The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Don’t give up on your bottom 80% The rule of thumb has generally been that top 20% of your customers generate 80% of your revenues. However, due the slump, don’t give up on your bottom 80% of your customers. Your best clients for 2010 might not have spent anything in 2009. It also sets a great example with the sales team.

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 28, 2010

It’s relatively inexpensive and can be very effective is used the correct way (and there are many examples of companies misusing social media!). Use all methods of social media to spread the work about what your company does and get as much coverage as possible this way. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

JULY 2, 2010

For example, if you are an independent financial advisor (IFA) then a good ‘big fish’ for you may be an accountancy firm who has many clients that will have financial and investment needs. those businesses that you could build mutually beneficial relationships such that over time you may be able to cross refer. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

MAY 20, 2010

Allowing staff to work flexible hours is an example; at WinWeb.com my staff work from home, with flexibility and consideration for their families needs. For example because I don’t have any authority over them I can only suggest rather than tell them to do something. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 11, 2008

Marketing Techniques: Become a regular contributor at local online forums, mailing lists and chat rooms about health and beauty to spread awareness of your services. Do not over-charge for your services. Online Examples: Babet Style Consultancy – an example of the services you could offer.

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The Small Business Blog

JULY 27, 2010

For example, if you learn about products that are doing well in other countries then you may be able to adapt them for sale here if no-one else is doing it. Although these sectors will be crowded, at least there is a guaranteed market there for you to fight for a share. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

MARCH 16, 2010

If an area such as accounting is your weakness, rather than wasting time learning the skill it may be more cost-effective and time efficient to outsource the service. Developing markets are a key example of an opportunity and a threat may be a new competitor in your marketplace. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

JANUARY 20, 2010

Steve Said on January 26th, 2010 at 3:38 pm I often find that CI is overlooked by small businesses especially regarding restaurants for example. Competition analysis is not only important when you’re launching a business but it’s important not to become complacent and keep a watchful eye on the competition.

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 8, 2008

Consider forming a partnership with websites relating to the local area in order to offer discount coupons for your service (e.g. do cost cutting do credit control do customer service export find funding grow your business handle problems keep data safe lower overheads manage your time market and sell motivate your staff not to do it!

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The Small Business Blog

MAY 20, 2008

CV Writing | Blogger Said on May 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm Great idea for a start up Stefan. With the current competitive job market today, it’s always a good idea to invest in a professional CV writing service to have that significant edge over other job seekers. There are unlimited examples om the internet.

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The Small Business Blog

MAY 13, 2008

Categories Announcements Balderdash Business Books Business Checklists Business Ideas Business Quotations Comments Customer Service Guest Blog How to … avoid growing pain be eco-friendly be successful bootstrap choose your office deal with taxes do a reality check do a SWOT plan do bookkeeping. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 13, 2010

An ideal example of people in this category are parents, childcare is hugely expensive and allowing people the flexibility to work from home means you can gain the staff others are missing out on! Tap in to an undiscovered work source – There are groups of people for whom working in an office is not a practical. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 25, 2007

I will give examples and will let you fill in the rest for yourself. Examples are rent, some employee costs, property taxes, telephone, heating and interest/bank expense. Let me give you an obvious example to make my point. Candace Said on December 15th, 2009 at 12:48 am Outsourcing can be a good way to manage assets, as well.

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 26, 2008

Stefan Töpfer Said on November 30th, 2008 at 10:27 am Laura, As this example shows you that will not prevent some unscrupulous people to scam others, our name, reputation and business suffers greatly because of this. I’ve read on several trademark resource pages that this is the best thing to do for a business name.

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

For example, “small_business_bookkeeping.jpg” instead of a digital camera’s default “123.jpg” do cost cutting do credit control do customer service export find funding grow your business handle problems keep data safe lower overheads manage your time market and sell motivate your staff not to do it! jpg” will be more effective.

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 24, 2007

These examples and 40 million more are generated on the MBA Writer web-site by Mike Shor (Humor), he writes: Automatically generate sentences ready for inclusion into your business memos without all of the thinking!! Say something profound today. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2007

For example, having to fire people because the economy is in recession is no fun for anyone and quite easy to prevent in most cases. Surviving A Recession Said on February 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 am Hello Stephan, Good advice as usual. Going the easy route is not always the best way to run a business.

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 13, 2007

You need to pay attention to your credit control all the time, if you can’t do that get someone else to do it for you, outsource it to a virtual assistant , for example. Hope this helps, otherwise get back to me. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo! Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 30, 2007

Anyway here are the small business health check questions you need to ask yourself: What do I need the money for? Can’t you find a customer how will buy the product or service, before you even have it? However, let us look at your example of say a big customer failing and not paying you.Is Plan, plan, plan!

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 1, 2008

Pay attention to the reason why your customer is buying your product – if it is for a regular event you should make note of this and contact them again prior to the next time it takes place and offer them a discount. Custom T-shirt Factory Said on May 10th, 2008 at 9:44 pm Very Good and useful Blog if you are wanting to star a new business.

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 21, 2007

Examples of teams are: Work Teams Sales Teams Customer Service Teams Virtual Teams I would suggest that small business owners need to form teams around their small business and start-up business , like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer-, Professional-, Personal businesses, too.

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 26, 2007

1 Comment » | Trackback | Share This One Response to “ Q & A: What is “Staff Turnover&# and how large or small would it be for Small Business? &# Classified Ads Said on June 20th, 2009 at 10:29 pm Staff turnover is highly dependent on industry and pay scale. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 21, 2008

7 Comments » | Trackback | Share This 7 Responses to “ Takeover Disasters &# Chris Burgoyne Said on April 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am As a real example to this, I worked for a large UK company who purchased a company based on the culture and sales figures. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 24, 2007

Bill Altermatt Said on October 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 pm I apologize, the last email got away from me, I was about to offer an example of the terms that I have in mind and want to know if they make sense. Bill Stefan Töpfer Said on October 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 pm Hi Bill, this is not about an equation – this is about getting payed.

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 24, 2007

Bill Altermatt Said on October 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 pm I apologize, the last email got away from me, I was about to offer an example of the terms that I have in mind and want to know if they make sense. Bill Stefan Töpfer Said on October 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 pm Hi Bill, this is not about an equation – this is about getting payed.

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 28, 2007

Company Registration Agent Said on May 26th, 2009 at 12:51 pm Great information. This is what we often have to get across to our clients when registering a company and it’s great to see this information elsewhere online in an easy-to-understand and -read format with examples that everyone can relate to. Great post!

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Stephanie LH Calahan

JULY 1, 2011

.  In simple terms, a CRM tool if used correctly, can help you manage all of the communication you have with your prospects, clients/customers, people you network with, service providers and more.    For example, say you met someone at a networking meeting a year ago and had a conversation with that person. 

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The Small Business Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2007

Monthly profit and loss account also includes a financial health check based upon an automated tax forecast to enable businesses to monitor their financial performance. No Win No Fee Said on June 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am I completely agree that it is best practice to set aside a couple of hours each month to keep your accounts up-to-date.

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The Small Business Blog

AUGUST 3, 2010

This is a question that is very much based on individual circumstance; I, for example, started my first business whilst at university and have been doing so ever since! Quit the day job and take the plunge, or build up steadily until you have the security you need to enter fully in to the world of the self-employed? Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 16, 2007

For example, we need dating agencies and web-sites to find partners, because we are too busy to find a partner in what used to be a “normal way&# , and in this sense we have to be thankful for the service dating agencies and web-sites provide. james ainsworth Said on May 15th, 2009 at 3:31 pm Another great read.

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 19, 2007

Henal Said on July 16th, 2009 at 6:57 am Your works could not be more true! Regards Henal Nataly Said on August 12th, 2009 at 6:24 pm Absolutely agree! Wayne Hancock Said on August 15th, 2009 at 9:38 pm I think one good example of success through passion is Pret a Manger. Passion will help you if nothing else can help.

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The Small Business Blog

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

If you are charging £18 per hour as an example and you are doing 100 hours of work. For your customers and you will be ideally to increase sales. At this point, i cannot really think of any example. Anyone knows of any other examples that people really need to charge by the clock? I would be keen to know.

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The Small Business Blog

MAY 10, 2006

Seems to me that a lot more SME are using google services now. For example, many hedge funds run their entire operation with only ten to twenty employees. Where i think WinWeb really excells is offering services to companies that have needs similar to larger businesses but do not have the transactions to justify using SAP or Oracle.

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The Small Business Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2007

Shaun Lawrence Said on November 11th, 2009 at 2:25 am Those are good examples of questions. do cost cutting do credit control do customer service export find funding grow your business handle problems keep data safe lower overheads manage your time market and sell motivate your staff not to do it!

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The Small Business Blog

MAY 8, 2006

This list is not exhaustive, but an overview from the following information- [link] Leaflet Delivery Said on February 5th, 2009 at 11:53 am I have a quick question for you guys, if you receive bad advice and work from an accountant, which then leads into an investigation, can you claim against him ?

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The Small Business Blog

APRIL 6, 2010

I also think another issue to consider is small business people doing tasks inhouse that they should outsource like their bookkeeping for example. Focus on the things you are good at and outsource the things that you are not. I would add that an inability to listen can be cause of failure. Digg Furl Netscape Yahoo!

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The Small Business Blog

SEPTEMBER 22, 2007

I could give you many more examples, but you get the picture. There are many more examples. People look to their employers for entree into systems of social safety nets (Social Security, disability insurance, health care benefits, etc.). This whole process began with the “Industrial Revolution&# some 150 years ago.

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