Posts
07:06
smartflow
No matter what industry you’re in, building business relationships helps you increase sales, develop innovative ideas and discover new ways to grow your company. Here are 10 tips for building business relationships.
1. Join the club. Industry trade associations, niche organizations such as groups for minority or women business owners, groups your key clients belong to and your local chamber of commerce are all great places to make new contacts. 2. Join the group. Know what you are hoping to achieve from a particular organization. Do you want to meet prospective clients, potential partners, job candidates or suppliers? Setting goals will help you assess whether an organization...
Friday, 30 December 2011
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
How Big Are You Thinking
How Big Are You Thinking?
I strongly believe that most people-including sales people-don't think big enough. They succumb to small thinking and don't believe they can achieve big, audacious goals.Yet, thinking big is one of the keys to success.The other day I had a conversation with my business partner and we both agreed that we could achieve more and elevate the business to a new level.Will it be easy?Of course not.But anything worth achieving is worth working for. I'm not sure who originally stated that but I firmly believe that we owe it to ourselves to set big, challenging goals.Goals that scare you.Goals that make you sweat and cause you to wake up in the middle of the night and ask yourself, "Can I really do this?"If you settle for average,...
How To Manage Your Tasks
Manage your tasks by taking these 5 simple steps...Step 1: Consolidate
You probably have tasks written down on your desk, in your calendar, in documents and email and maybe even on your mobile phone. The first step is to consolidate all of these tasks into one simple list.Make sure your task list is easily accessible because if it's not, then you'll end up with a splattering of tasks around your office within no time. So you can share it with others and access it from anywhere, anytime.Step 2: Prioritize
With all of your tasks in one place, prioritize them by moving the most important tasks to the top and the least important to the bottom. In this way, you can work from top to bottom in your list knowing that you are always working on the right thing at the right time.Make sure you prioritize...
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
How to Build Trust
• Hire and promote people, who are capable of forming positive, trusting interpersonal relationships with people who report to them, to supervisory positions. The supervisor's relationship with reporting employees is the fundamental building block of trust.
• Develop the skills of all employees, and especially those of current supervisors and people desiring promotion, in interpersonal relationship building and effective interpersonal skills.
• Keep staff members truthfully informed. Provide as much information as you can comfortably divulge as soon as possible in any situation.
• Expect supervisors to act with integrity and keep commitments. If you cannot keep a commitment, explain what is happening in the situation without delay. Current behavior and actions are perceived by employees...
The Real Secret to Closing More Deals
The best ways to improve deal closing percentageYou can’t close an unqualified prospect. For many salespeople this advice falls on deaf ears. Instead, they live by the motto that any prospect is a good prospect. Unfortunately this way of thinking hampers their success and holds them back from the big commission checks they deserve.Don't Waste TimeI hear the same sad stories again and again. Deals lost and time wasted on prospects who were not the decision makers, who were already under long-term contracts, who were just shopping for price to keep their current vendor honest, or who were not in the buying window. Each working day salespeople across the globe are surprised to find out that...
Monday, 5 December 2011
Creating a Mission Statement
Information About Creating a Mission Statement Whether you're a large company or an entrepreneur, it's important to communicate what your business is about to employees, to customers, to suppliers, and to the community.Steps for Creating a Mission StatementFirst step - round up the troops. Choose a team of people to help create your mission statement. Five heads are definitely better than one. And be sure to choose people you feel are personally invested in the mission statement of the company.
Now that you've gathered your team, it's time to ask the right questions. Some of them may seem simple - for example, what is the business? Why are you in this business? And what services do you provide? And some of them make you think a little bit. What are some of your goals...
Gain Your Prospects Attention
10 Ways To Gain Your Prospects Attention Using Your Picture Alone
1. Use an uncommon hair style. You could style your hair to stand straight up like you're scared or use a wig to wear a Mohawk or huge fuzzy hair.
2. Color your hair a bright color. You could color it pink, blue, purple, green, etc. You could even make it match your web site's colors.
3. Draw a line on your picture. You could draw a black eye or mustache on it before you scan and upload it to your web site.
4. Put on silly glasses. You could put on spring like glasses, oversized colorful glasses, spinning glasses, or even 3D glasses.
5. Wear uncommon clothes. You could wear a super bright suit, a costume outfit, a weird tie or a bathing suit.
6. Make a weird facial expression. You could...
Friday, 2 December 2011
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE A competitive advantage exists when a firm has a product or service that is perceived by its target market customers as better than that of its competitors. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs are often confronted with two myths surrounding the creation of a competitive advantage. One is that most good business opportunities are already gone. The other is that small firms cannot compete well with big companies. Both of these ideas are erroneous! Nevertheless, existing companies, large and small, do not typically welcome competitors. As one well-respected author, Karl H. Vesper, puts it: Established companies do their best to maintain proprietary shields… to ward off prospective as to attack them needs some sort of “entry wedge,” or strategic competitive advantage for breaking...
Growing A Business
Growing a business is similar to tending a vegetable garden. Knowledge, careful planning, organized systems, use of proper tools, continuous care, and dedication give you the very best chance of producing a beautiful and abundant garden that brings forth fresh veggies for years to come.The same is true when it comes to growing your business. By following a specific sequence of steps, just like growing a garden, you can succeed. Neither can be accomplished with a haphazard approach.Discovering how other businesses are growing, thinking through your marketing strategy, taking an organized approach, using the proper tools to get the word out and focusing on achievement will help you reach your business goals and set you on the right path towards accomplishing your greatest success.
1. Prospecting
For...
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Steps That Put You Ahead In Business
The followings are tips can help you grow your business. they show how you can use online diary as a sales tool.
Have your customers publish an online diary instead of giving you a testimonial. The diary would include regularly updated entries of how customers are using your product to improve their life. You could give customers a free product or a rebate in exchange for them publishing it online.
Your customers could write diary entries about goals they have reached using your product, the positive emotions it's given them, the fears and worries your product has taken out of their lives, how bad their lives were before they bought it, how it has helped other people in their lives, etc.
Your customers could update it daily, weekly or monthly. It will depend on how often they use your product....
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Most Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Starting Out
Editor's Note: Entrepreneur Richard Branson regularly shares his business experience and advice with readers. What follows is the latest edited round of insightful responses. Ask him a question and your query might be the inspiration for a future column.
Q: What are some of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting out? -- John Gachiri
A: Making mistakes is part of the process of building a company; quickly recovering from them is what's most important. It's all part of the adventure of entrepreneurship, which will require all of your stamina, drive and determination.But your way forward is not entirely uncharted: When you notice an opportunity that has never occurred to anyone else, there are certain steps to turning your vision into reality. You must formulate...
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
The Business Planning Process:
5 Steps To Creating a New Plan
Creating your new business plan involves a detailed process with a number of stages, some of which can overlap. Whether you are writing your plan from scratch or from a template, or working with an experienced business plan writer or consultant, you will find the following five steps through the process.
Research
Detailed research into the industry, customers, competitors, and costs of the business begins the process. A variety of resources can be used for research, ranging from databases and articles to direct interviews with other entrepreneurs or potential customers. Research should be documented and organized carefully with the information gathered and the source as there is a need to cite sources within the plan.
Strategize
Next, the information from...
Friday, 18 November 2011
Personal Goal Setting
Many people feel as if they're adrift in the world. They work hard, but they don't seem to get anywhere worthwhile.A key reason that they feel this way is that they haven't spent enough time thinking about what they want from life, and haven't set themselves formal goals. After all, would you set out on a major journey with no real idea of your destination? Probably not!
Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality.The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that can, so easily, lead you astray.
Why Set Goals?Goal setting...