Business

Making the Right Promise

Treating your customers in the right way is one of the most important factors for a business. Sadly, not every business understands this fact although it seems obvious enough. Sometimes, due to possessing a great product or service, a business can become arrogant and treat their customers with a “take it as is or leave it” attitude. The problem with this is that at some point someone else will come along with a better product and at that point customers will jump ship and never come back. Therefore, keeping customers happy is very important. There are many ways to do this and one of those ways is to make the right promise.

Whatever product you have, the golden rule is deliver what you promise. Never overpromise and under deliver. Customers can do a lot of damage to your reputation if you leave a bad taste in their mouths. For example, let’s say a customer bought a “Potato skin remover with precision control” and received a simple knife in the package; to say that they would be angry would be putting it mildly. The business selling that product should have simply stated that it was a cheap knife that was ideally suited for peeling potatoes. This kind of honesty could have built up the reputation of the business but instead, the false promise will only lead to its downfall.

A crucial factor in making a promise is giving a reason why the customer should buy the product. For example, “The best chocolate chip cookies in the state! (We donate 25 cents from every box to the War Veterans charity)” This will guarantee you sales from every person who has a connection with anyone in the armed forces. This is just one example of how your promise coupled with a reason can help you get and retain customers. Explore the idea further and see how you can deal more honestly with your customers.

The Pros and Cons of B2B and B2C

Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) online shopping is the process of making a transaction over the web, and entering into an agreement to buy a product or service, either from another business or to an individual seller. Today, e-commerce is highly preferred by a very considerable number of businesses and individuals because of the advantages. But like any other transaction, there are also some drawbacks when it comes to buying products and services online.

Some of the advantages of buying online include the advantage of convenience. Because a lot of individuals and businesses do not have the luxury of time to travel great distances in order for them to buy something, they just browse over the web to buy all of the things they need. Aside from the extensive selection of products and services available over the web, another advantage of buying online is that you can get all the information you need about a certain product, service from the online store you are planning to buy from.

This information can be accessed through testimonials from the website of the seller, and product reviews. On the other hand, the drawback of transacting online includes fraud. It is a known fact that a lot of people are taking advantage of the Internet, which means you have to be careful with the person you are going to transact with. Transacting online would leave your personal information vulnerable to hacks and unwanted charges. Another disadvantage of online shopping is the inclusion of hidden costs. This is where online retailers make a lot of money because a lot of people do not fully understand the terms of the negotiation like shipping charges, etc.

Tell me your problems

What makes your business different from someone else’s?

1. Are you cheaper?
2. Do you give good deals, like two for the price of one?
3. Do you give free gifts?
4. Etc

If you think that these are things that set your business apart from the others in the same line of business, then you are wrong. If you are doing these things, so are they. What you should be doing is listening to your customers and doing something with their feedback. That will set you apart.

You have to learn to adapt and improve your services or products to what your customers want. This is very important because it increases customer retention and it does your word of mouth promotion a lot of good. An advertisement screaming that you are the best is nothing compared to one person saying to another “these guys are good, you should go to them”. That kind of promotion guarantees you a 90 % sale right there.

Lead by example and tell your staff to be more engaging with the customers. Find out what issues they have with your service or product. If you have taken their advice and changed something, send an email to all of them and let them know. Do a separate set of emails to the ones who suggested the changes you did and let them know that their advice was what prompted the change. This will guarantee you a loyal customer for life and a champion for your business.

Listen to them, that is all you have to do to stand out.

Business Forecasting

Once you get your business rolling forward there are several crucial decisions that you will be faced with. Some of these include further investment, diversification, optimization and forecasting. Of these forecasting is crucial to prepare for the future of the company.

Forecasting basically enables you to anticipate a growth or a slump in the market. This is crucial in order to survive and make smart decisions. For example, if you were a car spare parts manufacturer, forecasting will help you decide on how many of each part you would need to manufacture for the next year or next few years. If the factors are good, then you need to increase production. This may mean investing in more equipment, employing more staff or putting the existing staff on extra shifts and paying increased salaries, finding more ways to distribute the parts etc.

Conversely a prediction of a slump will mean that you have to find ways of cutting costs and riding out the storm. This could mean shutting down certain lines of production, laying off staff, cutting costs etc. However, forecasting is not an exact science. It can only take in the existing factors and give you a prediction based on those factors. One of the best ways to increase the accuracy of these predictions is to use business forecasting software. Using software means that you can easily input all sorts of variables and watch how they affect your business. Doing this by hand would be tedious and probably fry your brain in the process.

How Do You Liquidate a Business?

When you start up a business, you need to have solid strategies in place to ensure that your business runs smoothly and is successful. In the event of any kind of failure, then you would need to seriously consider liquidating your business. It is really the last resort in any business, where you are able to ensure all liabilities are paid for and everything settled before you close shop.

So what exactly does liquidating a business mean?
In simple English, it means a strategy made for exiting gracefully. Liquidation is only considered when a business goes bankrupt or sustains huge losses. At this point, everything that belongs to the company is sold off and the money received divided amongst creditors and others to ensure all debts are settled. This repayment happens based on a priority system. Assets that are sold during liquidation also include real estate, machinery, equipment, etc.

What considerations do you make when liquidating a business?
The decision to liquidate a business cannot be made overnight. The entire management team needs to think it through and formulate a plan. Liquidation is only decided upon when the owners of the company decide to shut down the business. Once all assets are sold and the debts settled, if there is any money remaining, it is then divided amongst the owners and shareholders. The liquidation of a company takes on two forms: compulsory and voluntary. Compulsory liquidation is determined by legal bodies.

How does the process work?
First legal and financial advice must be sought. Based on these recommendations a liquidation plan is formulated by the owners, management team, shareholders and investors. An appraiser is also brought into to assist with the liquidation process. The assets are then all accessed, the necessary paperwork drawn up and the appraiser then sets values for the assets owned by the company. Once the assets are sold off, based on a list of debts, creditors are paid off.

Europe’s Debt Crisis Worsens

Spain’s credit ratings plunged even lower and Greece sought reassurance from Germany to keep afloat, leading to a bigger than expected debt crisis in Europe. Germany has come forward to assist Greece, promising to get approval on a key aid package within days.

A collapse in the construction industry in Spain led to Standard & Poors downgrading the country’s rating from AA+ to AA which led to much stir in the stock market that week. A credit analyst at Standard & Poors foresaw a period of lethargy as Spain’s economy moved away from a credit fuelled economic growth.

With a larger economy in comparison to that of Portugal and Greece, Spain’s future holds the key to the debt crisis in Europe. If Spain is indeed in grievous trouble, then bailing it out may prove to be harder than imagined.

Spain’s debt burden stands at approximately 53% of the national income. On top of this the country has not handled its public finances all that well, and has continued to run a high budget deficit.

Greece on the other hand has debts amounting to €8.5 billion as of May 19, 2010 – and due to extremely high borrowing rates, seems to be unable to raise the money needed.

This inability only calls for the IMF and fifteen others in the EuroZone to mete out the necessary cash, although Germany has been slightly difficult about giving the green light to release €8.4 billion which is the country’s share of the €45 billion package.

Germany’s finance minister voiced his concern about protecting the Euro’s stability while Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Germany was of the opinion that Greece should agree to certain cutbacks.

Advertising Your Business; The Cost Effective Way

Times are tough, and advertising is being considered by some as an unnecessary expenditure. Although this is untrue, perhaps it would be more prudent to look at cost effective methods of advertising. Here are a few:

• A flyer – this is one of the simplest ways to advertise your business. To create more interest, include a fabulous discount to people who bring back the flyer. Not only is this effective, it also helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your flyer.
• Cable TV – instead of paying for an expensive TV advertisement, you can look for other methods of advertising on TV. You can advertise using crawlers, slides and even on programme listings. These are way cheaper than paying for TV ads.
• Company website – you do not need to sell products online to have a website. Simply having a web presence is good enough to start with making a reputation for your company. Put some time into it, make your website a great one that impresses potential customers.
• YouTube – if you have TV commercials already produced, then, why not put them up on YouTube? You do not have to pay for it, and you can link your website to the video, thus creating traffic to your website.
• Cross-promotion through partnerships – find other businesses that could help enhance yours. Make solid partnerships which will in turn help to cut down on your advertising budget.
• Newsletter – make a company newsletter that goes out to your customer database once a quarter. This is a great way of keeping in touch with your customers and ensuring that you are the first on their list.