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 As published on Oct. 29, 1998 How's business?If you find yourself "um-ing" and stalling whenever someone asks you "How's business?" you may be in the midst of a sales slump. Everyone experiences these stalled-out times, but it can be hard to get motivated to get yourself moving again. "Over the slump" provides real information to help you get your sales back on track, beginning with your acknowledgement of the current slump and realizing that slumps are inevitable. Once you have accepted your slump, you can start moving forward to generate more sales. Check the calendar; do your slumps happen at the same time each year? Check the competition; is someone offering a new service or did a new competitor crop up recently? Check your attitude; are you burnt out and worn out from using the same approach time after time? Check your clients; have you moved on to clients with larger, but more seldom, needs? Before you know it, you'll have worked yourself right out of the slump you were in and you'll be wondering what you were ever worried about. Give yourself the professional edgeIn the privacy of your own home office, you can be the pajama-wearing, coffee-slurping captain of your world, but that's not the image you want your business to project. There are some simple ways to give your business the image it deserves -- and mask that bed-head you sport during the first half of your business day -- in a recent "Ask Annie" column on the Fortune magazine Web site. You can't build a car just because you drive one, so you shouldn't think you can design your own logo unless you are a designer by profession. Hire a graphic artist to design a logo that will truly capture the personality and attitude of your business for all your letterhead, envelopes, business cards and sales materials. You can, of course, give your input and -- don't forget -- you have final approval rights. A separate phone line and answering service or machine are "musts" for a professional business image. You don't want the wrong person or background noise chiming in and drowning out your business conversation. Also, customers may be hesitant to leave a business message on an answering machine that has a toddler's voice or silly recording as an outgoing message. Another small detail that can have a big impact on your business image is your invoice numbering system. The Web site story suggests rather than starting at "1," start higher to make your organization appear larger and busier. Speaking of improved images ...No organization is taking such big steps to change their image as the Internal Revenue Service. To overcome the agency's perennial bad rap, the IRS Web site works very hard to be friendly and provide all kinds of helpful tax information. Colorful graphics and humorous jabs at their own image make this informational site very inviting. Although the counter on the front page reminds everyone just how close the ever-looming April 15 tax day is, it is a personal and business tax resource that should be bookmarked and visited often. The "Tax info for business" section has 21 categories of information, including: "Your business tax kit"; "Tax calendars"; "Tax topics for business"; "Help for small business" and more. Even if you use a professional tax preparer, you should know the rules, regulations and -- especially -- allowable deductions yourself. Paying your taxes may not become any easier, but at least the IRS is trying to be friendly about it. Sites to see for indoor weatherThough not every area of the country is expecting snow and freezing cold temps in the near future, it does seem to be the time of year when more people spend much of their time indoors. In honor of that, we've done a search of the Small-Business Showcase using keywords of some of the indoor activities we like best. When you're looking for something to do, check the extensive listings in Small-Business Showcase first -- it has everything! Here are the words we searched with and the results we got back:
Remember to support your fellow Showcasers and search the SBShow database when you're in the market for anything.
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