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Keep a Competitive Small Business and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Keep Up and Be a Competitive Small Business and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Become a more competitive small business and succeed today!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Map Your Way to More Sales

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about building a sales process map. Mail Shake says “a sales process map outlines how your organization interacts with your buyer from attraction, engagement, selling, closing, and retaining.”

So the concept is to have a blueprint for dealing with your sales and your buyer. It is not the details or the ‘how’. It is the ‘what’. So if your organization has a step for a demonstration, that should be listed. 

In fact, per the article, a lot of prospects get the demonstration too early within the process. How come? Because a lot of demonstrations are long and just plain not that interesting. So know when to make the demonstration. And then your buyer will actually be primed and ready. And interested. Talk about being a competitive small business!

But it all comes down to one thing. The bottom line is to have the process understood and written down. Because the last thing you want is for only one person to know it, and for that person to leave your company.

#9. Take Your Sales Efficiency to the Max

The next awesome tip is about achieving maximum sales efficiency. LinkedIn notes this comes down to two separate questions. In what way can you be more productive? And how can you make your time spent selling more efficient?

Essentially, the idea is not to work late – or at least, no later than you must. Rather, you need to spend the time you set aside as well as you can. Make it effective!

Say No and Own Your Time

This is perhaps the best takeaway from this article.  What’s sapping your time and strength and energy? Is it doing anything good for you?

If it isn’t, then jettison it from your life. 

And more importantly, learn how to recognize such piles of temporal quicksand, and steer around them in the first place.

We recommend checking out the last third or so of the article – the rest is more of an ad for a part of LinkedIn. You want to zero in on the quotes at the bottom.

Competitive Small Business Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Stay a competitive small business!

#8. Oops! These Digital Marketing Errors Are Costing You Money

Our following life-changing tip concerns avoiding digital marketing mistakes that are costing you sales. G2 lays it all out for us. There are any number of mistakes but we’re only going to concentrate on one in this blog post. We’ve covered a lot of the others before and fairly recently. So we’ll just look at one.

The Absence of a Mobile Marketing Strategy

We cannot emphasize enough just how vital a mobile marketing strategy is! Consider this. How many times have you gone to a website while on your phone and been frustrated with how hard it was to get around and find things? And how many times have you wondered why there’s no app for whatever it is that you’re looking for?

Plus, how many times have you downloaded an app and then suddenly everything is so much easier? And while that’s great and all, it ignores one basic issue. And that is that the website should still be responsive to mobile. Yes, even in the presence of an app.

Plus a responsive website design makes it so much easier to accommodate all of the new tech that’s coming our way in the future. What, you thought your version of an iPhone or Android was the last one ever going to be made?

Think again.

#7. Get to the Point!

For our next sensational tip, we looked at building a profitable audience with specificity. Copy Blogger says that ultra-specificity in copy will help you sell more. Kind of hard to argue with that.

In particular, specifics rock headlines. How? Consider some of the more exceptionally memorable news headlines of all time:

  • Ford to City: Drop Dead! (New York Post, 1975)
  • The Filth and the Fury! (The Daily Mirror, 1978, talking about the punk group, the Sex Pistols)
  • Ali Stings Joe, Wins Decision (New York Daily News, 1974)
  • War Over! (The Dayton Herald, 1945)

Every single one of these gets to the point fast. Although you can argue the one from the Daily Mirror is a touch tangential. But paired with an image, it’s obvious what they mean. All of these headlines do it in 5 words or less.

That’s an incredible economy of words. 

Four U’s

This section of the article is worth the price of admission all by itself. 

“The Four U’s of headline writing, as outlined by American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI), are a helpful guide when evaluating any piece of sales copy or content:

  1. Useful
  2. Ultra-specific
  3. Unique
  4. Urgent”

Without urgency, you have nothing. After all, if you don’t have an interest in the local news in Dubuque, then who cares how awesome my headline is? And the corollary is also true. If the local news in Dubuque is the thing you want to read about, then I had better get that across in my headline. Otherwise, you just might miss it.

And that doesn’t do either of us any good, now, does it?

So check out the article in its entirety. It is well worth it!

#6. You’re Hired! Or, Rather, You’re Hiring!

This tip is so cool, and it works! All Business tells us all about hiring. 

We highly recommend reading this article in its entirety as it makes some excellent points about, among other things, how good hiring can save your business a ton of money. So instead we’re going to concentrate on a point that they don’t quite make.

True Story Time

15 years ago (egad, it was that long ago?), your intrepid blog writer worked for a voice recognition company. The work was … okay. But the boss was terrific. And one day I asked her: how do you decide who to hire? And how did you decide to hire me? Keep in mind, I had absolutely no experience in voice recognition whatsoever when I was hired.

She said, “If all other things are equal, I hire the person who I feel is the most curious. Because they will learn new things and they will be diligent about finding mistakes and better ways of doing things.”

And so I leave you with this bit of wisdom. Hire the curious.

Thanks, Amy.

#5. Become and Stay a More Competitive Small BusinessCompeting Biz Credit Suite

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot! 

It’s all about being a competitive small business. So, can your business compete with the bigger companies out there? Or are you being left in the dust?

The Business Backer says a smaller business has some advantages, simply by virtual of its size. So use them!

Business Be Nimble, Business Be Quick!

It’s a great way to be a more competitive small business – and even a competitive small business versus a larger business. 

Very large businesses can be entrenched in bureaucracies and layers of management. With all of these cushions, these businesses can end up with a lot of hands touching even some of the smaller decisions. 

Committees can end up deciding on everything from the official company font to whether they’re going to start offering muffins for sale in the cafeteria. And that means they are also deciding on things such as how to change an approach to a prospect. It can be a hard, slow process for a large business to alter its advertising and marketing strategies.

You don’t have to do any of that. Rather, you’re quite possibly a committee of one. Your entire company can possibly meet in one room. 

True story – your intrepid blog writer once worked for a company which could and did meet in a compact car.

So you can be faster. This also means flexibility. With fewer stakeholders, people might not be so married to your color or advertising campaign choices. If something is better, there are a lot fewer people to convince of that fact.

Small businesses have flexibility that larger ones just plain do not have.

Scratch That Niche!

Here’s another place where being small helps you. You are a competitive small business when it comes to niche marketing. 

Being a small company means you can relate pretty directly to a small group of people. And that means a niche audience, almost by definition. If, say, you’re Marvel Comics, you pump out tons of comics and films all the time, to appeal to a myriad of tastes. But if you’re Mom and Pop Startup Comics, maybe you concentrate on just superheroes from Milwaukee.

If you can corner the market on people interested in your niche, your marketing, sales, and advertising will be easier and quite probably cheaper.

Don’t spray your shots!

Competitive Small Business Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Stay a competitive small business!

#4. Bring Order Out of Chaos

Check out this spectacular tip, all about keeping order in your office. EO Network notes that a messy work environment will often negatively impact your performance.

Preach.

Our favorite part of this is that it can work for a home office or if you actually – shudder – leave the building.

Reduce Your Stuff and Find Homes For All of It

It all really comes down to those two things. What needs to stay? And what needs to go? In addition, what needs to move or be transformed? 

Do you keep old drafts of writing? Do you have to? Consider this – you can probably get rid of nearly all of that or at least convert it to an electronic format. Even if you have to somehow prove you drafted a document or two or twelve, there can be ways of proving that without having to hang onto a ton of outdated drafts. Electronic signatures, anyone?

Photograph or scan anything which you know you’re going to need in an electronic format and recycle the rest of it. Good bye, chaos. Hello, space.

More space means you’ll find everything more quickly. And it also means you’re more likely to have the latest version of whatever you need – after all, you’ve stored or discarded the older versions, right?

Save your sanity and tame your office clutter!

#3. Brick By Brick, Build a Brand Strategy

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you build a strategy from scratch. Young Upstarts tells us a brand strategy is a long-term plan to help you make your clearly defined goals and objectives. So this is, in a way, an expansion of our tip #10, going beyond a sales strategy and looking at everything in your business, from soup to nuts.

Discovering Your Business

As in, why does your business exist in the first place?

If you can’t answer that one easily, and explain it to others readily, then why should they trust you? Why should they do business with you? And why should they listen to anything you have to say.

Ouch.

Who Are You, Anyway?

What makes your brand and your business different from any other? Why should your customers and prospects choose you over any other business? What makes you a competitive small business?

So let’s consider an example from, of all things, the movies.

Moscow on the Hudson and the Confusing, Frightening World of Too Many Choices

This is a 1984 Robin Williams film, so if you have never seen it, don’t worry. The premise is that Williams plays a Soviet circus musician who defects. And life in the country where the streets are paved with gold is not so easy, he finds.

Here’s the only scene you need to worry about: 

It’s less than a minute long. I’ll wait.

In this scene, Williams’s character goes to a small supermarket to get coffee. And, he’s confronted with a rich array of choices. Now, keep in mind that people for real who lived during the Soviet Era were often lucky to get coffee at all if they went shopping for it. Most of the time, there was just one form of coffee and you either took it, or you left it.

Two things happen here. One is that he reads off the names of several brands and types of coffee – espresso, decaf, etc. And the other half is how overwhelmed he is by the embarrassment of choices.

Both parts of the scene work for our purposes.

Brand Strategy and Identity

In the first part, did you notice how much you know about each of the brands he mentions? You may even think of their tastes and aromas. Or you might consider their prices or whether they feel ‘premium’ or ‘basic’. 

All of these feelings and associations showcase the success of these various brands’ strategies. Their identities are well-known. But then there’s the other half of the scene.

It’s All the Same When You Don’t Know Anything About a Brand

And, that’s the character’s problem in a nutshell. For the character, no such associations have been made yet. And since that’s the case, unless it’s a generalized, obvious piece of information – such as price or caffeine amount – he knows absolutely nothing about any of the brands on display. 

What you want is for your customers and prospects to make those associations from the first half, rather than become confused and frustrated by the overwhelming pressure to decide on something, anything.

A lot of that comes from how you execute your brand strategy. If you’re Sanka, you emphasize how having little to no caffeine is relaxing. If you make espresso, you emphasize the elegance and associations with Italy and bolder flavors.

So, what flavor of business have you got?

#2. Get Your Startup Out of Your Dreams and into Reality

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on moving from inspiration to business reality. Startup Professionals reveals all about how to avoid being one of the over 75% of all startups which fail.  

We’ll concentrate on three points.

Test and Test. Then Test Some More.

People aren’t just going to buy your stuff because of your good looks and charm. And testing with your family and friends is only going to get you a bunch of false positives. Instead, test with people with money to spend! 

Because otherwise, they can’t buy your stuff.

Get Ready to Tell Your Marketing Story to Anyone and Everything

The article talks about what is essentially an elevator pitch. This is a bit like our tips #3 and #10 – you need to be prepared. And in particular, you need to be ready to talk to just about anyone about your product or service. How’s the easiest way to do this? Build a strategy. Don’t just try to wing it. That never works out like it does in the movies.

Put Together a Strategy for Growth and Improvement

That is, plan for success! And just as importantly, get ready for change. For if there’s one constant these days, it’s change. Embrace it before it knocks you over.

#1. Leverage Your Website and Improve Your SEO

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on an SEO audit checklist. Main Street ROI says there are a number of basic mistakes they see over and over again.

Don’t let your website be one of those error-riddled sites.

Clarity FTW

A clear and easy to follow website will do you a lot of good. It doesn’t just make your readers happy. It also makes search engines happy. 

A well-organized website where the pages are easy to read and load fast will help out tremendously! 

Another tip we loved is to essentially use as much of the free real estate you’ve got that you can. What do we mean by that? Basically, the idea is to put your keyword phrase or at least your website name in all of the places where you can.

We do not mean keyword stuffing. Rather, there are places such as the alt tags for your images.  You know, the place where you tell a search engine what an image is about, to make it easier to index.

Are you using yours? Or did you not know what they were until this very moment? Or worse, had you never even heard the phrase until just now?

Organize your website and use the free spaces you’ve got to the max. 

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now? 

Competitive Small Business Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Stay a competitive small business!

The post Keep a Competitive Small Business and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Reach Your Optimal Work Time and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Reach Your Optimal Work Time and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Get to the optimal work time for you and your employees and stop wasting time!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. This is the Good Kind of Enabler

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about sales enablement. Mail Shake says it’s the act of helping someone better reach the objective of making a sale. Here at Credit Suite, those terrific folks are called the Setters Team.

The best thing people in sales enablement do is smooth the way for sales to do its thing. Sales will make more sales and be more successful if they know their prospects better. And they get this knowledge from the people in sales enablement.

But that’s not where sales enablement stops. The sale doesn’t end the relationship.

Post-Sales Enablement

Your customers won’t like it if they’re buttered up and sold to and promised to and then dropped like yesterday’s news.

Can you honestly blame them?

So there’s another piece of the sales enablement puzzle. This is maintaining the relationship. The sales enablement team is extraordinarily helpful here as their work frees up the sales team to concentrate on getting new sales.

The sales enablement team is, of course, the perfect group to ask if the customer is happy. Maybe their circumstances have changed and they can benefit from an upsell. Or maybe there’s something which just annoys them about your product or service. Giving your customers empowerment and listening to their concerns is extremely helpful when it comes to retention and renewal.

Your goal should always to be to surprise and delight your customers. A sales enablement team can make it easier to do just that.

#9. Keep Your Facebook Pictures the Right Size and Reap the Rewards

The next awesome tip is about Facebook ads. Wordstream notes the main image size for Facebook has been 1200×628 for several years now. But that’s not the only image size you can use on the largest social media platform on the planet.

The article is just fantastic as it goes into exquisite detail on the sizes and where you should use them. It also outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

In fact, this article goes into where in the customer sales journey you should use each type of image. This is an outstanding amount of free information in one short article. We highly recommend bookmarking it and referring back to it frequently.

Yes, it’s that good.

Optimal Work Time Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Reach your optimal work time today.

#8. Customer Loyalty Rocks!

Our following life-changing tip concerns customer loyalty programs. Sleek Note lays it all out for us.

You’ve seen these in a thousand places by now. It’s the card your local coffee shop gives you and, once you get the eleventh punch, you get your twelfth latte free. Or maybe you get a muffin. We might be hungry ….

This article adds a few twists to the genre. One is what we all know as Amazon Prime – pay for the privilege of saving money. Which seems weird when we put it that way, eh? But the bottom line with Amazon Prime (and the article’s example, Barnes & Noble) is you are paying for more than a discount. It’s also faster, free delivery and a greater selection.

Save the Planet With Your Customer Loyalty Program

Say what? The Body Shop ties its loyalty program to charity. They know their clientele cares about the planet and about animal testing. The logical extension of that is animal welfare in general. Hence, beyond offering the usual perks, The Body Shop lets you donate your points to a specific animal welfare charity, Born Free USA.

The Community Approach

Plus there’s Sephora. In addition to offering products and discounts, they bring access to an exclusive club of like-minded users. Hence they get a commitment that goes beyond the free makeup samples they provide on your birthday. Pretty cool, huh?

Optimal Work Time Credit Suite#7. Get a Bigger and Better Email List

Speaking of loyalty, for our next sensational tip, we looked at growing your email list. WP Beginner says that the tried and true methods can help your business, too.

Signups Galore

Make it easier for people to sign up for your emails. Don’t make them hunt for how to do this. In fact, the article gives a number of places on a website or in a blog post or other webpage where you can add a signup form.

Perhaps our favorite tip is to use multiple signup forms. After all, your customers are individuals. Treating them all like one, big monolith isn’t going to get you sales or win you any fans.

Dovetailing with this is the idea to create multiple lead magnet pages. A lead magnet essentially offers added value for your customers and prospects. Hence you’re offering 5% off or the like, most likely clearly on your signup form.

Treating customers and prospects like individuals will go a long way in all aspects of your business.

Twitter to the Rescue!

Then there’s Twitter. Users can even sign up for your mailing list without having to leave Twitter. Now that’s convenient.

#6. Solve Problems and Make Your Business Better

This tip is so helpful, and it works! Startup Professionals tells us all about successful business problem solving.

There are a number of actionable tips, including acknowledging a problem exists, and verbalizing the problem.

So we recommend reading the article in its entirety. But first, a real life story.

Personal Conflict and How Hard It’s to Get Transportation in Some Parts of the US

So.

My darling cousin got married a few years ago, in the western part of Westchester County, New York, near Dobbs Ferry. The venue was beautiful, and it was right at the peak for foliage.

There was just one problem.

Your intrepid blog writer lives in Boston. My brother lives just outside DC. Our elderly parents live pretty far out on Long Island. We were at odds as to how to get there.

Flying was a bad idea as the closest airport was still over a half an hour away, and everyone had so much stuff to take, we’d all be over the weight limits. This was a three-day weekend extravaganza, after all.

This problem was solved by figuring out what worked best for all. This turned out to be a train for my husband and me, and driving for my parents and brother. My parents got us, and I was able to drive the rest of the way and do all of the driving while at the event. Plus I drove back to the Newark train station when it was time to go. So the folks didn’t have to drive quite so much.

And having two cars for the event meant flexibility and comfort.

How Do You Apply This to Business?

It all came down to negotiations. And it also came down to recognizing how fulfilling others’ needs also fulfilled our own. It also meant embracing the fact that the solution wasn’t a perfect one. After all, my parents still had a few hours of driving to do after the train station. But at least it was better than without us.

So consider looking outside yourself and your own needs and think about the other person’s. What satisfies them just might help you out, too. But you will never know if you just sweep your company’s problems under the rug all the time.

#5. Reach Your and Your Employees’ Optimal Work Time

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Your and your employees’ optimal work time is a vital decision for you to make when hiring.

What do we mean by that? The question is, which is better for your needs: full-time, part-time, or temp?

Effortless HR says there are a number of factors to take into consideration. It’s not just about the money!

Your Employees’ Optimal Work Time and Their Productivity

How fast are your employees at doing their tasks? If Susan gets the same task done in half the time that Dave does, do you make her a part-timer? Truth is, we think that’s kind of unfair. Is she getting punished for efficiency?

Don’t we all want more efficient employees? So why work with them less?

So, we were happy to see this article didn’t push for that. Rather, the idea is to see how much can get done – but productivity can only be improved so much. Plus, we think you should be concerned with your workers’ health and well-being. Bring a slave driver isn’t good for anyone. All that does is increase absence and turnover.

One exceptional point the article makes about optimal work time is that two part-time workers don’t quite equal one full-timer. Part of this is due to more flexible work schedules which many part-timers get as their due. And another part is double the training, more sick days, more slow days, more ramp-up time, etc. Saving on paying full benefits just might not be worth it.

What if Temping is Your Employees’ Optimal Work Time?

We see this in retail all the time. As the holidays wind up, more and more people will get a job in malls and stores. Or it might be a second job for them, to pay for gifts or get ready for tax season or whatever.

And then once the holidays are over, those people will experience layoffs.

Er, you didn’t think Santa’s helpers worked in the mall all year ‘round, now, did you?

And of course tax season reminds us of the people with advanced math skills and accounting degrees who can get temp work as tax preparers and reviewers.

If your business is seasonal in nature, temping might be the optimal work time for most of your employees. If you sell swimming pools, you probably aren’t seeing a lot of sales action in November. So why not stay on good terms with those folks and rehire them when the weather gets hot again?

Even non-seasonal businesses might have big projects where they temporarily need more hands on deck. It’s another option for filling your staffing roles and giving your non-temp employees their own optimal work time, too.

Optimal Work Time Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Reach your optimal work time today.

#4. Marry Social and Email Marketing

Check out this spectacular tip, all about combining the power of social and email marketing. The Self Employed notes that the return rates from email marketing are far better than those from social.

And that makes sense, as email is something which goes straight to your customers and prospects, whereas social postings are subject to platform rules and algorithms.  Of course your audience won’t necessarily open your emails. They might bin them, or their email programs might. Or they might skim and then hit unsubscribe.

But there is still a better chance of reaching them this way.

So, Why Bother With Social If Email is So All-Fired Awesome?

Because you can cross platforms, folks!

What this means is, you want to have an email newsletter signup form on your Facebook page. And you want to use snippets from the newsletter on Facebook and Twitter, along with a link to subscribe.

In return, you also want to ask your newsletter subscribers to share your content with their social networks.

But the best part is creating and using a common calendar. Synergize the newsletter and the social media folks so they are quite literally on the same page. That’s where the magic happens.

#3. Control Your Inventory Before it Controls You

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you better manage your company’s inventory. T Sheets tells us that good inventory management can make for a far better customer experience. After all, if you can’t find what they need, or they can’t, or it takes to long to get to them, guess what?

They’ll go to someone else. Someone who has their inventory act together. Very ouch.

Dropshipping Can Save Your Bacon

Our fave tip was to embrace dropshipping. The truth is, we think many businesses can benefit from it. Dropshipping is when you pay someone else to deliver your goods for you.

By working directly with a dropshipping company, you are working with a transport specialist. They will have a better idea of when to start the process, which form of transport to take, etc.

Concentrate on selling your widgets and let someone else handle the headaches of maintaining a fleet and all that it entails. Yes, you will have to pay a fee for shipping. But if you get more time to perfect your product and improve your prospects’ customer journey.

Leave the driving to someone else.

#2. The Holiday Shipping Season is Coming – Ready or Not!

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on holiday shipping. Fundera reveals all about the busiest time of year – it’s coming faster than you think!

Being ready is, of course, far superior to not being ready. So, here’s how.

One of the best tips is to understand just what are the absolute, last days you can ship in order to make an Xmas delivery. These dates differ from FedEx to UPS and the Post Office, so know those days!

FYI this year Chanukah overlaps Xmas, running from December 22 to the 30th so there may be more deliveries right around the 24th and 25th than in most years.

Give Your Customers Many Happy Returns

We loved this tip, and we know a lot of people will use it. The idea is to, quite simply, make returns easier and more convenient. And, of course, keep a written return policy if you don’t have one already.

Don’t wait until the last minute, when your staff is up to their elbows in sweaters that people didn’t like. Have a policy so they know it and can wield it. And making the process easier can make new customers. They might decide that your return process is so excellent, they would like to do business with you. It can happen!

#1. Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude When It Comes to Your Customers

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on gratitude and how to thank your customers. The SBA says thanking your customers may not be 100% altruistic on your part.

But you should do it anyway.

Our favorite tip was the one which is the vaguest – offer a little something extra, and make it clear it’s in thanks for them being your customer. The kicker is for it to be a surprise.

Don’t look now, but here’s an upgrade! Surprise – free shipping! Woot, here’s 10% off, just because! Or maybe a little something comes in the snail mail. A card, a gift card, flowers, a fruit basket? Only you know what your customers want, need, and will appreciate.

As always, the only limits are your budget, your time, and your imagination.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

Optimal Work Time Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Reach your optimal work time today.

The post Reach Your Optimal Work Time and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Relax with Office Comfort and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Relaxing Office Comfort and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Get some office comfort in your life and more.

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Keep Rolling With Payroll

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about easily managing payroll. The Self Employed says payroll can be a difficult task for many companies. Which is weird when you think about it. After all, unless a company is 100% volunteer (even nonprofits aren’t), then someone has to be paid, at some point in time.

You’d think businesses would be ready for that. But noooooo.

So this article had two tips which were pretty interesting.

Separate Bank Accounts Keep Everything Organized

It’s true, and it’ll probably help with your company’s bank credit score, anyway. The suggestion was for three separate bank accounts. One is for taxes to be withheld. That, we suspect, should be a savings account. Why not earn a smidgen of interest while setting aside the quarterly chunk of tribute to Uncle Sam?

The other two definitely need to be checking accounts – although we think there’s a possibility that this is a touch of overkill. Either way, the article suggests one for expenses and the other for payroll.

But no matter what, you need to work your payroll from a checking account.

Cards Versus Checks Versus Direct Deposit

The world of work, it seems, is divided into two camps – those who use direct deposit, and those who, for whatever reason, don’t. They might not live in the United States and so it’s too hard to do this. Or maybe they don’t trust the banking system or the like.

Or maybe they don’t have a bank account at all.

The article points out the sad truth – the last group of people in particular are perfect victims for 24 hour check cashing scams. The article had an interesting solution. But we feel it doesn’t go quite far enough.

The article’s solution was to use white label prepaid debit cards. It’s an interesting idea, and it can certainly work for a lot of people. Prepaid debit cards could turn out to be the perfect solution for employees who live outside the United States.

However, we thought up two more solutions to this vexing problem.

PayPal, Baby, Yeah!

How many of your employees have PayPal accounts? Why not direct deposit their checks there? Just like any electronic funds transfer to a bank, the transfer is as secure as PayPal can make it. PayPal is accepted in lots of places and that number is growing. You won’t earn interest with it but, let’s face it, interest rates for checking accounts are pretty abysmal these days. You’re probably not missing out on much money.

No PayPal? Then there’s Samsung Pay and Apple Pay. It seems to be easier to do this with Samsung Pay versus Apple Pay, though it’s not impossible.

Don’t like any of these solutions? Then say hello to Bitcoin. It could be another way to get around not being able to directly deposit.

But What About Paper Checks?

Paper Checks are kind of an idea whose time has passed; we feel. Still, there are some people who insist on still getting them. However, talk to your employees about paper before you say yes to it. for one thing, it’s obviously worse for the planet to cut checks made with paper. And the costs of processing are higher with paper. Plus there’s another issue with paper – it can be so much more easily lost or stolen.

Getting off the paper train is probably a good idea all around.

#9. Support Is So Sweet

The next awesome tip is about measuring your brand affinity. Wistia notes brand affinity is the extent to which your customers identify with and support your brand.

We love measuring stuff, because it’s the best way to see if you’re succeeding. If you can’t measure it, then you don’t know if something is working, or what to fix.

This article pulls together a number of metrics to get this figure and make it concrete.

Measure and Combine

Start with Google Analytics and look at your number of sessions and their average duration. That will give you an idea of how much time your customers spend with your content. Multiply the two together and that’s a number you want to strive to increase.

Another metric to look at – although it’s not as helpful – is Facebook Insights. You can look at minutes viewed for any videos you’ve got on your page. It’s in the aggregate, and it’s for every 5 – 10 second impression. That’s an issue because quickie ‘views’ by bots are going to inflate this figure.

Another metric to check is YouTube Analytics. Look at Watch Time and then segment it by traffic source. And look at Google Search Console as well.

We recommend looking at this article closely, as it includes helpful information on how to clean up the data and get rid of trivial fake interactions which don’t really tell you anything.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Enjoy relaxing office comfort and more….

#8. Hurry Up, Web Page!

Our following life-changing tip concerns speeding up your page for Google. Wordstream lays it all out for us. Because how fast your site loads isn’t just a concern for your customers and prospects. It’s also a concern for Google itself.

The faster, the better.

So, how do you speed things up? Stop having your website do things which aren’t necessary. Like what?

How about getting rid of plugins you don’t use if you’ve got a WordPress site? And even if you don’t, get rid of images you’re not using – and compress the ones you keep.

Check out the rest of the article for more helpful tips – it’s that good. And look at offerings from HubSpot – check out their Website Grader and their recommendations. Like this one – to reduce the number of HTTP requests.

Cut the fat and your customers and prospects will be happier to go to your website and hang out. And, we hope, buy something.

#7. Serve Your Customers, And They’ll Serve You

For our next sensational tip, we looked at providing excellent customer service, which never goes out of style. Fundera says that happy customers come back and buy again. And they’re more likely to spend more, too. Excellent customer service can put money in your pocket.

So why wouldn’t you do your best to do it?

Be Empathetic

There were a number of detailed specific recommendations which we loved. In fact, we strongly suggest reading the article in its entirety – it’s that good.

But most of the suggestions boiled down to one basic premise. Be empathetic. Bring some of your office comfort energy to them.

Listen to concerns. Communicate, but respect your customers’ time. Elicit feedback. Get to know your customers, beyond how they connect to you as customers.

In short, treat them like, you know, actual human beings.

What a concept.

#6. Be The Business With ALL The Answers

This tip is so cool, and it works! Buzz Sumo tells us all about creating a comprehensive knowledge base for your site.

The Twitter tip alone is worth the price of admission on this one, no lie.

Twitter Questions, Found

Got a keyword or keyword phrase and you want to see what people are asking? Then pop it into the search bar of Twitter in this format: [keyword ?]

Yes, keep the space between the keyword and the question mark. Hence a question about credit looks like this: credit ?

It works for keyword phrases, too.

Essentially what this query does is, it gets you the most popular tweets with both your keyword and a question mark. Naturally, this assumes everyone with a question uses a question mark (not always the case, given Twitter’s character limit).

The article has tips for finding other kinds of questions online. After all, if you don’t know what people are asking, how can you possibly know which answers they need?

#5. Relax With The Best In Office Comfort

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Office comfort will make you so happy!

Noobpreneur says office comfort will help with attendance. After all, if your employees don’t like where they work, they aren’t going to want to come in if they can help it.

So, there are three great areas where you can enhance office comfort. But what we really loved was the first one.

First Stop, Ergonomics!Office Comfort Credit Suite

Seriously.

For those of us who are – ahem – pretty far past the latter side of 30, office comfort is a must because otherwise we throw our backs out.

High quality office furniture can make the difference between a good day at work and a not so good day. A bad day at work, where pain punctuates the hours, is a recipe for short tempers and a decided lack of concentration.

Do you want to invest in office comfort and buy good chairs? Or do you want to keep paying for the same reports and content to be corrected, over and over again?

Pro tip – invest in a decent chair for your home computer area as well. Office comfort doesn’t have to stop the moment you leave the workplace. And of course if you work from home, then office comfort by definition is a function of what you do at home.

True story – a better desk chair has improved your intrepid blog writer’s performance, no question.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Enjoy relaxing office comfort and more….

#4. Do You Feel A Sales Chill?

Check out this spectacular tip, all about using cold calling to get to sales conversations faster. Mailshake notes that you don’t want to just be cold calling anyone. You want to be calling prospects only.

The key to this form of calling is to understand your prospects’ problems. And you need to know how your product or service is the solution they need. Once these two things are known, the script practically writes itself.

Where’s the Priority?

For your prospects, ordering a paid solution, or at least taking a meeting to discuss such a thing, directly relates to priority. If they don’t think their problem needs to solved any time soon, then they won’t feel either activity is something they need to do any time soon. If ever.

See tip #3 for even more detail on how to nudge people from prospect to customer.

#3. Let’s Go Prospecting

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can make your sales prospecting more effective. HubSpot tells us this form of outreach is absolutely essential when it comes to getting new customers.

Their tip about warming up prospects before contacting them is an oldie but a goodie. But there was one tip which we adored and think should be tattooed on any salesperson’s forehead in reverse script so it’s easy to see in a mirror. No lie.

Office Comfort Credit SuiteDon’t Sell!

Oh gosh this is perfect and is the answer to, we suspect, most prospects’ prayers.

For the first prospecting sales call, don’t try to sell anything. Why not? Because it’s off-putting. So don’t do that. The last thing you want to do is leave a bad taste in the mouths of your prospects. And nothing can do that faster than being nothing but a sales mouthpiece, 24/7.

Think about it. Your prospects probably fast forward through commercials on recorded shows. They might use popup and ad blockers on their computers and phones. They don’t read billboards for fun.

So what makes you think they want to hear you go on about your product or service every time they hear from you?

Hint: they don’t.

#2. Price It Right The First Time

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on correctly pricing your products. Sleek Note reveals all about this essential skill. Many online customers value the ability to get better prices and compare prices easily as two of the most important reasons why they shop online in the first place.

How Do You Price Your Wares?

Just how much science goes into pricing? Or do companies just close their eyes and point, or spin a big wheel?

What if you could carefully put together your pricing so it would best serve you from the start?

Makes a lost more sense than just throwing darts at a board.

Compare and Analyze Your Key Competitors

This is a key tip. Consider how your customers are using the internet to seek your wares and decide if they’ll buy from you or your competition. They are likely doing some form of head to head price comparison.

So why not do one yourself? If you were looking at your prices versus your competitors’, would you choose to buy your stuff?

Tweak If It’s Not Working

This is maybe the most important tip of all. They’re your prices, not the Ten Commandments. If your sales are high or your reviews are off the charts amazing, maybe your customers will tolerate a slight increase. If your sales are low, then maybe a discount or some coupons are in your future.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and change. Words to live by in business!

#1. Get Moving With Emotional Motivation

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on motivating people to buy. Copy Blogger says feelings drive action. They are the very essence of motivation.

There are a number of emotions which will spur action. An approach motivation, for example, is a positive one, whereby people want to experience or discover more of something or other. Hence you can tap into this emotional well with blog posts and other content which justifies why your product or service is what the prospect needs.

Another emotional motivator is attacking. This is where people want to criticize, devalue, or attack something. Why not tap into this emotion with an ‘axe to grind’ style of post? Ask what your customers’ pet peeves are. Get to the root of what they want to get rid of, versus what they may be trying to avoid.

An emotions can drive our decisions. It’s more than a feeling.

And you just might have something there.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Enjoy relaxing office comfort and more….

The post Relax with Office Comfort and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Are There More Than 3 Business Credit Reporting Agencies?

There Are More than 3 Business Credit Reporting Agencies, but it All Comes Back to the Big Three

When most people think of business credit reporting agencies, they think if Dun & Bradstreet.  It’s true, the Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX is one of the scores most commonly used by lenders.  In addition to D&B however, there is Experian and Equifax that are fairly commonly used.

Those aren’t the only three however.  The FICO SBSS score is gaining popularity in the business credit world as an option for business credit scoring.  There are actually a lot more business credit reporting agencies than that, but the one most commonly used outside of the big three of D & B, Experian, and Equifax, is the FICO SBSS.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Dun & Bradstreet is the Biggest of the Business Credit Reporting Agencies

There are six different Dun & Bradstreet reporting options, all measuring different areas of credit worthiness.   The most commonly used and simplest to understand is the PAYDEX.   Generally speaking, this is the most like the consumer FICO score.  It measures the speed of payment.  It ranges from 1 to 100.  A 70 or higher is “good.” For example, a score of 100 means that the company makes payments in advance, and a score of 1 indicates that they pay 120 days late, or more.

What Other Scores Does Dun & Bradstreet Offer?

In addition to the PAYDEX, these other reporting options are available                   .

●        Delinquency Predictor Score

The delinquency predictor score measures the likelihood the company will not pay, will be late paying, or will fall into bankruptcy.  The scale is 1 to 5, and a 2 is considered good.

●        Financial Stress Score

The financial stress score is a measurement of the pressure on a company’s balance sheet.  That is, it indicates the likelihood of a shutdown within a year.  It measures on a scale of 1 to 5,  with a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 1.  A business with a score of 2  is in good shape.

●        Supplier Evaluation Risk Rating

This rating ranks the odds of a company making it for the next 12 months.  The minimum score is 9 and the maximum is 1.  A company with a score of 5 is good is doing okay.

●        Credit Limit Recommendation

The credit limit recommendation shows a business’s borrowing capacity.  It is a dollar amount recommendation for how much debt a company can handle. Typically, it is used by creditors to determine how much credit to extend.

●        D&B Credit Rating

The credit rating is an estimation of overall business risk on a scale of 4 to 1.  A two is good.  It’s important to note, the rating is given in conjunction with letters.  The combination of the letters and numbers relay the company’s net worth.

Even if there isn’t enough information on a business to assign a regular rating, Dun and Bradstreet will assign what they call a Credit Appraisal Score.  Unlike a full credit score, this is based on number of employees. In addition, there is an alternative rating based on what data is actually available.

The letter portion of this rating cannot be assigned as good or bad since net worth is not necessarily an indicator of how stable a business is.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Experian Business Credit Score

Experian offers a number of different scores as well.  Lenders can choose to use any or all of them. Of course, each one tells them something different.  Consequently, it takes all the scores put together to get a complete credit picture from this business credit bureau.  Still, not all lenders look at all the scores that are available.

Intelliscore Plus

The Intelliscore Plus credit score shows credit risk based on statistics.  It is a highly predictive score.  As such, its main purpose is to assist users in making well informed credit decisions.

The Intelliscore scores range from 1 to 100.  The higher your score, the lower your risk class. The opposite is true as well, meaning the lower your score, the higher your risk class.

Score Range Risk Class

76 – 100 Low

51 – 752 Low – Medium

26 – 503 Medium

11 – 254 High – Medium

1 – 105 High

How Does Experian Business Credit Calculate the Intelliscore Plus Score?

One of the things Intelliscore is most known for is the identification of key factors that can indicate how likely a business is to pay their debt.  There are over 800 commercial and owner variables used to calculate an Intelliscore Plus credit score.  Here’s the breakdown:

●        Payment History

This is just your current payment status. It’s how many times accounts have become delinquent.  Additionally, It also shows how many accounts are currently delinquent, as well as your overall trade balance.

●        Frequency

This one shows how many times your accounts have been sent to collections.  It also notes the number of liens and judgments you may have.  Bankruptcies related to your business or personal accounts are included as well.

Frequency can also incorporate information regarding your payment patterns. Were you regularly slow or late with payment? Did you decrease the number of late payments over time? That affects your score.

●        Monetary

This specific factor focuses on how you make use of credit. For example, how much of your available credit are you using right now? Do you have a high ratio of late balances when compared with your credit limits?

Of course, if you are a new business owner, a lot of this information will not exist yet. Intelliscore Plus handles this by using a “blended model” to identify your score. That means that they take your personal consumer credit score into account when determining your business’s credit score.

The Experian Financial Stability Risk Score (FSR)

FSR predicts the potential of a business going bankrupt or not paying its debts.  The score identifies the highest risk businesses by making use of payment and public records. These records include all of the following and more.

  • high use of credit lines
  • severely late payments
  • tax liens
  • judgments
  • collection accounts
  • risk industries
  • length of time in business

business CRAs Credit Suite2

Experian’s Blended Score

This is a one-page report that provides a summary of the business and its owner.  A combined business-owner credit scoring model is more comprehensive than a business or consumer only model.  Blended scores have been found to outperform consumer or business alone by 10 – 20%.

Equifax is Another One of the Bigger Business Credit Reporting Agencies

Equifax shows three distinct business determinations on its business credit reports. These are the Equifax payment index, your business’s credit risk score, and its business failure score.

Similar to the PAYDEX score, Equifax’s payment index, which is a measurement on a scale of 100, shows how many of your small business’s payments were made on time. These include both data from creditors and vendors.

Equifax Credit Risk Score

Equifax’s credit risk score checks how likely it is that your company will become severely delinquent on payments. Scores range from 101 to 992, and they evaluate:

  • Available credit limit on revolving credit accounts, which includes credit cards
  • Your company’s size
  • Proof of any non-financial transactions (such as merchant invoices) which are late or were charged off for two or more billing cycles
  • Length of time since the opening of the earliest financial account

Equifax Business Failure Score

Lastly, Equifax’s business failure score takes a look at the risk of your business shutting down. It runs from 1,000 to 1,600. And it judges these factors:

  • Total balance to total current credit limit average utilization in the past three months
  • The amount of time since the opening of the oldest financial account
  • Your small business’s worst payment status on all trades in the last 24 months
  • Documentation of any non-financial transactions (such as merchant invoices) which are late or are on a charge off for two or more billing cycles

For the credit risk and the business failure scores, a rating of 0 means bankruptcy.

Equifax Scores

A good Equifax score for your business is as follows:

  • Payment Index 0 to 10
  • Credit Risk score 892 to 992
  • Business Failure score 1400 to 1600

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

FICO SBSS

The FICO SBSS, or FICO Liquid Credit Small Business Scoring Service, is the business version of your personal FICO credit score. It was becoming more and more common for lenders to use this score, rather than the Experian or even the D&B Paydex business credit score.

Unlike your personal FICO, the SBSS reports on a scale of 0 to 300. Of course, the higher the better.  However, most lenders require a score of at least 160.

There are few reasons lenders favor this score.  First, FICO uses business credit information from Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, and Equifax in their business credit score calculation.  Second,they also take into account personal credit score.  Lastly, they consider the lenders preferences for which factors are most important.

Why Rely on Other Credit Reporting Agencies, and How Do Lender Preferences Affect Your Score?

This is a huge difference from other business credit scoring models. The SBSS uses your business credit score from other business credit reporting agencies.  They also use your personal credit score and other financial information such as business assets and revenue. The big change however, is they let the lender decide how much each factor actually affects the score. It is a total global financial picture rolled into one score, and the lender gets to choose which factors have the most impact.

This means you almost always go  into a lender totally blind as to what your FICO SBSS credit score may be. Here is how it works.

How Lenders Get Your FICO SBSS Business Credit Score

  1. You turn in your application and all necessary financial documentation to the lender.

 

  1. The lender processes this information and sends it to FICO with a request for your SBSS score.

 

2.5. This is where it gets interesting. The lender can weight certain factors that make up your SBSS score. Your score can vary depending on how a lender weights each factor. For example, a lender can put more weight on your personal credit score or your business credit. It is their choice. This means your FICO SBSS can change from lender to lender even if you haven’t done anything to change it.

 

  1. FICO then searches business credit information from business credit agencies including D&B, Experian, and Equifax. Since these business credit reporting agencies have already scored the business side of things, the FICO SBSS just used the data from them for that piece of their calculation. If they cannot pull enough scoring information from one, they move on to the next. If there is not enough information from any of them, then it uses personal credit and business financials only.

 

  1. Using the lender’s weighting preferences, personal credit, business credit, and business financial data the system calculates the FICO SBSS score.

 

  1. You get either approval or denial based on your score.

SBA Credit Scoring

In 2012 the SBA began using credit scoring in the loan approval process. Since 2014, they have used it on all loans up to $350,000, not including the SBA Express and Export Express.

They use the FICO SBSS out of all the business credit reporting agencies for their scoring needs.  This is likely because by doing so, they get information from the other major business credit reporting agencies plus some.

The information they receive from FICO SBSS helps them to expedite credit decisions. In fact, overall statistics on the $60 billion-plus portfolio at the Small Business Administration show that those businesses with scores at or above the 140 cut-off have had very good payment history.

While the minimum required credit score is 140, the SBA usually will not approve applications until the borrower’s score is 160 or higher.  Some lenders would rather see even higher scores.  An ideal minimum is 180.

There Are More Than Three Business Credit Reporting Agencies

The truth is, there are definitely more than three business credit reporting agencies. The FICO SBSS is just one that many do not know about.  However, like many of the other business credit reporting agencies, they use information from the big three, D&B, Experian, and Equifax, in their calculations.   What does this mean for your business?  Pretty much regardless of which of the business credit reporting agencies your lender uses, the big three are likely still going to impact your score in some way. Also, it means you cannot ignore your personal credit score.  It can make a difference on your ability to get funding even when using your business credit.

 

The post Are There More Than 3 Business Credit Reporting Agencies? appeared first on Credit Suite.

Manage Military Marketing and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

Military marketing? We’re looking at lessons in marketing success from the military – more on that later. But first….

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Military Marketing Matters and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Military Marketing Means a Successful Campaign is a Must

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about finding the money for your first marketing campaign. The Self Employed says it’s a lot like finding the bucks for anything when you’ve got a new business.

So, you’re going to have to be creative.

Crowdfunding

Their first idea is one of our pet favorites – running a crowdfunding campaign. Crowdfunding is   a perfectly legitimate way of getting money for your business. So why not crowdfund to pay for your first advertising campaign?

However, as the article points out, this is going to be nigh well impossible to do if you don’t have at least something of an audience already. Hence, you probably don’t want to be doing this if it’s happening before you get prospects and customers.

Don’t put the cart before the horse.

Subletting For the Win!Marketing ideas from the Armed Forces Credit Suite

What?

Now, keep in mind, this is only going to be an option if you have your own space. If you don’t (or, say, you’re using a virtual office space), it is probably not going to be on the table.

But if you’ve got your own space, then read on.

Consider this. If you live in a semi-remote area and there isn’t that much of a startup scene, it is possible there are few options for entrepreneurs who don’t have their own office space. Why not provide some as a sublet to your own space?

Your extra desk could make a difference for another entrepreneur, and help your community, to boot. Pretty cool for a bit of furniture you’re not using, anyway.

#9. Get on the Groupon Train

The next awesome tip is about setting up Groupon offers for your small business. Score notes Groupon is a better venue for raising awareness than turning a profit.

But why?

Don’t Look for a Profit Here

It’s due to Groupon’s requirements. After all, they demand you offer a substantial discount, as in 50 – 90% off. And then they take a cut (the listing itself is free).  So if you sell something for $100 (a good or a service; it doesn’t matter), and you offer 90% off, Groupon will take a cut as their marketing fee. This fee will depend on industry and customer demand, plus the market. Let’s say that’s 10% (this is a figure for-instance and isn’t based on anything in particular).

For your $100 good or service, you’re now getting $9. That is, you lopped off 90% as your discount, which brings us to $10. And then with Groupon taking a 10% marketing fee, that’s another $1 off (10% of $10).

Ouch.

Still, if you’ve got to get stuff out of a warehouse, and need it to move fast and hopefully get at least something for it, then this could be a way to go. Plus, there’s no law that says your discount has to be so steep. You can go with the minimum of 50% off, which would put your take at $45 ($50 is 50% of $100, and then Groupon in this example is taking another 10% off the top, or $5).

Rather, Look for Awareness to Grow

A far better use of Groupon is to up the awareness of your product or service. Perhaps the best bit of advice in the entire article is to use Groupon not only for this purpose, but also to plug underutilized services or get rid of excess inventory.

So, if you go into working with Groupon this way, it can be a win-win. After all, it’s advertising (in a way), which you’re being paid for (in a way). And if you can unload some white elephants at the same time, then so much the better.

Military Marketing Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Get lessons from the people in uniform with military marketing and more.

#8. Put LinkedIn to Work for Your Business

Our following life-changing tip concerns improving your LinkedIn lead generation. Wordstream lays it all out for us. The article is comprehensive, and we highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

Our favorite tip was to differentiate between quantity and quality when it comes to generated leads. What do we mean by that?

True story time.

Surveys, AKA What Kind of Potato Are You?

When was the last time you filled out an online form for, well, anything? I recently decided my time is worth far more than a trinket, and so are my personal details. As a result, unless the offer is a great one which I will use ($100 Amazon gift certificate? Yes, please!), I will pass it by unless I have some other reason for filling out a form. say, I might want to know more about a product.

But I also take note of exactly what a business wants out of me. As in, what does my marital status have to do with the type of clothes I might want to shop for? If it’s just to decide on a title for me, then why not add that as a form in an address field and keep out the specifics? After all, a woman who’s married, divorced, or widowed might want to be called Mrs. A woman of any marital status might want to be called Ms. (I do).

And if you’re a doctor, then all of that is out in deference to Dr.

I also pay attention to the number of questions. At a certain point, usually when the ten-question threshold is passed, I bail. Sorry businesses! But I often have better uses for my time.

But What Does This Have to Do With Leads?

A lot! The more questions you get answered, the more qualified your prospect is going to be. The fewer, then the less qualified. But with fewer questions, you’ll get more responses.

Hence, you need to make a decision. Do you want far fewer prospects but they’re all pretty warm, or a ton of chilly not so well-qualified prospects? There are virtues to both approaches. Choose the one which works best for your business.

#7. Oh, Won’t You Please Stay?

For our next sensational tip, we looked at creating reasons for customers to stay. LinkedIn says that retaining customers is vital for continued business success. And truer words were never spoken.

But, how do you do it?

Listen!

We really hope it’s a no-brainer to most to know that you need to keep your finger on the pulses of your customers. That is, conduct a relationship health check, if you will. Work with your customers and don’t just disappear until it’s time to renew.

After all, their circumstances may have changed since the initial sale. And we certainly hope so, and that it’s due to using your product or service. Because nothing stands still, it’s imperative to figure out if what you first offered is still going to be helpful.

Maybe they need more, because they’ve expanded. Or maybe they’ve had a not so good time of it and need to cut back, but still want to do business with you.

Either way, you’ll never know unless you ask, and listen to their responses.

Stay in Touch

This goes hand in hand with the first. If you bug out the moment that the sale is finalized, why should your customers trust you to be around when they have questions or need some sort of service?

Your mission in sales doesn’t end the moment the check is cashed and clears. Much like military marketing, you need to hang around afterwards.

Make Life Easy for ‘Em

And this third tip should be at the top of your mind, no matter what. Is your phone number hard to find, and it’s the only way to get service? Then change that, yesterday. That can take the form of adding online support or another phone line or changing your website design to make the phone number more prominent.

And if your customers can’t figure out how to renew in a short amount of time (as in, often, a minute or less!), then they’ll go to your competition, if it’s easier to renew there.

In these days of responsive web design, there’s no excuse for making such things obscure.

Pro tip: make sure you website works for phones. No matter what, the vast majority of Americans have cell phones, and the vast majority of those are smart phones.

If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, then you’re losing money.

There’s no clearer way to say that.

#6. Start a New Business Effectively

This tip is so cool, and it works! Noobpreneur tells us all about starting a new business effectively.

We liked this sensible, practical guide to starting a new business, and succeeding.

However, we felt it glossed over one area which we kinda know a few things about – getting funding. So there’s a bit that’s incomplete there.

However, the remainder was good advice. In particular, it makes a great deal of sense to not quit your day job until you’re sure your brand-new baby business is making money.

#5. Try Taking Your Advertising and Communications Cues from Military Marketing

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Military marketing is something we’ve probably all seen a lot of. And we can take some lessons from it.

Perhaps our favorite tip had to do with thinking offense all the time. That is, continually acting. This makes a great deal of sense, as passivity can, at times, lead to things just happening to you. The concept was also to eliminate or at least minimize indecisiveness.

However, we do have to say that we like the idea of analyzing decisions. Of course the idea in the article is to eliminate the dreaded analysis paralysis. But we still think you should at least think about what you’re doing.

That is, charge up and take that hill! Just, know which hill.

Military Marketing and Leading from the Front

What do they mean by this? Essentially, the idea is to have vision and courage. We like this idea, although there’s a lot to be said for employee input. And that is one thing which the military really doesn’t do much of – get feedback from the lower levels in the command food chain.

So, we encourage courage (that’s hard to say) but, at the same time, there are some bits of military marketing which we should probably all take with a grain of salt.

Startup Professionals says these lessons from the folks in uniform can give you a

Military Marketing Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Get lessons from the people in uniform with military marketing and more.

#4. Freshen Up Facebook and More

Check out this spectacular tip, all about revamping your company’s social media profiles. Fundera notes that social media profiles can sometimes get stale over time.

So, how do you fix that?

We really loved their idea of using a mascot. Now, this idea cannot work with every single company out there. But for those where it can, it can be a fun and entertaining way to keep your audience engaged.

Consider Swatch, the mascot for Mood Fabrics who is also an unofficial Project Runway mascot. This cute dog’s picture is in just about everything. He makes everything more accessible.

Think about your mascot a bit like colleges do. And in the interests of full disclosure, your intrepid blog writer is a graduate of Boston University and our mascot is the Boston Terrier. Which is what made the connection that much more obvious.

If your brand can do with a mascot, then have at it. And, by the way, your mascot can be someone’s child or a stuffed animal.

Listen to This

Another fantastic idea was to publish playlists. These can be fun and utterly unrelated to your business. Or maybe they can more subtly be related to it.

Do your employees have get up and go songs which get the blood pumping? Those are great! Or maybe a little mood music? If you’ve got a long haul trucking company, there are any number of songs about places and driving. And don’t forget Route 66!

Even marches are probably okay (talk about your military marketing!), assuming your clientele would find them interesting and pleasant.

Just make sure the songs are G rated. The last thing you want is to accidentally insult your customers.

#3. Influencers All Have to Start Somewhere

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help beginner influencers. Young Upstarts tells us there are ways which embryonic influencers can become more seasoned.

While this article is written more for the influencers themselves, there are bits of information which are useful for you, the entrepreneur.

Our favorite tip was to use an influencer matching site.

We had no idea such things existed!

Did you? We don’t want to feel left out.

Back to the topic at hand, these influencer sites (in this, as in all things, Google is your friend) are a way for influencers to connect with brands.

Keep in mind, the more seasoned influencers with larger followings are probably not going to feel the need to use such services. But that’s okay. This can be a way to link up with an influencer with fewer followers. It should cost less than working with a big wheel influencer.

And who knows? Maybe your brand and your influencer will grow together.

#2. Multitasking Just Might Not Be the Best Idea After All

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on quitting multitasking and focusing better. Addicted 2 Success reveals all about how to keep your focus from splitting.

Breaks, Breaks, and More Breaks

We loved this idea, and it’s probably not surprising. When you fail to take frequent breaks, your mind wanders. And, inevitably, you end up checking Facebook or Twitter briefly, or text someone, etc. A few minutes here and there, and it’ll all add up.

So why not schedule those times, rather than let them take little nibbles out of your day and your focus? Interval working also makes sense simply because it’s not possible for us to go, go, go all day long. We need breaks anyway!

Swallow That Live Frog First Thing

The other tip we really liked was to do the hard stuff first. Take advantage of being fresher and give yourself the advantage of being done with the hard stuff when you’re getting tired.

Our corollary tip is to do the most unpleasant tasks early, too. That way, the fun stuff will be a reward.

#1. Throw Some Ice On That Burnout

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on helping employees avoid burnout. Effortless HR says we, as a culture, don’t value rest time like we should. Unfortunately, we’ve noticed that as well.

A corollary to this is a personal observation – not being treated like a person at the office. Employees can sometimes be treated like just so many cogs in a wheel. And when we treat people that way, it should be no great shock when they start to feel that way.

So, what can you do?

Goals and Credit

There were two tips which go hand in hand. One was to set achievable and realistic goals; the other was to recognize when those goals have been met.

These are key. Long before Credit Suite, your intrepid blog writer worked at places where goal-setting was another box ticked off by management. Goals had little to do with reality. These included going on more trips – yet cutting the budget.

Er, that’s not how the universe works.

Plus recognition, boy howdy, recognition! Money is nice (it’s always appropriate), but it can be spent. Recognition can bring with it promotions and recommendations. And those tend to last longer.

In short, treat your employees like flesh and blood humans.

What a concept.

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

Military Marketing Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Get lessons from the people in uniform with military marketing and more.

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Leverage Your Work Downtime and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Take the Best Advantage of Your Work Downtime and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! Your work downtime won’t know what hit it!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So, settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Drop Bad Data for Better Data

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about dealing with bad data and better visualizing sales performance. HubSpot says there are all sorts of ways for data to go a little, shall we say, ca-ca.

In the interests of full disclosure, your intrepid blog writer used to work in data analysis. And this article brings it all back.

Excuse me while I crawl into a corner and cry for a few minutes.

Okay, I’m back.

There’s an Error for Every Occasion

Or so it seems.

The biggest issue with bad data is that it wastes time. And we all know what time is.

So, what’s wrong, and how do you fix it?

One should be obvious-ish. Human error! For every time a human must touch data, there are opportunities for error.

Another issue is not having what they call ‘one source of truth’. Hence, your sales figures from Des Moines (for example) should have but one origin. That origin can be fed from several places. That part’s no problem. After all, you get online sales data from a different place from where you get the offline data. But it’s up to the Des Moines office or someone in charge to put that data together and make it the one number – the sales figures.

Another issue was not accounting for seasonality – and yet another was not accounting for differences. You might be expecting, say, $100,000 from Des Moines, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. Don’t go into data analysis with preconceived notions of what the answers are going to be. That way lies madness.

A Personal-ish Plea

While this isn’t in the article, it kind of should be.

Hire a data professional.

Once your business gets big and you start making regular money, you might want to make a data person one of your hires. This person can be part time and they can be a junior person. But with a person who knows what they’re doing with data, that can make all the difference. It can also save you time and money, because that person will oversee tracing down errors and cleaning up data to make it usable.

Let them have those headaches, so you don’t.

#9. That Lead Shoots! It Scores!

The next awesome tip is about lead scoring. Opt in Monster notes lead scoring is a way to rank your prospects to better understand their sales readiness.

Wait, you don’t do this?

Er, you probably should.

Separate the Wheat from the Chaff

More accurately, this more like separating the mature wheat from its seeds.

What’s the difference between someone who got on your mailing list three years ago and never interacted again, versus someone who did that, plus follows you on Facebook and retweets you?

If you don’t see a difference, you might want to reconsider this entrepreneur thing, mmkay?

The difference, of course, is that the second person is far more engaged in your brand. So, it should follow that you want to concentrate your efforts more on them than the other.

This doesn’t mean abandoning the other person! It just means treating them differently.

Scoring adds an objective angle to this. It’s hard to argue with hard numbers.

Work Downtime Credit Suite

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#8. Dashboarding Through the Snow (or Falling Leaves)

Our following life-changing tip concerns building an ecommerce dashboard. Sumo lays it all out for us. Dashboarding is a great way for you to see how your business is doing at a glance. Specifically, this tip is all about setting up one within Google Analytics.

We were so happy that this article has step by step instructions. Hence, we highly recommend reading it in its entirety. Heck – print it out and make a poster out of it.

Google Analytics is an exceptionally powerful tool, and it’s 100% free. It would be a shame for your business to not use it to its fullest capacity.

#7. It’s All in the Presentation

For our next sensational tip, we looked at presenting business proposals to win clients. Succeed as Your Own Boss says that leading with stories is helpful. This is as opposed to facts and figured – stories are compelling!

A lot of this article concerns relating to your proposed clients. You want to show them data as a backup, yes. After all, without data, you have no proof that anything you do will work. But then dovetail that with a story.

Make it personal, and make it relate to your prospects. And talk to your prospects – ask them questions and show an interest in them and their business.

If you don’t, then someone else will.

#6. Save the Simoleans With Accounting

This tip is so unexpected, but it works! The Self Employed tells us there are ways to save money with accounting.

Yes, accounting.

Ya Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated

So, of course this article starts with our old chestnut tip – separate your business and personal money. Keep the spending in separate buckets.

You will not only be more organized; you’ll be so much happier at tax time.

But it was with the third tip where we really felt the article hit its stride.

Make Your Payment Teams Clear

Now, how many times have you dealt with someone just getting started who was wishy-washy about the due date for getting paid? You may very well have.

That person may even be you.

So, cut that nonsense out. Yesterday.

The best way to be clear about payment terms is to put them in writing. Not just on your website. Slay a tree and put those terms on paper if your clients are at all local. There’s just something about getting a paper bill in the mail which can help to spur people to action.

This should be in addition to electronic billing, and not in place of it. Clear bills are also 100% vital if you find yourself in court.

Date of service. Add whatever your terms are (say, Net 30). And add the due date for the invoice. Make it clear which percentage is due when, if you do that. So, for example, if you own a construction business, you will probably want a percentage on the first day, more in the middle if the job goes on for a while, and the balance upon delivery.

Why? Because you’ll need cash to buy materials. And you’ll need income to hold you over until the final payment comes in. Protect yourself with clear billing and payment terms.

With less time spent chasing payments, you might get some work downtime, which we’re covering next.

#5. Take Advantage of Your Work Downtime

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Every single one of us has work downtime. Find out how to make the best possible use of yours and your employees’.

The Work at Home Woman says there are a lot of great ways to fill up those unexpected moments when suddenly everything is clear.

Not like we would know what those look like. So, in theory ….

Use Your Work Downtime and Change Things Up

We loved two separate tips which certainly go together well. One was to take on a new challenge. The other was to learn something new. Take the time to learn a new skill.

So, for example, if you’ve always been mystified by mail merge or how to best set up your email folders, do it now! It’s a great use of your work downtime.

What Do You Mean, You Don’t Love Procedures?

Heh, just kidding. We find them kind of regimented and often not well-written at all.

Therefore, why not edit and improve and update them during your work downtime? Or write them if they don’t exist at all.

How do you lock up for the night? Make it a procedure. How do you answer an angry customer on social media? Write that down, too.

You will be so glad you did this.

Take Advantage of Your Slow Work Time Credit SuiteOrganization

One thing which wasn’t mentioned in the article was something we highly recommend during work downtime – getting organized. Change up your email rules (or add them in the first place) and get incoming mail foldered before you ever see it.

Personal pro tip: you know all those emails which you need to get to but not at this very moment? If you’re keeping them unread, then you might be messed up if you accidently convert one from unread to read. Or, heaven forbid, all of them.

So, this is what I do.

Create a separate email folder and name it something like Inbox Overflow or Almost Urgent or whatever works best for you. Place those emails which require attention but not right now in there. And, please remember they’re in there, of course.

This way, you can pluck them from the stack without having to worry about keeping them unread. And email folders are sortable and searchable in every system. Hence you can get a handle on which of those emails are more pressing than others.

It also beats pawing through your entire mailbox to try to find these emails.

Free time at work Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.

#4. Get on the Right Track

Check out this spectacular tip, all about tracking website traffic the right way. Success Harbor notes that tracking the wrong data does you no good. It’s almost a subset of tip #10, above.

We loved that this article discusses Google Analytics (tip #8, above) – but it doesn’t stop there. The article adds several other helpful sites to track valuable metrics.

However – a caution – the article was originally posted in 2017. And at least one recommendation (Attention Meter) seems as if it is no more. So, take it with a grain of sale.

#3. Instagram Stick-to-itiveness

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you increase Instagram engagement. Foundr tells us all about Instagram stickers.

Oh, we so loved these! What amazing ideas these are.

Seriously, collect the whole set. They’re that awesome.

Engaged? We Barely Know Each Other. Still, That’s an Awfully Nice Ring You’re Offering

Oh, wait, engagement on Instagram doesn’t involve getting down on one knee. Ah, well.

Rather, engagement on Instagram (or any social platform, for that matter), is all about who comments, who likes, who swipes, etc.

Consider how engaged your followers would be if they could buy your products and services directly in the ‘Gram. Or how you could do a bit of informal customer research with a quick one-question poll. Another idea is to ask a simple question. You might get unexpected answers, and they could give you more ideas of how to better serve your customers.

Read this whole article. It is exceptionally helpful.

#2. Soar Past Seasons Greetings

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on creating holiday emails in your business. Sleek Note reveals all about it.

Yes, the holidays are coming. And faster than you may think.

As of the posting of this blog, it’s 10 days to Columbus Day, and it’s just under 8 weeks to Thanksgiving and 11 and a half days to Xmas. So, if you’re going to send out holiday emails, you’d better get cracking.

The examples are all related to gift products, and they tend to be great examples of concepts we’ve gone over before. For example, separating gift givers by price or recipient, the email effectively divvies up your customers. This gives them far better user experiences. Plus, you don’t waste their time. If I’m shopping for my hairdresser, I’m probably not getting her a new car (sorry, Katie).

By the way, their best tip was the last one.

Sensitivity Rocks

No, it’s not salesy. And that’s 100% okay.

We loved the idea of giving people a heads up in case they want to opt out of some emails. The example was a stellar one – allowing an opt out of Mother’s and Father’s Day emails. Consider the people this helps. It’s not just people who are childless by choice. It’s especially helpful and kind to those who aren’t childless by choice.

In this and in all areas, kindness goes a long way.

#1. Round Up and Brand Your Social Media

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on social media branding. Women on Business says there are a few simple ways to stand out on social media.

We really loved the first tip.

Stop Being All Things to All People

What does that mean? It means, your business isn’t suited to every single social platform out there. So, stop trying to fit your square peg business for seniors into a Snapchat round hole. And quit trying to force your business for tweens onto LinkedIn.

Neither will work very well. They’re just a waste of time. And time is the one thing you never have enough of.

So, which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now? Thank you for reading during your work downtime!

Relax at work Credit Suite

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Leverage your work downtime and more.

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How to Enhance Your Video Strategy: OTT, Live-Streaming and More!

Video industry is huge these days: Either you are in or your brand is missing out! Small Biz Trends claims that by 2019, 80% of all web traffic is going to be video traffic. All major agencies and brands have already joined the trend: According to Outbrain survey, over 8o% of digital marketers have started… Read more »

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