Author: Scott Asai

Helping people develop their leadership skills to advance in their career

How To Connect With Your Customers On A Personal Level

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Connecting with your customers is essential because it can impact just how successful your company has the ability to be if it puts in the extra effort. Each and every customer that you have as a business is valuable, and the more you make into regular and loyal customers, the better. Here are some tips to connect with your customers on a personal level.

Learn More About Them

There’s so much to learn about your customers, but a lot of businesses don’t put in enough time and effort to do the background research. Think about what might be limiting your ability to know more and start looking at analytics of your content and your social media platforms to discover who your audience are and what they’re interested in. Being able to figure out who they are and what they like will help you to create more content, products, and services that directly benefit your target audience, and that ultimately will want to buy it. There is already likely a lot of data that is going un-touched or unseen by yourself as a business, so start paying attention where it’s needed. Ebecs and other software to help collate data is essential.

Focus On What They Enjoy In Terms Of Content

Content can be a very powerful thing for businesses if they get it right. When it comes to your customers, they are the ones that are directly engaging in it, and it’s important that they enjoy the content that you’re churning out and if not, then it’s likely going to stop your business from progressing any further than it is so far. Try to tailor your content more to suit your audience’s needs and wants. You should be able to see from previous engagement, what your customers like to see more of and what probably didn’t appeal to their interests.

Don’t Use A One Size Fits All

A one size fits all approach isn’t going to buy you a better relationship with every customer. Each customer, although similar in the target audience your business receives, is going to have a whole host of differences to another customer. You should be thinking about how you can appeal to each person and make it a more versatile approach. That means treating each engagement and interaction with your customer as something that’s unique, and that’s tailored to suit them. Consider what products they’ve purchased and tailor the emails they receive to suit what they like to buy.

Keep It Personal, Not About The Transaction

Seeing your customers as transactions is going to kill any hopes of having a good relationship with your customers. Keep it personal, from personalized names on email newsletters to addressing them by first name or account on social media. These simple changes that you make in approaching them is going to certainly help.

Connecting with your customers is going to take effort on your side, so use these tips to help you connect with those customers on a more personal level.

Manufacturing Your Own Products: Yay or Nay?

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When you’re going to be manufacturing products, it requires you to have an understanding of the design, materials, and budget; it’s a massive undertaking for any business and something to think about carefully. These are some of the things you need to know before starting up your own factory. 

Market research

Before doing anything else, be sure to conduct thorough market research. This is so important, the last thing you want is to be producing products that no one wants. Look at the competitors you have in your industry and work out how your product provides additional value to your customers. Always build and test a prototype before sending any product into mass production; you need to know that you’re 100% happy with how it’s going to turn out. 

The logistics

Think about whether manufacturing your own products will be a possibility, it will mainly depend on what you want to make and what your budget is. If for example you want to make very complex items which require a lot of technology and specialist materials, it could be worth outsourcing to a company since they will already have everything they need in place, from wire forming equipment to injection moulding, high powered machines and much more. If your business makes products that are easier to manufacture such as clothes or other textiles creating products yourself could be in reach, you’d need to just invest in some commercial sewing machines.  

Costs

Creating a factory to produce products isn’t just about the equipment and machinery; there are so many other things to think about, and all of these costs can add up in a big way. You will need to consider the premises (usually factories need large premises which cost more money, not to mention warehousing space for raw materials and the end product to be stored. You’ll need to think about hiring staff; these people need to be trained and experienced in the types of machines you want to run. Then there’s transportation, maintenance and repairs and more. You’ll need to find companies you can make regular purchases of materials and raw goods from, make sure you work out exactly how much you will need to spend to get started to see if it’s doable.

Health and Safety

There are risks involved in any workplace, but when it comes to manufacturing, there are even more health and safety considerations to bear in mind. Just look at the statistics, over the past 5 years, each year an average of 22 workers died in workplace accidents in the manufacturing industry. There were over three thousands reports of major injuries and over four thousand reports of injuries that kept workers away from work for seven days or more too, so even if you’re careful, things can still go wrong. Power tools, machines, vehicles, high heat, and chemicals all might be used, which makes for a more dangerous workplace. Make sure you have the correct insurances, and that staff is adequately trained. Follow health and safety rules to the letter to avoid mistakes being made that could harm employees and put you at risk of lawsuits.

The Fundamental Principles Of Careful Business Storage

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As a business with tangible assets that need taking care of, carefully storing inventory can be an important part of your weekly task management. As such, it’s best to both store these materials carefully and protect them year-round, to ensure that your fundamental investment always holds the same value on your books. 

In some cases, storage can matter more than simply holding an item of value within your building. For instance, the constituent parts of a new prototype designed product may need to be carefully hidden in order to keep your announcement fresh and to prevent the competition from spying on you, or iterating on the design before you can.

This means adhering to the fundamental principles of careful business storage. Not only this, it means training your staff in their correct execution, and also ensuring that any storage environment is more than cut out for items you hope to keep track of. This is not an advisory task, but rather something vital to the careful productive planning of your enterprise. With that, we’d love to advise you in the best possible sense:

Security

Secure storage is an important aspect of caring for your goods and ensuring they’re well protected from the moment they enter your facility to the moment they leave. This is where building integrity such as that offered by metal roofing can be an adequate service to use. Keypads, ID cards that allow access, and ensuring that items are well packaged, protected and locked can help to no uncertain degree. Security matters, so be sure to make good use of it, else you’ll be prone to losing your value through difficult means.

Monitored Conditions

Keeping the conditions monitored in said environment can be a worthwhile use of your time. It may be that certain items are best preserved in a chilled or room temperature environment, sometimes in a dark place where UV light cannot interrupt its careful and protected storage. Monitored conditions may also be quite intensive in need, such as ensuring the room is continually moisture-less or clinically clean from the offset. Temperature gauges, cameras, earthquake protections and light conditions must routinely be considered and cared for if you’re to ensure your products are carefully preserved.

Rotation & Staff Handling

It’s worth categorizing your stock in a manner that allows for an immediate rotation of your supplies. This allows you to keep ensuring that the long-stored items are used first and vice versa. It’s also worth ensuring that staff are trained in how to handle certain items, The lifting machinery they may need to use to transport palettes, for instance, or the protective gear they may need to wear should also be vetted and fitted correctly. It can also be that basic safety training, such as confirming to lift with their legs rather than their feet, can provide them with worthwhile and advantageous reminders throughout the year.

With this advice, you’re certain to adhere to the fundamental principles of careful business storage.

Is Your Brand Under Attack?

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When your brand is attacked, it can have a devastating impact on your company’s reputation and your ability to attract customers. It’s therefore important that you know the appropriate response to take. Here are just a few ways in which you brand can come under attack and how you can protect it.

A customer is badmouthing you online

Negative online reviews and defamatory tweets can be enough to bring down a business. Many consumers now research a company online before choosing to buy from them – if bad reviews and hostile social media comments are the first thing that show up on Google, you may fail to win over their trust.

When faced with online criticism, be apologetic and respond directly to the review or social media message if possible (on social media, you may want to message them directly as well as replying publicly). Encouraging happy customers to leave positive reviews may meanwhile help to outweigh any negative criticism.

Your intellectual property has been stolen by someone else

Intellectual property is a major part of a brand’s identity and may include your brand name, your logo, a slogan, company images or text from your website. If another company is claiming ownership of your intellectual data, it could cause your customers to mistake them for your company.

This could be something that you can legally dispute – especially if you’ve trademarked or copyrighted this content. By hiring a law firm that deals in corporate litigation, you can make a claim against the company that has stolen your intellectual property. If an online fraudster is using your intellectual property for malicious purposes, you may even be able to get police involved.

Another company is attacking your brand

Brand wars have become more common in the age of social media with large brands attacking one another on Twitter. This is usually done in jest and can sometimes encourage healthy competition. However, sometimes it can get more serious, such as accusing you of bad behavior.

Respond to these brands accordingly. If it’s a light-hearted attack, you may be able to respond with a similar light-hearted retort. However, if they’re uncovering unsavory truths about your business, you may need to come clean.

A media outlet has attacked your brand

An attack from a newspaper, magazine or major online publication can be serious. Word could spread and you could find that business is severely affected.

Taking on the media by yourself is not recommended and you may want to hire a PR company to help try and recover your reputation. Such a company may be able to help you find journalists to argue your case and spread good information about your brand.

Move Forward With Your Business Like A Pro

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Your business may be doing well but there are always ways to take it to the next level. You can be sure that there are always ways to create a better working life and here are some top tips to implement!

Implement and strategize and be sure that you take action on it

There’s a lot of information online with and you can change your strategies and use them to grow a business bigger but you may think that you want to focus on one main area of your business and then you will see or think up another business strategy and you will see it’s popularity and you ditch your old ideas. You may be stuck in this way of thinking, without going forwards or settling on any one idea for your business. Perhaps your goals are smaller and you want to look only at things such as a new phone system – https://www.lingo.com/business/hosted-pbx/ but this is simple to get into place. What’s harder is avoiding procrastination and not settling on a long term marketing goal; so start to look at doing not thinking. Do the pitching. Do the follow-up. Chase clients, be sure to get the marketing done and self promote, get things done. 

Slowly rid yourself of stressful clients 

Freelancing is a lifestyle not just a job and you may find you work round the clock trying to chase people and keep your clients but what if you have a client who is causing more trouble than not or perhaps they’re getting really good value for money and you want to put your time into something and someone else?  Better clients and opportunities always come when you are in a good headspace and know what you want. Ditching a client may seem rude or harsh but it can also be good for your mental health and growth of your business also. Don’t worry about it. After all you want your clients to be happy too and you want them to have good relationships with you including great customer feedback https://growingforward.net/2020/02/26/4-ways-to-get-high-quality-customer-feedback/ so be sure that you’re achieving it.

Attend events locally and nationally and see them face to face 

Seeing people in person is so much better because people are buying you not your service so a good personable attitude and know how is going to earn you a lot! People are starting to appreciate the importance of an in-person connection with influencers and freelancers and this is important to create your own meetings, make yourself important and get yourself out there and see people. Look for events and local gatherings and get your business cards printed. Try to attend an event per month or maybe quarterly and see how business flourishes, it’s important to network and anyone who says it isn’t is most definitely wrong, because the more people you meet, the more you expand your database and opportunity. You can read more about that here https://blog.growthlab.ng/scaling/7-reasons-attend-networking-event/.

Ways You Can Stay Ahead Of The Competition

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If you want your business to succeed over the long-term, then it’s vital you stay ahead of your competitors and know what they’re up to and rolling out next. You risk losing paying customers if you fall behind, and others are outsmarting you in every area of your business.

Learn how you can maintain your position as a leader in your industry and get ahead of the competition. These actions will be well worth your time and energy and will likely deliver exceptional results that will be worth noting. You’ll be a much happier business owner when you’re attracting new customers and maintaining a loyal book of clients throughout the years.

Offer High-Quality Products

One way to stay ahead of the competition is to offer high-quality products that are long-lasting and don’t fall apart. Make sure they meet industry standards and regulations and are safe for consumer use. You can accomplish this goal by contacting rapidpsi.com and experimenting with 3D printing as a way to speed up production and improve the quality of your offerings. It’ll give you an edge over your competition and prove to others that you’re up to speed with the latest developments in technology.

Implement Creative Marketing Tactics

Keep ahead of your competitors by using creative marketing tactics to build awareness and excitement around your business and products. No one is going to make purchases from you or talk about you unless they know what it is you do. Clearly explain the benefits of working with you and what you bring to the table. Position yourselves as experts in your industry by sharing exciting and engaging content on your website, company blog, and social media.

Build an Attractive Company Culture

You can also stay ahead of the competition by being the employer of choice among employees and potential candidates. Focus on building an attractive company culture and reward your staff fairly for their performance. Make the workplace a fun and exciting place to be, but also make it known that you all work hard and are continually achieving your goals. Employees and job seekers will spread the word for you, and you’ll be able to set your business up as a top place to work in your community and even around the country.

Offer Superior Customer Service

Satisfied customers can go a long way in helping your business to succeed and thrive. Stay ahead of the competition by putting your customers first and ensuring they’re happy at all times. Solve problems quickly and address issues professionally so that you can close the loop and make sure consumers feel confident in your business and trust you. Train your employees to know how to handle all types of situations and to help them understand the significance of offering superior and consistent customer service. Not only get to know your customers better but look after them and do what’s in your power to confirm they’re pleased with your service and products. Ask questions and seek feedback to help you work through any hesitations your customers are feeling.

Ensure Your Business Name Stands For Quality

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It’s unlikely that the businesses you are most fond of are happy to provide you with less quality at a price point comparable to other businesses within that category. We all know that a business’s primary function is to break even and then grow profit, but that must happen in a manner that is not predatory and impossible for your customers to appreciate.

The best way to curate goodwill, ensure repeat purchases, stand proud in your firm, attract skilled job candidates, network with confidence and enjoy what you do is simply to ensure your business name stands for quality. Of course, this is not as ‘simple’ as it may first seem. There are many complex considerations that go into a business product for it to become a quality item worthy of regard, and in order to achieve that, you have to approximate certain standards and best practices to your aid, going over and above the baseline legislation you need to meet.

But how should those complexities be regarded? In the following advice, we’d love to help you explore that:

Product Quality

The quality that goes into the products you make is essential, and it’s often found in the smaller details of its design and construction. For instance, the optical bonding you use for a fantastic and shielded dashboard display may help your small design gain so much more value over the competition thanks to how tightly it is sealed, how easily it is cleaned, and how aesthetically comforting it looks. Product quality should also be defined within the best of the best safety standards in order to boast a worthwhile and comprehensively marketable product.

Excellent Support

Excellent support offered alongside your product experience can be fantastic. Reliable web chatting services, the ability to call your staff, or (in an increasingly relevant sense) social media directing messaging can be very convenient. Additionally, emails that ask how the customer is getting on after their purchase can be a great idea. 

Support can also come in the form of an excellent FAQ on your website, a place for users to discuss their experience and help one another out, as well as a cared-for willingness to replace or refund customers that may not have had a good experience, on top of doing your best to settle that particular complaint.

The Customer Experience

The customer experience matters, and it must be taken into account as a full spectrum of consideration. For instance, the opening seconds of a new packaged item matter, and will be one of the first impressions of the careful UX design laid forth by your product architects. If you can enhance the customer experience from the moment they enter your store or the ease of which they can browse your website, this is even further improved. Don’t be afraid to keep refining and tweaking your output until your business becomes more than a service – it becomes a lifestyle.

With this advice, you’re sure to make your business name stand for quality, in the healthiest sense.

Identify Your Thing – Then Launch A Blog

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So things are looking good.  Your career is on track, you’ve some money in your bank, and things have never been more positive. You find that you are in such a chilled out zone, that you have time on your hands, and want to fill it doing something you love.  

You’ve already fitted in time at the gym, and your social life is well –  sociable, so what could you do with those spare hours that will tick a box in the learning curve of your life.

So how about starting a blog?  It may well be that thousands and thousands of blogs are launched every day of the year, but there is still room for another one – and that could be yours.

But first you have to identify what to blog about, and whilst that can be hard for some, the answer could actually be easier than you think, and staring you in the face. 

People usually start a blog because they have something to say, some knowledge to share, an opinion, a talent, or a cause close their heart.  Once you’ve identified what your ‘thing’ is, then because you either know about it, or are passionate about it, writing about it will come really easy to you. 

For example, you may have a talent for making fabulous meals from very affordable ingredients and your dinner party guests constantly compliment you on your amazing food. 

Of it may be that you can revamp a vintage ball gown, and turn it into a stunning cocktail dress all within 24 hours and your friends constantly come to you to fix their clothes, or to make them a one off, exclusive dress.

When someone turns to you for advice, or to fix things, or to create things, then generally that is your thing, your talent, your speciality.  That is the thing to blog about. You feel someone’s pain, you fix it. You can answer their questions, solve their problems and be the ‘go to’ person. So what better subject to blog about than the ‘thing’ you already do. 

There are some general things you need to think about when starting your blog.  Along with the name, the theme, and all the general nuts and bolts of blogging, you want people to find you, so  things like search engine optimization are going to be very important to you.  

This is something that you might not ever have heard of before, but in simple terms, it means ensuring all those people you’d like to help, can find you easily, and your blog or website will come up as one of the first when someone types in, ‘affordable ingredients’, or ‘revamp ball gown’.  

Don’t let the fear of technical jargon put you off from starting a blog. Help is out there for every conceivable problem you may have.  Just as you know your ‘thing’, another person’s ‘thing’ will be helping people to start a blog. You just have to find them, and all your problems will be solved.

The Ergonomics Of Career Productivity

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Millennials, baby boomers and Generation X – they all have one thing in common, and it’s the need to be productive. No one ever stood out from the crowd or got a promotion without working hard. Output is the common feature employers and clients look for when deciding to hand out rewards. Unfortunately, it’s not as if you can click your fingers and suddenly be at the top of the productivity tree. As weird as it sounds, something as small as your chair can stop you from showing your best self. 

Yes, people, ergonomics are real and have a legitimate impact on your career. So, please take the time to check out these four tips on how to set up your workspace like a pro.

Invest In Quality Apparatus

The equipment you use has an impact on your posture, which directly affects your comfort, which then has a knock-on effect on motivation. Evidently, and there is more information here, all it takes is the correct chair and desk to transform your comfort levels. The problem is the cost – the majority of people won’t splash out. The trick is to see the expenses as investments rather than overpriced fees. Once you view your workspace as integral to pushing your career forward, it becomes a lot easier to authorize the funds.

Light It Up But Don’t Glare

Lighting is a crucial element of productivity. Whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop or at the office, you’ll won’t have the same sense of inspiration if there is no natural light. It’s as if you’re in a prison cell rather than a workplace that values your contributions. Opening the blinds, then, goes a long way. However, then you get glare on sunny days. What to do? The solution is straightforward in the winter because the sun has its hat on, but you can’t do the same in the summer. Instead, you should rely on ambient lighting to create a nice atmosphere. That way, you can close the blinds and reduce glare without replicating dungeon lighting!

Add Greenery

There isn’t much to say about plants other than a single word: oxygen. Yes, plants and flowers absorb CO2 and release O2, meaning that your workspace doesn’t get stuffy. Too often, offices are filled with stale air that prevents people from feeling motivated or thinking creatively. A houseplant here and a flower there will ensure there is a steady stream of air filling your nostrils going to your brain and vital organs.

Sounds Good

There’s a distinction between background sound and noise. The latter is unhealthy, whereas the former is pretty productive. It drowns out the stuff that prevents us from focusing, enabling you to work without cursing the chatty person next to you. Nobody cares about your weekend, Tom! A fantastic piece of kit is a pair of noise-canceling headphones as they perform as advertised. Other than that, you can put in normal earbuds and listen to music that you know boosts your concentration levels.

For more advice on ergonomics and productivity, you can take a look here at this infographic. It might revolutionize your career!

Outsourcing For Outstanding Outcomes: Which Tasks Can Benefit From The Modern Method?

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The concept of outsourcing isn’t anything new. Still, its implementation has become increasingly commonplace in the digital age. In fact, most companies now utilize this approach in some capacity. Whether you’re about to launch a new venture or wish to expand your established company, outsourcing can achieve great things. But only if you use it in the most appropriate situations.

Here are five of the best choices at your disposal.

1| IT Management

Computer technology plays a more important role than ever before. However, finding the space and resources to unlock the full potential of modern tech is almost impossible. Outsourcing to a managed IT service can aid productivity, security, and more. Hiring a software developer can be a very useful step too, enabling your venture to run smoothly. For the sake of time and money, this approach can revolutionize your business by helping employees and customers alike.

2| Marketing

Nobody knows your business or products better than you. Sadly, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the best person to promote them. You do not think like a customer, which is why your ideas may not resonate with prospective leads in the way you’d hoped. Using SEO specialists, video production companies, and branding experts can all help. In today’s climate, influencer marketers are an integral feature too. Better still, if they are paid on affiliate commissions, you’ll have nothing to lose.

3| Customer Care

Winning new customers is one thing, but keeping them is another. Good customer support is a telling factor that can convert new leads and encourage client loyalty. Given that you do not have the time to field calls all day long, outsourcing this admin task is advised. A virtual receptionist offers the rewards of a call center without the costs. Better still, it’ll save you a lot of valuable time while crucial calls can still be redirected your way. For the best results, this should be supported by online Live Chat facilities.

4| Logistics  

Whether you are a retailer or a manufacturer, the logistics of moving products to your site or a customer can be costly. Taking the DIY route is commendable, but often ill-advised. Using an expert to handle the shipment of oil and gas equipment, for example, is ideal. It ensures that the operations are completed safely and efficiently. Causing damage to items, or breaking regulations, could spell disaster for your business. It’s far better to leave it to the pros, allowing you to focus on other tasks.

5| Bookkeeping

If the firm is large enough to boast its own accountancy team, that’s great. If not, though, using small business accountants is a far smarter move than doing it yourself. The additional investment may feel like an unwarranted expense. In reality, taking care of the issue internally is a false economy. An expert in the field can actively generate savings on your behalf. When added to the money you can earn by avoiding the need to dedicate some of your time to bookkeeping, the incentives are clear.