Not a company to think small, Google has launched a new website, Google for Entrepreneurs, to bring all things entrepreneurial under one umbrella. Use the site’s search feature to find workshops, networking events and mentoring sessions around the world that support startups and entrepreneurs. Programs and online tools to grow your business are highlighted, plus Google-led programs will bring experts and tools directly to entrepreneurs. Some of the current projects include partnering with business accelerators and incubators and teaming up with Women 2.0 to bring their Founder Friday events to more cities.
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Posts Tagged ‘Business Development’
Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Google for Entrepreneurs (Programs and Partnerships for Small Business)
October 2nd, 2012 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichWeb.com Small Business Toolkit: National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day (Mentoring Event)
October 1st, 2012 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichNational Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day
Are you an entrepreneur over 50 who could use some expert advice? In May 2012, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and AARP launched a strategic alliance to provide American entrepreneurs over the age of 50 with real-world, actionable information to start or grow a small business. Through this alliance, the two organizations have jointly committed to train 100,000 “encore entrepreneurs” over the next year. October 2 (that’s tomorrow), you have a chance to meet mentors from the SBA’s network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), and SCORE chapters, who can help you take your business to the next level. Click on www.sba.gov/mentorday to find an event near you.
Google+How to Prepare Your Business for Expansion
August 30th, 2012 :: Karen AxeltonBy Karen Axelton
Do you have big plans for your small business? If you’re gearing up to add a location, expand into new markets, add ecommerce to your offerings or start selling internationally, there are some things you need to consider before you grow. Here’s a shortlist of things to think about to make sure you’ve got all the bases covered.
Your company’s structure. If you need to adjust your legal form of business in order to take on more investors, add partners or meet the requirements of the new state/s where you’ll be doing business, now is the time. Consult an attorney to make sure your company dots all the I’s and crosses the t’s before it’s too late.
Your company’s name. The name that has served you up to this point may not work so well if you’re going national, international or in a different direction. Ask friends, family and customers what they think your current name conveys. If it doesn’t convey what you’re trying to accomplish, brainstorm some new ideas and use surveys and focus groups to test how well they work.
Your company’s trademarks. If you’ve changed your name or logo in preparation for the expansion, make sure you protect them with a trademark. Visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark office’s Trademark section to learn more about applying for trademarks and to apply online.
Your operations. If you don’t have an operations manual for your business, now is the time to create one. You’ll want to standardize your operating procedures so they can guide you in your growth and ensure that all facets of your business—every location, employee and sales channel—deliver the same customer experience.
Your employees. Expansion requires employees you can trust to do what you’d do when you can’t be there. If you’re not comfortable with delegating, you’re going to have a problem. Start now to develop a strong bench of key managers who can be “you” when you’re not around.
Your financing. Given today’s tight lending environment, hopefully you’re financing your expansion from within. But whether or not you’re seeking outside capital, it’s smart to develop a business plan that will guide your expansion and put the money you’ll need in black and white. Develop a “Plan B” you can follow if the financing you seek doesn’t come through. In fact, develop Plan C and D, too.
Image by Flickr user Tatters:) (Creative Commons)
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How to Upsell and Cross-Sell for Better Profits
June 8th, 2012 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
Are you struggling with how to get new customers for your small business? Are you desperately seeking leads or trying new marketing methods to attract new clients? A simpler way to boost sales and profits might be right under your nose: Try upselling or cross-selling existing clients.
Upselling or cross-selling refers to selling customers on additional products or services beyond what they’ve already purchased or committed to. We’ve all experienced this in a restaurant, for example, when you order an entrée and the waiter asks if you’d like a side salad too. How can you make upselling or cross-selling work for your business? Here are some ideas.
Identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Go through your customer list and think about what products or services each customer could potentially use that naturally relate to what they’re buying from you right now. Also look at your product or service offerings to determine which products or services naturally complement each other and make sense to cross-sell or upsell.
Consider time. Cross-selling isn’t limited to tangible products or services. For example, if you’re selling someone a yearlong gym membership, can you upsell them to a longer contract? If you’re selling a product, can you upsell an extended warranty? Typically, you make the cross-sell work by lowering the price per time segment when the customer purchases a longer contract or commitment.
Train your sales team. Cross-selling and upselling works when it seems to arise naturally, not when it feels forced or like a blatant attempt to wring extra cash from a customer. Make sure your salespeople can execute the process smoothly, or their efforts could do more harm than good.
Use technology. If you have an ecommerce site, a recommendation engine that suggests related products based on what customers are looking at or what they have in their carts is a great way to automate upselling.
Create bundles or levels of service. A three-tiered scale with low-, mid- and high-priced products or services is effective way to bundle related offerings together without having to upsell them separately.
Cross-selling and upselling is an effective tool for every small business—and can lessen your reliance on a constant stream of new customers.
Image by Flickr user rarbol2004 (Creative Commons)
Google+When Building Business Relationships, Face Time Works Best
May 30th, 2012 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
I love email, social media and all things online. But I also spend a lot of time on the road meeting with clients and prospects. Why? Because when it comes to building your small business, I’m still a huge believer in the power of face-to-face communication. A new study from Cisco proves that plenty of business leaders agree with me.
Cisco’s Business Intelligence Unit surveyed business leaders globally and found that 89 percent say face-to-face communications are useful both in internal business functions, such as employee coaching and training, and in communications with partners and customers.
Some of the common situations when companies prefer face-to-face communications are:
- To discuss/resolve major issues with customers such as a service or product failure or dissatisfaction with the partnership
- To renew contracts
- To brainstorm
- To introduce clients or customers to people in your company
Executives pinpointed six key factors that matter to effective communications and noted that four of them could only be achieved in person:
- Engagement and focus on shared content (92 percent)
- Tone of voice (81 percent)
- Facial expressions (81 percent)
- Words someone is using (72 percent)
- Subconscious body language (72 percent)
- Conscious movements or gestures (67 percent)
The most important use of “face time” was in meeting with customers. Interacting face to face with customers was cited as more important than doing so with partners, suppliers or co-workers.
When it comes to sharing critical information, email is the most commonly used tool for business leaders (cited by 66 percent) but is widely seen as inferior to meeting in person. The telephone was the next most common tool (25 percent), but it, too, falls short of face-to-face meetings for most execs.
What’s the takeaway for your business? You may be trying to save money by doing everything online, by conference call or videoconference, but it’s important to know when you’re selling your business short. If you’re trying to build relationships, gain trust or hammer out an agreement with a client or customer, realize that sometimes, you’ll need to meet in person. Otherwise, you could be saving on travel costs, but costing yourself a customer.
Image by Flickr user Victor 1558 (Creative Commons)
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How the Power of Referrals Can Build Your Business
March 29th, 2012 :: Karen AxeltonBy Karen Axelton
Do you use referrals to build your business? If not, you’re missing out. A new study by small business community Manta.com found referrals are the number-one way small business owners find and form beneficial relationships that grow their businesses.
The survey of over 1,000 entrepreneurs asked how they find connections and grow their referral network—and the answers might surprise you. Just 1 percent of respondents got their biggest business boost from connections on LinkedIn, and only 4 percent from Facebook. Even networking events yielded profitable connections for just 11 percent of respondents. More effective? Relationships with family and friends led to profitable connections for 17 percent of the entrepreneurs surveyed.
In fact, when it comes to looking for partners or vendors to do business with, 56 percent of small business owners said they make connections by asking people they know. Forty percent said they specifically seek out local firms, and 34 percent stick with companies they’ve worked with before.
But small business owners don’t only talk to people they know when looking for new vendors or partners. The Internet is gaining ground: 32 percent of entrepreneurs said they find new vendors by looking online for good reviews. And more than half (59 percent) have rated or reviewed another business online.
What do these results mean for your business? Sometimes, the tried-and-true methods are the best. If you’re not getting the results you’d hoped from networking on LinkedIn or Facebook, maybe it’s time to dial it back and focus on people you know in the real world. They don’t have to be business owners, either—your Uncle Sol, your son’s college roommate or your dentist could be equally valuable sources of leads and new business.
In fact, small business owners made valuable contacts in some surprising places, as well. Fifteen percent said they’d made connections that helped grow their business in a bar, 11 percent on an airplane, 10 percent at a wedding and 4 percent in an elevator. Maybe the term “elevator pitch” isn’t just a figure of speech, after all.
The lesson? You never know where you’ll get referred to new business—so always be on your best behavior, and bring business cards everywhere you go.
Image by Flickr user Alex Eylar (Creative Commons)
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The Pumpkin Plan for Explosive Business Growth #12SMBTips
December 23rd, 2011 :: Karen AxeltonMike Michalowicz, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (@MikeMichalowicz)
It’s all about the big Q: How do you grow your business in 2012? It’s simple – get rid of your worst clients! Mike Michalowicz explains how pumpkin growers are just like small business owners and why it is important to get rid of your rotten clients and nurture healthy ones for explosive business growth.
About Mike Michalowicz: Mike is the president of a behavioral web optimization firm, Obsidian Launch, the small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal, a frequent television guest, keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, and the author of cult classic book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. He is currently writing his second book, to be released next year. His experience building three multi-million dollar companies fostered a philosophy rarely taught to entrepreneurs: the lack of money, experience and resources is, in fact, your greatest asset.
Special Offer from Network Solutions: Ring in the New Year for your small business with a new domain name. This month only, purchase a domain name for $1.99, the lowest price of the year. This offer expires December 31. Visit this special offer site to redeem. Terms, conditions and limitations to this offer apply. Happy Holidays!
Google+Closing a Sale: Get What You Want in 7 Minutes
April 1st, 2011 :: Monika Jansen
Because I am a marketing writer, a lot of prospective clients are somewhat skeptical that they need me. Oh, I can write a white paper myself. I am not paying someone to blog for my company. I can write my own website content just fine, thankyouverymuch. The problem, though, is that most people can’t write, either because they are literally god-awful writers, or they lack time, or they lack the expertise to do it properly. But because they are convinced they don’t need me, I often face a rather uphill battle to close a sale.
Though I rarely give sales presentations, when I stumbled upon this blog post that appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum blog, I saved it. In the blog post, marketing strategist Ivana Taylor provides a simple formula that can help you close a sale in 7 minutes or less.
Minute One
Open your presentation by laying out the problem: Sales are falling, marketing programs aren’t working, customers aren’t spending as much, the rising price of oil is affecting our margins, etc. This serves to get everyone on the same page; it should be no more than two or three sentences.
Minutes One – Three
Back up your opening statements with straightforward data, charts and graphs that the audience doesn’t have to analyze. For instance, title each graph with the information you want your audience to be left with: “20% Drop in Sales During Q1” instead of “Sales During Q1.” Obviously, you want to keep it brief.
Minutes Three – Five
After hearing all the bad news, your audience needs solutions. They will, therefore, be eager to hear your ideas. Present them in a tangible, visible way with props or demonstrations to engage and get buy-in.
Minute Five – Six
At this point, your audience will want to know what’s in it for them. Clearly describe the benefits of your solution, and use lots of adjectives to illustrate how great the solution is.
Minute Six – Seven
Now that your audience is excited about your solution, explain what the next steps are. Assign people tasks, present them with a timeline, and if there are forms to be signed, get signatures before everyone scurries off to their next meeting.
Image by Flickr user Earls37a (Creative Commons)
Google+The Serial Entrepreneur: Benefits and Drawbacks of Changing Tracks
December 27th, 2010 :: Thursday Bram
For some business owners, the thrill wears off after a business is established and going well. Once a new venture reaches that point, it’s tempting to hand it off to someone else and start a whole new project. That line of thought leads directly to the path of serial entrepreneurship.
The Benefits of Serial Entrepreneurship
For certain types of business owners, the enjoyment and fun of small business ownership isn’t necessarily the final product or business. Rather, it’s how you got there. It’s certainly not true of everyone, but for those people who feel that way, it’s far more fun to keep starting up new projects.
With that approach comes certain benefits. For one, if you do have the skillet necessary to be a good serial entrepreneur, you’ll probably have a business you can sell at the end of every new venture, making it much easier to fund the next project. You will likely also build up a network that supports new businesses very well, getting better connections for your efforts with each new business you start.
The Drawbacks of Serial Entrepreneurship
Creating one new business after another isn’t exactly a situation filled with sunshine and puppy dogs, however. A huge amount of work goes into creating a new business and you’ll constantly be in that stage of a business’ growth where you feel like you have to work every hour in the day to get it established. If your business isn’t your key priority, that approach may do more harm than good.
It’s not uncommon for a serial entrepreneur’s main focus in life to be building new projects, rather than family or other priorities. It’s a potential issue that is crucial to keep in mind.
The Balance of Serial Entrepreneurship
Like most paths, there are both benefits and drawbacks to becoming a serial entrepreneur. Even if you’re sure that you’ll enjoy the somewhat-hectic lifestyle that goes along with building multiple businesses, it’s important to dig deep and consider how it will impact other things you want to do. The drawbacks may not be enough to tip the scale against becoming a serial entrepreneur, but they do offer up considerations that you should look at before making a decision.
It’s also worth keeping in mind the fact that, though you’ve started one or two businesses, you don’t have to keep handing them over to someone and moving on. Perhaps you want to try out businesses until you find the right fit for the long haul. Or perhaps you find something that you aren’t looking for — a business worth holding on to for any number of reasons. No matter what else happens in an entrepreneur’s career, he has to be open to new opportunities and changing course. Find what works for you and go for it.
Image by Flickr user Rob (Creative Commons)
Google+How to Get Your Share of the Government Procurement Pie
December 7th, 2010 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichBy Maria Valdez Haubrich
Despite the recession, government contracting has continued to be a lucrative business for small companies that are capable of providing products and services the government needs. But becoming a prime contractor to the government can be complex and confusing, with lots of hoops to jump through to get the business, costly requirements you must meet and long waiting periods to get paid. If the idea of getting government business appeals to you, but your company isn’t quite prepared to contract directly with the government, consider subcontracting.
Becoming a subcontractor to a government prime contractor can be a great way to get your feet wet in government business. In many cases, prime contractors must meet certain goals to subcontract a percentage of their business to small companies, women-owned companies or minority-owned companies, which can make it easier for your business to get a foot in the door.
How do you get started? Two major online databases that prime contractors use to find small subcontractors are the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS). Get your business listed in both of these online directories; be sure to keep your profile current, especially your contact information.
Once you’ve got your business listed where contractors are searching, the next step is to search out some prime contractors on your own. Here are some places to look:
Visit the Subcontracting Directory on the SBA’s website; you can search by state to find companies in your area.
Small business liaisons at government agencies can give you lists of prime contractors that they use, and may also be able to offer suggestions and help on how to approach these companies.
Your industry association is another good place to get advice and find out about subcontracting opportunities.
You can find lists of subcontracting opportunities at the SBA’s Subcontracting Network and FedBizOps.gov.
The Association of Procurement and Technical Assistance Centers can provide one-on-one help in getting subcontracts.
Got a potential contract? Check the details carefully before you sign on the dotted line. Because you’re dealing with a middleman, it’s crucial to be clear about the subcontract’s legal terms, how you will be paid and when, who is responsible for what aspect of the project, and any regulations or quality control guidelines you need to meet.
When you get your first subcontract, do everything you can to go above and beyond the call of duty. The level of ability you show in fulfilling your first subcontract will make—or break—your future subcontracting efforts.
Photo Courtesy: Karen Axelton
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