Six ways for small-business owners to save money
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — In these tough economic times, owners of businesses small and large are coming up with unexpected ways to save money.
The University of Wisconsin at Green Bay said it will save $10,000 annually by changing its font type. The university switched from Arial to Century Gothic because Century Gothic font doesn’t use as much ink when printed, according to an Associated Press report.
In these days of economizing, changing your font style is an innovative way to cut costs. Here are six other ways to save money without drastically changing your business practices.
1. Move paper forms online
Another educational institution said it, too, is saving $10,000 annually — by switching from paper forms to online e-forms.
“We use tens of thousands of forms in all sorts of applications,” said Al Foytek, director of business information systems for the Visalia Unified School District in California.
“The money we save using electronic forms like those from software maker PerfectForms can easily cover the cost to automate our whole processing procedure,” Foytek said. “For example, our print shop uses a paper form which costs us about 75 cents each and we have around 15,000 requests that require other, specific forms each year.”
2. Take it to City Hall
Negotiating with City Hall is another key way to save, said Amy Handlin, deputy minority leader of the New Jersey General Assembly and associate professor of marketing at Monmouth University in New Jersey. The state legislator also wrote the new book, “Be Your Own Lobbyist.”
Handlin said lobbying local and state government is the most cost-effective way to fix a small-business problem.
For example, she said, a city inspector told the owner of a bakery in Salt Lake City that the business would be shut down unless the owner spent $40,000 to install a grease trap in the street. With skillful lobbying, the bakery owner was permitted to place a grease trap in her own kitchen at minimal cost, with the understanding that it would be accessible for monitoring by the city.
Then there’s the group of small-business owners who went before the Massachusetts Public Health Department, Handlin said. New frozen-food regulations required businesses to buy refrigerated trucks that cost $50,000. At a public hearing, the business owners argued for cheaper alternatives. The state agreed, allowing the affected companies to transport goods any way they wanted as long as they maintained safe temperatures.
“Lobbying the right people with the right message is precisely the way to speed things up,” Handlin said.
3. Speed up the payment cycle
Another way to save money: decrease your payment terms. While 30-day-net and 60-day-net are the normal time periods small-business owners give clients to pay invoices, changing those terms can save money, said John Reddish, president of Philadelphia, Penn.-based Advent Management International Ltd.
“Shorter turnaround times can result in lower borrowing costs for money for operating capital,” Reddish said. “A faster turnaround on payments cuts the interest small-business owners have to pay.”
Reddish said one stamping company client changed the due date for billing to “net 15″ and cash flow improved by 31%. For many small businesses, he said, 30-days-net translates into payment up to 63 days later by the time the client actually cuts a check. Making payments due net 15 translates into payment in 48 days — a 31% improvement in cash flow.
There is a downside to this practice, Reddish said. If a customer challenges the change in terms, “you either back off or risk losing business.” But if the client is happy with the services or goods the business owner is providing, changes in terms often slide right through.
4. Sell global, ship local
Shipping costs often are a major expense for both online and brick-and-mortar small- business owners. The cost of fulfillment can make or break a small company. That’s a problem that Shipwire Inc of Palo Alto, Calif., is leveraging. The company offers worldwide shipping at local-country rates, saving customers thousands of dollars in international shipments.
Shipwire has six warehouses in three countries where it stores inventory for small businesses, and works with 15 carriers and freight systems. Pay-as-you-go pricing plans start at $30 a month. And small-business owners can scale-up as business grows.
“Many companies save $30,000 a year with our services,” said Nate Gilmore, Shipwire’s vice president of marketing.
The savings come when businesses can charge customers local shipping rates instead of international rates. For instance, Gilmore said, a San Francisco-based software company can use a Shipwire warehouse in London to deliver an order in Manchester and pay only local U.K. shipping rates.
5. Perfect the art of the deal
With the U.S. Air Force spending billions of dollars a year on outsourcing, researchers at the University of Tennessee felt there probably was room for significant savings.
“The Air Force spends $34 billion on outsourced services a year, and is always trying to find better ways to save taxpayers’ money,” said Kate Vitasek with the Center for Executive Education at the University of Tennessee.
Vitasek said that using “vested outsourcing,” an idea developed by the university, the Air Force saved $79 million on an engine maintenance program for the F/A 18 Hornet.
What is vested outsourcing? It’s the process of negotiating contracts with vendors so that they earn more when they meet all the terms of the contract, and they are penalized when they don’t. A vested outsourcing agreement will cut hidden contract costs and only pay the vendor if and when that vendor successfully lives up to the terms of the contract.
Vitasek said Microsoft Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!msft/quotes/nls/msft (MSFT 23.20, +0.04, +0.17%) used vested outsourcing principles with the technology consultancy firm Accenture PLC /quotes/comstock/13*!acn/quotes/nls/acn (ACN 38.21, -0.07, -0.20%) . The 7-year contract is valued at $185 million and “they have cut the costs 35%,” or almost $65 million, she said.
The University of Tennessee studied only very large companies, but Vitasek said all companies, from mom-and-pop markets to multi-billion dollar institutions, can benefit from vested outsourcing.
6. Pull in some free advertising
Bert Martinez of Bert Martinez Communications LLC in Houston, Texas, has a unique take on guerilla marketing. He said small-business owners can reap large rewards by scouring local yellow pages and business directories.
“Call the phone numbers in your competitors’ ads,” he said. “You will always find several ads that have disconnected numbers. Then surf competitors’ websites and find any that are out of business.”
Then, contact the telephone company and the website domain name registrar. When possible, buy your competitors’ website names and take over their telephone numbers. The phone company and domain registrars can assign those disconnected numbers to your main number, and the websites can be redirected to your site.
“Voila,” Martinez said. “You’re now receiving tons of new yellow-page advertising and web traffic!”
Marty Orgel is a freelance writer in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Improving your Google Rankings
Over the past year we’ve known that Google now uses speech to text conversion. That means that they take the SPOKEN text from videos, and convert it to text.
While they won’t tell us WHY they do that, the obvious answer is that they are looking for RELEVANT CONTENT. They now use your spoken text to categorize and rank your video.
So we’ve been experimenting a bit, and we’ve discovered that in most cases you can improve your Google ranking with your websites by adding keywords in your spoken audio.
Note – Google actually publishes information about their ranking algorithm on their website. You can read it for yourself at http://www.google.com/technology/.
TIP: Remember to place your main keywords up front, and use them throughout the video. Use them in a organic or natural way, but write your script just as if you were writing a web page that you want Google to index, because with their speech to text conversion, they are applying the same algorithms as if it were just written text.
CAUTION – Just using music behind written text in a slide show does not work as well.
How to negotiate your medical bills
How to negotiate your medical bills
See original article from WalletPop
“About 60% of doctors will give a discount,” Martinez says. Sometimes he’s able to negotiate a fee upfront working directly with the doctor or the manager of a large practice. Other times, Martinez, who specializes in sales and marketing training, barters for his family’s health care needs by offering to streamline the doctor’s business or improve the marketing section of their website in exchange for medical care. He’s even posted ads on Craigslist offering his service in exchange for specific medical care needs, such as physical therapy
But negotiating upfront is Martinez’s preferred method of cutting medical costs. The key to success, he says, is to ask for the decision maker, know what type of financial help you need and how much you can afford to pay upfront or in monthly installments — then ask for less than you can afford.
Suppose you can afford to pay $100 per month until the bill is paid off — you should offer to pay $80 per month so you have some financial wiggle room. Always remember, says Martinez, “it’s not personal, it’s business,” and conduct yourself as though you’re negotiating a business deal..
Even if he’s checking a family member into the hospital, Martinez will ask for the person in charge, such as the finance manager or revenue manager, and strike a deal as part of the check-in procedure. He’ll work out a discount, as well as a payment plan before his family member is admitted. course, not every medical practice or hospital is willing to negotiate. In that case, Martinez will seek medical care elsewhere.
Mark Rukavina, executive director of The Access Project, a nonprofit that educates people on how to negotiate medical bills and insurance claims, says the most important thing to do is communicate with the medical provider. “Don’t ignore bills, hoping they’ll be resolved at some point in the future, whether you are insured or uninsured,” says Rukavina. Instead, ask for a discount. Insurance companies get discounts of 30% to 40% or more, and you can fight for the same discount. But, like Martinez, Rukavina cautions that you shouldn’t agree to terms you can’t afford. If you don’t pay according to terms, all your time spent negotiating could be for nothing.
If you are uninsured, you’re likely being billed at a much higher rate than any insurance company. “You have a lot of wiggle room” when negotiating, Rukavina explains. You can call the Access Project for help, but its model is one of self-advocacy. They’ll help you find the information you need in order to advocate for yourself.
If you’re not comfortable negotiating or have a hard time sorting through complex medical bills on your own, you can turn to paid medical advocates, which typically charge a percentage of what they save you. Medical Cost Advocates charges 35% of the amount saved. Health Advocate charges 25% to negotiate bills. It also works on an hourly basis (charging $120 per hour) to help people with specific needs, such as finding a specialist or disease management assistance. The company will contract directly with major employers that pay $1 to $5 per employee for guidance on navigating the health insurance maze. Health Advocate’s “Healthcare Survival Guide” offers some tips on cutting medical costs that you can download for free.
There are also medical bill experts who will negotiate your bills for you. After seeing a client’s medical bills and determining how much time it will take to negotiate the bill lower, Judy Medeiros-Mitchell, who’s based in New York City, sets a flat fee upfront. She has negotiated bills as high as $50,000 for $500.
Medeiros-Mitchell also advises people on how to negotiate medical bills themselves for free if she thinks it’s a relatively simple bill to deal with and they want to try. She explains that most of the battle is in knowing how to find the right person to speak with. And if you offer to pay cash upfront, the practice won’t need to do any paperwork, which can work to your advantage. Another key to negotiating successfully is to know what the provider will get paid after the insurance company takes its discount.
To figure out that information, visit Healthcare Blue Book, a website developed for the uninsured and underinsured that provides the data they need to negotiate prices. At the end of May, a new website developed by Alex Fair called FairCareMD is expected to launch that will help you find a doctor willing to negotiate in your area.
Lita Epstein has written more than 25 books including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Security and Medicare and The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Medicare Part D.
The Optimist Creed: Promise Yourself
The Optimist Creed was authored in 1912 by Chistian D. Larson, appearing in his book Your Forces and How to Use Them. It was adopted as Optimist International’s creed in 1922. Many have found inspiration in The Optimist Creed. In hospitals, the creed has been used to help patients recover from illness. In locker rooms, coaches have used it to motivate their players.
Please print this page of The Optimist’s Creed to read daily. Use it as a powerful tool to become the most brilliant magnet for magnificence and joy in your life. Please share it with your friends.
Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.
To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
Three Best Ways to Catch an Employee Thief
Three Best Ways to Catch an Employee Thief |Wall Street Journal|By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN
If your small business can’t afford external auditors, security cameras or other resources for spotting employee fraud, consider doing some detective work of your own. The effort could save your firm from a significant financial loss or worse—failure.
After all, a single heist could be fatal for a small business, says Richard Hollinger, a professor of criminology at the University of Florida. Small firms typically don’t have
Getty Images
Employee fraud can take place right under a business owner’s nose. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, an anti-fraud trade group in Austin, Texas, such activities occur on average for as long as two years before the victim organization catches on.
The phone keeps ringing. Some corrupt workers will instruct friends to repeatedly call a business and ask if the owner is on site until the answer is no, says Mark R. Doyle, chief executive of Jack L. Hayes International Inc., a provider of workplace crime-prevention services in Wesley Chapel, Fla. Once they hear those “magic” words, the friend knows it’s safe to come by and swipe merchandise under the rogue employee’s watch, he explains.
The math doesn’t add up. Two years ago, ReShonda Young noticed a subordinate at her father’s transportation company, Alpha Express LLC, had turned in a weekly time sheet with more hours than he could’ve possibly worked. That prompted Ms. Young, a manager at the Waterloo, Iowa, company, to investigate further and she discovered that the employee had been stretching his hours for months, initially to a less-noticeable extent. “I guess it got to be a little easy,” she says. Now all supervisors must review and sign workers’ time cards before they can be processed, says Ms. Young.
Money problems surface. Financial pressures are a key motivator of occupational fraud, the ACFE reports. For this reason, business owners should take note of any excessive complaining by a worker about money burdens. And if such a person’s lifestyle suddenly improves dramatically, this could signal he or she has their hand in the company’s cookie jar.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
Watch Sarah Needleman video
Overcoming Fears in Business
“Your greatest obstacle to success is yourself, it’s fear of failure”.
~Bert Martinez
Every new or struggling business owner wants to know how to manage their fears, particularly nowadays. Check out this list of easy ways to overcome your fears:
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You have to keep in mind that a large number of successful business were started during economic downturns, it drives out your competition and forces business owners to concentrate on keeping cost down and creating a leaner, meaner, more efficient business.
Thank you,
Justin Pesta
Vanguard Financial LLC
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As a recovering alcoholic, I have found that most fear is unfounded and grounded in my brain from childhood. Let me prove a point. Picture yourself hanging from a branch and I ask you to look down. Now I ask you, “How far off the ground are you?” Most people would say anywhere from 20 feet to miles. The point is that you are probably only 2-3 feet off the ground as an adult but your brain still recalls your childhood experiences. Getting over fear requires a strong belief in faith and that no one wants us to fail. Even the odds are against succeeding, who cares? Someone has to win. It might as well as be you.
Jeffrey Taylor
4844 E Andora Dr
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
http://booksbyjeffreytaylor.com
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I have started several high tech businesses in both Atlanta and Silicon Valley. Each time, there was fear and doubt. No amount of education, training, preparation or research will remove the lingering doubt…real entrepreneurs know and come to respect fear of failure. However, fear has to be used wisely and not left to run amok.
Here is the process I have used that seemed to help me overcome fear – I am also counseled other entrepreneurs on this over the years. First, when I am conceiving an idea for a business, I try to see if I can become emotionally involved in the idea – does it excite me, do I think it is something that will benefit people – do some good. This is very important and is the fuel for many entrepreneurs. Second, as I move into the data gathering mode, I attempt to remain completely neutral on the concept – really trying to listen as I do my research (both primary and secondary). I attempt to hear all points of view, get as much hard data as I can and apply as much rigor to the process as possible. Finally, in the final phase, before any commitment is taken on my part, I try to KILL THE IDEA. I spend quite a bit of time in this phase – asking people hard questions, going back over all of my data, seeking counsel from wise friends and business associates – asking them to please help me STOP NOW before I waste money and time. If at the end of this process (and there is no time limit – but as quickly as possible), I am still excited about the idea (or some variety thereof), I will proceed to the strategy development/development/implementation modes. I will also proceed without fear. My experience has taught me that fear has its place in the entrepreneurial process but not once the entrepreneur has made the commitment to move forward – fear at this point is a drag on the effort and hinders the chances of success. Fear is always “in the room”, so to speak but it is not “invited to the table”, once the decision to move forward has been made. Mental discipline and really understanding the entrepreneurial process is required.
Thank You and God Bless.
James D. Grady (Jim)
President/CEO
The Monticello Corporation
makers of The Paper Tiger software
Atlanta, GA
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“Once we drop from fear’s influence, a world of new possibilities emerges.”
Gayle A. Gregory – Author,
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Worry does not affect the outcome. And… nothing happens until you move. So, get a grip on your concerns, conduct the due diligence to determine whether your action is warranted, then take the initiative and move forward. The depression spawned many new movements in this country. Each entrepreneur needs to plan out his/her steps, then work the plan. This may be that person’s distinct contribution, so it is essential that they move.
Paul O. Radde. Ph.D.
Thrival Systems(R)
DrPaul@Thrival.com
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I’m a small business owner, speaker, and author based in Conyers, Georgia. I started my business in 2004 after resigning from a full-time job as a web database developer. I didn’t know the first thing about starting a business or marketing it for that matter. I was very fearful but I didnt let the fear stop me. Instead, I let the fear drive me toward my goal by embracing it. Whenever I wanted to give up, I would read inspirational stories about other successful entrepreneurs who started with nothing and went on to be something such as Fred DeLuca, Truett Cathy, Michael Dell, and others. I also prayed to God a lot and built up my spiritual inner man so that I could not only have confidence in God but also in myself and my abilities. Lastly, I began associating with successful people which made me begin to visualize myself as successful. I began to develop the failure is not an option mantra.
Fear is a good thing but can become bad when we let it paralyze us and stop us from moving in the right direction. I hope that this can help other entrepreneurs as they battle with fear.
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Lisa Sims
Author, Stretching A Dollar To Save And Make Thousands: An Entrepreneurs Guide To Doing More With Less
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“Do the thing you fear and the fear will disappear.”
David J. Schwartz, American Trainer Author of The Magic of Thinking Big
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During that time I have found ways to turn fear into my finest friend. My current best understanding, since this too is constantly evolving, comes in three parts.
1. Stop and pay attention to your thoughts and fearful thinking. This is called thought awareness. Slow down long enough to see what is really going on inside.
2. Let curiosity guide you. Get excited about learning everything you can about your fears. They stop you. They determine your success. They can be your friend and will teach you everything you need to know in order to engage life in a healthy and successful way.
3. Once seen, acknowledge your fears and limiting thoughts as aspects of who you are. Yes, the fears are present. Yes, they feel uncomfortable. Welcome them without agenda. Don’t play nice in order to get them to leave. Allow yourself to accept that they might stick around forever. Ugh! Yes, even that. Anything less than full acceptance of the fearful thoughts and beliefs empowers the fear and keeps it firmly in control.
We can distract ourselves with visions of a better life. We can envision letting go of the fear in innumerable ways. We can attempt to think only positive thoughts (great idea but impossible to put into practice). All of these tactics appear to work – and then the fear reappears in the same form or another. Or we can meet our fear once and for all, get to know it, and understand its real message. Fear is a gift that will help us heal all the ways we hold each other and ourselves as small. It has a lot to offer.
Gayle A. Gregory
Workplace Evolution, Common Sense for Uncommon Times
www.workplaceevolution.com
5 Steps to Creating a Profitable Niche for Your Small Business
Focusing on untapped niche opportunities is often the best approach for a small business. Success is easier to attain if the small business focuses on a more specific and smaller area of its target market, especially during the start-up period, instead of covering the entire spectrum of a particular market. 
Today’s business environment is so competitive that a cash-strapped small business best bet is to focus on developing niche products where competition from large firms are not nearly as large.
Take the online auction market. With the market dominated by the giant company eBay, smaller start-ups are specializing and concentrating in a specific segment that the big players may not be serving well. There’s Playle.com focusing on the online trading of vintage postcards, stamps and other collectibles. Bid4parts.com is an auction site for automobile, parts and accessories. Bidz.com specializes in jewelry and accessories. PotteryAuction.com deals exclusively with potteries. WineBid.com is an auction site for rare and fine wines.
Why does niche marketing make sense for a small business? You are able to more clearly define what you – and it is easier for your prospects to understand exactly what you know. By having a specialty, you are able to demonstrate a clearer and precise image. The narrower your niche, the easier your chances of establishing yourself as the authority in that niche and for people to perceive you as the expert. Also, the easier it is for clients, prospects and referral sources to remember exactly what you do.
The more narrow your niche — and the more effective your marketing program — the more your business will soar. It’s no exaggeration to say that when you focus on one narrow niche, the sky’s the limit.
Here’s how you can create and profit from your own unique niche:
Step 1. Determine the approach you want to pursue. You can decide on your business approach in three ways: by the services you offer, by the types of customers you want, or by a combination of both providing certain types of services to certain types of clients. It is important to get a clear idea of exactly whom you want to serve and what you want to do for them.
Using the online auction business example above, you may decide to provide person-to-person auctions where you mostly deal with individuals (although some companies are also joining in the auction game). Or you may engage in commercial auctions, which feature companies selling their products in an auction format. Another type you can focus on is real-time Webcasts, which are live auctions that are broadcast to the Internet and participants can bid either from the auction premises or from the Web.
You can also choose to focus on the types of customers you want to serve. Do you want to work with coin enthusiasts? Or do you want to provide auction services for car lovers and users? Do you want to focus on customers engaged in the buying or selling of jewelry? Or do you want to focus on people who want to trade in high-brow art?
Another possible approach is to combine your choices. You can approach your online auction service by providing a particular type of service to a particular types of clients. For example, you can choose to focus on an online auction website for antique traders in the United States, or an exclusive auction website for the high-end wine dealers.
Step 2: Create a new playing field. It is important to define your unique selling proposition that will define your competitive advantage. You need to identify what makes you different from your competitors and emphasize these advantages in your marketing. Avoid the generic trap, where potential customers see you business as just one of these online dating websites.
Differentiate your business. What sets you apart from your competitors? What makes your business special that customers should come to you instead of other sites offering dating services?
Step 3: Describe your niche or area of specialization. After careful thought deciding on your niche, it is time to give it a name. The term you describe your niche should strike a balance between the need to set you apart from your competitors and to accurately describe your marketing process in terms your customers can relate and understand. Use fact-oriented descriptive words, instead of using fluff, hyperbole or combinations of nonsensical words.
The name you choose should describe your niche as accurately as possible, while making sure that the name is broad enough to encompass all the services that you offer.
Step 4. Actively market your new niche. What good is going through the difficult process of creating your own niche if nobody knows that such a niche exists? Get out there and let your prospects know that there is such a thing as your niche. Let them know that this new niche offered by your business is exactly what they need and what they have been looking for. Create the want for your niche.
Be prepared, though, to spend time educating your target market. Given the newness of your niche, your potential customers may not know what your niche is all about. They may not understand that your niche offers everything they need. Be willing to spend time and resources educating your target market.
Step 5. Integrate your new niche in your marketing messages. The last step is to instill validity in your new niche. Your prospects (and even your competitors) should be led to understand that this new niche is for real; that it exists and genuine. They need to take your newly created niche seriously, and not think that the niche is just some made-up fragment of an entrepreneur’s wild imagination.
To achieve credibility, you need to reflect your new niche in all your marketing materials. It should be clearly mentioned, even highlighted, in your brochures, websites, advertising campaigns, and press releases, even in your business cards. Constantly reinforce the message about your new niche, and how it can benefit your target market. Think of your new niche as your sound bite that you need to repeat over and over again, if only to make sure that your audience actually “gets it.”
Your new niche can offer you the strongest competitive position in your market, and paves your road to entrepreneurial success. By creating your own niche, you are able to portray the role of a pioneer and an authority in your area.
So how do you know your new niche is right? Of course, your prospects flock to buy your products or hire your services because you are different from the rest of the pack and you are offering potential customers exactly what they want.
by George Rodriguez. Brought to you by DLDesignsOnline.com
Seven Strategies for Sales Success
Two common questions that I hear all the time, what do I need to learn to succeed in sales and what do I need to do to succeed sales? Here are a few strategies of sale success.
Succeeding in sales is a learnable skill. Being poor in sales is a learnable skill. You may need some sales team training, but whatever you choose sales is a learnable skill.
Number one; grow your people skills – remember the customer buys you first. Sell yourself before you even try to sell your company or your product. The client looks to you for assurances and trust.
Number two; sell the benefits – make a list of your benefits that your competition does not have. Use questions that your competition does not ask is good strategy.
Number three; master the objections – there are no new objections so get rid of the existing ones. Make a list of the objections that you hear over and over again. Not interested. Happy with present provider. No budget. Better offer from your competition, etc. And role play the answers.
Number four; target your ideal customer – Make a list of your ideal customer’s traits, B credit, 5-10 employees, 5 plus years in business, 3 plus locations. Make a list of the prospects that match those traits, contact only those “ideal” prospects. It’s a smaller but better list.
Number five; be, do, have –BE a student of sales team training, never stop learning. This is how I mastered sales. After you learned a new technique, DO it – role play it with friends and associates, teaching is a great to role play it too. Then use it that day. Doing leads to HAVING and the more skills you HAVE the faster you be come a master of your craft. Remember to adapt what you’ve learn to your personality style.
Number six; how you feel is more important than what you know – you heard it before “ attitude is everything” learn how YOU keep a positive attitude, what triggers attitude changes in YOU. Study emotional strategies every morning. The secret to attaining sales success is how you feel about money, yourself, sales, and success. Rich sales people are rich because how the feel, broke sales people are broke because how the feel.
Number seven; save money – this was a big turning point for me, when I started to save just 10% of my income. The savings created peace and confidence that comes with knowing that you have thousands of dollars in the bank. I’ve met hundreds of good and broke sales people, they spend everything they make. Begin with saving 10% of your income and get to the point that you can save 20% or more.
Here’s a final thought. Succeeding in sales is a learnable skill. Losing at sales is a learnable skill. You may need some sales team training, but whatever you choose sales is a learnable skill. Getting ahead is a result of doing certain things over and over again. And you are in charge. You decide how much you want to succeed by remembering 6 words. “Repetition is the mother of skill.”
Let me ask you – if I blind-folded you and placed you in a dark room and asked you to tie your shoes could you do it? Why? Because you repeated the shoe-tying process a zillion times, right? Again mastering sales takes repetition to master the skills.
Time Management real or a hoax? Why Time Management doesn’t Work
Hey guys, Bert Martinez here. Time management tools are really useful, right? Or are they? They show you how to organize your things. The problem is, that these systems are only as good as you FEEL. I’ve always said how you feel is more important than what you. How you feel determines your follow through or follow up – your success.
Consider this. Have you been using time management techniques but still, you feel overwhelmed, unfocused, like you’re not accomplishing some major things? If so, your lack of emotional management may be the reason why your time management approaches may not have worked so well for you.
Stephen Covey, he summed it up best when he said time management is a misnomer. The real challenge is to manage ourselves. So take a pause for a moment. How well do you manage your self?
Let me give you three examples. Let’s say you have an exciting message and you really want to get it out to the media. So you schedule a block of time from 3:00 to 4:00 this afternoon. This is a typical time management technique. But here’s what might take place. Three o’clock rolls around, you sit down at your desk and you start thinking to your self, “What if I send this out and nobody responds? I’m really going to feel dumb,” or, “Oh worst, what if they think this is a stupid idea?” or, “Who am I to write about this subject. I should do some research before I send the message.” Four o’clock rolls around. What do you think is going to determine whether you send that email or not? Was it whether you scheduled it in your calendar or how you feel about you?
Example #2. Let’s say that you decided to lose weight. So you schedule yourself in the gym 3 times a week at 6 am. But what if on the first day it’s really cold and raining. Okay. What’s your reaction? Do you go back to bed? Your level of commitment (feelings) will now take over and decide your actions.
Example #3. Here’s another example. Let’s say that you had an interaction one morning with your spouse and it ended on a pretty tense note. Okay. So as you’re going throughout your day, you’re kind of thinking about it. It’s nawing at you in the back of your mind. Later that day you scheduled planning meeting. Again that’s an excellent time management technique, right? Making time for the things that are most important to you, being proactive. But during that meeting, what do you do? You obsess and you replay what happened that morning. What is that interaction going to mean for my our future?
You’ve scheduled your time for meeting. But were you really present? And also, did you schedule in the time you probably lost thinking about it? Real “time management” is a two-part process. It’s how you schedule your time on the outside but it’s also about how you manage your emotions, the self on the inside. And one without the other is not going to get you the results that you need.
So consider this, instead of focusing on managing your time, start by managing how you feel, developing emotional skills like determination and confidence. Emotional skills will serve your time and your life better.
To summed it up “How You Feel is more Important that What You Know.”
Boosting Holiday Sales – 5 Mistakes to Avoid
The new holiday season has arrived, and you still don’t have a marketing plan to reach out to new or existing customers. Wondering why the same holidays seem to sneak up on us every single year? As we try to prepare ourselves for own family, shopping, gift giving and travel, it’s no wonder we often forget about our businesses marketing during all the holiday chaos.
It’s quite common for business owners to freeze their marketing efforts over the holiday season with the notion that they’re going to start strong in the new year; little do they know, however, just how many opportunities have passed them by.
The holidays can be the best time to bring in new business and reconnect with current clients and customers. The holidays are not just for brick-and-mortar stores; it can also help your business by boosting revenue and customer loyalty before the end of the year.
Here are the top five holiday marketing mistakes businesses make:
1. No Plans. Your holiday marketing plan should have been planned at the beginning of the year, but now it’s the holiday season, so what do you do? Take some time today to decide what you are going to do and offer for the rest of the holiday season. If it’s just too late, then start planning now for the next holiday. Also establish the habit in 2010 to set a marketing calendar at the beginning of the year that can serve as a blueprint for your marketing plans year round.
2. No Communications. Although the Christmas holiday season is frantic for most, for some businesses it’s actually the slowest and the best time to pick up the phone and make a call for their business. Many business owners mistakenly think that offices are closed or people are too distracted or busy to be bothered. If you choose not to follow up with leads or customers because it’s a busy time of year, you’re making excuses. If it’s not this holiday, it’ll be the New Year, or Valentine’s Day or Spring break, then summer. Now is the best time to market precisely because so many of your competitors don’t.
3. Zero Holiday Offers. Remember any product or service can be repackaged with a holiday offer or theme. Search online to see what other companies are offering; it might spark an idea or two for your business. People, for the most part, love the holiday season; they like to focus on gift giving, vacations and family time. So if you don’t provide a holiday special or offer that helps them with their needs, you are missing a great opportunity.
4. Not Sending Holiday Greetings. Take a few hours out of your day and hand write a holiday greeting card. There are automated systems such as SendOutCards.com where you can design your own card (to add a personal touch) and you can even send a gift with the card, this service will put the postage on the card and send it for you, saving you a trip to the post office. AT the very least send out an email card. Your customers have been loyal, bought from you and supported your business year round; you need to let them know that you are not only thinking about them over the holidays but that you are grateful for their business.
5. Customer Surveys. How are you going to know what worked and didn’t if you don’t ask? Find out what worked and what didn’t, look at your systems and your marketing, and then make improvements and enhance your current offerings. Aweber.com has great online survey templates. Offer a free gifts or discounts to customers who take the time to complete your survey. If you keep doing what you have always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.
Bert Martinez is an International Sales and Business trainer. Martinez specializes in building businesses worldwide using the power of proven marketing and business strategies.
Want to Increase Your Sales? Target Your Ideal Client
When it comes to increasing your sales, there is a basic principle that you must remember:
Your prospects buy the Benefits to fill specific needs or wants.
Your job as a business owner is to know, understand and deliver the benefits they’re looking for, which will differ depending on the needs of the customers, even for the same product or service. Therefore, it’s critical that you know multiple benefits for each of your products and services. And know exactly what your prospect’s needs and wants are. This is the essence of marketing: to create a match between your buyer’s needs and wants and your lists of benefits.
There are two primary categories of information that will help you with this determination.
The first category is demographics. These are the characteristics that identify the ability, need and interest of a client to purchase your product or service. Demographics define those clients who need what you sell.
The second category is psychographics. These are the factors that identify the motivation or reasons why someone wants to buy your product or service. Psychographics define those clients who want what you sell.
As you identify your prospects’ wants and needs, based upon their demographic and psychographic characteristics, then compare this data with your own wants and needs, you will gain greater insight into your ideal client. And once you accurately target your ideal clients, you’ll spend less time and money to acquire them.
To start, you must research your current clients – the ones you presently deal with day in and day out. Select at least three of your current clients to interview. Perform the demographic research by personally interviewing these clients either on the phone, or in person.
Your Retail Consumers: You must know your consumers; invest some time to understanding your prospects. Find the answers to questions like these:
· Who are your current clients men, mostly women, do they represent a 50/50 mix?
· Is there a certain age or age range that tends to buy from you?
· Are most of your typical clients single or married?
· Do they have high school or college graduate or some where in between?
· Do you know their approximate income level?
· If not, do you know what zip code they live in? (Most zip codes contain homes or apartments that represent specific income ranges.)
Your Business Buyer: If you sell to businesses, interview at least 5-7 typical businesses you sell to. Find out the number of employees they have and their location to learn about their company culture and the number of subordinates you may have to speak with in order to get your sales message to the decision-maker.
When you in other cities, you may require different approaches. For example, you may need to position your product or service differently when selling to a Manhattan based business compared to a Houston based business. In some cases, that difference can be day and night.
Traits and Patterns
When you have completed the interviews, compile all of the information to determine commonalities among your current clients. Collecting this information will help you find the traits they have in common, which will help in future marketing.
Having this demographic information will help you create a picture of your current clients. By identifying this client with demographic information, you can later begin your lead-generation efforts, and create a marketing message that is laser-targeted toward your ideal client. So take your time and be as specific as possible when completing these interviews.
It will pay off when you have a steady stream of ideal clients, increased sales revenues, and more profits.
Remember whether you’re selling to businesses or retail consumers 80% buy with the 5th -12th follow-up.
How to ‘Couch Surf’ and Sleep Around for Free
Fox News|By Paul Eisenberg -Thursday, October 01, 2009
“I would never in a million years pay what you pay in New York City rent,” my houseguest said.
This statement was uttered a few years ago by a friend of a friend of a friend who had just regained consciousness on my living room couch. My response, according to witnesses, was “Well, then I guess you’re lucky you get to stay here for free.”
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My guest’s comment was probably made in a more good-naturedly fashion than I recall, and neither of us had had our coffee yet. But let’s face it, while there are no official rules of conduct for houseguests, one of the basic ones ought to be refraining from remarks that make your host feel like an idiot for living where he does.
If you’ve ever hosted an overnight traveler or been one, you’ve likely walked this sometimes tricky terrain. With no money changing hands, what further obligation do you have as the host? What should you say and do as the guest?
Whether you’re planning to crash with friends or family, or are heading to an exotic destination where they don’t have the courtesy to live, there are a growing number of ways to sleep for free on vacation that are easy and fun. And the rules aren’t all that complicated.
Catch the couch surfing wave.
In case you’re late to the party that is the worldwide phenomenon of couch surfing, it’s generically defined as the act of crashing on someone’s couch, or letting someone do the same, with no money changing hands. Recently, this practice has been somewhat formalized at couchsurfing.org, a website enabling surfers and hosts to find each other and share experiences.
On a whim this summer, travel guidebook writer Erica Rounsefell headed to Great Britain. Couch surfing figured into her visit to York, England, where she stayed with a “dentist originally from Poland. He and some friends of his took me on a road trip through Yorkshire, visiting the seaside at Whitby, an historic abbey, North York Moors National Park, and culminating in a musical performance in the village of Harrogate.” Not incidentally, she saved “at least $1,500 on what I would have had to spend on hotels, but more importantly I met local residents that I never would have gotten to know otherwise.”
Hosts don’t particularly expect anything in return, Rounsefell says, though couch surfers find that the best way to reciprocate is to act as hosts themselves. However, some surfer guests make exceptions for particularly good “service.” One of Rounsefell’s hosts “was very interested in Pakistan and we had a good discussion about it, so I got the book ‘Three Cups of Tea’ for him. Some travelers cook a meal from their home country to share with their hosts, but there’s no expectation on the side of the host.”
Indeed, a surfer visting health coach Melissa Wood’s house cooked her dinner by way of payback. But when Wood offered to buy breakfast for some hosts she crashed with “they said they always buy for the guest, because to them it seems like the thing to do.”
For six of the years he lived in Amsterdam and Dubai, corporate executive Michael Flink hosted more than two dozen travelers, some of them couples. “For me it was a way to meet different people, from all walks of life and all cultures. It may sound strange to open your house to strangers, but only once did I have a bad experience, and that was mild – someone who just wanted to stay longer and wouldn’t take no for an answer until I walked them out.”
Flink concurred with other surfers and hosts that the best payback from the experiences was enduring friendships, though he adds “in terms of little thank yous, a couple from Estonia brought me a bottle of their homeland’s well known booze…and a guy from Poland shared his ‘how to pick up women’ secrets, which eventually led me to meet my wife.”
Stay at (a) home.
By traditional definition, a homestay typically entails renting a room in a family home. But with several homestay services, such as Servas, no money is paid to the host, though the traveler is required to pay Servas a membership fee that varies from country to country. Unlike couch surfing, whose community of hosts and guests is self-policing, Servas reps need to interview and approve potential hosts and guests, all of which must be 18 or older.
“I rarely stay in hotels. Mostly, I visit people in their homes, make new friends, have more fun, and enjoy a much higher quality trip,” says Shel Horowitz, author of “The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty With a Peasant’s Pocketbook” who has done homestays with Servas for more than 25 years.
His typical stay, whether in the United States or abroad, is two nights and he confirms that “no money changes hands, though there is an annual membership fee and we usually bring a small gift.”
Tour leader and Trip Chicks co-owner Ann Lombardi, who has overnighted in more than 70 countries, says her US Servas membership letter of introduction has been a lifesaver. “I’ve used it for last minute homestays when my flight or train is delayed or cancelled, or there’s a problem with a hotel booking.” As with the other lodging scenarios, good advice for and from travelers is often a happy fringe benefit.
“I can call a member if I am in the area and ask if he or she can recommend a good value restaurant,” Lombardi says. It’s like Twitter, but the old-fashioned way.”
Barter a bed.
In the spirit of the expression that “the most expensive suit in your closet is the one you never wear,” many travelers in our sour economy are looking to trade their unwanted and unused stuff for big-ticket travel items, including housing.
The site swapthing.com permits you to barter your unused stuff for just about anything, including timeshares and apartment rentals. Similarly, milehighswap.comlets you trade your unwanted things for airline miles as well as mileage for stuff that might include housing.
Motivational coach Bert Martinez says he has also successfully placed ads on Craigslist.com and Kijiji.com to barter for travel. “As a speaker and trainer company we have had a lot of success trading and bartering for items including airline tickets, hotels, time-shares and condos,” Martinez says. “I estimated we routinely saved thousands of dollars by not using a traditional hotel experience.”
10.5 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Starting A Business
The following list is derived from my experience. Based on my actions and results I retired from corporate America at the age of 28. Filed bankruptcy at 30. I’ve been involved in several successful businesses and many unsuccessful ones too.
#1 – Never let your expenses exceed your sales. Yeah, I know that’s easy to say, because you say “Jeez, that makes perfect sense, if my expenses never exceed my sales then quite honestly I’m always going to have positive revenue. I’m always going to be in the profit. Wow. That’s fundamentally smart. But c’mon Bert, it doesn’t work that way in the world. Why? When we start out we don’t have any sales yet, and so our expenses have to exceed our sales on day one.” And you’re correct. That’s true, so I want you to have a concept, a goal or even a burning desire. That you will make those days the fewest number of days absolutely possible that your expenses are exceeding your sales.
#2 – Failing to collect the money or the receivables. Question – Should you really be extending credit to people? I don’t care what business your in retail, wholesale, hospitality, legal, or whatever. Selling is what you about not carrying receivables. Don’t extend credit, get paid now! Look fewer customers that have paid you 100% are way better than having more customers when some of them didn’t pay you at all. More cash, less stress – you don’t have to be real smart to do the math.
# 3 – Failing to take care of your employees. People have say that the customer is number 1 – right? Maybe not. Well who is taking care of your customers? Your employees handle quality and service and delivery? Well if you haven’t taken care of your employees, they’re probably not going to take care of your customers very well. It’s just that simple. It’s goes without saying that if you do take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers.
#4- Failing to take care of your customers. Real simple the easiest customer to get are existing customers. There is usually more profit in repeat customers than in new customers. A happy customer is a good customer a good customer refers more customers. Take care of your customers and they will take care of you.
#5 – Underestimating your competition. We can, no matter what business we’re in, we think of our competitor as dim-witted, we think of our competitor as incompetent. Remember this -our battle isn’t against them. It’s for the customer, not against our competitor. We don’t win by doing damage to the competitor. We’re not in a battle with him really. We’re in a battle for someone else. So quit thinking about the competitor and start thinking about your competitor’s customers.
#6 Inadequate capital – Now I’ve started business with no money because I had to but then you quickly come to realize that you do need money to operate. You do need capital to grow the company and get to the next level. And here are 2 rules you should remember about capital. And, just in case your not clear, capital is the money we need to fund the organization, to buy the inventory, to hire employees, to do all those things that we’re going to need to do. Well here’s are 2 rules you need to appreciate. Is that your expenses are going to be hirer than you anticipated and your revenue is going to be slower than you anticipated. Those two statements are true in 99.99% of every single business that has ever started. Well that’s what happens. It happens almost all the time. Because we are optimistic, if we weren’t optimist we wouldn’t have started a business. We over-projected what our revenues are. What I’m telling you as a practical, experienced businessman lower that number. Now if you beat, if you excel… wonderful! Find a place to spend it. But if you have shrunk it down, conservative in your projection then you might be safe.
#7 Underestimate the length of time to break even. The break even is a magic moment in the making of a business and if you don’t understand let me try to explain the concept to you. Break even is that magic point when you quit putting money into a company and the company is finally sufficient enough that it starts to pay for itself or is finally starts to pay you for having been there first.
# 8 Focusing on profits instead of on cash flow. Business people, when they first start out, they focus on profits instead of on cash flow. And I know this is going to sound like sacrilege to some people saying well,” aren’t we supposed to be all about profits? absolutely, and yes! And we want to get there as fast as we possibly can! But before we get there we have to make sure something else happens first, and that is that we always have positive cash flow. We always have enough money to pay the rent. We always have enough money to pay out employees. We always have enough money to buy more supplies, to do more marketing, that’s really crucial. That’s called cash flow. Profits will follow the cash flow I guarantee it. Now there’s a different in being profitable and having positive cash flow, you can be unprofitable where you’re actually losing a little bit of money but still have positive cash flow. I’m telling you when your first starting a business, if you have to pick between the two, now if you could have both of them, great go get both of them and that would be wonderful, but I also will tell you from experience getting both of them when your first starting out is really going to be complicated. You’re going to have to make a decision between the two. Pick cash flow when you’re first starting your business.
#9 Over estimating size of your market. Entrepreneurs are optimists and we tend to have this attitude that everyone is going to want to buy what we have – that just doesn’t sell. Get over it. Just come to understand that it’s not going to happen. So what you need to be able to do is think about Bottom Up Marketing. It isn’t how many potential, how many people are out there, it’s about what you can you really do. Bottom Up Marketing looks at your capacity. So if you’ve got 1 employee, 3 employees, 7 employees, that’s all you can handle. It doesn’t matter how many people might want your widget. You can’t handle it! So think coolly about the real size of your market and don’t ever estimate it because you can’t handle it right now. You only need enough market to handle the capacity you presently have, and if you can do that efficiently you will be profitable, and if your profitable you’ll be successful and if your successful you can grow the company again, and again, and again. Do a little research on “Bottom Up Marketing” and you have a better understanding of the concept
#10 No Advertising/Marketing plan. So how are you going to drive your sales through advertising or through sales people. You need to develop your marketing plan, you need to have enough capital to drive sales. I’ve seen to many times were entrepreneurs will invest all this money in equipment or to get the doors open only to discover they have no way to adequately drive sales.
#10.5 – Exit strategy. At one point, P.T. Barnum noticed that people were lingering too long at his exhibits. He posted signs indicating ” “This Way to the Egress”. Not knowing that “Egress” was another word for “Exit”, people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit…and ended up outside. So what am I talking about? We should start a business that we can create and build something that we can sell, transfer, dispose of, or hand off to someone else. That should be a goal maybe the first goal as you begin to vision your successful business.
Remember . . . You Were Created to Succeed!
Turnaround Professional
Advantages of a Turnaround Professional
A turnaround specialist enters a company with a fresh eye and complete objectivity. This professional can spot problems that may not be visible to company insiders and implement solutions.
Turnaround managers has 1 agenda your company’s well being. Since we have no political agenda or other obligations to bias the decision-making process, allowing us to make sometimes unpopular, yet necessary, steps required for a your company’s survival.
A turnaround manager’s experience within a particular industry is less important than experience in crisis situations when a company is facing bankruptcy or the loss of millions of dollars in revenue. Like an emergency room doctor, a turnaround professional must make critical decisions quickly to staunch the financial bleeding and give a patient the best chance for recovery.
Operating in the eye of the storm, a turnaround specialist must deal equitably with angry creditors, frightened employees, wary customers, and a nervous board of directors. Clearly this is no assignment for the faint-hearted.
