis are:

*Employees making purchases for their employers
*People who travel on company business
*People who make bulk purchases
*People who travel frequently prefer to book their tickets using credit cards

Accepting credit cards is compulsory in all sorts of business. If you do not accept credit card then you lose customers. Even very small business people are forced for accepting credit cards, in the fear of losing businesses. Even big companies, which purchase products or services for resale or for their internal use, make payments using credit cards. By not accepting credit cards, you are losing on repeated customers.

Above discussed points make clear that accepting credit cards is very important for increasing your sales, be it small or big businesses.