Archive for the ‘Business Advice’ Category
Small Business Advice – 4 Ways To Differentiate Your Business
There are a number of ways that you can get your business to ‘stand out from the crowd’. Indeed, the market you operate in may be very competitive and you need to attract the right sort of customer to buy from you, rather than your competitors. In this brief article I will look at a few ways in which you can differentiate your business from other firms in your industry.
Specialisation
It may be possible to offer a particular speciality in connection with the product or service you sell. For instance, a general accountant may decide to focus more of their time on Inheritance Tax and advertise that speciality. If you offer a range of products then you may consider just specialising in providing one type of product. Deciding to specialise in a particular product or service should be supported by the fact that it will be a more profitable move for the business.
Promptness of Service
It could be that you promise to deliver your product or service more quickly than your competitors. For example, you could guarantee next day delivery for an item that a customer has ordered from you. If you wish to differentiate your business on this basis then it is important that you offer a client a solid guarantee. By solid guarantee, I mean that if you do not deliver on time they will get something back due to the inconvenience that has been caused to them.
Local Business/ National Business/ International Business
As a business, you may wish to differentiate yourself on a geographical basis. For example, it could be that you provide a product to local businesses but this market is saturated. Therefore, you might consider it being worthwhile to offer the same product on a national basis; this would involve an element of re-branding your business to give it a national identity. The same principle can be applied to a business which wants to specialise in a local or international market.
Premium Product or Service
When your competitors are all cutting their costs and lowering the quality of their products or services, one option would be for you to stand firm on your prices or even raise them. If you choose this course of action, you will need to convince your customers that they will pay you more but get a better quality product or service. There are many products we come across everyday, some very famous brands, which use this premium product strategy.
As we have seen, there are a number of ways to differentiate your business from your competitors. Whichever strategies you decide to use, you will need to make sure that you undertake some thorough market research before you take action.
Tips When Opening a Shop for Your Business – Initial Planning Stages
Accountants in Manchester – Small Business Planning
Opening a shop is a thrilling, stressful time in the life of a business. You may dream of customers lined up inside a shop with a beautiful layout and fancy décor. The reality, however, can be much different. It takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get a shop off the ground. Much of that work goes on before the first piece of stock goes on the shelf. A few tips when opening a shop for your business should help ease at least a little of the stress and anxiety.
There are primarily three tips when opening a shop for your business that you should consider during the initial planning stages. These tips address the questions of whether to lease or buy the type and amount of insurance your business will need, and the utilities you will require. Each of these forms the basis for planning the financial aspects of opening a shop. Tip one concerns the question of whether to buy or lease. If your business is new, your best bet is going to be a commercially leased space. A lease requires less capital and less commitment for a new business.
The second of these tips when opening a shop for your business centres on insurance. What insurance you may or may not need depends greatly on the type of business you intend to open. If the general public is likely to come into your shop, you must have liability insurance to cover any possible accidents. Additionally, if you lease commercial property, the property owner will require a certificate of insurance. This document shows the property owner what coverage you have and the amounts for which you are insured. Most commercial leases state insurance requirements for tenants.
Finally, the third of these tips when opening a shop for your business involves your utilities. It is highly recommended that you carefully consider all utility needs, not just electric and gas. Do you require an Internet connection? Does your shop have toilet facilities, and if so, are water charges included in the lease? Many services now “bundle” these utilities for the customer’s convenience. Phone, Internet, and satellite services can be combined, as can gas and electricity. Bundle services where possible to save money and simplify expenses.
I have only considered a few tips here, but there are many other issues that you will need to take into account when you have decided to open up a shop. One thing that would be a good idea, like everything else you undertake in business, is get the help of professionals when you need it.
Customer Problems – How To Deal With Them
Accountants in Manchester – Improving Customer Service
Every customer encounters problems. It’s how you handle their problems, and how you help them, that separate you from other sales people. Regardless of how bad it is, or how upset your customer is, never ever avoid the issues.
Proactively attack problems, and never ever leave your customer feeling alone.
When a customer encounters a problem, all they really need is for you to be there for them, and provide a solution. They are looking for real effort and are searching for someone who can make a difference. They need someone with confidence, and someone who’ll work to find a solution. The absolute worst thing any sales person can do is assume that the final sale is the end of the process. Nothing is more insulting to a customer than when they are made to feel as though they are completely alone after their order. When you don’t go through the painful process of solving the problem with your customer, you have immediately lumped yourself with all the indifferent and less accomplished sales people.
Follow up problems or issues with a corrective action plan outlining how you’ll try and avoid future problems.
This is an essential step. Most sales people, and companies for that matter, will do their best to solve the immediate problem, but then not provide specifics on how they’ll avoid them in the future. While they may have managed to alleviate the customer’s immediate concerns, the customer may still be apprehensive about future orders. It’s up to you to close the loop, and demonstrate that you’ll always go that extra step to resolve issues. However, a corrective action plan is only meant to eliminate the probability of the problem occurring again. There is simply no way to guarantee your customer won’t encounter another problem. Problems happen every day in business for all kinds of reasons. You are simply trying to mitigate future problems. When you take the time to work on a corrective action plan, and send it to your customer, it helps to alleviate their concerns. They will definitely appreciate the effort.
Every sales person has the ability to help customers, but very few go that extra step to alleviate a customer’s concerns. Use these two approaches to distinguish yourself as the best the profession has to offer. Eventually, you’ll notice the results. In time, customers will tell you just how much they appreciate your approach and thoroughness. It will easily set you apart from the rest.
Business to Business Selling Skills: Don’t try and force a “No” into a “Yes”
Accountants in Manchester – Small Business Advice
There are a number of individuals who view sales as a series of repeated catch phrases that somehow, magically force customers to purchase. The “say anything, do anything” approach to sales may allow you to close one or two orders. However, once your customer realizes they’ve purchased something they weren’t entirely happy with, you’ll lose their repeat business. This is especially true if they feel you’ve led them astray.
Don’t try and force a “no” into a “yes”. Instead, understand why the answer is “no” and then move forward.
Contrary to popular opinion, there is no magical way to get past a “no”. The doctrine of turning a “no” into a “yes” is both outdated and antiquated. If you really push and push, you’ll likely be able to close an order even though someone has said “no”. However, it’s the wrong approach. This doesn’t mean you simply give up. You should always try and alleviate a customer’s concerns. Doing so might just lead you to winning new business. What it does mean, is that there are plenty of sales people who are simply satisfied with getting the one sale, without considering the long term consequences of an unhappy customer. Several sales people have taken the “no” to “yes” approach, and used it to convince someone to purchase something they simply didn’t need. The real intention is to answer all the reasons why your customer might not order, and then hopefully give the customer the confidence to purchase. Understand why someone may not want to order, and address these concerns first. Only after you’ve addressed all their concerns, and both you and your customer are confident you’ve found the solution, should you then move forward.
Using catch phrases, and other sales tricks, to slip one past a customer may get you that one order, but will never allow you to grow repeat business. It’s simply no way to create a long standing and lasting business relationship.
Best Small Business Practices: Driving Ideas and Innovation From Within
Accountants in Manchester – Small Business Advice – Company Culture
Continuous improvement is a necessity in today’s constantly changing business environment. Business as usual will no longer suffice. While your competitors may be on the other side of the world, they are but a few clicks on a keyboard away from your customers. If they enjoy a competitive advantage, you will lose business. Staying one step ahead of your competitors is a prerequisite to remaining viable and strong in the face of increased competition. Constant change and continuous improvement in your organization drives improved efficiencies, reduces costs, and ensures your adoption of change matches your message to market. In reality, you simply can’t be open to change for your customer’s benefit, if your internal processes don’t encourage and accept change. This drive for change can come from an extremely inexpensive resource, if, and only if, your organisation is open and willing to use it. For many companies that resource is most often underutilized. So, where can you get a relatively cheap source of information that can help drive change within your organization, improve efficiencies and drive down costs? The answer is a simple one. Your employees are that source, and true to form, they are your organisation’s greatest asset. Using them, and allowing them to come forward with solutions, is simply a decision.
Innovative ideas means more in depth search for information to support those ideas. You need to drive ideas and innovation within your company, and demand the necessary information needed to support the ideas in order to see them to their successful conclusion. Facilitating an environment where employees can come forward with well researched ideas, will provide the impetus for change and continuous improvement that the company needs to succeed. Understanding the importance of change, what are some of the ways to encourage innovation? More importantly, how can you be sure your employees feel empowered to come forward?
Is the company culture inclusive, or exclusive?
What is the company culture? Do employees feel they can come forward with suggestions, or do they remain silent for fear of reprisal, or refusal of their ideas? The fact is, depending upon where, and who someone works for, their opinions of the company culture will vary accordingly. Some employees may feel empowered to come forward in one department, while others may feel completely shut out from being able to express ideas and concerns, in another. Unfortunately, perception is truly 100% reality. There are bound to be employees who are encouraged to come forward, and others who feel unwelcomed. It’s up to management to look throughout the entire organization in order to get a true feeling of what the overall company culture is. Every employee must be encouraged to come forward. Every employee must feel their ideas are worthy of discussion. The importance of the entire company affording opportunities to everyone, regardless of department or title, is that improvements need to be driven from every area of the business. Improvements in one area, can cause delays and problems in other areas, if those that work in these areas aren’t allowed to come forward with suggestions of their own.