Month: August 2012

Managing Your Small Biz Finances

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date August 7, 2012

Article Contributed by Samantha Peters

Starting a small business is an exciting time. With hard work, careful planning and dedication, small business owners can create a rewarding, and potentially lucrative, job that prepares them for the future. There are considerations that must be taken into account, however, and financing is near the top of the list.

Start-up Funding and Planning There is a substantially high up-front cost when starting most small businesses. Whether it is office space, equipment or computer systems for current and future employees, the cost required may be out of the reach of many. For those who do not have the funding available, banks may be able to offer a loan if the owner has collateral to put up and a solid credit history. Another option that is becoming popular is seed money. By asking family, friends and other contacts, a small business owner might be able to acquire the funding necessary to start offering their products and services.

Most who are starting a small business have considered the “big picture” financing requirements and have a basic plan to get started and begin turning a profit. The small details, however, are often not fully considered. By carefully planning and making conservative projections, a small business founder can plan his or her first few months or years of business. By keeping a realistic mindset about the initial and recurring costs, the small business owner can be confident that he or she is ready for any setbacks.

Day-to-Day Financing Paying bills, employees and suppliers can be an overwhelming task that many small business owners are not fully prepared for. The time required to do all of this work manually can be much greater than many expect, and new owners need to be spending their time ensuring that customer relations and other facets of the new business are handled appropriately. Fortunately, software and online services are available to help ease this task.

Merchant services are a collection of services that allow businesses to handle a variety of the tasks necessary to ensure smooth operations. Credit card processing, for example, was traditionally a hassle that new businesses had to carefully plan for; today, new, Internet-based companies allow a business to begin handling credit cards quickly and easily. Some merchant services providers also offer point-of-sale software and equipment that allows the business to have a storefront appearance on par with established businesses. Marketing services may be available as well.

Financial Logging and Analysis A new branch of software and online services is allowing businesses to automate many of the financial aspects of their businesses. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software gives businesses a suite of tools through which they can handle many of the aspects of their businesses activities. Automatic accounting tools save considerable time during businesses hours and around tax time. These programs can also handle inventory management and plan necessary purchases. Customer relationship management (CRM) software stores information about customers and helps with marketing activities. If a business needs to provide technical support, CRM software has tools that can help.

All of these programs give small businesses valuable analytical tools. Early projections are almost always wrong in some ways. No matter how sound a business plan is, accounting for the small things that affect the bottom line is fraught with unknowns. Being able to instantly analyze ways to improve upon operations can save a business or lead to better profitability.

Entrepreneurship helps drive the economies of developed nations. Done properly, it can be one of the most rewarding career paths. At the end of the day, however, financing is the key that can lead to success or failure. With careful planning, flexibility and the right tools, a small business owner can greatly enhance his or her likelihood of success.

About the Author

This is a Guest Post written by Samantha Peters, an avid blogger who lives on the internet. She covers education and business topics at TheEducationUpdate.com but can write on anything from office chairs at sitbetter to political news.

Online Business

5 Ways for a Website to Provide Customer Service

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date August 7, 2012

Contributed by Longhorn Leads

When you think of customer service, websites rarely come to mind. Instead you probably envision smiling faces and helpful staff guiding customers through the buying experience or handling a question or concern for an existing customer. However, the world is changing, and many consumers want a new kind of customer service; they want one that is accessible to them night and day, without having to talk to or interact with anyone in person. That is where the website can actually enhance customer service experience. Here are 5 examples:

1. Product information. Consumers are more shopping savvy than ever, and do much of their purchasing online. This is largely because they want to shop around and research their purchases before actually committing to them without the annoyance of sales people pushing them to buy. Providing detailed product information on the site is the key to appealing to this type of consumer. Websites that provide extensive product information give customers first-rate service by letting them research the products in their own time and manner, whether it is on their smart phone or while on a conference call at work.

2. Access to account information. Instead of waiting on hold to ask a question regarding an account, many consumers prefer to be able to look up their information on their own. The best customer service is often to actually let them serve themselves. Having billing statements and payment options available on a website allows these busy consumers to keep abreast of where their account is at on their own schedule. Make sure to offer ways for them to update their profile, which will save them the hassle of calling in just to change an address or phone number when they move.

3. Live chat. A great way to combine traditional customer service with the web savvy consumer is to offer live chat on a website. Live chat services allow the customer to browse on their time, but still ask questions as they arise and receive instant feedback from a live representative. This allows the customer to multi-task without being tethered to a phone line, but also allows specific questions to be answered immediately.

4. FAQ’s. Frequently asked questions and their answers are another way to give the customer what they want, right at their fingertips. All industries have common questions about their service or products that can be summed up in a convenient guide on a website. A great example of this is the IRS. As hard as it may be to get an actual IRS agent on the phone, the IRS website gives a huge amount of information to people through their FAQ section for all kinds of tax concerns.

5. Provide personal incentives. Websites can be used to provide personal offers and incentives to consumers. Whether it is a first time customer or a returning shopper, websites can track preferences and offer suggestions based on the consumers purchasing habits. This allows a shopping experience that is geared toward the consumer’s individual wants and needs. Using the website interface to give the consumer better products or services, or to receive better discounts, leads to customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Although there are many industries that still require a face-to-face interaction, or at least a phone-to-phone conversation, many companies can enhance their customer service by having an interactive website for their customers. With more and more data being sent online and less actual conversations transpiring, it makes sense that even customer service should move onto the worldwide web. Ultimately, customer service is about providing the customer with what they need and want, so if what they want is online access and information, give it to them!

Communication Skills

3 Strategies to Positively Listen to Your Customers

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date August 5, 2012

Daily someone sends something to us that promises to get our message out there and insure we are heard above the competition for our customers’ attention.

It reminds me of trying to quiet my two-year-old daughter’s department store tantrums by yelling. The only attention I received was louder cries and suspicious glares of child abuse.

Are you abusing your customers by yelling your company’s features at them?

Instead positively listen to your customers. Yes, it’s counterintuitive, but it grows your bottom line and that’s what you want, right?

Here are 3 Strategies to Positively Listen to Your Customers:

Physically Listen

My two-year-old daughter wanted my attention while I read the paper. After repeating, “Daddy, I want to tell you something” three times, she smashed the paper. I leapt from my chair to stare at her. Her reply was, “Daddy, I want you to listen to me with your eyes.”

What do your customers have to smash to get your attention?

Our customers want someone to physically listen. Sure, they’ll use live chat, but somebody better be there to pay attention and respond accurately, i.e., listen with their eyes.

Want to get your message out there? Put yourself in a position to physically listen to your customers whether it’s across a counter or a Twitter DM. You build an openness to communicate as you do.

Mentally Listen

There’s a great line in the movie, Pulp Fiction: “Are you really listening or just waiting to talk?”

You know when you’re on the phone and the person is multi-tasking. You can hear them typing an email or a text. An awkward pause when you ask a question.

You also pick up on the relative unimportance of what you’re saying when they start talking about themselves or their business features.

Your customers can, too.

Listen for how they say what they say. The excitement of a rapid speech pattern. The frustration in their tone of voice. Their hesitation in knowing what to ask.

Yes, you’re in business to make money so the conversation is about your profitability. Remember who gives you that money.

Listen and mentally focus on the customer. Make it about them. You build awareness as you do.

Emotionally Listen

So you’re physically positioned and mentally focused to listen. When it’s your turn, how do you respond?

By launching into a features-driven monologue about how great your business is? That’s like trying to have sex on the first date. Good for one night only and leads to buyer’s remorse.

The path to perpetual profitability for your business is paved with asking questions like, “What do you mean by ___?” and statements like, “Tell me more about ___.” Such open-ended invitations prompt your customers to reveal more, thereby building trust.

Trust is the ultimate currency of exchange. It’s more than transactional. It’s transformational.

As you respond with emotionally-engaged listening, you discover their desires and problems. Then offer your product or service as a benefit that complements it.

Your customers accept your offering and return with their family and friends.

Why?

Because you positively listen.

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Operations

Doing Your Bit For The Environment: An Entrepreneur’s Guide

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date August 3, 2012

Regardless of the size of a company in this day and age, everyone seems to be rightly concerned with their carbon footprint and making themselves more environmentally friendly. As well as having a clearer conscience, many companies are also trying to cut their emissions to keep a good reputation. Here are a few tips to help cut down your carbon footprint as well as maintaining a positive image.

Energy Efficiency

Perhaps the most obvious piece of advice is to simply ensure that your energy goes as far as possible. Simple changes can be made to absolutely any business to ensure that this is the case. For example if you have an office or a depot; replace those old light bulbs with new, energy-saving ones and make sure that equipment is only switched on when in use. It’s amazing how simple these things are, and how often they are forgotten about. For those who have a little more time and money, it may be worth investing in some timers to ensure that electrical equipment and lights are switched off when the property is vacant.

Another thing that many people don’t consider is to upgrade their technology. Almost everything technology-wise is built with the environment in mind these days, and the newest developments are always likely to be more energy efficient than a ten year-old piece of kit.

Transportation

Obviously, depending on the type of business in question, transport can play a huge part in a company’s carbon footprint. Even if your day to day work doesn’t involve driving as such, the large majority of employees are likely to drive, catch a bus or train to work, whilst deliveries more often than not arrive in a van or wagon.

It wouldn’t be logical to suggest that vehicle use is swapped for an alternative method of transportation as many firms rely on cars and vans to carry out a daily job. However this isn’t to say that cutbacks can’t be made in areas relating to transport. The efficiency of transport can be increased simply through the use of a vehicle tracking device which can help reduce fuel usage by ensuring fleet drivers take the quickest, most direct route and get more miles per gallon of petrol. All this has a knock-on effect in ensuring the company has a smaller carbon footprint.

Carbon Offsetting

A novel idea that doesn’t quite reduce emissions, but allows companies to try and make up for their carbon footprint by contributing to environmentally friendly schemes. The scheme works like this: companies buy so-called ‘carbon credits’ that are measured in comparison to the emissions they have created. Once they are paid for, the money used to purchase the credits goes towards projects such as hydro-electric power stations which, in turn, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Although a business isn’t quite reducing its own emissions by using this scheme, they are helping reduce them from elsewhere. Whilst this is a nice idea and obviously very beneficial; it shouldn’t be used as a company’s first choice for cutting carbon emissions. The work should probably start from within and, if emissions are impossible to cut, then carbon credits should be considered as the way forward.