Spotblogin ElifeStyle

Why Is Strategy Important In The On-line Business World?

"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival." - W. Edwards Deming (1900 - 1993) US Business Advisor & Author

The vast majority of people doing business on-line are not thinking strategically. They are jumping from one interesting “opportunity” to the next. They buy the ‘hot’ product of the day, the product that promises ‘instant riches’, the product that says you can sit back and ‘make money in your sleep’. Perhaps most fascinating of all is that they rarely even use what they have bought. They buy, put it aside, and move on to purchasing the next product, and the next, and the next.

These people are easy targets. Savvy entrepreneurs know that all they have to do is put a good website up, get a group of respected ‘gurus’ to help promote their product, write a good sales letter, and sit back and watch their sales numbers climb. They know that most people are looking for the quick hit, the foolproof money-making method that will put them on easy street.

The funny thing is; many of the folks who are selling these products are not inherently dishonest. They don’t get up in the morning thinking of ways to scam people out of their hard earned money – but they will get it anyway.

This will happen because most of their customers lack an overarching strategy. They think that having a product (even if you and 500 others have the same product), and a website equals having a business. They do what they think will work, or what worked for someone else.

Here is a hard fact: the vast majority of businesses – both off-line and on-line – will fail. Do you want to have a better chance of beating the odds? Create a strategy and follow it, pure and simple.

Success starts with a solid strategy. That is your roadmap, your future picture.

A good strategy will help you decide what niche(s) you want to be in. A good strategy will help you design the business systems and processes that any business needs to survive and thrive.

There are three main stages to setting up any business:

Starting up
Becoming established
Expanding
Each stage needs a different approach, and so it is important that you have a guiding strategy to help your business plan for each stage. Many businesses fail because they move onto the next stage too early, and consequently, most of the actions they take are likely to contribute to business failure.

Alternatively, they fail to move on to the next stage, preferring to remain in their existing comfort zone for too long. You should be updating your business strategy regularly throughout each stage to compensate for any issues that may threaten the rate of development and success in your business.

Internet Business Strategy
The components of a successful on-line strategy should include (at a minimum):

On-line Product Blend: What is your product lineup? What should it be? What are you getting from your on-line offerings? What could you get in terms of membership, revenue, or influence?
Metrics: Given your product portfolio, what is your current on-line service performance? What does it need to be? How well are you currently meeting your goals and objectives online?
Customer Analysis: Given your goals and objectives, who should your customers be, and what are their wants and needs?
Business Potential and Competition Assessment: What unique capabilities / assets can you leverage for on-line success? What threats, ideas, or partnership opportunities do competitor initiatives represent?
Internet Trends Review: What on-line trends offer the greatest opportunities to better serve your customers? Are there any potential disruptive (game changing) products, tactics or competitors? If so, do you have a plan to deal with them? How can you change the game?
Strategic Prioritization: What new, innovative initiatives do the inputs above raise for you? Which are most likely to offer high impact at reasonable investment levels? What is the most efficient development phasing for them?
Connections and Partners: Who are your “natural” allies? Who sells complementary products and services? How can you make and leverage your potential partnerships?

A good strategy will also help you decide what products to buy; what programs to join; what Joint Ventures to be a part of; what Affiliate Programs to participate in, and the kind of Outsourcing arrangements you need. In short, a good strategy will vastly increase your chances of success.
Read More..

Franchising can allow your business to grow at rapid pace, and gain a presence in new markets. Although there are disadvantages to franchising your business, and although it will not suit all business models, franchising is often an under-used tool among business owners that are looking to scale their operation. Following are six reasons why you should consider franchising your business.

Turbo Charge Your Business Growth

One of the greatest benefits to franchising is getting things done fast, and with less labour costs. You’ll be able to focus on recruiting franchisees, and then they will focus on growing your business in their region. You can even sell franchisees for an entire country or continent, and allow the franchisee to take your business to the next level.

Reduce Gearing As You Grow

You will increase your capital base from franchising fees as your business grows. A business will traditionally borrow money, and increase their gearing as they grow into new markets. With a franchising model, you’ll be able to see your sales grow, your market reach grow, and you’ll also be able to see your balance sheet strengthening at the same time.

Prevent Equity Dilution

When you grow your business it can be tempting to give away equity to fuel growth. Although in many ways this can work out well, it does mean that in the end you’re left with a smaller share of the pie. When you grow your business through franchising, you’ll be able to grow with low levels of debt and without diluting your equity position either.

Galvanize Your Business Against Cannibalisation

When you make money from each franchise that is sold, and you also make money in management fees (usually calculated as a percentage of revenue) cannibalisation ceases to be a problem for the franchiser – unless this is something that worries franchisees. The reason: as you take on more franchisees, you make more money from licensing; and although more franchisees may damage a franchisee’s profitability, it will not damage total revenue, and therefore you will continue to prosper even if your franchisees struggle.

Limit Losses

During a bad year, it’s possible to make less money, but it’s not possible to lose money through franchisees losing money. That risk is assumed by them. You will charge management fees as a percentage of revenue, and as revenue cannot be a negative number, you will always earn an amount in management fees from this. In the long term the profitability of franchisees is of paramount importance, but it’s good to know that you will be stronger than your competitors during more difficult trading periods.

Work With A Network Of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are naturally more motivated than employees; they have a profit incentive. You will be able to benefit from this through having each and every franchise managed by a business person with a strong incentive for their franchise to do well.
Read More..

How confident are you when the time comes to close the sale? One of the most consequential factors at play that can contribute to a successful closing (and possibly understanding when you should move on) has to be the leverage and confidence you posses when going into a sale. Apply the following information effectively and you will be able to build both your confidence and leverage.

Stop emotional attachments when they are clouding your vision.
Emotional attachments can reek of desperation whether focused on the ego, the money or the time invested into your sales process. And anyway, many prospects see right through the desperation or need for a quick sale and can even sense that your pitch is now more focused on getting a deal done than it is about the solutions and value you can offer. You need to be able to close the sale with a greater sense of confidence. This, in turn, should eliminate bad deals altogether.


Manage your pipeline.
You need to manage all of your accounts over the entire sales process using an account profile management system-a corkboard will suffice-to post prospect information on as they progress through sales cycle stages. This is a great way to visually follow your sales activity. There are software programs that do the same thing, however, seeing your writing and notations up on your wall is a constant reminder to work harder. Engaging yourself in activity's which move you through your sales cycle will give you the power to either close a sale or walk away confidently.

Formulate your value statement.
You need to believe in your mission, the products you market and understand what benefits are your customers receiving. And the term, "Value statement" denotes the fact that you need to have a very enthusiastic and confident belief in whatever you are selling. A lot of it can come from the positive results experienced by your clients.

Possess a very stout history and track record.
Amassing an impressive track record full of positive testimonials and results is priceless. For your closing ratios to increase, you should be focused on all of the great results you can provide your customers with. Ask your prospects what they want to do with your services or products once they are in possession of them. Understand what their specified objectives are and then over deliver those objectives. Because in the future when you need help closing a deal, you can contact these satisfied customers who will gladly help you out.

As so many of us are already keenly aware of, loosing a deal that you have put your heart and soul into can be quite demoralizing. Maybe your business activity was lacking or the qualifying questions were lacking something, etc. Whatever your situation is, effectively utilizing the tips in this article will allow you to close more deals with ease and waste a lot less of your precious time. And we all know that time is money!
Read More..

A VoIP compatible hosted PBX system effectively manages phone calls in a business environment. Without any high capital investment, you can utilize this system to improve your business functions.

Features of a VoIP Compatible Hosted PBX System

A VoIP compatible phone system functions with the interface of a traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and the internet. The term hosted PBX system suggests that it is operated from the service provider's premises. From a single service provider, local as well as long distance calls can be made easily. Apart from being economical, these office phone systems come with a number of easy-to-use features which include auto attendant, voicemail, fax to email, find me follow me call forwarding and personal voicemail box options. The Automatic Caller Distribution (ACD) system helps the users to set up a contact center for customer care services.

Advantages of Utilizing a Hosted PBX Phone System

• No additional hardware need be installed
• Reduced maintenance costs
• Easy to handle
• Multiple call transferring system
• Quick to setup
• Immediate call attending service

Phone System with Minimum Complexities

VoIP phone systems are equally beneficial for one-person businesses as well as small business firms having a number of extensions. This phone system comes with disaster recovery capability. Any damage to the public telephone network has minimum impact on this system, as it functions through a web-based interface. In addition, it enables the users to work irrespective of location. It eliminates the need of hiring additional staffs for handling multiple calls to the office. All the functions of a live staff will be performed by the auto attendant provided in the system itself.

Providers and Services

Most of the providers offer services at affordable rates. The users are left with a variety of service plans to choose from. They need to pay only for the services they utilize. A VoIP compatible hosted PBX system not only saves money but also enables entrepreneurs to focus more on their business matters.
Read More..