Monthly Archives: January 2015

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 11 – UNIQUE SELLING POINT

POSTED BY Angela January 12, 2015 IN Blog | No Comments

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 11 – UNIQUE SELLING POINT

Today’s BST is all about identifying your USP (unique selling point) which is that essence of your business, your service or your trade that makes you stand apart, ahead, from all the others in your field.

Ask yourself today, what exactly it is that you offer your customers, clients, the people who buy what you offer them. Are you unique because of the quality of your product or your price, where are you pitching your products and do they meet your customers’ needs? Have you asked them? If you were to ask them, what do you think they would say? Is there something else that they would like your products to incorporate to make it that much better for them, make them more likely to buy from you rather than your competitors?

Do you know who your competitors are, and where they have pitched their products in relation to your own? A clever business person will have already determined this information – maybe your competitors have already assessed you and your products. Where are your products placed in relation to theirs. Do they come in more expensive, are they of superior quality, do they have a more modern edge, extras that go along with them? All these aspects are so important.

Years ago I ready a truly valuable book called Positioning – The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout which is all about the world of Advertising and how to use less words to create more of an impact, even piggy backing on the 1st class position of your competitors. Marketing strategy is a minefield if you do not have good information to guide you. It is a worthwhile read even though it has been changed from the original for our era.

So, I hope that my little BST will trigger something in your mind and make you take a second look at your products and services to see how you can get that edge, using your unique selling point to get results.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 10 – USING MEDITATION TO OVERCOME DISAPPOINTMENT

POSTED BY Angela January 10, 2015 IN Uncategorized | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 10 – USING MEDITATION TO OVERCOME DISAPPOINTMENT

Do you sometimes feel disappointment when things don’t turn out how you planned? Of course you do. We all do. How do you handle it? Today I am talking about the way I get myself out of feeling down by using meditation to overcome disappointment.

I have used meditation to help change the way people view life and it can be used as a self-meditation, rather than hypnosis which I use only when I am in a clinical or consultation setting and when I know that it is the right method for the right issue and situation.

Here I am talking about what you can do to improve the way you are thinking, and how you can turn things around again and switch your thoughts from the disappointment and onto feeling more empowered and able to re-think your actions and the way forward to achieving your goals, using different tactics.

Using mediation to overcome disappointment can be very successful and in this blog post I explain a way that you can do this yourself and change the focus of your day, and the way you think that will enable you to reframe and address issues that can turn failure into success.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 9 – MOVING FORWARD AND ACHIEVING GOALS

POSTED BY Angela January 9, 2015 IN Blog, Business Management, business skills | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 9 – MOVING FORWARD AND ACHIEVING GOALS

From revolving daily lists, to setting SMART goals, you can move your business forward faster and ensure that you are achieving goals by tackling those jobs that you dread, the ones that make your stomach lurch when you think about them. Having the strength and determination to tackle them, one step at a time will ensure that you get to achieving goals.

Tune in to todays BST and discover some tips that will help you on your way to moving forward. Angela talks about goal setting in this brief blog post. A whole range of webinars are planned from January to March 2015, complete with useful downloads, so watch our podcast show for news about upcoming events.

In the meantime, plan ahead yourself by breaking down your goals into easy to do mini-bites, or even chunks that you can easily digest and make sure that you are moving forward in your business and achieving goals along the way.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 7 – LEARN FROM BUSINESS FAILURE STORIES

POSTED BY Angela January 8, 2015 IN Blog, Business Management, business skills | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 7 – LEARN FROM BUSINESS FAILURE STORIES

Today Angela asks the question, why do businesses fail? Easy to find out, just read the financial pages and then ask yourself how you can learn from business failure stories.

Some businesses fail because they have not paid sufficient attention to their profit and loss figures and some, because they have neglected customers, clients and other important people that they rely on including their staff, outsourcers and others.

If you want to avoid your business failure then look to your own stories and compare them to other companies that fail. Do you have areas in your business that are neglected? Are your staff undertaking their tasks under excellent guidance, using informative and correct practice, taking care of your customer needs?

Most failures are due to poor delegation, under staffing, over spending, unrealistic projections and lack of knowledge about products, services, customer needs or lack of clear branding or unique selling point. Examine your business plan and check your story against those of the failed businesses. Better still, ensure you have a plan!

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 8 – YOUR MOTIVATION TO SUCCEED

POSTED BY Angela January 8, 2015 IN Blog, Business Management, business skills | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 8 – YOUR MOTIVATION TO SUCCEED

What is your business motivation? Do you want to be famous, become an authority figure, use your income to perform humanitarian actions, or just make loads of money and retire early?

I am asking questions again. Today I am thinking about what your business motivation is all about. Do you know for sure why you want to be in business and why you are pursuing the direction that you have chosen? There is no shame in being in business for the money! In fact, most successful entrepreneurs admit having a taste for making large sums of money. Sometimes it is for the challenge that excites them, sometimes for the power it brings them, sometimes just because they like to spend money on nice things.

Others are in their business so that they can help people. Maybe they run a consultancy, a therapeutic practice, work at a trade – all these businesses help other people directly. Some people want to earn a position of authority and being a business person brings that to them. Academics and lecturers may enjoy having other people listen to them and the role they play in enlightening others – and, of course, the authority.

Whatever your motivation for being in the business you are in, there might be days when your motivation flags a little, so refocus, build a picture of your success, and enjoy the journey. Make every day an adventure and use the challenge to work towards your dreams. Expand your level of motivation and watch your success take off.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 6 – BUSINESS MODELLING AND CUSTOMER PROFILING

POSTED BY Angela January 6, 2015 IN Blog, Business Management, business skills | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 6 – BUSINESS MODELLING AND CUSTOMER PROFILING

Sounds like a heavy title, eh? Actually it is all about methods that can ensure your business success that are easy to do, cost very little and can save any business person time and money in building a business model that is bound to succeed, and customers that are truly happy with what your business has to offer. Using business modelling and customer profiling you are bound to enjoy increased income and a big list of happy customers.

So, in this short session Angela shares one or two methods you can use these concepts, which say more about childhood copying and using selective probing questions than it does to scientific methodology.

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Angela used business modelling herself when she was setting up her hotel business, and through contacts in the Chamber of Commerce she located other hoteliers who shared information with her that greatly advanced her business. Later she developed customer profiling and used it to discover exactly what her customers needed, and designed products to meet that need, both sensible and good business practice.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 5 – PERCENTAGES OF BUSINESSES THAT FAIL

POSTED BY Angela January 5, 2015 IN Blog, Business Management, business skills, personal development | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 5 – PERCENTAGES OF BUSINESSES THAT FAIL

In today’s BST I am taking a candid look at the reasons why businesses fail, indeed, I examine what causes the percentages of business that fail here in the UK.

Success or failure can be due to a number of variables. However, Dun and Bradstreet claim that the number one reason why businesses fail is due to failure of planning. In this BST, I give some pointers as to how you can avoid the risks, and play to your strengths to ensure that your business succeeds.

Not only that, but you can follow the link below to find out more information on how you can ensure your business success, by listening to my webinar 5 Secrets To Online Business Success. The act of planning ensures that you do your research, make clear and practical decisions that relate to the finances, the structure and the marketing of your products, services and trade so that your customers, your clients and yourself are happy and that people to purchase your products and services come back time and time again for more.

Make sure that your business is not one that fails, and learn how you can prevent being part of the percentage of business that fail to get past the nursery years and become part of the percentages of business that succeed. Here’s to your business success.

http://internetcoachingschool.com/webinarmagic/register.php?wid=4574

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 4 – BUSINESS START UP COSTS

POSTED BY Angela January 4, 2015 IN Blog | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 4 – BUSINESS START UP COSTS

When we want to start a new business we all get caught up with the idea, romanticise, dream, enjoy basking in the glory of our future success and how that will feel. I had the thought that today I would remind you of the sort of business start up costs you are likely to meet, not too bring you down to earth with a bump, but to make sure of your future success by reminding you what you need to consider when setting up a new business. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Not just an old mother’s tale, a proverb borne out of ignorance, but a wise and kind bit of advice to the new business owner.

Focus on these important questions if you want to get involved in a new business concept, be wise and consider the business start up costs today.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 3 – CUSTOMER TARGET GROUP

POSTED BY Angela January 3, 2015 IN Blog | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 3 – CUSTOMER TARGET GROUP

BST 3 is about understanding your customers, knowing who they are, what they want and how to supply to that need to ensure that your customer target group is clamouring to buy your product or service. Thinking clearly about your customers, their needs and how you can provide answers to their problems will get you sales, satisfied customers and more money in your account.

Angela tells you the questions to ask that will give you the answers from your customer target group to set you on the right path to success. It is so worth the effort to think deeply about your customer target group to get it right from the start. This way you will avoid wasting time and money later, ensuring that your target group is right for you, right for your products and right for your business.

Knowing your customer target group, their demographics, their ages, income group, their profile, their problems and their wants and needs gives you success.

BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 2 – BUSINESS IDEAS

POSTED BY Angela January 3, 2015 IN Blog | No Comments

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BUSINESS SKILLS TIPS 2 – BUSINESS IDEAS

Today’s Business Skills Tips suggests ways that you can develop your business ideas right from the start by thinking about what your ideas is all about and the two questions that you need to ask yourself to help clarify exactly what it is that you have in mind and what you want to achieve for yourself and your clients / customers with regard to your business ideas.

When you start to think about a new business it is easy to assume that you know exactly what you want to achieve, but it is only when you get under way that any gaps in your concept come to light. These two questions, when asked right from the start, will guide you forward towards setting up your business correctly, avoiding any costly mistakes and giving you confidence that you can handle your business ideas effortlessly and successfully.