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The Biggest Factors to Plan When Opening Doors Overseas

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Starting a new business can be an exciting and stressful time. Starting a business overseas can be even more exciting and stressful. When considering all of the work that goes into opening a new office, branch or business overseas and what opening in a new country signifies about your business’ success, it’s easy to get distracted.

Nevertheless, factoring in what may become a struggle or challenge before it happens is crucial in operating a successful overseas endeavor. From different cultural barriers to varying business regulations, there is plenty of room for things to go wrong.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the biggest factors any business should consider when opening a new branch, store or office overseas.

Evaluate Infrastructure

Regardless of the business or model you’re pursuing, infrastructure in any country is vital to long-term business success. In the case of internet-based businesses seeking refuge in low-cost countries, some obvious business infrastructure concerns include high-speed and reliable internet service, ample access to tech and accessories, and a variety of skilled workers.

In the case of a physical store front or office, they include roads and highways that can deliver products and services, transportation hubs that allow employees to come to and fro, and parking considerations for customers and clients.

Learn About the Culture

Whether the business intends to deal with the public directly or is merely hiring locally, an understanding of local cultural norms and traditions is crucial. For businesses that want to succeed overseas, keeping both customers and employees happy by understanding their ways of life is a great place to start.

Determine Employment Regulations

Even when opening a new business overseas, you may wish to place some domestic employees at the new location to oversee and/or assist in the new endeavor. Likewise, you may wish to hire fresh faces from other countries to work at the new overseas operation.

Whatever the case, it is crucial to ensure that all of the appropriate employment and hiring policies are understood and followed. For instance, nations like Australia require that potential foreign employees first be sponsored for jobs before arriving in the country (learn about what Australia sponsored jobs entail).

Procure Professional Financial Assistance

Opening a business abroad takes a lot of capital, and a lot of knowledge. The latter may be harder to come by than the former, which is why procuring legal and/or financial assistance is key. You’ll need to find one or more consultants who can help you navigate the realities of taxation, employment and accounting in order to ensure your business operates smoothly and properly.

Without such knowledge formally guiding your first moments overseas, you could fall into a situation where your business is shut down or goes bankrupt – something nobody wants to see happen.

Connect Locally

Last but not least, any business seeking to operate in a new country or climate must do the necessary legwork to learn more about the local business climate in an informal sense. There are many firms throughout the world who provide professional guides that can function as de-factor partners in arranging meetings, networking with other relevant leaders and helping to close deals as needed.

Having that local, personal touch can make a huge difference in how well new international businesses operate and whether or not they make the right impressions locally.

With so much to plan for a move across the ocean, it can be all too easy to forget about key factors. Before you break soil or open doors, it is vital to cover these five points thoroughly and have a game plan for each. By connecting locally, using professional financial assistants, learning about the culture, familiarizing yourself with hiring practices and determining infrastructure needs, your business will have maximized its chances at success on a new continent.

Should You Accept Cryptocurrency on Your Website?

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Bitcoin – and cryptocurrency in general – is creating many headlines in recent weeks. The staggeringly volatile market and the way Bitcoin jumped from $1,000 to over $17,000 within months garnered a lot of attention to the cryptocurrency. The popularity of Bitcoin also brought attention to other cryptocurrencies on the market, including Ethereum and Litecoin.

The big question remains the same: will cryptocurrency be the next mainstream payment method? Some businesses are in a wait-and-see pattern while others are jumping right in and accepting cryptocurrency payments. Should you accept cryptocurrency on your website?

A More Mature Market

One of the reasons why many businesses are still reluctant when it comes to accepting cryptocurrency on their websites is the volatility of the current cryptocurrencies. The way Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fluctuate massively in a matter of hours is not what businesses expect from a solid payment method.

Last week, Bitcoin jumped from $12,000 to around $17,000, before steadily correcting itself to the mid $14,000 level. Customers who paid for products or services when the cryptocurrency was trading at $12,000 will regret making the purchase as the value of Bitcoin jumped. On the other hand, businesses don’t want to accept payments at $17,000/Bitcoin, only to see the value of those payments dropping by a substantial margin.

For cryptocurrencies to become mainstream payment methods, market maturity is needed. With the high volatility we’re seeing today, accepting cryptocurrency payments may not seem like a good idea.

Forks and Alternatives

While the major cryptocurrencies are very volatile on the market, some of the forks are showing that level of maturity expected from a currency. Bitcoin Cash, for example, fluctuates at a much more manageable rate than Bitcoin. The same trend is seen in forks of other cryptocurrencies.

According to a recent report by WallStreetHedge.com, these forks and alternatives are seen as more viable payment options, especially in the eyes of businesses and the consumers who use them. In fact, many services are starting to accept Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin Gold.

Experts believe that the trend will continue, especially with news that several central banks are releasing their own cryptocurrencies. There is no doubt that cryptocurrency is the future, and businesses who get in the game early will be the ones benefitting the most from this new trend.

Easy Integration

From a technical standpoint, integrating cryptocurrency payment processing is a lot easier than anticipated. Since the currencies are already based on blockchain, processing payments on websites is straightforward and secure.

There is also the benefit of irreversible transactions, especially for businesses. There are no more chargebacks to worry about and every transaction is final. That level of security is further strengthened by the nature of blockchain itself.

To make cryptocurrency payments more attractive, there are stakeholders who invest in improving the blockchain concept altogether, promising faster transaction processing and better features for business users.

So, should you accept cryptocurrency on your website? If you stick with less volatile cryptocurrencies and you implement the payment system securely, there is no reason why you shouldn’t accept this type of payment today.

Keeping Abreast: Aligning Managers With Your Orders

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One of the greatest difficulties in business has been and may always be, maintaining a good level of communication. This is especially true for the people you rely on to make your business function from day to day. It goes without saying that the most numerous employees will be junior and or regular staff that are the individuals making things happen at ground level. Here is where the most action takes place, but the most difficult decisions take place higher. As the business owner and leader, it’s your job to keep your workers functioning at a consistent level, getting everyone to pitch in and do their best. However, you’re only one person, and cannot reach out to every single person every day. Your managers are essentially your long arm strength. These people are the ones you trust to make sure your decisions are implemented and carried out as and when ordered. If your managers aren’t in the know and aligned with the company’s direction, this can lead to fallout and massive disruption. Keeping them abreast and knowledgeable should be a part of your modus operandi.

Meetings of superiors

Every week businesses around the world, conduct meetings with employees and superiors. Whether it be in the boardroom, or at the managerial level everyone in the business must be updated and give updates too. Generally, managerial meetings take place after the boardroom meetings whereby executives, partners and stakeholders discuss how various parts of the business are progressing. One way to be ready for the meeting with the managers is to be clued up on all aspects of the business that are divulged to each section and or department. Another way to be planted in this meeting is to know what you require of each manager even before the week has started. This could be things that aren’t even related to the general proceedings of the day and or week. It may be just to get employee holiday paperwork in on time, or discussing sick pay for those who are off work will an illness. The key to keeping your managers abreast is to inform them when you’re ready. All too often leaders just want to get the show rolling and show managers that they are competent enough to lead them and not be hesitant. Unless you have a clear picture of how things are going at ground level, don’t give out orders as this will result in a wastage of time.

A cohesive backroom

Every business has an advanced software interface that employees utilize to remain in the business mainframe. Using their company accounts, managers can sign in to access memos and statistics in their department. Anything from orders, sales, work history, task allocation, reports, and updates are all accessed via the managerial interface. However, the process of signing up and re-signing in are the most fraught moments in this procedure. For security purposes use two-factor authentication with plivo’s sms api. When a manager is first signing in to his or her account, proper verification of who they are must be made not just for security purposes, but to officially have them on record on the servers. If a manager somehow forgets or loses their account information, when resetting a password or changing a username, must also be met with the same level of integrity testing. This can lead to a cohesive backroom of your business, whereby only those permitted are allowed access to sensitive information, which protects your business from wannabe saboteurs.

Encouraging managers to communicate in real-time

When work is being allocated, and in the process of completion, things can often change. It may be because an order has to be altered or cancelled, an error that has been carried over from another department, or simply because the client changed their mind. Managers must communicate with other not just in the interface, but face to face also. When something needs to be changed, it’s all well and good to do so digitally through software because it’s the fastest and easiest form of relaying alterations. However, there is always a culture of rivalry and sometimes egos to play a part. If used properly these are actually great traits to have because it allows your employees to feed off of each other’s energy. However, there should be no such room for invisible territorial lines. Every manager no matter what department must feel welcome in other sections of the business, and if something needs to be discussed in person, this should be encouraged.

Keeping managers abreast of developing situations is the key to aligning your orders with employees. Not only must they be working in tandem in the business online interface, but communicating in person too.

Loud and Proud: Spreading The Word About Your Business

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You want to let the world know about your company. You’re delighted with how you’ve managed to build your own business from scratch and now your aim is to spread the word as far as it can go. There are many ways in which you can go about this, but you need to get your advertising game on point. With marvellous marketing methods you can get your business from local to global in a short space of time. Take a little bit of time in refining your target audience and your brand. Then you’ll be ready to share the name of your business with as many households as you can.

Social Media Sensation

In the modern world, a business cannot get by without a strong social media presence. There are many different online platforms in which your business can make itself known. Depending on the type of company you’re running, you might wish to choose which one would be right for you. Instagram is a very visual too, which is handy if you want to share a lot of pictures. Twitter is a more instantaneous form of communication in which you can spread a short and sweet message using a certain number of characters. Try out a few and see which ones work for you. It’s okay to choose multiple platforms as well, as long as you keep them consistent and stick to your brand message.

The Wonderful World Wide Web

Make a website, which is the main pointer towards your business. Make it the point of contact for potential customers and clients. You can fill it with all sorts of information about your company and include all the relevant contact details for people to get in touch with you. Your website can be a much more in depth online platform than your social media as it is most likely the place that people will check our first for all the information they need. It’s not expensive to buy a domain name or hire a website designer so be sure to take your time and do it right before it goes live.

Wave Your Banner High

Sort out your professional signage and consider buy some brand new banners or new eyelets for signs. They are sure to be the most weather proof way to hang up your beautifully branded symbol. It will be an eye catching way to capture passing customers. Opt for bright and bold lettering and ensure that you can clearly see a contact phone number or email address on the sign too.

You’re bound to find the technique which works for you and your company. So take the leap today and progress your business gradually from little to large. Whichever method you choose to work with you’ll be on the road to success, by creating a successful marketing strategy. You may find that more than one of these ideas works for you, so why not give them all a go? Some of them are so low cost, they’re absolutely worth investing some time in.

5 Ways to Generate More Sales Leads

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The objective of every for-profit company is to increase its bottom line, and if you’re in the business of selling products or services, that ultimately means you’ll need to generate more leads. But where are these prospective buyers and how can you make your brand visible to them in an effective manner? Answering that question successfully and executing based on experience are the keys to managing any well-rounded sales campaign. With that said, you’re practically guaranteed to attract a higher volume of quality sales leads if you master the following five lead generation methods:

1. Promote Email Newsletter Opt-ins

If someone is willing to give you their email address in exchange for a piece of content or another incentive you’re offering, that means they’re more likely to convert into a customer. To take advantage of this concept, all you have to do is make an email subscription form easily viewable on your site, or make it a prominent pop-up that shows up whenever a visitor arrives. Opt-in leads are a well-studied and reliable branch of marketing that has been covered extensively by blogs like 4ra and others.

2. Listing in All Major Map and Business Directories

When sales leads are your top priority, visibility is the name of the game. To ensure potential customers are able to easily find and communicate with your company, it’s imperative that you start by listing your website and/or place of business and contact information on major directories like Google Maps, The Yellow Pages, Yelp, etc.

3. Start Advertising on Social Networks

Unlocking the traffic and exposure potential of social networks is one of the best ways to generate a viral surge in sales. Although social media marketing and contextual advertising on sites like Facebook are other topics in and of themselves, if you commit to this type of marketing in the long-term, you’ll have more sales than if you hadn’t.

4. Launch a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Traffic Campaign

Pay per click traffic is a very reliable way to generate sales leads if you have the initial start-up capital to fund a sizeable campaign. With PPC, you pay to have your site displayed at the top of search engines like Google or on Facebook Ads. There are many PPC networks to choose from, but essentially the idea is the same – you pay a certain amount for every person that clicks your link and comes to your site. Since a percentage of those will convert, all you have to do is optimize the conversion rate and scale up from there.

5. Inventing and Promoting a New Product or Service

If you can establish your brand as the sole provider of something, then you’ll be in a more favorable position in any market. Sometimes doing this is as simple as modifying or adding a feature to an existing product, service, or another monetization model.

Putting it All Together for a Failproof Marketing Strategy

In closing, if you diligently pursue all of these sale generation methods, there’s a 99% chance that you’ll be receiving more quality leads than if you were to not do all of the above.