Share your know-how: Small business week contest
If you’re a small business, you probably already know that October 16 – 22 is Small Business Week. For 30 years, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has been organizing this special initiative to support and celebrate the achievements of the small and mid-size businesses. Throughout the week—and increasingly throughout October—organizations across Canada host events and launch programs that bring small businesses together to learn, network and have some fun.
Here at RedBoard Biz, we try to do our part throughout the year to help small businesses with tips, trends, tools and technology to help you better manage and grow your business. We also understand that sometimes you would rather hear from others like you—hardworking entrepreneurs who face challenges daily and find innovative ways to solve them. That’s why we’ve teamed up with our partner Research in Motion to bring you our “Share Your Know How” contest.
For the next three weeks, we’ll post a question and invite you to share your insight in a comment (100 words maximum). You’ll be automatically entered in a draw to win a new BlackBerry Curve 9360. In addition to iconic features such as the BlackBerry keyboard and optical trackpad, this device comes with the new BlackBerry 7 OS software, making it a powerful communication tool for business.
A contest winner will be announced each week both here on RedBoard Biz and via our Twitter account, @RogersBiz.
Ready to share your know-how with your peers? Here’s this week’s question: What is the best business advice you have ever received?
UPDATE (October 20, 2011, 2:00 pm): The Share-Your-Know-How contest is now closed. Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions and feedback. We’ll be announcing the winner of the BlackBerry Curve 9360 both here on our blog and on our Twitter account, @RogersBiz. The post will remain open for comments, so please continue to send us your best business advice, however, any comments received after 2:00pm on October 21 will be ineligible for the draw for the BlackBerry. Also, remember there’s still an other chance to win. We’ll be holding another BlackBerry giveaway next week. Stay tuned!
UPDATE (October 27, 2011, 9:48 am): Congratulations to Darren, our first winner in the Share Your Know-How contest! Darren, we’ll be sending you your new BlackBerry this week. Thanks to everyone who participated and make sure you check out this week’s contest for another chance to win.
Geoffrey Booth is a regular contributor to RedBoard Biz
Contest closes at 2:00 p.m. ET on October 21, 2010. Open to residents of Canada who are 18 years or older, excluding residents of Quebec. To enter, tell us in 100 words or less, in the comments section of this blog post, about the best business advice you’ve ever received. Prize: Participants are eligible to win one (1) BlackBerry Curve 9360 valued at approximately $349.00 each. One entry/person. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries. Mathematical skill-testing question to be correctly answered to win. No Purchase Necessary. Full rules here.
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“If you can conceive it and believe it, you can achieve it.”
The best business advice I have ever received is to…LISTEN.
Listen to your customers, vendors, truck drivers, secretaries, anyone you interact with throughout the business day. There is priceless information that all these parties have to offer that can be invaluable.
With the popularity of social media, I, as a consumer finally feel that companies are listening to me. For example for the longest time I have felt like a “number” when dealing with Rogers. However with their various twitter feeds I feel like they are listening to me. Moreover, the have listened to me!
Thanks for LISTENing!
Sometimes you have to turn away business in order to make yourself available to get better business. When it seems like you are not getting new clients, it may be tempting to undervalue your product to appeal to new customers. But if you do that, focusing on those clients who want to pay you less will take away time that you could spend getting or retaining better clients who will pay you what your product or services are worth.
listen and quickly handle negative comments especially if they are on social media!
The best business advice I have received is “that while the customer is not always right, they need to be felt like they are right.” That means treating the customer with respect and going out of your way to make them feel good when they leave your business. Bad feedback spreads faster than good feedback!
Best business advice I have just recently received and starting applying:
“Never fill or overbook your days. There will be times when clients need you and your expertise so you should always try and leave gaps in your days to give those clients that immediate response should they need it…especially on Mondays!”
Dont be embarrassed to be a “grantrepreneur.” If the government is willing to give you money for your business, take it. If you don’t, someone else will.
“Anxiety is nothing but re-experiencing failure in advance, what a waste. — Seth Godin
Having won a Hospitality Hero twice at a young age I can give the following advice:
Treat every customer the same. Remember without them you would not exist. While the “customer is always right” doesn’t apply much anymore as times have become tough and their are more abusers than users, you still need to be able to distinguish between genuine and false complaints. Social media has made it possible to spread the word even faster so you need to stay on top and respond to ALL reviews online whether they are positive or negative as customers are able to tell fact from fiction.
In keeping with that you should instill a service culture at your place of business. I teach my employees to say “My Pleasure” instead of “You’re Welcome” as it is our pleasure and honour to be able to do something for them whereas the latter implies we are doing them a favour in serving them.
Good luck in all your future endeavours and remember:
Go Happy Go HoJo!
The Best advice is to listen and understand customer problem and try to fix it.give customer 200% of your services and make them feel special.
The best advice I was given, if you’re going to start a business, find a mentor or a coach. I have many of them.
No Entrepreneur is an Island.
Don’t be afraid to bring in partners or ask for assistance from people who are good at things that you are not good at, or who enjoy doing things that you do not enjoy doing. No one goes it alone. Even a sole proprietor needs help to keep a small business running smoothly. Build a team of people you trust and can rely on when you need their help.
The Best Advice is ask yourself:
What business am I in? (ie. If you sell clothing – are you ‘just’ another clothing store or do you sell fashion to a particular demographic OR I create websites or are you really a graphic designer creating a medium for others to promote themselves using the internet )
So many entrepreneurs start a business without really knowing what business there are really in.
Listen to your customers!
Keep your customers happy and they will keep you happy
” Networking, Make as many contacts as possible, cause chances are that in the maratimes your going to meet someone who knows someone that you already know. and instantly puts you 1 above every one else in the room”
success loves hard work.
Never do business with an untrustworthy associates.
Best advice ever from Seth Godin’s blog
While doing business as usual always be aggressively overdelivering, but still treat the other party like they are doing you a favor.
The disconnect happens when one party in the transaction thinks he’s doing the other guy a favor… but the other guy doesn’t act that way in return.
In fact, when both sides think they’re doing the other a favor, it’s a meltdown. (The flipside, on the other hand, is great–when both sides act as if the other guy is doing them a favor.)
The shortcut to success is this: why not always act as if the other guy is doing the favor?
Best advice: in the first 2-3 years be prepared to work long hours, scrap by a meager existence, and develop a thick skin. Once you can establish your business it gets easier, but the initial start-up is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
Always look for opportunities. This does not mean trying to be a sales man at friendly gatherings, but look for new ways to network, to promote, or to cut costs. Never dismiss a person as they could be your next supplier, employee, or customer.
Never be afraid to bargain, particularly with suppliers. If you don’t look out for your bottom line no one else will.
Scour the web and join forums and small business websites that cater to your industry. you can pick up tips and possibly new trends to keep an eye out for. Also check out the government (at all levels) for small business incentives, tax savings opportunities, etc.
I have been fully engaged in events around the city this week participating in workshops and small business conferences etc (Small Business Forum 2011 by Enterprise Toronto, Finding the Formula by Constant Contact.., among others). One event in particular stood out for me where a speaker local to my business discussed social media marketing. Sean Stephens is the President of TreeFrog Interactive in Newmarket Ontario (my home for over 35 years and now my business headquarters), his advice for small business owners was to “make all your social media content trusted, credible and relevant.” In today’s chaotic business environment we are bombarded with images and advertising through all sorts of media. In order to set your business apart from the competition you need to develop interactive, inspiring and meaningful relationships with your customers. It’s no longer effective to find all kinds of contacts and simply feed them all the same marketing information. To effectively cultivate sales growth in today’s market we are better served connecting with individuals or targeting a smaller base of prospects and sharing insight that will spark a conversation (creating Word of Mouth advertising). Our brand is no longer controlled by our business, our brand is controlled by our customers perception of our business, therefore creating social media content trusted, credible and relevant becomes a critical consideration in this new business climate.
Thanks, Sean!
Never be afraid to take chances. Taking chances teaches and increases the opportunity for successful results.
“Buy low, Sell high”
A well written contract minimizing both parties liabilities and clearly detailing the scope of their agreement will make your interaction with the client all the more enjoyable and productive in the long run.
Be open to all opportunities and keep excellent records.
Best business advice was to first identify your target customer. Work hard to understand who will use your product/service, what their habits are, how much money they might spend, what your value proposition is, and what your unique selling propositions will be.
One of my most important pieces of advise is to always make sure to do your follow up whether it is for you to contact someone or if they contact you and you need to respond. You never know who they know and if you don’t follow up you could lose out on a potential. Great opportunity cause, you don’t know who they know and how it can help your business.
Best business advice that I ever received was: under promise and over deliver. One customer was extremely satisfied with the fact that we delivered above and beyond expectations – which resulted in retaining the customer for subsequent sales.
if you want it, and believe in it, you must work hard, and you will achieve it.
When starting your own business.
1) Get a CA (Chartered accountant)
2) Get an attorney
3) Form artificial legal entity (corp)
4) Get post office box for artificial legal entity (ALE)
5) Get bank account for artificial legal entity
6) Using ALE’s bank account, get a laptop and a copy of Quickbooks, cellphone, and 3G wireless usb for laptop. This is now your office
It is better to sell the sizzle, than it is to sell the steak…
Make sure you get a cell phone with free icoming calls. Hand that number to your clients for tech/customer service issues. Always keep the customer experience in mind.
Do not give out free advice. Consults are all billable and advice is usually liable, so when a client asks for free advice always know that it is billable.
The best business advice is ti listen to your customers and treat them with respect.
Best business advice I’ve received was to limit my availability to clients by implementing an appointment system.
Best Business advice is that communication is key!
When I started my small business, one of the first things I needed to do was get an Internet connection. Initially, I was going to use my laptop in my home office, and my smartphone on the road. However, my friend pointed out the headaches of managing 2 devices for my data (various invoices, customer details, etc…) and pointed me to Rogers Rocket Hotspot. I looked into it and loved the idea that I could bring my laptop on the road and still have Internet connection – thereby maintaining all data on just one device. So that business advice by my friend to the Rocket Hotspot was my best business advice I received.
People say your price shouldn’t reflect your cost, meaning you price for what people will pay for it, not for how much you need to price it for. Of course that’s sometimes difficult to apply, and there is always customer education in terms of getting them to see the true value of what you offer. At first you’ll probably be temped to take every opportunity, which is natural, but at some point you’ll need to apply 20/80 rule inorder to generate more revenue.
The best business advice that I ever received was to recognize that small businesses not only can compete – but sometimes have advantage over large companies and the trick is to recognize what those advantages are. For example, some of the business services offered by Rogers (Internet + phone in one package) can be leveraged by small companies that are always on the road to connect with customers using social media (Twitter is great for this).
Best business advice that I ever received was to always keep in mind that everyone you meet might be a possible future connector. You never know when that contact could come in handy – so treat everyone with courtesy and respect.
Listen, think, being pleasant.
You should listen to your customers needs, think about you do and be very pleasant to your customers.