Business | Building a Business

Listening to What Customers Say

If you own a business, one of the most important things for you to track is what your customers think and feel about your business. Your customers will have opinions about your products or services, your company in general, and the customer service experience that they have when they do business with you.

Because every customer is going to have an opinion about their dealings with you, it becomes essential that you find a way to collect this information. One of the ways that you can do it is by collecting customer feedback through surveying your customers. Every question can be short and simple but very insightful, allowing customers to tell you what they are thinking quickly and easily.

The key is to take this information, put it together, and analyze it so that you can have a good idea of what customers think. This is an absolutely outstanding way to determine where your business is going wrong and where it is going right. Collecting customer feedback can also help you create more of a niche market, making your customers even more loyal.

Once you have this information at your disposal, the best thing that you can do is find creative ways to apply it to your business. When your business is allowed to grow and evolve based on what customers think about you, then you can truly create the business that meets the needs of your customers and your clients. This is the ideal way for you to grow and evolve your business because you are changing specifically based on what your customers are looking for.

You will even be able to customize the surveys that you offer based on the type of visitor you are polling, such as first time visitors, newer visitors, and visitors that have been doing business with you for a while.

Filed Under: Employees, Small Business Tagged With: Business, Customer, Customer Management, Customer retention, Email marketing

Tax Payment in the First Year of Your Business

Running your own business is probably the best way to explore your ambitions while securing the future of your family financially. However it, as is usual for anything good, has its cons too. The hassles that come entwined with the economic benefits of an independent business are not a child’s play. Even very successful of the businessmen cannot forget the hardships they endured while in the budding stage of their businesses—the first year. Whether you are now planning to start a fresh venture or are in your first year of business already, either way you might have guessed or experienced the various hurdles that generally come under one’s way while attempting to reap a few dollars out of the new business. And one of them is “taxes.”

Filing income taxes can be challenging for a first-year business owner. First, you can, as a business owner, contact the Internal Revenue Service that will definitely help you to file your income taxes, including what can be itemized. Stay updated on tax news because tax laws, such as those dealing with sales tax, since they do change from time to time. If possible, visit tax forums and blogs that can save you time and provide you with quick information. Since you would be filing as a business owner, you’ll need to report investments, interest, gross wages, and dividends. You may qualify for a write-off on certain items, first year capital allowance or benefits from a child tax credit for your children.

Make sure you examine all your business expenses, deductions and credits so as to leave nothing behind. If you have an assistant, make sure he or she covers all the aspects of your finance including profits and losses experienced in that first year. First things first, a business is existent for money and through money. So you cannot afford to ignore any financial element of your business, including the taxes.

Filed Under: Business Costs, Small Business Tagged With: Business, Internal Revenue Service, Tax

What is Covered Under Your Business Insurance Policy?

The Business Owners’ Policy, or the BOP, is a commercial business insurance policy that covers property, liability and hired automobiles, such as rented or borrowed cars. The small business fragment of the policy caters to a building and its contents. As per the policy, a covered loss can be either repaired or replaced, if the building is owned or rented for business.

Items Covered Under Small Business Property Insurance

Items covered in the BOP or Business Owner’s Policy include inventory, personal computers, owned or leased equipment, furniture and fixtures, money or securities, personal belongings, property being held for another, as well as company records.

The policy covers personal injury, damage to property and at times, advertising injury. It also covers a business in case it is being sued. In case the company has a website, having an Internet liability insurance is a must.

What the BOP does not cover is wear and tear, mechanical breakdown, air or nuclear pollution, natural disasters, detached buildings, signs and fencing. These can be included in a separate policy.

Depending upon the type of business run, other coverages may be either included or excluded. A separate insurance policy should also be taken for company owned cars.

Important Additions to the Policy

The commercial business insurance policy must be made to include theft or employee dishonesty, as well as errors and omissions. These can save the owners from huge calamities. Equipment breakdown is not usually covered in the policy, but should be added. In case the owner has incurred expenses to reinstate the business after suffering losses, the addition should be made to the policy.

Conclusion

A BOP or a Business Owner’s Policy is a very useful insurance policy for any small business venture and it must be understood well before being adopted. This ensures that the policy holder is well aware of what items are included and excluded from the policy.

Filed Under: Business Costs Tagged With: Business

What to Know to Find the Best Small Business Insurance

While starting a small business venture, taking various types of insurance may seem cumbersome, but will only prove helpful in the long term.

Property Insurance

This insures the business premises and its contents from loss or damage, and the entire value at the time of loss is paid back. This type of insurance entails various options, which must be studied thoroughly before taking up the insurance.

Liability Insurance

Negligence by the business or its employees gets covered in this insurance. It is third-party insurance, covering damage to any third-party and compensation to the same. It includes accidents involving company vehicles and injury to non-employees on the company’s premises.

Vehicles’ Insurance

Company vehicles need to be insured in case of damage to the vehicle or to employees. The insurance should cover auto liability, medical compensation, comprehensive cover, and accident cover.

Employees’ Compensation

Employees are insured against injuries while on the job, and receive medical treatment as well as compensation for the loss incurred during the period of hospitalization. Depending on the state, the options for employees’ compensation differ.

Casualty Insurance

This covers damage to property and to people. Often, this is clubbed together with property insurance. This kind of a combination is highly beneficial to the policy holder.

Business Interruption Insurance

Such insurance proves useful when the business suffers a loss due to interruption in profit by ways of damaged machinery, or any other cause of interruption.

Life and Disability Insurance

This provides compensation to the business in case of death or disability of one of the chief employees. This is particularly helpful in partnerships, when a partner dies and the other partner can buy their share out of the business.

Conclusion

Understanding the various types of insurance is a must for any small business. A reliable broker must be consulted to get sound advice and also the best rates.

Filed Under: Small Business, Training Tagged With: Business, Business interruption insurance, Employment, Property insurance, Workers' compensation

Giving People Your 411

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Just so you know, it is no longer “hip” to use the term 4-1-1. Of course, it hasn’t been popular to say “hip” in regard to anything but a part of one’s anatomy for about 40 years, but so many things on the Internet must be written in mind with people who are very behind the times. Suffice it to say, we need to talk about some new information you might not have considered. And don’t worry, it has to do with making money, even though it will undoubtedly require an initial investment on your part.

Certainly you’ve seen brochures for various products and services. Since they cost a little to make, a brochure is typically used to advertise and inform about a high end product or service. You don’t see brochures for donuts, delicious though they might be. However, you may see them for a deluxe donut maker, or for a high class bakery in the part of town where everybody thinks they’re so fit and environmentally friendly because they get out of their condos and walk down the street a block or two to get their coffee, donuts and whatever. While the image might be something of a farce, the effect is very real.

There is no better way to reach people and advertise a service that comes at a premium than to educate them through a brochure. First, they have something they can hold – that’s important. Secondly, you have the chance to explain why they need what you’re offering, and why you are the best person to supply it to them. Third, they have a chance to get a few pictures of your offering- no matter what it is, you can (and would be wise to) express it visually somehow. You have to remember that a picture is worth a thousand words, and lots of sales.

Filed Under: Corporation, Small Business Tagged With: Brochure, Business, Google, Speech recognition

Tips for Building Business Credit

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Many beginning businesses look at the huge companies with their large lines of credit and wonder “How did they do it?”. While it might seem an impossible feat to develop huge lines of credit for a small business, it isn’t impossible. In fact, most large businesses started at exactly the same spot as small businesses with no credit established at all.

Credit building for businesses will take time and a bit of energy but when a business owner sees their line of credit increasing it’ll make it all worth while.

Here are some great tips for helping businesses build up credit or establish themselves with credit lines.

Start out small. Business credit is very similar to personal credit. Don’t just jump into applying for huge credit lines. Instead, start out small and ask for small loans from smaller companies such as office furniture stores, restaurants and other places. This will allow you to establish a line of credit and prove to the bigger lenders that you can pay back loans. The best place to start is with gas and supply store lines and move up to larger stores from there.

Tax Ids and LCCs. To apply for business loans you will need to have your own business Tax ID and you will also have to create a corporation. In some states corporations are required in order to get business loans, in some states it isn’t necessary. Check what the laws and business loan requirements are for your state.

Dun and Bradstreet Number. This is a business ID that is reported to credit reporting agencies for businesses. This number is almost always required on any big business loan application and allows lenders to check up on past business loans and payment histories.

Establishing a business credit line won’t happen over night but it can happen within a year. Following some of these tips will help you and your business establish credit quickly.

Filed Under: Business Costs Tagged With: Business, Credit (finance), Credit bureau, Dun & Bradstreet, Employer Identification Number, Line of credit, Loan, Small business

Building a Business on the Computer

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When you’re building a business, there are all kinds of things that you have to think of. If you don’t pay careful attention to what you’re doing, you may alienate your customers before you get a chance to show them what you can really do and how much they can enjoy buying from you. That’s true whether you’re selling a product or a service, so it’s important to keep that in mind as you go through setting up your business and starting to advertise. Where you advertise your business is just as important as what you say, too, so be careful about where you showcase your company.

Advertise only on sites that will bring you targeted traffic. If you have a lot of people visiting but none of them will be interested in buying, there really isn’t much point in all of it. That’s especially true if you’re paying for that advertising space, because you definitely aren’t making any money on it that way. Of course, it’s not just advertising that you need to pay close attention to. You should also make sure that your website is attractive, easy to navigate, and quick to load. Otherwise, you’re not going to get as many customers as you’d hope to.

The business should work well on your end so you’ll want to make sure your computer is ready for it. To have that you’ll want to update drivers, make sure you have enough memory, and handle any other issues that could keep you from contacting your customers properly. When you provide great customer service, people notice that. They’re more likely to use your services or buy from your company again, because they like what you have to offer to them. Don’t give up on building the kind of business that people want to come back to. It can be done.

Filed Under: Budgets, Business Costs, Investment Tagged With: Advertising, Business, Customer, Customer Management, Customer service, Sales, Small business, Twitter

How to Start a Business

Starting a business is not easy, whether starting a home-based business or in the community, you will be your own boss. That means you set the hours, hire and fire the employees, are in charge of marketing and ultimately in charge of how your business will be funded.

The first step in starting a business is to decide what kind of business you will start. If you are plan to start a home-based business, you will not need any rental money and you will have lower overhead than if your business is ran in a building in a community. If you desire to open a small business in the community you will need to find a location that is attractive, easy for customers to find and easily affordable for you to rent or lease.

Next you will need to come up with a business plan for possible investors to look over. This business plan should include: your business’ mission statement, what product or service you are selling, how you will remain relevant in your market, how you will hire/fire employees, your marketing plan and your plan for long-term success in your chosen market.

Once you have solidified your business plan it is now time to formulate a list of people that you think will fund your company. This list may include family, friends, neighbors and anyone you come into contact with on a regular basis. Once you have a small group of people chosen, it is time to present your business and business plan to them. Your business plan will need to contain pertinent information regarding your financial needs and funding. Begin to get your finances in order by utilizing tailored financial software like Netsuite. This software will give you a full overview of your financials in real-time. Additionally, you will have access to your financial information from anywhere, keeping you constantly in tune with your company’s financial needs.

Your presentation should be well-rehearsed and you should be prepared to answer questions that may be asked of you. After the presentation make sure that all participants have your contact information, and that you have theirs as well. Check in with your potential investors on a regular basis, and let them know how the business start-up is going, as they will want to know how things are progressing.

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: Business

Networking and Marketing Your Business

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Unlike times in the past, there are now two types of networking and marketing that must be carried out if you are to build a successful business. It can be easy to focus on just one or the other type of networking and marketing. However, they are both equally important and, as such, should both be taken as seriously as the other.

Traditionally, marketing your business has meant networking with other local businesses,, attending meetings of local business organizations and engaging the local community by using various outreach programs. Attending your local chamber of commerce meetings are a great way to meet the owners of other local businesses in your area. Participating in your local business fairs will alert the community about the services and products your provide. This type of networking and marketing is very important for the success of your business, especially on the local level.

However, if you want to extend the reach of your business, you will need to also have a well planned website which highlights your business and its offerings. There are a number of components that you will need to have on your website if you want it to be a good marketing option for you and your business. Having content in the form of articles and blog posts is absolutely essential. By having certain keywords that are relevant to your business strategically placed within those articles and blog posts, your website is more likely to be placed within the first few pages of search results when someone searches for that particular keyword.

Within in those blog posts and articles that are strategically optimized for the keywords that are relevant to your business, you want the visitors to your website to take away a wealth of valuable information. This information needs to help them to solve their issues that brought them to your website initially.

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: Business, Business networking, Chamber of commerce, Internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Small business, Website

How to Get a New Business Plan

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Many start-up businesses have difficulty obtaining funds for their new business endeavors. Many banks and lenders want the business to have two years or three years of solid success before they will consider lending money to a business. There are still steps that new business can take to secure funds, these include owning a home, including all assets in the loan application, having a good income record and having a plan for where the loan money will go.

By owning a home the bank will see the applicant as having a history of borrowing funds on a large purchase and having a history of paying their mortgage on time. Business start ups are one of the riskiest loans that a lender can make, and if an applicant has shown a reliable history of making their home payments on time, it lessens the big risk the lenders are taking.

Assets to be included on a a business loan application include cash, property, shares, bonds and vehicles. The more assets that a business has at it’s disposal the higher the loan that a business owner may get. If more than one business owner is applying for a loan, than everyone applying should list their assets.

A good income record can be proven by sowing a good history of income by showing tax records, pay stubs and asset information. By the applicant proving that they have had a steady source of income for several years it demonstrates that they are capable earner, have the ability to pay their debt and will make the lender less cautious.

Finally, the lender will want to see where the loan money is going to go. A detailed plan that provides the lender with itemized objectives for where every dollar will go shows that the applicant is serious about their business. Lenders want to know that applicants are diligent planners and have researched their products, services and marketing plan.

Filed Under: Business Costs Tagged With: Business, Credit (finance), Financial Services, Income, Loan, Mortgages, Small business, Small Business Administration