The Big Book of Small Business
The number 1 guide to growing, prospering and succeeding today
Published on 1. August 2011
368 pages
978-1-74269-351-4 (ISBN)
Description
Smart, realistic, and powerful advice to help any small business reach its full potential Packed with inspirational and practical advice, this guide will help every business owner build the business of their dreams. Andrew Griffiths welcomes the "age of the entrepreneur," the most exciting time for business owners, ever. In his down-to-earth, street smart style, he identifies new opportunities for smaller business operators to grow their business fast. He also shows how an entrepreneurial attitude can improve every aspect of a business, from customer relations to promotion to backroom accounts. With more people than ever before starting new businesses, competition is increasing at unprecedented rates. Everyone is looking for a silver bullet to give them a competitive edge--this book is it.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
NSW
Australia
File size
1,26 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-74269-351-4 (9781742693514)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Andrew Griffiths
The Big Book of Small Business
The Number 1 Guide to Growing, Prospering and Succeeding Today
Book
08/2011
Allen & Unwin
€60.91
No shipping information available
Content
- Intro
- Also by the author
- Part Title
- Title Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: The age of the entrepreneur
- What makes a successful entrepreneur?
- Much more than a 'greatest tips' book
- A word of warning
- How to get the most out of this book
- 1 What is the difference between success and failure?
- Some things can never be measured in dollars and cents
- How proud of your business are you?
- Size doesn't matter
- Do you have the commitment to build a successful business?
- What every business owner and entrepreneur needs
- Always think big (how big is up to you)
- Have a strong moral code-with no shades of grey
- Develop a reputation for being fair
- Be more than your business
- Make decisions-procrastination is a killer
- Successful people don't play the victim
- Back yourself completely
- Remember to celebrate your victories
- It's not that serious-have some fun
- 2 What do the truly spectacular entrepreneurs all have in common?
- Absolute clarity of purpose
- Total belief in themselves
- A knack for finding needs and niches
- Ability to focus on the most important things first
- A contribution culture
- An open mind
- Incredible networks, which they foster and participate in
- Invest in themselves on all levels
- Challenge themselves constantly
- Believe in technology
- Resilience
- A millionaire mindset
- 3 The boss is the business barometer
- Reschedule your day to suit you and the way you like to work
- Schedule time to do nothing but think
- Outsource or delegate the jobs you really don't like doing (and probably don't do well anyway)
- Gossiping, moaning and complaining-end it today!
- Identify the people who cause you problems and do something about them
- Get rid of unfinished business
- Make the hard decisions-stop procrastinating
- Encourage change and reward everyone who embraces it
- Learn to let go
- Compliment others, be positive to others, be supportive of others
- The grass is not always greener
- 4 Invest in your greatest asset
- Accept and believe that you are the number-one asset of the business
- Put a financial amount on your investment
- Investing in ourselves is as much about what we don't do as it is about what we do do
- Increasing your own knowledge
- Do you take your health and wellbeing for granted?
- Have a holiday-it's when you will get your best ideas
- Invest in yourself on a daily basis
- 5 If you lie down with dogs, expect to get up with fleas
- The Tao of the hot dog stand
- Do a relationship audit
- Some customers have fleas
- Listen to your gut instinct-about everything
- Always check references of potential suppliers
- 6 Learning from the anti-businesses of the world
- The 'I'm too busy to serve you' business
- The 'no, no, no' business
- The 'that's our policy' business
- The 'we hate our business so we hate you' business
- The 'schoolteacher' business
- The 'we'll get right back to you' business
- The 'we just don't care' business
- The 'smarty-pants' business
- The 'how can we make everything reallycomplicated?' business
- The 'we have no idea what we're doing' business
- 7 Question everything-often
- Be open to feedback
- Question your business partners-ask them to be honest
- Walk around your business and really look at everything
- Go to successful businesses and find out why they are successful
- Mystery shop your way to success
- Do you charge enough?
- If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't-the business owner's sixth sense
- Talk to your staff
- Don't be afraid to be a manager
- Write your own operations manual as a way to question what you do
- 8 Bad things happen to good businesses-be prepared now
- Take responsibility for your business
- Have all the information at your fingertips
- Understand your business
- Have the best advisers you can afford
- Without customers you don't have a business
- Build a large network
- Commit to constant and never-ending improvement
- Treat marketing as a priority
- Cash is what makes or breaks any business
- Get a life
- 9 Does your businesslook the part?
- Is your business name telling the right story?
- Do you have a logo and is it the right one?
- What is your tagline?
- Consistency and the power of branding
- Who controls your corporate image?
- There comes a time when you need to review your corporate image
- When it comes to visual images, invest in the best
- 10 Use every opportunity to build rock-solid relationships
- Who do you want to have a strong relationship with?
- Building relationships takes time and energy
- Loose lips sink ships-and sometimes businesses
- Never let a long-term relationship be destroyed over a petty issue
- When it comes to referring, be a giver, not just a taker
- Partnership pitfalls-how to avoid them
- Build a relationship with your suppliers
- Build a relationship with your landlord
- Build a relationship with your professional advisers
- Build a relationship with people in your industry
- 11 Smart marketing is simple marketing
- The marketing you do today is an investment for tomorrow
- Stand out from the crowd
- If your budget is small, put in some elbow grease
- Commit quality time to marketing
- Ask people to send you business and they will
- Always be prepared for an opportunity
- Giveaways will promote your business
- The power of the testimonial
- Let others help with marketing ideas
- Look to big business for big ideas
- Treat the internet as a marketing priority
- What are the things you have stopped doing in your business, and how much is this costing you?
- Can you generate more income with only a little extra effort?
- 12 Customer service commandments
- Treat each and every customer with absolute respect
- Make time to talk to your customers
- Always put yourself in your customers' shoes
- Take your staff to visit a business you admire
- Have regular brainstorming sessions
- Is it easy for people to visit your business?
- Are there ways to speed up your customer service?
- Beware of looking tired and worn out
- Ask a customer to come in and talk to your staff
- Make it easy for customers to pay you
- Eliminate all obstacles to making a purchase
- If necessary, go to them
- The sweetest sound is your own name
- Be one step ahead of your customers
- Make a visit to your business memorable
- Do something unexpected
- Remember to say thank you-and mean it
- Don't let customer service stop when you're busy
- Avoid the biggest mistake-not delivering on time
- Simplify your paperwork
- Always think about your customers
- Get it right the first time
- 13 The lost art of selling
- Learn from the common mistakes that most salespeople make
- Decide what type of salesperson you want to be
- Believe in your product-it shows if you don't
- Honesty, integrity and passion-the three pillars of successful selling
- Never judge a person by their clothes
- Become a listening guru
- What is your attitude to money?
- To succeed at sales you need goals
- Product knowledge-a salesperson's most powerful tool
- Know everything about your competitors
- Rehearse your sales presentation
- Look the part or go home
- Be prepared and have everything at your fingertips
- Always be ready to make a recommendation
- Tell me in 30 seconds or less why I should buy from you
- How do you monitor your sales?
- What is the customer's main concern in the sales process?
- Always ask for the sale
- Be detached from the outcome-customers smell desperation
- Do what others won't do
- Do a public speaking course
- What to do when you hit a hurdle
- Beware of sales burnout
- Often the most difficult customers become your biggest fans
- Have an extraordinary amount of fun
- 14 The changing face of advertising
- The constantly changing face of advertising
- Does advertising really work?
- Where does advertising go wrong?
- Put some seriously good thinking into your advertisement, because most people don't
- The five most important things you need to know about successful advertising
- How do you know if your advertising works?
- How much should you spend on advertising?
- If the words aren't right, the advertising won't work
- Every advertisement or commercial needs a call to action
- Don't scrimp on the graphic design of your advertisement
- Always look for editorial opportunities
- Make it easy for the customer to act on your message immediately
- Use great quality pictures to sell your business
- 15 Get things right online and profit follows
- Do I really need a website?
- Don't just 'throw a website together'-think about it
- Homemade websites are like homemade logos-plain wrong
- Register the right domain name (and make sure you are covered legally)
- The number-one reason that businesses fail on the internet
- It's not about how much information you have on your site but how easy it is to find it
- Digital footage is becoming much more relevant (but avoid gimmicks)
- A website is never finished-it will always be a work in progress
- Before launching, ask some customers to take your website for a test drive
- Social media is here to stay, so figure out how to use it
- If no one can find your website, there isn't much point having one
- 16 Set the pace for your competitors to follow
- Have a genuine desire to be the best at what you do
- Enter your business in awards whenever possible
- Get your name in print
- Be prepared to get up in front of a crowd-challenge yourself and become the expert
- Being green is good for business
- Be supportive of competitors, even if it is one-sided
- Spend time researching your industry online
- Learn from your mistakes
- Even better, learn from your competitors' mistakes
- Don't become obsessed with your competitors
- 17 Can you really have a business and a life?
- Why do we get out of balance in the first place?
- What are the long-term effects of being out of balance?
- Decide right here, right now, if you are ready to change
- Be clear about how you want your life to look and feel
- Understand the enemy-what specific things throw you out of whack?
- What bad habits have you developed?
- What do you need to do right now to change the way things are?
- Start every day on the right path
- Reward yourself for staying on track
- What are the things you have always wanted to do?
- Be prepared to invest in the process
- Visit your doctor, healer or naturopath
- When you start to lose control-stop, breathe and regain focus
- Do you remember when you used to laugh a lot?
- Master the art of saying no
- Don't be afraid to sack some customers
- The torture of perfection
- Do the work you love-give the rest to others
- Enlist outside help-why not use a personal trainer?
- Make movement a part of your life
- Guilt-free pampering
- Respect yourself enough to take the time to look your best
- Develop your own style of meditation
- Keep a diary of what you eat and when
- Alcohol, coffee, nicotine, sugar . . . what's your drug of choice?
- What exactly does eating well mean?
- Learn to enjoy food again
- Water water everywhere
- Eating out doesn't need to be unhealthy
- Encourage healthy eating in your workplace
- When it comes to food, always be prepared
- 18 How is your corporate karma account balance?
- Look for opportunities outside of the normal
- Stand up and be counted
- Share your knowledge and experience with others
- Encourage your staff to be good corporate citizens
- Some things can't be measured in dollars and cents
- Invest in the future of your industry
- Offer praise wherever possible to other members of the community
- Hatch a plan to make you the ultimate corporate citizen
- 19 Networking is not a dirty word
- Do your homework
- Don't judge a book by its cover
- Learn to ask open-ended questions
- Read today's newspaper
- Don't get there too early
- You are not going to the gallows, so remember to smile
- Don't just stick with people you know
- Drinking does not make you more networkable
- Take plenty of business cards and promotional material
- Keep a pen handy and write notes on the back of cards
- Wear something distinctive
- Hang out near the food
- Look for groups of people rather than individuals
- Enlist the aid of others to introduce you
- Offer a compliment (and be sincere)
- Focus on the person in front of you
- Go with a target in mind
- Use the other person's name in the conversation
- When asked about your business, make sure you are enthusiastic in your response
- Follow up quickly to get results
- 20 Instead of changing staff, try changing yourself
- Put the job description in writing
- Always check references
- Agreeing on a trial period protects both you and the new employee
- Train your staff (and yourself) properly
- Lead by example and your team will follow
- Communicate effectively with your staff
- Conduct performance reviews
- Be conscious of security issues-protect your business
- Dismiss staff who don't work out
- Don't send yourself broke by hiring too many staff
- 21 Working with family, friends and lovers
- Set the ground rules and make them clear
- Good pillow talk versus bad pillow talk
- Establish clear roles and responsibilities within the business
- Have time apart and outside interests
- Solve disagreements (ideally before they happen)
- Have a clear vision of where the business is heading and make sure everyone knows about it
- Accept that we all work, think and act differently-and that is okay
- Know your strengths, know your weaknesses and be big enough to admit to both
- Never stop having fun, playing, and, most importantly, celebrating your victories
- If you leave the business, leave the business
- 22 In case of a business emergency, READ THIS
- Take action immediately
- Let those close to you know the seriousness of the situation
- Get advice, and then get a second opinion
- Cut costs without destroying your business
- Have someone close by to confide in
- Think outside the box
- Your suppliers don't want to see you go broke
- Don't over-promise and under-deliver on repayments
- Make the tough decisions and make them fast
- Keep one eye on where you are and one eye on where you're going
- 23 How to survive if your business doesn't
- Figure out what went wrong and learn from it
- Accept that businesses go broke
- Talk about your feelings and get help if you need it
- Stay healthy
- Other people will value your skills
- Use your time wisely
- People really do understand
- Let go and get excited about your future
- List the great things you got out of your business
- This may be the best thing to ever happen to you
- A final word
