Simply Junior » Business Plan

How to Market Your Own Start-Up

admin — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:15:12 +0000

So, you’ve got your business plan laid out and you’re ready for the customers to start rolling in – but where are they? With new businesses blooming everywhere, including the Internet, how do you get traffic in your doors or on your Web site? Read on for some marketing tips to help you get your start-up off the ground.

Stay focused on your main product or service. It’s tempting to see what your competition is doing and want to get in on that too. But you need to stay true to what you got into business for in the first place. This is particularly important in markets that are rapidly growing. Now this doesn’t mean you can’t expand your product line or services, it just means to focus on one product. If you use poster printing to get the word out and your poster touts three or four different products, all with the same amount of poster space, people won’t know what you do best.

Know your competitive edge. You need to research your competitors and know what benefits they’re touting. You then need to compare your competitors’ benefits with yours so that you can offer something that different and unique. If you don’t know your unique selling point, it’s going to be hard to grab a piece of market share. You can use a custom poster printing company to help you create poster printing pieces, brochures and other print materials that will highlight your selling point and to create materials that will help you stand out from your competition.

Know your customers. Of course targeting your customers is important to any marketing plan, but how well do you know them? You really, really need to know them. What kind of house do they live in? What is their income level? What kind of cars do they drive? Do they have kids? You need to figure out what is important to your customers and what motivates them to buy certain products. Then you can use that information to cater directly to them.

Be flexible. It’s hard to know what’s going to happen in the market – even the best market forecasters only have educated guesses. So, if you decide to market to one audience and that audience isn’t responding after six months, switch your focus to another audience. If one marketing tactic, like your direct mail pieces, isn’t drawing people in, try some custom poster printing. If you are using catalogs, but customers mention how easy it would be to order from a Web site, create a Web site. Go with the flow and give the customers what they want, how they want it.

Small Business Marketing Plan Revisited

admin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:48:31 +0000

Creating a small business marketing plan as a subcategory of your overall business plan is vital for evoking and accelerating business growth. When you have a plan, you are able to focus on the right things at the right time and measure your progress toward a goal.

Many business owners are resisting planning. When you’re running a business, you can easily be consumed by your day to day responsibilities. But failing to plan can be a great mistake.

Now, what is the essential function of marketing? To generate qualified sales leads. There are any number of methods that can be used to do that but how do you know which methods to use if you don’t have a plan?

And how do you know what your lucrative marketing activities are? How do you invest in those activities if you don’t know how big your budget is, or know what results you are trying to produce?

A marketing plan doesn’t need to be a huge document. First, start with your business goals for the next six months. You should already have these, for example your target revenue, if nothing else.

Now, what marketing goals align with those business goals? Ok, you want to make 100k. How many leads do you need to generate in order to allow your selling activities to close the deals necessary to reach this revenue target?

Next, what marketing strategies are necessary to meet your business goal? Will you need to get more publicity? Expand into a new market? Reach more people in your current market? Create a direct mail campaign? Create sales partnerships?

You must pick one or two that deliver on what you are aiming for and hit your target revenue. Now, determine what specific activities will achieve your strategies.

At this point it gets a little bit tricky. You must choose from a vast pool of marketing options/activities and you must choose the activities that will work best for the potential customer you want to reach. You might need to participate in trade show events where you get face to face with your market.

You might need to launch a new website, you might need to implement a referral program for current customers. The list goes on and on.

Whatever your activities are, put them together into your plan and create target metrics (e.g. number of leads collected, number of prospects you talked to, etc).

Finally, you end up with your marketing plan.

The next step, your sales plan, tells you how the leads generated by marketing will be converted to customers, and how back end sales will be made to those customers. Sales metrics include conversion rates, overall revenues, or revenue per customer/per square foot/per time spent in the store, etc.

The great thing is that now you have something to measure against and you can review things periodically to see if you are on track or if something needs to be adjusted.

This process or call it small business marketing plan, doesn’t need to take a lot of time but the benefits to your business can be huge. Having a plan will give you a lot more insights into your well oiled business machine or parts of your business that need some tweaking.

Strategic Plans Drive Small Business Success

admin — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:20:06 +0000

Over 85% of small businesses do not have a strategic business plan (strategic plan). By operating without a strategic/business plan, many small businesses are missing out on a powerful tool to help them define and reach their goals. Many small business owners believe that only large companies need such plans, but the reality is that small businesses can reap tremendous rewards by creating a strategic plan.

A strategic plan is like a roadmap for your company. It needs to identify where you are and what you stand for, where you are going, how to measure progress and estimate when you will arrive, and what resources are available for the journey. The plan helps the company maintain focus, recognize progress and take corrective action when needed.

While each company will have a unique document, the elements of the plan are remarkably similar across the board. Common elements and their purpose are listed below:

Vision, Mission, and Commitments: what do you stand for, what are your high level goals, and to what are you committed? Executive Summary: a quick synopsis of the document Company Background, Products, and Services: what does the company do to produce value for its clients? Marketing Plan: how will the company attract new clients, keep current clients, how much is budgeted for marketing, and how is success measured? Operational Plan: how will the company execute operations? Organizational Structure: how is the company structured and what are the roles and responsibilities to identify accountability? Financial Report: what is the long-term financial projection? Strategies: what is the company going to do to accomplish its goals? Challenges and Solutions: what obstacles are anticipated and what solutions are identified in advance? Budgets: how much will be allocated to each functional area?

Taking the time to put a guiding document together requires thinking through what the business objectives are, how they will be reached, the role individuals will play, etc. It is also a “living” document. It is of minimal value if it is put on a shelf and only referenced quarterly. It becomes a part of the operation of the business and is updated and referenced frequently. It can and should be used at meetings to measure progress and to help the company’s employees stay focused on the strategic goals and progress towards those goals.

What are some of the benefits of having a strategic plan? The effort required to create the plan necessitates contemplation of long-term goals and a manner to achieve those goals. The strategic plan helps orient the organization towards a common target and is a useful tool to create an environment of accountability. By constantly measuring progress against the identified goals, the workforce maintains focus and understand where their efforts fit into the grand scheme. A well thought out plan helps accurate budgeting and enables quick adjustments to be made if needed.

Elements can also be a useful tool to engage employees, focus productivity, and reduce turnover. We live in a different economic and workplace environment compared to a few decades ago. Gone are the job-for-life and benefits into retirement contracts that used to be common. Because of the turbulence now inherent in our business economy, people feel totally free to change jobs frequently and without concern for loss of accrued benefits. A strategic plan enables workers to see the long-term plan for the small business and helps create buy-in into the future they helped define. Reduced turnover and employee buy-in are valuable to any small business.

In summary, while the perception may be that strategic plans are not needed for small businesses, the reality is that a small business with a strategic plan is more aligned, has better employee engagement, and can quickly and accurately measure its progress towards well-defined goals.

Contact Michael now to find out more about how a strategic plan can help your business and to learn why a strategic plan is one of the first outcomes of my coaching process.

Michael Nelson
Phone: 877-242-4812
michael@thecogentcoach.com
www.thecogentcoach.com
This article may be shared provided it is not altered and the contact information remains intact.
© Cogent Consulting Group, LLC All Rights Reserved 2010

Starting a Small Business – Things You Need to Plan

admin — Sat, 28 May 2011 22:25:05 +0000

Small businesses are easy to start up because of the low capital requirement and due to the fact that you do not need a high level of staffing. However, there are some basic plans you would need to do before coming on stream.

What do you need to do?

1. Starting capital: You need to have a starting capital ready. The amount of money you need depends on the kind of business you have in mind and the level at which you wish to start off. Generally. You do not need a large amount of money to start, but you need to plan other areas so that the small income you start with would be judiciously utilized.

2. Location: The location where you site your new business is very important. You should think of a place where you would be guaranteed of high traffic coming to patronize you. It would be wise therefore to site your small business in the heart of town/city rather than in outskirt of the city where anybody can hardly hear about it. If it is sited in the heart of the city people would not pay huge amount on transport before they can get to you. After all you have just started, nobody knows you yet. So why should they spend that much to locate you when there are several people rendering the same services you wish to render to them?

3. Accommodation: You need a decent and cheap accommodation to start up your new business. You have to think of a place where your customer can be comfortable and feel relaxed when they come to patronize you. Therefore you should not use a dilapidated place that would cost you a fortune to put in shape. As you look for a decent accommodation you must remember you do not have to spend your life savings securing an accommodation. You need to look for something moderate yet decent. If possible you should pay for a least a year upfront and relax thereafter to do business. Sometimes the business may not pick up on time; so taking care of your accommodation means you would not be kicked out by your landlord because of failure to meet up monthly rents.
However, if you are very sure of encouraging daily sales it would be wise to settle for a monthly rent so you have enough capital to plough into your business.

4. Staffing: To start up you need few to moderate staff; you should get competent hands that are willing to work for a moderate pay so that you would be able to meet up with their monthly salaries. You can increase their salaries as your business grows. You must as a rule avoid hiring incompetent hands simply because they are cheap; instead employ few qualified hands and add your personnel services to theirs to put your business on its feet. You may employ cheap labour for the non-sensitive areas like cleaning, security, transport, etc. Everything must be moderate; don’t start two big otherwise you would run out of cash too soon and also out of business

5. Running capital: You need to have some reserved capital available for the daily running of the business. You need money for transportation/fueling, staff monthly salary, and miscellaneous expenses. Therefore, you should remember to keep aside some money that would help you to keep your business running.

6. Advertisement: Think of how to let people know about your business and the services you can render. You need to advertise your business either online or offline. You may need to print business cards or handbills which you distribute to customers. You may also need to place adverts on newspapers if you have the money. You definitely need to let people know your business exists so they would patronize you. On the internet you may use resources that wouldn’t cost you much – social media, blogs, e-books, newsletters, etc.

Business Plans For Small Businesses – A Smart Strategy For Building Business Growth

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:00:55 +0000

Warning: this article reveals an essential strategy that must go in your business plan for small business success. After working with 146 businesses of all sizes I have noticed an inherent difference between success and struggle.

Virtually every sustainable long term enterprise inserts into their small business plans this key strategy. Without fail, most struggling enterprises do not implement this key tactic. So what is the strategy?

Essential Strategy to include in your business plans for small business success.

Stay in touch with prospects and past customers on your database at least every 90 days or less. Now it can be as frequent as weekly, fortnightly, monthly but never more than 90 days.

How do you do this? Well the very first step is to collect all contact data and have a simple database to put them in. Worldwide database management software such as Goldmine and Act are good possibilities for smaller business. Larger businesses will need more sophisticated industry specific versions.

Burn this saying into your mind: “More contact equals more sales.” The reverse is also true: Less contact equals less sales.

In the 21st century a new paradigm of successful business communication has emerged and it does not matter what industry you are in. After all, we are all human beings with wants and needs. Our past and current customers deserve our attention.

If you do not stay in touch with your past or current clients at least quarterly, there is a high percentage chance they will become someone else’s (your competitors new customer).

So this must do strategy no matter what business you are in, is critical to your success. Include it in any business plans for small business success.

Set Up a Business Plan for Your Small Business (Part 4) – Calculating Through Net Income

admin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:34:07 +0000

The last article ended with the business plan updated through the Operating Income line. So we’ve discussed revenue, direct expenses, and most SG&A expenses. Here we’ll finish with the calculation of net income. We’ll wrap up our business plan discussion with some overall thoughts in the next article.

The next area we need to consider are the effects of any financial activity your firm will be engaged in. Interest income and expenses need to be forecast. Part of the overall aspects of your business plan will be what financing you receive, how much of that money you will use directly, how much you will use over time, and how much that not currently being used will earn.

For instance, let’s say you received $100K in financing at the beginning of year one. You anticipate that, given your specific operations and level of business, you will use $50K by the end of year one. The average amount that you will not be using at any given time during the year is $75K, as you run it down from $100K to $50K. You will probably have that money in an interest bearing account. We can assume an interest rate, say 1%, and multiply by the average balance, $75K. The result, $750 would be our interest income for year one. You should continue your cash flow analysis and calculation through years two and three.

Of course, you may have some Interest expense as well. If you financed your business with a loan of $100K, for instance, then you would calculate the interest expense for the year. If the interest rate were 6%, then your Interest expense for the year would be $6K. Depending on your payback schedule, the interest expense could be slightly different – this assumes you are paying interest-only for the year, but this would be close in any case. You should continue this projection for years two and three.

Most small business will not be paying out dividends, but if yours will, the next line is where they would be shown.

We should deduct our net interest expense and dividends from our Operating income to give us our Net Income before Income taxes. Last but not least, we have income taxes to project. For simplicity, we’ll assume that the business is a sole proprietorship. In that case, tax rates are the same as individual rates. Your net income from your business is added to any other net income you may have through any other salary or business, and the tax owed would be calculated accordingly. In the same way, you should estimate the tax for years two and three.

Once you deduct your income tax from the previous line you will have your projected Net Income for your business. At this point you will have essentially completed the revenue, expense and income picture for your business as per your business plan. Of course, an ancillary product of this process would be year-end balance sheet figures and cash flow statements. These will show the cumulative financial results / effects and cash position, respectively.

Please see the next article in the business plan article series where we will take a step back and take a look at the big picture and the most important issues related to the business plan.

Developing Your Small Business Marketing Plan

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:56:32 +0000

Along with your business plan, your small business marketing plans is only of the most important long-term plans you’ll make for your small business. Some small business owners choose to ignore that advice, instead preferring to fly by the seat of their pants, so to speak, to “wing it.” While some of those small business owners are successful, they’re not nearly as successful as they could be had they laid out a well-defined small business marketing plan.

Small business marketing strategy step 1: Know your market

The first step in developing a successful small business marketing strategy is to make sure that you have a really solid handle on your target market. Ask yourself: Who are my customers? Once you’ve identified who they are, ask yourself: What are my customers’ problems? What are their dreams and aspirations? The surest way to answer those questions, of course, is to ask your customers themselves. Even if you can’t afford to hire a small business marketing firm that will conduct focus group tests for you, you can do your own simple survey by hitting the streets and talking to those people you plan to sell to (and make contacts at the same time!). You’d be surprised how powerful that simple task is yet how few businesses do it.

Small business marketing strategy step 2: Know yourself

The second step in developing your small business marketing strategy is to get to know yourself (your business), once you’ve gotten to know your customers. Ask yourself: What does my business do? How is my business different than my competitors’? How does my business help solve my customers’ problems or help them achieve their dreams? Answering these questions will help you to define your unique selling proposition – those aspects that set you apart from your competitors.

That unique selling proposition should become your brand – your business’s identity. Your brand is what will pervade all of your marketing materials and what your customers will use to identify you. The importance of diligently developing your brand as part of a successful small business marketing strategy can’t be overstated.

Small business marketing strategy step 3: Analyze your competitors’ small business marketing strategies

Once you’ve developed your brand – that unique identity that tells your customers who you are and how you’re different – you can begin thinking about how you’re going to actually market your business. First, look at your competitors’ small business marketing strategies. Are there obvious gaps that you could fill (and thereby stand out among the competition)? For example, if you see that none of your competitors have websites, you could stand out with a small business marketing strategy online.

Wherever you market your business, it must be where your customers are. For example, small business marketing online will be a waste if none of your potential customers use the Internet. Likewise, you may think that writing a monthly column in your local newspaper would be a great way to advertise your services and establish yourself as an expert; but if none of your potential customers read that paper, that small business marketing strategy will fail.

At this point, your small business marketing strategy will not only be defined by where your customers are and what your competitors are doing, but it will also depend on your small business marketing budget. A full-page spread in a national magazine may be the best way to reach your target audience, but if you can’t afford to shell out tens of thousands of dollars, it’s not the small business marketing strategy for you.

Wherever your small business marketing plan takes you, the careful development of your small business marketing strategy – by knowing your market, knowing your business, and analyzing your competitors’ strategies – will be a critical determinant of your long-term business success.

Small Business Marketing Plan: How Having A Plan Is Key to Success

admin — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:56:06 +0000

When you start a business, you sit down and write a business plan (at least, you should do this). After your business is up and running, you will have to take that next step which includes marketing. Before you decide the first move of your marketing campaign, before you spend a single cent of your marketing budget, you have to write a small business marketing plan as well. And, just as the business plan spelled out all of the needs and possibilities of the new business, your small business marketing plan should also spell out the goals that you would like to accomplish.

Whether you are talking about a small business that provides a local service or a larger business that has a broader customer base, the first and most obvious goal of the marketing plan should be to increase the number of customers and the number of sales that you have. These are similar but different goals: you can increase the number of people who are coming to your front door or visiting your web site without increasing your sales by a single penny. You do need to get more people to have a look at your business, but you need them to actually open their wallets and shop once they get there.

When you are making your marketing plan, you are setting a road map for the marketing campaign and hopefully answering a number of questions that come up along the way. You might have some concerns about the cost of the marketing or may wonder what the best type of marketing is for your business. You might also wonder about where you should do the bulk of your marketing. As you answer these questions your small business marketing plan will start to take shape.

After it is written and implemented, the next step in the small business marketing plan is to decide whether it is working or not. You set the goals and the time line for those goals to determine how well the plan is working. As an example, you could say that you want to increase your sales by a set amount in three months or increase interest in your business by a certain percentage, or a combination of both.

7 Tips to Real Estate Agents’ Success

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:05:29 +0000

With over 2 million real estate agents according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), becoming a successful real estate agent takes more than just a license and a knowledge of current laws and regulations.The first year drop out range estimated to be from 40% to 80% demonstrates that many real estate agents are not as successful as they could be and research suggests that 90% give up after 3 years. The following 7 tips may help you avoid becoming one of these statistics.

First and Foremost YOU are a business. Real estate agents work for a broker, but are independent, commissioned sales people. This means that you are a small business and must run your practice as a business. Again, remember you are a small business owner. Embrace a Planning Attitude. If you don’t have a plan, then you are on some else’s plan – usually the successful real estate agent’s. During the last 10 years, what I have learned as a performance improvement consultant or coach is that most people place more value in planning a trip to the grocery store or a vacation than planning their lives either professionally or personally. Research Your Market Plan. Since you, as the real estate agent, are responsible for your own expenses, do your research specific to your marketing plan within your strategic plan. Time spent in constructing your marketing plan is definitely well spent. NOTE: Remember a business plan usually is data driven, while a strategic plan identifies who does what by when. Establish Sales Goals. Using your strategic action plan, establish sales goals. If you are new to this industry, it may take 6 months before the first sale. HINT: Use the W.H.Y. S.M.A.R.T. criteria for goal setting. Create a Financial Budget. Budgeting is critical given the up and down of this volatile market place. Your financial budget should plan for your marketing costs, any additional costs such as education and your forecasted income. Make Managing Yourself a Priority. Building a business is not easy. You must learn how to manage yourself especially in the area of time management, ongoing real estate business training coaching continuing education units, and personal life balance. Real estate is said to be a 24/7 business much like any small business. However, it is important not to lose sight of your personal life including family, friends, physical health, etc. Find a Mentor or a Real Estate Coach. Going it alone is not easy. Take the time to find a mentor who can help you steer through some of the known obstacles and help you during the “peaks and valleys.” If you have the resources, you may wish to hire a real estate coach or an executive coach who specializes in small business help and sales.

Being an incredible sales person and entering the real estate market does not guarantee similar sales success. However, these 7 tips may help you avoid many of the pitfalls by not being one of the four real estate agents who quit within one year or one of the nine who give up after 3 years.

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners

admin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:08:14 +0000

Entrepreneurs, are you committing yourself to a New Years Resolution in 2011? If you haven’t thought of a way to improve your business life, social life, family life, or startup life, then maybe this Top 10 New Years Resolution list for entrepreneurs will help you to see the light.

10. Survey your employees.

Sometimes, the biggest employee dissatisfaction are the easiest things to fix! Know what changes your employees would like to make in their work lives and do your best to increase their quality of work life. In the long run, this can increase your employees’ productivity and therefore, help your business.

9. Converse with other entrepreneurs.

Meeting new successful entrepreneurs can give you access to mentoring and networking. By joining business networking groups, you will have the capacity to meet dozens of entrepreneurs-from aspiring to seasoned. Conversing with other entrepreneurs will help you feel a sense of community and support to build your business.

8. Stick to your manageable, reachable goals.

If you haven’t written your business plan, starting one for 2011 would be a great resolution. If you do have a business plan, be sure to stick to your goals displayed in it for 2011.

7. Take small business and entrepreneurship classes.

When you take the time to learn something new, you are adding value to your business instantaneously. Be sure to check out all of the free online courses that many websites offer. Additionally, check out any courses that entrepreneurial resources offer (for example, business incubators or organizations).

6. Make business planning a priority.

It is important to focus on your businesses’ future success throughout 2011. To actively make business planning a priority, try to plan every morning for thirty minutes or so.

5. Keep learning.

There are more ways to continue your business learning than just attending entrepreneurial classes. Stay updated on your industry and beyond by reading blogs, books, newspapers and magazine. Other great ways to expand your mind: listen to interviews, turn on an audiobook, and tune into a podcast.

4. Get a business coach.

One (almost) sure-fire way to improve your business is by hiring a business coach. Business coaches can help turn your dreams into a reality. Make sure you enlist someone that you can trust to give you objective feedback and create deadlines for your planned successes.

3. Celebrate!

If you and your team have accomplished something great, celebrate! Carve out time for celebratory lunches, cocktails, dinners and parties with your partners and employees.

2. Give back.

Giving back to a community is one of the fundamental New Years Resolutions. There are many different ways to give back to those who helped you succeed and there are thousands of organizations that would love your help. Find a cause that matters to you and devote a couple hours a month. This will help you get your business’s name out there and will help you feel good about yourself.

1. Get a life!

Managing your work-life balance is critical to a happy life. It is crucial that you take breaks from your business to enjoy life. Make a resolution to enjoy physical as well as mental vacations from your business every once in awhile. This is not only good for your health, sanity and relationships, but it is also good for business! You’ll gain relief from the stresses of growing your business, and once you return, you’ll be reinvigorated with a new perspective on your challenges and opportunities.

What are you doing to make 2011 the best year yet?

Written by Allison Way. Allison is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners and bizperc, two of Kansas City’s newest entrepreneurial resources. Read more about this and other subjects on the Think Big Kansas City blog.