Jumpstart Your Business

A leader is someone who has a vision, makes a set of rules and takes off on a journey to make the vision a reality and people follow in his/her footsteps and leave a lot of breakage behind that others have to clean up.
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A manager is simply someone who makes sure that people use a set of rules to accomplish someone else’s vision. He/she is like a referee in a game, they make sure that the game is played according to the rules regardless of the fact that the environment may be changing and the rules need to be tweaked

Here is a slightly different look at these two different functions in a business:

Looking to raise money to start your small business. When you find the people who are going to lend you money, you need to get their interest first, then get their money. You have to move them from reasons to say no to looking for reasons to say yes. So rather than spend time on the hallowed business plan, listen to the advice given in this video:

Today, most customers search the web, read blogs, forums & group discussions, ask questions in their social networks, join on-line communities, and, in the end, know very well what they want, where to buy, and most important how much to pay. The bigger the purchase, the more completely the customer educates him/herself. So, like that bad penny that keeps turning up, the objection about PRICE will keep coming your way. This difficult objection, one that is not easy to handle without some thought, comes flying out of nowhere (it seems) and you have to respond. Griff has some ideas on handling the price objection.

Too often we look at our customers and completely misinterpret what their moves mean. Sometimes they are trying to show us that they are uncomfortable but we interpret their actions as signaling comfort and joy.

The following video demonstrates this very effectively. This is not a bear performing a pole dance but a bear trying to scratch an itch on its back. This is not a happy camper so do not misinterpret this and go near this sucker!

Having cash flow problems? Here are some tips to help your business stay afloat in this tough economy.

Ask for a Rent Reduction
You can’t afford to be bashful, so ask your landlord for a temporary rent reduction until the economy improves. The alternative is your going out of business and them having no tenant.

How will you quickly deploy technology and handle customer support requests for help?
Web applications are being put in use especially where there is a need to interface to customers and even in today’s world of heavy web usage in the home and in business, there are still a lot of users who are not web literate. As we deploy the web into our customer community, we’re forcing users who are unfamiliar with browsers to be very dependent on them. This could be very detrimental to the growth and success of today’s business. Put in place training for both your employees and your customers so that your web applications become easy to use. A help desk may go a long way to helping out this situation.

Here are our useful links for March 13th, 2009:

• Stop Behaving Like Cattle! – People are cattle. This does not mean that an individual person can’t think on his or her own. This simply means that the general population behaves like a herd of cattle.
• Nine steps to Powerpoint magic – Very good points about presentation techniquess.
• Best Small Businesses to Start – Money – A list of small businesses for budding entrepreneurs in 2009
• 5 Most Overrated Small Businesses – Money – The title tells the story.
• Interview with John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing – John Jantsch opens up on how and why he went into the small business marketing arena.

Have a clear message

Make it easy for your clients to understand what you are selling and why it benefits them. Sooner or later they’ll figure it out so help them get there fast. This way, if there is no benefit to them, they’ll be on their merry way to something else and will not hold a grudge against you for wasting their time.

When you hear the objections: “We don’t have a need” or “We don’t have the budget” – what do you do?

Here are some tips.

Selling is about understanding and fulfilling your customers needs. Closing the sale is important but unless you solve the customer’s problem and show him/her that your product/service gives value, you won’t get the deal. In this economic downturn, this becomes even more important so you need to understand your customer’s needs and objectives by asking relevant questions and listening to the answers.

Mistakes are costly. Your small business needs to retain as much of your revenue as you possibly can. Here are three tips that may help.

Tip #1 – Practice Negative Thinking (not a typo!)