Exciting Developments for South African Business Owners

iTrust Strategic Partners

There are exciting developments afoot for South African business owners. iTrust, an Australian company, is launching in South Africa and judging by their success in that country (over 918,000 subscribers in under 3 years!) the market space in Africa is about to become a whole lot more interesting for all.

iTrust was started in Australia by a team of Zimbabweans and South Africans who have decided it’s time to bring home their success and help the local entrepreneurial and business community in a similar way. And, because of the growing emphasis here on business skills development they’ve partnered with a few value added service providers who can deliver not only practical development of business skills and networking opportunities but also access cost effective services that can assist them to grow their businesses into sustainable success stories.

The Small Business Toolbox is proud to have been selected to partner with the team above (from left) Johann Terblanche (Accretio); Theunis de Beer (MultiTel); Dianne Perrett (The Small Business Toolbox); Stuart MacGregor (LabourMate); Colin Armour (iTrust) and Hugo Slabbert (The Business Navigator).

This team is working hard to put together an exciting range of value added products and services to assist business owners to drive leads through the internet based business networking website www.iTrustsa.co.za.

And, from our perspective, if you register as an iTrust subscriber you not only get one TSBT programme absolutely FREE but you also get access to the NEW TSBT Business Forum for FREE too! That’s a saving of over R2,500 in your first year alone! Which, by the way, covers your first year’s subscription to iTrust without even taking into account the other benefits like:

A full HR department at your fingertips with FREE online LabourMate access giving you current labour regulations, acts and bargaining council agreements for your industry in your area, updated weekly.
A full Credit Bureau to reduce your debt risk through Accretio and the Business Navigator. Giving you the ability to check client’s credit ratings before extending credit, thereby managing your business exposure closely in these tight economic times.

So visit the iTrust website now to see how you can make use of incredible savings while driving leads to your door or contact us and find out how you can sign up today for less than R3.50 a day. With iTrust and The Small Business Toolbox you can increase sales, differentiate your business and get real time customer feedback, it’s the cheapest marketing you’ll ever need to do.

A Marketing Frame of Mind?

It is tough being in business to-day – a truism no question – but how far are the difficulties compounded by our own frame of mind?

Are you sitting around bemoaning your “fate” or are you doing something positive to change the situation? How far is the recession real or a product of our own negative mindsets? Are we allowing the current environment to dominate our thinking or are we doing something positive to become masters of our own destiny?

There is no question that business has got tougher in a set of economic circumstances that have affected the whole world – and there is no denying that it is more difficult to do business now than it was a year or two back. But by the same token, the world has not come to a standstill – people still have to eat; they still want to find ways to spend their recreational time; they still have to travel and so on. But they have been forced to be more selective, more discriminating and expect more for their money. And, businesses that sharpen up their marketing strategies are the ones who will take advantage of this.

So how have you responded? Are you taking this opportunity to re-invent your business? Do you have a plan to get you through the next 12 months until circumstances improve? And that plan needs to start and end with how are you going to find new customers and how are you going to satisfy the needs of your existing customers better.

So where do you start?

First – Talk to Your Customers
Try talking to your customers – we mean really talking to them to get inside their heads and find out what they expect from you and what they need to help them in these testing times. Use this opportunity to find out what they think they will need in the future – how can you make their lives easier? How can you ensure that you meet their needs better?

Second – Find Ways to Re-Invent Your Business
Start with a clean slate and decide how you can use what your customers have told you to generate more business, to do business more efficiently, to add value to what you are offering and to generate the loyalty that will be invaluable in the future. Find new and better ways to provide what your customers want because the chances are that your competitors are sitting around worrying about how they will pay the bills at the end of the month.

Third – Develop a Brand New Marketing Plan
Give your business an injection of focus and direction. Set yourself some challenging new marketing goals – you may not achieve all of them but having a clear set of objectives should give you and your team renewed energy and enthusiasm. Remember that your competitors are faced with the same issues that confront you – your reaction to the current climate is what can differentiate your business and make it successful in these trying times. Your attitude and your response will make all the difference.

So, talk to your customers, hear what they are saying, reconfigure your business from the outside in and put a plan in place to make it happen.

Small Business Sales Prospecting

Whether we like it or not every small business needs an action plan for prospecting new clients.

If you’re a one-man-band, or just aren’t big enough to have a dedicated sales person, it’s probably left up to you to do the cold calling.

It’s a fact that most new business doesn’t fall in your lap and most prospects aren’t sitting there just waiting for your call. So what can you do to develop a system that’s painless and takes the “energy trap” out of the sales process?

First: Build up a prospect list. A database of who you could target, their contact details and what potential value they could have for your business. Then prioritise this from most important to least important.
Second: Prepare a document that details your competitive advantage (why they should buy from you), the benefits of your product/service and, if possible, some testimonials from people that enjoyed a long association with you. You can have this document layed-up nicely as a presentation document, or you could just have the knowledge in your head. But, do make sure you’ve given it enough thought so that you sound positive and confident when speaking to your prospects.
Third: Set up a meeting and visit the prospects. Outline up front what the agenda is for the meeting (to introduce yourself and share with them the benefits of dealing with you) and then make sure you are early for the appointment! Determine your objective for this call, remember it takes between 5-7 points of contact for someone to switch to you, so make sure you have thought through each point of contact carefully.
Fourth: Follow up with a thank you note and action anything coming out of the meeting quickly and efficiently.

On average “they say” that sales is purely a numbers game. See 10 people you’ll get 1 Yes! So it’s not a field for the feint hearted. Stick to it, do the numbers and check your conversion ratio. If you aren’t converting at this level either your prospect list is not needing what you offer, your offer isn’t right or your sales approach is lacking.

Remember to do a post-mortem on your call cycle conversions regularly to ensure you aren’t wasting time and effort in unprofitable markets. Complete a marketing plan with a strong personal selling element in order to set sales objectives, action plans and measurable performance criteria.