Operations – Page 46

What do you need to Prepare before Selling Your Business

May 1, 2011

Selling a business is a lot like selling your house – only lot more difficult and time consuming. It is not uncommon to take more than year to sell the business – from the time it is put on market to the time the closing papers are signed. Anyone who has been through the selling process knows that there are number of aspects you need to take care of long before the business is put for sale. What makes it more challenging is the fact that you need to do it all while running the day-to-day operations of the business and ensuring that it does not suffer during the selling process.
There are steps you can take to make the process of selling the business easier for you. They can also help make the sale go faster; which is very important for any seller. The longer it takes to sell the business, the more chances of something going wrong and the sale falling through.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management, Operations Tagged With: Broker, Business-Start, Franchise

How to Combat External Forces Working against Your Business

April 13, 2011

In the previous post we highlighted external market forces that can drive you out of business if you are not careful. The changes in economy, competition and consumer habits have hurt many small business owners in the last few years and can bring down sales and profit for your small business too.
To be fair, these external forces impact both large and small business alike; however small business owners feel this impact in a more profound way. Also, the small business owners can feel the impact very quickly. After all, unlike large businesses they do not have large financial cushion to withstand the impact. They also have their personal and business lives intertwined with the business. This will make it hard not for themselves; but also for others around them, including spouse, children and friends.
How can small business owners prepare themselves to be able to withstand the impact better than their peers?
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Customers, Management, Operations Tagged With: Competition, Cost-Management, Customer-Complaint, Performance

Why Embracing KISS Principle Leads to Happiness

April 6, 2011

KISS -Keep It Simple Stupid.
Many small business owners like to take the road less simple. If a task takes 2 steps to finish they will manage to stretch it to 10 steps. They are wired to think complex. We have pondered on the question for some time – when you are running a small business should you opt for a simple operation or a complex one?
You can see the examples of simple and complex operations in franchises as well. On one hand you have a pizza franchise such as Little Caesar’s – home of $5 Pepperoni Pizza with no delivery. On other side there is Pizza Hut with large number menu items and toppings and it not only has carry out; but also delivery and dine-in. Which one is easier operation to run?
There are number of reasons why you should try to keep things as simple as possible.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Management, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Business-Start, Cost-Management, Customer-Complaint, Productivity, Profit, Time-Management

Improve Sales and Customer Loyalty with Subscription Model

April 2, 2011

Many people incorrectly assume that the subscription model only applies to specific types of business and miss out on the benefits it provides. The business that is closely associated with subscription model is newspapers and magazines. After all, magazine industry was the first one to introduce subscription business model. A number of other industries have since adopted this model including health clubs, DVD rental (Netflix), cell phone companies, etc.
The subscription model creates a win-win opportunity for both business owners and customers. Businesses benefit from subscription model because they get guaranteed sales. In some cases, they also get advanced payment for the services that customers will enjoy over a period in the future. Subscription model also builds a customer loyalty and reduces the marketing / customer acquisition cost for small business owners.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Customers, Marketing, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Competition

Divide and Conquer – How to Complete Large Projects

March 30, 2011

Are you one of those guys who are overwhelmed by the thought of completing large projects? You know who I am talking about, right? These are the folks who look at the amount of work needed to complete the project and can’t decide how or where to begin. Their mind is occupied by the thought number of tasks that need to be finished – all interconnected and interdependent; but are unable to take any action to move them forward. Finally, they throw up their hands in frustration and end up not accomplishing anything.
There is a better way to manage these large projects. It’s called – Divide and Conquer. The way it works it you start at the top and start dividing the project in smaller chunks; further refining those chunks into even smaller, easily manageable tasks and so on. Those who are trained in formal project management techniques can relate to this. Unfortunately, not all small business owners are trained to think this way.
So, how does divide and conquer work? Here are some of the techniques.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Management, Operations Tagged With: Productivity, Time-Management

Do You have to be a Cook to Open a Restaurant?

March 23, 2011

Yesterday I came across this interesting article by Susan Reid at AmEx Open Forum about why you should stay within 2 degrees of separation when starting a business. She argues that you may end up feeling overwhelmed with everything you’ll need to learn just to get up-to-speed if you stray from 2 degrees of separation.
For the most part we agree with this. After all, there are number of benefits of staying within your comfort zone when it comes to starting a business – you have less of a learning curve; you can operate the business yourself and save on employee cost and most important you will enjoy what you are doing.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Management, Operations Tagged With: Business-Start, Franchise

How Can your Employees Help Improve Sales

March 16, 2011

It is our belief that your employees can help improve sales at your business by more than 20% if you help them help you. Most business owners don’t really think of their employees as ones who can help them improve sales; however the front line employees – the ones that interact with customers – can make a big difference in improving your business. These employees are talking to and interacting with your customers all the time. They are responsible for making your customers come back by providing great customer service. In short, they are representing your brand and your business.
So what are the specific ways in which your employees can help improve sales? In our experience of running business for 5 years we have come across multiple opportunities.

They can make your existing customers come back by providing excellence customer service.
They can also help bring new customers by word-of-mouth from existing ones.
They can help you up-sell and cross-sell at the point of order taking and payment.
They are aware of where opportunities exist for improvement in customer service and operations.

It is your responsibility as business owner to make this happen. You have to provide them with the necessary resources and incentives that will motivate them to give their best in front of customers. We have identified below several areas that you need to address.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Marketing, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Customer-Complaint, Hiring

How to succeed in running absentee business

March 13, 2011

Small business owners run their business absentee for variety of reasons. Some owners are still holding full-time job while starting a business. Others have more locations than they can handle themselves. While still others just don’t want to spend their entire time on the business. Our estimate is that while majority of small businesses are owner operated, there are number of businesses that are run absentee for the reasons mentioned above.
While it is possible to run and succeed in absentee owner business you need to be aware of the problems that arise when you are doing so. Ignoring these problems can lead to deterioration and even disaster for your business. The most common issue in running the business absentee is that you may not be aware of what’s going on with your business or at least not to the same degree as when you are present 24×7. Even if you come to know about the issues it may be too late to act on. The issues can surface in all areas of the business ranging from operations, quality, purchasing and customer service.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Buyers, Employees, Management, Operations Tagged With: Business-Start, Franchise, Hiring, Performance

Improve your Sales with Up Selling

March 6, 2011

“Would you like fries with that?” – We have all heard this while ordering burger at a fast food place. How many times have you answered it with – “sure”? Well, this is the power of up selling. In its simplest form, it is just a matter of asking customers if they want to add more items to their order. In a more subtle form, it could be something like placing a complementary item to the one that you intend to purchase in a grocery store and enticing you to buy it.
If you are not taking advantage of up selling and cross selling opportunity in your business you are probably losing 20-30% of potential sales. Some companies have really mastered the techniques of up selling by making customers buy additional items at a high price. For example, Ford has increased the average selling price of its cars by making customers want and pay for the extra options in their basic cars. When Apple introduced its next generation of iPad on March 3 it also showed a screen cover that will be sold for $39 for basic model and $69 for leather version. Can you imagine what their profit margin is on these items?
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Customers, Employees, Management, Operations, Sales Tagged With: Profit