Author: Scott Asai

Helping people develop their leadership skills to advance in their career

3 Reasons Sales Have Dropped On Your Ecommerce Site

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Whatever business you’re in, your sales are always going to go up and down a little bit, but if you suddenly experience a big drop in sales, it can land you in some trouble. This is a particular problem with ecommerce, mainly because customers have so many other choices and so even the smallest problem will cause a dip in sales. It’s incredibly frustrating when things have been going great for a long while and all of a sudden, sales drop off and you can’t get things going again. Often, there is a reason why sales are falling and understanding what the root cause of it is is the best way to make sure that it’s only a temporary drop and you start making money again. These are the reasons that your ecommerce sales have dipped and what you can do about it.

Seasonal Changes

One thing that people don’t often consider are seasonal changes. The impact of seasonal changes depends on the type of products you sell and some businesses are fairly immune to it. But if you’re selling products that are seasonal, you have to be prepared for a drop in sales during certain months. For example, if your business sells sunglasses, you’re going to see a dip in sales during the winter months. You’ve got a couple of options here; firstly, you can broaden the scope of your products and start offering something that there is a need for all year around. Secondly, you need to be prepared for that drop in revenue. During the busier months, you need to be careful with your spending and make sure that you’ve got plenty of cash set aside so when sales to tail off, you can still cover all of your running costs until things pick up again.

A Bad Checkout Process

Cart abandonment is the biggest challenges that ecommerce companies face; in some industries, around 70 percent of people will leave a site without completing checkout. Often, this is because the checkout process is bad. If customers have to go through loads of pages, filling out extensive forms with all of their information, they can quickly get bored and decide to just leave it. That’s why it’s so important that you make it as simple as possible for the customer. If you’re struggling, find a company that offers ecommerce technology solutions to help you streamline your checkout page and convert more of those visitors into sales.

Slow Loading Times

This is a big problem for a lot of companies. Consumers are impatient and if they have to wait for ages for a page to load, they won’t bother and they’ll go elsewhere. This often happens because, when you start out, you’ve got the capacity to handle the amount of visitors you’re getting. But once you start to get more people coming to the site, things start to run a lot slower. You need to make sure you’re updating your servers regularly so customers aren’t dealing with a slow loading website.

These are the 3 most common reasons that you might see a drop in sales, but the good news is, they’re all easily solved.

Taking The Next Step Into Management: Industries And Tips To Thrive

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Sometimes it can be hard to think about developing your career and you can be guilty of getting stuck in a rut. You can be become comfortable with your chosen job, perhaps happy and content with the wages that you earn or even the lifestyle you can afford, but these shouldn’t be the reasons why you wouldn’t want to progress. There is so much more that you could have and management could help you afford that lifestyle like extra holidays or luxuries in life. So I thought I would share with you some of the industries where you can step into management roles and how best to make that happen.

The engineering industry

Maybe you are currently working in the engineering industry. Perhaps out on construction sites, in factories or on the shop floor. There tends to be a direct route when it comes to the career path and management can often be the ideal next step to take. It does, however, mean that you need to think about things like taking a masters in engineering management online to help you learn the necessary skills to progress in this way. It could certainly give you the edge against other potential candidates and it could help you secure the job easier.

The sales environment

Working in sales can give you a real buzz, and so it’s understandable that if you have begun to thrive in your sales environment that you may be looking for the next step. A chance to further increase your earning potential while progressing with your career and management can be a great way to do that. However, to progress into management you do need to have a consistent track record in sales. You need to be able to perform so that you have the respect to lead others in the same way.

The office environment

Perhaps you are currently working in an office. Maybe you work in administration or accounts, and you are looking for the next step. Ideally there will be some form of office manager in place. This could be your next move. Shadowing this manager and taking on any extra courses to learn new skills could help. This alongside taking on additional responsibility could show that you are ready for the next move.

Working for yourself

Finally, could working for yourself be the answer? So many people have the dream of being their own boss and yet many of them don’t have the tenacity to make it happen. You could make it happen. It might be that you already have a hobby that could be turned into a business. You may have had an idea that just won’t go away. Or you might just have skills that could be easily freelanced to help you kick start your own business. Whatever it it, it could be the key to your own success and becoming the manager of your own destiny when it comes to your career.

I hope that this has motivated you to consider the next step you could take with your career.

Employee Mistakes: Reaction Dos & Don’ts

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No matter how hard you try to prevent it, your employees will make mistakes. Even in the most constructive and supportive environments, employees will get something wrong, make a miscalculation, lose something, or otherwise cause an issue— it’s inevitable.

Given this inevitability, it’s important that you, as a business owner, learn how to react when these mistakes occur. Below, you will find a list of essential “dos” and “don’ts” to keep in mind when responding to a genuinely accidental error committed by a member of your team. Keep these in mind, and you should be able to respond appropriately to every employee-related glitch that your business experiences…

DO: Focus on damage limitation

The first thing you need to do when informed of a mistake is ask for information. There are four primary questions you need to either ask of your staff, or get them to ask of themselves.

  • What happened?
  • Why did it happen?

You then need to find the answers to the following; either through working the solutions yourself, or instructing employees to do it on your behalf.

  • What are the consequences of the mistake?
  • How can these consequences be handled?

Going through these questions should be the first thing you do, even before you speak with the employee who made the mistake. It’s vital you fix the issue, and then you can move on to dealing with the existence of the issue in the first place.

DON’T: Lose your temper

Of course, this is easier said than done. If an employee has accidentally offended a customer, lost a vital document, or misunderstood a task they were asked to complete, you’re going to feel a surge of stress as you try to cope with their error. When stressed, it’s more likely that your temper will flare.

This, however, is incredibly counterproductive. When it comes to speaking to your employee, do all that you can to keep you temper in check. There’s a few strategies to help you achieve this here.

DO: Look into how such an error can be prevented in the future

It’s always worth asking the employee in question how they think the problem could have been avoided. The answers will vary depending on the issue. If a customer has been offended accidentally, then sensitivity training might be beneficial; the loss of a vital file could be prevented with document automation software; and a misunderstood task could be briefed better in future. Walk through what happened with the employee, then strategize as to what kind of fix might be most appropriate.

DON’T: Punish someone for a genuine accident

It’s important to try and keep a sense of perspective. If the mistake has been made through a genuine accident rather than neglect or incompetence, then don’t be too hard on the employee. Mistakes are, as discussed, inevitable, so bear this in mind if you’re tempted to issue harsh disciplinary issues.

DO:  Discipline for serious errors

If the mistake has been made through a lack of judgement, neglect, or other direct fault, then discipline as you see fit. You don’t have to just accept a poor work attitude from an employee, so use this error as a teachable moment that should ultimately encourage them to mend their ways.

In conclusion

If you keep the above in mind, you can be sure that you will be able to effectively cope with all employee mistakes.

The Compromises You May Make In Search Of Business Success

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Everyone knows that success comes with a certain few caveats. For most business leaders, those caveats are worthwhile. This is because what they are doing obviously works, meaning that the daily motivations they have to upkeep their lifestyle are relatively easy to understand. However, not everyone can boast success, especially in the early days. The starting year or two of a business can be an incredibly tough time, and you may have to make certain concessions to achieve it.

This article isn’t in the interest of dissuading you from becoming a business leader. If you’re being proactive enough to read about the downsides of getting started, we’d assume that you’re a very proactive person, hungry for knowledge to better your position. That alone puts you in good stead. However, so will the following practices in the early days. You might get lucky and ignore or completely oppose these points, but for most of us, we have to grapple with the following:

Moving Into A Small Place

When most of your funding is injected into your business, you can be sure that home comforts and utility might fall by the wayside. It could feel like you’re living at your office, or at least your home computer. This means that in general, keeping costs low at home can help you. Of course, this is mostly more achievable and realistic when you haven’t a family, so young business hopefuls take this tip into account!

Another reason for moving into a small place is the proximity to the office it might offer. As a new business owner driving over an hour to your place of work is simply not practical, and chews at least two and a half hours from your daily working schedule each day. Much better to opt for an apartment close to the goings on, and downsizing it to account for the added cost of rent.  Industrial parks and financial districts often have the highest surrounding property price, and this might be a bitter pill you have to swallow for now. Be sure to move all your belongings with grace and care, click here for the best services to do that. From there you can set up your apartment that will also serve as a base of operations.

Free Time

Every business leader works, works and works. You need to replicate this. It should never impede your health or overall mindset, but the concept of free time should be relatively alien to you in the first year or so. This is because 60% of businesses fail in their first two years. In order to avoid this fate it will always be best to ensure that you’re pulling enough hours. This might look different depending on your job role. It could be your profitability is viable at night as well as the day, and so working staggered shifts and sleeping in the evening might help you work in two stretches of time at once. Expect to work sixty, seventy, maybe even eighty hours a week. Where your business is concerned, this time could not be more valuable.

The early days of running a business are hard. With these simply two lifestyle changes, you will be that little more equipped to handle them.

Creating the Elements of Your New Business Venture: Here’s How

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Many people get ideas over the years to create business and start working for themselves, but not many people actually take that leap of faith and make it happen. However, for the ones that do, they are about to embark on what can be the rollercoaster adventure of their lives. Starting a business requires you to think about a lot of things all at once, and so it can be quite overwhelming. So I thought I would share with you some of the elements that you can think about to help you build a good platform to create your business the right way.

Having a decent marketing campaign

Marketing and advertising will be essential parts of your business, so you do need to spend some time on creating the right campaign for you and your business. It may just be using things like social media, which actually is one of the easiest ways to do it, or it could be that you just want to create the right level of marketing first time so you seek the help of a digital agency to make it happen. It is more than just telling people about who you are, it is about creating an online and physical presence for you and your business.

Think of the manufacturing and processing side of things

You also need to think of the manufacturing and processing side of things, which can actually be a daunting area. Whether you choose to jump in the manufacturing side of things yourself, which will have you needing to think about things like whether you can get a simplex strainer here or knowing what oil seals you need fo elements of a machine, but you could also think about outsourcing manufacturing where you live or taking advantage of cheaper costs abroad. There are many ways you can consider doing it, so research will be essential to make the right choice for you and your business venture.

A decent logo and brand is a must

A logo and your brand is your chance to make a first impression, so you need to give this careful consideration when it comes to your business. You need to think about the color choices, what you want it to say about your business, without overcomplicating it. It will also need to be something that will work well online as well as physically.

A worthwhile digital presence

You also need to think about your digital presence as these days the world of online is your opportunity to make your business a success. So much is done online these days and people spend their lives looking at it, so you need a website that is easy to use and stands out, but you also need to consider being unique and different.

Growth and worldwide domination

Finally, take the time to think about the end goal. What do you want to achieve? Is it to sell your products globally? To be a recognizable brand? No dream is too big and the bigger you think the bigger the rewards could be for all your hard work and dedication.

I hope that this has given you some grounding to start your own business venture.

How Much Do Seasonal Changes Impact Your Business?

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It’s easy to assume that the changing of the seasons has relatively little impact on your business. If you run an all-year business that is based in an office or retail store, the changing of the seasons can seem largely irrelevant, with the only notable change being a shift from using central heating to central air.

However, even for standard non-seasonal businesses, the changing of the seasons is vitally important to the health of your business. Here’s why.

#1 – The weather challenges

Arguably the biggest impact that seasonal changes will have on your business is what they mean in terms of weather. Any kind of extreme weather has the potential to be damaging to your business— literally.

Your business premises are likely to sustain the brunt of this very real damage. For example, you’re likely to struggle with wind and rain issues during the transitional seasons of spring and fall, which means you will need to ensure the roof and windows of your business premises are sound. In winter, the issues have the potential to be all the more catastrophic; burst and frozen pipes can mean your business has to grind to a halt for a period, so you’ll need to get heating cables here to prevent this problem from developing. Even summer — the season we all love — can be tough on your business premises, with problems caused by summer-active insects and pests a continual threat.

#2 – The changes in customer behavior

Somewhat surprisingly, your profits are likely to be impacted as the seasons change— and it’s all because of alterations in customer behavior. You’re likely to experience what many business owners term the “summer slump”; conversely, you’ll also see a pick-up in business from October through to January.

If you don’t structure your business’ year to account for these peaks and dips in turnover, then your business is going to suffer. Understanding how your customers are going to behave through the year is an absolute essential, so it’s worth going back through your old records and seeing what trends you might be able to spot.

#3 – The recruitment calendar

The final seasonal impact on your business involves how easy recruiting staff is. Generally, you can expect to find it easier to recruit staff towards the end of spring and the beginning of summer. On the flip side, you might struggle to find the perfect candidate at the start of fall.

What’s going on? Simple: it’s all about school term times. Parents of young children will always want to move house around the end of spring, but will want to stay put by the fall. If people aren’t willing to move house, then they’re less likely to switch to a different job. Advertising towards the end of the school year means that parents are more flexible, and thus more likely to be tempted by a lucrative job offer that might require a house move.

Final thoughts

As the above makes clear, seasonal changes have the ability to impact all businesses. Now you know the above, you can follow the trends carefully, and make changes where required. If you do this, your business should be able to negotiate the changes and continue to be as profitable and successful as you have always wanted. Good luck!

Organizing A Safe And Successful Construction Project

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Whether you run a construction company or you’re a business that’s looking to hire a contractor, it’s important that you make the necessary plans and preparations before getting stuck into any sort of project. Without a plan, things can go wrong. And, when it comes to construction, mistakes can be very costly for a business. Here are some of the essential steps you need to take before plunging into any sort of construction project.

Give yourself the necessary safety nets.

Construction can be an unpredictable line of work even with an airtight plan of action. Unexpected things can happen, so it’s important that you put the necessary safety nets in place before you start a project so as to ensure that operations don’t grind to a complete halt. When you create a window in which the project is going to be completed, give yourself more time than you need. This will allow for problems such as adverse weather conditions that might slow things down or even on-site injuries. You can face all sorts of unpredictable setbacks and costs during a construction project, so you need to expect the unexpected. Make sure the budget for the project more than covers any costs you might face.

Of course, you also need to give yourself the necessary safety nets for the things you can predict. Make sure you conduct thorough research on the intended construction site before making any concrete plans. For example, you need to think about the sort of terrain that will be used for the project at hand. If you’re going to be transporting machinery and heavy equipment over soft marshland then you might even want to look into swamp mats for sale here. This will help you to conduct your work without disturbing ecosystems or damaging your expensive equipment. The point is that you need to put safety nets in place to minimize risks and costly mistakes. That’s why it’s important to hire professionals, as we’ll discuss in the next point.

Make sure you have an experienced team on site.

Another important aspect of a safe and successful construction project is the team itself. You need to make sure that you have a professional and experienced team on site if you want construction to go smoothly. Make sure that every single employee has the necessary expertise and experience under their belt before you allow them to work on site because every worker is responsible for their own safety and the safety of their colleagues. That’s why it’s also important to provide regular training and safety talks for your workforce so as to ensure that they’re all up to date on the latest standards and practices in the industry. Continuous education is important because the construction industry is always changing. A safe and successful construction project requires experienced professionals who know what they’re doing.

Buy the necessary resources before work begins.

As discussed throughout this article, the cost of a construction project is a big factor to take into consideration before you get started if you want to make a profit. That’s why you need to think of all overhead costs before work begins. We’ve already talked a little bit about this in terms of providing yourself with safety nets during the project, but you also need to think about all the essential resources and materials you’ll need. Buying the necessary resources before work begins is essential because the price of goods can fluctuate. If you make a budget that depends on items costing a certain amount of money but you only get around to purchasing the necessary resources weeks or months later then prices might have changed. You need to plan ahead when it comes to a construction project.

Successfully Run Your Business Remotely with These Tips

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We’re so lucky to be young and alive in a time where technology is sufficiently advanced that we all have the power to start our own online companies and run our lives from anywhere in the world that we desire if we so desire to do so.

Working remotely is the dream of many a millennial because it gives us greater freedom to explore the world around us, absorb new cultures and keep expanding our horizons. Of course, setting up and running a successful remote business is not as simple as many would lead us to believe, and although it is possible, it takes lots of hard work, dedication and a few wise decisions to set things up and have them running smoothly. With that in mind, here are a few tips to help you get started on your journey as a remote-working intrapreneur:

Make Full Use of the Cloud

It should be pretty obvious that if you want to be a remote working intrapreneur, you’re going to have to use the cloud. If you store all of your data and run all of your applications from a single location, then you will be tied to it and that is the exact opposite of what you want to happen. So, make full use of cloud-ready platform solutions, like the ones available at http://www.zycomtec.com if you want to get off on the right footing. It’ll be so much easier to control things wherever you are if you do, and it’ll be a lot easier to add employees from anywhere in the world to your company when you’re working on the cloud also.

Make Contacts Wherever You Go

Working remotely with an internet business to a certain extent means that you can get away with not having lots of contacts in the local business world. That being said, it never hurts to know people wherever you are so, should you want to translate your website into a new language, or if you have trouble with your local infrastructure, there are people who you can call on. Much more importantly, it will mean there are like-minded individuals who you can hang out with from time to time – it can get lonely being a remote worker sometimes.

Spend Lots of Time on Social Media

If you want your remote business to be successful, social media is an excellent tool that will help you stay in touch with your target audience, market your goods and services to a wide range of people and keep you connected with what’s going on in your sector, all at the touch of a button. You could literally be doing your marketing on the beach!

Stay with One Time Zone

If you have the freedom to do so, chances are you’ll be moving around and entering different time zones quite regularly. For business purposes, it’s vital that you maintain the same time zone for your working hours, at least if you’re running the business solo. Why> Because customers need to know when they can get in touch with you, and it makes it a whole lot easier for you to design your schedule wherever you are too.

Do you run a business remotely? Do you have any tips to ensure it’s a success?

Maintaining Financial Health As A Non-Profit Organization

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The uneducated might believe that a non-profit organization enjoys less financial strain, but you know the truth. If anything, your business has an even greater need to keep the monetary situation in good health. Without it, you’ll be unable to satisfy the company’s mission statement, meaning the entire venture is a failure.

So, without actively relying on selling products, how can you be sure to keep your finances in good health? Here’s all you need to know about keeping the finances in good health for years to come.

Keep Costs Down

As a non-profit organization, the need to spend money in a sensible fashion is huge. While you cannot fight the fact that there will be overheads along the way, cutting out the waste should be a priority. 

Depending on the size of the business, it may be possible to run the operation from home. This instantly bypasses a lot of the crippling expenses, especially in those early days. Furthermore, modern technology allows you to build a team of remote-based workers. In many cases, this will reduce the direct staffing costs as well as the operational ones.

As a non-profit company, it may be possible to negotiate special concessions on business insurances and other expenses. It’s always worth conducting a little research and asking a few questions when speaking to your providers.

Get More Financial Backing   

Your non-profit business will live and die by its ability to gain financial background from the public. Private investments and support are a great starting point, but it’s the average Joe on the street that can truly provide stability. 

In truth, your current endeavors are probably bringing very limited results. Visiting globalfacesdirect.com will help you revolutionize this part of the venture. Aside from increasing the funds gained by the operation, it’ll allow you to dedicate more time to the tasks that will actively drive the venture on.

Non-profit businesses may also be open to special grants. This is particularly true when working on something that helps the local area or supports a worthy cause. Once again, though, only you can take charge of the situation. A few phone calls should open your eyes to the various possibilities.

Make Financial Management A Key Focus

Many non-profits fall into the trap of keeping financial management separate from the primary focus of the business. However, the accounts will influence every aspect of the operation. Maintaining a link between this department and the others can transform everything for the better.

Incorporating accounts receivable software can make a world of difference. Head to softwareadvice.com to discover the best solutions for your non-profit firm, and you’ll soon see that the whole venture runs more smoothly. This collaboration of departments should aid the overall financial management, and keep you on track.

While money might not be the company’s main incentive, you cannot afford to fall into the trap of treating financial health as a secondary concern. Ensure that you pay it the attention it deserves with greater integration, and you will not regret it.

How To Make Working From Home Easier

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So many people have this preconceived idea that working from home is easy. For some reason, they assume that because you’re not leaving the house and driving yourself from A to B, that it isn’t a real job. But if you currently do remote work, be it running a business or something else, you will know that it isn’t easy – it can be extremely challenging, even more so than a regular job because you’re having to try and focus in a place that originally wasn’t made for work, it was made for comfort and security. It’s a balancing act that a lot of people will never understand until they’re in your shoes, and that’s okay.

But if you knew that there were things that you could do in order to make your life a lot simpler, you’d do them.

So here’s just a few examples of what can be done.

Remove any distractions

Distraction is every worker’s biggest issue, especially when you’re working from home. You will be surrounded by things that you’ll want to do, and part of your job is to block out all of those things so that you can get tasks done and meet all the deadlines and targets that you have been given. If you don’t live alone, then you are going to have to make sure that you are able to work when and if they’re home. It may be worth having a talk with them and explain that when you’re working – you’re working, and you can’t afford to break the concentration you have, otherwise it will be extremely hard to get it back again.

Update the software

If you’re stuck behind the times, then your business will be too. Technology is constantly improving and becoming more advanced, and that means that the software is as well. We all know how frustrating it is when you’re trying to find something on your device, be it a contact or a document, only to have to sieve through so many other files and data that cause you to waste valuable time that could be put to better use. And you don’t want that when you’re trying to do business. Symfact offers you software to be able to take full control over your contracts like vital business transactions, so you can keep everything else looking organized and tidy.

Create the space

Regardless of how big or small your house is, you need to ensure you have enough space to work in. So if, for example, you have a spare room that is full of storage, then it would be a very good idea to clean this out and turn it into a suitable office space for you to work in and call your own. Or maybe you can even look at small cabins that can be put in the garden. You will find things extremely difficult if you’re trying to work in bed, or in the living room where you usually hang out, because that is the place you go for downtime, and using that for work will mess up the structure of everything.