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Our small business blog provides you with articles on our small business consulting and advisory areas:  business, marketing, and sales.  Visit us often, or subscribe to our small business blog, so you can continue to get information, tips, and techniques on topics to help you and your small or start-up business. 

Showing category "Sales and Channel Practice" (Show all posts)

Can Networking Help Me Increase Sales In My Small Business?

Posted by Karen Fischer on Saturday, March 31, 2012, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

If you are looking for a quick fix to increasing your sales funnel, then networking is not for you.  When most people think of networking, they automatically think the focus is to go and “sell” themselves and their business.  If this is you, then you need to rethink.

The goal of networking is to build trusting and long lasting relationships which over time will definitely will increase sales for your business, but probably not in the way you first thought.  If you watch someone at their ...


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When Is My Small Business Ready to Hire Sales Personnel?

Posted by Karen Fischer on Sunday, March 18, 2012, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

15 Questions to Ask Yourself

This is a question that has come up quite a bit lately with several of my clients.  The business has grown to a point where the business owners need to focus working on the business instead of in the business making sales. They now feel that they should grow their business and hiring feet on the street will get them there.

The real answer to the question of when are you ready to hire is that usually when you have to ask you are not ready.  It is primarily because ...


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Is Customer Service First and Foremost in Your Mind?

Posted by Karen Fischer on Thursday, June 16, 2011, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

Have you ever heard the saying “Have a good customer experience, tell 5 people or have a bad customer experience, tell 10”?   It is even more important as a small business owner that this is etched in your head every time you or your staff is dealing with a prospect or customer.  We all are left dealing with large corporations that provide poor service because they in some cases are a monopoly or their competitor is the same, such as anyone’s telephone carrier.   It merely becomes the l...


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Why Channels Can Fail

Posted by Karen Fischer on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

Have you ever seen a company decide they want to create an indirect sales channel for growth and geographic expansion, but yet do everything they can to make sure they are not successful? It is hard not to just scratch one’s head and wonder if these companies do not understand channel success factors or some within the company actually want the channel to fail to prove they don’t work.

Before building a channel, there first must be an understanding of what are the appropriate channels for ...


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Lower Cost Channels

Posted by Karen Fischer on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

Have you started considering adding channels to your business model, but you currently do not have the ability to add more staff to handle managing those channels or have the money to create programs needed for a full blown channel program?   There are 2 lower cost channels that you can add utilizing your current staff which might give you a boost in sales with very little investment.  They are Affiliate and Affinity Channel Programs.  Affiliate programs are sometimes referred to as Referral ...


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Partnerships that Work for SaaS

Posted by Karen Fischer on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

Today there are Software as a Service start-up businesses offering a variety of products and services to consumers and businesses which offer a cost-effective way for both to have access to services they need without the capital investment.

If you are one of those businesses, you are most likely looking for partners and channels to help you grow your business. Like myself , you are probably thinking how excited a potential partner will be to hear about a recurring revenue model and depending o...


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Implementing a Referral Program - Steps for Success

Posted by Karen Fischer on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, In : Sales and Channel Practice 

A Referral Program can be one of the best and most cost effective ways to generate leads for small businesses, but is highly underutilized.  This is most likely because large businesses implement them and many make it as difficult as possible to participate and understand. For this reason,  small business owners do not feel they have the staff or bandwidth to implement one successfully. They then miss a great opportunity.

We all work on our business networks in hope that people we deal with an...


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 We are located in Durham Region, but can service clients across Canada.  Our local service area includes Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Markham, Toronto, Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Vaughn, Aurora, Mississauga,  Clarington, Peterborough, Lindsay, Port Perry, Uxbridge, Bowmanville, Brampton, Oakville, Guelph, Barrie, Waterloo, Kitchener and all surrounding areas. Outside our local area, most consulting can be done remotely, but when it cannot , travel and living expenses will be applied as required.

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