Knowing your business' numbers is very important.

Any Business Coach knows that knowing your numbers is a necessity to survive when running a business.

Do you know your numbers in your business?

If you don’t think knowing this information makes a difference in business, it does. It can mean the difference of making more profit. Knowing your conversion rates is essential. Think about doing it in various steps:

You need to know your numbers for every step of the sales process.  For example, in a retail fashion store, getting customers in the store is one thing, starting a conversation is another, getting clothes tried on, and so on …

Do you know it for each and every sales person at every stage of the process ?  Dale might beat Sally, but Helen beats Dale, and all at different stages of the sales process, so they can learn each stage from each other.

Do you know your conversion rates for each marketing medium.  As in, do you know what the rates are for Yellow Pages V Referrals, not just think you know, but actually know.

How much do customers spend on the initial transaction? How much are they worth over their lifetime of buying from you?

How many referrals do you get from each marketing medium and from each salesperson, and so on?

Is this a lot of work?   Yes…but it’s worth it.

Imagine you knew that every $1,000 advertisement bought you 100 leads and 20 sales of $500 each.  How often would you invest $1,000 to make $10,000? What if they came back for three years on average and spent another $2,000 on average?

So, it’s work, and it might be hard work, but it’s much better to do the work than struggling to pay the bills because you don’t know your numbers.

If you’re struggling with keeping track of your numbers like this, perhaps a business coach could help. See what a free business coaching session can do for your business.

What are the things you need to accomplish before setting up your own business?

A business isn’t something you can rush into…it takes preparation and planning to make it work. And then, you have to work on it — not in it — to get it to succeed.

Who better to share the best To-Do list of what to check off your list when becoming an entrepreneur than Brad Sugars? The founder and chairman of ActionCOACH and contributor to Entrepreneur.com came up with a checklist every entrepreneur should have. Read it here.

PleaseRobMe.com is meant to get Twitter users to be careful what they Tweet.

Many people think a plus to social media sites is that anyone and everyone can find you for networking opportunities or to get back in touch, discover where you work, who you’re dating and pictures of your kids, dogs and cats. It’s all accessible, depending on your privacy settings.

A con to social media? Anyone and everyone can find you and get back in touch, discover where you work, who you’re dating and pictures of your kids, dogs and cats.

Why are the pros also cons? If people with good intentions know most of your info, people with bad intentions out there in the blogosphere and Twittersphere do, too. People know what your plans are, where you’re going and why, if you’re vacationing somewhere exotic or if you’re home sick from work. This can lead to making yourself a victim of burglary.

Mashable reported about a possible Twitter-related burglary, and a site called Please Rob Me was started to get people to be more careful about what they’re announcing to the world. It has a live Twitter feed that mainly features accounts of people who have theirs linked to FourSquare or Gowalla, sites that publicly tweet where a person is.

For the record, if used mainly for business, sharing advice and networking, this doesn’t really apply to you. But when you start tweeting about being away on a business trip or attending a business conference in another city, just be careful what you say!

What is the new Apple iPad? Laptop, big iPhone, E-reader, or all?

A few weeks ago, Apple unveiled the iPad, its latest gotta-have-it electronic device. But is it really a gotta-have-it device?

Here’s a breakdown of what it offers:

-you can buy e-books to read from the iBook store

-it acts as a computer, and you can browse the Internet and open certain programs, like Microsoft Office, on it. However, certain programs aren’t available yet, like Adobe Flash

-for late adopters of technology who just don’t want to deal with the complications of wireless base stations or cable modems, this is a simple, flat computer with a 3G data connection; no complicating wires, boxes or blinking lights

-you can buy and install applications, similar to an iPhone

So, it’s anyone’s call right now if the iPad will be revolutionary and change the world of computers and e-readers. But one thing’s for certain: like most products from Apple, there will be more versions to come, so no matter what you think of this iPad…well, the next one will be better.

Just like Apple keeps bettering their products and technologies, business coaches better businesses…if you’d like your business to be like a 3GS iPhone (or, if you’re not familiar with iPhones, the best iPhone…so far), see what a free business coaching session can do for you.

Despite the luge tragedy, the Olympics will go on.

The tragedy of the Olympics luge accident is sad, but the games must go on.

To say Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death was an unfortunate start to the Olympics would be an understatement. Due to the luger’s untimely death, changes have been made to the men’s luge; it will now start lower down the track, where the Women’s Luge and Double Luge begins, causing the lugers’ speed to be slower.

Even though this tragedy happened, Kumaritashvili knew the risks involved with the sport he loved. He told his father he’d risk his life for his shot at Olympic gold. He believed “what will be will be” and at the very least, he died doing something he loved.

Though loosely related, this tragedy does relate to business. Who wants to work so hard at something, put just about all they have into something — whether it’s a sport or a business — if they don’t like it? When it’s something a person is passionate about, even the hard times don’t seem so bad. That’s why, though it’s sad, Kumaritashvili’s parents have some peace in knowing he died doing something he loved.

Many business owners start businesses because it has to do with something they love. Maybe they’re selling something they’re passionate about, or they love to help people. No matter what, if your business is now something you dread instead of love, you might benefit from a free business coaching session. Figure out where you “fell out of love” with your business, and bring back that spark!

People become business coaches for perks like flex work hours.

It’s a story that’s becoming fairly common — people leaving careers they’ve had their whole lives to follow their true passion — but often times, even though people leave careers to start their own business in something that’s been a hobby for years, they still need help.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a story about high-powered executives who left their careers to, for example, start their own restaurant or work for a nonprofit. Even though they were executives at one point and know exactly what needs to be done in order to make their businesses successful, sometimes — as business owners might know — it’s easier said than done.

A lot of people the Wall Street Journal interviewed also wanted to work less and have more time for friends and family, and with their career changes, some have been able to do just that.

Said Rick Walleigh, 59, who left his management position at a tech company for a position in a nonprofit, “Work is a lot more fun if you’re not the one who is ultimately responsible for everything.” Walleigh now works 25 hours a week as opposed to 60-70 hours a week at the tech company.

Read the full article here. ActionCOACH and Brad Sugars is mentioned toward the end of the story because, let’s face it, lots of people become business coaches after long careers with other companies at other positions. Set your own hours and help other professionals in situations you once experienced — there’s lots to gain from a career change like that.

Tracking progress with online marketing is easier with these tools.

After finding online marketing opportunities, like we said yesterday, you’ll need to track your “wins.” This can be a confusing and daunting thing to do, too…unless you know the tools that can track your leads for you.

Google Analytics helps yet again! It tracks referrals from the company’s social media profiles. And twinfluence and Twitalyzer are Twitter-specific tools that measure how influential and
far-reaching the company’s Twitter presence is.

Klout tracks the impact of your posted content and links, including which audiences are exposed to the content and how they interact with it.

Translate the information about results and figure out the positive financial impact on your
business. Key performance indicators can come in various forms, like new revenue generated, a good amount of time and money saved, or a good financial return on investment.

Armed with this information, hopefully it will become clear how much social media marketing is helping your business…or how much more you need to work at it in order to make a positive financial impact on your business! If you want to find out what needs work in your business quickly, take our Business Health Check.

Even though the “hot” sites today for networking and business marketing are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, there are a few niche sites out there that might serve you well.

People can be blinded by the “big three” named above because the goal of marketing is getting your message in front of as many people as possible. However, it’s more important to get your message in front of as many people as possible who are interested in what you’re selling. That tactic will get you closer to a sale.

From niche European business networking sites to websites linking small business owners and entrepreneurs, Sitepointe.com gathered 20 smaller networking sites that specifically benefit business owners and entrepreneurs. Check them out and see who could become potential clients and who could benefit from a business coach.

Business owners already go through an unbelievable amount of hard work to get their businesses up and running, much less grow it to a successful business.

Imagine if in addition to all the “normal” challenges to being a business owner, you had another challenge thrown at you from left field? A challenge that could not only affect your business, but also your life?

That’s exactly what happened to Michele Alexander, a top business coach, when one morning, she woke up completely deaf. Alexander isn’t a business owner herself, but a certified business coach. Not being able to hear her clients, business owners, who needed to work through business issues, could have proved detrimental, but she managed to get through the day. She didn’t let any of her clients down, despite the fact that she couldn’t hear them!

Michele’s experience going through what seems like an impossible challenge — business coaching clients while deaf — just goes to show the lengths certified business coaches go to to make sure their clients succeed and reach their utmost potential. Find out more about what a business coach and business coaching session can do for any business here.

To read more about Michele’s amazing story here.

An important part of business from an expert, Jim Rohn.

All you need is a distinct market, an idea that’s feasible and detailed planning or a marketing strategy to pull it all off. That’s all it takes to build a small business – those three little things.

Well, they might not actually be little. They take a lot of work, but with hard work — lots of it — and possibly small business coaching, those things become three big things, which lead to a successful small business. Read the full article here.

To see how your small business fares against the competition, click here.