Useful Business Advice

Tips on how to get the best from staff

2012-03-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

There are many things that you can do to encourage your employees to achieve the best they can – for their own growth and for that of your business. Here are some tips:

1. If you develop and encourage them, your staff can be an inspiration

2. Hire sales people who really know clients or train them so they do.

3. Train management and staff regularly: it is an investment for your business

4. Empowering your staff makes them feel they can make some decisions in the business and have a degree of ownership

5. You can't expect to retain good staff unless you pay and/or reward them

6. Create a ‘family’ atmosphere to reduce staff turnover. Many people are happy working for others as long as they feel valued

7. Provide scope for staff equity to improve loyalty and commitment

8. Have regular training to teach your business system

9. Delegate key management tasks so staff understand everyone's role, including that of the principals. You can't hold on to or do everything yourself in your business and the art of delegating is something that needs to be learned

10. Don't use half-measures with training. If you can't afford training in the early days then pass on as much information as you can to your staff. Then allocate part of your profits to training. It is always an investment in your business

11. Use a staff mentoring or buddy system to train up new with old staff. Never leave a new member of staff to fend for themselves

12. Integrate your staff cultures for better understanding and then better productivity. If you tell people what you expect from the start and put your goals and objectives in your mission statement, and any internal policies in writing, and prominently display them in your business, you will be surprised how staff will support them

13. Incorporate enjoyment in your business. People want to enjoy their work and respond to a positive environment

14. Create an enjoyable workplace environment to keep staff - especially highly mobile, young high fliers. This means having a bright, office with lots of light and an atmosphere conducive to enjoyment

15. Understand the importance of industrial relations and sensible dealings with key unions. You have certain legal responsibilities to your staff and the last thing you want is trouble with unions. Understand your legal obligations in the first place to avoid any conflict. Join an employers group to help you in this area

16. Employ the right people and if necessary seek help with employee recruitment

17. Try new things to keep staff enthusiastic

18. Write down an Innovation Plan and try to get staff involved in idea production

19. Build a terrific relationship with your staff and lead from the front

20. Emphasise teamwork

21. Pay for the best people for the best results

22. Like and respect your workforce for the best results

23. Build your people around the business, not the reverse

24. Give profit incentives to staff. If they think you're making huge profits and not rewarding them sufficiently they'll leave you

25. Look for many ways to get the best out of your staff by learning about people management skills yourself

26. A mobile workforce with new age communication technology gives strong national presence without the heavy cost of too much real property to maintain

27. When it comes to paying your staff, be fully aware of the state award and all its complexities

28. Aim for better dollar-per-hour work practices.

So how do you create a successful small business? Here are 4 small tips to help you.

2012-02-26T15:33:00.000-08:00

1. Know what you want to achieve - Having definite objectives will help you to work towards your goals. Break them down into smaller goals that you can achieve as you work towards your ultimate goals. It is much better than having everything going round in your head and being unsure whether you are actually achieving anything.

2. If you haven't already you need to research your market - Keep abreast of what your competitors are doing. Also find out about your customers. Who are they? What and why they purchase from you? This will help you to get more of the right type of customers.

3. Review and Improve - This is critical. On a regular basis you need to continuously review and monitor your progress and where you are. Monitoring the progress means that if something isn't working you can modify it immediately. This will help you to take your business to the next level.

4. Discard the myth that you can do it all yourself - you will pay a high price if you do. Get help from experts - use their knowledge to help you grow your business. Recruit a PR person, a bookkeeper, an admin person etc.

5 tips for growing a small business

2012-02-21T19:12:00.000-08:00

When you start a small business, you'll probably discover that what you learned in business school doesn't cover everything you need to know as a business leader.

- Don't be afraid to make new mistakes. Mistakes are one of the most valuable learning tools. You can't learn anything if you're afraid to try something new, or worried about letting your staff do things differently.

- Saying "no" to new business is one of your most powerful assets. Taking on new challenges and doing practically everything yourself is the hallmark of a small-business owner. But rather than accepting every new opportunity that looks like it might be helpful with your business, start saying "no" to things that aren't strategically aligned with your business.

- Use negatives as positives. You may never have the big marketing budgets, huge cash flow or large infrastructure that your big competitors will. Most people will tell you that's a negative you'll have to overcome (or a "challenge" you have to overcome). Rather, think of it as a positive - an opportunity you need to seize. Use your nimbleness to your advantage. Turning your idea into a reality quickly is much easier for you than for a colleague who works at a large employer.

- Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses. In past jobs your bosses probably tried to help you by identifying skills or traits you should improve when they conducted your performance reviews. But time is the one resource you can never get more of. So why waste time trying to improve something you're not good at - and probably don't have any passion for - when you can outsource your weaknesses?

- Use technology to improve everything. The advances in business technology over the last 15 years have leveled the playing field. With the right technology, you can revolutionize how your business and service works - and even what your market expects. Find the technology that can help you improve operations and free your staff to work on tasks that generate more revenue.

How to Run a Successful Marketing Campaign

2012-02-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

1) Know how your marketing campaign fits into your marketing plan.

Ideally, before you plan a marketing campaign, you have a marketing plan for your business. (If you don't, Writing the Marketing Plan will lead you through the process.)

The marketing plan is your master plan for marketing your small business. It provides the full picture of your marketing objectives and strategies for interesting your target market in your products and/or services. The marketing campaign, on the other hand, is one small piece of your marketing plan, a marketing action designed to achieve a particular marketing objective.

When you know how your marketing campaign fits into your overall marketing plan, you know who your target market is and how you might best communicate with them.

2) Set your marketing campaign objective and parameters.

What do you want your marketing campaign to achieve? That's the marketing campaign objective. You want to be a specific as possible. Not just, "I want more sales", but how many and of what product or service?

You can think of parameters as the details of the objective. Time is the most common parameter that needs to be included as marketing campaigns lose their effectiveness over time.

So a common marketing campaign objective formula is: what will be achieved + how long will the marketing campaign run?

For example: Sales of face beauty marks will increase 50% in three months.

3) Determine how you will measure success.

What metrics are you going to use? How will you tell if your marketing campaign has succeeded or not? Obviously, if I have a marketing campaign objective such as "Sales of face beauty marks will increase 50% in three months" the metric I'm going to use to measure the success of my marketing campaign is the number of sales made over the three month period. But the number of sales may not be an appropriate metric at all if my marketing objective is to increase the awareness of my brand or to improve my website's search engine page ranking.

For tracking online marketing efforts, you can use Google Analytics.

Methods of Tracking Offline Marketing Efforts by Laura Lake, About.com Marketing, explains some common ways to measure the success of your offline marketing campaign.

Don't forget to establish or note a baseline for whatever metric you've chosen; you'll need it to measure your progress.

4) Set your marketing campaign budget.

How much money you have to spend on your marketing campaign will greatly affect the marketing strategies you choose so you need to set the marketing budget first. Obviously, a TV ad is much more costly than an ad in a magazine.

You should not to depend on free advertising and promotion strategies for your small business. As this is one of the biggest mistakes small business owners make. This is not to say that all free marketing strategies are bad. But there is always a cost to marketing, even if the cost is only time, and your time may be much better spent. Always think first; is this the best/ most effective/ most convincing way to reach my customer? These ways usually cost money so resign yourself to spending money on your marketing campaign. You don't necessarily have to spend a lot, but you do need to spend some.

5) Choose your marketing strategies to communicate with the customers.

What communication channels are you going to use?

Email? Direct mail? Pay-per-click online advertising?

Note that some communications channels are going to be better suited to your target market than others. For instance, placing radio ads may be a complete waste of money if your target market doesn't regularly listen to the radio. Think about your target market's haunts and habits when you're choosing channels to reach them. Where do they spend their time? Where are they most likely to see or hear and pay attention to information about your products and/or services? In a magazine? On a bus bench? On their iPhone or Blackberry?

Debt Collection 101: what to do when customers don't pay

2012-02-07T18:34:00.002-08:00

Collecting overdue accounts can be a major hassle but the impacts of not staying on top of debtors can be devastating.

Christine Christian, CEO of Australia's leading debt collection and credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet, sees the impact of overdue accounts every day and offers the following advice.

Avoid bad debts through preparation

Set clear credit policies at the outset of any credit agreement: Be clear about what you expect from the very beginning. Customers will often have their own credit policies, such as paying after 45 days. If it is your policy to only extend credit for 30 days you need to decide whether you want to play by the customers rules or pass on the business.

Get a signed contract: A credit contract does not need to be a complicated document that takes a significant amount of time and resources to prepare. It can be as simple as spelling out what you will provide and when; what the customer must pay and when; how disputes are to be settled; and penalties for late payment.

Always conduct a credit check prior to the extension of credit: Credit checks can save a significant amount of heartache and prevent your business the burden of customers that can't or don't pay on time. By providing you with an overview of the financial health of a prospective customer, a credit check allows you to make an informed decision about the extension of credit.

Ensure your business has a sound process in place to track and collect accounts receivable

Issue invoices promptly: You cannot expect your customers to pay promptly if you don't issue their invoices in a timely manner. Make sure you get your invoices are out the door in a speedy fashion.

Monitor your accounts receivables on an ongoing basis: Having a solid process in place to track accounts receivable is vital. This includes monitoring invoices as they head towards the end of the standard 30 day payment term. Keeping a close eye on each and every credit account ensures that you are in a position to chase outstanding debts very quickly following the arrival of the overdue date.

Gradually escalate pressure on your debtors: Issuing a polite reminder as a bill approaches its due date is a smart business practice. Bills can get lost or over-looked; this reminder is a good way to ensure that your bill is front of mind. The pressure you apply should increase as the bill enters overdue territory.

Be prepared to address individual circumstances: Sometimes customers run into a short term problem or they have a valid reason for non-payment. In these instances you need to decide how valuable this business is to you and therefore, how far you are willing to extend the customer’s credit terms. If however this becomes a persistent problem the best option is to end the credit agreement.

Chase overdue accounts immediately

Start the collection process the day after the bill comes due: The longer a debt remains outstanding the less likely it is to ever be paid. If an account was to be paid in 30 days and is not, start chasing the bill on day 31. Cease the extension of credit on overdue accounts: Although it is tough to do, particularly if you deal with big business, you must stop extending credit to customers with overdue accounts.

Never be afraid to ask for help and don't wait too long to call in the experts: A reputable debt collector can help you to collect your overdue accounts, leaving you to focus on other areas of your business. Don’t wait till your account is 120 days overdue to ask for help – the sooner you call the experts the sooner you get paid. Businesses, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, need to understand that they deserve to be paid on time no matter who their customers are.

4 Tips for Managing an Event

2012-01-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

Although I’ve managed a number of events during my marketing career, it’s clear that you never stop learning. I recently returned from a large event where I had the opportunity to contribute toward many aspects of the conference and coordinate teams at the actual event.

This effort required thousands of miles of travel and long days – but they were all well worth it. The knowledge I gained could only be acquired through actually rolling up my sleeves and working the event.

Here are a few of the lessons that I feel are paramount when planning or managing a large conference or event:

1. Begin with a theme. Regardless of your topic, coordinating all aspects of your program around a theme is paramount. Once you determine the message that should be communicated, you can weave it into all aspects of your program. Without a theme, your show will have less meaning and leave participants uncertain of expected outcomes.

2. Carefully evaluate and prepare your speakers. Once you invited someone to speak as a keynote or to lead a breakout session, what they say and do is out of your control. To effectively manage this, it’s always advisable to hold a mini-boot camp, preparing and coaching your speakers appropriately.

3. Think about branding. Focusing on your theme, and your company brand, utilize signage, tablecloths, backdrops, etc. to provide a constant reminder of your brand. This keeps your brand in front of both customers and prospects in a way that is largely in your control.

4. Make the next steps clear. Think through conference pre-work, conference activities, and post activities. It’s important to have a clear understanding of what you want participants to do after the conference. Attendance is an excellent goal but really only the beginning. Provide verbal instructions, handouts, and other materials that provide clear access to post-conference materials and resources.

By addressing the larger issues of theme, preparing speakers, and branding effectively, you can improve the quality of your trade show or event experience. Although many factors go into a memorable event, some of the largest initiatives may be overlooked.

If you are new to managing events or an experienced event manager, always document what you are doing and how you are doing it. At the conclusion of your event, have a team meeting with everyone who participated so that you can revise your documents with best practices – preparing you to enhance your events in the future. Constant growth and refinement are essential for world class events!

8 tips to make your YouTube video go viral

2011-12-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some tips to make video go viral. Creating a video is easy and it is free to post onto YouTube. All you need is a simple $300 digital video camera and a YouTube account.

Most importantly: Your video needs to be funny or amazing or remarkable or have some fascinating information or be controversial. Basically the video needs a reason for people to pass it on. If you can find pass along value connected to your organization and its products, great!

Tip # 1 – Homemade is just fine

You don’t need to hire a professional. A homemade quality video can work great. But plan ahead and shoot several takes to get it right.

Tip #2 -Your video should be no longer then 2 minutes (preferably less)

Think very short. Although YouTube will accept a video that is less than 10 minutes, smaller than 100MB try to make the video between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

Tip #3 — Make your description clear and specific.

To best promote your video, you’ll want its text description on YouTube to be accurate and interesting. Use descriptive keywords and language that people will find when they search for videos like yours. And use the correct categorizations on YouTube so people will find it.

*Tip # 4 — Don’t attempt “stealth” fake customer insertions to YouTube. *

Some companies try to sneak corporate-sponsored video onto YouTube in a way that makes it seem like it is consumer-generated. The YouTube community is remarkably skilled at ratting out inauthentic video, so this approach is fraught with danger.

Tip #5 – Try a series of similar videos to build interest

Sometimes a series of videos works great. The Blendtec Will it Blend? videos are a perfect example. The even sell t-shirts now!

Tip #6 – Tell everyone about your video!

When upload your first few videos, you are likely to hear a deafening silence. You’ll be waiting for comments, but none will come. You’ll check your video statistics and be disappointed by the tiny number of viewers. Don’t get discouraged. It takes time to build an audience. Make sure people know it is there and can find it. Create links to your video from your home page, product pages, or online media room. Mention your video in your e-mail or offline newsletters, and create links to your video as part of your e-mail signature and those of other people in your organization.

Tip # 7 – make sure bloggers know about the video

Sending a link to the video to bloggers or commenting on other people’s blogs (and including a link to your video) is a good way to build an audience. If you comment on blogs in the same space as yours, you might be surprised at how quickly you will get viewers to your video.

Tip #8 – Experiment a lot to find something that hits

While I think it is difficult to purposely create viral marketing buzz, it is certainly possible. Create a number of campaigns and see what hits, then nurture the winners along. Think like a venture capitalist or movie studio and try a number of things in order to get that elusive hit

How to stay on top of your public holiday obligations

2011-11-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

As you're no doubt already aware, knowing your obligations when it comes to public holidays can be more than a little confusing – and that's at the best of times!

Around the festive season – when there are multiple public holidays in close proximity, and a number of them fall on weekends – it can be even more difficult to keep up.

Below are the days of public holidays in your State or Territory over the 2011-2012 holiday period.

	WA	NSW & QLD	VIC	TAS	SA	ACT & NT
Sunday, 25 Dec	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Monday, 26 Dec	Yes (additional for 25th)	Yes (additional for 25th)	Yes	Yes	Yes (additional for 25th)	Yes (substitute for 25th)
Tuesday, 27 Dec	Yes (substitute for 26th)	Yes (substitute for 26th)	Yes (substitute for 25th)	Yes (additional for 25th)	Yes (substitute for 26th)	Yes (substitute for 26th)
Sunday, 1 Jan	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Monday, 2 Jan	Yes (additional for 1st)	Yes (additional for 1st)	Yes (additional for 1st)	Yes (substitute for 1st)	Yes (additional for 1st)	Yes (substitute for 1st)

Better than plastic: Unsecured business lines of credit

2011-10-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

When your business needs money to grow – or to keep the doors open – where do you get it? According to the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, 82 percent of small business owners use credit cards as “a vital part” of their funding strategy. Not the best idea, notes Tom Gazaway, founder of small-business loan consulting firm Hawkeye Management in Blackwood, NJ.

“The problem is that most small business owners either use personal credit cards or the wrong type of business credit cards – the kind that are reported on their personal credit score,” he says. “The result is that their credit scores get worse, they don't get the best interest rates, and they miss out on tax benefits.”

Worse yet, the sky-high interest rates charged by credit-card companies suck cash from the till, creating a cash-flow problem that can lead to the business’s demise. In a 2009 study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which focuses on fostering entrepreneurship, it was found that every $1,000 racked onto a small business’s credit cards increased the business’s chance of going bust by 2.2 percent.

Given the downside, why do business owners turn to plastic to fund their companies? Primarily because it’s a form of unsecured credit that’s fairly easy to obtain. That’s been especially true since the economic downturn hit at the end of 2008 and traditional bank loans became harder to find. Shrinking real-estate values also meant fewer entrepreneurs could tap secured home-equity lines of credit.

“Nowadays [retirement fund] leveraging and credit cards are the most popular forms of start-up debt financing,” says Gazaway.

The advantages of unsecured business lines of credit (UBLOCs)

A better way to go, says Gazaway, is to seek an unsecured business line of credit from either a traditional or specialty lender. In some cases, vendors may offer a credit line to help keep your business purchasing goods from them.

The other, more common route is to obtain an unsecured credit line from a bank. A typical UBLOC might be for up to $100,000. Interest rates are much lower than credit-card companies charge, monthly payments are low, and as funds are paid back they can be borrowed back out again.

Is a UBLOC a good option for your small business? Here are a few factors to consider:

Business purpose. Why are you seeking this cash? UBLOCs are best used for short-term business goals where you expect the money to help the company bring in more revenue that will help you pay the balance back down. If you want funds to purchase a piece of equipment, for instance, you might want to get a secured equipment lease from a specialty equipment lender instead.

Credit score. Your personal credit rating will be key to landing a UBLOC – Gazaway says a Fair Isaac and Company (FICO) score over 700 is desirable. If your score is lacking, build it up by getting a business credit card for business-related expenses and making prompt, regular payments. Keeping your spending well below the credit limit offered by your card company will also help your score.

Track record. Most banks want to see you in business at least two years. They’ll also want to see several years of financial records to demonstrate your business has the cash flow and profit margins to service the loan.

Your industry. Some industries such as restaurants and real-estate firms are considered high-risk. It’ll be tough to get an unsecured loan.

Find the right bank. Not all banks issue unsecured lines, and those that do will keep them to a small portion of their total lending. Look for a business-focused bank that has a history of unsecured business lending.

As you can see, there are many hurdles to obtaining an unsecured business credit line. But the advantages of this form of credit make it worth the work, Gazaway says. It’s far better to get the cash your business needs without having to pledge your home or business assets in exchange.

SME's: A Rounded Plan!

2011-10-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Operating a small business is not just about working for yourself, it's also about having the necessary management skills, industry expertise, technical skills, finance, and of course, a long-term vision to grow and succeed.

Think through the establishment of your business carefully (or if you don't have time, we can help you with this), taking the time to research and plan your operations.

To develop your business plan, you need to consider these points about operating from home:

Is your home the best location for your business?
Can you conduct the type of business you want under local council regulations?
What are your legal obligations?
Will your home-based business allow you to balance your work and family life?

Networking is an important way to keep up-to-date with business trends and to create business opportunities and friendships. Join a business association, check newspapers and business publications, and search the internet to find events relevant to your business.

For further information on business structuring or to speak with one of our accountants don't hesitate to contact us. We are more than happy to help!