Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

How To Write Effective Sales Copy

In today’s challenging economic environment, writing good, effective sales copy is more important than ever.

Never done that before? Here’s a simple formula that will help you write copy that converts into sales.

Develop a Good Headline

If you want your prospects and customers to read your ad, you need to understand the importance of developing a good headline.

Studies prove that customers read the headline first – and then decide if the rest of the ad is worth their time.

If the headline is not interesting or relevant, customers will simply ignore the entire ad and move on.

Come Up With a Good Offer

The entire purpose of writing sales copy is to get the customer to take action – to purchase your product or submit their information so that you can market to them later.

Usually, effective sales copy includes something promised free or for a limited time – along with the product. You should repeat the offer throughout the body of the sales copy.

Underneath the offer, state what you want your customers to do and how they should do it. For example, include a ‘buy now’ button.

Explain Product Details and the USP

Make sure to present all the benefits, features and details of the product in the sales copy. Mention the USP (unique selling point), the unique benefit the customer stands to gain by making a purchase.

Keep It Clean

It may be tempting, but avoid saying negative things about your competition. If your product is good and the copy is compelling, it will speak for itself.

3 Tips to Attract More Clients

Attracting clients is an art that should be mastered; unfortunately, many small business owners do not know how to go about it.

Your small business will succeed by being able to keep existing clients and attract new ones. The only way you can do this is by constantly adding to your client base.

Never Stop Learning

In business, you can never know too much. The pace of the world today means that there is always something new to learn.

Customers are more likely to do business with people who have thorough knowledge of their business, and who can help their clients use their products and services.

Increase Your Network

If you want to increase your sales, you need to increase the number of customers that know about your products and services. That’s why increasing your network is very important.

You have to constantly meet new people –joining industry associations and attending conferences and networking events is one way to go about this.

The more people you know, the better your chances of finding someone who is in need of the products and services that your business offers.

Keep in Contact

Now today more than ever, every customer counts – even those that buy from you only periodically. In fact, it’s clients like that that have the potential to be your client for life.

While you want to stay in contact through email, direct mail and phone calls, don’t overdo it. No client wants to be contacted week after week.

Attracting more clients is a vital part of helping your business grow. Follow the above tips and you will do just that!

Do You Have a Marketing Strategy?

Any business needs a plan when it comes to marketing. Most small business, especially those in growth mode, need to take a professional approach to marketing.

When it comes to your business, you should have a marketing plan. If not, you will find it hard to reach your goals.

Every small business needs a marketing strategy to be successful in the long run.

Why Do You Need a Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy forms the basics of any marketing plan.

Your marketing plan should include goals that are guided by your marketing strategy.

Decision-making is vital for the success of any business. A well thought-out marketing strategy will enable you to avoid making the wrong decisions, and steer you toward making good ones.

By developing a marketing strategy, you will be able to determine both your long and short term goal, which affect how you run your business and what steps you take to do so.

Market Research

When it comes to your marketing strategy, your goals should be developed by good market research. Gather and analyze the following information for your market research:

• Competitors in the market
• Description of key clients
• Channels for distribution
• Pricing strategy
• Packaging
• Potential barriers

A good marketing strategy will result in maximum profits; but it will also help you keep potential losses to a minimum.

Once you have your marketing strategy and plan in place, it is important to monitor both and make changes when necessary.

The Value of the Exit Interview

When an employee is leaving your business, whether by choice or not, do your best to secure an exit interview.

Valuable Information

An employee who is leaving is often a great source of information about how to make your business a better place to work.

They won’t feel the need to say only positive things, and may be able to offer valuable insights into how to improve the work experience of your employees.

Pick and Choose

Listen to what the employee has to say in an exit interview, and then apply your own knowledge of your operation.

An employee that is leaving on bad terms may be bitter and say negative things just for that reason.

An employee that is leaving on a positive note may not want to burn any bridges, so he may say only positive things.

Written vs. Verbal

Some business owners have found that employees tend to be more candid when the exit interview is in written form rather than a face to face verbal interview.

Of course, you lose the ability to ask follow-up questions, but if you prepare a thorough written interview, you will still be able to get a lot of information from it.

Don’t Panic

If you hear or read something awful don’t panic – even if the statement rings true to you.

Take the information and then spend some time making observations before deciding to take any action.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn ways to improve your business through conducting exit interviews.

Should Your Office Have a Dress Code?

So many small business owners have said that they will never implement a dress code in their office.

However, as the business grows, they find that doing so becomes necessary.

Public Contact

The most important reason that a dress code may be necessary is if employees working in your office can be seen by clients or potential clients.

While you don’t need to demand suits and ties, you do want your employees to look professional.

Employee Distraction

If employees are dressing in a manner that is distracting to other employees such as micro miniskirts or low-cut tops, it may be time to put a dress code in writing.

The Sooner the Better

It is much easier to hire an employee and explain the dress code up front than it is to try and institute a dress code once the employee has been working for you for a while.

The sooner you decide on a dress code the better.

Complaints

There is a distinct possibility that one or more of your employees will be unhappy with your decision to implement a dress code.

Be sure when you present the policy that you are careful not to make anyone feel targeted. Granted, that is going to be tough if there is only one micro miniskirt wearer, but do your best.

There is no need to say “other employees complained about what someone was wearing…” This will only cause conflict among your staff.

After the initial grumbling, most employees will easily fall in line with the new policy and your office will look more professional for it.

How to Find Employees Without Spending a Fortune

Finding employees can be an expensive undertaking. Job fairs and newspaper and online ads can be pricey.

But if you need to find employees on a tight budget, there are options for you.

Craig’s List

Many are still a bit leery about posting a position on Craig’s List, but it is a free service and many businesses have found the perfect employee through the site.

Simply list your position and applicants can respond via email or, if you prefer, telephone.

There is also a section where job seekers can post their resume. Unlike other sites such as Monster and Career Builder, you can search these resumes at no charge.

Employment Commission

Another option is to list your job at your states employment commission. This is an especially good option if you need to hire several employees.

Keep in mind that there are some rules about types of jobs that can be listed with the employment commission, but most positions will meet the requirements.

Word of Mouth

This is one of the best ways to find employees without spending a dime.

This is especially true in these tough economic times where many people are losing their jobs.

Just be careful to still screen potential employees just as you would if they had not received such a glowing recommendation.

Some businesses spend thousands of dollars to find a new employee. Hopefully, the tips above will help you find the talent you need without having to break the bank.

Hiring for Attitude

Many business books will give this advice: “Hire for attitude, and you can always train someone for the job.”

This is sound advice as a good attitude is an attribute that cannot be taught, yet it is as valuable as any other skill.

Contagious

A good attitude can be contagious among your employees. The same is also true for a bad attitude.

It is very difficult to manage someone with a bad attitude and trying to do so will take more of your time and energy than you will want to give.

Go with your Gut

A small business owner in Maine was conducting interviews for a new office manager.

One applicant had an impeccable resume and loads of experience. During the interview, however, she came off a little condescending.

The business owner didn’t want to have to spend a lot of time training someone, so she went for the applicant with the experience – and the bad attitude.

“I sort of had to ignore her attitude in order to make the decision to hire her,” said the business owner. “It turned out to be a mistake.”

The employee talked down to everyone in the office and acted as if she was doing everyone a favor just by showing up.

Counseling did not correct the situation, and after about a year the office manager was let go.

“I should have listened to my gut,” said the business owner.

Back at Square One

The business owner was back at square one, taking out ads and spending time conducting interviews. Had she hired someone with less experience, but a great attitude, it would have meant a bit more time training her in the beginning, but it would have paid off in the end.

Remember – when hiring employees, attitude really is important.

Employment Discrimination and Your Small Business

Some may think that employment discrimination applies only to race. This is not true as it also applies to age, gender, religion, national origin and sexual orientation.

Laws

There are a number of laws on the book that prohibit such discrimination. The most cited is the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This law applies to businesses that have at least 15 employees. This law makes it illegal to fire, refuse training, pay less, discipline or refuse to hire someone based
on the above factors.

Equal Pay

The Equal Pay Act mandates that employers cannot pay a woman less for doing the same job that a man earns a higher wage for doing.

Age

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act offers protection to employees over the age of 40 and applies to employers with at least 20 employees.

Disability

The Americans with Disability Act prohibits discrimination by employers with at least 15 employees.

Additionally, the law mandates that employers must make “reasonable accommodations” for the disabled person.

This could include installing special seating or providing equipment, such as a TDD telephone, that would enable the disabled employee to do his or her job.

In addition to the federal laws, some of which were mentioned above, some states, cities and towns have their own regulations.

Obviously, discrimination is wrong, but it is also illegal. Participating in discriminatory hiring practices can result in lawsuits that can be very costly to your business.

Get to know the laws and do whatever you have to do to institute fair hiring and employment practices.

David Meerman Scott, the author who wrote The New Rules of Marketing and PR which I blogged about over a year ago, is coming out with a new book, World Wide Rave, next month.  To promote it, he wrote an ebook, Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure that excerpts portions of the print version.

This is highly recommended reading, not because it features MailerMailer as a case study on how to generate a lot of publicity and goodwill by giving away very useful content for free, but because of all of the other examples he uses as well.  And he has lots!

David Meerman Scott shows you how to build an online publicity engine that propels your reach way passed those who are still caught up in the declining world of traditional print media. Read this book, or bury your head in the sand at your own risk.

Why You Should Help Your Employees Move Up

A small business owner in Virginia only hires administrative and other hourly employees that she feels could eventually move up within the company.

College Campuses

She starts her search on college campuses.

She finds graduating students that are interested in working in her type of business and then hires them for positions such as receptionist or delivery driver – with the understanding that they will have the opportunity to move up if they prove themselves.

Win/Win

This situation is ideal for both graduate and business owner.

The graduate gets their foot in the door in the line of business they are interested in and the business owner gets a sort of test drive with the employee before trusting him in a more important position.

It’s better to find out that they are going to call in sick twice a week when they are stuffing envelopes rather than managing accounts.

For the graduates, it gives them a chance to get a taste of the business to learn if it really is what they want to do.

The Payoff

By hiring graduates, you will be able to get a feel for their work ethic, attitude and willingness to learn.

If it turns out they are great employees, try to begin moving them up quickly so as not to lose them to another company.

Also, be up front with the graduates about what you expect from them. Also, let them know, realistically, when they can expect to be moved out of their initial job into something with more responsibility.

This is a great way to find the best employees while helping new graduates begin their own journey to success.