Next Level Training
Business Foundations 2
For business owners who are ready to grow their businesses, be more efficient, and generate additional revenue.


Course Outline

Working ON your business…not just IN your business!

Class times

Week 1______

Week 2______

Week 3______

Week 4______

Follow up______

Class Content

A combination of the following concepts will be introduced. Schedule of introduction will be somewhat flexible, in order to gauge student assimilation.

Assessing goals and issues in your business

Determining the competitive landscape for your business

Understanding and tuning your target market

Ensuring the correct pricing strategy

Understanding how and when to hire help

Developing a marketing plan / strategy

Understanding your unit: costs, content and profitability

Making decisions with data

Accurately predicting costs and revenue

Assessing how you spend your time for greater profitability

Class requirements

Attendance at all 4 classes

Submit required homework

High level of participation

High level of research / homework 3-5 hours per week, minimum

Class Materials

Notebook

Handouts in class

Webpage documents

Class instructors

Bill

Webpages

Class homework:

MCNW Resource Page:

Contents

Course Outline

During Class 1

Developing Your UVP

UVP Homework

Partner Accountability In-Class Exercise

For Class 2

Time Log Sheet 1

Time Log Questions

Job Descriptions

Website Evaluation 1

Self Assessment Tasklist

Partner Accountability Weekly Sheet 1

For Class 3

Time Log Sheet 2

Profitability

Profitability

Competition Research

Website Evaluation 2

Profit and Loss Discussion Questions

Partner Accountability Weekly Sheet 2

For Class 4

Target Market Questions for Discussion

Target Market Details

Current Marketing Activities

Next 3 Month Marketing Activities

Partner Accountability Weekly Sheet 3

Follow Up 30-60-90 Days

During Class 1

Developing Your UVP

  1. Are you “telling your story”,or just delivering information?
  1. How would you rate your UVP, on a scale of 1(not so much)to 5 (it’s brilliant!), for these criteria:
  2. Clarity
  3. Confidence
  4. Completeness
  1. What are your “key” descriptive words? (if you don’t have them—what should they be?)
  1. Are you clearly defining what you have to offer?
  1. Please explain why your customers are buying from you.
  1. If you could make 1 significant change to your UVP, what would that be?
  1. Using all the above information, write the UVP you want in the space below or on a separate paper.
  2. Now, take this UVP and condense it into 15 words:

UVP Homework

Directions:

Using your smart phone,Ipad, or other video recording device, record yourself giving your UVP.

When you are satisfied with it, show it to at least 2 people, and gather their feedback. Your

accountability partner could be one of those people.

You have 2 weeks to complete this task.

Ask them to discuss the following things with you after viewing the video:

1. Clarity—is it crystal clear what you are offering?

2. Confidence—do you seem to be excited by your business and extend a positive message?

3. Completeness—Does your UVP tell the whole story? (What/Why/Who)?

4. How could you improve it?

Note some of the feedback here:

Given this feedback and experience, what should you work on or edit about your UVP?

You’ll have an opportunity to share your recording and offer feedback on your classmates’ videos

during Session #4.

Partner Accountability In-Class Exercise

You will be assigned an Accountability Partner before the first class is completed. An Accountability Partner is very helpful in making progress in your business, can be a great way to network, get feedback and support in the class and for homework completion.

  1. Fill outthe following about your partner:

a)What your partner likes about being an entrepreneur:

b)How is your partner’s business different now than when he or she started the business?

c)What has been the biggest surprise about owning a business for your partner?

d)Partner name: ______

e) Partner email: ______

f)Partner phone: ______

g)Partner webpage url: ______

  1. Arrange a time before the next class that is convenient for both of you for a check-in phone conversation. Ideally, it is the same time each week.
    Time and date of next conversation:

Best times to talk each week:

  1. During this weekly conversation, you will cover the following things:

a)What was the most challenging part of the homework for your partner?

b)Was there a key knowing, or an ‘aha’ this week for your partner? What was it?

c)Name one thing that your partner feels he or she could be doing differently as a result of completing the homework.

d)What is one specific task your partner will complete this week to make this happen?

  1. Fill inthePartner AccountabilityWeekly Sheet.

For Class 2

Time Log Sheet1

Where are you spending your time?

Customize this sheet for your particular business, and list out the activities you do on a regular basis.

Make sure to accountfor your hours on tasks each day. This will help you make decisions about where you should be spending your time.

Date Week beginning ______week ending ______

Actual hours / Mon / Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri / Weekend / Week Totals / % of Total Weekly Time
Production/
Service
Marketing
activities:
(List out)
Administrative
(list out)
Client contact

Time Log Questions

Directions:

Using the Time Log Sheet #1, total up your hours for each category.

Answer these questions from your Time Sheet:

  1. List your activities included in your Client / Sales category.
  1. What is the percentage of your Administrative category to your overall hours?
  2. What category is the most revenue producing?
  3. Do you know where your revenue producing hours are?
  4. Did the time you spent in your Marketing or Sales category produce sales?
  5. Would you like to use your time differently? Explain.

Job Descriptions

Type or write in each section. Customize this form to fit your business, if necessary. The delegated job description should be completed enough to post on a job site.

Person to Hire

# hours per week: ______Pay: $ ___ per ______

General position summary:

Required qualifications:

Preferred knowledge and experience:

Essential job tasks:

Your Job

# hours per week spent: ______Pay/month: ______

General position summary:

Required qualifications:

Preferred knowledge and experience:

Essential job tasks:

Website Evaluation 1

Your URL ______

Directions: Go to your website. Pretend you are a customer wanting product or service. Using the chart below, review the effectiveness of your website.

Navigation

How easy is it to move around?

Is it intuitive?

After landing on the homepage, did you want to invest more time on the site?

Product / Service

Is the value of the product or service clear?

Are you able to get enough information about the product/service?

Are you able to get the information easily? Is there too much information?

What else do you want to know?

Who is their customer?

Visual

Is it pleasing to look at?

Does the look and feel draw you in?

Does the appearance align with the business?

Other

Is the brand image consistent throughout the website?

Is the website kept updated?

Is the contact information clear and available?

Based on the website, would you engage, shop, or hire this person?

Is it easy to share with other media (Facebook, Twitter, etc)

What’s the most important take-a-way from this website?

If you could suggest one change, what would that be?

1 = Needs improvement5 = Well done!

Categories / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Navigation
Product
Visual
Other

Notes:

Self AssessmentTasklist

Think carefully about concrete tasks you could complete in each of the Self Assessment categories to get to where you want.

Review the Tasklist to make sure all of your tasks are measurable, attainable and appropriate.

Based on the Self-Assessment, I want to work on….. / Tasks to achieve this / Desired Results
Business Goals &Time Management:
Marketing & Pricing:
Financial Record Keeping:

Partner Accountability Weekly Sheet 1

Your name: ______Partner’s name: ______

Date of conversation(s) ______

Directions: Discuss the following categories with your partner.

Time log

  1. What surprised you about your hours you logged?
  1. What are you working on that you shouldn’t be?
  2. Where you could you devote more time?

Review the self-assessment exercise from class (also on web)

  1. What are 3 areas of strength for you?
  2. What are 3 areas that need improvement?

In general

  1. What are 3 things you found useful after discussion with your partner?

For Class 3

Time Log Sheet2

Where are you spending your time?

Customize this sheet for your particular business, and list out the activities you do on a regular basis.

Make sure to accountfor your hours on tasks each day. This will help you make decisions about where you should be spending your time.

Date Week beginning ______week ending ______

Actual hours / Mon / Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri / Weekend / Totals
Production/
Service
Marketing
activities:
(List out)
Administrative
(list out)
Client contact

Profitability

Are you making money on each item you sell?

Purpose: It’s incredibly important to understand your numbers, and to make business decisions using these numbers. This information is important if you’re making money on each item you sell or client you serve. You may need to use averages, and to customize this template so that it works the best for your business.

Directions: Fill in the appropriate section for your business (Product or Service). Pick your top selling 3products or services, and complete the information below for each one. Feel free to take as much room as you need.

Products

Start with your most popular item, then analyze two additional items using a separate sheet of paper.

Product#1: ______

  1. How many hours of your time to create ONE of this product?
  2. Cost to you of producing one product (use Cost Chart below):
  3. Price of this product or service: $______
  4. Describe the product or service. What is included?
  1. Give 3 reasons for your pricing:

Cost Chart

Items needed for one product: / Estimated cost to you:
# hours of your time needed for each product or service: ____
Total Cost / $

Profitability

Are you making money on each service you sell?

Services

Start with your most popular service, then analyze two additional using a separate sheet of paper.

Service#1: ______

  1. How many hours of your time to complete ONE of this service ?
  2. Cost of your time to produce this one service (use Cost Chart below):
  3. Price of this service: $______
  4. Describe the service. What is included?
  1. Give 3 reasons for your pricing:

Cost Chart

Cost needed to produce one service: / Estimated cost to you:
# hours of your time needed for each product or service: ____
Any additional items included in this service:
Total Cost / $

Competition Research

Using “H” (high), “M” (medium), or “L” (low), score how well you think your business performs for each factor. Then rate how well each competitor compares to your business.

Factors* / Your business / Business A
Name: / Business B
Name: / Business C
Name: / How important to
Customer?
Products
Price
Quality
Product Selection
Customer Service
Website
Reliability
Expertise
Reputation
Location
Appearance
Sales Method
Availability
Management
Advertising
Technology
Green Aspects
Target Market
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other

Decisions and Measurement

  1. Looking at this comparison, what are you doing well?
  2. What areas do you need to focus on?
  3. What are the other businesses excelling at?
  4. Name 3 things you’ll do differently after completing this research:

Notes:

*Write “NA” if the factor does not apply to your business

Use as much room on the grid as necessary

Website Evaluation 2

Your partner’s URL ______

Directions: Go to your partner’s website. Pretend you are a customer wanting product or service. Click on links, look at the products, and go pretty far in ordering them, if possible, from the website. Make sure you know enough about the website to answer the questions below, and then review the effectiveness of the website using the provided charts.

Navigation

How easy is it to move around?

Is it intuitive?

After landing on the homepage, did you want to invest more time on the site?

Product / Service

Is the value of the product or service clear?

Are you able to get enough information about the product/service?

Are you able to get the information easily? Is there too much information?

What else do you want to know?

Who is their customer?

Visual

Is it pleasing to look at?

Does the look and feel draw you in?

Does the appearance align with the business?

Other

Is the brand image consistent throughout the website?

Is the website kept updated?

Is the contact information clear and available?

Based on the website, would you engage, shop, or hire this person?

Is it easy to share with other media (Facebook, Twitter, etc)

What’s the most important take-a-way from this website?

If you could suggest one change, what would that be?

1 = Needs improvement5 = Well done!

Categories / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Navigation
Product
Visual
Other

Notes:

Profit and Loss Discussion Questions

Review your current Profit and Loss Statement, and answer the following questions. If you need more room, use another sheet of paper. A formatted P&L excel sheet can be found online in Week 2.

Take some time to answer thoroughly. We will be going over your answers in class.

Sales

  1. Are your sales projections flat, decreasing or increasing in the next 3 months?
  2. What factors are driving this trend?

Cost of Goods

  1. Are these numbers accurate? When was the last time you updated them?
  2. How can you make your numbers more accurate?

Expenses

  1. Can you see any way to decrease your costs in the next 3 months?
  2. Will your costs stay the same for the next 3 months, or are there market factors that will impact them?
  3. Will the changes in cost impact your price, and is it time to raise prices? Are you able to? Why or why not?
  4. Are you able to forecast the cost and impact of promotion?
  5. Do you expect your payroll to increase, decrease or stay the same? What is the cost of these changes?

Decision Making

  1. Are all products or services profitable? Which ones should you be concentrating on?
  2. Are you focusing your time on the revenue generating tasks (refer to your time log sheets)? If not, why not?
  3. List 3 decisions you could make about your business by looking at your profit and loss statement.

Partner Accountability Weekly Sheet 2

Your name: ______Partner’s name: ______

Date of conversation(s) ______

Directions: Answer the following questions first, then review the answers with your partner:

  1. What are your 3 main projects, products or services?
  1. Are each of these products (or services/projects) profitable?
  1. What are 3 things you feel you could be doing differently as a result of doing the homework?
  2. Review your observations about your website with your accountability partner. What things could you change, and why?

For Class 4

Target Market Questions for Discussion

If you are not the customer, you’re the product

  1. What percentage of your business is repeat business or referral?
  1. Has your ideal customer changed since you started? How?
  1. Do you periodically gather new information about your ideal customer? How?
  1. Does your price match your ideal customer?
  1. Are YOU your ideal customer?

Target Market Details

Directions:

For every product or service that sold, there is probably more than one Ideal Customer for each. It’s important to understand how a product will appeal to differing groups of people. Choose two of your products. Are there two different groups of customers using, or potentially using, this product?

Describe 3 – 5 characteristics you know abouteach Ideal Customer.

Product or Service #1 ______

Ideal Customer #1

Ideal Customer #2:

======

Product or Service #2 ______

Ideal Customer #1

Ideal Customer #2:

Current Marketing Activities

Directions: For each media category below, list out your current marketing or promotional activities that you completed in the past 6 months.

On the following page, list your Marketing Opportunities for the next 3 Months and how you’ll measure the success of each activity. Marketing without measuring the success of each activity can lead to spending money on promotions or events that aren’t reaching your target audience.

Web/Social Networking

Print Media/Brochures/Coupons

Networking and Publicity

Additional Sales Opportunities (cold calls, sales presentation, seminars, workshops, trade events, etc)

Next 3 Month Marketing Activities

Choose at least one marketing activity for each category.

Web/Social Networking

Activity / When / Cost / Success
Measurement

Print Media

Activity / When / Cost / Success
Measurement

Networking / PR

Activity / When / Cost / Success
Measurement

Partner Accountability Weekly Sheet 3

Your name: ______Partner’s name: ______

Date of conversation(s) ______

Directions: Answer these questions first, and then discuss with your partner.

Time Log

  1. Total up your hours. Determine the % of time in each category. Is this what you want it to be? If not, what you could do differently?

Similar Business Research

  1. Discuss your progress on the research homework. Any surprises? Anything you would change about your business as a result of this research?

In general