customer. You could follow-up with a "thank you"

email and include an advertisement for other products

you sell. You could follow-up every few months.

2. You could upsell to your customers. When they're

at your order page, tell them about a few extra related

products you have for sale. They could just add it to

their original order.

3. Tell your customers if they refer four customers to

your web site, they will receive a full rebate of their

purchase price. This will turn one sale into three sales. 4. When you sell a product, give your customers

option of joining an affiliate program so they can make

commissions selling your product. This will multiply

the sale you just made.

5. Sell reprint/reproduction rights to your products.

You could include an ad on or with product for

other products you sell. You could make sales for

reproduction rights and sales on back end product.

6. You could cross promote your product with other

businesses' products in a package deal. You can

By Steve Baker

I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that 98% of businesses are small businesses. That bodes well for entrepreneurial spirit that has made our nation great. The bad news is that 80%, that’s right, four out of five new businesses will fail in their first five years.

After years of building my own companies and consulting growing businesses, I’ve come to realization that too many business owners can’t see their business through an objective eye, which often leads to their demise. It takes an incredible amount of intense drive, determination and a strong ego to breathe life into a business and create products from scratch, but it’s also that same ego that won’t let a business owner be objective about what their business needs to succeed. The business is up and running at light-speed and management doesn’t have time or willingness to stand back and take a real look at what they have created. They are too close to problems to see them. Just like a proud parent, they have spent sweat and time creating this “baby,” and they refuse to believe that it might be less than perfect.

I call this “business parent trap.” It is in this trap that business owners often create and introduce products that would not test out in marketplace. There’s an attitude of “Hey, it’s gotta be great because I thought of it.”

I’ve found that there are usually two basic things wrong with a business: product (the Baby) and management (the Breath).

So how do you assess your business? Are your employees going to tell you that you’re headed in wrong direction? Not likely. Occasionally a consultant will be brought in to review company’s performance in a given area. Unfortunately, when management does bring in a consultant, they often are really looking for affirmation – not straight-forward constructive criticism. Sadly, some consultants are more than willing to “affirm for a fee.”

If you’re going to succeed, then someone needs to tell you if your baby’s ugly or you’ve got bad (corporate) breath. So here are some blunt yet truthful thoughts for your business, and perhaps you: