Build an Ethical Business: Cheating Isn’t Worth the Effort

  You work in the business world; you’ll probably have an important decision to make before you finish your first cup of coffee, but there’s one decision that should be a no-brainer: How important is it to be ethical? When you build an ethical business, you gain the respect of the public, avoid bad press, and establish goodwill with your customers. It’s beneficial for any business to treat people with respect, and isn’t that the definition of Ethics?   Earning Trust Tim Melville-Ross, President of the Institute of Business Ethics, raises an interesting point in his article about the ethical obligation of businesses. He says that “businesses can’t just say they’re ethical; they need to prove they have embedded ethical values.” He claims that if business isn’t conducted honestly, then “trust is eroded and businesses fail.” When he says that businesses fail, it’s hard to tell whether he’s saying that …

121 Small Business Tools to Help Increase Revenue

  As business owners, we are always looking for ways to save time, increase productivity, lower costs, and attract new customers. While your first instinct may be to throw money at the weak parts of your business, simply reevaluating the tools you are using may give you just the jump-start that you need.   Below is a list of 121 great business tools that you can easily start using today. Whether you’re a new small business or large corporation, there’s bound to be something here that will either help increase profits or allow you to spend your time more efficiently.   Browse by Business Tools – Click to Jump to a Category:           Communications & Chat Every business owner knows that communication is paramount to the success & growth of your organization. These business tools will help you stay connected to your customers and your team, …

When Customer Service Fails… It’s Actually Pretty Entertaining

  All of these companies paid the price for terrible customer service, but we have to thank them for the interesting and hilarious stories that resulted from their blunders. This is exactly how NOT to handle your customers, and we can all learn valuable lessons from their mistakes.   1. Verizon Customer Forced to Pay for Her Dead Father’s Phone We all know corporations can be heartless, but this story shows just how cold they can be. One woman asked Verizon to cancel her father’s account because he had just passed. Verizon continued to charge her for the account for 3 months (even after she provided a death certificate) because they said they could not cancel it without his PIN number, which of course no one knew, except for the father. (Business Insider)     2. Kevin Smith is Too Fat to Fly After he was already seated on the …

Customer Care is Essential: Here’s How to Do it Better

There are 2 basic schools of thought, when it comes to customer care: You’re either reactive—responding to customers only when there’s a problem; or, you’re proactive, in which case you provide service that exceeds customers’ expectations through a system that positively engages them. Exceptional customer care is an indispensable element of your business that you can enhance with just a little bit of effort. Put Yourself in Their Shoes What do customers want? When you’re on the flipside, as a patron, you have certain needs and expectations. What are you looking for, as a consumer? You want to be treated like a VIP, right? (Come on, admit it). Ok, maybe you’re the modest, easy-to-please type, but you can bet that most of your customers want the royal treatment. You also want to be served with speed. One of the quickest ways to lose points with your customers is to make …

Why a Business Owner Might Have to Adjust Their Salary

It seems like a no-brainer: Pay all your operating costs, and whatever’s left over is yours, right? Well, that’s true; you’ve earned it. On the other hand, you may want to set your salary a little lower than you planned if there are some elements of your business that are still lacking. Just because you’ve paid all your bills doesn’t mean that you’ve fulfilled all of your obligations to your business because the more revenue you can put back in the business will make it that much more successful and secure. What Does Your Business Need? Before you take your cut, ask yourself the following: Have you done sufficient advertising? Are you prepared, if business unexpectedly takes a temporary nosedive? Do you have an emergency fund for daily mishaps, damages, or acts of God? Does your office need any maintenance or new equipment? Of course, things like office maintenance may …

Cultivate Business Relationships to Build an Active Network

  People are Buying YOU There was a teacher who once told me, “No matter what you do, someone’s always watching.” This is something that most of us realize, and yet, we don’t actively think about it. That was a wise statement by the teacher, and what we should learn from it is that, aside from our personal life, it’s important to pay close attention to how we carry ourselves professionally, as well. It’s not like you have to be a saint or anything—the point is just to be ethical, and to manage your business relationships like you actually care.. and you should.   Professionals are People, Too Your business relationships, obviously, are not unlike the rest of your relationships, and you should approach them as such. First of all, it requires work on your part; you can’t neglect your business connections and expect them to thrive. Instead, the key …

Brand Management Explained: The Entrepreneur’s Guide

  What is Branding? The first thing to understand about this is that a brand is more than just a name with a logo. When we talk about “creating a name for yourself,” we’re talking about putting together the whole package—the tangible perception of your business, as well as the intangible—which is the result of focused, thoughtful marketing that, ideally, inspires consumers to trust your business as a reliable source for a given product or service. There are a variety of elements that contribute to the making of a good brand, including how you interface with the public, as well as generating a strategic look and feel for your logo, content, etc. What do people think when they see your business’ name? It’s worth investigating how customers perceive you to make sure you are sending the right message, and that you’re famous for the right things.   Why Brand Your …

The Market Research Process: A Fresh Perspective

Even if everyone you talk to says they love your business idea, that doesn’t mean that it’s a good one. First of all, people say a lot of things; what they say they would buy and what they will actually buy are two different things. You also can’t start a business just because you “feel like it’s going to work”. Many entrepreneurs set out on a new venture based on an instinct that their idea is foolproof. There’s no shortcut; you simply have to do your homework. What is the Market? Remember that your “market” is just people. Instead of thinking of it as a summary of figures and statistics, it’s better to think of this in terms of all the different groups of people who are your potential customers. Who are they? How much money do they make? What do they buy? Look at the details, not just broad …

How to Write a Contract that Protects Your Business

Contracts do more than keep us honest; they make it possible to preserve the rights of everyone involved. Just because 2 people in a business relationship are both honest doesn’t mean that something can’t go wrong. There are a variety of problems that may arise when every aspect of an agreement is not plainly stated. You can avoid most of these problems by describing, in careful detail, every element of your agreement. Put it in Writing No one with a legitimate business would ever make important deals without a contract, but what about smaller deals, new clients, or even individual orders? No matter how big or small the deal, where there is an exchange of money, goods, or services—there should be a written contractual document. Explanation of Goods & Services What, exactly, is to be provided by each party? Including detailed explanations of what, how much, and for how long …

Compare Bigcommerce vs. Shopify: A Quick Overview

  So, you’ve decided to set up an online store, and you’re presented with a few options for a place to build it. Among the front-runners are Bigcommerce and Shopify. Both of these ecommerce builders will give you a seamless startup experience, but of course each has its strengths and weaknesses. It depends, to some degree, on your business’ goals; however, Shopify tends to come out on top across all bases.   Superior Analytics Here is the one category where you will find that Bigcommerce shines through. You can tell that it was created with the intent of providing an expansive platform to facilitate the growth of an e-business. Shopify gives you everything you need to be up and running fast with the necessary tools to serve every customer, but Bigcommerce has better built-in analytics and SEO tools to help you see not only where you are, but where you’re …