Entrepreneurship and “The Recession Saga"

Recession cloud has been dominating the business scene for some time. Future predictions don’t see so much change in the near time. Businesses no matter big or small are feeling the pinch and always thinking about how to get them out of this slump. Ever since the realization of the big recession, things have never been the same again. A lot of things have been happening and only few have bear fruit if any. Stimulus packages to cost cutting and restructuring are some of the major changes made to make things roll back again. Entrepreneurs are also in deep trouble as sales have not been even near the mark since long. Change has been through our businesses and should be taken as an emergency situation. Entrepreneurs though very enthusiastic about their businesses but they should also keep in mind those cash flows are hard to come by so money should be spent in a wise manner. Only necessary expansions should be carried out. Once the change is realized, it will easier to determine the future course of action. It must be noted that revenue generation happens through the contribution of different departments. Secondly an approach that is sustainable in the longer run should be adopted.

Recession is a situation we all are facing globally, but we also know that different regions have different scales of recession. One size doesn’t fit all is the case. Problems are different, so are the solutions. Localized approach should be used to determine what a particular business is facing and try to first eliminate those problems. We cannot look at the same string of restructuring and downsizing for example. We have different labor laws and union’s negotiation powers. Some of these problems arising from recession are indirectly affecting our business while others pinching our profits. Priority should be given to the ones that are directly influencing the profit making ability, for long term survivability and then the factors affecting the firm indirectly should be made accountable. One other thing that we always forget is that recession has different meanings for different countries and their respective business organizations. There may be countries badly affected by the recession and then other countries and their business would have almost no effect on their businesses. Recession is a scenario which every entrepreneur should be worried about and communicate it through its hierarchy. It is must for the employees to be communicated regarding the costs the company is paying to retain them and how can they be effective to help the company to get out of this tricky situation. So if you are ready to take the recession seriously and are a proactive entrepreneur then you don’t have to worry. On the other hand if you think nothing bad happening can affect you then think twice about the big corporations who are ceasing to exit in months’ time.

Source:
Wholesale Suppliers

Elements of a Mission Statement

No one can deny the importance of a mission statement in motivating a business. Mission statement not only helps the business to remain on its track but also helps determining the very purpose of its existence. Finding a perfect mission statement is never possible. Mission statements are made, followed and updated continuously. Updates are made due to many reasons like change in business, change in business philosophy or any other major change that would result in substantial deviation for the organization from the earlier path it laid down in its mission statement. There are nine elements which involve in making a mission statement. Each good mission statement incorporates all of these elements in it. These elements are.

1.Customers
2.Products or Services
3.Markets
4.Technology
5.Concern for survival, growth and profitability
6.Philosophy
7.Self concept
8.Concern for public image
9.Concern for employees

Here is a glimpse of what each of these elements states about in a mission statement

1.Customers
In this element the organization mentions who are its customers or potential customers. What will it do to serve them and how will its customers find this organization different from the other organizations providing similar products or services in the market.

2.Products or Services
In mission statement a business has to mention the producer or service or both they are providing. By defining products or services the company distinguishes its offered products or services from competitive products or services of similar nature provided by other competitors in the market.

3.Markets
By defining markets, the company is declaring which types of customers it will target. Or who will be the intended audience for which it will produce products or services. For example, a luxury car maker like Rolls Royce has a potential market of only the richest of the rich in the world.

4.Technology
By defining technology, the company tells its current technology use in making of its products. It also tells about the unique ways in which its products or services are technologically more advanced then their alternates.

5.Concern for survival, growth and profitability
In this element of the mission statement business defines the means it seeks to survive in the longer run. It not merely lists them out but also defines the logic behind them and how will the company strive to achieve them.

6.Philosophy
Philosophy of a company is a much wider term to cover. By defining philosophy, the company defines its way of working, its culture, its beliefs and how it sees work to be carried out. It is also an analytical way of defining the norms on which it runs.

7.Self concept
By defining the self concept, the business is telling its heart out to the world. In this the company shows the outside world, its core strengths and the place it sees itself in the future.

8.Concern for public image
The buzz word is usually corporate social responsibility mixed with concern for public image. First of all these two terms are totally different and they can by no means be intermingled with each other. Corporate social responsibility points the ways in which the business wants to contribute towards the betterment of the society. Concern for public image is a much wider term and can include not only the corporate social responsibility but the overall impact of the actions taken by the company on its image. This may include from minor issues like installing manufacturing recycling plants by a company for pollution reduction to improve its packaging to enhance a better brand image for one of its top line brands.

9.Concern for employees
Earlier day corporations didn’t care much about their employees. Thankfully the trend has started shifting from no focus to a lot of concentration on working environment. In a mission statement a company also defines the ways in which it is beneficial for potential and currently working employees to work at a certain organization. This also includes the ways in which the company will treat its employees and how will it look towards this relation in a longer period of time.

Source:
UK Wholesalers

Different types of online scams and how to avoid

Along with individuals, entrepreneurs, students, professionals, internet has also been extremely helpful to scammers. Just like the internet provided a great opportunity to small businesses to reach out and find buyers from all over the world, scammers can also prey at victims* from all over the world, just like the students can make use of various techniques to acquire more and more knowledge, scammers can also employ techniques as hacking, forgery* and the likes. Where the online marketers are always thinking of new ways of doing business, making sales, converting leads into sales, scammers are also thinking hard to defraud people in new ways.

Work at Home:
Of course, lots of people work from homes and it has transformed into an industry. But that only makes it worse, because people can see other people working and earning from their homes, they fall easily for these work at home offers and pay some sort of registration fee. Whole websites are dedicated to lure people and it’s not easy to differentiate between the real and the fake ones. So what’s the best way to see if they are fake or real? There’s no fool proof way to do that, therefore the best bet is to don’t pay any kind of fee to any of these work at home companies. There are very few companies who actually provide this kind of jobs but they wouldn’t be asking for any registration and they won’t be promising big dollars for little amount of work either.

Billionaire & Six figure Income:
Often, you’d have been to some website of an “allegedly” billionaire, who narrates his success story and then tries to sell his secret to you. These “getting rich quickly” stories are enticing and they make you miss one obvious point. The person who’s selling his secret to you is already a billionaire and he’s comfortably earning billions right now so what’s the point of selling their secret to others for a minimal amount? Billionaires aren’t supposed to go for these small profits, second selling their secret means they are inviting lots of competition that will only slash their own profits. Therefore these schemes have fraud written all over them.

Money Transfer:
This is another very, very common type of online fraud. Doesn’t matter which email service are you using, this email must have reached your inbox at some point of time. That narrates some tragic story; praise your nobleness, and concludes with a request to help the sender transfer, a huge amount of money. You don’t even need to put a fraud-check to these emails because these are confirmed imposters.

Source:
UK Wholesalers

Dealing with difficult employees as a manager

Often people complain that their boss is not good. He takes them for granted. He doesn’t appreciate their true efforts. He has no heart and is only a number crunching robot. He doesn’t care about their emotions at all and he doesn’t know how to treat human beings. Well that is a story we all have heard about. What about other side of the flip? Have you ever been a boss yourself? If you were one, then you definitely know that it is not an easy task to be one. Being boss means taking responsibility. That is taking the responsibility of your actions alone but as well as of those whom you can only influence, but they will do the things they want to do. During this tug of war, many problems arise and get solved by the boss on a daily basis. However, there are problems that need extra skills to get them done out of your way. These problems are usually unique in nature and vary from case to case. These problems arise due to the difficult to handle employees. No company can go into the job market and pick out perfect employees. It is extremely difficult to find the right kind of guy for each job.

There will be situations when being boss you will have to deal with an extremely tough nut to crack. At this time you would wish, that you are not the boss. People have always been in this situation and will always be. The need is to understand that you shouldn’t be too aggressive while dealing with these employees. If such a situation arises where you have to deal with someone really difficult, then the first rule of thumb is to never confront straight with that employee. Second important thing is to try to get information on the situation from as many sources as possible. Try to make a neutral picture of the whole scenario. Once you are able to conclude what happened, then call in the employees involved in the conflict turn by turn. Ask each of them what happened individually. Try to convince the more normal being that the company knows that he’s right, and he doesn’t have to worry. At the same time, the problem maker should be warned in a diplomatic way, so the distress of the company on the event should also be conveyed in a lighter manner. If you have a problem making employee, other employees should be directly or indirectly conveyed about the condition of that employee. Last very important thing is that the boss or any other employee should never try to over react over a problem arising due to the problematic employee. A silence and patience in itself will deliver a greater lesson to the employee.

Source:
UK Wholesalers

Consumer Sales Promotion – Doing it the Right Way

Sales promotion plays a vital role in promoting the products and its sales. As sales promotion is an activity directed towards the channel members as well as the end consumers. Each type of sales promotion has different types of activities involved like sales promotional tools that work good for wholesalers and distributors may not be appropriate for consumers. Similarly, sales promotion tools deployed for end consumers may be ineffective when employed against the wholesalers and retailers. Some of the most widely used ways to entice customers are discussed here:

1.Lucky draws
2.Free samples
3.Loyalty rewarding
4.Free product extras
5.Events invites
6.Discount coupons
7.Special price offers for limited periods
8.Trading opportunities
9.Consumer involvement in product design (lays chips)

1.Lucky draws
In this type of sales promotion the company usually asks the customers to send the empty packets or coupons of the product. The company then announces special prizes for the lucky ones out of draw. This scheme in the past has significant impact on the sales increase. This is one of the most costly methods of sales promotion but can have instant impact, provided the whole campaign has been handled well.

2.Free samples
This kind of technique is employed for either a new company and its new product or an existing company with a new product. At times the product’s packaging is changed. This also needs to be communicated to the customer. In this case small number of free samples is also given to the customers. Usually this method is used for two purposes. First is that customers should be able to identify the product. Second, the customer should use it without cost to know the utility he can derive from the use of that product. A company that persuades costumers through its products quality but due to lack of customer’s attention towards the specific product usually tries it to take advantage from this kind of promotion.

3.Loyalty rewarding
Under this method a company rewards customers for his regular purchase of the product or service offered. This technique not only helps to retain customers, but also making this realization to customer that company values his decision to purchase its products.


4.Free product extras
When the competition amongst companies on certain products gets intense, they often struggle hard to get the attention of their customers. When the products of different companies usually provide the same utility, then customers start comparing their prices and quantities. Usually a company charging more money for smaller quantities has to readjust its quantities or give some extra quantity in same price.

5.Events invites
At times the companies want to see the direct reactions of the customers to their products. In this search, companies often try to organize events that involve competitions while consuming their products. Like a detergent maker might hold a competition amongst house wives for washing clothes or other fun relating activities like a paint competition among kids. It is not necessary that the company’s events directly relate to its product. The company however tries its best to establish a connection, so it can promote the use of its products.

6.Discount coupons
Discount coupons are also one of the most widely used methods by a company to promote its products. In this method the company sends discount coupons hidden in its boxes. The customer who gets the discount coupons is sure to get the benefit. So he will usually make the purchases at discounted rates. Companies at times give time limits attached to the coupon. By including this intended pun, the companies cleverly make the customers go for purchases within a specified time. This helps company boost its sales for a specified period of time.

7.Special price offers for limited periods
In this case the company’s target is to increase sales only for a specific period. The company offers products at discounted rates for limited time.

8.Trading opportunities
Some of the companies also offer a trade in for older products. There are hundred of examples on it. For example television makers have long used this technique. By this way the consumers are given some reimbursement on the new purchase made.

9.Consumer involvement in product design
There is another sales promotion method which is very unique and advance. This type of method has been in vogue for quite some time now. One of the major benefits of this method is that when the consumer is involved in making of a product, he then not only appreciates the product but also uses it. He considers it as a product of his own creativity.

Source:
UK Wholesalers