Startup Tips Archives - Page 27 of 66

9 Foolproof Ways To Get The Most Talent From Your Employees

There are plenty of ways a business can obtain success, but they all revolve around your staff. The simple fact is that your staff is the lifeblood of your organization. And, without them, you can’t reach the levels of success that every company wants to reach. The problem with employees is that they don’t always work to their maximum. Some are lazy and only want to do the minimum amount while others lack leadership. Regardless, it costs you money.

Obviously, you want your firm to be as productive and efficient as possible, which means they need the same traits. To hit your goal, you need to extract every ounce of talent and skill that your workforce possesses. Only then can your business begin to reach astronomical heights.

Here are a few tips that will get the job done.

Tip 1: Believe In Them

The great thing about this first tip is that you don’t have to communicate outwardly with your staff. All you have to do is believe that they will do the job that you need them to do for your business to benefit. It might sound like new age mumbo jumbo, but it does work. Your belief in them will affect your body language and the way you communicate, as www.forbes.com illustrates. Instead of giving off a distant vibe that screams failure, you will give off an accepting vibe that screams success. Everything from looking them in the eye to your body position will fill them with confidence. Quite simply, your belief will transfer to them.

Tip 2: Demonstrate Your Belief

Now that you believe, it is time to show them that you believe. Some of your perceptive employees will pick up on the fact that you are a more open and caring boss. But, others won’t even blink. For their sake, you need to show them that you care. Otherwise, they will carry on as normal and not make any changes to their work habits. One awesome way to show that they are important to you is to listen to their thoughts and feelings. The fact that you are listening to them means you are taking the time to set aside your issues for their sake. Plus, it makes them feel more valuable if you don’t dismiss their ideas out of hand. Listening is a great tool because hardly anyone converses or listens anymore.

Tip 3: Be Honest

You are not a divine being, and you are not infallible. Yet, there are plenty of bosses that act that way, like they are a descendant of God. Just because you are in a position of power doesn’t mean that you are always right. Let your employees see that you understand this and that you are willing to be open and honest. Tell them about your strengths and your weaknesses and they will adopt the same strategy. For starters, it gives them the green light to admit that they have limitations because their boss has readily admitted the same. But, more importantly, it makes them think. The best employees among your staff should think, ‘my boss has limitations, so what are mine?’ If they take the bull by the horns, they can work out how to be better.

Tip 4: Understand Their Strengths And Weaknesses

Once they open up to you, listen to what they have to say. Every boss has some form of bias that they can’t fix. It is an occupational hazard of being a part of the human race as your past experiences mold the person you are today. The problem with this is that they can affect the way you treat your subordinates. For example, if you are a planner you might look down on someone that doesn’t plan. If you go one step further, you might even pressure them into changing their way of working. The result won’t work out in your favor because they won’t adapt. Instead, you need to understand that is how they work, and that it works for that individual. The more you change people, the less you will benefit.

Tip 5: Clear Communication

Businesses deal in specialist areas and use a lot of jargon. As such, your work might be complex and hard to understand. It isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that your employees don’t understand their job. When that happens, productivity falls by a large amount. You have to be able to tell them what you expect of them on any given day to make the company tick. The best option is to talk to them in a simple and clear manner. Forget about using strange terms and abstract phrases, and break it down to its bare bones. That doesn’t mean you have to treat them as idiots because they are far from stupid. But, it does mean that you shouldn’t complicate the issue if possible.

Tip 6: Inspire Them

Inspiration can appear in many different forms, but fear tends not to work. The culture of fear in most businesses is apparent: the boss is the big cheese, and you can’t disappoint them. However, the problem with this culture is that it limits your staff’s ability to work creatively. As they don’t want a dressing down from their boss, they do whatever is required to get by. Another term for this is doing the bare minimum. Instead of putting them under pressure, out an arm around their shoulder. Use kindness and positive messages to inspire your team to bigger and better achievements. When you have to, you need to be firm. But, as long as you are fair, they should understand.

Tip 7: Praise Effort

Ability is not the be all and end all with employees. Yes, you need them to be able to do their jobs. Still, some people have the ability, but they need to unlock it first. Again, if they are working under intense pressure, they will fail. But, if you praise their effort as well as their ability, they will shine. Most employees recognize that they need time to improve. If you give them that time, you will be the one that benefits.

Tip 8: Give Them The Right Tools

It is plausible that they have all the ability in the world, but they don’t have the right tools. Your employees are nothing if they don’t have the equipment to do their job. It’s like asking a doctor to perform surgery without a scalpel – it’s stupid! Your duty as the boss is to make sure they have all the equipment they need, from infrastructure and tech to uniform. Don’t underestimate the importance of a uniform by the way. To use the medical analogy once more, uniform like scrubs is essential to basic tasks. For more on uniforms, visit http://www.uniformsandscrubs.com/landau.html.

Tip 9: Invest In Training

Training is essential if you want your staff to be better at their jobs. Firstly, training is a form of education. When they go on courses, they learn information that they can use to perform their role in the company to a higher standard. No training course, no information. And if there is no information, there is no increase in quality. Just as importantly, it is a gesture. The fact that you are willing to pay money to make them better is a sign that you value them as workers. You are trying to not only enhance the business but the business’s personal. Any intelligent person will see this and work harder. At the least, they should understand that training is good for them and their career, even if they don’t care about the company.

What Can Startups Do To Compete With The Big Boys? Consolidate And Differentiate

The biggest obstacles to starting a business are not financial or logistical. I think the biggest obstacles are psychological. Many people dream of starting a business, and they’ll endlessly go on about it to friends and family. But, for whatever reason, they’ll never actually take the plunge and get it done.

One of the reasons for this might be the fear that the existing companies are probably already doing a better job. While it’s true that large companies do often do a good job, that doesn’t mean there isn’t space for you to introduce something innovative. Often people aren’t all that attached to the big brands – with certain exceptions – and want a small company to meet some niche need. So what can startups do to compete?

Consolidate Your Systems

Technology has been, and will continue to be, a great equaliser. Over the last few years, IT solutions have stepped up a notch. In the business setting IT has gone both mobile and into the cloud. This has meant that employees can access company wide solutions no matter where they are. And they can do all this for a fraction of the price it cost in previous decades.

One recent innovation is consolidation. IT software companies recognise that the job of IT should be to simplify business processes. For startups, the cost of administrations can be particularly burdensome. Paperwork takes you away from doing the things that your business does well.

Now you can integrate your back room with your frontline systems. For example, you can use IT to improve the way your office communicates with frontline engineers. Mobile allows engineers to receive job updates on the go. This stops you from having to fill out endless timesheets or make annoying repetitive phone calls.

Also, thanks to GPS systems, mobiles allows you to track how far your engineers have travelled to various jobs. In this way, you don’t have to record mileage and process extra data. Software will do all that for you. Just visit Job Logic for more details.

Differentiate Your Product

People often think that differentiation means that you have to produce a product that is different to what’s already out there. But I don’t think this is true. I think differentiation means making a product that has the illusion of being different.

Think about why certain brands are more desirable than others? Often it doesn’t come down to product quality or uniqueness at all. It just comes down to how we perceive that company. Even for things like toothpaste, we’re more likely to pay over the odds for a brand we recognise instead of the much cheaper generic option. We do that even if the product itself is identical.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to differentiate yourself. You just need to capture your audience’s imagination. As a small company, you can build a niche appeal. It’s actually sexy to get a product from a smaller producer than to have something that’s just like what everyone else has.

How To Organise The Perfect Convention

Everybody recognizes that running an event is a very challenging endeavor. There are so many aspects that have to come together to make the event a success. It’s no wonder that the organizers of conventions tend to be some of the most capable, (and the most stressed), people in business.

Managing a small business has been likened to organizing an event. As with events, business managers have to arrange people and processes in a way that produces a desired outcome. But there are some important difference. In business, if something goes wrong, it can always be sorted out the following day or week. But events can’t be sorted out after the fact: they have to go to plan every time. That’s why it’s essential that event organizers have a foolproof and logical methodology.

1. Set Goals

The first thing that any budding event organizer needs to think about is goals. The goals of the event should be concise and clear to anybody who does not know the finer details. If for example, you are organising an event for a charity, then make clear that the goal is fundraising. If you are a running a conference, make it clear that the goal is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge.

A less obvious consideration is whether you actually need a convention to meet your goals. It might be the case that your resources are better spent elsewhere. Perhaps an internet course, for example, would more cost-effectively deliver knowledge transfer.

2. Planning

The plan for each event can be broken down into three distinct parts. The first is logistics. Under this section, you need to work out how people will attend your event, how much food you’ll need and how much space you’ll need. For larger events, you’ll need to plan an adequate health and safety strategy.

The second is marketing. Knowing who you want to invite and why they might want to come is important. You need to have a compelling value proposition that your potential visitors can understand.

The third is financial. A financial plan will consider all of the necessary costs involved in running an event. For small events, this is usually just the cost of the room hire and food. For larger events, this might include welcome packs or other things guests might need to take away. It could also include the cost of speakers.

3. The Venue

As part of the logistic planning, you need to think about the most appropriate venue for your convention. The price of your convention will adjust depending on the venue that you choose. Remember when choosing a venue to get a shortlist of all venues that meet your basic needs. Then evaluate each individually.

Don’t just go for the lowest price. It may be that some venues are actually more conducive to meeting your goals than others. Often a great atmosphere can induce people to give more money or create a better impression among potential clients.

4. Marketing

The difference between having a successful convention and not can often come down to the quality of the marketing. Fortunately, we now have amazing online tools at our disposal that allow us to organize events cheaply and easily. Effective marketing will use online tools to target and recruit potential guests in a cost effective way.

Once your guests have arrived, it’s good to have professional materials to hand out to them. Pro printing can give your event the professional touch and help delegates learn more effectively.

5. Colleagues

In order for an event to come together seamlessly, it’s really important to make sure that everybody is on the same page. Each person in the team needs to know what they’re doing, when they’re doing it and why. This means organizing the caterers according to feeding times. It means discussing with suppliers your precise needs and timetable. And it means making sure that you hire the right speakers for the job in hand.

All too often events can be let down, not because they lack focus, but because the organizers have not communicated their objectives. Planning should start weeks in advance, and meetings should be held with staff to make sure they know exactly what they’re doing.

6.Remain Flexible

When you come to give your event, remember that things can and will probably still go wrong. That’s why it’s a good idea to adopt a flexible approach. It’s likely that unexpected and unpredictable changes to the itinerary will occur. So, building flexibility into the day will make your plan more robust. Always bear contingencies in mind.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Successful Business

More and more people are turning to the world of business than ever before. This is likely to be due to a number of different factors. One of the main contributing factors is likely to be the fact that it is now much easier to set up a business than it ever has been before. While in times past, it was a huge undertaking, today that is not necessarily the case. With the advent of the Internet, not to mention all sorts of new whacky means of marketing, setting up shop is easier than ever. The flipside to this, of course, is that there is more competition than ever before. What does this mean for the budding entrepreneur? Well, setting up business is probably quicker and simpler than you might think. It is also more difficult to become the best than you might hope. However, if you merely want something that will make you a little cash on the side – then you’re in luck. There has never been a better time to start up a business. If you have decided that you would like to try running your own business, then read through this guide before you do anything else. We will take you, step-by-step, through the process of setting up your startup in 2016.

Make A Detailed Plan

An absolute vital, unmissable first step is to make a detailed business plan. A lot of people start out in business without drawing up a blueprint first – and they almost always regret it. The truth is, the reason that a lot of people don’t bother with the plan is because they have the wrong idea about what it means. In truth, writing up your business plan is not a very difficult thing to do. Not only that, but it will also save you a massive headache in the long run. It is a simple matter of sitting down and working out, as methodically as you can, what it is you intend to do and achieve with your company. Start with the basics. What will the name be? Who is the target market? How will you operate? In other words, will it be a solely online business, or will you have an office with actual employees? You would do well to consider as many details as you possibly can. The more you get your ideas down on paper at the beginning, you better off your business will be in the long run.

Set Yourself Goals

As well as knowing, in detail, how your business will operate, you also want to set yourself some goals. Without specific, business-orientated goals, there isn’t much point to doing business at all. Having specific goals work well, because it means you know when you are succeeding and when you are lagging behind. And the most important thing of all in business is to be honest with where you currently are. If things aren’t going so well, be honest about it. Don’t try to cover it up. Ask yourself: what can we do differently to reverse this process? This is much more beneficial, in the long run, than sticking your head in the sand and hoping the problems will go away.

Hire The Right People (And The Right Number Of People)

It is perfectly possible that your business will be a venture of one – yourself. There are plenty of businesses out there which are modelled in this way, and there is no reason that it cannot be a successful way of doing business. But you do need to ask yourself whether this is the case for your individual situation. It might be the case that you need to recruit helping hands, even if only in the early days. If that is so, then ensure that you hire only the best people you can find. The philosophy to follow is that it is better to spend money on the right person than none at all. Consider your employees – or potential employees – as an investment, rather than a cost. Don’t shy away from hiring people just because you don’t want to spend the money. That is what business is all about. However, don’t needlessly hire too many people, either. Ensure that you get the balance just right. This can be difficult to achieve, but it is worth the effort.

Marketing – Far & Wide

You should start marketing your business as early as possible. There are countless different options when it comes to marketing, but the key is to approach as many people as possible. Start within your identified target market, and then continue to expand. Some methods of marketing are particularly effective in the early days of running a business. Exhibits are a great place to start, as they offer the opportunity to explain your vision in-depth. If this interests you, browse exhibit design ideas here. It is also wise to remember that social media is one of the most effective means of getting any message across. The main benefit there, of course, is that it is free of charge!

Partner Up

This, again, is something which is commonly overlooked by new business owners. However, it is a valuable piece of advice which is always worth sharing. You should endeavour to partner up with an established company as early on as possible. Partnerships are a fantastic, useful way of using co-operation to inspire success within your own company. With a decent partnership, you have the benefit of the more experienced company’s contacts and wisdom. In return, you can offer them some new blood. In today’s marketplace, partnership is the key to long, sustained success.

Take It Slow – Prepare For Growth

One of the main mistakes people often make is that they rush into things too quickly. When this happens, the business usually suffers as a result. If you are like most people, you are probably very excited about your new idea. That is a fantastic place to start from! But you must also remember to take it slow. Too often, businesses fail because someone gets over-excited and makes a couple of poor decisions. The truth is, it can happen to the best of us. So take it slow. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hope for success! You should be hoping for the very best success possible. That is the best advice I can give you – take it slow, but prepare for a huge amount of growth. With any luck, that growth will come before you know it.

Five Amazing Tools For Your New Office

You’ve got a killer business idea. You’ve already found a bunch of amazing people to join your company. You’ve also found the perfect office space. What else does your startup need? Well, the office needs to be kitted out with the right equipment for starters. This means all the latest technology appliances, comfy furniture and state-of-the-art IT software. There are many different brands and models out on the market these days. Not sure what will help to turnover a tidy profit? Here is a list of five amazing tools every new office should have.

A Phone System

You will need more than a basic landline. As well as standard phones that can make and receive external calls, you will need to be able to make internal phone calls. Most phone plans often include external and internal calls together on the bill. Speak to your chosen company and see if they have any extras they can add. Some offer conference calling and data networks. Think about what you need from a phone system before signing on the dotted line for one.

A Water Cooler

Employees will love hanging around the water cooler having a gossip. It will also keep them refreshed. Water is great to help aid concentration and memory, therefore, helping them hit all their targets. It’s also a great idea to offer free healthy snacks, like fruits and yoghurt. This is another fab morale booster for the workforce while helping them stick to a healthy and nutritious diet.

Sufficient Filing

You’ll probably already have filing cabinets for all your paperwork and important documents. But is it sufficient for your needs? The more filling space you have, the better. This allows you to keep all your papers highly organised in an efficient manner. If you don’t have enough space, you will end up stuffing everything together and important documents could end up damaged or missing.

Comfy Office Chairs

A comfy office chair for every employee is very important. Not only does it make their day more comfortable, but it will also bring many health benefits. The right chair can help with posture and will prevent any back pain that can come with working on a computer all day. If your employees prefer, you could always get them a standing desk. These desks are designed to be used while standing.and not only improve blood circulation but prevent slouching as well.

Office Pet

Do you have a dog? Bring it to work! If you don’t, maybe one of your employees does. Lots of modern offices allow people to bring their dogs into work with them. It’s been shown that pets can help reduce stress levels and depression. Having a pet around will help boost the morale in your office. Happy workers mean productive workers! Not only that, but it also means the dog won’t be home alone all day while their owner is at work.

With all these great additions to your office, you’ll really notice an improvement in the efficiency and mood of your workforce!

Don’t Forget About The Safety Of Your Employees

You can not afford to forget about the safety of employees in your business. On this post, we’re going to be focusing on dangers in factories and industrial businesses. But it’s important that you realise safety is important for every company. Whether you work in an office or own a factory floor, you have to protect your employees.

An example of an incident in a business office could be RSI. Repetitive strain injury is caused by consistently typing while sitting in a poor position. If you have people typing in your office you should be making sure that they take five minute breaks every hour. If they don’t they could develop RSI. You should under no circumstances order them or encourage them to work without breaking. If you do this, you could be sued for legal damages after they suffer from an injury like this that could have been prevented.

This is perhaps the main reason why you need to think about the safety of your employees. Forget about the ethical or moral obligations for the moment. If you don’t protect your employees you could be sued when they suffer an accident. Firstly, when you own a business and have employees, you have a duty of care. That means it’s your responsibility to keep them safe when they are working for you. Secondly, premises liability states that anyone who owns a property is responsible for any injuries. This will be true even if you are renting your office or factory. Landlords will shift premises liability to the business owner through contractual agreements.

Of course, you also have to think about bad press. If you want the best employees working for your business, you can’t be known for running a place where accidents happen. Here are some of the ways typical accidents can be prevented.

Check Your Machinery

If you’re running a factory, it’s crucial that you make sure the machinery is safe for use, regularly. It may have been safe for use when you bought it. But machinery does have a life expectancy like anything else. A lot of wear and tear could cause damage to the equipment, making it unsafe. If this occurs and an employee suffers an injury, you will be held accountable. Puwer inspections can be arranged to check machinery is still in good working order.

Hire Safety Officers

You should have safety officers appointed on your staff. These people will be responsible for regularly checking your place of work is in good order. They will look for any hazards that could cause an accident and make sure they are resolved. Or noted so that you can be aware of the danger. Health and safety officers will allow this issue to be shifted to someone other than yourself. But you do need to make sure you hire the best people for the job.

Train Your Workers

Lastly, it’s important to be aware that most business accidents can be prevented by the employee. They just need to be trained to know what to do when they see a hazard. If you have the best trained employees working for you, you will limit the chances of an accident on your property.

Top Reasons Your Startup Should Trade Overseas

Have you started a new business that’s managing to corner the US market? Does the idea of expanding and making more cash seem appealing? Then you should spend some times looking at your options. Trading overseas if often an excellent way of ensuring your business continues down a profitable path. Still not convinced? Let’s take a look at some of the benefits you just can’t ignore.

Increased profit potential

It stands to reason that increasing your potential customer base by a few billion is going to make a difference to sales levels. In turn, that should also mean your profit margins increase, and you boost turnover significantly. Just make sure you understand all the export and import charges before rushing ahead.

Higher competitive advantage

All company owners should look for new and innovative ways to beat the competition. Making your products or services available to the entire planet is an advantage that could remove all competitors from the market. Thier brands will seem insignificant compared to yours on the global scene. It would be like comparing “Dave’s Big Warehouse” to names like “Amazon.”

More business opportunities

People involved in the business world will understand how important networking has become. One thing is for certain; you’re going to meet lots of new and influential people if you trade abroad. That could mean you become exposed to excellent business opportunities not open to your competitors.
That information should help to explain why trading overseas is a good idea. Will you take a leap of faith and try it this year? Take a look at the infographic before making that decision because it’s important you understand the scale of the concept.

Infographic Produced By Parcel Monkey

5 Ways to Improve the Way Your Business Communicates

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Communicating effectively is essential in the modern world of business. It’s not something that you can afford to ignore if you want your business to succeed. So, here are 5 top ways to improve the way your business communicates.

1. Ditch the Jargon

Nobody wants to listen to a load of waffle that they don’t really understand. That’s why when you’re talking to customers, you should ditch the jargon. It’s all about making sure that you are speaking to customers in a language they understand. How you go about doing this will depend on your business. If you are talking to clients who understand that jargon, then you won’t need to dumb it down. But if you are trying to sell something to someone who doesn’t know what you’re talking about, deliver it in a way they can appreciate.

2. Use VoIP

There are so many ways in which the internet is changing the face of communications in the business world. Most offices should already have stopped using traditional phone systems. It is much more sensible to use a VoIP phone system. These work by using the internet. It is completely free to call other VoIP phones from these systems. And it’s very cheap to call dial-up phones as well. You can save so much money by making this one simple change, so make it!

3. Use the Best Software

There are so many computer programs out there that can make communicating easier than ever before. For a start, you need to get the basics right. That means getting a hosted exchange server up and running so that you can unify your email and contacts in one place. This will make your life much easier when you are looking for someone’s contact details, and you want to get in touch with them fast. Keep the software you use up to date at all times as well. It’s the only way to stay ahead of the game.

4. Converse with Customers on Social Media

Communicating directly with customers is something that is expected of all businesses nowadays. You have to be out there interacting with the people who you want to sell to. It’s no longer good enough to simply sit in your ivory tower and maintain a distance between you and the customers. So, make sure that you have numerous social media accounts that you can make use of. And don’t just use them as advertising platforms. Instead, converse with people and show your business’s human side.

5. Boost Internal Communication

Internal communication is just as important as external communications though. You shouldn’t forget to improve the way in which your office communication systems operate. If the people who work for your business are not able to talk to one another and share ideas, your business will suffer. Find new ways to improve how people who work in different departments can communicate. This will improve the overall flow of work in the office, and jobs will be taken care of quicker.

Expert Marketing Tips For Your Startup

So, you’ve got a great product? That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting the message out. Here are some pro tips for making yourself heard.

Effective Social Media Engagement

Having a good social media marketing strategy can mean the difference between getting your message heard and not. Traditional social media marketing means getting a company to generate likes on your social media accounts. It might also mean using another company to generate content for your blog and so on. All of it is designed to drive traffic to your website and your product.

But what if the social media guys aren’t talking to the blogging guys. That can be a problem. The whole purpose of the blogging guys is to create interesting content that your users will want to read. But if the social media guys aren’t linked up with the blogging guys, they’re less likely to advertise the blogs. That means less traffic to your site. And if there’s less traffic to your site it makes you wonder why you went with an external marketing company in the first place.

One solution is to have one company comprehensively manage your online presence. Having your social media marketing carried out by a single provider means that they’re better able to integrate all your activity.

SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the process of getting search engines to like and highly rank your content. Of course, your ranking is related to your social media marketing efforts. But there are many other considerations you need to take into account.

The first is to make sure that each of your pages is optimised for the precise search terms that people use when searching for your product. It’s essential that you don’t guess what they search for when including keywords for your web pages. You need to find out what they’re actually searching for, and then incorporate that into your site.

Also, if you’re a local business, your SEO needs to be optimised for local searches. If you’re located in Iowa, for example, and you don’t ship out of state, then make sure that it’s clear to the search engine.

If you do decide to get somebody else to optimise your ranking, choose an honest company. If a company promises to get you to the top of Google search results in two months, they’re fibbing.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

Many people have already switched away from using personal computers to access online content. Now the market is increasingly going mobile. That means that it’s increasingly important for your site to be optimized for mobile.

Google have recently introduced a policy of penalising websites in their search results that are not mobile-ready. So make sure that you or your website designer has mobile in mind when designing your site.

Plus the benefits of mobile are becoming clearer with each passing year. Back in 2014, a study from Neustar Localeze found that nearly 80 percent of local searches ended in a purchase. In other words, when somebody wanted a product locally, they more often than not bought something on the mobile platform.

Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Merchant Services?

The Merchant Services industry isn’t exactly known for its honesty and integrity. The industry is crammed full of players, some far less scrupulous than others. This is why it is so important to make sure that you get your merchant services right.

When you think about it, the cost of merchant services is actually a large one. It might seem like it’s only a few percent being creamed off each transaction. But when you think about how your profit margin is itself often only a few percent, the price of merchant services hits home. Often, if a business is large enough, merchant services can cost as much as employing a full-time member of staff, and sometimes more.

Be Represented

The cost and complexity of merchants services is why it is so important to make sure that you are represented in the space by somebody that you trust. Thanks to a deluge of slick salesmen in the industry many people end up with bad deals. Make sure you find a proper representative in your area. Somebody you can trust.

This can be somebody you know that knows the industry, but it can also be your business bank manager. They will know a bad deal when they see it and may be able to advise the best course of action.

Understand The Pricing Structure

You are probably already familiar with one particular pricing structure. Companies like Paypal use the flat-rate structure to meet their costs. They cream off a percentage of each transaction you make.

If you’re currently operating a small operation, this might be the way to go. But with anything larger, it’s likely that there are better deals available. Interchange Plus, for example, gives you access to the wholesale prices charged by Visa, MasterCard and Amex.

The wholesale prices are essentially a base price, and then your business pays a premium on top of this depending on what type of business you have. It means, for example, that you could end up paying as little as 2 percent on transactions.

Choose The Right Equipment

To get the most out of your merchant banking experience you need to make sure that you have the right equipment. Remember, more and more payments are going online and contactless. Sites like MerchantServicesUK.co.uk detail all the benefits of using the latest payment technologies. New payment methods allow you to give your customers a better experience when they come to check out.

Keep Searching For The Best Deal

Don’t just stick with the first merchant service you come across. They’re unlikely to be the best. Plus, they may be engaging in practices that make their services unnecessarily expensive.

One common tactic is to charge you a yearly fee, or a monthly penalty or a minimum term contract. You should get these fees waived or move onto another supplier. If you’re looking for a guide on the right questions to ask any merchant services providers, hop on over to entrepreneur.com. They have a list of important questions you should ask before doing business with any service provider.

The Essential SEO Tips for Startups

Trying to make a success of your startup is a huge challenge. And many entrepreneurs fail at it. So, if you want to make a success of your startup, you need to get to grips with SEO. You can’t succeed until you succeed at this.

Optimize Your Website

The most important asset you have as a new startup is your website. This is the first thing that people will come into contact with regarding your business. So, it needs to be good, and it needs to be easy to find for as many people as possible. First of all, use a domain name that includes the brand name and it makes it relatively clear what your business actually does. You should also add plenty of keywords to your website and its content. If you can do this, you will find that your website is easier to find. If you have any further issues, use SEO software for your small business.

Develop a Link Strategy

Linking is something that every startup should learn how to do properly. It’s all about developing a strategy that helps your business to succeed and improve its presence on search engine results pages. Links to other websites from yours offer a great chance to give your SEO a boost. You should focus on linking to the kinds of website that have something in common with your own. And they should also be considered strong websites with good reputations. Search engine algorithms love links to reliable and well-regarded websites. You should also focus on internal linking as this can increase the page hits you achieve.

Start Blogging and Link it to Social Media

Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website and improve your presence on search engine results pages. It simply creates more pages that can be seen by people who are searching Google or Bing. And this means that there will be more chance of higher numbers of people clicking those links and arriving at your site. When they have read the blog, they might then also explore what else is on your website. You should spread these links on your social media accounts as much as possible. If they get shared a lot, they could reach a huge amount of people.

Get Coverage

If you can get coverage from other websites, you will help your SEO efforts. Getting SEO right is not just about linking to other sites as I mentioned above. It’s also about getting links to your website from your other reputable website. When you have links to your website from reliable sources, this shows search engines that your website is reputable and reliable too. You can do this by building links with other blogs and news sources. If you can get a mention on a local news website that is widely read by people in your community, this can help you a lot. Also, look at ways to develop relationships with influential bloggers that might be able to give you some important coverage.

Startup Ideas The Experts Are Tipping For Greatness

So, you’re checking out this article because you’re short on business ideas, aren’t you? And, you’re hoping I’m going to provide you with a few awesome ones? Well, you’re right, I’m going to do just that, right now:

App Development Business

One of the best industries to start a business in is the technology sector. Our world has become dominated by all things tech. The biggest thing of note is that everyone walks around with a mobile phone. People have smartphones in their pockets, which have apps on them. People download mobile apps every day; it’s a huge market. If you want an idea that caters to current trends, start an app development business. You’ll be able to create apps that people can download and buy. Even if you make them free to download, you can have in-app purchases to generate income. Plus, you’re able to put ads on your apps to get extra revenue too. There are loads of apps you can make, but the best thing to try and do is develop games. Mobile app games are hugely popular, and can make you millions. Certainly a business idea to consider if you’re a tech-minded person.

Home Health Care Businesses

The healthcare industry is a brilliant place to try your hand at making money. The main reason for this is that people are always going to be in need of care. And, we’re always going to have a shortage of health care professionals out there. One of the most profitable ideas is starting a home health care business. This is where your company provides care to those in need, from their homes. It’s very popular because people don’t want to have to leave their home to get care. Elderly people don’t want to live in a retirement home because it seems degrading. So, home care is the best option for them. This business idea is great because there’s a huge demand for companies like this. You can make a lot of money through this business venture, but you’re also helping those in need. It’s a business idea you can be proud of, and get a financial reward from.

Restaurant Business

We’ve looked at an idea in technology, and one in healthcare, so my final one is in the food industry. Starting a business in the food industry is a safe bet for any willing entrepreneur. There are loads of businesses you could start, but my suggestion is a restaurant. People will always be looking for places to go and eat. And, there’s one thing everyone adores; all you can eat buffets! Open one of these and you’re almost guaranteed success. Buffets are great because they provide value for money and ensure huge crowds of people turn up outside your doors. Business will be booming, and the cash will be flowing.

Business experts are suggesting that these three ideas could be winners in 2016. Thinking about giving one of them a go? Then don’t forget to come up with a business model and market your startup as best as you can. Prepare yourself thoroughly, and you’ll have a huge chance of success.

Show Your Customers You Care With These Must-See Methods

No matter what size of business you are, the factor that will most often give you the edge over your competitors is the kind of service you are known for. More than the fact that you’re actually a human being behind it all, they want to know that companies care. It’s vital that your customers feel like more than just a source of income to you. Businesses have been trying to convince customers they care for centuries now, but here are some of the ways you can actually show it.

The right blogging strategy

A blog’s an important part of any business’s strategy. Not only does it give you a chance to have your own space to keep people informed on developments and promotions. It’s also a great platform for getting in touch with the customer. Here you can field questions and ask for feedback. People like to be engaged and asked what they feel and think. So make your blog the space to do that.

Extend customer service to social media

Much like the above point, social media has become a vital key to online success in your business. Like blogging, it gives the chance for interaction with customers. However, the most useful point of social media is just how immediate that interaction can be. You should be using whatever platforms you’re used to answer questions live. Engage directly instead of redirecting customers in an attempt to appear professional. The advantage of this discourse being public is that it builds a reputation for good relations from the business.

Get in touch even when it’s not about business

Online correspondence is always a great idea (in moderation and taking consent into account). It’s a good way to remind customers your services exist as well as spreading the word about whatever promotion you might be running. However, you should consider taking the time to send messages that don’t come with something to sell. The goodwill of corporate ecards on holidays and birthdays, for example, can lead to a lot of customer loyalty.

Reward loyalty

You should be prepared to take a short-term loss in the hopes of making a long-term game. That is the entire game behind rewarding customer loyalty. You need to do it right. The rewards need to be substantial, even at a slight cost. If they’re not, the customer won’t care about them. A points system could work well, but a tier system gives extra incentive. Not only will they use your services to get rewards, but also to move up a tier and get even better rewards.

Use the handwritten touch

There’s nothing better for making a customer loyal than reaching out to them personally. No matter your business, the single best way of doing that is taking the time to handwrite a letter. Many businesses take a shortcut

by printing written letters. These are too easy to recognise and are more likely to foster ill-will for the lack of effort. A handwritten thank you note will get you into more than just their budget, it will get you in their hearts.

A Guide To Releasing A New Product

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So you’re trying to set up a company which supplies consumer or commercial products. Obviously, you’ll need some products to sell! You might have an idea which could change consumerism forever. Still, if you don’t take the steps to turn that idea into something physical, your business won’t be going anywhere fast. Like a lot of tasks in business, getting your new product out there might feel daunting when you know nothing about it. Don’t worry, it’s a much simpler process that some people would imagine! Here, I’ve put together a guide which should help you towards getting your product off the ground.

Before you draw a single rough sketch of your product, you need to define and understand your audience. I’ve always believed that the best plans start with the end goal in mind. This applies to launching a product like it applies to everything. Everyone with an idea for a product wants theirs to be a winner. To ensure yours doesn’t fail as soon as it’s released, you need to make sure it’s filling a market gap. You need to think of the scope of different products out there. Enterprise is becoming more and more accessible for everyone. Because of this, you need to make sure you’re not creating the 100th version of the same product. Obviously people have their reasons for buying either Pepsi or Coke, despite those two products being as similar as two can be. My point is that you need to fulfil some kind of need or preference which isn’t being fulfilled already. The more unique and exclusively useful your product is, the better your chances of success.

To make sure your product is received as well as possible, you need to ensure it fits the needs of your target audience. Seen as it’s your business, you probably have a lot of knowledge concerning the niche your product is going to fall into. If this isn’t the case, then I suggest rethinking things! When you’re producing for a niche audience which you know well, you’ll already be at a big advantage. Use your inside knowledge to go through all the biggest complaints or issues faced by your target audience. With each item on that list, add a few notes, and develop new, innovative ways to solve the issues surrounding your audience. After that, it’s time to do some real market research. Head over to forums concerning your niche, social media platforms, amazon, and so on. Here, you’ll have access to countless comments and input from the kinds of people who you’re going to be selling to. Inc. has a pretty good feature on this. With information that valuable, make sure you don’t waste it! Spend a decent amount of time on each of these sources. With each one, note down any reoccurring things your audience brings up which they want to see in a new product. Make sure the idea you’re left with actually solves problems though. The internet is great for finding out what goes viral, but not necessarily what sells.

Once you have a solid design in mind, it’s time to get a prototype. Being able to present something physical can really help with the professional image of your start-up. Aside from that, it can also help to test the functionality of your product, depending on what you’re trying to create. There are a lot of entrepreneurs who have had an idea which works beautifully on paper. Then, it presents a number of physical issues when they start prototyping. This may happen to you, so don’t be disheartened when it does. The whole idea of prototyping is being able to see errors. If you’re making your first few steps into the world of business in 2016, then prototyping is going to be much easier than it was for those before you. This is thanks to the emergence of 3D printers, and companies who will offer rapid prototyping services. With these, you can have a primitive outline of your product made from acrylic, and shipped to you in a matter of days. Once it’s there, you can take all the time you want to plan out the necessary changes, and have another version sent to you. Check out Proto Labs for an idea of what I’m talking about.Prototyping also functions as a handy visual aid when you’re explaining the new launch to potential partners. It’s around this stage that you should start to think about the packaging as well. The packaging which your new product comes in will need to be practical and distinctive if you want your whole venture to be a success. It’s true that packaging isn’t the largest part of your whole marketing drive. It certainly shouldn’t be neglected though. Look at how the rugged packaging in DIY stores is aimed at men, or how the stark simplicity of Apple packaging leaves it open to everyone. C.L. Smith is a great place to look for a professional standard of packaging.

When everything’s lined up, start generating some buzz for your new product. In my experience, the best way of doing this is focussing all your marketing efforts on your target audience, rather than the product itself. Let’s say you were launching a cutting-edge smartphone. I know, that’s not a very likely seen as you’re a start up! You wouldn’t spend all your marketing efforts telling people about the amazing screen resolution or reliability. These features will be important to some people, true. However, a lot of your audience wouldn’t care. Even if they did, there’d be ways for them to find out such information. Make sure your advertising emphasises benefits for as wide an audience as possible. This will ensure your pre-release hype does its job to the full. Of course, you should adjust your campaigns to different niches, but don’t restrict yourself!

There you have a brief guide to releasing your new product. After your idea actually makes it onto the market, there’ll be all kinds of other work for you to do to keep it afloat. However, when you give your product a healthy running start, you’ll have a much easier time from then on.