Keys To Small Business Success

William A. Ward once said, "Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently". Use Ward's advice while pursuing the following tips for small business success.

1. Stay current.
Join an industry association related to your product or offering. Subscribe to all the magazines that cover your business. (They are tax deductible!) Look at joining an organization like NASE ( National Association of Self employed). They have great sources of advice and information as well as great discounts on insurance, rental cars, and other business expenses. Read and constantly be researching topics about your business. It's easy on the internet!

2. Make sure you have a financial plan.
Also a budget and a measurement process to keep track of how you are doing monthly. If you don't know where you stand financially and have no short term and long term financial goals, then you are just letting fate dictate your success and we know those odds aren't too good. Control your own destiny!

3. Cash forecasting.
It sounds boring and difficult, but it's not. Keep it simple. Look at your next 3 months projected income or revenue, then just lay next to it all the expenditures you need to keep the business running. The difference is your cash flow. You must do this to avoid surprises. Most businesses hit the brick wall because they fail to understand their cash flow.

4. Get an advisory board or a mentor.
Sounds crazy for a small operation? It's not! The board can be family members that you trust, or friends. Ask them to be your board of directors and review your business plans and results with them. Having someone to bounce ideas off and get an objective opinion is critical. Or, hire a Business Coach.

5. Maintain a balance between work, play and family.
This is critical for long term success. We all put in crazy hours on a short term basis to get a hot project done or the product out the door, but if you do this on a long term, regular basis it is a dangerous sign that you are losing perspective. You need to be able to step away on a regular basis and get your batteries re-charged. And also have time for family because if they suffer it is almost a sure bet your business will suffer too.

6. Network.
It's easy to get isolated in a home business or your own small business operation. Force yourself to get out and meet with others that can provide a business support structure for you. One of the benefits of a corporation is the workings of teams and the on going support structure it provides. You need to create that for yourself. Don't think you can do it all by yourself; By talking to others in business you will find out great ideas and it will help motivate you.

7. Discipline/Motivation.
One of the hardest aspects of a small business or home based business is creating the discipline or motivation to work each day. It is so easy to get distracted and put off the essential tasks that need to get done. Keep your work place and hours separate from the rest of your responsibilities. Develop a to-do list EVERYDAY. Set goals for the week. Review how you are doing against them. We all struggle with this and it is one of the key elements of success.

8. Don't rest on your laurels.
Be prepared to always change. Force change. Look for things to do more efficiently or how to improve your offering or product. Constantly evaluate your competition and benchmark yourself against them.

9. Do something you love.
If you are in a business that you hate, then it is a good bet you won't be successful. Find where your true talents and skills are and get in a business that exploits them. The saying, " if you do what you love and the money will follow" is so true. Remember success is more attitude than aptitude and never forget that failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

10. Don't Give up.
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs failed several times before doing extremely well. So, if you're failing, fail. And fail fast. And learn. And try again, with this new wisdom. Do NOT give up. Yet, do not suffer, either.

Ten Signals That It's Time to Make a Radical Shift in Your Business

Certain business realities signal us that we should make a shift if we are to survive. Herewith, a list of some of those signals.

1. You find more and more competitors in your market.
An indication that it's a good market, but being fractioned. Unless what you offer is both different and better, look for another niche.

2. Your market disappears.
OK, you make the world's best buggy whips! Wake up.

3. Your interests and values are out of sync with your business.
A formula for business disaster and personal misery. Revisit your vision and mission--and align them with your values. Now start again.

4. Your customers are leaving for your competition.
Either figure out why and fix it or find another business.

5. You dread going to work in the morning.
Figure out why. If it can't be changed, do something else.

6. You notice your competitors changing.
Have you noticed that, like it or not, it's a race? Do what it takes to win or join another race.

7. Working on the business is taking more time than working in the business.
If your revenue can't support more help, find a way to simplify and streamline your business (your competitors probably are).

8. You're losing key employees to your competitors.
A sure sign of "trouble in River City!" Conduct "exit interviews" with departing employees--figure out what the competition's got that you don't.

9. Your business no longer supports your lifestyle.
Well, change either one or the other until they're in sync.

10. You're neither learning nor having fun any more.
Certain death if you stick it out. Time for a fresh start.

How to To Improve Your Company

1. Know your personal values.
What's most important to you personally? When you know your values, you'll better filter new information and opportunities and can rely better on your intuition because you know what you're hearing and how it fits in with you.

2. Get candid input from at least 5 other people who know you well.
While it's nice to get input from experts, it's as valuable to get points of view from colleagues, family members, key employees who know you -- they know your tendencies, your moods, the way you think, your blind spots, your passions. Let them guide you.

3. Have a really big, big picture.
When you know your long term goals, have a vision or have a helicopter view of the current situation or opportunity, you'll be "seeing more" and thus have more information on which to base your decision.

4. Always have a Plan B, Plan C and Plan D ready to go!
You can improve your good judgment by having back up plans, whether you need them or not.

5. Don't put yourself in situations where you are forced to rely too much on your "good judgment."
This one is important. After all, shouldn't you be enough ahead of the curve to have been making good decisions along the way so that having "good judgment" doesn't become critical? Don't confuse good judgment with crisis management.

6. Separate the facts from the interpretation of the facts.
There are very few facts that aren't also coupled with someone's (even your) interpretation of the facts. Either sales are down 20% or they are not. An explanation is just that. There are great explanations, few of which are worth banking your business on. If sales are down, assume they'll stay down until you do something about it.

7. Always include a worst-case scenario -- and make it a really bad scenario.
For a decade or two, Detroit kept factoring in worst-case scenarios, yet they continually came up short because they took incremental actions based on what they wanted to believe would happen, not what was so clearly a long-term trend of foreign-made cars slicing up their market share. Living in denial is always expensive -- yet we all do it. A good way to get out of denial is to assume that sales will drop 50% in the next year (think Volkswagen) and "be ready" for that possibility. Just by including that option and developing options at that level, one will make a better decision about what is more likely to happen.

8. Always look at the downside of every decision you make.
If you're adding a new product, increasing the customer service budget, reducing overhead, permitting use of your name/trademark, entering into a co-venture agreement, make a list of the 10 potentially negative and even deadly consequences of even a no-brainer/excellent change. Everything affects everything today -- and unexpectedly. If you respect this ecological truth you'll realize that every decision affects, in some way, you, your employees, your shareholders, your profitability and your viability.

9. Seek to enhance your reputation first; bottom line second.
I used to base most of my decisions on whether or not my company would make more money. But in 1994, I realized that the future of my business came from my current customers, their word-of-mouth and from the press we were beginning to receive from the national media. At that point, it occurred to me that if I'd just invest more money in our reputation and make my decisions based more on reputation than quarterly profitability, I'd be a lot more financially successful --- and more proud of my company, too.

10. Hang out with others who have excellent judgment.
There are so many subtleties about acquiring and developing good judgment that most of the process comes best from friends, colleagues, competitors and staff who already have great judgment. Learn from them, in every conversation.

How to be a Super Successful Sales Professional

The top 5% of all sales professionals seems to have most of the following qualities, traits, styles and attitudes. I've included the traditional/old selling skill in parenthesis. Obviously, these Top 10 Secrets go the next step beyond the traditional way of describing them.

1. An obvious and compelling Passion for People, not just the for product or service. (OLD: Really believe in the product/service.)
   Super Sales Professionals care SO much for people and helping them to solve their problems/get their buying needs met that the buyer FEELs this. It's not an act; it's a calling.
2. An ability to help the prospective customer to FEEL. (OLD: Find/create pain.)
   The Super Sales Professional doesn't just look for the hot buttons as a way of getting the person to buy. Instead, they help to create a possibility that EXCITES the buyer.
3. A willingness to sell to the buyer's buying strategy instead of using a collection of selling techniques and hoping for a connection. (OLD: Using a technique that works for you.)
   This requires a certain humility because the Super Sales Professional makes the buyer more important than the Super Sales Professionals collection of selling skills. Every buyer has their preferred way to purchase; get to know these in general and quickly discover the preferred way that your potential customer buys/makes a decision, etc.
4. An ability to peg/discern who is going to be a buyer and who is not. (OLD: Ability to qualify prospects quickly.)
   Super Sales Professionals have a sixth sense that helps them to distinguish between tire kickers and real buyers. This sixth sense is develop-able. And, it saves LOTS of time and frustration when mastered.
5. Ability to easily match the EXACT features/benefits of the product with the client's spoken or unspoken needs or wants. (OLD: Sell the sizzle, not just the steak.)
   No buyer cares about ALL of the features and benefits; they usually only care about 1 or 2 of them. Your mission: Sense, feel or discover (by asking questions, guessing) the key benefits that turn this discussion into a sale, quickly.
6. Not needing to have to make the sale. (OLD: Don't appear too hungry.)
   Hungry salespeople scare away the meal.
7. Discerning the appropriate next step for the buyer and helping them to see how your product/service is the obvious choice. (OLD: Sell to the need.)
   This requires some thinking and feeling. When you can size up your buyer and look "ahead" for/with them, you'll see a picture of what's next and be better able to language how your product/service can assist them in their progress.
8. Having enough evidence of how REALLY effective valuable your product/service is and then sharing that with confidence. (OLD: Know your product/service well.)
   When you've seen enough customers do extremely well with your product or service (not just well, but EXTREMELY well), you'll not be hesitant to share how well your product/service works. Facts inspire confidence. Get to know the real facts about how effective your product or service performs and delights customers, and you'll be a FEARLESS sales professional.
9. Naturally adding value to everyone you touch, buyer or not. (OLD: Be a resource to potential customers.)
   Either you seek to add value to everyone or you don't.
10. Be human, be light and be real with everyone. Don't perform or act. (OLD: Create rapport.)
    Drop the pretense, the false sincerity, the "I'm your new best friend", the "I'm here to SERVE you at least as long as I think there's a chance that you'll buy something from me".

How to Increase Profits in Your Business

1. Cut overhead by automating almost everything.
Accounting, reporting, voice mail, ordering, fulfillment, customer service, sales.

2. Cut variable expenses by negotiating with suppliers.
If you're seeking higher profits, you'll need your suppliers to reinvent themselves too! The smart suppliers will be empowered by your request.

3. Cut variable expenses by redesigning (re-engineering) how work gets done/how the product is produced.
This should be a continual process and second nature to you.

4. Increase productivity by expecting 50%-100% more from everyone.
(Yes, really. THAT much more.) And give them the best tools and training needed to produce more, without stress.

5. Leverage your strengths by extending the product/service line.
If you can easily add supplemental products or customized versions at the same profit margin, your overall profit should increase.

6. Each quarter, challenge your assumptions about your industry and your company.
Profit is ALWAYS temporary. What keeps profits increasing long term is staying in touch with an always-changing marketplace/industry.

7. Experiment with new ideas, new types of products and new processes.
Invest 1% of sales into making boo-boos, radical experiments, intuitively-based decisions, think tank getaways -- whatever is beyond the 9 dots.

8. Have and hire only employees who continually impress you with their initiative and competence.
Let everyone else go. Increasing profits come from great employees, not average ones.

9. Turn your customer service department into the
R&D Department of your company.

What you need to consider when dealing with customers

Following are the top ten things any business needs to consider when designing policies and procedures to deal with customers.

1. Customers are not transactions!
While transactions are important, when we confuse transactions and customers we lose the leverage of the customer relationship.

2. Build relationships INTO your policies & procedures!
When we design an organization, we need to consider how our policies and procedures will ALLOW our employees to build customer relationships.

3. Transaction density is just as important as transaction intensity!
The more we can "do" for our customers, the greater number of products and services they purchase from our organization. If we increase the number of options for them each time they purchase or use our services, the likelihood remains that they will purchase or use our services in greater depth each time they purchase.

4. What is our "share of life?"
Throughout the lifetime of our customers, we will have the opportunity to share our products and services with them. To the extent this sharing is beneficial to both parties will indicate the level of share we have the opportunity to gain. Over the course of this sharing, our products will gain a percentage of total sales in that category of our customer's purchasing life. This is our "share of life."

5. Building relationships and margin through attitude!
Indirect benefits of handling your customers as if their total purchasing lifetime matters is the ATTITUDE of your enterprise. Even if customers never return or purchase another thing, they remember and pass on to others that attitude.

6. Margin increases over a lifetime!
Studies have shown that over a lifetime of a customer relationship, that profits increase due to lower costs of acquisition and maintenance in the relationship.

7. Customer loyalty results from relationships!
Word of mouth advertising constitutes roughly 55% of your total impressions that bring customers to your business. As customer loyalty increases along with lifetime value and share of life, the ability of your enterprise to attract and maintain its customer base increases customer loyalty.

8. "Lifetime value systems" increase barriers to switching!
The greater the relationship that exists between your business and your customers, the more your customers are invested in your business. This investment increases the "switching cost" of your customers to move to another brand. Due to the simple attitude your business develops regarding "customer lifetime value," your customers are "encouraged and attracted" to doing even more business with you because it is easier than training a new business to serve them as well.

9. Lifetime value systems create leverage for employees!
When your employees understand the concept of customer lifetime value, they find it much easier to deal with problems associated with customer relationships. Instead of dealing with the moment they deal with the moment in the context of the lifetime value relationship!

10. Customer Lifetime Value means "money for nothing!"
The sheer force of a customer relationship produces benefits to the business through increased margin and benefits to the customer through innovative ways to meet needs. This perspective is win-win and offers momentum to the relationship that creates opportunity for everyone involved!

Order today and start getting your Grants