 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|
Mark Gwilliam Articles
|
| Mark Gwilliam Articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Why your bank account may not reflect the sales that you have made - Click To Read Article If you want to do well as a small business owner, it would help you if you could understand the basics of how to read a balance sheet. The balance sheet is an indispensable part of a business accounting information and is essentially a snapshot of a company at a specific point in time. The balance sheet lets you know what a company owns (“assets”) and what it owes (“liabilities”). It will also tell you how much the business is worth. Good financial management - Click To Read Article Good financial management is essential to the survival and success of every business. Why it pays to have a network of advisors - part 1 - Click To Read Article Why do you need advisors? If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s likely that your training is in a specific specialty area. You’re brimming with ideas and very good at what you do. Your major weaknesses are probably in sales, marketing, management, law, and accounting…in other words, those areas most critical to running a successful business. The case for advisors is quite straightforward! Why using a virtual office assistant may be more cost effective - Click To Read Article The cost of employing full-time administration staff is costing you more than you think. Added to their salaries, you will have to pay them holiday & sick pay; other government taxes; training costs and they will have regular “down-time”. And don’t forget the overheads associated with it - a telephone; desk & chair; insurances; software; stationery and many more expenses. Why paying attention to where you are in the business lifecycle will help you - part 1 - Click To Read Article Businesses form, develop, mature, reinvent or die. Different stages of the business life cycle are associated with different risks and expectations and they may need different management styles and strategies to meet the needs of their customers. Impress your bank manager! How to read your profit & loss account report - Click To Read Article If you are relatively new to the business arena, you’re probably not too good at reading financial statements. But for someone who is planning to start a small business, it is crucial to learn how to read financial statements and understand what they mean. Today, we are going to discuss one type of financial statement called the profit and loss statement. A profit and loss statement is a summary of your income and expenses over a certain period of time, usually a quarter or a year. The profit and loss statement is important because it helps you to understand the profitability or financial condition of your company over that certain period of time. 5 tips for clear and effective writing - Click To Read Article Writing is one of the most important skills that a business owner can possess. Whether you are looking to write business letters, emails, blog postings, forum posts, articles, newsletters, eBooks, eZine, autoresponders or sales copy; your ability to be both clear and effective will determine your levels of impact on you readers. How to prepare a budget - Click To Read Article There you are, running around in small circles with deadlines to meet and bills to pay. Can you really afford the time required to produce a detailed budget? Isn’t your time better spent generating revenue? Yes and no. To paraphrase Alice and the Cheshire cat: “If you don’t know where you are going, you are sure to get somewhere if you only walk long enough”. The budget provides you and your investors with a numerical map that leads somewhere specific. How to attract more customers - Click To Read Article Attracting new clients, also known as “prospects” or “leads,” is the number one priority of almost every new and existing business owner. From sole traders to small and medium-sized businesses, large corporations, and global companies, every business owner aims to increase their customer base. Why discounting is bad for business - Click To Read Article Discounting is a short term fix with long term consequences! While there is some disparity among experts, most say that even in the current marketplace, discounting can cause long term damage to your overall business success. According to www.sm.com.au discounting is a costly strategy for retailers. While the book called, You Can Compete, suggests that discounting will double retail sales, most data points towards a business disaster. There are several successful alternatives to discounting that are available for your business. Motivate your customers to buy from you - Click To Read Article Too much "Hard Sell" can mean "No Sale". With the proliferation of advertising both online and off-line, customers have grown wary of products or services marketed through traditional sales methods. Entrepreneurs of today must therefore learn how to invest more time and money in soft-sell methods. Here are some real secrets to making your customers want to give you their money. Tactics to increase your sales conversion rates - Click To Read Article In golf, your perfect downswing and backswing will end in a mis-hit if you don't have a proper follow-through. Likewise, in marketing, your marvellous ad and outstanding product launch will net you no sales if you don't have a great follow-up plan. Marketing experts will tell you that it takes more than one encounter to convince customers to buy. Thus, you should make not only a good first impression but also a lasting one. Here are a few tips to accomplish this: What to look for when choosing an accountant - Click To Read Article No matter how small your business or how terrible your cash-flow is, an accountant is one professional you cannot afford to be without. Accountants provide services that go way beyond frantic, last minute tax returns; or at least they should do. They are highly trained professionals who can be a tremendous benefit to your company. This article discusses some of the areas an accountant can help you and highlights some areas to consider when choosing the right one for your business. Business ratios - Click To Read Article Business ratios are tools that help you in evaluating the current performance of your business. Broaden your marketing efforts - Click To Read Article This is another important concept. If you currently run one radio commercial or use only your business cards to market your business, you’ll have limited the number of customers you can reach. Determine if your product is profitable before you make it - Click To Read Article However hard you run, you'll still lose the race if you're running on the wrong path. In the same way, however hard you work to start up your business, you'll still end up failing if you started the WRONG business. A business venture revolving on the wrong idea, product or service is certain to fail. The fact that only 1 out of 10 business start-ups survive the 5-year mark should prove this. Before you start your own business, therefore, find out if you are going to be the exception or the norm. Find out by doing the following. 5 reasons why you need you to plan - Click To Read Article A sound, well thought through, business plan is the cornerstone of any business…whether is it a start-up, growth or established business…as well as being a significant tool for monitoring the progress and growth of your company. Most people would not embark on a long journey to somewhere they have never been without finding out how to get there first. A business plan is effectively this road-map for your business. This article outlines 5 key reasons why you should have a business plan. Why it's important to have a network of advisors - part 2 - Click To Read Article In my previous article, I discussed why it’s important to have a good team of professional advisors on hand to help your business. This article follows on that discussion. How to write ads that sell - Click To Read Article If you want to write ads and letters that fill your order book, you must study the classic ads of Claude Hopkins in his book Scientific Advertising. He still ranks as the greatest ad writer of all time. Proven tips to improve cash flow - Click To Read Article Ever heard of the saying that “a sale is not a sale until the cash is in your bank account?” If we you were paid for your sales the moment that you made them, you would never have a cash flow problem. Unfortunately, that does not always happen in many businesses. Credit is a privilege (not a right) and too many customers seek to abuse this trust and often never pay for the service or product you have supplied. Why you need a unique selling point (USP) - Click To Read Article Having a business without a Unique Selling Point (USP) is like running for office without a defining slogan. The result can be similarly devastating: you’ll lose. Using a scorecard - Click To Read Article Businesses of all sizes, be it a large corporation or a newly-established small business, spend a considerable amount of time and effort developing well-thought out strategic plans that work to pave the way for their business’s success. A profitable market - Click To Read Article A profitable market has to be a hungry market. In other words, there must be sufficient demand for the product in place. Improve your business with key performance indicators (KPIs) - Click To Read Article For those of you who are constantly looking for ways to better manage and improve your business, key performance indicators could prove to be a good solution. Key performance indicators, also known as KPI’s, are financial and non-financial measurements that help a business understand how much progress it has made in achieving its goals. Before KPI’s are established, however, a business must clearly establish its mission, goals, and stakeholders. Marketing definition - Click To Read Article Marketing is “A management activity that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements, efficiently and profitably”. 4 Ways to reduce your costs and to increase income - Click To Read Article The little details can make a big difference in the world of business. It is more likely that a small business will experience a surge in profits due to its implementation of a series of small cost-cutting strategies rather than the acquisition of a huge new client. Cost cutting strategies for your small business don’t have to be complicated, they just require that you pay attention to some of the more trivial aspects of your business. An insolvent business is a bomb waiting to explode- how solvent is yours? - Click To Read Article Every business, be it a huge corporation or a small home-based business, will encounter some cash flow problems at one point or another. It becomes a serious issue when your business seems to be in financial difficulties on a continuous basis. If this rings true to your business, then you may need to take a long, hard look at how solvent your business really is. Insolvency is when a company is unable to pay its debts when they become due. In other words, the business is spending more than it is earning. Why paying attention to where you are in the business lifecycle will help you - part 3 - Click To Read Article In parts 1 and 2, I discussed the first 4 phases of a typical business lifecycle; from its very first days to reaching maturity. In this article, the last of the series, I’ll discuss typical characteristics of a business that has developed to a stage where its owners are expanding. I’ll also discuss how to identify a business that has reached its peak and is now declining and the merits of reviewing exit strategies for its owners. How SKYPE has changed the way we communicate - Click To Read Article Communication is the act of transmitting thoughts, opinions, ideas, and information (the message) from one person (the communicator) to another (the receiver). It is a process that requires a medium. Traditional communication medium Traditionally, business management communicated with employees through written memoranda. The boss would dictate or type the message, make copies of the memo and distribute the same to the employees. This day and age, however, a person reads, hears and sees so much that his mind is simply incapable of retaining every piece of information that it has received. Among the information that a human being receives, written messages have the least chance of being retained. This means that written memos can be very ineffective communication media. The good, the bad and the ugly of podcasting for your business - Click To Read Article Small businesses have found their perfect marketing method – podcasting – or have they, really? Podcasting may be the next best thing since sliced bread but it isn’t truly that different from other marketing methods. Podcasting, just like any marketing method has a good, a bad and an ugly side. The ABC of a book-keeping system - Click To Read Article Book-keeping makes your paperwork easier. It provides a system that tells you – and your accountant – exactly what is going on. Whether you use a manual or computer-based system, the same principles apply. It is worth deciding if you are going to computerise your accounts at an early stage. While a traditional paper-based system will look suitable for many start-ups, the accounting function could soon swallow valuable time as your business starts to grow. If you start with computerised accounts, there will be no need to go through the time consuming process of transferring your paperwork onto a computer package. Top 5 Warning Signs that Your Business Is Declining - Click To Read Article The hardest thing to admit for a business owner is the fact that his/her business is slowly dying. After all, what business owner would want to admit that his/her once future hope of building an empire is forever to remain in the realm of wishful thinking? Thus, the owner of a failing business continues to hold on and on until his/her knuckles turn white and his/her face becomes so blue from holding his/her breath. How to run a successful home based business - Click To Read Article Home based businesses have become widely accepted as an effective income generating alternative to traditional employment. Many business owners decide to run a home based business for the flexibility to work at their own pace and to have a better balance between family and work. Working at home allows you to work in your own time and at your own pace. There are several important strategies that you can implement to ensure that you run a successful home based business. 3 Simple Steps for Creating an Effective Unique Selling Point - Click To Read Article Creating a great Unique Selling Point or USP is much like making a love letter. You must, through words, create an image of yourself that the object of your affection will love in return. Unlike love letters though, you’ll have fewer words with which to accomplish your goal. Why you need a unique selling point - Click To Read Article Being Generic Hurts Your Business Having a business without a Unique Selling Point or USP is like running for office without a defining slogan. The result can be similarly devastating: you'll lose. Your business needs a USP. It’s your business’ unique promise to customers. It cuts through miles of marketing red tape and categorically tells your customers that "this is who we are and this is what we can do for you that any other company cannot". Identify your target market for the best results - Click To Read Article Before you begin, you must understand one thing. No matter how much money you spend on your marketing strategy, your attempts will be fruitless if you are marketing to the wrong audience. Discover 7 Common Causes of Cash Flow Problems in your Business before it is Too Late - Click To Read Article Cash flow provides the necessary fuel to propel your small business forward. Cash flow problems can lead to an insolvent business structure and are a leading indicator of a failing business. Here are the 7 most common causes of cash flow problems in small business and solutions to help you avoid them: Am I in the Right Business? - Click To Read Article Are you tired of working constantly without a vacation and having the money to show for your efforts? If you are wondering whether you are in the right business, consider the following questions: How to get your Bank Manager to sanction your loan application - Click To Read Article Financial skills are one of the most important skills to master in business. You will need financing at some stage in your business; beginning, expansion, or for equipment purchases. Understanding what a lender will be looking for and being able to provide it, will improve your chances of financial success. How to Set up Effective Terms and Conditions Before you Sell on Credit - Click To Read Article Setting up effective terms and conditions can be a challenge for many small business owners when they are formulating their payment infrastructure. Extending credit can be an effective small business strategy as it allows your business to establish customer loyalty and to increase sales with customers who would not do business with your company otherwise. Consider the following tips when you are setting up your small business terms and conditions: You Don’t have to Have all of the Answers; It is okay to Seek Help Once in a While - Click To Read Article If you are too proud to ask for help in your business, you are missing out on many valuable learning opportunities. Mentoring is an essential tool to utilise in business. Mentors, business associates, friends and family can all provide valuable insight to assist you in your business success. Mentoring is one of the best sources for quality information and business wisdom on an ongoing basis and is simple to arrange. Value your time as you can bet your customer’s won’t - Click To Read Article Owning your own small business isn’t just a normal job, its 15 jobs or more all at once. You have to be your own PR specialist, marketing manager, bookkeeper, and receptionist in addition to the overseeing the primary product or service of your business – be it website design, marketing consulting, or pottery production. It is highly likely that you work 16 hours a day and only have time for the bare necessities. Maybe you even miss dinner every other day and hardly have time for your family. The 10 Commandments of Goal Setting - Click To Read Article Setting goals personally and professionally is a crucial step to implement to ensure success. Here are the 10 Commandments of Goal Setting: 3 steps to create a unique selling point to compel customers to do business with you - Click To Read Article Creating a great Unique Selling Point or USP is much like making a love letter. You must, through words, create an image of yourself that the object of your affection will love in return. Unlike love letters though, you’ll have fewer words with which to accomplish your goal. 5 Ways to Test Your Customer Service Level - Click To Read Article Your customer service level is a significant measure of how well (or how bad) you serve your customers. Thus, it is a crucial determinant of how well your business will do - particularly how good you are at retaining customers and generating repeat business. Indirectly, it also contributes to your referral business - how well you serve existing customers will influence their inclination to refer you to their friends, family and acquaintances. Attract as many motivated prospects as you can handle - Click To Read Article Hitting the right prospect-rich vein in business is like being given a get-out-of-jail-free card in Monopoly or a toll-free pass at the expressway. In other words, it’s a fast, free ride to a successful business outcome. Just like a vein of gold, one prospect will lead to another until you’re swamped with orders, customers and profits. The question is: how exactly do you find such prospects? Do you reach a global market - Click To Read Article It is widely reported that there are 6.5 billion people on the planet spread throughout 194 countries (I only have another 171 to see!) Follow this link to test yourself. How well do you treat your customers - Click To Read Article Think about the last time you had a negative buying experience. Did it take forever for your call to be answered? Did an e-commerce site fail to respond to your email query? Were you left with a good first impression? Motivate your customers to buy - Click To Read Article Too much “Hard Sell” can mean “No Sale”. With the proliferation of advertising both online and off-line, customers have grown wary of products or services marketed through traditional sales methods. The cost of poor service - Click To Read Article Have you ever wondered how much money has been lost due to poor customer service? Does it happen where you work? Or do you own your own business and are unaware of your employees’ actions? What are your competitors doing - Click To Read Article An important aspect in any strategic marketing plan is solid market research or analysis. Others may call it competitive research/analysis/intelligence, but they all boil down to one thing: knowing what goes on in your industry from trending to movement in your competitors’ businesses and such before laying down your marketing campaign. Why segmenting your customers will help in the long run - Click To Read Article Every customer is different, so why treat them all the same? What your business card says about you - Click To Read Article I am often asked about what details should go on a business card. This article attempts to give my views. In this day and age, information technology has become so advanced that everything, it seems, is done online. Marketing is no exception – search engine optimization (SEO); pay-per-click (PPC) advertising; article marketing; directory placements, and such internet marketing tools have become buzzwords in the marketing world as a result of this ‘going online’ trend. How to promote your business - Click To Read Article As you know, customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without them, your business doesn’t stand a chance at success – and will crash and burn along with the many other small businesses that don’t survive their first five years. Why paying attention to where you are in the business lifecycle will help you - part 2 - Click To Read Article My previous article looked at the traits of a business that has just begun, may be with just a thought, and how it moves into a start-up phase. This article looks at the next 2 phases as the business begins to take shape and grow, then reaching maturity. How to attract new business leads - Click To Read Article Hitting the right prospect-rich vein in business is like being given a get-out-of-jail-free card in Monopoly or a toll-free pass at the expressway. In other words, it's a fast, free ride to a successful business outcome. Just like a vein of gold, one prospect will lead to another until you're swamped with orders, customers and profits. The question is: how exactly do you find such prospects? How to Create a Compelling Vision for your Business - Click To Read Article Your company’s vision statement is the statement of its potential and of what you want your business to become. Your vision statement should be meaningful to you and your organisation. It should be shared will all of the employees in your organisation in order to create a unified direction for everyone to move in. Crafting a vision statement is a challenge for many business owners, so I have included several strategies in this article for you to make this process easier to complete. 3 mistakes that most ads make - Click To Read Article "Is a hand that can't grip still a hand?" asked Aristotle who believed that something is defined by its function or purpose. If you apply this belief to advertising, it will be right to say that an advertisement that doesn't convert is not an ad in its truest sense. Nonetheless, you'll see a lot of "ads" that don't convert target customers into buyers. The problem may be attributed partly to customers who have become jaded from the profuse amount of ads. The following mistakes that most ads contain, however, are another cause. Like this article? Share it with your friends
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I just got an angry note from Anna in the Midwest. She read one of my books, got the coupon for unlimited free consulting by email and decided to cash it in. She sent me a note asking me to persuade her bosses that ...
