Daniel Chou

As businesses struggle to cope with another downturn in the world economy, they are seeking further cost-cutting measures. Indeed, in an environment of austerity, those cost-cutting measures often involve reducing the workforce, asking employees to reduce hours or reducing budgets.

However, there are measures that businesses can implement, especially in the hard-hit retail sector, which can not only cut costs, but can add to the bottom line. Workforce Management, for example, is a branch of Time & Attendance that is well understood by the larger retailers, but not always fully leveraged.

What is Workforce Management?

Workforce Management is the practice of optimising the deployment of staff who work in shift patterns, and is commonly used in retail, construction and manufacturing industries, although retail banks are among other industries who have started to see the benefit. Continue Reading »

GlitchNYC.com

We’ve all heard that in business there’s no room for emotions but one important economic survey aims to capture a nationwide snapshot of how small business owners feel about the economy. Each month the Small Business Authority Market Sentiment Survey surveys 1,000 small business owners asking them questions gauging their sense of economic optimism going forward. The December survey returned some results that were even more optimistic than expected.

The survey found that 55 percent of small business owners believed that 2012 would be better than 2011 and 64 percent believe that their end of year figures would be better than they once believed.

In another data point, small business owners were asked how they plan to grow their business going forward. 68 percent believed that selling more was a better strategy than cutting costs. This, according to pollsters, indicates that small business owners feel more comfortable relying on consumers for growth instead of trying to run as lean as possible. Continue Reading »

HouseOfHoy.com

You sell a product or service. Whatever it is. There are two reasons a customer typically buys: 1) You are the cheapest and comparable, 2) You are the best. It initially takes a lot of work to be the best. Your product may take longer in research and development. You may have to work harder to get information about your customer. You may have to bend over backwards for your customer. If you work hard enough at the beginning though, it quickly becomes much easier.

The question is: Are you willing to be the best? Are you willing to put in the extra work and go the extra mile? It can be extremely hard on you personally and hard on your family to be outstanding. You need to let everyone know that if you are going to do your business venture, you are going to have to put your whole heart into it. It may be your life for the next year or two, or decade. This is going to have to be a full commitment.

To let you know, customers seek out outstanding businesses. They are willing to spend more for great service. They will beat a path to your door if you have the best mousetrap. If you have everything they want, you will have a problem with exponential growth not lack of business. And honestly, I don’t care if the economy is great or in the dumps, outstanding companies sell. And outstanding companies work hard to constantly improve. Continue Reading »

The Northways

What is the new year, really? People around the world use the start of a new year to reflect on what was and what’s to come now that the ball has dropped and the holiday season is over. But what is the new year, really? As small business owners we shouldn’t access the health of our business at the end of each year. Instead, we should constantly reflect on what is working and what needs refining.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with using the new year to make business resolutions that will take longer than a day or a week to complete. Here are three small business resolutions that you might consider for your 2012 list.

Better Use of Social Media

Every small business publication is telling us to harness the power of social media but if you ask the many frustrated business owners, they’ll tell you that they’re spending a lot of time and money but gaining very little reward. Continue Reading »

MediaSpin.com

Before Facebook and Twitter, there was the e-mail. While it may be one of the older types of digital marketing platforms used, it can still pack a punch and give you the promotion you need to sell your products and/or services in the present. In fact, according to experts, email marketing is predicted to bring in a whopping $67.8 billion in sales in 2012. So if you’ve given up on the power of the email, don’t. Your campaign may just need a little facelift. To learn 4 easy ways to revive your email marketing campaign, continue reading below.

1. Give Clients Option to “Opt” Out. The first thing you need to do is clean out your email list serve. That’s not to say that you will be starting from scratch, but you don’t want to waste your time marketing to clients that are no longer interested in your products or services. You’ll just end up annoying them and they may taint your name through one of the pioneering marketing techniques: word-of-mouth. So send out an email to your original list serve, but also include a link where clients can opt out from receiving emails if they wish to do so. This way, your efforts won’t be wasted—you’ll get rid of the people who immediately mark your emails as trash and you’ll have a better chance of catching the attention of people who are actually interested in what you have to sell. Continue Reading »

YourRightMoveLLC.com

If you spent all of 2011 running a business without registering it with your state, 2012 is the year to change that. If you have ever applied for a patent you know that the process is long, frustrating, and expensive but registering your business is easy, painless, and necessary.

The most important reason may be to establish a corporate veil. If you have run your business out of your home using your personal assets to finance it, you haven’t actually established a business in the legal sense. If you were to provide a service and were later sued by a customer, you and your family’s assets would be used to settle the claim if the judgment were to go against you.

By registering your business, you establish what the law calls a corporate veil. In a legal sense, your business becomes a person of its own. The business can be sued, file for bankruptcy, and settle disputes but because the business is an entity, your personal or family’s finances won’t be at risk providing you keep the corporate veil intact.

How Much?

Most small businesses that don’t have multiple investors or other specialized governance structures can form a limited liability company or LLC. The process varies from state to state but if you elect to do it yourself, it will likely cost less than $100. Many business owners elect to use a business registration company to handle the paperwork for them. The service may still be under $100 depending on the filing fees of your state. Continue Reading »

Geograph.ie

If you’re looking at upgrading your business systems, you’ll find that things have changed a lot since the days when you could just cobble together a few computers and call it a network. The typical new business system includes training functions like the learning management system and even an OHS management system.

The beauty of these new business systems is that they can be tailored to individual business needs, and they’re scalable. The new systems can literally evolve with your business. They can also be expanded as your business expands, taking on new functions and operational capabilities.

Training systems Continue Reading »

Geograph

I think every new year we reevaluate our lives. Do we need to lose weight? Do we need to break away from cigarette smoking? Do we need to start a business, or change the direction of our business? At least that’s what the entrepreneurs might be thinking this year. Sometimes things are tough and they don’t look so good. A small tweek here, a change there, might usually be in order, but the new year has us reevaluate our entire business completely. Is it worth the time? The expense? My marriage? The things I could be doing instead? My waistline?

I think we could be talking about balance here. We need to be healthy. We need to spend time with the family. We need to take vacations away from our lives. And the business may make all of these things very difficult. So maybe we need to put the business in it’s place, but we also need to think about how we can keep our life together and achieve a balance, all while growing a business:

Do you watch too much television?

I have to tell you, media has really taken our lives away from us. Movies and television shows are plenty, but if we give too much of our time to the boob tube, we will find that not as much gets done. We don’t work out, we don’t spend quality time with the family… so perhaps the business is not the problem. Make sure to consider this. Continue Reading »

Walmart Stores

Lots of small businesses make use of CRM solutions, but if your company doesn’t currently use it, what are some of the benefits? Read on to find out why it is certainly worth considering using CRM software to benefit your small company.

Get a snapshot of data

One of the main benefits of CRM software for small businesses is that it can offer you a snapshot of data relating to your business. As you will no doubt be aware, business information is important when it comes to working out whether your company is achieving its current targets and for identifying areas suitable for growth. A good CRM system will be able to provide you with information such as how many customers you have got, how much they spend on average and whether there are any significant trends in your data. Continue Reading »

opensource.com

Do you have a business process or a set of business processes?  A business process is quite simply, a way to get from point a to point b within a business.  For instance, a customer order process might be as follows:

Customer wants to place an order

1. Bring up the customer order form on the computer

2. Retrieve the customer’s info (ask for name, retrieve customer record)

3. Ask for item numbers and quantities.  If the customer is not sure of the item number, look up the item for each in the program. Continue Reading »