Service Desk Success - An Opportunity For Differentiation

In a world of multi-media and globalization, it is a constant struggle for organizations to standout in a saturated marketplace. Be it a financial, education, healthcare or not-for-profit organization, the need to positively differentiate from competitors is the only way to gain an edge over the ever-present competition.

Promoting a culture of service management, both internally and externally, is the key to being more relevant to customers within any market vertical. This allows organization to shape its products and service based on the specific requirements of its business and customers and encourages business confidence by providing more reliable service and support.

Internally, IT service management encourages a clear understanding of actual IT capabilities, and promotes IT service continuity. In most cases, the largest percentage of the IT spend is in on the day-to-day support costs and this can be reduced by an effective service management process.

Service management ensures IT resources are aligned with business requirements, and allows the IT department to appropriately identify points of flexibility and adaptability within the services they provide. This ensures service issues and change requirements are handled efficiently and effectively, to keep organizations running at an optimum level.

Cost Effective

Many organizations erroneously believe that the Service Desk tool is the greatest cost in providing support when it has been well proven that it only represents about 4% of the total IT budget (refer to Gartner's IT Key Metrics Data). This means that the greatest cost in providing service is staff-related. In fact, Gartner estimates this is to be around 86%. Therefore, the efficiencies gained through the implementation of a quality service desk will dramatically decrease the cost of providing service through the decreased staffing costs alone.

The Service Desk

The point in management where people, process and technology blend to deliver a business service is at the Service Desk. The service desk provides the essential daily contact between Customers, Users, IT service and any relevant Third-party support organization. The main objective of the service desk is to drive and improve service support to, and on behalf of an organization.

This Customer-facing support service is a single point of contact that provides advice, guidance and rapid restoration of normal services to its customers and users. It handles Requests, Incidents, Problems and Change requests. More than this, it also manages maintenance contracts, software licenses, and provides Service Level Management and Configuration Management.

The successful implementation of a service desk results in a professional service that builds business confidence and provides greater customer satisfaction. This is a result of the professional service that is positioned to provide a consolidated and fiscally positive business activity that impacts all aspects of service beyond the IT department. The key to service desk success is the employment of professional people, well-defined and repeatable processes and good tools, which in-turn makes the product or service being supported, to some degree, immaterial.

Adopting a service management approach results in benefits across all level of any business:

Customers - obtain a sustainable, reliable, secure, quality service
Line Management - achieve greater control over the change management process
Senior Management - can monitor performance and adjust resources appropriately
Boards - gain confidence from the adoption of best practices service, which in turn are mitigate personal risk
Business Partners - provides greater control over inter-business risks.

Dr. Darren Williams is Chief Executive of LiveTime Software, Inc. which provides ITIL Service Management software for many global 2000 companies such as LockHeed Martin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Verizon and NEC. http://www.livetime.com

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How to Get Good Customer Service & Save Money - 8 Keys For Success

I've had some amazing results using the techniques I am about to describe for getting good customer service. I had a power toothbrush manufacturer give me a new unit because it was losing its ability to hold a charge three times in a row just before the two-year warranty ended. I had a computer manufacturer replace a recently purchased computer because I was unhappy with its performance two times! The last computer they sent me had twice the capabilities in almost every category. And I had an automobile manufacture replace an air conditioner that stopped working in a vehicle that was out warranty by more than a year.

I've been using these techniques to get good customer service for years. The key to executing these strategies with customer service representatives is that you must do them with sincerity. You must find the motivation and good-heartedness within so that you can express yourself with authenticity.

These techniques work with all different types of customer service representatives, but those with the most authority and best training have the greatest ability to do you the most good. I categorize customer service representatives like this. Customer service representatives with the greatest to the least amount of authority and training are those at the manufacturer, followed by managers at retail stores, followed by clerks you'd find at a customer service desk of a department store.

Here are the 8 keys for getting good customer service.

1. Greet Them in a Friendly & Respectful Manner

If you consider what customer service representatives deal with on a daily basis it's easy to see how being friendly and respectful is a crucial first step in getting good customer service.

Many people who call customer service have the mistaken notion that the only way they are going to get something done is to be angry, forceful, and demanding. This is a big mistake. Imagine how the customer service representative feels at the other end of the phone. The customer service representative must be nice and many customers take advantage of this.

Consider how the customer service representative can respond and get back at you for making their job miserable. They can give you the bare minimum from the array of possible solutions that they are authorized to provide and the least amount of their time to identify them.

If you greet them in a friendly and respectful manner, amazing things can happen. Here's how you should greet them. Customer service representatives usually give their name when they answer the phone. Write it down so that you can use it in your conversation and record it in your notes at the end. Greet them by saying something like this in a pleasant, uplifting, and sincere tone, "Hi Robin! How are you doing today?" If you get a warm response from them, continue. Your chances of getting good customer service from this person are excellent. If their response is cold, come up with an excuse to end the call. You will not get good customer service from this person.

If the conversation starts poorly, the rest of it will continue the same way. This can happen for any number of reasons including the possibility that they are having a bad day, your personalities don't match, or they just have a bad attitude. I've never had a call that started poorly end on a positive note. If you get the same representative when you call back, wait a few hours or days before trying again.

The other half of the strategy for getting good customer service involves you. If you're having a bad day, you're in a rush, or you're angry or frustrated with the product you are calling about, call some other time.

You'll know it when you connect with a customer service representative that you gel with. The stronger the rapport that you establish at the beginning, the better the results you will get in the end. And often the outcome can be far beyond your expectations. I've been amazed countless times.

2. Talk Positively About Their Product

Here's another area where you must put yourself in the place of the customer service representative. The person that you are speaking with has chosen to work for the company that manufactures or sells the product that you are calling about. In many cases, this assignment is an entry-level position. Some companies place their management trainees into this job so that they can learn about the business from the frontlines. Everyone wants to be proud of where s/he works. You can imagine how a customer service representative will feel if they get a caller who angrily rips apart the company and product that they represent.

There was a positive reason why you chose to buy a particular product. Before you call, revisit those reasons and take your attention away from the frustration the problem has caused. Then express these reasons to the customer service representative. Whatever you come up with, you must communicate it with sincerity. Here's an example of what I mean. Tell the customer service representative, "I bought your LX model and I love it. In fact, this is the third time I've purchased one of your products and I've always been extremely happy with them. But this time I am having a problem that I am hoping you can solve."

Telling them how you appreciate their product and explaining your history provides a customer service representative with the information they need to classify you as a valued customer. The criteria for this classification may come from company and department policy, but the customer service representative interprets and applies it. Therefore, you need to convince and encourage your representative.

Being classified as a valued customer empowers, and possibly inspires, the customer service representative to provide you with options only available to this select group. In order words, companies and customer service representatives want to hold on to customers who are loyal and speak well of them. After all, isn't this the number one reason for providing good customer service?

A written policy for classifying valued customers may or may not exist, but I can assure you that it does in practice at every company.

3. Determine a Solution in Advance

If you have a solution on how the problem might be solved in advance, you can guide the conversation with the customer service representative toward that outcome. If you don't have a clue on how the problem might get fixed before you call, the result may not match your expectations. Figure out what you want to accomplish before the call even if you have to do some research. This is particularly important when you are calling about an expensive item.

Decide ahead of time what you want to accomplish. Don't leave it to the customer service representative to decide for you. If you are calling the manufacturer, you might need to call or visit a few of their local retail stores to determine their parameters. Retail store personal might also provide you with some insights on what is needed and what is possible when dealing with the manufacturer. This is valuable information that you can use to get what you want in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of effort.

It's important that you clearly state the problem and then subtly and respectfully lead them toward the solution that you want without actually saying it. By not saying it right away, you avoid the possibility of them thinking that you are trying to take advantage of them.

The best strategy is to clearly present the problem and allow them to present possible solutions. If they don't offer the one that you want or the one that you know they sometimes provide based on your research, start asking questions. For example, say to them, "What other possibilities are there?" or "It is my understanding that you sometimes offer X or Y." or "This has nothing to do with your performance because you've been great, but are there any options beyond the range of your authority that I might consider?" The last one is tricky. Your objective is to get them on your side before you ask them to speak with their supervisor. You do this by being respectful and asking, in effect, for their permission to speak with a person with greater authority. You might say, "Would you mind if I spoke to the person (supervisor/boss) that you mentioned?" That way they won't feel slighted or become defensive. If you were to make them feel that they were performing poorly, they would not support your position when they present the matter to their supervisor before transferring the call.

Remember that a company's goal is to provide good customer service. Your objective is to help them do it in a way that fixes the problem to your satisfaction.

4. Ask What Can Be Done to Correct the Problem

Here's a slightly different approach. After you have established a rapport, explained the problem, and guided them toward your desired outcome, simply ask them, "What can be done to correct the problem." After you have asked them this question, do not talk. Wait for them to speak first! This is very important. There's an old saying about successful sales and negotiation techniques that goes something like this, "Who ever speaks first loses."

Your objective is to find out about all the possible options that exist for solving your problem. If they don't present any that satisfy you, ask them, "What other options are available" or "Are there any options beyond the range of your authority that I might consider?" and "What are they?"

When you are speaking about options beyond their authority, you are leading them toward a conversation with their supervisor. But before you let them transfer the call, learn as much as you can about all the options that are available. When you speak to their supervisor, use the same strategies I described for talking with representatives. If the representative you were speaking to provided good customer service, be sure to mention this to the supervisor. After all, the supervisor probably hired and trained them.

Keep probing them for the solution you want by repeatedly asking them, "What can be done to correct the problem?" Do this with patience and respect and you will get good customer service and be satisfied with the result.

5. Show Your Appreciation

With each attempt to find a solution to your problem, express your appreciation and praise them for their efforts. Everybody likes being appreciated; it makes them want to do more. This is probably more true of customer service representatives since they spend most of their time listening to people complain and criticize.

Since it may take several steps involving days or weeks to solve the problem, it's important to constantly show your appreciation and not assume that the issue will be fixed with just one or two calls. So don't burn your bridges.

If a customer service representative does an extraordinary job, take the time to tell them and even offer to send an email to their boss. Again, only do this if you sincerely feel this way and intend to follow through.

By expressing your appreciation to your representative, you have a much better chance of receiving good customer service.

6. Make Notes

After you've ended the call, make notes about your conversation that include this information: date(s) contacted, customer service representative's name, description of the problem, description of the solution, and agreed timetable.

This information gives you the ability to respond with authority and it lets them know that you are keeping records. These records also strengthen your position should you need to pursue the matter further or take it up the chain of command.

7. Follow Up

Mark your calendar on the date stated to you that the problem would be solved. If it's not solved by that date follow up with your customer service representative. I would recommend that you add a couple of extra days to allow for any clichés so that you don't waste your time or theirs when you call.

The strategy for follow up is the same as it was at the beginning -- be polite and respectful. You'll need to add one more crucial ingredient that can lead to success if you can hold on to it: Patience! If you can hold on to your patience, the customer service representative will likely recognize this and reward you by giving much more than you expected.

8. Consider Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys have become an important part of measuring business success for most companies. To encourage employees to provide good customer service, the scores they receive are sometimes tied directly to their salary. If they get an overall rating that's less than near perfect their paycheck is reduced.

Although this method of incentive has produced a higher level of customer service, I question the ethics of doing this when it can affect a large portion of a person's salary. This is especially true when certain measurements of the survey are outside the control of the employee.

With this in mind, I would encourage you to give the person you've been working with, or their supervisor, the opportunity to solve the problem rather than venting your anger in the survey.

This is particularly important for business establishments that you visit regularly like an automobile dealership. They have ways of figuring out which customer gave them a bad score. And if they determine it's you, they'll still treat you in a courteous manner but you'll never know how they may return the favor.

Give representatives and managers every opportunity to solve the problem before you complete a survey. If you're still unsuccessful after you've patiently tried every way possible to get the problem solved, then perhaps it's time to submitted a low scoring survey. The company may actually benefit by getting this feedback if they are that incompetent at providing good customer service and solving your problem.

I've been amazed at what I've been able to get done with customer service representatives over the years using the strategies I've presented. I think my rate of success is about 90 percent! No kidding.

The money you save in not having to replace or repair products is more than worth the time you spend. And in some cases, if you're really in the zone using the techniques I've described, you'll end up with more than what you originally paid for the product or service.

So as I have pointed out, good customer service isn't necessarily something that is given automatically, it's something that you create! Companies spend a great deal of money training their representatives to provide good customer service. I am surprised that some of them don't spend a portion of their budget on training their customers, through subtle methods, on how to "get" good customer service.

You are now one of the few who knows the secrets to getting good customer service. Give them try.

Brad Paul
http://www.guruhabits.com/

Copyright © Brad Paul

To see the original article with graphics and links, click: http://www.guruhabits.com/good-customer-service.html

Brad Paul is the founder of Guru Habits.com, which provides FREE self improvement and lifestyle enhancement resources.

Brad left home at 15, lived in a boy's home, graduated college with honors, headed a marketing group responsible for $400 million in annual sales, wrote 3 books, and now works on projects that improve people's lives.

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TeenNick Finds Success in the Nostalgic '90s

Viacom’s research appears to have been proved right: twenty-somethings do want their old Nickelodeon shows back.

The first day of the company’s rebroadcast of 1990s shows on TeenNick doubled the channel’s prior ratings in the midnight to 2 a.m. time slot, Nickelodeon said Wednesday. It credited widespread chatter on social media Web sites with the ratings bounce.

The ratings are another indication of the entwined relationship between television and social media. TeenNick programmers were counting on that relationship to propel viewers to the “‘90s Are All That” programming block, which is featured from midnight to 2 a.m. and repeats from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

As The New York Times reported last week, comments from former Nickelodeon viewers who were nostalgic for old shows like “All That” and “Doug” inspired the rebroadcasts in the first place.

On Monday, when the programming block made its debut, there was ample attention to it online: Trendrr.TV, which ranks television shows by the amount of online activity around them, found that TeenNick claimed five of the top 10 positions on its daily ranking.

The channel said in a news release that its Facebook page for the programming block “doubled in fans overnight by 100,000.” The channel also dominated Twitter’s constantly refreshed list of trending topics.

It helps that TeenNick already tends to be talked about heavily online. But there was a clear spike when the shows from the 1990s had their premieres.

For TeenNick, there was very little risk involved in creating the ‘90s programming block, because the overnight hours were rather low-rated.

On Monday, an average of 555,000 people tuned in between midnight and 2 a.m., fully double last year’s total during that time period, according to Nielsen data. Of the 555,000 viewers, 229,000 were between the ages of 18 and 34, the demographic that grew up watching the shows in the 1990s. Most of the others were under the age of 18.

The data suggests, then, that the old shows are finding a new audience as well as a nostalgic one.

The challenge for TeenNick now is a social one: keeping the chatter about the ‘90s shows going when the rebroadcasts are no longer a new idea. Facebook and Twitter have proved to be powerful tools for driving viewers to television for one-time events; can they pull it off every day?

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21 Secrets to Franchise Business Success

1) Evaluate your tolerance for risk

Opening a new business is a scary prospect. There's a lot of personal, professional and financial risk to consider. It's natural when contemplating such a profound step in your career to look at ways to manage your risk and increase your chance of success.

The Small Business Administration conducted a survey that found 62% of non-franchised businesses failed within 6 years. A separate study by the United States Chamber of Commerce found that 97% of franchises were still open after 5 years.

The research conducted by these independent third party organizations clearly demonstrates that choosing a franchise business carries significantly less risk than starting a business on your own.

2) Work with what you've got

Making a list of your strengths is easy. But when launching a business, it's also important to make an honest assessment of your weaknesses.

Before you get to work selecting a franchise, take the time to develop a list that honestly depicts your strengths and weaknesses as a potential business owner. Then use this profile as a tool to help with the decision making process.

Ask franchise owners questions about the duties they perform, and compare the job requirements to your profile. If the business has the potential to be a good fit, the skill sets required to run the business will either be skills you already have or skills you can learn quickly. If this is not the case, it's best to keep looking.

If a certain aspect of a franchise has a steep learning curve but the business is otherwise a great fit, you may want to consider hiring someone experienced with that position. If this is the choice you make, be sure to include their salary and benefits in the financial business plan.

3) Remember to run the business

Many potential franchisees make the mistake of thinking they're limited to buying a franchise in their current field. In fact, this might be the worst way to go.

Some franchises will not allow someone skilled in a particular industry to buy a franchise in that industry. For example, a mechanic may not be allowed to purchase an auto repair franchise. Skilled technicians sometimes find the transition from hands-on work to management work difficult to make, and are tempted back onto the floor to do the job they're familiar with.

The problem with this is that you grow the business by running the business, and what a franchisor wants to see on the bottom line is growth. A business owner needs to be out networking, marketing and interacting with customers. If there's too much work on the floor of an auto repair franchise, then the owner - even if he's a highly skilled mechanic - needs to hire more mechanics.

Basic business skills are transferable to any franchise. If your current position involves universal roles like sales, marketing or accounting then your franchise options are practically unlimited.

4) No business is recession-proof

There's no such thing as a business that can't be impacted by a faltering economy.

There are, however, certain industries that are considered recession "resistant." These are generally products and services people can't do without no matter how much they're cutting the budget.

The good news is there are hundreds of great franchise opportunities in recession resistant industries. The following are just a few examples:

Top recession resistant industries: Food · Automotive · Healthcare · Medical·Clothing · Education

Recession resistant franchise industries: Fast food restaurants· Automotive maintenance, parts and repair · Weight loss and fitness · Resale shops and discount (dollar) stores · Education (tutoring) and child care

5) Objectively evaluate professional advice from personal sources

Friends and family have your best interests at heart, and their advice comes from a place of love and concern for your well-being. No one would suggest making the personal, professional and financial commitment to launching a business without consulting your loved ones.

But friends and family are not subject matter experts and their advice can - intentionally or not - discourage a new business venture. The people who love you worry about what could happen if you fail, and their instinct will be to protect you from the risk.

When it comes to the final decision whether or not to proceed with purchasing a franchise, of course you will carefully weigh all the advice you've received. The key is to rely most heavily on the advice offered by industry professionals.

6) There's no such thing as a free lunch

There are countless "free" franchise brokers and consultants out there claiming to offer unbiased information on franchise opportunities. They will work with you to assess your needs, and use your professional profile to help make recommendations on franchise opportunities that may suit you.

The problem with these services is that they get paid by the franchises for selling franchises. That means they are naturally only going to show you options they'll get paid for. And in the case of high profile franchises that may offer them 2 to 4 times the average commission, there's a real risk they may steer clients to those businesses whether they're a good match or not.

These broker services may have access to detailed data on several hundred franchises and they can be a great source of information. Just be cautious about their recommendations, and get a second opinion before investing your money.

7) Tune out the hype

Never before was the adage "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" more applicable. You're going to hear a lot of hype - good and bad - while assessing potential franchise opportunities.

Between marketing blitzes and human nature, it's easy for success stories to spread like wildfire. Think about the guy who lost weight eating Subway - that story is so pervasive it's become almost impossible to separate the allegory from the restaurant in the public's perception. The hype surrounding that marketing campaign will have an impact on potential Subway franchisees for the foreseeable future.

It's also natural for people to look for something to blame when things go wrong. Because of this there are also going to be negative, emotionally charged franchise stories in circulation. However, keep in mind the nuanced details that created such situations are never discussed; only the attention-grabbing outcomes.

No one is suggesting you completely ignore these stories, because hidden beneath the hype there are likely valuable lessons to learn. Learn from them what you can while keeping in mind what they are: unique situations with complex back stories that probably have no bearing on your success whether or not you choose the same franchise.

8) Look beyond the big brands

Sometimes it's easy to forget there are thousands of franchise opportunities out there, because the big name brands get all the attention. When you're in the early stages of your search, it's a good idea to bypass the overblown marketing of the huge franchises and make an effort to learn about the "no-name" franchises in your industry of interest.

There are quite a few advantages to lesser known franchise brands. For instance, they are often cutting edge concepts that can get a lot of marketing attention. Lesser known franchises haven't yet saturated your local market. And they're usually less expensive to start up, which means less financial risk.

Of course, you may be looking for the security and benefits that come with a big name franchise. Criteria such as national marketing campaigns, standardized employee training, management support and strong purchasing power may be at the top of the checklist for what you're looking for in a franchise, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're not interested in being another instantly recognizable box in another strip mall, then a 'no-name' franchise might be for you.

9) Look beyond the price tag

Just because a franchise is more expensive does not mean it will be more successful.

It's important to evaluate every aspect of a franchise - financial projections, monthly franchise fees, franchiser support levels, issue response time, customer base and marketing, to name a few. The price tag is a factor to consider, but should not be the sole criterion for evaluating the quality of the business opportunity.

Once you narrow down your preference to a particular industry, conduct due diligence on 2 to 3 franchises in that industry. Gathering adequate information on several comparable franchises will allow you to make an informed decision.

10) Comparison shop

Once you decide a franchise is right for you, keep looking.

If you decide to purchase a franchise of Coffee House A, then it's time to start looking for reasons not to buy it. Build a list of questions, and then go talk to owners of Coffee House B and Coffee House C.

Be blunt - ask the competing franchise owners why they feel their business is better than Coffee House A. Ask them what made them choose B over A and C. Ask them if they would recommend you buy the same franchise, and don't stop digging until you're clear on the why (or why not) of their response.

Build a spreadsheet comparing the details of the franchises. Include data such as the benefits offered, financial commitment required, estimated monthly expenses, commercial lease requirements and franchise fees.

If your franchise preference stands up to the scrutiny, then you're on the right track.

11) Contact current and former franchisees

The best way to find out if a franchise is right for you is to go behind the scenes and ask a lot of questions.

Before making a buying decision, prepare a list of questions. Contact at least five current franchisees and make an appointment to discuss your interest in the business. Whatever else you discuss, be sure to ask the questions you prepared.

Try to arrange an all day job shadow session with at least two current franchisees. This will allow you to observe the daily operations of your potential future business without committing to personal financial risk.

Contact several separated franchisees to learn about their experience. Understanding their reasons for getting into - and out of - the franchise can impact your decision.

12) Do your due diligence

All franchises are not created equal, and it's your job to sort them out. The information is out there - all you have to do is go get it.

Conducting due diligence on a franchise opportunity should include:

· Check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints

· Check with the State Attorney General for complaints

· Speak with the franchisor

· Request a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)

· Attend a discovery day with the franchisor

· Make at least 10 calls to current and separated franchisees

· Make appointments to meet franchisees and visit the operation

· Job shadow a franchise owner (or owners) for at least a day (longer, if you can)

· Repeat as necessary

The purpose of due diligence is to reduce your risk. All the steps are necessary, but the most important step is interviewing and job shadowing a current franchise owner.

Some franchise owners will allow potential franchisees to spend weeks at their business learning the ropes. They may be willing to share detailed financial data, and can confirm or refute claims made by the parent company. A franchise owner can answer questions the franchisor may be legally bound from discussing. You may be able to make assessments about your own management style or potential business location by observing theirs. Visiting operating franchises in the course of due diligence may be the single best method for evaluating your potential success with a franchise opportunity.

13) When the time is right, hire a legal and financial team

Getting expert advice on the legal and financial aspects of a potential franchise purchase is essential. Some buyers skip this step to save money, but this is not the place to cut corners. The relatively small fees a lawyer and accountant charge pale in comparison to the enormous financial loss you'll incur if the business fails.

Bringing in the legal and financial experts too soon in the purchase process can also be a mistake. Their professional opinions are necessary and valuable, but their advice can be expensive and potentially counterproductive in the early stages of your search. It's crucial to remember when seeking their input that they should not choose the franchise for you.

Bringing in an accountant too soon can mean paying for them to run Profit & Loss data on every franchise that catches your eye. This onslaught of numbers can cloud your judgment, particularly if they're taken outside the context of in-depth, due diligence research on each business.

Bring in an attorney too soon can mean paying them to review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for every franchise that strikes your fancy. Studying detailed franchise information at such an early stage with a legal advisor who doesn't understand your personality, lifestyle and professional preferences can be detrimental to your search. You could end up inadvertently being talked out of the perfect business.

Waiting to bring in legal and financial advisors until your franchise choices have been narrowed down dramatically is not just cost effective. It's the logical way to use the team's expert advice to your best advantage.

14) Feel the fear and do it anyway

The best way to manage your fear of buying a new business is to manage your risk. The best way to manage your risk is to learn everything you can, then proceed according to what you've learned.

Start the process with no intent to purchase. That removes the chance of getting so excited about business ownership that you take an irrevocable leap with the first prospect you research.

Above all, ask yourself "can I picture myself doing this all day?" If the answer is "no," then be grateful for what you've learned and move on to researching a different industry.

The research and due diligence processes get easier with practice. It may take a few attempts to find the perfect franchise, but your efforts are not wasted. By actively engaging in the search, you've made yourself familiar with the process. And there's no fear in the familiar.

15) Go it alone

Business partnerships are appealing on the surface because the idea of splitting costs, liability and workload is tempting. But it's nearly impossible for any two individuals to work together as much as necessary to launch a new business without problems developing.

If it is a financial necessity to form a partnership in order to purchase your franchise, it's crucial to define the roles each partner will play well in advance. If at all possible, try to structure the partnership so you own 51% and have the power to make binding decisions for the business.

Entering a partnership is not to be taken lightly, and should not be done without consulting your attorney.

16) Lease, lease, lease

Most franchises provide detailed specifications on the type of commercial real estate required to launch the business, and many will assist with the search for an appropriate property.

Leasing a commercial property is nearly always preferable to purchasing one. The capital required to purchase a property is better reserved to fund operating costs for the first few years. It's also preferable to sign short lease terms with options to extend rather than committing to a long lease term.

Because many commercial leases include taxes and assessment fees buried in the fine print that can cause financial problems for your business, it is very important to have your attorney review any commercial lease before you sign it.

17) Don't forget you've got to eat

One of the most common mistakes people make when working up a financial business plan is forgetting to pay themselves. This simple oversight is at the root of a lot of failed businesses.

In a perfect world we would all have enough in savings to go a year without a paycheck, and everything a new business makes could go right back into making it stronger.

The reality is we've all got bills to pay. It's important to be honest and thorough when estimating the salary the business will need to pay you. Cutting yourself short will create enormous problems, especially if your fledgling business can't afford to give you a raise yet.

This is one area where decisions you make for the business directly impact your personal life. The franchise isn't going to do you much good if your heat's turned off and the bank is foreclosing. Taking extra care with this critical detail could someday save more than just your business.

18) Consider alternate financing options

In the current economic climate, strict lending standards are making it harder than ever to get a commercial loan issued. When loan approval is a problem, it is worth considering your 401(k) or IRA as a resource for purchasing your business.

These self-directed retirement structures do permit individuals to actively invest their retirement funds into a business without taking a taxable distribution or incurring early withdrawal penalties. A successful use of this financing method offers the chance for a greater potential return on your money than the original investments.

Using your retirement funds to purchase a business is not to be taken lightly. But if done right, having your own business could be the best retirement plan of all.

19) Lead by example

If you're not working hard for your business, neither will your employees.

At the end of the day, the only one who cares if your business succeeds is you. This is not the time to kick back and count the money. In fact, that attitude is the quickest way to ensure that soon there won't be any left to count.

Even the most diligent business owners may forget that employees can't see through the office door. They have no idea you're calling customers, ordering supplies, writing a marketing plan, reviewing applications and trying to find a way to cover next week's payroll. For all they know, you're taking a nap.

When an employee sees a manager coming in late, leaving early and taking long lunch breaks they think the worst. They don't understand that you came in late because you attended a 7 am referral group meeting. They have no idea that your lunch ran long because you were signing a deal with a big new client. It doesn't occur to them that you left early so you could attend a Chamber of Commerce networking function.

Communication with your employees can help them see you're working as hard as they are. Share your growth projections and help individuals set goals to meet them. Bring key employees to client meetings. Send high performing employees to networking functions in your place. By giving your employees a role in growing the business, they'll take pride in supporting your success.

20) If you don't love it, don't buy it

Confucius said "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

If you wake up in the morning and dread going to work, your franchise will not be successful. It's as simple as that.

The beauty of franchising is the endless variety of options - there's literally something for everyone. You just need to devote the time and effort to figuring out which one will make you hop out of bed every morning, happy to be doing what you love.

21) Use every resource at your disposal

Investing your personal, professional and financial future in a franchise opportunity is a big decision. Use every source of information you can find, and compare the data to make sure you're getting the whole story.

Jim Cerny is a Chicago area entrepreneur and founder of http://www.efranchisereview.com With more than 20 years business experience, his current focus is helping new business owners find success.

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Establishing Business Credit - The Seven Steps to Success

Business versus Personal Credit:

Personal - Personal credit building starts when an individual provides their social security number and applies for their first credit card. At that point a credit profile is started with the personal credit reporting agencies in the region of the country in which they reside. This profile, also commonly known as a "credit report", is built with every credit inquiry, credit application submitted, change of address and job change. The information contained in the report is usually reported to the credit bureaus by those businesses issuing credit. Eventually, the credit report is viewed as a statement or report of an individual's ability to pay back a debt, and is the key tool to access and grant credit.

Business - When a business issues another business credit, it is referred to as trade credit (credit from vendors or suppliers). Trade, or business, credit is the single largest source of lending in the world, but it typically not reported to the business credit agencies by most small businesses. The data regarding trade credit transactions must be submitted and then is accumulated by the business credit bureaus to create a business credit report using the business name, address and federal tax identification number (FIN). The credit bureaus use this data to generate a historical report about a company's business credit transactions and payment history. Typically, the businesses issuing credit rely on the business credit report to determine the credit they are willing to grant and the amount of the credit limit. Additionally, many businesses (suppliers/vendors) will submit credit reference applications to the key suppliers of the business as a method to obtain payment patterns as part of the credit granting process.

The major credit bureaus are:

Dun & Bradstreet
Business Credit USA
Corporate Experian
Small Business Equifax
TransUnion (Personal)

The information provided to the business credit bureaus (primarily D&B) is sent in voluntarily, as businesses are not required to report. Therefore, credit bureaus may never receive any information about the business transactions on credit and a business could go for years accumulating business history without being reported to the credit bureaus and establishing a positive business history of sound credit practices.

Establishing Business Credit History:

Business credit scores range on a scale from 0 to 100 with 75 or more considered an excellent rating. Personal credit scores, on the other hand, range from 300 to 850 with a score of 680 or higher considered excellent. With today's tighter credit scrutiny the higher the credit score, the more likely an individual or business is to obtain credit and at more favorable terms (interest rate and contract length).

While it is important to know that there are many factors http://www.myfico.com that affect a credit score; it's based on more than just whether you pay your bills on time (still very important). The credit score will be affected by the amount of available credit you have on bank lines of credit and credit cards, the length of time you've had a credit profile, the number of inquiries made on your credit profile, paying the bills on time, bankruptcy, as well as other considerations.

The typical American consumer credit report receives two to three credit inquiries per year and usually has 11 credit obligations - typically broken down as 7 credit cards and 4 installment loans. Business owners are not your typical consumer, because they carry both personal and business credit. This typically doubles the number of inquiries made to their personal credit profile and the number of credit obligations they carry at any given time, all of which negatively impact the personal credit score. Additionally, because business inquiries and personal inquiries are not separated on the personal credit report, the personal credit scores are negatively impacted. As mentioned earlier, using the personal credit history to get credit for their business, businesses are not able to build their business history/score, all of which could help attain critical business credit in the future.

A critical mistake many business owners make is using their personal information to apply for business credit, leases and loans. This practice has the resultant impact of potentially lowering their personal credit score, while not building a business credit history and business credit score.

A key to establishing credit for the business and a profile and score is to find companies (UPS, FEDEX, etc.) or your key supplier and vendors that will grant credit for your business without using your personal credit information and then report the payment experiences to the business credit bureaus. By reporting the information to the proper credit bureaus, those companies will help the business establish a business credit profile and score.

The Seven Steps to Success:

1. Company Legal Structure - The business must be a legal entity unto itself in order to establish business credit. Therefore, it is recommended to form a corporation (C Corp) or LLC (discuss with your CPA the advantage/disadvantages of a C Corp versus LLC) as opposed to structuring your business as a sole proprietorship or partnership. Formation of a sole proprietorship or partnership, dictates that personal credit information could be included on the business credit report. Additionally, as a sole proprietor or partner in a partnership, you are personally liable for the debts of the business and all your personal assets are at risk in the event of litigation.

Corporations and LLC's, on the other hand, provide the business owners liability protection, and can build a business credit profile that's separate from the personal credit profile. Therefore, apply for credit under your business's name and find businesses will to grant credit without a personal credit check or guarantee.

2. Register with Business Credit Agencies - The best known business credit bureau is Dun & Bradstreet. Dun & Bradstreet has a process on their web site to establish a D-U-N-S number (a specific 9 digit number related to your business) and instructions how to establish a business credit rating. It is strongly recommended that you contact D&B and follow their process to establish business credit. The following is from the D&B web site:

How do I get started with D&B? With our unsurpassed global data collection system, D&B continually gathers the data that initiates the creation of business credit profiles on new companies. Many kinds of activities can trigger a profile on a new company, such as incorporating your business, applying for a loan, getting a business telephone number, taking out a lease on office space - even just when another company seeks information from D&B about your business. Still, a new business may not have a complete business credit profile. Getting a D-U-N-S Number from D&B - the worldwide standard for business classification systems - is an essential part of helping you establish your business credit profile and will ensure that when a company looks you up in the D&B database they will find you. In some cases, a D&B D-U-N-S Number is so a requirement for doing business some entities, such as the US government.

You should make sure you have a D&B business credit profile if:

You are planning to obtain a business loan
You need to purchase or lease equipment
Your cash flow is tight
You want to ensure you are getting a fair deal from lenders compared to your competition
You want to pay net 30 days instead of COD (Cash On Delivery)
You are paying interest at prime plus 1, or even higher
You plan to do business with entities that require a D-U-N-S Number, e.g. the US Government

These issues and dozens other like them can be addressed by having a strong business credit profile. A good rating provides you with the financial freedom to take the steps you need to grow, and is a straightforward, unbiased method for other companies to assess your level of risk when considering taking you on as a creditor. A poor credit rating is a certain barrier to growth and success, preventing you from getting adequate funding on fair terms.

Communicating directly with D&B will help establish your business credit in less time. If you are a new company, D&B can help you build a complete business credit profile from the ground up; if you have been in operation for a while, you will want to improve and/or protect your business credit profile. Find out more about how to establish, monitor, improve, or protect your business credit.

3. Credit Market Requirements - Businesses must meet all the requirements of the credit market in order to have a higher probability of credit approval, as not being in compliance with the credit market can "send up signal flares" with both credit bureaus and potential grantors of credit.

Some of the "signal flares" include:

not having a business license,
not being registered with the Secretary of State for a certificate of good standing,
operating under your social security number rather than a FIN or EIN,
not having a phone line (land line) that is listed in the phone directory in the exact business legal name,
no web site, or
not having a business email address (not AOL or gmail, but a specific URL for your company).

4. Small Business Credit Lines - Investigate and locate a minimum of five businesses (vendors/suppliers) willing to grant a small business credit without personal guarantees and will report the payment experiences to the business credit bureaus. This will assist your business to establish a credit report and build a financial credit foundation for the company. Find companies willing to grant credit that report to the credit bureaus such as marketingoncredit.com, UPS, FEDEX

5. Business Credit Cards - Obtain three business credit cards (Sam's Club Discover Business card), that are not linked to you personally and that report the business credit to the reporting agencies. Then be sure to always pay your bills on time!

6. Financial Statements, Business Plans and Loan Packages - These documents are often required by many credit grantors as part of their loan application process. CxO To GO is a national professional services firm that has assisted many business with their financial statement preparation and business plans. Additionally, CxO To Go has packages such as PowerPlan and PowerPlan2 for business plans, PowerPuncher for executive summaries, CFOCast for financial projections and BankSell for bank proposals so lenders and bankers will take action. It is important to note that 61% of all businesses are turned down for a loan due to a poor loan package, however with BankSell the lender loan package gets results and moves the applicant to the top of the list for review and credit committee approval.

7. Debt management - Be a smart money manager and manage the debt levels to ensure they are not too burdensome and can be paid back with current cash flow. Do not incur debt that will over leverage the company and cause missed or late payments.

Keith McAslan is a Partner with CxO To Go a national professional services company headquartered in Denver, Colorado that provides on-demand C-Level expertise and best practices to client companies on a part time, flexible, and affordable basis. Keith is sought after to provide advisory services as the Trusted Advisor to Owners and CEO's. By utilizing his extensive experience as a successful financial and operational C-level executive, Keith brings a results driven leadership style to complex situations.

McAslan's expertise includes: financial advisory; management consulting; part time, interim & virtual CFO, COO and CEO; debt and equity financing; turnaround management; acquisition and divestiture advisory. Most recently Keith, was instrumental in the successful sale of Western Forge to Ideal Industries. As the interim CFO with finance and private investment transaction experience, he guided the management team through the complex sale and due diligence process completing the sale from prospective buyer presentation to close within 60 days. Please contact Keith at 303-520-2493, http://www.cxotogo.com, or kmcaslan@CxOToGo.com for your free 2 hour strategy call to discuss your business needs.

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Build Business Success by Building Strong Business Relationships

Building strong relationships with your clients and with other businesses in your network can mean the difference between success and business failure. Your business cannot prosper without support from other people, customers, and businesses. This is possible only if you build and maintain proper relationships. The seven tips below will help you to create business success by strengthening your relationships.

1. Networking is the key to strong business relationships. Contacts form the lifeline of your business. Interact regularly with your existing and prospective customers, suppliers, partners, colleagues, contractors, and acquaintances. You can network personally or through various networking groups. It is not necessary to always deal and discuss only business matters. Your sincere efforts at pursuing and maintaining a relationship will repay your company more than any impersonal advertising can do.

2. Your business card is your identity. While networking, offer your business card to your clients and acquaintances. Your card should be professional in appearance and contain all of your contact details, including your telephone numbers, fax, e-mail address, and website. Exchanging cards forms the foundation of a business relationship. Always carry your card, even to social functions, and be prepared to give your card out when it is appropriate in the conversation.

Exchange business cards on every appropriate occasion. If possible, add a personal note to yourself on the back of the card about the person, where you met, and any questions the contact has about your business. When you collect a card, follow up with the new contact within a week. A business leader who is working on networking will maintain a collection of cards and contact details on a database.

3. Use email for simple communication. Email is a very simple and inexpensive way of communicating with your contacts. Send regular emails to your clients, even if there is no ongoing project. This helps others to remember your business and your expertise long after you have completed a assignment.

You could email an informative letter about industry trends or launch a new product or service your business is offering. After you first establish a contact, a simple email thanking your new contact for the time spent in talking with you and expanding on the services your business provides is appropriate.

Emailing is an effective viral marketing technique. Your clients and business contacts will forward your message to others who could be interested in your line of business.

4. Maintain a well-designed and professional website. Your business website should offer clear information of your business and provide easy to understand navigational directions. Clients should be able to move around and discover relevant information on your website with ease. Optimize your website with popular search terms to improve and increase web traffic. Always update your website with recent information and remove all outdated or unnecessary information.

You can even create an industry forum linked to your website to encourage business people within the industry to network online. This keeps people coming back to your website and establishes your company as the leader in the field. You will also be able to establish strong networking ties to the people contributing comments to your forum.

5. Socialize with Other Business Owners. You will meet many prospective clients at business gatherings. Attend conferences and industry events to network with other people who can assist your business to grow with mutually beneficial arrangements. Play golf, attend social or charity events, and generally socialize with your network of contacts to build and maintain your relationships.

Send emails to new clients providing answers to any queries, or offer to meet your new prospective client at any convenient place to discuss and elaborate on business matters. This helps to build a lasting business relationship. Follow up your emails with phone calls to cement and establish your relationship.

6. Remember Your Loyal Customers. You should always pay special attention to your regular and loyal clients. Your repeat clients offer greater business than new clients do. Your old clients are well aware of your capabilities and approach you when the need arises.

Offering your loyal customers special discounts and services will make the relationship stronger. It is not necessary to offer only business related benefits. You can offer coupons to any special social event, concerts, any upcoming celebrations, and passes to local attractions. You can also send birthday cards and greetings on other special occasions.

7. Remain Flexible and Overcome Obstacles. Remain flexible to maintain steadfast and successful business relationships. A business prospers through inputs from various people, including business partners, employees, mentors, clients, and your contemporaries. Never underestimate anybody and always remain courteous in your business dealings.

You may encounter many obstacles in your business. Being flexible enough to accommodate any delays, uncertainties, and upsets with good communication can build a congenial and effective business relationship with all people associated with your business as a whole.

Building strong business relationships is the key to building business success. You need to network and focus on building and maintaining your contact list to ensure people are talking about your business. Without building a wider customer base, and creating strong networks with other business people who can assist your business, your business will fail. Use the tools that you have, such as email, your business card, your website, and your business services to cement your relationships with your business contacts.

Ian is MD of edot3 a creative web design agency in the UK.

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Business Startup Keys to Success

As more and more people join the ranks of entrepreneurship, more and more information comes available about the right way to drive the success of your startup. The SBA offers a list of factors common among successful startups, such as "has employees" and "knowledge of the business." The Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies article offers other interesting statistics about the various factors that drive the success of these ventures. At the end of the day, any and all business success can be boiled down to three keys - Planning, Marketing, and Financial Management.

Planning does not mean simply filling in the blanks of a ready-made business plan template or worse, buying a completed business plan for your type of business. Good planning should result in a virtual roadmap of your business idea and include every detail of how, when, where, and to whom you will sell your product. In order to create this depth of planning, you need a thorough understanding of your product and industry, your area's legal requirements, your target market, and the available avenues for marketing to your most likely customers. You need to develop an accurate assessment of your sales and expenses and how they will be affected by changes in other factors. You need a general idea of where you want your business to be in the long-term, and plans that are flexible enough to respond to the rapid changes in today's marketplace.

Planning doesn't end once your business is up and running, but is a continuous process that keeps your business on track and alert to opportunities as they arise. All planning should include clear objectives - goals that are specific, measurable, and achievable - with set deadlines for completion. As objectives are met (or not), the results should be evaluated and lessons learned from these efforts should be incorporated into future objectives. Consider using a 90-day planning strategy, where objectives are set and completed within a 90-day timeframe. The shorter time encourages more realistic goal-setting while providing for the flexibility needed for small businesses to grow and thrive in an ever-changing marketplace.

Marketing your business efficiently is absolutely critical for all new businesses, but is often neglected by first-time entrepreneurs. It is not enough to place an ad in the Yellow Pages and post a simple website. Search-engine optimization is a critical marketing tool, but one that tends to intimidate non-tech-savvy business owners. In reality, SEO is not difficult and much can be done for free with just a few hours of computer work per week. In addition to online marketing, a combination of the five classic marketing elements (advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal sales, and direct marketing) also must be incorporated into a successful marketing plan.

Your marketing efforts must be carefully researched and evaluated to ensure you are getting the best return for your marketing dollar. Marketing is how you drive customers to your product and keep them coming back - it is not a business factor to be taken lightly. Take the time to learn and understand all you can and use the right tools to ensure your marketing plan is complete, workable, and gives the business its best chance to succeed.

Financial management is a key to success for obvious reasons - the primary purpose of going into business is to turn a profit! It is critical for the business owner to set up an accurate accounting system and to understand how to evaluate the numbers. You need to understand your business's financial reports and profitability ratios in order to track and manage all areas of your business. For many first-time entrepreneurs, dealing with the numbers seems overwhelming. In reality, a good small business accounting software does the hard work for you by producing the needed financial reports. Learning to read these reports and understanding how to use them (comparing ratios to past performance or to industry averages, for example) is not that difficult, and is a huge factor in whether a business succeeds or fails. The trick is to stop telling yourself that you are not a numbers person - if you are a business owner, you are a numbers person!

Planning

The first of the three keys to business success is Planning. This does not mean throwing together a basic business plan using ready-made templates, or crafting a paragraph that says all the right things filled with industry jargon. Actually planning your business entails delving into the details of every aspect, from legal compliance to marketing to operations. Planning is not just a requirement for startup, but should be an integral part of business management.

Obviously, startup planning is critical. A good plan will create a road map for starting and running your business. You will be knowledgeable about every aspect of your venture and comfortable making the best decisions at the right time. For every area of your business, you will be familiar with the options and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Whether you ultimately decide to outsource or delegate certain functions, such as bookkeeping, marketing, or other non-core competencies, you will have a solid understanding of the outcomes you expect.

In addition, good planning will alert you to potential opportunities and threats to your business idea and get you thinking about different ways to handle them. If a marketing effort isn't working, you will have several backup options ready to go. If the market demand changes, whether increasing or decreasing the desire for your product, you will be ready to respond such that your business experiences limited growing pains or is able to change direction quickly. With this sort of in-depth picture of your business, your risk is greatly reduced and there will be few surprises as you build your business. You'll be the entrepreneurial version of a boy scout - always prepared.

The need for good planning doesn't stop once your venture is up and running. Ongoing planning for growth and preparation for changes is essential, especially in today's marketplace. It is best to establish the habit of continuous planning early in the life of your business. At least every 90 days, schedule time to review how the business is doing and develop objectives for improving profitability and the efficiency of your operations processes. Even businesses that are booming can make improvements by streamlining processes, improving inventory management, motivating employees and in many other areas.

Large, established corporations conduct strategic planning sessions as a matter of course, but are not always successful implementing their objectives through the layers of bureaucracy. As your business grows, include your key employees in your planning processes. Encourage your staff to contribute ideas for dealing with opportunities and threats. Keep an eye on your industry, and be prepared for the inevitable changes. Develop clear objectives that can be measured, and evaluate the progress frequently.

To make good planning an inherent part of your company's culture over the long term, develop good habits now. Schedule time to set objectives for yourself and hold yourself accountable for meeting them. The way you do business now will be the foundation for the culture your company develops, so be attentive to the standards you set for yourself and plan now with the future of your business in mind.

Marketing

Marketing is the second of the three keys to business success, along with planning and financial management. Marketing is critical for obvious reasons - if nobody knows your product exists, they can't buy it! It is common for entrepreneurs to underestimate the importance of putting in the time and energy to find the best marketing avenues for their business.

As with everything else in today's society, marketing is changing quickly, with new opportunities popping up every day and old standards falling aside. It is no longer enough for any business to simply hang out a shingle and place a Yellow Pages ad. Rather, entrepreneurs must be aware of how and to whom they are targeting the marketing message, create an online presence of some variety, and find the right mix of the five classic marketing elements to maximize the return of their marketing dollar.

Identifying your target market, or the consumers most likely to purchase your product or service, is often overlooked by first-time entrepreneurs. Many figure that the people who need the product will find it and that will be enough. In fact, the most important aspect of identifying your target market is determining how to reach as many of them as possible within your marketing budget. For example, if you are selling a golf club cleaner, your market is golfers, right? So, it would probably be beneficial to advertise in Golf Weekly, alongside all the other golf gadgets. But what percentage of all golfers read Golf Weekly? Certainly not all of them, not even ten percent. Your broad market of golfers includes men, women, juniors, all economic classes, all education levels, and all areas of the US. In addition, there are different types of golfers - occasional, recreational, competitive, the golf vacation crowd, the public course crowd, members of country clubs. Which of those demographics is really the most likely to buy your product? By identifying multiple characteristics of the consumers most likely to be interested in your product, you can select different marketing tools for reaching each market.

Knowing your target market also helps you create effective marketing messages. A good message convinces the potential customer that your product solves a particular problem for them. However, the most important problem that your product resolves might be different for males and females, different age ranges, or even Dodgers and Yankees fans. Before you spend any money on a marketing campaign, you need to understand the details of your target market so that you can provide messages that are the most effective for each segment of your market.

Whatever type of business you are starting, posting a website is an absolute must. Consumers these days are more apt to run a quick internet search for a local restaurant than check the phone book, and more and more Americans are sporting smart phones that allow them to find any type of business on the go. Even businesses serving the smallest of markets benefit from the reasonable cost of hosting a website. In one west Texas town of 1200 people, the local motel increased its traffic by more than 30% just by setting up a basic website and adding the link to various hunting sites for free. The $10 per month hosting fee pays off in spades!

Of course, merely posting your site to the internet is not enough. In fact, posting a website without marketing it is like creating ad copy and keeping it in a desk drawer - if nobody knows about it, it might as well not exist! Search engine optimization methods are not difficult to implement, but they do take time to pay off. Incorporate SEO into every marketing plan and be sure to stay on top of the efforts. Also be sure to include the website address on every piece of marketing material from business cards to print ads.

In addition to launching a website, your marketing plan must incorporate methods from each of the five basic elements in classic marketing theory - advertising, promotion, public relations, personal selling, and direct marketing. Many new entrepreneurs are familiar with one or two of these elements and so focus all of their marketing efforts there. Unfortunately, they completely miss out on opportunities to expand the customer base through the use of other elements. For the most complete and effective marketing mix, consider how aspects of each element can contribute to reaching your best targets and help build your brand. Each of the marketing elements includes a variety of methods for getting your message out. While not all methods will be right for your business, there will be some from each element that will be effective and should be included in your marketing efforts.

Before you can make the best decisions for your marketing efforts, you need to define the precise objectives you hope to achieve. Once you are clear on what outcome you expect, it is easier to see how to get it done. For example, one of your early objectives will be to draw a specific number of people to your website. To accomplish this objective, you will likely incorporate a number of marketing tools such as offering a premium in the form of free, useful information on your website, conducting online advertising that allows potential customers to click through to your site, using direct marketing email blasts to your customer contacts, and employing search engine optimization methods to improve your site's representation on the search engines. Establishing a clear objective allows you to focus your efforts on a specific target and evaluate how your marketing efforts worked out.

Marketing planning is critical to the success of any business. No matter how great the product, it won't actually sell itself. It will take some time and motivation to consider all the options and monitor the success of each effort, but the payoff will come with increased sales and rapid growth. Learn all you can about your target market, set up your business website, and do your homework to develop the best marketing plan for your venture. Schedule periodic reviews and updates to your marketing efforts to ensure your budget is consistently driving the maximum sales possible.

Financial Management

Of the three keys to business success, financial management is often the most feared among entrepreneurs. Even if you don't consider yourself a "numbers person," keep in mind that the down and dirty reality of running a business is in the numbers. If the business isn't profitable, it won't last long. Managing finances the right way is actually not that complicated, especially with the tools available, but is a critical factor in the success of any business.

There are a few things to think about before starting your business that will simplify the financial management. There are several accounting software programs on the market that cater to small businesses. Although Quickbooks by Intuit is currently the most popular and is very easy to use, Peachtree Accounting by Sage is a better choice for any startup with intentions to grow. Peachtree is just as user-friendly, and includes some less-than-obvious features that make it the best choice.

Peachtree is completely GAAP compliant, meaning it meets or exceeds all generally accepted standards for accounting. Quickbooks is not, and when you need to produce financial statements for banks or investors, you will likely need to pay your accountant to clean up the books before you present the numbers to anyone. For a growing business, the basic Peachtree program significantly outlasts Quickbooks, in terms of how soon you will need to pay to upgrade and add users. In addition, once your company reaches the point of needing a comprehensive, enterprise accounting system, only Sage offers an appropriate product. Thus, switching over from Peachtree to the Sage enterprise accounting product is relatively streamlined, while switching from Quickbooks to any appropriate system is a greater hassle (and a greater expense).

Managing your business finances is, of course, more than just keeping the books. Successful entrepreneurs schedule periodic reviews of the basic financial statements to identify opportunities to improve profitability. They calculate basic ratios and learn what they mean in comparison to both the business's past performance and to the available industry averages. With the accounting software now available, these tasks are far easier to complete than ever before. The basic financial statements can be produced with a few clicks of the mouse, and learning what the numbers mean is not as complicated as most people think.

A third key component of financial management is forecasting and budgeting - essentially future planning for financial management. Many new entrepreneurs have trouble with these processes, electing to simply up their previous performance by a standard percentage for each new year, if they bother at all. In fact, forecasting sales and expenses and setting budgets for various aspects of the business should be completed periodically in the same manner as good startup forecasts are developed, considering any changes and anticipating any threats or opportunities along the way.

Good forecasts allow you to be more flexible in, for example, your marketing efforts. If you have a clear sales target, you are more apt to evaluate the outcomes from each of your marketing tools and make better decisions about the best use of your marketing budget. Setting budgets for expenses allows you to identify problem areas before they are out of control and make changes in your business's internal processes to improve efficiency and profitability.

Developing solid sales forecasts and expense budgets require thorough planning. There are three basic methods for determining the sales forecast - Value-Based, Resource-Based, and Market-Based - that tell you the minimum sales that will be acceptable (or your break-even point), the maximum sales your business can produce with the resources available, and the amount of sales your market assessment deems you should be able to close. If your Market-Based forecast does not fall between the minimum and maximum forecasts, you need to make some changes! All three of these forecasts should be performed during your startup planning and any time your business undergoes major changes.

Your initial expense budget should be as accurate as possible, meaning you should take the time to research your business needs and find the best resources for purchasing all furniture, fixtures & equipment, inventory, marketing, and services you will need before you start spending money. Once your business is up and running, schedule time once per quarter to review the actual expenses against your budget. Make adjustments as needed, but also set objectives for controlling or reducing expenses where possible, and always be on the lookout for better deals on supplies or services.

If you are planning for growth, forecasting and budgeting are even more important. The sales forecast calculations will help you identify which resources (employee, equipment, etc.) you will need to increase and when, and your expense budget will help you set cash aside to do so. Without financial planning, growing businesses often find themselves unprepared for growth. A sudden burst of business or opportunities to expand into new markets are either missed or handled through knee-jerk reactions that cut into the profit potential. Taking the time to include financial management in your ongoing planning process will keep your venture poised to exploit opportunities as they come along.

Consistent periodic review of your financials is critical to the long-term success of your business. As a business owner, it is to your benefit to learn and be comfortable with the numbers. No single part of financial management is all that difficult to master and understanding how each aspect of your business affects the others allows you to make the best decisions to improve profitability.

Conclusion

These three keys to success -- planning, marketing, and financial management -- are true for any type of business. Begin your business development with these principles in mind and arm yourself with all the tools you need to effectively plan, market, and manage the finances of your startup. Before you know it, your venture will be up, running and making money!

About the Author - K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur with a J.D. from Duke University, is co-founder of LaunchX LLC and authors a small business startup blog. The LaunchX System, a five Unit series of step-by-step business startup procedures, key business software, and marketing reference books, is designed to assist entrepreneurs in developing a business idea into a successful company. Visit LaunchX.com and get on the road to business startup today.

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Education is the #1 Key to Small Business Success

I recently read an article on MSNBC.com entitled "Small business owners face credit squeeze

Entrepreneurs say banks remain extremely wary of risk". I find it quite absurd that top news sites continue to publish such articles stating facts about the problems; the economy's state, the ongoing credit crunch, and the lack of capital available to entrepreneurs and small business owners, without publishing any solutions to these problems.

Reading such articles as an entrepreneur and small business owner would have me running for the hills (if I didn't already know what it takes to access business credit today). This type of information is quite disheartening to say the least. We are a Nation of entrepreneurs and small business owners, who sit smack dab in the middle of a global economic frenzy; there is no question about that! We see it in the media and read it everywhere, and have been for a long time! What I would like to see is a Nation pulling together to help one another; a media that would provide educational tools, a publication that poses solutions not just horrifying statistics.

This particular article listed a few case studies one of which was:

Yi Ping Lai runs an online business, Heart to Heart Gifts, which sells toys and decorations ranging in price from $6 to $100 for girls up to six years of age. Last year, her sales passed $1 million. With the downturn, her revenue will end up about 50 percent lower this year. But she will still turn a profit, she says. In August, she got a letter from her bank canceling her $55,000 business line of credit. She said the bank cited routine credit checks that had reduced her credit score.

"All of those credit checks were for legitimate personal reasons," Yi said. "For instance, I move apartment and my landlord ran a credit check on me. I tried to explain that to the bank. But they said I was now a risky option for them." The bank later restored $20,000 in credit. But Yi said she is being hampered in developing a new product line. "I need that cash flow for my business," she said. Susan Lamping, a senior community loan officer at the nonprofit CDC in San Diego, helped Yi obtain $35,000 in credit.

"Financing is extremely hard to come by and many businesses can't get help through the banks," she said."

This is a perfect example, this is where a solution should have been added (but wasn't).

If you read this scenario and pay close attention to the details surrounding her credit reduction, you will see the exact problem Yi Ping Lai is encountering, and no, it is not an issue on the creditor's side, it is actually a mistake Yi Ping Lai is making. Yi Ping Lai is personally guaranteeing the business credit she is applying for. This is a very common mistake made in the business world.

We entrepreneurs and small business owners have got to keep up with the times!

We have got to stay current!

We have got to continue to educate ourselves!

This is a new day and age of business.

What was typical protocol 5 years ago is long gone! And it is not because the funding is gone. There is money out there. It's just not being acquired because the application criteria has been "upped" and more importantly, personally guaranteeing anything that has to do with your business MUST MUST MUST be a thing of the past for so many reasons!

The #1 reason to not co mingle your personal assets with your business:

There are no laws to regulate business credit, which means if you are personally guaranteeing any business credit loans, you are personally responsible for payment on these loans.

If you cannot withstand this economic downturn, and must close your doors; all of the money's owed via credit cards, loans, vendor or trade credit that is personally guaranteed for your business is still PERSONALLY GUARANTEED! Meaning, YOU still have to repay that debt. YOU are personally liable for any funds you guaranteed even if it was allocated to a failed business, PERIOD.

Here are a few more reasons to separate your personal credit from your business credit:

o To grow business credit it is absolutely imperative for you to clearly separate your business credit from your personal credit. The rules and regulations for business credit are infinitely different from the rules and regulations of personal credit.

o When you use more than 50% of the limit on any personal account, your personal credit ratings decline. However, you can max out business accounts with no negative repercussions to your business credit ratings.

o Normal business credit usage will cause your personal credit scores to drop dramatically if they are combined.

The solution to Yi Ping Lai's problem is quite simple but still such a mystery to most entrepreneurs and business owners; she needs to separate her business profile from her personal profile.

To qualify for business credit, you must complete several steps in the correct order.

The best time to establish credit is when you don't need it. If you have a financially stable business with no credit lines available to you, figure out what you need to do to acquire a line. Think of a credit line as a safety net for your business. You hope you'll never need to use it. However, if the current economic forecasts continue to down slope and we remain in this very unpleasant financial fiasco through 2010, you very well may be happy to draw on a line of credit to get your business through some rocky times.

Business credit is the main way companies evaluate whether or not they want to do business with you - and on what terms.

Building business credit is much more straightforward than building personal credit. However, if you do not follow the steps in order you run the risk of red -flagging your business for life, leaving you with no means to grow your business without compromising your personal credit scores by using personal resources to support your business.

"How can she do this?" you ask.

Well, I'm glad you asked that very important question, because the answer is detrimental in today's world of small business.

1. Yi Ping Lai must first get into compliance, meeting all the basic criteria any vendor or lender would be looking at.

o There are more than 6000 aspects of a business a vendor or lender may or may not look at when contemplating an approval.

o Think of it this way; if you were to ask me to borrow $1k, the first thing I would ask you is what is your name, where do you live, what is your phone number? Vendors and lenders do the same thing. They will check to see if you are a real business, they may look online, they may phone 411, and they may check on your business license or licenses, and so on and so forth.

2. Yi Ping Lai must then begin to build her business credit profile, one that is separate and apart from her personal profile. She must deal with vendors who will base approval strictly on her business and not ask for a personal guarantee.

3. Once she has gone through this first level of business finance she now has trade references shown on her business profile, which means she can then move on to the second level of business finance. This level will allow her access to higher lines of vendor credit.

4. If Yi Ping Lai continues to remain in compliance and completes the first two levels of business finance accordingly, she will then have a business that is bankable!

Sounds easy enough... however there are very few business owners who actually take the time to understand the mysteries surrounding business credit.

Perhaps if we all begin to enlighten our own networks the word will spread faster, and maybe just maybe we will begin to see success once again the world of small business!

Cheers!
Mylinda Montroy
Director of Business Development
Nevada State Corporate Network

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The A to Z of Business Success

Every business owner aspires for their business to be successful. In order to do this, every business owner needs to challenge the status quo and develop new strategies to move their business forward. This article will give you a few ideas to develop and grow your business.

ATTAINABLE - The goals that you have for your business must be attainable, you must be able to achieve them. If the goal is unrealistic then you will never feel that you have achieved anything at all. Set a goal with a certain time frame that you believe is attainable and then work towards achieving them. Create a 90 Action plan for your attainable goals and put it up on the wall to remind you of what you want to achieve and by when.

ADVERTISE products and/or services you have on offer to current and new customers. If you can't see it, you can't sell it. Don't assume that your customers and the general public know about your complete range of goods and services. However - be warned not everybody will be interested in your complete range. Get to know them, find out what they need. Ask them what they would buy from you and then work out how you are going to advertise your products and services.

BUDGET - Always measure your business revenue and expenses against your budget. Are revenue and expenses higher or lower than expected? Why? Every business needs a benchmark to measure performance against and the best way to measure performance is through Sales and Profitability. You need to have a guideline as to what you expect from your business, and a budget will provide a financial baseline for that.

CREDIBLE - All business dealings must be honest. Bad news travels faster than good news. If you swindle someone, it is bound to come back to you and reflect badly on your business. Your products and services must do what you claim they do, and your customers will recommend them to others.

CREATE the business that you want. Does your business meet your expectations? In what areas can you improve your business? This is probably the hardest thing that you will ever do; however, in order for your business to survive, you must be able to look at what it does objectively and make honest assessments about it. You need to ascertain areas that you can improve on in your business in order to create the business you want.

DELIVER the best quality service possible. This is not an old fashioned folk-lore. People still do appreciate good quality service, however these days some customers don't expect it. So surprise them and make a good impression and exceed their expectations by delivering the best quality service possible. You will be surprised on the response and the referrals you will get.

DELEGATE all the tasks that someone else can do for you and free up your time to do the tasks that only you can do.

Your staff need to become less dependent on you, they need to make basic decisions on their own. If you do everything for them, they will come to expect it, and they will ask for your advice on absolutely everything. So, sit back and allow them to do their jobs while you complete the tasks that only you can do. Use a task manager to help manage and delegate tasks. At the end of the day you should reflect on what you have done and ascertain how effective you have been.

ENCOURAGE your staff to ensure they perform at their best. Encouragement will provide your staff with motivation to achieve their best. Why not reward them for fulfilling business goals and encourage them to assist in building the business. They need to feel like they are a part of the decision making process in order to build the business.

EAT healthy food and exercise regularly in order to keep yourself well and motivated and therefore better able to handle all the challenges that may come forward. You must look after yourself first and foremost before you are able to look after your business. If you work yourself too hard, your business, family and health may suffer.

FREE - Give away something for free, your customers will love it and they won't be expecting it. It doesn't have to cost you a lot, but appreciating your customers will go a long way. Start sending Christmas cards or birthday cards, your customers will certainly remember your thoughtfulness.

GRATITUDE - Be grateful for what you do have. How would you manage without it? We are all striving to succeed and fulfil our goals, but in the process we must appreciate what we do have and how far we have gone to achieve it.

HELP your staff only when they need it. What would they do if you were not available? Trust your staff to make the right decision or to come up with a solution. Your staff have been chosen by you to do their job. They have experience in their role and they have common sense, so give them enough room to perform their job, but be close enough so that can ask you for assistance if they require it.

IRRESISTIBLE - Ensure that irresistible products and services are always on offer for your customers. Make sure they can't say no. Make your products and services better than everyone else's to be sure that your customers come back for more.

JUST IN TIME SOLUTIONS for your business challenges can be devised through Business and/or Executive Coaching. Together with you, a business coach can help you to work out solutions to your challenges that can be used instantly to help your business move forward. Having an external point of view to your business will bring new ideas and concepts to the table. Have someone that can hold you accountable for your tasks, so that you do what is needed to be done. There should be no excuses. Why not get a business coach and have a trial session to see if they can help you unleash your business potential. Visit www.yoursuccess.com.au for more information about Business and Executive Coaching. 

JOB DESCRIPTIONS must be written for all your staff. This will ensure that they all know what is required of them, and also you will know what duties they have agreed to. This will allow them to perform at their best because everyone will know what is required of them. Develop the job descriptions together, your staff are more likely to agree to the job descriptions and you can better utilise their core competencies in your business.

KEEP it simple. Keep a journal of all your business processes, so that if the regular person isn't available, someone else can perform some relief work. A simple set of business processes that can be referenced when needed is an excellent way to recover from a potentially challenging day. This can be completed by each of your employees and it will also ensure that they are performing what is required of them. Why not start documenting your common tasks today and put them where you can easily reference them.

LISTEN to your customers. What goods and/or services do they want? How do they value your goods and/or services?

If you are unsure about what goods and/or services to stock, then ask your customers as they are the best source of this information, then you can be assured that you will have the correct amount stock. Ask the next customer what they think of your store, your products, etc.

MARKETING PLANS are the ways your business is going to develop and how you are going to achieve them. Your business requires direction in order for it to grow and your marketing plan is the starting point for providing goods and services that your customers will want at a price that they are prepared to pay for. Make this a proactive session with your staff as they will have ideas as well. Once you have written the plan don't put it on the shelf to gather dust; create action plans to achieve what you have decided. Remember to review your plan on a regular basis to ensure you are on track and your marketing is working.

NEGOTIATE with your suppliers for a better deal. If you are not happy with what they have on offer, can you get it from someone else? If you don't ask, you don't get. If your supplier is out of stock, are other suppliers out of stock?

Don't just rely on one supplier; they may swindle you and what will happen if they are out of stock of your top selling items? Make sure that you have everything that you need from that supplier including any details about out of stock items or stock specials.

OPPORTUNITY - Assess every opportunity to see if it will make a profit. Will it cover your wages and your overheads?

Not every opportunity that presents itself to your business may be good for your business. So, each opportunity must be assessed on its own merits. If you do lose out on what seems to be a good opportunity, just learn from it and move on, there is an even better opportunity waiting for you just around the corner. Create a checklist of the main points an opportunity should cover before you spend the time and effort in it, and then use it when an opportunity arises.

Eventually it will become second nature to you and you will be able to identify the good from the bad opportunities quickly.

PROFITS - What is your Gross Profit? What is your Net Profit? Do you know how much money your business is making?

If you don't know how much money your business is making then now is the right time to find out. If you are not capable of doing the book-keeping yourself, then employ someone to do it for you. After all obtaining profits is what you are in business for and you need to make sure that your business is making profits. Check your books today and find out how much profit you are making.

PRODUCTS/SERVICES DIFFERENTIATION - How are your products/services different to every one else's? Why do your customers buy from you? It is a very competitive world out there and you need to entice customers to buy from you, so advertise your point of difference. What makes your products and services better? You may need to ask your customers these pertinent questions in order to obtain the answers. Your staff may have an idea also why your products and services are selling. Why not develop a short survey that your customers can quickly and easily response too. This is a great way of getting this information.

QUICK SALE - Will that Sale make a profit? Not every sale will make a profit. But you need to know which items are profitable and which items are not profitable. Where are these items situated in your store? Are complementary items (items that are used together) available? A customer may have come into your store for a quick sale, but what other items have they purchased too? Be sure to put goods that are used together next to each other in your store in order to obtain a quick sale. For example, put batteries near your torches. Check your layout today. Whether it is a store or a website, the way you present the products you sell can affect your sales. You could be missing out on more sales.

REVENUE - How much Revenue do your need per week/month to break even? This is imperative as you will need to know if sales are a bit slow so that you can organise strategies to increase them. But if you don't know what your revenue is, how can you improve on it? How can you pay your expenses? Work out all of your monthly expenses to ascertain how much revenue you need per month. Utilise the Business Builder to work out what your break-even point is.

SAVE time by planning ahead what you would like to achieve during a specific time. A business needs to plan to succeed and a business owner needs to plan his/her time in order to succeed. Good time management skills enable you to achieve your most critical tasks first and make you feel more successful. Use a Weekly Planner tool to help you to delegate your time more efficiently.

TIMELINE - Are your goals set to a time-line or are they merely wishes? You need to approximate how long it will take you to complete a goal or when the results are required by in order to achieve them. An open ended goal with no time attached to it is merely a wish that you would like to complete. To ensure its completion, attach a time that you are willing to commit to.

TARGET MARKET - Is a group of individuals or businesses that would use your products and services. You need to be sure of whom you are selling to so that you can design your products, services and advertising to meet their needs.

Pick specific groups of people or businesses to market your products and services to and you will be sure of better results.

UNBELIEVABLE EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE - Treat your customers how you like to be treated. If the service is that good, you will be sure that customers will come back for more. They will also tell their family and friends about your service too. However, if you give poor service they will also remember and they will complain to their friends and family. Just remember to treat customers how you like to be treated. Reward every customer with a smile and thank them because without them you don't have a business.

UPSELL your products and/or services; what other products and/or services could accompany the sale? Why not stock those products together? Ask customers when they are making the purchase if they have the associated product/service for that item. You will be amazed at how much the sales will increase if you employ this tactic alone.

Take note of what people buy and which products work well together. Your customers will tell you want they want.

Utilize this information in your sales techniques, advertising and customer relations.

VIRTUALISE your ideas - What would be the likely result? Ask your friends, relatives or your business coach what they think may happen? Draw a picture or find a picture of the result you want. A picture says a thousand words and people around you can share your vision too! Put it up on the wall to remind you and your staff of the overall goal.

WHEN is it the right time to make business improvements? Now - ask your staff - have they got more efficient ways for achieving objectives or goals? Why wait? The world is full of indecisive people whom stand on the fence when it comes to making decisions. Why not use a decision making tool like the Decision Matrix to help you with your decision.

WHAT do your customers want? Have you asked them what they want from your business? They are the first people you should be asking about what products and services to supply them. Just ask - they could come up with some really great ideas. Do this everytime you have contact with one of your customers.

EXAMINE procedures as though you are looking at them for the first time - do they make sense? Will someone filling in be able to follow these procedures? All procedures need to be clear and concise so that someone reading them for the very first time that knows nothing about your business can understand and follow them. Get someone who doesn't normally do the task to follow the procedure. They will identify any gaps that you may have neglected to specify because the procedure is second nature to you.

YOU can do it. Plan what you want to achieve, write it down, write down the steps to completion. You can achieve that goal. Let people that are close to you know about your plans, then you are more likely to achieve them. Develop some S.M.A.R.T. goals and work towards them today.

ZEALOUS NATURE - Enjoy what you are doing - people will see it and recognize your efforts. Your customers and staff will be happier too! When people do what they love and enjoy it is obvious to all around and it will draw potential customers to you.

Ann-Marie Gil Professsional Business Coach/Consultant at Business Success Pty Ltd
Visit http://www.yourvirtualcoaches.com

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