Market Study
Creative Cuisine, to be located in Somerville, Massachusetts, will provide personal chef services to busy working professionals in the West Suburban Boston area. This service will include personalized menu planning, grocery shopping and preparation of dinner entrees and side dishes on a regular basis. The service will be available as a monthly, bi-weekly or occasional service. Price will vary according to level of service selected.

Job Description
Creating a clear job description before you begin the hiring process can help you choose the best candidate from a pool of applicants. It usually consists of two areas -- a summary of the job's responsibilities, and a list of the key duties that will be performed. It's worth your time and effort to think the job description through completely

Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan should be a clear, concise, and well thought out document that guides you through your marketing program. It should focus on the objective of your marketing and how you intend to accomplish that objective. Whether your company provides products or services, your marketing plan is essential to your success

Elements of Success
Your marketing plan should be a clear, concise, and well thought out document that guides you through your marketing program. It should focus on the objective of your marketing and how you intend to accomplish that objective. Whether your company provides products or services, your marketing plan is essential to your success

Copywriting Basics
Different types of ads require different copy guidelines. An effective newspaper ad won't necessarily work in your local Yellow Pages. Your approach in radio commercials may differ significantly from what you say in a magazine ad.

Common Startup Mistakes
Adapted from content excerpted from the American Express® OPEN Small Business Network For most people, starting a business is an exciting time during which they are invigorated by the possibility of success and the fun of tackling new challenges. It is also a time to make lots of mistakes!

Closing the Sale
Closing a sale -- getting your prospect to say yes -- can sometimes be as easy as asking for it. Once you've laid the foundation by qualifying your prospect, discovering their needs, and showing how your product/service meets those needs, it's time to ask for the order. These tips can help you make this process easy and natural

Cash Expenditures
Cash spent in your business needs to be accounted for if you want to record all business expenses in a given year. There are at least two ways to do this: write yourself reimbursable checks or keep a petty cash record.

Business Valuation Methods
There are a number of instances when you may need to determine the market value of a business. Certainly, buying and selling a business is the most common reason. Estate planning, reorganization, or verification of your worth for lenders or investors are other reasons.

Budgeting
The sales forecast and corresponding costs and expenses are the major inputs to a Profit Plan. Why is profit planning important? It enables the entrepreneur to see the complete picture and to analyze how each cost and expense item behaves in relation to changes in the level of sales. Budgeted amounts are then compared with actual results and variances are analyzed and corrected.

Brochures
When potential customers request additional information about your company, your product or your service, you need to have a professional-looking brochure to send them. Your brochure should be designed to sell or help sell your product or service to the customer.
When potential customers request additional information about your company, your product or your service, you need to have a professional-looking brochure to send them. Your brochure should be designed to sell or help sell your product or service to the customer.

Accounts Receivable
If your products or services are paid for at time of delivery, you will not need an accounts receivable tracking system. However, if you provide services or products for which people pay you at a later date, your accounts receivable records keep track of what is owed to you

Accounts Payable
Accounts payable are debts owed by your company for goods and services. Keeping track of what you owe and when it is due will enable you to establish good credit and hold onto your money as long as possible.

Cash Flow
As any small business owner knows, maintaining smooth cash flow requires juggling nearly every facet of a business, from staying on top of accounts receivable, to extending lines of credit, to managing inventory

Marketing Tactics
Describe the specific marketing tactics you intend to use to reach your target customers - advertising, public relations, or sales promotions, for example. These are the weapons of your marketing strategy. Choose them wisely. Make sure that they agree and support your positioning and your benefits.
Your Marketing Tactics

Marketing Budget
Briefly discuss how much money you intend to invest in marketing as percentage of your projected gross sales. You can break it down on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Ideally, you will have already determined the amount of your marketing budget when you created your business' various financial statements.

Trade Show
Another resource for finding out about shows is your industry's trade association, since many shows and conventions are sponsored by industry groups.

Television
You might think of television as a bastion for big company advertising. But with the growth of cable and the ability to broadcast to a specific region, it can be used effectively by small businesses too. TV must be utilized carefully, because it can be easily misused - a bad ad not only makes you look silly, but can actually lose you customers.

Successful Sales Letters
While the telephone is still the primary tool for reaching your prospective customers, there are many times when you will have to write a sales letter. A strong sales letter can reinforce your sales message, significantly enhance the image of your company in the mind of your prospect, and get your foot in the door. An ineffective letter will cause your prospect to lose interest in your product or service, and can easily cost you an account.

Set Goals
There are a variety of reasons to set employee goals. Goals can: focus employees on the purpose of your business; enhance your chances of success by applying your employees efforts to your company's long-and short-term success; and motivate employees. Employee goal-setting is also an important part of an employee appraisal or bonus program because without goals, achievement is not easily measured.

Record Keeping
Proper bookkeeping is important to sustaining and expanding a business. Without it, you run the risk of hitting cash flow crunches, wasting money, and missing out on opportunities to expand. When you are devising or revising your bookkeeping routine, remember that the purpose of bookkeeping is to help you manage your business and to enable tax agencies to evaluate your business activity. As long as your bookkeeping achieves both of these objectives, it can - and should - be as simple as possible.

Revenues
A Revenue and Expense Journal is used by most small businesses and is single-entry accounting -- recording receipts and expenditures only

Radio
When you place a radio ad, you're speaking to a captive audience - the listener has to take an action (actively change the station) to pass by your ad. Because listeners are often sitting alone (frequently in their cars), speak to them like your having a one-on-one conversation. Address them directly, and your message will get across.

Customer Service
You can use customer service as a powerful way to set yourself apart from your competition. Its one of the strengths a small business has, and by emphasizing customer service, you can compete with larger companies who may offer more variety, lower prices, and other perks you can't afford. But many small businesses fall short in the customer service category. Why? Ignorance is one reason. There simply are not a lot of examples of good customer service on which to model your company.
Providing Superior Customer Service
Adapted from content excerpted from the American Express® OPEN Small Business Network

Promoting
Remember that the best trade show planning will fail if nobody knows you're there. The CEIR estimates that as many as three-quarters of show attendees know what exhibits they want to see before they get to the show. Strong pre-show promotion will let your customers and prospects know about your exhibit. These tips will help.

Projecting Cash Flow
Cash flow problems often catch small business owners by surprise. An accurate cash flow projection can protect entrepreneurs against this situation. A cash flow projection charts the amounts of money your business expects to receive and pay out each month in a rolling six- or 12-month period.

Prints Ads
Whether you're advertising in your local community newspaper or in People Magazine, your print ads should look and feel professional. Use strong copy and eye-catching graphics to focus the reader on what sets your product or service apart from the competition - your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

Employee Fraud
Embezzlement and other kinds of financial fraud are perhaps the most common kind of employee theft. Small businesses tend to fall prey to this swindle because they don't have the controls in place to prevent it. Use the tips below to help protect your business from unethical staff members.

Follow-up
The time to plan your follow-up strategy is before the show begins. That way, you can reach prospects with your follow-up message while the show is still fresh in their minds. Here are some things you should know about follow-up.

Outsourcing HR
For many small business owners, dealing with the multitude of employer responsibilities - from creating competitive benefits packages to complying with ever-changing government regulations - can be a significant hassle. Unlike large businesses, smaller firms often cannot afford to run a dedicated human resources department to deal with these issues. As a result, the responsibility often falls to the owner, who may have neither the time nor the experience to handle these tasks effectively.

Marketing Plan Samples
As you know, there's not just one formula for what makes a good marketing plan; marketing plans can be modified according to the needs of specific businesses. To see how several businesses wrote their marketing plans or components of them, link to the examples below.

Market Research Worksheet
This worksheet can help you come up with a business idea by figuring out what the market needs. Don't be afraid to be outlandish; sometimes the best ideas sound crazy at first. And if they have some flaws, just put them aside and keep searching.

Managing Debt
For a growing business, having a manageable level of debt can be an effective way of doing business. While some small business owners are proud of the fact that they've never taken on debt, that's not always a realistic approach. Growth often demands considerable capital, and getting that money may require you to seek a bank loan, a personal loan, a revolving line of credit, trade credit, or some other form of debt financing.

Cold Calls
Cold calls are phone calls or visits to sale's prospects who don't know you. The objective of a cold call is to gather information about the prospect's potential, educate the prospect on the benefits of your product or service, and in many cases, to get an appointment. There are several challenges to cold calls and they include: fear; getting past assistants, secretaries, and other gate keepers; finding the right contact; and finding a way to make a pitch quickly that will move the sales process forward.

Market Research
To run a successful business, you must know your market thoroughly. Strong market research can provide you with a range of information about your customers, your industry, and your competitors. In your start-up phase, it will help you determine how feasible a business idea is. As your business expands, you can use research to hone your marketing program, target and differentiate your product or service, look for new growth opportunities, etc.

Inventory Records
Keeping on top of your inventory records will enable you to prevent pilferage, keep inventory holdings to a minimum, and track buying trends, among other things.

Sell at Trade Shows
According to the Center for Exhibit Industry Research, the majority of trade show attendees are decision makers or influencers that plan to make a purchase within the next 12 months. Don't waste an opportunity like that -- follow these guidelines to help make sure your staff is ready to sell effectively.

Network
Networking is the art of making and utilizing contacts. The goal of networking is to create a pool of people and information that can directly increase the quality of your product or service, decrease customer attrition, and, most importantly, leave your competition wondering how you won a job they never knew was available.

Prospect's Needs
Prior to your meeting with the customer, do your homework to find out as much as you can about his business. Read relevant trade journals, do a periodicals search for articles about his product or industry at the library, read the Wall Street Journal. Find out who your customer's competitors are, what changes are coming in his business and what his chief concerns are likely to be. But always keep in mind that you will gain the most valuable information and insight into your customer's business concerns by talking directly with him.

Bad Credit
You've looked at a potential client's credit report and recognize the warning signs - late payments, pending lawsuits, heavy debt load. This customer could be a credit risk. Does this mean you have to turn the business down? Maybe not. Take these steps to minimize risk when working with companies with questionable credit.

Customers
Following up after you've made a sale will enable you to capture repeat business, the cornerstone of most successful small businesses. You can follow up by phone, in-person, or through the mail.

Employee Handbook
As a small business owner, you can help keep yourself out of legal hot water by clearly spelling out on paper what you expect of the people who work for you. For the most part, you do not need to create a separate employment agreement for each employee on your staff. An employee handbook that details your company's policies should suffice.
How to Create an Effective Employee Handbook

Be Fair
Bonuses can be a great motivation tool, even for employees of the smallest business. They can also be a waste of money. How they are planned and administered makes the difference.
Properly administered bonuses can reinforce behavior that will lead your company to success by rewarding people for making a specific contribution to the organization. Bonuses dolled out improperly will lead to disgruntled employees who expect a bonus, but who may not be happy with what they receive.

Business Idea?
Close your eyes for a few minutes and conjure up a detailed image of what you want your life to look like in 5 years

How to Pick Them?
Your small business is growing, the market has a need for the product or service you're selling, and you're bringing in employees to expand your business. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is, a lot, if you don't hire the right people.

Highest Potential Customers
The 80/20 rule - that 80 percent of your sales come from the top 20 percent of your customers - applies to most small businesses. Nurturing that precious 20 percent means focusing your marketing programs on the customers who drive your company's profitability. A laser-like focus on these high-profit buyers also prevents you from expending too much effort on lower profit customers.

Get Better Customer Input
Surveys are an excellent way to find out how your customers feel about a new product, service, location, store policy or virtually anything that's important to your business. A survey will tell you what your customers expect of you and your company, and clarify how well you are performing in their eyes.

Sales Presentation Skills
When you deliver an in-person sales presentation, you have a unique opportunity to appeal to your prospect on a number of levels at once. Your physical appearance, your choice of words, your general demeanor and your level of enthusiasm all play a part in whether you come across as powerful and persuasive or weak and ineffective. No two sales presentations will be (or should be) alike, but there are some elements common to all successful presentations. Follow these pointers to make the most of your next presentation:

Handling Problems
Rules to Follow Before Expanding

Press Campaign
To conduct a successful public relations campaign, it helps to be familiar with some of the basic PR tools. Choose any of the following "elements" of a PR strategy to learn more about what they are, how they're used, and when you might want to use them.