Easy Holiday Gifts for The Entrepreneur on a Budget

The season is finally here. Time to set up your sales, giveaways, and stock up on goods to sell. On top of that, it is always a good idea to take care of your clients and those who take care of your business year round. We gathered a list of gifts that could bring a smile to their face without breaking the bank.

 

For the bookkeeper that keeps your budget in check and probably works very hard for you, this nice coffee mug can be a reminder of how much it means to you that they take care of your business.

For the tea-loving virtual assistant that keeps your life in balance. These 5 Pack Silicone Tea Strainers can bring zen into her life. Best part yet, if you are a Prime member, you get free shipping! 

For the superstar salesperson in your business life. A funny and cool stress relief toy squishy can be the solution for those high-stress days. It is your way of saying “Thank you for all you do” and having a sense of humor.

For the nature-loving assistant, a little succulent can brighten up their desk or home. What a better way to bring some green into their life and saying thank you for the hard work?

For the graphic designer that gives you brand life. This basic, but very usefull LCD Writing Pad can be the solution for creativity blocks or quick notes as they go through their creative process.

For the savvy social media manager that works on getting your brand to stand out. This 10 in 1 Mobile Phone Lens can be the perfect addition to their social media life on the go.

 

Lastly, we have another idea for you. Reach out to your local small businesses and see what they have to offer during the season. Not only will they probably have a unique gift for that important person in your business, but you will be helping them grow.

 

During the holidays is always good to show how much your customers mean to you, but more importantly is to show how much you appreciate your employees and contractors. After all, without them, your business would not run as smoothly as it does.

Posted in Small Business Improvement Tagged with: admin, Amazon, Bookkeeping, camera, coffee, graphic designer, holiday, holidays, ideas, photography, prime member, retail, small business, small businesses, small online business owners, social media, stress relief, succulent, tea

Price, Prices and Pricing Myths

Setting the right price for your products or services can be challenging, particularly given the many outdated ideas and misconceptions surrounding pricing structure. The problem with conventional wisdom is that it’s not always wise to follow. Let’s consider four commonly held ideas about pricing and why they may be standing in the way of increased profit for business.

Price Drives Sales More Than Anything Else (Quantity/Price)

Price is definitely a key component in a customer’s having decision but managers overestimate its importance. A computer error caused prices for online retailer products to be displayed at wholesale rather than retail prices for a weekend. The company expected a huge surge in sales, but increase was only marginal, revealing that the company’s customers were more motivated by other factors, such as customer service and the quality of the products themselves, rather than price.

Managers remember the 10-15% of customers that balked at buying due to price instead of noting that 85-90% of customers did not have a problem with the price.

Price Reign Supreme

Finding the perfect price is not the Holy Grail. Small businesses would do better to treat price as function of the value they provide to customers. The greater the value, the higher the price that can be set. Value represents a customer’s return on spending. The benefits receives for each dollar paid. Customers don’t mind paying more if we get more in return, whether the benefits are real or perceived.

Pricing Structure Always Depends On Your Competition

Small businesses set their prices based on what their competitors are charging, but this approach may end up hurting the company. Instead, try to understand how your customers view your product and your brand. Pricing structure shouldn’t depend on your competitors prices unless you and your competitors offer the same bundle of benefits.

Spread Out Price Increases

People gripe about air travel, but many small businesses might benefit by taking a page out of the airline industry’s dynamic pricing playbook. Don’t treat prices as set in stone. Sell 2014 products and services at 2014 prices. Consumers are less likely to grumble about regular, incremental price adjustments than larger increases spread further apart specially, if they aren’t linked to any visible improvements. You’re also more likely to fall out of sync with market realities if you initiate significant price hikes at multi-year intervals.

If you haven’t raised prices since 2006, you might not be losing money, but you’re still losing margin. Your customers want you to stay in business, and you can’t do that if the times change but your prices don’t.

What are you offering that the competition isn’t? (Yours VS Theirs)

Are your locations or hours more convenient?

Do you offer training or other support?

Is same-day delivery available?

Is your sales staff more knowledgeable?

Marketing isn’t about paying people to buy from you by giving away margins. It’s about creating valuable perceived differences between you and your competition, in the eyes of buyers and charging buyers for those differences. Anything out of the ordinary gives existing and potential customers a reason to  drop by or click.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Small Business Improvement Tagged with: greater value, losing margin, losing money, online retailer, price, pricing, pricing playbook, pricing structure, products or services, profit for business, retail prices, small businesses

16 Free Online Tools for Small Businesses

16 Free Online Tools for Small Businesses

Whether you’re starting a small business or you’re just thrifty, you can likely benefit from some free online productivity tools.

There are apps for accounting, collaboration, customer management, development, scheduling, general office tasks and more. All of these tools have free plans, and several are entirely free.

Appointlet

If you make appointments with customers, you may need Appointlet, an online appointment-scheduling app for Google Calendar. Add it to your website and let your clients do the booking. Confirm, decline, cancel, or reschedule any appointment right from the comfort of your Google Calendar. Easily gather all the information from your clients that you need to fulfill the appointment.

Boomerang for Gmail

Lets you write an email now and schedule it to be sent automatically at the perfect time. Write the message as you normally would, then click the Send Later button. Tell Boomerang when to send your message by using the calendar chooser or the text box that understands language like “next Monday.

Dropbox

Is a cloud-storage service that lets you access and sync files across all your devices. While Dropbox only offers 2 GB of initial free storage (Google Drive and SkyDrive offer more), it expands free storage up to 16 GB free for referrals. Dropbox offers native support for Linux and Blackberry, as well as Windows, Mac OS, iOS, and Android. To supercharge your Dropbox, utilize the many third-party apps, which offer enhanced file syncing with Dropbox’s new Datastore API.  

Evernote

Is an app to remember everything, from lifelong memories and vital information to daily reminders and to-do lists. Everything you store in your Evernote account is automatically synced across all of your devices, making it easy to capture, browse, search, and edit your notes everywhere you have Evernote.

Gmail

Is a Google’s email application, which includes 15 GB of free storage (across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google+ photos). Gmail also lets you communicate via SMS, voice, or video chat. See who’s online and connect instantly. See your contacts’ profile photos, recent updates, and shared docs next to each email.

Google+ Hangouts

Turn any gathering into a live video call with up to ten friends or simply call a contact to start a voice call from your computer. Enhance your call with Cacoo for online drawing, SlideShare for sharing presentations, and Conceptboard for whiteboard collaboration. 

HelloSign

Is an application for getting documents signed. It includes tools to facilitate document signing, tracking and management. Notifications keep you appraised of the signer’s activity. Signed documents are securely stored and always accessible. Sign an unlimited number of documents for free. HelloSign has mobile apps and a Gmail extension.

HootSuite

Is a social media dashboard to manage and measure you social networks. Manage your messages, get custom analytics on your social campaigns, and communicate internally without leaving the HootSuite dashboard. Access a single interface to monitor Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ Pages, WordPress and more. Or add more social networks with the HootSuite App Directory.

KeePass

Is a free password manager to help manage your passwords in a secure way. Put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. Remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using secure encryption algorithms (AES and Twofish).

Mural.ly

Is a visual-collaboration whiteboard app. Drag and drop images, links, and documents to organize your ideas. This simple visual tool can keep your team in sync through brainstorming, planning, or designing a project. Features include private murals, auto-save and backups, comments, activity feed, and chat.

NutshellMail

Takes copies of your latest updates in your social networking accounts and places them in a snapshot email. The NutshellMail update is then sent to your primary email address. NutshellMail supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, MySpace, YouTube, Foursquare, and Citysearch. Receive updates as often as you wish.

Rapportive

Shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox. Immediately see what people look like, where they’re based, and what they do. Establish rapport by mentioning shared interests. Record thoughts and leave notes for later.

Streak

Is a customer relationship application for Gmail. Track your deals from your inbox. Group emails from the same customers together, utilizing spreadsheet view right inside Gmail. Use the mobile app to keep track of your customers, make calls, and send emails. Share selective parts of your inbox. Schedule emails to send later.

Trello

Is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. Trello uses boards, lists, and cards to create projects and develop your workflow.

Wave

Offers online accounting and finance applications for small businesses. It includes invoicing, accounting, payroll, payments, receipts, and personal finance software. Accounting, invoicing, receipts, and personal finance applications are free.

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