| |
| |
|
Online Advertising |
Guaranteed Targeted Website Visitors from just $0.45 per 1000. 24 Hour Unique Visitors, Online Stats, 30 Day Guaranteed. We offer Country Targeted or Mainstream Traffic at wholesale cost.: CLICK HERE |  |
|
|
5 Steps To Help Fail-Proof Your Growing Service Business
Business startup and failure rates are scary... In The USA... - Every Year Over 1 Million People Start A Business - By The End Of The First Year 40% Of Them Will Be Out Of Business - Within 5 Years More Than 80% (800,000) Of These Businesses Will Have Failed (Source: The eMyth Revisited, Michal E Gerber, US Department of Commerce) In The UK... - 2003 Saw 423,100 New Businesses In England & Wales Startup - Over Half of All New Firms Fail In The First 3 Years - At Least 211,550 Of These Businesses Will Have Failed Before The End Of 2006 (Source: Barclays SME Market Research Team England & Wales Statistics Based On Business Current Account Customers) Unfortunately more and more people are being encouraged to go it alone by government agencies and banks while being given out-dated advice that doesn't actually work. The advisors in these organisations typically have experience in larger production / manufacturing / financial businesses and share marketing advice that really doesn't work for the majority of small service-based businesses today. Their text-book marketing principles simply do not translate to businesses with limited money to invest in advertising, direct mail and telesales. In many cases these advisors are telling people how to run a business even though they're actually working for a bank or government agency themselves. They have no real experience spending their own money to grow a business. Survival and inevitable success means being lean, mean and focused on getting a genuine result (in the form of profit) from the time and money you invest. So here are 5 tips you can use to take the power back and begin "fail proofing" your growing business today. #1. Question "Experts" Thoroughly Be wary of government funded trainers and / or advisors put forward by banks. These people, in many cases, don't have a clue what its like to run and grow their own business. Make it your job to "suss them out" before taking anything they tell you too seriously. Some questions that I like... What's your experience of starting and running a small business? Have you actually spent your own money trying to make a business work? What mistakes have you made? What lessons can I learn from your experience? Will this advice / support / idea cost me money or make me money? Who really benefits when I take the course of action you're recommending? #2. Model Excellent Businesses Now by this I don't mean simply copy random things they do. Just because the boss of a successful firm like yours drives a brand-new Bentley it doesn't mean you should rush out and buy one too. That won't guarantee success. You're looking to find the things that she did in order to afford the Bentley in the first place. So find out as much about their processes and systems as you can and then look for evidence to support applying similar things that work for them to your business. Subscribe to their mailing list. Visit their premises. Talk to their staff. Talk to their customers. Read their ads (or notice that they don't advertise). Network with them. You can learn just as much from non-competing businesses too. So why not set up a support / learning group or see if a successful entrepreneur would be able to mentor you. #3. Have A BIG Goal Big goals, by definition, should be easier to hit than small goals. So don't think small - think big. After nearly 8 years in business I still like to set regular, big, 90 day goals. I call these goals SHAGs - Short Hairy Audacious Goals. Too many businesses focus on surviving. They think in terms of what they don't want. They miss the opportunity to really succeed and then get what they were desperately trying to avoid - failure! Focusing on what you don't want really doesn't work. If you don't want to fail you should focus on succeeding in a big way. #4. Improve Constantly Have goals and set targets. Know what outcomes you want and quantify them where possible. Then work towards your goals using the following cycle... 1. Implement (Do Something) 2. Measure (Test & Review) 3. Improve (Learn & Adjust) As my friend and firewalk trainer Sanjay Shah says, if you simply improve by 1 percent a day, you'll have improved 300 percent (allowing for holidays) in a year! #5. Don't Follow The Crowd Look, we both know most businesses fail so don't do what most other businesses do or you'll get the same results. Don't just advertise because every other business seems to advertise. Make sure advertising will make you money. Don't just do telesales because that happens to be the service your local Chamber of Commerce is selling. Don't measure turnover when profit and cashflow is usually more important. Don't take on staff just because other businesses believe more people equals growth. More people often just means less profit! Don't do the same thing, in the same way, to the same people as every other business like yours. Do something different! 4 Out Of 5 Small Businesses Go Bust Inside 5 Years! Finally - A Guaranteed Way To Make Sure You're Not One Of Them... http://www.leanmarketing.co.uk/toolbooks
MORE RESOURCES:
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Data Map Charting for Mobile Businesses As we study the demographic regional variations for small service businesses we see many things. Let us take a mobile auto detailing business and break down the data and look at what drives sales and growth. 8 BIG Benefits To Selling Big Ticket Items Ok, before we get down to the benefits of selling Big Ticket Items, we had better define what a Big Ticket Item is. A Big Ticket Item is any product or service that sells for more than $500 or $1000. Devious and Deceptive Packaging Have you read anything in the news lately about childhood obesity, Jose Canseco and steroids, or fat free foods? Where is the truth in any of that?If only we lived and shopped in a pure world where labels told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But while consumers rely on labels to make wise nutritional choices, food manufacturers use labels to sell their product. Mobile Marketing a New Age Strategy More and more companies seem to be looking for new and innovative ways to market their products. Overlooking most of the traditional marketing techniques, more companies are pioneering the relatively new mobile marketing campaign. To Web or Not to Web? Do I need a web site? That is the question often asked by business owners. The answer will usually depend upon the type of product or service offered and what the business is trying to achieve. Advertising Campaigns That Get Results "Advertising doesn't work." I hear it from my clients all the time. What's Next? A Guide to Marketing Your New Business Coming up with an idea, seizing the opportunity, and setting up a business was the relatively easy part. Now you are ready for the challenge of finding your customers, or at least make it easy for your customers to find you. URL Everywhere? Offline Marketing For Online Success Your URL (www) should be everywhere and more.I know many of you are going to think this is common sense, but how many of these are you using? Your web address should be on every piece of anything your business does, period. Promotional Marketing Products - Selecting the Perfect Item People are known to shop on impulse- buying an item just because it is on sale, or purchasing something because it looks great in the store. When shopping for promotional items, you really can't succumb to impulses. How To Sell To Howard Stern... Oprah Winfrey... And Paul McCartney! Do you know what Howard Stern.. Chamber Of Commerce Meetings If you run a small business you should be a member of the local chamber of commerce. Most cities which 50,000 people in them have 5000 small businesses. Funnel Your Way to Marketing Success A funnel is a good way to think of the marketing process. The top is very broad and consists of using mass marketing techniques. Write Effective Fundraising Letters By Being Conversational (Includes Examples & Samples) I am doing what you do, sitting at my computer, trying to get my thoughts out of my head and into a written form that will help you make a decision. In this particular case, I am trying to write a few intelligent remarks about sounding conversational on paper. Take My Commitment (to Your Biz) Quiz! Starting and managing a successful small business takes time, energy, money and a HUGE commitment. But the payoff can also be HUGE, in terms of personal accomplishment, satisfaction, happiness, and M0NEY! So just how committed are you?Here's 10 questions to help you find out:(1) Have you taken the time to create a business plan?A business plan ensures you have a well-thought-out plan for your business. You Cannot - Not Market Everything you do - or don't do sends a message and marketing is about sending messages. You can market well or you can market poorly, but you cannot - not market!What message are you sending with your dress, stationery, phone message and printed materials? Is it the message you intend to send? Your prospects don't listen only to the message you want to send - they observe and interpret your unintended messages as well. Full Color Postcard Marketing: 7 Reasons Why They've Become the New Direct Mail The most crucial aspect of having a high response rate to any direct mail marketing list is to keep your business' name in everyone's mind, constantly. But how do you do that without annoying your business customers, or divvying up a lot of time and money?A full color postcard can easily fit the bill if you send one every month or so. Generational Marketing Having run a multi-state franchise company with multiple brands it became obvious to me early on that if one were to properly respond to the needs and desires of your customer base; you must indeed, understand generational marketing. The X'ers have a completely different mindset than the "Boomers" or the "Matures. Non-Profit Success Requires Ongoing Marketing In a crowded marketplace of ideas, it is important for non-profit organizations to establish a well-defined niche. While most non-profits are not selling products, they are selling their organization's mission, their ideas, their programs, and their services. Set Your Business Apart With A Unique Selling Proposition Unless your company has absolutely no competition now or in the forseeable future, you're well advised to find and develop a unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates your business from all of your competitors.For you to succeed, you have to identify and understand what you or your business does or can start doing for your prospects and customers that provides them with a result that is superior to the competition's. How To Start A Mail Order Business The Mail Order business is not a business of itself, but is another way of doing business. Mail Order is nothing more nor less than selling a product or service via advertising and the offers you send out by mail.
|
| home | site map | bad credit loans |
| SUBJECTS: • Advertising • Book Marketing • Domain Names • Email Marketing • Ezine Marketing • Ezine Publishing • Internet Marketing
|