Creatively Belle

I was watching Love’s Harvest last night about an organic raspberry farmed who took 4 seasons, four years to get a successful crop result. Each year they tried different varieties of raspberries until they found the one that best suited their environment.

The big lesson from this was the idea they should have planted a range of varieties in the first place to test what works best for their situation. So if they’d planted in their initial raspberry patch 3 - 5 different varieties in the first season they could start eliminating the types that didn’t suit and increase their chances of finding the ones that flourish for them. This would have saved years of financial hardship with failed crops.

It would mean that if they were lucky and picked the best variety in the first season they would miss out on having a full field of flourishing plants but when you’re sorting out your risks you need to determine the cost of one season versus many seasons.

Of course this lesson is coming from 20/20 hindsight but the idea of testing isn’t rocket science, it is a key to success - whatever you are doing. If you are working on your internet marketing strategy you test 3 - 5 internet marketing tactics to see what brings the best results. If you are working on new jewelry designs you make up samples and test them with your customers. The logic works across industries and concepts.

With a crop it is easy to see the results of your tests - to measure the test results. It is the measuring of the testing that matters as that’s how you decide what has worked and get ideas as to why it worked - or didn’t, as the case may be.

Great Mother’s Day Gift Ideas online in our Jewelry Design Gallery.

We have more free business and internet marketing articles online too - free and readily available for you.

Best wishes,
Belinda

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I was working away and listening to the Conversation Hour on ABC radio this morning and ended up stopping and taking notes on what the businessman Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman had to say about what makes for a great sales person.

Anyone who is building their own business knows that being good at sales is vital for growth and success but many are daunted by doing the selling.

Gerry thinks there are far more people out in the world that would be great salesmen and saleswomen but just don’t know that they are because they haven’t given it a go.

He told the story of employing a young woman straight out of university after completing her degree, achieving at extra curricula endeavours and ready to start her corporate life. Gerry said he would take her on, mentor her weekly as long as she did what he said and that she would have to start on the sales floor for a year. This she initially baulked at but agreed to.

She was assigned to a store with some of the best sales staff and with months she was top of the sales and had Gerry and the store manager stumped how a young person with no sales training could beat other experienced and talented sales people.

So they checked out her method and it was the same tried and tested way that Gerry developed for himself. Like him, she had figured out how to sell the natural way.  So how did she do it? Easy, by:

* being genuine with customers so people feel comfortable
* listening to what the customer is saying so to figure out what they want, why the want it and what needs looking after as this makes it easy to offer the right product (or service).
* good communication skills so customers understood the information being given to them and felt heard. This also includes approaching people to offer service and being available to help.
* reasonable product knowledge level - knew enough to answer questions and when to get more information but not too much so that customers were inundated with too much information.
* looks people in the eye so comes across as honest and reliable.

People become customers when they trust what you, what you say and the product meets their needs. Being pushy creates distrust, being genuine and listening builds trust.

The other interesting point Gerry made was that she had an open and trusting face. The specific facial features that communicate this will vary from culture to culture and is not really something you can learn, except for your facial expressions.

So you can be a successful sales person without formal training, just by being open and genuine with customers.

Great Christmas Shopping Gift Ideas Made Easy! Click here

All the best,
Belinda

www.CreativelyBelle.com - join my free email newsletter for jewelry bargains, earring holder designs and business building articles

I was talking with a lady at market on the weekend who said she was in a mid-life crisis and not happy what’s she’s doing and is looking at what else is possible.

To her I looked to have achieved the great escape and to have got where I’m going to.

Well I have escaped the rat race and I am enjoying the freedom of it but I am still working solidly on my financial freedom.

I made my move from the corporate world to my own business progressively while I still had the financial security of my regular income.

So I thought I’d share 7 tips on how you can startup and setup your own business:

1. make a list of things you enjoy and that interest you.  From this list pick one or two things that you would want to get involved with.

2. research others who are doing businesses in the field you are interested in and see how they are doing things. This will give you ideas and show you ways of doing things - it will also give you ideas how to do things better.

3. be ready to work on this project as well as doing your normal work and home life - this means finding extra time like when you are travelling to work. If you drive what tapes can you listen to? If you go by train or bus what books and materials can you read? Can you work on a laptop on the train?

4. structuring your time to do preparation, research and work over a 6 - 12 month period will give you a good chance to get into new habits that let you build your escape.

5. spend time on research as it is the most valuable thing you can do in preparation.

6. Work out a business plan as that will let you get all those jumbled ideas out of your head and bring clarity and sense to them. A business plan will probably be daunting but it is the doing that matters and brings the results.

7. Give yourself enough time to build something so it has a chance of being successful. It is not an over night thing, it takes time and consistent effort. So do things step by step and make it so it can happen, don’t put too much on your plate or to do list.

So give it a go. Figure out what you want and have faith that you can learn how to make it happen as you go.

I have learnt so much in the last 6 years. I am a different woman now, I have different expectations and different views - I can see the big picture much easier. All this I have learnt by doing things step by step.

You can too. Take it step by step and keep doing and learning.

Smiles

Belinda

www.CreativelyBelle.com/business - more free articles on how to create your own successful business - including direct sales business too.

Hey there,

I’ve exciting news about the launching of the free home party plan resources online at Creatively Belle to help you make the most of your home party plan business opportunity.

Articles include information about how to start your own party plan business, party plan consultants, choosing a party plan company, party plan selling, suppliers for home party plan businesses and more. We have more home party plan resources free online for you.

The articles include:

• Who Else Wants to Start their Own Party Plan Business?
• Have Your Own Party Plan Business to be Proud Of
• Here is a Method for Helping Party Plan Consultants Pick the Right Company
• Ordering From Samples or Shopping Directly on the Day
• Working With Wholesale Suppliers for Success
• Where to Find Wholesale Suppliers with a Difference
• Little Known Ways to Create Successful Party Plan Business Systems
• See How Easily Can You Increase Party Bookings and Sales

The aim of our home party plan resources area is to help others enjoy the success we’re having with our popular and successful handcrafted lampwork jewelry. So come along and take advantage of the resources and tell your friends and colleagues about it!

Popular and Successful Jewelry with Creatively Belle
Click here for Bargains at our UP to 40% Off Sale!

See Online! Cheers, 

Belinda

www.CreativelyBelle.com - shop securely at our online jewelry store and go in our free jewelry competition today!

PS. Need home party plan products in wholesale quantities? We have a great article online for you about building successful relationships with suppliers.

Hey there,

For all of us building a successful e-commerce business the need to define the key points for success are always vital. When you think that 80% of sites get less than 10 visitors a day and about 5% of sites get over 90% of online sales income you get to see the real competition for e-commerce success is small and it is easy to be better than the pack.

The trick is to get in the top 90% of successful e-commerce websites, or, more importantly it is to figure out what means success for you and your business.

So here are 9 points for e-commerce success to get you in the top competition band:

1. designing and building high-quality sites
2. driving visitors to sites with marketing programs
3. high usability features
4. solid visitor/customer modeling
5. creating a substantial market presence
6. strong technology practice
7. a well-thought-out strategy for continued growth
8. quality design work backed by stability
9. strong and flexible business systems

Remember, it is no use buiding a great site without great marketing promotions to bring customers to you.

Successful Presents with these Useful and Beautiful Earring Holders!

Click here for more of our earring holder range.

We have more regular free e-commerce articles online at Creatively Belle in our Business Tips area.

Smiles

Belinda

www.creativelybelle.com - join the free newsletter and get your monthly free business article

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Hey there,

Just launched in our new Affiliate program area at www.creativelybelle.com/affiliates

Place an CreativelyBelle.com banner on your website and make up to 15% of every confirmed sale made as a result of a click through your website! Join now!

Affiliate program benefits:

• No inventory to purchase or stock.
• Make 15% of all sales generated from your site.
• Get paid every time your customer re-orders.
• Online statistics so that you can track your commissions.

Start earning large amounts of commission now by joining our Affiliate program.

Learn more about affiliate programs and how to make money with the The Internet Marketing Centre. It provides excellent info and tools for building an internet arm to your business or to set up an internet business from scratch.

Smiles

Belinda

www.creativelybelle.com

Hey there,

At the craft show I just visited I had a conversation with an exhibitor who was finding it difficult to justify the cost of doing the shows because the sales weren’t where they use to be. She recognised that everything has its cycle and feared that their area was in a downward cycle.

Her income is from doing shows and partly from a shop. So she is paying $4,500 for the stand plus all the associated costs of the display, accommodation, transport, travel etc etc, so this easily comes to $6,000+ and finding the shows aren’t bringing in the income they once did. I tried to find out how she communicates with her customers and basically she doesn’t, she expects the customers to know that she’ll be at the shows and to come along and spend money with her.

Whereas if she collected email addresses of customers and sent them an email newsletter before the show (maybe an email a month out and then the week before the show) customers would know where she’ll be, what special offers and goodies are available and think to come to her so they can spend money with her.

The investment in this includes:

• sheets of paper with a table on it having two columns - Name and Email. Maybe 100 sheets? If you run out simply photocopy more at a newsagency or office supplies business during the show
• clipboards so people have a stable surface for writing on
• maybe a competition like 3 x $50 gift vouchers that can be used at shows or online or at the shop - be generous with the life of these vouchers as their purpose is to create Good Will and good conversations about your business. If you’re tight with them you destroy the best value of them.

To make use of this immediate customer database you’ve collected just enter them into a database, maybe an Excel spreedsheet with column labels like First Name, Surname, Email so they can be imported easily into tools like Outlook or an email newsletter online service like Constant Contact (who I use and find excellent and MUCH easier to maintain than an Outlook database).

By contacting your customers regularly and letting them know how they can easily shop with you your investment dollars in expos and shows can be increased - repeat business through out the year is the best!

For more free articles about building a success small business join our newsletter for one each month!

We have beautiful and popular jewelry online for you. Click here to see our design Gallery!

Smiles

Belinda

www.creativelybelle.com - join our newsletter today!

Hey there,

Talking with exhibitors at the local craft fair this weekend I was amazed at how few have websites and their perceptions of what’s involved in having a website.

Most didn’t have a site and most seemed to think that they couldn’t have one because their stock changed so much and so often that they couldn’t keep up with the images online. I can understand this concern because I’ve faced it with my work too.

The answer is that you don’t have to put all your work online. You can start with phase 1 having information like:

• calendar of shows for the year so customers know where to find you
• contact details so customers can easily contact you
• online email newsletter subscription so customers can give you their details so you can remind them about upcoming shows (newsletters can be monthly or just once a year, but building the database list of interested customers is vital for business growth and success)
• product range so customers know what you’ll have at the show
• some images of your goods so customers can see what you have to start to get ideas

For phase 2 of the business site development you can make a start with online shopping using PayPal or the equivalent:

• a small selection of regular stock items that are your basic bread and butter selling items - these are the ones that you have available regularly and don’t change very often as people need them
• make available patterns and instructions - some free and some for sale
• a manageable range of kits that are easy to put together and ship - this range can include regular ones and/or kits that you change once a year - nothing too high maintenance, just an easy quick way to start and build an online income
• regular email newsletters for your customers so they know where you are, what you’re doing, what they can buy from you and remember you

A website can back up and support a traditional mail order business, it doesn’t have to replace it. A website grows over the years and develops into a great resource for your business. Think of it in terms of building in phases that you can manage.

For more info about having a success website for your small business click here.

Up to 40% Off Sale online here!

Smiles

Belinda

www.creativelybelle.com - free online email newsletter with business tip articles for you here

Hey there,

I believe in keeping things simple and this especially applies to my own business stationery.

Having address label stickers is so much easier for getting orders out than hand writing each time. I created a file in Publisher to fit the Avery Inkjet Labels I use. Make sure you use a printer that has rain/water proof ink.

Make sure you have your business name, postal address and your website as it is important to have your website address on all your stationery and in all your public communications such as advertisements and pr material.

Some people have found having fluro coloured stickers for address labels with their website and sales message makes a difference too.

So keep it simple and print them as you need them.

Click here for our Jewelry Sale!

Smiles

Belinda

www.creativelybelle.com - join our newsletter and find out about latest designs, sales and free small business and marketing articles