Are you a small business owner? No matter what kind of company you run, you’ll need general liability insurance and maybe some additional coverage depending on the industry you’re involved in. How do you know how and where to apply for the best small business insurance policy?Read reviews on various insurance companies by other businesses in your industry to learn which ones offer quality solutions. Consider whether or not you want an insurance representative or broker to help you find the right coverages. If you decide to work with a specialist, ask what kind of information he or she will need in order to determine your specific needs. Have all of the documents and information prepared. Small business owners typically need to provide details such as physical location, number of employees (if any), total payroll size, business assets, gross annual sales (if there are any to report), and so forth.Even if you decide to apply for insurance on your own without the help of a broker, you’ll still need to have this information ready.Best Small Business Insurance as an InvestmentThink of commercial insurance as an investment. It will cost money, but it will protect your business from unexpected expenses such as lawsuits and worker’s compensation. The best small business insurance will also protect you from industry-specific problems. For instance, if you are involved in web design, you don’t want to risk financial losses associated with technological glitches, miscommunication, etc. If you are a small beauty salon owner or barber, you don’t want to risk equipment malfunctioning, allergic reactions to certain chemicals, or someone tripping and falling on your property.No business, no matter how small, is 100% immune to possible lawsuits. People will sue over literally everything these days, and only the best small business insurance will protect your assets. If you want to stay in business for a long time, and hope for the ability to expand it someday, then you should be prepared to handle any kind of accident. It will be very difficult to survive if you suddenly owe a lot of money in compensation, or find yourself dealing with damage caused to your place of business due to extreme weather. The only real solution is to have good insurance from a reliable company that has a lot of positive reviews.So, where can you get the best small business insurance online? Check with Hiscox Inc. to see what they have to offer for business owners in your industry. You can either get a quote through the website or call and speak to a licensed agent.
Best Small Business Insurance Info: How to Find and Choose the Best Insurance Solution for You
Hiring An Auction Company
Estimating your assets value:
Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.
Compensation and Expenses:
Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.
A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.
In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.
In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.
In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.
In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.
What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.
Auction Expenses:
In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.
All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.
Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.
Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.
Buyer’s Premium:
What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.
The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.
It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.
Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.
Pre-Sales:
We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.
As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.
Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.
A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.
It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.
When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.
Home Based Business Ideas – Don’t Give Up
With the economy the way it is many people are looking for home based business ideas. Over the years I have been involved in many network marketing or multi-level marketing businesses where in order to succeed you must build a business by getting other people to become distributors and then get those people to also find distributors and on and on.
Well… it looks good on paper, but the reality is that 97% of the people only bring in 2 or 3 people. No matter how good the products are, or how enticing the compensation plan is, the reality is that most people simply won’t talk to their friends and neighbours about business.
I became very good at giving in home presentations on different products from different companies and for awhile seemed to be headed for the stars in each program that I became involved with. However, like most people I learned that I’m a little reserved and don’t have that bold entrepreneurial attitude to talk to everyone about my great opportunity using the 3 foot rule. That’s the rule that says that you have to talk to everyone that gets within 3 feet of you.
So although the companies I joined all had very good products, and their compensation plans looked like I could be a millionaire, after considerable effort and expenditure on products, demonstrations, and various forms of advertising, I was told I simply didn’t have a big enough dream, or my why wasn’t important enough.
So was it time to quit? Absolutely not. I don’t think it’s time to give up on home based business ideas. The internet is the great leveler when it comes to the 3 foot rule. You see, you can be scared to walk outside your front door to meet the world each day and still be a huge success online. If you know the right techniques you don’t have to approach anyone…they will approach you…online.
You can be a great success online. There are definite strategies and techniques that you can use to make your online business a success. Below I have listed just 5 of the many possibilities for marketing your home based business ideas.
1. Search Engine Marketing: This form of marketing is achieved by promoting a website through paid placement with venues such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter, and a host of others.
2. Blogging: This is like a journal, the term coming from the words web log. In it you place regular entries of events or commentary that the search engines pick up so your website becomes visible.
3. Interactive Marketing: This is the ability to remember what the customer has said by collecting customer information online in what is commonly known as a contact management system.
4. Viral Marketing: From the word virus which implies a spread of ideas, viral marketing can be used to increase awareness of products and ideas.
5. Web Analytics: Understanding how people use the internet can translate into much higher response to your marketing.
There’s lots more. So…don’t give up. The potential for home based business ideas and particularly for network marketing on the net is huge and I have barely scratched the surface.