About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

This is a typical scenario for most entrepreneurs.  Luckily, I had some great coaches to whom I will be forever grateful. Let me share a few tips I learned along the way that helped me to get clear on where I’m headed, to communicate that well and be seen as a leader in my field.

Business Development Tips:

1. In a quiet place, contemplate what you truly want, enjoy, and has the potential for making money.
2. If you have been in business for a while, of all the things you do, which utilizes your talents best, has potential for making money, and/or do you enjoy the most?
3. Focus on the top 3 revenue streams until they are steady and established.
4. If you only have 1 revenue stream, add 2 more that are complementary.
5. Set time aside each day to build at least one of the streams; sometimes by working on one it will affect the other positively.
6. Take an evening to plan your biggest vision for your major money-making activity.
7. Create medium sized projects to get to the big vision.
8. Create small sized projects to get to the medium sized projects.
9. Write weekly must-dos to achieve the smaller projects quickly and pay attention to whether you are accomplishing them.
10. Every day you must devote one-two hours to your bigger vision – I call this your “Daily Business Vitamins”.
11. Prioritize by appointments, bigger vision projects, smaller tasks.
12. This minute – write down the first big vision that comes to your mind and begin planning!

When you operate in the manner described above, you become highly efficient, finding more hours in the day. People will stop to ask how it is possible that you are achieving so much. You will feel much better about your business and begin to smile. I know because I went through this process myself.

The smile on your face says it all. Prospects, clients and everyone else will see you finally look happy and ask what’s new and take interest. A smile is actually (in my mind) another form of a marketing message and helps communicate that you have become a leader if not an expert in your field. You are well on your way!

Now add great customer service policies to your repertoire, and build relationships with everyone you meet. You will attract larger audiences to your business and close more sales.

About the author: Carolyn Castleberry writes books for Simon & Schuster and Random House on money and time management, with a unique measure of faith added to the equation.   Find out more at www.carolyncastleberry.com

Before you solicit free investment advice from your hairdresser’s bookkeeper or your cousin’s neighbor’s insurance agent, do your homework. Think of your investment strategy as a relay race. You go as far as you can and then hand the baton to someone who can take over where you left off. The smart investor surrounds herself with a team of advisers who are professionals in their respective fields — stocks, mutual funds, real estate, finances, tax laws, and more. Unless you’ve got degrees in law, business, and accounting, and you’re a licensed stockbroker and real estate agent, you’re going to have to rely on the knowledge and skills of others in order to avoid costly errors. Here are three tips to get you started:

1. Save Hundreds of Dollars by Refusing to Pay Avoidable Fees.

One of the most important things in saving money is to find out exactly how people are charging you. For example, with a financial planner or investment adviser, the payment might be a percentage of the value of the assets he manages for you. Or it might be an hourly rate or a fixed fee.  With any payment arrangement, particularly fixed fees, be certain you understand what’s included for the price. Ask your consultant to alert you when you ask for a service that will involve an additional fee or commission. And don’t be afraid to ask for a detailed explanation of charges in advance. Doing this will save you hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars.

2. Watch for Conflicts of Interest

Also be aware of potential conflicts of interests in dealing with financial “experts”. Ask the consultant who else benefits from the advice he provides you. For example, does he receive referral rewards if you use a certain company? Who benefits when you purchase insurance or securities? It’s also fair to ask for the approximate percentage or premium the consultant receives when you purchase financial products. Be clear about potential conflicts of interest, and ask for a written disclosure of any relationships connected to your plan and its execution.

3. Keep Asking Questions about Your Money!

In choosing a stock broker – asking these questions will save you big bucks. How is the broker paid? First of all, you pay the broker a commission on the trades (purchases and sales) she makes for you.  She also may charge fees for transferring assets, closing an account, wire transfers, inactive accounts, not maintaining a minimum balance, and IRA custodian fees.   Ask your broker about her fee schedule before you start racking up excess – and avoidable – charges. If you don’t understand what this person is saying, keep asking until you do… or move on.

About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

The one key factor to keep in mind, when meeting with prospects and clients, is “commonality”. It is a well-known fact that people buy You. They have to like you and feel comfortable with you. The best way to increase your like-ability rating is to find what you have in common with the other person.

Tips for Developing Commonality:

1. Listen carefully to spoken words
2. Listen carefully for what is omitted
3. Question anything you do not understand
4. In-person carefully watch facial expressions & body language at all times
5. Social media – read the written words & between the lines
6. When you read or hear of a similar situation you experienced (one that brings fond memories), succinctly tell your story
7. Appropriate laughter or sharing of fun experiences builds your bond
8. Ask how you may work together
9. Ask the other person’s timeframe
10. Always follow-up!

When your mindset is focused on paying close attention to the other person and re-enforcing what they tell you, you will be communicating that you listened and you care. This, too, builds the bond and increases your opportunity for getting the sale. Your stories reflecting commonality attract the right attention and lead your clientele on the path of doing business together.

Working to build your relationships is a big part of your business development. Clients will market for you telling everyone how nice and good you really are. Commonality will help you enjoy the Smooth Sale!

SaaS (Software as a Service) is all of the rage in the start-up world.  Investors love the recurring revenue stream, and companies are beginning to love the ease of deploy and the low upfront cost for deployments.

But what is not always realized is that SaaS really needs a human component as a start-up software company.  A recent interaction at one of our portfolio companies really demonstrates this.  The first part of the email is a member of the start-up’s management team talking about the importance of human interaction.  The second part is an email from an actual customer.  NOTE: All names have been removed.

Manager’s Email:

Hello All:

As you all may or may not know, at least every 3 months every one of our customers gets a contact email and/or phone call from their account manager.  From these calls, we learn a great number of things and re-enforce our relationship.

I wanted to pass on this great email to demonstrate why this is so important.  XXXXXXXXXXXXXX was doing his usual account maintenance and got the response below.  The customer mentions an obvious product deficiency,  (NOTE: We hear this from at least 90% of the customers we speak to), but also mentions that our customer service is second to none.

Often, the human touch can overcome any product shortcoming. It is good to know that we have instilled a culture where the “Service” part of SaaS is executed upon.

Customer’s Email:

Hi XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your email, it’s nice to know that when we purchase a product from a company such as yours that we actually get to deal with real people, and not automated computers!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX has done wonders for our school – more and more teachers are starting to use them for their course work and also to collaborate planning sessions amongst staff members as well as parents. We use them in a variety of ways, from course work, to an online newspaper, to parents signing up for interview times and, as I mentioned, teachers planning lessons with other specialists whom they may not get a chance to do so otherwise.

At the moment I don’t really have any queries, only a suggestion… Is it possible in the near future that INSERT FEATURE REQUEST will be completed? Just a query

Otherwise, I appreciate your email and look forward to continuing with XXXXXXXXXXXXXX in the future,