Small Business Management

Everyone that starts a business has to begin somewhere. There are several items on this page that I believe will be useful to you as you begin your quest for a successful business. I have included questions for you to think about when considering opening a business. As you begin, you will want to travel to the various merchandise shows in Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and New York. I have been to many of these shows and found most of my sources at them.

One of the biggest problems faced by people that want to open a business is not knowing where to start. In this article, I give you several questions to answer. Some of them are easy to answer, but some of them need lots of research. No one that I know likes to make other people rich. But where do you begin when you want to open your own business. I will attempt to have you thinking about what will be the best idea that you can start that will have long term benefits. There are thousands of businesses that open one year and are closed by the next. What will make yours different? Before you begin, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do I want to sell? This is a straight forward question, but one that takes a lot of thought. What interests you? Sometimes, what interests you is not the best business to be in due to competition. However, it is a good place to start.

2. Where do I want to open the store? Location, Location, Location!

3. Who will be my customers? Am I taking them from my competition, or am I creating a new market?

4. Do I have enough money to get me through the slow times? There will be slow times. Can I still pay my bills?

5. Is there lots of competition? If there is, can I be better than them?

6. What can I do better than the competition? What points are they missing?

7. Do I want to have a website? Is my business suitable for online business?

8. Where can I get fixtures for a good price? New ones are very expensive.

9. Are there any restrictions at the location? Make sure I can open my business where I want to.

10. How do I buy items wholesale? Last but not least, where do I get my items?

I hope this article gets you to thinking about questions that you may have before you begin your business. You will have hundreds more before you get started. So sit back, relax, and begin your journey.

One of the best ways that I know of to find out information on just about any business is through Entrepreneur Magazine.  Check it out. It’s well worth it

Cold calling, the old way, has to be the most painful form of sales work you can experience. There’s a lot of rejection, fear, and deflated hopes.

But there’s a new way to make cold calling as pleasant and relaxed as picking up the phone and talking to a friend. Just follow these steps, and your cold calls can become an enjoyable part of your day.

1. Rip Up Your Sales Script and Start a Conversation

If you’ve been selling for a while, you’ve probably used a sales script. Perhaps using a script is the only way you know to start a cold call.

But people can almost always tell when you’re reading from a script, even if you think you’re pretty good at it. There’s just nothing personal about it, and people pick up on that.

A script isn’t a conversation. It’s a linear process designed to move the other person toward a sale. You’re not having a real dialogue when you’re using a script. So nothing is “real” about the whole encounter.

A conversation, on the other hand, is a living, breathing relationship. You’re two real people, talking normally and naturally.

So when you’re just being yourself, the other person’s walls can come down. Because you’re not coming at them with one-way sales strategy. So your cold calls typically last longer. You’ll make fewer calls, and have better results.

2. From “Dreaded Salesperson” to Trusted Advisor

The old cold calling strategies teach you to polarize the roles of buyer and seller. You’re trying to coax “prospects” into buying your product. You’re not thinking about their world – their budget, problems, or time constraints. You’ve been taught to think about the sale.

Well, suppose you were to focus instead on the things that matter to the other person. For example, their problems. What if you were to become a problem solver?

That’s exactly the place you want to be when making your cold calls. Imagine approaching someone with the idea of finding out whether you can help solve a problem. Imagine the kind of attitude this would convey to the other person.

You’re no longer trying to persuade. You’re not even thinking about the sale. You’re thinking about whether you can help someone solve a problem. You’re relaxed, comfortable, and authentic.

When you make your cold calls this way, you’ll find that others will engage you more. And you’ll also be able to really enjoy what you’re doing.

3. Gain the Respect You Deserve – Stop Pushing and Chasing

The old-school sales gurus teach the essentially the same approach. “Focus on closing the sale. Keep pushing forward. Overcome objections. Your job is to turn every no into a yes.”

Persuading and coaxing has always been considered a normal and necessary part of cold calling. But it’s rooted in a kind of macho selling image. If you don’t keep pushing, it means you’re giving up. So you keep trying to move things forward, and you keep “chasing” with follow-up calls.

Even when your focus is on solving a problem for the other person, you can be coaxing and cajoling. But if you do this, how can you become the trusted advisor I spoke about earlier?

It’s really simple. Just let go of your attachment to the sale. When you do this, you can relax into being the professional that you are.

When you stop focusing on getting the sale, you can become a trusted resource. You’re no longer chasing, pushing, and cajoling. You’re helping. And that makes a world of difference in how people respond to you.

Follow these guidelines, and cold calling can become surprisingly enjoyable. You’ll find yourself spending much more time with each person. You’ll also see more positive results, whether or not a sale unfolds. Others will tend to respond to you more graciously. And your whole cold calling experience can become a pleasant one.