It’s that time of year again, where we desperately hope for a sunny summer here in the UK before giving up halfway through August and booking a last-minute trip to sunnier climates. But for business owners, packing up and leaving the country can fill you with a sense of anxiety. What will happen whilst you’re […]
The power of blogging should not be underestimated; what started as a form of online diary-keeping for the first generation of web users is now a staple for almost every company website.
Most business owners keep blogs as a way of regularly communicating with their customers, informing them of events, products and the like. Blogs can help you to forge stronger ties with your clients, build strong brand identity and, ultimately, bring in more custom.
However, a blog which is not regularly updated can be likened to the latest series of The Only Way Is Essex – wasteful, unnecessary, with nobody looking at it. Blogging regularly is by no means easy, it requires regular maintenance, care and an almost constant stream of interesting, readable content. Many business owners struggle with original writing and their blogs often fall by the wayside, another dead link in the Internet’s graveyard.
If you struggle to maintain a good blog, why not hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to do some of the work for you? Most VA’s have a good deal of office experience and can be hired for as many or few hours as your business dictates.
If you are interested in writing articles but are lacking facts and subject content, your VA could research and compile the necessary information for you. Alternatively, if you have all the facts but lack a writer’s voice you could hire a VA with writing experience to create blog posts. Even if you are a competent and creative writer, sometimes it helps to have a fresh voice. You could split content creation with one or more VA’s and receive a regular stream of articles from various different perspectives.
A well maintained blog is a successful blog; regular posts are necessary to hold the attention of your clients. Your VA can schedule your posts weeks in advance so that even if you might forget to update, posts will still be sent out. Essentially, your VA could create a month’s worth of blog content in one day, saving you time and money. VA’s can be hired for a minimum of an hour’s work so you could purchase a month’s worth of blog organisation for an affordable price.
Additionally, your VA can function as your PR manager – they can respond to any comments or queries left on the site and ensure that every visitor receives a prompt and professional response. This will give your readers more confidence in the company and will ensure that any potential business is dealt with promptly.
To truly understand and utilise the power of your blog, there are a number of software programmes which can be of great help. However, when it comes to the more technological aspects of blog management many business owners would prefer to bury their head in the sand. If words such as ‘analytics’ and ‘optimisation’ have you running scared, find yourself a VA who is well-versed in these areas and leave it to them. Using a Search Engine Optimisation tool (such as this one provided by WordPress https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/) your VA can analyse what content is being read and what is being ignored. By using these analytics, you can create blogs which will gain more traction. Additionally, many VA’s can help you improve your search result ranking through the use of SEO, pushing your page to the top of the list based on your business’ keywords and phrases.
These are just a number of ways in which VA’s can work with you to manage and improve your blog, so if you’d like to know more, we’d be happy to help. Just drop us an e-mail or call us to discuss how to make the most of your site.
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In a society increasingly reliant on technology, more and more businesses are using some form of automation to alleviate their workload. Put simply, automation is the use of software to perform often complex tasks quickly and efficiently. Although business automation may seem daunting to the technologically challenged, there are many simple processes anyone could implement which could save you time and money. These tools are often inexpensive, easy to use and can sometimes function as an extra member of staff – without the salary!
Instead of spending the rest of the article detailing complex and often expensive types of business automation, I am going to give you some simple and straightforward examples which can be used by anyone, regardless of business type or budget.
E-mail Automation
One of the most common automation processes is the use of automatic e-mail. Are you out of the office for the day or unable to access your inbox? No problem! Simply set up an automatic reply the day before and contacts will receive an instant response to their message. Additionally, you can arrange automatic ‘thank you’ e-mails to customers who have made a purchase, payment reminders to others and set up a regular newsletter in advance. So, you could even plan an entire year’s worth of newsletter communication in one day!
Telephone Automation
One of the simplest forms of automation is the use of a telephone answering machine, ensuring you don’t miss any messages when out of the office or even if you’re busy on another call. Did you know you can also implement a ticket system, transcribing any answerphone messages into text documents which are instantly sent to your e-mail or mobile phone? You need never worry about missing an important call, and thus potential business, again; with automated systems such as this, you can make a promise to contact someone within 10 minutes of them leaving a message.
Social Media Automation
According to a recent survey, only 42% of small businesses are currently using social media, compared to a whopping 81% of larger companies. More small businesses should be taking advantage of the extra publicity and potential trade which comes with social media promotion. With the use of automation, this is becoming increasingly easier to do. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow for ‘scheduled posting’; messages and posts which can be planned up to a year in advance. You could spend less than a day organising an entire year’s worth of social media communication, almost certainly enhancing your brand’s identity. Not only does this process save time, it also ensures that you are regularly communicating with customers on weekends, evenings and other non-working hours. Additionally, it reduces the risk of human error. If you forget to regularly update your social media, automated services will take care of it for you, so can you really afford to miss out on this form of brand, product or service promotion?
Alternatively, if you do feel too overwhelmed with managing your own social media then you can always outsource it to someone who enjoys social media and the opportunity of engagement with existing clients or new prospects. For more information about our social media packages and offering see here
So as you can see these are some of the simplest forms of business automation. Of the examples above, all are entirely free, easy to implement, and guaranteed to make your working life a lot easier.
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Launching a start-up business can be an unpredictable game. Whilst of course many succeed, the sad truth is that a number of them are not so fortunate and fail. The reasons behind these failures are numerous. It can be anything from external factors such as the economy, to a drying up of the market, as well as reasons related to failures within the business itself. So let’s take a look at some of the reasons why many start-ups fail and what you can do to avoid following the same path.
Why do so many start-up businesses fail?
Whether it’s over in the beginning stages of the business or further down the line after a brief period of success, failure is quite common amongst start-ups. This is partly down to how easy it actually is to set up a business, thanks to kickstarter campaigns and other such ventures making it all the more possible for people to set up a new venture.
5 common reasons for start-up failures include:
It’s great that you are passionate about something, you want to work for yourself or you want to make some money. However, these reasons aren’t always valid or enough for setting up a new business. There will be a lot of hard work required on your part, long hours, sleepless nights and a lot of financial sacrifice. Many people just aren’t prepared for the all-consuming nature of a start-up, and this can sadly lead to its failure.
You may have never had to manage yourself before, let alone others and a budget. Without key management experience, you could drown. You may want to think about embarking on some management courses, partnering with an experienced other or waiting until you’ve developed these skills before you try to set out on your own. An incompetent leader could easily be a business’ downfall.
It is vital that you have a plan beyond the initial set up of the business, both strategic and financial. If necessary, have your plans checked over by an impartial individual who can ensure that you have covered all bases and have a viable business plan to make it through. This will also be essential for any financial aid you seek.
Location is an important consideration when setting up a business. If you’re going to be online only, then you’ll need to check out your competitors and ensure that you’re targeting the right location and target audience. Location is key if your plan is to have a physical location so it needs to be chosen carefully. There’s no point setting up an independent coffee chain on a street which already features a Starbucks, two Costa Coffees and a Café Nero! Do your research carefully and thoroughly and make sure that you establish your business where there is a real need and gap in the market for it.
In this day and age, you would be considered crazy not to have a website or some form of online presence for your business. People need to be able to find you easily and you need to be visible. If you can’t offer or promote your services online, you’re losing out on a huge chunk of the market, and could lose out to competitors who are already online.
Avoiding Failure
We’ve outlined some of the ways in which you can avoid your start up ending in failure, but there are also some other factors you should bear in mind, such as;
You can never do too much research as you need to know your market inside out. Take the time to study your potential customers, competitors, risks etc. and everything else in order to make sure you’re as prepared as possible.
Take the time to build up your company awareness and brand, whether through using PR, marketing, communication or more. Social media is a free, useful tool in which you can generate buzz about your business before it launches, so make the most of it and don’t be scared to shout about it!
Finance is extremely important for a start-up. Ensure your business plan includes realistic financials and projections. Plan your budget carefully and ensure you have all the financing you will need, covering every eventuality, including for periods where you may not be making any money. Any successes will be a bonus.
If you have strong creative ideas, but lack leadership – seek out those who do. If you need to hire individuals to assist you, whether it’s on a part-time or freelance Virtual Assistant basis, then it’s much better than figuring out everything as you go along, right?
Yes start-ups can be scary business, but also rewarding when they pay off. Plan as well as you can, and take advantage of the experiences of all who have come before you, in order to stand the best chance of succeeding. So good luck!
Picture courtesy of Louise Robinson
Every business at one time or other deals with an upset customer and the biggest challenge then lies with providing the best solution for your customer, to ensure a positive outcome and win-win situation for all. Sometimes customers even resort to switching to a competitor before you have had ample time to address or correct what went wrong. Therefore, it is imperative that each and every complaint that comes in is handled adequately & professionally so that you can evolve stronger in the market.
A satisfied customer is not always the key but a delighted customer is! If you want to maintain loyalty from your customers then addressing and resolving their complaints in a timely manner is a great opportunity to retain their trust and business. Customers that come to you with a complaint are genuinely interested in your products or services, and equally have their expectations of them. So, try the simple three step procedure shared to solve customer complaints in a more effective manner.
Acknowledge: Start by acknowledging the actual problem. To handle any complaint you first have to understand the problem. Keep your eyes and ears open and an open-mind. Don’t assume anything beforehand or relate one problem with another which appears similar as, it really depends on the customer with whom you are dealing. One solution may satisfy one client but may not, with another. So listen tentatively to the complaint, acknowledge the problem, repeat your understanding of the problem to ensure you haven’t omitted any pertinent details, and then start thinking about a solution that can help resolve the issue. Take a genuine interest and be empathetic to the customer. Take ownership and control of the situation and understand the delicacy of their concern.
Offer a solution: Customers long for quick fixes to their problems and often find it frustrating if months pass without a resolution. So, once you have acknowledged the problem think about a customer oriented solution. Ensure you have spent the right amount of time in acknowledging the problem which will put you in a good position to offer a solution that can ultimately help resolve the complaint in the right manner. Share your solution with the customer and ask if the customer is satisfied with the outcome, and if not what the next steps are to find an acceptable solution that the customer will be satisfied with.
Implement: The third and the most important step involves implementing the solution and doing adequate follow-up. Ensure the customer experience during this period is a positive one as statistics show that businesses that handle customer complaints effectively and efficiently are more likely to get repeat business from the same customers. Customers who have their complaints and issues resolved in a professional and timely manner are more likely to tell others about their positive experience in dealing with your business.
Here are some of the tips that I’ve learned in my career whilst providing services to current and potential customers:
Don’t also forget that complaints can ultimately become more expensive if they are mishandled or need to be escalated within the organisation. So the steps and tips shared within this article will hopefully help you convert your customer complaint challenges into something more positive and constructive for your business.
Photo courtesy of Forbes.com pictures
Today’s world is the world of technology that connects us faster than anything else. Some businesses who have utilised the web have reported booming sales & profits, so if you also aspire to join the ranks of web entrepreneurs who are making millions, the opportunities for online businesses are seemingly unlimited. Social networking sites have made the task simpler and easier to convert the fans, friends, followers and subscribers to dedicated customers. Social networking sites are a great way to promote your new or existing business. Creating back links to your website on your social media platforms is a useful way to gain a greater global audience and to encourage sales growth.
Being a web entrepreneur you know all the social media sites available today but the question that springs to mind is, which ones should you leverage? You may choose to use them all to promote your business but in reality if you run a small business, using all platforms is not a feasible option because it becomes difficult to invest the time needed. So, with your limited resources, which platform is best for you?
Select social media sites based on their best usability to your business:
Facebook: Facebook is a great “social utility” for your business. On Facebook, you not only connect but also expand your network, so create your business page and share your business news & updates. Strong brands get a lot of active following, so if you have a strong brand value, Facebook may be the best option. However, if you are a nascent player you’ll need to focus your efforts on to page promotion which will help you acquire new customers. The majority of new businesses use Facebook as their first social media platform, whereby maximum `likes’ are driven by pictures. Studies show that more than 90% of `likes’ are derived from photos.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a professional B2B network site that helps you connect to other professionals and promote your business amongst groups. LinkedIn aims at career opportunities and is a good place for recruiters, whilst 91% of marketers use LinkedIn. Many business contacts are made daily on LinkedIn which results in it being the leading social media platform for B2B opportunities.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a trusted information and advice source for online customers whilst also enabling businesses to increase their sales by visual displays (pins). Many users on Pinterest are there to get shopping inspiration, and it has performed exceptionally well in shaping the mind set of shoppers to make purchases. You can use Pinterest to gain more customers by creating and sharing pins of interest. When individuals find something that they like on the web, they can `pin it’ to their Pinterest Board and access it anytime. A lot of top brands use Pinterest to promote their products by way of visual demonstration.
Google+: If your customer acquisition strategy involves SEO, then Google Plus (Google+) is your stop. The more +1’s you receive on your posts; the greater your chances to improve your search rankings. High-value brands use Google Plus actively as a part of their social media campaigns. So if you are serious about your Google ranking, you cannot afford to miss Google plus among your social media platforms.
Being new to social networking sites, you may wonder if marketing via social media is just a lot of hype. Will this actually make a difference or will anyone actually read your posts? Doubt certainly creeps in, and you wonder whether your business will grow or not? But don’t despair! Try giving a digital handshake to your potential customers. It will undoubtedly take time to build your audience on your social media platforms but with some thought & lots of dedication you’ll develop a strong and dedicated following and take your business towards success. If you really don’t have the time to invest in this important aspect of your business then an easy solution would be to outsource this work to an affordable Virtual Assistant who can add value by providing remote business support without the red tape.
“Social media is important for your business, it helps you gain greater exposure.”
Stop for a minute and think about the amount of data that passes through Twitter every single hour. Then multiply that by the amount of hours in a day, a week, a month etc and try to comprehend how much social data Twitter actually possesses. To aid your thought process or maybe just blow your mind, 500 million tweets are sent via the platform every day.
So it’s safe to say that Twitter holds tonnes of data. And now, in a recent announcement made on the company’s blog, it seems that businesses may get the opportunity to mine that data going forward.
Every day, people share a piece of their lives via Twitter. Whether it’s their lunch plans, a cute picture of a pet or a special occasion, Twitter inevitably knows about it. Moreover, every single one of those tweets holds value.
But accessing Twitter data itself isn’t something revolutionary. After all listening tools have been around for a while and give businesses direct access to the metrics. However, until now there has been a challenge when it comes to actually deciphering the data and turning it into something tangible that businesses can leverage.
Twitter and IBM’s new partnership will effectively allow businesses to utilise Twitter data as part of their decision-making processes through a variety of IBM tools, solutions and services. Heard of IBM’s cognitive supercomputer Watson? Well it could potentially have access to Twitter data in the future and allow companies to answer such questions as, “What do our customers like best about our service?” or “Why are we growing so fast in Asia?”
With access to such insightful data, businesses will be able to unlock previously hidden realms and shape their customer experiences more intuitively. This will allow products and services to be targeted at specific customer needs and wants.
Tens of thousands of IBM Global Business Services consultants will be trained on how businesses can best apply Twitter data in their day-to-day operations.
This announcement is fantastic news for companies who are already using social media channels to their advantage and engaging with their customers on as many levels as possible. Just imagine the scope of engagement that will be possible in the future.
Social media marketing requires your business to listen. In fact, that’s probably the primary activity you should be doing across all your social channels. But how can you listen effectively if you’re relying on memory as much as anything else?
Utilising social data is more than just checking how many followers you’ve got. It’s about building a picture of your audience; understanding what makes them tick; and creating material that is relevant.
The collaborative force of Twitter and IBM represents a turning point in social data manipulation. One that will allow businesses to take value from every piece of micro content that’s available.
Today, we’re more connected than we’ve ever been. What with laptops, smartphones and tablets padding our bags, there’s never been a better time to be a remote worker. Add to this the profusion of tools and applications, like Dropbox, Gmail and Skype – all of which put our vital files and messages within arm’s reach wherever we are – and you can see why the lines between work and life are more blurred than ever.
As a mother, wife and professional virtual assistant, I often find myself working when I perhaps shouldn’t be. Not because I can’t manage my time – I can do that standing on my head – but instead because I’m always attentive to my clients’ needs. For example, if I get an email in the evening from one of my clients asking me for some out of hour’s assistance, I’ll more often than not oblige.
An article I recently read on the Huffington Post really got me thinking about work-life balance and was ultimately the inspiration for this post.
So how can you start achieving a better work-life balance today? Here are my top tips:
Hire a Virtual Assistant
Oh come on, don’t look so surprised – it was always going to be on this list. Not because it’s my livelihood, but rather that I genuinely believe in the real value that most Virtual Assistants afford for their clients.
Hiring a virtual assistant is something you should absolutely consider if you find yourself spending too much time on the mundane tasks and not enough time enjoying the fruits of your labour.
Virtual Assistants like myself can help people like you get back to doing what you do best – growing your business.
Scrutinize your workload
Time is our most valuable commodity and we can’t simply buy more of it. That’s why you need to ensure that you are using every minute of yours in the most productive way possible.
Scrutinize every task you carry out and decide if they all add real value. The ones that don’t should be offloaded to someone else, either internally or externally.
Learn to switch off
What I’m referring to here is your multitude of devices. The gadgets that make you constantly contactable both day and night are the things that make you super-efficient, yet inevitably destroy a small part of your balance.
Simple things like turning your smartphone off during dinner or if you’re on holiday, leaving your tablet in the hotel room and not taking it to the swimming pool. Out of sight really is out of mind, right?
Respect your self-imposed boundaries
You’ll never realise a better work-life balance if you cannot learn to respect your own boundaries. As with any change it will seem slightly alien in the beginning but you will learn to embrace going forward.
Routines are a great way to teach yourself, to adopt different ways of working. You almost want your boundaries to become habits. Unwritten rules that you don’t even need to think about because they come so naturally.
If you don’t respect your own boundaries then other people definitely won’t…
Last week, the Facebook Newsroom announced a new initiative that the social network has launched in conjunction with Box and Pinterest. WEST, as its known, stands for Women Entering and Staying in Tech and, in my mind, is a fantastic program.
When it comes to Computer Science, there has long been a gender gap in the industry, both in workforce’s across the globe and in the educational pipelines where tomorrow’s generation of Computer Scientists will emerge.
In fact, the United States Census Bureau has reported that technical roles in the country will continue to increase and are expected to reach 1.4 million by 2020. However, the number of women filling these positions has been steadily declining since the 1990s.
That’s why Facebook, Pinterest and Box have teamed up to create WEST, a one-on-one mentorship program that is designed to help more women adopt and ultimately flourish in these types of technical role.
The aim is to bring together highly experienced women from the top technology companies across the industry to help build and maintain a focussed mentorship program. It will be driven by the day-to-day work that these individuals do and geared towards the exciting technical opportunities that are becoming available.
Opening in 2015, WEST will be looking to attract female mentees in their early to middle career stages. It will feature a series of 1:1 and group interactions face-to-face, as well as online sessions over the course of a year.
Initially, the program will be open to women in the Bay Area in the U.S. but if it proves successful then we can hope to see an expansion going forward. I for one, hope that UK women will be able to take advantage of this great initiative in the future.
Mentorship is something that is very powerful and can help shape an individual’s life including their career choices, lifestyle outcomes and overall success.
Influential individuals, like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, have long voiced their opinions about the need for more women in technical roles. The Facebook COO famously said in an interview with 60 Minutes that, “A man and a man at a bar at a hotel during a work trip – that looks like mentoring. A man and a woman at a bar at a hotel on a work trip, that doesn’t look like mentoring to anyone.”
It speaks volumes that three huge companies, like Facebook, Box and Pinterest, have decided to undertake this venture. They obviously want to tackle a problem that has been developing for some time. Hopefully, their lead will make other businesses take note and perhaps even offer similar programs.
When industry giants make a decision to create a bespoke mentoring program for women from the ground up, it can only lead to more diversity in the technical industry as a whole going forward.
You can find out a little more about WEST here. There’s even an application form but unless you live in the Bay Area in the United States it’s obsolete at present.
What’s your view on WEST? Should women be given a helping hand with mentorship programs like this or will doing so ultimately put men at a disadvantage?
I’d love to hear your thoughts below…
As many of you will know, I’m currently enjoying a family holiday in Canada. And, whilst I’m trying to forget about work for the time being, I know that I still have to be available in case any of my clients need to contact me.
It’s not all bad though. By spending a few minutes each day online, I am keeping on top of anything urgent that needs addressing. However, I am fully aware that once I am back in the UK and working my regular hours again, I’m going to have a significant amount of emails to wade through.
Yes it’s all part of returning to work with a bump and an inevitable reality of taking a holiday. But that’s not the case if you work for one of the progressively forward thinking German companies such as Daimler or Volkswagen.
These two German car giants have realised something very important: take care of your employees and they will, in return, take care of you and, therefore, your business.
At Daimler, they have just implemented a new policy for when an employee goes on holiday. It’s called the Mail on Holiday initiative and basically sees any emails that are sent to an employee who is currently on holiday deleted. The sender is subsequently informed that their email has not been received and an alternative person to contact is given.
The result is that when the employee returns from their holiday they are not immediately swamped with hundreds of emails requiring their attention. But why have Daimler adopted this approach? Surely all employees understand that the email nightmare that awaits them following a holiday is just part of life.
Well, the Daimler Mail on Holiday program was introduced following a work/life balance research project that was conducted with the University of Heidelberg. It seems that while the Germans understand the importance of working hard, they also know that working smart is a must.
Daimler highlighted their thinking in a statement announcing the policy: “The aim of the project is to maintain the balance between the work and home life of Daimler employees.”
But Daimler isn’t the only German company to implement such cutting-edge initiatives. In 2011, Volkswagen made a decision to stop sending emails to their employees after the end of their shift.
Deutsche Telekom have a similar policy which sees no emails after hours and even Germany’s Labour Ministry have advised their ministers to not bother employees after hours unless it is an absolute emergency.
Work/lie initiatives such as this prove that modern businesses are waking up to the reality that the wellbeing of their employees is paramount to their overall success. Its part of a growing ‘data detox’ trend in European corporate life that is designed to reduce employee burnout.
Perhaps more British companies will adopt a similar approach in the future. After all, remaining competitive in the European marketplace is in the best interest of UK businesses.
Daimler’s Mail on Holiday policy is apparently optional. I doubt, however, that many people choose not to take advantage of it – do you?
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net