How Your Business Can Become Christmas-Proof

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As we draw closer to the festive season, business owners need to be wary of the holiday rush. Just because the world has been in lockdown for so long, doesn’t mean that you can take your foot off the gas. All market indicators are showing that we will, in fact, see the same old surge around the festive season, despite most customers not shopping in-person. Online shopping dictates everything, and for the most part, has done so for the better part of a decade. But, with this comes new and old challenges, as every business needs to be sharp and ready in inventory management, sales, marketing, customer service, and invoices. This is how you can keep your business up and running, without backlogs and hiccups during the holiday rush.

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | How Your Business Can Become Christmas-Proof

Conduct a health risk assessment

In a risk assessment, you’re not just calculating the health and safety risks, but also the threats to your business. Customers and staff are equally as important, don’t forget this! As the number of cases rises in the Coronavirus, the threat of spreading occurring in your business rises too. This is why whether you’re still working in the office or working from home, you should take the same precautions or have precautions in place. Here’s what you need to do safety-wise.

  • Determine whether any activities you have to do, could promote transmission? Do you work in the office alongside employees? How can everyone avoid getting the virus? Wear masks, have hand sanitizer bottles on the desks, and keep airflow strong in the office.
  • Your workers in warehouses and or production plants need to take similar precautions. They should also be wearing protective gloves if they can, and making sure that they are aware of tight spaces, gathering and a lack of airflow.
  • Determine how likely you can control a spread if it occurs. Do you have a track and trace system you can use? Can you give employees sick pay, to keep them at home? Can you ask them to work from home if they do strike positive for the virus?

Analyze the competition

Alongside your own desires as a business, you need to study and know your competition. For example, you should be keeping tabs on your rivals, seeing what kind of marketing ploys they have, what kind of sales, discounts and deals they are offering, as well as what kind of products they are going to be selling alongside yours. In the latter, you need to know the pricing, quality and branding efficacy, etc.

Some rivals will be pitching to your consumer base, comparing your prices and your products to their own, openly in ads. You must be wary of this. Many retail companies will literally show a product you sell and compare the price of the same or similar product they sell, in an ad. How do you fight back against this? You must be ready for your rivals to do this beforehand!

Increase your storage capacity

The only thing worse than being caught out by a rival, is catching yourself out. This occurs during the festive season more than any other time of year. Small businesses don’t plan ahead concerning their capacity for inventory management. What if you need to have a large storage capacity because sales are much higher than anticipated? You can carry on the Christmas rush over to New Year’s and beyond if you are wise.

That’s why you should consider building one of these custom industrial sheds. These metal structures can withstand any weather, they provide ample room for lots of stock storage, as well as being very easy and quick to erect. Such an industrial shed can be the perfect way to expand your business and reach. If you have export needs as well as domestic sales, but you need more storage space, this is the kind of affordable option entrepreneurs and small business owners should try.

Segment your base

Every single company in the world has a consumer base. These are people that love your brand, they keep coming back, they buy products you make and they will hold your brand in very high regard among your competitors. But you must know who they are, what kinds of individual groups there are and how to market to them.

Your base will have the following types of groups.

  • Veterans. These are consumers who have been with you for years and always check to see if you sell something they want, every other week or month.
  • Loyal consumers. These are people who will put you in their top 5 companies to buy from when they are looking for products in the categories you sell.
  • The new and enthused. The types of customers that have just found out about and are wondering what on earth took them so long. They will be excited to see what you have to offer as opposed to the companies they have always bought from.

Get ready for rules changes

We live in a Covid-19 world now, and the government can change the rules at any moment. Rather than wait for this to happen, you should have plans in place that give you leeway no matter what kind of changes occur.

This again, requires a risk assessment, because you need to know what your options are. Evaluate the following.

  • Tunnel sales. If your country goes into lockdown, can you still make export sales? Can you still make sales to other business clients?
  • Plan your most drastic sales and discount offers. If worst comes to worst and the market begins to freeze up again, consider what kind of sales you can offer to break even at the least and make a little profit at the most.
  • Work with governments. Engage with the representatives and respond to calls and emails. Accept invitations for consultancies and express your concerns to the elected officials.

The festive season is always a rush and hectic time for consumers as well as businesses. While you still have time, make as many positive changes as you can. With these measures, you should be able to proudly call your business Christmas-proof.

How To Choose The Perfect Outsourced Media Service Provider For Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | How To Choose The Perfect Outsourced Media Service Provider For Your BusinessRunning a business comes with many pressing responsibilities, and if firms are not careful, they can get buried under them all before long.

It’s also a difficult economic landscape out there, as businesses find themselves short on time and options both. That’s why it’s important to work the right way, with strong B2B relationships and effective outsourcing strategies. That way, your company can devote its attention elsewhere, focusing on the core processes that jettison you forward into a prosperous future.

For example, a media service provider can have an enormous positive influence over your operations. But how do you choose the right one? You can find out for yourself below.

Outline Your Needs

In the interests of both time and efficiency, start by acutely defining exactly what you want, because only then can you choose the right media service provider to outsource to.

Avoid vague terms and generalisations, and where possible leave no room for interpretation. Do you want access to intricate user analytics? Maybe you want somebody to focus on the laborious tech and logistics side of things, while you focus on getting creative with your content? B2B relationships can’t thrive on guessing games and constant back and forth questioning to get from point A to point B, so it’s important to define the level of collaboration you expect.

Remember, the primary purpose of outsourcing in any area is to reduce costs and boost efficiency, and only with clear and concise communication is that possible. The media service provider must actually provide, and if multiple parties are having difficulty understanding one another, then multiple roadblocks will start getting in the way. Know where you stand, and then you’ll know who you need.

Expert Service

If you know exactly what you want, then it becomes much easier to identify who can give you the service you crave.

Employing the services of the best in the business is a sure-fire way to make some quick progress. For example, it’s well worth considering the OTT services of Red Bee Media. On their secure white label OTT platform, they enable you to monetize your content to the fullest, all while providing you access to in-depth customer data so that you can more sensitively tailor your service. It’s an intricate outsourcing service that explores every avenue possible, omitting no details. The more thorough the service, the better.

Running a business can be incredibly stressful, but with expert help comes peace of mind. Recognising your limitations is not admitting defeat, but instead a critical management strategy that will impact everything else positively. It’s best that everything runs at maximum efficiency with specialist help than at half capacity without, so seize the opportunity!

Recommendations, Awards, Reviews

Researching the reputation of an outsourced business isn’t a genius idea, but you need to know what to look for to do it properly.

For media service providers, look to see if they’re accredited with awards from prestigious tech bodies, or if they have a prolific portfolio of other clients. If in doubt, check their social media pages, and see what waves they’re making there. A positive work history is required for those you’re outsourcing to, so make sure you authenticate their services any way you can.

Referrals and recommendations will undoubtedly help you choose the perfect outsourced media service provider for your business. Confide in your network of contacts, and ask for a referral or opinion on the provider you’re considering. In the end, those who amass negative reputations don’t stick around for long in any industry, so you should devote a considerable amount to ensure you’re working with those of repute. That way, there’s no nasty surprises, and a trusting working relationship can be created straight away.

Why You Should Invest in LED Lighting for Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |LED Lighting|Why You Should Invest in LED Lighting for Your BusinessWhether setting up a new business or running an existing one, lighting is probably not the most exciting thing on your agenda. In fact, there is a good chance it doesn’t feature at all. However, lighting is something that every single business needs, and therefore it is important to consider how something so simple can make an impact both on your business, and on the environment. The following information explains why LED lighting are a good investment for your business.

They Work Out Cheaper in the Long Run

Some people put off the switch to LED lights because they are more expensive. While it is true that the initial cost is higher than traditional light lights, they do save money in the long term. This is because LED lights last significantly longer than incandescent or CFL (old-style energy efficient) lights. The average LED light bulb lasts around 15 times longer than a traditional incandescent bulb and 4 times longer than a CFL bulb. Over the years, as LED technology has developed and become more popular, the cost of the lights has gone down so the price difference is not as great as it used to be.

They Are More Efficient and Environmentally Friendly

LED lighting uses less energy than other lights, yet produces more light. This efficiency makes them much more environmentally friendly than other options, which makes using them a simple way to do your bit for the planet. The reason they are more energy-efficient is that unlike traditional lights, which lose around 80% of their power as heat, LEDs only lose between 10% and 20%. They are also recyclable and do not contain toxic chemicals such as mercury, unlike fluorescent lights.

They Are More Durable

Traditional light lights are very fragile; too much switching on and off, or any damage to the filament will cause them to stop working. LED lights do not have this problem, and will not suddenly stop working. Eventually, they will dim but still work at around 70% of their brightness, which means they are still usable at least until you get a new bulb. Another advantage that LED lights to have over old-style energy-saving lights is that they switch on instantly – no waiting around for the bulb to warm up!

There are More Options

Selecting LED lights over traditional options can set the atmosphere of your office with the impressive amount of options available.

By looking into design options like those available at CDM2 Lightworks, you can set a tone of professionalism with smart solutions that show off the architecture of your building.

From strip lights to spotlights, you can create a focused environment with your placement and even get creative with your installation to create an engaging space to work in while still saving on electricity costs. There are more options than you think!

For every type of business, there is a suitable LED light fixture. From LED panels to LED tubes. If you have doubts do not hesitate to ask at the experts from any-lamp.co.uk.

Start saving cost in your energy bill, switching to LED lights will also cost you less to run and maintain, are better for the environment, and last longer. What more reason do you need to switch?

Tools For Vets: 5 Software Tools For Veterinarian Office Operations

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Software Tools for Office Operations|Tools For Vets: 5 Software Tools For Veterinarian Office OperationsAre you looking for software tools for your veterinarian office? You might find this read useful. A veterinarian’s work nature typically becomes a hectic small business with few employees and many critical business processes. That is why modern technology has developed helpful software tools that are particularly created for a veterinarian’s use.

Software features like Electronic Medical Records tool, Data & Memory Backup Tool, Inventory Management Tool, or Email Marketing Tool are some of the essential software tools that make a veterinarian office’s processes quicker, reliable, and convenient. To learn more about them, listed below are five software program tools useful for your veterinarian office.

Email Marketing Tool

One of the most crucial software tools is an Email Marketing Tool. Trusted software like Weave, have a very reliable email marketing tool. You can access a demo of the app here at https://www.getweave.com/veterinary/. These apps help you market your veterinarian clinic to increase your local area presence, raise your brand awareness, and ultimately produce more satisfied and raving clients.

Typically, veterinarian offices are small businesses that only thrive by attracting more clients. Without customers, they will not survive. Thus, an email marketing tool is one significant element that helps solve this problem by promoting their veterinary business to different types of clients, namely, cold clients, warm clients, or hot clients.

Utilizing an email marketing tool also helps veterinarian clinics on the financial side, for it cuts costs on marketing efforts versus typical or traditional ways of marketing. This will allow you to allocate your veterinarian office’s funds to other essential aspects of your business.

Also, regulating the usage of an email marketing software tool helps you to increase your brand awareness. This is crucial because there will always be lots of existing competition, not to mention upcoming contenders in your area.

In the long-term, by consistently increasing your brand awareness, people will automatically identify you as a trusted and prominent veterinary business, and sooner or later ultimately attract customers with less marketing efforts.

Electronic Medical Records or EMR Tool

In a veterinarian clinic business, medical records are important files that they must keep. Thus, using a software tool like an electronic medical records tool will help veterinarians smoothen out their documentation and filing processes versus the traditional “paper” way of keeping records.

EMRs have several advantages for a veterinarian office for it automates a lot of tasks. EMRs provide accurate details about their patients. Their information is located quickly with just a few clicks. This helps a veterinarian business’s processes to be faster and smoother.

EMRs also provide updated data of patients and even their medical history. This allows veterinarians to track if their pet patient’s health status is progressing or getting worse.

Patient Reminder Tool

Another vital software tool that a veterinarian office must-have is software with a patient reminder tool. In a veterinarians’ work, reminders are very significant because a pet patient’s health progress, especially those pets with critical conditions, must be treated timely to improve their health effectively and progressively.

Another advantage of a patient reminder tool is that it decreases the waiting time of clients. For instance, there are times that pet patients are a little bit handful and uncontrollable, taking you over 15 mins to handle and thus consuming much of your extra time than the duration you had planned. As an effect, the waiting time of clients becomes extended.

By utilizing a patient reminder tool, you can prompt your scheduled clients for the day ahead of time for any unwanted delays or unexpectedly quick check-ups. You can readjust their schedules. Doing so will decrease their waiting time by going to the veterinarian office exactly or close to their time of appointment.

Data & Memory Backup Tool

One of the most vital software tools that a veterinarian office must have is to acquire a software program with a data backup tool. In doing so, veterinarians can access particular files quickly in a matter of seconds because of the backup memory tool in the system.

This tool is also convenient in the prevention of data loss in times of power failure. On some occasions, computers are prone to damages and data loss, which is sometimes out of control.

An example is power outages due to a storm or viruses that can delete data, including important ones. Thankfully because of data & memory backup tools, veterinarian offices can retrieve important files and data in disadvantageous times like this.

An Inventory Management Tool

Most businesses, like veterinary clinics, often need to manage inventories. That is why veterinarians need to utilize an inventory management tool to automate and improve operations, lessen inaccuracies, reduce costs, and increase profits.

For example, you can accurately analyze which products are selling faster, selling gradually, and have little to no sales at all. Because of this, you can identify what to improve in your products. Could it be about the brand and pricing? Or could it be about the quality of the product which makes little to no sales at all?

Takeaway

Every software tool above will help enhance the quality and efficiency of a veterinarian office’s operations. With the right amount of studying and planning on which tools are of great use versus which tools are unnecessary for your veterinarian office, you can create a system that works best for you, particularly on the operations side.

The Best Business Solutions for Small Companies

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Business Solutions|The Best Business Solutions for Small CompaniesWhen operating a small business, there are a lot of different things that owners need to consider and manage to ensure that it runs smoothly. In fact, there are so many different facets of leading a small business that it can become overwhelming and frankly quite difficult without the proper tools in place.

The best way businesses can deal with these challenges is to equip themselves with the right solutions and software, which can aid in streamlining the business’ processes and can make performing certain tasks a breeze. Here’s a look at the best solutions and software that most small businesses should consider in order to give their operations a boost.

Trello

Trello is a brilliant and easy-to-use management software that can be used to manage not only personal but also team projects. It’s a visually focused software, which helps in its usability and it organizes things such as schedules and tasks effectively, so that an entire team is on the same page.

The main gist of how this software works is that a team can create a ‘board’ for each task or project that needs to be completed and then stick to that ‘board’ little cards, which detail the individual tasks that each member needs to do to contribute to that task. It’s super simple but it’s that simplicity that makes it really useful and easy to keep a business more organized.

TurboRes

For small businesses that require staff to travel to different locations to attend meetings or hold events, managing the business travel can be a tricky and time-consuming endeavor. Things such as booking transport, accommodation as well as expenses like food can be a hassle, not to mention that a lot of money can be lost through these expenses.

Getting TurboRes Business Travel Solutions is a great way to improve how your business handles travel, as the service will help you better manage your accommodation and also help you keep costs down when sending staff away. It’s really important to manage your travel effectively as a business, as not doing so can be a huge strain on a business’ resources, so that’s why getting a solution like TurboRes is a great idea.

Canva

Canva is a cloud-based graphics design suite that can allow users to create stunning visuals, whether that be images for social media, brochures, and flyers or whatever else you may need good graphics for.

Canva is a great tool for digital marketers as it’s super easy to use and allows creators to build stunning visuals really quickly and doesn’t require the steep learning curve that’s associated with Photoshop. What’s even better about Canva is that there is a robust version of it that is entirely free to use, meaning that businesses can save a lot of money using this service to enhance their digital and print visuals. It has a variety of different styles, illustrations, fonts, and more, meaning that you can create a unique and interesting piece of artwork that will differ from your competitors’ collaterals, making Canva a great business solution.