Tag Archives: CBS Review

Hurricane Harvey Highlights the Importance of Small Business Disaster Preparedness

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Hurricane Harvey has made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast turning quiet streets into raging storm rivers. While the rescue operations are ongoing for regular folk, it’s important to pay attention to the hurricane’s impact on the small businesses in the area. The area Harvey is barreling through is a major hub of the state’s offshore oiling business. As a result, there are many small businesses operating in the region. Unlike the bigger companies, small businesses are hit hard during disasters like hurricanes.

As much as 40 percent of small businesses don’t survive disasters like Harvey, says a disaster specialist with Fox Business. Experienced Corporate Business Solutions have noted that many small businesses do not adequately prepare for natural disasters. It’s understandable that most people might be concerned about personal safety. But small businesses can lose a lot during disasters. The business can end up literally torn apart by a hurricane and lose inventory and property. Here are several suggestions from our consultants on how small businesses can prepare for disaster and minimize losses:

Have an Emergency Management Plan – All small businesses should have an emergency management plan at hand. Such a plan makes an early assessment of potential damages a small business could experience in case of a disaster. Also, such plans prepared in advance roles to take on for employees and managers in case a natural disaster strikes unexpectedly. In simple terms, this is basically a handbook on what to do in case of a flooding, hurricane, or a tornado. Your business absolutely needs to make this plan in advance, preferably with the help of experts like the ones you can find in CBS-CBS.com.

Take Necessary Steps to Physically Secure the Business—Small businesses should always have at hand the necessary tools to board up a store in case disaster strikes. Well prepared managers should call construction experts in advance to find out the best ways to secure the store so it can withstand most natural disasters.

Get Insurance Coverage – Business insurance coverage should include a provision for natural disaster emergency situations. Your company must be covered for the most common natural disasters the area you are located at faces. The FEMA website has some useful information for companies about getting disaster insurance.

Small businesses should also have a system in place to address local government emergency alerts for disasters. Set up a communication system so that all employees are informed of such alerts and evacuations when needed, are facilitated.

The Must-Know Laws of Writing Business Emails

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Writing business emails are a fact of life for those who run a small business. But do you know how to write proper business emails? Here is a list of rules that all small business owners must follow when writing business-related emails:

Enter a Subject Line – Never send business emails without a subject line, warns Corporate Business Solutions, unless you want the emails to be ignored. Emails without subject lines would just end up in the trash or spam folder.

Add a Signature at the End – Gmail and other email services let users add an electronic signature to all emails sent. It’s highly advisable to use this feature when sending formal and semi-formal business emails. It’s just like adding your actual signature at the end of a memo or a business letter.

Avoid the “Hi”—Instead of starting the email with a “hey” or a “hi,” try using a professional salutation like Ms (name). Hello is more acceptable than hi, and you can start emails with Hello (name of recipient). Decide which is more suitable depending on the nature of the correspondence.

Read it Once Over – Don’t send the business email without reading it at least once. Avoiding embarrassing spelling mistakes might help you land a deal. Even a silly error could be interpreted by the recipient as you being sloppy and not serious, which is bad for business.

Let the Recipient Know What You are Talking about – Keep in mind that the recipient might not always know what you are talking about, especially if you are responding to a chain email. To employ the use of “one-liners” to refer to the subject matter. For example, write “with regards to (subject)” first and then continue the email.

Avoid Trying to be Funny – Don’t assume that jokes translate well in emailed text as in real-time conversations. Even an innocent joke could be misinterpreted by the person on the other end. So, don’t try to be funny and instead be formal when sending any business email.

Do Reply—Reply in a timely manner to all responses you get to business emails. If you don’t have time to write a lengthy message, do address that and at least say you will get back later with a better response.

Master the above email etiquette to improve your professionalism as a small business owner. Get more advice at CBS-CBS.com.

Why Small Businesses Need to Keep Corporate Business Records

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Most small business owners believe corporate business record keeping is just for big corporations. In our experience as Corporate Business Solutions consultants, most small business managers and executives consider record keeping to be just another administrative hassle that their work schedules can do without. But we strongly advise all small businesses to do better to keep corporate business records for a number of reasons.

If your small business is legally considered an S corporation, an LLC, or a C corporation, it is a must. Even small businesses that are not registered in this manner can benefit from keeping corporate-style business records.

Business Records Offer Legal Protection – The main reason corporations go to painstaking lengths to keep business records is for legal protection. Lawyers call this the “corporate veil” of protection in court. If your business is sued by anyone, including creditors, these business records will play an important role in showing that your company followed proper procedures and maintained legally required standards.

Safeguard Limited Liability – If a company is an LLC, corporate records are necessary to protect the “limited liability” function in the record. A potential lawsuit could demand personal assets in a settlement, all the while questioning the LLC’s compliance. Corporate records will safeguard your business’s LLC status.

For IRS Purposes – Corporate records can be requested by the IRS. If that happens, your business will need to provide it. IRS can demand documents like business meeting minutes under certain circumstances. Therefore, for tax purposes, these records are important.

In Case of a Sale – If the small business needs to go up for sale, a potential buyer would want to look at corporate business records to see how the business has performed. Also, they might want to make sure the company kept clean records and there’s nothing shady underneath.

For the above reasons and then some, CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants recommend small businesses keep records of events like business meetings, annual reports, shareholder decision-making documentation, among others.

How to Encourage Employees to Meet Deadlines

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Not being able to meet project deadlines is one of the most persistent issues small businesses face. There could be a variety of reasons for this issue. However, to keep up the levels of productivity at the workplace, meeting deadlines on time is a must. If the project teams at your company sometimes fail to meet essential deadlines, here are several suggestions from Corporate Business Solutions that might help:

Assign a Clear Team Leader: Teams work efficiently only with the presence of an undisputed leader. Rudderless teams are more likely to miss deadlines and be disorganized because no one is sure what to do. It’s common for some managers to put together a team without a clear hierarchy of authority. This can reduce tension at the office, but overall it leads to more disarray. When a team has a leader, that leader will ensure everyone does what they are supposed to on time. This structure is essential to almost every project.

Check in on Long Projects: If there’s a project that takes months to complete, a manager or an executive at the company should occasionally check in on progress. It’s possible that with other daily duties, employees might neglect long-terms goals. Executive supervision prompts employees to get things going. Also, for long projects, it’s best to schedule monthly or bi-monthly progress reports to remind everyone that the project needs to proceed.

Break Down Complex Projects: Sometimes employees are just too overwhelmed to meet deadlines. Therefore, managers or others in charge should take care to break down complex projects into small, doable portions. Do not dump a massive project on a handful of employees and give them a deadline they might not be able to meet. The responsibility also falls on the management side to be realistic about what to expect from employees.

Tell Employees to Write Down a Timetable: Employees must have a written record of schedules or timetables related to the project. The purpose here is to provide a task map that everyone can follow. Don’t let employees take mental notes of what to do and when. There should be a written record for all team members to refer.

If a team does miss a deadline, there should be a really good reason for it. Otherwise, your company might be lacking in productivity in general. You can get one of Corporate Business Solutions Reviews to see if your company is up to industry standards when it comes to productivity.

Some Tips for Generating Customer Referrals

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The best way to influence a customer is through a recommendation from a friend, so said Mark Zuckerberg once. The customer referral, or word-of-mouth marketing, is still the best way to attract new customers to your brand. Potential customers naturally trust their friends or family over company-made ads. Therefore, a recommendation from a peer has a much stronger influence than the slickest marketing trick your business can afford.

While word-of-mouth marketing is indeed understood to be powerful, it’s very difficult to master. It’s not like your business can visit the Facebook pages of all customers and convince their friends to recommend your brand. But there are effective methods to promote word-of-mouth, as illustrated by the successes of companies like Uber and Dropbox. Here are several tips for creating customer referral programs as recommended by our Corporate Business Solutions consultants:

Come up with Great Incentives—Obviously, what really drives a customer to make a reference to someone else is getting something in return from the brand. If a customer really likes your business, he or she may make a recommendation to a friend. But your brand can definitely change the ‘may’ to a ‘will’ with an incentive. The incentives to offer will depend on your business. You can offer discounts, free items, or free upgrades. Dropbox, for example, offered customers an additional 500 MB of storage space for inviting a friend to join. Find out what your customers really desire, and base referral incentives on that.

Aim for High-Quality Referrals—It’s not simply enough for a customer to mention your brand name in a Facebook post. The referral must result in a lead. That is to say that the customer making the referral actually facilitates a purchase, a subscription, or a meeting. It could be done via social media, email, or in person. So, when offering incentives, make sure it leads to a referral that facilitates a purchase. Offering gifts in return for Facebook mentions or social media shares thus may not result in generating new leads.

Choose the Right Time: Don’t ask customers to make referrals during the wrong time. You risk requests being ignored. Ask for referrals when the customers are most engaged with your product or service. This is the only time incentives actually work. Timing is key to making referral programs work.

Want to know more about how to create a customer referral program with a huge turnout? Then contact one of our CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants.

An Employee Wants to Change Teams. What Should You Do?

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Most companies carefully assemble teams to work on projects. Bringing the right talent together is crucial for achieving sales goals, as our Corporate Business Solutions consultants often recommend. Ideally, the teams you assemble together should work well. But in real life, this is often not the case. Conflicts between teams can occur, even though it shouldn’t commonly occur. If a team member asks to switch teams, as a manager or the owner, you must give careful consideration to the request (even if you really don’t want to). Here are several things to do when an employee wants to change teams:

Ask for Specifics: Some employees are forthcoming, some are not. As the boss, you should ask for specifics why the employee wants to switch. It could be because the employee feels as if he or she is not up to the task assigned. It could be some other malicious reason as well, such as harassment. Small business owners must be very careful regarding keeping the company culture civil. If one employee feels uncomfortable due to a toxic workplace, then others might be too. Therefore, it’s important to get to the bottom of why an employee wants to leave the team.

Interview Team Members: Stories are never one sided. You should interview the other members of the team, especially the team leader, as to why the employee might want to switch. This should be approached carefully. You don’t want to sow discontent between your employees. Asking some general questions may help. Later, if you suspect bad behavior, you can ask more probing questions.

Talk to Other Managers: It is important to also get the input of other managers or executives on the situation as well. If the need to switch is caused by skills deficiency or misplaced skills, then the managers or HR should evaluate how the employee might have been misplaced on the team.

It’s not always easy to put together the perfect team. Company culture, HR evaluations, and overall management all play a role. Are all these aspects working well together at your small business? To find out, contact us at CBS-CBS.com.

 

How Small Businesses Can Manage Employee Vacations During Summer

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It’s the summer! For small business executives everywhere, this also means hordes of employees going on vacation. According to market research, about 30 percent of the workforce at the average small business takes paid time off during the season. Business managers should carefully handle vacation time off to avoid being shorthanded. Summer is also the season when customers are more than willing to spend money. Here are some tips for capitalizing on the season while employees are also taking time off:

Plan in Advance: To avoid disruption due to some employees being on holiday, it’s important to plan in advance. Have employees inform you at least a month in advance of extended summer vacations (ones that take a week or more). Then don’t forget to inform the other employees about who’s going to be on vacation so they, too, can make plans accordingly. Our Corporate Business Solutions consultants highly recommend holding a meeting among key managers and individuals to notify everyone of who is going to be absent and to maintain a master list of vacation schedules which can be consulted by management to be able to make needed adjustments where necessary.

Encourage Employees to Make Cover-Up Schedules: It’s very important for employees that work in teams to be on the same page. So if someone is going on summer vacation, tell that employee to get schedule fill-ins for necessary tasks. Everyone on a team should know about who’s covering up for whom on vacation.

Send Reminders: In addition to meetings, don’t forget to set up reminders to inform everyone in writing who will be off. For example, you can send email or Slack reminders about summer vacations. Encourage employees to do the same.

Set Vacation Deadlines: Employees going on vacation should be given deadlines to complete tasks before they take time off. Let them understand that no time off will be available until these tasks are done. This is why planning vacation time in advance is important.

Reward Fill In Employees: If an employee takes over a colleague’s tasks while he or she is on vacation, then don’t forget to acknowledge that fill in employee’s contribution. Managers can offer praise, bonuses, rewards like free pizza, or an extra day off during other seasons. These rewards will encourage employees to fill in more, so the company is less likely to be shorthanded.

Small businesses should offer reprieves for employees during the summer months. Use the above tips to make sure the holiday time doesn’t disrupt business. You can ask the professionals at CBS-CBS.com for advice on all matters related to small business, including staffing issues resulting from employee vacations, during a comprehensive business analysis of your company.

Why Your Business Needs to Use Chatbots

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Providing proper customer support is an important but often challenging aspect of running a small business. Over the years, there have been many innovations in offering customer care, from written letters to giant outsourced call centers. Now IT has yet another solution for customer support: chatbots.

If you don’t already know what a chatbot is, it is a software program that allows customers to contact a virtual customer representative. It’s like Facebook Messenger, but it’s custom designed for your company. CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants often come across small businesses that struggle to provide praiseworthy customer support. For small businesses owners who want to be on the cutting edge of customer support and have a need for customer interaction without increasing costs significantly, we recommend switching to chatbot software for numerous reasons. Here are some of the more compelling reasons why your business needs to consider chatbot support:

Offer Support 24/7: Chatbots don’t need to eat, sleep, or go home. Therefore, these tools are the best way for companies to provide all day, every day, customer support without drastically increasing costs.

Chatbots Reduce Overhead Costs: Running a call center or hiring employees to provide customer support is extremely expensive. Chatbots, on the other hand, are low-cost options that provide the same services at a fraction of the cost.

Millennial Customers Prefer Chatbots: The market will soon be dominated by millennials who are highly tech-friendly. Millennials prefer to interact quickly with an app than to pick up the phone and call a company like their parents did. If your business’s primary audience consists of millennials, chatbots will very likely improve customer satisfaction levels.

Cut Down Waiting Time: Chatbots can respond rapidly, so customers do not have to wait for a human representative to pick up a call or an online message. One of the most common problems with customer care is that it takes too long to deliver. Chatbots will eliminate this problem.

Deliver Custom Ads: Not only do chatbots actually help customers with issues, these programs can also deliver ads. Unlike with phone systems, chatbots are sophisticated enough to deliver personalized ads to the right customer, thus increasing the chance of a conversion.

If you want to learn more about how to improve the customer experience at your company, you can make an inquiry at CBS-CBS.com.

Does Your Business Need to Change Course?

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A while back, a CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultant advised a printing business that needed to change direction. Our consultant took the owner through a learning process so she could move her business forward. It can be difficult to say when your business needs to change course. Keep in mind that no business stays the same, ever. So even if you don’t like it, as markets fluctuate, your business may need to take a turn for the better. Here are several glaring signs that your business immediately needs to change course:

Slow Growth: It’s fine if the growth numbers for your company are not always inching upwards. Most companies go through periods of slow growth. However, the company should be able to overcome these slow growth periods. Compare your growth trajectory to that of your competitors. It should not be perpetually facing downwards. If slow growth is a prolonged issue at your company, then it’s time to reevaluate your goals and adapt a new strategy.

Challenges from Smaller Competitors: If the smaller competitors your business may have ignored in the past are looking like actual threats, then that should set off warning alarms. A smaller company can surpass yours if growth is severely lagging. It should be an indicator that your business is losing its competitive edge and should change course immediately to thrive in the future.

Low Customer Satisfaction Numbers: Nothing is more indicative of a need to change than low customer satisfaction numbers. While negative reviews, complaints, and low ratings are to be expected, the majority of the feedback your company receives must primarily be positive. Your company should continuously receive a lot of customer feedback. If feedback is declining, or is increasingly becoming negative, then it indicates an even worse fate: insignificance of your brand.

If your business faces any of the above problems, then it’s time to change course. Suddenly changing the trajectory of a business is not easy. It requires a solid plan. But first, you should seek advice from a CBS-CBS.com consultant to identify the underlying issues that are causing growth or sales problems at your business. After careful scrutiny, the consultant will be able to present you with a proposal for changing course and becoming competitive again.

How to Use LinkedIn, According to Its Founder

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If you add every LinkedIn request you get, even the ones from complete strangers, then you are using the social network wrong, according to Reid Hoffman, the founder of the site. LinkedIn is the most popular social networking platform for professionals. CBS Corporate Business Solutions highly recommends owners of B2B small businesses to have a LinkedIn profile.

Hoffman’s advice about using the site comes from Keith Ferrazzi, the author of “Never Eat Alone.” Ferrazzi once met Hoffman, who gave him a golden piece of advice about using the site. As the anecdote goes, Hoffman encourages users to make “meaningful” connections on the site. Rather than add every friend request, as you would on Facebook, Hoffman suggests asking this question before accepting a connect request: Could this person introduce me? If the answer is no, then it’s best to ignore the request.

The point of having a LinkedIn profile is to make connections with mutual benefit. Mainly, it’s a great platform for initiating introductions with long-lasting business benefits. For B2B business, LinkedIn is a great place to find new clients.

Here are several other ways to make connections on LinkedIn:

Update Your Profile: Make sure your profile has a very professional and compelling headline. This is the most commonly read part of your LinkedIn profile. If it needs updating, then promptly do so.

Include a Picture: Do not leave the profile picture section blank. Also, do not upload brand logos or any other picture that is not a professional headshot of you. Most LinkedIn users look at the profile picture, so make sure you have a highly appealing one uploaded.

Use Keywords: It’s perfectly acceptable to use keywords relevant to your line of business on the profile, especially in the headline. However, the keywords must be inserted very naturally.

Upload Details of Your Resume: Upload professional details of your work experience that doesn’t fit in your resume on LinkedIn. Use the blank spaces to fill out job descriptions. A potential client interested in your business may look up your LinkedIn profile, therefore it’s important to stay as detailed as possible.

Want more advice on how to improve your company’s social media presence? Contact us at CBS-CBS.com.