How To Take Your Career To The Next Level

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article |Boost your career|How To Take Your Career To The Next LevelThere may come a time during your career when you no longer feel satisfied with your role, whether this is due to stagnant pay, little to no room for progression or any other hurdle which you simply can’t solve. Figuring out how you can combat this issue and take your career to a whole new level needn’t be as difficult as you might expect, as there are just a few key areas in which you can focus your efforts to achieve complete job satisfaction in no time at all. So, if you would like to find out more about how you can boost your employability and seek out a new and improved role with ease, then read on to uncover some of the best top tips and tricks that you can make the most of today!

Start Networking & Make Connections

A brilliant way to spread your wings and attract a great employee is through the use of networking. Networking is the act of making connections with other professionals in your industry, whether this means attending commercial events or conferences, utilising business social media or taking advantage of any other opportunity to get involved with the biggest and best names in your target area. You need to have good interpersonal skills to network well, as it requires a whole load of confidence and self assurance to provide the best first impression every time. Each interaction with a new person or company is a chance for you to sell yourself as what you have to offer, so don’t be afraid to big yourself up and promote your best points. Networking in person can be tough if you don’t have the right social skills to chat to anyone and everyone, but exploring something like social media or email could be the ideal alternative. You can even set up virtual meetings from the comfort of your home, so you can sell yourself remotely without any hassle!

Get Certified Or Publish Your Work

If you specialise in one subject or area, a great way to improve your chances of securing a more advanced role is by getting your work published or certified. Many employers will research the candidates that apply for a position in their company, especially if it’s one that warrants a large pay packet with a lot of responsibility, and it can be a huge attraction to find a notarised or formally published piece with your name on the bottom, or a prestigious university or college with your name in their alumni. It’s not always easy to take such a step, as it’s a big commitment that can take a lot of time, energy and money to pursue. However, the hard work will most definitely be worthwhile and there are many options that you can make the most of. Online school is a brilliant way to seek out an extra qualification or certification without having to forfeit your daily responsibilities, and you can even find sites like OneNotary that will notarise a document for a super affordable fee if you don’t have too much cash to splash.

Set Your Sights High

Failing to stay motivated by not setting your sights high can have a huge effect on your ability to find a fulfilling career. Reaching for the stars will allow you to take your potential job satisfaction to a whole new level, so have faith in your abilities and don’t allow any boundaries to form between you and the best roles available. It can be very difficult to maintain such a level of commitment, especially if you experience rejection or any kind of similar criticism, however remaining positive and moving forward will ensure you can achieve your goals in no time at all. Realistically, you can apply for any role that’s posted if you have the necessary qualifications or skills listed, and you may even be a candidate if you simply show a great level of commitment to learning what’s required. So, take a chance and send your resume over to any potential employer that offers an attractive opportunity!

Taking your career to a whole new level has never been so simple when you can take the time to make the most of the brilliant tips and tricks that have been carefully detailed above. Start off by networking and make strong connections with the best of the best in your industry, whilst figuring out how you can get your work published or seeking some kind of certification to become a more attractive candidate.

How To Treat Your Customers Like Royalty

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StrategyDriven Customer Relationship Management Article |Customer Service|How To Treat Your Customers Like RoyaltyAs a business owner, you are undoubtedly looking for ideas to expand your customer base and increase your bottom line. One way to achieve that goal is by offering your customers a premium service beyond comparison.

In short, you should aim for excellence and provide nothing short of a first-class service to your customers. It might seem like an odd concept, but many customers feel fed up with poor customer service and sometimes getting treated like they aren’t important.

If you treat your customers like royalty, they’ll feel valued and respected by your company. What’s more, they are almost certainly going to keep spending their money with your business.

Here are some steps to illustrate how you can give your customers a premium service that’s both customized to their needs and solves their problems:

Offer a genuine 24/7 service

Everyone knows that an e-commerce website means a business is theoretically ‘open for business’ 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The thing is, while customers can order goods and services online, they can’t get out of hours help if they need it.

You can buck that trend by offering a genuine 24/7 service to all your customers. You could provide the right support they need at any time via email, instant messaging, social media, or telephone.

The way you can do that is by either employing staff to work in shifts to cover the full 24 hours or outsourcing your contact center operations. If you opt for the latter, it would be better if you did so to a team in the same country as you.

Offer an express delivery service as standard

If you only sell digital products and services, you can probably ignore this section as it’s something you likely do anyway. But, if you need to send physical goods to your customers, don’t make them wait a long time for their orders.
It’s no secret that companies like Amazon offer next-day and even same-day services to all their customers, irrespective of where they live. Nothing is stopping your business from providing fast delivery if it partners with an expedited freight company.

You might be wondering how you can employ such a concept with your company if you only have a small business. The good news is you can use outsourced fulfillment services to stock your goods in various locations across the country.
Expedited freight companies can quickly haul your stock to each warehouse, and you can use local delivery options that promise next-day or same-day services.

Provide exceptional customer care

Lastly, you should go beyond the call of duty to ensure your customers have an excellent buying experience with you. That starts from the moment they enquire about what you sell through to the delivery of their orders.
Of course, your first-class customer care shouldn’t end once your customers receive their orders. You should back up what you sell with an aftercare service that’s beyond compare. Doing so will tempt your audience away from your competitors, even if you charge more!

Company Benefits That Every Skilled Employee Will Look For

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Employee Benefits|Employee Benefits That Every Booming Business NeedsIn the workforce, it is not just the employee who has to compete for a job position. Companies should also have the mindset that they are competing for a limited number of skilled individuals. As such, they need to give themselves an edge over others by offering desirable corporate benefits.

A skilled employee that knows their worth will surely jump to the employer that will give them a better future. If you want to make sure that you don’t lose talent, make sure that you are open to offering these corporate benefits.

Health Insurance

In 2019, the number of Americans that do not have health insurance was roughly 25.5 million people, and that number apparently grew by 1.9 million by the end of last year. An alarming number of people don’t have coverage so despite being something so basic, it can be highly valuable to employees.

Health coverage is not just something to attract new talent, but it also helps existing staff to increase their overall productivity. This protects them from injury or sickness that can hinder their performance. Medical care can be quite expensive for a lot of people. One accident can put a person in incredible amounts of debt without insurance.

As an employer, you can also benefit from this, especially if you are a small business. They are able to offset some of the costs of healthcare by getting tax deductions.

Dental Coverage

Unfortunately, dental is often not included in health insurance. That is why most would get it separately. In some cases, dental care can be expensive, and it’s not something that can be easily ignored. Ideally, people need to get their teeth cleaned every six months. While most can afford that, the real problem is when procedures have to be done. Root canal and teeth removal can be almost like taking a minor surgery.

Additional dental coverage can be seen as a huge benefit for many employees. That, along with vision insurance, are one of the most in-demand benefits. Studies from Harvard even showed that 54 percent of people heavily consider the availability of these types of benefits when considering jobs.

Retirement Contributions

The best workers are those that are career-driven and look to the future, whether it is related to work or personal matters. Many people want to be financially secured in the future, which is why they diligently contribute to their 401k and other similar plans.

While companies are not required to offer retirement plans, this can be a huge benefit that can help retain employees. The existence of a plan such as this will make them feel more secure for their future. Employees who don’t have them will feel more anxious about their finances and would likely switch jobs as soon as something good comes up.

Paid Vacations

Long gone are the days where people believe that working long hours is the way to live. The younger generation highly values their work-life balance, and companies need to adapt to this. Having paid vacations is a big asset for employees, and those that don’t offer this will lose to those that do.

Unlike the previously mentioned examples, vacation leaves are actually the more cost-efficient benefits that a company can handle. A lot of traditional businessmen believe that time not working is time wasted, but that is far from the truth. In fact, an employee that had ample amount of time to rest and recoup becomes more motivated and productive in the long run.

Student Loan Assistance

The total amount of student debt in the United States reached 1.6 trillion last year. Most individuals, regardless of age, have some form of student debt that needs to be paid. Some even reach up to their 30s and 40s and still have student loan debt. If given the chance to pay it off in a more convenient way is available, that will surely be a good deal for them.

As a result, there are companies today that offer the option to directly pay off the loan as one of their benefits. They will not pay the full amount right away, naturally. What they will do is pay a certain amount every month, which is separate from the income they are receiving. The employees themselves can also continue to make their own separate payments.

This is an extremely valuable benefit as financial stress can have an income on employee performance and turnover. Individuals who have a lot of debt are often the ones with highly sought-after credentials, such as university degrees. It can be a way to attract these talents as well as encourage those already working to stay in the company.

Designing A Product That Doesn’t Suck

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StrategyDriven Innovation Article |Designing a Product|Designing A Product That Doesn’t SuckProduct design as a small business owner has to be one of the most exciting parts of the entrepreneurial process. When you start your own business and you finally get down to creating your product; it brings such a sense of achievement that cannot be replaced.

If you are new to product design and you need some help with the process, we have some ideas for you to help you create a product that is fun and will draw the attention of your customers.

Create a product that doesn’t suck by using these simple tips.

Get input from your team

When designing a product it is important to remember the value of other people. Two heads are better than one; and a whole room of heads is better than two! Make sure when designing a product that you have a meeting with your team and start brainstorming it together. You may find that your team has some amazing ideas you wouldn’t have thought of before and this will likely help you to succeed in a way you couldn’t on your own.

Collaborate with an artist

One of the things that can really help you in terms of product design is a stunning box. When designing your product, consider getting a local artist to help you design a pattern for your box to make it stand out from the rest. This is a trick companies such as Birchbox have done with great success because not only will you get more customers through better design; but as you promote the artist, the artist will also promote your product because it has their design on it. You can even make this into a community event where you have a new artist come and help you every few months. Building a community like this is a clever way to build your audience and sell more of your product – as well as make your product look amazing.

Use recyclable materials

It is so important these days that we consider the environment when making a product and this includes using recycled as recyclable materials. Source materials that are recycled and make a point that your product is made as such. This will draw in an audience who cares for the environment and you will gain support as a result.

Ask for opinions

When stuck between a few designs for a product or looking to create the final design – be sure to ask for opinions before you go ahead. Ask your team, a focus group, and even ask people online via a social media poll. Show people that you value their suggestions and you might get better responses, as well as a better looking product.

Keep it simple

There’s a reason why the Apple logo on a plain white box is so well loved and known the world over. Less is more. Keep your design simple and don’t ever make it too busy that it puts people off buying it.

Use our tips to make a killer product today and squash the competition.

The Basics of Franchise Accounting

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Franchising Your Business |The Basics of Franchise AccountingOwning a franchise is an easy and affordable way of starting a new business. As a franchise owner, a lot of the heavy lifting involved in starting a business is already done for you. Franchisees can take on an already established brand and don’t have to worry about marketing themselves, as this is done by the franchise centrally.

All the franchisee needs to worry about is dealing with the day to day running of the business, which includes the accounting. Many aspects of a franchise business will be managed centrally. In particular, the costs of marketing and developing new products don’t fall on the shoulders of individual franchisees.

Franchise accounting is similar to accounting for any other type of business, although there are a few extra steps. Let’s take a look at exactly what a franchise is and how they are run and managed.

How do Franchises Work?

A franchise location is owned by an individual, the franchisee. However, the franchise as a whole is owned by a larger corporation. For example, each individual McDonalds store is owned and operated by an individual franchisee. However, McDonald’s decides what’s on the menu, how the store functions, etc. They also handle all of the marketing and other costs of developing and growing the business.

franchising makes owning and operating a business accessible to people who would otherwise be unable to. Returning to the example of McDonald’s, a franchisee may be able to open a McDonald’s franchise as the first business that they run themselves. It’s hard to envisage most people launching a startup that has the kind of name recognition that McDonald’s does, or the existing infrastructure.

With the franchising model, new locations can be opened easily and quickly. From the perspective of the larger franchise business, this makes expanding a much simpler proposition. New franchisees will bear many of the responsibilities, and some of the costs, of opening a new franchise. If the new franchisee fails, the franchising corporation hasn’t lost as much in terms of time and money as it would if it had invested fully in a new physical location.

Franchisees, on the other hand, get to open a new business with an already established customer base, marketing strategy, etc. The franchisee will have to pay the franchising business according to their contract. This can either be in the form of a percentage of the profits, or it might be a flat rate.

Role of the Franchisor

The franchisor is the larger corporation that ultimately owns all the franchises. They manage the brand and business as a whole, deciding how to market the business and how to develop the available product ranges. The franchisor also provides assistance to their franchisees as and when it is needed.

Fees and Franchise Accounting

A franchisee owns the franchise location that they run, even though the business they operate is under license from the franchisor. They are required to follow all the guidelines set out by the franchisor. If they don’t, the license can be revoked and the franchisee can end up with a location but no business to occupy it. The franchisee will be required to pay fees to the franchisor; that’s how the franchising business makes their money.

The fees a franchisee pays are used to cover a number of costs. For example, these fees allow the franchisee to use the franchisor’s trademarks, brands, products, and services. Franchisors are legally required to set out all the fees involved in being a franchisee upfront and they cannot spring unexpected charges on the franchisee at a later date.

There will be an initial fee to pay the franchisor, which serves as a kind of entry charge. There will also be some form of ongoing fee, usually a royalty fee. Proper franchise accounting requires you to be familiar with all the expected fees and charges; you won’t be able to maintain accurate accounts unless you know what deductions and fees to factor in.

Initial Fees

The initial fee is the entry fee that grants the franchisee the right to use the franchisor’s trademarks, including brand, products, services, logos, etc. And, of course, the most important thing your initial fees will pay for is the right to use the franchisor’s name. Finally, your initial fee will cover some of the costs associated with opening a new business.

For example, the franchisor will cover the costs of training staff to use their point of sale systems, as well as any other in-house sales software. Initial costs are paid as a lump sum to the franchisor. Before you pay any initial fees, it is important that you establish exactly how much business capital you will need.

Amortizing Initial Fees

When filling out a business tax return, a franchisee can deduct their initial fee from their total profits; this is known as amortizing. Amortizing is similar in nature to depreciation, except that it deals with tangible rather than abstract assets. By amortizing a fee, its cost can be spread out over several years. This makes it possible for franchisees who can’t afford to pay a lump sum to instead pay the fee gradually over the useful lifetime of tangible assets, such as trademarks.

You can amortize the fee over a relatively long period of time, paying off fractions of it annually. For example, if you amortize your initial fee over a period of 20 years, you divide the total fee by 20 to work out how much of it you will pay per annum.

Royalty Fees

Royalty fees are the main way that the franchisor makes their money. Royalty fees are a little bit like a tax that the franchisee pays on every sale. This is the cut of the profits that the franchisor gets in exchange for essentially providing the core business. In some cases, royalty fees might be specified at a flat rate. However, the majority of the time they will be paid as a percentage of sales.

Marketing Fees

Some franchisors will further charge franchisees to cover the costs of marketing. Even though individual franchisees aren’t involved in the centralized marketing efforts, they still benefit from the effects of new marketing campaigns, so it does make sense that the franchisor would want to recover some of their investment.

Both franchisors and franchisees need to understand the intricacies of franchise accounting if the arrangement is to work. A mistake in a franchisee’s bookkeeping can end up in the franchisor being paid incorrectly and can lead to a distorted image of how healthy individual franchises are. For this reason, many franchisors are now centralizing their accounting and utilizing cloud-based accounting software. This allows individual franchisees to access and update their business accounts on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Conclusion

Franchise accounting needs sophisticated accounting software like QuickBooks Enterprise hosting which can be accessed on Citrix Xendesktop VDI that enables accountants to work remotely for franchise-based models to work from anywhere anytime.