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Smart Tips for Growing Your Business During the Pandemic

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Growing your business|Smart Tips for Growing Your Business During the PandemicThe COVID-19 pandemic tested many enterprises’ resolve, forcing many others to make significant adjustments to their standard business operations. Although companies suffered a severe hit in their operations and revenue, several others were flexible enough to adjust their approaches to survive the chaos. A US survey proposed that while consumers stayed home to limit the spread of the virus, millions of small business owners searched for creative ways to adapt their operating models to stay afloat. If surviving isn’t enough for you, here are some smart tips for growing your business during the pandemic.

1. Improve customer relationships

A business depends on its customers to grow, yet the pandemic has made it even more crucial to build and maintain your core clients. Lockdowns and staying home mean your clients are presently spending more time online, from remote working to virtual classes and organizing family events via Zoom and Google Meets. With the need for businesses to become creative with their email and social media marketing efforts, it has become essential as many people are spending more hours on their smartphones and laptops. Grow your online business presence using a website and social media to create client engagements. Be present, give them a reason to engage your business, and spread the word about how helpful your products and services have been to them.

2. Adapt to new trends

During a recession, most organizations center their efforts on salvaging their current client base. However, innovative businesses are looking for ways to add more. The present period offers an ideal opportunity for creativity to trump tradition. Understanding client needs during this challenging period is key to staying proactive and turning your plans into action. This strategy is excellent for exploring other consumer needs that your competitors are presently missing out on.

Who would have known that pickup and delivery offers would offer a lifeline for brick-and-mortar business today?

Identifying an emerging trend is crucial for growing your business even in the present business climate.

3. Explore the power of outsourcing

You may want to find out why entrepreneurs have proposed outsourcing as a practical choice in the current competitive and challenging business climate. In a period of increasing business costs and dwindling revenue generations, it has become a crucial tool for fostering business growth. From cost reduction to enhancing business focus and efficient resource use, outsourcing means allowing outside organizations to perform specific in-house jobs rather than employing new staff to handle demanding infrastructural needs. An example of this is engaging a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to drive your IT support.

4. Exploit changes in media consumption habits

The stay-at-home lifestyle has increased regardless of whether it’s compulsory or self-imposed. Individual lifestyles are affected, and there’s a surge in media consumption as there’s more time for leisure. These changes offer your brand an excellent opportunity to create a meaningful impression on your target audience or customers.

The pandemic prompted the need for remote working, with many businesses looking to make it a permanent feature. Your business can adopt this model to reach a wider audience using all the available media such as radios, television, streaming platforms, and smart speakers. You can successfully reexamine your business communication channels by analyzing consumption changes inside your specific business industry.

How You Can Attract More Customers With Promotional Gifts

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Promotional Gifts|How You Can Attract More Customers With Promotional GiftsEvery single business needs to have a marketing strategy. That goes without saying. And, there are evidently a whole host of different and diverse advertising methods that a company can employ in order to attract more customers and make a bigger profit.

Nevertheless, there is a lot that needs to be contemplated when it comes to deciding which strategy to go for. After all, what works for one company may be an absolute disaster for another one. All in all, the truth is that what strategy is chosen lies within the makings of the business in question; how big or small it is and what industry it is placed in, and so on and so forth. For example, the likes of Allvision Billboards offer a service for businesses to reach a large number of people – ideal for big companies especially!

There are one or two methods that have been adopted by a whole host of companies that are placed in a whole host of different industries and have entirely different budgets. Billboards are one. Another one of these is the utilization of promotional gifts.

Using promotional gifts is something which has been used by a lot of companies for many, many years now. This may lead one to think that it is outdated. But that is certainly not the case. It is a method that boasts just as high of a success rate as it did ten years ago, if not better. The main reason behind its popularity is that it creates a bond with people and so they feel inclined to use the company in question whenever they require the products it sells or the service that it is offering.

Nevertheless, when picking promotional gifts to go for one has to be very careful. This is where a lot of planning and forefront has to go in. After all, the products chosen are the main component and so they will dictate whether or not the marketing strategy is a success or not.

One of the most popular options lately is the utilization of promotional bags. Reusable bags are great at present because more and more people are caring about the environment and shops and supermarkets have put a charge on plastic bags. Therefore, this is something that will certainly come in handy. Moreover, the scope for advertising is huge because whoever uses the bag in question will advertise the company to every single person that they pass by.

Perhaps the most common product to start with for a business that is just starting off with this strategy is pens. At the end of the day, a pen is something that will always be needed and always be used. Moreover, it is something that is relatively easy and cheap to employ, and it is a product that is also easy to distribute.

To conclude, the utilization of promotional gifts is one which has an evident success and popularity base. But it is important to regard just how crucial it is to ensure that one picks the right item or items for the job.

3 Big Misconceptions About Taking A Sabbatical

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Taking a Sabbatical|3 Big Misconceptions About Taking A SabbaticalTaking a sabbatical is a good idea for a lot of reasons, but people often misunderstand why they are useful. Many people also get the wrong idea about taking lots of time off and they think that it will damage their career and their life in some way. Unfortunately, these misconceptions mean that so many people are not benefitting from taking a sabbatical when they could be. These are some of the biggest misconceptions about sabbaticals and why you should take one.

You Should Only Take One When You’re Burnt Out

The biggest misconception about sabbaticals is that you should only take one when you are completely burnt out. They have this idea that you should work yourself to the bone and only when the stress becomes so much that you feel like you can’t go on anymore should you think about taking some time out. But even though sabbaticals do help you recharge your batteries, there are a lot of other great reasons to take one. It gives you time to focus on personal goals and it can give you more perspective on your career. So don’t think that you only deserve a sabbatical if you are under extreme stress. If there are things you want to achieve in life or you just want some time to focus on yourself, those are perfectly valid reasons to take a year off work.

You Can Only Take One

The general perception is that people only take one sabbatical in their lifetime. It’s seen as a time when you can achieve that big thing that you’ve always wanted to do, and it’s a once in a lifetime experience. But that isn’t the case at all and there is no reason why you can’t take regular sabbaticals throughout your life. In fact, best-selling novelist and corporate leader Karan Bajaj advocates taking a sabbatical every 4 years. It gives time to achieve more personal goals instead of focusing on one single thing, and it’s an effective way to find more balance in your life. By having regular time off to focus on yourself, you will ultimately be happier.

It Will Stall Your Career

This is the number one reason that people don’t take sabbaticals when they should. They worry that taking significant time out will stall their career and other people will overtake them, meaning that they miss out on opportunities for advancement. However, the opposite is actually true. If you want to advance your career and get promotions, you need to be at the top of your game. Unfortunately, it’s hard to stay motivated and put the work in if you haven’t had enough time off, even if you love your job. When you take a sabbatical, you will return to the role with your batteries recharged, ready to hit the ground running. You also have a fresh new perspective on the job so you can bring great new ideas and a different approach. This all means that you are more effective and you are actually more likely to progress.

It’s important that you ignore these myths about taking a sabbatical and consider taking some time out if you think it will benefit you.

Using Your Office To Drive Productivity Is Essential

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Productivity|Using Your Office To Drive Productivity Is EssentialProductivity is important to your business. If your productivity isn’t high, then there is no way that you are going to get very far on the market. You won’t be putting out the right kind of service to your customers, and people that do choose to use your business are going to get frustrated extremely quickly. One of the things that you can do to try and improve this is make a high-quality business office that is designed specifically to drive productivity. That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this article, so if you would like to find out more about this topic, keep reading down below.

Workspaces

The first thing that you are going to need to think about are the workspaces that you are providing for your employees. If you have people constantly shut away behind closed doors, then there is going to be no collaboration, no communication and everyone is going to feel isolated. This is not the way to do things as people who feel like they are constantly on their own are less likely to work well. As such, you should think about using office cubicles so that most people are together in one part of the building. This encourages teamwork and collaboration which will encourage a higher rate of productivity.

Social Areas

Another thing that you are going to need in your business office are social areas. These are things like break rooms as they are places for your employees to sit back and chill out on their break. Your employees are still human, and they need somewhere to go that isn’t their desk during their breaks. If you work them too hard or you don’t allow them a space where they can really unwind, even if just for a short time, then they aren’t going to work hard for you, which will impact your productivity.

It isn’t difficult to create a simple break room where people can talk to each other when they are not working.

Colors And Lighting

You should also consider the colors you use and the amount of natural light you get in the office space. Have you ever heard of the phrase happy employees are hard working employees? Well, it’s true. We recommend that you use bright colors such as yellows and blues for your office to encourage a good mood, and let as much light in as you can. Humans respond positively to natural light, so it’s a good thing to include. There are some other elements too that help you add a vibrant and productive touch to your workplace. All you need is to explore all of them and implement them on your workstation. You can read them all here https://www.officefinder.com/officeblog/4-ways-create-more-productive-work-space/ and see how it helps you add beauty to your office.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you can do in order to design an office that drives productivity. At the end of the day, the productivity of your business as a whole should be one of your main focuses, so creating the office should be at the top of your to do list. We wish you the very best of luck, and hope that you end up with the results that you are looking for.

The Ins & Outs Of Importing & Exporting Goods From Singapore

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Import and Export|The Ins & Outs Of Importing & Exporting Goods From SingaporeOne of the most booming industries in the new millennium is international trade. However, it is a new concept of trading. Back in the prehistoric period, man traded salt and shells with distant communities. Trade is based on the fact that one country or group has plenty of supply of some merchandise or commodity that another country demands.

As the world becomes technologically advanced, shifting from subtle to one mode of thought, trade between countries has become more rewarding for both personal and profit satisfaction.

Known for its international outlook, ease of doing business, and strategic location, Singapore is one of the welcoming countries for trade business. This country connects over 120 countries and 600 ports, making it the world’s second-best and busiest container port.

The Asian country was ranked 14th leading exporter in 2014 and 15th leading importer in the world. According to the World Bank, this country is the easiest place in the world to run, do and start a business. It takes a couple of hours to incorporate a trading business in the country. The advanced infrastructure and free trade agreements make it easy for Asian commodities to move among the 31 partners.

This country has a clear regulation and a good reputation for doing business. Therefore, importing and exporting various products follow efficient and straightforward procedures that are done in short orders.

This article will help break down the steps involved in export and import documents acquisition.

Importing goods

Singapore’s regulations on imports and exports, goods and services tax act (GST), and customs act govern all goods imported. GST applies to any goods imported into the country, and it involves 7% of the freight, insurance and freight, and all dutiable goods.

It is advisable to adhere to the below certification steps if you wish to participate in import activities.

Review of the controlled goods

It is important to check whether the goods involved are subject to restriction before initiating any import process.

Activation of custom account

The importer needs to get a Unique Entity Number (UEN) to start any import process by registering with a relevant UEN agency or Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). This will allow account activation.

Inter-bank account registration

For duty payment of importing goods, importers are required to open an inter-bank account with the country’s customs.

Furnish security

It is important to furnish security for things like operation of licensed premises, temporary goods importation, and dutiable goods.

Getting custom import permit

Importers need to appoint a declaring agent or register themselves as one to get hold of customs import permit.

Document preparation for cargo clearance

All entry points into the country are controlled by officers who must see various documents like packing lists, custom permits and invoices to clear cargo entry.

Exporting of goods

Exporting goods in this country falls under the strategic goods act, custom act, and regulation of import and export act. Goods exported from the country must be declared but not subject to duty and GTS. The exporter can get the certificate of origin through the online TradeNet platform for any goods created inside the country.

Below are the steps for exporting goods:

Check controlled goods

It is important to confirm the restriction available on exported goods based on the customs classification database.

Open custom account

The export activities start only after getting a UEN, given either by a relevant UEN insurance agency or ACRA.

Generate custom export permit

One can acquire a customs export permit, similar to an import permit, through the TradeNet system.

Preparation of cargo clearance documents

Certain documents should be presented to the officer if the cargo to be exported is dutiable goods. However, both conventional and containerised cargoes require a customs export permit and any supporting document for the process to be complete.

Instances that require customs export permit for cargo clearance

  • Goods exported from bonded warehouses
  • Exporting dutiable goods obtained from the licensed warehouse
  • Re-exporting of previously imported goods based on temporary import scheme
  • Goods exported under the temporary scheme

Parting Words

Singapore presents the simplest and most streamlined export and import procedure since it is considered one of the world’s busiest trading spots. However, it is important to comply with government regulations and leverage temporary policies, warehousing schemes, and free trade zones to improve your trading experience.