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Quick Ways to Freshen Up Your Business

smallbizincorp — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 13:05:10 +0000

It may be time for you to breathe some new life into your business. If sales are dropping or simply just not increasing, or you’ve noticed nothing new is coming from your efforts, it may be that your business is stale and needs a refresh.

Here, we’ll talk you through a few quick ways that you can freshen up your business to boost sales and motivation.

photo credit: Olia Danilevich / Pexels

How Do You Know When Your Business is Stale?

After a business has been running for a while, that young business fire tends to dim. The energy and adrenaline that comes with building a business can become stagnant, especially when sales may not have grown as much as you’d originally hoped. Alternatively, your business may have already achieved a good level of success but have been stuck at the same level with the same routine that can cause a lack of imagination and a, well, ‘stale’ business.

If you’re feeling like your business has become stuck in its place, here are some quick ways you can get back on track.

Update Your Branding

gIf your business has been around for a long time, updating your logo and branding that is more up-to-date with current consumer trends can make your brand more appealing. Your logo is the first impression you make on potential customers, so choose a clean, minimal design that is eye-catching and professional. Consider also using contemporary colours that invoke certain feelings in consumers so that your business stands out or create a new tagline that defines the purpose and voice of your company.

I know what you’re thinking, and whilst you may not be a whizz on photoshop, hiring a branding design agency to do all the hard work can make your logo and branding redesign a much easier process.

Refresh Images

Visuals of your brand can cause your business to feel stale, boring and predictable. By freshening up your imagery on your website, marketing materials or social platforms, you can help your audience see what they want to see, not what you want them to see.

Consumer trends are changing, and more consumers are wanting to see the real you and want to see who the people behind the brand are. Think about sharing your business behind the scenes and create fun and lively imagery that shows who your brand really is.

Updating your imagery is one of the most fun ways you can refresh your brand, and you can even do this in batches! Choose a day you’re all the freest, bring changes of clothes and book a photographer to take some images of your team.

Update Website Copy

When your business starts to slow down, marketing should be your first port of call to revisit; this includes website copy. Updating your website content can do wonders for your SEO. A tired, stale website doesn’t look great in the eyes of Google, so take some time and do some research into what your customers want to see and make your website copy reflect that. Carrying out competitor analysis, keyword research and tracking your content can help you identify gaps in your content marketing.

Putting out regular content can help your website and your business be more successful and can be the refresh your business needs.

Get New Testimonials

One of the best ways to market yourself refreshingly is to let others do your marketing for you. Asking your clients to write you testimonials is great for your business. It shows potential customers that you deliver real results and these are people who can vouch for that.

There is no more of a credible ambassador for your business than a satisfied customer. Whilst you may have the best imagery, branding, website copy and accreditations, that means less to a potential customer than words from an existing or past client.

Customers are likely to spend 31% more with a business that has great customer testimonials, so start requesting these from your clients to refresh your brand and start boosting sales.

Running a Business in the Metaverse: Virtual Services, For the Win

Neil Duncan — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 11:05:01 +0000

The metaverse is a network of the 3D world that can be accessed using a virtual reality headset. It is a virtual universe that offers unlimited possibilities. It is estimated that the metaverse would be an $800 million market by 2024. It is no wonder that top corporations are investing in it.

A question arises on how you can run a business in the metaverse. Virtual workplaces are already a reality, thanks to remote work. Virtual services such as virtual reception – including phone answering – like those provided by www.virtualreception.com.au can be offered as a precursor to running a business in the Metaverse.

photo credit: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

Remote Work and Virtual Services

Remote work is a powerful concept that allows people to work from anywhere. They no longer need to be physically present at an office to work. They can work from home or anywhere else. A question that arises is – what about a virtual office?

At present, virtual workers work from some corner of the home. This may even change from time to time. The metaverse now makes it possible to have an infinite office that has 3 types of virtual workspaces.

1. Private virtual office

With virtual reality headsets on, you can enter your private virtual office where you do your work. You can define your virtual surrounding while being able to see the physical world around you. Productivity tools can be used directly from the virtual office.

Let’s assume you need to attend a virtual meeting. With a tap of the screen, you can open the virtual meeting app and continue the meeting from your virtual office. This is the reality that seeks to transform the way we work.

2. Shared workspace

Some people find it difficult to remote work because they prefer working in a shared space with others. A close and collaborative shared workspace allows for greater productivity. Now, this can be done virtually using a shared virtual place. You can enter the shared space as a virtual avatar.

Sit in your own private office and be part of the shared workspace with others. Interact with them through your VR headset and watch the interaction in the virtual world. This is a great way to simulate an office space and ensure the best collaborative efforts.

3. The infinite office

The infinite office is a virtual office concept that goes to the next level. It takes your office just about anywhere, be it your home or even in a park. Just imagine, you are sitting on a park bench soaking in the warm sun and enjoying the pleasant weather. If you have a meeting scheduled in 5 minutes, you can continue it from the park.

All you need to do is use the VR headset to activate your virtual workspace right in front of you. You don’t even need a keyboard or a screen. You can activate work apps using a gesture. The infinite office is at a conceptual stage. But it won’t be long before it becomes a reality. When it does happen, it will truly take the world of work by storm. Working in the metaverse will become a reality.

Working in The Virtual World

The virtual world allows you to create a virtual avatar of yourself. Your virtual avatar will work in the shared space with others. An entire office can be created in the virtual world. This will allow you to get the best benefits of a virtual workplace with a real workplace. In fact, this has already become a reality.

A Korean company Zigbang has created a VR office spanning 30 floors and the avatars of employees can move around the office. As they encounter other avatars, their mike would be activated. They can then have a real conversation through the virtual world. This can make communication more effective. This was a drawback in remote working and with virtual communication enabled, the virtual workplace would be more effective.

Young people in workplaces would enjoy creating virtual avatars of themselves. They can allow their creativity to run amuck as they create an avatar of themselves. They can make the avatar look how they want it to be.

How Would The Metaverse be?

The metaverse is different from VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality). There would be many changes that are significant. Devices like the mouse and keyboard would no longer be needed. Voice would be the main way in which communication happens. Voice instructions would help operate the metaverse.

The main feature of the metaverse is the use of virtual assistants. Virtual assistants would play an important role in the metaverse. Their primary interface would be a voice and not commands typed on the keyboard. People are ready to use voice today, thanks to Siri and Alexa. Voice commands are used on mobile phones and computers.

Voice search has become popular on Google with many people preferring speaking to Google rather than typing. Smart speakers have today become the norm. It is estimated that the smart speaker market would be worth more than $61 billion by 2024. The integration of smart speakers with Artificial Intelligence is making virtual assistants more useful.

photo credit: Kampus Production / Pexels

Takeaway

In the virtual world of business, people would talk to virtual assistants using voice. Virtual assistants would have a major role to play in all types of businesses going forward.

It would be important to understand who or what a virtual assistant would be in the metaverse. A virtual assistant can be a software program or can even be a person who helps and guides users in the metaverse. The program can be AI-powered. When real people function as virtual assistants, they would be those who are skilled or specialized in the area of work.

The virtual assistant can make your life easy in the metaverse. They can help you keep track of your work and remind you of the things to do. They can even help you in your personal life with cooking, fitness tips, and even dating advice. Virtual personal trainers and virtual child care providers would be available to help you in the metaverse. These virtual assistants will be able to do more in the virtual world than in the real world.

Net 30: What It Means, How Businesses Use It

smallbizincorp — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 19:54:29 +0000

“Net 30” is a shorthand term used on invoices to indicate that a customer has 30 days to pay. This simple concept connects to other areas of business operations, including customer communication and accounting.

What Net 30 means

An invoice contains details of a transaction like a sale date, the name of the good or service the customer received, and its cost. Another component of an invoice is the time given to the buyer to pay the bill. For example, a business can use the term “Net 30” to show that a customer must pay within 30 days from the date the invoice was sent.

While 30 days is a typical time frame, it’s not the only one you’ll see:

10, 20 and 60 days are also commonly used time frames. On an invoice, these could also be written Net 10, Net 20 and Net 60, respectively.
Other payment terms can be added. For example, Net 30 EOM means the payment must be made by the 30th day of the following month. If the invoice is dated Oct. 15, the payment is due on Nov. 30.
A business might alter the time frame from customer to customer. Trusted customers with a record of on-time or early payments might be given a longer time frame as a courtesy or perk.
There’s no requirement to use this shorthand. You can instead write the specific date the payment is due or opt for a phrase like “due within 30 days of the invoice date.”

Many factors go into choosing how much time you’ll give customers to pay. The decision ultimately balances your need to be paid with a financial courtesy extended to your customers, as an invoice is essentially a 0% loan. Things to consider include:

Shorter windows can prompt faster payments. Accounting software company Xero states on its website that short time frames will likely mean more customers pay late. However, invoices with shorter payment windows tend to be paid quicker than invoices with longer time frames, even accounting for late payments.
Some merchants offer a discount if the buyer pays quickly. For example, a payment might be due within 30 days, but you could offer a 2% discount if the buyer pays within 10 days. This can be written as “2/10 Net 30.”
Don’t delay. Sending invoices to customers can sometimes float to the bottom of a to-do list. If you’re looking for ways to speed up your cash flow, see if there’s any time you can save on the front end by getting invoices out the door faster.

Communication and automation tools

Keeping track of invoices takes time and can require multiple contact points with customers. Many modern online invoicing services can automate most of these steps. If you receive payments via invoice, make sure the software you use can:

Create default payment terms. Auto-populate new invoices with the terms you prefer.
Automate reminder emails. A set number of days before the deadline, automatically nudge customers who haven’t settled up. Then, prompt them if they still haven’t paid when the deadline passes. Or, send an alert to every customer whose invoice is past due with one click.
Maintain customer profiles. Note if a customer has billing issues in a customer management system.
Include a link to a payment page. Doing so in your digital invoices removes friction and can speed up payment time.
Add a late fee. This can discourage late payments. Automatically apply the fee to overdue invoices.

How Net 30 shows up in reporting

When you send an invoice, the amount is added to your accounts receivable. When a customer pays, you subtract the amount from accounts receivable and add it to your cash account.

If you send invoices regularly, it can be hard to quickly grasp when cash will start flowing your way and what those amounts will be. Reporting tools found in many invoicing and accounting services consolidate the various balances and due dates into a usable format. One standard report that does so is the accounts receivable aging report, which shows you not only the total amount due but a day-by-day breakdown of amounts coming due in the future, as well as information about overdue invoices.

Is Net 30 right for your business?

It’s common to give customers a 30-day deadline to pay an invoice. Whether it’s best for you depends on your cash flow needs and your customers’ expectations, which can vary by industry. Whatever payment terms end up being best for you, you can use software tools to better understand trends in your accounts receivable to see if you need to make changes. And remember to take advantage of invoice automation tools to improve on-time payments.