Methods to create leads for your business

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market The pipeline of any business needs to be continuously filled with new client prospects. Options are a dime a dozen – the real challenge is to find the ones which lead to the best business outcomes for your type of business. It is of paramount importance to track […]

How to improve your profit margin

By Jannie Rossouw, Head: Sanlam Business Market It is said that there is nothing new under the sun … and this is also true for business. The reality is that most of us need to be reminded about the options available to us, which may well improve the bottom line of our business. Have you […]

What people really buy

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market It is said that the perfect timing for a sale is when a client has a need and our business is aware of this need and ready with our product/service to offer a solution. This is all good in theory, but how do we make this happen in […]

What can you do to be more professional in business?

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market It is my experience as a consumer and sample of one, that the level of professionalism in business is on the decline. The question, therefore, is what it means to be professional in our businesses and what can we do to improve our level of professionalism. www.yourdictionary.com defines […]

Continuous improvement in business

Kaizen, a Japanese word and philosophy meaning “change for better”, reminds us that incremental and continuous improvement in life and business can and will propel us forward. This philosophy is powerful, because the implementation thereof is all inclusive, from the business owner(s) to the most junior employee. The question is straightforward – which small improvements […]

Improve turnover by increasing the monetary value of sales

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market To improve the quality of business decisions we need basic sales information. For the purpose of this article we require the average rand value per sale in our business. The premise is that, if we can increase the number on average, our turnover and ultimately our profits should […]

How to create the best possible quotation

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market When a prospective client invites us to do a quotation we need to realise that this is when the tackie hits the tarmac. This is when our marketing and word-of-mouth endeavours materialise in tangible outcomes … or not. If we get this action wrong we have wasted the […]

Work on and not in your business

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market You have surely heard the statement above, but what does it really mean? To start, run and succeed in business is not for the faint-hearted. Why? International statistics state that 40% of all new business start-ups fail in the first year and 80% within the first 5 years, […]

Reap the rewards when client expectations are exceeded

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market Come to think of it, it all seems simple enough – clients will consider our product or service if we help them solve a problem or address a need they have. But is this all there is to attracting clients to our business? The qualified answer is “no”. […]

Cold-calling is a waste of time

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market The quest for finding new clients and increasing sales is a reality for any commercial business. There are many different ways to attract new clients to our business. The practice of cold-calling has been and still is part of the sales strategy of most businesses. But is this […]