Top 7 Strategies to Manage Your Suppliers

The chances are, whatever business you are in, you use suppliers to help you in specialist areas. But do you know how much you spend with them – and are you sure you are getting the most from your money and the skills that they have? Managing your suppliers more effectively can make a big difference to the bottom line and it’s worth spending time on this. Make sure you have the following strategies in place.

1.    Price

If you stop and add it up, you might be surprised how much you spend with various suppliers. When was the last time you reviewed the prices based on changes of your needs? Work on the big ticket items and forget about the rest. Look at how you can get better value for money that also works for them as a supplier – for example discounts for commitments in volumes or early payment terms. For your part, always make sure you pay on time and do not hold payments back unless you really have to.

2.    Contract Terms

Remember though, it’s not just about the base price. Look at the other terms of your deals and think about if they still work for you. For example, how long have you agreed to work with this supplier? Is it an “exclusive” agreement or not? What notice terms do you need to provide? The more you can put in writing the better – even if it feels very formal, the more you agree up front the better.

3.    Details

Suppliers often fall away because of some details that haven’t been thought through well enough and have a negative impact on your business.

4.    Quality

Look for suppliers that have some proven track record of quality (accreditation, awards or testimonials help) – but ultimately the only person who can judge if they meet your quality standards or not is you. So, be clear on what your expectations are and stick to them clearly. This can include product quality, their service to you, the account management or things like innovation or added value.

5.    Monitoring

Put some measures in place that you can review and see how they are doing. Tell the supplier what is important to you and they can provide you with reports and information. Don’t bog yourself down with daily or weekly data with loads of detail that you will stop looking at. It’s better to have a few key measures to look at every month – then you can spend time thinking about what to do if there are issues.

6.    Strategy

Make sure your supplier understands the bigger picture – what you are trying to achieve and where they fit into that. They are more likely to be proactive about meeting your needs if they understand the end game.

7.    Relationship

Most suppliers don’t work out long term because of the relationship rather than the cost. Be prepared to put in some time to making it work – the more you spend with them and the more customer impact they have, the more time it’s worth for you. For important suppliers this means things like meeting regularly and visiting their premises, updating them about your business changes and where you are going longer term, helping them with their business through references or referrals. Managing suppliers tightly does not mean that you can’t be nice for them to work for. People will always go the extra mile, both in pricing and in delivery of service, for those that they enjoy doing business with.

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Top 7 Reasons to Get Referrals

When was the last time you asked your customers if there was anyone else they know who might be interested in your services? For a lot of businesses the answer will be “never” or “I asked once a couple of years ago” – most shy away from even asking the question. And yet, if you think about it, there are several reasons why this works.

1.    If you are doing a good job or offer great products, people who are already your customers will be happy to recommend you to other people.

2.    In this age of excess information, people now rely on other people to refer them to good sources of products and services – if you are referred to someone the chance of a sale is much higher than if you approach them “cold”.

3.    Your customers are the most likely people to know who will be a good fit for your business – so referrals are already screened for you as the right fit

4.    Asking for referrals also reminds your customers that they do like what you do, so reinforces the positives in your business.

5.    Referrals can allow you to offer a share of profits or an incentive to people who refer you. As long as you can still make good profits, why do you care if someone who brings you customers that wouldn’t otherwise come to your business gets something in return. 50% of something is always better than 100% of nothing.

6.    Referrals are easy to do. Don’t make the process too hard - just ask people to let you have a contact name that they think would benefit from your service or better still ask them to drop someone they know an email to say that you will be contacting them. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get a new wave of customers or prospects through your door.

7.    Finally, if you ask for referrals and your customers are not happy to recommend you? Well, frankly you need to know that anyway and the sooner the better, or you'll have another bigger problem looming. Most people are happy to give referrals if they are more than satisfied with your business. And if they aren’t, then that is your most important priority.

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Top 7 Ways to Reward Customer Loyalty

We all like to think we get something extra for being a loyal customer. We like the feeling that we are that little bit special. And we hate to think that new customers get the same or, even worse, something more than we do. Everyone knows the statistics about how much easier and cheaper it is to retain a customer or client than to get a new one. But all too often these are the very people we forget about or take for granted, especially when your business is growing and you are focused on bringing on board all those new customers. So try these ways to reward customer loyalty.

1.    Discounts - Offer existing customers a discount for additional services they take or give a volume discount for larger purchases. Be prepared to go further for your loyal customers.

2.    Exclusivity - Offer an exclusive product, service or event that is only available for current customers. Make it unique, original or different – and clearly show that this is for long term customers only.

3.    Donations - Be bold in how you support your very top customers – how about a charity donation to a cause of their choice.

4.    Gifts - Give all your customers a gift at Christmas – again make it personal and different (no one is impressed with a small box of chocolates!), maybe a related and relevant book that you have picked.

5.    Declare it upfront - Talk to new customers about what will happen if they stay with you for the long term – don’t be embarrassed that you give more to long term customers, be open about it as a positive business approach.

6.    Do it early - Never wait until your customer leaves or threatens to leave and then offer them the world to stay. Not only will you hack them off massively, but even if you keep them in the short term, you will not have a loyal customer in the long term.

7.    Trials - Use loyal customers to trial new products and services – not only will you get better feedback, but your customers will feel they are ahead too.

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Top 7 Tricks to Help you Upsell to your Customers

So what is upselling? Don’t be put off by the sales jargon and think it’s harder than it really is. Upselling is simply about persuading your customers to take more from you. They want to buy one of your products? What about taking 2 or 3? They want to get your services for a year? What about committing to 18 months? Or give them a package or bundle of services rather than just the one thing that they normally take.

How do you do all this without being too pushy and turning your customers off? Try these tricks:

1.    Mindset

Change your mindset – this is not about pushing stuff at people, it’s about giving good offers to your loyal customers who are already buying from you and probably want more anyway. Stop feeling guilty about trying to sell more!

2.    Value

Always make the upsell offer significantly better value than buying individual things – it has to be worthwhile it you are going to persuade people.

3.    Variety

Offer one upsell deal at a time – if your customer turns that down, don’t just move to offer 2 and 3!

4.    Follow up
Offer after the sale – for example of you have an online business, let your customers trade up to an upsell offer within 30 days to allow time to get comfortable with your service

5.    Don’t give up

Upsell at every buying point and over time your customers will start to get used to the idea of taking more. Remember, you only need a small number to take up an upsell offer to make a big difference to your profit line

6.    Pick your moment

There are always times when it is not right to upsell. Have you ever been on the end of a bad customer service call when the rep suddenly tried to sell you something? Don’t follow this slavishly – if your customer is not happy, or in a rush they won’t buy more!

7.    Get Feedback

Use upselling as a way of getting some feedback – if they don’t take the offer, ask why not? Is the offer not strong enough, is it a cashflow issue or is there simply a limit to how many of your products a person needs?

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Top 7 Ways to Enjoy Cost Control

There are many businesses out there who have the sales they need – they just haven’t got the profits to go with them. Most business owners didn’t go into business to spend time controlling costs. They want to focus on sales, customers, product development or whatever else they went into business for – typically more creative and entrepreneurial things. So is there a way to harness that creativity and fun to use on your costs?

1.   Attitude

First of all start with the right attitude. Don’t think about this as a management process you have to go through, but see it as an experiment in how creative and off-beat you can be in your approach. If you approach it as a dull, tedious chore then that’s what it will be.

2.   Use your team

Secondly, always ask your team for their input. No one likes having things imposed on them so that way you have some buy-in before you start the process. Anyway, the chances are you won’t be close enough to the detail to know everything that could be done.

3.   Be different

Use this as an opportunity to think bigger, better or just plain differently.

4.   Ask questions

Constantly ask questions to challenge thinking. Questions like: If we had to do this at half the cost, what could be done, or how could we do it? If we only had half the staff what impact would that have on our revenue and profit? Why are our costs going up more than sales or more than inflation? Would this be cheaper if someone else did it?

5.   Pretend to be someone else

Everyone has a favourite business leader. Use them to think differently about your costs. What would Richard Branson do if he was setting this up from scratch? If we were in a different industry or sector, how would they approach it?

6.   Incentivise - Be prepared to incentivise ideas. For example, offer half of any savings made to your team's chosen charity. Or use the funds to do a team night out, weekend away or even a 5 star holiday for the person with the best ideas! Be generous with what you offer up though – you don’t need to give away all the money saved, but it needs to be significant enough to get people to think differently.

7.   Make it cultural

Celebrate cost savings in the same way you would sales – make it feel like fun for people to do this, rather than a burden. Maybe cost control isn’t usually seen as the fun, creative element of business. But treating it that way will probably get you more ideas than you can handle, build commitment and enthusiasm and boost your profits.

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Top 7 Ways to Keep at the Top of your Customers' Minds

A lot of sales and repeat business is about being in the right place at the time, so your business needs to pop up frequently to hit that chance. It's better to over-communicate than under-communicate, as long as it’s with some decent content. This is not about spamming customers with rubbish or bland, generic emails or adverts, and the focus should be on value not on short term sales. If you don’t know where to start, try these approaches:

1.    Don’t Sell - Remember your main objective is to keep in their mind - not to sell something all the time. Be seen as a business contact not a salesperson. Be prepared to call someone to see how things are or send people an email with some interesting news in.

2.    Be Personal - Make the contact relevant and personal - everyone hates standard letters and cards, and it doesn't take long to put a personal message on each one.

3.    Update them - Offer the latest thinking in your industry or ideas to help solve your customers’ problems – for example hints, tips or how-to guides.

4.    Be the Expert - Become known for your expertise – if you’ve won an award, been recognised in some way as a business, or been seen on the TV or radio make sure you let people know.

5.    Use Everyone - Use everyone in your business to do this not just sales people – that way it’s more likely to be about relationships and long term communication, not just short term sales

6.    Survey - Kill 2 birds with one stone and send a customer survey out – it reminds people about your business and gives you the chance to get some good testimonials or some learnings for your business.

7.    Use Variety - Use a variety of methods – email, direct mail, social media, events and special offers, rather than doing the same thing all the time – customers respond to different things at different times and will get bored if they only hear from you in one way.

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Top 7 Pieces Of Advice For Choosing A Forex Trading Course

In this article we are going to discuss the advice you will need once you decide to sign-up to a Forex trading course. Whilst some people still chose to educate themselves, practising in the real markets with tuition is the quickest way to succeed.

As the world’s leading market, Forex is traded globally with participants from every corner of the globe. This doesn’t mean that you are required to have financial education to be a part of it. Also, it is irrelevant whether you are working in the financial industry or not if you want to get involved.

1.    The beginning

To start trading all you need is good and credible education about the markets. Without the tuition, your involvement may be short as you start to see your investment fade away. Investors from all over the world are ready to utilise their skills in order to drain out the funds in your trading account. Unfortunately, in order for a person to generate profits from the market, another person has to lose it.

2.    The long way around

Most individuals know that if you learn Forex trading correctly the results can be great but there are still a small minority who insist on teaching themselves without any kind of supervision. With this in mind, the first hurdle towards achieving profitability is by joining a Forex trading course. To become a driver, your education does not just come from a driving manual. There is no chance you would know how to fix a car engine without being told how to. These examples also apply to us in this scenario. By going on a Forex trading course, you will make it so much easier for yourself.

3.    Anyone can do it

Learning Forex trading will be a key factor in turning you from a novice into an ‘advanced level’ trader. Do however, be wary of those that try and sell the course a bit too much. Don’t be led into a false sense of security to thinking you will all of a sudden become rich beyond your wildest dreams. If you want to trade like a true pro you will need to learn Forex trading like a true pro. A few trading principles will not do the job. Other training institutions would not exist if it was this easy.

4.    Find the right course for you

If you search hard enough you’ll see that courses can sometimes be very different from each other. Majority are made for newcomers but some are in fact for people with 12 months worth (or more) of trading logs. Some may be excellent whilst some may lack in quality. To help you chose, you will need to communicate with the training providers to get an idea what they are all about.

5.    Learning process

Your path to success should be easy with a good Forex trading course. The education delivery should certainly be managed by credible tutors. You should be able to follow the syllabus with no trouble whilst learning at a reasonable rate. If you find an online or a live course with a great syllabus, you have found the course that is right for you. Compared to learning from books it is the most effective method. You need to remember that the market moves in mysterious ways and your understanding of that can make a difference between profit and loss. These mysteries cannot be learnt by reading a book that someone claims is the best but rather you need to experience these market movements in a real-time market via specifically designed supervision.

6.    Don't break the rules

Forex trading comes with a set of rules that you simply have to follow. Around 90% of new traders fail because they start making up their own rules. Even though their rules may work for a time-being, in the end the same result occurs every time - huge losses.

7.    Spread your risk

Money management is one of the most important factors to consider. Use the money management techniques you have been taught or shape them towards your requirements and your appetite for risk. Never risk all of your money on a single trade but spread the risk over multiple trades and strategies over a certain time period.

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Top 7 Reasons Why Small is Best

Think your business is too small to compete with the bigger players? Worried that you can’t give the same price, service or product that they do? Do you stop going for business if you will be up against the bigger players? Or do you avoid certain products and services because you are worried about being a smaller business? Think again – being a smaller business can be a big advantage. Here are 7 reasons why:

1.    You are a Specialist - You can specialise in a target market, product or service in a way that a huge company isn’t able to – be clear about who and what you are trying to be and concentrate on that. Get known for offering something specific to that group, instead of trying to be all things to all men, like the big players do.

2.    You are Lean and Mean - You do not have the costs and bureaucracy in your business that a larger company will have. Chances are you can be quicker to respond to things, faster to adapt and probably more cost effective – so make sure your customers know that. People have got used to slow service with large companies – wow them with your speed of response and ability to make a decision that is personal to them, not based on company policy.

3.    You are Passionate about every customer - Customers know that if they are one of thousands or millions of customers they will become a number not a real customer, who is treated in the same way based on what the computer or policy says. Make sure your service is personal at every opportunity and never lose the chance to show a customer how much you care about their business.

4.    You are Quicker to react - If you see a customer need you can move on it quickly and make it happen. No internal approval committees or lengthy product development processes. You see a customer need or a market trend and you can respond.

5.    You are a potential supplier to the big players - Always remember that many of the big players do not do everything themselves – they need smaller businesses to provide services and products to them that they can sell on to their customers. Instead of always viewing the big competitors as a threat, think about how you could offer them something that is in both your interests.

6.    You are Hungry for more - Often this is the most important thing. If you are a smaller business and growing, sales, profit and customers really matter to you. You are hungry for success – in a way that big companies can’t instill in every one of their employees.

7.    You are a small business - Never forget that there are many buyers out there who do not want to deal with the big players. Those people want to support local businesses, deal with people with similar personal values, be different from the crowd or maybe just feel important. Whatever their reason, focus on these people and play to your strengths.

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