by Kelly Andrew Brown June 28th, 2007
Whether you’re a new or veteran business owner, you know that sales are the lifeblood of your business. The sales letter is an essential part of your toolkit – whether you’re selling products or services, a well written “to the point” sales letter will help bring you’re business to life to potential prospects.
A sales letter persuades the reader to place an order; to request additional information; or to lend support to the product or service or cause being offered. It influences the reader to take a specific action by making an offer–not an announcement–to her. To sell, the sales letter must be specific, go to the right audience, appeal to the readers needs, and it must be informative.
The job of the sales letter is to sell, not to tell. Preparing your sales letter means you need to understand the product or service being offered, the market, and the reader’s needs.
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 28th, 2007
As an entrepreneur, you are likely running your own show or have a couple of good employees to rely on. What you’ve probably learned is that good people are in short supply. Whatever your situation, you likely need more resources, but might be strapped by finances to invest in full-time help.
But knowledgeable, motivated and affordable […]
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 28th, 2007
Customers are your greatest business asset, plain and simple. Without customers, you have just products and services. Cultivating customer relationships should be your most important business activity.
In fact, one of the most overlooked sources of profitable revenue growth is your company’s customer base. While many companies talk about the importance of developing a customer strategy, very few have a comprehensive customer growth strategy that is communicated, monitored, and enthusiastically embraced by the entire organization.
Even for small businesses, customer profiles are simple, yet powerful, marketing tools. The more you know about your customers and potential customers, the more you can tailor your products, sales and marketing to their wants and needs. Profiles also provide information you can use to give your customers personalized attention. And that ultimately leads to renewals, more business and referrals – generating long-term return.
Developing customer profiles does not have to be an onerous task. We’ve provided some basic instructions on how to create customer profiles, update them and use them as a foundational tool by which to grow your business.
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 22nd, 2007
One of the frightening things about launching your own business stepping away from your corporate sponsored 401k plan. Historically, the options available to small business owners for tax deferred retirement savings have been minimal.
But now, new options are available in the form of the “solo (or, one-person) 401k plan.” In the article below, we’ll […]
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 22nd, 2007
Over the years, numerous business ideas, philosophies and approaches have flooded our world, particularly with the proliferation of the Internet. But what makes one idea catch on with the masses and others fall to the wayside?
“Made to Stick,” by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, is an attempt to explain this peculiar fact and many […]
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 22nd, 2007
As a business owner, you’re required to take in a lot of information, process it, and decide how to apply it to your business. This happens on a daily basis whether you realize it or not.
Many people are able to just sit down and read a book and come out of it with a […]
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 15th, 2007
Many businesses are deciding that the best place to sell their products and services is actually not off their own Web site. The alternative: “renting” space in existing high traffic online marketplaces, similar to how one might approach marketing in the brick-and-mortar world. In the Internet marketing world, this is called syndication.
While there are […]
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 14th, 2007
Every business person knows that there are some customers that are more trouble than their worth. But how do you make the decision to stop pursuing this business? Most important, how do you break this news to a “dead-end” customer or lead so they won’t badmouth you all around town?
The idea of letting go […]
by Kelly Andrew Brown June 9th, 2007
Our guest this month for our Owners Spotlight Interview is Marty Lyman. Marty is president and founder of Compass Solutions based in Akron, Ohio. Compass designs and implements telecommunication and internet solutions for businesses. He is also on the board of trustees for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (www.umdf.org).
Marty founded his business six years ago in a time when the communications industry itself was in a tailspin. However, with good planning and a disciplined approach Marty has been able to build Compass into a thriving business. Marty offers us some sage advice as someone who’s built his business from the ground up.
Some take away points:
Know why you’re getting into business in the first place
In order to reach long term goals, you need to keep them in your face on a daily basis. You also need to break them down into incremental steps you can take each day, each month, each year to finally achieve them.
In planning your first year, you need to be prepared both mentally and financially.
Building a long term relationship with customers cannot happen overnight. But when you get to a certain point the payoff can be BIG, because when they grow, you grow.
I hope you’ll join us for this 30 minute interview. I learned a lot from my discussion with Marty. I hope you’ll find it as powerful and motiviting as I have.
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by Kelly Andrew Brown June 1st, 2007
I’ll admit when I saw the title of Tim Ferriss’ book The Four Hour Work Week, I rolled my eyes too. I mean, come on. But here’s the thing, while it may not be completely practical in your business / personal life, there are some great ideas in here.
Certainly, time management is not an […]
