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How Agile Project Management Can Improve Your B2B Business

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StrategyDriven Project Management ArticleAgile project management can seem to be complex and daunting to undertake but it doesn’t need to be. The key principles are the same as with traditional project management; organisation and planning must be undertaken before a project begins and then the project must be continually managed throughout to ensure it is being completed in the most efficient way. The difference is that agile management is specifically targeted at adapting the project as it progresses, ensuring the end result is more successful and meets the changing demands of the business or customer. As such, agile management can be extremely beneficial for B2B businesses.

Better Results

The success of projects is dependent on various factors, some of which are beyond the control your business. However, those elements which can be controlled should be carefully managed to ensure the success of your project. Agile management will take project management one step further. By breaking each stage of the project into separate components for completion, there is more potential to make changes to the project as it progresses. This can ensure that end result of the project meets the needs of the business. It also reduces the number of failed projects or projects which exceed their deadline.

Working Faster

Agile project management is a good way to increase the pace of your work. The careful planning of each stage of a project means that employees should have a clear indication of every action and step they need to take to ensure the project is completed. Although there is room for adaptation and flexibility, the general pace of competition should be much quicker. Agile management should enjoy workers productivity levels as there is more room for their input as the project progresses, enabling them to work in a much more efficient manner.

Keeping Up With Trends

A significant benefit of agile project management is that it enables businesses to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in technology and marketing or even software updates. These areas are constantly changing and developing, so being able to implement a new idea in the middle of a project without disrupting the schedule too significantly is essential.

Feedback

Agile project management enables regular feedback to be given on each stage of a project. This feedback can come from both the project manager overseeing the completion of a project and from the stakeholders. It also offers more opportunity for collaborative feedback, which improves communication between members of the team and allows them to raise any issues before they become a significant cause for concern.

Agile project management can require a significant change within a B2B business. It can be difficult to engage employees with a new method of working. However, this is a worthwhile undertaking for many businesses and can improve the success rate of your projects and your business as a whole.

Enroll in agile courses to learn more about the techniques involved, from communication to prioritisation, and how these can benefit your business.

Only The Best Will Guarantee Revenue Growth

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

It doesn’t matter what business you are in or what the size of your business is, if you have an online presence then you have one specific goal in mind: increase your online sales. Of course, the battle lies in the execution, which isn’t as easy to do as you may have first thought, especially with the constant changes in this part of business. It can just be a lot to get your head around and keep up to date with.

That is why we have come up with a list of strategies, platforms and techniques you can start using to seriously increase your online sales performance.

The Best Strategy: Honest Sales Copy

The oldest and most obvious strategies are often the best, and that is certainly the case when it comes to writing your sales copy. Honest is always the best policy. That is why it dumbfounds us just how often companies make promises they simply can’t keep. Please, don’t do this. In today’s economy, reputation and trust are synonymous with success and that is why honesty is one of the things every entrepreneur needs to embrace. There is just too much consumer choice out there for your unsubstantiated claims to have anything but a negative impact on your revenue. So, this afternoon, we urge you to go through all your sales copy – from your email campaigns to your website content – and amend anything that isn’t absolutely true.

The Best Platform: Real-Time Bidding

This is one of those areas where the newer introductions to the market tend to always be better than the last, and that is what makes in app advertising such a must-have weapon in your money-generating arsenal. We already know that consumers prefer apps to websites, but what you may not know is that consumers are on the cusp of using apps more. It is on the rise. That is what makes sophisticated real-time bidding so important. It works by competing with your networks at the impression level in such a way that it ensures your inventory is filled by the highest-paying source, and that guarantees an improvement in your revenue.

The Best Technique: Ad Extensions

Extensions are absolute must-have for any business that is selling something online. It is simple: the bigger the ad, the more places to click and the more chance you will be clicked. The best bit, though, is that it doesn’t cost any extra while drastically improving the click-through rate your advert boasts. What’s more, all the big search engines offer this feature. The reason it works from a consumer’s perspective is that it increases the speed in which they can get to their desired product, making it the experience that much nicer. Let’s say they have searched Google for shoes, and a big advert comes up at the top of the page which says “Designer shoes – Free Shipping & Returns” and then below that has the clickable options of Men’s Shoes and Women’s Shoes, you have made their life easier.

The Best Asset: Your Customers

We’re going to keep this short: customer feedback is the most important asset you have when it comes to increasing your revenue. That is because new customers need something to trust before they commit to buying. They want to read that someone before them bought what they wanted and absolutely loved it. No matter how good your sales copy is, it will never be as powerful or effective as a satisfied customer giving you a thumbs up.

Old School Meets New School: How To Mix Marketing Methods For Success

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of CORE-Materials via Wikimedia

Businesses are constantly looking for an answer to the question: ‘Old school or new school marketing?’ The answer is simple, and it is a mixture of both. By merging the two together, you can use the pros of each to reach a wider audience and raise awareness of the brand. Simply put, there is no better way for a firm to cover all of the marketing bases. However, saying that you are going to do it and doing it are two different things. As you can imagine, implementing such a strategy isn’t straightforward or simple, especially if it will make such a big difference.

The good news is that it just got a lot easier thanks to the tips below.

Generate & Nurture

With the help of new age techniques like social media, it is simple to increase lead generation. As long as you are creative and have an eclectic base, there is a lot of scope for leads. Plus, if the social media strategy takes off, it might reach every corner of the globe. Still, generating leads is only one aspect of marketing. The other is to nurture them into something concrete. Once you have them in your pocket, this is where old school methods like meeting face to face come in handy. Speaking and using your charisma is a great way to convince clients and customers to get on board.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of Nick Youngson via The Blue Diamond Gallery (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hire A Specialist Agency

Almost every business has a marketing agency to help them get a foothold in the industry. But, most of them focus on new techniques such as SEO and Pay-Per-Click. Yes, these are two essential tools that you need to exploit, but there are lots more at your disposal. If you have an agency that uses a broad range of techniques, the odds of success are bound to be higher. Or, you can hire a firm like Ruby Digital on the one hand and link them with an offline specialist. As long as they work together, there shouldn’t be many problems, but there should be lots of rewards.

Market Based On Current Position

In the beginning, the newer methods will call out to you. For example, an email blast is a cheap and effective way to reach a broader audience. Plus, it is pretty easy to track the effectiveness of the strategy with analytic software. However, you won’t stay small and young forever. When you do start to grow and expand, the offline methods will come into their own. Think about business cards for a moment. Are they more effective when the brand name is recognizable? Of course they are which is why they work better when the business has a buzz. That doesn’t mean you should stop using SEO because that would be foolish. What it does mean is that you need to know when to bring in offline to maximize results.

And there you have it: the three main tricks of the trade. There are more, but these are the most effective. Hopefully, they will help you create a well-balanced marketing strategy.

Import/Export: Times Are Changing For Business

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The world has been going through a lot of big change, recently. As new leaders are coming into power throughout the biggest countries in the world, priorities are shifting, and the mood has changed. With the UK leaving the EU, The White House being in the hands of Donald Trump, and China struggling to maintain growth, the world seems to be in disarray. Trade is one of the first areas which will be impacted by all of this chaos. Of course, there is still a bit of time. But, very soon, world trade could be looking incredibly different. A lot of small businesses rely on importation to be able to get the goods they sell, making this a challenge for a lot of people. To help you with this, this post will be going through a guide to help you.

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

New Trade Routes And What They Mean

Currently, it looks like the UK will be excluded from the Single Market once they leave the European Union. There could be some other ways to strike an agreement which is fair to both groups. But, for now, at least, nothing solid exists. Along with this, US president Donald Trump has shown a willingness to create a new trade agreement between the UK and the US, sending goods from each country both ways. This is all while China is trying to create a modern day Silk Road, from the middle of Europe to the heart of China. A route like this could create loads of chances for people to trade. Though, it might be several years away.

The impact that these changes have will be felt most of all by the businesses in the various countries. For the UK, it could become much harder for businesses to get their hands on a wide variety of goods. Some companies, which trade throughout Europe and the UK, will have to restructure their companies to suit new laws. For the US, it could become a lot easier for businesses to move goods to the UK. And, of course, with China’s new trading routes, the world could feel a lot smaller very soon. It will be hard to say how much harder these changes could make world trade. In fact, they will probably make things easier for some people.

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

How To Import Now

If you’re already running a business, you probably understand the importation process. Most of this work is handled online, where you will browse websites like AliExpress and other wholesale retailers. Sites like this offer their goods in huge bulk, directly from the factories they were made in. For some goods, you may have to go directly to the manufacturer. And, with very unique products, you may even be paying for them to be made. Regardless, once they make it to your home country, you pay special customers fees on them. This is where the biggest impact will be felt. Being out of the Single Market doesn’t mean that the UK wouldn’t be able to trade with Europe. Instead, they would simply be subject to much greater taxation on goods. Of course, deals with other countries may be able to change this, though.

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution
Photo courtesy of Pexels

How It Could Change

In this big mix of trade, the UK stands to change the most. If deals fail and bad trade agreements are made, money may have to be found from elsewhere to make up for higher taxes and stricter exportation rules. One of the most likely scenarios that could play out is the UK becoming a tax haven. The country’s laws and rules would change to favour banking institutions over other types of business. People from around the world could store money in the UK, without having to lose it to taxes. This sort of route can be great for the government of a country, enabling them to make a lot of money from the financial sector. But, it could have a huge negative impact on the population. Jobs that don’t relate to finance would slowly disappear, leaving not much else for those who don’t want to work with money. The government would have to tighten up and become a lot stricter, to maintain control.

Of course, this sort of future is very unlikely, at the moment. Most countries still see the value in working together, at least with trade. This makes it hard for good deals to be swept under the rug, as they benefit everyone. It’s much more likely that the UK’s trade will be spread much more evenly between China, the EU, and the USA. There’s still a lot of time between now and the negotiations ending, though. So, a lot could change.

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

Securing Your Future

As a small business, the best thing you can do during times like this is secure your own future. Whatever the change might be, it’s going to happen. A lot of people will be impacted, and your business is likely to be part of it. One of the best ways to secure your business during times like these is by making the right friends. There are loads of companies out there which specialise in moving goods around the world. An option like JS Forwarding can cover a lot of different countries, including China and the US, without leaving the work for you to do. Even when it comes to importing the goods, you can have all of the work handled for you. Using another company like this will make it much easier to ensure your goods make it to you.

Along with choosing the right help, you should also consider the products you sell. If it’s likely that trade could become much more expensive than it used to be, it’s worth making sure that your products can be sourced from elsewhere. It will be very hard to reinvent your company because you can’t sell your old products anymore. So, instead, you should prepare for the worst and either stock up or find a new supplier.

Hopefully, this post will help you to understand the big changes which could be hitting the business scene over the next few years. Trade is very important to the world’s economy. Countries need to be able to trade with each other if they’re going to make enough money. So, it’s very unlikely that all chances will disappear. It might just become a little bit harder.

Why You Should Consider Switching To a Direct Debit Service

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution ArticleDirect Debit is one of the safest and most cost-effective methods of conducting a financial transaction. It is an instruction from customers to bank or building society to collect specific amounts from their accounts after giving an advance notice of date and value of the transaction.

You give the authorisation by completing a Direct Debit Mandate form that can be either in paper or in the form of an online web page. Post-authorisation, the organisation can automatically take payments from you in accordance with their scheme rules.

Direct Debit makes sure all bills are paid automatically without delays or any hassle. It saves businesses plenty of time meaning they can focus on the importance of staying concentrated on their core competencies.

Use of Direct Debit

Direct Debit is mostly used for payments along with:

  • Paying regular bills of variable amounts. You will be assured with direct debit that all your bills are paid timely every month.
  • Safest and easiest way to make recurring payments like magazine subscriptions or membership offers.
  • Companies provide Direct Debit services as an option for spreading costs or paying on an account.
  • Other than regular and recurring payments, it is also used for one-off payments.

Direct Debit Payment

It’s hard to remember when bills have to be paid, but matters can be made easier using Direct Debit that allows hassle-free payments. It is the most preferred method of payment in the UK. It is not only used for paying household bills, but also by businesses to pay their day-to-day transactions and commitments. Payments are automatically taken from your account on a regular basis.

Direct Debit Collections

Implementing efficient billing services like Direct Debit is the easiest way for an organisation to collect payments from customers and businesses, ensuring accuracy and reducing administrative overhead. It reduces the cost of collecting funds directly from a bank account.

Here are some reasons why you should consider switching to a paperless direct debit service:

1. Ease of Use

It is very easy to set up. Once your business signs up with a direct debit provider, customers can get ready for payment collections through a one-off process. Customers receive a link where they enter bank details online giving customers the authority to make payments from their bank accounts. Direct Debit services are also optimised for mobile so customers can sign up on the move, making it very simple.

There is also an option of paying variable amounts at different intervals without having to do anything more. This feature makes it perfect for paying those bills where you are charged depending on monthly usage. The company AccessPay offer a Cloud-based Direct Debit solution (which you can view here) that adds an advantage and ease that I found few other competitors do. With their service, they make collecting funds faster, simpler and more efficient for you. With the cloud-based debit solution they allow you to set up a number of Bacs direct debits, which will help to manage the entire payment process with ease.

2. Saves Precious Time

It is very challenging for some people who lead busy lives to find time to stay on top of their bills and other finances. Setting up Direct Debit can help you pay on time without having to remember the deadlines. Everything will be done efficiently and automatically. Once your payment mandate is set up, your job is done. Forget all about setting reminders for your payments because direct debit will do all that for you without you having to lift a finger.

3. No More Late Payments

If you are running a business where customers are making credit payments and you are fed up of those people who never seem to pay on time, a direct debit service can make your life a little easier. With Direct Debit, your customers will pay on time every time. The entire payment process is taken care of automatically, so your customers will not miss a payment again. You can also give better customer service this way without any disruptions or awkward chase up emails. Save yourself from embarrassment and also from the cost and effort associated with tracking your debtors.

4. Safe and Secure

Direct Debit Services are secure and protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee. It has modern encryption and secured firewalls to protect all users personal and private information. When the information is transferred from the bank, it is encrypted at the source so customers can be assured the safe security of their data. The Direct Debit Guarantee gives customers complete coverage of payments in case of unforeseen circumstances like fraud or payment errors. From all the payment methods in the UK, this is by far the safest for users. It also guarantees to give you the rights to immediate refunds for any incorrect charges that have been added to your account.

5. Cost Effective

Direct Debit Services gives you ample time, admin and cost savings. This money can then be further invested in the business or passed on to customers in the form of incentives or discounts. This will make your services/products more attractive to existing and potential customers. At the same time, it will improve your business standards giving you an edge over your competitors.

6. Attractive Packages

More attractive payment packages can be made for goods that are expensive so that customers can pay back easily through affordable instalments. This will also avoid late payments and the added bank charges for exceeding the overdraft limit in banks. You can make more flexible payment plans for a faster, more efficient payment method.

Switching to a Direct Debit Service reduces the complexity of payment handling, saving your time and giving you peace of mind. So, start improving your cash flow and handle your finances smoothly.

Photo courtesy of Grace Stroke