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I have found over the years that one of the easiest, best ways to sell something is the come prepared.  It doesn’t matter if you are sitting at lunch with a colleague, visiting a long term client, or showing up to pitch a brand new client.

People don’t like to think.  They don’t like to interpret.  And they don’t like to read between the lines.  It is a simple fact of business – we don’t have any time.  So why do so many sales people seem hell bent on wasting it?

One of the most effective techniques I have found to sell something is to have support.  I’m not talking about page after page of documentation, but a graph or an image that sums up the entire sales presentation in one shot.  It’s like having a magic coin in your back pocket.  You don’t need to pull it out all the time, just when the situation calls for it.

One of my favorite places to go for analytics and data is marketingcharts.com.  The reason is simple – a chart will provide the pitch, the presentation, and the closer.   The pitch is your 30-second value proposition in which you pique the client’s interest.  The presentation is the sit down meeting where you explain exactly what you could and will do for a client.  The closer is setting up the project parameters, receiving the check, and so on.  We all like closers!

Say for instance, I am pitching search engine marketing to a financial services firm.  I might take the chart below along with me:

From this chart, I can talk about the current state of the industry as well as the ad dollars that other financial companies are throwing at the Internet.  This can prompt all kinds of conversations about conversion rates, the analytics of search engine marketing, and the real time tracking of expenditures.

It’s not that I am trying to make my client feel that they need to get in or get out…  But this chart provides talking points on their industry as well as what I can offer them through my company.

A lot of times, being prepared doesn’t do anything more than let you establish points of interest with a client.  If you can get involved in a conversation that will directly benefit their business, you have just won yourself a job because you are talking in their language and involving them in a conversation!

Every once in a while, a business idea comes across my desk that just simply works.  EmployeeSuggestionBox.com is one of those ideas.

When I was at Pepsi, I remember filling out employee surveys every year that detailed the quality of management, the level of productivity, our thoughts on our pay, and all kinds of other questions.  I was more interested in the free donuts and coffee than in spending an hour reliving SAT memories, but what can you do.  They paid us for it!

Now, being a business owner, I can appreciate the value of those survey responses because they give you a peak into what your employees (and by extension, you customers) are feeling about your company.  They offer very valuable insight and data into what you are doing right, and what you need to change.

I was recently contacted about doing a review of EmployeeSuggestionBox.com, and I have to admit – I was pleasantly surprised.  What they have going on over there is pretty creative.  They term their online application to be an ‘On-Demand Idea Collaboration Suite.’  The thought is that by consistently soliciting employees for ideas on innovation, collaboration, process improvement, and the like, a more productive workforce will be built.  I for one really like the model because the true successes in business come out of collaboration and not dictatorship!

The service offerings itself are split up into four categories:

Idea Center

The Idea Center is where you can:

• Solicit ideas for improvement from you employees
• Generate a free flow of uncensored ideas and concepts
• Manage new ideas
• Help you send a message that you value your employees’ creativity

Opinion Polls

Opinion Polls are used as quick voting by the masses.  This looks extremely useful when looking into smaller ideas, but as we all know, ideas that carry weight impact the bottom line (and should be decided on by management).

• Allows you to vote on which ideas to support
• You have the ability to create a poll in seconds
• Real time tracking (perhaps the most important aspect)

Brainstorming Forums

This is probably my favorite feature because it’s hard to mimic the conversations that take place at a roundtable.  With EmployeeSuggestionBox.com, you can have a very high level of group collaboration.

• Brainstorm a specific topic
• Utilize different thinking styles in the same environment
• Help shape unpolished ideas
• Leverage each others creative energy

Project Center

The project center is a great way to track projects while still leveraging creative input.

• Turn ideas into input
• Create and Track Milestones
• Share projects with other users
• Upload and manage project documents

In Summary

EmployeeSuggestionBox.com has a whole lot of things going for them.  I like their thoughts on idea collaboration and utilizing the viewpoints of the masses to aid in innovation.  My favorite aspect is the brainstorming forums where one can really get into creativity no matter where they are located!

For more information, check out EmployeeSuggestionBox.com!

Forbes has a list of the top 10 most profitable businesses to start, as well as the top 10 least profitable.

The top 10 most profitable:

1. Accounting Services
2. Legal Services
3. Dental Services
4. Specialized Design Services
5. Other Health Practitioners

Top 10 least profitable:

1. Community Care Facilities
2. Other Support Services
3. Beverage Manufacturing
4. Real Estate Related Services
5. Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing

The service sector appears to be pretty healthy, and the health care industry is increasing due to the age of the baby boomer generation. Is there something you see that you could start?

One more thing.. I can’t help but put my favorite Henry Ford quote in here:

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

[via  BusinessPundit.com]

Business expenses are a necessary evil in any company.  In order to make more money (and continue progressing), you have to spend money.  If you don’t reinvest in updated technology, you will quickly be ushered out the door.

I have long admired those that can run capital intense businesses in the farming industry, trucking industry, and in food preparation and printing.  They spend so heavily on keeping everything up to date, that a lot of times it doesn’t seem like it is even manageable.  For me, a service oriented business is just about right.  You have to keep up on education and training, but the biggest expense incurred is a new computer or an office building.

With that being said, I want to introduce you to the king of all business expenses – a $600,000.00 printer…

This printer will do anything and everything you could ever want as long as it is narrower than 36″ on one side.  And truly, the size of it speaks for itself…  Check this thing out:

How about that?  And I bitch because my little inkjet runs out of ink…  Bar tabs included, what was your biggest business expense?