5 Critical Rules For Naming A Business

By Wes Cutshall

1. Make it Unique
Your business name should be unique and not easily confused with other names. You don't want your clients to confuse you with other similar companies. Word of mouth is the most successful, and common, method of marketing. When people talk about your company they often will not be giving out your phone number, address, or website domain name. Make sure that when people talk about your business there is no confusion as to if they are talking about another company.

2. Make it Memorable
Memorable and unique are not the same thing. Your business name should not only be unique but it should also be easily remembered when shared with others. You want your clients to have your business name on the tip of their tongue when telling others about your company. When people hear your business name, by word of mouth, you want to make sure they remember the name without needing to write it down. This is why rhyming and play-on-words is so common in business naming.

3. Make it Descriptive
Don't overlook how important it is that customers can tell what your product or service is just from your name. You should at least hint at the industry your business is in. You want people to feel confident when they approach your company for service. Two examples seen recently of poorly described business names are "Versatile Ambiance" and "Vera Bird." Neither of these names gives a potential client any confidence in doing business with them.

4. Make it Easy to Spell
Funky names can be fun, but they can be hard to share through word of mouth. Although some brands have found success with misspelled or complexly spelled names, in general, it takes more marketing power to get traction with names that are not easy to spell. Avoid hard to pronounce names for the same reasons. Starting a business has enough hurdles and obstacles, don't give yourself more by creating a complex name that nobody can spell.

5. Use Naming Tools
Let's admit it, you're not very creative, but other people are. Entrepreneurs are now turning to crowdsourcing to help name their businesses. Crowdsourcing is the practice of using the public to solve a task normally solved by an agency. On crowdsourcing naming sites the public can help name your business through a contest. You can normally get hundreds to thousands of name suggestions through crowdsourced business contests.

Wes Cutshall is a serial entrepreneur and business namer. He is the CEO of Naming Force, a business naming website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wes_Cutshall

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10 ways to listen, lead and succeed

By Ann Skidmore of the Entrepreneurs Business Academy

As a corporate coach I have worked with many leaders, but the person who inspired me the most worked in the airport industry and took a “back to the floor” approach.
From time to time he would roll up his sleeves to get stuck in, in every department: washing dishes in the cafes, handling baggage and so on. In finding time to show people that he appreciated them, and to find their concerns, he was saying: “I want to understand what you do – because what you do counts.”
No matter how big or how junior the role, everyone on the team should feel they share a vision and should know that they are valued. A strong leader does more than motivate; he or she drives the team culture, while also encouraging the team to be fully accountable and responsible for achieving their common goal.
A good leader knows they can’t achieve everything on their own. Fabulous teams have a sense of purpose and understand their objectives.
Managing and leading people is highly rewarding when you have the tools to do it well, but most people learn as they go along, and some fall by the wayside, losing confidence in the process. So much about leadership is about managing team dynamics – and power dynamics.
When you have several people in the same room, each representing the interests of their own department – marketing, finance, etc – there will be times when there are clashes and unhelpful behaviour. Instead of the leader, someone else within the team holds the power, and is diverting attention to dampening the energy.
If something happens in a meeting to prevent co-operation, it must also be happening on a daily basis.
An effective leader will listen and help individuals to respect each other and work together as a fully functioning team. The leader (perhaps with the help of a coach) needs to ensure there is a strategy of action put in place so that he or she and the team commit to changing unhelpful behaviour.
We are all leaders in some aspect of our lives – the key is to get help in acquiring the key skills that enable us to lead effectively.
A team becomes successful when the business leader:
1. Has a sense of purpose and encourages a common vision. A team takes its cue from the attitude and behaviour of the person who leads them.
2. Communicates openly and honestly – and is authentic in approach. This is the boss who says: “Good morning, how are you today?” and means it, rather tahn rushing through the office with a curt “Morning” on the way to a meeting.
3. Makes sure body language echoes their intentions. There is no point in saying to a team member: “I can give you all the time you need”, if you signal the opposite message by constantly checking your watch.
4. Clearly defines roles and responsibilities and encourages support and trust within the team.
5. Conducts effective meetings, where everyone can contribute - by taking clear decisions but making time to listen to others’ points of view.
6. Encourages tolerance of others’ differences and constructive resolution of conflict – by encouraging a culture of personal responsibility rather than a culture of blame.
7. Reviews results and working practices, while encouraging a sense of pride in personal achievements. Take time to celebrate scaling the first mountain before climbing the next one.
8. Remains self-aware. Being mindful of the impact he or she has on others and maintaining a flexible approach.
9. Respects and co-operates with others inside and outside the organisation. In a small business, every relationship within the network counts. You are only ever as strong as your weakest link.
10. Leads by example. Where the leader leads, others will follow

15 Techniques for Winning Negotiations

By Mike Daley

As a small business startup or current owner, learning negotiating skills is very important. Believe it or not, there are literally thousands of negotiations that can affect your business and your bottom line. These can be items as simple as getting a discount for your business cards or as complicated as a facility lease. It might be negotiating pay plans with employees or payment terms with a supplier.

The bottom line is most schools do not teach the art of negotiating. And believe me, it is an art, a talent, a skill! For some small business owners it comes naturally. For most of us, learning the art of negotiations comes through necessity, effort, and experience.

Here are 15 techniques that you might consider as you become a master of negotiating: 

1. Always leave some money on the table.
2. Never compromise on your principles.
3. Try to judge what's fair from the other side's point of view.
4. Write down your goals and scenarios before every negotiation.
5. Ask questions.
6. Information is power.
7. Discuss only broad terms and conditions on the onset.
8. Whenever possible, let the other person make the first offer.
9. If you must make the first offer, make it high.
10. Always encourage the other party that we are making a deal.
11. Always come down very slowly if you are selling, and up very slowly if you are buying.
12. Never give up a concession without getting one in return.
13. Never lose track of how many concessions you have given up.
14. Be skeptical about deadlines. Most are negotiable.
15. Never let an issue be discussed unless you are prepared. Sleep on it.

The next time you are in a position of give and take, you are in negotiation. As a small business owner, this can happen more frequently than not. Most of the time there will be no clear winner but rather some manner of satisfaction on both sides. When this results, your negotiations have probably been successful. The important thing is to understand that the skill of negotiating is a learning process. The four Ps of negotiating: plan, patience, persistence, and practice are crucial to developing strong alliances and relationships that can continue in the future.

Think about these 15 principles and watch as you get the discount, free rent, the next sale, or extended payment terms. Then get ready to move on to the next negotiation, because there is always another one right around the corner.

MJD Business Advice LLC is owned by Mike Daley, an award winning, small business expert, who has over 37 years of experience helping entrepreneurs start, grow, buy, and sell businesses as well as conducting many seminars and training programs. The business website is http://www.mjdbusinessadvice.com Some of the specialties at MJD Business Advice LLC include business planning and execution, financial forecast reviews, capital infusion strategies, strategic marketing, and sales process improvements. We develop and help you implement the processes to get to the next level of success. Let's Grow Together! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Daley

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Email Etiquette 101

By Patty Juan 

Email is probably the most common form of business communication in use today. Whether you are a solo business owner or an employee of a large corporation, you probably send and receive email messages many, many times each day. But truth be told, too often many of us send email messages that have a tendency to sound snippy, bossy, or even ditsy. Even worse, we sometimes fail to send a reply altogether.

Oftentimes, we are sending emails to people whom we have never met in person. These relationships are based solely on the emails we send back and forth.

You are not a snippy, bossy, angry person. And you absolutely are not ditsy. Do you want Mr. Smith to think you are snippy, bossy, angry, or - heaven forbid - ditsy? And of course you want Mr. Smith to know that his email message is very important to you.

Here are a few dos and don'ts that will help you showcase your professional image and allow your true intent to be read with a smile each and every time you click send:

• Always include a concise subject line. This will make clear what your message is about and will help recipients prioritize their inbox.
• If this is the first few communications with someone, begin the message with a greeting, such as "Dear Mr. Jones." It's polite and it's professional. Later on "Hello, John" is perfectly fine.
• Do not write your message in all caps. It sets an angry tone, and NO ONE LIKES TO BE YELLED AT.
• Do put your main point in the opening sentence. Let people know exactly what you are writing about. They are just as busy as you are.
• Do write short, polite paragraphs. Your message should not be a novel.
• But... don't be so short so that your tone is bossy. Read over your message. Do you sound bossy? "If you have a moment, I would like to speak with you right away," sounds so much nicer than, "I want to talk with you ASAP." I am not seven, and you are not my father.
• Please do not use abbreviations or acronyms, unless you are 15 and texting your BFF.
• Do use spell check. Never skip this step. Never.
• Please do remember to say please and thank you. You have manners. Please use them.
• And finally, do always reply to an email within 24 hours. If you need more time, for instance, you are not sure how to respond, send a brief reply to acknowledge you received the email and provide a time or date when you will be back in touch. After all, do you like to be left hanging?

Send the right tone from the beginning and showcase your professionalism and efficiency. It's your business. Be an expert!

If you struggle with setting the right tone in your email messages, there is a new email plugin called ToneCheck. ToneCheck checks for emotionally charged words or sentences within email messages and works similarly to spell check. Any angry or potentially accusatory phases will be highlighted, giving you the option to rephrase your message. At this time, ToneCheck works exclusively with Outlook, but will soon expand beyond Outlook as market demand increases. It does seem very useful and worth checking out.

Patty currently owns and operates eXPERT Business Support Services. Patty teams up with small business owners and corporate executives who are looking to cut administrative costs and improve their business' efficiency. Her enthusiasm and honest work ethic, together with her 25 years of experience in the corporate world and as an independent contractor, are the foundation and core of eXPERT Business Support Services. Patty loves spending time with her family, surfing, and devoting time to Habitat for Humanity and to her local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, which aims to protect and preserve our oceans and beaches. Visit http://www.expertsupportsvcs.com and see what an expert can do for you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6278196

Is Modern Technology Good For Your Business?

By Jason Robert King 

We all use technology in our businesses, at least to some degree, but is technology good for your business, or your health?

Nowadays technology influences our lives and businesses in many different and subtle ways. We're so used to using it that it's easy to forget that ten years ago most of it wasn't even invented. You might use DVDs, Podcasts or the Internet for your learning material. You'll probably use spreadsheets to track different aspects of your business and word processors to write documentation.

Then there's email, social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and of course the flat screen monitor you're probably reading this on. All good stuff you might be thinking and it sure makes your life easier, right?

Yes I agree, until it goes wrong and it goes wrong a lot, all the time, but why?

Are You Fighting Bad Technology Too?

I've been involved in the software industry for around 20 years now and I've been using the internet since the early 1990s, well before most people knew it existed. I consider myself reasonably tech savvy as a result.

I think that most (but not all) people will agree that technology has transformed our lives, usually for the better. However, the reason I'm writing this post at all is because I still think it performs badly. I'll give you some examples as to why, going back no more than the last two days.

Yesterday, Excel crashed on me losing half an hours work, auto save failed so it was gone for good. As of last night Facebook no longer lets me post to my own account from my iPod Touch.

I did a little keyword research before writing this post and the tool crashed, taking ages to close properly and restart.

The internet connection I'm using is extremely slow and drops out occasionally losing it altogether for a few minutes at a time. Whilst trying to submit some articles to a website earlier I had to give up because I saw nothing but "timed out" errors and I lost yet more work.

Oh, and my wireless mouse stops working every few days with a flat battery and my spare (with a wire) has a mind of it's own.

I'm sure there's more and there will be by the time I manage to publish this, but I'm sure you get the picture.

This isn't intended to be a rant, because believe it or not the last few days haven't been particularly bad as far as fighting technology is concerned.

But it does feel like a fight sometimes, with more time and effort being taken fighting the tools to make them work than solving the original problem or performing the task at hand.

Why Is Technology So Bad?

Having used computers since they first appeared in the home I'll use them as an example as to why I think technology fails to work much of the time.

I believe it's for two main reasons:

Software - computers (and many other gadgets) run a lot of software nowadays, they run it simultaneously, it's often from different providers and it's very complex.

Technology is young - although we're at the cutting edge with computers and software it's easy to forget that it's still very young, extremely young in fact.

It's these two reasons which cause so many problems with modern technology. Most of it runs software, your phone, your car, your washing machine, your TV. Software by its very nature is complex and very prone to errors.

Most technology around now wasn't even invented ten years ago. We're only at the very very beginning of the Information Age. It may feel like we're well into it sometimes but we're really not.

If this were the Industrial Age (which is long gone now) we wouldn't have even invented steam powered machinery yet, we'd still be peddling the machinery ourselves.

So, is technology good for your business? I still think Yes when it works, but when it breaks it stops being a help and can cause you some immense stress.

Do I think things will improve any time soon? I'm afraid not. While we remain at the cutting edge and on the fast, exciting part of the curve we'll always be a few steps ahead of what we can actually do well.

Technology will continue to advance at an astonishing rate, but it'll continue to fail and cause us problems at a similar rate.

However, unless we plan to live in a cave we just have to live with it because in this day and age it's near impossible to avoid technology, especially in business.

Jason is a freelance Software Engineer who is a keen blogger, has run a number of online businesses and is also in the property letting business. His interests include researching and teaching the business mindset, his goal being to learn all there is to know about how to be a successful entrepreneur and to pass this information on to others. For more information visit: http://BusinessMindsetExpert.com or follow him at http://Twitter.com/JRKtm Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Robert_King

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How to Be of Value As a Twitter User

By Henrik V Blunck 

How to be of value on Twitter is a question of bringing tweets others find useful. When you target a niche you need to write tweets that benefit others, and while you should also retweet what others say to add even more value, there are still good rules as to how you can be a reel power tweeter.

Everyone can write a tweet. 140 characters is easy to write. But getting content into each tweet involves being able to say things in a short and direct manner. One Danish author created a multi-user platform where people could write stories. Only 39 mini-stories have been written, but the idea attracted the attention of journalists and was mentioned in a couple of newspapers. So being unique can suddenly cause you to get even more exposure than anyone would ever have guessed.

Similarly, when people you follow write prime content, it's best to retweet. Don't begin rewriting content, but be a real power tweeter by sharing with your followers also. That shows involvement, and will earn you some goodwill for future retweets of what you share on Twitter.

Good tweets are tweets that share things with others. It may be the occasional smalltalk information about local weather, but your primary focus should be on targetting niches that fit your line of business. In that way you create a professional presence, but having a private side to tweets also shows that you are a real human being with emotions and thoughts about things that happen around you.

Politics should be avoided in branding a company name, but could be useful in showing who you really are when you have a personal profile on Twitter. Disagreements are best handled in DM with other users rather than wasting your followers' time with needless debates. Even though you might find the debate interesting you end up losing followers if they feel you are too persistent in your line of reasoning. Carefully considering whether what you write will benefit your followers should be your primary focus before you click that Tweet button.

Installing a tool for your desktop such as TweetDeck will work wonders since you can be more timely with your tweets, and you save a lot of time by not having to log in to your Twitter account through a separate tab in your browser. Implementing what you have now learned should help you become of even greater value to your followers, and is worth remembering right away.

I thank you for reading this article. You will benefit from checking out my blog on earning money online over at http://www.blunck.dk/earning-money-online which also deals with blogging, writing and numerous other topics relating to living from good use of your pen. Furthermore, you can find me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/henrikblunck Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Henrik_V_Blunck

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6119281

27 Top Money-Making Tips On Using Twitter For Marketing

The social networking phenomenon Twitter is so popular and so big that any business, particularly an internet based business, cannot afford to miss out on its potential as a great tool for marketing. Its tremendously valuable to marketers because of its capacity to target a specific audience and communicate with them in real time.

I've just posted a new article on How To Use Twitter As A Marketing Tool on the Biz Skills 2000 website, so please take a look and help yourself to a free download at  http://www.bizskills2000.co.uk/free-factsheets-how-you-can-start-your-own-business/  Let me know if you found it useful, and also send me your requests for factsheets in the future that would help your business andrew@bizskills2000.co.uk 

Also, take a look at our Home Study Business Course on "Tweeting For Profit: The Internet Marketers Guide To Success" available on our website at www.BizSkills2000.co.uk