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The three business decisions that are too important to make on your own

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Business decisions|The three business decisions that are too important to make on your ownIf you run your own business, you’re likely considered an expert in your industry. The only problem is that you might not be an expert in everything else it takes to run a successful business. With that in mind, here are three business decisions you should always look for the guidance of experts before making any big moves.

Marketing

When you think of your company’s most important departments, you might think about the design staff that plan your new range of products, the production staff that actually produce them, or your sales team that make sure they get to the customer. Many people often overlook the power and influence of the marketing team. In fact, some smaller businesses even believe they can run without a marketing plan altogether. It’s important to have a marketing system in place to make sure enough customers know about your products and are persuaded to buy them, so you’re business can truly grow over time. Even if every other department is doing their job correctly, you could be losing out on a lot of money without proper marketing.

While it is possible to run a business without full-time staff members trained in marketing, it doesn’t mean it’s smart to do so. As there are so many ways of marketing, and the size of marketing campaigns can range massively, it’s important to speak to someone who knows which steps are right to take for your business. What works for one business might be a complete waste of resources for another, and vice versa. A marketing company like Flyrise, can help you decide the best ways to spend your marketing budget on a monthly basis. With the right advice, you can enjoy a path to long-term growth and success year-over-year.

Recruitment

Another important decision for any business to understand properly is recruitment. Hiring an extra staff member means your business can be more productive. But, doing so also means an increase in your payroll cost, and if you’re a small business, even one person’s salary can make a big difference. With this in mind, it’s important to pick only the best people to work with you. If you’re unsure of the qualities to look for in your new employee, or even the best way to judge which candidate is the right one for the job, seek the help of a local recruitment firm. If you choose the wrong candidate, you could be stuck with someone who isn’t benefitting the business as much as you’d hope but is still being compensated as such.

HR

Disputes between staff members can be seriously damaging to your company. At best, they’ll damage the mood of your team and also affect their ability to collaborate together. At worse, and it could lead to court cases and other complications. When it comes to dealing with HR, it’s important to find resources independent from the business to make sure every situation is dealt with fairly and to the letter of the law. If you don’t hire an expert, these disputes will go on for longer and cause a lot more disruption than necessary.

Effective Ways to Cut Your Business Expenses

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Cut Your Business Expenses|Effective Ways to Cut Your Business ExpensesAll businesses cost money to run and involve necessary expenses such as employee salaries, office overheads, and supply costs. While some expenses are unavoidable, there are various ways to cut your business costs and save more each month. Becoming more financially aware and identifying ways to lower costs will boost your bottom line and provide you with more cash to invest in core areas of your company. With this in mind, here are some effective ways to cut your business expenses:

Reduce staff turnover

Recruitment is a significant expense for businesses, and many companies invest heavily in their recruitment strategies to attract the best candidates. Recruitment costs increase significantly when you have a high staff turnover rate, as you will have to invest resources in advertising job openings, vetting applicants, and training new employees. High staff turnover will also cause disruption in your business, which is likely to harm productivity and overall revenue potential. The current job market favors candidates, and research shows that there are currently more job openings than hires. With this in mind, it is more important than ever for employers to keep their teams happy and take steps to retain their skilled employees. You can minimize staff turnover by offering competitive pay and benefits, praising your staff for their work, and offering regular career advancement opportunities.

Lower your office costs

Your office overheads are likely to be your biggest business expense. Reducing your office costs can be a reliable way to cut your business expenses and boost your bottom line. Luckily, there are several thrifty ways to lower office costs. Here are a few ideas:

  • Move your office to a more affordable area:commercial properties tend to be cheaper when they are located on the outskirts of city centers.
  • Relocate to a smaller office space that offers a lower monthly rent.
  • Reduce the number of employees in the workplace by offering flexible and remote working. This should cut your office overheads and can also be an effective strategy to boost office morale and employee engagement.
  • Encourage green habits in the office, i.e., switch lights off during the day and have all equipment on the more eco-friendly setting. Switching to more sustainable workplace practices will reduce your company’s carbon footprint and cut your monthly utility bills.
  • Invest in a utility management solutions pay bill service to help you stay on top of your bills, reduce expenses, and save time.

Negotiate cheaper supply costs

The majority of businesses make wholesale supply purchases. Negotiating lower deals on supplies can make a dramatic difference to your monthly expenses, especially if you make wholesale purchases on a frequent basis. Make sure you shop around to find the best-value wholesale distributors. If you want to target proven fast-moving products, consider selling wholesale cups & mugs. You should always speak with your current supplier before switching, as they may be prepared to match the lower rate. This will allow you to avoid any unnecessary hassle and reduce the risks involved with switching suppliers. You may also be able to instantly reduce your business expenses by finding better energy rates. Switching to a new business energy provider could save you up to 30% and takes just 5 minutes.

Ensuring Small Business Success

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Small Business Success|Ensuring Small Business SuccessWhen you decide to pursue your dreams and open your own small business, there are many things that can disrupt your venture and reduce your chances of success. Making sure that you have covered all bases is so vital to ensure that your company can thrive, but without a wealth of previous experience then how can you stay in control and push your small business in the right direction? Luckily, there are a few simple steps that you can follow to be as successful as possible throughout your company’s lifetime, and it couldn’t be easier to start making positive changes today! So, if you want to know more about what you can do to ensure your small business is a success, then read on to uncover some of the best tips and tricks that you can utilise to push your profit to respectable levels in no time at all!

Staying On Top Of Paperwork

Opening your own small business is often an overwhelming experience, as the sheer quantity of paperwork that you have to complete to a very high standard can be too much for just one person to handle. Failing to stay on top of your paperwork can easily cause your business to spiral into difficulties, as not only do you have a moral responsibility to keep track of your company, but also a legal requirement too. A large amount of general paperwork can actually be outsourced and completed by another organisation, such as any payroll services for small business needs which can take a huge weight off your shoulders.

The Importance Of Marketing

When you are in the very early stages of business, this is the most important time for you to start marketing and advertising your brand, product or services to gain enough attention and custom to grow and thrive. New small businesses must put effort into getting their name out there to attract customers and develop a reputation, otherwise you will likely not receive even one single customer. Even a small emphasis on advertising can encourage local people to start talking about your business, and word of mouth marketing is one of the most beneficial techniques, as it’s completely free and can help your brand name to spread at a super fast speed.

Sourcing Excellent Staff

Though you may find it difficult to let go of some responsibility and allow other people to get involved and contribute to your small business, it’s so important for growth and success that you can source excellent staff to support you and help your company expand and evolve. Finding a great team doesn’t have to be a difficult task, as you can approach an employment agency with the job role description you have to offer, and allow them to find the perfect candidate to fit your needs. Qualifications and previous experience are a must, as you cannot afford to spend time training and educating your staff.

Ensuring that your small business is a great success has never been so simple when you can make the most of the steps above!

Investing in Your Employees: 4 Ways To Attract and Keep Hold of Top Talent

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Attracting Talent|Investing in Your Employees: 4 Ways To Attract and Keep Hold of Top TalentSecuring top talent is undeniably essential to the long-term success of any business.

But certain high-level professional skills are in incredibly high demand. There are so many roles to fill, that those who have proven their ability can afford to be picky, and to move on if they aren’t satisfied with the position.

So now the job market swings so heavily in favour of these candidates, how can you attract them to join your enterprise, and convince them to stay for the long haul? If you’re looking for some pointers, check out the list below.

Know Your Value

Highly-trained candidates with specialist skills will have many employment options. So your recruitment process needs to be as much about communicating the value and potential of your business, as it is about assessing their suitability for the role.

What are the wider repercussions of the work you do? What are you proud of having achieved? And what are you striving for in the future?

Your employees want to feel that they will contribute significantly to something progressive and exciting. Make it clear how they will fit in, how their skills will move the business forward, and how they can become part of something impactful.

Invest in your promotional material – your website, careers pages, videos, and personal communication from your team – to spread this message loud and clear.

More Than Just A Job

A long-term career is more than just a job. It’s a personal investment that touches every aspect of your life. And potential candidates will want to know that your business puts time and effort into developing a healthy work-life balance.

Can you offer more flexible working hours? Can you give the option to work at home when needed? How does your business support parents, or those will disabilities? Do you provide meals, activities, or mental health initiatives for employees?

Think about what is going to be important to the contentment of your employees outside of the role and the salary. Because family, health and happiness will play a bigger role in their decision than just about anything else.

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Attracting Talent|Investing in Your Employees: 4 Ways To Attract and Keep Hold of Top TalentInvest in Their Professional Development

Smart, ambitious people will get restless in a job that doesn’t challenge them or lead somewhere exciting. And when they feel like they’re stagnating or heading towards a dead-end, your employees will simply look for employment opportunities elsewhere.

So it’s important to discuss the professional development goals of your employees and plan regularly how to facilitate them. This might include gaining experiences in other roles, learning new skills through outside IT Training, or training for management or leadership positions.

Wherever they want to go, you should do your best to help them progress. Because a sense of purpose comes hand in hand with loyalty and motivation.

The Social Side

One of the biggest factors in job satisfaction is having good friendships with your colleagues. So working hard to foster the social side of your business is absolutely essential.

Take the time to introduce new employees to the team and try using a buddy system to make sure they feel supported from day one.

Invest in social events and team building exercises and give people the chance to get to know each other outside of work.

And if you have a great social environment already, let potential candidates know this! Show them around the office and give them a sense of how much fun it would be to work here. Because if they feel like they’ll fit right in, they’ll pick you over your competitors.

5 Ways HCM Can Improve Talent Recruitment

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |HCM|5 Ways HCM Can Improve Talent RecruitmentThe right talent is essential for the success of any organization. However, sometimes it can be difficult and even time consuming and expensive to find the right people to work for you. Choosing the wrong person for the job can ruin your reputation and bring your profits down. Thus, no matter what it takes, you have to do your best to find the right talent. One of the steps you can take to make the recruitment process more successful is to use a human capital management (HCM) system. Such a solution can be helpful in five key ways

Job Posting

An HCM system can simplify the process of sending out job posts or Ads. With most systems, you can share the post to job forums and even social media directly from the platform. You will also get an option for employee referrals. Referrals from your employees have higher chances of turning out right because they are like recommendations from people you know. However, you still need to do thorough screening for the referrals, just like you would for the other applicants.

Applicants Experience

Another key benefit of using an HCM system is that it can give the applicants a great experience during the entire process. As a business, you should strive to build a good reputation, not only with your customers but with potential employees as well. You can make a good impression on potential employees by providing a smooth application process and proper communication after one has submitted their application. When you offer something short of that, applicants will have a bad impression about your business and may leave before completing the application or getting feedback. By investing in a good system, you can avoid losing top talent along the application process.

Timely and Personalized Communication

Generic messages aren’t good for both the employees and the applicants. With a good system, you can send personalized messages to all your applicants. A personalized message shows that you appreciate the effort of your applicants. And with such appreciation, the applicant may be disappointed if they don’t make it but they are less likely to walk away bitter.

One Dashboard

Another benefit of having an HCM system is that you can track everything from one dashboard. With one dashboard, you can avoid duplication and repetition. Also, when everything is being coordinated from one centralized place, there will be better collaboration among the parties involved in the hiring process.

Background Checks

HCM software (also referred to as human capital management) includes background checks. Examples of checks you can complete using the software include criminal record checks, identity, and employment checks. However, note that while these checks are useful, they may not be comprehensive. You will have to do more checks by yourself before making a decision to hire someone.

With the right HCM software, you will be able to recruit and hire the best talent without spending so much time or going through so many struggles. However, it is important to remember that not all systems have the same features. The benefits you get will depend on the features of the system you choose. Thus, check the features well when shopping for software for your business.