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4 Year Profit & Loss and Cash Flow Template

With RealEasyBooks 4 Year Profit & Loss and Cash Flow Template (Excel format) you enter only a few assumptions about your business and get a complete 4-year (1st year by month) forecast of Profit & Loss and Cash Flow.

To download it click here.

Articles

A Small Business's Best and Most Cost Effective Marketing Strategy!

Three little words "Word of Mouth" describe the best sales friend of any small business. This is not a major business “secret” but many businesses don’t take the very simple and inexpensive steps to ensure it is working for them. Here are 6 things you should be doing in your business to maximize word of mouth.

1). Business Cards & Brochures - Help people remember your business so they can recommend it to their friends and others. Help them with; business cards that have all your contact information. Be sure to use both sides of your card. Have an easy name/logo to remember and make sure it appears on everything you mail, produce or give away.

2). Under Promise and Over Deliver - Review the way you describe your product or service and make sure it doesn’t imply things that are beyond the scope. Then figure out inexpensive “extras” that the customer receives when they purchases your product or service. These can include improved delivery time, extra features, follow up, extra care, samples or other benefits.

3). Exceptional Customer Service - Customers will talk to their friends about an example of good customer service. Good customer service will get talked about, especially in today’s climate where we see many signs of poor customer service. Please note that they may also spread the word about a bad experience, therefore, you can look at this as a defense against bad "press". Remember, this requires training your employees so that your customers are greeted and are made to feel appreciated, what ever the circumstance.

4). Ask Your Customers for Referrals – Your existing customers may know someone else looking for a similar service or product. This is proactive word of mouth and may also give you good feedback on whether your customers are happy with your service.

5). Discounts for Customer Referrals - Offer your customers discounts if they refer customers to your business. As an example, a pool service company might offer one free month of service for every customer a current customer refers to them.

6). Keep Your Name in Front of Customers – Secure your customers name and address and their e mail address and periodically sending them something of value like useful information or inexpensive items like calendars or note pads. You cannot get word of mouth promotion if they can't remember your company name or contact information.

Low Cost Market Research for Small business Entrepreneurs

Market Research for a small business entrepreneur is the collection and evaluation of information to determine if a relevant business opportunity exists and to identify the challenges that lie ahead. Effective research can be gained through contacts with customers, competitors, suppliers and businesses currently operating in your industry. Market Research must start with clearly defined goals and objectives.

1. State your business model clearly and concisely

2. Check the Yellow pages and the Internet. Is the number of businesses in your industry increasing or decreasing from the previous three years and why? City Hall has listings that will help you here.

3. Visit other business owners related to your business in non-competing areas and ask how they view potential growth in their industry. Ask about startup costs and potholes to avoid. Explain why information is needed. Do not misrepresent your interest. Offer incentives invite the owner out to lunch as your guest.

4. Bounce your idea off people with experience in your industry. Structure a prepared list of questions to match the person being interviewed.

5. Canvas people in the community. Ask questions such as: What do they like or not like about your competition? What products or service would they like you to offer?

6. Meet with suppliers. They usually have a feel for market trends and what is selling. You may even get some inside information on your competitors' operations.

7. If you've never owned or worked in the business get a job and work in it for 3-6 months. This will provide you an opportunity to be exposed to operations, customer and employee relations, pricing/discounting and how to deal with suppliers.

8. Join your industry's associations, appropriate Chambers of Commerce and other relevant organizations. Attend their meetings for a chance to network and get feedback about the growth of businesses in your area.

9. Looking for additional information: Internet Search engines and directories, industry and trade outlooks, govt. (census.gov, doc.gov, www.business.gov), market research, public and SCORE libraries, business brokers, product catalogs.

10. Review your business plan with successful business people. Arrange an appointment with the appropriate SCORE counselors for advice. Review the assets available at our web site www.svscore.org

Source: Silicon Valley SCORE (www.SVSCORE.org) Newsletters for Small Businesses

Additional Small Business articles and templates can be found on www.SCORE.org