Will You Add? - Business

Items to Note when Hiring a Customer Service Rep
When hiring a customer service rep, if you keep the interview light you will never find if the person you are interviewing is great for the job.By interjecting a situation with your interview you will see how they will react if a problem should arise. Do not hesitate to sit them in a near by room and do a mock situation. This will better aid you in you quest for the right person.If this person is to deal with the customer such as in a store situation, you should have them help a mock customer, as in a person to person. In this you should be very choosy and be able to create a little discomfort for your interview, this way you can tell if they will hold or fold under pressure.In this day and age no one likes to be put on hold. It just prolongs all unpleasant situations. It draws them out and by the time the rep gets back on the line the customer is yelling. A good customer service rep will take the required info and call back the customer. If you call back within an hour then the customer is likely to be calmer.By implementing this method with all your customer service reps, the call back method you are sure to take care of business in a more efficient matter. This then makes way for the customer service rep to gather all the in

k for someone else first in your target industry. Carefully observe. Take notes. Ask questions about everything. If you're creating a software program, learn by doing some consulting assignments or create some utilities. You don't have to start with the ultimate product.

• Focus on revenue and profitability from the beginning. Watch every penny. Find creative ways to earn cash by selling tactical products, prepaid licenses or royalties. Pay employees partially in stock, if possible. And sweep the floors yourself. Look for free or leased hardware and lab facilities - from universities, government subsidized incubators, friends - any which way to avoid capital costs. Barter. Swallow your pride and ask for favors.

• Cash flow is everything. Cash flow is like the blood that flows in our veins. Without it, we are dead! It's as simple as that. That’s why happiness is positive cash flow. Manage your cash flow on a daily basis to ensure that your life-blood is sufficient for your short term survival. This means setting aside the big opportunities while you complete small deals with a short sales cycle and recurring revenue. Know when you will get paid.

Managing Change; Ten Signs of Organisational Decay
Many once great organisations have disappeared over time. They may have been unable to stem the tide of technical innovation or the entrance of low cost competitors or in the public arena they may have become irrelevant as service providers.Mostly they have sown the seeds of their demise many years before, missing the tell tale signs and hence being powerless to do anything about it. Here are my top ten signs of organisations losing relevance and heading for oblivion.Everybody agrees.When there is no dissent in an organisation it means one of three things. The boss is so dominant that no-one dares to contradict what he or she says. In this case the boss had better be perfect as they will make all the decisions. I am yet to meet anyone befitting that descriptor.Alternatively, everyone is working in silos, uninterested in what happens in other functions or in the boss's domain. A slow death of confused objectives, wasted effort and low productivity ensues from this warning sign. Thirdly, everyone may be asleep.Data shows that there is little room for improvement.When organisations coast and do not reinvent themselves they are in trouble. When their analysis tells them they

Ditch the business plan and buy a lottery ticket. That's what I tell new entrepreneurs who seek angel or venture funding. The odds are probably better, you will save yourself a lot of time and grief and you'll get results sooner with the lottery. If you have a great idea that can change the world, then bootstrap your way until you can prove it. Funding will come just when you don't need it.

I've mentored and helped fund dozens of entrepreneurs over the past few years. There always seems to be a “catch-22” — you need seed financing but no one will give you a cent until you have a marketable product with paying customers. Ironically, raising millions of dollars is always easier than raising thousands. Why? Because venture capitalists are drawn to those who have done it in the past. If you don’t have a documented track record, it is hard to convince someone you have what it takes to be successful.

BEYOND IDEAS. A myth taught and propagated by many top business schools is that the way to build a venture is to create a comprehensive in-depth business plan, perfect your elevator pitch and then present your PowerPoint slides to venture capitalists. If that doesn't work, you knock on the door(s) of angel investors – both organized groups and high-wealth individuals - and pitch them.

Ask any entrepreneur who has called on venture capitalists, and they will likely tell you it is almost impossible to even get calls returned. If you get lucky and are invited to present your idea, the due-diligence process will drag on for many months while you mortgage your assets, ruin your marriage and survive on hope. If you do hit the jackpot, the venture capitalists will require you to trade away your first born in exchange for an investment. And, guess what, you now have a “partner” looking over your shoulder on a regular basis – more often if you do not hit your milestones.

In reality, most business plans don't deserve funding. Most business plans are poorly written, contain spelling and grammatical errors and read more like science fiction novels. Venture capitalists receive hundreds of plans every week, and few are worth the paper they are printed on. Everyone jumps on the same new trend, or the ideas are so far out that they have no chance for success.

Additionally, most entrepreneurs don’t take the time to understand what venture capitalists are looking for. Entrepreneurs don’t know that most venture capitalists seek companies that can demonstrate a large market opportunity in a fast-growing sector. Plus, they want a company scale to a $100 million to $300 million revenue stream within five years. This means the market potential has to be at least $500 million or more, eventually-and the company needs to achieve at least a 25 percent market share. Therefore, great ideas won’t do it; it takes an experienced, proven entrepreneur and management team, outstanding execution and a receptive market that is both large and growing. It's hard for even the best venture capitalists to separate the wheat from the chaff.

So what should an entrepreneur do?

My advice to the very few with realistic, well thought-out business plans is to bootstrap. That is, go it alone without angel or venture capital funding. Just get going. Focus on validating your idea, building it and always selling for survival. You need to raise enough money to get started by begging and borrowing from family and friends. And be prepared to dip into your savings and credit cards, obtain second mortgages, and perhaps look for part-time work, consulting work or customer advances. Or better yet, you may want to keep your “day job” while you launch your idea.

There is no single formula for bootstrapping a company, but there are some essential ingredients.

• Don’t Fool Thy Self. Always be truthful to yourself. Understand the risk you can withstand. Listen to what your trusted advisers are saying to you. Do your homework. Continually research, learn, revise and ask questions. Be “coachable.” Believe it or not, you may not know everything. Never blame others. Do it yourself. If you have a spouse, keep them informed.

• Network. Network. Network. Did I mention you should network? You can learn a lot from the experiences of seasoned entrepreneurs, and they are much more approachable than you think. Find a mentor. Talk to 50 strangers. No, talk to 250 strangers. Ask the advice of angels and respected service providers. If you can't find anyone who is excited about your idea, chances are it isn't worth being excited about. This may be time to reflect deeply and come up with another idea. Even if your first idea does not pan out, you have learned much in the process and, maybe, have uncovered a new idea that will make you rich.

• Prepare to work long hours in the beginning, the middle and maybe later on. Remember, it’s your baby. This means working evenings, weekends and even holidays. Your customers should determine your schedule. Not vice versa.

• Find a way to connect with your market. Speak to potential customers, analysts, business partners, suppliers and competitors — anyone who can help you understand your target market. If you can sell customers on your concept, maybe they'll help you fund it or agree to be a test site or a valuable reference. Customers don't usually know what they want, but they always know what they don't need. Make sure that there is a real market for your product or service.

• Start small and scale. Your idea may be terrific and have the potential to change the world, but you are only going to do this one step at a time. Look for simple solutions, test them, ask questions and learn from the feedback. Get your first customer. Realize revenue. Get your second, third, fourth, etc. customers. If possible, work for someone else first in your target industry. Carefully observe. Take notes. Ask questions about everything. If you're creating a software program, learn by doing some consulting assignments or create some utilities. You don't have to start with the ultimate product.

Office Chairs; Out with the Old in With the New
Do you know how the company you work for picked the chair that you sitting on? It wasn’t picked with your comfort in mind. It wasn’t picked for your ergonomic pleasure. It wasn’t even picked with you in mind at all. Office chairs are picked by color and style of a person who really doesn’t care about the color or style. They just want 300 ugly chairs to show so they can put them in the 300 ugly cubicles.The person in charge of ordering office chairs is usually in charge of a lot of other equally mundane projects. The office chair is not at the top of their priority. As long as it meets the budget and their boss agrees on the color, you have a chair. No concern of style, or comfort or even safety.What you need to do is get a new office chair. This takes some planning on your part. Your company is not going to get one for you. Pick out a chair that you want. Try to get one that keeps in the same theme as the office. You don’t want some florescent orange chair shaped like a hand. You also have to remember that the one you are picking is more money then they spent on your original office chair, so keep the price some what conservative.Once you have picked out your chair, go to your manager or boss and start complaining about your old

u get lucky and are invited to present your idea, the due-diligence process will drag on for many months while you mortgage your assets, ruin your marriage and survive on hope. If you do hit the jackpot, the venture capitalists will require you to trade away your first born in exchange for an investment. And, guess what, you now have a “partner” looking over your shoulder on a regular basis – more often if you do not hit your milestones.

So what should an entrepreneur do?

There is no single formula for bootstrapping a company, but there are some essential ingredients.

Entrepreneurs - Got a Great Retail Concept But Can't Afford A Shop
Sometimes circumstances dictate that you can’t afford a retail shop but you really want to get your business started. Many small, retail businesses are not suitable to run from your home base or via a warehouse. Web sites, whilst having low start up costs, also take a lot of marketing and time to become profitable. Why not think about starting a kart or kiosk in a shopping mall? Here are a few points to consider.As always Location, Location, Location: Many businesses need to be physically located out in midst of everyday life, in broad daylight where shoppers can easily find them. The location of your business is crucial to its survival. A store’s location can often spell its success or failure. Without sufficient store recognition, a business can suffer poor cash flow and will inevitably fail over time.The location itself of the mall plays a huge role in your kart’s success. Is the mall located in an isolated part of the city or town, or right in the heart of the action? You must forecast the level as well as the timing of traffic your business will receive during the morning, midday, and late afternoon on each day of the week. Therefore, you can efficiently establish an employment schedule as well as appropriate operating hours.g execution and a receptive market that is both large and growing. It's hard for even the best venture capitalists to separate the wheat from the chaff.

So what should an entrepreneur do?

There is no single formula for bootstrapping a company, but there are some essential ingredients.

Full Payroll Services
Each pay period, customers can contact full-service payroll providers with all the employee information they have, including new hires, pay hikes, federal, state or local tax deductions, and any other changes in payroll. The full service payroll service provider will do the rest. This means processing the company payroll together with calculating earnings and salaries, federal, state and local taxes, and embellishments of any kind.The payroll in some instances could even be processed the day of receipt by the full service payroll service giver and be delivered to multiple locations overnight via mail or courier. The payroll particulars will include checks (or pay vouchers for those using the direct deposit system), accounting synopses, payroll registers and other payment-related supplies. An entire package relating to taxes, federal, state and local, will be made and forwarded to the customer at the end of each tax cycle.Full-service payroll services could also include data entry via phone, fax or Internet. The providing of weekly, bi-weekly or monthly payroll registers and accounting sum-ups is also on offer. Tax liability reports, annual W-2 processing, tailored payroll records to suit needs based on location and department, time card processing a

lk to 50 strangers. No, talk to 250 strangers. Ask the advice of angels and respected service providers. If you can't find anyone who is excited about your idea, chances are it isn't worth being excited about. This may be time to reflect deeply and come up with another idea. Even if your first idea does not pan out, you have learned much in the process and, maybe, have uncovered a new idea that will make you rich.

Salary Negotiations - What You Need to Know
Salary negotiations are a lot like the game show Deal or No Deal, except of course for the 26 models and Howie Mandel. When you're presented with an offer, you have two choices: You can either accept it, or reject it and gamble for a better payout.Negotiations of any kind require a certain degree of skill to be successful. And since salary negotiations are probably not something you do very often, you are at a disadvantage right off the bat. To make matters worse, the hiring manager is usually quite experienced in this area. She has probably taken courses with titles like How to Make Potential Employees Weep During Salary Negotiations (Parts I and II) and Benefits? Don't Make Me Laugh!The only way you stand a chance in a salary negotiation is to be prepared. It is a common misconception that companies want to pay the lowest wages possible. This is simply not the case. While it is true that employers want to reduce labor costs, many of them understand that it is actually more expensive to hire someone at a bargain basement salary, spend months training him, and then have to go through the same process all over again six months later when this employee resigns because he found a better paying job.Empl

• Think innovation. There is always a better way to solve a problem. There is no value in following the path of others — you're simply going to be battling established competitors on their turf. If you want to compete against Muhammad Ali, don’t compete with him in the ring. He will defeat you every time. Change the landscape, change the rules and compete against him on your own turf and under your rules.

• Entrepreneurial Solution Selling. For your business to succeed you have to persuade people to give you what you want (i.e., a sale), and you achieve this by convincing them you're offering something that benefits them. As an entrepreneur, you're always selling — whether you are marketing your product, recruiting talent, or raising capital. Find a way to incorporate your product or service into a customer solution. Therefore, learn about the customer’s needs first. Find the customer pain and cure it. If your product can’t do it alone, find a partner to complete the solution. If your product doesn’t work for the customer, let them know. Then kindly ask for a referral to another potential customer. Become the industry expert; the “go-to” person. Talk benefits, not features. If you are selling to large enterprises, speak their language. Get in step with their goals and buying cycles. Don’t ask them to do something they are not capable of, such as attempting to close on a capital acquisition today when it requires board approval next month. Quantify customer benefits and document them for future reference. Get on the same side of the table with your customer and innovate for success. Finally, create a selling environment in your firm. Everyone sells. Everyone views the world through the eyes of your customers.

• Entrepreneurial business development. You don’t have to do it alone. Look to team-up with larger established companies that have ready sales and distribution channels. Find a way to add value to their product or service. Find a way to motivate their sales representatives to bring you in on a deal. Focus on the customer and the solution. Maybe your product or service can be the catalyst to get the deal done. Become valuable to others. Find ways to give back. Always think “what’s in it for them.”

• Prepare for the worst. Truth be told - it's going to take longer than you think. Two to three times longer, maybe longer. There will likely be product problems, unhappy customers, employee turnover and lots of financial challenges. You may even fail a number of times before you achieve your goals. In fact, entrepreneurs typically fail a little more than twice before launching a successful business. By learning from each success and failure alike, you increase the odds that you eventually make it.

With a lot of luck and hard work you may build a successful company that markets products and/or services customers really want and are willing to pay for. It is very likely that by this stage, you will receive the phone calls from angels and venture capitalists. This is the time to think of exit strategies and decide if you want to own a small piece of a big pie or a large piece of a small pie.

Good luck and good venturing!

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