Building partnerships with other businesses
Jun 23 2009
Posted by Ken as Networking, other marketing
I recently read an article that went on and on about how seeking out partnerships with other small businesses will bring in sale after sale. That is one outcome, but it’s isn’t really that easy.
Watch out for those willing to partner with you that are just hoping you will throw them some low hanging fruit and by the time you realize they aren’t sending any business your way, they have moved on to the next sucker.
Our advice is come up with a partnership marketing plan, or an outside independent sales agreement or whatever you want to call it. The important thing is to put together all the information, including the agreement between the companies as well as all marketing materials you plan to give out to your partners to help them drive business your way. Don’t spend too much time on each partnership until the relationship has in some way proven itself worth your time.
You may have to be the first one to send business their way, but as long as you keep your effort down you can just move on to other partnerships if it doesn’t work out.
I know this site is dedicated to being… well, cheap. To be more accurate this site is here to help you find solutions to common problems that are cheaper than what you may be doing now.
Here is the problem, If you have an at least somewhat successful business, that is you are actually bringing in some money you have to sometimes decide to spend some money.
I’ll give you a scenerio, I just wrote an article on an opensource CRM but in order to use it you have to install the software on your own server. Now, I’m sure you are pretty busy running your business, so you need to decide if you can spare the hours it will take in reality to get this software installed. Even if it’s your IT guy doing it you have to weigh the cost of doing the install yourself vs. paying for a monthly service.
This example can be adapted to many situations. Let’s talk about web design. Sure, if you have some skills you can buy a template or use a free wordpress template and maybe get a pretty good looking site up, but is it good enough? and was it worth the time you put into it?
Keep these questions in mind everytime you are looking for a way to save money or you might end up spending more anyways…. And know when to cut your losses and call it quits. If you have been trying to get that CRM software installed for 2 weeks, you need to go to a hosted solution or call someone who can do it for you. (and yes, PAY them)
If you are trying to run a business, make sales, or just manage your contacts, leads, and customers then you need a CRM.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager. Wikipedia simply defines it as ‘the process implemented by a company to handle it’s contact with it’s customers. and that is a fair definition, although it can do much more than that.
You can keep track of sales calls, forecast sales, collaborate on sales, track advertising campaign success, you can even manage email communications with customers or potential customers right through the CRM itself!
I’m going to throw a spoiler in here… If you want to skip reading this and go to the one I recommend it is SugarCRM.
The purpose of this post isn’t really to define what a CRM, I am here to tell you how you can use one without going broke. But of course there is a catch. Let’s look at some of the options out there: (keep in mind, I am talking about realistic options for small businesses)
Salesforce.com – everyone knows about this one. This is a CRM as a service… that is it is hosted by salesforce.com and it’s not cheap. This is a great service though, I have had many people recommend it to me and have recommended it on occasion myself. This option has been touted as the best option for organizing a remote sales staff.
Insidesales – Insidesales.com offers a web based CRM solution that integrates some interesting features such as a power dialer, voice messaging, faxing, recording etc… very interesting, but I have not had a chance to try their free trial yet… but I will when I get a chance.
suradocrm.com – I have heard some good things about SuradoCRM, which is why they are on the list. I have not had an opportunity to try this one yet either. give it a try then post a comment here!
Microsoft – Microsoft makes so many different CRM systems and under so many names I’m not going to bother to list them… If your are interested in finding out about them head over to microsoft.com and check them out. Microsoft CRM systems not hosted solutions, that is they will run or a server you own.
SugarCRM - This is the one. SugarCRM has all the features of the competition. The also have a hosted version of the software for a monthly fee, but the reason this is the one that earns our recommendation is they offer an open source version that they call the ‘community’ version. The only drawback to this software is that it has to be installed on your server… but If you can do that or have a decent IT guy on staff that won’t be a problem. The only other issue I’ve ever had with the system is it can be hard to learn… but, If you have ever used quickbooks you will be used to it. So give it a try.
So again, to emphasize: the winner is SugarCRM.com (but keep in mind the free version is not a “hosted, web based solution” it will require you to install the software on a server)
If use a better one (that is cheap) post a comment and let me, and everyone else know….
Need a sign for your business? Get it cheap!
Jun 05 2009
Posted by Ken as office space, other marketing
I found a cool site, and it can save you time and money. I wanted to make a big ‘ol plywood sign to promote one of our businesses. I wasn’t in a big hurry so I called a few of the sign shops in the area. I was not at all happy with their prices or options available.
Then a friend recommended this awesome site where you could design a sign then order it right on the site! Now, being a designer I always create my own custom designs; and at this site you can upload your own design as well but you don’t have to… This site actually has good template designs you can use to create the sighn you need in minutes.
Big plywood signs is only one product they offer, they offer small signs, wall signs, banners, and even bumper stickers…. If you need a sign, check them out, they just might save you some money!
Shop Custom Signs, Magnets, Banners & More Online at BuildASign.com.
just a thought, If your an Realtor…. This may be perfect for you!
You are starting a business and your going to need a website. Maybe you are already running a business but you don’t have a website yet. If it’s the latter then you need to set up a site now, Go. Do it. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Seriously, Is there anyone out there that doesn’t realize that your business HAS TO BE ONLINE?
Ok, When I think about starting a company, and I’m looking for a business name I start by looking for a domain name. This is true even if it’s not an “online” business.
Step 1.
Here is a link to godaddy to get you started looking for that perfect domain name. I have all my domains at Godaddy now. They have GREAT management utilities and they are cheap!
Step 2.
Once you have a great domain, it’s time to find some hosting. This can be a confusing thing with all the options that are out there.
I reconmend using hostgator, host one site for under $5 a month, host unlimited sites for under $10 a month and they use the best web panel ‘cPanel’. Better yet they inclued ‘Fantastico’ which will help you get wordpress set up with one easy click. (I reconmend using wordpress for almost every site)
click on the Big Mean Gator before he eats the whole letter H will ya?! Get your hosting set up and install wordpress!
Step 3.
Head over to this site and find yourself a nice wordpress theme, start writing content, make some videos and get that site looking great!
I know step 3 seems a bit short, but it really is that simple. I will dive into more details on the site building and design soon…..
You need office space. You don’t want to buy a building, lease a whole floor of a high rise, and you dont want an furnished “office suite” . What you need is a few hundred square feet of office space. How do you find it?
Right now there are really only two options. First option is to drive around writing down numbers and calling each of them to get details, that’s not a good use of your time. Second option, call a Realtor. Sure Realtors have their purpose but they aren’t the best choice for finding the kind of space you need.
I know there is kind of a third option, and there certainly should be… Online Office Space searches like there is for houses and appartments. The problem is the couple sites that are out there that do this already… In our opinion, really suck.
There needs to be a new choice, a realtor.com meets craigslist for leasing commercial property. We know the need exists and we are going to be stepping in to help. Enter one of our latest projects: LeasClick.com. It’s not even up yet, and already some employees of the competition has been bashing it on another blog… To me that means we have the right idea. I will post again with the launch date as soon as it’s set!
So you have decided to start a business.
Step one: come up with a business name.
Step two: get business cards.
Maybe that’s over simplifying things a little bit but the fact is you are going to need some business cards, and there is no reason to drive down the street to the local print shop and drop $500 on business cards.
I am not going to get into the design aspect right now, this is purely about the printing…
As a designer and entrepreneur I have had lot of business cards printed… I have used quite a few different online print shops and even the occasional local shop and for business cards there is a clear winner:
Overnight Prints. Fast turnaround, amazing prices, helpful customer service. You can get 250 double sided, glossy, full color business cards printed on an offset press (as opposed to a digital press) for under $30. That is amazing.
Overnight Prints product is so good I now use them for ALL of my own standard sized cards, brochures and greeting cards. (by the way, a custom greeting card will get noticed by the client, but that’s another topic)
Here is a coupon for 100 free business cards to get you started!
In my opinion Overnight Prints is the best,but their product sizes are limited to keep prices as low as possible. So what if you want something different… A custom sized card maybe…
Uprinting. Uprinting lets you print custom sizes at great prices. They aren’t as cheep, and they aren’t as fast but they can handle almost any size printing you need, they even have these cool Canvas Prints. 10% OFF All UPrinting Products!
I recently designed a card for my design business, I wanted to have a 2″ square card. I looked around and the prices were crazy everywhere I found except for Uprinting. I got the cards and the quality is perfect. I am very happy with my new cards. Next time I will be looking for custom die cutting… I’ll keep you all posted.
While you can design a simple card on both sites if you want to stand out you will need to have an amazing design, I promise I will dive into that subject soon.
Your complete business phone system, Online!
Mar 29 2009
Posted by Ken as Productivity Tools, communications
There are many services available to meet your business telecommunications needs, but today I am going to discuss the one that I use every day: RingCentral.com
You can go online and find a service to send and receive faxes, a VoIP for phone service, a unified messaging service, a Virtual PBX service… Or you can get multiple land lines from the phone company, buy phones, buy a fax machine, buy a PBX system, and of course pay someone to get it all working…. And that’s why we are bringing this up, Money. It’s all about getting the most bang for your buck… believe me, if you are using traditional land lines, and fax machines you are pouring money right down the phone line. If your using some frankenstien like combination of land lines and online services you are probably wasting money on overlapping services that don’t really meet your needs.
If your looking for a reliable and cost effective alternative you can use RingCentral. We use RingCentral for multiple companies, and doing so is easy. We have a phone number for each business and each number can go to it’s own extension, it can be set to forward that call to one or more people so you can always have someone answer the phone.
We are even able to have a support line that lets the caller choose from a list of options and routes that call to the appropriate extension.
My favorite feature is the ability to use VoIP lines to expand the system to connect Satilite offices and home offices. And having a button on your website that says “call me” a visitor clicks it, enters their phone number and the system automatically calls the visitor then calls you… that’s pretty cool.
We started with RingCentral with one phone number and the basic plan…. Now we have 6 numbers and utilize soft phones and are planning on stepping up to the RingCentral Office Plan soon. This will act as a complete, fully functional VoIP and PBX system. all taken care of by RingCentral so I don’t have to worry about it. Beautiful.
Head over to RingCentral and get a Free Trial plus 10% Off !
Whiteboards are cool, and the bigger the better…
Well, how about a whiteboard that’s four by eight feet for about $10?
There is a paneling product, usually called tileboard used for showers, bathrooms etc… it is white, smooth and it is sold in 4′x8′ sheets for about $10.
I have taken the sheet and a tube of liquid nails and glued the sheet to the wall. Huge whiteboard in 10 minutes. I have also coverd the walls of an entire room with the material…. makes an awesome conference room.
Or get crafty and build a frame around it and it looks like the ones that cost hundreds!
I searched for a picture I could use to show you the product and found this one
White Tileboard $10 at home depo
I found that picture here where it was being used in a photography setup…. Cool!
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