Belle Oberbrunner Great Ideas for your Small Business: Don’t Be Afraid to Recreate Your Business when anthony’s fish grotto dropped the zabaglione cake from its menu, Rick Ghio feared his dear, departed grandmother, Catherine, would send a lightning bolt down from heaven in protest. “But we were throwing away more cake than we were selling,” said Ghio … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Always Deal with Decision Makers the entrepreneur’s challenge is always to operate at the highest level possible; present proposals to the top decision maker, not the gatekeeper; elicit a prompt response; and move on quickly if the answer is “no.” Even when our company was based in the den … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: Brand spaces Developing stylish areas that are decorated and designed to appeal to your target market, even if they do not sell your core products, will reinforce your image and help customers appreciate the distinctiveness of your products and brand. The idea One of the trendiest new ideas in … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: Measuring employees performance Recent research suggests that the average company spends 40 percent of its revenues on people-related expenses (human capital costs), and 92 percent of financial directors think human capital has a “huge” impact on customer satisfaction and profitability. However, only 16 percent of companies have any real … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: The Employee – Customer – Profit chain S ears provides one of the best examples of employee practices connecting directly with organizational performance. The employee–customer–profit chain (a variation on the service profit chain) makes explicit the links between cause and effect. By enabling employees to see the implications of … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: The experience curve In creases in production allow workers to become more experienced—and firms with experienced workers are able to reduce their costs and increase their revenues. The idea In the mid-1960s, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) noticed that a manufacturer of semiconductors was able to cut unit production costs … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: Highlighting unique selling points (usps) Products should have at least one USP: a factor that differentiates and elevates them above their competitors. The idea The idea of a “unique selling point” seems to underpin the very nature of competition. It suggests that every product should have an effective, direct, … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: Clustering By setting up in “industry centers” where similar businesses are clustered together, firms gain instant access to a large and varied range of benefits. The idea The idea of clustering seems counter-intuitive. It suggests that firms should pay high real estate prices to be positioned close to their … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: Increasing competitiveness Competition requires a large amount of effort and business acumen: most businesses will, at some time, have to face circumstances that are exceptionally challenging and strenuous. There are a number of tactics and techniques that can help guide an organization through troubled times. The idea Many organizations … Read more
Great Small Business Ideas to Start: Cannibalizing Instead of allowing other companies to eat into your market, consider bringing in new products to compete with your existing ones. This may sound like suicide, but handled expertly it allows you to remain on the cutting edge and ahead of the competition. The idea When there is … Read more
