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How to Create an E-Mail Marketing Campaign That People Will Notice

An Original Article from Entrepreneur.com

In a world where social media gives businesses more immediate ways to connect with customers, is e-mail marketing still relevant? I think so. In fact, the volume of e-mail marketing messages remained at record-setting levels in June, according to Chad White, research director at marketing company Responsys, and retail e-mail volume will grow about 20 percent this year (vs. more than 16 percent in 2011), thanks to a shift away from old-school direct mail and print.

That makes for a more crowded party. Your e-mails are competing with (literally!) millions of others, which means you must be intentional in your efforts to create messages that truly engage your customers. Here’s how.

1. Start with a robust list.

This is an obvious point, but it’s worth reiterating: Make sure the contacts on your e-mail list actually want your messages. You may be as witty as David Sedaris, but if your audience has already tuned you out, what’s the point?

How do you know if your list is stale? Check your open rate. The average is 20 percent, according to the Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study released in July by marketing firm Silverpop. If your open rate is significantly less than that, you might have a stale list (or the average for your industry varies significantly from that of others).

Other measures of the health of an e-mail list include click-through rates (how many people took a desired action; i.e., clicked on a link) and conversion rates (how many completed a task in an e-mail message, such as buying a product or signing up for an offer). But the open rate is probably the most telling metric.

2. Freshen things up.

Freshen it up by doing something unexpected, suggests DJ Waldow, co-author of The Rebel’s Guide to Email Marketing. Segment your list to send a dedicated message to those who haven’t opened an e-mail recently, and make the content slightly offbeat–shocking, humorous or whatever fits your brand best. “Whatever you normally do, do the opposite,” Waldow says. The idea is to incite reaction and (one would hope) reengagement.

It’s tempting to hang on to those unresponsive addresses — it can be painful to think of purging unengaged recipients. But, as Waldow says, “E-mail marketing works best when you speak to those who really want to hear from you.”

3. Use real images.

Stock photography is so yesterday — it’s far better to use your own images. Punctuate e-mails with images from your Instagram or Pinterest feeds, or use staff photos. I like the way the Ibex Outdoor Clothing newsletter features company employees as models.

“Imagery doesn’t have to be polished to tell the story,” Waldow says. “Keep it real, light and fun.”

But be aware that too many graphic elements might make it more difficult for your message to render across every e-mail client and on multiple devices.

4. Keep it simple.

Kill the buzzwords, corporate jargon and Frankenspeak. Instead, communicate like an actual human–even if what you sell is complicated. Simple terms are more likely to be read, so write clearly, and use the first person.

Make your calls to action simple, too. In fact, make them stupid-obvious. Haven’t we all been the recipients of confounding e-mails that make it difficult to tell how to access an offer? “Don’t make me search!” Waldow says.

5. Create shareable moments.

Outfit your e-mail with social-sharing bling: forward-to-a-friend links and buttons for seamlessly sharing the content on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. I like the way Boston-based VC firm OpenView Venture Partners places a “tweet this” link after each headline teaser in its weekly newsletter, so readers can share the headline directly from the e-mail (instead of having to click through to the article itself).

Also consider how you can make the e-mail itself more social. At MarketingProfs, we highlight a tweet from a member of our community in our daily newsletter. Such features create a sense of camaraderie and add an element of surprise, Waldow notes, “because you never know if you’re going to be featured, so a reader is likely to open to see if today is the lucky day!”

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Government Contracts a Lesson in Patience

An Original Article from The Wallstreet Journal

Like many business owners who have suffered during the downturn, Randy Lebolo decided the most reliable client for his small construction firm would be Uncle Sam.

When the real-estate market was in free fall nearly two years ago, Mr. Lebolo decided to shave staff, negotiate with his landlord for a lower lease, and begin the long process of becoming certified to bid on federal work opportunities. He finally won his first government contract recently to remodel a courtroom in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., courthouse. But the job pays just $250,000, not nearly the lucrative amount Mr. Lebolo—who says his Boynton Beach, Fla., firm had a history of multimillion-dollar commercial construction jobs before the downturn—thought he’d land.

Many small businesses are learning that it’s not always easy to get a foot in the government’s door, and the rewards might not always seem worth the hassle. Winning a government contract can require massive amounts of research, long wait times and capital—all difficult investments for a struggling enterprise.

Documentation is required to prove small-business eligibility and to obtain a number of certifications and registrations. Owners need to learn which agencies are best to target, how to write a government proposal and how to network with procurement agents.

The process requires lots of patience. On average, businesses have found that winning a contract takes nearly two years of trying, according to a recent American Express survey of about 1,500 businesses either engaged or interested in federal procurement opportunities. Some 42% of business owners who haven’t landed their first contract said they registered in the government’s procurement system for the first time within the past two years.

That means government work might not be a viable lifeline for businesses on the brink of shuttering. Despite an influx in training and networking events, some sponsored by the Small Business Administration, winning an initial contract can require more time, energy and money than some business owners can afford. Mr. Lebolo, for instance, spent months traveling the country to attend events, and hired advisers, lawyers and accountants to help him file all the necessary paperwork.

Still, the federal government is an attractive source of money for many businesses that have lost private-sector work or clients. Roughly one in five business owners who are seeking government contracts say they are doing so to counter the ebb and flow of their business, according to the American Express survey.

The federal government is mandated to award 23% of its prime contracts to small businesses every year, which amounted to $97 billion in 2009, according to preliminary data from the SBA. And contracts from the February 2009 stimulus have been particularly lucrative for small businesses, as nearly 30%, or $7.4 billion, have gone to Main Street firms.

Stimulus opportunities will continue to flow in coming years, given that only a third of allocated funds have been paid out thus far.

Mr. Lebolo is optimistic his recently won contract will lead to more. “You need to learn the [government contracting] process slowly, take a smaller job and understand what the requirements are,” says Mr. Lebolo, who has taken a few small commercial jobs to keep his firm, Lebolo Construction Management Inc., afloat. “If they ask you to paint a door, then take it,” he says.

But even business owners who are growing and interested in new revenue streams find the government-contracting process less than attractive.

A few weeks ago, Ben Engber attended an informational event in New York City sponsored by American Express OPEN, the company’s small-business division, to learn how his Brooklyn-based software development firm, Thumbtack Technology Inc., could land government projects.

“The biggest takeaway was that it’s a different world than the one I’m used to,” Mr. Engber says, adding that government agencies “want a specific service, and have set criteria to evaluate you.” With commercial work, “you can go in and explain what you do and why it’s superior,” he says.

Mr. Engber says he’d likely need to rebrand his firm and tweak his business model before diving into the process. Knowing the amount of time and energy that would take, he has decided to hold off on pushing into the federal arena, especially since his company is growing in other areas, he says.

Mr. Lebolo, however, is shifting his firm’s strategy to primarily focus on government work. “I made a determination to look hard into the federal market because it was the only place with money,” he says.

He says he’s not frustrated by the relatively small price tag of his first government assignment. Now that the process of landing a contract is behind him, he says there is no going back to commercial construction. He hopes to grow and begin hiring again by the end of this year. “This is a long-term decision,” he says.

Write to Emily Maltby at emily.maltby@wsj.com

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Trying to Win a Government Contract? Avoid These 3 Mistakes

An Original Article from Entrepreneur.com

When you’re looking to grow your small business, one option is to tap into the steady flow of federal contracts offered by Uncle Sam. Doing business with the federal government can provide a reliable revenue stream, if you’re persistent and plan properly.

There is a lot of money to be made: In its 2011 fiscal year, the federal government awarded $91.5 billion in contracts to small businesses, according to the Small Business Administration. The government’s goal is to award 23 percent of its contracts to small businesses. However, in 2011, it fell short, awarding only 21.7 percent. Billions of dollars that should have been awarded to small businesses weren’t, and there lies the opportunity for entrepreneurs, says Lourdes Martin-Rosa, the American Express OPEN adviser on government contracting.

Since the federal government’s fiscal year ends at the end of September, the last quarter for government agencies to meet their small business quota “is hunting season,” she says. So this is an especially good time to apply. Check the government’s small business dashboard to see where each agency currently stands in meeting its quota.

Furthermore, the Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will order federal agencies to speed up payments to businesses doing work for them. Once paperwork is in, Uncle Sam will cut a check within 15 days in most circumstances, compared to the usual 30 days.

Related: 5 Ways to Get Paid Faster

If you are interested in doing business with Uncle Sam, here are three common mistakes to avoid:

1. Don’t market to every federal agency. Instead of blindly casting the widest net, take time to understand each government agency’s mission by checking the “procurement forecast” on their individual websites. This will detail what the specific agency needs, when it needs it, and what kind of business is eligible.

Another way to see what contracts are available is to check the Federal Business Opportunities website under the “Opportunities” tab. As you scroll down the column showing the “Type” of jobs, look for those that are titled: “Sources Sought.” These are potential opportunities the government is researching and it’s looking for small businesses that can take it on. Look closely at those postings as they often include an agent’s contact information, so you can reach out directly, Martin-Rosa says.

Related: 5 Steps to a Successful Business Turnaround

2. Don’t pass up a face-to-face meeting. Getting government contracts is about networking and building relationships. There are many opportunities to meet with federal officers who make the contract decisions. Go to them, says Martin-Rosa.

For example, there’s a National Small Business Contracting week every year and the National Association of Business Contractors offers information about upcoming meetings and conferences. American Express also hosts a series of free conferences called the Victory in Procurement series and Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) “Give me Five!” group hosts webinars and conferences for women business owners.

3. Don’t dress casually. It may seem obvious, but Martin-Rosa says when you meet with a federal officer, you have to dress to impress. “You don’t want to walk in wearing a pair of jeans and tennis shoes,” says Martin-Rosa. And remember to tailor your sales pitch to the needs of the specific agency you think is the best fit. Approaching a federal agency with the attitude that it owes you the work because it is not making its quota will not fly, she says.

Related: 4 Ways to Weed Out Rotten Clients and Grow Your Business

What is your best tip in getting a contract with the federal government? Leave a comment below and let us know. 

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5 Little-Known iPhone and iPad Apps for Startups

An Original Article from Entrepreneur.com

Being a small business owner can be like playing in a one-man band. Accounting, shipping, sales and administrative tasks all fall on you. With this in mind, Apple has put together a collection of apps designed to help any new business owner work faster and more efficiently.

Here’s a look at five new or recently updated iOS apps that you might have missed:

1. Invoice2Go:

This app helps you create invoices and estimates on your iPhone or iPad. You can create a master list of regular billable items, or use the Receipts2go plugin to bill for client-specific supplies. Completed invoices can be emailed or printed right from the app.

Invoice2Go also has a reporting tool that lays out your financial situation at a glance. You can create three invoices for free. Paid plans start at $24.99 a year for up to 100 invoices.

Related: 4 Simple iPhone Apps for Creating and Editing Documents

2. Docusign Ink:

Eliminate printing and scanning with this app, which lets you sign all kinds of documents electronically. Import documents from a cloud drive or take a picture with your device’s camera. Docusign Ink converts the document so you can drag your pre-set signature into place. Then save and send.

Need a client to sign off on a work order, sale or contract? You can use Docusign Ink to request a signature by email or have clients sign off digitally in person. You can sign unlimited documents for free, but there is a limit of five additional signatories before you’ll be asked to purchase a yearly plan starting at $15 a month.

Doucsign Ink is also available on Android.

3. Bento 4 for iPad:

This personal database app was recently redesigned for the iPad making it even easier to organize and present data. What makes Bento 4 different from the average spreadsheet tool is that it allows you to combine your tables with text fields and images by simply dragging and dropping boxes on to one of 40 free templates.

Use Bento 4 to create a product catalog for sales meetings, to manage multi-step projects or build a detailed contact list. The iPad app costs $9.99 and syncs with Bento’s desktop software for the Mac.

4. Concur:

This app is an organizational tool for frequent travelers. Use it to book hotel rooms, check airline reservations and manage your itinerary. Once you’re on the move, use Concur to track your expenses as they occur. You can type information by hand, scan receipts or use e-receipts to add data. At the end of your trip, Concur combines all of the information into a finished expense report. Also available on Android, the app is free for iPhone and iPad but you’ll need to link it to a desktop Concur account. Subscriptions start at $8 per person, per month.

5. Delivery Status Touch:

If you send or receive a lot of packages each month, Delivery Status Touch can help keep track of them.

For $4.99, the app works with the major delivery services and pulls information automatically from Amazon, Apple and Google Checkout. Once you input a package, it gets added to the home screen. From there, you can see the progress of every item — coming or going.

Related: 3 Low-Cost Sales Lead Tools for Startups

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How Can I Get Free Publicity For My Business

An Original Article from 360FinancialLiteracy.com

Free publicity may be the most cost-effective way of presenting your product to the public. Generally, it has more credibility than advertising since it gives the impression that the content was written by an independent third party. To get publicity, you have to create a reason why someone would want to know about your product. Then, you look around for a way to bring this information to the public’s attention.

The easiest way for you to do this is through the media, newspapers in particular. You could start by contacting a local or specialized columnist, a regional reporter, or a freelance writer. Tell the journalist why the paper’s readers need to know about you and your product. Often, if you have a story line prepared in advance, you can pitch the story to the journalist.

Other ways of getting free publicity include volunteering, submitting stories to the media specific to your product, holding a press conference or issuing a press release, writing a column in a paper, writing a letter to the editor, or donating to a worthy cause. Finally, you can try to get listed in the community news section to advertise some fact about your business, such as the celebration of its first anniversary. This will give you and your product exposure to the public.

Funding a Business

An Original Article from 360FinancialLiteracy.com

Aside from using your own funds and borrowing from friends and family, there are numerous routes that you can take, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of the major options available for funding your small business, and some of the pitfalls to avoid. You’ve got your business plan written. You’re excited about your business idea, and now it’s time to get started. One problem: You don’t have the financing to fully realize your idea. What are your options?

Bank loans

Getting a loan from a local bank is the first option that most people think of when funding a new business. But it’s often difficult to obtain a bank loan on the basis of a business plan alone. Banks can’t take your idea as collateral for the loan.

If you are thinking of getting a bank loan, you will likely need to secure the loan through other means, such as putting up your home as collateral. A bank loan may be more feasible, though, if you are purchasing an ongoing business outright. In that case, the assets or the business itself can be used to secure the loan.

In any case, the advantage of a bank loan is that you won’t have to give away any equity if your business succeeds. You will simply repay the loan and own your business outright. If your business fails, however, you may end up losing more than your business assets, depending on the terms of the loan.

Angel investors

Angel investors are private investors who contribute money to a business in exchange for an ownership interest. The obvious advantage of utilizing angel investors is that you don’t have to repay a loan. However, you may have to give up a significant amount of equity (and control, depending on the security issued) to the angel investors. Angel investors typically expect to receive preferred equity security in exchange for their investment.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle is to find the right angels. There are many people out there who want to invest in small businesses, but it’s not easy to find the right fit. If you opt for this route, make sure that all parties have the same expectations regarding the prospect of success. You need to agree on how long you expect it will take for the business to be profitable (be aware that most small business plans are overly optimistic as to profit expectations) and whether your angels will hang in there with you if it takes longer than expected.

Venture capital

We’ve all heard a great deal about venture capital firms over the past few years. The ups and downs of some of these companies have been well documented. But are venture capital firms a potential source of financing for your business?

Venture capital may be a viable financing source for your business but, then again, it may not. Like angel investors, venture capitalists typically take an equity stake in your company, and most expect to receive preferred equity security in exchange for their investment. Most venture capitalists specialize in certain industries, and many provide corporate direction as well as financing (some angel investors may provide such direction, as well).

It is this aspect of specialization that makes venture capital financing difficult for most new businesses to obtain. If your new business doesn’t fit into the right niche, your company might not be a candidate for funding.

What fields do venture capital firms focus on? Most venture capital firms specialize in high-tech, computer, and Internet services. Others specialize in scientific projects and inventions that require a lot of cash. So, if you’re looking to open your own transmission shop, a venture capital firm probably isn’t the right financing alternative for you.

Selling stock

Selling stock in your company can take several different forms. We’ve all heard and read a lot about initial public offerings (IPOs). IPOs are stock sales in which previously private companies go public. An IPO is a possibility for an ongoing business, but it isn’t likely to be a viable alternative for your new company.

A private placement is less complex than an IPO and involves selling shares of stock to a select group of equity investors. The investors typically exercise control over the company in direct proportion to the number of shares that they own.

Selling stock or other securities in your business generally requires compliance with federal and state securities laws. Seek the advice of an attorney experienced in these laws before your business issues any stock or securities.

Factoring

You’ve been in business for a while and you have customers, but your collections have been bad. You need cash now, but your lack of cash inflow is holding you back. What can you do?

A common solution to this problem is factoring. Basically, you secure a loan (usually at a high interest rate) against your accounts receivable. Factoring companies aren’t hard to find, and some offer better deals than others, but they are almost always going to charge you a much higher rate of interest than your bank. Thus, factoring is usually considered as an option only after all others have been exhausted.

Economic development programs

Many federal, state, and local government loan programs are available to small businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration is a good place to start.

Don’t overlook your local government loan programs, though. Local governments often offer incentives such as tax breaks or a discounted loan rate if you locate your business in their jurisdiction, often in an area zoned for economic redevelopment.

Customer/supplier financing

This is an option for a business that has a poor credit rating, and a realistic option that many small businesses overlook. In essence, your business bills for part of the services or products that it supplies up front. The rest of the fees are paid as the products are delivered or as the services are completed.

This strategy is aggressive, but many of your customers can appreciate the need that a small business has to keep cash flow current, and won’t object to your asking for partial payment up front.

 

Starting Or Buying a Business

Starting Or Buying a Business

An Original Article from 360FinancialLiteracy.com

Each option involves some element of risk and reward. Whichever option you choose, however, owning your own business offers a chance at more freedom and greater financial rewards.So, you’re thinking of going into business for yourself. You have several options available, and all involve some degree of risk. Do you want to create a start-up operation? Perhaps you are planning on buying an existing business. Or, you may be considering the purchase of a franchise operation.

Start-ups

If you are planning on building your business from the ground up, you are taking a bigger risk than if you were buying an existing business or a franchise. Existing businesses and franchises have some operating history that you can use to gauge the likelihood of the success of the business. By comparison, with a start-up business, you naturally think that you will succeed, but there are fewer guarantees.

Most successful start-ups don’t actually begin with a new, innovative product. Instead, they begin with a proven product or service (start-up owners often open competing businesses in areas in which they are familiar) and become innovative after the new venture has generated some level of profit and success.

Because your start-up has no previous track record (even if you have had success in your field), you will first need to raise enough financing to make a go of it. Banks or investors will want to see a plan of attack before they will approve a loan for your start-up. Therefore, your first step should be to create a strong business plan.

The business plan

A well-developed business plan serves several useful purposes. It helps to organize thoughts and ideas about how the business should be developed. It also creates a plan of attack that will help you stay focused. And, it will assist you in getting financing. There are several important elements to a well-prepared plan:

  • Strong introduction: The cover page, executive summary (essentially an overview of the plan), and table of contents will be the first elements that potential financiers or investors will see. If these aren’t strong, potential financiers may not take you seriously enough to get to the heart of your plan.
  • Business description: Whether you are using the business plan to get financing or create a focus of how your business should be run, you need to present a clear vision of what your business will be. The description should include how you want your business to be positioned in your industry, what will make your business unique, the products or services that you will provide, and how you plan on pricing within the industry. Do you want to be the low-cost provider, or the high-end specialist?
  • Market positioning: If you want to attract investors to your business, you need to convince them that a need in the marketplace exists for what you are proposing. This section needs to include details on the size of the potential market for your business, how your business can benefit through sales inside the market, and how you plan on succeeding against your competitors.
  • Financial objectives: This is perhaps the most important part of your business plan. Here, you need to convince your potential backers or lenders that your business will make a sound investment. You’ll want to show that you have evaluated the attendant risks and rewards of your proposed business. You’ll also need to project cash needs and expected income, and present a cash flow statement.
  • Other areas: A good business plan will also cover in some detail your marketing plan, a discussion of how you plan on developing products to bring to market (if the business is a manufacturing concern), and so on.

Buying an existing business

The obvious advantage to buying an existing business is that it has a proven track record of success. But that doesn’t mean that there are no possible pitfalls that you should avoid.

Perhaps the greatest problem in buying an existing business is that you might not acquire the expertise and services of the existing owners, who have often accumulated goodwill with their customers or clients. However, when a business is bought, it is not unusual for the previous owners to stay on for a period of time to assist with the transition and to make introductions to clients in an attempt to transfer some of that goodwill.

Consult qualified professionals to properly evaluate the information that the owners of the existing business may provide you. Also, make sure that the reasons why the business is on the market are true. Is the owner really planning on retiring to Florida, or is he or she just trying to escape the crushing debt that the business has accumulated over the last few years?

Also, keep in mind that you may be taking on a heavy load of debt in acquiring the business. A business that is marginally profitable may not be able to both pay off the debt service on the loan and pay you a living wage.

Franchises

When you buy a franchise, you also buy marketing support, business strategy, name recognition, and assistance with site location (if it’s a retail operation), among other things.

However, you also give up some things. You will never have the final say in all decisions, because franchisors typically retain rights to ensure that your business is run their way. Also, you won’t be entitled to all of the profits of your business, because franchisors typically take a percentage as part of their fees. Finally, you may be limited in your decision-making processes (e.g., some franchisors require you to buy materials from their suppliers).

If you are thinking of purchasing a franchise, it is very important to thoroughly investigate the company. Remember, you are doing more than just purchasing a name–the franchisor is going to be your business partner. Make sure that he or she doesn’t want only your money and then move on to the next potential buyer.

Franchisors are required to disclose lots of information to potential franchisees. Do your homework. Talk not only to successful franchisees but also to ones who have failed. If several former franchisees tell you that the company didn’t fulfill the promises of the franchise agreement, beware.

Make sure every representation is made to you in writing before you purchase. Take notes of everything said to you, and have the franchisor sign off on them. That way, you will have a record of what was represented to you if things go wrong.

Properly Insuring Your Business

An Original Article from 360FinancialLiteracy.com

No matter how careful you are in running your business, accidents happen. And no matter how big or small your business, you’ll have to plan for these and other risks if you want your business to thrive. One way to do this is with insurance.

Imagine this: Your custom-made cabinetry business is thriving. You have a handful of talented employees and a stack of orders. Then, the unthinkable happens. You or one of your employees is severely injured using the equipment. Or a fire damages all of the cabinets you’ve spent the last few months building. Or a customer calls to tell you that the new cabinets you installed yesterday just fell and crashed onto her kitchen floor.

Protect your business from physical destruction

Your business is situated somewhere–an office park, a warehouse, a barn. And just like your home, this structure (and all of its contents) is susceptible to damage from many causes. Property and casualty insurance provides coverage for losses due to the physical damage or destruction of your business. With the right policy, neither fire nor exploded boiler can put you out of business. Everything from your office building to your cabinets to your water cooler can be covered.

You can buy various types of insurance protection separately, or you can purchase one package that covers many potential hazards. Among the forms of coverage you can purchase are:

  • Building and equipment insurance: This protects you if your facility or equipment is damaged or destroyed
  • Valuable papers insurance: This protects you if the documentation supporting your accounts receivable or other valuable business records is lost or destroyed
  • Crime insurance: This protects your business in case of theft
  • Business interruption insurance: This protects you by replacing some or all of your operating cash flow if your business is unable to maintain its normal operations for a period of time due to a covered event

Keep your business afloat if you or a key employee dies or becomes disabled

If you were to die prematurely or become permanently disabled and could no longer work, would your business survive financially? It’s easy to believe that such a tragedy won’t befall you. But remember, accidents happen not only on the job but also at home, and illness can strike anyone. Though the death or disability of an owner may be a minor issue for large businesses, small businesses may find themselves in a bind. And if you’re a sole proprietor, you’re personally responsible for all of the debts of your business, so everything you own could be repossessed if you’re unable to pay your bills.

To survive a money crunch, your business can purchase life insurance and disability insurance to cover you, with the business named as the beneficiary. Upon a triggering event (death or disability), the policy will pay your business a certain amount of money, which it can use to cover its normal operating expenses like rent, utilities, employee salaries, advertising, and maintenance costs.

Your business can also purchase life insurance and disability insurance on a key employee–someone who is key to the success of your business (i.e., this employee brings in substantial accounts or has specialized knowledge or talent). Again, on the triggering event, your business would receive a sum of money to compensate for the lost income generated by the employee, or for the cost of replacing the employee.

Note: These types of policies are different from workers’ compensation insurance, which all states require businesses to have. Workers’ compensation insurance provides compensation to your employees if they’re injured at work or get sick from job-related causes. Once an employee opts to receive benefits under such a policy, he or she is usually prohibited from suing your business for the same injuries.

Protect your business assets if someone threatens or sues your business

If your cabinet installation goes awry and your best customer (or so you thought) calls screaming at you on the phone, what will you do? With a liability insurance policy, the insurance company will pay (up to policy limits) third parties who claim they were injured or their property damaged by your product or service. If a lawsuit is threatened or filed, the insurance company will hire and pay (again, up to policy limits) a lawyer to defend you.

You can purchase general business liability insurance separately or as part of a commercial package policy, which combines this coverage with other types of coverages, such as property and casualty insurance. Certain small businesses, including retail outfits, can buy a business owners policy, which includes a general liability insurance line. If your business needs broader coverage or higher liability limits than these policies offer, you can purchase supplemental liability insurance with a commercial umbrella policy.

An important point: If you provide professional services (e.g., doctor, lawyer, accountant), a general liability policy doesn’t cover you for losses incurred by third parties arising from your professional acts. In this case, you may need to buy professional liability insurance such as malpractice insurance, which protects you against liability for injury done to others due to your misconduct or lack of skill; or errors and omissions insurance, which protects you against liability for things that you did improperly or failed to do.

Attract and keep employees with insurance-related employee benefits

Nowadays, insurance is a crucial component of most employee benefit packages. In fact, the types of insurance that you offer (and pay for) might be a key factor in a person’s decision to accept a job with you or an employee’s desire to work for your business long term. Insurance helps employees feel secure, and this security can translate into loyalty and strong job performance. Here is a list of group plans that you might decide to offer as part of your employee benefits package:

  • Health insurance
  • Dental and vision insurance
  • Life insurance
  • Disability insurance
  • Long-term care insurance

In each case, the employee receives all of the benefits under the policy.

10 Tips for a Strong Start

An Original Article from Entrepreneur.com

As someone who has been called a serial entrepreneur, I’ve had more than my fair share of experience starting new enterprises, turning around underperforming enterprises or re-vamping operations.

During that time, I’ve learned a thing or two about some critical factors you absolutely need to know before you jump into the proverbial entrepreneurial waters.

In the majority of cases, start-up success or failure is all about knowing the both the how and the why of taking action, and always being clear about which steps to take next.

To help this process, here are 10 essential things you need to know about running a successful business. Use it as a checklist to make sure your thinking and your business plan are on the right track, or if you need to get more information, strategic education or clarity for yourself on your overall vision, your market, or your product or service.

  1. Offer what people want to buy, not just what you want to sell.

    Too often, people jump into a business built around a product or service they think will be successful, rather than one that is already proven to have a market.

    What do I mean?

    Instead of creating and selling a new sports shoe with the latest trendy design and materials, you’d be much better off from a business perspective to focus on shoe category generally (a proven category because which people buy shoes every day) and then focus more specifically on the niche of high performance sports shoes, (which you may even sell in a section of a shoe retail outlet). Better to have a small slice of a large category than a large slice of no market at all.

  2. Get cash flowing ASAP.

    Cash flow is the lifeblood of business, and is absolutely essential to feed bottom-line profits. So you need to find ways to jump start cash flow immediately.

    How do you do that? In a professional services business, you can ask for deposits on work up-front, with balances due on delivery.

    You can do the same in retail, especially on high-ticket or specialty item and position it as an added value and a way to insure delivery by a specific date.

    You can also add value to generic items by creating private labels, and develop continuity programs where customers pay an up-front monthly fee to insure delivery or availability of items they will buy on a repeat basis. Of course, the key is to make sure there is little or no gap between when you pay for labor, stock inventory and when you actually get paid. Ideally, you’ll find ways to get money up front, and your cash gap will never be an issue.

  3. Always find new ways to keep costs low.

    All the cash flow in the world is worthless if it’s not positive cash flow, which means you have to bring in more cash than you pay out.

    To do this, you need to keep your costs and expenses low. We’ve touched on this before, especially in terms of outfitting a startup. The main idea is to never pay retail , and look for used or gently used items to furnish your office or your retail space.

    Paying vendors up front also gives you leverage for negotiating better prices. Especially in this economic environment, where credit is at a premium, vendors are more willing than ever to find creative ways to finance transactions, and that is a trend will likely continue over time.

    So do some extra work and research now to discover how owners and vendors are finding ways to work out deals, and you just may hit on whole new ways of doing business.

  4. When planning, always overestimate expenses and underestimate revenues.

    I was trained as an accountant, so the numbers side of business is part of my entrepreneurial DNA, and was also a big part of my early business education.

    That said, I’ve never seen a startup business where expenses were at least 30 percent more than initially planned or anticipated, and revenues are at least that much less.

    Being conservative in your numbers doesn’t mean you are willing to accept those numbers, it just means you are arming yourself with information you can work with and work over. It means you can gauge the kinds of efforts and activities you will need to put into sales and marketing.

  5. Focus on sales and marketing manically.

    In business, nothing happens until a sale is made. From the jump, you’ll need to find a good way to get leads, convert leads into sales, and make sure you keep getting repeat sales from your customers.

    The way to do this is to find or create a marketing and sales funnel system that you can work, test, measure; one that anyone in your company can utilize.

    Too many entrepreneurs focus on getting their brand right before they start to generate leads. That is exactly the wrong way to go about business. Leads are always more important than your brand, so don’t waste money getting your brand right at the expense of spending that same money to buy new customers.

    Soon, you’ll discover you can build your brand from the ground up, versus spending years and hundred of thousands of dollars building it from the top down. Don’t presume you’ll even survive that long, because without leads, you won’t!

  6. Find ways to exponentially increase profits.

    In business, there are five drivers that impact profits. If you can master them while keeping your costs in check, you will run a successful business.

    It’s as simple as getting more leads, converting more leads into customers, increasing the number of times those customers buy from you, increasing the average price point of your sales and increasing your profit margins.

    Do any one of those, while also keeping costs down, you will see more profits. Do all of them and you will see your business really take off.

  7. Test and measure everything.

    You can’t change what you don’t measure, and you can’t tell if a program or strategy is working if you are not faithfully testing, measuring and tracking your results.

    Another way to look at this is to think in terms of doctors. Most like to get baseline stats of your heart rate, blood pressure and breathing before they delve into identifying symptoms or recommending corrective courses of action.

    The same is true in your business. Why keep literally throwing money away on an ad campaign that costs thousands of dollars but doesn’t bring any people through the door?

  8. Accept that learning more equals earning more.

    If you’ve never run a million dollar business, you don’t know how to start a business–simple as that.

    But you can learn to run one, even if it is your million dollar business you are building from the ground up.

    However, you need to accept right now that learning always comes before “earning” (except in the dictionary). You’ll need to be committed to learning as much as you can about sales and marketing and operations if you want to have a truly success business.

    Once you do that, however, the sky is the limit. Knowing and applying those simple fundamentals in a highly leveraged way is one of the reasons many top executives and entrepreneurs earn so much.

    Identify those areas and you then can decide to learn it yourself or hire an expert and learn as much as you can from that person–because you never know when you can run across a distinction in thinking or a strategy that can really take you and your business to a new level of success.

  9. Don’t discount, add value.

    Whenever you discount, you are taking money directly out of your pocket and directly from your bottom-line profit. So don’t do it. Instead, create added value propositions all the way up and down your product or service line.

    Whatever the industry is, look to hold your price points, increase your margins with the low-cost or no-cost extras and any kind of freemium offerings.

    In the end, those little things won’t cost you a lot, but will build up tremendous goodwill and word-of-mouth with your customers and customer base.

  10. Get a coach.

    Even if you don’t get a business coach at first to help you and guide you in your planning and operation, get someone who is objective and outside of your business you can rely on for nitty gritty business advice and to hold you accountable to getting results.

    Too often, we think we have all the answers and are the only people who can really get things done. The reality is that another set of eyes can work wonders for how you operate both on and in your business. An outsider can also make sure you are getting the numbers you need both on the top line and the bottom line to survive.

I hope this initial checklist will be valuable in helping you clarify your thinking and helping you prioritize some activities in your planning and start up mode.

I like to say there are no mysteries in business or in life, there’s just information you don’t know yet.

So prepare as well as you can, knowing you will need to make changes and corrections. But armed with the right strategies up front, you can cut the time it will take you successfully get to your ultimate destination–wherever it is that may be for you and your business.

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