5 Logistics Management Tips for Small and Medium-sized Business

When done right, supply chain and logistics management can be a harmonious symphony of vendors, trucks and warehouses. All parts work together to ensure the product is delivered undamaged, on time and to the customer’s satisfaction.

Logistics

On the other hand, an incoherent, poorly planned and ineffective supply chain can potentially deal a fatal blow to the average small and medium-sized business (SMB). Products lost in transit, sent to the wrong location and unexplained charges on customer receipts can all cause angst that’s strong enough to push customers to the competition.

The following logistics management tips are an essential read for SMB owners.…

Continue reading →

How to Plan a Business Dinner With a Client

Every January, thousands of professionals and entrepreneurs gather in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)—one of the biggest trade expos in the technology calendar. During the daytime, some of the biggest companies and most exciting startups in the world put their new products on display. But according to one insider, “the real show begins about four hours later,” at dinner.

Business dinner

When the trade show’s doors close for the evening, entrepreneurs flood local restaurants, wining and dining potential clients with whom they want to work in the next year. With a little luck, these meals will lead to deals.…

Continue reading →

4 Powerful Ways to Market Your Business

The main objective for any small business owner is to sell as many products and services as they can. Though there are a lot of layers to successfully making sales, the largest component of that is marketing. By effectively positioning your business in front of your target audience as a solution to a common problem, you increase the likelihood of turning them into sales.

Marketing strategy

As marketing is constantly changing, it is necessary for a business owner to first establish and then continually update or improve their marketing plan. This plan should essentially outline that various methods you’ll use to reach your target audience.…

Continue reading →

8 Huge Inventory Management Mistakes

Inventory management is way more than taking a tally of boxes in your warehouse every six months. In fact, an updated inventory management system can give you all sorts of insights into your business, from tracking seasonal trends to understanding why certain products aren’t selling. Yet, plenty of companies continue to perform manual counts, making all sorts of egregious mistakes that cost their business vital money and time.

Inventory manager is making inventory management mistakes

Here are some of the worst inventory-related blunders made by more businesses than you might expect.

1. Refusing to Spend Money on Inventory Tools

Among new business owners, there is a rampant misconception that all you need to manage your inventory is paper, a writing utensil, and a strong ability to count, so it seems that spending money on inventory management tools is a massive waste.…

Continue reading →

The Last-Minute Checklist for Business Trips

Are you preparing to leave on a business trip in the near future? Do you have everything in order, or do you have some concerns that you’re going to leave something of importance behind?

Packing for business trip

While there may be a lot going through your mind as your business trip closes in, here are some of the last minute questions you should definitely address:

1. Did you book your hotel?

If the answer to this question is yes, make sure you have your reservation information handy.

If the answer is no, now’s the time to begin your search for the perfect hotel. For example, if you need to book a Hollywood hotel, you can use Expedia to find the perfect accommodations.…

Continue reading →

How to Identify Detractors using an NPS Tool

Detractors have a negative impact on your reputation by leaving negative reviews on the web. They tend to spread negative word-of-mouth making sure their bad experience is heard by as many people as they know.

Detractor writing bad review

At some point everyone of us have been a Detractor. Have you ever been loyal to a brand and then suddenly stopped purchasing from them because your experiences had become disappointing?

Detractor is defined as a person unhappy with a company, a product or service. He finds fault with everything your business does. In other words, he is a critic.

In NPS framework, Detractor is a respondent who answers from 0 to 6 on the NPS scale.These…

Continue reading →

Factoring for Small Business – The Essential Guide and Most Important Benefits

As a small business owner, you probably did some crucial thinking before you started your enterprise – as any good business owner does. But beginning a business of your own entails more than just the proper planning – it also entails a day-by-day effort to make your business grow.

Small business factoring

It requires a lot of dedication and commitment, and if you’re not passionate about what you are doing, it’s easy to throw in the towel and walk away. But when you’ve invested so much into your business – you want it to succeed. So, where can you can get the support you need?…

Continue reading →

Managing Risk and Reward Inside Your Business Framework

Lots of people have lots of great ideas as far as business is concerned. They think about things in terms of production and development and research and profit. But not everyone is comfortable thinking of risk and reward, and that is something that everyone should take seriously as a priority.

Risk management and analysis

If you start with risk assessment of any business decision, then moved to budgeting, a clear plan should develop on its own. From there, you can learn from professionals who are good at risks and rewards, and you can also be social and transparent with your business dealings to keep any potential roadblocks above ground.…

Continue reading →

5 Must-Have Learning Management Systems (LMS) Features for Employee Training

Picking a learning management system for employee onboarding and training can be a stressful affair. There are more than 180 sophisticated learning management systems in the market today and each one of them offer unique features and tools to make elearning fun, engaging and productive. But not all features may be required for your specific organization needs.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

In this article, we will take a look at five specific must-have features that your LMS should offer.

Mobile Support

Smartphone are ubiquitous in the modern workplace. Yet, several legacy LMS applications do not offer comprehensive support for learning over mobile devices.

Mobile learning is important for two reasons.…

Continue reading →

How to Build a Strong Relationship With Your Clients

It is well known that the acquisition costs are lower for existing customers compared to new ones. According to one Gartner report, 80% of a company’s revenues come from 20% of its clients. A strong relationship with customers is essential to your business continuity and subsequently lower acquisition costs.

Customer relationships

Here are a few tips to help organizations strengthen their relationship with clients.

Understand the Client’s Needs

A CEI Survey suggests that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. But at the same time, just one percent of these customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations.…

Continue reading →