To get the most out of your business you need to look at hiring and working continuously with consultants. You cannot master everything you want to in your business by yourself, and this is when consultants shine. To work effectively with consultants, and to build strong relationships that last, you have to consider what you want to achieve. The more you can learn about your business and your needs and requirements, the more benefits you will find in these working relationships.

Why You Need to Embrace Consultants

Consultants are experts in their fields. They have vast knowledge, experience, and awareness that they will be able to impart to your business. When you embrace consultants, you can then work towards achieving your business’s full potential. You can investigate plugging in the gaps in your business’ skill base and filling in the need for expertise. Without consultants, you may find that as a business owner you simply try and wear too many hats, and trying to perform in too many areas can be detrimental to your business, and its operations.

Seeing Where Help and Assistance Are Required

Now that you are aware of how important and effective consultants can be, it is time to see where and why you need them. Not all areas of your business will require help and support, so start by undertaking a process of evaluation. Look at your business performance and look at how well it is doing with day-to-day operations. For example, do you need a marketing consultant to come in and help you re-energize your marketing efforts? Do you need an HR consultant to help your business effectively employ new team members? By examining your business carefully, you will be able to target problem areas precisely.

Establishing a Strategy for Moving Forwards

After establishing the needs and requirements of consultants, it is then time to establish a strategy. You will want to work with consultants periodically to ensure you get the best results. You will not want to diversify too much initially to ensure you maintain your focus. A strategy will outline which consultants you will use and when. Having a strategy to follow allows you to allocate funds, and allocate time and energy, to each area of your business. When putting together a strategy, it is important to see how you will use consultants over the next few years (and not just months). Consistency is important within your business and operations – bringing in consultants is not something you will want to do solely on an ad-hoc basis.

HR Consultants

After establishing a sound strategy, you will realize that one of the first consultants you will need is the HR consultant. A Bristol HR Consultant can help you get the most out of existing employees, and also help you successfully hire new ones. HR is an intrinsic part of any business; however, it is often an area that is easily overlooked. Seeing the importance of an HR consultant and understanding how they can benefit your business will help you achieve maximum effectiveness. When you are getting in an HR consultant always define your expectations and requirements. The foundation for a strong working relationship is openness and honesty – and this is something that should be established from the start.

Establishing a Budget

When you are working with several consultants it is important to establish a budget. How much can you afford to spend on a consultant and their services? How often will you need to reach out to a consultant or provider? Establishing a budget will help you maximize your return on investment, but it will also allow you to prioritize those consultants of most importance to your business. For example, a marketing consultant can help you bring in new business, but an HR consultant is needed first to get everyone in your business working as efficiently as possible. Budgets for consultants will allow you to see what you can afford to invest, when, and what you will gain.

Set a Timeframe

The timing of working with consultants in your business is crucial. There will be times when your business has hit a lull, or when it needs a push. Identifying timeframes and then working to timescales will help you get the most out of the relationships you build. If you fail to establish a timeframe for the use of consultants you may well find that you leave it too late. With consultants, you are often better bringing them into your business before problems or issues arise rather than being reactive. Thinking about this and applying it to your business will help you create a workable timeframe.

The property market is one of the most lucrative investment opportunities. Return on investment is almost guaranteed long-term, and is one of the most reliable sources of income for all property types. But, this doesn’t mean that property investment is easy, and there are plenty of chances to fall into common traps and make simple mistakes.

From Lakshmi Mittal, the owner of some of London’s most expensive houses, to Sameer Gehlaut, the brains behind The Residences at the London Mandarin Oriental Hotel, here are the 5 most important skills that property investors use in their work – and can be applied to your business.

Negotiation Skills

Negotiating is a skill that property investors know very well, and it is a hugely useful skill to add to any entrepreneur’s arsenal. It is important to be up-front and honest during negotiations with key stakeholders, but you must also enter negotiations with a clear idea of what you are looking for and the confidence to push for that wherever possible.

It is also necessary to be open to compromise, as no stakeholder will want to feel like they are being forced into a decision or being pushed too far. This can sour relations with those most central to your business’ potential success.

Keeping calm is possibly the most important aspect of negotiation. Staying level headed puts you in the best mindset to make logical, positive decisions and not get carried away with the excitement of negotiations.

Making the Most of Opportunities

Property investors are brilliant at finding up-and-coming areas or gaps in the market that can be exploited. This requires knowing your area of interest inside out, and monitoring how it is changing over time. Part of the skill of knowing the right time to pounce as well as recognising when a potential opportunity is simply a passing trend comes with experience in the industry, but there is still plenty to learn here.

Always being aware of your surroundings and being prepared to grab those opportunities with both hands – and crucially before any of your peers have had a chance to – is essential.

Market Research

It is hugely beneficial to understand the market you are working in before you put money into it. By failing to researching first, you are putting your business into serious jeopardy because you will not have not taken into account the variables which could impact your success. Especially when you are investing abroad, it is crucial to understand the cultural differences in the market you are entering, the legal restrictions and requirements, where the gaps in the market are, and how others have adapted to the environment to maximise their potential.

It can be easy to think that research simply requires understanding whether a deal will be profitable or not on paper. But, there are many other factors that play into a successful deal beyond cost and projected earnings. You need to take into account what other businesses are doing in the area, who exactly your customers/clients will be, and how the industry is likely to change going forward.

Patience

Property investment often requires the patience to wait for your investments to produce profit. Some property investments can take decades to start showing returns and, while there aren’t many businesses that require quite that level of patience, patience is still a virtue in entrepreneurship.

Hasty decisions are rarely good decisions. Launching a business quickly without thinking about whether it’s the right time or without fleshing out your ideas fully will more often than not leave you with an unsatisfactory product and a badly thought-out execution. It can also leave the business itself badly structured and lower the satisfaction and productivity of your staff.

Communication Skills

Communication runs through all aspects of managing a business. Property investors are required to keep open lines of communication with a huge number of moving parts, and they are masters at managing these relationships. Successful communication is at the very core of this.

Project management calls for the ability to be able to communicate with people from all areas of business, whether that be your investors, your own staff, producers, PR and advertising agencies, and many more. Good communication helps this web of relationships operate smoothly, as well as keep everyone on-side and on the same page, allowing them to do their jobs correctly and efficiently.

Particularly in the early stages of entrepreneurship, you may need to present pitches to those interested in providing funding for your business or potential producers when creating a product. This can be a daunting task, but if you are an effective communicator then it will be much easier for you to get your ideas across and persuade your audience. Being able to do this can make or break your business, so this is a skill worth honing.

Brand awareness is one of those cornerstones of business that you likely know about long before you are ever in control of a company. However, once you are in such a position, the need to increase brand awareness becomes much more obvious. There are many ways that you can go about increasing awareness of your brand, but it can be hard to see which would be of most benefit and worthwhile for your particular company.

This can be frustrating, and it’s understandable that you’d want to focus your attention on a method that can achieve incredibly impressive results quickly, but this might not always be possible. Instead, focusing your attention on all of the options that you have can allow you to decide what’s right for your company, without restricting yourself to only one path.

The Right Marketing

You will not be at all surprised to hear that brand awareness all comes down to marketing. That being said, there’s also a good chance that you’re already marketing to the best of your ability, leaving you unsure of what you could do to improve further. In this case, the issue might not be whether you’re marketing at all, but how you’re doing it. If you’re sticking to the same methods that you’ve always clung to in the past, it might be time to move on and see what other methods of marketing can do for you.

Social media is always a strong foundation but reaching into other areas such as search engine optimisation (SEO) can help your brand to appear across a larger spectrum of the online world, making people, who previously had no idea you existed, aware of you and what you can offer them. Planting this seed can be a powerful step forward, and if you feel as though this is what you need, it’s worth seeing what an SEO agency Birmingham can do for you.

New Audiences

It’s normal for businesses to identify their target audience and to subsequently gear all of their content towards people who fall within that bracket. However, while you might have a good knowledge of who this audience is for you, it’s also important to recognise the value in reaching out to new audiences. This might be difficult at first, as such audiences will fall outside the reach of your usual modes of marketing, but this will just mean familiarising yourself on how to better get their attention.

For example, different social media platforms come with different user-bases, and if you’ve been sticking to one in particular for this very reason, shifting gears and expanding your sphere of influence to others might be what you need. However, you should also be aware of options like collaboration with content as a way to reach a new audience. In this case, being introduced to a new crowd through a source that they trust might increase your chances of being seen favourably, though it’s important to think carefully about who you work with, as you want people whose values align with your own.

Merchandising and Free Trials

An identifiable logo is crucial for strong brand awareness, so if you feel as though this part of your business is lacking, the first thing to do is go back to the drawing board and perfect your logo or talk to a professional designer who will be able to create one. Once you’ve done this, you can start to think about merchandise, and how simply having your logo on a variety of objects can begin to spread the knowledge of who you are and what you do. However, merchandising is not the only option – you can take this a step further through the concept of free trials.

At a glance, adopting this strategy might just feel like a quick way for you to lose money, but it’s important that you think about this in the long-term. The option of a free trial will provide people who previously had no intention of enlisting your services with a reason to see what you’re all about, and through this process, you have a chance to really wow them. If they walk away from this experience feeling as though they’d like to come back for more, you might have just found yourself a paying customer and the potential for word-of-mouth advertising. Furthermore, even if you haven’t, you’ve managed to reach someone who was previously outside of your usual audience, therefore increasing your brand awareness. This trial is even something that you could market and promote through your usual channels.

Edgars Lasmanis, Walletto owner and founder, has innovated extensively within the online payment industry. This article will look at the future of payroll and how fintech is paving the way for on-demand pay.

As society increasingly moves to a more on-demand lifestyle, tech-savvy consumers seek instant gratification in their lives, expecting immediate access to news, entertainment and financial services.

Companies are increasingly turning to fintech to revolutionise how they pay their employees, overhauling the traditional function of payroll in recognition of an increasingly on-demand economy. Advances in payroll software have made standardisation, consolidation and regulatory compliance easier to achieve. At the same time, improvements in money movement networks combined with technological advancements are making it easier for companies to cater to changing employee preferences. As a result, many of the employees of today can access a ubiquitous mobile app, utilising new payment methods to provide them with on-demand access to earned wages.

Traditionally, businesses typically ran payroll once or twice a month. However, recent fintech developments are opening up new possibilities for employers in terms of facilitating on-demand payment of earnings. By leveraging a cloud-based money movement, companies can provide their employees with on-demand pay, enabling them to download a mobile app and log in at any time. With this app, they can check how much they have earned to date and draw down funds as and when they need it.

On-demand pay has obvious benefits from the employee’s point of view, providing greater freedom; enabling them to manage financial commitments more effectively; and allowing them to access what is rightfully theirs: their wages.

According to a 2020 EY survey, 80% of participants said they would use a form of on-demand pay. The benefit is not only sought by low-income earners or those of lesser financial means. Rather, it is all about timing and cashflow. With £72 billion in credit card debt outstanding in the UK and $756 billion outstanding in the US, credit cards remain the most common type of debt. For many, the ability to access earned wages sooner combined with money management tools could go a long way towards addressing misaligned cashflow, potentially reducing the cost of credit card debt significantly.

From a business owner’s perspective, providing EWA as part of a benefits package provides employees with a high-value benefit for a relatively low cost to the company. EWA demonstrates the commitment of a business to the wellbeing of its workforce, helping companies to stand out from their competitors in terms of talent acquisition and retention.

EWA is a potentially game-changing development in payroll. Driven by technological innovation triggered by evolving consumer demand, it presents a compelling economic case for employers to show flexibility, prioritising the peace of mind of their employees. Capable of being deployed as an addon to existing payroll systems, it does not add to administrative burden, providing employees with tangible benefits to boost employee wellbeing and improve staff retention.

Business competition is tough. If you operate in a fast-moving market where consumers love to shop around, competitors could be hard to beat. 

Thankfully, there are solutions to this problem. Use the following tips and ideas to stay ahead of competitors in all types of markets.

1. Study Your Competition

Before starting your business, you may have looked at your competitors. But how long ago did you do a thorough study of your current competitors?

Some of the old heavy weights may have retired (to use an analogy from boxing). And some new businesses may be drawing away some of your loyal customers.

If you want to remain one of the top-rated businesses in your market and industry, it’s time to do a fresh competitors’ analysis. Find out the strengths and weaknesses of your closest competitors. Then create new strategies to beat their strengths and take advantage of their weak areas.

2. Get Closer to Your Target Consumers

No doubt, you already know a lot about your customers. Maybe you even have well-defined buyer personas for them. 

However, customers’ desires and expectations are constantly evolving. Imagine how the tech and communication needs of customers have changed from the days of the first feature mobile phones to today’s sophisticated smartphones.

Your customers are also expecting you to provide new products, improved flexibility, and sophistication in your service delivery. Strive to meet their expectations so you can stand out among similar businesses.

3. Use Direct Marketing

Before the internet and mobile age, residents visited their mailboxes with high expectations. They found dozens of direct mail ads, brochures, and special offers waiting for their attention. Today, however, few businesses use printed marketing materials.

But old-school marketing still works. You just have to adapt it to fit into the culture of the digital age.

Smart business marketers claim that they get response rates of up to 92% from a well-designed direct mail campaign. This is not surprising. 

Today, most mailboxes are empty. But courier services are more efficient. So, well-crafted direct mail ads will grab consumers’ attention easily.

4. Be Unique

What makes you different from other businesses serving the same market? Is it your low price, efficiency, simplicity, customer service, or professionalism? 

Rediscover what makes your service unique. Use it as a strong value proposition. Let your customers know the service areas where you excel.

5. Invest More in Marketing

No matter how good you are at providing top-notch service, no one will know unless you broadcast it. To rise above your competitors, your marketing voice needs to louder than theirs.

Good marketing will almost always sell better than poor marketing. Consumers will be moved to give your service a try if they keep seeing your ads and marketing materials. Just make sure that you are focusing on a well-defined market segment, so your ad investment yields more sales. 

6. Boost Your Brand Image

Without spending a huge amount of money on re-branding, you can still update your image. Upgrading your store front if you run a brick-and-mortar business is a good starting point. You can add a new coat of paint and put up new service area demarcations.

For a digital business, modifying your website’s homepage, social media profiles, and email signatures are low-cost ways to give your business a new look.

7. Use the Best Marketing Tools

Step up your marketing campaigns with modern tools and apps. Gone are the days when you could depend on manual methods for every marketing task.

Now, customers expect prompt answers to all inquiries. So, learn how to deploy automated email responders, chatbots, CRM apps, and scheduled emails to respond to all your customers. 

However, that does not eliminate the need for personalization. Well-designed marketing tools will improve your ability to assess individual customer needs and provide a more personalized relationship with prospects and clients.

8. Reward Loyal Customers

An old adage says: “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush”. In marketing, it cost far more to acquire a new customer than to satisfy and keep an old one.

So, rewarding your loyal customers with discounts, awards, and bonuses for repeat businesses is a wise business strategy. To keep your old customers from moving over to competitors, treat them like special and precious people. Offer them various different types of perks and compensations.

9. Venture Into New Markets

Emerging markets are constantly waiting to be discovered. Technology has made it possible to discover new markets early.

With digital tools like Google trends and Twitter, you can easily discover what your target audience is searching for. Use what you find to create a strategy to meet the demands of customers in an emerging market. The rewards can be astonishing.

10. Develop Long-term Business Plans

Take a peep into the future of your business. Where do you expect to be in the next 2, 5, 10 or 15 years?

What do you think you will need to do, be, or have to achieve your long-term goals? When you start focusing on long-term growth, you can lay a solid foundation in terms of funding, staffing, research, and development of new products and services.

Staying ahead of your competition may not be a stroll in the park. But with diligence, you can develop a better competitive advantage by applying some of the tips provided above.

Michael Zetser is the former CEO of different fintechs. This article will look at how recent global geopolitical events have had an impact on globalization.

The free movement of goods, labor, technology, capital, and innovation throughout the world has had the impact of improving goods and services while simultaneously driving down prices. Globalization has had a transformative impact on start-ups harnessing new technology, as well as small businesses keen to get on the international stage. However, in recent years, various factors have had a significant impact on globalization trends – chief amongst them the arrival of COVID-19 in countries all over the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered disturbances in global supply chains in a variety of different industries, from semiconductors to automotive. The pandemic’s negative impacts on global value chains highlighted weaknesses in international supply chains, and the vulnerabilities of economies based on them. Nevertheless, this is not a death knell for globalization by any means, according to data from the OECD.

The OECD’s TiVA database is widely regarded as the most reliable source of substantiated statements on fluctuations in global value change. Looking at TiVA database figures published in November 2021, it is clear to see that global value chains have constantly fluctuated for decades, long before the arrival of COVID-19. Rather than being a one-way street headed in one direction only, globalization is dependent on a wide range of economic, social, and geopolitical conditions.

As seen at the start of the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pre-empted a flurry of predictions of a looming end of globalization. In spite of this, cross-border flows rebounded strongly. Although the war in Ukraine has undoubtedly curtailed many types of international business activity, a report from the Harvard Business Review suggests that those who predicted it would trigger a collapse of international flows were far wide of the mark.

In arriving at this conclusion, the Harvard Business Review analyzed a variety of different aspects including trade flows, noting that by the end of 2020 world trade bounced back to above pre-pandemic levels, setting new records in early 2021. In addition, despite capital flows plummeting at the start of the pandemic, they have also seen a healthy recovery – surging back above pre-pandemic levels in 2021.

The war in Ukraine prompted the withdrawal of over 400 foreign firms from Russia. Nevertheless, this has not yet triggered a wave of divestments of assets, which would lower FDI. Since Russia hosts just 1% of global inward FDI stocks, analysts suggest that although the war in Ukraine has caused a predictable pullback of portfolio investment from emerging markets, these have been relatively modest. To conclude, the evidence is clear: although geographical reach and growth of international flows can rise and fall over time, the fundamental drivers of success in global strategy remain largely unchanged.