<![CDATA[Araujo & Company - Small Business Management Experts - Blog]]>Wed, 30 May 2012 12:30:46 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Quote of the Day]]>Wed, 30 May 2012 03:28:46 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2012/05/quote-of-the-day1.html"Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people."-- Lee Iacocca, Auto Executive]]><![CDATA[Quote of the Day]]>Fri, 25 May 2012 07:13:29 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2012/05/quote-of-the-day.html"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people."
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. president]]><![CDATA[Quote of the Day - 5/22]]>Tue, 22 May 2012 05:47:52 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2012/05/quote-of-the-day-522.html"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's. And guess what they might have planned for you? Not much."

-- Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker]]><![CDATA[Building an Effective Growth Strategy for Your Small Business - ]]>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:02:40 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2012/04/building-an-effective-growth-strategy-for-your-small-business.htmlunder30ceo.com
By: Thom Holland
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Alright. So you’ve got your business off the ground and now you want to implement a growth strategy that grows your small business, captures more market share, and improves your bottom line.

What’s the best approach?

Of course, the answer to this question will vary depending on your business and its unique circumstances.

However, here are a few thoughts to keep in mind while building your company’s growth strategy.

Business models are importantResearching and weighing the pros and cons of different business models is an excellent first step in building your company’s growth strategy.

While your company should certainly consider consider various business models, in most cases, it’s almost always a good idea to narrow in on the business models that incorporate recurring revenue.

Your first priority should be to establish an appropriate recurring revenue base to build from.

Expanding on business models that incorporate recurring revenueOnce you’ve established an appropriate amount of recurring revenue you can start to consider a growth strategy that adds more profit to the bottom line.

I personally prefer a growth strategy that increases market share by improving the bottom line, while sustaining an appropriate amount of recurring revenue.

For example, consider the first business I ever launched, a Tallahassee landscaping company.

Our growth strategy was, essentially, a two-pronged approach; we used the profits from landscaping projects to acquire new recurring maintenance accounts.

The more stable your revenue streams are, the more you can leverage your competition.

Increase your bottom line by vertically integratingOne of the easiest ways to increase your bottom line is to sell additional products or services to customers that you already have.

A few questions to keep in mind:

  1. Can I use the equipment and resources I already have to offer additional products or services?
  2. Can the additional services generate recurring revenue themselves?
  3. What type of margin will the additional services generate?
  4. Do the additional services provide any type of strategic advantage?
Capture market share through acquisitionIf possible, you need to try to maintain a certain percentage of recurring revenue.

For example, let’s say you have a real estate business that generates revenue by selling homes and managing rental properties.

To give your company some stability you might want to shoot for a revenue goal of 60% property management and 40% home sells. This way, if home sells drop off, you can survive the drought.

Of course, if you’re trying to increase your recurring revenue you may realize that there’s not a lot of potential for new customers.

If that’s the case, you’ll need to capture more market share by acquiring existing businesses who already have the recurring revenue you’re after.

Quick thoughts on buying out your competition:

  1. It’s all about timing - if you wait for the right time, you can typically get a better deal. For example, if you had available cash during the recession, you could have acquired businesses at a fraction of the cost.
  2. Understand customer acquisition costs - just because you have the cash to buy out your competition, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best move. You’ll need to compare the costs against your tradition ways of acquiring customers.
  3. Understand what you’re buying - before you sign on the dotted line, be sure that you’ve considered all the pros and cons of the purchase. Often times, buying someone’s business comes with baggage.
Implement an organic growth strategyAnother way to grow your business is to implement an organic growth strategy.

Organic growth is generated by more customers, adding new product offerings, and streamlining business operations.

Quick thoughts on implementing an organic growth strategy:

  1. Start by building an incredible marketing and sales process.
  2. Consider the different channels available and start with a simple marketing strategy.
  3. As data becomes available, consider shifting funds to tactics that are generating the best ROI.
  4. Likewise, use your data to help determine potential future products or services.
ConclusionAt the end of the day, your company’s growth strategy will vary depending on its unique circumstances.

It’s important, however, to remember to reference your growth plan once you’ve started gaining momentum. Don’t be afraid to tweak and refine your strategy, if need be.

What are some ways that you plan to grow your company this year?

]]><![CDATA[Selling to Today's Customers!]]>Thu, 01 Sep 2011 03:00:39 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2011/09/selling-to-todays-customers1.htmlWhat is selling? In its simplest terms, selling is the process of helping a person to conclude that your product or service is of greater value to him than the price you are asking for.

How Markets Work
Our market society is based on the principles of freedom and mutual benefit. Each party to a transaction only enters into it when he feels that he will be better off as a result of the transaction than he would be without it.

The Three Options
In a free market, the customer always has three options with any purchase decision. First, the customer can buy your product or service. Second, the customer can buy the product or service from someone else. Third, the customer can decide to buy nothing at all.

Convincing the Customer
For the customer to buy your particular product or service, he or she must be convinced that it is not only the best choice available but he must also be persuaded that there is no better way for him to spend the equivalent amount of money. Your job as a salesperson is to convince the customer that all these conditions exist and then to elicit a commitment from him to take action on your offer.

Customize Your Sales Presentation
The field of professional selling has changed dramatically since World War II. In a way, selling methodologies are merely responses to customer requirements. At one time, customers were relatively unsophisticated and poorly informed about their choices. Salespeople catered to this customer with carefully planned and memorized sales presentations, loads of enthusiasm and a bag full of techniques designed to crush resistance and get the order at virtually any cost.

Treat Them With Respect
But the customer of the 1950s has matured into the customer of the 21st century. Customers are now more intelligent and knowledgeable than ever before. They are experienced buyers and they have interacted with hundreds of salespeople. They are extremely sophisticated and aware of the incredible variety of products and services that are available to them, as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses of those products. Many of them are smarter and better educated than most salespeople and they are far more careful about making a buying decision of any kind.

The Need For Speed
In addition, they are overwhelmed with work and under-supplied with time. Because of the rapidly increasing pace of change, down-sizing, restructuring and the competitive pressures surrounding them, customers today are harried and hassled. They are swamped with responsibilities, impatient, suspicious, critical, demanding, and spoiled. To sell to today's customer requires a higher caliber of sales professional than has ever before been required. And it is only going to become tougher and more complicated in the months and years ahead.
]]><![CDATA[Napoleon's Key to Victory]]>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:08:22 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2011/08/napoleons-key-to-victory.htmlThe only real measure of business leadership is results. This requires the ability to act boldly with no guarantees of success. The greatest obstacle to overcome is fear of the unknown.

The Key to Confidence
Most fear however, is rooted in ignorance. The more knowledge or skill you have in any area, the less fear it holds. Napoleon Bonaparte is considered by historians to be perhaps the greatest single military leader who ever lived. More than 100,000 books have been written about him since his death on St. Helena.

Pay Attention to Detail
Napoleon's courage was legendary but it was not vain or impetuous. Napoleon was famous for his fastidious attention to detail, for taking pains to study and thoroughly understand every military situation he ever faced. He led the French army in hundreds of minor and major engagements and lost only three, the last one being Waterloo. The more you know about what you face, the lower your level of ignorance, the more courage and confidence you will have naturally. The more time you take to think through a situation, the more capable you will be of dealing with it when it arises. Napoleon planned for every contingency.

Think About the Possibilities
He carefully considered and followed through to its natural conclusion every setback or possibility of defeat he might encounter and then he prepared against it. To be caught unprepared for unexpected setbacks is a mark of weak leadership. Confidence comes from the constructive use of pessimism, thinking about what could go wrong long before it does.

Action Exercises
Here are two ways you can apply Napoleon's strategy to your situation.

First, become an expert in your field. Never stop learning and growing. The more you know, the more confidence you will have.

Second, get the facts. Double check everything. Be prepared for unexpected setbacks and reversals. The more prepared you are, the more confidence you will have.


By: Brian Tracy ]]><![CDATA[Must Know Tips to Becoming a Great Leader!]]>Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:09:57 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2011/08/must-know-tips-to-becoming-a-great-leader.htmlWant to make more money, get more enjoyment from your work and have a more enthusiastic, successful team?

For many people in management positions, their dreams are on permanent hold, while they struggle to encourage their team and build their sales force. They work for a “boss” 40-60 hours a week and at the end of the year, what do they have? A lot of stress and little time or energy to enjoy the rest of your life.

The key to success is to stay on top of trends â?" especially ones that are absolutely free to use, but will still generate tons of new clients. Do you know what the current trends are that are bringing in boatloads of cash?

1. To Make Money You Need Social Currency

Over the last few years, both the economy and the way people communicate have changed. And the new currency is your social network. It’s the people who know you, like you and trust you.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re managing a team of 500, starting a business or looking to scale up your already successful business. Your biggest competitive advantage is the same thing.

It’s the number and strength of relationships you have with friends, employees, prospects, clients and suppliers. And the more social currency you have, the more people know, like and trust you, which means the more money you’ll make.

The equation is simple:

More Social Currency = More Monetary Currency (money in the bank)

Let’s face it. The bigger your social network, the easier it is to get clients and to grow your business. In case, you missed it, it’s called social media marketing.

2. Everyone Can Benefit From Increased Social Currency

It used to be if you wanted to get started in business or grow your business you could do some direct mailing, use the yellow pages or even use telemarketing.

That’s all changed and social media is where you want to be if you want to get results and see your income grow. That’s what BlendTec did to increase it’s blender sales by 500%, and even Domino's Pizza did to see their pre-tax profits surge by 29%?

And guess how Starbucks attracted one million customers in one day, and Dell Computer generated a $3 million bump in sales and Coffee Groundz increased sales by 20-30%?

Yes these smart businesses used social media to leapfrog their competition, which is exactly what you can do too.

3. Only A Few Will Prosper

Now before you go away thinking I’m telling you that social media is a cure all or an instant way for anyone to get rich, I want to be clear.

Thousands of people are trying to build their social currency, and 94% are wasting their time. They are trying to figure this new communication medium out on their own.

Big mistake!

Social Media and the social currency it creates is the secret weapon that can give you an unfair advantage but I want to tell you straight up, like anything new, it’s gotten a lot of hype and I know for a fact that lots of companies have poured a ton of time and money into trying to increase their social currency and achieved little. 

It’s been like a black hole for them, while a few others have used it successfully to see their income soar.

Which is why when I heard that my colleague, Charlie Cook had lined up eight of the top experts in social media, the ones who have succeeded in creating social currency and converting it into millions, and had persuaded these top experts to reveal how they did it I was delighted. It was just what I needed and now that I’ve reviewed it, I wanted to share it with you.

4. Success Isn’t An Accident

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot of things, but one of the most important lessons I learned years ago was that success isn’t an accident. It doesn’t just happen by chance. As a leader, there are clear goals you can take and actionable steps you should follow.

The same is true with social media marketing. If you want to succeed, it’s not going to happen by accident.

If you want to be truly successful, you can’t just wait and hope. And it doesn’t pay to reinvent the wheel and figure out what works on your own.

To be successful you need to find out who are the smartest most successful people online who are willing to share their knowledge of what works with you. The person I turn to for online advice is Charlie Cook. And in this case he’s tapped the top social media experts in the world to show you what works.

]]><![CDATA[Earn Ten Times As Much!]]>Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:32:04 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2011/08/earn-ten-times-as-much.htmlHere's an exercise for you; imagine that it's possible for you to earn ten times your current annual wage. If you're earning $25,000, imagine for a moment that it's possible for you to earn $250,000, a 1000% increase.

Don't Sell Yourself Short
The first reaction of most people to that exercise is to smile briefly and then to begin thinking about why it isn't possible. One man said to me, "If you knew how many years it's taken for me to get to what I'm earning today you wouldn't be suggesting that I could earn ten times as much."

Never A Good Excuse
Mark Twain once wrote that there are a thousand excuses for every failure but never a good reason. The tragedy of the average American is that whereas his or her main preoccupation seems to be money, or the lack thereof, the average person has the inherent potential to earn far more than he or she is doing currently.

Is the manager earning $250,000 per year ten times as smart as the manager earning $25,000? 10 times as experienced? Does he or she work 10 times harder? Of course not. None of these are physically or mentally possible, but there are people in every business earning many times more than others with the same average age, experience and intelligence.

The Results Are In
In fact, a few years ago in New York, a thousand men and women were selected at random and tested for I.Q. Between the one having the highest I.Q. in this sample and the one with the lowest, there was a difference of only 2 1/2 times. But between the person earning the most, who by the way, was not the one with the highest I.Q. and the one earning the least, who was not the one with the lowest I.Q., there was a difference of 100X in income.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to start increasing your earnings.

First, identify the highest earning, most successful people in your field and find out what it is that they are doing differently from others who aren't doing as well. Copy them every day.

Second, set a goal to double your earnings over the next two or three years and then figure out how to accomplish that goal.
]]><![CDATA[The Keys to Personal Power!]]>Thu, 25 Aug 2011 03:33:52 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2011/08/the-keys-to-personal-power.htmlEveryone wants to be popular with others. You want to be liked and respected among your friends, family, and associates. Above all, you want to like and respect yourself, and to feel yourself to be a valuable and important person. Fortunately, everything you do that makes other people feel good about themselves makes you feel good about yourself as well. You can actually improve the way you feel by making other people feel important. This is the key to great personal relationships. 

The Easiest Way
The first need that each person has is for acceptance. Whenever you express unconditional acceptance of another person, his or her self-esteem goes up. The person feels valuable and important as a unique and special individual. 

An Attitude of Gratitude
The need for appreciation is a deep subconscious desire of every person you meet. When you satisfy this need, you will become one of the most popular people in your world. And what is the key to expressing gratitude and appreciation? Simple. Just say, "thank you" on every occasion. 

The Deepest Craving of All
Perhaps the deepest emotional need that people have is the desire for praise and approval. Each person is deeply affected by the quality and quantity of approval they get from others, especially others who they respect very much. 

Looking Good
Another way to build self-esteem in others, and to make them feel important, is to express admiration on every occasion. Make it a policy to admire people for their accomplishments, behaviors, possessions, and personality traits. 

Practice "White Magic"
This means practice listening closely to others when they are talking. It is one of the most powerful self-esteem building behaviors of all. Whenever you listen attentively to another, their heart rate speeds up. They feel happier and more valuable. They like and respect you more as a result. The more you listen closely to another person, the more that person feels that you are important and valuable as well. 

Four Keys to Listening
The keys to effective listening are simple. First, listen attentively, without interrupting. Second, pause before replying. Don't rush in with whatever is on your mind. Third, questions for clarification by asking, "how do you mean?" Finally, feed it back in your own words. 

The Great Design
As Aristotle said, "Man is a social animal." We live our lives within the context of our relationships with others. The more and better relationships we have, the happier and busier we are. The more you stay involved with other people, the longer you will live and the more enjoyable will be those years. 

Action Exercise
Pick out the person that you like the least that you deal with on a day to day basis. Next time you see that person admire something about them. You can comment on their dress, grooming, work or even their possessions. You will be surprised how differently that person will react to you in the future. 
]]><![CDATA[Study Your Competition]]>Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:27:39 -0800http://www.araujocompany.com/1/post/2011/08/study-your-competition.htmlCompetition is a fact of business life, regardless of whether you work for an organization or for yourself. Price setting (either as a part of salary negotiation or a marketing strategy) is a good example. How would you answer this question: Who determines the prices you charge or the salary level you set for yourself? Would you point to your level of sales or your market share, or perhaps your years of experience? Many people would say that their customer or employees set the prices. Others would insist that they set their own prices. In fact, all of these are key determinants of your ultimate professional or business success. 

Marketplace Competition
But the primary determinant is none of the factors mentioned above; it is actually your competition in the marketplace that sets your prices. You have competition whether your company sells its goods and services in the open market, or inside an organization where you are competing for advancement or scarce resources. For this reason, it is essential to thoroughly research your competitors and know them as well as you know yourself. 

Don't Dismiss Your Competition
Many people in a competitive market situation make the mistake of dismissing the competition. The smart competitor does not look down on the competition, find fault with them, criticize them, or make light of them. She respects her successful competitors and makes it her business to study and learn from them.

Investigate Your Competitors
What do they do to win that promotion or get themselves hired for that job? What are their strategies and tactics for market penetration and market domination? How do they position their products or services? What alliances or networks do they build to ensure the success of their departments or divisions? Why do people buy from them? How do they service their customers and build relationships both within and outside of their organizations? What is their pricing policy? What new skills or training do they acquire to stay current? What is their approach to quality control? What volunteer or professional organizations do they join? 

Look Outward
Once you have determined what it is that you do better than others in your career or business area, look outward. How will you position yourself or your product or service in the marketplace to capitalize on your area of excellence? What sales and marketing strategies will you adopt? Based on competitive pricing strategies, how will you price your products or services? Maintain the broadest possible scope when you are conducting research on what the competition is doing. For example, if you are in business for yourself, you may find that in some instances, the competition may not be another individual or company. You may find that you are competing against what appears to be another industry. 

Action Exercise
Who are your most successful competitors? Why would your customers or potential customers buy from these competitors? What advantages and benefits do they perceive in buying from your competitors?
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