Small businesses, particularly in their early stages, have two big problems. Selling is a learnable skill, and you don’t need a sales gene to be good at it. 1) Access to customers. The business owners are new to their industry, probably inexperienced, and have not developed the savvy to secure appointments with important potential customers. […] Read more »
Building Trust
The single most important thing you can do in starting and building a business is to get people to trust you. Trust needs to be earned and takes time, although you can lose it in a second. Telling people to trust you doesn’t cut it. In fact, when people I just meet tell me to trust them, my antennae is up to watch my back. The benefits of being trusted are enormous. People have confidence in those they trust. Read more »
Great Idea to WOW your Suppliers
When I blogged my earlier post on Suppliers, I received a great comment from Pierre Martell, the CEO of Martell Home Builders in Moncton, Canada, that I want to share with everyone. Their mission is to build customized homes in 99 days on budget. Their website is their primary selling tool. To accomplish this, they use a network of subcontractors. As a start up in a very competitive industry, Pierre quickly realized how critical the performance of his suppliers was to his success -- thus his 100% agreement with my supplier post. So to attract maximum supplier cooperation over his competitors, he came up with what I think is a simple but brilliant concept. I know from experience that the single best action you can take to be a great customer to a supplier is to PAY YOUR BILLS ON TIME. Read more »
WHY THE $5,000 TAX CREDIT WON’T WORK
The President has proposed an up to $5,000 tax credit for Small Businesses for each employee they ADD in 2010, and an additional tax break for salary increases given to employees making under $100,000 a year. The purpose of this is obviously to add badly needed new jobs. Read more »
Small Business Tip: Humans Should Answer Your Phone
As large companies get bigger and depersonalize themselves to save labor costs, they expose their vulnerability to Small Businesses. Read more »
GOVERNMENT HELP: AN OXYMORON?
Government help may sound like an oxymoron to many people. I know that when I was in my many Small Businesses, I never believed that any government help was of value and to get it was not worth the effort even though it was free. Read more »
7 TIPS ON BARTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Barter, is an $8-12 billion dollar industry,and is one of the businesses that flourishes in bad economies, as it offers entrepreneurs many opportunities to acquire things they need and want for little or no cash. Read more »
MYTH – ENTREPRENEURS LOVE RISK
A rejection is not a failure. It should be viewed as an opportunity to learn. Successful entrepreneurs have the self-confidence to face all these ego risks and to put their energies into reducing or avoiding risks to the business. Read more »
Put Up or Shut Up!
PUT UP OR SHUT UP or Practice What You Preach. This mantra has many more implications and consequences than you think. You as the owner of your own business are the defacto leader of the company. Read more »