A post that I wrote earlier on “250 Things You Wish You Know That Will Guarantee Your Speaking Success” has created quite a buzz on the blogsphere. It started with Andrew Dlugin at Six Minutes who wrote a fairly long post challenging many points that I have raised. And then yesterday, Life Hacker picked up the article (thanks Kevin!) and bang! Traffic at The Public Speaking Blog quadrupled overnight with 829 new visitors (hello!) and the “250 speaking tips” entry was posted on 14 other blogs.

Understandably, not everyone agrees with my list of 250. Some like it and call them “gems” or “speech-prep zen”, others hate it and call them “hasty and forceful”. Well to each his own.

What I am really happy about is the conversations that were created out of this contentious list. At the very least, it makes people aware about how they can raise their speaking standards by a few notches if they pay attention to the tips.

To make the list palatable for you, I have filtered it down from 250 to 50. Yes, it’s Pareto Principle at work here. Focus on the 20% that delivers 80% of the results. Prepare your forks and knives… let’s dig in.

1. Audience always comes first, ask yourself “How can they benefit from listening to me?”
2. Most people seek validation and not education - don’t be like most people.
3. Tell a story, make a point.
4. Create a story bank. Each time something interesting happens - big or small - write it down. You never know where you can use it.
5. Follow the 80/20 rule - 80% prepared. 20% impromptu. Being prepared is extremely important but when you are too prepared, you take the fun out of a speech. The 20% spontaneity allows you to milk any situations that arises while you deliver your speech.
6. A powerful speech is one that can help solve your audience’s problems.
7. The best way to learn is to teach somebody else. Find opportunities to do that. Offer pointers. Offer coaching. Offer suggestions. Remember, you can’t give away what you don’t have. Once you teach somebody else what you learned, it reinforces and improves your speaking skills.
8. Don’t try to impress. Instead try to, share, help, inspire, teach, inform, guide, persuade, motivate… or make the world a little bit better.
9. Stay present in the moment. Forget about the conversations running in your head. Be with your audience. Enjoy the time you have with them.
10. Keep your presentation simple. One message, three points and a kick-ass call for action.
11. Remember, the greatest enemy of speakers is same-ness. (Thanks Patricia Fripp for the tip!)
12. Don’t memorize your entire speech. Internalize. (Thanks David Brooks for the tip!)
13. Never, ever go overtime.
14. Avoid abstractions. Always relate to a common experience.
15. A fail-safe question to answer in your speech - What’s in it for me (the audience)?
16. No pain, no action. If you want to get your audience into action, you need to first understand where their pains are. Once you have identified that particular pain, poke at it. Recreate the scenario so that they can re-experience the pain, both physically and emotionally. When you have successfully brought your audience to that state, they will be begging you to offer them a remedy or a quick solution to rid them of the pain.
17. The key to grabbing attention is surprise. The key to keeping attention is interest.
18. Smile. Smile when you are walking up to the stage. Smile when you make a mistake. Smile when your audience laugh at your story. Smile when you are delivering your message. Smile when you conclude. Smile when you leave the stage. Smile.
19. Videotaping yourself speak can be very confronting but necessary, especially if you want to improve.
20. Take extra effort to remove all your pause fillers from your speech. Common culprits include “urm”, “ah”, “so”, “you know”, “hmm” etc. They are known to reduce your credibility ten folds.
21. One way of overcoming them is to get used to the silence.
22. Stop asking WHY. (Why am I so sucky in speaking? Why did the audience look so bored?) Try asking HOW. (How can I be less sucky? How can I make the audience interested in what I have to say?) Why gets you defensive and stuck. How gets you moving forward.
23. Remember some of your audience’s names and use them in your speech. They will love you for it!
24. The best speeches are not written, they are rewritten.
25. The next time you prepare a speech, do some imagination. If your speech is a piece of music, what music will it be? If your speech is a colour, what colour will it be? If you speech is a dish, what dish will it be? The secret is to cross and merge different senses so that your speech becomes richer and more real to the audience.
26. Have “flesh” time with your audience before you get up on stage to speak.
27. Plan-Pause-Scan: Plan where you want to stand. Pause and get yourself composed. Scan at the audience. And then begin your memorized introduction.
28. Once in a while, take a risk in your speech.
29. Each time you think of something safe to do for your speech, reverse it!
30. Find things that are “just not done” in the speaking industry and go do it (for the fun of it!)
31. Ask “Why not?” Almost everything you don’t do has no good reason for it. It is usually the result of fear and assumption. So why not?
32. Treat your next speech like a game! Have loads of fun with it!
33. I learned this from Seth Godin: One message per slide. Part of the less is more rule.
34. Be really interested in your audience. It shows.
35. Ask and you shall receive. Never be afraid to ask for feedback. Do it for yourself.
36. Always write your speech because what is written can be edited to be more colorful, concise, powerful and precise.
37. Read ONE public speaking article a day. Try The Public Speaking Blog.
38. You are only as good as your last speech.
39. The two main arsenal of a speaker is his stories and analogies. The better his stories and analogies, the more he get paid. (Thanks Darren La Croix for the tip!)
40. Pay attention to stories and things that happen to us. (funny stuff does happen)
41. Audience laughed when they are successfully tricked. That’s the mechanic behind humor.
42. Be knowledgeable – know your stuff. Present 70% of what you prepared. Keep the rest for emergency purposes for eg. during Q&A or when you need to show off.
43. You get creative ideas at all time. Carry around a digital recorder or notebook everywhere you go. Whenever a creative idea strikes you, record or write it. You only have 37 secs of window time to capture the idea. Don’t wait till you are booked for speech before you think of what to say.
44. 95% growth happens when you are out there with your audience. Yes, it’s another way of telling you to get stage time!
45. Don’t be afraid to say this to your audience - “RIP ME APART!” Repeat after me, “RIP ME APART!”
46. 10 “You” for Every “I” in your speech! Remember, keep your speech audience-centric.
47. 台上十分钟，台下十年功 (realized this when I was competing in Macau in 2006). Here the direct translation: “Ten minutes on stage is equivalent to ten years of training offstage”.
48. It’s ok to fail or bomb on stage. What is more important is the lesson behind it. Learn it well and make sure you don’t forget.
49. Be willing to fall & fall forward.
50. Persistence is key. And I think you have it if you have read from point 1 all the way to point

Eric Feng is the go-to guy if you want to learn how to impress your investors and customers through public speaking. For more tips and tactics that you can use immediately in your next presentation, visit The Public Speaking Blog.

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Networking is booming at the moment with more organisations being formed every week. Many of us, however, attend networking events because someone says it is a good idea or we hope that we will meet someone of interest. Beyond that, few people have a clear vision of what success will look like for them.

More people now recognise that events will not be populated by people looking to buy their product (after all, how many people attend events with a view to buying?) and so, fortunately, the instances of being ‘pitched’ as soon as you shake hands seems to have diminished. However, this leaves a vacuum. If you can’t go to events to sell your services, how can you make them work?

Many speakers like me advise their audiences to ‘pursue the relationship, not the sale’. It is well and good to make more friends, but how can that help your business? One recent commentator on a blog I posted on Ecademy bemoaned that very problem, “People told me they had wanted to refer me for a long while, but since they didn't really understand what I do (all they had was "some kind of techy") they weren't able to.”

The answer lies in being able to leverage the relationships you build. Through networking events you simply build contacts. The development of those contacts into relationships often takes place outside of the meetings, where you can really take the time to get to know each other and your respective business needs.

As relationships develop and people start to know, like and trust you, they will be more inclined to support and refer you. It is vital for you to continually educate this network about your needs, without ever thrusting those needs down their throats! Newsletters which offer valuable information (like this one), quick lines to tell them about something you’ve achieved and regular meetings all help to arm your connections with the information they need.

And always be on the lookout for them, passing them valuable tips and information and, where possible, quality introductions and referrals.

Networking events are a catalyst for new business. They should never be viewed as a pool of prospects enabling you to walk out with business signed.

Andy Lopata is one of the UK's leading business networking strategists. He is the co-author of two books on the subject, including the Amazon UK bestseller '...and Death Came Third! The Definitive Guide to Networking and Speaking in Public'. Andy offers a full consultancy service and works with companies to help them realise the full potential from their networking.

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This article is submitted by Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO, SBTV.com. Submit an article today.

The stress of growing your business can take its toll. That’s why it's important to take care of you. Stress is the number one cause of illness in our country. Learning how to manage your stress level is not only a smart decision, but it's also critically important for your business success. When you are stressed or not feeling well, your motivation level drops. Your judgment and decision making can become impaired. Certainly, emotions can quickly escalate resulting in irrational behavior or fits of anger.

Be realistic about what you expect of yourself and don't over commit. Learn to say "no" and really mean it. Before you say yes to something make sure it is the appropriate use of your time and resources. Remember, there are only so many hours in a day, and no matter how hard you try you can't change that. You should manage your time and plan ahead so your schedule can accommodate time to focus on your personal well-being. If you don't, you'll burn out, and so will your business.

Try scheduling time during the week that is just for you to do something you really enjoy. For example, a woman recently told me she leaves her office once a week to take a piano lesson. The lesson and her practice time during the week forces her to think about something entirely different than her business challenges. As a result, it helps her feel refreshed and more creative.

Elizabeth Kekrney, CEO of the California-based Kekrney & Associates: The Experts Alliance suggests calendaring your personal time. "I just decide what amount of time I am going to need, and I actually put it on my calendar. Now that may sound stupid, but I write it down. I flex it if I need to, but if I don't put it down I won't even get to a party that I am planning on attending," she explains.

Julie Fogg, CEO of Active Port, a full-service reseller of converged telephone systems, says she has learned how important it is to keep her health and happiness as her two top priorities. She signed up for a fitness boot camp five days a week starting at 5:30 a.m. and sees a nutritionist regularly. "I have so much more energy now that I am careful about what I eat and I participate in group exercise. My health was affecting Active Port, so I will never neglect that area of my life again."

Discover what works best for you, but make a commitment to yourself and your business that taking care of you is as important as caring and nurturing your business growth.

This article is submitted by Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO, SBTV.com. SBTV is the first television network on the web devoted 100 percent to the small business market - from business start-ups to established enterprises. Founded in 2000, SBTV is becoming the number one choice for small business information on the net.

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Startup Spark: You created your business this year, but now, looking back, you wonder if it’s all been a waste of time. Here are just some of the reasons your business maybe failing - and best of all they’re easily corrected!

And although these hints are for online businesses, if you own a brick & mortar place of business, many of these apply to you too.

1. You don’t offer free original content. People use this to understand you and get to know you as an expert they can trust,

2. You don’t use a signature file on your e-mails. It’s a selling opportunity that’s often missed.

3. You don’t have your own domain name. Even in this day and age using a domain that isn’t yours (such as tripod) is just bad and makes you look less serious about your business.

4. You don’t test and improve your ad copy. Testing is the key to finding out what works.

10 reasons why your business may be failing [Startup Spark]

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Lorraine Cohen.

"How Do I Choose?" eBook

A powerfull five-step blueprint for making rock-solid decisions

Would you rather get a root canal than make important decisions?

When faced with even the smallest decision, do you waffle and procrastinate?

Have you paid penalties or "lost out" because you simply couldn't make a decision?

This groundbreaking eBook outlines a powerfull (and user-friendly) five-step blueprint for making rock-solid decisions. Packed with worksheets, exercises, useful tips, and real-life examples, How Do I Choose? is a must-read practical business and life tool that will help you make major and minor decisions that feel right - in your heart and in your bones!

"9 Keys to Claim Your Personal Power" eBook

This eCourse style workbook is designed to walk you through a process of thinking about POWER in a new way. 9 Keys to Claim Your Personal POWER will challenge you to explore what power means to you, what it is and how you can begin to deliberately become the Creator of your life.

Take Charge of Your Life: Overcoming Overwhelm, Procrastination, and Fear!

Receive insights, loads of practical tools and exercises you can implement immediately to feel more productive and confident in building your business as well as feeling more in charge of your personal life. Click here to learn more about Lorraine's products.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Jim Donovan.

Life is just a breeze... or is it?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to just breeze through life, accomplishing everything they set out to do, while the majority of the population leads what Henry David Thoreau called, "lives of quiet desperation"?

The difference, as some of us have learned, is first removing the obstacles to our success and then, following a proven process to achieve whatever we want in life.

GetEntrepreneurial.com Network Expert, Jim Donovan, a highly respected author who has written several successful books, now published in 22 countries, has just released what many of us consider his best work.

Based on his runaway hit, "This is Your Life, Not a Dress Rehearsal," his new self-paced, home study audio program and companion workbook of exercises and action steps, is guaranteed to change your life.

I can say this with confidence because Jim has been teaching these same principles in his live seminars for over a decade and has used them with his private clients who gladly pay him more than ten times the cost of this program for an hour of his wisdom.

Here is more info on his "This is Your Life, Not a Dress Rehearsal" course:

- Learn how total acceptance and surrender is the key to reclaiming your personal power.
- How to change the conditions in your life immediately with one simple activity.
- Identify what needs to happen in each key area of your life in order to live your dream life.
- Uncover the beliefs that are blocking you from your success.
- Learn a simple method to eliminate what's stopping you from becoming all you are capable of becoming.
- Develop the new, empowering beliefs that will support the lifestyle you desire.

Find out more about Jim's "This is Your Life, Not a Dress Rehearsal" audio workshop by visiting the homepage at http://www.jimdonovan.com/your-life-cb.html

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by AndyLax.

If you're looking for a merchant accounts provider offering affordable services for credit card processing, IntelliCollect - United Bank Card may just be for you. Designed for businesses on a budget, the merchant account offered by IntelliCollect - United Bank Card will lower your credit card processing expenses and increase your cash flow.

IntelliCollect - United Bank Card is one of the few merchant account companies in America that waives any startup fee and any termination or cancellation fee. Their merchant account contract is month to month, and they work with the nation's most aggressive wholesale payment processor to offer you an affordable merchant account at the lowest possible cost.

All credit card transactions are processed with the maximum secure encryption and funds are quickly deposited into the checking account of your choice. If you're looking to expand your business in the online world, IntelliCollect is a good choice.

Check out this free ebook, The Fool-Proof Guide to Accepting Credit Card & Check Payments Online & Offline, specially for GetEntrepreneurial.com readers.

IntelliCollect has a reputation for quick response times, exemplary customer service and an outstanding array of affordable services. You may want to have a look at a review of IntelliCollect's services on this page.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Eric Feng.

Eric Feng is the go-to guy if you want to learn how to impress your investors and customers through public speaking. For more tips and tactics that you can use immediately in your next presentation, visit The Public Speaking Blog.

Recently, Eric has just released a well-written book: "The FAQ Book- Public Speaking"

Here's what you get...

* The 3 most important attributes the audience looks out for in a speaker

* How to maximise speaking effectiveness and accelerate your growth exponentially as a speaker.

* How to find and cultivate your very own style of speaking that no one can duplicate

* Discover every single trick, tactic, shortcut, formula, jealously-guarded secret and psychological hot-button used by truly successful public speakers

* The little known secrets to capture the attention of the audience

* Why pauses are necessary in your speech and how you can totally eliminate pause fillers and don't let them haunt you again

And much more! Certainly a recommendable, humorous and effective public speaking book for all out there. Click here to receive a complimentary chapter of The FAQ Book on Public Speaking.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Andy Lopata.

Here's a great Networking and Public Speaking Book written by Andy Lopata and Peter Roper: "...and Death came third!"

In '...and Death Came Third!', Andy Lopata and Peter Roper share their wealth of experience and insider secrets on networking and public speaking, giving you the tips, tools and techniques you need to overcome your fears and make the most of all the opportunities that come your way.

Read this book and discover how to:

WALK into a networking event and approach people with CONFIDENCE
STRUCTURE a talk so that you can get your key message across POWERFULLY
ENGAGE people in conversation and get them interested in YOU
FOCUS on the results you want from networking and achieve them EASILY
STAND and speak with CONVICTION and AUTHORITY
and much, much more...

Or look at the Word of Mouse - the social network that means business

For your business to grow people need to know about you. Networking has been proven to be effective in developing advocates who will recommend your business to others – but not everyone finds regular networking meetings easy to attend.

Sometimes, you have to be with a client at the time of the meeting, some of you just don’t find it easy to get to breakfast meetings, and lunchtime get-togethers can interrupt the working day.
If there was a way to network locally where you were in control when and where you met the other group members, wouldn’t that solve all those networking challenges?

If this sounds too good to be true – it isn’t. Joining the Word of Mouse network will put you into a strong team, all committed to helping each other’s businesses to prosper and grow.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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Four Ways to Save Time When Working From Home

Do you ever feel like twenty-four hours in a day isn’t enough? I frequently find myself wishing that I had an extra hour or two each day to get done all of the things on my task list. With small children still at home, I am constantly getting distracted from my home-based business to attend to their needs. It has become imperative....

Continued in BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 59 >>>

- Kangoo Jump
- All Things Renewable
- ClayValet Shops For You
- Mobile Greetings From Cellyspace
- Glucoboy Glucose Meter
- Book Swap
- Restickable Glue

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>

- Pricing Strategies
- The Missing Profit Link
- The Art of Schmoozing and Winning Friends
- They Just Don’t Have The Time
- Socially Challenged?
- How Do You Define Success-Failing Forward
- Merchant Account 101: Newbie Questions

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>

Can't stand your demanding boss anymore? Start your own business! Before that, be sure to subscribe to our free informative newsletter. BIZNESS! is jointly published by CoolBusinessIdeas.com and GetEntrepreneurial.com What you get in BIZNESS! - the latest new business ideas, small business advice, business tips and info and entrepreneur resources. Everything you need for your brand new business!

Free 145-pages PDF report (worth $75) - "2006's Best Business Ideas" - included with your subscription. Learn more here.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Klaus Wiedemann.

DAISHO is a group collaboration software designed for the working environment of the 21st century. It offers Goal and Time Management with Time Budgeting, Contact Management, P2P Groupware Functionality and more features. DAISHO integrates seamlessly with Outlook and supports calendar synchronization and contacts import.

You can request a trial version of this useful software, free, by visiting:

http://www.daisho-blacksmith.de/en/

With DAISHO, you can do long term planning and track the degree of your goal achievement. Combine your long-term planning with more strategic mid-term planning, and you can set deadlines to prioritize your goals. Moreover, you can integrate your diverse Outlook calendars and reduce unplanned activities with timeslots. You can even analyze your network contacts with DAISHO.

It's worth giving DAISHO a try. A free trial version is available at http://www.daisho-blacksmith.de/en/

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Lou Bortone.

Veteran television producer Lou Bortone, The Online Video Guy, has released several new products and services to help entrepreneurs produce online video for their websites or blogs.

The Online Video Guy’s signature products include a step-by-step e-course entitled “Maximizing Opportunities with Online Video,” as well as a new, low-cost e-book, the “Webcam Buying Guide and Videotaping Tips.” Both products are available online as PDF downloads at:

http://www.theonlinevideoguy.com/home/

In addition to Online Video “how-to” e-books and self-study e-courses, The Online Video Guy also offers video production and editing services, as well as design and production of full-motion video graphics. Samples are available at the homepage.

For entrepreneurs who prefer one-on-one coaching and assistance in getting videos online, Lou offers monthly e-coaching programs. Visit the website or e-mail lou.bortone@gmail.com for more information.

Exclusive for GetEntrepreneurial.com readers:

TV writer/producer Lou Bortone is "The Online Video Guy," who gives small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools and rules for creating their own online video content. Lou helps individuals, businesses and non-profits produce compelling video blogs, podcasts and TV programs for the Internet. Be sure to visit www.theonlinevideoguy.com and pick up your free Special Report "7 Secrets to Boosting Your Business Using Online Video!" - specially for GetEntrepreneurial.com readers.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Terri Zwierzynski.

Free E-book By Solo-E specially for GetEntrepreneurial.com readers: 25 Surefire Ways to Capture More Clients, Get More Done in Less Time, and Make More Money -- in 90 Days or Less

The Dream
You're finally making a living as a solo business owner, and love telling your "employed" friends how great it is to be self-employed. And it's true -- you're working from home (or the beach, or a hotel room!), there's no stressful commute, and forget the confines of a 9-5 workday.

The Reality
But there may be more you aren't telling your friends: It's a little scary sometimes! Your salary is a roller coaster, as customers come and go, making it hard to plan for -- much less save for -- the future. You know you are working too hard, but you just have too much work to do -- plus mountains of email. There's no time to take a break, and frankly, you're exhausted!

Wouldn't it be lovely to work less and relax more? Can you imagine having so many clients that you have a waiting list? And being financially successul enough to save for retirement, afford your dream vacation -- and have the time to actually take that vacation?

Proven Solo Success Strategies
We've mined the collective experience of 15 successful Solo Entrepreneur Experts who share their best advice on how to start achieving those goals -- 25 proven strategies that will net you measurable results in less than three months.

Download your personal copy of the latest version of this ebook: http://www.solo-e.com/

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Check out the rest of the series here. Today, we review a recommendation by Russ Lombardo.

Sales consultant Russ Lombardo who has over three decades in the high-tech industry, has released a couple of books to help entrepreneurs and sales people to increase revenue and success, namely "CyberSelling" and "CRM For The Common Man".

CyberSelling will improve your sales career, and your sales team, by teaching what you need to know in order to succeed in today's tough and challenging economy. Whether for a sales team or an individual sales professional, you will learn various selling skills -- from Cold Calling to Closing, and even Customer Retention after the sale.

You’ll see how to use an actual CRM product, GoldMine®, to assist in each of the stages of the sales process as well as how to use this technology to support your selling activities. The PEAK Sales Process is highlighted as the sales process used to guide you through your selling activities in the most effective order.

CyberSelling combines the 3 key ingredients for making your sales career more successful – Sales Processes, Selling Skills and CRM Technology.

Click on the image below to watch a free NetSeminar:

CRM For The Common Man provides you with:

-Plan your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy
-Identify what needs to be done internally before considering a CRM solution
-Develop your company’s processes to improve your customer relationship management
-Use your existing systems to maximize your CRM potential
-Engage your entire company and get them behind your CRM strategy to guarantee success
-Communicate your CRM plans and strategies to your sales reps, and other stake holders, to ensure total buy-in
-Determine the costs associated with a CRM solution for your business, and calculate your ROI
-Develop a business planning roadmap to assure a successful CRM implementation

Click Here to Listen to Russ's CRM Radio Interview:

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This product review is part of a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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It's the time of the year again, when people all around the world take time off to savor the joys of Christmas. To mark the joyous season, we at GetEntrepreneurial.com are working on a special daily series, GE Network Recommendations. Everyday, one of our resident GE Network Experts will recommend to us small business products or services which they feel are highly beneficial and relevant to aspiring entrepreneurs.

We'll do a review of our experts' recommendations in the hope that you'll find them useful and informative. As the year 2007 comes to an end, and the new exciting year beckons, we hope that among the reviews in the special daily series, you'll find one or two hidden gems which would turn out to be really effective in starting your own successful business or bringing your current business to the next level in 2008.

We thank our Network Experts for their contribution, and we also want to thank you, our readers, for your participation in this small community. Happy Holidays!

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Startup Hints: Many of us in the nine to five business world dream of setting up shop and striking out on our own. Being free from the rigors of corporate life certainly does have its charms, but it is important for any would be entrepreneur to understand just how important a solid business plan is to their success.

Without a good business plan, it will be next to impossible for your new business to raise the startup capital it needs, attract experienced and qualified business partners, or find the money needed to expand.

It is also important to remember that some types of professions lend themselves for easily to the entrepreneurial lifestyle. One profession that definitely has this potential is that of accounting, and there have been many successful businesses started to offer accounting services to willing clients.

The Importance Of A Solid Accountant Business Plan [Startup Hints]

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A consulting colleague of mine recently sent me an email with a dilemma he was facing. His email said, "Hey Russ, I have two clients that I will be meeting with to review how I can help them improve their sales. We are looking at their business plans and reviewing their geographical market. What's a fair hourly rate for someone to come in and review sales, processes and do a SWOT analysis?"

When I hear "hourly rate", I usually think of my mechanic. "Well, your framastat isn't passing signals to your defibulator, so we need to run some diagnostics and probably will have to replace your entire transgasual system. I'm guessing 12 hours at $200 per hour. Yes sir, we're talking about $2400 or so for the job," as he spits his cigar stub out of his mouth and into an oily can sitting next to my poor unsuspecting car. While this may be fine for the trades, business consultants can't operate this way. We have to look at the big picture and consider the value of the work being done.

Rarely, if ever, do we go in and fix something that's broke, like a framastat. Instead, we analyze symptoms, recommend ways to improve those conditions, and implement processes to enhance the customer's situation. I liken that more to what a doctor does. They analyze what's wrong and prescribe alternatives to correct the situation. If you agree with their prognosis, then you can either use that doctor to resolve your problem, choose another doctor, or take no action at all, in which case the problem will go away by itself or persist until you don't feel it any longer or pass away as a result of ignoring it. In either case, you paid for the diagnostic visit, which is of value to you since you, a) know what's wrong, and b) know what alternatives from which to choose. And the doctor's visit costs the same amount no matter how long it took. He charged by visit, not by hour.

I never charge by the hour since it is subject to debate, negotiations, etc. I am not a mechanic? In fact, I don't even charge by project. I charge by "value". Here is how I responded to my colleague's email. "Consider this -- I'm sure you will do some prep work in advance of your meeting, and that will take some time. You will spend time on-site with your client. And, you will undoubtedly do follow-up work, such as write a needs analysis or implementation plan. Now, this final analysis or report is of value, right? And, your client could take it to another consulting firm to implement, or do it themselves. So you have to make sure you get enough out of it by showing your client it's value, regardless of how many hours it takes you to complete. By the way, do you really have any idea how many hours it WILL take? Of course not.

"The real question is not how much to charge per hour, but how valuable will this project be to your client? And that is something only you (and your client) need to work out. But I will tell you this -- I do nothing for just a few hundred dollars. It's not worth my time to get a few bucks for a small project, unless it is one step toward a committed larger project (i.e., Phase 1). Why? Because my time is valuable too. These small jobs are often the customer's attempt at trying to get free advice. If it only takes a brief moment to figure out, and therefore only worth a few dollars, then how valuable can it be? Not very! However, if this is multi-phased project and the first phase is a brief project plan or needs analysis, then it is definitely a valuable exercise and therefore worth doing, since it is part of a larger project. If the customer decides to use someone else to implement the solution you recommended, so be it. At least you'll get paid for your efforts and the value delivered to the client. You need to ask a lot of questions to learn what pains they are having, find out the cost of those pains to the client, then associate a VALUE to the solution. That's what your fee should be based upon.

"Oh, and by all means, DON'T DISCOUNT. If you do, you will be the 'discount guy' of your area and everyone will find out (because they'll tell each other, especially if they are referrals) and you will forever have to discount for everyone. Bad habit! Instead of discounting, take away some value and sell what's left for a lower fee."

So, he took my advice and changed his approach. Darn! I just realized that I gave him free advice that had value. Oh well, it wasn't that bad. My colleague ended up taking a full-time position with one of his clients. Perhaps he isn't quite ready to enter the exciting world of consulting. When he learns about value-pricing, then I'm sure he will be one step closer to a new career.

Good luck and good selling!

Russ Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, "CyberSelling", "CRM For The Common Man" and "Smart Marketing". He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

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Do you ever feel like twenty-four hours in a day isn’t enough? I frequently find myself wishing that I had an extra hour or two each day to get done all of the things on my task list. With small children still at home, I am constantly getting distracted from my home-based business to attend to their needs. It has become imperative to use the time that I have to work efficiently. I have found a few ways to use my work time more effectively and I’m willing to share a few of my secrets with you.

First, don’t answer the phone every time it rings.

If your phone rings constantly while you are trying to work, let your answering machine act as your personal assistant. Check you Caller ID and if you don’t recognize the number or know that you can return the call at a later time, let the caller leave a message.

Schedule a time each day or every other day that you will set aside to return phone calls. Try to keep each phone call short if possible, so that you are able to return all calls. Whenever possible, offer to email the person any requested information to save time rifling through paperwork or searching your office.

Second, use your email program wisely.

Set up a spam filter so that you won’t have to dredge through useless emails each day. Use the folders, labels and other tools provided to file your emails in a way that works for you. I set up a folder for each common type of email that comes through – payments, forms, correspondence, etc – and file each email that I receive. This keeps my inbox tidy and allows me to easily find emails when I am ready to handle it. Also, when I’m working on a project for my business I close my email program. This keeps me focused on the project at hand.

Another email shortcut that I use is to mark important emails with a flag or star depending on the email program. I use this only for emails that require a response. I read through my emails each morning and sort, flag and delete as necessary. When I go back through my email later in the day I go to the marked emails first and respond to as many as possible. I then move through the folders and take care of any emails that are awaiting.

Third, organize your office.

Keep the top of your desk neat and take the time every few weeks to go through your drawers and files and clean them out. Throw away the paperwork that you no longer need and find a new home for any useless items that have collected there. I keep a business card holder on my desk to use as a quick reference when I need someone’s contact information. I also use a letter hold to keep track of bills and a set of bookends to keep my reference books handy.

If you are a sticky-note fanatic like me take a moment at the end of each day and transfer your notes to your calendar or planner. The more sticky notes you can eliminate each evening, the more time you’ll have to accomplish important tasks the next morning.

Hire a VA

Finally, if your business has grown to a level where you can no longer handle all of the necessary tasks on your own, consider hiring a virtual assistant (VA). Most virtual assistants will allow you to hire them hourly per project, so that you are able to stay within your business’s budget. Virtual assistants can handle most any task – from updating your website to sending out press releases about your business. One of the best things that I have done for my business is to hire a VA. Her help gives me the freedom to work more efficiently and have time to spend on other things.

There are many ways to use your time for effectively when working from home. Use the tools that you have at your fingertips to help you get more work done in less time. Don’t get bogged down trying to do everything – know when you need assistance. By keeping yourself focused on the task at hand you’ll save more time than you can imagine.

Jill Hart is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com. She graduated from Grace University with a Bachelor's Degree in Human Development and Family Studies/Bible. Jill has worked from since 2000 and started her own home-based business to assist other Christians who desire to work from home while maintaining a godly life.

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You’ve heard the saying before that there is no “I” in team. And that’s true. A team is a collection of people working toward the same goal with the single objective of successfully reaching a satisfied conclusion. However, when you’re a sales rep there’s a slightly different spin on this little pearl of wisdom. Sometimes it’s a natural tendency to think more about “Me” than the team.

As a sales rep, you deal with a variety of people in a team-selling environment. In the early phases of selling when the opportunity is still new, you may deal with your inside sales or telemarketing people to help qualify the account. On the technical side you may engage the pre-sales systems engineer who works with the client’s technical or IT people. As you negotiate the deal the contracts people can get involved. When you get the order you could deal with your order entry staff. And, when the sale is made the customer support team may be deployed. There may even be additional people and departments you work with depending on your company and selling process.

Nevertheless, when it comes right down to it, who gets the ‘ax’ when the revenue numbers aren’t achieved? Who gets fired when the territory doesn’t hit quota? Who gets kicked to the curb when the big deal goes to a competitor? The SALES REP!!

We understand the concept of team selling and always want to be a “team player”. That’s a good thing since you need your team to help close business. Without the team, you cannot succeed. Don’t ever forget it. However, this advice can hurt you if you lose focus on who has the most at stake. Sure, this sounds selfish and greedy. But guess what, you’re the one whose commission plan has 50% at risk. If you don’t make your quota, half your income is at stake. The order entry people still get paid. The contracts administrator still takes home the same amount she did last month. Seems everyone still gets paid the same whether YOU get the deal or not – except you!

But wait! Don’t you also get paid the “Big Bucks” when you hit your quota? Don’t you get the huge bonus and over-rides when you “blow out” your numbers? What about then? Well, that my friend is what sales is all about. You are in a high-risk position. If you sell, you’re a hero and make lots of money (theoretically speaking, that is). And if you fail, you make less. Sometimes lots less. But what about the team?

If YOU have everything on the line, then who cares about the team? They get paid the same and you take all the risk. So why become a team player? You can’t spell team without “M” and “E”. So what about “ME” you say. Why should I care about the team? When I hear this from sales reps, I feel like crying. Some even believe that their team is there to serve their purposes and if things go wrong or they lose the deal, the team can take the fall. Teamwork doesn’t mean, “Let’s spread the blame as widely as possible.” It’s not about blame. It’s about success.

So, why should you care about your team? Well, if you don’t know by now, it might be too late. You cannot do your job without your team. Period! End of story! Sure, they get paid the same, win or lose. But they help make you a success. As that desperate man named Jerry said to the beautiful lady in that famous motion picture, “You complete me.” That’s exactly what your team does – they COMPLETE you. Team players in a sales environment sometimes have to weave a delicate thread when trying to balance their priorities. How do you take care of the team’s interests and priorities while not neglecting your own?

This reminds me of when I was on the high school wrestling team. Unlike football, which was truly a team sport, wrestling is a bit duplicitous. First, you are on a team and the entire team can have a winning or losing match, and season. However, each wrestler has to go out there and defeat their opponent one-on-one. You are on the mat all by yourself (well, with your opponent, of course). Your team isn’t out there with you trying to pin the other guy. If you win, that’s great for you. But you can win and your team can still lose if there aren’t enough individual wrestlers on your team who win.

In high school wrestling, each individual wrestler gets points for winning. If you win by scoring more individual points than your opponent, then your team gets, say, three points. If you pin your opponent, your team gets, say, five points. So you can pin your opponent in 10 seconds flat and look like a hero. But if the rest of your team doesn’t have enough individual points, the team loses. Sure, you can move on to wrestle in the District or Regional Championships, as an individual. But you could still be playing for a losing team. The best scenario I remember was having a personal success record and reaching the championship tournaments, while wrestling for a team with a winning season. Pride times two!

In sales, there is a big difference however. When the sales rep is out there on the mat with his or her opponent, the rest of the team is really out there too. The technical expert pitches in when needed. The contracts person does their part. Management helps where they can. And finally, if all goes well, the team overcomes diversity, the customer makes the best purchase decision for them, and everyone wins.

One way to ensure the team succeeds is to have a well-defined sales process. This entails laying out all the steps necessary to bring a sales lead from suspect to prospect to customer. The process should define who does what within each step, for how long they do it, how they hand off to the next responsible team player, if and when they get engaged again, and many more details that the entire team should understand and follow. The need for, and development of, sales processes is the subject of another article. In fact, books are written on this subject, not to mention the livelihood of many consultants dependent on them, including yours truly. But it is important to mention here as it relates to a team selling approach. No sense having a team if all the players are moving in different directions and cross-purposes.

So the next time you’re out there selling your head off, don’t forget you have a support team behind you whose sole purpose is to make the team, and you, succeed regardless of who gets paid what, and regardless of how you actually spell T.E.A.M.

Good luck and good selling!

Russ Lombardo is President of PEAK Sales Consulting, LLC and an experienced CRM and Sales consultant, trainer, writer, speaker and radio show host. Russ works with businesses to help improve their customer acquisition and retention for increased revenue and success. Russ is author of the books, "CyberSelling", "CRM For The Common Man" and "Smart Marketing". He can be reached at 702-655-5652 and emailed at russ@peaksalesconsulting.com.

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Businesses want the different departments within their organization to cooperate, to compliment each other's efforts. No business function is an island onto itself and when any business function's purpose is misunderstood it adversely effects the entire operation. Cooperation creates synergy and improved profitability. Credit and past due A/R management is often a missing link in the profit chain.

Credit and Sales

The job of Sales is to turn prospects into profitable customers. Good Sales People ask questions to determine a prospective customer's need or desire. They then make a presentation on how their product/service will meet or exceed the need. If a customer then wishes to buy the method of payment must be determined. Should the customer want to pay at some later date, i.e. via credit terms the profit chain starts to fray.

Sales people are trained and paid to sell, Credit people are not!

It's not that Credit people fail to understand that without sales there is no business; but it's how the Credit function's performance is measured that creates conflict. Management can talk about the importance of credit approval to sales until they're blue in the face; but if they then turn around and measure DSO (days sales outstanding) and % bad debt, the message sent is that the number one job of the credit area is "risk management."

"Employees respect what management inspects and not what it expects" - Dr. Don Rice Texas A&M

If DSO and % bad debt are stressed, the results will be a harsher qualifying of prospects and a lower approval rate, and the placing of more past due customers on credit hold. A better and more profitable relationship between the Credit and Sales areas must be built on performance measurements that encourage finding ways to say yes to profitable sales, and that focus on keeping customers current and buying.

The Credit area can play a constructive role in supporting the Customer Service, Operations,
Accounting/Finance and Marketing functions, but its highest calling is to new and repeat sales.

Credit and Customer Service

Helping customers so as to retain their goodwill and continuing business is the job of every business function that has contact with customers.

In many companies the largest percentage of past due customers haven't paid because of unidentified and unresolved problems. The problem may be with the customer, or with the vendor, or the result of the actions of a 3rd party. The early identification and resolution of systems problems by the credit area will raise both customer service and customer retention levels.

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" - Murphy's Law "Murphy was an optimist" - WalkingBear

Credit and Operations

Seamless and smooth running business processes is a worthy goal. In the course of fixing things that have gone wrong, so that past due customers pay, the Credit function will uncover "areas of opportunity for improvement" throughout the entire business chain.

The Credit area can and should play an important role in constantly improving on the quality of a company's business processes. Quality is a must and constant improvement of a business' processes is like earning compound interest.

"A business manager not focused on improvement becomes an administrator at best and a bureaucrat at worst." - WalkingBear

Credit and Accounting/Finance

Safeguarding the assets of a company and ensuring sufficient liquidity are major roles of the accounting and finance area of business. In many companies the A/R is one of if not the largest assets and next to cash on hand A/R is the most liquid asset. The Credit area's role in creating and managing the A/R places it in an ideal position to ensure positive cashflow, quality receivables and the early identification and control of bad debt losses.

A key player in a company's financial well being, the credit area compliments the efforts of the accounting and finance area.

Credit and Marketing

Marketing is about more than getting prospects to call, it's also about communicating with customers so as to influence them in a positive way. A credit function not attuned to a company's marketing mix, the interrelated and interdependent activities in which the company engages in to meet is objectives, will cause the business to suffer.

Credit's central role and its need and ability to interface with prospects, customers, sales, accounting and finance, vendors, operations etc. place it in a prime position to further and to monitor a company's marketing efforts.

In Closing

I really enjoyed being a Corporate Credit Manager; it was like being a spider in the middle of a web. I had tentacles that reached everywhere. Once our CEO and the rest of the management team came to understand the true potential of the credit area; of its ability to increase sales (new and repeat), effect cashflow, identify areas of opportunity for improvement, and to support the marketing objectives…we changed the name of the department from credit and collections to the Customer/Sales Support Department. Along with the name change and new expectations came new performance measurements and a bonus based on improving profitability.

Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.

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I recently received a very interesting question and I would like to take some time to answer it here.

“Can you share with me on… how to make small talks with people of higher authority? (for eg, after attending a talk, there’re many people worth saying hi to…how to do tt without feeling out of place? what to say? how to start? )”

There are two parts to the question:
1. How do I make small talks
2. How do I make small talks with people of higher authority?

To answer both questions, I would first like to introduce you to a concept call SCHMOOZING. Schmoozing is more than small talk. And I would like to borrow the definition from a very insightful book titled Vault Guide to Schmoozing.

Schmoozing is noticing people, connecting with them, keeping in touch with them — and benefiting from relationships with them.

Schmoozing is about connecting with people in a mutually productive and pleasurable way — a skill that has taken on new importance in our fragmented, harried, fiber-optic-laced world.

Schmoozing is the development of a support system, a web of people you know who you can call, and who can call you, for your mutual benefit and enjoyment.

Schmoozing is the art of semi-purposeful conversation: half chatter, half exploration.

Schmoozing is neither project nor process. It’s a way of life.

Now that you have an idea of what schmoozing is, allow me to share with you three principles of schmoozing that will answer the above two questions.

1. SMILE!

You can’t go wrong with that. Smile and the whole world smiles back at you. Nothing is as powerful as a sincere smile. It cost nothing yet it means so much. The next time you attend any function, just smile at people around you. You will be surprised how easy it is to make the first connection!

2. Be REALLY interested in whoever you are talking to

If you are out there to get something out of everyone, it will show. Instead, try this. Go out and make a friend. Keep a “I want to know you better” mentality and creating small talks will be a piece of cake. In fact you will find yourself going beyond small talks and start enjoying every conversation you made.