What do Running a Marathon and Small Business have in Common?

June 12, 2011


I am raising funds for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) by running the Chicago Marathon on October 9, 2011. The money raised will help with the research and support for Leukemia patients. You can find my fund raising page here, where you can also contribute money for Leukemia patients.
My conversations with the running coach and fellow runners have made me think about the similarities between running a marathon and operating a small business. Based on my past experience with owning and operating multi-unit franchise, I can see that there are number of things in common between the two. Both require significant up-front planning, both need persistence along the way and both need support group to cheer you to the finish line.
Let’s look at each of these similarities in detail.
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Filed Under: Buyers, Management, Operations Tagged With: ,

7 Steps to a Great Customer Service

May 22, 2011


A business cannot sustain competitive advantage for long time based on product and price alone. Competition eventually will find a way to beat you on that game. Competitive advantage built on customer service, however, cannot easily be copied. For proof look no further than Zappos.com. Here is an E-commerce company that sells shoes, of all the items, on the Internet. However, with a laser like focus on customer service it is selling a billion dollar worth of them annually!
After consulting with number of small business owners over past several years we have come up with a 7-step process that companies need to adopt to achieve the success enjoyed by Zappos. It will not be easy to follow these principles all the time and success will not come overnight. However, when you do master them you will have a lasting success that your competitors will find difficult to beat.
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Lendio helps small business owners find lenders

May 18, 2011

We have discussed in the past how challenging the last 2 years have been for small business owners who want to borrow money to start or expand their business. The Great Recession of the century has made banks jittery about taking on risk and lending money to small businesses. We have also mentioned some creative ways you can use to start business with little money.
Recently we came across a new startup that aims to help small business owners find lenders who are willing to give them money. The startup is called Lendio The goal of this web start up is to “help small business owners find right business loans in a matter of minutes.” According to their web site they can do this with a simple 3-step process – 1) Business owners answer simple questions about themselves and their business. 2) Lendio looks for a match between your loan needs and over 3,000 banks and other lenders. 3) Business owners apply to multiple lenders on the web site and get status updates.
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How do you overcome Buyer FUDs when selling your business

May 12, 2011

In the previous post we discussed two biggest fears your potential buyers have when they are considering purchase of your business. We showed how you can help buyers overcome these fears and make the sale of your small business go through quickly and smoothly.
In addition to the two fears related to business finances, there are other operational FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) factors that buyers, particularly those who have not owned small business before, are likely to have. With proper planning you can help alleviate these FUDs and make the selling process go faster. After all, it is in your best interest to shorten the sale process as much as possible. The longer it takes for sale to complete the more chances of something going wrong and the sales falling through.
Based on our experience with both buying and selling business, we have come up with several questions that are likely to surface in buyer’s head when he is going through due diligence. The sections below document those questions along with our advice on how you can deal with them.
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How can you overcome biggest buyer fears when selling your business

May 8, 2011


We have been discussing what preparations the small business seller needs to make before listing the business for sale. There are items seller needs to start taking care of as much as 1 year in advance As the sale process gears up you need to prepare number of documents for the sale to complete fast and without any major hiccups.
The biggest obstacle to the sale of small business stems from buyer’s FUD (Fear, Doubt and Uncertainty). When the buyer is betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on the business and is committing large part of his future life he is bound to have cold feet and second thoughts at some point in the process – just like in marriage!!! Your job as a seller is to address these FUDs and alleviate buyer’s anxiety.
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What do you need to do 3 months prior to listing your business for sale

May 4, 2011


We mentioned in the previous post that selling a business is a long, arduous process. It is not uncommon to take more than a year to sell the business. In the post we showed items you need to take care of 1 year prior to putting your business for sale.
As the date of putting the business for sale approaches there are additional items you need to start working on. Just like selling your house, you need to get your business ready 3 months prior to listing date. The goal is to spruce up the image, both physical and virtual, of the business so that the buyer will find it attractive and worth paying for. You should also aim to remove the fear and uncertainty in buyers because this is the single most reason why many buyers are reluctant to sign on the dotted line at closing.
So, what actions do you need to take 3 months in advance? Here is a list of items we think are important based on our prior experience.
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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.
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Additional Social Media Tools Small Businesses Must Consider

April 24, 2011


In the previous post we discussed two must-have social media tools every small business needs to use to market their business. We argued that social media marketing provides perfect opportunity to get the marketing exposure without spending lot of money.
Many more social media tools beyond Facebook and Twitter have emerged recently. Some of them have the potential to become next Facebook. We want to explore those tools in this post. By jumping on some of these emerging tools small business owners can get advantage over their competitors and improve their sales and profit at a relatively low cost. They can even compete with their larger rivals by harnessing the power of these tools at an early stage.
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Social Media Tools Every Small Business Must Use

April 20, 2011


It is said that half of the money spent on marketing is wasted; you just don’t know which half! Many small business owners have misconception about marketing because of which they end up spending lot of money without getting proper return. One of the 5 fundamental rules of marketing we believe in is that good marketing techniques should not cost lot of money. Internet and social media marketing provides perfect opportunity to get the marketing exposure without spending lot of money.

The reasons for using social media marketing are numerous. [Read more…]

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Improve Sales of your Small Business with Free Publicity

April 17, 2011


Most small business owners do not pay sufficient attention to public and community relations. As a result they miss out on the great opportunity to improve sales and build business brand value at low cost. Instead they are focused on marketing and advertising that cost substantial amount of money. While there are number of differences between marketing and public relations, in the simplest form, marketing can be viewed as “in your face” way of putting your business in front of customers; while publicity is a more subtle approach that doesn’t cost much and can bring equally compelling results.
Why is it important to focus your efforts on publicity in addition to traditional marketing?
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