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A Cut Above: How To Ensure Your Business Offers A Superior Service

7/31/2020

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Competition to attract and retain customers is fierce. As a business owner, you have to ensure that your company is a cut above the rest, but how do you achieve this objective? If you’re on a mission to ensure that your business offers superior products and services, here are some steps to take today.
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Invest in innovation

Innovation is crucial for business development and adaptability. Consumer preferences change and technology advances at lightning speed, and this means that it’s very easy to get left behind. If you’re committed to investing in innovation, you can move with the times. Ensure your team has access to the equipment and technology it needs to complete tasks seamlessly and efficiently. Use technology to improve the quality and enjoyment of the customer experience. Take advantage of solutions that help to enhance the functionality and durability of products. Consider the impact of video conferencing software and cloud systems for remote workers, chatbots for out-of-hours customer service for your website and processes like HVOF for components and products that are required to withstand extreme temperatures or exposure to the elements, for example. Whichever sector you operate within, embracing innovation can help you compete, provide a better service for your customers, produce better quality products and maximize profits. 

Make customer service a priority

The quality of goods you provide for clients is essential, but it’s vital not to lose sight of the importance of customer service. In a world where over 85% of consumers now read online reviews, it has never been more important to ensure that customers enjoy the experience of dining, shopping, staying or ordering from you. Customers have high expectations, and their perspective of your brand will be heavily influenced by the service you provide. Whether you sell components for cars, you run a restaurant, you have a clothing store, or you own a luxury boutique hotel, it’s not enough to offer a product, an outfit, a meal or a room for the night. Clients want to enjoy an experience and they expect to be treated well. Every customer should feel valued, and you should strive to provide a quick, high-quality, personalized service. Extend a warm welcome, keep in touch, address clients by name, offer exclusive VIP discounts for regular customers and go out of your way to make the experience memorable for all the right reasons. Simple touches like offering a client a drink when they arrive at a restaurant, sending personalized emails, thanking online customers for their purchase and showing guests to their rooms can make a positive difference. 

Analyse performance

Even if your sales are increasing, and you’re receiving positive reviews, it’s crucial to analyse your performance on a continual basis. Collect and evaluate data and use both positive and negative feedback to improve the service you provide. 

As a business owner, you have to be able to compete with rivals and persuade customers to choose you over others. Hopefully, these tips will help you stay a cut above the rest. 


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Prove To Your Employees That They Are Important To You In Simple Ways

7/30/2020

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Your employees are important to your business, but do you make them feel this way? Do you acknowledge just how much you actually appreciate them and how much work they do for you? If the answer is no, then they probably feel as though you are taking them for granted, and this is never going to be good for you. As such, you’ve got to make the effort to show them that they are important, and in this article, we’re going to be giving you some ideas as to how you can prove this. If you want to know more, keep reading down below.
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Help When They Need It

The first thing that you should do is help them when they need it. If you notice that your employees or an employee specifically is struggling with a task and you have the time, help them. We know that you have your own stuff to do, and we know that you are very busy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make time to help those who work for you. It can sometimes feel as though the boss is extremely detached from the workings of the office, and you don’t want this kind of reputation. You want the reputation of helping people when they need it, and being understanding.

Mistakes happen, we’re sure even you make mistakes. Instead of getting angry, help to fix it. Sure, there are times when it warrants getting mad at one of your employees, but it’s done and needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Throw your hands in and get to it with them.

Get Them A Gift

You might want to consider getting them a gift to show your appreciation. You can either get this as a team gift or something for each person. If you’re going for the team idea, then you can look into something like personalized bricks, pavers, and tiles. Even though this might seem like an odd idea, it’s a kind of way of immortalizing the team. They can keep it in their department, and it will help to unite them. 

Or, if you want to go for something individual for everyone, you want something smaller. It doesn’t have to be anything massive, just something that comes with a thank you note for all the hard work they do for you. You never know how much this is going to be appreciated until you do it.

Open Door Policy

Finally, have an open-door policy. You don’t want your employees to be struggling with personal issues or work issues and feel alone. Not only is this going to impact their performance, but their mental health. You need to care about your employees enough to talk to them if something is going wrong in their lives at any stage. You might not be able to help, but at least you are aware of the problem and can help in any way you can. It means the world to people to know that their boss isn’t against them, so just let them know.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see how you can prove to your employees that they are important to you.
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What to Do if Your Business is Overwhelming You

7/28/2020

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If your business is beginning to overwhelm you and the task of getting it to where you need it to be is causing you stress, it’s important to step back and think about what needs to change. It’s not good for your business is you’re constantly feeling stressed out and under pressure. That just makes the situation you’re currently in even worse and that’s no good at all. Here’s what you should do if you’re starting to feel overwhelmed.

Step Back and Reset Your Compass

First of all, it’s a good idea to step back and try to reset your compass a little. When you’re so involved and invested in the process of running your business day after day, it can get easy to forget why you’re even doing this in the first place. What are your goals? What are you working towards? What is all this hard work in aid of? Those are the questions you should find answers to.

Adopt a Single Tasking Mindset

It’s still a very common misconception in the world of business that you get more done when you try to juggle multiple tasks at a time. And you might often feel like this is something that you need to do. Instead of trying to constantly multitask, you should instead adopt a single tasking mindset. This will allow you to get one job done at a time, and to get it done properly.

Trust Others and Their Skills

Trusting those around you and the skills you have is one of the most important traits of a talented business leader. You have to accept that you can't do everything alone and your own skills and talents can never cover every need the business has. That’s why you have a team in place, but that team will go to waste if you try to micromanage every situation yourself.
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Make Use of Outsourcing Options

There are lots of ways to get help when you’re running a business, and outsourcing certain tasks to third party companies is certainly one example of that. You should make the most of IT Services and Business Services if you feel like you have too much on your plate. That little external help can make a huge difference when you’re trying to keep things on the right track with your company.

Break Down Each Task Into Smaller Parts

If you’re feeling as if every task you have to complete for your business is like trying to climb Everest, you need to find ways to break those tasks down. When you can take each task and break it down into smaller parts, it immediately starts to seem a lot more manageable for you.

If you’re running a business but starting to feel the pressure, you’re not alone. It’s something that a lot of entrepreneurs go through. If you start taking the steps above, you should start to find the task of managing your business and making it successful far easier than it might otherwise be.

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4 Steps To Create A Greener Business In 2020

7/28/2020

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If you aren’t already thinking about eco-friendly business practices, you have to start. The environment isn’t going to suddenly leave, so the world has to band together to look after it. A big responsibility falls on the shoulders of business owners who must take action against the vast amounts of pollution created by commercial organizations. 

Granted, big businesses are responsible for most of the world’s pollution. Still, small businesses need to make changes as well. Consumers expect it from you, and a green business is likely to see more customers and be viewed in a more positive light than a non-green one. 

The good news is you don’t have to make dramatic alterations to your business model. Greening your business is possible in a few simple steps:​
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Reduce waste

Reducing your waste is essential if you want to be a green business. Effectively, it means lowering what you throw away. This is made possible by recycling and reusing your materials or supplies. It won’t be possible for every single thing you use, but you will definitely be able to reduce a lot of your waste. Especially if you work in an office, almost everything can be recycled there - paper, computer parts, etc. 

Work with eco-conscious suppliers

A lot of your waste doesn’t come from your, it’s from things you bought from suppliers. What are you supposed to do if you buy things that come in non-recyclable packaging? Well...stop buying them! Where possible, look for eco-conscious suppliers that sell you things in recyclable packaging. Let’s say you need to buy some fuel for warehouse vehicles. Usually, you have to get it in big drums that get chucked away. Nowadays, you can get things like red diesel from fuelbox.co.uk that comes in a recyclable box. Once it’s used, you can recycle the packaging and reduce waste. This is just one example, there are loads of instances where suppliers can provide recyclable packaging for your goods. 

Go electric

Does your business rely on vehicles? Be more eco-friendly by switching to electric alternatives. You see this with a lot of service-based businesses where they use electric vans instead of regular ones. Instantly, you drop your carbon emissions to zero - at least the ones caused by your work vehicles. Again, you can’t go electric all the time, but if it is possible, then it’s worth doing. 

Utilize renewable energy

The last step is to assess your energy sources. Think about installing solar panels on your business premises to utilize renewable and clean energy. This will reduce our non-renewable energy usage, saving the planet, and saving you a lot of money!

You can start making these adjustments today. Some of them can be implemented instantly, while others take time to set in motion. Either way, going green is an excellent step for your business. You become a more conscious company in these trying times, which reflects well on your brand image. Of course, you also help save the environment, which is what this is all about. 

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Five Qualities Of A Business With Great Client Retention

7/27/2020

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You have undoubtedly worked hard to win the customers and clients that you have on your side. Whether it’s through careful lead nurturing, smart investment in advertising or otherwise, it’s not easy to bring in new faces. So you shouldn’t lose them easily, either. If your customer retention figures are low, then you are going to constantly be working harder to win new ones to make up for those losses, which is no way to run a business. Here, we’re going to look at five qualities you can embody in your business to help you ensure better retention.
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Accessibility
If a customer has a question or a concern, do they have an accessible route to have it addressed or are they going to be met by a brick wall? Even if you don’t have the manpower to provide the feedback that keeps them coming back, you can look at digital customer support tools that can help offer that support for you, such as FAQ pages and AI chatbots that can direct them to the resources they need.

Speed
You must be able to help customers feel heard more easily. For a smaller business, this isn’t always easy as you might be busy doing work to always respond to customer support queries immediately. However, to this end, your business may need to work with your virtual receptionist. This way you can ensure messages are taken, customers are heard, and you can get back to them when you’re available.

Reward
Help your customers feel like they’re wanted, respected, and appreciated for the support that they offer your business. Loyalty systems are far from uncommon, but to make them more effective, you want to incorporate more than discounts. Look at exclusive rewards you can offer your most loyal customers and you can give them an emotional connection with the business that turns them from occasional supporters into long-term fans.

Forwardness
You shouldn’t always be waiting for the customer to get in touch with you, either. You should be actively working to offer them support, to show them deals, and to provide content that they might find interesting or helpful. Building an email marketing campaign and getting them to sign up is an excellent way to remind them that you’re there, and continuously work on retention long after they’ve completed their purchase.

Adaptability
You don’t want to give customers the power to tell you how to run your business. It is not cost-effective to continuously go outside of your usual project scope to satisfy an extra picky and needy customer. However, by offering them different pricing and service plans, you can give them some control over their services, which your competitors might lack. They will feel like their needs are being specifically catered to and are thus more likely to stick around.

With the tips above, you should find it a lot easier to keep hold of customers, meaning you don’t have to spend as much on winning new ones. Retention is almost always significantly cheaper than acquisition.

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Don't Expand Your Ecommerce Business Before Reading This!

7/25/2020

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The global eCommerce growth rate is expected to be around 19% in 2020. That’s pretty insane! An entire industry will grow by nearly a quarter in twelve months, how is this even possible?

Well, eCommerce businesses are profiting nicely thanks to an agreeable business model. Selling things online is extremely cost-effective as you reduce your expenses by not needing a physical store. Similarly, you open your business up to a huge market of consumers, allowing for a higher sales potential.

If you own an eCommerce business in 2020, you’re probably raking in the money. Naturally, your thoughts drift to expanding your company. Before you do this, please read the following points as they can stop you from making a huge mistake!

Can you afford to expand?
Expanding an eCommerce business is more expensive than you expect. The main idea is that you start selling more items or work on employing more people. Either way, the next logical step is to hire a warehouse or some type of commercial property to keep all of your stock ready for orders.

Already, this costs money. Then, factor in the additional expenses - like equipment, machinery, etc. Additionally, these things come with their own costs - you’d need red diesel drums as fuel for forklift trucks, regular maintenance services on equipment, etc. Tally up all of your new expenses and calculate if you will still make a big profit by expanding. You may realise it makes sense to wait a bit longer before growing your business.

Are you riding a wave?
Is your business genuinely successful, or are you just riding the wave of a trend? You’ve been running your business for a few years, and suddenly you saw a spike in sales over the last few months. Is this the result of years of hard work, or is it merely because people are bored at home buying random things? Or, perhaps whatever it is you sell has gone viral and is trendy.

There are loads of examples of businesses that went through a purple patch then saw sales plummet. If you invested in growth right now, you may be in a tough situation when sales drop and you’re left with a bigger businesses and no customers. Be patient, see if you can sustain your sales over a longer period before jumping into an expansion.

Do you need to grow?
Will your business benefit from expanding? It sounds silly, but some companies don’t need to expand or get bigger. Perhaps your business is successful because it sells niche products to a small market. Expanding could mean you widen your offerings and lose your appeal to the target market. Take a look at your business model and see if you will actually gain anything from growing. It may surprise you to learn that you’ll make more money by staying as you are than if you invested in growth.

Ask yourself these three questions before you think about expanding your business. If you can afford the expansion, genuinely benefit from it, and have seen sustained success for a while, it could be the right thing to do. If not, you should wait and re-evaluate.

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Fresh Content: Separating Your Freelance Life And Personal Life

7/24/2020

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Making the move from being an employee to freelance is a big step. It’s freeing to finally work for yourself, and it puts you in charge. But while it’s great to work for yourself, it’s hard not to let yourself get in the way - which is where your personal life and freelance life can start to become blurred.

Being able to separate your freelance life from your personal one will help you run your business more effectively, and help you maintain that all-important work/life balance. 

Here are some of the things you can do to keep your freelance and personal lives separate.

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Set up separate banking

The first thing to do when you start working for yourself is to set up separate banking. It’s a well-known freelance finance tip that having your own business bank account will make your income a little easier to manage. You can pay yourself a salary into your personal account, helping you to maintain a steady wage throughout the year, as well as take care of various business expenses and taxes.

If you’re unsure about managing your own money, you can always hire an accountant to help you with your business finances.

Make the freelance you more professional

Even though you work for yourself, your business still needs to be professional. If you want to woo clients and make your freelance business a success, you’re going to need to consider developing professional branding for your business, as well as finding somewhere to conduct business meetings.

A virtual headquarters from www.virtualheadquarters.com can also help you get some important separation from your personal details. With a telephone answering service, your calls will be answered no matter what, with a number and address you can keep separate to your personal details.

Be strict with your working time

Choosing to work freelance often means working in a field you’re passionate about. But it’s that interest and commitment that can make it difficult to shut off from work and make more use of your free time. It’s important to be strict with yourself and set yourself some working hours to help you establish normality and get into a routine of shutting off from work and making time for other things. A separate office or workshop area in your home can also put some physical separation between work and your home life to ensure the two don’t overlap.

It’s great that you love what you do, but it’s important to make some time for yourself and prioritize your health too.

Working for yourself has a lot of amazing benefits, but it’s important to get things off to a good start. Treat your freelance work like a business and maintain that professional edge at all times. Remember that your personal life is private and by keeping the two elements of your life separate, you can find the right balance that will help you be successful at work and at home.

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Is Your Business Compliant With Local Regulations?

7/23/2020

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Ensuring that your business is compliant with local regulations occurs on a case by case basis. After all, not every local authority is going to have the same rules for you to follow, and it’s imperative you do your own research here. But overall, there are some general areas you’re going to need to stay up to code on, and we’ve listed them below. So, if you’re just starting out as a business, or you’ve been worried about how efficiently your business is operating, make sure you keep them in mind.
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Are You Following Health and Safety?

Health and safety rules are broken most often in the workplace; seeing as every single working environment comes with a form of risk, being able to identify this, mark it out, and make people aware of it and how to deal with it is key to be compliant. 

Taking a health and safety course could solve all of your business’ problems here. After all, you’ll be trained in how to deal with regular health and safety precautions relevant to your local area, and you’ll be a lot more vigilant about how working in your specific conditions could be detrimental to someone’s health. 

Are You Dealing with Waste Properly? 

Waste is something every single business churns out, just in different forms. Sure, you may only have waste paper baskets to empty, but are you recycling the paper? Are you sure that these recyclable items are going in the correct chutes? 

Overall, disposing of any waste, properly and securely, is one of the number one compliance issues many modern businesses deal with. For example, it’s not enough to simply flush waste down the sink or the toilet, and if wastewater is flowing into public drains, using systems and tanks for oily water separation would be best for your business to look into. 

Are Your Employees Trained?

You’re going to need trained employees in every single kind of working setup, in order to be cost efficient with your payroll, and ensure the work is getting done to the best of someone’s ability. But at the same time, you need to train your employees in some very specific areas: most of all, at least one person on the premises needs to be trained in first aid. 

Being able to reach out to medical authorities is only one part of running a safe workplace. Before the paramedics arrive, there needs to be another person who is able to administer first aid to the person in trouble. From something as minor as a papercut, to something as major as a seizure, first aid is there to give your company the best chance of saving someone’s life. 

Your business needs to be compliant with as many regulations as possible. Make sure you look into your local authority, and offer as many training programs as you need to to your employees. This could save your company a lot of money, time, and trouble in the long run. 

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How To Make Awesome Videos With Limited Experience

7/23/2020

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have begun learning new skills while stuck at home. Making use of your extra homebound hours means finding a hobby you’ve always wanted to pursue, and going for it at this moment. This could be a new sport, learning to cook a particularly challenging cuisine, home improvement - or, for many people, videography. Videography is a hugely popular hobby which is fun and can be used for professional or extra-curricular projects. 

If you have no experience with making videos, other than perhaps filming Tik Toks on your phone, fear not. It’s super easy to become talented at videography with very limited experience. Here’s how. 

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  • Use YouTube

Youtube is an incredible tool for learning new skills. Videographers use this free platform to create tutorials, how-tos and reviews of cameras, programmes and more. If you can’t afford professional tutoring in this new hobby of yours, use YouTube and become a self-taught video legend. 

The benefit of using YouTube instead of paying for a course of lessons is that if you decide against this new learning curve, you can quit whenever you like - without owing money for a course. Similarly, you can invest in products that are well-reviewed by professionals on YouTube, so that you don’t waste money on products that don’t suit you. 

  • Practice Makes Perfect

Once you’ve researched and found the perfect camera for you, it’s time to get out and try out your skills. Take advice from the professionals online and wander around your local area, filming short segments with a few friends. This will be super fun and will help you get to grips with how easily you adapt to your new toy. 

As you improve, branch out your skills. Once you’ve mastered one particular style of videography, try out a totally different one - even if you don’t feel very attracted to the idea! It’s important to be a versatile videographer, learning all the time, never dropping your hustle. 

  • Making Your Work Accessible

Now you’ve honed your skills, you can start making videos to post up online. These can be passion projects of your own, or for professional clients who are paying for your awesome services. Just like those before you, make sure your work is as accessible as possible. Passing the torch is super important if this great culture of free learning is to continue. 

Not only should your videos be accessible financially, but it would be very useful to also help those with disabilities to access your work. This can be done with automated captioning for video and audio descriptions.

  • Editing is crucial

Editing your work is just as crucial a skill as making it in the first place. Once the filming is over, learning to edit, layer, and add sound to your work will make it the complete body of work that you can post up online or sell. Editing is challenging and time consuming, but is an essential skill for any videographer. 
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How to Get Your Business Running Faster and More Efficiently

7/22/2020

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When you’re responsible for running a business, one of the tasks you’ll have to confront is making it as efficient as it can be. When it operates in a rapid way each and every day, it makes a big difference to the company’s overall performance and its ability to compete with the best there is. If you want to get your business running faster and more efficiently on a consistent basis, there are some things that you’ll need to get right. You can find out more about those things below, so read on now.

Prioritize Good Communication

One of the things that’ll matter most when trying to run your business in the most efficient way possible is good communication. You should make it your top aim to get everyone working together as a unit and talking to each other openly and directly. If those lines of communication start to break down, it’s only going to cause unnecessary problems and confusion.

Automate Certain Business Processes

There are certain tasks that businesses can now automate and this is something that you should definitely be looking into. See if there are any processes that you’re wasting time and energy by completing manually. These days, there are so many software options out there that can help you to complete certain tasks in a very easy and straightforward manner.

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Ensure Your Internet is Fast Enough

If your business is going to perform in a rapid way each day without any frustrating techy hiccups along the way, it’s vital to have a fast and secure internet connection in place. Places like ClearFuze Networks can help you to make this possible, and it’s not something that you should ever dismiss or take for granted. Successful modern businesses always rely on the internet.

Minimize Unnecessary Travel

There are some examples of unnecessary travel that your business and employees simply don’t need to indulge in. It’s increasingly clear that we can all discuss and meet virtually via Zoom and other online services. If you can minimize travel, you’ll cut out a lot of wasted time from your day, which can only be a good thing for your business going forward. Give some thought to this issue.

Maintain High Employee Morale

The morale of your employees is one of the things that will have the biggest impact on the efficiency of your business. If people are in high spirits and excited to get to the office and do their work each day, your business’s output and efficiency levels will, of course, be a lot higher. That’s exactly what you want so it’s up to you to keep staff morale levels as high as possible.

If you want to start running your business in a more efficiency manner, the tips and ideas above will help you to do exactly that. You can start putting these changes in place right away and you’ll soon have a business that’s running faster and more efficiently, so get to work on that.

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