Questions For The Entrepreneur To Be – Merchant Account
Questions For The Entrepreneur To Be
Charlz Wachira
Entrepreneurial e-gnorance
Part 1: Questions for the entrepreneur to be
If you are an entrepreneur starting out, or have been around the block for some time but are yet to hit on the jackpot, you might be missing out some of the cornerstones of doing busingg through the new age media, the internet. Ask yourself the following questions and in seeking out answers to the, you may find the magic touch that could propel you to the success that drives you everyday.
What are you going to sell
It is not true that anyone can sell anything. I for example could never operate a cookies business because i would end up munching them all up before they saw the light of day. On the other hand I have been selling my writing for years now and i will keep doing it for as long as there is paper and pen. The point I am trying to get across is that you need to know what you are best qualified to sell, and more importantly, to know why anyone would buy from you and not somewhere else. If you think you have the capability to sell it better than anyone alse doing it, then you have a seller. Working hardest may get you results but working smart rakes in the profits. Be smart about what you are going to sell and you shall be rewarded.
Who are the potential buyers
One common mistake that could be the deathblow in your entrepreneurial endevour is the asumption that the presence of people means that there is an obvious market for your product. In the realistic business world you do not just sell to people, you sell to a target audience that is informed about your product and have the means and desire to purchase it. To identify this target audience, you will need to carry out a market survey and identify the demographics before launching your product to the identified market.
One potential but often ignored source of such data is the local offices. As required by law, they maintain these records and though they can not divulge personal information, they are helpful when it comes to raw statistics and this should save you some time and money, a plus if you are still in the initial level of entrepreneurship. Having this initial information is crucial but it is still up to you as the entrepreneur to analyze it and based on your analysis, determine the best approach to this particular market segment.
How are you going to market to potential customers
Having decided on what to sell and who to sell it to removes two main obstacle in your march to success as an entrepreneur. The next key step for you is to reach the identified market with your product and get them interested in it. The form of advertising that you pick on heavily influences the market section that you reach. For more information on advertising have a look at the related articles on advertising. The resources at your disposal determine the advertising route that you take but I am writing on the assumption that you may not have a million bucks at your disposal for advertising. For advertising on the internet, with the right approach it should be possible to drive enough people to your site. again there are different options to choose from depending on your product and target marketvisit our internet marketing section for more information on this.
How Will You Present Your Product
The next step after you have captured the attention of the market is to present your product to them in an irresistible manner. Their visiting you is a good sign but it is not a sure bet that they will purchase from you or even establish any mutual contact beyond the initial visit and interest. You should fuel their interest into a passion and convince them of the merits of purchasing from you. Have information on what problem in their lives your product is going to solve, the advantages that your product provides over that of rival businesses and gain their trust by providing guarantees on each purchase they make from you.
If you can succeed in making your potential market segment to feel compelled to purchase from you, for as long as you have quality and superior products on offer, you will have buyers for your product.
How will you sell the product
Automating the buying process saves your customers not only time but the frustration of having to fill in endless forms and type in their details in numerous forms. The best way to circumvent this process is to have an automated system incorporated into your system to provide the customer with a smooth and stress free buying process. It serves no point to have everything else working smoothly for you, only to lose your potential sale at the purchasing stage because of an archaic buying pprocess.
To achieve this, one of the best prospect today is having a merchant account with a verified brand In my opinion, Paypal is the best that allows the customers to buy from you in the easiest way possible through a third party billing house. You should also think of having a follow-up system that informs the customers of a confirmation of the purchase and if possible, have a tracking system that alllows them to check on the progress of their purchase.
Another key issue that you will need to address is delivery. Customers want to be able to get the delivery made in their spoecified time and location so you should recruit the services of a reliable carrier, FEDEX, DHL or whichever method you think will serve your customers best.
Customer Support
This involves not only the well known practices of post-purchase support for product that w ere purchased from you but also and maybe more importantly, a system that will act as a spur for the current customers to continue purchasing from you. Putting incentives is important if you are to have loyal and dedicated customers. Though having guarantees with a refund if the customer is not satisfied with the purchase is not absolutely neccesary, it is a powerful tool in conveying the trust you have in your product. You are literally sticking out your neck and this gives the customers one more reason to trust you.
Having a customer support contact both mail and phone, customer opinion page etc gives you an edge over some of your competition that may be overlooking this simple but nevertheless effective way of creating a lasting rapport with your customers.
About The Author
Charlz Wachira, the Online Marketing Alchemyst, runs http://www.e-gnorance.com, an online venture aimed at marketing entrepreneurial endeavors online. He also writes on a variety of issues related to entrepreneurship, e-commerce and online marketing. He can be reached at charlz@e-gnorance.com
8 Advantages to Writing a Book as an Entrepreneur – Writing
8 Advantages to Writing a Book as an Entrepreneur
Denise Hamilton
As an aspiring or an established entrepreneur, you are an expert in something, but does the rest of the world know You have a wealth of information, experience and knowledge that you can package into a book that will benefit others. This truly is the information age and people want to know what you know.
1. A book will give you unbelievable credibility which increases the respect you will receive from customers and business associates. Wouldn
A Bang On The Head, A Kangaroo And An Entrepreneur, What Happened Next – Domain Name
A Bang On The Head, A Kangaroo And An Entrepreneur, What Happened Next
Jason Lewis
If you are always on the look out for a money spinner, sometimes youll find them pop up in the most unlikely of places.
A Herd Of 45,000 Website Visitors That Didnt Cost Anything...
In September 2003 an amazing turn of events led to a massive flood of media coverage, which in turn sent a stampeding herd of free visitors to a brand new website.
Leonard Richard is a 52 year old farmer living down under in Victoria, Australia. He was out and about on his farm not too far from his house, when a branch fell and hit him hard on his head.
Leonard estimates that he must of been out cold for at least half an hour and was in a really bad way.
As luck would have it, Leonards pet kangaroo called Lulu, discovered him and helped to raise the alarm. I didnt realize this myself, but kangaroos can make a kind of barking noise. The persistent and somewhat out of character barks from Lulu eventually managed to alert Leonards family in his house nearby.
Its uncertain but Leonard thinks that Lulu may have also turned him on his side to keep his airway clear, although Im not sure whether I believe that bit. Leonard was airlifted by helicopter to the nearest hospital.
Lulu was credited with saving Leonards life. The news of Lulu the life saving kangaroo soon spread. The RSPCA decided to give Lulu a very rare bravery award which resulted in a lot of media interest.
A Quick Thinking Entrepreneur...
On the other side of Australia, a quick thinking entrepreneur and website designer by the name of John sorry thats all I could get, got in touch with the Richards family and offered to set up a website for them free of charge.
They would then be able to share their story across the globe. The website didnt go live until April this year, just before the RSPCA officially announced the award. This was when the media frenzy whipped up a real pace and the website was literally flooded with visitors. So many, that they had to shut the site down and upgrade the servers. You can view the site here:
http://www.luluthekangaroo.com.au/
An Opportunity To Bring In Some Cash
If you look at the site, theyve managed to take advantage of all this traffic by adding a few money spinners on the site.
- Theyve got a small banner for GoDaddy website hosting, and they also adapted it to feature a picture of Lulu as part of the banner animation nice touch.
- Theyre selling T-shirts with a picture of Lulu on them promoting world peace.
- They have put together an ebook detailing all the events up to and after the accident.
- Finally, they have converted the ebook to a mini disk as well.
As another nice touch they are also donating a percentage of the profits to charity.
They seem to have made a fair attempt at trying to make some money from what could have otherwise been a family tragedy. Good luck to them I say!
Keep Your Eyes Open For Potential Money Spinners
This sort of opportunity is nearly always going to be a short-term money spinner. Obviously, most people are not going to stumble on a life saving kangaroo like this one.
However, as an entrepreneur it may pay you to keep your eye out for any unusual events, acts of bravery, etc. Basically anything that has the potential for a lot of media interest.
Most people like the Richards family would never even consider building their own website after a situation like this. You can get a domain name and some hosting for about $20. If you know how to build a basic looking website, the only additional cost will be your time.
As this story showed, having a website really helped to give this tale of bravery worldwide recognition. If you type lulu the kangaroo into a search engine you will find loads of news sites linking to Lulus website. I very much doubt there would have been as much interest if the news websites didnt have Lulus website to refer and link to.
Joint Venture Possibilities
If you have your own niche product already, you could go looking for human interest stories that relate to your product. Alternatively you could team up with a joint venture partner that does have a related product.
Heres An Exaple...
Lets say that a story breaks in your area about a woman that has given birth to 7 children all at once. With IVF treatment this could happen. This sort of thing is usually very popular in the media.
You could approach the woman and offer to build a website for her. With all those children she is bound to get a lot of media coverage, and she might be interested in trying to make a bit of money from all the media interest. At the end of the day, all those hungry mouths will need to be fed somehow.
You could propose a 50/50 split on any profits from displaying a few ads and links to baby related products on the site.
Summary
This is not the sort of thing that you would be able to give up your day job to pursue, but it could provide you with a nice little cash boost.
Jason Lewis, Copyright 2004
About The Author
Jason Lewis is the Author of the new Business Brainwaves Newsletter. Uncovering new business ideas and untapped gaps in the market that the average person can profit from. Join now, while its still free! ==> www.BusinessBrainwaves.com