Increased globalisation and mind numbing competition have suddenly made small business opportunities much more attractive. With many large organisations being unable to quickly restructure in our changing market, a growing number of small businesses with their inherent flexibility and capacity to adapt are turning to management training and acquiring a sizeable slice of the market share.

The strategies for small business growth are quite different from their large company counterparts. Large organisations have the financial resources to rapidly expand, improving their existing facilities, buying new facilities, and widely distributing all of their products. On another note, small businesses rarely have more than one of these options available at any give time, therefore they must look for other possibilities which are relatively inexpensive, yet still provide some assurance of an increase in overall profit. Business coaching professionals will often state that small businesses can usually guarantee their success - and their future, by constantly working on their individual customer relationships. Even though this process is very gradual - if attentively managed, it will virtually guarantee a large number of valuable long term relationships, profitable for the growing enterprise while being very useful and personally fulfilling for the customers as well, thereby benefiting everyone involved.

* When you make promises, always keep them - Businesses which haven’t yet established themselves in their chosen niche should always strive to pay their suppliers on time and get their products and services to customers as quickly as possible. The key is to not allow such situations to occur and affect your business, therefore “Make Promises and Keep Them”. This will build trust among partners and customers, ensuring long term relationships with everyone involved.

* Prudent use of money - Instead of spending money on expensive PR activities or other image building affairs, spend it on cost effective activities like direct response marketing. With this strategy you can discern the correlation between how much was spent and the gains which have been achieved.

* Define the ground you wish to build on, e.g. service, quality or price - Don’t even think about trying to take an approach used by a larger organisation, find your own path and specialise - without fail. This will make all the difference in keeping your small business on track and focused toward its objectives.

* Hard work has always been necessary, but if you’re really looking for an edge to get ahead, “work smarter, not harder”.

* Try to get more business cards than you give - Attend seminars and conferences to keep yourself updated with the latest trends in your industry. Be enthusiastic about your work and be positive in your communication - this will result in very valuable referrals.

* Only accept deals which you can fulfil to the highest standard, on time and at your agreed cost - Small businesses should avoid risky contracts for big payouts. If the final product doesn’t meet the required standards, it can be a disaster for the parties involved, causing havoc with your organisations image.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of the L2L Group, specialising in supplying Executive Coaching, Training and Consultancy Services to Businesses around the World. Want to find out more about these comprehensive business building success strategies? Get Alan’s phenomenal FREE Business Pack right now!

You’ll come up with a great deal of questions when you begin actively pursuing purchasing a business. At present, you may feel that these questions alone represent an intimidating enough proposition, but additional attention at this point will aid you in deciding on the enterprise that’s best for you, and provide you with the best opportunity for becoming one of those unusually rare individuals who actually becomes a truly successful entrepreneur.

One of the first things that you need to do is to take a long hard look at yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? You should identify the weaknesses first - given how crucial these particular factors are, along with how you could go about dealing with and conquering them, and whether or not they are significant enough to “stop the show” when it comes to the areas of business you’re considering becoming involved with. You will need to understand that to own a business requires a multitude of talents, some of which may be natural, others may need to be acquired and still more will dictate that you turn to professionals and advisers for assistance.

Ask yourself whether you are comfortable dealing with the wants and needs of numerous customers or have the ability to interact with a very wide range of personalities. Do you like interacting with people? Or would you prefer operating a business which has a relatively small number of clients who represent a much more significant source of income between them?

When it comes to dealing with people, would you be happy handling a large number of employees, who themselves have their own wants and needs, schedules and problems? It may be that you would be happier in a one or two-person environment.

How many hours a day are you ready to give to the business? When you own a business, the experience can very often be around-the-clock, and some retail enterprises have lengthy operating hours by their very nature. Would you prefer a 9 to 5 obligation?

Another important question to ask yourself – would you prefer a product or service based business? At this stage you should ask yourself whether you are happy handling large amounts of inventory or whether you would prefer to deal in a more intangible way.

Take a look at your strengths and weaknesses, again. Identify your areas of familiarity and whether you know a particular industry better than others. You may already be an expert within a particular niche, and when buying a business you should try and exploit every advantage that you have. Is there a specific industry that you’re exceptionally thrilled about? It almost goes without saying that you should stay away from an industry that you don’t have any interest in, or dislike all together. Within your current and former careers, is there a particular position that suited you best? If you are naturally good at one role or the other, seek to buy a business that enables you to capitalize on this position.

Many people advise against this, but you could consider turning your hobby into a business. On the one hand, you will be especially motivated if this is something that you really like to do. Some would advocate that additional stresses and pressures involved when you own a business based on your erstwhile hobby will quickly lead to you losing the interest and passion that existed before. However, rarely does a hobby qualify you to run that type of business and so making sure you have the right skills to be successful are far more important than having a passion for the product. After all, it is the profit, not the product, that pays the bills and builds value when you buy a business.

How much money do you have to invest, or how much money do you have access to? Value a business or two and ask yourself whether you would be happier buying a struggling and maybe undervalued business, using your particular skills and time to turn the enterprise around, or whether you are looking for a steady business that is profitable right now.

The right business is the one that meets all your criteria and you should be enthusiastic and passionate about your final selection. Make sure that you bring in trusted accountants and financial advisors, never let your heart rule your head during the decision-making process and buy a business that is right for you, for the long haul.

Richard Parker is the President and founder of the Diomo Corporation - The Business Buyer Resource Center. His inspiring materials, seminars and consulting have assisted thousands of business buyers with achieving their life long dream of buying a business.

So, what exactly is due diligence and why is it absolutely essential when purchasing a business?

Due diligence is definitely the most important aspect of any buying transaction. It is the period when you will have complete access to all company files and records as a final step to analyze the business and uncover any potential problems.

While the formal due diligence stage generally begins after an agreement is reached with the seller, to avoid any pitfalls a buyer’s diligent investigation of the business must begin the moment a business becomes of interest. And therefore, due diligence is an essential aspect of the buy a business process.

The due diligence process goes beyond a simple review of financial statements and tax returns. In actual fact, due diligence when buying a business involves every detail associated with the business in question.

The due diligence checklist begins with the information gathering stage. This will enable you to establish a pros and cons list about the business. During this due diligence process, think of yourself as a detective trying to uncover everything you can about the business. Before approaching the seller, do a bit of basic information researching utilizing the Internet. As an aspect of your due diligence checklist, look through online records to find out whatever you can about the business you’re currently interested in purchasing. Also do online research into the industry sector, suppliers, competition and the overall market outlook.

Based on the information gathered, formulate questions that need to be asked of the seller. If you are pleased with what the information is revealing about the business, it’s time to move on to the next phase of the due diligence process and contact the seller.

Due diligence when buying a business is extremely important when making an offer prior to acquisition. At this stage, due diligence is essential when reviewing all the business records. As part of the due diligence process, create a list for the seller of all the materials you want to review. Then, create a timeline for yourself on what you plan to investigate, how long you plan to dedicate to each segment of the business, and which parts you are going to need professional advice, such as from a CPA or business lawyer.

While many sellers or brokers like to rush the inspection phase of the due diligence process, allow yourself the time you need. A minimum of a 20 business day time period is an acceptable amount of time for the inspection stage in most contracts, but if you need longer, don’t be afraid to ask for it. And remember, the formal due diligence process that is referenced in any business purchase agreement should not begin until you have all the materials requested from the seller.

Take all the time you need when going over all the business operations books, financial documents and tax records. Have your due diligence checklist handy to jot down questions, follow-ups and other things you need to check out with the seller. As part of the due diligence when purchasing a business, it’s normal to discover inconsistencies or potentially questionable items. Jot them all down on your due diligence checklist and approach the seller when you have completed your due diligence review. The information will help you build your case in determining whether renegotiation of the price, terms or deal conditions may be necessary.

If your due diligence uncovers some major problems and the seller declines to renegotiate the deal or fails to accept your solution, then you must have the right to walk away as long as the agreement has language that allows you to do so. Therefore, make certain any agreement you sign protects you during the due diligence period when buying a business or else you may have a major problem. In fact, business industry statistics show that 5 out of 10 deals fall apart in the formal due diligence process stage.

If after completing your due diligence checklist you are not 100% certain about buying the business, then you might need to investigate further or walk away from the deal. Consider what about the business is giving you an uncertain feeling. Perhaps you need to gather additional information. Or maybe your due diligence revealed areas of concern that make you feel uneasy. Or it could just be cold feet. If additional due diligence will not ease your concerns, then it’s best to walk away.

Due diligence when buying a business is all you have to go on in order to make an informed decision on whether or not to purchase the business. When conducted properly, your final decision should be an easy one.

Richard Parker is the author of the How to Buy a Good Business at a Great Price series. As President and founder of Diomo Corporation - The Business Buyer Resource Center, his materials, seminars and consulting have helped thousands of business buyers realize their dream of buying a business.

You will encounter many surprises when starting up your own company, as I learned from my own experience. Some of them are welcome, some of them are simply overwhelming. The best thing you can do for the growth of your company is to remove as much of the guesswork as possible, I discovered. One way to do that is to maintain constant contact with your prospective leads.
The success of your company is reliant on one thing- sales. As such, it is of utmost importance that you be able to act quickly on every prospective customer possible. CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, software is an effective way of tracking and keeping your leads organized. When picking a CRM solution, you must examine several factors, which we will outline here.
First, are you looking for an all in one solution? Sometimes you can get away with simply using a spreadsheet to track you leads. However, unless you are a one man show, such a solution is likely to be too cumbersome. Also, using spreadsheets can make it hard to keep leads up to date.
Next, ask yourself how you will be working. Will you be confined to an office? Will you need access to your leads while you are on the road? Will others need to access lead information if you are gone?
Will you need powerful tools in your CRM software? Some offer tools such as built-in emailing and scheduling that can be invaluable to your company’s productivity.
Are you looking for a Crm software solution that allows you, as a manager, to track the progress of your employees?
Sage ACT and GoldMine provide many tools that you need to run a successful business. Unfortunately, neither is overly intuitive and both have rather long learning curves. Sage ACT in particular has several downfalls to it. First, you must either set up a cumbersome server to house all of your lead information if you wish to easily share this information with your fellow employees. Then you will also need an IT group to make sure you have everything properly set up and to fix any problems you may encounter. The whole package can be a big mess. Second, the user interface is really difficult to use. It is a difficult process to just find the lead you are looking for.
As I grew my company, I learned about the shortcomings of almost every CRM solution out there. One, however, was leaps and bounds ahead of the others. Blitz Lead Manager offers all of the features of any other CRM in an easy to use and highly intuitive package.
Like any other CRM, Blitz allows you to track the progress of your leads as you make progress. However, it even takes it one step further by keeping you alerted to the status of hot leads and, more importantly, reminds you to stay in contact with a neglected lead so that no sale gets lost in the cracks. It also has all of the powerful features you would come to expect from a CRM software, all in an easy to use package. It allows you to send emails with attachments and to even save templates for future use; The scheduler allows you to sync events with Outlook, as well as to add events to your colleagues’ schedules; The “My Blitz” page keeps you up to date on the status of your leads and upcoming appointments; Campaigns make organizing your leads simple and easy; The Lead Quick Search feature makes locating a specific lead easier than the competitors. CRM also makes it easy to import your leads from a lead generation company, such as Hoover, Sales Genie, and Reference USA, by allowing you to import an Excel spreadsheet. All of this over a secure SSL connection. As you can see, Blitz has a lot going for it.
What really puts Blitz above Sage ACT or GoldMine is that it is a purely web-based solution. What does that mean exactly? Several things. First, it means your leads are accessible from anywhere you can access the internet. Second, your data is tended for automatically, without your intervention. Your information is backed up daily automatically by Double A Solutions, the developer of Blitz. A web-based application also means compatibility across all platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. Last, a web-based solution like Blitz means you have absolutely no software to install and maintain, which further means you will not need an entire IT team devoted to making sure it is running properly.
When looking for a CRM software, it is important to consider all of your company’s needs. For me, the choice was obvious. I went with the software that gave the most and required the least. I chose Blitz.