Looking for inspiration to help your small business develop and move in the right direction?  You might not have thought it at first, but television show ‘The Voice’ could be that inspiration and here we look at what you can learn from the show to help improve your small business.

Offer something different…but not too different

The basis of The Voice is it’s a talent show.  Just like American Idol, X Factor and America’s Got Talent, it aims to find fantastic talent.

However, it’s been successful – in many instances more so than previous or existing talent shows – because it’s slightly different in its setup.

When you’re a small business, especially if you’re aiming to compete in a saturated market, you need to have a unique selling point – something that’s going to make you stand out.

It doesn’t need to be anything major and it doesn’t mean you have to completely revamp your business model, but look at what you’re doing, look at what your competitors are doing and see if you can tweak a few aspects to give yourself that all important unique selling point.

Get help from those who know

Whilst some of The Voice’s competitors have celebrities appearing on their shows, The Voice gets help – and offers help to its contestants – from singers, people who actually know what they’re talking about.

When you’re a small business, you should never be afraid to ask for help.  Sure, it might make you look a little naive in some respects, but if one person thinks you’ve asked a basic question, yet the answer allows you to offer a better service to one hundred customers, you should be asking questions at each and every opportunity you get.

Understand change takes time to be accepted

The Voice might now be a show that has been franchised right around the world after it first started in Holland, but it met much criticism at first, particularly in the UK.

The show concept seemed a little odd and perhaps too different.  People couldn’t understand it properly.  It just wasn’t accepted as easily as similar shows.

After the first week, however, ratings were fantastic and it has become one of the BBC’s most watched programs.

And the reason behind this is people will more often than not kick up a fuss when they’re told change is coming, but as long as that change is for the best, chances are they’ll come to accept it and in the end, love it.

Don’t feel that you need to stick to what’s tried and tested within your small business.  It’s great to have confidence in knowing what works, but how can you ever properly develop if you don’t try to be different?

The Voice is fast becoming one of the world’s most popular television shows, all because it has offered a twist on the traditional talent show concept and there’s no reason why your small business can’t improve, develop and succeed by doing exactly the same.

We’re fast moving to a more digital, online based world. As consumers, we’ve been able to shop online for years, but technologies that are developed on what seems like an almost continual basis are allowing for businesses to benefit in various commercial ways, with having completely remote, home based staff one of them.

But just because you’re able to have home based staff, does that mean you should? Is it really the best move to make or can it end up damaging your business?  Here we take a look at the questions you should ask yourself when you’re looking to make the decision on the location of your staff when developing and expanding your small business.

Do you actually need on-site / off-site staff?

Just because you don’t actually need your staff to be on-site and the technology is readily available to allow for such working, it doesn’t mean that you have to have staff working away from the office.

There’s no doubt it can have its benefits, but is there an actual need for it within your small business?

Similarly, if you’re just wanting to keep your staff working in an office as you’re going for the ‘traditional business’ feel, is this the right thing to do?  Again, on-site workers can be great for business, but do you actually need them?

How does your budget look?

Possibly the most crucial aspect to consider when looking at the working location of your staff is the cost implication.

Sure, having your staff working from home might mean you can save on office costs, water, gas, electricity and all of the necessary equipment, but what about the technology you’ve got to invest in?

There’s a very good chance it could work out to be cheaper than an office, but when you’ve priced it together, you may just be surprised at how close the prices are.

For example, you need to remember that in many instances, staff working from home are very often freelancing, meaning you only pay one fee, whereas with staff working from an office there’s not only salaries to consider, but pensions, health care and a variety of other benefits and requirements.

Could you effectively manage your staff?

No matter what type of business you have and the type of manager you are, you need to feel comfortable managing your staff and therefore one of the key points you need to consider when looking at your staff’s working location is how you could best manage them.

Having staff working in an office might make it easier for some to manage them, but if you’re not going to be working in the office yourself much or you find it difficult to manage staff face-to-face, remote staffing could be the perfect option.

As technology develops, it’s affecting businesses of all shapes and sizes in a variety of ways and having home based staff is becoming more and more of a possibility.  Just because it is an easy option, however, it doesn’t mean it’s the right one for your small business and it’s absolutely imperative you feel comfortable in any decision you make.

As a small business owner, it’s highly likely you think of your small business as a baby.

You’ve brought it into this world, cared for it, nurtured it and dedicated what seems like every waking hour of your life to it to ensure it develops.

It’s because of this why, understandably, you can become very overprotective of it, something that becomes all that more apparent when you look into the possibility of having people, or organisations, invest in your small business’s development.

As fantastic as it can be – we’ve all seen Dragon’s Den and the success of some of the products on there – it’s a very difficult decision to make, deciding upon whether or not you hand over part of your business for money, as that’s invariably what’s wanted – a sizeable chunk of your business in return for what could be a sizeable chunk of money.

So what do you do?

There are three points you have to consider first and foremost:

1.  Why do you want the money?

Firstly, you need to decide what you’re going to potentially want an investor’s money for – and not in terms of specifics just yet.

Is it just because you want to take on another member of staff or two but can’t afford their salaries?  This is unlikely to work from an investor’s point of view.

What about if you’ve had your business running for a few months and think you’d like to try it out on a bigger sale?  This is similarly unlikely to work, unless you can prove that substantial expansion after such a short period of being in operation will be beneficial.

If you’re at breaking point with your business in the sense that you simply can’t keep up supplying the demand, however, this is another story – it’s proof that there is an eager market waiting for your products or services.

Remember, as much as the money from investors will help your business grow and develop, the investors are thinking of it as just that – an investment – and they want to see a return on their money.  Paying staff salaries or testing the waters on a larger scale isn’t a wise investment.

2.  Can you raise the money yourself?

Once you’ve figured out why you need the money – and the reason is one that an investor would consider – you need to look at the possibility of raising the money yourself.

Although it may obviously seem easier if an investor simply ‘gave’ you the money, by raising the capital yourself, you can retain full control of your business.

Don’t instantly discard the possibility of raising the money yourself just because you may not think it’s feasible – look at everything from bank loans to friends and family and see how much you could raise, as it might be more than you think.

3.  Are you willing to give away a percentage of your business?

If the answer to number two is no, you now need to consider whether giving away part of your business is the right move or not and the point where your over-protectiveness can really rear its face.

It’s because of this last part in particular why you need to think of the bigger picture, thinking of your small business as your future job and income security, removing any emotional connections.

Imagine your business is turning over $100,000 a year at the moment.  After expenditure, you’re left with $20,000 profit and from that, you’re taking $15,000 home for yourself and reinvesting $5,000.

If an investor came to you and said they’d invest $100,000 into your business for a 50% stake, it can make many small business owners instantly think no – 50% would leave them with half of the profit they’ve got and therefore half of the money to take home that they live on.

But you need to think of the bigger picture.

What could $100,000 do for your business’s development?  Increase your market reach?  Improve brand awareness?  Double, triple or quadruple turnover?

Sure, 50% is a lot of your business to give away, but if it’s going to mean you’re able to take a bigger salary, isn’t that one of the real reasons you started in business?

Although getting someone to invest money into your business can seem like the light at the end of the tunnel for some, for others it can do nothing but make that tunnel seem darker and longer.

Before you make any decisions, consider the three points above, as only then will you be certain – and confident – that looking, or not looking, for investors is the right decision for you and your small business.

A few weeks ago, I talked about customer complaints and how to deal with them, limiting the problems often associated with complaints from customers.

Today, I want to provide an insight into how any small business can take advantage of a complaining customer, whether they’ve passed on a slightly negative comment while being served or they’ve raised a formal complaint after an experience with your business.

1.  Understand there was a need to complain

One of the most important things to remember about any customer complaint is that there was a need for the customer to complain.

It may not have been a major complaint, nor one that means you can actually do anything as a result of receiving it, but there needs to be a constant understanding that if a customer complains, they didn’t like some part of your customer experience – and you need to find out why.

2.  Realise that quantity = quality

In various parts of business, quality prevails over quantity.  When it comes to managing the complaints you receive from customers, however, although quantity is important, the more complaints you receive, the more intelligence you have to utilise for development purposes.

Therefore, it’s important you don’t feel angered or upset at customers complaining and you don’t attempt to discourage complaints – the truth is you should be doing the converse and actively encouraging your customers to pass on their feedback, positive or negative.

3.  You should never stop developing

Just because you think your small business is running smoothly, you’re seeing a regular stream of customers and your profits are healthy, you should never think you can’t develop further.

If your customers are complaining, it means you’re not doing something right.  If lots of customers are complaining about various different aspects, it means that no matter how good you think your small business is, it’s not as good as you believe it is.

Listen to your customers and try something new.  If it works, great, roll it out permanently.  If it doesn’t, try something else.

But whatever you do, never stop developing – as soon as you do this, you’ll become complacent and complacency is one of the worst business qualities to posses.

The basis upon which all businesses thrive and develop is their customers activities and if customers aren’t happy, they aren’t going to make a purchase and they’re likely to complain – and when they do complain, you need to be able to understand the complaints, learn from them and ensure your business thrives and moves forward because of them.

Every organisation around the world has to contend with increasing outgoing costs on a regular basis.  Some outgoings they can reduce, others they can remove completely and there are some that unfortunately, have to simply be put up with.

Although these three communication outgoings are all necessary for a small business, there’s no need to just sit back and accept an increased cost with any of them, with the following information explaining how you can save money on cell phone bills, website hosting and computers.

1.  Cell phone bills

Whether you’re a growing business and want to supply each member of staff with a cell phone or you’re a sole trader with just one cell phone, the best way to get a great deal on your cell phone is simple – ask.

When you’re buying various products or services, asking directly for a reduction in the price can sometimes have the adverse impact and you can get the sales person’s back up.  With cell phones, competition in the market is so fierce that if you contacted your carrier, explained you were struggling to pay the bill as it stood at the moment, but really enjoyed the service and wondered if there was anything they could do, rather than you having to leave, it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll be able to knock at least a few dollars off your bill every month.

2.  Website hosting

Arguably one of the most mis-understood online costs, small businesses, without the right knowledge, can end up paying unnecessary amounts each month for website hosting, something that’s often due to them being sold a package well beyond their needs ‘for future proof, growth purposes’.

While there’s no doubt getting more than you need is a great idea, paying $200 for several gigabytes of space and bandwidth each month when you’re actually only likely to need a tenth of that for the first few months is completely unnecessary.

And with just a little bit of research and analysis of your current website data, you should be able to move to a package that is suitable for your storage and bandwidth requirements at the present moment in time.

3.  Computers

One of the most popular ways to save money on computer hardware at the moment is to have your employees use their own computers.  It may not have been an option in the past, but when you consider most people now have their own personal laptop, it makes financial sense to ask them to use it and simply pay for the relevant software to ensure they can carry out their role effectively.

Simple, cost-effective and although it might raise a few eyebrows at first, your employees will soon come round to the idea and see the benefits for them and the company as a whole.

Running a small business can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be unaffordable and this information provides ideas on how you can save a small fortune on three must-have communication outgoings.

Possibly the most important piece of online data you need to be paying attention to, your small business’s customer conversion rate is the number of visitors to your website who convert into paying customers.

Although the figure will vary based on a whole range of different aspects, from the type of industry in which you operate to what you use your website for (for example, if you have an integrated blog that provides regular information on a variety of topics, your website is likely to receive a lot of traffic that isn’t targeted and therefore is unlikely to convert), there are various processes you can implement to increase your small business’s online customer conversion rate and the following three are all perfect examples.

1.  Have in-depth, enticing copy

Whether you spend time writing this yourself or you get a copywriter to do it for you, you need to be certain that your website copy is as enticing as it can be while also offering comprehensive information on all of your products.

As much as a great image will do wonders to help increase customer conversions, if your customers can’t find the information they’re looking for, chances are they’ll go to a competitor and look for the information there rather than contact you directly, so it’s imperative you provide as much information as you can.

2.  Make the buying process easy

Although it can bring with it an additional cost, offering payment by credit card rather than simply through an online payment provider such as PayPal is almost seen as a necessity.

Yes, people will buy your products even if they can’t pay with their credit card in the most popular of ways, but the simple fact is by cutting out the need for a customer to sign up to a third party company or go through a process that isn’t familiar to them, you make the buying process as simple as it can be – something every customer wants.

3.  Be competitive

This may sound like an obvious point, but the internet allows for the quick and easy comparison of products between a range of different businesses and so if the product you’re offering isn’t competitively priced, your potential customers will take their money elsewhere.

You don’t have to be the cheapest, but you definitely need to ensure you’re offering not only a product at a competitive price, but the best customer service to ensure the customer decides to spend their money with you, rather than with the company offering the cheapest price.

Every business relies on its customers and although there are various things to consider when you are communicating with your customers to ensure they return time and time again, you have to ensure they develop from a website visitor to a paying customer first and foremost.

Being a small business is great for many reasons, but it also brings with it a certain stigma – very often, both customers and other businesses will favour larger businesses over smaller ones, as they believe because they’re more established, they’re more reliable, professional and they’ll generally receive a better service.

This obviously isn’t the case, but it’s a stigma that is very difficult to shrug off as a small business and if you’re finding you’re being unfairly penalised, take a look at these three ways to help give the impression that you’re a bigger organisation than you actually are.

1.  Don’t communicate out of office hours

This is one that is very often difficult to stick to, but if you start to e-mail your customers late at night, it gives the impression that all you’re doing is working – and although that’s likely to be the case, when you e-mail or phone a large organisation, you’ll very, very rarely get a response outside of normal business hours.

If you want to communicate with your customers when you’re not ‘at work’, setup a Twitter or Facebook account that you can use for business, but from a personal view.

2.  Have full and proper contact details

Being able to get in touch directly with someone at a company via their cell phone is always great if you have briefly met the person, but it does nothing for the image of your brand if the only method of communication you offer is via your personal cell phone.

Similarly, you need to publish a valid street address.  Whether it’s a dedicated office or store address or an address you’ve purchased to use for mail only, it may only seem like a small point, but it will do a lot to boost the image and credibility of your small business.

3.  Treat every customer the same

While being able to add a personal touch to the customer experience is one of the benefits of being a small business, there needs to be a level of uniformity about the entire experience if you’re looking to give the perception that you’re a bigger organisation than you actually are.

From delivery times to product returns, spend time developing processes for every aspect of your business and stick to them – not only will this help with the larger business perception, but it will do wonders for your efficiency.

Having your own small business is fantastic, but it brings with it a lot of difficulties.  By following these three tips, however, giving the impression you’re not a small business doesn’t have to be one of them.

For any small business owner, it can be difficult finding the time to carry out the tasks that are required on a regular basis, never mind anything additional that they believe – or are being told – to carry out and keep on top of.

Having an social media presence is one of those latter aspects of business that isn’t, in theory, a necessity and as it’s often thought of as taking up a considerable amount of time, it’s usually pushed to one side or given a half-hearted attempt.

The truth is that having a social media presence can impact positively on a range of different business aspects, from improved positioning within the search engines to increased traffic and here we look at three simple steps to maintaining a basic social media presence.

1.  Don’t take on too much

One of the most common mistakes small businesses make when it comes to having an online presence is they believe they have to be present on every social media website available.

As fantastic as this would be, unless you have a large team of dedicated staff, it’s going to be impractical to maintain a presence across anything more than a handful of websites and therefore you must always stick to the quality / quantity aspect – a high quality presence on two or three of the largest or most industry relevant social media websites is going to be considerably more beneficial than a poor quality presence on a dozen different social media websites.

2.  Schedule your updates

Having a social media presence should be about communicating with your audience – but no one has ever said anything about that communication needing to be in real-time.

Of course, it’s always good to be able to interact and have a conversation with some of your customers via Twitter or Facebook as if you were talking in person or on the phone, but it can take up a substantial amount of your time.

Rather than spending a few hours every day updating your social media presence, use software to schedule your updates in advance.  This doesn’t mean you should completely ignore your social media accounts and not update them manually, but it can take a lot of the burden off having to go in and update each of them every single day.

3.  Use the 80/20 rule

As one of the primary aspects of having a social media presence is to update it regularly, it can be difficult for many small businesses to come up with interesting copy to tweet about or post on their wall.

What needs to always be remembered is that the 80/20 rule will not only make your online presence more effective, but it will make it easier for you to update.

The 80/20 rule is simple to understand and implement – generally speaking, 80% of your updates should be industry related, making them of interest to your target audience and extending your reach and 20% of your updates should be product, service or organisation focused, acting as somewhat of a direct sales or promotion tool.

Do anything else and you’ll alienate your followers and find it difficult to continue to keep coming up with regular, fresh updates about your organisation.

Having a social media presence may not be a necessity in theory, but it’s become almost essential to the continued development and success of any small business – and it really doesn’t have to put as much of a strain on your every day business processes as you may first believe.

At BizAmmo, we always talk about how to succeed and develop as a small business, but we very rarely talk about the process behind actually becoming a small business owner initially.

One that requires a lot of thought and consideration – and which needs for a decision to be made that shouldn’t be done so lightly – here we look at three questions you should ask yourself if you’re strongly considering making the move to becoming a small business owner.

1.  Can I physically and mentally work over 12 hours a day?

If there’s one thing every single small business owner has in common, irrelevant of the industry in which the operate, it’s that they work endlessly.

From waking up early in the morning to going to bed late at night, being a small business owner will mean you have to invest more hours than you’re likely to have ever done in any employed role.

And although most people believe they will do whatever needs doing when it comes to setting up, running and developing their business, it’s one thing being able to say you’ll happily get up at 6am and go to bed at midnight everyday, but it’s another thing doing it.

2.  Do I have the will-power to get through rejection after rejection after rejection?

Even if you’re setting up a small business that focuses on something completely unique, you need to be ready for rejection.  You might have the best business plan in the world, but you’re still likely to get rejected numerous times.

Banks.  Manufacturers.  Advertising opportunities.  It doesn’t matter how much of a certainty you believe something is, the truth is, in business there’s always the chance it won’t go your way – and you need to be prepared for this when it happens, as it can be particularly demoralizing.

3.  Can I afford for it all to go wrong?

In theory, setting up a small business doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, but many will often invest a considerable amount into their business, both financially and in terms of their time.

Therefore, it’s important that at the very beginning of your small business journey, you determine whether, if someone closed your business down tomorrow, could you afford to lose all of your investment?

Of course, this is unlikely to happen in such way, but your small business could go from just starting up, to the height of popularity and to being completely unknown in a matter of days and although you shouldn’t give up when you fall at the first hurdle, it’s important you understand when it is time to shut up shop.

Being a small business owner is likely to bring with it a range of benefits and it could mean you go on to be a particularly successful businessperson.

However, it could also mean you lose money and time you’ll never get back, as well as impacting negatively upon both your physical and mental state and it’s therefore absolutely imperative that before you start, you are aware of not only the positive aspects, but the negatives, too.

For many small businesses, their primary aim is to develop and expand to the extent that there is such a need for their products or services that they have to employ a number of staff across the globe.

From manufacturers through to sales teams, there’s no doubt that the expansion for any business is always in their sights – it’s a great indicator that you’re doing well and providing a supply to a growing demand.

The issue is that a lot of organisations believe they have to wait until they’re working at full capacity before they expand, but the truth is you can expand and become a large employer effectively from the off, without a huge outlay, as long as you know how to go about it properly.

 1.  Think outside the box

If you’re a small business in the UK, chances are you’re going to be looking to hire a UK based sales person who will focus on the UK market first and foremost.

Although no doubt a thriving market, what about looking into markets that could potentially be more lucrative?  Research could show, for example, that the Asian market has a considerably higher need for your products or services.

If this was the case, it could very well be worthwhile investing in a sales person in Asia.  OK, you’re not going to be able to meet with them in person every day, but how much of an issue is that exactly?

2.   Use the services you have available

Following on from the last point in #1, it doesn’t have to be an issue at all – as long as you utilize the services that are available to you.

It’s becoming increasingly popular for organizations around the world to have their base in one country and have a number of other staff spread right across the globe.  They meet up every couple of months in a central location, but they communicate daily using services such as Skype, which allows for free telephone, video and instant messaging conversations to take place online.

It may not be the most traditional way of conducting business, but it’s without doubt a more modern, forward-thinking approach.

3.  Hire freelancers

As with many things in life, we believe we have to own certain things and when it comes to running a small business, saying you ‘employ 10 staff’ is a proud, boasting moment.

But would it make any difference if you were to say you ‘hire 10 freelancers’?

There are lots of different points to consider when working with freelancers, but the simple fact is that although they often charge more per hour / day than if you were to employ somebody, you’ll be able to save considerably when it comes to paying tax, as the freelancer is responsible for their own tax returns.

What’s more, you don’t have to get tied in to any contacts, meaning you aren’t responsible for any of the benefits that would be associated with an employed role, from sick page through to health insurance

Small business expansion traditionally comes after a certain level of development, but there’s no reason why with the right planning and preparation, you can’t expand your small business first to help with your development.  It may mean you have to buck the trend and do something your peers haven’t done, but there’s no reason why you can’t be just as successful – if not more so – by thinking outside of the box, using the services you have available and hiring freelancers.