10 Effective Tips To Keep Your Business Flying High

If this is your first time venturing into business, it is most times advisable that you start small first, so you can acquire experience. Do not jump ahead into making very big investments. This is because you are still learning.

1.  Stay updated in your line of business
Let's say for example that you sell computers online. In which case, you should keep yourself updated about the latest in the world of computers. 

You should know the latest Operating Systems like Windows 10, Mac OS, Ubuntu LINUX...etc. You should know the latest hardware products, the latest software products, and such. But more than anything else, you should know which products are trending the most – those that people want the most. 

This way, you will be able to update your line of products and make sure that you always offer the latest in the market. You will not be left out.

2. Offer obsolete products at a discount
Another way to dispose obsolete products and products that do not sell is to offer them at a discount. 

If a product is really terrible, you can sell it at a big discount (50% off or 70% off). It does not matter if you will no longer be able to profit from those items. 

What is important at this point is to get back a portion if not all of the investment you made on those failed products. When you see shops offering big discounts up to 80% off, it is likely because they are trying to dispose obsolete merchandise. 

This is a method that has been in use by businesses for a long time already.

3. Include obsolete products in ‘package deals’
Let us take again the example of the camera and the memory cards that won’t get sold. One solution is to offer the two products in bundle. So to say, you are including a memory card in the package of the camera.  

Of course, you would have to add up the price (ex. Camera price is $100 and the memory card is 20% so the price of the bundle is $120). This way, customers that want to buy your camera will have no choice but to also pay for the memory card. 

But this is a risky take. You have to make sure that your customers want the main product badly enough so as to be willing to pay for the bundled secondary item as well. However, good entrepreneurs can make the bundle less noticeable.

4. Include contingency for losses when pricing items
An entrepreneur always assumes that a portion of his/her products will not get sold due to a number of factors (ex. Factory defect, damage from nature, seasonal items, etc.). So when pricing your item, you should include a contingency for losses. 

So if you originally planned to sell your product at $120 for example, maybe you should sell it at $121 or $122 dollars instead. The additional $1 or $2 dollars is for the possible losses. Of course, this step is not necessary to products that proved to be a ‘sold out’ all the time.

Applying this concept is especially useful when introducing a new product. This is because you still cannot say for sure if the new product will sell or not.

5. Do what you can on your own

As an entrepreneur, you will definitely hire people to run your business. But if you can conveniently do some of the tasks, maybe you should shoulder those tasks yourself. This will save you salary costs. 

For example, if you think that paying for a manager is too costly for you at the moment, you can simply take up the responsibility yourself. And some time in the future when your business becomes more profitable, maybe you can already hire a manager to take the task off your shoulders. Until then, you should do what you can on your own.

6. Outsource tasks instead of hiring new employees

Some tasks are seasonal (done only occasionally). Examples include website maintenance graphics design for webpages, article writing, etc. 

For such tasks, it is best to just outsource the task. This way, you can avoid additional costs that come with hiring new employees (bonuses, 13th month pay, government contributions, tax, etc.).

7.  Offer obsolete products as freebies

Despite precautions, you will still experience some failures. For example, you might have ended up ordering a batch of items that did not get sold. So what do you do? You can use these unsold merchandise to fuel your promotional activities. 

Why not offer those unsold items for free? Customers love freebies and they dig it. You can also offer unsold items as a Buy 1 Take 1 item for some of your products (ex. You are a seller of cameras. However, there is batch of tripods you ordered that is not selling.

Therefore, you decided to offer the tripods as a Buy 1 Take 1 item for your cameras).

8. Always be aware of changes that will affect your business
External changes will sometimes have an effect on businesses. This is especially true concerning economic changes. For instance, the recent economic problem faced by the US caused many businesses to suffer. 

Also, the decree in the Philippines that banned the use of plastic bags caused bankruptcy on many businesses that deal with plastic products. Always be aware of such changes. It is better if you learn about them even before they occur. This way, you will be able to make necessary steps to lessen the effects on your business. 

Of course, you also have to keep your eyes open for changes that will open new opportunities for your business.

9. Keep watch of your competitors

Always keep an eye on the activities of your competitors. Check out the promotional activities that they are doing. Check out their growth. Also, check out their prices. 

Then ask questions. Do I still have the edge to compete with them? What can I do to top their performance? What changes should I do to keep my place in the market?

10. Protect your business secrets

Let us say for example that your prices are lower than the prices of your competitors. This is your competitive edge. You managed to offer lower prices because you found a supplier that offers very low prices. But what do you think will happen if your competitors learn about your supplier? 

If they manage to get your supplier, they will also be able to lower their prices. It is these kinds of business secrets that you must protect no matter what. Also, make sure that your employees are sworn to the same degree of secrecy. Have a wonderful day.

8 Tips To Help Be A Better Entrepreneur (Part 1)

There is no certainty in business. Even the best entrepreneurs fail from time to time. Even prestigious business men did suffer some failures before Success. But with these tips, you will be able to lower the chances of failure. If you apply all the tips you learned here, you will be able to see problems even before they happen. This way, you will be able to make necessary steps that will prevent the problem from occurring or from causing significant damage. 

Take note that experience is still the best teacher. And this is especially true in doing business. There are many things that only you can learn on your own. So start small first and learn. Once you gain more experience, you can then aim for higher goals. Also, you should only use this write up as a reference. Do not base your decision solely on it. The world of business is governed by many ‘unpredictable things’. Therefore, you have to act based on the situation.

1. Offer discounts once in a while
This is a good chance to gain new customers. If you offer a discount, new people will buy from you. This way, you are giving them the chance to see your products and your services. If they like it, they will surely come back. Also, offering discounts will make your current customers happy.
2. Offer promos once in a while
Promos are different from discounts. The most common is the Buy 1 Take 1 Free promo.
Just like discounts, promos are also designed to attract new customers and keep your current customers happy. Of course, you have to make sure that your promo offers are known to your target customers. Advertise in advance that you will be offering a promo offer.
3. Obtain email address of current customers
When a customer buys from you, always give them the chance to provide you their email address.
This can be included in the purchase process (make sure that you do not make it compulsory because some customers do not want to share this information).
This way, you can inform them by email when you have promo offers or discount sales. Take note however that this is also a double-edged sword.
Avoid crowding your customer with email.  If you do, they might just begin to hate you.
4. Offer freebies that cost little or nothing
Your customers will love freebies. And by offering freebies, you will also attract new customers. But there is one downside to this: it is costly to give things away for free. So what do you do?
One clever solution is to offer a freebie that will cost you little or nothing.
Examples include eBooks and other electronic goods that can be redistributed endlessly (buy 1 eBook with redistribution rights then give a copy to all your customers).
 And if you have old merchandises that are not getting sold, you can dispose of them by offering them as freebies.
5. Maintain quality even in seemingly unrelated things
Everything in your website must have good quality. They do not have to be extravagant. They just have to be error-free. For example, you must avoid mishaps in graphics editing and grammatical errors in product descriptions. This is because customers will relate any error to the quality of your products or services. If a customer sees a lot of grammatical error in your website for example, that customer will think that you do not value quality. They will also think that your products/services also lack quality.
6. Prioritize on customer satisfaction
Customers return because they liked something about your service. And this is not just about the quality of the product they bought from you.This is about the service you provided in general (ex. How easy it was to transact with you,how fast you had the products delivered, how easy it was to use your website, how informative your product descriptions were, etc.)
7. Analyze which products lack in supply
After a few weeks to a few months since you started operation, you will already have a good idea on which products sell more and which products sell less. Simply analyze the sales report and sales data. If you see that a certain product is lacking in supply (always ends up as ‘out of stock’ because a lot of people are buying it), you should increase your order of that product.
This is because customers get dissatisfied when they want to buy something and get told that the product they want is out of stock. It affects customer satisfaction.  

8. Analyze which products are excessive in supply 

The next time you resupply, you should order less of the items that are‘excessive’ in supply (few people are buying it so there are always a lot of leftover in your inventory). In some cases, you may even have to remove that item from your list of products. Take note that unsold merchandise is bad for business. It will affect your sales because your investment in that unsold merchandise did not result in profit.

This is the best way to instill the principles to your mind. This write up is not a solution to the problems that you will face as a businessman, it is available to make you a better entrepreneur – the kind of entrepreneur that can handle problems based on the situation. Good luck with your business venture. Keep dreaming and keep aiming high. All the Best.