ReportWire

Tag: Operations & Logistics

  • 9 Steps to Creating a Product Line Extension | Entrepreneur

    9 Steps to Creating a Product Line Extension | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Expanding a product line and scaling a business can be a challenging but rewarding process. Nevertheless, it is a complex process that entrepreneurs often get very wrong. However, by following the correct steps and principles, entrepreneurs can successfully launch new product lines and enter new markets.

    Why product line development is important

    As a manager, your fundamental responsibility is to grow shareholder value. Value, which is the sum of the present values of future expected cash flows, can be grown by improving the company’s performance in terms of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC). These improvements in company performance come about as a result of specific decisions taken by management around the introduction of new products, expanding the existing business, increasing market share in growing markets, competing for market share in stable markets and acquiring businesses. Of these initiatives, developing new products creates the most shareholder value, while acquisitions usually create the least. The reason is that new products generate the most improvement in ROIC.

    These are the nine essential steps you must follow when considering developing a product line.

    Related: How Product Launch Strategies Help Businesses Determine If They Are Ready to Enter the Market

    1. Is it worth it?

    There are pitfalls to product line extensions, which are variations of an existing product line that are introduced to capture new market segments. Researchers have found that there are three primary benefits of product line extensions: increased market coverage, reduced advertising and promotion costs and enhanced customer loyalty. However, product line extensions can lead to the cannibalization of existing products, market saturation and loss of brand identity. Therefore, it is important to take into account several issues when considering product line extensions, including maintaining the brand’s core identity, avoiding overextension of the product line and carefully selecting the right products to extend the line.

    Related: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Planning a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

    2. Develop the concept

    Any product line concept that the company develops should be aligned with the existing business goals, brand and values. If you’re a furniture store, this might mean introducing new types of garden furniture, such as outdoor dining sets or lounge chairs, that are made with sustainable and eco-friendly materials.

    3. Screen against established criteria

    Once the business has developed a concept, it will need to screen it against established criteria to determine its feasibility and potential for success. Here, it will be important to conduct rigorous market research to identify customer needs and preferences. It’s important to analyze the landscape to see how competitive the industry is and if the firm will enjoy competitive advantages. Competition might be great for customers, but it makes it harder for businesses to be profitable.

    4. Plan the development process

    After screening the concept, the business will need to plan its development process. This means identifying the resources and budget required to develop and launch the new product line and setting timelines and milestones for each stage of the process.

    This could mean investing in new manufacturing equipment and hiring additional staff to support the production and distribution of the new product line. The business might also need to allocate resources for marketing and promotion, such as creating a new website or launching a social media campaign. It will be important to develop a robust budget. The size of the budget should reflect the estimated ROIC that the firm expects to earn from the product line.

    Related: How to Create a High-Converting Product Landing Page

    5. Test the concept

    Before launching the new product line, it’s important to test the concept and gather feedback from potential customers. A limited product launch with a minimum viable product should be enough to test the technical and commercial feasibility of the product. This can be done through focus groups, surveys or product demos. At this stage, what the team should focus on is getting product/user fit right: It needs to develop the right products for the right user.

    An example initiative could be hosting a pop-up store or showcasing the new product line at a trade show to gauge customer interest and collect feedback. A business’s primary goal here is to prevent itself from making the worst mistake a business can make: launching a product that nobody wants.

    6. Design the product

    Once you have gathered feedback and validated the concept, the business will need to design the product or service. This includes creating prototypes, selecting materials and colors, and finalizing product packaging and branding.

    If the product line is to work, it has to offer customers something that they cannot get anywhere else that they are desperate to get. If there is product/market fit, or what Marc Andreessen calls, “the only thing that matters”, the business’s biggest problem will be struggling to meet demand. This is a problem that the team must work hard to give itself.

    7. Develop a marketing plan

    Once the business has designed the product line, it will have to develop a marketing plan. It is essential to communicate a new product line in a way that aligns with and enhances the brand. One way to achieve this is by creating a marketing mix that aligns with your customers’ preferences.

    First, the marketing team will have to identify the target audience and understand their behavior, preferences and needs. This data can be obtained from customer surveys, market research and social media analytics.

    Next, it will determine the best channels to reach the target audience. For example, if the customers are more active on social media, they might want to use platforms like Instagram and Facebook to advertise the products. Alternatively, if the customers prefer to shop in physical stores, they might want to work with local retailers to carry the products.

    In addition to the promotional strategy, the marketing plan should also include pricing and distribution decisions. Pricing the products competitively will help attract price-sensitive customers while also ensuring that the business can generate a profit.

    Related: How User Research Can Help You Win Before You Launch New Products and Services

    8. Scale up

    After successfully testing the new product line and developing a marketing plan, it is time to scale up the business. Scaling up involves increasing the production capacity, expanding distribution channels and increasing marketing efforts. This is done in response to product/market fit. Often, managers overestimate demand, so it is better to be cautious about scaling up and have customers complaining that the business is out of stock, rather than to create too much capacity and end up with a large inventory, lots of debt and unhappy shareholders.

    With that in mind, the business will need to invest in additional resources, such as hiring more employees, purchasing new equipment and increasing the marketing budget. It is crucial to manage resources effectively to ensure that a business can sustainably scale up the business.

    9. Continually improve the product

    To ensure the long-term success of the product line expansion, it is crucial to continually improve the product. This involves analyzing customer feedback, monitoring competitors’ actions and innovating the products to meet evolving customer needs.

    One way to continually improve your product or service is by investing in research and development (R&D). R&D can help you identify new product features, improve product quality and reduce costs. By continually innovating, you can stay ahead of the competition and ensure that your customers remain satisfied.

    Expanding a product line is an exciting opportunity to grow your business and reach new customers. By following these nine steps, a business can develop, test and launch a successful product line expansion. Remember to remain customer-centric, continually innovate and manage your resources effectively to achieve sustainable growth.

    Related: How to Create a Product That Sells Itself (Even in A Recession)

    [ad_2]

    Mark Pierce

    Source link

  • How Adela’s Country Eatery Makes Big Waves and Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat | Entrepreneur

    How Adela’s Country Eatery Makes Big Waves and Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In a strip mall in Oahu, Hawaii, one might not expect to find an award-winning restaurant. Yet Adela’s Country Eatery has grown a name for itself beyond its small takeout counter, winning the #5 spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat. Praised by customers for the delightful customer service and perfectly cooked noodles, Adela’s traces much of its appeal and success back to its central mission of sustainability.

    Owners Adela Visitacion and Millie Chan create colorful noodle dishes using locally grown Hawaiian produce that would otherwise be thrown away, such as purple-hued Okinawan sweet potatoes from nearby farms. Director of Business Development Elizabeth Chan helped create the restaurant with her mother Millie, with the goal of bringing this special produce to a larger audience.

    “[Okinawan sweet potatoes] were being fed to pigs because the farmer couldn’t get it to the market in Honolulu, so we were like, ‘Wait a second! We could use this for something else,’” Elizabeth said. “It’s a staple that everybody likes and nobody [was] doing this yet.”

    Reviewer Gina L. resonated with Adela’s mission to use locally sourced ingredients: “Since it’s on an island, I feel like that’s really important for the economy within the island versus having them import items that are more costly [which] bumps up the price. They’re able to not only support farmers but also their neighbors and their friends through their products.”

    With locally sourced produce at the forefront of its Hawaiian-fusion dishes, Adela’s is a true testament to the local culture. Because it only has a takeout counter, customers are encouraged to eat their food outside and enjoy the beautiful scenery Hawaii has to offer. But while they’re waiting, they can watch the noodle-making process. By giving customers a first-hand peek into the cooking process, Elizabeth hopes the customer experience is memorable, even without table service.

    “We thought that for the person making the noodles, it would be fun to have a chance to actually meet the people they’re making the noodles for and chat with the customers,” Elizabeth said. “For our customers, we thought we’d bring the experience a little bit closer to them because we do actually find the noodle process to be almost magical when it comes out.”

    In addition to the values of sustainability, one of Adela’s strongest values is family. Millie and Elizabeth foster a close-knit kitchen team and try to make all customers feel like they’re a part of the family as well.

    Adela’s welcoming customer service has garnered the restaurant a fair share of regular customers—and over 2,000 Yelp reviews. To strengthen relationships with new customers, Millie always greets them and guides them through the ordering process, answering any questions about the dishes and the ingredients behind them.

    “I’m just happy to see [customers] walk into our restaurant,” Millie said. “It’s like seeing an old pal you haven’t met for a long time, and it’s just the excitement that inspires me.”

    Gina said she felt Millie’s warmth from the second she stepped into the restaurant. This pleasurable customer experience inspired her to leave a 5-star Yelp review.

    “When we walked in, it felt very local. [Millie] welcomed us in, and then my sister and I didn’t know how to order, so she ended up leading us through the process,” Gina said. “She was very patient with us. She had the sweetest voice, and she seemed like a very good person overall.”

    In addition to its delicious food, Adela’s achievement on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat was made possible by:

    • Putting business values at the forefront. As a small business, let your customers know what your values are, whether they are displayed on social media or branding around your storefront.
    • Showing customers how much they care. Invite customers in and give them a behind-the-scenes look at your process to make their experience memorable.
    • Building a united staff. Treat your team members like family to make them excited to come into work every day. Customers will feel the passion they have for your business.

    Listen to the episode below to hear directly from Millie, Elizabeth, and Gina, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday.

    Available on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Soundcloud

    [ad_2]

    Emily Washcovick

    Source link

  • Making Sense of Per Diem: Here’s Everything to Know. | Entrepreneur

    Making Sense of Per Diem: Here’s Everything to Know. | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    The concept of a per diem is crucial for entrepreneurs to know and understand as they start, work and grow their businesses.

    What is a per diem rate?

    Per diem is a Latin phrase that translates to “per day.” In the modern sense, per diem refers to a daily allowance, standard rate or fixed amount of money an employer provides to a part-time or full-time employee or a contractor.

    This covers the costs of food, lodging and other expenses while they are away, for example, mileage reimbursement.

    The per diem work rate that you set can help your business understand and determine travel reimbursement rates and compensation.

    For a business, you can understand per diem rates through a simple equation:

    lodging + meals + incidentals = per diem pay

    But how can you determine each factor of this rate? What are the benefits and challenges of per diem payments? And where should you incorporate this strategy in your own business?

    How do per diem rates work?

    People frequently travel for work incur various expenses, such as meals, transportation and lodging.

    In this case, budgeting and frugal spending can be challenging to gauge. You want flexibility in this process, but you also want to be tax efficient. So how can you organize this?

    What are per diem travel rates?

    Per diem travel rates are daily allowances paid to employees for business purposes. By using per diem travel rates, employers can simplify the reimbursement process for their employees’ travel expenses.

    Instead of requiring employees to submit individual receipts for meals, lodging rates and other expenses, the employer can provide a fixed daily allowance based on the employee’s travel destination and duration.

    This travel policy reduces the administrative burden of processing individual expense reports and ensures that employees get adequately compensated for their travel expenses on business trips.

    What are the criteria for using per diem allowances?

    The standard per diem allowance includes lodging, meals and incidentals. However, every situation is different and you’ll rarely find the same per diem for every workplace.

    Fortunately, there are a couple of standard criteria used to calculate an employee’s per diem allowance:

    • The per diem rate varies by travel destination, making it essential in calculating the total allowance given.
    • Per diem is also affected by the length of the trip: The longer the stay, the higher the allowance.
    • This rate also should consider the purpose of the trip, simply a monetary calculation of utility for the trip.
    • Finally, individual employer policies are standard for per diem trips.

    Any owner of their respective company should thoroughly research what standard rates are, even in their competition, to get a good idea of their individual per diem policies.

    How are per diem rates set?

    Per diem rates are typically set by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the General Services Administration (GSA).

    The IRS per diem rates determines the maximum tax-deductible amount an employee can claim for business travel expenses.

    The GSA per diem rates determine the maximum reimbursement amount federal government employees can claim for business travel expenses. These rates are based on the average cost of lodging, meals and incidental expenses in a particular location.

    The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) provides per diem rates for domestic travel in the United States and U.S. territories. In contrast, the State Department provides per diem rates for international travel. You can always check their websites to find the per diem rates for the location you will be traveling to.

    It’s important to note that both rates are always subject to change and change yearly, adjusted as surveys suggest.

    Related:An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Whittling Down Travel Costs

    What is a per diem employee?

    Per diem employees get hired as needed and are paid daily or hourly rates instead of salaries. This is typically described as seasonal staffing.

    These employees can work part-time or full-time hours but are not considered permanent employees.

    They are typically hired to cover short-term staffing needs, such as filling in for a regular employee on vacation or taking a leave of absence. For example, substitute teachers and travel nurses are often paid per diem.

    Per diem employees are usually paid a higher hourly or daily rate than regular employees to compensate for the lack of benefits, such as health insurance, retirement benefits or paid time off.

    Depending on their job duties and performance, they may receive additional compensation, such as overtime pay or bonuses.

    Per diem employees are also responsible for their taxes, and their pay is not subject to payroll withholding.

    What are the benefits of hiring per diem employees?

    While having a fixed allowance for employees can seem like a risky task, especially when it is easy to overcompensate, you can use this tool with the proper research.

    Streamlining and securing the accounting process

    Because of the fixed allowance, there is no need to keep a record of money spent or what it was on. This is all eliminated by having a set amount of money to be spent by the employee.

    Per diem can even help with budgeting and financial planning by providing a predictable and consistent way of managing business travel expenses.

    Employers can set a per diem rate that is appropriate for the location and duration of the trip. This can help them estimate the cost of business travel and incorporate it into their overall budgeting process.

    Less paperwork

    Per diem also simplifies the reimbursement process for employees and reduces the amount of paperwork and documentation required by the accounting department.

    Additionally, it reduces the risk of errors and fraud in the reimbursement process since there is less opportunity for employees to submit false or inflated expense reports.

    Related: How Per Diem Payments Can Simplify Your Accounting and Taxes

    Per diem payments are not taxed as wages

    The good news for the employee is that the reward is tax-free as long as the per diem rate is within the IRS limit.

    While the federal government does include limits, this is good news for both parties. Employees do not need to report the per diem payments as income on their tax returns and do not have to pay taxes on their payments.

    Employees aren’t the only ones to benefit from the tax-free side. Per diem payments are tax deductible as a business expense, which can reduce their taxable income and save them money on taxes.

    What are the downsides of hiring per diem employees?

    While there are benefits to hiring per diem employees, there are also some potential downsides to consider

    Per diem workers can reject shifts

    Per diem employees may not be as invested in the company or its goals as full-time employees. They may be less likely to go above and beyond or attend to their job duties.

    This also can create tension with low effort per diem employees working with employees paid by the hour and with tips.

    Related: Recruiting and Hiring Top-Quality Employees

    Per diem rates are often higher than standard wages

    While per diem employees may be paid a higher hourly or daily rate than full-time employees, the total cost of hiring per diem employees can be higher due to additional costs such as recruiting, training and supervision.

    What’s the difference between per diem rates and per diem employees?

    Per diem employees are temporary or part-time employees hired on an as-needed basis. Employees are not per diem employees simply because they are given a per diem rate once.

    In contrast, the per diem rate is the rate employees get paid for particular trips or activities.

    How can you implement per diem in your business?

    Per diem always works differently in each situation. Create a per diem policy that outlines the rules and guidelines for per diem payments specific to your company.

    Test what works and what doesn’t. This policy should include the maximum per diem rates, the types of expenses covered by per diem and the conditions under which per diem will be paid.

    Once the per diem policy is created, you should communicate it to all levels of staffing, especially employees who travel for business. You should communicate with management and discuss the idea of per diem with the administration of your company.

    You should also explain the policy in detail, including how per diem rates are calculated and the types of expenses covered. You should also train employees on how to use the per diem system. This training should cover calculating per diem rates, submitting per diem expenses and using the online system.

    Related: How Investing in Employee Training Benefits Your Business

    Once per diem is introduced, it is vital to monitor the system to ensure it works effectively. This will help you to identify any issues or areas for improvement. Don’t shy away from growth and don’t be afraid of failure, for it is through failure that you learn.

    Check out Entrepreneur’s other articles for more information about per diem payments, employees and other financial topics.

    [ad_2]

    Entrepreneur Staff

    Source link

  • Free Webinar | April 6: When to Use an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp? | Entrepreneur

    Free Webinar | April 6: When to Use an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp? | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Making your business official through incorporation can help attract investors, save you money during tax time and protect your personal assets from debts and liabilities. Incorporation can come in the form of an LLC, S-Corp or C-Corp. So which is right for you?

    Mark J. Kohler, CPA, attorney, and author of The Tax and Legal Playbook, and Mat Sorensen, attorney, CEO of Directed IRA & Directed Trust Company, and author of The Self-Directed IRA Handbook, will be breaking down all of the options and help you determine which entity is right for your business.

    Topics to be covered:

    • Pros and cons of an LLC

    • How an S-Corp saves taxes

    • Understanding asset protection of your entity

    • Why the C-Corp isn’t the right fit for most businesses

    • What state you should set-up your entity in

    • Avoiding bad advice and scams for your entity

    Don’t miss out! Register now join us on April 6th at 3:00 PM ET.

    About the Speakers:

    Entrepreneur Press author Mark J. Kohler, CPA, attorney, co-host of the Podcast “Main Street Business”, and a senior partner at both the law firm KKOS Lawyers and the accounting firm K&E CPAs. Kohler is also the author of “The Tax and Legal Playbook, 2nd Edition”, and “The Business Owner’s Guide to Financial Freedom”.

    Mat Sorensen is an attorney, CEO, author, and podcast host. He is the CEO of Directed IRA & Directed Trust Company, a leading company in the self-directed IRA and 401k industry and a partner in the business and tax law firm of KKOS Lawyers. He is the author of “The Self-Directed IRA Handbook”.

    [ad_2]

    Entrepreneur Staff

    Source link

  • Reduce Fleet Downtime With These 5 Strategies | Entrepreneur

    Reduce Fleet Downtime With These 5 Strategies | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Fleet downtime is a huge problem for any business that operates automobiles. When a vehicle is down for repairs or maintenance, it can result in lost productivity, missed deadlines, and unhappy customers. It can happen in a planned or unplanned manner. Irrespective of the timing or cause, there are strategies or approaches to effectively managing and decreasing fleet downtime. These include the following:

    Conduct routine and comprehensive inspection

    One vital step toward effectively reducing fleet downtime is conducting routine vehicle inspections.

    You can ensure your vehicles are risk-free and compliant by utilizing manual daily vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs) as you take proactive measures to prevent unplanned downtime. However, despite their advantages, they’re time-consuming and prone to errors. Physical forms can get damaged or lost, and it can take hours to get the results to the maintenance team, slowing down the process.

    Related: 5 of the Biggest Productivity Challenges Fleet Managers Face in Fleet Management

    On the other hand, electronic DVIR (eDVIR) enhances efficiency and ensures that drivers provide clarity and accuracy. With this, you can receive inspection results in real-time, eliminating communication holdups between fleet managers and drivers. Any problem encountered is immediately registered in your fleet management software, enabling you to quickly address and sort out the issue.

    Effective communication ensures that even though a vehicle has a problem, the maintenance process can start promptly. This allows the vehicle to get back on the road as soon as possible.

    Additionally, a frequent reason for unscheduled downtime is a part failure. Thus, a crucial step in parts monitoring is to verify that they’re in good condition during routine quality control.

    In some cases, you may encounter a repeated failure of a particular part in several vehicles. Such patterns may go unnoticed and result in unnecessary expenditure if you lack a simple, all-inclusive approach to assessing your fleet’s status.

    Furthermore, routine part maintenance allows you to determine the most suitable vehicle parts. For instance, comparing OEM and aftermarket gaskets can help you decide which option is better for your fleet.

    By monitoring and tracking your parts in person and through your fleet management software, you can ensure they are in excellent condition, thereby preventing downtime and reducing recurring expenditures.

    Utilize fleet management software

    You can utilize fleet management software if your fleet businesses struggle to minimize vehicle downtime and keep smooth operations. This tool can help manage inspections, shop operations, driver activities, and preventive maintenance schedules.

    This software uses data analytics and reporting features to identify patterns in servicing or breakdowns and determine their underlying causes. You can use this information to predict recurring problems and develop effective mitigation strategies. This approach can help eliminate future issues, reducing downtime and allowing more productive and efficient business operations.

    Related: Fleet Tools Will Help You Get More Done In Less Time

    A preventive maintenance schedule lets you stay ahead of routine servicing requirements. Fleet management software can help you set reminders based on specific intervals, such as mileage and usage hours, guaranteeing you never miss a servicing appointment.

    Numerous fleets delegate maintenance duties to a third-party service provider. Conventionally, external repair requests are prepared by hand, resulting in blockages and a restricted understanding of vehicle health patterns. On the one hand, automating outsourced maintenance through fleet management software enables you to handle repair tasks efficiently, monitor maintenance trends, and integrate billing, which all contribute to unnecessary downtimes.

    Improve service management procedure

    Reducing downtime necessitates streamlined and effective management practices. Fleet managers may be surprised to discover that a significant part of the downtime is mainly unrelated to the actual repairs themselves but, rather, the ineffectiveness of the service management procedure.

    To ensure the effectiveness of preventative maintenance, all relevant departments must collaborate to optimize their work schedules and tasks. Internally, efficiently utilizing resources to simplify service procedures eradicates any accumulation of work and reduces errors.

    Conduct regular driver training

    To achieve a profitable fleet, it’s crucial to ensure that the most appropriate drivers are trained to handle your vehicles, reducing breakdowns and unplanned servicing. For one, a well-instructed, well-informed, and self-assured driver is less likely to be involved in a collision.

    Ensuring proper driver behavior can contribute to the reduction of fleet downtimes. Undergoing a brief but comprehensive training period, drivers may identify and eliminate detrimental behaviors that adversely affect the vehicles’ performance, such as forceful or sudden gear shifts, aggressive lane changes, and abrupt turns. Getting rid of such habits promotes road safety and reduces strain on the vehicle.

    In addition, properly trained fleet drivers can accurately report any issues they encounter while driving. This feature helps you take note of repairs or replacements you ought to carry out promptly.

    Select The Right Vehicles

    The choice of vehicles for your fleet can significantly impact the frequency of downtime.

    That said, go for the most suitable vehicles for their intended purpose. Never make the mistake of deciding solely based on what your competitors use. Also, don’t let the flashy features touted by the industry’s leading brands fool you.

    For instance, you need to make your choice based on the carrying capacity you require. Overburdening a vehicle may exacerbate problems, such as wear and tear, and increase the need for repairs. For instance, if you’re running a garbage collection company, you need fleet vehicles that can carry loads of waste materials you expect to deal with.

    Furthermore, it’s advisable to choose newer vehicles equipped with advanced technology. These types of vehicles demand less maintenance and can alert you about emerging problems.

    Conclusion

    Unplanned fleet downtime is a huge stumbling block to maintaining a profitable and efficient business. There are many methods to minimize such occurrences and maximize fleet efficiency. These methods include leasing appropriate vehicles, performing regular inspections, carrying out preventive maintenance, and promoting team member responsibility is essential.

    Additionally, effective communication and collaboration between maintenance, operational, dispatch, and administrative teams are a must to ensure maximum fleet operations at all times. Also, consider investing in fleet management technologies to track your fleet vehicles’ conditions more accurately.

    [ad_2]

    Under30CEO

    Source link

  • Federal Trade Commission Chair Declined To Meet With Elon Musk | Entrepreneur

    Federal Trade Commission Chair Declined To Meet With Elon Musk | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    The Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating Twitter, declined to meet with CEO Elon Musk in late January, according to The New York Times.

    “I recommend that Twitter appropriately prioritize its legal obligations to provide the requested information,” chair Lina Khan wrote. “Once Twitter has fully complied with all F.T.C. requests, I will be happy to consider scheduling a meeting with Mr. Musk.”

    The letter, which the Times viewed, said Twitter had delayed producing documents and depositions for the agency, which is responsible for trying to protect consumers from deceitful business practices.

    The agency’s relationship with Twitter is marked by an investigation that ended in 2011 with the FTC settling with the company over data security practices, which included a program to protect user data the company had to implement. It was also fined $150 million in May 2022, the agency said, for breaking the terms of the agreement.

    After Musk took control of Twitter in October and initiated mass layoffs, as well as other changes at the platform, the FTC became more worried about its ability to meet its agreements, per the AP.

    The ongoing inquiry, per the NYT, which viewed agency emails and spoke with “people with knowledge of the matter,” includes wanting Musk to sit down for a deposition.

    Khan also said in her late January letter she was “troubled by Twitter’s delays and the obstacles that these delays are creating for the F.T.C.’s investigation.”

    Related: ‘A Serious Concern’: Journalist Paints a Harrowing Picture of What’s to Come With Twitter Blue After Her Account Is Cloned

    Musk railed against the agency in March when he attacked the agency for asking for information about the journalists who could view company internal communications, i.e., the “Twitter files,” per the WSJ.

    Leaders of companies under investigation by the FTC have met with the agency to help reassure the regulator about compliance, but it’s not frequent, the NYT noted.

    [ad_2]

    Gabrielle Bienasz

    Source link

  • 4 Essentials for Selecting the Perfect Business Real Estate | Entrepreneur

    4 Essentials for Selecting the Perfect Business Real Estate | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    You’ve heard the old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” Actually, that’s not always true; customers judge a book by its cover all the time. In many cases, your business’s real estate and its curb appeal are the first messages being sent. Do customers notice your establishment? Do they understand the business by looking at it from 500 feet away? Is its image compelling?

    That’s why the right real estate is often the first marketing tactic to consider — certainly for any retail or restaurant enterprise. If you don’t stand out, even on the busiest roads, you’re in trouble. That’s in part why, at Fransmart, we include marketing plans in the real estate approval process, because once a lease is signed on a bad property, it’s too late to fix.

    And here’s a chance to learn from my mistakes. Early in my career, I was opening a restaurant in Silicon Valley and secured a site directly across from Google’s headquarters. I was elated: The property tested off the charts in terms of population density and disposable income. What could go wrong?

    Here’s what we never considered: Google feeds their employees for free — employs world-class chefs to make incredible food throughout the day. We had direct access to one of the largest workforces in the country, and couldn’t break through because none of them were hungry. Dumb mistake.

    A bad site can never be cheap enough, while good sites pay you, so take your time to thoroughly vet locations, including carefully assessing the trade areas and traffic patterns at different parts of the day (and on several different days).

    A few other critical factors to keep in mind before locking your brand into its next location.

    Related: How AI Will Transform the Real Estate Market

    1. Access

    Most first-time business owners don’t realize that there are two sides to every street: a breakfast side and a dinner side. Starbucks, for example, is precise with placement — often sitting on busy roads that lead directly to freeways, and always on the side of the road that leads to the freeway in the morning. If your business isn’t positioned to take advantage of a target demographic while they’re on the road, then you’ve set it up for failure. Also, customers prefer right turns over lefts, and if a site requires a left turn to access, it better be a well-lit one.

    Lastly, with the rise of third-party delivery apps, a site must be convenient for delivery drivers and take-out orders. The wrong property could cause a logjam in the parking lot, causing customers and delivery drivers to avoid it.

    2. Visibility

    My business is located on a busy street in Scottsdale, Arizona named Scottsdale Road, with more than 50,000 cars traveling each way every day. Your business is a free billboard on such busy roads, so make sure the location stands out. Think about the streets you normally drive on, now try to remember which brands on them you recall (likely a small percentage).

    Know the area where you’re opening like the back of your hand. What are the traffic patterns and major landmarks? Placing your business where it can be seen by the most possible people should always be the goal.

    Also, consider orientation. The building should be oriented so that its branding is clear and easily seen. (Being in front of a strip center’s entrance would be a goal, for example).

    Related: 4 Reasons New Franchisees Fail (and How to Succeed)

    3. Co-tenancy

    There’s a potentially fatal incongruity in, say, placing a high-end hipster café in a K-Mart-anchored shopping center. A brand needs to be congruent with nearby businesses. It’s not enough to simply be in a strip center, busy mall or crowded airport.

    Certainly, the evolution of outdoor malls or other shopping centers has opened opportunities for restaurant and retail franchises to find a home, but the downside is that competition has never been higher. So, finding the right spot with the right co-tenancies is a strategy you need to master. Centers with landmark retail anchors like Whole Foods, Home Depot or AMC Theaters are perfect — typically attracting large, diverse crowds of potential customers.

    4. Parking

    Your building can look incredible, but if you don’t have the space to accommodate visiting traffic, you’re doomed. With the rise of delivery and take-out orders, having parking space to manage sudden influxes (such as heavy dinner rushes) is essential, and properties should be planned accordingly.

    Keep in mind, too, that structured parking is a restaurant killer: It’s hard to navigate, often crowded and a hotbed for accidents and car damage. What’s worse — the common perception is that garages are unsafe: dense, dark and out of view of the public. Deliveries are also exponentially more difficult if you rely on them. Surface parking, by contrast, offers quick access and easy visibility.

    Related: 5 Mistakes Franchisees Make When Looking for Business Real Estate

    One last tip: If you’re renting in a shopping center or outdoor mall, finding space near a business with a different rush period can make all the difference. If the bulk of your business is done in the evening, finding a site near a coffee shop or breakfast restaurant can be a boon for parking.

    [ad_2]

    Dan Rowe

    Source link

  • Digital Transformation Is a Must. Here’s How the Voice of the Customer Should Help Drive It. | Entrepreneur

    Digital Transformation Is a Must. Here’s How the Voice of the Customer Should Help Drive It. | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A retail shopper looking for a specific type of handbag. A city citizen who needs better transit options. A B2B executive who wants to help other companies complete analytics with new software.

    What do all of these people have in common? They’re all stakeholders — customers who want to build and use a fantastic product or service. Whatever you offer, you offer it for them, not for yourself.

    Regardless of your sector, the concept of the voice of the customer (VOC) is something that everybody is familiar with. Connecting VOC and digital transformation — which connects to virtually every operation you’ve got — is one of the most powerful ways to put customers in long-term control of your organization for better results.

    Related: Digital Transformation Strategy: The Pillars of Digital Fluidity

    VOC is the foundation for your digital transformation

    The golden mantra in business, government, non-profit or other sectors is that your organization has value when you meet the customer’s needs or wants. It’s all about solving some kind of problem they have and collectively sharing the same core values. As Simon Sinek put it, people don’t buy your product or service, they buy the why behind the product or service. Or looking at it from a slightly different angle, it’s the customer you market to and design for who ultimately will have to deal with the positive or negative consequences of the digital transformation you implement.

    With this in mind, if I had one stream of data I could look at to drive the direction of my business and digital transformation within it, hands down it would be the voice of the customer — because unless it’s an operational necessity your customers can’t see, there’s little point in transforming processes that stakeholders have zero interest in. You have to understand your customer’s pain points and barriers to entry. Can these barriers be lifted with a digital solution? How can you reach this solution collaboratively? You have to work with your customers if you want your digital transformation to be successful.

    Imagine you’re in a rally car, and your course is digital transformation. Your business is in the driver’s seat while your customer is your co-driver — your navigator — providing step-by-step directions of how to get to your destination. Without them, you may make the wrong turn, but with them, you’ll rocket over the finish line.

    Markets are unpredictable. Five, 10 or 20 years down the road, customers will want something different than they want now. So, listening to VOC is a continuous process, not a one-shot or one-study approach. Consistently listening to your customer teaches you to prioritize your most important stakeholders’ needs — which are constantly changing. What will work for a digital transformation now will likely not work in 10 years. Getting to know your VOC well sets your organization up to always be evolving and improving with your customer. It’s this ability to consistently turn feedback into insights and then into action that moves the needle for a business.

    Related: Digital Transformation: How to Make Your Way Through the Cloud

    Getting customer feedback

    If VOC needs to drive your digital transformation, the next logical question is how to get the customer’s feedback. You’ve got plenty of options, like surveys, focus groups, panels and emails. Which one you use depends on your goals and resources.

    Your best results happen with a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. Many common metrics, such as net promoter score (NPS), don’t do much to tell you how to take action where you’re not scoring well. Additionally, go omnichannel — the customer experience isn’t a single point.

    Suppose a customer came into your store. They walk up and down the aisles for 60 minutes and buy three items. You could look at pure numbers and say that visit was a success because the customer made a purchase. But what the numbers don’t say is that 55 minutes of those 60 minutes were spent in frustration, and the person had come to the store looking to buy 30 items, not three. The only way you’d know how to improve their experience would be to ask them for their perspective and then take that feedback and use it to better their experience next time.

    Remember to talk to the people who didn’t buy, too. The conversion rate in physical retail is only 20-40%. On a website, it’s down to 2.5-3%. So, if you don’t get feedback from the people who haven’t converted, you’re ignoring most of your potential market.

    No matter how you collect your feedback when you talk about VOC, you also have to talk about the employee’s voice. Your team members are on the front lines and in the best position to understand what your customers want and need.

    Related: How Leaders Should Use Consumer Insights to Guide Decision-Making and Improve Customer Experience

    Closing the loop

    VOC doesn’t just tie into one neat part of digital transformation. It’s the force behind so much of it that you need a process to help undertake digital transformation guided by your stakeholders. When you listen to customers and evolve with them over time, you build a foundation for the future and a loyal base. Your stakeholders will stay with you if they know you are using their feedback to meet their needs.

    As you sift through the data your stakeholders have provided, you may find that your customers would benefit from updating your website, creating a more user-friendly app or introducing new technology like self-checkouts or item look-ups in your brick-and-mortar store. Their feedback will ultimately guide your digital transformation.

    Whether you’re a small retailer looking to venture into ecommerce for the first time, a mature organization that needs to modernize outdated processes or even a government agency that wishes to provide more accessible services, tapping VOC protects you from operating in a silo and making unwanted, ineffective offers. Organizations that will survive have to be listening brands that are genuinely customer-centric. The sooner you commit to an ongoing, omnichannel feedback process, the sooner you’ll be ready to walk alongside your customers to produce long-term, competitive digital change.

    [ad_2]

    Jonathan Levitt

    Source link

  • How Creators Can Harness the Power of AI Like Everyone Else | Entrepreneur

    How Creators Can Harness the Power of AI Like Everyone Else | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Artificial intelligence is all the creator economy seems to be talking about these days — including my team. At a recent company-wide event, I was inevitably hit with questions and ideas from team members who wanted to discuss what the future would look like now that language models like ChatGPT and image generators like DALL-E are part of the mix. Like many others, I’m also exploring these questions — especially as they relate to the many creators we want to help succeed.

    There are still many questions to be answered, but what’s clear is that these transformative tools will impact our products and services and the creators who use them.

    Creators who innovate and find useful, ethical ways to harness AI (or, more accurately, machine learning) tools will prosper. That means embracing this experimental moment to discover and systematize thoughtful, ethical, original and strategic uses for machine-learning programs.

    Through our work with creators, I’m at the center of many discussions about how AI might transform the industry. Here are three important things every leader and entrepreneurial creator must consider when incorporating machine learning tools.

    Related: Is AI A Risk To Creativity? The Answer Is Not So Simple

    AI assistance is content creation’s new normal

    Clearly, there’s enormous curiosity about and demand for tools like ChatGPT. More than a million people logged on to the platform within the first five days of its release. Buzzfeed’s stock soared by 200% after the company announced AI would generate a significant portion of its future content. But the important question is not whether to use machine learning. It’s how.

    Much early use has been surface-level queries and exploration. But this honeymoon period will quickly give way to more deliberate experimentation. Funders, customers, clients and team members will all be deeply invested in finding the most useful AI assists. The nuance is in the values, parameters and processes devised in these early days of ubiquitous machine learning. Companies and creators who think differently about using AI will lead the way.

    Using AI for outsized returns

    Because AI is now available to all, creators can’t expect exceptional results if inputs or queries are generic. For example, I asked ChatGPT to produce a course curriculum on being a good CEO and received surprisingly good outputs, but anyone can ask that question and get a similar result.

    Creators experimenting with longer, more detailed inputs or asking machine learning programs to review existing content, projects, data or theories are more likely to generate unique and impactful outputs. Similarly, those who input unique or proprietary data sets, who ask the generative programs to find problems with or poke holes in ideas or expand on existing projects, will achieve the best results.

    Related: Artists Are ‘Concerned For The Future Of Human Creativity’ After the Use Of AI-Generated Art

    Defining success

    On a broader scale, the ethical framework creators use will determine the AI’s ultimate value, beginning with how they define success.

    Forget about whether AI-assisted content could be considered “stolen” or whether creators should disclose machine-generated or assisted content. There are serious ethical questions at the input level, including datasets, guardrails and success parameters. This is particularly relevant in content creation, where short-term goals of increasing revenue and grabbing attention may take priority over deeper ethical concerns.

    Remember Microsoft’s failed Twitter bot, which spewed hateful, untrue and racist garbage into cyberspace? In this case, the issue stemmed partly from the inputs we fed the machine. Similarly, failing to target more robust and meaningful outcomes than clicks and views could undo decades of progress in corporate ethics and responsibility. In the past, business leaders were considered solely responsible for revenue, but today there’s a growing recognition that they must also be accountable for other social and environmental impacts of their business. If the success parameters of AI are defined purely by dollar signs and eyeballs, it may undo much of this great work.

    Because they are nimble, entrepreneurial and relentlessly creative, content creators will lead the way during this new era. That’s why their priority should be to develop and refine processes and protocols to generate quality outputs regarding ethics and content.

    Remember the early days of SEO when you could beat the search engines by hacking the algorithm — for example, by filling a page with keywords even though the content wasn’t particularly valuable. That short-term strategy worked until the algorithms were updated to better find true value for end users.

    If you apply a similar principle to AI — those that win with it, in the long run, will be those that provide differentiated and valuable outputs.

    Related: How ChatGPT and Generative AI Can Transform the Way You Run Your Business

    Beyond content: AI as a thought partner

    Some of the most interesting potential uses for machine learning in content creation will never be seen by an audience. They involve enlisting AI as a thought partner, not just a content mill.

    Creators can use machine-learning tools as sounding boards, asking questions that will lead to better outcomes. For example, to seek out logical mistakes and fallacies in a piece of content or list counterarguments to a proposal. They might input their proprietary datasets to instantly analyze audience preferences and needs (a powerful proposition when reflecting on the importance of community to a successful creator business). Alternatively, these AI could generate unique insights from public domain data. Say you’re teaching a cooking class. You could use machine-learning tools to find out what recipes and approaches are working on popular social platforms. With enough data and information, you might predict the next big trend.

    Importantly, entrepreneurial creators might use AI tools as mentors, tapping into the aggregate wisdom of thousands instead of one person’s experience. Content generation is an exciting productivity hack, but these deeper uses hold the potential for true and lasting transformation. By keeping purpose in mind and digging deeper, leaders and entrepreneurs in the creative industries can guide the development and implementation of AI technology toward positive outcomes that benefit both the industry and society.

    This is truly an exciting time of experimentation, but human nature — not computer programming — will ultimately determine how AI-assisted use unfolds.

    [ad_2]

    Greg Smith

    Source link

  • 5 Lessons from the CEO of a Fully Distributed Company | Entrepreneur

    5 Lessons from the CEO of a Fully Distributed Company | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    More companies are embracing the fully distributed workplace model to exploit the operational, performance and cost benefits.

    While remote work was a growing trend before 2019, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of hybrid and fully distributed workplace models, and the trend looks set to grow.

    The most recent Upwork Future Workforce Survey found that nearly 28% of US workers will be fully remote by 2026, up from 22.9% in 2020, while Zippia research reveals that 16% of organizations are already fully remote.

    While working in this way offers numerous benefits, the work-from-home (WFH) model also poses various challenges. As the CEO of a company that was an early adopter of a fully distributed workplace model, these are five lessons learned from the experience.

    1. Tackle challenges with a positive attitude

    No matter what industry, company or working environment you operate in, you will experience challenges at some point. Concerning a fully distributed company, the idea of a WFH setup may seem idyllic, but it comes with a unique set of challenges for business leaders and employees.

    However, no matter how big or small the challenge, you can turn almost everything into an opportunity to learn, refine and grow, even fail. What matters at that moment is your attitude.

    By embracing challenges, I have come to enjoy the process associated with finding solutions and adapting to circumstances. This willingness to embrace a challenge — even welcome it — and tackle it with a positive mindset is a hallmark of business leaders who follow an entrepreneurial path.

    When you allow challenges to drive you to develop and improve, you continually learn, making you more resilient and adaptable as a business leader and an organization.

    Related: Leaving a Positive Leadership Legacy Is Really About Living Your Values Now

    2. Learn to delegate

    Operating a fully distributed company can give you access to a diverse workforce that boasts multifaceted skill sets and different work preferences and personalities.

    While everyone has specific roles and responsibilities in a company, a fully distributed workforce can give business leaders and managers access to a broader talent pool, which creates opportunities to find employees who enjoy or are perhaps more proficient at specific tasks.

    Delegating relevant tasks to these employees allows business leaders to focus on mission-critical or strategically important duties that drive the business forward or those they cannot delegate — like compiling company results and reporting to shareholders. And finding people who can perform a task more quickly and accurately boosts organizational performance.

    Creating more flexible workflows can also give employees more personal control over what tasks they perform daily, which can positively impact their job satisfaction and happiness.

    Related: 7 Rules for Entrepreneurs to Delegate Effectively

    3. Company mission must inspire

    For any fully distributed company to achieve its strategic objectives, business leaders must ensure every employee buys into the business strategy and understands the company’s mission because people need to understand the plan if they are going to execute it properly.

    Without this understanding, you cannot get everyone moving in the same direction, which is when even the smartest strategy will fail to deliver results.

    When staff clearly understand the business strategy, they can act autonomously and make decisions that they know align with the company’s objectives and execute them according to the organization’s North Star metric.

    In this regard, it is important that the strategy is easy to articulate and understand.

    What’s even more critical — the strategy should inspire. Only inspiration will align everyone to work towards this common goal.

    4. Fail fast, learn fast

    In today’s fast-paced business environment, more business leaders are embracing a ‘fail fast’ mentality.

    This approach is vitally important when building a fully distributed company because you will make mistakes. While this is an important part of the process — because you need to make mistakes to learn – the key is to learn fast and move forward. Ruminating on a problem keeps you stuck in one place, which can prove detrimental to the business.

    An area where this business strategy worked well when building our distributed workforce entailed making mistakes in who we hired. Ultimately, going through hardships with people gives you insights into who they are and highlights whether they have the right skills and traits to do the job you hired them for. Through this process, we learned what we needed to look for in employees and executives to align with our company culture and processes. It helped us better define roles within the organization.

    As a result, we quickly started finding the right people for the job. We built teams with the proper dynamics to perform optimally and achieve the company’s mission and strategic objectives.

    Related: 6 Ways to Encourage Successful Teamwork in Your Business

    5. Connect with people to make them feel valued

    While the fully distributed workplace model creates numerous operational efficiencies, business leaders must create opportunities for remote workers to connect and engage.

    Combating social isolation is becoming a major challenge in managing remote workers’ well-being and, by extension, their output and performance. Without opportunities to work near co-workers and team members, business leaders need to create a sense of belonging and make people feel part of something bigger than themselves.

    This requires a multi-faceted strategy, where the company’s mission creates a sense of purpose among employees, coupled with the innovative use of technology to foster collaboration and cohesion within teams and company initiatives like annual conferences that offer everyone an opportunity to meet and interact in person and offline activities that allow co-workers to engage in shared interests, hobbies or passions.

    Furthermore, remote workers must be empowered to cultivate a healthy work-life balance by pursuing personal interests and meeting new people where they live. Workers need to leverage the benefits of remote working by using the freedom and flexibility it creates to build more meaningful social connections outside the virtual workplace to support their overall wellness and happiness.

    [ad_2]

    Max Azarov

    Source link

  • 6 Employee Benefits Every Leader Needs to Know | Entrepreneur

    6 Employee Benefits Every Leader Needs to Know | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As an employer, it’s critical to be a rule follower and toe the legal line, including abiding by payroll and tax requirements, and it’s particularly vital to pay attention to employee-related regulations like mandatory benefits. Not keeping a steady eye on them means more than simply disgruntled workers, but fines, penalties and perhaps even jail time.

    Which benefits might you be legally required to provide?

    [ad_2]

    Mike Kappel

    Source link

  • The Benefits of Mixing Family and Business | Entrepreneur

    The Benefits of Mixing Family and Business | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There’s a classic expression that one shouldn’t mix family with business; However, some of the most powerful entrepreneurial duos were related in some way, shape or form.

    So in 2014, when I decided to co-found a company with my brother, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. We’d shared a bedroom for almost 10 years, but could we share a cap table? The last time we had to split anything, it was a personal pizza, and I obviously deserved the bigger half because I was the older brother.

    In all seriousness, I knew that we had an incredible relationship and we trusted one another, but I was also worried that this venture might royally screw up that relationship. In the end, it all worked out and became one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

    This article builds the case for starting a family business and suggestions on how to mix the two for the best possible outcome.

    Related: 5 Reasons Why ‘Family’ and ‘Business’ Do Mix

    You know each other’s moves

    Growing up, my brother and I would play one-on-one basketball in our front yard. We’d complain about the fact that each of us had a “move” that neither of us could stop. However, when we played two-on-two, we always seemed to figure out how to use these moves together to play better.

    As entrepreneurs, we entered the game knowing what our strengths were and could more easily defer to one another in different situations. This process wasn’t perfect in the beginning. It did take some time to drop some of our prior expectations, specifically, which roles we’d play based on things that really didn’t matter like our age, title and years of experience.

    However, we had spent decades establishing trust, whereas our competitors might only have ten or fewer years of working experience together. This allowed us to make better decisions on day one versus having to spend years laying the foundation of trust.

    The fights are intense, but the resolution is quicker

    My brother and I had some epic throwdowns over the years. We’re still not allowed back in my mom’s hairdresser after the “Connie’s Corner Cuts” melee.

    As related founders, our feedback tends to flow more freely, and our fights are more emotionally charged. This forced us to be more conscious of and sensitive to the impact that these fights had on our other co-founders and employees. Don’t have the blowout fights in front of your employees. While this interaction between siblings may feel normal, it might suggest that there’s dysfunction in an otherwise healthy and thriving organization.

    On the positive side, with 30 years of experience fighting with one another, we’re able to come to a resolution quicker and gain alignment on key issues because we know how to have direct conversations without taking things personally. That has also become a major strategic advantage to move our business forward more quickly.

    Related: 7 Best Practices to Running a Healthy Family Business

    The stakes are higher, and the wins mean more

    My brother and I founded our company the year that my daughter Laura was born. I wanted to create a better life for her and my family, and my brother shared that level of accountability to build something that could provide financial independence for our immediate families.

    When things were rocky and our bank accounts were empty, we couldn’t quit on one another. Failure would not only make holidays awkward, but based on what we had both personally invested in the company, it would take years to recoup that loss.

    When we sold our company in 2021, it was a life-changing event for each of our families. Aside from the days my kids were born, I don’t think there has been a higher moment in my life when we closed on the sale of our company. Not because of the financial impact, although that helped, but more because I knew we had taken care of the people that we love most in the process and set an example for our kids on what it means to fight for something and the people that matter most.

    Would I do it again?

    Without question. Our time on earth is limited. On average, we spend 90,000 hours of our lives working. I want to spend that time with the people I love and trust, at least until one of us taps out and says “uncle.”

    Related: The Essential Qualities Every Family Business Needs To Survive

    A couple of takeaways

    • Working with family is awesome. You have established trust that can often take years for non-related founders to build, which becomes a major strategic advantage.

    • You’re already good at fighting, and you know each other’s moves. Bury your egos, and work in a way that aligns with your natural strengths and abilities.

    • The stakes become higher, so you’re accountable to one another to not screw it up.

    • Make space outside of your venture to focus on maintaining your personal relationship with your relative co-founder.

    [ad_2]

    Justin Vandehey

    Source link

  • How to Prepare for Unforeseen Problems in Your Business | Entrepreneur

    How to Prepare for Unforeseen Problems in Your Business | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Preparation is an investment, and it will be your greatest ally when issues come up in your business. Business will always have a human element, and because there is no perfect human, it’s guaranteed that businesses will encounter unforeseen problems.

    The best way you can solve these problems is not to be reactive after the issue takes root, but to be proactive by preparing for these problems in advance. Here are some of the actions I’ve witnessed in my own business that not only helped keep things running smoothly when hurdles came up but even helped to bypass issues entirely and ensure the success of our business.

    Related: 5 Effective Ways to Prepare for the Unexpected

    1. Pair starters with finishers

    One of the unexpected difficulties as a business leader is being strategic in how you formulate your teams. Not only does a team’s chemistry come down to background and personalities, but the effectiveness of a team is determined by the skills of the people paired together. Some people are great starters — they are always willing to step up to bat and take on extra responsibilities. They’re not afraid of an increased workload. However, because of their nature, they could struggle with finishing projects, or they could be spread too thin to follow through.

    On the flip side, while finishers won’t be the first to raise their hand at taking on an extra workload, they excel at following up and following through. They’re the people who are great at executing and making sure a project is completed by a deadline. Rather than punishing starters and finishers in the areas that need improvement, an effective business leader will pair starters with finishers on a team. This takes time and observation to get to know your employees and how they work, but it makes the perfect recipe to avoid problems down the road.

    2. End meetings with an action item

    Meetings aren’t effective if they don’t have a solid structure to follow. We noticed a lack of measurable progress coming out of meetings at our own business. I realized we needed to be more intentional with these meetings, so we formulated a plan: Cut the meetings to 30 minutes maximum, assign one person to lead the meeting, and assign another person to email a summary afterward.

    The most important change we implemented? Each meeting needed to end with one action item to make the business a little bit better. The action item needed a timeline and designation about who would be responsible for the action item. We didn’t restrict them on what the action item needed to be — the action item could make the business run more profitably, make a process faster or smooth out a recurring issue.

    This was when we started to see notable improvement coming from these meetings, and it’s one of the most proactive measures we’ve taken in anticipating possible problems in the business.

    Related: How to Prepare for an Unexpected, Unwanted and Unwelcome Business Setback

    3. Provide clear guidelines and benchmarks for your employees

    Create a culture around winning. People feel good when they accomplish things, so it’s your job to ensure there’s a structure for getting the work done. For every position you create, outline responsibilities and guidelines that fall upon the employee, and establish benchmarks that will help measure your employee’s accomplishments and growth. Clarify what skills and requirements it takes to get the job done in the job description, and make sure they have a robust understanding of this when they start the job.

    Connect regularly with employees, and give them feedback on how they’re performing compared to the job requirements. You could use metrics like sales numbers, customer satisfaction, the scope or quality of a project’s completion or how well they respond to deadlines. Highlight their wins, and emphasize what they’re doing well.

    People want to get things done simply because it makes them feel good; develop a winning culture by setting reasonable expectations instead of repeatedly dumping tasks on your employees without clear guidelines.

    4. Keep open transparency and communication with your team

    The single most important thing any business can do to prepare for unforeseen problems is to keep a clear line of communication open. Ask your employees, “what can I do better? How can I make your job easier?” Be open to criticism and willing to act on what they say.

    Odds are, this will make your employees more willing to listen and accept criticism from you. If you’re showing them you want to improve for their sake, they’ll do the same for you. The entire business will function better if everyone is helping each other strive to be the best they can be for the improvement of the company.

    Consider asking your employees: Are they in a role that they enjoy? Are they spread too thin to perform? Being transparent in your communication will help take your business to the next level by fixing existing problems and avoiding future issues simultaneously.

    Related: 4 Ways to Prepare Now so Your Business Survives the Unexpected Later

    Preparing for unforeseen problems is a critical aspect to running a successful business. No matter how well-funded your business is and how well-rounded your systems and processes are, unexpected challenges will come up.

    Anticipate growth and potential problems by rethinking how you run meetings, being intentional in how you formulate teams, and providing clear guidelines and communication with your employees. If you’ve pre-scaled for growth, you’ll confidently navigate these hurdles.

    [ad_2]

    Trevor Cowley

    Source link

  • The Overlooked Solution to Labor Shortage | Entrepreneur

    The Overlooked Solution to Labor Shortage | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We’re yet to see the impact of Generative AIs like Dall-E and Chat-GPT on the future job market.

    However, here and now, the Western world is dealing with a persistent labor shortage. There is a lack of nurses and doctors to meet the rising demand for care. This summer, flights were canceled due to a lack of airport staff. There is a plumber shortage, a soldier shortage and a shortage of engineers to deliver the green transition of our infrastructure.

    It’s a question of demographics; The generations leaving the job market are larger than the ones entering it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that there are 3 million fewer Americans working today compared to 2020. That leaves only 5.7 million unemployed to fill the 10 million job openings. In my native Denmark, 33 % of all companies report a labor shortage. In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, it’s more than half.

    Companies can’t meet the growing demand and will have to reject deals due to lacking capacity. We’re missing out on growth.

    We can deal with this in multiple ways. Migration could work if the public mood allows it. We can try to make people work more; scrap some public holidays, force the young to join the workforce earlier and the elderly to stay longer. Tech can solve a large part of the problem. We can automate more tasks and apply more bots. And then, we can increase our productivity with sticks and carrots. We can be bossier, invest more in employee satisfaction, experiment with 4-day work weeks or whatever works.

    Related: How Leaders Can Beat the Labor Crisis

    The EverythingOps movement

    An often overlooked solution is what I call the EverythingOps movement. In the past few years, modern tech companies have relied heavily on ops teams to streamline internal processes, optimize workflows and embed the strategic goals of the company in all parts of the company.

    We’ve seen DevOps teams deliver new products at high velocity. We’ve seen RevOps teams creating more efficient workflows in the commercial departments. And we’ve seen LegalOps teams turning legal departments from cost centers into value creators. All these ops movements have in common that they use technology and data to optimize processes and drive workflow efficiency in busy organizations. They break down silos and force every function to contribute to the commercial goals of a company.

    They’ve been incremental through the bull run as they help scaling organizations to stay on track, and they’re maybe even more important to ensure cost-effectiveness in a bear economy. With that in mind, I also see the following three ways the ops philosophy can help companies with a low labor supply.

    The revenue mindset

    Historically, the legal department has been a cost center focused on risk mitigation and compliance. However, modern legal departments generate revenue and contribute to the commercial goals of the company. They automate sales contracts, so the reps get more time on the floor. They streamline commercial terms to shorten sales cycles and increase growth rates. And they use technology to identify opportunities in existing contracts.

    As silos break, the distinction between commercial and service organizations becomes blurry. Applying the ops mindset to the legal function has revealed its capacity to unlock growth and increase revenue.

    Related: Apple Makes Major Moves to Combat Labor Shortage

    Efficiency goals

    While service functions must begin to support the revenue targets of a company, the commercial teams must optimize for efficiency. Operations teams have always been used to streamline internal processes and ensure that every part of a company operates smoothly.

    The RevOps movement has embedded this philosophy deeper into commercial teams and at a much grander scale to drive revenue growth. Modern commercial teams are trimmed and well-oiled machines augmented by workflow automation. They leverage digital technologies to make data-driven decisions, and they apply the RevOps approach that works holistically with the entire customer journey.

    Data and tech

    The main reason that the EverythingOps movement comes at this moment in time is the current state of tech:

    1. Digital technologies have enabled organizations to become much more data-driven. It’s never been easier to track and analyze a performance which creates a foundation for more informed decisions.

    2. We’ve seen a new wave of workflow automation software that makes the ops function much more effective. Operations teams have a higher chance of making a difference today than they had before.

    3. All these new digital products have created a need for synchronization. We need ops more than ever to ensure all departments are aligned and use digital technologies to their advantage.

    Related: US Businesses Turn to Automation Amid Labor Shortage

    The EverythingOps movement has been successful in larger corporations and the most modern and innovative companies, but we are still far from mass adoption. Too many companies are yet to benefit from the RevOps approach, and the LegalOps approach is niche. Most companies — large and small — have unnecessary silos to demolish and workflow automation to implement.

    In other words, EverythingOps can secure some of the productivity and efficiency gains we need to secure growth in a tight labor market.

    [ad_2]

    Niels Martin Brøchner

    Source link

  • SVB Collapse: Etsy Sellers See Delays in Funds | Entrepreneur

    SVB Collapse: Etsy Sellers See Delays in Funds | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Some Etsy sellers said that they were not able to access deposits from their shops in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to Fox Business.

    From TikTok to news outlets, sellers have complained that their money is on hold.

    On TikTok, one seller said that money she expected to see in her checking account the next day — from the revenue generated by her shop — has been put on hold.

    “I have to pay my mortgage in a few days. And I can’t. Because they have my money on hold,” she said in a video posted Saturday, adding that she got an email saying the issue was due to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

    The TikTok user said it’s a “reminder that we are not in control of our own money.”

    The issue has not been resolved as of Monday, she added in a follow-up video.

    @amgeee1 @etsy #etsyseller #etsyshop #etsysmallbusiness #etsytiktok ♬ original sound – amgeeee

    Sellers said the crisis crept to their doors. Several other users commented on the initial TikTok saying they were experiencing the same thing, including Little Miss Lovely Creations, Blue Piggy Badge Reels, WreathSignDesigns Patricia, and others.

    The woman did not add details about the nature of her shop but said she has been a seller on the platform since 2015. She did not respond to Entrepreneur’s request for comment.

    “This issue has impacted an extremely small group of sellers,” an Etsy spokesperson told Fox.

    “Approximately 0.5% of our active seller base had their payments delayed on Friday. We are working to pay these sellers today and we’ve already started processing payments via another partner this morning,” the spokesperson added to Fox.

    Related: ‘Everyone Is Freaking Out.’ What’s Going On With Silicon Valley Bank? Federal Government Takes Control.

    The company says it has about 7.5 million active sellers. Based on the 0.5% number, that would mean about 37,500 sellers were affected.

    Last week, Silicon Valley Bank revealed a $1.8 billion loss, sending customers into panic, with founders pulling out money from the institution. The federal government stepped in on Friday and Sunday, taking control of the bank and securing the value of customers’ deposits for SVB, along with another entity, Signature Bank. Both reportedly faced bank runs.

    Related: Signature Bank Shuts Down After Billion-Dollar Bank Run

    In an interconnected financial system, financial difficulties can spread, which is known as contagion. A former official at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said Sunday that there is “no doubt” more banks will collapse, according to POLITICO. Bank stocks, particularly smaller or regional banks, have also been extremely volatile.

    It’s unclear how specifically the SVB has impacted Etsy. SVB was a favorite among startups and venture capitalists, Elizabeth Yin, general partner at Hustle Fund, previously told Entrepreneur.

    SVB also listed e-commerce giant Shopify as a client as well as venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.

    Etsy said in a community forum that the company “recently experienced a delay in our ability to issue payments to some of our sellers. This was related to the rapid and unexpected collapse of Silicon Valley Bank,” per Insider.

    Three other Etsy sellers told NBC News their deposits were delayed. Owen McKinney said the delay was “catastrophic” for his laser engraving shop, as he relies on timely payments from the platform to cover the cost of things like shipping and materials.

    [ad_2]

    Gabrielle Bienasz

    Source link

  • How to Improve Link Building to Rank Higher on Google | Entrepreneur

    How to Improve Link Building to Rank Higher on Google | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When it comes to getting your business to succeed online, SEO (search engine optimization) is everything — but link building can often fall through the cracks when it comes to website optimization. Adding hyperlinks to your website is one of the many ways to improve your Google rankings and ensure potential customers see your offerings.

    However, it’s not just about the quantity of the links on your website, but the quality — i.e., the source you’re linking to, the link’s position on the page and more. Understanding the reasoning behind Google’s link ranking will help you optimize your website for increased traffic and awareness.

    Luckily, Google just released an updated guide on its best practices for link building. As a marketing expert and business leader, I’ve sorted through these new guidelines and shared my expertise on optimizing content and link-building best practices, so your online business can thrive.

    Related: 7 Ways to Use Google Trends for SEO

    Google’s latest release

    The Google Search best practices documentation has existed for several years, with tips and tricks on improving your SEO for Google Search. It gives straightforward advice on optimization for numerous categories, from SEO fundamentals to monitoring and debugging.

    In February 2023, Google updated the online document to reflect new best practices pertaining to link building. Whereas before, the information about links was only about how to build crawlable links, it now includes several essential tips on creating links that will help your website perform well in Google Search results.

    Related: 7 SEO Copywriting Tips to Get Your Business Ranking on Google

    Making your links crawlable

    Creating crawlable links was a vital component of the earlier version of this Google Search best practices document. It remains a crucial tip for ensuring that links on your website are top quality. Essentially, for Google’s algorithm to be able to crawl (automatically comb through your site), the links need to be written in readable code.

    Google gives specific examples of what types of code are crawlable and what types are not. Look at the examples and code recommendations and ensure that your website coding follows these suggestions so that Google can understand your links and rank your page.

    Related: Learning Google SEO Can Help You Grow Your Business on a Budget

    Placing anchor text correctly…

    What is anchor text? Anchor text is the visible text of a link or what you, as a user, would click on. Google provides several tips about anchor text (most importantly, make sure you use it!). It’s also good to note that in the case of images used as links, Google suggests adding descriptive alt text because this will be attributed as anchor text.

    Related: Five Red Flags That Can Destroy Your Google Ranking

    …and writing better anchor text

    Besides knowing where and how to place your anchor text, writing clear and descriptive anchor text is essential. Strong writing will help Google categorize the relevancy of your links and will also, of course, help users better understand what they’re about to click on.

    For instance, if you’re hyperlinking to another page on your site and use the anchor text “Learn More,” Google (and users!) won’t find this satisfactory. Where does this link lead? If you were to read just the anchor text out of context, it would not make much sense.

    Instead, write anchor text that would still make sense out of context from the rest of the sentence — without being too long. Updating the anchor text to “our company’s mission statement” would better serve your purpose and meet Google’s requirements.

    Google also reminds users not to overdo it. Adding too many keywords can be considered spam, and adding too many different links right next to each other can confuse readers. In short: Space out your links, make your anchor text clear and descriptive, and don’t keyword stuff.

    Related: 6 Elements Your Link-Building Campaign Must Include

    The correct ways to use internal and external links

    The final section of the best practices for SEO links pertains to internal and external links. What’s the difference? Internal links refer to links that drive to a page within the same web domain (i.e., you’re pointing the user to another part of your website). External links take the user to an entirely new domain.

    Google recommends paying particular attention to internal links, as this is an often-overlooked area. The search giant also recommends including at least one internal link on every page of your website, primarily to provide clarity to any given section. Unsure how to incorporate more internal links? Imagine a user’s journey on your site and how other pages on your domain could be useful to a specific section.

    When it comes to external links, don’t be afraid! Just ensure that you’re linking to valid, trustworthy sources. Established news sources can be a great way to provide context and statistics to your website and prove to Google that your website can also be trusted.

    Finally, Google provides code-specific advice for sponsored and user-generated content and a way to ensure Google doesn’t crawl certain external links. Read up on these tips as well since they pertain to specific situations you may encounter.

    [ad_2]

    Adam Petrilli

    Source link

  • Take Advantage of a One-Year Costco Membership and $30 eGift Card for Only $60 | Entrepreneur

    Take Advantage of a One-Year Costco Membership and $30 eGift Card for Only $60 | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    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.

    As a busy entrepreneur, you might be wondering how you’re going to have time to run all of your different errands. Whether you’re looking for groceries, office supplies, or even a new computer, you may be able to get it done under one roof by shopping at Costco.

    If you don’t have a membership, you can get a One-Year Costco Gold Star Membership for $60, and it comes with a $30 Digital Costco Shop Card*.

    Stretch your budget further by shopping at Costco.

    Whether you’re shopping for practical or personal items, you may be able to find what you need at a Costco warehouse. With more than 800 warehouses across the U.S., you might not have to go far for your next shopping trip.

    At Costco, you can find the latest electronics and home appliances. You could even pick up some new furniture in the same building where you buy the ingredients for your next meal. Fill your cart in store or shop online. Your $30 Digital Costco Shop Card works on Costco.com, too.

    Visit the Costco Tire Center to have brand-name tires installed while you shop. Pick up a prescription at the Costco Pharmacy or take advantage of Costco Optical. Stop by the food court for a tasty snack, and don’t forget to fill your car with gasoline on your way out.

    Save on all your essentials.

    If you want to grab a gift for your employees and run a few errands without running all over town, Costco is a great place to shop. Get a 1-Year Costco Gold Star Membership that comes with a $30 Digital Costco Shop Card for $60.

    Prices subject to change.

    *To receive a Digital Costco Shop Card, you must provide a valid email address at the time of sign-up. If you elect not to provide a valid email address, a Digital Costco Shop Card will not be emailed. Valid only for nonmembers for their first year of membership. Limit one per household. Nontransferable and may not be combined with any other promotion. New members will receive their Digital Costco Shop Card by email within 2 weeks of sign-up. Costco Shop Cards are not redeemable for cash, except as required by law. A Costco membership is $60 a year. An Executive Membership is an additional $60 upgrade fee a year. Each membership includes one free Household Card. May be subject to sales tax. Costco accepts all Visa cards, as well as cash, checks, debit/ATM cards, EBT and Costco Shop Cards. Departments and product selection may vary.

    [ad_2]

    Entrepreneur Store

    Source link

  • 4 Marketing Trends You Should Implement This Year to Drive Growth and Improve Sales | Entrepreneur

    4 Marketing Trends You Should Implement This Year to Drive Growth and Improve Sales | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Over the last few years, marketing automation has quickly become a critical tool within organizations’ tech stacks — including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) — to grow sales pipelines, enhance customer support and increase revenue. In fact, in a 2022 Act! customer relationship management study, SMB owners stated that implementing marketing software and other innovative tech, like CRM, led to increased sales and business productivity, customer satisfaction and retention, marketing outreach and company growth and revenue. With marketing automation applications unlocking untapped markets and growth for businesses worldwide, it is no surprise that the global marketing automation market has reached new highs in 2022 ($5.2 billion), according to Markets and Markets.

    The ability to simplify and streamline numerous marketing efforts, including email marketing, content marketing and SEO, enabled SMB owners to remain competitive amid the unprecedented challenges of years prior due to global shutdowns, depleted employee markets and ongoing inflation. With that, 2023 is the year for SMB owners to further embrace marketing automation, learning to better optimize their technology and business processes to not only remain competitive but to stand out and outpace the competition.

    Here are four marketing automation trends for SMBs to implement to make a splash in 2023.

    Related: Use These Two Tactics to Make Your Customer Experience Stand Out in 2023

    1. Delivering funnel-optimized content

    Today’s customers don’t just want a personalized experience, they expect it. A recent McKinsey study found that 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. Personalized customer experiences have long been an area of opportunity for SMBs, and the explosion of digital channels and the migration of consumers online shouldn’t change that. In 2023, it simply will not be enough to add a customer’s name to an email subject line or trigger discount emails on their birthday. But, with the right marketing automation tools, marketers can gain the knowledge and tools to adequately cater to the right audiences.

    By tracking customers’ website and email engagement — as well as other content assets — with marketing automation, SMBs can determine different customers’ pain points and needs. This helps marketers understand what content engages what audiences, and enables them to adjust copy, images or frequency of different marketing channels to improve engagement metrics. And, employees can use sales and customer support engagement data to gain an even deeper understanding of customer needs.

    With this knowledge, SMBs can better segment different audiences and scale different automated email workflows with relevant content and formats that is proven to engage that specific audience. Then, with the right marketing automation software, teams can create triggered responses that automatically send additional funnel-optimized content based on how the prospect interacts with that email. Through automation, SMBs can quickly funnel relevant content in the form of on-demand webinars, whitepapers, video content or schedule follow-up phone calls and meetings. This enables small, resource-constrained marketing teams to guide prospects through an entire sales journey in a fraction of the time.

    2. Enabling strategic decision making

    The appeal of marketing automation software for SMBs began because of the tech’s ability to improve marketing reach. However, SMBs must now look to better understand and utilize the wealth of information gathered from their marketing software. With the reach finding that data-driven organizations are three times more likely to improve in strategic decision-making, the ability to capture and capitalize on valuable data will be top of mind for SMB owners in 2023.

    Through marketing automation, SMBs can easily track the activity on different communications channels. This enables teams to not only gather intel on customer behaviors but monitor how different marketing campaigns and messages are performing with audiences. And, powerful marketing automation platforms come with testing tools, like a/b testing, that allow marketers to adjust and fine-tune email and web messaging and campaign designs. With marketing automation’s data tracking and testing, SMBs can simplify data analysis and improve decision-making through knowledge-based findings.

    Related: The Big Risks You Need to Avoid When Using Marketing Automation

    3. Enhancing lead generation and nurturing

    Effective lead generation and nurturing are critical aspects of sales and business growth. Lead nurturing — once a labor-intensive endeavor — has become a simplified and streamlined process thanks to marketing automation.

    With automated tools, SMBs can continue to eliminate repetitive, time-consuming manual tasks on all fronts — especially within the sales funnel. With intuitive marketing automation platforms, even a novice designer can easily create engaging, high-converting and on-brand landing pages equipped with lead capture forms to collect customer email addresses and phone numbers.

    SMBs looking to take lead capturing to the next level can integrate their marketing automation with their customer relationship management (CRM) software. In so doing, teams can further eliminate manual work and improve customer interactions by automatically transmitting and segregating prioritized lead information and automating lead profiling and scoring based on prospect behavior.

    4. Creating cohesive omnichannel marketing

    Integrating marketing automation with CRM will not only help SMBs with lead generation and nurturing in 2023 but will provide the functionality needed to successfully implement omnichannel marketing.

    Omnichannel campaigns often fail because they lack consistency among different channels and audiences. By integrating marketing automation and CRM, SMBs create a seamless flow of information in all business departments. The combination of data unification and automation will pave the way for SMBs to drive sales from each of their marketing channels while maintaining a cohesive user experience.

    Related: 10 Marketing Automation Hacks All Businesses Should Be Using

    In order to improve on 2022’s successes, SMBs must take the next step in their digital journey — starting with marketing automation. By following the marketing automation trends of 2023 and enhancing their knowledge of marketing automation capabilities, SMBs will position themselves to expand outreach, increase sales and drive business growth.

    [ad_2]

    Steve Oriola

    Source link

  • The Logistical Nightmares of Trade Marketing — and 5 Tips to Escape Them | Entrepreneur

    The Logistical Nightmares of Trade Marketing — and 5 Tips to Escape Them | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There’s no doubt that trade marketing is one of the most logistically heavy functional groups of the marketing world. This fact typically is ignored by other departments, which does nothing to ease the strain felt by your trade marketing team.

    Fact: Your trade marketing team has to deal with every internal group in your organization, (like sales, operations, finance, product, brand marketing, campaign marketing, shipping and many others). In addition to this, they must also liaise with a slew of external teams (such as printers, fabricators, installers, rentals, warehouses and more). This means that a single person in the trade marketing department might have hundreds of points of contact per task.

    Related: Top 5 Marketing Tips for a Successful Brand

    Trade marketing = sales tools

    Your entire brand should be aware that trade marketing = sales tools. In this scenario, without sales tools, your field personnel walk into the retailer with nothing but a pricelist, which puts them at a huge disadvantage compared to their competitors.

    What are sales tools? Here are just a handful of items that the trade marketing team can be entrusted to deliver to the sales teams working in the brick-and-mortar market:

    POP (point of purchase)

    Fixtures & displays

    Promotion marketing

    Digital activations

    Retailer Advertising & art

    Events

    Education

    Shop-in-shops and pop-ups

    In-market print and digital custom art

    For the brick-and mortar marketplace, the trade marketing team members can have many touchpoints through the entire life cycle of every single sales tool, from conceptualization, production and fabrication to distribution in the market.

    Example

    Let’s take one of their simplest jobs as an example and look at the logistics of a single custom art order for a retailer from the perspective of just two of the key players in a trade marketing team — the field personnel and trade marketing manager. The complexity of the task is staggering, and to do this manually requires a great deal of resources, time and skill.

    Custom art order process: field personnel

    Step one: Review and confirm the trade marketing budget, brand account planning and retailer selection.

    Step two: Approach retailer, negotiate deal for space and product, and get a sales commitment.

    Step three: Define supporting elements (education sessions, matching promotions, etc), determine delivery date, and confirm art deliverables (what art is needed to drive the sales goal).

    Step four: Measure and confirm space for production, relay all technical requirements and deal points to the trade marketing manager, prepare project details and steps, and communicate with retailer.

    Step five: Confirm final delivery or install details, conduct all post-execution reporting and follow-up to ensure retailer satisfaction.

    Related: Does Your Marketing Team Have These 9 All-Star Qualities?

    Custom art order process: trade marketing manager

    Step one: Review and confirm. This includes field personnel trade marketing budget, brand account planning, field personnel retailer selection, requirements to fulfill deal points, project details and cost, art selection and technical details (sizing, photos, retailer requirements).

    Step two: Identify any issues. The list of logistical issues to identify can be ridiculously long and complicated, varying wildly from project to project. Here are just four very basic examples of what a trade marketing manager might have to consider:

    Step three: Track progress. This includes communicating the actual time to complete the project and deliverables, confirming the actual delivery date, sending art to the production/design team, tracking timelines, confirming and approving final art with the retailer via field personnel, confirming correct material and accurate brand colors, as well as sending art to print for final use.

    Step four: Organize and dispatch. Arrange and dispatch shipping to the local install team, organize install team, ensure the contractor is ready to work on the specified schedule, check retailer requirements for final finish and health and safety, and put out any fires or issues in real-time during install.

    Step five: Finalize. Collect final photos of production from the install team, ensure retailers’ needs are met and that they are pleased with production, track and collect all costing for production, deduct final amount from budgets, maintain and update records of what image has been placed, at what time and location in a master list in case of recall of art (for example, a brand ambassador goes sour and their likeness needs to be scrubbed out of the market ASAP like Lance Armstrong). Collect and house all elements to reproduce the project (i.e., sizing, deal points, communications, decision making, costs, install details), collect and store all photography to send upstream to the brand team so they can have market examples (good and bad), and create a removal and disposal plan (if the retailer desires).

    Let me be clear: The above was for ONE simple job alone. The list of potential issues and complications is endless. Not only does the trade marketing team have to perform the physical aspects of the job, but they must also be communication gurus, and operational wizards — and be able to do it at scale.

    Related: The Formula To Sales and Marketing Success

    5 tactical takeaways

    1. Perhaps the trade marketing team deserves a little more respect than what they are usually dealt. What can your organization do to combat logistical complexity?

    2. Consolidate communication into an open, searchable platform.

    3. Stop using multiple ad-hoc platforms, and adopt ONE platform as your primary system.

    4. Require your field teams, vendors and internal team to operate inside your platform so all requests (i.e., timelines, budget, speed, etc.) are captured in the cleanest and fastest way possible.

    5. Ingest all filed requests and process them with very defined automated systems. Automate any step in the process that can be automated, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant.

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Calon

    Source link

  • 5 Tactical Tips to Grow Your Brand | Entrepreneur

    5 Tactical Tips to Grow Your Brand | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I was obsessed with bullwhips as a kid. Who wouldn’t want to be Indiana Jones? Unfortunately, the first time I managed to get my hands on one, I accidentally whipped myself in the face. While a bullwhip might not be the best toy for kids, it is the perfect analogy for how your business structure and its functional groups should interact.

    Image credit: Jasmine Holmes

    Let’s dig into the mechanics of the whip

    Whips generate force using the momentum (energy) of a loop traveling along a tapered strip of leather. As it travels, the energy is focused on an ever-narrowing structure. This amplifies the energy to drive the tip to over 30x faster than the initial motion in the handle. That telltale “crack” of the whip is a small sonic boom. Isn’t it crazy that 2,000 years ago, man was able to break the sound barrier with just a strip of leather? Over 1,900 years passed before scientists could mechanically reproduce it!

    Image credit: Jasmine Holmes

    Related: 5 Marketing Strategies That Will Boost Your Business

    How does this relate to your marketing structure?

    In many organizations, marketing is the most operationally challenging division, containing many complex issues. The best marketing structures are smooth, sleek and have results that break the sound barrier, regardless of what season, campaign or product is being marketed. To understand how to achieve that satisfying crack in the market, let’s go back to the start … the hand.

    The hand of the brand steward holds the whip. Traditionally, the brand steward was the CMO, with a singular focus on marketing. In startups, it is usually the founder. However, in progressive organizations, it’s the Chief Growth Officer. A CGO is a catalyst for cross-functional collaboration and sustainable growth while the marketing whip acts as an extension of the brand itself. So, when the brand steward brandishes the whip, the brand’s power and influence travel through each section, guiding all strategy and movement in the same direction.

    The whip handle can be compared to the brand itself, where management, market equity and brand fundamentals are stored (including brand ideology, identity, market positioning and culture). This is where brands establish a market presence, cultivate consumer perception and attract their target audience. With just the slightest movement, the brand steward inputs energy into the handle, which travels down the whip, amplifies and creates a loud crack in the market.

    The functional groups are the body (or thong) of the whip, through which the brand’s energy flows, amplifying in speed and power while traveling from group to group. Like strands in the whip, the groups weave together to support each other, maintaining the perfect balance to allow for creativity and productivity. Most importantly, they strengthen the entire structure. If one strand breaks, there’s no chance of making a loud crack. These groups are teams like sales, finance, creative, communications, trade marketing or any team that contributes to your go-to-market. Like bullwhips, better materials (i.e., your team’s skillset), get better results.

    Image credit: Jasmine Holmes

    The hitch is where the body of the whip gets thinner — the motion getting faster and faster until product launch — and all the efforts of the functional groups get focused into sales tools. Logistically, this can be extremely complex and time-consuming, with trade marketing teams having the least amount of time to execute their work. If trade, event and digital marketing fail, all previous work done by the functional groups above is null and void. Without sales tools, the brand and its ambassadors are dead in the water.

    The fall is where all marketing has been delivered in the form of sales tools into the digital and brick-and-mortar marketplaces. It’s the thinnest part of the whip, traveling at the fastest speed, with the most urgency behind it. Sales tools are designed to attract and engage the target consumer, including things like sales promotions, social media, custom art, POP, signage, displays and more.

    The popper is the intended effect: converting the target consumer! For a consumer brand like Nike, it’s the sale of their new line of shoes. For a non-profit, it’s donations. Sales tools should guide consumers towards the product and ultimately win the sale, creating that loud crack in the market. Each successful whip-crack adds value to the brand, making the next one faster and louder.

    If you listen to the echoes (sonic boom) of the whip crack, it’ll provide an inordinate amount of data and feedback on what was successful and what wasn’t. Those holding the whip should learn something new each time that contributes to their next GTM cycle — otherwise, they’re destined to make the same mistakes over and over.

    After the crack, the hand of the brand steward needs to follow through with the motion, (so they don’t end up whipping themselves in the face). This means taking post-sale action on the consumer, operational data, issues and market feedback received from the product launch, thereby readying the whip for the start of the next cycle.

    Image credit: Jasmine Holmes

    Related: How Collaboration Makes All Departments Revenue Generators

    Tactical takeaways

    One: Ensure the person holding the whip has a holistic understanding of your organization, with the ability to align departments and create sustainable growth.

    Two: Be confident in your brand’s vision and values. Make sure the brand is at the core of every functional group so all teams pull in the same direction with easy cross-collaboration.

    Three: Maintain a balance of skill and technicality between functional groups. Backfill any weak teams with the correct talent, education and tools.

    Four: Overcome tricky logistics with automated, streamlined pipelines to avoid bottlenecks.

    Five: Observe, analyze and act upon all insights, feedback and market data gained from cracking the whip.

    The best structures have clearly organized operational data and a defined automated process that produces smooth pipelines. It’s clear that the future of marketing begins with a system designed to streamline cross-collaboration, glean optimized insights from embedded metadata and enable instantaneous decision-making with purpose-built tools. You want people to hear the “crack” from miles around, and the sound should increase in volume and travel a further distance every time you brandish the whip. Get crackin’!

    Related: Ditch Those Silos! 3 Ways to Embrace Cross-Departmental Relationships

    [ad_2]

    Jamie Calon

    Source link