Business Strategies That Work!

Dale Little, Business Strategist, asks “Why are you in business?” Some people say it’s to get rich. Others say it’s so they can be their own boss. Why do you do what you do?

Do you enjoy your work? Do you bounce out of bed in the morning eager to begin the day, tackle a project, or solicit new business?

Business owners typically have a vision for the future of their company. More often than not the path to achieving that vision may become blurred or even rocky on occasion.

What do you do when that happens? Here are alternatives used by some business owners:

1. Consult a mentor.
2. Take a class or check out some online forums.
3. Take a break. Go for a walk. Read a book.
4. Initiate a brainstorming session.
5. Doodle, Squiggle, or Journal thoughts and ideas. Don’t be concerned if they’re random. Any one of them could produce the solution or alternative.

Wow! It’s already Tuesday afternoon! How’s your week going?

Suggestion: Over the next three business days, try to complete the following business builder options.

1.  Log on to all of your established professional networking sites and post something about your business. Promote yourself!

2.  Write one article or web press release… and Publish It!

3.  Refer an associate or colleague to a business professional that will benefit from their services.

You haven’t joined very  many professional sites?  That’s okay.  There’s no better time than now.  Check out  Twitter Not sure what to do with Twitter?  Take a look at this article. Linked In is a great site for networking.  I highly recommend joining Linked In Groups that focus on your peers (You can learn from them.) and your target market.  Entrepreneur Connect offers options for networking and article publication.

Writing articles and press releases can be intimidating.  Social Media consultants like Lisa Cole, owner of Cole Communications, can teach you the tricks of the trade.  Already know how to write the articles and releases, but not sure where to post them?  Take a look at this list.

You may be wondering, ” We have email, teleconferencing, and webinar capabilities, why bother to meet face-to-face?”  Face-to-face business meetings allow all participants to discuss the topic(s) in an open forum.  Questions can be asked and answered in real-time, with the added advantage of all that interpersonal communication provides.  For all the benefits and convenience of modern technology, the cumulative time involved in leaving voice mail messages, writing,  reading and responding to group emails will always be more than simply having a face-to-face meeting. Obviously, productivity is essential to a good meeting.  How can your business meetings be efficient, productive, and interesting?

Agendas An agenda assists the meeting coordinator and participants in preparation for the meeting, as well as staying on track during the meeting. An agenda needn’t be complicated. It should list the topics for discussion, if the presentation of topics are to be divided among participants the presenters should be identified, and there should be a specified time allotment for each topic.

The meeting agenda should be circulated in advance of your meeting time.  The agenda should include, or have an attached cover letter that lists the date, time, and place for the meeting.  Also, be sure to provide the meeting goal, all relevant background information, and assign items required for preparation and/or participation in your meeting.

The clock. A clock has multiple roles in meeting planning and productivity.  When contemplating what time to begin the meeting, take into consideration peak business activity times, as well as any other “time” criteria that might be adversely affected by several employees being in a meeting and not at their desk.  Keep to the schedule.  Respect that everyone has other deadlines and obligations that they must return to.  If a meeting is going to be lengthy, schedule 10 minute breaks every hour or so.  If the meeting appears to be headed into overtime, consider setting a second meeting to wrap up unfinished business.

Be objective.  Remain professional. Typically, emotions or boredom are the main causes for a meeting to flying off the schedule track.  As meeting coordinator, stick to factual information.  When emotions begin to run high, steer the meeting back to the topic at hand.  Set the professional example by speaking clearly, with courtesy and respect.  The best tool available for keeping a meeting objective and on track is Robert’s Rules of Order.  If you don’t have the answer for an unanticipated question, don’t panic.  Make a note of the question and let meeting participants know when they can expect the answer, and how you’ll be sharing the information.

Meetings can go well, or they can be a disaster.  With a bit of advance planning, open communication, some clock watching and professional decorum your meeting will go off without a hitch.

Public speaking, whether it be on a stage before 1000’s or at a conference table with three business associates, can cause many of us to feel a distinct desire to hide under our desk.  We overlook the fact that the main reason we’re the one offering the presentation is because we have the knowledge and talent to speak with insight and clarity on the subject.  Even that realization does little to comfort many presenters.  So how can you not only survive a presentation, but also accomplish the intended goal?

Be prepared. Preparation for a business presentation comes in many forms.  Are you presenting a proposal to a client?  Is your purpose to teach business associates a new technique or trend?  Define who your audience will be. Determine what their goal will be for your presentation. By this I mean, “What’s in it for me?  Why should I listen to this?”.  Once you’ve established your audience goal, you’re well on the way to creating an effective presentation.

Research. Start planning and organizing your presentation materials as soon as your presentation is confirmed.  Know your topic inside and out.  Do online and traditional document research. Dialogue with others in your business that have knowledge of your topic.  Make notations of key points. Presentations written as bullet points make the best presentations. Memorize your outline. Then expound spontaneously on the ideas you’re sharing.  Don’t be troubled if your research leaves you with stacks of notes and lists.  15 – 30 minutes is the standard length of a business presentation. Studies show that it takes one hour of research and preparation for every minute of an informative presentation.  All those notes will come in handy!

Practice. After you’ve prepared your presentation, read through it several times a day.  You may want to video a practice presentation, and then review the video from an audience member’s perspective.  After 2 or 3 days move to “speaking”  your presentation in front of a mirror.  Try to use your presentation document or notes only for a quick glance now and then.  An engaging speaker maintains eye contact with the audience, thus developing a relationship with the listeners.

Helpful Odds and Ends. Divide your presentation into three main segments:  Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.  Remember the main rule of public speaking that you’ve probably heard for most of your life, “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em.  Tell them.  Then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”  If time permits and the setting is appropriate, conclude with a 10-15 minute Question and Answer session (Allow more time if you’re presenting a client proposal or project.)

Be cautious with humor.  A joke or brief anecdote is an excellent way to begin your presentation, as it sets everyone at ease and works toward establishing rapport with your audience.  Your jokes or stories should steer clear of controversial or intimate topics. Rely on topics that are generalized and “G” rated.

Speak slowly and clearly.  Don’t forget to breath.  Have a glass of water nearby.  Sip discreetly and only as needed.  The water-glass shouldn’t be a substitute for other nervous behavior.

Relax and enjoy. Accept that you’ll be nervous as your presentation begins, that’s what makes you a great business professional. You’re concerned about doing well, and providing quality information to your audience.  That’s a good thing!    Take several deep breaths, stand tall… and go wow them with your presentation!  Enjoy the spotlight.

Whether or not to walk away from a business situation is a challenging decision. What reason could  possibly be good enough that you walk away from an opportunity?  The possible effect of not walking away, and potential subsequent damage to your reputation and brand is a most valid reason to steer clear of those situations that “don’t feel right”.

How do you know whether or not to walk away?  Our intuition about a person, opportunity or situation is our first signal as to what our ultimate decision should be. Intuition may show itself as a formed idea, a general feeling of optimism and energy, or alternately dread or discomfort.  Many times when everything seems to fall into place with a new idea or relationship, it’s our intuition to allow the situation to follow its natural course.

In our fast paced business life, we may not take the time to heed our intuitive voice. We feel compelled to make on the spot decisions. I suggest that this urge be replaced with patience. Teach yourself to  trust your  professional experience and expertise that have resulted in the evolved instincts that are part of your decision-making tool kit. Then you can feel comfortable that you are following the appropriate processes to achieve a positive end result for your business.

To walk away, or not walk away… Yes, there will be times when we will walk away from challenges and end up wishing we had taken them on, or vice versa.  I offer that there will be many more times when you stick with it or walk away, and you will have no regrets. There will be no second guesses. You will know you made the best decision possible with the abilities that were on hand at the time.

It’s so important that you utilize the assets that you have on hand to take advantage of the opportunities and abilities that present themselves each and every day.  The holidays offer a variety of opportunities to do just that.   I think we all agree, holiday greetings and remembrances serve two purposes:

1. They let your clients know how much you appreciate them, and value your relationship with them.

2. It reminds them that your business is around, and how it can continue to be beneficial for them.

Listed here are options that require little or no financial outlay, and can be completed with minimal effort and prep time.

o    Sending greeting cards?  Include a coupon, timely hints and tips, or an easy holiday recipe, something that will bring personal value to your client.

Snack Recipe: Fast & Easy

1 (10 oz.) package dried fruit blend (blueberries, cherries, cranberries, raisins, etc.)

2 1/2 cups miniature pretzels

1 1/2 cup M&M’s Dark Chocolate candies

1 cup roasted, salted almonds

1/4 cup coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

Combine mixture.  Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.  Makes approximately 7 1/2 cups.  Hands on time:  5 minutes

o    If you haven’t sent out greeting cards, and there’s simply no time left in your December calendar, why not send out New Year’s greetings after the first of the year?

o    Host an open house.  Retail, service and professional businesses can easily host Holiday Meet & Greet events.   Tight on money this year?  Cookies and Apple Cider (warmed in the coffee machine) are inexpensive refreshments. Invite clients to stop by for FREE refreshments.  Place sale items or coupons in prominent positions at the entrance to the showroom, lobby or conference room.

o    Business is really slow?  Not a penny to spare?  Make phone calls!  Call your customers and thank them for their business.  Wish them Happy Holidays!  Offer to send them coupons or rebate certificates for purchases completed in the first quarter of 2010.

Tips from The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Blog

Stuck in an unproductive cycle? Here are 16 ways to get the cerebral juices flowing again.

What can you delegate to a Virtual Assistant?

Tips Provided By: http://www.cosmicxpress.co.uk/

Are you one of those people who feel they have to know how to perform every task on your desk?  What about delegating some of those tasks to someone who is well trained and can perform that task in a fraction of the time that it would take you to learn how to do it?  Your valuable time can then be put towards building your business and developing your client relations or your product.

1.  Are you overrun with emails?  Provide your VA with access to your inbox.  Your VA can delete spam, respond to customers on support issues and make a list of contacts that need to be made that day.

2.  Do you spent a couple of hours each day booking and scheduling meetings/appointments?  Let your VA handle your diary with an online calendar.  Google provides one which is free of charge and that can be set up to display in your Outlook File, Mozilla Thunderbird or from any PC with an internet connection.  Let your VA handle your appointment scheduling so that you have more time available for other more specialised tasks.

3.  Customer Support enquiries getting you down?  Your VA can help you control this problem.  Set up your email to forward into an account such as Google Mail/Hotmail/Yahoo and then your VA can answer the emails for you from that account and you can also access the information.

4.  Do you battle to find time to create and sent a Newsletter to your Clients?  Give a rough draft to your VA.  Let her handle the layout and editing of your newsletter.  You can then choose to send it out via email or by post.  Your VA should be able to handle either of these delivery methods for you.

5.  Do you have a project which needs internet research?  Let your VA handle the research and then organize it into a format which will work for you.

6.  Do you forget all the little things – personal and business?  Let your VA send out the birthday cards to your family, friends and clients.  Your VA can also manage your contact list and remind you when you need to send birthday/anniversary cards.

7.  Do you do a lot of traveling and find researching and making bookings tedious?  Work with a VA who knows the travel industry and let her do the research to find the cheapest and most direct route for you to take to your destination.  Let your VA book your accommodation, car hire, restaurant bookings, etc.

8.  Do you have a presentation to prepare?  Give a rough draft of your presentation to your VA and let her format it correctly so that it will make a good impression.

9.  Are you swimming in a sea of filing?  Your VA will be able to help you make some kind of sense of your piles of filing.  Send your documents to her and let her tidy them up and file them neatly for you.

10.   Do you need a website to promote your business?  Give your VA access to your existing website so that she can update it regularly for you.  If you need a new website, speak to your VA, perhaps she is able to design and develop a new website for you.

11.  Do you hate making notes of your meetings (minutes/reports)?  Why not use a digital recorder to document your meetings, then email the file to your VA and let her do the transcription for you.

12.  Do you forget to pay your bills on time?  Get your mail forwarded to your VA and let her handle your bills so that they get paid on time.

13.  Do you hate typing?  Always behind on your correspondence?  Let your VA help with audio typing, copy typing, transcription, data input, mail shots, email shots, Excel, PowerPoint presentations and more…

14.  Do you find organizing events tedious?  Your VA can help you to arrange meetings and conferences including Venue finding.  If you need to arrange a wedding, and exhibition, training days, team building, fun days, theme nights or anything else, speak to your VA – she will be able to help you.

15.  Do you need some design work done?  Your VA should be able to help you to create a newsletter or design your business cards and letterheads.  If you need leaflets or brochures designed, talk to your VA – she will be able to help you with the design and printing.

Sign up for (Free) Twitter: http://twitter.com/

Then sign up for (Free) Social Oomph:  http://www.socialoomph.com/

Sign up for (Free) Facebook Personal Page: http://www.facebook.com/

Then Sign up for (Free) Facebook Business Page (there’ll be a button on your Facebook page asking if you want to add a business).

Or, Visit this URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

2. Decide what the best category is for your business. (Spend a couple of minutes on this as you can’t change it later easily).

3. Enter your business/product/brand name and click “Create Page”.

4. At a minimum, I’d suggest entering a short description of your business and a website address. This is in the “Add Information To This     Page” area. I’d also advise uploading your logo as a photo/image.

5. Click on your business name in the top left corner (it’s a hyperlink) and then click “publish this page” (until you do this, nobody but you will be able to see your new Facebook business profile).

6. Finally, and this is important, from your new profile page, click “Add to my products”. This way, you become the first “fan” of your business.

Now comes the fun part. Once you’ve become a “fan” of your business, your friends on Facebook (some of which are likely customers) will see a message in their home page. Something like “Dharmesh Shah is a fan of HubSpot”. Hopefuly, some of your Facebook friends will befriend your business. Then, their friends will see a message, and so it goes…

Sign up for Ping:  http://ping.fm/

This will be “one stop shopping” for posting on both Twitter and Facebook.

Now, start posting.  Post:  Event Alerts, Promotional Details, Testimonials, Prices and Discounts, Hints & Tips, Links to other helpful information, etc.

From The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur:
Do you want the best efforts from your employees all the time? The obvious answer is yes, but it isn’t obvious how you make it happen. Funny, enough money is rarely a significant motivator. More often it is something else; something unexpected. Here are 15 tips from the TPE community on how to keep your employees motivated: How To Keep Employees Motivated