Starting and operating your own limo service business

I would seriously start a limo service here in Franklin, TN.
It may take a month or two to get started. There are several important areas of the business to prepare for and consider.
I personally would rather have one car of my own and have one extra driver. I could do weekends at first, growing into weekdays.
I’ll need insurance, license endorsement, thorough business plan, etc.
Here is an interview I recently found at Startingabiz.com
explaining most of what is involved in the limo industry and running your own business.

Tell us a little bit about your experience in the limousine business.

I’d been introduced to the limousine industry when I was about 17 years old taking my mom’s friends to the airport when I was on a break from school, and I discovered that I really enjoyed interacting with the passengers and found it enjoyable because I enjoy driving and finding out about people’s vacations and their travels and I just branched it off into starting my own business, and I worked my way through college doing that. After four years of college I realized that a career in electrical engineering just wasn’t for me, and I should kind of follow what I enjoyed doing, and that was transportation.

Give us kind of an overview of the limousine industry.

When most people hear that term they think of stretch limousines taking proms, weddings, funerals, but it’s come a long way in the past 20 years. It really got off the ground back in the 1980’s, with Wall Street booming and people started taking out their clients to restaurants and had big expense accounts, and it was the “in” thing to take a limo out on a Friday night or Saturday night just for no reason at all, and it has changed, but not just being a special occasion or a wedding, it’s your average person that would just take a limo out and just enjoy the evening as opposed to going on a weeks vacation, they’ll just have a nice night out on a Saturday or something like that, and it just turned into commonplace for any special occasion.

Can you briefly outline the steps for starting a limousine business?

You don’t actually need a limousine, believe it or not. You need a business card, you need to project that image that you can handle somebody’s transportation, and you can work with limousine companies already in business. Once you receive a reservation you can ask a company that you’ve built a relationship with to cover the work. Once you start having enough business your first step would be to buy a Town Car or a stretch limo and produce a website, because most of the shopping is done on the Internet at this point. And get a toll-free number which broadens your horizons on your market because with the Internet people like to have that toll-free number to call to actually make the reservation. One of the big issues now, though, is insurance is a little bit difficult to obtain. So, once somebody delves into buying a car, they really have to have insurance in place. It’s called for-hire livery insurance. And that’s something which a little research should be done before actually purchasing the vehicle, because it can take a good four to six weeks to get insurance in place.

Is this a good time to start a limo service, or is the market generally saturated?

No, there’s a misconception. People think that there’s so many limo companies out there. There’s a lot of business out there. It’s an excellent time to start a limousine business, because like anything being that there are so many companies out there, there’s a lot of room for improvement for somebody to get into a niche market as far as perhaps just doing wedding transfers or getting into the funeral end of the business or doing airport transfers, or winery tours are very big, you can really develop your own niche and there’s a lot of business out there and there’s always room for another good operator.

Bill, how much money do you need to get started?

Really, believe it or not, you don’t need that much. To get started the right way I would say you would need about $50-$100,000. And that’s purchasing a limo, getting insurance in place, getting business cards, building a website, but by all means you really don’t have to have that. You can start with just getting business cards and a phone number. They’re called virtual call centers, you can be your own virtual call center, where somebody calls you, you take the reservation, and you subcontract it to somebody in the limo industry already, somebody who actually owns the vehicles, and you could make like a 20% commission. Say, if you take that approach, there’s a lot of money to be made without really outlaying a lot of your own money.

So, you’re like a limousine service broker, in a way?

Correct. And there’s many large companies who have built empires and they don’t own one limousine.

Talk about choosing the kinds of vehicles to buy.

If someone’s going to venture into buying the vehicles, I always recommend purchasing one Town Car that’s your bread and butter to do airport transfers, taking someone in for business meetings, basically your corporate personnel, they like having a Lincoln Town Car. Then I would always recommend getting at least one stretch, that’s a popular 120-inch ten-passenger stretch Lincoln, white, is very popular, so one Town Car and one ten-passenger stretch should make you a pretty well-rounded limo company.

Do you recommend leasing limousines or buying them outright using financing?

I would always recommend purchasing using financing and would steer away from leasing.

Talk about airport transfers. Are these a big part of the limousine business?
They are, they’re about 60-70%, they are considered the bread and butter of the limousine industry, and it’s a small profit margin. The airport transfers are good for keeping you busy during slow times because they’re not seasonal. Twelve months out of the year there’s always airport work, as opposed to proms and weddings which can be more of a seasonal type of business.

Talk about wedding limo service. What does it entail, and what can a limo operator do to differentiate themselves from the competition?

A wedding limousine operator, that’s somebody he may have a full-time job Monday to Friday and he just wants to make some extra money on the Friday or Saturday afternoon, which there’s nothing wrong with that. You can build up a nice business. You have to elevate yourself to a different level. The chauffeurs are going to have to be in tuxedos, you’re going to have to have champagne beverages, the vehicle always needs to be immaculate and updated fairly new. Drivers should be well versed in how a wedding is supposed to run because there is an aisle runner which is supposed to be brought down the church, the chauffeur should help space the bridal party, so there’s quite a bit of extra effort involved on the chauffeur. So it’s not quite as quick and simple as just shuttling somebody to the airport, there’s a lot more interaction with the chauffeur and the bride, so it is much more service oriented.

Are proms and graduations lucrative?
Oh, very much so. They’re the biggest part of the limousine industry for profit. Unfortunately, it’s only two months out of the year, so you really can’t run a full-service limousine company only doing proms. But a good operator will always target the prom seasonal business because during that two month you can really make this business worthwhile and pocket a nice bonus for yourself.

How about limousine and sedan service for funerals?

That’s very steady work twelve months out of the year, unfortunately they’re dying most times. It’s terrific work, I was involved in funeral work for quite a long time, and the funeral directors that you work with are very, very meticulous. The chauffeur has to be in a solid black suit, a pressed white shirt, solid black tie. Usually they do like chauffeurs caps, the car has to be immaculate, black stretch limousine of course. Nothing too long, it can’t be too ostentatious where it has a lot of mirrors and lights and lasers and stuff going on, it has to be a very low-key black limo and they don’t want any liquor in the car, so your clientèle is very easy. It’s very low-key work, it’s usually Monday to Friday, every once in a while there will be a Saturday funeral, but it usually starts at 8:00 in the morning, it’s done by noon, you can really run a nice business just doing funerals and you’d have every afternoon off and you’d have the weekends off, for the most part.

What amenities such as food and beverages should you have available in the car to customers?

Years ago everybody was including champagne, liquor, beer, pretty much a full stock bar, but now because of liability issues limousine operators are worried about lawsuits buying liquor. So it’s just become customary to supply ice and bottled water, and if a passenger wants to bring anything they’re welcome to.

How can someone starting a limousine service find good chauffeurs?
I found my best place to find chauffeurs is going to the airport and waiting in the baggage claim area where there’s already chauffeurs working, and if I see a neatly attired chauffeur standing there, I usually hand him my business card, and let him know that if he’s ever looking for a job to please give me a call. Whenever you do see a good chauffeur you’d want to approach them and let them know if they’re not happy working where they are that you are looking for some employees. Posting help wanted ads on craigslist, you will get a lot of responses, but finding good candidates is always difficult.

Talk about the contract. What should be in it?
When you do have a contract with a potential client, what happens quite often, generally with prom kids, is that they’ll have a group of twenty, and they’ll rent a big 22 passenger Escalade or a Hummer, and then a week or so before their prom, their twenty people have dwindled down to seven or eight, and all of a sudden they can’t afford the limo that they rented, that they put a deposit on two months ago, and they’re looking for their deposit back, they don’t want the limo anymore, so it’s important to have a parent sign the initial contract and make it very clear that the deposit is non-refundable, or they have to give you at least thirty days notice to get a different size vehicle.

How much of a deposit should you ask for?
Usually a twenty percent deposit.

What if you get a job that requires a type of limo that you don’t have, or let’s say you’re already booked for that day? Do you just turn the business away?

No, never. We always take the work, we never say no. I’m a strong believer in joining the limousine association, there’s the National Limousine Association, and there’s also your state limousine association. You become very active in those and you network with fellow limousine operators and you find out who has the vehicle that you need and you give them work and they’ll return the favor.

How do you price your services?

Well, that’s another good one. Many people have hired accountants and financial analysts and calculated these formulas on what we should be charging, and really it comes down to what the market will bear. We try to get as much as we can, but you can’t overprice your service or the cars will be sitting. And you try to use a strategy like the airlines and hotels use, where when it’s busy their rates are higher, when it’s slow the rates are lower. So basically what the market will bear at the time.

What are some ways you’ve found to be effective for marketing and advertising a limousine business?

Well that’s changed over the years also. At this point the Internet is the way to go. Google Adwords, pay-per-click, that really brings in the revenue. The problem with Internet advertising is people will find you, they’ll book a car with you, you’ll make the reservation, but people quickly forget who they booked, there’s very little loyalty, so once you make that reservation, you service the client, it’s very important to put them on a mailing list and send them hard mail, send them your business card, thank you card, and try to make them into loyal customer and get them off of the Internet for the next time they need a limousine or whatever product you’re selling.

So the bottom line is, it’s always cheaper to retain a customer than to find a new one?

100%. For finding new customers the Internet is terrific, but you’ve really got to build them into loyal customers so you’re not constantly paying for that pay-per-click.

I’ve seen limo operators offer evening Christmas light tours during the holiday season and things like that. Talk about some creative ways to generate business.

Networking with clubs or restaurants to include packages, dinner theater package is very popular that’s not too seasonal, that’s something that’s year-round. There’s always somebody’s anniversary or birthday where they would like to go to dinner and a show. The lights package, I see a lot of operators promoting that, but I don’t know how profitable that is, how many people really drive around to look at holiday lights. Concert packages are very popular, to get somebody show tickets and a night out in a limo. Bundling those types of packages with local vendors is definitely very profitable.

Bill, talk about taking your business to the next level. How do you grow from being a small limo service to a million dollar company?
That’ll depend on your ability to manage, and if you’re able to hire the right people to build a team. It’s a very fragmented industry. There’s really not that many people who have managed to build it into a multi-million dollar company. It’s a highly “mom and pop” industry because it is very seasonal, the hours are very erratic, it is difficult to bring it to that next level. It’s possible, you can make a very nice living running it as a mom and pop organization, but to bring it to a corporate entity, its really going to come down to how well you are as a manager. A small limo service would be somebody with ten cars or less, it’s pretty much an owner-operator. The owner of the company is answering the phones, he’s driving on weekends or helping out, he hasn’t really put himself where he has dispatchers, managers in place, and he’s really running an organization. One of the problem with “mom and pop” organizations is they have the mentality that they are the only people who can do what they’re doing, and they’re not very good managers. It’s a hurdle to get over, get out of that mindset of where you have to do everything yourself, you have to drive, you have to answer the phones, you have to do the maintenance on the cars.

Can you recommend some good websites or magazines related to the limousine business?

Sure, LCT Magazine, that’s Limousine and Chauffeured Transportation, is an excellent resource. Limos.com is another great place for advertising and finding out what’s happening in the industry. For purchasing vehicles, LimoForSale.com is terrific.

Talk about the biggest mistakes people typically make when getting started in the limo business.

One of the biggest mistakes is they don’t realize what’s entailed in the industry. They think it’s going to be more glamorous than it is, they don’t realize that a lot of the reservations are made last minutes, and it’s late hours, you’re dealing with people who drank too much or are partying too much. They really don’t understand what the work is about. They have a misconception, they don’t realize that they’re going to be working every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and usually Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday they really won’t have much to do and it’s quiet. It’s definitely not a 9-5 job, and people get burnt out quickly because they’re working three or four days, 20 hours a day, and then they have two or three days off. The hours are a little crazy.

To summarize, what’s your best piece of advice that you’d give to someone getting started in the limousine business?

To research that they’re in a good market, and the way they would do that is to open up the phone book, find out if there’s limo companies that exist in their area, which is always a good sign. I’ve seen a lot of people, they have an attitude that there’s no limo companies around, so it would be a good idea for them to start one. They soon find out that the reason why there’s no limo companies around is because there’s really no business. You’re much better off starting a limo company where there is a lot of business, there’s a lot of activity.

Bill Goerl is the author of Wheels of Gold: A Complete How-to Guide for Starting a Million-Dollar Limousine Business. In 1999, Robin Leach from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous presented him with The Industry Achievement Award for Outstanding Safety and Service. In 2001, 2002 and 2003 he was nominated and obtained the industry’s most prestigious award, Limousine Operator of the Year.

Here is another excellent site for all things Limousine Business related. limostartup.com

Top Advertising Blunders

Top Advertising Blunders
By Roy H. Williams
Entrepreneur.com

Spending all your money on ads but getting no results? Perhaps you’re making one of these 12 huge mistakes.

Q: I’ve spent a ton of money advertising in lots of different media, but it doesn’t seem like I have much to show for it. Can you tell me plainly and simply how to advertise so it will work?
A: I applaud your honesty. The simple truth is, most advertisers feel just like you do, but their pride won’t let them admit it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a “success pill” for you to swallow, but I can describe each of the most common mistakes you will need to avoid:
1. The quest for instant gratification: The ad that creates enough urgency to cause people to respond immediately is the ad most likely to be forgotten immediately once the offer expires. It is of little use in establishing the advertiser’s identity in the mind of the consumer.
2. Trying to reach more people than the budget will allow: For a media mix to be effective, each element in the mix must have enough repetition to establish retention in the mind of the prospect. Too often, however, the result of a media mix is too much reach and not enough frequency. Will you reach 100 percent of the people and persuade them 10 percent of the way? Or will you reach 10 percent of the people and persuade them 100 percent of the way? The cost is the same.
3. Assuming the business owner knows best: The business owner is uniquely unqualified to see his company or product objectively. Too much product knowledge leads him to answer questions no one is asking. He’s on the inside looking out, trying to describe himself to a person on the outside looking in. It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the bottle.
4. Unsubstantiated claims: Advertisers often claim to have what the customer wants, such as “highest quality at the lowest price,” but fail to offer any evidence. An unsubstantiated claim is nothing more than a clichT the prospect is tired of hearing. You must prove what you say in every ad. Do your ads give the prospect new information? Do they provide a new perspective? If not, prepare to be disappointed with the results.
5. Improper use of passive media: Nonintrusive media, such as newspapers and yellow pages, tend to reach only buyers who are looking for the product. They are poor at reaching prospects before their need arises, so they’re not much use for creating a predisposition toward your company. The patient, consistent use of intrusive media, such as radio and TV, will win the hearts of relational customers long before they’re in the market for your product.
6. Creating ads instead of campaigns: It is foolish to believe a single ad can ever tell the entire story. The most effective, persuasive and memorable ads are those most like a rhinoceros: They make a single point, powerfully. An advertiser with 17 different things to say should commit to a campaign of at least 17 different ads, repeating each ad enough to stick in the prospect’s mind.
7. Obedience to unwritten rules: For some insane reason, advertisers want their ads to look and sound like ads. Why?
8. Late-week schedules: Advertisers justify their obsession with Thursday and Friday advertising by saying “We need to reach the customer just before she goes shopping.” Why do these advertisers choose to compete for the customer’s attention each Thursday and Friday when they could have a nice, quiet chat all alone with her on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday?
9. Overconfidence in qualitative targeting: Many advertisers and media professionals grossly overestimate the importance of audience quality. In reality, saying the wrong thing has killed far more ad campaigns than reaching the wrong people. It’s amazing how many people become “the right people” when you’re saying the right thing.
10. Event-driven marketing: A special event should be judged only by its ability to help you more clearly define your market position and substantiate your claims. If 1 percent of the people who hear your ad for a special event choose to come, you will be in desperate need of a traffic cop and a bus to shuttle people from distant parking lots. Yet your real investment will be in the 99 percent who did not come! What did your ad say to them?
11. Great production without great copy: Too many ads today are creative without being persuasive. Slick, clever, funny, creative and different are poor substitutes for informative, believable, memorable and persuasive.
12. Confusing response with results: The goal of advertising is to create a clear awareness of your company and its unique selling proposition. Unfortunately, most advertisers evaluate their ads by the comments they hear from the people around them. The slickest, cleverest, funniest, most creative and most distinctive ads are the ones most likely to generate these comments. See the problem? When we confuse response with results, we create attention-getting ads that say absolutely nothing.
Nicknamed “the Wizard of Ads” by an early client, Roy H. Williams and his staff have often been the unseen, pivotal force in amazing come-from-behind victories in the worlds of business, politics, and finance. Williams is the author of The Wizard of Ads, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads, Accidental Magic and Free the Beagle.

50 Ways to save money in your business

50 Ways to Save Money in Your Business

What entrepreneur isn’t on a shoestring budget? Save your company thousands of dollars with these penny-pinching tips.
Just in case you’ve forgotten the value of a hard-earned penny, we’ve come up with a slew of money-saving ideas to boost your business’s bottom line—from cutting your legal bills to inexpensive ways to draw in customers. Though some tips will save you more money than others, the end result of your overall spendthrift strategy could add up to a bundle.
Penny-Pinching Promotions
1. Piggyback your advertising. Including advertising material in other mailings, such as in invoices, saves postage and other costs, says J. Donald Weinrauch, co-author of The Frugal Marketer. Likewise, make the most of your point-of-purchase opportunities by tucking coupons, newsletters or other promotional fliers in the bag with customers’ purchases.
2. Be a good neighbor. Split advertising and promotion costs with neighboring businesses. Jointly promote a sidewalk sale, or take your marketing alliance further by sharing mailing lists, distribution channels and suppliers with businesses that sell complementary goods or services.
3. Ask the people you know for help. The kind of support you’d most like to get from your contacts is referrals—the names of specific individuals who need your products and services. So go ahead and ask! Your contacts can also give prospects your name and number. As the number of referrals you receive increases, so does your potential for increasing the percentage of your business generated through referrals.
4. Got a happy customer? By telling others what they’ve gained from using your products or services in presentations or informal conversations, your sources can encourage others to use your products or services.
5. Make a special TV appearance. Local cable TV stations often have very reasonable advertising rates at time slots throughout the day and night. Though you won’t necessarily reach prime-time viewers, you will make an impression where it counts—in the comfort of potential customers’ homes.
6. Offer expert advice. Teaching a class, speaking at a community meeting, or writing an article for a local paper not only makes you look like an expert but garners low-cost attention for your business.
Internet Ideas
7. Start your search engines. Research your market and find potential visitors for your Web site by looking through Usenet newsgroups (forums on the Internet where people post messages for public viewing) and special-interest groups related to your target market, product or service. Or, if you have America Online, visit their Small Business Center, which includes libraries of small-business information you can download at no charge.
8. Cut costs when setting up your online store. Think going online has to cost an arm and a leg? You can start out by selling items for next to nothing on online auction sites like eBay and Yahoo! Auctions. If you want to create a professional storefront, there are several “Web site in a box” solutions available, usually for a low monthly fee.
9. Start chatting. Find newsgroups that cater to your audience, and join the fray. “I didn’t start [participating in online discussion groups] to generate business, but as a way to find information for myself on various subjects,” says Shel Horowitz, owner of Northampton, Massachusetts-based Accurate Writing & More and author of several marketing books, including Grassroots Marketing. “But it turned out to be the single best marketing tool I use. It costs only my time. [One] list alone has gotten me around 60 clients in the past five years.” Always include your URL in your signature, but don’t do any hard selling—most groups will ban you immediately. Instead, provide useful information that’ll make people will want to click on your site.
10. Spread the word yourself. Are you letting people know what your URL is? Try putting it on your letterhead and business cards and in e-mail signatures—wherever potential visitors are likely to see it. Include it on employee uniforms, any promotional items you give away, all press releases, in your Yellow Pages ad and on company vehicles.
Location Logic
11. Get a suite deal. You don’t have to run your office full-time from an executive suite to benefit from its services. Many homebased entrepreneurs find executive suites meet a range of needs, including access to a private mailbox and a receptionist to answer or forward calls to your home office. Visit the Office Business Center Association International Web site for more information.
12. Be mobile. While the costs of establishing a permanent retail location can be steep—you may spend up to $100,000 or more, with leases spanning three to 10 years—carts, kiosks and temporary spaces can be an easier way to get a foot in the door with a lot less risk. The upfront investment for a kiosk or a cart ranges from just $2,000 to $10,000, according to Patricia Norins, publisher of Specialty Retail Report. License agreements for carts and kiosks are shorter and are usually renewed every month up to one year depending on the location. This arrangement makes it easy for entrepreneurs to “come in, try it out for a month, and if their product isn’t working, shift to a new product line or close up shop and move to a new location,” Norins says.
Office Overhead
13. Buy recycled printer cartridges. Check Google or your Yellow Pages for a local recycled printer cartridge supplier. Or if you want to mix your charitable instincts with your printing needs, visit http://www.lasermonks.com, a remanufactured printing supply company run by a group of monks in Wisconsin who, after business expenses are paid, donate their profits.
14. Fill it out for free. Instead of buying forms at your local office supply store or spending time creating them yourself, you can find tons of free forms online that you can download, customize and print. Our free forms on Formnet can get you started.
15. Get free software. Visit Download.com to try hundreds of software products for free through trial downloads, freeware and limited versions of the full product. Visit our Complete Guide to Software to find the best software options for small businesses, including many links to the free trials of those brands. Another tip: If you haven’t found what you’re looking for through Download.com or our software guide, check out the manufacturer’s site. Most offer free trial downloads.
16. Buy used equipment. Save up to 60 percent by buying used computer equipment, copiers and office furniture from stores such as the nationwide Aaron Rents & Sells chain. Auctions and newspaper classifieds are other good sources of used equipment.
Insurance Intelligence
17. Save by association. When looking for insurance, check with your trade association. Many associations offer competitive group insurance.
18. Be prepared. Buying appropriate insurance upfront saves money in the long run, says Jeanne Salvatore of the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit organization in New York City. Consider what situations would be catastrophic to your business and protect yourself with adequate insurance. “Disaster recovery,” says Salvatore, “is one area where business owners shouldn’t scrimp.”
19. Make a foul-weather friend. By arranging for an alternative place to run your business in case of a major disaster, you may be able to save on business interruption insurance, advises the Insurance Information Institute. For instance, you could arrange with a firm in the same industry to use their facilities in case of damage, and vice versa.
20. Check up on your medical insurance. Before choosing a medical insurance carrier, ask for information on past claims and the loss ratio of paid claims to premiums, advises the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Arlington, Virginia.
21. Raise your deductible. Raising the deductible on your insurance usually lowers your premiums. Even if you end up having to pay the deductible, it’s likely to be less than the amount you save.
Employee Economics
22. Aim to lease. Employee leasing—in which you turn over your work force to a professional employer organization that leases your employees back to you—can save you substantial cash on employee benefits, says Bruce Steinberg at the American Staffing Association (ASA). For referral to a leasing company near you, visit the ASA online at http://www.staffingtoday.net.
23. Go with the flow. Rather than paying for employees who sit idle when business is slow, consider hiring temporary employees to handle surges in business.
24. Make experience count. Get free or low-cost help—and give local college students a chance to learn the ropes—by hiring interns.
25. Use independent contractors. Employers generally don’t have to withhold or pay any taxes on payments to independent contractors. But be very careful that your independent contractors fit the definition provided by the IRS or you could face penalties.
26. Commission your sales force. Overhead, salaries, incentives, training costs, fringe benefits and expenses add up when you’re hiring your own sales representatives. Contracting independent manufacturers’ sales reps, paid on commission only, is less expensive—and often equally effective.
Shipping Savings
27. Clean up your mailing list. The U.S. Postal Service will clean up your mailing list for free, correcting addresses, noting incomplete addresses and adding ZIP+4 numbers so you’ll be eligible for bar-code discounts.
28. Prune that mailing list even more. The Direct Marketing Association offers this checklist of cost-cutting ideas. Eliminate nonresponders and marginal prospects; print “Address Correction Requested” on the face of your mail; investigate co-mingling your mail with that of other small mailers to take advantage of discounts available mainly to large mailers; and stockpile mail to build up larger volumes.
29. Be an early bird. Send mail early in the day, and you can usually expect to get one- to two-day delivery for the price of a first-class stamp.
30. Shop around for an overnight courier. Overnight delivery rates for the major couriers are competitive; however, if you’re willing to wait a few hours—or even an extra day—you could save.
Tax Tactics
31. Mind some petty pointers. Don’t get careless about your petty cash account. “Though you don’t need receipts for expenses under $75, you should still track these expenses since they can add up,” advises Crouch.
32. Hire your children. If your children are at least 14 years old and pay their own taxes, it pays to take advantage of their lower tax bracket. “You can essentially transfer income from your business to them [to save money],” says Scott.
33. Take a stand on taxes. If your business is new in the neighborhood, you may be at a higher tax rate than those who have been there longer. “Go to city hall to determine what your neighbors are paying, and use this to negotiate a better rate,” says Collins. “Expanding businesses can often negotiate with community authorities, who want them to stay in town rather than move and take jobs elsewhere.”
34. Homebased? Don’t overlook crucial tax deductions. In addition to being able to deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage interest and utilities as a business expense, you can also deduct a percentage of various home maintenance expenses, along with a portion of the cost of services such as house cleaning and lawn care. Check out the IRS’s Web site, or check with a knowledgeable tax advisor for more information.
35. Get out on the town. If much of your business is conducted at restaurants or you find yourself driving to clients’ offices, make sure you take those deductions. If you entertain clients or potential clients to discuss a current or future project, you can deduct a portion of your entertainment costs. To qualify for this deduction, you must maintain a log of entertainment-related expenses you plan to deduct. For mileage, you can deduct 37.5 cents per mile in 2004. This figure usually changes annually, so check with your accountant at the beginning of each year.
Financial Focus
36. Make credit comparisons. If you tend to run unpaid balances on your credit cards at the end of the month, shop for a card with a low interest rate. If you pay in full, it’s more important to avoid an annual fee and look for a longer grace period. “Often credit card issuers waive the annual fee or reduce the interest rate if you ask,” says Scott. “Just tell your credit card company you’ve had several solicitations from other companies with more favorable interest rates or no annual fees, and ask if they will reduce yours.”
37. Avoid cash advances. “Credit card companies usually charge an upfront fee of up to 2 percent of the advance, with interest accruing immediately,” says Scott.
38. Bank on an early deposit. Make bank deposits early enough in the day so you get credit (and start earning interest) that day.
39. Get checks in the mail. Ordering your checks from a printing company often costs less than getting them from a bank. Options include Checks in the Mail and Designer Checks.
40. Form a buying alliance. Join with another business or a trade association for bulk purchasing discounts.
41. Take it with you. If you’re near your suppliers, pick up your order yourself—or perhaps have a friend or family member do it for you, suggests Sarah Williams Steinman, president of Casco Bay Herb Co., an herbal soap manufacturer in Cumberland, Maine. For example, Steinman’s husband travels throughout the Northeast. “He keeps me updated as to when he might be near one of my suppliers,” she says. “He often travels through the town where my olive oil supplier is, and he’ll pick up a few hundred pounds of oil on his way home. That saves me about $75 in shipping.” Caution: Pick up supplies yourself only when it truly saves you money. If it’s taking you away from a revenue-producing activity, you’re not really saving.
42. Be reluctant to give credit. If you do extend credit, thoroughly check the client’s credit background, says Collins. For less-than-creditworthy accounts, Collins advises considering the following actions: Collect cash in advance; send partial shipments; request letters of credit, personal guarantees and a pledge of assets; take out credit insurance; or think about factoring (see below).
Professional Policies
43. Query your consultants. The professionals you work with regularly are often easy to bargain with, thanks to the rapport you’ve developed with them. Ask your insurance agent, accountant or attorney how you can cut back on their costs. You’d be surprised at the suggestions they might offer on ways to cut your premiums, reduce billable hours or avoid huge retainers. You might also barter your services.
44. Be a legal eagle. When hiring an attorney, make sure you have a written fee agreement to prevent surprises. It should include an estimate of the time to be spent on your case and specify what’s covered in the fee—including typing or copying—and what is not.
45. Learn something new. Rather than pay a consultant to write your press releases, for example, hire one for an hour or so to show you how to do it yourself.
46. Run from the law. “Avoiding lawsuits is a big factor in business success,” says Holmes Crouch, author of 18 tax books. “Even arbitration can get expensive.” The best alternative: Try to work out any problems before they grow to the point that attorneys get involved. “Don’t ignore any written or phone complaints.”
Buying Brainpower
47. Stretch your budget with barter. Swapping one product or service for another is a good way to avoid cash outlays—and unload slow-moving inventory. If you’d rather not bargain with other businesses directly, hire a commissioned barter broker (listed in the Yellow Pages under “Barter”), or join a commercial barter club or exchange. The National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) is a clearinghouse for member exchanges across the country, allowing business owners to swap just about anything with anyone. Participants typically receive “trade dollars” for their goods or services, which are brokered across cities nationwide with the help of NATE. Visit NATE at http://www.nate.org.
48. Time your payments. Ask suppliers if they give discounts for early payment. If not, it’s to your advantage to pay your bills—including utilities, taxes and suppliers—as late as possible without incurring a fee, advises Scott. “The longer funds are under your control,” he says, “the longer they’re earning a return for you rather than someone else.”
49. Join an association. Many trade and business associations have reasonable membership fees and offer discounts on everything from insurance, travel and car rental to long-distance phone service, prescriptions and even golf course fees.
50. Seek at least three bids on everything. Even mundane purchases merit shopping around. If you quote a competitor’s lower price, a supplier or vendor will often match that price to win your business.
Contributors include Jacquelyn Lynn, Ivan R. Misner, Chris Penttila, Guen Sublette and Laura Tiffany

33 Marketing Success Tips

33 Marketing Success Tips
By Al Lautenslager
Practice a few of these must-know marketing tips every day and build up your geurilla-marketing muscles.

Part of the guerrilla marketing mindset suggests that you should be thinking about marketing all the time. Not just quarterly, not just monthly, not just weekly, but every single day. Really, it’s not as hard as it sounds–there are quite a few ways you can incorporate marketing into your daily activities.
It’s often said that doing anything for 21 days in a row will eventually turn into a habit for you. And a marketing habit is a great thing for any business to have. So what I’m going to suggest is that you choose three to five things every day that are related to marketing for your business and do them at the beginning of the day before you start fighting the daily fires–and forget all about your planned tasks.
If you work on this developing a marketing habit–and the proper marketing mindset–every day, you’ll soon find that you’re going above and beyond your “three to five things” limit. You’ll find yourself talking and thinking in terms of headlines or talking, listening and thinking in terms of your customers and prospects’ benefits. And the more you think marketing, the greater the chance you’ll accomplish your marketing and overall business goals.
When talking to many business owners, professionals and organizations, I find that in the beginning, they’re sometimes challenged when it comes to finding three to five marketing tasks to do every, single day. Just remember, these activities don’t have to be elaborate, they don’t have to be long and drawn out, and they don’t have to take up much time.
To get your habit started and to help with your marketing mindset, here are the types of activities you can employ each and every day before your non-marketing, daily work activities begin:

Hand write a thank-you note to a prospect or customer
Brainstorm tagline ideas
Visit a competitor’s website
Write an article to pitch to your local business organization
Make a list of press release ideas
Write a press release
Call a newspaper and ask who the feature editor is for your area of expertise
Compose an e-mail sales letter
Develop a series of survey questions
Brainstorm advertising concepts
Write a pitch letter to a radio or TV station
Get contact information from media outlets
Plan a renaming of your products
Work on new product development and introduction ideas
Invite a customer or prospect to your office to discuss new ideas
Recognize a special prospect or customer
Discuss a fusion marketing idea with a strategic business partner
Post new information on your website
Plan your networking calendar for the week
Call to follow up with networking contacts
Develop a coupon for your product or service
Rewrite your phone’s on-hold message script
Write an article or other text for your newsletter
Brainstorm new product or service ideas
Plan a new customer service activity that will truly delight your customers
Develop your benefit list and compare to it to your competitions’
Develop a checklist, top-ten list or other information as a response to a marketing hook
If you’re still challenged with finding the right activities for your daily, three to five tasks, break your marketing down into these general categories: Direct Mail, Networking, Publicity, Advertising, Fusion, Planning, New Products and Services, Marketing Communication Materials, and so on. Then concentrate on thinking up activities for one area at a time. No one is really counting your “three to five” things. The point is to do something related to marketing every day to help you think about marketing all the time.
Obviously some of this activities will take a longer than just a few minutes–it’s OK if they consume your whole day. Although your goal to accomplish three to five things related to marketing every day, on some days, you may only get to one or two; on others days, you may get on a roll and do five to seven things. Don’t get married to the numbers.
The purpose of all of this activity is to help you develop a marketing habit and to move your marketing efforts to the next step in your plan fulfillment.
And even if you planned out your activities for the day, don’t be surprised if at times your progress, responses and results dictate the direction of your activity–and get you moving in a different direction than what you’d planned. Generally, this is a very positive thing, and you should let the activity guide you and keep the habit going.
No matter how much or how little you accomplish, the point is to get started. Because three weeks full of nonmarketing activities quickly becomes a nonmarketing habit, and that is a sure recipe for business failure.

Al Lautenslager is the “Guerrilla Marketing” coach at Entrepreneur.com and is an award-winning marketing and PR consultant and direct-mail promotion specialist. He’s also the principle of Market For Profits, a Chicago-based marketing consulting firm. His latest book, The Ultimate Guide to Direct Marketing is available at http://www.entrepreneurpress.com.

4 steps to shedding your look-alike image Part 1

Part 1 in a series of excellent advice from those who know.

Dare to Be Different

Successful marketing means standing out from your competitors. Here are 4 steps to shedding your look-alike image.

By Kim T. Gordon
Can your prospects tell the difference between your company and its closest competitors? If not, it may be time to overhaul your marketing strategy. Differentiation is at the heart of long-term marketing success, and the key to marketing strategy is originality.
Let’s take a look at an old slogan. Most of us instantly recognize “Good to the last drop” as belonging to Maxwell House. This venerable slogan has been successful at differentiating the product from scores of competitors, including many that might otherwise appear virtually identical. Not only has it been hammered home year after year, but the slogan also works because it encapsulates the promise of the brand in a way that’s uniquely valuable to the target audience.
Differentiation plays a key role in branding and is the foundation of a competitive advantage. And it profoundly affects your position in the minds of your prospects and customers. Effective differentiation can position you as No. 1 among your competitors–the company or brand customers turn to first–while a poor differentiation strategy can leave you buried in the middle of the pack.
Are you ready to develop your own differentiation strategy? Here are four steps to get you started.
1. Evaluate competitive messages. Your first step is to gather and evaluate the marketing materials of your chief competitors, including their ads, brochures and website content. Don’t be surprised if you see a lot of “me too” marketing. There’s simply a lot of bad marketing out there, and the fact that many of your competitors have no differentiation strategy will work to your advantage.
At least some of your competitors–usually the category leaders–will make promises that resonate with their target audiences. Carefully review the benefit statements your competitors make, and determine what claims set them apart.
2. Find what makes you unique. For a companywide differentiation strategy, consider what separates you from the competitors you’ve evaluated. Whether you market a product or operate a service business, such as an accounting firm or a power-washing company, it’s essential to clearly differentiate through your marketing how what you offer is of unique value.
Your point of differentiation may relate to the way your product or service is provided, priced or even delivered. The most important thing to discover is the principal benefit you offer that is uniquely valuable to customers and gives you a competitive advantage.
3. Tell the world. Your next step is to create a new marketing message that communicates your product or service’s unique value. This message should become the core of your entire marketing campaign. To successfully gain a competitive advantage, consistently drive this point of differentiation home until it becomes integral to your brand image.
For example, through its slogan, Maxwell House communicates that its coffee will always taste good, not bitter, down to the very bottom of the pot. When repeatedly communicated through ongoing marketing, it’s this assertion about being “Good to the last drop” that differentiates the product and has helped make it successful over the years.
4. Keep your promise. Effective differentiation has everything to do with customer satisfaction, which builds loyalty and often trumps price as a primary consideration of consumers. As long as your company can sustain its ability to differentiate in a way that consistently meets consumer expectations, customers may reject lower-cost competitors in favor of what you have to offer.
The bottom line is that customers see the value of what’s offered. Rather than go elsewhere for a similar product or service at a lower price, they’ll stay loyal because of the “intangibles.” Nothing costs you customers faster than a disconnect between the promises made in marketing and the reality of customer experience with your product or brand. So for long-term success, your company or product must live up to its marketing promise.

Kim T. Gordon is the “Marketing” coach at Entrepreneur.com and a multifaceted marketing expert, speaker, author and media spokesperson. Over the past 26 years, she’s helped millions of small-business owners increase their success through her company, National Marketing Federation Inc.

Blogging Tips 2009 from ReallyHotIdeas

I read about this today on ReallyHotIdeas.com blog. Great tips. I’m always on the hunt for savvy suggestions and wisdom. It’s relevant to what we do with blogging here and elsewhere. Personal blogs and commercial blogs can gain from these bits of know how. Hope this helps you too.

Monday, July 27, 2009
10 Blogging Tips for 2009
With all the new internet marketing methods available, blogging has become a little bit “old hat” in the eyes of many. I mean, it’s not sexy like Facebook; it’s not as easy as Twitter and it certainly is not as glamorous as having a MySpace page. In spite of all of this, blogging remains one of the most effective ways to brand your business online. Following are 10 reminders about blogging to keep in mind .

Blogging in 2009: Going Back to Basics

Blogging Tip #1: Post Regularly. Readers will be more likely to follow your blog if you have a regular posting schedule. Post weekly, post bi-monthly, post monthly — it doesn’t matter what it is (although it should be at least once a week in my opinion) — but stick to a schedule.

Blogging Tip #2: Use Plugins. Plugins like “relevant posts”, “most popular posts” and “recent posts” make your blog more sticky because they encourage readers to hang around longer. The longer a visitor is on your blog, the better chance you have of converting them into a customer. And that, remember, is the goal when you’re in business.

Blogging Tip #3: Post from Experience. I like first-hand information. In fact, many web surfers are looking for this type of info. It’s no coincidence that “how to” information is the number one selling product on the web. Most of it comes from first-hand information.
So use case studies, write in the first person (eg, use “I”), tell your readers how you solved a particular problem, etc. I sell a lot of ebooks by doing just this. It lets readers know that you know what you’re talking about; hence, you become an authority voice in your niche.

Blogging Tip #4: Niche It. Speaking of niche – clearly define who your audience is and speak to them – and only them – directly. You will get ancillary customers/clients/readers as a matter of course. BUT, you should always blog with your core audience in mind.

Blogging Tip #5: Comment on Other Popular Blogs in Your Niche. Make relevant posts on other authority blogs in your niche. The key word here is r-e-l-e-v-a-n-t.

Blogging Tip #6: Write Well. Make your post long, make it short, make it mid-length, but by all means, write well. This cannot be taken for granted. I don’t care how salient your post is, if it’s poorly written, you will not be taken seriously. In fact, you can even damage your online reputation. It’s probably no coincidence that the alphabet and sentence construction are among the first things we learn in school. It’s the foundation of communication — so don’t waste it; use it.

Blogging Tip #7: Market Your Blog. Don’t post it and forget it. This is your chance to use sexy marketing like social networking. Market your posts on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
Remember, once you start with social networking though, you have to engage with those communities. So when you start to incorporate social networking into your blog marketing, do it with this in mind.

Blogging Tip #8: Use a Clean Design. A blog doesn’t have to have all the latest gadgets to be effective. A simple, clean design – with good content – will compete with the flashiest design every time. Simplicity rocks!

Blogging Tip #9: Personalize Your Blog. Inject some personality and let YOUR BRAND come through!

Blogging Tip #10: Don’t Give Up. Blogging is tedious, boring, monotonous and downright draining at times. Once you’ve blogged for a while, there will be days when you just want to chuck it in favor of something more exciting. But keep this in mind: in many cases success is not gained by the most talented, the most brilliant, or the most beautiful. All of these things help. But, success comes to those who simply “stick with it!”

Credit goes to: Yuwanda Black from Inkwell Editorial. She writes great stuff! 🙂

Until Next time – stay hot stay cool!
Christoffer Bjorklund