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When things are hectic, most small business owners wish they could find a way to get more than 24 hours into a day.

Often, your ‘to-do’ list can get so long that you feel you never get to put as much attention into every task as you would like. It can also mean more time in the office or dealing with work issues after-hours – cutting into your free time and affecting your work-life balance.

Applying these simple time management tips and tools will help you get the most out of your work time and get more of the important stuff done.

Track your time

Remember that tried and tested business adage: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”? Well, it applies to time management too. Without tracking your time, any attempt at improving time management will be a hit-and-miss affair. If you don’t track where and how you spend your time, you’ve got no way to measure your current time management or means to identify time wasters or tasks you could delegate.

Start by recording what you do each day and how long it takes you. This can be as simple or tech-savvy as you like – ranging from rough notes scribbled on a weekly timesheet, to an Excel spreadsheet that will add up the minutes and hours for you. Alternatively, you can harness technology to do this for you.

Before you write off this idea, deciding that the amount of additional time you’ll waste tracking your time is not worth the effort, at least try out one of a range of paid-for and free time management tools that can help to make this task simpler. Some options include Harvest or Toggl and most come with features that can be rolled out for overall staff time management and integrated into your billing.

Although there are benefits to continuing to monitor and track how you use your time, you don’t have to. After a few weeks, you’ll have a good indication of what you spend most of your days, weeks, and months doing. You might be surprised at the amount of time that is lost in meetings, doing things you could delegate, or on things you do out of habit rather than need.

Eliminate the time wasters

Armed with information about how you spend your time, you’ll be better able to eliminate unnecessary time wasters. Some common time wasters are:

• Monitoring social media
• Responding to emails
• Fielding telephone calls
• Drop-in visitors and salespeople
• Meetings that go on longer than necessary

Jumping between tasks and reading and answering emails as they come in during the day can reduce your productivity. Set aside time to check and answer emails rather than letting them distract you from the task at hand.

Ask your staff to field telephone calls or take a message if you need uninterrupted time to focus on a task. Train staff not to allow salespeople in to see you without an appointment to avoid wasting your time listening to a sales pitch for office flowers or equipment you’re not thinking of buying.

There are a number of other ways to eliminate, or manage, time-wasters at work. Don’t have pop-up messages from social media accounts running while you’re trying to get work done. Appoint a staff member to monitor certain business functions with daily or weekly reports, rather than spending hours a week doing this task yourself.

Run meetings to a tight timetable. Draw up an agenda and allow only a couple of minutes (yes, literally a minute or two) for each item on the agenda to avoid meetings becoming a social gathering and wasting the productive time of all those present.

Delegate appropriate tasks

Have a close look at your current workload and see if there are suitable tasks you could delegate to others. Can you delegate some simple accounting functions such as managing petty cash and reconciliations? What about general correspondence, sales and marketing tasks, product development, quality control, and more? Small business owners are generally notorious for their reluctance to delegate in the belief that they do the job better. However, delegation can free up your valuable time, allowing you to focus on growing your business rather than spending all your time focusing on the day-to-day running of your business.

Draw up a list of tasks you could delegate and responsible staff who could take them over. Most employees want to develop in their jobs and would value the opportunity for added responsibility or the chance to learn new skills. Try not to fall into the trap of only delegating the jobs you don’t really like doing – you want to free up as much time as possible to allow you to work more strategically and effectively and have time for that work-life balance.

Get organized

A little bit of time invested now in developing efficient systems for your business will save you a lot of time in the long run. Whether it’s time spent setting up a computerized accounting system, or implementing a physical or virtual filing system so that you don’t waste time looking for paperwork or documents, setting up systems and getting organized can save you a lot of money.

If your time tracking indicates you spend a lot of time answering basic sales questions, you could, for example, save time by writing up some template responses that you (or an employee) could personalize in response to queries. Similarly, adding an FAQ page to your website could help to free up more of your time. Customer relationship management software can also save a lot of time and effort.

If you’re no longer so busy running from one problem to the next in your business, you’ll probably be able to identify a number of ways you can work smarter, rather than harder – and find ways to increase staff productivity too.

Draw up a prioritized ‘to-do list

It’s easy to get sucked into the problem of the day – or the problem of the hour, in some businesses. This is where that ‘to-do list can help. A simple list of the tasks you need or hope to accomplish, together with a deadline, will help to keep you focused.

Ranking them in order of priority will help to ensure the most important tasks get done by the deadline and that jobs don’t fall off your radar and get forgotten. Ticking items off your to-do list can be surprisingly motivating, too.

Work to your personal productive times

It makes sense to work when you work best. We all have different cycles and preferences. If you’re a morning person and full of oomph and drive at the crack of dawn, but this time aside to tackle those big projects. Schedule more routine things or less creative tasks for the afternoon when you’re in your less-productive cycle. Avoid routine production planning meetings during your most productive times.

If you’re not a morning person and don’t really reach your form until after your second cup of coffee, get those routine tasks out of the way first thing in the morning, and then tackle the big projects, or schedule important meetings for when you’ll be able to give it your very best.

Get the tools or help you need

If you expect your staff to work effectively and efficiently, you’ll need to provide them with the right tools to do the job. The same applies to you as the business owner. You can’t work efficiently if you don’t have the tools or skills (whether training or personnel) to do the job.

This does not give you justification to dash out to buy an iPad2 if you don’t really need it. However, it does mean you shouldn’t limp along wasting hours to do a job when investment in technology would mean you’d be able to be far more productive.

It’s usually false economy trying to make do with outdated technology. If you’re not sure about whether to invest in tools, software, training, or staff, do a quick calculation of how much time it will save you, and then compare this with how much it will cost. Assuming your cash flow can accommodate the purchase, this cost-benefit analysis will quickly tell you whether investing in the tools or help you need is a financially sound decision for your business.

Looking for simple ways to cut costs? These tips will help you make a noticeable difference in your bottom line.

1. Reduce staff costs

Without a doubt, having someone to help deal with routine tasks can greatly improve productivity. The rub is that hired help is often too expensive for small business owners.

Internships can be a real win-win: a student gets hands-on experience assisting you with marketing, accounting, or administrative work and you get time-saving help for free.

Crowdsourcing a qualified remote worker is another cost-effective way to bring on some much-needed support for administrative tasks.

2. Think thin

Small business owners are often advised to trim down their offerings to a niche market. You can save money by applying that same thinking to how you do business.

For instance, subcontracting can allow a service-based business owner to keep a narrow focus on the work they do while attracting more customers. Taking on more work and paying someone to do it at a lower rate than you charge your clients will increase capacity and your bottom line – while maintaining your focus on what you do best.

3. Network more

Forget expensive print ads and direct mail campaigns. You can save a ton of money getting the word out about your business by connecting directly with your target market:

• Co-host an event with a business owner whose customers will be interested in what you do.
• Connect with your local Chamber of Commerce.
• Attend business networking referral events.
• Run a contest on social media.
• Sponsor a community fundraiser.

Networking at trade shows and industry events is another great way to meet potential partners and customers, without breaking the bank on costly advertising fees.

4. Embrace co-opetition
Often businesses buy in bulk to save money. Unfortunately, purchasing in volume can backfire if you’re struggling to maintain positive cash flow, and the cheap supplies you bought never get used.

A better strategy is to only buy what you need and to share costs with other small business owners. Co-opetition is becoming a buzzword for good reason. Forming alliances with businesses can lead to lucrative partnerships while collectively saving everyone some cash.

5. Save time with technology

If you haven’t yet made the leap, adopt cloud-based software to improve operational efficiency. Try free collaboration tools like Google Drive – also a great way to cut down on the cost of paper. Use virtual meeting technology to save a small fortune on travel costs when connecting with clients in different time zones. And do a free trial of accounting software to see how automating routine tasks like invoicing and payroll can improve accuracy and free up hours from your schedule.

Final tips

Review your business expenses on a regular basis to track rising costs and to find more ways to reduce unnecessary spending.

A few final – and costly – pitfalls for busy small business owners to avoid:

• Always pay vendors and lenders on time to dodge late fees, interest, and a poor credit rating.
• Shop around for the best deals on everything from software and financial services to office supplies and inventory.
• Hold off on renting space for as long as possible. Encourage staff to work remotely, meet clients in coffee shops and remember: home office space is an eligible tax write-off.

What will you do differently to start cutting costs for your small business today?

Help grow your business through collaboration, expansion, improved marketing, and some of the following quick tips.

1. Improve your customer service

Businesses with good customer service retain consumers and attract new business through word-of-mouth. Even if you think you’re already providing good service, make it a priority to provide refresher training to frontline staff at least once a year. Alternatively, hold regular meetings to discuss any issues as they arise.

2. Try out new products

Even if you have multiple products selling well, be on the lookout for opportunities to expand your product line and satisfy customer demand. If you’re unsure how well a product will sell, order a small amount first. Just remember to update your marketing material to let customers know about your new offerings.

3. Rejuvenate your marketing material

Holding on to old, outdated marketing material can make your business appear out of touch or even unprofessional. Review your marketing material at least every 12 months. If you’re on a limited budget, focus on producing basic material that is stylish but functional.

4. Enhance other people’s good ideas

Be aware of great ideas, or new ways of working, from other businesses and think about how you could adapt them to your own business. The best ways to find out about new ideas are to research the latest trends in your industry, subscribe to industry publications, attend conferences and keep up to date with your competitors’ websites.

5. Team up with another business

Joining up with another business to promote a special deal or offer is a great way to get your business into new markets with new opportunities. Another option could be getting your business listed on another business’s website, or in an industry directory.

6. Test your marketing ideas

Before you implement a marketing campaign, test it on a limited basis and fine-tune it before a full-scale rollout. The easiest way to do this is to target selective customers and see if you receive a response. Ask your best customers for feedback before implementing any marketing ideas.

7. Create regular customers

Keep a record of client names and details for future marketing material or special offers. Starting up an e-newsletter is also a good way of keeping in touch with clients – just make sure you have their permission before hitting the send button.

8. Consider expansion

Think about whether your current premises will meet your needs over the next five years. If you’re looking to target new customers, will your current location appeal to your new target market? Keep an eye out for competitively priced lease arrangements, or deals on neighboring properties that could enable you to expand at your current location.

9. Guarantee your products and services

If you want to build future sales through repeat customers, you need to make it clear that you stand behind your offerings. A good start is to offer a money-back guarantee for any product sold or to back up big sales with after-sales support.

10. Pay attention to your customers

Take any feedback from customers seriously and make an effort to thank them for sharing their thoughts – even if they are raising concerns or making a complaint. If you have a regular customer who isn’t happy with a new marketing strategy or product line, listen to what they have to say – there’s a chance that other customers might share their concerns.

Don’t be afraid to try new ways of generating growth. Consider the tips above and decide whether they can help enhance your overall product or service.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Customer loyalty programs are surprisingly simple to implement, especially online, and can bring many benefits to your business. Beyond the simple fact of adding satisfaction for your regular customers, here are five ways your business can profit from starting a loyalty scheme.

Customer retention

The most obvious benefit of a customer loyalty program is that it improves retention. Customers want to accumulate points to get the rewards or exclusive benefits on offer and will be tempted to favor your business over a competitor’s.

As retention improves, so does the lifetime value of your customers. This metric takes into account the value of a customer from the first time they completed a purchase, instead of focusing on their current worth. By retaining customers, your business can generate maximum revenue from each customer over a longer period and improve their lifetime value, which also optimizes your return on marketing investment.

Customer data

A customer loyalty program allows you to collect additional data about your target audience. Most individuals are willing to share a little extra information in return for loyalty rewards, and you can use this to improve your understanding of your customer base.

The extra information helps segment your customers into different categories, so as to better target them with marketing campaigns. Your loyalty program thus turns full circle: your customers give you the information in return for rewards, and you give them what they want, with better marketing and the products they love – which also improves customer retention!

Business planning

Once you have implemented a loyalty program and gathered extra data on your customers, you can use this information to better plan your business strategy. Whether the information is in terms of money spent, demographics, or buying behavior, it will help you plan your business decisions based on solid data, instead of guesses and assumptions.

For example, suppose you are thinking of starting a new product line. Your market research will provide details of your target demographic by age, gender, location, income, and other factors. Comparing those to the information you have gathered through your loyalty program will instantly show you whether you have a good match or need to reconsider.

Increased customer purchases

The mere presence of a loyalty program encourages customers to spend more at each visit, to earn more rewards. You can further extend this effect by running limited-time promotions, offering extra points on a specific product or service range (usually the ones you want to clear from stock), or even creating ‘treasure hunts’ for promotional codes hidden throughout your site. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and your site developer’s ability!

Combining your loyalty program with marketing campaigns can also generate extra purchases. For example, you could run a simple ad that offers extra loyalty points for signing up and bonus points for spending more than a given amount on their first visit, provided they use the correct coupon code.

Competitive advantage

In a competitive global market, you need to make the most of every possible advantage to beat the competition. Having a customer loyalty program hands you just such an advantage. Indeed, the benefits are manifold, as you can see from this shortlist. To put it simply, the more creative you are with your loyalty program, the further ahead of your competition you will be.

These are just a few of the biggest benefits a loyalty program can offer your business. Remember to make sure the program is attractive to your target audience and kick it off with a starter bonus to get them to sign up. Once the program is set up and rolling, it will gain momentum with every new registration and every promotion you run!

A great business name isn’t just a label for your company. It is also your number one marketing tool, serving as a platform for setting yourself apart and defining your brand. At the very least, your business name should do the following.

Convey the industry or area of expertise of your company

When customers search for businesses, they apply some filters to determine whether specific organizations are relevant to their needs. By communicating exactly what it is your business does within the company title, you let customers know right away that there’s a good chance you can help.

Once customers are confident you’re the right type of provider, they’ll usually contact you, stop into your store or visit your website to get more details, ask questions or start shopping.

For this reason, a name like ‘Jake’s Total Vehicle Repair’ is better than ‘Jake’s Shop’, getting across not only the industry but also that the business does repairs. The word ‘total’ implies the shop is qualified for a large number of repairs, as well.

Get your business values across

With thousands of businesses providing services in today’s market, modern customers have more choices than ever before and are increasingly critical in their analysis of their providers.

They look not just for whether the services or products are a good fit, but for whether the business matches their own goals and philosophies. For instance, if a customer is against animal cruelty, they might look carefully at how a particular meat company treats its livestock.

Continuing with this example, if you’re the owner of the meat company, you might name it something like ‘Humane Meats’. From this standpoint, your company’s name sets the foundation for your entire brand.

Evoke emotion

Scientists have figured out that emotional recall happens in the brain faster than rational recall. That is, people feel and then apply facts and information to come to a conclusion.

With this in mind, company names that appeal to what people have experienced or know emotionally tend to be easier to remember and encourage deeper brand loyalty.

For instance, a name such as ‘Grandma’s Cookies’ may get customers to remember all the great times they spent feeling comforted and safe in their grandma’s kitchen, appealing to their sense of family and togetherness.

Capitalize on what people know

Every target market has its own set of idiosyncrasies that you’ll need to pay attention to when you come up with your business title.

People are familiar with certain word combinations or spellings, such as ‘color’ (American) versus ‘color8’ (British). Your name should stick to what’s most common for the language where they are, as people will want to link word pairs and use the spelling version based on the habit they’ve already established. Keep in mind here that you still can be creative with what’s available. Microsoft, for example, is a completely new word based on the common terms microcomputer and software.

One caveat here is that starting completely off the chart can set you apart from your competitors. Names such as Google, Twitter, and Zimbra are examples that prove ‘nonsense’ or made-up names can be successful. The difficulty with this approach, however, is that you will not have any initial meaning behind the name to work with. You have to be extra savvy and aggressive in communicating your industry, purpose, and guiding beliefs.

Appeal to convenience

Although a longer business name can get more information across, it takes longer for your customers to say and type. This matters if you want people to remember the name easily and to feel at ease using it in the everyday conversation where they could refer you. It also makes a difference in Internet searches, as an increasing number of people use mobile devices to enter URLs or search terms. Ideally, aim for a business name that’s just a single word.

Summing Up

Coming up with a decent business name can be challenging, but if you have a few key guidelines in mind, you can narrow down your choices considerably. Look for a name that gets your industry, expertise area, and values across while getting people to respond emotionally to your brand. Names that do all this in a very short space while also addressing the idiosyncrasies of the target market are your ideal options.

We now look at eight characteristics important to successful businesses. International researchers who have studied many small businesses have found that these characteristics consistently play a part in the success of small companies.

The eight characteristics are:

• Owners leading by Example
• Having a simple business structure
• Information sharing among employees
• Staff are carefully chosen
• Staff commitment and loyalty
• A unique product or service
• A specific Customer focus
• Prompt follow up

1.   Owners leading by example

The owner or manager leads by example. He or she is usually the first to arrive, the last to leave. The owner knows everyone by name and their presence is obvious. They show a strong commitment, setting the standard where they work. This commitment should be easy to understand, after all, if they don’t work hard in their own company, how can they expect anyone else to take their business seriously?

2.   Simple business structure

They operate a simple and open business structure, encouraging easy access to the owner for every employee. They value the contribution of each employee, many of whom are given the opportunity to influence aspects of the business that would ordinarily be denied them in a large hierarchical company

3.   Information sharing among employees

Staff receives information as soon as the owner does. Goals, problems, and concerns are discussed openly. Feedback on issues is encouraged and staff is asked to contribute their own ideas for making improvements and overcoming difficulties. It is often this aspect of open communication that staff appreciate the most, after all, it is fairly unique to small businesses.

4.   Staff are carefully chosen

Staff is recruited very carefully because the owner(s) recognize they are the lifeblood of any small business. Staff is hired on the basis that their knowledge, skills, and abilities will be beneficial to the organization rather than because of friendships or family relations. Staff are not only carefully chosen but are nurtured and trained so that both the staff member and the organization get the maximum benefit possible out of the relationship.

5.   Staff commitment and loyalty

All staff is very committed and loyal: good performance is rewarded with praise, extra responsibility, and money—poor performance is not. Consistently poor workers are removed as they upset the rest of the team. Organizations whose staff show optimum commitment and loyalty have a source of competitive advantage that is hard to copy or beat.

6.   A Unique product or service

Most successful businesses have unique products or services, such as their own designs, products, systems or some other aspect that sets them apart. This uniqueness is an important source of competitive advantage and one which many companies work hard to sustain, adapt, and innovate their products or services as their competition catches upon them.

7.   A Specific customer focus

Successful small businesses have a specific focus on their customers and clients and are geared to supplying them with exactly what they want. This focus means adopting a market-led approach, with the owners and their managers consistently looking for ways to solve their customer’s problems and improve their products to match their customer’s requirements.

8.   Prompt follow-up

On occasions when an inquiry or complaint is received, successful small companies actively follow up and solve them as quickly as possible. The results are promptly reported back to the client or customer and in the case of complaints, measures are put in place to reduce the likelihood of similar issues reoccurring. Successful small businesses view complaints and problems as opportunities for growth and improvement in their businesses.

If you want your business to continue growing and thriving, you’ll need to find ways to bring in new clients.

Here are 5 ways you can find new clients for your business.

1. Set aside time for marketing

Regardless of whether marketing is your preferred activity, you need to set aside time for it. It’s easy to put marketing at the bottom of your priority list, but doing so makes it more difficult for you to bring in new clients. If you set aside a certain amount of time every week, or even every day–ideally at around the same time of day or week–you’ll be more consistent and successful with your efforts.

Have a list of marketing goals, such as “post 3 times on social media this week” or “write two blog posts this month” and spend your time working towards those goals.

2. Ask your clients for referrals

Your happy clients are a fantastic source of new leads. They’re satisfied with the work you’ve done and they can tell their friends and colleagues about how you helped them. Get comfortable asking your happy customers for referrals.

You can do so

• face-to-face, for example at a meeting where you’ve just given them great news or a fantastic outcome
• through email using a pre-written template that talks about how much you enjoy working with them and how you want more clients like them, or
• on social media, where you put out a general call to your happy followers to share your business with others.

3. Join social media groups

Many of the social media networks enable groups, where you can talk to people in your communities. Although you can use the group to pitch your services and directly ask for leads, a better method is to use the forums to educate people and highlight your expertise, without the selling. People will begin to look to you when they want advice and insights and ultimately will turn to you when they need to make a purchase.

4. Genuinely get to know people

Sometimes the best way to get a client is simply by talking to new people. Make it a habit to be curious about the people around you. Ask them questions with the intention of getting to know them, rather than selling to them. Learn about their passions, their pain points, and the things they need help with. Then assist them. Showing genuine interest in others makes them feel valued, builds your relationship, and fosters trust. From there, it’s easy for them to make the decision to work with you.

5. Form a partnership

It doesn’t have to be a formal business partnership, but reach out to businesses in complementary industries to suggest a referral relationship in which you each refer relevant clients to each other. You could also agree to partner up on specific projects. For example, a graphic designer and a website developer could either refer clients to each other or work together on projects that require both their skills.

New clients are vital for growing your business. By being strategic, purposeful, and genuine, you can easily find new clients.

Businesses are increasingly moving online to expand their reach and provide the best possible experience to their customers. Being online, however, means more competition, so business owners must come up with ways to amp up their game to gain a bigger market share.

If you own an eCommerce business or are looking to start one, read on to learn about ways to delight your online customers.

Put the buyer’s journey at the forefront

The buyer’s journey refers to the path that your customers take when they make a purchase from your website. Your responsibility is to focus on the buyer’s journey and give them a clear path to navigate.

The homepage is the face of your online store, so be sure you make a positive first impression. Just by looking at the homepage, it should already be clear to your customers what products or services you’re offering. This is also your first opportunity to show why your business stands out.

You can group your products into collections such as, “Bestsellers” and “New Releases”, or have seasonal offerings such as “Holiday Deals”. Have a robust search function that enables customers to easily find specific products. Aside from making your online store easy to navigate, you should also ensure mobile-friendliness to meet the needs of shoppers that increasingly want to make purchases quickly from their smartphones.

Make sure to set clear expectations such as using a “Start Now” button if there are a few steps to take, or a “Buy Now” button that implies immediacy.

Make the process easy and straightforward

Customers love a straightforward buying experience. A simple process makes it easier for them to keep saying “yes” to the purchase and gives them fewer reasons to abandon their cart.

To make more sales, it’s imperative to make it easy for your customers to navigate your site and reach their goals. Ensure that the shopping process is as streamlined and smooth as possible. Make sure all links work on your site, and all product or service descriptions are accurate and up-to-date. If possible, have a one-click buy option available so people in a hurry can make a purchase quickly and easily.

If you sell products that encourage repeat purchases, have an option for your customers to easily buy the same product again, either through a subscription or a “buy again” button.

Integrate the right apps into your business

As technology continuously evolves, more and more apps are being developed to automate and streamline processes. In order to scale and grow your online business effectively, it is important to have the right tech in place.

Xero is leading cloud-based accounting software that can help ease your accounting burden and save time working on your books. Aside from making your data secure and easily accessible from the cloud, what’s great about Xero is that you can integrate a range of other apps that support retail businesses with things like inventory, payments, shipping, and many more–making this cloud accounting system even more powerful.

Final Thoughts

The future looks bright for small businesses, as customer preferences change and people turn their focus to local or independent businesses.

To establish a successful eCommerce business, you also need to ensure your numbers are on track. So let our team of accountants take over the finance side of your business while you focus on doing what you do best–growing your business.