How Non-Retailers Can Make Holiday Sales
Does your business lack an obvious tie-in to the holiday season? Perhaps you’re B2B or you offer a service that doesn’t lend itself to being a stocking stuffer. Don’t let yourself get depressed watching retailers cash in on this seasonal sales “hook” with their Black Fridays and door busters; there are ways for you to take advantage of this time of the year as well. Remember the great scene at the end of When Harry Met Sally? It’s New Year’s Eve and they both realize that they need to make changes in their lives so they can spend the rest of their days together. December is not only a time of gift giving; for businesses it’s also a time to look forward to the next year and get very serious about taking steps that will lead to growth. How can your business fit into the “improvement” plans for other businesses and perhaps even individuals as they look to their futures? Here are some ideas to get you thinking: Educate. Organize various educational outreach events for the first months of 2015 and start promoting them as 2014 winds down. These could be seminars held at your place of business, or a local community room or convention center. Maybe 2015 is when you conduct your first webinar. If so, commit to it now and get the promotional machinery going. Offer a free trial or discounted introductory period. As your customers are looking toward next year, this year’s taxes are on their minds…as well as what they have spent on Christmas gifts. They desperately want discounts in January and February. Use that overwhelming desire to save money to introduce prospects to your product or service. Start the year with some discounting strategy or trial period that gets people on board. Re-energize old contacts. Use holiday cards or personal visits as a way to re-establish relationships with customers and clients who have fallen off your radar screen. Just like Harry re-established his love for Sally on New Year’s Eve, your business can use this time of the year to make contact with people you haven’t heard from in a while. Dropping in personally bearing a gift is never a bad strategy. Partner with a retail outlet. Does your product or service somehow relate to a segment of the retail market? For example, if you are a budding personal chef or personal trainer, find a locally owned health food store where you can hold a “clinic” or perform short demonstrations. Shoppers enjoy this added “buzz” during the holiday shopping season and you can be handing out literature with your contact information on it. Let me give you one general idea to consider as you search for ways to leverage this final sales month of the year. Mentally put yourself in your client or customer’s position. Envision what they will need the most as 2015 gets underway. Find a way to pitch your ability to meet that need to your customers...
read moreLet’s Give Little Entrepreneurs Some Big Help
I see a lot of lists along the lines of “7 Must-Have Traits For a Successful Entrepreneur.” I’ve even seen lists that have as many as 50 personal attributes delineated that are required if you want to be an entrepreneur. But today I just want to look at a few and put a slightly different spin on them. Some of the traits that often appear on these lists are: Inquisitiveness. Fearlessness. Prone to getting into trouble. Won’t take no for an answer. If I look at that list without any headline above it, it sounds to me like it’s describing kids and that brings us around to what I’m thinking about today: How do we encourage more entrepreneurism in our youth? Nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit Frankly, while most of us would agree that a large percentage of children have those attributes, many adults – including both parents and teachers – relate to kids in ways that suppress and eventually eliminate those traits from our youth. Unfortunately, surviving in an institutional setting, like schools, can wring these qualities right out of people. However, it needn’t be that way. If we can collectively recognize that the best strategy to lift our society as a whole is to create more opportunities for everyone, we should begin to value those qualities that contribute to making successful entrepreneurs, including those I listed above. After all, when an entrepreneur is successful it opens up areas in which many individuals can flourish. I can write about this, people can give TED talks on the subject and Entrepreneur Magazine can publish articles on the topic, but one organization has been working directly in this area for many years: Junior Achievement. I want to give them the thanks and recognition they deserve, talk a little about the organization and encourage you to do some follow-up. Junior Achievement’s mission is “to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy,” and I think we can all agree that meeting this goal is more important today than it has ever been. JA has been helping introduce and train young people for almost 100 years and it works with kids of all ages – kindergarten through high school. Working in the classroom JA has some 213,000 volunteers who go into schools and teach “workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.” They learn to start businesses, invest in the stock market and manage their finances. I know students and teachers who have worked with JA and they have nothing but praise for the program. Are your schools connected with your local JA? If not, do some lobbying and get the program going. Also, consider how you might volunteer with JA. The program is all about practical, real-world, knowledge and skills. You might be the ideal person to deliver that to some eager students in your community, One might say that this shouldn’t be left to what is mostly a volunteer organization. I disagree. I think bringing in real entrepreneurs and experienced business professionals is the best way to really get children educated and excited about creating opportunities through commerce. And with major backers such as AT&T, Microsoft, CapitalOne and others, I think many or our best business leaders believe this is a great program as well. Image: Vintage...
read moreHow To Avoid a Million-Dollar Judgment For Using a Picture
A friend of mine writes newsletters for a variety of clients and they often send him photographs and art to include in their newsletters. He always asks if they have permission to reprint the graphics. Usually the answer is “no.” When it is so easy to reprint art from almost any Internet source, it is very tempting to ignore copyright law and get yourself into trouble. And when digital cameras and smartphones make “on the spot” photos so convenient to upload, it also creates a danger for your business. These scenarios can be a problem for all of your publications, but the advent of social media has increased your potential for getting sued. And if you use Instagram, or any of the other platforms that use images in your social media marketing, you need to be fully aware of the legal ground rules. Using people’s images Be careful posting pictures or videos of both “civilians” and employees. Using photos of individuals for commercial purposes is against the law unless you have their permission. And by the way, whenever you’re posting about your business in social media, it’s for commercial purposes – even when you aren’t touting a “half off” sale or any specific deal. You need to get a signed model release. Also, when employees hire on with you, be sure a photo release that they must sign is included in their hire documents. Train employees on the rules. Be sure that anyone who has the ability to make posts in the name of your business understands what is permissible and knows to ask questions when he or she is unsure of the situation. Do not allow untrained employees access to your social media accounts. Respecting copyright Let’s get back to my friend and the issues he faces when designing newsletters. Instead of just accepting images from his clients, he asks about permission and when it hasn’t been obtained, he searches for “legal” images. He uses the Google image search and refines his search to include only those images that are “labeled for reuse.” This narrows his search down to images covered by various Creative Commons licenses and images that are in the public domain. He then follows the rules regarding crediting image owners in his work. Although not as big a problem in small business social media marketing, music is also covered by copyright. Don’t use music without permission. Monster energy drinks got slapped with a $1.7 million jury award after the company used some Beastie Boys music without the proper permissions. Fair use execptions Finally, don’t get sucked in by the “fair use” exceptions to these copyright entanglements. The Fair Use Doctrine allows the reproduction of copyrighted materials “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.” If you’re a small business using material under copyright in social media, I can virtually guarantee that you aren’t covered by fair use. If you think you might be covered, consult your attorney. Finally, I often hear people say that it’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission; that doesn’t work at all when copyright is at...
read moreBoost the Value of Your Business With an Investment of Respect
Some of you may be old enough to remember when Japanese industry, especially manufacturing, was seen as a juggernaut. It was characterized by the world’s highest levels of quality, unflagging company loyalty and lifetime employment for workers. The quality standards are still there, but the loyalty and lifetime employment are very much on their way out. Blame two decades of tough economic news. Although many have worked for a single company their entire lives, the cultural compact of lifetime employment has never really been part of US society. However, loyalty in the US business world has always been a factor and it may be more important today than ever before. In a world increasingly dominated by social media, brand loyalty within the ranks of a business is critical. The Rodney Dangerfield problem We can excuse the Japanese for losing some of their traditions. Unfortunately, economic realities trump cultural values. However, a Harvard Business Review study finds that around the world it’s a lack of respect from their bosses that turns off most employees. Just over half, 54 percent, said they don’t get regular respect from their bosses. The costs are enormous. Employees are less engaged, turnover rates go up, productivity goes down, healthcare costs increase and certainly these disrespected folks are not the kind of brand ambassadors small business owners want to send out into the world. However, the price of paying respect to people is small and it should be something that business owners proactively pursue. Respect is one of those “tone from the top” items. If you aren’t showing it for those around you, your attitude will eventually transfer to the rest of your organization. It’s important to recognize that there are significant demographic and cultural elements to showing respect. People of different ages, genders and backgrounds can feel differently about what it means to show respect or disrespect to one another. In a multi-cultural country like the US, getting a grasp on all of these factors can be difficult. A language everyone understands However, being polite to one another and expressing gratitude are universal. You have the power to instill value in your employees and as they gain value, it transfers directly to your business. When people who work for you are proud of the job there are doing, it makes your company stronger. If you ever buy or sell a business there’s something called “goodwill” that counts as an asset in the selling price. Major contributing factors in the goodwill asset are how the company is seen by its customers and the state of employee relations. Showing respect for your employees will not only improve your business today, it will greatly increase this asset and boost your payday if you decide to sell. And before we leave the subject, I believe that you and your employees will enjoy getting up in the morning and going to work more each day when you cultivate an atmosphere of mutual respect. That’s a quality of life thing and it’s...
read moreHow To Be a Lucky Entrepreneur
One of my favorite thinkers, good old “Anon,” once said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Generally, entrepreneurs agree with that statement, as a recent survey revealed. Another study of entrepreneurs that I saw said that entrepreneurs are more likely to find success on their third startup attempt. That statistic alone shows us the value of experience and learning from our mistakes. Having the right idea and having it at the right time are two of the important elements of entrepreneurial success. But much needs to be said to put that in its proper context. First, it takes “the right idea at the right time” plus hard work and know-how to achieve success. Second, we only recognize the phenomena of “right idea at the right time” in retrospect, so it may be just as much a construct of our thinking as it is something that is real. Italians luckier than Germans When Swiss entrepreneurs were asked their opinions on luck and other elements that contributed to their success, 78 percent ranked luck at the bottom of the list. However, entrepreneurs in the Italian and French speaking areas of Switzerland ranked luck more highly than the German speakers. So cultural attitudes play a role as well. If you are considering an entrepreneurial move, whether it’s a startup or opening a new branch of your existing business, knowing that luck has little to do with your ultimate success should be comforting. It puts you in control of your future. Further, even the surveyed entrepreneurs who felt that luck was a factor in their projects believed that they could overcome bad luck. Again, that is empowering. Feeling lucky? Where do you stand on the role of luck in business success? If you believe that luck will ultimately have some influence over the direction of your endeavors, let’s look at what you can do to get luck on your side. Luck relates to intuition, the willingness to act and persistence. Some people are more in tune to the direction society is moving. They get a gut feeling about a new service or product. That is probably more common than we think. However, it takes the next step to get the luck rolling; you have to be willing to act. How many times have you or someone in your crowd said, “I had that idea, but I never followed up on it”? I rest my case. Finally, it takes persistence to elevate those good ideas to successful businesses. Let me add one more word of advice concerning luck. When a venture of yours does not work out, don’t blame it on bad luck because you can’t learn anything from luck. Instead, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and consider how you can do things better next...
read moreHow to Harness the Power of Real-Time Financial Advice
We recently discussed points to consider when selecting a person to do the taxes for a small business. I pointed out that it’s critical to find someone who is in business all year long, rather than someone who concentrates on working mostly during the tax season. I was trying to stress how important it is to be able to get current financial information all through the year. This applies to all financial advice, not just small business taxes, and the more “current” the better. As we all know today, nothing is more current than “real time” and this is one of the strengths of cloud computing. Cloud computing makes it possible for a small business team to share critical real-time information about business trends and positions. Upping the value of accountants Many of you know that I do a lot with Sage and for the reasons I’ve just outlined, I was really excited when they announced Sage View last month. To put it in one sentence, Sage View allows accountants to work with and advise their clients informed by real-time financial information. Anyone who is accustomed to sitting down with their accountant and going over “quarterly reports” will recognize at once how powerful this cloud-based service can be. All it takes for an accountant to get going is a subscription and an Internet connection. The interface is all done through a browser, so accountants don’t need to download any software. See opportunity knocking In today’s rapidly moving business environment, there’s nothing more valuable than timely insights and advice. This is exactly what Sage View is designed to provide. Accountants can take their relationships with their clients to a much deeper level and get a much better understanding of what their clients are doing. They can recognize opportunities and alert their clients immediately. Further, because it is cloud and browser based, accountants aren’t chained to the desk in their offices any longer. They can provide timely advice from anywhere and at anytime. It connects to data in Sage One and Intuit QuickBooks. It allows for a variety of customized screens for reports and following key performance indicators. If you’re an accountant looking to offer a level of service that beats your competition, you need to investigate Sage One. And if you’re a small business owner looking for actionable financial and management advice that’s head and shoulders above the rest, encourage your accountant to check it out. Image: The Cloud Illustration, © 2013 Perspecsys Photos, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike...
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