Did You Know . . .

• Over half of all home-based businesses survive five years-and they are easy to start and restart the business, as needs dictate. – *SBA
• “Information technology (IT) has made it possible for e-commerce and has enabled small, medium-sized, and home-based businesses to compete more effectively in the global market. E-commerce makes it possible for more people to start their own businesses. The number of U.S. households that have a home-based business currently exceeds 12 percent.” – *SBA
• The home-based business sector is growing in importance and diversity, and offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and at-home professionals in every demographic and ethnic group. – *SBA

          Copyright 2006 AHBA

Of course, you might be somewhat better off conversing with an out-of-town competitor since you assuredly do not want them to be suspicious regarding another competitor in close range. If your home based business enterprise will be limited to a certain geographic region, then go a bit outside of that region. And be sure to use the power of the internet to spy on your competitors as well. This is quite common nowadays, actually. Services like whowhere.com can really help, and there plenty of others to choose from also. Another way to obtain this kind of data is to buy something from your competitors. You will then recieve their promotional print and/or vouchers, and you will learn what there prices are, which services that they have and how comprehensive their customer service is. If they ship a product, you will learn whether or not they ship their products quickly. This partcular knowledge could give you a major competitive advantage. In addition, you may desire to check out the quality of the products for yourself. You will probably get further insights that you ever could have considered otherwise. If their enterpride happens to be a service, you may easily see the results for yourself. It may be a good idea to be honest about what you are doing when you are going about this market research with your competitors, as you will wish to avoid a bad reputation with them. Ironically enouph, looking at your home business competitors will give you many great opportunities for self-contemplation. Self-contemplation is simply what you think about yourself and how you define yourself and your business in general. 

By Aaron R

Growth among minority- and women-owned businesses continues to outpace the national average, according to a new Census Bureau report.

As part of its ongoing survey of the nation’s business owners, the Census Bureau recently released statistics showing that the total number of black-owned businesses grew 45% between 1997 and 2002 — more than four times the national average. During the same period, Hispanic-owned firms grew 31%, while women-owned firms shot up 20%. The report will be completed later this year.

The nation’s 1.2 million black-owned businesses and 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses still account for just 12% of all U.S. firms, however. Women own 6.5 million businesses, according to the most recent data.

Although only preliminary numbers are available, the Census Bureau estimates that the number of Asian-owned businesses increased by roughly 24% between 1997 and 2002, and that businesses owned by Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders increased as much as 67%. Final reports on these groups will be released this month.

“A whole generation of minority people is retiring from government and corporate jobs, and they are looking to take their golden parachutes and start a business,” said Ronald Langston, national director for the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency. “They not only have the assets, but also the skills to compete in the marketplace.”

The Census statistics show that many are succeeding. Minority-owned business receipts grew significantly between 1997 and 2002, with black-owned firms showing revenue gains of 25%. Hispanic-owned firms saw revenue grow 19%, while women-owned businesses grew 15%. By comparison, over the same five-year period, U.S. firms as a whole saw revenue jump 22%, reaching $22.6 trillion in 2002, while white-owned businesses saw increases of just 5%.

In a statement, Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon called the statistics “encouraging,” adding that the increase in both number of firms and revenue demonstrates that “these firms are among the fastest-growing segments of our economy.”

The Census data also suggests that businesses owned by minorities and women skew smaller, for now. Ninety-two percent of black-owned businesses in 2002, and 86 percent of women-owned businesses have no employees, compared to a national average of about 75%.

“Minorities have a history of micro businesses,” Langston said. “Smaller businesses, as well as certain industries, have fewer barriers to entry. Historically, you don’t have a lot of minorities in high asset businesses.”

Health care and social assistance, for example, were the most common industries for women- and black-owned businesses. A category referred to as “Other Services,” which includes repair and maintenance, came in as the second-largest industry for women- and black-owned businesses, as well as the most common industry for Hispanics.

Nearly half of all black-owned businesses are located in five states: New York, California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. New York and Georgia also boast two of the fastest growth rates for Hispanic-owned companies — 57% and 56%, respectively — and recorded among the fastest growth rates for women-owned businesses.

Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Houston top lists of high growth and ownership volume for black and Hispanic firms.

Harry C. Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, said he is not surprised by the results. “They’re large cities, historically diverse, and there is a strong black middle class in those areas,” he said. “A lot of this goes back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and is the result of an educated and experienced black middle class emerging.”

As such entrepreneurs continue to refine their business skills, Langston said he believes such growth will continue. “Diversity in population demographics is accelerating, and as minorities and immigrants become stakeholders in the economy, we’re going to see sustained growth there.”

And Alford said the success of this current generation of entrepreneurs will carry over to the next one. “Growth will continue because the children of these Baby Boomers will have even more opportunities than their parents did,” and expects, “similar growth should continue for the next 10 to15 years.”

“We’re narrowing the gap,” he said. “The glass is starting to fill.”

However, Daryl Williams, director of minority entrepreneurship at the Kansas City, Mo.-based Kauffman Foundation, warned that attention should also be paid to the long-term success of such businesses. “People should be encouraged, but not blinded, by these numbers,” he said.

“Startups have never been the problem,” Williams added. “It is the ability to grow a business from a one-person consulting firm into a Fortune 500 company. There is not a groundswell of minority businesses ready to take that next step.

From Inc.com May 1,2006  By Peter Hoy

High Level Performers$155,055 Mid-Level Performers $93,499 Low Level Performers$ 64,990

*Source: Equation Research: Sales & Marketing Management Magazine, May 2005

About 10% of all salespeople are in the High Level Performers category. However, within that  ranking the Top 1% earn any- where from 5 to 15 times more than the average of that group.

What accounts for these substantial differences in performance and earning power? What does it
take to earn that kind of money?

It’s not working longer and harder, nor “working smarter.” No one can work 5 times longer and  harder than someone who is near the top of the profession, and no one is several times smarter. The Top 1 Percent  are different from the rest. They utilize a different sales process that is radically different from the sales techniques that the other 99% use. The way they do business doesn’t even resemble what most people think of as “Selling”.

The methods of the Top 1% are not a closely guarded “secret”. Our book, “High Probability Selling,” describes how the Top 1% do business. It’s been on the market since 1993, and 100,000 copies have been sold, presumably to salespeople and sales managers.

Why haven’t most sales pros “gotten it” yet?

David Wolfe, an expert marketing consultant in Reston, VA., offers this explanation: “Our brains evolved to resist change, in the interest of giving us stabilized connections to the external world. To do this, we simply  block out information that conflicts with past experiences and beliefs.
Psychologists call this behavior “denial.”

Paraphrasing more of David Wolfe’s writing: Most intelligent salespeople recognize the conflict between their beliefs and the new sales realities. They resolve these conflicts with confabu- lations about why they must stick with the “tried and true.” The instinctive, subconscious part of their brains tell them that they have survived by utilizing the old methods – and survival is the most powerful human instinct.

Philadelphia psychotherapist Dr. Wayne Diamond, who works with a large number of salespeople, has
observed this resistance to changing sales beliefs in his practice. He describes it as “fear-based denial.”
 Dr. Diamond notes that most salespeople are in such deep denial that they even deny that they  experience any fear. They use words like “uncomfortable,” “uneasy,” “awk-ward” and “anxious,” which are all euphemisms for fear.

The cost of all this avoidance, fear, and denial among salespeople is well over a $100,000 a year in lost income.

Can you find the courage to face and overcome your fears? If you don’t overcome your aversion to change, how are you going to improve your earning power? What will it take? If now, will you ever be ready?

Copyright High Probability Selling. All Rights Reserved.

I even received phone calls from people who waited for my newsletter every month and for whatever reason didn,t receive the current month’s issue. I was providing such a valuable service and doing it regularly, people anxiously awaited the next issue and shared it with their friends.

Sending a newsletter is a low cost way of keeping you on top of your clients’ minds when it comes time to buy
minds when it comes time to buy again or when one of their friends is in need of your product or service.

Every month I sent out hundreds of newsletters to past and current clients and prospects I was following up as well as
referral sources and people who only showed an interest. It
was a great way to stay in touch and position myself as the expert in the area.

I sent out a newsletter I purchased from a company who specialized in preprinted newsletters for my particular industry. If you want to make your own it’s a great way
to make the communication very personal.

Some examples of content for your newsletter are special dates for the month, jokes or limericks (be sure they are not offensive), helpful tips, crosswords or word search puzzles, testimonials, profiles of your clients or contacts, book reviews, upcoming events in your industry and of course, information about what your business offers.

It will take time to gather and put together the right information to make this technique work properly, however, it will be time well spent. Use this technique and you will see an increase in your business. By taking the time to produce a quality newsletter that provides local and relevant news in
our industry you will stand out from the masses.

Jim Klein provides salespeople with effective strategies that attract new clients, build customer relationships, and increase sales, GUARANTEED.
Get free sales training by subscribing to our free newsletter “The Sales Advisor”.

Jayde Online, Inc. © Copyright 2005, All Rights Reserved.
 

by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D. Note: In April 2005, Dr. Hansen amazingly celebrated his sixth anniversary of writing The Career Doctor column. In that time he has written more than 150 columns, helping more than 600 job-seekers with their college, career, and job-search problems. This article, the fourth in a series, addresses answers to common college, career, and job questions.

Getting your company’s advertising into homes and offices can sometimes be a challenge but not so if you give away something that is useful and free. Your promotional coffee mug can serve as your vehicle to maintain “top of mind” presence in the minds of your clients making yours the first name they call the next time they are in the market for the products or services you carry. Another reason to give away custom mugs is that it is a relatively inexpensive means of advertising. Shop4Mugs(www.shop4mugs.com) has several mugs available that you can have custom printed at a cost of less than a dollar!

1.Commemorate events such as a product launch, store sale or tradeshow by giving people a promotional mug to remind them of the great time they had to associate positive feelings with dealing with your company. These positive feelings have been known to influence buying behavior by making people seek out your company because of the positive association they have from past experience.

2.As “teasers”. Using promotional mugs to inform people of upcoming promotions by printing event dates and location. This way you ensure strong attendance for your company events because you can imprint a date on people’s minds months before!

3.Drive traffic to your store. Believe it or not people will go a long way to get something for free. Adding a simple line to your advertising such as “present this ad to get a free coffee mug”Use the promise of a free coffee mug as an incentive to visit your store. The increase in traffic will bring on an increase in sales not to mention that they are bringing home your advertisement through the promotional coffee mug.

4.Be remembered at tradeshows. People are often overwhelmed at tradeshows by the sheer number of displays they see. Its better if they associate your products with an object they received from you. Your custom coffee mug will remind them who you are, what you sell and how to reach you.

5.Employee rewards – It does look impressive when you walk in to an office and the employees use mugs imprinted with the company logo and name. Makes you feel like you’re in a Fortune 500 company. That gives a strong first impression and a great image of you.

Equally important is what you choose to print on your promotional coffee mug. If you’re well known maybe you can go by with just a logo but we recommend you put in as much information as possible without detracting from the beauty of a mug. Include your logo, contact details, name and website always. Visit Shop4mugs at www.shop4mugs.com where you can choose a mug and view it with your logo online so you can see how great your company’s promotional coffee mug will look!