It is a well known fact that in order to get ahead in the business world, you need to be extended some form of a credit line. Typically, these credit lines are secured from a bank. To qualify for a loan at a bank, your business will need to have business credit established. This is the part that most people did not know. Do you know the difference between business credit and personal credit?

Personal credit is when you are being held personally reliable for the loan. This means, if the loan is not re-paid, the bank has right to take your home, car and other assets that belong to you; even if it was for your business.

Note: This is the main difference between a sole proprietorship or partnership and a corporation.
Business credit is when the company is liable for the debt obligations. The company establishes their credit history through trade lines of credit and paying those bills as well as other debt obligations on time and consistently.

In business credit, personal credit plays no role in the scoring. The business is its own legal, separate entity that becomes liable for its own actions and outcomes.
Businesses can save a lot of money not only monthly, but yearly when operating their business by utilizing business credit. Here are some effective ways where you can actually save money with business credit.

1.    A business loan versus a personal loan shows a very big difference in interest rates. A personal loan has a higher interest rate because it is deemed more of a risk. A business loan is deemed less risky than a personal loan because it has an established business credit history.

In order to get a business credit, you have to achieve at least 5 open trade accounts; this means you have been successful at maintaining numerous accounts in good standing.
Example: A 7% difference between a personal and business loan on a dollar value of $55,000.00 can save you more than $10,000.00 on a 5 year loan. When speaking of interest rates, the money adds up- quickly!

2.    Business Credit offers you a more flexible way to make purchases, thereby leaving your liquid assists, money. This offers money saving right off from the start. Instead of spending your money right away, you can let it sit in an account and earn interest until the end of the month.

By establishing business credit, not only are you being active in the money saving opportunities business credit provides, but you are placing your business on a solid path to success. It is imperative, whether or not it is a start up business, to weigh all options where maximization of profit can be achieved.

Generally, a start up business will rely on its first contacts to establish themselves. During this time it is important to monitor the business credit report closely. Many inconsistent reports can happen, and even no reports at all. As a business, you are responsible for keeping track of reporting accuracies. After all, it is your business.

Many businesses are looking to get a loan. They soon realize they did not take the appropriate steps in order to attain that loan. For them, it is back to the drawing board or worse yet, folding. If you do not want to be one of those businesses, then you need to make sure you have all things lined up and in order. As you might have guessed, the first main step is found in establishing good business credit.

Please note that building personal credit and building business credit are different. Although they rely on the same principles, there are things in business credit that are not found in personal credit and vice versa. 

For example, in personal credit you have laws that help establish and maintain a correct credit score. With business, there are no laws to protect you. It is up to the business owner to monitor their credit and make the necessary corrections.

1.    You need to first establish a sound business structure. Make sure you are a corporation or LLC per DUN prerequisites. Establishing a solid business structure requires all licensing and tax obligation papers, etc. You want to show you are compliant with law and regulations.

2.    Make sure you establish and build credit by purchasing from companies that report to the major credit bureaus: Dun and Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax. You can do this by establishing a net 30 account with these companies.

There are also some aspects you should avoid when looking to build business credit. There are companies out there that look to trick the unknowing. If you are browsing through information and come to one that says you can build your business credit for a certain amount of money, you are looking at a scam. Stay far away from those as possible. Here is what some of them look like.

1.    You can buy trade accounts. This is extremely against the law.  If the credit agencies find out about this, they will purge your credit history. This will also not allow you to establish very good credit history later on, as it will be a permanent blemish on your business credit history. No one likes to deal with a cheat or liar.

2.    There are companies out there that are called shelf companies. They will basically guarantee you a loan based on their credit rating. This is wrong for two reasons. One, you want to build your own credit and relying on someone else is the wrong way to do it. Two, they more than likely will not have the credit to obtain that loan either.

3.    Make sure you have good personal credit as well as good business credit. Do not just rely on good personal credit as a back fall. Remember, you want to keep personal and business completely separate.

If you follow the steps outlined above, you will ensure that you have a good solid foundation to begin establishing business credit that is necessary for advancement and growth.

Many businesses are looking to get a loan. They soon realize they did not take the appropriate steps in order to attain that loan. For them, it is back to the drawing board or worse yet, folding. If you do not want to be one of those businesses, then you need to make sure you have all things lined up and in order. As you might have guessed, the first main step is found in establishing good business credit.
Please note that building personal credit and building business credit are different. Although they rely on the same principles, there are things in business credit that are not found in personal credit and vice versa.  For example, in personal credit you have laws that help establish and maintain a correct credit score. With business, there are no laws to protect you. It is up to the business owner to monitor their credit and make the necessary corrections.

1.    You need to first establish a sound business structure. Make sure you are a corporation or LLC per DUN prerequisites. Establishing a solid business structure requires all licensing and tax obligation papers, etc. You want to show you are compliant with law and regulations.

2.    Make sure you establish and build credit by purchasing from companies that report to the major credit bureaus: Dun and Bradstreet, Experian and Equifax. You can do this by establishing a net 30 account with these companies.

There are also some aspects you should avoid when looking to build business credit. There are companies out there that look to trick the unknowing. If you are browsing through information and come to one that says you can build your business credit for a certain amount of money, you are looking at a scam. Stay far away from those as possible. Here is what some of them look like.

1.    You can buy trade accounts. This is extremely against the law.  If the credit agencies find out about this, they will purge your credit history. This will also not allow you to establish very good credit history later on, as it will be a permanent blemish on your business credit history. No one likes to deal with a cheat or liar.

2.    There are companies out there that are called shelf companies. They will basically guarantee you a loan based on their credit rating. This is wrong for two reasons. One, you want to build your own credit and relying on someone else is the wrong way to do it. Two, they more than likely will not have the credit to obtain that loan either.

3.    Make sure you have good personal credit as well as good business credit. Do not just rely on good personal credit as a back fall. Remember, you want to keep personal and business completely separate.

If you follow the steps outlined above, you will ensure that you have a good solid foundation to begin establishing business credit that is necessary for advancement and growth.

For a business to be successful and maintain success, it needs to be able to grow. In order to grow,
business credit needs to be established. This is not a hard process, but it does come with many steps,
requires patience and needs to be monitored on a continual basis.

The first thing you need to know about business credit is that you cannot register to get established if you
are not incorporated.  In order to be incorporated, you need to file for corporation status, file for articles of
incorporation and maintain a business license along with other sale tax obligations.

The concept behind incorporation is that it remains a separate entity from your personal belongings.
This is a key concept when applying and establishing business credit. 

Next, it is important to understand that personal credit cannot in any way be mixed with business credit.
They are not the same thing and should maintain to be different for many reasons. One of the most
common reasons is so the business does not interfere with personal goals and personal mistakes do
not interfere with business goals. 

This is often times one of the biggest mistakes people have. An owner will start a business utilizing their
personal credit and then if the business is a bust, there credit as well as all their assists is as well.
Unfortunately, around 95% of all small businesses formed, within the first five years, fail. The ratio
is high and this posses a huge risk to you personally. Are you really ready to accept that is the business
does not fly; you will be left with nothing?

When you have done the above, you should be on your way to monitoring the business credit consistently.
For the most part, venders you worth with might or might not automatically report to the major business
credit bureaus. 

Because of this, your business credit might not get established as timely as it should. It is your responsibility,
as a business owner to make sure it does. Steps you can take to get reported in the business credit bureaus
are to ask the vendors for a 30 day credit line. Ask them to also report your payments to the business bureaus. 

If this request is being asked, make sure your business follows through on their end. Make payments on time,
if not early to ensure positive reporting. The thing to remember is that the larger credit lines a re weighted more
heavily than the smaller credit lines. 

If at any time you are unable to meet your obligations for all credit that was extended, make sure you always
pay the higher credit line first. This will help ensure you receive the minimalistic credit drop as possible. 

Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns are a great way to not only stay in touch with your customers, but to bring them special savings on specials right to their home. You can use an email marketing campaign to attract attention to your company and it costs you nothing but your time to do it.

Gathering Emails

You can obtain email addresses in many ways. If you are running a company with a website, offer a free newsletter, you will be given the potential customers email address and since they have agree to accept the newsletter you can inform them that you will be sending special offers through that email address occasionally as well.

 Always notify them that they will receive emails before accepting their address, this will eliminate the angered customers who feel you are spamming them later.

You can also obtain the email addresses through your ordering process; include a short statement asking them if they would like to be informed of upcoming specials and new products or services. If they agree, then they can insert their email address to be placed on future mailings.

Creating an Email Marketing Campaign

When you create the email you have to keep in mind that the subject line is the first thing they will see. You should make it personal, but to the point of what it is. A good example of a subject line would be:

•    A Special Offer Just For You (Customers Name) From (Company Name)

A bad example of a subject line would be:

•    OPEN QUICK – ONLY A FEW WILL RECEIVE THIS OFFER!!!!!!!!!

The reason being is that the all caps and generic statement are normally associated with spam mail. If you use the customers name they will know they have solicited this email and be more likely to open. There has to be a subtle approach to the subject line as the ones who tend to jump off the page look more like spam than an invited email.

In the body of the email is where all the real content should be. Your email should be professional, themed the same style as your site, using similar colors and fonts. The information that is contained within will display product images or service descriptions on what you want to advertise.

You should ensure that the target audience for what you are selling is the right one, do not send an email for a special savings on men’s shoes to the female that spent several hundred dollars purchasing ladies wear. This creates an informal feeling and will get you no attention.

You can advertise generically to anyone if you are simply sending out a savings offer or want to let them know about the new products or services you are offering.

Your email marketing campaigns are only as good as you make them. You decide how much time and detail will go in to making each one personal and with the time you put you, you should expect a huge profit in return.

Dont Just Build Business Credit, Create A Relationship With Your Customers

Your customer should be looked at as stock in your company. The customer is the reason your business is a success. If you treat each customer as simply a transaction, then it may be just that. You should treat your customers as individuals, finding out what they want and need, keep track of their buying habits and market to them directly.

I am not saying to create an individual campaign for each customer, but if you can categorize them in groups then each group should be sent a more personalized email campaign.

You can establish a relationship with you customer by keeping in touch with them. Always thank the customer for any previous purchase and encourage future purchases that you feel will benefit them. If you spend a little time researching the marketing skills for customer relations you will benefit from higher profits.

If a customer in the past has purchased two remote control cars and one remote control airplane within the last year, then a smart marketing plan would be to suggest a remote control boat. You could send special savings for batteries give offers of newer and improved remotes and let them know I hope you are still enjoying the vehicles you have purchased and I wanted to let you know about special savings our company is offering I your are of interest.

People like to feel as if you are speaking directly to them and not to the masses. If they feel as individuals in your eyes then in their eyes you will be looked at as an individual as well. People still like to do business with people they know and trust giving the feel of a mom and pop shop and acting accordingly will create a good return for your business.

It is much more economically sound to keep the customers you already have than it is to generate new ones. If you can spend some time planning marketing campaigns to the previous customer you will encourage them to become loyal and frequent buyers.

Always try to obtain email information or mailing information when a customer makes a purchase. Keep track of what they have bought and send out special savings as a way to say thanks to them soon after their purchase. Do not overload your customers will useless information, a savings every other day, or mass email campaigns.

Keep the specials to a minimum so they feel as though they are genuine, create individual and personal campaigns that will be of interest to them and make them feel as if you are speaking to only them, not the 20 or 50 other clients that are sent the same email.

Your company’s success relies heavily on what customers think of you and your products or services make them feel important and become the expert or go to company when they have a question or they hear about something new. Let the customer know that if they are looking for something, you will find it for them, there is no need to go elsewhere. Establish trust and create a strong relationship that will last for years to come.

Dont Make the mistake of just working with us to establish corporate credit, lets us help you actually grow your business!

Business Websites

If you have decided to expand your advertisement, a website is the easiest, cheapest, and most reliable source of advertisement for any business. A website is an easy way to get your first foot in the door to social networking or SMO Social media Optimization.  Networking is a great way to connect with customers, introduce you to a new audience, and find similar minded organizations to pull resources with.

Before building the website, you need to give detail to the design aspect of the site. You want it to reflect you and your business, while reaching out and appealing to a larger audience. You have to decide what the site will be used for, if you will be selling products or services, you will need to have an easy checkout added to the site with the ability to handle business credit card sales.

You have laid the groundwork for your website, decided its uses and are now ready to turn your creativity into a reality, now you have to decide how it will be built. If you have an administrator familiar with HTML or you yourself are experienced in web design you may want to handle this job on your own. If you decide to take on this task, know there are several great programs available at a very small cost to help you along the way. Dreamweaver, Microsoft Expression, and x-site pro are to name but a few, and some will allow you to create your page with little experience, although adding any special features such as java or any scripting may require some expertise. For most, the easiest solution is to hire someone to design the page for you, if your experience is limited or non existent in this area, a professional will save you time and money in the long run.

There are several options available to you if deciding to hire a web designer, a freelance designer for example may be found easily and be more affordable than a large firm. If you feel more comfortable dealing with an established web design company rather than an individual working independently, there are smaller firms that will offer their services at a similar rate; they will also offer the guarantee that there will always be a designer available for any problems that could arise with the site structure. Most offer upfront pricing for basic templates, adding more graphics, text content, or scripts will vary in cost according to your needs.

Keeping a website simple and clean makes it easier on the eye of the visitor; you want them to view the site in its entirety, without being distracted by flashing animations or large off center images.

Someone has to manage the site, and it can be a tedious chore. Updates have to be made to the site frequently to keep fresh with the search engines, links have to be checked and repaired when broken, not to mention the flow of emails the site will generate, each have to be responded to in a timely manner to ensure confidence in you and your business to the sender.

Your business in order to succeed needs a strategy for success not just business credit. You can not start your business and run it on hope, you need some hard work and plenty of time to plan and strategize a market plan for success.

You may feel that the products or services you are offering are what people need and want, but they may not feel the same way. You have to coordinate a plan of action for letting the customers know about your products and services and make them understand why they need them.

There are number of proven strategies that have worked in the past for other companies that you can utilize in your own business. Advertising is the most effective way to get your business attention and there are many ways you can use this tool.

•    Classified Ads
•    Create a Company Website
•    Email Marketing Campaigns
•    Print Ads
•    Fundraisers
•    Special Events
•    Corporate credit

The ideas for advertisement are limitless and they can be very affordable if done correctly. You do not have to spend a fortune in advertisements; you can successfully get your business the attention it needs by utilizing some strategy in your advertisement plan.

If your company is small, then you advertise small, as your company grows, your advertising can as well.

Another strategy that companies have used in the past successfully is customer relations. If you build a relationship with your customers and keep them coming back, your needs for advertising will diminish a bit. It is much more economical to keep the customers you have than it is to try to obtain new ones.

You should have all your customers give you their email information at the time of their purchase, this will enable you to target them in email marketing campaigns and also allow you to send out specials and company news without the failure of cold calling. These are people who know you, trust you, and will come back to make future purchases if they are given the chance.

The last and most important tactic that companies have used in the past for creating a higher success rate and increase their profit margins is to up sell other products. If you can get more from each sell, then your profits will skyrocket.

There is always something you can suggest at the time of purchase, you have to determine what items can be interlinked and what accessories will go with each item. The time you spend in this field can really increase your revenue. If you are selling digital camera, then you could suggest:

•    Extra Battery Packs
•    Photo Printers
•    Photo Printer Paper
•    Carrying Cases
•    Extra Cords for More Function
•    Photo Software
•    Tri Pods

The point to this is that you offer a convenience to your customer, offer something they may have overlooked and in the end make more profit due to the increased purchase dollar amount.

Using these tactics and strategies will increase your company’s profits and allow you to enjoy a more successful business.

World-class marketing is founded on one main principle – clearly identifying the people/organisations that you are trying to reach.

This sounds a very obvious statement to make, yet 99% of all businesses fail to do this – or fail to do this effectively.

Before you write one single word for your client, you must define their ‘target market(s)’ or ‘niche(s)’.

This is the clearly identified group(s) of people / organisations who…
-Need and more accurately ‘want’ your client’s products or services
-Can afford to pay for your client’s products or services
-Can be easily reached by your marketing efforts
-Need corporate credit for example...(business credit)

One of the biggest mistakes your client can make is to try and be ‘all things to all men’. Yes, you can be successful using this approach, but by focusing on one or more ‘niches’ your client’s success will be greater and achieved much quicker than the more ‘conventional approach’.

So why do so many people try to be all things to all men? In most cases it’s because we’re frightened to ‘limit’ the number of people we specifically target. We think if we reduce the number of prospects, we’ll risk our whole livelihood…Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me explain…

A common question I’m often asked is this – “If I limit my market won’t I be reducing the chances of doing business with more people?”
Of course you will, but to succeed in today’s competitive market place you need to concentrate your client’s marketing on a small number of well-chosen segments or niches, into which you pour all your resources.

Because you are targeting fewer companies, the same amount of money you could have spent marketing to everyone is spread across a smaller number. Therefore you have more to spend on each prospect than you would if your market was bigger. This alone makes your client more successful.

In a nutshell, your client’s niche market is the segment(s) that represents their best chance of getting a good return for their marketing efforts.
Of course, if you focus on a smaller group(s) you may not get the business of other people or businesses outside the target group.  However, what actually happens is you increase the amount of business your client receives from the target group.

 This is because they are specifically meeting the niche market’s needs and requirements. Your client is saying to them that they are THE company that knows about their situation – their problems – and their concerns. No other company specifically meets their needs in this way, and therefore your client is seen as the logical company to turn to.

Let’s take a look at the first principle of growing a business… Increase The Number Of Customers.

7
 Ways To Increase The
 Number Of Customers
 Your Business Has.

Ask nearly any business owner what they would like to have more of and most likely you’ll get an answer somewhere along the lines of, “more customers.”

There’s no denying that customers are very important to any business. Without an adequate number of people purchasing the goods and services sold by a business, there wouldn’t be any need for the business, and they would soon be out of business.

But getting customers begins with having someone to tell a sales story to – a prospect – a lead – and then converting those leads into buying and profitable customers and then keeping them from leaving and buying from the competition. Here are some ideas you can use:

1.    Get More Leads.
That is find ways to get in front of more prospects to tell your sales story to. There are a number of lead generation devices that can do this very effectively, from direct mail or telemarketing campaigns, to paid advertising or free publicity, to joint ventures and host-beneficiary relationships, just to name a few.

2.    Increase Your Conversion Ratio.
This is the converting of interested prospects into paying customers. You do this by getting better at what you do. You develop your sales skills, your word tracks and your scripts. And you can even upgrade or attract a better quality of prospects who would be more likely to buy from you.

3.    Reduce Customer Defections.
That is, close the back door – don’t let existing customers slip away to do business with the competition. Statistically, for every five percent increase in customer retention, a business can generate a 30 to 40 percent increase in profitability over a 12 to 16 month period. Since most businesses lose around 19 percent of their customers each year, only 81 percent are left. But if that number were to increase to 86 percent your business would enjoy a 30 to 40 percent increase in profitability.

Remember that it costs six to eight times more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing one, and it’s 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. So when you compare the acquisition costs for getting new customers to like you, know you, trust you, and buy from you the first time, versus getting your existing customers to repurchase from you, the cost-to-sale difference is significantly different.

4.    Increase The Number Of Referrals.
Getting new customers through referrals is one of the most cost effective methods there is for growing a business. Referrals from good customers are much easier to sell to because they’re already somewhat “pre-sold.” With conventional advertising it takes a certain amount of valuable time to create credibility and trustworthiness in the minds of prospects. But when a prospect comes as a result of a referral, that credibility and trustworthiness has already been established by the one who referred them.

5.    Establish Referral Reward Programs.
Make it worthwhile for your customers who take the time and make the effort to tell others about the benefits of doing business with you can do a lot to bolster the number of referrals you get.

Simple things like movie passes, restaurant gift certificates, car washes, manicures, or samples of some of the additional products or services you provide make good choices. The reward for a referral should be perceived as high value to your customer, but low cost to you.

6.    Reactivate Former Customers.
Every company, including yours, has former customers – those who used to do business with them but for one reason or another have stopped and are now doing business with a competitor, or maybe not even using your products or services any longer.

It’s often much easier and less expensive to sell something to someone who has done business with you in the past – someone who has already experienced the service, quality, convenience, terms, and relationship you have to offer, than it is to create a completely new customer and build that trust and credibility from ground zero.

7.    Establish Joint Venture Arrangements.
Work together in mutually beneficial arrangements with  your centers of influence.  Find people or companies who have already spent considerable time, effort and money establishing and building relationships with customers who are of the same buying profile as the customers you are targeting. Then work out reciprocal arrangements with those business to refer, endorse or suggest that their customers consider certain products or services offered by your company.


The second principle for growing a business credit, is to Generate More Income From Your Existing Customers.