The 4 Ps of the Marketing Mix

You’ll sometimes hear business people talk about the 4 Ps, or the marketing mix. These 4 Ps are: Promotion, Product, Place and Price. Let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The Right Promotion

You could have the best product at a great price, and be in the right place, but promotion is still necessary to give that final edge over the competition and drive enough sales to make a product profitable. Promotion can take many forms and will usually have a multi-pronged approach.

The Right Product

The product has to have the right features and benefits to appeal to the customer and meet their needs. If there simply isn’t a desire for that product then the best marketing in the world isn’t going to sell it.

The Right Place

Products have to be in the right place at the right time. A good example of this is umbrellas when it’s raining and ice creams when it’s very hot. If the product isn’t there when the customer feels the need for it, it won’t get sold.

The Right Price

The price needs to be right from two points of view – the customer’s and the seller’s. From the customer’s point of view, the price has to be low enough to be affordable, but not so low it gives the impression of poor quality. The seller has to choose a price that will attain the optimum balance between sales volume and profit margin.

Click here to visit the Chelsea Singh Investment website. 

Starting a Business

In the current climate with even long established businesses going to the wall and many companies struggling to stay afloat there are increasing number of people being made redundant and many of those people consider starting their own business with their redundancy package.

But most businesses fail within the first year – why is that?

Unrealistic expectations

Some people think that running your own business means being able to do what you want to do all the time. That it means waking up at whatever time, staying in your pyjamas all day and taking days off willy nilly. Unfortunately this is pretty much the opposite of the reality of running your own business.

People who start businesses usually work longer hours than those who do 9 – 5 , and  a lot of entrepreneurs are naturally workaholics. If you’re choosing starting a business because it’ll be an easy option, it’s the road to disaster.

Lack of Planning

Many startups think they’ve got a good idea, but fail to do the nitty gritty maths and calculations that are required to work out whether it is actually a viable business or not. Sure, projections of new startups are notoriously difficult and can be wildly wrong, but if it’s going to be literally impossible to make it add up, it’s better to see it from abstract calcultaions than a year later in your bank balance.

Another area where inexperienced people fail is by not checking out the competition properly and assuming customers will be battering down their door. Knowing what you’re up against and having a clear reason for people to buy from you instead of them is critical and you don’t want to be discovering your nemesis later down the line.

Lack of adequate funds      

Businesses need funds to get started. Even starting on a shoestring means having at least a few hundred or thousand. The minimum a business needs to start is a phone, a business card and a website. But most successful business people know that to make a business a success you need to start off by investing.

With the right funding for marketing and giving a professional impression, trust is built quickly and customer bases can be expanded quickly, turning the company into a profit maker rather than having it creep along without breaking even for years.

If you want to give your business the best chance of success, then why not contact Chelsea Singh, via his personal website or check out CS Investments.

Industries of the future

Entrepreneurs are constantly thinking about the future and modern society is moving and developing faster than our human ancestors of the past could have ever imagined.

So what are the industries that show the most promise for transforming how the future looks?

Bioengineered renewable fuels

Energy is the word on everyone’s lips. We all know that the fossil fuels aren’t going to last forever, and renewable sources such as wind solar and geo-thermal and being developed, but not yet fast enough. There have been some complications to bio-fuel development – notably the impact on the food market, but algae and other bioforms seem like a good alternative if and when they can be developed efficiently in the future.

Robots

Humans have been obsessed with robots for many decades, even centuries, and we’re now bringing the field of robotics into a phase that we can recognise from sci-fi movies and novels. There are bionic arms that can be attached to people who have lost limbs and controlled solely by the mind, and there are humanoid robots that can complete obstacle courses – with serious impact for military strategy.

Medical advances

Spray on artificial skin for burn victims is already a reality – now it just has to pass all the safety regulations and it will change the lives of those with fire and other skin damage. Personalisation is the keyword for the future of medicines, with our personal physical make-ups being closely analysed and noted and medicines and therapies being tailor-made to suit our specific individual requirements.

Click here to visit the Chelsea Singh Investment website.

Could you run your own business? Part One: Discipline.

Chelsea Singh knew from when he was practically a child that he was going to run his own business one day, and that being employed was simply not an option.

For some people it’s simply something they know, something they feel from very early on, the way other people know they want to be a doctor, or a pilot.

For others, they may start in a more normal route of employment and then later in life decide they want to try their hand at striking out alone.

So what sort of traits and skills does it take to run your own business?

Arguably, the most important traits in someone who is going to start up and run their own business are discipline, a thick skin and determination.

In this article we will explore the first of these; discipline.

A business owner needs discipline

This is absolutely critical for people just starting up. It’s so easy to slump down to the home office in your pyjamas, then spend the morning making coffee, doing the laundry, tidying up – basically anything other than getting on with work. Then, as the days go by and there’s no one else there, punctuality slips and soon you’re rocking up at 10.30am and taking three hour lunch breaks.

This sort of behaviour a successful business will not make.

To get your business up and running and not vanishing into nothingness before you’ve even gotten started, you need to have discipline. Each of us has different levels of natural discipline, but there are a few habits and patterns you can train yourself into to help.

Here are a few tips for getting your habit of discipline into place:

• Get dressed as if you were going to the office, even though the only person who’s going to see you is the cat. This has a huge mental impact and helps separate ‘work’ time from ‘home’ time.
• Be strict about hours. Have a specific start time and – and this is much more important than you may think – finish time. And decide on a lunch hour, that you take at the same time every day. Don’t be late and don’t stay for hours of overtime every day. Doing overtime is fine if it’s necessary as a one off, but it shouldn’t be a habit.
• Have monthly meetings with someone where you have to explain what you’ve achieved that month and what your targets are for the next month.

Read the next part of the article here.

Click here to visit CS Investments

Sections of a business

Most businesses are split into a few common sections, here is a brief explanation of them:

Sales

The sales department should assess the sales environment, set out the sales pipeline and key performance indicators. There should be clear sales targets and sales staff should be trained in techniques and make regular contact with clients. The sales department will work closely with the marketing department.

Marketing

The marketing department is responsible for the public image of the company and ensuring the right people see the brand at the right time. They need to take advantage of a range of media, from traditional to modern technological in order to improve reach and reputation. The marketing staff will work closely with the sales department.

Human Resources

Human resources or personnel is responsible for the people in the business. This includes contracts, sick pay, pensions, benefits and boosting morale. If a member of staff has a complaint, the HR department should have a process in place for dealing with it, and if a member of staff is caught doing anything anymore the HR people must carry our disciplinary action.

Management

They may jokingly be called ‘manglement’ but in reality, management is absolutely critical. The management team need to make sure all the other departments work consistently and towards common goals. Without management tying everything together, the different areas will go off in random directions and the business can get pulled off course.

Finance

The finance department will include accountants and accounts assistants, whose job it is to number crunch and take care of all financial transactions, projections and recording of results. They need to be familiar with the complex rules governing accounting in whatever country their working in, to ensure they pay the right amount of tax and categorise everything correctly.

Operations

Operations is different to management in that it is preoccupied with processes and procedures and making them ever more efficient and standardised. The more standardised the operations, the more stable and resilient the company will be.

Click here to visit CS Investments

Business inspiration quotes from Chelsea Singh

The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can’t do. – Dennis Waitley

I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them! – C.J. Walker

Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming. – Richard Branson

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. – Norman Schwarzkopf

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. – Nolan Bushnell

To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth

Business Basics – The Business Plan: Part Two

If you want to start a business and you’re looking for investment, either from  banks or from private investors, you’re going to need a business plan.

A business plan is a document that details various aspects of a proposed business, including the aims of the business, the background of the individuals starting the business, details of the products and services that are on offer, the market, competition, strengths and weaknesses, operations, pricing strategy and financial forecasts.

Click here to read part one.

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

The SWOT analysis is a really great way of getting a quick snapshot profile of a new business. Strengths may be people skills or a unique product, weaknesses may be a poor understanding of technology or lack of funds, opportunities could be new government legislation or globalisation, or those things could just as easily be threats.

Operations

Operations covers the logistics, the nitty gritty of how the business will run. It includes: production, delivery, payment, suppliers, premises, equipment, transport, legal; requirements, insurance requirements and management and staff.

Pricing strategy

Pricing strategy is absolutely key to the success and failure of any business, and is probably the aspect that has most entrepreneurs tearing their hair out. Price too high and you may drive customers away, but equally pricing too low can be a disaster as it gives the impression of poor quality and may mean margins are too tight.

Financial forecasts

There are two kinds of people in the world, – those who love financial forecasts, and those who hate them. Either way, your business needs them. If it’s a new business, especially with a new product, the numbers will largely be guesswork, but putting price of units against number sold against expenses should give you an idea of whether the business is in any way feasible. For example, if it turns out you have to shift 3000 units per week just to break even but you can only manufacture 1000 per week, you’ve got yourself a problem.

Click here to visit CS Investments

Business Basics – The Business Plan: Part One

If you want to start a business and you’re looking for investment, either from  banks or from private investors, you’re going to need a business plan.

A business plan is a document that details various aspects of a proposed business, including the aims of the business, the background of the individuals starting the business, details of the products and services that are on offer, the market, competition, strengths and weaknesses, operations, pricing strategy and financial forecasts.

Aims of the business

This will include a summary of the business, its aims and a brief financial summary. This section is called the executive summary, and although you have to spend hours, days, even weeks preparing your business plan, at the end of the day, this page may be the only part that the investors actually look at.

The background of the individuals starting the business

The business plan should set out why the individuals are the best people to start this business. They must demonstrate that they have the appropriate skills and experience required to make this business a success, including previous work experience, qualifications and education, hobbies and interests and anything else that’s relevant.

Details of the products and services that are on offer

Naturally a key part of the business plan is details of the products and or services that are going to be sold. There should be a single line description and also a more detailed description. Ideally there will be information about Unique Selling Points (USPs) that will give your company the edge over competitors.

The market,

A sign of a serious entrepreneur is one that knows the importance of knowing their market. It’s no good just assuming the market is there and will be beating down your door – you need market research and hard data to crunch. This should include a description of your typical customer, their profile (individuals or businesses, age, wealth levels etc), what their priorities are, whether you’ve sold them before, location and much more.

Competition

The better the devil you know, as they say. New businesses need to know exactly what they’re up against. That means how much competition there is and what it looks like. Who currently holds the market share, how big are they, how long have they been in business, how do they make a success of it? You can learn a lot from your competition, and you need to be very clear about exactly why your customers should buy from you and not them.

Click here to read part two.

Click here to visit CS Investments

Tips for Entrepreneurs

Chelsea Singh was born an entrepreneur and knew at a very early age that the daily grind of a nine to five, working for the man, was not going to be for him. Now well established, with a large portfolio of projects under his belt, he’s in a position to offer advice to budding entrepreneurs who want to know how to turn their dreams into reality and their drive into profits.

Chelsea Singh’s Entrepreneur Tips #1 – It’s all about who you know

The old adage is completely true. Having the right contacts will make the difference between getting investment, publicity and in the view of the right people and being buried in obscurity. Put your networking skills to work and don’t overlook anyone – you never know who might be a Dragon’s cousin or a millionaire’s best friend. Want to know Chelsea Singh? Get in touch.

Chelsea Singh’s Entrepreneur Tips #2 – Believe in yourself

All entrepreneurs will have their share of naysayers, who will put you down and say that it’s not possible. That’s because it’s not possible for them, because they don’t have the vision and determination to seize life in their own hands. Don’t be put down or put off – stick to your guns and make your millions.

Chelsea Singh’s Entrepreneur Tips #3 – Don’t be afraid of taking risks

If the first time you take a risk and it doesn’t turn out well, you become too cautious, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot. The best opportunities and payoffs come to those who are willing to take a risk where everyone else is afraid of getting their feet wet. Stride out and don’t be afraid to lose everything. If it goes right you’ll reap the benefits and if it goes wrong you just dust yourself off and start again. Entrepreneurs know that all they need is their skills and they can build an empire from nothing.

Chelsea Singh is on Twitter with more words of wisdom.