Actual for You - Business

The Origin of Franchises
According to the Oxford Dictionary the origin of franchises, with respect to the etymology of the word, lies in the French ‘franche’ meaning free. However, the original use of the word in the English language referred to the granting to citizens a right to vote. It then became used in the sense of a company granting another the right to sell its products or services.The first recorded origins of franchising as we know it is that of eighteenth c

s there a way to identify who those best customers will be, before they ever become best customers? In other words, is there any way you can know (and then teach) who will be your most profitable customers at the get-go, and then devote more people resources to securing them?

You can grow this exercise, over time, to include many of your staff, not just the Achievers and not just your sales or customer service staff. If you can teach your front-line employees to successfully identify and secure even another 5% of your “future best customers” it’ll be well worth the time you spend in teaching them how to do it.

Good staffers car

Products, Like People, Have Lifecycles
You know the routine. Birth. Growth. Maturity. And, ultimately, death. Some we knew have already gone through it. All of us will – eventually. We mortals experience it every day. But did you know that the same applies to businesses. More specifically to the “Stuff” they sell, their products and services.“Stuff,” if you’ll grant me a moment to explain, long ago became my shorthand for the awkward phrase “product(s) and/or service(s).” T

If your small business is purely pursuing market share, then don’t read this article.

But, if you want to locate more of your best customers, your most profitable customers, then please dive into the suggestions below and integrate them into your small company’s marketing.

Quickly.

You know your company must create a great Brand, and convey that brand through a powerful Package you present to your customers and prospects. But how do you establish which prospects to chase? You simply must determine this before you launch your next marketing effort, be it a yellow pages ad or a new slogan on a business card or brochure. You need to know your audience.

And here’s a simple exercise that involves your marketing team board of advisors; your Bloom Team.

First, select four of your top ten most profitable customers. We’re not talking gross sales, here; you know too well that’s not what you take to the bank at the end of the day. Pick four customers that really deliver bottom-line profits to your business. Choose the four that you’d like to turn into forty if you had a magic wand to wave over your customer base.

Next, list three common features that each of these customers share. Just a sentence or two on each feature should cover it.

Now, ask your Bloom Team to do the same thing. You tell them the names of the four customers, but don’t give your staff the three common features you came up with. Ask them to list their own.

If you don’t have a Bloom Team assembled yet, just pick three of your best Achievers and get this simple exercise into gear as quickly as you can. You urgently need the business intelligence to market smarter.

Don’t let the staff swap notes with each other. We’re sure you’ll figure out how to get that done. Simply asking them not to is a good first step. If they’re mature enough to be part of the Bloom Team, they’ll understand the importance of their individual opinion to the company’s marketing and sales efforts.

Gather the results together, and examine them yourself. Later, you can share these results with your Bloom Team, but give yourself a day or two to absorb and reflect on what this exercise has taught you.

This is a Pareto exercise in 80/20 thinking. Here are some things to learn and look for:

Do the Achievers (your best!) agree on why the best customers are the best customers? Did any of the Achievers uncover an insight you missed? Remember, this is a place to start and grow from, not an indictment of your current staff.

Is there a way to identify who those best customers will be, before they ever become best customers? In other words, is there any way you can know (and then teach) who will be your most profitable customers at the get-go, and then devote more people resources to securing them?

Good staffers care

Here's A Quick Way To Write A Job Application
Mistakes happen, and even the best person has made faux-pas. After all, humans learn by experience, so a few errors helps us be better people in the end. One moment in your life that you don't want to be in a learning curve is when you're out looking for a job - a mistake during an interview or on your resume can cost you the chance of applying for a position you really want.The first and most damning mistake a job seeker can make is to assume

or brochure. You need to know your audience.

And here’s a simple exercise that involves your marketing team board of advisors; your Bloom Team.

Next, list three common features that each of these customers share. Just a sentence or two on each feature should cover it.

Now, ask your Bloom Team to do the same thing. You tell them the names of the four customers, but don’t give your staff the three common features you came up with. Ask them to list their own.

This is a Pareto exercise in 80/20 thinking. Here are some things to learn and look for:

Good staffers car

How to Win when you are Outspent
We Are All Outspent Most brands face daunting tasks in preparing marketing communications to steal market share. If you have unlimited budgets and are capable of out-spending the competitive set, your job is that much easier. For the rest of us, we have to learn how to win without the largest ad budgets and without dominating share of voice (SOV).There are some rules that Stealing Share has discovered in our quest to

it.

Now, ask your Bloom Team to do the same thing. You tell them the names of the four customers, but don’t give your staff the three common features you came up with. Ask them to list their own.

This is a Pareto exercise in 80/20 thinking. Here are some things to learn and look for:

Good staffers car

Send Donation Thank-You Letters, Cards and Notes Quickly
The most important thing about your donation thank-you letters is not what you say or how you say it but how quickly you say it. According to Stephen Hitchcock in Open Immediately!, for many donors, a brief thank-you note pre-printed with just the amount and date of the gift can be more effective than long-winded thank-you letters that arrive long after the donor mailed you a gift. Your gift acknowledgement

the importance of their individual opinion to the company’s marketing and sales efforts.

This is a Pareto exercise in 80/20 thinking. Here are some things to learn and look for:

Good staffers car

Simple And Complete Step By Step How To Create Your Own Home Business
There are many ways to sell a product at Internet. In this article we will talk about how to sell a digital product at Internet and start your own home business. Benefit of making a digital product is you don’t have to worry about the shipment, warehouse, bad product, etc. Ten simple steps of creating your own internet home business are:1. Create a helpful e-book. Of course if you want to start a business you must have at least a product to sell

Good staffers care about little clients. Our goal in this exercise isn’t to crush this human trait. Little clients can be--should be--great referral sources. We want to keep them. Rather, our goal with this exercise is to help your staff learn to understand that every customer deserves your best efforts, but some customers deserve more of your time.

Happy Prospecting.

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A landing page is a website page that is created for one purpose - to persuade the site visitor to convert into a customer by making a sale, completing a form (thereby becoming a qualified lead), signing up for a newsletter, etc.

This landing page quick reference guide ensures that your landing pages are persuasive and convert most effectively. It is divided into 4 sections and is intended to be an all-inclusive tip sheet.

There is a strange human psychological phenomenon in regards to drawing conclusions. If someone tells us exactly what to do, our natural human tendency is to reject it simply because it has been dictated. The solution is to offer your prospects a few options so they can make the choice for themselves.

Before you order your first batch of inventory from the supplier, some of that inventory should already have been pre-sold. When you have cartons of products crossing the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, those importers who already have buyers and signed contracts for those products sleep a lot better than those who will have to look for buyers when the shipment arrives. But what exactly should the percentage of 'pre-sold' inventory be 100%, 50% or 25%?

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