No matter how much you love being an entrepreneur, enthusiasm alone isn’t going to keep your business afloat.  Sales, of course, should be your absolute #1 priority at all times, even when you’re focused on other things like renovating your office or store, building your team, increasing brand awareness and doing market research.  But, it can certainly be tough to juggle so many responsibilities at once.

Don’t drop the ball because you’re completely sucked into the process of rebuilding the back-end of your website or branching out in a new area.  You can still increase sales while your mind is drawn elsewhere.  Here are 6 cheap, lazy, easy ways to drum up sales dollars.

Offer customer rewards.  Again, think cheap and easy to manage.  This can be as simple as offering a discount or free gift with purchase on the customer’s birthday.  Though, traditionally, people don’t cash in customer rewards in droves, it can still work to your advantage because people will remember and appreciate that you took the time to show how much you value their patronage.

Give out free samples.  People love free stuff.  Whether you throw in a cheapie sample with an order, offer them to customers off the street to give them a taste of what you’ve got or offer freebies to bloggers in return for reviews, giving out samples will draw people in.  Just don’t take it too far – choose low-cost items, determine how many you can afford to give away ahead of time and limit the period of time they’ll be available.

Throw your regulars a bone. Don’t treat everyone who buys from you like somebody who just walked in off the street. Your regulars are the bread and butter of your business, and you should always give them the incentive to stick with you.  Call them up to give them the inside scoop on new products and upcoming sales, greet them by name, offer them special deals.  They’ll return the favor by recommending you to others, as well as with their own business.

Upsell, upsell, upsell.  Have your sales staff recommend related products and add-ons.  Make sure that, if you have a retail website, both are highly visible and easily accessible from the product page. And make sure that your upsells are actually valuable to the customer. Nobody wants to sit through a sales spiel for something they really don’t need.

Set up a sales incentive program.  Nothing will fire up your staff like giving them a good reason to bust their butts trying to move merchandise or sell services for you. Offer a bonus, a trip, movie tickets, an iPod, a gift certificate or whatever you can come up with in return for reaching or exceeding a certain goal.  The key is making the goal attainable.  If you set the bar too high, they’ll just get discouraged.  Make sure to do the math in terms of making sure the incentive will pay for itself and still net you a profit.

Always include a special offer in your advertising.  There are a lot of bargain seekers out there, and nothing will draw them to you quicker than offering a discount or bonus.  If you’re paying to advertise, you might as well make sure you’ve got a baited hook in there.  People will be more likely to notice the ad if you’ve got something special to offer.  For example, a restaurant could advertise half-price bottles of wine on a slow weekday, or a screenprinting business could offer a free color upgrade for first-time customers.

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It happens: at one time or another, you’re going to be forced to lay at least one employee off.  It’s an unpleasant situation (unless you’re Donald Trump) to tell someone they’re losing their job, but if you don’t handle it correctly, you can make it a lot worse than it has to be.  Employers that fail to give some thought to the layoff process – especially in small businesses – can create the dreaded ‘disgruntlement’ in the laid off workers and create unrest among the remaining employees.

The first thing you should keep in mind, before you even get to the layoff point, is not to make promises you can’t keep.  For example, one business that started off as a home-based family venture and turned into a multi-million-dollar corporation soothed their first employee through hours of overtime, low pay and grunt work by promising that when the company hit it big, the employee would reap major rewards.  Then, during a downturn in their industry, the company was forced to lay off entire departments, including said employee, who was understandably bitter about the whole situation.

Once you come to the realization that you’re going to have to lay off one or more employees, it’s only fair to warn the company as a whole that layoffs are on the horizon.  This could make the whole process easier for you, since there’s a chance that you’ll have someone close to retirement decide to leave early, or give a nudge to someone who was considering leaving anyway.  All employees will have a chance to look for new jobs before the pink slip shows up on their desk, and nobody will get that awful shock that ‘came out of nowhere’.

Give adequate notice, especially if you chose not to announce that layoffs were imminent. Many employers take the attitude that if they give an employee too much notice, that employee will become unproductive or even sabotage the business, but this is extremely unlikely.  If you call an employee into your office on a Friday afternoon and tell them that they’re no longer needed, you’re not only going to anger the employee, you’re going to put your entire staff on edge.

Treat the layoff victims with dignity and respect. While you should remain professional, this isn’t the time for a small business to start acting like a heartless corporation.  Don’t be so matter-of-fact about it that you make it seem as if you don’t care about the employee’s plight.  In small business environments, chances are you’ve worked closely with the person you’re laying off, and they might be a very loyal hard worker.  Keep that in mind and be empathetic. And never, ever lay off an employee via email.  It’s just plain rude.

Other faux pas to avoid include notifying everyone but the employee of that person’s imminent layoff; having too many people in the room when delivering the bad news and having a security guard escort the employee out of the building like she’s a criminal.

In many cases, after necessary layoffs, you might find that you need the services the employee was providing – just not on a full-time basis.  If you’d like a laid-off employee to work on a contract basis with you in the future, make extra sure to handle the layoff with compassion.

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Every business owner knows that the single most important aspect of running a successful business is having a good product or service that people want to buy.  But, that’s far from the only ingredient in the complex recipe for long-lasting success. You’ve got to make your business memorable somehow.  In standing out from the rest of the businesses in your field, you’ve got to do more than just serve up quality goods at competitive prices.  Injecting some personality into your business will help customers remember who you are, leading them to come to you more often.

Many startups and small businesses make the mistake of hiding behind a corporate façade in order to come across as more professional.  Folks, looking professional is one thing – turning into a bland, boring, smaller version of a big-box business isn’t going to get you anywhere.  You’ll appear cold, stiff and forgettable.  You’ve got to stand out from the crowd – in a good way.

The first thing you should consider is: who are you? What makes your business special? Perhaps it’s your value system – the fact that you’re personally dedicated to making sure every single customer has the most positive experience possible, or that you take the time to treat everyone like an individual person, not a number.  Maybe there’s something special (and relevant) about your background or previous experience, something that makes you an expert in your field.  But even if you can’t define a specific trait that could help give your business ‘personality’, just making it clear that you’re real people will go far in giving your business a memorable face.

That’s where you’ve got a leg up on most big corporations doing business in your field.  They can’t mock your small business sense of ‘real people’.  Very few get away with it when they try – Wendy’s is one example, though they did take a strange side-step into weird, pointless ads for a while there.  So, if you’re still a family-run company with only a handful of employees, run with it.  The general public tends to associate better, more personal service with companies that project that ‘I’m a real person’ aura.

Here’s the thing, though: don’t take it in a cheesy direction.  You really don’t need cartoon characters or campy over-the-top ads.  Don’t confuse loud, brash attempts at forcing people to pay attention to you with showing personality. There’s also no need to plaster your photo all over everything.  An example of an effective, classy, understated yet memorable projection of personality – by a corporation, no less – is the Dyson vacuum commercials featuring inventor James Dyson, who talks a bit about his passion for developing an efficient bagless vacuum cleaner.

So, how do you go about projecting your new-found sense of identity? First, make sure your marketing materials read like a real person wrote them, not like the flat droning of a faceless corporation.  That doesn’t mean including grammar or spelling mistakes – it just means being casual and conversational.

You should also have a ‘company profile’ or ‘about us’ page on your website that has photos, a personal message and some information about your background.  People want to know who runs the company they’re giving their hard-earned money to. This is something you can also incorporate into your blog – show the photos and names of the people writing the posts, and include a short bio for each.

Finally, use the power of the internet.  Video and social networking are extremely valuable tools that can help you brand your identity into people’s minds. You can create videos that demonstrate or discuss your product or service, give a behind-the-scenes look at your company or delve into issues relevant to your industry.  Stay tuned to Biz Ninjas for more tips on using video and social networking to your advantage!

Photo via TIME Magazine

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You never thought you’d sit down to watch The Godfather to glean some business knowledge from its tale of mob dealings, did you? Not that we’re advocating any of the criminal activities portrayed in such movies – it’s probably not a good idea to start laundering money or put a severed horse’s head in somebody’s bed – but believe it or not, there are some valuable lessons to be learned from them. Sure, there are plenty of dumb criminals out there, but there are also brilliant ones – and the most successful of them live by these 7 rules of business.

It’s just business, nothing personal. Don’t fret too much about whether you’re going to offend someone with the decision you choose to make, and don’t take it personally when other people make business decisions that aren’t to your advantage. Not that people aren’t out to get you – your competition would love to see you get whacked, so to speak.  But, if you leave your emotions out of your business dealings, you’ll likely be able to keep a clearer head.

Grease the wheel, make things easy. Make sure you’re always prepared for the worst – have a backup plan. Make plenty of contacts that can help you out when you’re in a bind. In other words, don’t get caught with a bag of money in the bank parking lot because you forgot to get gas before the heist.

Be flexible, go with the flow and find the market.  Stay open to all possibilities.  Having a plan is good, but you don’t want to set yourself on such a narrow path that you can’t go down a new and potentially profitable road when you happen upon one. If you’re not flexible, you could miss out on an important opportunity that can help you grow your business and rake in the cash.

Treat your employees like kings and you enemies brutally. Expect loyalty from your people, squash them if they betray you.  Your employees are essential to your business, and if they don’t feel valuable, they’ll go work for someone who treats them better, possibly taking your trade secretes with them. And on that note, while you don’t want to put your competition on the offensive, always be wary of them and don’t hesitate to act in the best interests of your business when necessary.

Secure your supply lines. The world’s richest drug kingpins keep on top of their supply, making sure they know the status of their goods at all times. So should you, with the supplies that are essential to your business.  Get friendly with the people who have the stuff you need, maintain good relationships with them.  They’ll put you first before their other customers and you might just score a deal, too.

Selling products that people NEED to buy is good business. Get your customers addicted to your services and products.  Make sure you’re offering the best of the best, at competitive prices, along with great service – that’ll help ensure customer loyalty.

When all else fails, order a drive-by. To check on your competition, that is.  Please don’t shoot anyone.

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You’re going through the trouble to start and maintain a blog for your business, so why not make sure you’re doing it right? While there are no great secrets to blogs that gain sizable followings, there are definitely some guidelines that can help you avoid becoming one of the thousands of boring, practically unreadable business blogs on the web.

First, let’s go through a quick list of don’ts.  These are things you really want to stay away from when writing posts for a business blog, unless your aim is to lose readers, drive away potential customers and gain a bad rep for your company.

• Don’t drone on and on about yourself.  You’re really not that interesting.  Your business blog shouldn’t be a means to constantly promote your company – it needs to have value for the reader.  A little self-promotion here and there is fine, but keep it to a minimum.

• Don’t just repost stuff from other blogs. Especially if you fail to give credit to said blog, and make it look as if you wrote the content yourself.  That’s a great way to get negative attention.  It’ll also kill your search engine ranking – Google penalizes sites with duplicate content.

• Don’t constantly post negative things about your competitors.  You’ll come off as a bitter, elitist jerk – not exactly the image you want the public to have of you and your company.

Now, here are the do’s.  Follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way to blog success.  They’ll help you gain and keep readers, and that’s the point of a blog after all, isn’t it?

• Do write about relevant topics.  Your business blog posts should be related to your industry, your company or to business in general.  Don’t go off on tangents or include random uninteresting personal topics.  The idea of your blog is to gain an audience of readers that look to your blog for expert information on a given topic.

• Do write in plain English with proper grammar and spelling.  You might be tempted to use industry lingo that makes you sound like an expert (and you do want to present yourself as an expert in your field), but it’ll confuse and turn off readers.  Stick to plain English.  Oh, and if you’re a terrible writer, please hire someone.  There’s nothing worse than trying to read a meandering, poorly written post that barely makes sense and/or sounds unintelligent.

• Do keep your posts concise. You’re not writing a book.  Posts should be just long enough to relay important information, tips or news.  Leave out unnecessary details, avoid flowery language and keep paragraphs short and easy to read.

• Do post regularly enough to maintain an audience.  If you randomly publish new posts once or twice a month, your blog won’t be memorable enough for people to keep coming back.  Checking for new posts and always seeing the same thing gets tiresome.  You should update at least once a week – preferably more than that – so readers have fresh content that makes visiting your blog worth their time.

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Getting documents printed up at a print shop like Kinko’s can either be really easy or a big hassle, depending on the task at hand and who’s at the counter.  For small jobs, you probably won’t have to much trouble getting them done correctly (the first time) in a timely manner – but then there are those last-minute, super-important jobs that just can’t be messed up.  In those cases, take these tips to heart: they might just save you from a whole lot of stress.

Before you go in, have your files formatted correctly and saved to a thumb drive in clearly marked folders. Make sure to include source files as well as a text document clearly laying out all the job details: how many to print, what files to use, what size and type of paper, along with binding and finishing instructions. Be very specific. While most of the employees at print shops are very good at what they do, there are the occasional ones that seem unable to operate a copy machine, let alone give you the results you want without extremely explicit instructions.  If you spend enough time at Kinko’s, you’ll run into them.

Be courteous yet firm about your expectations. The last thing you want is to still be at Kinko’s hours after you expected to have your printed documents back at home or the office, but it happens.  Don’t lose your cool when the kid behind the counter gives you some lame excuse as to why your work isn’t ready yet. Keep in mind the fact that you’re paying them for a service, and if they mess it up, they’ve got to fix it somehow. That may mean bumping other jobs to complete yours faster, giving you a free color upgrade or having 25% taken off the final bill.

Bring your laptop to ward off that worst-case scenario. If you have something important to get out the door, don’t rely solely on media like CDs and thumb drives – things happen. Bring your laptop and have them check your disk/drive before you leave. If a file is corrupted or a sector lost you can boot up your computer and break off another copy. Most Kinko’s have thumb drives that you can use to do the backup transfer.

Haggle. If you have a big job and do a lot of business with them, get face to face with someone managerial and ask for another 10% off in light of all the loyal business you throw them. Then post about it on your blog or Twitter stream to give them some love back.

Buy a stash of paper. If you find one kind of paper that really makes your brochures pop, don’t assume it’ll be in stock every time you go. Copy shops don’t switch out paper types often, but it happens and when it does you’ll be in for a lot of testing to find a good replacement.  While you might be able to find it elsewhere – or order directly from the manufacturer, if you’re really desperate – you might as well just stock up on the kind you like, just in case.

Avoid peak hours to get your job done faster. You know the drill – during super busy times, when there’s a line 8 people deep and a pile of back jobs, it’s far more likely that something will go wrong with your order – or at the very least, you’ll have to deal with cranky salespeople. If you’re not pressed for time, try to make it in while it’s slow. You’ll get the desk jockey’s full attention- late at night is often best.

When you can do it yourself, do it yourself. Don’t rely on Kinko’s to do design or prep work. Go in with your files ready to print in the right format and size. Make it clear you don’t expect any setup charges since your files are perfectly prepped. It’ll save you money, time and hassle.

Get to know the good employees. Take the time to chat with them, be friendly, help their work day go by quicker. They’ll be more likely to personally make sure your print job is done right, which can be really helpful if you go in frequently. Plus, if you become pals with the good ones, they’ll hook you up.

Photo credit: Flickr user morisette.martin

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Team building getaways: you need only google the term to see how ubiquitous they are.  They’ve gotten more and more popular over recent years, getting wilder and crazier and often, less worthy of the time and money spent on them. That’s because instead of focusing on how the ‘team building’ getaway is going to actually build relationships and encourage people to work together, many companies focus on outdoing each other with exotic locales and highly competitive activities.

Here’s the thing: you really don’t have to travel to China, force your employees to walk over hot coals (no, we’re not making that up) or engage in demeaning contests that involve things like eating baby food and swatting contest losers on the buttocks with the competition’s signage (yes, that really happened). These things will not build camaraderie, increase sales or motivate employees.  They’ll alternately cost you an arm and a leg that you’ll never see again, anger and alienate your staff or possibly get you sued.

Poorly planned team building getaways can be a disaster.  If the activities aren’t well thought out, they can turn into competitive madness that pits employees against each other instead of helping them figure out how to work together.  And competitiveness isn’t the point here.  Get your team all fired up to work against each other and you’ll likely end up bringing out their worst.  There’s also the ROI: you’ve got to factor in the cost of the getaway including the activities, transportation, food, accommodation and man-hours spent away from the office.  It may be more expensive than you think, so determine a budget ahead of time and go from there.

A few quick tips for planning a successful team-building getaway:

Go to a professional. Research corporate getaways and talk to someone who can help you find something that works for your budget and needs.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does it have to take up an entire weekend or take place far from home.  Just getting out of the office into a neutral environment can help forge connections between co-workers, which is a good thing for daily operations at your company.

Lose the competitive edge. The idea is to plan activities that have a common goal for all participants, so they’re forced to work together to achieve success. This helps people learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and see how they can depend upon each other.

Keep it structured.  If you don’t have events planned throughout the getaway, odds are you’ll end up with an unfocused group of employees spending too much time at the bar.  At the same time, you’ll want to mix in some fun with the team-building activities, like a sports game.

Image via Sports Corp Elite

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Ah, the internet.  It has made life so much easier for business owners.  Everything that used to take up untold amounts of time and effort can now be done in a flash on the net, and that includes money management.  The things you can do online these days include tracking your money, putting away savings and managing invoices, among many others.  We’ve tracked down 3 of the most useful online tools that will make managing your money easier and faster so you can concentrate on doing what you do best.

Quicken Online – Intuit released an online version of their popular money management software earlier this year.  What’s so great about this – especially for small business owners who don’t employ bookkeepers – is that they’ve made it as streamlined and easy to understand as possible.  It’s specifically designed for people who aren’t exactly finance whizzes, connecting all of your financial accounts and aggregating all of your financial info in one place. It auto-updates with all of your financial information each day and assigns categories based on your expenses, like ‘rent’, ‘utilities’, ‘credit cards’ and ‘office supplies’.   And, if you need help, support staff are just a click away.  One caveat: it doesn’t support investment tracking.  If you need a more robust program, you may want to look into Intuit’s QuickBooks Online Edition.

ING Direct – The advantage to an online savings account over a traditional bank savings account is a much higher interest rate, which can add up to substantially more money in your pocket.  ING Direct offers a business savings account with a current interest rate of 3.15% APY, so you can put your money to work without lifting a finger.  There are flexible savings account options for sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, corporations and not-for-profits.  No fees, no service charges.  It’s easy to use, and you can set up safe and secure access for up to three people.

FreshBooks – This online invoicing software is a big time-saver.  It’ll help you stay organized by telling you with a glance which invoices have already been paid.  You can easily create, send and track invoices, as well as tracking time and expenses for yourself and your staff.  You can choose to send invoices via snail mail or email, automatically send invoices and late payment notices, create robust reports and import/export your data.  You can take a tour or sign up for a free trial.

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Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun.  Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point:  really hard, and not much fun at all.

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle.

Maybe you’re in a Dip - a temporary setback that you will overcome if you keep pushing.  But maybe it’s really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you’ll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

Godin’s advice in The Dip is that every business reaches a difficult period after the honeymoon is over, and many business owners are tempted to quit.  On the other side of that difficult period (dip) is massive success as the leader in your field.  These ‘dips’ can actually give you the motivation you need to power through – if you believe you can be the best in the world at what you do.  In fact, the biggest dips – which Godin refers to as ‘Valleys of Death’ -  weed out non-committed competitors.

Perhaps the book’s strongest point is its cold-hard-reality take on those ‘dips’ that just aren’t going to get you anywhere.  Some people in business find themselves banging their heads against a brick wall, and there’s no way out – in the book, this is described with a model called ‘the cul-de-sac’, and the only thing on the other side is failure, no matter how hard you work.  Sometimes, it’s because you’re in the wrong business.  The Dip helps you determine whether your personal struggles are worth fighting or if you’d be better off moving on.  It’s a valuable lesson that many people could use some pointers on.

The best thing about The Dip is that Godin has taken this familiar concept and explained it in a way that was easy to understand.  It’s meant to fire people up to take action.  The Dip will help you take inventory of your own situation and decide whether you should quit while you’re ahead or put everything you’ve got into making it to the other side.  It’s full of good advice, and definitely worth a read.

Link [The Dip]

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For entrepreneurs, the home office is usually where it all starts.  You certainly spend a lot of your time there hatching ideas, going over paperwork, doing research and making phone calls.  So, why sit around in an uninspiring environment with stale air and piles of paper on every surface?  Beyond the stress factor and the benefits of giving yourself a fresh start, greening up your workspace will make you feel good about your impact on the environment. Give your home office a mini green makeover in no time flat with these 5 tips that will help you sit back, relax and let business flow.

Switch to CFLs. This is nearly always the first suggestion on any ‘easy green tips’ list, with good reason.  CFLs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs, and they last far longer.  If you’ve waited to switch because you’ve heard that CFL light quality isn’t as good, give them another chance – far better versions have become available recently.

Cut back on the amount of paper you use, and recycle the rest. Going (nearly) paperless in your office is easy – check out our previous post on the subject for help.  For the paper you can’t avoid using, keep a recycling bin next to your desk.  Having less paper around isn’t just earth-friendly, the reduced clutter will help you feel more relaxed.

Buy Energy Star equipment.  Look for computers, printers, scanners, phones and other office equipment that bear the Energy Star label.  Energy Star products are designed to use far less energy than their conventional counterparts, so they’ll save you money and reduce your consumption of resources all at once.  While you’re at it, set your machines on power-saving mode, also.

Choose your supplies wisely.  Buy reusable items rather than disposables whenever possible, go with recycled paper and envelopes, and buy in bulk whenever possible.  It’s also a great idea to search for used items at garage sales, thrift stores, consignment stores and online at sites like eBay and Craigslist.  All of these things will keep your consumption of new goods that will someday end up in the trash to a minimum.

Keep the air fresh with live plants.  Plants don’t just literally green up your office environment, they also purify the air.  A two-year study by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America proved that select household plants can remove such toxins as benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air.  These chemicals are especially common in offices because they are present in inks, paper, plastic, rubber and pressed wood products.  Some good choices for your plants include bamboo palm, English ivy, Chinese evergreen and peace lilies.

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