10 Tips for Landing a Product Licensing Deal
When you’ve got a great idea for a product, there’s an important decision to make right up front: Do you want to build a brand new company from the ground up in order to commercialize the product, or do you sign a product licensing deal with a preexisting company that already has the resources in...
10 Negotiation Techniques to Make You a Better Entrepreneur
Startup entrepreneurs are not always the best negotiators. They step into the shoes of a business owner for the first time and find (to their surprise) that nearly everything involves negotiation of some kind, and they may not always have those negotiation techniques down. Starting a business requires, quite literally, hundreds of negotiations. Some are...
12 Keys to Family Business Success
Family members start a major portion of new businesses launched in the U.S. every year. Brothers come to mind, of course, when it comes to family business. Whatever the family ties, however, starting a business with a spouse, parents, siblings, children or other family members presents unique challenges over and above the usual problems a...
Mobile Marketing: How Main Street Businesses are Leveraging the Trend
Main Street businesses are in a pitched battle with e-commerce mega sites. To compete with the allure of online shopping, local merchants are exploiting every opportunity available to drive in-store purchases. Here are several ways your fellow small businesses are using a rising tide of mobile marketing solutions to attract foot traffic, and how you...
Go Beyond Money to Inspire Your Salespeople
Salespeople are the folks that open doors and close sales. They are responsible for generating the lifeblood of your business: revenue. However, your salespeople are also your frontline, and oftentimes the only touchpoint customers have with your company. In their role, they act as ambassadors of your brand. To ensure that your team remains highly motivated and...
5 Tips for Closing a Sales Deal
A deal usually has several parts: the hatching of the idea by one party, its conceptual embrace by the other side and finally the closing. In most cases, the first two phases of a transaction or sales cycle are much easier than closing a sales deal. Sealing a deal (because of the prospect that it...
Business Coaches: Making a Smart Choice
Hey, we’re proud of all of our free stuff at StartupNation. But when free resources just won’t cut it, you may be well served to explore fee-based assistance in your efforts to create a successful business, in which case you may want to consider getting a business coach. PriceWaterhouseCoopers recently performed a survey of the...
Create a Culture
Some growth strategies are obvious and have immediate and tangible results. Others, like creating a culture, have more indirect results, but are still extremely important as you strive to make your organization more dynamic, more productive and more profitable. Creating a culture for your company is about cultivating passion in both your team and customer...
Get Efficient through Technology
Working hard is important. But there’s one thing even more important - working smart. That’s what technology helps you do. You get more done, you get it done easier and you get it done better. Frankly, by using technology you’re able to do some things that would simply be impossible without it. Luckily, there’s an...
Cozy Up with Vendors
Whether you’re selling toy cars or sports cars, java beans or Java software, office supplies or office machines, Band-Aids or banner ads – cozying up with vendors can create opportunities for both bottom-line and top-line growth. What exactly do we mean by “cozy”? It’s all about getting in tune with — and in the good...
Improve Sales Techniques
FOLLOW THESE SEVEN STEPS TO WIN MORE SALES: Segue to proactive mode Identify prospects Lean on loyals for referrals Create a strong pitch Cross-sell and up-sell existing customers Get partners to sell for you Follow up (with thanks) after the sale Segue to Proactive Mode The first and most important thing you can do to...
Maximize Your Niche, Expand to a New One
This step is designed to help you make the most of your opportunity. It assumes you already have some momentum with your first product or service, and gives you recommendations on how to parlay that momentum and expand into an even bigger opportunity. THE TWO STRATEGIES WE EMPHASIZE ARE: Expand What You Offer Enter a...
Acquire Growth Capital
One of the most important things a business owner can do early in the pursuit of opportunity is establish relationships with multiple financial sources. Do this by laying out your goals, and committing to specific milestones and timeframes. This isn’t the time to ask for money, but to learn from each funding source what specific...
Ramp Up Awareness and Demand
It’s imperative to generate more awareness and demand in order to bring more business in the door. This step helps you understand specific ways to ramp up interest from the market. LEARN ABOUT SIX PUBLIC OUTREACH IDEAS: Promotions Creative Advertising Ideas Campaigns and Continuity Narrowcasting (vs. Broadcasting) Types of People to Target Networking Promotions Catching...
Develop New Channels
First, congratulations! You're halfway through the 10 Steps to Grow Your Business! Now, on to Step 6. There are many ways to get what you sell in front of prospective customers. In this step, we discuss a number of the “channels” you should consider to connect with customers and grow your business. IN THIS STEP,...
Customer Experience: How to Enhance It
We always say that bustling businesses are those with a superior customer service. But here we’re taking that advice to the next level – far beyond “Hello! How can I help you” and “Thank you, have a nice day!” In this step, we’ll help you make your business irresistible to current and future customers by...
Measure and Analyze Your Current Status
It’s time to take stock. At the beginning of our 10 Steps to Grow Your Business, we start by walking you through a reality check. We’ll help you measure and analyze an accurate and complete understanding of your business’ current status. So armed with these tools to build your business, you can then formulate strategies to...
Big Dreams, No Cash: 10 Businesses You Can Start Today on a Tight Budget
Eden Reff dreamed all her life of opening a restaurant. But she couldn’t dream up the money to pay for it. By 2003, Reff's financial situation still hadn't changed. Her resolve had. She decided to stop letting poor finances and a tight budget stand in her way and her future as a businesswoman. "I saved...
License to Drive: Adding Users to Your Business Server
“Life with your computer server would be easy if you were the only user it ever knew, and if your business didn’t change and grow. But as your company takes on new dimensions and staff, licensing new uses — and users — is an essential part. This can be daunting for a lot of startups....
Taking Your Startup to a Foreign Market
It’s a global village out there, with marketplaces outside American borders beckoning as never before, even to small and startup companies. Technologies such as the Internet and cheap telecommunications truly have shrunk the world to a point where it’s much easier for a entrepreneurs to get their arms around it. But opportunity isn’t everything when...