Whether your business is brand new or even if you’ve been around for a while, customer support is something that can always be improved.

Remember your customers are people who expect and deserve your respect, assistance and gratitude.

Here are 10 ways to instantly improve customer support:

Be Positive

You want your company to make people feel special. You’ll accomplish this by appearing eager to solve your customers’ problems.

Any type of snarky attitude, rude remark, or condescending tone may cost you a customer and future sells. It’s said that on average a customer is likely to share a stellar support experience with up to 3 people and up to 20 people if the support experience was poor… Make sure every experience is a pleasant one – even if it’s a refund request. 

Here are some ways to maintain a positive persona:

• Always greet your customers with a warm welcome and a smile.
• Help customers ask for help (ie: Do you have any questions? Is there anything else I can help with?)
• Love the unhappy customer. (ie: I am sorry for the trouble you’re having)
• Always say thank you.
• Be patient.

Set Expectations

Don’t leave your customer support to chance. It’s a good idea and beneficial for both your team and customers if there’s a level of expectancy.

There are several parameters of superb support to address with your team:

• Be polite.
• Have discounts ready for those who deserve it.
• Make sure every email is answered within 12 hours.
• If you use live chat, response time should always be under 1 minute. 
• Offer gifts (discounts, free products) to customers who become upset.
• Be present when interacting with customers. Verify and clarify the information you’re receiving before acting on it.

Offer Live Chat

This is something that builds a ton of trust and reputation and well as helps to increase sales. The very first week we added live chat to our sales pages, we had record sales. Our customers also started leaving positive reviews on forums that praised us for the convenience of the new live chat.

We use SnapEngage for our live chat. They allow you to set the chat box to appear after any amount of time and you can also set several different greetings to appear to your visitors which allows you to see which get’s the most interactions.

I also like SnapEngage because it shows you the location, time of day and weather of each person that interacts with you. This means you can personalize the experience with something as simple as saying “goodmorning,” or “goodnight” or “staying dry out there today?” when appropriate. This can put people at ease and disarm potentially confrontational customers. 

Clearly Display Working Hours

People need to know exactly how and when they can get ahold of you. Prominently display your working hours and customer support hours on your contact page, home page or any place that your customers are likely to see on their very first visit. 

Make It Easy To Find Support / Contact Page

If you’re a digital marketer your contact page should be clearly visible from the homepage of your website. You want people to know that you stand behind everything you offer and that you’re available to help. At the end of the day a business needs to make money, true, but it’s a service first and foremost, so serve!

Offer A Phone Number / Voice Message Service

There are still some people who don’t trust email or even live chat and strongly prefer to get in touch with somebody via phone. In the event that there is an urgent concern, an email response just isn’t quick enough for some people.

Offering a phone number or voice message service is a great practice for trust building and a strong sign of good faith for your existing and potential customers.

Have FAQ’s

Always include a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for your business and products. People are desperate for answers and one way to satisfy this is by anticipating their questions. Gather as many Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for your website as possible.

Start by asking your team what common questions they receive about your products and services daily.

Here are some questions you may consider answering in a FAQ section:

• How to install?
• How quickly will I see results?
• What are your working hours?
• List of steps to fix common errors.
• How to get started for the first time?
• How is ______ different from other systems?
• What requirements do I need for your product or service?
• Can ______ use the system? (Lawyers, men, women, students etc)
• Who is ______ (name of founder, owner or business) and where did ______ (name of system, name of service etc) come from?
• Can the ______ (Name of system, product or service) be used to ______? (Solve common problem of your users)

Include a specific location for FAQs such as a knowledge base or literally a “FAQ” page.

With PopUp Domination all of our frequently asked questions are found in the knowledge base. Everything from solutions for common errors to install instructions can be found in our knowledge base. Not only is this a convenient resource for our customers, but it’s also a selling point.

A well-thought FAQ section shows we care and puts people at ease. 

Have Resources Ready

You never want to feel or look like you’ve been caught off guard with customers. They want to know you have everything under control. The best way to exhibit this control is by having several resources related to your product or service ready to go.

For instance, great customer support preparedness means having:

• List of FAQs.
• Affiliate links.
• Links to related articles.
• Links to related complimentary products.
• Common phrases and responses ready to go (for live chat).

Make Sure It’s A Priority

If you want your business to be successful, you must produce happy and satisfied customers.

Customer support should never be put off – ever. From the CEO all the way to the new tech, customer service should be the priority of every person in the company. Remember that if not for your customers, you would not have a business. Your (happy) customers are the lifeline and best advertising for your company so be sure to give them the respect, attention and priority they deserve.

Use A Ticket System

With high traffic businesses the support requests can flood in, even when things are going “good.” We use Desk for our tech support system and love it. My favorite features about Desk are the easy ability to track down previous users tickets (via their built in filtering options) and the use of predefined response templates, which save a ton of time.

Having a ticket system in place not only makes things easier for your team and your customers, but it also provides security for your tech team when sensitive information is being exchanged. 

Practicing great customer support greatly improves your odds of closing a deal and gaining repeat business which means increased sales and profits. It’s much more expensive to acquire customers rather than retain them.

The customer experience is the next competitive battleground. ~ Jerry Gregoire

The post 10 Ways to Instantly Improve Customer Support appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Effective business owners know the importance of detailed scheduling, yet often don’t have the time to waste on complicated task managers. That’s why a software oriented solution for task management can be invaluable to a busy entrepreneur.

There are several high quality solutions available. We’ll take a look at the top 10 to do list managers that are perfect for entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

10 To Do List Managers For Entrepreneurs

#1. Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a mobile app designed to simplify task management for all areas of your life. It can be used to plan your personal life, covering things like grocery lists or your vacation itinerary. More importantly, it helps track your work tasks and merge them in with your personal life for seamless integration.

Some noteworthy features are:

• Integrates due dates and reminders
• Syncs with multiple devices in real time
• Creates shareable lists that others can access
• Integrates conversations over task points
• Helps break down tasks into smaller to-do lists

wunderlist.com

#2. Trello

Trello aims to provide a single solution to replace organization spreadsheets, sticky notes, paper to-do lists, complicated project management software, and even disorganized email conversations.

It uses a visual board to help organize your life, turning a boring list into something that looks more like Pinterest than a daunting task list. This visual approach makes Trello ideal for sharing to-do lists with a team, staff, or assistant to help communicate ideas to multiple people.

Trello uses “cards” to represent tasks, and follows an almost social media style commentary platform to allow mini conversations over individual tasks. Keeping this communication in one place helps simplify project management.

trello.com

#3. Moo.do

Moo.do is designed to be a simple as possible organizational to-do list system. It’s perfect for entrepreneurs who want an easy, no-nonsense approach to time management. It works on a priority method, placing important tasks higher than less critical activities that could stand to wait a while.

In this sense, it helps you make sure you accomplish your most important goals first, and take care of the rest later on. It uses notes and date planning, along with collaboration via social media, to keep your projects on time and on budget.

moo.do

#4. Todoist

Todoist is a free task manager that has over two million users at the time of writing this. It works on 13 different types of devices, so you can easily integrate your schedule in an automatically synced manner between your phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, and practically any other electronic device.

It features:

• The ability to choose to keep a task private, or share with your team
• Commentary to discuss task details within the application itself
• Simple, easy to use design to save time
• Set recurring tasks for regular events
• Multiple levels of color coded priorities

en.todoist.com

#5. Basecamp

Basecamp is one of the most popular project management solutions. It works on the computer, mobile phones, tablets, and even has email integration to work project management directly into your existing email communication platform.

It uses a combination of visual representations and basic lists. It is aesthetically pleasing, but in a minimalism way – it represents data and tasks nicely without being overwhelming to use.

As one of the largest corporate choices for project management, Basecamp has extensive customer support options, so it can be a very easy chose for a team who desires hands on support to get up and running.

basecamp.com

#6. Reminders App (iOS)

Another option for basic task management is the Reminders app that’s built into Apple’s iOS. This is more basic than a full-blown app, but it can be ideal for someone who just wants a basic method to stay on top of their tasks.

Simply open the app and set reminders for various tasks. You set the time of each activity, and when you’d like to be reminded (such as 5 minutes before a conference call). It doesn’t offer the advanced features of other apps, but it can be the right solution for some entrepreneurs.

support.apple.com

#7. Asana

Asana is designed to help teams stay on task when dealing with projects. The goal of this solution is to replace clunky email conversations with an easier solution. It details projects and unites team members through communication by segmenting conversations into specific tasks or sub-tasks.

asana.com

#8. Google Calendar

If you have a gmail account, you may find it easiest to use Google Calendar. It lacks advanced functionality, but can keep track of tasks by date and remind you via email or text before an event occurs.

google.com/calendar/

#9. Any.do

Any.do is nice because it’s available on iOS, Android, and as a Google Chrome extension. You can have your task list available as part of your browser, allowing for effective time management while staying on task with web based projects. It syncs to your phone, so when you walk away from your desk you can still stay organized.

any.do

#10. HabitRPG

This solution is a bit different from the rest. HabitRPG aims to turn your to-do list into a fun game. It gives you points for tasks successfully completed, and removes health for deadlines missed. It can be a fun way to turn your boring projects into a goal to “level up” as you complete tasks.

habitrpg.com

Don’t underestimate the power of to-do list managers. 

As my friend Clement Yeung elegantly put it,

“keep in mind that a platform is just a tool—the goal of the platform is to assist the organization and the staff to scale. Scale by implementing systems (a catalogue of processes designed to carry out repetitive tasks as efficiently as possible) and workflows (the resources required to carry out processes effectively). So, whether its Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Wunderlist or a piece of scrap paper, make sure you’re using it as part of a bigger system and workflow, and you’ll see a big improvement in the productivity and growth of your organisation—not to mention people will feel happier and lighter in your company.”

Sometimes all we need is some added structure in order to maximize our potential to be highly productive.

The post 10 To Do List Managers For Entrepreneurs appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

#1 Profits Don’t Come Right Away

Since young companies need time to develop, they often require hours of labor with little monetary reward. Time is just like any other investment: if it’s well-spent, it will pay off.

In the case of Coca-Cola, John Pemberton lost $20 in his first year selling the syrup. He wasn’t making any money then, but he was laying the foundation for the next year’s profits (and the 100+ years after that).

#2 Failures are Stepping Stones

Every time you make a mistake, that means there’s one fewer mistake between you and success. The best way to learn how to do something is to totally fail at it – and then reflect on what you could have done differently.

There’s no point in feeling discouraged. Simply learn and change.

#3 Don’t Resist Change

Pemberton’s brain tonic was supposedly a cure for horrible-sounding ailments like, “Neuralgia,” “Hysteria…” and “Melancholia.” But there’s no way that Coca-Cola would be the huge corporation it is today if they hadn’t started marketing their beverage as a soft drink.

As an entrepreneur, don’t let carefully-laid plans blind your eyes to better opportunities.

#4 It’s Never Too Early to Start Branding

By sticking with a tasteful, timeless image, Coca-Cola has turned their logo into an icon. Your brand starts on the same day as your business – so be deliberate and consistent from the get-go.

Even if your business doesn’t have a logo or color scheme, you still have a brand to maintain. You’re building your brand every time you talk with a client or type out a tweet.

#5 Brand Big

Brands like Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola have permeated the collective subconscious by embodying big feelings and ideas.

Of course, those companies also have multi-million dollar marketing budgets and you probably don’t. But if you have a firmly set vision for what feelings and ideas you want people to associate with your business, it will show through.

The Biggest Brand in the World

Today, Coca-Cola is widely considered the biggest brand in the world – but it has something in common with even the smallest start-up: it began with just an entrepreneur and an idea. How will you apply the story of Coca-Cola to your own business?

Do you agree with Interbrand that Coca-Cola is the biggest brand in the world — or have tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple surpassed the Coke brand? Sound off in the comment section below.

The post 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From Coca-Cola appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

As you’ll find in this post, sometimes that means completely changing your product or service. Here are 10 great companies that started as something completely different than what they’re known for today.

Companies Started by Selling Something Else

#1 3M

Formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3 M’s, get it?), 3M started in 1902 as a mining company that sold a popular mineral to grinding wheel manufacturers.

From a mineral, they began selling sandpaper, then masking tape, then “Scotch Tape”, and today they sell over 55,000 different products including everything from car care products to touch screens.

#2 Abercrombie & Fitch

Founded in 1892 by David Abercrombie and Ezra H. Fitch, Abercrombie & Fitch started as a sporting goods shop and outfitter.

They didn’t become a clothing store until The Limited acquired them in 1988. Now they have over 300 stores in the U.S. and they’re expanding internationally.

#3 Avon

David H. McConnell started Avon in 1886 as door-to-door book salesman. Sales were tough at first but he realized that he could gain women’s attention by offering perfume samples.

Soon those perfume samples became more popular than the books, so he founded the California Perfume Company in New York, NY and it eventually became Avon.

#4 Colgate

Colgate was originally founded in 1806 by a soap and candle maker named William Colgate. They started by selling soap, candles, and starch.

Colgate didn’t start selling toothpaste until 1873 and they sold it by the jar.

#5 Flickr

In 2004, Flickr started as a chat room with real-time photo sharing for the web-based multiplayer game, Game Neverending. Soon thereafter, they shelved Game Neverending, expanded the uploading and filing of photos, and buried the chat room.

In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Flickr for $35 million.

#6 Microsoft

Bill Gates and Paul Allen started what eventually became Microsoft in 1968 when a local computer company gave the 13-year-olds access to a computer. They were quickly banned after they learned how to hack the system and crash the files. But the company ultimately re-hired them to find bugs and fix weaknesses in their systems.

Over the next five years they received sporadic programming gigs until Gates enrolled at Harvard. One year in, Allen showed Gates the latest issue of Popular Electronics featuring the Altair 8800 and Allen convinced Gates to drop out so they could develop software for personal computers.

#7 Nintendo

Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo in 1889 as a playing card company. The game, Hanafuda, became very popular in Japan but they knew the market wasn’t that big. So they began to experiment in other industries. Between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a hotel chain, a TV network, and a food company.

Finally, in 1974, Nintendo entered the video-gaming industry and today they’re third most valuable listed company in Japan.

#8 Nokia

Nokia got its start in 1865 as a paper mill – the original communications technology. In 1868, Frederick Idestam opened his second pulp mill near the town of Nokia, Finland.

After a century of mergers and acquisitions, Nokia entered the mobile communication in the 1980s with the Mobira Talkman.

#9 Twitter

Twitter originated from a “daylong brainstorming session” between Jack Dorsey and his podcasting company, Odeo, with the goal of creating an online SMS service to communicate within a small group. It was codenamed, Twttr, after being inspired by Flickr.

At first, it was used internally by Odeo employees and they launched Twitter to the public on July 15, 2006.

#10 Wrigley

Like Colgate, the William Wrigley Jr. Company started by selling soap and baking powder in 1891. Like Avon, William Wrigley began by selling his products door-to-door and he enticed his customers by packaging each can of baking powder with chewing gum.

The chewing gum steadily became more popular than the baking powder. Today several brands of chewing gum are owned by Wrigley, including Juicy Fruit, Extra, Orbit, Hubba Bubba, and 5.

Bonus: Google

Mark my words, years from now our generation will be saying, “Remember when Google was just a search engine?” And we’ll be like, “Yeah, dude, I remember the first time I used it back in middle school.”

What’s the Point?

One of the biggest excuses young people give for not starting a business is, “I don’t have an idea yet.”

They’re just sitting back and waiting for that big idea. You know, that one-in-a-million idea. They think it’ll fall out of the sky and into their lap when they least expect it. And that’s when they’ll get started.

If you want to be successful, just start selling something, anything. Figure out what people are buying and sell it to them. Michael started his journey by selling Pokémon cards to his schoolmates as an 8-year-old.

What you’re selling will likely change over time, but the principles will stay the same.

Do you know of other companies that started out selling something completely different?

The post 10 Great Companies that Started Out Selling Something Else appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Ask any good business owner that understands direct marketing “what is the one biggest advantage that if you had it could make you millions?”

They are not going to say their list. Although it is a huge asset. Nor will they say there PPC campaign, or their blog.

All of these are great and essential.

And almost all the most successful people online have these.

But the one thing they will all agree on is their secret weapon is their copywriter.

Whether it’s the entrepreneur who does the writing… or if they hire out this work to a direct-response copywriter who has a proven track record.

If you already have your own in-house copywriter, do it yourself or get a ‘hired gun’ you’re already successful.

If you don’t then what I’m about to tell you will rock your world.

When I first started out as a writer 21 years ago, I got into by accident. I was a door to door commission only salesperson.

How’s that for a tough choice?

Imagine having to go up to someone’s front door you’ve never met and ask them to buy your stuff.

Well I was successful, so much so an entrepreneur asked me to work for him.

This was industrial sales. And when I tried cold-calling it didn’t work.

You had to have an appointment or you couldn’t see anyone.

Next I tried telesales. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this, but it’s pretty soul destroying stuff.

Out of sheer frustration I wrote a letter and sent it out first class.

And guess what?

My phone started ringing.

They were calling me for an appointment.

I liked this. A lot.

I’ve never admitted this to anyone before, but it was so easy it was almost embarrassing.

This got me started on a quest to learn more about writing sales letters.

Over the years I’ve been able to launch new products fast and profitably.

I’ll show you were you can see examples of some of these successful sales letters later.

But for now before you write another piece of copy, or hire someone else, you need to know the number one skill the gives any writer the winning edge.

And I’m going to tell you what that is in a moment. But first let me tell about selling in print.

In order to sell you must get the interest and desire of the person you want to buy your product.

Next you must bond with them. They must see you as a real person.

After that you give some kind of proof.

Only now can you give them a sample of what you do.

So, that’s the foundation laid now to build a strong building you need powerful building blocks.

They come in the form of fascinations.

Just a quick aside here. If your copywriter doesn’t know about fascinations then you’re not getting anywhere near the results you could be getting.

What is a fascination?

It’s like a mini benefit statement.

Some people call these bullets… however they are far more than just bullet points.

They fascinate you to the point where you must have the answer.

Designed to tease but never to give away everything.

The question is often asked, “Why is lingerie sexy?”

Not because of what it reveals, but rather what it hides.

You may already know your job as a salesperson selling what you sell is to turn features into benefits.

That’s obvious right? Wrong! Most people turn their features into ‘functional benefits.’

In other words they’ll tell you the handle on the coffee cup (the feature) allows you to drink the coffee while it’s still hot without burning yourself (functional benefit.)

Do you see what I mean?

A successful marketer and copywriter will spend a lifetime coming up with better ways to talk about benefits.

The ‘what’s in it for me’ approach.

Until you can say that to the reader’s satisfaction they aren’t going to buy.

Let’s say you tell the coffee drinker that drinking coffee at the temperature you like it – not too hot, not too cold – but just right makes you feel really good inside.

I don’t know if you know this, but everyone craves heat. So talking about what the heat does for them before they get the buzz of the caffeine will help you sell the cup.

And that’s the part nearly all marketers overlook.

It’s the real benefit.

Now comes this question of which is better, long copy or short copy.

I think that’s the wrong question.

If you asked which is better more benefits or less benefits you’re going to get the answer you’re looking for.

Because you don’t know exactly which benefit makes your readers buy.

So putting more of them is almost always going to give you a better chance of making that sale.

So what’s the best way to state a benefit?

Say it in a way that fascinates your reader so much they want to own your product.

A fascination is an advanced way of writing bullet points. It gets to the core emotions of the reader.

It’s what I call ‘State of the Heart Selling.’

How to make this work for you

Let’s imagine your selling an information product.

Hire someone to read it and give it back to you with highlighted sections of anything that’s a benefit, or newsworthy or a breakthrough.

Especially anything that’s exciting or fascinating.

Now you take all of these statements and put them into a word document and reword them into paragraphs that make sense.

Essentially you’re just cutting and pasting at this stage.

Here’s my little secret.

Look for themes you can turn into headlines and sub-headlines.

That way you create desire and interest right from the start.

If you want examples of how I did this then go to my website http://www.scienceofgettingclients.com and look under the tab on my home page called portfolio.

Scroll down until you see the document reseveratrol 500.

On the first page you’ll see examples of fascinations. But even better is the headline.

This got me a 24% response rate.

That’s the power of these fascinations.

You come up with as many of these as you can and then design you’re whole promotion around them.

Before I end here today I want to give you the quintessential skill that allows you to come up with great fascinations.

I reverse engineer my fascinations.

Here’s what I mean:

In the reseveratrol promotion I give the bullet point. “What never to drink if you want to stay young.”

How did I arrive at this?

I looked at the ORAC value of dark chocolate. The ORAC value will show you the levels of anti-oxidants in the things you eat and drink.

Dark chocolate has one of the highest ORAC values at over 1200. But when you add milk to it the ORAC value is halved.

And the less anti-oxidants you have in your body the faster you age.

So there you have it… some of my best secrets only ever given here at Income Diary.

One last thing, then I’m out of here.

Once you’ve written your piece you show it to people who could buy your product. But DON’T as l them what they think.

Instead watch their reaction.

If they say, “Where can I get this?” You’ve done it.

There are however, one or two pitfalls in getting people to do this.

And it has to do with your language and they way you use it.

I have a recording I would like to give you called, ‘Why People Resist You and What to Do About it.’

All you have to do is write in the comment box below the word “YES” and I’ll give this to Michael so he can make it available to you.

That’s it for this month. You now have the unfair advantage to take you to the next level

Clive Cable

The Quintessential Copywriter.

PS If you want me to take a look at one of your benefits and turn it into a fascination you can email me: [email protected] it won’t cost you anything. However I’m only offering this for the next seven days otherwise I’ll be swamped.

The post Copywriting Guide – Fascinations appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.

Recently I have been looking at some of the worlds most success billionaires such as Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Steve Jobs. Although only being 21 years old, I often feel like I’m not achieving as much as I really can, I look at other people who at my age are so much further ahead – sure in some respects I had to come further as I didn’t give a thought in the world to my education till a year after I had done my exams.

They Are The Best At What They Do

Look at Google, we use it because it gives us the results we are looking for quicker than any other search engine, the same applies to Facebook, we use it as it’s the most user friendly and has all our friends in one place. These are prime examples of businesses that just do it better than anyone else, and that is what you have got to do. Whether you are selling online toiletries or you are starting your own social network, it doesn’t matter, what does matter is that the business you own or run is working at full capacity with everything done the absolute best it can be done. Just try your hardest.

They Go For Mass Markets

No one has ever become a billionaire by targeting a small market, all the top companies have mass appeal such as Microsoft who’s aim is to have a computer in every house hold. Having said this, I do believe the best way to approach going to a mass market is starting small and being known for doing one thing great, like Zappos did. They sold only shoes when they started and once they became the worlds leader at selling shoes online, they branched out and started selling clothing and then later a whole lot of other things – that company later sold for $1,300,000,000!

They Use Their Time Wisely

Bill Gates wouldn’t go on Twitter and bitch about how his iPhone is broken or how one of his employees is an idiot, that would be a complete waste of time. Doing some quick maths I worked out that while working for Microsoft he would of made around $630,000 a hour so if he was to spend so much time like us just complaining and giving excuses then he would be a lot poorer. Time is money, it’s a phrase thrown around a lot but it is seriously true, think of it this way, how much do you think you are worth? $5 per hour? $10 dollars? How about $100 per hour and more? Are you really doing as much work as you think you are? Or more importantly are you using your time to do those things as best you can?

They Are Not Scared To Work Hard

The internet has made it easy for some us to work only a small amount of time a day and still be able to make more than enough to support ourselves (take me for example) – however if you want to be a billionaire, you need to work really hard, that means late nights, grafting all the time and no submission. You have really got to work at it around the clock whether you are part of a team or you are the team, the only way to become successful is to do things, and take action, how can you become successful if you are not prepared to work hard? Another thing is to believe in yourself because you will get many doubters and that’s okay, they are entitled to their opinion, you just need to work like crazy to become successful and to basically prove the doubters wrong.

High Profit Margins

Profit margins are something of a daunting area to get involved in, but basically the more the margin in profit the more money these billionaires make, which is why it is essential for them to have the best marketing and advertising campaign, the best quality in products and the best branding they can achieve because this all helps the sales. Imagine if Apple had just had a small advertising campaign and they had poor quality control issues, the profits would be non-existent, however because of the sheer volume of sales for Apple products (on most levels) and the high quality of the product, the money made is very substantial, however because they are a big company they can leverage getting the best deal for their raw materials and this means high profits.

They buy low and sell high so the profit Are Large

Sticking with the above example the larger the company is the more weight they can put behind them to get the best deals for their products and services, smaller businesses do use this method too, although it is usually on a lot smaller scale and usually depends on them buying a minimum amount of materials. The more bulk materials you buy the more items can be made for a lot less, the more items that are made for little the higher the profit margin, and the higher the profit margin, the deeper their pockets become. This isn’t to say that you too cannot get in on this technique you just need to build rapport with your supplier and use as much leverage as you can, whether that leverage is the length of time you have been a valued customer, how many people you send to them or whatever else you can think of.

They Take Risks

Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and Henry Ford all have two things in common, they all dropped out of college, and they all became successful. In fact they become amongst the most successful people in the world and how did they manage it? They took risks, imagine where the world would be now if Bill Gates hadn’t started up his own software business? What would the world be like now if Henry Ford hadn’t built some of the first drivable vehicles in the world? What about if Richard Branson hadn’t started his own record label early in his career? The world would be a much less interesting place to be I think. The point is that they all took risks, and a couple of them still are taking risks. It’s like the SAS motto reads “He who dares, wins.” This saying is very true, do nothing, there will be nothing, no results, no money nothing. Try your hardest, and take some risks and you could see yourself end up successful.

The post How To Create a Billion Dollar Company appeared first on Young Entrepreneurs.