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When that dark cloud looms overhead and the huge block-age in your path seems unmovable, don’t sit back and despair, find a way round it. “How?” I hear you cry. “How can I get past this issue that I have no experience of when my business is suffering and I have no cash to throw at the problem to solve it?”

Let’s see if TV game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? can give us the answer. This quiz involves you answering a number of questions correctly. You’re given four possible answers, but if you don’t know the right answer with absolute certainty, what can you do?

1. You can choose to make a strategic guess.
2. You may have an inkling that you know the answer and go 50/50, where two of the wrong answers are taken away, which is a better way of saying that you’re guessing.
3. You can decide to ask the audience, who probably don’t have a clue either.
4. You can phone a friend.

In all my business dealings where I don’t know the answer, I go for option 4. I phone a friend. By friend, I mean someone who might be able to help me with my specific problem at that moment. I have solved hundreds of issues just by picking up the phone and calling someone, even though I may never have met or spoken to them before, and asking them how they solved or would solve this issue.

Successful people like to help people who want to be successful. Call non-competing organizations and just ask them where they get their bottled drinks filled or who their packing specialist is, where they source this component and which company would they recommend that specializes in advertising in the industry. As long as you’re not a competitor, I am certain that there will be someone there to help, particularly the higher up into the business you call. If they can’t help you then they often refer you to people they know who can—and an introduction by referral is a lot stronger than a simple cold call.

Be professional, have your question ready and detailed, and don’t waste the person’s time—be succinct, be quick and 0ffer them some gratitude. I started by sending over bottles of wine, but I soon realized that this is not what people require for responding to a simple telephone call asking for their knowledge. What they do want is professional recognition of why you came to them in the first place, something that makes them respond: “Wow, this guy called me today and asked if I could help with his packaging problem because he loved the way we do ours. Flattery and gratitude are two watchwords in this instance. Not only have you solved the issue at hand, you have probably extended your network exponentially.

There are other ways to ask for help. Go to online forums there are thousands of these dedicated to specific niche industries, all packed with contributors looking to help you out in business. As a starting point, have a look at the UK website Enterprise Nation and the US website Entrepreneur.com, which have a multitude of forums aimed at every type, size and shape of business, packed full of people who have been through similar situations and who want to help you.

of course you could always go to the join in forum on this site and pose a question to be solved just click here and post your question.

Enterprise Nation advertises itself as a free resource to help you start and grow your business at home. If it’s free and people are there to help, then why not give it a go? If you are unable to find the answer you are looking for on business forums, have a go at finding solutions on self-help sites, which explain how to do almost anything you can thing of. Here are some self-help and how-to forums for you to browse through—many are US based and the terminology and legal advice may be different, but the principles are
the same:

• Free Management Library
• eHow
• WonderHowTo
• HowTo
• wikiHow
• How To Do Things
• Videojug
• Squidoo
• HubPages

Good luck and keep going, its never as bad or as good as it seems at the time.

Remember to look out for more handy Freesourcing ideas on the site and in the book – available here

When you put your heart into a venture, real emotion, the process becomes all the more powerful. Try holding back someone dedicated to a cause. They have an unstoppable attitude that far outstrips the need for financial gain. Innovate with passion and the financial rewards will come.

The much talked about eureka moment is not a moment at all; it’s a length of time that begins with learning and experiences which can be drawn on to realise logical conclusions. The word Eureka means “I have found it”. In order to find something you need to be looking for it in the first place. Go and look for your eureka moment you may just find it.

GOLDEN RULE#1 You do not have to have a real product to show the retail buyers. A concept sell or prototype is sufficient, saving you time effort and money before any sales are generated.

UK retailers get hundreds and hundreds of calls every day, it annoys them when you call although they are tasked with seeking out the next big thing and keep their ear to the ground, phone calls are annoying.

Think about this 5 point plan when approaching a new retail sales campaign

1. Find the right contact
2. Create a compelling proposition
3. Target a specific retailer with a specific pitch
4. Understand Retail is detail
5. Keep the product on shelf

1 Find the right contact

You understand your product and know what it does but how will the customer? If you are selling a soft drink to compete with bottled water then you don’t want to stick the product on the yoghurt shelf, you want your product displayed next to similar products so that the customer can easily find, compare and chose your product when it launches on shelf. Go into the supermarkets and have a root around, find the optimum place where you think your product should be located and see what similar products there are available. If possible ask for the category manager (just ask the nearest store colleague to pint you in the right direction) and see what is the slowest selling product on the aisle then you will have a product to replace. Buyers do not simply put in new products, most have a ranging cycle of 4 to 6 months when they see what is selling well and what is not selling quite so well. If you can get to the buyer for your chosen category and suggest what product you might replace then you have done some of the work for them (more of this later).

Find the category which best suits your product, find the section and actual place where you would like the product to sit then call up the head office and ask for the buyers name, email and telephone number whilst you are at it ask for the assistant buyers details as well.

2 Create a compelling proposition

The proposition needs to be detailed and precise. You will have to have at the ready, on the spot knowledge of the following finger tip facts:

• ROS: Likely Rate of sale – how many units you expect to sell per store and per week
• RSP: Recommended Sale Price – the price point to be be displayed to the consumer
• Shelf life – the life of the product and how long it can sit unsold before it must be thrown away
• Buy in price – the price at which the buyer will be buying from you
• POR : Profit on return – The profit the buyer will expect to make on every unit sale

Be prepared, put in the groundwork and effort early and show the buyer that you ar a reliable person to do business with. Dificult suppliers take up the buyers time. Make sure that they understand that you are working for them.

3 Target a specific retailer with a specific pitch

Chose a single retailer and tailor your proposition to them. Your innovation may be ground breaking and backed up with research documentation and one to one target market video interviews but if you cannot make it seem real for the buyer then you may have lost the game. One trick is to get a designer to knock up some sketch boards showing where on the aisle they will sit. If the designer doing the job correctly then s/he will visit the right store and sketch up the current category as it is represented today but with your product in the right place.

Make the calls and understand the way in which a supplier works. Look through the sometimes complicated Listing Forms (sometimes known as New Line Forms NLF]) and understand the terminology they use then use the same terminology in your pitch to show you understand.

Create a marketing a forecast plan to show where and when effects are likely to increase or decrease demand. I cant stress enough that you need to ve realistic, too many innovators think that their products will have a 1000 unit rate of sale. Nonsense. Find out what the average rate of sale for the location of your product ad work to maintain or slightly increase the overall category profitability for the buyer. S/he is tasked with growing their part of the business, so help them to achieve this.

Make the product believable, help the buyer visualise the proposition with graphics. Do everything to make it real.

4 Retail is detail

Retailers run their business through numbers and very data hungry questions. How many of these products can I sell at what margin to whom and when. When is the order trigger point and how many days before guaranteed delivery will I have to wait before replenishment.  Just re-visiting a New Line Form should indicate the complexity which retailers ask you to aspire to when dealing with them. You need to become a spreadsheet expert.

Ensure that all details are check and double checked. Every decimal point is in the correct place and you are 100% certain that the process works before you even get the product on shelf.

If anything does go wrong then you will need to quickly make the necessary changes to ensure that your own margin is not wiped out.

5 Keep the product on Shelf

Once the listing is agreed and the first production of your innovation is run and delivered into the retailer you have start working hard. Getting the product in was the easy bit, believe me!

During the listing process you MUST make sure that you have been given access to the online data and reporting tools supplied by all the major retailers. Its in their interests to give you the numbers to ensure that you have the information to correct any issues.

The retailers are generally very good at getting your product to the right store on the right date and the right shelf with the right price. Don’t take this for granted. Visit 20 stores and check that everything has been merchandised correctly, the right price is showing and its on the position you expected it to be. If anything is different than expected then let the buyer know early as you could be losing sales.

Create a series of excel reports showing the following stats

1. Weekly sales by unit
2. Weekly sales by Variant (if you have more than one variety of product listed)
3. Total Sales to date
4. Retailer Margin
5. Supplier margin
6. Total Weekly sales profile (to show on which day your product sells best and worst)
7. Sales Forecast based on weather, external events, politics, marketing etc
8. Cumulative forecast of weekly sales
9. Likely retailer reorder dates and quantities

Its one thing getting your product in front of the buyer then in front of the consumer. You have to keep the product on shelf to grow the business and the brand reputation.

Summary

Retail is an ever changing industry with technology and innovation making daily changes to the complex processes involved. The retailers like and innovator, someone who has courage, conviction and proof that their product is the next best thing. You believe in the product now be a retail professional and prove to the buyers that they need to list your product.

Good Luck

FREESOURCE: A resource that a start up business is able to use for the benefit of the organisation that has been found, borrowed or created for no initial monetary outlay.

FREESOURCER: An entrepreneur who has started and grown a business with no money apart from that which the company has generated.

Believe it or not, you don’t need money to start a business. There’s an entire industry out there waiting to help the budding entrepreneur take an idea and make it happen… for free. All they need to know is where to find the help and how to get it.

That’s where Freesourcing comes in. The new book by Jonathan Yates is the definitive guide to free business start up resources, outlining exactly where to go and who to talk to when starting a business on a shoestring.

You’ll find information on free:

• Premises
• Money
• Computers
• Travel
• Online resources
• Stationery
• Advice and support
• Legal help
• Banking
• Networking opportunities
• Marketing and PR
• Stock

In fact, apart from this book, which will pay for itself many times over, a Freesourcer could build an entire business empire for free.

About the author

Jonathan Yates founded his own business, Santeau, in his back bedroom and sold the business 4 years later. His tips for success have been compared to those of business mogul and Apprentice TV showman chairman Sir Alan Sugar. Jon has motivated many entrepreneurs into action with his regular seminars and professional speaking events, showing people how to achieve their business goals. www.freesources.co.uk

To be published by Capstone, December 09 ISBN 9781906465803 Paperback £9.99

For more information, to request competition copies, or an interview with/article by the author, please contact Caroline Baines, Publicity Manager: 01243 770674 / cbaines@wiley.com

have two hassles set up on the system, one a reminder to write a daily blog entry and the other to do some sport every day. They do seem to be working for me. Here are some examples of other people’s hassles:

• Inhale. Exhale. Do it again. And again. Smile. Live in the present. Have faith in the future. Know that you are on the right path. Remember who you are—roughly every 2 days
• Be strong. Be beautiful. Go for a walk today no matter what. Take time for you! Love yourself!—roughly every 2 days
• Follow up with 3 people about my business—roughly every 1 day

You get the idea: create a hassle and do what you are told.

This site is based on the fact that we all have skills, time, hardware and assets to share. All you do is register on the site (membership is of course free) and enter your own personal and detailed skill set. There are various elements of the site that you can join to share a particular asset you may have:

• Skillshare—Share the skills you have and use others’ skills where yours may be lacking.
• Toolshare—Borrow some tools to get a job done.
• Spaceshare—Let someone borrow your garage and perhaps an office may be available for your meeting.

Landshare is another initiative that allows you to share any spare land you have with the community for use as an allotment; or to find land offered by others near you on which you could grow fruit and vegetables and get to eat for (almost) free!

If you are lucky enough to have someone share their particular skill with you, then you can offer that skill to someone else. As Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said:

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

However, you must also remember the following from Karl Marx:

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.

You should learn continually from your business experiences.

Take your idea, the one that has been running around your head, the one you have been telling you friends about and do something, anything to get it started. Write a description, sketch a prototype, search for similar products on-line or just pick up the phone and call someone. The more you do the more real it becomes. If you talk and act like an entrepreneur, this is what you become.