How To Guides

How to Run Productive Sales Meetings

Why are sales meetings seen as a colossal waste of time by salespeople? Because for the most part they lack a strategic agenda. They contain no valuable information that can help salespeople solve problems and do their jobs better. But these five tips can help you transform boring, ineffective sales meetings into productive ones. Have a Plan Productive sales meetings start with a detailed agenda. Your first order of business is framing each topic and making sure the conversation doesn't wander. The most effective sales meetings focus on three main goals: solving problems, sharing ideas and resources, and improving sales skills. Start the meeting by clearly stating the issues and outlining the goals of the discussion. Make Meetings Relevant, Collaborative It's critical to prepare meetings from a salesperson's perspective. For every item on the agenda, make sure something is in it for them, something that can equip the team to compete and win. Also, make the meeting as Continue Reading

How to Finance a Small Business: Debt Vs. Equity

Small-Business Financing: Debt vs. Equity Small-business owners can choose from two basic types of financing -- debt and equity. This article looks at the advantages and disadvantages of each type and how they may be used for different purposes. 1. Small-Business Financing Business owners who seek financing face a fundamental choice: Should they borrow funds or take in new investment capital? Since debt and equity are accounted for differently, each has a different impact on earnings, cash flow, and taxes. Each also has a different effect on leverage, dilution, and a host of other metrics by which businesses are measured. The planned use of funds will also affect the choice of financing, with one option more appropriate for certain uses than the other. 2. Debt Debt can be a loan, line of credit, bond, or even an IOU -- any promise to repay borrowed amounts over a certain time with a specified interest rate and other terms. Debt is accounted for as a Continue Reading

How To Manage Debt And Credit – Banking And Budgeting Guide

Avoiding credit card overload increases your opportunities to save and invest for important goals. 1. Managing Debt and Credit Credit was once defined as "Man's Confidence in Man." But in fact, the definition of credit today is more like "Man's Confidence in Himself." Using credit today means you have confidence in your future ability to pay that debt. Forty years ago, your parents may have paid cash for their homes and their cars, a largely unheard-of event today. If they borrowed money at all, chances are it was from a relative or friend, and not a financial institution. Today debt and instant credit are part of our everyday lives. The convenience of instant credit, however, has taken its toll. Many individuals use credit cards to spend more than they earn, and a few of these people actually build themselves a debt prison from which some never emerge. On the other hand, those who never use credit can be denied a loan or credit when they have a justifiable need or use for it. Using Continue Reading

How to Dig Yourself Out of Debt and Save at the Same Time

Even if you're living paycheck to paycheck, this report will show you how to start paying down debt, build emergency cash reserves, and even set aside money for investing. 1. How to Dig Yourself Out of Debt and Save You're living paycheck to paycheck and it's causing a lot of stress. Bills and credit card payments are eating up most of your income. You know you need to rid yourself of debt and save some cash -- a cushion of three to six months' living expenses to use in case of emergency. And you'd like to begin investing on a regular basis to build some financial security. But how can you get ahead with the bills you already have, not to mention the unexpected ones that seem to crop up automatically whenever you have a little extra cash? Chances are, you find it difficult to do anything because you don't know where to start. Relax. A lot of people are in your situation. What you need to do is face up to the matters at hand and set up a plan of action. The time to do that is right Continue Reading