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Improving Your Industrial Business Climate By Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

It is one of the most important aspects of running a business in the modern world, its impact on the environment that cannot be underestimated. Whether you are running a business that uses a lot of electricity all the way through to something that makes a bigger carbon footprint, like an industrial business. There are many ways to improve your business so it can be a lot more environmentally ethical in this respect, so let’s go through some of the basics and make sure that you are up to speed.

Working With Like Minded Clients

Practicing sustainability is not just something you need to do in-house, but it’s something that you need to think about on every step of the chain, from where you purchased your equipment, all the way through to your suppliers. When you look at equipment like rig mats from Northern Mat, you can see that this company are continuously working to reduce environmental impacts through the everyday processes and equipment they make. It’s important that you align yourself with the company with the right ethical outlooks, especially as the government policies and regulations are becoming increasingly stricter with every passing year. Every aspect of your equipment in an industrial framework is a potentially dangerous item of machinery that has a big impact on your carbon footprint as a whole.

Making Your Business Sustainable From The Ground Up

An environmentally conscious business isn’t just something to benefit the planet, nowadays it’s a key part of how you attract clients and how you do business, so it needs to be part of your overall business operation. Potential clients will look to see how you are dealing with sustainability, not just on the ground level, that’s all the way up the ranks, through to your business plans and processes. It’s not enough to make it appear like you are covering your bases in this respect, it needs to be part of your whole ethos.

Replacing Your Raw Materials

Running an industrial business is a big drainer of raw materials, so it’s important for you to replace those, not just because of the moral obligation, but it also sets a good example to other businesses to do the same. A very simple example of this is to offset the devastation of deforestation in the world, so if you are a business that uses a lot of paper, planting the equivalent number of trees to replenish the paper you are using is a small step to show your intentions with the future of the planet.

Long gone are the days of recycling being a cutting-edge approach to helping save the planet. It’s an automatic approach to the way everybody looks after the planet now. So you need to make sure that you are imbuing your company with the best possible ways to cut back on damaging Mother Earth. From the products to the processes, and everything in between, it’s time to put your thinking cap on if you’re working on building an industrial company.

Human Error: The One Thing Holding Your Business Back

StrategyDriven Human Performance Management Article
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Running a successful and efficient company is all about time management and reducing errors. A business that spends as much of the day being as productive as possible will always be set for success. The same can be said for a company that doesn’t make a lot of errors, therefore doesn’t waste time correcting these errors.

Sadly, there is one thing that can cost your business and hold you back; human error. Yes, while employees are essential for your business, they are guilty of making errors from time to time. One simple mistake could cause disruption in your company that leads to half a day being wasted as you all try and fix it.

As a consequence, it should be a top priority for businesses to reduce human error. Is this even possible? Of course, it is, and here are two easy ideas you can use:

Use Software For Certain Tasks

To completely eradicate the risk of human error in some tasks, you can use software. This is particularly useful regarding various human resources tasks such as paying employees and managing staff absences. These are tasks that often have the most mistakes occurring. As it says on the HRIS Payroll Software website, the right software can free up time and minimize errors. By relying on a computer to do certain tasks, you haven’t got to worry about employees making mistakes.

Software isn’t going to work for every single task in the office, but it will be a great solution to plenty of HR or accountancy tasks. Essentially, anything that can be automated or done by a piece of software doesn’t need to be done by a human.

Hire Better Employees

A simple way to reduce human errors is to ensure you hire the best people for every job. Companies that rush through the hiring process usually end up with employees that make a lot of mistakes. You must ensure you hire the best person and that they prove their worth. Someone with a good track record and lots of experience in the same role is ideal for your business. They know what they’re doing right from the start and will make far fewer mistakes than someone who might be in their first ever job.

The best thing you can do is take your time when hiring someone. Review their resume, check their employment history, talk to their previous employers, bring them in for an interview, etc. I’d even go as far as to say you should give them a trial run before actually hiring them full-time too. This shows if they’re good enough for your business and will highlight their mistake-making ability.

There may only be two ideas here, but they’ll go a long way to helping with any human error problems you have. As it was mentioned at the beginning of the piece, human error causes disruptions and wastes time. By reducing the likelihood of employee errors, you can stop holding your business back and drive forward in the right direction.

How You Can Save Your Business Money by Cutting Down on Paper

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution ArticleIt may have escaped your notice, but UK businesses are gradually changing how they deal with the paper trail. Offices around the nation are looking at ways to reduce the need for paper mills to order pulp (which makes paper) that comes from the cutting of small trees and the remnants of harvesting larger ones. This way, forestry across the UK stays where it is, which looks more appealing and helps clean the air across the country too.

Here are a few ways that your business can reconsider how it manages its paper use and what options there might be.

Intentionally Going Thinner and Lighter

Just like with our waistlines, aiming for a lighter, thinner version is a good choice when it comes to paper usage in the office. It needs the cooperation of the office manager who handles paper orders from the photocopier right down to the little notepads to pull it off. Cutting down the environmental impact from your business’ paper use is as easy as cutting down the paper stock thickness to use less volume.

It’s also worth noting that paper which comes with a special coating over it, or has been treated to be reflective, also uses different types of thicker paper to achieve this result. The greater use of this kind of paper product is impactful too.

Lower Storage Costs for Paper Files

With the use of thinner paper stock, paper files that are necessary for businesses to keep on-hand are thinner. With each page being a lower GSM stock (as recommended above), files get thinner overall. Fewer metal storage cabinets are needed, and you need less space to store them and access them too. A filing clerk is no longer needed either when there’s fewer files to manage.

Think Before Printing Out

Pausing to consider whether a printout really needs to be produced is a great way to reduce paper usage. The mindless printing of multiple copies of a seldom accessed paper version is not helpful to reduce paper usage or the costs of it. Where copies are needed, consider printing on both sides and train staff on how to set up their software and printer to achieve this result. Alternatively, the company could look at tablets for teams to use and access digital versions of reports for reference purposes.

Paper copies fade over time and are a poor way to keep records in the wake of the complete digitisation of software. Set standards for employees where staff are rewarded for reducing paper usage, which cuts the environmental impact and office costs.

Fewer Photocopies

Taking fewer photocopies is another way to reduce costs both in paper usage and maintenance expenses for the photocopier machine. Distracting staff by having to monitor repair staff when they have to attend to fix a copier machine is a time suck. The greater the use of the photocopier, the more often it’s likely to run into trouble too.

There are always more ways to cut down on paper usage to save money. You can a look at the GoCanvas.com website to learn more about how much paper usage is costing your company and how you can set up your business to operate more efficiently and less expensively.

Going digital saves businesses money in many areas. They are no longer reliant on a paper trail for most activities and the company operates more smoothly as a result. It’s also easier to look up key information online when necessary because putting hands on the paper file is no longer needed.

How to Make Your Shipping Parcels Look More Professional

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales ArticleWhen sending out packages to clients and customers, you want each shipment to bear the name of your company in a neat and professional manner. In fact, your shipping parcels need to make it obvious that they are coming from the same place. You can make professional shipping practices into a habit by utilizing shipping labels. Make your shipping labels look uniform and crisp by using a bold font, high quality envelopes and closing your envelopes neatly.

Your products can be neatly placed in a box if they’re big, but you can neatly place them in mailers that bear your company name for small products. A professional-looking mailer can be an advertisement in itself.

Why Your Company Needs to Print Each Shipping Label

A hastily written shipping label is not very legible, which could lead to delivery delays. If the delivery person can’t read the zip code or make out the name of the intended recipient your shipments may end up getting returned and being marked as undeliverable. Time is crucial when shipping parcels to customers, business partners, and vendors. If you want them to have a professional impression of your place of business, you need to have each shipping label printed up neatly which you can do if you buy a printer and a shipping label set.

Most e-commerce platforms are integrated with a shipping label feature so you can print them nicely and cleanly in their recommended label printer. You must utilize this feature so your parcel will contain accurate information and will have the barcode to help track items in transit.

Ensure that your labels have your company name and address as well as the name and address of the recipient printed out and aligned prior to sending your packages.

Envelopes Count When Shipping Parcels

The envelopes your company uses to send parcels help to keep the contents of each package intact and undisturbed. Not all of your shipments are going to be made up of papers. If your company is sending a package that is fragile, use padded envelopes that won’t tear or easily be compromised. All shipping boxes and envelopes also need to be thick so that their contents aren’t visible from the outside. Include packing peanuts for added security if you think that the items inside of your shipments may shake or move around in transit.

You may also wrap the items in bubble wrap before inserting them in the envelope; this way, you can ensure their safety and protection. Better yet, a new product called bubble mailers already has the perfect cushioning inside to protect your items.


Professional Methods for Securing Envelopes

There should be a strong security tab for securing envelopes when sending out parcels professionally. In other words, you may want to avoid using the type of envelopes that you moisten and apply pressure to close the tab. Use envelopes that peel and stick so your recipient will know if it has been tampered with prior to delivery. You can also use security tape to ensure that your parcels are never opened before they get to their destination. If your company is sending out confidential papers or packages that are private in nature, your shipping methods can help to deter tampering.

When parcels that come from your company arrive looking professional and completely intact, your clients will easily identify all of the efforts taken to safeguard their mailings. Professional mailing efforts will also enable you to track packages and learn when a shipment has been diverted. Start with neatly printed custom labels and your workers can confirm that they have included the correct shipping information prior to dropping off packages to be delivered.

Use the best quality envelopes and package all parcels appropriately and they will arrive on time to the designated party. Your customers will make more purchases knowing that their shipments always arrive securely and professionally packaged.

The cost of doing business includes product presentation. This also includes wrapping your products and presenting them nicely to your customers. Often, customers put a significant deal on product presentation. Therefore, it’s best to create a lasting impression on them as this may dictate their future buying decisions. Your job as a business owner doesn’t stop upon receiving the payment. Ensuring that the items are delivered to them wholly and safely should also be your priority.

The Only Guide You Need For Creating Strong Customer Relationships

Creating strong customer relationships is positively key if you’re going to keep them for the long run. If you don’t mind whether they run off to your competitors, go ahead and leave this article. If you want to make sure that your customers love you and stay with you for the foreseeable future, then you need to know how to create a strong customer relationship. Read on to figure out how you can go about this!

StrategyDriven Cusstomer Relationship Management Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

Be Honest About What You Can Do

If you’re not honest with your customers about what you can do, you’ll likely tarnish your reputation in the process. You might really want to do what they’ve asked of you, but if you know that you can’t or it won’t be very good, just be honest about it. They’ll respect you far more and you may even be able to come up with a solution. Always be as honest and authentic as possible.

Go Above And Beyond Expectations

Make sure that in every customer interaction you have, you go above and beyond their expectations. Doing more than they expect will make them remember you and come back to you again and again. Look at what your competitors do and figure out what you can do that will set you apart. Always aim to offer incredible value for money, unrivalled customer support, speedy delivery, and other things that will make you stand out.

Keep Things Lighthearted

Keep things lighthearted with your customers and they’ll feel more ready to open up to you about what they need. If they feel you are rude, indifferent, or unhelpful, they’re going to go somewhere else and ask questions. Be as helpful and happy as you can.

Learn As Much About Them As Possible

Learning as much about your customers as possible is important. After all; each one is individual – they are far more than just a number. You can learn about them in various ways, and there’s even software you can get that tracks the visitors who come to your site and gives you information about them so you can start building a strong relationship right away. One option is visual visitor. But is visual visitor worth signing up for? You do your research and decide!

Email Marketing

If you’ve met a few potential clients recently, perhaps at a conference or expo, you need to make sure they remember you. Often, no matter how friendly you are, they won’t remember you or what you do right from the get-go. Make sure you follow up after a meeting immediately, so that you stick in their minds. Personalize your emails to them if possible. Remember though; people are rarely ready for what you have to offer when you first meet them. This is why getting their emails and giving free insight is a great way to stick around in their brains for when the right time comes.

Remember that happy, loyal, engaged customers will be the best free marketing you will get. They will become like sales people for you, raving about your business and making sure everybody knows what they think. Make sure you use these tips to build strong customer relationships and you’ll create exactly this for your business!