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If you’re like many small business owners, you’ll want to know how to market your business on a budget. I’m going to take the word ‘budget’ to mean; very small and very limited… I don’t think people mean; “how do I best allocate my carefully planned marketing budget of $500,000 for the year?” For the most part, I think you are most likely to mean; “how the heck do I market my business in a way that will... get me the highest number of sales and revenue, from the small amount of money I have to spend on marketing?” If you find yourself agreeing more with the later statement, let’s explore some of your best options…
How to Convert More Sales Conversations into Paying Customers: Increasing sales conversion in your small business is one of the fastest and lowest cost ways you can boost your business profits. Think about it; we are talking about taking the inquiries and leads you already get, and just improving your ability to convert to customers. How many sales conversations are you (and your staff) having every month? What percentage of those conversations become paying customers? For a start, it all depends where you take this measurement from – initial phone call or website inquiry or only sit down sales meetings? They are likely vastly different numbers. Either way, you want to increase your sales conversion rate, right? Here are 4 ways in which you can do just that…
The Little BIG Things – 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence, by Tom Peters. The mimosaPLANET Business Book Review for small business owners and entrepreneurs. The question I always ask of any business book I read, but especially one written by a well know management guru, is: how does this book relate to small business owners? How can a SMB owner get value from this book? Well, in the case of The Little BIG Things by Tom Peters, I’ve found some answers for you…
What Your Business Can Learn From Supermarket Shopping Carts. Supermarket shopping carts (or shopping trolleys for some peeps) that have all 4 wheels fitted with rotating casters suck! Craig Langdon, mimosaPLANET Business Development Specialist and Community Manager of our premium members only website, recently vented his frustration in a discussion with me about the misery of using shopping carts with all four wheels rotating. “It just shows me they don’t give a crap about me!” were his words, and I’d have to agree. The business lesson here has got to be; you must examine the total customer experience, not just the quality and experience of the obvious product or service.
Taking inspiration from Jack Welch (former CEO of GE), we want the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog to be the BEST Small Business Blog around. Jack famously stated that GE (a giant conglomerate) would be number one or number two in each business, industry, or product category they were in. If they were not #1 or #2, then they would either fix or sell that particular business. So, at mimosaPLANET we aspire to build 'the best' small business blog. I think we’ve made a good start, but what else do we offer people in order to be able to claim the title “best blog for small business?” What makes up a valuable small business blog?
Hi everyone, today I want to start a regular feature here at the mimosaPLANET Small Business Blog – Business Tips on Location. Basically, small business insights from around the world, lessons from the road if you like. I've done a number of Video Business Tips on Location before, but we'll look to do them more regularly - every second Friday. Today I’m in Miami Beach, Florida. And today’s topic: Specialization vs Broad Appeal.
Finding focus can seem like a vague topic with lofty goals. But finding your focus for business growth is perhaps one of the single most important things any small business owner can do. If you want to aggressively grow your business, then your focus is the foundation on which you should build that growth. If you are unclear of your direction and approach, then indecision, delay and inactivity will often follow. If you don’t execute, you don’t grow. Simple. So, finding focus, or just an ounce of extra clarity of focus, can yield enormous benefits to your business’s growth.
If you’re looking to grow your small business any tips and minor distinctions you get, can go a long way if you embrace the incremental natural of the business improvement process. Of course, the key is to turn ‘tips’ and information into actionable tasks. Execution is everything. So, with execution front of mind I offer 3 quick tips to grow your small business.
On Monday June 13th I attended the New York Times Small Business Summit. I was immediately pleased the NY Times President & the Associate Editor, both shared with us what attendees told them they wanted to get from the Summit. It’s great to get the current pulse of such a group of people. While your specific situation and goals are always unique, there are always similarities to what you and other small business owners are looking for. Perhaps these 3 areas are on your mind too? So, here are the current top 3 wants for small business: what small business owners want…