BusinessKnowHow: You've all heard the advice to get to know your audience, make eye contact, don't say "um," check your equipment, and similar public speaking techniques to make your presentations as powerful as they can be. These are great tips, and you'll hear them over and over, but I've got some lesser-known suggestions for you today that will benefit you and your audience as much as more common advice.
Pointer 1: Take your medications
If your nervousness goes to your gut, by all means take your upset stomach medication. If you get tension headaches, head them off at the pass with your favorite pain reliever. Do what it takes to avoid the physical distractions that will disrupt your performance and keep you from doing your best.
Pointer 2: Start on time
Take charge of the room, take charge of your time, and make the decision to reward the people who are committed and punctual.
Pointer 3: Give the end of your sentences the same energy you give to the beginning of your sentences
This is a simple tool but an effective one. Some people's voices trail off at the ends of sentences, making it hard to hear the last few words they've said. As a speaker, trailing off at the ends of sentences means that your audience might miss something important. Make sure you are emphasizing both ends of your sentences, and your audience will never miss a crucial point or valuable tip!
Three Surprising Tips to Improve Your Presentations [BusinessKnowHow]
This article is contributed by John Spence, a strategy consultant and executive trainer that has been traveling 200+ days-a-year for more than 14 years working for some of the top companies on the globe.
Its a manifesto on: Achieving Business Excellence - the six key things every business must focus on to attain and sustain business success.
1) Vivid Vision:
A clear and well-thought-out vision of what you are trying to create that is exceptionally
well communicated to everyone involved.
2) Best People:
Superior talents who are also masters of collaboration.
3) A Performance-Oriented Culture:
One that demands flawless operational execution, encourages constant improvement and
innovation, and completely refuses to tolerate mediocrity or lack of accountability.
4) Robust Communication:
Open, honest, frank and courageous, both internally and externally.
5) A Sense Of Urgency:
The strong desire to get the important things done while never wasting time
on the trivial.
6) Extreme Customer Focus:
Owning the voice of the customer and delivering what customers consider truly valuable.
Download Free full PDF version here:
John Spence is a strategy consultant and executive trainer that has been traveling 200+ days-a-year for more than 14 years working for some of the top companies on the globe. He has his own website at http://johnspence.com/index.html and has compiled six key things for every business to focus on this manifesto "Change This!"
How to Set Up An Efficient Article Tracking System
Posted by Tracey Lawton under How-To Guides,
May 13, 2008
One of the most successful online marketing strategies you can do these days is to submit your articles to various article submission websites. This is a great way to promote your services, your expertise, and, most importantly, grow your subscriber list!
It has been well documented that one-way links to your website increase search engine rankings more than reciprocal linking, and article submission is an excellent way to achieve one-way linking.
However, the downside is that it takes time to manually submit your articles, and if you have several articles, you could spend hours submitting them to the various websites. There is software available that will automatically submit your articles for you, but you do need to check this out carefully. And if you do decide to manually submit your articles you need to have a system in place that makes maximum use of your time, but also keeps a detailed record of which articles you’ve submitted where, and when.
If you have articles already written, you’re off to a great start. All you need to do now is to set up an article submission system. But if you don’t have any articles written, then you might find the task of writing quite daunting, and you’re not sure where to start.
I have always found a good article comes from working with my clients on a day-to-day basis. They might have a question that requires a detailed reply. Use this reply to form the basis of an article. For example I had one client ask me, ‘how do I get an mp3 audio file to you, and how do you turn it into a word document?’ I sent them back my reply and, hey presto, I’d got the basis for an article.
Brainstorm some ideas. Some great article titles, and which will also get you thinking, are:
[Number – odd numbers work best] Top Tips For [fill in the blank]
How To [fill in the blank].
Try and come up with three or four articles – you will probably find that you can think of a lot more!
So now you have your articles, you need a system for submitting those articles. Below are my tips for an organized and efficient article submission system (I use it so I know it works!):
1. Convert all your articles to plain text as this will make the submission process easier! Most article submission sites require plain text articles; some will allow html. You will need to refer to each site for their guidelines.
2. Create a spreadsheet to track your article marketing strategy.
3. Use this spreadsheet to track the article submission sites, log in info, and other relevant information.
4. Go to each of the article submission sites and submit each article to the article directory by copying and pasting from your plain text document.
Plan to spend about 20 minutes each week on your article marketing strategy - schedule this time in your calendar to keep yourself on track - and you'll soon find your articles appearing all over the Internet!
Online Business Manager & Virtual Assistant, Tracey Lawton, supports professional speakers, coaches, and authors to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com.
Franchisees - How to Develop An Effective Sales Plan
Posted by Aine Meade under Franchise, How-To Guides,
May 13, 2008
When you are starting a franchise business for the first time, you need to be aware in advance of the type of products and services you will be selling to consumers within a particular target market industry. While in saying this, it might seem obvious to you, but understanding what your business is providing and to what customers you will be targeting is essential to the long term success of your business.
In order to ensure your business is successful from day one, consider writing up an effective sales plan, where you can state clearly who your customers are, what potential customers you need to target, how to pitch your sale and close the deal.
View the following points on how you can create an effective sales plan…
1. Study Your Consumer Base
The first step you should take in writing up an effective sales plan is to conduct some useful consumer market research. Understanding who your customers are and what their needs are will be essential to your selling pitch of products and services.
For example, if you are setting up a café franchise in your local community, you will want to target business professionals for lunch time specials, couples and families for evening meals and brunches, and finally take-away customers who will want on-the-go sandwiches and beverages. In understanding your market requirements and needs will make it easier for you to sell your services within a “niche market”.
Secondly, if you have existing clients who already know about your business brand and services, you should not rely solely on their consumer presence, but rather widen your existing consumer base to include new customers and find innovative ways to retain and build consumer loyalty to your brand and business.
In this way, you will effectively manage more business sales than if you didn’t carry out some vital consumer market research…
2. Set Realistic Goals
After deciding who your customer base is and why and how you will target them, the next step is define realistic goals on how you will achieve consistent sales growth for the forthcoming months of business.
This is not an easy task, but one that must be ascertained prior to the launch of the new franchise business. In order to be successful in the long term, you must set realistic weekly and monthly sales goals and it is up to you or a sales employee to determine these goals and how to reach them.
Most importantly with this step is not to be too ambitious with your sales targets, you need to allow yourself some flexibility if some months are much slower than others and to determine if a great month will balance out a bad one!
In order to assess your predictive sales targets you can enlist the help and advice of the franchisor, which will have completed the very same process with established franchisees. Never be afraid to ask for help when it comes to successful sales of your business…
3. Target the Right People
Now you know exactly what groups of consumers you would like to target and the realistic goals you have in achieving your sales quota for the month/year, the next step is to follow through with the sales pitch and deliver some results!
Once again, achieving sales targets can mean a number of different things and can be achieved via a number of different formats depending on the franchise business and industry you are working in. For example, if you are selling luxury holidays online, you will be targeting consumers via email, internet and phone. If you are in the fast food industry you can achieve sales targets via marketing and promotional offers to get consumers to come to your fast food restaurant. Whatever method of sales you choose to implement you must target your consumer base effectively with no “hard sell” unless really needed!
4. Practice Your Sales Pitch
If you are targeting consumers directly either by phone of face-to-face you must perfect your sales pitch on how you can promote and actively sell your products or services. You must know the main benefits of your product and service and use these points as your main argument when posing the sales pitch.
Before you meet face-to-face with a potential client be sure you know as much as you can about the individual and how your product or service could enhance their life personally or their business. This will ensure you know exactly how to win over the customer and how the service or product of your business will have a positive impact on them when they decide to buy.
5. Closing the Deal
This is the most important part of the sales plan and you must attract attention for your product or service via marketing and advertisings as much as you can. Creating brand awareness amongst the consumer market you are targeting will ensure on some conscious level of the consumer’s knowledge of whom and what you are in business.
Be careful of objections to your sale and identify some other “benefits” you could use to attract the customer in a different sales pitch. Remember customers will want to know why you are providing this service or product so be upbeat, positive and passionate about your business.
After you close a deal, remember to maintain after-sales customer care so that you retain your customer and build an effective and loyal relationship. This will help your business to grow and be consistently successful.
Aine Meade is a Website Editor for Franchise Direct, a leading Internet franchise advertising portal. Aine creates high quality franchise information for its international websites in the U.S., and Europe. Aine has a BA (First) in English and History; MA in Literature & Publishing; Diploma in Media Journalism and a Diploma in Marketing.
How to Grow your Business During Tough Economic Times
Posted by Ron Finklestein under How-To Guides,
May 9, 2008
Create a Strategy
The first action you must take is to create a marketing plan. You must get clear on who is your best customers, where to find them, what problems you solve and why they should buy from you. This does not require a long document but clarity in thinking. All eleven actions are documented in 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. The book is available on Amazon.com.
Be Consistent
You must be consistent in your message and brand throughout all your marketing activities. Otherwise potential customer can get very confused. Most people do not lose an opportunity to the competition; they lose the opportunity to complacency of the prospect. When the prospect gets confused they do nothing. Be consistent in your message.
Use Press Releases
Let the world know what you are up to. Use press releases to target specific locations. Write the press release with a unique angle that makes it easy for reporters and other readers to read your message. There is the possibility for a huge return for minimal investment.
Create Controversy
Take you message, your story and build some controversy so it is interesting to others. Take something that everyone is talking (newspapers, magazines, industry blogs, etc) about and incorporate that into your message.
Write Articles
Writing articles is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get your name out and increase visibility. There are hundreds of sites looking for articles. The key is to write about what your prospects what to hear about, provide value and have a clear call to action.
Networking for Referrals
The quickest and fastest way to get new business is to ask for it; especially from your existing customers. They know your products and services so pick up the phone, take them out to lunch and ask them if they know anyone who they would introduce you to who could use your products or services.
Create Your Business Mastery Advisory Board
Create your own advisory board. Many business owners think they can go it alone. You can’t and the sooner you realize this the faster you can the result you want. It is all about people. If you do not test your message with your peers and see what works, you are wasting, time, energy and money.
Generation Leads
Use Teleseminars and Webinars as a marketing tool so people can find out what you are about. These can be free or paid. The key is to provide value so people listening want to engage you. The beauty of this approach is people who are interested in what you are promoting naturally opt-in to listen to your story.
Use Electronic Newsletters
Electronic newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your audience. They opt-in so you know they are interested. Having someone buy your products and services is as much need as it is timing. Your name (product) needs to be top of mind when they need something. A newsletter can do that for you.
Speaking Before Groups
Public speaking is one of the best approaches to generating new business. You need to be professional and provide value but where are you going to get an opportunity to have 100 people pay to listen to you talk about what is important to you and how it can help them. If you are afraid of speaking, get trained. There are many different organizations to help you.
Create an Event
Create and event and make it a party. People are social animals who love to be involved and find deals. You can do a grand opening, grand reopening, anniversary sale, holiday sales or any one of 100 reasons to have a party and invite people into your business.
What to do next to Grow your Business
I had a consulting company hire me to help them grow their business. All I did was bring them back to what they did successful to grow their business. Effectively, they got selfish. This resulted in a 35% year over year growth rate.
I worked with a patent agent and he had a 150% return on his investment. We got him focused on who his idea customer is. By simply getting clear and targeting his ideal client, he had his best month ever. I worked with an Information Technology company and we reduce his time to make for a specific product by 800%.
I worked with a telephony company and took a service they provided to their existing customer at no charge and help them turn this into a product they use to expand their market.
It is all about getting clear: your market, your customers, your product, your services and taking action. If you are thinking about taking action you are already too late. It is not about thinking, it is about doing. If you don’t know how, hire someone, read a book, call someone who will share with you his experiences. Take ownership for your situation and take action to move forward.
After a successful consulting career, Ron Finklestein has spent the past 6 years building his business AKRIS LLC and helping entrepreneurs and business owners build their businesses by helping them solve the tough problems that hold them back. Ron is called The Small Business Success Expert by his clients because of his passion for their success and his knowledge of business.
The Closet Entrepreneur:
Writing a business plan…
As mentioned before, there are no hard and fast rules for writing a business plan. Do you really need an executive summary, 3-Year pro forma, and sales forecasts for the next five years? Only if you’re going to find a benefit from these things.
The example below is the structure I used to get started, so feel free to mix it up, reorder, and modify it to suit your needs:
- The Vision -
What exactly is my business?
What problem does it solve and why is my solution the best/most unique?
What benefit does it provide to my customers?
- Branding -
What is my story and/or message?
What is my product’s personality, soul, and voice?
How will I translate the above into an identity, logo, website, business card, et cetera?
- The Numbers -
What does it cost to build my product and/or provide my service?
What are my expenses and are there any hidden costs?
What profit can I expect to make per item and is it acceptable/realistic?
What is my budget and what will I do if I go over?
- Beta Testing -
What existing resources/products can I use to help create my product?
Do I have someone in mind to try out my product/service?
How will I collect and utilize feedback?
How will I turn my beta users into paying customers?
- Sales and Marketing -
How will I get my initial customers?
How will I provide customer service and collect/utilize feedback?
What marketing channels should I explore - web, radio, print, et cetera?
As I mentioned before, this is what I used to get started and there are other pieces to the puzzle that can be incorporated such as funding, an exit strategy, employees, management structure, break-even analysis, profit and loss, et cetera. Ultimately, utilize items that will help your business grow and succeed now, and…
Writing the Dreaded Business Plan [The Closet Entrepreneur]
Business Pundit: As tax season approaches, I thought it would be useful to offer some advice on taxes for those who make most of their money as online entrepreneurs. Here are five tips that I’ve found to be priceless in the long run. Hopefully, you can save time and stress with these 5 easy suggestions:
1. Send in quarterly payments so that you don’t get stuck with a massive tax bill at the end of the year.
2. Keep all receipts (not just ones that were obvious business purchases), determine “business expense” later. You might be surprised at what you can deduct.
3. File receipts. File your receipts by the end of the day (trust me on this) in a folder penciled with the current month. If the ink is unclear, make a notation in dark ink somewhere on the receipt.
4. Log business activities in a day planner. Record the occurrence of any business-related meetings in a day planner in ink, as well as in a digital file. These will help you or your accountant decide whether a particular expense is tax deductible or not.
5. Keep a spreadsheet. In addition to daily filing of receipts, enter the information in a spreadsheet. If you don’t like or have Microsoft Excel, use OpenOffice. You could also use web-based spreadsheets like Zoho Sheet or Google Docs.
Bonus Tip: If you work out of your home, remember that you can deduct a nice amount for utilities (you are heating your home during the day in the winter *so that* you can work).
Bonus Tip 2: Try to keep all of your purchases on a single business credit card (not your personal card). This gives you a backup record in case the IRS comes knocking.
5 Tax Tips For Digital Entrepreneurs [Business Pundit]
How to Evaluate a Franchisor’s Training Program
Posted by Kimberly Ellis under Business Ideas, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Franchise, How-To Guides, Starting Up,
March 15, 2008
Not long ago I took a trip to Tuscany and spent a week in a cooking class. Before the trip I spent time researching my options. I wanted to know who would be teaching the class, what courses and dishes would be covered, how hand-on the class was, if wine-pairings with the dishes would be addressed and if the class included trips to the local farmer’s markets to select fresh produce. Finding just the right cooking school was important to me because I would be spending a significant amount of money traveling to Italy and I wanted my experience to be well worth my time and effort.
For a woman interested in buying a franchise, evaluating the training a franchise business offers should involve even greater research – after all, this is about your future – not a vacation.
As part of your due diligence when researching a franchise opportunity, find out everything about the training a franchise system provides. A good training program should cover not only the product or service but also setting up the business, marketing, employee management, business procedures, reporting, etc.
The best way to find out about the scope of the training program is to ask existing franchisees. Find out what stood out about the training they received and what they feel could have been covered more completely. Ask them how prepared they felt when they opened their business and what ongoing training they have been provided.
Keep in mind that the franchisees you talk with may have been through various versions of the training program. Problems that existed at one time may have been fixed. Or, you may find that a training program that was fine in a company’s early days is now out-of-date. Be sure to include in your research franchisees who have had the same training you will receive to get an accurate assessment of its value.
Ask current franchisee if they received a training manual and if the information is updated periodically. Also ask if the franchisor offers other training resources such as conference calls, webinars or intranet sites. Ongoing training is important for many companies who adjust their business with changes in the marketplace. If this applies to the business you are reviewing, find out what they do to keep each franchisee up to speed.
An addition source of training may come from periodic conferences held by the franchisor. Besides providing additional education about the product or service, conferences offer franchisees an excellent opportunity to connect and network with other franchisees in the system. A network of peers is one of franchising’s invaluable resources so be sure to ask if this is an opportunity the franchisor provides.
Although this is less of a problem today than in the past, some industries may have an “old boy’s club” mentality among franchisees. You will be able to tell by reading the UFOC if there are other woman franchisees. Include some women in your due diligence calls so you can get an idea of the business culture and the prevailing attitude towards woman franchisees.
Many franchisors will have field support personnel who are available to be at your site during your grand opening and at periodic intervals during your first year in business or longer. Having someone right there to answer your questions may help calm your first-day jitters so find out if this a serviced provided by the franchisor.
If, after your franchise investigation process is completed, you don’t feel the offered training will adequately prepare you to run your new business, it’s time to step back and look at other opportunities. As reported in the August 2006 Franchising World magazine, a recent study by FRANdata found nearly 2500 franchise concepts in 18 different industries and almost 900 of these concepts were started over the past three years. You don’t have to compromise – if one company does not have the training you are looking for, there are sure to be many other companies who can meet your needs.
I’m happy to report that the cooking school in Tuscany exceeded my expectations and I left there able to prepare a number of authentic and delicious Italian dishes. Had I not researched the available schools so thoroughly, I might have been very disappointed with my choice.
To get full value for your investment in a franchise business, the training should answer all your questions and set you up as a confident and successful owner.
Franchisee training should include:
• Everything you need to know about the product or service
• Everything about using/protecting the brand
• How to find your business location
• How to negotiate a lease
• How you complete the permits and buildout
• How to find, hire and manage employees
• How to market your product or service
• How to keep books and records for the business
• The reporting requirements and processes
• Where to get the equipment needed for the business
• How or where to buy supplies and inventory
• How to get help when you have a problem
Kimberley Ellis is the President of Bison.com, a leading online resource for franchise and business opportunities. She has been quoted as an industry expert in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and a variety of local and regional publications regarding trends in business and franchising. Kim combines her entrepreneurial spirit with a diverse background in marketing and operation to help others succeed in franchising.
Franchisor Support: What can you expect from your franchisor?
Posted by Kimberly Ellis under Business Ideas, Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship, Franchise, Home-Based Business, How-To Guides,
March 7, 2008
If you are considering a franchise as your next career move, you probably already understand a number of the benefits to being a part of a franchise system. However, as each franchisor will offer different levels of assistance, it can be confusing to someone trying to evaluate a potential franchise purchase.
Since the value of a franchise is that the system has been developed to have replicable results, you will want any system you evaluate to score high in those areas that are important to the success of your unit.
Location – Location – Location
If your franchise is going to be site-dependent, the franchisor should, at a minimum, provide guidelines for selection of a site and the general terms of a lease agreement applicable to this type of location. Some franchisors will provide company personnel who will help you search for and select a site while some even work with national real estate brokers to find the best properties. If your franchisor provides help in site selection and lease negotiation, you are working with a good company.
Build-out Assistance
A typical franchise will provide each franchisee with instructions for the design and lay-out of the store along with details of where to purchase the components. As group buying power an important benefit of being part of a franchise company, you should expect to pay less for these components as a franchisee than if you purchased them as a sole proprietor.
At the high end of franchisor build-out assistance are those companies with design groups who help the franchise design the store, sometimes with such high-tech devices as CAD (computer-aided design) systems. Also, some franchisors will even hire a construction team to do the build-out and then deliver the components right to the new business.
Initial Training
The majority of franchised businesses do not require a new franchisee to have previous industry experience, primarily because they believe they can train a person with good business acuity to run the business successfully. A good training program is therefore essential. Most franchise companies will bring the franchisee to corporate headquarters for classroom training and some will allow time for hands-on training at a nearby franchise unit or corporate store.
This initial training should cover all aspects of the operations of the business, including book-keeping, record-keeping, operations, recruiting and retaining employees, and finding customers. The franchisee should receive an operations manual and get answers to any remaining questions she may have so that she feels confident she will be able to get her business up and running.
Some franchisors will provide corporate or field personnel to work side-by-side with the franchisee during grand opening and during the first week of operations, ensuring the franchisee has mastered the training and achieves a comfort level with the business. Franchisors that are willing to train a franchisee’s manager along with a franchisee are providing a value-added service.
On-going Training and Assistance
A good franchise business will continue to improve and evolve with time and the addition of new units and on-going training is often a necessity. Similarly, a good franchisor will offer continuing educational opportunities to franchisees as well as providing on-going assistance as needed. Many franchisors provide a help-line for issues that come up in the field and some will make regular visits to the franchisee’s location. A company that provides conferences or other opportunities for a franchisee to connect with fellow owners has the best interests of their franchisees in mind as these opportunities allow for creative problem-solving, the sharing of best practices and can reenergize the business focus.
Marketing Expertise
Your franchisor should provide you with a complete marketing plan for your new business that covers grand opening through at least the first 3-6 months. Since the franchisor has every reason to want you to succeed, a savvy franchisor will do much more. Many will provide you with the actual marketing materials, professionally produced. These may include pieces such as posters, banners, direct mail postcards, newspaper ads, and maybe TV and radio spots, all of which can be customized for your location.
Permits, Compliances and Other Legal Issues
Depending on the type of business, you may also need assistance in dealing with local governmental agencies for various permits. If your franchise involves food or beverage, there are numerous health-code compliance issues you will need to handle. Your franchisor should provide help in these areas so that your opening is not held up waiting for permits to come through.
There are several ways to find out how the franchisor handles these support items. The first, of course, is that you will want to ask questions about each as part of your investigation into the business. The second step is to talk to existing franchisees about the support they received and how well prepared they were to open and run the business.
Be sure to ask these franchisees if they felt there was anything missing from the training and support they received and if there is anything they wish had been more complete or done differently. If the company you are investigating scores well with these franchisees, you can be confident you will be happy with the support they will provide to you.
Kimberley Ellis is the President of Bison.com, a leading online resource for franchise and business opportunities. She has been quoted as an industry expert in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and a variety of local and regional publications regarding trends in business and franchising. Kim combines her entrepreneurial spirit with a diverse background in marketing and operation to help others succeed in franchising.
Star Power: How to Hire a Celebrity Spokesperson
Posted by Lou Bortone under How-To Guides,
January 2, 2008
Celebrity endorsements are a staple in advertising, with more than 20 percent of all ads today featuring a famous face, voice or likeness. Even smaller businesses are using celebrity spokespersons. The reason is simple: Celebrities sell. Consumers pay attention to celebrities because they are attracted to the familiar. But celebrities don't have to be major national names. Local and regional "celebrities" can also help pitch a marketing message for your small business. Three ways your business can use a celebrity spokesperson are:
1. Advertising: Celebrities can pitch your product via print, television, radio and even online
2. Appearances and events: Celebrities can make personal appearances for your business at events ranging from charity fund-raisers to grand openings.
3. Media opportunities: your spokesperson can speak on your behalf on TV talk shows or at press conferences, trade shows or other media events.
Here’s the 411 on getting some star power:
Define your objectives
Determine what you expect from your partnership with your spokesperson and how to best use their talents. Clarify your needs and expectations from the get-go.
Links and resources: Brooks International and Burns are two agencies that specialize in booking celebrity and sports talent. These talent brokers can help you assess your needs.
Find the right fit
It's important that the spokesperson you hire is a good match for your product or service.
Links and resources: The Hollywood-Madison Group uses a proprietary database called the "Fame Index" to match businesses with appropriate talent. The Fame Index contains the names of 10,000 stars and uses 250 categories to match talent to businesses and products.
Plan well in advance
When deciding on a celebrity spokesperson for your business, start early. You should plan at least six months out. The bigger the name, the longer the lead time.
Links and resources: Celebrity Focus and The Celebrity Source are two talent agencies that can connect your company with talent and help you navigate the celebrity maze.
Consider the costs
Talent fees and celebrity endorsements run the gamut from a few hundred dollars for a single appearance by a local DJ to far more for a big star.
Links and resources: If you're looking for major star power, you can go with Hollywood biggies like William Morris or PMK/HBH Public Relations. On a smaller scale, you can contact many local celebrities directly or through their management or their public relations agency.
Make contact
Talent agencies, entertainment marketing firms and even speakers bureaus can put you in touch with potential celebrity spokespeople. Contacting talent can be easier than you might think.
Links and resources: The Screen Actors Guild provides an actor-locator service. If you want a big-name author, call his or her publishing company and ask for the public relations department. A few have their own speakers bureaus: check out the speakers bureau at Harper Collins.
Here are a few other suggestions when hiring spokespersons:
• Don't be afraid to ask. Maybe that certain superstar is not out of your reach or budget.
• Consider "B-List" stars who may be more available and less expensive.
• Local celebrities or athletes may turn out to be your best bet.
• Make sure you have an "out" clause in case your celebrity gets negative press or is involved in a scandal.
Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.
YoungEntrepreneur: I had a meeting today with a potential client who asked me why I didn’t have my phone number on my website. I told him it was because we were getting too many inquiries and it was making us unproductive. It got me thinking about the other ways I increase my productivity and I thought I would share some ideas with you today.
1) No phone number on the website.
2) Set times to meet people.
3) Do all your admin on one day.
4) Get help.
5) Check email once a day.
6) Do your most important work in the morning.
6 Ways To Be More Productive And Get More Done [YoungEntrepreneur]
Successful Business Decision Making
Posted by Terri Zwierzynski under How-To Guides,
November 11, 2007
Here's How to Make it Easy
Some people make decisions without any difficulty, while others struggle. Are you having trouble making a decision? Do you feel overwhelmed by all the choices you have, and aren't sure how to pick just one? No matter how big or small those decisions might be, I can teach you how to strategically:
- Define your decision and come up with alternatives
- Determine what criteria you�ll need to help you make the decision
- Make the decision
"If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin." Ivan Turgenev, famous 19th-century Russian novelist, poet and playwright
DEFINING THE DECISION AND ALTERNATIVES
STEP 1: What is it that you need to make a decision about? Maybe you have several choices to make, but start with one. Ask yourself a couple of questions that are applicable to your situation, such as:
"What do I want to be doing for the next 6 months?" "What business am I going to start?" "What aspect of my business do I want to grow?"
STEP 2: Determine your primary goal and write it down. For example, you might want to grow your business over the next six months. Therefore, your goal sentence might be: "I want to earn 25% more within the next 6 months."
STEP 3: After you've written your goal sentence, begin brain-storming a list of ideas for how to achieve the goal. Below are some rules for brainstorming:
- Write all ideas down - ideas are neither bad or good--they're just ideas!
- Do not judge or analyze the idea - just write it down.
- Make the process fun!
You do not have to generate a list of ideas in one sitting, but you may need to set some limits around how much time to spend creating your list. Be creative in how you capture your ideas. Carry a small notebook with you so when an idea comes to you, you�ll be prepared and write it down immediately. I put stickies (Post-It notes) and pens in my purse, car, and bedroom, so whenever and wherever I generate an idea I have a way to capture it. When I�m ready, I collect the stickies and add them to a master list I keep in my office. Just do whatever is easiest for you!
After you feel you've completed your options list (or when the time you've given yourself to make the list has run out), ask someone you trust to read over your ideas. This person needs to be someone who has a positive attitude and is supportive of your efforts! The person may come up with some options you hadn�t considered. Write them down! Remember, you're not judging the ideas--just recording them at this stage.
DETERMINING THE CRITERIA AND EVALUATING EACH OPTION
STEP 4: Identify no more than 4 or 5 criteria that you will use to determine how well your options achieve the goal you've established.
Decision criteria provide checkpoints to measure your options against your goal. Typical criteria fall into two categories:
Do-ability (do I have the money, time, expertise?)
Likelihood of Success (do they meet the goal in time, revenue, fun factor?).
STEP 5: Using the criteria you've defined, evaluate each option. This process can be as simple, or complex, as you desire, and may be qualitative or quantitative. You may need to allow some time to experiment a bit with some ideas to test them out and determine how well they meet each criteria.
MAKING THE DECISION
STEP 6: Sometimes the winner(s) is obvious you'll just pick it and go with it. Or, you may immediately notice certain ideas drop to the bottom of the list and just need to be deleted because they do not support your business needs. When one option is not standing out among the others, you may have to prioritize the options by weighting the criteria to help you evaluate the alternatives and make your decision.
BONUS STEP: Keep in mind, just because an idea may not fit with your current focus; it may serve you later. Create a place to store those ideas--an "idea vault" to tap into the next time you need good ideas!
Terri's keys to successful decision-making
- Write it all down!
- Clarify the decision you are making
- Know your goals
- Be creative in coming up with options
- Trust your gut
- Don't procrastinate!
Terri Zwierzynski is a self-employed business strategist and marketing consultant to solo entrepreneurs, and a grassroots promoter of the solo entrepreneur lifestyle. She runs Solo-E.com, the resource website for the self-employed which attracts thousands of solo home business owners monthly from over 100 countries on six continents.
Business Success Tip #1 - How To Declutter Your Computer
Posted by Lorraine Cohen under How-To Guides,
October 25, 2007
Each month, on the first Friday of the month I meet with my mastermind group. It’s a small group and we’ve been together for about 5 years. We begin each month writing down our list of promises - what we intend to take action on in the next 30 days.
Well, I just couldn’t get my arms around what I wanted to focus on this month. It’s not that I can’t think of things to do, I’ve got plenty. Nothing felt particularly inspiring - no passion, no real juice!
Then I realized that my focus has been divided by things I’ve been meaning to follow up on. My email inbox is filled with more red flag on emails that need follow up and each time I read my emails I am reminded that I still haven’t gotten to them. The flags keep multiplying and they have really piled up.
Not only that, I have tons of reports, ebooks, music audios I’ve received from free promos as well as things I’ve bought that I haven’t even looked at or listened to. I have no idea of their real value because I haven’t made the time to go through them. And I am constantly receiving invitations for more stuff!
Now, I’m pretty good at decluttering and I can see I’ve let things pile up that are affecting my ability to focus on what I really want to do for marketing and growing my business. So, I am dedicating the month of July to clean up my computer files NO EXCUSES.
If you’re feeling a lack of focus, ask yourself if you need to do some computer decluttering.
This includes:
1. Emails that require a response. I recommend staying on top of your emails by responding within 48 hours max.
2. Creating email folders with common themes and sorting through your files to organize them into new folders (great for both your email and computer files). Remember to declutter the folders regularly too. Moving them out of your inbox can invite clutter accumulating in your folders.
3. Weeding through your emails and deleting the ones you no longer need.
4. Backing up important folders and files regularly. I do this each time I add something new. Organize them into themes (Marketing, business development, client resources) so you can find them!
5. Reviewing your cache of reports, pdfs, and audios you have been meaning to read and listen to. Schedule time each day or each week in your calendar to sift through the materials.
6. Dumping whatever materials you know you won’t use for yourself or clients.
7. Staying alert to adding more stuff that you really don’t want or need. I know the tendency is to grab material especially when it’s free. Ask yourself, “Is this really info I need and will make use of?” If not, let it go. I guarantee you that opportunities will keep comin around for you to find material you need if you start having buyer’s (or keeper’s) regret.
I recommend decluttering your computer at least once per month to stay productive and focused.
Well, gotta go. Have some decluttering to do. Leave me a comment. Tell me what you think of this post!
Dr. Lorraine Cohen, President of Powerfull Living, brings more than 25 years experience in personal and business coaching, psychological counseling, and sales to thousands of spiritually minded business owners, entrepreneurs, and leaders from a wide range of industries. Learn more about Lorraine’s services, success products and programs.
YoungEntrepreneur.com: It’s virtually impossible to own a business today and not have a website - but what makes a great website? For today’s Entrepreneur University we connected with Tim Knox. Tim is the founder and president of four successful technology companies and serves as an investor, mentor and advisor to many companies in his home town of Huntsville, Alabama. Here are Tim’s suggestions for how to build a great website:
Building an effective business website is a simple matter of definition.
Before the first graphic is drawn or the first line of code is written, you must define the website’s budget, purpose, target audience, design, navigation, and content. And when that’s all said and done you must define the marketing that will bring visitors to your site.
The 8 Things You Must Know To Build A Great Website [YoungEntrepreneur.com]
Mind Petals: Here are a few simple ways to apply the Law of Attraction to get the right clients:
You might ‘call’ your clients in innovative ways. Instead of reaching out to your customers and clients in traditional forms—e-mail, voice messages, or even IM—think of ways you can make an appearance in their daily life instead. This is the basis of branding, but can be used in creative ways. Try a hand-delivered thank you note for a recent lunch, or a unique gift after a presentation that you both attended. Making sure the client has you on ‘top of mind’ can help generate further business with very little effort.
It’s also advantageous to be genuine with your marketing efforts. Much of marketing yourself may seem like ‘schmoozing,’ but being genuine in your relationships and partnerships will help things flow with ease. When you both have a goal or intention in mind, the process is much simpler and much more natural.
You can also try predicting the response you want. If you have a ‘gut feeling’ that your client, or prospective clients, may be interested in something you can provide, find a way to highlight the value for them and send it their way. Sometimes simply spelling out how something can help them is all it takes to capture their interest.
Finally, look for ways to move towards a richer relationship. Attracting clients doesn’t always lead to a direct sale—maybe you can reach out to them for referrals, building your portfolio of other work, or simply as a resource. Knowing how to nurture and maintain relationships involves a positive, growth-oriented mindset and your intention can help guide you towards long-term clients with much less resistance.
The Law of Attraction for Snagging New Clients [Mind Petals]
Marketing Deviant: Making a radio advertisement is a good way to target consumers into buying your products or services. In this short article, I’ll show you how to make your very own radio advertisement for little to no cost. You can use a voice recorder to record your ad, but I advise using a computer or laptop with a microphone so you can record your ad and mix in music much easier and faster to create a radio ad.
To record from your computer, you can download some free voice recording programs from Download.com or use the “sound recorder” provided from your Operating System. It should be located inside the “accessories” folder in “program files” (Windows Vista). Most radio ads run for 15, 30 or 60 seconds. In your radio ad you could explain what products or services you offer with the name of your company, website, location, and phone number. If you are selling a very high advance product then you would need to explain the functions and the reason why it is beneficial to buy it from your ad.
Next you would need music to make your radio ad more appealing. There are free programs to combine your recording and music file together. Using download.com again, type in keyword “music mix” and use the “freeware filter box” and choose the programs you want to use (Window Vista users may have a hard time finding free music mix programs). The music you use for your ad cannot be “louder” than your message or your advertisement would be ineffective. If you use music for your ad, you must ask for permission from the music artist (expect to pay a royalty fee) who created it unless you created it! However, there’s a site that gives insight on public domain music which can be used without paying royalties.
Once you are done with your ad, you just saved from a few hundred to a thousand dollars just by creating the ad yourself.
How to Create a Radio Ad [Marketing Deviant]
How To Avoid The Top Seven Presentation Bloopers
Posted by Marcel Sim under How-To Guides,
September 7, 2007
This is an article submitted by Eric Feng. Submit your article! Find out more.
Blooper #1: Not telling us why we should listen to you
Never assume that just because you have an audience, we are obliged to listen to you. We may love you (that’s why we came in the first place) but never take advantage of the trust we have for you. It is an extreme turn-off when the audience has to do the work i.e. figure out how your presentation is relevant to us. We are a bunch of selfish egomaniacs. We love ourselves so much! And we don’t care about your experiences unless it teaches us something that we can use for ourselves. So here’s a word of advice: If you want to share your experiences, please do. But always include a message, something that will benefit us, your beloved audience!
Blooper #2: Ignoring us throughout your speech
We get bored easily. Period. If you keep talking about you, you, you, you, you… we will switch off. We want to be part of your speech. We really do. Get us involved. It could be as simple as asking us a question. It gives us a chance to hear ourselves talk. It could be as simple as playing a mini game with us. It gets us up on our seat. Please entertain us! Make us love you. We really want to because if you keep ignoring our needs, we will do the same. Lucky for the speaker, he allowed us to ask questions at any point in his presentation and guess what, we did! In my opinion, that was his saving grace!
Blooper #3: Going overtime
No matter how good you are, never ever go over time!!! Unless we paid you thousands of dollars to teach us something and you are about to share with us the ultimate secret to earning another ten million. If you want your audience to love you, end earlier than expected! It tells us that you respect our time. It makes you special because most speakers don’t observe that. And guess what, the next time you give your presentation; we will be there to support you!
Blooper #4: Spelling errors on your slides
If you have glaring spelling mistakes in your slides, here’s the image you are portraying to your audience: sloppy and cannot be bothered. Unless that’s what you want the audience to think of you, I suggest you get someone to do a spell check.
Blooper #5: Bad pronunciation of words
It cracks me up when some presenters stumble upon the same word every single time, without any sign of remorse. There was one time I sat through a presentation where the team had to review a company’s product named Morange. And throughout the ten minutes presentation, they came up with oh so many ways to pronounce this word.
And I swear one time I heard Moron. They might as well labelled the product Moronic Morange. That would be… memorable. Some “credit” has to be given to the company who named their product mo-range.
Blooper #6: Reading off the script
Although my preference is to go without a script, sometimes there is a need for it. However more often than not, speakers are too reliant on their script. You see them referring to their script even if it is just reading their name and designation??!! Yes, this is very puzzling. I once came across a book that taught me how to read from a script. Here’s the golden rule. Never ever speak when your eyes are on your script. Instead, you should follow this three-step process: see, stop, say.
First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It’s a three-step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause helps make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.
Blooper #7: Starting your presentation weak
Maybe it is just me but I get really pissed off when a speaker starts off his presentation with “Urm.. I guess I should probably start… ah ok, here goes…”. Or even worse “I am not really prepared for this presentation because (give some lame excuse). But anyway, I will start…” Trust me, giving excuses of why you may not do a good job will hardly win the sympathy of your audience. Instead, you will make us feel that we are unworthy of your time. You will be better off not giving the presentation since no one will be listening anyway.
As the saying goes, you will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. So make full use of your first 30 seconds to impress your audience. Here are a couple of ways you can start a presentation powerfully. You can tell a personal story and relate it back to the message of your presentation. Starting your presentation with a visual stimulating or humorous video clip will also create impact. Or begin with a thought provoking quote or a shocking statistic, which will create the listening for your presentation. All these are far more superior to your usual good morning/afternoon/evening niceties or worse, apologies.
Eric Feng is an acclaimed public speaking coach and he blogs at http://blog.ericfeng.com. Get a free chapter of his soon-to-be published book at http://www.thefaqbook.com before it's taken down.
Inventor Resource: The initial funding for independent inventions normally comes from ‘friends family and fools’, but once this is exhausted, and you need to progress to the next stage of development, you will need to find other funding.
Grants
There are a number of publicly funded grants available for innovative businesses, some of which can be applicable to inventors. There are two levels of grant suited to independent inventors, and each will require some funding commitment from the applicant, aside from the grant. ‘Micro projects’ are described as ‘simple low-cost development projects lasting no longer than 12 months’. With a maximum grant of £20,000, this is probably the most appropriate for inventors starting out with the development of a new product. ‘Research projects’, lasting 6-18 months, can receive a maximum grant of £75,000, with the aim being ‘to investigate the technical and commercial feasibility of innovative technology’. For more radical inventions, perhaps using new materials or advanced technology, or involving external partners, these are appropriate.
Loans
Do not re-mortgage your house in order to pay for your invention, no matter how brilliant it may seem. If one piece of advice comes through clearly time and time again from inventors who’ve ‘been there’, it’s this.
Small business loans are suitable, however. By presenting yourself as an entrepreneur — a businessperson looking to involve the bank in a mutually profitable relationship (even if you think of yourself as a ‘garden-shed-in-your-spare-time’ inventor) — you stand a good chance of receiving a favourable loan. If your business takes off, quite apart from the interest on the loan, the bank will want to have you as a customer, since business banking charges are a significant proportion of banks’ income.
Venture Capital
Venture capital is most often appropriate for inventors who have made significant progress with their invention and are well on the way to turning it into a successful business. In this sense it should not be seen as a first option for funding your invention. Venture capitalists, or private equity financiers, are looking to make significant returns on the money they invest — which typically belongs to others, as part of a fund — and clearly want to maximise the upside of the risk while minimising the downside.
How Do I Raise Money for an Invention? [Inventor Resource]
Forbes: Big video-rental chains have been kicking small shops in the teeth for years--which makes Christine Min's feat all the more impressive. Last month Min celebrated the first-year anniversary of her store, Get Reel Video, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Better yet, she is already in the black.
Carve out a niche. If you don't have the muscle to go head to head in a given product line, try another. While the big chains generate roughly 85% of their revenues from new releases, Nolan Anaya, owner of Amherst, Mass.-based Captain Video, aims for more like 50%.
Customer service matters. Wu, a movie buff, says he can take a chance on stocking unusual titles because his customers value his recommendations. "I started recommending it, and it's become our No. 1 renter of all time.
Offer complementary products. To boost sales, some small retailers have branched into pizza, phone retailing and even fake tanning. "So many people put blinders on and think of themselves as a video rental store," says Ken Dorrance, owner of Alameda, Calif.-based Video Station, which also peddles pizza and, starting this year, cellphones.
Craft flexible payment schemes. When Blockbuster did away with late fees two years ago, Alan Milligan, owner of Memphis-based Marquee Movies, responded by letting his customers prepay for rentals and rack up points, similar to a credit card rewards program. "We had to become creative," he says. "We're all learning how to react to the changing market." The free popcorn doesn't hurt either.
The Rebirth Of The Small Video-Rental Shop [Forbes]
StartupStudents: Today we’ll be discussing ways to gather intelligence on your competitors. This can be useful in a variety of ways such as identifying cutomer habits, picking up on competitor workflow processes, and so on. With such fierce competition in todays market along with ever changing consumer opinions, it’s imperative that you stay one step ahead of your competition.
Quickly, here are some things to think about when checking out your competition.
* Remember that your competition is not necessarily who you think it is
* Your customers determine who the competition is by patronizing those establishments
* Be sure to broadly define your competition at the start, and carefully move inwards through the industry to determine all competitors.
And now for a few pointers on checking out your competition:
* Pretend to be a customer
* Talk to the business owners and find out as much as you can from them
* Talk to their customer’s and get a feel for why they utilize your competitors service or product
* There are tons of great resources out there, so use them! Internet, public filings, local libraries, etc.
* Go to industry trade shows, seminars, and conferences
* Complete a competitive matrix
Checking Out Your Competition [StartupStudents]
Businessknowhow: Over the years, we have helped many companies grow profitably, using simple, common-sense tactics for cost savings that go directly to your bottom line! And it’s the little things that count - a ten percent increase in profit is more likely to come from twenty things that contribute one-half percent each than from one thing that gives you the full 10 percent.
1. Improve Collections. Rather than wait for a bill to be past due, call the customer the day before the payment is due.
2. International Payments. Payment is slower in other countries. So, if you do business there, you better adjust your prices to reflect these slow collections.
3. Accounts Payable. With each vendor, work out an agreement to delay payments or spread them out.
4. Improve Cash Flow. By improving cash collections and delaying cash payouts you have improved cash collections.
5. Save Pennies. Reduce costs wherever you can.
6. Reduce Cost Of Your Office Supplies. Go through your past invoices and highlight the office supplies that make up 80% of total dollars spent.
7. Telephone Control. Make sure you are getting six-second increment billing with no minimum per call.
8. Your 800 Number. Consider a toll-free telephone number for customer service or to tie locations together seamlessly.
9. E-Mail Rather Than Telephone. Use e-mail rather than playing telephone tag and incurring unnecessary long-distance telephone charges.
10. Do Your Own.
Improving the Bottom Line [Businessknowhow]