Category: business coach

Tips for Better Business Communication

Scott Asai2 Comments

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The task of communicating with customers is one that your business can’t afford to shy away from. How will you get your message across and deal with problems effectively if you can’t communicate well with your customers? It’s something that lots of business can and should do better because doing so has a real impact on your chances of success.

Good business communication can boost productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction, among many other important things. If you’re wondering exactly what you can do to improve your approach to business communication, read on and find out.

Use Common Sense When Communicating with Clients

When communicating with clients, you first need to use a bit of common sense. There are certain things that you probably don’t want to discuss with them, even in an information situation. For example, if you want to keep your clients on side, you probably shouldn’t bring up topics like religion or politics, unless your brief is directly related to those subjects. It’s all about avoiding controversy and not creating avoidable problems through poor communication strategies. You’d be surprised by how often companies get this stuff wrong.

Focus on Collaboration Over Dictation

When working alongside colleagues and employees in your workplace, you should become less of a dictator and more of a collaborator. People tend to respond far better to people who are trying to work with them rather than just ruling over them and telling them what to do all the time. It’s so much more productive for you to listen to people, understand their talents and then work with them from there in order to create the best possible outcomes for your business. That’s the way it should be.

Offer and Ask for Feedback

As a manager or business owner, you’ll have people working for you and you’ll be in charge of them in the workplace. As a result of that, you’ll be responsible for providing feedback to them and this is something that should not be overlooked. By providing constructive and helpful feedback, you’ll help people to grow and improve in their career. This not only helps the business, but also helps them too. You should also ask for feedback on how you’re doing and what colleagues and employees think you could improve on.

Embrace New Communication Options

The way in which we communicate in the world of business is always changing as new trends and technological advances arrive. Things like text to voice messaging bring benefits that you won’t want to miss out on, and that’s just one recent example of a new communication method that you can take advantage of. Whenever there’s a new trend, consider its benefits and think about whether or not it’s something that will help your business advance its approach to communication.

Become an Active Listener

Communication is not just about what you say and what you communicate to other people; it’s also about being a good and active listener. Put some real effort into what people are trying to get across to you. If you can do that, people will respond to you differently and more positively and that can only be a good thing for you and everyone in your workplace going forward.

Value Face-to-Face Communication

Face-to-face communication is something that’s really suffered and declined in recent times. We can all send emails and messages to one another instantly without any problems at all. So, why meet in person when it’s easier not to? Well, there’s something different about face-to-face communication, especially when it comes to meeting clients and things like that. When you speak to people in person and directly, much more is communicated than with a short sharp email.

Ask Questions

Clients also want to know that you actually care about their needs, and one way to show them that you care is by asking questions and taking an active interest in those needs. It makes a real difference and it’s something that you should certainly be looking to work on going forward. You’ll also learn a lot more about what your clients want and how you can satisfy them better if you ask those questions.

Communication is the cornerstone of pretty much everything your business does. It’s important that you’re always doing more to communicate with customers, clients and colleagues better. It can be tough to get it right 100% of the time, but as long as you’re striving to improve and taking the kinds of steps mentioned above, you’ll be on the right track.

Managing The Speed Of Your Customer Interactions

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To keep your business moving, you need to be able to act instantly. There has never been a better time to be able to do that than right now. Technology speeds up so much of your business needs, making you more efficient. But customers may not react at the speed that you need them too. 

Have More Channels Of Communication Open

If the problem that you’re facing is waiting for your customer to respond to your messages, then chances are they are not talking to you using the best tools for them. Having as many routes for your customer to get in touch with, you will speed things up dramatically. Using messaging services such as Facebook Messenger, offer your customers a great deal more convenience than emails. Often, when talking through emails, exchanges can take a great deal of time. There is a general tendency to write longer messages, and very often, emails are not replied to immediately. 

By utilizing the quick reply functions on messenger apps, you’ll get shorter, but more prompt responses- allowing you to get straight down to business. 

Keeping The Cash Flowing

Waiting for your customers to pay their invoices can often mean that you’re left waiting in limbo. With some companies keeping a tight grip on their own funds, they’ll push payment back as late as possible. Often to the due date, which could be anything up to ninety days after the invoice was sent. You can’t afford to wait that long. 

Your business has needs, and if you’ve completed a large job, your staff need paying for it. You may need the capital for the next project too, and if you’ve not got it to hand, you might find yourself turning down jobs. 

There is a way around this. Using factoring services such as BCashflow Positive you can effectively use an intermediary to claim your invoice immediately.  And, for a small percentage, they will wait to receive the money from your customers.

In-Depth Team Training

Customer service issues may take some time to resolve, and your team will no doubt want to get them dealt with quickly. But often, the way that your team handles an issue might not be the best way. Making sure that your team are well trained in all aspects of customer handling will ensure they do not get stuck on cases for longer than is useful. 

Specific and Measurable Targets

Time is money, and you need to set limits on how long things should take. Obviously, this will depend on the type of business that you are in, but you need a specific and measurable target to set your customer service representatives. These might be based around how quickly they respond to an initial query, to the total time that a ticket should be open. 

Customers expect a quick resolution, but importantly, it is in your best interests to deal with these in a timely manner, allowing you to move onto the next query sooner.

Make Them Wait, See Them Disappear

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For every business, time is money, but that can be true for customers too. Customers that are in a rush, or browsing while on the move don’t have time to wait for your website or other features to load. They might only have a short amount of time and thus they need to make sure every second is not wasted. You would think that with the advent of smartphones and Google prioritizing mobile friendly websites that this would be a no brainer. Yet, so many small businesses don’t realize how long waiting times make people just swipe or click away. And yet, the standard of what can be deemed ‘too long’ is also changing. Maybe 5 years ago it could take 5 seconds to load up a page and seen as normal. Now, 5 seconds is just too long. Inherently, you should be up to speed with what kind of technology you’re using as well.

Focus on priority content

Take for example your business blog, you don’t want certain pieces of content to load slower than others. Sometimes you have catchy slogans, titles and first paragraphs or sentences that are designed to capture the reader so they don’t click away so easily. Well, you need to give your main content priority when it comes to the loading que. If you have videos and text together, you need to choose which one is going to be more eye catching and thus order them correctly. Maybe you think your blog content is more important than any visuals, thus images and videos will need to load after the text. This also comes down to any ads you’re running on the webpage. If you have a video or PPC ad in the banner, you need to decide whether to load the ads first or the content. In other words, you need to formulate a queue so you have a better chance of keeping the consumer on the page for the initial few seconds.

Speed is essential

Speed is often the savior in many forms of life. The speed of your transactions, decision making, problem solving and also webpage loadings is vital to success. Take a look at Pagespeedplus.com where you can learn how the speed of your web pages can be calculated and improved. Sometimes the homepage loads faster because it’s going to be the main page in the results of search engines. However you may also need to keep a high standard for your ‘browse products’ page. Although it’s understandable that this kind of page will be slower because of the amount of links and images. However, this page will always be added to thus the page will load slower and slower. Using bulk testing you can see which pages aren’t loading as fast as you’d like them to.

 

Allow quick access

For businesses that allow users to create accounts and profiles, you will have a sign in or log in bar on the homepage or pretty much every webpage. However users that just want to log in to comment on a post in the forums, comment on a blog post or just generally sign in so they can use their account to shop, should not be left waiting for the log/sign in bar to load. Therefore this is also something you must take into account when designing the bar itself. Your page might load from the top down, or just individually but the login bar must be one of the first in the line. You might also want to allow the bar to be inside of another item such as a profile picture. This adds another step to the process even though the profile picture may be the first thing that loads up. However if you put the login bar as a separate item to load, this can mean you need to sacrifice content in the loading que. It’s good practice to therefore make the login bar top priority for only some pages because after all, it may only be used by those that are regular customers. 

Speed is absolutely essential when it comes to loading times. Pages that are not set up for mobiles will not keep that browsing commuting consumer on your website for long. It’s even easier to swipe away than it is to go back on a desktop computer. It’s also within your best interest to make sure you have a content priority queue. Only the most important content that you believe will keep customers on the page for longer should be loading up first.

Improve Your Customers’ First Impressions

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Good first impressions help to establish trust and convert customers. In fact, according to one study, it only take seven seconds to build a first impression. Here are just some of the ways in which you can make a positive initial impact on your customers.

Use the right body language

When meeting a customer in person, body language is important. In fact, it can often have more of an impact than the words you utter. Some of the basics include a smile, a confident posture, eye contact and a firm handshake. Try to also limit other activities – fiddling with your phone as you talk to someone may come across to them that you are disinterested.

Dress presentably

How you dress is also important. Not all jobs require dressing formally (in fact, overdressing could make you come across a little too conservative), however you should always keep a tidy appearance such as not having any creases or stains on your clothes. Messy hair, dirty nails and stubble can also be off-putting to many people.

Improve your telephone manner

If the first time you interact with customers is on the phone, having a good telephone manner could be vital. Small details such as giving a warm greeting, remembering the customer’s name and speaking slowly and clearly can make people warm to you.  Some companies go so far as to outsource phone answering companies such as Ivy Answering to give a good impression on the phone. Having little interference on the phone is also important – when it comes to mobile phones, choosing a provider with the best signal could be important.  

Keep your workplace tidy

If a client’s first impression is likely to be a visit to your workplace, you want to make sure that your workplace is tidy. A lack of cleanliness can cause customers to immediately lose trust by showing that you’re careless and disorganized. Keep on top of tidying so that your workplace is always presentable – hire a cleaning company if you have to. Also make sure that your workplace is not in disrepair – a faded shop sign or a faulty automatic door is not going to create a good first impression. 

Make sure your website looks professional

When it comes to attracting customers online, your website is often the first point of contact. This needs to look professional so that customers know you’re competent digitally. You can build a website yourself, but if you want to guarantee a professional look you may be better off hiring the services of a website development company such as Cyberfrog Design. Aspects such as SEO could be important too for ensuring that your website has high rankings (this will make your company look more popular) whilst positive reviews and testimonials could also help gain trust online.

5 Ways to Speed up Your Small Business Strategies

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Every business owner wants to make the most out of the hours in a day. At the moment, it seems as though you are being chased by the clock, so how do you speed up the way you work? Whether you’re trying to achieve a much sought after work life balance or streamline your strategies, you can find a more effective way of carrying out your work right now. Consider some of the following five ways to speed up your small business strategies and you will feel more productive in an instant.

  1. Investigate Speedy Software

Working with sub-par software can really hinder your business performance and leave you lagging behind your competitors. If you’re sick of watching emails hang about in your inbox because the files are too large, then why not find a new method? Jetdrop is possibly the fastest way to share files, with your clients so investigate how this might work for your company. Trying out new software can seem daunting, but you won’t know if it works until you try it out!

  1. Prioritize Your Task List

If you are constantly trying to tackle a whole host of things on your to do list, then you need to learn to prioritize more effectively. Figure out the most important elements on your list and make sure you see to them first and foremost. Many business owners struggle with prioritizing because they want to get everything done there and then. It’s okay to leave something to another day, as long as you have time to come back to it.

  1. Hire a Helping Hand

Partnering up with somebody might not be a bad idea if you’re feeling overwhelmed with work. You might have certain gaps in your knowledge that need filling, so why not team up with another professional? A business partnership isn’t for everyone, so make sure you research the pros and cons before diving in!

  1. Outsource if Necessary

If you aren’t quite ready to hire a partner it might be worth outsourcing some of your work. From finances to marketing, you might find it useful to lighten your load and leave the experts to deal with certain aspects of your business.

  1. Take Regular Breaks

You will never be able to work to your full capacity if you are over worked and exhausted. Learning to switch off is an important part of being an entrepreneur and it will help your productivity in the long run. Take a walk outside to get a coffee and learn to turn off your work phone in the evenings. Creating good habits now will benefit you in the long run and you will feel refreshed when you return to work the next day.

Try out some of the following ideas and you will be prepared to tackle anything that falls in front of you. Running a small business can be time consuming, stressful and overwhelming at times, but with the right strategies in place, you will be working speedily and swiftly on a daily basis.

Streamlining Your Business: How To Become More Efficient

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One thing that’s key to running a business effectively is efficiency. This means that you need to learn to make the most of what resources you have, you need to utilize your time wisely, and you need to play to your own strengths. When you start a business, it can be tempting to try to do everything yourself – but here are some tips on how you can learn to become more efficient.

Learn To Delegate

First, it’s important to learn to delegate. It can be tempting to want to oversee every little aspect of what your company is doing, but let’s face it: nobody is perfect and it is very important that you play to your own strengths. If you see yourself as a creative person who’s great at having ideas, there isn’t any point in getting bogged down with having to sort out payroll every month. There are outsourced payroll and bookkeeping services that will ensure your finances stay in great condition and that your staff get paid perfectly without fail, without you having to worry about it. Don’t assume that you need to do everything yourself – trust others to get the job done.

Revolutionize Your Meetings

A lot of the time, people dread having to go to meetings at work. Sure, it’s an excuse to get away from their computer screen for a while and maybe participate in some coffee and an office snack, but meetings can drag on for interminable hours, and a lot of the time they are rambling and ineffective. If you find that your meetings don’t always go to plan, it’s time to change that. Firstly, make sure that only the people who need to be there are there – you don’t want everybody to waste their time when what’s going on is irrelevant to them. Secondly, make a list of points that you want to cover, and make sure that you don’t start going off track. Thirdly, why not stand up through your meeting? Studies have shown that they last long when everyone is sitting down.

Go Paper-Free

Finally, ditching all that paper is a great way to become more efficient at work for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s a lot better for the environment – do you really need to print everything off? Sure, paper can be recycled, but if you don’t need to use it in the first place then there seems little point in doing so. Secondly, paper takes up a lot of space. Do you really want to fill the walls of your office with rows and rows of filing cabinets? It takes a lot longer to find a document in a filing cabinet than it does in a well-organized shared hard drive. We’ve all heard of interns spending days filing – you really don’t need that to happen in this day and age. Without the space that filing cabinets take up, you may need a smaller office – and that means that you’ll be paying lower rent and saving in that way too. 

Becoming more efficient doesn’t have to be hard work. Planning meetings, going paper-free, and learning to delegate are just three ways that you can make your work life a whole lot easier.

 

10 Proven Ways To Attract More Leads 2019

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Attracting more leads in 2019 isn’t rocket science, but many business owners do find this task quite difficult. However, something as simple as changing the positioning or color of a call to action button could help you to attract more leads. It really doesn’t have to be some big gesture that gets a lot of attention – although those kinds of things can help too. 

Below, we’ll take a look at just some of the ways you can attract more leads this year. 

Get Your Landing Page Design Right

Making sure you get your landing page design right is key, as it’s often the first page people land on after having searched for what you offer. Choose the right keywords for the page, making sure you’re targeting the right key phrases. Be creative in banner or header section design, and make sure you think carefully about your call to actions, too. 

You can do a number of other things too, such as use genuine customer reviews and give detailed information on why you believe the person should work with you. 

  1. Be Smart With Your Email Marketing 

Email marketing isn’t something that’s going away any time soon, but getting it right is essential or you’ll have a ton of unopened messages. Avoid spammy words in the subject line, such as ‘prize’ or ‘purchase’. These words instantly turn people off. 

Personalize emails with the person’s name, too, as this will always mean more opens and click throughs. Ensure the content within your email is good enough to avoid people unsubscribing too – if you promised free tips each week when they signed up, make sure you stick to that.

  1. Promote On Social Media

Social media is a great place for people to discover new content. It can also help you to build links that quickly turn support into SEO efforts. Having a consistent social media plan will enable you to reach people, so consider hiring a social media manager so you can stay on top if it. It isn’t something you can update sporadically. It really isn’t enough to post a couple of times a week. Usually, a business must post multiple times a day at the right times to get the best results. This can be difficult to remember and fit in as a business owner, so consider a social media manager a good investment. 

  1. Website optimization

Your site should be well optimized. It should provide information that customers are looking for, and focus on the customer in many ways. What is their experience when using your site? Put yourself in their shoes as you use your site so you can get an idea of how they feel. Your site should be easy to navigate, have content to help with making purchases or deciding what to purchase, and should be easy for them to purchase what they need. 

Clear pricing, clear contact information, and a clear way for them to contact you. Your site is your 24/7 storefront, so Website optimization is absolutely key to generating leads and business. Investing in a great web design and ensuring the person/company who creates your site focuses on optimization from the get go will be a big help. 

  1. Post relevant & Useful Content On Your own Blogs and Niche Sites

Posting useful content on your own blog helps you to establish yourself as an expert. When people believe you’re an expert, they will come back again and again. Posting on other sites can help you to raise awareness and share your expertise further. 

As often misunderstood, content should not be limited to text format only. Creating content isn’t just blogs, either. It also includes the following:

  • Social Media
  • Ebooks
  • Case Studies
  • Podcasts
  • Templates
  • Infographics
  • Videos
  1. Try Paid Promotion For Instant Results

Using paid promotions can help you to get instant traffic. Using PPC in harmony with other optimization and SEO techniques can help you to get great results. It isn’t about choosing just one, although you do need to carefully monitor your results of each one so you know what you need to change for future campaigns. 

  1. Host An Event

Hosting an event, depending on the type, can help you to get the attention of various clients and prospects. This could be a workshop where you share your expertise, a summer barbecue, or something else. Make sure it attracts the people you want to market to and that you have a way of following up afterwards. Consider raising funds for charity at your event, as this could help you to give back to the community and raise more awareness of your event. 

  1. Launch a PR campaign

Press coverage is like free advertising, so launch a PR campaign. This gives you more credibility and PR campaigns are far more likely to convince potential customers to take a look at you. 

  1. Join Forces With Another Business

Joining forces with another business will mean attracting more customers while the other business benefits, too. Think about it: does your business complement another business you can think of? Is the product used with another kind of product regularly, or does it work well with one your audience may not know about? This partnership must be beneficial for all involved, so think carefully about who you can join forces with. When you approach them, make sure the benefit is clear for them. 

  1. Find Something To Sponsor

Sponsoring an event or product can help you to reach a target audience and increase your brand awareness. Bear in mind that what you choose to sponsor should be relevant to your target market and ‘on brand’. It might be a good idea to look at a few disasters that other companies have had with sponsorships so you can avoid anything similar happening to you. 

Attracting more leads in 2019 can be achieved using any of the methods above. Would you like to add something to the list? Leave a comment below!

 

Super Swift Ways to Streamline Your Daily Business To Do List

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Creating a daily to do list is something you have always been passionate about. You love being able to refer to those helpful bullet points when you lose focus or become overwhelmed. Instead of slowly trudging your way through this list of tasks, you could create a more streamlined way of tackling everything in your midst. Whether your team needs motivating or you need extra help with technology, there will be a solution to suit you. Consider the following super swift ways to streamline your daily business to do list and you will soon feel more productive than ever.

Outsource The Tricky Stuff

One of the things that constantly crops up on your to do list is to find a reputable company to help you with your IT systems. If you aren’t already aware of the advantages then check out this Guide to Managed IT Services. If you are thinking of hiring an IT company, you need to do your research and find a managed services provider that can assist you with all your needs. From troubleshooting daily problems to sorting hardware faults, your business will benefit massively from hiring a reputable company like this.

Delegate Often

You can expect to rattle through an extensive to-do list without any help at all. As a business owner you have the power to delegate tasks to other people in your company and lighten your load whenever possible. Of course, this doesn’t mean you are sitting back and doing nothing. It simply means that you are allowing others to assist you in areas they are capable of handling. A lot of business owners find delegating an uncomfortable subject matter; you started this business so you should be able to handle everything that falls in front of you. This isn’t necessarily true, so make sure you are making the most of your talented and skilled employees.

Inform People of Company Progress

When your team can see how their hard work has impacted the progress of the company, they will feel much more motivated in their job role. Keeping them well informed of the masters figures will spur them on and give them sparked interest in how their work affects the rest of the company, 

Make The Most of Your Working Hours

If you want to make your workday easier, you need to learn to prioritize your to do list. If you have certain clients that operate in the morning then you need to do most of your communication with them at this time. Make sure you understand how to deal with each aspect of your task list in the best possible way; your working day will be so much more productive if you can master this.

You don’t have to handle an ever growing to do list when you are feeling under pressure. There are plenty of people out there who can make your life easier. As long as you learn to delegate, motivate your staff and hire external help when necessary, you will be able to speed up your daily tasks and focus on growing your business for the future.

What You Should Do When Your Team Needs Motivating

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If you want your business to be flying high, you need to have the right people with you. You need the best possible contacts that can assist you in your pursuit, and you need to have excellent employees that can put the work in and provide the right results. When you planned everything out at the beginning, you probably thought you could solely take on the world. You’ll soon realize that it’s a group effort and, without a crack team of fully motivated employees, you won’t get anywhere near what your fantasies are picturing. 

Bringing in the right people is one thing, but keeping them on track and focused can be a whole new challenge. They’re only human after all. Having a driven workforce can be pivotal in a business taking off, so keeping them upbeat and hungry to work is so important. As a boss, you’ll always be looking to keep them going. Here are a few ways you can do so.   

Make The Workplace Beautiful 

Nobody functions well in an ugly environment, so make the office/warehouse/factory/etc. a little nicer of the eye at least. It doesn’t have to be the most perfect place in the world, but a clean area with little problems would go a long way. Make sure everyone and everything is organized, too. Clutter around desks and workspaces will only lead to more problems.  

Set Little Goals

When people have a goal in front of them, they immediately become more motivated. Working towards nothing other than a big collective goal at the end of a big project can be tiresome for most. You’ll know the feeling yourself. You’ll also know that completing even the smallest challenge feels good and makes you want to hit your next target in order to get the same feeling. Perhaps you could give them little daily or weekly goals to hit. 

Don’t Pile On Pressure 

At some points in our professional lives, we’ll hit certain times where we need to get our heads down and ride the pressure. It’s not all of the time, though, so don’t make your staff worry all of the time. There are some people that thrive under pressure, but a lot of people crumble.  

Acknowledge Their Work

When somebody is working hard or getting their jobs done, it doesn’t hurt to recognize their efforts. Put yourself in their shoes: it would feel nice, and it would assure you if the person overseeing you told you that you’ve done an excellent job. 

Be Positive At The Right Times

As a boss, you’ll need to know how to behave at different times. It’s not something you are born with, it’s something that you learn over time during the course of your leadership development and evolution. If things go a little south, a lot of the time you need to put on that happy face and gee up the employees. How they’ll behave will be based on how you behave – you are the conductor, after all. 

Be Stern At The Right Times

As much as calm, cool and positive vibes are the go-to way of behaving most of the time, there will be times where you need to put your foot down and apply some seriousness. An arm around the shoulder doesn’t really work if someone is slacking off or misbehaving.