This is a very very difficult subject, we could write billions of pages on how to sell smart, but if you’ve just started a small business here are 10 simple advices for a good beginning:

• A small business sells expensive. If you own a small business and you sell cheap you won’t have any real success, but a simple job. If you can’t sell expensive, get a real job.

• Make some calculations, find out the costs of your activity. Considering a low-medium level of success, find out how much do you really spend on an hour of labour. You’ve just came across the minimum price you can sell.Yes indeed, the minimum price is higher than you thought it will be.

• Establish your price, make it the price that you think you worth. Of course, some clients will pass your offer, it’s their choice. This is the moment when you get rid of clients that are in desperate need for prices cut-off or that have other visions about your product (in a bad way of course).

• Search for referrals about your clients. He could say that he just got rid of a bad contractor when in fact HE is an intolerable client, and in fact the contractor got rid of him. Be sure that he will make his payments on time, and if he doesn’t look trustable ask him for guarantees. If he says no, just forgot about him, search for another serious client.

• Make a legal commercial deal with the client. Don’t start your work without his signature. His prevarications and bad comments about a commercial deal should give you something to think about.

• Cash in advance. Don’t be too pushy about the advanced pay, first you must earn client’s trust. Do some work from your assigned job to show your good intentions. After this step cash him some money.

• Deliver, make bills, cash in and keep this rhythm. You must do this often because in this way problems that appear can be fixed quickly. Of course that if you do your job bad, if you don’t make bills when you have to or if the clients doesn’t make the payments on time, the loss will grow bigger in time because you’ll realize too late what you had to do in the first time: give up.

• Write down all your work. Hold a rigorous record of his demands. Received documents, faxes, emails must be put in a file, you don’t need when you’ll need its.

• Don’t do big discounts. Don’t make gifts to your clients. Be a business man for the beginning and when you’ll grow you will be able do all that you want with the profit. If you’ll grow…

• If you have some “to keep clients”, jump over the above point... Appreciate them and you’ll get appreciation as well.

I'll try to write down a simple business plan for small entrepreneurs, but it might take me some days to gather the required informations. Hope somebody will use it in the future.