Once you present a business plan to an investor or lender, questions may begin to fly at you. If this happens, do not be alarmed! It is evidence that they are truly interested in your business. You can prepare for these questions by running through potential questions, like these seven, ahead of time.
“Why did you choose to begin with this target market?”
“We have to start somewhere” is not a great answer. Consider why the costs are lower or returns greater with your chosen first target market, or, better yet, how tackling that market first will make entry into additional markets easier later on.
“Why can't competitors imitate your competitive advantage?”
Know the strengths, weaknesses, and branding of your competitors to understand what will stand in their way from doing what you are doing. It could be that your competitive advantage is contradictory to what they are trying to do or that you have protected intellectual property in your business, for example.
“Why is your team best qualified to launch this company?”
Funders know that there are potential managers in the job market who could be hired to run a startup like yours. Know how your chosen team combines industry, functional, and leadership experience with an understanding of startups.
“What best practices of the industry will your business use?”
Study best practices companies in the industry use to become more efficient and know which will translate into your startup, which can be implemented only as you grow, and which will not be possible because of their conflict with your underlying strategy.
“What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?”
If someone asks what makes your new business unique, you had better have an answer. This should be stated explicitly in the business plan.
“What would it take to reach break even sooner?”
Be prepared to defend the time you estimate it will take for the company to break even and to start making a profit. If funders want to see you break even sooner, know what it would take in terms of different staff, additional resources, or increased investment, but do not be too quick to push your schedule up. This only shows funders that your estimates were based on flimsy assumptions to begin with.
“What are your projections of growth based on?”
Be able to explain the assumptions about the market and your company's conversion rates (of potential customers to actual customers, for example) which led to your projections of growth. You should know how your projections compare to other success stories in your industry and in other industries so you can be sure there is precedent for the growth you anticipate.
Eric Powers is associated with Growthink, a business plan consulting firm. Since 1999, Growthink business plan consultants have developed more than 2,000 business plans. Call 800-506-5728 today for a free consultation.
Do you know that men and women would use on their mobile phones for an average of 546 minutes and 470 minutes, respectively? What about the fact that more than 140 billion text messages are being sent in a year? Simply put, mobile phones have become more than just luxuries. They are the way of life. What’s more, mobile phones are no longer for personal use. There are already a lot of businesses that are relying on them for several reasons.
How to Select the Best Business Mobile Phones
If you are going to use the mobile phones for business, you cannot just pick them randomly. There are a lot of considerations to be made. First, how much will it cost you? You must also determine the features that are found in them. As much as possible, you want to make them an investment, not an expense, a business item that can generate returns for your business.
Here are some of the features that you need to look for:
Address Book. This is already a given in mobile phones, but you must still evaluate the address book that you can find in them. You want to go for one that can store as many contacts as possible, around several hundreds. Since your mobile phone will be one of the fastest ways of getting yourself connected to your customers and prospects, you want to keep their numbers close to you at all times. You must also check if you can store e-mail addresses, office or home phone numbers, and even addresses in your address book. This way, you can already do away with the bulky organizer. It must also be easy for you to create speed dials, especially to your suppliers, partners, and office.
Messaging System. There are a lot of mobile phones these days that are now capable to send videos, audios, and images through text messages. This is actually ideal, as you can be flexible on how to send your messages. Your text message can also be your marketing mode. For example, you can create a short audio commercial about your business and send them to your contacts. You can also develop a print ad and send it as an MMS.
It would also be great if the mobile phone can allow you to send messages in groups or to as many contacts as possible. One, it saves you a lot of time, and second, you do not have to change your message. There is a possibility that you will get to lose some vital information when doing so. Lastly, look for a phone that permits you to synchronize your Outlook and other e-mail accounts. You will be able to read important messages even when on the road.
Internet Browser. An Internet browser is not really mandatory. However, you may not be at your office all the time, and you need to do some instant research. Fortunately, there are already a lot of mobile phones that allow you to connect to the Internet, though the type of technology that they are using may vary. You have those that run on 3G or EDGE. If you want something that is really fast, you may want to choose a mobile phone that operates on 3G.
Camera and Video Camera. Again, this can be optional. There are businesses that do not really need them; however, if you are engaged in construction, architecture, or product selling, you may want to go for a phone that has a video or camera feature. They permit you to capture your goods in real time, particularly if the prospect is going to look for some samples. You can also use them during site visits or land surveys. Are you planning to set up an office somewhere, but you do not have the time to visit? Ask someone to take some pictures, and just send them through e-mail or text message.
When it comes to price, expect more advanced phones to be costlier than the others. That is why you need to identify your level of needs. Nevertheless, when you get to discover the benefits of using them, you will realize that they are going to be worth it.
About the Author: Mark Robinsson writes for GizmoDesk.com. It’s a technology blog about consumer electronics.
How And When Should I Submit My Website To Google?
By Glenn Murray
As soon as you register your domain name, submit it to Google!
Even if you haven’t built your site, or written an copy, or even thought about your content, submit your domain name to Google. In fact, even if you haven’t fully articulated your business plan and marketing plan, submit your domain name to Google.
Don’t wait!
There are two reasons for this. Firstly, getting on the search engines has always taken a long time for a new site. Even assuming you do everything right, it takes months before your site is even indexed, and more months before it starts to rank well. As a rule of thumb, never expect to rank highly within 6 months of submitting your site to Google.
The second reason is a recent phenomenon called ‘Google Sandbox’. Many SEO experts believe that Google ‘sandboxes’ new websites. Whenever it detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking for a period while it determines whether your site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the ranking of some other site).
By submitting your domain name to Google as soon as you register it, you’re establishing a site history even if the site has no content. By the time you’ve built your site, written your copy, and developed the rest of your content (and written your business and marketing plans), Google will probably see no need to sandbox you.
If you wait until launch day to submit your site, you’ll spend a month or two (maybe more) sitting in the sandbox watching potential customers spend their money elsewhere.
How to submit your site to Google
Don’t waste money by paying someone else to submit your site to Google. It’s easy!
Simply go to http://www.google.com.au/addurl.html, enter your URL (domain name) and a few comments or keywords to describe your site. Then click ‘Submit’. That’s all there is to it. You only have to do it once, and only for your top level page (i.e. Home page).
Google’s robots will then crawl your website the next time they’re out and about. Of course, they don’t guarantee that you’ll be included in their results.
IMPORTANT: As mentioned above, it takes quite a while for your site to appear in the search engines. This is partly because the search engines are big and slow – especially when it comes to new sites. It will take a minimum of 6-8 weeks before your site is indexed.
How to submit your site to other search engines
There are hundreds of search engines on the Internet. It’s a lucrative business, after all! But don’t panic; studies suggest that the top 11 search engines account for about 90% of web traffic. In other words, if you have the top 11 covered, there’s no need to submit to the rest.
What’s more, at the time of writing, most of the top 11 don’t actually accept submissions. The only ones that do are Google (described above), Yahoo, and MSN. Here’s a list of the available submit pages.
Fast / All the Web – covered by Yahoo submission
Ask Jeeves / Teoma – at date of writing was not accepting new submissions
Hotbot – at date of writing was not accepting new submissions
Lycos – at date of writing was not accepting new submissions
AOL – at date of writing was not accepting new submissions
Looksmart – at date of writing was not accepting new submissions
TIP: My SEO copywriting and advertising copywriting website http://www.divinewrite.com reached page 1 of Google.com for my primary keyword, “copywriter”, without a dollar being spent on search engine submission. I only ever submitted my site to the engines that offer free submission.
Do I need to submit my site to other search engines?
As a rule, no.
With an estimated 8.8 billion pages indexed (approximately 76% of the Internet), Google is number 1 when it comes to search engines. It’s argued that once Google has indexed your site, the other search engines will follow. Theoretically, you don’t actually need to submit your site to Google either because it’s always on the lookout for new content and will eventually find your site of its own accord. Google actually states, “Given the large number of sites submitting URLs, it’s likely your pages will be found in an automatic crawl before they make it into our index through the URL submission form.” (“Google Information for Webmasters” – http://www.google.com.au/webmasters/1.html#A1) Personally, I wouldn’t like to take the risk.)
Having said that, it certainly doesn’t hurt to submit your site to other search engines (especially if you haven’t developed any content for it yet).
Conclusion
You don’t need to be an SEO expert or an SEO copywriter to submit your site to Google and the other search engines. And you don’t need to pay anything to do it. You just need to do it. And if your domain name is new, you need to do it NOW!
Happy submitting!
About the Author: * Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and article submission and article PR specialist. He is a director of article PR company, Article PR, and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details.
Everyone knows that building and maintaining a commercial property is a major investment. From the early planning stages, through permitting and construction, to finishing the project for inspection, each step along the way is carefully considered. But once your Minnesota commercial construction project is finished, your property can still be enhanced by attention to landscaping. An experiencedMinnesta general contractor can help ensure that landscaping adds value and helps your building fit in seamlessly with the neighborhood.
Why invest in landscaping for your commercial property?
Landscaping is one of the most cost-effective ways to maintain the value of your commercial property. No matter how much you've invested during construction, landscaping around your business creates the first impression. A number of studies have shown that landscaping can affect the value of a property from five to twenty percent.
Visitors, potential tenants and customers will have a more professional image of your company. The people who work in your facilities will enjoy coming to work in a more pleasant and attractive environment. Others in the community will appreciate the attention you've paid to the overall appearance of the area.
What comprises commercial property landscaping?
There are several components of any good commercial landscaping plan. They include:
1. Flower and shrubbery beds, which to help ease the transition from curb to building.
2. Trees, which can not only enhance open spaces, but also help provide shade to the building, reduce cooling costs and help prevent soil erosion.
3. Shrubs and flower boxes, which can help to conceal HVAC and other mechanical units, providing a more pleasing appearance.
4. Species of plants and trees that are native to Minnesota and will not require excessive watering, grooming or winter care.
What is “sustainable landscaping?”
A Minnesota general contractor can help you plan for a “green” landscape design before construction even begins by incorporating sustainable landscaping features. Not only do these features help the environment, but they can also generate substantial long-term cost savings.
Water conservation is one of the most obvious ways a commercial property can save money. According to irrigation, the implementation of a custom-made plan can cut irrigation costs by up to 40 percent per year. Ask your general contractor for information on an irrigation audit — installing the proper system during construction will save you from having to revisit your water use plan after the project is completed.
Recycling organic landscape waste is another way to realize cost savings and help the environment. Where possible, using composted grass clippings, leaves, branches and woodchips accomplishes two things: It creates ready-made fertilizer and mulch, saving money on chemical products, and it reduces the cost of transporting and disposing of that waste.
Lastly, by limiting the areas of turf on your Minnesota commercial property, you can significantly reduce maintenance costs and water usage. A mixed landscape that incorporates native trees, native grass blends and ornamental beds is an attractive way to achieve this.
Other than the effects that a well-maintained landscape can have on your employees, your customers and the environment, one of the greatest benefits is the goodwill it generates in the community. Make sure that you incorporate the input of a Minnesota general contractor in the construction of your landscape, not just your building.
Banks sometimes get undeserved negative reviews among small business owners. Especially in the current climate of tightening credit standards and lending policies, business owners should understand which banks lend what amounts to whom and when. Some banks will not touch a loan below Million. Therefore, if you want a line of credit for 0,000, soliciting those banks will prove futile. Other banks, typically very small community banks, will not provide a loan above Million. Why? Banks have loan capacities. This refers to their typical largest loan size and the maximum amount they will lend if everything lines up perfectly.
If Bank A has a general loan size limit of .5 Million and you need a loan for Million and have plans to increase your loan amount over the next 18 months to Million to pay for your business’ expansion, you should not approach Bank A for a loan. Assuming you qualify, Bank A will likely approve the Million loan but not the increase meaning you will need to shop for another bank in six to nine months. Save yourself the hassle and approach the banks with general loan size limits of Million and higher. Unfortunately, only a few banks explicitly state the profile of their target client or loan size. The rest is knowledge garnered only through research and relationship building -or by simply asking the appropriate bank personnel (i.e., a business banker).
Banks maintain loan portfolios. If a few of a bank’s clients in a particular industry recently defaulted on their loans, that bank will restrict its lending to other companies in that industry and sometimes, sister industries. In addition, if a bank reaches a heavy weighting in a specific business category such as residential construction and home building companies, to adjust its portfolio lending the bank will often restrict or deny all loans in that category for the remainder of the fiscal year. Thus, with a number of Georgia banks having been hard hit by the demise or financial distress of home builders due to the drastic reduction in new home sales, as a commercial construction or related company, it is worthwhile to inquire about the bank’s residential builder exposure. Many of these banks are not in a position to lend sizable amounts of money and do not publish this information but generally will acknowledge their exposure when questioned.
If you are a small business with under Million in revenue, a good place to start for research is the state ranking of small business loan providers compiled by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA ranks the top ten providers of SBA-guaranteed loans in each state in two categories: total volume of loans and total dollar volume. If you seek small dollar value loans (i.e., under 0,000), pursue the high loan volume group. If you seek a higher dollar value loan (i.e., Million and above), pursue the high dollar volume group.
If you are pursuing a bank loan and have been turned down, ask yourself some questions.
· “Did we approach someone with signature authority or did we meet with a low level employee who has to fight for every dollar above ,000 or ,000 that he or she requests?
· “Did we dress professionally and project confidence or did we show up in shorts and appear surprised by all the questions asked of us?
· “Did we discuss our intention to build a long-term relationship with a bank we can grow with or did we say we were shopping around for the best rates?
· “Did we provide a loan package – an executive summary and our financial statements – or did we jot some information on a post-it note?”
If your response was the first option for each question, then conduct research on what types of banks may get you to yes and what alternative capital sources may exist. If you responded yes to the second option for each question, you must work on your packaging and preparation before you approach another bank or any other financing source. If you are not prepared, you cannot provide a modicum of a financial statement or other finance-related information, and you cannot adequately describe your business and market in words, then you will likely continually be turned down by banks and by many of the alternative financing sources.
A bank does not want to see a business plan. Instead, they want to see a very condensed, highly relevant synopsis of the business plan called the Executive Summary. This is typically three to five pages long and includes the following:
1) General overview of the business;
2) Industry overview;
3) Market overview including competitive advantage;
4) Management team including board of advisors;
5) Growth plan for the business;
6) Financing need and why;
7) A chart of sources and uses of funds.
Each section should be about one to two paragraphs each. Attached to the Executive Summary should be historical financials for the past three years, audited or reviewed. If the financials have not been audited or reviewed by a CPA – and the overwhelming majority of small business financials have not – then copies of the business tax returns for the prior three years are needed.
One last point: Build and nurture a relationship with your banker. A true banker is someone who has decision-making authority…typically someone who has signature authority for 0,000 or above. Cultivating a relationship with a good banker is well worth the effort. That banker will support you when your margins drop (if kept informed), point you to other financing sources if he or she cannot directly assist, and seek creative solutions if your loan needs exceed the limits for the bank.
About the Author: Tiffany Wright is President of T.F. Business Services, a strategic advisory firm providing interim CEO and CFO services, and publisher of Equal Construction Record. Solving the Financial Equation: Financing Solutions for Small Businesses, available at Amazon or http://www.tocafamilypublishing.com.
