Don't Look Back: Running Your Business

In this section:

• Marketing
• Employees
• Contracting
• Time Management
• Growth and Development

Marketing

To create a successful business, entrepreneurs must attract and keep a growing base of satisfied clients/customers. Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or keep using particular products or services. Business owners should carefully plan their marketing strategies and performance to keep their market presence strong.

Market research will help identify trends that affect sales and profitability. You should monitor the local population and economic situation as well as any legal developments to identify problems and opportunities. Pay attention to competitors' market strategies too.

Here's a tip: Timely and relevant market information is the key to success. Without spending a fortune on collecting this data you can create an inexpensive research tool, based on simple questionnaires given to current or prospective clients/ customers. These questionnaires can often reveal dissatisfaction or possibly a suggestions for new products or services that are in-demand. A marketing strategy should identify client/customer groups which your business can better serve than a competitor, and tailor products, prices, distribution, promotion, and services toward those market segments. A well thought out strategy helps a business focus on the target markets it can serve best.

Every marketing program contains four key components:

• Products and Services
• Promotion
• Distribution
• Pricing

Here's an idea of how to create a marketing program.

Products and Services: When thinking about your product or service, tactics may include concentrating on a narrow product line, developing a highly specialized product or service, or providing a product-service package containing unusually high-quality service.

Promotion: Promotion strategies include advertising and direct customer interaction. Good telephone book advertising is important. Of course, having a Web presence is essential even if your core business is offline. Certain direct mail products offer an effective, low-cost medium. Most importantly, good old-fashioned salesmanship is essential for small businesses because of their limited funds for advertising. PR Newswire (http://prntoolkit.prnewswire.com/PRNewswire/faq.shtml ) offers an economic service for sending press releases without retaining a publicist.

Distribution: If you're manufacturing or wholesaling a product you need to decide how to distribute your products. Working through established distributors or manufacturers' agents generally is easiest for small manufacturers. Small retailers should consider cost and traffic flow in site selection, especially since advertising and rent can be reciprocal. A low-cost, low-traffic location means spending more on advertising to build traffic.

Remember: the nature of the product or service is also important in how you distribute it. If purchases are based largely on impulse, then you need to be in a high traffic location with lots of visibility. However, location is less important for products or services that customers are willing to go out of their way to find.

Price: Price alone can make or break the product or service, and the right price is crucial for maximizing total revenue. Generally, higher prices mean lower volume and vice-versa. However, higher prices for smaller businesses sometimes reflect a specialized service or higher quality product and often attract customers based solely on the price.

Employees

There are many sources that can help you with recruiting applicants once you have recognized the skills and experience needed for the positions you want to fill.

Public Services: Each state has an employment service (often called Job Service, Public Employment, Unemployment Bureau, or Employment Security Agency). All are affiliated with the United States Employment Service (http://www.doleta.gov/ ) and local offices are ready to help businesses recruit employees. The employment service will screen applicants with aptitude tests if they are available for the skills you specify.

Fee-Based Searches: Online job sites such as monster.com are still the fastest growing method for employer-employee matchmaking. These specialized sites, along with the online classified sections from major newspapers, often provide the largest pool of prospective employees. However, most online sites do not offer the professional screening services offered by employment agencies.

Interns: Colleges and universities usually have programs in which students work for you part-time or volunteer as interns while they learn about your business. Interns typically expect to learn skills or useful information relevant to their chosen field of study. Prior to contacting a school regarding interns, make sure that you have a clear idea of how an intern will benefit from working with you.

Temporary Help: Sometimes businesses need extra help for a short period of time only, and temporary shortages are especially difficult for smaller businesses because their employee forces are small to begin with. A temporary personnel service hires employees and assigns them to companies requesting help. The service is responsible for payroll, bookkeeping, tax deductions, workers' compensation, fringe benefits, and all other employee costs. Most temporary personnel companies also offer performance guarantees at no added cost.

Employees supplied by a temporary service firm are available immediately. Usually they can begin the day after a request is made, and sometimes even the same day. Although the rate paid to a temporary worker is higher than that paid to a permanent employee, the ancillary costs of recruiting, record-keeping, training, and idle periods are much less.

Evaluate temporary personnel services using these factors:

Reliability: Is the service well established, with a history of success and financial stability?

Recruiting: The firm with an aggressive recruiting program is more likely to have the most skilled and reliable employees.

Testing and evaluation: How does it test and evaluate personnel?

Quality control: Does the company check the quality of work of its temporary employees?

A temporary service will ask for information about the department the employee will be working in, duration of the assignment, working hours, dress code, smoking rules, and other important information. If possible, send samples of the work the employees would be doing so that temporary workers are prepared to get their feet wet quickly. Be sure to give the exact location of your business, transportation available, parking information, and the name and title of the person to whom the temporary employee will report.

Contracting

Many business needs are better met by contracting the service rather than hiring permanent employees.

Services often contracted:

• Equipment/mechanical maintenance
• Merchandise delivery
• Payroll accounting
• Printing
• Data processing
• Messenger
• Security
• Janitorial
• Waste management

When contracting services, you should ask for:

• References from other companies that have used the contractor
• Certificates of insurance demonstrating that the contractor has adequate liability
• Copies of required licenses for performance of certain services
• Appropriate warranty or guarantee on the quality of the work
• Clear payment schedule

Time Management

Contract out tasks: Contract out tasks you do not have the expertise to complete. Your client will appreciate your honesty and effort to get the best result.

Begin with the most troublesome task: Begin with the most troublesome task before you. This will reduce your anxiety level for the next task.

Try and complete deadline work early: This will reduce stress and ease your workload, and it will give you more self-confidence about managing your schedule.

Organize: At the end of each day briefly organize your desk and make reminder lists of upcoming tasks.

Divide up your time: Decide how much time to spend on business and personal needs. Every time you make a commitment, set a timeline for your involvement.

Down-time: During the down-time between busy periods take time to review your schedule and reevaluate priorities.

Be aware of stress: When you are working at a heightened level, take a break when you need it.

Physical exertion: Walking, bicycling, swimming, or any athletic activity helps to relieve stress. Stretching, yoga, playing with children, or doing outdoor work are other types of breaks you should consider during times of stress.

Have fun: Most importantly: be sure to have some fun while working or playing. A good attitude will help keep things in perspective.

Growth and Development

Growth

There are a few things to consider while growing your business.

What are your long-term goals?
What is it that you really want to do? List all the possible ways to accomplish this.
How long will it take you to reach your goal? Make a timeline.
How do your personal goals conflict with or match your business goals?
How will your timeline and goals affect your family (parents, siblings, partner or children)?

Observation: Increase your observation of the things that surround your business. Pay attention to what motivates customers and clients. Observe how to solve problems more effectively, and how to distinguish between alternatives.

Positioning: You should be able to define your company's ideal position. Create an ideal position outline to include the central skills and knowledge required in your business; the conditions your business needs to be productive; current and future opportunities that exist for your business; your businesses niche in the marketplace; and the strategies and tactics you will use to pull it all together.

Driving Forces: What are the driving forces that will make your ideal outcome a reality? What is your company's mission? Driving forces can lay the framework for what you want people to focus on in your business. Examples might include individual and organizational incentives; factors such as a defined vision, values, and goals; productive factors like a mission or function; factors such as commitment, effectiveness, productivity, and value.

Development

Experienced, successful women entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs alike often ask the same question: How can new business owners learn from the experiences of others?

Here's how:

Stay Informed: In our wired universe, with news and information developing around the world instantaneously, you need to be savvy in collecting data relevant to your business. You must learn to cultivate our own methods for staying abreast of developments in a particular field—and ignore information you can't use.

Discussion Groups: Professionals often engage in roundtable discussions meant to share information and experiences as well as offer support as a resource for small businesses. Participants will meet regularly and learn from each other's experiences. Professional relationships can develop and participants, while becoming familiar with each other's businesses, learn meaningful ways of growing their business.

Networking: As we advocate for women looking to change careers or find a new job, networking is also an invaluable tool in the business world. Effective networking can be your best form of marketing, as well as being affordable. Beyond talking to the entrepreneurs among friends and family, there are numerous conferences and lectures geared toward business owners in every major city.