Want to Start a Successful Dropshipping Business? Here’s What You’ll Need to Do

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Dropshipping Business|Want to Start a Successful Dropshipping Business? Here’s What You’ll Need to DoDropshipping is a very popular business model for beginners in e-commerce for many reasons. It allows them to start a business on pennies with no inventory. They can also fail without too many risks.

With that being said, many people get burned with this model because of false expectations. One of them is that managing this type of business is easy or that you can grow one without spending money on marketing. In this article, we’ll look at some of the things you should know and do if you want to be truly successful with dropshipping.

Some Niches are Toxic

Many people will look at niches and assume they’re good without actually knowing if they are or not. They might go into a niche like clothing for instance, not realizing how much of a pain returns can be. Or they choose to sell in a niche where people are prone to asking questions and get overwhelmed by all the customer service work they have to do.

This is why you need to start with simple niches with items that are not too personalized. Kitchenware is one example. Pet toys are another. Don’t pick a niche where minor discrepancies with images could cause problems, and don’t pick technical products unless you know about them inside and out.


You Need to Learn about Online Marketing

You cannot use the build it and they’ll come mentality when it comes to ecommerce. You also can’t expect to see people come flocking to your site because you posted a few product pics on Pinterest or Instagram. You will need to learn about things like SEO, PPC, email marketing, content marketing, and inbound marketing if you want a chance at succeeding.

SEO is the first technique you need to focus on. If you want to make things easy for you, then it could be a good idea to work from an SEO-friendly platform like Spotify. Then, consider hiring an expert to help you increase your visibility on search engines by using various techniques like link building through content marketing. If you want to learn more about the benefits of hiring a Shopify SEO expert, you can check out https://renaissancedm.com/shopify-seo-expert/.

Automation is Key

You may be able to manage your dropshipping site with an excel sheet at the beginning, but you can expect to get overwhelmed with all the orders and customer interactions after a while. You may also start struggling with invoices and tax reporting.
This is why you will need to look at and learn automation tools before you even get started. You’ll need to use a CRM to manage conversations and queries from clients. You’ll need automation to send confirmation after payments and after items have been shipped. You’ll also need to operate your back office to facilitate bookkeeping and accounting.

Dropshipping can be a great sector for people with little to no experience doing business online. You do have to know that it comes with very specific challenges, and you have to be thoroughly prepared for them if you want to succeed.

A Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Your Business at Trade Shows

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Trade shows|A Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Your Business at Trade ShowsIf you’re a business owner, then there’s a good chance that you’ll eventually want to market your company at a trade show. Trade shows can be an extremely effective way to reach new customers and promote your products and services. However, marketing your business at a trade show can also be challenging if you don’t know what you’re doing. This blog post will provide a comprehensive guide to marketing your business at trade shows. It’ll cover everything from preparing for the show to follow-up after the event.

What is A Trade Show, and Why Must You Market Your Business There?

A trade show is an event where businesses in a particular industry showcase their products or services. Trade shows provide an opportunity for businesses to network with each other and build new relationships. They’re also a great way to generate leads and sales.

There are many reasons why you should market your business at a trade show. For one, it’s an excellent opportunity to reach new customers. Trade shows attract people from all over the world, which means that you have the potential to reach a lot of new people. If you can market your business effectively, then you’ll be able to reach a whole new group of potential customers.

Another reason trade shows are so important is that they allow you to build relationships with other businesses. If you can build strong relationships with other businesses, then you’ll be able to cross-promote your products and services. Cross-promotion is a great way to generate new leads and sales.

Lastly, trade shows are also a great way to generate immediate sales. If you have a product or service that’s ready to be sold, then a trade show is the perfect place to sell it. In addition, you can use trade shows as an opportunity to close deals and make some sales.

Preparing for the Show

Now that you know why trade shows are so important, it’s time to start preparing for the show.

Start by choosing the right show:

There are hundreds of trade shows held every year, so it’s important that you choose the right show for your business. You’ll want to ensure that the show is relevant to your industry and that it will attract the type of customers you’re trying to reach.

For example, if your business sells home products, you’ll want to choose a trade show focused on home improvement. Or, if you’re a business-to-business company, then you’ll want to choose a trade show that’s focused on businesses.

Create a list of goals:

Once you’ve chosen the right show, it’s time to start setting some goals. What do you hope to accomplish by attending the trade show? Do you want to generate new leads? Make some sales? Build relationships with other businesses? It’s essential that you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve before you even step foot at the show.

Design your booth:

Your booth is your home base at the trade show. Therefore, it’s important that you take the time to design a booth that’s attractive and inviting. Your booth should be designed in a way that reflects your brand and attracts attention.

When designing your booth to attract attention, there are several creative ways to make your space stand out. To create a lasting visual memory of your brand and logo, strategize their placement in the booth to maximize visibility. Digital displays atop your booth surrounded by the perfect combination of furniture will entice guests with vibrant colors and information about your brand. You may also consider displaying vibrant, eye-catching flyers throughout featuring both text and images that capture a deeper understanding of your product or service. Finally, really make a statement by adding an inflatable replica of your logo which may vary in size depending on need and space availability. This promotional inflatable logo will serve as a unique element in your booth and will ensure that people remember your company after they leave the event.

Doing these few steps will ensure curiosity draws more attendees over to check out what you have to offer.

Some things that you’ll want to consider when designing your booth include the following:

  • The overall look and feel of the booth
  • The types of displays and signage that you’ll use
  • The products or services that you’ll promote at the booth

Train your staff:

If you’re going to have staff working at your booth, then it’s important that they’re properly trained. They should know how to speak to customers, answer questions, and promote your products or services.

Promote your attendance:

You should start promoting your attendance at the trade show as early as possible. The more people that know you’ll be at the show, the more likely they are to visit your booth. You can promote your attendance by sending out emails, creating social media posts, and even running ads.


At the Show

Make a good first impression:

First impressions are everything, so you must make a good one. When customers first approach your booth, you want to make sure that they’re greeted in a friendly and professional manner.

You and your employees should also dress appropriately. If you need help deciding what to wear, then err on the side of caution and go with printed polo shirts and khakis. Printed polo shirts could include your company logo and contact information. If you need embroidery services for the polo shirts, contact Mato & Hash.

Have engaging conversations:

Once you’ve made a good first impression, it’s time to start having some conversations. Ask customers about their businesses and what they’re looking for. Let them know what you do and how you can help them.

And, most importantly, listen to what they have to say. The more you know about their business, the better prepared you’ll be to sell them your products or services.

Stock up on business cards and marketing materials:

Before going to the trade show, make sure you have plenty of business cards and marketing materials. You never know when you’re going to meet a potential customer, so it’s essential that you’re always prepared.

After the Show

Evaluate your performance:

Once the trade show is over, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate your performance. Did you achieve your goals? What went well? What didn’t go well?

It’s important to take the time to assess your performance so that you can learn from your mistakes and make the necessary improvements for next time.

Send out follow-up emails:

After the show, make sure that you send out follow-up emails to all of the customers that you met. Thank them for their time and reiterate what you do and how you can help them. This is another great way to keep your business top-of-mind and increase the chances of making a sale.

Follow this guide, and you’ll be sure to have a successful trade show experience. Marketing your business at trade shows can be a great way to generate leads, build relationships, and close sales. Just make sure you’re properly prepared and have a plan for what you want to achieve.

How Can You Even Begin To Pivot Brand Direction?

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Brand Direction|How Can You Even Begin To Pivot Brand Direction?Stopping, changing direction, and starting again is difficult in any area of life. No matter if you’ve decided to quit a bad habit, realize that your current career path really isn’t for you, or perhaps you wish to stop a relationship, heal a little and then join the dating game again – stopping momentum flat out is tough, and sometimes even painful.

After all, as people, we tend to find security and comfort in being on the same set of tracks that take us forward and help us make some sense out of life. However, this is not always correct, as not all tracks lead to the best direction possible.

We can see that in business, too. From time to time, we may realize an error, or perhaps the stale nature of our current entity is crying out for a refreshing approach, and someone who isn’t afraid to bring things back to basics. Pivoting brand direction sounds like a good way to achieve that – but how can you even begin to do such a thing? It’s this question we’ll discuss below, and perhaps yield some advice to help you come to the right conclusions:

Clear, Stated Goals

A clear, stated goal can not only help you bring your staff onboard, but your consumers too. Moreover, a clear goal for the rebrand or change of direction can help you format your new vision into a deliverable concept, as opposed to solely feeling the urge for change. What exactly do you wish to change and why? What do you hope to get out of that? What are the measurable targets you can reach, and what may be the implications of doing so? When you can achieve this, alongside the best consulting firm to help you, you learn more about your reasons for starting in the first place.


Lateral, Then Forward Innovation

Albert Einstein once said that a problem cannot be solved with the same mindset or thinking used to create it. For this reason, it’s good to take a lateral approach, and then innovate from there if you hope to change. So for instance, if your concept for a gastro pub hasn’t been working out due to how pretentious the menu is for the area, then refining that concept in line with the needs of the market, and perhaps bringing some classy additions to that, can help you not try to repackage your concept, but take it’s direction forward from another angle.

Branding & Design

Ultimately, a branding redesign, or at least a lateral movement, is important when trying to renew your initiative. Ths might involve a new logo, or simply jazzing up the logo with new, simpler design that works best for a smartphone app too. It might mean changing your color scheme to more natural colors to showcase how your new environment-based approach is going to systemize your entire brand. Make sure to properly curate a cohesive visual package, and telegraph this calmly ahead of time if you hope for your old customers or clients to regard you favorably. It may take a little time, but it can be achieved well.

With this advice, you’re certain to pivot brand direction in the healthiest manner possible.

The Best Mindset For Starting A Business

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |Business Mindset|The Best Mindset For Starting A BusinessWhen you are thinking about starting your own business, there are so many things that you will probably want to make sure you get right about it. However, much of that is going to be simpler to achieve if you are at least approaching the whole situation from the right point of view. But what does that mean? In this post, we’ll look at this in more detail, including some information on the kind of mindset that generally helps entrepreneurs to succeed with their business ventures. You should find that these are really worthwhile things to bear in mind.

Positivity & Hope

Arguably the most important element to the right mindset in business is that it has a decent amount of positivity and hope. The more positive you generally feel about the business, your own abilities, and so on, the better, so this is certainly the kind of thing that it can be helpful to have a lot of. That is of course easier said than done, but as long as you practice being positive, you’ll actually find it happens a lot more easily for you. You can then build on that in the future more and more.


Willingness To Learn

Being willing to learn is likewise very important. As long as you are happy to learn again and again and at all times, that is going to mean that you have a much better chance of actually doing well in your business, which is obviously what this is all about. In particular, you need to be open to different ideas about how to start a business, how to run a business, and what counts as success and failure. This is something that can really help a lot, so it’s vital that you are happy to do it as best as you can.

Acceptance Of Bad Moments

There are always going to be bad moments along the path of building a business. That is something that every other business leader in history has experience, and it’s really just part and parcel of how running a business goes. So the thing to remember is that you need to accept those moments as fully as possible, so that you can move beyond them so much quicker and easier. If you are able to do that, it’s really going to help you out a lot in terms of having the ability to carry on.

Keen To Help People

Most good businesses are offering something that helps people. You might want to earn a profit and be the best in your field, but you should also, hopefully, be driven by a genuine desire to make something easier for people. As long as that is the case, it’s going to mean that your ability in business is a lot easier, and that you feel a lot better about how to run your business too. All in all, this turns out to be a very important part of being a business owner, so it’s something to remember.

The New World Of Enterprise Sales

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Enterprise Sales|The New World Of Enterprise SalesA few days ago, a friend asked me what has changed in enterprise sales in the last few years. My answer was: “Everything. And nothing.” Let me explain.

The enterprise sales practice has been highly affected by technological change, in a mostly positive manner. It has also been upended by the recent coronavirus pandemic. So, selling in 2022 has been almost completely turned upside-down. On the other hand, sales is still sales – and it is all about gaining the trust of the buyer with a product or solution that will fulfill their needs.

My History in Enterprise Sales

I began my sales career in the late 1970s when there were no personal computers or mobile telephones. I remember looking for pay telephones wherever I traveled and when I was on jury duty. The sales cycle consisted mostly of responding to inquiries from prospects interested in upgrading their first-generation software systems. Normally, after a short qualification call, we would visit with the prospect to determine what their needs were, and again later for a formal presentation. The evaluation team usually consisted of 2 to 4 people, led by either an Information Technology (IT) or a user contact who was most familiar with the current system and needs. The sales cycle was usually from 3 to 6 months in length. There were competitors, but enough business for all of us.

Then the IBM personal computer was introduced in late 1981, followed by the Compaq portable personal computer in early 1983. That provided two significant changes: 1) Applications were written to take advantage of the personal computer, which allowed for departmental usage. Now the company’s various departments no longer needed to fight in the IT priority queue list. 2) Vendors could conduct live presentations of their products, or slick slide presentations, in front of their prospects. Enterprise selling changed, for the better, as a result. And as more and more staff became familiar with the usage of personal computers, they gained a greater understanding of the positive benefits of using a third-party product that was supported by a reputable supplier.

The typical sales cycle stayed mostly very stable from the mid-1980s into the 2000s. Enterprise systems became more integrated, and several larger global organizations emerged as the leaders in enterprise applications. The products gained in functionality and became more expensive. Consulting organizations were often required to implement them.

And Then Along Came …

And then the world encountered the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, which shut down the economy. Employees no longer went into their office and telecommuted. Suppliers were not allowed to visit the company. The whole sales paradigm had to be changed on the spot – without any prior planning.

Prospects for 2023

Now, as we go into the new year, sellers must make the following 8 adjustments:

  1. Selling is not going back to the way it was before the pandemic. Companies, both sellers and buyers, have adapted to the new paradigm of limited access and less visits, and fewer visits to meet in person. Sales pros need to adapt their sales cycles and methodologies to the changing environment of limited access to the buying teams and fewer opportunities to meet in person to succeed. In addition, buyers are also not as available as they once were to all suppliers, even virtually.
  2. The marketplace has become more digital and social media is now where most buyers (especially millennials) are doing research.
  3. Buyers tend to be far more educated on what is available in the marketplace now. However, the best sales pros will still provide value in the form of the latest technology industry trends to buyers.
  4. Sales pros must provide compelling value propositions to gain the attention of the buying team.
  5. Sales pros must become masters at using videoconferencing technologies, such as Zoom and Skype. This requires understanding how to optimize the video experience, including lighting and sound, but also etiquette.
  6. Companies need to make drastic changes to their websites and marketing collateral to recognize the change in the digital marketplace. Printed material is not as important as how the company presents itself on its websites and social media.
  7. Sales managers need to do a much better job at onboarding and coaching in this new environment. All new hires and underperforming sales pros must receive immediate attention because I anticipate many will struggle with the changes.
  8. Socially conscious purchasing has become more important in the post-pandemic area. Sellers need to understand that they need to communicate what their company is doing to make the world a better place.


What About the Recession?

A recession adds challenges to the sales environment. Companies typically cut back on non-essential purchases and hold off on filling open staff requisitions. But companies still need to fix broken systems, such as a supply chain issue, and obey compliance issues and federal and state regulations, such as for OSHA, EPA, SEC, and OFEC. Therefore, if you are selling a solution in this area, you must emphasize the costs of not addressing the problem or non-compliance.

Providing a compelling value proposition is more important than ever. Be sure to work with the buying team to prepare a presentation that proves the value of your product or solution to their executive management.

An effect of recession on sales cycles is that larger expenditures may require additional justification. Sales pros need to work with the buying team, and perhaps their finance staff, in computing a positive return on investment (ROI) that is substantially beyond a beak-even.

Also, it may be helpful if you can provide financing solutions to the buyer.

Sales Basics Still Apply

Sales pros still need to excel at:

  • business development (generating leads)
  • better qualification of the leads, questioning to assess the buyers’ needs and linking them to your product or solution
  • providing informative presentations within tighter time constraints
  • following up with all buying influences
  • addressing all objections (without trying to invalidate them)
  • building trust with the buying team

All of that has not changed. But sales pros need to be more competent at these skills than they were even as recent as 5 years ago. And companies have become less patient with lower performers.

On the Positive Side

We have entered a new marketplace and those sales pros who adapt to the changes will prosper. Buyers are far more educated and discerning in the digital marketplace. This should result in shorter sales cycles. Sellers should be able to find more qualified prospects, as only the more serious buyers will provide them with any time to discuss their needs and review proposals. There will be fewer “tire kickers.” Sellers also can use the latest technology to emphasize how they can provide value to the buyer.

We saw drastic changes to enterprise sales in 2020 -2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. These will continue to remain in affect in 2023. Sales pros need to understand the implications of the changes to be successful.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Steve WeinbergSteve Weinberg has spent his life selling and helping others sell better, sell faster, and sell more. He is an expert at building, guiding, and sustaining high caliber sales teams, and creating exemplary standards in account management. He has over three decades of leadership experience in sales, including Vice Presidencies at Dun & Bradstreet Software, AC Nielsen, Solcorp (then part of EDS, now HP), and Deloitte and Touche. Steve earned a B.A. in Economics / Business Administration from North Park University, and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. He is also a CPA and has experience in accounting, consulting, and as a graduate-level Economics instructor. He is married and has two adult children. He is the author of Above Quota Performance (Armin Lear Press, 9/20/2022). Learn more at https://www.steveweinbergsales.com/.