Posts

Biggest Mistakes Businesses Make When Outsourcing

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Outsourcing Mistakes|Biggest Mistakes Businesses Make When OutsourcingOutsourcing work is one of the biggest factors that makes a business successful. There is a range of tasks that you can outsource, such as administration, accounting, IT, communication, and much more. Outsourcing has become a vital ingredient in the growth of any business because it enables your business to get things done efficiently, take advantage of expert knowledge and expand its capacity, all while cutting down on costs.

Unfortunately, outsourcing has its challenges. If outsourcing is not done correctly, then you may find yourself damaging your business growth, and spending more money.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that businesses make when outsourcing that you should avoid.

Not providing guidance

When you outsource something, while you are paying for their skills and expertise, they are not a part of your business. Many businesses will make the mistake of handing off work with no guidance and expecting a high standard of work that aligns with their business. The problem with this is that everyone works to a different standard, and has different expectations. Therefore, when you outsource work, you should always provide comprehensive instructions and guidelines about the work you want to be completed. You may even work closely with them at first, to ensure they get to know you and your business. While this may take a little investment at the beginning, it will make things much smoother moving forward.

Not doing it soon enough

It is never too early to outsource work. The earlier you outsource work, the quicker your business will grow. Unfortunately, many businesses wait until they are a bigger corporation before outsourcing work, which will take a lot longer to obtain. Many companies tailor their services to support businesses of all sizes, such as small business accounting services that take care of your finances. You do not have to wait until you are bringing in a certain amount of money. In business, you have to invest the money that you have in aspects of your business that will give you a greater return. By outsourcing work early on in your business, you give your business an advantage by accessing expert knowledge, getting things done faster, and freeing up your time to focus on the tasks that matter and will drive business growth. Running a business entails many aspects that require specialist skills, and outsourcing will minimize time, costs, risks and mistakes.

Not measuring the performance

With anything in business, you need to be monitoring your investments closely to ensure they are performing as they should be. Many businesses will outsource work, and push it to one side. However, you should put measurements in place that track the performance, standards and returns. There is an element of trust you must instill when outsourcing work, but you should always verify your investments. Make sure you give it time to work and adjust your outsourcing where needed. Work closely with the company you are outsourcing to, to meet your objectives and ensure your investment is worthwhile.

Outsourcing is one of the best and quickest ways to grow your business, as long as it is done correctly.

Easy Way to Sync Salesforce Leads to Custom Objects

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Sync Salesforce Leads|Easy Way to Sync Salesforce Leads to Custom ObjectsNowadays, it is essential to keep all business data, including contacts and leads, in one centralized place to manage it effectively. By syncing your Salesforce data with Outlook and Gmail, you can make the most of the CRM platform and save your working time so that productivity will rise. Here we will explain how to do it in a blink with smart revenue intelligence software.

Lead, Contact, Custom Object: A Bit of Theory

Though these terms sound similar, they do not mean the same. Let’s view their meanings one by one:

  1. A contact is an individual who can legally do business with you. It refers to the person who can become a paying customer in practice.
  2. A lead is a person who is still doubtful about your organization and isn’t ready to invest in your product or services. A Salesforce lead is any lead you’ve captured from your business website, an online quiz, a paid ad, a phone call, or a social media contest. Keep in mind that leads differ as some people are more inclined to buy your products, and others are not. Your sales representatives should manage to qualify who is who among them.
  3. A Salesforce standard object is integrated with every Salesforce organization. Your leads and contacts sync with prospects and are related to accounts with connected campaigns in Salesforce.
  4. By Salesforce custom objects we mean those created to store information specific to your organization or industry. These can also be objects in other Salesforce clouds. Custom objects have to be connected to a lead or a contact; otherwise, you can’t do anything with them. They let you link additional data to a contact or account record.

Why Sync This Data?

If you utilize Salesforce regularly, you might be well aware of its powerful functionality. However, to make the most of the platform capacities, you should integrate your Salesforce account with other applications you currently use. We bet the services such as Outlook or Gmail have been already implemented in your business workflow. Why not take advantage of integrating them into your Salesforce account to keep and manage all the data in a unified place?

In doing so, you can easily transfer/sync data like contacts, events, leads, and tasks between these systems. It will streamline your organization’s workflow and build a favorable experience for your clients. Any query-able object that is linked to a lead or contact in your Salesforce account can be synced with those on other platforms. This method will help you store your sales and marketing data in sync and use data from custom objects in smart campaigns and lists.

Easy Custom Object Syncing With Revenue Grid

Now that you are familiarized with the basic terminology and benefits your business can gain from data synchronization, we’d like to provide a solution that can make this process fast and straightforward. There’s no need to do everything manually since you can centralize data from your Salesforce, Outlook, and Gmail accounts into one dashboard with Revenue Grid. This powerful tool automatically updates all data about your leads and syncs your:

  • contacts
  • emails
  • tasks
  • appointments, etc.

It enables you to always keep in touch with your potential clients and make the most of any business opportunity. Also, this software helps you capture leads to Salesforce much faster.

Since Revenue Grid is a multi-functional platform, it empowers you to:

  • seamlessly sync data between Salesforce, Outlook, and Gmail, without any conflicts between separate data sources
  • automatically create new leads, accounts, and opportunities in Salesforce and integrate data there
  • safely save your past data such as emails, contacts, and calendar items
  • build rules to automatically monitor any Salesforce-related process
  • understand whether a lead can become an actionable opportunity

Opt For Smooth Data Synchronization

It is crucial for any business to optimize their working time to the fullest to boost productivity, evolve, and stay ahead of the competition. While you are searching through tons of data scattered somewhere in Salesforce, Outlook, Gmail, etc., your business opponents might reach new customers and conclude successful deals. Now that you know how to sync objects, contacts, and leads from Salesforce with custom objects in Gmail and Outlook, you can spend less time when working with emails.

Strategies To Help You Maximize Productivity In Your Business

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Development Article |Maximize Productivity|Strategies To Help You Maximize Productivity In Your BusinessAn unproductive business is far worse than not having a business at all; it may be utterly dreadful for your profits and sales; if your firm is not lucrative or profitable enough, you will most likely have to close your doors.

All of your efforts will be in vain if your firm is not productive enough to gain the advantages of your work. Because of this, making guaranteeing your organization is as productive as it possibly can is pretty vital. As long as you can manage to do so – and there are various ways to do this – your chances of establishing your company and producing a profit are greatly boosted.

Continue reading to discover some of the methods you may boost the productivity and success of your organization.

Enhance the well-being of workers

The use of systems and being organized, as well as the application of business knowledge to become better at what you do, are all critical components of enhancing productivity. But these factors account for just half of the equation.

Every other component revolves around your employees, and no matter what type of tools you have in place or what kind of training you give, it will all be for nought if you fail to address one key factor: their well-being.

A happy employee is always going to be more productive than a dissatisfied employee. Their passion for working with you will be contagious, and they will be willing to put forth effort in their job. Most importantly, they will be loyal, knowing that they will be appropriately rewarded for a job well done and that, if they have any problems, they may share them with you.

It is doubtful that an employee will be as productive if they are unsatisfied, think they are not being listened to, or believe their needs are not being handled. Employees will only execute what is needed of them and nothing more, and they will be significantly more inclined to hunt for employment elsewhere, which will be costly to you and disruptive to the firm as a whole.

In order to achieve this, you must first guarantee that your personnel are as happy and fulfilled as possible in their jobs. How you go about it will be influenced by the type of the company, your budget, and the location of everyone’s office.

Make use of organizational resources

The usage of organizing tools in your business may considerably boost your productivity and efficiency.

It is simple for duties to be neglected or forgotten when you do not have any integrational, automation or other equivalent solutions to aid you to comprehend where everyone should be and what they should all be performing right now. When this happens, productivity declines.

Not only will your workers be unclear about what they should be doing and when it should be done (which feeds into their general well-being, as stated above), but you will also be unsure of when to verify that the responsibilities have been performed, or even who to ask in some cases.

When you apply specific organizational tools, everyone may feel much more at ease in their duties since they will all grasp what they are intended to be accomplishing at any given time. They will know how to integrate with Ingenico and any other new workflow procedures you have in place. Additionally, your clients and suppliers will be satisfied as well, because no order, payment, or work will be ignored, and your reputation will flourish as a consequence.

The Staples Of a Professional Website

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Professional Website|The Staples Of a Professional WebsiteIt’s easy to get a website up and running. You can do it in about ten minutes. But building a quality website? That’ll take a bit more effort. And if you’re trying to get people to regularly come to your website, then it’s an effort that you’ll have to make. Of course, some people just set up a website for their own use, which gives a lot of freedom: you don’t need to think too hard — if you’re happy, then it’s fine. But things are different when it’s a public-facing website and greatly different if the website is for business purposes. At that point, the quality of the website can be the difference between business success or failure.

To get customers, your site will need to be professional. But thankfully, getting a professional website is not a complete mystery. It’s all about incorporating those digital representations of professionalism into your site. So how can you do this? In this blog, we’ll run through some of the staples. Take them all on board, and you’ll be on your way toward success!

Excellent Design

First impressions count for a lot in most areas of life, including with websites. So what are your visitors seeing when they land on your page? If it’s anything other than a well-designed, clean looking website, then you’ll run the risk of their first impression being slightly less than impressed. As well as the overall design, it’s important to ensure that the look of the website fits in with your company’s branding. Due to the importance of having a website that looks the part, it’s best to work with a web design agency. This will cost more than if you did it yourself, but it’ll be worth the expense.

Photos and Videos

You won’t just rely on the text of your site to wow your visitors. You’ll also need to have photos and videos. But, of course, it’s not as if just any old photos and videos will do. You’ll need to ensure that they’re high-quality. There are plenty of websites that offer license-free photographs, but if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can always turn to paid photographs. If you’re selling items online, you may also consider hiring a photographer to take photos of your products for you.

Limited Number of Pages

Many times, less is more. It’s tempting to add as many pages as possible because it helps to make your website look fuller and bigger. But it’s not the best approach. The best method is to only include content and pages that are genuinely needed. Don’t think that you need to add more pages because your website only has a few. If you’ve said everything that you need to say on those pages, then that’s fine — the added pages won’t only not add anything, they could dilute the message of the pages that you really want your visitors to see.

Easy Navigation

It’s important to think about the overall user experience when they land on your website. If your visitor is struggling to find the pages that they need, then that’s an issue. You should make sure that your visitors find it easy to move around your site.

Regular Updates

People want to know that your website is alive and kicking. It shouldn’t have the appearance of being dead! This is where regular updates can come to your rescue. By this, we don’t mean that you need to change everything all the time. It’s just about showing your visitors that the site is actively being managed. You can do this in a variety of ways. For instance, by hosting a blog, which you update regularly. You can also make small design changes in line with a seasonal event (for example, a Christmas design).

High Security

There’s no way to build a successful online venture without taking privacy seriously. Without it, you’ll find it difficult to gain the trust of your visitors. They need to know that they’re safe when they visit your website. You can do this by working with an IT company to ensure that your security measures are robust and up to date. But you should also go further. If you have a blog, be sure to block spam comments by using a service like Defendium. If you don’t, then you’ll run the risk of your visitors falling victim to a phishing scam — and that’s something that won’t reflect well on your business!

About Us Page

You can go a long way towards gaining your customer’s trust by writing an informative ‘About Us’ page. In this day and age, there’s a greater emphasis on digital trust than ever before. People want to know who they’re buying from, and your informative ‘about us’ page is the best way to convey that information. This doesn’t just give you a chance to show your professionalism. You’ll also be able to share your story, which is one of the best marketing tools you’ll have at your disposal (providing, of course, that you have a good story to share!).

Well-Written Content

Your website could look the part, but the details of the site are pretty key. There are plenty of sites that look the part, but then, when you get into the details, you can see that there’s very little there. For example, the website copy. The writing should be clear and sensical. Without it, your visitors will be more likely to have a negative view of your website and, by extension, your company. If you don’t know how to write persuasive copy, look at outsourcing the job to a professional copywriter. They’ll make sure that your website’s writing sings.

Conclusion

The tips we’ve outlined above won’t ensure that your business is successful. But if you’re running an online business, then you’ll find that it’s impossible to find success without those things. As we’ve seen, none of them are difficult to incorporate into your site. They just require a little bit of time, effort, and thought — easy!

How to execute an office relocation project?

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | How to execute an office relocation project? | EntrepreneurshipThe office relocation project is one of the major projects undertaken. The process includes a lot of complicated things to complete from moving big bulky furniture items to fragile electronic items and much more. Usually, the job requires a lot of time. If you don’t have any prior experience in moving then hiring the cheap moving companies is the only solution else you will end up either getting an injury or damaging your office belongings. But still, there are a lot of things that you have to do by yourself. If you are confused about completing this relocation then check out these tips to solve your confusion:

Start planning as soon as possible

Winging is not the term when you have decided to relocate your business therefore start the planning right now. You can’t control such a huge project if you don’t plan well ahead of time. Know everything like who will complete the certain tasks, make a to-do list and assign jobs. You should also decide on the flooring layout of your new office so you can get to know what you are taking along with you and what you need to buy from the market. Also, don’t forget to prepare your moving budget.

Keep your employees updated

A business move is not just all about you. It involves your employees too therefore it is important to keep them informed and updated about everything. You should also assign them tasks and should involve them in the relocation process. This will encourage the employees and they will find themselves worthy.

Search for the right moving company

Luckily there are a lot of legitimate moving organizations present out there to help you during the entire relocation process. Of course, in this project, you can’t keep your office shut for a long time as it will affect your business productivity which can lead to a big loss. Only a moving organization help you to focus on your real business and they will take off the entire burden of the process from your shoulders. You just have to ensure that you are dealing with the right organization with which you can get a great moving experience.

Categorize things to speed up the process

If you properly categorize things then this will make the process more efficient. Ask your employees to help you out and assign responsibilities to them according to their departments. This will make things more organized, systematic, and efficient and also you don’t need to supervise the entire process by yourself.

Transfer services

When you leave the job of moving and packing into the hands of your employees and moving professionals, now is time to focus on other important relocation tasks such as transferring the services such as internet service including utilities to your new office and also updating the address in all your documents. You should also inform all the important places about your new address. Update address to everywhere such as visiting cards, websites, email footer, at google My Business page, and in all the directories and where you find this is important to do according to your business type.

Moving IT department

Regardless of the fact whether your office has a small IT department or a large one, moving the department is one of the toughest jobs to do therefore hiring IT professionals to complete the job is great. Ask your moving organization ahead of time whether they complete this challenging and risky part.

Important tip: Do relocation during a down period

Not all the time is the same for all businesses, yes there is a peak time for every company and embarking on the relocation process at such times is a foolish decision you can ever make. Though there is no right or wrong time to do it but considering the business off, consider undertaking the process during the down period of your specific business type.

Wrapping it all up!!!

It has been said that moving house is one of the most stressful jobs to do but moving offices is more complex and stressful than this. Business owners find themselves scrambling, confused, and stressed during such times. Only the organization and the right planning can save you. Take every step carefully and make the relocation decision only when it is really required.