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

Don’t Let Them Cheat You: Getting the Most from Suppliers

Many businesses work with their suppliers but don’t realize that they aren’t getting the most from them. Finding valuable and reliable suppliers is necessary for a successful business. In order for this to happen, there are necessary steps you must take.

Build Relationships with Suppliers  

You need to figure out exactly what you want from your suppliers. After you have done this, it will be easier to create a relationship with them. With a good relationship comes certain perks, like better payment terms or discounts. It would be good to go and see the business first hand. Figure out how they operate so you know exactly how to negotiate.

Service Level Agreements with Suppliers

Make sure that you check on your suppliers so that there aren’t any problems. It is worth it to get your contract checked by a professional adviser.

You should also include a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in the contract.  Use it to define benchmarks for most of the responsibilities in your relationship. Don’t forget about confidentiality!

SLA is supposed to be a guideline to make sure everything runs smoothly. It creates the criteria that the suppliers are expected to follow. If they fail then most SLAs provide compensation.

Review your Supplier’s Performance

It is always good to constantly review how your suppliers are doing. Most businesses feel that a monthly check is adequate.

You need to determine whether or not you are satisfied with their work, and if their work is worth whatever price you are paying. Everything is done to benefit your business so make sure that they are doing what you are comfortable with. Look into what your supplier’s competitors are doing, so that you can see that you are getting the best deal.

Even in a long term business relationship, you need to continue to check on both your supplier and their competitors. Everything constantly changes and after a certain amount of time your supplier may not be as top notch as you remember.

If you think that your suppliers aren’t living up to your SLA then demand changes. If they refuse then it may be time to rethink who you are doing business with.

For More Information skedaddle over to the full article: http://www.icaew.com/en/archive/library/subject-gateways/business-management/supply-chain-management/purchasing/small-business-update/how-to-get-the-most-from-your-suppliers

Factoring Receivables

An important part of running a business is understanding how to factor receivables. In order for you to be successful, you have to know what to avoid and certain tips.

Avoid  

1.       Long term contracts – you don’t want to get trapped in a long term contract because as a business, you may end up in the wrong business contract. It’s better to keep your options open while still trying to figure out what direction your business is going

2.       Hidden rates – You should be careful, not to get caught up in introductory rates that come with hidden fees. You should never spend more money than necessary or expected. Many low rates have monthly minimums or inactivity rates, so make sure you research and find what works best for you.

3.       Deception – Keep a copy of your contract and any addendums in a secure place so that if an issue or dispute comes up, you have a reference to go back to.

Remember

1.       Keep track of when customer checks are being applied to your invoices, so that you know when to expect payments.

2.       Get a factor that offer 24/7 secure online reporting. Be sure to look at these at least once a week. You need to make sure that everything is in order and makes sense.

3.       Watch your aging receivables carefully because the faster your collections come in and get posted, the lower your invoice factoring fees will be over time

Many businesses are pulled into the deception that comes with factoring receivables. Don’t let yourself be led astray and stick to a set budget and plan. If you have a goal in mind then it will be easier to choose a contract beneficial to you and avoid scams.

This is your business. Don’t let someone ruin it for you.

For complete words of wisdom take a peek at the full article: http://www.mpstarfinancial.com/tips-for-factoring-receivables/

Lower Your Business’s Energy Costs

Nowadays one of the most expensive costs for small businesses is energy. Of course any business would like to cut spending as much as possible. In order for this to be possible, one would have to make couple changes to the business but what changes should you make. That’s what we are here for.

Here are a few tips to lowering small business energy costs

1.       Turn off computers at night. Leaving a computer on overnight can be costly. Ensure that at night it is completely shut down.

2.       DIY insulation. Improving a building’s insulation and air leaks is a good way to prevent a waste of energy. This will help you make the most of what you are currently paying.

3.       Fees. Whenever employees want to charge their phone or something electronic that is non works related then charge a fee. This will deter employees from using energy unnecessarily.

4.       Work From Home. If the office isn’t in use then of course you will save energy. Encourage people to work from home once a week. Better yet, set a day for everyone to work from home so that the office can be shut down.

5.       Make it a Competition. You could make saving energy a competition between employees. You could get a cheap energy monitor and give the person who saved the most a prize. It would be beneficial to buy an energy monitor anyway so that you can monitor your energy use better.

6.       Clean light fixtures regularly. Cleaning lights and such increases light output
7.       Turn the thermostat down. Reducing your thermostat by just a little could save you more than 10%.

 

For more information see the full article at: http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/marketing/business-marketing/spending-too-much-on-small-business-marketing

Make the Most of Your Marketing Dollars

Every business wants to get the word out that there is a new competitor in town, but doing so requires major marketing. Now in order for the marketing to be successful, some money will have to be spent, but how can you determine an efficient amount to spend?

All businesses are different, and so each marketing plan is going to differ. In order to create a personalized plan that makes the most of your marketing dollars, you will need to follow a few steps.

 Budget

Creating a budget is the first and most important step. In order for you to make a budget you must ask yourself, how much can you spend a month without negatively affecting business? Once you have figured this out, you need to create an effective marketing plan that falls under this budget.

 Learn From Your Mistakes

No one creates an effective marketing plan on the first try, it just isn’t done. In order to perfect your plan, you need to track all your customer returns through: promotions, clicks, emails, calls, etc. Ask customers or future prospects how they found you, so you know what is truly effective. By doing so and gathering data on what works and what doesn’t, you can focus on what works and scrap what doesn’t

Refine and Perfect

Once you have figured out what works, you only need to perfect it. Each quarter look over your plan and shift the budget towards the successful campaigns. Over the next few months continue to monitor your business and mold your plan into something that brings in more money than you would have ever needed to spend.

Remember, this isn’t a one-time thing. This process continues over and over until the business runs its course. In order for you to truly be successful you need to understand that nothing stays the same. As the world changes, so do your customers. So you must continue to tweak and revise your goals, budget, and plan if you want to really do well.

If you would like to read the full article then head over here: http://www.design-first.com/articles/tracking-your-marketing-dollars.html?page=1

Bring in Big Business from Other Business

Everyone wants their business to be successful but not many know the steps to get there. Well we have outlined some of the steps to a process known as “host beneficiary”. For a startup this is the fastest way to get the money you crave.

You use established businesses that have a similar target audience to you and create a relationship with them. You then promote yourself to their database and let them do the work for you. This may seem like a lot of work but it is really simple.

Here are the six steps you should follow:

       1.       Clearly define who your target audience is – You need to create an extremely detailed profile of who your target customer is. The more that you can identify, then the more businesses you can approach.

          2.    Identify and form relationships with local businesses in similar market segments – You will be able to get more business if you associate with similar markets. For example: If you are an auto dealer for BMWs or Ferraris then you would want to associate with upscale clothing shops and businesses because this is where most of your prospective customers will be

          3.   Develop and clear and concise plan for each prospective partner – Come up with a product/service that is of value to customers and of low cost to you. For example, a computer company might offer a voucher for computer repair from one of the local businesses. This brings in business for both you and your partner

          4.   Pitch the Plan – Of course if you want to get anything done, you have to tell your possible partner about the plan. Pitch the plan and make sure to emphasize and highlight how it is of benefit to the prospect. If they don’t see any or enough value then they will probably deny you.

          5. Create a Draft Offer – Create a written out version of the offer so that it can be spread to others through newsletters and emails. This also makes it easier to go back and make changes if need be.

          6. Develop a Strategy to create repeat customers – Over the course of this business, you need to watch and figure out       what strategy works best for you. Which voucher did the customers respond to? Who is benefiting you the most? You need to question everything so that you can profit more in the end.

So now that you understand how this works, it should be easy for you to see why this is one of the most beneficial plans to gaining success. Instead of trying to bring in new customers, you can use those who have already gained success to bring in your own. It benefits everyone and with not too much effort. It really is the best way to go.

For more information on the subject check out the full article: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/185880#