Whether you are starting a business from scratch or are looking to add a new business concept on to your business, it is important to understand the feasibility and long term viability of your business idea before you spend your life or your company savings along with your valuable time. This is also a very important step before approaching a financial institution for financing. In most cases a financial institution does not need a detailed 60 page business plan, they just need to know tha... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
I do find that questions that I see posed on social network sites or asked by clients are usually where I tend to get my inspiration to share lessons learned and today is no different. Someone posed a question on LinkedIn on whether it would be more beneficial to spend time on a Marketing Plan or a Business Plan and I cringed when I started reading where some readers said they would definitely spend time first on a Marketing Plan. I am not sure why so many small business owners ... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
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 som... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer5 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 primari... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
You have decided that you need a website for your small business and now you have everyone who can spell web approaching you to develop your website. Some are graphic designers, others are IT developers, and are even others picked this up as a hobby and turned it into a business. As you weed through the fog, you find some that are truly full service web development houses. The problem is that the average small business owner will go for door number one or two because the pri... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
Many times within a life of a small business, the owner will wonder why they are not receiving the growth they expect or the business is just not running the way they expected. The owner may want to look for additional financing, but they know in order to secure the funding, they are going to need to improve the bottom line. It also could be that they know change needs to take place in the business to be more in line with the times, but are not sure where to start, or the ow... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
Have you ever wondered why the marketing that you have implemented in your business has not worked for you or why you are not getting the return on a marketing program your sales group talked you into in order to generate leads? You may have even decided that marketing just does not work for you. The problem with marketing is that it needs to go hand in hand with your sales strategy and needs to be utilized for your industry, your sector, your specific market, and your geography.... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
Though both my business partner and I have worked for several small businesses over the years, in various phases from start-up to established small businesses and have even been a General Manager for one, it was not until we started my own business that I had a true appreciation of what being an executive was versus the business owner. As a business owner, the buck stops with you and are responsible for the overall direction and financial profitability of the company. I had writ... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
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... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
Are you as small business owner that is a baby boomer asking yourself – how in the heck is Twitter and Facebook that my kids use going to help my business? If you aren’t sure or haven’t even considered Social Media, then you need to think about the following. Who are my customers and how are they influenced? If you answered that all of your customers are 50 and over and would never use Social Media, then think again. Ask yourself who influenced that decision maker and how ... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
Have you ever been approached by someone saying they can develop a website or a marketing brochure for you for what you truly believe is a reasonable price. You then have them develop the site or brochure and then you still wonder why people are not visiting your site and you have 5000 brochures in the closet that your sales force or channels never use? So many businesses feel that having a strategy is for “big business” and is not important to them, but the truth is not h... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
Strategy for most small business owners is seen a “bad word”. In many cases, rightly so as theyhave been visited by many a consultant that has told them they need a strategy document. They then engage the consultant who spends a few hours in their business and then writes a four hundred page document that is used as a paper weight or sits in a drawer collecting dust. In many instances afterreading the document, they are not even sure this document was written for their bus... Continue reading ...
Karen Fischer
I found myself a few years ago landing in a position which in the beginning looked like a complete disaster and ended up being the greatest management learning experience of my life. I found myself working for a small business that was acquired by a large corporation. If anyone has been on the acquired side of this, I am sure you will understand and can relate to the challenges. The day I walked in the door it wasn’t the question of what was going well, but if anything was goi... Continue reading ...
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Small Business Blog Canada
