5 Tips for Enhancing Sales

Educate your customers. Entrepreneurs whose businesses are ahead of the curve need to help customers understand the value of their products or services.

1. Put prospect identification on the front burner. Keep developing sales leads and cultivating the people or organizations most likely to become your customers.
   
2. Make an offer the customer can't refuse. One professional association offered $250 off on next year's annual conference if members signed up and paid now. Only $50 was not returnable if the member could not actually attend.
   
3. Don't give up. Persistence pays off—as long as it's friendly and helpful and not overbearing.
   
4. Show customers that you are an asset to them. Prove that you can improve their businesses or enhance their lives.
   

Brought to you by SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business."

Common Sense = Key to Success

Many childhood lessons are applicable to owning and operating a small business. However, it appears that not enough common sense makes its way into business practice. Marketing is about standing out in a flurry of consumer choices. It is about becoming a destination in what has turned out to be a very volatile and recessionary business environment. Marketing is extremely important during a recession. Often, entrepreneurs wait for the world to beat a path to their door. This is the old "mousetrap" approach, based on the belief that if you have a better product, the world will beat a path to your door. But that doesn't apply in the real world. It is important to take your business and your ideas to the world.

In an effort to save money it is easy to try to do everything yourself, and that is where small businesses drop the ball. Larger firms have the resources to delegate tasks to other employees, consultants or subcontractors, while smaller firms do not. The ability to delegate responsibilities to qualified people gives a firm a tremendous advantage. The firm runs more professionally and there is less waste as jobs are done quickly and correctly. What tends to happen in a small business, where the owner does almost everything, is that jobs are not necessarily done well. Sometimes taking shortcuts to save money results in more waste and may even cost more in the long run.

Why do small business owners get themselves into such tough spots? One reason may be their psychological makeup. Entrepreneurs tend to be go-getters who like a challenge and who are not terribly afraid of risk. The entrepreneurial persona does not readily identify limitations, whether personal or professional. When the business idea takes over, common sense may take a back seat. Many entrepreneurs hear negative feedback from family and friends when they tell them about their business plans. Rather than fighting negative feedback, it would be wise to re-examine the business plan.

• Is there room for improvement?
  
• Do others' recommendations ring true?
  
• Do they make sense?
  

Common sense is critical in business. Today's business environment is highly volatile. Small businesses will be pounded by loss of consumer confidence, tighter finances and declining sales. It is time to keep your eye on the ball, and to remember to show up in the marketplace in a decisive and confident way.

60-Second Guide to Building Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Even in today's media-driven world, there is no better form of advertising than word-of-mouth—a personal referral from someone whose opinions others trust and respect. Small business owners are among the biggest beneficiaries of word-of-mouth referrals, as they require no advertising and marketing budget.

While you cannot always control how and when referrals come about, there are many ways to start and sustain a positive buzz about your business. In just 60 seconds, we'll show you how to attract high-value, low-cost word-of-mouth referrals.

0:55 Recruit Cheerleaders
Build a team of supporters for your business—friends, family members and colleagues who routinely talk up your business to their friends and acquaintances. Make sure that they know enough about your qualifications and capabilities to make an accurate and convincing case to others.

0:49 Network, Network, Network
Get involved with professional associations related to your industry or field. You'll get to know experts and colleagues in your specific market. And, they may know of immediate or potential opportunities for your business. Other good networking opportunities include local or regional business associations, Chambers of Commerce and non-profits aligned with your field.

0:34 Capitalize on Your Current Customers
At the conclusion of all successful projects, thank your customers for their support and express your interest in working with them again. Also encourage them to pass along your name to others. If your operating budget can handle it, consider offering discounts for customer referrals.

0:27 Become a Knowledge Source
Take advantage of opportunities to show what you know by offering free presentations or articles on timely issues to business, professional and community organizations and publications. Make sure that your presentation/article is relevant to listeners' interests, not a thinly veiled commercial for your business.

0:20 Keep in Touch
Don't wait for customers to call you. Contact them from time to time to see how things are going, personally and professionally; what issues or trends they're dealing with; and perhaps alert them to an event, article or Web site that may be of interest. Also consider issuing a newsletter to current and prospective clients with relevant news, tips and other information that can help their business, or simply brighten their day.

0:13 Give as Well as Receive
Every small business should have a network of colleagues and associates to call on to handle excess workload, or provide service or experience you may not have. These relationships almost always result in "reciprocal referrals" to you.

0:01 Do a Good Job
There's no better source for a positive referral than a happy customer. And remember that the quality of your service says as much about you as the quality of your work or product. Responsiveness, the ability to help out with tight deadlines, and a willingness to do those all-important "little things" (e.g., working in small jobs for no charge) builds goodwill and a good reputation for your business.

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