Robert Warlow Profile and Articles

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1). Why Your Customer’s Buy: 3 Motivators Small Business Owners Should Know About
Whenever you go into a shop or pick up the phone to place an order, something has prompted you to take action and buy. Have you ever stopped to consider what that prompt was? What thought went through your mind, which led to you putting your hand in your purse or wallet?

It’s all down to motivation – what motivates you to buy. Understanding your customer’s.

2). Why Do Your Customers Complain and What Can You Do About It?
As the Internet becomes an increasing part of our lives there are a growing number of web sites which are run for dissatisfied customers to publicly air their complaints about bad service. See your name posted on these sites or get contacted by them and you know you have a problem!

How can you prevent your business from becoming ‘feature of the week’? Of all the skills small business owners need these days, the one least practiced is the ability to step back and look at your business from the customer’s perspective.

3). How to Be a Creative Entrepreneur
There’s a great line in Alice in Wonderland when the Queen says, “Sometimes I think of 6 impossible things before breakfast.” I think you’ll agree that this has to be creativity at its best! As a small business owner this is an ideal you really need to strive for … but how on earth can you open up your mind to get to the point where ideas just spill.

4). Customer Loyalty – The Key to Business Success
Talk to many business people about how they approach customer service and the majority of them will say that they are aiming to have ‘satisfied’ customers. No! What we all should be seeking is to have loyal customers.

Research has shown that 65% of customers say they are loyal. You may be happy with this but you shouldn’t! Satisfied customers are in a state of nothing – they are neither issatisfied or happy; they are in between.

5). Complaint Letters: How to Respond in 7 Simple Steps
Ask many small business owners what goes into providing great customer service and you have answers such as, being polite, serving promptly, keeping your promises etc. But in this hi-tech age, we tend to forget that the humble letter has just as an important role in ensuring good customer service. Yet how many times have you received a ‘letter of apology’.

6). How to Manage Customer Expectations
Do you often have the thought that your business would operate so much better without customers and all their demands? They want this, that and the other – all of which interrupts your day! But customer expectations are what drives your business and keeps them coming back.

Do you know what your customers are expecting of you? If not, how can you find out? What will understanding their expectations do for your business? In this article we are going to look at expectations and how it’s important for you and your business to know what they are.

7). Avoiding a Financial Crisis: How to Keep Your Small Business Alive
Having a superb product, soaring sales and stupendous customer service are undoubtedly some of the things which go into making a successful business. But all of this is irrelevant if you suffer a financial crisis. Without a sound stable financial position the slightest shock can be enough to send your business crashing to the ground.

So what can you.

8). Why We Fear To Sell … And How You Can Overcome It
So, you have set up your business, got all your stationery printed, got the premises and office sorted and now you have to get out there and …sell! Suddenly you break into a cold sweat but you persevere, pick up the phone or approach your first customer and it all goes horribly wrong! This really sets you up for the next one!

The fear of selling is something which most first time business owners suffer from.

9). How to Choose a Bank That is Right For You and Your Business
Your success in getting a Bank to support a request for finance you may need does depend upon you choosing the right Bank in the first place. Even if you don’t initially intend to borrow any money, you should keep this possibility in mind when you are researching the market for the right Bank.

With competition increasing you can get some good deals if you are prepared to shop around.

10). Entrepreneurial Myths: The Truth Behind Them
If you are about to start off in business you will have no doubt heard these comments:
“So many businesses fail. Why are you doing this?”
“I hear that you need a large amount of money to get a business off the ground these days.”
“Why are you throwing away the security of your job?”

These, and more of the same, are typical of the barriers that so called friends and advisors, put in your way if you are thinking of starting a business.

11). Writing a Business Plan: Why It Is Worth the Time and Effort
Are you thinking about approaching a Bank for finance to support your business? If you haven’t already gone to see the Manager then you may not know that the first thing he will want to see is your Business Plan.

Perhaps you are not convinced that all the time and effort needed in preparing a plan is essential; if so then here are the main benefits for both you and your business.

12). Small Business Start Up Costs: How Deep Are Your Pockets?
One of the challenges of planning and getting a new business off the ground is to establish what your start up costs are going to be. At best, it’s going to be a stab in the dark or a wild guess, but there are some specific steps you can take to make your costings more realistic.

Why Estimate Your Costs?

But, before we look at where you can get help, we should consider why you need to get your estimate of start up costs to be as close to reality as possible.

13). The Hidden Power of Networking
We all make use of traditional forms of getting new business in – advertising, direct mail, brochures etc but networking is one form of marketing which, has been under-utilised. Until now that is. Small business owners are finally beginning to under stand the power of networking and what it can do for their sales figures.

But what is networking?

In its most basic form, it’s word-of-mouth advertising but originated by you, not your customers.

14). Working From Home: How to Make it Enjoyable and Productive
For many people the ultimate dream is to escape from the rat race and work from home. To some people who have achieved this dream it has turned into the ultimate nightmare!

With the every day stresses of life, work and commuting, working from home can appear to be the way out, but it is not as easy and idyllic as it sounds. If you are seriously thinking.

15). How to Get The Best Out Of Your Phone
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, little did he realise the positive effect it would have on customer service – or the negative effect it could also have!

Yes, the telephone can be a great tool in helping to provide exceptional customer service but it can also quickly destroy a customer’s perception of your service. What steps can you take to ensure that, whenever you or your staff use the phone, it adds something positive to the customer experience?

Here are some ideas.

16). Negotiating – The Myths and Realities
We have all been there at some stage in our business lives – the dreaded negotiation with your most awkward client. He regularly screws you to the floor each year on price and everything else you have to offer! Pretty quickly you see every negotiation as a battle and all your self confidence goes.

There are a lot of myths surrounding negotiating which don’t help if you are faced with handling such a situation for the first time.

17). 7 Tips to Starting a Successful Small Business
Getting a small business off the ground is challenging to say the least. Here are some tips which will prepare the ground for running a successful small business.

Have Goals

This is where it all starts – the foundation for success. Know exactly where you are heading. What will the business ‘look’ like in the future? How will you know when your business.

18). Cold Calling: How to Warm Yourself Up Before You Start
Cold calling … even the name is enough to strike fear into the heart of many a small business owner! What image comes into your mind? Sitting in a lonely damp office, surrounded by paper, 2 day old coffee cups and a stack of outstanding work. In other words, something not very nice!

Why do we hate cold calling so much? Why does the very thought of.

19). Practice Active Listening and Boost Your Sales
In sales it’s always said that if you understand your product and solve your customer’s problems then you’ll do well in the sales environment. But this presupposes one thing … that you have really listened and understood what the customer is saying. We’re talking about the importance of active listening in sales.

What Is Active Listening?

You may.

20). Why Being Aggressive Won’t Get You Sales
When people are asked to think of less than successful salesman, one of the unpleasant characteristics that springs to mind is them being pushy or aggressive.

The usual memory is of looking for a new car or used car! We have all had experiences when the salesman hasn’t stopped talking and you sense yourself being pushed to say ‘yes’. You find yourself.

21). How to Keep Customers For Life
Being is business isn’t just about getting a customer, selling him something and moving onto the next one. It’s all about making sure that your customers keep coming back to you … and spend more money!

But how can you make sure that your customers stay customers for life? What strategies can you put into practice to keep bringing them back for more? A planned customer retention programme is something every established small business should have in place.

22). Presenting Business Plans: Why People Feel Nervous and What You Can Do About It
If you are looking for finance to either start up a business or expand your existing one you have to accept that if you want the Bank to say yes to your superb business idea, you are going to have to spend time preparing for the interview.

The chat with the Manager is your only chance to really sell yourself and your idea. It's rare that you'll get a second chance with the same Manager or Bank.

23). How to Write a ‘Killer’ Business Plan
Writing a Business Plan can be a daunting task. You have so many ideas floating around in your head that it can be difficult to capture them all in a logical format. However, committing time to writing an effective Plan can help improve your chances of success. In this article I will be giving you some tips on how to write a ‘killer’ Business Plan!

Tip 1 – Understand the Need for a Plan

Without a clear strategy and long term objectives you may be reducing your chances of success and so it’s important to commit time to plan ahead.

24). How to Squeeze More Profit Out of Your Customers!
Ask any small business owner to come up with ideas on how to market their business and they will say adverts, brochures, leaflets, direct mail etc. Whilst all these are great ways of promoting your business they all cost money! What if I could show you a better and more effective way of marketing your business? In this article I am going to share with you some key strategies to get more business and ultimately increase your profits.

25). Common Mistakes Small Businesses Make and How to Avoid Them
Unfortunately very few start up businesses make it beyond their 3rd year. Failure is usually down to a number of clearly identifiable mistakes, which if small business owners are aware of, can increase their chances of survival.

Here are the top 10 common mistakes which small businesses tend to make.

Lack of Market Research

When a budding entrepreneur comes up with an idea for a new business he assumes that because he would buy such a product or service then everyone else will.

26). How to Build a Customer Focused Business
You can have the best products, the plushest offices, the best location, but unless you are a ‘customer focused’ business, all of this counts for nothing, you will never really hit the heights you deserve.

So what can you do to build a business which focuses outwardly on the customer, and not inwardly on the business?

Build Passion and Commitment

The first building block is passion and commitment.

27). How to Get Your Customers Saying ‘Wow’
Just imagine. You have walked out of a shop or put down the phone after purchasing something and your immediate reaction is “Wow!” How do you feel? Excited; satisfied; fulfilled … eager to return and buy again?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your customers to feel the same way about dealing with you?

Lots of small business owners (and not so small!) seem to think that the customer is merely an interference.

28). How to Finance Your Small Business Start Up
It all starts with a great idea, an idea that has probably been in your mind for a long time. You have the product sorted out, how you are going to deliver your service, where you are going to set up your office and how you are going to market your new business. But the stumbling block always seems to be the finance to get you going.

Finding the finance to get a small business off the ground is a major issue for any potential small business.

29). How to Boost Your Sales in 4 Easy Steps!
To some people, selling just comes easily; it happens naturally. They get out there and within a few hours they have a full order book. How do they do it? The key to successful selling is finding a formula or framework that works, practicing it and sticking with it.

One such framework that has been around for many years and proven to work is A.I.D.

30). Top 5 Tips on Finding the Most Effective Card Ideas
Who else wants to know the top 5 tips on finding the most effective card ideas for a card business or personal use?

31). Unique Card Designs to Enthrall Everyone
Do you make cards? - here are some unique card design ideas to give you inspiration.

32). How to Get Your First Customer
Starting a new business is always tough. You have spent hours and hours putting your Business Plan together, sorting out the financing, arranging your office and buying equipment. And the big day arrives … you have to get out there and secure your first customer. It all looked so easy when you were planning, but now this is real and doesn’t seem as effortless as you thought.