5 Tips To Boost Your Sales!

     1)  A good step to take for a person who runs businesses would be to join online communities or discussion groups that center around your area of interest in the business field. Becoming part of a business forum on the web will allow you to communicate with other business owners. You can get such people to help you out with your business and vice versa. However, as social loafing (decrease in individual effort as group size increases) becomes a threat, you can reduce anonymity and create some individual accountability.

       2) You can raise the productive level of your business by getting your family members to pitch in the work. Since they have complementary skills and a common goal, they will end up with much more output then hiring people you don’t know. For example, you can get your daughter with an artistic flair to design advertising banners for you, and your son with high knowledge in computer software’s to create balance sheets on Excel files.

          3) Set a consistent schedule for work. Write down the times that you plan to work, and this will help keep you from burning out. It is very important to have feedback about the work performed at the end of every day. This feedback can either come from you, from your coworkers and staff, or from the customers. It allows you at access your mistakes and then removes such flaws accordingly very quickly so damage is minimized. 

        4) You must work on creating skills such as impression management and persuasion and social influence in order to successfully and profitably run your business. Impression management is tactics designed to induce liking a favorable first impression by others. Social influence is the ability to change others’ attitudes and/or their behavior in desired direction. These skills will lead to a high level of charisma, something that inevitably leads to attracting more customers. A sales force team must be equipped with these kinds of skills.

 5) Playing a devil’s advocate is a good idea if you are confused between multiple decisions and scenarios regarding your business. This involves asking yourself to counter the proposition given in order to determine the validity of it. For example, if you want to expand your business, then playing the role of a devil’s advocate will allow you to assess whether you have enough financing, or market demand, and whether you should ultimately go ahead with the plan. 

Business Tips For Entrepreneurs

A great marketing tip is to come up with a brand logo or symbol that goes with your brand name. This is something visual that you’re giving to your customers to remember, and hence will be even more easy to retain than a brand name.  Remember, your brand name is the identity of your products, so if you have a name that people recognize, your customers will find relating to you an easier matter. Take Nike, for example. The logo for this brand is a tick mark. This technique will definitely increase your sales in the long run.

It can prove extremely beneficial for you to take a short marketing course, so you can get to know how to advertise your product properly, for example. There are different periods for such courses, and they can be over a week long, or can last for even six months. Not only will they equip with the skills to market your product, you will also learn the technical jargon involved in your home business marketing. These can be workshops conducted by the universities in your city, or programs set up by organizations and certified individuals that provide such services. But if these courses are proving to be too heavy for your pocket, don’t despair. Most of these courses have supplements in the form of online presentations or workbooks and case studies that you can attain just by searching for them on the web. 

Apart from marketing courses, there are also other courses that you can take up. One of such is on business management, and you can look for specific ones that have a home business slant so that it can suit your needs. Not only will it provide you with invaluable skills and information on how to manage your business effectively, such courses also provide you with certifications that deem your business to be more ‘legitimate.’ 

   

      Often, in the initial stages of your business, you need to devote a lot of time to it, and as a result, you family life tends to suffer. But believe it or not, giving your family an adequate amount of time will actually be very beneficial for your home business. Learning to strike a balance between your family and your home business is very important because it will give you the mental peace and satisfaction that you are not neglecting any of your home duties as a parent, for example, or a husband. 

5 Quick Tips To Motivate Small Business Owners

      Implement E-commerce: 

      Maintaining a website for your small business is an essential step to success because it allows customers to order online order online. Most small business owners make the common mistake of choosing to sell their products only from a particular physical location such as a home store, but what they don’t realize is that this is can cause great inconvenience to customers. Websites can be a good way to reach a broader audience and generate a higher number of sales.

Implement A Good Delivery System: 

      A good delivery system that allows products to be delivered to the doorsteps of customers will immediately lead to an increase in sales. Many people find it difficult to arrange for visiting your store and then taking the products home. For a rapidly expanding business, it would be a good idea to hire sales force team or even a delivery man who can deliver goods within the city or near your vicinity. This will jump up the number of your sales really quickly.

Create Backups Of Your Documents:

       Inexpensive, movable storage is one way to protect your significant business documents. Sacrificing some of your time by backing up documents and receipts will have a lot of potential of decreasing chances of losing the originals. This will also ultimately result in your peace of mind. For example, you should try buying USBs that have storage capacities like 4 GB or 8 GB always on hand. You can even get a different colored one for each type of work files you want to save so as to be able to access them quickly when you need to.

      Go Through Legalities:

      One of the most crucial aspects of the ground work you need to prior to setting up your home was to go through the legal stuff like legislation and rules involving your specific area of interest. As home business laws are more or less different from one state to the other, it is a good idea to hire or consult a lawyer who specializes in business matters before you start up a business of your own. You can hire such a lawyer on an hourly basis instead of fixed time periods like months or weeks to help cut down on expenses.

      Create A Catchy Brand Name:

      One of the most successful of marketing tips is to go for a brand name that is loud and clear, as well as catchy. It has to be something that can easily be retained by the customer. You should come up with a brand name that is both memorable and significant. Take Victoria’s Secret, for example. It is a catchy name that gives a subtle hint of the products it offers, and thus, almost everyone in a regular household is familiar with it. 

5 Ways To Fund A Home Business!

Let’s face it.  You simply can’t start a home business if you don’t have the money to start it up. Sure, there are certain businesses that can be launched without the need of capital, but that pretty much restricts your options.  Thankfully, it is fairly easy to fund a home business.

We have chalked out 5 major ways in which you can fund your home business, whether it’s part time or full time, large scale or small scale. Some of these amazing options are as follows:

Crowdfunding:

Crowdfunding utilizes one of the best technological advancements man could ever have made –the internet.  What you do is that you simply list your home business ideas on sites like IndieGoGo, GoFundMe, GiveABuck etc and ask people to invest in it. Here are some of the reasons why this is such a good idea:

•  It gives you access to potentially millions of users because of the wide scope of the internet.
• You can choose which website you want to put your idea onto. You can simply search on a web engine and many options will come up.
• You don’t have to pay back your investors in terms of money or equity. You can pay them back with bonuses or perks. Say for example, your idea of a home business is to make and sell beauty products. 
• You could pay back your investors by giving them the contact details of your clients. So if those investors were interesting in the same business, they would have access to clients too, and that would be a big bonus to them.

Bank loans:

Almost everyone would agree that this is a conventional or traditional way to fund a home business. But hey, it’s tried and tested, and it’s fool proof. You can loan a principal amount of money against a certain percentage of interest that you would be liable to day according to the terms and conditions of the contract. It could be monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or even yearly. You have to pay back the principal amount of money at the end of the term.  One thing that you should make sure is to go to a bank which provides you with the set of terms and conditions that you like.

Business plan competitions:

Business plan competitions are all the rage right now because they allow investors, such as people in the corporate social responsibility sector of big companies, to meet people who have great and practical business venture ideas.  These investors often come to universities and hold competitions, asking students to pitch in their best ideas, demonstrate how they can be workable, and then reward the winners by giving them the means to making their ideas materialize.  

Business incubators:

These are public-private partnerships, which reward you by offering perks like clerical assistance, work space etc.

Corporate venturing:

This means you get incubated by a larger company. So if your idea is worth it, you will easily be able to find someone who is willing to fund a home business.

These options will have you up and running your business in no time!

Direct Marketing Technique: Door-To-Door Selling

What is door-to-door selling?

Door-to-door selling is an important direct marketing tool in which a salesperson walks from the door of one house to the door of another in an attempt to sell, on the spot, a product or service to the general public. The target group is willing to switch to that product or service after research. It is used in the comfort of the potential consumer’s environment where he or she is in control.

Why is it used?

In recent times, this form of direct selling has become more and more important because it is personalized, and this aids in breaking through the clutter of competing brands. A salesperson in the flesh is more likely to be able to build a relationship with the customer than someone over the phone. 

 

Who is the target group of door-to-door selling?

This largely depends on the product or service. For example, if this technique is being used to sell a home security system, then people who are home owners and are very security conscious should be focused on. Similarly, for beauty products, individuals who are self-conscious and want to appear better looking among their social circle should be segmented as the target group.

How is it used?

After making a list of which area to go and how many houses to visit, the sales representative, with the actual products with him/her knocks on doors, and attempts to sell the merchandise. In case of intangible services, the sales force team would encourage the filling of membership forms.

It is often used by companies who have a much selected consumer base. Research has proven that if is effective in selling brands that are not mass marketed, since they need loyal, long time consumers to survive and contribute to the life time equity.

Tips for effective door-to-door selling:

• Companies enforcing this method of marketing should make sure that their sales force team is competent, and is able to answer all the questions that the consumer is asking. They should also be convincing enough for the customer to make an actual purchase.
• The sales force team should always hand out brochures and leaflets at the end of their visit, so that the potential customers can refer to this material, should they wish to make a purchase in the future. Such material also helps in brand recall.
• Door-to-door selling can be an expensive marketing tool, since it not only utilized human resources, effort and time, but also costs such as that of reaching the customer. Therefore, it should be made sure prior to contacting the customer, that he or she is not distracted by any other activities and has the sale rep’s full attention.

Direct Marketing Tool: Brochures

Brochures are one of the very important tools used in direct marketing and direct selling. A brochure can be defined as a written hard material that is used to pass information about something. It is an advertising piece which is largely used to introduce a company or organization and inform about products and/or services to a target audience. The alternate names for brochures are pamphlets and leaflets. They may be considered as grey literature, meaning informally published material that is difficult to trace through channels like journals since it is not published commercially or widely accessible.

People often confuse brochures with flyers, although there are some fundamental differences between the two. While a brochure is folded, a flyer is just a sheet of paper that is used as an insert in newspapers and magazines. Brochures also often use more color on high quality or glossy paper.

Brochures are one of the tools that has been used since a long time, and have maintained their popularity even with the advancement of technology rising trend of online marketing and electronic means of advertising. There are a number of reasons for this.  For example, brochures are highly space efficient. Since they are folded into panels, they seem compact, but they can be opened up to reveal large amounts of information. Also, you can control your target market very well with brochures, since they are being delivered to people individually, whereas in other marketing tools such as billboards and television commercials, the marketer can't really control each individual watching them. Brochures are also used as a complement to direct selling, and are used in techniques such as door to door selling. These methods engage potential customers and encourage them to respond, thereby, increasing the chances of a potential customer being tuned into an actual customer.

Common Types of Brochures:
Bi-Fold: A single sheet printed on both sides and folded into halves, which results in four panels (two panels on each side).

Tri-Fold: A single sheet printed on both sides and folded into thirds, resulting in six panels (three panels on each side).

Tips For Making A Better Brochure

• Design a brochure using out of the box creativity, such that it should immediately catch a person's attention. You can also alter the shape, instead of going for the mundane A4 sized rectangular shapes. For example, you can design brochures so that they can be used as coasters or origami toys. This will encourage people to retain the brochures for future references instead of immediately throwing them away in the trash. 
• Provide contact details so that you can get back to people asking for any queries.
• Write an appropriate introduction, with subheadings.
• Use maps for directions, if you want people to know where exactly you are located.

How to Write a First Class Business Plan Proposal

A business plan proposal outlines your business, your market and how you want your product or service to be delivered to potential customers. Think of it this way: It is a mix of both a business plan and a business proposal. While a business plan is used to sell your business to investors, a business proposal caters to a client. Ultimately, they are both used for sales. Much like a sales document, it is designed to persuade the client to hire your company instead of a competitor. The business plan proposal addresses a specific need of a specific client. These require careful attention. 

Getting started: 

The first steps of writing a business plan proposal involve introducing your company. This is quite similar to an executive summary, where you outline what you do and who you are. Here, you should focus more on establishing credibility, and how your business can fulfill the client's needs. It is also a good idea to let the client know about your history and what you've done before.

Researching and planning is always a pre-requisite. Spend some time and effort in researching what the client's actually needs in order to tailor your proposal according to what the client wants.

Paying attention to logistics is an absolute must. The client should be well informed beforehand on how, where and when the product will be delivered. The same case applies to a service delivery as well as a direct sales company. This clears up any confusions, and lessens the changes of lawsuits being filed when a client feels he has not been fully satisfied.

There is usually no hard and fast format specified for a business plan proposal, so feel free to tweak it a bit. Some of the areas that you must cover are the goals of your proposal, the time and cost requirements for the whole proves and the benefits the client will receive by taking up your recommendations. It should highlight the company's strengths and dispel and reservations the client may have.

At the end stage:

You can apply the finishing touches to your business plan proposal by making sure the information is arranged in a proper manner. You should also have someone proofread the proposal to catch spelling and grammatical errors. If you keep all of these pointers in mind, you will soon have lots of clients thanks to the best business plan proposal ever drafted!

Why A Facebook Page Is Essential For Your Business

Ever since Mark Zuckerberg created and launched Facebook in February 2004, it has taken the whole social networking world by storm. Everybody seems to know and connect with others and a day doesn't go by when addicted used don’t check their accounts for updates. Which eventually leads us to wonder, how could this site be translated into making your business more productive? There are several reasons why a business Facebook page is crucial, some more obvious than others.

A massive number of global users

According to Inquirer technology (technology.inquirer.net), there have been more than one 1 billion active users of Facebook since October 2012. The whole point of marketing your product or service is to make as many people aware about it as you possibly can. And this is exactly why a business Facebook page is essential – it allows these users to connect with people promoting their businesses and in turn, can reap the benefits and customer value they offer. For those women who want to work from home, this is a great way to reach out to customers.

Personalized privacy settings and more control

A Facebook page is all the more attractive because of the increased flexibility in privacy it offers. It you want the privacy to be set on public, then anybody searching online will be able to view your Facebook business page, but if you don’t want anyone to see it, then you have just as much power to do so. This, in effect, can prevent your competitors from nosing their way into content you want to keep confidential, or block or report users who are using abusing abusive language on the site, or just being annoying.

Business Facebook Pages are interactive

One of the reasons why a business Facebook page is so essential to the success of your business is that it allows interactions between customers/clients and sellers in a way that no website has ever been able to accomplish. Users can now voice their opinions about products on wall posts, which leads to great feedback, and admins of these business Facebook pages can instantly get back to their queries, thus, fostering healthy relationships between buyers and sellers. Content like notes, photos and videos also add to the interactive aspect of the Business Facebook page.

And hey, it doesn't stop here. There are several other reasons why a business Facebook page is important. Some of them include the following:

• Fans can respond to status updates, and thus, keep track of any new deals or discounts that the business might be offering.
• The number of ‘likes’ for your business Facebook page allows you to keep track of how many ‘fans’ or potential customers you have got.
•  Facebook incorporates the concept of ‘marketing chain reaction.’ If someone likes a business Facebook page, it will show up in their friends news feed too, making them aware of your products and services as well.
• Business Facebook pages allow you to have sections and tabs for ‘contact us’ and delivery processes.

Facebook has become very influential in our daily lives.  It may not be the ideal environment for marketing every kind of product or service, but you just can’t stay away because if it’s sheer size. And that is exactly why a Facebook page is essential for your business.