Wichita Kansas Is A Great Place To Run A Business

Writen by Lance Winslow

We love Wichita because it has great all round weather except during ice storms and the once in a while Tornado threat, which could carry away you best workers to meet Dorothy. 225 sunny days a year snow about 5 days a year. Which makes a Downtown out-door'sy type setting even better.

Wichita easy to cross even in high traffic periods. Traffic to get around town and to the downtown area is also good. It is 28 minutes on Rock Road during non rush hour, 18 minutes on the 35, 14 minutes on the toll way, 21 minutes across the bottom on the Yellow Brick Highway, actually it is full of construction and hard to follow. East side growing nice and good markets near the 96 outer northeast ring road also good East going out of town on 400/54 with new condos and golf course communities. Springdale good and Westside past 235, South in the town of Derby growing from older town to newer town with subdivisions. Rock Road area very good for our type of services even a 24 hour Starbucks next to a huge Krispy Kreme also 24/7 with no locks on the doors, never closes, similar to the five star hotels Castro stole from our US companies. Northeast areas we also like Brookhaven and Lakeside and love Springdale.

We discussed the economic factors with commercial local real estate gurus J.P. Weigard and Son's, the sons were playing golf, got to talk to a secretary and young research person, they publish some great data that might be interesting to anyone thinking of finding out more about the market there, and we found data quite in conflict depending on the source, unemployment figures between 8.1% and as low as 5.4% depending on whose data you have. I think they are trying to hide some stuff, but that is typical of our investigation of the Wealth of out Nation when broken down by region, similar to redistricting for political power or Ross Perots many charts

http://www.askmen.com/men/business_politic...ross_perot.html

So many charts to make a point. It is hard to say other than people use figures to make a point, we use them to make decisions and appreciate candor over BS. As far as washing cars we agree that the best mobile car washing and detail customers will surely come from the areas of greatest commercial improvements on North Rock Road as Weigard enlightened us too. On Rock Road were some high end office parks for instance Polo Club Office Park, Premier Office complex-Tech Center and many two-four story office buildings surrounded by the typical specialty box stores, Toys R US, Barnes and Noble, Old Navy, Office Depot, Pets Smart, etc. And sporadically placed around the newer mall was Outback Steak House, Red Lobster and other nicer chain outlets and restaurants. None of which would take away from the Downtown district which is a place to gather and not the same as Box Store type open malls. So the city can get the best of all worlds. With the sales tax base from Box Stores and the "Place to Go" type areas of the downtown areas, which have been revitalized.

Lance Winslow

Selecting The Legal Structure For Your Cleaning Business

Writen by Steve Hanson

One of the most important decisions you will make when starting your cleaning business is deciding which type of legal structure is right for your business. The type of entity you choose will determine the amount of taxes you pay and guide you in the amount of paperwork you will have to deal with. It will also determine how much personal liability you have in the business, and can be a factor in raising money or borrowing money for your new business.

It is best to spend the time in the beginning to make sure that the entity you choose is the one most suitable for your particular circumstances. You can get advice on choosing your legal entity from the local small business administration, your accountant, and your attorney.

The different types of legal entities are:

*Sole Proprietor. This is the easiest type of business to form and is one of the most common for small businesses. You have complete control over your business and do not have to report to anyone. The drawback to a sole proprietorship is that the owner is personally liable for all financial obligations of the business. This means that if your business is sued you can be held personally responsible. Another drawback is that you are responsible for the entire sum of FICA taxes due. Normally the employer is responsible to match the employee's share, but when you are a sole proprietor, you must pay the entire 15%.

*Partnership. This type of business involves two or more people who agree to share in the profits and the losses of a business. The profits or losses are passed on to each partner and it is reported on their respective tax returns. Like a sole proprietorship, partners are responsible for the financial obligations of the business.

*Corporation. This is a legal entity in itself that is created to conduct business. The corporation is separate from the individuals that form the business and handle the responsibilities of the organization. Just like a person, the corporation can be taxed and it is also held legally responsible for its actions. A key benefit of a corporation is that the owner avoids the personal liability that occurs with a sole proprietorship or partnership form of business.

*C Corporations are typically large companies and are publicly held. If a C Corporation pays out dividends, then the profits are double taxed. The C Corporation must file a return on its own behalf and pays taxes on its profits before dividends are paid to its shareholders. The shareholders must then claim the dividends as income, which are taxed again.

*S Corporations elect a special tax status with the IRS and, therefore, do not face double taxation. The corporation is not treated as a separate entity; the profits are passed on to shareholders just as if the business was a partnership or sole proprietorship. The corporation itself does not pay taxes. However, there are strict requirements that an S Corporation must follow. Each stockholder of the S Corporation must be a US citizen and there is a limit to the number of stockholders an S Corporation can have. S Corporations can be appropriate for small business owners who want the legal protection of a corporation, but want the tax benefits of a partnership or a sole proprietorship.

*Limited Liability Corporation. This is a hybrid type of partnership. It allows owners to take advantage of the benefits of a corporation and a partnership form of business. Like a partnership, profits and/or losses are passed through to owners and like a corporation, owners are shielded from personal liability.

How do you know what business structure will work for your cleaning business? There are several factors to take into consideration when determining your business structure.

1. Legal liability. With a sole proprietorship or partnership you can be held personal responsible for the business, which means your personal assets can be taken if the business is sued.

2. Taxes. There can be a big cost savings in choosing one type of business structure over another. C-Corporations are "double taxed". The business profits are taxed and the money that is passed on to you as the owner is taxed again.

3. Management and flexibility. Do you want to have total control over the business? In a partnership or corporation there are agreements and bi-laws that you have to abide by.

4. Cost of formation and administration. Sole proprietorships are the easiest type of business to set up and maintain. There are very few legal forms or tax requirements other than just general good recordkeeping. A partnership needs to have a partnership agreement drawn up ahead of time. Both corporations and limited liability corporations need to have legal documents prepared before the business begins operation.

5. Future needs. Where do you anticipate the business being in 3 years or 5 years? If something happens to the owner, what happens to the business?

Your cleaning business can be successful with hard work and dedication. Choosing the appropriate business structure can make your task as a business owner much easier if you research your options before signing up your first client. Discuss the various business entity options with a professional before making your final decision.

Steve Hanson is co-founding member of The Janitorial Store (TM), an online community for owners and managers of cleaning companies who want to build a more profitable and successful cleaning business. Sign up for Trash Talk: Tip of the Week at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com and receive a Free Gift! Read cleaning success stories from owners of cleaning companies at http://www.cleaning-success.com

Six Steps To Issuing Your First Stock Certificate

Writen by David Gass

After you have formed your corporation, one of the first tasks is issuing stock to the shareholders of the company. There are six basic steps to issuing stock correctly.

Step 1 – Write down or type out each of the shareholders names, addresses, and percentage of the company they will own.

Step 2 – Determine how many shares the corporation has available to issue. The number of shares authorized to issue are indicated on the first page of your Articles of Incorporation. If you are unable to find them there, you can go to your corporation's listing at your Secretary of State's website and see how many shares are authorized. If you are still unable to find the number of shares, call the Secretary of State directly.

Step 3 – Calculate the number of shares you will issue to each individual shareholder based on the percentage ownership and number of shares. Don't issue all shares available. If you have 25,000 shares available for issue, you may want to only issue 1,000 or 100 shares to start. This will give you more shares to issue at a later time if you have additional investors or stake holders come into the company.

Step 4 – Physically write out the stock certificates with the shareholders name, number of shares they own and the certificate number. Stock certificates can be purchased from office supply stores, directly online or you can purchase a corporate record book that will typically come with your first 10 or 20 certificates.

Step 5 – Record in your stock ledger each certificate that has been issued. In the stock ledger you will record the name of the shareholder, the number of shares issued, the stock certificate number, how much they paid for the shares, the type of shares they were (common, preferred, voting, non-voting, etc.), the date of the transaction, and who sold the shares to the new shareholder. If the company issued the shares it would be considered an initial offering of the company.

Step 6 – Send the stock certificates to each shareholder.

These steps provide a guide for issuing shares of a new corporation. Additional tasks that should be completed upon forming a new corporation are initial meeting of shareholders and directors, writing resolutions and opening a bank account.

David Gass is co-developer of The Corporate Manager Software A free trial of the software can be found at http://www.corporateforms.net David has spent the last four years developing the content and programming for the software that manages all aspects of corporate documentation. http://www.corporateforms.net

What To Consider Before Buying A Franchise

Writen by John Mussi

Here are some useful tips on what to consider before buying a franchise. Before investing in any franchise system, be sure to get a copy of the franchisor's disclosure document. Sometimes this document is called a Franchise Offering Circular. You should read the entire disclosure document.

The following outline will help you to understand key provisions of typical disclosure documents. Get a clarification or answer to your concerns before you invest.

Business Background: The disclosure document identifies the executives of the franchise system and describes their prior experience. Consider not only their general business background, but their experience in managing a franchise system. Also consider how long they have been with the company. Investing with an inexperienced franchisor may be riskier than investing with an experienced one.

Litigation History: The disclosure document helps you assess the background of the franchisor and its executives by requiring the disclosure of prior litigation. The disclosure document tells you if the franchisor, or any of its executive officers, has been convicted of crimes involving, for example, fraud.

Bankruptcy: The disclosure document tells you if the franchisor or any of its executives have recently been involved in a bankruptcy. This will help you to assess the franchisor's financial stability.

Costs: The disclosure document tells you the costs involved to start one of the company's franchises. It will describe any initial deposit or franchise fee, which may be non-refundable, and costs for initial inventory, signs, equipment, leases, or rentals.

Restrictions: Your franchisor may restrict how you operate your outlet. The disclosure document tells you if the franchisor limits the supplier of goods from whom you may purchase, the goods or services you may offer for sale, the customers to whom you can offer goods or services or the territory in which you can sell goods or services.

Terminations: The disclosure document tells you the conditions under which the franchisor may terminate your franchise and your obligations to the franchisor after termination. It also tells you the conditions under which you can renew, sell, or assign your franchise to other parties.

Training: The disclosure document will explain the franchisor's training and assistance program. Make sure you understand the level of training offered.

Advertising: You often must contribute a percentage of your income to an advertising fund even if you disagree with how these funds are used. The disclosure document provides information on advertising costs.

Current and Former Franchisees: The disclosure document provides important information about current and former franchisees. Determine how many franchises are currently operating. A large number of franchisees in your area may mean increased competition. Pay attention to the number of terminated franchisees. A large number of terminated, cancelled, or non-renewed franchises may indicate problems.

Earnings Potential: You may want to know how much money you can make if you invest in a particular franchise system. Be careful as earnings projections can be misleading. Insist upon written substantiation for any earnings projections or suggestions about your potential income or sales.

Financial History: The disclosure document provides you with important information about the company's financial status, including audited financial statements. Be aware that investing in a financially unstable franchisor is a significant risk; the company may go out of business or into bankruptcy after you have invested your money.

Hire a lawyer or an accountant to review the franchisor's financial statements. Do not attempt to extract this important information from the disclosure document unless you have considerable background in these matters. Your lawyer or accountant can help you understand the information.

You may freely reprint this article provided the author's biography remains intact:

John Mussi is the founder of Direct Online Loans who help UK homeowners find the best available loans via the http://www.directonlineloans.co.uk website.

Starting An Ecommerce Business Baby Steps

Writen by Colleen Ryan

Starting your own e-commerce business can be quite the adventure. There is nothing wrong with falling head over heels in love with your ideas and plans and becoming overly excited, but always remember, feet first. Creating a business from scratch is like a child learning to walk. You need to grab on to something solid, feel around, get a sense of balance, and take baby steps.

Risky Business

Before running full speed ahead with your brilliant business brainchild, proper planning is required. Being an entrepreneur is risky business, however you can improve your chances of success with preparation and development.

First, you need to research your target market, product and services, competitors, the demographic of your potential customers, popular key words associated with your business and the probable cost involved. After compiling all this information, you need to ask yourself, 'is it worth it? If the answer is yes, then carry on.

Step 1: It's All In the Name

You have you business idea, you've conducted your market research, preparation is complete, and now you are beginning to get butterflies in your stomach from all the excitement that comes with starting your own business. So what's next? The Name.

You should start considering names for your company in the beginning stages of your business's development. Use a serious name for a serious company and a fun name for creative company or a company that markets towards children. But keep in mind that the name of your business must earn the attention and trust of your potential customers.

While selecting your company's name, bear in mind the qualities you would like your company to portray. If you want to represent a very aggressive, high tech, corporate, and cutting-edge company, you should not come up with the name like 'Sloopy' or 'Scroochy'.

Important Points To Consider In Name Selection:

• Shorter is better. It is easier to remember names like Nike opposed to 'Kransferst Bayer Colombo Association of Michigan' . • Make sure the name is easily pronounced. It's very hard to pronounce 'Shmakhtnik', 'Kchichkus' or 'Xsassassas'.

• It may be helpful to have the name associated with your company's philosophy. For example, a strong solid company should use a strong, bold name such as 'Bamm', 'CastleDom', 'Gong'. A high-tech company could use a more creative name such as 'Ampex', 'Freebee', 'Ciriu'. Design companies can use even more creative names such as 'Venturius', 'BlueFrog', 'BlackInc'.

• Try to relate the name to the field of business. For example, a food company - 'Bacon House', an office supplier - 'BluePin', a construction company - 'GoldenBrick'.

• Create a recognizable image. Come up with a meaningful name like an object name or a word that has a meaning like: 'Penguin Solution', 'Flying Frog', 'Walking House', or 'Yellow Pot'.

• Do not forget your business's target market. Home insurance companies target a more mature market. It would be absurd to use a name like 'HipHop BangBang Solutions'.

• A good way to test out your company name is to tell it to your friends and ask them if they remember it in a week.

Step 2: Website Design

Marketing should start immediately after the company is created and a name has been chosen and officially registered. You want people to remember your company in a positive way. You need to make an outstanding first impression. So, the first thing you have to work on is your name and your face. In the e-commerce world your website is the name and face of the company.

The website is the most important marketing tool for an e-commerce business. The website needs to look legitimate and provoke a sense of trust. It needs to be appealing, simple to use, eye-catching, competitive and unique. Therefore, it is worth it to spend a good amount of time and money on your website design. If you are not savvy with website design and development, then invest in a talented website design company or independent designer.

Step 3: Website Marketing

A. Search Engine Optimization

Search engines use algorithms (mathematical formulas) to rank website listings in response to a particular keyword query. In order to protect themselves from webmasters and search engine optimizers manipulating the search engine results to their advantage, search engines do not reveal their ranking criteria. However, there are many factors that are speculated to be important influences in determining the position of a website on search engine result pages.

For example:

• Build a content rich website: Search engine spiders and bots like websites filled with informative and relevant text and content.

• Incoming links: Build up incoming links from relevant or complimentary sites. The more relevant and authoritative the incoming sites, the better your site will be in the eyes of the spiders and bots.

• Keywords: Try to place as many keywords in the content of your home page as possible without losing the sense and aesthetics of the page.

• Meta Tags: Meta tags are html text containing information about the website that is not seen by human viewers. Meta tags include title, description, and keyword tags. Considering that a title tag is the text that appears, representing your site, on a search engine result page, it is very important to choose a title tag that emphasizes keywords on that page.

• Header tags: Header tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5…) are used to designate headers and titles. H1 tags should be used to represent the first and most important header, H2 as the second and so on. Search engines give importance to text that differs from the text on the rest of the page. Bold, italics, underlines, and various font sizes are useful as well.

• Make the site simple, easy to surf and navigate, and eye-catching.

• Keep your website updated with fresh content, new pages and information.

B. Free Advertising

Search Engines
As a business owner, your first priority should be to get your website listed in the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and Alta Vista. This can be done simply by submitting your website to various search engines.

Directories
You can also submit your site to web directories, which are databases of categorized listings of websites. Focus on directories that are popular and specialize on your industry.

Link Building
Considering that the World Wide Web was created with the concept of discovering new websites and web pages by following links between documents, link building is an important factor in optimizing your website for search engines. Effective link building consists of exchanging links with authoritative and information websites that relate to and/or compliment your e-commerce business.

Specifically Google, but other search engines included, believe that when web page A links to web page B, web page A is casting a vote for web page B. The more votes web page B has, the more important that page is perceived to be by search engines. The value of the web page linking to the web page B also determines how important that vote is. Google determines the importance of a web page by associating it with a Page Rank (PR). Page Rank is another factor that plays a significant role in determining the position of a website on the search engine result page. To view the Page Rank of websites, you can download the Google toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com.

Building links is not difficult, however, the challenge is to develop links that are relevant and complimentary to your business. You can join link exchange websites which are a venue for webmasters interested in building valuable links. Don't exchange links with just any site though, relevancy is very important. Try to exchange links with sites that can be associated with your industry or that compliment your business. And stay away from sketchy sites such as online gambling sites and pornography sites. These will only cause you trouble. As well, you can do a web search for relevant businesses and simply contact them and suggest a link exchange (some sites may have a section with information pertaining to link exchanges). Check out the backward links (inbound links) of your top competitors. Find out what sites are linking to them, and then contact the valuable sites to participate in link exchanges.

Articles
If you are quite knowledgeable on your business' industry, then publishing articles online is a good start to building a reputation for your site. You can submit articles to free submit directories (where others can download your article as content for their own sites, giving you full credit), online magazines, ezines, and websites relevant to your business.

C. Paid Advertising

Pay-Per-Advertising
a. Pay-Per-Click: Pay-per-click advertising consists of a search engine or directory that places your website in their database, and charges you a specified amount every time your website comes up in a search and is clicked on, thereby, generating traffic to your site. The amount of the fee is usually determined by bidding on keywords and ranking.

b. Pay-Per-Impression: Similar to the concept of pay-per-click advertising, advertisers pay the affiliate based on the number of consumers that view their promotion or ad.

c. Pay-Per-Sale: The advertisers pay the affiliate based on the number of consumers that make a purchase based on the direct result of the promotion.

d. Pay-Per-Lead: Advertiser pays for each sales lead generated from the direct result of a promotion. Leads include a viewer filling out a survey, form, downloading a demo, software, etc...

e. Pay-Per-E-mail: Similar to pay-per-lead advertising, pay-per-e-mail affiliates receive a commission for each consumer's e-mail address they refer to a mailing list or newsletter.

Paid Directories
Some directories charge a fee, increased visibility is associated with a higher cost. If you choose to place your site in a paid directory listing, consider the offer carefully. Compare the price with other effective methods of advertising. Make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck.

Banners
A more popular marketing mechanism consists of banners (large strips) of advertisements that are specifically positioned on a web page in order to promote your website. Costs vary according to the placement of the ad on the web page and size of the banner. Try to advertise on websites that contain relevant content, receive a significant amount of traffic and have fair banner advertisement rates.

Ezines
Ezines (electronic magazines/newsletters published online or sent via e-mail) have been experiencing explosive growth in the past few years. There are thousands of ezines covering a vast number of topics. Considering that ezines cater to readers sincerely interested in the topic covered, you should get a higher response rate to your ads. For a new business, publishing your own ezine right away may be too overwhelming, therefore paying for exposure of your website in online magazines and through ezine ads may be your best bet. Ezines can provide you with valuable traffic at a smaller investment than banner ads. Ezine advertising is more likely to attract a significant response because the readers trust the editors and therefore trust the ads.

Step 4: Monitoring Your Site

Almost all server providers have counters and tools to monitor all the traffic your website attracts. You can find out where the traffic is coming from and the regions from which the visitors are originating, how many visitors have entered your site on a given day, how they entered, and how long they stayed to browse. You can learn about the demographics of your viewers and track trends and patterns. By gaining a better understanding of the popular pages on your site and your site's overall performance, you can plan future development, and focus on specific aspects of your site. Depending on how precisely you wish to track your site's success, you can also purchase software programs that do this as well.

The first few years of the birth of an e-commerce company are usually the make or break period. Revenues may be stagnant and expenses may seem overwhelming. It takes time, patience and determination. Sometimes you just need to take baby steps, then wait and pray.

Bio: Colleen Ryan is the Art Director of Logobee Inc., a logo design firm that designs high quality logos and corporate identity design for businesses worldwide. Logobee Inc. was founded in 2000 and since then the company has grown at an exponential rate. http://www.logobee.com

Cash Flow Terminology And The Business Owner

Writen by David Willetts

Small business owners often fail to understand the consequences of inadequate cash flow management until the harsh realities of business life kick in. Typically one significant occasion is when insufficient funds are available within the business to meet the business liabilities.

It may be that business plans have been developed, income statements prepared and cash flows projected. The business owner may have been actively involved in this work or may have delegated the task to a third party and treated the business planning process as a desk top exercise.

Following the completion of the plans and reports, what follow up action was taken?

Were those same plans filed, not subsequently reviewed and no corrective actions taken to bring any actual results that were worse than forecast back to plan?

If this scenario is familiar a contributory factor may be a lack of understanding of what the terminology used actually means and may scare the business owner from taking action.

To help enhance the knowledge of the small business owner some of the common terms associated with cash management are explained below.

Cash Balance The amount of money belonging to the business and available to legitimately expend, or the amount of money the business owes to a financial institution usually by way of a bank overdraft facility.

Cash Flow Simply cashflow is the difference between monies coming into the business and monies going out of the business, and measured across a period of time. The measurement may be a day, a month, year or such period the business owner may determine.

Actual Cash Flow Statement This is an analysis of all cash flow movements during the given period of time. It will summarize all monies received and monies expended. There are three elements to consider and report on. These are:

- the operating activities (cash flow from selling goods and cash flow from paying expenses)

- the changes in fixed assets (cash flow from sale or purchase of assets)

- the changes in forms of finance (Cash flow from borrowing or repaying loans and cashflow movements in contributions by and distributions to owners)

Cash Flow From Operations This is the part of the cash flow that is directly attributable to the performance (profitable or otherwise) of the business. Excluded from these numbers would be cash movements related to items such as extraordinary events and sale or purchase of assets.

Cash flow from operations is the sum of the profit for the period in question plus the value of the non-cash items, such as depreciation, that have been charged against profits. To this figure is added or subtracted the movement in working capital during the period to give the Cash Flow from Operations.

Cash Flow from Non-Operational Activities Included under this head will be included all cash movements arising within the business not directly associated with normal trading activities. This will include but not limited to the sale or purchase of fixed assets, for example plant and machinery and furniture and fittings; together with an increase in or repayment of business loans.

Source and Application of Funds This term is used to differentiate between the monies coming into a business and the monies going out. Monies coming into a business will be the source and will include sales cash received, proceeds from the sale of a fixed asset and the increase in loans borrowed.

The application of funds relates to cash that is expended by the business, and would include the payment of goods or services, the purchase of fixed assets or the repayment of business loans.

Forecast Cash Flow Statement A similar convention to the Actual Cash Flow Statement, however, this will project the anticipated cash flow movements for some future period of time.

Cash Accounting A method of accounting that records in the books of account cash receipts as a sale on the day the cash is received and treats cash payments as expenses on the day of payment.

Profit v. Cash The profit of a business should not be confused with the cash position of the business. A satisfactory cash flow position will almost certainly be dependent upon profits being generated.

However, remember that high non-operational cash outgoings may significantly reduce the operational cash generated resulting in a cash balance much lower than the reported profit.

Author Bio

David Willetts is a qualified accountant and an Associate of the Institute of Business Advisers. If you are seeking a solution to your business problem then visit SME Business Solutions for your on line business resource and more details on David's background and experience can be found at DAW Consulting Limited.

Franchise System Training Success Is A Moving Target

Writen by Lance Winslow

One of the most important aspects of franchise success is the training. Not just training to check off the boxes on a form. This is not the government and real success in the market place and new demographic battlespace; well, let's just say "it don't work that way!" In franchising it is all about winning markets and market share and standing tall on that brand you are building. In fact in a Franchise System the training success and evaluation criteria is a Moving Target.

Having built a franchising company from scratch, I can tell you that you must indeed carefully scrutinize your system to make it perfect. Additionally you must do exit polling of your franchisees to insure they felt confident of their training as this is a major part of the key to keeping up with that ever changing and moving target of true success. Here is an old comment from a franchisee of our company The Car Wash Guys; Carwashguy.com if you wish to look it up and these are some of his ideas on keeping up with said target as he states:

"Another way to implement training might be to continue it during the blitz marketing. I would suggest establishing a crack wash crew that is ready to get to work. The franchisee then would have this team for the first four weeks in business to jump start operations. They would come to town like the marines making a beachhead so that other forces can move in behind. Paying them would be built into the cost of the startup and their responsibilities would be different and separate from the marketing crew. They would be responsible to begin washing jobs immediately. Able to handle any job they could begin fleet contracts the day they arrived. They would provide the franchisee with a labor resource from day one.

As they began operations they would assist in hiring and training employees, helping the franchisee through any problems with logistics, equipment or operations, set up shop, mix and prepare products, install computer software and set up bookkeeping and more. After marketing was over they could help with follow-up and bidding, making sure the franchisee doesn't get taken for a ride by a customer. When they finally moved on to the next station, they would leave behind a newly hired and trained crew able to function on their own. There would be standing accounts that had already been serviced well and properly scheduled. After leaving they could continue to be a resource to the franchisee as he developed his business walking him through operations and procedures he may have forgotten or misunderstood or, God forbid, didn't pay enough attention."

In fact that is pretty much what we did to insure our training was a success in the future, because we know that there is no easy way to train winning teams unless you do what works. So think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Acquiring A Small Business

Writen by Peter Arkwright

The attraction to most people in purchasing a small business is obvious. The amount of small businesses on the market and the cost is considered low compared to a middle-market business.

People are generally anxious about starting their own small business, the level of financial input and time put in to the business can be far greater than imagined. At least 50% of these types of ventures fail with the majority not getting passed the first 2 years. The odds are better for people acquiring a franchise; however it has to be remembered that royalty payments of up to10% have to be met annually.

One of the many problems acquiring a small business can be the asking price. Many small business owners are unsure how to properly valuate a business. The use of mythical formulas or the 'sweat equity' based on how much work has been put in is totally useless.

To value a small business this is a good guide is;

Retail Businesses 30% of annual sales
Service Businesses 60% of annual sales
Distribution Businesses 35% of annual sales
Manufacturing Businesses 50% of annual sales

Naturally these are just guides, in reality a businesses value is only really worth what a person is willing to pay for it. Other considerations are; cash flow, assets, liabilities, growth potential and risks. The terms and conditions of the lease, the state of machinery and how many staff are employed, the list really is endless.

In summary, before even contemplating acquiring a small business, you must realise that the failure rate is extremely high. Proper research, good timing and a good amount of luck should help your business being one of success stories.

If you would like any more information on this subject then please visit our website at =>www.bizseller4u.com

About the Author: Peter Arkwright recently retired from the military; he is now the Managing Director of Bizseller4u Ltd – The Company providing business solutions in Sales, Advertising, Funding, Debt Collection and Recovery Plans.

A Conflict Grows When Leaving A Small Business Unattended

Writen by Hans Bool

Conflictive solutions are those found in competitive environments where the solutions are incompatible amongst each other.

Take for example this sales organization within a company that is asking for a new solution that could improve the sales process -– for example, they want to inform special clients about additional features, which they start manually because there are no (more) resources left to implement them in a structural way. It is however an extra service that strengthen the loyalty and makes new revenues possible.

The internal -– centralized -– service department is stuffed with strategic and other high committed assignments and is unable to handle this little issue. So the sales department starts to select an own supplier to solve it. Everybody is happy, because the resources are efficiently allocated (this is where the conflict develops).

Then after a while, this new feature becomes heavenly accepted by the customers, and as a traditional rule –- we elaborate on success -- more money is invested. By that time, the strategic projects are delivered and extra resources become available to focus on new issues. Like this one. In the mean time, the new business development has grown to significant proportions.

Behind success follows new commitment and more people get involved. Yet it is a strange solution found by others (by them, not by us). The infrastructure is different and there is no connection to the rest of the organization. Not only incompatible but non-communicating. This results in a common problem where client data is distributed amongst the new solution (system) and the existing one.

The end of the story is the longer you wait with leaving this island alone, the more problems you will encounter once "embraced" by the group.

It starts however already to become an issue once the initiative is not longer monitored (much earlier). The solution is not to forbid such initiatives – because without commitment, the sales organization has found itself a new line of business. This issue grows into a conflict because of a lack of monitoring and communication. Basically because of different applied rules; "laissez faire until proven worthy" used at the beginning and once the new solution get the attention of the group this switches over to "this is strategic, we should control it."

How to avoid this? Manage with coherence. All the details count.

© 2005 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account

Factoring Financing The Easy Way To Finance Your Company

Writen by Marco Terry

Waiting up to 60 days to get your invoices paid can really be a major source of stress for business owners. This can be especially painful if you have to pay rent, suppliers and meet payroll. This is even more painful when most of your money is tied up in slow paying invoices. Having money tied up in slow paying invoices can also prevent you from capitalizing on new opportunities. Why? Because few business owners can deliver large orders to new clients and then underwrite the transaction for up to 60 days.

If you cannot afford to wait to get paid by your clients there is a solution that can provide you with the necessary financing. It's called factoring financing. With factoring you can accelerate the payment for your invoices and get funding to pay rent, pay your suppliers, meet payroll and take on new projects.

As opposed to bank financing, invoice factoring is easy to qualify for. The main requirement is that you have invoices from mid size and large commercial customers. Most factoring companies are comfortable working with new companies – even if they have no hard collateral – provided that they have good invoices and a solid business plan.

Another advantage of factoring is that your financing is not fixed on any specific amount, like a loan or line of credit. You can usually factor as many invoices as you can deliver on. As a tool, factoring allows you to tap into the power of your greatest asset – your roster of credit worthy customers. It allows you to grow and capitalize on new opportunities, while circumventing the restrictions and challenges of obtaining regular bank financing.

About Commercial Capital LLC

We provide business financing though factoring, invoice factoring and accounts receivables factoring. Marco Terry can be reached at (866) 730 1922

8 Tips For Setting Up A Joint Venture

Writen by R. Syahriansyah

Many people are apprehensive about approaching other businesses to suggest a joint venture. They are concerned that they might be asking too much, or that they might offend someone. You can't think like this! Remember that joint ventures are win-win deals that give all parties involved an opportunity profit!

Simply follow these easy steps, and setting up your own joint ventures will be a breeze...

1. Contact potential joint venture partners personally.

This is one situation where an e-mail just isn't going to do the trick. A personal phone call or meeting will be more effective. You'll be taken much more seriously, and you'll be able to answer their questions right on the spot. Plus, it's much more difficult to say "No" to someone you're speaking directly with than it is to reply "No" to an e-mail.

2. Explain to potential partners exactly how they will profit from this relationship.

Here's another situation where focusing on how your proposal will benefit the prospect is going to be what closes the deal. If the potential partner can't see how doing business with you is going to increase their sales and profits, why would they bother? And remember, when negotiating a joint venture, it is important to educate the potential partner on the value of backend and residual sales, so you can claim a larger percentage of the profits.

3. If appropriate, offer them a sample of your product.

Once potential joint venture partners have experienced your product or service, it will be much easier to sell them on why they should promote it to their customers and subscribers. It will be easier to explain to them why their customers and subscribers will view them as a valuable resource, and how they will not only enhance their image, but also increase their profits by getting a cut of the additional sales.

4. Offer them a special discount to give to their customers.

It's good idea to emphasize that while your product or service is already excellent value, you know that your partner will want to give his/her customers and subscribers a "special deal." So tell them that you're willing to make your product or service available to their customers and subscribers at a special discounted price. That way, the partner can approach their market as a "hero" who fought to get them this extra special deal. This will work in both of your favor to increase sales and profits.

5. Take away all of the risk.

This is really important. While you're emphasizing how your partner will benefit from the deal, you should be removing all of the risk... explaining that they have absolutely nothing to lose. Tell them that the worst thing that will happen is that they will experience an increase in their sales and profits!

6. Make it financially appealing.

Don't be stingy. While it's important that you claim as much of the profits for yourself as you can, if the deal isn't financially appealing to potential partners, it's going to be nearly impossible to get them to sign on the dotted line.

7. Make it extremely easy for them to do.

Be prepared to do the majority of the work yourself, if not all of it. The more work you do, the easier you make it for them. And the easier you make it for them, the easier it will be to close the deal. Best of all, though, by emphasizing how you're going to do almost all of the work yourself, you make it much easier to claim a larger percentage of the profits. They'll be more likely to accept a small share because you've made it so easy for them anyway.

8. Get a signed contract that includes the commission terms and everything that you have agreed on.

Before you start to reveal the really critical money making details, be sure that you have everything signed and in writing. Don't share your most valuable tidbits until you've done this, or your potential partner may just steal your ideas and use them him or herself to claim 100% of the profits.

I hope this tips can help you setting up your own joint venture.

Copyright 2005 Syahriansyah

Syahriansyah is the owner of http://www.advancetactics.com. His website offers an idea for home based businesses. Feel free to check all the guides and articles.

Risk Identification Assessment And Allocation In Buying A Business

Writen by Tri Nguyen

The processes and considerations involved in buying a business are more involved than merely identifying the business that meets the potential buyer's financial criterion, making sure that the buyer can make money from it and then determining the purchase price. Buying a business should also involve the identification, assessment and allocation of risk, especially in more complex and high value businesses. These three risk-related processes should occur simultaneously with or very soon after the processes of identifying the business, making sure it could make money for the potential buyer and determining the purchase price.

Depending on the size of the target business and the amount of money involved, a potential buyer should decide whether to conduct the risk analyses, and if so, to what extent. Often times, the value of the business does not justify the expense and energy involved in identifying, assessing and allocating the purchase risks. However, if the value of the business is sufficiently large enough, performing these risk identification, assessment and allocation processes can help achieve a better purchase price for the buyer, protect it from unidentifiable or unknown risks and/or prevent a bad deal from happening.

The purpose of this article is to explain in general terms the process of identifying, assessing and allocating the risks inherent in purchasing a business from the buyer's perspective. This article is not meant to be legal advice. It is meant to give the readers an idea of what is involved in purchasing a business so that the reader can consider the issues raised in this article and ask informed questions about the processes described. Please consult a licensed attorney for your particular situation and transaction.

Identification and Assessment of Risk

Risk identification occurs at the very initial stage of the business buying process, after identification of a good target and an understanding between the buyer and seller that both can proceed with the transaction, subject to certain conditions, such as further investigation. Most often, this process of risk identification is referred to as due diligence. Due Diligence may take the form of financial due diligence or legal due diligence.

Financial due diligence usually involves the participation of an accountant, business broker or other financial advisor who can guide the potential buyer through the financial analysis of the business. It is the process of reviewing the target company's financial records and statements to determine whether the economic value and financial performance of the business justifies the asking purchase price. The question should be, "is this company really generating the revenues and incurring expenses that the seller is claiming." Additionally, financial due diligence may reveal whether the target's financial books and records were properly kept. This consideration is important because the more poorly kept the financial records, the more imprecise the information and thus the more risk that the information is wrong.

If during the financial due diligence process the potential buyer discovers the target actually has only a few number of clients or customers that make up a bulk of its business or that its books were not properly kept or that only a certain number of key employees generate most of the target's revenues, then these risks should factor into the purchase price. If these risks are deemed to be substantial enough, then the purchase price should be reduced accordingly. Alternatively, some arrangement should be made between the potential buyer and the seller to factor in these discoveries.

Just as important as financial due diligence is legal due diligence. Legal due diligence is the process of reviewing the target company's organizational documents, contracts, compliance records, governmental records, and other documents to determine whether the target has complied with applicable laws, is subject to any litigation, is exposed to any liability or obligation, and other issues that may affect the structure, terms or feasibility of the transaction. If the potential buyer discovers any adverse information related to any of these matters, the potential buyer may decide, if the information is material enough, that the deal should be structured differently, the purchase price should be adjusted and/or the risks of liability, non-compliance and other legal exposures should be allocated to the seller. After all, the seller was running the business when the cause of these potential issues were created.

Risk Allocation

Risk allocation is the process of determining who should bear the financial and, some times, legal responsibilities for the occurrence of a certain event (risk), which may or may not happen. The risk allocation process often times is the most contentious and detailed part of the negotiation and drafting process. Risk is usually allocated by way of the operative purchase agreement, most usually in the form of representations and warranties made by the seller and the indemnification mechanisms.

Representations and warranties are statements made by either the buyer or seller in the operative purchase agreement as to the status of a certain matter, situation, event, arrangement or thing. The seller, for instance, may represent and warrant that it has complied with all applicable governmental requirements for its operation. This representation and warranty is essentially a statement of fact, which if later found not to be true, will allow the potential buyer to claim that the seller has breached the promise and thus allow the potential buyer to sue under the contract. Thus, when the potential buyer requests that a seller make a certain representation and warranty, the potential buyer in effect is allocating the risk to the seller.

If that representation and warranty turns out to be not true, then the seller can be sued for breach under the operative purchase agreement. The seller may deem that the risk of such representation and warranty being wrong is small enough that the seller may be willing to make such representation and warranty. Alternatively, the seller may deem that it can not be very sure that the representation and warranty is true, which will lead the seller to try to limit the representation and warranty to only those situations in which the seller can be more sure that the representation and warranty are more likely to be true.

The potential buyer will not to be able to allocate every risk to the seller. The potential buyer will inevitably have to bear some risk of the transaction and the business being acquired. There is always potential for mistake, confusion and lack of knowledge on the part of the seller so that the seller's representations and warranties may turn out to be false. The potential buyer can reduce the effects of this situation by requesting that if the seller turns out to be wrong about a particular representation and warranty, then the seller will indemnify the buyer for such mistake, confusion or lack of knowledge. The indemnification is the seller's promise to pay the potential buyer for a breach of a representation and warranty. The seller's obligation to indemnify usually has triggers and caps so that the seller is on the hook only for a certain amount of money, and then only after certain events occur.

Thus, with the representations and warranties backed up by the indemnification requirement, a potential buyer is able to minimize some of the risks associated with buying a business. The risk allocation process is usually a good idea if the transaction is big enough and the business value is high enough to the potential buyer to justify the expense and energy required to identify, assess and allocate the risks associated with purchasing a business. So, the buyer should determine at the outset whether the target business has inherent risks that the potential buyer is or is not willing to bear without engaging in the risk identification, assessment and allocation process. Usually, the more complicated the business and the higher the business value, the more need for this process.

*** Tri Nguyen regularly represents small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs in business and real estate transactions and counsels them on a regular basis on legal issues that affect the growth, stability and continuity of their businesses. Please visit his firm's website at http://www.trilawoffice.com or call 713.513.4808.

New Businesss Require Diversification To Succeed

Writen by Paul Bryant

When any business starts up, it needs to find a customer base, so as to enable it to establish a foothold on the economical opportunities that are available. Naturally, there are many different types of business, and each one has to create a business plan which suits its purposes.

Of recent, and being specific to companies who rely to some extent on the internet for their income, there has been a growing trend to criticise the search engines who provide results when a search query is made. In support of the search engines, they continuously update their results, by means of crawling the world wide web, and they provide the excellent results for any given search enquiry.

This is not to say that businesses who use the internet should rely fully on the search engines, as unless the business is prepared to pay for special listings to be displayed on the front page of a search engine, there is no guarantee that their website content will be shown within the first results pages that are given for any search query.

Diversification of marketing methods is of prime importance in any business, but is of absolute necessity when including the internet, as there are billions of web pages, and massive competition for the top search listings. How a company diversifies, to some degree depends on the budget they have available.

Pay per click advertising on the internet can be a useful source for finding targeted customers. However, to diversify, it is important to consider other options also. There are two basic types of marketing, free and paid for. Once again, the search engines on the internet provide an invaluable amount of free advertising. Word of mouth, or mentioning your business to friends, or at business conventions, is another example. Maintaining good public relations with existing customers is yet another. To keep customers informed of changes, new products, updates, price changes, offers, can provide a considerable increase in revenue, but also makes your customer realise that you care about them.

To diversify fully, marketing has to be tailored to suit any given company's needs. Some marketing opportunities could be applied to the majority of companies, once again depending on available budget. These could include local or national press advertising, television and radio advertising, mail and email drops, flyers and leaflets, exhibitions and conferences, targeted internet advertising and so on.

All business's want to take full advantage of their niche and to diversify ensures not only non-reliance on a single marketing outlet, but also provides an opportunity of reaching a far greater audience. The final aim is to provide services or goods to satisfied customers, and however it is achieved there is always scope for expanding the opportunities.

The challenges are immense for any new business, and the future of any business who wants success, will inevitably come from a foundation that has been carefully thought out, planned, and the viabilities of such a project considered, prior to any financial commitment. The far reaching availability of worldwide access, via the internet, means that there is a far greater marketing area than ever before. However, it is important to consider geographical location when marketing. Expansion should be done in stages. By creating a successful local or nationwide business, the opportunity to look further afield can be much healthier. Although it is not impossible to start a worldwide business with the internet as a base, by creating a sound business within a confined area, overall control is much easier, and apart from the barriers of language and legislation, there is validity in building a small and successful enterprise, prior to expanding too rapidly. Nevertheless, it can also be said that if an opportunity exists whereby world access to a business is viable, then it should not be overlooked, as long as the necessary measurements for control, legislation, language and development are considered.

Investment in a business comes in two forms; time and money. Once the money has been laid out in setting up the business, there are ongoing costs to consider. Therefore a good business plan is necessary, so ensure that budgets are maintained. The time and effort put into any business, as well as the financial investment, are the backbone to running any successful business. The first months can be extremely difficult in terms of return on time and investment, but the longer term satisfaction in running a successful business far outweighs the initial stresses. Providing services or goods together with a healthy relationship with your customers can be an extremely rewarding experience.

Paul Bryant is Chairman of http://www.wamee.com, UK shopping for new and used classifieds. He has considerable experience in business, and a strong belief in planning.

Small Business New Customer Marketing Math

Writen by Don Osborne

For most small business owners acquiring new customers is a top priority. You hope your marketing efforts will bring in more than one customer at a time. Chances are though, you count new customer additions one at a time: 1 + 1 = 2. Done correctly, it's possible for your small business marketing efforts to use a multiplier effect so your new customer math is 1 + 1 = 3. What is the multiplier effect that creates this new customer math?

The multiplier effect is the leverage you gain from how you acquire each new customer and what they do with the satisfaction they receive from doing business with you. In a word, "word of mouth" referral gives your new customer the opportunity to add a new customer. For example, new customer number one buys and refers no one but the next new customer buys and refers someone who also buys; three new customers.

The new customer math formula: 1 + (1 + 1) = 3.

To take advantage of the new customer math you must give your customers the tools they need to make referrals. The word-of-mouth referrals they provide might be made directly by them to someone they know. One tool to provide them with is a list of testimonials you might include in your small business marketing literature. Another tool for direct word-of-mouth is an item imprinted with your logo or marketing message imprinted on it such as a calendar or coffee mug.

A current customer could participate in your small business new customer math by providing referrals directly to you with their permission to use their name when you contact the referral. Your contact could be a phone call or a letter. A secondary way to use the a satisfied customers is by including their testimonial in the small business marketing literature you use directly with potential customers.

The difference between new and old customer math is the power of a current customers word-of-mouth direct or indirect testimonial. Build your small business marketing around your customer's satisfaction. What you have to say about your small business products and services is one a 1 + 1 = 2 form of marketing. What customers have to say to another potential customer is the new math of 1 +1 = 3 or more. What are you doing to ensure your small business marketing efforts are based on the new math?

Free 32 Ways to Maximize Your Profits Check List. Don Osborne authors The Profit Puzzle course to help you plan, finance, start up, run, grow, sell your small home based business ideas. Visit http://www.profitpuzzle.com for articles covering objectives, management, finance, personnel, marketing, operations, production and resources.

Building Marketing Momentum For Your Small Business

Writen by Jeremy Cohen

The success of your business depends on your ability to build marketing momentum. Without the ability to generate new sources of leads your capacity to sell will slump and the growth of your business will stagnate or shrink.

Unfortunately, many small business owners are at a loss when tasked with coming up with new ways to market while others are frustrated into stagnation by seeing consistently ineffective results from their marketing efforts. It doesn't matter if your business is young or established. If your business is young you must market well simply to survive. On the other hand, if you have had marketing success with a method that does not increase your opportunity to generate new business your success will be stunted by your limited ability to find new sources of business.

Building marketing momentum is like kicking a ball down a hill that keeps getting steeper. Each time the hill becomes a little steeper the ball will roll faster and pick up momentum. In marketing, any tactic you add to attract attention to what you do is like making the hill a little steeper.

The other day I was talking to Ed who runs a successful metal shining business. I asked him how he went about generating new sales. He told me that 100% of his marketing effort is networking. I couldn't help but wonder why. I realize that he is doing well with it but if he simply placed an ad in the yellow pages that generated just one sale a year he would cover the cost of the ad and be profitable!

Even though Ed's networking efforts are successful he is limiting his ability to grow his business by only implementing one form of marketing. By simply trying something new in addition to networking Ed can benefit from developing a new way to generate leads and build his marketing momentum.

Is your marketing effort one dimensional or stagnant? Here are five tactics you can use to build marketing momentum.

Deliver a Great Marketing Message
A great marketing message will have the effect of generating interest in what you do. It never ceases to amaze me the number of small business owners that fail to use a compelling marketing message. How many times has someone described to you their business or what they do with a label like, "I'm an accountant" or "I'm in Communications"? Such answers are not likely to start interesting conversations and marketing opportunities are missed.

If you answer the "what do you do?" question with a savvy marketing message you will find that more people associate what you do with a need of their own or that of a friend, colleague or relative and you will win more referral business. Develop and use an outstanding, compelling marketing message and you will find that more people show interest in what you do. The result will be more better sales.

Make Cold Calling a Hot Source of Sales
Many small business owners hate to make cold calls. Their derision is understandable. By making cold calls they are setting themselves up for rejection. No one likes being rejected. However, rejection is part of the game when making phone calls. Once you realize that it's not your fault when someone says no during a cold call you can move passed your barrier and add cold calling to your marketing arsenal.

The fact is that by regularly picking up the phone and reaching out to potential clients small business owners increase their chance of finding new business. A percentage of the people you speak with will become clients when you make cold calls, especially if you are targeting your market well and are offering something they need. What's more you can work to improve your phone skills to increase your ability to make sales. Add cold calling to your marketing strategy and you will increase your opportunity to generate new business.

Use Your Web Site as An Effective Marketing Tool
Many companies have web sites that fail as effective marketing tools. Does your web site consistently generate leads and sales? It should. And it can. The World Wide Web is a continuously open marketplace that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers every moment of every day and allows you to easily and accurately target those who buy your products or services. A company without a web site as part of its marketing team is missing a fantastic opportunity to increase its revenue stream. Deliver a web site that functions as an effective marketing tool and you will consistently add to your marketing momentum.

Develop Your Network
Another great tool to use to build marketing momentum is networking. Networking is a highly effective means of generating referral business (which is some of the easiest business to get, once you get a referral). A person who is willing to take someone else's advice to contact you about your product or service will transfer the trust he has in his friend or colleague making the referral to you. Making it easier for clients to trust you removes one of the barriers to making a sale. By developing a robust network you will increase your ability to find new prospects and do more business.

So then, just how should you go about building your network?

Ed, from our previous example, is able to successfully operate his business with networking alone. That's because Ed networks the right way. Many small business owners and executives don't realize what networking truly is. Unfortunately, all too often people think they are networking by reaching out only to the people they know when what they should be doing is taking steps to continually expand their network. Ed regularly attends networking events and is involved with multiple networking groups. He ads new people to his network all the time and has a successful business to show for it (though he could be even more successful if he added another tool to his marketing toolbox).

Measure Your Results
No matter what tactics you adapt to market yourself or your business be sure to measure your results. By measuring your marketing results you will be able to move away from or correct what does not work and stick with and reinforce what does. By diligently measuring your results you will improve your ability to ad to your marketing momentum and grow your business and success.

By measuring my results and trying new things I have been able to develop an ad that enjoys a 20% response rate. The ad is so successful I only need to run it occasionally to generate enough calls to keep me very busy. Not only does this great ad do a fantastic job of generating interest in my marketing services it saves me money on my advertising costs because I can meet my goals by running fewer ads.

You too can develop highly effective ads by measuring your results.

Move Your Marketing Forward
If your marketing efforts aren't helping you reach your goals you can improve your results by implementing any one of the tactics outlined above. Choose the one you feel most comfortable with and take small measured steps toward realistic goals and you will see a beneficial transformation in your marketing results.

Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners attract more clients and grow their business with his coaching service and free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Prospects, Clients & Success Get the guide at http://www.bettermarketingresults.com

Call Accounting

Writen by Andrew Taub

Call accounting can be a very important part of your business telephone system. You can track both in and outbound calls by extension, line, time of day, area code, and much more. Call accounting will help you eliminate toll fraud, check on how employees are spending their time, track busy periods, and with caller ID even see where your customers are coming from. You can run reports every day or only a few times a year. The information is stored on a dedicated computer so the data is their when you need it.

Call accounting can help save you money. By analyzing your call patterns, you can make sure that you don't have too many outside lines or ,even worse, too few. This makes sure you don't pay for lines you don't need and makes sure you have enough lines to accommodate your peak periods so no one get a busy signal. www.teleco4.com

By tracking the length of calls you can see which employees are most productive, especially in call center applications. You can also make sure that you are correctly staffed for busy times of day and for slow times. This makes sure that you have enough people working to handle the calls at your busiest times. Don't let customers simply hang up because they have been waiting too long to reach a customer service representative.

10+ years in the telephone system business in NY and NJ
http://www.teleco4.com

Back Pack Vacuums Use The Correct Fit And Technique

Writen by Steve Hanson

*Back pack vacuums are an ideal way to make your job easier than you ever thought possible. Instead of excessive bending, as with a regular vacuum unit, this ergonomically designed machine was made to fit in order to provide maximum comfort. This is achieved through all of the extra gadgets that come attached with the back pack vacuums, which are used for distributing the weight properly.

*For instance, the back pack vacuums are equipped with shoulder straps and a waist belt that is padded. When you first put on the backpack vacuum, it is imperative that you adjust the belt, so that it fits secure and snug around your hips. You will know if you have done this right, because the straps of the device should easily slip around your shoulders, and should be loose. If you are successful, then you have distributed the main force of weight from the machine off of your back and shoulders, and applied it to your hips.

*Another excellent feature of the back pack vacuums is their backplate, which is a panel that provides ventilation and is the piece of the unit that rests directly on your back. It is also the support piece for the vacuum. The back plate should be adjustable, and you should take the time to lower or raise it in regards to your height, to ensure the ultimate in flexibility and the freedom to move around conveniently.

*To get the most out of the ergonomic back pack vacuums, you should know how to use them so that you can provide your muscles, tendons and ligaments with the proper support and security they need. With this in mind, you should never have to bend your back for any reason, and your upper torso should be kept erect with very little twisting or sudden sharp movements while operating the machine.

*Not having to bend or making excessive vigorous movements, allows you to keep your energy levels up, while still getting the job done. Of course, depending on where you are vacuuming, sometimes you will need to bend in order to get those hard to reach places under desks and other oddly shaped furniture pieces. When it comes time for bending, remember to bend with your knees and use the support of your legs, not your back.

Another fantastic way you can make your cleaning experience less stressful on your back, is to frequently empty the pack. By doing so, the back pack vacuum will remain light, which makes a big difference compared to lugging around extra weight that isn't necessary to carry.

As an extra bonus, the back pack vacuum can be purchased with a storage station. This is not only a great place for you to store the vacuum, but you will also discover that this station is installed and stored up on the wall, which means you can take off and put on the back pack vacuums with ease, without ever having to bend down to get it, causing your back undue strain.

Give your back a break, and trust the vacuuming solution that gets the job done quickly, easily and conveniently!

Steve Hanson is co-founding member of The Janitorial Store (TM), an online community for owners and managers of cleaning companies who want to build a more profitable and successful cleaning business. Sign up for Trash Talk: Tip of the Week at http://www.TheJanitorialStore.com and receive a Free Gift! Read cleaning success stories from owners of cleaning companies at http://www.cleaning-success.com/.

Business Problems Is My Business In Trouble How Can I Tell Before The Worst Happens

Writen by Lee Lister

It is a well know fact that many businesses fail within the first few years – so how can you make sure that your business is not failing at the moment. Here's a Business Health Check for you.

Sit down quietly in your office, with your records to hand and work your way through this business health check. You don't need to do it all at once, but try and do it within a few days. You should review each question deeply in order to get a detailed view of your business.

Management:

1. Do you rely too much on one manager, including yourself?

2. What would happen if one or more managers left or were ill for some time?

3. Do you have enough managers with the right experience?

4. Do you have too many managers?

5. Are your managers trained or experienced to the optimum level?

Staff:

1. Do you have enough staff?

2. Do you have a high staff turnover?

3. Can you find staff with the right skills and experience?

4. Are your staff fully trained?

5. Are your staff in the right departments and geographic areas?

6. Do you have a strong sales and admin group?

Operations:

1. Your internal efficiency – does your company run efficiently from marketing to after sales?

2. Can you manufacture or fulfill your sales quickly and meet your customer's expectations?

3. Do you have bottle necks in any of your business processes?

4. Do you receive frequent complaints about any part of your business?

5. Can you provide your goods and services during sales cyclical increases?

6. Do you have high stock levels that you regularly have to sell off at below normal prices?

7. Do you have a strong marketing and advertising strategy in place?

Sales:

1. Are your sales strong and gradually increasing?

2. Are your sales reliant on external factors that you have no control on? Think ice cream seller.

3. Do you have strong cyclical sales and can you cope with them?

4. Do you have alternative products and services available for periods when your standard stock is not selling so well. Think diary sellers.

5. Do you have a strong product range that has a naturally increasing set of price points?

6. Do you have up sells available to capitalize on each customer's total sales value?

7. Do sell products that are complimentary to your major products?

8. Are you selling what your customers are asking for?

9. Are the sales of one particular product diminishing?

10. Do you often get asked for something you don't have?

11. Are you sure that the prices you charge are set at the optimum level.

Financial:

1. Do you have a steady cash flow or are there periods of stagnant or negative cash flow?

2. Do you collect the majority of your invoices within 30 days?

3. Do you have a problem with obtaining loans?

4. Are your stock costs high?

5. For retail or manufacturing companies. Are your staffing costs a large proportion of your total costs?

6. For service companies. Are your charge out rates at least 200% of your staff rates.

7. For service companies. Are your consulting staff being charged out at least 75% of time?

8. Do you have a good gross profit?

Suppliers:

1. Can you suppliers force you to take large deliveries?

2. Are suppliers difficult to find?

3. Is supply readily available?

4. Do you have the opportunity of obtaining supplies from several companies?

5. Can you obtain deliveries when you need to?

Customers:

1. Do you rely on just a few customers?

2. Can some of your customers insist on lower prices?

3. Do you have a lot of late payers?

4. Is the cost of obtaining new customers high?

5. Do your customers often repeat order?

6. Do you have a high percentage of customers who only order once from you?

Market:

1. Is competition very strong?

2. Do you have a near monopoly?

3. Do you have a strong and recognized brand in your market place?

4. Are you aware of future changes in your market place and changing your offerings to meet these?

5. Are you leaving some market niches unexplored or untouched?

6. Are there markets that you could exploit?

7. Are your marketing costs a high proportion of your costs?

These questions are planned to give you a good understanding of the weaknesses of your business. If you have too many negatives then you know you have some remedial work to do.

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© Copyright 2006 Biz Guru Services Ltd

Lee Lister writes as The Biz Guru, for a number of web sites including her http://www.clikks.com where she sells her informational products. With over 20 year's management and business consultancy experience with businesses large and small as well as being a serial entrepreneur, she now helps others set up, develop and market their businesses.

If you would like more help and assistance in setting up your new business then visit http://www.startmynewbusiness.com for advice and assistance.

This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
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What Is The Lifetime Value Of A Customer

Writen by Jerry Robertson

Many businesses decisions are made based on short-term effects. The goal of every business should be to maximize profits of the business in the long term. However, it is common for a business to lose a customer over an insignificant amount of money.

Companies will spend a small fortune to attract new customers. Yes, every business needs new customers to keep growing, but don't neglect your current customers. It is much cheaper to keep your current customers happy. Your current customers will spend 5-10 times the amount of new customers.

It would be a good idea for every business owner to get a rough idea of how much a customer produces to your profits. You may think differently about refunds and exchanges after calculating this figure.

You need to figure out the average sale per customer, gross profit margin and how often they visit your store and make a purchase. For our example, we shall say the average purchase is $20 monthly and the gross profit margin is 45%. So far, this customer is adding $9 profit per month or $108 per year.

You have to figure how long the average customer shops in your store. This will depend on many reasons such as age, size of town/ city, kind of store to name a few. Let's say it is 10 years. This would make the lifetime value of your customer $1,080 in our example.

These are small numbers in our example and most businesses the number will be much higher. However, the next time a customer has a problem with a $10 item that costs you $5; it would be wise to make sure the customer is satisfied with your solution.

Jerry is a seasoned retail veteran with over 25 years of retail management / consulting experience. He has a fantastic record of increasing sales and profits by utilizing creative solutions. You can get free tips, articles, resources, newsletters, and small business forums at: http://www.jrobconsult.com

Hows And Donts Of Structuring A Business Note For Sale

Writen by Ron Nelson

Every year thousands of business notes, which is a promissory note, are created when a seller of a business takes back some of the financing of the business sale. Another name for this is 'Seller Financing' of a business sale. The majority of business notes are associated with the sale of a small business (i.e. A business whose annual revenues are less than $1M and usually have less than 10 employees).

A business owner who is selling their business usually would like to walk completely away from the business they have owned/managed for a number of years. However, when a buyer is having a problem with arranging financing of the business purchase through a combination of cash down and bank financing, the business owner/seller is faced with taking on some of financing themselves to complete the business sale.

Since the business owner/seller did not seek to create financing of the business sale themselves, they do not like to face having to receive a large number of payments of principal and interest over an extended period of time (i.e. 5 to 10 yrs.) until the principal amount of the loan is repaid. The business note that is created can be sold in the open market, but it must be structured in such a manner that an investor would choose to purchase it.

In order to structure your business note to make it attractive to an investor to purchase, follow these guidelines:

1. Do not create a business note whose repayment period is longer than 60 months. If the cash flow cannot support a repayment of principal and interest over 60 months, a balloon payment must be created to complete the payoff of the business note.

2. Always identify the interest rate in the note and do not change the rate over the length of the business note.

3. Always have the business note personally guaranteed by the buyer of the business. If a corporation is the buyer, then the majority stockholders need to personally guarantee the repayment of the seller financed amount if corporate assets are not sufficient to act as collateral.

4. 'Due on Sale' clause needs to be stated in the business note. This means that if the business is sold in the future, the payor on the business note must pay off the business note prior to the ownership change.

Incorporating the aforementioned areas into your business note will enhance its ability to be sold to an interested buyer.

Ron Nelson is founder and current President/CEO of GNF Group, LLC. GNF Group offers consulting to business owners on how to structure a business note for sale. Also, there are parameters to review outside of the structure of a business note that will influence whether a buyer will make an offer to purchase the business note. Contact GNF Group for more information. GNF Group will also facilitate the sale of a business note by promoting it to interested buyers.

Interested parties may contact Mr. Nelson at 1-866-531-8096 or at http://www.gnfgroup.com

Know The Competition

Writen by Bette Daoust, Ph.D.

Beating the competition can often be very difficult, especially when your business is fairly new and the competition has a stranglehold on the market. Thankfully there are several options for getting a piece of the market.

• Create a bigger market. If the piece of the pie has been pretty well taken, then bake a bigger pie. What I mean is find a niche that your competition is not working on. You can establish yourself by knowing where your competition sells their products and services and where they do not. You are far better off going where they are not currently selling and own that piece of the pie. When they see you are successful in that niche, they may want to follow. If you own that niche, you will be the one that is established. The competition will not have the stronghold.
• Learn everything you can about the competition. Do some research. Find out who their customers are (discover the demographics, geographics, psychographics, and anything else you can think of) and how often they buy plus what they buy. This will give you a good indication as to the market and desire for your product or service.
• Hunt down how the competition markets to their customers. Do they use direct mail, flyers, email campaigns, coupons, telesales, a salesforce, loss leaders, etc. You need to be in the know for the types of marketing they do and what works for them. If you only have one competitor, you will have no difficulty discovering their techniques. If you have more than one competitor, your research will include everything from these organizations as well. You will find there is often a common set of marketing tactics but you will more than likely discover some new and interesting methods.
• Become a customer for your competition. If you have several competitors, become their customer as well. What will this do for you? It will enable you to be on the receiving end of the marketing material. An easy way to study the tactics without spending too much money (except for the products or services you buy from them). You may even find the opportunity to ask their marketing departments about what works and what does not. You have to make the call on this one as they might not like knowing you are their competition.

I personally like making a bigger pie and finding a niche where my competition has not yet penetrated. It is much easier to create a new market than try to grab a piece of something that has loyal customers.

In summary:

1. Create a bigger pie
2. Discover all you can about your competitions customers
3. Discover all you can about your competitions marketing tactics
4. Become your competitions customer

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. is a speaker, author (over 170 books, articles, and publications), and consultant. She has provided marketing, sales, business development and training expertise for companies such as Peet's Coffee & Tea, Varian Medical Systems, Accenture, Avaya, Cisco Systems to name a few. Dr. Daoust has also done extensive work with small businesses in developing their marketing, training, and operational plans. You may contact Dr. Daoust at http://BizMechanix.com You may also view her latest publications at http://BlueprintBooks.com or http://CreditRepairForEveryone.com

Merchant Service Becomes Increasingly Affordable

Writen by Charlotte Alice

As consumers grow more comfortable with purchasing products online, more and more businesses are expanding to provide services and products on the internet. In order to accept payment, these businesses must implement a merchant service solution to process payments. In past years merchant service packages were very costly, with credit card payment processing systems costing as much as merchant accounts used by physical retail stores. Many smaller businesses simply cannot afford the expenses involved in maintaining these traditional merchant accounts.

The good news is that as internet business continues to grow, merchant service packages have become progressively more affordable. What used to cost businesses hundreds of dollars per month, not including individual transaction fees, for basic merchant account services, is now available for a fraction of the cost. In part the lower costs of merchant operation with regard to the processing of payments online are due to improved payment processing software as well as other integration improvements between database information and point of sale websites.

Merchant service accounts for processing online payments have also become highly sought by those taking part in the online auction industry. Cheaper, revolutionized forms of online payment processing have made it possible for even the smallest businesses and individual sellers to accept payments online. There are several popular merchant services provided by internet companies that do not even require the procuring of a traditional merchant account. This means that sellers and businesses can afford to accept online payments because there are no monthly fees. These types of merchant services generally charge a per transaction amount, as well as a percentage of the total bill amount.

Usually these same contemporary merchant service solution companies also provide more extensive packages comparable to more traditional merchant accounts. With these extended merchant service packages, clients are able to process additional forms of payment, such as lesser known credit cards, debit cards and online or electronic checks. Additionally, the more comprehensive merchant service packages offered by these affordable internet payment providers allow clients to process credit cards and other forms of payment directly through their websites. In the past, merchant account services similar to this cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. Now, however, it is possible to secure high-end merchant account payment processing and notification services for much less than one hundred dollars per month. Innovations in these areas of merchant services have made it possible for small business owners to thrive on the internet.

Take a little time to research some of the various merchant services that are available to you. In today's net-ready world, there are literally hundreds of top of the line merchant service packages from which to choose. This means that you will be able to find the merchant service package that best fits your needs as well as your budget. Some things to consider in choosing a merchant service account and provider are the monthly fees associated with maintaining your merchant account. There are also usually fees that apply to individual transactions. Many times, providers offer several different packages, such that depending on your volume of sales, you can pay lower per-transaction fees for an increased monthly account fee. Again, it is worth taking the time to compare the different merchant service packages in order to determine the most cost effective plan for your individual business.

To find out more information about this topic, please visit Merchant Service

Charlotte Alice represents UK Dropshipper and Online Web Publisher

Small Businesses Hurting Due To Fuel Costs

Writen by Lance Winslow

How much does higher fuel costs hurt small business? Can most small businesses simply pass on the costs of the higher fuel costs to customers? Well sometimes they can and sometimes they cannot. What if delivery service of new patio barbeque is wrapped or bundled into the price so they can compete with the larger retailer box stores? All of a sudden they can no longer use this little advantage as a selling point.

What if the company is a day care center and there is a competitor closer to the families home, then the higher fuel prices change the customers buying behavior and routing to work and therefore they lose the business? What if the small business is a service business like a mobile dog groomer, auto detailer or pool sweep and cleaning company? Then what?

Well then their costs go up $10 to $18 per day that's what. If you consider a company with let's say 5-10 units on the road working 21-working days a month then that is $1050.00 to $3780.00 per month and no one can say that such numbers would not make an impact on the small business person who is in the service business. And realize that small businesses employ 75% of our population base and the service sector in many areas employs over 35% or more.

Some economic development agencies and chambers of commerce that I have discussed this with show there numbers upwards of 45% of their regions employment base. I hope you will have a little empathy for the small businessperson in the future over these outrageous fuel costs. Consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Effectively Farming Your Past Clients

Writen by Cheri Alguire

Even with the increases in technology and all the new techniques available for finding new clients, repeat and referral business is still the key to every Realtor's success. Make sure that you don't forget about all of your past clients when you do your marketing. Plan time on your to-do list to do special farming projects designed just for them. Make sure that you contact former buyers and sellers in some way at least once per month.

Go Beyond a Quick Email

It's important to have materials tailored to your past clients, thanking them for continuing to keep your name in mind. Try to have a personal contact at least four times a year. Either call them on the phone, or invite them to lunch or another face-to-face activity. Make sure that you keep them on your email list, and send them market updates and open house invitations. Also send out letters or postcards, such as 'just listed' cards or thank you letters.

Make it Personal

At least three times per year, send a personal greeting just for that client. Cards marking the anniversary of their home purchase, birthday cards, and holiday cards show that you are keeping track of your clients' milestones. Don't forget that there are plenty of holidays out there, though. Most agents order bulk 'Seasons Greetings' cards and send them to everyone on their mailing lists. Trying a little creativity will set you apart from the crowd. Try a Thanksgiving card, a 4th of July card, a Halloween card, or a funny April Fool's Day card. Your clients will smile over your creativity, and they'll have one more reason to remember you when friends ask them, 'Do you know a good Realtor?'

Real Estate and Life Coach Cheri Alguire has partnered with hundreds of Real Estate Professionals to help them become more successful in business and in life. Coach Cheri is also the creator of the highly sought-after Five Year Business and Life Planning Guide for Real Estate Professionals. Learn more about this and Coach Cheri's other products and services at http://www.NextLevelServices.net.