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Efficient Ways To Attract More Customers To Your Business

You’ve successfully launched your business and built up a solid, if small, customer base. Starting small has its benefits; after all, it allowed you the opportunity to cultivate a loyal relationship with your customers. By now, you’ve had time to work out any kinks, and you’re confident that your product or service is genuinely the best your business can offer.

Now, you’re eager to expand and grow your business. But, growing your customer base is much easier said than done. There’s a logical sequence to building a business, whether it’s online or offline. Certain things must be done to see your business grow. By committing to follow the required steps, you can attract more clients and have the kind of income you want. From marketing tactics to better networking, try these tips and watch your customer base grow exponentially.

Stay engaged with your core audience

Engaging with your audience can make your business more personable, which will make your clients like you even more. If you make a good enough impression with these positive interactions, your current customers will be more likely to speak highly of your business to their family and friends, which can result in even more customers.

By making your customers feel valued, you can make clients feel persuaded to share your business to their social circles and hopefully start a domino effect for your business’s advantage.

Implement valuable quizzes

If you’re looking for ways to attract new customers, you need to look into implementing useful quizzes into your marketing strategy.

By making a quiz that truly speaks to your audience’s pain points, and showing them just a glimpse of the solution you offer, you can provide real insight into your customer’s problem. Plus, just wording your quiz suitably will build trust in the customer and warm them up for your newsletters’ welcome email.

Apply data-driven strategies

If you want to see real results, you can’t “hope” something will work, you need to know that it will. That means being data-driven in all of your business decisions. It’s crucial to keep a constant eye on your data to determine how your marketing decisions are affecting your business. Use that information to adjust your strategies and make data-informed decisions about the future.

Prioritize SEO

Improving your website’s SEO, or Search Engine Optimization can help you attract new customers. SEO is what helps your business rank at the top of search engine results when people search for a product or service related to your field. SEO affects your website’s visibility on search engines. This means that the better optimized your website is through SEO, the more likely your website shows up on the first page of Google, which will make customers more likely to visit your business’s website.

Provide offers to existing customers

It’s essential to get to know your customers and celebrate milestones with them, too. Send birthday cards or holidays cards with a discount for them and one for a friend. Attracting new customers is all about putting yourself and your business out there in new ways. You’re likely to bring in a new customer base when you branch out into uncharted territories.

Partner with other businesses

Teaming up with businesses that offer complementary services offers you the opportunity to take advantage of synergy, which can be very useful in building a business. For instance, if you have a company that specializes in SEO, consider teaming up with a business that makes websites.

Nurturing relationships, either with other business owners or customers, helps you create a client base. Focus on building human relationships. The stronger your relationships are, the more likely your customers will be to tell their friends about you. And, the more likely they’ll be to come back.

No matter what kind of content you’re pushing out, you’ll have no trouble finding established best practices for attracting customers. But what makes all the difference is how well you understand your audience. Following the points mentioned above puts you on the path to attracting new clients and earning more income. Don’t forget to offer additional services to satisfied customers. By doing so, you’ll be on the road to the income you want. To learn more about how to attract a larger audience & help your business flourish, follow me @…

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Strategies To Make Your Product Stand Out

Now whether you’re getting ready to launch your first product or you’re thinking about bringing on a second one, you need to think about differentiation. If your product doesn’t stand out from your competitors by some significant difference, you’ll find that sales are difficult to come by. Differentiation is what helps customers notice you. The last thing you want is to blend in with every other similar product on the shelf.

The problem is that so many sellers are often selling fundamentally the same product as their competitors. They’re not using proprietary technology or a secret formula. They’re simply finding a manufacturer who makes a product within the niche, then trying to sell it for themselves. To get noticed, a product must have a unique selling proposition. Here are some tips to follow to make your product stand out.

Be minimalistic

Packaging should not be too complicated. The key to making your packaging the inevitable buy is simplicity. If the consumer can’t discern your message in a split second, then your moment to “wow” them is gone. Don’t think that standing out is all about making the loudest noise with the brightest packaging.

Creating interest and winning the attention of your audience is an art form that mainly relies on understanding the landscape and trends of your industry. To get the ultimate result and have the premium product that sits at the top of the ladder, you have to be prepared to take risks.

Choose a suitable colour theme

Colours of your packaging design and the container as well will positively affect the mood of the buyer. Remember, different colours induce different emotions and bring back various memories and feelings in people. Your choice of colours will either make your customers cheerful or reminisce. Either way, a pleasant product packaging never loses.

Provide exceptional service

Provide the best service. Make things easy for your customer. They’ll love you for it and will keep coming. Many consumers say they will take their business elsewhere after a single bad experience with a company. In today’s competitive market, you can’t afford to lose customers over poor service. Excellent customer service needs to be at the core of your company’s focus. Majority of consumers consider customer service to be a real test of a company’s adequacy.

If your customer service strategy doesn’t include review management, you could be losing customers to competitors before they even get a chance to experience your product or service.

Present yourself

Don’t be afraid to show yourself. And, when you do present yourself, demonstrate how you’re different from your competitors.

A great way to do this is by writing the way you talk and developing an authentic voice that cuts through typical business jargon and sets you apart & makes you memorable.

Furthermore, by offering value through online networking, make it a point to be available on Facebook and Twitter to answer questions and provide service. Showing yourself can be as simple as creating your email signature. Include elements like your picture, company logo, social media links, or even one of your favourite quotes.

Package your product appropriately

Customers expect the packaging design of your items to offer protection, as well as make them convenient to transport and store. Most customers will appreciate the packaging more if it helps them to consume or use the product with ease. This factor alone can help potential customers understand how much you consider their experience in your packaging design.

For you, packaging your product in oversized packages is not a good idea. Be efficient and realistic with your packaging design; bigger is not always better. You need to create a packaging design that not only fits your product well but also doesn’t take up too much space on the shelf.

A bulky packaging design could cost you valuable shelf-space, and depending on the type of product you are selling, could be detrimental to your sales.

In most cases, people are selling the same product as you, but that doesn’t mean your product can’t stand out and it won’t be successful. As long as it brings value to potential customers that other similar competitive products don’t, you are likely to get noticed and more likely to make a sale. To learn more about how to make your product stand out in the market and grow your sales exponentially, follow me @…

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6 Steps For Effective Strategy Implementation And Execution

This lack of understanding is a significant reason that a huge majority of good strategies will fail, with some studies reporting that up to 70% of good strategies fail strictly due to poor execution. Less than 50% of employees can state what their organization’s strategy entails, and even less believe the strategy is considered ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’. At the end of the day, an organization is not judged by the quality of its strategy but by its results.

To ensure that your strategies are successfully implemented, you must build the execution into and across the strategy and the strategic planning process. Below are the 6 steps to successful strategy implementation.

Formulation

This stage is where the organization’s mission, objectives, and strategies are defined and set. The formulation stage is the first step in strategic management. This stage is where it all begins, which means that, if the organization is unable to complete this stage with very good results, then the company’s strategic management is already a bust from the start. Many organizations fail during the first stage, in the sense that they are unable to come up with strategies that will potentially take the organization where it wants to be.

Communication

CEOs need to begin with clearly communicating their objectives, which should be driven by the company’s values and vision. Having clear goals with a comprehensive list of business objectives creates guidelines that become the foundation for business planning and growth.

All employee work should align with company objectives and the CEO’s vision for the company. Having conversations with managers about how employee work translates into the company’s goals should be prioritized and take place weekly.

Aligning initiatives

A key road to failed implementation is when we create a new strategy but then continue to do the same things as old. A new strategy means new priorities and new activities across the practice. Every activity must be reviewed against its relevance to the new strategy. A good way of doing this is to create a strategic value measurement tool for existing and new initiatives. Initiatives should be analyzed against their strategic value and their impact on the practice.

Evaluation

The strategic plan, which was developed during the formulation stage, will be distributed for implementation. However, there is still a need to evaluate the plan, especially concerning the initiatives, budgets and performance. After all, there may still be inputs that may crop up during evaluation that were missed during strategy formulation.

Reporting & tracking

There are really two key components for effective tracking and reporting. Firstly, you need to ensure that everyone in your organization is regularly updating the progress of their own goals. This doesn’t have to be arduous or time-consuming. Probably just a few minutes per month is usually enough. Perhaps just before a team meeting or the regular strategy sessions you’ve booked into people’s diaries.

Review

One of the key success factors for an effective strategy deployment is a constant review of its progress and the decision to be made for any deviations to the plan. It is crucial to decide what to review and by whom the review is done. A new decision may be required as the status of the strategies progress.

A strategy is not just a document written by physicians and managers and then filed away. It is a vision for the practice, owned by the practice. And to succeed the whole practice must engage with it and live and breathe it. A strategy should inform our operations, our structure, and how we go about doing what we do. It should be the pillar against which we assess our priorities, our actions and performance. To learn more about how to efficiently execute strategies and grow your business rapidly, follow me @…

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Reasons Why Most Startups Fail

India is among the fastest-growing startup economies in the world. India had the third-highest number of startups followed by the US and UK. The main reason behind this growth is that the majority of the population is young in India. About 40% of people are under the age of 35 years, and almost every 3 out of 4 startup founders are under 35.

Most startup founders and entrepreneurs think that they are creating the next big revolution in the respective industry. However, in reality, 90% of them fail. The reasons for failure could be many ranging from lack of product-market fit to insufficient capital.

To achieve success, entrepreneurs should be aware of common challenges, so they don’t make the same mistakes that others have already made. In this article, we review common reasons why startups fail and how to avoid failure and work on things that actually create value. Here’s a dose of reality.

Inadequate pricing

The biggest error startups make when it comes to pricing is assuming that price alone drives sales. However, it’s not always the case. Do you know what drives sales? A sales and marketing team that knows how to communicate the value of what you’re really offering. Which is why filling those roles with the right individuals is so important.

With that said, it’s important to think carefully about pricing upfront. Price too low and you’ll go out of business from bad margins. Price too high and you’ll go out of business because you don’t have enough customers.

Deviation from target

During the early stages of business, entrepreneurs need to handle multiple operations to kickstart their business- incorporation, funds, recruiting, marketing and advertising, networking, and developing the right product or service. Amidst these activities, entrepreneurs give divided attention to all these areas, without accomplishing anything substantial.

Focusing on one thing at a time or getting advice on these different business operations from their subject-matter business consultants can help entrepreneurs multi-manage these activities more efficiently.

Inefficiency in the team

A diverse team with various skillsets is very critical for the success of a company. Many founders cannot do what is required for a business to turn successful. Both the founder and the team should focus on industries related to their skills and academic background. The skills they possess should be complemented with that of the team. Disharmony in the team might not help the business take off. Sometimes, there can be disharmony among investors of a company that could result in failure.

Market status

Identifying the correct market and problem is not easy. If you end up making a solution for a problem which nobody has or is insignificant, you risk losing all your effort and resources into failure. The demand for a solution also depends on the timing when you are releasing it.

Premature scaling

The goal of many startups is to not be a startup anymore. They’re all in a hurry to scale. Scaling refers to hiring people, getting funded, releasing new products, entering new markets – and growing too much too soon. Unfortunately, not everything is as smooth as it may seem. In reality, up to 70% of startups scale too early and, as a result, do things out of order. As they say, slow and steady wins the race.

Insufficient funding

One of the most common mistakes that a majority of entrepreneurs commit is bootstrapping their startups with their personal savings or with the money provided by their family members or close friends as a loan. Getting investors for your business may sound a good idea initially; however, you may have to share the margin of your profit with those investors later on.

Getting business funding is tough for startups, and rejection from lenders may shatter your dream of setting up a business. Lack of sufficient money is the most common reasons why startups shut down within the initial five years. If your startup fails, it’s worth spending time to understand what went wrong. That’s the only way you’re going to improve the odds of making it next time. And, yes, there will be a next time. Hopefully, this list will help you avoid a different pitfall. To learn more about how to avoid the difficulties faced by a startup and grow your company swiftly, follow me @…

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Reasons Why Salespeople Struggle To Generate Business Leads

Generating new B2B sales leads can be challenging. Decision-makers are often busy conducting their work, so they often disregard promotional efforts made by other companies. Selling, particularly in today’s information-rich, buyer-centric environment, is hard for even the most seasoned sales reps. For sales professionals new to the industry or their organization, the bar can seem high, and the landscape constantly changing. If your company has struggled with prospecting, there is a high possibility that your team is guilty of one or more of these critical lead generation strategy mistakes. Here are a few primary reasons why salespeople fail in the early going.

Lacking an appropriate strategy

Like most things, in life, you need to start with a strategy and a plan. Working your way through all of the elements of a robust marketing strategy will help you to navigate today’s marketing landscape, and this will then identify what marketing tools to use, how to use them and when. Your marketing strategy should highlight how you aim to build and nurture prospects and customer relationships for the long term.

Targeting an imprecise audience

You won’t be generating many if any new sales lead when targeting the wrong audience. If your target audience is plant managers at large automotive component manufacture companies and you are targeting small machine shops, for instance, it’s doubtful that you’ll have great results. Think about who is most likely to use your product and service and focus your lead generation efforts on them.

Poor teamwork

One of the most prominent reasons that your leads are simply not converting is because there is a disconnect between both your marketing and sales teams. A lack of alignment can mean a lot of your leads slip through the cracks, and all of your marketing team’s hard work is wasted. To achieve alignment, it is best to utilize integrated technology that keeps track of all interactions, so both sales and marketing teams know precisely how to nurture specific leads.

Absence of inspiration

Successful sales managers understand the importance of inspiring their team. They use inspiration as one of their top sales team management strategies. They do so by helping each salesperson see how successful they can become, and motivating them to maximize their potential. Creating an environment in which your team feels inspired will motivate them to excel at work.

Failure to maintain consistency

Even with a strategy in place and a better idea of which marketing tools to use, things will not be as straight forward as you think. As a business owner, you will want to see instant results for the efforts of your marketing, but the best results come in time. All too often, we see companies panic and, in a desperate bid to increase sales, implement reactive marketing campaigns. In most of these scenarios, the strategy goes out of the window and time frames become unrealistic, as companies desperately try a whole range of activity to create leads and close sales. Though it may feel at times that leading your sales team to success is impossible, as you can see, it is not. By only taking the time to plan and implement the sales management strategies outlined above, you should start to see a noticeable improvement in your sales team. To learn more about various sales strategies, and help your business flourish, follow me on Instagram @…

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5 ways how entrepreneurs can stay motivated

Bringing a business to life from ground zero is a humongous task. It demands time effort and energy. To be persistent and stay committed to one's business idea is challenging, especially as every entrepreneur faces obstacles in his/her journey.

As an entrepreneur, you are solely responsible for goal setting and holding yourself accountable. There is nobody in a higher position that's responsible for your progress, goal setting and performance. It's all on you.

Many entrepreneurs, new ones especially, have a difficult time with this. If you are not disciplined and motivated, failure is imminent. If you find yourself lacking focus, it's time to leverage self-motivation to help you achieve your entrepreneurial goal. Use these five ways to remain motivated while striving toward your personal and business goals.

Focus on the present

Motivation is a limited resource. Those who use it wisely will reap significant rewards, and they'll be able to progress faster. Nevertheless, motivation has a lot to do with focusing. Your motivation goes where your attention goes, so mastering your thoughts and feelings will help you control the motivation factor whenever you please.

Start focusing your energy, thoughts, and actions on the present moment. Shift your perspective. Don't chase the final results but focus on the journey. Everything you do right now counts, as you're creating causes and effects.

If you hadn't given all your attention to consuming that information correctly, the lifetime opportunity would have never popped out. It goes the same with everything. Focus on your journey (present) and let the future guide you.

Workout

For being so physically demanding, exercise is an incredible way to release stress and find motivation. By nature, exercise is similar to entrepreneurship - both involve hard work, excuses are not welcome in either, and they're all about personal development. The dedication and motivation that come from exercise carry over to entrepreneurship, so don't skip that workout.

Converse regularly with accordant individuals

It takes a lot of people to build a good business. You must start building a network of associates or hire a virtual assistant early on who will help you with the day-to-day as well as the strategic execution of your vision.

Of course, having a mentor is very important as well, because you can learn a lot from someone who's been there and done it. The important thing is to create a support system of people who're willing to lend an ear or offer valuable advice whenever you need it.

Talk proudly about your business

Talking proudly about how you built your small empire grounds up will instil more confidence in you. Further, this will help you get feedback from your peers and family. It need not necessarily be face to face interactions, but you could rather interact with people through social media and online platforms. 

Connect with other entrepreneurs like you through forums or communities. If you have an inspirational story, share that with them. This will help you indirectly make a name for your brand as well.

Keep yourself entertained in your spare time

You don't always have to be focused only on your work. Indulging in other activities that you find motivational can also drive your entrepreneurial success. In your time, you could watch inspirational films, both fiction and documentaries, listen to motivating podcasts, or even listen to music you find uplifting. These activities can be performed at home while preparing your meals or during your commute.

When you want to thrive in your business, staying motivated is essential. Use these ideas to stay motivated so you can reach your goals. To learn more about how to stay motivated to help your business flourish, follow me @...

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Necessary Measures Small Businesses Should Take To Achieve Success

There are unpredictable reasons for the success and survival of a business, i.e. both external and internal factors. A large part of business failure and success depends on the problems defined externally. Most small business owners have limited experience in management while tend to have technical or professional skills. This factor can result in a subsequent reversal of the fortune in widespread business failure. Everyone, including suppliers, investors, employees and customers lose when a business owner fails. As a business owner, you need to take steps to minimise these kinds of risks by obtaining insurance for your business and assets and implementing security measures as well as disaster planning. Here are a few crucial ways to prevent risks that your small business may face.

Diversify offerings

Whether a small business deal in services or tangible goods, increasing the number of offerings reduces company risk through the availability of backup sources of funding. A retail store that depends on one product line runs the risk of an immediate shutdown should the original product lose public favour.

Acquire insurance

Although insurance doesn’t entirely reduce risk, it helps the small businesses by supporting them from taking the entire financial burden that is associated with either defective inventory or an employee that has been injured and thus reduces the risk of the business folding. You need to seriously consider insuring your inventory, the company property, business equipment and vehicles and also maintain a workers compensation policy.

Interview thoroughly

It can be easy to have just the owner or CEO interview candidates at a small business, but that can be a mistake. Having several contrasting employees interview the candidate can go a long way to diminish bad hiring risk. It’s recommended that three or four employees from outside the hiring department should be involved as well to provide an overall perspective of the candidate.

Analyse expenditure

The number-one risk for most small businesses is improper cash-flow management. Calculate every month how much money you have on hand and how long it will last if your income dries up. Also, evaluate monthly your total accounts payable and the number of days that accounts are outstanding because a slowdown in accounts payable will lead to cash-flow crunches.

Disaster management

Some businesses never reopen after a natural disaster such as flood or fire. That’s why you need to develop a risk management plan in case of a disaster. In many cases, a disaster will make you relocate your business temporarily, and a standard insurance policy will not cover the loss of the income you may suffer in this time. So be prepared for any situation and expect the unexpected.

Avoid long-term commitments

Until and unless a small business is a firmly established, long-term commitment which includes mortgages or car lease payments needs to be avoided. Private automobile usage can help to reduce the business costs and also the initial risks because the upfront investment of cash is not required. If the business doesn’t take off as expected, you shouldn’t end up locked into long-term commitments you cannot afford. You might have to face negative feedback, but that shouldn’t invalidate your morale or idea, instead should strengthen the preposition and encourage you in that manner. Achieving business success depends upon good luck, putting in place measures and going ahead with the strategies that help you to succeed. To learn more about having the right mindset towards your business, follow me on Instagram @ …

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6 tips to double your sales

Far too many small business owners scurry around trying to increase sales using big promotions or ad campaigns or the latest flavour-of-the-month method. They do all this because the thought of spending money on advertising is chilling. They swing for the fences or search for the proverbial magic bullet to increase their sales and give them that revenue spike they are craving.

There is a way to double your sales this year, and you don’t have to spend an additional rupee on advertising. The best businesses take the time to provide better service and value.  All it takes is a little planning and executing with consistency. Here are a few practical tips to double your sales and help your business grow exponentially.

Build trust

Statistics have shown that the number one reason why people do not buy from you again has nothing to do with money but everything to do with trust. So sow the seeds of confidence in the minds of the customers. The best ways to do so is to do things consistently. SO whether you are having a blog or updating your social media-do it regularly, and also make sure to guarantee what your product/service has promised to do, without any chance of failure. 

Provide training

Over 95% of salespeople are not equipped with adequate education and training. They’ve been doing sales for 5, 10 or more years and haven’t even completed one audio program about sales or read one sales book during this time. Perhaps only the newly appointed sales rep gets technical training, but hardly any education on the latest prospecting and closing methods, for example.

Price your product appropriately

Higher priced products are perceived as having a higher value.  Low prices can be seen as lacking in quality. So, increasing the rate on your products could have a positive effect on your top line.  Of course, if you are an affiliate marketer, you don’t have this option.  But, if you’re selling your own products, think about this.

Target the right audience

Many salespeople spend their entire careers calling on low-level prospects with small budgets and no decision-making authority. Don’t be one of those salespeople. Only go after candidates at the top of the food chain; these clients have the power and budget to say “yes” to big investments.

When you prioritize highly profitable sales, you can start saying “no” to tiny deals that have little return on your investment of time and energy. Focus only on more substantial opportunities and prospects who can make a big dent in your sales pipeline. Big opportunities take the same amount of time and effort as small ones but lead to a far greater outcome at the end of the year.

Know your product

If you want to sell, you need to know everything about your product. Customers often ask various questions concerning details of the offer, product specification, or ask for comparison with other products available on the market. If you reliably answer their questions, you will increase trust and, as a result, the client will be more willing to buy.

Keep improving your product/service through client feedback

As a trader, you have probably often heard from potential customers that they are not interested in your product, and you have finished the conversation. This is a mistake. Next time try to continue the conversation. Find out why the client is not interested in your product, and keep asking questions to keep them involved in the conversation. 

It might turn out that he/she can still be persuaded to buy your product. And if not, at least you will gain invaluable knowledge about your clients, their needs and what you can improve in the offer.

It’s easy to read over these strategies and file them away for further use. They are more effective if you practice them regularly and make it part of your company culture. To learn more about increasing your sales and growing your business, follow me on Instagram @...

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Goal Setting Tips For Growing Your Business Exponentially

It’s widely accepted that goal setting is the best way to become more organised, motivated and successful. This being especially true for sales teams, for whom performance is often evaluated through a range of metrics and assessments. The specific goals you set for your team will depend on a variety of factors, such as team size, industry, length of the sales cycle, and more. There are a plethora of resources and templates available to help with goal setting. No matter what you choose to use, it is essential for your salespeople to frequently set goals for both short & long-term and hold themselves accountable. Below, find out how to set sales goals on an individual and team level. It might seem like a lot of work, but the result is motivated salespeople who have the support they need to succeed.

Gather feedback from colleagues

Gathering the opinions and assessments from trusted colleagues and friends will give you a more global picture of where you stand. We tend to be either too positive or too negative about ourselves; having the perspectives of a select few helps in balancing out the picture. Encourage those that you approach to be as candid and open as possible & tell them you want the truth, not just what you want to hear. Synthesis as much of that feedback into your goal setting process as possible.

Monitor success

You need to keep your motivation strong to complete your goal. Consider scheduling a weekly evaluation, which could include measuring your progress and checking your schedule. Once you see how close the finish line is, you’ll feel more motivated to push through to the end. If you’re a little behind schedule, make necessary adjustments and keep going.

Speed up the sales cycle

Speeding up the sales process closes deals quicker. This means that the company will realise the revenue faster, and the sales representative will have more time to spend on other deals and prospecting activities. Creating a goal to reduce the amount of time it takes to move a lead to an opportunity or an opportunity to a customer will speed up the sales cycle.

Prioritise training

Sales can be a battle sometimes, and you always want your team to have the best weapons & tools available to assist them. This means providing your team with training and resources around your company’s unique product. For the long-term success of your sales team & your company, you might have to look beyond just immediate sales goals. Take the time to dig into their process and see what’s working and what isn’t.

Don’t change your direction

You created your goals, strategy and tactics for a reason. You selected the technology for a reason. Give that plan enough time to work before you scrap it and start over. If you are going to start over, recognise this as a setback toward your goals, and reset those goals realistically.

Set attainable goals

It certainly makes sense to set ambitious sales targets, but you also want your goals to be attainable, so your representatives don’t get discouraged when they come up short. You should be reasonably confident that an employee can achieve the target if they have a decent work ethic and the right skills for the job. You should always aim to improve, but aiming for unattainable goals can leave your team feeling burnt out and discouraged and can make it harder to track your team’s progress. The tips covered above highlight how challenging this entire process is. It takes discipline, hard work, firm leadership and healthy communication to achieve success. To learn more about goal setting and how to help your business flourish, follow me on Instagram @…

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How To Start A Great Sales Conversation

Whether over the phone or in person, a sales conversation can sometimes be a little intimidating. However, if you’re prepared before you make the initial contact, a few simple steps can lead to a fruitful sales conversation. Before setting off to make that sale, outline your goals, research the company and its officers and prepare all necessary catalogs, brochures, contracts and business documents to ensure your sales conversation goes smoothly. To make the most of your time, as well as the time of your prospective customer, follow these tips for the best sales conversation starters around your product or service.

Know your prospect

Building rapport is a lot easier if you know something about your customer that you can connect over. Before you even initiate a sales conversation, take some time to research your audience. A quick Google or LinkedIn search can go a long way in helping you learn more about the customer and the company they represent. When you come into a sales conversation and know your client, you set yourself up for a great first impression. The customer will also see that you’re serious, and the fact that you know something about their company can do a lot for you in the trust department.

Recognize your prospect’s ambitions

Take the time to dive into your prospect’s story. Learn about what matters to them, how they got into the industry, what inspired them to pursue their career, and where they see themselves going. When exploring their organizational goals, ask questions that help flush out the needs of their organization and in such a way that you will be able to associate a dollar value return on investment. Discuss what potential roadblocks might be in the way of achieving their goals and what your product or service can do to help alleviate these setbacks.

Plan your discussion

Set the table for success by going into each sales conversation with a plan. Do your homework and know what you want to get out of the conversation. If you go into each discussion well prepared, with a plan to succeed, you will be much more likely to make the sale.

Provide value to the conversation

Your prospect is interested only in speaking to you, so long as you’re providing value in the conversation. The number one way that you can provide serious value at the beginning of a selling interaction is by sharing some of your expertise. This doesn’t mean you should conduct unpaid consulting, but rather, share a couple of trends that you see happening in the marketplace.

Act natural

It’s okay to ask for clarification on something your prospect might discuss, as they will probably appreciate your active listening skills. If you’re feeling brave, consider initiating a video chat with your prospect. This adds a more personal touch to your interaction and lets your lead know that they are more than just a quota to you. If you learn about your prospects, find exciting and innovative ways to connect with and engage them, and have honest and human conversations with them, you’ll have more calls that are more valuable not just for them, but for you. To learn more about having the perfect sales conversation, and to learn to talk fluently with clients, follow me on Instagram @… 

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How To Avoid The Risks Faced By Small Businesses

Most small business owners have limited experience in management and tend to have technical & professional skills. This can result in a subsequent reversal of fortune and widespread business failure. Everyone, including suppliers, investors, employees and customers lose when a business owner fails. Small businesses that face cash flow problems or debt recovery issues often can’t continue operating for very long under those conditions. Business failures happen when owners act too late. However, it is possible to reduce the chance of business failure by taking a few simple, risk-reducing steps. Here are a few crucial ways to prevent the risks that your small business may face.

Implement a well-structured plan

One of the first steps to help entrepreneurs reduce the financial risks of a new business is to develop a business plan. Before you jump in with both feet, you need to know how much time and capital you are going to be investing in your new business. Additionally, market research should be done. This gives you an idea of whether or not your new company has a chance at success or ends in failure, landing you in the poorhouse.

Manage cash flow

The number-one risk for most small businesses is improper cash-flow management. It is imperative to calculate every month how much money you have on hand and how long it will last if your income dries up. Also, evaluate monthly your total accounts payable, and the number of days accounts are outstanding because a slowdown in accounts payable will lead to cash-flow crunches. Avoid those crunches by creating a contingency plan and setting aside three to six months of operating costs in reserves.

Opt for a solid insurance policy

Getting an excellent small business insurance policy that covers all areas of your small business is always a good idea. Make sure to insure all inventory, business equipment, and vehicles as well as the company property. Insurance will not directly reduce the risk you may face but will take off the financial burden of your shoulder in case of any severe loss.

Diversify your offerings

Whether a small business deal in services or tangible goods, increasing the number of offerings reduces company risk through the availability of backup sources of funding. A retail store that depends on one product line runs the risk of an immediate shutdown should the original product lose public favour.

Interview candidates thoroughly

It can be easy to have just the owner or CEO interview candidates at a small business, but that can be a mistake. Having several different employees interview the candidate can go a long way to reduce the bad hire risk. It’s recommended to involve three to four employees from outside the hiring department to provide a 360-degree view of the candidate. Implementing these solutions can help remove risk from as many processes and interactions as possible. The result will help increase your ability to sustain and grow the business as well as help maintain your brand’s stellar reputation. To learn more about risk management and how to help your business flourish, follow me on Instagram @… 

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Five Ways To Take Your Business To The Next Level

All small businesses go through a startup phase. This point in your business growth is essential; it allows you to develop an idea or passion into a functioning business and viable career. There will come a point, however, when you outgrow this phase and long-term success means moving on to the next step. As an entrepreneur, it’s crucial always to be one step ahead. Thinking about the bigger picture and how you can take your business to the next level is a great way to keep you motivated and finding new and better ways of working. With that in mind, the article below includes relevant tips and resources on how you can implement new initiatives and methods of working that will contribute to the success of your business in the long run.

Get to know your customers

As a small business owner, it is vital to know who your customers are, where they spend their time, what they are looking for and how your business can meet their needs. Times have changed, and waiting for customers to come to you is no longer a feasible business strategy. In today’s evolving business environment, entrepreneurs need to be approaching their customers and building strong relationships with them to form a lasting impression

Diversify your capabilities 

There is only so much one person can do, which means if you haven’t already, you may want to automate some of your work and hire more employees or enlist freelancers. The important thing is to make sure you have the right personnel in place to take your startup to the next level and continuously make an effort to take care of them. No business can grow without the right people working together towards the same goal.

Utilise social media Social media is a powerful tool to promote your business to potential customers and gain valuable insight through ‘social listening’. Through social listening, you can find out what customers are saying about you, gain insight into their behaviour, identify keywords and trends that appeal to your target market and so improve your customer service. Social media can help you to build your business profile and attract new customers.

Prioritise customer service

Without customers, you don’t have a business. Therefore, your number one priority at all times must be exceptional customer service. With that in mind, take the time to read your reviews that your customers are putting online. Maybe send them a quick survey after they purchase a product or service to get their feedback. Find ways on how you can improve and make the customer experience even better.

Monitor and refine business strategy

Consider what changes you can make that will help you reach the next level. If your company has succeeded and is outgrowing the startup phase, a solid business plan likely helped you out along the way. However, that initial business plan is not necessarily the one that will continue to grow your company. It would help if you had a policy that considers long-term success in addition to immediate needs. Increasing revenue is a goal for a lot of small business owners, and it can quickly get overwhelming with all of the different tactics you can try to make more money. It’s suggested to start with one of these tactics if you’re branching out your business because it would be near impossible to do all of these efficiently from the start. To learn more about the inside tricks to have the right mindset, and help your business flourish, follow me on Instagram @…  

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Qualities of a good leader

Whether running your own business or leading teams in an office setting, the best leaders require a strong set of leadership qualities to help positively interact with their clients, employees and team members.

Good leadership is crucial to success in the business world. Of course, a capable and competent leader must possess the right qualities. Certain traits are especially common among skilled leaders. Cultivating and developing these traits is a crucial part of becoming a strong leader. The best leaders exhibit certain qualities that make them hugely successful. Here are six of the characteristics most required for an ideal leader.

Strong at communication

We all know how important it is to be an excellent communicator. An effective leader knows how to put across his message articulately. They acquire the ability to be a good orator and communicate effectively to get his/her work done. They are not loud or harsh; they choose words and expressions which suit the situation and equally allow others to express their thoughts and ideas freely.

They are very conscious and learn from the behaviors of the people around them, which gives them a deep understanding of human complexities. They have the necessary communication skills and don’t hesitate to hone it more for the greater good.

Far-sighted

Real leadership involves looking beyond today, to tomorrow and beyond. A leader should have a vision of where they and their team will be in the future. If a leader only plans for the short-term, their team will be aimless, lacking any real long-term goals. This reason is why good leaders cultivate the habit of planning for the times ahead and make sure to step back and looking at the big picture regularly.

Empathetic

A true leader has enough open-mindedness to understand their followers’ motivations, hopes, dreams, and problems so that they can forge a deep personal connection with them. Understanding where people are coming from helps facilitate a more human environment where team members are more productive, and leaders thrive. Real leaders are empathetic with their teams and deeply understand their motivations.

Willing to take risks

One of the more fundamental qualities of a good leader is courage. Having the quality of courage means that you are willing to take risks in the achievement of your goals with no assurance of success. Because there is no certainty in life or business, every commitment you make and every action you take entails a risk of some kind.

Decisive in nature

Once they have made up their mind, they don’t hesitate to commit, and it’s all hands on deck. They show tremendous consistency with their decisions, rarely backing out or changing their minds unless it is necessary. Being decisive shows commitment, a quality very high in demand for a great leader.

Honest

Many people believe that successful business and political leaders are inherently dishonest, but great leaders treat others just as they expect to be treated. Being honest is not only one of the leadership traits that will allow you to lead your business with integrity, but it’s the only real way to make secure connections with others. Whether you’re trying to drive your business or your family, the truth is that every single person you interact with looks to your honesty and code of ethics to set his or her bar.

Few people are born as influential leaders. Most leaders are created through long effort. Since everyone has some natural leadership capabilities, the key is to build upon and develop these abilities. In that effort, focusing on the six traits described above is particularly important, since each of those traits is so crucial to excellent leadership.

Therefore, leaders should roll up their sleeves and exercise these leadership skills for sustainable growth and success.

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Keep your employees motivated with five easy steps

Highly motivated employees tend to be more prolific, skilled, and willing to develop and learn when correlated to their unengaged counterparts. But how do you maintain joyous company culture, while also proceeding to improve the business?

One of the most challenging things to do when moving into a leadership role is figuring out what you can do as a manager to drive your employees. This issue rolls continually in most minds of the leadership community. Also, it can get very complicated while testing and trying out different techniques and understanding what will work most profitable for your team.

While there is no particular way to guarantee that your employees will stay engaged and motivated, there are a few distinct and compelling techniques that, when practiced, can have meaningful, lasting results on productivity and workplace motivation. These five tactics are amongst the best-known methods to encourage employees.

Allocate well-defined tasks

When cutting down the high-level goals into assignments, and distributing them to team members, make certain the list is not overpowering. The schedule of tasks should be something an employee can efficiently execute. So while high-level aims can be long-term, with due-dates that are yet four months away, assignments should be for a single week. This approach gives employees the chance to deliver on what they agreed. Delivering on what they said they would do is a satisfying experience. It is much more helpful than the harsh taste of over-promising and under-delivering.

Provide employee rewards

People will stay with your company if they have a purpose. So if you wish to retain your great employees and keep them motivated, it’s worth beginning an incentive program. Maybe it’s a quarterly bonus. Possibly it’s a commission arrangement that’s better than the opposition. Perhaps it’s contributing to foot the bill for additional credentials. Or maybe it’s profit-sharing in your corporation. If people are aware that they’ll be rewarded for a job well done, they’ll be more likely to do a more efficient job.

Bond with your team

As a leader, you should be noticed and make your presence felt. Don’t just clasp yourself in your room the whole day and only interact with staff when you need something done. It would be great to walk around on mornings to attend faculty, then throughout the day, take swift walks through the office. Send positive insights, motivational quotes, etc. and also get to understand your employees and find out about their liking. When next you meet them, remember what you conversed, they would appreciate your attentiveness.

Uplift innovation

Within an active work environment, creating both volume and high-quality work needs a ton of imaginative thinking. It is crucial to drive your staff to take chances and be innovative, even if it means they will make a blunder now and then. One of the characteristics of an energetic work environment is that when your employees aren’t scared to fail. Failure tends to make individuals more daring, making them more apt to produce work that could conceivably set your business aside from the competition.

Acknowledge constructive criticism

Nothing’s more exasperating for a worker than feeling they can’t openly state their opinion on a touchy subject. Your employees will be much more comfortable if you let them tell their complaints sincerely and plainly. Don’t bite an individual’s head off if they come to you with critique. Of course, you must maintain your position of power, but you can provide plenty of liberty to your subordinates before your authority is jeopardized.

Businesses need to be pro-active to grow and retain the right employees. Investing in your staff transposes into surprising benefits for your company, including monetary gains that will only develop over time.

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Steps/strategies for business growth during the pandemic

An unstable economy can generate just as many opportunities as it destroys. Based on the industry you’re in, some losses are inevitable, but for multiple entrepreneurs, it’s about decreasing your losses and discovering ways to capitalize on opportunities. Of course, this does not mean taking advantage of the weak by selling necessities at marked-up rates. It does mean implementing strategic decisions that will leave your business more durable at the other end of this hurdle. Will your business wait it out, reduce operations or minimize marketing efforts? Whatever you choose, it’s necessary to make data-driven choices and anticipate the outcomes of your decisions based on analytics and insight. Here are a few business strategies to implement amid this global pandemic.Embrace the cultural shift due to the pandemicFor many, the global pandemic revealed weaknesses and rendered many conventional strengths useless. Technology has been the widespread denominator for most companies flexibility between the crisis. It has also improved to drive significant social shifts such as individuals working from home and uniting with colleagues via collaboration tools and videoconferencing platforms. While online services and sales were previously increasing in many countries, the pandemic has launched online retail into overdrive. More than just food and home solutions, the need for services, extending from entertainment and training courses have all progressed. Businesses have a valuable opportunity to capitalize on the notable cultural and behavioral shifts of the past several weeks so that they carry across into a non-COVID life.Examine the feasibility of the business modelConsidering the market is shifting every week, it is imperative to reflect on your business model and reevaluate where your business stands as per your presumptions concerning the cost and revenue. This time is also essential to track cash flow and prevailing financial metrics. Companies need to assess the impact on brand-new collections, sales, credit cycles and potential bad debts.Evaluate operationsTake a look at your business functionally, and even if it’s just you or you have a team, the fact is you still have to operate on the same pillars we all run our businesses on. These pillars being finance, operations, marketing, sales, team. Your pillars might look dissimilar to mine, but they still exist. So take a hard glance at those pillars and ask yourself whether they are still pertinent today. Are they united in the most efficient way possible? Following this action can help immensely in the blooming of your business.Explore new fieldsAnother question institutions should consider is whether their service or product is still appropriate to consumers. If your customers are gone, you’re going to have to adapt to the needs of the current situation. This scenario means companies need to look to their resources and capabilities to draw new customers using existing assets just like when a clothing manufacturer starts putting out face masks.Keep patience in securing investmentsEvery company needs resources to run, and the question that crosses the mind of every entrepreneur/ founder in these challenging times is from where they will acquire these resources. Many funds have sufficient capital to extend for the upcoming years, and they may not shy away from it. This time is when recognizing the gravity of the condition and turning it favorable for the corporation is all that matters to let it sail smoothly. The world is still in turmoil right now. What’s more, this disorder has sparked a significant economic, social and technological reconstruction that is playing out before our eyes. We won’t return to our old ways of working, living or doing business once the most critical of the crisis has passed. Tomorrow is assured to be very different, which is why we must begin reframing the future today.

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How to choose the right business coach

With an abundance of resources available online and elsewhere, finding a business coach is rather easy. Nonetheless, finding the right coach for you and your business is another matter. Whether you are at the early startup stage or ready to extend overseas, a coach can drive you outside your comfort zone and provide the unbiased opinion and reality check that will keep you on the path to attain your business goals.

Here are some essential qualities you should look for in the person who will lead you through your business decisions and help launch your business to new heights.

Impressive analytical skills and an evaluative eye

Business coaches help entrepreneurs to adjust how they manage their businesses and defeat obstacles. This reason is why you should seek out an expert with strong analytical skills and excellent judgment. Your coach should be capable of casting a critical eye on how you do things and highlight your strengths and fields for improvement.

Well-versed with small and medium-sized businesses

Some small business coaches specialize in instructing small business officials with more than 100 employees, while others specialize in guiding solo entrepreneurs and small self-employed business owners. Read through the coach’s materials thoroughly to see if they indicate what size business their client’s generally own and run. Look for someone who held managerial posts in a small company or has held their own business and faced the challenges entrepreneurs face every day.

Multiple industrial connections

An excellent coach will have longstanding relationships with people who could help you. Ask him or her if they’re ready to open doors for you. Many a time, it is about who you know. Networking and connections in the industry can help you reach people with comparable mindsets and also help you progress in your field of expertise.

Robust ethics

Entrepreneurs share many things with their business advisers, including very personal information. You need to make sure that such information will stay with your specialist. It is highly suggested to call on the services of a business expert who is a member of an organization that provides a well-defined approach based on a code of ethics.

Fondness to teach

Teaching is a skill that individuals get better at over time. Great mentors love to encourage other people. They relish the act of teaching. How a coach treats you from the very opening of your interactions is a significant indicator of how they might behave over time.

Great listener

An expert business coach will not just be ready to give you advice. He or she will attend to you and truly take the time to know your business and empathize with you. They may be more reticent in their approach and listen for a session or two before presenting their recommendations. Just because they are not talking your ear off that doesn’t indicate your coach is not working for you. They also have to be prepared to take input and feedback from you. A good coach listens, but a great coach listens well and implements your ideas in the solution.

Whatever you decide is most suitable for your business, acknowledge your business goals and take your initial step. Don’t let your business become just another mishandled opportunity; take action now.

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How to make big money through creative sales strategies

Sales strategy is an intellectual activity that helps businesses in enhancing their sales. It introduces you with your problem areas and shows you the route you need to use for achieving the aspired outcome. The right sales strategies can strengthen your sales efforts and ease your journey to reach your sales goals swiftly.

With the evolution of technology and the emergence of business players in the industry every year, you will notice a new sales strategy stepping into the domain of sales. Nevertheless, some sales strategies have been verified to work for many companies and businesses. Here are a few of the sales strategies performed by successful entrepreneurs and sales experts that can also help you in accomplishing your desired sales numbers.

Set realistic goals

In sales, you require to have a bullseye to target, or else you will ramble in the wilderness. You need to define this purpose more clearly. It is not reasonable to track the progress of such imprecise goals. Without evaluating the growth, you won’t know if the energy you are putting is harvesting fruitful results or not.

Expand your reach

Grow your existing client base with new commodities, new geographic areas, and additional sales resources. Many small industries limit their marketing and sales efforts to the immediate area encompassing the central location of their business. Don’t assume another market is being served without interrogation.

Increase staff productivity

One way to raise your profits is to boost the output of your existing staff. No matter what type of business you’re running, there’s a good chance that your employees aren’t as productive as they could be, and that’s not necessarily their fault. The key is to come up with methods that can easily be replicated and implemented by your staff even when you’re not nearby. Once you’ve hardened up your processes, you can work on empowering and instructing your team to level up their game.

Examine past sales

Analyzing the previous year’s goals and results are equally important for setting realistic and attainable goals. Evaluate the previous year’s goals and understand if you had obtained them or not. If not, then dig into reasons and discover what went wrong. This action will help in building strategies for doing better in the future.

Provide specialized discounts

Discounts, properly marketed, create an exceptional buying opportunity in consumers’ minds, often urging them to take action. The discounts can be implemented to limited products, such as a limited category like school supplies, a single manufacturer’s brand, or all commodities in a store-wide sale.

Nurture the right mindset

What you’re selling isn’t going to be ideal for everyone, regardless of what you may think. Sure, it’ll take a degree of product or market education to close the majority of your prospects, but all the education or sales tactics in the world won’t convert some skeptics into paying consumers. Hence, you need to develop a mindset of flexibility. A thick enough skin to not take the inevitable dismissals personally. An approach that allows you to dust yourself off and pick the phone right back up after hearing a hard no.

Whether you’re operating a startup of your own, trying to improve your organisation’s sales effectiveness, or just become a better salesperson yourself, these time-tested sales tactics will help you hit the ground running.