Finance In Focus | Martin Print Blog

May 23, 2013

COURIER QUIZZING
Essential Questions to Ask When Looking for a Courier Service

Are you using the perfect Courier Service that matches your unique Small Business needs?
What questions do you need to ask before picking out the ideal provider of such a crucial service?

For quite a while now, I’ve been waiting in eager anticipation for a certain package to arrive here at Martin Print H.Q.
This particular package has nothing to do with business – but I’ve been reliably assured that it was despatched via a very trustworthy business courier.

It’s actually a birthday present from my Great Uncle Tom. He reckons that it’s going to be the most original and exciting and genuinely useful birthday surprise that I’ll ever receive in my life.

“I know there’s been a slight delay in the arrival,” he’ll cackle down the telephone whenever he calls me at work.
“But I’ve been in touch with the courier, and they’ve assured me that your birthday present is on its way, and should be with you very soon.
“Believe me young Martin, it will definitely be worth the wait, I promise you that! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Hmm.
Well, I certainly hope so. It’s been over seven years now.
I’m not quite sure what’s taking them so long. Our office door isn’t that hard to find.

Here at Martin Print, we’ve been fortunate enough to find the perfect mix of professional couriers to handle the distribution of our custom-crafted marketing goodies.
But I’m not here to tell you about those couriers.
After all, they may not necessarily turn out to be the ideal match for your business.

I’m much more interested in learning about the specific questions that every Australian Small Business should be asking potential courier service providers before settling on a final winning decision.

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Posted In Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus

May 16, 2013

HIDDEN COSTS AND SURPRISE CHARGES
Is Your Small Business Pricing as Clear as Crystal?

In a seemingly sneaky world of hidden costs, last-minute extra fees and unexpected nasty surprises, just how transparent is your own Small Business pricing?

Could you be accidentally driving away customers with a pricing policy that isn’t quite clear enough?
Or is it a perfectly acceptable and rewarding strategy to hide certain costs until the very last second?

A strangely popular school of thought exists which maintains that there’s nothing wrong with holding back a few vital chunks of the final invoice until the very last step of the process.

After all, you’ve already hooked the customer.
They’ve spent valuable time and effort on jumping through your hoops, filling in your registration forms, giving you bank details or credit card information, choosing the exact desired options available from your range of products and services…
They’ve already made a mental commitment to buy. They’ve made up their minds and now they just want to get to the end as quickly as possible.

Unless you do something really silly at this point, it’s surely too late for anyone to turn back now?
After all, who could seriously object to just a couple of unexpected extra costs popping up from nowhere right at the last step?

Well, I would suggest that plenty of people would object. Myself included.
In fact, some people would probably get very angry about it indeed, whilst looking at your business in a whole new negative light and making a solemn vow never to return ever again…

I got thinking about this today after trying to place an order for a cat playhouse in the shape of a fire engine.
It’s not normally the kind of thing that I would buy. Honestly. I don’t even have a cat for starters.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus

May 08, 2013

STRAPPED FOR CASH?
How to Improve Your Small Business Results Without Blowing a Tiny Budget

“I wish I could concentrate more on growing my business. But I just don’t have the funds for it. A big shame, really. I don’t suppose there’s much I can do about it.”

Oh dear.
I could see that Gloomy Graham was unlikely to provide much merriment and laughter today down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar.

To be honest, when I’d first walked through those doors and caught a quick glimpse of his long face, I made a clumsy attempt to walk right back out again.
But it was too late. He’d already spotted me.
Hitting my head on the door and yelping like an animal probably didn’t help my effort to slip out undetected.
Gloomy Graham insisted on waving me over so that I could buy him a drink and listen to his tales of business woe.
I sometimes wonder why I ever bother coming to this place…

“It’s so frustrating,” he grumbled in his typically less-than-uplifting manner.
“I look around and I see everybody else happily moving forward and expanding their businesses by pouring more and more money into them. But I just can’t compete with that at the moment.
I don’t have that kind of budget. It looks like I’ll just have to keep plodding on and hope that things pick up eventually.”

That last sentence almost made me choke on my Fizzy Watermelon Surprise.
The very idea of Gloomy Graham ever actually hoping for something positive seemed a bit of a far-fetched prospect to me.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Customer Care, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, Marketing Secrets, Offline Marketing, Online Marketing, Print and Design, Promotional Material, Social Media Marketing, Starting a New Business

May 02, 2013

GOING WILD WITH BUSINESS EXPENSES
How to Develop an Expense Policy
and Tame Your Staff Spending Habits…

Are you in the sometimes prickly position of trusting your Small Business employees with an Expenses Account?

It’s an expensive world out there.
I should know. Yesterday, I came back from the Sweet Pastry Shop in a state of shock after I discovered that they’d tripled their prices for the second time this week.
I’m starting to suspect that they’re just trying to drive me away on purpose for some unfathomable reason…

When your team members are forced into situations where they have to spend their own money to keep your business productivity running in the right direction, it’s clearly important to make sure that they don’t end up out of pocket whilst they were helping to line your own.

But does your Small Business have a clear and robust Expenses Policy?
How do you create an effective and workable new policy from scratch? And how do you ensure that these expense accounts don’t end up spinning wildly out of control?

Keeping a close eye on expenses may seem like a tricky business in itself, but it really doesn’t have to be complicated.

To be honest, I learned several valuable lessons on expenses the hard way.
I can remember sending Old Bert into town one Friday lunchtime with rather vague instructions to “buy something nice for the whole team.”
We’d had a really good week, the team had worked their socks off to meet every tight printing deadline, and I just wanted to thank everybody for their hard work and dedication.

In fairness to Old Bert, he questioned my instructions and requested slightly more specific details.
But I was incredibly busy. At that exact moment, I was actually trying to take three telephone calls at once. It really had been one of those weeks.
So, I just waved him away and told him to do whatever he thought best. I promised him that I’d pay back however much he spent from his own money.
“Just stick it on your expenses tab!” I said, half-jokingly.
We didn’t really have a clear policy in place at the time, you see.
Big mistake.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Cashflow Management, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, How-To's and Tutorials, Staff Management

April 11, 2013

ROOM FOR MANOEUVRE
The Secret Art of Good Business Negotiation

Have far too many Australian Small Business owners forgotten how to negotiate with potential suppliers and fellow businesses?
And what steps can you take to sharpen up your negotiating skills and improve your chances of a winning result?

In a world of widespread fixed prices and fixed rates, it often seems as if many of us have lost the secrets of the ancient art of negotiating a good business deal.

When a supplier or fellow business is offering you a clear price for their products or services, the very thought of striking up a negotiation makes some business owners feel uncomfortable.
If it’s not an activity that you engage in on a fairly regular basis, then it might just appear to be rude or even plain wrong.

But when your only alternative is walking away from a price that you deem to be far too high, many of these suppliers will actually appreciate the opportunity to discuss the matter further in a sensible and professional manner.
A shrewd supplier or fellow business owner will be surprisingly open to the idea of offering you a reasonable discount and possibly securing your long-term custom in the process.
It’s got to be a more fruitful proposition than running the risk of losing your business forever.

Quite a bit of healthy negotiation goes on down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar every day, although far too much of it revolves around trying to get Smokey Joe to knock a few more dollars off the price of a plate of Oxtail Dumplings.

Old Smokey Joe is never interested in bringing down the price any further though.
He argues that the blue crab toast and spring vegetables which accompany the dish are worth the asking price on their own.
I’m not sure if he’s telling the truth. I’ve never tried the dish myself. It’s a bit too expensive.

So, it’s certainly worth bearing in mind that not everyone will be open to polite negotiation, and not every attempt will deliver the result that you were hoping for.

But if you’re brave enough to strike up a round of healthy negotiation to try and secure a better deal for your business, here are just a few quick tips and pointers to help you bring down the asking price…

CONTINUE READING

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Posted In Business Clinic, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, How-To's and Tutorials, Starting a New Business

April 04, 2013

EXPENSIVELY GOOD VALUE
Why You and Your Business Customers Could
End Up Paying the Price for Cheap Bargains

Do you often find yourself battling against certain pesky business rivals who charge much less than you do for similar products or services?

How do they do it?
I’m sure that in many cases, it’s simply because they’re not offering or delivering the same levels of quality and excellence as your own business.

But it can be frustrating trying to get this message across to some potential customers who are keen to sniff out a bargain, and who are only ever interested in snapping something up at the lowest possible price.
Especially when you know that these supposed ‘bargains’ will end up costing the customer far more in the long-term…

It was a visit to Old Bert’s little office, just down the corridor, that got me thinking about this today.
I’d just popped in there to deliver his lunchtime sweet pastry, and I noticed for the first time that his office chair was beginning to look a little worn.
I suddenly realised that Old Bert had been using the same chair for years and years and years without a single complaint. I actually started to feel a little guilty, as I knew that I’d probably been through about 10 or 12 different chairs in the same period.
So, in a fit of spontaneous generosity, I offered to buy him a brand new one.

I was quite taken aback by his startling reaction to my offer.
“Get out of here with that kind of nonsense talk!” he bellowed.
“I’ve had this chair for twenty years, and I’ll keep it for twenty more! There’s nothing wrong with this chair! It was built to last, not like the sort of cheap rubbish that you keep buying for yourself! Get out of here! And give me that sweet pastry before you go!”

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Posted In Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, Marketing Secrets, Offline Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Weird & Wonderful

March 05, 2013

FIRST YEAR FLOPS, TRAPS, AND PITFALLS!
How to Avoid the Common Mistakes and Wrong Steps in Year One of Business

Still finding your feet in the very first year of your incredible new Small Business adventure?
If so, watch your step!
There could be a sneaky booby trap or two on the path ahead…

But what are the typical mistakes and blunders that you should be avoiding at all costs during these crucial first 12 months?

Down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar, there’s a small table in the quietest corner of the room at which all the oldest and wisest entrepreneurs sit and dispense occasional bits of advice to new starters in business.

I’ve often dreamt that I might one day end up with an invitation to take a permanent seat there myself, when I’m old and wise enough.
But until that day arrives, the entrepreneurial veterans are happy to let me bring their drinks and bar snacks to the table, and mop up any spillages.

Many of the eager newcomers to the Small Business Bar are brave enough to approach the table and seek out the answer to their burning business question.
But far too many of them don’t seem to bother with these golden nuggets of wisdom.
Instead, they spend most of their time either complaining to Smokey Joe that the music on the jukebox isn’t loud enough, or arguing with each other about who’s got the most expensive Business Card.

This perhaps goes some way to explaining why not many of them actually make the journey into the second sensational year of Small Business…

Here are the top five most common traps and pitfalls that could so easily have been avoided by some of these unfortunate new victims of Year One…

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Posted In Business Clinic, Cashflow Management, Customer Care, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, Starting a New Business

February 26, 2013

NO SUCH THING AS A BAD IDEA?
Learning How to Call Time on a
Business Project That’s Going Nowhere

Is there really such thing as a Bad Idea in business?

A lot of people would shout “No!” with deafening volume and utter conviction.
They would suggest that some ideas may well be better than others, but it’s all about you handle the idea, how you nurture it into development, how you turn that tiny spark of imagination into a thriving and profitable business venture.

But back here in the real world, let’s be honest with ourselves.
Of course there’s such thing as a Bad Idea!
In fact, some ideas are so hideously awful that they probably deserve to win some kind of award for sheer unashamed dreadfulness.

But how do we know when it’s time to finally abandon a Business Idea that missed the mark? When do we admit to ourselves that we got it hopelessly wrong this time?

It was a chance encounter down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar that got me thinking long and hard about this topic.
A very good friend of mine, Hardboiled Henry, came shuffling through the doors with a strangely glum expression on his tired face.

He’s usually a pretty upbeat and positive bloke, but recent developments in his business life seem to have sapped away most of his high spirits.

Hardboiled Henry has been toiling away on an exciting new project for the last three months, but it turns out that his plans to build a vegetarian restaurant on the moon were perhaps a little more ambitious than he originally envisaged. The poor bloke seems to have suffered a never-ending series of unfortunate and quite dramatic setbacks.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Cashflow Management, Creative Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, Starting a New Business, Weird & Wonderful

January 18, 2013

ALMOST ANYTHING IS POZIBLE
WITH CROWDFUNDING…
How a Smart Mumpreneur Nailed a Polished Pitch to Hit This Project Funding Goal!

Regular readers of the Martin Print Blog should recall a very recent article which served as an introduction to the rising Crowdfunding trend.
The article certainly sparked a wave of interest from business owners and developers keen to hear more about this increasingly popular platform for fundraising your next exciting business project without having to visit the bank.

If you missed the post (where have you been?!) or you’ve had your memory wiped by aliens since then (fair enough, happens to me all the time), then you can check out the brief introduction to the snowballing Crowdfunding phenomenon right here.

Following on from this, here’s another recent Crowdfunding success story which I’d love to share, as it’s a perfect example of how a cracking Australian Small Business has really taken advantage of this new people-powered strategy for raising that crucial finance.

As this particular tale involves small children, face paint, and nail polish, I’ll warn you now that this could get very messy…

Pure Poppet is a small Australian brand dedicated to creating a range of natural makeup and face paint for small children with very big imaginations!
The business was founded by Head Poppet and proud Mumpreneur Georga Holdich, whose own two children have always loved to dress up and step into the shoes of new characters.

When Georga discovered that it was almost impossible to find an Australian produced range of fun makeup items which were aimed at children and made with natural, non-toxic ingredients, she decided that the only way to make it happen was to launch such a business herself!

Since then, the range has started to take off in a big way, as fidgety parents can now finally relax and actually allow the kids to play with makeup and face paint without having to worry about the long list of toxic ingredients that usually pop up in the adult variety.

Recently, Georga decided that it would be a terrific idea to add a new water-based, non-toxic Nail Polish to the Pure Poppet range.
However, the financing of this new project could well prove to be a pretty tricky prospect…

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Posted In Archives, Business Clinic, Case Studies, Cashflow Management, Creative Marketing, Crowdfunding, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, Investors and Loans, January 2013, Newsdesk, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Start-Up Funding, Starting a New Business

January 15, 2013

SAVING A FORTUNE ON TASTY TECH
Why Upgrading Your Technology Doesn’t Have to Be an Expensive Business

Thinking about buying a new computer, upgrading your current technology, or simply splashing out on a tempting new gadget for the office or home?

Many of us would love the chance to throw out those outdated lumps of equipment that have been bugging us and embarrassing us for far too long, so that we can finally replace them with the kind of hi-tech tools that everybody else seems to be happily using nowadays.

However, it’s very easy to have a gloomy change of heart when you start thinking about the hefty price tags attached to modern technology, and you hear those horror stories of friends and associates spending way over the odds on shiny new pieces of kit.

But is it really so expensive to keep up to date with current technological trends?
Or are we sometimes led astray by misleading advice and pushy sales pitches which should never even enter the financial equation?

Last week, a couple of entrepreneurial friends came bustling excitedly into Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar, having both just returned from separate gadget-shopping missions.
Bags, boxes, cables, wires, and strange bits of plastic were quickly unpacked and spread around the bar tables, as the two entrepreneurs showed off their new hi-tech purchases, and compared their shopping experiences.

Flash Harry was the first to reveal just how much he had spent.
He’s never been one to shy away from boasting about the ridiculous amounts of money he gets through in a day.
When he proudly announced the frankly staggering total cost of his new equipment, I had to briefly venture outside and get some fresh air, just to stop myself from fainting at the bar.

Modest Max didn’t have anywhere near as much money to splash around as Harry.
He was much more reserved in announcing exactly how much money he had spent on this exciting new technology.
In fact, Max’s total cost turned out to be less than half of what Flash Harry had spent.

But here’s the funny thing;
After closely inspecting all this new equipment, I soon came to the conclusion that these two shoppers had pretty much walked away with almost exactly the same quality of techie goods!
Despite the fact that Flash Harry had spent over twice as much as Max, there wasn’t actually a single useful benefit or advantage that Harry had gained by paying over the odds.

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Posted In Entrepreneur Zone, Finance In Focus, Technology & The Web