SME Business Solutions

The SME business solutions blog, providing the small and medium sized business owner with solutions to business problems. The business resource center. For entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs and business experts. Visit http://www.sme-business-solutions.com

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

SME Business Newsletter 36

Welcome to this edition of the free SME Business Solutions Newsletter for the business owner, which includes: affiliate marketing, ACAS, project management, microsoft software.

A Business Mentor

Mentors or advisers are skilled professionals who are specialists in their chosen area of expertise. They possess the knowledge and skill that the business owner may seek and can supplement their skills with those of the business owner to address concerns and add value to the business.

Read more.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

SME Business Newsletter 35

The free business newsletter for small and medium sized business owners.

This issue includes articles on the working week, ageism in the workplace, website traffic, the green working environment, trojans, maternity leave entitlement changes and the latest Firefox browser.

Do not miss out on future issues - subscribe now.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

SME Business Newsletter 34

The Free Newsletter for Small Business Owners. Subscribe Now.

How To Get Paid

Business owners and directors, particularly of small and medium sized businesses may waste much time in chasing unpaid invoices.

Many excuses for non-payment will be given, some acceptable, some amusing but plausible and some downright lies.

How does the owner or director protect his own business from cash starvation?

Cash is the lifeblood of the business, and if it does not flow then the business will fail.

Some common excuses for non-payment and actions you can take to speed up payments can be found in this free and easy to read ebook.

In all communications with debtors keep a record of the contact’s name, the time and date of the call and a summary of the conversation.

Be proactive in chasing monies. Some simple strategies to employ that will reduce the likelihood of late payment include:

- Do not wait until the payment due date before speaking to your debtor. Call and confirm beforehand how much will be paid and when.
- Raise and post all invoices and statements immediately.
- Ensure your own systems and procedures are designed to avoid delays in resolving invoice queries.
- Ensure all contractual documentation is retained.
- If possible insist upon the use of electronic forms of payment.

The common excuses are:

- Excuse 1 The Cheque is in the Post

- Excuse 2 Already Paid

- Excuse 3 Lost Invoice

- Excuse 4 No Statement

- Excuse 5 Invoice in Query

- Excuse 6 Director on Holiday

- Excuse 7 Computer is Down

- Excuse 8 Waiting for Funds

- Excuse 9 Not Due for Payment

- Excuse 10 Waiting for a Credit Note

It is accepted that many other reasons for non-payment will have been given to credit controllers in the past.

If you have knowledge of the more amusing and perhaps really unbelievable excuses , (only printable ones please) then share them with others. email david@sme-business-solutions.com

Everything You Need

For A Successful Internet Business....In One Stop

Instantly get access to the most power packed resell rights packages with thousands of high-demand, hot-selling niche products to make a living off the net from the comfort of your home - Keeping 100% of the Profits!

Google Documents and Spreadsheets

The business owner who wants to use FREE documents and spreadsheets should check out google.com

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

SEO Tools to Help the Small Business Owner

If you are a small business owner, managing a web site and you want help with search engine optimisation, then visit this blog. Some easy to use tools are available.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Small Business Failure

The typical small business will fail in a short time after start-up. The dreams end in a whimper. The business owner is constantly trying to figure out why the business is failing and not succeeding.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Cash is the Lifeblood of Your Business

How do you forecast your cash flow? Would you like to use software that is excel based and will easily allow you to prepare your cash flow forecast? For a FREE trial click here today!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

A Profitable Growth Formula for Sales Managers

Sales organizations that successfully achieve profitable revenue growth do so through a sales system encompassing sales focus, the integration of organizational and people competencies, a balanced sales effort between new customer acquisition and current customer penetration, and employee engagement.

These organizations match sales resources to the best opportunities, often overlooking customary territorial boundaries or customer assignments and applying a "best in front" approach in the allocation of sales people to high value opportunities. They've adopted cross-functional team selling approaches - emphasizing collaboration to deliver value-adding solutions and hold sales/service teams accountable for improved customer-level results. In addition, they utilize their full organizational capabilities, and those of their external partners, to create an integrated product/service offering that enhances their customers' business results, differentiate their value proposition from the competition, increase the average deal size, "win" the sale, and build durable customer relationships.

Written by John F. Tallitsch - Founder of TopMark

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Revealed – How You Can Generate Cash For Your Business

An inportant aspect of generating cash in a business is through Invoice Factoring. This route of raising finance may be an alternative to business loans or increasing a bank overdraft.

Learn more on how the small business owner can generate cash for the business.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Cash Flow Terminology and the Small Business Owner

The small business owner may be asked from time to time to prepare a cash flow forecast. If uncertainty exists in the preparation the business owner may seek help from an accountant or business adviser. However, in many instances it would be advantageous for a clearer understanding of the terms used in order for the owner to relate to the business.

Read more.

Memory Success

"Learn How To Remember the Names and Faces of People You Meet"

Sunday, August 13, 2006

37 Winning Tips and Strategies of Self Made Millionaire Entrepreneurs

A free ebook that includes ectracts from Millionaire MBE â„¢ . - contributors include Duncan Bannatyne, Simon Woodroffe, Tom Hunter, Nigel Risner and Mandy Haberman. Available here

Women and Business Start Up

During the period January to March 2006 the number of businesses ceasing to trade increased by 50% as reported by Barclays Bank.

However, the surprising data reported showed an increase in the number of start-up businesses during that period. The percentage increase in the number of new businesses was 24% and totalled 110300, the second highest quarter number of registrations since the banked reported such data in 1988.

Women entrepreneurs influenced the figures significantly with the number of new women business owners increasing by 23% over the corresponding quarter twelve months earlier.

Read more.

Manage Your Business Cash Flow

For many small medium sized businesses, cash flow has received and will continue to receive the highest possible attention.

Why?

Simply the cash flow is the lifeblood of the business, and without a sustained positive cash flow the business may stagnate and eventually fail.

Business owners will recognize the import of a positive cash balance in their business. Decisions on new investment in areas of business development marketing, staff, plant, machinery, systems and so on are much easier to take. The investment appraisal is done, an acceptable return on investment is forecast and if cash is readily available to the business, the investment can go ahead.

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