Mail Twitter
Home Blog Page 23

Never, Ever Close!

By
Contributor
-
0

by Mark Petruzzi, co-author of “Selling the Cloud: A Playbook for Success in Cloud Software and Enterprise Sales“

In many industries, being defined as a “closer” is the highest accolade a sales professional can be given. The term encapsulates the skills and traits necessary to become a top-level performer. Closers are the most highly recruited and sought after – the true elite.

And yet, in Cloud Software/SaaS, there is never a “close.” There is a start, but the only close I know of is when your client leaves and you close down the account.

SaaS is marketed at professional buyers, who no matter how good the selling, will buy when and only when it is appropriate for them to buy. There is no impulse or pressure buying occurring at GE, Pfizer, or Microsoft. At the same time, it is a myth that they buy solely on rational criteria. Issues like the character and integrity of the salesperson are critical.

Lessons from a Never, Ever Closer

Jim Campbell is a prominent real estate developer in Tucson, Arizona. From the 1980s until the early 2000s, Jim was the president and co-founder of The Application Group, the first PeopleSoft consulting partner. He is the kind of special leader from whom people naturally learn, beginning the day they meet him.

The first time I met Jim, it was for my final interview for AG, my first choice to begin my consulting selling career. I remember thinking, “This is where I close the deal.”

But as I walked into his office, I noticed small white notes everywhere, and they all had the phrase, “Never, Ever Close,” written on them. I had already been told that my interview with Jim would be complex and challenging. On top of that, this was my closing sales meeting. And here were notes telling me I was exactly wrong.

Was this a psychological gambit to throw me off-guard? Did he actually mean it? How could I leverage my newly minted Marketing/Sales MBA in this discussion when everything I had learned in school screamed “no!” to these words?

I quickly learned why Jim worked so hard to remind himself and his team of this belief. Jim, an engineer by training, not a salesperson, has never sold in a conventional sales process way. Though he was in a marketplace that constantly focused on sales processes and closing methodologies, he found success via a different route – by being himself.

Jim values his business relationships deeply; each one of them is based on an unrelenting level of trust and respect. He cares about every one of his clients and business partners. He is a consummate builder of relationships founded on principles of trust.

Become Trusted and Respected, Sell More

How did Jim get that way? He is the kind of person who loves life, has deep spiritual beliefs, and has the philosopher’s knack for reflection and insight about relationships.

Jim’s inclination and intimate concern for his client’s well-being translate naturally into trust-based relationships. His whole demeanor and personality are such that his clients genuinely desire to see his business grow. It is very easy for them to give Jim the business whenever they can. Jim has discovered that when you bring this kind of belief system to a sales process, you don’t have to close to win.

How Do You Win Without Ever Closing?

The process of closing burns up a great deal of “Trust Capital.” Trust capital is what you generate throughout the sales cycle that will allow you to win. The one with the most trust equity created by decision day wins the deal.

Some small part of trust capital is based on external factors, many of which you do not directly control. In most cases, you can only affect the perception of items, such as product quality, your firm’s reputation, and the risk associated with your product or service.

However, trust capital is also significantly affected by every act, comment, and message (or lack thereof) delivered throughout a prospect relationship. It is also based on your own personal attributes, which you have the responsibility to manage.

Moreover, like a solid product design, it matters a great deal what characteristics you begin with and how you develop these traits throughout your lifetime. Integrity and other personal virtues that we often consider too “soft” to be meaningful are, in fact, tremendously powerful influences. They help you become more successful or mitigate against your success.

These intrinsic personal capabilities (IPC’s) are what allowed Jim to become one of the most renowned business developers in the application software and consulting marketplace. Jim knows that the way he is perceived affects his success ratio. He also knows that the level of consideration and respect he gives his clients translates into more business for him as a sales professional.

The No-Close Win

Really successful selling in SaaS is not about having the best sales methodology or always saying the right thing at the right time. It is about continuously and steadfastly building your own IPC’s.

Jim believes that by pressuring a prospect into a close, trust is lost. He instead finalizes a sale by ensuring that every question that could be asked by the prospect is answered and every step of the decision process is fulfilled. He does so naturally, out of an outgrowth of his IPCs, because he is focused on total client satisfaction. By conducting his affairs in that way, he doesn’t have to “close” in the way we traditionally think of that term.  Instead, the close occurs naturally.

Jim has learned that he never, ever has to close.  You don’t have to, either.

 

mark petruzzi

Mark Petruzzi has worked in the enterprise and cloud software ecosystem for 25 years. He has worked as a serial entrepreneur, founding, growing, and successfully exiting boutique consulting firms in the Salesforce, Oracle, and Peoplesoft ecosystems. More recently, Mark has focused on innovative sales transformation as a board and leadership advisor for Genpact, BCI, 4L Data Intelligence, and more. He is co-author of “Selling the Cloud: A Playbook for Success in Cloud Software and Enterprise Sales“. 

 

3 Ways To Improve Your Business’ Cash Flow

By
Contributor
-
0

by Blake Bobit, founder of Solution Scout

Good, healthy cash flow is necessary for you to run your business. You need to have access to the funds that will run your business in an easy, timely manner. If your clients are taking too much time to pay their account, your business will encounter countless issues. 

You may not be able to pay your employees, your fixed costs, or make necessary investments in your business. Simply put, good cash flow allows your business to run smoothly. 

Invoice Factoring 

Invoice factoring makes the most sense for businesses experiencing slow payments from customers and they need cash to cover expenses. It can also be a good choice for businesses that are just starting out, since traditional financing may be difficult to access.

What is Invoice Factoring?

Invoice factoring is the practice of selling your invoices to a third party, who will then immediately give you the majority of the invoice, and then collect payment from your client. When they collect, they will then pay you the remainder of the balance and subtract a small fee. 

Invoicing companies exist to give you access to the funds you invoice for immediately. Having the lump sum from the invoice immediately can allow your company to pay needed expenses and operate with greater financial flexibility. Some of the industry leaders will be able to give you the funds immediately, 24/7. 

The Best Invoice Factoring Companies 

Deciding which factoring company to work with can be a difficult decision. The companies vary in the percentage of the invoice they provide up front, what fee they take, and when they can deliver payment. Here’s a breakdown of the factoring companies worth considering. 

Different companies specialize in different sectors. Some offer benefits depending on your industry, like special fuel deals for trucking companies. If you work in an industry like trucking or construction, consider working with a trucking factoring or construction factoring company. 

Difference Between Recourse and Non-Recourse Funding 

One of the most important things to think about when deciding which factoring company to work with is determining if they offer resource or non-recourse factoring. What’s the difference? 

Suppose the situation where you give an invoice of yours to your factoring company, collect the lump sum payment, and go about running your business. Later, the company you invoiced goes out of business and cannot pay the invoice. Who is responsible for that debt?

If your factoring company is non-recourse, then you will not be responsible. You will get to keep the lump sum, and the rest of the invoice will be paid to you whenever the factoring company is able to track down the debt. However, if your factoring company is a recourse invoice factoring company, you will be responsible for the debt. Before working with any factoring company, carefully read their factoring agreement.

Utilize High Interest Savings Accounts 

How you store funds for your business can make a tremendous difference in terms of both liquidity and cash flow. A good, high interest account will allow your business to generate profit when funds aren’t needed, and keep your assets secure. It can also increase the efficiency at which you can run your business’s finances. 

Benefits of Business Banking

  • Accrue interest
  • Increase financial security
  • Improve cash flow
  • Improve financial flexibility

There are many options to consider when opening an account for your business. Each bank has strengths and weaknesses, and some better to work with than others. Here are some of the savings account options which are available. 

Consider What Lines of Credit are Available to You

If your business has a good credit score, it may make sense for you to consider a loan. Many banks offer attractive loans to small businesses, especially when there are favorable macroeconomic conditions. 

If the economy is strong, and the Fed has maintained low interest rates, you may want to consider taking out a loan. This can be a short term boost to your cashflow, allowing you to make investments to grow your business. 

Loans are not a permanent cash flow solution, as they don’t structurally change your business. This means you should not consider them a long term solution to cash flow problems. 

 

Blake Bobit has been an entrepreneur and business owner for over 25 years. He is the CEO and founder of Solution Scout, which he made to provide the most helpful answers to questions about business solutions. Blake provides strategic advisory services to businesses in many industries nationwide and is passionate about helping others reach new levels of success.

 

 

How To Create An Effective Cutover Plan 

By
admin
-
0

A cutover project is when an organization switches from one system to another. This may include upgrading technologies, switching vendors, or changing old processes. The main challenge with cutovers is they signify change for everyone involved, such as the customers, employees, and partners.  

Creating a cutover plan can help you outline the transition process from one system to another. It should detail every step of the process. It also helps to include the people involved, how long each step will take, and what will happen if something goes wrong. 

When managing cutover projects, it’s crucial to plan ahead of time. This way, you’ll be able to minimize any negative impact on your business. To help you, here are six tips for developing an effective cutover plan: 

1. Brainstorm With Your Cutover Team.

As you plan for your cutover initiative, gathering your team to brainstorm is necessary. A brainstorming session can help you identify all the possible problems that could arise during the cutover and how you’ll solve them.

You can make a checklist of items to address and assign them to each team member. This way, all parties will be on the same page regarding carrying out the plan.  It also adds accountability to the tasks as they’re being completed. 

2. Audit Your Current Processes.

Once you start brainstorming with your team for the cutover project, it’s an excellent option to audit your current processes. You need to know where you are before deciding where to go. By auditing your existing procedures, you can spot areas of improvement and determine the cost associated with making those changes. 

Furthermore, you can identify bottlenecks in the current process flow or understand where time could be better spent. You can use the information to create a new process flow that can reduce time and save money, optimizing your productivity. 

3. Develop A New Process Flow.

After identifying areas of improvement and assessing your current process flow, it’s time to develop a new one. A rough draft can be helpful at this point. Keep in mind that you still need to develop detailed plans for each step of your new process flow. Nevertheless, creating an effective cutover plan needs careful organization. 

Meanwhile, any hiccups can cause significant delays in your project timeline and affect your budget. So, when establishing your new process flow, you can set parameters to evaluate its efficacy both before and after its implementation. Also, it helps to identify any required tools to make the entire process smoother. 

In addition, communicating changes to all affected parties is essential to help adjust the flow accordingly. You may also need to provide employee training, especially to those who need advanced skills to perform their tasks after the cutover is complete. This way, you ensure everyone is prepared for their new roles post-cutover. 

4. Identify Potential Issues During Beta Testing.

After creating a new process flow in your cutover project, you must determine possible issues that might arise during beta testing. These may include problems with the latest software or system, difficulty with the new process flow, or inability to access the data required for it. It’s also necessary to anticipate user resistance because some team members may not show support. 

You can minimize these problems by identifying all possible ones during beta testing, especially those that may disrupt business activities. You may also start preparing solutions for difficult situations. 

For instance, if there’s a critical data collection you can’t do the beta test without, ensure you have a backup plan ready. If everything is prepared this way, the transition to the new system will go more smoothly. 

5. Plan For The Worst-Case Scenario.

While you may hope for the best, preparing for the worst-case scenario is still essential. Hence, a backup plan in place is needed if something goes wrong. It’ll help you prioritize which systems need fixing first. 

For instance, suppose you have to choose between prioritizing tasks that bring higher revenue and ones that are critical for delivering product or service offerings. A backup plan can help you sort things out by providing alternative solutions. 

On the other hand, you may include a testing phase where you’ll evaluate each system after completing the cutover. This scheme can ensure that everything is working correctly and that no significant issues will stand in your way to success. 

6. Prepare A Post-Cutover Checklist.

If everything goes according to plan, it’s time to celebrate. This is also an opportunity to evaluate your efforts for this transition. Nevertheless, ensure a post-cutover checklist is ready if something doesn’t go as expected. Your post-cutover checklist may include a review of the cutover plan to see if any gaps or improvements need to be made. 

In addition, you can reconsider your disaster recovery plan if any problems occur during the cutover phase. Also, reviewing your transition process is essential in making necessary adjustments to improve it further. 

Key Takeaway.

Planning is essential for cutovers because they require careful preparation and planning before you can execute them successfully. A successful cutover will help your organization save money, improve productivity, and reduce downtime risks significantly. However, if not planned properly, it can cause serious problems, such as system downtime or poor user experience. 

To avoid these issues, you can gather a team to determine potential hurdles. You may also need to plan for the worst-case scenarios and ensure you have a backup plan to reduce downtime. 

 

Why You Need To Develop Your Non-Technical Skills In Your Working Life

By
Contributor
-
0

by Joanna Gaudoin, managing director of Inside Out Image and author of “Getting On: Making Work Work“

Throughout school, university and even into first roles, your focus is predominantly on technical knowledge – learning information and being able to apply it. Technical knowledge will always be an important foundation to your work life, but it isn’t enough to help you navigate your professional life and progress your career.

Why does this matter? It’s because we don’t work in isolation – we work with other people. No matter what size of organisation you work in you will need to work with others interdependently, in many cases both internally and externally. This is likely to include colleagues, suppliers, clients and prospective clients as well as other business contacts

For example, if you end up running your own business, building your client base will be essential. You’ll need to build a good network to find direct clients and to get referrals. Once you’ve won clients, managing those relationships positively will be key: retaining clients is essential for business growth and happy clients tell others about you. In time, you may need to recruit people – so understanding how to work with and manage people is important.

If you go into a larger organisation, you’ll need to build great relationships with your colleagues – they will need information from you and vice versa – and you’re likely to need to work on challenges together.

In my new book “Getting On: Making Work Work“, there are three parts – the first one ‘It all starts with you’, the second ‘The relationships you need’ and the third ‘Professional scenarios’. In part two, I cover trust and relationship building in-depth, including my top ten relationship skills – and here’s a sneak peek of the top five:

1. Your personal impact.

Take the time to understand how others could perceive your demeanour, words and behaviour. You impact others in how you engage with them which can in turn affect how they respond. You can’t change others’ behavior, only your own.

2. Empathy.

This is an important way to show you value someone and that you have taken the time to share in what they are experiencing. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you agree! When people feel you empathise with them and understand where they are coming from, they are far more likely to engage with you positively. As humans, we all want to feel understood and valued.

3. Listen.

Very few of us truly listen. In the worst case we can end up responding to what was not said. And at best we can leave someone feeling unheard. You need to be able to really listen and for people to feel you are listening too. This is often a challenge when we all have shorter attention spans than ever before!

4. How you react.

Reacting to new news or feedback that generates a negative reaction immediately is rarely a good idea. If necessary, say you’ll have a think and go back to the person in a certain amount of time. It’s better to go back with a considered response as it may change your response and even if it doesn’t, it shows the other person you took time to consider what you heard.

5. Understanding others’ perspective.

People’s frames of reference, assumptions and beliefs vary. If you are struggling to understand someone’s point of view, consider in what circumstance you might think the same as them. Sometimes you may have information the other person doesn’t to inform your view and vice versa. 

If you make time for building relationships with others and working on your non-technical skills in your career, you will reap the rewards – both in terms of navigating your professional life more easily and progressing your career.

 

Joanna Gaudoin helps bright, knowledgeable people with great technical skills and experience improve their non-technical skills so they can progress their careers and boost their firm’s performance. She runs Inside Out Image and is the author of Amazon bestseller “Getting On: Making Work Work“.

 

 

How To Discover Your Most Fulfilling Career Path

By
Contributor
-
0

by Jim Panos, author of “Find Your Passion”

Are you unsure about your next move? Do you want to discover your most fulfilling career path? Then, keep reading.

Career clarity is all about maximizing your self-awareness. You can accomplish the latter by identifying your No.1 passion as well as your unconscious biases.

1. Unconscious biases.

If you want to discover what you’re really passionate about, whether you work as an entrepreneur or an employee, you need, first, to change your mindset. By “mindset,” I mean not only the way you think, but most importantly, what you believe. The difference is that your beliefs are stored in your subconscious mind, whereas your thoughts, desires, and wishes are manifested through your conscious mind, specifically in the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of our brain that’s responsible for reasoning, analyzing, and rational thinking. Why is this difference important? Because 95%–97% of all of our daily activities are monitored by our subconscious mind. In other words, for most of the things we do — such as eating, dressing, and driving—we do them automatically, in a “default mode.”

How’s this relevant to your career clarity? Because each and every one of us has our own beliefs. These beliefs can be empowering or harmful to us. For example, an empowering belief would be, for example, “I can do work I truly love and be highly rewarded.” On the other hand, a limiting belief would be, “Work exists only for the purpose of making a living.” With this limiting belief, you eliminate any opportunity to enjoy what you do while also making a living.

You might believe that you’re “too young” or “not ready” to make this career change for yourself. Or, you might believe that you cannot do what you truly love because of your gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, political, religious, or social beliefs. Perhaps you believe that you should be doing the work your parents, or anyone who was a role model for you, did or does, and for the simple reason that you want to show them your love for them. You believe you can only fulfil this by trying to be like them. However, remember this: You don’t have to be like the person you admire to show them your love for them. You can hug them, look them in their eyes, and tell them “I love you.” Yes, it’s that simple; but simple does not mean easy.

What are your limiting beliefs? What unconscious statements in your mind hold you back from finding your most fulfilling career?

2. Passion Awareness Model.

To discover your No.1 passion, you need to be aware of the 6 key elements of passion, and explore them yourself. They are:

  1. Values
  2. Purpose
  3. Vision
  4. Interests
  5. Favorite Skills
  6. Favorite Strengths

Your passion is at the harmonic integration of these 6 key components. All of them are unique and strictly personal.

  1. Values.

Also called “principles,” one’s main values can be family, fun, and adventure, whereas for someone else, they can be social impact and justice. They can be anything. For example, a value of mine is “Think & Play Big.” What are your core values?

  1. Purpose.

You have a purpose in this world. You have a mission to accomplish. A destiny to follow. A calling to serve. You name it. The bottom line here is that you, as a human, are designed by your very nature to serve something greater than yourself. And it doesn’t matter whether it has to do with climate change, tackling poverty, bringing more justice in the world, curing cancer, inventing something that improves or/and saves lives, or mental health. You can serve and change the world for the better in infinite ways! The question is: What is your way? Your purpose?

  1. Vision.

What is your vision, your ideal situation for your career, finances, personal life, and social contribution? I want you to go as wild as possible here! No restrictions. That’s why it’s a vision. Your vision.

  1. Interests.

What are your hobbies? What things do you love or like to do? What things do you dislike or despise? What are the challenges you went through in your life and managed to overcome? If you can answer the last question, you can turn the pain you have experienced into knowledge, the “know-how” to support others to overcome the same or a similar challenge you overcame! And yes, you’ll be blown away to know that you are not the only person who had this challenge, but there are so many people who’ve been in that specific situation!

What is more important though for you to know here is that there are people right now, and people who will be in the future, in that challenge you overcame. That means you can organize this invaluable life experience and knowledge you learned and use it to support others in the same situation. Your past pain and challenges can lead you to your passion by giving you new insights about yourself.

  1. Favorite Skills.

What can you do well? Not only in a professional concept, but generally things you’ve learned throughout your life experience, whether as a volunteer, or by helping your friends and family, or activities and projects you were a part of in and out of your formal education.

Which of them do you enjoy doing?

  1. Favorite Strengths.

What comes easy to you? What can you do well and easily without too much effort? What are your natural strengths and talents?

Which of them do you enjoy doing?

Tapping into your intuition before answering these questions is paramount because it is the most powerful tool you can use to maximize your self-awareness, including getting clarity on what you’re really passionate about. You can access your intuition through mindfulness as well as by remoting yourself to a place where you feel most comfortable and peaceful, away from distractions, and ideally in nature.

So, from now on, will you be “waiting” for your dream career? Or, are you going to start creating it?

 

Jim Panos is author of “Find Your Passion”, a Transformational Career Coach, and founder of Passion to Career Academy. Jim empowers career-driven professionals to discover their greatest passion and turn it into a more successful and fulfilling career. He went from depressed law school graduate trying to win his father’s approval, to having served professionals from the U.S. and seven different countries to discover and pursue their most fulfilling career path.

 

5 Beginner Strategies For Franchisee Success

By
admin
-
0

Do you want to become a businessperson and be your own boss? There are three ways for you to achieve that. You can either start from scratch, purchase an existing business, or buy a franchise. If you’re the type of person who prefers a structured environment, the franchising route may be for you. With nearly 300 industries offering franchise opportunities, you’ll have many franchises to choose from to open up your own business.   

While buying a franchise right away is easy, remember that it requires a massive investment. Not only are you purchasing an existing brand, but you’re also buying a business system and signing yourself up for a larger network of businesses. And one mistake that most franchise buyers make is automatically assuming and being too confident that a franchise means guaranteed success. In reality, buying and managing a franchise requires proper planning and managing, the same as starting a business from scratch.   

If this is your first time, you might find yourself wondering, “How can I start my own business with franchising? What can I do to be successful?” Don’t worry. There are a few tips and strategies you can learn.

Read on to discover the five beginner strategies that will help you turn your franchise into a successful business venture.  

Assess the demand for product/service in your area.

Assess first if there’s a demand for that product/service in the particular area you intend to open your franchise. Suppose you’re considering opening a soccer program for kids and buying from an overseas franchising license in Australia. Keep in mind that just because the soccer program in Australia is doing so well doesn’t mean it will be equally successful in your country or state.  

So, research and determine how well a kids’ soccer program will be in-demand in your area. Are you planning to open it in a city with nearby schools and daycare centers? Are plenty of kids in your area enthusiastic about playing or practicing soccer? Is soccer a popular sport in your state? If the demand is high and you don’t see any competitor offering such a product or service, this may be a good sign of investing in that franchise and opening your own business. 

In contrast, if the demand is high, yet there are already existing competitors offering the same product/service, do more research and determine what you can do to make your franchise stand out from the rest. 

Prepare enough capital for the startup costs.

The franchising costs may vary for each business. So, before you invest in one, prepare and save up enough capital for the startup costs that can keep you in business for at least six months or longer.  

How much should you budget for the startup costs? Franchise startup costs may range between USD$10,000 to as high as USD$5 million. Ultimately, it depends on your chosen industry, location, and type of franchise. Home-based and mobile businesses are known to be the cheapest franchise types, while full-service and reputable hotels and restaurants are the most expensive. 

If you don’t have enough cash to cover the startup costs, you may have to apply for a loan with the franchisor, your bank, or other lenders. Ensure you have a good credit score to apply for a loan and open a franchise.  

Be prepared to market and advertise your business.

One of the perks of starting a franchise is that your marketing and advertising efforts won’t have to be as heavy and tedious as promoting a brand-new business. This is true, especially if you’ve purchased a reputable or internationally known franchise.  

Nevertheless, you must still invest in marketing to maintain the brand’s reputation and increase your business sales. Remember that even with a famous franchise, people wouldn’t know that your business exists if they don’t know where you’re located. 

If you’ve bought a franchise that isn’t as well-known as, say, McDonald’s or Taco Bell, you’ll need to establish enough budget and create a franchise marketing plan. Remember that marketing your franchise not only helps promote your business, but it also benefits the rest of the franchisees and overall businesses.  

Provide high-quality customer service to maintain a good reputation.

Managing a reputable franchise doesn’t mean you can cut corners in your services or product quality. Otherwise, this could impact the quality of service your customers receive and negatively affect their level of satisfaction. 96% of customers are more than willing to leave a business the moment they receive bad service.  

Furthermore, whatever mishap or poor-quality service you provide can reflect badly on the rest of the franchises around the state or country. So, always aim to provide high-quality customer service to preserve the reputation and credibility of your franchise’s brand. 

Be passionate about your chosen franchise and your offered product/service.

Running a successful franchise isn’t always determined by the numbers. It’s also about the satisfaction your customers feel towards your business. And one way to boost customer satisfaction is being passionate about your chosen franchise and offered product/service. That’s why choosing a franchise that aligns with your passion or skill is recommended. 

For example, you’re a former soccer player or a soccer enthusiast for several years, and you’ve chosen to buy a franchise for a soccer program for kids. Managing a franchise that syncs with your passion will make it easier for you to bring in that energy and enthusiasm when talking to your customers, or in this case, the kids who wish to learn and play soccer.  

Conclusion.

The success of your franchise doesn’t depend on how popular or reputable it is. It’s about how you put consistent efforts into maintaining high-quality services, marketing, and following the set processes offered by the franchisor. Even as a beginner, you can incorporate some of your unique ideas to help your franchise embrace the dynamic changes in customer demand.

 

How Does Microsoft Dynamics Consulting Help Advertising And Digital Marketing Agencies

By
Contributor
-
0

by Charulatha Velumani

Microsoft Dynamics Consulting can provide a wealth of benefits to advertising and digital marketing agencies. By leveraging the powerful capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, these agencies can streamline their operations and gain a competitive edge in the market. This article will explore how Microsoft Dynamics consulting can help advertising and digital marketing agencies and what makes it an ideal choice for these organizations.

One of the key benefits of Microsoft Dynamics consulting for advertising and digital marketing agencies is its ability to provide a unified view of customer data. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM allows agencies to gather and manage customer data from multiple sources in one central location. This includes data from websites, email campaigns, and social media. Having all this information in one place enables agencies to gain a complete understanding of their customers and make more informed decisions about their marketing campaigns.

Another benefit of Microsoft Dynamics consulting is its ability to automate many manual advertising and digital marketing tasks. This can include lead management, email marketing, and campaign tracking. By automating these processes, Microsoft Dynamics consulting can help agencies save time and resources, freeing up their teams to focus on higher-value activities that drive business growth.

One of the most valuable aspects of Microsoft Dynamics consulting is the ability to integrate with other business systems. For example, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM can be integrated with marketing automation platforms, accounting systems, and other enterprise software. This means that agencies can share data and automate processes across these systems, streamlining operations and improving overall efficiency.

Microsoft Dynamics offers a range of features specifically designed to meet the needs of the advertising and digital marketing agency industry. Some of these features include:

  1. Lead Management: Microsoft Dynamics provides a centralized database for managing leads, enabling agencies to track and nurture leads throughout the sales process.
  2. Campaign Management: Agencies can use Microsoft Dynamics to manage their marketing campaigns, including the creation of email campaigns, lead nurturing, and campaign tracking.
  3. Customer Relationship Management: Microsoft Dynamics provides a comprehensive CRM solution that enables agencies to manage customer relationships by tracking customer interactions and customer data.
  4. Marketing Automation: Microsoft Dynamics integrates with popular marketing automation platforms, enabling agencies to automate marketing tasks, such as lead nurturing, email campaigns, and more.
  5. Financial Management: Microsoft Dynamics provides robust financial management capabilities, including invoicing, expense tracking, and budgeting, to help agencies better manage their finances.
  6. Reporting and Analytics: Microsoft Dynamics provides real-time reporting and analytics, enabling agencies to measure the success of their campaigns and make informed decisions about their marketing strategy.
  7. Collaborative: Microsoft Dynamics provides a platform for collaboration and communication between team members, enabling agencies to work more efficiently and effectively.
  8. Mobile Access: Microsoft Dynamics is accessible from any device, enabling agencies to access and manage customer data, campaigns, and more on the go.

These features and the ability to integrate with other systems provide advertising and digital marketing agencies with a comprehensive solution for managing their operations and improving performance. An ERP consultant can help agencies determine the best way to use these features to meet their needs.

One of their solutions, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM includes robust financial management capabilities, such as invoicing, expense tracking, and budgeting. By using these features, agencies can better manage their finances and make informed decisions about their spending. Moreover, Microsoft Dynamics consulting can help advertising and digital marketing agencies better handle their finances.

Therefore, Microsoft Dynamics consulting can provide a more personalized experience for customers. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM allows agencies to gather and manage customer data, including their preferences and buying habits. This data can then be used to create more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns, improving the customer experience and increasing the chances of making a sale.

In conclusion, Microsoft Dynamics consulting can help advertising and digital marketing agencies streamline operations, gain a competitive edge in the market, and provide a better customer experience. With its powerful capabilities, including data management, automation, integration, financial management, and personalization, Microsoft Dynamics consulting is ideal for organizations looking to improve their performance and grow their business. An ERP consultant can help agencies navigate the implementation process and ensure they make the most of the platform’s features.

 

Charulatha Velumani

Charulatha Velumani has been a proficient content strategist for B2B and IT industry-based content since 2019. Content Marketing is one of her key strengths as much as discovering new cuisines to eat. At times, she likes to get lost in her favorite parallel universe of reading books and discovering new integrated marketing communication campaigns.

 

 

Customer Financing 101: Understanding The Basics Of Offering Financing Options

By
admin
-
0

Consumer financing is a broad term that describes lending products customers use to purchase goods or services by using credit, allowing them to make payments over time. Interest rates and credit limits are generally based on the customer’s creditworthiness which can be determined by a variety of factors such credit score and debt to income ratio. As new options for financing have entered the market, it is becoming increasingly popular for businesses to take advantage of the benefit of offering financing options to their customers.

In this guide, we will explore the different types of customer financing, the benefits of offering customer financing options, and best practices for implementing customer financing.

Types of Customer Financing

There are several different types of customer financing, each with its own unique features and benefits.

Revolving Credit.

Revolving credit is a type of credit line that allows customers to borrow up to a certain limit and make payments over time. This type of financing is used for credit cards and home equity lines of credit. They allow the customer to draw funds from their account as long as they don’t exceed the credit limit. One benefit of revolving credit is that customers can use it repeatedly.

Installment Loans.

These are loans that customers repay in regular payments, usually over a period of several months or years, depending on the loan amount. These loans are often used for large purchases such as cars or appliances and come with a fixed APR. This lets customers know exactly how much they will need to pay each month, which makes it easier to budget for the loan.

Leasing.

This is a financing option that enables customers to obtain the use of a product or service for a specific period, usually several years, by making regular payments. At the end of the lease term, the borrower usually has the option to purchase the product, return it to the lessor, or extend the lease. This option is frequently employed for expensive items such as cars and equipment. An advantage of leasing is that customers are not responsible for maintaining or fixing the item, which is typically the duty of the lessor.

Rent-to-Own.

This enables customers to rent a product or service for a specified period and then have the option to buy it at the end of the rental period. This option is commonly used for items such as furniture and appliances. Customers have the opportunity to test the product before making a commitment to purchase it. Often the terms leasing and rent-to-own are used interchangeably. 

However, while rent-to-own offers the borrower an option to buy, a lease agreement can include conditions that obligate the borrower to purchase the product at the end of the lease.

Benefits of Offering Customer Financing

Offering customer financing options can bring many advantages to businesses.

Increased Sales.

By offering financing options, businesses can make it easier for customers to purchase goods and services, which can lead to increased sales.

Enhanced Customer Loyalty.

Customers who are able to finance their purchases are more likely to be loyal to the business and return for future purchases.

Improved Cash Flow.

Providing financing options can improve cash flow for businesses by allowing them to receive payment for their product or services in full.

Reduced Risk.

By partnering with a lender, businesses can reduce the risk of non-payment by having the lender assume the credit risk.

How to Implement Customer Financing

Implementing customer financing can be done in a few different ways, depending on the needs of the business.

Partnering with a Lender.

One way to implement customer financing is to partner with a lender who can provide financing options to customers. This can be done by working with a bank, credit union, or alternative lender.

Offering In-House Financing.

This can be done by setting up a line of credit for customers or by offering a layaway program. This is a good option for businesses that don’t want to partner with an outside lender.

Using a Third-Party Financing Platform.

Third-party financing platforms can be advantageous for businesses in several ways. They often have a variety of lenders and financing products available, allowing businesses to customize options for their customers. The onboarding process with these companies is often quick and the platforms are designed to be easy to use.

Best Practices for Customer Financing

To ensure that customer financing is beneficial for both the business and their customers, it is important to follow best practices.

Clear and Transparent Terms.

The terms of the financing should be clear and transparent so that customers understand exactly what they are agreeing to. This includes the interest rate, repayment schedule, and any fees or penalties.

Flexible Repayment Options,

Offering flexible repayment options, such as the ability to make extra payments or change the repayment schedule, can make financing more accessible to customers.

Regular Communication with Customers.

Communicating regularly with customers, including sending reminders about upcoming payments, can help to ensure that payments are made on time. This applies to businesses offering in-house financing. If a business chooses to partner with a lender or third-party financing platform, repayments are generally handled by the creditor or servicer of the loan.

Providing Education and Resources.

Supplying customers with education and resources, such as financial literacy resources, can help them to make informed decisions about financing and budgeting for their purchases.

Offering customer financing options can bring many benefits to businesses, including increased sales, increased customer loyalty, improved cash flow, and reduced risk. To successfully implement customer financing, it is important to understand the options available and determine which solution will work best for the business.

By following best practices, such as clear and transparent terms, flexible repayment options, and regular communication with customers, businesses can ensure that customer financing is beneficial for both the business and the customer. Overall, customer financing is a great lending solution that can help businesses to grow and succeed.

 

The Praise Sandwich: Employee Feedback And Coaching

By
Contributor
-
0

by Paul Seabridge, author of “Buy, Build, Sell“

I am a strong believer that, as a leader or manager, you should always strive to help your team members improve. A great way to do this is through feedback and coaching. I have a method for this, used and refined over twenty years, which I have found to be effective. I call it the praise sandwich. You have two pieces of bread with a filling in the middle. The two pieces of bread are the positive feedback you want to deliver; the filling is the not so good part that the employee needs to change.

The way you deliver that feedback is also important. If I said to you, ‘You are great at this, not very good at that, but really good at this’, I am simply telling you my feedback. This is not productive. Instead, you want to get the person receiving the feedback to do most of the talking; you want them to tell you what they’re doing well and not so well.

For instance, instead of saying, ‘That call wasn’t good’, I might ask, ‘How do you think that call went?’. Or ‘If you were to do things differently next time, what would you change?’ If they struggle to say what you need them to say, you can probe further. ‘When you said this to the customer, how did they respond? How do you think they perceived that? Would you word it differently next time? What would you say?’

I try to have 70% of the feedback focusing on three positive things that you appreciate and want them to keep doing, and 30% focused on development. Roughly speaking:

  • The first piece of bread equates to 50% of the conversation, talking about the positives
  • The filling is 30% of the conversation, speaking about the areas for improvement
  • The second piece of bread is the final 20% of the conversation, recapping the positives

Make sure you signpost each section. For instance, ‘In summary, I need you to keep doing XYZ. Now let’s talk about the areas you think could be improved/ changed. So next time, you will do XYZ.’ Be sure to always circle back and finish on a positive.

You can use this type of feedback to improve processes/methods and behaviour. For example, if you had an employee turning up late for work you could have a conversation like this:

  • ‘What time did you arrive to work this morning?’ (Late)
  • ‘Why did you not arrive at the start time?’ (Overslept)
  • ‘How can you ensure you arrive for work on time?’ (Set the alarm clock earlier)

With this way of delivering feedback, you get the team member to answer probing questions so that they identify the feedback themselves without you having to state it for them. The reason you want to get the person to tell you what they’re doing and what they need to change, is that no one likes being told off or told what to do. A level of emotional intelligence is required, to show empathy towards all members of your organisation and ensure they feel valued within the business. Using kind language and balancing out any criticism with positive comments is important to maintain a consistent level of positivity.

Coaching is leading from the front and showing an individual what to do. When coaching someone, I always focus the session on a particular topic. Back when I hired trainee recruiters, I would make sales calls with them and show them how I did it. Then I would ask them to make a call while I observed, giving feedback afterwards. Coaching also involves setting goals and taking actions. It is a great way to help people develop skill sets and grow their competence within a business, especially if the coach/ mentor has specific and relevant expertise in an area of knowledge. This is one of the more direct ways in which a leader in the business can help to develop the expertise and skill sets of the team.

 

 *Extracted from Buy, Build, Sell by Paul Seabridge

 

Paul Seabridge is a global entrepreneur, published author, private investor and corporate advisor. He has been an active investor in SMEs for almost two decades and is CEO and Founder of Mergers, Acquisitions, Private Equity firm Opulentia Capital. He is author of “Buy, Build, Sell“, which covers topics such as recruitment, sales, business finance and accounting and then how to sell on a business through an IPO, merger, acquisition or similar.

 

5 Ways Your Company Will Come Out Ahead With SOX Compliance

By
admin
-
0

If you operate in an industry subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002, you understand that failure to comply can lead to dire consequences. 

SOX is a U.S. federal law governing certain aspects of business financial reporting and record-keeping. It imposes stringent penalties on businesses that fail to comply with the act. For instance, Section 302 of the act says that officers are subject to criminal penalties, including possible prison sentences, if they knowingly sign off on inaccurate financial statements, making data transparency a critical component for SOX compliance.

But besides your desire to avoid penalties, what specific benefits does compliance afford your business? Continue reading to see five benefits of SOX compliance for your company.

1. Risk Prioritization.

One way SOX compliance can benefit your company is by prioritizing risks. You’ll want to minimize all risks, but some are more essential to safeguard against than others. Using the right SOX compliance reporting software will allow your business to conduct risk assessments. You’ll be able to evaluate risks and determine if the risks pertain to confidentiality, availability, or integrity. 

Knowing your business’ risk landscape is essential if you’re to launch a focused risk assessment. With a SOX compliant reporting tool, you can then focus most on safeguarding against the risks that present the most significant challenges.

2. Higher-Quality SOX Compliance Audits.

SOX compliance will also help your company conduct higher-quality internal audits. Your business will be more efficient and productive if it conducts internal audits. That’s why it makes sense to get the right audit software to help manage and scale higher-quality audits. Conducting better internal audits will have a trickle-down impact that leads to better external audits. 

SOX compliance efforts will also lead to better future internal audits, more transparent financial reporting, and enhanced internal control structure. When you get the right Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) compliance software, control owners can update their own narrative and certify controls in one central financial reporting platform.  

3. Better Control Awareness.

When consulting the SOX law, you’ll find that Sections 302 and 404 mandate documentation for controls. Required documentation includes personnel policies, operations manuals, and recorded control processes. It’ll take effort to meet the requirement for controls documentation, but complying with this SOX requirement also means your company will have a full audit trail and enhanced controls awareness. A SOX compliant reporting software like Workiva can link control narratives and flowcharts directly from your RCM, so your team always has access to the most up-to-date data for your next stakeholder report. When concentrating on internal controls through SOX assessments, your business will realize the importance of having the necessary controls in one, centralized cloud platform.

4. Better Financial Reporting.

SOX compliance is about helping businesses to achieve streamlined financial reporting. The primary purpose of SOX is to ensure financial reporting transparency, after all. While it’ll take time and effort to assemble documentation and bolster controls, doing so will translate into financial reporting that is more accurate and more efficient. In addition, this will ensure compliance with the financial reporting transparency annual SOX audits call for. With a financial reporting platform like Workiva, controllers can ensure their accounting team can collaborate, meet important deadlines, and improve SOX compliance and record-keeping inside one, centralized cloud reporting tool. With automated financial reporting you can rest easy knowing your financial reporting is accurate and you won’t waste time and money on fixing errors.

5. Better Company-Wide Collaboration.

Does your business encourage collaboration and communication across the enterprise, or do different departments operate independently with little interaction? SOX compliance requires collaboration amongst the various departments in your company. If the departments operate as proverbial islands, your SOX compliance efforts are doomed. Internal auditors, controllers and anyone overseeing SOX assessments must cooperate with anyone involved in information and financial controls.

As you can see, compliance is essential for SOX compliant audit reports. But it’s also in the best interests for your business, both now and in the future. It’s not just nice to have — it’s a must-have. You’ll find SOX compliance to be more manageable when you find the right software. It’ll simplify a process that can otherwise be complex and time-consuming, freeing your employees to focus on other core responsibilities. 

 

4 Things To Know About Startup Financing

By
admin
-
0
growth

growth

You’ve been sitting on a great business idea for a while. You’ve created a business plan and are preparing to get things off the ground. But there’s still one crucial requirement you’ve yet to fulfill.

Financing a startup is one of the most common challenges for entrepreneurs. You’ll need to acquire capital if you don’t have it yet. Fortunately, there are several approaches you can take, each with its advantages and disadvantages. 

This post will cover the four main things you need to know about financing your startup: what financing is, two funding categories to be aware of, why a business plan is important, and some financing strategies to consider.

What ‘Startup Financing’ Means (And How Financing Differs From Funding)

‘Startup financing’ and ‘funding’ are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the same thing. But they’re separate concepts that share somewhat of a gray area.

‘Startup financing’ refers to the money acquired to launch a new business venture. Businesses typically seek financing for capital expenditures, business operations, expansion, globalization, acquiring real estate, or onboarding new team members. However, financing is typically money the lender expects you to pay back with interest (nondilutive financing) or given in exchange for partial ownership (dilutive financing). 

‘Funding’ is a similar but much broader term. It’s money procured for a business to achieve a specific goal. It differs from ‘financing’ in a way that some types of funding aren’t expected to be repaid, such as a government grant. Essentially, though, it can be given as a debt, in exchange for equity, or as sponsorship money to fulfill a mutual interest.

The Two Main ‘Categories’ To Keep In Mind

Gaining capital for a business might be considered from various perspectives and looked at from multiple categories. And there are many types of funding or financing you could gain. But there are two specific sorts of funding to be aware of.

Namely, these are dilutive and non dilutive funding. Without going into too much detail, whichever of these types of funding you acquire will later affect your ownership of the business or how much debt it has.

Here’s a quick overview: 

Dilutive funding dilutes your business ownership by exchanging equity, or shares, in exchange for capital. Alternatively, nondilutive funding grants capital without sacrificing equity, but you’ll likely be promising something in return.

It’s important to consider how each of these will influence your business and the decisions you’ll need to make. For example, dilutive funding often means you’ll need to consider the interests of other equity holders. Would you want to do that long-term?

You Should Create A Concise Business Plan

A business plan is an almost nonnegotiable requirement when negotiating third-party financing or funding. They’re not as tricky to create as you might expect. Having one helps you define your goals, keep your business on track, and reach the milestones you set. You can also use it when reflecting on your business strategies after reaching those milestones.

Not only that, it’s your opportunity to show you’re doing everything mentioned above. Nobody hands out money for free. Everyone who gives you money expects to gain positive financial returns from you. A good business plan helps inspire confidence that their investment won’t go to waste.

Different Ways To Fund Your Startup

By now, you must be asking how to get startup financing. There are too many options to cover them all. But these are some of the most common methods used by new entrepreneurs.

1. Personal Financing.

This is when you use your personal funds to finance something your business needs. It can minimize debt or equity dilution even if you can’t finance everything. You can also take on personal credit lines, which you must be prepared to pay back in installments with interest. It can minimize debt or equity dilution even if you can’t finance everything.

2. Business Loans.

Applying for a small business loan is another valid path. You can get one from a bank or another lender. To apply, you’ll usually need your credit history and something to put up for collateral. You may also be asked to define exactly what the loan is for, which is where a business plan will help. Most loans can be considered an example of financing.

3. Crowdfunding.

A relatively new and popular way to amass business capital. With crowdfunding, you publicly publish a detailed description of your business and product. The goal is to garner the interest of those who want your product. Then anyone can either donate money or give you money as a ‘preorder,’ and you promise they’ll receive your product when you’ve gained sufficient funds. Crowdfunding is a type of nondilutive funding.

4. Venture Capital.

You’d usually consider venture capital when your business already generates revenue. It’s essentially a type of equity funding provided by private investors. It’s a good idea to learn about your investors before taking this route. They’ll also want to know about you, so you should know your business well and be prepared to answer any question.

Conclusion

Starting a business is never easy; finding enough financing for a startup can become one of your biggest hurdles. Luckily, there are multiple ways to get the capital you need. And if you’ve put effort into creating a valuable product or service, you have a good chance of finding someone to invest in you.

Prepare your business, yourself, and any business partners because it can be a challenging search. Ensure you know your business and understand what each financing option you seek entails. Good luck!

 

Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: Five Inclusion-Friendly Acts To Help Coworkers Feel Safe And Welcome

By
Contributor
-
0

by Amri B. Johnson, CEO of Inclusion Wins and author of “Reconstructing Inclusion: Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable“

Most of us would never dream of ostracizing our coworkers — and especially not those who have historically been excluded in the workplace because of their perceived “otherness.” And yet, many people routinely feel left out of the workplace culture. Often, it is because truly good people, who wholeheartedly support the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion, don’t go far enough to show they care.

Real inclusion is rooted in what’s in our hearts, but it must live in our daily actions. Good intentions aren’t enough. While leaders can set the tone for everyone to follow, caring peer-to-peer interactions make the biggest positive impact.

Here are a few ways to ensure your colleagues feel seen, heard, and valued.

1. Actively seek out new people at work.

If you don’t, you might collaborate only with those who are just like you. (This can happen.) So go out of your way to forge connections with people you don’t know.

2. Give others a chance to share ideas too.

Refrain from interrupting, speaking over others, or holding the floor for too long during meetings. Instead, work on your active listening skills. It’s an excellent method for hearing others and being heard. When listening, give the speaker your full attention (e.g., put away your phone). If you are unsure of their meaning, wait until the speaker has finished and summarize what you heard in your own words. Give the other person a chance to clarify if necessary. Be curious. Ask insightful and thoughtful questions.

3. Do the “little things” that make people feel a sense of belonging.

Thoughtful gestures can show someone that they are seen and welcomed in the group. For example, if you’re getting yourself a coffee or tea, ask a coworker you don’t yet know well if you can grab them one too (or, if you are remote, place an order at their local coffee shop via your app and then get on a video/audio chat while you drink it). Instead of sharing a funny story with just your closest coworker, invite the person within earshot into the conversation. When religious or cultural holidays roll around, don’t hesitate to say, “Ramadan Mubarak,” “Happy Easter,” or, “Happy Hanukkah,” to those who observe.

4. Ask people to share where they are “local.”

While it is worthwhile to share personal preferred pronouns, it might be more impactful to hear about the places and spaces where people practice rituals, have formed meaningful relationships, and have also experienced restrictions in some cases. A TED Talk by author Taiye Selasi details more about this powerful mechanism to more meaningfully connect to people with different and, in some cases, surprisingly similar experiences to yours.

5. Be authentic and encourage authenticity.

Most, if not all, people do some level of “covering” or hiding their true identities to conform at work. It makes everyone fearful of being judged or discriminated against for being themselves. To break this cycle, bring your authentic self by cultivating a willingness to be influenced by people different from you.

These are only the first steps — don’t be afraid to go further to build strong, lasting relationships with those different from you.

It’s really pretty simple: Inclusion comes down to choosing to take good care of one another. Treat everyone as if they belong, and you will make an important impact on your colleagues’ work lives.

 

Amri B. Johnson

Amri B. Johnson is the author of “Reconstructing Inclusion: Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable“. He is a social capitalist, epidemiologist, entrepreneur, and inclusion strategist. As CEO/founder of Inclusion Wins, Amri and a virtual collective of partners converge organizational purpose to create global impact with a lens of inclusion.

 

Innovating For Common Good

By
Contributor
-
0

by Alex Goryachev, author of “Fearless Innovation: Going Beyond The Buzzword To Continuously Drive Growth, Improve The Bottom Line, And Enact Change“

Now is the best time to expand technology innovation beyond efficiency and profits, and put it towards common good. The innovation-change cycle can be illustrated by the work of Abraham Maslow. If you’re not familiar with Maslow, he was a twentieth-century American psychologist, best known for developing the concept of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, typically depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels that address our material and immaterial human needs.

At the bottom level, we have our most basic physiological needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing. The next level up is safety, covering aspects like personal safety and financial security. Level three is that of friendship, family, and a sense of connection, known as the love and belonging level. The fourth level is esteem, including self-esteem, status, and the feeling of accomplishment. And the top level is self-actualization, basically a level that’s all about being the best people we can be, focused on a sense of morality, personal development, and creativity.

This pyramid shows that as one set of needs are met, others arise, and they always will until we reach the “self-actualization” zone. And though self-actualization is an excellent concept we should all strive for, it seems that for most people, more material desires will continue to replace any that have been met. (I’ll leave whether or not this is an endless cycle to the psychologists and real therapists.) The point is that, depending on time, place, and circumstances, fulfilling all of these needs presents challenges, especially as we move on up the pyramid.

Maslow’s hierarchy can actually be seen as one of innovation in practice. Innovation solves the issues society faces at each level, meeting demands of our physical safety, human collaboration, and social, cultural, and economic change. It’s a forward-looking mindset and attitude, and it can’t exist on its own, but only in relation to the world around us.

This concept can be illustrated by observing the earth at night. In 2017, NASA scientists released new global maps of the earth after the sun goes down around the world.  Produced almost every decade for the past twenty-five years, these “night light” maps contribute to a better understanding of our world, including changing economic, social, and environmental implications. When looking at the map, the first thing that jumps out is how dark it actually is throughout much of the globe despite a number of bright clusters. The dark areas are mostly spread out in developing countries, many of which have yet to begin experiencing the effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

While some of us are living in smart houses, with amenities like connected irrigation systems, and are sending off cotton swabs of DNA to learn about our personal genomics, almost half of the world has yet to get connected to the internet. While we’re playing on our smart phones, swiping left on Tinder or watching YouTube videos, one-third of the world population lacks access to clean water and half of the world population doesn’t have access to basic healthcare.

I don’t make these comparisons to be flip or to embarrass or shame anyone — there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s opportunities to pursue a variety of experiences. I bring these issues up because I firmly believe that we all have a responsibility to improve the living conditions for people everywhere. Such improvement can only happen through innovation and economic opportunity. Organizations that are leading this change by investing in making the world a better place end up benefiting more than just their shareholders — they benefit everyone.

 

Alex Goryachev, author of “Fearless Innovation: Going Beyond The Buzzword To Continuously Drive Growth, Improve The Bottom Line, And Enact Change“, is the former managing director of Cisco’s global Co-Innovation Center, where he spearheaded programs and initiatives to accelerate innovation. He is a Silicon Valley veteran who is a sought-after speaker on innovation and is often referred to as the ‘innovation therapist’.

 

Managing Your Online Presence During A Recession: Where Not To Scrimp And Save

By
Contributor
-
0

by JoAnne Gritter, COO, ddm marketing+communications

Who will be visiting your website or downloading your app today? What about in the future? Who in your organization will be responsible for serving online customers, clients, and employees long after your own career has taken you elsewhere?

Investing in your company’s digital infrastructure goes beyond protecting what you know to be vulnerable now ― particularly your organization’s proprietary data, plus the data of your customers and clients. It involves investing in what you can’t predict about tomorrow. Even if you understand your business inside-out, that knowledge only goes so far toward maintaining an online presence.

When budgeting for a possible economic downturn, it’s tempting to cut spending wherever possible. That might include your company’s digital experience. There are many valid reasons why the cost to maintain websites and apps remains high. Where can’t you scrimp and save, even when times are tough? That answer requires a forward-thinking mindset and plenty of digital expertise.

Here are five areas not worth compromising on your website during a recession:

1. Security.

Corporate investments to protect against cyberthreats have risen dramatically in the last five years. Issues of cybersecurity, user privacy, and accessibility are major concerns across every digital platform.

Threat modeling is the necessary, step-by-step process of ensuring the security of any online asset: identifying its function, the potential threats to that function, prioritizing the vulnerabilities, then taking action to resolve every issue. If your organization is collecting and storing information a hacker could use ― contact information, financial data, etc. ― threat modeling can help identify that data and secure the digital infrastructure needed to protect it.

Not every website will require a high degree of security, but any consumer or client data your organization collects can pose a potential security threat. Consider an intranet site containing proprietary pricing information. Most medium- to large-sized companies have an intranet of some kind, often with API integration to CRMs like Salesforce. Those integrations might be tremendously useful, but they make projects more expensive and are a high target for hackers.

2. Maintaining interconnections.

B2B and B2C apps, websites, and intranets are all interconnected now. Maintaining those connections are more important than ever. If one link in the chain is accidentally disconnected, an organization must consider the ramifications.

Look for broken links. Know the necessary security patches. Expect that not everything will work smoothly, and consider having an extra set of eyes ― a third-party risk assessment ― to identify points of vulnerability.

Depending on the degree of interconnectedness among your organization’s digital assets, an eye toward the future can be critical. An especially complicated network is difficult to hand off when there is turnover among the key players in your organization’s IT department. Consider the next IT team, and build a digital interface that will be easy for them to use and update depending on tomorrow’s needs.

3. Content audits.

The customer journey is an essential consideration for any organization. For those tempted to take a “set and forget” approach to building a website or app, consider your customers’ journey and how it might change. Is your content “evergreen” enough to stand the test of time as your business evolves? Does the content solve the problems and answer the common questions shared by your customers? Does the content reflect the current voice of your brand?

Auditing any outward-facing content might not be a pressing need for a website that doesn’t integrate with a CRM system, doesn’t store a relatively large amount of data, or doesn’t rely as much on interconnectedness. Other considerations are universal. Can a color-blind user see what is on the screen when they visit your site or download your app? Would a visually impaired person be able to hear the on-screen content they need? Depending on the function or service of your app, such safeguards for persons with disabilities might be mandated by law.

4. Project management.

Whether in-sourcing or out-sourcing a special project, smooth execution is critical if your budget offers little margin for error. Consider a new product or service being promoted on a website or app that’s designed to live online less than a year. Your organization has a relatively short window to make an impression. Advance planning and troubleshooting will be necessary ― tasks better left to an experienced project manager.

If your organization is small or medium-sized, or for large organizations that lack experience in digital project management, consider outsourcing the project. Choose a vendor that will not balloon the budget, the timeline, or the deliverables. An experienced vendor will be clear when communicating deadlines and budgets, and able to translate technical jargon into plain language for any client.

5. Privacy impact assessments.

In recent years, legislation has been enacted to protect the privacy of anyone visiting a website or an app. California and Europe now require businesses to offer a “do not track” option, which restricts the collection of consumer data on their websites and apps.

The Federal Trade Commission defines a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) as “an analysis of how personally identifiable information is collected, used, shared, and maintained.” In some cases, a PIA is required to ensure conformance with the applicable legal, regulatory, and policy requirements for privacy. Cutting a PIA out of your IT budget risks running afoul of the law.

The amount of labor each PIA requires depends on the amount of data your website and app collects. If you’re merely tracking Google Analytics ― not credit card information, HIPAA information, mailing addresses ― there’s much less risk in tracking what pages users are visiting. When personal information is collected, the laws are more rigorous.

 

JoAnne Gritter

JoAnne Gritter is Chief Operations Officer with ddm marketing + communications, a leading marketing agency for highly complex and highly regulated industries. JoAnne is responsible for overseeing and facilitating collaboration between all major functional areas at ddm, including Finance, Human Resources, IT, Operations, Sales and Marketing.

 

Surefire Business Tactics For Good First Impressions That Last 

By
admin
-
0

The importance of first impressions cannot be stressed enough in the world of business, with 13 percent of consumers reportedly being willing to pay 50 percent more to companies that they have a positive impression of, according to Customer Thermometer. The first impressions you create will be one of the most definitive factors to your business’ trajectory, and is something that any business would do well to pay extra attention to, especially newly established ones.

It’s arguably just as crucial for a startup to cover your bases when it comes to worker’s comp and other employee benefits. Whether you’re new to the world of commerce or could use some brushing up, these tactics are sure to give your business that extra impact it needs to put itself on the map.

Maximize Your Visibility.

A good first impression is only going to be worth making if people are there to see it. That’s why the most important part of setting up a good first impression is to make sure that you’ll be able to reach as large an audience as possible. After all, who’s going to pay any mind to a company with very few followers?
Back in the days of purely brick-and-mortar enterprises, businesses would sometimes commission a commercial to generate buzz. In this day and age however, many are skeptical of promotions, be it buying ad space on social media feeds or sponsoring influencers. The best way to make sure that people get a good impression of you is by using trusted avenues of communication. That means word of mouth, establishing yourself as an authoritative figure in your niche, and other organic ways to make your company more prominent.

Project an Air of Quality.

The key to first impressions is consistency. You have to make sure that the quality you present at the very first moment a person hears about your company carries all throughout their experience with you. At the same time, you also need to see to it that that quality encompasses all aspects of your business.

This mostly pertains to how you present yourself. Everything from the clothes you wear, designs you choose, and even your company car will affect people’s perception of you. This extends even deeper, right down to the appearance of your physical branches and the steps you take to be more sustainable and helpful towards the communities you’ve established yourself in. Sometimes all you need to do is update your business aesthetics, dress smartly, and give your building a good pressure washing. Other times, you may need to plan out a sustainability drive and other social programs to ensure that your image is immaculate inside and out.

Engage Your Audience Effectively.

People want to do business with businesses that they can interact with easily. This is why companies with good customer service ultimately triumph over ones that don’t. But more than meeting problems when they arise, you’ll also have to proactively converse with your client base at every opportunity. This will let you hone in on what truly needs to be done for your business to best serve its clientele, and you won’t even have to do any investigating to do it. Given an easy channel to communicate with you, your customers will tell you that themselves. Try and think of other creative ways to engage with your clientele.

The more you engage with your customers, the more you present yourself as a put-together company that can handle its business. Moreover, maintaining the image of a business ready to extend a helping hand rather than another corporation that only wants to sell things goes over incredibly well with today’s consumers.

The key takeaway from all of this is that today’s customers want you to deliver quality service, but they also need to see you display authenticity, passion, and commitment. After decades of the public being inundated with disingenuous marketing ploys, the best marketing in this day and age is honesty and transparency.

 

How To Become A Professional Novelist

By
admin
-
0

Many dream of becoming professional novelists, but only a few take the required steps to write a novel. If you’re still considering the idea of being a professional novelist, this article discusses a few ways to achieve this.

Read Extensively

Samuel Johnson once said that writers spend most of their time reading; they would even turn over half a library just to make one book. To become an excellent writer, you must absorb fantastic literature. And the more books you read, the more you expose yourself to high-quality writing. Through reading, you internalize text elements and later implement them in your work. Reading also gives you ideas you can use as inspiration to start writing.

Explore the World

Although you can read books and learn about storytelling techniques, you cannot write someone’s story as yours. You’ll need to create your story from real-life experiences, and here’s where traveling and exploring the world comes in.

Exploring the world and recording your experiences can help create a good story. Most successful novelists write stories based on their experiences. Even if you have specific experiences for your first novel, it’s not wrong to explore and gather more. Travel more, meet new people, try new things, and record anything that spikes your interest, even if it’s a story someone told you. You may be interested in using it in your writing with their permission, of course.

Find the Story You Want to Tell

As you read extensively and explore the world, you’ll come across numerous story ideas. This may tempt you to choose one and start writing but don’t. A story idea may be great, but that’s not enough. You need to write about something you’re passionate about, so you won’t easily be fatigued or demotivated to work through the nights.

When a story idea crosses your mind, think deeply about how it connects to your experience and whether you strongly desire it to be narrated in literature. Take time and feel the story’s impact on readers and society. All these factors will help you establish if the story idea is a must-write.

Build On Characters

Once you have a story idea, the next thing is to build on characters. Characters make a story great, and there are different types of character archetypes you can choose to have in your work. However, having characters alone is not enough. Your characters need to have inner and outer lives. The outer part is the story idea, events, climax, twists, conflicts, and resolutions occurring in the novel. Then there’s the inner component you have to establish.

Write Often

If you commit to writing every day, your thoughts will become clearer, your grammar will improve, and you’ll enjoy writing more. Choose a specific number of words you can write daily, and ensure you consistently hit your target. With time, your writing will be more successful, and you’ll become a professional novelist.

Becoming a professional novelist involves much work, but it’s worth it in the long run. The most crucial thing is reading extensively, exploring and recording the world, building on characters, and practicing writing daily. With time, you’ll master the skill of writing and become a great author.

 

Lost In A Sea Of Data?

By
Contributor
-
0

by Elizabeth Thede, director of sales at dtSearch

Ever feel like you are in a leaky canoe barely staying afloat atop terabytes of data? Transform that leaky canoe into a state-of-the-art exploration submarine with a search engine.

When you think of a search engine, you probably conjure a scan-the-Internet search engine such as Google. Enterprise search engines are in a different product category from your typical online search engine. With an enterprise search engine like dtSearch® one or more exploration submarines can instantly plumb oceans of data and emerge with treasures from the deep.

An enterprise search engine works its search magic after first indexing the data. While indexing requires a lot of effort, all you have to do is point to the folders, email stores, etc., to index, and the search engine will take it from there. When you review files and emails, you typically retrieve them in their associated applications: Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat Reader, etc. For efficiency, however, the search engine must bypass the associated applications’ retrieval and go straight to the binary formats of files.

While associated applications optimize their file displays for readability, binary formats can look like a sea of binary codes, making it hard to make out any words at all. To identify the text, the search engine needs to apply the right parsing specification. These specifications can be hundreds of pages long and vary dramatically not only across different file types, but sometimes even within different versions of the same file type. While a file extension can suggest the file type, it is far from definitive, as it is not hard to save a PDF with a .DOCX extension or a Word document with a .PDF extension. For accuracy, the search engine needs to rely on the binary format itself to determine the parsing specification to apply.

After applying the correct parsing specification, the search engine is ready to start indexing. The index is an internal tool the search engine builds recording each unique word and number in the data and also tracks the location of each. Expect the search engine to go quite deep here in its indexing reach. For example:

  • Text that blends in with the background color in an associated application view, like aqua blue writing against an aqua blue background, may be nearly impossible to spot in an associated application view but is just regular text to a search engine
  • “Hidden” metadata that may take a lot of clicking around in an associated application before you even know that it is there is on par with any other metadata to a search engine
  • Indexing covers multi-tiered nested structures down to the innermost level, like an email with a ZIP or RAR attachment with an embedded Word document inside, with the Word document itself containing an Excel spreadsheet.

After indexing, the submarines are free to start their explorations. For shared work environments, there are no limits on the number of instant concurrent search threads (or submarines) that can all dive at once without affecting other search threads. Searching can span all data, or hone in on specific metadata only. Queries can range from simple “all words” or “any words” search requests to highly intricate word and phrase Boolean (and/or/not) along with proximity search formulations.

Search covers not only European languages, but also right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic, and double-byte text like Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Fuzzy searching sifts through minor deviations in spelling such as mistypes (or mistypos) in an email. Concept searching finds synonyms of search terms. The search engine can also locate numbers and numeric ranges as well as dates and date ranges across different date formats. The search engine can even flag any credit card numbers that may have wormed their way into data.

A search engine has multiple options for relevancy-ranking, letting you sort and instantly re-sort search results by relevancy or other criteria. After a search, the search engine will dive to the bottom of the ocean to pull out a complete copy of retrieved items that you can then browse in full with highlighted hits. And if your ocean of data has new content flowing in and out, no problem. Instant concurrent searching can continue uninterrupted even while an index updates to reflect data additions, deletions or modifications.

Lost in a sea of data no more!

 

Elizabeth Thede is director of sales at dtSearch. An attorney by training, Elizabeth has spent many years in the software industry. At home, she grows a lot of plants, and has a poorly behaved but very cute rescue dog. Elizabeth also writes technical articles and is a regular contributor to The Price of Business Nationally Syndicated by USA Business Radio, with current articles on the USA Daily Times and The Daily Blaze. 

 

Three Reasons Why Personal Trainers Need Insurance

By
admin
-
0

If you’re here, you’re looking for reasons to buy personal trainer insurance from the Insure Fitness Group. Insurance might seem unnecessary if you’ve never had a claim. However, many things could go wrong throughout your career, and liability insurance provides you with a safety net when they do. In this article, we’ll explain how personal trainer insurance can benefit you.

What Is Personal Trainers Insurance?

This is liability coverage for damages or injuries resulting from your professional services. It could also be a protection plan for the equipment and gear you use to run your training business. Whether you train at a gym, in different facilities, in your home, or online, you’re faced with several accidents that could occur daily. It only takes a few seconds for your gear to suffer damage or for someone to get hurt.

When an accident happens, your personal trainer’s insurance helps to significantly lower or eliminate the amount you’ll have to pay out of pocket. Some of the costs it could cover include legal fees, malpractice cases, clients’ medical bills, stolen property, etc. Your policy usually covers damages or injuries your service might have inflicted on third parties like a location or client. This could be a client breaking an ankle during a session or someone breaking the equipment you’re helping them use in the gym.

Three Reasons Why Personal Trainers Need Insurance

Now that you know what personal trainers’ insurance is, below are some benefits of having this coverage.

1. Your Gym Insurance Doesn’t Protect You.

If you work at a gym or contract with one, they have insurance protecting them. However, even though the gym provides you with a spot for hosting your clients and the equipment you need for the job, they don’t offer you insurance. If someone sues you, the gym’s insurance cannot protect you and doesn’t cover your legal fees or settlement costs.

2. Protects Your Business from Accidents.

A lawsuit could easily ruin your business. With legal fees draining your bank account and the stress of dealing with these expenses affecting how you work, there’ll be little to nothing left of your business to manage. However, when you purchase insurance from Insure Fitness Group, they’ll deal with your lawsuit’s costs.

3. Makes Your Business Appear Professional.

Having insurance can be the differentiating factor between you and your competition. It will show your clients that you’re a professional and they can trust you with your health. An insurance policy indicates that you’re ready for the worst-case scenarios and need to manage your risks as a business owner. Therefore, having insurance will make you stand out and help to build trust between you and potential clients.

Final Thoughts

Being a personal trainer comes with some risks that could impact your career. Your clients could get hurt and file a lawsuit against you as their trainer. You should protect your gadgets and career from frivolous claims by seeking personal trainer insurance from the Insure Fitness Group. Insurance gives you peace of mind because you know that if anything happens, the costs for legal services don’t come from your pockets.

 

How To Secure Venture Capital Funding Even If You’re A New Entrepreneur

By
Contributor
-
0

by Karl Swanepoel, CEO and founder of Revolancer

The world of venture capital fundraising has seen an interesting year in 2022. The previous year has witnessed high raises. According to Pitchbook, U.S. venture firms raised $150.9 billion across 593 funds throughout the third quarter of 2022.

Although that is an impressive amount, that peak is paralleled by the slow distribution of assets to the startup market. Venture capitalists have not only lessened their number of investments but have also been more selective about the startups they want to cultivate.

The reason why fundraising has been significantly harder last year is that venture capitalists have become more risk-averse. Investors are taking time to deploy their capital. With 2021 raising 333 billion U.S. dollars for funds, 2022 is a period where investments “cool down” as they wait for their initial investments to get traction.

Entrepreneurs still have high hopes for 2023. Since there has been a significant hold on capital last year while still raising funds in the billions, there is a chance that we will be able to see investors loosening that grip to fund more startups in 2023 Q1.

While there is no way to predict the trends of how investors will use their money, there are some key tips on how considerably increase your chances of securing the funding you need even as a new entrepreneur.

1. Make sure your company is solving a problem.

Roots run deep. Investors are no longer swayed if you call your product, “The next big thing”. Problems create a certain demand, and demand gives you an opportunity to create value.

2. Have a solid pitch deck that explains your business with the least detail possible.

An average investor spends about 2-4 mins reading through an entire deck. It needs to be digestible that fast so less is indeed more.

Try to approach your pitch deck using a LEAN model. When making your slides, make sure you’re not shoving too many ideas in one slide otherwise you’ll risk having investors focus on trivial things and not the main idea.

Investors only have 30 minutes – 1 hour in an ordinary call. So, you ideally want to minimise your pitching time and maximize your time for the Q&A conversation. By having investors ask questions, you are able to clear any objections rather than babbling on about your company.

3. Have an ask in your pitch deck.

When you show your pitch, the main question that investors get is, “What now?”. You need to show what you are looking for, and where it will get you. Investors want to fund milestones, not time.

4. Highlight what makes your business impressive.

When creating a narrative, you can put the spotlight on the people or communities you’ll be helping, previous funding, and high-profile advisors guiding your company, revenue, & user growth.

Determine the key metrics or the industry standard. That way, you can position your company as a rising player in the startup ecosystem.

5. Reach out to investors in ways other people are not.

It is not enough to just submit a deck and leave it all to chance. As a founder, you have to actively seek out and build relationships with investors. That includes communicating with them aside from the usual platform such as LinkedIn.

Think of avenues of reaching them others may not think of, and stand out quickly.

6. In pitch calls, ask them questions.

You want to make sure they are the right fit for you too. Asking investors questions gives you a pathway to knowing what they’re particularly looking for.

7. Finally, practice, practice, practice your pitch as much as possible.

You can ask for the insight of other founders or any investors. If they do have feedback or questions, tweak your value proposition accordingly.

If they say no, it doesn’t mean it will always be a no – reach out to them again in the future, and keep them in the loop.

This will likely make a good impression on you as it shows you don’t just give up.

At the same time, if investors say it’s not for them, you can still turn it around by asking politely if they will hop on a call anyway and offer you feedback on your pitch.

You become memorable by taking feedback from them and they’re more likely to introduce you to their network if you decide to ask.

 

Karl Swanepoel is a tech entrepreneur based in the UK. Because of his passion to improve freelancing work conditions, he became the CEO and founder of Revolancer, a freelance marketplace startup that charges zero commission fees. He was the youngest-ever brand ambassador for Britain’s largest business conference, The Business Show, and is now currently helping fellow founders in their journey to starting their own company.

 

Your Comprehensive Guide To Starting Your Business In 2023

By
admin
-
0

The first step in becoming your boss is deciding to take a huge risk. If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve already taken the most crucial first step. Congratulations! You are now ready to learn the foundations of creating a business from the ground up. But where do you even begin?

Let’s go through the essential steps in starting your business in 2023.

Find Your Business Concept

The bulk of business advisors will tell you to earn money doing something you’re passionate about, but this misses two critical criteria: the idea must also be profitable and something you’re talented at. For example, you may have a love for music, but how likely is it that you will be able to establish a music-related business if you are not a very excellent singer or songwriter? You may have a love for making soap and want to open a soap store in your little town, but there are already three soap businesses in the region. Cornering the market will be difficult if you manufacture the same product as other firms in the nearby region.

Research Your Competitors and Market

The majority of businesses invest more time in their products than they do in analyzing their market competitors. If you decide to seek outside funding, the potential lender or business partner will want to know what distinguishes your business idea. If the findings of your market research suggest that demand for your product or service in your area has peaked, you may want to explore a different approach. Consider housekeeping; instead of providing general cleaning services, you might, for example, focus on houses with dogs or on cleaning garages.

Develop Your Business Plan

A business plan is a living document that serves as a road map for the development of a new company. Prospective investors, financial institutions, and corporate management will find it easy to understand and absorb the information and elements included. Even if you intend to fund your firm entirely on your own, drafting a business plan may help you refine your idea and identify potential stumbling blocks.

Evaluate Your Company’s Financial Situation

There are expenses connected with starting a business, and you must design a strategy to meet those expenditures before proceeding. Will you need funding to start your new business endeavor, or will you be able to fund it on your own? Do you have enough money saved up to cover your necessities until you start earning a profit if you wish to quit your current job to concentrate on your business full-time?

It’s a good idea to conduct some research and figure out how much the first investment will cost. Many businesses fail because they run out of money before they become profitable. It is never a good idea to overestimate the amount of start-up capital you will need since it may take a long time for a firm to generate consistent income.

Make It Legal

It is essential to incorporate your firm as a limited liability company (LLC), limited liability partnership (LLP), or corporation to establish a distinct legal structure. This is a financial structure between you, the owner, and your company.

Make Your Brand an Online Presence

Whether you have a conventional storefront or do all of your business online, your customers need a way to discover more about your company and the items or services you provide. Consider who your ideal customer is and what information you want them to know about your company. If your business does not already have a website, creating a central spot for it online is critical to get your message out there and building a client base with the help of BANG! Web Site Design ideas.

Find Your Premises

It might be difficult to know where to begin your search for a new office site. However, there are several tools accessible that are meant to aid. You can look at the websites of local governments, which often have a list of the business parks and knowledge districts in the area. You can also talk to private landlords and look at places yourself.

If you wish to do something similar, you may speak to universities and other public institutions that foster innovation. New businesses often get extra benefits from these sites, like the chance to connect with other creative businesses.

Build Your Network

Partnerships made along the way are often very important to the success of new businesses. They could be good for your business in terms of growth or money, which can help you find complementary businesses and referrals that drive your growth.

There is a broad variety of contexts in which people might engage in networking activities. There are always going to be possibilities available for you to take advantage of, regardless of whether you are attending a conference or event.

The quality of the connections you make through networking is typically higher, which makes it simpler to follow up with referrals and convert them into clients. You might get good business from the new leads you get from your marketing efforts.

Grow Your Business

At this stage, your small business should be functioning like a well-oiled machine. Take some time to celebrate your accomplishments. If you’ve arrived at this stage, it implies you’ve successfully developed a germ of an idea into a living business. So, what are we to do now? It’s conceivable that you’ll choose to retain your organization on a smaller scale, concentrating instead on building more strong relationships with a core group of loyal consumers and managing all operations on your own.

 

[Review] Poly Studio P5 Web Camera

By
Daniel Goh
-
0
Poly Studio P5 and Sync 20

Poly Studio P5 and Sync 20

One thing we learned over the pandemic period? The importance of a professional work station at home. From an ergonomically-sound desk and seat setup to the appropriate video conferencing equipment, the right remote setup can mean the difference between a comfortable conference call to one that gives you an aching back and neck.

And not to mention a properly executed conference call experience! For that we’ve found that a professional-grade webcam can work wonders. Yes, the in-built camera on your desktop or laptop is sufficient in a pinch while chatting with friends, but for calls with business associates – or an interviewer – you want roll out the big guns. I recently had a chance to review the Poly Studio P5 Webcam, and can tell you it makes a world of difference.

One of Poly’s recently-introduced line of P-series products for home and enterprise use, the plug-and-play Poly Studio P5 is ridiculously easy to set up. Simply plug into a spare USB port in your computer, and voila, it should work like a dream without the need for drivers.

Poly Studio P5

You’ll immediately notice the absolute clarity offered by the device’s full-HD optics. For those who’ve only ever relied on in-built web cams, turning the P5 on is like a short-sighted person putting on powered lenses for the first time. Automatic low light compensation also means that you can work in a darker environment without affecting video quality.

Then there’s the wider 80-degree field of view, which is useful if you need to show things around you off to your viewers. But this also means you need to be hiding things that you don’t want seen by other parties, like your dirty coffee mug or that Pokemon figurine in the shelf behind you.

Other features we like? The integrated privacy shutter. Simply turn the ring control to reveal or close the webcam lens. There’s also a built-in directional microphone with the P5, but we’ve found that pairing with Poly’s Sync 20 smart speakerphone here works wonders.

Poly Sync 20

We’ve all sat through hour-long conference calls with no small amount of discomfort, especially if you’re wearing heavy headsets. This sleek and compact Poly smart speakerphone system effectively eliminates that problem. Its full duplex audio offers remarkably clear sound quality too, both for conference calls and music. Even better? Like the P5, it’s plug and play.

When putting together a good work-from-home setup, there are a number of things to consider. Getting a professional web camera – like the Poly P5 – should be on top of the list to level up your remote work experience.

Get this from Shopee or Lazada.

 

What Is Field Service Management Software?

By
admin
-
0

Field service management software (FSM) is a type of software that helps businesses keep track of their field service operations. This can include scheduling appointments, dispatch, invoicing, and more. While some businesses can get by without FSM software, it can be a valuable tool for keeping track of your field service business.

This blog post will look at what FSM software is and how it can help you manage your field service business.

Benefits of Using Field Service Management Software

The use of field service management software provides numerous benefits to businesses. They include;

Create a centralized database of customer records.

Companies using such software can create a centralized database of customer records and employee data, allowing for efficient and accurate tracking of jobs and scheduling while minimizing errors. Businesses can work more efficiently as tasks can be allocated and tracked from one central hub.

Improved customer satisfaction.

Automation also helps to create more time for customer service improvement and provides customers with the ability to track progress via online portals. Improved customer satisfaction helps foster customer loyalty toward a business. It often results in increased business revenue due to higher conversion rates, making field service management software an essential component in any successful business model today.

It can help businesses save money.

Field service management software offers businesses a range of benefits, including cost savings. By streamlining everyday tasks in the field and simplifying communication between the back-office and mobile teams, these solutions can facilitate faster job completion and fewer incidents of rework.

Additionally, easily accessible information helps businesses save time on administrative processes like invoicing and scheduling, while comprehensive analytics allow teams to make data-driven decisions that cater to customer needs while driving operational efficiency. When implemented efficiently, field service management software can also help businesses better manage inventory levels, reduce operating expenditures and simplify training processes for more effective onboarding oriented toward improving customer satisfaction.

Excellent features.

Field Service Management Software has useful features that can help field service workers stay organized and efficient in their day-to-day tasks. These systems provide an intuitive, centralized platform to plan routes, track jobs, manage inventories, assign tasks to specific team members, and even capture customers’ digital signatures.

Furthermore, many of these tools come with detailed analytics capabilities to help companies gain valuable insights into their business operations and performance metrics. By leveraging such software solutions, businesses have access to the information they need when making critical decisions about their field services.

Key Takeaway

Field service management software can help businesses save time and money by optimizing their field service operations. Field service management software can help businesses improve efficiency and deliver a better customer experience by automating scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, and other key tasks. If you’re considering investing in field service management software for your business, research different programs to find one that meets your specific needs. Getting started with field service management software is easy – simply register for an account with a chosen program and follow the instructions.

 

From Execution To Insight: How Fintech Is Shaping The Future Of Accounts Payable

By
Contributor
-
0

by Rick Fletcher, Group President of Corpay Payables

You have to spend money to make money. That’s an old adage, and it’s true. But actually making the payments takes up a lot of people’s time. It’s critical to your business operations, but it’s not why you’re in business.

That means there are opportunity costs. You have to spend money on the spending of the money instead of on revenue-generating activities.

There are also mindshare costs. Making vendor payments is a brute force activity. Accounts payable (AP) teams are stuck on a hamster wheel, always having to scramble to get payments out the door and then reconciling them on the back end. They’re dealing with a lot of manual work and multiple partially-automated, partially-integrated systems. They spend a lot of time correcting errors.

It’s all about execution and dealing with all kinds of administrative details along the way. They don’t have the systems and the visibility they need to work more strategically.

But within the next ten years, AP will go from brute force execution to strategic decision making, thanks to new fintech offerings.

We haven’t really seen true fintech offerings for business payments in the market until recently. To make business payments efficiently, you need three things: money, infrastructure, and process. A true fintech brings all three.

Most companies today still make payments through their banks, and there’s no question that they are at the heart and the soul of payments. But banks only help with about one-and-a-half of those three things. They have all kinds of lending products that can help you fund your spending, so they can help with liquidity.

They also have part of the infrastructure. They are chartered by governments to steward money and move money around. They invest significantly in licensing, regulatory compliance, networks to move money and data, and fraud protection.

But there’s one big piece of B2B payment infrastructure that they don’t have: vendor networks. That has meant that it has been up to each individual company to conduct their own enablement campaigns to move vendors to electronic payments. That’s holding companies back.

Fintechs are now building B2B vendor networks at scale. Companies can plug right into them and start paying about 80 percent of their vendors electronically right out of the gate.

Where banks really fall down is in the area of process. Process automation is where technology companies, on the other hand, excel. We’ve seen a lot of ERP, procurement, and invoice automation vendors start to offer payments as an add on. It makes sense because people are already using their software to automate the workflow that leads up to the point of payment. But the software providers do not have the vendor networks or the ability to offer liquidity.

This is why making vendor payments is such a disjointed process. Up until recently, no provider has offered the combination of the “fin” and the “tech” needed to address the process from end to end.

Today’s fintechs deliver technology and services that take costs and inefficiencies out of the process. They give AP teams visibility into the status of approvals and payments. But most importantly, they free up mindshare for them to be able to use payments as a strategic lever.

AP teams can get out of the payments processing game and still have all the visibility and control they need to run the business. They have the insight they need to become a management- and decision-making group. They have time to think, versus just trying to keep things moving.

They can use their knowledge of the inner workings of the company to contribute in any number of areas – cash management, job cost accounting, and cost and process optimization. The efficiency gains, combined with increased rebates from leveraging the B2B vendor network to pay more vendors by card, can turn the back office from a cost center into a revenue generator.

For far too long, companies have had to live with a set of back-office deficiencies that they are well aware of. They recognize the challenges of working with disparate systems. They know there’s too much manual, non-value added work, and that the time intensity on error remediation is significant. They’ve resigned themselves to these deficiencies because it’s been that way for decades, and there hasn’t been a better way.

There is now. It’s been a long time coming, because business payments are complicated. To really solve the problem, you need to be a true fintech with a complete set of assets – the relationships with the banks and the credit card companies, the network, and the technology. You need to have them at scale, because the volume in B2B payments is massive. It’s a new solution that’s been 50 years in the making. It means that vendor payments don’t have to be suboptimal anymore.

 

Rick Fletcher, Group President of Corpay Payables, has been a senior leader with FLEETCOR for more than 15 years, driving significant organic growth across different stints within Gift, Prepaid, and Comdata Corporate Payments. Prior to his tenure at FLEETCOR, Rick was in strategy roles with Deloitte Consulting and GE Capital.

 

5 Risks To Counteract As A New Business Owner

By
admin
-
0
risk analysis

risk analysis

Starting a new business is an exciting time, but it’s also one of the most stressful.

You need to make hundreds of decisions, and it can sometimes feel like you’re wading your way through an endless list of risks.

Of course, these risks can be anything from the obvious (like cash flow problems) to the so-called small risks, such as power cuts.

In today’s article, we look at some of the main risks you need to be aware of and how you can counteract them as a new business owner.

Data Security

In a world that is becoming increasingly digitalised, data security is an issue that can’t be overlooked.

As a new business owner, it’s important that you understand the implications of a data breach, the costs associated with it, and how it can be avoided.

Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect your data – such as investing in antivirus software and data encryption. You should also have a clear data security policy in place and ensure that all of your employees are aware of it.

Cash Flow

Cash flow is one of the biggest challenges businesses of all sizes face, but this is especially pertinent to new businesses, which often struggle to forecast the money coming in accurately and when.

To counteract this, it’s essential that you have a clear understanding of your financial position. This means looking at the money you owe and the money owed to you.

You should also make sure that you have a clear payment policy in place, and you should make sure that your invoices are sent out promptly.

Employment Law

If you’re going to hire staff, then you need to be aware of the various employment laws that are in place.

This is so that you can ensure you’re compliant with the relevant regulations and you don’t find yourself on the receiving end of a grievance from an employee or, worse, an employment tribunal.

It’s also important to note that employment law is constantly changing, so staying up-to-date with the latest news is essential.

Competition

The competition landscape is constantly changing, and it can be challenging to keep up if you’re a new business.

However, it’s important that you stay one step ahead of the competition and understand what they’re doing. This way, you can make sure that you’re offering something better and more competitive than they are.

Small Risks

Finally, don’t forget the so-called small risks.

For example, you need to make sure that you have the right insurance in place to cover you in the event of an accident or a crime, and you need to make sure that you have a backup plan in place for any technical failures or a natural disaster – the list can go on.

It’s easy to overlook these risks because they don’t seem as important as others we’ve discussed today. However, you need to make sure that you’re prepared for them, as you never know when they might come into play.

 

Types Of Industrial Adhesives For Different Applications

By
admin
-
0
glue adhesive fixing

Countless hours of research and development, engineering, and experimentation have gone into developing the most effective industrial adhesive solutions. This is since ‘bonding’ joined the ranks of proven industrial adhesive methods like welding, soldering, and riveting.

Your business could gain an edge in the marketplace by switching from traditional adhesion methods, like welding and mechanical fastening, to industrial adhesives. It would also be best to transition as early as now, as recent research projects the adhesion industry’s market size to reach USD$64.71 billion by 2027.

Adhesives should be incorporated into the design, production, and assembly process to decrease total manufacturing costs, increase product reliability, or boost performance and operating life. Find out more about industrial adhesives and their applications below.

Types Of Industrial Adhesives

Adhesives come in a wide variety that can be broken down into categories based on their composition or characteristics. The most widely used industrial adhesives are those listed below.

1. Epoxy Adhesive.

The construction, automotive, and aviation industries are just a few that benefit from epoxy adhesives’ short curing time and firm adherence to concrete surfaces. It’s also a key ingredient in the plywood business.

Epoxy adhesives, available in one- or two-component packing, have found widespread use in industry for binding a wide range of materials together. This includes metals, concrete, glass, ceramics, plastics, wood, and other materials.

2. Hot Melt Adhesive.

Hot-melt adhesives (HMA), or hot glue, is a thermoplastic adhesive. They’re sold in cylinders of varied diameters and handled with a hot glue gun. The plastic glue is melted by a continual heating element in the pistol, and the operator forces the molten glue through the gun using a motorized trigger or their fingers.

Once heated, the glue hardens in a matter of seconds to a minute. In addition to brushing or rolling on, dipping, and spraying are also viable methods of applying hot-melt glue. Compared to solvent-based adhesives, hot-melt adhesives perform far better in industrial settings. In addition, hot-melt adhesives can be stored for a long time and thrown away without special handling.

3. Resin.

Generally, resins are considered to be anaerobic adhesives. As a rule, they are cured after being employed to bind metals, which concludes the procedure. It’s not easy to reshape them after they’ve been cured. They have a reputation for their fastening abilities and are used to secure joints.

Resins have many practical uses in industry because they are tough to break once applied between two surfaces. Moreover, they’re considered inorganic adhesives because of their synthetic polymer composition.

4. Acrylic Adhesive.

Acrylic adhesives are two-component adhesives that use acrylic or methacrylic polymers as the resin component. This is also called acrylate or methyl methacrylate (MMA).

Aside from being powerful and efficient in binding multiple objects together, they are also highly resistant to the effects of the environment. Strong bindings across many different substrates are necessary for multiple fields, and acrylic adhesives are widely utilized in construction, automotive, and aerospace engineering.

5. Contact Spray.

No surface type cannot be dealt with a contact spray. This can be used to permanently or temporarily hold two surfaces. Carpentry and other building trades can benefit from this.

They are perfect for use in residential and other non-industrial settings because they do not leave any residue. It can be used on any floor type and is entirely waterproof. Moreover, you can do this on any surface, including uneven ones. This is because contact sprays work well with porous surfaces.

6. Fabric Adhesive.

Adhesives are used extensively in the textile industry. Fabric adhesives are similar to polyvinyl acetate (PVA) glues because they have a strong hold and are the same color as wood glue. They’re helpful in textiles in many ways, some of which may be surprising. Various fabric adhesives are available, from those that attach lightly to those that bond strongly.

Using fabric glue is highly recommended for do-it-yourself projects or when there is insufficient time to sew. There is intense competition in the fabric industry. Hence, finding ways to stand out and deliver quality fabric products is essential, like relying on a fabric adhesive in some parts of your product to expedite the process.

7. Pressure Adhesive.

Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) is a nonreactive adhesive that forms a bind with the surface under pressure. It doesn’t take a solvent, water, or heat to get the glue to work. It is used in many sticky products, including notepads, stickers, labels, and tapes.

When pressure is applied, binding increases. The degree of smoothness, surface energy, contaminant clearance, etc., all impact the strength of the bonds formed. The bonding power of PSAs is maximized at room temperature. This is because they become less tacky at lower temperatures and more prone to shear failure at higher degrees.

Labels and tapes of varying types and sizes are routinely made using pressure-sensitive adhesives. Pressure-sensitive adhesives are used in various industries, including the automotive, food processing and packaging, electronic, and medical supply industries.

These seven industrial adhesive types are many industries’ most used binding solutions. If one or two can help you and your business, you should immediately research them and check if you can afford the transition. Moreover, assess if your company could save as much as possible without affecting the quality.

Takeaway

Adhesives come in a wide variety of forms. Each type is different regarding chemical compositions, shapes, classifications, load-bearing capacities, and other qualities. Therefore, picking the perfect one depends on your needs is best.

 

 

Things To Consider In Getting Online Programs For Career Advancement

By
admin
-
0
online learning

online learning

Taking online programs to advance your career is a great way to keep up with the latest knowledge, skills, and trends in your industry. Applying what you learn in your online program to your work is also essential.

Getting the proper training for your job can help you improve your performance, increase your compensation, and even move up to a better job.

Time management

Whether you are an online student or a working adult, it is vital to balance work and school schedules. Time management skills can help you get more done in less time. Getting eastern Michigan programs online for career advancement is a great way to build your skills.

A good start for getting things done is to set priorities. It can take time to decide what to do first. Creating a to-do list will make it easier to prioritize your tasks. Having a list of tasks to do each day will also help you stay on track. For instance, use the morning hours to accomplish your most important tasks. You can then set aside a specific time to do the homework. This will give you a sense of productivity.

Another thing to consider is your personal needs. You may have to spend time at the gym or with your family. Making sure you have plenty of time for these things is essential. You can also delegate tasks. This is a way to allow an employee to focus on more critical studies. It is essential to make sure you can meet your deadlines. It is also crucial to track how much time you are spending on tasks. This will help you identify areas that you could improve.

Keeping up with the latest knowledge, skills, and trends

Whether looking for a new job or increasing your income, having the proper tools to advance your career is necessary. Keeping up with the latest knowledge, skills, and trends in your industry is essential if you want to achieve your career goals.

You can also secure a competitive edge over your peers by staying on top of the latest industry news and developments. Various free and inexpensive resources are available to help you stay on top of the latest developments. Many trade journals can help you keep up with the latest industry trends. Some companies even offer online courses, which can be a great way to boost your skills and knowledge.

Applying what you learn in online programs to your job

Getting into an online program can be an excellent way to boost your chances of landing a job that pays the bills. For starters, online classes allow you to study at your own pace. As such, you can take advantage of your favorite television show because you are buried in a mound of books. In addition, you will learn more about your chosen field of study than you would by simply reading about it in print.

Aside from the perks mentioned earlier, you may also have the opportunity to network with people worldwide. This is particularly useful if you want to expand your horizons beyond your backyard. Moreover, you’ll likely learn about jobs and opportunities you never knew existed. Likewise, you might discover newfound skills you weren’t aware you had.

 

Balanced Teams Are CLEAR

By
Contributor
-
0

by Joshua Kerievsky, founder and CEO of Industrial Logic, and author of “Refactoring to Patterns” and “Joy of Agility“

You can follow the conventional wisdom about running successful meetings by keeping them short, with a clear agenda and minimal distractions. But if people don’t feel safe to contribute their ideas, you will not benefit from their intelligence and creativity.

Patrick Lencioni, author of many great books, including “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, once tweeted this: “If someone offered me a single piece of evidence to assess the health of an organization, I would want to observe the executive team during a meeting.”

In “Smarter Faster Better”, Charles Duhigg described Project Aristotle, Google’s two-year study to identify the common traits of their most productive teams. Did the best teams have the right mix of people? Did they play together after work? Did they have the same hobbies or similar educational backgrounds? None of their observations matched a common denominator.

Then they came upon the work of Harvard’s Amy Edmondson, whose 1999 study proposed that psychological safety was essential to high-performance teams. When Google researchers started looking for psychological safety on their most effective teams, they finally found an invaluable common denominator.

Have you or a colleague remained silent during a meeting with others? People who don’t talk during meetings may feel like they aren’t being heard or can’t get a word in because others are dominating the discussion. Or they may fear saying something that would make them look ignorant.

After reading about Google’s discovery, meetings at my company changed. We became far more aware of who wasn’t talking and made space for them to speak. In addition, we made a point of becoming active listeners — regularly repeating or reviewing what people said so they felt heard.

During a virtual meeting, an individual in one of our remote offices hadn’t said a word. Meanwhile, someone else was speaking a lot! During a brief pause in the discussion, I asked if our colleague in the remote office had anything to say. “Thank you, Josh!” he immediately replied. “I’ve been trying to jump into this discussion but was having a hard time doing so.” He then went on to contribute some valuable ideas.

Experiences like this helped us validate Google’s findings. Our meetings quickly became more balanced as we all endeavored to make sure that people had roughly equal time to speak and that they were encouraged to do so.

We also worked together to define five important tips for psychologically safe meetings, derived from Google’s findings and Charles Duhigg’s writings. We organized these tips into an acronym and asked each other, “Can we agree to be CLEAR?”

  • Curious, caring, and open-minded
  • Listen to one another
  • Encourage everyone to contribute
  • Avoid dominating or interrupting
  • Repeat and review people’s points

The above tips work wonders for leveraging human creativity and intelligence. They also help us achieve greater balance and grace.

 

*Excerpted from “Joy of Agility: How to Solve Problems and Succeed Sooner” copyright © 2023 by Joshua Kerievsky. Reprinted with permission from Matt Holt Books, an imprint of BenBella Books, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Joshua Kerievsky

Joshua Kerievsky is founder and CEO of Industrial Logic, one of the oldest agile consultancies in the world. Since 1996, Joshua and his global team of experts have helped people across many industries leverage modern management and development methods. Joshua is an international speaker, and author of bestselling and award-winning book “Refactoring to Patterns“, as well as his forthcoming book, “Joy of Agility“.

 

Digital Marketing For Franchise: The Ultimate Guide

By
admin
-
0
digital marketing

digital marketing

Are you planning to start a business this year? That’s a great opportunity to earn, learn, and grow. But what kind of business are you trying to pursue? If you don’t want to start something from scratch, you might want to enter the world of franchising.

Starting a franchise business can be exciting for entrepreneurs, especially those who want to leave the corporate world and be the boss themselves. Here are a few reasons why owning a business franchise is a smart move:

  • Low Startup Cost – Unlike businesses from scratch, a franchise has fewer upfront costs, making it a cost-effective investment. 
  • Easy Financing – Starting a business from a well-known franchisor increases your chances of getting your loans approved by banks and lenders. 
  • Established Recognition – A franchise is a pre-established brand, meaning you already have a community of people who knows your products and services.

You need to establish an effective digital marketing strategy to maximize these advantages. And if you’re having difficulties, Digital Shift or other similar service providers may help you grow your franchise.  

Why Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing allows you to reach more people than traditional marketing techniques (e.g., direct mail, TV ads, and billboards). Not just that, it can also help you establish your presence in the global market in a scalable, cost-effective, and measurable way.

Aside from that, here are other things digital marketing can do:

  • Reach your target audience anytime, anywhere
  • Get to know your prospects better by learning what they prefer
  • Target the right audience through personalization
  • Track every response to your marketing efforts
  • Boost customer engagement to establish brand loyalty
  • Reach more customers without spending more

Digital marketing is essential to building a successful franchise business. Whether you’re building a brand or growing your sales, the opportunities it can offer are limitless. These benefits prove what digital marketing can do to your franchise business.

What Are The Types Of Digital Marketing For Franchise Businesses?

Digital marketing aims to grow your brand and establish your presence through various online channels. These include search engines, websites, social media, paid ads, email, and more.

Here are the different types of digital marketing that may help you grow and expand your franchise business:

  • SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial to digital marketing. It aims to optimize web pages and content to boost your website’s organic traffic and search engine results page (SERP) performance. 

Organic traffic is defined as people who visit your platform via search engines but that isn’t paid for. Organic visitors are more likely to purchase your offerings because they visit on their own accord without someone or something forcing them to do so.

This is why SEO is so important in digital marketing. Specialized franchise SEO services may help you build an effective campaign that will optimize and boost your website’s overall performance. 

Here are some simple SEO tips for a robust SEO campaign:

  • Target Primary And Secondary Keywords: Your primary keyword is your content’s main focus, while your secondary ones support your content’s idea. Your keywords must be relevant and easy to understand to attract people to your website.
  • Optimize Your Meta-Tags: Meta descriptions and page titles are the first things people see when they do a search. Therefore, it’s only right to keep them impactful. Your page titles must be within 30 characters; meta descriptions must be within 160 characters.
  • Optimize Your URLs: Your URLs must be simple, one that people can easily remember in one glance. Use your primary keyword (if possible), make it readable, and keep it concise (less than 60 characters).
  • Improve Your Loading Speed: You may remove unnecessary elements that make your website load slowly, such as large graphics and plug-ins. Getting rid of these may help improve your loading speed and reduce your bounce rate.

These are just some of the most effective SEO practices you apply to your digital marketing as soon as possible. If you want to improve your rankings further, hiring an SEO specialist may help.

  • WEBSITE OPTIMZATION

In digital marketing, your website is your most powerful asset. However, having one isn’t enough to garner the attention of the locals. You need to optimize your website’s design to take advantage of your most powerful digital asset.

Web design can affect how people perceive you as a credible source of information. If your website looks cranky and obsolete, do you think they would waste their precious time hovering around your site? 

Here are some helpful tips to optimize your website:

  • Improve Your Site’s Accessibility: You want to ensure that your website is accessible to everyone, including search engines.
  • Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly: This is a no-brainer. Everyone’s been on mobile devices these days, and the best way to tap their attention is to go mobile.
  • Improve Your Site’s Speed: Your site must load within two seconds, or people will bounce off and reach out to your competitors instead.
  • Focus On User Experience: Your website should be easy to navigate. Your visitors must be able to search for the information they want as soon as possible.

Keep these four simple yet essential tips when designing a website. With this, your visitors will have a better experience and be more aware of your franchise’s existence in the market.

  • CONTENT MARKETING

Content is the key to digital marketing. It’s an essential ingredient that will help your franchise expand its reach and grow its audience.

Content marketing is a strategy focused on creating and distributing relevant, valuable, and consistent information to attract and retain potential customers. Content includes infographics, eBooks, videos, blogs, and manuals.

Content marketing helps educate and create loyal customers. That’s why producing high-quality content is essential. But do you know what’s the most effective type of content there is? The answer is blog posts.

Here are some tips to get started with content marketing:

  • Know Your Target Audience: Who are you trying to reach out? What kind of audience would be interested in your content? Answering these simple questions is the key to creating relevant and valuable content.
  • Write For Your Audience: Once you’ve identified your target audience, the next step is to write for them. Make your content as helpful as possible, one that answers their questions and pain points.
  • Check On Your Competitors: Understanding your competitors will help you attract more customers. What type of content are they using? What are the topics they discuss? How does their audience respond to their posts?
  • Narrow Your Focus: Unless you have plenty of time to spend on long-form content, narrow your topics to cover them completely. This can also help you make your content more manageable and effective.

Another smart move is to link your content to other websites. With this, your visitors will have more reasons to stay longer on your website, helping you promote your franchise business without being salesy. 

Also, linking your website to other pages allows search engine crawlers to index more pages, increasing your visibility to SERPs.

  • Video Marketing

Video marketing is a form of content marketing focusing on producing relevant and high-quality videos to:

  • Market products and services
  • Attract potential customers
  • Educate audience
  • Boost engagement on social and digital channels
  • Reach the target audience using a new medium

With video marketing, you can improve your SEO campaigns, reach millions of mobile users, increase sales and conversions, and build trust. Below are some tips for an effective video marketing strategy:

  • Produce Company-Related Videos: Create videos about your company profile and culture. With this, you’ll be able to introduce who you are and what you are capable of in your target market.
  • Tell A Story: Create videos with a story that captures the heart and attention of the viewer. Videos that focus too much on promoting products and services and driving sales are most likely to be ignored.
  • Use The First Few Seconds Wisely: The average attention span of online users is less than 10 seconds. In 10 seconds, you must be able to hook their attention and make them watch until the end of the video. Using a great thumbnail may help.
  • Create Videos With And Without Sound: Social media platforms can play videos automatically with or without sounds. People should be able to understand your videos even with sounds off. Using stunning visuals and subtitles may help.

Keep in mind to optimize your videos with calls to action (CTAs). CTAs encourage online viewers to subscribe to your channel, visit your website, follow your page, comment on the video, or share your content.

For better conversion and engagement, place your CTAs on the mid-roll and post-roll sections of your videos.

  • SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is a powerful marketing tool. It’s the practice of delivering marketing promotions through text messages. Compared to emails, SMS campaigns have higher open rates that reach up to 98%. 

On top of that, SMS marketing is highly cost-effective. It only takes a couple of cents to deliver marketing messages and reach out to your customers and prospects. That’s why SMS marketing is popular for franchise businesses.

Here are some helpful tips for an effective and highly-converting SMS marketing campaign:

  • Never Send Messages Without Clear Opt-Ins: Opt-ins are the main focus of SMS campaigns. Send a message asking people questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. If they don’t text back or answer no, don’t text for the time being.
  • Include Clear Opt-Outs: If people can opt in, they should also be able to opt out. Your customers who are tired of your messages are more likely to leave than to bring sales. Giving them the option to opt out means you value their preferences.
  • Introduce Yourself: Never assume that your recipients know who you are. Always make yourself known whenever you send them a message. Here’s an example: ‘Marius Park: Hey Rovic! It seems that you’ve left something in your shopping cart. Still interested?’
  • Send At The Right Time: Time is crucial when sending SMS messages because some people turn on their phone’s Do Not Disturb feature. Never send messages early in the morning or late at night. Also, check your recipients’ time zones to be sure.
  • Check Your Character Count: An SMS message is limited to 160 characters. Since it’s too short, get to the point as quickly as possible and use shortened links to provide more information.

You can also use SMS marketing campaigns to send reminders and confirmations when reminding customers to settle their bills or confirm their bookings and purchases. 

  • EMAIL MARKETING

Emails may not have an open rate as high as SMS messages, but it doesn’t mean it’s useless. When done correctly, email marketing can be your franchise’s lifesaver. 

Email marketing focuses on creating and delivering relevant and valuable emails to attract prospects and engage with existing customers. You can use it to send marketing promotions, exclusive offers, and other services.

Email marketing can also educate your audience and keep them engaged when making purchases. Here are some tips for creating an effective email marketing campaign:

  • Keep Your Emails Concise: If you’re not interested in reading long emails, so does your audience. But don’t make your emails too short; otherwise, they’d look relevant and reliable. Keep your emails between 60 to 200 words long. 
  • Add Stunning Visuals: People love images, especially when it comes to email marketing. Adding relevant pictures can make your emails more attractive, engaging, and converting.
  • Add Social Proof: At some point, you’ll need to convince your readers about the legitimacy of your products and service. Include links that would redirect them to people using your brand, such as influencers and well-known individuals and organizations.
  • Add CTAs: After reading your emails, readers want to know what to do or where to go next. For this reason, make sure to include a clear CTA at the end of your emails, whether it’s to encourage them to subscribe or try some of your products.

Email marketing is most effective when sending regular emails. But it’d be best to deliver at least three emails per week for better responses and higher engagement.

Final Thoughts

A franchise is a great way to start a business. It’s easy to finance and has a pre-established name. If you promote your franchise, the best way to do it is through digital marketing. 

Digital marketing can help you establish your brand and grow your audience reach through SEO, website creation, content sharing, videos, SMS messages, and emails. The possibilities in digital marketing are limitless, so make the most out of it. 

If you need help, don’t hesitate to hire a digital marketing expert for effective digital marketing campaigns.

 

Embracing Failure

By
Contributor
-
0
distressed upset man

distressed upset man

by Michael A. Sisti, author of “The Failure Myth“

Each of us functions within our established comfort zone. But circumstances force us to operate outside that arena. When we execute a decision in uncharted territory with positive results, it enables us to increase our comfort zone to that next level. By overcoming our anxiety or fear of the unknown, we can gradually break through these barriers on the road to success.

I am told that we are born with two inherent fears: fear of falling, and fear of bodily harm. Throughout our lives, we accumulate many more, most of which I suspect come from our parents. One of our earliest taught fears is failure.

For most people, the word failure strikes an irrational terror, immobilizing even the strongest among us. It’s the culmination of our worst nightmare. The seeds of this perception were planted during our earliest formative years and continue through our entire formal education. Starting in childhood, we are taught that failure is unacceptable. We are punished for our mistakes, which are in fact, small failures. This educational flaw hampers our ability to grow and learn.

Our inquisitive and imaginative young minds allow our natural creativity to flourish. And yet, we are constantly discouraged by parents and teachers, who quickly become impatient with our questions and our quest for knowledge that is considered beyond the norm. They inhibit our young minds from seeking answers, stifling our creativity.

We learn in school that the only correct answers are the ones they teach us, not the ones we deduct or seek out on our own. This negative attitude progresses throughout school, and later into our careers. Unless our role is in research, there is a limited amount of progress we will gain through ordinary means without making mistakes.

In corporate America, which is structured on the military model of top-down command, all too often failure is unacceptable at any level. If a suggestion or recommendation passed up the chain of management falls short of expectations, it can be a career-limiting or ending event. This absurd penalty for failure makes it something to avoid at all costs.

And yet, without failure, there would be no opportunity to learn from our misjudgments. There would also be no innovation and no need to use our creativity to reach new heights. Failure is a marvelous teaching tool, with an impact so strong that you never forget the lessons learned from it.

There is no amount of college education or employment with an organization of any size that can properly prepare you to run a company. Business is fluid and dynamic. The ground is constantly shifting under your feet. The market is fickle, sometimes evolving undetected, and occasionally at blinding speed. Technology is growing faster than we can harness it, and it is transforming business and life on every level. This environment makes long-term success extremely elusive, and we can only achieve it through the experiences of failure.

Of all the millions of entrepreneurs who have started companies, the vast majority of them have long resumes of failures before achieving victory. So, plan for success, strive for it but be prepared for failure. When confronted with a challenge, don’t procrastinate. Evaluate it and take it on. If it fails, at best, you will have learned something valuable. At worst, it could be a short-term and possibly expensive college education.

From my own experience, I can tell you, that if you can overcome this intrinsic dread of failure, you have a much better chance of success. I am not suggesting careless or reckless behavior, but the fortitude to take chances. Otherwise, you are doomed to fulfill that prophecy that so many of us have endured before you.

 

Michael A Sisti

Serial entrepreneur Michael A. Sisti has launched over 25 companies in multiple fields. He is the former CEO of Sisti, Zinbarg & Howard, Inc., which became one of New Jersey’s largest advertising and public relations agencies. Sisti is the award-winning author of Executive Crumple Zone, a novel, and “The Failure Myth“, a self-help book for entrepreneurs.

 

6 Tips For Selling Your Home This 2023 At A Great Price

By
admin
-
0

When you are selling a home there are many factors to consider and one of them is being sure that you are finding the ideal buyer for the right price. There are many factors that go into determining how much your home will sell for and hiring a real estate agent who knows the market is one of the best strategies to be sure that you are on the right track. With talk of getting prepared for a global recession, selling a home for more is on sellers minds. But even before you get started on selling your home with a real estate agent, you can be aware of the strategies to follow that help set you up for success. 

While a real estate agent will help with marketing and setting the sale price for your home, you also have a role to play in preparing your home to sell. Knowing some of the strategies ahead of time can help you prepare for selling your home to a house buying company, or any other buyer, for an ideal price that will help you move forward as you buy your next home. 

Clean and declutter.

One of the most important rules of selling a home is to start with a clean slate and decluttering and cleaning are the first step in the process. Getting rid of clutter will make it easier to clean your home and get it ready to show to potential buyers. It might seem overwhelming to sort through your home, but you can make the process easier by working in the smallest room first. When your home is decluttered, hiring a team of professionals to deep clean can save you time and stress. 

Choose colors wisely.

There’s no way of knowing the tastes of the person who will buy your home and that’s why real estate agents recommend giving your home a neutral look as you prepare to sell it. Picking one neutral tone for the common areas in your home can give it a fresh look and help with the flow of your home. It’s best to keep bold colors for accents such as pillows, lamps, or an accent wall.

Set the stage.

Part of setting a neutral tone for your home is what real estate agents call staging. Whether you hire a professional to stage your home, or go for a DIY approach, staging is a necessary part of attracting buyers and getting the highest price for your home.

Show off your home’s personality.

As buyers look at more and more homes, they may start to look similar. Knowing your home’s personality and showing it off in your listing can help it to stand out from the crowd. Some examples might be unique architectural details, a location near a park, or extras such as a backyard office. 

Make the price right.

Putting your home on the market with a competitive price, by looking at the listing prices and sales for similar homes in your area, is another necessary step of selling. Historical data about home sales can help predict what your home might sale for and take into account market fluctuations.

Use the power of technology to market your home.

Selling a home in 2023, is about more than creating an online listing with photos and showing a home to potential buyers. To attract the widest pool of buyers, real estate agents are taking virtual listings to the next level with video live and pre-recorded video walkthroughs. The power of virtual reality also means that online listings can give buyers the power to move around your home from room to room. 

You don’t need to have the latest technology to sell your home for a top price, but knowing some key strategies can help you attract your ideal buyer.

 

1...222324...425Page 23 of 425

Recent Articles

Young Upstarts is an online business resource for startup entrepreneurs, small business owners, idea people, and intrapreneurs seeking change within their organization.
Contact us: administrator@youngupstarts.com
Mail Twitter