Posts Tagged ‘Finance’

Book of the Month: SHiFT!

By Craig Elias and Tibor Shanto

From the Book Jacket:

There is a silver bullet in sales – when you get to highly-motivated decision makers at exactly the right time: After they experience a ‘Trigger Event’ and before they call your competition. When you have the right timing the sale almost happens by itself – there are few challenges getting to the prospect,understanding their dissatisfaction,presenting a solution, or closing the sale. By luck or sheer numbers you’ve had timing happen before, now it’s time to make it happen again, and again and again.

Excerpt from the Book

1.12 Do the Right Thing

When you start interacting with prospects, you’re going to notice that something very interesting is happening. You’ll notice that, just like you, buyers have something called Selective Perception.

Most of the time, the buyer’s Selective Perception is looking for evidence to stick with what’s already working. That’s just the way human beings are programmed. We don’t usually go around trying to change systems and habits that aren’t giving us a problem. We operate on the assumption that there’s no real problem, and we look for evidence to support the idea that there’s no real problem.

Most people you talk to are looking for evidence that they don’t really have a problem. In these cases, Selective Perception is operating on behalf of your true competition in the sales cycle – Path Dependency. As we’ve seen, this is the routine that has already been built up – the sheer force of habit – that connects to sticking with an existing vendor (or no vendor at all).

This book teaches you to harness the Trigger Events that turn prospects into customers -  taking all-important  human nature into account.

About the Authors

Craig Elias is the creator of Trigger Event Selling and the Chief Catalyst of SHiFT Selling, Inc.

Craig Elias’ Trigger Event strategies have

  • Won him a $1,000,000 price in a global “Billion-Dollar Idea” pitch competition
  • Made him a top perform at every company he has worked for – including WorldCom where he was named #1 within 6 months of joining the company
  • Earned his last company, the distinction as one of Dow Jones’ 50 most promising companies in North America

Tibor Shanto is a 20-year veteran of the information, content management and financial sectors. He has developed an insider’s perspective on how information can be used to shorten sales cycles, increase close ratios and create double digit growth. Mr..Shanto is a director and contributor to The Sales Bloggers Union.

Posted by Ashley in Book of the Month on November 18th, 2011

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Family Day Puts Fun Into February

By Rachel Swiednicki

Since 2008, Ontario has joined Alberta and Saskatchewan in celebrating Family Day, also celebrated in Manitoba and P.E.I., though under different monikers. But not all provinces have instated this February holiday.

By now, many people and businesses are accustomed to the new stat holiday, and are aware of which provinces celebrate certain holidays. However, it can still be frustrating for small businesses to ensure that customers know whether you will observe the holiday or remain open for business.

Some easy and cost-effective suggestions:

  • When calling or contacting customers the week before, gently remind them of your office hours during the holiday, and offer emergency contact information
  • Place a notice on your website, blog, Facebook page or Twitter account
  • If you occupy a site where customers visit, such as a store, hang an informative sign where they are sure to see it
  • Voicemail – remember to re-record your voicemail greeting, providing any emergency contact information

To contact your local Staples for holiday hours and other information, visit www.staples.ca.

Not sure what to plan for this year’s upcoming Family Day? For activity ideas, click here.

Rachel Swiednicki is a professional communicator, with ten years of experience in the communications industry. Eight of those years were spent as a journalist before moving into a career in public relations/corporate communications.

Posted by Lynnette in Lifestyle on February 21st, 2011

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Barriers and concerns facing Canadian small and medium sized businesses

The December 2010 Business Barometer® produced by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) indicates that business confidence in the economy almost matched the post-recession high of March 2010.

However, it is clear that questions about the economy still linger in the minds of business owners across the country.

Throughout the year, we reach out to small and medium sized business owners from across the country to gauge their top concerns regarding their business and their business’s place in the economy.

Our focus in a recent survey was to identify the top issues that business owners are facing, and what, if anything, keeps them up at night.

The survey produced several interesting findings:

Our survey found that cash flow (23%) was the number one concern, followed closely by attracting business (22%), both in getting new customers and getting existing ones to buy again.

Cash flow is a concern that comes up again and again when we talk to business owners – yet many business owners have a tendency to focus on the wrong things when evaluating their cash position.  In an article published in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Why Cash Matters: The Importance of Understanding a Cash Flow Statement”, the authors state that:  “Entrepreneurs who understand cash flow tend to make better decisions than those who focus purely on the income statement.”

According to Entrepreneur magazine there are four key areas that businesses should focus on when it comes to cash flow:

  • Accurately measure cash flow

-   Utilize data from past years including accounting for seasonality when measuring and projecting future cash flows.  This is a task where professional help or a software tool can come in particularly handy.

  • Improving receivables

-   Focus on “improving the speed with which you turn materials and supplies into products, inventory into receivables, and receivables into cash.”

  • Managing payables

-   Keep an eye on expenses – be sure that they are not growing faster than sales.

  • Surviving shortfalls

-   Don’t wait for there to be a problem – be proactive and make sure you have contingencies in place such as a line of credit, a tight rein on payables and a strong relationship with suppliers (to arrange for more favourable terms when needed).

In our survey, business owners also worried about being able to complete work on time and managing their workload (12%), while “Finding the right balance between work and family”.

After identifying their concerns, we then asked about the areas in which they needed the most help. This question gave us very interesting feedback, as most businesses reported that they needed help with online marketing (36%) in creating more exposure for their business and driving in sales.

Being able to manage time appropriately was another important area in which business owners required help, as 27 percent of respondents indicating that this was essential since they felt that their time was “mostly spent having to do everything from filing to accounting and billing to providing professional services”.

“Staying up to date on the latest technology” was also an issue that you felt was important, and in looking for avenues for inspiration and generating new business initiatives, 47 percent of respondents said that attending industry conferences motivated business owners, while another 41 percent of respondents gained inspiration through reading the news.

After hearing from those in the panel, do you agree with the results we found? What do you think are your top business concerns, and is there anything that keeps you up at night? Share your comments and stories with us below!   How have you or do you plan to address those concerns?  We want to hear about them!

Also, by sharing your experiences below, you can win one of three copies of QuickBooks Pro 2011 provided by our friends at QuickBooks Canada.¹

Spend less time on paper work and more on real work.QuickBooks can save you time by keeping your books, crunching your numbers and telling you exactly where your business stands. That’s why it’s the number-one small business accounting software in North America. QuickBooks does the legwork so you can do what you love.

(On July 16, 2010, Staples Canada surveyed both consumers and business professionals, with 239 panelists responding to a series of questions that support the above data.)

References:
Mallet, Ted, “Business Barometer®: National small business confidence ends the year on a strong note.” CFIB. January 2011.
Berman, Karen et al., “Why Cash Matters: The Importance of Understanding a Cash Flow Statement.” HBS Press Chapter, 07 October 2008.
“How to Better Manage Your Cash Flow.” Entrepreneur Magazine.
¹ To enter and to be eligible to win, the person submitting the entry must be a legal resident of Canada,(excluding Quebec) and is the age of majority in his or her province during the contest’s grand prize draw. Employees and their parents, siblings and children, and persons domiciled with an employee of the Contest Sponsor (Staples Canada), its agents, parent, affiliated or related companies, subsidiaries, divisions, prize sponsors, and promotional and advertising agencies and administrators, are ineligible to submit an entry..  Only one contest entry per person.  Contest closes 8PM EST February 4, 2011.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Growing Your Biz on January 19th, 2011

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Tips on Tactfully Collecting Receivables

By Evolve Business Group

First off, stop being so apologetic. It is your money. It is owed to you. You and your team have worked hard for it, so make sure you remember that you are in the right and not the wrong. Often people dealing with receivable calls will try to put you in the wrong, will be vague or occasionally, even aggressive. When you call about a receivable owing be prepared, have the reference number, invoice number, date sent, all ready to go for quick reference. The best way to dodge calls and commitments is to say “its in process” or “we have it in for payment”. Most people then are satisfied and hang up. Wrong!! Its in process?! How long is that? It’s in for payment? This year?

The objective is to get specific commitments. When someone says it will be ready next week, you have to ask, Is that Monday or Friday? (because next week is a period not a time) What day will it be ready? Will that be morning or afternoon? Ask people to hold the cheque for pickup. Then it never gets lost in the mail (It’s in the mail; a classic!). I often send a courier because $8 on a courier is always cheaper than not having control of money owed to me.

Be as friendly as you can be. Try to kill the person with kindness but be firm and persistent. The person who is pleasant but calls consistently get the early payments.

Evolve Business Group is the catalyst that transforms business leaders, their companies and their teams. We are a business coaching and corporate training company focused on Growth and Performance for our clients. We combine practical, empowering techniques with impacting strategies to grow companies and people. Our proven formula encompasses three core concepts: Learn. Train. Transform.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized on December 29th, 2010

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ROI and EVA

No, this isn’t a post about a loving couple I know. It’s about two ways of thinking about profitability – two among many that investors may look at before investing in your company.

ROI – or Return on Investment – is by far the best known calculation and one of the simplest and most versatile. The formula to calculate ROI is:

(Current Value of Investment – Original Cost of Investment)

Original Cost of Investment

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Essentially, if you bought a house yesterday and sold it tomorrow, your ROI would be the difference between the two amounts divided by the original amount you paid. For an investor, it means that if investing in your company doesn’t have a positive ROI, or if another opportunity has a higher ROI, s/he’ll likely put the money elsewhere.

The catch with ROI is that there is no correct calculation, no uniformly accepted way to define the gains and what to include in the costs. You and an investor may not see eye to eye on these figures and that means you might lose out if you can’t persuade him.

But there’s a bigger flaw with ROI according to blogger Jay Cross. It assumes that funds are free and it doesn’t take into account what return an investor might see by investing her/his money elsewhere. EVA tries to factor that in.

For example, if you promised an investor a $32,000 return for her/his $200,000 investment in the first year, the ROI for investing in your company based on the formula above would be $32,000/$200,000 or 16%.

EVA, however, includes what an investor might have made on her/his $200,000 if, say, s/he put the money into a bond earning a 10% return, or $20,000. In other words the difference between investing in your company and earning $32,000 and investing in the bond and earning $20,000 is only $12,000 and the EVA return calculation becomes $12,000/$200,000 or 6% – a far cry from the 16% the ROI calculation presented.

Obviously, you’d prefer to persuade an investor s/he’ll make a 16% return by investing in your company but 6% is a truer number from her/his point of view – and one that may still be worth her/his while.

For more on ROI, EVA and a whole world of investment calculations and information, Investopedia is a great place to start.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Growing Your Biz on November 29th, 2010

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Your Will & Power of Attorney, Part One of Two

By Thien Ly

Thien Ly

Thien Ly

Many business owners spend a lot of time and effort accumulating personal wealth and very little time preserving it. This information about Wills & Power of Attorney can help you preserve the estate you’ve built.

Ensure your will is accurately executed
A properly prepared will—reviewed periodically to allow for changes in personal, emotional and financial situations—is critical to successful estate planning. Without a will, your financial affairs will be in limbo after your death and it will take some time before a provincial court appoints an administrator. A will gives you the opportunity to put the right person in charge as executor and to designate who inherits your assets. Your will should be updated as life changes occur
• The death, birth, marriage, divorce of your beneficiaries.
• Your divorce or remarriage.
• A change in your executor/estate liquidator or trustee.
• The deletion or addition of a gift or bequest.
• A change in the value of your property.
• The change of residence to another province or country.
• The acquisition of property in another province or country.
• A major unexpected increase or decrease in your net worth (or net assets).
• The addition of another dependent, such as a child, elderly parent or other relative. • A major change in your insurance program.
• Changes in tax laws that affect inheritances.

 

The benefits of having a current will
• You choose those people who will receive your property and assets.
• Your personal effects, memorabilia and family heirlooms will go only to those you’ve selected.
• Someone you know and trust will administer your estate. That person will be able to locate your assets and pay your bills.
• Depending on your marital status, you’ll be able to name the guardian of any minor children.
• The possibility of costly and lengthy estate litigation is reduced.
• Your executors will be aware of your wishes, regarding burial or cremation.
• You will be able to appoint those people who will hold, invest and manage the share of your estate going to any minor children or grandchildren.
To avoid difficulties and additional costs of administering your estate, a lawyer or legal advisor can assist you in the preparation of your will.

Stay tuned for Part Two on Friday.

About Thien Ly, EPC, RHU

Since early 2002, upon graduating from Business Accounting and Finance, Thien has been contracted as an independent Advisor at Sun Life Financial. He is dedicated to helping families, business owners and companies achieve their lifetime financial goals by providing clear financial advice in accordance to their individual needs. There’s nothing more rewarding to him than working with people who appreciate his guidance in achieving their financial goals. He holds a Life & Health Insurance Licence, Investment Funds Licence, Elder Planning Counselling Designation and Registered Health Underwriter Designation. He is currently working toward additional financial designations. Thien has been a member of the Million Dollar Round Table, which is represented with the top 1% of financial professionals worldwide. Thien also raises funds for the Kidney Foundation. You can contact Thien through www.sunlife.ca/thien.ly or call 416-992-5109.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Lifestyle on October 6th, 2010

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Asking your bank to show you the money.

Getting a business loan or credit has always been challenging for small businesses. The upheaval in banking – especially in the US – has made lending ever more difficult for entrepreneurs. Difficult, but far from impossible. In fact, making it harder to get financing in some ways helps out the entrepreneur in the long run – if you’re not able to get a loan or credit for your business, there might be a few holes in your plan that you may want to plug up or rethink first.

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Small business banking expert, Tom Burke, says, despite all the ups and downs in the market, the basics to approaching a bank for a loan are essentially the same:

· Have a detailed but concise business plan. Understand where you want your business to go and what Plan B is if things don’t go exactly as you expect. Come up with a most-likely scenario for the success of your business as well as conservative and aggressive options – your banker will want to consider all three.

· Analyze your finances and have an accountant help you by preparing business projections that can show your financial institution how you intend on repaying.

· Make sure your personal credit is healthy too. With little else to go on, banks may look at your personal credit history, financial statements and tax returns as a good gauge of your ability to manage your business’s money.

· Demonstrate you know your business and understand the environment and industry you’re operating in.

As well, Burke says, consider the industry your small business is tied to:

“Industries tied to consumer discretionary spending [are tough]: restaurant, retail to a certain degree, service hospitality. These industries have been hit more than others. We don’t see a lot of startup manufacturing now, unless it’s a startup that’s already got government contracts.

“On the other hand, professional services is a fast-paced, growing area: medical, legal, accounting. Anything that has to do with a professional license or degree seems to be doing better.”

Finally, be honest.

“People sometimes try to hide details because they think it’ll harm their application, but it’s amazing what people may have done in their past that may not impact their loan request.”

For additional resources, check out the Government of Canada’s Canada Business Services for Entrepreneurs website and blog.

Do you have any additional concerns about getting credit? Send us your questions and we’ll be happy to try and find answers for you.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Started on July 21st, 2010

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The payroll maze.

One benefit of working for a large company is there’s an accounting department to do “that.”

By “that,” I mean all the number-crunching paperwork that most of us know little about and are happy to leave in the hands of someone else – until we’re a small business owner and that someone else is us.

One of those tasks is, inevitably, payroll management.

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Intuit succinctly describes payroll management as activities in two areas: payroll accounting and administration:

· Payroll accounting includes calculating employee earnings and withholding funds for taxes and other deductions like Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan premiums, recording those activities, preparing tax returns and reporting the results to federal and provincial revenue ministries.

· Payroll administration includes non-accounting tasks like managing employee and payroll information and compliance with federal and provincial laws.

Whether you handle payroll yourself, choose to outsource it to an accountant or payroll service or use payroll accounting software like QuickBooks Payroll, reporting and paying payroll taxes are ultimately your responsibility, so it’s important that the process be handled on time.

For more help and guidance in the maze of payroll responsibilities, including an online calculator and payroll tables, you can visit the Canada Revenue Agency’s website and the federal government’s Canada Business Services for Entrepreneurs site. The Canadian Payroll Association is another useful place to help you get started.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Started on July 8th, 2010

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Identity Theft Hurts: Part 2

By Donna Marrin

Prevention is your best revenge

1. At Home

Lock personal information in a secure place at all times so nobody entering your home, invited or not, can gain access to it.

  • Purchase a personal shredder and shred all documents before you trash them: charge receipts, insurance forms, cheques, bank statements, expired charge cards, etc.
  • Keep a current photocopy (also in a locked, secure place) of every piece of information that you carry with you: your driver’s license, social security card, etc., for immediate referral if your purse or wallet is stolen.

2. Your Mail

It’s a fact of life that our mailboxes sit in isolation for most of each day; therefore, a locking mailbox is your wisest security measure. The more difficult it is to access, the less chance your mail will be targeted.

  • Remove mail as promptly as possible from your mailbox.
  • Be familiar with your billing cycles and follow up immediately if you notice any missing bills. Thieves will use stolen information to submit a “change of address” while paying the minimum charge on a bill, later requesting a new card with a new address. Before long, the thief is using your credit card without your knowledge.
  • Report immediately discrepancies on monthly statements.
  • Thieves have no access to your outgoing mail as long as you drop it directly into designated Canada Post collection boxes.
  • Before you go on vacation, call Canada Post to arrange a vacation hold.

3. Out and About

  • Never supply your Social Insurance Number unless it’s absolutely necessary. Ask if you can use a different form of ID instead.
  • When going out, plan to carry only the identification and credit or debit card that you know you will need to use and secure any extra cards in your locked area at home.
  • Never sign the back of a credit card. Instead, print “Photo ID Required” in the signature area.

4. Security Measures

  • When you create a password, don’t use obvious, locatable information: maiden name, birth dates, consecutive numbers, or parts of your SIN or phone number. And never keep written records of passwords.
  • Never divulge personal information over the phone, Internet or by mail, unless you’re certain you’re dealing with a legitimate organization and you were first to initiate contact. Exercise extreme caution when responding to sales promotions. Identity thieves will create phony promotional offers designed to glean personal information. They pose as bank representatives, lottery administrators, Internet service providers and other official-sounding business personnel. They will do whatever it takes to persuade you to reveal your personal information to them. Do you handle financial transactions over the Internet? If so, ask about their privacy/security policies: Is your personal information shared with other agencies? How secure is their server? How do they store personal information? If you are wary of their policies, discontinue your business with them.
  • Question security policies in your workplace, doctor’s office or any other organizations using your personal information, and know exactly who has access to it. Find out if your information will be shared with mailing list companies, marketing and survey companies or anyone else. Request that your information be kept confidential. Keep your purse or wallet locked in a secure place at work, and do the same with any administrative forms displaying your personal information.

5. Cheques

  • When you reorder cheques, pick them up at the bank instead of having them sent to your mailbox.
  • Have only your first initial and last name printed on your cheques. Not knowing how you sign your cheques will make it a lot more difficult for a thief to forge your full name, since banks keep your signature on file for comparison. It’s also a good idea to have your business address and phone number printed on cheques instead of your home information. Without access to your home address and phone number, a thief who steals your cheques will have difficulty infiltrating other accounts.
  • Never print your SIN or driver’s license numbers on your cheques. You can supply this information later, if absolutely necessary.
  • When paying your credit card account by cheque, do not write your entire account number on the “For” line. Many people view your cheque as it works its way through the payment process. If you supply only the last four digits of your account number, the credit card company can still identify your account.
    Be extremely protective of your personal information. Ask questions, no matter who requests access. Demand to know why they need your information, what they plan to do with it, how long they intend to keep it, who they plan to share it with and how you can feel confident with their security measures. Identity theft is a debilitating crime, and these simple precautions can save you months, if not years, of grief and damage to your financial status.

Fighting Back

If your credit cards or cheques have disappeared, acting fast is the best form of damage control. Identity thieves work against the clock and will abandon efforts the moment they sense detection. Your diligence is key.

  1. Contact your bank and/or credit card company the instant you notice that your cheques and/or credit cards are missing.
  2. File a police report immediately. You should also visit PhoneBusters, Canada’s anti-fraud call centre, to learn more about protecting yourself against fraud.
  3. Call in a fraud alert on your credit report by contacting the following Canadian credit bureaus: Equifax Canada and Trans Union Canada. To read more, visit Public Safety Canada.

Donna Marrin is a freelance Senior Writer/Editor specializing in corporate communications and advertising. She also founded and runs the Markham Village Writers. Visit her at www.markhamvillagewriters.com.

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized, Technology on May 25th, 2010

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Identity Theft Hurts: Part 1

By Donna Marrin

Imagine this: A stranger finds a way to steal your personal information, be it your social insurance number, driver’s license number, credit card and bank account numbers, your mother’s maiden name. Then he uses this information to obtain lines of credit and credit cards from banks and retailers, siphon money from your existing accounts, apply for loans, open accounts with utility companies, rent lodging, file bankruptcy, obtain a job. He uses your name to wreak havoc. It takes you months, even years, to get your life, and your credit rating, back to normal. This isn’t a nightmare—it’s an alarming trend that’s happening right now to people like you.

Let’s look at some facts:

• According to law enforcement officials, identity theft is today’s fastest growing crime
• Criminals will use a victim’s identity to commit a wide range of crimes—from traffic violations to felonies
• Armed with only the victim’s social insurance number, birth date and an address and phone number, a criminal can use this information, combined with a forged driver’s license displaying their own picture, to begin a crime spree in your name.

What spells ‘opportunity’ to a criminal?

  1. Recent Death
    A criminal will do groundwork to locate addresses of any recently deceased by browsing obituary columns in the newspaper, monitoring selected residences and grabbing any mail that accumulates. It may take a few days or as long as a month to collect what they need before they can steal an identity. They look for bank statements, credit card receipts, tax bills, utility bills, and they will pick through garbage if necessary. They depend on the deceased’s loved ones being so distraught that they neglect to notify the post office about cancellation of mail delivery.
  2. High-Tech Tools
    Probably the easiest way to steal an identity is by using a computer recording device (spyware) that transfers information from the victim’s computer to the thief’s. Spyware records all your computer activity: passwords, banking information, credit card numbers, private emails, chat-line conversations. All of your information is funneled directly into a free and untraceable email account, whereupon an automated process scans to extract your most high-security information. You won’t know what hit you until it’s too late. Thieves often also send out emails disguised to appear to be from legitimate businesses requesting personal data.
  3. Easy-To-Access Mailboxes
    What’s an identity thief’s handiest tool? Your mailbox. Any mailbox that offers easy access is fair game. Typically, they seek out bills detailing your personal information. They are not averse to rummaging through your garbage either, in search of personal information. They will go so far as to submit a change of address notice to the post office, having your mail rerouted to a new post office box. They will send in those “pre-approved credit card offers” that they’ve picked from your trash, to credit card companies, with a “new address” substituted. Of course, the new card—with your name on it—is then sent directly to the thief.
  4. “Lost” ID
    Forgery of social insurance cards, driver’s licenses and birth certificates is big business. The only equipment needed is a computer, a good printer, and the right software—easy to find on the Web if you know what to look for. An electronic device called a “skimmer” can be connected to the credit card reader at restaurants or any cash station; it reads the magnetic strip on your card then transmits your personal information to another location, where it is re-encoded and used to create a fraudulent credit card.
  5. Out on the Town with Your Guard Down
    Worst case scenario: a waiter or salesperson retains a record of your card number, expiry date and security code on the back of your card, waits a few weeks, then uses your information to go on an online shopping spree. It has happened. Trying to determine exactly where and when your card numbers were stolen are next to impossible.
    And how careful are you with your password while using an ATM machine? A device similar to the skimmer can be installed to read your card’s data and if the thief happens to be close enough to look over your shoulder as you input your PIN, it won’t be long before you discover that your bank account has been siphoned.

Tune in next week for Part 2 of Identity Theft Hurts: Prevention is your Best Revenge.

Donna Marrin is a freelance Senior Writer/Editor specializing in corporate communications and advertising. She also founded and runs the Markham Village Writers. You can visit their website at www.markhamvillagewriters.com

Posted by Lynnette in Getting Organized on May 18th, 2010

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