January 29th, 2010 by admin
Successful business owners know they must take into account their market and their competition in determining the right business strategy to implement in their business.Ignoring these two factors and taking the stance of, if I build it they will come, will lead to business failure.In a market where the business owner has little wiggle room when it comes to pricing their products and services it's necessary to find another method to gain a competitive advantage, which equals happy customers and lots of them.Recently at a local business meeting I "mentioned" the higher local prices to a business owner. This owner proceeded to explain to me that he didn't want to compete on price alone but on Service. He wanted to be thought of as the "Nordstrom" in his industry.Now I'm a long time dyed in the wool Nordstrom shopper, so when he said, "be the Nordstrom of his industry and compete on Service not price" - I got it.I decided long ago it was cheaper in the long run for me to pay Nordstrom prices because if I bought and then decided I didn't like the item for any reason I Never had any problems returning it, unlike other department ...
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January 28th, 2010 by admin
Writing a full business plan is a ton of work no doubt. If you are a student it could take 6 months or more to make a full plan. If you aren't seeking funding or don't want to create that full on business plan then what options do you have? I still think you should create a plan, just because it will be incredibly beneficial for your business, but there is a shortened business plan that you can create that will give insights into the industry and business you are looking to run without the time investment of a full plan. This shortened plan is known by many as a preliminary venture analysis. (called a PVA for short) A PVA give you the info needed to create a fairly quick decision on whether or not your business is feasible or if you have a smaller decision that needs to be made such as whether or not a new product line should be launched. A PVA is most comparable to the executive summary part of a full business plan. The big difference between the two is that to make a PVA you will spend a lot less time gathering information and ...
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January 26th, 2010 by admin
Almost every one, sooner or later would find himself/herself in a situation where he has to negotiate for the things he likes and wants.Negotiations are part of our lives. The fact is that right from the early life, negotiations are forced upon us. As a child we are asked of a certain behavior in exchange for toys/sweets/ an outing /a movie etc. etc. Same is true when we are teenagers or adults. We negotiate and trade for the things and services we want in exchange for what the other party wants.As negotiations are part social, personal and business life, it would help if we understood the process of negotiations and how to handle such situations for a successful outcome. Here are the fine points:1. Negotiations is a process by which two or more than two parties, with different needs and wants try to find an acceptable resolution to satisfy their needs and wants.2. Though the interests, needs and wants are different for the parties involved, the process should not be viewed and approached as unpleasant.3. Parties involved should be committed to have a resolution of the issues. It is impossible to negotiate with those who are not ready to negotiate ...
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