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We hope you find this arcthve useful. A subscription to The Small Business Advisor Newsletter is free. Subscribe now - it's easy! The Small Business Advisor Newsletter for MAY, 2002 ======================== ======================== Here you will find many of the documents found in the offices of large and sophisticated companies. Most of the documents are customizable, providing the ability to insert company information i.e., company name and address as well as employee personal and professional information. All of the documents are formatted in Microsoft word, providing the ability to edit/change and delete unwanted items. The service is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or newer and Microsoft Office/Word 97 or newer. (Netscape may require a download of the file and then require it to be opened in Word). Additional services are available as an upgrade, however, the Small Business Advisor Document Center is FREE! Check it out today and access the necessary business documents to help you run your business. UPGRADE SERVICES
INCLUDE: The FREE Small Business Advisor Document Center is at http://63.230.9.60/hrdocuments?option=Cobrand&CoId=sba142. ======================== The first quarter of 2001 is already gone! Where did the time go? You still have an opportunity to make 2001 a GREAT year by taking care of a few important items that can make a difference in your business and have a positive impact on the bottom line. Start with the following suggestions and add your own. 1. PLANNING. Review your strategic plan (You do have one, don't you?). Are you on course to your objectives and goals? Update your plan as may be necessary and make any additions and/or deletions based on any changes in your desired goals. Remember the importance of planning - without a plan in place, effective decision-making is difficult if not impossible. 2. CUSTOMERS. Have you contacted all your existing customers - remember, they are most likely to purchase your product or service. Have a "preferred" sale, send them all an announcement of some kind, ask for suggestions. Make them feel how important they are to your business. Make personal individual contact with your larger customers. 3. TELEPHONE. Review your telephone charges. It may be possible to do a lot better. Shop around for your long distance and 800/888 services. 4. SUPPLIERS. Contact all your current suppliers and attempt to negotiate lower prices. Review your previous year's usage and consider larger bulk buys in order to obtain additional discounts. 5. ACCOUNTS. Contact all overdue accounts. Offer to negotiate payment terms, if necessary. Decide if you want to continue to work with these customers. 6. EMPLOYEES. Do you have employees? If so, make a point to sit down with each of them and ask for suggestions that might improve your product or service. Ask if they need anything that might make them more efficient. Be sure to give feedback at a later date as to how you used any of these suggestions. 7. GUARANTEES. Review your product or service guarantee - is it as generous as it can be? Is a "life time" warranty in order? Exceptional warranties sell products! 8. TECHNOLOGY.
Are you using technology to the fullest extent possible? Remember
that technology is one of the great equalizers between small and
large companies. 8. CUSTOMER SERVICE. Improve it this year! Review your customer service policies. Do you need additional telephone lines? Can you ship product faster? Provide better prices? Discounts? Personalized service? Should you be accepting credit cards? Would a toll-free number be useful? 9. MARKETING. Plan your year's marketing budget. Either define a budget amount or have it vary with total sales. 10. INSURANCE. Review your insurance program. Are you double insuring? Shop your policies for better prices. Are any changes required? 11. ORGANIZATION. Okay THIS is the year you are going to get organized. Do it - the time savings are amazing. If nothing else, get yourself a good personal information manager (PIM) and use it. I like the Palm desktop. Remember, the continued success of your business is dependent on many factors, some of which are not under your control. It is up to you to take advantage of those you can do something about. ======================== Change is certainly a universal truth: both in business and in life. Within the past 25 years, the face of business has changed dramatically. With the advent of e-mail, fax machines, the Internet, and microcomputers, information is processed and shared almost instantly. These technological advances have also brought about more impersonal methods of communication and relationship building. It appears that businesses today are losing sight of the importance of relationship building and why it is crucial to their long-term success. Even though business may be transacted in the blink of an eye, business relationships still take time. The amount of time varies, but they do take time. Long-term success takes long-term effort. So the question is, "How do I build long-term mutually beneficial relationships in today's marketplace?" One way to do this is through Strategic Alliances. Strategic Alliances are relationships with various professionals that can introduce you to new prospects on a consistent and qualified basis or with whom you can partner when building client relationships. For example a provider of computer products may want to form a Strategic Alliance with a provider of computer networking solutions. Both of these providers do business with similar types of clients and may be able to offer their clients a "package deal" by utilizing economies of scale. A provider of employee benefits for businesses may want to form strategic alliances with corporate accountants since the accountant is a trusted advisor of the business and can provide you with referrals. Once you have identified potential Strategic Alliances, the next task is to build relationships with them. An effective way to do this is to invite them to lunch and explain your intentions. Explore the potential benefits for both of you and for your clients. Most would agree that it is better to work together than to work separately. Form an "Agreement In Principle" with each Strategic Alliance that outlines how the two of you will do business together. Review your respective client bases for referrals as well targeting potential clients for joint casework. If you can identify several Strategic Alliances then you should form a "focus group". This group should meet periodically: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. The more frequent you meet the more conducive to building relationships and creating referral opportunities. Since all of you have the same Target Markets, form a group strategy for cultivating these Target Markets. You goal should be to save people within these Target Markets time and money. Develop a package deal of products/services for your Target Markets, including applicable discounts or incentives. When a potential client reviews your package deal against individual proposal from competitors, there should be no question as to who is saving that prospective client time and money. Your focus group can also attend relevant networking functions or trade shows within your Target Markets. Doing this has several key benefits. First, you can divide the cost of the event among the members of the focus group. This can make costly events very affordable. Second, you can market yourselves as one to the attendees of the event. People will certainly be curious as to the purpose of your focus group and this presents a golden opportunity to show them how your focus group can save them time and money. Remember that people buy difference, not similarity and your focus group will definitely be perceived as different and unique. Please keep in mind that forming Strategic Alliances and focus groups takes mutual commitment and time, but your efforts will be well rewarded in the long run.
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