Business – Page 51 – The Big Words Blog Site

What Should Your Business Do With All That Data?

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Most businesses today generate significant amounts of data. Data generation creates the need for data storage. The following contributed post is entitled, What Should Your Business Do With All That Data?

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Big data, no doubt you’ve heard of it. What is it? It’s everything, basically. Details of your customers, clients, employees and the inner workings of your business and more. Big data is the norm now and every business no matter how big or small has to get used to storing and handling large amounts of data. But depending on the type of business you run, you’ll need to use it in different ways. Here are the more common and scalable things you can do with big data.

Effective yo-yo pricing

It’s well documented that the best benefit big data brings is the ability to price effectively. According to your consumer profiles and the data they provide, you can increase or decrease your price within the range of the majority of your customers more effectively. This means that as your business grows and you add more products to your line, you will be able to net the largest number of customers at all times. Taking into account a consumer’s age, cookies (past searches and buying habits), their location, past visits, devices and seasonal buying patterns, you can build up a customer profile very accurately. However, you will need to continually track all of this so you can change your outlook and pricing in accordance. This affords you the ability of effective yo-yo pricing.

Studying consumer profiles

Marketing and sales professionals have always been tasked with learning more about the company’s customer base. With the aid of big data, consumer profiles can be made and studied. However, for this to occur you need scalable Cloud Solutions by Online Computers. This type of service offers you a cloud capacity you can increase or decrease on an as-needed basis. It’s inherently flexible, as you can access data and files on any device hooked to the internet. Cloud systems don’t require any overheads either, so you save money automatically. The service is also tailored to your business requirements so if you require upgrades and migrations, you need not worry about not having the capacity, safe passage or hardware to increase the speed of data flow.

Internal improvements

Big data isn’t just about customers, it’s also a great help to your business internally. Employees should be able to have their work styles logged by productivity software. This will show the number of clicks they make, for how long they stay on one task, where their cursor hovers the most frequently as well as how long it takes to respond to messages, etc. The data you collect will give you an incredibly powerful insight into how your employees work and where mistakes are being made.

Needle in a haystack

If you have a gremlin in your supply chain, you will find it much easier with the collection of big data. It will allow you to pinpoint where time is lost, where most errors keep being made and who could be responsible for them.

Big data is an incredibly complex yet useful concept. It doesn’t require large scale hardware as you can utilize a cloud system. It must become a part of your company culture if you are to remain competitive.

Ways You Can Keep Your Business Running Smoothly

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. If you’re running a business, you’ll want your operations to running seamlessly and efficiently. Some things will vary by the type of business, but some aspects are universal. The following contributed post is entitled, Ways You Can Keep Your Business Running Smoothly.

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Running a business can sometimes be hard work, a lot of time has to go into it and it can be easy to fall behind and soon have your business run less efficiently than it should be. It’s essential if you own a business to make sure it is running smoothly and correctly and to do this there are some simple steps you can take.

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Let’s have a look at some of the things you should be keeping on top of when running your business:

Your Finances

It’s important for any business to keep on top of their finances. It’s one of the most important areas to focus on. You need to know and track what’s coming in and what’s going out, and not just focus on profits. Your profits aren’t a true representation of how your business is doing, you also need to look at your running costs to get the ‘real’ figure. Using tools like QuickBooks Online Accounting Software can help you to keep everything in line and order.

Your Emails

You should always make sure that your emails are in order and processed quickly. If you don’t you could be missing out on opportunities, paying invoices, collecting invoice, customer complaints etc. It’s a good idea to set some time each week to go through all your emails and decided what needs to be done with them. Can they be deleted? Do they need a response? Is there now an action you need to take before you can say it’s been handled? Doing this will mean that your business can run smoothly and you won’t have any nasty surprises or apologising to do when you ‘eventually’ get to them at the end of the month.

Your Office

If you want to have a smooth-running business, then you need to have a clean, organised space to work in. Whether you run your business from a home office or has several employees in a large office space it is essential that you have a good clean office space policy. It’s a good idea to show and explain the expectation down to your employees too. Having everyone work to the same standard will ensure that your office space is kept organised and running well.

Your Employees

Your employees are key to making sure your business runs smoothly. Make sure you are providing a good working environment, are rewarding them and showing your appreciation for their hard work. Happy employees are productive employees so looking after them will always make your business run better. You also need to make sure that you provide an employee handbook for your employees with a detailed job specification. This way your staff will always know what is expected and understand their role.

These four areas are key areas to have organised and running smoothly in order to keep your business running as it should. Do you have any other areas that should be focused on that you keep on top of in your business? Please share them in the comments below.

6 Things to Consider Before Starting a Manufacturing Business

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“Starting up a new manufacturing business is a big decision to make. Whether you’re new to the world of entrepreneurship or you’ve been working as a company owner for many years, there are still many risks to weigh up.”

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Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Manufacturing businesses can be lucrative if run properly. There are keys to running a lucrative manufacturing business. The following contributed post is entitled, 6 Things to Consider Before Starting a Manufacturing Business.

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Starting up a new manufacturing business is a big decision to make. Whether you’re new to the world of entrepreneurship or you’ve been working as a company owner for many years, there are still many risks to weigh up. Your new manufacturing business will only thrive if you have taken note of all these important factors. Putting the correct plans in place before you launch will increase the chances of your business becoming a successful venture. Here are some of the most important things to consider right now.

1.Equipment

Before you jump into any decisions regarding your new manufacturing business, you need to consider what type of equipment you will need to get up and running. Making a rough list in the initial stages of planning will really help you to assess your finances. From Cooling Towers to machinery all manufacturing companies are completely different so it depends on the type of industry you’re going into.

2. A Gap in the Market

Next you need to assess whether there is demand for your product. This will require plenty of market research and an in depth understanding of your ideal client. As soon as you are reassured that there are people out there who would buy from you, you can carry onto the next phase.

3. Finances

Starting a manufacturing company is going to be expensive, so make sure you have enough startup capital to get you off the ground. You may also need to pay and hire experts to advise you on the products you manufacture so be sure to keep this in mind. If you aren’t in the right place financially before you begin, you may want to rethink your venture for now and return when you have the capital behind you.

4. Competitor Research

Knowing who is currently in your industry can give you a huge head start when it comes to your business. Although you shouldn’t solely focus on your competitors it can’t hurt to keep an eye on what they’re doing and emulate their successful strategies.

5. Your Knowledge and Experience

Do you know enough about your industry to go into manufacturing alone? You may need to hone in on your area of expertise and hire other people who can plug the gaps in your knowledge. When hiring staff make sure you’re confident that they fulfill the criteria for the job description and carry out thorough interviews too.

You do not need to know absolutely everything about manufacturing, yourself, of course. If there are specialist product touches that you want to add to products, such as powder coating work, then outsourcing them can be a valid approach as well. Finding partners who can help you put the finishing touches on the bulk work you complete can help you stay agile while still having access to advanced techniques when you need them.

6. Potential Locations

Choosing the best location for your manufacturing business is so important. It needs to be accessible, affordable and close to your target audience and business associates too. It will always be difficult finding a balance between all three, but it is certainly doable.

All in all, you want to make sure that you are making the right decisions when it comes to your new manufacturing business. Knowing that people are going to buy your products, having your finances aligned and investigating any other necessary factors will ensure that your new manufacturing business is a roaring success.

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Are You Keeping Your Business Safe

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner one of your primary considerations should be your business’s safety. There are numerous contexts for this. The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Keeping Your Business Safe.

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There are a lot of things that are important to your business. That shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise, after all, a business is made up of many different elements all working together, so it’s only natural that certain things will require slightly more dedicated focus. The issue that a surprisingly large number of businesses run into is that they tend to focus on some aspects to the detriment of others. Things like marketing and customer service are, of course, incredibly important, but they are also right at the forefront of your business which means it’s rather common for them to take precedent over other things. But there are some parts of your business which are incredibly important and yet are all too often ignored. One of the most common of these is making sure that your business is actually protected. The safety and security of your business and all of the people within in it should always be a major priority for you as a business owner. Here are some ways that you can make sure that your business is as well protected as possible.

Security measures

You should always make sure that any security measures to your business are kept up to date at all times. This counts for both physical and digital security systems. Your locks should be kept sturdy and you the firewalls to your databases should be regularly updated. If you’re not paying attention to these things, then you’re leaving your business extremely vulnerable.

The right equipment

One of the most important things that you can do in order to make sure that your workplace is the safest environment possible is to ensure that it is properly equipped at all times. This means everything from railings in your warehouse to a fire damper to making sure that there is never too much power going to a single place that could cause it to overload or short. These kinds of things are the fundamentals of safety in your workplace and you need to be sure that you’re focusing on them from the very start.

Health and safety

Health and safety isn’t just the annoying bureaucracy that so many people seem to think that it is. In reality, health and safety procedures are in place to protect people and to save lives. You need to make sure that your business’s health and safety policies are all up to date and that every single employee receives adequate training to ensure that they are as always safe as possible.

All of the procedures, equipment, and insurance in the world aren’t going to make the slightest bit of difference if you can’t encourage your employees to embrace the importance of safety and security. By creating a culture within your company of understanding the importance of the security measures that are put in place, you can be sure that your employees are always working alongside those security measures to keep your business as protected as physically possible.

3 Ways to Make Your Business Greener and More Sustainable

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. You can generate more profits from your business not just from sales of your products and services, but also from making your operations greener and more sustainable. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Ways to Make Your Business Greener and More Sustainable.

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We’ve talked before about the importance of “going green” within your business. With endless talks of climate change and other negative environmental issues that face the planet, sustainability is on the tip of everyone’s tongue, especially in the business world.

While you may understand the importance of being a more sustainable company, you might not know exactly how to accomplish that. Thankfully, you don’t need to be “sustainability-savvy” to make a difference in your line of work. In fact, simply implementing a recycling program within your business is a great place to start. Just one ton of recycled plastic can save over 30 cubic yards of landfill space.

If you’re interested in even more impactful and long-term solutions to make your business greener, you don’t have to look far. There are simple and effective practices you can put into place right away to make your business a greener operation for the future.

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1. Do Some Remodeling

To start making your business more sustainable, why not look at the building itself? Where could improvements be made to make where you work each day greener and cleaner? Installing updates and doing some eco-friendly remodeling could make a big difference. Some examples include:

Installing energy-efficient appliances
Switching lighting to LED bulbs
Applying a white roof coating or a “cool roof”
Installing low-flow toilets in the bathrooms
Making sure your walls are properly insulated

There are plenty of creative ways to create a more sustainable space for your business. It might be a bit of an investment up front, but one of the great things about “going green” is that many of these practices can save you money by lowering your utility bills.

2. Have a Procurement Process in Place

Where do you get your goods and supplies? In some cases, it can be hard to order the things your business needs locally. Other times, though, finding the supplies you need just around the corner might be easier than you think. That’s especially true when it comes to food. If you provide lunches or snacks for your team, think about where you’re procuring them from.

It might be time to change your procurement practices to be more sustainable. You should do your best to purchase supplies from businesses that:

Are committed to sustainability
Use environmentally-friendly packaging
Take advantage of renewable materials
Make products that can be recycled

By helping out businesses that are already working to be more sustainable, you can make your own greener in the process.

3. Recycle Your Electronics

Chances are, your business is full of computers, laptops, mobile devices, phone systems, etc. Eventually, electronics wear out. Or, you might just try to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest in technological innovations, so you’re switching out your computers frequently.

You should never just throw electronics into the garbage.

Electronic waste is becoming a huge problem across the globe, with over 48 million tons of it produced in 2018. Instead of throwing away your business’ electronics, work with companies like HP, Best Buy, or Staples. They all have electronic recycling programs that can help you to dispose of your computers in a safe and environmentally-friendly way. Some places even have trade-in programs that will give you cash for your old or used electronics.

As you can see, it doesn’t have to be difficult to bring your business into a more sustainable future. With a few simple changes and adjustments to your policies, you can promote a greener initiative that can boost your business, in the long run.

What You Need To Know About Selling Your Funeral Home

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Funeral homes are businesses that will never go away as death is a part of everyone’s life. At some point business owners may want to move on and will consider selling their funeral home. There are considerations for doing so. The following contributed post is entitled, What You Need To Know About Selling Your Funeral Home.

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Preparing and organizing everything together so you can get the most value out of selling your funeral home can be overwhelming, and it can be hard to know where to start. To maximize your sale, you need to take into consideration how far in advance you need to plan for the sale before going on the market. This will ensure that you fly through this sale with ease. A Lot of banks will want you to gather up to three to four years of paperwork so they can flick through it, so having this organized into categories and planning can take the stress off your shoulders.

Photo from Pexels.com

What’s its worth?

The best place to start when you are beginning the process of selling your funeral home is to get a funeral home valuation because its a great starting point. This can be done in several ways, but comparing your company to other funeral homes that are in similar size is easiest, followed by organising your cash flow listing and putting yourself in the buyer’s shoes. It gives you a good idea of what you are working with and the confidence you need.

Financial paperwork

When the potential buyer comes along, you may be asked to produce specific paperwork and calculations so they can get a feel for the business and see if they are able to set realistic goals to make it work for them. Remember that the buyer could ask for up to four years of paperwork, tax returns and statements. You’ll thank yourself later when you have all the paper you need when you are asked for it, instead of rummaging back through years of paperwork. Investing in some files and binders to keep your stats in separate categories is essential to make your business liable.

Continue the hard work

After spending all those years working hard as well as going the extra mile to please your clients, don’t let it end now. Taking the time to continue the work ethic until the final day is essential to running a quality business, don’t let your hard work go to waste, after all this time. You can often earn an extra sale by doing so. Sometimes your buyer will want to keep your staff members so leading by example and going the extra mile will ensure that your staff make a good impression, potentially securing their jobs.

These are the basics about selling your funeral home so if you are new to the world of selling your company then these tips will help you to maximize the value along with being sure that you are continuing your five-star service for your clients.
Keeping your paperwork will be a big part for your buyer to have confidence in your company, a great way to keep documents is to keep them in folders and backing them up by taking photos or scanning them into a computer. These are all tips that can help your sale to run as smoothly as possible.

Portray Higher Levels of Professionalism With Your Small Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Regardless of the actual quality of your product/service, you level of professionalism has to be high-level and arguably impeccable. A low level of professionalism will hurt sales and your overall reputation. The following contributed post is entitled, Portray Higher Levels of Professionalism With Your Small Business.

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Trying to establish your brand as a reputable and trusted one in your industry is very tricky when you don’t have the budget for global marketing campaigns. However, there are still so many entrepreneurs who manage to create an excellent reputation for their emerging company. When you’re running a small, niche business you need to come across as polished and professional as much as possible. This is going to establish you as a thought leader in your industry and grow trust between you and your potential clients.

Professional Contact Details

If you want your business to come across as professional you need to provide contact details that position your company as trustworthy to your ideal clients. Make sure you invest in a business email address rather than using a personal one. You could also consider a virtual address so that your post is sent to a location that isn’t your personal place or residence. There are even professional phone numbers that you can purchase that direct calls straight to your mobile. All of these forms of contact will make your business seem professional and authoritative.

High Levels of Customer Service

When you treat your customers well they will respect you and come back for more of your products and services over and over again. A lot of consumers admit that they won’t return to a business if they were treated poorly or rudely by business owners or their team members. Delivering high levels of customer service will always work wonders for your business.

Clear and Concise Messaging

If your business isn’t honed in on a particular niche, you definitely need to find your focus. Your company will come across as much more professional if you have clear and concise messaging that doesn’t blur any lines. It is time to get into the head of your ideal client and speak to them as if you know them personally. This works wonders for leading companies and it can work for your small business too.

Delivering Products and Services as Promised

It is so important to follow through with any promises you make to your potential clients and customers. If you want your business to flourish and grow, you always need to sell with integrity. If you know you can’t deliver products in the way you’re selling them then steer clear from this. You may have to reassess your marketing strategies or the way you present your services, but it will all be worth it in the long run when you have built trust between you and your audience.

If you try all of the ideas mentioned above, you will be well on the way to achieving all of your business goals. You don’t need to pretend that your company is something that it isn’t; be authentic and true to your brand. You could even become the face of your brand if you think that will help you grow your reputation. As long as you aim to give your customers the best experience possible, you will always see growth and improvement for your company.

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Master Your Marketing in 6 Simple Steps

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. To optimize your business’s performance, one piece that will need to operate at maximum efficiency is your marketing. You have to effectively get your message and your products/services out to your customer base. The following contributed post is entitled, Master Your Marketing in 6 Simple Steps.

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Having the right marketing strategies can help grow your business. However, when marketing is done wrong, it can be similar to lighting a money bonfire. As a business owner, you have to provide whatever your business needs all the time. However, sometimes it can be challenging to master all the fine details that go into sales and marketing.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Tips to Help You Master Marketing in Your Business

Know your business

Knowing your business is not only a way of making your marketing successful but also your business. Ensure you understand your business in its entirety. Understand clearly the goals and objectives of your business. Knowing your business will help you to choose marketing strategies that are in line with the mission and vision of your business.

Know your customers

For your marketing strategies to work, you must understand the people in your target market. Examine your existing customer base and take down all the information of previous customers you have already worked with. Examine whether your existing customer base shares the same tastes and preferences and determine all the common traits that your customers have. This information will help you in creating buyer personas. Your marketing strategies should now be aligned with the tastes and preferences of the buyer personas.

Know your competitors

It is also crucial to know and understand your competitors with whom you share the same market. Examine their marketing strategies and determine how they do it. Determine how effective those marketing strategies are, and acquire as much information as possible to help you form those strategies. Implement the best strategies carefully without violating intellectual property rights.

Don’t sell a comparison, sell the benefit

Most marketing managers make the mistake of implementing marketing strategies that imply how their business offers products at a lower price compared to their competitors. The marketing strategy you implement should focus on what extra benefits the consumer will get from purchasing and consuming the product. Therefore, ensure your marketing strategy emphasizes more on how your products are going to improve the life of your customer.

Continuous generation of ideas

Marketing can be categorized as an art as well as science. Your marketing team should continuously generate creative ideas that will reach more and more potential customers. For creative idea generation to happen, you need a team with a healthy imagination. A healthy imagination can be triggered by factors such as constant reading and research. Additionally, find podcast guests who will produce podcasts for marketing purposes.

Marketing automation

Marketing automation is a technological innovation that automatically manages all marketing processes and campaigns across multiple channels. Marketing automation is made possible by specially designed software such as HubSpot Marketing Automation. Marketing automation saves you a lot of time, energy, and money as it replaces all the tedious manual marketing strategies with automated ones.

Bottom Line

Marketing plays a significant role in the success of any business. It helps create awareness in the market about the existence of your product. Therefore, the marketing discipline is significant to your business. As a business person, ensure that you continuously improve your marketing strategies for the growth of your business.

Encouraging Ultimate Efficiency In The Workplace

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, one of you goals should be to maximize efficiency. Maximizing efficiency will allow you and your staff to get the most done and save money in the long run. The following contributed post is entitled, Encouraging Ultimate Efficiency In The Workplace.

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Running your own business can be an extremely rewarding project, as there’s scope for respectable profit and a great reputation amongst many other benefits. However, when your company is not reaching the goals that you had set out to achieve, it can be much more of a disappointing and infuriating scenario that may seem impossible to work through. One of the biggest reasons that productivity can take a hit is the overall efficiency of your business, and luckily there are many different things that you can do to start moving forward. So, if your business is struggling to achieve targets and may need some restructuring to become more efficient, then read on to uncover some of the best tips and tricks that you can make the most of today!

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Training Is Key

One of the worst things that you can do as a business owner is to scrimp on staff training, as without the right knowledge your employees will not be able to do their jobs properly. You need to make certain that your staff have access to constant training sessions and extra learning opportunities that can allow them to understand their role inside and out, and help to ensure that they can use machinery in a safe and secure way whilst working as fast as they can. You simply cannot expect your employees to learn everything they need to know on their own, and if you leave them to fend for themselves then their productivity rates will no doubt be at an all time low. Efficiency will take a huge boost as soon as your staff know how to get their jobs done in the best way, so it’s up to you to set the standard and show them exactly how it’s done.

Don’t Be Afraid To Outsource

When your business is going through tough times, it’s tempting to let go of staff and appoint more work to other employees to reduce your overall spend, however this will do nothing to improve your efficiency or standard of work. Many business owners are afraid to let go of the reigns and ask for help, and that’s why so many tasks are completed in house – yet, outsourcing other professionals to perform just a few tasks can take a huge weight off your staff’s shoulders, and allow them to focus on their regular tasks too. It needn’t be expensive to seek out services like stock plan administration, marketing campaigns and other specific topics that your employees don’t have the time or skills to cover, and it will really help to improve your efficiency quite dramatically at the same time. These professionals would not be able to function if the service they provide isn’t top quality, so you can still retain ultimate peace of mind knowing that your projects are in good hands.

Encouraging ultimate efficiency in the workplace has never been so simple when you are able to make the most of the top tips and tricks detailed above.

Why You Can’t Afford Not To Practice What You Preach In This Age Of The Conscious Consumer

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, you must consider the presence of consciousness on the part of the consumer. Consumers who once supported your business may divest, if they feel as though you’re practices are fair or ethical. The following contributed post is entitled, Why You Can’t Afford Not To Practice What You Preach In This Age Of The Conscious Consumer.

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Being seen as a business that cares is non-negotiable in the age of the conscious consumer. No longer are customers willing to put their money towards companies that don’t align with their goals. What’s more, the booming online market means they don’t have to.

This has been the case for a few years now, and it’s led to fantastic ethical shifts in company processes. More businesses than ever now donate to charity, and even major corporations are implementing environmental focuses. If you’re to stand any chance at competing, the chances are you’re doing the same.

The trouble is that, as the internet allows consumers to delve deeper into business processes than ever, surface appearances are no longer enough. In fact, the reputational damage of customers learning that you don’t practice what you preach behind closed doors could see you struggling or even having to shut shop.

Ethics really do matter that much, and you should be implementing focuses like these at every level to ensure results. For proof, consider the following company failures that have left consumers questioning whether brands care at all.

Partnerships that go against ethics

Once, consumers had idea what companies were partnering or selling. Now, this information is online for everyone to see, and it can be damaging if you make agreements with businesses that don’t share your upfront ethics.

In recent years, this has most notably been the case for cruelty-free makeup brands, many of whom are owned by some of the worst culprits for animal testing. As can be seen on https://ethicalelephant.com, such consumer discoveries in recent years have led to boycotts on even front-running ‘cruelty-free’ brands.

The moral of the story is simple. Don’t preach one thing, then let money sway you to the opposite. Or, in other words – never partner with a company that doesn’t share the same outlook.

Only making an effort where people can see

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Companies have also been caught out for only prioritizing ethics in the public eye. For instance, countless brands claim to care about recycling yet come out as the worst contenders for landfill under the surface.

Again, remember that nothing goes under the radar anymore. In an age where consumers can access recycling reports and more, even something seemingly small like pouring vegetable fat down the drain could throw your ethical makeup into question.

Companies should, therefore, be making an effort to maintain ethical focuses, even behind scenes, either by turning to companies like https://gfcommodities.com/our-services/used-cooking-oils-recycling/ to recycle fat instead of draining it, or making sure to separate warehouse plastics ready for recycling. And, all of this should be standard even when no one’s looking.

Conclusion

Presentation matters in modern business but, make no mistake, so does what you do behind closed doors. In fact, given that claiming an ethical focus and being found to go against it is worse than making no effort at all, you could say that sticking to your supposed ethics business-wide is vital for staying on top in 2020 and beyond.