How to drive your sales potential to greater heights?.

When it comes to sales there are ups and downs. There might be more calls from customers and more deals closing from time to time. This might be plunge too. To drive more sales you can hire top performing sales people or train your own sales department to perform beyond average. To be gainful when it comes to profits you can train the current sales team to stimulate the customers let them know that there are mutual benefits. That you and the customers can build a long-term relationship to be fruitful. To be successful with sales you need to engage new customers every month. The successful sales persons know how to convert prospects into paying customers.

Believe in the products you are selling.

The products you sell must be to help the customers out to make their life easier. If you know the ins and outs about the products you are selling then you can convince the customers of your experience of the products and other customers reviews will be a proof of what the products are about. You need to be confident about the products you are selling. You need to let the customers know why your products are better than what others selling. Let the buyers know about the extra features and new advanced products in the product range.

Create customers' interest in the products.

Build a relationship with your customers. You are both in the same boat in this case. You got what the customers want. And you both know what the purpose of buying and selling is. Let the customers know why your products has better features and why it is different from the competition. Ask questions about what customers are looking for. You as the sales person need to explore customers demand before you offer a product what the customer is looking for. It be a great let down to sell no. There for you need to separate customers who come to your store for a Nike Air Max or Nike Air Jordans from happy shoppers who just step to your store because they have extra dollars to spend. 

Maintain a positive attitude.

Sleep and eat well. You can not go to war on an empty stomache and sleepy. Be informal to create a warm ambiance to stimulate your customers treat you well as you treat the customers. Having a positive attitude towards the customers will bring good vibes and will be prosperous when you engage with the customers. If you cold call. A "Good morning" can make the customers feel like who is this blessing my day today?. Then you can explain what you are selling and from the tone of your voice the customers will find out by their gut feeling that you have good intentions.

Go beyond the daily targets.

Once you pick the phone to cold call and at the end of the day you have reached the sales target. But there is another hour or so before you can go home. Then do not give up. Especially there is an fair advantage to stack when you go beyond limitations. To develop your sales DNA more and your fighters mentality is unstoppable then you can generate extra more sales to proof your self that you have worked hard. To stand out as a salesman you need to generate sales and reach the top position as a team leader you need to proof the management team that you got what it takes to be a leader. No one like to pitch their whole career. You need to develop your sales DNA to go beyond the limitations.

Be accountable for your actions.

If you have a hard time convincing one customer then do not loose your temper. Be cool and give your best shot to ask questions and stimulate the prospects till this person understand what type of offer you have to give to the prospect. To be the best you need to understand that you are the only one can do the job. Maybe with bit of luck and if the good God is willing you can make it happen. Realize that it is you can make a difference and be responsible for your actions. 

How to motivate and inspire your employees?.

It is most profitable to inspire and to motivate your sales department for example as a team leader. This means they will be more productive and more pleasant to work with. Give recognizion and appreciation. It is a method that works for employees to deliver more than average. You can give incentives to show that the workers are performing well. There are companies that share a percentage of the profits per branch with the employees. This means that the team spirit is a major issue that they are constantly aware of. This means once they communicate and address each other in the right way to keep a good workfloor ambiance. They will generate lots of money for their boss.

Make the workfloor a good place to be.

The work space is really a cause to be productive. If you work at a supermarket you will find out soon or later what type of light you under. If the workspace is well lit and when it feels good to have the right type of light and also natural light through the windows. The customers also be more likely to step into your store. Having access to up-to-date equipment for your sales team for example will make their job easy. If the offices are well warmed in the winter and in the summer well air-conditioned. This will make your employees focus more on their delegated tasks. Also tune-proof walls to avoid distraction from noise of cars and trucks from outside.  

Be supportive, honest and respectful manager.

Offer support and communicate in a respectful manner with your employees. This means that you communicate in a informal manner too. Do not be cold and be flat. Give the employees the space to offer their opinion. Do not be a Hitler but a Ghandi. Mind the tone of your voice when you talk to employees. Let them think with you for solutions and give your honest opinion about their influences. Stimulate them to perform beyond average. Ask if they bought a new pop album or if you noticed that an employee wears new sneakers ask them where they bought it. If an employee like to read industry specific books ask if you as the manager where you can buy those books.

Give workers incentives.

To keep the workers motivated and make them feel well appreciated. You can add quarterly bonus to their pay check. Also a compensation plan for extra qualifications that relates to their job. You can offer profit sharing program for the whole staff. Also a company common health care plan to reduce the individual cost of health care costs. You can print t-shirts and caps of your company and hand it to the employees to wear in their spare time. Give them a new years get-together bites and drinks to start the new year with a bang. Offer persectives to grow with the time. Offer a company car or motorcycle to go to appointments with customers. Pay for their driven mileage to work.

Give employees growing perspectives.

Let them master more in due time within the company. Give them space to get more qualifications to get a raise and expand their tasks. Do not let the employees who perform well leave the company by not offering space to grow. This means you can train them to do part-time tasks of another department and move from cash register to head office to learn the whole different tasks like book keeping. If your company is that large. I am talking about 600 employees or more. You can arrange a lot for motivated employees. If your business is expanding by scaling and opening another branch. Then you can move a worker from cash register to follow an intership to become an assistant manager in the new branch. 

How can you succeed with setting financial goals for your buisness?.

You can start a business without any problem. You can get a loan to start a business if you have your own capital to get a loan from a bank. It is not always starting a business the challenge. Making enough profits must be the outcome. If you just start a business you need to focus on factors such as being determined to keep the long term focus. That is not all. Depending on what type of business you start you need to have all the parts of keeping a business intact and running smooth. Such as hiring personell, training and updating your product formulas when new trends occurring. If you like to know how to have your financial part running smooth then here are somethings you must keep your eye on.

How can we describe financial goals?.

Financial goals are what you are determined to make quartly, yearly. within 5 years or within 10 years. To realize this you need to focus on the whole business as a whole. To have all the factors of running a business smooth. You need to plan a factsheet of your buisness of all the departments. Write down how you are going to spend the loans you borrowed on mortgage, company's verhicles, personell and delivery vans for example. 

Why are financial goals important?.

Making day-to-day descions when running a business it is important to look at your weekly, montly or quartly profit goals through the glasses of your financial goals what you have written down. This way you will be more thoughtful about day-to-day spendings when you want to scale your business in due time. You will learn to set priorities when you spend. There are two types of financial goals. The long-term goals and short-term goals. 

Analyze your financial goals from period to period.

By analyzing you can decide where to go with your business. What the profits goals should be. What costs to cut. What products you are going to sell because there is a demand for it. Look at the current financial situation and draw a map what you are going to spend on such as more on promoting a such and such product because it is in overstock. What products you are going to price higher because the wholesale price of this  product went higher this year. 

Make accountable financial goals.

Set a meassure by writing down concrete numbers do not say I want to make more money by Octobre when it is April. Write down the financial goals from period to period and how you are going to reach it. It might be taking a franchise or scaling your business by setting up new branches. Then take a look at the plan and realize where you stand and where you want to go. Do not blame on your health or political issues. For every problem there is a solution. Make time tables to operate. The workfloor ambiance must be soothing for your workers. 

Write down the goals for a certain period.

If want to make more money by the next quarter then write down the amount for the next period. Be realistic when you write down numbers for your financial goals. Even big companies have to do this. It is not like Alice in wonderland creating financial goals. It is good for you that you dream big. Then put in the proper effort to reach it. Then take a look at the end of the X time period if you have reached the goals and why you have reached it and why not?. 

Keep a close eye on the monthly budget.

To have insights in your financial records you need to analyze it from time to time. If you control all the costs and profits then you might see what it takes to gain more. Your monthly budget will give you an idea what you can make by the next quarter if there are no suprises for the coming period. Also write down what your long-term plans are and short-term plans are. It is all good to write everything down and plan. You need a team of qualified to get you there. 

How to finance your business?.

There are several companies that do not have to seek for financing for their business. For example big tech giant called Apple. Mid cap companies have the need to search for a short term solutions to finding finance to solve shortages. You need to be careful when you borrow money. When you take a loan from the wrong source you might loose parts of your company. Then you might be paying your hard earned money constantly to payoff the finance company. There are many ways to find a finance company for your business. With debt financing you have to pay monthly untill the debt is payed off plus the interest. Equity financing is for investors and finance companies who own a stake in your company.

Debt financing.

It is when you want to buy a building to start your business and you need a mortgage. Or you need a car for your account manager. Then you can go to the bank and fill in the application to apply for a financing either for a mortgage or a car. Businesses what have more complicated business structures will take more factors that will be considered to get approved for a loan. Such as the credit history. One of the debt financing is that the finance company do not hold any stake in the company. The finance company will set an interest rate and paying terms. The relationship ends completing all the paying terms. You can be sure that your interest will be deducted from the tax income bill.

Equity financing.

Equity financing consists of angel investors and venture capitalists. Venture capitalists are rather a firms than an individual investors. These firms have accountants, lawyers and partners who research the pitch deck of the businesses which ask for financing. It takes time to realize equity financing because it a complex structure for those firms that lend money. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who are not willing to build a business but like to lend money if they believe in the products of the finance taker. If you are an app developer and want to borrow relevant small amount of money to scale your business. Then angel investors you can turn to. One of the advantage of equity financing is that you do not have to payback the money once your business ends up in bankruptcy.  The investors are patially the owners of the buisness you own. They are investors and not lenders. So there are no monthly payments you have to pay. One of the disadvantage is more riskier the investors find investing in your business is more stake they will be demanding.

Mezzanine capital.

This is a whole another concept then debt or equity financing. With debt financing you pay a certain interest and monthly payment amount. The lender is looking for less risks and more total financial advantages. The mezzanine investor is not looking for piece of your business. Mezzanine is a combination of debt and equity financing. There is no finished structure to this type of loans. The debt capital will convert to equity interest when the loan is not payed on time. One of the advantages is of the mezzanine capital is that the lender will be easy to convince of your successes once they see the last 3 years of your sales records, costs and cash flow. New businesses will be have a hard time to convince the successes but once you as a borrower is willing to give up stake you will have a chance. The disadvantages are the interest is higher and if the lender finds your company a risky investment. They will ask 20% to 30% of the return on their investments. 

How to make your digital marketing campaign successful?

Who can go around the Information highway nowadays?. This is a huge source of potential for the businesses nowadays. I am online since April 2007. I am learning how to do business online and offline and I am sharing with you what I have learned. To sell is marketing an issue what you have to consider as a serious factor. The social media is winning terrain, Google ads and sites like ebay.com are gaining huge profits. To market a product you need to know the prospected market and the segment. First of all you need to know if there is a gap in the market which you can exploit without risking you customer base.

Market to the prospected segment.

You know people want information to digest. To offer help to those hungry people who are looking for information. You need to offer help to solve problems. If a handyman is looking for information about a hammer then you can write an article and post on article sites and redirect to your site which sells hardware. If you are not the owner of the site you can sign up to affiliate sites and sell these products by commeting on blogs or writing articles. Also you need to know where your market is. If you sell t-shirts of pop idols. Then sites like youtube is the place to market your products. You can upload a video of the pop idol and put the link in the description which redirects to your online store that sell t-shirts of the pop idols.

Buy Facebook traffic.

This giant is a Godzilla and giant amongst giants online. There were in 2020 2 billion users on this site and there are 6 million advertisers looking for to make money online. You can buy targeted traffic online. Set up a page and boost your post to the audience in USA for example. You can choose to market a certain demographic. If you are web savvy you can exploit this traffic source for your business to get lots of traffic. You can buy traffic from 10 usd for about 376 to 500 visitors depending on the market you want promote to. 

Use mobile marketing to gain more profits.

You know smartphones made a statement with selling more than bicycles in Bejing. You know that country called India right?. The whole India is depending on that smartphone and there are various sites making money with doing business in India. If you are indian and you are online to make that desired buck. Then you can try mobile advertising on facebook or twitter for example. If you are an app developer and you want to promote your java games for example then countries like India, USA and China are the targeted countries. 

Use Adwords and landing pages.

If you are an affiliate then you know the impact of the keywords. With Adwords you can choose from most searched keywords and buy clicks. The most searched clicks are the most expensive and you can put your money to buy clicks but if you are new online then try free methods. It is kind of risky to put 300 usd to buy traffic from Google Adword. Because there are lots of click fraud. Do some background research about promoting your products with Adwords. I suggest not buying traffic bots because these traffic sources are not laser targeted traffic such as Google Adwords. 

Keep a record of your ROI (return on investment) on your advertising campaign.

To have a clear idea to see if the investments on ads are rewarding you need to track the returns. If a campaign is not profitable as you expected then stop and promote another product. If you are online for awhile and you are looking for a way to make money with affiliate marketing then you might heard of the site called Clickbank.com. This site sells various products you can promote as an affiliate. This means promotion is everything. There might be the situation that you are lucky but knowing where the targeted market is and who that is, is the key to win the game of making money with Clickbank.  

How to manage your finances as a small business?.

The keyfactor to a healthy financial records for your company are organization and staying up-to-date with the trends occuring. This means having an accountable management team and constantly elevating your workers knowledge to put into practice. Paying for your own productions costs, transportation costs will make your company less likely to fail. Having a healthy credit score and not selling your company's stock to have the total controle will make your business' financial statements rock solid.

Why is it important to manage your buisness' finances?.

Having plans is great. It is important to stay up-to-date about the tools and tricks that makes your task as a small business owner to take a load off your back. Such as the new technology. This can be POS (Point of sale) system to help the customers faster to prove the quality of your small business' customer service. You need to train your workers constantly to get to know inside knowledge of the market and products to supply the need of the customers. New advanced product features that is setting trend should be part of your stock to generate more profits. Tasks like accounting you can outsource but this means a extra cost. If you can do this your self you will be saving money. 

It is better to pay the cost out of your turnover.

To save the costs of interest you should not apply for a loan to keep your business save. You should set money apart out of your profits for extra costs such as tax, transportation costs, production costs, production costs. As a small business you can scale your business if you do not apply for a loan. In case you think your credit score is high enough to get a loan then you can think about adding costs of the interest to the end price of your products or services. But the bank will ask for a colletral. This is kind of risky to put your company's or your store's building as a colletral. 

Invest your profits in the future growth.

You should keep a close eye on the future. Having the vision of scaling your buisness by hiring more employees, selling more units or producing for larger market will help you generate more profits. You can invest in things like new machines, new software or more specialized personell. Invest in new verhicles to transport your products or personell. Invest in new trends and knowledge of your employees. Invest in innovation such as making new advanced versions of your products. Be creative to find solutions for time consuming tasks and focus on the best quality of products or services. 

Focus on a healthy credit score.

The best thing to realize this is to pay your debts on time and cut costs by finding solutions such as not stacking up debts on your credit card. You should pay the credit card debts in few weeks of time. To buy new commercial real estate you need to grow and you need a good credit score to buy new real estate for your business. You can not start a buisness without a loan unless you have assets of your own to start the way wish. Bank wants to know if your business plan is solid and accountable. Bank is not going to give you a loan unless you can proove them to that you can pay off the interest rate and money you borrowed on time. You can apply for a business loan to have a load off your back if you just starting out.

Manage your billing terms.

Give the customers the chance to pay on time by offering discounts. There will be always some customers who have problems to pay. Stimulate these customers with phone calls and e-mails. If you manage your billing strategy properly then you will have a good cash flow. Having a good cash flow means that you are on your way to have a good financial statements. Having a bad cash flow will make your business weak somehow.  It is not wise to treat the customers who do not pay on time as criminals. These customers might be also another buisness or a company that would not pay because they rather let the money freeze. On their bank's savings account for another couple of days because of they want to earn interest.

How to become successful in networking?.

Networking is a contact sport which involves skills like good will and communication skills. You can find people through people for the right deed. It is like a snowball. People think about finding a job or networking marketing if they think about networking. Which is not always true. Networking can be filled with more senses than the above mentioned meanings. You need to be professional and leave a good first impression when you are networking to find new sources for the cause.

Show interest in the contacts.

To maintain a network you need to show your interest. It is just like walking into a shoe store and checking out the Nike Air Max on the shelf and you will attract the salesman in due time to help you out. Showing interest in the contacts and having social chats will help you maintain and will help you to be fruitful investing in the contacts you have gained. To network as a company to introduce your new products to the wholessale businesses you can organize a get together. Offer the visitors a drink and a bite to get to know each other. You can inform the wholesale businesses about the features and advantages of the products and discuss a price.

Get to know people through social media.

Sites like LinkedIn are quite specialists in job professionals. These sites are have huge potential to find any contact for the right cause. People are looking for people to do a job like consulting or sales. If you are a company looking to fill a job then it is easy to turn on your computer go to LinkedIn and find a right people for the right project. You can discuss through messenger and get the phone number and set up a date for a job interview. You can find their prior working experience and professional achievements or academic backgrounds. Facebook can be a good source for establishing contacts.

Build a relationship.

If you are networking to establish a relationship and maintain. How can you build a relationship?. That is through getting the contact information such the e-mail address or the phone number to be in contact on regular bases. Show that you have the time to create an ambience for mutual benefits. Patience is a virture and through good communication skills such as listening and being well willing to help each other. Be open to take advice and be willing to learn from each other. These networking contacts can be a source which is fruitful in the long-term. Invest now in networking you will have a great value in due time to get the best out of your contacts. Be honest about what you are looking for establishing a contact. 

Do not be time consuming.

Keep the topics of the conversation relevant to the interest. Do not be too formal neither. You can not make the room temperture drop by being cold and being too professional. You are not in the church or in the court room. Be friendly and say things in brief manner. Both parties here know what you are in the store for. There are two parties involved and at the end of the day you both want to be statisfied. If one party feels like that the netwoking momentum did not gave what they wanted. Then their time is wasted. Time is money. These big business people feel like " I want to be my company's pocket to be fat because I work there". The time is the issue here. They do not want to sit the whole day with you talking about what you have to offer since you are not the only duck in the pond.

How to stay focused as a retail business owner?.

Having plans in the initial state seems great. Those are plans. Most of the times you need a plan to execute to realize your goals. If you start a business you need to stay focused for a long time to maintain your business. To have a profitable business you need to focus on the long term. To be successful you need to be passionate about your buisness. There are dozens distractions on your path. You need to focus on making decisions, promotion, setting realistic goals, right tools such as software to maintain a business.

Make sometime free for meditation.

To calm your nerves you can set sometime apart for getting back and clearing your head by meditating daily. You will be busy the whole day with different tasks and with the profits on your mind. If you align your self with the cosmic engery and breathe in and breathe out to relief your self from stress then you can have a fresh start to focus on delegated tasks to work on. Find a place without any noise from passing cars or trucks. This meditation breaks will do wonders.

Make a list of goals to realize.

If you have plans to scale your business within next five years. Write down a plan how you are going to realize this. Are you going to scale your business through building more branches or taking a franchise?. Then consider the advantages and disadvantages about scaling through building a whole new branch of your own or taking a franchise. Be accountable and get the proper vision to keep your focus for the next five years or ten years. Making a list of goals will keep your focus on your gains.

Organize meetings to maintain accountability.

Gather all the heads of the departments once a month. Give them directions what need to be achieved for the next month. Discuss all the issues on the action plan and look at who made the proper progress. Look at issues what need more direction. Develop through trainings and consultings to get familiar with the new trends on the markets. Give all the departments the chance to grow and discuss goals monthly what you have written down to achieve last month. 

Go with your buisness from A to B.

Get the proper vision where your business now is. Determine if you are going to launch a new product to compete with another market segment competitors. If your business generates 100.000 usd per year now. Make a plan what you want to make progress on to make 150.000 usd per year within next 5 years. Write down what the pitfalls might be and what the advantges might be when issuses occur in your country. If you sell winter jackets. Then you can produce leather winter jackets in Pakistan and sell in the USA to keep the productions costs low.

Drive your self to get ahead of the competition.

We all know that Coca-Cola is the not only company which sells Vanilla or Cherry Coke. Pepsi Cola company sells the same Vanilla Coke and Cherry Coke for little less. To stay focused you need to drive your self to keep an eye open on the competition. First of all be realistic about how you are going to penetrate the market. You might need capital from outside or if you have your own capital then you can invest in new products to get a slice of the market's pie. 

Set up a time-table to have a productive day.

Try to aviod constantly multi-taksing. To stay focused on the delegated tasks you need to work task for task throughout the shift. If the heads of your deparments know what tasks need to be given to what workers. Then you can be productive. Setting a certain time for each tasks you can push your workers to reach targets. As we all know time is money. To make the most of the time you need to work with a schedule.