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3 Keys to Selling a Startup

July 22, 2020 by Thomas Leave a Comment

Is there any chance you may want to sell your startup anytime soon?

If the answer is yes, do you know what is necessary to get this all-important task done?

Making sure everything falls into place is critical to say the least.

The last thing you want is hassles that can end up costing you time, money and more.

With that in mind, are you going to be selling sooner than later?

What Will Make for a Better Sale?

When you are thinking of preparing your startup for acquisition, here are three keys you want to zero in on:

Is now the right time? – Above all else, be as sure as you can that now in fact is the right time to sell. There are a myriad of factors that can and often do come into play with such an important thing to consider. For one, is the market in your particular industry good for selling now? If such sales are sluggish right now, you may well decide it is best to hold off. In the event many startups in your industry are on the market, you may also decide now is the best time to cash-in on this. You also want to think about what a sale will mean to your professional and personal lives. Do you have another business to turn to? Will you go work for someone else? If you are getting up there in years, is retirement a possibility now? Weigh everything in play to see if selling a startup now makes sense.
Where do your workers go? – Unless your company is void of employees, what happens to your workers when selling is key. The last thing you want is to leave them hanging. That said you typically would have a few options to look at. First, you may be buying another startup soon. If so, will you offer to take your current employees with you? Second, you may include some language in the sale of your startup. Language that says the buyer will at least offer your workers jobs. For some sellers of startups, they will not do either. If this is where you are leaning to; at least give your employees as much notice as possible. This allows them more time to see what else is out there on the job front.
Charting your next course of action – Last, you want to have a good idea of what is next in store for you. Are you looking at buying something else? Would you go and work for someone else? If you are up there in age, could retirement be in the cards for you sooner than later? By having a good sense of what it is you want and can do, you are in a better position moving ahead.

Once you have made the decision it is a go to sell your startup, a lot needs to come together.

With that in mind, you want to put together a checklist.

Be sure to check the appropriate boxes as you move along.

In selling your startup, you more than likely have options on the table to what will come next.

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Do Your Employees Have All the Tools to Sell?

February 5, 2020 by Thomas Leave a Comment

No matter what your brand has to offer the public, it is key your employees have all the needed tools to sell.

Sure, if you run a one-person operation, then worrying what employees have is rather moot.

That said many business owners do have employees under them. As a result, it is important that they know what their workers need to be successful with consumers.

So, do your employees have all the tools to sell?

What Might You Be Lacking?

In looking at what your workers may need to make selling to the public easier, consider the following:

Technology – They may have need for sales commission software. That is to best track results when working to sell. So, be sure your employees have the necessary tools. Speaking of such software, does your company have it now? If not, it would be well worth your time to look to add it to your office. The right software makes it much easier to track who is doing what when it comes to sales. Keep in mind that happy and organized employees tend to be better ones. As such, knowing the software you offer them is tracking all it should will make things run smoother. Also be sure if you have employees traveling for you that they have access to the right tech items. This makes it easier for them to not only stay in touch with you and clients they meet, but also record what they do for you.
Experience – There is only one way for employees to get experience selling to the public and that is doing it. That said be sure to train your employees the right way from day one. Bad selling techniques can doom an employee early on within your company. He or she has a much better chance of succeeding (as does your business) when they have been trained right. Do not assume when they come to you with sales experience that the experience they have meshes with you.
Marketing and Advertising – It makes it easier for your employees to sell when folks know you. As a result, are you doing all you can to promote your brand through smart marketing and advertising? That will go a long way in making it easier for your workers to form a bond with consumers. When a consumer knows about your brand, he or she can be easier to approach. That is of course unless they take issue with your brand in the first place.
Confidence – Finally, do you instill confidence in your team? Sure, work can get tough at times. You might even raise your voice a time or two. That said providing support to your employees means more than resources. Show them you support them as both workers and people. Such support can go a long way in increasing the chances of a sale.

As you review what your employees have to make sales, anything you need to do different?

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics online.

Why Should Customers Come To You?

December 23, 2015 by Thomas Leave a Comment

When running a company, it doesn’t matter if you’re the big boy on the block or the mom and pop shop just trying to carve out a living. At the end of the day, customer service is what it all boils down to.

While some business owners have trouble relating to their customers, many more know that their customers matter more than anything else. Simply put; strong customer service goes a long way towards retaining current clients and bringing aboard new ones.

As the calendar soon turns to 2016, what are you doing to make sure your customers get nothing short of the best service in the New Year.

Review Customer Approach

In order to give your current customers (and hopefully many more new ones in 2016) the best service possible, review these following tidbits to see if you can properly check them off in your to-do list:

Customer is always right – Sure, we’ve all heard this adage time and time again whether we’ve run our own businesses or worked for those who have or currently do. Sure, some customers can be a pain in the old butt at times, but stop and wonder where you would be without them. Even though this does not mean you should let a customer yell at you and/or one of your employees, treat you like second-class citizens or spread malicious lies about your brand, you should give customers the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, especially if there is a contentious issue being discussed. Make sure you keep a level head and do not go out of your way to antagonize customers;
Keep the deals coming – Whether you sell and/or offer insurance, home furnishings, accounting and other financial services, Direct TV or countless other products and services, treat your customers right from day one until their last day with you. Sure, you can’t give items and services away all the time, but keep the deals coming whenever possible. When customers see that they’re getting specials from your business, they are more apt to stay with you. This is especially important if there is an issue. A customer who likes the deals you offer is more likely to stick with you even when a problem arises, knowing that more discounts are likely coming their way down the road;
Employees need to buy into plan – When you have employees under your guise, it is important that they are on the team too. It just takes one bad customer experience with an employee to create problems. Your workers should always give the customer the benefit of the doubt, be it a price issue, a matter involving service, etc. Again, that does not mean customers are allowed to rip one of your employees over the phone, in-person or via email, but make sure your employees are not short with customers, allowing them to speak their mind;
Don’t Be a Stranger – Finally, don’t be a stranger to your customers. Sure, you should not be bothering them with endless sales pitches, but you also do not want to seem like you do not care. The occasional follow-up on their thoughts on the service you provided them, whether or not they’re happy with the product/s you sold them etc. is important. It also doesn’t hurt around this time of year to send out a little holiday cheer via an email, text, letter etc. to let them know how important they are to you.

With the New Year only days away, take stock in how you treat customers now and moving forward.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Get Personal in Training Your Sales People to be the Best

December 11, 2015 by Thomas Leave a Comment

Does your sales training have a personal touch?

The aim of sales training is to equip your sales team to do their best for your business. Well-trained sales people will pursue the best leads and communicating effectively with customers, ultimately improving your sales and conversions.

By adding a personal touch to your sales training, you increase the chances of success for your sales team.

So just what does a personal touch mean in terms of sales training, and how can you implement it in your business?

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

When it comes to sales training, it’s all too easy to take a one size fits all approach.

You set up a training day or give your sales team an e-course to complete on their mobile devices, delivering everything you think they need to know. However, this may not be the most effective approach for your business.

Here’s why:

Different people have different learning styles;
Different people learn at different speeds;
Some team members will already be familiar with some of the material;
Team members will have different gaps in their knowledge;
Some people will learn better at different times of day;
Some people will respond better to specific content delivery methods than others.

Understanding the different needs of your sales team members is vital in creating sales training that has a truly personal touch.

What Does Personal Training Look Like?

Personal training is focused on what is best for each individual learner.

Personal training can include:

Offering different learning options (such as videos or interactive quizzes);
Breaking training down into bite size pieces so learners can choose where to go next;
Recommending new training modules based on each learner’s history;
Giving learners a chance to focus on problem areas;
Delivering different content based on each learner’s progress.

Benefits of Giving Training a Personal Touch

Adding a personal touch to your sales training means you’ll be offering the best training for each individual member of your sales team.

By focusing your efforts on adapting your training to be appropriate for each individual learner, you increase each team member’s chance of getting maximum benefit from the training.

As the article, “Modern Pharma Sales Training Deserves a Personal Touch” points out, customizing training to each learner’s needs improves the quality of the training.

Each person will receive the best content for them, in a way that they can personally work well with. Their engagement with the content will be more meaningful.

Making Training More Efficient

Adding a more personal touch to your training also means your training will be more efficient. When you deliver the same training to everyone, some people will receive training in topics they’re already well versed in.

As well as wasting time, this is likely to bore learners.

By personalizing your training, you let each learner skip over areas they are already familiar with.

More personal training also lets you see where each member of your team is struggling, giving you the chance to offer them support. Learners can put their focus on the areas they most need to improve.

Finally, by personalizing your sales training, you can pay attention to each learner’s preferred method of learning, for example by reading, answering quizzes or watching a video.

Targeting a preferred learning method is much more efficient than having everyone wade through material that doesn’t gel with their personal learning style.

When you add a personal touch to your sales training, you are essentially delivering the very best training for each member of your team.

The result is the best trained sales people, who are an asset to your business.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a variety of topics including social media, how to build customer relationships, content marketing and how to offer the best training to your sales people.

Get Personal in Training Your Sales People to be the Best

October 30, 2015 by Thomas Leave a Comment

For those business owners just starting out or only in business for a short period of time, does your sales training have a personal touch? If it doesn’t, it could set the stage for some long days down the road.

By adding a personal touch to your sales training, you increase the chances of success for your sales team.

So just what does a personal touch mean in terms of sales training, and how can you implement it in your business?

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

When it comes to sales training, it’s all too easy to take a one-size-fits-all approach.

Here’s why:

Different people have different learning styles;

Different people learn at different speeds;

Some team members will already be familiar with some of the material;

Team members will have different gaps in their knowledge;

Some people will learn better at different times of day;

Some people will respond better to specific content delivery methods than others.

Understanding the different needs of your sales team members is vital in creating sales training that has a truly personal touch.

What Does Personal Training Look Like?

Personal training is focused on what is best for each individual learner.

Personal training can include:

Offering different learning options (such as videos or interactive quizzes);

Breaking training down into bite size pieces so learners can choose where to go next;

Recommending new training modules based on each learner’s history;

Giving learners a chance to focus on problem areas;

Delivering different content based on each learner’s progress.

The Benefits of Giving Training a Personal Touch

Adding a personal touch to your sales training means you’ll be offering the best training for each individual member of your sales team.

By focusing your efforts on adapting your training to be appropriate for each individual learner, you increase each team member’s chance of getting maximum benefit from the training.

As the article “Modern Pharma Sales Training Deserves a Personal Touch” points out, customizing training to each learner’s needs improves the quality of the training.

Each person will receive the best content for them, in a way that they can personally work well with. Their engagement with the content will be more meaningful.

Making Training More Efficient

Adding a more personal touch to your training also means your training will be more efficient.

When you deliver the same training to everyone, some people will receive training in topics they’re already well versed in. As well as wasting time, this is likely to bore learners.

By personalizing your training, you let each employee skip over areas they are already familiar with.

Finally, by personalizing your sales training, you can pay attention to each learner’s preferred method of learning, for example by reading, answering quizzes or watching a video.

Targeting a preferred learning method is much more efficient than having everyone wade through material that doesn’t gel with their personal learning style.

When you add a personal touch to your sales training, you are essentially delivering the very best training for each member of your team.

The result is the best-trained sales people, who are an asset to your business.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a variety of topics including social media, how to build customer relationships, content marketing and how to offer the best training to your sales people.

Do You Have the Right Brand Promotion Mix?

March 18, 2015 by Thomas Leave a Comment

Are you looking to grow your company, gain exposure to the media and market your business to a specific clientele?

If so, you’re going to need to carefully plan exactly how you should go about marketing your business. There is no “one size fits all” method, but rather a mix of strategies that work together to give your business the type of growth it needs.

Popular ways businesses go about marketing include networking with other businesses and individuals in the area, asking for referrals, using free forms of advertising (such as Craigslist), developing an online social media presence, placing ads in the newspaper or print media, creating a mass email or text message list, offering deals and specials, donating to a local charity and more.

There are hundreds of ways to market your business, but the trick is finding a mix that works best for your specific industry.

Get More Social

Social media is quickly rising to the top when it comes to marketing. Not only is it an effective way to advertise for nearly all businesses, regardless of industry, but it’s also a free way to advertise.

To market via social media, you first start out by setting up your business accounts on various social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn and more.

Then, start networking with other business and individuals, post information on your company including any specials or promotions you have going on, interact with customers and start developing a following.

Finding the Right Combinations

While growing your online presence is one of the best ways to market your business, it shouldn’t be the only way. A business that markets well knows that it’s a combination of marketing strategies that are the most effective.

The article “Integrating social media, text and email” suggests that the best social media marketing strategy incorporates text messages and email marketing into their plan. Instead of having three separate plans, it’s best to have them work together to form one larger marketing campaign.

So how do you get all three to work together?

A few ideas include asking customers via email to “like” your Facebook page, getting customers to “opt in” to your text message service by offering a discount on your product or placing a “subscribe to my email” option on all of your social media accounts.

By offering discounts or free products to the customers and making it easy for them to share and follow you, you’ll have a much better chance at growing a following and gaining customers.

Once you’ve combined your social media marketing strategy with your text and email campaign, you can begin to seek out other ways to advertise.

Its trial-and-error, as some methods will work wonderfully and others will crash and burn. Your strategies will also change over time as new and improved ways of marketing come on to the market.

Be flexible and be willing to try a variety of methods in order to figure out what works best for your business.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer living in Charlotte, NC. She writes on a variety of topics including social media, small businesses and personal finance.