Growing a Business

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Develop a great marketing plan by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Determine specific goals and the time frame in which you want to achieve them. Communicate the goals to your employees.

  • Decide what tools can best help you meet your goals and how they will be used. These can include the Internet, newsletters, direct mail, special events, trade shows, advertising, and more.

  • Come up with a budget that reflects your goals.

  • Delegate responsibility for implementing each segment of the plan.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Starting to advertise for your small business? Learn the basics by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Be consistent in your ad message and style including business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, signs and banners.

  • Newspapers, radio and TV stations are helpful in producing the advertising that you will be running with them.

  • While word-of-mouth advertising has been around a long time, it usually falls short of being able to attract the number of customers needed to be successful in business.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Get the best ways to spruce up your business's tiered image by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Identify who your customers and other stakeholders are and what they want from you. Through interviews or questionnaires, have them help you evaluate your image.

  • Pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your current image. What misconceptions or negative perceptions need to be corrected?

  • Devise a strategy. It could include changing your company’s name and logo, changing your product mix, or even dropping some customers and courting others.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Have a great idea? Learn paten best pratices before your start by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

  • An idea, without knowledge of how to make it work, is not patentable. You must be able to present an illustrated description of a specific useful product, which achieves the desired objective, in sufficient detail to enable others to make and use it.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Develop a great employee handbook by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Some company policies have to be in writing—such as policies on sexual harassment and discipline—so that employees know what is expected of them. These can form the basis of an employee manual.

  • Draft your employee handbook yourself or assign someone else in the company to do it. Then have it reviewed and fine-tuned by your lawyer.

  • Include a disclaimer stating clearly that the manual is in no way a legal contract.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Learn the basics about consumer credits by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Know the laws. If you must grant credit directly to consumers, familiarize yourself with both federal and state consumer credit statutes.

  • Tell the truth. The Truth in Lending Act requires you to disclose exact credit terms, such as the monthly finance charge and annual interest rate.

  • Follow correct procedures for handling billing mistakes. If you don’t, you may have to give the customer a $50 credit even if your billing was right.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Learn how to be the best manager for yourself and your company by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Recognize when you’ve outrun your abilities. When one entrepreneur saw that her skills were not adequate to manage her company, she hired a president to handle day-to-day operations.

  • Get a CEO coach. Skilled consultants can help you learn how to take your company to the next level. SCORE can help.

  • Open yourself to being transformed. Listen, really listen, to employees. Let go of old notions of leadership (managing by fear, for example).

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Learn how to recognize if your business is getting stale by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • If you’ve been running your business 10 years or more, it’s probably time for fresh leadership. Consider bumping yourself up to chairman and getting a new CEO.

  • Recognize that fatigue and boredom are signs you’ve been at the helm too long.

  • Answer honestly: Are you resistant to new ideas and risks? If so, you may be impeding your company’s progress.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Learn how to create an innovative environment by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Show your employees that you think of innovation as an ongoing process. Some ideas will work and many won’t. Keep experimenting.

  • Listen, listen, listen. Innovation is a collaborative process.

  • Be open to “accidents,” the unexpected connections that spark new ideas. Inspiration comes from everywhere—often from outside your own field.

How To Articles
Published Apr. 21, 2011

Learn how to be a hands on leader by using these five tips brought to you by SCORE Mentors.

 

  • Be there. Entrepreneurs warn that a successful business can slip when an owner is not there at least part of every day, keeping in touch with how things are going.

  • Set an example for working hard. One wholesale bakery owner sometimes sleeps on the couch in his office so he can be there when the early shift comes in at 4 a.m.

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