Get to know your market!.

Once you starting out a business then you might want to know that you must focus on the needs of your customers. Not only the sales man in the store or on the phone selling stocks need to explore what the customer want. Also the businessman who is writing a businessplan. The market exsists of different type of customers with various demands. To get to know the market you can go to a business consultant before you start a business.

If you do the proper market research then you can find out what the annual sales of a certain product is. If you  are going to set up a factory producing soap bars. Then might want to know where you going to sell those soap bars. Who are buying from you, What type of soaps you are going to produce. What type of soap bars the customers want for example Fa Soap used to be a big hit in the tropics. Those fragrances which contains in those soaps where just breath taking. The colours of the soap is just one of a kind. 

You need to find out what the trends are in the market. How you can get your products to your customer. Are you going to start a brick and mortar store or are you going to sell online?. In what countries you are going to market your products. You need to understand the need of the people. For example soap is rather cheaper than shampoo and the third world countries go for soap than shampoo. Because of the weather in the tropics there are often taking a bath and consume soap. 

If you market your soap bars in the tropics then you might want to know that you need to adapt the packaging into a suitable language. You need to communicate with the customers in the right way. What people want is that you solve their problem as a businessman. Only way that you can do it is when you know the  their needs.  Automation can a solution. If you have conventional cash registers then consider buying scanners to help out the customer quicker and more accurate the transaction will be.  

When you are going to sell watch batteries for example then you might want to know that you focus on selling different types of batteries from various brands. This will attract more customers. You need to determine a type of business you need to set up. If this is a whole sale business then you need to market your products to the retail stores to make more profits. You need to set a sales system that communicates with the retail stores. You can hire a sales that contacts the retailers and send them promotion material. 

When you run a supermarket then determine what type of segment to serve. If you target the upper segment then you have to sell quality products that goes with the price. You can target the lower segment of the market. Then you can sell products which attracts clients who want to buy your goods because you offer a price which fits the budget of your customers. You might want to do some research about who sell whole sale goods to fill your product range  of your store. 

Analyze the stocks then you will find out what type of products sell the best. Then promote the products which sell at a slow pace with discounts. If you run a supermarket place coffee and suger next to each other. This is not the case when you are running another type of business such as a transportation service. 

Can you solve problems?

To start a business you have to sell a product or a service that help the customers out. This means if there is a market with a demand then you can supply to make money for your self and your company. You need to create a product which has a high demand. In case if you do not want to create a product. Then you can buy and sell like a wholesale business for example. This is logic, that you need to buy for a relative low price and sell for a higher price.

Supply the right goods to cover the demand.

There is a real good supply from China nowadays. They have lots of products that is produced by manufactures that created a market oversees to fullfil the demand of various goods. You can go to sites like AliBaba.com and buy wholesale products sell in your online store or brick and mortar store. There are lots of wholesale stores where you can buy goods and sell in your store. If you run a restaurant then you can go to your local wholesale hypermarket then buy goods like fresh meat, fresh fish, soft drinks, beer and other goods.

How big is the demand?

You can do how big the market demand is. In a country like USA there is a high demand for McDonald Hamburgers. Because it is easy for the customers when they go for a day out in the city to do shopping and they feel like getting a bite while doing shopping. Even Chinese food has a high demand. Like a city like New York where people are busy 24/7 they do not have the time to stand in the kitchen. Then who else is our savior other than China man. And not to forget the Italian pizza baker. Where can we get a bite to eat when we are on our way to get home.

How big is your coverage of the market demand.

You also need to do research about the competition. If you have a snackbar in a city with a population of 8000 households. Then you can think about what your coverage is of the market. If the other snackbars are competitive. If they have lower of higher prices than you. And what their annual turnovers are. If they have the same products as you in the product range. If you sell other products than other competitors you might attract more customers. You can set your self apart from the rest by creating demand by selling unique products. And giving discounts.

If the demand is abraod then supply!.

There is a market for ice cream in the tropics such as United Emirates and Africa. For quality ice cream then countries as Saudi-Arabia or United Emirates where you can sell ice cream. If the local factories also produce ice cream then you have competition. You as an American, Australian or Canadian you can bring your Dollars to invest in the business in the tropics or in the dessert. When you exchange your dollars for the local currency then you might be amazed what types of amounts of money you can invest. If you want to begin a business on a large scale then you can buy land and plant for example PineApples and produce juice and sell on the International market.

Conclusion.

If the market has lots of competition then you can still take the risk to do the same as your competitors. But you can supply a demand which is still uncovered. This means when everybody is selling shooting game apps you can create an app which is a whole other game such as adventure game. Either you create a demand by setting your self apart with a unique product or you take the risk.

Sell like pro.

When you work as a sales man then you know that customers have a need and you need to explore that to help them out. It is not like a supermarket that there is almost no support needed from a sales man to sell. When you work at a telecom store.  At a telecom store you need to let the customer look around and if they have any question about a product they can come to you.  There are customers who look around and need advice and others make a decision of their own and spend 15 minutes in the store walk out satisfied.

Types of customers.

There are many type of customers. Who need lots of help because they think that they are spending lots of money in your store. Others who do not have the patience and do not hesitate their pre-determined decision.  There are customers who can not decide and keep asking about a product because they are scared that they buy somthing they might not be happy with afterall. To sell a product you as a sales man you also need to explore what types of customers you are dealing with. Once the customer greets you and ask you about a product and you introduce various products which is related. Then you have a chance that customer will make a choice out of the products you introduced.

Be thoughful.

Be thoughtful of the customer's needs. They are coming to you for help and you are their savior. It is just fractions you will get to impress the customer with the products you sell. If you have a loyal customer base then it is almost too easy that you sell. If there are new customers coming to buy from you and they do not know what to buy or they do not know what the products can do for them. And why they should buy a particular product instead of a similair product for a higher or lower cost. Then you can jump in to help them out. 

Sense of roleplay.

In school I learned about confirmed questions you can ask the customer since you greet them and untill they buy your products and leave the store.  Do not expect that roleplay at school will repeat at the store you work. I got a sense of the work as a sales man with those questions and roleplaying in school.  To sell you need to place your self in the shoes of the customer. Do not try to make an irritated impression on the customer or do not let them get an impression of your moody attitude like you just got out of the bed. Do not let be a sales pitch look like when a lawyer speaks to a judge. Be friendly and make it an easy conversion and make a warm hearted like you speak to your neighbour. 

Mutual benefits.

Remember you need each other. The customer needs you for sales support and you need them to make money to pay the bills. This is a situation of mutual benefits. If you are a new sales man you might be afraid that customers will not take you serious or you might be shy when the store is crowed. Remember that you are not the only one who is afraid. The customer can be shy too because you both are strangers to each other. It will take some word exchange untill the ice is broken. At a telecom store is of course it is different than at the business consulting agency. But in some cases you deal with customers and others deals with clients. 

Conclusion.

Keep in mind that the customer wants to be satisfied with the services or products and you want to make money. Something got to give because in this case you will be the one that gets the blame when the product does not work properly or get angry of the customer. When they show signs of irratation or have a bad attitude towards you because they feel like king.

Are your financial returns worth your efforts?.

Even you go to school and you do your homework and get sufficient grades then you realize if you did gave your best shot to make it feel worthy. Afterall we all expect something in return from our efforts. If you go get a regular nine till five then also you have to give your best shot to make the ends meet. Once you get fired you can eat your boss and everybody in your community because they failed you. It is also a fact when you start a business then you have to realize what your have to put in and get out of it.

Knowledge and capital

Are you going to sit there and come everything to you smoothly or are you going to utilize the knowledge and the capital you have to get a bankloan and proove your invironment that you are the man for the job. Negative energy or negative environment can harm you and the mind set you have. It is a constant fight between good and evil. When you feel that you want to do something positive then do not wait but get started. The good you do will be rewarded with financial returns. Look how many people are looking to find fishpoles and fish. If you the business man who is willing to help out the people who are looking for a certain products or service then you will gain positive financial returns and satisfaction from your efforts. 

The financial returns depend on efforts

The financial returns depends on what types of efforts you put in. For example you have an offline business such as a hardware store. This means you can set up an interactive website to get more visitors through to your products to buy from your website. Also you can handle the local delivery with transportation to deliver products to your customers. You can advertise in the local news papers to get a piece of the market. Advertising is a major part of running a business as a hardware store. Also you can advertise your store to your targeted market to even get a bigger slice. You can outsource that tasks such as bookkeeping to an accountant. 

Advertise to get a loyal customer base

Interact with your targeted market such as setting up an online and offline survey. Support your local football team and advertise in their club magazine. This will build a loyal customers base and you can give back to community supporting a softball team with offering t-shirts with your logo on it. This type of deals are not only for the giants like Vodafone or Philips. You can place ad boards on the side lines of the play court with your logo of your store. These types of efforts are always rewarding because the ad boards can not be unnoticed. 

Cheap labour can save you money

It is very costful to have workers working for you for a long term when they get older. This means you have to pay a  higher wage and if you have a recruiter then you can sign 12 hour contracts with part-time workers. They might have another job or go to school too. This means cheaper labour for you which requires no diploma or degree. What can you do to become reputable?. This means that you can sell products which is relevant to price and quality. Approved products by independent national associations. This can give you a name like Coca-Cola or Apple even you have one store in your ownership. 

Conclusion

It is very costful to have workers working for you for a long term when they get older. This means you have to pay a  higher wage and if you have a recruiter then you can sign 12 hour contracts with part-time workers. They might have another job or go to school too. This means cheaper labour for you which requires no diploma or degree. What can you do to become reputable?. This means that you can sell products which is relevant to price and quality. Approved products by independent national associations. This can give you a name like Coca-Cola or Apple even you have one store in your ownership. 

Be a trendsetter and standout.

If you are going to start a business then you know that competition is out there. If you selling pizza's then you know that you are not the only pizzaria owner. There are rules involved even you selling water to an Arab. You know that you need to register at the chamber of commerce and get a VAT number. When you sell a product then you need to brand your self as a business who serves a purpose that is valid and useful for your customer. In case you think that starting business is the same as working for a boss then you might be wrong. You have to be accountable for your tasks when you work for a boss.

If you start a business then you are the person who take the risk and your employees are not. If you do not take the risk to make profits and do not take care of your employees then you are risking getting a bad name from the people who are willing to work for you. You might have to close your shop when your workers plot against you and start to boycott you. It goes same for the customers. If you offer a good customer service and treat your customers with discounts and when you run a supermarket you can place a coffee machine to offer free coffee and tea to your customers. 

For example selling ice cream in Africa can be a good move when you think about weather in Europe and North-America. These are seseonal products in Europe and North-America. How ever in India there are not lots of cows because the Hindu's do not eat beef. Although this does not mean that they do not eat ice cream. If you are going to market ice cream then Africa is the continent. This is where lots of farmers are and milk can be obtained for relative cheap price and the weather is suitable for a refreshment like ice cream. In Saudi-Arabia for example there is a market for quality ice cream which can be market for relative price and United Emirates have lots of hotels and Europeans and North-Americans and Australians go there to cool out after long year of hard work. You can serve the upper segment of ice cream to market to those hotels and the end consumers will be locals and tourists.

You might of heard the fight between Goliath and king David in ancient Israel. That goes the same for Linux and Windows in tech field and why is Windows so successful and Linux is less popular. It ain't fair but if there was no Linux there would be less competition for Windows. There are people willing to fight for there share. I think me and you should too. If I would not write this blog about business issues someone else will. And they will get those pageviews too. I am not saying that I can get million page views or you because I write about business issues. I am saying that you are going to make millions with starting a business like growing potatoes. Or selling ice cream in Africa or Saudi-Arabia. I am not a business consultant or graduate from Harvard or Oxford to write the next hit code to sell video games for example.  

Do not follow the heard but find unique strategies to stand out and market to the consumers, customers, prospects, clients and buyers that willing you pay a higher price for your service or a the products that the competition can not get from your loyal buyers base. It does not comes naturally that clients will come even in their sleep to buy from you. But you can become reputable during the time you do business and serve your customers with quality and quantity for a relative price.

Building a business is like building a house.

 

If you ever had in mind to start a business then you need to realize what type of assets you have to invest. If you have a reasonable amount of money then you can scale out the business you want start and do it. First of you need to get know the segment of the market you want to operate in. If you starting out you know that you need help from others. For example a business consultant, accountant or even a recruiter. It is hard work and you can ask your self if your effort is worth the financial returns. 

Nothing comes easy it takes the proper effort for the relevant income. You need to ask your self if you are going to build up a business from the ground up or you are going to take over an exsisting business or going to take a franchise. In that case you need to know that the cost of the franchise depends on various factors. Such as the population of the area where your customers live and how easy it is all made for you by the franchise giver. It is not always that you will make a confirmed amount of money with a franchise formula. That is just the risk you take as a business man.

In case you take a franchise then the house is already build for you. In that case it an question how you going to run it?. If you have the proper knowledge and help you can run your business smoothly. With help I mean like an accountant to do the bookkeeping and cleaning team to clean the building. If you take a franchise from Domino's pizza for example the above mentioned issues can be relevant to the situation. In case you take a franchise you acquired to pay a franchise fee. This is a load off your back when you get a bank loan when you have money on a savings account to convince that you are able to payback the bank loan. 

If you are willing to build a business you need to get to know what the risks are and in what kind of term you are willing to reach the financial goals you set. Let's be honest we are all working hard to make the mighty dollar. In case you are going to run non profit businesses. Even then you can not donate or help the sick, poor and hungry if you can not gain the goals you have written down on your business plan. You need to make for your self clear if you can expand in due time. And how are you going to do that. If the vision is seen through the right glasses then it is not quite impossible to reach the goals you have.

Be realistic and thoughtful of the obstackles and take the risks within boundaries. We all have dreams and you are not the only fish in the pond for the customer. In that case you need to stand out with your products and what can you offer to solve the problems the customers have and you can learn from the competition too. If you are going to grow potatoes and you know that the dometic market has a huge potential because they eat potatoes mostly. Then growing potatoes can be huge source of income if you take the actions and scale it out to get bigger by the time to time.

Do not put all the eggs in one basket. If you have took over desired piece of the market then go for growing eggplants. It is a fact that people eat vegitable everyday. You need more information about what the annual consumption of potatoes or eggplants are. To build a business you need the proper mind set. If you are willing to work then you need some sort of a knowledge about the work field you want to specialize in.