| |
| |
|
Small Business Information |
|
|
|
Looking into the Future for Profits
How to identify future solutions and opportunities? Your power page, if used extensively, will help you to identify areas where the client may need more help or may need to purchase additional products. When you read through your notes, you will be able to pinpoint areas that will be a business pain. Customers are always happy to find solutions to potential problems if they see their value. You must do your homework on various solutions before you make any suggestions. It is too easy to just promote your own company and its products. Make sure you know how the competition fits into the picture and what they can also offer to solve that same problem. Your power page should also contain competitor information. You need to know what others are doing in the market place and what their perceived value is to your client. You need to be better informed and better prepared than anyone else. You want to make it easy for the client to choose you over others. Tighten your business relationship by following through with promises and providing value. Your power page should contain all the information you need to keep the customer. Checklists What items do you like to keep track of during visits to clients: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Choose one potential client and fill in the Information Plan for that company. (see item number 92 for the information plan): Contact information: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Sales Volume: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Problems the company is encountering: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Who are their customers and what is their opinion of the target company: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ For your lead contact list all of the personal information you can gather (birthdate, anniversary, hobbies, other interests, clubs belonged to, etc.): ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ List 2 or 3 pieces of business you have recently lost and the reason why you lost the deal (be honest with yourself!): ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ What things can you do for the "lost" customer in order to keep in touch so that you may be considered when new business or projects are on the horizon: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ What is your VALUE proposition? What do you bring to the table for your customers? How have you verified your value: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people's attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the "Networking Queen". Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Small-Business - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Solving the Late Paying Customer Blues Nothing can drive a business down faster than customers who don't pay their bills as agreed. When you sell to customers on credit you are making an agreement with them. What is Business Process Automation? Business Process Automation or BPA for short. This was a buzzword a few years back with anyone and everyone claiming they were experts in this area. Survival Tips For Small Businesses You may be in Mail Order, Direct Mail, or you may be a local merchant with 150 employees; whichever, however or whatever---you've got to know how to keep your business alive during economic recessions. Anytime the cash flow in a business, large or small, starts to tighten up, the money management of that business has to be run as a "tight ship. 5 Steps To Success for Small Business Owners Everyone wants to succeed in life. Most people want to succeed in business. 11 Things Small Business Owners Can Learn From The Supreme Court 1. Have A Strong Constitution - Justices deliver decisions by interpreting the U. Finding the Right Virtual Assistant for Your Small Business Articles abound advising the business community how to properly screen when looking for a Virtual Assistant (VA). Unfortunately, some of the advice may lead you astray, as it often ignores the fact that VAs are not employees but independent contractors providing professional business to business (B2B) services. Site Selection - Slice of Life, A Car Wash and Detail Center DownTown There is a continual trend we are seeing which I can remember participating in over a decade ago, when cities were trying to figure out how to increase sales tax revenues when the large box stores outside of town came into nearby or surrounding areas. For instance a big and easy example would be Wal-Mart. Three Ways to Add Leverage to Your Small Business Remember those drawings from science class of how a lever works?The lever was a long bar that rested atop a triangularly shaped fulcrum. One end of the lever was underneath the object to be raised. Due Dilegence 101 Or What You Do Not Know Can Kill You! - Part 1 Introduction: This article is written as a general discussion on the subject of "Due Diligence". It is for informational purposes and not intended to be a definitive guideline for your exact situation. Making Your Purpose Your Business Step #2- Getting From Point A to Point B In my previous article, Step 1, your challenge for the month was to research where your passion lies. Based on your research you might have discovered that self investigation can lead us to two places; either we find out our answer or we realize we need to ask more questions to get that answer. Launching your Business with a Chamber of Commerce Why are Chambers a good launching pad?Chambers provide you with more ways to get to know the business community than most organizations. I was once elected President of a Chamber and the Board strived to get businesses involved with each other. Franchise Company Operations Manual Sample Outline Many companies wish to expand and a few wish to use franchising as a method of expansion. Not a bad idea, but one must consider the importance of the fine details. Postcard Marketing Your Small Business One of the best marketing strategies a business or organization can use is postcards. Even before the arrival of online postcard printing and mailing services, postcards had a good reputation amongst guerilla marketers because: They are fast, easy and relatively cheap - making them a boon to small business owners who are short on cash and time, yet need to build their brand and stay in front of their customers. Cashing In Your Chips & Pastures New No, I'm not talking about gambling or dairy cows - although business is often referred to as a gamble, I'm referring to your exit strategy. That time when you decide to 'play no more' and go off and practise your golf swing. Accounting and Billing Procedures for Small Business No matter how small your small business is, it is essential to have some sort of accounting and billing police and methodology. This will prevent you from making mistakes and upsetting vendors or even bouncing checks. Marketing a New or Small Business on a Budget There are almost as many opinions and views on marketing as there are companies to market. The big names and multinationals will have an extraordinary amount of funding set aside in which to convey their marketing message to the masses. Blowing Your Own Horn - A Key Marketing Strategy for Small Business -- Building Credibility Through Success Stories --Successful solo entrepreneurs spend quite a bit of time building and expanding their networks. These networks can cover a broad spectrum - professional associations, community service, school or alumni networks, virtual communities, athletic groups, neighborhood associations. Small Business - Would You Still Need An Accountant If You Didnt Need A Tax Return? After over thirty years advising small business it still comes as a surprise to see the number of small business owners who are only interested in their financial results when it is time to do their tax return.Many still think that their accountant is there to 'cook the books' at tax time!It is not surprising that almost invariably the business owners who approach their accounting in this way are those whose business is not doing well. The Key To Success - Choose The Right Partners Do you promote yourself as offering prompt, reliable and quality service?Of course - none of us promote ourselves as anything less, and equally we strive to provide this level of service all the time.So what happens when you take your networking to the next level, and start to offer referrals, or even establish partnerships or alliances for certain activities?Whatever you do at this point creates significant impact on your business and personal reputation - potentially positive and also potentially negative. If You Want Business - Be Consistent Why does consistency in the message have an effect on how the business relationship is formed?Your message to others needs to be consistent. You need to define your expertise and develop your elevator pitch.
|
|
|
|
|
