A few days ago I wrote a post about listening to your customers before you sell your product or service. You may be able to make someone buy your product/service once, but for your customers to come back for more you need to do more.

No matter how good your are at selling, no matter how smooth, slick and high-pressure you are, the fact remains you can’t make someone buy. The only way is to solve peoples problems. Which problem does your product and/or service solve?

• Easy-to-run online accounting software;
• do the job in half the time;
• lose weight while you sleep;
• easy-to-prepare gourmet meals;
• cut overheads.

You get the picture - the best way to sell is to solve. This will tell you that bombarding clients with facts about megabytes, speed, number of cylinders and so on, is not what is needed. Find out what problem your customer has, then talk about the benefits and solutions your product/service offers for the problem - that will get you a sale.

If solving is selling, what are your solutions? Let me know. ST.

Selling and making money is one of the most important parts of running a business, obviously. It is astonishing how bad some “sales” people are, especially in small business this can have a detrimental effect on the whole business.

I read somewhere not so long ago that that in sales you should remember that you have one mouth and two ears, and you should use them in that ratio. Two thirds should be listening to your customer, or better listening and asking questions to understand your customers needs . Each customer wants to know what your product or service will do for him/her. No two customers are the same, so you need to find out what this customer is looking for to be able to offer them the product or service they need. Remember it is easy to scare people with too many details and facts.

Even a simple question of “How are you today?” can give you a some insight to your customers needs. “I’m in a hurry and need a present for my aunt!”, can be a good pointer as to the needs of your customer.

Asking questions before mentioning relevant features or benefits is more professional and often more successful. ST.

Have you ever wondered why people buy products and services from you or anyone else for that matter? Why do people love an iPod, why do they buy a Rolex watch? The reason is always the same, it makes them feel good. It helps people to feel calm and secure, or superior - these feelings are deeply satisfying to all of us.

Is that the only motivation why people buy, I don’t think so. The other reason is to avoid feeling bad. Feeling bad may have to do with feeling pain, losing money, loosing business, being hassled, feeling guilty and so on.

Bottom line? If your product and service does not do one of the two, you may have a problem. ST.

Many worries in a small business are centered about sales and the need to earn money in order to pay for over-heads like rent, wages and so on. Especially in a technology driven company this can often be a problem. Often you try to sell to your clients as if they are industry insiders who understand exactly what you are talking about. While in reality they are customers and don’t know what makes this widget so special.

You need to sell the benefits of the widget, that is what customers want, benefits. Know who you are talking to, if you are talking to an industry insider, tell him all the technical details, because he understands enough of the technology to understand the details, and then work out the benefits for himself/herself. If you are talking to a customer who wants to use your service or product to gain a benefit from using you, let him/her know what the benefit is.

One word about not being able to show a benefit, I would openly say to my client that there is no benefit from using our product, you may not get a sale, but you will get someone who will respect you and come back, because he/she trusts you. You may also get referrals this way.

By the way, woman are far more benefit talk driven than men. Or as my wife will say to me and my son, talking about the latest gadget, stop talking “klingon” (the star trek species)! ST.

How long is a string? Let me give you some pointers here, but please remember you can always do more on the cost-cutting front in any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants.

1. Keep your staffing level low. As much as it may hurt, work longer hours yourself, until extra staff is economically viable.
2. Outsource all non-core business activities. This will reduce your fix-cost structure, make your small business more flexible and you can react faster to an economic down-turn.
3. Buy second hand. Do you really need the brand new van? Or computer, or……
4. Work from home, this will not only cut your cost, but may improve your work-life balance at the same time.
5. Let your staff work from home. No office cost, hire a room if you need to on an hourly basis.
6. Use online technology, so you don’t waste time and get distracted.
7. Focus on your core business and sales. Every distraction costs time and money, sales generates money.
8. Bootstrapping. Think before you spend a penny, could I borrow, hire or do it online, get creative.
9. Analyze your fixed cost every month. You will find things you don’t need - trust me you will.
10. Compare and get new quotes. Even if you need the service or product from your supplier, check others all the time, insurance, telephone, utilities, etc.
11. Get better payment terms. Ask to pay in 60 or 90 days, or get an early payment discount.
12. Check your bank charges - you’ll be surprised. Or have it done on a results basis, doesn’t cost you time and gets you money back.
13. Do credit control - get your money in lower your bank overdraft cost and charges.

This is only a short list of what you can do, but it’s a start. Remember even $100/£50 per month is $1200/£600 a year more in your pocket. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

For me small business planning centers around some very basic questions and I always aim to answer those first:

• How much is my business going to cost to set-up?
• What are the monthly running costs of my start-up?
• Is anyone willing to buy what I have to sell?
• What other problems or challenges does my business face?
• What are my best selling points or strength?

You may thing that these are all very basic questions and you would be right - but can you really answer them for your small business? I think I would find it difficult at times too. So I have devised this very basic business planning system I would like to share with you:

• Cash-flow Planning
• SWOT - Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats Analysis
• Mission & Goals Statement

Let us have a look at each one of these components individually - first up cash-flow planning - without money it is difficult to run a business. You may see that as a problem, I view that as an opportunity in as much that it forces you to sell your service or product, before you do anything else.

You could of cause do a market study and analysis, spend “lots” of money in the process and have very little extra useful information at the end of the process. While if someone buys your service or product you know it sells - without spending a penny. Enter your sales into a cash-flow and you can easily work out how much cost your small business can take. I’m passionate about “bootstrapping your small business” from day one.

This in turn will help you to focus on saving money wherever you can, since you will only make very little money in the beginning. You will understand that payment terms you offer to your clients or payment terms you receive from your suppliers can greatly help with your cash-flow, I have written about cash-flow planning before.

Secondly I like to do a SWOT analysis so I can focus myself and others in my business to stay “on message” and understand the vision for the business better. Even if you have no staff to begin with, it will help you to make the right decisions and stay focused.

Strength and Weaknesses are “internal” factors where you need to be honest with yourself and write down what you do well and what you do badly - writing it down is almost therapeutic - enabling you base future decisions on these facts, building on your strength, while avoiding your weak spots.

Opportunities and Threats are all about “external” factors and deal with issues like your unique differentiators for your products and services in the market place, as well as your competitors, red-tape, funding issues, etc. Again just writing them down will move you forward.

Last but not least I find it helpful to have a “Mission Statement” for my business, what do I want to achieve, so my customers, partners and others understand what my business is all about.

The “Goals Statement” is more personal, I write down why I run my small business or why I want to start a business.

As with all plans it is of the utmost importance to revisit your business plan as often as once a month or at times when you do not know which decision to take - go to your goals list, it will help you to focus on the way forward.

Doing basic business planning like that will help you to run and grow your business, and it can be fun too. Remember it is cheaper to test your plans on paper then for real with your own money.

I wish you and your small business or start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants “Happy Planning and Success”! ST.

Related Items:

• How to Plan Cash-Flow Category.
• How to Bootstrap Category.

In the mid-nineties salami.com had the following sales pitch for their online shop, they certainly were early adopters:

The parking is easy, there are no checkout lines, we are open 24 hours a day, and we deliver right to your door.

If you think about it this is the way we do business today and it does not matter where you are, or how big or small your business is - you should be on the internet selling.

Other computer related quotations are:

• The search button on the browser no longer provides an ojective search, but a commercial one. - Tim Berners-Lee, Founder of the World Wide Web.
• Computers are like bikinis. They save people a lot of guesswork. - Sam Ewing, US author.
• What if computer were nearly free? - Bill Gates, ….Bill who?
• Computers are useless. They can only give us answers. - Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist.

Customers are the people who pay money for our services and products or as Peter F Drucker, a US business consultant in the Harvard Business Review once said:

The only profit center is the customer.

Something I think about often in my line of business was said a few years ago by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com:

If someone thinks they are mistreated by us, they won’t tell 5 people, they’ll tell 5000.

Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer Corporation once coined this quotation:

Customers are your future, representing new opportunities, ideas and avenues for growth.

My favorite last, this one is by W. Edwards Denning, US consultant and author:

Profit in business comes from repeat customers; customers that boast about your product and service, and that bring friends with them.

Funding issues are really only a problem if you do not use “bootstrapping techniques” - so I’m not that comfortable talking about this issue, since I believe everyone should start their small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal business on a shoestring.

Anyway here are the small business health check questions you need to ask yourself:

• What do I need the money for? Can’t you find a customer how will buy the product or service, before you even have it? It can be done you know!
• Do I have enough securities for a bank loan or overdraft? I always like the analogy of a bank will give you an umbrella (money) and when it rains (problems) they need the umbrella themselves - what than is the umbrella good for!
• Should I be looking for an external investor? You could find external investors who will tell you how to run your business, but know even less about your small business than you do?
• Do I have the detailed business plan needed to find investors? You will need a detailed business plan - which frankly may not be worth the paper it’s written on - which will be used against you when things don’t work out.
• Do I have the time to wait until a decision is made? You could be looking a 12 - 18 month before you have funding, do you have that time? Why not deal with customers today and get started on a shoestring.
• What if they say NO? This is my favorite one - are you happy to give up on your business idea if everyone things is bad or worse (?)…. if you are don’t start a business, because you are not ready and whatever you do do not borrow any money from anyone.

If you read this and think this is all b*** s*** - and you may be right, of course - let me know why you think you need to borrow money? Maybe we could come up with an idea that would allow you to start your small business, without having to borrow money and loosing some of the control in your small business.

You can see other reasons for small business and personal business, like contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants failures in my Health Check Category, if you can add to this list please do so, I would welcome your comments.

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