Everyone needs to know what business they’re in and they need to be able to express that purpose in a few sentences in their USA.

Using product enhancement towards helping with your current mission statement, should help determine your business as a leading provider. For ex; if you’re a plumber, you’re not in the business of plumbing. If you’re a carpet cleaner, you’re not in the business of carpet cleaning. You’re in the business of marketing plumbing or marketing carpet cleaning services.

Your mission statement is what is best for you. You can constantly measure all of your activities then to the mission of your company. You can further measure the success by the success of your clients or customers. The more successful your customers are in getting the benefits from you, the more successful you will be in growing your business.

If you’re currently not generating the volume of business you want, your customers aren’t purchasing as much as you want them to.

Here’s an exercise that you should go through periodically to evaluate ways you can make your product or service better, and thereby either increase sales or extend your product or service life cycle.

Get out a piece of paper and answer the following questions.

1. Write down not what your product or service is, but the need or desire of your target market that you have perceived.
2. Brainstorm other ways to fulfill that need in ways other than through the use of your current product or service.
3. List all the obvious and not so-obvious features of your product or service.
4. Enhance your product or service with alternative ways to fulfill your customer’s needs based on the ways you Brainstormed in #2.
5. Identify your USA versus your competitor’s and any other alternative products or services.
6. Create five different front and back-end up sell scenarios for each product and service you intend to offer. You can encompass one of these attributes in each sale scenario that you come up with.
7. Determine how best to incorporate incentives for getting your prospects to buy. You want them to buy, buy now, and buy from you.

Don’t limit yourself to the list below, but here are some additional ways you can begin. These are reasons customers typically patronize a certain business. Identify major sales advantages that you have over your competition.

Low price Top quality convenient location Friendly employees Knowledgeable employees Nice business surroundings Fair credit or return policy Good selection Convenient hours

The important thing about running a small business is to know the direction in which you’re heading; to know on a day-to-day basis your progress in that very direction; to be aware of what your competitors are doing and to practice good money management at all times. All this will prepare you to recognize potential problems before they arise.

In order to survive with a small business, regardless of the economic climate, it is essential to surround yourself with smart people, and practice sound business management at all times.

About the author:
Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media,
a company that helps online businesses find new
leads and more customers without spending a fortune.
http://www.multiplestreammktg.com

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine. Business is up he said, but he didn’t know why. I asked him a few questions, but the more we spoke about it the more concerned I became.

“What do you mean, you don’t know why they’re buying?”

“We never know why they buy,” he told me.

“Never?“

“Nope. They just do.”

My friend thinks he knows what is great about his product. They believe they understand it’s applications, they just don’t understand what drives sales.

And there’s something else - it has to do with pricing and profits.

Since they don’t really know why customers buy from them, it follows that they don’t understand the full value customers get from their products. So they don’t know what to charge! They discount to make sales - since they don’t fully understand the customer’s pain points - and that means - they always leave lots of money on the table.

When times are tough - and many people are feeling squeezed these days - there is tendency to panic. Who wouldn’t? The economy, the financial markets, and now - terrorism. I read where a group of psychiatrists saying the country was on the brink of a nervous breakdown!

That’s certainly not what I want for my customers! Is that what you want for yours?

I think this question can be a profitable one. What do you want for your customers? I started thinking about this and came up with a few others for you to ask yourself.

Why do you want to serve your customers? What do you love about your particular customers? Are they perfect customers? If not, who would be? Describe them.

Case Studies and the Value Proposition

So I began thinking about my friend’s sales problem - which brought me to thinking about a favorite topic of mine - the value proposition. Not in the sense of your USP, but in the sense of - what is the value of your product (or service) to your customer?

In other words, what is your product worth? How much - in money terms - does your customer save or earn when they use whatever it is you sell? Can you quantify that?

If you can’t, well - you need to. It will make it much easier to sell.

But it’s too complicated - we can’t really say what they get from it.
No wonder you have trouble selling when times get tough. If you knew what it was worth, and it was worth more than you were selling it for, you’d have customers lining up pounding on your door for it.

You have to go out and do case studies. Exactly why did they buy. Exactly what is the application. Exactly how much more did they earn because of it and how did they earn it. Or, exactly how much did they save because of it and how did they save it. Get five or six of those and you’ll be able to build a return-on-investment case for any prospect, and damn the economy. Which brings me to one last thing - the holy trinity of repeat sales.

Up-sell, Re-sell and Cross-sell What is your best possible source of revenue right now, bar none?

Your existing customers, right? Of course - they always are. Which means you should have a regular program to stay in contact.

What are you doing about repeat customer sales? When was the last time you contacted each customer, and made them an offer of some kind? What - you’re waiting for them to call you?

Conclusion: You’ve got to contact your customers. Under any pretext, for any reason.

Why? To solidify and maintain your relationships, and reconfirm why you want to do business with them. To understand your value from their perspective. And lastly, to make sure they are being served properly and to sell them everything they need.

About the author:
Paul Lemberg is the President of Quantum Growth Coaching: More Profits and More Life for Entrepreneurs, Guaranteed. To get your copy of our free report with detailed steps to grow your business at least 40% faster, go to www.fastergrowthnow.com

Do You Really Need a Toll-Free Number for Your Business? The answer is YES! If you run a home business, whether it’s a direct sales business, a part-time venture, or if you work full-time from home, if you don’t have a toll-free number, you could be leaving money on the table.

Studies show that a potential client is 50% more likely to contact a business who has a toll-free number. Marketing via the internet draws potential clients from all over the globe. That’s what makes the internet such a powerful money-making vessel.

A lot of businesses just starting out try to cut corners and may assume that a toll-free number is too expensive. This could not be farther from the truth. These days, you don’t have to spend a fortune for toll-free service.

When I started my business, I found out about a very reasonable toll-free service provider called Kall8. With Kall8, there is only a $2.00 set up fee. You get to choose your phone number from a list of available numbers. Once you do this, there is a low $2.00/month base charge and 6.9 cents per minute. You will have instant access and can set up your account the way you want. They offer tons of services such as:

• Instant Activation
• Secure Web Account Management
• Detailed Call Reporting
• Interactive Voice Response
• Custom Call Routing
• Voicemail
• Caller ID
• Conferencing
• Inbound Fax

These are only a few of the many features included in the flat $2.00/month fee. With the custom call routing feature, I have my calls set up to go directly to my cell phone so that I can still receive my business calls while I am away from home. When my cell phone rings, I know it’s a business call because it will show my toll free number, then I can answer it in a professional way. I have been using Kall8 for over 2 years and never had a problem with their service. Their competitors charge 5 times more for less calling features.

Direct sales representatives, work at home moms, new and experienced internet entrepreneurs can take their business to new heights with toll-free service. Couldn’t your business use a boost?

About the author:
Dana Williams is a work-at-home mom and internet entrepreneur. She offers mothers information on starting and growing their own home businesses. She offers a free newsletter with free tips, tools, and articles on making your business a success. Visit her online at http://www.danawilliams.comTo order Kall8 toll-free service, go to
http://kall8.danawilliams.com