Types of Chargebacks You Should Know About

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article | Entrepreneurship | Risk Management | Types of Chargebacks You Should Know AboutChargebacks have become a menace for online businesses. You risk losing a lot of money and valuable resources when you don’t pay attention to fighting chargebacks. They are transaction reversals that a buyer issues after purchasing products that did not meet the description or for other reasons. It’s important to know how to fight chargebacks, and if you start with understanding how they occur, you can then put into place preventative measures. Here are some common chargeback types that your business might experience.

Chargeback Fraud

A fraud chargeback is a fraudulent request for a refund in the form of a chargeback. The cardholder disputes a transaction to regain the transactional amount and retain the services or products offered.  A chargeback fraud accounts for a significant percentage of all fraud losses. Chargeback fraud occurs when buyers try to take advantage of the chargeback process. They buy the product and try to get their money back by making false claims for the chargeback dispute. While it could be challenging to prevent chargeback frauds, winning such disputes can be equally hard. You can win the conflict by submitting a response with compelling evidence indicating that the buyer is trying to take advantage of you. Also, make sure that you collect all the necessary information from a buyer.

Merchant Error

Merchant error is among the most common chargeback types. While your employees may not intentionally commit a merchant error, its consequences can be dire. Merchant errors are caused by an array of things, including clerical mistakes and system errors. It could also be anything else that doesn’t satisfy your customer. For instance, goods not received or received in an unsatisfactory way and technical issues with your payment process, causing unauthorized errors or duplicate transactions.

Friendly Fraud

It’s an innocent act that could be costly to your business. Friendly fraud doesn’t involve malicious intentions by the cardholder. Professionals, such as Ethoca can help with the measures needed to fight friendly fraud. Some primary causes of friendly fraud include some friends or family members making unknown transactions or forgetfulness. Sometimes a simple action like an unclear product description can trigger a buyer to issue a chargeback for transactions made. An effective way of preventing friendly fraud or generally any chargeback is to tighten measures on your end.

These are some of the common causes of chargebacks. The bottom line is that you need measures to protect your business from any chargeback. Liaise with the professionals to save your reputation and money.

The Strains And Positives Of Owning A Commercial Building Business

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article | The Strains And Positives Of Owning A Commercial Building BusinessThe commercial building sector is on fire right now. Never before in the history of humanity, has the desire for office space has been greater. Now you have millions of entrepreneurs, micro and small business owners that are growing at an alarming rate, who all want office space. They almost always look toward the commercial high-rise building sector to fulfill their needs. So if you own a series of commercial office buildings, you’re probably making a killing these days; well almost. Energy efficiency is a hot topic these days because we’re in a transition period. The world is heading toward a fossil fuel free climate, whereby coal, crude, and gas are going to be slowly phased out in favor of electricity and green energy. It won’t happen overnight, but if you own skyscrapers, you will want to prepare your structures for a mass upgrading marathon.

The way in

Wherever there are ways into the building, you’ll see the most amount of heat loss. This will be the windows, roof steam vents, and HVAC units to name a few. These are the major problem areas for any high-rise building. The wind up at hundreds of feet is a lot more than it is down on the ground. Thus, HVAC units have to work harder to make sure cold air is not filtered into the offices. On top of this, every single pane of glass has to be sealed properly and also, trap heat as efficiently as possible. The buildings have to provide excellent views and also not allow the warmth to be stolen from the climate outside. So you should be seeking to fit energy-efficient glass in incremental stages as this process can take months to do properly. On top of that, you will want steam vents to be properly designed so no air is allowed back in through the major opening.

Modern material implementation

Modern energy-efficient building materials are a must for any commercial building. You don’t know what your clients are going to be doing in the offices all the time. They may be working all day and all night long. Thus, you should have a mindset of allowing your clients to work 24-hours a day non-stop. So, learning how you could implement modern materials by speaking with Energy Management Association about their certification process is in your interest. They seek to train you in energy management that will benefit you as a building owner. Utilizing the latest materials, you could slowly upgrade your buildings while retaining the existing structures. You’ll also learn how to implement and use new technologies that help you discover when things are faulty in your buildings such as pumps not working properly or pipes leaking.

Plenty of advancements

There’s no shortage of advancements in the energy efficiency realm for those that own commercial buildings. Since it’s a highly profitable industry, you’ll never be without good solid advice and professional channels for sound advice. Head to an energy efficiency conference for commercial high-rises to get educated on your existing and future challenges.

Owning commercial buildings is a great pathway into the future since there are so many people who want their own or shared office spaces. However, you must continue to upgrade your materials and re-evaluate your designs to save money on energy.

Environmental impact

Though the above steps are useful in moving towards an eco-friendly future, it’s important that you always consider the environmental impact of any work that you carry out. For example, if you were planning on constructing more commercial buildings – your focus should not only be on obtaining land but instead should focus on obtaining the right kind of land. For example, you may need to carry out ecological surveys ahead of time if the construction of your next commercial property could interfere with animals or wildlife. This is due to the fact that many animals, such as bats, are classified as a protected species – meaning certain steps must be taken ahead of time to maximize their safety.

Therefore, it is within your best interest to work with companies that provide bat surveys for professional ecologists,  as this means they can perform routine surveys to figure out whether any bats are living in the area in which you intend to build upon. Working with these companies means that you can continue with your construction without damaging animal life – thus clearly demonstrating your commitment to a greener planet.

How to Boost Your Business with Conventional Tote Bags

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Entrepreneurship | How to Boost Your Business with Conventional Tote BagsTote bags are a great way of advertising and promoting your brand. One of the main advantages of tote bags is that you can print your logo on them. There is a lot of space on tote bags to print any logo. This is a good way of promoting your business since people get to see its logo more often. It creates awareness and popularity of your business and brand. These tote bags are also environmentally-friendly and can be reused for a long period. You do not have to worry about environmental pollution when dealing with promotional tote bags for customers.

Promotion Strategy

Tote bags are commonly used for shopping but can be used in many other settings. Supermarkets and stores may flourish if they hand out promotional tote bags to their customers. This keeps them from carrying their bags from home, buying new bags, or using plastic bags, and this takes a load off of them. Customers get some sense of pride when they walk out with a logo-printed tote bag from a store with a big brand. These customer tote bags are carried around many places away from the store that they came from, which increases the store’s popularity. Most shopping bags from prominent stores are tote bags with a logo. For such services, you can visit rocketbags.co.uk as an online option.

Businesses can control waste from plastic bags when they use promotional tote bags. The environment is choking from a lot of plastic waste because these plastic bags are not durable enough to last a long time and have to be disposed of. This accumulated plastic waste has deteriorated the health of the earth and using environmentally-friendly tote bags will restore it. The more businesses start using these tote bags to pack products for their customers, the fewer plastic bags are used, and this gives us a clean and healthy environment. Any brand that is known to protect the environment will attract many people and grow.

Alternative Strategies

For some brands without products, these tote bags can still be used to promote your brand. In talk shows, seminars, and conferences, you can print your logo on tote bags and put some merchandise in them. These bags will build your brand even after the event is done because they are durable. People like receiving gifts and gifting your customers a tote bag also helps your brand’s popularity grow. When other people hear that your company is giving out gifts, they will be drawn to your brand.

Conclusion

Although using tote bags might be costly initially, they will promote your brand and bring big profits. It is considered as a method of marketing your brand and creating awareness. The more people know about your brand, the more they follow it. Customer service is most valuable when you want your business or brand to thrive, and these branded promotional tote bags are a form of customer service. To cut on expenses, you can hand them out only to select customers who earn them. Also, buy in large quantities to make them more affordable.

Use Your Story to Sell Yourself

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Brand Marketing|Use Your Story to Sell YourselfBrand marketing is something every business should focus on if it wants to excel in its industry. If you are a business owner, you must apply this strategy to every campaign you launch to ensure that people don’t just use your service, but they keep coming back for more.

But how does a business decide on its brand? Everyone has a story. A tale of who you are and how you got to where you are, but some business owners prefer to forget the past and only focus on the future, where in fact it’s the past that can prove most fruitful for them.

Through this story, you can start building something that customers and clients come to recognize. They associate the story with your business, and if done right, this can make you more appealing.

Be Authentic, But Avoid Sob Stories

Authenticity in business is difficult to unlock. Regardless of your best intentions, a company that appears to be pandering to its customers can drive them away. A little sentimentality is okay here and there, but if it doesn’t match your brand, then it can have adverse effects on your business.

It’s also vital to avoid sob stories. It might work on reality TV, but business is not reality TV. A sob story can come across as fake, and it can distract from the service your company offers. No business wants customers that pity them, so while it’s okay to be honest, it’s perhaps best to ease off on going full superhero-origin-story.

Customers are smarter than a lot of people like to admit, and they are sure to catch on if something about your business seems a little off. In a time where information is accessible to anyone who knows how to Google, any half-truth or an outright lie can be easily fact-checked.

Freebies to Reflect You

Everyone loves a freebie, so you should take advantage of spreading awareness for your brand by investing in promotional products complete with your name, logo, and even contact details that you can give away at events.

Anyone who has ever been to a business convention knows these places are ripe for grabbing as much as you can, and freebies are up there with networking and competitor research as one of the big reasons people attend.

So it’s about time you use this to your advantage. The promotional items you hand out there can give future customers an idea of why they need your service, even if they don’t they do just yet. If the products reflect you, it makes it easier for people to identify with you, which will drive them to choose you over competitors.

A Brand Personality

Once upon a time, brands were brands, and people were people, and they lived in (mostly) harmony. However, the rise of social media and the ability to interact with customers, this has blended into something a little too Frankenstein’s Monster for some people’s liking.

But this is a minority, and more and more brands are jumping on the social media marketing train to spread brand awareness. You likely saw the Wendy’s phenomenon from 2017, and many companies followed suit. They understand that the general audience is sick of the corporate nonsense that plagues LinkedIn. They don’t want to talk to a representative anymore with a clean-shaven face and slicked-back hair. They want to speak to someone real.

Creating and maintaining a brand personality helps customers differentiate from similar brands in your industry. If you do it right without causing offence or being several weeks behind internet trends, then you can reap the benefits, and even if people aren’t buying what you are selling, they are at least talking about you.

Fighting For A Cause

Every company should have a cause to fight for. However, there are so many charities and fundraising opportunities that it is difficult to decide which is right for you. However, here is where your story comes in.

We’ve already established that sob stories are not always ideal, but you can still use the inspiration from your past to help choose the right cause to fight for. If you have had family members with illnesses, then help improve donations for charities fighting such diseases. If you’ve always had a passion for nature, then environmental causes are the way to go. Only you know what motivated you to start your company, so choose something based on that drive.

Fighting for a cause help you appeal to a broader market and even people who may not be your target market. They will see you have principles and be drawn to discover what you do. As long as you stick to these principles and don’t sell out for a profit, your fight could inspire others.

A Human Touch

Despite all these options, there are few better ways to use your story to sell yourself than actually getting your face out there so that customers can put a face to the logo. It’s often too easy to forget that behind the branding and the products are people hoping to do their best, so you can help people remember this by being ever-present.

You can do this by taking the opportunity to engage with your community, especially when launching a store somewhere new. This helps ease any fears they may have, and also gives you the chance to field questions regarding your business.

It’s too easy for people to be cruel when hiding behind a keyboard, but seeing you in person may change their approach, and instead of spitting bile, you might be able to have a conversation that’s productive rather than destructive.

Don’t Sell Yourself Short

A business that has a story, especially one that others can relate to, is the perfect way to guarantee that your brand marketing is on point every single time. However, you cannot solely rely on this story, as once you get big enough, it may not be as relevant as it once was. Combine your story with ideas that set you apart from your competitors so you can add chapter after chapter to a story that is only just beginning.

4 tips for starting a business in a poor economy

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At one point in our life, we’ve probably all been there. The economy is like a rollercoaster, and from time to time you do reach new lows.

Quite often, these lows give some people a new lease of life. Companies are forced to offload employees, and this means that an increased number of people are without work and ultimately asking, “what’s next?”.

Well, for many of these, a new business is one solution. The economy doesn’t make it easy, but it shouldn’t be a direct obstacle that tells you to turn around and do something else.

If you are considering starting a business in this sort of climate, it’s time to read on and find out our four most recommended tips for doing so.

The location is crucial

Without trying to be patronizing, we really can’t emphasize the importance of location, location, location. It’s something that can make or break your business in these tough times, and this infographic perhaps describes it in the best detail:

StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article | Entrepreneurship | 4 tips for starting a business in a poor economy

No, you shouldn’t be targeting those locations which are faring the best during these tough times, but you need to be shrewd about how your potential market is going to react. If you are selling high-end products, you need to assess whether the area you are about to venture into is ready for these, and vice versa.

Use the economy to your advantage

There are a lot of ways that the economy is going to hurt you during these times, so you should be trying to take advantage wherever possible.

Lowering costs is one of these and whilst negotiating with suppliers, understand that you probably hold the upper hand. They will be feeling the pinch as well, so use the economy as an excuse to get even better deals. Whether it’s rents, products or equipment, this is something that you must use to your advantage to drive those margins up.

Start as small as can be

Of course, if you have major backing behind you, this next point might be invalid.

For everyone else, starting small is crucial advice. If you don’t necessarily need office space, don’t hire it. The same rules apply to employees, as both of these elements are fixed costs that are going to heap pressure onto your business.

Start as small as you can, and scale up when the market signals that it is time to do so.

Watch the competition closely

The competition is going to be an excellent signal on just how you are going to perform in this market. It will indicate just how flat the market is, and provide you any ideas on how you can treat it differently.

Sometimes, it might suggest that the market has become extremely price sensitive – and this might not fit within your business plan. Or, it might suggest the otherwise, and a creative marketing plan is all you need. Analyze the competition and then plan your strategy accordingly.