As a small business owner, you may ask yourself why tracking sales is important. You know the products that you offer, you know your budget, and your books balance at the end of every month. Why do you need to make the effort or invest in some type of software that will allow you to track your sales? This article will discuss the importance of that and more.
Selling Products Continue reading
Sustaining strategic alliances for success requires short-term planning and planning over the long-term. You need to determine how to best use your available resources to ensure you have the infrastructure in place. An article posted on the Financial Post talks about building and maintaining strategic alliances.
“As companies enter into an array of alliances, the potential for achieving benefits can increase dramatically.”
A portfolio of alliances Continue reading
As an Entrepreneur what is the one resource you wish you more of right now? I’d be willing to bet the answer is most likely time. If you’re running low on energy there’s always more coffee, right? But, if you find you just don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done what do you do? You can’t add more hours to the clock.
So how do you free up more of your time? Continue reading
Think you know your target market? Most business owners will answer with a resounding, “Yes.” However, too often companies identify their demographics at the onset and then never look back.
Target Markets are Evolving
The 2010 white paper, “2010 America: What the Census Means for Marketing and Advertising,” forecast changes in the demographic make-up of the U.S. along with the resulting business implications. It suggests that too many entrepreneurs neglect changes to their current target market. The result: same old sales strategy, no increase in sales.
There seems to be a growing trend. The number of entrepreneurs is increasing. People, whose life are in an upheaval, discover that their real passions become the fuel that drives their work. This work becomes their source of revenue. There are several reasons for this:
When developing a new product or service, one of the first things to consider is how to get it to the end-user. Deciding on what channels of distribution to use is a very important business decision that must be made correctly. Using the wrong channels of distribution costs you money and depletes the value of your product.
1) How does the end-user want to buy?
To answer this, you’ll need to understand your customers and your relationship to them. How does your customer prefer to buy this product? Will they need customization or regular service? Maybe your customer needs other products or services to be able to use your product. Continue reading
Some entrepreneurs may disagree with this assessment; however, according to a 2009 MSNBC.com article, “Economic cycles are Darwinian, picking off weak companies and leaving survivors stronger.”
The good news is that the survivors often benefit as their competitors disappear. Unless, that is, you haven’t planned ahead.
Comprehensive Business Plan Vital Continue reading