Archive | October 2017

The Secrets Of Entrepreneurship

Oct18

Being an entrepreneur in such a demanding business world has its highs and lows. There’s so many things to worry about, and so many successes to celebrate. Sometimes it’s easy to focus all on the negatives.

But taking baby steps forward is so important. The whole process is so exciting however, coming up with a business name, setting up your first office, making your first sale, it’s all just so rewarding.b2b

But to get to the stage of being a successful entrepreneur, you first need to master a few skills. Have a read to find out more.

#1. Perseverance

Perseverance in the beginning is key to becoming successful. There’s going to be that many setbacks in the beginning that it’ll be hard to push through and not throw it all away.

But literally every business is going to encounter the same issues as you. Don’t panic just because it feels like it’s taking a little too long to get the ball rolling. Stick with it, drive your sales, and reap the rewards.

If you can’t persevere, the business world might not be for you. If what you have a passion for your trade, this skill should come naturally to you however.

#2. Establishing a strong relationship with customers

Having a way with customers is something you’re going to need throughout your time as an entrepreneur. Ever heard of the saying, the customer is always right? That’s because they are.

To become, and stay successful you’ve got to learn to bite your tongue and give them whatever they need. If they say your product is faulty, your replace it no matter what.

If they’re communicating with you in a way that seems a little out of order, you respond in a polite and helpful manner.

Diffusing the situation is literally your only option. The scary thing about business is one bad review can tarnish your whole image.

Word of mouth is so important, and positive reviews will work wonders for you sales. Always put the customer first and the rest will fall into place.

#3. Create systems for efficiency

If you don’t streamline your business and make things easier for yourself, you’re never going to win in this game. Look for cost effective methods to ease the running of everything.

Office 365 small business is the perfect way of keeping track of things. You can use excel for keeping track of finances, and powerpoint for presentations to give to potential business investors.

Use online services such as the cloud to safely store all of your data. The cheaper things in life can really aid your business.

#4. Enjoy Business Success

One final secret is just to enjoy the world of business. So many people get wrapped up in the stresses of it all, they forget to enjoy the beauty and freedom of being their own boss.

The joy of success can be so uplifting, so work through the hard times, and even enjoy them. It’s all part of growing as a business and a person.

Enjoy gaining new skills, enjoy meeting new people, and enjoy interacting with the customers who are going to bring your business success.

 

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Running An Event? Choose Branding, Branding, Branding

Oct13

What would you consider is the most important result of running a business event? What are you looking to achieve? If only one thing could be taken away from all your efforts in setting up the entire affair, what would it be? Securing purchases?

This helps, but is a one-time thing. Networking well? This also helps, but building your own platform is always more effective than relying on others.business-meeting

We’d like to argue that exposed branding is the most effective and idealistic result of your exhibition efforts. In fact, this is so much the case that we included it three times in the title.

With all of your presenting ability, you should do your best to hammer home your logo and name into the minds of your audience, so much so that recollection of either of these will help them remember the entire event in full.

Here are some tips to injecting your branding into the public consciousness through your events and beyond:

Theming

If you don’t have an identifiable theme, you can’t work well at crafting a coherent and memorable presentation for your audience. Your logo design must be appealing and memorable, and preferably simple.

Plaster this on every T-Shirt of your event staff, have it raised in large viewable platforms around the room.

If holding an open forum, or to mark the location of your offices, consider using event flag printing to craft a high-quality identifier, one that will simply shout ‘we’re here!’ to everyone who walks past.

Eye-catching theming is one of the best methods to hold a gaze and keep it, and the longer a consumer or potential investor looks at you, the more intensely their curiosity develops.

Online Platforms

Everything you do within the walls of your exhibition should be depicted on your website, and every product/service you sell here or in the future should be imbued with links to all of your social media pages and dedicated websites.

It should serve as the hub for all of your exploration, a place where a consumer can click and find out everything about where you will be. Consider this the roadmap to all of your future events, and bestow that understanding with perfect clarity towards your clients.

Be Specific

It’s always a shame to see a small business trying to appeal to everyone. In the interest of reaching every demographic, small companies often lose their identity. If you don’t have a strong identity, you become awash in the other countless amount of businesses vying for a successful spot in the same industry.

Don’t be afraid to make your mission statement known, and don’t be afraid that some people will dislike it. It’s better to have a strong presence than none at all, and sometimes, that means treading on people’s toes.

Never be combative, but a little branding aggression can help you dominate the scene, and in the war for consumers hearts and minds, this is the most reliable way forward.

 

This advice should help your branding to no end, so much so that when discussing it you’ll have to name it thrice.

3 Types of business services that you might consider outsourcing

Oct11

As a business owner, it’s easy to want to to do everything regarding your business yourself. It’s easy to find it hard to trust others with aspects of your business and it’s hard to hand over the reins.business-advice

But, if you want to be successful, and you want your business to be successful, you’re going to have to accept help with it from time to time. In fact, you’re going to have to accept help with it all the time. Below are just some of the types of help that you should accept.
Cleaning services

It’s easy to see the cleanliness and upkeep of your office space as something that is not important enough to either ask for help in regards to or pay for. But, it is. It’s important to ask for professional cleaning help from janitorial services, and subsequently pay them for their services, because the cleanliness of your office is of utmost importance.

It is so because you must make your workspace as safe and as healthy as can be for people to enter and work in, and thus you must ensure no germs or bugs are festering.

What’s more, you need to ensure the place looks, smells and feels good so that any potential customer that enters it knows that your business is one that takes pride in it’s presentation and doesn’t forgo the little details.
Virtual services

Today, nearly everything is virtual. What’s more, in the business world of today nearly everything is virtual. Therefore, if you want your business to be right at the forefront of the modern world of business, you have to dabble in virtual services yourself.

What this could mean is you using the services of a virtual receptionist; what doing so would do is allow for your phones to be manned at ALL times — day or night, come rise or shine.

The virtual receptionist you hire would be tasked with answering your calls 24/7, meaning anybody trying to get in touch with you or your business would never fail to do so. This gives your business a real bonafide feel and means no custom can ever be lost because you didn’t answer the phone
Merchant services

Simply, you must be willing to embrace merchant services —the use of card machines to take payment — if you haven’t done so already.

Regardless of whether you want to or not, you must do so because paying by card is now the preferred method of payment for customers, and that doesn’t look like changing.

What’s more, customers now expect to be able to pay by card, and become disgruntled when they cannot. And do you ever want a customers disgruntled with any aspect of your business? No, you don’t!
Whether you feel inclined to ask the three services above for help or not, you must. You must because it will help maintain and boost your business today and see it strong enough to grow even stronger and further tomorrow.