The Effect of the Fee Cap For PPI Claims Companies

In the summer budget of 2015, George Osborne first announced that a fee cap for claims management companies (CMCs) would be discussed. In November 2017, proposals were made that a 20% +VAT fee cap should be introduced for claims companies. This is in addition to other regulations about upfront fees and cancellations.

PPI piggy bank

With the upcoming PPI deadline being heavily promoted by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), claims management companies are hoping to make as many claims as possible before August 2019. The introduction of a fee cap could have a dramatic effect on the profitability of CMCs.

Some companies charge well above the proposed fee cap, taking nearly 40% from successful claims.…

Continue reading →

The Key to Cybersecurity Awareness? Tell Your Employees to Slow Down

Do you have a cybersecurity awareness training program in your office? If so, what’s the central theme?

How about…slow down.

There are of course many tenets of a successful cybersecurity awareness program, but none more central to stopping human error and negligence.

According to the Ponemon Institute’s 2017 State of SMB Cybersecurity report, negligent employees were the number one cause of SMB data breaches.

Let’s look at why cybersecurity awareness is lacking and what companies can do to address the issue.

Don’t be Patient Zero

It’s not that employees are always aloof about security protocol—they just underestimate the importance of their personal involvement.…

Continue reading →

High-Tech Ways to Combat Construction Site Theft

Each year, thefts of equipment on construction sites and farms cost U.S. businesses and individuals between $300 million and $1 billion, according to a report by The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Thefts vastly outnumber fires, vandalism, collisions and a variety of other accidents and incidents that threaten security on construction sites across the nation.

Surveillance camera in a construction site.

From valuable copper wire to expensive pieces of equipment, construction sites are packed with items that attract thieves. But traditional forms of security, such as having guards on-site, are costly and often ineffective at stopping thieves equipped with modern technologies.

Luckily, construction companies have a wide range of options when it comes to utilizing cutting-edge security to keep their investments safe.…

Continue reading →

Why Outsourcing Your Accounting Makes Sense for Small Business Owners

Were you aware that out of all the new businesses established each year, that only 20% of them make it through their first year? And of that twenty percent, only half of them survive 5 years. Even though there are plenty of reasons why they don’t succeed, in many instances it relates directly to finances.

As money is required to operate, entrepreneurs must not only learn how to generate profits but manage those profits accordingly. Accounting and bookkeeping, for this reason, are of the utmost importance to a company’s lifespan.

Outsourcing your accounting

Why DIY Accounting Isn’t Always Efficient Enough

It is not uncommon for an entrepreneur to take on accounting and bookkeeping responsibilities in the first few years of their establishment.…

Continue reading →

4 Tips on Making Your E-Commerce Venture a Success

Selling products online is a great way to expand the reach your company has. The easiest and most effective way to showcase the products you have to offer is by having an e-commerce website created. This type of website will allow users to browse your products, add them to a cart, and pay for them with ease.

Online florist

Achieving success with an e-commerce website will require a lot of hard work and time. Below are some of the things to focus on when trying to make your e-commerce venture a success.

1. Being the First to Market is Not Always Beneficial

The first step in achieving e-commerce success is ensuring your site if ready to go before launching.…

Continue reading →

Using Personal Loans for Business Purchases: Pros and Cons

There are many times along the journey as an entrepreneur where the shortcomings of available funding can throw a wrench into your goals.

For instance, mobile repair businesses need to be ‘mobile’. Vehicles are expensive, and it’s hard to expand such a business without purchasing more vehicles and additional staff.

Taking personal loans for business purchases

Investment opportunities come up all the time for those who are networking savvy. They often require a significant amount of cash to secure. Not to mention, sometimes an essential piece of equipment can break down suddenly, requiring thousands, or even tens of thousands in repair funds.

When there’s no money in the bank for these and other purchases, it becomes necessary to consider taking out a loan.…

Continue reading →

The Right and Wrong Way to Use Social Media for Your Business

Social media has a massive reach. Billions of people, two billion to be exact, are on Facebook alone. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn and many others exist, too, extending this reach even further. Businesses must use social media to boost their brands.

Using social media for business

It’s estimated that 22% of the population uses Facebook – that’s 22% of the world.

Businesses targeting millennials will want to grow on Twitter, on which 81% of millennials check daily.

The number of businesses doing social media the right way is much lower. I come across businesses that aren’t up-to-par with their social media game.

What Businesses Are Doing Wrong on Social Media

You can write a book on what businesses are doing wrong on social media, and by understanding what they’re doing wrong, you can correct these wrongs in your own business.…

Continue reading →

Efficiently Running a One-man Service Business

Running a service-based business has a lot of advantages. You can help customers in your community, offer residential or commercial services, and you can choose to specialize in a certain area of business.

Plumbers can choose to offer sewer repairs, electricians can choose to work just on new homes being built.

One-man plumbing service

Trades are in high-demand, and the growth in these fields continues to grow as the population continues to grow. The environment is perfect to start a service business, but running that business efficiently is difficult.

A major downfall in many businesses is efficiency.

How does a service business stay efficient in the early stages of business?…

Continue reading →

Why Every Service Business Should Offer an Unconditional Guarantee

Trust is the most important thing when trying to bring in new customers, especially in the services industry. Customers have already heard nightmare stories about fly-by-night contractors, plumbers who never show and HVAC technicians who make the problem worse.

How can you win over customers when they view you as untrustworthy before they even use your service?

Offer them a guarantee.

Guarantee

Many service providers never think to offer a guarantee. They assume that services cannot be guaranteed. After all, you can’t send back bad catering or a bad haircut for repair.

When we say “guarantee,” we’re not talking about the service itself, but rather, customer satisfaction.…

Continue reading →

5 Ways to Woo New Customers

Attracting – and keeping – new customers is no easy task for any business. But if you’re not expanding your customer base, you’re not growing or increasing your profits. Use these five methods to woo new customers and keep them around.

Attracting new customers

1. Be Responsive. Be Human

The quickest way to turn customers off is to provide poor customer support. Ignoring messages and feedback gives the impression that you don’t value your customers – the lifeblood of your business.

A colleague once contacted several companies when he was looking to have his new home built. Some he called; some he contacted through email.…

Continue reading →