If you own a small business, you have probably been through difficult and scary times this past year. You are probably also wary about what’s coming in 2010. Will the changes in requirements for employee health care push you over the edge or will it take some of the burden off of your shoulders, for instance. What’s going to happen to the economy this coming year and how will it affect the health of your business?

Everything points to ongoing improvement in the economy next year. Now is the time to take a close look at your business and make some decisions about how to take advantage of an improved economy.

Revisit your business plan

Be objective about what is working and what is not. This might be a good time to have an outsider take an objective look at it. Ask yourself these questions:

Does it still serve as a guide to operations?

Does it communicate your company’s purpose and vision?

Does it spell out management responsibilities adequately?

Is it on target with regard to personnel requirements?

Are the marketing plans it lays out still viable?

Is it accurate with regard to your competition?

Is it an adequate foundation for creating a financing proposal for investors,lenders etc.

Evaluate customer satisfaction

Do you have an effective plan for measuring customer satisfaction?

Do you have a customer satisfaction form?

Do you have an effective way to get it to your customers and back to you?

Do you have an established way to respond to your customers’ comments?

Evaluate your phone system

Are the features of your system adequate to meet your needs?

Do you have enough extensions?

Do you have enough lines?

Does it cost too much? Are you getting your money’s worth?

Evaluate cost of equipment

If you lease, would it be more cost-effective to buy your equipment?

If you own your equipment, would it be more cost-effective to lease it?

Evaluate your real estate arrangement

If you lease your location, should you consider purchasing the land? Does your lease contain that option?

Be sure to factor in taxes, expenses, the potential for termination, etc.

Can you negotiate a more favorable rental fee?

Look at your escalation clause. How is it determined?

Does your lease protect you from competition in the near vicinity?

Review your option to renew. Are you likely to pay more rent at time of renewal?

Do you need more space?

Keep an eye on zoning regulations and changes in them.

Is there a chance that your landlord may not be able to remain solvent in the financial meltdown?

If you feel confident about these aspects of your business, you should look forward to the coming improvement in the economy. If you see weaknesses, get to work on them and make 2010 a good year.

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The business Development Strategy is used to underpin your main Business Plan and essentially it sets out a standard approach for developing new opportunities, either from within existing accounts or by proactively targeting brand new potential accounts and then working to close them.

This document highlights the key issues you should consider prior to compiling your own plan and will hopefully guide you logically through a proven framework.

The key word is ‘Strategy’, because you are creating a workable and achievable set of objectives in order to exceed your annual target.

Your Starting Point:

The key words are Who? What? Where? When? Which? Why? How?

For example:

Who – are you going to target?

What - do you want to sell them?

Where – are they located?

When – will you approach them?

Which – are the appropriate target personnel?

Why – would they want to meet with you?

How – will you reach them?

If you have conducted regular account reviews with your key accounts during the previous twelve months, you should be aware of any new opportunities that will surface during the next twelve months. You will also, when assessing what percentage of your annual target usually comes from existing accounts, need to review data over the last two or three years. (It is likely that you can apply Pareto i.e. 80% of your business will probably come from existing accounts and in fact 80% of your total revenue will come from just 20% of your customers/clients)

You will be left with a balance – i.e. “20% of my business next year will come from new opportunities” – therefore you can then begin to allocate your selling time accordingly.

Ideal Customer Profiling:

Pro-active business development demands that we create an ideal target at the front end – i.e. an Ideal Customer Profile. The essential characteristics you will need to consider are:

- Industrial Sector

- Geographical Location (Demographics)

- Size of organisations (Turnover, number of employees etc)

- Financial Trends

- Psychographics – i.e. Philosophical compatibility

Many strategic sales professionals merely profile their best existing clients and try to replicate them – there’s nothing wrong with doing this but we should always remember that we are seeking an IDEAL and we can always improve on what we already have.

‘New’ Opportunities From Within ‘Old’ Accounts:

Because it costs approximately ten times as much, to first locate and then sell to a new customer as it does an existing one (although these costs are rarely reflected in the cost of sales), it is essential that we fully develop our existing accounts working upwards, downwards and sideways, thus making the most of the (hopefully) excellent reputation we have developed already.

Most corporate accounts have several divisions, departments, sites, even country offices and you must satisfy yourself that you have exhausted every possible avenue. Don’t be afraid to ask the question “Who else should I be talking to in your organisation”?

Developing New Opportunities:

There are a number of ways in which we can target new opportunities e.g.

o Direct Mail

o Telephone Canvassing

o Researching Archived Files For Customers Who Used To Buy From Your Company

o Exhibitions

o Seminars

o User Groups

o E-Mail Campaigns

o Referrals

o Qualified Leads

o Advertising

Not all of these will be appropriate to your particular industry, but you should not be afraid to experiment – i.e. challenge the paradigm – and do not accept that just because a particular idea has not worked in the past that it will not do so in the future. (Remember when you were learning to walk – it didn’t work first time then!)

The important thing is to make an early decision in terms of what you are going to try and then build this (those) ideas into your master plan.

A Typical Business Development Plan:

You should plan out the whole year and review / revise quarterly.

o List your existing accounts and plan what activities / actions need to be completed in order to fully exhaust all opportunities. You may for instance, plan to cover more bases within the decision making unit or contact associated companies or offices. The Strategic Account Profile can be used as a prompt.

o Begin to target new accounts using business directories etc. and set targets per week / month / quarter i.e. I normally allow for eight hours per week as a minimum (Don’t forget to continually refer back to your Ideal Profile)

o Then build in what assistance you need from your marketing function – i.e. qualified leads, seminars, exhibition attendance etc.

o Finally share your plan with your manager and then commit to it.

You should also measure it against S.M.A.R.T.E.R. i.e. is it.

S.pecific

M.easurable

A.chievable

R.elevant

T.imed

E.xciting

R.ecorded

Linking With Your Commercial Plan:

I have suggested that your Business Development Strategy, would link with your Master Business Plan but logically you should also integrate it into your Commercial Kit(this is a document that outlines your monthly,quarterly and annual targets) – specifically the areas that deal with new business generation, account management and development, four tier account lists etc.

These three documents when combined should drive and guide you through the next twelve months and beyond.

Summary:

As I have said often enough “People do not fail because they planned to fail but rather because they failed to plan”

The man who knows where he wants to go is more likely to get there, he just has to decide how to get there. All plans are essentially maps and guides; the strategic element is the ‘How’.

Do be prepared to change course, flexibility is key, and don’t be afraid to experiment, look outside the square.

Copyright ? 2008 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved

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If you are looking for a web hosting package for the small business you are about to set up, then it is good news to say that there are many website hosting services available. Now, this advantage can also turn to a disadvantage because it can be quite challenging to pick a single hosting service out of the entire bunch. Practically, there are hundreds of hosting companies and since you would only be setting up a single site, you would need only a single host provider. The key is to choose a specific hosting offer that meets your exact needs but does not drain your set budget. Keep in mind that the price of the hosting package should be reasonable enough that you can maintain it over the months or years.

One option to take when choosing a web hosting service provider is to get one company to host the web space and to provide you the domain name. A person intending to have a website does not only need web space but would also need a domain name that can also be related to the business or company name. Now, there are hosting packages that include domain name registration and one can consider getting these bundles so he can have much savings.

Since, there are practically hundreds or thousands of web hosting packages available nowadays, it would be wise to first search for the top web hosting services around. The best place to start is by checking sites that are offer web hosting service reviews so you go about your hosting shopping with direction. There are review websites that can give you a summary of each hosting service features, price and customer reviews. These sites can help you a lot especially if it is your first time to choose a web hosting package.

One of the features you should look for is reliability. When choosing a web host provider for a business that either small or big, reliability is one important factor to consider. You want the service to be up 99%(or more) of the time since a web server that is down can only mean problems for you, the business owner. The only way to test a provider for reliability is by actually getting their offered package but it can also help that you first read around user testimonials and reviews so you can get an objective view of a company’s service.

It is also important to look for excellent customer support. It is realistic to say that there are down times for almost all web host services and when such problems arise, you would want to easily contact customer support so you can have them fix the issue. Choose a company that offers 24/7 customer and technical support so your site would not have to be down unnecessarily.

Of course, the web owner should also look at the website hosting package price. A person can pay the hosting service per month but, in order to have more savings, he can also opt to sign up for longer periods of time. Usually web host service packages are available in 3 months, 6 months, 12 or even 24 months.

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The internet has been a very useful technology today. We practically get to do anything online. From shopping, reading the news, watching videos and even interacting. Indefinitely, it has also provided many with the opportunity to make money online.This new revolutionized way of earning money on the internet eventually left many tempted and hungry to give it a try in hopes that they too could find fortune online. However, instead of locating a rewarding internet business opportunity, they end up being scammed. Therefore, to avoid yourself from getting duped and fooled, here are powerful tips on how you can prevent yourself from falling into their traps.

At first sight, a fake internet business opportunity will look no different with a legitimate one. Somehow, many inevitably overlooked the hidden hints and continue pursuing the offer. The first thing you ought to cultivate when it comes to locating a fake internet business opportunity is to always be on high alert. If at any time you feel like the offer is too good to be true, most often it always will be. Learn to listen and trust your instincts. Inevitably, doing proper research will eventually be the best action to take.

Do not at any reason pay for something without having the slightest thought or knowledge of understanding what it is all about. Most of the money making online scams out there would subsequently request for an amount to be paid before delivering the offer. Remember that most legitimate companies require no initially payment and are literally free to join.

The next best thing you can do is to run through a few product or customer’s review. This can consistently be very helpful. Take note of their recommendation, rating as well as comment. By going to intended specific forums, community spaces or practically searching on search engines can guide you towards the right direction of understanding the product.

There are many internet business opportunity scams out there that tends to disguise themselves in hopes that people will eventually fall for it. People do and you surely do not want to get involved in any one of them. Therefore, maintain a steady heart and an acute sense of awareness. Remember that there is ultimately no way for you to get rich within a night or so. Learning to make money online takes time and effort.

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After you finish your secondary education which is in high school, you are faced with a lot of options on what to do with your life. One of the paths that you can pursue is getting a college degree. Generally, there are two things that you need to think of and decide for a lot of times before you can pursue this dream of higher education. You need to consider the school where you would like to get proper learning and training and of course select the course which you would want your education to focus.

The selection of the best college university where you will want to get a degree is very important. Before you decide to enroll for classes, you need to consider whether the costs are worth the quality of learning that you will get from them. Just like buying devices for self defense, you read a stun gun review first before buying one. In choosing a university, you need to listen from different feed backs of alumni of the school and some school reviews that you can read online.

The course that you will take will also help you decide which school will provide the development of your skills and necessary education for it. If you decide to manage a business, you can choose business-related courses. If you are a medically inclined individual, health-related courses can be best for you. You have a wide array of college degrees to choose from. It gives you a chance to specifically focus on a certain field. When you want to buy a certain product, you would mention specifics like a cheetah stun gun for animals or a portable generator. Just like going to college, you need to decide what specific career you want in life.

The advantage of getting a college degree is that a lot of opportunities are waiting for you. It opens you to new learning which you have not encountered in high school. It is a one notch higher quality of education. It expands your knowledge about things. Extensive training is done especially on the course that you chose. It provides you with hands-on opportunities on different technologies related to the college degree that you choose.

Aside from the learning, you get the chance to meet and relate with other people who have chosen to get the same degree as yours. You have a healthy exchange of ideas with fellow students and this gives you a chance to grow mentally and socially. It also gives you an opportunity to learn from more learned people especially from your professors and other university staff.

More importantly, it opens your doors to a lot of job opportunities. If you have a college degree, you have an edge against job hunters who have none. Employers would opt to choose you apart from the others because you have specialized skills and learning. Moreover, you have a higher percentage to get a recommendation for higher ranks at work especially if you performed well in school.

If you want to increase your knowledge and you do not want your learning to stop, getting a college degree is a wise choice. All you need to do is choose the right school and the course that you desire. A widely opened door of opportunity waits if you pursue a college education.

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