Your Own Business!

So You Want Your Own Business!

There are many reasons for wanting to start your own business, and most of us get to this point. Which one of the following applies to you?

• Freedom from daily routine.
• Doing what I want when I want.
• Improve my living standard.
• I want creative freedom.
• I want to fully use my skills, knowledge and education.
• I have a product/idea/service that people need.
• I’ll have more time with the family.
• I won’t have a dress code.
• There are good tax breaks for business owners.
• I’m a Type B person and work best alone.
• I want to be my own boss.
• I want to make the decisions.

Now granted, every one of the above is a good reason for wanting your own business. The rub is, that not many people think the process through – step by step. There are 7 phases to business planning. They are:

1. Investigation Phase
2. Planning Phase
3. Start-up Phase
4. Operating/Monitoring Phase
5. Problem/Challenge resolution Phases
6. Renewal/Expansion Phase
7. Selling, Transferring, Retirement Phase

We’ll cover all of the above in my next few columns as a “Business Basics” refresher, but for today let’s take number one.

In the Investigation Phase you take a look at yourself and also your business options. There are careers that are suited to personality types, so the first thing you must discern is “Which personality type am I?”

Duty Fulfillers
This is an introverted personality who is serious, quiet, thorough, orderly, matter-of-fact, logical, realistic, and dependable. They take responsibility, are well organized, know what should be accomplished and work steadily toward it disregarding distractions. They are careful calculators, and 20% of this group become accountants.

The Mechanics
These are also introverts and are cool onlookers. They are quiet, reserved, observing, and analyzing life with a detached curiosity and have unexpected flashes of original humor. They’re usually interested in cause and effect, how and why mechanical things work, and in organizing facts using logical principles. They usually are craftsmen, mechanics, or handymen with about 10% becoming farmers.

The Doers
These people are extraverts who are good at on-the-spot problem solving, don’t worry, enjoy whatever comes along, are adaptable, tolerant, and generally conservative in values. They tend to like mechanical things and sports, and dislike long explanations. They are best with “real” things that can be worked, handled, taken apart, or put together. About 10% of this type go into marketing or become Impresarios.

The Executives
These are another extravert group and are hearty, frank, decisive, leaders in activities and usually good in anything that requires reasoning and intelligent talk, such as public speaking. They’re usually well informed and enjoy adding to their fund of knowledge. They may sometimes appear more positive and confident than their experience in an area warrants. They’re sometimes called “judgers” and “thinkers” and 21% of this group become legal administrators.

To go into each personality type would be far too complicated, but to give you an idea of the roles that personality types could fall into look at the following list. Beside the categories we covered in depth here are some simply broken down into Introvert or Extravert Personality.

Introverts choose careers that satisfy being:
• Nurturers
• Guardians
• Artists
• Scientists
• Protectors
• Idealists

Extraverts are usually:
• Performers
• Visionaries
• The Inspirers
• Givers
• Caregivers

The second part of the Investigating Phase is looking at your business options. When choosing the business you want to start consider the following:

• Do you like to work with your hands or brain, or both?
• Does working indoors or outdoors matter?
• Are you good at math, writing, puzzles, blueprints, installing things or fixing things?
• What interests you? What are your hobbies?
• Do you like to work alone or as part of a team?
• Do you like to plan things, or go to events?
• Do you like machines, computers?
• Do you like to drive or operate equipment?
• Do you like to travel, collect/display things, give/attend shows, or take pictures?
• Are you small, large, strong?

Make a list of your likes and dislikes. Keep a diary of things you do that relate to business and rate each entry from 1 to 5 based on your interest. Then prepare a list of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and concerns. After doing all that, you should have a list of candidate businesses that are right for you. Then you can make a list of the “candidate businesses” and rate them from 1 to 5 based on your own chosen criteria.

Some criteria could be is it feasible, low in cost to establish, meets my objectives, will make money, there is a “niche” market of existing customers, or it will produce residual income to name just a few.

By the time you’ve accomplished all that, you should seriously consider visiting the local chapter of S.C.O.R.E. or your own mentor to use as a sounding board for your plan. Next week, if I haven’t dissuaded you so far, we’ll cover the Planning Phase.

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Increasing Sales

Here’s the steps to increasing sales:

1. Qualify Your Prospect – Maximizing your time is important, so the faster you can determine if you’ve got a potential customer the better. Determine who the “Decision Maker” is, do you have a good rapport with him/her, is their a problem you can solve or do they know there’s a problem? You may have the greatest hammer in the world, but if all this prospect uses is screws – you can’t sell your product.

2. Gain Trust – Price and product benefits are obvious buying factors, but less obvious ones are intuition, impressions, and rapport. Prospects are just as apt to buy for emotional reasons as practical ones, so you need to show them you are most like them, you’re sincere, you keep your word, and are honest. If you say you’ll see them on Tuesday, make sure you keep your word. Don’t make a promise you don’t intend on keeping.

3. Define Your Unique Position – Your product or service provides your customer with a specific benefit or group of benefits. Make sure it isn’t the same as your competition. Why does your company stand out? Let them know the difference.

4. LISTEN! – Most salespeople are guilty of “overselling”, and often miss the sentence from the prospect that says, “You’re right. We’ll take it.” Listen to your prospect as he answers open-ended questions, and even listen to his tone and inflections of speech. Uncover the problem, and then provide the solution and stop talking.

5. Stay Focused – Too many small business owners spend all their time putting out fires instead of making sales. Spend at least 60% of your time trying to produce revenue. The sales window of 9am-5pm is small, so plan your selling time accordingly. Schedule non-sales generating duties outside this time.

6. Polish Your Presentation – Don’t take your sales presentation for granted. Practice your pitch. You’ve spent a lot of money perfecting your product or service, take the time to develop a comfortable, confident, effective presentation.

7. Do Your Homework – Research your prospects so that you can ask better questions, show better under-standing of his business, and be more prepared and confident before your meet.

8. Learn From Success – Many entrepreneurs have success in one industry with one type of client, and then don’t focus on getting more of the same type. If you’ve been successful selling to doctors and publishers, call on other doctors and publishers and refer to the successes you’ve had. Prospects will trust you more if they know you have previous experience with others in their field. You also spend less time establishing your credibility with them.

These are just a few of more than 50 or more ways to increase your sales revenue, but they are valuable in helping you to accomplish one very important goal – TO SELL THE MOST PRODUCT OR SERVICE IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME. Remember, the only difference between an average baseball player and an All-Star is just one more hit in every 10 at bats. Step up to the plate and sell, sell,
sell.

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Guaranteed To Increase Sales

As a Publishing entrepreneur and by doing publicity for my clients, I’ve spent years studying the art of selling. The techniques that follow aren’t difficult to learn, but they require discipline and practice.

Your most important skill as a business owner is your salesmanship. Having the best product or service means nothing if you can’t get anyone to buy it, so to ensure the success of your business you must develop the ability to generate revenue – “salesman-ship”.

Here is a brief outline of 13 techniques I’ve developed for increasing sales:



1. USE THE PHONE –Absolutely the cheapest, most effective, and efficient way to find customers is by phone. Yes, “cold-calling”. Write out a script for this before you call, so you don’t sound vague. Introduce yourself, your company, the purpose of the call, and give a brief “benefit” of your product/service to the client. ”What will you do for his/her business?” Be brief, to the point, and have 10 possible objections you might get, answered in your script. This way you’re prepared for the customary “brush-off.” Always try to get a firm commitment to a meeting. This call is not to “sell” the client, it’s to get a face-to-face meeting to establish credibility – and then to sell him/her. Would you buy from a voice on the phone? No. You want to see the vendor and listen to his offer.

2. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP – You should always be looking for new customer, and I’ve found that giving seminars, teaching, guest speaking at trade shows and organizations, or writing an article for your trade magazine or business journal establishes you as an “expert” in your field. People like to buy from experts because it reduces their fear of making a bad decision. Everyone can overcome their fear of public speaking, so find the method that works best for you and do it. As a desperate step, join a Toastmaster’s group near you or take a night course at a nearby Adult School.

3. ASK QUESTIONS – Most salespeople think that the first meeting with the prospect is the only chance to make a sale. WRONG! Before you go into your “pitch” ask questions, take notes, what are your prospects goals, challenges, etc. Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a “win-win” relationship and closes more sales than you think.

4. AVOID “PRODUCT DUMPING” – Telling your prospect all about your product/service before you know their needs is a mistake made by 95% of salespeople. This is an inefficient selling method and upon reflection, your client will lose faith in you. I’ve met with clients on several occasions and left them with some advice and good feelings, but no sale and that’s alright. Because in the future I’m apt to get “word of mouth” referrals from them, which will outweigh what I might have made if I’d simply “sold” them a service that wasn’t an answer to their problem. Remember – nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.

5. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS – Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your “selling ratios.” How many prospecting calls do you need to get a meeting, and how many meetings to get a sale. This allows you to manage your cash flow by forecasting your sales. It also tells you how many calls are needed to increase your sales revenue.

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