Connecting With Customers (by: Paul Lemberg)

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. Business is up he said, but he didn't know why. I asked him a few questions, but the more we spoke about it the more concerned I became.

"What do you mean, you don't know why they're buying?"

"We never know why they buy," he told me.

"Never?"

"Nope. They just do."

My friend thinks he knows what is great about his product. They believe they understand it's applications, they just don't understand what drives sales.

And there's something else - it has to do with pricing and profits.

Since they don't really know why customers buy from them, it follows that they don't understand the full value customers get from their products. So they don't know what to charge! They discount to make sales - since they don't fully understand the customer's pain points - and that means - they always leave lots of money on the table.

When times are tough - and many people are feeling squeezed these days - there is tendency to panic. Who wouldn't? The economy, the financial markets, and now - terrorism. I read where a group of psychiatrists saying the country was on the brink of a nervous breakdown!

That's certainly not what I want for my customers! Is that what you want for yours?

I think this question can be a profitable one. What do you want for your customers? I started thinking about this and came up with a few others for you to ask yourself.

Why do you want to serve your customers? What do you love about your particular customers? Are they perfect customers? If not, who would be? Describe them.

Case Studies and the Value Proposition

So I began thinking about my friend's sales problem - which brought me to thinking about a favorite topic of mine - the value proposition. Not in the sense of your USP, but in the sense of - what is the value of your product (or service) to your customer?

In other words, what is your product worth? How much - in money terms - does your customer save or earn when they use whatever it is you sell? Can you quantify that?

If you can't, well - you need to. It will make it much easier to sell.

But it's too complicated - we can't really say what they get from it.

No wonder you have trouble selling when times get tough. If you knew what it was worth, and it was worth more than you were selling it for, you'd have customers lining up pounding on your door for it.

You have to go out and do case studies. Exactly why did they buy. Exactly what is the application. Exactly how much more did they earn because of it and how did they earn it. Or, exactly how much did they save because of it and how did they save it. Get five or six of those and you'll be able to build a return-on-investment case for any prospect, and damn the economy. Which brings me to one last thing - the holy trinity of repeat sales.

Up-sell, Re-sell and Cross-sell What is your best possible source of revenue right now, bar none?

Your existing customers, right? Of course - they always are. Which means you should have a regular program to stay in contact.

What are you doing about repeat customer sales? When was the last time you contacted each customer, and made them an offer of some kind? What - you're waiting for them to call you?

Conclusion: You've got to contact your customers. Under any pretext, for any reason.

Why?

To solidify and maintain your relationships, and reconfirm why you want to do business with them. To understand your value from their perspective. And lastly, to make sure they are being served properly and to sell them everything they need.

About the author:
Paul Lemberg is the President of Quantum Growth Coaching: More Profits and More Life for Entrepreneurs, Guaranteed. To get your copy of our free report with detailed steps to grow your business at least 40% faster, go to www.fastergrowthnow.com

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Achieve Your Business Results Through Executive Coaching That Yields a 500% Plus ROI (by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith)

What if you could have a 500% plus return for very dollar that you invested in your employees? What would that mean for your business? Possibly right now you are thinking that this is not possible and even if it was, any business owner would jump at the chance for such an incredible investment?

First, it is true. So begin looking for that jump rope. According to a recent report by MetrixGlobal for a Fortune 500 company, executive coaching provided a 529% return on investment. This report is supported by other research including Dell Computers. Half of the 761 senior managers at Dell Computer Corporation recently received executive coaching within a two-year time period. Dell has been actively monitoring these managers through pre-determined measurements. One of these criterion indicates that executives who received coaching tended to be promoted more often than those who were not coached.

So, if you are now convinced that coaching is a viable strategy to enhance your bottom line, then what do you need to do as a business owner to implement a coaching program?

First, research any coach or coaching organization that you are considering. Ask for specific references where measurable results were put in place prior to the coaching. The coaching should be results focused with clearly identifiable measurements. Also, coaching certification should not be a limiting factor as many certified coaches fail to earn even mid five figures. The determining factor should be about the results that the coach has delivered with his or her clients.

Second, look for a coaching program that works with your company and can be quickly and affordably aligned to your company’s culture. This curriculum should also be easily adapted to other training and development group sessions as well as to the different roles within the organization including Executive Leadership, Management, Supervision and Leadership.

Third, coaching is a personal relationship between the coach and the client. Your employees must feel comfortable with the coach. Some preliminary communication should take place with your employees before the implementation of a coaching program.

Fourth, the coaching curriculum should be structured, proven and provide numerous opportunities for application and feedback.

Fifth, everyone in the organization needs to support and reinforce the coaching program. Management above those in the coaching program must understand and be in agreement with the program.

To be truly effective, an excellent coaching approach extends beyond the professional life into the personal life. For it is within each individual personally where the performance excellence evolves.

Coaching is a proven way to dramatically enhance your bottom line provided you incorporate at least these five strategies. By taking such action, you can achieve your goals quicker and leave your competition in the dust. That is unless of course they decide to enact a coaching initiative before you do. So what are you waiting for?

Word Count 473

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

About the author:
Leanne Hoagland-Smith helps individuals and organizations to double results through innovative coaching, training and development. She builds lifelong change through proven processes including goal achievement. If increasing your revenue, improving your culture or finding balance interests you, visit www.processspecialist.comor ask to subscribe to complimentary copy of Power Choices a monthly newsletter at info@processspecialist.com

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Writing A Business Plan What Makes A Good One (by: William Siebler)

Writing a business plan can be a lot of hard work or it can be great fun. An effective plan can help your company to greatness. A poor one can lead you out of business. No plan is like asking to fail before you even start. 

Not every business needs a 200 page bound business plan. However every business needs to have some idea of where they want to go and how they are going to get there. This article covers some key insights into writing a business plan that get your business to where you want to be. 

The first stage of any plan is ANALYSIS. You need to take a very objective look at a number of factors that may impact your business. There are many factors to consider but the two major ones are competition and your operating environment. 

Let’s look first at competition. Every business has competition, even if you think your product or service is unique. How is this? Well it’s quite simple really, people have choices to make. The most fundamental choice they make in most cases is whether to buy what you offer or but something else. For example I could buy a game console or I could buy groceries instead. Customers only have so much money available so you first task is to ask yourself what is my competition like and can I beat them? The more you understand your competition the more you can develop your business strategy of being different and outperforming them. 

Now let’s look at operating environment. This is understanding what factors around your area of operation are likely to affect your business performance. For some companies this includes looking around the World in other cases it’s just your local neighbourhood. You need to ask questions such as: 

How is the economy going? 
What is consumer confidence like? 
Where is technology heading in my industry? 

After answering all the questions you need to decide how these might negatively or positively influence your performance. 

Now you know more about your competition and operating environment it’s time to set some OBJECTIVES. This is what you want to achieve in the period your business plan covers. It is said that good objectives are SMART. That is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and targeted. Here’s an example of a SMART objective for a hypothetical business. 

“By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product X by 7.5% over the previous year.” 

You can see how clear this objective is. It is much easier to achieve high performance with clear objectives. 

Now you need to outline your STRATEGY. How are you going to reach you objective(s)? This is where your marketing plan often comes in as it helps describe the programs you will run to achieve your desired objective(s). To continue the example above our strategy may be to gain distribution for our product in one new major retail chain. 

To make your strategy work you must then allocate appropriate RESOURCES. Certain things will need to be provided to reach your goal. This could be dollars, people, equipment, etc. Your plan must have included the resources you are allocating and why you believe this is adequate to get the result. 

Every business plans also has some PROJECTIONS. This is your basic financials that you plan will deliver. Are you expecting a profit or loss? How much? 

Lastly you need to allow for CONTINGENCIES. Things change all the time and your plan needs to consider these possibilities in advance. A good way to do this is to ask What if? 

What if a new competitor enters our market? 
What if a distributor delists our product? 
What if interest rates rise? 

Your analysis should give you some idea of likely contingencies. It saves a lot of stress if you have some documented ideas for dealing with them before they become a big problem. 

Writing a business plan is never perfect, the plan is on paper and you’re operating in the real world. However a good plan can really guide you in the right direction. Take time to put real thought into preparing your plan an above all make sure you USE YOUR PLAN! 

About the author:
Please visit our site for more information on Writing a Business Plan http://www.talking-businessplans.com

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You May Have A Successful Small Business Idea (by: Sintilia Miecevole)

You surely know that a small idea can lead to a great business success. The first movement is to think of an idea that would be suitable for the business market. After coming up with the idea, the next step is to put that idea into action. Of course, this is a very difficult step and having the idea is only the start of the journey. After that you will have to face many obstacles before being able to carry on with your business project. This is just the beginning of this process and there is a lot of questions you will have to answer before even start.

 

Some of the main aspects you have to concentrate on when you have business ideas are the abilities and gifts you can pour into the business. It is very important for you to be identified with your business project. Those ideas should be based on activities and actions you take pleasure in doing. For example, if we suppose that you dislike working in the open, landscaping business would not suit you. On the other hand, if you like working with children, setting up baby-sitting or tutoring business would be an excellent idea. In this case, without any doubt you business will be more successful because you will have put your mind, effort and also your heart on it. 

Another vital step is to analyze the needs of a specific product or service in your region before setting up your business. Do people of your area need your product? Are there other business like the one you are planning to start? You should ask yourself whether or not you are the only one offering that service or product. If you are not, you will have to analyze the competence you will have to face. You have to think whether the service you are offering is one that customer would repeat, or if it is a one-time specialized service. Obviously, the former are more likely to succeed than the latter. 

There are other aspects you have to take into account. These aspects are described below: 

- One of them is that if the idea is unique, you will reign the market. But if there is much competition, it will be difficult to enter into the market. 

- A second point would be if you can offer quality from the very beginning, otherwise, you won't succeed. 

- Finally, you have to think about your capital to start your own business. There are many business ideas that require little investment and bring great profit. Some demand research, such as daycare service, and others need a large amount of money to begin the business. So take this recommendation into account before investing all your money in a small business idea. 

About the author:
Business information at http://www.finerbusiness.comwith the all time expert, Sintilia Miecevole is now available. You'll have resources at your fingertips from franchises, finances, banking, brokers, the economy, accounting, degrees, grants, to businesses for sale. Be sure to visit http://www.finerbusiness.comfor the latest news on business. 

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