A Good PR Strategy may be Crucial for Your Business, but how do you Create one?

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Do potential customers know about your small business and what makes it special? Do they know the story of your company and what makes your products or services unique? Do they see you as a thought leader in your industry? Do potential customers know and trust your brand? If your answer to these questions is no, then you most likely need to execute a public relations strategy for your business.

A good PR strategy will manage your company’s reputation in a variety of ways by pitching reporters, editors, and bloggers about all of the unique ways in which your company’s products or services help your customers. It can also establish you as an expert in your field through news articles, blog posts and other digital mediums. Your reputation can also earn trust among potential customers. These factors can lead to greater brand recognition, public admiration and, ultimately, more sales.

A reputable outside PR agency can do all of this for you, but most of them are extremely expensive and may not fit into the shoe-string budgets of many small businesses. 

Should You Hire an Outside PR Firm?

Hiring an outside PR firm will certainly have its benefits, but will also be very expensive, as it will most likely cost your business several thousand dollars per month. If you have that kind of budget, you may wish to hire a smaller, boutique firm that will typically charge less than a large agency.

An outside PR firm should be able to handle media and community relations for you. It should also prepare pitches for the press, maintain a positive public reputation for your company and help you increase your online visibility. If you believe the price is too expensive, you may consider the fact that these boutique agencies are small businesses as well, and as such, need to charge a fair price for their services in order to survive.  

If an outside PR firm doesn’t fit into your budget, however, Here are some steps you can take to solidify your reputation and draw in new customers.

#1 Prepare a Pitch

One of the benefits of hiring an outside PR agency is that most firms have a fat rolodex of influential editors and reporters and can reach out to them on a moment’s notice. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t promote yourself to the press as well. But, before you seek out reporters, you’re first going to need to come up with a compelling pitch – a story idea that you bring to the press. 

For example, if you own and operate a retail store, you may want to pitch the idea of an article that covers “The 10 Best Ways to Find Bargains During the Holidays,” or if you own a restaurant, you may want to write a pitch about original Thanksgiving side dishes. Doing this will serve as fodder to engage reporters, editors and bloggers, all of whom are seeking good, thought-provoking content.

A pitch is just a few sentences describing an idea for an article, and shouldn’t take too much of your time. It should be focused and compelling, and speak directly to reporters, editors and bloggers on the topic you believe should be written about. Of course, include your contact information and offer to give them expert quotes or commentary 

#2 Solicit the Press

Soliciting reporters and editors can be a tricky business, and this is where an outside PR firm may be able to help you. If you don’t have the budget for one, however, there are steps you can take to do it yourself. 

Your search for reporters and editors should be targeted. Sending out a press release or pitch en masse via services such as PR Newswire is extremely expensive and will rarely bring you the targeted results you are looking for. Instead, think about the exact audience you are looking to reach, and then search for print and online publications that do reach them. This could include your town or city’s local business newspaper that’s widely read by members of your community, or a specialized, digital publication that specifically covers your industry. 

Finding the contact information for the right editors, bloggers and reporters of those blogs or publications should not be difficult – they are typically in the masthead of the publication. You may want to pitch them an article idea, or, if it’s a local publication, an idea for a weekly column.  Additionally, most publications do have an op-ed section in which you can write opinion pieces that will be published. Many national publications also list guidelines on how to author or contribute articles to the publications. 

You can also use digital online service Help a Reporter Out (HARO) from Cision, which is free. HARO routinely sends out queries from journalists, editors and bloggers who are seeking commentary on a wide array of topics. You can search by subject and most likely find a query that matches your area of expertise, and you can respond directly to that reporter or request to be interviewed for a story. 

#3 Get Involved in Your Community

If your budget allows you, a great way to gain brand recognition, public trust and credibility is to sponsor charitable events such as your neighborhood’s annual 5K race for a good cause, for example. You should also consider setting up a booth at any festivals that your neighborhood may hold. If you own a retail store or restaurant, you may also consider holding neighborhood events so that potential customers can see your business not only for the products or services that you offer, but as an important member of the community. 

For example, if you run a small, gourmet coffee house and want to differentiate yourself from the local Starbucks, maybe you can have a weekly night of poetry reading or live music to attract customers. If you own a restaurant, you may consider holding a weekly tasting event or a “kids-eat-free” night to show that you relate to your customers. 

#4 Create a Media Kit

One day you notice that your competitor is offering a new product or service. Although you may already offer a superior product, you see that articles and positive reviews are being written about your competitor’s product. How did this happen? The answer may be that your competitor has an online media readily available to the press, and you don’t.

A media kit, aka a press kit, is a set of tools to promote your business to reporters, bloggers and editors to assist them in writing articles about you when you have compelling news to share. Every small business, no matter the sector, should have one. Media kits typically include a comprehensive description of your company and what makes it different or compelling; your contact information; social media statistics and testimonials from past customers. Think of the “about us” page on your website on steroids.

#5 Be Active on Social Media

A great (and free) way to get your name out there is by hitting social media. You should create pages on various platforms specifically for your business, and include your media kit on it. Platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and others typically have chat groups or digital rooms dedicated specifically to your industry or profession in which you can comment and post your own thoughts. You should also use your page to regularly post compelling ideas or thoughts about your business in order to make connections, get advice from industry peers and further establish yourself as an authority. 

Have Patience

If you are going to execute a PR strategy, there is one crucial ingredient that you will need: patience. Establishing a rapport with reporters takes time, and no matter how strong your story pitch is, it may be delayed or shelved due to changing news cycles. You shouldn’t allow that to discourage you, however, because in the long run, PR will bring your business credibility, public trust and ultimately, more success. 

Auto mechanic working on car engine in mechanics garage. Repair service. authentic close-up shot

SMB Owners Share Solutions on Getting Around ‘Right to Repair’ Issue

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Nearly every small business, be it a manufacturer, medical office, restaurant, or dry cleaner, has run into the nagging ‘right to repair’ issue. While the issue has been brought to light recently by McDonald’s finicky soft-serve ice cream machines, for small businesses, the right to repair issue could threaten their very survival. 

The scenario is very simple: a machine that is vital to your small business’ operations breaks down, and if your state does not have a right to repair law, you have no choice but to contact the manufacturer of the machine – or a repair company authorized by the manufacturer – to repair it. This process can take a significant amount of time and cost thousands of dollars, as the manufacturer essentially has the monopoly on repair services and can charge whatever it wants.

SMBs Lose Time and Money 

Business owners say that having the right to repair their own machines through whatever local repair shop they choose would reduce machine downtime, increase the lifecycles of their machines, and potentially save them money on repair costs. It also costs consumers money, especially with cell phones, as many consumers would rather replace their cell phones or other electronic devices than go through the hassle and expense of contacting the manufacturer to fix them.

Manufacturers, however, claim that the right to repair would divulge proprietary trade secrets and could, in some situations, even be dangerous -for example – if a doctor’s office tries to repair a piece of medical equipment on its own and does not do it correctly. 

Either way, small businesses, such as manufacturers that rely on complex CNC machines or farmers that use John Deere tractors are caught in the middle of this issue, and it is costing them time and money. The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) estimates that Americans throw away 416,000 cell phones each year because most states do not have right to repair laws in place, and electronics makers such as Apple force customers to come directly to them for repairs. 

So if your state does not have a right to repair law in place, what do you do when your crucial machine breaks down? Kapitus spoke to everyday small business owners to find out. 

Get to Know Your Machine’s Warranty

In some cases, your machine’s warranty will cover the cost to repair, or parts needed to repair the machine yourself, said Ryan Fyfe, COO at Workpuls, Inc. 

“As with many pieces of legislation, the Right to Repair Act is a set of guidelines intended to keep electronics manufacturers accountable for their products,” he said. “The bill states that all companies must make their devices easily repairable and provide parts or tools necessary to do so. Keep in mind that you may not be able to get a refund on your device if it can’t be fixed…More often than not, the warranty will cover damaged components even after you’ve been using it for some time or attempting DIY fixes yourself. In addition, see what type of warranty your device has from its manufacturer before making any repairs, so you don’t void the protection policy.”

Get Comfortable Negotiating

Kyle MacDonald, president of GPS fleet tracking systems provider Force by Mojio emphasized that manufacturers generally want to keep you as a customer and therefore are often willing to negotiate repair prices.

“I am personally a supporter of ongoing ‘Right to Repair” campaigns since small businesses like mine would benefit from being able to seek lower-priced repairs by independent entities rather than going to the manufacturer,’ said MacDonald. “That said, we negotiate with the manufacturer when there is no other option for repairs. A lot of people think repairs aren’t negotiable, but we have had some success in talking manufacturers down to a lower price in the past. We also keep all warranty information on hand in case we can evoke the language used there to seek a free or low-cost replacement.”

Have Backups 

James Green, owner of Build a Head, added that his company works with manufacturers to make sure machines get repaired quickly. 

“We have made sure that we have at least two (usually more) of every essential machine so that production doesn’t come to a complete halt if one machine breaks or has an issue,” said Green. “Our management staff has also made it a priority to build personal connections with our manufacturers so that we can hopefully get repairs done more quickly. We haven’t had too many issues, but whenever we do, we try to personally reach out to our connections to reduce the time it takes to fix the problem.”

Be Your Own Repair Person 

Most small business owners that Kapitus spoke with said the real solution is to learn how to repair machines themselves. Of course, this solution will take training and hours spent watching instructional videos on Youtube, but it could be well worth it. 

Alex Wan, co-founder of small business Vinpit, said learning how to fix his own machines has become an invaluable skill. “I experience frequent breakdowns of my machines, and if I were to pay someone every time something needs fixing, then I’d have spent millions by now,” said Wan. “In short, I usually do a lot of the fixing on my own unless they’re complex and need an expert to get things done. Even when I hire someone to do repairs for me, I usually ask them to take me through the steps because I know I’d need that skill in future. In my honest opinion, small business owners ought to have basic repair skills especially related to their line of work since they could save them boatloads of cash.”

Jose Mier, founder of Heliotherapy Research Institute, said that becoming his own repairman has also saved his company a lot of money. “When I started out with my business and moved to an office, I kept running into problems with the air conditioning unit,” he said. “I had to constantly call AC repairmen, and the costs were piling up. Then, I decided to learn to fix the ACs myself. I watched many YouTube tutorial videos and took some help from professionals…Now, when I run into problems, such as electric control failures and leaks, I’m able to fix them myself. In the past few months since I learned this skill, I’ve been able to save myself a lot of hassle and money.”

Push for Legislation 

If your state does not have a right to repair law, you may consider writing to your local politician to push for one. Right to repair laws in states that have them typically require manufacturers to provide repair information on their machines to all customers, including manuals, and offer parts that can be used to repair their machines. 

“Repairing your own machinery is actually a great idea, but often one might not be able to do that despite having the knowledge because some companies do not provide the information or the parts one might need,” said David Attard, a web designer at CollectiveRay.com. This act will help small businesses save time and money.”

You can check to see if your state does have a right to repair law. If not, you can contact your local politician and join repair.org, an industry trade group that is advocating for a right to repair law on a federal level. 

Creative Staffing

Inventive Ways Small Businesses are Tackling Staffing Challenges

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Staffing challenges? Why not just hire more people? If only it were that easy. In what is now dubbed the “Great Resignation” the pool of qualified applicants seeking work has been shrinking in just about every field. Staffing shortages often hurt small businesses the most where each set of hands matters more than ever. Having less staff on board and less qualified applicants seeking work should mean disaster for America’s small business owners but that is not the case. We spoke with a number of small business owners across the country who have been exploring creative ways to deal with the seemingly insurmountable challenges that staffing shortages pose. Here are their inspiring stories of resiliency:

Incorporating Social Good

“When I started my blog, I worked with a largely American team. While the Great Resignation hasn’t affected me nearly as much as most brick and mortar businesses, we have had a few members of the team leave.

As a team, we have made the decision to work with young workers from other countries, predominantly third world, who need the experience as well as the work. We make it our mission to not only onboard the new team members, but also offer them upskilling and mentorship.

We have had amazing results. We’ve found that the international team has a deep desire to work and learn, something we consider incredibly valuable.”

 

Mollie Newton, Founder & Editor, PetMeTwice.com, Columbus, OH

 

 Optimizing Schedules

“We run thousands of virtual events every month, and for the most part our staff is able to handle this volume smoothly. However, December is exceptionally busy for us with both virtual team building and virtual holiday parties. For the first three weeks of December we make staffing and other adjustments to optimize our available staffing. For example, while in December we have set start times for events, like 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and so on — the goal is to to prevent overlapping time slots, so that fewer staff members can facilitate more events. When there is a small amount of overlap we have a host and co-host system to manage it. For example, usually the lead host will facilitate an entire event, including the intro, games and activities and conclusion. In busy times, the co-host may lead the intro, which means that the event isn’t disrupted if the host would otherwise be a few minutes late coming from another event. Again, the result is we can run more and better events for our clients.”

 

Michael Alexis, CEO, TeamBuilding.com, Covington, WA

 

Re-Thinking Delegation

“When dealing with staffing shortages, we make sure that our individual team members aren’t forced to take on additional or overtime work to make up for it. It is not their fault that there is a shortage in staff, so they shouldn’t have to take on the brunt of the additional work. We want to respect their job duties and time, so instead we have to figure out how to create an efficient delegation plan. We analyze individual strengths and specialties, and we work on delegating tasks effectively to the people who will be able to handle them correctly and quickly. If there is still additional work to be done, management staff will help complete them. Occasionally, we will hire freelancers to help with specialized projects or time-consuming tasks. There are always freelancers available to hire, so we know that they are always a possible resource.”

 

Kyle MacDonald, Director of Operations, Force by Mojio, Campbell, CA

 

Leveraging  AI

“As the owner of an SME ecommerce store, I’ve had to get savvy with resourcing the business as efficiently as possible. An example of how we maintain our customer service levels with 65% of the staff we had last year is by using AI tools. We use a chat bot to field all customer service enquiries both through live and email. The chat bot’s main aim is to separate those enquiries which the customer can solve themselves by visiting our FAQ’s or a product page from those more serious enquiries which require human invention. The other benefit of using a chatbot is that it offers an immediate reply, where as before our customer service agents would take up to 48 hours to reply, so in effect our service levels have actually improved with less staff.”

 

Marc Bromhall, Founder, Surf Gear Lab, San Clemente, CA

 

Embracing Flexibility

“In the current business environment that has been adversely affected by the pandemic, flexibility is the name of the game. In my opinion, flexibility isn’t just about giving employees the freedom to come to and leave the office at convenient times; it’s also about equipping them with a diverse set of skills. This way, even if there are fewer employees available at the office, their wide range of skills will allow them to work together productively. Let’s take the example of a retail store. If each department manager is also trained to administer employee satisfaction surveys, that means they will not only help customers with finding the products, but they’ll also be able to take the required feedback from them. This will ensure that there is enough flexibility in the workplace to compensate for a low number of employees and keep the business operations running smoothly.”

 

Elisa Bender, Co-founder, RevenueGeeks, California, USA

 

Staffing and the Future of Work

Technology and necessity have kickstarted a new conversation on the nature of work. Traditional pieces of a business as rigid as staffing itself have changed in ways never imaginable even five years ago. Modern alternatives and flexibility means that more of America’s flavorful and invigorating small business will survive which is always a good thing. As small businesses flex their every advantage in trying to stand toe-to-toe with big-name competitors, it’s clear that the businesses who adapt have the best chance of coming out on top.

Picture of Accountant at Computer Balancing Budget

How Predictive Accounting Can Help Your Business

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It’s no secret that many small businesses suffered from negative cash flow thanks to the crushing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In fact, the 2020 cash flow hiccup could still have harsh consequences, as it may affect small business’ ability to borrow money, plan for a new product launch or create an effective, forward-looking business plan.

As your business recovers from the pandemic, now may be a good time to implement a little-known accounting technique called predictive accounting. Predictive accounting typically utilizes AI software to analyze the ebbs and flows of your company’s past cash flows to reasonably predict how your company will financially perform in the future. 

“Cash flow-based lending using predictive analytics is becoming more popular as technology improves and predictive cash flow data becomes more readily acceptable,” said Nick Chandi, CEO and co-founder of ForwardAI, a financial technology company for small businesses. “After all, in addition to a business owner’s credit score, shouldn’t a primary concern be their continued ability to service loan payments? A loan application that includes a cash flow forecast and a prepared plan for what to do with the funding they receive will impress any small-time lender.” 

Why is Predictive Accounting Important?

Predictive accounting can be used to help your business in a variety of ways. First, it can make your business operate more efficiently. By analyzing your past cash flows and reasonably predicting future results, it can help you create a more sophisticated future business plan for your company. 

Predictive accounting can assist you in identifying

  • Future cash situations.
  • Upcoming business challenges, including cash flow gaps.
  • Potential monthly cash inflow/outflow.
  • Financial trends, and
  • Automated accounting and banking data comparison.

“Predictive accounting is based on the observation of how much managerial work can be repeatable,” said Stephen Curry, CEO of eSignature company CoCo Sign. “Also, it projects future financial performance utilizing a significant statistical understanding of your company’s processes. It mainly allows for management assessments in terms of accounting-oriented characteristics.”

Curry also emphasized that predictive accounting can reasonably predict which areas of your company you will need to focus more heavily in the years to come based on your company’s past financial performance.

“The key to predictive accounting in creating a 3-year business plan is to focus management on the future instead of the past,” he added. “Using this, you will be capable of pulling details from various systems, and it can improve forecasting, which means you can create a better long-term plan, which directly impacts the customer response time, experience, revenue, and faster decision-making.”

Predictive Accounting can Help in Financing

Today, traditional and alternative lenders have to make judgement calls on whether to do business with SMBs, since many suffered from negative cash flows in 2020. Some lenders may want to see a three-year revenue history to make sure that 2020 was just a financial anomaly, but some may want to get an idea of how your business will do going forward to determine your company’s ability to pay back a loan. 

This is where forward-looking accounting using sophisticated AI software can help you. With it, lenders can get a good idea of what your cash flow may look like in the future, based on historical accounting data, thus strengthening your case when you’re seeking financing.

“Future financial health is a crucial data point for lenders to understand how likely it is that a borrower will successfully complete their loan,” said Chandi. “Since cash flow is the strongest indication of a company’s continuing viability, it makes sense that projected cash flow would be an important metric for anyone interested in small business loans. 

“While account statements and tax returns show you the past, predictive cash flow gives you critical insight into a prospective borrower. It’s not guesswork, either. Cash flow forecasting technology is a methodical invention built with innovative technology.”

Organize Your Business for Years to Come

You can use predictive accounting to divide your business into different categories and year blocks and then separate all the cash and other resources available to your business over the next X amount of years. This can give you an idea of how much of your resources you should be allocated  to each segment of your business in the coming years. 

Put simply, when you, the SMB owner, decide what areas of your business to spend money on in the coming years, your decision shouldn’t be based solely on historical data, rather, it should be based on rolling financial forecasts. 

“You might decide that half your resources will be used up in building a new factory for producing widgets,” said Lynda Fairly, cofounder of Numlooker, a New York-based small business specializing in providing reverse phone number lookups. “You might decide another quarter will be used on marketing your product line. 

“And another quarter on developing new products and improving existing ones, etc. Once you have determined precisely how much money is available for each area in each year, you can then determine how much profit will be generated.”

“Again, using a process of predictive financial modeling, you can develop a sales forecast and profit forecast for the next three years. Once you know what your surplus cash will be in each of the next three years, you can then allocate this surplus to specific projects by breaking it down into smaller chunks.”

I’m Not an Accountant – How Can I Use Predictive Accounting?

If your small business uses an accountant, he or she should be able to provide predictive accounting as a service and be able to advise you on how best to use it in planning your business going forward or to get financing. If you do not have an accountant, you probably should consult with one. There are also plenty of affordable accounting software packages that may be able to help you.

Powerful accounting software such as Oracle’s Netsuite can help guide you through predictive accounting.

Some of the most popular accounting software packages are Sage Intacct, Oracle NetSuite, FinancialForce and Epicore Financial Management. Whichever one you choose, however, you must understand that predictive accounting is a complex process. It may be in your best interest to at least get advice from an accountant to see how it works and how it can help you.

Open Communication and Your Office

How to Create a Culture of Open Communication in Your Workplace

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A growing trend in the business world has been creating a culture of “open communication” in the workplace. Open communication workplaces have been a welcomed and growing trend among employees, supervisors, and bosses — but what exactly constitutes “open communication” and is it right for your business?

What is an Open Communication Office Culture?

In short, an office with a culture of open communication is one where employees feel comfortable speaking openly without fear of backlash. Open communication means that both supervisors and employees can speak candidly about their problems in an environment in which both know they will be treated fairly.

For example, imagine that a designer is concerned about their current workload and thinks they may not be able to meet current deadlines. If that designer didn’t feel comfortable speaking about their limits to their supervisor, the designer may work late, then grow resentful of their job and company. In a culture of open communication, the designer would feel comfortable approaching their supervisor to adjust their workload. In the same respect, an open communication-friendly supervisor would authentically listen to the designer’s request and act on it in whatever way possible.

Changing an office culture doesn’t happen in a day, but changes from the top of a company often trickle down. The most essential step of fostering open communication is getting bosses and supervisors educated on the key points of an open communication office.

Know Your Employees as People

While this tip may sound abstract, seeing past employees’ titles and into their humanity is the basis of an open communication office. Learn your employees’ goals, ambitions, hobbies and otherwise. Let meetings and work conversations go off-topic every once in a while. Keeping communications strictly business quickly builds an “us versus them” mentality between employees and bosses.

A great way to get to know your employees is to get out of the office. Set up social outings a few times a year at local restaurants or attractions. By putting everyone on equal footing outside the office, higher-ups can take off their “boss caps” and learn about their employees less by their work responsibilities and more by their genuine personality.

Anonymous Feedback Channel

Either through surveys or anonymous email inboxes, having an anonymous avenue for feedback is one of the best ways to get candid criticism from employees in the early days of an open communication office. The goal, of course, of an open communication office is for employees to feel comfortable speaking their minds but starting anonymously is great first step for learning what your employees are looking for and in a zero-stakes environment.

If you plan to set up an anonymous Google Survey, advise employees to not use their gmail accounts when filling out the form, as it may show alongside their results. Advise the same when using an anonymous feedback email inbox.

When drafting your survey, ask the type of questions that matter to employees but that they may not be comfortable saying out loud. Ask questions like “do you feel happy at work, why or why not,” “Do you think our office runs efficiently, why or why not.” It is essential that when you get genuine criticism or feedback that you act on it immediately. Employees will begin to feel like their voices matter when their feedback leads to concrete action.

Learn from Exit Interviews

Employees leave companies for a multitude of reason, but make sure someone isn’t leaving your business because they felt stuck or unheard. Employees in exit interviews will likely be more open about both the good and bad things about an office since they are on the way out anyways. Don’t be afraid to ask hard hitting question not only about office culture but about the performance of bosses and supervisors.

Put together a written survey for exit interviews and ask outgoing employees to fill them out ahead of time. By giving employees time to think about your questions early, you’ll almost always get better thought-out answers.

In the actual interview itself, do everything you can to drop feelings of interrogation in exchange for conversation. Avoid targeted questions and make absolutely no reference to specific employees. If the conversation suddenly turns to bashing another employee, listen without directly agreeing. Your job is to get authentic feedback about what your outgoing employee liked and disliked about your office. Use their feedback to fuel future changes in yourself and the office.

After several exit interviews, see if you can find a trend among former employees and their feelings about the office. Like in the results of an anonymous survey, be certain to act on all feedback to further foster a culture where everybody’s voice matters.

Public OKRs and Regular Meetings

Be upfront with your employees about the company’s objectives and key results (OKR). Explain to each employee how their work fits into the company’s goals and plans. Make sure key changes in the company are communicated clearly and to everyone.

The best way to get all of a company’s information on the table is to host regular meetings both with your entire team as well as semi frequent one-on-one meetings. Find a flow for these meetings that lands between professional and informal. With the prevalence of remote work and Zoom meetings, it can be doubly difficult to find time for watercooler informal chats, but as the boss, take the first step in setting the tone for your meetings.

Open communication means open communication, so good and bad updates must be shared equally. The quickest ways for employees to feel left in the dark is for them to learn negative updates are being sheltered from them while positive ones are being celebrated. It’s not enough for just the boss to share news and OKRs. Employees must be a real part of the conversation. Get your team in the habit of sharing what projects they are working on as well. Since company OKRs are public, reenforce that everyone’s projects are pieces of the company’s overall goals.

Own Your Mistakes

In the world of tough-guy-isms and old-world corporate boys’ clubs, bosses who own up to their mistakes were weak and seen as weaker by their employees. This is absolutely not true. If a boss is willing to admit when they missed the mark, employees may feel empowered to do the same. Use your mistakes and shortcomings as a learning experience and be just as open about them as your successes.

Talking about mistakes with your team is another great way to break down the vicious us-versus-them mentality between employees and bosses. Trust is essential in an open communication workplace. Don’t betray your employees’ trust by withholding information out of fear of losing face, as the negative impact of suppressing information is almost always greater.

Open communication culture lives and dies by those “in charge”. If change isn’t authentically accepted by higher-ups, employees will never feel comfortable enough to speak openly. 

Are You Effectively Using Open Communication Practices?

Many workplaces may be quick to claim their offices believe in “open communication,” but rarely do those claims come with concrete changes. Every business owner and employee can benefit from learning more about, and embracing an open communication office culture. So, if your workplace can use some improvements is to take small gradual steps, ensuring you include your employees along the way, and culture will follow.

 

Hands texting, talking bubbles coming out of cell phones.

Ways to Modernize Your Customer Engagement 

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Customer engagement could very well be the most important part of your small business, as it leads to customer retention – the essential backbone of any business, large or small. That means that you should constantly be asking yourself, ‘Am I engaging my customers in the most effective possible way?’ and ‘Am I using the most up-to-date customer engagement tools?’

According to a recent report from Qualtrics XM Institute, a company that helps businesses measure the effectiveness of customer engagement, companies that earn $1 billion annually can earn $775 million more within three years of investing in customer engagement. 

In today’s digital age and competitive business market, customer engagement is much more than simply smiling and telling your customers “Thank you and come back again” as they walk out the door, or counting the clicks on your website.

In order for your customer engagement to be effective, it must be well thought out, modernized digital, and personal. This means analyzing your customer journey; getting customer feedback; listening to what customers are saying about you through reviews, communicating with them through various channels and delivering a consistent and pleasant experience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more customer touchpoints developed than there ever have been. 

Here are some digital tools that can help ensure that you are staying on top of customer engagement:

  • Social Networks

The benefits of using social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, to name but a few, are endless. A recent study from Business 2 Community found that 63% of millennials use social media to keep up to date with their favorite brands. Effective social media marketing, however, should go beyond simply setting up a company page to make announcements and promote product discounts.

Social media can be used as a platform for your customers to share their experience with your company, and to produce content that could establish you as not just a great business, but a thought leader in your industry. It can also be used to start conversations between you and your customers and gain valuable contacts, among other things. Navigating the social media maze, however, can be a bit challenging, as every platform has its own set of rules. Fortunately, there are online courses you can take to learn how to maximize social media, with many of them not costing anything. 

  • Messaging Platforms

Messaging platforms send messages directly to your customers’ smartphones, tablets or computers, often through downloadable apps. They can be used to inform them of new products, promote sales or promotions, or make general announcements. If you’re dubious about SMS platforms because you think customers will automatically delete messages from your business, research has shown that isn’t likely to happen. A recent survey from Retail Dive showed that 83% of SMS messages are opened within 90 seconds by people. A 2021 survey by Facebook also found another hard-to-ignore statistic: 53% of consumers want the ability to purchase directly through a messaging app, while 59% want to customize products through chat functions. 

Setting up a messaging app can be tricky because a lot are out there. Some of the most popular ones include RingCentral, Twist, and Cisco WebEx Teams.  Many of them are also free and seamless to use, but you generally want to choose business apps over personal apps, and you should read customer reviews and check their ease of use before committing to one of them. 

RingCentral is one of many powerful digital messaging platforms that can help you maximize tour digital presences.

  • Website Analytics

Whether you’re a law firm, retail store owner or a construction company, your website is the hub of your digital presence and therefore absolutely central to your customer experience. Just measuring the clicks on your site is not enough. You need to ensure that it’s optimized to provide customers what they need – and maximizing engagement is fundamental. That said, website analytics can help you exactly track the progress that your site is making.

Website analytics tell you things such as how much time visitors are spending on your site, the bounce rate (the percentage of your site’s visitors who leave without taking action) and average session duration. Without website analytics, your business is simply taking a shot in the dark on the internet. 

Google Analytics, which is free, is probably the most popular website analytics service out there, but there are a host of cost-effective services such as Improvado and LEADSrx that can help you maximize your site and tell you if your site needs to be improved. 

  • Chatbots

As a business owner, you aren’t going to be available 24-hours a day to interact with your customers, so chatbots may be a great solution for you. Chatbots are online AI tools that act as virtual assistants and can speak to your customers when you can’t. They can provide real-time customer assistance and can answer basic questions that potential customers may have about your business. 

Most of all, they maintain the all-important two-way dialogue with you and your customer and can speed up response times when your customer requires human assistance.  

Some of the most popular chatbots are available from ProProfs Chat, Mitsuku and Botsify. While a chatbot will add an extra expense to your business, the benefits could be well worth it. 

  • Digital Customer Surveys

Customer surveys provide feedback on what your customers experienced when doing business with your company, and they can tell you what your customer liked and disliked. Well thought out customer surveys are especially helpful for retail stores, restaurants, eCommerce and other consumer-related businesses, as they provide insight on what your company should keep doing and what it should improve upon, and they are a way of letting your customers know that you care about what their experience was. 

With the right software, customer surveys can be completed conveniently on smartphones, tablets and computers. There are plenty of survey software providers out there, with the most popular being  from Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey.

  • A/B Testing

A/B testing may be one of the more complex marketing tools out there, but it is also one of the most important. A/B testing is when two or more variants of a digital asset – such as an email or a web page – are shown to users at random, and statistical analysis is used to determine which performs better in terms of customer conversion. 

Put simply, it’s a technique used to determine the effectiveness of a web page or other digital asset, and can ensure that you are building your company’s digital presence in the most effective manner. For example, if you want your site to include a new page to promote a sale or new product, and you want to know how effective it will be in attracting customers, you may want to execute an A/B test. 

In such a test, you would modify a web page to create a second version of the same page. This difference between the two pages may be as simple as a headline or button, or it could be a complete redesign of the page. Then, half of your traffic is shown the original version of the page and the other half are shown the modified version of the page. Each page would have a dashboard to show you the effectiveness of each. 

There are a host of A/B testing software companies out there, with Optimizely and Click Funnels being among the most popular. Prices range from $100 to $250 per month, depending on what exactly you are looking for. 

Modernizing Makes a Difference

The reality of today’s consumer is that they want to shop online yet continue to want personable service. Of course, that’s a lot to ask of small business owners, but in today’s digital world, it’s crucial for your survival that you meet customers’ needs and expectations. 

We all know that there aren’t enough hours in the day to fully address customer engagement, so these digital tools can ensure that you aren’t losing customers and that your returning customers are kept happy. 

Joe Biden speaking at the conference about employment changes.

SMBs Should Expect and Prepare for Employment Changes Under Biden 

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The policy differences between the Trump and Biden administrations may be night and day, and if President Joseph Biden has his way – especially with Democrats holding a slim majority in Congress for roughly the next year – small businesses may have to make significant changes in the way they manage employees. 

As if running a small business wasn’t complicated enough – if you own and operate a small business, whether you also serve as the human resources manager or have an on-staff HR executive, you can expect legislative change in areas such as wages, diversity training, dealing with unionized employees and offering more paid time off. 

Tracking and implementing potential changes may seem like an overwhelming task as debate continues on the American Infrastructure and Jobs Act and the American Families Plan (AFP), which will usher in sweeping changes if passed. If you don’t have an internal HR executive, you may want to consider hiring an outside HR consultant or business attorney to make sure you are in compliance with upcoming potential changes.

Some HR issues to consider under the Biden administration are: 

An Expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Under the current FMLA, employers must provide workers with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for illness or injury, or to care for a sick family member. Employees must be allowed to return to their same or an equivalent job at the end of their leave.

According to the fact sheet for the AFP, if Biden’s plan is enacted, you should expect to be required to give your employees paid time off for family matters and medical leave. The proposed changes would essentially create a sweeping increased paid family and medical leave program.

In short, the Biden administration is proposing that, over a 10-year period, employers guarantee 12 weeks of paid parental, family illness, personal illness or safety-related leave. Workers would receive three days of bereavement leave per year starting in year one. Congress is still debating the bill, but it is expected to be voted upon before the end of the year. 

Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Bill

The PRO bill narrowly passed the US House of Representatives on March 9 and is currently being debated in the Senate. If passed, the PRO Act would present a potentially significant disadvantage to small business owners in that it would expand workers’ rights to organize and form unions. 

The PRO Act, which would be enforced by the National Labor Relations Board, would also:

  • Prohibit mandatory arbitration agreements in employment contracts. An arbitration agreement is typically a clause in an employment contract which obligates employees to arbitrate all disputes with his/her employee and prevents an employee from organizing a class action suit against an employer. Historically, such a process has favored large corporations, but prohibiting such clauses could work against a small business in that it would make small businesses susceptible to frivolous lawsuits. 
  • The Act would reverse the US Supreme Court’s previous decision that mandatory arbitration agreements were enforceable.
  • It would also potentially change the ABC Test – a test used in some states to determine whether a person is an independent contractor or full-time employee – by imposing stricter requirements for an employer on how to classify a worker. This is important because, unlike a contractor, a full-time employee is entitled to overtime pay, collective bargaining power and health insurance benefits. The Senate is still hashing out what the line will be that separates an independent contractor from a full-time employee.
  • Create new civil penalties and make SMB owners vulnerable to personal legal liability.

An Increase to the Minimum Wage

As we continue to navigate the ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic. labor groups and unions have been adamant about raising the current $7.25/hour federal minimum wage, which Democratic Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has repeatedly referred to as a “starvation wage.” 

 

A national increase to minimum wage is one of the sweeping labor proposals from the Biden Administration.

Biden has spoken about raising the wage a number of times since his 2020 campaign, and ordered the minimum for federal contractors to be raised to $15/hour in April. Various states and private corporations such as Amazon and Target have already raised hourly wages to $15 to $20/hour. 

While Congress has yet to hash out a plan to raise the wage, small businesses should already be considering a raise in pay to their hourly employees due to another concern: the current worker shortage. 

People who were furloughed or laid off during the pandemic and are now re-entering the workforce are demanding more than the minimum wage and better working conditions. Small businesses need to comply with that despite the hit to their bottom lines.

The Incorporation of a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Policies

One of Biden’s first acts as president was to reverse President Trump’s executive order 13950 forbidding diversity-inclusion training and education in federal agencies, the military, federally-contracted companies (a large percentage of which are small businesses), and for federal grant recipients. 

The revocation of the order affects small businesses – even ones that have 10 or less employees – in that it makes them more susceptible to legal action for discrimination, especially if they do not have a DEI training plan in place. The intent of the revocation was to encourage companies to put DEI training programs in place, but with such a policy in place, it may be possible for employees to prove unconscious bias or systemic racism in a lawsuit against an employer. 

“A company’s unilateral decision to enforce DEI policies regarding bias/systemic racism is an employee’s only protection while at work,” said Andrew Lacy, founding Attorney of The Lacy Employment Law Firm, a labor rights and employment firm, in an interview with HR consulting firm Zenefits. 

An Increase in Immigrants and Foreign Visa Workers

The US workforce, on average, relies on 1 million foreign temporary workers and 8 million undocumented immigrants. Under the Trump administration, most new temporary work visas were suspended under the decree that those temporary workers competed with Americans for jobs. 

Additionally, Trump rejected new applications for the President Obama-era program of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that provided a 2-year period of deferred action from deportation and granted a work permit, among other protections, and temporarily suspended a variety of work visas in his attempt to limit immigration. Trump’s attempts to limit immigration arguably disrupted the workforce in the US, since undocumented immigrants often fill low-paying jobs and are always in need by both big and small businesses alike.

Under Biden’s proposed U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants will have extended legal rights as well as an eight-year pathway to citizenship. Additionally, the act will limit workplace raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), thus presenting less disruption to small businesses. 

Anyway You Slice it, Change is Likely Coming

Whether you call yourself liberal or conservative, the fact is that now is the first time Democrats have controlled the executive and legislative branches of the federal government since 2015, and this will be the case until after the midterm elections in January 2023. 

With a little more than a year to go, you can bet Democrats will push for as much of the Biden Administration’s agenda as possible, so if you’re an SMB owner or an HR executive at an SMB, you can most definitely expect change between now and 2022, and now is the time to start preparing for it.

Close up man hand scanning QR code with cell phone, woman hand pointing to QR code.

What you Need to Know About QR Code and SMS Payment Options

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It is now easier than ever to accept contactless payment from Visa, Mastercard, Discover and even American Express. Some new payment options, however, have emerged that your business may want to capitalize on. Not counting services like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay which all work as NFC-enabled versions of customers’ existing credit cards, there are several new and re-emerging payment options that businesses may be missing out on. Services like Venmo and its parent company PayPal are P2P (person to person), meaning that customers can transfer money between each other, and more importantly, hold a balance similar to a bank account. More and more companies have also been accepting payment via SMS, leading several small businesses to wonder if they, too, should adopt the young technology.

PayPal, and more recently Venmo, have become massive money-moving tools and recently announced that their users can pay with their account balances via contactless payment. Accepting contactless payment beyond the big four card companies can be a big win for your small business but there are some additional steps and caveats you should know about adopting QR code contactless payment before you sign the dotted line. This article will explain the key details of up-and-coming payment methods including Venmo for business, PayPal contactless, and pay by SMS via Everyware so business owners can make a more informed decision as to whether or not these payment options will work for their business.

Paying by QR Code

While an exceedingly popular payment option in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, QR Codes are just taking off in the United States and Canada. Paying by SMS exploded in the countries it did largely because merchants took advantage of near-universally used messenger apps that doubled as virtual wallets. In recent years, two companies, which quickly merged into one company, have become the de facto kings of QR payment in the west; those being Venmo and PayPal.

QR Code payment functions through an intermediary app like Venmo or PayPal where merchants set the price on a tablet, terminal, or phone and have the customer scan the code with their phone. The customer will then be prompted to pay on their own device. PayPal and Venmo, however, do not operate equally and it is important to know the differences between the two apps’ rates and terms.

PayPal by QR Code

In order to take advantage of PayPal’s contactless QR checkout, merchants need a merchant PayPal QR code. Business owners can download their own QR code for free from this link. Once you have your unique QR code, either print out the code or set up a tablet at your point of sale that customers can scan when checking out.

Terms: PayPal offers rather competitive terms even compared to NFC-enabled contactless payment. Both guest and PayPal user transactions have a fixed fee for commercial transactions that is determined based on currency. The chart below lays out PayPal’s terms for USD.

  Rate Fixed Fee (Per Transaction)
QR Code Transactions $10.00 USD and Below 2.40% $0.05 USD
QR Code Transactions $10.01 USD and Above 1.90% $0.10 USD

 

Bottom Line: Adding PayPal contactless payment is a mostly harmless addition to your business that lacks an annual or monthly fee and offers competitive rates. One problem brick-and-mortar retailers may see is that customers must manually type the amount of money they are sending to merchants. Unlike NFC payment where the merchant inputs their price and customers scan their card, QR code payment via PayPal may cause slowdowns in long queues because of a need to double-check if customers have paid the proper amount. PayPal QR payment is likely a great choice for small businesses that are one-person operations like barbers or businesses in environments like outdoor markets. If you are a business with a brick-and-mortar facility, do your research to see if QR code payment may be more hassle than it is worth.

Venmo by QR Code

Venmo is actually owned by PayPal, but Venmo’s commercial transaction rates and payment options are slightly different from its parent company. To accept Venmo contactless payment at your business, you’ll need a free Venmo business profile. You can set up a Venmo business profile through this link. Once you have an account and have set up your QR code, if you’re interested in stepping up your Venmo presence at your point of sale, look into Venmo’s several QR kits with official QR code lanyards, tabletop displays, and stickers.

Small businesses that don’t have a dedicated point of sale can use their Venmo business profile as a virtual POS, great for contactless payment. Similar to personal Venmo accounts, merchants can set prices and charge customers as well as let customers initiate a payment. The Venmo QR code system allows merchants to manually select a price, show the customer their unique QR code, and have that price show up on the customer’s Venmo account. Once the charge is complete, the merchant will be immediately notified.

Terms: Even though PayPal owns Venmo, business profiles on Venmo have somewhat different transaction fees. Venmo’s rate is flat, unlike PayPal’s which splits its rate above and below $10 USD. Also, unlike PayPal which can use several international currencies, Venmo specifically deals in USD.

  Rate Fixed Fee (Per Transaction)
Venmo QR Code Transaction 1.90% $0.10 USD

 

Bottom line: Accepting Venmo QR contactless transactions is functionally similar to accepting PayPal QR, but Venmo still has unique advantages over its parent company. Venmo sits squarely in between P2P payment mediator and social media. Venmo transactions are broadcast on the app like status updates on Facebook or Instagram. Accepting Venmo at small businesses is a great way to increase brand awareness and generate some free marketing.

 

 

While PayPal is most popular for online retailers and small businesses, Venmo truly puts the “person” into P2P as the app is commonly known for friends splitting bills and other social occasions. If your business is frequented by younger consumers or is too small to support a full-scale POS with the big four credit card providers, Venmo QR payment is likely a great way to make payment even easier for your customers.

Paying by SMS

Even though SMS predates even the QR code, using SMS for payment is still a relatively young option. While most SMS payment services offer a full suite of features including marketing and customer support options, today we will focus specifically on payment and whether implementing the system is worthwhile for your business.

Paying by SMS means that a merchant must send a message to a customer with an imbedded link that redirects them to a webpage where they can pay for a service. Many pay by SMS services also double as customer service platforms and can just as easily distribute refunds when necessary.

Everyware by SMS

Everyware is an all-in-one eCommerce tool with a payment system that functions more like invoicing than retail sales. Since payment is done via SMS it may be time-consuming to coordinate getting a customer’s phone number at a POS. If you run a business through Facebook, Twitter or websites that use Stripe for e-sales, Everyware is likely a dream tool. Even brick-and-mortar locations have begun adopting SMS payment parallel to traditional ordering by phone.

Terms: Compared to paying by QR code, paying by SMS has a slightly higher rate and fixed fee. This rate difference is likely due to the several other services that SMS payment tools include like message automation and marketing tools.

  Rate Fixed Fee (Per Transaction)
Relay SMS Transaction 2.90% $0.30 USD

 

Bottom Line: A big hit to pay by SMS services like Everyware is that they have monthly or annual fees. Once again, this is because of the several services offered at once by companies like Everyware. Everyware does not disclose individual pricing deals on their websites and asks that interested merchants contact their sales team to set up a free trial.

Everyware is likely a useful tool for near-all ecommerce companies, but it is a harder sell for stores with a physical POS. SMS payment would likely be much more helpful in brick-and-mortar stores as an additional option for calling ahead or ordering early. As long as you can spare a staff member to quickly answer messages from customers the same way as you would treat a customer phone call, Everyware may be a helpful tool to increase sales.

The Future of Payment

The COVID-19 pandemic massively increased demand for alternative, contactless payment options like SMS and QR codes. Even as the pandemic wanes and customers are going back to their pre-2020 habits, these new payment systems have shown no sign of slowing down. Businesses that meaningfully adopt QR code or SMS payment systems into their business will likely find that it will only go to increase sales. If that comes in the form of customers who would text their order rather than call, or customers that share their visit to your business on their Venmo timeline, new payment systems are reflective of the world’s new consumers. Businesses that adapt first have the most to gain.

Fostering the Customer Experience Without Breaking the Bank

Best Low Cost Methods for Creating a Stellar Customer Experience

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Before a customer makes even one purchase from you, their customer experience has already started. The customer experience is the culmination of every moment a customer spends with your business until they are no longer your customer. A good customer experience creates an emotional bond between your business and that customer, keeping them coming back again and again. Cultivating a stellar customer experience takes time and care but does not have to break the bank. Many strategies that strengthen the customer experience are cost-free and those with a price tag have the potential to produce great ROI through satisfied return customers and increasing the life-time value of a customer.  

Don’t Confuse Customer Experience with Customer Service

All of the most basic interactions your business and staff have with a customer account for customer service. Customer service is the most baseline expectation for customer interaction that businesses must meet to avoid bad online reviews and word of mouth. Answering the phone, making eye contact, saying ‘thank you,’ and listening to customer requests are all examples of customer service; all good things, but in no way memorable. Customer experience, on the other hand,  accounts for all of the unique, personal touches your business can make to emotionally connect with your client base. If done correctly, your customer experience should both raise your reviews from average to great as well as increase the number of sales you make through word of mouth and advocacy marketing.

The customer experience is what people remember about your business. Think about the small businesses that have made an impression on you. All of those elements that may have impressed you or made you laugh are a part of your own customer experience; it should be your business’s goal to get those same emotions from your customers.

Building a Brand

The first step to strengthening your customer experience is making sure you have a strong brand. While your small business may not be able to match the variety of Amazon or the low prices of Wal-Mart, small businesses have every opportunity to make their own brand, or business personality, compelling, targeted, and identifiable. Building a compelling brand for your business often begins with keeping all aspects of your brand like colors, tone, font consistent. If you don’t know what aspects work best for your business, do some light research to find out the median age and interests of your customers. Having a business with a distinct personality is the first step to making customers feel like their interactions with your company feel special.

Focusing your businesses’ brand to be more appealing to your customers is the best way to make those customers feel even better about visiting your business. Keep in mind these key pieces of a business’s brand when assessing your own.

Brand History and Story: Customers will feel even more connected to your business if they know how you started out. Small businesses with grassroots or individual histories should actively tell those stories on their website and social media pages. Businesses with start-up stories will likely resonate even more with customers, strengthening their customer experience.

Brand Personality: Establishing a brand personality means giving traits to your business that customers can then associate with. The first step to finding or refining your brand personality is choosing some adjectives that you think define your business. Get your staff into the conversation as well and try to get a list of words like “laidback, friendly, sophisticated, professional,” or anything that fits your business. A brand personality is essential for cultivating the customer experience, as customers more easily establish an emotional bond with a business that has perceived human traits.

Brand Values: Being upfront about what your business stands for is increasingly important to the customer experience. Bind your brand to memorable and compelling values like diversity, accessibility, or whatever values you think apply to your business. Then, draft a concise mission statement for your business that encompasses those values. Make sure your customers can easily access your mission statement from your website, social media and especially in your actual place of business.

Handwriting Goes a Long Way

This tip may seem basic, but handwriting is often overlooked for the sake of digital convenience. How often does your staff use pen and paper when communicating with customers? Think back to any time you’ve received a thank you card with genuine handwriting and how that made you feel. Clever use of handwritten notes reminds customers that your business is run by people and not robots and algorithms. Even further, use writing by hand as an opportunity to further your brand personality. Here are a few places your staff can implement handwriting to go the distance and make a personal connection with your customers.

Receipts: When appropriate, encourage staff to add a personal touch to customer receipts. Even a smiley-face or “thanks” is a quick way into a customer’s memory.

Special Notices: Even the most mundane notices like restroom closures or your business’ mask guidelines are ripe for handwriting as well as brand personality. Instead of simply writing “restroom closed,” consider your brand personality and make a sign another way to display your business’s unique traits.

Marketing Materials: Marketing doesn’t have to mean expensive postal and email campaigns. Marketing to cultivate the customer experience can be as simple as making changes inside and out of your store. If your storefront is along a street or busy walkway, consider getting a chalk board and writing something clever about your business beyond your hours. Once again, if your business is on a walkway, consider getting a water bowl for pets during the warmer months. Write a witty, cute note above the bowl inviting pets to take a drink. While the pet partakes, the owner is then much more likely to take a second look at your store.

Get Your Staff Involved

Direct interactions with staff are the basis of making customer experiences memorable. If you run a business with outward facing staff, be certain that your training encourages staff to interact with customers when appropriate. If you have in-house customer service, be certain they are trained to be both effective and infectiously friendly. For businesses who sell products from a brick-and-mortar location, round up your staff and either cultivate a ‘Staffs’ Picks’ collection of products or encourage your staff to select their favorite products and write up endorsements; double points if those endorsements are hand-written!

When getting your staff involved, be sure they are just as aware of your company’s brand and personality as you are. When your business’s brand is strong enough, you can even use your brand to attract staff that already represent your preferred tone and outward appearance.

Dynamic and meaningful staff interactions account for the most important piece of a customer experience. If customers are meant to resonate with your business’s brand and perceived traits, those traits ought to come through strongest via your employees who embody those same traits.

Follow-up After Visits

Following-up with your clients is one of the most certain ways to both improve their customer experience as well as increase the chances they will return to your business. There are several ways a business can follow-up with clients eg: email, SMS, letters, social media; it is essential your business finds out which medium resonates most with your customer base.

Follow-ups with clients absolutely must be timely. Be certain that any kind of follow up message is sent either the same day the customer interacted with your store, or as soon as possible. By sending a follow-up message close to the client’s visit, it’s clear to the customer that they are a priority to you, the business.

In order for your follow-up messages to avoid a quick send to the digital trash bin, think of creative ways to add value to your correspondence. Some examples are to give avenues for direct feedback and places for customers to give suggestions. If a customer fills out a feedback or suggestion form, that is another great place for a personalized follow-up! Be receptive and respectful if customers have meaningful complaints or thought-out criticism in their responses, as addressing those complaints thoughtfully can massively rebound a poor customer experience.

Social Media, Blogs, and Keeping Customers Engaged

Customers who are already wowed by your company and want to keep up with your brand even further will often use social media and your company website to keep in touch with your business until their next visit. Make sure that your web presence is sharp and up to date with content that reflects your established brand. Use your social media channels to advertise events in your store or to highlight new products in fun and charming ways. Your goal with social media outreach is to stay in the conversation; whatever that conversation is will be up to your target audience and existing customers.

The most sure-fire way to positively influence the customer experience on social media is to actively engage with customers. When people comment on your posts or “@” your business, it is imperative that your official account responds and engages with those posts in a timely manner. Keep a close eye on posts from people who tag your business after visiting; just a simple ‘thanks for stopping by’ can make a huge impact on that customer’s experience.

A great way to make social media part of the customer experience is responding to comments or posts that mention your business. Even engaging customers on social media is part of the customer experience. Get creative! If you have some regular customers who are big fans of your business, maybe feature them on your social media page along with a quote from that customer. Make sure to always get clear consent from customers before taking their picture or uploading pictures of them to the Internet.

An new strategy for keeping social media costs low is to work with interns. Large companies searching for social media managers often ask that applicants have several years’ experience to even apply. By making your company an entry-level opportunity, you can both grow your brand and business personality while giving young professionals the experience they need to pursue social media management as a career.

Final Considerations on Brand and Customer Experience

The basis of a memorable customer experience is one that breaks the mold of mundane daily tasks. Your aim should be to genuinely surprise customers with your business’s humanity and attention to detail. Good staff are an undeniable necessity when building a memorable customer experience; be certain they are as aware of this as you are. Find ways to both engage your customers as well as your outward-facing staff and those stellar experiences emblematic of small businesses will often happen naturally.

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What is Revenue-Based Financing and How Can it Benefit You?

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Let’s say you have an idea for a brilliant new product, but you just don’t have the money to research, develop and market it, and you’ve been turned down by traditional lenders and the private equity markets for capital. What if your small business needs cash to cover a business emergency, but your bank’s lending process just takes too long? 

What do you do? 

The answer could lie in one of the fastest-rising – yet least known – funding solutions out there: revenue based financing (RBF). RBF is a form of financing that could get you the assets you need quickly and without the need for personal collateral or an impeccable credit score.

What is Revenue-Based Financing?

Revenue Based Financing is a capital-raising method in which a lender, such as Kapitus, agrees to provide money to a business in exchange for a predetermined percentage of a company’s future gross revenues, plus a pre-agreed upon multiple of the original amount, over a predetermined time frame.

In essence, it allows a company to successfully raise money without giving away any ownership stake and without the business owner having to pledge personal assets, such as his or her home, as collateral. Furthermore, relative to debt and equity financing, revenue-based financing is a much easier process that requires less documentation when applying. 

In short, RBF is one of a few types of business financing methods that limits the personal exposure of the business owner and looks to the business itself when making underwriting decisions. 

In deciding who qualifies for RBF, lenders primarily look at a company’s sales history. In some cases, all you will need to submit is three months of business bank statements. Therefore, the underwriting process is relatively fast, and approval can come in mere hours. Once approved, many lenders can have funds in your bank within 24 hours.

Who Should Use RBF?

RBF can be used by virtually any small business with a strong sales history. If you own a plumbing or retail business and you need $20,000 because the roof starts leaking or your air conditioning machines break down, RBF may be your solution since you can get cash in your hands quickly with little paperwork relative to a business loan or other forms of financing. 

RBF can also be an ideal solution for larger small businesses, such as consumer software firms that have a strong sales history, which can borrow larger amounts to fund the research, development and marketing of a new product. According to a 2020 report issued by BootStrapp, the most popular users of RBF were software-as-a-service (Saas) companies, followed by food and beverage companies, consumer products companies, eCommerce and healthcare businesses.

How Does RBF Work?

Let’s say you own a larger business, such as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, and you believe that the future growth of your business can only be ensured by introducing a new software product that requires an additional $250,000 in capital to research, develop and market. However, you are not able to obtain a loan from traditional lenders because of your credit score, and the initial stakeholders in your company do not want to add any additional investors. 

Your company can arrange a deal with an RBF provider to get $250,000 in exchange for a portion of your company’s future revenues. Your company will be required to make agreed-upon installment payments equal to a percentage of your overall revenue plus a small multiple of the original amount to compensate for the risk.

What are the Advantages of RBF?

In revenue-based financing, investors are entitled to regular repayments of their initially invested capital, so it is like a loan in that regard. However, it differs from a loan in that interest is not charged. Instead, there is a fixed cost of capital, meaning that the repayments are calculated using a predetermined multiple that results in returns that are higher than the initial investment and that cost does not change as long as the terms of the agreement are met. 

Also, RBF offers unique advantages over receiving investments from venture capital or angel investors. With private equity, investors often require collateral, an ownership stake in your company and/or seats on your company’s board of directors, if you have such a board. RBF could also be an attractive financing model if your small business has no intention of going public any time soon – as most small businesses do not – as private equity investors often look for a big exit strategy such as an IPO. 

Who Needs Revenue-Based Financing? 

Really, any business large or small with strong, predictable monthly sales can qualify for RBF, if it is appropriate. In general, companies that have strong sales and are seeking to expand with a new product offering or need money for an emergency or may look to RBF as an alternative to traditional lending. 

What Are the Risks of Revenue Based Financing?

As a business, the biggest risk of RBF is that your sales go south, making the repayment of the loan longer. That said, investors take on much of the risk because the repayment of the investment is in direct proportion to the company’s revenues. For the company receiving the financing, if sales unexpectedly drop, the repayment of the investment will take longer, and the investor will still expect to receive the same multiple on the principal investment amount. 

Generally however, the lender and the borrower both benefit in an RBF deal because they both want the company to be successful and for repayment of the investment to be quick. The structure of the RBF deal prevents either party from getting completely burned, unless the borrowing company goes under and is forced to declare bankruptcy.

Finally, it is important to note that RBF is not for every company. The model works only with companies that historically generate strong revenues, be it a healthcare, consumer software or business services company. A company that wants to use revenue-based financing must also have strong gross sales margins to ensure their ability to repay the investment.

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