Legal Aspects of Running a Business

Launching a small business is a life-changing move for every businessperson. It brings a certain degree of excitement, together with passion for professional improvement. However, there is also another side of being a small business owner – the legal aspects of business conduct. Even before you make up your mind to start your own business tale, you need to master some legal basics, to work in accordance with the law from the beginning of your career.

The importance of a catchy name

Just try to think of a brand whose products you use and ask yourself whether or not you would use them if they had a different name. As you can see, coining a catchy name is one of the most important steps taken along the business-founding avenue. When you look at the names of some of the most famous global brands, they rarely have more than two words. Even if it is a case, they force the use of acronyms. So, try to think of a catchy phrase that would consist of your surname and a common noun depicting your basic business activity. Incorporating your own surname into the name of your business is especially important when it comes to local small businesses. Also, check if the name you wish to give to your business is already taken. For instance, businesses in Australia can check the availability of business names by following this link.

What business type is your type?

This is probably the hardest decision to make when you want to launch your own business. Your whole business policy will depend on the type you choose for your business. From your own personal taxes to your income and your employees’ wages, the type of your company will determine your collaboration with the tax and insurance authorities. Basically, businesses that do not exceed the number of five shareholders should register as Limited Liability Companies (LLC). Also, you can also choose to register as an S corporation. It offers its shareholders a limited liability, but the earnings and losses are part of their individual tax returns. This type of business must have up to 75 shareholders. Finally, a C corporation is an option for larger players, who are planning to go public in the near future. It is based on stocks and is considered a single entity by the tax authorities.

Get in touch with the taxman

No business can work without the knowledge of the tax authorities. So, once you have registered your enterprise, it is time to go and ask the tax authorities in your region, state or country to give you your very own tax identification number. It will be your main business number, with which you are going to pay all your business-related taxes. What is interesting it that this number is called differently in different countries. For instance, in the USA it is called the employer identification number (EIN), while in Australia they call it the tax file number (TFN). In UK, it’s called the unique taxpayer reference (UTR).

Education on employees’ rights

Only sole proprietors do not have a right to hire employees. All other types of businesses are allowed to recruit workers in order to achieve better business results. You have to learn how the payroll is calculated and when the incomes of your workers are taxed. Furthermore, it is necessary to follow the strict anti-discrimination rules and regulations, since this is a delicate area. Also, you have to know when you are obliged to give them a day off, as well as how much they should be paid for overtime work. Since this is a wide area which can be very important for your everyday work, it would be smart to seek business legal advice, so as to avoid unpleasant mistakes.

The legal side of entrepreneurship raises numerous questions. Businesspeople should try to learn as much as they can about the finance and business law. However, sometimes consulting an expert is the only reasonable option to keep their business actions on the bright side of the law.

The post Legal Aspects of Running a Business appeared first on Small Business Can.

How a Bilingual Employee Can Be Vital In Your Company

Bilingual Employee – English isn’t the only important language anymore. Simple as that. While it is still the most dominant one, at least in terms of business, French, German and Spanish languages are getting there very fast. Europe is much like a big family and English speaking people aren’t the only ones that are important for doing business.

Bilingual Employee

In fact, there are a whole lot of positions that would help their business owners greatly if they can speak at least one other language except English and those positions are very common today. Take social workers, nutritionists or marketers for example. The non-English speaking population is growing day by day, and if you want to increase your customer range, you need to consider hiring bilingual employees seriously.

Increasing your customer base with a Bilingual Employee

Having bilingual employees on key positions in your company can make a huge difference. Let’s consider two examples: HR and health specialists (just about any branch in healthcare).

Having a bilingual HR specialist will allow you to hire employees that are great at their work (IT sphere, writers, bloggers etc.), but can’t speak English (or are very bad at English) for any reason. Those employees can become vital for your company since:

They will require a lot less salary in most cases compared to similar professionals who are proficient in English, but still be able to do an outstanding job for you.
They can help broaden your reach. You will have the opportunity to dip into new markets, ones that still require your product or service, but can’t communicate in English.
They can increase your customer satisfaction by a lot. While it may seem a minor thing, but people love to be spoken to in their mother tongue, even if they do speak other languages. If you ever encounter a delicate issue with one of your customers, an employee who speaks their language may become your life saver in those dire situations.

Bilingual health specialists can be even more important. If you are in healthcare business (psychology, therapy or run a hospital/clinic, etc.) bilingual medical staff can be the difference between a loyal customer and a passerby, or in some cases, even the difference between life and death.

If a non-English speaking patient comes to your clinic with some serious health issues and can only speak French or German, your bilingual employees will suddenly become life savers, no matter whether they are nurses or janitors, as long as they can properly translate everything for the doctor.

Training the rest of your staff

What’s really great about bilingual employees is that you don’t necessarily need to have a lot of them to increase your customer reach, retention rate, satisfaction level, etc. Just a handful of them will be able to train the rest of your staff to become more or less proficient in another language, which can lead to even more opportunities.

When communicating with customers, even a few words in their mother tongue can make a big difference. Great bloggers for example, know about this very well and use it to their advantage along with other blogging secrets.

Finally, bilingual employees, regardless of their position, can be very handy when it comes to business negotiations abroad. If you consider entering new markets, those employees can become half-time or full-time translators for your negotiators to ensure that everything goes on smoothly.

You might think that you can always hire professional translators when needed, but there is a difference between hiring a translator and having somebody from your team that cares for your company help you succeed abroad.

This will not only increase that employee’s motivation, but also show your business partner that you have taken the first step towards entering a new market seriously, since you already have people that speak the necessary language, not just hired translators.

When it comes to business, every opportunity should be weighted seriously and taken if there is a positive risk-reward scenario. The absolutely beautiful thing about having bilingual staff members is that there is no risk whatsoever: only opportunities. And depending on your business, those opportunities can make all the difference in the world.

The post How a Bilingual Employee Can Be Vital In Your Company appeared first on Small Business Can.

How to Value Your Business

The market can be a fickle thing, and whether you’re currently running a thriving business that you want to make some money on, or you’ve been having a few issues, it’s not necessarily always the right time to sell. Getting out quickly is one thing, when you finally make the decision to let your business go, but getting out at the right time is a much more sensible way to go, so it’s important that you regularly ask “how much is my business worth?” in order to ensure you’re ready to make a move when the time is right. Read on for some tips on how to value your business…

The benefits of being on top of your company value calculation

Any business is an investment, even if you started up with little or no initial capital, and it should be treated as such, ensuring you look to grow your investment’s value in the time that you have it. Being aware of the value of your business during your time in ownership will give you a clear idea whether what you’re doing to grow your investment is working. If an unexpected offer comes in, you run into health issues, or there’s another reason you’re looking to sell your business – perhaps you’ve found the perfect investment but you only have a small window to raise funds, knowing how to value a company and getting a quick and accurate business valuation can help you decide on your next course of action more easily. Similarly, valuing your business regularly, whether you use a professional company offering company valuation services, or use a company valuation calculator you can trust, will give you an idea of when the right time to sell is.

How to value your business

Whether you’re wondering what you’d get for your business as an idle possibility, or you’ve realised that perhaps you’d like to enjoy retirement or move onto other things, it’s essential that you know how to value a business. There is, however, not just the one ‘how to value a business calculator’. There are several methods of working a value out, and here, we briefly look at some of the most common business valuation methods that are used to come up with a figure.

Multiples of Earnings

Businesses with a well-established financial history sometimes use this method, working out a Price/Earnings ratio, based on the value of the business divided by its profits after tax. However, the ratio will differ depending on the industry your business trades in, and an IT firm for example, may command a higher ratio than one such as a high street estate agent.

Discounted Cash flow

Estimating the cash flow of a business over a certain period of time can also be used as a business valuation method. However, this is not the only value used. The final figure is worked out as the terminal value of the business after the period mentioned above, plus the cash flow is then discounted. This method is normally used for online businesses, and those with few assets but much potential.

Asset Valuation

If a business were to have a glut of tangible assets, such as properties or vehicles, then asset valuation may be used. The net realisable value of all of the properties or vehicles would be used as the valuation for the business.

Entry Cost

This is a fairly simple way to value a business, as it works on the premise of working out how much it would cost to set up a similar start up. Included within the costings would be gaining a customer base, developing services or products, training and recruitment and purchasing any assets required.

If you’re struggling with working out your business value, there are businesses that can help you calculate the value of your business, but do consider running these figures regularly, as keeping on top of your business’ value can give you a great way of working out the best time to sell.

The post How to Value Your Business appeared first on Small Business Can.

5 Business Apps Guaranteed to Increase Your Productivity in 2016

The age of the paperless office is well and truly upon us. One need only pay a visit to a shared workspace like WeWork or The Office Group in London, to witness the army of entrepreneurs and small businesses busily working from hot desks. Their offices simply consisting of; a tablet, a Smartphone, a MacBook Air, white ear phones, and an array of chargers.

For these tech entrepreneurs, their offices are virtual, and provided they can access the Internet they can operate from pretty much anywhere. Amongst the key enablers is the growing ubiquity of Software as a Service (SaaS) or cloud based solutions, that facilitate access to data stored remotely freeing the user from the need to work in one physical location. The days of desktops overflowing with icons, files and folders are also well gone, with many screens reduced to 4 colourful icons representing; Dropbox, Firefox, Skype and Spotify. These 4 links with the world are all that is needed to operate effectively.

Google is often a first port of call for many of these same users, as many use the Google suite to manage mail, calendaring and to share documents. However, while we are all familiar with the flexibility the Google application brings, there are a number of other less well known solutions that are increasing in popularity. These tools are very different in terms of how they help businesses, but share common traits, as they all benefit their users by enhancing productivity and efficiency via SaaS based solutions.

What are these tools and how can they help your business?

1/ Klipboard – Organize Field Employees & Eradicate Paper

Klipboard is a mobile field service platform for the management of field based employees, and the capture of data from a tablet. It is suitable for undertaking assessments, maintenance records, inspections, surveys or just about any process you can imagine. Gone are the days of relying on paper based methods, instead, Klipboard simplifies data collection, task scheduling, location mapping and messaging. The easy to use, consumer style app, enables employees to capture text, images, signatures or view documents, plus more – even when offline. No more printing, filing or lost paper forms!

Where: Klipboard.io

2/ Docusign – Send, Sign and Approve Documents

Docusign enables parties to electronically sign documents replacing the need to print out documents, to sign them and then to either scan, fax or post them. Again the solution is a simple one, however the benefits are significant in terms of efficiency and productivity gains especially for those who need to obtain lots of signed documents.

Where: Docusign

3/ eFax – Easy Faxing Anywhere

For most of us the days of waiting impatiently by fax machines are well and truly behind us. However, there are numerous professions (including the legal one) where faxes are still used on a daily basis. While this will undoubtedly change in the years to come, faxes remain an important communication tool for certain documents. What has changed however, is the reliance on physical fax machines has evaporated, and efaxes are widely used as viable alternatives where the fax is transmitted directly to your phone or computer.

Where: eFax

4/ Scanner Pro – A Scanner in Your Pocket

Scanner Pro allows you to turn your iPhone or iPad into a portable scanner. The simple app enables you to capture an image which is converted to a PDF, which can then be emailed, printed, uploaded or faxed from the app. The use cases are varied, and with its extremely competitive pricing it serves to yet again replace scanners, a hardware device that was commonplace in most offices up until fairly recently.

Where: iOS, Readdle

5/ Xpenditure – Claim Back Your Time

Xpenditure is a leading expense management solution that works on a very simple premise. Employees simply take a photo of their receipt (using the app), submit it, and the software does the rest. It reads the key data including; the date, merchant, currency, amount and spend category. The net result is that the finance team have real time access to expenses, enabling them to have full visibility on company expenses, while also enabling them to review, to process and to reimburse employees in real time. The entire process is transformed, and the days of multiple steps, involving a range of different parties, and envelopes stuffed with receipts are consigned to history. (Disclosure: the author works with Xpenditure)

Where: iOS, Android

In summary, a number of factors have combined to enable employees to work efficiently while on the road. Hardware has become more powerful, with increased battery life and lighter models (especially for laptops) enabling workers to be truly mobile. Wifi has also become much more ubiquitous, enabling employees to connect to applications more easily (alternatively they can tether from their mobile devices).

Business software has also matured, and a whole range of applications have been created which replace older more paper based processes. What is most attractive about these developments, is that for the most part the cost of these applications is much more competitive than existing solutions without even factoring in the significant efficiency gains, improved security and reduction in errors that these solutions bring.

This article originally appeared here

The post 5 Business Apps Guaranteed to Increase Your Productivity in 2016 appeared first on Small Business Can.

Shrewd Decisions To Manage Small Businesses Finances

As a small business owner, you must operate your company with limited resources. You have limits on your available cash, your equipment and limits on your staff’s time. If you don’t operate productively and manage your finances, your business may fail. Use these tips to reduce costs and to manage finances.

The benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing allows you to store and manage data on remote servers. You can sharply reduce the need for paper files using this technology. By using remote servers, you can keep your data secure. You don’t have to worry about security breaches on servers in your office.

Businesses that use the cloud can operate more productively. Your staff can share documents, make changes and upload files by email. Cloud computing eliminates the need to fax or email documents.

Another great tool for productivity is an e signature for staffing companies. With an e signature solution, you can send a document and get a signature electronically. Once the document is signed, you can backup the document and send it over the cloud. This tool helps you turnaround paperwork quickly. Employee agreements and project contracts can be processed in less time.

Planning and monitoring your budget

Many entrepreneurs start selling their product or service without creating a budget. If you don’t take the time to plan your business operations, you may run short on cash or operate at a loss.

Think carefully about the costs you incur to make and deliver your product. Say, for example, that you manage a catering business. To serve your customers, you incur food costs, food preparation expenses and cost to deliver and serve the food. Invest the time to fully document the costs required to manage your business.

Using accounting software

Once you decide on a budget for your catering business, use accounting software to post all of your transactions. QuickBooks, for example, is an easy-to-use online accounting system. You can quickly learn how to post transactions and generate financial reports. A business owner can also input budget assumptions into QuickBooks.

At the end of each month, produce a set of financial reports, including a profit and loss statement for the month. Compare your budgeted sales and expenses to your actual results.

If actual costs are higher than you planned, think about making changes. Assume, for example, that your food costs were higher than budgeted. Consider ordering food from other vendors that can offer a lower price. Making these changes can help you keep your business on track.

Increasing productivity with mobile apps

Many business owners spend most of their time away from the office. The catering owner, for example, may be out marketing the business or meeting with clients. If you’re frequently out of the office, it’s important that you stay on top of your finances.

Consider using mobile apps to you manage your business. You can find apps to scan receipts and post them to your accounting records. You can also connect you mobile device to your cloud computing system. This technology lets you access and change any document without the need to be in the office.

Managing your small business can be time-consuming. Create a budget for your business and compare your budget to actual results. Use technology to keep your accounting records up to date. These strategies can help you grow your small business and generate a profit.

The post Shrewd Decisions To Manage Small Businesses Finances appeared first on Small Business Can.

Xceptional Execution – A Small Business Guide to Profitability

What if launching and leading an xceptional business was simpler than you’ve ever imagined? Not easier. Not less time consuming. Not less gut wrenching, but simpler. Guess what: It is.

What if I told you many successful entrepreneurs didn’t start with a compelling vision or indeed a workable business plan? Guess what: That’s true.

What if it was possible to dominate a market without any previous background in it? Well: It is.

Xceptional execution is about taking a relatively simple idea from brainstorm to breakout hit. Ground-breaking research conducted by Columbia University’s Amar Bhidé in 2000 titled “The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses” revealed that 88 percent of “breakthrough companies” were the result of xceptional execution of an ordinary idea, according to their owners. Only 12 percent were the result of new inventions.

In my latest book “DO! the pursuit of Xceptional Execution,” described by Tom Peters as the one he would love to have written; I interviewed nine CEO’s from some of the biggest break-through start-ups, e.g. Dwolla, Globant, Balsamiq, Blo Blo Dry Bars and Outfit 7. In it I delve into the DNA of the CEO’s of these start-ups, who I call the ‘Xceptionalists’, highlighting the thinking behind those who live and breathe the Xceptional Execution mind-set and approach to business and life.

So how does one achieve xceptional execution of an ordinary idea? And let’s not forget we are all in the ‘ordinary idea business.’

As highlighted in my research there are four pillars that underpin an xceptional execution culture.

Self awareness

Self Awareness – described by Stanford Business Advisory committee as the most important attribute a leader should develop; Xceptional leaders know who they are, their strengths and weaknesses, their dreams and their fears.

In a small business, the leader is the culture creator. Their presence either creates an empowering or disempowering working environment.

So the question that you the leader needs to ponder is – what are you projecting? And just to challenge you further – do you know?

Over the past 25 years as a consultant, one thing I know for sure – if I sought only the wisdom of the CEO or owner when assessing the prospects of a company, this would have been a grave error. In the majority of cases, the owner’s opinion was far removed from what I was getting from employees or the marketplace.

Numerous studies highlight the gaps between leaders’ perceptions of reality and insights on the ground: Some companies believe they are providing a good service, but customers don’t concur. A study by Avaya showed that 80 percent of companies believed they were providing a quality service, only 8 percent of customers agreed. The message is clear – take timeout to develop and understand yourself and also surround yourself with people who can assess your eyesight!

The critical ability to deliver the most powerful drug in business to both customer and employees – quality authentic Attention

The average attention span in 2012 was 8 seconds, which is down significantly from 2000 where it was 12 seconds, according to statistics published in the Associated Press. The average attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds. Are you a goldfish because if you are – your business is suffering?

One of our Xceptionalists Tim Clark founder of Business Model You sums it up: “There’s a reason it’s called “paying” attention: it’s a substantial cost in terms of time and energy. But nothing fundamental has changed. Everyone is still amazed when you actually listen deeply to what they are saying, and respond to that rather than simply waiting them out so you can spew forth your own talking points.”

Are you paying attention? Have you detailed each contact point with the client, set standards for each and strive to exceed this every time.

The customer as a concept is dead so a focus on building friendships, not customer relationships will give you a better ROI. Customers leave unannounced – friends at worse tell you before they do.

The power of friendships helped Globant the Argentinian technology giant build their global business. When they committed to starting a company, their first exercise was to write down all their friends and contacts on a white board. Then, with a developed sales presentation and a $5000 start-up budget, they sat down with them in different parts of the world and ended up identifying many business opportunities. It was the start of an xceptional journey that has brought them from 4 owners to 3500 employees and a client list that feature Linkedin, Google, Electronic Arts etc.

Learning but not just as you know it!

Xceptional business people are lifelong sponges but not in the traditional way – they learn from everybody from the Janitor to the award winning thought leader. In their mind everybody is a potential teacher regardless of who they are.

Do!

And finally all Xceptionalists are Doer’s – they don’t just dream, they execute on their ideas. They learn, they pivot, they persevere and in the end find themselves at their chosen destination.

Very often they Do! even when knowledge stands in their way or so it appears! In my early days I worked as a feasibility consultant –charged with saying whether or not an idea had potential. Looking back I can recall easily finding enough reasons why many ideas shouldn’t get the green light.

And therein lays the challenge for owners/entrepreneurs who dare to dream – knowledge will always give you enough reasons not to act.

Regardless the true entrepreneur DOES!

Go on! Let’s DO! it.

Speaker Summit

On Feb 19^th we are holding the inaugural Speaker Summit for coaches/speakers/consultants in Croke Park, Dublin. Be inspired and informed by some of the best speakers in the world –for more info www.speakeracademy.ie

Also as a special offer to Small Business Can readers I am offering a signed copy of my book “DO! the pursuit of Xceptional Execution” delivered to your door for €12. (Just pay via Paypal to kevin@kevinkellyunlimited.com)

The post Xceptional Execution – A Small Business Guide to Profitability appeared first on Small Business Can.

7 Inexpensive Benefits to Show Your Staff They’re Appreciated

Health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off are some of the most common benefits employers provide to their staff – and with good reason. While a competitive salary can attract top candidates to your company, the key to retaining highly qualified staff is showing them how much they’re valued. Offering additional benefits to your employees not only shows them how much you care, but it motivates them to put their best foot forward on the daily basis. If you’re interested in extending a little appreciation to your staff, here are some lesser-known benefits that won’t break the bank:

Telecommute Opportunities

Every now and again it could prove beneficial to allow your staff to work from home. In this ever evolving digital world of business, connectivity is now easier than ever. Management tools such as Asure software makes it easier for you to manage employee time and collaborate on company projects. Offering telecommuting benefits lets employees know that you understand their need to care for their loved ones and that you trust them to get the job done from home.

Commuter Benefits

Transportation costs can bite a big hole in anyone’s budget. Whether your staff utilizes public transportation or drives themselves to work the cost of fair, parking, gas, and car maintenance is often strenuous. Setting aside a monthly stipend of let’s say $50-100 per employee can save them hundreds of dollars per year.

Tuition Assistance

In order for your company to grow you must continually invest in the growth and development of your staff. A great way to show them that you want them to achieve greatness is by offering to pay for a portion of their college education. Whether your company creates a scholarship fund and awards it to a recipient each year or you have enough funds in the budget to pay for a percentage of your employee’s education, they will be grateful.

Family Days

Want to show your employees that you care about them as individuals? Introducing a company family day is a great way to show it. Any time your staff can spend with their families and away from the desk is a perk. Take a day out of the year and plan something nice for your staff and their families to do (i.e. picnic, games, a nice luncheon). This is a great way to get to know more about your employees and to cultivate a more family oriented work environment.

Wellness Programs

Although health insurance covers the bulk of your employee’s health needs it can also be beneficial to offer wellness programs. There are so many options for you to choose from that can fit within your budget. From giving your staff discounts at local memberships to having meetings with popular weight loss programs your staff will love the idea that you’re keeping their health in mind.

Dress Down Days

Here’s a perk that won’t cost you a penny to implement in the office. Instead of always having your team dressed like they’re heading to a meeting, you could cut them some slack and allow them to dress down on occasion. Casual Fridays have always been a popular choice allowing your staff to dress down just before the weekend.

Flex Time

Do your employees really need to be in the office from 9 to 5 or can you vary their schedules a bit? Employees would appreciate having the opportunity to alter their schedules to fit their personal lives. Offering flex schedules such as 8-4 or 7-3 for employees who have been with the company for at least a year is a great way to vary the schedules and motivate them to stay with the company.

As an employer it is imperative to remember that your employees are your best asset. Keeping them happy doesn’t always have to mean large pay raises or tons of time off. In other words, you don’t have to break the bank to be a top employer like Google. Small benefits such as these described above can go a long way for motivation and longevity. Take the time to evaluate your company finances to see how you can do just a little bit more to show your team how much you value them.

The post 7 Inexpensive Benefits to Show Your Staff They’re Appreciated appeared first on Small Business Can.

10 Things That Pull You Down From Getting More Business

There are businesses that do well. There are ones that hold the edge. There are businesses that lead the competition. And, there are the ones which struggle with getting more business.

The number of start-ups, small & medium enterprises & heavy investment enterprises has grown exponentially over the years. However, with all the problem-solving ideas, innovative concepts, well-researched products, and customized service projects businesses these days are finding roadblocks. Their stuff remains unsold due to lack of penetrating marketing strategies.

For small business owners or self-employed individuals, the business revolves around their passion with scanty knowledge about marketing their stuff. On many occasions, it has to with the lack of intent to engage in a planned promotion or having an effective marketing plan.

Peek into few factors that kill sales and obstruct organizations and businesses from acquiring new customers and getting more business.

1. Undefined goals

Setting the goal is the first step to turning the invisible into the visible. Businesses need to clearly define the reason for their existence. A big chunk of start-Ups & small businesses does not document a clear vision statement and goals.

Write the vision statement that will help you ascertain the goals, the mission, and act as a guide to the core activities of the business, and help in the formulation of policies and taking an ethical stand.

2. Insufficient research & awareness about the markets

The obstacle to discovery is not ignorance. It is the illusion of knowledge. Businesses think that they know swimming and get into the ocean. And then they get drowned. The strategy that may have worked for you formerly may not work today. The markets are changing- If I correct this phrase, the customers are changing. Nowadays customers have access to information and pricing strategies.

A customer has grown smarter and is well informed about purchase decisions. In such scenario, businesses have to constantly be engaged in market and customers and be smart in terms of pricing, features, services and over experience selling.

3. Not working out on products

Clinging to a product or a service that may look attractive, may be economic to manufacture and easy to distribute but has no practical value is practically unsalable. Start-Ups & businesses need to understand what the customer needs.

Check out the relevance of the concept for the target audience. Also, verify if the target audience is well defined and correct. If required, conduct a pilot run & take feedback. Iron out the deficiencies into usability, features, pricing, competitiveness & offers.

4. Lack of proper sales process

The Company that doesn’t have a proper sales process is surely going to get stuck sooner or later. Lack of documented sales process & written sales presentation, Non-existence of staff training procedures, Inability to generate quality leads, Inadequacy in sales follow-up processes or Using inappropriate promotional channels is enough to screw down your business.

Define the products/services.
Create a sales presentation citing features & advantages, competitive edge & stress on how the customer will advantage out of your offer.
Identify the Sales resistances and develop answers and explanations so that customer is forced to purchase the offering.
Develop a well-trained sales staff and create options to generate quality leads.
Install a mechanism to monitor sales pitches & follow up procedures. When a deal is done, make sure you retain the existing customers.
While planning a promotional strategy, use those that maximize the outreach in the budgeted costs.

5. Inability to generate funds

The chief job of a business owner is to generate funds for keeping the business alive, whether via sales or through funding, loans or from capital markets. The biggest reason why start-ups fail is because of inability to generate the necessary resources that help the business tide through the tough phases and become strong to acquire new customers.

Consider friends, family or bootstrapping. Develop options to raise capital from Angel investors. Crowd-funding from social circle comes handy in such circumstances. If you are looking at a little larger picture then you can get fund from the micro-loan organizations. It may take time, but losing heart is definitely not one of the ways. Keep calm and move ahead.

6. Inappropriate management of Customer Data

Not managing the customer’s data properly can get even the biggest of the companies in trouble. Keep your customers happy and other things will become easier.

So, it is highly necessary to record analyze and manage customer data. Customers’ preferences, likes & dislikes provide an insight into current & future trends. This will help a correction in strategy & improvise the purchasing experience. Good quality crm software can help manage customer interactions, recording feedback and improvising relationships.

7. Overlooking the need of your own people

It’s not you alone who has set up the business. There are people you need to take care of so that they take care of your valuable business. The way customers are important to you, the employees are as much your priority.

Understand your employees for better. Communicate with them often and value their opinions & suggestions. Create a dedicated team that strives to achieve the set goals.
Train them, provide them with necessary tools, motivate them and they will do their best, always.

8. Weak online promotion strategy

Being absent on the internet impacts heavily on the scalability of the business. Being present without any promotional activity adds no good.

Businesses & Start-Ups should promote their business online through the website, portals, blogs, & Social media sites. Keeping the customers engaged by developing mobile games, & mobile applications are some of the good ways to being visible to customers.

9. Improper inventory & logistics management

The inability to deliver when the customer demands is one of the easiest ways to kill the business. The marketing team may have made promises, but the delivery & logistics has got the responsibility to deliver in a timely manner.

An impeccable way to make a place in your customer’s heart is to deliver the product on the date you promised. It is always an emergency on the customer’s side and inventory management, shipping process needs to be one of the selling points.

10. Restricting to a Comfortable geography

The home territory has a capped potential for any business. Beyond this, the businesses must look for newer geographies and probably think about exploring a newer market. Lack of such a planning can be enough to keep the business as a small player and deny the chances to acquire customers.

Slowly and steady, a business need to penetrate in the other geographical areas but before doing that, they need to study the market carefully, plan the strategy and do a SWOT. It is good to move ahead with a proper planning.

It is not the failure of one or other strategy that would eventually decrease the number of customers and lead to the business failure but yes, not willing to invest resources and hard work would.

A good business will keep customers at the top and would define every strategy around them. This is the easiest way to reach the goal you set for the business.

The post 10 Things That Pull You Down From Getting More Business appeared first on Small Business Can.

Madness at the Ulster Bank #hackmakethebank hackathon

Was just part of a meeting preparing for the upcoming Ulster Bank hackathon in the Dogpatchlab in CHQ on 29-31 January.

On the programme, apart from hacking is Techball, lessons in Irish dancing, food, drink and massages.

For good measure, participants can win Spheros. Yep, the robot that is the basis of BB-8 in Star Wars

I am concerned! If you want to be part of this madness, you need to be fast, tickets are quickly running out. Book your place here

The post Madness at the Ulster Bank #hackmakethebank hackathon appeared first on Small Business Can.

How to Choose a Web Host for Small Businesses

A web hosting service is a kind of internet hosting service that will allow an organization or any business to make their website accessible with the help of the World Wide Web. This kind of service is very essential for any business as it ensures that the website is visible to the consumers. It also makes it easy for the business to update their websites as and when needed.

A good web host provider will provide many useful features to the businesses that want online exposure. For any organization that wants to go digital it is very essential to get hold of a top web host service provider.

Be aware of your web hosting needs:

One should be aware of the hosting needs before choosing the right web host provider. You should be aware of the kind of website you are building, whether the website needs special version of any software and if any windows application is needed. Also you should keep in mind about your requirement regarding Windows applications and the web traffic volume.

Support uptime record:

You should pick up a web host providers that operates 24×7. It should be able to operate on a powerful server having stable network connections. The recommended uptime score is 99.5% and you should not go beyond anything below 99%.

Ability to add-on multiple domains

Nowadays, domain names are very cheap and most of the masters in web have more than one domain name. Extra hosting space is very much required to add these domains. Go for a provider that allows adding multiple domains. Generally most of the web host providers allow you to add 25 domain names in one account. This is one of the most important factors that you should check while choosing a particular web service provider.

Go for a provider having good refund policy

One can cancel their account after the trial period is over in a particular web host service provider. You should go for those providers who have a good refund policy and do not charge a huge amount as cancellation fees. It is very important for you to know that the web host provider handles customer refunds so as to avoid a huge loss.

Features of ecommerce portals

If you business involves an ecommerce portal, you should go for web service providers that have enough features to support your ecommerce portals. Most of the people need to process any kind of business transactions or use any specific shopping cart software. Go for those web service providers that have features like dedicated IP, SSL certification or one-click shopping software features.

Checking the renewal prices

Any kind of hosting deals involves cheap sign up prices but the renewal proves are generally higher. Unless you are willing to switch the web host service providers every after two or three years, the charge is pretty high on renewals. So before selecting any particular web hosting service you must check the renewal price of that provider.

Apart from the following considerations, Hosting Facts also recommends considering other factors. Such factors might include the environment friendliness of web service providers, whether it provides 24×7 live chat support and easy going hosting control panel. A proper web hoist service provider is very important for any organization to get the right kind of exposure in the World Wide Web.

The post How to Choose a Web Host for Small Businesses appeared first on Small Business Can.

Category Archives: Latest