Characteristics of A Successful Small Business

One of the most asked questions for a business is “How Do I Make Money?” Well most don’t realize that there is a strategy to having a successful business. So here are common characteristics of a successful small business

1.       Have A Clear Vision

In order to create your business, you need to visualize what it is going to look like. You can’t create something you have never thought about. Decide exactly what your company to be. How many customers do you hope to have? How many employees? How much do you want to make? Etc.

2.       Have A Written Strategic Plan

You need a dream to get started but you need a plan to make it a reality. Your plan should explain what needs to be done by the end of the year. Your plan should be detailed and realistic. This makes it easier to see your vision through.

3.       Set Short Term Goals

Along with long term goals, it would be best to set short term goals. Most businesses identify what the company needs to achieve in the next quarter, monthly and/or week to meet their annual goals. Make sure that your team and employees are aware of these goals so that they know what needs to be done.

4.       Ongoing Education

Since you were born, you continue to learn. A business is no different. You need to read up on what needs to be done. Go to networking events, create polls, attend events with successful entrepreneurs, etc. You can never do enough learning especially when it comes to business.

5.       Please the Customers

It’s really simple. If you don’t satisfy or please your customers then your business will crumble. Keep your customers in your thoughts, and remember that by fulfilling their needs you are helping to satisfy your own.

6.       Great Marketing

With time most businesses will grow, but many people don’t have the patience. In order for your business to grow exponentially, you need to market yourself properly. Make a marketing and promotion plan to help you bring in new customers.

The key to your promotion plan is to leverage as many marketing channels as possible.

7.       Be Extremely Focused on Work

As a business owner you are constantly coming up with new ideas, but sometimes you need to ignore those ideas if it strays from your plan. The key to a successful business is focus on the goal at hand. Ask yourself, if I do this will it take longer for my long term goal to become reality? If yes then you probably shouldn’t do it.

Now I’m not saying you should always avoid new ideas and opportunities, but finish your short term goals first and always have your long term goal in your mind. Once you have considered your situation, you can begin to think about whether or not to follow this idea.
8.       Try. Try. And Try Again

Starting a new business isn’t easy and neither is being an entrepreneur or business owner. You are always working, especially in the beginning, but you should always remember to never give up.

Build up a tolerance to the bad situations and realize that if you keep at it, you will succeed.

Cherish your opportunity to begin a business and that you are doing something great. Follow these tips and I’ll see you on the side of success.

For more information bolt over to the full article: http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/04/characteristics-successful-business-owners.html

How do You Find Your Acquisition Cost and Profit Per Customer?

In order for your business to grow you need to calculate and understand your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Many small businesses do not realize the importance of CAC. Many believe that if they constantly gain customers then they will succeed, but this is untrue.

 Even if you gain leads or customers, if they are the wrong type then you will have wasted money. You want to gain a large influx of customers but only if they benefit you. This is where CAC comes in. It helps to determine where and how to distribute your marketing dollars.

 Calculating CAC

In order to get started, you need to know how to calculate it.

1.       Track your marketing expenses for everything that helps you bring in leads and customers

2.       For each marketing channel, track the number of customers you acquire in the same period for which you tracked the expense.

3.       Divide your expenses per marketing channel by the number of acquired customers from the same source

Here’s an example. Let’s say you spend $2000 setting up a booth at a convention. After the convention you gain 4 customers. Your CAC for the convention would be $500 ($2000/4).

Make sure you repeat this for ALL your marketing channels.

 Profit

You always want your CAC to be less than your profit. So if you gained $3000 overall, using the previous example, then you are at a good place. You are gaining money because you spent $2000 on a new customer but earned $1000 more than what you spent.

 When you examine the channels you can see which one is raking in the profits and which one isn’t. A lot of this is going to be trial and error but that is required for a business to be successful

 50% of businesses fail in the first four years. Don’t be in that 50%. By remembering to calculate your CAC you are already ahead of a majority of other businesses.

For more information head over to the original article: http://www.futuresimple.com/blog/acquisition-cost-and-profit-per-customer/