Outsource These Tasks For Business Success

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Success in the business world relied on many different factors. You need to supply the right products or services at the right price. You also need to place your operation in the best location possible. All company bosses have to seek suitable team members to push their business forward too. However, sometimes it’s better to outsource certain tasks rather than employ more people. We’re going to draw your attention towards some of the most commonly outsourced jobs in this post. With a bit of luck, the information will help to save money and take your business to the next level. We’ll explain the reasoning behind outsourcing each process to set the record straight.

Outsource These Tasks For Business Success
Photo courtesy of Dream4U

Customer service

Most savvy business owners outsource the customer service part of their companies these days. That is because it’s much cheaper to let dedicate firms handle the job. You simply have to provide them with lots of information about your operation. You can even hand them a script if you would like their staff to use certain language. The best thing about outsourcing customer service roles is that you can keep your team small. It would cost a fortune to employ ten people just to answer emails, letters, and telephone calls. As you will discover when you research the market, you can get other people to handle that task for much less.

Marketing

You need lots of spare time to work on the success of your company. That means you might have to attend lots of networking events and such. You might also need a couple of hours each day just to sit thinking about your next moves. It’s impossible to have that much time on your hands if you don’t outsource your marketing efforts. There are hundreds of professional firms out there who would happily deal with the matter one your behalf. Most of the people working for those companies have official qualifications in the subject. So, you just need to trust in their expertise. Again, outsourcing that job is cheaper and more efficient. You could get amazing results in only a couple of days.

SEO

The guys at www.LosAngelesSEO.org say all company bosses now understand the importance of SEO. While that might be true, many of them are still handling the process in-house. That is a terrible idea because professionals working in that field know more than you. The simplest SEO mistakes could cause a penalty and damage your online reputation. At the same time, Google changes the rules far too frequently for you to keep up. Outsourcing the SEO process should mean you appear at the top of relevant search results very quickly. You’ll have to pay a premium for the service, but anything less makes you look like an amateur.

Web development

Some people decide to employ a web designer directly. That is a great idea if your company is making a decent profit and you can afford the cost. However, outsourcing the job will help you to save money during the early stages. Don’t make the mistake of trying to design your business website without expert help. Those free site building tools advertised on the TV might look good, but they’re not. Any internet user worth their salt can spot an amateur website a mile away. You need to present the right online image, and it’s impossible to do that without a professionally designed domain. Also, most web development firms will offer maintenance deals you should consider.

Content writing

Professional writers will always create better content than other people. For that reason, you should try to find a good and reliable freelancer. The people over at www.freelance.com have helped to make that process much easier. Ask them to create the content for your website, and your marketing emails too. In fact, you could ask them to write every letter you ever send. Outsourcing writing tasks should mean you always present the best wording to your customers and clients. Also, some writers will know how to use psychology to get better results. The way in which your text is written can make a huge different to success levels.

So long as you outsource all the processes mentioned on this page, your business should grow and expand quickly. Some company bosses have an issue when it comes to letting go of the reins. However, you must understand that trusting other people with certain parts of your business is essential. The last thing you want to do is build a company that needs thousands of staff members. There is just too much risk involved when you could simply pass work to other professionals.

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A Quick Guide To The Marketing Benefits Of A Greener Business

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A Quick Guide To The Marketing Benefits Of A Greener Business
Photo courtesy of Gui Seiz

There are plenty of reasons why businesses all over the world are becoming more eco-friendly. It’s a money-saver, for a start. All those high electricity bills, waste paper – it all costs you far less when you try and limit the use. But, one of the most overlooked benefits of running a greener business is that it is great for your marketing efforts. In this brief guide, I’m going to outline some of the reasons why.

It’s an instant profile changer

You hear a lot about ‘values’ in business these days. And, let’s be honest, most of them are nonsense. But with a greener outlook, you have something to shout about. Embracing a more eco-friendly approach with your company places you in an area that is more interesting for more people. And, it works on a local and national scale. Journalists will be more likely to pick up on your story, and, in essence, it gives you a much wider field to play on.

You make up your customer’s minds for them

We’ve spoken before of one particular problem that many businesses face when trying to build their customer base. It’s all about what makes buyers choose one product over another. Some people will buy only when they are at that stage of the sales cycle. Others will prefer a color or a brand name. And, most importantly for this article, some will buy for ethical reasons. People actively look for companies that embrace a green outlook. Nobody actively seeks out a business that damages the environment. So, it’s a no-brainer: pursuing eco-friendly values will make you more appealing to a large part of the market.

It’s trackable

One of the oldest marketing techniques in the book is sending out literature or greetings cards at certain times of the year. You can track these – to an extent. But, in most cases, you never know whether those flyers and leaflets end up in the trash or whether you get a direct response. It’s also a tremendous waste of paper and printing, especially for unsuccessful campaigns. However, try those marketing methods online and it’s a different story. Whether it’s holiday ecards for business customers or special offer emails to customers, you can track it all. You can see who opens them, who responds, and you can get a better grasp of what works – and what doesn’t.

You get access to your local community

With the web being all encompassing for marketer’s minds these days, it’s easy to forget what your local community can do for your business. It’s a strong market that can give you a backbone for growth, and local firms from different industries often work with one another. If you embrace a greener strategy, it’s something you can champion at a local level. That gives you access to all the other businesses in your area that are doing similar things and puts you on a pedestal of sorts.

So, there you have it: some simple ways that show going green can give your marketing a boost. Let me know if you have any ideas on how you can change things for your company and I’ll get right back to you. See you again!

How to Make Money with a Blog

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So, you want to get rich off a blog. Maybe you’ve seen pictures of Marcus Frind, founder of free online dating site Plenty of Fish, holding up his check for $901,733 – money generated through Google’s AdSense. Or perhaps you’ve heard of Jeremy Schoemaker – they call him “Shoe Money” – who also posted a picture of himself holding a check from Google for a month’s worth of clicks: $132,995.

You’ve heard these outrageous tales of success, and you know that you have great blog ideas yourself. And you, too, want to get rich, quick.

As the founder of Today’s Growth Consultant and Income Store, two companies that collectively own over 200 income-generating websites, I regularly partner with industry thought leaders, CEOs, authors, and athletes to create a generous amount of blog content. Our websites are seen over 50 million times a year, and we’re currently under contracts to split revenues in the eight figures. I’m here to tell you, you can make money on a blog. But not if you are exclusively focused on dollars.

The bad news: the days of monetizing a blog simply by plastering it with ads were well over by about 2008. Back then, you could get $40 per CPM, where today, it’s about $2. Even if you decide to go that route, you’ll need a substantial amount of traffic to make it lucrative. If you’re new to the blogging game and don’t have traffic yet, that’s going to take a while to build. So, you probably aren’t going to turn into the next Marcus Frind or Shoe Money simply by pasting ads all over your blog.

But there’s another way.

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About the Author

Ken CourtrightKen Courtright, speaker and author of multiple best-selling Internet marketing titles, is the founder of Today’s Growth Consultant (TGC) – a two-time Inc. 5000 designee – that launched www.IncomeStore.com. TGC/Income Store partners with individuals, companies and private equity firms/fund managers procure, develop and manage revenue-generating websites at two times earnings. The company’s portfolio currently boasts over 400 websites that are seen approximately 100 million times each year. Ken may be reached online at www.TodaysGrowthConsultant.com.

The Big Picture of Business – Business Success Checklist

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When you own and operate a business you need to have certain procedures for an efficient and seamless function. Sometimes the difficulty of managing your time makes for a haphazard operation. An inefficient operation results in unproductive activities which often miss the point and worse yet, result in wasted time and wasted resources.

One of the ways in which you can optimize your business activities would be the focus and attention to detail that a checklist can stimulate. Here is my own business success checklist that will help you optimize your activities for a more efficient and purpose oriented endeavor. Success is inevitable.

Clearly defined purpose.
Having a clearly defined purpose will focus your activities to a customer-oriented perspective. When a business loses sight of the customer and what they really need they often run into difficulties. Your clearly defined purpose can also center the attention and be a source of inspiration for your employees.

Provide leadership.
A leader’s purpose and job is to give direction and purpose and motivate his people. Leaders must also provide support for the emotional needs of their employees while they are at work and even sometimes when they bring personal concerns to the working place. The business absolutely needs energetic and emotionally mature leaders for it to prosper.

Focus on excellence.
When a company is content with being merely mediocre it may survive but it will never do extremely well. The company must have an emphasis on high standards, a desire to create and give value to customers, accountability to the employers and to your customers, and the drive to learn. If these are incorporated into the culture of your company a culture of excellence in all things will soon be prevalent.

Plan for the future.
When your business has contingency plans for future scenarios you will seldom be caught by surprise. You never know when the next big recession will hit. Most successful businesses have planned responses to most scenarios because they took the time to think “What If”. It is important to identify swings and trends so that innovation can remain a strength of your business.

Instill discipline.
This is often an unpopular issue but this is a critical matter. The sharp focus and direction on your objectives and goals can only be maintained with constant monitoring of your procedures and processes. Whether your focus is on customer service, profits, investing, marketing, or company growth a constant awareness of your current position in relation to where you want to be is essential.

Business Success Checklist

1. The business you’re in

  • Study and refine your own core business characteristics.
  • Understand “The Business You’re In” and how it fits into the core business.
  • Design and re-engineering of products-services.
  • Development of technical abilities, specialties and expertise.
  • Utilization of industry consultants or technical specialists.
  • Development of core business supplier relationships.
  • Make investments toward quality controls.

2. Running the business

  • Objective analysis of how the organization has operated to date.
  • Formalize the organizational structure.
  • Document practices, procedures, operations and structure in writing.
  • Communicate policies and procedures to employees.
  • Physical plant is regularly studied, updated and modified.
  • Distribution standards are documented, practiced and measured.
  • Time management and “just in time” concepts are applied.
  • Plans are in writing to address inventories and reducing surplus.
  • Legal compliance and precautions plan is annually updated, with measurable goals.
  • Outsourcing, privatizing and collaborating plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Purchasing plan (with processes and vendor lists) is in writing.
  • Repair and maintenance contracts are routinely maintained.
  • Purchase and lease of equipment plan is annually updated, with measurable goals.
  • Continuous quality improvement plan is annually updated, with measurable goals.

3. Financial

  • Cost containment is one (but not the only) factor of company operations.
  • Each product-service is budgeted.
  • Long-term investments plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Assets are adequately valued and managed.
  • Cash flow, forecasting and budgeting are consistently monitored.
  • Written, consistent policies with payables and receivables are followed.
  • Strategic Plan includes provisions for refinancing, equity and debt financing.
  • Accounting firm utilization plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Banking and investing plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Payables plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Receivables plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Finance charges are negotiated.
  • Insurance plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Benefits plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.

4. People

  • Corporate culture reflects a formal Visioning Program.
  • Employees know their jobs, are empowered to make decisions and have high morale in carrying the company banner forward.
  • Top management has as a priority the need to develop and practice People development, skills and team building responsibilities.
  • Human Resources program is active, professional and responsive to the organization.
  • Incentives-rewards-bonus plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Personnel Policies and Procedures are written, and distributed to all employees.
  • Each employee has his-her own Position Results Oriented Description plan.
  • Training plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Professional development plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.

5. Business development

  • All members of top management have Business Development responsibilities.
  • Company has and regularly fine-tunes a communications strategy.
  • Sales plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Marketing plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Advertising plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Public relations plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Research plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Marketplace development plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Creative collaborator-vendor plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.

6. Body of Knowledge

  • Consultant plan is annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Performance reviews are conducted annually updated, with realistic, measurable goals.
  • Company learns how to benefit from changes.
  • Organization predicts and stays ahead of trends.
  • The company leads the industry.
  • Everything that goes on outside our company affects our business.
  • Willingness to invest in research.
  • Commitment toward collaboration and working with other companies.
  • Maintains active government and regulator relations program.
  • Maintains active community relations program.

7. The Big Picture

  • Shared Vision is crafted, articulated and followed.
  • Ongoing emphasis upon updating, fine-tuning and improving the corporate culture.
  • CEO accepts and ideas and philosophies with employees and stakeholders.
  • Creative business practices are most welcome here.
  • Strategic planning is viewed as vital to business survival and future success.
  • Outside-the-box thinking does indeed apply to us and will be sought.
  • The organization maintains and lives by an ethics statement.
  • The organization subscribes to continuous quality improvement ideologies-processes.
  • Maintains active crisis preparedness and prevention program.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.

7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Running a Family Business

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Entrepreneurship is rarely easy but also having family in the mix can add multiple layers of complexity – barriers and challenges that your competitors may not be burdened with. That said, the unique dynamics of a family-run business can also result in extraordinary success as evidenced by Wal-Mart, BMW, Ford and Tyson – all highly accomplished family firms. For this reason and others, the ‘family business’ trend is flourishing. In fact, recent reports reveal that family-owned companies comprise between 80 and 90 percent of businesses worldwide, generating a staggering estimated $6.5 trillion in annual sales – “enough to be the third largest economy in the world (behind the U.S. and China)” as cited in the report.

What’s also fascinating is that The Global Family Business Index, a compilation of the largest 500 family firms around the globe intended to exemplify the economic power and relevance of family firms worldwide, found that 44 percent are owned by fourth generation or older family members. These companies are in it for the long haul and have clearly realized the kind of sustained success needed to withstand the test of
time.

One major component of long term success among family businesses is simply knowing how to navigate and circumvent personal relationships in order to work together effectively, while also maintaining positive perceptions and overall integrity with non-related staffers. Achieving all of this, while tending to “standard” business issues, can be daunting at best and a death knell for far too many.

With this in mind, here’s a list of seven pitfalls to avoid—all of which can cause an assortment of strife: from uncomfortable family friction to completely tearing a family and business apart.

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About the Author

Brian GreenbergBrian Greenberg is a multi-faceted entrepreneur who has founded and now spearheads multiple online businesses. He currently co-owns and operates three entrepreneurial companies with his father, Elliott Greenberg, which have each flourished for over 10 years: www.WholesaleJanitorialSupply.com, www.TouchFreeConcepts.com and www.TrueBlueLifeInsurance.com.