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If you run a web site or newsletter then
you will know that finding great content of interest to your visitors or
readers is important.
If your web site or
newsletter is aimed at small business owners, here are some articles which
you are free to use. All I
ask is:
- you use the article as it is with no changes
- you include the byline/resource at the end of the
article
- you drop me a short note to
article@smallbusinesssuccess.biz to say which article you
have used and the URL, if it's posted on a web site, or a copy of your
newsletter if it's internet based
If you have written articles which you think may be of
interest to Small Business Success readers then write to me
rob@smallbusinesssuccess.biz
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Free Articles From
Small Business Success |
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Why We Fear To Sell … And How You Can Overcome It
The fear of selling is
something which most first time business owners suffer from. In this article
we look at exactly why we have this fear of selling.
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Manage Expectations
… Manage Profits!
Do you know what your customers are expecting of
you? If not, how can you find out? In this article we look at customer expectations and how it’s important for
you and your business to know what they are.
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How to
Write a ‘Killer’ Business Plan
Writing a Business Plan can be a daunting task. However, committing time to
writing an effective Plan can help improve your chances of success. In this
article I give you some tips on how to write a ‘killer’ Business Plan!
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Professional
Business Plan Writers: Should You Hire One?
Do you need to
write a business plan? The thought of preparing a business plan tends to
fill most business owners with dread; it can be a difficult, stressful, and
time consuming process. For this reason alone you may want to think about
seeking the help of a professional business plan writer.
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7 Ways of Getting Your Customers to Say ‘Wow’!
How can you get your customers all pumped up and
ready to do business with you again? In this article I share some tips on
exactly how you can get a ‘Wow!” response and show how it can positively
impact your bottom line.
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How to Build Rapport With
Your Bank Manager
If you are seeking a small
business loan everything you do and say in the interview with the Bank will
have a bearing on whether you are assessed as a good or bad risk. Building
rapport between you and the Manager is part of this process.
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Loyalty – The Key to Business Success
Talk to many business people about how they
approach customer service and the majority of them will say that they are
aiming to have ‘satisfied’ customers. No! What we all should be seeking is
to have loyal customers. But how can you turn a satisfied customer into a
loyal one?
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I’ll Go Anywhere As Long As It’s Forward
By living your life with the goal that every
action you take has to move you forward, you will quickly see possibilities
which you never saw before. Your mind will seek out new opportunities.
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Negotiating – The Myths and Realities
There are a lot of myths surrounding negotiating
which don’t help if you are faced with handling such a session for the first
time. But as with any myth, there is usually a very different reality.
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The Hidden Power of Networking
We all make use of traditional forms of getting
new business in – advertising, direct mail, brochures etc but networking is
one form of marketing which, has been under-utilised. Until now that is.
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Squeezing Out The Profit!
What if I could show you a better and more
effective way of marketing your business? In this article I am gong to share
with you some key strategies to get more business and ultimately increase
your profits.
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Why Do Your Customers Complain? (Part I)
Having an effective complaint handling process
is important but that is the equivalent of closing the stable door after the
horse has bolted – it’s too late, your customer has already suffered.
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Why Do Your
Customers Complain? (Part II)
In
this second article on customer complaints, we look at the human side of
complaints – what actions your staff take that can lead to a customer
picking up the phone or putting pen to paper!
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Boost Your Business
With a New Year's Resolution
We have all been told year-in-year about making
New Year’s Resolutions. Giving up smoking, loosing weight, going to the gym.
But what about making some New Year’s Resolutions for your business!
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4 Great Business Card Ideas
The
problem with business cards is that they are usually unmemorable. Here are
some ideas on how you can make your business card a bit more useful.
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How To Warm Yourself Up To Cold Calling
Cold calling … even the name is enough to strike
fear into the heart of many a small business owner! You may find it hard to
pick up the phone but, at the end of the day, to be really successful in
business, it’s a necessary evil.
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Why Being Pushy Won’t Get You Sales
Too many business owners, when presenting their
sales pitch don’t think about whether their style could be perceived as
‘pushy’, and don’t realise what they could be losing.
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Increase Your Profits by Knowing Why Your Customer’s
Buy Understanding your motivation
and that of your customer’s will help increase sales and profits! In this
article we examine what motivates people to buy and how you can apply this
knowledge to help make your business more successful.
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Complaint Handling : Don’t Forget The Humble Letter
With some careful thought, a well-crafted letter
can provide comfort to a complaining customer and enhance your reputation as
a customer-focused business. In this article I am going to share some tips
on how to write a great letter.
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How to Keep Your Customers For Life
Being is business isn’t just about getting a
customer, selling him something and moving onto the next one. It’s all about
making sure that your customers keep coming back to you … and spend more
money!
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Watch Their Language (Body, I Mean!)
Wouldn’t it great to get inside your customer's
mind and know what they are thinking? This is where having an understanding
of body language can help give you the edge when negotiating.
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How to Get The Best Out Of Your Phone
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the
telephone, little did he realise the positive effect it would have on
customer service – or the negative effect it could also have!
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Be an Optimistic Entrepreneur
Any seasoned businessman will tell a
fresh-faced entrepreneur that he has to have optimism … bucket fulls of it!
A pessimistic entrepreneur just doesn’t ring true somehow.
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How To Get Your First Customer
Starting a new business is always tough. It all looked so easy when you were
planning, but now this is real and doesn’t seem as effortless as you
thought. What practical steps can you take to ensure your business gets off
to a flying start?
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10 Common
Mistakes Start Up Businesses Make
Unfortunately
very few start up businesses make it beyond their 3rd year.
Failure is usually down to a number of clearly identifiable mistakes, which
if small business owners are aware of, can increase their chances of
survival.
Here are the
top 10 common mistakes which small businesses tend to make.
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Why You Don’t Have To Be Positive All The Time. Every
book or article on self-help says you have to think and be positive all the
time but that’s just not life. There are going to be days when we get down
and start to question the direction we are taking.
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How to Finance Your Small Business Start Up
Finding the
finance to get a small business off the ground is a major issue for any
potential small business. Some new businesses lend themselves to very little
start up capital because the main selling point is the owner’s skills and
knowledge. So what
sources can you tap into to ensure your business gets off to a solid start?
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7 Tips For a Successful Small Business
Getting a small business off the ground is
challenging to say the least. Here are some tips which will prepare the
ground for running a successful small business.
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How to Boost Your Sales in 4 Easy Steps!
To some people,
selling just comes easily; it happens naturally. They get out there and
within a few hours they have a full order book. How do they do it? The key
to successful selling is finding a formula or framework that works,
practicing it and sticking with it.
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How to Be a Creative Entrepreneur
There’s a great
line in Alice in Wonderland when the Queen says, “Sometimes I think of 6
impossible things before breakfast.” I think you’ll agree that this has to
be creativity at its best! As a small business owner this is an ideal you
really need to strive for … but how on earth can you open up your mind to
get to the point where ideas just spill out?
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How To Build A Customer Focused Business
You can have
the best products, the plushest offices, the best location, but unless you
are a ‘customer focused’ business, all of this counts for nothing, you will
never really hit the heights you deserve.
So what can you do to build a business which focuses outwardly on the
customer, and not inwardly on the business?
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The Truth Behind Entrepreneurial Myths
In
this article,
we’ll take a look at some of the myths being an entrepreneur and reveal them to be exactly that
… just myths! Don’t get me wrong, being an entrepreneur can be tough and
there are hurdles to cross, but let’s bring some common sense into the
debate!
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How To Avoid A Financial Crisis
Having a superb product, soaring
sales and stupendous customer service are undoubtedly some of the things
which go into making a successful business. But all of this is irrelevant if
you suffer a financial crisis. Without a sound stable financial position the
slightest shock can be enough to send your business crashing to the ground.
So
what can you do to ensure that all your hard work is not in vain?
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Resolve To
Never Give Up
One
quality that most budding entrepreneurs find they need very early on in
their business career is persistence – that stubborn streak and the resolve
never to give up. But developing the habit of persistence is tough. What can
you do to make sure you don’t give up until you are 100% sure that it won’t
work?
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Please Listen To What I’m Saying!
In sales it’s
always said that if you understand your product and solve your customer’s
problems then you’ll do well in the sales environment. But this presupposes
one thing … that you have really listened and understood what the customer
is saying. We’re talking about the importance of active listening in sales.
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The Road To Success
I saw
a great quote on an advertising board, ‘The road to success is always under
construction.” It started me thinking about how the pathway to success is
very much like a road – full of twists and turns.
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Secure Your Success By Seeing Your Vision
Speak to any successful entrepreneur and he will
tell you exactly where he and his business will be in 5 years from now.
Successful business owners know exactly where the business is going and what
they have to do to get there. They have vision.
So how can you
start constructing a vision?
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How Deep Is Your Pocket: The Keys To Establishing Your
Start Up Costs
One of the challenges of planning
and getting a new business off the ground is to establish what your start up
costs are going to be. At best, it’s going to be a stab in the dark or a
wild guess, but there are some specific steps you can take to make your
costings more realistic.
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Why Am I Doing This?
When people
decide to start their own business most of them are clear as to why they
have decided to take the plunge. However, it’s usually a quick passing
thought but have you considered using your ‘why’ as a motivator to keep you
focused and on track?
If you haven’t
clarified your ‘why’ yet, ask the question – “Why am I doing this?”
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How To Make
Working From Home Enjoyable and Productive
With
the every day stresses of life, work and commuting, working from home can
appear to be the way out, but it is not as easy and idyllic as it sounds. If
you are seriously thinking about setting up in business on your own and
working from home, what are the pitfalls and what can you do to avoid them?
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Your Success Is Down To You!
With stock
market values, concerns over pensions and house prices, we have plenty of
things to keep us awake at night! But a lot of us have more mundane things
to get worked up about – the advertising campaign which doesn’t appear to be
working, margins getting squeezed, the customer who took up hours of your
time and never bought anything, your van breaking down just when you needed
it most, no cash in the Bank!
Who is to blame for all of these misfortunes?
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