Monday, September 17, 2012

How to get customer recommend your business?

You may think it's impossible to get customers recommend your business.Almost everyone has their own favorite spa, salon, etc.If customers are impressed and satisfied with your service then customers will be happy to recommend your business to other people.It takes one happy customer to get a positive comment towards your business.

If your customers are impressed with your business then customers will be happy to recommend your business to other people. It is pretty simple.
You will get new clients from time to time from recommendations. It is a great way for your business to gain more profit.



I remember back in 2005 when we do retailing of construction materials where in we have a competitor who manage his business for almost 20 years while we are still newbie in the business way back then, We try to be friendly and approachable as can be and that made our satisfied customers recommend our business to their friends and relatives.We have established a good customer relation.What am i saying here? Most of the customers would like to be treated well.

No matter how good the service, if you don't have a good customer service relation the effort would not be enough. Don't look at one client as just one account that provides your company with several hundred peso more each month. Look at each client as someone that help your company get more than just several hundred peso by getting you new accounts just by their recommendations.

One day you will have more new customers than you can handle. It all goes back to making the customers happy. When you show that you care about the customers then in return they will show that they care about your company by recommendations to other people. It is important to be friendly and helpful to all customers.



Sunday, September 16, 2012

Business Financial Plan

A curious thing happens to entrepreneurs in the end of every year. You wake up one day and realize you had better figure out how much money was made last year in order to pay your taxes. But wait, shouldn't a business owner already know how much money he or she made last year, last quarter, or last month? Don't wait. Develop your financial plan today.



If you don't keep track of how much money you're making, you have no idea whether your business is successful or not. You can't tell how well your marketing is working. You need to know what your net profit is. If you don't, there's no way you can know how to increase it.
To be successful in business, you need to make a financial plan and check it against the facts on a monthly basis, then take immediate action to correct any problems. Here are 8 steps you should take:

Create a Financial Plan:
Estimate how much revenue you expect to bring in each month, and project what your expenses will be. If you need it, get help from business planning books, software, or an accountant.

Review the Plan Monthly:
Even if time is taken to prepare a financial plan with profit and loss projections, it often sits in a desk drawer. It's not enough to have a plan -- you have to review it regularly.

Lost Profits Can't be Recovered:
When comparing your projections to reality and finding earnings too low or expenses too high, the conclusion often is, "I'll make it up later." The problem is that you really can't make it up later; every month profits are too low is a month that is gone forever.

Make Adjustments Right Away:
If revenues are lower than expected, increase efforts in sales and marketing or look for ways to increase your rates. If overhead costs are too high, find ways to cut back. There are other businesses like yours around. What is their secret for operating profitably?

Think Before you Spend:
When considering any new business expense, including marketing and sales activities, evaluate the increased earnings you expect to bring in against its cost before you proceed to make a purchase. You can often increase your profitability simply by delaying expenses to a later month, quarter, or year.

Don't be Afraid to Hire:
Retailers and restaurateurs wouldn't consider operating without employees, but many service businesses limit themselves by being understaffed. Almost any business can benefit from hired or contracted help. You can better use your talents for generating revenue than for running errands and filing.

Pay Yourself a Salary:
If you are incorporated, you may already be doing this. If not, allocate an amount to owner's compensation on a monthly basis. Each month that your business meets its profitability goal, pay yourself the full amount. When you miss your target, dock your "pay" and when you exceed it, pay yourself a "bonus." Writing yourself a monthly paycheck will give you a strong incentive to keep your business profitable.

It's About Profit, Not Revenue:
It doesn't matter how many thousands of peso you are bringing in each month if your expenses are almost as high, or higher. Many high-revenue businesses have gone under for this very reason -- don't be one of them.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

How to name your business?

It's very important to choose the right name for your business. It can create a good first impression for customers and also provide a great foundation for building your brand.
 

You can be creative when choosing the name. However, it needs to be appropriate and work on all types of marketing material, from signage to stationery.
Avoid hard to pronounce words or irrelevant business names.

Your business name must meet certain rules relating to prescribed and sensitive words and expressions. And you must ensure it hasn't already been taken by another business.
Even if you don't want a website just yet, you should consider registering an appropriate website address - or domain name. The domain name has to be available and registered through an agent eg a website host for a small annual fee.

After deciding on a name, you should consider protecting it, for example as a trademark.
If you want to start on a sole proprietorship, you must register and check on DTI Department of Trade and Industry.
If you want to start on a partnership, you must register it with SEC Security and Exchange Commission.Like business names, your registered name must comply with rules on prescribed and sensitive words and expressions. It also has to contain required words.
Finally, Defining your product or service can help you to work out your customers' needs and generate more sales.




 

Marketing on a tight budget

To maximise your marketing spend, you need to focus on satisfying your current customers, encouraging past customers and attracting new customers to your business. Identify your unique selling point (USP) - what's especially good about your product or service - and use it to make you stand out from the crowd.

 

Get more from your customer base

Your regular customer base is critical to your business' survival and growth, so you need to seize chances to build and maintain your relationship with them on each interaction or sale.
There are many ways to do this when on a tight budget. Think about how you communicate - for example, you should:
  • talk to your customers and focus on their needs and wants
  • be specific, honest and clear about what you can offer
  • keep in touch - send email updates or a newsletter
  • get to know your competitors and what they are offering
Think creatively about your selling techniques. For example, you could:
  • encourage people to 'buy now' by offering lower prices for immediate/bulk purchases or bookings
  • use coupons or e-vouchers that are easy and cheap to design and distribute
  • offer gifts, free trials and tasters
  • reward your customers with loyalty schemes
Make sure your staff are fully aware of your customer base, products and services and are inspired about your business.



 

Encourage referrals from existing clients

Referrals from satisfied customers endorsing your business are the best way of getting new customers. So if a client tells you they're happy with some work you have done for them, ask them to recommend you to other potential customers.
Consider offering incentives - such as a discount off their next order - for every new customer an existing client points in your direction.

 

Find new customers 

You should always be thinking about how to attract new customers. You need to:

  • let potential new customers know who you are and what you offer
  • aim to provide an exceptional experience on the first sale
  • offer options and solutions to increase convenience
  • position yourself as a leader next to your competition - give a reason for customers to buy from you
Try to price your products or services according to their quality - you want to avoid under pricing them.


 Public relations on a budget
 You don't need to blow your budget to keep your business in the public eye. Even a cash-strapped business can use public relations (PR) effectively and reap the benefits.
When setting out to promote your business, it's important to be clear about what you want to achieve - for example, increased sales, increased visits to your website or more awareness of your product or service.
Some of the more cost-effective ways to promote your business can be to:
  • make your business stand out - eg by offering a unique product or service, or by offering savings
  • join relevant professional or social groups so you can network with other people
  • tell people or write a press release if your business wins an award or contract
  • specialize - you will be more attractive to customers if you are an expert in what you do
  • promote yourself as an expert to local media, write an article or start a blog - see the page in this guide on how to use technology to reach your customers
  • lead a trend or solve a problem that you have spotted
  • volunteer to speak at meetings or seminars related to your field
If your budget allows, you could try these PR methods:
  • relaunch your website, shop or product/service
  • if you have a car or van, use vehicle branding or magnetic signs to advertise your business' phone number or website
  • get involved in charity - offer to host an event on your premises and invite the media
  • get involved with the community - try fundraising or offer your product or service as a competition prize
  • survey your customers - get to know their needs and future wants
With a little time and creativity, you can create effective PR campaigns quickly and cheaply.
When planning your marketing, look at how you're using technology. Are you getting the most out of what's currently available?

 

Email marketing

Traditional marketing methods - eg direct mail - are expensive and often wasteful. Email marketing can be a much more effective alternative, because e-newsletters are cheap - or free - to produce.
If your email subscriber database also contains demographic data, and/or information about buying habits, you can accurately target your messages to specific and relevant groups. For more information, including the legal considerations, see our guide on email marketing.

 

Text marketing

Text marketing - ie targeting customers using mobile phone SMS messages - can be a very powerful marketing tool when used appropriately.

 

Social networking

You can promote your business for free using social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If used well, these sites can also be an excellent tool for interacting with your existing customers and making new business contacts.

Internet blogs

If you're an expert in your field, think about sharing that expertise online. Offering advice or opinions on your own internet blog can be a fantastic way of promoting yourself and your business.
Blogs also tend to get high rankings from internet search engines, so having one can make it easier for potential customers to find out information about your business.



Friday, September 7, 2012

How to Whiten Yellowed White Clothes

Even if you follow all the rules on keeping white clothes white, they can still become yellowed over time. Yellowing quite often occurs on clothes that are stored improperly and react with the cardboard box or wooden shelves. So what to do?
The first step for washable clothes is to mix a solution of warm water and oxygen-based bleach (Oxibleach, Zonrox Color Safe Bleach). Submerge your white garments and allow them to soak for a day. Cover it with plastic and sealed. It is much effective if you will let it sit under the sun.
Then wash as usual, adding 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar to the rinse water.
If possible, dry the clothing outside in the sun. The ultraviolet rays of sunlight will help to whiten the clothes.
Chlorine bleach can be used on cotton fabrics. However, the overuse of chlorine bleach can actually cause clothes to yellow. Only use chlorine bleach if you are familiar with how to use it properly.

Banana Leaf Ironing

I remember the old way of ironing clothes.When i was like 7 year old i saw my grandmother, She would always put banana leaves underneath the iron for resting in between uses. It makes the clothes smell good like earthy, full of nature. Only people that used it understands what i am saying.
I almost forgot this technique, good thing somebody reminded me about the benefit of using banana leaf.

Now i will try to use this old method again because this is really helpful even if you use steam iron or not it doesn't matter.
It seems that the iron will move smoothly if banana leaves are used. It appears that the organic wax from the leaves enabled the iron to glide over even the stickiest of fabrics. I was also told that the leaves would also help to clean the stains from the iron.Try this at home and see for yourself.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

How to wash clothes by hand

Have you been destroying shirts in the washing machine or overpaying at the dry cleaners? Washing your clothes by hand is actually the best way to save your clothes and extend their lifetime.




  1. Wash clothes in a place with abundant water such as a shower head, bathtub faucet, or outside using the garden hose, etc.
  2. Find a bucket/basin/bathtub/stoppable sink that is big enough to hold your clothes. Remember that clothing is smaller, heavier, and harder to manage when wet.
  3. Add detergent. If you are using liquid, pour it right in. If you are using powder, it might work better to dissolve it with a smaller amount of water.
  4. Add clothes. You might realize this is an important step, but don't forget to sort your clothes before putting in for wash. Clothes can be sorted on various bases like color (colored, dark, or white clothes), or you can sort based on type (put your normal clothes like shirts and pants together or put your heavier clothes like bed sheets and towels together) or any other way which you think it best fits you.
  5. Cover the clothes with water. Whether you use hot, warm, or cold water depends on the type of fabric you are dealing with. Cold water is usually the best option for most fabrics and conserves energy. Warm water is better for heavily soiled clothes, but hot water can shrink cotton and wool. Luke warm water is appropriate for silks. Hot water is the best for socks because it kills fungi.
  6. Let the clothes soak for about 20-30 minutes. 20 minutes is appropriate if you don't have many clothes, 25 if you have a medium amount, and 30 if you have a big bundle of clothing. Don't soak any longer because detergent will damage both the fabric and fade the color of your clothes.
  7. Use a brand new, never-before-used toilet bowl plunger to agitate the clothes with a gentle up and down action. Your hand will work just as well. If you do use your hands knead your clothes as if you were kneading bread.
  8. Drain out the water. Remove the clothes and let them drain for several minutes. (One way is to put the clothes in a sink, bath tub, or any clean place where the force of gravity will take the water away.)
  9. It usually takes three changes of water to remove the soap. Put the clothes back in the container and cover with clean water. Agitate them. Drain the water. Repeat this step at least two more times. Rinsing the clothes until the water runs clear will also work.
  10. Take out the clothes, and allow them to drain for several minutes.
  11. Hang everything up to dry on plastic hangers.

Cleaning your iron

Starch and other laundry products can build up on your iron. It is important to remove any build up to prevent it from transferring to your clothing. This is a guide about cleaning a clothes iron.




Cleaning Your Steam Iron

To remove burned on starch from the iron place a towel dampened with vinegar on the ironing board and sprinkle generously with table salt. Set iron on warm dry setting and run over a towel until the stain is removed. Clean gunk off the surface of an iron by polishing gently with 0000 grade steel wool. Don't try this with a non-stick iron. If iron surface is dull, polish with Pearl Drops or other toothpaste.
To clean mineral deposits from a steam iron, fill it with a mixture of equal parts water and white vinegar. Allow it to steam for several minutes, disconnect, and let stand for an hour. Empty the reservoir, rinse well, and repeat if necessary.