2014 Small Business Articles of the Year

by Dr Greg Chapman

With over 60 posts this year on the Australian Small Business Blog, it is now time to identify the top post as ranked by Google for page views.


3. Small Business Strategy Case Study - How do You run a Word of Mouth Business?

2. Five Steps to Grow Your Business

but the number one ad, as rated by page views, with more than 2 times as many views as the runner up is:

Ad of the Year 2014

by Dr Greg Chapman

Each month over the past year, the Australian Small Business Blog has presented ads or items about advertising which illustrated specific strategies that are critical for success. Now, as voted by the number of google views, here are the top three ads of 2014.



3. Who's the target?

2. Secrets of Advertising

but the number one advertising article, rated by views, is:

Do Australian attitudes ruin productivity?

by Derek Stewart

"What do you mean you don't have a maid?" is one of the most common questions I would get after moving to the Philippines. This meant the conversation moved beyond the more frequent questions of "Where are you from?" and "Are you married yet?". Answered in the negative, the follow up questions would normally be, "Not even a personal driver?" and "Why aren't you married yet?"

Aussies have a wonderful level of equality and do-it-yourself-ness ingrained in our culture. We do broad tasks within a white collar job and aren't afraid to roll up our proverbial sleeves, no matter who we are. This is a great attitude, but often comes at the detriment to overall labour productivity. If experienced staff are doing repetitive and tedious admin tasks as part of their job, they're missing out. They're wasting time, the most valuable resource of all.

Daddy, where do jobs come from- Big Business or Small?

by Dr Greg Chapman

While the media tend to ignore small business, politicians of both major parties will say that small business is the growth engine of the economy, although organising them to support their policies is like trying to herd cats. Even so, with 47% of private sector employees producing 30% of our GDP, together they are a powerful force in our economy.

When a big business such as an auto manufacturer shuts down, it makes big headlines with union bosses, who have been sabotaging the company’s profitability and ability to manage for years, complain how unfair it is and demand government intervention to protect jobs and even bigger handouts. Unfortunately several thousand jobs will go when this happens, and just as importantly small business suppliers are also hit.

Sales Technique - 5 Tough Techniques for answering objections

by Jim Prigg

How do you meet objections raised against your offers and advice? What do you say? How do you say it? Remember, objections have a positive upside because they give you the chance to help the prospect by removing their doubts, reshaping their attitudes or putting new thoughts into their minds.

The following tactical and strategic methods of answering and countering objections are varied and of different intensity.

I’m sorry, I have to double my prices

by Dr Greg Chapman

That’s what a friend of mine said just recently to all his clients. Would you be brave enough to do that? And was this truly an act of bravery on his behalf? This is his story.