Business Strategy | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer | Telecom Marketing Content Writer

Providing Great Customer Service in Your Small Business

October 2, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

If you want to help your business to boom, then your customers are going to be what makes it. When you provide amazing customer service and go above and beyond, people do remember it. So when you get it right, it really is something that can help you to get customers that are loyal for a long time. And customers that keep coming back again and again are what will keep your business going. But this kind of customer service does have to start with a real desire to please and help your customers. It isn’t simply about selling the products that you have; you have to look beyond that. Providing good customer service starts right from the first time someone steps into your store or visits your website.

So with all of that in mind, here are some tips that are going to help you to provide some excellent customer service for your small business or not for profit organization.

Great Customer Service

Know Your Products

To be able to provide for your customers and help them with all that they need, you have to understand what you are selling, and know it so well. You should be able to answer questions, as well as seeing the value of the products or service in your customer’s life. Know the questions that are asked the most, as well as being confident that you can answer them in detail.

Keep Things Legal

To keep customers happy, then you need to make sure that you are adhering to regulations and guidelines, particularly around their data. Websites and things like GDPR (in Europe) are all things that you need to be adhering to. It is also a good idea to look for things like a Microsoft Dynamics 365 not for profit partner that could help you with customer relationship management, for instance. When you have customer details and information, it needs to be looked after and regulated.

Train Staff

If the business is your baby, so to speak, it will be something that you are passionate about and know all about. But for team members, it may just be a job for them. So you need to think about training staff members up to see the vision that you have for the business, as well as helping them to have an understanding of the products or services that you sell. They are going to be out there being a representative for your business with customers, so you need to know that they are trained up to the level that will help to provide your customers with the best service and experience possible.

Be Responsive

When something does go wrong, and from time to time it will, there is nothing worse than when you are trying to get help or resolve an issue and it is all very unresponsive. So it is really vital to respond back to customer queries and responses. It may just be to say that you will check back with them, but it is still a response. It lets customers know that you are there and will be able to help them.

Exploring The Easiest Ways To Build A Website

October 2, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

How to build your website

Getting by in the world of modern business is impossible without a website. Missing out on loads of opportunities, those who choose to ignore this area will usually regret it in the future. A website gives you the chance to share information, draw in more customers, and, above all else, dominate a space which is open to everyone. Of course, though, when it comes to actually building something like this, most people don’t have any idea where to start. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the easiest ways to get this sort of work done, along with showing you exactly where each one will excel.

A Developer

For a lot of people, simply paying someone else to handle this work for them will be the most obvious answer to this sort of challenge. When you’re running a business, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a huge amount of time to spend on something like this, so passing it onto someone else makes a lot of sense. There are loads of developers to choose from out there, with websites like www.freelancer.com being the perfect places to find them. Of course, along with this, you could also consider the idea of going to a company to help you out, though this will often be a lot more expensive.

The Pros: Going for an approach like this will almost always result in a very professional website. You will have the chance to dictate exactly how you want the pages to look, while also having access to the insight of someone with a lot of experience working on the internet. Of course, as one of the biggest benefits of this sort of approach, it’s impossible to ignore the ease which will come out of it. Altogether, this makes for a very promising way to get yourself online, but it doesn’t come without its problems.

The Cons: When someone else builds a website for you, you will be reliant on them for a long time. Making small changes will be hard when you don’t know how everything was put together, and it could take your company a long time to get things done when they are busy. Along with leaving you to rely on a developer, taking this sort of route is very expensive. A huge amount of time has to go into making a website, and you will have to pay for all of it, with professional rates being much higher than a lot of small companies can spare.

A DIY System

Currently, WordPress is the single most popular way to build a website which is accessible to all kinds of people. The tools themselves are completely free, and you need only pay for a hosting account to get yourself started, making it much cheaper than paying a developer to help you. Along with this, WordPress sites are much easier to work with than a lot of the other systems out there, with the entire system being put together for use in loads of different environments. Below, you can find some of the pros and cons for this sort of route.

The Pros: Thanks to its ubiquity, there are hundreds of guides around the web which can help you to get started with WordPress. This makes it very easy to break ground on the site you’d like to make, without having to put loads of money into studying or getting help from someone more experienced. The system is incredibly stable, and there are loads of themes and plugins available for it which limit the work you have to do to putting together the pages and making the whole thing look good.

The Cons: Of course, though, if you’re not very good with computers or simply don’t have much time, getting to grips with WordPress could be a challenge. You will have to learn as you go, using guides which aren’t always up to date, and a lot of people will find this frustrating. Being one of the most popular platforms for website building, WordPress has a lot of viruses being produced for it, and this can create huge problems if you ever find yourself infected with something which is hard to get rid of.

Something In Between

For those who don’t like the options above, you could consider the idea of using something a little more specific. Companies like www.contractorwebsites.com have made a strong name for themselves in recent years. Giving you the chance to skip most of the work by starting with a template which is already relevant to your business, this sort of tool will make the process faster than both hiring a developer and making the site yourself. Of course, though, like the other options, it comes with some downsides which are worth considering.

The Pros: When you choose to use a product like this to build your website, you will be starting yourself off in a really good position. The people running these companies have a lot of experience in their field, and know exactly what your website will need, making it easier to design it. Along with this, it won’t cost anywhere near as much to go down this sort of route as it would to have a developer work on the site for you.

The Cons: Unfortunately, while it will be faster and cheaper than a developer, you won’t get quite as much freedom using a system like this. Being limited to certain business types, a lot of assumptions will have been made about the sort of site you need, and this will close off a lot of the options you would have had with WordPress or a developer. For some, this won’t matter too much. For others, though, it could be make or break, and you may have to look towards another route to get your site made quickly.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start looking at the website options available to your business. There are a lot of people out there with the skills to help you with this sort of work, but you will still have to do a large amount of the legwork for yourself.

Should You Personally Finance Your Business Startup?

October 2, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

PixaBay – CC0 Licence

With business startup finance, there is a standard model that is commonly used when starting a company. This is:

Write a business plan
Show the business plan to banks and/or prospective investors
Receive financing for the business idea
Start the business

This model is the most traditional and, some would argue, preferable. However, it is not without its flaws.

The problems with the traditional startup financing model

The biggest issue people tend to experience with the conventional method of startup financing is convincing investors that their business plan is viable. Investors tend to be cautious, especially with inexperienced prospective entrepreneurs, and may be unwilling to lend the full amount entrepreneurs feel they need – or simply unwilling to lend at all.
As noted above, experience is also crucial when seeking to pursue the conventional method of startup funding. An entrepreneur may have a fantastic idea for a wonderful business, but lack the expertise to produce a business plan that reflects their idea well. This makes the conventional route of funding rather intimidating for those who are making their first venture into the world of business.
Small endeavors, such as a side hustle, often require too little in terms of startup financing for banks or investors to be willing to lend. For example, if an entrepreneur only needs $500 to get started, they will usually be refused, as there is too little scope for profit for the lenders.
Finally, the standard financing approach also means that a business begins its life either in debt, as investment is arranged on the basis it will have to be repaid, or with the entrepreneur ceding control in terms of shares. Neither scenario is ideal.

As a result of the problems noted above, some entrepreneurs choose to explore other options – and the most common of these is investing personally in their business.

How does personal investment in a startup work?

The concept is very simple, which perhaps goes some way to explaining its popularity. Rather than seeking external investment from a bank or an investor, the prospective entrepreneur uses their own funds to start the business.

There are a number of benefits to this approach:

The entrepreneur does not have to write a formal business plan. A business plan should still be written, of course, as it provides a blueprint for the business, but it does not need to be as formal and instructive as the kind of business plan a bank or investor would expect.
The entrepreneur retains full control of their business, as they do not have to give shares away in exchange for investment.
This plan is suitable for small businesses and side hustles, as the entrepreneur can supply small funds to the business rather than needing to meet a higher threshold for investment.

Do entrepreneurs just give money to their business, or is it a loan?

This depends entirely on the entrepreneur. Most people who are investing in a side hustle or small lifestyle business idea will just give the money to the business, expecting to recoup their investment either as a wage or in profits. This means that the money does not register as a debt for the business.

For larger businesses, startup funding is sometimes provided as a loan that the business has to repay.

It is best to consult an accountant to see which choice may be best for you if this is a route you wish to pursue.

Is personally investing in a business a good idea?

Frankly, there’s no easy answer to this, as it is entirely dependent on a number of factors. It may be helpful to ask yourself the following questions when deciding if personally investing in your business idea is the right choice for you:

What condition are your personal finances in?

This is the most crucial question, and one that may mean you need to investigate your current personal finances in depth with a number of additional questions:

Do you have the funds available? Ideally, you should have the funds required for your business available in cash. Many entrepreneurs seek to borrow on a personal credit card to finance their business, but this can be incredibly risky, or even prohibitive if you have a poor credit score.

What does your existing budget look like? If you can afford to finance your startup costs without impacting your existing budget, this is preferable. However, if your income is limited, actually obtaining the funds required can be troublesome.

Are you in debt? Many people start small businesses or side hustles to help them get out of debt, so being in debt does not immediately exclude the possibility of financing your own business. However, you need to ensure that your debt is well managed and under control; you could look for loans no credit check to help consolidate debts into a single monthly payment, or speak to your creditors to see if you can agree payment plans that are affordable to you.

Do you intend to keep your day job while starting your business?

Choosing to invest from your personal funds is inadvisable if you will be leaving your day job to start your business. This is because your finances will take a double-hit with this course of action; the loss of an income, and then the extra expenditure on startup costs. If you’re going to invest your personal funds into your business, it may be preferable to keep your day job – at least initially – to ensure your financial security is well-protected.

Can you afford for the business to fail?

If the money you invest into your business were to vanish due to the business failing, how would that impact your finances? Some entrepreneurs believe in their business so much that they invest their life or retirement savings into their company, only for the business to fail to thrive. This is extremely perilous, so it’s usually best to only invest as much as you can afford to lose.

Are you willing to keep diligent records?

If you do invest your personal funds into your business, your record-keeping will need to be incredibly accurate, so you can be sure that your business is actually generating profits. Some entrepreneurs can fall into a trap of continually investing money in their business, which makes the business finances seem healthy, but in fact provides a false sense of security – the ‘profits’ are being powered by the investment, not the business itself. To avoid this scenario, you will have to monitor every cent that you invest, so you can be sure you’re able to judge the business’ performance on its own merits.

We hope the above has helped to clarify the major points for consideration when personally investing in your business’ startup costs.

Don’t Be Invisible In Business

October 2, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

You may have the best product since sliced bread, or you may be providing a unique service to fulfill a niche need. However, if no one knows about your business entity, this becomes redundant. The startup that you have so lovingly invested so much money, time and effort into needs to have a visible presence, both physically and online. Without the exposure, your new venture could fall flat before it has even launched. The invisible business will never be successful. It’s vital that you are able to see the bigger picture and get your business noticed.

Social Media

Ever since the dawn of Facebook, a social media revolution has taken place. Millennials are now the most connected generation in the world and will choose to communicate via Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, rather than by calling their pals. You need to tap into this platform of connectivity. Facebook business pages and Twitter feeds are perfect to launch products, direct traffic to your blog and increase the number of hits to your website.

Social media has enabled companies to find their voice. Rather than the formalities of old, startups can now communicate with their customers almost instantly in a more relaxed, informal way. This enhances a company’s reputation for exceptional customer service and can lead to greater integrity for your startup. By being present and active on social media, you can have a global reach, and you can maximize your chances of exposure.

Website

Without a website, your business is refusing to enter into the twenty first century. Don’t be daunted by all the swanky flash enabled sites that you stumble across online. To compete with your rivals, your website needs to be just as aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. Consider employing the services of an SEO agency to enhance your website searchability. By utilizing their knowledge of keywords and meta tags, these experts can ensure that your website doesn’t languish down at page twenty four of the Google search results. Analyze your traffic, where it comes from, the demographics and the search terms used to inform your online marketing strategy in the future.

Old School

Many businesses now choose to be fully online, with very little time spent honing the traditional marketing methods of TV commercials, newspaper adverts or billboards. However, if your business is more tangible, such as a restaurant or retail establishment, you may want to look into other methods of exposure. Flyers and postal drops can be useful ways of getting your name out there in a local sense. A new eatery doesn’t need exposure internationally. You need to form your loyal customer base locally and within your community.

You have waved goodbye to the joys full time employment, your steady wage, excellent promotion prospects, and job security for the thrill of launching your own startup. Ensure that you put in the effort to see your business get noticed. Engage with your customers, drive more traffic to your website, convert your engagement into sales and stop being invisible.

Ways Your Business Can Do Less and Achieve More

October 1, 2018 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

If you’re working hard and spending every waking moment trying to make a success of your business, watching it struggle can be even harder. However, you need to remember that success is not just down to hard work. And it’s actually the case that your business can start to take steps towards doing less in order to achieve more. This can mean many things, and we’re going to talk about them all today.

Of course, it’s not simply a case of doing less and sitting back. But there are certain things you can do that involve doing less arduous work, and you can achieve better results that way. It’s not rocket science, but it can be a bit of a culture shock for some entrepreneurs and business owners. If you want to learn more about all this, read on now.

Hire a Good Receptionist

If you want to simply do less of the admin stuff that you find yourself getting bogged down in all the time, you could do a lot worse than to hire a good receptionist. They’ll be able to handle your calls and paperwork while you get on with other things. If they’re good at their job, they’ll keep all of this stuff in order and only get you involved when there’s actually something that demands your attention. Otherwise, you’ll be able to leave them to get on with it.

Advertise in Targeted Ways

You can waste a lot of time and resources advertising to the wrong demographics and the wrong audiences. It happens a lot, and you need to make sure that it doesn’t happen to your business any longer. It’s about finding the right ways to target the right people. Know your target audience, understand their interests and target them using things like Facebook ads and better targeted Google ads. It’s up to you to work on this because no one can do it for you.

Offer Rewards for Referrals

Referrals should be actively encouraged by your business because it’s a way of allowing your customers to essentially do all the hard work for you. They’ll be the ones pushing their friends and family members to use your services and they’ll get a reward for doing so. It’s a great way to find new customers, so don’t shy away from it. It works as well as it ever did and you could really benefit. All you have to do is advertise the rewards scheme and your customers will do the work from there.

Automate More

With automation now being used more widely by all kinds of business, you have the chance to have a lot of tasks done for you. There are big and small forms of automation you can embrace depending on what kind of business you’re running. For example, PPC campaign automation can be used by any business because it’s about streamlining your advertising efforts and making them more successful. But if you work in manufacturing, there are much larger forms of automation taking over, and these should be considered by your business..

Encourage Word of Mouth

Word of mouth sales are like referrals, but you don’t even need to offer any reward. You simply need to prompt people to tell their friends if they enjoyed your services. It can be done in the form of a follow up email. It shows that you care about how your customer found your services and what their experience was like, and you can finish it off by encouraging them to tell their friends and family about it. People really will do that if they enjoyed something a lot. And it’s completely free.

Word of Mouth Sales

Streamline Office Communication

Office communication can be a real hassle, and it’s not something you want people to be spending a large amount of their time on if you can help it. It’s much better for everyone and a lot more efficient if you streamline office communication. Many workplaces now use an instant messaging app so that people can share messages right away. It tends to be much faster than email and the messages get read a lot quicker too. This is definitely something to consider as long as it’s regulated in the right way.

Embrace Remote Working and Downsize Your Office

Remote working allows you to do less by basically reducing the presence of your business. You won’t need to have a large workplace to accommodate a large team if you’re allowing those who want to to work from home rather than coming into work like normal. You will then have the chance to downsize your office and make it more affordable for the business. That money you save can then go towards doing other things that represent a better use of your resources.

Outsource Your Security Requirements

Keeping your business safe, both in the physical sense and in the digital world, is really important. But it’s not something you should be spending time on. By outsourcing this stuff, you will be able to ensure you get the very best results from people who know what they’re doing, while also freeing up your time. You can spend more time doing other things while security is taken care of by the experts.

Stop Wasting Money on Advertising Methods That Aren’t Working

Once it’s clear that your advertising campaign isn’t yielding results, you need to change it or halt it. There’s no sense in persisting with a method that isn’t working. By stopping or changing it, you will save yourself time and money, and allowing you to start work on something that actually will produce the results for you going forward. Admitting defeat is not always easy, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Drive Sales With Efficiency

Your business should work on doing things that help to drive sales and increase income. That doesn’t always mean simply doing the things that involve the most hard work. Succeeding in business is more about working cleverly and efficiently than it is about working harder than anyone else.