Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Everyone sells: If you work, you sell yourself on getting out of bed to go to work and you sell your boss every day on why they should keep you employed. If you're a member of the clergy, you sell people on why they should attend your church. If you're a parent, you sell your children on why they should wash up before a meal. If you're in business, of course, you sell your prospects on why they should buy from you.

Jeffrey Gitomer knows sales. What I like about the approach he takes in this easy-to-read book, The Sales Bible, is that sales and customer service are intricately linked. What's more, he tries to show how sales/customer service is fun with his lighthearted, easy-to-read content. He also encourages people to be very creative in how they sell and how they give good customer service in order to separate themselves from the competition. He covers every aspect of sales from “Why do salespeople fail?” through every step of the sales process (Introduction, Presentation, Handling Objections, Asking for the Order), to how to deal with the competition, how to succeed at trade shows, how to network, and how to build up your pipeline. You will not finish this book and think, “I didn't learn a thing!” Gitomer is fresh, succinct, and brutally honest at the same time. That's the kind of book that any entrepreneur needs to read!

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the way he writes lists (and he writes a lot of them). Rather than creating a 10 point list, he creates 9.5 point lists. It's a bizarre and distracting thing to do. But honestly, that's my only issue with the book. It's a great read and one you'll read again and again.

I don't subscribe often to e-zines but after I read his book I became a believer and I subscribed to his regular e-zine.

I was talking to a business owner the other day. We were talking about payment solutions for him. He had heard about someone else's negative experience with Paypal so he was reluctant to use them in his own site. I don't put a lot of faith in hearsay, but he and I ended up talking at length about other options.

Frankly, there aren't many. I'm happy with Paypal so I use their services but I don't know what I'd do if I didn't want to. I'm sure it's the same way with many businesses that can't get a merchant account from their bank because they're a small operation.

As we spoke, I searched the Internet for online payments and was surprised to see other providers I'd never heard of. Notably, www.greenzap.com looks like they have a good system with some promise, as well as a potential marketing position to help.

In the future, especially with the rise in counterfeit currency, I see money being entirely online or perhaps a government issued legal tender as well as Internet-based money that can more easily move across borders.

What would it look like? I think others have tried, with ideas like e-gold (www.e-gold.com), an electronic currency backed by gold bullion… but it's not there yet. If you're an entrepreneur… do you have the answer?

A consultant friend of mine was talking with me about a challenge he was facing: He has so many research files on his computer, he can't find anything.

We talked for a minute about what he needed to do with the files and I asked him if he ever used the search line on his computer. He blinked at me like I was speaking another language. I had to point out where the search function was: Most people will usually find it on their start menu. XP users, for example, will find it under “Help and Support” and above “Run.” If you can't find it there, you'll find it in any windows file folder… right on the task bar. He admitted that he knew it was there but only ever used it when he accidentally downloaded something from the Internet but couldn't find the file he saved it to. The search line can search files and in files! It can search within parameters you set.

Problem is, it's one of those things that we develop familiarity blindness with: we become so used to seeing it that we forget it's there.

Problem solved. Buzz to the rescue.