Download Chapter 2 WHAT SKILLS DO ENTREPRENEURS NEED

Chapter 2 WHAT SKILLS DO ENTREPRENEURS NEED?
2.1
Communication Skills
Communication Skills
 Definitions
 A good Business Letter is _______, concise, coherent and it gets its message
across __________ and _____________.
 A Memorandum is a ___________ written form of business communication that
has a set format.
 Interoffice Memo is a memo from ______ person in a company to another. It
can be written to one __________, to a group of _____________, or to everyone
in the ________________.
WRITING SKILLS
 As an Entrepreneur
 You will frequently _________________ in writing with customers, supplies,
and employees, among others.
 Good Business Writing
 _____________________ ideas clearly.
 It gets _____________ by being positive and persuasive and by convincing
readers that they should ____________ what the writer is communicating.
EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS
 The most common form of business writing is the business letter. You might
write letters to:
 ___________ business
 ___________ to customer questions
 ____________ purchases
 ____________ with suppliers
 Writing a business letter is different from writing a letter to a friend. A certain
level of formality is necessary, and certain standards must be respected.
Certain Basic Rules Should be Followed in Writing Business Letters:
 Key all formal correspondence.
 Send ________________ letters only when they are intended as personal
letters.
 Be sure to __________ all names correctly and have the correct address.
 No matter how well written your letter is, its effect will be dramatically
reduced if you __________ the name of the person to whom you are
writing or refer to his or her company by the wrong name. Addressing a
letter _______________ may cause it to arrive late or to be returned.
 Always date your business correspondence.
 It may be _____________ to refer to this date at a later time.
 Use names and titles appropriately.
 Use the person’s __________ name if you know him or her well. If you do
not know the person or the letter is very formal, use the person’s last
name, along with the ______________ title (Dr., Mrs., Mrs., Ms., or Miss).
 Be direct and _______________.
 Always maintain a _____________ tone and portray your business in an
_______________ light, even if your letter contains bad news.
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 Be persuasive and specific.
 Make sure the ___________ or result you want from the reader is clear.
Use non-threatening _____________ that will persuade the reader that
this action or result is the most desirable.
 Avoid using ____________ language.
 Avoid __________ phrases that you would not use while speaking. Use
___________________ language that says exactly what you mean.
 Be ____________.
 Deal with complaints in a ________________ fashion. Don’t whine or
express ______________, and never become abusive or insulting. Be
especially polite in writing rejection or bad news letters.
 Use an _______________ closing.
 There are many ways to close a letter. Make sure your close corresponds
to the content of the letter you have _____________. If you have written a
letter to a supplier complaining about __________ service, do not use
“With warmest regards.”
 Proofread for ______________ and ____________________ errors.
 Even the most ______________ and positive letter can be ruined by a
single ______________ that you fail to correct.
WHAT MISTAKES DO YOU SEE WITHIN THIS BUSINESS LETTER?
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 Line (1): Date is incomplete.
 Line (4): Address is incomplete.
 Line (5): The person’s first name is inappropriately used. The letter should be
addressed to Mr. Johnson.
 Line (6): A word is misspelled; inconvenience should be inconvenience.
 Line (8) & (9): the last sentence in the paragraph is rude and should be deleted.
 Line (10): The person’s name is misspelled; Jansen should be Johnson.
 Line (12): A word is misspelled; receives should be receives.
 Line (12 – 14): this sentence is not clear and should be reworded.
 Line (17): A word is used incorrectly; farther should be further.
 Line (18): Closing is inappropriate. An appropriate closing would be “Sincerely.”
EFFECTIVE BUSINESS MEMOS
 Memo is _____________ for memorandum.
 The format of a ____________ contains:
 Who the memo is ____________
 Who it is ______________
 The _____________
 The _______________
 Memos, like business letters, should be:
 __________
 Concise
 ______________
 Positive
 Memos are used for many purposes, such as _____________ company policies
and ____________, assigning tasks, motivating staff, congratulate employees and
announce ________________ in an employee’s status.
SPEAKING SKILLS
 Much of your _____________________ as a business owner will be conducted
verbally either over the ___________ or face-to-face.
 How you present yourself will have a big ___________ on the people with whom
you deal.
TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS
 Business transactions can be made over the _________________.
 Use the following tips to make the most of your _______________ conversations.
 Speak _________, and talk _____________ into the receiver.
 Be ________________.
 Everyone prefers to deal with a ___________ person rather than
with someone who is ______ or ______________.
 Always speak ______________.
 Do not use ____________ language. Be respectful, and don’t
interrupt.
 Use the following tips to make the most of your ______________ conversations.
 Think about what you are going to _________ before you make a call.
 Write down the ___________ you want to ask or the points you
want to make. Consult your __________ as you are talking to
make sure you cover everything.
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Take notes.
 You may ____________ important details unless you write them
down.
MEETING WITH CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS
 Meetings can be ___________ occasions, with agendas and handouts for all
attendees.
 They can also be _____________ ways to discuss issues and keep everyone
informed.
 How can you make the most of your ____________ contacts with
customers and others?
 _________ hands and make eye contact with the person you are
meeting.
 If you know the ___________ name, use it.
 Show an ____________ in what the other person is saying.
 Ask questions or provide appropriate responses to show that you are
listening carefully.
 Speak clearly.
 Do not ________ your mouth when you talk, and speak _______ enough
to be heard easily.
 Do not appear _________ or anxious to be somewhere else.
 If you do not have the __________ to meet with the person, apologize for
having another commitment and schedule another ___________ to meet.
 Thank the person at the _______ of the meeting.
 Express your _____________ in seeing the person again.
LISTENING SKILLS
 Problems in business often occur because people __________ to listen to each
other.
 As a business owner, you will need to __________ carefully to your employees,
bankers, suppliers, customers and anyone else who may impact your business.
 What can you do to ____________ your listening skills?
 Focus your _______________ on the person who is speaking
 Think about and try to _______________ what the other person is saying.
(Resist the temptation to interrupt.)
 Ask _________________ to make sure you understand what the person is
saying.
 Take _____________ to confirm what you are hearing.
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Lesson 2.2
MATH SKILLS
BASIC MATH SKILLS
The basic skills of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are important in
business.
 Addition and subtraction __________ are essential to running a business.
 Multiplication is used to __________ a variety of business problems, such as
figuring out how much profit is earned.
 __________________ an average involves adding all of the relevant data and
dividing this sum by the number of data entries.
SALES TRANSACTIONS
As an entrepreneur, you will make ____________ transactions every day.
 The ____________ transactions you will deal with are purchase orders,
invoices, sales tax, and sales slips.
 Purchase Orders are used whenever goods or services are ______________.
 They are a ____________ of the fact that a buyer has placed an order
with a company.
 Sales Tax
 Retail sales transactions involve sales tax, which is a ____________,
___________, or local government tax charged on goods.
 Sales tax ______________ from state to state, and may even vary from
city to city.
 Sales Slips
 You will complete sales slips for ________ kinds of sales transactions:
 _________ Sales
 _________ _________ sales – whenever a customer uses a
credit card to pay for a purchase, a fee is assessed to the
merchant. This type of sale is not as profitable to a business as
a cash sale.
MANAGING A CASH DRAWER
Today most businesses use ________________ cash registers to generate sales slips.
 To verify the ______________ cash in the cash drawer, you should manually
___________ the money and record it. Most businesses start with a set
amount in the ______________.
Balancing the cash drawer.
 When you balance the cash drawer, you need to ______ all your receipts:
paper money, checks, and credit slips. ____________ any cash refunds that
were given during the day and finally _____________ the amount of cash
you started with to determine your actual receipts for the day.
 The ___________ receipts you calculate should match the register _________.
If it does not you need to find the ________________ and correct it.
PERCENTAGES
Percent calculations are used in many business applications.
 Calculating _____________ rates
 ______________ payments
 _________________
 _________________
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Remember that percentages means per _____________.
 Working with percentages usually requires __________________ the
percents to decimals.
 To convert a percent to a decimal, remember that _____________ in
decimal form is ______________.
GROWTH RATES
To calculate ___________ growth, sales for __________ period are compared with
sales in a different ______________.
 Growth rates are usually given in _______________.
Average monthly growth rate.
 To determine the average ____________ growth rate, you obtain an average
using the total monthly growth divided by the number of months.
Using math to project sales.
 Use the average monthly growth to project ____________ into the next year.
 You multiply the prior month’s sales by the growth rate to determine
the projected sales increase. (Month sales times growth rate equals
the next months projected increase.) (Then you add the increase to the
next months sales to determine the actual dollar amount that should
be made)
Definitions
 Interest - An ______________ charged for borrowing money.
 Principal - The _____________ of money borrowed in a loan.
 Rate of interest - The _____________ that is the basis for interest earned or paid.
 Term - Number of ____________ for which a loan is extended.
 Markdown - An amount ______________ from the retail price to determine the
sales price.
 Markup - An amount __________ to the cost price to determine the sales price.
 Discount - A _________________ in the retail or wholesale price of a product or
service.
 Retail price ($54.99) X Discount percent (15% or .15) = Amount of discount
($8.25).
 $54.99 - $8.25 = $46.74 (sale price)
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Lesson 2.3
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS
 A _____________ problem-solving model helps business people solve problems
in a _______________ manner.
 The model consists of _________ steps:
 Define the ___________
 Gather ______________
 Identifying various _____________
 Evaluate alternatives and select the best option
 Take ______________
 Evaluate the _________________
DEFINE THE PROBLEM
 Before you can solve a problem, you need to _________________ it.
 _____________ down what the problem is
 Why it is a _______________
 Try to quantify it – this helps you figure out how much it is worth to you
to ______________ it.
GATHER INFORMATION
 Once the problem has been _____________, you need to gather information that
could ____________ solve it.
 Relevant information may be obtained from
 Company ____________
 Industry _______________
 _______________ with customers, suppliers, and employees
IDENTIFY VARIOUS SOLUTIONS
 Most problems can be solved in _______________ ways.
 Identify all _______________ before you settle on a particular solution.
EVALUATE ALTERNATIVES AND SELECT THE BEST OPTION
 The decision maker next needs to evaluate the ________________ to determine
the best solution.
 In some cases, it may be ______________ to quantify the costs and
benefits of each alternative.
 In other cases, _______________ each alternative may not be possible,
and the decision maker may simply have to rank each alternative.
TAKE ACTION
 Once you have ____________ the best solution to the problem, you need to take
an ________________ to implement it.
EVALUATE THE ACTION
 The problem-solving process is not ______________ until you have evaluated
your ______________ since even a well-thought-out solution may not work.
GROUP PROBLEM SOLVING
The problem solving process just described ____________________ that you have to
solve a problem alone.
 What kinds of problems call for _______________ problem solving?
 What techniques can you use to make the most effective use of groups?
 Brainstorming – is a _____________ group problem-solving technique
that involves generating a ___________ number of fresh ideas.
(Impractical ideas are encouraged in this type of problem solving)
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 Consensus-Based Decision Making – is an _______________ among a
___________ of people. This is an effective way of solving problems when
different groups in an organization are affected. (If there are
__________________ problems between different groups of employees,
these problems can be solved through this type of decision making)
 Consensus building can be used to _______________ and resolve
_____________________.
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