Penny Power, founder of Ecademy.com, explains why anyone starting up a new business should be active on social networks.
Are you already using social networks to get your business off the ground? Please share your story.
1. Think of a business name. If you need them, make sure that a suitable domain name is available (for emails and website). If you are struggling to find a name, think about using your own name – credibility is essential and your willingness to use your name will reassure potential customers. Alternatively, stick with the simplest explanation of your business that you can find. “My Bookkeeping Online” is a good example of this.
2. Set up a bank account – OK – I know I said easy but I may have stretched the truth slightly! I’m afraid not much is easy when it comes to banks. ALWAYS have a separate bank account, even for very small businesses. Using your existing personal bank should make things slightly easier.
3. Buy a wireless router and a laptop. It gives you the flexibility to work anywhere inside/ outside the house.
4. Hosting your email. Have a look at Google Apps. It is only £35 a year, and it enables you to use your business email address using the Google platform – I use it and I love it – it’s cheap, and of course, accessible from anywhere.
5. Commission a website – look for a company that will build it and “optimise” it for you at the same time. By optimise, I mean give it the best chance of appearing in the free searches in Google when someone searches for a product/service you sell.
6. Install a separate telephone line – or have a separate mobile. You cannot afford to be competing for a telephone line! You may also want to look at Skype – it’s incredibly cheap and the quality is pretty good now.
7. Consider getting a smart phone, particularly if you are out and about a lot. It is a great way of staying in touch with your email.
8. Use your personal car for business trips and reclaim 40p per mile. There is no value these days in having a company car, unless you need a commercial vehicle.
9. Think about your neighbours – if what you are doing is likely to disrupt them in anyway, speak to them about it early, and make arrangements to keep them happy.
10. Running a business from home can be disruptive for other members of the household. So, try and set things up so that home life and business life to function side by side. Both my wife and I regularly work from home, sometimes long into the evening. An example of one of our “rules” is that business calls are always made/taken outside the room we relax in – and it works very well.
Look out for my next blog post on setting up a business at home – regulatory.
Posted in Advice for your business, Business Plan, You and your idea | Tagged benefits of working from home, setting up a business, small business, working from home | Leave a Comment »
If you’re starting a business, or you’ve already started one, this is four minutes worth investing. The video below features some of this country’s most successful entrepreneurs. Their words of wisdom could save you a lot of time and money – or even your business!
What do you think of the advice they give? Please share your thoughts.
Posted in Advice for your business, Successful entrepreneurs | Tagged advice, business success, entrepreneurs, Start ups | 2 Comments »
If you have an idea for a business and want to progress it, you are probably thinking in earnest about your business plan. If you are looking for outside finance, you are no doubt keen that the business plan will be a great marketing tool for your idea to banks or other investors.
Years ago, when private equity was still called venture capital, I was involved in funding start-ups. I would look through countless business plans, trying to sort the ‘possible’ from the ‘dream-on’ varieties, with a view to investing in the best. Some plans were back-of-the-envelope affairs, with enthusiasm but no financial viability analysis; some described in depth inventive products, but showed no realism with regard to cost of production; others assumed world domination in a few months.
But what really put me off was the business plan that plainly had been written by someone other than the people who were going to make the idea happen. However slick the document, with every possible detail carefully analysed in beautiful spreadsheets, if the words do not reflect the essence of the entrepreneur – his enthusiasm, her conviction the idea will succeed, their commitment to the project – then the proposal will lack that essential ingredient that is the reason for making an investment. The basis of our decisions was mimicry of estate agents’ ‘location, location, location’ replacing the key word with ‘management’. Yes, of course we wanted to see that the projections made sense, and that the amount of investment required was adequate and would be wisely spent; that there was indeed a market for the product or service, and that it would be sold appropriately. But the key was always: is this the right person to make the proposed business succeed?
So if you do use professionals to help compile your business plan, make sure that the final result is imbued with your DNA, and that it convinces the reader why you are the one to turn the plan into the success you describe.
Posted in Advice for your business, Business Plan | Tagged Business Plan, Finance, Marketing, startup | Leave a Comment »
When selling it’s often very easy to forget that a feature is what a product is… an intrinsic characteristic of the product or service.
Examples of features are:
- Priced at £20
- Red/Blue/Black
- Transparent
- Compact
- Lightweight
- TV advertised
- The market leader
- The latest technology
- Covered by a three year warranty
All very interesting (or perhaps not!) but of no real concern to the buyer who really wants to know what the product will do for him/her.
In other words, the benefits.
For example: “This promotion will increase your sales (feature) which means that you will get increased turnover and profit” (benefit)
Or…. “The new display unit is compact and eye catching (feature) which means that you will get more impulse sales at the till points (benefit), therefore increasing your profits” (benefit)
Never forget… the product features are important but they are unlikely to clinch the sale without making the link in the customer’s mind to the specific benefit they will derive from the product.
That is what the customer is really interested in!
Posted in Advice for your business, Sales and Marketing | Tagged sales, selling | Leave a Comment »
Any type of vehicle can be used to deliver cargo, freight or precious items. Most commonly you will see small vans, although once upon a time it was lots of motorcycles.
- Image by Gravestone via Flickr
What happens if someone causes you to have an accident? Or you hit another vehicle? How will your business operate if your main tool for work is out of action?
When starting a courier business, insurance can seem like a big expenditure. People know exactly what they are getting when they buy a van, but insurance can be a bit fuzzier. For example, do you really need insurance at all to be a courier? After all it’s only delivering stuff.
The answer to that question is a resounding yes, it’s essential for a courier business to have insurance. What type of insurance is down to the business owner. Insurance for couriers comes in several types:
Goods in Transit Insurance covers the potential damage of goods on the vehicle whilst in transit. Goods in Transit doesn’t cover all goods, so check what your policy covers.
Light Haulage Insurance offers similar cover to courier insurance and goods in transit but for a limited amount of drops per day, often 3.
Hire and Reward Insurance covers you for the carrying of other parties’ goods.
At the very least you need hire and reward insurance. It may not give you as much ‘cover’ as the other options but to be without insurance is a situation that may cost you business. Customers are reluctant to let their goods be transported and delivered without insurance no matter how safe you think you are!
It’s quite common for glass, fine arts, ceramic, antiques and second hand goods to be uninsured under the ‘goods in transit’ or courier insurance policies.
These need to be specified as add ons to your policy when you talk to your broker. Make sure you find out what is excluded and whether it is financially beneficial to have these added on before you buy your insurance policy.
If you decide to trade without insurance, stop for a moment and think… How will you pay if your clients goods are damaged in an accident? How will you continue with your business?
Sarah Arrow
Sarah Arrow is co author of the Complete Courier guide which is an essential guide for self employed couriers looking to start their own courier business. It can be downloaded from http://www.thecouriershop.co.uk.
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Posted in Advice for your business | Tagged business, courier insurance, Insurance, what couriers are not insured for | Leave a Comment »
Our clients, and most people we’ve met and talks and events recently, have asked the same question: Is social media appropriate for business-to-business marketing? Unequivocally, the answer is YES.
In the last year, 40% of Clear Thought’s revenue can be tracked back to a social media source, and 100% has been enhanced or aided by it in some way. In the last six weeks alone, here are some things that Clear Thinkers have achieved through social media:
- Hooked up two people met through Twitter with paying B2B clients.
- Received two good quality new business enquiries, both of which are now at proposal stage.
- Sourced experts willing to talk to us about their business as part of market research projects.
- Enhanced relationships with prospective businesses using online nurturing techniques.
- In B2B decision-making or considered purchases, social media has most impact in the top half of the sales funnel
From a new business perspective, social media has critical impact in the first three stages of the sales funnel. That is, Awareness, Interest and Evaluation. From a social media perspective, you need to do the following:
To generate awareness: ‘Be There’ find out where your prospects hang out online and have a presence there.
To convert awareness in the interest: ‘Be Relevant ‘ provide information that is useful or controversial to pull people into your content.
To make it through evaluation: ‘Be Proven’ provide case study and testimonials at every turn online, ideally with other people talking on your behalf.
To really make the most of the channel, it makes sense to get some expert support – particularly in measuring and enhancing your activity. But, here are some really simple things to get you started.
10 FREE things you can do to generate awareness online:
- Ensure your company & all employees have a LinkedIn profile.
- Join or set-up an interest group on LinkedIn.
- Set-up a SlideShare space, link it to your LinkedIn profile.
- Set-up a YouTube Channel or Facebook page (if appropriate).
- Set-up a company Twitter Feed.
- Bookmark your content (StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, etc).
- Set up a BT Tradespace profile.
- Set-up Google, BlogSpot and WordPress identities.
- Comment on, or become a contributor to, blogs and forums.
- Regularly update email signatures with new content.
10 FREE things you can do to generate interest online:
- Post snappy links to content via Twitter, Status, Email footer, etc.
- Post regular interesting short blogs (10 mins).
- Prepare deeper content like pressos, papers and articles (20 mins).
- Give each of your team an area of expertise to track and comment.
- Post details of other people’s content relevant to your audience.
- Comment on industry news and happenings… in real time.
- Make sure all employees regularly update online statuses.
- Follow-up traditional touch-points with online contact.
- Gather permissions to send email updates.
- Ask intelligent questions in online forums.
10 (nearly) FREE ways to prove your credentials online:
- Provide written case studies on your site, blog, etc.
- 140 character lines to link back to your case studies, articles, etc.
- Post case study videos on your site, YouTube channel, etc.
- Post webcasts and presentations on your site, SlideShare, etc.
- Post product demos on YouTube, SlideShare, etc.
- Re-use the words of others about your products and services.
- Provide intelligent answers to questions posted in Forums, Groups
- Run live Q&A sessions via Twitter.
- Add a customer feedback / rating system (like Kampyle) to your site, blog, etc and re-use the positive feedback.
- Ask LinkedIn contacts for endorsements.
Note: In this blog, we’re focusing specifically on lead generation. It is worth noting (and blogging in the future) that social media can be powerfully used in market research, recruitment, lead nurturing and much more.
You might also be interested in:
- Bryony’s 30 minute webcast on generating online word of mouth on SlideShare
- Case study of integrated campaign including social media
- Understanding which content to use when in the sales funnel
Posted in Ideas, Marketing, Sales and Marketing | Tagged business-to-business, Marketing, social media, Twitter, Web 2.0, word of mouth | Leave a Comment »
Nasty Nick Griffin’s much-publicised appearance on Question Time raised a lot of questions, namely about democracy and freedom of speech, and about how much freedom is too much when your views just happen to be fascist.
Pay attention employers, because these uncomfortable questions may be closer to home than you think.
The media has started its own debate over the BBC’s invitation to Griffin to join other, mainstream politicians on its flagship current affairs programme; The Guardian claims the BNP is losing the support of even its own loyalists over Griffin’s performance, while The Telegraph insists the programme has given the party a platform from which to ensnare new supporters.
Either way, the BNP has upset and enraged a lot of people in the last few days alone, with its anti-almost-everybody viewpoints. Democracy is democracy, and you can’t ignore that more than a handful of people are putting their crosses in the BNP box, but it is a challenge for every one of us to decide how to deal with this.
Look a little deeper and there are parallels here with the workplace. How far should you allow your employees to discuss their religious, social or political views in the workplace, if there is a risk that they could seriously upset other people with them?
Luckily, as a business owner, there is a more clearly defined line for you to draw, partly because your employees have not been elected or recruited on their personal policies, although healthy debate can benefit your business in many ways.
While your staff obviously have a human right to manifest their beliefs and express their opinions, you must keep a beady eye out to ensure that what they express does not discriminate against or undermine other employees. It may be unlikely that you have a BNP activist in your midst, but any viewpoint that undermines someone based on their gender, age, race or religion, or simply makes them feel uncomfortable, can have serious consequences.
Aside from a dent in your team’s morale, constant controversial comments or an over-zealous employee trying to convert people to their religion or cause can lead to staff absence or legal claims of discrimination or harassment, both of which can be expensive and damaging.
Speaking to Acas equality specialist, Steve Williams, recently, I found out that employers can protect their business from these perils by including some pointers in their HR policy, and by having a quiet word with anyone that breaches them.
“Emphasise that discussion is welcome but that it must not be used to oppress or discriminate against other staff,” he adds. “Spell it out — for example, it is acceptable for an employee to mention that they go to church or campaign for the Green Party, but if they start pressurising other people, that isn’t.”
On the bright side, Williams told me that most employees have an “innate sense” of where the line should be drawn with regard to other people’s feelings, and would soon apologise if they realised they had overstepped it. If we are to take his word for it, there’s a good chance you will never be faced with this complex problem. Nevertheless, in the face of an increasingly re-politicised population, you should be well-prepared.
Posted in Advice for your business, Employment | Tagged BNP, democracy, discrimination, harassment, HR policies, Question Time | 1 Comment »
I love the internet; in the last 50 years has there been a more important development in the history of business? People compare the net to other important media developments, such as the printing press, the TV or radio. Wrong. The internet is bigger than all of those put together.
For business the internet is the ultimate leveller. For the first time we have a platform that allows the small guys, the spare room businesses and entrepreneurial spirits to compete with the big goliaths. And competition generally has intensified. As a software and services provider I can tell you it has forced the entire industry to up our game radically.
The internet makes it much easier to find all of the products and services you need to start a business. Much of your business can be run online and you can even access cheap but talented resources from across the world. When your product or service is ready, you can let the world know too.
Ten years ago I recall working for a mammoth international TV and media company that invested millions of both time and money into its billing and subscription platform. All it wanted to do was ensure no matter how or where you subscribed, it all came into a single system. This wasn’t rocket science, but at the time it was complex to stitch disparate software and web systems together, and it came with a suitably horrible price tag.
The internet has turned this problem on its head; you don’t need a million bucks any more. There are hundreds of free or low cost solutions available to help you run a startup professionally.
My own company, Actinic provides functionality out of the box for controlling multiple retail channels (e.g. web, shop, phone, mail). Ten years ago this concept wasn’t even around. Today you can buy standard applications and services at a commodity price.
So, this is a very exciting time to be starting a business. The tools are out there for you to create both great products and services. For once you don’t need an IPO to afford them.
What are you waiting for?
Posted in IT, Sales and Marketing, Technology | Tagged internet, online, online businesses | 1 Comment »
Card payments, either directly or via eWallet services like PayPal, make up the vast majority of payments for goods online. Consumers are well protected against fraud, however, merchants do not enjoy the same blanket level of protection and need to be careful when accepting online payments.
Online payments funded by a card can be subject to charge backs, where the card holder disputes the transaction up to six months after the sale. Charge backs can either be because the card holder disputes that they made the transaction (i.e. it was a fraudulent transaction), or because they believe that the item they received was not as described.
Who carries the risk?
It is easy to assume that funds arriving in an account are cleared and legitimate payments. However, for any online payments where the 3D secure test is not passed (see below), the merchant carries the ultimate risk of a fraud as the transaction is ‘card holder not present’. To understand the risks associated with any transaction, merchants should understand the available security checks and other factors which can be used to filter out the good from the bad.
Card security checks
Most payment gateways make little effort to educate their customers as to the best security settings for their business and leave the merchant to create their own security rules. However, it pays to spend some time working out the best settings for your business. For example, if your products are all low value, you may wish to have a low security threshold as fraud is unlikely or a risk you are willing to take. Conversely, if your products are desirable, high ticket items, then fraud settings should be high.
3D Secure
3D secure, also know as Verified by Visa or Mastercard SecureCode creates a virtual “card present” environment during internet transactions by asking the buyer to enter a password. 3D secure is only available for Visa and Mastercard transactions and as yet there are no similar initiatives for American Express, JCB or Diner’s Club.
The major benefit of this system is that a transaction that has been fully 3D Secure validated, cannot be charged-back to the merchant if subsequently found to be fraudulent. The merchant is protected by the card issuer against such charge backs because the bank themselves assume the liability. However, charge backs are still possible as a 3D secure validated transaction will not protect in the event of the customer denying receipt of goods.
3D secure is not universally popular, with some merchants complaining of reduced conversions. Some consumers also find the extra step in the checkout process annoying.
AVS (Address Verification Service)
AVS checks the numeric values in a card holder’s address (i.e. flat or house number and numbers in the post code) given at checkout against the billing address on file for the card. Checking that the buyer knows the right billing address is an important extra check, but by no means foolproof. For example, a card owner can enter their address incorrectly, or a fraudster can have access to the card holder’s address. The AVS result can be either match, partial match or mismatch.
CV2 (a.k.a CVV and CVVC)
These are the three numbers which are on the back of the card for Visa and Mastercard, or four on the front (American Express). Their purpose is to provide some confidence that the buyer has the card in their possession as the numbers are not stored on the magnetic strip. The system is by no means infallible as the there are scripts available on the internet for generating the codes.
Fraud Screening
With experience humans can get a feeling for whether or not a transaction poses a risk. However, as transaction volumes grow, it is not possible to check each purchase individually. Fraud screening services such as Third Man (www.the3rdman.co.uk) automate the analysis of each transaction by looking at various elements including name, card numbers, frequency of use, delivery address, value and IP address to produce a risk score for the transaction. Fraud services are integrated into many payment gateways such as SagePay.
As well as using automated services, be aware of the following warning factors:
- Use of free email addresses with names unrelated to the name given
- Incomplete contact details
- Orders which are unusually large or have a strange combination of items
- Billing and delivery addresses different. Be especially wary if the delivery address is a hotel or guest house
- Be wary of customers who ask insist on obtaining tracking number for deliveries, they could be trying to intercept the delivery.
A good list of fraud signs can be found here:
Security of Common Payment Gateways
PayPal
PayPal’s website payments standard product only provides seller protection for purchases which go to verified addresses. All purchases which are made using the Website Payments Pro service are ineligible for seller protection. AVS and CV2 and recently 3D secure checking are available through PayPal but 3D but no additional fraud screening information is available to merchants.
Google Checkout
Google provides merchants with details of whether a transaction has passed CV2 and AVS tests. It does not support 3D secure, but does provide its own chargeback protection for eligible transactions.
SagePay
SagePay allows merchants to set their own security rules for AVS, CV2 and 3D secure. It also provides a risk score for each transaction in conjunction with Third Man.
Posted in IT | Leave a Comment »
