Second Stage: Business Contruction

Planning your business to promote success

This is where your feet hit the pavement, and you plan your companies and your own future. One of the most important things in creating a business is making sure that you set realistic goals for yourself. When you set goals, they can do one of two things. A) They can frustrate you and direct your focus to your shortcomings, as opposed to making the business operate smoothly, or B) They can be a huge boost to your self esteem and motivate you to do more, and be more. Which would you want your goals do? Keeping this in mind, you are now ready to write goals for your business and plan your stadegies.

5 Key points to address in your business plan to improve your odds

1) Set hard dates for the planning process, the dates for implementation, and the unofficial 'opening day' for your ebizz. Even though in the back of your mind you KNOW that these dates do not have to be met, do not factor that in. Let these dates set milestones for your business so that you can track your progress.

Examples:
- Complete site designed by 9.01.08
- Complete shopping cart by 9.28.08
- Complete marketing slicks and mail outs by 10.15.08
- Attend Trade Show 11.01.08
- Launch site 12.01.08
- Advertise for "Grand Opening Day" with great values 12.15.08
- Start normal site operating procedures 12.20.08
- ECT.

By setting dates and sticking to them, you also have solid information to give all potentially interested customers. The last thing you want to do is give them a date and not follow thru. Big No-No in business.

2) Decide the capitol reinvestment of revenue generated from the site. You need to set an ammount of money that you will reinvest in the business from the sales that you generate in your first year. The first year is the most important, as you will be establishing your root members, the ones who usually help with viral growth. You need to allot a portion of the money for advertising via any media outlet, travels, and offering specials on products even if it costs you a little money in the end. Every customer is looking for a great deal, why don't you be the one to give it to them?

3) Obtain a business attorney for your business details. Depending on how savy you are with business, depends the ammount that you will need an attorney for. If you know how to Trademark your logo and business name, great. If you do not, however, you need to get a reputable attorney to handle this. The last thing that you want in the future when your company is successful, is someone else using your name, or trademarking your name/logo because you did not take these steps. (I know this one for a fact as it happened to me personally). Also, you need to have a business attorney give you counsel on what you need to do to thoroughly protect your content, and make sure you do not overstep your boundaries when it comes to products you're selling. There is a fine line for both. Attorneys are also good to have in your corner if any other situation arises, as they will know your business, and its inside workings.

4) Continually create business relationships with suppliers and manufacturers. Contact anyone and everyone that you can that sales this product or service on a large scale, or in a live environment. You would be suprised how many actual 'people' own these companies. The majority of the time, you can set up dealer accounts with these people even if you are not a large scale outlet. Bridging these types of connections are irreplaceable. These types of relationships can really increase the availbility of your product for the customer, and cut down on any "Not In Stock" scenarios may arise. Also, this allows you to shop your providers for the best price. I will be the first to tell you, what one company has cheapier than any other, they have two things more expensive. Have options.

5) Establish the structure of your customer service. This should be your main concern once the business is up and running. However, it should also be of great concern prior to opening of the ebiz. Its never a good thing to establish customer care policies when you have an upset customer. You have to decide how are you are going to field the complaints. Will it all be phone based, or are you going to ask for them to fill out a form on the website and submit it to you for review. Either way is acceptable, to most. I know that when I have a malfunctioning or incorrect product, I want to speak to someone so that I feel that I have accomplished something with my complaint. With a email form, you have no immediate response and tend to be in limbo as to whether anything is being done. Always have a contact info available and easy to find. I usually place mine in the headers to avoid any confusion. Once you know what you are initially going to do, you now have to decide what timeline you are going to give customer for rectification of their problem. If it was a delivery related issue (ie- damaged prior to delivery, wrong product, ect.) I would seriously consider having an 'overnight' correction service implemented. Usually with dealers, you can explain the situation, have them send you a replacement, and credit your account once the defunct product is back in their possession. If it is a warranty related issue on a product the customer has had for a while, you have to make a decision. The way I decided to handle it was do in store returns to local customers, and direct all others to the manufacturers warranty department.


Thats all for now, but stay tuned. More to come.