Best Doggone Idea Blog

Hiring the Right Employees

Hiring for Small Businesses

Hiring the right employees is especially important for small businesses. Choosing the right employees can influence the overall productivity, quality, employee and customer satisfaction and employee retention within a company. Since each new hire requires capital and time and energy to train and assimilate the employess to corporate culture, it is important to make the process as efficent as possible and to try to make the most informed decision for each new hire.

Small Business Hiring Advantages

Small businesses have certain inherent advantages over large corporations when looking to attract and hire the most qualified employees. While large companies can entice candidates with persuasive benefits packages and the perception of stability, small businesses have the ability to offer a greater quality of life. For example, small businesses can offer employees flexibility, the option to telecommute, the opportunity to influence growth and development and the chance to be creative.

Hiring for small businesses tends to be a much more personal experience. Hiring professionals have the opportunity to develop more relaxed and personal relationships with candidates and the final decision can be made with less bureaucracy and red tape and can hand pick the employees who fit well with the office culture.

Where to look for candidates

Ask internally for references: Current employees understand the company and have an idea of the qualifications for each position. Ask employees to recommend qualified candidates to apply.

Network: Look to your professional network and ask around to people who know your business personally before relying on recruiting companies, job boards or employment sites.

College Career Services: Each college and university has an office dedicated to placing their students in jobs for which they are most qualified. Recent college graduates tend to make great employees because they are eager to make a good impression are willing to work hard to build their reputations.

Finding what you are looking for

Once you define which qualities you are expecting in a candidate by outlining the job description, requirements and salary you can begin to look for qualified candidates.

Small business usually need fewer people with more specialized skills. Look for candidates with past experience which may contribute to your companies initiatives. Assess the skills already available within the workforce and create a list of desirable traits in a new hire that would balance out the workforce. 

For example: If you have great idea people, search for candidates who are great at implementing ideas. If you have great team players, look to hire a team leader.

During the interview outline skills required for the position and ask candidates to offer specific examples of how their skills match what you are looking for.

Start early, interview many candidates and take the time to make the most informed decision based on how the candidate's skills match the position requirements.

 

Small Business Marketing Plan

The Importance of The Marketing Plan

For small businesses the marketing plan is one of the most important tools available to ensure a company is on track to create and keep new customers.

A well developed marketing plan will help companies attract target customers by offering products and services that satisfy customer's needs, demands and wants then delivers exceptional customer service, convenience and value to keep them returning to the business.

The key to creating and implementing a successful marketing plan is to remain customer focused rather than profit driven. The marketing team's job is to foster a relationship then to hand the customer to the sales team to encourage a purchase.

Define Target Market: In order to point your marketing efforts in the right direction spend time researching to determine, as specifically as possible, who you are offering your product or service to. Determine the demographics, the buying behaviors and needs of your customers.

Ask For Feedback: Speak to your customers. How did they hear about you? Do they like your product? What could you improve?

Build Relationships: Find creative ways to make your customer feel special and valued. Developing long term relationships will help create repeat customers.

Attracting New Customers

Despite tight marketing budgets, small businesses have many opportunities to effectively  and creatively reach their customers. Below are a few ideas to get you started:

Send Press Releases: News stories are a great way to gain free attention for your business. When sending a press release make sure you have an interesting angle and your story is newsworthy.

Create a Newsletter: Email makes it easy to stay in contact with your customers. Build your email list, ask for permission to contact each customer, then distribute a monthly newsletter to stay on their radar.

Offer Samples: Where does your target demographic spend time? Go there and offer samples to

 

Keeping Your Customers

After you spend time and energy to attract a customer to your business it is vital to find ways to keep customers coming back. Small businesses have an advantage over larger companies with their ability to stay in close contact with customers and their ability to quickly change managerial tactics.

By offering a superior and unexpected quality of customer service, value and convenience your return customers may become your biggest asset.

Creating a culture of great customer service requires training employees to take care of and listen to customers, to offer personal attention and focus on service.

 

For more information read:

Small Business Finance: Bootstrapping

Saving money is like raising capital - without the interest

As a small business owner you know how much easier it is to spend money than to make it. Each dollar  your business earns is a result of years of hard work, education and experience, hundreds of conversations with potential customers, time networking with other business people and the careful development of a product or service.

Since it takes valuable time and resources to make money, it is important, as a business owner, to make sure each dollar spent contributes to the growth and development of your business.

The best way for you business to fail is by running out of money. Saving where you can and using your resources as efficiently as possible will help ensure you have enough money to reach a higher valuation.

Bootstrapping: Using your capital to its fullest potential

Bootstrapping is a skill set which allows entrepreneurs to decide where to allocate funds and to find creative ways to use the resouces they have available in order to save money and create additional revenue sources to stay operational and viable. 

Goal of bootstrapping is to save money, find new ways to use your resources to generate new revenue streams and to avoid unnecessary expenses.

Vinturella and Erickson, the authors of "Raising Entrepreneurial Capital" suggest six ways to bootstrap:

Generate Sales Quickly: 

In order to become operational quickly look for small niche markets to which your business can offer a auxiliary servic.

Generate Cash Flow Quickly:

Cash flow is more important to start-ups than profits because cash flow will help pay bills and fund growth. Focus your attention on products and projects that will bring money in quickly. 

Sell High-Valued Products and Services:

Selling high valued products to fewer customers is a better use of time than selling low-cost products to many customers. Since bootstrapping involves the most efficent use of time as well as money, focus your attention on gaining customers for your high value products.

Create the Best Team You Can Afford:

In the early stages of your business focus on attracting enthusiastic employees with an entrepreneurial spirt versus expensive executives and professionals. Your management team will grow as cash flow increases and  your business gains credibility.

Control Your Growth:

Growing too fast may force you to invest in anticipation of sales and create a need for outside financing. More moderate growth may allow you to self finance your business and grow at a more sustainable pace.

Manage Your Accounts Receivable:

One way to improve your cash flow, which will reduce your need for expensive outside financing, is to get customers to pay in advance and to be diligent about billing customers who owe money for a product or service you have provided. 

To successfully bootstrap find ways to do more with less, stay flexible by viewing each situation as an opportunity and save money by avoiding unnecessary expenses.

Resources available to entrepreneurs include capital, employee expertise, network connection, skill sets and personal relationships.

Making Connections: Social Networking for Business

If you have ever moved to a new town you know that it takes time and effort to establish a presence in your community and to meet a new people. The hope is to develop relationships with people who will introduce you to new people, invite you to events and look to you for advice and guidance. 

Social networking online for your business is the same idea.

The goal of social networking is to create mutually beneficial relationships where information, experience and contacts can be shared.

The hope is that by sharing resources and industry knowledge your business will be looked to as a credible supplier of relevant and useful information and you will be able to benefit from the help of others in your network.

The benefits of a potent social network include insight into your demographic's opinions, increased opportunites to make business connections and access to a diversity ideas which may spark innovation and creativity.

Social networking introduces you to people with diverse worldviews who may be able to offer new ideas and may challange your perceptions with can trigger creative and innovative energy.

The challenge is to create a credible, dependable and trustworthy online presence that encourages people to look to you as a source of unique information and connections. The secret is investing time and energy to expand your online network and reputation.

The consequences to your business of underdeveloping your social network include a loss of credibility, risk of fading into obscurity in your market and losing relevancy. Also, underutilizing the potential of social networks increases your chances of missing opportunities to grow and innovate.

Developing a network

Offering readers remarkable content which can be shared with other industry professionals, potential customers, business partners and the interested public is the secret to expanding your social network.

What do you know?

Evaluate the unique knowledge your company has. What information can you share with readers that will be new, interesting and difficult to get from another source? Information that feels private is most appealing and will foster interest in the information your company decides to share.

Who do you know?

Do you have access to industry professionals who may be able to contribute to your content? Visit other blogs and suggest an article the author might be interested in.

Be involved.

Be sure to read other blogs and leaving relevant and analytical comments. The more comments your leave, the more developed your reputation as a thought leader will become.

How to Design an Effective Document at Work

Document Design

When you write a document at work it is important to present information in a clear, concise and easy to follow format. Your ability to capture and maintain the readers attention will depend on the document's visual appeal and design.

The design of the document can help project a positive, professional image of you, your product and your company which can lead to increased credibility.

Visual cues are design elements which bring attention to  important information. Bolding, chunking, italics, lists, and the use of white space and headers help direct reader's attention to the main points of the document.

Design Elements:

• Chunking and headings help break up the monotony of text and allow a reader to anticipate visual stopping points before a new idea is introduced.

• Chunking: The use of smaller paragraphs opposed to large blocks of text.
• For the reader, looking at a block of text is like running down a perfectly straight, flat road. The  distance ahead is apparent and daunting when no rest stops or stopping points can be seen.
• Use the design elements listed below to create mental stopping points to give readers a rest and help maintain their interest.
• Headings: The best way to organize ideas. Headings are brief descriptive words that introduce a new concept or summarize the paragraph below.
  
• Make sure your headings are either bolded or a larger font than the rest of the document and be sure each heading matches. Headings can ask a questions, make a statement or offer keywords to help the reader quickly get an idea of the information.
• Lists: Help divide, rank and organize information to emphasize important points. Lists can be numbered, bulleted or lettered.
• Typeface: Choose a legible, attractive, functional font that matches the message. Do not switch fonts throughout the document, this will make the information seem disorganized and unprofessional.
• Use bold and italics only when attracting attention to the information that is very important.
• White Space:  The key to page layout is to visually organize information by finding a balance between text, illustrations and white space. White space is the areas on the page free from text and graphics.
  

      Do not be afraid of white space.

• Often times it is better to use addtional pages with carefully organized information as opposed to cramming all the information on as few pages as possible.

Franchising Basics: Types of Franchises

Franchise Information

Many entrepreneurs enter into franchise contracts as a way to manage the risks involved with starting a business. Potential franchisees are usually looking to run their own business while increasing their chances of success.

Franchising is a great alternative to starting from scratch because it can offer entrepreneurs access to experienced professionals, an automatic position in the marketplace, operational cost savings and a large network of peer franchisees.

There are two basic types of franchises.

Product/ trade name Franchise:

Franchisees purchase the right to sell a product or to use a trade name. The franchiser does not typically offer support which allows the franchisee to operate as an independent business person. Franchisees are essentially distributors for the product manufacturer.

As a product/ trade name franchisee, you have the opportunity to combine business ownership with the benefits of an established business model including access to franchise wide marketing efforts, national brand recognition and brand reputation.

Examples: Brand name stores, automotive dealerships, gasoline stations, beverage bottling companies.

Business Format Franchise:

When a franchisee purchases a business format franchise they receive access to the total business system. The benefits include training in marketing, sales, accounting, company standards, economies of scale benefits, expert advice and guidance and geographic territory rights.

Essentially, the franchisee receives detailed instructions for duplicating a tested business model. The franchiser provides training and guidance at start-up and throughout business ownership.

Choose a format then add hard work

 While franchising helps reduce risks and increases the chance of success and longevity of the business, seeing positive results takes dedication, long hours, hard work and a deep desire to see the business do well.

 For more information Click Here: To read " Raising Entrepreneurial Capital" by John B. Vinturella and Suzanne M. Erickson.

Writing at Work: The Basics

 Take the time to write well

I recently received an email at work which included a message at the bottom which read , "Please excuse any typos or misspellings, this message was sent from my iPhone."

Is new technology a good excuse for poor grammar in a business setting? Is it more important to reply immediately on the run rather than sitting down to write a thoughtful response?

While the iPhone example is extreme, many business people are using computers as an excuse to let their basic writing skills become less refined and hurried in the name of efficiency. E-mails are sent without being proofread, employees easily forget that every electronic note can be archived, tracked and reviewed and instant message conversations replace those around the water cooler.

Each email, text message, instant message or memo contributes to your personal brand and the way others perceive your commitment to your of quality of work.

It is worth the time and energy it takes to improve writing skills and to use them to build a reputation as a thoughtful and well educated employee. 

For each correspondence you write be sure to think about the following elements in order to accomplish your intended goal and to be persuasive.

1. Grammar: Review the rules of grammar, use the dictionary to choose the most precise words, spell check and use capital letters when needed. Sloppy writing sends a very clear message.
2. Identify Your Audience: Who will read this? Each audience has different backgrounds, values, opinions, experiences and a different relationship with you. What are your audiences expectations of your work? How much do they know about the topic? What are their attitudes? 
3. Purpose: Why should your audience read this? Why would they be interested? Get to the point immediately. Is there a call to action?
4. Message: What do you have to say? What details are important and how much detail will you give? What are the key points?
5. Style and Tone:  How do you communicate? What words you choose and the length and construction of your paragraphs will dictate the way the you intend to sound. Are you trying to be formal, infomal, personal or impersonal? 

While it is easy to get into a routine of quickly sending emails throughout the office, to clients or to the public, it is important to take the extra time to think about how the note will be preceived. People with correct grammar, few typos and good writing skills will stand out in an environment of unthoughtful, hasty correspondence.

Plan... Before You Start Your Business Plan

Preparation is the Key to a Successful Venture

The National Federation of Independent Business' has found that over their lifetime only 39% of businesses are profitable. Great opportunities take time, energy and money from executives and entrepreneurs. With all the expertise and resources that go into creating a successful business, why do such large percentages of start-ups fail?

John W. Mullins, author of "The New Business Road Test", claims entrepreneurial failure is a result of overlooking the 'fatal flaw' at the first stages of business development.

Mullins says, " Most business plans should have been abandoned before they were written...The good news in all this is that opportunities are not static. They can be shaped in many ways. Potentially fatal flaws are there to be fixed." (The New Business Road Test, p. 21)

A fatal flaw is a fundamental flaw in the opportunity which is easily overlooked if a thorough examination of the business idea is not completed. Identifying the fatal flaw is important in helping entrepreneurs make 'mid-course corrections to reshape the opportunity so that it becomes worth pursuing- before writing a business plan.' (pg.22)

The process of examining all aspects of the opportunity before writing a business plan will help identify and fix issues. 

Mullins recommends stopping at certain points in the development of your business idea to choose to opt out or to continue with the opportunity. He suggests four possible solutions for moving forward once the critical flaw has been identified:

• Test a different market

• Offer a different product or service than originally planned

• Work at a different level in the value chain, as a wholesaler or distributor

• Change the entrepreneurial team to add new skills 

Or, if no fatal flaw exists your research may help:

• You improve your product or service, or help you offer a solution that is faster and cheaper than the original.
• You may be able to identify a sustainable competitive advantage
• You may gain greater confidence in the team you have chosen.

If you have an opportunity that is worthy of your time and energy you owe it to yourself, your partners and your investors to make sure you can offer a sustainable product or service that attracts customers and capital.

Finding and fixing your fatal flaw before you write your business plan will give your idea a stronger foundation, your investors greater confidence and you the best chance at starting a successful business right out of the gate.

Click here for more information on John W. Mullins' book, " The New Business Road Test."

 

How to Start a Conversations With Anyone

As a business person, you know the importance of maintaining relationships but sometimes the hardest part of building a relationship is starting the first conversation.

Below are three tips you can use to start a conversation with someone on the street, at a cocktail party or in the office.

Ask about something they are wearing:

If there is someone you would like to talk to, but can't think of something to say then ask about something they are wearing, holding or even looking at.

The clothes people wear, the wine they are drinking, the fact that they do not wear a watch or their tendancy to examine woodwork are all strong ingredients for an interesting conversation.

I once met a great friend when I noticed his biking water bottle and asked if he was a cyclist.

Start with a simple observation:

The reason so many people start a conversation with a question about the weather is because topics such as temperature, precipitation, blue skies or a heavy wind are capable of initiating an interaction without offending someone's beliefs, values or opinions.

Choose a neutral topic, make your statement with confidence and conviction.

 Ask open ended questions:

Open ended questions give the other person a chance to take the conversation in a variety of different directions. These questions have the potential to elicit much more information than simple yes/no questions.

The answers will help you understand what is important to them and may offer insight into the next topic.

For more tips and tricks for being an expert conversationalist read the book: How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes.

Internal Blogs: The Digital Water Cooler

Many companies host blogs as a way to speak directly to the public. Much of the content is published to attract customers, media attention or public support.

While reaching the consumer and sharing expertise and industry insights on the web is important, your company can also use a blog  to connect with the people inside your corporation.

An internal blog is a website which speaks to your employees, franchisees or temps. The blog can be available to the public or hosted privately on your company intra net.

Benefits of an Internal Blog

Promotes Discussion: A company blog gives each employee a voice. Comments, discussion boards and input can provide management with insight into opinions, needs, ideas and perspectives that may not otherwise be heard.

Quickly Provide News: If your company experiences a crisis, a new product release or a policy change, your public relations team can help frame a consistent message to handle the public opinion.

Event Information:  Whether you need to provide information about the upcoming national sales meeting, fund raising event or community service project, an internal blog can be a hub for information, photos or directions.

Educate Employees: Frequent updates and breaking news about your industry, business or demographic will help expand your employees' knowledge of the most current developments and innovations. 

Training: Blogs are a great way to provide training information to employees to help improve basic skills or company methodologies. Reminders about company policies or expectations can be included as well.

Creating Your Company Blog

1. Decide if your blog will be public or private. Your audience will dictate the content, look and feel of your blog.
2. Decide who will contribute to the content. Will your in-house public relations professional author all of the content, or will you have each employee write about their specialization?
3. Choose a Content Management System. Do you have an IT person who can set up a blog for you?

Additional ideas for internal blog posts: CEO's picture of the week, sales updates, new internal contests, new projects, employee driven content and employee bios.