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A Strategy for Managing Business Bills

A business depends on its cash flow to pay its bills. Cash flow can fluctuate greatly in smaller enterprises and there are often times when payments have to be made selectively. This is a strategy to serve as a general guide for paying bills at any time; it is especially useful for times when extra consideration has to be given to which bills are paid and which are delayed. Prioritise every bill that comes in when it comes in. Maintain a register of all bills that shows their priority ranking, w...

Loyalty is Created, Not Bought

Loyal customers have to be created. This can take some time and effort but the ROI can be immense. "Not only do loyal customers provide incredibly valuable referrals, they also generate word of mouth that simply can't be bought through advertising," says Roger Hallowell, assistant professor at Harvard Business School.  When a customer buys from you it’s a signal that you have something they want. They’ve responded to the value proposition you offer and there’s immediate potential to c...

Upgrades are a part of life

Anyone with a PC will be familiar with the term ‘upgrade’. It seems like there’s a new version of Windows almost every year, and unless we do constantly upgrade our computers it’s likely their operating systems will rapidly become inadequate to the demands of new software and hardware. To remain competitive, businesses need to upgrade everything from their computer setups to their motor vehicles. There are ways to approach upgrading that will help keep costs down and increase the value r...

Surveys Show What Your Customers Dislike

Surveys of customers can be very revealing even indicating danger areas for your organisation. This article summarises findings from some recent surveys that show just what it is that customers dislike the most about their interactions with businesses. When they’re on the premises There’s one thing that customers dislike more than anything else – employees who are busily conversing with each other and just ignore them. This is unforgivable and also very likely to cost the business a sale b...

Cash Flow Quickeners

Cash flow is often called ‘the lifeblood of a business’, and for several good reasons. But the flow of cash into most businesses is uneven and there can be times when a constrained cash flow creates serious problems, even if the long term situation is positive. There are, however, ways to improve the cash flow of any small business and remove some of the worries about bills not being paid or not having enough on hand to pay wages. These mainly involve no more than adjustments to what you’r...

Become An Expert In Your Own Industry

Whether you sell to businesses or consumers you can increase your level of success by becoming an industry expert – someone who’s well known and acknowledged as an authority on matters concerning your industry. It takes work to achieve this kind of commercial stardom but once you’re at the top it’s almost self perpetuating. Get ready for recognition Prepare a clear definition of the industry you want to represent, whether it’s a broad one such as ‘retailing’, or very specific, such...

Develop The Art Of Being Small

Being small in business isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, small businesses have a lot of advantages over their larger competitors. Small business collectively is the world’s biggest business. Small businesses have perfected the arts of travelling light, living frugally and being able to quickly change direction. Recognising the specialised nature of small business can help you appreciate and use some of the advantages you enjoy. The CEO is multifunctional The decision making powers of ...

Surviving as a Self-Employed Person

Self-employment has lots of advantages. You make all the decisions. You’re the one who determines your own success. And you can always be sure of having enough money in the bank to pay the bills – or can you? Being self-employed has its own set of challenges, not the least important of which is managing your money. How you handle the money you receive, and especially how you plan a budget and stick to it, will determine whether you stay in business.  Be prepared before you open the door...

Resolving Employee Conflicts

Intervening in employee disputes is a risky action and, often as not, ends up with the manager alienating both parties. A better way to proceed is set up a policy that will enable management to listen to any employee with a grievance, yet still encourage those with disputes to do everything they can to resolve it among themselves. This should be a formal policy, stated in writing and copied to everyone who is employed in the business. It should also become a part of employee orientation and be i...

How to Hold More Effective Meetings

Meetings are a part of business, whether it’s meetings with your team members, with your business associates, or with community groups. Here are some ways that you can make your next meeting a success as well as a pleasant experience for all those who attend. Provide sufficient advance notice Plan your meeting well ahead of time and make your invitations informative. Include details such as the meeting venue, the starting and finishing times, the agenda and what should be brought by those atte...

Develop a Profitable Pricing Policy

An organisation’s pricing policy can make a significant contribution to its success. Charging the right amount for goods and services means setting a price that makes them competitive within their market and at the same time allows them to generate sufficient revenue to cover their production costs and make a profit. Here are the issues you should be considering. Set prices according to your business strategy A company’s price objectives should align with its business plan. If the plan’s g...

Know the Personal Risks in Your Business

Many events can put a business out of business and it’s the responsibility of owners and managers to anticipate and plan for such events as far as possible.   You’ve probably insured your business for the most obvious risks – storms, fires and theft for example; but what happens if you lose one of the key people that keep your business going. Key person losses can be among the most damaging to any business, especially smaller organisations. What do you think would happen to your ...

Customers are only Human

As businesses of all sizes increase their uptake of technology and use equipment to save money and take over functions previously provided by people, they’re also running the risk of alienating their customers. Extensive ‘telephone trees’ intended to direct callers into the most appropriate channel to handle their enquiry require customers to go through a series of options even though they already know what they want to accomplish with their call. Something that is more convenient for the ...

Helping Customers Online

Finding just what you want on a website can be tricky. Even when it’s designed to be as shopper friendly as possible with clear navigation, lots of different ways to search for just the product wanted and a simple checkout process, there are still times when a shopper really wants to ask a question about the product before making that final commitment. Providing your telephone number and email is good but they involve delay in getting a response, sometimes stretching out to several days, and t...

Growing Pains: The Perils of Unplanned Expansion

When sales are increasing and new opportunities can be sensed, many a business owner’s thoughts turn to expansion. But unplanned expansion can be as detrimental to your business as no growth at all. Fast growth can destabilise a business giving its owners a false sense of well being while the additional revenues eat up more operating funds than expected. If expansion is on your agenda, keep these things in mind. Watch Your Overheads The biggest danger in expansion is the erosion of a low overh...

Improve Your Training ROI

Training is expensive, and businesses need to ensure they receive the maximum benefit from the training they pay for.  The value of too many training sessions and seminars is lost because of a lack of pre-training and post-training support, or because what is learned during the training is never fully implemented or becomes unused. Whether you’re training a member of your clerical staff in the operation of a new computer programme or a factory worker in the use of safety equipment, there ...

Is a Merger the Way to Grow Your Business?

Most smaller businesses grow slowly. They acquire new customers, add more products to their range, and expand into new territories as their resources permit. However, increased competition can mean that this slow rate of growth is inadequate to retain existing share-of-market. Or a business can simply reach a plateau where further growth isn’t possible without finding new sources of capital and increasing the company’s risk exposure.  At times like these, business owners may well consid...

How to Land a Business Angel

A ‘business angel’ is a private investor who provides capital for a start-up or growing business in exchange for equity in the company. Business angels are the second most common source of capital for small businesses and represent the largest pool of capital worldwide.  The range of investment angels generally make is from $ 20,000 to $1 million, although higher amounts are sometimes available. Angels usually develop a personal relationship with the owner of the business they finance, ...

Start Early to Beat the Rush

Most businesses experience fluctuations in demand and it’s not always easy to predict such things as staffing requirements, quantities of stock, storage space needs and sales. The majority of organisations have quiet times and rush times, and being prepared for the next rush can become a critical factor in determining overall annual profitability. Christmas is one of the biggest rush generators in the world, although there are holidays and celebrations in every country and culture that involve...

Become a Better Communicator

Most of us perform better in one part of the communications process, as either a Speaker or a Listener, but don’t go to the effort to make the most of our communicating abilities by improving the weaker skill. But our communication is likely to be so much better and more effective if we did. It’s not too difficult. Speakers need to be aware of their audience Speakers are good at sending out a message. They’re focused on what they’re saying and how they say it. What they too often miss is...

Get Through the Right Doors

Get Through the Right Doors Businesses that involve face-to-face meetings with their clients need to keep in mind that they might be knocking on the wrong doors, or that they’re not the only people knocking on the right ones.  Identifying and targeting the key decision makers in a prospective customer firm is essential to getting your foot in the door in dealing business to business. Do your homework Whatever it is that’s being sold has to meet the exact needs the firm’s decision ma...

Cut the Costs of Finding and Managing Leads

Every organisation with a sales force keeps an eye on the leads it generates - how many does each salesperson get and how many are converted into customers. But as most companies now appreciate, the costs of generating and converting leads need to be carefully managed or they can become a real drain on profitability. The basic tasks of lead management are to lower the costs of lead acquisition while at the same time increasing the rate of conversion into customers. To do this it’s best if you ...

Play it Safe with your Home-Based Employees

An increasing number of employees work exclusively or part-time from their home – but home is where most accidents happen. Employers still retain some duty of care responsibility for their home-based employees so it becomes an essential part of any at-home work agreement to factor in a safe workspace that minimises the chances of accident and compensation claims. In general, while the expectation is that an employee should be exposed to no more risk than they would be in the office or workshop...

Evaluating New Business Ideas

People who are self-employed generally like to stay that way. If they sell a business they quickly start another one, and successful owners seem to have a ‘knack’ for coming up with good ideas for new businesses. This ability is based largely on their experience and on a set of values or standards that should be applied to every business idea before going ahead with it. This system of evaluating business ideas applies to both products and services; we use the term ‘product’ to mean both....

Five Oversights That Can Kill Your Business

Business owners usually have long term visions for their enterprise, but most business failures happen quickly, before the owner is able to change course or implement strategies that will correct the situation.  The fatal gap between planning and performance is often the result of one of the following set of factors, although two or more of these can occur simultaneously and accelerate the organisation’s demise. Take a close look at your own business and be sure none of these are taking s...