Archive for 'Attitude'

How To Maximize The Benefits Of A Networking Event?

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pm  
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Everyone needs to network: entrepreneurs, small business owners, job seekers!
But does everyone maximize the benefits of networking?
The purpose of networking is to build relationships so you will get leads from someone you know, or from someone who knows someone you know. When you attend a networking event the purpose is to meet business people from various industries to get exposure.

What networking is not?
Networking is not a numbers game; you need to focus on quality and not on quantity. Some people think that they had a successful event when they have collected 30, 40 or more business cards, but they are missing the real point. How many of these 30 or 40 people will you be able to follow-up? How many of these 30 or 40 will follow-up with you?
What is the purpose to collect a huge number of business cards that will end up in a shoe-box on one of your shelves?
Networking is not a place to sell. You have to be prepared to give your elevator pitch to introduce yourself, not give a sales pitch. If you attend an event expecting to find a client to close a sale right away, chances are you will be very disappointed. Furthermore the other attendees might not appreciate your attitude.

What networking is?
Networking is more than just shaking hands and collecting business cards.
It is about building relationships and being committed to help other business professionals.

It is about the quality of your contacts and not the amount of your contacts.

It is about consistency. The best is to belong to two or three groups, attend their events regularly, get to know the other members, and in exchange they will get to know you and trust you. When you see the same people over and over you develop a strong and relationship with them. The benefit of building relationships with a committed group of people will result in new leads for your business.

It is about patience. The benefit will not appear overnight, and this is why you need to follow up with your contacts. Networking is like dating, one meeting is not enough to know someone. It will probably take some time, some meetings, some lunches or some drinks before you really start doing business together.

Here are some tips on how to maximize the benefits of a networking event.
• Be prepared when you attend a networking event. Know your goals. Are you looking for leads, partners, new clients, services?

* Bring your business cards and a pen to take notes on the back of the cards you receive.

* Have an effective 15 to 30 second elevator pitch. Learn how to sell yourself before your services or products. People want to hear about you first and when they know you and trust you, they will buy your services or refer you to someone else.

* Have a brochure and/or a web site. Some people will probably want to hear more about your business later, so give them the opportunity to get the information they are looking for.

* Meet people, ask about their business or services. Be curious and ask about them. people love to speak about themselves, so ask questions and listen to their answers.

* Be a problem solver. people will be more interested in you if you tell them how you can solve their problem instead of just hearing your story.

* Go to people; don’t wait for them to come to you. Some people are very shy, they will be very happy if you make the first move.

* Go to events with a friend, a colleague, a client, and introduce people to each other.

* Send a thank you note or email to your new contacts. Thank them for their time and reintroduce yourself in a few lines. They met lots of people during the event and your business card doesn’t say everything about you. So it is good to reinforce your introduction.

* Give them the link to your web site. Tell them about your newsletter, if you have one. This is the best way to stay in touch on a regular basis.

* Schedule follow-up meetings with the people you had a good connection with, or if you think that you can help each other.

* Do it again and again. You will see that networking can expand your contacts, which will definitely help grow your business.

(c) 2006 Biba F. Pédron

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Get Your Money-Making Website Setup Today!

Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 2:50 am  
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Somebody said you have to love what you do, but that’s not necessarily true. What is true is that you have to love the opportunity. The opportunity to build life, future, health, success and fortune. Knocking on someone’s door may not be something you love to do, but you love the opportunity of what might be behind that door.

For example, a guy says, “I’m digging ditches. Should I love digging ditches?” The answer is, “No, you don’t have to love digging ditches, but if it is your first entry onto the ladder of success, you say, I’m glad somebody gave me the opportunity to dig ditches and I’m going to do it so well, I won’t be here long.’”

Getting free from dominating bosses and the possibility to make your own decisions is one of the lures of starting your own business. As attractive as it looks, not everyone is suited for self-employment. Before you go ahead with any plan to start a business it is important to take a close look at yourself and ask yourself some important questions.

Once your business is up and running and things are going fine, you will start to look at how to grow. There are many ways to expand a good business, but first make sure you have your current circumstances under control.

So, before you are tempted to give up or get discouraged, remember all success is based on long term commitment, faith, discipline, attitude and a few stepping stones along the way. You might not like the stone you are on right now, but it’s sure to be one of the stones that lead to great opportunities in the future.

One of the most influential factors in your sales success is your ability to develop relationships. People use emotion in every buying decision. This principle holds true even for sales reps selling business to business, after all, even in a corporate environment the final decisions will still be made by a person. In your quest to develop good relationships with your buyers you do not have to be ingratiating or otherwise insincere, it is simply essential that you pay attention to the way your prospects feel about you, adding a personal element to your approach rather than treating every situation like a cold business transaction.

The significance of relationships in selling can never be underestimated. Whether you are a network marketer selling to your friends or a corporate sales person selling to a buyer, it is important to note that nobody sells to a company. People sell to people and emotions automatically enter into these decisions. How the buyer feels about the seller is bound to have an affect on the sale. In all of your sales endeavors you should ensure that you are polite, kind and gracious, but there is more that you can do to build a relationship in which you have great influence.

Written by Ricco Richardson
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Signs Of A Drowning Company

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:33 pm  
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Very few entrepreneurs want to close their business. Sell, yes. Merge, maybe. Shut it down, I doubt it. The reality is that more than 50% of all new companies opened in the U.S. and Canada close within the first three years. That means you need to know when, in fact, it may be best to cut your losses and get out.

Yes, it might happen to you. It’s happened to me so I’m speaking from a lot of experience here. Perhaps the single biggest obstacle to overcome is to accept the reality that when you start a business, you need to be prepared to close it. You should have included in your initial business plan a formula or timeline with a set of criteria to determine if the goals you feel are necessary to survive are being met.

In many ways, knowing when it may be time to close down a business is a particularly tough call for a small businessperson. Not only do large corporations have significantly greater resources to address potentially fatal problems, but the lone wolf mentality that allows an entrepreneur to flourish can also blind him/her to reality. A business owner has to go into operating a company with an attitude that says “I am excited and I will succeed” but they also must be aware of the possibility that the company may not survive. A true entrepreneur often gets emotionally attached to their company because of the passion and efforts needed to make it even have a chance to succeed. Unfortunately that emotional attachment can also cause them to not see what is actually a sinking ship and not just a rough sea.

Keep the following points in mind. They don’t mean the ship is necessarily going down, but noticing them may allow you to reverse a bad situation that will sink the ship you worked so hard to keep moving full steam ahead.

Cash Flow. You know full well that you need to turn a profit to stay in business. But take that precept a step farther and keep a close eye on your cash flow. If, for instance, you’re struggling to balance income and outgoing expenses on a monthly basis, that may be a signal that things are simply too tight to continue for long. In particular, watch for cash flow problems that persist for several months in a row. This could be the start of a huge tailspin that needs to be stopped immediately, or it’s time to bail out.

Quality Issues. Numbers can be a powerful signal that a business is genuinely struggling. Equally compelling are signs that will never appear on a balance sheet. An increase in customer complaints, for instance, may hint at problems with products or services that may ultimately bring down an operation — particularly troubling if you’ve already taken steps to try to address what’s wrong. If you’re losing customers or, by contrast, find existing customers cutting down on their business, that too may signal a potentially fatal flaw. Again, this can be reversed, so don’t just give up on quality issues.

Lying to yourself. As a manager or owner of a business, you need to be optimistic and get through inevitable tough times. But that should never slide to the depths of delusion or being dishonest to yourself. Little lies to yourself turn into big lies then you can’t figure out where you truly stand.

Let me give you an example from my own experience. I once made a hire of a fairly high paid employee. He had a diverse background, lots of contacts and seemed well worth the money. Unfortunately, I had this notion that I could convert a technical guy with project management experience into a consultant that could also bring me business. Well, let’s just say it was never going to happen but I kept lying to myself and saying that he’s got the ability but he’s just not catching on as quickly as I wanted. A year and a half later of a lot of wasted time (I re-did most of his work) and money ( I took a pay cut in hopes of this guy eventually bringing me a lot of business as promised) my little lies to myself turned into a few huge problems. Don’t get into this rut.

Lies on paper. Fibs limited to your inner monologue are one thing; distortions of the truth that make their way onto documents and other company material take that red flag to a whole new level. Ever hear of Enron or WorldCom? Fudging company numbers in a struggle to keep things looking positive is a bona fide signal that things may be beyond salvaging. And you will get caught if this is being done to lie to a bank or other lender. Not only won’t you get the money, but you may be blocked by anyone else that gets wind of your ways, especially if it ends up in a credit report.

Excessive turnover. Employees can often see a failing business more readily than the owner. The sign that this may be the case is an unforeseen exodus by multiple employees at the same time. If this seems to be the case, ask in exit interviews if they have concerns about the long-term viability of the company. Sometimes this could just be a great maneuver by a slick competitor to take your best people or it could also just be a rumor mill that has people running scared about nothing. Find out for yourself with the exit interviews and maybe some department meetings on employee concerns.

Excessive price cuts. If you find yourself slashing prices more than you thought you would, that implies a desperation that may be fatal — if for no other reason than you’re cutting into your profit margin.

Paying with plastic. If you’re resorting to a credit card to meet payroll, you’re only adding to a debt level that’s ultimately going to strangle you. Don’t bankroll your payroll with a credit card. A Visa card is not the answer to meet payroll unless you are purposely trying to dig yourself a debt grave. Find out exactly why you don’t have the cash. Slow payers? Lack of work? Too much R&D spending? It could be a number of things and each of them has their own way to be fixed. The key here is- when you are ready to hire employees, you should get yourself a line of credit from a bank that will cover 2 months worth of payroll, benefits and taxes if possible. At least a month’s worth.

Too much stress or not enough happiness. Keep an eye on yourself as well. If the business is killing you- trouble sleeping, short temper and the like- that can signal a business that may not be worth keeping afloat. Remember your enthusiasm to get working everyday when you started the company? Well, you can’t expect to have the same exact passion a few years down the road but you sure should expect to get up in the morning to see how your personal creation of a money machine is doing. You got in it for freedom, or money, or creativity or something that made you feel good about yourself. If you’re still not at least a little pumped for a new business day, you might have a problem on your hands.

Knowing signs of trouble may allow you to head problems off in time. Listen to those closest to you for guidance and counsel — not merely for potentially fatal flaws but insight that may solve the problem before it becomes terminal. Talk to your advisors, your lawyer and accountant. They can often tell you when your business is in real trouble. Friends and family members can also often see the signs without even being involved in the business, but by being involved with you.

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How Long Before You Make Money?

Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 9:15 am  
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With the exception of some not for profit organizations most people go into business in order to produce revenue (income) and profit. Unfortunately, when it comes to a home business, and especially network marketing, many people forget this important point.

In a traditional business, whether a Ma and Pa shop, or a large franchise store like McDonald’s, business owners know to watch their numbers. A business must make a profit in order to survive and, if it doesn’t, adjustments must be made accordingly.

One of the reasons for the high failure rate in small businesses, home businesses, and MLM (network marketing), is because due to the low entry costs and requirements people often don’t treat them like, “real businesses.”

Two things commonly happen:

1) Many people have the attitude that since they didn’t have to invest much to begin with they really don’t have to be too concerned about whether they make money or not, or how soon. Of course, that often ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s not just that way with a business, but with many things in life. If you come to own something that cost a great deal or required a lot of effort to acquire you tend to appreciate it more than something of lesser perceived value.

When you consider that network marketing has made some people just as much if not more money than many other traditional kinds of businesses, with incomes of as much as $1 million a month or more being achieved, treating a MLM as if it isn’t a serious or real business is a huge mistake!

2) Because the entry cost can be so low people overlook the cost of not making money, and also have a tendency not to pay attention to how much their other expenses associated with their business (such as trips, conventions, and/or buying extra products or services over and above what you really need) add up over time.

For example, let’s say that you spend $500 to sign up for a new business. Not a lot of money at all, maybe the price of a cup of coffee a day and some change.

Weeks go by, and then months, maybe even years, and you still aren’t making any money. Perhaps you don’t think much of it because, you think to yourself, “I only spent $500 to get started in this business anyway.”

But what are the true cost? Let’s say that in addition to your startup cost you have also been spending $150 each and every month on buying your company’s products and services. (Perfectly ok if you enjoy and use all of the products you buy; not ok if you are buying more than you need simply to qualify for a certain level with your company!) And let’s also assume that you are spending $50 a month on meetings, conventions, or seminars (many people spend much more).

So, even though you really haven’t paid much attention because you only invested $500 to begin with, if your business hasn’t yet started making you money then you are really spending AND LOSING $2,400 a year, in this hypothetical example. And, here again, in reality many people often end up spending much, much more.

Going back to the example at the beginning of this article about a traditional business, like a McDonald’s. Those kinds of businesses often have much higher costs associated with them, such as a store lease or mortgage, equipment leases, payroll, etc. It isn’t uncommon for a traditional business to have to operate for months or years before making a profit.

In contrast — though networking marketing is NOT designed necessarily to make you a very large amount of money overnight — you can and should be able to generate an ever increasing residual income for yourself over time, and starting in relatively short order.

Everyone approaches a new home business differently. Some people prefer to roll their sleeves up and dig right in, expecting to start making money almost immediately. While others prefer to first spend time learning more about their new business, and/or obtaining any available training. So it’s acceptable, if you choose, to take a few weeks or even a month to “prepare” for your new business. However, especially if it is your goal to start making money right away, it is entirely realistic with most networking businesses to start earning viable amounts of money within as little as 30 days.

Certainly within 90 days you will want to start seeing some kind of payoff in return for your efforts. And no more than 6 months should go by without positively starting to see income coming in. In fact, ideally, you should try whenever possible to not only earn enough money to cover your original startup costs, but you absolutely should be making a profit (in other words, extra money) within this time.

If after 30 to 90 days, 6 months maximum, you are not making a profit, you should seriously reevaluate!

To summarize:

1) Always remember to track ALL of your directly related business expenses, including how much you spend on leads, products and services, meetings, trips and conventions, training, etc. You must add these expenses to your original startup costs.

2) Subtract how much money you’ve earned from the number above (your total expenses) and this will tell you how much money you’ve made (profit), or how much money you’ve lost and/or are losing.

3) To repeat: If after 30 to 90 days, 6 months maximum, you are not making a profit, you should seriously reevaluate!

Don’t continue down the same path if you are only spending more money than you are making, and not making any profit in return.

Remember, except for a not for profit endeavor, the purpose of being in business is to make money. And in order to make money you have to actually make more money than you spend.

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