Every month, half a million people become entrepreneurs. While that number may seem inspiring, it’s important to note that the vast majority of those businesses will be forced to cease operations or subsidize them with other means of employment.
One of the biggest factors that differentiate winners from losers in business is the ability to integrate processes that eliminate menial tasks and promote growth. Therein lies the value of FreshBooks cloud accounting.
FreshBooks provides small business owners with an end-to-end means of managing their financials. In this post, we share five advantages of empowering your business’s workflow with FreshBooks.
1. FreshBooks Trumps Manual Spreadsheets
Small business owners have long used tools like Microsoft Excel to track their income and expenses. While spreadsheets served a purpose for managing financials in the past, with how far technology has come in the last decade, you’d be hampering your operation by using Excel over tools like FreshBooks today.
Sure, spreadsheets can be free to use, depending on the provider that you get yours from. Consider the amount of time you’ll spend manually inputting data into spreadsheets, though. When you do, you’ll find that FreshBooks’ automation makes it less costly.
2. FreshBooks is the Cloud Financials Leader
FreshBooks is not the only cloud bookkeeping/accounting tool on the market. As a matter of fact, its leading competitor, “QuickBooks,” commands a larger market share.
When you read a formal comparison between FreshBooks and QuickBooks, we think you’ll prefer FreshBooks, given its sole focus is on bookkeeping/accounting. QuickBooks, on the other hand, is just one product of many whose parent company, Intuit, divides its time between.
3. Subscription Packages are Flexible
Businesses have different needs. FreshBooks takes that reality into account and offers several flexible subscription packages. These packages ensure that you only have to pay for features that are valuable to you.
You can learn more about what’s included in FreshBook’s Lite, Plus, Premium and Select tiers on its pricing page.
4. Freshbook’s Features are Boundless
Whether you need to track your corporate vehicle’s miles or you need to project how much you’ll owe in taxes this year, FreshBooks has you covered. Small- to medium-sized businesses will never be in a situation where FreshBooks can’t accommodate what they need to do.
5. Your Business Will Become More Scalable
Armed with FreshBooks cloud accounting, you’ll be able to do anything that you need to related to your financials from anywhere in the world. That flexibility will allow you to scale much faster than organizations relying on legacy workflows.
Start Your Free Trial of FreshBooks Cloud Accounting
With all of the FreshBooks cloud accounting advantages that we’ve just hit you with, we hope you’re excited to give it a try. As an added bonus, sampling FreshBooks is 100% free!
That gives you no excuse not to explore how FreshBooks might be able to revolutionize your company.
Are you looking for more tips on how to upgrade your business’s structure and strategy? If you are, browse more of the content on our blog.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/5-Unexpected-Benefits-of-Using-Freshbooks-Cloud-Accounting.jpg7331200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-16 07:00:072019-10-16 05:45:125 Unexpected Benefits of Using Freshbooks Cloud Accounting
College graduates often get the same career advice: be yourself, disrupt the status quo. Meanwhile, their future employers cling to status quo by putting people in boxes and telling them what to do, in the name of efficiency or team cohesion.
People are frustrated and exhausted, not from overwork but from a particularly demoralizing kind of “underwork.” They’ve got skills, ideas and talents that they want to use but can’t, because to do so would disrupt everyone who finds comfort in the status quo.
Most organizations and leaders say they want to empower people to contribute at their fullest capacity. But most leaders are never taught how to do that.
We’re stuck in the age of standardization – an age when organizations didn’t see the need to value one’s individuality or personal perspectives.
But as a society, we are more diverse than ever. We are more informed than ever. We are aware of and proud of our individuality. We’ve entered the age of personalization, but our leadership strategies have not caught up.
If we don’t interrupt ourselves the cycle will continue.
Stop emphasizing conformity.
People feel boxed in because they are boxed in. In our workplaces we have fooled ourselves into thinking we have welcomed diversity of thought (a phrase we love to throw around) – when in actuality we have built shrines to conformity. We hire people who think just like we do, and we reward and promote people only when they meet the standards set by someone else.
Does your organization have a system for training leaders to identify individual capability when hiring or forming teams, so that everyone can look beyond experience and education as the only indicators of potential and invite new thinking into the mix? Inclusion is an action that constructively interrupts the process of always seeking more of what’s familiar.
Stop hiring for ‘the right fit.’
That’s code for you need to be just like everyone else. Your individuality is not welcome here.
Sure, most people want someone who is easy to get along with, in the name of productivity. They want someone who is easy to work alongside, in the name of efficiency. They want someone who is easy to like, in the name of team cohesion. Those are all great things for a team to achieve.
But too often productivity, efficiency and cohesion become the goals themselves, and the pursuit of those gets in the way of the original objective – which might be better served by a wider range of personalities and working styles.
It’s easier to be with and work with people who are similar to us. But if we really want to expand the capacity of our teams and our people, we have to interrupt our preference for ease and invite the discomfort of working closely with people who think differently.
Gear up.
If you threaten the status quo, the status quo fights back. Hard. People who have made the rules and benefitted from those rules are not happy when those rules change – even if that change is good and necessary and just.
Most organizations operate in a certain way: follow this path, get this experience, demonstrate these skills, move up the ladder rung by rung. A subset of people have benefitted from this system the way it is, but they don’t see the system at work because they’ve never bumped up against it. When that system changes, they lash out.
But disrupting the status quo is worth it.
Leaders everywhere tell me they have felt restricted their entire professional lives, and they want to be free to be who they are and empower others to contribute at the highest levels of their individual capacity.
This is where to start.
About the Author Glenn Llopis is a Cuban-American entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker and senior advisor to fortune 500 companies and organizations in healthcare, financial, consumer packaged goods and beyond.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/job-3790033_1280.jpg8471280Sharon Kastorianohttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngSharon Kastoriano2019-10-15 20:00:262019-10-18 20:16:01Leaders: Stop Standing in the Way
There are some free deals you come across that seem to be a real no-brainer and well worth taking advantage of but there are also plenty of scenarios where get something for free may not be the best option for a number of good reasons.
For example, there is a fundamental difference between cheap VPNs and a free alternative that comes with strings attached.
Here are some things to look out for and some reasons to think carefully before being tempted by the offer of a free VPN deal.
When the numbers don’t add up
There is an understandable boom in the VPN market at the moment and it is easy to appreciate why so many people are looking to use a virtual private network when you consider all the security issues attached to going online.
You will clearly want to protect your personal data from hackers and may also want to enjoy the freedom to access and browse sites with the degree of anonymity that comes with connecting via a VPN.
You are putting your trust in your chosen VPN provider to have adequate resources and protocols in place to provide a decent level of security. However, investing in the right hardware doesn’t come cheap and that can often mean a free VPN provider takes shortcuts, making them potentially unsafe to use.
A free VPN could infect your device
If you were tempted to download a free VPN for your Android device, for instance, some estimates suggest that as many as a third of free Android VPN contain malware.
All of a sudden your free VPN deal doesn’t look so good when you are subjected to a ransomware attack and have to spend money resolving the issue.
You are a sitting target for advertisers
Clearly, free VPN providers need to earn money somehow and the preferred route is often to let you have access to the network in return for watching some adverts and being subjected to pop-ups.
There have also been allegations of unacceptable privacy violations through the use of trackers that allow your provider to sell marketing data to a third party.
There might be times when you might be prepared to watch a few annoying ads to get something for free but if a free VPN offers this sort of deal you might want to think twice.
Problems watching your favorite shows
One of the reasons you might decide to use a VPN is because it gives you the chance to stream content that you might otherwise not have any access to if geographical constraints apply.
Being able to watch your favorite Netflix box set wherever you are in the world should be an option when you connect via a VPN but you might discover that a free VPN provider could be taking some of your bandwidth from you.
If you don’t mind interruptions to your viewing caused by buffering issues in return for a free VPN deal you are in the minority.
A lack of bandwidth is definitely a plausible reason why you might want to avoid using a free VPN service. When you also consider the potential security issues and the prospect of being subjected to loads of pop-ups, it doesn’t make the offer as appealing as you first thought.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/vpn-3406770_1280.jpg8531280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-15 18:00:042019-10-15 15:42:164 Reasons You Should Think Twice Before Trusting a Free VPN Provider
Growth is an essential part of a business’ progression. You can’t stay the same forever. Whilst the “business as usual” quote might be a well-known reference in the modern world, it’s important not to take that idea out of context. A certain approach might have worked for your company in the past, but that doesn’t mean it’ll work in the future. If you want your brand to build a name for itself over the years, then you need to keep growing. It’s not about completely reinventing your business; it’s about making gradual changes so you can adapt to an ever-evolving marketplace. It can be hard to keep up with today’s industrial landscape, but here are some modern solutions for a business that’s trying to expand.
Collect feedback from your demographic.
Communicating with your current customers and any potential customers in your target market will really help your company to grow. So, you need to collect feedback from your demographic in order to ensure that you know what the market wants from you. You should use social media to do this, as the vast majority of consumers in every industry use the internet to do research in the modern age. Social networks are fantastic platforms for reaching your intended demographic. That’s why you should start friendly and engaging conversations with people on these platforms.
By engaging with current and potential clients in an approachable and caring manner, you’ll be able to start a genuine line of dialogue with them. That’s how you’ll be able to get valuable feedback with regards to the problems facing your target market. In turn, you’ll be able to pinpoint gaps in your industry and create innovative solutions which set you apart from your competitors. Most importantly, you’ll be able to give consumers what they truly want, and that’s how you’ll really stand out in your particular marketplace. The internet is a powerful tool when it comes to collecting data. If you’re looking for a modern solution to help your company expand, use data to drive your research strategy. Collect feedback online, and use your findings to come up with relevant services which suit the current needs of your target market.
Market your brand well on search engines.
Digital marketing is an essential part of any good business strategy. If you’re trying to grow your company, then you should be using the internet to help you out. After all, more consumers than ever do their shopping online in the modern era, so you should focus on your online strategy. In particular, you should try to reach potential clients on search engines. Showing up at the top of the first result page will increase the likelihood that potential customers choose you rather than your competitors. People don’t want to scroll through several result pages to find a good business. That’s why you need to work on your web content so you can impress Google’s algorithms and rank highly on result pages.
You can learn more from Evergreen Digital Marketing if you want to improve your SEO strategy and other parts of your online campaign. Getting help from professionals could definitely boost your digital marketing strategy. Understanding the nuances of online advertising can be tricky. Most modern companies are trying to stand out online and increase their ranking on search engines. There’s a lot of competition. It helps to do as much research as possible and get professional assistance to ensure that your web content does well. In turn, more potential customers will find you and your business will expand.
Encourage your customers to market your business.
Another wise way to expand your business is to encourage your customers to market it for you. After all, consumers want to be able to put their trust in a company when buying its products or services. If they’ve never bought anything from your business before, then they must rely on the word of people who have used your business. Of course, happy customers don’t always spread the word. How many products or services do you review? You probably buy so many things every day that you don’t have time to leave a positive online review for every company who sells something to you. So, you have to encourage your customers to market your business if you want them to attract new potential customers. That’s how your company will start to grow.
You could start a referral scheme to help with this. If clients receive rewards such as discounts and free gifts for every person they manage to refer to you (assuming that referred individual actually buys something from your business), then they’ll feel encouraged to start spreading the word. That’s how you can start to expand your brand. If each customer managed to encourage one of their friends to start buying your products and services, your client base would double. Obviously, you might not be able to encourage every client to spread the word, but the point is that this could really help your company to grow.
Ensure that your brand is engaging.
In addition, you should ensure that your brand is engaging if you want to help your business expand in the modern age. It isn’t enough to just sell good products or services. There’s so much competition in the current landscape that you have to sell your brand to the market as well as your goods. If your company and a dozen others sell high-quality goods, consumers will be happy to pick any option. However, if your brand is distinctive, then your company might stick out and have more of an effect on your target market. Perhaps you could promise to run your business sustainably, for instance. This would make your brand engaging. Take a look at Ecosia; that search engine has become massively popular over recent years. They promise to plant a tree for every search made. Few search engines gain popularity with Google on the market, so that just shows how important it is to have an enticing brand identity.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/adult-blur-businessman-288477.jpg9001200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-15 16:00:062019-10-15 15:15:37Modern Solutions For A Business That Is Trying To Expand
Perhaps you started off at the kitchen table. Or maybe you were in a spare room. Crammed into a garden shed or a loft conversion, occasionally working out of a cafe with free WiFi when you could. Launching your own business often starts with unglamorous surroundings – and when the time comes to finally move into a proper business premises, it feels like a significant milestone. Where your business is based has the power to be transformative. Whether you’re seeking warehousing space to become the logistical hub of operations, or an office environment where you can expand your team and make new hires to grow your business, it’s an exciting time but also a potentially stressful one. Securing premises generally involves a cash outlay and being bound to various contracts, so it’s a decision which needs to be right. If you’ve never chosen a business premises before, what do you need to know to make sure that you get the choice right?
Think Through Your Requirements
Despite your business straining at the seams for growth, choosing a location is not something that you should rush into. Before you go signing up to every commercial lettings agency in town, take the time to draw up a comprehensive list of the unique requirements that your business has, so that you can make viewings with a logical mind. Think about the size of space you need – and how quickly you’re likely to grow. You don’t want to sign a contract only to find that you’ve already run out of space six months down the line, but equally you don’t want to be paying for space you don’t need. If growth is unpredictable, then place a short term leasing agreement higher up your list. Think about things like access and proximity to public transport hubs for your employees. Look into parking restrictions, nearness to your suppliers, building facilities, business rates and the security of the property – even things like the Access Entry System. Now is the time to both think of the big picture and zero in on the details to make sure you make the right choice.
To Buy Or To Rent?
One of the main considerations to bear in mind with your first business premises is whether it’s better to rent or take the plunge and seek capital funding to purchase. This decisions depends on a variety of factors. If you work in a smaller scale, high growth industry such as software development than it makes more sense to rent – this gives you more flexibility and requires less outlay of precious capital. In other situation, where business growth is more steady or you require a very specific space for specialist manufacturing equipment, you may well be better off making a purchase, as you can manage and modify the building to fit your needs. This also gives you the option of renting the premises out in the future if it no longer suits your requirements and creating an additional income stream.The decision has to be up to you – but make sure you enter the process with a clear mind, and you’ll make the right decision for your business.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/chairs-chairs-and-tables-contemporary-2678468-1.jpg9001200StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2019-10-15 15:00:142019-10-15 14:53:23How To Choose Your First Business Premises
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5 Unexpected Benefits of Using Freshbooks Cloud Accounting
/in Managing Your Finances/by StrategyDrivenOne of the biggest factors that differentiate winners from losers in business is the ability to integrate processes that eliminate menial tasks and promote growth. Therein lies the value of FreshBooks cloud accounting.
FreshBooks provides small business owners with an end-to-end means of managing their financials. In this post, we share five advantages of empowering your business’s workflow with FreshBooks.
1. FreshBooks Trumps Manual Spreadsheets
Small business owners have long used tools like Microsoft Excel to track their income and expenses. While spreadsheets served a purpose for managing financials in the past, with how far technology has come in the last decade, you’d be hampering your operation by using Excel over tools like FreshBooks today.
Sure, spreadsheets can be free to use, depending on the provider that you get yours from. Consider the amount of time you’ll spend manually inputting data into spreadsheets, though. When you do, you’ll find that FreshBooks’ automation makes it less costly.
2. FreshBooks is the Cloud Financials Leader
FreshBooks is not the only cloud bookkeeping/accounting tool on the market. As a matter of fact, its leading competitor, “QuickBooks,” commands a larger market share.
When you read a formal comparison between FreshBooks and QuickBooks, we think you’ll prefer FreshBooks, given its sole focus is on bookkeeping/accounting. QuickBooks, on the other hand, is just one product of many whose parent company, Intuit, divides its time between.
3. Subscription Packages are Flexible
Businesses have different needs. FreshBooks takes that reality into account and offers several flexible subscription packages. These packages ensure that you only have to pay for features that are valuable to you.
You can learn more about what’s included in FreshBook’s Lite, Plus, Premium and Select tiers on its pricing page.
4. Freshbook’s Features are Boundless
Whether you need to track your corporate vehicle’s miles or you need to project how much you’ll owe in taxes this year, FreshBooks has you covered. Small- to medium-sized businesses will never be in a situation where FreshBooks can’t accommodate what they need to do.
5. Your Business Will Become More Scalable
Armed with FreshBooks cloud accounting, you’ll be able to do anything that you need to related to your financials from anywhere in the world. That flexibility will allow you to scale much faster than organizations relying on legacy workflows.
Start Your Free Trial of FreshBooks Cloud Accounting
With all of the FreshBooks cloud accounting advantages that we’ve just hit you with, we hope you’re excited to give it a try. As an added bonus, sampling FreshBooks is 100% free!
That gives you no excuse not to explore how FreshBooks might be able to revolutionize your company.
Are you looking for more tips on how to upgrade your business’s structure and strategy? If you are, browse more of the content on our blog.
Leaders: Stop Standing in the Way
/in Management & Leadership/by Glenn LlopisPeople are frustrated and exhausted, not from overwork but from a particularly demoralizing kind of “underwork.” They’ve got skills, ideas and talents that they want to use but can’t, because to do so would disrupt everyone who finds comfort in the status quo.
Most organizations and leaders say they want to empower people to contribute at their fullest capacity. But most leaders are never taught how to do that.
We’re stuck in the age of standardization – an age when organizations didn’t see the need to value one’s individuality or personal perspectives.
But as a society, we are more diverse than ever. We are more informed than ever. We are aware of and proud of our individuality. We’ve entered the age of personalization, but our leadership strategies have not caught up.
If we don’t interrupt ourselves the cycle will continue.
People feel boxed in because they are boxed in. In our workplaces we have fooled ourselves into thinking we have welcomed diversity of thought (a phrase we love to throw around) – when in actuality we have built shrines to conformity. We hire people who think just like we do, and we reward and promote people only when they meet the standards set by someone else.
Does your organization have a system for training leaders to identify individual capability when hiring or forming teams, so that everyone can look beyond experience and education as the only indicators of potential and invite new thinking into the mix? Inclusion is an action that constructively interrupts the process of always seeking more of what’s familiar.
Stop hiring for ‘the right fit.’
That’s code for you need to be just like everyone else. Your individuality is not welcome here.
Sure, most people want someone who is easy to get along with, in the name of productivity. They want someone who is easy to work alongside, in the name of efficiency. They want someone who is easy to like, in the name of team cohesion. Those are all great things for a team to achieve.
But too often productivity, efficiency and cohesion become the goals themselves, and the pursuit of those gets in the way of the original objective – which might be better served by a wider range of personalities and working styles.
It’s easier to be with and work with people who are similar to us. But if we really want to expand the capacity of our teams and our people, we have to interrupt our preference for ease and invite the discomfort of working closely with people who think differently.
Gear up.
If you threaten the status quo, the status quo fights back. Hard. People who have made the rules and benefitted from those rules are not happy when those rules change – even if that change is good and necessary and just.
Most organizations operate in a certain way: follow this path, get this experience, demonstrate these skills, move up the ladder rung by rung. A subset of people have benefitted from this system the way it is, but they don’t see the system at work because they’ve never bumped up against it. When that system changes, they lash out.
But disrupting the status quo is worth it.
Leaders everywhere tell me they have felt restricted their entire professional lives, and they want to be free to be who they are and empower others to contribute at the highest levels of their individual capacity.
This is where to start.
About the Author
Glenn Llopis is a Cuban-American entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker and senior advisor to fortune 500 companies and organizations in healthcare, financial, consumer packaged goods and beyond.
4 Reasons You Should Think Twice Before Trusting a Free VPN Provider
/in Risk Management/by StrategyDrivenFor example, there is a fundamental difference between cheap VPNs and a free alternative that comes with strings attached.
Here are some things to look out for and some reasons to think carefully before being tempted by the offer of a free VPN deal.
When the numbers don’t add up
There is an understandable boom in the VPN market at the moment and it is easy to appreciate why so many people are looking to use a virtual private network when you consider all the security issues attached to going online.
You will clearly want to protect your personal data from hackers and may also want to enjoy the freedom to access and browse sites with the degree of anonymity that comes with connecting via a VPN.
You are putting your trust in your chosen VPN provider to have adequate resources and protocols in place to provide a decent level of security. However, investing in the right hardware doesn’t come cheap and that can often mean a free VPN provider takes shortcuts, making them potentially unsafe to use.
A free VPN could infect your device
If you were tempted to download a free VPN for your Android device, for instance, some estimates suggest that as many as a third of free Android VPN contain malware.
All of a sudden your free VPN deal doesn’t look so good when you are subjected to a ransomware attack and have to spend money resolving the issue.
You are a sitting target for advertisers
Clearly, free VPN providers need to earn money somehow and the preferred route is often to let you have access to the network in return for watching some adverts and being subjected to pop-ups.
There have also been allegations of unacceptable privacy violations through the use of trackers that allow your provider to sell marketing data to a third party.
There might be times when you might be prepared to watch a few annoying ads to get something for free but if a free VPN offers this sort of deal you might want to think twice.
Problems watching your favorite shows
One of the reasons you might decide to use a VPN is because it gives you the chance to stream content that you might otherwise not have any access to if geographical constraints apply.
Being able to watch your favorite Netflix box set wherever you are in the world should be an option when you connect via a VPN but you might discover that a free VPN provider could be taking some of your bandwidth from you.
If you don’t mind interruptions to your viewing caused by buffering issues in return for a free VPN deal you are in the minority.
A lack of bandwidth is definitely a plausible reason why you might want to avoid using a free VPN service. When you also consider the potential security issues and the prospect of being subjected to loads of pop-ups, it doesn’t make the offer as appealing as you first thought.
Modern Solutions For A Business That Is Trying To Expand
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenCollect feedback from your demographic.
Communicating with your current customers and any potential customers in your target market will really help your company to grow. So, you need to collect feedback from your demographic in order to ensure that you know what the market wants from you. You should use social media to do this, as the vast majority of consumers in every industry use the internet to do research in the modern age. Social networks are fantastic platforms for reaching your intended demographic. That’s why you should start friendly and engaging conversations with people on these platforms.
By engaging with current and potential clients in an approachable and caring manner, you’ll be able to start a genuine line of dialogue with them. That’s how you’ll be able to get valuable feedback with regards to the problems facing your target market. In turn, you’ll be able to pinpoint gaps in your industry and create innovative solutions which set you apart from your competitors. Most importantly, you’ll be able to give consumers what they truly want, and that’s how you’ll really stand out in your particular marketplace. The internet is a powerful tool when it comes to collecting data. If you’re looking for a modern solution to help your company expand, use data to drive your research strategy. Collect feedback online, and use your findings to come up with relevant services which suit the current needs of your target market.
Market your brand well on search engines.
Digital marketing is an essential part of any good business strategy. If you’re trying to grow your company, then you should be using the internet to help you out. After all, more consumers than ever do their shopping online in the modern era, so you should focus on your online strategy. In particular, you should try to reach potential clients on search engines. Showing up at the top of the first result page will increase the likelihood that potential customers choose you rather than your competitors. People don’t want to scroll through several result pages to find a good business. That’s why you need to work on your web content so you can impress Google’s algorithms and rank highly on result pages.
You can learn more from Evergreen Digital Marketing if you want to improve your SEO strategy and other parts of your online campaign. Getting help from professionals could definitely boost your digital marketing strategy. Understanding the nuances of online advertising can be tricky. Most modern companies are trying to stand out online and increase their ranking on search engines. There’s a lot of competition. It helps to do as much research as possible and get professional assistance to ensure that your web content does well. In turn, more potential customers will find you and your business will expand.
Encourage your customers to market your business.
Another wise way to expand your business is to encourage your customers to market it for you. After all, consumers want to be able to put their trust in a company when buying its products or services. If they’ve never bought anything from your business before, then they must rely on the word of people who have used your business. Of course, happy customers don’t always spread the word. How many products or services do you review? You probably buy so many things every day that you don’t have time to leave a positive online review for every company who sells something to you. So, you have to encourage your customers to market your business if you want them to attract new potential customers. That’s how your company will start to grow.
You could start a referral scheme to help with this. If clients receive rewards such as discounts and free gifts for every person they manage to refer to you (assuming that referred individual actually buys something from your business), then they’ll feel encouraged to start spreading the word. That’s how you can start to expand your brand. If each customer managed to encourage one of their friends to start buying your products and services, your client base would double. Obviously, you might not be able to encourage every client to spread the word, but the point is that this could really help your company to grow.
Ensure that your brand is engaging.
In addition, you should ensure that your brand is engaging if you want to help your business expand in the modern age. It isn’t enough to just sell good products or services. There’s so much competition in the current landscape that you have to sell your brand to the market as well as your goods. If your company and a dozen others sell high-quality goods, consumers will be happy to pick any option. However, if your brand is distinctive, then your company might stick out and have more of an effect on your target market. Perhaps you could promise to run your business sustainably, for instance. This would make your brand engaging. Take a look at Ecosia; that search engine has become massively popular over recent years. They promise to plant a tree for every search made. Few search engines gain popularity with Google on the market, so that just shows how important it is to have an enticing brand identity.
How To Choose Your First Business Premises
/in Starting Your Business/by StrategyDrivenThink Through Your Requirements
Despite your business straining at the seams for growth, choosing a location is not something that you should rush into. Before you go signing up to every commercial lettings agency in town, take the time to draw up a comprehensive list of the unique requirements that your business has, so that you can make viewings with a logical mind. Think about the size of space you need – and how quickly you’re likely to grow. You don’t want to sign a contract only to find that you’ve already run out of space six months down the line, but equally you don’t want to be paying for space you don’t need. If growth is unpredictable, then place a short term leasing agreement higher up your list. Think about things like access and proximity to public transport hubs for your employees. Look into parking restrictions, nearness to your suppliers, building facilities, business rates and the security of the property – even things like the Access Entry System. Now is the time to both think of the big picture and zero in on the details to make sure you make the right choice.
To Buy Or To Rent?
One of the main considerations to bear in mind with your first business premises is whether it’s better to rent or take the plunge and seek capital funding to purchase. This decisions depends on a variety of factors. If you work in a smaller scale, high growth industry such as software development than it makes more sense to rent – this gives you more flexibility and requires less outlay of precious capital. In other situation, where business growth is more steady or you require a very specific space for specialist manufacturing equipment, you may well be better off making a purchase, as you can manage and modify the building to fit your needs. This also gives you the option of renting the premises out in the future if it no longer suits your requirements and creating an additional income stream.The decision has to be up to you – but make sure you enter the process with a clear mind, and you’ll make the right decision for your business.