Ready For Business Blog

With a little capital you can easily open this carpet cleaning business. Others open their business and started with less than a few thousand dollars capital. They even start up with no marketing plans. They think charging the customer the cheaper price they will get lots of customers. They only compete with the price.

You can easily beat your competitors by advertising. It is your advantage if your competitor’s lack of education on advertising and no marketing strategy. It will be easy to beat them. First thing you will do is analyze why your carpet cleaning service is needed in the market place. Is your business has a selling proposition to attract customers? If you are just another carpet cleaner who is just competing with price, you better quit and get a real job. You must have aim in running your carpet cleaning service in your community.

There are different kinds of services you can render on carpet cleaning service. You can either have specialty like removing pet odor in the carpet, or you can offer the steam cleaning and fast drying, and high level service. Think any service cleaning about carpet that no other carpet cleaner offers. Make sure you give the customer’s satisfaction in every service you render. If you mean high level of service, you should give it to your customers. Good and quality service you render with the customers will promote your business.

If you choose to be pet odor specialist on carpet, make some ads about pet odor. Make flyers regarding on how wonderful life can be with pets. At the same time promote your carpet cleaning service. Consumer usually prefers something unique. If you want your business to succeed think of something different that appeals your prospective clients. Try to be different with other carpet cleaner.

You could either pick up the carpet from your customers. Give them a free promotional discount or for every 2 carpet you clean they will receive 1 small bottle of perfume for their pets. Or any free accessories for their pets. Surely they will like your promotion and freebies.

Giving your customer with high quality of service, they will become your regular and loyal customer to your carpet cleaning service. You can also consider the pricing for every carpet. Carpet comes from different size and shapes. Make some listing on the pricing depending on carpet sizes and what kind of service do your customers want.

You also add flavoring scent for the carpet cleaning. Ask the customer want kind of scent he/she prefers. Some customer may like the idea but other may not, if they have allergy. But the good thing is that your customer can choose what kind of service they want. Your service will be different from other carpet cleaner. The more customers who are satisfied with your service, the more profit you will gain.

Building relationships is the key that will throw open the doors to marketing success as quickly and as widely as possible in a tough economy. When marketing is a challenge it’s tempting to throw money at the problem (if you have the money to spend). I mean, haven’t we all heard that the last thing to cut back on is marketing when times get tough? But persistent, persuasive, and/or assertive marketing just won’t prompt enough people into action during times of financial uncertainty. Spending lots of money isn’t the key to marketing success.

It might even be tempting to “ride it out” - to do nothing until things turn around. This passive approach yields passive results. Nothing will happen while you’re waiting and when things do turn around, the business will go to the people who’ve been doing something all along. The people who will get the lion’s share of the business - both now and in the future - are the ones who work to build relationship.

So exactly how does someone “build relationships”? Building relationships does not mean becoming “best friends” with everyone. It doesn’t require taking people out to lunch or coffee. It isn’t about sending gifts to people. For the most part, building relationship is about being attractive and adding value. By “being attractive”, I mean being likeable, having integrity, being a good communicator, and being passionate. (These are all important topics, but we’ll cover them in another article.) Let’s instead, spend some time talking about “adding value”.

Specifically, let’s discuss how to add value to and create connection with prospective and existing clients. A real key to accomplishing this is to give without expecting something in return. The act of helping or giving without getting creates a very powerful dynamic. It establishes you as someone who cares about others. It shows you’re not just focused on yourself. It demonstrates an abundance mentality. It makes you even more likeable and respected. And last, but not least, it creates a feeling of obligation on the part of your prospects and existing clients.

Here’s a starter list of things you can do to add value to and to create connection with prospective and existing clients. Use it as a starting point for your relationship building efforts. Be creative with relationship building approaches which reflect your personality.

* Create and send out a useful, timely report. (make sure it’s not self-serving, though)

* Offer ideas and information that are fun, useful, and/or interesting (most of them will not be related to your business, although some could be)

* Have conversations with prospects and clients to get to know them (people love to be heard)

* Send specific things of interest to specific prospects and clients (it shows you were listening to them and that you care)

* Offer free workshops of interest (but remember, no selling or pitching!)

* Send out personal letters (handwritten is best, but definitely hand signed)

* Personally call to say Hi! or Thank You! (dropping by in person is even better)

Especially when things are tough, it’s more important than ever to build relationships as the cornerstone of your marketing strategy. It will cause people to act sooner and will cause more success to flow to you as things turn around. And besides that, it’s just plain fun.

Do you think you could increase your profits if you had very little - or no competition? Would you like to get the jump on your competitors? Would you like to stay a step ahead of your competition? If your answers to the above questions is no, you’re either Bill Gates or you should seriously consider seeing a psychiatrist.

If your answer to the questions is yes, you should take the short quiz at the end of this article to find out where you stand “nichewise.” The minutes spent will be worth their weight in gold to your financial future.

There have been tons of articles, books, and seminars touting the importance of having a niche.

With the huge numbers of look-a-like products and services, it’s vital that you target an unfilled gap in your market.

If you fail to do this you risk getting lost in the crowd. Especially, if you’re a small business with limited capital (which is why it’s called a small business).

This article is for those who already have a product or service, but would like to make their niche stronger. I call this niche maintenance.

To my surprise I see businesses develop a product or service, enjoy a burst of success then allow sales to go flat. They often wonder what happened. They’ll usually blame it on the competition, the economy, or limited capital.

When in most cases they failed to do simple niche maintenance on their product or service. In most cases they don’t have a money, sales or profit problem, they have a niche problem. More specifically a weak niche, and I promise you my friend a weak niche= weak sales.

Every successful product or service from apples to zebras has a strong niche position; a specific benefit or advantage that no one in their market is providing at all - or as well.

But even the best niches, weaken, become outdated or obsolete. That’s why you need to perform regular niche maintenance on your business, product, or service, just like you would perform maintenance on you car. Whether it’s your car, your body, or your niche, regular maintenance helps to keep it working strong for you..

I’m sure you’ve seen many successful businesses fail after a burst of success, it’s usually because they failed to do niche maintenance. Don’t let it happen to you. Keep reading.

I’ve included an exclusive “Niche Maintenance Checklist” that will keep your product or service strong and will help to give it longevity. I suggest you go through this maintenance checklist at least one a month, or each week for maximum benefit.

Niche Maintenance Checklist for Products and Services: Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer. Your goal should be to maintain a score of 10.

1. Do I know what my competitive advantages are?

2. Do I have them written down? And do I constantly try to add to them?

3. Name at least one new problem my target customers are facing that I can solve through my product or service this week or month?

4. What extra service can I provide that my competition can’t provide?

5. What ways can I speed up service to my customers without sacrificing quality?

6. What ways can I get my satisfied customers to recommend me to others?

7. Do I aggressively solicit comments, complaints or questions from my customers?

8. Do I know my competitors latest competitive advantages over my product or service?

9. Do I avoid getting complacent or satisfied? Do I aggressively seek how to improve …DAILY?

10. Do I aggressively seek and test new ideas while holding on to what works?

By reviewing the above questions and scoring at least a 10 each week you are insuring yourself of maintaining a strong, profit generating niche. Ignore it and you could allow competition (or failure) to sneak up on you.

If you are an entrepreneur looking to start your own business, you have probably already read quite a bit of material on the subject. You have probably been told that the best way to find a successful business venture is to focus on something you are passionate about. But what is the point of doing something you are passionate about when it isn’t profitable? So how do you go about determining whether there is a profitable market for your business?

First, a profitable market has to be a hungry market. In other words, there must be sufficient demand for the product in place. The difficult thing about demand is that it is influenced by a number of different factors. Initially, you need to examine the following:

The size of the customer base. Collect information about total annual sales made in your product category. Have total sales increased from year to year? If not, you may be looking at a declining or saturated market.

Customer income. Who are your target customers? Survey the average income of your target customers and ask yourself how much purchasing power they have.

Prices. Look around and see what the current price levels for your product category are. A general rule of thumb is that if there is a growing demand for a product, the price levels should stay elevated.

Second, the less competition there is in a market, the more profitable it is. You may be up for quite a battle if there are many competitors in your market, especially if they are large and established competitors. Also, remember that competition is made up of direct competition and indirect competition. Your direct competition sells the exact same product as you while your indirect competition sells a similar product that competes for the same customers. Focus on the following:

Identify your direct and indirect competition. Who are they and how many of them are out there?

Strengths and weaknesses. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor and what implications would that have on your business?

Uniqueness. Is there any reason why customers would purchase your product instead of one from a competitor? Are you giving them enough of a reason to?

Mind you, analysing the profitability of a market is a relatively complex process. The factors listed above should only be used as a preliminary approach. If upon examination of these factors, you end up with some favourable results, it means that you should proceed with a more careful assessment of the viability of your business. A complete feasibility study would have to be done.

For more information on starting a business, have a look at my article “Why You Need a Unique Selling Point”.

Do you automatically assume your business will follow the flow if your local economy was going through a recession? Do you lack ideas on how to keep your company slugging through rough times?

How would you like to be able to free your company up out of any sticky recession your local economy might be in?

Let’s take a closer look at how your marketing team functions during recessions. Your marketing team is your lead generation tool, right? How can a seasoned marketer help you during recession?

Traditional Marketing Outlook In A Recession

Generally speaking, during a recession most offline marketers get their budgets cut. This appears to limit their choice of actions. Marketing life can seem pretty gloomy without the budgets companies become accustomed to.

But this will not deter the seasoned offline marketer. He will look for and find creative solutions he can implement on a decreasing budget. The seasoned offline marketer will learn to manage, if his company and products have staying power. And if this is not his first recession to ride through, he will have prepared for hard times.

Creativity is part of the key. Traditional marketers have to lift their heads up and look out at the whole world to try to find their solutions. Communication is live.

They have the upward and outward outlook. They might lack the tools or opportunities they desire in-house and will naturally look outwards to find them.

Online Marketing Outlook In A Recession

During a recession the online marketers will naturally look to increase their conversion rates. They will want to get even more out of the money they have. Good online marketers often still have weapons up them sleeve to get better conversion rates. Recession stimulates them into action.

But this leads the online marketer down one narrow road, totally fixated with numbers, and testing, concentrating on the math and science of online sales conversion.

His vision is totally focused, and can be narrow in scope during a recession. Increased conversion rates can help during a recession.

Fly Above The Crowd

The pressures of survival on low budgets can narrow your vision.

What happens when you get a marketer with both online and offline experience marketing during times of recession? What would he come up with?

Probably a solution that will give your company a big boost, taking you out of the whole recession arena.

A little creativity with focus…and the low-cost friend, the internet. What will you see if you were to look upward and outwards with focus?

* There are other countries which are not operating under the same economic constraints as you are.

Creativity?

In a recession, dare yourself to find or create a product to sell further afield. Any company can. It just takes a little bit of imagination. Let the traditional marketer help you.

Powered Focus?

In a recession, dare yourself to find those clients fast. Of course, you can. Let the online marketer help you.

Recession proof your business by getting more foreign clients.

Flying above the crowds is a mindset, don’t let your mindset get caught in your local economy.

Developing clients further afield will help your company expand in the long term.

In a recession? Use both Traditional Marketing and Online Marketing skills to give you the power you need to get up and out of any local recession your company may be in.

“Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first.” So says my Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) mentor, Tim Hallbom. Everyone always chuckles when he says it, but taken to heart, it can be one of the most encouraging statements you’ll ever hear. Besides writing web copy, I also consult with independent entrepreneurs on how to make money with their online marketing strategies. And the biggest obstacle my clients (and I’ll venture a guess, you too) face is in their own minds.

It’s a desire to have everything be perfect BEFORE you get into action. You (and I say “you,” but I’ll admit I still fall prey to this same syndrome at times) are so worried about making a mistake in your marketing that you end up not moving forward.

You get stalled in developing your website because you want to find the “perfect” designer. You hold off on printing business cards while you obsess over coming up with the “ideal” business name and tagline. You embark on a never-ending search for a “foolproof” marketing approach.

Once you’ve got those in place, you tell yourself, then you can start marketing your business.

The irony is that this has the same effect -or worse- as trying something that doesn’t work well.

So, I’m going to give you permission -right here and now- to be less than perfect. (If you look closely you can see me waving a magic wand over your head.)

The field of NLP has a set of wonderful presuppositions about the world that can guide you toward a positive outcome in any situation. One of my favorites is right in line with what we’re talking about here.

“There’s no such thing as failure, only feedback.”

In marketing, like in life, there are very few absolutes. There are many, many variables that can come into play (the service you’re offering, your Core Audience, the timing, societal conditions, and on and on).

What bombs miserably in one context may reap grand rewards in another. What sounds fabulous on paper may flop when put into practice. What works today may stop working tomorrow. The point is, you can’t know until you try.

Personally, this need for experimentation and flexibility is what makes marketing my business fun. It means I get to try new things and see what happens. And then I get to learn from the experience - take what worked and improve on it, and discard the rest.

Because it’s all perfect, and it’s all just feedback (not evidence of my incompetence). The entrepreneur who isn’t experimenting with (and learning from) their marketing is the entrepreneur whose business is stalled.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don’t be afraid of making a mistake. It’s called testing.

Ever wondered why you should employ a designer or why some stands seem so much busier, brighter and better than that of their competitors? This article will help to de-mystify the world of the designer and to let you in to some of their trade secrets.

Design is not an intangible element instead it provides a plan that will give your product the optimum chance of success at your chosen show or event. Further more the creative process begins with a series of extremely details questions that deal in the hard facts about your product.

This process is called the Design Brief and it is here that we would start the discussion about your show requirements. Listed below are just a few of the major considerations that we would talk about with our clients.

Event planning. How many shows or events do you plan to attend in the year? If it’s just a one off would you like to be able to re-use your stand in years to come? If you attend many events would are they all in the United Kingdom and if not where in the world do you also exhibit?

Name of Show and organizer - it could be that you have not even decided on your show and this is something that a good stand design company can help you with. You need to be sure that you are attending the right show with the calibre of visitors that your product or service needs.

Hall plan and Stand size including perimeter dimensions and if an Island site or closed on various sides. If there are any columns on the stand.

Budget - this is a question that no one likes to answer but it is crucial to give an idea of spend as this can save a lot of time and frayed nerves. Given no budget at all a designer will take the brief and come up with the best possible solution for your requirements but will probably come in at a cost that is well over your expectations. Given a budget they will design accordingly.

Company ID. It is here that the designer will start to get a feel for your company. What your brand is and what image you would like to convey to your prospects. How do you see your position in the market place and what are your marketing goals for the show? See below. It is at this point that we would collect and relevant product brochure plus logo/branding ID.

New product/s launch. If you are intending to launch a new product at the show we would strongly advise that this was the sole message that you put across at the event. Too many messages soon get lost in an exhibition environment.

Look of stand. Here the aesthetic takes over initially i.e. would you like your stand to be open and inviting or would you like a more formal, stylised appearance? Your stand is not just a two dimensional space it is a three dimensional environment and a good designer will make use of every available cubic centimetre. What is the maximum height permitted and would you like a Single Storey or Double Decker stand? Would you need a lighting rig? This would be dependant on product i.e. vehicles yes, small giftware would require more direct lighting. Also would you need a platform floor and what type of floor covering is preferred i.e. carpet as opposed to laminated floor? Will you need a kitchen/refreshment area?

Division of space. Stand space is expensive so you need to make the most of your environment. Do you need a store room, offices, private/semi-private meeting rooms or reception desk, area - greeter desk?

Stand dressing. Will you need furniture and will this be supplied by yourselves or hired/purchased? Will you need to display marketing literature i.e. brochure display/holders? Audio Visual. Do you need audio visual equipment on your stand? Do you need a PA system? Hire or purchase?

Graphics. Good graphics can really make a stunning impression. A picture can get your message across in a split second and “show weary” visitors will not read a lot of text. Will you need your graphics to be re-usable or are they for a one off use only?

Stand staff. How is your stand to be staffed? How many people will be manning your stand and what will they need to do that effectively? Do they need access to pc? How will they collect your prospects data?

Marketing Goals. What do you want to get out of the show? Do you want new prospects? Sales? How will you filter your visitors and how will you ensure they have an unforgettable experience on your stand?

Practical considerations. If your designer is also your stand contractor the following will need to be discussed: Electrical connections - client to purchase direct or designer to organise? Agreed time of handover of stand. On-site show call out cover. Breakdown arrangements and stand storage requirements.

Armed with all of this information your designer will then do their own research and analysis into your market place and will conceive an initial design for your consideration. This design is normally in the form of a black and white line drawing but once the design has been agreed in principal then a full colour rendering with fabric and flooring samples will be proposed to you normally in a formal presentation.

Many exhibition companies offer a free design service and this is an extremely competitive market place but as with all industries the cheapest is not always the best. Look for a designer and contractor that you are happy to work with and that you are confident can deliver the service and attention to detail that you need.

Your designer effectively becomes an extension of your marketing department with the exhibition experience to make sure you become the best in show.

However, just like an individual might fail to achieve these objectives if he overlooks the vital components such as biceps, triceps, calf muscles, abdomen, and upper body, businesses too can fail to achieve the set goals and objectives if the vital components of Six Sigma workouts fail to make their respective contributions.

Here, we’ll take a look at some of the vital components of Six Sigma workouts and discuss their respective contributions.

Employees

The employees play an important role in Six Sigma workouts because they are the ones who best understand the existing processes. They are thus in a better position to provide the necessary inputs and feedbacks to the Six Sigma implementation team members and if needed, to the top management as well. Six Sigma workouts just cannot succeed without employee support and cooperation.

Ultimately it is the employees that implement the changes as might have been prescribed by professionals such as Black Belts.

Project Sponsors

Project sponsors are often members from the senior management who shoulder the responsibility of identifying improvement opportunities that might exist in a given business process. They also share the responsibility to ensure that the Six Sigma workouts are carried out exactly as planned and that the stated goals and objectives are achieved within the specified time and costs.

Apart from these, they also act as a direct link between the top management and the implementation team members so as to expedite problem solving and avoid resource crunch situations that often occur during Six Sigma workouts.

Six Sigma Professionals

It would not be wrong to classify Six Sigma professionals such as Black Belts and Master Black Belts as the most vital components of Six Sigma workouts because without their technical expertise, it would become literally impossible to think about Six Sigma implementations let alone actually going about doing that.

Six Sigma may have to do a lot with common sense and following a practical approach to problem solving, but since there are still many technicalities to be dealt with, businesses just cannot think about starting the Six Sigma workouts all on their own.

The services of Six Sigma professionals do not come cheap and this is why many smaller businesses often fail to undertake Six Sigma workouts and avail of the associated benefits. However, since it’s quite certain that the long-term benefits of hiring the services of Six Sigma professional will far outweigh the current costs, businesses should try their best to make available the funds as might be required for using the services of Six Sigma professionals.

After analyzing the above factors, we can easily conclude that the benefits of Six Sigma workouts will accrue only to those businesses that know exactly how to make all these vital components work together as a well-oiled machine. As for the rest, it would not be wrong to say that they will have to do a lot more to realize the benefits of Six Sigma workouts.

Knowing how to delegate is not an inherent ability. Many managers, supervisors and even senior executives resist handing over tasks and responsibilities because of a variety of operational as well as personal reasons. They may be anxious about surrendering the control they have over various duties, or they may be afraid that subordinates will take exception to delegation. It is critical to rise above these obstacles because delegating effectively can have significant and comprehensive benefit for all involved, especially the company as a whole.

Carol Ellis, in the book Management Skills for New Managers (AMACOM, 2005), states the value of successful delegation: “Managers who delegate effectively have direct reports who are more capable and enthusiastic because of the delegation experience. A good manager knows that delegation is the way to achieve results through others.”

The American Management Association’s Delegation Boot Camp teaches principles that allow supervisors to delegate the appropriate amount of authority and accountability to the right individuals. The seminar provides many constructive recommendations for effective delegation:

Why Delegate At All?

Gains (to the delegator):

* Lessens personal workload, deadlines and pressure

* Frees your own time and energy for tasks that will provide larger benefits

* Makes people ready to handle work and decisions in your absence

* Trains colleagues about your job so you are free to be promoted

* Provides opportunity to assess persons’ ability to handle more responsibility and authority

Gains (to the delegatees):

* Cultivates skills and capabilities, providing experience in completing tasks and making decisions

* Prepares employees for promotion; how to handle more authority and responsibility

* More involvement increases their visibility and prestige within the enterprise

* Helps people feel more important and responsible

* Builds up enthusiasm and self-sufficiency

Gains (to the organization):

* Improves decision making and efficiency via increased participation and experience

* Increased skills, confidence and self-sufficiency builds a stronger, more flexible and more cooperative organization

* Provides an environment of collaboration, confidence and personal responsibility

* Displays the conviction people are important

* Supports unproblematic succession planning and the ability to promote from inside the organization

What Things Should Be Delegated?

Tip - Delegated duties and tasks should be “SMART”:

Specific

Measurable

Appropriate

Reachable

Timebound

Tasks that can be delegated:

* Recurring decisions and duties that others can manage

* Critical deadlines or priorities that you cannot handle, but others can

* Special initiatives not essential to core operations or long-range projects

* More detailed tasks on projects you are handling

* Duties that will help others develop in areas important to their career

What Things Should Not Be Delegated?

Avoid delegation of:

* Tasks private or personal in nature

* Duties that involve unreasonable risk to the delegatee

* Items that necessitate your personal expertise

* Duties that require personal leadership or relationships to succeed

* Items with any sort of legal restrictions

Examples of inappropriately delegated tasks:

* Evaluations of job performance

* Sensitive or confidential matters, especially those requiring disciplinary actions

* Duties that were assigned expressly and entirely to you

* Tasks outside of your area of responsibility, and which you are not authorized to delegate

* Critical circumstances where people need your own leadership or direction

* New projects that entail you personally setting an example or establishing standards

Stay away from delegating to people:

* Who are already overworked

* Who already have other high-priority duties

* Who cannot complete the task within the required timeframe

* Who lack the skills to successfully complete the task unless training will be provided as part of the task

* Who have effectively and repeatedly finished similar tasks, if there are other people available that could benefit from the experience

To improve your proficiency in delegating, the American Management Association offers a one-day Delegation Boot Camp that teaches effective delegation strategies that will make your employees more powerful and self-reliant, increase your and your staff’s productivity, and help lower your personal level of stress.

Small training providers can provide far more specialist skills and training to your staff and business. Small 1 (wo)man bands and firms can be very flexible and affordable. However, they are not without risk and here are some suggestions for successfully dealing with them.

1. Small companies often focus on the sale first and then providing the service. Make sure they switch to delivery mode from sales mode quickly.

2. You need mutual trust but don’t share all your business secrets with a freelancer. They may be working for your competitor next week.

3. Don’t be afraid if they are non contactable during the long periods of the working day. There are 1000’s of things they need to do during the day apart from waiting for your call.

4. Don’t be fooled by institues and certificates. Most institutes these days are very commercially aware and being a member may not prove a lot apart from that your contractor can afford the membership fee.

5. Define very early what you want as quality standards. Don’t be afraid to specify outputs which link directly to your business objectives. Failure to do this will result in the dreaded “expectation creep” on both sides.

6. Small training providers often have large personal networks as a way of generating business. Get part of it, take them out to lunch and take a supply of their business cards to hand out. Getting them an extra sale through a referral will probably get you a discount next time…

7. Pay the invoice on time. Most small businesses have a “fractured” cash flow. Delaying paying may endanger their very business existence.