Clear Presentation

In this uncertain climate, strong writing skills are essential for business success. Clients are nervous and unsure, they want reassurance and to know exactly what is on offer. When a business is represented poorly in its written communication then everything else about that business is questioned. A clear presentation can often make the difference between a business that succeeds and one that fails.

Newsletters

Newsletters can be an excellent marketing tool. They can be used to promote the products and services provided by your business. A good business newsletter can help to increase business and to make sales.

Targeted CV

Make sure your CV is written in a way that highlights skills, qualifications and experience that match the requirements of the advertised position.

Terms of Business

Clearly set out your Terms of Business in writing and an invoicing system to maintain a healthy cashflow.

Defining Business Critical Processes

Business-critical information varies from business to business. Examine your mission statement and consider which areas of the business are required to run smoothly in order for the business to continue operations. Which documents and databases are vital? These documents and files should be imaged electronically and then backed up and stored in an off-site location or on a mirrored server.

Networking

Make the most of any networking opportunities and develop your 'one minute pitch' using appropriate words to gain an interest in your business.

Job Descriptions

The main purpose of a job description is to identify the duties, essential functions and requirements of the position. It should be a statement of what duties and responsibilities the employee is expected to complete and a means for achieving them.

Sales and Marketing Letters

If you begin a sales letter with general, hazy information - you risk losing the reader. It's critical that you make your point in those first few lines.

Website Content

Content is the soul of the website and is the best tool for building relations with potential customers. The look and feel of a site is crucial but quality web content is more important.

Employment Contracts

A comprehensive contract of employment allows an employer to specify an employee's duties and responsibilities - so an employee knows exactly what is expected of them.

Powerpoint Presentations

Don’t overload your slides with too much text or data.
FOCUS. In general, using a few powerful slides is the aim.
Let the picture or graphic tell the story. Avoid text.
Type key words in the PowerPoint Notes area listing what to say when displaying the slide. The notes are printable.
...Number your slides and give them a title.
Use the “summary slide” feature in slide sorter view to prepare an Agenda or Table of Contents slide.
Prepare a company logo slide for your presentation.
You can add a logo and other graphics to every slide using the slide master feature. Proof read everything, including visuals and numbers.
Keep “like” topics together.
Strive for similar line lengths for text.
www.cob.sjsu.edu

Expression of Interest letter

An expression of interest letter is a profile of your company and should build your companies reputation, clearly setting your company apart from the competition. The opening paragraph should be brief and to the point, immediately capturing the reader's attention. It should look polished and written with the mindset of what is in it for them, not what is in it for you.

Mission Statement

The mission statement can be as short as a few words or as long as several short paragraphs. The main thing of importance is that it makes very clear to your employees, customers and business partners what it is that you stand for. Basically, the idea that you convey should be obvious to anyone reading the mission statement.

Identify your audience

Before you even begin the process of writing, take some time to consider who your audience is and what they want/need from you.

Writing for business

If it's not in writing it's not real! Make sure you communicate your business idea with clarity and impact, and be sure to cater to your audience. Remember the objective is to articulate your vision and get the reader interested.

Cash Flow

‘Cash is King’ – Regardless of the type of business you are running or how profitable it is, your business will struggle if you run out of cash. A good business needs a positive cash flow which needs to be monitored at every stage of business growth.

Results

Business Plans help get the job done! By performing the necessary actions highlightted, you stay on track. It's easy to get lost in the day to day details. By reviewing the plan weekly, you are reminded to schedule time to work on the newsletter, to continue with the blog posting, to seek out public speaking engagement...s, to work on passive revenue products. Basically, focused action leads to success.

cohesive strategy

Business Plans help create a cohesive strategy that takes into account all the parts of the business and how they relate to each other. Looking at the business in this way encourages elimination of parts of the business that don't relate to the greater vision.

Executive Summary

The executive summary previews the main points of your document and should contain enough information for the reader to get familiar with the full report without having to read it all. Keep your language strong and positive. Don’t weaken the executive summary of your business plan with weak language

Business Writing

Properly written, a business document can give a positive reflection on a business and individual. Effective business communication can shape your company's reputation, improve productivity, develop clients and allow the company to run more efficiently.

Writing your Financial Plan

It's at the end of your business plan, but the financial plan section is the section that determines whether or not your business idea is viable, and is a key component in determining whether or not your business plan is going to be able to attract any investment in your business idea.

Business Writing

Writing a Business document is hard. Reading a poorly written business document is harder, and probably more painful than writing one.

Write clearly and concisely

Review your writing for clarity! Re-read what you have written and ask yourself if it makes sense. Ask someone to read it and make sure that they understand it. Ask them to explain what you have written in their own words to be sure your writing is clear.

Business Plan

Set specific objectives - Good management requires setting specific goals and then following up on them. It surprises me how many existing businesses manage without a plan. In truth, you're really just taking a short cut and planning in your head but as your business grows you need to organise, plan, and communicate th...e priorities better. Be strategic. Develop a plan.

SWOT Analysis

Develop your SWOT Analysis and uncover the business opportunities that you can exploit so that you can compete successfully in your market. By understanding the weaknesses of your business, you can easily manage and eliminate possible threats and start crafting a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors.

Action Plan

Clarify your goals, setting a visual picture of your expected outcomes, making sure you set measurable goals to see if you have reached your destination. Always consider what constraints you have, like the limits on time, money, or other resources.

Keep it interesting

Don't forget that writing your company profile can engage and attract the right customers and/or supporters for your business - or it can bore them and send them to sleep!! Make sure it's well crafted and is true to your business vision, perception etc.................

Market Research

Find out what markets exist, what their needs are, who your target markets are, what products or services you might develop to meet their needs, how the customers prefer to use the products and services, what your competitors are doing, what pricing you should use and how you should distribute to cust...omers. Results of this marketing analysis will indicate your position.See More

Verbal Agreements

The main problem with a verbal contract is that if any problems arise and there were no witnesses to the agreement, the case is reduced to one party's word against another's. Even if verbal contract law was followed, a verbal contract is often easily contested. Do yourself a favour and get a written agreement because l...ets face it - a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's written on!!!

Management Team

Include details of all key players involved in your business, highlighting previous experience and achievements. Break it down into sections detailing ownership structure, internal management team, external management resources and Human Resource needs...............................

Business Plan

Fully research the business that you plan to enter and include sufficient information about your customers, suppliers, manufacturers, competitors etc. Give a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses so that the audience can realistically determine your position. Include previous experience and achievements of key players as well as financial projections.

Operations Plan

The operations plan is your opportunity to show potential investors the action plan that will be used to execute your business idea. It must show what you have done, what needs to be done, and that you understand how to deliver your services or products to customers. You should also include an explanation of how the bu...siness will function, the physical set up and responsibilities for specific tasks.

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary should be concise, emphasising the main points of the whole business plan. The first paragraph should generally include: Business name, Business location, What product or service you sell; and the Purpose of the plan. This should be followed by projected sales/profits, keys to success etc. Do not... waffle! If you are seeking investment, say so and specify the amount required.

Business Continuity Planning

Continuity planning isn’t just for big businesses. Small business owners, freelancers and other sole trading professionals need to have a Plan B so that they can maintain their income and continue supporting their customers if they are unable to work for a period of time or have their business disrupted in some way. Unfortunately, you never know when something might happen that will make you unable to run your business, even for a short period of time. If you aren’t prepared, you could face consequences that hurt your business for years to come.

Work life balance

Make sure you document your career goals! Be one of the 4% of people who actually document what they want to achieve and get closer to making it a reality. Focus on your work life and create a goal or a few goals that you believe you can realistically achieve. Be sure they are S.M.A.R.T. Goals – Specific, Measurable, Action Orientated, Realistic and Time Bound

http://unltd.org.uk/index.php

The Spring Level 2 competition has now launched across UnLtd’s Millennium Awards, HE Social Entrepreneurship Awards* and Better Net Awards programmes to find the most promising social entrepreneurs from around the country. Awards of up to £15,000 along with tailored support will be made across England, Wales & Northern... Ireland. The competition closes on Monday 22nd March 2010 at 12 noon.

Business Writing

When you write a business document, you must assume that your audience has limited time in which to read it and is likely to skim through it. Your readers will have an interest in what you say if it affects their working world. They want to know the "bottom line": the point you are making about a situation or problem and how they should respond. In most cases, the business letter will be the first impression that you make on someone. Although business writing has become less formal over time, you should still take care that your letter's content is clear and that you have proofread it carefully.

Write a Contract of Employment

The only way to prevent misunderstandings and to assure that both the employee and the employer are on the same page is to write up an employment contract. From duties to benefits, an employment contract must outline everything an employee needs to know to understand the role, responsibilities and compensation package, and to successfully meet the expectations of the employer.

Proposal Writing

The aim of a business proposal is to answer your customer's questions and persuade them to choose you. Business proposal writing should be more about your customer than it is about you.

Content is king and always will be!

The Internet is the information superhighway and most people use it for information of some sort. Generally the more useful and interesting content a website has the more successful it will be. This is because more people will want to visit it again and again, this is especially true if a website is constantly adding more and more content on a regular basis.

Don't make it hard for the reader

Writing a business document is hard. Reading a poorly written business document is even harder, and probably more painful than writing one.

A Business Plan should answer these questions

Who are your customers? How will you find them? What do they want? How will you provide these needs? Do you know your business & how it will run? Do you know your industry & current trends? How are you qualified? Do your assumptions make sense? Do your projections make sense? How will you measure your progress? How wil...l you make it easy for people to do business with you? What differentiates your business?

Describe the business

This section should cover the basics of the business in terms of where it stands today, where you plan to take it and where it has come from.

Go for it

Thinking about starting your own business but people keep telling you it wont succeed? For every business that works, 10 people have said it won't. Don't waste your time listening to anyone else? Believe in yourself and prove everyone else wrong.

How about a grant?

If getting a business loan though your bank is starting to feel like banging your head against a brick wall, don’t despair. You can still apply for grants through your local council. The typical amounts available are from £500 to £1,000, but in some cases start up businesses can apply for multiple grants. It's worth looking into!

Staff Handbook

If you employ people you must ensure that they all know your expectations and clearly understand the rules of conduct. Even if you only have a few employees now, things can change and your business can grow. Instead of inventing your personnel policies each time an issue arises, you should develop a set of guidelines in the form of an employee handbook.

Professional Business Plan

Whether you are a budding entrepreneur seeking funding or a more experienced business owner looking to expand your existing business you need a business plan. Before any investor lends you money, they would expect you to come up with a professional business plan with strong market analysis and realistic, yet promising, financial projections.

Positive Reflection

Properly written, business letters can give a positive reflection on a business and individual. Effective communication can shape your company's reputation, improve productivity, develop clientele and allow the company to run more efficiently

If you build it they may NOT come!

Marketing is all about letting people know about the product or service you offer, and persuading them to buy or use it. To do this, you need to come up with a marketing strategy and a marketing plan and let people know about your product or service repeatedly.

Writing your Tender

Read tender documents carefully, ensuring you complete all information and questions accurately. Omission, false or misleading information may mean that your tender will be excluded. Get someone to proof read the document for you - a fresh pair of eyes can be invaluable!

Who is your target market?

You can't be all things to all people! Identify your potential customers and understand what they want. Once you have this information, you stand a better chance of capturing those customers for your business.

If it’s not written, it’s not real!

Written plans are essential instructions for how to reach goals. To be genuinely successful and to achieve your goals you must visualize the process for each new project from beginning to end. Once you’ve set a specific goal, develop a detailed plan for its accomplishment. With a detailed written plan, you can proceed confidently toward each of your goals. Be committed, visualize and write out the plan.

What is a Business Plan

A business plan is a statement of your business-what you want to achieve and how you plan to do it. It must outline the structure of your business, the product or service, the customer, the growth potential and the financials. It should inspire you for the future.

It is a blueprint of what you want to achieve and should give you a clear understanding of how you intend to get there. That’s not to say it should act as a rigid prediction of every future occurrence. You can’t control the future, and the outside circumstances will have an affect on the shape and direction of your business. But a good business plan should at least give you a clear direction to aim for.

Clear Communication

Properly written, business letters can give a positive reflection on a business and individual. Effective communication can shape your company's reputation, improve productivity, develop clientele and allow the company to run more efficiently

Write it down and make it happen

Whenever you think of a good idea write it down so you don't forget it!
If you need something done by a certain time and don’t record it somewhere, you’ll miss it!
Write your experiences down. You’ll thank yourself later.

Contingency Planning

Every business can experience a serious incident that can prevent it from continuing normal operations. This can range from a flood or fire to a serious computer malfunction or Information Security incident. The management has a responsibility to recover from incidents in the minimum amount of time, with minimum disruption and at minimum cost. This requires careful preparation and planning.