Casual Articles - Business

The 3 1/2 Ways to Grow Any Business
Let me first say that I did not choose 3 ? instead of the usual 3 to be different or clever… I opted for the fraction because I can’t decide whether my ? is really a part of one of the other three, or deserves is own number, so I chickened out and compromised. Judge for yourself…I won’t delve into these in great detail for two reasons… First of all, they are easy-to-grasp concepts, even for novices. Secondly, you’ll find these discussed ad infinitum in countless business textbooks and marketing websites. You should be ever mindful of them, however, as you develop your plan.1. Getting New Customers: The reasons why businesses try to acquire new customers is obvious so I won’t insult you wit

ncial Firm's Perspective

Let's now take a look from the financial firms' perspective. Mergers and acquisitions have been in full throttle. Corporate identities are still being created. Not only is there more competition, but it's possible that the more serious competitors are residing within your own company. CRM is slowly permeating the lexicon of the financial world. Yet, with a few notable exceptions, financial firms lag far behind ind

I Have A Great Service Or Product But Now What?
All too often I run across the hungry talented entrepreneur with a great product or service who has the drive and determination to get a business off the ground but they do not know how to plan for their business future.What happens when the doors are open but the customers are not calling or worse, not buying? Desperation sets in and money soars out of the bank account but with little return.If you do not have a solid marketing plan with actionable and quantifiable measures you are looking down a very skinny funnel.Instead of hurriedly creating a website, buying advertising, hiring fulfillment or marketing agencies to get you customers, take the time to make your plan. Hire a quali

Things have to change. Cross selling is not going to happen simply by installing new CRM technology. A corresponding movement from a transaction mentality to the underlying CRM principle of focusing on the long-term relationship is required. What does this mean for financial services? Stop pushing products and start building relationships.

The Consumer's Perspective

Let's take a look from the consumer's perspective. Financial illiteracy is alive and well, especially with baby boomers. Next, throw in brand confusion—the convergence in financial services has produced new players, company names, and products. Everybody is now playing in everybody else's backyard. Insert the media's frequent coverage on retirement planning and increased advertising dollars being spent targeting "the confused generation." Now, throw in the fact that there is widespread incoherence around what the term "financial planner" even means. At its best, this situation is overwhelming to prospects, current clients, and maybe even your employees. At its worst, people are sticking their heads in the sand and saying, "leave me alone!"

Marketing financial products and services has always been an information and relationship sale. You are in the personal finance education business, whether you like it or not. And it's not nearly as sexy as the ad agencies make it seem. No matter how many sailboats, moonlight beaches, or mansions your advertising agency plasters in print and on the airways, selling financial services and products makes prospects and clients deal with issues with which many are uncomfortable. It is no wonder that selling financial services demands a set of tools that moves far beyond the info dump and plethora of brochures that dominate the industry.

The Financial Firm's Perspective

How To Properly Use Greeting Cards To Increase Your Business
To do well in business, a business owner must show his customers that he cares. And just like in the personal world outside of business, we show that we care with gestures as simple as greeting cards. We especially need to consider the advantages of taking the time to write a note by hand because of the informal and cold methods of communication that we use today on a regular basis like emailing and faxing. Sure, these methods work well for the sake of convenience, but they lack the warmth that will make a customer keep coming back to your business. So consider these guidelines when preparing to send out a business greeting card.Consider the usefulness of greeting cards during the holiday season.

racy is alive and well, especially with baby boomers. Next, throw in brand confusion—the convergence in financial services has produced new players, company names, and products. Everybody is now playing in everybody else's backyard. Insert the media's frequent coverage on retirement planning and increased advertising dollars being spent targeting "the confused generation." Now, throw in the fact that there is widespread incoherence around what the term "financial planner" even means. At its best, this situation is overwhelming to prospects, current clients, and maybe even your employees. At its worst, people are sticking their heads in the sand and saying, "leave me alone!"

The Financial Firm's Perspective

Most Meetings Should Last Less Than an Hour
There are not many bigger wastes of time than meetings, unless you plan them well. Meetings on a particular topic or periodic informational meetings are fine as long as there is a format that is strictly followed and chatter is kept to a minimum. These types of meetings may last no more than ten to fifteen minutes or may last up to an hour. If they routinely last an hour or longer, then you want to re-examine your format or the purpose of the meeting.For a meeting to discuss a particular topic, send out preliminary information to be read prior to the actual meeting. Ensure they read it (yes, ask them beforehand if they have read it); this will focus everyone. Have an agenda that you pass out

the term "financial planner" even means. At its best, this situation is overwhelming to prospects, current clients, and maybe even your employees. At its worst, people are sticking their heads in the sand and saying, "leave me alone!"

The Financial Firm's Perspective

Are All Drop Shippers Evil?
It has come to my attention recently that many people are trying the Ecommerce world, whether with websites or the hugely popular EBay. I offer this piece of advice to those just starting out, or thinking about starting out, choose your drop shippers wisely. It is my contention that many of these wholesale distributors have too many internal problems and that you will be disappointed in the total lack of “customer service”. Yes they will take your money; they will promise you the world, but when you need the products they charged you for, guess what?So are most drop shippers really evil? I believe that a few for sure fit into that category and some are almost pure evil. The thing that makes me

the ad agencies make it seem. No matter how many sailboats, moonlight beaches, or mansions your advertising agency plasters in print and on the airways, selling financial services and products makes prospects and clients deal with issues with which many are uncomfortable. It is no wonder that selling financial services demands a set of tools that moves far beyond the info dump and plethora of brochures that dominate the industry.

The Financial Firm's Perspective

Academic Commercialization Advancement Comments
Many Universities to propel their academic research programs faster will partner with government agencies and private enterprise and this makes sense because it is a great source of monies to help propel the university and the businesses and government to get brilliant minds who basically work for free as slave labor.It is your typical bull crap human exploitation tactic and it is purely sickening except that the individual student does get kudos, a degree and a much better chance at a future career with a very high paycheck. So in the end the apprentice does also receive some of this so-called win/win scenario and thus it works well and the ball moves forward propelling shareholders equity and q

ncial Firm's Perspective

On either side of the spectrum, change is the dominant theme. So given the current state of affairs, how do you execute a CRM strategy that promotes cross selling and up selling? How can you increase the chances that your CRM strategy will stick? Here are some of the best conditions for selling: When the sales force has complete access to a particular customer's need or near-term future needs.

When the sales force knows and understands what cross selling and up selling mean in your firm.

When staff, partners, and suppliers work together to deliver what is promised.

When leadership teams agree on how to lead the transformation necessary to change culture, structures, systems, metrics, and behaviors to promote cross selling.

The Softer Side of CRM

All of the above conditions require more than technology solutions and product knowledge to execute. They require the softer side of the CRM equation: relationship building with customers, prospects, your boss, your peers, other departments, partners, and suppliers. If you want to solve the business challenge of cross selling and up selling, you'll need to: Build trust. For financial planners, brokers or agents, that might require working with prospects in new ways. For corporate or home office staff, that might include building bridges with other departments or field staff. Develop a network of helpful relationships that will act as "oil" for the CRM machine. Research shows that the more helpful relationships there are, the more information is willingly shared. For financial planners, brokers or agents, that might mean prospecting in new ways

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To install or not to install? This question is at the forefront of debates concerning the management of nursing homes. At present, the issue of whether or not to put security cameras in nursing homes and where these should be placed is extremely controversial and is far from resolved.

This article is going to take a look at the scary world of the stock market and how you can exploit fear and greed using short-term market timing methods.

Hopefully you’ve read my previous article, No Money Down Real Estate Financing. In that article, we discussed the Lease Purchase Option technique of acquiring property with little or no money down. On the premise that you have read the article, there are a few guidelines that should always be followed when making a lease/option agreement.

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