Top tips for the small business entrepreneur

Here, we give some top tips for young entrepreneurs starting out a business on how to find success.

My grandpa used to say “you don’t pay a plumber for banging on the pipes, you pay a plumber for knowing exactly where to bang.” The same mantra applies to businesses. It’s not enough to know what to do, you need to back it up with skills of how to do it. For this reason, I would rather you amass as much knowledge as you can before you put it all into use.

Trust me I learned this the hard way. When I was setting up my car leasing company I knew I needed a motor trade insurance but lacked the proper knowledge of where to get it. Long story short I ended up being duped of a couple hundred dollars. I wouldn’t wish the same fate for you. You can never know it all in business. Enjoy the tips.

Be passionate about what you do

Loving what you do makes a world of difference when you are running a business big or small. Clients will more often than not go with the guy who loves what he does because they come out as more authentic. And dare I say clients are suckers for authentic!

Remember when you come across as being anything less than authentic you are giving off the perception that your product or rather a service is dubious. In turn, your client will have their defences up high inevitably making it harder for you to woo them.

In order to know you have to ask

This is no brainer really unless you are bold enough to ask you’ll never get it. This is especially true for the sales folks. They will dance around the idea of the actual sell but never come around to asking for it.

One of the surest ways to ramp up the volume of your sales is by actually asking for it. Don’t get me wrong, don’t drop the hammer at the wrong moment. You have to slowly build up value but in the end, you need to ask for it. The action is everything when it comes sales. So get off your high horse and sell something darn it!

Stop upselling when you’ve already won

After a customer says yes, take the win! When you drone on and on about other additional products you may annoy the client and mess up the sale you had in the bag. Lock that one first before having another go at it.

Many sales folks are so wound up listening to their own babble they even miss out on the customer saying, “Ok, I’ll take it.” Sounds crazy but true nonetheless.

So here’s the takeaway…listen keenly, keep an eye out for body language and voice and when they lean in your favour strike when the rod is still hot!

It’s a wrap, folks!

These three tips are just but a drop in the bucket in the wealth of business success but effective when done right. Like I said before it’s not enough to know you have to do as well!

Owen Gough, SmallBusiness UK

Owen Gough

Owen was a reporter for Bonhill Group plc writing across the Smallbusiness.co.uk and Growthbusiness.co.uk titles before moving on to be a Digital Technology reporter for the Express.co.uk.

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