Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When you launch a business, it’s important to think about what’s working and what’s not working. In some instances, wounds and losses are self-inflicted. The following contributed post is entitled, Are You the Reason Your Business’s Growth Is Stunted?
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Entrepreneurs hate to think about it, but it’s entirely possible that you’re the reason that your business’s growth has halted. There are countless different factors that could affect your business’s success. From changing your target audience to creating the right website content, there are plenty of ways for you to change your business and gear it for success.
But what about the possibility that you’re the one stunting business growth? Here is a list of potential situations where you could be the one causing your company to slow down its growth.
You’re not pivoting your services and products for newer audiences
In order to grow your business, you need to consider appealing to a wider audience by pivoting your products and services. This can be challenging if you don’t have a vision of where you want to take your business.
You’re not learning new skills to improve your knowledge
Growing your own skills is important if you want to grow your business and lead a team of loyal employees. You may want to sign up for oil and gas revenue accounting training if you have gaps to fill in your financial department, or you might consider studying the technical side of your business so that you have an easier time finding the right suppliers and third-party services that could grow your company.
You’re refusing to take risks that could propel your business
Taking risks is an important component of any successful business. In order to grow, you have to be willing to take risks that could lead to failure. If they do fail, then you’ll have to muster up the strength to learn from those failures and apply them to future risks.
You’re too afraid to take a loan or search for alternate sources of funding
Loans are a great source of funding, but some business owners can understandably be wary about borrowing money. Unfortunately, it’s one of the best ways to grow your business because the injection of cash can be used on many things such as hiring new employees, developing new products or even starting a new business location.
You’re scared of firing or reassigning team members that aren’t being productive
Some business owners dislike the idea of firing team members, especially if they’ve been with the company for a long time. If you’re not willing to let someone go then it’s a good idea to consider reassigning them or even investing in their skills to place them in a more productive role. However, if a team member isn’t helping your business grow, you need to have the courage to let them go.
You’re failing to invest in your employees and their wellbeing
Lastly, make sure you’re willing to invest in your employees and their wellbeing. From kitting out their office with ergonomic furniture to putting them on a course to learn new skills, there are lots of different ways to invest in your employees so that they become more productive members of your team.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Whichever type of business operation your running, one of your top concerns should be security. If you have an office building, there are ways to secure it. The following contributed post is entitled, Four Ways To Secure Your Office Building.
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As much as you may think your office building could never be compromised, it’s that laid back viewpoint that might end up causing it to happen. When it comes to the security of your building, it’s good to always look at how you can update and improve it to keep your staff safe and the workplace secure. Here are four ways to secure your office building.
CCTV can be really handy to help you in a situation where your building has been damaged or broken into. Not only that, but it does help as a deterrence from any criminal activity a lot of the time. Depending on where your business is located and how valuable it is in terms of its financial value and worth, it’s important to have an extra layer of protection. CCTV is something that for many was not something people wanted purely because it felt like it was an invasion of privacy. However, in order to help stop crimes from happening and to deter anything bad from happening to the workplace, it’s good to have eyes on your property constantly, even when the office is closed. So invest in some surveillance where you can for the sake of your building.
Have A Lock Up Procedure All Staff Now
A lock up procedure is worth having written down as an official document and taught to all those staff members who might be responsible for opening up and closing the building. That might be a select number of people who are key holders, but it also might be for those who want, on occasion, to work later than usual or on the weekend. By having a document outlining the steps on locking up properly, you avoid anything from being left unlocked and being a potential danger. Not only that, but making sure all appliances are off and therefore there’s no fire risk is also important.
Invest In A Keycard Entry System
For the main entrance of your building, it can likely be a hub of activity for the most part. However, whatever layout your business is in, whether the entrance is attended to or not, it’s good to have an extra layer of security in the form of a keycard/barrier entry system. That way you know that no one can get in without a card or fob. You can get these easily from plastic-id.com, and it’s worth having in order to help protect your staff and any guests that are in the building throughout the day.
Hire Security
And finally, if you’re a company that has a significant amount of staff and is a business that’s known very well, it might be best to hire security. Having a doorman – or doorwoman – at the front entrance of your building can be good. That extra muscle might be something that’s needed to usher out unwanted guests and to just give more peace of mind to your staff.
Securing your building shouldn’t be something you ignore, so try to find ways to make it even more secure than it already is.
Hello. Thank you for clicking on this link, and I hope you enjoy this essay. Writing a book was the genesis of my blogging and becoming a video content creator. I have published part one of my book project entitled, The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. It is currently available on Amazon in eBook, hardcover, and paperback formats. Shortly I will be selling signed hardcover and paperback copies on my online store entitled Big Words Authors. You can place an order now if you want a signed copy. There is also a page discussing the book. Please consider visiting it to learn more about the project and see promotional content I’ve created surrounding the project. And now on to our feature presentation.
Thoughts After My Essay on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s True Legacy
“Integration hurt black businesses. There used to be black businesses all up and down Jefferson Avenue and William Street!”
This essay is a follow up to my piece discussing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of the burning house, and Dr. Claud Anderson’s prophecies involving the issues plaguing Black Americans today. In this piece I will discuss whether a result of Social Integration was the destruction of black businesses. While we celebrate the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, many have questioned the aftereffects of those historic victories.
Different Generations and Experiences
Many of my writings discuss growing up in Buffalo, NY as a member of ‘Generation X‘, specifically, some of the familial, social, cultural and racial aspects. My generation grew up in Buffalo following the exodus of the city’s steel industry, in addition to the ‘post-Civil Rights’ era. Our elders, the ‘Silent Generation‘ and the ‘Baby Boomers‘, grew up in Buffalo when the steel industry boomed and experienced the Civil Rights era. You could argue that we came of age literally in two different worlds and are now existing as adults in two different worlds mentally.
The opening quote of this piece comes from a gentleman named ‘Gus’. Gus is a retired black business owner, a Baby Boomer who owned a steak shop near the corner of Jefferson Avenue and William Street in Buffalo. In addition to the pizza and wings it’s classically known for, there are also numerous steak shops that make nice greasy Philadelphia-style cheese steaks which is what Gus’s restaurant, ‘Gusto’s’, specialized in. They were very tasty, let me tell you.
Gus was the stepfather of one of my best friends and at many holiday gatherings, there were talks of the ‘old Buffalo’ when there was an abundance of black businesses. Readers familiar with our city might associate that time as being the pre-Humboldt Parkway expressway era. In addition to the steel industry and a vibrant city economy, not having the Humboldt Parkway expressway there is something else I can’t imagine, as it has been there my entire life, running from downtown Buffalo out to the suburbs and to the airport.
Gus’s revelation amazed me as I couldn’t imagine our city any other way than what I’d seen in my 20 plus years, at the time. If what he said was true, there was an abundance of black proprietors and entrepreneurs located on real estate which is now considered blighted and more than a little bit rough (now being gentrified). I went into that neighborhood quite a bit to play basketball at the William-Emslie YMCA, but I didn’t hang around there much otherwise.
So, what happened to those black businesses? Where did they go? And why does it matter 40-50 years later? Gus and many others attributed it to “Social Integration” following the Civil Rights Movement.
Civil Rights and Social Integration
Civil Rights and Social Integration are most discussed in terms of education, access to jobs and the right to use the same facilities as other races. Key efforts of the Civil Rights Movement involved securing voting rights and desegregating society in general; most notably in education, the professional world and the desegregation of public institutions down to drinking fountains and bathrooms.
The end result was that black people could now go to the same schools as white people and could, in theory, have equal employment and access to all parts of society. I said in theory because there was still separation of races and ethnic groups. Growing up I heard stories of white flight in my hometown (and other urban areas) as black families spread out into white communities. Apparently, the neighborhoods which were mostly black in the era that I grew up in, were once mostly white, but gradually became all black as those white residents fled to the suburbs.
Growing up, the definition of Social Integration was usually discussed in societal contexts. One was dating. My father once told me the story of a classmate in college taking a verbal jab at him, saying that ‘integration’ was his favorite subject mathematically, because it was a thought that he liked white women. But what are the other contexts for integration? Yes, and perhaps the biggest is Business/Economics.
Black Buses, Black Taxi Cabs, Black Theaters and White Ice
The prelude to this piece is my essay regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of the burning house. In the second half of that document I introduced Dr. Claud Anderson, a staunch advocate of reparations and black economic empowerment. Check out that piece for an in-depth discussion of Dr. Anderson and his philosophies. I also referenced Dr. Anderson’s interview on the popular radio show, ‘The Breakfast Club‘. I wanted to include excerpts from the interview in my Dr. King piece, but I realized that it warranted its own separate essay. The following dialogue between Dr. Anderson and one of the hosts, Charlemagne tha God sheds light on what happened to black businesses across the United Sates following Social Integration:
Dr. Claud Anderson: I grew up in Winston-Salem, NC and we weren’t looking for any Social Integration. Do you know why? It’s because we had our own businesses there. My family had the only black bus line in the entire United States, the only black bus line! And when I say a bus line, I’m not talking about two or three buses. We had over 500 buses in Winston-Salem, NC! And guess what, we had that from 1927 up to about 1967.
In Winston-Salem we Blacks also had our own cab companies, our own restaurants, our own hotels, our own school systems. Do you know what killed our buses? Social Integration. When suddenly you all started talking about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. going down to Montgomery, AL wanting to integrate the bus lines – integrate whose bus lines? White bus lines! They didn’t want to own or control the resources. They just wanted to sit in the front of them (the buses).
Now you tell me. What does that indicate? That you want to get on the bus and just sit on the front of it? Now if the bus is moving, then the back of the bus will be where the front of the bus was in a fraction of a second, and everybody gets off at the same time. So, in Winston-Salem we had our own buses, so when that movement was successful and the blacks who were in Alabama came up to Winston-Salem, blacks in Winston-Salem said, ‘We want to ride in the front of white buses!’ We said, ‘We don’t have any white buses.’ They said, ‘Well get some, so we can ride on the front of them!’
Charlemagne tha God: I feel like a complete asshole because I never thought about that. That whole time they should’ve been trying to establish their own bus companies as opposed to wanting to ride someone else’s. You all boycotted for a year just to want to ride in the front? I never thought about that (laughing).
Dr. Claud Anderson: You’re a smart man! In our Safe Bus Company–you can find out about that on your computers. See, we owned the buses. We owned the resources. All our mechanics were black. All our drivers were black. Our electricians were black. Everything was black!
We each had two cab companies in Winston-Salem. The whites had the Blue Bird and the Yellow Cab Companies. We had the Harris and the Camel City Cabs. But guess what. Once that integration movement started, do you know what they wanted? Blacks didn’t want to ride in black cabs anymore. They wanted to ride in the white cabs. In Winston-Salem, we had our own movie theaters, the Lincoln and the Lafayette. There was a Lincoln and Lafayette in every black section of every major city in the United States. The whites had three movie theaters. They had the Far Sight, the Carolina, and the State Theaters. We didn’t care, because we had our own movie theaters. So, guess what. Blacks didn’t want to go to the black theaters anymore, we wanted to go to the white theaters.
Charlemagne tha God: We swear white ice is colder!
Dr. Claud Anderson: I saw that happen once. I was in Tallahassee, FL giving a speech. I was standing on the corner talking to a black real estate developer. A black guy owned a grocery store across the street. A guy pulled up and we watched him, like me and you are talking now. He pulled up to the grocery store and went over to the ice machine. He opened an ice container and pulled out a bag of ice. He looked at the ice container, rolled it around and then put it back into the machine.
He then turned around, backed his car up to where we were standing to a place called Jack’s Liquor. He went into the ice machine and it was made by the same company. He looked at it, rolled it around and then went inside and bought it. I told the person I was with that, ‘I’d never seen that before! I’m going to ask him about it when he comes out of the store. I said, “Sir, let me ask you a question. Why is it that you would not buy the ice from the ice machine over there at the black grocery store, but you came over here to Jack’s Liquor?”
He said, ‘Oh I don’t want to buy Mr. Williams’ ice. I don’t like it. It’s too lumpy! White ice is smoother.’ I said, ‘I know white ice is colder, but now I also know it’s smoother.’
The complete interview is in the embedded video below should you want to watch it for yourself.
The Ownership Position
“Black folks never learned the importance of owning and controlling!” I think this quote from Dr. Anderson sums up this whole discussion. I must admit though that it’s much more nuanced than that. Why would a race of people completely forsake their own businesses to patronize someone else’s? I think that after enduring chattel slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation, I believe that there was a mass psychological need to feel whole, to feel equal and for acceptance by the larger white society, which is understandable. But is there a point where it went too far?
Something black people in the United States still struggle with as a race today is a sense of belonging. This happens both within our own race, and then regarding what’s referred as the Dominant Society. It’s crazy to wrap your mind around all of it, but it’s real. If you’re black and are perceived as having too many white qualities, you’re not black enough. And there are black people who feel more comfortable assimilating into the Dominant Society. Some are accepted, but it can also be a never-ending quest for some, with consequences on both sides.
Though we had what we needed in our communities, there was still a need to be accepted and to have access to things that were denied to us, socially and in terms of white-collar careers. But did that require forsaking our own businesses and economic power? Not only were there once black businesses, but also black institutions of all kinds. Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK comes to mind and there are numerous stories about it being destroyed and why.
But there were also the Negro Leagues. It’s amazing to think that all the great black baseball players were once all concentrated in one league and that league eventually died out so they could integrate the Major Leagues. The same thing is true for our Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). There was a point at which they got the best and brightest black students and even athletes. Now they’re competing with larger and more well-funded Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Many have permanently closed for this reason.
The Modern Challenges in Running Black Businesses
Not only have we put most of our emphasis on attaining white collar careers to work in institutions created by others, but there are also issues about creating and sustaining our own black businesses today. In many circles you hear stories of black people not supporting each other’s businesses, but supporting those of other groups. You hear stories of poor service. You hear stories of the services or goods being too expensive and of lesser quality. Then there are also many, many stories of black patrons wanting ‘hookups’ or discounts simply because the proprietors are black. There are also discussions that black entrepreneurs must be careful about solely targeting black people as their customer base, based upon the issues described.
Nevertheless, I do think that we must figure out how to retake ownership of our economic power. In my essay about Dr. King’s vision of the burning house, I listed Dr. Claud Anderson’s points for rebuilding black communities. He first described building communities and families and then figuring out how to keep the dollars within the community. Growing up on Buffalo’s eastside, I only have memories of corner stores being owned by Asians and Arabs. Go into any inner-city now and you’ll see the same thing for the most part. Most of the convenience stores, beauty, hair and nail shops are, in fact, owned by Arabs and Asians, some of whom have responded to customers with violence in retaliation to toxic behaviors towards them which in some neighborhoods are the norm.
There have been numerous stories in recent times of violence being perpetrated against black women at beauty supply shops, for example. Men, such as Tyrone Muhammad in Chicago, took steps to protect the women and tried to send a message to the foreign proprietors by throwing a brick through their window. After getting out of jail, he returned to the shop to see the same women getting their nails done, like nothing had ever happened, as opposed to her finding black nail shops.
Closing Thoughts on Black Businesses and Social Integration
I’m going to close this piece by saying that I’ve been blessed based upon the family I grew up in, and that I was able to ascend academically and professionally. One of my professors at Johnson C. Smith University told me numerous stories about the racism he endured when working on his Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati. Aside from the challenging work itself, my doctoral studies as the University of Michigan were mostly smooth. I do acknowledge though that the Civil Rights Movement was critical in providing me the opportunities to go to school.
Furthermore, after being locked out of parts of society and suffering through the hardships endured by the descendants of African Slaves in the United States, it’s understandable that the focus would be on inclusion and assimilation into society. That said, much of it seems to have been done at the expense our own black economy, and going forward, if possible, we must figure out how to rebuild it as most everything seems to stem from it. Other groups have maintained and built their economic power. We should too. Another piece to this puzzle is the findings from The Kerner Commission. Someone more knowledgeable to me brought it to my attention and it’s something I hope to revisit one day.
The featured image of this piece is that of the street signs of Grider Street and Kensington Avenue on Buffalo’s eastside. The McDonald’s I worked at in my late teens, which was black owned, sits further down the street from that sign on Delevan Avenue and Grider Street. During that time, I think there were two other McDonald’s restaurants on the eastside that were black owned. The image in the middle of the piece was once again generated by “Creative Designs” by the very talented Tamara Coleman. If you want to learn more about Tamara and her work, contact her via email at: Tammy-cole@hotmail.com. Do you agree or disagree with anything I’ve said in this piece? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
The Big Words LLC Newsletter
For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at bwllcnl@gmail.com . Best Regards.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Sales and marketing are sciences. In many instances your sales are actually made before your customers come close enough to view your products and services in an up close and personal way. The following contributed post is entitled, How to “Wow” Your Clients Before They Even Walk Through the Door.
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You are always looking for ways to showcase your business and stand out from your competitors. If you’re operating a brick and mortar business, there are a number of things you can do to catch your potential clients’ eye before they even walk through the door. If you want to set your business apart, consider some of the following techniques that are bound to “wow” passers by from the get go.
Create an Excellent Exterior
The outside of your building is arguably more important than the interior. If you’re selling a product or service inside your store, you want people to stop in their tracks and walk in. If you haven’t started on the construction of your business building yet and need a crane for hire, you might want to think about how you can create an eye catching exterior. Consult a reputable architect for design ideas and your new building will soon look outstanding from the outside.
You can make sure your potential clients and customers know exactly what your business is all about before they even step through the door. Your brilliant branding techniques need to be clear, concise and consistent. Think about the colors, fonts, words and logos you use to promote your brand. Consider what your ideal client would find attractive and appealing and roll with these ideas first and foremost. Branding is all about diving deep into the mind of your ideal client so make sure you carry out plenty of market research to validate your ideas.
Create a Strong Social Media Presence
If you build up a strong brand reputation before anybody even steps into your store, you are already in an amazing position. Your social media presence is so important as it will be ingrained in your ideal client’s mind if you do a good job. Spark up conversations with people who you know will visit your store and make sure you leave a long lasting impression on them. Also, make sure that your social media branding and your store branding is consistent across the board.
Ensure Excellent Customer Service
When your communication is excellent both before and after you come into contact with your ideal client they are guaranteed to come back for more. A lot of people admit to boycotting certain brands because they had a terrible experience with their customer service in the past. Don’t let your communication let you down before your client even parts with their money!
As soon as you implement these tried and tested strategies you are going to see such a huge shift in the way your business is perceived from the outside. You don’t need to make huge, expensive changes in order to see the difference. All you need to do is assess what your ideal client is looking for. From stunning signage to a beautiful building, it’s time to blow your clients away from the moment they come into contact with your business.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Business is competition and in many regards it’s survival of the fittest. It’s important to think about how you will set yourself apart from your competitors. The following contributed post is entitled, Setting Your Business Apart: How To Turn Heads And Boost Sales.
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There are millions of businesses in the world, so how do you go about setting your company apart from the others? It’s not always easy to stand out in a crowd and beat competitors, but there are ways of maximizing the chances of success. Here are some tips to help you turn heads and boost sales.
Offer something different Almost all business owners will go into the process of launching a new venture with a host of competitors already circling. Every industry is competitive, and to succeed, you have to be able to offer something different. Look for gaps in the market, think about how you could package and present your products or the services you offer in a different way and use market research to identify potential problems and issues customers have with products that are already available. Once you have decided on a USP for your brand, promote and sell it so that every customer is aware of who you are and why you’re original. Perhaps you support a cause that is linked to your brand, for example, or maybe you offer an exclusive subscription service that provides access to limited edition products or special offers.
Make use of data We live in an age of data and information. As a business owner, data is perhaps the most valuable commodity on the planet. Collect data, carry out research and use innovative techniques like analytics and machine learning solutions to capitalize on the availability of information and use it to improve the way you work. Cutting-edge technology can help you gain an in-depth insight into consumer behavior and habits and increase the chances of converting leads.
Streamline your marketing strategy Marketing can make all the difference when you’re on a mission to drive sales and put your brand on the map. Before you start work on a new campaign, take a step back, analyze the performance and results of previous initiatives and try and streamline your strategy. Use the findings of market research and data analysis to target your ideal buyer and keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Choose platforms and marketing methods that are relevant to the target market and plan your campaign in detail. Every social media post, email or flyer you share, send or post should be relevant to your brand, your business objectives and your ideal customer.
Showcase your personality Many people buy the same branded goods time and time again. They do this because they like the product, but they’re also drawn to the brand. Give your business a human side and show off your personality. Your branding strategy should be focused on telling customers who you are, what you’re offering and what you’re all about. Tell your story, share your ethos and use your website and social media feeds to connect with potential clients.
In business, it’s not always easy to win a race against fierce competitors, but there are ways you can improve your performance and increase your chances of success. You can also check this guide on how to increase ecommerce sales with quality.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the most critical aspects of one’s business is it’s brand. Customers need to connect with your brand visually in addition to the products and or services you provide. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Boost Your Brand for Business Success.
Branding is an often overlooked area among business owners, as its value is underestimated by many companies. Smaller businesses may argue that they aren’t big enough to create a brand of any importance. However, when branding is done correctly, it can offer significant benefits to companies of all sizes.
Why Branding Matters
Every business wants to be noticed, to stand out from its competitors, and attract the most customers. Branding offers a solution that enables companies to achieve this. Businesses that operate in a highly competitive marketplace, offering similar products to their competitors, need something extra to help them stand out. Branding is a tool that can be used by companies to differentiate their offering and add additional value to their products and services.
Branding is about so much more than having an attractive logo; branding is about communicating with your target market and making them want to be associated with your brand. The power of branding is the reason that some people will only be seen in certain makes of sneakers, or will only buy a car from a particular manufacturer. Branding extends beyond the product itself. The decision to buy a brand is influenced by the customer’s perception of the brand. This emotional connection toward certain brands is the reason that consumers will happily pay more for branded items, as they are buying more than the product itself, they are also purchasing a connection to the brand and the values that it represents.
Building a Brand
As mentioned above, creating a successful brand is more than just logo design. Branding encompasses both aesthetics and values. To be successful, brands need a personality. Personality is created through both its look and the values that it represents. Here are some of the main elements to consider when building your brand:
What do You Want Your Brand to Say About Your Business?
Before you get started on implementing a branding strategy, you will need to consider what you want from your brand. What would you like the brand to say about your business? Do you want the brand to communicate that you are an ethical business stocking natural products? Maybe you want to focus on breaking into the luxury goods market. Whatever you are aiming for, you need to ensure that your branding embodies it. Knowing what you want from your brand will inform the way that the brand looks and what it represents.
The visual element of your brand is one of its main features. The design that you select for your brand will be used on everything, including your signage, your packaging, and your promotional material, so getting it right is essential. Creating the visual elements of your brand yourself can be risky if you are not a trained designer. A professional standard of graphic design is needed to make your branding successful, so calling in some help from the professional is a good idea. A graphic design company will be skilled in knowing what works and what doesn’t and will be able to come up with fresh ideas you may not have considered before. The Timmermann Group offer a specialist graphic design service, check them out to see how they can help with your branding.
When considering the design of your branded materials, it is essential to select your corporate color scheme carefully. Thinking about the connotations of the colors that you use is vital, as your color choice can help to reinforce your brand. For example, eco-friendly businesses typically choose green within their color scheme as it strengthens their eco-credentials.
Brand Values
For a brand to be successful and to engage customers enough to make them want to buy its products over and over again, it needs to convey more than the benefits of the product itself. A successful brand has personality and engages customers on an emotional level. The desire to be associated with a brand and what it stands for motivates consumers to buy it.
Customer service and the quality of the product are, of course, vital components for the success of a brand. A product that does not perform well will not be able to retain customers. However, when all things are equal in a competitive market place, brand values become particularly important to gain a competitive edge.
A company should live and breathe its values; they should be at the core of every decision that a business makes. This kind of authenticity is something that consumers crave in a world packed with mass-produced goods. A brand that aligns with its core values can grow a strong base of like-minded consumers, eager to be seen with its products and the kudos that they bring.
Brand Recognition
Transforming a brand into a household name is something that most company’s dream about. When your brand name becomes synonymous with the products that you produce, you know that you are onto a winner. Companies with enviable levels of brand equity can be recognized merely by their typeface or their corporate color scheme without any mention of the brand name at all.
Creating a brand that everyone has heard about doesn’t happen overnight. Building up brand recognition takes time and plenty of focused effort to achieve.
To achieve brand recognition, your branding efforts need to be consistent. A consistent and cohesive brand identity is far more likely to grow into a brand with high levels of brand recognition. This is because keeping all of your branding efforts consistent speeds up the brand recognition process.
To ensure that your branding is consistent in all areas, you may want to draw up brand guidelines to protect the brand. Brand guidelines will breakdown everything from where logos should be positioned on business correspondence through to the tone of voice used in marketing materials, the website, and on the company’s social media pages.
Creating a strong brand and developing brand recognition take time and lots of effort to get right, but the results in the long term are more than worthwhile.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A common saying that, “Image is everything,” and there’s no other context where it’s more relevant than with your business. You want people to view your business operation in the best light possible. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Presentation Matters in Business.
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In the world of business, presentation matters a lot. If you’re going to be successful, you need to project the right outward image. Sure, you could call that superficial and unfair, but that’s simply the way it is. If you’re going to achieve the things you know you’re capable of achieving, you should first get the presentation side of things right. If you’re still not convinced, here’s more about why the matter of presentation really does matter.
People Are Busy
People have busy daily schedules, especially people high up in business, and those are the one that have influence. They’ll want to make decisions quickly and businesses that aren’t presenting themselves in the right way will often be dismissed before even being considered. You need to account for how busy people are and never take their time for granted when you’re trying to impress them.
Competition is Often Fierce
Competition is often fierce as well. This means that you have to get out there and show what you can do right off the bat. If you don’t, you’ll be left behind and the better presented and slicker rivals you have will steam ahead and leave you in the dust. That’s the last thing you want when you’re trying to build a sustainable business with a strong future.
First Impressions Form Very Quickly
First impressions really do matter and they also tend to form very quickly. That’s something you’ll need to be prepared for. Basic things like cleaning with a Floor scrubber and ensuring desks aren’t messy will make a difference when a person of influence visits your office. If those first impressions are not good, your business will be facing an uphill struggle.
And They Usually Don’t Shift
The thing about first impressions is that they tend to stick. If you don’t show people that your business is doing good things and is able to present itself well, you’ll have problems. They will immediately form a negative opinion of your business that will prove very hard to change. It is possible but your task of impressing people is so much easier when you get it right the first time.
People Want to Work with People They Can Trust
Early impressions and the appearance your business projects to the world will say something to people about how trustworthy your business is. If it seems like your business can’t be trusted, you’re going to run into problems sooner or later and customers or clients will reject you. Any business owner wants their company to be looked at as one that can be trusted by clients and customers, as well as business collaborators.
If your business is going to be successful in a competitive market, presenting yourself and those around you well will do a world of good. You need to be able to impress people quickly and show them that your business is one that can and should be taken seriously, so start working on this today.
Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Professional Development/Skills. Whichever business setting/enterprise you’re in, properly dealing with your employees is essential. Effectively doing so and not effectively doing so will have far reaching consequences. The following contributed post is entitled, Tips For Dealings With Employees In Business.
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Dealing with employees within a business can be different for every boss or company out there. They’re dealing with different types of people, and every staff member can be different to the next. So being able to manage everyone with the same value and respect can be a constantly balancing act. Here are some tips for dealing with employees in business, and that will hopefully work for all the staff that work in the company.
A healthy work environment is important to get right for your employees because they’re spending most of their day working in the office or work environment. That is a responsibility that the business has ownership over, and staff can share their input on how things can be made better, which you should do if you’re finding that certain changes aren’t helping. The happiness and health of your employees is key because as long as they’re both of these things, they’ll continue working. If one of these is missing, it can affect productivity, and that’s something you don’t want to be sacrificing or lacking at any point during your company’s growth. So, create a space that’s healthy to be in, is clean and tidy, and that you’ve thought about the layout and features of the office that are going to help your staff feel good on a daily basis whenever they’re at work. From meth testing to ensuring there is enough lighting in the room, it’s all important.
Make Your Staff Feel Valued
Your staff feeling valued is one thing that some businesses don’t do often enough. As an individual, we’d all like to be valued a lot more, especially in the workplace and when we’re given that recognition it helps. It can help improve our attitude to work and how we can change as individuals for the better. A simple thank you and praising in the company newsletter can end up going a long way, and further than most companies would think. So try to make your staff feel valued on a daily basis and do this through a number of ways. You can hold more staff meetings to bounce around ideas and to make praises to those who’ve worked hard over that week or month. It could be treating a department to a free lunch for putting in the extra effort where it’s been needed. You can also show appreciation by small tokens like company gifts for employees. This will show that you have realized their hard work. You can accompany the gift with a small card that says, “thank you for all you are doing.” The little gestures can make a big difference.
Offer A Better Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is one that might take some time to achieve for most of us. It’s not until we’ve got ourselves into a role that we’ve defined ourselves in that we usually get benefits from work. However, it’s important that no matter who it is within your company, everyone deserves to have control over their work-life balance, and demanding more of someone that creeps into their life, needs to be reimbursed. They should be able to decide whether they do that overtime, and if that overtime is done, they should get given that time back in lieu or in payment. Nothing in life is free, and it’s never right to put someone in the position when they’re working for a company, where they need to work longer hours for nothing. Give them the flexibility where possible to take time off or to work from home. It’s only going to better your relationships with the employees themselves.
Encourage Them To Take Their Lunch Break
A lunch break is another important element to your staff’s working day because it gives them an hour to do something different that what’s being done at work. Whether it’s sitting down for an hour to watch their favourite television program while eating their lunch or going out for a walk. That hour or however, much time they have for a break should be honored at all costs. If you’re not encouraging breaks, then it’s only going to reduce their work productivity as a whole.
Career progression is important to some people and when they enter your company, they might be at the point where they’ve joined to rise up through the ranks. And as a business, it’s important to provide the further career progression where you can. If you’re not able to offer certain positions or it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, you can still help boost their experience through training and relevant courses. As a company, you should have a staff training budget that can help your staff gain more knowledge and skills that will not only benefit the company but will help your employees become more elevated in what they can achieve.
Sit down with each staff member on an annual basis to run through their hopes and career prospects. Some may have changed what they want to do and where they want to go, and some may not have. It’s good to stay up to date with what they’re up to and what they’re thinking of doing next. Regular meetings can be helpful in most cases to get more of an understanding of your staff and who they are as individuals. Any concerns or worries they may have can also be addressed through this too.
Recognize And Reward Improvements
Improvements and successes within a business are critical to recognize firstly but to also reward. When your company is going well and making financial progress, some of that profit needs to filter back down to the people who made it happen. Rewarding your staff is one thing you want to do to help encourage them and others to continue the great work that they’re doing for the company. It adds a level of respect that they’ll give back to you in return. So whenever you can, reward people’s hard work.
Dealing with employees in the business is one to get right and maintain. Without it, you could end up losing staff or suffering as a company with the growth and success you could be getting.
Two of the principles of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key aspect of conducting most forms of business is striking deals. Some are better at this than others and there are mistakes that prevent closing deals. The following contributed post is entitled, Avoid These Mistakes When Closing That Big Deal.
Striking any type of business deal can be tough, particularly if you lack confidence or experience. Whether you’re acquiring a new client or discussing a potential promotion, it’s important to have the right skillset.
As well as knowing what to do in the boardroom, it’s equally important to understand where you’re going wrong. If you want to improve your deal-making skills and succeed in business, be sure to avoid these mistakes…
Poor preparation
If you’re underprepared, it’s going to be apparent when it comes to striking a deal. No matter who you’re meeting with, it’s essential to take the time to research them, their company and the potential contract you’ll be entering into.
As well as giving you the background information you need to strike a good deal, proper preparation shows that you value their time and business. With a personalized pitch or knowledgeable presentation, you can showcase your abilities and successfully secure your deal.
Missing deal coaching opportunities
Few people are born with exceptional deal-brokering skills. In fact, it requires a great deal of expertise to become a successful dealmaker. If you want to ensure you’re at the top of your game, deal coaching is a must.
If you have a big opportunity coming up or you want to improve your skills, getting expert help can be a great option. With a good negotiation consulting company, you can access the specialist skills you need to create the perfect pitch and strike a lucrative deal. What’s more, you can access practical and professional negotiation support for upcoming meetings, pitches, and presentations.
Talking too much
When you’re brokering a deal, it’s easy to talk too much when you’re trying to persuade the prospect to sign on the dotted line. However, this is one of the most common mistakes when it comes to negotiating. Sometimes, it’s best to be silent and listen to what the other party has to say.
As well as garnering useful information that could help you to subsequently close the deal, this affirms that you care about their concerns and queries. By giving them the floor, you’ll have the opportunity to incorporate a more targeted approach to your pitch in the future.
Lacking confidence
Brokering a deal can be nerve-wracking, especially if you don’t have much experience. However, being underconfident can cause a prospect to waiver, which may mean you miss out on a deal altogether. Although it’s natural for your confidence to increase as you gain experience, boosting your confidence now could lead to greater success.
Practice makes perfect, so be sure to run through presentations and pitches numerous times. Additionally, try confidence-boosting techniques, like meditation, mindfulness and neuro-linguistic programming, to ensure you come across as poised and self-assured.
Brokering the Best Deals
Having good negotiation skills and being able to broker deals is extremely advantageous and it’s something employers are always looking for. If you want to enhance your own career prospects or boost your workplace performance, enhancing your deal-making skills will put you on the road to success.
Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Just like individual investors, businesses have to make wise investment decisions. Many of those decisions involve deciding which markets to invest in. The following contributed post is entitled, How Savvy Business Invest In High Markets.
Investments are imperative for businesses. Any leader who wants to increase the wealth of an organization needs to secure healthy ROIs. Unfortunately, it won’t happen if you put your rainy day fund in a savings account. The interest rates are too low compared to the returns of an investment.
A big problem lots of entrepreneurs run into regularly is a high market. When the money you need to pump in upfront is considerable, it makes you think twice. Still, you shouldn’t pass up an opportunity for the sake of liquidity.
Dealing with high markets is possible and lucrative as long as you’re careful. Here are the tips that will ensure you put safety first.
Search For A Broker
A broker is an excellent resource for your company because these agencies have knowledge and experience in abundance. Sadly, too many businesses don’t trust them, which is why they try to dip their toes in the market alone. Please don’t make this mistake. Without any relevant qualifications, you’ll only increase the odds of losing your investment. Plus, whether it’s Forex or foreign currencies, brokers help clients to secure the best market prices. You don’t even need to deal with one face-to-face – software is available if you prefer your insights from an AI-powered computer program.
Feed-In Resources Gradually
Putting in your resources bit by bit is an excellent tactic for limiting damage if there are unforeseen circumstances. The reason is simple: you never have too much of your finances in a high market at one time. This might seem as if it’s a cautious measure considering the market is booming, but it’s a smart way to mitigate risk. All you have to do is divide the pot into payment segments and figure out payment dates. The even better thing about this technique is that you can stop payments if you feel as if you need more control.
Buy The Same Amount
When markets are high, it’s tempting to pull back in case the worst happens. However, this is a bad idea because it goes against your original plan. There is nothing wrong with re-evaluating, yet you shouldn’t do it on a whim. An investment is a long-term strategy, so there’s no need to panic at the first sign of trouble. And, if there are no signs, then you should carry on as usual. If money is an issue, remember to feed in your budget gradually to mitigate the risks.
Avoid Linked Investments
Diversification is a tried and tested way to protect your assets. That way, should anything go wrong, you’d still have investments that are untouched. Of course, this doesn’t happen when projects are linked. Right now, for example, US index tracker funds are connected to the most expensive stocks, making them very vulnerable. Therefore, it’s imperative to do due diligence and ensure there aren’t underlying features that will have a knock-on effect. You can diversify by investing in two separate markets if you have the knowledge.
Are you going to use investments to expand your business? What are the biggest risks?
