Identifying 7 Infamous Risks Every Entrepreneur Must Face

People usually focus on the success stories of entrepreneurs and don’t bother about the road that led them there. Honestly, entrepreneurs have the hardest job as they have to prove on a consistent basis the reason why they decided to pursue their venture in the first place. Until you make it, not everyone is rooting for you so you have to be steadfast and decisive as an entrepreneur to really make it in the industry. In order to manage risks as an entrepreneur, you need to be aware and prepared for the risks and challenges you may have to face.

Liquidity Risk

For a business to run, it needs to have a consistent supply of cash flow which acts as its bloodline. There are regular expenses that the business needs on a daily basis for operations to proceed smoothly. Petty cash and expenses keep the business running and not having the cash to meet these obligations can prove to be catastrophic for your business. You can mitigate this risk by forecasting and budgeting cash flows and making sure that income always precedes expenses. This way, you will always have extra cash in hand.

Counterparty Risk

This is the risk you gain from your counterpart in business who may be providing an essential service or good to you.

So are they reliable? What areas of your business are dependent on them? Always ask yourself these questions to determine if your service provider will be able to meet their end of the deal. Failure to deliver essential services on time may prove to be costly for your business. To minimize this risk, check testimonials from other clients and back it up with a thorough background check.

Reputational Risk

This is by far the most crucial risk of them all as it will determine how popular your business will be to the public. A bad reputation means that people have made bad reviews about your product and services which may thwart any potential business deals from happening. Ensure you have a positive social media presence such that when background checks are done, you come out clean. Other people and businesses associated with you are also worried about the counterparty risk you will bring. So make sure you are in good standing.

Operational Risk

When mistakes happen during business operations, it’s important to get in front of them before a bad reputation is developed. An operational risk occurs when there are inefficient policies, rogue employees or a poor IT system in place. No matter the case, ensure you have an outstanding management team to mitigate the mistake.

External Risks

External risks are those that happen beyond your control. They include factors like economic recessions, inadequate raw materials, natural disasters or currency volatility. All of these could end a business idea in an instant. Use financial and insurance institutions to deal with this type of risk.Abandon A Steady Paycheck

This sort of venture requires total commitment which means you may have to quit your job. In the first months of your business, there is usually no guarantee of any personal income from the business venture.

Sacrificing Personal Capital

Some entrepreneurs are unable to secure external funding which necessitates them to dig into their safety net to get the business started as well as keep operations running.

Risk is synonymous is entrepreneurship. It’s a basic business principle that in order to attain rewards, you must be willing to take on risks head-on. How you manage the risks really determines how great the reward will be. It doesn’t necessarily have to result in a profit thus you must be prepared for the risk to backfire terribly. An entrepreneur really needs to be strong-minded and persevere through the tough times if they really want their business venture to succeed. However, for that to happen you will need to put your finances, career and mental health on the line. That is the price you will have to pay to take charge of your destiny. Risk has its upsides and potential drawbacks so ensure you use proper risk management techniques.

8 Tips To Ensure Your Business Will Thrive In The Modern Era

The world is changing. Businesses have to change with it. Businesses that do not change get left behind and are gradually phased out. Every smart business has to adapt. For business owners, they have a hard task of finding out what works in the modern era and what does not. Here are some 8 tips to make sure that your business will thrive in the modern era:

Embrace Social Media

Almost everyone now is on social media. You and your business need to understand the power that social media has. Establishing an online presence by building a huge brand on platforms such as Instagram can enable you to get more customers.

Social media marketing has increased the reach of businesses to potential clients. It is your responsibility to ensure that intensive marketing strategies are developed that help you attract more clients. You can be able to monitor consumer behaviors and tastes to serve customers better. Keywords need to target an audience that is in line with what you offer.

Note It Down

As a business owner, you should write what you have in mind. Your business plan should be in a notebook. This should be done the same way as musicians who note down lyrics immediately they come to their minds. Why? Because it is easy to forget something not written down. Without actionable plans, everything is just a dream.

Engage With Your Employees

It is so important these days to have a connected work force as they operate in and out of the office environment. Many businesses have a number of non desk workers and it can be difficult to communicate accurately with these employees. Recruitment agencies often offer a number of solutions for managing your offsite workforce.

Using an employee engagement company is a fantastic way to communicate with your staff over a specialised platform.

Prepare To Make Changes

A business plan should not be rigid. External forces within the business world such as governments and inflation may affect your business. Be ready to make hard sacrifices. This is the only way your business may thrive.

Even when consumer tastes are changing, change with them. Do not continue offering products or services which few people want. Your business, in the long run, will survive due to you being able to make tough decisions.

Attend Networking Events

Ensure that you have time to build networks. Meet with people in similar industries as you. Make time to meet with those in different fields too. Networking enables you to also meet prospective partners and investors. Encourage people who you meet within these networks to send customer referrals your way. This can be through word of mouth.

Talk But Also Listen

You cannot be right all the time. No one is. Ask for advice from others. This advice may make you realize where you are going wrong. When you lower your ego, there so many things that you can learn.

Listen to others when they talk to you. Get to know of their points of view. If someone tells you that you are running your business in the wrong way, do not take it personally. Think objectively.

Keep Your Records

Business improvement requires proper records. You need to keep records of all transactions that happen within your business. All receipts should be kept.

Auditing your business becomes easier when all cash flow can be monitored since they are recorded. Evidence of transactions such as payments to suppliers can be produced if need be. These checks ensure fraud is dealt with.

Offer Great Service

Exceptional customer service leads to customer satisfaction. This creates loyalty. They will start referring their friends because of the service you provide. Always ensure that you cater to their needs.

Give Back

This is one of the ways of building a reputable brand. When you give back to the community, you get noticed. Participating in community events such as cleanups is a way of doing so. This attracts more clients through the awareness created by your business.

Business owners need to think critically about how they are going to make their businesses adapt in the modern era. Traditional business ways will not work. Innovation and the ability to cope with changing trends and times will ensure that your business thrives.

Signs Your Customer Service Is Broken

It is often said that customers are the backbone of every business. Indeed they are. Without customers, businesses would be out of service. It is therefore important for businesses to pay careful attention to what customers want. Make sure that your customer service is able to deal with their issues in a courteous and friendly manner. The following 5 signs are indicators that your customer service is broken:

Ignoring The Requests Your Customer Makes

Customer service agents need to listen to customers. If the culture within your organization is not to do so, then your customer service is broken. The top management may sometimes also worsen the situation by policies they expect to be implemented.

For instance, when a customer calls for a refund; it is the role of your company to reimburse them if the due process has been followed. This may sometimes be a loyal customer who has purchased a defective product. Ignoring him or her may lead to business loss.

No Interactions Through Mobile

There are times when customers can call businesses and get no responses. Phones may ring and never be answered. Other times the phones might be completely dead.

It is the objective of a business to make processes seamless and smooth. This can only be done through excellent customer service. During this day and age, there is no need for customers to send emails or present themselves physically for minor issues.

Inadequate Training

Customer service evolves with times. Training needs to be done regularly. If this is not done, customer service levels will drop.

All employees of your company need to know how to deal with customers. They should have some knowledge and skills in customer service. Employees who interact with customers need to have listening skills. They should be able to personalize customer experiences. Rudeness should not be entertained in customer service.

Not Understanding Customers

For businesses that are starting, it may take some while for you to familiarize yourself with customers. This learning curve grows as the business grows. You are able to get to know your customers well and their specific needs.

However, for businesses with dead customer service, there is no learning initiated. If it was initiated, then it died off along the way. Whatever customers want is not understood by a business at this point. Companies should be able to learn consistently on how to deal with the specific needs of their clients.

Employees Are Not Empowered

Employees who deal with customers need to be empowered. They need to be able to give customers the help they need. This makes customers see that their needs are handled promptly without long waits.

Having these employees seek approval for employee details need not happen. Once a customer arrives at a customer care desk, he or she should be served without an employee telling him or her to wait for someone else. This puts jeopardy into customer service especially when approvals and the waiting time is long.

Customer service is key to any business. You should ensure that you strive to promote high customer service levels. This will lead to customer satisfaction. When customers are satisfied, they will always return. They may also be with them their referrals thereby growing the business.

Employees who deal with customers need to provide concrete solutions to problems. This will have to involve a lot of listening from them. In turn, a customer can get whatever he or she wanted.

After vigorous training, some employees may still not be good at customer service. Not all people are good at people skills anyway. Such employees need to be placed in other jobs in which they can deliver better. In the long run, this will enable better service delivery.

7 Selling Techniques That Work

7 Selling Techniques That Work

Selling is an art. One has to learn how to interact with customers in order for selling to occur. Salespeople need effective strategies that can enable them to be able to convert sales. It is important for businesses to train their staff to be able to learn selling techniques.

Some may say that selling is a talent. Well, it is not. With the proper techniques, one can be able to learn how to go about selling. The following 7 selling techniques can be applied to ensure that effective selling is achieved:

1. Be Proactive

Do not sit and be comfortable. As a salesperson, you need to get out and find prospective customers. The more customers you talk to the more likely you are to make a sale. Always remember it is a game of numbers.

An individual needs to be outgoing for this to work. The energy levels within oneself need to portray confidence. A positive attitude works well when one is selling.

2. Helpful

Appearing as helpful and concerned assists in selling. Offering information to a customer makes him or her pay attention to what you have to offer. Being helpful somewhat camouflages you as a salesperson. This technique is one of the most effective currently.

Being helpful appeals to customers. One needs to come off as genuine in order for it to work. If customers sense that you are untrustworthy, it will not work. This technique can be applied by anyone.

3. Aggressiveness

Salespeople need to be aggressive when in fast-paced environments. In such environments, salespeople have to be go-getters. This selling technique is where one goes straight to the point. You don’t beat around the bush. This technique, however, is not suited for many personalities.

4. Do Not Be Desperate, Make It Scarce

At no point in time does a customer need to feel as though you are desperate. It should not come off as though you really have to sell something. You should be composed throughout your selling. The attitude that you portray should reflect that you are selling something worth a customer’s time.

Scarcity should be used in the place of desperation. Make customers feel that what you selling is the only one left. This plays with their emotions. A little bit of convincing will make customers feel like they should really buy a product or service. The thought of a commodity being scarce will make them get into rash decisions.

5. Customer Led

Selling does not involve talking alone. You also need to hear what your customers are saying. After you listen to them, you need to agree and let them know you are aware of what they want.

This technique needs people who are patient. This is because it may take a long time before reaching an agreement. Several meet-ups may need to happen before a sale occurs. However, the conversion rate is high with this technique.

6. Rapport Focused

Salespeople need to build rapport with customers. Body language is very essential in this technique. Effective application of this technique can increase sales tremendously. It is applicable in almost all industries when making sales.

7. Learn From Mistakes

Mistakes are an important stepping stone. Learn from your mistakes. Find out what you should have done better. Embrace your own successes and learn how you can build on them.

Learn from the mistakes and successes of other salespersons both experienced or not. Consulting experienced sales person on how they would have gone about a sale can provide insights that you need. One on one coaching and observing an experienced salesperson pitch can greatly help you.

Selling is a learning curve. You have to master it day by day. You don’t wake up and be a great salesperson. These techniques can be implemented in order for you to brush up your skills and become better at selling.