How To Build An Internet Marketing List Of Over 100,000
by: Willie Crawford
In anticipation of an upcoming launch of Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula 2, I told my list that I was going to offer a solo mailing to one of my lists of over 120,000. This immediately started a flood of emails asking how they could order early... something that I anticipated. The second flood of emails asked how I had managed to build such a huge database. Rather than answering that second question in individual emails, I decided to answer it with this article. First of all, I should point out that I've been in business online since late-1996, and have been slowly building my lists almost since the very beginning. So, I didn't accomplish this overnight. Still, I know that you can build a huge list rather quickly if you use the right techniques. Here are some of my favorite list-building techniques: 1) Put a sign-up form on every page of your websites, except for direct sales pages where it would interrupt the flow too much. Next to that sign-up form, give a powerful reason why they need to join your list, and ask them to take action. Next to the sign-up form, assure them that you will protect them from spam. Also post a few testimonials as proof of the value your newsletter provides. 2) Write information-packed articles and distribute them everywhere appropriate. I've written over 850 information-packed article on the topic of Internet marketing. Those articles demonstrate my expertise, share useful information, and bring visitors to my websites ready to join my lists. I believe in sharing a lot of cutting edge information in my articles. Many people only drop hints, but I'm not afraid of sharing too much. The reason is that knowledge grows exponentially, and since I'm constantly learning new things, I can never teach you everything that I know. Since I don't fear running out of useful information that you will value, my articles are genuinely helpful, and that generates lots of loyal subscribers. 3) Write information-packed, inexpensive ebooks and then allow affiliates to sell them for most of the profit. I create a steady stream of ebooks - largely expansions of my articles - and then I set up affiliate programs where affiliates earn as much as 100% commission. Money is a great motivator for getting others to send you lots of new "paying" customers and subscribers My favorite tool for setting up these "ebook traffic magnets" is Sid Hale's Rapid Action Profits script. This script allows you to set up a system where an affiliate earns INSTANT commissions which are paid directly to their Paypal accounts. High commissions are a great motivator for people to send you new potential subscribers. When those commissions are paid instantly to affiliates who often have cash-flow problems, it's like pouring gasoline on a fire. You'll find Sid's Rapid Action Profits System at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/RapidActionProfits/ 4) Run pay-per-click campaigns... when the math makes sense. This is something that I don't see a lot of my competitors doing. However, when I know that my conversions rates or backend profits are sufficient, I often run pay-per-click ads... sometimes even for free items. With pay-per-clicks, you need to closely monitor your results. You also need a good idea of the lifetime value of a new customer or subscriber. To me, it makes perfect sense to lose a dollar to gain a new highly qualified subscriber. If you're paying attention, you'll notice numerous Internet marketers who run promotions where they pay a dollar or more for referrals who simply opt-in to a list. I essentially do the same thing when using pay-per-clicks. With pay-per-clicks you reach new subscribers who may not already be on a dozen other marketers' lists. 5) Use free giveaways where appropriate. I contribute to, and help to promote free giveaways, when they are well managed and the quality is high. I've built large lists doing this and have a friend who got over 5000 subscribers from one of his first giveaways. I've written about how I do that many times before. The key with free giveaways is that you need to offer a gift of high enough value that your new subscribers instantly bond with you. You still have to develop the relationship, but your gift should start it on a positive note. Many people who participate in free giveaways offer "absolute garbage." Once their new subscriber downloads their free "gift" and look through it, they HAVE to feel insulted. My rule is to always offer a gift that's good enough to sell. I was humored when, in one recent giveaway, I contributed resale rights to one of my new ebooks, along with a rough website. Before the giveaway was even over, at least one fast-acting individual had my ebook set up using the Rapid Action Profits script mentioned in number three, above. 6) Give away free viral ebooks. Write ebooks on topics that you know a lot of people are interested in. In those ebooks recommend specific solutions to problems, and include affiliate links to buy those products. Make some of those links rebrandable. If the ebooks are filled with lots of useful information, AND they have links that can be rebranded, then you have an ebook that should go viral. People are incentivized to spread it! In these ebooks, offer some type of a free bonus... perhaps an audio recording, or a template, or free piece of software, but require readers to visit your website to get this bonus. On your site, require them to register, or join your mailing list, to get the freebie. If the original ebook delivered tremendous value, then the new potential subscriber will have no objection to joining your list. If the free ebook offered marginal value, then they have to assume that your other "gift" will be more of the same, and so they won't subscribe. For creating viral ebooks, I recommend using the "Viral Document Toolkit" a next-generation PDF brander created by David Schwartz. The Viral Document Toolkit allows you to easily create rebrandable documents where you can specify links, and text that can be rebranded. You can even specify rather large BLOCKS of text as rebrandable... and even rebrand hyperlinked images! You create a rebrandable ebook, and then pass along the ebook (with most parts locked, but some parts changeable) along with the rebrander tool, to your subscribers, website visitors, customers, etc. Since they can profit from changing the ebook, they happily spread it, and in the process build you a huge list. You'll find the Viral Document Toolkit at: http://ViralDocumentToolkit.com David finished testing the Viral Document Toolkit software March 1st, 2008, so you'll be using a tool that 99.9% of your competitors will have never seen. VDT is actually so revolutionary that NO ONE other than a few of David's closest friends have even been allowed to touch it, until now. If you make your new viral ebooks good enough, you may be pleasantly surprised to see your competitors promoting them ;-) 6) Take massive action and do it immediately. One of my secrets to building my database so large is that when I'm shown a new tool or technique, and it passes "the common sense test," then I put it to immediate use... provided it doesn't distract me from something more urgent that I'm already working on. Many of my contemporaries, and subscribers, complained about having no list as long as five years ago. Many of them still use that same excuse for why they've not made any real business growth progress. I'm not sure why this is since all of the techniques that I, and that many of my mentors use, are so simple... and even obvious! The key is not to over-analyze things. That traps you into "paralysis by analysis." Instead, get into the habit of doing while others are still "thinking about it." My friend, Dr. Joe Vitale, taught me that "money loves speed!" I've just shared with you some of the techniques that I've used to build a massive subscriber database. Of course, I can't cover every technique that I use in this short article. I will close by sharing that part of the key to growing your list is actually retaining the subscribers after you get them. To do that, you merely need to deliver tremendous content telling them how to solve their most pressing problems. Simple - right?
About The Author
Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker, author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Willie enjoys sharing his 11 1/2 years of online marketing experience with his ezine subscribers. Join them at: http://WillieCrawford.com/blog/
Affiliate Clickbank Program – What Are The Best Affiliate Products To Promote?
Affiliate Clickbank Program – What Are The Best Affiliate Products To Promote?
by: Anderson Josiah
The Internet is growing constantly with no signs of stopping or slowing down any time soon so if you’ve made the decision to get into Affiliate Marketing you have made a good decision. Affiliate marketing is going to be around for along time. As a new affiliate marketer you want to sell in a program that is sold through a billing environment that is totally secure. One constantly asked question in Affiliate marketing is “Where to find the absolute best affiliate products to sell?” When selecting a product there are some things you should look for, the price of the product as well as the percentage on commissions, this is very important because everybody is looking for a great return on there time and investment. Some sites make it harder to earn a good profit because the price they charge for there product is very cheap for e.g. sites like Amazon sell there product so cheap that the percentage pay out on that site would be very low, Compare $16.95 hard-cover books to a 49.99 e-book – if you got 50% commission on both which would you choose to promote? A good program to start is an Affiliate Clickbank Program by selling products from Click bank. They have thousands of products to promote with very high percentage payouts and most importantly they pay you your commission on time, they pay you directly not like a lot of other affiliate programs that pay late or sometimes not at all. They have products to sell in nearly any niche market plus commissions range can form 50-75% with products with a high price tag. As an affiliate marketer you might want to try different affiliate systems to see which one works best for you. One of the good things with Affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to limit yourself to promoting only one site, you can promote as much as you want and increase your profit potential. Other good sites to consider are Commission Junction, LinkShare, PayDotCome, Success University and PIPS all these are just as good as Click bank. Combining different affiliate programs allow you to make money from different sites, at first you might just use one affiliate site but as your skills improve you might decide to promote more than one or just specialize in a particular niche. One site that combines six affiliates is the Plug in Profits site, this site consists of - Adminder, SFI Marketing, Success University, Leisure Audio Books Empowerism, and Host4Profit. When making a choice may it be an affiliate Clickbank program or any other, you need to be very careful because the first thing you want to do is build an opt-in list and start building a relationship with your subscribers, you want to offer your subscribers the best possible products and not stain your reputation by offering bad affiliate products. Most of these big affiliate sites have training material and free software to help you promote you site so make sure and look for it; this can help you make tons of money. To learn more about Affiliate Clickbank Program check out the attached link. The Author of this article is Anderson Josiah and have all rights reserved.
About The Author
Anderson Josiah Andy The Home Biz Wiz recommends for more information subscribe to my FREE Internet Home Business tips newsletter and get hundreds of money making tips and tricks along with FREE Software delivered to your inbox. A $147 value, yours FREE:http://www.makingmoneyfromhomeontheinternet.com/
by: Anderson Josiah
The Internet is growing constantly with no signs of stopping or slowing down any time soon so if you’ve made the decision to get into Affiliate Marketing you have made a good decision. Affiliate marketing is going to be around for along time. As a new affiliate marketer you want to sell in a program that is sold through a billing environment that is totally secure. One constantly asked question in Affiliate marketing is “Where to find the absolute best affiliate products to sell?” When selecting a product there are some things you should look for, the price of the product as well as the percentage on commissions, this is very important because everybody is looking for a great return on there time and investment. Some sites make it harder to earn a good profit because the price they charge for there product is very cheap for e.g. sites like Amazon sell there product so cheap that the percentage pay out on that site would be very low, Compare $16.95 hard-cover books to a 49.99 e-book – if you got 50% commission on both which would you choose to promote? A good program to start is an Affiliate Clickbank Program by selling products from Click bank. They have thousands of products to promote with very high percentage payouts and most importantly they pay you your commission on time, they pay you directly not like a lot of other affiliate programs that pay late or sometimes not at all. They have products to sell in nearly any niche market plus commissions range can form 50-75% with products with a high price tag. As an affiliate marketer you might want to try different affiliate systems to see which one works best for you. One of the good things with Affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to limit yourself to promoting only one site, you can promote as much as you want and increase your profit potential. Other good sites to consider are Commission Junction, LinkShare, PayDotCome, Success University and PIPS all these are just as good as Click bank. Combining different affiliate programs allow you to make money from different sites, at first you might just use one affiliate site but as your skills improve you might decide to promote more than one or just specialize in a particular niche. One site that combines six affiliates is the Plug in Profits site, this site consists of - Adminder, SFI Marketing, Success University, Leisure Audio Books Empowerism, and Host4Profit. When making a choice may it be an affiliate Clickbank program or any other, you need to be very careful because the first thing you want to do is build an opt-in list and start building a relationship with your subscribers, you want to offer your subscribers the best possible products and not stain your reputation by offering bad affiliate products. Most of these big affiliate sites have training material and free software to help you promote you site so make sure and look for it; this can help you make tons of money. To learn more about Affiliate Clickbank Program check out the attached link. The Author of this article is Anderson Josiah and have all rights reserved.
About The Author
Anderson Josiah Andy The Home Biz Wiz recommends for more information subscribe to my FREE Internet Home Business tips newsletter and get hundreds of money making tips and tricks along with FREE Software delivered to your inbox. A $147 value, yours FREE:http://www.makingmoneyfromhomeontheinternet.com/
How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn
How to Successfully Navigate Your Business through an Economic Downturn by: Terry H Hill
An economic downturn is a phase of the business cycle in which the economy as a whole is in decline.This phase basically marks the end of the period of growth in the business cycle. Economic downturns are characterized by decreased levels of consumer purchases (especially of durable goods) and, subsequently, reduced levels of production by businesses. While economic downturns are admittedly difficult, and are formidable obstacles to small businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. A well-managed company can realize the opportunity to gain market share by taking customers away from their competitors. Resourceful entrepreneurs capture the available opportunities, from an economic downturn, by developing alternate methods of doing business that were never implemented during a prior growth period. The challenge of successfully navigating your business through an economic downturn lies in the realignment of your business with current economic realities. Specifically, you, as the business owner, need to renew a focus on your core clients/customers, reduce your operating expenses, conserve cash, and manage more proactively, rather than reactively, is paramount. Here are best practices that will help you to successfully navigate your business through an economic downturn: Goals: The primary goal of any business owner is to survive the current economic downturn and to develop a leaner, more cost-effective and more efficient operation. The secondary goal is to grow the business even during this current economic downturn. Objectives: • Conserve cash. • Protect assets. • Reduce costs. • Improve efficiencies. • Grow customer base. Required Action: • Do not panic… History shows that economic downturns do not last forever. Remain calm and act in a rational manner as you refocus your attention on resizing your company to the current economic conditions. • Focus on what YOU can control… Don’t let the media's rhetoric concerning recessions and economic slowdown deter you from achieving business success. It´s a trap! Why? Because the condition of the economy is beyond your control. Surviving economic downturns requires a focus on what you can control, i.e. your relevant business activities. • Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Beware of the pitfall of trying to do too much on your own. It is a difficult task indeed to survive and to grow your business solely with your own efforts. Solicit ideas and seek the help of other people (your employees, suppliers, lenders, customers, and advisors). Communicate honestly and consistently. Effective two-way communication is the key. • Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate! The value of a strong negotiation skill set cannot be overstated. Negotiating better deals and contracts is an absolute must for realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. The key to success is not only knowing how to develop a win-win approach in negotiations with all parties, but also keeping in mind the fact that you want a favorable outcome for yourself too. Recommended Best Practice Activities: The Nuts and Bolts… The following list of recommended best practice activities is critical for your business' survival and for its growth during an economic downturn. The actual financial health of your particular business, at the outset of the economic downturn, will dictate the priority and urgency of the implementation of the following best practice activities. 1. Diligently monitor your cash flow: Forecast your cash flow monthly to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line with accounts receivable. Include cash flow statements into your monthly financial reporting. Project cash requirements three-to- six months in advance. The key is to know how to monitor, protect, control, and put cash to work. 2. Carefully convert your inventories: Convert excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory items into cash. Consider returning excess and slow-moving items back to the suppliers. Close-out or inventory reduction sales work well to resize your inventory. Also, consider narrowing your product offerings. Well-timed order placement helps to reduce excess inventory levels and occasional material shortages. The key is to reduce the amount of your inventory without losing sales. 3. Timely collection of your accounts receivable: This asset should be converted to cash as quickly as possible. Offer prompt payment discounts to encourage timely payments. Make changes in the terms of sale for slow paying customers (i.e. changing net 30 day terms to COD). Invoicing is an important part of your cash flow management. The first rule of invoicing is to do it as soon as possible after products are shipped and/or after services are delivered. Place an emphasis on reducing billing errors. Most customers delay payments because an invoice had errors, and therefore, will not pay until they receive a corrected copy. Email or fax your invoices to save on mailing time. Post the payments that you have received and make deposits more frequently. The key is to develop an efficient collection system that generates timely payments and one that gives you advance warning of problems. 4. Re-focus your attention on your existing clients/customers: Make customer satisfaction your priority. A regular review of your customers' buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers' buying habits. Consider signing long-term contracts with your core clients/customers which will add to your security. Offer a discount for upfront cash payments. The key is to do what it takes to keep your current customers loyal. 5. Re-negotiate with your suppliers, lenders, and landlord: i) Suppliers: Always keep your negotiations on the level of need, saying that your company has reviewed its cost structure and has determined that it needs to lower supplier costs. . Tell the supplier that you value the relationship you have developed, but that you need to receive a cost reduction immediately. Ask your supplier for a lower material price, a longer payment cycle, and the elimination of finance charges. Also, see if you can buy material from them on a consignment basis. In return for their price concessions, be willing to agree to a long-term contract. Explore the idea of bartering as a form of payment. ii) Lenders: Everything in business finance is negotiable and your relationship with a bank is no exception. The first step to successful renegotiations is to convince your lenders that you can ultimately pay off the renegotiated loan. You must point out to your lenders why it would be in their best interest to agree to a new arrangement. Showing them your business plan and your action plan that includes your cost-savings initiatives, along with "the how" and "the when" of the implementation of your plan is the best way to achieve this goal. Explain to them that you will need their cooperation to insure that you can survive, as well as, grow your business during the economic downturn. Negotiated items include: the rate of interest, the required security to cover the loan, and the beginning date for repayment. A beginning date for repayment could be immediate, within several months or as long as a year. The key is to realize that your lender will work with you, but that frequent and continual communications with them is critical. iii) Landlord: Meet with your landlord. Explain your need to have them extend the term of your lease at a reduced cost. Make sure you have a clause in the lease agreement that entitles you to have the right to sublet any or all of the leased space. 6. Re-evaluate your staffing requirements: This is a very critical area. Salaries/wages are a major expense of doing business. Therefore, any reduction in the hours worked through work schedule changes, short-term layoffs or permanent layoffs has an immediate cost saving benefit. Most companies ramped up hiring new employees in the good times, only to find that they are currently overstaffed due to slow sales during the economic downturn. In terms of down-sizing your staff, be very careful not to reduce your staff to a level that forces you to skimp on customer service and quality. Consider the use of part-timers or the current trend of outsourcing certain functions to independent contractors. 7. Shop for better insurances rates: Get quotations from other insurance agents for comparable coverage to determine whether or not your present insurance carrier is competitive. Also, consider revising your coverage to reduce premium costs. The key is to have the right balance-to be adequately insured, but not under or over insured. 8. Re-evaluate your advertising: Contrary to the other cost-cutting initiatives, evaluate the possibility of increasing your advertising expenditures. This tactic realizes the advantage of the reduced "noise" and congestion (fewer advertisers) in the marketplace. The downturn period a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and create additional demand for your product/service offerings. 9. Seek the help of outside advisors: The use of an advisory board comprised of your CPA, attorney, and business consultant offers you objectivity and provides you with professional advice and guidance. Their collective experience in working with similar situations in past economic downturns is invaluable. 10. Review your other expenses: Target an across-the-board cost-cutting initiative of 10-15%. Attempt to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Tightening your belt in order to weather the downturn makes practical, financial sense. Proactively managing your business through an economic downturn is an enormous challenge and is critical for your survival. However, through well-planned initiatives, an economic downturn can create tremendous opportunity for your company to gain greater market share. In order to take advantage of this growth opportunity, you must act quickly to implement the above best business practices to continue realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill You may reprint this article free of charge in your newsletter, magazine, or on your website, provided that the article is unedited, and that the copyright, author's bio, and contact information below appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to the author's web site, http://www.legacyai.com Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc, a business consulting and advisory services firm. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. To find out how he can help you take your business to the next level, visit his site at http://www.legacyai.com To download a copy of this article, click on this link: http://www.legacyai.com/Article_Downturn.html.
About The Author
An author, speaker, and consultant, Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc., a business consulting and advisory services firm based in Sarasota, Florida. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. Terry is the author of the business desk-reference book, How to Jump Start Your Business. He hosts the Business Insights from Legacy Blog at http://blog.legacyai.com and writes a bi-monthly eNewsletter, "Business Insights from Legacy eZine." By signing up for Business Insights from Legacy eZine at http://tinyurl.com/2t4fxs you can keep abreast of the latest tips, tactics, and best business practices. You will, also, receive the free eBook, Jump Start Your Knowledge of Business. Contact Terry by email at http://www.legacyai.com or telephone him at 941-556-1299.
An economic downturn is a phase of the business cycle in which the economy as a whole is in decline.This phase basically marks the end of the period of growth in the business cycle. Economic downturns are characterized by decreased levels of consumer purchases (especially of durable goods) and, subsequently, reduced levels of production by businesses. While economic downturns are admittedly difficult, and are formidable obstacles to small businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. A well-managed company can realize the opportunity to gain market share by taking customers away from their competitors. Resourceful entrepreneurs capture the available opportunities, from an economic downturn, by developing alternate methods of doing business that were never implemented during a prior growth period. The challenge of successfully navigating your business through an economic downturn lies in the realignment of your business with current economic realities. Specifically, you, as the business owner, need to renew a focus on your core clients/customers, reduce your operating expenses, conserve cash, and manage more proactively, rather than reactively, is paramount. Here are best practices that will help you to successfully navigate your business through an economic downturn: Goals: The primary goal of any business owner is to survive the current economic downturn and to develop a leaner, more cost-effective and more efficient operation. The secondary goal is to grow the business even during this current economic downturn. Objectives: • Conserve cash. • Protect assets. • Reduce costs. • Improve efficiencies. • Grow customer base. Required Action: • Do not panic… History shows that economic downturns do not last forever. Remain calm and act in a rational manner as you refocus your attention on resizing your company to the current economic conditions. • Focus on what YOU can control… Don’t let the media's rhetoric concerning recessions and economic slowdown deter you from achieving business success. It´s a trap! Why? Because the condition of the economy is beyond your control. Surviving economic downturns requires a focus on what you can control, i.e. your relevant business activities. • Communicate, communicate, and communicate! Beware of the pitfall of trying to do too much on your own. It is a difficult task indeed to survive and to grow your business solely with your own efforts. Solicit ideas and seek the help of other people (your employees, suppliers, lenders, customers, and advisors). Communicate honestly and consistently. Effective two-way communication is the key. • Negotiate, negotiate, and negotiate! The value of a strong negotiation skill set cannot be overstated. Negotiating better deals and contracts is an absolute must for realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. The key to success is not only knowing how to develop a win-win approach in negotiations with all parties, but also keeping in mind the fact that you want a favorable outcome for yourself too. Recommended Best Practice Activities: The Nuts and Bolts… The following list of recommended best practice activities is critical for your business' survival and for its growth during an economic downturn. The actual financial health of your particular business, at the outset of the economic downturn, will dictate the priority and urgency of the implementation of the following best practice activities. 1. Diligently monitor your cash flow: Forecast your cash flow monthly to ensure that expenses and planned expenditures are in line with accounts receivable. Include cash flow statements into your monthly financial reporting. Project cash requirements three-to- six months in advance. The key is to know how to monitor, protect, control, and put cash to work. 2. Carefully convert your inventories: Convert excess, obsolete, and slow-moving inventory items into cash. Consider returning excess and slow-moving items back to the suppliers. Close-out or inventory reduction sales work well to resize your inventory. Also, consider narrowing your product offerings. Well-timed order placement helps to reduce excess inventory levels and occasional material shortages. The key is to reduce the amount of your inventory without losing sales. 3. Timely collection of your accounts receivable: This asset should be converted to cash as quickly as possible. Offer prompt payment discounts to encourage timely payments. Make changes in the terms of sale for slow paying customers (i.e. changing net 30 day terms to COD). Invoicing is an important part of your cash flow management. The first rule of invoicing is to do it as soon as possible after products are shipped and/or after services are delivered. Place an emphasis on reducing billing errors. Most customers delay payments because an invoice had errors, and therefore, will not pay until they receive a corrected copy. Email or fax your invoices to save on mailing time. Post the payments that you have received and make deposits more frequently. The key is to develop an efficient collection system that generates timely payments and one that gives you advance warning of problems. 4. Re-focus your attention on your existing clients/customers: Make customer satisfaction your priority. A regular review of your customers' buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers' buying habits. Consider signing long-term contracts with your core clients/customers which will add to your security. Offer a discount for upfront cash payments. The key is to do what it takes to keep your current customers loyal. 5. Re-negotiate with your suppliers, lenders, and landlord: i) Suppliers: Always keep your negotiations on the level of need, saying that your company has reviewed its cost structure and has determined that it needs to lower supplier costs. . Tell the supplier that you value the relationship you have developed, but that you need to receive a cost reduction immediately. Ask your supplier for a lower material price, a longer payment cycle, and the elimination of finance charges. Also, see if you can buy material from them on a consignment basis. In return for their price concessions, be willing to agree to a long-term contract. Explore the idea of bartering as a form of payment. ii) Lenders: Everything in business finance is negotiable and your relationship with a bank is no exception. The first step to successful renegotiations is to convince your lenders that you can ultimately pay off the renegotiated loan. You must point out to your lenders why it would be in their best interest to agree to a new arrangement. Showing them your business plan and your action plan that includes your cost-savings initiatives, along with "the how" and "the when" of the implementation of your plan is the best way to achieve this goal. Explain to them that you will need their cooperation to insure that you can survive, as well as, grow your business during the economic downturn. Negotiated items include: the rate of interest, the required security to cover the loan, and the beginning date for repayment. A beginning date for repayment could be immediate, within several months or as long as a year. The key is to realize that your lender will work with you, but that frequent and continual communications with them is critical. iii) Landlord: Meet with your landlord. Explain your need to have them extend the term of your lease at a reduced cost. Make sure you have a clause in the lease agreement that entitles you to have the right to sublet any or all of the leased space. 6. Re-evaluate your staffing requirements: This is a very critical area. Salaries/wages are a major expense of doing business. Therefore, any reduction in the hours worked through work schedule changes, short-term layoffs or permanent layoffs has an immediate cost saving benefit. Most companies ramped up hiring new employees in the good times, only to find that they are currently overstaffed due to slow sales during the economic downturn. In terms of down-sizing your staff, be very careful not to reduce your staff to a level that forces you to skimp on customer service and quality. Consider the use of part-timers or the current trend of outsourcing certain functions to independent contractors. 7. Shop for better insurances rates: Get quotations from other insurance agents for comparable coverage to determine whether or not your present insurance carrier is competitive. Also, consider revising your coverage to reduce premium costs. The key is to have the right balance-to be adequately insured, but not under or over insured. 8. Re-evaluate your advertising: Contrary to the other cost-cutting initiatives, evaluate the possibility of increasing your advertising expenditures. This tactic realizes the advantage of the reduced "noise" and congestion (fewer advertisers) in the marketplace. The downturn period a great opportunity to increase brand awareness and create additional demand for your product/service offerings. 9. Seek the help of outside advisors: The use of an advisory board comprised of your CPA, attorney, and business consultant offers you objectivity and provides you with professional advice and guidance. Their collective experience in working with similar situations in past economic downturns is invaluable. 10. Review your other expenses: Target an across-the-board cost-cutting initiative of 10-15%. Attempt to eliminate unnecessary expenses. Tightening your belt in order to weather the downturn makes practical, financial sense. Proactively managing your business through an economic downturn is an enormous challenge and is critical for your survival. However, through well-planned initiatives, an economic downturn can create tremendous opportunity for your company to gain greater market share. In order to take advantage of this growth opportunity, you must act quickly to implement the above best business practices to continue realigning and resizing your company to the current economic conditions. Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill You may reprint this article free of charge in your newsletter, magazine, or on your website, provided that the article is unedited, and that the copyright, author's bio, and contact information below appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to the author's web site, http://www.legacyai.com Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc, a business consulting and advisory services firm. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. To find out how he can help you take your business to the next level, visit his site at http://www.legacyai.com To download a copy of this article, click on this link: http://www.legacyai.com/Article_Downturn.html.
About The Author
An author, speaker, and consultant, Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc., a business consulting and advisory services firm based in Sarasota, Florida. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. Terry is the author of the business desk-reference book, How to Jump Start Your Business. He hosts the Business Insights from Legacy Blog at http://blog.legacyai.com and writes a bi-monthly eNewsletter, "Business Insights from Legacy eZine." By signing up for Business Insights from Legacy eZine at http://tinyurl.com/2t4fxs you can keep abreast of the latest tips, tactics, and best business practices. You will, also, receive the free eBook, Jump Start Your Knowledge of Business. Contact Terry by email at http://www.legacyai.com or telephone him at 941-556-1299.
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