Pros and Cons of Marketing Automation

Marketing automation has indubitably come a rather long way from being but a simple method of sending automatic marketing emails without any specific focus. Throughout the years, it has developed into a versatile tool that many marketers now use to create sustainable value for their customers, thereby generating more leads and ultimately converting them to much needed sales. However, marketing automation isn’t a “one size fits all” solution, and this is something that every marketer should keep in mind while tailoring the approach to actively engaging their target audience. Here is some food for thought to help you get a clearer picture of what the benefits and potential pitfalls are for those who have chosen to automate.

Pros

Marketing automation can facilitate a synergetic relationship between your marketing and sales teams.

Often enough, there is significant information asymmetry between these two departments and this can cause a costly rift in your value creation chain, meaning less leads and sales than you could be having with your level of investment. Proper automation requires both teams to be in the loop – this creates a process structure that actually makes it nigh impossible for these two departments to become misaligned. Build value from the inside!

It allows for major future returns by keeping your leads in “stand-by” mode until they’re ready to convert.

A well-timed action from your automated system can mean the difference between reinvigorating your communication with a customer and losing it to the competition.

Big data means big opportunities.

Marketing systems rely on trending, trial and error and machine learning, which means they get smarter by constantly doing and re-analyzing. You can easily measure the effectiveness of certain messages and formulations and then adjust your approach accordingly – constant feedback means constant improvement.

Inspiration through integration!

Many marketing automation solutions offer a rather high degree of integration with major customer relationship management (CRM) systems, which can further help you tailor a more personalized instrument to reach your customers.

Strength in numbers

Your new system can indeed help you fire in quick succession and even simultaneously at a host of moving targets in various marketing channels!

Cons

It might prove to be a costly investment.

The knowledge required to create an efficient and dependable marketing automation system comes with a price. That price does depend on the amount of functionality and the ability to use it as a scalable solution, but its true cost is always relative to your expected ROI. Do your math carefully!

You’re going to need a ton of data and content.

Processing and learning algorithms work by analyzing huge quantities of data to assess consumer trends and serve your marketing offer accordingly. If your data is scarce, incomplete or even faulty, your automated system is going to be doing a whole lot of missing, and getting wrong or generic offers and messages is something that consumers find irritating.

“Automated” doesn’t equal“no maintenance”

Sometimes it’s just the opposite. You need to manage your tools like you would normally manage your people. There is always some tweaking to be done in order to help this investment of yours grow to its full potential, which means dedicating some human capacity to boostyour machine learning.

It could make you lose your ability to act moderately

Many risk becoming too aggressive, too passive or too generic by relying on a machine to do all the work. Automation may offer you some serious data analytics, but marketing is about building interpersonal relationships through value, and this creates sales.

Wisdom for the road

Marketing automation is a mighty tool with the proven capability of boosting your leads and sales, but getting it right is tricky. If you plan on going “full auto”, bear in mind that the costs can quickly rise and surprise, so keep a close eye on your process, feed it ample data and remember: marketing is about understanding psychology, and psychology is about fundamentally understanding people.

The post Pros and Cons of Marketing Automation appeared first on Small Business Can.

Business Signs: Illuminate Your Business To Success

Every business needs marketing, many opt for on-line marketing campaigns and others go for the old fashioned way of using magazines, newspapers and other directories. There is nothing wrong with using any of these, in fact, they all work quite well! In the past few years there has been a massive boost in the use of custom signs for businesses, companies are employing architects to create weird and wacky designs to compliment their services, professionalism when it comes to signs has gone out of the window here as quirky is here to stay.

Let’s take a look at some fantastic business signs…

An amusing sign for a bar

Sometimes a little humour goes a long way, this sign does just that. Using humour in your sign can instantly create an inviting vibe, it will also be talked about, I can guarantee it. Though only a bar would really get away with this type of humour.

Waffle house sign

This one is jumping on the social media bandwagon, I think this one is very clever as I am sure everyone walking past here is bound to snap a photo or two of the sign and put it onto their own Facebook pages, who does not like free advertising? To pull this sort of thing off you will need to be very careful not to infringe on the copyrights of social media platforms, personally I think this one is too close for comfort.

Dragon Building Decoration

Have a sign already but the building itself is a little, boring? Jazz it up and make it the wow factor by adding your mascot right on the front of your building, this could work with any business, it would be especially good for a kids themed restaurant or a company that works with children such as play areas and play warehouses. Also having the mascot on the building as well as business cards, posters and flyers will ensure the nobody misses your establishment!

Why Have A Sign Anyway?

The cost of a new sign and the cost to design it will be a significant investment, you can count on it! The initial investment will be well worth it and the money spent will made back quite quickly as they have a positive effect on the profitability and financial health on any organisation. The U.S small business administration states “For businesses that choose to enhance their signage with an electronic message display, the owners typically see an increase in business of 15% to 150%.”

The Placement

When business owners think about signs, they typically think about it being attached onto their own buildings, in some cases companies are kept well out of the way in business estates that are not in view of the road so this would be pretty pointless as they would only require a small sign with their company name on it. For those that are off the beaten track, the best option is to rent a plot or space that is on a busy intersection or highway, the more visibility the better.

As with the signs above, if you allow room underneath for special offers and monthly offers whenever you run them, you can add them onto the sign and bring in even more potential business through the door by the temptation of saving money for the consumer.

The post Business Signs: Illuminate Your Business To Success appeared first on Small Business Can.

How to Improve Customer Service

Gartner’s report, “Why You Need to Rethink Your Customer Self-Service Strategy,” estimates that by 2016, more than 80 percent of organizations will face higher customer service costs if they don’t provide self-service options for customers. The data points to more and more customers using online portals, FAQs and other online tools instead of speaking to live agents. Let’s take a look at how you can improve customer service.

Customers want more convenience and control of their buying and service experience. Give them the tools they want to expedite their needs and streamline your customer service at the same time.

Automatic Callback

Keeping a customer on hold can lead to mounting frustrations and the loss of a potential sale. Start by using a system like Virtual Hold Technology to calculate the expected wait time. Customers can decide if it’s worth holding, or if they want to receive a call back from your company without losing their turn in the queue. Many customers will jump at the option to stay in the system without having to wait around and suffer through bad hold music and continuous transfers.

Streamlined Accounting

For simple accounting and bookkeeping needs, PayPal can collect payments, send invoices and generate e-commerce shopping cart buttons.

However, a growing business with multiple clients and team members may need a more robust system. Quickly generate quotes and estimates for clients with an accounting system like Sage One. Produce financial reports so you can figure out how often your clients typically need service and how you can improve your offerings. Sage One also lets you quickly generate invoices and statements for your accountant.

Meeting Apps

Eliminate the back and forth with email clutter, and instead give your customers the option to book you directly with an app like You Can Book Me. Clients can see when you’re available and book a time that works for them. The system also works with your Google Calendar so you always know when you’re booked and when your next meeting is coming up.

Give busy clients the freedom to meet from anywhere in the world with GoToMeeting. The service offers online meetings with a personal meeting room and the option for HD Video Conferencing. Share your screen with your client to show charts, images and other materials as needed.

Customer Portal

Set up a customer portal through your internal system for customers to easily access their data. For example, small businesses running a yoga studio can have portals for their customers to check the classes they’ve booked, merchandise bought and personal information. A portal can also be established as a knowledge base for your customers to empower themselves by getting the information they need without scheduling a meeting or calling for support.

Customer Relationship Management

Gain more insight into your customer contacts with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. Nimble imports your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, LinkedIn and Skype and then takes a deeper look. The tool keeps track of your communication history and can send stay-in-touch reminders. It even analyzes your shared interests. Transform that knowledge into a sharply targeted and meaningful social media campaign, communication strategy or service idea to better serve your customers.

The post How to Improve Customer Service appeared first on Small Business Can.

Three Duty Relief Schemes You Should Be Claiming

There’s only so much room for a business to expand in the UK or Ireland – and so if you want your company to succeed, you’re going to have to look overseas. But doing business abroad isn’t always cheap.

According to the Confederation of British Industry, companies are 11% more likely to succeed if they choose to do business with other countries. Yet your products will be subject to huge import fees and domestic government duties in a vast majority of these new markets. Even if you’re importing, you’ll be subject to several different taxes. Those costs might not seem huge at first, but they all add up – and can ultimately prove a fatal blow if you’re only just beginning to expand overseas.

Luckily, both the European Union and the UK government provide multiple duty relief schemes to help small businesses succeed abroad.

To help you get started, here are three of the easiest relief schemes to take advantage of:

1. Trade preference agreements

Thanks to various pieces of EU legislature that have cropped up over the past few years, exporting to other European countries has become a fairly painless process. Yet there’s plenty of red tape and silly fees that hinder your success in non-EU countries. Luckily, the UK and Ireland have got access to various trade preference agreements with several key economies.

In essence, if the EU has got a Free Trade Agreement in place with another country, your company can claim duty relief through a “trade preference”. Consequently, you should be paying little to no duty on the products you export into those markets. Each discounted preference rate will depend on a number of criteria – such as the type of goods, country of origin and final destination.

In order to claim a trade preference, you must get the correct commodity code for your goods, ensure you’re complying with all rules of origin and provide proof of origin for your products.

2. Temporary admission

If you’re simply looking to test the waters with a new foreign market, you might be able to claim duty relief through temporary admission. Temporary admission is useful if you’re looking to bring items into the UK for a short period of time, and ensures that you do not have to pay any duty or import VAT on the products you have brought in.

Most companies claim temporary admission for items such as samples or professional equipment. You can also claim temporary admission if you’re importing items for auction, exhibition or short demonstration. So long as you do not fundamentally alter the goods while they are in EU territory, the scheme is fairly easy to capitalise upon.

One crucial caveat is that you cannot claim temporary admission if you are importing items for repair. But as with trade preference agreements, eligibility for relief is based almost entirely upon the type of products that you are importing – along with how you are using them before they are re-exported.

3. Outward processing

If your company is looking to capitalise upon cheap, skilled labour abroad, you might be able to claim duty relief under the EU’s Outward Processing Relief scheme. Outward processing enables EU companies to a full or partial export fee when they temporarily send goods from the EU for processing or repair in a non-EU country.

The policy was essentially brought into place so that EU businesses could benefit from cheaper labour costs or technical skills that aren’t available within the EU. So long as the goods you export to these countries are brought back into the EU, you will then benefit from full or partial duty relief upon their re-entry. It’s worth pointing out that this relief scheme does not apply to many agricultural-based businesses.

Sometimes, it may seem like the government is trying to hinder international business with red tape. But the truth is, there are dozens upon dozens or relief schemes out there designed to foster small-scale trade – you just have to know where to look.

Bearing that in mind, if you are thinking of taking your company to the next level by launching a new export scheme, don’t let sky-high duties deter you. No matter what type of business you’re in, there should be a duty relief scheme that will help your business find international success.

The post Three Duty Relief Schemes You Should Be Claiming appeared first on Small Business Can.

6 Recruiting Strategies You Should Be Paying Attention To

Recruiters need to have a host of techniques and life skills to bring in the best candidates out of a pool of thousands. Being a recruiter requires a pro-active approach to seeking out and finding the best talent in your industry. While employment applications are a good place to start, some of the best talent isn’t looking for your company. They already have jobs they are happy with, and it’s your responsibility to convince them that taking a chance on your company is worth the risk. Let’s look at some key recruiting strategies that are gaining in popularity.

1. Recruiting Strategies – Getting Referrals

Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to find new recruits. Asking for referrals from people you trust and respect can help you find hidden talent. Recruiters that ask for referrals are much more likely to locate qualified candidates with a good work ethic. Referrals can be found by talking to other people at work, looking for recommendations on social media and talking with old teachers, colleagues and friends. A good referral program is still the number one source of leads, and for good reason since they generally result in reliable and dependable employees. If someone is willing to stick their neck out for another person, it means there is something to that person.

2. The Shortlist

Make a short list of the top candidates for the position you’re trying to fill. When a candidate flat out refuses to join your company, keep them on the list and follow up every six months to a year. In the meantime, ask them if there are any candidates they would recommend since it’s obvious they aren’t going to come aboard. This tells the candidate that you value their opinion, and it just might introduce you to another qualified candidate. Constantly update your short list, and don’t be afraid to completely scrap a list that doesn’t meet the goals of the company and start over.

3. Use Glassdoor

Glassdoor helps employees connect with recruiters, and locate jobs that they will love. Reviews of companies are available at Glassdoor, and this can help an employee narrow down the options when it comes to looking for the next job. Users can search through a list of jobs, reviews, companies, salaries and interviews. All of this data makes it easier to find recruits and evaluate a company before a candidate applies for a job.

If your employees aren’t using Glassdoor, encourage them to do so to help get the word out about your company. A few reviews will go a long way toward helping you recruit new talent in your industry. They are also a fantastic way to measure your current employees’ trust in the CEO or upper management (for example, check out the difference between Nu Skin’s rating and that of Zappos.)

4. Use Social Media

Social media is a great way to recruit potential candidates. Using a Facebook account, you can search for users that match the interest and qualifications you’re looking for. While many Facebook users won’t make this kind of information about themselves public, there are a vast number of profiles that do. This is especially true with LinkedIn users who might provide more information since that site is specifically tailored toward business professionals.

Twitter users pose more of a challenge, but you can quickly sort through filters and find the most prominent users for any given field to increase your short list. Take advantage of the leverage that social networks provide in the recruiting process, and connect with users when it’s most convenient for them. Create a social media page for the company and list any job offerings that are available as well. This helps let other people find you by searching for their interests.

5. Host Meetups

Recruiters that host or sponsor a Meetup generally have good results with new recruits. When you participate in a Meetup, you gather a group of like-minded individuals who are there for the sole purpose of learning about your company. The Meetup can be casual and provide recruits with a relaxed, friendly environment where they can ask questions and learn more about your company. Some of the most successful recruiting strategies involve a Meetup at some stage of the recruiting process. It’s a great way to get all the candidates together and see how they react in a social setting.

6. Visit Colleges and Universities

Colleges and universities are a great way to find young candidates with an excitement and zeal to change the world. Recent college graduates make up for a lack of experience with tremendous energy, and a desire to do well in their first post-college job. Setting up a booth during the opening week of classes, walking around during lunch time and meeting students in their departments are all great ways to locate prospects and build your short list. Colleges and universities are great places to meet potential employees that want to work hard and do a good job.

Work hard on your recruiting strategies, and focus on developing one new strategy each week. By focusing your efforts, you can be more productive and find the right talent and skill-sets needed for your company to succeed. Attempt to do everything at once, and you’re likely to get overwhelmed and be less productive in your recruiting goals. Take some time each day to reflect on what you want to accomplish, and then devote all of your energy and resources toward achieving that one goal.

The post 6 Recruiting Strategies You Should Be Paying Attention To appeared first on Small Business Can.

Self-Employed? How to Manage Your Time Effectively

As an entrepreneur, often the most difficult thing to manage is your own time. Without a boss looming over you, meetings to attend, and a physical place to be in order to complete your work, productivity levels can easily plummet and before you know it, you’re four seasons into House of Cards and that big project is due in an hour (you know; the one you’ve barely managed to outline…the one for your biggest client). This is why it becomes crucial to find some techniques to manage your time effectively.

No Work without a Little Play First

Dedicate an entire day once each week to doing absolutely anything but work. Try not to even think about work at all on this day. Focus on having fun; maybe get started on that hobby you’ve been meaning to get into for years. Whatever you choose to do on this day off, separate it far from your work. This will ensure you’re more focused and relaxed once you go back to your work tomorrow.

Take Plenty of Breaks

As an entrepreneur, your work itself isn’t the most tiring you have on your plate. It’s the amount of thought behind the work that really becomes exhausting. By taking a good amount of breaks throughout the day, you can space out your efforts. Essentially, you’ll be better pacing yourself. The marathon runner, for example, doesn’t sprint his way to victory. He paces himself to make sure he’ll be able to make it to the finish line. Take some time off from your project (5 minutes or so) every 25-30 minutes. You’ll be amazed at just how much more you’ll feel you can accomplish throughout the day.

Get Out of the House

A change of scenery can be, literally, a breath of fresh air. It’s all too easy to become confined to your workspace, being holed up indoors. Get up, go somewhere else. Take a walk down to a local coffee shop, maybe head to a nice, quiet park if the weather allows. The trip itself can even count as one of your many breaks.

Get More Sleep

Harvard Medical School claims that a lack of adequate sleep can affect your mood, judgment, motivation, and perception. I don’t think many will disagree with me in saying that the aforementioned four categories play crucial roles, respectively, in how productive your day can be. Try to get 6-8 hours of sleep each night for a better workday to follow.

Always Be Professional

Dressing the part is only half of it—having an attitude of professionalism, even in the comfort of your own home, will help you stay on task throughout your day. Build a pay stub for accurate and easy accounting, start work and stop at the same time each day—act as you would if you had a supervisor to answer to. You’re your own supervisor, so wouldn’t you demand more respect and professionalism from your employees than can be achieved in a bathrobe?

Manage Your Time Effectively

These are just some of the techniques that I’ve employed in my daily work life and they are now indispensable. Give them a shot and watch your productivity levels skyrocket!

The post Self-Employed? How to Manage Your Time Effectively appeared first on Small Business Can.

Fixing Twitter

Twitter is suffering. And it is not just the markets that think so. As an avid Twitter user (since 2009) I am beginning to feel that it’s value has been diminishing significantly in recent years and that fixing Twitter is something that needs to be done.

What are the Causes?

The following represent three major factors I believe are negatively impacting it’s utility:

1/ Lack of Engagement

2/ User Profiles

3/ Signal v Noise Ratio

In this article, I concentrate on the issue of engagement, describing what the engagement challenges are, before exploring what if anything Twitter can do to resolve them?

But first some context.

Context

Like any platform, the user groups and use cases are wide and varied. As a source of breaking news, Twitter is unrivalled. As a way to track leading influencers, and to curate content its value is immense. However, the issue of engagement is a most pressing one for professional users looking to use Twitter within the context of their professional lives. And it is in this context that the lack of engagement becomes a major issue.

Engagement

A primary goal for people tweeting is to gain attention, and a ‘response’ signifies engagement, and evidence that you have captured someone’s attention. In essence, engagement equates to a quasi dialogue, with other users reacting to what you’ve (tweeted) written.

But more often than not, the vast majority of Tweets are simply met with a wall of silence (save for a small minority). You are ‘speaking alone’ as the Greek’s defined such ‘monologues’. And that’s not much fun.

Most people who Tweet do so with the aim of getting noticed, or to stimulate engagement i.e. via a reply, a RT, a click-through or even to have some key followers see certain tweets. What they definitely don’t want is for no one to see the Tweet or to not engage.

Reasons for Low Engagement

The reasons for low engagement are varied, and include:

Content: The tweet is simply not interesting or relevant to your immediate followers

Followers: The low follower numbers of the person tweeting plays a significant role. On the flip side, those with large follower numbers struggle with other challenges

Structure: The tweet’s structure is sub optimal (including appealing images, hashtags or twitter handles for example improve engagement)

Noise ratio: The sheer volume of tweets drowns out your Tweet

Mobile: The growth in mobile. It is harder for users to engage via mobile devices which dominate usage (easier to ‘just consume’ on a mobile)
Asynchronous Nature: When you Tweet, there may be very few of your key targets/ key followers listening i.e. those who you really want to see the tweet.

Shelf Life: With an estimated shelf life for Tweet’s of a mere 18 minutes the likelihood of an engagement occurring is pretty slim (especially for those with low follower numbers)

However, many of these issues are very hard to fix.

Follower numbers is a key factor. Despite best efforts, the majority struggle to get above a few hundred ‘real followers’ i.e. discounting spam accounts, inactive accounts, and those who resort to buying followers. Most give up after initial efforts fail to offer any value in terms of engagement.

Others simply ‘free ride’ using Twitter as a source of news or enhanced RSS feed, choosing to consume rather than to produce. But like all platforms, the producers need to be incentivised, because without them the free riders have nothing of value to consume. And engagement is the key commodity that these same producers value.

The Problem

The problem is that Twitter’s business model relies on providing advertisers with access to ‘prospects’, with whom one can look to engage. Professional users will also seek engagement, often as a means to further commercial ambitions.

But what if no one is engaging?

Is there any value to an advert appearing in a timeline someone is scrolling quickly through? I think not.

What is the value of engagement in the form of a ‘like’ from an anonymous account? None.

What incentive have you to Tweet if it is falling upon deaf ears? Not much.

This is why engagement is such a crux issue for Twitter and it’s users. So what can be done to increase it?

Increasing Engagement

1. Build Follower Numbers

First and foremost, it is a case of building follower numbers, as engagement is naturally a function of audience.

But for most, this is a long play requiring an ongoing commitment, and is much easier said than done. Most new users to Twitter simply refuse to invest the time.

2. Create Compelling Tweets

Creating compelling Tweets, which in turn helps to boost follower numbers and to drive engagement.

But again for most, this is a long play, requiring an ongoing commitment, and is much easier said than done.

3. Add Twitter Handles in Tweets

Engaging directly by replying, retweeting and using others Twitter handles in Tweets will also help to engage.

However, adding @twitter handles to most tweets is simply not practical not least due to the character limits and again other factors are equally important.

4. Engage in Conversations

By participating in conversations yourself you stimulate dialogue and thus engage.

However, these are other peoples conversations, and a response will not always lead to subsequent engagement.

5. Tag Other Users

Twitter’s recent addition of tagging via the ‘Who’s in the photo?’ feature is an attempt to encourage engagement, as is their Retweet with Comment addition.

However, this approach too has limitations, as the recipient of the tag has no say in being tagged.

Engagement Remains Illusive

The problem is that despite these ‘best practice’ approaches, engagement remains illusive. In terms of ‘real engagement’, we are very much in ‘unicorn’ territory. And this lack of engagement is becoming a very real issue, especially for more active professional users. (I am deliberately drawing a distinction here in terms of use cases, referring to professional users of Twitter rather than say free riders or anonymous users).

If the user can’t easily influence engagement, then the onus shifts very much back on the provider to build features that support this goal. And while Twitter are well aware of this issue, their attempts to rectify it to date have fallen well short of what is needed.

For example the recently released direct DM feature seems to simply facilitate more spam, and as mentioned above tagging is initiated by others without you having a say. Neither serve to facilitate engagement.

Broadcasting Still Dominates

The combinations of factors described above still lead to the vast majority of people ‘shouting without being heard’ as broadcasting dominates. And given that engagement is one of the key incentives for Twitter users to produce, it serves to reason that a lack of engagement diminishes the overall appeal of the platform.

A Solution?

Would fixing the timing issue help improve engagement a little?

Knowing when your audience is logged in and *potentially* listening offers a great means to align effort with an increased likelihood of engagement. Of course the need to build an initial audience still remains a challenge, and this approach can’t resolve coordination challenges.

Take Skype as an example.

When you log on you see a dashboard with green ticks telling you who is online. You can then have a conversation by calling someone – safe in the knowledge that they are probably available (thus increasing your odds of connecting).

Imagine if Twitter had the same dashboard flagging those who were ‘online’ (It would naturally need to be on an ‘opt in’ basis, and where the accounts both follow each other).

Surely that would increase engagement encouraging more serendipitous ‘conversations’ to occur? After-all dialogue trumps monologue every time.

Perhaps you could use certain Twitter lists to allow push notifications when a certain number of key Twitter accounts were online simultaneously?

Why is this of Interest?

For those using Twitter as a professional platform, anonymous accounts and celebrities add to the noise. They want to engage with real people who share their interests.

Professional users want to market to real people, engage with key influencers or read the latest blog posts from thought leaders.

Wouldn’t be great to know when a large percentage of those you want to influence were ‘logged in’ (via a green tick) enabling you to push relevant content which will show up in their Twitter feeds.

What about being able to set an alert to push a tweet targeting when one of your key target followers were online so you could schedule a tweet accordingly?

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Like all applications though, safe guards would be needed to prevent abuse, so that facilitating greater engagement does not equate to increased spam. And of course this is a key challenge for Twitter as features designed to achieve one thing can lead in a whole host of other directions.

Summary

Whatever the solution, the asynchronous nature of Twitter does not facilitate engagement in it’s current guise. And unless they tackle the issue urgently many of their active users are likely to join the growing band of ‘free riders’. Perhaps Twitter need to look more closely at the bigger picture. As Mary Meeker pointed out in her annual Internet Trends (2015) presentation, 6 of the Top 10 most use apps globally are messaging apps!

‘WhatsApp for Twitter’ anyone?

In the next article, I’ll take a look at issues associated with the disparate profiles represented on Twitter and how the current arrangement incentivises the wrong types of user.

Alan Gleeson is a B2B marketing consultant based in London.

Follow Alan Gleeson on Twitter (Please Engage)

This article originally appeared on Linkedin Pulse

The post Fixing Twitter appeared first on Small Business Can.

Business Women Can Summer Event – Health and Wellbeing Seminar

As part of our “Inspiring your Success” series of events, the Business Women Can Dublin Ambassadors held a very successful evening event at Ulster Bank Georges Quay on 28^th May with over 75 in attendance.

The event was organised by two of Ulster Bank’s Business Women Can Ambassadors, Emma Chapman and Lynda Hughes. There was time at the start of the event to network and have some refreshments. We were delighted to see some loyal followers of Business Women Can at the event and indeed many new faces some that travelled from as far as Cork and Newry. We also welcomed the growing number of men who attended the event and hope they will return.

The topic for the event was “Living the meaning of Life” – Health & Wellbeing.

The speakers at the event were:-

Niamh Gunn – Founder of “The Well”, a new centre for better living

An inspirational business woman who shared the story of her personal journey and how she changed her life around for the better. The statistics around suicide and mental health issues and stress is staggering and through “The Well” their aim is to promote a new way of working by making wellbeing integral across spheres of Irish life thereby creating healthier and happier communities.

Niamh commented “Doing important and meaningful work is necessary to our personal wellness and the sustainability of our organisations.”

Orla Walsh – Consultant Dietician

Orla gave some very simple tips on ways to improve our diet which will enhance our mood and energise us. 4 simple steps – Eat a balanced diet, drink more – WATER, eat regularly and exercise.

Orla commented “How learning why I get “hungry” and what to eat to regulate my mood and performance is important.”

Gillian Hynes – Founder and Head Trainer of the Body Project

Gillian’s enthusiasm about all areas of fitness was infectious. She also shared simple tips to improve our physical and mental health and wellbeing. The key message was to begin with baby steps and build it up gradually and to find some form of exercise that we love and will want to do. Another key tip was to give up the bad practice of eating lunch at the desk and replace this with a brisk walk during our lunch break.

Gillian commented “We all have time to exercise … for goodness sake Obama, the most powerful man in the world has time to exercise”

After 3 great presentations there was time for Q&A, a draw for the best TWEET at the event and more time for networking and a glass of wine. We were encouraged by the positive feedback from the event and our plan is to continue these events in the coming months.

So if you would like to receive information on future Business Women can events such as this one, please drop us an email with your details to businesswomencan@ulterbank.com, we would love to hear from you. We would also welcome ideas on topics you would like us to cover for future events.

Business Women Can Summer Event – Health and Wellbeing Seminar

The post Business Women Can Summer Event – Health and Wellbeing Seminar appeared first on Small Business Can.

This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/business-women-can-summer-event-health-and-wellbeing-seminar/ on

What Options Do You Have When It Comes to Profits?

It may take a while before your SME turns a healthy profit but, when it does, you need to know how to make the most of your company’s money. Once you have calculated your profit, after salary payments, expenses and cost forecasts have been made, you will be left with a variety of options on what to do with your surplus funds.

The best businesses survive by making smart choices. This means making the right decisions that allow business to thrive.

A common pattern with most failed businesses is that they needlessly spent money on the wrong things. Profits should be used to invest in your business. This means that there should be a return on the money used.

This can come from a range of methods, ranging from hiring more staff, upgrading equipment or software, expanding skills through training, or even driving sales through increased advertising.

These are all great ways to reinvest in your small business. We’ll take a look at the best methods in more detail below.

Identify what could be better

A bad worker will blame their tools, but what happens when a good worker is legitimately being held back by the equipment at their disposal? This is disastrous for productivity, which in turn can damage profits.

Take a long, measured look at the infrastructure of your business. Consider the equipment, tools, software and hardware that you rely on every single day. If these could be made more efficient, then it’s definitely worth doing.

The best entrepreneurs are always looking for better ways to work on the same idea. This means streamlining and updating existing processes. The business model or idea doesn’t change, just its execution.

Spend on training

Training is a good way of investing in your business by investing in the people that allow it to operate.

By spending on training, either for yourself or your employees, you are diversifying and expanding upon the skills of the workforce, meaning a potential increase in productivity, and even the possibility of securing new business thanks to a new set of skills.

The time is ripe to sign up for training, even if you can’t afford it solely out of your profits, thanks to a steep increase in May 2015 in the rate that banks are lending to UK businesses.

This is a fantastic opportunity and a great chance to take action that could lead to your business increasing its profits in the long run.

Consider more lucrative options outside of your own business

If your business is doing really well and is financially rock solid, investing in other businesses is a great idea and could turn you a handsome sum in return.

Angel investment is booming in the UK and is a driving force behind the most in demand startups. Crowdsourcing and angel investment is a key funding tactic, especially with emerging digital and technology-based entrepreneurs and SMEs.

Finding a great emerging business can give a great return, but it’s risky. If the business fails, you’ll lose your investment.

The more traditional route for the financially adventurous would be to invest in stocks and shares, however, this can prove difficult if you are not used to reading markets.

If this type of financial play appeals to you, and you have the finances to afford it, spread betting could give a good return. If you are unsure of how it works, you can learn spread betting with Tradefair.

Profits should drive further growth

There’s a key theme across all of these points. That is that whatever you choose to spend your profits on, the end result should always be further revenue or growth for your business.

Yes, some of the options are more risky than others, and it would only be sensible to pursue these once more concrete options (such as investing in equipment) have been exhausted.

There will always be an element of risk involved in business spending and investment. The trick is to know what’s right and what’s wrong to spend your money on. When that fails, you better have razor sharp instincts to follow.

The post What Options Do You Have When It Comes to Profits? appeared first on Small Business Can.

The Navy SEAL Art of War

Strategy is a hot topic for our clients. In Bookbuzz sessions we normally use “33 strategies of war” by Robert Greene or “The strategy book” by Max Mckeown.

Fundamental questions

“Why do you matter?” and “where are you going?” are fundamental questions in those sessions. Increasingly we have come to the conclusion that movement is more important than direction. That organisational design is more important than we thought it would be (culture is too slow).

Strategy is a mindset

That strategy is more about mindset than resources. Ultimately strategy all boils down to leadership. Which brought us to Rob Roy’s “The Navy SEAL Art of war”. Leadership, movement and mindset. And if you want an example of agility, extreme movement capability and mental strength, the SEALs are a prime example of what can be done.

Lessons from Navy SEALs

So there are lessons the be learned. In fact Rob Roy, who was a Navy SEAL for 20 years and part of team six, has a company that put CEOs through SEAL training to teach them leadership skills.

You pay for the privilege to be shouted at by instructors, carry huge logs, float in the ocean for a night, do as many push ups as you can (and then more) and you pay to storm a building with a toy gun. Ultimately it is not about that. It is about self awareness, inner strength, team and leadership.

Stoicism as the operating system

In that way the book is not different from “Being a fierce competitor” or “The obstacle is the way”. Stoicism as the operating system. Following the thinking of Marcus Aurilius, the first management guru of our time. Rob Roy would argue that Sun Tzu was the first.

The art of war

He uses the structure of “The art of war” to share 57 lessons. In your face, no bars hold, hard nosed, drum your chest and stop crying, type of lessons. It is all in the mind, try harder, train more, persevere, type of lessons.

But also about letting people get on with it, creating trust, purpose, honour, dignity, respect, loyalty, and integrity. A Navy SEAL cost 25 million to train. You might as well give them the tools and the trust to get on with it.

Lessons

Some great ones:

The importance of commanders intent, the ability to clearly define and articulate goal for a mission. Guiding principles if you will.
Practice, practice, practice
Front sight focus (using snipers as an example)
Dress for success (command presence)
No limits, every goal should be a stretch goal. In fact there is no finishing line. You keep pushing. Just one more. Why stop?
You can accomplish more then you think is possible if you are willing to give what it takes
OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) as the decision making loop
Team before self
Yesterday is over, it is only about today
Commitment to excellence. Everything is done with full attention and full effort. 100% all the time. There are no excuses. 360 degree security is not 359 degrees.
Have a servants heart and be humble. No egos allowed.
Pain tells you that you are still alive, embrace the suck
Trust your inner voice
Care about those you lead and lead from the front
Embrace technology (SEALs can play with the newest war toys)
Passion moves mountains
Vision is a rally cry
Excellence is a habit
Assign a swim buddy
Know who you are
Character is everything

No rocket science

There is no rocket science in it. Clear communication, team, transparency, common goals and trusting your people. In that way it is not different from “The rare find”, “Employees first, customer second” and “Reinventing organisations”. But is in the micro context of a SEAL team. It works.

Military leaders

Not only has it some great leadership tips, it also contains some great speeches by military leaders such as Patton, Roosevelt, Powell, Mattis and Schwarzkopf

What is your credo?

If you want an example of ethos and purpose and a mission statement, it is worthwhile reading the SEAL creed. I want to be a Navy SEAL. What is your companies creed? Would anyone sign up.

Ring the bell

The biggest lesson for me was the chapter about the bell. During SEAL training you can quit by ringing the bell three times. You have a choice. You can ring the bell, or you can commit fully. No amount of pain, cold, wet, tired can derail your devotion. Your either are committed or you are quitting. You can sleep when you are dead. Pain is good.

I suspect every entrepreneur and owner manager will recognise this as a sentiment. I wonder how many are ringing the bell? And how many have rung the bell and are not realising it?

The post The Navy SEAL Art of War appeared first on Small Business Can.

Author Archives: admin