Smart International Trading for Small and Medium Sized Businesses

July 30, 2012


If you run a small to medium sized business (SME) you probably already feel like you’re trying to keep a million plates spinning at once – add international trading in to this and ensuring none of them fall can seem like impossibility. When you take the step to begin trading across borders, it’s understandable to feel like you’re exposing your business to a lot of risk: what the laws of your country may protect your business against, the laws in the company you are trading with may not. Thankfully, banks such as HSBC offer a number of services, from business credit cards to important export services, designed to support SMEs as they grow their business abroad. Let’s look at those services and how they could benefit your business.
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Filed Under: Finance, Management Tagged With: , ,

Why a solid Network is a Key to Small Business Success

July 22, 2012


Building and running a successful small business is a team sport. You, as an owner, will probably play the role of a coach or a quarterback; but you are going to need more players with variety of skills to build a winning team. If someone tells you he single handedly built the successful small business, he is lying.
While it is true that you are the Chief Everything Officer (CEO) of the business responsible for taking care of all aspects it doesn’t mean that you have to do all the work yourself or that you are even capable of knowing it all. The key to success is to build a solid network of people with diverse skills who complement the skills you possess. This network acts an advisory board that you can go to for advice, concerns or to simply bounce off any ideas you might have before implementing them. This board needs to be chosen carefully so that you can get the right advice even if you may not like it or agree with it. So what types of skills should you look for when building an advisory board or a network of supporters?
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Filed Under: Customers, Management, Strategy Tagged With: , , ,

A Great Employee is 10X as Valuable as Good – How to Find One

July 18, 2012


A great employee can contribute to your business that 10 good employees combined cannot do. Behind a successful business owner there is a strong lieutenant who stands by him every step of the way and is not afraid to give right advice even if it means disagreeing with the owner. If there is one thing you must do to succeed in your business it is to hire great employees, even if it means paying more, and give them freedom to do the best. The return you get from them makes it more than worth.
Of course, hiring great employees is easier said than done. But it is possible to do it and it starts with spotting the right person. You first need to understand what sets great employees apart from the mediocre ones. One hint – it all starts with attitude. I mentioned in earlier post that when hiring employees you should first look for attitude, not the skills. You can teach old dog new tricks, but you will not be able to straighten its tail, as the saying goes in India. So what skills do great employees have that are not easily found in others?
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Filed Under: Employees, Management Tagged With: ,

Can’t Keep Up? How to Delegate to Succeed in Small Business

July 11, 2012


“No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit” – Andrew Carnegie. Show me a small business owner who doesn’t like to delegate, and I will show you someone who will not be able to grow beyond a certain point. Small business owners are called Chief Everything Officers (CEO) who are required to take care of all aspects of running a business. If you do not have good time management skills you are going to run out of steam at some point.
A big part of time management skills is learning to delegate tasks to others. The problem is, not everyone feels comfortable with delegation for the fear that if they do not take care of tasks themselves they will not be completed to their satisfaction. This is a myth! From my own experience I can tell you that with proper planning it is possible to successfully delegate tasks and get them completed to your satisfaction. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day, and you have to go to sleep at some point! So what is the secret to successful delegation? Read on…
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Filed Under: Management Tagged With: , ,

Do you Trust the Company you have Hired?

June 24, 2012


One of the greatest things about the Internet must be the availability of so much information for free. However, it’s also a public forum where anyone can publish so-called resources without a system of peer review. If you’re basing your business decisions on information gathered from the Internet, you need to make sure the sources are valid and reliable.
Wikipedia is a prime example of user-generated content that isn’t always reliable. However, it has a system of citation or reference that identifies the source so that users can follow the trail of information. In Wikipedia, citations are contained in footnotes (links at the bottom of the page), although they also sometimes appear in the main article of the body.
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Filed Under: Buyers, Management Tagged With: ,

Customer Service Lessons from my Poor Olive Garden Experience

June 19, 2012


I am always on the lookout for lessons to be learned from my own experience as a customer. I believe small business owners can learn a lot about management and customer service by putting themselves in the shoes of customers. I was presented with such an opportunity when we visited Olive Garden restaurant in Auburn Hills, Michigan over the weekend. This was a special treat from my daughters on Father’s Day.
While I have always liked Olive Garden’s delicious food particularly the soups and salad my experience on this day left a lot to be desired from such a reputable national restaurant. Here is what happened:
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Filed Under: Customers, Management Tagged With: , , ,

Is your Business Prepared to Sell to these 5 Customer Types?

June 12, 2012


Many small business owners fail to understand the customer base they serve and end up not being prepared to sell to those customers. How many times have you thought about various types of customers that you are selling to? Is your business ready to serve those different types of customers? Do you have marketing programs in place to attract those customers in the first place? Important questions to think about, isn’t it?
Different customers have varying types of needs. Some are looking for bargains, while others will pay premium for the quality product. By understanding the needs of customers your business can determine which customers are right for your business. You can take this approach one step further and develop customer personas based on the customer needs and purchasing habits. Personas are helpful in not only identifying the customer types, but also tailoring your marketing and operations to serve their needs. Below we have identified 5 such customer personas. Think about which ones are usually doing business with you and whether your business is prepared to serve their needs.
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What can Subway Teach you about Growing the Business

June 9, 2012


Trivia question: Name the franchise with most number of locations in the world. If you answered McDonald’s you are wrong. The new king of the franchise world is Subway. It surpassed McDonald’s in 2011 with 33,949 worldwide locations compared to Mickey D’s 32,737. The franchise that started with mere $1,000 by Fred DeLuca in 1965 has seen phenomenal growth in the last 10 years.
Subway has been able to grow consistently year after year by following principles that can be applied to any small business. We have studied and analyzed those principles and present them below for small business owners to apply to grow their business in a similar fashion.
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Filed Under: Management, Marketing, Sales, Strategy Tagged With: , , ,

What can Small Business Owners learn from Greek Crisis

June 6, 2012


Unless you have been hiding in a cave for the last couple of years you know Greece is on the verge of economic collapse on the scale not seen before. The unemployment rate is a staggering 22% and they are expected to default on their loans unless they receive yet another round of financial help from their neighbors and EU partners.
While it may be tempting to think of Greek situation as unique, it is not far-fetched to think of an analogous scenario for small businesses. After all, as we show below the reasons behind Greek crisis are prevalent in many of the businesses – both large and small. That’s why Greek crisis holds important lessons for business owners in how not to get into the financial disaster. Below is our attempt to explore reasons behind Greece’s failure and how they apply to small business owners.
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7 Reasons you are Losing your Best Employees

May 29, 2012

It is estimated that best employees contribute 30-50% more than average employees for a typical business. Their contribution is not only in the form of higher productivity, but it also comes from new ideas and better customer service. These are the employees who can take your business to new heights provided you are able to hold onto them.
Employee turnover in general is harmful for small business. When it comes to turnover of star employees it could damage your business beyond repair. That is why it is paramount to treat your star employees well and ensure they are happy to work with you.
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Filed Under: Employees, Management Tagged With: ,