16 Tips for Saving on Small Business Expenses Infographic |  |
- 16 Tips for Saving on Small Business Expenses Infographic
- JC Penney’s Marketing Strategy: Mistakes and Lessons
- SBA: When Lending Declines, So Do Small Business Exports
- 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Customer Service Robot
- Affordable Care Act: Small Business Health Care Exchanges Delayed
- How to Avoid Mobile Device Overload
| 16 Tips for Saving on Small Business Expenses Infographic Posted: 10 Apr 2013 02:00 AM PDT Your top three business expenses are your employees' wages, inventory and rent. According to an infographic from Bolt Insurance, 1 in every 5 dollars your business earns goes toward paying your employees. That's a tough expense to cut, but there's a lot you can do to reduce your costs on equipment, taxes, utilities, phone service and shipping. You might not save a lot on your business expenses right away, but these kinds of savings add up once you've implemented a few of them. Bolt offers us 16 ways to save on the top 10 business expenses. Some of the those tips include:
Check out these tips to save on your business expenses:
[Click for full version] Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published on SmallBizTechnology and is republished here with permission. The post 16 Tips for Saving on Small Business Expenses Infographic appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| JC Penney’s Marketing Strategy: Mistakes and Lessons Posted: 09 Apr 2013 04:00 PM PDT
In Kentucky we have a saying that sometimes a person is "too big for their britches," and I think the same can be said for businesses as well. As one of the oldest clothing brands in the U.S. (over a century), it's a shame that JC Penney has been experiencing recent hardships. According to Forbes, JC Penney has seen their sales drop by as much as 20 percent in a single quarter. Even worse is the fact that their rebranding and marketing efforts have done nothing to stem the loss in revenue. Their "Fair and Square" pricing actually turned people away from the store, not into it. Ouch. Why You Should Pay Attention to JC Penney It might seem counterintuitive to learn marketing lessons from a company that's struggling, but that's exactly what we should do. You see, JC Penney is at a tipping point. What they do today will determine the fate of the brand – if not the company itself. We can learn from their marketing strategies that backfired as well as the strategies that help the company regain its former strength. Mistakes and Lessons from JC Penney's Marketing StrategyA Sale is Only a Sale if it's a SaleConsumers love a good sale. This is what drives them into the store throughout the year. JC Penney tried to take advantage of this by enacting a permanent sale called "Fair and Square" pricing. However, since this became a permanent sale, it really wasn't a sale and people had no reason to come into the store compared to a one-day daily, quarterly or annual sale. The technique backfired so badly that JC Penney actually reintroduced "normal" sales. The point of a sale is finding a great deal and it's not a great deal if it's commonly available. Know Your AudienceAn illuminating survey recently revealed the fact that consumers don't like JC Penney's clothes. The situation here should be obvious: No matter how hard JC Penney tries to market their products, if people don't like them, then the marketing simply won't work. Thus, instead of focusing solely on your ideal demographic, spend some energy researching whether your target audience will even like the product at all. Beware Your B2B PartnershipsBusiness-to-business relationships are almost always a good thing unless there's some sort of falling out, and JC Penney had a big one. They signed an exclusive "Martha Stewart Deal" that was expected to save them. JC Penney would have the exclusive right to distribute Stewart's products. The only problem? Stewart already has a similar contract with Macy's. There are two lessons from this scenario:
Eliminate Unneeded Weight When it was announced that JC Penney's CFO, Ken Hannah, dumped 10 million of the company's shares, the financial world was in shock. Hannah explained, "It just wasn't worth the effort." The company had other things they wanted to focus on during the turnaround process. Likewise, eliminate unneeded distractions during your marketing campaign. Consider the Marketing TrendsWhile some marketing strategies are evergreen in nature, others are newer and on the verge of becoming mainstream. Recently, JC Penney began eliminating stereotypes in their advertising. For instance, a recent Father's Day ad showed two men (presumably together) with their children in JC Penney clothes. Regardless of what you think about this social issue, JC Penney deserves commendation for their risk to stay relevant. The post JC Penney's Marketing Strategy: Mistakes and Lessons appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| SBA: When Lending Declines, So Do Small Business Exports Posted: 09 Apr 2013 01:30 PM PDT
A sharp decline in small business exports during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 caused researchers to wonder. Could there be a connection between lending and small business exports? The result is a report confirming just that. As lending declines, so do small business exports. A new report from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy lays out the data. The report, “The Impact of Credit Availability on Small Business Exports” (PDF) looks at how “big bank” health impacts exports from the nation’s smaller businesses. It mainly considers those companies with fewer than 100 employees. The research also determines that small businesses rely on bank lending to export their goods and to do business outside the U.S. more than big businesses do. “Small businesses that export their goods and services need to compensate for the riskiness of cross-border transactions and to allow for longer transportation times to get goods to market,” Dr. Winslow Sargeant, the SBA’s chief counsel for advocacy, said in a statement accompanying the report. “Add to that the greater reliance of small firms on bank credit in general, and it’s easy to see how even small changes in bank health could have the effect of undermining small business exports.” We recently reported on another Small Business Administration announcement stating banks are lending more to small businesses. The data reflected an increase in this lending for the first time in 10 quarters during the first part of 2013. The effect of bank health disproportionately impacts small businesses and their ability to export goods. The latest report’s findings state that “adverse effects of deterioration in bank health appear concentrated among exporting firms of fewer than 100 employees.” The SBA Advocacy report notes that exports don’t really decline from big businesses when banks slow lending. “The smallest businesses need more access to capital to grow their businesses and export their products,” Sargeant said. He called for banks to open up more capital resources to the nation’s small businesses. The resulting boost will help the economic recovery from the recent recession he says. To strengthen small businesses exports even more, policy shifts are needed to improve access to lines of credit and financing, the report continues. Policy makers must re-examine the constraints on banks for small business lending and link these businesses to more help from the U.S. Export Assistance Center to increase their export ability. The post SBA: When Lending Declines, So Do Small Business Exports appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Customer Service Robot Posted: 09 Apr 2013 11:00 AM PDT
In thinking about another area of business where brands often fail due to over-automating activity, customer service comes to mind. Who hasn’t been a victim of a customer service rep mechanically reading off of a script, never pausing to genuinely ask how we’re doing? If you train customer service representatives for your company, pay attention. And if you’re a solopreneur and running the customer service yourself, you’ll also need this advice for how not to become a customer service robot. 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Customer Service Robot1. Start with a Script…Then Throw it AwayThere is value in using a template of sorts to help anyone in customer service understand the key points to hit in a phone call. But relying on that script too much leads to an unfeeling and unpleasant experience for the customer. If you’re training, run through plenty of scenarios until your staff feels comfortable winging it. This should be common sense:
You can include prompts in your software to help reps deal with specific types of situations, but encourage them to extrapolate what they need to say, rather than reading it verbatim. 2. Engage in ChitchatWhile starting a casual conversation with a customer might cost your business money in call-time, not doing so could cost you as well. After all, your customers are human, and they like being asked how their day is going. There’s ample opportunity to talk about the weather, kids and other generic topics and doing so can help keep a distraught customer calm, providing better results. 3. Invest in Culture TrainingThe biggest complaint customers have about brands that outsource their customer service is that they can’t connect emotionally with the reps. That’s usually due to different culture sets. Imagine how you’d fare if you were hired to address customer service issues for Chinese customers. Where would you begin? What would be okay to talk about and what would be crossing a cultural line? There are consultants who specialize in training overseas teams to better understand American tastes and interests. If you’re trying to save money by outsourcing, this is an investment that will reap benefits over time. 4. Simplify the Call ProcessA few years ago, I participated in Dell’s Customer Advisory Panel. One of the complaints we customers had was the number of buttons we had to push to reach a human, only to be transferred repeatedly to someone else. The company listened and a year later, reported that they’d reduced the number of transfers a person experiences on a call by 40%. That’s significant. 5. Expand Your Customer Service Connect PointsThere’s nothing worse than emailing a customer service department only to never get a return email. Invest in more ways your customers can reach you and use them. Email and social are easy to implement and they don’t have to be responded to in real time. But do respond in a reasonable amount of time (same day or less). 6. Define Your Company CultureCustomer service is a high-turnover industry. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in identifying what you want your company culture to be. Just look at Zappos. Customer service is its priority and it makes plenty of resources available to its customer service team, including boot camps, coaching and forums. 7. Look at the Right NumbersIn his Inc. Magazine article, 37Signals Co-founder Jason Fried talks about paying attention to the right numbers: customer numbers. Move away from stressing the importance of your call-time numbers to save money and instead focus on the bigger, better picture: How many calls are you getting with customer issues? How can you reduce that? How many satisfied customers do you have? 8. Examine Your EffortsJust like with marketing, it’s important to look at what’s working and what’s not in customer service. Listen in on your reps’ calls to understand how they’re interacting with customers and how customers are responding. Try new things and measure results. If customers are being turned off because your reps are trying to upsell them, nix that effort. 9. Respond QuicklyCustomers want answers and they want them now. Taking too long to respond to a customer may trigger them to leave a bad review for you on Yelp or a nasty comment on Twitter. But that shouldn’t be your motivation for quick response. Simply aiming to exceed customer expectations should be. 10. Underpromise and OverdeliverIf you’ve ever received something sooner than expected, or if a company did a better job than promised, you were probably delighted. On the other hand, if a company told you it would do something and didn’t, you were probably peeved. Try to promise what you know that you can absolutely deliver, and then some. You’ll consistently impress customers and they’ll tell their friends. We’re all human, whichever side of the customer service equation we fall on. It’s time we act like it. Customer service Robot Photo via Shutterstock The post 10 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Customer Service Robot appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Affordable Care Act: Small Business Health Care Exchanges Delayed Posted: 09 Apr 2013 08:00 AM PDT
Small business owners will have to wait at least until 2015 before they’ll be able to offer an array of health care plans to their employees. In the latest development of the Affordable Care Act, the administration of President Barack Obama announced that it is going to have trouble meeting the 2014 deadline it established in allowing small business owners the ability to offer a variety of health care plans to their employees through small business health care exchanges. The development is considered a major disappointment by at least one advocate for small businesses in the U.S. The ability to work in health care exchanges was one of the major selling points on Obamacare, Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer told NPR. The exchanges were supposed to give employers the ability to offer a range of health care plans, but with the delay, small business owners will now only be able to offer one single plan of their choosing. Commenting on his organization’s official Website, Arensmeyer wrote, “It's a letdown to small business owners and their employees looking forward to robust, competitive exchanges in 2014. We hope this proposal is recognized as counterproductive and is abandoned.” The delay will affect 33 states, each of which opted to allow the federal government to manage the health care exchange market, according to The New York Times. Small business owners were supposed to be able to begin signing up their employees this October in their choice of health care plans, and the coverage was to start in January. Now, according to The New York Times, that start-date will be pushed back to 2015. Health Care Photo via Shutterstock The post Affordable Care Act: Small Business Health Care Exchanges Delayed appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| How to Avoid Mobile Device Overload Posted: 09 Apr 2013 05:00 AM PDT
Many business owners are concerned about information overload, and rightly so. But times are moving fast and there's a new challenge in town: mobile device overload. We're not talking about the concern about being addicted to your mobile phone or constantly connected. We're not even talking about a pure technology problem. We are talking about the sheer number of devices that we have to manage now. A study by Juniper Networks says that:
So, if you thought that information overload and surfing the Web for the latest Grumpy Cat photos was making it tough on your productivity, just wait until you add another tablet. In a conversation held recently with Judi Hembrough, Small Business Marketing Director of Plantronics, she shared some ideas on how to keep your mobile devices from getting out of hand (my pun, utterly intended). Avoid Mobile Device Overload1. Get Exponential “Gadget Growth” Under ControlDo you really need all those devices? Sure, it’s exciting to unbox and try out a new gadget – I know that feeling well! Part of my job is to try out new devices and stay on top of the latest technology for small business owners. If you’re like me, you have at least one laptop, a tablet computer, and a mobile phone, along with a hands-free Bluetooth headset. Then on top of these, we may have a portable desk phone at the office or at home. We might have an iPod or other MP3 player that we keep with us. Add to those the chargers to go with each device, cords, carrying cases, portable keyboards — and you have a big pile of gadgets and gadget-related items. But with each device comes a time commitment. First, there’s the need to learn how to use it. Most of us use only a small fraction of the features in each device. Second there’s the challenge of simply managing all the hardware and accessories. One of the challenges I face most often is, which one of those chargers or cords goes with my phone, or camera, or headset, or tablet. It sounds easy when everything first comes out of the box. But what about later? It’s often not easy to remember which goes with which, and sometimes the chargers and cords aren’t well marked.
2. Choose Devices That ConvergeThe idea here is having headsets and other auxiliary devices that work with multiple primary devices. For instance, I use my Voyager Legend with an iPad2, a Nexus 10 and two different smartphones. (Note, I was a big fan of the Voyager Legend long before being asked to write this article for Small Business Trends. ) Not only do you cut down on the expense and clutter with multiple devices, but you can save time switching back and both. More on the benefits here. 3. Don’t Just “Grab and Go” When TravelingExperiment to see what you REALLY need to take with you. The tablet can, in many instances, replace a laptop when going out for the day or even on a short business trip or weekend getaway. I have heard from many readers that they have survived, and even thrived, living with just their iPhone 5 or Samsung S3. I paired mine with a great keyboard from Kensington and it works wonders for quick, travel-light type trips. A checklist helps, too. Judi Hembrough of Plantronics says, "When you're going on a trip, have a checklist just to be sure you don't leave a critical device charger or other vital piece of technology behind." I agree. I mean airline pilots have checklists, some surgeons use them (to keep track of those sponges), and you may survive leaving home without your American Express, but not your smartphone charger. Finally, make sure to fire up your device a day or a few hours before you leave the office or home, especially if you haven’t used it in a while. Give it a chance to fully charge. Also, this gives it a chance to update with the latest operating software, security patches or apps. Many mobile phones and tablets update automatically. But if you haven’t used a device in a while, sometimes it will force an update at an inopportune time — such as those precious minutes between flights. 4. Keep Your Data in the Cloud (or Your Company’s Private Cloud)Recently I read somewhere that most small business owners and personnel don’t know what the term “the cloud” means. So let me give you a practical example of what the cloud means to your work productivity. If you keep your data online (i.e., in the cloud) in various applications and online software services, then it makes it much easier to switch between devices. You don’t have to worry about syncing up your contacts or email, for example, because you always have access to the most up to date information. It’s hardware independent. It is one of the reasons why apps and tools like Evernote, Dropbox, GMail, Google Apps for Business, and Google Drive have exploded in popularity. You can access your information from any device. It’s automatically synchronized without you having to do anything. You’ll be working with the most up-to-date information no matter which device you happen to have in your hands. Cell Phone Overload Photo via Shutterstock The post How to Avoid Mobile Device Overload appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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