July 6th, 2010 
Maria Helm 
Following is a list of tips to help you, fellow entrepreneurs, best position your company to landing contracts and growing your business.
1. Understand the company’s needs or pain point so you can ease, if not eliminate, their pain. So, who likes pain? No one. Find out a company’s pain points externally through researching via the Internet, news articles, trends within the industry, and government or industry mandates. Internally, you may want to have multiple contacts inside the organization because if you’re connecting with someone in the IT department, for example, you may find out that a pain point is in technology – a need that you can provide as a service. Through your external and internal research there may be something of value that you can offer to that particular client through innovation or cost-saving mechanism. Make sure to include that information in your request for proposal (RFP) process.
2. Sell the value of your company to the appropriate audiences you are approaching. As an entrepreneur, you’re always selling your products and services through phone conversations, Websites, e-mails, social media and marketing materials, but it’s key to know your audience. Know that your pitch to a law firm will be different from your pitch to a fashion boutique owner. If you are selling to different audiences within the organization, the same rule applies. If you’re talking to someone in the Purchasing Department, understand the key objective of any purchasing group – to save the company money. Sell the value of how your company’s product and services can help save the company’s bottom line.
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More and more small business owners are finding ways to cut costs. However, there are areas in your business that you can’t afford not to spend money on such as Marketing. There are ways to get the word out about your business that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. If you have a tiny marketing budget, you can try the following examples. I’m pretty sure there are other entrepreneurs that may find a few marketing ideas to try as well.
