Most small business owners I know are looking for the same things: more money, more personal time, more energy, smarter employees, more customers, and the return of the forty hour work week.
Let’s look more closely at one today…more customers and clients.
As you’ve probably heard, it is easier to keep a customer than it is to find a new one. Small business owners reward loyalty in a variety of ways: preview invitations to seasonal sales, birthday freebies, buy one get one at a reduced price, email specials and even the familiar fish bowl that allows visitors to throw a business card in for the lucky draw.
I read an article in the ClickZ Archives dating back to 2004 about an effective approach towards customer loyalty that was provocative and award-winning. It wasn’t a small business but we can take a lesson from it, I think. No suspense here…it was Avis. Remember the commercial slogan “We’re #2?” That campaign was so successful it “won the prestigious Brand Keys Award for the most loyal brand in the U.S. three years running.” I’m quoting the author of the article, Fredrick Marckini, the original founder of iProspect. His company was the first SEM only firm in the country in 1996. Talk about being ahead of the curve on ‘going green.’
Mr. Marckini was writing about Ron Masini, who at the time was in the development department at Avis.
Three of Mr. Masini’s propositions stand out in the article:
Sidebar: Clickz Network is a resource for knowledge about the cutting edge of internet marketing.
The summary is, I think, that we are better off scratching our heads about how we can deliver the value behind the price we put on our goods and services, rather than throwing a sign up offering a free belt with every pair of pants.
Free or cheap prices rarely, if ever, keep the customer or client coming back for more of the same. There is always somebody out there cheaper.
Have some fun with your business! The 4th of July is coming…dress up as Uncle Sam and charge full price with a smile.
With the recent credit crisis, everyone’s talking about how hard it is to borrow money, even for small businesses that are showing profit and have established a good credit history. A lot of small businesses get financing through the owner’s personal credit/equity, or from family and friends, but even friends and family may be hesitant to part with the savings they still have after two years of economic downturn and investment value loss. While it seems natural to query whatever bank you use for your regular business account for financing, you may find that larger banks are unwilling or unable to offer you the financing you need to stay in business.
Before you go out in search of a loan or other financing, do some research. You’ll need a business plan with projected earnings and, if available, past earning records. You’ll also need a basic understanding of how loans work, including compound interest and penalties for missed or late payments. If you’re using your personal finances as the backbone of your request, lenders will examine aspects of your financial history like past utility payments, historical income, and other factors. It is a good idea to talk to a lawyer and to read whatever you can find about borrowing money. Most importantly, when you go in for the meeting with a prospective lender, you want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row. Call ahead and find out everything you’ll need to bring to your meeting. Make sure you have all the necessary paperwork, and keep it organized, so you can avoid prolonging the process.
If your regular bank turns you down for financing, there are other options:
Visit smaller, independent banks in your area. Smaller banks deal with a smaller overall amount of money and therefore are not in as great a danger of losing everything and going out of business. As per my post on April 3rd, small businesses are persevering through the economic crisis better than big businesses because they have already cut out the fat. Big businesses have been overstaffed and pampered for years, and aren’t accustomed to cutting corners. The same goes for banks. Big banks that have loaned billions of dollars to individuals and businesses stand to lose everything if the bulk of their borrowers default on loans. Small banks may be less panicked right now, and therefore more willing to loan money to strong, promising small businesses.
Every city has organizations designed to provide financing to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. They can often offer competitive interest rates and more flexible payback schedules than banks, who are bound to their corporate policies. The SBA may be able to help you find independent lenders in your state or locality. In my family business, a bakery, we once borrowed $3500 for an emergency refrigerator repair, from a small lending company just a few blocks from our storefront. These independent lenders offer personal service, less red tape, and a much smaller bureaucracy than big banks.
Another idea is to seek out grants. The Small Business Administration not only offers federal loans to small businesses, but also has programs that may allow access to grants (which do not need to be paid back). Grants are available for various types of businesses, especially minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
These are just a few ideas. The main point is not to be discouraged if your first attempt at getting financing is unsuccessful. At the federal, state, and local levels, there are a variety of possible financing sources for any business that shows promise. If you’ve only checked with one bank, you may be missing out on better opportunities elsewhere.
I admire people that pack up a good book along with their swimming attire before a summer vacation. Like most small business owners, I spend too much time working and thinking about work, so I decided to take a break and actually read a book for pleasure. I recommend that all of you overworked businesspeople try to work in some reading this summer too, and if you do, I wanted to offer this recommendation of a book coming out this July.
The small business blog reader can learn a lesson from the big political figures on “living with the consequences” of their actions.
Many Americans have already read the version published in the UK in January ‘09. The original came out in Sweden in 2006. It is the second book in a trilogy titled The Millennium Trilogy and is the posthumous work of Steig Larsson, a Swedish journalist and novelist. His politics are to the right; however, he engages a wide audience with his novel writing.
The first novel in the trilogy is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It was published by Knopf last fall and according to the Editor-In-Chief, Sonny Mehta, it appeals to the “darker elements in contemporary society”. Now we’re talking language that Americans can understand; this is a series of books about the moral bankruptcy of big business and its impact on individuals who try to operate within its system, only to discover they are dismissed by the political power at large.
Who could have known that Larsson, who died in 2004 of a heart attack at the age of fifty, could write such an exposé on crooked men in power and the corruption that government will allow to go on under their noses. For most of us…he could have written it yesterday.
In his first novel, an aging man hires a journalist, Mikael Bloomvist, and a pierced, tattooed computer genius, Lisbeth Salandor, to dig through the layers of greed, lust, and conspiracy that have spread like a cancer in Swedish industry. The man wants to find out why and how his niece disappeared some forty years ago.
Noted writer Hamish Ford, PhD, has pointed out “the danger of a revisionist approach to history and culture.” The recent buzz phrase “urban legend” comes to mind. Some of us like to get the facts and stories from the actual participants and not the media. Mr. Larsson has served his characterizations well, it seems. Let’s start looking for The Girl Who Played With Fire.
More on Swedish culture, politics and this author coming soon…
Surprisingly, not many. Although we are a nation of cardholders, most of us don’t really understand how the system works. So recently, the US government has taken steps to help make the system more affordable and user-friendly.
On May 20, Congress passed new legislation that makes some key changes to the way credit card companies do business. Included in the bill are regulations preventing credit card companies from charging late fees for payments that arrive on the afternoon of the due date, and preventing the companies from raising interest rates without fair notice. The companies will also be prevented from charging hidden fees for such things as phone payments. For cardholders who pay over the minimum balance, credit card companies will also be required to apply the extra amount to the highest-interest segment of the cardholders’ debt.
Until now, credit card companies used these and other loopholes to interlace hidden fees into what consumers thought was a fair agreement. As a result, cardholders have been facing mounting debt due to increased interest rates, and have recently had more trouble paying off debt than ever before. Thus, at a time when the economy is in great need of consumer spending, the average person is spending less money to avoid paying exorbitant fees on credit cards. This legislation will go into effect early in 2010.
According to the 2008 Nilson report, the US had 700 million credit cards in circulation, which translates to more than two cards per person (including children) in the US. Clearly we are a nation that loves to spend money and we love doing it on credit. So who is to blame for the credit crisis? Is it over-spending consumers or greedy credit card companies?
The answer is, both. Credit card companies are guilty of using fine print and arbitrarily hiked-up interest rates to stay rich. And as a nation of consumers, we are guilty of spending way more money than we earn every year, thereby legitimizing the practices of the companies who provide us our spending cash.
Never in recent history has there been such an obvious need for education on financing and budgeting. It can easily be argued that with a clearer understanding of how credit and debt work, consumers would make better decisions about their own budgets.
The Money Merge Account from United First Financial aims to help consumers and businesses alike to escape the liability of high-interest debt. This ingenious program uses the information you provide about your expenses to calculate a schedule to pay off debt in as little as half the time, and with virtually no interest.
By transferring money between ordinary bank accounts and lines of credit and making payments on strategic days of each month, you can start paying down the principal amounts of your debt and stop putting all your money into interest. The program prompts the user to make transfers through text messages, and is integrated to allow you to approve the transfers directly from your mobile phone.
Amidst a sea of self-proclaimed revolutionary financial software, and debt reduction plans that only serve to add another creditor to the list, this program really does what it claims to do. It even adjusts your payment schedule based on changes in your financial situation, such as lay-offs and big purchases. The best part is, it’s a one-time purchase with no monthly fee or percentage rate. This program is truly innovative.
Get more information about the Money Merge Account.
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