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Maximizing Your Business’ Profits in 2023

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Maximizing Profits|Maximizing Your Business' Profits in 2023We’re rounding up a difficult year for many businesses. Those of us that made it through the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic have faced further hard times in the form of a cost of living crisis. As the costs of essentials go up – including housing, food, fuel and energy – people are having to tighten their belts and many are spending much less on non-essential goods. This means that many businesses are having to fight harder than ever to keep themselves afloat. The good news is that we’re about the step into a new year that can serve as a blank canvas for your company. Here are some top tips that can help to maximise your business’ profits over the coming twelve months.

Use Consultants

When you run a business, you tend to take time to learn a lot about the field you’re operating in. It’s absolutely essential that you take steps to understand the basics of your trade, ranging from rules and regulations in your industry, your target demographic, competitor brands, marketing tactics and more. But at the end of the day, one person can only take on so much information and specialise in so many areas. You’ll find that you do need to reach out to others who dedicate their entire careers to specific areas of interest for ongoing advice and guidance. This is where specialist consultants can come into play. There are consultants in pretty much every field out there, each able to give you advice that can guide your business towards success. From Healthcare Consultanting


Come Up With a Budget

You also need to make sure that your business is operating to a budget that accounts for costs and allows room for growth. Failing to have a well thought out, reliable budget can see your business eat away at its own profits, potentially even coming out at a loss. If you’re unsure where to start with this, an accountant or financial advisor will be able to help you along the way. They’ll be able to look at your business’ books and determine where you’re spending too much, where costs can be cut, where you’re missing opportunity for further profit and more. They will be able to create a budget and explain the ins and outs of why the budget will work for your business in particular. Then, it’s your responsibility to stick to it, or to request a review if costs and outgoings change, or if you find you are making a lot more than you anticipated in sales forecasts.

Invest in Marketing

Marketing is going to be your best friend during these difficult times. It’s all good and well having great goods at an affordable price, but if people don’t know they exist, you’re not going to convert many sales. Marketing can ensure that people know your products are out there and can let them know why they’re worth buying. Different approaches work for different brands. You need to consider your target demographic’s wants and needs to make the right marketing decisions.

The simple steps outlined above should help to guide you in the right direction towards maximising your business’ profits!

Tips on Investing as a Business Owner

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Finances Article |Investing as a Business Owner|Tips on Investing as a Business OwnerA wise business owner will always look for great ways to invest their surplus revenue. Investing allows you to make the money you have increase in value and give you more options in the future. Investing may be a bit of a risk, but in some ways, it acts as a protective thing too. That is because you are not putting all eggs in one basket. Diversifying your investments can mean that you have capital when things go bad in one area. When it comes to investing, the one thing that you really need to do is ensure that you read the small print. Do not ever get into an investment you don’t understand, either. This can affect your finances as well as your reputation if the company you invest in turns out to be bad. Here are a few things to think about as a business investor:

An Investment Plan

It makes sense for a business owner to create an investment plan. This helps you develop a better understanding of your finances and the risk associated with the investments you want to make and create a portfolio that enhances your reputation, among other things. You should never go full steam ahead into any financial decision. When you are considering investing in a certain company, you should read about them. Are the any conflicts of interest? Does their brand vision align with your own? You need to work out what your red lines are and do not cross them, no matter how lucrative a certain dal may appear. You need to do a forensic examination of your business finances too. Is this really the best time to invest? What debt do you have? What new assets should you be buying? You will need to work out your financial goals and your long-term plan, and how long you plan on investing in certain areas. There are three main criteria you need to examine before you invest: what is the safety of the investment, your growth, and your income? You will also need to work out of you can lock money into a long-term deal. Bonds, for instance, may be locked away for 30 years or more. Do not lock anything away that you may need next year. Property is another investment that may be difficult to liquidate quickly without losing a lot of money. All these considerations need to go into your investment plan.


The Stock Market

This is what most people consider when they think of Investing. All the brokers on Wall Street are making millions with the clicking of their fingers. Companies that float on the stock exchange divide their business into shares they sell for a profit. You are essentially buying a part of that company when you buy a share. That is why you need to be very careful about how you invest here. It is very easy to invest in something that does not align with your views. So there is a reputational dimension you need to consider. The stock market is fickle, too, things go up and down, and you need to be wary. Think is always about dividends. Dividends are payments you receive for owning part of the company, and these can be very lucrative if you have enough shares.

Property

You can invest in property as a business. You can even buy your own home through your business, which is a great avenue to go down. Property can be a very lucrative investment, and you can buy to let or buy to sell on. People all need somewhere to live, and the cost of houses has been increasing drastically over the past few decades. When it comes to homes, you can renovate and change the interior. You can expand the homes by adding an extension; you can even build new bespoke homes. If this is something that interests you, and your business is not a building company, then you need help. A site such as ArchiPro can make it easy to find the builders you need to create great homes.

Bonds

Bonds are another great form of investment. There are Government and Corporate bonds, and like the stock market, if you are going to buy corporate bonds, you need to check that there are no reputational issues or conflicts of interest. Corporate bonds are far more lucrative than Government bonds but are the riskier of the two options. You can choose a set amount of time that the organization holds the bond, and during the time the organization holds the bonds, you receive payouts knowns as coupons.

Five Ways A Business Can Benefit From Marketing

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Business Marketing|Five Ways A Business Can Benefit From MarketingAs a business, marketing can be a highly effective tool and can have many uses. For businesses nowadays, having a marketing strategy, budget, and team to execute it successfully is key.

There are many ways that a business can benefit from marketing. Here are some of those benefits worth considering.

Engages with a variety of consumers

Marketing does more than just appeal to your targeted audience. Chances are, it’s going to be seen by a lot of the general public and who knows, maybe they’ll become a target consumer for your business?

With the right type of marketing in place, it can help greatly when it comes to enticing the right people to the company’s doorstep. Not only that but it might provide the business with a few surprising conversions that weren’t typically part of the buyer persona for the business in question.

Helps to grow sales

With any type of marketing, it can prove worthwhile to help grow sales. For example, the use of direct mail marketing can be highly efficient due to its personability. Receiving post in the mail can often be a more personal way to receive marketing and advertising materials, especially when first names are used.

That’s why it’s good to utilize marketing like this to help encourage consumers to convert and purchase, or make another purchase as an already existing customer.


Provides great customer services

Customer services are something that matter to many of those who spend money on a brand. As we seem to be heading towards a more customer-centric experience in business, it’s important that the quality of marketing is apparent.

There’s nothing better than improving a company’s customer services, especially as it helps the business to garner further success. In fact, 90% of Americans will use customer service as an indicator of whether or they should do business with the company.

That’s a considerable amount of people that judge customer service as one of the most important factors of a company’s success to achieve custom.

Improves company reputation

A company reputation is hard to make better once it’s tarnished. However, there are plenty of easy methods in helping improve the company’s reputation, especially if it’s yet to achieve one.

With marketing, many businesses have managed to rocket their reputation through the use of viral marketing techniques and trends. It’s something that can definitely be helpful to do in order to give the business that boosts of good rep.

Strengthens company brand

Businesses can benefit greatly from marketing as it’s a good part of building a company brand. Building a brand image is necessary to help stick in the minds of the customers and with customers not recognizing a brand instantly, marketing can helpful.

Remember to incorporate brand imagery and content into the marketing itself so that it starts to become more familiar to those coming across it.

With a new year just around the corner, it’s a good time to review the company’s marketing efforts and utilize a marketing strategy in 2023.

5 Tips to Improve Sales Team Performance

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Sales Team Performance | 5 Tips to Improve Sales Team PerformanceDo you want to generate more sales? It’s a silly question to ask, admittedly – every business wants to send out more orders to customers. Yet actually making it a reality is a whole different story. If it were easy, you wouldn’t see so many companies fall by the wayside each year.

The good news is there are numerous ways in which you can boost the chances of selling more to consumers. This is particularly the case if your business operates with a sales team. Whether they are out in the field, within your office, or working from home remotely, there are ways to optimize their performance.

How? That’s where this guide will help. Below are five tips to improve how your sales team operates.

1. Accurate sales forecasting

Did you know that most organizations don’t feature a scalable, repeatable method for forecasting sales? If your business falls into the same situation, it’s time to change this process. The reason for this is simple: a lot of critical decisions – from investments to hiring employees – are down to sales forecasts.

As a result, sales forecasting accuracy – where you measure how close you come to hitting your forecast – is necessary. Generally, an accurate sales forecast can be essential in improving your sales team performance. For instance, it allows your business to spend adequate resources more effectively to facilitate a successful sales strategy. It also helps your sales department to attain specific business goals by determining issues with their sales and looking for ways to correct them. Lastly, having an accurate sales forecast can help you make sound business decisions in terms of budgeting, risk management, and planning.

With all these things being said, sales forecasting indeed plays an integral role in the success of your marketing and sales efforts. But if you’re a beginner, how can you create an accurate sales forecast? Well, one way of doing this is by working out the percent difference, also known as the percentage error. Simply put, this is the difference between forecast volume and the actual volume expressed in percentage form. You can learn more online about how to calculate forecast accuracy.

If you’re not good with math and the last thing you want to deal with is a percentage calculation, there is a quick solution available. GIGA Calculator offers a simple yet effective percent error solution for this issue.

2. Implement sales tools

In the sales world, there are plenty of repetitive, unproductive tasks that each employee has to handle. This is why it is recommended to automate as many of these tasks as possible with the implementation of sales tools. When tools like these are used, it helps to save a significant amount of time on redundant assignments like data entry. This means your sales team can then dedicate more time towards tasks that matter most.

To get an idea of what is available for automation, Intercom has put together a list of 45 sales tools worth your time.

Aside from innovative sales tools, there are also other things that can help make the sales team’s work much easier and faster. One of them is the so-called sales playbook. It refers to a document containing your business’s best sales tactics, strategies, and even templates which are based on your sales successes and failures. In other words, it’s a cohesive manual that can guide your company in obtaining an increase in sales over a certain period of time.

Like the other sales tools, a sales playbook can serve as an effective tool to ensure your sales team utilize the best sales strategies. It also helps get your team on the same page in terms of your marketing and sales efforts, thereby making them much easier and more efficient. With a sales playbook, you can ensure that the sales department will properly implement your proven sales tactics. So, if you want to include a sales playbook in your list of sales tools, then you should start creating one as early as now.


3. Establish a schedule

Yes, sales reps are not known for sticking to the most stringent schedules – particularly if they’re working in the field where travel also has to be factored into the equation. However, putting together some form of schedule for your sales team is highly recommended.

When you have structure, where sales reps also know how long each client session should last, it’s easier for them to organize their daily schedule. They will know how much time needs to be dedicated for each meeting, along with other points that may apply, such as travel and preparation.

4. Decide on daily goals

Accountability leads to results. It is a driving force that gives your sales team that extra push to, well, sell your products. To add accountability, one of the easiest methods is to set goals that serve as a form of motivation. They supply salespeople with a plan of action, a sense of direction so they can hit their set targets.

For instance, say an employee is set with the target of reaching $500 in sales for the day. To do this, they need to make five sales. On average, it takes 20 attempts for them to land a single sale. As a result, it is known they need to make approximately 100 attempts to reach their goal of $500.

With this type of information and motivation, they can plan out how to make their goals a reality.

5. Communication is key

Being in constant communication with your sales team is imperative. This point shouldn’t be overlooked. The more you stay in touch with your employees, the more you’ll be aware of their performance and any feedback they might have.

When communicating with your employees, you can start with a quick meeting each morning. Yet, it is also wise to schedule a daily one-on-one check-in with each salesperson. This doesn’t necessarily have to happen each day, of course, but it is a great way to gain insight from employees.

By going with an in-depth interaction like this, it is perfect for getting valuable feedback. You can learn about not just ways to improve your business, but also the morale of your employees and if any steps need to be taken to improve their mood.

Improving Health and Safety Within Your Business Environment

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Health and safety|Improving Health and Safety Within Your Business EnvironmentWhen running a business, it is crucial to ensure everything and everyone is as safe as possible. If health and safety within your business are not a high priority, then it is time to change this. When you actively improve and maintain health and safety within your business environment, you create a much nicer place to work for all employees. You create a warm and welcoming environment that helps contribute to the productivity of your employees.

Being Proactive about Safety and Health

You can always make improvements to the health and safety protocols applied within your business. Seeing where you can make improvements and taking a fresh look at your business regularly will help ensure you are as proactive as possible. Keeping up to date with your industry’s health and safety guidelines and guidance is also a proactive move you should make. When you are proactive, you maintain a focused approach and ensure standards never slip. If standards get the opportunity to drop, you will start to encounter bigger issues and costly problems.

Talking to Employees – Finding Out Their Concerns

As well as being proactive, you also need to prioritize talking to (and communicating with) your employees. Those who work every day within the business environment will know where health and safety dangers exist. This may be in an area you had not considered before, or their knowledge may help you make improvements you wouldn’t have entertained before. Valuing your employees, taking time to listen to them, and then acting on their feedback will help you maintain a healthier and safer working environment for all.


Providing the Right Clothing and Equipment

When talking to employees, you may well have found out that not enough safety equipment is being provided. From wide fitting safety trainers to safety goggles and hi-vis jackets, it is your responsibility to provide the right equipment for staff and employees. When all staff and employees wear the correct clothing and equipment, their exposure to risk is instantly limited and halted.

Monitoring Business Operations and Premises

To make improvements, you will need to understand where you are going wrong in the first place. For this to happen, you must regularly monitor your business operations and processes. Through monitoring, you will find out where improvements are needed and why. Taking a bird’s eye view will allow you to get a good idea of what is working well and what needs improvement. Through monitoring, you may find that employees are not wearing safety equipment when they should be. Or, they may not be following the safety protocols you have put into place.

Focus on Training and Preparation

You will find that one of the best improvements you can make is to start investing in your staff or employees. Providing regular training and preparation for everyday protocols, as well as emergency situations is going to help you guarantee that health and safety risks are kept to the bare minimum.

By being proactive about health and safety measures in your business, you are carrying out your duty as an employer.