Customer management, accounting, inventory or order processing .. they are all part of the tools to succeed.

Have you ever used your debit card or written a check to find there was not enough money to cover the purchase?  It was embarrassing wasn’t it?  Made you mad probably.  “How could I have forgotten to record that last check I wrote” or “Did my wife write a check and not tell me”? Well, the problem is much more extensive in a business.  Keeping track of vendor bills, customer deposits and invoices and customer commitments is critical. In business c … Read More

via The Business Coach

Well, the problem is much more extensive in a business.  Keeping track of vendor bills, customer deposits and invoices and customer commitments is critical.

In business circles they refer to this information as Business Process and Systems.  Are you using your computer for no than more a word processor or an email device?

It does not cost near as much developing systems and processes as it does to see all your effort of building your business go down the tubes because you avoided this basic task.

Here is a challenge – while away from your desk (at home or quiet place) write down 10 issues that occurred this week that could have been avoided if you had the information to handle it.  It might have been a lost customer order, vendor expecting payment you did not know of or something as simple as a missing customer phone number or email address.

Use your computer as a tool.  Get the right software to manage your business.  In the end, you will be more efficient, productive and profitable.

I have personally helped 1,000′s of companies with evaluating process, systems and helping select the right one(s) for their business.

Contact me, Keith at coach@makenewrules.com

About three years ago, I started service business.  When I decided to do this, I immediately looked at the competition and saw a lot of opportunities to excel where they were not.  To start with, I looked at how the business were establishing their identity (brand).  This included looking at their locations, reviewing their websites,  and their advertising methods and messages.  The first thing I noticed was most of their websites to be no better than what my seven old year grandson could do.  Their advertising was very traditional.  Advertising included thousand dollar a month ads in the phone book, expensive television and radio ads.

The first thing I did was setup a website with a creative URL (web address).  I did a lot of work with SEO (search engine optimization )so that we could easily be found on Google, Yahoo and Bing(among 100′s of other search sites).  Customer testimonials and quoting online I felt was important, so I added them as well.  Our rankings quickly shot up to number one and have stayed that way for four years now.

I knew that advertising was necessary for a start up, so I immediately attacked this task by committing to a ninety day blitz on TV, Radio and the phone books (just like our competition).   Note: We started the business in 2008 right about the time the economy started going bust.  Guess what happened .. my expenses where greater than my income for at least the first 6 months of business.  It just about sunk us!  To top everything else, the cheapest and most effective advertising was my website that I did my self for almost nothing.  The traditional advertising methods of TV, Radio and phone book proved to ineffective and expensive to boot.

The cell phone ah the cell phone.  I kept reading and hearing about how people are going to start using cell phones to find products and services.  Even the laptop or home computer is becoming less of a tool for managing day-to-day activities.  So, what I did next was to get a mobi URL (Mobile or smart phone compatible version of our website).  The project cost me a whole $10 to setup.  Guess what, it is now our number one source of hits on our website.  I gave the customers a scaled down, no frills bit of information like our phone number, map of our location and email address.  This is all they need to find us.  If they want more information, they simply go to our primary site on their home computer or laptop.

In summation, our business has grown 40% per year since I started my marketing through the web.  My advertising cost is approximately 1.5% of my gross profit.  How is that for growing on a dime?

If you want to learn more about how The Business Coach can help you, drop me an email at coach@makenewrules.com.