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Tips for Your Export Marketing

May 23, 2012

There’s good reason to believe what sells in America can sell elsewhere. But assuming you can market it in the same manner in a foreign country produces disappointing sales for many exporters.

Even if you’re marketing your product in an English-speaking country, buying patterns change by borders. Don’t give up on the use of your product or service abroad, but be prepared that it might not take off as quickly it did stateside. As you prepare to enter foreign markets, consider these pointers for your export marketing plan.

1. Don’t neglect the market research. Just like rolling out a product into any new market, the market research indicates a couple important factors:

· if your product or service is likely to succeed in the market

· what selling points and purchasing habits resonate with the market (more…)

Organization

May 23, 2012

How do I build an organization? What does that organization look like?

The first step to defining an organization is to build yourself a model. You need to have an idea of what you want your organization to look like. Define what departments you think you need. Meaning you need to have a good understanding of what hat are needed in your organization.

Then decide which hats you are going to wear and which hats you will have your team wear. In the corporate world that’s known as delegation. The temptation is to think you can do everything yourself and this assumption can get you into trouble. It’s critical to understand the hats you’re going to wear and what hats your team will wear. Delegation is a key leadership skill and building the right team with the right skill sets and then delegating the responsibility appropriately is, like I said, critical to success. (more…)

Small Business Week: The Passion and Tools to Make Your Business Great

May 21, 2012 1 Comment

This year’s Small Business Week, May 20-26, is filled with helpful workshops, inspirational success stories and glimpses into the technology that will power small companies into the future. With this exciting week on the horizon, I encourage you to dedicate some time to strategizing on how you can take your business to the next level.

Part of great business success comes from having the passion, planning and drive to achieve it; the other part comes from incorporating the right tools. Below are three key technologies, along with resources providing information on how to leverage them to take your small business from good to great.

· Cloud. Cloud computing has completely transformed the ways in which we work and play. Cloud technologies like Microsoft Office 365 save businesses money, streamline their technology needs and operations, boost collaboration and provide considerable return on investment. When employees and business owners are freed from the tasks of IT maintenance and management, they can put their focus and investments back into their core business. I encourage you to explore this free cloud computing guide, developed in partnership with American Express OPEN, to help you navigate the cloud computing landscape. (more…)

Procurement Corner: Capability Statements… ”Setting Yourself Apart”

May 16, 2012

I have been writing about building a one-page Capability Statement for your business to optimize your marketing strategy. Personally, I consider it a “best practice” for branding your business and creating solid lasting impressions. As mentioned previously, there’s nothing “sacred” about my format or content. Both are merely based on personal preferences from my experience with government/prime contractor procurement. Keep them simple and easy to read. Besides conveying the limited amount of information on a business card, it needs to clearly set you apart from your competition.

I suggested that using a logo is good, but it’s wise to keep it small to conserve valuable space. Underneath the logo, I added “the usual” general contact information followed by a concise (3-4 sentences) “Capabilities Statement”. This is where you begin branding your business. Always highlight your business type, describe what exactly it is that you “bring to the table”, value-added and, years of experience. How you state it though is critical. You want it to trigger the reader’s interest to keep him/her reading! (more…)

Desperate Measures from The Legal Edge

May 14, 2012

(As seen in the SmartCEO Magazine, April 2012)

Business is hard, and companies are reaching for results. In the process, some businesses take dangerous shortcuts and risk dire consequences.

Government gold rush: As business has dropped off in the private sector, more and more companies are lured by the prospect of easy money at the government trough. One of the prime targets is work set aside for minority and disadvantaged businesses. The problem is that plenty of companies that don’t qualify want to get into the act.

All too often, businesses that don’t qualify want to set up new companies with a person – who meets the standards – as a figurehead. These businesses don’t really want this person to run the new company. So they ignore the rules or attempt to disguise the real situation. (more…)