How Can Upselling Benefit My Small Business?

Without knowing it, we deal with upselling every day. Have you ever been through a McDonald’s drive-through only to be asked if you like to upgrade into a meal? When you’re a customer, noticing an upsell attempt is easy.

That is why it is hard to put an upselling strategy into place as a business. You relate to all the times people have tried to upsell you. You also remember just how annoying it can be.

However, it doesn’t have to be annoying. There are ways to effectively upsell without annoying. Check out this small guide from CBS-CBS.com to learn how upselling can benefit your small business.

What is upselling?

Upselling is the act of offering an additional product, feature, or service to a customer or client after they have decided to purchase from you. Upselling benefits your business by increasing the profitability and size of each sale.

Upselling comes into play when the customer has already signaled intent to purchase and is ready to complete the sale. They are already interested in doing business with you. Now, all you need to do is improve the bottom line to get customers to add to their purchases.

Once you learn how to identify it, you will see that this technique is used every day.

How to make upselling benefit your business

Check out these three things you have to know to make upselling benefit your business:

Understand your costs

Before trying to upsell, you need a good understanding of your profits. To do it correctly, you must understand:

  • The cost of your products and services- How much does it cost to deliver and produce your product?
  • The cost of customer acquisition- How much does it cost for you to acquire a new customer? 

When figuring this out, talk to an accountant or bookkeeper to further identify your costs. Don’t just consider the basic materials. Ensure that you consider packaging, commissions, labor, branding, and any other costs.

Identify your upselling goals

Once you understand your costs, separate your products and services into two margins. The high-profit margin, and the low-profit margin. Then, you need to pick out your high-margin items to upsell. That is where you will get the most leverage.

It is a good idea to identify your upselling goals and understand how much you want to profit from the upsell. With upselling, you get more profit for little effort. After all, upselling is nothing more than simply asking questions.

Create intriguing offers

When upselling, ensure that you pick out offers that are more than complementary. The basic offers as well as the upsell should appeal to the same buyer. However, the items should remain unique enough that the buyer sees the added value.

By creating intriguing offers, your customers will be more likely to accept your upsell attempt.

The bottom line

Make sure that you’re not too pushy or overbearing. Some customers will jump at the opportunity while others remain uninterested. If you push too hard, you could turn your customer off completely.

 

Always let the buyer make their own decisions.

 

 

 

 

5 Examples of Small Business Goals

Setting goals is an essential part of every single business. It can help you focus on your business. In turn, achieve the results you have worked hard for. If you start setting goals now, you will be able to achieve them far faster. 

The importance of setting goals cannot be overstated. This does apply to companies as well. Though, it is far more applicable to small businesses since they have fewer resources available. By setting goals, you can optimize the few resources you do have available to you.

Setting goals is the perfect way to improve your focus. Then, you can use that focus to keep everyone motivated and increase morale in the workplace. Check out these 5 examples of small business goals from CBS-CBS.com to get the ball rolling.

Create a new product/service

Creating a new product or service is the perfect way to push your business. One great goal you can set is to create a new product or service within a specific amount of time. Usually, a good time frame is six months or a year. 

It will excite your existing customers while also attracting new ones.

Open a new location

If your business is doing well, this goal is great for you. Opening a new location is an exciting and fruitful time. However, to succeed in your location, you must remember how you first got there. 

Perhaps create a template to outline where you went wrong/right the first time. It will help you determine your next steps.

Increase your response time 

Depending on the size of your customer base, you may be able to set a goal to increase your response time. It is certainly attainable for many businesses. If you run a small business with local customers, it should be as easy as 1,2,3. 

You may struggle if your business is slightly bigger. However, there are many ways you can automate the process as well. 

Reduce ongoing expenses

This is a very fitting goal for many small businesses. After all, who doesn’t want to reduce their ongoing expenses? When setting this goal, make sure you are incredibly specific about how you plan to reduce your costs. 

You may be able to reduce ongoing expenses by:

    • Paying off debt
    • Automating more of your business
    • Changing the way your business operates

Increase productivity within your business

Productivity can certainly make or break your business. That is why it is always a good idea to search for new ways to improve it. You can become more productive by eliminating any distractions or improving the way you use technology. 

Productivity apps are also a fantastic way to increase your productivity.

Once you have put together some goals, you can inject them into your small business. A good goal is one that is attainable, measurable, and relevant. Don’t forget, achieving goals is always something that should be celebrated.

When you tick a goal off your list, take the chance to celebrate the success. 

How Text Message Marketing Can Help Your Business

Text messaging is often seen as a way for people to contact their friends. Did you know that it is a powerful marketing tool? The majority of people all over the world own mobile phones.

Most of them use their mobile phones to send and receive text messages. After all, phones are for texting more than they are for social media. On top of that, mobile phones always alert their owner when they receive a text message. 

Usually, those text messages get read mere seconds or minutes after delivery. Though, many business owners have avoided text message marketing because they think it is ineffective. Realistically, it is the best form of marketing. It is affordable, easy to use, and valuable.

Reviews for Corporate Business Solutions have three ways that text message marketing can help your business.

  1. It is very affordable

Text message marketing is a great way to market your business affordably. Small business owners can benefit greatly from this form of marketing. Instead of spending hours creating marketing content, a text message is cheaper, quicker, and easier to send out.

It could also be far more effective. While prices vary, many platforms will allow you to send text messages for only a few cents per text. There are also bulk packages that send hundreds or thousands of text messages per month for only a fraction of the cost you usually pay for marketing.

  1. It is quick

Many people like text message marketing because of the speed for both the advertiser and consumer. Text messages are usually a few sentences long, whereas email marketing can be lengthy. That means that people are far more likely to read your text message and act on it.

The consumer can also choose when they want to read the text. Telephone calls, on the other hand, can be intrusive and disruptive. On top of that, text messages don’t take long to plan or send. Overall, they are far quicker in many ways than other forms of marketing.

  1. It has a further reach

Pretty much every person in the world has a mobile phone these days. That means that text messaging casts quite a wide net. Email marketing is much the same. The only difference is that text messages usually feel more direct, personal, and urgent than emails.

For example, a promotion delivered right to your phone number would feel far more personal than a promotion to your email address that people can easily find. The urgency of texts can help your business reach far more people in a quicker time frame.

Not many people receive promotions in their texts.

Overall, text message marketing is an easy, affordable, quick, and reliable way to promote your business. It is proving time and time again to be a powerful marketing tool, especially for small businesses. If you are looking for a promotional tool that is effective and affordable, there is no better option than text message marketing.

Starting Your Dream Business – A Step-by-Step Guide

Starting a new business is an exciting and uplifting process. There is so much to do, think about, and plan. However, you must know where to start and how you plan to achieve success. Otherwise, your plan for success may not reach the heights you first thought it would.

Creating a logo or business plan is obvious, but people rarely remember the equally important parts that aren’t often spoken about. Rather than playing a guessing game or ‘going with the flow’, you need to have a detailed plan. That way, you can ensure that you have given your business the best chance at success.

Check out these three steps compiled by Corporate Business Solutions to start your dream business properly.

 

  • Build a great team

 

A business is only as good as the team running it. Unless you plan to run your business by yourself, you need to gather a great team. Many successful CEOs will tell you that you need to spend just as much time on your employees as you do your products.

A good team should be:

  • Efficient
  • Reliable
  • Educated
  • Productive
  • Organized
  • Supportive
  • Good at communicating
  • Cooperative
  • Respectful

These are all great features of a team that will see success.

 

  • Refine your idea

 

Your first plan should always be considered a rough draft, not a final copy. There will be things from your draft that are still relevant, though you will likely need to add some things in whilst taking some out. To refine your idea, you can do things such as:

  • Look at what current brand leaders are doing
  • Figure how you can be different
  • Research businesses offering the same (or similar) service
  • Ask for feedback on your idea
  • Do your research
  • Consider the current markets

A good place to start is to consider why, who, and what. Why you’re doing it, who your target customers are, and what your business solves.

 

  • Assess your financial situation

 

Every business will need a start-up cost. By assessing your financial situation, you will gain a clearer understanding of what that cost may look like. Consider if you will need to borrow the money or if you can cover your start-up cost. 

Then, you will likely have to consider whether or not you plan to leave your current job. If so, you will need to ensure that you have enough money to get by until you make a profit. That is why it is best to figure out your start-up costs straight away.

Many businesses fail because they run out of money before they can turn a profit. It never hurts to overestimate your start-up costs because it can sometimes be a while before you turn a profit. If you overestimate, there is always room if something goes wrong.

If you follow this guide, your business has a good chance to succeed. When starting, make sure you don’t cut corners. Cut corners will always come back to haunt you. 

 

How to Avoid Being Burnt Out by Your Side Hustle

Starting your own business can be hard enough without negative feelings and being burnt out. It can be downright exhausting having to make time late at night or early in the morning to work on your side hustle. Many people quickly burn out and find the need to quit. However, this is the worst thing you can do when working on your side hustle.

You need creativity, haste, and passion to start your business and work on it, and that can be drained from you after a long day. However, there are many great ways you can combat this exhaustion and general fatigue. These tips from Reviews for Corporate Business Solutions will teach you how to avoid being burnt out by your side hustle.

Love what you do

When passion is intertwined in your business, you will never get sick of it. It is so easy to become caught up in life in general, but if you love what you do, your side hustle can become your safe place. After working so hard, it can become easy to lose the passion that once fuelled you.

However, if you really love what you do and are connected to it, you won’t let yourself become burnt out. If you aren’t 100% in love with your side hustle, why spend your time creating it for the wrong reasons. When an important decision arises, ask yourself whether you will love it or not.

Value your productive times

If you have the chance to pick and choose your hours, you should always use your most productive times to work on your side hustle. This way, you won’t have to cram it in your busy workday or around events. Take advantage of any flexibility that comes your way as much as you can.

If you get a long lunch, take it. If you get a day off, take it. Then, work hard during that time to make sure your side hustle is given a very fair chance to succeed.

Allow yourself to relax, refresh, and recoup

We use our brains every single day. Most of the time, we are worn out after using it for extensive work or a long day at the office. That is why it is so important for you to take time to allow yourself to relax, refresh, and recoup. For many people in the world, they see relaxing time as a waste of time.

However, this could not be further from the truth. To fully focus and give your side hustle the time and effort it deserves, you should be fully rested. Otherwise, the work you do will actually be getting very little done. Taking care of yourself is just as important as getting things done. If you are not good for yourself, you will not be good for your business.

These simple tips can help you get far with your business. Implement them to make sure you create enough time to work on your side hustle.

3 Ways to Create Time for Your Side Hustle 

Even if only for a short time, every person in this world has had a business idea. There are a plethora of people out there who have great business ideas that are destined to be good. You could even be one of those people. However, very few people continue the process to see their business succeed.

Perhaps they have been talked out of it, or maybe they just didn’t have the time. Whatever the reason is, every business deserves a decent chance at success. So, what is it that is keeping you from taking the next step? If it is time, we have you covered.

If a lack of time is to blame, check out these 3 tips from your Corporate Business Solutions Consultants that will help you create time for your side hustle.

Join groups

There is no better way to create time for your business than to find a group of like-minded people to discuss it with. Even meeting up once a month to discuss strategies and encourage each other will help to create valuable time for your side hustle. This works well because it holds you accountable to other people and that can give you the extra push you need.

It can be hard to gain and keep motivation if the only person holding you accountable is you.

Outsource

Many successful people outsource work to get help with their side hustle. For example, reaching out to platforms with freelancers or simply automating most of your social media can help drastically. Usually, it will cost you money, but it isn’t the worst when it comes to saving time.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, outsourcing work is completely okay. There is nothing to be ashamed of, so don’t be hard on yourself.

Make appointments

By making appointments, it doesn’t mean you should book appointments and lose even more time. What it means is that you should consider the time you work on your side hustle as an appointment. That way, you have a set start and finish time that you have to be held accountable for.

Try to make the most of this time. Emails, messages, and returning phone calls can wait. This is the time you want to spend working on your side hustle alone. How you prioritize your time will make all of the difference in the long run. Creating a list of tasks is also incredibly helpful.

With these three helpful ways to create more time for your side hustle, you will also have more time for friends, family, and play. Just a few hours every week to work on your side hustle will bring results and soon enough, everything will begin to fall into place for you. Even if you only have five free hours every week, that calculates to 260 hours per year that you spent wisely.

Your dream life isn’t too far away, so keep up the hard work.

3 Tips for Successfully Launching Your New Business

Starting your new business can be a fruitful, yet frightening time. You are very likely to hear conflicting advice from many different people. At times, it can be hard to differentiate who you should listen to, and who you should ignore. Funnily enough, the people unsolicited giving you the advice will have very little experience running a successful business.

Then, your next stop will likely be the internet. There, you will be overwhelmed by a plethora of different articles, all saying different things. The most important thing to remember is that you don’t want to overthink anything. Overthinking will likely ruin your initiative. Instead, follow these tips from CBS-CBS.com to get started with your very own business.

Create a work-life balance

Being able to run a successful business starts with having a healthy work-life balance. It can be incredibly easy to let work dominate your life which will end with you becoming burnt out. While having too much fun and enjoying life can be just as detrimental, meeting in the middle with both these things is the best way to operate.

Both are great in moderation and together, they can be a force to be reckoned with. It is important to take care of yourself and your business at the same time so that your health and wellbeing remain in a good place. When you find this balance, you will be able to maintain relationships while also running a successful business.

Create a detailed business plan

The next crucial step is to create a detailed business plan that outlines what you want from your business and all of the details in-between. Your plan should deeply detail how you plan to figure out any challenges as well as any obstacles that may arise. On top of that, you should be able to set deadlines.

While your plan is important, make sure you leave ‘wiggle room’ to ensure that if anything happens, there is room for you to readily adapt. Staying flexible is key.

Surround yourself with quality people

Surrounding yourself with the right people can change your life. If you are constantly surrounded by people who treat you terribly and make you feel bad, your environment will be toxic. This means that there will be little to no growth in your life and plans will likely never meet success.

However, if you surround yourself with kind, compassionate, smart, and hardworking people, you will see success in all areas of life. With the right partners, mentors, and staff, you will reach unfathomable levels of success. Don’t forget to take time to nurture relationships.

With all of these great tips in mind, you are destined for good things. As long as you are ready and willing to put in the hard work, there is no limit to your success. Find ways to integrate all of these tips into your professional life and watch success come your way. Are you ready for it?

 

 

How Accepting Change Can Make You More Successful

A huge part of being a successful person is being able to accept the necessary change that comes with life. Change may be very uncomfortable at times, but it is very much a crucial part of life and how you live it. Being able to adapt is not only a survival skill but also a skill for success. That still does not take away from the fact that it can be hard.

For some, change can result in poor performance, bruised egos, and pain. However, for others who accept change, it can result in positivity, a refreshed outlook, and success. The reality of it is, if you don’t learn how to accept change in both your personal and professional life, you will be left behind.

Corporate Business Solutions has compiled 3 ways you can become more comfortable with change to see success.

Be okay with going to the brink of failure before you succeed

Elon Musk is no doubt one of the most recognizable billionaires on the planet (and in outer space too!!!) Musk tweeted on November 3, 2020, that Tesla was on the verge of bankruptcy before the electric car company turned itself around: “Closest we got was about a month. The Model 3 ramp was extreme stress & pain for a long time—from mid-2017 to mid-2019. Production & logistics hell.” On June 30, 2021, Tesla was trading at $683.18 a share and had a market cap of $655.79 billion, making Tesla the world’s 8th most valuable company. The moral of the story is that sometimes you have to take your dreams all the way to the brink of failure before realizing the success you have been working so hard to achieve.

The key is never to dwell on your fear of failure or let it define you. Instead, you should use it as a motivating force to solve the challenges you face and to grow from the experience of matching wits with whatever is standing in your way.  Let your relentless drive to succeed and your problem-solving ability to get you where you want to be.

Start small

When you get new ideas that change everything, it is best to take small steps forward instead of doing everything at once. When you do everything at once, wires get crossed and things get forgotten. Even if there is one thing wrong with your plan, it will show sooner or later. You won’t be able to put it together overnight, so just start taking small steps towards it.

Start with your end goal in mind and then figure out what you need to do to get there. It is then that you will be able to see where you need to go. This is a crucial part of understanding and being able to accept change.

Understand how change can help

Change can help so much with realigning you on the right path. If change ever swoops in and you feel like you’ve been set off track you will likely find out later that it was for the right reason. Change works that way, you know? Sometimes, it can come out of nowhere and just shake things up unexpectedly.

However, there is no need to fear change. It is always there to get you out of your comfort zone. It is there to help you become better.

The bottom line is that change is a necessary thing, not an evil thing. The day you learn to love, accept, and adapt to change is the day you set yourself up for success.

4 Golden Points Every Home-Based Business Should Remember

Being an entrepreneur looks different for everyone. For some, the dream of running a large corporation that employs hundreds of people with offices across the country. Other entrepreneurs, though, prefer something small-scale that they can run from their homes.

Home-based businesses aren’t anything new. They’ve actually been relatively popular over the years, especially during the global pandemic. Recent statistics saw a record number of start-ups, with a significant portion being home-based companies. Going the route of a home-based business allows you to set a flexible schedule that works for you, minimal to no commute, and brings in another income source.

Because of the appeal of home-based businesses and how popular they continue to be, reviews for Corporate Business Solutions have four points that every home-based business should remember.

Keep Business and Personal Finances Separate

For your finances, it’s a good idea to have a separate business account right from the start. Although it’s tempting to merge everything together and save on banking fees, it’ll come in handy for tax season and to track your business’ financial situation.

Have a Separate Space

There are many convenient perks when working from home, like no commute time and working wherever you want. As lovely as it can be to set up shop in the backyard on those warm days, it’s essential that you still have a separate space for your business.

Depending on what your company does, you may have confidential information about customers and clients. If you don’t have a designated space for your work, that information could be accessible to anyone around. You may not have to work strictly out of your home office, but it’s still a good idea to at least have a space you call your office.

Marketing Matters

Home-based businesses rely heavily on marketing. There is no storefront that people can drive by and see what you offer. You’re tucked away on a residential street.

You’ll rely on marketing to get the word out about your company and drum up new customers. Especially when first starting, the budget might be tight to spend money on a marketing plan. However, social media is an excellent (and free) tool for home-based businesses to help spread the word.

Set Boundaries

Many soon realize that working from home (whether employed or in your own business) is more challenging than people believe. One of the most difficult parts of working from home is setting and maintaining boundaries.

When you commute to a job, it’s much easier to leave work at the office so you can enjoy your personal life. For those whose work is only a few steps away, it’s easy to “squeeze in” a bit of extra work after supper or on weekends.

Set yourself boundaries right at the beginning. These can include having a set time to turn your business off for the day, being careful when you schedule appointments, and setting a timer for your breaks.

In today’s world, almost any idea could turn into a small, home-based business, which could lead to a large company. Home-based businesses have unique challenges. However, don’t let that shy you away from taking your idea and starting your very own company.

Have a Difficult Employee? 5 Tips to Help You Manage Them

As an employer, the dream is to have multiple employees who need minimal training, know exactly what they need to do, and help ease some stress in your life. Although those employees do exist, some end up causing more stress and issues than anything.

Do you have a problematic employee? Chances are, you either currently have one, have dealt with one, or there is one in your future. How you manage your difficult employee can make or break the relationship.

If you currently have a difficult employee working for you, check out the following five tips to help manage them from CBS-CBS.com.

Keep Listening

When you’re faced with someone who challenges your patience, it’s easy to tune them out and not listen. However, losing your patience with the person won’t solve any problems. Instead of tuning them out, try closely listening. You may find that the reason they are difficult for you in the first place comes down to lack of communication.

Document Any Issues

Whether you’re documenting behaviors to acknowledge later, or providing evidence for termination, documenting any issues you have with an employee is crucial.

When you have documentation to reference, you can sit with the said employee and break down any behaviors that need addressing and moving forward. If it does come to a termination, you have the files to back your decision.

Offer Room for Improvement

A problematic employee that never receives feedback will likely never realize the frustration they’re causing you. It’s imperative that you, as the manager, provide feedback to the employee and offer room for improvement.

In many circumstances, the employee doesn’t know that they’re doing something wrong or that there’s a more efficient way to perform their task. It’s up to you to ensure there is room for improvement before more issues develop down the road.

Set Consequences If Needed

In some situations, there need to be clear consequences set to ensure improvement. Although it’s not something anyone wants to go through, setting consequences helps show that the difficulties with the employee are serious and need addressing.

Consequences can range from a written warning, losing eligibility for a promotion, or even termination. Ensure that they are clearly communicated to the employee so they know that something will happen if there is no improvement.

Keep Tabs on Progress

To foster a positive environment for improvement, an important step you must take is monitoring the progress and offering praise when deserved. If you’re both serious about resolving any issues and seeing performance improvement, offering praise when deserved can help motivate the employee.

Monitoring progress is also important to see actual improvements are happening. If you see little to no progress or the situation is getting worse, it may be time to make some difficult decisions.

You must take the time to communicate with the problematic employee and ensure they have room and time for improvement. Termination should be your last resort to avoid any wrongful termination lawsuits.

However, it’s also important to recognize you’re in a hopeless situation, you’ve done everything in your power to help with improvements, yet there is no change, that termination is the next step.