Demonstrate Confidence in Negotiations to Get an Edge

November 7, 2010


Post from Guest Contributor Chris Blanton, editor of Ingenious Business Guide.
Many business owners leave money on the table by reacting to pricing pressure by haggling or discounting.
Seasoned deal makers assert in a negotiation that the first person to name a figure loses. Information has value, and the one who possesses more of it is better positioned to come out ahead in a transaction. When one party is ignorant of their opponent’s expectations, the best strategy is to get the other party to name a starting price.
When, as in retail sales, the seller publishes the price, buyers are forearmed with the seller’s expectation but the seller is not similarly equipped with the buyers’. Thus a seller who exhibits price flexibility puts herself at a disadvantage because she better arms her buyer.
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How to Ensure the Business Launch Date Stays on Target

November 2, 2010


If we have to bet on one thing when it comes to opening a business on schedule; we’d say it WILL NOT. No matter how well you plan, it seems things always go wrong somewhere resulting in delays.
Not being able to open the business on-time can hurt you on multiple fronts –you not only lose sales for every day that the business is not open, while your expense clock is already ticking; but also you end up throwing more money on tasks that are running late.
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How to Succeed in Starting a Business while Holding Full-time Job

October 7, 2010


Contrary to beliefs held by some people it is possible to start a business while still working on your job. Many people want to hold onto their current job for as long as possible for reasons cited in this post ; while they are starting business.
While it is not easy to start a business while still working on full-time job; there are ways by which you can succeed as long as you know what you are getting into and take care of important issues that will inevitably surface. In our view, the key to success is making sure you have laid proper groundwork to operate the business in your absence; while still keep a watchful eye on it.
Below we have highlighted several suggestions you can follow to be successful.
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Challenges of Starting a Business while Holding onto Current Job

October 5, 2010


While it is tempting to hold onto current job while you are starting a small business; it may prove to be quite challenging.
As we mentioned in the previous blog post many of our friends, colleagues and aspiring businessmen want to jump into small business out of frustration resulting from jobs (or lack thereof) in this difficult economic environment. However, they still want to hold onto their current job to ensure they have a fall back place in case things don’t work out with new business and several other reasons.
While it is certainly understandable that people would want to play it safe and keep the current job while business is getting established you should not underestimate the challenges of operating in this fashion. Below we have highlighted many of the challenges you will face when working at your job and starting a business at the same time. We hope that by understanding these challenges you will make informed decision and understand what to expect if you do decide to go forward.
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5 Qualities to Look for in a Franchise

September 22, 2010


The franchisor and franchisees have a love-hate relationship. They cannot live with each other and cannot live without. While there are certainly benefits to “going the franchise route” when buying a small business, particularly for first-time buyers, selecting a wrong franchise can hurt you and may even wipe out your hard earned savings.
So how do you know if the franchise you are considering to get into is a good one?
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5 Myths that Hold Back Potential Small Business Buyers

September 16, 2010


In our previous post we showed several misunderstandings potential small business owners have that hurts them. In this post we want to show the other side. These are the myths that prevent many would-be owners from getting into small business. While it is certainly challenging to own and operate small business; they are not insurmountable and the rewards make it worthwhile to pursue that dream.
We hope that by understanding these common myths and realities you will not get scared by the challenges and be able to make an informed decision.
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Why You Need Poker Face as a Business Owner

August 16, 2010


If you are not careful to check your emotions when running a small business you may stand to lose number of customers and sales. As a small business owner, you are not only the leader of your employees; but also represent the face of the business. Whatever emotions you show in front of employees and customers reflect upon your business. That is why it is important to have enthusiastic demeanor and smiling face when facing customers and employees.
Many small business owners and leaders cannot control their emotions, especially when things are not going right on a particular day. They get too frustrated with the pressure of the time and get upset with employees and customers. We have experienced this first-hand.
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Use S.M.A.R.T. Technique to Achieve your Small Business Goals

July 27, 2010


The majority of goals set by people are never fulfilled or at least fall short. If you want the proof; go and check out health clubs in the first 2-3 weeks after New Year. They are so crowded by the people who have made resolution to lose weight, that it is difficult to find free exercise equipment. And then the crowd fizzles out after 3 weeks and only the regulars keep coming.
The reasons majority of goals go unfulfilled are multiple – they are too vague or too difficult or they don’t have any time limit. Because of this, people setting the goals either don’t know how to achieve them or they give up thinking they can never fulfill them.
We came across the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting technique a while ago that can help anyone achieve what they want in a reasonable time period. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Essentially S.M.A.R.T. goal setting ensures that you know what you want to achieve, how to achieve it and when to take actions. Below are the details on how to go about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals.
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10 Questions to Ask Customers to Get Them Talking

July 22, 2010


In the previous post we mentioned that you need to hear customer and employee stories in addition to looking at formal reports and metrics.
One of the ways you can do this is by asking open ended questions to your customers, employees and other business owners to understand the reasons behind numbers. Below we have identified 10 questions that will get them talking.
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Key Performance Metrics for Hotels and Services Business

July 20, 2010


In the previous blog post we indicated that many types of small businesses have “standard” set of metrics that you can use as a starting point to determine the key metrics you should track for your small business. We discussed key metrics in the retail and restaurant business in the previous post. In this post we have shown the metrics for additional businesses – hotels / motels and service businesses.
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