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Tag: Businesses

The Real Reason Why Small Businesses Can’t Get Approved for a Loan

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Oh no, not again. Yes, that’s right, I’m not going to go there… at least not for today. There’s no shortage of excuses and reasons why small businesses can’t get approved for business loans. It never fails to amaze me the coverage this topic gets especially when the national economy goes into recession or when major political races are at stake. Yes, I agree that small business growth and success is the economic back bone of the US and also, that more than 60% of the US workforce are employed by small businesses. But where I get off the group think is when it comes to the lack of financing for a small business with a business loan. In this article, let’s explore the REAL REASON that small business don’t qualify for loans and the truth may even surprise you.

It’s Deeper Than Statistics

I love numbers and even better, I love reading financial statements and the notes. The love for numbers did not become a passion for me in the world of small business lending until I came to understand that the financial statements tell the story of a business. Similar to the story behind the financial statements, there’s a story behind the statistics stating that small business owners can’t get approved for loans especially if they’re of a certain ethnic group, gender, and / or industry. I’m not completely washing away the reality that there’s a shred of discrimination in our world… hey, we live in a broken society with broken people. However, a large part of this thinking (small business owners can’t get a loan because of skin color, gender, etc) is just simply untrue. I’ve been on both sides of the fence so to speak in the world of small business lending. I’ve worked for a big bank, and I’ve worked for a not for profit community development financial institution and it’s always the same. The number one reason why small business can’t (and don’t) get approved for loans is due to the considerably large operating risk that exists in these businesses.

Operating Risk: It All Starts with You

What does operating risk mean? Well, here’s a question to bring some clarity. What speaks more to sustainability: a business that’s been operating for at least one year or a business that’s still in the owner(s) mind? I’d go with the first option. Operating risk means that you have and continue to execute on your business plan(s) and that the business is cash flow positive (i.e. returning a sustainable profit margin to cover costs and make you money). Here’s the sad truth: not many small businesses get to this point. Most if any, within two years are still trying to figure things out. OK, granted, there are levels to this particularly when you observe the diversity of businesses. However, I’m speaking to the ones that endeavor to obtain a business loan.

In closing, I offer a couple of ways to minimize your operating risk and increase your chances of getting approved for a loan. (1) Grow tough skin and learn to survive. The game of business is one of survival. Most days, things will not go your way and you just have to stay the course, be adaptable, and stay true to the business mission. (2) Never forget the 3 P’s – Production, Processes, and Personnel. Become efficient in the production of what you offer for sale, create and put in place processes to enhance production efficiency and ultimately the customer experience, and finally, hire, train, and invest in people who share your vision for the business.

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Source by Pierre Pinkerton

Views: 1

November 12, 2022
Latest Metrics for Small Business Owners to Measure Their SEO Success
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Let's face it – SEO is not easy for any business. It becomes even more complicated when you've limited money, time and resources. According to the latest Cluth Survey "More than 36% of small businesses have already an SEO strategy and rest 23% are planning to develop one."

In order to maintain and develop a long-term SEO strategy, it is important for small business owners to understand the best way to measure their SEO success. As a small business owner if you are looking for ways if your SEO strategy is working, then here are the three SEO success metrics that can be helpful.
1. Traffic Retention
2. Backlink quality
3. Conversion rate
Let's have a look below how these three metrics can help you measuring SEO success.
- Traffic Retention for measuring quality search audiences
Every business wants to draw the attention of quality traffic to their website. Here Google Analytics play a crucial role. It is one of the effective measures to know what type of audience you want to target and what type of audience is visiting your website. There are two metrics in particular that can help small business owners to decide the quality of your search traffic. These are – Scroll depth and Bounce Rate.
- While Scroll depth determines how far your visitors scroll down specific web pages. If they scroll down the entire page, it means your audience is keen to read the topic.
- Bounce Rate refers to those searchers who visited a single page of your website but then left your site without browsing other pages.
- Backlink Quality defines the impact of Inbound Links
The quality of a backlink is measured by the total number of links from sites with high Domain Authority. To know the quality of the backlinks used in your site, you need to make sure that these are relevant and endorsed from new domains that can have more impact.

Although you can't control all links coming to your website, you can target the quality of those links via outreach to guest posting. Make sure your targets should include websites that offer domain authority, a new audience, and website relevancy.

3. Conversion Rate Offers Insight about SEO strategy Effectiveness

Conversion rates play a major role to measure small business performance metrics.

It enables you to know how well you are achieving SEO goals, along with the scope of success.

SEO success largely depends on generating many leads as possible. The conversion rate is the total number of website visitors who are becoming your potential clients. By tracking this, small businesses can easily measure the impact of their SEO on their revenue.

Wrapping the post

Every business needs context and time to measure and earn SEO success. By understanding the right metrics for measuring SEO success, you will surely lead the race and become a winner.

@page {margin: 2cm}
p {margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; color: # 00000a; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2}
p.western {"Liberation Serif", serif; font-size: 12pt; so-language: en-IN}
p.cjk {"Noto Sans CJK SC Regular"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: zh-CN}
p.ctl {"FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: hi-IN}
a: link {so-language: zxx}

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Source by Triveni Thakur

Views: 0
November 11, 2022
Four Types of Marketing For Small Businesses

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As a small business owner, you most likely spend quite a large amount of time trying to discern new ways to gain customers. Marketing can be a fun or stressful business. They key is to understand the types of marketing.

Instead of sending your marketing budget in many different directions, you can choose a specific type and be consistent with it. You will quickly see that your marketing budget pays off much more quickly.

Here, you will find information on four of the main types of marketing. This way, you will be able to choose the marketing actions that will work best for your business. You will then be able to point your marketing budget in the right direction.

1. Blanket marketing is a type that is often used by larger business. Blanket marketing means that you spend money advertising to everyone. Many people choose to do blanket marketing by advertising in magazines or newspapers. You will not really have control of who sees your advertising, but you will have the potential to reach many people.

The downside to blanket marketing is that it can be quite expensive, and you could be wasting money marketing to people who may never become your customers at all. Blanket marketing is best for those who have plenty of funds available and who feel that they will be able to gain many customers from the plan.

2. Targeted marketing is a method in which you choose a certain demographic and only market to them. This could mean that you advertise to everyone in a certain area. Alternatively, you could advertise to everyone in a certain age range.

The great thing about targeted marketing is that you will have a much better chance at getting customers since you will be advertising to the types of people who would most likely become customers. The downside is that it will take a little legwork to determine who your target is and then find the right way to advertise to them.

3. Social media marketing could be called the new kid in town since it is relatively a young concept. With this marketing, you use any one of the many popular social media sites to advertise your company. You can also use a daily blog to garner business.

The downside to this type of marketing is that you will be sending your information out to many people who may not be interested at all. With blogs, you will have to take the time to keep the blog up to date. Otherwise, people may stop reading it.

4. The last type of marketing is not marketing at all. There are not upsides to this. It may seem like a way to save money, but when your business fails, you will actually lose a great deal of money. It is extremely important to find marketing funds within your budget.

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Source by Melissa B Evans

Views: 0

November 11, 2022
Problems Encountered by Nigerian Entrepreneur and Possible Solutions

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The success enjoyed by most industrialized countries can be attributed to the role played by technological innovation and entrepreneurship, both of which continue to drive their economies today. These two factors are seen as key components for the industrialization and development of African countries. The Nigerian government has recognized this fact and has taken measures aimed at promoting and cultivating the entrepreneurial culture in our country. Through the Nigerian Investing Commission (NIC), our government has in the past introduced a policy that required university students regardless of their area of study to take courses in entrepreneurship. While our government is putting extra effort in promoting entrepreneurship in Nigeria, there are still a number of problems that a Nigerian Entrepreneur faces. Below are some of the problems encountered and possible solutions.

* Diversifying the Economy

Though our country’s economy has over the last couple of decades relied heavily on its oil production, we must find ways to diversify our economy and avoid the over reliance on oil. Like other developing countries, Nigeria is facing an increase in its unemployment rate that is now at 6 % and is on the increase, with many graduates finding it hard to get jobs while most of those who get jobs are underemployed. This coupled with the global financial crisis in which massive numbers of employees are being laid off; entrepreneurship is seen as an essential key if we want our country to achieve its ambition of being an industrialized nation by the year 2020.

* Unfriendly Business Climate

Being an entrepreneur in Nigeria requires great determination as practicing and potential business owners are faced with countless challenges. Nigerian’s business climate should be made welcoming to those in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The role played by these MSMEs should not be underestimated since majority of the thriving businesses fall in this category and for us to achieve our goals, adequate attention and support must be directed towards these institutions. To be able to help and protect entrepreneurs, we must first have a clear idea of the challenges facing our entrepreneurs in their pursuit of making Nigeria a prosperous country.

* Lack of Credit Facilities

Potential Nigeria entrepreneurs go through many hardships when trying to access credit for their businesses. Though there is a wide range of financial institutions that offer business loans, they usually charge high interest rates deterring aspiring entrepreneurs. For instance, major banks have pegged their lending rates to as much a 28% deterring potential entrepreneurs who are mostly low income earners. Other obstacles faced by our entrepreneurs include severe collateral conditions set by banks and other lending institutions. Though our government through the Central Bank and the Banker’s Committee came up with guidelines requiring banks to set aside 10% of their profits for funding MSMEs, majority of these banks have been reluctant to do so. This has led to the emergence of micro-finance institutions which though helpful are not sufficient for meeting the financial requirements.

* Multiple Taxation

One other sensitive challenge that is encountered by majority of Nigerian entrepreneurs is multiple taxation. Although we have a responsibility of funding the government through paying taxes, most of the taxes charged on entrepreneurs are not lawful and have the effect of increasing the cost of doing business. Although Nigeria’s Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) has approved only 39 taxes and levies, there are over 500 various levies and taxes that are imposed by state and local government agents. These taxes are questionable and in the case where they are genuine, they are mostly duplicated and this has the effect of increasing the cost of doing business.

* Poor State of the Country’s Infrastructure

The state of our infrastructure can be deemed to be a nightmare to both entrepreneurs and the rest of the country’s population. With the existing infrastructure deteriorating and in some places it is non-existent; the cost of doing business has tremendously gone up. The state of the country’s road network makes it hard for entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector to transport harvested produce from farms to processing factories. According to a report released by the World Bank, Nigeria’s pace of socioeconomic development and growth is way below what we can achieve. This is mostly because of the erratic supply of electricity which has negatively affected many businesses. The outcome of power problems has prompted entrepreneurs to generate power through expensive ways that have in turn increased their production costs and made their products uncompetitive due to high prices. Our government should put policies in place to perk up Nigeria’s infrastructure so as to promote successful entrepreneurship.

* Failure to Adapt to the Changing Business Environment

Majority of those who venture into MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) do so because of their need to make money and in almost all cases, such entrepreneurs lack relevant and adequate information about the businesses they engage in. In the event where problems arise, most of these business owners lack sufficient problem solving skills and in the end they find it hard to survive. With the telecommunications sector having grown by about 206.5 % between 2002 and 2004 and is continually expanding, Nigeria has become one of the fastest growing ICT market not only in Africa but also worldwide. This presents a challenge to entrepreneurs who have not embraced technology, and who are now finding it hard to remain relevant in the competitive business environment. For existing and potential MSMEs to survive and be relevant, we must adapt to the changing business environment and embrace technology.

* Addressing the Challenges

Solving the problems encountered requires a combined effort by both the entrepreneur and all concerned stakeholders. As Small and medium business owners, we need to increase our knowledge and skills of the market by acquiring relevant and up to date education particularly in your area of business. Our entrepreneurs need to collect information about their target market by seeking help from consultants and professionals who have experience in the particular market.

One strategy that can be used by our small and medium entrepreneurs to remain relevant and competitive in today’s market is to come up with fresh and creative ideas of doing business. Due to the increase in technology, business is fast changing, thus our MSMEs need to constantly re-invent the way they do business.

There is a great need of creating a strong link between MSMEs and supporting institutions if Nigeria is to fully benefit from such businesses. Though some financial institutions are still reluctant to provide financial assistance to MSMEs, there are some that give out loans at reasonable rates provided the business sounds viable. The key challenge is for our entrepreneurs to prepare sound business proposals. For our country to achieve its goals and stop relying on oil alone, we need to focus much attention needs on the private sector and our government must create a conducive atmosphere for such businesses to thrive and drive the country towards economic prosperity.

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Source by Peter O Osalor

Views: 0

November 9, 2022
Should You Have a Facebook Page As a Network Marketer?

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When you are working to become a network marketing top earner, you may think you need a Facebook page. You see the “big dogs” of network marketing and you see they have Facebook pages but in this article, I am going to talk to you more about whether you should have a Facebook page or not.

Newsfeed

Do you notice in the newsfeed that you do not see many Facebook pages updates unless they are sponsored? This is because Facebook wants businesses to pay to promote their content. This means whenever you post on your page, you are not going to get “organic” reach on your posts.

If you want people to see them, you need to pay.

Unless you want to create generate content for other network marketers and do coaching, it is perfectly fine to continue using your Facebook profile and not have a page.

Not Easy to Duplicate

Your team may find it difficult to run so many pages and keep up with everything, so it is difficult to duplicate. When you are working in network marketing, you want to keep it as simple as possible. Just having a profile to post to keeps things simple and your team will be able to do that without a lot of difficulties.

Conclusion

As you can see, it is a good idea to keep things simple and most of the time you do not want to create a Facebook page. If you must do it, make sure it is for good reasons and not just because someone else is doing it.

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Source by Jessica Lauren Vine

Views: 0

July 29, 2022
Successful Entrepreneurship – Cracking the Code

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We've heard stories of penniless immigrants who came to Canada with nothing but a dream, but within a single generation accumulate a lot of wealth. How do they do it?

This is a mystery to the typical person who graduates with a post-secondary education and goes on to work in the labor force as an employee (ie, most people!). This is because our educational system specifically trains its students to become employees rather than entrepreneurs.

So when we hear about these rags to riches stories, we ask ourselves – "how did they do it?" As someone who grew up in an entrepreneurial household, here is my take on Cracking the Code to Successful Entrepreneurship:

1. In most cases, one will never become truly financially independent working as an employee. Whether you are an entry-level bookkeeper or the CEO of a large organization, you can be unexpectedly fired at a whim by whoever you report to. You are therefore susceptible to financial catastrophe.

2. Therefore, the only way to achieve financial independence is to build and maintain a successful business.

3. There is a "magic formula" that will allow to evaluate a businesses' odds of success:

[( Sale price of product – Variable cost of product) x Units sold] – Fixed Overhead Costs = Profit

This formula will be very familiar to accountants – it's called the Contribution Margin Ratio.

Let's demonstrate this formula using a Bubble Tea business. Wonder why there are so many Bubble Tea shops in Toronto? Because they make a heck of a lot of money with little risk:

Price per bubble tea drink – $ 4.00

Cost to make per drink (water, powder, sugar) – $ 0.50

Drink sales per month assuming 100 sold per day – 3,000

Monthly rent for shop – $ 3,000

· Assume no labor costs – in the early years, the owners will work the shop themselves

· [($ 4.00 – $ 0.50) x 3,000] = $ 10,500 in sales

· Profit after paying rent: $ 10,500 – $ 3,000 = $ 7,500

Once you apply this formula to the multinational soft drink companies to analyze their beverage businesses, you can begin to understand why soft-drinks companies have grown from humble beginnings to global companies they are today.

You can also use this formula to evaluate almost any small business you might be thinking of getting into: restaurant, nail salon, hair salon. You should quickly realize that it's best to choose businesses with a high profit margin (ie, high selling price for produce / service and low cost of supplying the product / service) and high customer traffic (ie, units sold, people serviced).

Seeing the Future – Cash Flow Projection

You want to know if you'll be making a profit before going any further. If you skip this step, your chances of failing increase significantly.

Investigate your costs to start up and run your business. The most common are:

· Rent – how much will it cost to rent at the location where you want to set up?

· Wages and payroll tax – will you need employees or can your run the business yourself? How much do you need to pay yourself to meet your personal living costs?

· Advertising costs – what types of advertising will you use – TV, radio, internet – and what is their cost versus their potential return on investment?

· Cost of inventory or raw materials – will these be imported? If yes, you'll need to factor in the impact of exchange rates on your profitability.

· Purchase of equipment – general office equipment like a phone system, computers and IT network, and furniture, as well as specialized equipment for your specific line of business like restaurant equipment (if you're opening up a restaurant).

· Business liability insurance – to protect yourself from liability if someone is inadvertently harmed by your product or service, or if someone is injured on your premises.

· Pricing – how much will you be able to sell your product or service so that's it's competitive with others in your line of business

Once you've figured out your monthly costs (ie, your overhead) and pricing, you're now in the position to determine how many unit sales you need to make to breakeven – remember the Contribution Margin Ratio that we looked at. Use a spreadsheet to build a cash-flow projection model.

Protecting Yourself – Creditor Proofing

If things don't work out for your business you could be financially ruined. Therefore, consider the following techniques to protect your personal assets from your business creditors.

1. Incorporate the business. This will provide you with a level of creditor protection – most of a corporation's obligations are limited to its assets so this structure can provide protection for personal assets. This structure also has income tax benefits, which will not be discussed here.

2. Always pay statutory debt on time, specifically:

· Payroll source deductions;

· Federal and provincial sales tax collected; and

· Employee wages and vacation payable.

Corporate directors can be personally responsible for these debts, notwithstanding that the business is incorporated. In many incorporated small businesses, the shareholder (ie, the business owner) and director are the same person.

3. If you can, avoid giving personal guarantees of your corporation's business obligations (eg, landlord, suppliers) unless it is absolutely necessary.

You will need a financial expert on your team to deal with the issues raised in this article. Therefore, I would strongly advise that you contact a CPA who can help you further.

For all you aspiring entrepreneurs out there, I hope that I've helped take out some of the "mystery" behind successful entrepreneurship. Use this tool wisely and never stop dreaming!

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Source by Victor Fong

Views: 0

July 29, 2022
Bottom Up Multi Level Marketing Structures That Work

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Feeding a Multi Level Marketing business is incredibly difficult in today’s world. There are many factors that stand in the way of creating a highly profitable home based business with the network marketing model. Traditionally people have faced the fear that the look of a typical multi-level marketing business is very pyramid like. I have always been able to see how network marketing is not a pyramid business. The results vary based on the individuals. People are the factor that add to the success or failure of an online business.

There is a change that needs to occur in the mentality of the person trying to build their network. People that go out only looking for the profit will soon find that they are broke. We are in a society that demands value. People are not likely do drop a lot of money into a home based business unless they know they are going to make money back. How do we do this as multi-level marketers when traditionally the bottom 60 percent of people in an MLM don’t make any money?

The answer lies in the question. With many newer multi-level marketing businesses there are team bonuses, and match bonuses. These are incentives to the leaders to ensure that their bottom people are starting to see money. This is accomplished by the leaders getting down to their bottom line and finding out what they need to ensure success. People want to succeed in MLM, but most people do not know how to recruit! The upline people’s job is to help these people get their first sign ups, and then that puts the people on a positive path. With team bonuses and match bonuses it is important to ensure the success of people further down.

Network Marketers that work in this fashion find two things. First they find that they gain more team building bonuses. Second they will find that these people nearer the bottom start to make some money and want to learn how to help the people below them!

When you take the time to help someone succeed, you will find that they will want to repay that favor. This is where the expert network marketer can shine. Passing on how to properly invite people, and teaching them how to talk to the people after and get them to sign up will go much further than just constantly recruiting more people.

In the end, taking the time to help, and to nurture your bottom line people will pay off huge dividends. People that are coached and rewarded for small successes will learn more and soon your level of success will surpass your wildest dreams!

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Source by Paul Harvie

Views: 0

July 29, 2022
MLM Success Stories and Facebook Pages

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If you're not sharing your MLM success stories to your Facebook pages by now, you're missing out on lost opportunities. Your success can inspire prospects and help them take action. Facebook is another tool to connect with your prospects and help them learn more about you and your business. It is not the perfect tool, but one that should not be ignored by MLM businesses. While there is competition there, just like anywhere else, the effort and time you devote to your social pages can pay off in the long run.

Sharing Your MLM Success Stories to Facebook

Facebook pages is a great ground to share your MLM success stories. There are a couple of options to present them to your audience. One way is through text, graphics, images, audio and even video. You can use a combination to help reach further into the world of Facebook. Don't feel limited to one content format. Some people respond better to videos and some to graphics and text. A blend can help you achieve better results as you post your content. Watch for interaction from your audience and adjust your plan of action. If you feel like images and text are working better than videos, then switch to that format.

A consistent schedule is important for social media, especially for pages on Facebook. Your MLM success stories should be posted on a regular schedule. This means figuring out how often you want to share your stories, what and in what format to share them in. If you're unsure on how to proceed, try once a week with no more than two stories. Now you just need to figure out the format. Once you get data back, you can make changes to the sharing plan.

Linking from your MLM success stories to critical pages

Your MLM success stories are bait to draw in prospects to your website. Make sure that you add the right link to each story. All of your content that you share should point back to your pages of one type or another. It's a free form of advertising. Many out there are not adding links and wonder why they lack traffic and success. Be careful not to add too many links either, use only one link per story that you're sharing. This will make it easier for your prospects and for you to track data from. You can change the links out later, if need be.

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Source by David L. Feinstein

Views: 0

July 28, 2022
How to Overcome MLM Challenges – Multi Level Marketing Tips For Success

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There are plenty of helpful tips available to help you overcome your MLM challenges. In my opinion most of the challenges we face in MLM are avoidable but only if you start off on the right path. When I am faced with a challenge in my primary opportunity its usually around developing new techniques for marketing, lack of customers, or lack of money. As business owners in the field of MLM we are faced with difficult challenges but they aren’t unlike those that any other business owner faces. We do face different challenges because of the nature of our business but if you plan for the unexpected and have a vision for the day-to-day operations of your company you’ll be able to thrive in your business.

Every day businesses are birthed around the world within a dynamic and formidable marketplace where only the toughest survive. If you are in the network marketing industry you know that our environment is particularly fickle and can be a tough training ground for the almost 25,000 people that join Multi-level marketing business everyday in the U.S. and the 95% that fail within their first year.

Most people join network marketing companies not recognizing the importance of having a vision for how their business will grow and function in its infancy. There is concept that many large corporations use to lead their work on a daily basis and I think that it can be particularly effective for network marketers. Its called Strategic Planning. Planning is not a new concept to business corporations but it might be to those that don’t know about its extreme effectiveness for providing a roadmap for any business for periods of 6-months, to 3 years, to 20 years.

By understanding the importance of this process and the questions that go into taking you through it, you can gain a better sense of preparedness for your company’s growth. As someone new to this industry you need as much structure in the beginning as possible to understand how to plan and set and meet your goals. By taking the first step in this process you will exhibit your commitment to your business and your leadership for your organization.

You have to believe in something yourself first, before you can get others to believe.– Ashraf Seddeck, Oracle Corporation.

What does your company do?

What product or service do you provide?

What is your mission statement?

What are your company’s values?

What is your plan for your first 30 days, 6 months, 1 year?

What are your weaknesses/strengths?

How will you market your business?

Who is your competition?

What might be challenges that prevent you from reaching your goal?

What is your plan to grow your business over the next 12 months?

What is your plan for recruiting for your business?

What resources do you have to build your business?

What is your budget for your business?

What does your organization look like and what types of people are your recruiting?

What actions are you taking on a daily basis to build your business?

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Source by Inger L McDowell

Views: 0

July 28, 2022
Direct Sales Team Vs Distributor – Which is Better For an International Market?
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If you’re looking to expand your sales to new markets, then there’s one big question you must ask: do I build a direct sales presence or use a distributor? Each method has its benefits and drawbacks, but we’re going to make a strong case to use one method over the other in almost every instance.

What’s the difference between direct sales and distributors?

A direct sales presence means that your company establishes, manages, and pays a sales team of one or more people in the target market.

An outside agent is any entity that will sell your product in exchange for a service fee. One example is a sales rep, who sells your product in exchange for a percent of the sale. A distributor is similar to a rep, except they would buy product from your company and sell it directly to the end customer.

Is Direct Sales Better?

For most businesses expanding into new markets, especially international markets, hiring a distributor is a better decision-at least until there is enough return from the market to justify building a direct sales presence.

Sure, there is one major advantage to having a direct sales presence-control. Control over the day to day activities of your sales personnel is appealing to most business owners. But this control comes at a heavy price. To start, you’ll need to spend the time to hire someone in that market, then train them, then equip them with sales material and management, if not office space and equipment. These costs are prohibitive for most small businesses looking to expand internationally.

And there are even more costs that we haven’t mentioned yet. Each market has it’s own unique laws, cultures and customs that are essential to master if your company wants to establish a successful sales presence. Japan is a classic example of a marketplace with unique legal structures and business customs that, if not followed, guarantee the failure of any sales efforts. It’s hard to pin down an exact monetary value to this learning, but ask yourself this: Can you afford to establish, manage, and pay a sales force in a foreign country for at least a year while they learn the ropes and generate no revenue?

What about a Distributor? Is a Distributor better for new markets?

Distributors are a cost effective means to enter a new marketplace successfully. Here are just a few of the reasons:
- No Overhead:
  Unlike running your own sales team, a distributor will take care of the hiring, managing, payment, and optimization of its channel. You’re just borrowing their distribution, while they handle the maintenance.
- Established Channel with Local Knowledge:
  A good distributor will already know all the laws and customs of the market you’re entering. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel-you can use someone who already has valuable local knowledge.
- Understand Pricing and Purchasing Power of Market:
  Along with knowledge of the laws and customs comes knowledge about the most successful ways to price and market your product locally.
- Cost Effective:
  Since you won’t be paying for the above items, distributor relationships are much more within reach of a small business trying to enter a new market.
Using a distributor has some downsides as well, but they can be minimized by building a good relationship with a distributor.
- Not your own people:
  You won’t be able to directly manage every step of the process. While it may make you nervous to lose some control over the sales process, you can manage the risk by building a transparent relationship with your distributor with constant updates and feedback from both ends.
- Distributor has many products to represent:
  You may not be the distributor’s top priority at any given time, and you want to be sure your product is not getting shuffled to the back of the line. Once again, a well-established relationship with constant contact will ensure that your product is getting the attention it deserves.
- Not a “turn key” solution:
  You can’t just give the distributor your products and expect success. You’ll have to manage the relationship. This takes time, but it’s still less costly than trying to install a direct sales team from scratch.
So what do I do next?

If you aren’t convinced that a distributor would be better for your organization than establishing a direct sales team, seek help from a consultant who has experience establishing a presence in new markets. A consultant can use his or her experience to analyze your opportunity and recommend the best course of action.

Before you choose a distributor, you need to know….

Choosing the wrong distributor will set you up for failure. The wrong distributor simply won’t generate sales, and you’ll have wasted at least a year finding and setting up an unprofitable relationship.

There are certain things to look for in a distributor, and they are different for every market. The best thing to do is to find a professional, one with experience in distributor relationships, and hire that professional to help you search for and identify the right distributor.

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Source by J. P. Williams

Views: 0
July 28, 2022