Archives for March 2013

Do not Undersell – How to Set Prices for Maximum Profit

How to Price for Maximum Profit
The goal of pricing a product or service for any small business owner is to charge the maximum amount that customer is willing to pay and maximize profit. If you charge lower than what customer is willing to pay you leave money on the table. If you charge higher customer will walk out the door and you will lose profit.

To some it may seem like Black Magic, but pricing is combination of art and science. Big corporations, such as Wal-Mart, do lot of research and number crunching to figure out to the pennies exactly how much they should charge so that they get the maximum profit. This is the science side of pricing. No matter how much number crunching and data analysis you do human behavior and psychology plays a big role in customers determining whether a given price is a good deal or not. This is where art comes into play. There are number of ways in which business owners can convey the message about good deal (aka pricing) and take advantage of how customers react to that message.
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5 Must Do’s for Hiring Great Employees in Small Business

5 Must Dos for Hiring Great Employees in Small Business
The success of any business is largely dependent on its employees. Good employees can help improve the business, and by the same token, bad employees can sink it into bankruptcy. That is why hiring good employees should be of paramount importance to all businesses, and particularly so for small businesses.

In my observation, most small business owners consider employee hiring a necessary evil they have to deal with when current employees leaves. They approach the hiring process in an ad-hoc fashion and try to get someone quickly so that the business can get back on track. The problem is hiring this way does not get you the right employees you need to make the business successful. Eventually, either you will need to fire the employee because he isn’t the right fit or the employee himself will leave. In the end, the cycle has to repeat and soon you find yourself in the endless hiring loop.
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Tips to Organize Business Finance Weekly to Enjoy Long Term Benefits

Tips to organize business finance weekly

Most entrepreneurs think that adequate finance is the key to success in business. But that’s not true! It is actually the business owner who is the key because it is she or he who decides how to ensure adequate finance for proper functioning of the operations. In order to ensure this sufficiency, it is vital to keep the financial records up-to-date as well as organized so that it becomes easy to track. So, here are some tips for you to follow on a weekly basis so that you can better understand the financial status of your business and maintain it smartly.

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Warning! You might be Wasting Money on Electricity Bills!

You might be wasting money on electricity bills

Here is a quick question – When was the last time you checked your electric bill? Do you remember how much it was? If you are like most small business owners you do not pay attention to how much you are paying towards electric bill. You take it for granted that the electricity expense is fixed and there is not much you can do to bring that expense down. This could be a mistake because even a small monthly savings of $50 in electric bill can add up to substantial amount at the end of the year.
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Blockbuster Failure!! How Can You Avoid Similar Fate

Blockbuster Failure! Hot to avoid similar fate
Blockbuster, the ubiquitous video rental chain of the bygone era, announced recently that they will close 300 stores in U.S. and lay off 3,000 employees. This is after they have already closed hundreds of stores over the years. The latest round of closing will leave them with only 500 stores, down from 9,100 at the peak of their business. This is one of the blockbuster failures in the American business history!  To be fair, they are not alone. Recent times have seen number of successful retail businesses wipe out from the landscape – Borders, Circuit City, the list goes on.

Blockbuster was one of the great success stories in how to build an empire by putting number of small rivals out of business throughout the country. Starting with a humble beginning they went on to consolidate the video rental industry to be the eight hundred pound gorilla. And yet, they were not immune to the law of natural business cycle when new competitors came along. There are important lessons to be learned from Blockbuster to ensure your small business does not meet the same fate.
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