Author: Pamela Swift

Categories
Operations

Launch a Successful Telemarketing Campaign for the Holidays

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The holidays are a great time of the year to promote your product, find new business partners and fine tune your strategies. With peak shopping months online and offline along with the promise of the new year, companies are finding ways to reach new customers and gain partners. One way to do this is by launching a telemarketing campaign. Here are some guidelines to help get you started the right way:
· With a new year beginning most businesses are going to be reviewing the previous year and critiquing their performance and figuring out what they want to change. Take advantage of this time of year to do the same thing and decide what new companies you would like to potentially work with and schedule a call. By scheduling an appointment with them in December, you’ll be on their books on the first of the year.
· If you operate a non-profit, the holidays are the perfect time to benefit from the giving spirit. People are in the mood for charity and some businesses have to give funds to charities. The same is true for colleges and universities. College and Universities can staff their call centers with current or former students so the recipient feels a connection when answering the phone.
· If you have an ecommerce store or a boutique shop, don’t just advertise on your site and via signs. Promote! Call your past customers to tell them about your deals. Send an email to them with concise and to-the-point specials. Let customers know of the great deals you are offering in more ways than one, but make sure to keep your message simple. People tend to be busier during the holidays, so don’t take more time than needed. Be sure your telemarketing staff is happy and in the holiday spirit. Most telemarketing companies offer lead generation services too. To connect with them, Resource Nation offers a service that is free and easy to use.
· Often companies are not as aggressive during the holiday season since they assume most other businesses will just tell them to call back after the new year has begun. While this may generally be true, there is still plenty to gain by getting your name out there. If a company tells you to call back after the 1st of the year, have the staff at the telemarketing company set up appointments for an exact time and day. This way you already have calls set up in advance while most of your competition is starting from scratch after the holidays.
· Tell your telemarketing provider to think of fun and creative ways to get your message out for the holidays. Consumers are going to be stressed and tired, so be sure to take this into account with each call that is made. You need to make people feel like you are taking some of the burden off of their shoulders instead of adding to it, so be sure to let them know early in the call how you can help them find great deals with little work.

ResourceNationPhoto.jpgResource Nation provides free tools, tips, and purchasing advice for business owners and entrepreneurs in over 100 business categories ranging from phone systems to credit card processing. Whether it’s connecting businesses with local and national pre-screened vendors, or offering easy service comparisons on a VoIP service, Resource Nation empowers business decision makers by providing the information they need to make smart choices.

Categories
Business Ideas

Massive Growth: How Will You Handle It? Part 1

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Article by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Are you prepared for explosive growth? What will you do when it happens?
Does every entrepreneur seek growth opportunities? Growth can mean more customers, more income, or more opportunities to explore new ideas. Although exciting, growth also brings its challenges, and can spiral out of control if it’s not handled properly, causing a setback as big as the potential expansion. Our research shows that the five types of female entrepreneurs have very different attitudes toward business growth (some want it, some don’t!) and each will respond to growth opportunities differently. This article will examine the attitudes and reactions of Jane Dough, Merry Jane, and Go Jane Go.
Jane Dough
She is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.
Because Jane Dough is business-minded and pragmatic, she probably has a plan in place for handling growth. In fact, business growth is something she’s striving for, with most Jane Doughs saying they want to grow significantly within the next couple of years. As a result, she has no doubt delegated individual tasks to specific team members, putting her team and her business in an ideal position to take advantage of the appropriate opportunities that come her way. She has a system – and it’s in place and ready to roll.
Although Jane Dough’s systematic approach is one of her many strengths, there is a flip side to high levels of delegation. Sometimes Jane Dough relies too much on the system. She moves quickly to fuel her business growth, so she may not always be in touch with what’s happening within every functional area. When large opportunities come knocking while Jane Dough is distracted, weaker parts of the system can break down.
The solution: When massive growth arrives – and it will – a Jane Dough entrepreneur should gather her team for a quick check-in, making sure everyone and every system is aligned and ready to do its part in creating success. In doing so, she’ll make sure resources are allocated appropriately and can create plans to strengthen any weak spots.
Merry Jane
She tends to be “building a business on the side”—in addition to a day-job, or a focus on family or other pursuits. She doesn’t have a high personal income from her business, but she also tends to be working less than 40 hours a week, and she loves the freedom her business affords her.
Because Merry Jane’s focus is more on time freedom than on “big money,” major growth opportunities can be a daunting proposition. While many women in this group dream of a day when they land the mega-customer, Merry Jane does not. Although many know they are capable of building a much larger business, now is not the time. During interviews, when asked what they would do if faced with the chance to take on a big new account, most quickly came to the conclusion that unless they could manage the account in their own way and time, they would let the opportunity pass them buy rather than disrupt their lives.
However, many Merry Janes admit they would like their business to be more profitable, wanting more money without much additional work. Therefore, when faced with a growth opportunity, Merry Jane can consider several options:
* She can hire someone to take over some of the more mundane, day-to-day business chores, like bookkeeping and responding to customer e-mails, freeing more of her time to pursue the new business without taking up more time?
* She can pursue the new opportunity at higher rates, therefore increasing her profit. This may mean letting go of less profitable customers or delegating their care to someone else.
* Or, she can stand firm, turning the immediate opportunity down, knowing that at some point in the future, she may have more time available for new customers.
Whatever she decides, Merry Jane should stay true to the reasons she loves her business now so that she doesn’t add undue stress and time-pressure to her already busy life.
Go Jane Go
She is passionate about her work, and has no problem marketing and selling herself, so she has plenty of clients—but she’s struggling to keep up with demand. She may be a classic overachiever, taking on volunteer opportunities as well, because she’s eager to make an impact on the world and may really struggle saying “no”. Because she wants to “say yes” to so many people, she may even be in denial about how many hours she actually works during the course of a week. As a result, she may be running herself ragged and feeling guilty about neglecting herself and possibly others who are important to her.
Overall, most Go Jane Go women don’t seek out growth opportunities because they are already fairly busy. However, when an opportunity crosses their path, they will feel compelled to “make it work somehow.” Go Jane Go truly wants to help those who need her products or services, so it is difficult for her to turn them away. And because she’s excellent at multi-tasking, this Jane may underestimate the time that will be required or may justify sacrificing personal time in order to help someone else.
This is why Go Jane Go must be careful not to overwork herself. When faced with a growth opportunity, Go Jane Go will want to think critically about the amount of work she already has scheduled and either “say no,” attempt to postpone the project, or delegate some or all of the work. If she is not willing to do so, she will eventually face serious burn out – so it’s very important that this Jane be realistic about her available time and energy for new opportunities.
While every female entrepreneur dreams of growth, when it really comes, it can seem like a huge challenge – and though it may be, handling it the right way can create a huge payoff.
About the Author
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com

Categories
Operations

Restaurant Delivery Service Business: Keys to Improve Your Growing Business

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Article Contributed by Joe McVoy
As with any other venture, you would also need to improve upon your Restaurant Delivery Service business in order to ensure a continuing success. Simply resting on your laurels would get you nowhere, and competitors might come and lessen the profits that you gain. By improving your delivery business, you would be able to ensure that your service would not fall by the wayside as the months go by.
1. Increase your service hours.
One way to improve your restaurant delivery service business would be to try and increase your service hours. If you had been previously content with serving lunch or afternoon meals, then perhaps you can now also try and deliver breakfast items to your clients. By doing this, not only would you be able to give your business a chance to earn more profits through the previously untapped morning sales, but also raise awareness in your clients that you are now catering to more of their needs.
2. Expand your menu.
Another improvement that you can make is by expanding the menu that you have. Perhaps you can try contacting other restaurants in order to add more products to your menu. Doing this helps your business by adding variety to the food that you offer. This would help avoid your clients getting tired of the “same old food” that they get from your delivery service.
3. Check your service.
Also, improvements to your restaurant delivery service business do not have to mean adding services. It could also mean that you would just raise the quality of the service that you already provide. Maybe you can find ways to improve delivery time, or find methods to ensure that the food that you deliver would come as “fresh off the kitchen” as possible.
4. Deliver your own food products
Another way to expand and improve your business is to maybe include your very own food products on the menu. This can be a very good way, if you have your own restaurant, to promote your products and get two stream of profits at the same time.
5. Create a system that can work even when you are not there.
There is a saying that if you can leave your work on its own, it is a business; and if you can not leave it, you have a job. In improving your restaurant delivery service business, you need to set up a system that can be repeated over and over again, even when you are not there. Good thing about this business is that you do not have to manage it closely. All you need to do is a comprehensive business plan or strategy to make sure that your food delivery service business will operate even when you are on a holiday or vacation.
These are merely suggestions. Remember that improving on your restaurant delivery service business can come in many forms. You would just have to find the best one that matches the ideals of your service business.
For more information on how to ensure the success of your restaurant delivery service business, get your free report at http://www.dine-in-delivery.com/dine-in-delivery-free-report/.
Dine-in Delivery provides you with a proven system and solid years of experience to help you set up your own restaurant delivery service business.
About the Author:
Joe McVoy is the VP for Marketing of Dine-In Delivery Inc. For more information about starting your own food delivery service business, visit www.Dine-In-Delivery.com.

Categories
Entrepreneurs

Beyond the Glass Ceiling: 7 Habits of Highly Successful Female Entrepreneurs

women-entrepreneur2.jpgArticle Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith
Over the past 20 years, the number of businesses owned by women has grown by more than 42%. In fact, in 2008, women-owned firms accounted for more than 1.9 trillion dollars in sales.
But while more and more women are eager to become small business owners, they’re also still facing more challenges than men. Businesses owned by women are nearly 50% less likely to reach the million dollar mark—and often produce less return on investment for hours worked.
A new study by Michele DeKinder-Smith, market research professional and founder of the website www.janeoutofthebox.com, has recently released a study that reveals five different types of female entrepreneurs. Each personality type has a different approach to business, along with different strengths and challenges.
Success can be defined in many ways and it’s clear that each of the five types have their own definition of success. Taken overall, if we consider business revenue and personal satisfaction with work/life balance, one might say that the type that is most conventionally successful is the type known as “Jane Dough”.
Why should we pay attention to Jane Dough? Comprising 18% of all female entrepreneurs, she’s five times as likely to hit the million dollar mark as the average female entrepreneur. She’s also one of the groups most satisfied with her work/life balance. So, if growing a large business while working reasonable hours is important to a business owner, she can learn from Jane Dough’s characteristics, behaviors and decisions.
Here are some of the traits that tend to make Jane Dough so successful.
1) Focus on growth
Running a business is filled with a ton of minor details, every day of every year. But Jane Dough has learned how to personally stay focused on the big picture: growing her business. This means getting past the details, the billable hours and the overdue invoices—and paying attention to the process of getting (and handling!) more business, in less time.
2) Building teams and systems
Jane Dough knows there’s only so much a woman can do by herself. Because business growth is an important goal, she’s learned how to build a team and delegate responsibility. This means using systems that create leverage and prevent her from falling victim to the ‘dollars for hours’ trap.
3) Prioritization
Along with a focus on growth and systems, Jane Dough tends to prioritize those activities that will make her the most amount of money with the least amount of personal time expended.
4) Looking ahead
How does Jane Dough stay so focused on exactly what she needs to do to grow a successful business? Well, many of these women started their companies with a big vision and/or they are intentionally building a business they can later sell or pass on to their children. These big, longer-term priorities help her stay consistently focused on the big picture.
5) Putting in the hours—but leaving work at work
Jane Dough is the type of entrepreneur who’s willing to put in the hours it takes to make her business successful. However, unlike some other types of female entrepreneurs, for whom business can be intensely personal, Jane Dough understands that work is work and that tomorrow is another day. Because she’s supported herself with systems that give her the flexibility to problem-solve when she needs to, she feels confident that she can and will be able to manage things during the hours she has designated for work. Yes, she might check her email in the evening after she’s home, but she’s not going to consistently find herself spending her personal time as a slave to demanding customers. Her ability to mentally keep work and personal life reasonably separated and her perspective and confidence that she can solve any problems tomorrow contributes to her higher-than-average work/life balance.
6) Confidence in marketing and selling
While many women in business express concerns about their ability to successfully market their business for profitability, Jane Dough is highly confident in selling both herself and her business. This confidence (which can be learned!) is a major factor in her financial success.
7) Perspective
When the going gets tough, Jane Dough stays focused, and doesn’t let doubt creep in. She tends to view challenges and setbacks objectively rather than personally, and keeps focused on her big picture goals. Jane Dough loves her business and she keeps it in perspective, as well.
About the Author:
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

The Top Three Greatest Marketing Moves Of All Time

This article is by our guest writer Sandra Hajda, a freelance journalist, publisher and avid investor. Sandra resides in Melbourne and can be contacted at hajdasandra@hotmail.com.
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History shows that a bad sales run is not the end of the world. One clever marketing move can pull a company out of a slump and back into business.
1. Bauer Hockey
The Challenge:
Bauer should have had it made – in 1927 they were the first company to begin producing hockey skates in which the blade was attached to the boot!
Like any company that produces a jaw-dropping innovation, Bauer enjoyed a brief, initial dream run. It lasted until the 1930s, when the legendary George Tackaberry boot arrived on the scene. The Tackaberry boot (with its own, admittedly less dramatic innovation: the CCM Pro-Lite blade) was worn by all NHL scoring champions between 1939 and 1969.
The Move:
Bauer rose to the top through innovation, and innovation would get them back there. The company returned to prominence after paying superstar Bobby Hull to promote their products.
These days we’d call it ‘good old-fashioned celebrity endorsement’. Back then it was a revelation – this was one of the first companies to pay a superstar to endorse their product. It paid off enormously, ushering in a new era for Bauer.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Today:
Bauer are still innovating – they’ve just released the Vapor X:60, a revolutionary new stick that’s ‘great news for goal scorers’.

2. Guess Jeans
The Challenge:
During the 80s Guess was one of the most popular brands of jeans. When the nineties arrived, so did some stiff competition (Calvin Klein, Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Gap started rising in popularity) and Guess’ stock dropped dramatically.
Guess was also taking a beating in the press. Awareness of sweatshop expolitation was rising in America, and they were recognised as a major offender in this area. Guess contractors were facing litigation for failing to pay their employees minimum wage or provide adequate overtime – a nasty kind of company.
The Move:
By the 00s the sweatshop controversy of the 1990s was largely forgotten. Guess seized the opportunity to execute its own revival, the only way a fashion house knows how: a dramatic new look and style.
Marketing ads grew increasingly sexier – the Guess girl as we know her today (pouty lipped, shiny-skinned, luxuriously attired) emerged. Sales skyrocketed, a new market was tapped, and provocative billboards became a Guess mainstay. Many a male driver probably came close to his end ogling an 8-foot tall Guess girl.
Today:
Guess are making moves into the menswear market. In 2006 they introduced the Marciano men’s line, available exclusively on the website Guess.com. A line of men’s shoes (from sandals to dress shoes) is also beginning to enjoy success after a slow 2006 start.
3. The Body Shop
The Challenge:
In the early years Body Shop founder Anita Roddick had it made – she had a talented cosmetologist (Mark Constantine) who helped her create ‘natural’ (by the standards of the time) products with fashionable colours and fragrances.
When Constantine left in the 80s (the cosmetologist had entrepreneurial dreams of his own – he went on to found Lush Cosmetics) he left Roddick directionless. What would she do? How could the fledgling company make its mark?
The Move:
In 1986 the Body Shop began to do something very curious with its promotions. The marketing started to sound less like ‘marketing’ and more like activism. Educational posters about social causes appeared in shop wondows. Local charity and community events were sponsored. The company’s ‘No Animal Testing’ policy was emphasised at every turn. A ‘Body Shop Foundation’ emerged, and an alliance with Greenpeace was secured.
Every new product promotion was tied to a social cause. Jojoba Oil, for example, would help ‘save the whale’ (it was a substitute for whale spermaceti).
Roddick built a reputation for innovation, integrity and social responsibility, and the alignment with social causes generated massive free publicity.
When the Body Shop’s stock was floated on the London Exchange its price increased by 500%. Body Shop shares earned a nickname: ‘the shares that defy gravity’.
Today:
The Body Shop is now owned by the L’Oreal corporate group. This has attracted criticism (L’Oreal has a history of animal testing) but L’Oreal claims it has not tested on animals since 1989 – around the time it joined forces with Roddick. Roddick has told reporters she sees herself as ‘a kind of “trojan horse” who by selling her business to a huge firm will be able to influence the decisions it makes’.