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.

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:

Useful
Ultra-specific
Unique
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 Business

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!

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?

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.

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?

#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.

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 30^th so there may be more deliveries right around the 24^th and 25^th 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?

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

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!

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.

Don’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.

Jumpstart Creativity in Your Business –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

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! Jumpstart creativity and rev up your content engine. Plus nine more awesome tips to get your business humming all week!

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Jumpstart Creativity 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. Explain it to Me!

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about creating better explainer videos. Young Upstarts says explainer videos have their own rhythm and rhyme. They aren’t really short cinematic masterpieces. At least, they’re not meant to be.

Our favorite tip was to sell the lifestyle, versus the features. What an interesting premise. The concept behind this is to show how much more convenient, easier, happier, safer, whatever, the prospect’s life will be with your product or service.

For explainer videos, it works well to show the difference between the prospect’s current life and the improvements which are inherent in using your product or service. Talk about how to jumpstart creativity!

Sound, Visual, and Captions

It should probably go without saying that you need to be spot on with all of these. Why captions? Because a good half of your audience is likely to be watching without sound, as they might be in a crowded place without earbuds. Or they might prefer to multitask a bit and listen to a conversation or music.

Or they could be hard of hearing. If your buyer persona is over the age of 40 or so, you should consider this a very real possibility. Beyond that, caption files are the kinds of files Google will crawl – so add them!

And while visuals are certainly vital, please be sure the sound is great. Yes, I just got through telling you how many people aren’t listening to your explainer video. And that’s still true. But at the same time, for the other half, who are listening, give them a good listening experience.

Seriously. People will be a lot more willing to forgive less than stellar visuals than poor sound quality.

#9. We Gotta Hand it to Ya

The next awesome tip is about reliably handing off sales to service. Sales Hacker notes there can be a documented, formal process to this. And a documented process makes a lot of sense. After all, it can be a part of onboarding new employees in either sales or service.

A formal process also gives your customers a sense of what to expect. A great tip is to conduct an introductory phone call.

“It’s been great working with you; now Lisa will be happy to handle your future service needs. Lisa, this is our customer, Steve.”

It sounds kind of like common courtesy, doesn’t it? The beauty of this kind of hand off is it’s an occasion to set expectations. In our example, Lisa can tell Steve the hours she works, or how long it normally takes to deliver replacement parts or whatever. Steve now knows what to expect. And Lisa doesn’t have to contend with Steve calling when she’s off work, or complaining about the speed of delivery of replacement parts.

Pretty neat, huh?

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! Jumpstart creativity today and watch your productivity soar!

#8. Sell With Superlative Skills

Our following life-changing tip concerns the best sales skills. Mail Shake lays it all out for us. For most of us, it’s pretty obvious that a sales person needs to have the gift of gab.

But there are a number of other talents which will juice your sales team’s success percentages.

Curiosity Didn’t Kill the Sale

So, what does curiosity have to do with sales? Quite a bit!

Consider the curious person who learns everything they can about their prospect. A prospect will be a lot happier if they feel like you know them well. Can you anticipate their need, and fill it? Or are you just generally selling in the same way to everyone?

Curiosity also matters in terms of finding better solutions.

No lie, curiosity and laziness drive many inventions. Of course you shouldn’t be lazy! But curiosity is vital.

#7. Don’t Spam, Plus More Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

For our next sensational tip, we looked at avoiding email marketing mistakes. Business Knowhow says that your mission is to stay out of prospects’ and customers’ spam folders. Heck, yeah.

Vagueness is Kinda Bad

Get to the point in your from lines. Don’t be overly cute. Name your business and don’t hide. It’s a pretty surefire way to get your emails binned if the reader has no idea who you are.

And to go along with that, make sure your calls to action are clear. Vague calls to action do nothing but confuse people. Should they click? Call? Download? Fill out a form? And, more importantly, what will they get if they perform the correct task? It’s great to jumpstart creativity in this area. Just make sure people know what you’re talking about.

Measure, For the Love of All Things Holy

We’ve beaten this drum before, and it bears repeating. If you don’t measure your efforts, then you have no idea if they’re working. And if you have no clue about success, then why do this or that (or anything, for that matter)?

Now is not the time to jumpstart creativity. Rather, you need to measure what most any company measures. These are verifiable, helpful metrics such as open rates.

Inconsistency Stinks!

Make it so your customers and prospects know what to expect, more or less. This is another area where you don’t want to jumpstart creativity.

Certainly, you need to be creative and interesting enough. But at the same time, it’s the ultimate WYSIWYG. It has to be. Your audience needs to know your messages won’t be NSFW, for example. And they need to know the message will be about widgets, and they’ll be conversational, etc. If you want to say something different (let’s say your business is supporting a charity and you want to get the word out), you’ll need to explain that early in the email. Don’t just spring it on your readers.

#6. Look Past American Borders for Marketing

This tip is so cool, and it works! Startup Professionals tells us all about global marketing challenges.

For purely online companies, it’s important to consider how marketing works in everywhere from the Philippines to Bangladesh to Chile to France to ….

The article provides some great tips and ideas for what you might not have thought of. For example, consider protecting intellectual property. There really isn’t a universal global copyright out there, so you’d need to apply everywhere. And that’s expensive! So consider protecting your intellectual property selectively.

After all, if you don’t have much of a market in New Zealand (if any), then applying for copyright protection there is going to be a waste of money, at least to start.

Talk the Talk

And one more thing – translate your website! Yes, lots of people speak English these days, and that’s terrific. But it’s easier for nearly anyone to read and write in their native tongue. And here’s a pro tip – get a person to do this. While it may be easier and faster (and possibly cheaper) to get this done via machine, don’t.

Just, don’t.

After all, consider the Spanish word, guagua. In Cuba and Puerto Rico, it means bus. But in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, it means bus.

Taking a guagua could have a rather different meaning, depending on where you are and what you mean, eh?

#5. Get a Jolt of Mental Caffeine and Jumpstart Creativity

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

Jumpstart creativity today!

Word Stream says a blank page is one of the most daunting things out there for a writer of any sort – and this spoke to us 100%. God, yes.

So, they had a bunch of awesome ideas on how to get something, anything on the page so it doesn’t look like such a void when you sit down to write.

But they didn’t include two things we do – use templates and listen to music in order to speed up typing and really jumpstart creativity. That’s okay; there are still a bunch of great concepts here.

Write a (Lousy) First Draft

This, oh boy howdy, this. This dovetails well with another tip, which is to free write and not self-edit. But what do they mean by a lousy (er, they used a far earthier adjective here. But this is a family show, so we’re going more PG) first draft?

It’s exactly like in fiction writing, truth be told.

Writing a lousy first draft means you don’t self-edit. You don’t worry about flow, grammar, etc. You just write. This means you’ll need to edit more later. But at least you’re getting started! And that’s a lot easier than going completely from scratch.

You can’t edit a blank piece of paper.

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! Jumpstart creativity today and watch your productivity soar!

#4. Strategize Your Strategy

Check out this spectacular tip, all about executing your strategy better. The Harvard Business Review notes that these tips can work for pretty much any situation. Hence you can use these for your industry and even in your personal life.

Seriously!

Be Specific and Imperative

Vagueness still stinks (see tip #7). A strategy to just get better isn’t much of a strategy. A strategy to get better by 5% in 2 months is a lot easier to work on. It’s easier to measure, too.

The idea of making strategies imperative also puts a lasso around a task. Hence you want to tell people to ‘improve sales’ versus ‘start improving sales’. The former has a specific focus, particularly if you pair it with numbers. But the latter just feels like a continuing process. And while many tasks go on and on, that much should be understood.

The imperative to improve sales by 5% has an end. It should be a no-brainer to see the strategy in the future might be something like ‘improve sales by 10%’.

It may feel the same, but it’s not. You’ve given people a goal to strive for. This way, they know when they’ve won.

#3. Get Your Product or Service Front and Center So Your Customers Fall in Love With It

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you better and more easily cultivate customer buy-in. Succeed As Your Own Boss tells us there are keys to cultivating repeat buyers.

Keep in mind, one of these tips is for products only (to use eye-catching packaging), but the others will work for either products or services.

Listen and Act

Being responsive to feedback will trigger what is essentially love and brand loyalty. But why? One reason is that the customer or prospect will see you care about what they think.

So here’s a fer-instance.

Let’s say your product is marketed to people aged 50 and up. If the print is too small, you’ll probably hear about that. So, what happens if you tell your customers and prospects to get lost and get a magnifying glass?

They’ll get lost. Permanently. And they will be more than happy to do business with a company which listens and changes the size of the font on the package as soon as possible. And if that’s not possible for the time being, that company should be telling its customer base – bigger print is coming, thank you for your patience.

So, listen to customer and prospect complaints. They just might jumpstart creativity to find a solution.

#2. Customer Service Will Save Your Business

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on customer service. G2 reveals all about how excellent customer service should be every business’s secret weapon.

How and why do customers renew and reup? Service can often have a lot to do with it.

Accentuate the Positive Messaging

We truly adored this tip. Consider the difference in tone between saying, “I can’t do that.” Versus “I can do that in two weeks.”

They might, on balance, mean the exact same thing. But the latter pre-frames everything positively and opens up the relationship with the customer. There’s something to look forward to. But the former feels like a door is slamming shut.

Not a good look.

#1. Be Good to Your Employees, and They’ll Be Good to You

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on rewarding and engaging employees. Effortless HR says **

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! Jumpstart creativity today and watch your productivity soar!

The post Jumpstart Creativity in Your Business –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

4 Fabulous Tips for Getting Small Business Loans

The Key to Getting Small Business Loans is to Be Smart and Prepared

It is inevitable in the life of any small business that the topic of small business loans is going to come up. No one loves debt, but funding is going to be necessary, and loans are the most common way to get that funding. For many business owners however, it can be overwhelming. Our 4 fabulous tips for how to getting small business loans may help.

Getting Small Business Loans By Going Shopping

Who doesn’t love a great deal? If you are shopping for clothing you have several options for where to go. Whether you hit the thrift store, a high-end boutique, or something in-between will depend on a number of factors. What type of clothing are you looking for? Where do you need to wear it? How long does it need to hold up? How much do you have to spend?

The same is true when shopping around for the best business loans. Where you go and what you get will depend on your particular business situation. You have to find the small business loans with the best rates and terms that you actually qualify for. When you start shopping, be sure to check out all of the following.

Large Banks

These typically offer the loans with the best rates and terms, but they are the hardest to qualify for. This is because large banks have very little wiggle room. They want to see strong financials, strong credit scores, and an established business.

Getting Small Business Loans at Community Banks

These are smaller, local institutions. Their terms and interest rates are usually competitive, and they are sometimes more willing to give a little on credit score if other mitigating factors exists.

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide.

Credit Unions

The first thing about credit unions is, you have to be a member to get a loan with them. However, they tend to have the best options for rates, if you are a member and meet the requirements.

Online Lenders

If you struggle with finding a small business loan due to credit score or time, online lenders may be your saving grace. They are fast, and though interest rates are typically higher, they are more flexible with credit scores as a general rule. Some of our top picks are included below.

● Fundbox

With Fundbox , you get an online lender that offers an automated process that is super-fast. Originally, they only had invoice financing, but now they offer a line of credit service as well. Repayments are automatic on a weekly basis, so be sure you have enough funds in your account to cover your payment each week.

Loan amounts come as low as $100 and as high as up to $100,000. There are no revenue or time in business requirements, but your accounting or invoice software must be compatible and must be in use for at least 3 months. There is also no specific credit score requirement. You simply have to be an established business with regular monthly revenue.

● OnDeck

Obtaining financing from OnDeck is quick and easy. First, you apply online. You will receive the decision once application processing is complete. If you get approval, your loan funds will go directly to your bank account. The minimum loan amount is $5,000 and the maximum is $500,000.

They do require a personal credit score of 500 or more, and you must be in business for at least one year. Annual revenue must be at or exceed $100,000. In addition, there can be no bankruptcy on file in the past 2 years and no unresolved liens or judgements.

● Kabbage

Kabbage is a well known competitor in the world of online lenders. They offer a small business line of credit that can help accomplish your business goals quickly. The minimum loan amount is $500 and the maximum is $250,000. They require at least one year in business and $50,000 or more in annual revenue, or $4,200 or more in monthly revenue, over the last 3 months.

They are great if you need cash quickly. Also, their non-traditional approach puts less weight on your credit score, so they may work better for borrowers struggling in that area.

Types of Small Business Loans

Remember you will also have choices when it comes to the type of small business loan you choose. As you are shopping around, consider that some lenders work with the Small Business Administration. If you qualify, an SBA program may be just what you need. Find out more about those programs here.

There will also be options for secured and unsecured loans. If you have collateral, a secured loan will usually have better rates and terms.

Nail the Business Plan for Getting Small Business Loans

Any traditional lender is going to need to see a business plan as part of the loan application process. Honestly, it is best to hire a professional business plan writer if possible. A professional business plan writer can work with you to gather all the necessary information and compile it into the traditional, acceptable format.

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide.

If you cannot hire a business plan writer however, there are a number of options that can help you. The Small Business Administration offers a template, and your local small business development center can help as well.

For a business plan to be taken seriously by a lender, it needs to include the following:

Opening

An Executive Summary– This is a complete summary of the business idea.

Description– The description goes into further detail than the summary, describing the business. What type of business is it? What product or service will it offer? This is where you work to get others excited about your business. Note that this is important even if your business is already operating, you just need to write in present, rather than future tense.

Strategies-Layout your plan for getting started. Do you have a marketing plan, area in mind for location, or idea of how many employees you will start with? What is your ramp up plan? Again, already operating businesses will state the current operating strategy.

Market Research

Market Analysis– This actually includes two parts. All that market research you did goes here:

o Analysis of audience: What need will or does your business fill, and for who? Are you a child care facility filling a need for affordable child care for working moms? Are you a diner offering a quick lunch option for those working downtown? How will your business fill the need? All of that information goes in this section.

o Competitive Analysis: Is there already a business working to fill this need? Is there room for more? How do you plan to compete with them?

If you are not a new business, this will be a market analysis that supports your need for funding, as well as how you plan to use the funds.

The Plan

Plan for Design and Development: How is all of this going to play out, from start to finish? What steps are you going to take? This is more detailed than your strategies section.

Plan for Operation and Management– Who will own or does own the business and who will run or currently runs it from day to day. This could be as simple as stating that you are the sole owner and operator, or as complicated as laying out a complete partnership plan or board or directors’ format. It just depends on how your business works.

Financials

Financial Information– This section includes current financials, projections, and a budget plan for the loan funds you are applying for. Lenders need to see that you know how to handle the funds you get, and that you have a plan for paying them back.

Hunt and Gather

When you apply for small business loans, there is certain information that is pretty much necessary regardless of the type of loan or lender. This information is required in addition to a business plan. For example, you will need:

Insurance documents
Business licenses
Personal income tax returns, usually for the previous 3 years
Other personal financial information not included on the tax returns.

Go ahead and hunt these down, put hands on them, and be prepared with copies to present to lenders if they ask for them. They almost certainly will.

It Takes Two Baby

Large, traditional lenders are going to expect a good personal credit score. This is true despite the fact that you may have business credit. Smaller lenders, and especially online lenders, may be more willing to give a little on the personal credit score if your business credit is solid. They may also be willing to take into consideration things such as annual revenue and length of time in business if credit isn’t as good as they normally like to see.

What this means for you, is that when you go to get small business loans, you need to be sure your personal credit and your business credit are both as strong as possible. It takes two.

What to Do If your Personal Credit isn’t So Great

If your personal credit score isn’t so hot, there are a few things you can do to beef it up. The first, of course, is to make your payments consistently only time. In addition, consider how much of your credit you are using versus what you have available to use. This is your debt-to-credit ratio, and it affects your credit score negatively if it is too high. You can lower it by opening new accounts, but that also lowers your average age of accounts, which will have a negative effect on your score as well. So, you will need to do some research to see if the benefit will outweigh the cost of opening a new account to decrease your debt-to-credit ratio.

It is also important to get a free copy of your personal credit report each year and look for mistakes. If you find something that should not be there, report it to the credit reporting agency in writing. You will need to send in supporting documents also, but be sure to send copies and not originals.

Learn business loan secrets with our free, sure-fire guide.

What about Business Credit?

Business credit can help you with getting small business loans if it is strong enough. Many lenders will still want to see your personal credit score, but if it isn’t quite up to par, solid business credit can make all the difference. Some non-traditional lenders will even accept business credit in lieu of personal credit.

How do you get business credit? You have to build it, intentionally. It doesn’t just happen on its own like personal credit does. If you do not intentionally establish and build separate business credit, then all of your business transactions are simply reported on your personal credit report.

You must establish your business as an entity separate from yourself and start from ground zero to build a business credit report. It takes a while, so if you haven’t done so yet, now is the time. The first step is to visit irs.gov and formally incorporate your business. You will also need an EIN, which is like an SSN but for your business. This can be done for free on the IRS website as well. Find out more about how to establish and build business credit here.

Getting Small Business Loans: Be Smart and Be Prepared

The key to finding small business loans is to be smart and be prepared. Don’t just take the first offer you find. Look around and find the best rates and terms possible. Check out different types of lenders and various loan options. Then, get your business plan and other information together so that the process runs as smoothly as possible.

Remember than some lenders and loan programs may have additional requirements. This list of how to get small business loans doesn’t include all the various hoops some lenders may have you jump through. It will, however, give you a great start to finding the funding you need to help your business grow.

The post 4 Fabulous Tips for Getting Small Business Loans 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

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!

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.

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

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?

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.

The post Manage Military Marketing and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

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

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.

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.

#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.

Organization

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.

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!

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.

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

Start Sparking Business Innovation –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Start Sparking Business Innovation 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! You can start sparking business innovation right now.

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. Text Your Way to Marketing Success

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about SMS Marketing. Opt In Monster says getting permission is vital, and so is providing clear instructions for how customers can opt out. This totally works for us. After all, if you can’t easily get rid of texts, they’re going to end up costing you in messaging and/or data.

Plus if you do any business at all in Europe, GDPR may very well require that you do both.

If nothing else, it’s good practice, particularly for avoiding annoying your customers and prospects.

Those are the last people you want to frustrate and annoy.

Do U Hate Slang? So Do I N U Shudnt Do It in SMS Mktg

Oh God, my writer/editor brain can’t take it.

Please don’t do this to your customers and prospects, not even if they’re teens and tweens. For the younger set, you’ll probably look truly inauthentic. For the older (ahem) among us, you’ll look unprofessional.

And so much slang and abbreviating can easily backfire as abbreviations and language evolve over time. You definitely don’t want to look and sound like yesterday’s news.

#9. New Brand, Who Dis?

The next awesome tip is about doing rebranding right. Word Stream notes you’ll even have to change and fix your online advertising campaigns. After all, let’s say Exxon changed its name from Esso this week, rather than in 1972.

They would need to update any ads. After all, it would be kind of embarrassing to have a great advertisement out there which touted the products sold by the old brand.

The article is great – so we suggest reading it in its entirety – and it gives detailed advice on how to fix things.

But then there’s another thing, not in the article.

Records Are Made to be Broken – and Updated

We talk about it all the time here. Congruency.

Your business name needs to be the same everywhere. Yelp, your business licenses, your phone listings, your IRS records – you name it.

Why?

Because lenders are going to hunt for your information online. And if they can’t find something, they’ll assume it doesn’t exist – and are far, far more likely to deny your loan application. And they’re not going to stop to consider the myriad ways your business could be listed online.

So change things in all of those places, too.

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! From sparking business innovation to customer retention, this post has it all.

#8. Hello? Is There Anybody Out There? Just Nod If You Can Hear Me

Our following life-changing tip concerns increasing online survey response rates. G² lays it all out for us. We all know that responses to online surveys could be better. Even if yours are bona fide amazing, it never hurts to try to improve things.

So, how do you do that?

Skip Logic is Not Some Guy’s Stage Name (Although Maybe It Should Be)

Our absolute fave tip was using what’s called ‘skip logic’ (no, that’s not some guy’s name).

Skip logic is when an online survey can skip certain questions based upon previous answers.

For example, let’s say your survey is about people’s pets. Maybe you sell pet food or toys or the like. Probably one of your first questions, after demographics, will be which type of animal people have.

Hence, based on learning that a person has a goldfish, you wouldn’t ask them about leashes and walks, because you can’t take a goldfish for a walk. This is a truly terrific concept, because it reduces frustration immediately. How many times have you had to type ‘not applicable’ in the middle of a survey? And how many times have you just abandoned one because it didn’t appeal to you?

With skip logic, those frustrations should diminish if not downright go away entirely.

Branches Aren’t Just For Trees Anymore

A similar technique is branching, and it’s something many of us have seen in websites. That is, if you get a question with two or more answers and then if you click on one or the other, you get a different experience. There’s a similar vibe going on with branching for surveys.

The beauty of branching is you can lead your survey respondents down a progressive set of questions.

So let’s go back to our pets survey example for a moment. If the respondent says they have a dog, then the next logical question might be about the dog’s age or breed or level of training. If they say they have a cat, then questions could be about age or breed or whether this is an indoor or an outdoor cat.

For a big dog, the survey might go onto questions about how much of a chewer the dog is, or whether the dog is left outside for long time periods. For a smaller dog, the next set of questions might ask about how cold the dog gets at various temperatures (Italian greyhounds, for example, are really skinny and get cold a lot faster than Boston terriers generally do).

For an indoor cat, the next set of questions might be about how much scratching the cat does. Maybe for an outdoor cat, the next questions could be about if there are wild animals in the area that might steal cat food left out (raccoons do this a lot).

Either way, your survey respondent is bound to feel you’re asking about what matters the most to them.

#7. We’re Just Trying to Keep Our Customers Satisfied

For our next sensational tip, we looked at customer retention. Small Business Bonfire says that retaining customers is vital for a number of reasons, not the least of which that it costs a lot less than drumming up new business.

Consider this – your current customers already know and trust you. And you already know they love and need your product and service, and they see the need for it. So why wouldn’t you want to make and keep them happy?

Our favorite tip was about responsiveness. Seriously. When a customer has a question for you, do you respond as soon as possible? And if you don’t know the answer, do you at least say you’re working on it? Yes, even with difficult customers.

Neglected customers won’t be your customers for very long.

#6. Put Your Blog to Work

This tip is so cool, and it works! Freelancers Union tells us all about turning your blog into a lead generator. Now, keep in mind, the article is written from the perspective of a freelancer. But the same principles still apply.

There’s great information on both SEO and user experience. We suggest you read the whole thing to get the full experience, as it were.

But the point to highlight is all about the essential pages. They make sense – your home and about pages are vital! Plus your services page, otherwise no one has any idea of what you do and offer. Similar idea for any business, even if your ‘services page’ is several pages, and it’s for sales of goods rather than services.

Make it painfully clear what you do, what it costs, and what it includes. Don’t make prospects hunt for this information. They’ll just go to a competitor who doesn’t make them jump through those sorts of hoops.

Ouch.

#5. Today is the Day to Start Sparking Business Innovation

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

And by hot, we mean you’ve got the tinder and the match – it’s time to start sparking business innovation in your company.

Small Biz Trends says when it comes to sparking business innovation and getting your employees to start creating, it all depends on the stage the business is in.

For Startups, it’s All About the Benjamins

Not surprisingly, startups need cash. Yesterday. And so this tip focuses on getting the funds to light that creativity fire and start sparking business innovation.

Their two ideas where crowdfunding and government funding, like from the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). We particularly love the idea of crowdfunding. If Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and other similar campaigns reward anything, it’s usually creativity.

So toss some of your startup’s ideas against GoFundMe’s wall, and see if they stick.

During the Growth Stage, Structure Matters

For companies which are past the startup stage, money is less of an urgent need. Hence for them, the way to be creative is to bake it into the company’s culture and structure. This will help not only now, but for years to come.

Knock wood – your business is around for a super-long time – you’ll need some long-term plans. It can be harder to get unstuck if your company is entrenched and set in its ways. Better to make those set ways into something that pushes creativity.

How? One idea is to empower employees with decision-making capabilities. And another is to reward innovation, maybe through perks or recognition plaques or whatever strikes your fancy.

Engineers get patents. Music makers get gold records. Writers get published works. What do your employees get when they’re creative?

Established Businesses Open Up Labs and Undergo Digital Transformations

Uh, what?

One tip which made a lot of sense was to create what are essentially creativity incubators within a company. These are places (not necessarily physical) where employees are free to express their ideas.

The other bit is actually kind of basic – change your physical assets to digital ones.

True story. Long before joining Credit Suite, your intrepid blog writer audited law firms for a major insurance company. Now, a part of this was to check for billing discrepancies. But another angle was to suggest innovation. And one firm had – no lie – about an entire office floor dedicated to file storage space. This was the late 1990s. Scanners already existed as a thing.

And the head of this firm complained about all of the rent it was costing him to keep all of the documentation that we required. To which I countered – why not buy a scanner or two and have clerical staff scan most of the documents and then shred the physical? You could have a college student do this, or a summer intern.

Oh no, we need to be able to make copies.

Well, but with digital, you can make infinite copies, and it doesn’t cost you a dime.

They had no idea.

But these days, we all know better. And one of the beauties of digital, beyond saving physical space, is it makes it far easier to change, manipulate, add to, and subtract from, your assets.

Talk about sparking business innovation.

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! From sparking business innovation to customer retention, this post has it all.

#4. Keep an Eye on Your Cash and Manage it Right

Check out this spectacular tip, all about managing your business finances. Succeed As Your Own Boss notes that the first sensible thing to do is no great shocker – hire an accountant. But we loved some other grand ideas.

Consider the idea of opening a profit account. What’s a profit account? The idea is to skim off some of the payments to your business (say, 1 – 10%) for you. This isn’t an emergency account for the business (which is another excellent idea). It’s to make sure you, the big cheese, are actually getting paid.

And put it in an account that’s hard for you to tap into. Let it be a happy financial surprise, rather than a well you’re constantly dipping into.

#3. Productivity – To The Max!

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you maximize employee productivity. Young Upstarts tells us there are great ways to up your employees’ productivity.

The first tip we really loved was about minimizing distractions. As a writer in particular, this speaks directly to me. Cutting cell phone use is helpful. But it’s also helpful to create what are almost office hours. Giving clear signals about when you’re available for meetings and impromptu discussions – and when you aren’t – can set reasonable expectations. And people will stop bugging you when you’re on a tight deadline.

And that just might start sparking business innovation, too!

Our other fave tip was to offer some incentives. These don’t have to be too costly, either. Consider what we did here at Credit Suite – we had a department video competition. The winners got movie tickets. And, ahem, Marketing won.

Then again, it’s easy (well, easier) when you’ve got so many talented folks who can create pretty graphics, smooth out any sound issues, and write a decent script. So we kinda had a few ringers in our department.

So far, we don’t know if Sales has vowed revenge….

#2. Keep Your Edge

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on staying competitive. Under 30 CEO reveals all about maintaining your competitive edge.

Turns out it’s a group effort (who knew?).

The best tip (according to us) was the one about maintaining a network of people who will be honest with you and challenge you. That makes a great deal of sense.

Consider this. Let’s say you’re new to the business world. You have a great idea, people support it, and maybe you’re the recipient of enough crowdfunding cash or venture capital money infusions or angel investments.

But you have no idea how to do your books.

Would you wing it, or hire an expert?

Of course, you might not be able to afford an expert. But you’re flush with cash. So add it as a budget line item and hire one. Unless, of course, you think audits and possible lawsuits cost less.

Pro tip: they don’t.

So why should you hesitate in any other area where you aren’t quite sure of how to handle things?

Being the CEO doesn’t mean you also have to be the Lone Ranger.

#1. It’s All About the Search

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on upping your ecommerce SEO results. Fundera says you can improve your SEO in all aspects of ecommerce.

First off, for SEO in this area, as in every other, research is your first step! Consider every single way your product (or service, for that matter) can be described. Let’s say you’re a long haul trucker. The term ‘long distance trucker’ is the same thing, yes? So when you are putting together your website, you’re going to want to use both phrases throughout your content.

But do your research, and determine which is more popular. Of course, you want to concentrate on that one!

The idea of using keywords in the product pages and their URLs was terrific! Again, this is an article which is best appreciated in its entirety.

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! From sparking business innovation to customer retention, this post has it all.

The post Start Sparking Business Innovation –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Crush Your Overwhelming Business Workload and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Smash an Overwhelming Business Workload 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 overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

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!

We’re back after a few weeks out and ready to dig into some amazing business tips… Ready?

#10. Ladies – Make the Halo Connection

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about how women can find angel investors. Succeed as Your Own Boss says there are a lot of options for female founders/entrepreneurs. You just need to know where to look.

We were particularly interested in this one because we’ve looked into whether women entrepreneurs can change a sexist system, when 98% of VC funding goes to men.

Hit the Gas With an Accelerator

We were impressed at the depth of information available in this article, when it came to startup accelerators. Do they work? They can – and the article lays out exactly how to find a good one.

So we highly recommend reading the entire article.

More ideas included crowdfunding and finding grants. These kind of are angel investors and kind of aren’t. So essentially this bypasses the issue, replacing it with a different method. Certainly, this is a method that can work.

One tip at the end was a tad off-topic, we felt, but still helpful. That is, to certify as a female-owned business for corporate and government contracts. With limited competition, the idea is you could simply earn the funding you’d want from angel investors. It’s certainly worth a shot, if your company could get these kinds of contracts.

#9. Social Media + Google = How to Rank Better Through Social

The next awesome tip is about how social media can help your content rank better on Google. The Self-Employed notes there are great ways that social can help. Note: we found the best copy of the infographic here.

One quick caveat – this infographic needs to be updated! It still refers to Google+, which is no more. But apart from that, the information is sound.

Your best (or at least better) positioning on SERP (the search engine results page) can, in part, depend on your network. And what better way to develop a network than on social? Americans are more loyal to brands they follow on social media.

So if you’ve been hesitating before jumping into Twitter and Facebook (at minimum), now’s the time to leap.

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! Even your overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

#8. Satisfy Your Link-Building Ambitions

Our following life-changing tip concerns how to build links. Under 30 CEO lays it all out for us. This strategy is still alive and well in 2019!

So, how do you do it?

Start with pulling down the low-hanging fruit. As in, is your business on major directories? That’s places like Google My Business or Yahoo. You want to be found, eh?

So, by the way, if your business fits well with Yelp, then you had better be there. Because they may very well already have a listing for you. And if you haven’t been contributing to it, then you have no guarantees that anything on the listing is at all favorable to your business.

And our fave – create great content! Hey, we kinda like doing that. Quality over quantity counts.

What a concept.

#7. We’re Working So Hard, Even Our Intelligence is Competitive

For our next sensational tip, we looked at some great competitive intelligence tools. SEM Rush says that one of the keys to success is to understand how your competition is doing. This makes a great deal of sense.

Let them make the mistakes, and suffer the consequences. You’ll be too busy reaping the rewards of their successes.

At least, that’s the theory.

Specific Intelligence

There are a ton of ways to measure how a company is doing. This long, comprehensive list was a lot easier to tackle because it was split up intelligently.

It’s more than the general competitive landscape or market trends or following any news stories about the competition. Although those are also on the list.

Did you know you can check how shoppers are doing on a competitor’s website, to see where in the sales funnel they are? Or you can check out how a website was put together, and know when it was changed? You can look up digital, video, or email marketing strategies.

And you can follow price changes, too. Or look up how a competitor’s apps are doing.

The most interesting (er, invasive) bit of information involved how much a company is paying for cloud infrastructure. Pretty wild.

#6. E-Commerce UX Best Practices to Kick Your Sales into High Gear

This tip is so smart, and it works! Opt In Monster tells us that user experience can really make or break online sales.

How many times have you gone to a website to do something or other and been stymied by lousy web design? Slow websites, confusing layouts, and parts which don’t work are all reasons why customers get frustrated. Frustrated customers abandon their shopping carts.

These are things you can fix!

So what are you waiting for?

#5. Tackle Your Overwhelming Business Workload the Smart Way

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

If you’ve got an overwhelming business workload, then this one’s for you.

Startup Professionals (quoting the fantastic Martin Zwilling) says organization is your best friend.

The truth is, these are fabulous tips for any sort of overwhelming to-do list. That can be your chores, or even planning a wedding.

Kill the Phantoms in Your Overwhelming Business Workload

We really loved this tip. The idea is, essentially, do you have stuff sitting on your to-do list (or in a to-do pile) which you’re just plain avoiding? We all know about those.

It’s the client you can’t stand – but they pay on time and give you a lot of business, so you’re stuck. Or it may be the project which you’re not 100% certain needs to happen. So you’re pushing back. Yeah, that’s kinda passive-aggressive.

It all boils down to one thing. You’re probably never going to do these things unless things change rather dramatically. They are contributing to an overwhelming business workload, potentially forever. Ugh.

Or Maybe You Can Rehab the Phantoms

For the client you don’t like, can you delegate some of the responsibility to someone else? Of course you can’t do this every single time (at least, you probably can’t). But you may be able to hand over some of the more basic work to another. Do you have to be the person who makes appointments with this person?

You might not have to be. And you can also try differing forms of communication. Email is good because you can communicate at any time of the day or night. Phone calls are good because you can get an idea of tone. In-person meetings are good because they’re a better way to understand the nuances of what someone is saying.

For the project where you’re not sure if it needs to happen, why not talk to the project’s manager? If the project’s own advocate can’t clearly articulate why the project needs to happen, then maybe it doesn’t. Maybe your instincts are right.

The Triple Tip – Write Tasks Down, Cross Them Off When Done, and Reprioritize Constantly

These three tips go together. Personally, your intrepid blog writer can’t get through most days without a to-do list. Welcome to your fifties, the decade of, “Why did I come in this room, again?”

But in all seriousness, lists help. When your brain isn’t juggling your to-do list on top of everything else, then you’re freed to, you know, actually work on tackling the times on it.

Crossing off the done items from a to-do list is satisfying! And it also serves as a visual reminder of how much you’ve already accomplished. Because let’s face it, sometimes the only pat on the back we’re going to get during any given day will be self-administered.

And reprioritizing should be a no-brainer. Sometimes that task which seemed oh so urgent last night isn’t as on fire in the light of day. Or the reverse is true. The main thing is to not be married to the order.

Personal Pro Tip

When it comes to prioritizing, two things which help a lot, I’ve found, are to locate whatever you can delegate and whatever you can do fast. Sometimes those are the same thing. Either way, the faster you delegate, the more time the other person has to work on the task you’ve delegated to them. As for the fast stuff, reward yourself with one (only one!) of those tasks to start.

You’ll be happy to see a task is already crossed off. But then, yeah, you’d better start on something substantial, particularly if it’s a priority. There’s a different degree of satisfaction from getting through something big. And, you’ll be handling the hardest stuff when you’re less tired.

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! Even your overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

#4. Life Preservers for Failing Teams

Check out this spectacular tip, all about how managers can rescue failing teams. Proof Hub notes that a lot of team failures come from the top down, although not all of them. There can be problematic people in a group – what sports people call a ‘locker room cancer’. Or there can even be an all-out conflict between team members.

But teams can also do poorly if they feel underappreciated, or if they feel there’s no way for them to professionally develop. Another problem is teams which just plain don’t have the right training, or enough training.

We were particularly happy that two of the tips were to build rapport and to ask the team what they think is happening. After all, they’ve been there.

Managerial Styles

Essentially, this the persuader method in action. The manager is asking for input, and is listening. And they can be persuaded to act one way or another.

Personal tip from me – as a manager, I look at my experiences as an employee for guidance. The better managers communicated more, and were a lot more likely to say please and thank you. That was even for the smallest of favors. It was even just on the heels of a previous please and thank you.

As a result, I don’t let a meeting go by without telling the people who work with me that I appreciate them. Because I know what it’s like to not be appreciated, and I don’t want the people who work with me to ever feel that way, if I have anything to say about it.

#3. Hack Your Way to Better Productivity

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can make you more productive. Young Upstarts tells us there are some helpful, and often inexpensive hacks to tackling your overwhelming business workload and becoming more productive.

Our favorite tip was to delegate. Oh God, yes!

You don’t have to do everything. Seriously.

#2. Keep Your Client Relationships Close

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on avoiding losing your largest accounts. Sales Hacker reveals all about maintaining and nurturing client relationships.

The reality is, you should be doing this with all of your clients. But we all know there are just so many hours in a day. So, you need to prioritize your bigger clients. Otherwise, you’d end up with even more of an overwhelming business workload.

The gist of the article is to make listening a big part of your relations with your biggest clients. Ask them – what can I do differently? And then, you know, actually listen to what they say. Be empathetic. Again, listen.

After all, if your biggest clients don’t think you care about their problems, then they’ll find someone who does.

Ouch.

#1. The Holidays Are Coming – Ready or Not (We Prefer Ready)

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on getting ready for the holidays. Yes, that! They’ll be here before you think. Kabbage says there are ways to get organized in anticipation of what is often the busiest time of the year for online retail sales.

We particularly liked the idea of taking the time now to fix issues on your website. It’s a good time to attack any issues such as slow loading times.

We also liked the first order of business, which is to get input from the employees. After all, they’re at the front lines.

One thing to add from us – now’s a really, really good time to get a handle on what everyone in your organization does. Get procedures in writing. Cross-train more employees so if that one vital person decides they want to take December off (there are people with that much accumulated vacation time), your business won’t fall apart.

The list even goes into decorating, assuming you have a brick and mortar establishment as well.

But from me – for the love of all things holiday – please don’t put up Xmas lights this week.

It’s still September.

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! Even your overwhelming business workload doesn’t stand a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuM4Kolf26g

The post Crush Your Overwhelming Business Workload and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.

Try Some Warmer Cold Calling and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week

The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Try Some Warmer Cold Calling 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! Summer’s about over – it’s time for warmer cold calling!

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. Upsell Like a Champ

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about upselling. Small Biz Trends says there are some techniques out there which are more effective than not. It’s a bit like warmer cold calling.

25 Percenters

So, here’s an interesting one. Did you know that an offered upsell shouldn’t add more than 25% onto the initial price? But why?

Because otherwise it can feel overwhelming to the customer. This one is truly brilliant. And you see it in practice all the time.

“You want fries with that?”

“For an extra $2, we’ll throw in a pack of pens with your notebook purchase.”

“If you get the sport package, you get a spoiler and a sunroof.”

“Add a salad and we’ll call it a dinner. Then you can get free dessert!”

“Now that you got a new pair of running shoes, wouldn’t you love a new pair of running shorts?”

“Ever notice how when you paint a room, a lot of other things look dull? Buy six gallons of our matte finish latex paint and we’ll throw in a new picture frame.”

You get the idea. It doesn’t work if you offer a second Big Mac (usually). And if you’re already getting an entrée, you probably don’t want a second. But you might be tempted to have a salad. In fact, having a salad translate into a free dessert also takes advantage of people wanting to be virtuous by eating a salad – and then decadent by capping their meal with a hot fudge sundae.

Unbundling

By the way, unbundling can feel weird! Your intrepid blog writer owns a pretty basic car but it’s got a sun roof. And it was quite the chore to get the extra – it had to be specially added. Because sun roofs tend to go with sporty packages, not basic sedans.

Still, I got my sun roof. It was a lot like warmer cold calling in that I was already there and buying. The dealer just had to make sure I was 100% happy so I wouldn’t run off to a dealer down the street.

So try this rule of 25% the next time you’re putting together upselling ideas. And can I have some of your fries?

#9. Scratch ‘Create an Email List’ Off Your To-Do List in an Hour

The next awesome tip is about creating an email list from scratch – fast. Sumo notes it’s easy to get email lists wrong. No argument here.

Now, keep in mind, the article isn’t much more than a long ad for Sumo. But Sumo is free, so we’re okay with that. And it does make one point which we would like to showcase.

Not all of your contacts are alike.

As a result of this insight – which we will be the first to admit isn’t much of an insight – you should be segmenting your email list. We tend to do this intuitively, and we don’t even know we’re doing it.

As in, if your grandmother is in your address book, you probably won’t invite her to go out clubbing with you (or maybe you will…). But your pals from college? You’re a lot more likely to invite them. And you’ll even go more granular. Your quiet roommate might not make the invitation list, but your clubbing partner from back in the day is more likely to.

So the moral of the story is – don’t treat your customers and prospects as one big monolith.

Gee, where have we heard that before?

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! Leave the sales freezer behind with warmer cold calling and more.

#8. A Lot Better Than Vacation Slides

Our following life-changing tip concerns using Facebook slideshow ads to their fullest potential. Wordstream lays it all out for us.

You’ve probably seen these. In fact, you may not have seen these on Facebook (or been aware that they were what you were seeing). Slideshows.

For example, have you ever been on a site for a clothing retailer and been served both the front and back versions of an outfit? Not separate images – more that the front images change to the back on occasion, and then back again. That’s a slideshow.

For Facebook, one great idea is to showcase variety. If you’re a residential real estate agent, why not show one-family and two-family houses? Or big apartments and studios? Or both the east and west sides of town?

We highly recommend reading the entire article. Yes, it’s that helpful. It’s as good as warmer cold calling – and may even be better.

#7. Great Business Leaders – Are They Born or Made?

For our next sensational tip, we looked at what a new business leader should really be like. Startup Professionals notes a charismatic, innovative leader has certain characteristics.

They looked at people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but also Elon Musk. And the one characteristic we preferred was doing good works. But our second chance characteristic was lifelong learning.

Hey, you don’t need to be a big time innovator to do either, or both.

#6. Being a Great Boss – An Argument for Nurture Versus Nature

This tip is so cool, and it works! Work It Daily tells us all about developing leadership skills. They note there are some great methods for learning leadership skills. Perhaps our two favorites were all about enthusiasm and knowing yourself.

True Story

Over 20 years ago, your intrepid blog writer worked in the insurance industry. Often, these jobs were dull and repetitious. And that attitude came straight from the top. When management acted uninterested in being there, so did everyone else. Talk about your downers!

Then in 2004, I worked for Dictaphone, in voice recognition (this late lamented company no longer exists). And there things were waaaaaay different. The boss was not just friendly and approachable. She loved her job. And everyone under her caught her fever. We loved working there, and we loved working for her. It all came from her enthusiastic, whole-hearted embrace of our projects.

Want to build voice recognition for lawyers? Awesome! For police officers? Let’s help them catch some criminals. For firefighters? Cool, let’s make their lives easier so they can go back to saving people. For doctors? Terrific – let’s make this chore simple so they can cure cancer and hangnails.

And it goes on.

Want to be a good leader? Then be excited about what you and your team do. And if you aren’t, then maybe you should be considering a new line of work.

#5. Get Out of the Sales Ice Box With Warmer Cold Calling

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

Warmer cold calling is where it’s at. LinkedIn says there are a number of things you can do which aren’t cold calling!

We loved these. Now, keep in mind, we are research fans here, so the first tip was a great one. And it’s LinkedIn! Egad, if you’re going to find out stuff about a prospect, then the prospect’s company website (and maybe blog) plus LinkedIn are THE places to go.

The Times, They Are A-Changin’

So here’s a question. When was the last time you saw someone selling door to door? Not people talking religion – real-live salespeople. For your intrepid blog writer, it was maybe eight to ten years ago, possibly more.

I was sitting on the front porch steps, eating ice cream. And this guy was walking past and he said something from the sidewalk. Now, keep in mind, this is a secondary access road, so there’s traffic on it, and it can be loud.

My “What?” was, to him, an invitation to walk up my front walk and try to hand me literature on buying a satellite dish. And here I was thinking he wanted to know how to get to the Thai place on the corner.

So he hands me papers. I had them back. He hands them to me again. And I give them back again. We do this little dance a couple of times. The big recycling bin is nearby, so the next time I get the papers, I toss them in there.

Oh, I got an earful then. Well, guess what, dude? You weren’t welcome. You slid in under false pretenses. And you didn’t listen to me, not one bit.

What the heck did you honestly expect was going to happen?

C’mon Already!

Don’t be that guy. Do your research and know your prospects. Because if this guy had, he would’ve known that my house is over 100 years old and there is no way I am ever putting a dish anywhere near it.

Please don’t write to us about the merits of satellite dishes. Thank you in advance.

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! Leave the sales freezer behind with warmer cold calling and more.

#4. Time is Running Out to Write Scarcity Emails!

Check out this spectacular tip, all about scarcity marketing techniques to boost email conversions. Sleek Note informs us that you can tap into customer fear of missing out in any number of ingenious ways. Talk about creating what is essentially a form of warmer cold calling!

There’s More Than Way to be Scarce

So the first thing we noticed was there’s more than one way to convey scarcity. Sometimes it’s the scarcity of the product. You know the drill – they tell you they’re about to sell out of something or other. But did you know that adding a number makes the claim more believable?

But there’s another way to show scarcity – it’s a scarcity of time. “Time is running out!” “You’ve got just two hours left to get …”

Yet another way is via exclusivity. This also appeals to customer desires to be and feel special. And they feel they can be seen as special by others. Social currency is absolutely a thing – and for many people, it feels scarce. A lot of folks will do just about anything to have more of it.

NOW.

#3. You Oughta Be in Pictures

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you grow your YouTube channel. Noobpreneur tells us going with a niche is a great strategy. We agree!

Consider this. Do you listen to the radio? It can be in the car or at home or via satellite. Doesn’t matter. But what does matter is the radio doesn’t play just anything. You’re highly unlikely to hear gangsta rap right after a classical piece. And that’s true even if you, personally, like both pieces of music.

This is because the radio is segmented, big time. And maybe a little too much these days. You can get more than one version of 80s music, for example.

So consider such a strategy for YouTube, and don’t try to be all things to all people. Not even Casey Kasem was.

#2. Tapping into Influence

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on how influencers can promote their platforms. Young Upstarts reveals all about it.

The biggest insight we got was to adapt messaging depending on which platform you’re on. And that works for us. In particular, it matters in terms of platforms you’re trying to break into.

If you’re awesome on Facebook, guess what? You need a whole new approach for Snapchat.

Another great idea was to provide something in return for following. Truth is, we do that here.

That’s kinda what this blog is all about, folks.

#1. Dear Sir or Madam: Please Buy Ad Space On My Blog kthxbai

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on getting companies to buy advertising space on your blog. The Work At Home Woman says you, too, can grab this blogging Holy Grail.

One thing the article goes into is working directly with an advertiser versus an ad network. To our eyes, it looks like an ad network is a great way to get started. The network will do the legwork in terms of finding advertisers. But be aware – for most of the ones mentioned, you need 25,000 or more clicks per month on your blog.

Yeah. About that.

Affiliate Marketing

So there’s another way to monetize things, and it doesn’t hinge on clicks. It’s affiliate marketing. That’s where bloggers add (for example) a link to Amazon for selling a book. The link is particular to the blogger so, if you click through and buy the book, the blogger will get a cut of the proceeds. Because you’re there voluntarily, it’s better than warmer cold calling – you’re actually a hot prospect!

But…

Just like for ads, though, recognize one thing. If your blog isn’t uber-popular, you’re not going to make a lot of money. The number of people who do isn’t very large. Still, you can make some mad money with ads and affiliate marketing. After all, there are some ad networks which aren’t looking for such huge blogs with so much traffic (although shop around and do your homework, to make sure the ad network is reputable and will pay you).

Just don’t quit your day job.

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! Leave the sales freezer behind with warmer cold calling and more.

The post Try Some Warmer Cold Calling and More –10 Brilliant Business Tips of the Week appeared first on Credit Suite.