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Tag: Growth Strategies

  • How I Turned My Business' Fast Growth Into Sustainable Growth | Entrepreneur

    How I Turned My Business' Fast Growth Into Sustainable Growth | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Companies often face the most unexpected issues when it comes to growth: The very success that propels them forward can also become their greatest challenge. Rapid growth, while indicative of a business’s vitality, can present complexities requiring business owners to take notice of.

    I aim to help you explore these conundrums and provide actionable strategies for effectively managing rapid business expansion, particularly for those unfamiliar with these often surprising business dynamics.

    Related: How to Identify and Address the Challenges of Excessive Business Growth

    Understanding rapid growth: Key questions addressed

    Rapid business growth can be exhilarating, but a spectrum of challenges accompanies it. One of the most conspicuous signs of overly rapid expansion is financial strain, where the generated revenue lags behind escalating operational costs. This imbalance can lead to severe cash flow problems — a critical issue for any growing business.

    Another significant challenge is the impact on employee morale. As the business expands, the existing workforce may find themselves overwhelmed by the increased demands, often without a corresponding increase in resources or support. This situation can lead to diminished productivity, increased turnover rates and a general decline in workplace morale.

    Customer service, a cornerstone of business success, also suffers under unchecked growth. The existing team, stretched thin by the demands of an expanding customer base, may struggle to maintain the quality of service that clients have come to expect. This decline can harm the business’s reputation and customer relationships, which are essential for sustained growth.

    Effective strategies for managing rapid growth

    At the heart of managing rapid growth is effective financial management. This entails a meticulous review of cash flow and proactive forecasting of future financial requirements. Businesses may need to explore options like refinancing or invoice factoring to ensure adequate liquidity. A robust financial strategy should also encompass budgeting, cost control and investment in growth-enabling resources. Defining clear growth objectives and conducting a comprehensive growth diagnosis are critical components of strategic planning. A well-crafted growth strategy should be based on a thorough analysis of internal resources, market conditions, competitor activities and customer needs. This strategy should not only guide the company through its current growth phase but also lay the groundwork for future expansions.

    Calculating and making decisions is an integral part of entrepreneurship. When we experience our first taste of success, the natural response is to want more, to have a “gung-ho” mindset and to do everything at all costs. However, what separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest is that they make calculated risks and it’s these rapid growths that can get in the way of businessmen and businesswomen from thinking clearly and making sound decisions.

    Moving forward with day-to-day operations, the role of employee well-being in managing growth cannot be overstressed. Fostering a workplace culture that recognizes and rewards contributions, ensures equitable workload distribution and supports work-life balance is crucial. This may include offering flexible working arrangements, competitive compensation packages and opportunities for professional development. Happy and engaged employees are more productive and are the bedrock of a thriving company.

    Related: 7 Strategies to Scale Your Small Business and Achieve Sustainable Growth

    A company that’s rapidly growing is also more vulnerable to economic recessions. Since these companies are growing too quickly, they make big splurges to match their demand without the proper planning behind the company’s operations. Oftentimes, it’s the employees who bear the brunt of the struggle and they become the victims of a company’s operational and financial mismanagement in the form of layoffs, salary cuts and more. It’s important for businesses to leave room for quarterly, bi-annual and annual reviews to make the adjustments necessary to keep up with the demands and the realistic limits of what your business can provide.

    As businesses grow, it’s imperative to maintain — if not enhance — the level of customer service, a mainstay of my policies at the Strategic Advisor Board. This involves regular assessments of customer service processes, addressing any issues promptly and potentially hiring additional staff to manage the increased demand. In my company, we have always made it important to prioritize the well-being of our customers. An example of this would be investing in customer relationship management (CRM) systems and training staff in customer service excellence can go a long way in preserving customer loyalty and satisfaction.

    Firm leadership is necessary in navigating the challenges of rapid growth. Leaders must balance their focus on day-to-day operations with strategic long-term planning. There have been way too many instances of business owners and entrepreneurs who operate solely within their vision and get too liberal with risky decisions. Effective leadership also involves being adaptable, making informed decisions based on real-time data, and leading by example.

    Everyone is always looking to be the next big thing in their specific business. Everyone wants to be the new Amazon or the new Netflix. This ambitiousness can end up biting your business in the back if you aren’t too careful and are too focused on your business’s demands without properly assessing your capabilities.

    Related: How to Navigate High-Growth Environments and Boost Revenue Through Visionary Leadership

    Final thoughts

    Navigating the high tides of business expansion requires a multi-dimensional approach, focusing on financial stability, strategic foresight, employee welfare, customer satisfaction and strong leadership. By addressing these key areas, businesses can transform potential challenges into stepping stones for sustained success and stability. Embracing growth should be a thoughtful, strategic process, where the pitfalls of rapid expansion are acknowledged and proactively managed. This approach ensures that the company not only survives its growth but thrives, setting the stage for continued success in a business landscape that’s constantly changing and innovating.

    While rapid growth presents its unique set of challenges, with the right strategies and mindset, it can be managed effectively. The key lies in understanding the nuances of expansion and implementing a holistic approach that balances immediate needs with long-term goals. By doing so, businesses can ensure that their growth trajectory is not only swift but also sustainable and beneficial for all stakeholders involved.

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    Jason Miller

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  • Rapid Scaling Can Hurt Your Company. Here's How to Avoid Disaster. | Entrepreneur

    Rapid Scaling Can Hurt Your Company. Here's How to Avoid Disaster. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    According to Goldman Sachs, the economic stage for 2024 appears to be a bullish one, as it predicts an annual global GDP growth of 2.6%, which should buoy spirits if you’re a leader hoping for happy returns. Be careful, though: Growth and scaling aren’t always synonymous. If you have unrealistic expectations when it comes to the latter, you could well hamper the results of the former.

    The simple fact is that the vast majority of companies don’t have an unlimited capacity to scale. At some point, rapid and unchecked growth can cause them to buckle and break in operation and logistics, which upends vision, brand and broader intentions.

    At EOS Worldwide, we have a cultural ethos that everyone should fight for the greater good, which is seen in our core values, as well as in our focus and marketing strategy. Everyone moves forward because of that shared vision and care. And the payoffs go far: Team members feel confident in their purpose, as well as empowered because they know they’ve been chosen specifically for a unique set of talents. Scaling happens naturally as a result.

    Related: 7 Ways To Scale Your Startup or Business

    A solid foundation-vision

    Among the critical considerations in avoiding overextension is determining which pace is uniquely right for you, certainly, but also that your vision be more than words.

    Begin with a documented “North Star” concept to be embraced today, tomorrow and far into the future. Make it at once compelling and clear, and be certain that it resonates with all team members. If behaviors among some staff members aren’t aligning, for example, it might well be that vision training hasn’t been sufficient. This can be frustrating as you start to scale, which makes it an absolutely critical step.

    Keep in mind, too, that instilling a vision effectively isn’t cheap in any sense: it means investing money, time and energy, and you might have to give up some efficiency in the process. There is, after all, an inherent inefficiency in driving toward a shared goal, because you need to make room for creativity and exploration.

    Your vision also needs to be protected. It sets core values, and so it’s vital to avoid bending or breaking it in order to attain scaling ambitions. For example, one of our company’s core values is to “do the right thing.” Sounds disarmingly simple, but we make a point of following through on it via another core principle: “helping first.” This means that we train our teams to give without expecting anything in return. Again, this isn’t always efficient, but it keeps us grounded and consistent.

    Related: Core Values: What They Are, Why They’re Important, and How to Implement Them Today

    We’re still scaling, to be sure, but simply aren’t willing to sacrifice purpose, or to stray outside niche or core competencies. Consequently, our 10-year growth target is doable, because it has just enough dynamic tension to keep everyone stretching toward an ambitious objective while also having the right amount of “give” so the challenge doesn’t break everyone.

    Has your company lost its way in an effort to scale without restraint? Then consider putting the following measures in place:

    1. Break big “Rocks” into smaller ones

    You likely already have one-, three- and 10-year targets. Perfect, but to make sure you’re moving in a steady and manageable direction, my suggestion is that you create something analogous to what we term at EOS Worldwide a 90-Day World™ and individual “Rocks” (objectives) therein. It’s a structure specifically designed to mark each quarter-year contribution towards annual goals and has resulted in measurably greater success.

    Your version might include giving every team member a weekly scorecard that includes key tasks towards meeting 90-day expectations. It’s then the responsibility of managers to work to ensure employees are hitting scorecard numbers — making progress toward personal and company objectives. This process also keeps an organization from scaling too fast, as it’s a form of reverse engineering that starts with a broader vision: Nothing can suddenly get added (like a new product line) that doesn’t mesh with that mission focus.

    2. Make sure you’ve got the right mix

    Every person has two roles at work: the one they play today and the one they’ll play in the future. However, you can’t just scale big and hand out dozens of promotions in a year, or teams wind up feeling overwhelmed and unprepared.

    So, employees need to be given the capacity, time and energy necessary to grow. For example, say you’ve mapped out an accountability chart that anticipates the staff knowledge and expertise you’ll need in one year or three years. Is the current team going to be the one to executive effectively? Do they have the capacity and resources?

    Knowing the answers to these questions early means you can prepare accordingly, which might or might not include rearranging a team. In a 2021 survey, the Pew Research Center revealed that a stunning 63% of workers were ready to leave their employers because of a lack of promotional opportunities. This means that if you’ve hired the wrong people and can’t provide advancement, you owe it to them to either find a way to upskill or say goodbye in a respectful and responsible way that aligns with your vision.

    Related: Builders and Boosters — A Leader’s Guide to Forming a Resilient Team

    3. Let culture evolve organically

    Another pitfall of scaling too quickly is an inability to maintain a preferred culture. To avoid a forced or brittle atmospheric shock during robust growth, it’s pivotal to treat company culture with intention, and patience.

    Consider Starbucks and its scaling challenges, detailed in part in a Branding Strategy Insider article. It’s a powerhouse now, but it hit growth boundaries the hard way. For the first couple of decades, growth was modest, then came a flexion point where the company added 200-plus locations annually. As its former CEO, Howard Schultz, explained in his 2012 book, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul (Rodale Books), the business scaled so quickly that it broke its ability to properly service customers. Their people could no longer create or control the desired experience, and the culture suffered. Fortunately, the now-35,000-plus-location colossus made this realization early and righted the ship.

    Related: 3 Ways To Invest In Coffee, Other Than Drinking It

    Infinite scaling may sound like the fast track to profitability, but it’s a unicorn dream: Don’t fall for that temptation. Instead, plan growth based on vision, people and culture. You’ll then operate with thoughtful restraint and be faced with fewer preventable problems.

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    Mark O'Donnell

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  • Huntington eyes growth markets as peers pare back

    Huntington eyes growth markets as peers pare back

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    Huntington Bancshares is projecting that its average loans will rise by 3% to 5% over the coming year, while its deposits will increase by 2% to 4%, and its non-interest income will rise by 5% to 7%.

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    Even as other banks play defense, Huntington Bancshares is planning to ramp up its investments in specialty banking verticals and geographic markets where it sees growth opportunities.

    The Columbus, Ohio-based bank said Friday that it expects its expenses to rise by about 4.5% in 2024. CEO Steve Steinour argued that Huntington is positioned to execute on its contrarian spending plan due to economic strength in its Midwest stomping ground and its development of specialty banking verticals over the last year.

    He said continued investments in high-performing markets, like North Carolina and South Carolina, and in recently launched lines of business, such as health care asset-based lending and fund finance, will lead to growth at the $189.4 billion-asset bank.

    “It would appear that our outlook is more bullish than anyone else’s in terms of growth, and yet we’re highly confident that we’ll be able to deliver it,” Steinour said Friday in an interview with American Banker. “We’re coming into 2024 with momentum and excitement and an expectation of ourselves to continue to play offense, invest and build.”

    Huntington executives have been talking for months about how they see growth opportunities at a time when many other banks are trimming their sails. On Friday, they provided additional details about where the bank is investing.

    Steinour said the focus is on organic growth — specifically on building in markets like the Carolinas and Texas, where the bank has had a presence, and in places where it gained footing from its 2021 acquisition of TCF Financial, like Colorado and Minnesota.

    The bank’s spending hit $1.12 billion in the fourth quarter, a 4% climb sequentially, in line with its previous guidance, as it pushed geographic expansion in late 2023. 

    During a call with analysts on Friday, Huntington Chief Financial Officer Zach Wasserman said that the investments will have long-term benefits that outweigh what he characterized as “short-term challenges with respect to operating leverage.”

    Huntington reported fourth quarter net interest income of $1.3 billion, a quarter-over-quarter decline of 4% and a year-over-year drop of 10%. Wasserman said he expects that figure to dip further in the first quarter, but then to increase sequentially throughout 2024 as loans pick up. 

    Huntington is not eschewing cost-cutting entirely. Some of its initiatives are meant to ratchet back expenses over the long term, Wasserman said.

    The bank is increasing offshoring, offering a voluntary retirement program and consolidating branches. And it has been pulling back in some lines of business, like commercial real estate lending.

    Still, Wasserman said that the long-term earnings potential of staying in a growth posture is much more advantageous than the reverse. “We were pretty purposeful about staying on a growth footing across the board,” he said. 

    Some peer banks, meanwhile, are cutting expenses as their deposit costs increase and their loan originations underwhelm.

    Regions Financial brought down its non-interest expenses 5% in the fourth quarter, and the Birmingham, Alabama-based bank is projecting “muted loan growth.” At PNC Financial Services Group, fourth-quarter spending was down 2% amid a 43% drop in net interest income from the same period in 2022.

    In 2023, Huntington pulled in $5.48 billion of net interest income. Wasserman said that if interest rates remain higher for longer and loan growth hits projections, the bank’s net interest income could rise by about 2% this year. But if rates and loan growth are tamped down, that figure could fall by 2%, he said. 

    While Huntington’s net interest income and fee income slowed down in the fourth quarter, Steinour said that deposit and loan stability in 2023 affirmed the bank’s efforts to deepen customer relationships.

    The bank has also been bolstering its capital position ahead of the proposed Basel III endgame rules, which would require large banks to significantly increase their reserves.

    For the coming year, Huntington is projecting that its average loans will rise by 3% to 5%, its deposits will increase by 2% to 4%, and its non-interest income will rise by 5% to 7%, primarily from fees associated with the bank’s growing capital markets and wealth management businesses.

    The bank’s stock price rose by 3.9% on Friday to $12.72.

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    Catherine Leffert

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  • Is Your Website's Traffic Plummeting? Stop Making This Toxic SEO Mistake — And Do This Instead. | Entrepreneur

    Is Your Website's Traffic Plummeting? Stop Making This Toxic SEO Mistake — And Do This Instead. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Have you noticed your site’s organic traffic has plummeted over the past few years? This may have been caused by evidence of spammy link-building practices finding their way into your SEO work.

    Google’s link spam update was rolled out in December 2022, supported by the AI algorithm SpamBrain. This update is intended to combat spam and improve the browsing experience for anyone using the search engine. Successful marketers need to be aware of its effects to maintain a squeaky-clean backlink profile that helps, rather than hurts, their site’s organic visibility.

    In this post, I’ll take a closer look at what SpamBrain is, its effects on SEO and three of the most effective strategies for aligning your link-building strategy with this element of Google’s ranking algorithm.

    Related: How to Shake Up a Stale Link-Building Strategy

    What is SpamBrain?

    SpamBrain is an AI-based algorithm made by Google to identify poor-quality spam content and make it less visible in Google search results. Though it was first launched in 2018, Google only acknowledged it publicly as part of the company’s 2021 Webspam Report, suggesting that it’s become a larger part of Google’s ranking system over time.

    Google’s 2022 link spam update was rolled out to identify and neutralize backlinks that come from low-quality, spammy sources, preventing webmasters from artificially inflating their rankings.

    What does SpamBrain mean for SEO and marketers?

    The link spam roll-out caused a lot of websites’ rankings to plummet. These were websites with backlink profiles characterized by spammy link-building practices that Google has consistently warned against, including:

    • Buying links to artificially inflate a website’s rankings.
    • Excessive link exchanges between one website and another.
    • Using spammy, low-quality directories and “link farms” that provide no value to the end user.
    • Link building through forum comments with spammy, over-optimized anchor text.
    • Excessive distribution of links in widgets, footers, etc.
    • Using automation to generate links with no concern about relevance or context.

    If you noticed a drop in rankings or organic traffic following the December update, it’s possible this was caused by evidence of spammy link-building practices that have made it into your backlink profile.

    As Google’s algorithm updates become more focused on delivering the best possible user experience and more adept at identifying backlinks that go against its policies, it’s essential for SEOs and webmasters to consciously build links that avoid spammy practices and run a tight ship when reviewing the state of their link profiles.

    Related: 19 Sure-Fire Subject Line Formulas for Link-Building Emails

    Three link-building strategies to avoid being penalized by SpamBrain

    Now that you have an understanding of what SpamBrain is and its function in Google’s algorithm, here are three crucial link-building strategies you can use to maintain a healthy backlink profile, maximize the value of your link-building campaigns, and avoid getting penalized by Google’s link spam policies.

    1. Regularly audit your backlink profile

    It can be easy to let backlink profile audits fall by the wayside as part of your routine SEO work, especially if you’ve been investing in organic marketing for some time and your backlink profile is already large and diverse. However, this is an essential step towards ensuring your campaigns operate within Google’s policies and not putting your rankings at risk of penalization.

    Block off some regular time in your calendar to analyze your site’s backlinks, checking for any signs of poor-quality, spammy links that can be flagged for removal. This should include links with low-quality or irrelevant referring domains or those that use unnatural, over-optimized anchor texts. While using Google’s disavow tool will ensure that spammy referring domains won’t affect your rankings in the future, it’s important to exercise caution before entering a huge list of domains for disavowal.

    Occasionally, you might come across a link with spammy or irrelevant anchor text resulting from poor-quality past SEO work but it exists on a quality domain that could be a major asset to your SEO. In these cases, it’s better to disavow specific referring pages or ask webmasters to remove the links manually.

    2. Review link-building practices

    To ensure that you’re not going to be affected by link spam in the future, it’s a good idea to set clear link-building policies that you or your staff can follow when executing a link-building campaign. This will ensure new backlinks meet a certain quality threshold and don’t run the risk of creating a spammy backlink profile.

    Some of the things you might want to set policies about for a robust link-building SOP include:

    • Minimum domain authority.
    • Pointers for ensuring your content is relevant, high-quality, and authoritative in line with Google’s EEAT guidelines.
    • Approved anchor text.
    • Strategies and examples for framing backlinks in the content.

    By going into each link-building campaign with a set of firm anti-spam policies, you’ll eliminate the risk of spammy practices being flagged by Google as you build your backlink profile.

    Related: How To Maximize the Number of Linkable Assets on Your Website

    3. Commit to high-quality content

    Remember that the ultimate aim of SpamBrain and every Google algorithm update is to improve the experience for anyone who uses Google. They want to keep their users loyal, which means serving up the content that’s most relevant to their search queries.

    One of the most effective things you can do to ensure your link-building stays on the right side of Google’s spam policies is to keep an ironclad commitment to high-quality content. This is important for your linkable assets and the content that will serve as referring URLs in your campaigns.

    This means creating content that provides tangible value to its target audience, demonstrates a high level of expertise in the subject matter, and is written for a human audience rather than in a style that’s intended to artificially “game” a search algorithm.

    Though it’s not always easy, maintaining a high content standard in all aspects of your link building will prevent spammy practices from seeping into your backlink profile and will set you up for future success with Google’s user-focused algorithms.

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    Jeff Peroutka

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  • How to Transform Your Business Through Inclusive Leadership | Entrepreneur

    How to Transform Your Business Through Inclusive Leadership | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Hold onto your seats, entrepreneurs, CXOs and everyone with a vested interest in the future of leadership. Today, we’re slicing through the noise and diving deep into the beating heart of what makes teams thrive: inclusive leadership. Forget your cookie-cutter management styles; this is the game-changer you’ve been waiting for.

    We live in an era of rapid technological advancements, global interconnectedness and unprecedented diversity. In this volatile, ever-changing landscape, what separates the winning teams from the sinking ships? If you’re thinking “inclusion,” pat yourself on the back because you’re spot-on. But let’s be real: Inclusion isn’t just tossing a couple of diverse hires into the mix and calling it a day. It’s a nuanced, intentional strategy that starts at the top — with you, the leader.

    Related: Why You Need to Become an Inclusive Leader (and How to Do It)

    Inclusive leadership — a framework, not a fad

    Ah, the age-old misconception that “inclusive leadership” is a mere buzzword, possibly thrown around by millennials seeking a warm and fuzzy work environment. If that’s your thinking, it’s time to recalibrate because you’re not just off the mark — you’re not even on the right playing field. So, let’s cut through the jargon and get down to the brass tacks.

    Inclusive leadership is anything but a fleeting trend or a checkbox on your HR audit. The linchpin holds your organization together in an increasingly complex, diverse and global marketplace. Those who underrate its impact are missing out on a force multiplier that has the potential to revolutionize the very fabric of their organizational success. Let’s dissect why.

    1. Self-awareness is your starting point

    Listen, the “know thyself” mantra isn’t just philosophical mumbo-jumbo; it’s Leadership 101. You must be acutely aware of your tendencies, biases and triggers. The road to inclusion starts with you. Dive deep into introspection — audit your choices, behaviors and especially those hidden biases you think you don’t have. Brave enough? Seek candid feedback. The goal is to turn self-awareness into your internal compass for making inclusive decisions.

    2. Action over words

    You know what the world doesn’t need? More lip service to diversity and inclusion. Enough with the platitudes and performative gestures! We’re talking about actionable initiatives. Revamp your recruitment processes, run workshops, form employee resource groups, and launch mentorship programs. Do something that moves the needle. Inclusion isn’t a checkbox; it’s a long-term investment. Make sure your actions deliver tangible results, not just Twitter applause.

    3. Your company culture isn’t a billboard

    Company culture isn’t what’s plastered on your website or embroidered on your merch. It’s what happens when the boss leaves the room. Culture is shaped by what you tolerate, not just what you advocate for. Inclusivity should be so ingrained in your culture that it feels like second nature. Reward inclusive behaviors, and be explicit in condemning exclusionary or toxic conduct. No exceptions. Talent should never be an excuse for toxicity.

    Related: Do You Have an ‘Inclusion Delusion?’ Here’s How a Lack of Inclusivity Can Create a Toxic Culture

    4. Data-driven decisions

    In God, we trust; all others bring data. If you’re not measuring your inclusion efforts, you’re playing a guessing game. Start treating inclusion like any other critical business strategy — back it up with data. Capture metrics that matter: employee retention rates, diversity in leadership roles, the effectiveness of inclusion initiatives and so forth. Analyze, adapt, and execute.

    5. Empower to elevate

    Leadership is not about creating a legion of followers; it’s about nurturing future leaders. Empower your team by giving them the tools, resources and opportunities they need to excel. When people feel valued and capable, they perform better, innovate more and elevate the team’s effectiveness. Your job is to set them up for success, then step back and let them shine.

    6. Accessibility is non-negotiable

    Let’s broaden the scope of inclusion beyond gender and ethnicity to encompass physical abilities. Are your office spaces accessible? Can everyone participate in company events? Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the starting point. Aim to create a space where everyone, regardless of physical ability, can bring their A-game.

    7. Be ready to pivot

    We live in a dynamic world; what worked yesterday may not cut it tomorrow. The trick is to remain agile. Always be ready to pivot your strategies based on the feedback loop from your team and real-world results. Stagnation is not just a roadblock; it’s a cliff edge. Keep your ears to the ground, and be prepared to iterate.

    Related: 4 Commitments All Truly Inclusive Leaders Must Follow

    Inclusive leadership is not just a moral imperative; it’s a business one. Teams under inclusive leaders are more engaged, innovative and likely to go above and beyond. So, make the switch — your business’s success depends on it.

    If you’ve been coasting on outdated leadership models, now is the time for an overhaul. The future belongs to leaders who embrace, empower and elevate every team member. Be one of them. Because in the end, inclusive leadership isn’t just about making everyone feel welcome — it’s about creating a dynamo of creativity, innovation and success. Anything less is not just detrimental; it’s entrepreneurial malpractice.

    So, what’s your next move, leader?

    Keep this article bookmarked, share it with your C-suite buddies, and start making those actionable changes today. Your future diverse and effective team will thank you.

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    Chris Kille

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  • 5 Levels of Brand Visibility and How to Make It to the Top in 2024 | Entrepreneur

    5 Levels of Brand Visibility and How to Make It to the Top in 2024 | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I bet “better brand recognition” is already on your list of New Year resolutions. That’s if you are a crazy-driven entrepreneur with workaholism tendencies and a mission bigger than yourself, like me. And if you are of that kind, you already know any growth journey starts with honestly admitting where you are: get on the scale to note down your current weight, check your savings account and see how much you’ve managed to put away already. How do you assess the status of your personal brand?

    I’ve been using the five levels of visibility with my clients and today I would like to share it with you. As you read on, try to apply it to your brand. Which level are you at right now? Consider it your roadmap on the journey of building a personal brand. Because the world of online visibility is busy and might feel overwhelming at times. My clients say that just admitting their current state at one of the levels provides them with much-needed clarity in choosing the strategy.

    Related: How to Establish a Distinct Brand Identity in a Saturated Market

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    Natasha Zo

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  • Outlast Your Competition By Focusing on These 3 Areas | Entrepreneur

    Outlast Your Competition By Focusing on These 3 Areas | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In every enterprise, whether you own a football team or run a shoe company, you have a few strategic moments when you can change the way you deploy resources to get a new outcome.

    For most businesses, that time comes in the fourth quarter, a reflective period when you can take a fresh look at how you leverage people, time and money. Businesses who approach this opportunity with intention can start the new cycle with the right tools to meet the three greatest challenges businesses face, altering their course and rising to the next level.

    Related: 5 Must-Haves for Entrepreneurs and Their Startups to Be Successful

    1. Standing out

    Your greatest competition is not necessarily other companies or influencers in your space. Your greatest competition is everything you don’t know about what they do well and how you can capitalize on areas of weakness. The first step in launching or rebranding is research. Everyone thinks they have a unique business, but is that true? It’s important to research the marketplace, taking a close look at the standouts.

    Who is in your space? Find out who they are and how your concept differs from theirs. What is the one thing they do best? How can you fill a need they don’t?

    In-N-Out Burger found a way to stand out. While many burger joints offer multiple specialty burgers, In-N-Out made things easy. Their brand is total simplicity from the limited choices to the clean-cut staff and basic color scheme in their stores. In-N-Out Burger fills a need: People’s lives are complicated. A burger order should be simple. The company delivers on that, and their sales prove it.

    While you research the space you’re in, develop your unique selling proposition to ensure you are meeting customer demand. Be willing to make changes based on the research and reflection you do throughout the year.

    2. Building a community

    With more people working remotely, staff shortages and dwindling customer service hours, consumers are complaining about a lack of response when they reach out to many companies. Your business is a community. Do people enjoy being a part of your neighborhood? Or do they feel alienated and outcast?

    Cultivating a sense of community starts with accessibility and connection, for clients and for employees.

    When customers call, someone should be able to at least process a request and move it up the chain. Loyal customers should feel that their commitment is appreciated. Some of the best companies offer topical meetings once per week, a space where clients can learn more about products and services as well as a chance to give feedback. This is an opportunity to identify problems early rather than after it’s too late.

    In the same way, you can build meaningful connections with your workforce. With so much work happening remotely, blogs, newsletters and digital messages can help your entire network feel a part of what your company does. CEOs can meet virtually or in person with a rotating small group of employees to exchange ideas and gain important feedback. Special corporate events and retreats can create a stronger sense of camaraderie among teams and a chance for leaders to get to know their employees on a more personal level. This will create an inspired synergy amongst the team.

    Related: 6 Best Practices to Grow Your Small Business

    3. Navigating uncertainty

    The only guarantee in the world of business is the knowledge that big changes and shifts will always be a part of what you do. Growth forecasts can be wrong. The business climate can be unstable. However, some of these big changes and “unforeseen events” are quite predictable. If you are planning a beach party to launch a new surfboard company, you can predict weather changes that could ruin your event, costing you tens of thousands in marketing and set-up.

    It’s important to research the fiscal year of the industry you are targeting. There’s an economic cycle you must consider. For example, if you’re marketing, it’s important to understand that every corporation has a different tempo. If you’re booking a speaking tour, most organizations want proposals in the last quarter. But if you’re launching a campaign or a business, December is not a good time since you’d be competing with the holidays. It’s important to know your seasons and plan accordingly.

    With all the unknowns, the best approach is to find ways to bring stability. In the planning phase, ask questions, consider the timing of everything and be flexible. An outdoor event doesn’t have to take place in Sioux Falls in January; there are plenty of better months to choose from.

    Another area of uncertainty is people. If you’re experiencing staff shortages, you can create teams of diversified roles but make sure everyone has the same basic tools and knowledge base. Football teams have the first string, second string, down to the practice squad. In other words, they have backups. If everyone has the same basic skillset, they can move up and fill in as needed.

    It’s important to look at all the factors when you’re bringing new people on board. Is it the right time for you to partner with people or contract with a group to take on a big project? Asking the right questions can help you avoid paying good money for expertise that can’t be put to use because the timing is off.

    Related: Invest in Growth or Cut Costs? 3 Things Top Companies Do Well Despite Economic Uncertainty

    Final thoughts

    A few simple strategies can help your business thrive while others are closing their doors. Taking the time to do needed research will help you establish a brand that stands out and outlasts the competition. Leveraging your resources wisely will help you navigate any business challenge. You can eliminate some uncertainty by knowing and respecting the season you’re in. You may not be able to stop the cycle of change coming your way; however, you can make a few small adjustments that will mean all the difference for you and the community you serve.

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    Nancy Solari

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  • How to Master Negotiations and Make Winning Deals | Entrepreneur

    How to Master Negotiations and Make Winning Deals | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Over 35 years in business, working across four continents in real estate, finance and tech, I’ve made a lot of deals. Some were easy to close, most were not, and a handful were nearly impossible. But in every case, both sides signed on the dotted line, and that’s what matters.

    Business, after all, is about negotiations. If you’re no good as a negotiator, your company may have a short half-life. But if it’s not one of your strengths right now, don’t give up just yet — good negotiating can be learned.

    Sure, it requires a complex skillset you’re unlikely to pick up in an afternoon, but with time and experience, trial and error, improvement is all but inevitable. I’ve engaged in every possible type of business talks, and over the years I’ve developed a shortlist of optimal negotiating tactics and techniques.

    Related: Game, Set, Match: The Art of Negotiating

    R & P: Research and Preparation

    The first, and perhaps most important, is preparation. Entering negotiations is like going into battle, and no general ever won without assessing his own capabilities and those of his enemy, as well as the terrain, conditions and other factors. Similarly, a negotiator would be foolish to begin talks not knowing his own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of his foe, so doing research and prep is crucial.

    Nail down your objectives and red lines, and estimate, as best you can, what your interlocutor will and will not accept. Dig into the background of your potential partner, and examine the companies involved. How are they doing financially? Any major hurdles or looming events? Might they be looking for something other than money? For your last prep step, put together a fantastic opening offer that could bring the talks to a close just as they begin.

    Build rapport and listen

    Flush with knowledge, you’re ready to engage. Start by establishing a real connection. Assuming you don’t reach a deal straight away, communications throughout the talks will need to be clear and straightforward if progress is to be made, so set a strong foundation by opening with a warm greeting. Speak plainly at the outset so your potential partner trusts that you’re negotiating in good faith, without deception or a hidden agenda.

    Now it’s time to listen. Put your goals on the back burner for a moment, ask useful questions, and focus on fully understanding the responses. On which elements are they focusing? Are you hearing any absolute must-haves? What do they need to avoid?

    Listening shows respect and interest, but be ready and willing to answer their questions as well. Still, the more your interlocutor talks, the more they show their hand. Just remember that sometimes the words they don’t use say as much as those they do.

    Related: 5 Negotiation ‘Don’ts’ That Must Be Avoided

    Stand your ground

    As you wade deeper into the talks, it helps to be hard-nosed. Few businesspeople want a partner who is unwilling to take a stand or shies away from disagreement. Of course, you don’t want to be ornery or unpleasant, but you are going into battle and will likely need to be assertive and stand your ground to make a winning deal.

    One of the places where this is most true is Tel Aviv. Some years ago, I was mildly surprised to find that Israel’s business environment is rife with opportunity, especially when it comes to tech — a field I focus on with private equity firm Anfield Limited. With just 8 million people, Israel has created 100 Nasdaq-listed firms — more than all of Europe.

    Tech represents more than a fifth of GDP, and the World Economic Forum lists Israel as the world’s second-most innovative country. Top chipmaker, Intel, recently made one of its largest-ever global commitments in Israel: $25 billion for a factory in the south. But if you do go, be sure to bring your A-game, as Israeli businesspeople tend to be sharp and unyielding. This means that if you do make a deal, you’ve likely made a wise investment.

    Returning to tactics, if both sides have made initial offers and counter-offers and little progress has been made, it’s time to step outside the box and look at the problem from new angles. What have you not thought of? What might be added or taken off the table to sweeten the deal? Take a break, go for a walk, talk to a smart friend, or get a good night’s sleep — changing perspective often sheds new light.

    It’s getting late

    Finally, the last arrow in my quiver is the hint of a goodbye. It’s unwise to set a hard deadline, as that would be dishonest, and most potential partners would likely see through it. But giving a sense that your patience is wearing thin, that you’re ready to walk away should the deal you’ve envisioned not materialize, has the potential to be a real game-changer.

    Of course, the wise course is to play the long game — to negotiate with patience and build a relationship regardless of the fate of this possible deal. But sometimes the application of pressure can work wonders. Just be sure to choose your words wisely. As King Solomon said: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.”

    Related: 10 Tips to Negotiate Like a Boss

    Make the deal

    If all of the above fails and you have little desire to walk away empty-handed, there is one last move: Let them win. Some would call it caving. But I’ve found that in many cases, even a deal that is less than financially fantastic for your business in the short term will end up paying dividends down the road.

    That business leader you’ve just made a deal with is no dummy — she knows you’ve done her a solid. And if she understands business, there’s a good chance she’ll pay your good turn back to you in the future. Negotiations, in the end, are really about building relationships.

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    Adnan Zai

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  • Create Custom Images with Pixilio | Entrepreneur

    Create Custom Images with Pixilio | Entrepreneur

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    Generating images no longer requires hiring an artist or photographer. For businesses in today’s age, when content is valuable to virtually every industry, having an affordable image-generating tool on hand can be a lifesaver. That’s why it might be worth checking out this sale on a lifetime subscription to Pixilio Ultimate AI Image Generator, which is on sale for just $24.97 (reg. $360) through January 14th at 11:59 p.m. PT.

    Pixilio is designed to be an easy-to-use tool for creating high-quality, customized visuals. It uses machine learning to take your inputted desired parameters and turn them into a custom, high-quality image in just a matter of seconds.

    Too many of us have spent hours on end looking for the right stock photo to fit a company’s social media post or blog. This tool will eliminate that, allowing you to hone in on the image that best suits your needs. It can be customized to match a brand’s color scheme and aesthetic, and at the end of the day, you will own the images.

    This subscription includes the generation of 150 images every month, and users will get access to platform updates for life. Don’t miss this limited-time chance to improve your content creation game for a true bargain.

    This lifetime subscription to Pixilio Ultimate AI Image Generator is on sale for just $24.97 (reg. $360) through January 14th at 11:59 p.m. PT.

    Prices subject to change.

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    Entrepreneur Store

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  • CEO Fraser calls 2024 a 'turning point' year for Citi

    CEO Fraser calls 2024 a 'turning point' year for Citi

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    Jane Fraser

    Lam Yik/Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg

    Jane Fraser has spent the past three years laying out a vision for a simplified Citigroup and beginning a series of changes meant to improve the company’s profitability and returns.

    Now, for investors, 2024 is “show me” time. 

    On Friday, Fraser — who became CEO of the $2.4 trillion-asset company in March 2021 — reiterated her assurances that Citi is shedding its old skin and nearing a complete transformation. The company, whose operations have been far-flung for years, is engaged in a massive, multiyear restructuring that involves selling or winding down lagging businesses and eliminating 20,000 jobs, or about 10% of its total workforce, by the end of 2026.

    Speaking to analysts during Citi’s fourth-quarter results call, Fraser said 2024 will be “a turning point” because the company “will be able to completely focus on the performance” of its five core businesses — markets, business banking, wealth management, U.S. personal banking, as well as treasury, trade and securities services — and its ongoing risk management improvements.

    “We know that 2024 is critical as we prepare to enter the next phase of our journey, and we are completely focused on delivering our medium-term target and our transformation,” Fraser said on the call. 

    “I recognize the importance of this year, and I am highly confident that we will see the benefits of the actions we’ve taken through the momentum of our businesses,” she said.

    But myriad challenges remain, especially the steep job cuts at hand and the delicate balance of reducing expenses while growing revenue, said analyst Stephen Biggar of Argus Research. 

    “Look, this is a company now that is really ripping the Band-Aid off, so to speak,” Biggar said in an interview. “A 10% head-count reduction is not the norm, [nor is] the sale of this many businesses … and they’re calling for rising revenues, which is a challenge when you’re reducing head count.”

    He agreed with Fraser’s view that 2024 must be the turning point. If she enters her fourth year at the helm without tangible improvements, “then I would say something’s going haywire,” he said.

    “I hope we don’t come to 2025, and she says that that’s the transformative year,” he added.

    The company, whose profitability has long lagged its big-bank peers, is trying to rebuild itself after years of underperformance.

    Citi executives said that revenue for full-year 2024 will rise about 4%, excluding certain divestitures, while expenses should decline between 0.9% to 1.5%, excluding divestitures and also special assessment fees charged by the Federal Depository Insurance Corp.

    It also is aiming for an efficiency ratio of less than 60%, a common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 11.5% to 12%, and a return on tangible common equity ratio of 11% to 12%.

    There’s a long way to go on some of those metrics. Full-year 2023 ROTCE was 4.9%.

    Citi’s fourth-quarter call had been highly anticipated for several months as analysts and industry observers sought to glean more information about the company’s current organizational overhaul, which was announced in September. The overhaul is designed to strip out several layers of management, as well as affiliated support teams, to create a leaner, flatter company. 

    Friday’s call marked the first time that Citi has put a solid number on its head-count reduction plans. During the first quarter of this year, it is planning to chop out about 5,000 roles, which will result in $1 billion of run-rate savings, executives announced. That decision comes on top of roughly 7,000 jobs that were axed in the fourth quarter and 6,000 during the first nine months of the year. 

    For all of 2024, Citi expects to spend between $700 million and $1 billion on severance and other costs related to the reorganization, it said. Last year, it spent $600 million between January and September on severance-related costs and a combined $900 million on severance and restructuring in the fourth quarter, the latter of which contributed to Citi’s fourth-quarter net loss.

    For the quarter, Citi reported a net loss of $1.8 billion and blamed it on four items: restructuring charges; an FDIC assessment of $1.7 billion; a reserve build of $1.3 billion related to businesses in Russia and Argentina; and $880 million tied to the devaluation of the Argentine currency.

    While end-of-period loans were up 5%, end-of-period deposits were down 4%.

    “2023 was a foundational year, in which we made substantial progress simplifying Citi and executing the strategy” that was presented at an investor day in 2022, Fraser said on the call. 

    Still, “the fourth quarter was clearly very disappointing,” she said.

    So far, Citi has exited nine of the 14 international consumer franchises that it is selling or winding down, Fraser said. It has also wound down about 70% of retail loans and deposits in Russia, Korea and China, is pursuing the sale of its Poland business and is making progress on a plan to pursue an initial public offering for its consumer franchise in Mexico, known as Banamex, she said.

    In the past month, it has exited “marginal businesses” such as its muni business and distressed debt trading “to focus on our core strength and allocate our capital with rigor,” Fraser said.

    Biggar, who has covered Citi for two decades, said the faster it can rein in its operations, the better and more consistent its earnings would become.

    “It’s getting it all right,” he said. “All these things individually in a vacuum sound great, but you have to continue to execute.”

    In a research report before Citi’s results were announced, analysts at Piper Sandler said Citi stock has become this year’s “must own.” And while the analysts are “cheering” for Fraser and Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason, “the reality to us is that this turnaround will take a long time to effect,” they said.

    Investors’ post-call enthusiasm for Citi was tempered. The stock ended the day up less than 1%.

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    Allissa Kline

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  • How Customer Success Can Supercharge Your Revenue | Entrepreneur

    How Customer Success Can Supercharge Your Revenue | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Today’s business environment is tough — as such, customer success has become a crucial aspect of generating revenue. It’s no longer enough to simply acquire new customers; retaining and expanding existing customers is equally important for sustainable growth.

    In this article, we’ll explore how customer success can drive revenue and provide strategies for maximizing its impact on your bottom line.

    Related: The How-To: Delivering Great Customer Service

    Understanding customer success

    Before we dive into how customer success can propel revenue forward, let’s first define what it is. Customer success is the process of ensuring that your customers achieve their desired outcomes while using your product or service.

    It involves proactively engaging with customers, understanding their needs and providing them with the resources and support they need to be successful, which in turn increases customer loyalty.

    The importance of retention revenue

    One of the key ways that customer success management can stimulate growth is through customer retention. Retention revenue refers to the revenue generated from existing customers who continue to use your product or service. We all know that net new customer acquisition costs more, yet so many companies insist on following this playbook. However, today’s investors are paying closer attention to retention rates and churn rates than ever before.

    According to research by Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%. This is because loyal customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and are also more likely to refer others to your business.

    By focusing on customer success and ensuring that your customers are achieving their desired outcomes, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to higher retention rates and, ultimately, more revenue. There is no more compelling reason to introduce a solid customer success strategy.

    The power of expansion revenue

    Another growth strategy is through expansion revenue. This refers to the additional revenue generated from existing customer relationships through upselling, cross-selling and renewals.

    By proactively engaging with customers and understanding their needs, you can identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. This not only increases revenue but also strengthens the relationship with your customers by providing them with additional value, so bake this into your customer onboarding processes.

    The key here is ensuring your customer success team is a part of the revenue team, aligning it with sales (and also marketing) and making it responsible for part of the financial targets. Not only does this spread your revenue risk, but you’re also putting the customer experience front and center. No one wants to be chased by a salesperson they haven’t spoken to in a year for a renewal — a sale is far more likely to convert if driven by a trusted advisor who’s built a relationship with the account. According to Forrester research, trust is the most important brand attribute for buyers — so lean into it.

    Related: 3 Pillars of Client Retention Every Brand Needs to Implement

    Strategies for driving revenue through customer success

    Proactive engagement and personalization

    Proactively engaging with customers and providing personalized support is crucial for growth via customer success. By regularly checking in with your customers and understanding how their business needs may be shifting (aka really knowing them), you can identify opportunities for that all-important upselling and cross-selling. The best companies, however, will plan this as part of the customer lifecycle and lifetime value. It can be usage-driven for SAAS companies and service-driven for business services; wherever an opportunity is available, you should have a natural progression plan.

    Additionally, personalized support can help customers achieve their desired outcomes, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates. This can be achieved through personalized onboarding, regular check-ins and tailored resources and support.

    So much of content marketing is focused on bringing new customers on board, that existing ones often get overlooked. That playbook is dead. It costs more and doesn’t have great ROI — it’s time to flip the script. This is why customer success and marketing teams must work together to build more long-term client relationships and achieve negative churn.

    Utilizing customer data

    Data and the resulting insights are another powerful tool. By analyzing customer data, you can identify patterns and trends that can help you better understand your customers’ needs and behaviors. For example, by tracking customer usage data, you can identify which features are most popular and which are underutilized. This can help you tailor your upselling and cross-selling efforts to offer customers the features they need and are most likely to purchase. It will help you identify what features, additional products or services to develop based on the most desired outcomes of your customers.

    It can also help with churn. We recently implemented a Net Promoter Score process for a client who’d never done one before. When low scores came in from several customers, it was a wake-up call for the team, who had thought everything was ticking along just fine. This allowed them to react, drill into the issues and save the accounts.

    With metrics and insights in place, you become proactive instead of reactive by keeping a regular pulse on your customers. Note: You should implement a 360-view of them across one CRM to facilitate this and achieve the best results.

    Collaboration between customer success and sales teams

    As highlighted above, collaboration between customer success and sales teams is crucial for driving revenue growth and a seamless customer experience. For example, the former can provide sales teams with insights into customer must-haves and behaviors, helping them tailor their pitches.

    According to Gartner, 43% of vendor-related regret happens at the handoff between sales and implementation. Why? Many teams still work in silos, and as such, there tends to be a gap in communication and handover — allowing for buyer remorse and worry about big-ticket investment. By working cross-functionally, you can nip this in the bud and ensure a smooth transition.

    Leveraging technology

    Technology can play a significant role here as well. For example, a customer success platform can track usage data and trigger automated emails or notifications when a customer reaches a certain usage threshold, indicating an opportunity for upselling. You can also build automated workflows within your CRM, ensuring those valuable check-ins and customer satisfaction surveys aren’t missed — achieving a level of personalization at scale.

    Related: How to Measure Your Customers’ Happiness Score (and Why That Matters)

    Times are tougher than ever, and buyers are in the driving seat. Therefore, customer success is even more crucial for nailing those sales targets. You can win bigger and maximize this team’s impact on your bottom line if you, 1) tear down those team silos and start working together and 2) be proactive instead of reactive by using technology, data insights and good old-fashioned relationship building.

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    Paul Sullivan

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  • Invest in Growth or Cut Costs? 3 Things Top Companies Do Well Despite Economic Uncertainty | Entrepreneur

    Invest in Growth or Cut Costs? 3 Things Top Companies Do Well Despite Economic Uncertainty | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Will there be a recession? Are we in a downturn? Even economists can’t agree. Still, entrepreneurs are busy planning, projecting, and looking into the future. There are countless decisions to be made, but one of the most critical is what strategy your company will pursue this year — is it a year of growth or status quo?

    Since founding my PR agency in 2008, I’ve had a front-row seat to high-growth companies — or those with the ambition to be high-performing. CEOs of hyper-growth companies look at the world differently; external conditions are a consideration, not a driving force, because thriving companies know the cream always rises to the top and build their strategies around getting there.

    When uncertainty is clouding decision-making, there is a lot of pressure to turn to cost-cutting.

    The reality is: It doesn’t matter if a recession is looming — a company in your category will be No. 1 in revenue this year regardless. If it’s your company, it will be because you controlled the things you could. Since 2008, I’ve seen thriving companies do these things with total clarity, regardless of economic conditions.

    Related: 10 Growth Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know

    Reinvestment that aligns with growth

    Ambitious companies know cost-cutting has never led to growth — ever. It may increase profitability, but that’s a different strategy. Growth strategies require investment.

    Commonly, bean counters say things like “our salespeople make too much” or “there’s no direct line to sales with this initiative,” that’s their job — to point out these potential concerns.

    But high-growth CEOs know companies in high-growth mode operate knowing that every dollar they invest has a return because they invest in the right places for growth. When that ROI starts to flatten, you’re in maintenance mode, not growth mode.

    Thriving companies align investment with growth. They spend money on marketing, sales and PR because those are the levers you pull when you’re growing or want to grow. The average company with $10 million to $25 million in revenues spent 15% of its revenue on marketing initiatives. If you want to be average, there’s your baseline. If you want to be dominant, you must stretch that budget, and it may mean giving up some profitability in the short term.

    Growth-oriented CEOs know spending on growth is essential for the next phase, whether IPO, acquisition or capital infusions. Everyone loves a winner — the goal is to be the winner in the eyes of your stakeholders who carry you to your ultimate goal.

    Related: Why You Need to Reinvest Half of What You Earn Back Into Your Company

    Support their sales process vigorously

    It doesn’t matter if you sell to businesses or consumers. Not all sales activities have a direct line to a sale.

    What does lead to sales is consistent exposure and relationship building. Relationships are a differentiator in today’s very crowded, very competitive marketplaces. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the first half of 2023, 3.12 million businesses were started, meaning new business starts in 2023 are trending against historical averages. Starting a business has never been easier; every business has competitors chomping at their heels. Now, only 6% of businesses ever reach revenues over $1 million, so those companies aren’t your competition — yet. But one of those companies that started three years ago is probably creeping up on you, and you don’t even know it yet.

    Salespeople or sales channels need visibility, and they need a reason to engage and start a conversation with potential buyers. If every discussion begins with “we have a deal for you,” then you are conditioning your buyers to wait for a sale to buy. That’s not a winning tactic unless you can win the race to the bottom.

    Enterprise and publicly traded companies often use this strategy — and it’s sometimes a reason companies want to IPO, so they have the budget to win this battle and be the dominant player; once they own the marketplace, they’ll be able to raise rates with impunity — at least for a while. Most privately owned businesses cannot win this war, so they must be growth-minded and remember to support the sales process.

    Your marketplace positioning dictates how you support your sales team and sales initiatives. If you want to be No. 1, you need to be the most trusted and visible, so allocate your marketing budget with that split in mind. If you’re already the most trusted of your competitors, you may only spend 40% of your budget on trust-based initiatives like PR, face-to-face initiatives or events. If you’re already getting visibility but aren’t closing the deal, investing in trust is essential. One reason people invest in PR is because it provides both exposure and trust. Trust isn’t a line item on a spreadsheet, but you can plainly see it in key performance indicators (KPIs).

    Related: This Strategic Growth Lever is Right Under Your Nose. Harness It To Multiply Your Company’s Success.

    Track success metrics unique to the initiatives

    Everyone tracks revenue and profitability. But companies in growth mode track KPIs that give them insight into trust and reach. Thriving companies value their reach and reputation together.

    Trust KPIs should be a steady build with noticeable year-over differences. If you were building a house, trust is your foundation.

    Trust KPIs could be:

    • Time to convert
    • Direct website visits
    • Brand mentions
    • Brand associations (how trusted are the other brands you associate with)
    • Revenue per new customer
    • Return on ad spend (ROAS)

    Awareness KPIs are important because exposure matters. Back to the house analogy, awareness KPIs would be your framing.

    Awareness KPIs could be:

    • Impressions
    • Incoming leads
    • Reach (ads, media mentions, social media)

    Growth CEOs track these metrics over time. Monitoring over time is essential because growth is like a train. It moves slowly at first, but once it starts to build steam, the speed of growth happens faster, assuming you keep fueling growth.

    It’s a radical idea to ignore external factors — but that’s exactly what CEOs of ambitious companies do to grow. Growth mode isn’t a way of life; aggressive growth is the pathway to the next step, and during that time, there will be some eggs cracked to make an omelet. But I’ve noticed CEOs investing in, measuring and staying the course with growth do so with laser focus and focus on controlling the factors they can control.

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    Tara Coomans

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  • Building an AI-Augmented Workforce While Remaining Human-Centric | Entrepreneur

    Building an AI-Augmented Workforce While Remaining Human-Centric | Entrepreneur

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    Artificial intelligence gets a lot of media attention, and for good reason. Surveys of CEOs conducted by organizations like Gartner and EY have predicted it to be the most disruptive technology of 2024. This is because an AI-augmented workforce provides increased efficiency and productivity, enhanced data analysis and decision-making, and automation of routine tasks.

    For example, imagine an employee’s timesheet being tracked automatically so they can focus on higher-value tasks.

    The impact of AI is clear. It streamlines operations by processing vast amounts of data at speeds incomprehensible to humans, reducing downtime, and optimizing workflows. It also enables predictive maintenance in industries with heavy machinery that can fail and cripple operations. And it provides data-driven insights that were previously hidden or too complex to discern.

    Of course, there are also challenges, including employee anxiety over displacement and fear of redundancy. Automation through AI and machine learning can make certain jobs obsolete. And, if they aren’t immediately displaced, employees have concerns about its introduction into the workforce.

    The Ethical Dilemmas Surrounding AI

    Making matters worse, AI systems are trained on data. Biases in this data can be perpetuated or even amplified if not kept in check. This makes transparency and accountability important as developers work to address moral and ethical concerns.

    Related: How CIOs Are Integrating BI and AI in their 2025 Vision?

    It’s a topic leaders are just now starting to think about. Strong governance is needed to face these obstacles head-on to ensure human and AI integration run smoothly.

    The Impact of AI on the Workforce

    Although the recent wave of development with large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI has leaders finally understanding the power of these tools, AI development has been around for some time. American Express, for example, employs AI to analyze millions of transactions in real-time. It identifies potentially fraudulent activities, saving the company millions and enhancing customer trust.

    The most important aspect leaders need to be aware of in an AI integration is their ethical responsibility. It’s tempting to focus on the bottom line and drive efficiency, but leaders have a responsibility to prioritize human beings with a human-centric approach. This requires soft skills like empathy and understanding to create an inclusive company culture built on trust and acceptance.

    Taking Bad Actors Into Account

    However, with great power comes great responsibility. These AI systems work with large volumes of proprietary data, and developers aren’t always transparent about updates. Bad actors can warp the data (check out this AI poisoning tool from researchers at the University of Chicago), and data breaches at companies like OpenAI and Microsoft’s Wiz expose the problems that could occur.

    Because of this, leadership needs to implement a strong human and AI integration plan accounting for potential hazards while focusing on an AI-augmented workforce.

    Fostering Human and AI Integration

    It’s important for leadership to set the strategic direction of the human and AI integration. They must have a clear understanding of their strategic goals, whether that’s improving efficiency, enhancing customer experience, or driving innovation.

    The AI rollout should align with organizational goals and involve all stakeholders to ensure buy-in. Employee involvement is essential, and this means being transparent and communicating priorities and goals to the entire team. Create a forum and foster a dialog among all applicable stakeholders (internally and externally) to address concerns and clearly define expectations. This puts everyone on the same page.

    Here are four key steps to rolling out an AI-augmented workforce:

    1. Identify AI Integration Opportunities.

    The first step is a comprehensive assessment of your organization’s operations. Leaders must identify areas where AI can add significant value, like enhancing customer service, streamlining data analysis, or optimizing supply chain management.

    A gap analysis is crucial in this phase, comparing the current state of operations with the desired outcomes to pinpoint specific gaps that AI can effectively address. Estimating the potential return on investment (ROI) for AI initiatives is equally important in determining the prioritization of AI projects; focus on those that offer the most impact and are feasible within the organization’s capabilities and resources.

    2. Build AI Competency.

    Success in AI integration is heavily dependent on the workforce’s ability to adapt and work alongside these new technologies. Skill mapping is essential to identify the specific skills and knowledge that employees will need in an AI-enhanced workplace. It’s essential to recognize that training needs will vary. Investing in customized training programs that cater to different roles and skill levels within the organization is vital.

    Related: The Importance Of Continuous Learning In The Era Of Artificial Intelligence

    Because AI and related technologies are continually evolving, fostering a culture of continuous learning through regular training sessions and refresher courses is crucial to keep staff up-to-date with the latest developments and applications in AI.

    3. Create Synergy Between AI and Human Teams.

    Building effective hybrid teams that combine AI systems and human employees is critical. These teams should leverage the strengths of both — AI’s capabilities such as data processing and consistency, and human skills like creativity and empathy. Clearly defining roles within these hybrid teams is imperative, ensuring employees understand when to rely on AI and when to apply human judgment.

    It is also essential to invest in collaborative tools that enhance the interaction between AI and human teams. These tools, such as intuitive dashboards, alert systems, and communication platforms, can significantly improve productivity and the overall efficacy of AI integration.

    4. Continuously Improve Through Engagement.

    It is pivotal to implement an open feedback system where employees can share their experiences and suggestions regarding AI tools. Regular meetings, surveys, or suggestion boxes can serve as effective channels for gathering this feedback, ensuring your AI processes are evolving to meet changing needs and remaining user-friendly.

    By actively seeking and responding to employee feedback, leaders improve AI systems and empower their employees, making them active contributors to the AI integration process. This approach enhances the effectiveness of AI tools and fosters a sense of ownership and engagement among the workforce.

    AI is a powerful technology that can augment human capabilities in the workforce. However, great care must be taken to ensure its implementation is both ethical and efficient. With a strategic approach, leaders can build an AI-augmented workforce that improves the bottom line and everyone’s quality of life.

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    Chad Alessi

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  • How to Use Customer Feedback to Unlock Growth and Loyalty | Entrepreneur

    How to Use Customer Feedback to Unlock Growth and Loyalty | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It’s time to retire the “faster horses” quote, particularly if you want to stay competitive in 2024. The quote in question has been attributed to automobile mogul Henry Ford and goes something like this: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” In essence, it’s a brush-off to customer sentiment and desire. It’s also completely off-mark in an era where buyers are getting exactly what they want from brands — and moving on if they don’t.

    According to research from McKinsey and Company, consumers want a collaborative exchange with brands. Nearly three-quarters are asking for personalization in their interactions with companies. They’re also being selective with their splurges, making it essential for businesses to listen to their needs and respond accordingly. Brands that remain in tune with shoppers will win their loyalty. Brands that don’t? Well, they’ll be as outdated as the Model T.

    In other words, marketers and customer service professionals have to put a premium on the importance of customer feedback. Customer feedback is one of the most valuable sources of information that any organization can glean. When you have real-time feedback from your buyers, you have the inside track to pivot rapidly. You can spot new sales opportunity ideas, chances for product or service improvement, better ways to keep in touch with purchasers and so much more.

    Your feedback won’t always be rosy, of course. That’s to be expected. Negative feedback and unhappy customers are a source of wonderful data, though. They’ll tell you right away what isn’t working and what may be hurting your relationship with them. As long as you act on the feedback they give, you may be able to restore the bond between your brand and a displeased buyer.

    How can you start implementing a customer feedback management program that will allow you to quickly identify customer-based problems and possibilities? Try putting a few steps in place to gather, parse and act upon different types of customer feedback.

    Related: How to Really Hear and Use Customer Feedback

    1. Set up feedback mechanisms throughout the customer journey

    If you don’t already have a systematic customer feedback process, you owe it to your team to pull one together. You can use a variety of vehicles to elicit feedback, from point-of-purchase polls to review requests. Remember that feedback can be organic, too, as in the case of social mentions on Facebook or X. Together, the feedback you receive needs to be funneled into your company so you can begin to evaluate it.

    Your goal shouldn’t just be to take in data, though. You need to reflect upon it and react appropriately. Gartner points out that 80% of growth-focused businesses use their customer experience information proactively. Therefore, you can assume that by taking the appropriate steps to learn about what your customers want (and delivering on those desires), you’re positioning your organization to get bigger. And better.

    Make sure you understand the actual problem and avoid simply gut-reacting to feedback. When a customer says they want a faster horse, take a step back and think about the real problem, which in this case is that they want to get from point A to point B faster. In one Alida survey, a whopping 75% of consumers said they didn’t think businesses used their feedback. Accordingly, be clear when you’re doing something in response to what your customers have told you. That way, they’ll realize that you’re not letting their input collect dust.

    2. Overlay quantitative data with qualitative data

    Chances are strong that you’ll use an AI-fueled system to collect and analyze customer feedback data. AI can be highly useful in finding the most common patterns around specific products and services within your customer service feedback. It can deliver fast customer retention metrics, too. That said, you can’t solely rely on AI to tell you all the opportunities that lie ahead.

    What’s the problem with allowing AI to guide your customer feedback reactions? It isn’t always able to “read between the lines.” Even predictive AI systems can’t tell you the “why?” That’s where qualitative data comes into play. Qualitative data teases out the nuances in quantitative data. It reveals the hidden “pain points” that might not be immediately apparent in the quantitative data. You can then use both types of data to plan out your strategy.

    Not sure which kind of qualitative data mechanism would give you the most comprehensive understanding of customer experiences, preferences and perceptions across your brand, products and services? Statista shows that 44% of organizations opt for in-person focus groups. Online focus groups nabbed 39%, coming in second. Sometimes, just getting people talking can answer how to make customers more likely to return, refer and review your brand.

    Related: This Is Why You Should Never Ignore Customer Feedback

    3. Aim for continuous improvement

    Just a generation ago, businesses’ customer feedback channels were far more limited than they are today. From social media to branded apps, you now have expanded ways to gather data about your buyers. Your job, therefore, is to keep your eye on trends in the customer feedback ecosystem. Those trends will help you remain on the leading edge when it comes to amassing a wealth of feedback.

    Case in point, personalization is a growing trend in the customer feedback world. As mentioned, McKinsey research has shown a desire across the buying population for personalized brand engagements. Today, software can allow customers to receive polls, surveys, etc., that are specifically designed around their purchasing journey. For example, Amazon leverages customer feedback to personalize recommendations and enhance the shopping experience by suggesting products that align closely with user preferences and past purchases.

    If you’re not continuously improving with your customer feedback, you won’t be able to give the best possible customer experience. Take a look at how you’re collecting and using feedback currently. Are there gaps you could close, such as the lead time for feedback to be perused and contemplated by your team? Addressing those gaps can move your customer feedback system forward and put your company in a leadership position.

    Consumers are savvier than ever and have plenty of choices. In Ford’s day, they were limited in their options, allowing him to avoid the need to collect feedback. Rather than take an antiquated approach to your customers, treat them as a gold mine for the information that will take your brand from zero to 100 in no time.

    Related: Transforming Customer Feedback Into Actionable Business Outcomes: The How-To

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    Tiffany Edwards

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  • How Much Is Too Much Automation in the Workplace? How AI Could Be Hurting Your Employees | Entrepreneur

    How Much Is Too Much Automation in the Workplace? How AI Could Be Hurting Your Employees | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over the workplace, and employees are still not sure how their companies are using automation tools to boost their productivity or augment specific tasks of their jobs.

    The reality, however, is that many companies have given their all or nothing for artificial intelligence without considering the near and long-term impact these tools will have on employees’ mental well-being. Now the results are in, and it’s not looking very good.

    Several studies have found that employees are feeling more stressed or anxious since their companies have introduced several new AI-focused projects to assist with overall workplace productivity.

    All of this for an extra boost in the quarterly bottom line.

    Related: How to Leverage AI to Supercharge Your Business

    How artificial intelligence is impacting employees’ well-being

    What many thought would become the breakthrough moment of the century is now looking more and more taboo for some workers trying to avoid the topic of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

    One recent study published by the American Psychological Association (APA found that roughly 4 in 10 (38%) American workers are worried that artificial intelligence will partially or completely take over their job duties, leaving them obsolete.

    All of this tracking hasn’t fared well with employees either. In the same APA report, around a third (32%) of employees that know their boss is tracking their activity reported their mental health being “fair” or “poor.”

    In a different APA study, more than half of employees said they are aware that their boss or manager is using some form of AI to monitor their activity while on the clock.

    This isn’t to mention the countless number of employees feeling overwhelmed with all the new learning and training they have to undergo to effectively apply artificial intelligence in the workplace or their day-to-day activities. Fears of being replaced by machines, computers monitoring their activity and the absence of AI workplace policies are only adding more confusion to the office talk.

    Yet, despite all of this chatter going around, a survey by The Conference Board found that 1 in 10 employers are now using generative AI tools daily. However, only 23% said that their company had an AI policy in development and 26% said their organization already had something in place.

    A fear of becoming obsolete

    All over the world, employees are becoming more fearful of artificial intelligence taking their place in the office. In fact, a study by the Pew Research Center found that roughly 19% of U.S. workers were in jobs most exposed to the possibility of being automated by AI.

    While it’s still unclear how many jobs might be slashed in the coming years, because it’s cheaper and more effective to employ machines, some suggest that artificial intelligence has already contributed to roughly 4,000 layoffs in May this year.

    While employees fear that they might be replaced in the coming years, or even more worrisome, in a couple of months at the rate at which artificial technology is developing, many are also concerned over whether they will find a good paying job elsewhere.

    Concerns regarding job fulfillment and work-life balance are all now being questioned as the workplace becomes increasingly automated and the labor market more competitive.

    Related: Don’t Waste Money on AI. Unlock Its True Potential By Treating It Like a New Hire.

    Lack of privacy and security

    It’s no secret that companies are leveraging artificial intelligence to track and monitor employee performance and their day-to-day activity while on the clock.

    While some companies have used this technology to allow their teams to have more efficient and transparent workplace practices, allowing them increased exposure to project progress, and the ability to resolve inefficiencies more effectively — some employers have gone the other route, instead.

    Those employees who know their bosses and managers are tracking their activity have felt that they are often being inappropriately watched; in fact, 81% of employees felt this way.

    Employees are feeling that they are not being trusted by their employers or team members, leading to decreased morale and engagement. Additionally, this only adds to workers’ personal distress and leaves a sour taste in their mouths realizing that their activity is closely being captured by their employers.

    On top of this lack of privacy, many employees often feel that a potential data breach could only further expose more of their personal information to bad actors. Weak cybersecurity infrastructure and a lack of proper security training are often known to be some of the biggest reasons for data breaches in the workplace.

    A continuity of underlying workplace discrimination

    Other issues with automation and artificial intelligence tools in the office are the potential risks these tools pose for workplace diversity and inclusion practices. Hiring algorithms used to train AI models are often responsible for the design choices made during a company’s hiring process and for selecting appropriate candidates for open positions.

    However, many people feel that these algorithms used in the hiring and candidate selection process can influence a company’s wider diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) standards.

    Already, there have been multiple examples of artificial intelligence being host to cultural and gender bias, only selecting employees based on their race, gender, and age and not necessarily taking into consideration their qualifications or experience.

    Effectively training AI-hiring algorithms to de-bias itself and remove discriminatory actions takes time, often reversing the work employers have already done in recent years to create more equitable workplace policies.

    What’s more, these systems are only learning from the data companies can feed them. Let’s say a company is predominantly male, the system will read that as “Hey, we don’t really hire women around here.”

    Not even companies such as Amazon couldn’t de-bias its hiring algorithms back in 2018, despite having access to the necessary resources and skills.

    Related: AI Is Coming For Your Jobs — Anyone Who Says Otherwise Is In Denial. Here’s How You Can Embrace AI to Avoid Being Left Behind.

    Where do employers draw the line?

    Well, that’s exactly the question many are wondering about. Companies will continue to invest in artificial intelligence, and employees will have to deal with what comes afterward. Finding a balance would require employers to take more actionable steps to effectively integrate AI within the workplace, allowing employees to grow alongside it, instead of being fearful thereof.

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    Pierre Raymond

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  • Outpace Competitors in 2024 with Fresh Niche Growth Tactics | Entrepreneur

    Outpace Competitors in 2024 with Fresh Niche Growth Tactics | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A niche market is simply defined as a subset of an overall market, with the individuals comprising it sporting unique and often nuanced needs. This is why businesses that target them typically focus on one type of product or service. And this focused effort can result in remarkable returns: A study published in a May, 2013 edition of Market Intelligence & Planning revealed that businesses that engage with niche markets experience “increased profits, prices, sales, growth, market shares and competitiveness.”

    The challenge is that anticipating future growth in these sectors, while vital to success, is no easy feat.

    1. Early homework

    The first step in securing growth is to find your niche market — a sector underserved by current products and perhaps ignored by broad-market companies. The good news is that the possibilities are expansive. Harvard Business Review found that no less than two-thirds of customers feel that “companies are not responding fast enough to their changing needs.”

    One reliable way to find a niche market with potential for growth is to evaluate your own needs and the needs of those around you. Does your mother lament how bare her house feels now that you’ve moved out? Then she’s part of a growing community of empty nesters perhaps in need of personalized home décor. Does your gym buddy keep complaining about how his coffee doesn’t fit into a training regimen? Then he might be part of the health-conscious cold-brew lovers market.

    Related: How to Effectively Beat Your Direct Competition in a Niche Market

    2. Evaluate demand

    A market close to your heart will be the easiest to research and serve. Just ensure that yours isn’t too small to be profitable. Simply because a sector is underserved does not mean it has the potential for growth. This is why evaluating market demand — including its maturity and business cycle — is crucial.

    That said, even if there doesn’t appear to be growing demand, this doesn’t mean your business cannot drive it. For example, in 2021, a garden furniture company conducted a case study revealing that UK households, on average, invested approximately £670 ($853 US) in enhancing outdoor spaces, then strategically analyzed how to better impact sales outcomes. Resulting insights led to a remarkable 160% boost in revenue and the introduction of 450 unique stock-keeping units to the company’s product lineup. By conducting a similar base-rate analysis, your business, too, can shape products for a niche market while simultaneously influencing that market.

    Of course, customers’ needs are always changing, so you’ll likely need to pivot and expand at some point, but the street goes both ways; you can also strategically drive demand with a product line.

    Related: How to Grow Your Profits in a Niche Market

    3. A deeper market dive

    Once you have found a market with potential for growth, you’ll need to find out what product or service will meet its unique needs and why these needs aren’t currently being met. There are a variety of ways to conduct associated research, usually by looking at the broader markets they’re part of. Methods include:

    • Tracking down current industry reports: They must detail the size and drivers of — and barriers within and without — a sector, including its potential for growth.
    • Engaging with potential customers: Despite its time-consuming nature, this step is essential. Surveys are an effective mode of interaction, but for more in-depth insights, don’t shy away from individual discussions, either through social media platforms or face-to-face meetings.
    • Identify competitors: Oversaturated markets will likely have the least potential for growth, not surprisingly, but also keep in mind that — though they may be tempting — niche markets with no competitors can also pose sales risks, even when catered to. So, it can be helpful to expand or pivot slightly to give yourself competitive protection.

    Related: How To Spy on Your Competition With Social Media

    4. Consider external factors

    When contemplating the potential for growth, be sure to take into account external factors that alter customer need and demand, and otherwise alter a market broadly. (We all saw, for example, how impactful the Covid-19 pandemic was on businesses of every size.) Getting ahead of them will let you plan and adapt. Also, it’s not uncommon for radical innovations (in technology, principally) to “leapfrog” a business, so keep a wary eye on advancements and plan how to incorporate them into offerings.

    Another common external factor is the gamut of governmental regulations and their capacity to force compliance, influence customer buying willingness and trust, and/or outlaw a product altogether. Here again, being a student of possibilities — taking note of even possible regulatory changes — will allow you to quickly customize offerings and educate customers.

    Related: What Every Entrepreneur Must Understand About Their First 10 Customers

    5. Potential for early adopter relationships and strategic partnerships

    Cultivating relationships with your early adopters will provide valuable insights and feedback, which helps refine, improve and expand a product in alignment with the ever-evolving needs of a niche market.

    Another key growth assist can come in the form of helpful allies. The presence of influencers is a good indicator that a market has room for growth. Partnerships with these influencers and other thought leaders can fuel increased visibility and access.

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    Pritom Das

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  • The Skills Gap Is Rapidly Widening — Here's What We Must Do To Close It. | Entrepreneur

    The Skills Gap Is Rapidly Widening — Here's What We Must Do To Close It. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Employers and other leaders, along with most employees, know all too well that it’s a challenging time to be a worker. With the adoption of artificial intelligence and social media marketing particularly, the nature of productivity and what it means to be a skilled worker is transforming. Simply being attentive and hardworking used to pass muster, but today there is a plethora of digital skills that individuals must possess to be competitive. In fact, a 2022 report, “How Skills Are Disrupting Work: The Transformational Power of Fast Growing, In-Demand Skills” detailed that need for employees with skills in AI/machine learning, cloud computing, social media and product management was the highest ever in that year — and growing rapidly.

    The trouble is — an ever-widening skills gap prevents a large percentage of the unemployed and underemployed from being qualified for such jobs. For instance, that same report stated that over its preceding five years, the average U.S. employee had to either replace or upgrade 37% of skills in order to carry out the duties of their position. A 2023 study conducted by my own organization, Amazon Web Services (along with Gallup), found that 68% of employers in the United Kingdom are struggling to find staff members with the necessary digital knowledge. A more troubling figure still is that just 11% of workers in the U.K. possess the skills needed to obtain and retain these higher-tech jobs.

    When it comes to this skills gap, small and medium-size businesses find themselves in a unique position. While some leaders might feel daunted as they try to keep up with better-resourced and larger competitors, there are also advantages to being smaller and nimble. They can pivot quickly, testing out new pilot programs that arm smaller staffs with more certifications and training.

    Related: Are You In A Dead-End Job? Here Are The Tell-Tale Signs

    How upskilling creates revenue

    Largely trained in a time before AI and machine learning took over the conversation, today’s workers are also struggling with the effects of the pandemic. How can they keep up? One answer is “reskilling” (aka “upskilling”), in which employees set out to learn new skills either on their own or with the help of work-based programs. And not surprisingly, employers offering high-quality learning and development programs benefit from such an investment.

    Owners will be cheered to note that this doesn’t have to represent a massive time commitment: Training for specific tasks associated with higher digital skills can take as little as an hour, and offer an immediate return. To be most effective, however, such instruction needs to be outcome-driven, and approachable. For example, Amazon Web Services offers free training in many areas (including basic generative AI solutions) that’s designed to be easy for non-technical people to follow.

    Offering such opportunities doesn’t just mean more talented workers: That same Amazon Web Services study showed that revenue for companies engaged in training of this type was 168% higher than those with lower levels of digital skill advancement. Better still, employees with intermediate digital skills stand to earn 40% more annually than those with basic digital skills, while those in the advanced bracket earn a whopping 65% more. A 2023 white paper by authors representing MIT, Stanford University and the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed this — that the promise of generative AI benefits less experienced workers the most. The goal is to level the playing field, allowing those with less experience to gain skills faster — upending inequality in productivity.

    Related: How to Keep Employees Engaged and Productive in the Age of AI

    Smaller organizations usually have smaller workforces, which means that the value of every employee (as a percentage of overall productivity) is much higher in a small and medium-size business than in a larger company. Similarly, the benefits of an upskilling program will ripple faster in smaller organizations, whether that means having more highly skilled managers in place or simply spreading the word about upskilling’s benefits.

    Lastly, such programs can go a long way towards recruiting talent. Smaller enterprises, pretty much inevitably, will wind up duking it out with much larger and resource-rich ones with which they simply can’t compete when it comes to salaries. In a PwC study on HR and recruiting, however, 51% of respondents reported a willingness to give up higher salaries for personal flexibility and training opportunities.

    Related: Employees With Advanced Digital Skills Contribute $507.9 Billion To India’s GDP: AWS Report

    Investing in the future

    At first blush, the cost of helping your workforce garner needed skills might seem hefty — even out of reach for some — but they don’t have to be. There are many free resources available to help train staff in cloud computing and other areas. For example, the Amazon Web Services Skill Builder offers free on-demand labs and hands-on learning for a variety of skill levels.

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    Claire Gribbin

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  • 5 Tips for Creating SEO Content That Ranks | Entrepreneur

    5 Tips for Creating SEO Content That Ranks | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    If you want to rank well on Google and drive organic traffic, it’s essential to know how to create content that’s optimized for search engines (SEO content).

    SEO-friendly content is fundamentally different from conventional content, which means there are some caveats you need to consider if you want your blog posts to rank.

    In this article, I will give you five practical SEO tips for creating content that ranks.

    Why is SEO content important?

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important because it can place you on the top of search engine result pages, improving your online visibility and driving more organic traffic to your website.

    To do that, you need to create content that’s engaging and valuable to humans and also optimized for search engines. It’s the only way to land on the first page of Google and attract the right audience you can later convert to customers.

    Here’s how you can create quality SEO content:

    Related: 5 Simple SEO Strategies to Improve Your Rankings

    1. Write with a keyword in mind

    Before you start writing, you need to pick a keyword your audience looks up on search engines. You can use a keyword research tool to find relevant keywords with a good balance of search volume, relevance and competition.

    After you select a keyword, type it into Google and read content that ranks for it. Analyze these top-ranking articles, reverse engineer their structure, identify common themes, and learn why Google views them as valuable.

    Then, use these insights to craft your article around the target keyword. This method ensures your content aligns with search intent and has a better chance of ranking high on search engines.

    Writing an article first and attempting to fit a keyword afterward is a common SEO mistake. But it’s like fitting a square peg into a round hole — it just won’t work.

    2. Write for robots and humans

    Creating SEO content is all about striking a delicate balance between writing for search engines and your target audience.

    Writing for robots means strategically incorporating relevant keywords throughout the text, optimizing meta titles and descriptions, and using header tags. These and other SEO strategies help search engines understand the context of your content, improving its chances of ranking.

    While writing for robots is crucial, Google’s primary goal is to deliver valuable content to human readers. That’s why you also need to craft engaging and helpful content that matches the search intent of your audience.

    One important tip is to structure your SEO content to improve readability. That’s because users mostly scan articles instead of reading every word. You need to write engaging subheadings, bullet points and short paragraphs to help the readers quickly find the information they’re looking for.

    3. Start with a content outline

    Creating a coherent article without a proper outline can be challenging, even if you’re an expert. That’s why having a content outline to guide you can help with the article’s flow and prevent content overlap or repetition between different sections, improving the quality of your content.

    An outline helps the writer know exactly what information they need to provide to meet the search intent, creating a more straightforward writing process. This ensures a well-organized article that conveys all the necessary information.

    Creating an outline doesn’t need to be complicated. You can just Google your main keyword and analyze the structure of top-ranking articles of your competitors. Use this information to create a winning outline, covering the most important points and your unique insights.

    Related: 3 Ways to Build Content Pillars That Will Boost Your Google Ranking

    4. Create high-quality content

    Today, Google is a lot smarter than it was in the early 2000s.

    Back then, you could get away with writing short-form, mediocre blog posts and still manage to rank and drive organic traffic.

    Today, however, unless your content is as high quality as possible, your chances of ranking are very slim.

    Here are some simple SEO techniques that can help you create better-quality content and improve your online visibility:

    • Focus on long-form content: Although Google has mentioned that word count isn’t a ranking factor, long-form articles tend to rank better. That’s because this type of content is more likely to satisfy search intent and tick all the right boxes with search engines and readers alike.

    • Outshine your competitors: Identify gaps in the existing content of your competitors and include additional explanations to provide more value to the readers.

    • Use simple language: Write in clear and simple language, avoiding jargon that may alienate readers. Make your content universally understandable to cater to a broader audience.

    • Include visual elements: Create a better user experience by including images or videos to improve engagement and understanding of your content.

    • Leverage compelling data: Use data, statistics and expert quotes to enhance the credibility of your article and position yourself as an authority.

    • Cite high-quality sources: Referencing reputable sources to back up your claims makes your content more trustworthy and provides additional resources for your readers.

    5. Focus on content velocity

    Content velocity refers to the frequency with which you publish new content. You want to increase your content velocity as much as possible to improve your authority and your chances of ranking high.

    Your content can’t rank if it isn’t published, so you need to establish a regular publishing schedule with as many articles as possible. If you don’t have the time to focus on this strategy, working with an SEO agency can help you increase content velocity.

    Publishing content regularly signals search engines that your website is active and authoritative. However, it’s essential to find the right balance — while quantity is important, you should never sacrifice quality for quantity, because your content simply won’t rank if it’s bad.

    Related: The Best Way to Get More Results From Your Content

    SEO content is important because it helps search engines understand what your website is about. By optimizing your content for search engines, you increase the chances of ranking high.

    You can create better SEO content by starting with a content outline, writing with a keyword in mind, writing for robots and humans, focusing on quality, and increasing content velocity.

    Use these five tips to take your SEO content to the next level and start ranking high on Google.

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    Nick Zviadadze

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  • Boost Your Revenue by 50% With These Conversion Strategies | Entrepreneur

    Boost Your Revenue by 50% With These Conversion Strategies | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    It’s common to close approximately 20% of leads and lose 80%. What’s frequently overlooked in the search for growth, however, is that increasing that conversion rate by just 10% can be the equivalent of increasing revenues by no less than 50%. That’s why, in my experience, a rigorous analysis of lost opportunities is among the most pivotal steps to consider when a change in strategy is needed.

    Typical reasons for lost revenue

    Some missed sales are directly related to the selling company, including the product and its pricing and marketing. Some are related to buyers’ companies, including having management approval and budgets in place. Some are related to individuals involved in a transaction, including salespeople, the buyer at a customer’s company or some other middlemen. Finally, some are related to entirely external factors, including competition and economic conditions. The key is figuring out which of these is/are the reason you lost each opportunity, and then putting detailed actions into place to address each.

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    George Deeb

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  • How to Develop and Cultivate a Growth Mindset | Entrepreneur

    How to Develop and Cultivate a Growth Mindset | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Unlike a static view of capability, a growth mindset flourishes when faced with challenges, viewing failure not as a sign of a lack of intelligence but as an encouraging platform for development and expanding current skills. At its core, a growth mindset is about the belief that one’s fundamental qualities are things that can be cultivated through effort, strategies and help from others.

    Still, it isn’t uncommon for a lot of us to strive for success and avoid failure at all costs. We see it as a way of maintaining a sense of being smart or skilled. When we adopt a fixed mindset, challenges are avoided, effort is seen as fruitless, and persistence in the face of obstacles is minimal.

    For entrepreneurs, adopting a growth mindset is not just beneficial but essential. The entrepreneurial journey is replete with challenges, uncertainties and setbacks. A growth mindset empowers entrepreneurs to embrace these challenges, learn from failures and persistently innovate and adapt. It transforms the way entrepreneurs approach their business — seeing opportunities where others see obstacles and continually evolving to meet the ever-changing demands of the market.

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    Jonathan Herrick

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