What Are Your Business Strengths?

You need to know what you can do and what you can’t do if you are going to run your own business. It isn’t going to serve you well if you try to manage your own accounts and are not very good at book keeping.

Here is a list of some of the things that you are going to have to know about if you want to run your own business with success.

• Basic bookkeeping: so that you can keep an accurate account of all of the money you owe, the money owed to you, and what is left afterwards.

• Stock and inventory: you have to be able to keep track of how much merchandise you have; how much you need to order, and how to arrange it properly.

• Merchandising: you want to be able to arrange your merchandise in an appealing way.

• Payroll: you have to be able to keep enough money to pay employees and keep track of monies paid.

• Marketing: you will need to know how to market your store, keep up with demand, and monitor the buying trends of your customers.

• Basic economics: you will need to be able to follow the economic trends so that you can maintain a profit for your business.

• Networking: it is beneficial for you to gather and maintain business contacts. They will prove invaluable to your growth.

These are some key considerations that you will need to understand in order to maintain a good business. If you find that you will have problems doing some of these things, then you can get someone else to handle them for you.

Know Your Competition

Once you have decided what type of retail business is best for you, you need to know who your competition is. Knowing this will help you to decide what your plan of action will be in dealing with them.

You will want to know what their successes have been and what their pitfalls have been as well. You will want to avoid making the same mistakes that they have, but it is always good to know what works as well if you plan to compete.

In some cases, you may find that the best way to compete with your competition is to not compete at all, especially if they have established a long and trusted reputation with their consumers. In this case, you will want to compete with them but be invisible at doing it. Below are some ways that you can do that.

You do not want to alienate your competition or build feuds with them because they can be a source of great help to you if you know how to approach them.

Here are some good examples of ways that you can create a good rapport with them.
 
-Offer to be an affiliate of theirs. This way you can ensure that they will send business your way if they cannot meet the present needs of a customer that you can supply.
 
-Offer to not place certain items on your shelves that they stock and ask them to do the same. Grocery stores have this idea down pat. What they do is divide certain popular goods among themselves so that only each chain only serves certain hard to find items that are popular. This ensures that each chain will not be in direct competition for certain items. Each gets special items that no other store has. It is a great way to promote one another without causing any problems. This is a nice way to cross advertise.

-Do not place your store directly across from any major competition. Doing this will only give you a 50% chance of success; lower if they are already long since established. Satisfied customers rarely wander into the new competitor’s store.
 
-Try to market your prices at a better bargain than your competitors. If you can’t, place your inventory in a more satisfactory arrangement. Sometimes it is all about the appearance of things.

-Assess your competitor’s success rate. Learn what they are doing that is so great and offer something better or at a more reasonable price.

These are just some of the things that you can do to present yourself in the best light possible when dealing with your competition. Of course nothing beats putting yourself in your consumers’ position.

Think of what you would like in a retail outlet so that you can best compete in the market.

You should also keep your eye on your competition’s marketing and promotional techniques because it will help you to keep up with them better. All of this stuff should be placed directly in your business plan if you want to show that you are prepared for the tasks and potential problems that can arise.

You will want to know how the competition is faring in the market also. You do not want to get into a market that is already unsuccessful. You must assume that if your competition is doing badly, that the market isn’t as good as you may have hoped. Naturally you should double-check your information because it is possible that your competition may just not be meeting the current demand properly. If this is the case, then you should look for the best way to meet the need in a better manner.

Location Is Everything

As with the purchase or lease of any property, you will have to take into account the location that you will occupy. You cannot expect to run a successful retail business if you lease a property that is in a district that doesn’t support the type of environment that would suit your business.

Choose an area that will set your store up as a unique place of business. You will want to stand out. You cannot stand out in an area that is filled with retail businesses that provides the exact same products and services that your business does.

Once you have the ideal location, be sure that you can bring something in good demand to the table so that you can compete with others. A great marketing and advertising campaign is a good place to start.

Identify Your Target Market

Understanding the basics of starting a car detailing business, you need to have a good marketing plan.

• Who will be your target market and what needs will you be fulfilling?
  
  
• Why did you choose this particular business?
  
  
• Who are your products/services meant for?
  
  
• Who do you want to do business with?
  
  
• What is unique about your product?

Your goal is to sell products used in automotive detailing. Vehicle owners are your unique target market. Your business will help them take pride in how their vehicles look.

Break your target market down into smaller sections.

Eliminate groups that are unsuitable such as those who bring their cars into the shop for any detailing.  You want to appeal to the customers who will do their own detailing at home.

Your niche group or target group is an automobile owner who likes to do their car detailing on their own, likely at their own home.  They take pride in caring for their own car and they take the time needed to make sure their car looks great!

Now assess whether or not your unique target market exists in enough numbers that would make your business a viable one. If you feel that it is you can move on.

Profile Your Target Market

You want to define specifics here.

• How much do you know about your target customers?
  
  
• What are their spending habits and where do they shop?
  
  
• How much do they spend on their car care needs?
  
  
• Where do they live and what is the car detailing market like in that area?
  
  
• What kind of car do they own?
  
  
• What kind of spending power do they have?
  
  
• Where do they shop for their car care needs?

You need to have an entire profile on your prospective customers in order to understand how your niche business will best meet their needs.

Once you have successfully identified your target market you can now do more intensive research.  This will conclude, in exact terms, if there will be enough business in your target market area to support your business at every proposed stage of growth. You will prove that a specific need exists for your car detailing business.

Look for good research using:

• Local and international business directories
  
  
• Internet resource directories
  
  
• Car care statistics
  
  
• Local and regional newspaper articles
  
  
• Magazine articles
  
  
• Market research surveys and focus groups

It is also critical to know your competition!  There are excellent on-line sources for this information.  Find out the market share for your car detailing business as well as future trends and predictions.  A good source for this information will be your department of labor and statistics.

Once you have compiled all of your research you are ready to move forward with your plans.

A Winning Marketing Plan

Nothing is better for an emerging retail business than a really good marketing strategy. This is when all of your research will work to your advantage. In order to build a good marketing strategy you must first:
 
Correctly assess your competition and what they are doing to market their businesses. You have to offer your consumers something that is fresh and different if you want to get their attention.

Survey your potential market beforehand so that you can establish what your consumers are missing in their current needs. You will want to know what they want and give it to them.

Learn what types of advertisements work best in your business’ locale. Sometimes commercials are best whereas other areas exact a better response by utilizing the local newspaper or pennysaver.
 
Begin your promotion before you plan to open so that you can garner an interest in your merchandise before you open. Building up some interest ahead of time can help to ensure a good grand opening.

Promotions and discounts are a necessity to running a successful retail business. You must make sure that you are in a position to compete in this manner. Your “grand opening” will run a lot better if you begin with a special promotion.
 
The key to successful marketing will be your ability to meet the basic supply and demand of your community. Be sure to stay on top of this because trends come and go.

You should be able to keep up with market changes and try to anticipate them beforehand because it keeps you a step ahead of the average consumer. This will prove invaluable to you later.

Registrations Permits and Licensing

After you have met the above-mentioned requirements for starting your business, and you’ve decided to follow through, you will need to apply for all of the needed permits and licenses that you may require.

Business Registration

You will need to register the name of your business before you can place it on the market. You will need to think of a name that is catchy and easy to remember. The law requires you to register your business’ name so that no other company uses the same name as you do.

Each state and municipality has their own laws regarding this so you would be better off asking your local registrars office what the proper procedure is beforehand. Registering your business will ensure that it has its own business number that you can use when setting up accounts with warehouses that host your merchandise.

Vendors’ Permits

You will also need to register for your vendor’s permits. This is basically a piece of paper that states that you are legally allowed to charge money for certain merchandise. Your vendor permit should be placed in an area that is visible to the public at all times.

The reason that you need a vendor’s permit is because you will also have to charge taxes on your merchandise. You can’t tax your merchandise without a vendor’s permit. Permits are always very particular, so you will need to include the exact type of merchandise that you plan to sell in order to receive the correct permit.

Taxes

Believe it or not, you also have to register for a special tax number so that you can charge the taxes to your customers. You need this number because each time you process a purchase and charge the necessary taxes; the taxes go directly to the internal revenue service. If you don’t charge taxes to your customers, then you will be responsible to pay all of that money yourself.

You must file the yearly taxes with the IRA each fiscal year end. This means that your business taxes are due every year around the same time as you first began your business. You would have a lot to account for if you didn’t charge any taxes to your customers and if you weren’t properly registered with your local tax service.

Insurance

Although it is not necessary that you apply for insurance on your residential property, you must apply for insurance on your business property. With the crime rate being what it is, you have to have insurance.

There are at least 3 types that you must apply for when starting your own retail business, and they are:

• Workman’s compensation: you have to be able to support your employees should they get hurt on the job. You must apply for this from a private insurance company.

• Liability insurance: this is in the event that a consumer is injured on your property. At the least you have to apply for ‘limited liability” insurance.

• Property: naturally this type of insurance will protect you in the event of a fire or theft etc. It just helps to know that you can regain some of your property or merchandise back in case of a disaster or crisis.

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