Useful Small Business Resources - Business Growth

Workshop 2: Strategic Alliances and the Lifetime Value of your Customer:

The Features

No room in your budget for Marketing and Advertising? Chances are that another firm has already invested the time, effort and advertising dollars acquiring clients that can be yours for the asking. This Business Growth System will teach you the five proven steps towards forming a successful Strategic Alliance. In this second Module: Learning the Lifetime Value of a Customer, we will teach you how to retain valued clients, increase the frequency of purchase per client and how to generate consumer loyalty.

The Benefits

Learning how to form successful strategic alliances will save your company huge investments in time and advertising costs, while at the same time increasing the number of your customers. Good customer relations practices will wow your existing client base and encourage them to increase the frequency of their purchases.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 3: Key Performance Indicators & Cash-flow Management/Client Payment Education:

The Features

Workshop 3 focuses on developing your Key Performance Indicators. K.P.I.'s are a set of measurements linked specifically to your business's critical success factors. Knowing your firm's critical success factors is vital to ensuring your business's current and future success.

Learn how to improve your business's cash flow and simultaneously develop an excellent credit system
Install a successful Client Payment Education system

The Benefits

K.P.I.'s provide the business owner with an invaluable means of measurement to benchmark whether or not the owner's business goals are being met. What you can measure, you can manage. You will learn the strategies of effective cash flow management which lead to the long term growth and survival of your business.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 4: Positioning and Guarantees:

The Features

Positioning is a concept that your business can use effectively to stand out from your competition. The type of business you have and the type of clients you attract can all be related to the way you position your business. In workshop 4, you will learn how to look for opportunities in areas not yet fully tapped into and exploit these opportunities to the fullest extent. How?

Narrow the focus of your target market
Develop a powerful guarantee

The Benefits

Successful positioning will attract your "ideal" customer. Attracting an ideal customer will lead, automatically, to an increase in your ability to create a sale.

Developing a powerful guarantee can be used to successfully market a product and increase the perception of quality among your clients and potential clients in the market.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 5: Database Management and Direct Mail Campaigns:

The Features

Effective database management is an essential component of a successful business. Databases save space and will save your team's time and energy. Databases are a necessity if your business wishes to use targeted and cost effective marketing strategies. In Workshop 5 you will learn the effective database management skills you need to run a more successful and productive business.

In the second component of this module, you will learn how to launch a successful Direct Mail Campaign. If performed correctly, direct mail campaigns are an effective way to market any business.

The Benefits

An effective database will allow your business to target specific client segments with new products and services to suit their needs. As research has shown, it is six times more cost effective to keep existing clients coming back than it is to get new customers.

A successful Direct Mail campaign is an excellent tool for marketing your business.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 6: Conversion and Sales Strategies:

The Features

Effective selling is much more than just getting customers through the door or speaking to them. The Conversion Rate is a substantial Key Performance Indicator for most businesses whether you're product or service oriented. By having effective sales strategies and tactics you dramatically increase your ability to convert customers into sales.

In Workshop 6, you will learn:

Pre- Sales Strategies
During Sales Strategies
Closing the Sale
Post Sale Selling

The Benefits

Being able to successfully convert customers into sales can and will have a huge impact on your business.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 7: Financial Analysis:

The Features

Far too many business owners only focus on profit. As Michael Gerber says "what you can measure, you can manage", and by measuring Net Profit, Cash Flow and Return on Investment, the business owner is able to make sure these financial drivers are having a positive impact on their business. Your aim as a business owner is to simultaneous increase each of these 3 financial drives.

Workshop 7 will show you how to increase your:

Net Profit
Cash Flow
Return on Investment

The Benefits

From this session, you will learn the strategies to increase your:

1.Net profit
2.Cash Flow
3.Return on Investment

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 8: Advertising and Promotion:

The Features

Hundreds upon hundreds of hours have been devoted to researching the most effective way to advertise. The Business Growth System has developed a 10 step advertising strategy designed to increase the number of people who respond to your advertising campaign. In Workshop 8, you will learn:

10 Step Advertising Strategy
How to determine your Target Market
Promotional Weapons

The Benefits

Workshop 8, will help you develop your very own sound and effective advertising pieces. Furthermore, you will also learn how to find your ideal client and tailor your advertising to properly "reach" this target market.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 9: Business Processes and Systems Analysis I:

The Features

In today's rapidly changing and evolving, Business Environment, your company must be proactive and adapt to meet your customers needs and retain their loyalty. To fulfill this difficult, yet essential, task it is vital to improve the systems and processes within your company's operations. This means your team can concentrate their energy on serving your customers and confidently know that their expectations will be met or even exceeded. Systems can provide you and your team with a competitive advantage over the competition. In Workshop 9, you will learn:

Systems (from Planning to Review to Implementation- 4 Stages)
Your Organization's Roles (defining your Organizational Structure)
Business Computer Systems Analysis (An Evaluation of your Organization's Computer Systems)
Implementation

The Benefits

By developing good internal systems and processes, you can gain a competitive advantage over your competition by being able to meet your customers' expectations.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 10: Business Processes & Systems Analysis II:

The Features

The aim of systemizing your business is to absolutely optimize everything you do. The goal in your business is to take each process and improve it, so you get the maximum result possible. You need to measure, test, and implement. In Workshop 10 you will evaluate the 6 key areas of your business:

1.Your Administration Systems
2.Your Operations Systems
3.Your Marketing Systems
4.Your Human Resource Systems
5.Your Finance System
6.Your Continuous Improvement System

The Benefits

Workshop 10 offers strategies to help improve the 6 Key areas of your business.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 11: Human Resource Management:

The Features

For all businesses no matter how big or small, hiring the right people is a necessity. As a small business owner, it is important that your managers and you, the owner, leverage your time and use it in an effective manner. In Workshop 11, you will learn how to hire "qualified staff" without spending huge amounts of time conducting multiple interviews. It is also exceedingly important to ensure the right people stay to build a solid team culture.

Section B will cover the proper way to conduct an informative and productive Team meeting. Regular Team Meetings are important for developing a culture that allows the team to feel like they are a part of the "big picture". Once the team knows what they are trying to achieve, they can actually work towards achieving it.

Section C will instruct you on how conduct a Performance Appraisal. Performance Appraisals are an essential form of measuring the team's achievements. The participants need to understand that, for appraisals to be effective, the team has to understand what is expected of them in the first place. It will be unproductive to start appraising team members on certain aspects of their performance if they did not understand what was expected of them in the first place. A good Performance Appraisal system has the ability to drive your business forward and assist your team members to reach their full potential.

The Benefits

Securing and keeping the right staff (qualified staff) is essential if your business is going to expand. Most small business owners feel trepidation at the prospect of hiring new team members. By following the Business Growth System HR processes, you will be secure in the knowledge that the person you hire is the right person for your team. Furthermore, your staff will be more dedicated towards the business and its continuing success.

Time Invested: 2 hours

Workshop 12: Information technology and E-business:

The Features

Whether you call it electronic commerce, e-business, Internet commerce, Web commerce or Digital commerce, it is about how your business is being transformed by electronic technologies and how you use these tools to help build business. In Workshop 12 we will cover:

Terminology
Jargon
Areas of concern for businesses when transforming into the technology age

The Benefits

In Workshop 12 you will learn how to take advantage of the many opportunities of the Internet i.e.

Internet Marketing
Setting up your own web-site

Time Invested: 2 hours