Marketing online requires you to understand what works and don’t work online. For a start, there are very few website designers with an understanding of online marketing. The mistake many entrepreneurs make is to delude themselves that they only need to spend a lot of money on the website design and away they go, customers will come flooding in. Is this what you think as well? I dare say you would have learnt the truth by now. Before you start falling in love with your website, please make sure you are clear about:

1. Who your market is and what they want as solution to their problems- check your business plan
2. Who your market is and what they want and need as solution to their problems- check your business plan
3. What benefit your services and products offer the target market in solving their problems- check your business plan
4. How does your target market search for the answers to their problems on search engines such as Google and Yahoo – in short what keyword phrases are they using to search for solutions and this must be provable not what you think they are using. There are tools you can use to find this very quickly.

Armed with these answers, your next task is to ensure your website is set up with the relevant key word phrases in your domain (e.g. pet-sitters-help.co.uk for a pet-sitting business) and sales letters. You also need to ensure that you take steps to promote your website to relevant directories with a high page ranking using SEO service provides that offer services in directory submission, article submission, social bookmarks, social media, link exchange and video directory submission. All of these various submissions have their dos and don’ts and it is important you understand how to do this yourself without breaking your bank accounts and/or get one of our SEO experts of BSS Online Marketing to assist you achieve your goals without breaking your bank accounts.
Now, here is the deal, never use a SEO service provider who is not recommended by a third party. Remember, the quickest way to go out of business is to run out of money. If you spend all your capital on marketing that don’t generate positive returns for you, I am sure you know what will be the outcome to your business.

A great business is one with great products and services that are well supported by an effective marketing system. If you truly want your business to grow the two areas you must never undermine is ideas generation and development, as well as marketing and sales. Get yourself educated in these areas and you will be good to go.

Marketing as you know need not be reduced to online marketing. It should be both online and offline. The rules governing effective online marketing is only partly explained here as we are only looking at strategies for traffic generation and sales conversion. However, you must also be aware that driving traffic to your site does not necessarily mean you will generate sales. Sales are a function of:
1. The products and services on offer and how well they are presented online to address the needs and wants of your market – specifically offering them benefits that are deemed valuable.
2. The prices of your services and products compared to competitors- and this includes shipping costs and other costs incurred by the prospects.
3. The professionalism and accessibility of your services and products. In short, can the prospects reach someone in your customer services department or reception easily on the phone or by e-mail? It is for this reason we partner with a number of organisations to offer you virtual office and phone services at competitive prices.
4. How confident and trustworthy your business appears to the prospects and much more. Using a PO Box as a business address is a No, No. Asking for payment online by Western Union and refusing to take payment by credit card or PayPal is a sure recipe for lose the trust of your prospects and customers.

So when you are looking at traffic generation and sales conversion, don’t forget to review all other aspects of the marketing equation.

For more information about reliable tools and systems you can plug into your business toolkit contact Sheila Elliott at 0845 226 4315

I hesitate to blog on this topic today but I think I should. I really want to share my own experience with you when I started my business. Believe it or not, even with all my qualifications and experience in business management issues, I did find the issue of marketing daunting when I started for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I have no track record in business and many prospects will ask for testimonials and trade reference.

Secondly, my role from being a finance employee to becoming a business owner was a significant change because I was responsible for my own income and dare I say my salary. Where do I start? Will people take me seriously? What if no one buys from me…………..? These were all the questions I silently asked myself. It is funny, because the truth is, I experienced a mixture of excitement and anxiety all at the same time.

One of the biggest challenges that many entrepreneurs will find when they start a business is the practicalities of selling their own products and services to the target market they really want to serve. Making that first sale is important to boost your motivation to continue. Being able to sell is a skill no entrepreneur can afford to be average at. True, you may be average when you start your business but you should not be content to stay at that level, unless you want to have an average performance in your business. In my case, I had to utilise the expertise of gurus who have helped others in the field and with strong market reputation. I utilised Jay Abraham’s ‘Marketing Mastermind and 93 Extraordinary Referral Systems’ which I used and quite honestly my income grew by more than 300% in twelve months just putting some of the tools shared by Jay Abraham. It is funny when I think about it now but I remembered when I started putting the techniques learnt and seeing the results. I remembered how I unwittingly sought advice from people who are not in business on a subject they know nothing about and sure enough they guided me towards the wrong directions. Thank God, I was wise enough to recognise when to put a break on their proposals. Remember, that it does not help you in any way to get someone who is not running a business to be advising you on this subject. If they know how to market they will be in business. Marketing is not just textbook stuff, it involves your interaction with yourself and others and much more.
Here are my top tips for start-up businesses trying to get their first sales and growing their business by at least 50% over eighteen months- consider them as my top tips.

• Start spending more than 25% of your time per week on marketing activities

• Recruit and utilise the skills of associates and joint venture partners to leverage time and boost sales income

• Seek ways of understanding your existing clients needs and develop solutions for them so that you can increase the average spend per clients

• Develop a marketing system using the likes of Jay Abrahams Marketing Mastermind System and be prepared to invest the time and money to put the system in place. No business will succeed without a solid system to support its success.

• Monitor the performance of all your marketing effort and do more of what works and less of what does not work.

• Seek expert advice and never take advice from people with no track record of doing what you are doing or for that matter with poor results in the area you are trying to master.
• To find out more about tools to assist your business in effective marketing, please visit www.businessservicessupport.com/marketing-strategies

This is an article put together to help the average entrepreneur navigate the important journey of understanding what is required for effective online marketing. All too often, experts in SEO and even website developers will provide half the information required for business success to their clients, leaving entrepreneurs with little or no value for their money because they do not understand that effective online marketing must be supported by a number of strategies and systems.
In order for you to sell online effectively, here are my top tips to get you going. As a matter of principle you need:
1 A user friendly website with a well written and presentable sales letter that speaks to the target market in a way that influences them to take action. By the way this need not be expensive. Some expensive websites are ineffective and remember, website by itself does not earn you sales. You will find my recommended suppliers of website and SEO services on my blog site. Remember also to get your website hosted by a reputable host provider.

2 To optimise your website with keywords phrases that are searched on engines such as Google and Yahoo as well as include meta description and meta title on your site. Each webpage should be optimised with its own unique keyword phrases, meta description and title

3 To implement strategies for ongoing traffic generation such as website submission to major search engines and directories as well as writing and submitting articles via blogs and ezines.

4 To set competitive product prices with clear images and descriptions on the website. Products you want to sell online should not be too expensive except where they are well known brands which are in high demand.

5 A reliable customer support system to help you address issues quickly. This can be via phone or email.

6 A system for managing contact list and promoting services to contacts. Email marketing systems are critical tools for on-going relationship management and sales promotion.

7 A merchant account with PayPal and other payment gateway processor such as 2checkout or Nochex. Never rely on a single provider. You never know when you may have a dispute and the last thing you need is not to be able to receive payment from customers.

8 Details of contact names and business telephone number, as well as testimonials and success stories should be on your website and other marketing materials. All of this should be well laid out and presentable.

9 A domain name that is keyword rich and a reliable web host that provides 24/7 technical support 52 weeks in the year. Do not compromise your website hosting with a business that does not offer 24/7 support. Check out our recommended providers.

10 A landing page with a short sales letter carefully crafted to persuade leads to opt-in for your invaluable special report or gift to them.

These simple tips if utilised will make a big difference to your marketing activities over time.

Sheila Elliott is a business start-up and development expert offering group and one to one coaching as well as financial consultancy and training sessions. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com and http://www.sheilaelliott.com

Most businesses owners and aspiring entrepreneurs are to find out how they can fund their business but they have limited understanding of the psychological dimension of investors and the banks. Funding a business, traditionally have been led by accountants who in their roles will normally handle financial matters in business. As a result entrepreneurs who are not financially savvy will tend to rely on finance experts to handle matters relating to funding their business. This is not a bad thing but it is always wise to learn a bit about money matters because it is the life blood of a business. Get this wrong and you will be doomed. In this article I am going to share two top tips you need to know about funding your business. I am assuming you need third party funding which can take the form of grants, business loans or equity finance. To find out about the pros and cons of the different financing options, you simply need to download a free copy of my book where you will get as much information on this subject. For now, lets turn our attention to my tips.

Tip No 1. You need a business plan and you need one that is robust with financial forecasts included in the form of profit and loss, balance sheet and cashflow. Your financial forecast should have key financial indicators which accountants call ratio analysis. I have seen business plans that only consist of financial figures. This is not a business plan it is merely a financial plan. Do not make the same mistake. Your business plan must provide details about your business, your vision, mission and strategic objectives. It must also provide details about your target market, marketing and sales strategy. You want to ensure the plan is compelling and by compelling I mean really persuasive and influential. My company helps entrepreneurs put together compelling business plan.

Tip No 2 . You certainly want to be able to explain your business plan to potential lenders and investors confidently. If you can’t do this, you will rapidly lose their trust. Lenders and investors want to know you have a team of experts in the business, that will support the delivery of the plan (this does not mean they are your staff) but equally if you own the business, they expect that you should be able to explain you business plan to them with confidence. You may call upon the professional accountant as many do to explain the figures at formal meetings. However, as the owner of the business, if you can explain the figures, you will even grasp their attention very quickly. Presenting to investors and lenders is all about influencing other people to do what you want them to do. Don’t forget this salient point. Do all you can to influence lenders or investors to part with their money by taking the necessary steps to be well informed about every aspects of your business plan. Stay clear from cheap plans that will ultimately lack in quality and don’t achieve your goals. Whether you are in business or starting a business, there are some expenses you will have to incur and if you fail to do so, your business dies. Sorry I am being blatantly honest with you as I want you to succeed.

Sheila Elliott is a business start-up and development expert offering group and one to one coaching as well as financial consultancy and training sessions. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com

This is part one of my tips for funding a business successfully. Having worked for so many years with businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs seeking finance, it has come to my attention that there is one common problem that many find difficult to manage when faced with the subject of raising finance for business. Many are of the view that they should beg for the money when banks and investors are fully aware that their financial wealth is not dependent on the amount of cash hoarded in their bank account but rather the quality of investment they make with their money.

The bottom line is, investors and banks do not make money keeping it in their safe. They make money when it is invested in the right soil with high potential for growth in positive cash flow and profit. This means that banks and investors are perpetually seeking opportunities to invest in the form of business loans, equity or a blend of both. The question now is, what should an entrepreneur do to lay their hands on this cash?

The ability to influence and persuade lenders or investors to follow your vision calls for a respectable amount of insight and capacity to press the right emotional triggers during social intercourse with them, whether on a frequent basis or not. Wrong use of language or expressions can do a great deal of damage to a business trying to raise finance. It is therefore important to seek the help and support of experience and qualified advisors who frequently interact in the lingo of investors and the banks. To do otherwise will only expose you and your business to the risk of not securing the much needed finance for your business.

One of the biggest myths that I have come across many times, is the DIY mentality in the areas of writing a solid business plan for business start-up, improvement or expansion. Some entrepreneurs will say that they have read books and that qualifies them to right a solid plan. The first time reality hit them, is when they approached a potential investor or bank for finance, and then get quiz on their business plans, only to find that there are so many holes that have not been addressed. It is always a shame when this happens.

So here are some tips to help you raise finance for your business.

1. Be clear about the amount of finance you are looking for. There is nothing worst than being ambivalent about how much you need when faced with a potential investor or lender.

2. Be clear about what you want the money for. No wise investor or lender will hand over their cash when you are not sure what you want the money for. It is always advisable you have a clear breakdown of how you expect to use the money, with clear estimates of costs of resources you plan to purchase. It might be that your cost estimate may change with time, as inflation is outside the control of your business. Be ready to amend your estimates in your business plan if it changes before you meet with a potential investor.
Now watch out for part 2 where I will cover my remaining five top tips.

Sheila Elliott is a business start-up and development expert offering group and one to one coaching as well as financial consultancy and training sessions. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com and http://www.sheilaelliott.com

Funding A business- how to get a ‘YES’

Most businesses owners and aspiring entrepreneurs are to find out how they can fund their business but they have limited understanding of the psychological dimension of investors and the banks. Funding a business, traditionally have been led by accountants who in their roles will normally handle financial matters in business. As a result entrepreneurs who are not financially savvy will tend to rely on finance experts to handle matters relating to funding their business. This is not a bad thing but it is always wise to learn a bit about money matters because it is the life blood of a business. Get this wrong and you will be doomed. In this article I am going to share two top tips you need to know about funding your business. I am assuming you need third party funding which can take the form of grants, business loans or equity finance. To find out about the pros and cons of the different financing options, you simply need to download a free copy of my book where you will get as much information on this subject. For now, lets turn our attention to my tips.

Tip No 1. You need a business plan and you need one that is robust with financial forecasts included in the form of profit and loss, balance sheet and cashflow. Your financial forecast should have key financial indicators which accountants call ratio analysis. I have seen business plans that only consist of financial figures. This is not a business plan it is merely a financial plan. Do not make the same mistake. Your business plan must provide details about your business, your vision, mission and strategic objectives. It must also provide details about your target market, marketing and sales strategy. You want to ensure the plan is compelling and by compelling I mean really persuasive and influential. My company helps entrepreneurs put together compelling business plan.

Tip No 2 . You certainly want to be able to explain your business plan to potential lenders and investors confidently. If you can’t do this, you will rapidly lose their trust. Lenders and investors want to know you have a team of experts in the business, that will support the delivery of the plan (this does not mean they are your staff) but equally if you own the business, they expect that you should be able to explain you business plan to them with confidence. You may call upon the professional accountant as many do to explain the figures at formal meetings. However, as the owner of the business, if you can explain the figures, you will even grasp their attention very quickly. Presenting to investors and lenders is all about influencing other people to do what you want them to do. Don’t forget this salient point. Do all you can to influence lenders or investors to part with their money by taking the necessary steps to be well informed about every aspects of your business plan. Stay clear from cheap plans that will ultimately lack in quality and don’t achieve your goals. Whether you are in business or starting a business, there are some expenses you will have to incur and if you fail to do so, your business dies. Sorry I am being blatantly honest with you as I want you to succeed.

Sheila Elliott is a business start-up and development expert offering group and one to one coaching as well as financial consultancy and training sessions. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com and http://www.sheilaelliott.com

In this article, you are going to find three top tips on funding a business. You may have read my earlier articles and you will see that this is just a continuation of others.

Tip No 1

Make sure that you present yourself well, when you meet with investors and lenders. The way you dress and speak matters. Every step of the way you are being observed. Your presentation must be compelling. This is why we provide training seminars in financing your business to help you develop the right knowledge base so that you give yourself the added advantage when you are faced with potential investors and lenders.

Tip No 2

Think correctly and positively. Your mental life is one you have to take control over. One of the secret of success is the ability to take control of your mind and direct it to what you want to see happen in your life. If you want to raise finance, you can’t be talking about defeat and doubting your ability to do so successfully. I covered this aspect of “Mind Power” in my book “My Business Is My Business- Learn How to Earn a Fortune” and I have produced audio CDs on the subject of the power of the mind. Remember, you have something to offer the investor or lenders. Investors and lenders of money make their money through your ideas. They sell money for interest or dividend to those with great ideas that will generate profits. So the relationship is two ways. All you have to demonstrate is that your deal will help them realise their dreams. They have to see it clearly and so it is up to you to show them how it will work. Stay clear from fuzzy language and terminology that will only serve to distract from raising finance when faced with the opportunity to do so. Do not use jargons familiar in your industry but not outside your industry.

Tip No 3
Solicit the support of experts. You do not want to be “Jack of all trade and master of none”. Remember, the money you pay for expert services is not an expense; it is an investment in your business. Change your perception of money. This is one of the causes of success. Successful people always pay for good advice. The opposite is equally true for people who repeatedly fail in business and life generally.

Sheila Elliott is a business start-up and development expert offering group and one to one coaching as well as financial consultancy and training sessions. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com

How would you like to know about contract
opportunities before they hit the public domain? How
would you like to know about local authorities and
framework arrangement so that you can stealthily
approach first tier suppliers for subcontracting
opportunities before they start finding partners?

These first tiers suppliers don’t like to be exposed
in public, but you can now find out about them easily
and effortlessly.

With the current drain in demand for services in the
private sector, many businesses are now turning to the
public sector as a safe haven to grow their business,
but they are all looking in the wrong direction. They
are all chasing few contracts that hit portals such as
Competefor, Supply2gov.uk, and many of the tender
portals, leaving the big money in the hands of the
smart cookies.

The bad news is 80% of businesses are chasing 20% of
the contract opportunities. Are you one of them? The
good news is 20% of the business community are chasing
80% of the contract opportunities and you can be one
of the 20%.

You may want to dismiss this, but I am going to prove
this to you right away. How would you like to know
about catering, health and safety as well as building
and construction opportunities before they become
public knowledge?

How would you like to get in the face of local
authorities contract managers or procurement teams
before new contracts are put out to tender? Let me
give you examples of few contracts that are about to
expire so that you can call the local authorities
yourself and check the accuracy of the information
yourself.

Call these local authorities today and find out about
these contract opportunities.

Examples of Contract Opportunities:

1. Catering Sector – Contact London Borough of
Havering. The contract is for the delivery of breads,
rolls and morning goods on a weekly basis for up to 63
school kitchens, social services homes and staff
catering sites. The contract expires on 31 August
2010, and you can reach the manager in charge on 01708
43942.

2. Health and Safety Sector – contact London
Borough of Bexley. The opportunity is for water
hygiene testing and the contract expires on 20 April
2010. The contact office is on 0208 294 6840.

3. Building and Maintenance – contact the London borough
of Greenwich. The contract opportunity is for building
and construction and in this case for Kitchen
installation. The existing contract expires on 1
August 2010 and the department in charge is the
Strategic Procurement service on 0208 9241 5605.

What are you waiting for? Call these local authorities
today and find out for yourself. When you have done
so, contact us and we will start helping you source
leads for your public sector contract opportunities.

We will put together a bespoke report of all the
contracts that you are interested in that are coming
up for renewal in the next six to eighteen months. We
will also give you names of suppliers that are holding
big contracts with local authorities so that you can
approach them for subcontracting opportunity.

By using our service, you will immediately have a
competitive advantage over those singularly relying on
public portals for sourcing contract opportunities as
you will have first hand information, well before the
tenders go out.

Consider this service as a useful lead to help you get
infront you your buyers and stop wasting invaluable
time and resources in so called, “Meet The Buyers
Event” where many of the decision makers hardly
appear. To boost your bottom-line you need to sell
more. This is your opportunity to get quality leads
for your public sector tendering effort.

By the way, if you are not happy with the information
we provide you with, simply come back to us and
request your money back. We guarantee every bit of
information given to you and you are taking no risk
using our services. If you are serious about growing
your business, contact us today. For more information
email Sheila@businessservicessupport.com or call our
main office at 0845 226 4315.

Sincerely,

Sheila Elliott
FCCA, MBA, LPNLP
Managing Director & Author of My Business Is My Business
BSS Management Consultancy Limited
Dedicated In Helping Entrepreneurs Grow Their Business

Business Services Support Ltd
2nd Floor, 145 – 157
St John Street, London EC1V 4PY
Phone: 0845 226 4315 or 0208 310 4101
Fax: 0208 310 4101
Enquiries@businessservicessupport.com

Minority owned businesses in the UK are on the rise with recent statistics showing women playing a significant role in the business community. In my local area (London Borough of Greenwich), one cannot help but to notice a steady increase in the number of ethnic businesses springing up on the high street and this trend is expected to continue into the future.

Whilst this trend is a step in the right direction, new businesses, and to a large extent existing ones, will need to be sensitive to the challenges of building a successful business. Business support services can play a significant role in the nurturing and development stages of businesses. Equally important are opportunities for sharing best practices.

This article reveals what well known and respected business veterans say about the sources of their success. I am sure we can all learn from them.

Successful businesses take their customers’ perception about their products and services very seriously. They generally focus on quality, innovation and profitability. Under promising and over delivering is a guided principle that underpins their ethos. In addition they understand that their business is as good as the people who work for them. Consequently, cultivating a culture that values, respects and develops staff is a common strategy employed by successful businesses to gain the support and commitment of their staff. As a result, they are able to stem the cancer of high staff turnover that is prevalent in unsuccessful businesses.

It is a well-established fact that people will make or break a business and successful businesses understand this philosophy all too well. Successful businesses have retention strategies, which could take on various forms. One such strategy includes involving their staff in decision making through focus groups aimed at innovating, creating new products and encouraging a strong listening culture right across the organisation. In the final analysis, one cannot underplay the importance of strong leadership, competent managers and staff, integrity and honesty in the formula for business success.

Sheila Elliott is the managing director of Business Services Support Limited

http://www.businessservicessupport.com

email sheila@businessservicessupport.com

Many businesses purport that their greatest asset is their staff. On the other side many claim that their greatest headache is their staff. Whatever camp you belong to, be rest assured that people are vital to every business no matter what the technocrats may like us to believe. It is true that we live in the age of technological advancement and evolution with many businesses queuing to take advantage of the next automated system that comes into the market with a promised tag to streamline business processes, improve quality of services and products, deliver added value to customers and, to top it all, increase profitability for investors. Your staff are invaluable assets to your business but sadly there are very few managers that are adequately skilled to deal with staffing issues efficiently and effectively. Some even believe that staff are assets that must be controlled, until they are threatened with a resignation or strike action.

This article seeks to provide information on strategies successful managers use to get the best out of their staff. It is hoped that readers will benefit from this article and ensure their businesses improve their approach to managing staff in the future.

To start of with, you need to know that people are different in many respect and successful managers generally strive to know their people well enough to ensure they receive the necessary support to effectively undertake their jobs within the standards set by the business. Some of the differences in people include their learning styles, which can sometimes miss the radar of managers. You will be surprised to know that people take in information differently, with some learning through reading books, others through observations and reflection and others through practical hands on approach.  Equally, some people are thinkers and learn best using their auditory senses, others are more visionary and learn better through images whereas others are kinaesthetic and learn best through their emotions. In the light of all of these differences, successful managers generally provide support using mediums that are most appropriate to the learning style of their staff, as opposed to using as “One-Size-Fit-All” Approach.

Successful managers are acutely aware that it is not sufficient for their staff to know the overall objectives of the team, as well as the roles and responsibilities of individuals in the team. They take steps to communicate clearly to their staff and make time to deal with matters affecting their wellbeing. Whilst doing all of this, they simultaneously ensure that the overall objectives and goals of the business are kept well in focus.  Getting the best from staff is a balancing act between the managing the needs of the business and the needs of staff. Both needs should be given careful attention to avoid management paralysis, staff apathy and demotivation. This brings me to yet another point.

People are special types of resources in a business; they provide services to the business and must be treated with respect and value. Managers who consistently get the best out of their staff do not demean their staff and certainly avoid situations that will lead to humiliating staff.  Remember this simple formula:

“Getting the best from your staff = motivating staff + providing them with skills and knowledge required to do the job effectively”.

To motivate staff and train them effectively, a manager must know their staff well enough to ensure their proposal for performance improvement and motivation strategy is appropriate.

Over the next few weeks, we will be giving free consultation advice to businesses that need help in financial and human resource management. If you would like to take advantage of this do send me an email. For advice and support on this subject, contact sheila@businessservicessupport.com

Sheila Elliott is an expert in business  and personal development strategies. She is the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com and http://www.sheilaelliott.com

Some of you may be asking if it is possible for a business to be profitable and bankrupt at the same time. Well the simple answer to this question is “Yes it is”.  A business can be profitable and be cash-strapped all at the same time. In practice, there are many businesses that precariously operate in this way. Some of them are under the misguided belief that their business is financially healthy just because they are generating strong profits.  The connection between profit and cash is hardly made by such businesses until their bank informs them that their cheques can no longer  be paid due to  lack of cash.

Understanding the rudimentary principles of interpreting and evaluating financial statements accurately can help businesses identify whether their business is profitable and liquid. In reality is cash is king, whereas profit is fantasy. A business with no cash will soon become insolvent regardless of whether it is profitable or not. In this article we will explore strategies businesses can implement to ensure they generate healthy cash and profits at the same time.

The first strategy is to set up a clear policy on credit sales.  Such strategy can include approving customers’ credit lines based on their credit ratings. To do this you must have a system in place to determine customers’ credit worthiness before approving credit lines. The next stage is to determine how much credit period to extend to customers. In determining the credit period, it is always advisable to find out what the normal practice in the industry is (e.g. 15 days, 30 days or more) and what credit period you can expect from your suppliers and bankers to cushion you over this period. All too often, small businesses in particular, give very long credit periods to large businesses only to run into cash flow problems owing to its inability to make timely collections from these customers. One way to get around this problem is to stipulate the payment terms clearly on the invoice before issuing it to the customer, as well as to charge interest on outstanding invoices after the approved credit period. But remember, the policy of charging interest on outstanding invoices after the credit period must be clearly communicated before it is enforced. Failure to communicate terms in advance could result in damaging the business’ relationship with its customers. Most successful businesses operate this policy and as a business owner you can do the same.

Other strategies you can use include using factoring agents, insuring against the risks of bad debts, negotiating competitive credit terms with suppliers and giving discounts to customers for prompt payments. For advice and support on this subject, contact sheila@businessservicessupport.com

Sheila Elliott is an expert in business  and personal development strategies. She is  the founder of Business Services Support Limited and the author of My Business Is My Business- Learn How To Earn A Fortune. For more information about are free articles visit, http://www.businessservicessupport.com and http://www.sheilaelliott.com