Before we begin a thorough discussion of business pain, let’s take a look at what it really means. The words Business Pain are batted around by almost everyone I talk to in the marketing and sales fields. It is probably one of the more misused words when describing the help a company needs to become more efficient and effective. When you try to find out what a business worries about, you will find that you get a different answer from each person you talk to in the organization. That is because the “business pain” will be different for each department or section. The sales force will likely tell you that the pain is not getting orders out on time. The order department will say that the sales force over promises, the administration will say that expenses are too high, and the executive will say that there are not enough profits. All of them will be correct. So how do you determine what the real pain is?
If you begin with the top decision makers, they will have an overall picture of where they think there company should be in the way of market share and profitability. This big picture will show you where they currently are and where they want to go. It is here that the decisions are made to make improvements. It is also here that the risk is identified and the plans to alleviate the pain are put together. If you want the true definition of business pain, start with the CEO and then piece together the other parts that cause the pain as described.
Nothing is more thrilling than working with a company that can define what it is that they are not doing right. Unfortunately, most companies are not able to pinpoint their problems with accuracy. They can see the symptoms but usually not the probable cause. So when you learn about the business pain, you should be prepared to offer solutions that fit the problem.
By: Bette Daoust, Ph.D.
Posts Tagged ‘Risk’
Business Pain or Business Gain?
February 17th, 2010Business Growth Through Leverage
December 24th, 2009
Lets begin by talking about leverage. What do I mean by leverage?
In it’s most basic application a lever allows you to lift or move a heavy object with a lesser amount of energy. For instance placing a long stick under a rock in order to move it.
But how does leverage apply to business? Can you place a stick under your income statement to boost up your net income?
The answer is yes.
There are many ways you can use leverage in your business to increase the results you are achieving. The term leverage is often used in reference to the financing of a business. Getting in with little or nothing down using someone elses money is a form a leverage.
THE STRONGEST LEVER
Marketing is arguably the most powerful business lever of them all.
Why?
Because marketing has nearly unlimited upside potential with nearly no downside potential.
Leveraging your business success through marketing can improve your results by 100%, 500%, 1000%, or more with almost no risk or downside potential.
Let me give you a few examples.
It costs the same fixed amount of time and money to run a newspaper ad whether that ad creates one response, five responses or a hundred responses. It costs you the same whether you close 1%, 10% or 20% or those that respond. It costs the same whether the fee income you create is $1000, $2000 or $3000.
When you send a follow up letter to your prospects it costs the same to mail it whether it generates a 0.5% response or a 1% response or a 4% response.
So, as you see the risk or downside potential is limited. And if you are already running the ads anyway the risk is nothing. But the upside potential, the opportunity to improve your results, it virtually unlimited.
And what is the lever that makes this happen? Your marketing.
In other words by becoming better at marketing, by learning how to use better words, better systems and better approaches to your potential client you can greatly increase the results you are getting with little or no risk.
Now that’s a lever!
You create leverage on your investment of time and money and create a much greater result. That’s called leveraging your mind.
By: Shawn Meldrum
Business Partnerships: Negatives and Positives
December 1st, 2009
An individual diving into business ownership is a risk. An individual has to deal with all of the decision making regarding hiring and finances. Furthermore, individual business owners also have to attempt to overcome their weaknesses and present them as strengths.
Due to the difficult decision making needed and the incredible amount of skill involved in owning your own business a lot of people like to involve themselves in partnerships but just like any other relationship, business partnerships have negatives and positives.
1. One positive of a partnership is an increased amount of contacts.
2. Another positive is that one persons strengths can make up for another ones weaknesses.
3. An additional positive is that having financing coming from multiple sources is a great asset to any business.
4. Partnerships also allows for more ideas to develop. Two heads are better than one when it comes to creating ideas and problem solving.
Below are some negatives involved with business partnerships.
1. The profits have to be split. With a partner you are automatically giving up a percentage of income to someone else.
2. Another negative can be disagreements. Disagreements about different aspects of how a business should be run can lead to turmoil between partners.
If you are considering starting a business with a partner, review this article to make sure it is the right thing to do.
By: Andre Bias
