2-1-2 Small Business Sense

All small business owners know the importance of marketing even if they are not sure how or what needs to be done.

If they are in the start up stage of their small business they may feel that they cannot pay the cost of a marketing consultant Why not try some DIY marketing research first until you start to get into gear.

No matter what your mission statement says, the purpose of your business is to profitably get customers and keep them. With out customers there is no business. To get and keep customers you must be able to answer this question: “If I were the customer, why would I do business with me?”

That is the kernel of all market research. It is surely the most important question you can ask of your business Knowing the customer, knowing the marketplace, knowing the competition, knowing your product/service, if you were the customer, why would you do business or buy from yourself. You must be able to answer the question honestly and factually. If you can, answer in dollar terms. For example, ” If I were the customer I would do business with me because my services can improve his profits by 30% or $1,000 each week” But whatever when you know the answer to that one single question you have a foundation for pricing, advertising, selling, negotiating, and doing business It is not easy to answer this simple question.

The answer requires knowing who your customer is, which is not always obvious.

The answer requires an understanding of your customers profile; Her concerns; her ability to pay; Commitments to other methods; Tolerance to risk; Cultural barriers; Mindsets: And confusions. The answer requires an accurate knowledge of the economic and “feel good” values your customer will get in your product.

The answer is the blueprint for product innovation, for advertising headlines, for market segmentation, for marketing and distribution strategy. the answer is the blueprint for allocating investment, for hiring the right people, for selecting the best locations.

If you were the customer and you can state in ten words or less why you would buy from yourself, maybe the customer will listen to you

By: Kelvyn Peters

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You might have the best and the most detailed business plan but unless you have the right small business software, your business will lack profitability as well as productivity.

Take accounting for example. Try and maintain all your accounts and records by hand and you will know how tedious the job can be. I am not saying that it cannot be done. It’s just that it takes too much time and requires meticulous precision.

Contrary to what most people believe, accounting software is not at all difficult to use. It is inexpensive too. So why shouldn’t your small business have accounting software?

I have heard all kind of answers to this question. Some say that it is too confusing to choose small business software. Others say they do not want to invest in training the staff to use the software.

Choose the very basic

The kind of software that you choose also depends on the size of your business. Most small businesses do not have very significant book keeping needs. Hence very basic small business software is ideal for them.

If you are outsourcing a major chunk of your accounting work, then you might have to choose a slightly advanced book keeping software. Learning to use the software properly is extremely necessary.

But nowadays, most software vendors take this into account and create extremely user friendly software. Even an amateur computer user can start using the software with as less as a few clicks.

If you have had trouble maintaining balance sheets, then consider it to be over. For small business accounting software will create sheets that will balance and highlight the errors.

Uses Galore

You can use the small business accounting software for much more than tracking the expenses and creating annual receipts. Even the most basic accounting software can generate payrolls, manage your taxes, print out various important forms and keep a track of the bills.

By: Rama Krishna

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