The Business Pod's Blog

When forming a limited company the name of the company can be an important decision.  Some people may choose the first name that they think of and others may select a ready made company for speed or because they like a particular name.  However, many businesses may prefer to select a company name that either clearly distinguishes itself from its competitors or contains something unique or personal. Company names can be chosen for different reasons. One of the most common ways of selecting a company name is to use something personal. A quick look through your local newspaper will probably introduce you to many personalised business names. Johnson Consulting Limited, T Smith & Son Limited, Stephens & Barley Limited are some fictional examples of what may be found. This may instantly make a company recognisable locally, it can be deemed as more personal by its customers, and often works well within geographical areas. However, it does little to tell new customers what your

Avoiding the top 7 business financing mistakes is a key component in business survival. If you start committing these business financing mistakes too often, you will greatly reduce any chance you have for longer term business success. The key is to understand the causes and significance of each so that you're in a position to make better decisions. Business Financing Mistakes (1) - No Monthly Bookkeeping Regardless of the size of your business, inaccurate record keeping creates all sorts of issues relating to cash flow, planning, and business decision making. While everything has a cost, bookkeeping services are dirt cheap compared to most other costs a business will incur. And once a bookkeeping process gets established, the cost usually goes down or becomes more cost effective as there is no wasted effort in recording all the business activity. By itself, this one mistake tends to lead to all the others in one way or another and should be avoided at all costs. B

Have you ever felt that your life was a conveyor belt of …. Go to school, graduate, get a good job with a good company, accumulate retirement savings, and use these to do everything you’d ever wanted to during your retirement? If that’s what you’ve grown up expecting you may be in for a big surprise. Only 5 people in 100 who follow this route can look forward to a comfortable retirement. Are you shocked? That means a whopping 95 out of 100 hardworking people who try to follow this route are going to have to rely on inadequate pensions, social security, and family assistance to live out their golden years. Not a happy picture. Just take a look in your community to see how few retirees are financially independent. If you know any that are truly financially independent then you’ll probably find they did it on their own. So, if you want to want financial independence what are your options? You could pray that you’ll be one of the 1 in 180 million people who hits the lottery o

Do you take your laptop on holiday?  Do you sometimes “hate” your mobile phone?   Harris Interactive recently reported that one-third of business people take their laptops on holiday.  During a Sunday meal at a restaurant recently, I observed a man sitting with his family talking on his mobile phone -- obviously about business. He was not happy – neither was his family!   To paraphrase Charles Dickens, “It is the best of times.  It is the worst of times.”  Certainly that applies when it comes to “connectivity.” Stories of 9-11 victims being able to communicate with family members in the last minutes of their lives warmed my heart, while the story my friend told of her mother answering her mobile phone in the delivery room during the birth of her grandchild chilled my soul.   How grateful I was for my mobile phone when I came across someone with one, and I could immediately help them get help. How convenient it is on holiday to use the Internet to explore the options for entertai

Getting a small business off the ground is challenging to say the least. Here are some tips which will prepare the ground for running a successful small business. Have Goals This is where it all starts – the foundation for success. Know exactly where you are heading. What will the business ‘look’ like in the future? How will you know when your business is a success? When you wake up in the morning, do you know what actions you have to take to get you on the road to success? Take Action The difference between success and failure is down to the actions you take. The failures in life are the people who know what they have to do but never do it. The successful small business owners are people who take action on their ideas, ones who never say, “I wish I had done …” Seek Feedback There is a saying that feedback is the breakfast of champions. During the early days of your business you must continually seek feedback about all aspects of your business. What works? What doesn’t wo

Successful business owners all have one thing in common, they are never satisfied with sales levels. Whether you are making £10,000 a year or £1 million a year, there is always a possibility for growth. Growth only comes when you realise it can happen. You will not grow if you are content or can't see the future possibilities for growth. Here are three easy ways that you can transform your business from the level it is at, into a profit making machine. 1. Always track statistics This may seem obvious, but most people never do it. You should always track and gather as much information as possible. Track the number of new customers, track purchases, evaluate marketing, monitor amount of purchases, how frequent customers buy from you, non-buying prospects, etc. With this knowledge you will be more informed as to how you marketing pounds are doing and where you can increase things.. 2. Find people you can trust You definitely need people you can trust as well. These p

In business, every contact with your customer is an opportunity for expanding and growing the relationship. A phone call is nice but sending a business greeting card means that effort and consideration was put into the relationship. A greeting card can be sent as a reminder for an event, upcoming meeting or simply a thank you note. With the highly competitive market that we have today, having a good rapport with your customers is a way of getting ahead of the competition.      There are a lot of reasons why businesses send greeting cards. You may want to attract new customers, enhance a current business relationship or show appreciation to those who have faithfully supported your business during the year. It is essential though to carefully design the card as a well-meant card can actually offend the recipient when it is not done properly. Choosing a poor design can also mean a lot of things to the people you want to impress. The recipient can take it as a sign that the business

When you think of creating a new brand, it’s easy to think about advertising managers sitting around a conference room tossing around ideas with caffeine fueled creativity. However, often the most powerful branding comes from adding a little “fun” to your brand experience. Driven by the Burger King mentality, today’s customers want to do business their way on their time. They want to make their own choices. As business people, it’s our job to make sure then when customers are ready to make their choice, our product or service is their top choice. Below are five secrets to put some spark and imagination into your brand and create an unforgettable brand experience. Secret #1: Tell Your Company’s Unique Brand Story Television shows have long been a part of our culture. When viewers watch television shows, they see stories about characters that we relate to. Remember the Brady Bunch theme song? It tells the story of a lovely lady... well, you know how it goes. Now imagine harne

How do you define good customer service?  Does that simply mean the satisfactory marketing and sale of a product or service to a customer, or does it mean something else? Is providing good customer service, good enough?  In these days of below average customer service, you may think providing good service will set you apart from the pack. Well, I am here to tell you that nothing less than exemplary service will help you succeed.  By incorporating the “wow” factor into every successful sale, you will achieve greater profits and better customer satisfaction. To achieve the “wow” factor, you must be honest, knowledgeable, friendly, professional and deliver on your promises. Do not over promise, but do not under promise either.  In addition, you must be able to provide a high level of service to everyone who comes in contact with your business. If you do, you’ll also get more referrals from your satisfied clients. “Wow” everyone who comes into contact with you and your busine

If you want to get paid what you're worth here are eight ways to sell value - not price : 1. Be Unique. If there is nothing that differentiates you from your competition you become common. Webster defines the word common as, "ordinary or not special" and the only way buyers select one common service over another is price. Take stock of your skills, experience and knowledge. Are you a specialist in some area? Are you an expert in certain facets of your business? These and other differentiators can make you unique and valuable to a select group of clients. 2. Choose Your Clients Carefully: Don't ever let your clients choose you or you will be at their mercy. If a deal is going to close successfully, the true professional should be in control, not the client. To begin controlling your business, write down the attributes of the people you want as clients and then go out and get them with targeted marketing. I hope the first item on your list of attributes is th

Since the 19th century business cards were widespread among people of all classes with a business to promote. The earliest form of business cards, known as tradecards, were used as advertising materials and as maps used to direct the public to the merchant’s store. Today business cards are among the most important marketing material that every business must have.  The business card is perhaps the best salesman that you can have. That is why it is essential that it contains much more than your name, address, and contact numbers and services. It should be designed keeping its purpose in mind – that is it being a powerful sales tool.  So let’s start with the design. If you want to create a business card that contains a photo with gradient colors you can try using a glossy finish to ensure that the cards are printed as good as they look on the screen. Or else, you can get disappointed with the print out.    Now let’s come to the strategies you can utilise in business card distribut

Have you created a core marketing message to use throughout all of your marketing efforts? I'm not talking about some catchy slogan or play on words using the name of your business or the service you provide. It's not some meaningless phrase like "we do it right" or "quality service you can trust." Anybody in business can say those things and they're really basic expectations anyway. A core marketing message clearly and concisely communicates what you're out to do and for who. It speaks to your ideal target market and gets them to respond and seek more information. So many small business owners and professional service providers never take the time to create this for their own business. Most are creating a new message with every new "marketing campaign." They're constantly trying new ideas. And each new idea becomes a new chance to try and come up with that home run message that gets the phone ringing off the hook like never be

1) Ask everyone to arrive five to ten minutes early. This gives everyone time to socialise, obtain coffee, or organise materials before the meeting. It also ensures that everyone is present at the scheduled starting time. Make this part of the agenda. 2) Discuss sensitive issues with the key participants before the meeting. Use this as an opportunity to listen and gather information on the issues. From this you will understand the different views, needs, and histories. This information can help you prepare the agenda and conduct the meeting. In addition, you may be able to facilitate solutions or strategies for solutions before the meeting. In either case, the result will be a more efficient meeting. 3) Plan small meetings that focus on a single issue. People work more effectively over short periods of time (such as 45 minutes). This also allows you to match experts with issues for more productive meetings. 4) Only invite those who can contribute to at least 50% of the items

When was the last time you had to deal with a difficult customer? It was probably and external customer but perhaps it was an internal customer, such as a member of your team, a colleague or even - your boss! I'm sure that you always want to provide exceptional service to both your internal and external customers. However, in the real world, things go wrong and mistakes are made. These "customers" will often judge your level of service based on how you respond to a mistake. Do it well and they'll probably forgive you and possibly even say positive things about your business or your abilities to other people. The important thing to realise when dealing with an upset customer, be they internal or external, is that you must deal with their feelings, then deal with their problem. Upset customers are liable to have strong feelings when you, your product or service lets them down and they'll probably want to "dump" these feeling on you. You don't deal wi

I was asked the other day what personality traits I thought were important to entrepreneurial success. I immediately gave my pre-programmed reply about passion and dedication and hard work. After taking some time later to ponder the question a little deeper, I came up with a more detailed checklist for entrepreneurial success.  This is by no means a definitive list, but I'd be willing to bet that if you don't have at least a majority of these traits, your chances of business success will be greatly diminished.  You must be self motivated. If you don't have the enthusiasm to bounce out of bed each day without your other half drenching you with cold water, the chances are you don't have the self motivation or discipline required to be an entrepreneur. Business demands that you take action based solely on your own volition. You have to do a hundred things every day that will not get done unless you make yourself do them.  You can't be afraid of hard work. I