Business Development Tip Archive - 2004

January

Direct Mail Checklist

These tips make cost-cutting easy.

Looking for ways to prune postal bloat? The Direct Marketing Association offers this checklist of cost-cutting ideas: 

• Fine-tune your mailing list. 

• Stop mailing to duplicate names. 

• Eliminate non-responders and marginal prospects. 

• Be sure you're using accurate addresses. 

• Check for correct ZIP codes. 

• Watch for mail shipped to wrong apartment or suite numbers. 

• Check for missing directionals, such "N." for "North." 

• Take advantage of postal discounts and services. 

• Use the U.S. Postal Service's National Change of Address list to keep your mailing list current. 

• Print "Address Correction Requested" on the face of your mail. 

• Investigate commingling your mail with that of other small mailers to take advantage of discounts available mainly to large mailers. 

• Print your bar-coded ZIP+4 on Business Reply Mail. 

• Stockpile mail to build up larger volumes.

Excerpted from Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Guide You'll Ever Need

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Easy Money

The easier it is for customers to make a purchase, the more likely they will

If online visitors are pleased with the design and layout of a Web site, they are more likely to stay and make purchases. As a small business online, it behooves you to design your Web site for efficient navigation, so that increased sales are only a few clicks away. 

Excerpted from 101 Internet Marketing Tips For Your Business

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Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Sometimes, a slight alteration of a product will spark sales.

Not all new products must be radical departures from the norm. Many times, you can fire up growth with a line extension or a new product that adds some relatively minor feature to an existing product or line of products. Line extension can include such things as different packaging, colors, sizes and flavors. 

Excerpted from Grow Your Business

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Brainstorm Your Best Idea Yet

Four ways to get the results you want

You don't need a group of people to brainstorm. You can do it by yourself if you just open your mind and let it create. Just heed the four golden rules of brainstorming: 

1. There's no such thing as a bad idea. Write it down, even if it's impossible. Especially write it down if anyone in the room says, "We've never done that before." Reserve judgement until later. 

2. See how outrageous you can be. Associate freely and write it down. The wilder the idea, the better. Crazy ideas spark more ideas--mundane ones are dead ends. 

3. Fill the page--then start another one. Quantity is your goal because the more ideas you list, the better the odds of finding a good one. 

4. Don't stop when you come to the "right" idea. There could well be a better one waiting to come out. 

Excerpted from Creative Selling: Boost your B2B sales

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February

The Power of Freebies

Freebies entice customers to buy from you again and again.

Even though giving away freebies may cost you in the short term, doing so will actually boost profits in the long run. It's good for clients to know you're not charging them for everything you do. The practice not only promotes goodwill, but also makes customers feel like you're on their side. For example, you might offer a free service or a discount coupon as a reward for continued business. 

Excerpted from 303 Marketing Tips: Guaranteed To Boost Your Business

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Creating an Effective Company Brochure

Treat your brochure like an important part of your marketing arsenal.

When used correctly, brochures can position your company against your competitors, communicate the benefits of your product or service, and motivate prospects to take action. 

Brochures usually have only a matter of seconds to capture someone's interest. So make sure yours has a readable, eye-catching design and focuses on what the customers will receive rather than on what you do. 

Use compelling headlines, subheads and photos, and always end with a call to action and your phone number. Remember, your brochure is your calling card. It doesn't have to cost you a fortune, but its contents better be right on the money. 

Excerpted from Get Smart: 365 Tips To Boost Your Entrepreneurial IQ

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Time to Drop Your Supplier?

No matter the situation, don't burn any bridges.

By the time you decide to get rid of a supplier, you may be annoyed enough to want to give him a piece of your mind. Resist the urge. The day may come when you need this supplier again, either because your needs change or because his capabilities improve. 

Excerpted from Grow Your Business

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Look the Part

Make sure your sales team portrays power and merit.

Sometimes the absurdity of a Catch-22 is only skin-deep--or, as the case may be, as deep as the clothes you're wearing. John Curtiss, a sales and marketing consultant with Houston-based Silver Fox Advisors, says that failing to look like a worthy supplier can be as big an impediment to selling to big customers as your financial status. 

"Act the part," Curtiss advises. That may mean wearing a power suit for meetings with prospects or renting offices at a prestigious address. It may also mean having the poise to refrain from making promises you aren't sure you can keep. 

"Anybody can promise the moon," says Curtiss. "But when you can't deliver, that'll be the last sale you make. The trick is to portray yourself with staying power, without setting up expectations in your customer's mind that you can't meet." 

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March

Eyes on the Prize

Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating a reward program:

Choose the right rewards. In-kind rewards are less costly and are clearly associated with your business. Say you owned an ice cream shop and wanted to reward customers who had purchased five cones. Providing the sixth cone free would be better than offering a discount on a movie ticket because it would cost less and customers could relate it to your business. It would also convey a real cash value—while the free cone might cost you 25 cents, customers would perceive it as a $2.25 gift.

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Entice your customers. 

Tell customers what to expect from your reward program. 

This entices them to make purchases toward their goals. You can also use your program to encourage customers to try other products and services. Let's say your ice cream shop rewards customers with a double-decker sundae following a dozen purchases. Tasting the reward will introduce customers to higher-priced items, thus encouraging more customers to buy them.

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Reward your best customers.

Offering graduated awards with increasing cash value is a great way to motivate your best customers. This turns low-value customers into high-value ones, and it avoids the pitfalls of other types of reward programs, which attract less-profitable price switchers.

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Reward enrollment

Programs that provide immediate rewards encourage customers to register. One method is to offer a bonus at enrollment. And some retailers engage customers before they ever leave the store by making an additional offer at checkout or by printing a message on the sales receipt.

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Create an Image

Does your company have a buzz in the marketplace?

Business owners spend a lot of time and money creating materials and a marketing image to impress their customers. The same time and effort needs to be put forth on marketing materials presented to sales candidates. 

What opportunities do you offer to salespeople? Do you use endorsements from your current salespeople to attract future ones? What's your image? Have you created a buzz in the marketplace regarding working at your company? 

A buzz comes from the mouths of your current team and your customer base who broadcast your good news to the world.

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April

Qualify your sales force candidates. 

Remember, you qualify prospects before they become customers. The same rule applies with the candidates you interview. Qualify first by asking important questions. Don't hire the first person who walks through the door. And don't sell them on your company until later. Let them sell themselves first. Once you get some important questions answered, you can begin presenting information. Don't sell the candidate on working for your company. All the selling should come from the candidate.

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May

Getting past prospect’s lingering objections. 

The basic framework of any sales interaction involves two components: asking questions and listening to the answers. Whether you're on the telephone with your prospect or face-to-face, it's important to ask questions in order to uncover the prospect's needs and desires. If you come to the point in your conversation when you're ready to close, but the prospect isn't, try asking questions to reveal any objections lingering in your prospect's mind. For example, you might ask "What are some of the features you need to know more about?" 

Once you've uncovered the prospect's needs, you can offer a compromise. You might say "Suppose you could get 24-hour guaranteed delivery and online order processing. If I can provide you with both, will I have your business today?"

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Be Prepared & Polished

People do business with people, not companies, and they do business with people they like. That's why it's essential to always project a polished, professional image. Before meeting with a prospect, try to anticipate his or her questions. Plan how you'll use your selling materials, and prepare a family of marketing tools that convey a high-quality image. Without these necessary ingredients, your prospect may doubt your ability to carry out your promises.

During the sales interaction, be sure to demonstrate value before you ask for the sale. Your prospect wants to know you have the right experience, knowledge and resources. Use case histories to demonstrate your company's ability to deliver the benefits you promise. These are confidence-building stories that show how you've provided beneficial solutions to other clients.

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Time to Find Help

Is it time to hire some outside help for your business? 

Temporary employment agencies provide basic services by sending a skilled person to your office for temporary, temp-to-hire or long-term assignments. Unless the agency is specialized (legal, tech or creative, for example), in most cases a temp is ideal for such basic tasks as data entry, answering the phone, running errands and other non-specialized tasks. Again, make sure your neighborhood is zoned for employees and that you have room in your home office for a worker.

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Reinvent Your Present Office

Keep your home office the same, but rethink things.

Use an unwanted, unloved room in your home as a storage facility. Or use it as a warehouse. Or make it a second office for an employee. It doesn’t really matter what you use it for. The point is, you probably have some additional, useable space away from the office—but still in your home.

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June

Supporting Roles

Use a business support service to help your growing business during busy times.

Your 500-piece mailing needs to go out by the end of the week. A client proposal needs to be typed and proofread by Monday morning.  You don’t have time to get it all done yourself.  So what do you do?

If you don't have enough space or work to invest in an employee, but still have more duties than you can handle, consider turning to business-support services, which provide outside help on an as-needed basis. It's like having employees on call, except you don't have to bother with training, paying for downtime, the complexities of payroll and benefits, or finding room and money for another workstation in your home.

Business-support services can provide a range of services, from preparing mailings and word processing, to graphic design, bookkeeping, event planning or professional writing services. Other services offered include database management, translation, Web research and design, answering services, and computer consulting. For a directory of business-support services, visit http://www.abssi.org.

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Make Time for Marketing

Plan ahead to diffuse crises.

It's hard to market your business when you must spend the bulk of your day dealing with urgent matters. Anticipate potential problems and do what you need to do to diffuse them ahead of time. As you plan your week, ask yourself "What are the worst things that can happen this week?" Then devise a plan of action to deal with those situations before they blow up into time-consuming crises. When you're proactive in managing your time, you reduce the number of unexpected crises that you'll have to face in the next week, freeing you up to devote more time to your marketing initiatives.

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Avoid telephone interruptions.

Break the habit of answering the phone every time it rings. 

This means giving yourself enough respect to say "That call needs to go to voice mail so I can focus on the person in front of me right now," or "That should go to voice mail because I'm on a roll with this project and it's most efficient for me to finish right now." Schedule time for answering and making phone calls and checking your voice mail. This way, you can get more done without the stress created from the phone ringing off the hook.

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Talent Scouting

Developing your employees hidden talents.

Excerpt from Entrepreneur magazine

By Chris Penttila

Do you know how talented your employees really are? Every employee has hidden talents that could take your company from good to great. While skills and knowledge can be learned, talent is instinctive. An administrative assistant could have a knack for negotiation, or an accountant a penchant for spotting industry trends

You and your managers can master the possibilities with strategic thinking. Use one-on-ones to find out what drives each employee. What are their hobbies and interests, and how do they feel they're being underutilized at work? Contemplate how you can incorporate their hidden talents, and phase in change slowly. You might let the receptionist spend two hours a week on a marketing project, for example, or allow a software engineer interested in sales to sit in on an occasional sales meeting

What you do now will put your company ahead as talent wars heat up again, because the best firms will be consistent about identifying talent and putting it in the right place.  Developing hidden talent takes time, but the results can be dramatic.

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Take On Some of the Risk

You're not ready to start a business until you're prepared to invest your own money into it.

Self-financing in the form of personal and family savings is the No. 1 form of financing used by most small-business owners. It's low-cost and has other advantages. For instance, when you approach other financing sources, such as bankers and venture capitalists, they will want to know exactly how much of your own money you are putting into the venture. After all, if you don't have enough faith in your business to risk your own money, why should anyone else risk theirs?

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July

Deciding on Business Structure

Before you incorporate, consider these pros and cons.

The corporate structure is more complex and expensive than most other business structures. A corporation is an independent legal entity that's separate from its owners, and, as such, it requires complying with more regulations and tax requirements. 

Benefits:

* Liability protection – a corporation’s debt is not considered that of its owners (personal assets will not be at risk).

* A corporation can retain some of its profits without the owner paying tax.

* Ability to raise money by the sale of stock.

Downsides:

* Higher costs will be incurred. Corporations are formed under the laws of each state with its own set of regulations. You'll probably need the assistance of an attorney to guide you. 

* Because corporation must follow more complex rules and regulations than a partnership or a sole proprietorship, it also requires more accounting and tax-preparation services. 

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Business Name Basics

If you operate under a fictitious business name, there are some important requirements to keep in mind.

If you're starting a sole proprietorship or a partnership, you have the option of choosing a business name or dba (doing business as) for your business. This is known as a fictitious business name. If you want to operate your business under a name other than your own (for instance, Carol Axelrod dba Darling Donut Shoppe), you may be required by the county, city or state to register your fictitious name. 

In some states, you have to place a fictitious name ad in your local newspaper for a certain amount of time. In most cases, the newspaper that prints this fictitious name ad will also file the necessary papers with the county for a small fee. 

Excerpted from Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Guide You'll Ever Need

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Reducing Risk For Start-up Business

How do you transition from employment to self-employed entrepreneur without losing your shirt? That is a fundamental question.

If the business you want to start allows it—not all of them do—many people test the waters first by starting the business with limited funds in their spare time. Consider this option: ask yourself whether you could try it, does your employer allow it, and would it work? Some personal service businesses can work like this, but many cannot. Think about that first, for your business.

If you have a business that requires start-up investment and you must have outside investment, then you have a harder climb uphill. First you have to convince investors to buy into your business plan and invest with you, so you get the money, and then you can start the business. In this case your starting salary is funded by the investment, and has to be agreed upon by you and the investors, and it is negotiable. The more risk you take, the happier your investors, because they want to see you really committed. They don't want you to suffer, they need you to survive, and even prosper, or else the business also fails, but they also don't want to risk their money on the new business and make you too comfortable at their expense.

Written by Tim Berry

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Hire Effective Leaders

Many of us remember the closing minutes of the 1978 Gator Bowl when Woody Hayes, one of the top coaches in the country, ran onto the field and punched a player who had just made a key interception. Ohio State fired him the next day. 

People who can't control their emotions should not be team leaders. Confrontations are common in a team setting. They can open up communication channels for healthy dialogue as long as they are controlled. Rational team leaders know how to control confrontations so that they don't erupt into damaging personal encounters.

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August

Financial Statements

They show how profitable your business will be in the short and long term, and should include the following: 

• The income statement details the business's cash-generating ability. It projects such items as revenue, expenses, capital (in the form of depreciation) and cost of goods. 

• Cash flow statement details the amount of money coming into and going out of the business—monthly for the first year and quarterly for each year thereafter. The result is a profit or loss at the end of the period represented by each column. 

• The Balance sheet paints a picture of the business's financial strength in terms of assets, liabilities and equity over a set period. You should generate a balance sheet for each year profiled in the development of your business.

Excerpted from Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Guide You'll Ever NeedBack to 

Business Development Archive

Protect Your Company Secrets

No business is safe from being snooped on. Sure, you may be able to find all the information you ever thought you needed about your competition, but you should also make certain you aren't giving away the store. Here are some preventive measures to take that will help you avoid the most common competitive intelligence raids:

• Control the spin. Delete old press releases after a predetermined amount of time has gone by. The information contained in them could give your competitors a time line of your product development cycle—and that gives them a competitive advantage. 

• Keep your talent under wraps. Withhold profiles of key staffers you might normally put on your Web site. They're a handy resource for headhunters and competitors. 

• Stay hack-free. Invest in a good firewall to separate your Web site from online fulfillment systems and e-mail. If computer hackers get in through these systems, they can learn a lot about you. You might even consider setting up a separate computer system for internal data.

Business Development Archive

Get Their Permission First

A pleasant development on the Web, specifically related to magazines or newsletters, is enabling recipients to unsubscribe to what you send them. The auto removal feature that wise magazine or newsletter publishers offer to their recipients is more than a mere convenience. It conveys a message to recipients that you value and respect their time and attention, and their right to control their own inboxes. 

Excerpted from 101 Internet Marketing Tips For Your Business

Business Development Archive

Where the Money Is

While high-tech is still the most prevalent industry in which venture capital companies invest their dollars, nearly any kind of business has the potential to receive venture capital. In fact, according to the Middle Market Advisory Services of PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), a growing number of venture capital firms are going after low-tech or no-tech businesses. "There's a lot of money out in the marketplace," says Sidney Andrews of PWC. "There are funds for every type of industry. It's a matter of knowing where to look." 

The key is finding a venture capital firm that matches your business. For instance, a venture capital firm with partners experienced in real estate and commercial development will likely invest in companies involved in home building or property management. Some venture capital firms have more than one target industry or accept inquiries and proposals from all industries. 

Excerpted from Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Guide You'll Ever Need

Business Development Archive

Analyze the Competition

Not all markets are equally competitive or equally attractive to future competitors. A competitive analysis will detail the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, as well as the strategies that give you a distinct advantage. It will also allow you to develop barriers to prevent new competition from entering the market and locate any weaknesses in your competitors' service or product development cycle that you can take advantage of. 

Excerpted from Grow Your Business

Business Development Archive

September

Turn Angry Customers into Loyal Customers

It's one thing to deal with an angry customer. It's another to deal with an angry customer who's right because you've made a blunder. The key to making your customer service successful is not only to soothe the angry customer, but to turn this person into a loyal customer. Believe it or not, it's possible to use this situation to your advantage to show your customer how far you are willing to go to keep his/her business. 

Customer service experts look at this as a four-step process: 

Step 1: Acknowledge -- let the customer know that you've made an error.
Step 2: Apologize -- state clearly and sincerely that you regret making the error.
Step 3: Rectify the problem -- fix any mistake you've made, no questions asked.
Step 4: Go one better -- don't just fix the problem; go the extra step to make sure you give the customer incredible service. 

Business Development Archive

20 Ways a Web Site Can Help Your Business

• People searching online for a product or service can find your business. 

• People can research your product or service. 

• Gain leads and contact information such as the name and e-mail address of the lead. 

• Take orders and sell products or services to new or existing customers. 

• People outside your local phone book area can find your business's phone number. 

• Develop a client list to receive e-mail marketing newsletters. 

• Offer buying incentives (coupons or discounts) to increase sales. 

• Maintain web-based employee manuals, saving printing and distribution costs. 

• People can find the e-mail address of sales or customer service staff in your business. 

• Deliver animated sales presentations online. 

• Offer a multimedia catalog of your products 

• People can find driving directions or a map to your business. 

• Post testimonials from satisfied customers. 

• Expand your business--your web site is open 24/7 and available to people in other locations. 

• Provide customer service--customers can access manuals and service bulletins for your product. 

• Answer customer's frequently asked questions. 

• Customers can check the status of their order. 

• Use web-based-training to deliver training to your employees, especially to remote locations. 

• People can find your business hours. (Easily updated compared to the Yellow Pages) 

• Provide information about your business for potential stockholders. 

Business Development Archive

Organization Tips (Part 1 of 2)

Source: Managing a Small Business

Achieving goals in an efficient way is possible when you are well-organized. Here are some ideas that will help you become more organized.

• Use a personal pocket calendar that you carry with you at all times to help keep yourself organized.

• Use check lists and check sheets regularly for those things which must be done in a correct way.

• Have different-colored checklists for easy identification.

• When people come back to you asking the same question they have asked several times before, ask them to set up a standard operating procedure by simply writing down the statement that you are to make about how the situation is to be handled. They can then keep that at their desk, and will not have to ask you about it in the future.

• Create a visible time line for key projects.

• Make a daily "to-do" list of activities that you must do and set priorities on it every day. Then do the activities in priority order.

• Use a tickler or follow-up file allowing you to file items until the day that you can act on them.

• Set up a system to handle repetitive tasks.

• Avoid over organizing to the point where your perfectionism interferes with your achieving results.

Business Development Archive

October

Organization Tips (Part 2 of 2)

Source: Managing a Small Business

Here are some more ideas that will help you become more organized.

• Identify and post reorder quantities on office supplies to prevent running out completely.

• Carry 3x5 cards or a notebook or note paper or your pocket calendar to make notes of things that you would like to remember.

• When doing work on a computer, have a regular routine of backing up your work at least twice a day to ensure it does not get lost.

• Dictate your notes or thoughts for projects on a cassette, then either have it transcribed by your secretary or personally pay a student to do it for you.

• Work on only one item at a time.

• Keep only one project on your desk at a time to avoid distractions. Time is lost sorting through other items while you're working on one.

• If you are working on several projects, keep each one in a clearly labeled file by itself so you do not have to look through a mixed project file to find things.

• Do not schedule every minute of the day; keep flexible for the unexpected items that will come up,

• When you sense things are out of control-STOP. Sit quietly, relax, re-establish priorities in writing, decide what action to take, then go again.

• Sit down and do all trivial items in one sitting to get them over with.

•  Build flexibility into your schedule by purposely overestimating the amount of time needed on each activity.

Business Development Archive

How Much Should You Charge?

Before you can set a price for your product or service, you have to determine the costs involved in running your business. If the price you set for your product or service doesn't cover your costs, you will have to infuse more cash into the business until your resources are depleted and your business fails.

Exactly how much should you charge so you don't ruin your business? You must add fixed costs--equipment leases, loan repayments, management costs (such as salaried employees) and depreciation--to the variable costs of raw materials, inventory, utilities and hourly wages/commissions. You must also calculate the costs generated by markdowns, shortages, damaged merchandise, employee discounts, costs of goods sold and desired profits, and then add them to the operating expenses listed above. You can then arrive at an initial price for your product.

The most important aspect of cost vs. price--a factor that you must grasp if you are to learn how to price correctly--is that, ultimately, the market dictates the price you may charge for your product or service. Your costs of providing customers and clients with that product or service simply establish a minimum or break-even figure and the maximum price you could demand (and get) for your product or service.

Excerpted from 303 Marketing Tips: Guaranteed To Boost Your Business

Business Development Archive

How to Keep Customers

1. Continually stress the benefits, not the features, of your products or services. 

2. Exceed your customer's expectations. 

3. Don't focus on price. Point out the total value of your products. 

4. Send thank-you notes to your customers expressing your appreciation for their continued business. 

5. Ask customers for feedback—and then follow their advice. 

6. Try to greet your customers by name, and remember some important information about them. 

Excerpted from Get Smart: 365 Tips To Boost Your Entrepreneurial IQ

Business Development Archive

November

Get to Know Site Visitors

Use the registration page on your Web site to gather nontraditional, yet useful, information. For instance, registration forms routinely ask visitors to offer their first name, last name, street address, town, state or province, ZIP code, country, e-mail address, and often their phone and fax numbers. Other questions you may wish to include are: 

• Where did you hear of this site? 

• How can this site be improved? 

• What features would you like to see? 

• Which features did you like most? 

• Which features did you like least? 

• What would make the site more valuable for you? 

Excerpted from 101 Internet Marketing Tips For Your Business 

Business Development Archive

Get it in Writing

If you're doing business with someone, whether as a client or a provider, you're going to need a contract. Ideally, you'd have a top law firm at your disposal to hammer these things out for you, but the reality for most entrepreneurs is that they have to do these things themselves.

So what should a contract say? Here are the essential elements of a business agreement:

•  The parties to the agreement. In other words, your business name and the name of the other party, whether that's a customer or a vendor.

•  What each party is going to gain from the agreement. This is referred to in legal vocabulary as consideration.

•  The main terms of the contract. For example, what each party is promising to do. Obviously, it's extremely important that this part of the contract be very specific and include such things as the work to be performed, the price to be paid for the work, how and when payment will be made, when the work will be completed, how long the contract will be in effect, and whether either party is "warranting" anything.

•  Execution. Be sure both parties sign the contract and that the person signing (if he or she is representing a company) has the authority to sign.

•  Date. This is the date the contract is signed.

•  Delivery. Make sure each party receives a copy of the final signed agreement.

Business Development Archive

It's the Thought That Counts

Assets such as intellectual property, trade secrets, pricing formulas, customer lists, business plans, recipes and the like are typically the foundation upon which a company is built in a business world full of copycat competitors.

Here are five ways to protect the ideas, designs and plans that make your business unique:

•  Patents, copyrights and trademarks. These are legal filings that document your ownership and create certain legal protections to help you protect your property. Have your attorney assist you with these applications.

•  Confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements. These documents commit a party to keeping specified data and information confidential and out of the hands of unintended parties. Always consult an attorney on this.

•  Employment agreements. These agreements stipulate that all company assets are proprietary and that unauthorized disclosure of confidential information such as pricing formulas, customer lists and other data and information is prohibited.

•  Computer passwords, safes and locked file cabinets. When used properly, they can restrict access to proprietary information.

•  Data backup. Back up everything that is important. Digital documents should be backed up on a server that's in a different location or on a zip disk or CD that's kept offsite along with copies of important physical documents. Absolutely do not attempt to store anything important in your head.

Business Development Archive

Peace of Mind

Just as you wouldn't drive a car without insurance, it's best not to open a business without some type of coverage. So where and how do you begin? Just follow the steps below to get your business covered.

•  Find an agent. Locating an agent to help you identify the right insurance at the right price should be a high priority for every new business owner.

•  Types of insurance. After you decide on an agent, sit down with him or her to consider what types of insurance you may need. These might include property, liability, auto, workers' compensation and business interruption insurance.

•  Research your options. As with any buying decision, comparison-shop insurance policies and coverage and make sure you understand what you're comparing.

Lastly, here are some general rules for insurance coverage:

•  Consider buying a combination policy that covers both property and liability coverage. This could save you some money.
•  Look for a small-business insurance package that includes a full range of coverage. This is often much cheaper than buying coverage from several different companies.
•  See what your trade or professional association, chamber of commerce or other business association offers for group insurance coverage. The buying power of a large group may mean lower rates for you.

Business Development Archive

Preparing for the Worst

In case of an emergency, such as a flood, fire or earthquake, it's tough for even the strongest of us to keep a level head. So why worry about what's going to happen to your clients, contacts and important documents in the heat of the moment? Why not start planning for disaster now? Here are four things to think about:

•  Business-interruption insurance and records reconstruction are good policies to look into. Although disaster insurance can be costly, it may also be worth checking out.

•  Be sure to back up all your crucial data and keep those files off site in a safe place. And be sure to check on them from time to time.

•  Make copies of important paperwork such as customer contracts, employee information and legal documents, and keep those off site as well.

•  Make sure that each of your outside vendors also has a disaster plan in place. You don't want your business adversely affected because one of your vendors hasn't planned ahead.

Business Development Archive

December

Why Can't We Be Friends?

You just lost one of your employees—does that mean clients are soon to follow? It could if you didn't make employees sign a noncompete agreement.

So what is this magic contract? What does it do? Who should sign it?

A noncompete agreement is a formal contract between you and your employees in which they promise not to use information or contacts pertinent to your business in a competing situation. This could mean going to work for a competitor or starting a competing business of their own.

Which employees should sign noncompete agreements? While the prerequisites vary from business to business, the following is a good general list. (The term "employees" in this list represents executive level, management, supervisory and non-management personnel that are relative to that example.)

•  Employees involved in research or product development.

•  Employees involved in the design, fabrication, engineering and manufacturing process.

•  Employees who service products made and sold by your company.

•  Sales and service employees who have regular contact with customers or sensitive customer information.

•  Employees with access to sensitive business information or trade secrets.

•  Most importantly, employees who have sufficient information about your business that would allow them to start a competing business.

Business Development Archive

Online Postage Help

Sick of standing in line at the post office? Try going online to the post office instead. At the USPS Web Site, you'll find dozens of time- and money-saving services. Click on the ZIP codes icon from the home page and you can look up ZIP codes for addresses nationwide. Or keep tabs on packages by using the site's Express Mail tracking feature. There's also a "rate calculator" that helps you find the most cost-effective method of mailing letters and packages. Just enter the article's weight and ZIP codes of the origin and destination, and up pops the price for shipping it by various methods.

In addition to these services, other features are also available.  Check out some of these for help with your business and personal life:

• Buy stamps online or print postage from your PC

• How to create a direct mail campaign

• Send cards and letters from your PC

• Information on growing your new small business

• Purchase holiday gifts

• And many, many more!

Business Development Archive

Time to Upgrade Your Copier?

As important as technology is, that doesn't mean you always have to have the latest version of equipment. Here's how to evaluate your current technology to see whether it's time to upgrade: 

High-end copiers can cost more than a whole office full of computers. Today's models are increasingly interchangeable with printers, thanks to the new generation of digital, network-ready copiers. Some late-model digital copiers will also scan documents and send faxes. But fancy features don't mean you need one of these costly machines. Upgrade your copiers when you experience or foresee a significant increase in the volume of copies you produce. Extras such as automatic document feeders and staplers are nice, but probably not worth upgrading for. 

Excerpted from Grow Your Business

Business Development Archive

Time to Upgrade Your Phone System?

As important as technology is, that doesn't mean you always have to have the latest version of equipment. Here's how to evaluate your current technology to see whether it's time to upgrade: 

Telephone systems should be upgraded quickly if a problem develops, because they are your lifeline to your customers and suppliers. If customers complain about being kept on hold, or about phones not ringing or not being answered, you may need to add lines, improve your answering system or perhaps hire more telephone operators. If you expect your call volume to surge sharply, perhaps because of an upcoming new product launch or seasonal buying, consider upgrading your phone system before trouble starts. 

Excerpted from Grow Your Business 

Business Development Archive