They want to follow the leader. Stay on top of your field. The systemized company produces the same consistent results every time. However, venture capitalists will back seedlings if the idea is strong enough and the prospects promising enough.

Include marketing analysis and strategy

Ongoing organizational systems will keep your employees headed toward the desired end result. But it doesn't have to be that way, and the advent of direct debit and the ability to take payment online and over the phone has made it much easier for small firms to take payment immediately …

Because angels invest their own money, you might think they are the most discriminating, difficult-to-please investors. Instead of trying to figure out what your basic business concept is, you only have to decide whether it s changing. Depending on your industry and the software you are using, it may be …

Have a large bulletin board in front of your store, or near it, announcing your sales for the past week. In fact, warning labels may seem ridiculous, but in a litigation-crazed society, you will actually see labels such as the one on a portable stroller that read, Please remove child …

Ask questions and learn. Save your best material for the words you speak. Before seeking investors, you need to know exactly what you are seeking and where that money will be spent. Are you in control of your sales volume?

The key point is that benefits are dependent on the …

People want to make meaningful contributions on the job. You let the customer know your new pricing structure. How often have you had a vendor submit you a price and never follow up? A manager is also dependent on the effectiveness of resources that are held in other companies and …

They often say their people continually complain about money. By focusing your message on your customers' ultimate goal, you can sell them what they really want. Even the most modest new data on a market, client, or technology, when probed seriously, can provoke expansive new insights that point toward a …

Ken Olsen raised money to start Digital Equipment Corporation with the help of a plan copied out of a textbook. But all business plans are not the same any more than all businesses are. In the early years of your start-up business, you'll almost surely experience a reduction in your …

Inventors, manufacturers, and suppliers create/provide components; other manufacturers select and bundle them into larger products. The structure of a company s relationships is likely to take the form of a small number of close, complex relationships between counterparts that are individually significant for each other and a larger number …

For example, call forwarding and call waiting are features; never missing another call is their benefit. Financial ratios reveal a company's performance over time (longitudinal analysis) or in comparison to competitors (cross-sectional analysis). There is no stronger position at the negotiating table than indifference'to be able to walk away without …

What you GET is a RESULT of what you GIVE! Big corporations have large staffs, which can be devoted to year-round planning. Identify what you need to train your people to do and then make these your training topics at least once or twice every year. Some people create amazing …

It has developed with civilization and has been, without question, a fundamental cause of material progress. Wear magnifying glasses. Remember there is no fate. Install an employee development and training program to motivate, recognize, appreciate, and train accountable and responsible employees and teams.

You make these sales mistakes?

Do you have excess capital, financial strength, banking contacts, or credit that would add to a new venture? Fixed-cost overheads are bad news for start-ups hoping to do without money. These ideas can be created quickly, with little expense. What do you stand for and support?

A secure, broad-based patent …

In fact, your corporate attorney may not be the right person for labor law, so you may need to discuss hiring issues, including handbooks and even employee forms, with a labor lawyer. Use outside instructors when introducing new or technical subjects. This toxic behavior stops people from wanting to contribute …

Oversee the smallest details. Unless you are focused on making money, know what it takes to make a profit, and have systems in place to track and monitor your progress, it won't happen. Before seeking investors, you need to know exactly what you are seeking and where that money will …

Everything has a subjective reason. You get stuck using the same suppliers and vendors over and over. As the leader, you are 100 percent responsible for everything: sales, profits, growth, quality, customer service, organization, people, and management. Have you ever noticed that successful people always get up when they fall …

Companies that have salespeople focused on helping customers increase their odds of getting more profitable sales. But bankers often demand more because it may be impossible to sell the item you re buying for what you ll owe on it. But in management, one s achievements are measured through the …

When your customers call, what do they want? For some businesses, their certification or occupational license is essentially what they sell. Split the ownership with them based on who provides what percentage of the total equity investment. While other types of companies'like retail stores, consumer services, repair businesses, restaurants, suppliers …

It is best to have a VC firm s term sheet without ever stating what you believe the value to be. Experts are expected to know a lot, but often it is better to know how to organize and structure knowledge than to simply have knowledge. This assumes you started …

A good salesperson will even talk a customer out of making a wrong purchase, because in the long run the customer will respect the salesperson's honesty and may become a repeat customer. Addressing those concerns now is a worthwhile idea. Each person who works for you wants to be accountable …

A credit check will look at their financial position and see whether they have failed to pay others in the past, among other things. These resources are the best place to start building your team. The approach selected may be affected by the downstream market strategy. Your goal is to …

For example, you might want to prepare a contingency plan when you are seeking bank financing. People like to buy where others buy. It may consist of machinery, equipment, inventory, or all too often, the equity you own in your home. Use the projections in your business plan as guideposts …

Venture capitalists are not as likely to provide seed money as some other, less tough-minded financing sources, such as family investors. In fact, customers whose complaints are resolved quickly and satisfactorily often become very loyal: They make larger purchases, become personally attached to the business and its employees, and provide …

Make this a top priority. Rather than spending all of your marketing money taking out ads or sending out brochures and flyers that say HIRE US! With all the different pressures of building a profitable company, it's often tempting to do things out of sequence or by the seat of …

Stay informed. Customers who are looking at your business plan are probably doing so because they contemplate building a long-term relationship with you. These companies must have large cash flows from other products to fill the gap or seek loans or other forms of financing to avoid running out of …

Install financial controls to ensure accuracy and accountability. When you know your costs, you will manage better and make more profit. Besides, it s the cash flow from operations that pays off bank loans. Mass marketing to thousands of potential customers is expensive.

Advertising : the lifeblood of your business

They sometimes also provide what may seem like very cheap capital. that s you! Getting your financial house in order before you start your business can buy you critical time to make a success of your start-up. But it s still just a bid, and you know what happens to …

This means that you need to get organized and install systems so your people can do what you want them to do on a consistent basis with little or no input. When accountable and responsible people achieve great results, they need to be thanked and rewarded. Of course, some things …

But the most effective visual presentations are clear, concise, and even terse. Do it different or do it right! The wholesaler's role is to buy large quantities of products at discounted prices (discounted from retail prices that is) from manufacturers, break them down into smaller quantities, and sell them at …

Wouldn't it be better for everyone if products were sold directly by producers to consumers, bypassing the markups of intermediaries such as distributors, wholesalers, and retailers? Start a weekly award for the employee or production team player who saves the most money, does something excellent, has the best attitude, makes …

What specific results are we trying to accomplish? Strong competitors, price wars, me-too products, the fickle habits of the buying public, and other market-related risks must be addressed. Take a risk. Decide where you'll get the most bang for your buck and join today.

Challenges are what make life interesting …

The other information it contains, from market research to management bios, can be considered supporting arguments. Stock prices and stock market performance can fluctuate due to many factors, including macro-economic phenomena, interest rates, investor speculation, company performance, political events, and dividend payments. Remember, without productive, happy people, you can't achieve …

Relationship development is costly in time and resources and the path of development of a single important relationship may have a critical effect on the development direction of a company. You must carry your business in your brain. In most cases, you want to have products and services that people …

What's the worst that can happen'? If you never try, you'll never achieve. It s definite, comprehensive, and clear. Also, once again, you should use the appropriate channels to deliver your message for each niche market where your product is being sold, depending on where your customers hang out. Many …

When is the last time your project manager held a meeting without you leading it? A relatively immature function may be more effective in solely aiming for the rationalisation role, as it just does not have resources to effectively manage the other roles and interfaces. Bonds and bank loans are …

Give them birthday, anniversary, and thank you gifts. Partners want to know your basic business concept, the market, and your strategy for attacking it; who else is on your team; what your financial performance, strengths, and needs are; and what s in it for them. Venture capitalists may also purchase …

Seed money is usually a relatively small amount of cash, up to $250,000 or so, that is used to prove a business concept has merit. When your customers call, what do they want? More weighty, however, appear the objections against profit-sharing, which seem to have had sufficient force to …

Under these circumstances it is largely a question of economic strength between labor and capital, and if labor is well-organized, alert, and able to drive a good bargain, then wages will be high; otherwise they will be low. Inform them what you propose to do. A banker may not be …

The other entrepreneur can pay you for the opportunity to expose his/her brand to your audience. Building a profitable business takes focus, hard work, and tough decisions. Know what else good coaches do? What aspect of performance product demonstrations, kinetic rather than static physical displays, even store pets can …

Other companies require much smaller amounts of capital to finance their ongoing operations. Should you take another look at how you spend your money? Where do you see your business in one year? Command decision making is the traditional top-down, hierarchical management model.

Make the Advertising department a happy place …