Digg it UP - Business

How Managers Hit PR Paydirt
As a business, non-profit or association manager, you’ll know it’s PR paydirt when you’re able to persuade your key external stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to your department, division or subsidiary’s success.Proof of the pudding will be outside stakeholder behaviors like increasing repeat purchases, more inquiries about strategic alliances, new specifiers of your components, more membership inquiries, or a jump in capital contributions.But to realize such results, you’ll have to get personally involved with the p

hat up with superb service. How do we do that? One way to begin is to figure out who your best customers are (they buy regularly and never complain about price) and ask them why they buy from you rather than from someone else. But don’t ask them to rate the reasons you think they buy from you, ask them to tell you what they consider is important and then ask them to rate you

8 Ways to Overcome Your Fears of Outsourcing
You have probably heard the stories: Software that does not work. Software that does the wrong thing. Money paid to set up an offshore operation that never produces any software. Can these outsourcing nightmares be avoided?Of course. The key is how you manage the outsourcing of your software development.The two biggest fears of outsourcing that I hear from clients are the fear of selecting a bad outsourcing vendor and the fear of not managing their work effectively. Let's assume you pick a great team, perhaps one of the proven Accelerance teams from around the

Whenever I hold a marketing seminar a major discussion point is pricing strategies. It’s a topic close to my heart (I am a Scotsman after all) and one that provokes strong emotion amongst most business owners. And that’s interesting really, because most buyers typically rank price around 4th in their list of buying criteria. Price is important only when the product or service we’re selling is a commodity.

Very few products actually are true commodities (can you think of one right now)? Large consumer goods companies spend millions on advertising to convince us that some products which could be commodities, really aren’t. (Does it really make a difference if you buy gas from PetroCanada or Shell?) But it may not be necessary for you to spend a lot of money on advertising to get your customers to pay a price which enables you to make an acceptable profit.

In fact, there is no business that doesn’t have the potential to command an acceptable price for its products or services if it is able to market those products or services in such a way that the customer perceives added value. If you don’t believe me just think about the difference in price between a Lexus and a Hyundai – they’re both just a means of transportation. Tip Top tailors and Harry Rosen both sell men’s clothes – but don’t wait for Harry to have a $199 sale before buying your next suit!

As business owners it’s our job to create the perception that our products and services offer superior value and to back that up with superb service. How do we do that? One way to begin is to figure out who your best customers are (they buy regularly and never complain about price) and ask them why they buy from you rather than from someone else. But don’t ask them to rate the reasons you think they buy from you, ask them to tell you what they consider is important and then ask them to rate your

Bad Customer Service Turned Around
It’s all in who you know... Or can get to Know!Yesterday I had a customer service issue that warranted my immediate attention. I had ordered a product that I desperately needed that was now about 6 weeks overdue the original back ordered date. I had made numerous calls to both the local and the national vendor over the past few weeks and had received different answers every single time. I had gotten the run around from corporate, from the local vendor, tried to make complaints on line and their server was down, and had left phone messages that had gone unreturned. I

e we’re selling is a commodity.

Exhibit and Display Vendors
In tradeshows, it’s not only the exhibits and display booths that play important roles, but also the persons who sell the displays and manage the booths. The effort, time, and money you spent on your tradeshow exhibit will only be wasted if your display booth personnel are unprofessional and not well-trained. This will undoubtedly hurt your company’s name and reputation.You can hire an expert to train your booth staff for the tradeshow. Remember to review your marketing strategies and sales skills and practice effective demonstrations of the products and services that

nd a lot of money on advertising to get your customers to pay a price which enables you to make an acceptable profit.

A Guide To Your Demographics And Your Endorser
Chapter 10 of 14 A guide to your demographics and your endorser.It should go without saying, but pick the wrong celebrity endorser and your promotion will be doomed from the start. It takes a careful eye and some intuition to know when you have the perfect match. You must always keep in mind who your customer is and how receptive they will be to the celebrity endorser. Most of this is based on logic but sometimes it can take you to the limit in terms of creativity…cutting edge or edgy promotions are all the rage. However, if you find yourself venturing into t

st think about the difference in price between a Lexus and a Hyundai – they’re both just a means of transportation. Tip Top tailors and Harry Rosen both sell men’s clothes – but don’t wait for Harry to have a $199 sale before buying your next suit!

Your Small Business Deserves Protection Too
A small business can protect itself just like the big companies do. Whether your business is part-time or full-time, home-based or out of a separate office you have the option of running it as an LLC.What is an LLC?LLC or Limited Liability Company is a business entity. Like a corporation, it will protect personal assets and offer some tax advantages. LLC's, however, have a more simple structure and require less paperwork than a corporation. For example, a corporation must submit annual reports and meeting minutes. An LLC does not.Once you've estab

Two ways in which you can add value are, firstly by understanding what’s going on in your customers’ business and how your products impact their success. Second, pass this information on to your staff and train them to provide what your customer will see as great customer service. Of course maintaining the quality of your products, and doing regular customer satisfaction surveys won’t hurt either.

Remember if your gross margin is 30% and you reduce price by 10%, sales volumes must increase by 50% to maintain your initial profit level. For some reason we’ve come to believe that offering price discounts is a good long term strategy. If you still believe that consider the problems that the North American car manufacturers have created for themselves with, for example, “Employee Pricing” campaigns. Or think about how hard it was for the Bay to get away from “Bay Days” or Sears to stop their “Scratch and Win” promotions. You’re right, despite saying they were going to stop them they’re both still doing them. Once you’ve dropped your prices it is very difficult to get them back up to previous levels.

Price discounting should work in only two situations - where you have a definite cost advantage over your competitors and/or your product or service is one where customers are genuinely, truly, price-sensitive. We’ve already dealt with the price sensitive case and if you have a cost advantage w

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Eight Practical Work at Home Success tips for work at home entrepreneurs. We are creatures of habit and habits are creatures of result. Adopt new habits for work at home success.

What every business has in common is that it needs customers. Sounds a little basic but what do you really know about yours? Do you know who they are, what they like, where they hang out, what they do when they’re not working? And if you know these things, are you targeting your sales message to your best customers? And if you are, are your new customers becoming good customers, buying again and again?

I had to really look at things a little different when I started calling people. It’s like these people should think that their phone is off limits to everyone. I even got some people filling out my form with the name “who Cares”.

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