Tips on Boosting Small Biz Profits

Written by Bea Fields


No matter what stage your small business is in, one thing is for sure: money matters! If you are in a slump,repparttar fastest way to jump-start your sales is to reach out and touch as many people as possible using your unique talents and gifts. These ten tips will guide you to maximizing profits from your small business while becoming a biz expert one day at a time.

1. Choose your words with care.

Each time you speak, you haverepparttar 106065 chance to make or break your business. Use active sentences that speak confidence: "We need to fix this today," and use tones that are neutral (avoid talking too loudly, too quickly, too softly, or too slowly).

2. Consider using kids as marketing consultants.

Children have a natural tendency to think outside ofrepparttar 106066 box, and they can be an asset for entrepreneurs trying to reach a booming, growing market.

3. Build lasting relationships.

Communicate with your customers even when you are not trying to sell them something. Send handwritten congratulatory notes, give gifts as a follow-up to a sale or referral, personalize e-mails and faxes to existing clients, and incorporate "little acts of kindness" into your daily business routine.

4. Make small talk.

Ask open-ended questions, and remember to listen closely. Decide who your best prospects are, where you will find them, and go where they are: meetings, committees,repparttar 106067 local coffee shop,repparttar 106068 circus,repparttar 106069 university campus, or a shopping plaza.

5. Know your birth order.

Did you know that whether you arerepparttar 106070 youngest, oldest, or middle in your birth order can influence how you run your business? Research shows that first-borns are often conscientious, obedient, and hard-driving. Later-borns are often more flexible, innovative, laid-back, and social. Middle-borns are often negotiators, supportive, hardworking, and love to please.

8 Steps to Creating a Simple Business Plan for 2003

Written by Herman Drost


Your business plan is like a road map to long-term success. You may have been in a situation where you didn't have a map to find your destination and ended up horribly lost wasting precious time and money. Well,repparttar same can happen if you don't plan out your business strategies.

Why you need a business plan. It gives you a clear direction where your business is heading. Many business owners just jump into creating a business without researching and making a concrete plan. Inevitably, they soon find that they are out of money and have no time or clear strategies how to market their business.

Here are 8 simple steps to creating your own business plan (this is by no means a comprehensive plan but a primer to get you started):

1. Name of your business - create a name or reevaluaterepparttar 106064 name of your business. Does it integrate well with what you are selling? Is it easy to spell and remember? Is it a name that can be well branded over time?

2. Vision - what will your business look like 5 years from now? Think of how you may want to expand it to include other branches or extra employees.

3. Mission statement - this defines what your business really does, what activities it performs and what is unique about it that stands out from your competitors.

4. Goals and objectives - clearly define what you want to achieve with your business. Make sure they are quantifiable and set to specific time lines. Set specific goals for each of your products or services.

5. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) - by analyzing these characteristics in your business, you will get a clearer idea of what it will take for you to not only to survive but also prosper.

This could include such factors as:

- your companies own changing industry -repparttar 106065 marketplace which may change due to social and economic conditions. - competition which may create new threats and/or opportunities. - new technologies which may cause you to change products orrepparttar 106066 process in how you do things.

Evaluating your SWOT will help you to:

- build on your strengths - resolve your weaknesses - exploit opportunities - avoid threats

Doing this analysis will help you create a more realistic strategic action plan.

6. Strategic action plan - this isrepparttar 106067 most critical step of your business plan, because without it, your business will not get offrepparttar 106068 ground. This should include your sales and marketing strategies. (read "how to create your web site marketing plan" http://www.isitebuild.com/websitemarketingplan)

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use