Tag: professional development

Business lessons that are not taught in business schools

I have huge respect for these smart and suave MBA guys and believe me that they are the smartest people I have ever met in my life. But I hate when I am being told that you need to have an MBA degree in marketing to be able to be a successful entrepreneur. Yes, the MBA course does include some topics on how to build a profitable brand, what mistakes that you should be avoiding while promoting a brand and others interesting things but what I still believe is that these are not just enough. Theoretical knowledge can help you land on a good paying job but running a business is a different ball of wax altogether. You need to have practical experience and you need to make mistakes just to learn from it. This is the kind of knowledge that you may not find in your MBA syllabus. Here in this article, we are going to share the business lessons that many business owners have learnt the hard way:

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Do not stick to a single business plan always: Since we are living in a society where the perceptions of people are changing faster than the speed of light, you should embrace agile marketing. Your marketing plan should be as flexible as possible. If you stick to your business plan just because you have some emotional attachment with it, you are making a great mistake. I have seen innumerable companies that started as something but eventually emerged as something else. Now, would they be able to make it that large had they stuck to their business plan? I had great doubts on it. So, you need to change with the changes of the market in order to survive.

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Create your niche: I know how tough it is for you to make your mark felt as a newcomer when the market is already overcrowded. Since we are still in a recession, it is all the more difficult for a business owner to make his place secured. So, the only way out is to create your own market. Remember how amazon.com took a huge risk when they launched Kindle. There were not many takers in its early days as people were new to this concept. They educated people, taught them how to use it and now they are the market leader in the ebook reader niche.

Rebrand to Explore More: It is really tough for a company to launch and market a product which is not directly aligned with their existing brand image. This will lead to unnecessary confusion and therefore, it makes sense if you split your brand and create two different brands so that people can relate to the product and the company easily. But this is by far the most difficult part. As you are going to split the company, you are going to need double manpower, and have to invest double amount for marketing purpose.

Do not take your customers for Granted: This is another common misconception that is ruling the minds of marketers. They believe that they know everything about the market and their targeted audience. And they launch the product without doing any kind of market survey and eventually found that either there is no such demand of their service or the demand is far beyond their expectation.

It is not just big, it is all about the Brand: Just having large number of employees working under your banner does not necessarily qualify you as a big company. You are here to build a big brand and not a big company. Google does not have a large number of employees; rather they have a comparatively small team of highly efficient and motivated people. So, focus on creating a big brand rather than creating a body shop.

Author Bio: Michael Evans is a passionate writer and he is currently associated with http://www.insidershostreview.com/.

Anger Is Only One Letter Short Of Danger!

First and foremost, I want to state that it’s not in my nature to tell estate sales colleagues how to run their business. However, since I’m seeing so many new ones put between the proverbial rock and the hard place due to impossible clients, I thought they might find this guide on how to handle such clients useful.

Similar to any other business that implies working with people, in estate sales, it would be virtually impossible not to come across a difficult client. Perhaps due to a strong sense of possession or maybe because they don’t really trust people, some clients will bully you, hound you, accuse you of trying to steal from them, claim you are unprofessional and unable to conduct your business… you get the picture.

The worst case scenario

Now, I know that your first instinct is to start yelling back, walking out the door or worse. However, before you do anything rash, take a moment and analyze the consequences of those actions. Think of it this way: since the word that you failed a project will spread quickly in the community, what potential customer would believe you even when you are right?

In a small community, a hasty behavior may entail that you will experience a significantly harder time to get another job. Not to mention that there are some strange people out there who will try to intimidate and bully you and your loved ones. I admit, it’s a bit of a gross exaggeration, but bad publicity usually means fewer and fewer customers, lower sales and in the end insolvency. However, the good news is that there are ways to protect yourself against this type of clients.

Who is to blame?

Psychology teaches that at times people act angrily towards others simply because they make easy targets. Basically, they are angry at themselves, but because they cannot see that and need another target towards whom to express the way they are feeling, they will start yelling, bullying and blaming others instead. In short, sometimes it’s not about you, it’s about them. And, as if things were not difficult already, they will react even more angrily when you try to appease them: the more you give in, the more they will demand. In case you and the client cannot reach an agreement on this matter, then plan to walk away from the project in a calm and professional manner.

The tools are already in your arsenal!

It is very important that you get a signed contract before you start doing any work at all. Within the contract, you should make sure you have all the crucial details regarding the services you provide, obligations, clauses and anything else relevant to this business relationship. In the eventuality that you don’t have a good contract or no legal representative to looked it over, then I strongly advise you to get the professional opinion of a lawyer.

More often than not, clients will try to postpone signing the contract for various reasons, be it that they are too affected by the passing away of a loved one or because they are still unsure whether or not you are the right person to handle the auction. Regardless of the circumstances, it is in your best interest not to give in. Do not allow them to provide you with the signed contract “soon”. Besides the signed contract, there are other things you should be mindful of, such as:

  • Never make a promise that you cannot keep
  • Be organized and make sure your schedule allows you to allocate sufficient time to each client who hired you
  • Encourage your client to refrain from participating in the set-up or sale, especially if they appear too emotionally attached to the objects that are being sold

Don’t let one bad experience ruin it for you!

Once you ran into a client that constantly wines and complains about everything you do, it’s natural to expect trouble from every other customer as well. However, did you know clients pick up on negativity? Therefore, if you’re expecting to come across such a client this is exactly what you’ll get. My recommendation, irrespective of whether you had an unpleasant experience or not, is to view each case as unique and to approach every new project with a positive attitude.

About the Author: Hi, I’m Chad, an estate sales professional that has been in business for over 20 years and one of my recently discovered passions is to share my experience and write about the amazing world of estate sales.