'Twas the 5 C's of Credit...

‘Twas the 5 C’s of credit and all around town, people were wondering why the bank had turned them down! They had never heard these words before, and were surprised when the banker said they couldn’t lend them anymore.

Character  Is the first thing the bank will review. What is your credit rating and past history too? Do you have any bills that you have been paying late? How about a student loan that you forgate? Check your credit report and score before going, so you will take care of any issues and be all knowing.

Capital   Is the second thing banks like to see. They’ll ask, "Do you have any skin in the game?" Yes-siree! The underwriter’s will want you to put around 20% down, just to make sure you will not flee the town.

Collateral   Is the third area banks like to have. Do you own anything of value that they can grab? It needs to cover the loan amount in full; and property, a CD or real estate is good.

Capacity   Is the fourth and again, you may wonder. The bank will want to see that the business will be profitable and not go under. All should be covered, including expenses, payroll, and the loan too. Be prepared to provide financial history and projections for years 1 and 2. That will make it easier for a banker to say "I do"!

Conditions   Is last, and what does that mean? Well, sir, it’s just one little thing. How has the economy been fairing these days? Regulators will give the bank’s portfolio a gaze. They want to make sure that the loan will be paid, and this has been making business people a little plagued.

With all of these C’s is there anything else? Yes, you will need to personally guarantee the loan itself.

That is the story, and if you want to borrow some funds, make sure you have covered every single one!

Happy New Year!

Have you shopped for a cell phone recently?

A little while back it was time for my family to get new cell phones. Our oldest children upgraded to the latest and greatest Apple and Droid products, I chose a slick Droid with a pull out keyboard (I have found them easier to type on) and we were looking for a simple, non-web enabled cell phone for our youngest to use for text and calls.  I was astonished to find that the phone selection in this category was severally limited and extremely over priced. As parents, we decided to wait another year before making a cell phone purchase for our youngest and, when she is a little bit older,  then getting her a smartphone.

What struck me most about this scenario is if the cell phone manufacturers are cutting back on producing non-web enabled phones for purchase, what does this mean for small business? After researching the statistics it was apparent that the number of smart phone users are growing exponentially. According to eMail Marketing Reports (www.email-marketing-reports.com) Nielsen reported that 46% of cell phone owners in the US have a smartphone as of 4Q2011; ComScore estimates that the average US smartphone ownership is 98 million people during this time; and a Pew Internet Project survey from February 2012 found that 46% of US adults owned a smartphone with the figure increasing to 71% among 25-34 year-olds.

Considering the statistics, if you are a business owner, and you have a website,is it enabled for mobile browsers? I know myself that almost all my internet surfing is now done via my smartphone. I use it to look up addresses, "google" products, read emails, check the weather, track my weekly exercise, etc. I also know how frustrating it is when I search for a businesses website, and it is not enabled for my phone browser. The page is huge, the print is tiny, and it is frustrating to maneuver. So I  usually skip that website and look for another that fits my phone screen.

I am sure my experience is not unique, so my question to you all is, how many potential customers are turning away from your website because it is not enabled for a smartphone? If you have not already done so, I encourage you to talk to your website developer and get this done. Do not miss out on this growing market. Not only will it be easier for your customers to utilize your website, you will also be on the cutting edge of this growing trend...ahead of many of your competitors! You do not want your customers thinking you are old fashioned or, even worse, not ever giving your business a chance in the first place.

If you need help finding a website developer, the Athens Small Business Development Center can provide you with local resources. Call or email me today to set up an initial consultation. As always, our consulting services are FREE and CONFIDENTIAL.

If you want to learn more about our services, go to our website at www.GeorgiaSBDC.org.

Happy September!

 

SBA National Preparedness Free Webinar Seriews

          SBA    News Advisory

PRESS OFFICE                  

 

Advisory  Date:  August 20, 2012	Contact:  Carol Chastang (202) 205-6987
Advisory Number: GA-MA12-22	Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Blogs

Get Your Business Ready For Any Kind of Disaster at

Free National Preparedness Month Webinar Series

WASHINGTON – This summer millions of business across the country were forced to close their doors in the aftermath of power outages, approaching wildfires, and flooding caused by tropical storms.  Business interruptions, even if it lasts just a few hours, cost business owners greatly in terms of lost productivity and profits.

You can get help with your own business preparedness planning through a series of free webinars hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery.   The September series is presented in collaboration with FEMA’s Ready Campaign, as part of National Preparedness Month.  SBA wants to help business owners take charge of the well-being of their own companies, the safety of their employees, and the sustenance of their local economies by being prepared to rebound quickly from any kind of disaster.

Here’s a list of the webinars, held each Wednesday in September at 2 p.m. ET:

Sept. 5:   “10 Steps to Prepare Any Organization for Disaster” with an introduction from James Rivera, Associate Administrator for SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. 

Sept. 12: “Protecting Your Organization by Preparing Your Employees”

Sept. 19: “Utilization of Social Media During a Crisis”

Sept. 26: “Surviving a Crisis, Large or Small: Real Life Lessons Learned” Business owners who recovered from disasters discuss their proactive emergency planning.

A question and answer session will follow each of the presentations.  Go to http://www2.agilityrecovery.com/npm to register for any of the webinars. 

SBA has partnered with Agility to offer business continuity strategies through their “PrepareMyBusiness” website. Visit www.preparemybusiness.org to access past webinars and for useful preparedness tools. 

Brand Marketing: What it is and why is it important to you?

I talk to business owners every day about effectively branding their business identity. Some people do not realize the necessity of branding their business when they are small, but it makes a big difference when your target market is trying to identify who you are and what you do.

So, what is branding? Branding is an image/slogan/logo that identifies what your business does and who it does it for. An effective brand makes your business instantly recognizable to your target audience. Branding needs to be consistent. Often small businesses do not realize the strength of instant recognition their business can gain by effectively branding their business. Additionally, consistency is also very important. You need to have your brand be the same on your business cards, website, brochures, emails, newsletters, signs, etc. The desired outcome is that when a potential customer sees your brand, they will recognize it as your business.

Let's look at some examles effective branding. Of course there are the biggies, Apple’s (Apple© all rights reserved) (www.apple.com) iconic apple with a bite out of it, Nike’s (Nike© all rights reserved) (www.nike.com) famous swoosh & “Just Do It” or most recently "Find your Greatness"; but local businesses can have strong brands as well. Examples here in Athens, Ga, are Jittery Joe’s ©(www.jitteryjoes.com) with the flaming cup of coffee, when you see it you know its a business all about coffee; and Your Pie® (www.yourpie.com) with the pizza paddle, “Your Pie®” and the slogan "Express your inner pizza®". When you see that logo and slogan you know that the business sells personalized pizza.

Wow, you're probably thinking. "Those brands are so great! But how do I come up with a great brand?" I recommend hiring a good advertising / marketing agency to help you design a brand for your business.  If you need referrals, shoot me an email and I can pass along some resources. And, like the examples above, make sure it is not already in use and be sure to trademark (™), register (®) and/or copywrite (©) your logo/slogan so someone else will not use it as well.

Happy Branding!





Questions, comments,  or concerns? Leave me a note and let’s discuss!

Six Best Hiring Practices that Make $en$e

Georgia Trend Small Business Guide recently published my article, "Six Best Hiring Practices that Make Sense". I have abbreviated the article below, but to read its entirety go to: www.georgiatrend.com , Small Business Guide, 2012/2013.

1.       Develop a job description:  Make sure your new employee fits into your long-term business strategy by analyzing your goals when developing and prioritizing key position requirements. 

2.       Recruit Qualified Applicants: Start by asking associates, friends and family for applicant referrals or post the opening on your website, business Face Book page, LinkedIn profile or company Twitter account.

3.       Screen Candidates:  Objectively evaluate resumes using a screening form based on the job description, tasks and specifications; make note of any questions or clarifications needed when talking with the candidates. Sort and categorize applicants as: not qualified, meets minimum qualifications and meets preferred qualifications.

4.       Interview Process: Utilize a short phone interview to pre-screen candidates, using the screening form and by asking your job description related questions. 

 The second interview should be at your business, again consisting of job description related questions.  Ask open ended questions and observe the candidate’s body language while they respond.  Remember you cannot ask a candidate about their age, race, creed, sexual orientation or marital status. Discuss your business goals, mission and any important facts about job performance expectations.  At the end of the interview ask the candidate if they have any questions and request professional references.   

If possible, set up a third interview with a trusted advisor.  Finish by letting candidates know when a decision will be made. Never hire on the spot and always check references!  Take the time to carefully consider all the candidates interviewed before making a decision. Hiring the wrong person could be a costly mistake.

5.       Make an offer:  After acceptance of a verbal offer, follow up with a written offer letter and a date the decision needs to be made by. Include any employment contingencies, such as passing a background check or drug screen. 

6.       Employee On-boarding: Complete all federal and state documents as required. For a list of what is needed, go to: www.SBA.gov and search on “Hiring Your First Employee”. 

Happy Summer!

Question, Comments or Concerns? Leave me a post and let's discuss...

SBA Offers Free Town Hall, Forums on Social Media, Exporting, and Contracting During National Small Business Week

WASHINGTON – Small business owners looking for ways to grow and develop their businesses are invited to take part in National Small Business Week’s free networking and educational forums and dialogue with leading business experts during National Small Business Week, May 20-22 in Washington, D.C. 

The U.S. Small Business Administration and its private sector partners are holding key business forums, and are encouraging small business owners and entrepreneurs to sign up, register and spread the word to other small businesses interested in attending. 

The free forums include a town hall with SBA Administrator Karen Mills on how small businesses are good for the long-term health of any economy; a social media forum on best practices for putting new media tools to work for small businesses; and an exporting forum on how SBA can help businesses find customers abroad.  The schedule also includes sessions on federal contracting, selling to large companies, and business matchmaking with major corporations and government agencies.

The town hall and forum events will be webcast live to allow business owners across the country to participate if they cannot attend in person. While registration is required to attend forums and sessions in person (onsite registration will be provided), the live online webcast will be available free at www.NationalSmallBusinessWeek.com.  To register to attend, find more information on the live webcast, or for a detailed schedule of events and speakers, visit the National Small Business Week website at www.NationalSmallBusinessWeek.com.

All events will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Conference Center, 1330 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, D.C.  The scheduled forums include:

·         Town Hall Meeting – Small Businesses Creating an Economy Built to Last

·         Exporting Forum – Taking Your Business Global

·         Social Media Forum – Join the Conversation (hosts will take your questions in person and on Twitter using the hashtag #SBW2012)

·         Federal Contracting Educational Sessions – Small businesses will learn how to market themselves to the federal government and go after government contracting opportunities

·         How Small Businesses can win Big with Large Companies – Small businesses will learn how to work with large companies to sell their products.

WHEN: May 20, 2012 – Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Conference Center

                                3:00 pm –  5:00 pm                 How Small Businesses can win Big with Large Companies with Holly Bohn, founder and creative director of See Jane Work 

Increasing Sales Using Customer Follow Up

What I find most perplexing is when I contact a small business owner for some type of service or product and never hear back from them! Follow up is very important to building the customer relationship and increasing your opportunity for sales. Not only when a customer is initially calling you, but when you are following up with a new or existing customer about your product or service.

Here is an example of how follow up can result in building a relationship or closing a sale. You contact a potential customer and they are busy, not interested, just purchased, etc. Your initial reaction may be to just move on to the next customer and forget about them. What I propose is asking the customer permission to get back in touch with them... “Could I give you a call back in two weeks to see if you had a chance to look over my proposal/brochure/etc?” If the customer says yes, make a note of it and be sure to call them back. When you contact them again after the wait, start your conversation by saying… “ I recall when we spoke two weeks ago you were in the process of selecting a product/service to…” This restarts the conversation and puts your business right back in front of them. What should you do if a customer says they are not interested? Ask them when it would be a good time to follow up with them, say in a month or next quarter. By asking permission to follow up, and then doing so, you are starting to build their trust in you and develop a relationship.

Statistics have shown that you need to contact a customer 7 to 8 times for them to try your product or service. Using follow up, you are more likely to contact them when they are ready to make a purchase decision. It is also important that when you are contacting a customer to try to find out what their current needs are and fulfill those needs with your product/service. If it is not an area you can help them with, refer them to someone that can. Building relationships and sales are based on trust, reliability and a great product/service that meets the customer’s needs.

I suggest combing through your existing customer database and reaching out to your previous customers. Has it been awhile since you have contacted them? Call them, send a thank you card, email or postcard letting your customers know you appreciate their business. Get the conversation going again and remind them that you are there to help with their needs. Follow up is a great way to build relationships, cement those deals and grow your revenues. Good luck!

Questions, comments or concerns…leave me a post & let’s chat!

The Art of Cold Calling

How should a business owner make initial contact with a potential customer to introduce his/her product or service? Some believe that an email is the most effective and efficient way. But what kind of response rate does one get? In my experience with cold calling, I have found that sending an email is sometimes not the most effective way to make an initial contact. I recommend (and have used) the method of sending a letter, on nice letterhead and envelope, to a prospect introducing yourself, your product/service and closing with "I will be contacting you in a couple of weeks to answer any questions you may have". It is also a nice touch to enclose a brochure about your product/service. Most importantly, I then  make sure to contact that person. I have found this to be a lot more effective than emails. With an email it is too easy to delete, you're never sure if the email was received in their inbox (it could go straight to trash) and it could just be another in hundreds of emails your prospect receives. Also, it gives you something to talk about when you finally make contact "I was following up on the letter I sent you a couple of weeks ago to see if you had any questions. Is now a good time to chat or should I call you back at a better time?" A letter is also novel and shows effort on your part. By using templates you can pre-fill customer information to give your letter a personal feel, even when sending out in a targeted mass mailing. Most importantly with cold calling is persistence! It often takes 7 to 8 “touches” or contact with a potential customer to get them to give you a try. However, persistence does not mean being a pest. Ask the potential customer when you should get back in touch with them. And, once again, be sure to follow up! Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Questions, comments or concerns…leave me a post & let’s chat!

I don't have any competition...

How important is it to know what your competition is doing? Or, do you even understand who your competition is?  One thing I hear often from clients, especially those looking to start a new business is, “I don’t have any competition.” Really? I find this surprising, because you always have competition, direct or indirect. To understand this better, let’s take a movie theater as an example. Say you are starting a new movie theater in a town where there are no other existing movie theaters. You may think you do not have any direct competition; but, you have indirect competition. If your target customer has money to spend on entertainment, they may have a choice of going shopping, out to dinner, to a concert, or your movie theater. Also, they have a choice of staying home and renting a movie or watching TV. So, you see, there is competition. Now, take a moment to think about your business, and who your competition is. Jot it down on your business plan (the ever looming business plan from last November's post) under the "Competitor's" heading. Analyze  what your competition is doing. What is their product or service offering? Why is yours better or different? Who is their target customer? Who is yours? How are they marketing to their customers? How are you going to reach your customer to let them know about your product / service offerings over your competitors?  This is just some of the information you need to think about and monitor. If you would you like help on preparing a competitive analysis or developing a marketing plan, email or call for a free, confidential consulting session.

Questions, comments or concerns…leave me a post & let’s chat!

Goal Setting or Realistic New Year's Resolutions

January = Goal Setting!  My goal for 2012 is to lose 10 pounds, be a kinder, gentler person and increase my salary by X. Sounds great, right? But is it realistic? Is it achievable? Is it going to get me to where I want to be at the end of 2012?  When I googled "goal setting" a lot of information came up.  No surprise there, everyone has a sure-fire system to set goals. Wikipedia defines Goal setting [as a process that] "involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T) goals. "  So, my question to myself  is, are my goals specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted? If not, how can I make them so? How can you make S.M.A.R.T. goals for yourself and your business? First, start by looking at your business plan we discussed way back in November. What is it you would like to achieve in 2012? As an example, let's say it is to increase sales by 10%. OK, is that a realistic goal? How are you going to do that? The specific is the how behind the goal. Maybe you will contact 20 potential clients each month or set up a new marketing promotion. Now, how will you measure the goal? Just because you contacted 20 potential clients or set up the promotion, how many of those contacted turned into a sale? And how much should the sale = to get to the 10% increase by the end of 2012? Now you've got the specific and measurable. How about achievable? Can you personally contact 20 potential customers per month? Do you have the budget for a new promotion? Is this realistic? Now, how about the time-target? Is year-end a good time to look at where you are? Perhaps you should set up weekly, monthly and quarterly sub-goals to keep you on track. The process of S.M.A.R.T. will help you set up realistic goals this January. I'll work on making my goals more S.M.A.R.T. and you do the same! Post any questions, comments, or concerns and let's chat!