8 Ways to Maximise your Business Import and Export Profits

Opening up your business structure to a borderless playing field is a step that you may have already taken, or have at least considered in your future plan. International trade can be very lucrative, but it is always necessary to properly consider the many financial, logistical and administrative components in maximising your business import and export profits.

Export-import pforiei

1. Consider purchasing power parity

Successful international business products equate to those that are purchased in an offshore market and sold for a higher price. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? However, maximising profit also means taking into account variable factors such as the best exchange rates ie.…

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Three Areas to Expand If Your Business is Ready to Grow

The oft-cited statistic that 90% of startups fail has been attributed to various factors, from not being able to carve a niche in the marketplace to lacking a solid business model. However, in a 2017 article, Entrepreneur noted that most of the reasons that the remaining 10% succeed are related to attitude and flexibility within their staff.

Business team meeting for business growth planning

In a sense, if your startup is lucky enough to be included in that ten percent bracket, you’ve found success. However, finding a way to continue expanding your small business after its initial flush of prosperity is the crucial next step to ensure its longevity.…

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How are Business Analysts Valuable to Companies?

The process of getting insight into business operations to expose the cause and effect relationship behind failure or poor results is often managed by a change expert, known as a “business analyst” (BA). However, a lot of businesses believe hiring a business analyst is irrelevant or simply just an extra added cost, but in actual fact, they are highly valuable to company progression and evolvement.

Business analyst

Business analysts have a wide variety of responsibilities within a business. They not only need to understand the current business needs of an organisation, but they must identify and resolve any problems that may be happening too.…

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The Changing Nature of Transportation Factoring

Ask any business owner in the trucking industry and they will tell you how important financing is to their day-to-day financial strategies. And yet, for years owners of trucking companies were unable to secure funding when they needed it because banks and other traditional lenders often used difficult hurdles and long turnaround times to dissuade the trucking industry from seeking loans at all. This should come as no surprise, considering banks and other traditional lenders consider trucking to be a fickle and high-risk industry.

Transportation factoring

Luckily, over the last few decades, a new type of financing has slowly become more and more popular among trucking company owners.…

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Choosing the Right Payroll Programs for Small Business

Automating payroll processes promises saved time and increased efficiency, however, the process of switching may appear daunting, particularly if there is uncertainty about which payroll program is right for the organisation. Understanding the many options available will give decision makers confidence in choosing the right solution for their business.

Payroll software

Tips on how to choose the right payroll software solution:

Examine the business needs

No two small businesses are the same and a business will benefit from features that cater to its unique needs. When choosing payroll software, consider the following factors:

  • The size of the business
  • Time allocated to payroll functions
  • Budget available that can be allocated to payroll processing
  • Level of comfort and familiarity with regulatory and legal payroll considerations

When needs have been clearly outlined, finding the software that fits the business will become significantly easier.…

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4 Surefire Ways to Effectively Engage Your Customers

Enlightened marketers have been prioritizing customer engagement over the past few years, and you should, too.

In a world that is becoming even more connected, the modern customer is more empowered on account of the seemingly unlimited amount of resources available to them. Customer expectations are at an all-time high, and it is for this reason why customer-centric businesses have much to show in terms of ROI.

Happy customers

As a business owner, you’d do well to play the long game, and the best way to do that is to engage your customers on a regular basis. In fact, a Gallup research reports that a fully-engaged customer represents 23% more revenue than average.…

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4 Time-Sucking Activities That Take Away From Your Business

Companies have lots on their plates, and small business owners, in particular, wear many hats. However, not all of those hats are equally important, though it can be hard to know which responsibilities are worth your time and which are major drains.

Time-consuming business activities

Watch for these four ways that businesses — especially small operations — waste money, resources, and time without realizing it.

Constantly Checking Emails

Answering emails is a surprisingly time-consuming task. Far too often, people waste time answering unnecessary emails or lack the discipline to refrain from checking emails and answering messages constantly throughout the day.

Of course, it’s important — even vital, in some cases — to answer certain emails.…

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5 Quick Tips About Welding Helmets

One can never be too safe, especially when your work demands handling dangerous equipment. Professional welders deal in such hazardous environment that they can’t afford to overlook their safety protocol and that includes their attire and gears.

Welder

The welders not only have to protect themselves from the heat and sparks but also the UV radiation and infrared light that can affect your eyes and even cause permanent blindness. Thus using a helmet has become indispensable along with your gloves. The helmet should cover your eyes, face as well as neck should be part of your everyday gear.

But wearing a helmet need not be cumbersome any more.…

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Microfinance is Not the Miracle Pill to End Poverty

The biggest misconception about microfinance is that it is the miracle pill to put an end to poverty. This is just untrue. No one said that microfinance is the key to stopping poverty or to lift all people in developing countries out of poverty.

Microfinance

Poverty is an issue that has confronted several countries over the years. Not even the best leaders have been able to do something to fix the problem. Therefore, to put this kind of burden on the concept of microfinance is just unfair.

Microfinance targets poor people because the idea is for them to have easy access to loans as long as they use the money wisely and repay the loans.…

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4 Ways to Improve Customer Service

If you are in a business that has customers, then that means at some point you have to decide what kind of priority customer service is. In some industries, it’s not that big of a deal. In other sectors, the only way you’re going to make it is if you have better customer service than all of your competitors.

Helpful customer service

So, what are some ways to improve your fundamental customer service value?

You can make financial transactions easier. You and your employees can have better social skills when interacting with customers. You can make a point to improve your processes consistently so that your customers keep coming back to revisit those improvements.…

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