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Five Signs You’re Losing a Sale — And How to Save It
By sns at 5 February, 2012, 2:23 pm
Five Signs You’re Losing a Sale — And How to Save It
BY JANE PORTER
Marla Kaye could not afford to lose this deal. She had watched sales at You Name It Promotions, her Oakland, Calif.-based promotional products company, drop by more than half since the start of the recession–from $3.5 million in 2007 to $1.5 million [...]
The Most Overlooked Market for Small Business
By sns at 2 February, 2012, 4:33 pm
The Most Overlooked Market for Small Business
BY CAROL TICE
Landing a fat, ongoing contract can be a small business owner’s ticket to financial security. But many companies don’t want to go through the red tape of becoming a government contractor.
That’s OK, because there’s another kind of big contract — the kind you get from a Fortune [...]
How to Find Sales Leads on Social Media
By sns at 1 February, 2012, 7:33 pm
How to Find Sales Leads on Social Media
How a gourmet cupcake shop drove sales using social media without driving away customers — and how you can, too.
BY BRIAN QUINTON
When it comes to using social media for any purpose, including lead generation, marketers need to recognize and live by a fundamental truth: It’s not about them. [...]
Mentors: A Young Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon
By sns at 28 January, 2012, 5:36 pm
Mentors: A Young Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon
BY ADAM TOREN
You need a good idea. Startup cash can make a real difference. Business experience and savvy also help, of course. But to take advantage of the most powerful weapon an entrepreneur can have, find a mentor.
A good mentor helps you think through a business idea, suggests ways to [...]
Seven Tips for Selling to Big Businesses
By sns at 18 January, 2012, 4:24 pm
Seven Tips for Selling to Big Businesses
BY CAROL TICE
What does it really take to sell to big corporations?
It turns out, many small businesses make some basic blunders in trying to sell to Fortune 500 companies, according to Hewlett-Packard’s director of global supplier diversity and sustainability Brian Tippens and Dun & Bradstreet’s senior analytical consultant Phyllis [...]
How to Expand a Contact Database to Find More Customers
By sns at 12 January, 2012, 5:03 pm
How to Expand a Contact Database to Find More Customers
Consider these tips for building a robust contact list on a budget.
BY SHERYL JOHNSON
Have more customers, money and time than you know what to do with? Many entrepreneurs always seem to be struggling with finding the time and money to market effectively. Expanding a contact database [...]
Inside the Mind of Your Buyers
By sns at 7 January, 2012, 3:40 pm
Inside the Mind of Your Buyers
A look at what motivates customers to buy — and six ways to tailor your sales pitch.
BY JANE PORTER
No two customers are the same. To a small-business owner, that truism means paying close attention to what motivates people to buy. Customers approach buying with their own agenda, says George W. [...]
How to Conquer Your Sales Fears
By sns at 29 December, 2011, 10:53 am
How to Conquer Your Sales Fears
Five common sales worries business owners face — and ways you can combat them to close the deal.
BY LISA GIRARD
The expression, “He could sell ice to an Eskimo,” acknowledges that certain people are born salespeople.
For most small-business owners, however, the selling process is anything but easy. In fact, when it [...]
Seven Essential Apps for Your Sales Team
By sns at 17 December, 2011, 3:57 pm
Seven Essential Apps for Your Sales Team
BY SEAN CAPTAIN
Salespeople need not only charm and have a strong nerve, but also be extraordinarily organized. That first meeting with a client might not go anywhere if you don’t remember to follow up in a timely manner. And if you forget a key name or conversation, forget about [...]
Three Lessons a Serial Tech Entrepreneur Learned from Bill Gates
By sns at 3 December, 2011, 6:45 pm
Three Lessons a Serial Tech Entrepreneur Learned from Bill Gates
BY ERICA SWALLOW
What can you learn about entrepreneurship after seven years at technology behemoth Microsoft? Quite a lot, says serial entrepreneur and former Microsoft senior executive Naveen Jain.
Jain, who was a project and group manager at Microsoft from 1989 to 1996, has founded three companies — [...]
Seven Rules for Coping with Sales Rejection
By sns at 25 November, 2011, 4:17 pm
Seven Rules for Coping with Sales Rejection
BY JANE PORTER
Mark Carlson couldn’t even look at the phone without feeling anxious about being rejected by prospective clients. Soon, sales at T. Charles Wilson Insurance Service, the Aurora, Colorado, firm he bought three years ago, began to decline, dropping from $1.6 million in 2009 to $1.4 million last [...]
How to Tell Your Business Story in 60 Seconds or Less
By sns at 16 November, 2011, 9:07 am
How to Tell Your Business Story in 60 Seconds or Less
BY CARMINE GALLO
I recently spoke at LeWeb, a large technology conference in Paris that’s filled with entrepreneurs pitching to venture capital investors who are looking for the next big thing. In such situations where many people are vying for attention, the entrepreneurs who stand out [...]
Forget Networking. Be a Connector
By sns at 5 November, 2011, 2:51 pm
Forget Networking. Be a Connector
BY ALINA TUGEND
We all know people like them, people who seem to know everyone. They’re always able to help — or if they can’t, they know someone who can. You meet them for the first time and in 15 minutes, you’re talking with them like you’re childhood friends. They’re successful, smart [...]
How To Get Past The Gatekeeper
By sns at 23 October, 2011, 10:29 am
How To Get Past The Gatekeeper
Whenever I talk about Getting Past the Gatekeeper, the secretaries, receptionists, assistants, voice mail, anyone and/or anything that blocks access, I’ve taken to pointing to Donald Trump. The question I ask: “If Donald Trump were to call your prospect, and that prospect’s secretary were to say to him, ‘What is [...]
Answered: Copper Cathodes, LME Prices, and Mine Mandate
By sns at 14 October, 2011, 11:47 am
Answered: Copper Cathodes, LME Prices, and Mine Mandate
Question:
“The first commodity that we are targeting is Copper Cathode Sheets, most suppliers of whom seem to
be selling per MT at between 5 - 25% less market price on London Metal Exchange, does that sound right?
I have been in correspondence with a Mandate for 2 different mines that [...]
SMEs Can Reach Target Markets More Efficiently Through B2b Portals
By sns at 3 October, 2011, 5:35 pm
SMEs Can Reach Target Markets More Efficiently Through B2b Portals
By: sanjeev pandey
B2B (business-to-business) portals are becoming way of doing business for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These portals facilitate in establishing new trading relationships between companies and they also supports the existing relationships. It can be termed as an e-market place. A B2B portal primarily [...]
IMPORTANT on Performance Bonds and Fraud - Banks deal in finance not contracts
By sns at 25 September, 2011, 2:06 pm
IMPORTANT on Performance Bonds and Fraud - Banks deal in finance not contracts
This is an important topic - so we will keep it short and sweet. For more insights on this, see Davide Papa’sInternational Trade and the Successful Intermediary. It is available at Amazon.com.
My small e-course - “Trade Fraud, Financial Fraud, and the Joker Broker” may [...]
8 ideas to get past the gatekeeper to find the decision-maker
By sns at 15 September, 2011, 6:15 pm
8 ideas to get past the gatekeeper to find the decision-maker
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The Question :
How do you get past the gatekeeper to find the decision-maker? If the name of the decision maker is known, is there any potential pitfall in stating to the gatekeeper, “This is my name and I am calling for Mr. Johnson,” instead of [...]
When does a MT 103 get used?
By sns at 3 September, 2011, 10:57 am
When does a MT 103 get used?
One question that many prospective traders and brokers ask is “when does a MT 103 get used?”
The answer may surprise you..
It doesn’t matter. Honestly, go talk to any banker. SWIFT MT103 is the format of the internal SWIFTMessage Type code designating a wire transfer, also commonly known as a TT transfer [...]
The DeLuca Maneuver - How to Reach “Live” Decision Makers
By sns at 21 August, 2011, 6:32 pm
The DeLuca Maneuver - How to Reach “Live” Decision Makers
by Jim Domanski
Suppose… just suppose for a minute that you had a sure fire way of determining if your key customers or prospects were actually at their desks and available for your call.
Would that make your sales life easier? What would it do for your contact [...]
