|
|
|
Are You SURE You Want To Start Your Own Business? Part Two of a Series
Why, exactly, do you want to go into business for yourself?
Is it because you cannot stand the thought of working for an uptight, demanding, and perfectly dreadful boss?
Is it because you cannot bear the thought of going through...
E-Business's Best Friend: eCRM
From Ebay to the smallest home-operated start-up, e-businesses of all sizes struggle to accurately answer a common question: who are my customers? If you can't answer that question, chances are you're also in the dark about the following...
How Protected are You? Safeguard Your Small Business from Computer Viruses
The fact is, every time you log onto the Internet, send an email message, open an attachment, or insert a floppy disk, you risk infecting your computer system. Computer viruses are out there just waiting to wreak havoc on your data, documents,...
Improving Profitability - for Small Moving Companies
One of the advantages that national removal companies have over all smaller operations is that of their networks. When moving long distance, they do not have to pay a whole crew to travel: The van can simply be met by a local crew, and althoughit...
Increase Your Page Rank Through SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be considered a process and over time you can build your ranking and traffic.
Remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
This article provides 10 SEO tips that will build your search engine rank.
1....
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
After I’m gone … Selling Your Small Business
If you’re considering selling your business, you have a vested interest in continuing the success of the business as your participation lessens. Many factors determine how your enterprise has succeeded until now. One particularly important factor is your own personality style. Employees and customers have come to expect a certain set of behaviors: how you exercise authority, how you relate to people, how you handle changing circumstances, how much you are - or are not - willing to improvise when standard operating procedures are in question. These aspects of your personality are a powerful binding force in your corporate culture and your customer relationships. If you want your business so continue to thrive after the sale, its wise to learn ahead of time whether any of these personality factors are going to change under new leadership.
Personality Profiling of yourself, key employees, and prospective buyers can be a very valuable step in preparing to sell your business and to work yourself out of day-to-day management. Having an objective measurement of how you connect with employees and clients can help you lay the most profitable foundation for change. Reputable personality profile tools like MRA, DISC and AVA can be obtained from a number of business consulting companies
Connecting With Customers:
If your own relationships with key customers are a vital factor in continuing to do business with them, then you’ll want to know how the new owner will connect with these customers. If the new owner has a personal style that is very different from yours, you’ll want to prepare your major customers for the change, or even look for a more compatible buyer.
Connecting with your People:
Your sales people each have an individual sales style. Knowing the personality styles of high
performing sales people will help prepare them for the coming change. If, for instance, consultative selling is working well for you, and if your sales staff spend lots of time talking and thinking together with the clients, you’ll want to preserve that. If sales are going well, then plainly the customers are pleased with the consultative approach. If a new owner says “cut back the talk and visits – that’s inefficient – just call ‘em once a week.”, the chances are high that you’ll lose customers and loose some good sales people too. Knowing the personality type of the new owner can help identify a winning combination.
Supporting Management:
In many small companies the owner and the employees hire each other. That is to say, the staff winds up being people who like the owner’s personality style and vice versa. The new management can make the transition much smoother with a clear picture of the personality styles of the key employees. If there are radical personality differences between the current ownership and the new owner, you should start planning a team building effort and put a lot of effort into preparing people for the change.
A significant part of the value of a small business lies in relationships. Don’t put that asset at risk when selling you business.
(c) John Loven, 2004. Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as the article and by-line are reprinted intact.
About the author:
John Loven provides personality profiling services to help businesses hire more accurately, manage careers better and secure higher employee retention. You can experience the accuracy and clear business language of MRA Team Spirit Profiling at http://www.MRATeamSpirit.com
|
|
|
|
|
| United States Small Business Administration |
| An electronic gateway of procurement information for and about small businesses. Search engine for contracting officers, marketing tool for small firms, ... |
| www.sba.gov |
|
| SBA |
| The Small Business Planner includes information and resources that will help you at any stage of the business lifecycle. ... |
| www.sba.gov |
|
| Main Page - SmallBusiness.com - Small Business Resources |
| Find Small Business plans, advice, tutorials about organization, corporations, entrepreneurship, and smallbusiness. |
| www.smallbusiness.com |
|
| Yahoo! Small Business: Domain Names, Web Hosting, E-commerce ... |
| Yahoo! Small Business provides products and services that enable you to establish and grow your business on the Internet. Services include domain name ... |
| smallbusiness.yahoo.com |
|
| Small business advice business start up small business finance ... |
| business start up small business finance start up advice. |
| www.smallbusiness.co.uk |
|
| Smallbusiness.gov.au redirect to business.gov.au |
| Business Entry Point - Helping small business in big ways. An Australian Government initiative. The content from this website has now been consolidated into ... |
| www.smallbusiness.gov.au |
|
| Business & Small Business |
| Online and print small business publication. Information to help start, grow or manage a small business. |
| www.entrepreneur.com |
|
| Microsoft Small Business Center |
| Your home for information about Microsoft's small-business products and services, tailored business advice, technology tools, and more. |
| www.microsoft.com |
|
| The Small Business Advisor - advice for starting and operating a ... |
| Advice and assistance for starting and operating a small or home based business. |
| www.isquare.com |
|
| SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" |
| A nonprofit association dedicated to encouraging the formation, growth, and success of small business nationwide through counseling and mentor programs. |
| www.score.org |
|
| Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource |
| IR-2006-2, January 3, 2006 - Temporary and proposed regulations will significantly reduce tax filing burden for nearly 950000 small business owners. ... |
| www.irs.gov |
|
| Welcome to Small Business BC your business resource in British ... |
| BC Business Services offers assistance and resources for those running or starting a business in British Columbia and Vancouver. |
| www.smallbusinessbc.ca |
|
| Small Business Service | Home |
| Provides information and advice to help small businesses realise their potential. |
| www.sbs.gov.uk |
|
| NSW Small Business |
| A site developed by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development for small businesses. Topics include management, resources, current issues and ... |
| www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au |
|
| Business Management & Advice: Small Business Resources & Information |
| Looking for business management and advice? Our website includes small business resources and information that can help you. Visit the small business ... |
| www.businessweek.com |
|
| Small Business Lawyer, Attorney, Law, Legal Help - FindLaw for ... |
| Information and legal sites relevant to small business. |
| smallbusiness.findlaw.com |
|
| Small Business Funding Opportunities (SBIR and STTR) |
| Links to Small Business Funding Opportunities and SBIR / STTR Applications. |
| grants.nih.gov |
|
| Microsoft bCentral Small Business Directory |
| Directory categorized by industry with company business card feature. |
| sbd.bcentral.com |
|
| Our site has moved! Please update your bookmarks! |
| Facilitates the sharing and exchange of information among small business development centers, the small business administration and other business-oriented ... |
| sbdcnet.utsa.edu |
|
| Small Business Development Corporation |
| Our business information services provides guidance to improve business skills and knowledge on advice on starting, buying, selling and expanding a small ... |
| www.sbdc.com.au |
|
|