The two most important business areas for all small business owners

[stilez]

I’m currently in my final year at Quinnipiac University (AACSB Accredited) in Hamden, CT. In my Management-490 class we are acting as business consultants for local small businesses in need of a little extra help from business students. The problems have a pretty decent range, but the two core areas of emphasis are:





Websites



One of the most crucial communication tools in a small business is an informative, professional, and well-put together website. Before you jump on me for my dated appearance of my site, I will confess to it. My website really needs a facelift, but I have been concentrating on my full-time job (Student ) and future career. After doing a bit of searching on website building, I came up with this program for building a website:



http://www.v-com.com/product/Web_Easy_Pro_Home.html - Web Easy Professional 6





Getting hits to your website is also a crucial area to not overlook. On a recent thread, some members mentioned using hidden “keywords� to get hits from search engines. However, if discovered, you could be on your way to bans-ville from Google/Yahoo. I suggest taking a look at this tutorial on website optimization.



http://wordsinarow.com/seo.html - Search Engine Optimization







Marketing



A successful marketing plan is what fuels a small business, but it breaches far past advertisements. A marketing mix consists of:







Target Market - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_market



Product - http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_plc.htm



Place - http://www.marketingteacher.com/Less...sson_place.htm



Price - http://www.marketingteacher.com/Less...on_pricing.htm



Promotion - http://www.marketingteacher.com/Less..._promotion.htm







Part of being a successful business is being competitive, so this information is just to get you started. Use it how you like and if clarification is needed, just ask.

[doged]

Can you elaborate on the context of, “being competitive�?

[imported_chpsk8]

Competitive is one part... One thing I will remind everyone to do is that price is not the way to compete. In other words, don`t undercut the next guy to get his business. Do a better job, or offer a different service instead. I`ve seen way too many people try and undercut the competition and end up sapping the competition to the point that nobody is making any money. There will always be a guy that will do the job for less, but he`s going to have to cut corners somewhere, and odds are it`s on your job.

[imported_hadboosttroy]

our sba at my university is aacsb accredited, i`ve honestly always wondered what exactly the aacsb is, never bothered researching it though, I think it is a good thing from what I hear. one of these days I will, finance classes take up all my time!! and this detailing obsession lol.



I agree though, I`ve always thought that web pages that are professional in quality are really lacking in a lot of small companies (although it does depend on the type of business in my opinion), and even some large ones.

[01bluecls]

Ahhh. ...the 4 P`s of Marketing. I am currently a Marketing Major at George Mason University. Defining your target market is key and will determine how the 4 P`s are evaluated and created. Another thing that I have found that is important (learned at school) is Customer Relationship Management. A website is very important when it comes to business. You want to make sure that EVERY "point of contact" a customer encounters with a business is consistent and leaves a positive impression, whether the customer is calling, visiting, and/or viewing a webpage. Also check out the American Marketing Association`s homepage....tons of info!!

[delta]

great information. I am in the process of starting my detailing business and this will help me. Thanks Sean.

[BobD]

What about location? I always thought business location played a huge roll.

[doged]

Competitive is one part... One thing I will remind everyone to do is that price is not the way to compete. In other words, don`t undercut the next guy to get his business. Do a better job, or offer a different service instead. I`ve seen way too many people try and undercut the competition and end up sapping the competition to the point that nobody is making any money. There will always be a guy that will do the job for less, but he`s going to have to cut corners somewhere, and odds are it`s on your job.

Absolutely!!! If you believe we are in the service industry then customer service is one of the most important issues. Take a look at the competitive fast food markets or any market and you will see the decline of customer service. The majority of clients in our demographics are screaming for customer service and will pay for it. Being competitive isn’t the golden ticket in “our� market, it’s being different.

[stilez]

doged: I mentioned "competitive" for the strict reason being that I wasn`t going to spoon feed every "P" and the target market in relation to detailing. I gave out the baseline info and thought it`d be helpful...the last sentence was kind of a nudge to "do it on your own"...no malicious intent though .





hadboost: Only about 30% of the Business Schools in the US are accredited. It surely helps you in your education and with finding a career (hint: put it on your resume ).





01blue: Yep, I absolutely agree. I didn`t mention the whole customer relation part because I thought it was a given .





Danase: See "Place".

[doged]

doged: I mentioned "competitive" for the strict reason being that I wasn`t going to spoon feed every "P" and the target market in relation to detailing. I gave out the baseline info and thought it`d be helpful...the last sentence was kind of a nudge to "do it on your own"...no malicious intent though .".

LOL......I know all about spoon feeding. It starts out nice but it could suck the life or time out of a person. You surmised a wealth of good information. May I make a suggestion about Sales People in one of your notes. We regarded Sales People as the most efficient payed employees. They work on a high commission low salary, then eventually full commission. Car dealerships make money on the back end, trade-in, financing, parts, labor. The sales person is sometimes a necessary evil so the other departments can make money. Anyway great info!!!

[Thomas Dekany]

good info Sean

[BobD]

Danase: See "Place".

Sorry man, I must be blind as a bat. I totally missed those links! LOL

[01bluecls]

Only about 30% of the Business Schools in the US are accredited. It surely helps you in your education and with finding a career (hint: put it on your resume ).

Actually I believe AACSB claims that less than 15% of business schools WORLDWIDE are accredited through them. My school (George Mason/School of Management) is one of them....whew Good for both of us, although you will be my competition in the job market haha jk. What`s your particular major?



http://som.gmu.edu/AACSB/AACSB.html (The first 5-8 seconds flashes the statistic im referring to)

[stilez]

Actually I believe AACSB claims that less than 15% of business schools WORLDWIDE are accredited through them. My school (George Mason/School of Management) is one of them....whew Good for both of us, although you will be my competition in the job market haha jk. What`s your particular major?



http://som.gmu.edu/AACSB/AACSB.html (The first 5-8 seconds flashes the statistic im referring to)

Excellent to know, thank you. I thought it was a higher percentage.





I`m a management major with secondary focal areas in marketing and IT.

[01bluecls]

Haha, Im a Marketing major with concentration in management. I used to be an IT guy when I interned for UUNet/MCI/Worldcom. When I was layed off 4 years ago I was since steered away from IT mainly networking. Good luck with school man. I know it can be a B**** I have 2 semesters left since I`m a year behind