Are You Getting Your VAT Right on Distance Selling?

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If you sell goods to a person living overseas and is in the EU and who is not VAT registered, then Revenue class this as distance selling. Whether the sales happen through mail order or from a telephone call or a sale made on your website the distance selling rules will apply. What do the distance selling rules mean? Basically you’re liable to account for Irish VAT on distance sales until the total value of sales to all customers within a particular country reaches the threshold that applies in that country. When that threshold is met […]

3 Things You Need To Think About If You’re Buying A Business

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One way to achieve growth for your business is to buy another business. Or perhaps you’re thinking of starting up a business and buying an existing business seems like a better option than starting from scratch. A big mistake that many in this position make is to look for opportunities at the lowest price. But price is only one of a number of factors that must be carefully considered. Failing to consider all these factors is likely to make it much more difficult for you to be successful in your purchase. Here are 3 such factors […]

Is Pricing Low A Good Idea?

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Especially when starting up a business the perceived wisdom can be that you should price low. If you price low you can win more customers. More customers mean more sales and that’s the key to success……or is it? The tendency is to think I’m new, I’m small, I can do it cheaper. But in fact there are four problems with this thinking. One of the most common mistakes made by business owners is to underestimate their costs. Small businesses generally don’t have the right attributes to be able to get significant cost reductions in comparison with […]

The Keys To Understanding Your Balance Sheet

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Right from when you get your first set of management or annual accounts you’ll probably notice that one of the reports is a balance sheet. Especially for new business owners you might wonder what exactly it is and what it has to do with balancing. The balance sheet is a vital financial document for your business so learning what it means and how you can read it can make a big difference. What is a balance sheet? A balance sheet tells you something about the financial strength of a business on a particular day – usually […]

4 Tried and Tested Ways To Ensure You Get Your Pricing Right

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There’s no doubt that applying the right pricing to your business can help you make more profit. In fact, McKinsey, the global consulting firm, suggest that pricing has a bigger impact on a company’s profit than anything else. How can you make sure you’re making the right pricing decisions that make you the most profit? Read on to gain insight into pricing anchors and then 4 tried and tested ways for you to successfully apply them to your business. Pricing Anchors… Anchoring is profoundly important to pricing for profit. Here’s why… A product is never really […]

Using Guarantees Wins Sales

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A concern that most of your prospective buyers will have is: What if this isn’t right for me? What if I change my mind? What if I don’t like it or I don’t want it? If you can eliminate this concern and reassure your buyer you’re more likely to be able to convert the sale. Eliminate those concerns by using a guarantee This reassures the customer that buying the item isn’t the end. Their interests will still be protected post-sale. You could think about having a guarantee along the lines of: “If you’re not completely satisfied […]

Tax Deadline Day Looming!

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The pressure’s on for everyone under self-assessment with the tax return filing and payment deadline at the end of this month. What does this mean for you? Your tax return must be filed by October 31st Any balance of tax due for 2015 must be paid by October 31st Preliminary tax for 2016 must be paid by October 31st File your return If you’ve not already prepared and submitted your tax return you need to get this organised straight away. Filing a tax return late will lead to a late submission surcharge, and the amount increases […]

3 Strategies To Give You A Competitive Advantage!

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Porters 5 Forces

In a recent article we looked at Porter’s Five Forces to show how you can analyse your competitive environment. Of course once you’ve done the analysis you need to come up with a strategy that will help you get an advantage. Porter identified three generic or basic strategies that a business could choose between. Cost leadership Differentiation Focus This is about producing your goods and costs at the lowest cost in your industry. Then you sell them at the same price as everyone else and get the benefit of the extra profit. Or you use your […]

Where Do You Fit Within Porter’s Five Forces?

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Porters 5 Forces

A key problem for all business owners is how to deal with the competition. Perhaps you suffer from intense competition from a rival, or maybe you’re worried about competition coming from new sources as technology advances. A question that you probably often ask yourself is: How can I get – or stay – ahead of the rest? The first step to answering this question is to analyse your competitive environment. This allows you to see where you currently fit in the marketplace so that you can then find ways to improve your position. A great analysis […]

One Tip That Will Help You Convert More Sales

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Whatever you’re selling, one question your prospective customer will be asking is: how do I pay for this? This could range from wondering if payment plans are available through to which credit cards you take. Face the facts… The reality of modern life is that many people don’t carry cash or use chequebooks. That’s especially important to realise if your customers are the general public. If you don’t have card facilities you could be missing out on a huge swathe of potential customers. If you have an e-commerce website then make sure you have a wide […]

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