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March, 2013

Looking at the Financing Landscape In the Year Ahead - and Beyond

Submitted by Tracy Eden on Mon, 03/04/2013 - 13:19
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Though we are now nearly four years past the official end of the Great Recession, obtaining credit remains challenging for many small and mid-sized businesses. This is especially true for businesses that have experienced difficulties such as a drop in revenue, or those with inadequate capital structure to support their cash flow.

Keep Up the Good Network: Tips for Small Business

Submitted by Elena on Tue, 03/05/2013 - 15:12

Networking - it's the word on everyone's lips, the ultimate tool in climbing the career ladder. However, calling too much attention to this word can be detrimental to your small business. Networking is what people have been doing for centuries—it's an age old concept entailing socialization and genuine teamwork to further professional aims. Here are some tips for your small business to follow in the modern age.

Don’t Fall Into a Trap of Dishonest Sales

Submitted by David Neagle on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 11:38

Running a small business can be overwhelming at times. There are countless decisions to be made, and it’s helpful — even essential — to work with people you trust. You want to be careful not to fall into a trap set by a crafty salesperson. If the integrity of a purchase is questionable, it can trickle down and hurt your entire organization, as well as your customers. The best way to avoid problems is to focus on working with honest individuals.

Growth Strategies: How to Decide Which Customers are Up-sell and Cross-Sell Worthy

Submitted by Colleen Francis on Mon, 03/11/2013 - 11:52

In one of my recent articles, I wrote about why up-selling and cross-selling to your existing customer base — rather than focusing most (or all) of your attention on new business development — is the easiest and most efficient way to drive business growth.

A Simple Follow Up to Create More Profits In Your Business

Submitted by Sydni Craig-Hart on Tue, 03/12/2013 - 16:49

How many times have you attended a networking event, had a number of great conversations with ideal prospects, collected a bunch of business cards and never followed up?

Perhaps more times than you'd care to admit.

Starting a Small business in Brazil

Submitted by Kevin Ball on Fri, 03/15/2013 - 11:48

Brazil is a country gaining forward momentum. The economy has been steadily getting better with a 0.9% growth last year following a 2.7% growth in 2011. This continued growth has been beneficial to Brazilian small businesses and it is estimated that 85% of all businesses in Brazil will now fall into the SME category; which may come as a surprise to people who associate Brazilian business with big corporations such as Petrobras or Vale.

Do You Consider Yourself a Good Small Business Manager?

Submitted by Dave Thomas on Mon, 03/18/2013 - 13:06

As someone who runs a small business, did you set any goals for 2013? If so, was one of them to better run your company this year?

In a day and age when multiple companies are fighting for every customer dollar available, being a wise business manager only makes sense. In the event you are not, you could see all you worked for go by the wayside over time, meaning customers will look elsewhere for their products and services.

Are social networks for your startup?

Submitted by Hernan Amiune on Wed, 03/20/2013 - 14:46

In the boom of social networks I heard an entrepreneur saying that he didn't knew what the web 2.0 mean and he didn’t care to know, the company was the fastest growing company at the time in UK and a couple of years later he sold his company to Google for more than 50M.

3 Activities That Get You More Ideal Clients

Submitted by Sydni Craig-Hart on Thu, 03/21/2013 - 11:42

Marketing your business serves ONE key purpose: creating awareness for the work you do and attracting ideal prospects who are looking for what you offer. With the dizzying array of marketing strategies available to you, it's easy to think you have to do 92 different things to get results. Such is not the case. All you really need to do is this:

Growth Strategies: Why Up-Selling and Cross-selling Provides the Path of Least Resistance

Submitted by Colleen Francis on Fri, 03/22/2013 - 12:16

As my most loyal readers and customers know, I’m a huge fan of and believer in retaining and growing a business’s current customers. Then again, who isn’t? Yes, new customer acquisition is important to building and scaling a business, but cultivating current customers offers the truest opportunity to drive efficient and sustainable long-term success.