How to Assist New ECAs Set Up Their Stores

Yes you can assist any new ECAs you refer to set up their stores but that assistance should be within some limits. In my opinion, the most beneficial assistance you can render to any ECAs you refer is to encourage them to study and be very familiar with SFI products listing rules. That done, encourage them to ensure they comply fully with the rules when listing their products. If they follow your advice, they will not have any major listing challenges that may warrant your intervention unduly.

The next step is to address the common concerns of many new ECAs. Some of these concerns usually center on:

How will I list my products?
How do I promote my products?
How do I package and ship my products?
With what currency do I sell my products?
How do I get paid for any products I sell?
What does it cost me to list my products?

These concerns may be infinite and many may actually arise after the ECA has read the listing rules. I believe the best assistance you can render your newECAs at this juncture is to address these concerns and related ones as best you can but within limits. Because of these limits and ECA individuality/independence concerns, it may be preferable to allow the ECAs themselves to raise these issues with you before you address them. That to my mind is the best way to avoid undue interference in the business affairs of your new ECAs.

Best wishes. 

 

5 Holiday Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Well, the holiday season is here. People are going to buy like never before and sellers are going to sell like never before. For small businesses, it is smart to “catch the bug” of the holiday season and to make the most out of it. Above all else, you must see the holiday as a time of great opportunity. Many people expect to come face to face with marketing messages this time of the year. You must seize the opportunity to showcase and re-position your brand. These here 5 tips will help you out.

#1. Respect Differences in Beliefs. The world has become a very complex and sensitive place to live in. You must factor in that in your holiday sales campaigns. Don’t assume that everyone celebrates Xmas because in reality not everybody does and at least not with the same intensity and enthusiasm. For your campaigns to be effective, you must show respect for the beliefs, traditions and customs of others.

#2. Mark What Works and What Doesn’t. As a marketer, all you want always are good results from your efforts. Bearing in mind that your holiday marketing campaigns won’t always resonate, it pays to try a new angle each time until you find something which sticks. It is what sticks you should maximize your storyline on this season for optimal results.

#3. Take Your Brand Where the People Are. This is just natural. You must put your brand before your customers wherever they may be in the world. As with all marketing campaigns, you must make sure you’re using the right outlet for your message. It is the right outlet which gets the message to the right people you are targeting. For you to be effective therefore, it pays to know where your customers are “living,” in a digital sense. That is where you must put your brand before them.

#4. Don’t Make Unrealistic Assumptions. Christmas carols may be sweet music to the ears of many people but you can’t assume that all your customers delight upon hearing Christmas greetings. That is why it pays to be sensitive to the beliefs of others. For many, Xmas is no celebrations season so, you can’t force your celebration down their throats. By understanding what your business is, what you want to present and how your audience feels, that is the only effective way to make your campaign resonate well with your customers in this season.

#5. Watch Your Promotion Expenses. It is true that word-of-mouth marketing really escalates around holiday seasons. This is because holidays naturally bring many people together seasonally. When people are together on such special occasions, what do they do? Well, they simply talk and talk about any and everything under the sun. Inevitably, such talks come around to trends, products and bargain deals. These word-of-mouth banters are usually cheaper and more reliable to promote products than expensive ad campaigns which are very common during holiday seasons. Spending too much money on campaign ads during holiday seasons is usually not a very smart marketing strategy.

Why You Are Extremely Valuable

“If I were you, I would stand for something. I would count.” -- Benjamin E. Mays

In business, the human beings running it are the ultimate assets not the brands, the equipment or the products. The human beings are the only resources that are resourceful. They think, they feel, they see and act according to their feelings. They are the ones who make the products, find the markets, sell the products and keep the concern going. Without them, there is no business. They are therefore the most important resources of any business even though they are not Balance Sheet items.

Stop reading for a while and take an inventory of yourself then try to place a value on what you are worth as a person. There is no doubt that you must have placed a very high premium on yourself. Congratulations, you are absolutely correct in whatever value you have placed on yourself. You are you because you are unique. There are no other you anywhere in the world. You have no duplicate. God made it so and no one has been able to fault God’s intentions successfully. You are an immensely valuable product of God’s creation and He too must have placed a very high premium on you hence He took His time to create you. “God never spends His time to make a nobody.” The way you take yourself, the way you value yourself and the way you apply yourself are the primary determinants of whatever service you can render to yourself and mankind. “Self-image is a premise upon which your entire personality and behavior is built.” If you find yourself so valuable, useful and important, you have no reasons whatsoever why you can not apply yourself to useful and valuable purposes for your own benefit and that of mankind. You simply have no right to be poor if you are this valuable. 

 

The 6 Issues You Must Resolve Before Deciding On Your Own Business

These days, for convenience and some other advantages, many more people are choosing to work from home. There is no doubt we have many more businesses online now than we have ever had in the history of mankind. These businesses target nearly every known human need depending on the imagination of the proponents. Many are doing really good while others are either struggling or in some cases outright scams. They almost all have some things in common which characterize all of them. The people who chose to ignore these issues particularly at the outset almost always end up failing outright or at best make it only in the fringes. People who take these 6 issues into account and treat them with the seriousness they deserve stand the best chances of success in home-based business.



01. Outstanding and unique products and or services. With the internet, the entire globe has become the market place for many home-based businesses. The higher the demand for your products or services, the better the business you can do. That is why you must settle for an outstanding and unique product or service which many people are willing to buy.

02. The right timing and trends. With the internet, things move astonishingly very fast these days. You must have a very keen sense of trends otherwise you could get caught-up with product obsolescence very fast. Resolving to stay up-to-date always is very vital here.

03. Adequate tools and support. If you do not have readily available tools to support your business, that business can not survive for very long. You must decide on these tools and how you can always access them before you settle for a home-based business.

04. High potential for profits. This issue is rather very obvious. If your business does not have a very high potential for profits, you are best advised to think of something else.

05. A stable company with good track records. If you are not a direct manufacturer, getting attached to a reputable company by way of affiliate or distributor is the best way to go. Apart from ready access to good and reputable products to market, you also get the necessary training and support from reputable companies.

06. Set goals which are attainable. If you decide on a home-based business, it is your business. It is you who should decide what you want from the business and how you will go about achieving it. It is not advisable to embark on any business which can not meet your set goals.



What your life is and what it can become depend heavily on the choices you have made and are still making. If you have decided on a home-based business, resolving these 6 issues at the outset puts you on the path of success. You will not only be clear in your mind what you want to achieve, you will also be clear on how to go about it. That is what guarantees success, a trend which connects all successful home-business owners who remain in business. Now that you know, wouldn't it be a smart thing to do right away if you took steps to review your own business to find out why it is still struggling? You may never know. These 6 issues might just be the things you need to retool to put your business back on track.