Tag Archives: Corporate Business Solutions LLC

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.

That Google Memo and Company Culture

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If you are an avid consumer of business news, you must have already read about the 3,000-word Google memo by an unnamed employee that has gone viral. The memo details an employee’s dissatisfaction regarding Google’s new efforts to recruit more women and minorities. The author of the memo is rather offended by the tech giant’s push to hire more women engineers and cites “biological differences” between the sexes for underrepresentation of women in tech. Regardless of what you think about women or diversity, the memo raises an important question about company culture.

Small business owners often need to take decisions about hiring new employees that may not always be to the satisfaction of already existing employees. In local small businesses, for example, employees that have stuck out with the business for a while may not like it when the company wants to hire senior personnel to expand. Regardless of what hiring quotas end up being, business owners and managers must always maintain a strong company culture as well. The culture could be more diverse, or rather closed. However, all employees must ultimately have close working relationships that further the goals of the business. It’s never good for business when employees don’t get along well.

Here are several suggestions to small business owners from Corporate Business Solutions consultants about maintaining employee cohesion and building a strong company culture:

Listen to Complaints – There should be an effective method for employees to voice their complaints about the workplace environment. Some of these complaints will have merit, and most might not. Regardless, it’s important that all employees understand that the boss listens to them.

Let Them Know Empathy Matters – Don’t expect all your employees to get along like BFFs. Some will be close friends, others will not. The managers must ensure that employees have good working relationships with one another regardless of personal feelings. Some of these feelings may be sexist or racist, as in the case of the Google memo author. Don’t ever let your small business be embroiled in a racism or sexism scandal. It will ruin your business and expansion efforts for years to come. The company cannot change personal beliefs of workers either. What the small business owners can do is build an empathizing company culture where all employees respect one another.

Keep Goals in Mind—Make sure all employees share your vision for the company’s future. This matters more so than almost everything else when it comes to succeeding as a business.

If your small business needs to make the workforce more efficient and solve company culture issues, you can seek help at CBS-CBS.com.

Microchipping Employees and Other Workplace Privacy Concerns

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A company in Wisconsin will soon have approval to microchip its employees. Whether this indicates the business has reached an Orwellian age or is simply moving forward with technology will depend on whom you ask.

Of course, having microchips physically inserted into employees should unsettle even the most rationally pragmatic executive. In this case, the company will need an employee’s consent to insert a small “rice grain” sized chip between the thumb and the pointy finger of the hand. Participation is mandatory. More importantly, this chip is not a GPS tracker and will not be internet connected, so no one can hack into it. The only way to compromise the microchip, according to one employee at the company, is to have the employee’s hand literary chopped off.

As fascinating as micro chipping is, the story raises important questions about company goals and employee privacy. Small businesses, regardless of the sector, routinely collect very sensitive information about employees. For example, a typical small business would have access to an employee’s personal information, social security information, addresses, phone numbers, and other similar data that could wreak havoc in the wrong hands, Corporate Business Solutions consultants point out. So what exactly are the responsibilities of modern day companies to protect employee’s privacy and information?

First of all, as our consultants point out, all small businesses must have an employee guidebook that explains what data a small business might collect about them, how this data would be stored, and how the sensitive information would be protected from malicious entities like data thieves. It’s the responsibility of the business to be fully transparent with the employees regarding what type of information the business collects.

Small businesses should also ensure that the collected data is kept secure. This means investing in cyber security infrastructures such as safer networks, malicious software removal tools, and employee awareness training programs that teach good internet habits. Like the Wisconsin microchip company did, it would be wise to keep sensitive data disconnected from the web-connected company network.

To make sure your business is fully capable of ensuring employee privacy rights while keeping business secrets secure, get one of our Corporate Business Solutions Reviews.

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.

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.

How to Fire an Employee Properly

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Firing an employee is one of the toughest aspects of being a small business owner or a manager. Even the companies that work the hardest to hire just the right employees occasionally find themselves in need of firing someone. Getting fired is not easy on the employee either. So this is a matter that should be handled as delicately as possible. If you make the employee that’s going to be fired angry, there could be consequences in terms of lawsuits, negative press articles, or even unthinkable situations like the recent business place shooting in Orlando by a fired employee.

Here are several tips from Corporate Business Solutions consultants on how to fire employees properly:

Do not resort to abrupt firings unless absolutely necessary – Never fire an employee abruptly, unless it’s a case of a zero-tolerance violation set forth in company personnel policies which put employees on notice what actions subject them to being immediately fired. For example, if the employee gets arrested or is caught red-handed in a crime, then you can fire the person on the spot if those actions are set forth in the personnel policies for immediate termination.

If the firing is the cause of something like poor performance, then the process should be handled gradually. For example, an employee with poor performance should be given fair warnings and opportunities to rectify the situation. If there’s any cause for concern, first discuss the matter with the employee in question. Gently warn that if the issue is not fixed, then you would be forced to fire the employee. It should be well understood by both parties. The gradual firing process also gives the employee time to emotionally prepare themselves for the prospect of getting fired.

Break the news gently – Keep in mind that losing a job is an extremely emotional process. So, employees might react to the news in various ways. Therefore, it’s important to break the news as gently and calmly as possible. Be calm on your side even if the employee is not.

Discuss the logistics of the firing – The person doing the firing should meet face-to-face with the employee to discuss issues such as severance packages. This should also be done in an understanding manner. Also, in these meetings, listen to the employee. Do not react to whatever they are saying. Some may try to threaten to sue. Handle it gracefully without adding fuel to the flame.

It would help if the company has policies in place for handling firing gracefully. CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants can review the process of how your small business handles firings, or advise managers on how to fire people without having the company face backlash for any reason.

How to Create Interesting and Compelling Small Business Customer Testimonials

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Customer testimonials are one of the best ways to convert traffic into paying clients. Most consumers nowadays actively seek out prior reviews and testimonials before paying for a product. This is particularly true for service sector businesses. Customer testimonials carry weight, but only if you do them right.

Consultants at Corporate Business Solutions often encourage small businesses to put an effort behind customer testimonials to make them actually persuasive. This goes beyond doing a routine spell check. Here are several ways to make customer testimonials compelling without resorting to exaggerations and hyperbole:

Write Long Testimonials – It may make sense to write short testimonials if you apply advertising logic to the material. After all, short text keeps potential customers interested, right? Not when it comes to testimonials. Audiences find longer testimonials more compelling than short ones. The problem with short testimonials is that they tend to sound like quick endorsements, not actual feedback from a former customer. People read testimonials to find out what it’s like to work with your company. So a long-form testimonial with details is the best way to go.

Provide the Specifics – Avoid writing generic testimonials. These are known to be ineffective. A persuasive testimonial includes specific details of services rendered. Ideally, the testimonials should include the nature of the services provided, the types of services provided, and the results. It’s highly recommended to use data, such as a conversion rate before and after. The small details do matter in making the testimonials sound authentic and compelling.

Do Use Pictures – Images are great for giving a human, or a real life, face to the testimonials you publish so they don’t sound like another advertisement. Also, images keep web users interested. Marketing experts know that visual aids can dramatically improve how promotional material is consumed. This is true for testimonials as it does for content and ads.

Consider Video Testimonials – Do not overlook the power of video testimonials. If your company’s target audience is typically averse to long-form text, then the video would be the best way to go. Video testimonials are full of visual assets, which are always good signs for conversion rates. A video is a great format for online testimonials as the majority of web users are known to consume hours of video.

Next time your small business is preparing to publish a testimony, think about the above advice from CBS Corporate Business Solutions consultants. You will notice a difference in conversion rates sooner rather than later with compelling testimonials.

How to Develop a More “Authentic” Brand

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Modern consumers value authenticity now more than ever. It’s the main feature that almost all brands must embody in order to appeal to their target audience. Corporate Business Solutions consultants occasionally find small businesses that have brands with an authenticity problem. The advice of “just be who you are” doesn’t always apply to companies. If your company is struggling to build an “authentic” brand”, here are several suggestions that might help:

Ditch the Jargon: Does the marketing team of your small business send out promotional material that often contains technical jargon or overused advertisement language? Don’t bother with sounding too formal, or too smart. Use everyday conversational language in all your brand promotional material. Customers do not engage with brands that sound robotic. If the brand sounds just like another “friend” on Facebook, then they will pay attention.

Come Up with a “Down-to-Earth” Founding Story: Every company needs a good founding story. It’s the backbone of getting more funding and humanizing a corporate entity to the public. When you write the founding story for your small company, do not go out of your way to make things up. It doesn’t have to be a script for a Hollywood movie. Be as real as possible. Tell it as it happened, but in an appealing story format. Don’t go overboard and present the company or the founders in a larger than life format. That is not appealing and looks disingenuous.

Use “Real Life” Images: Does your company spend a lot of money getting professional-grade photographs to show with the brand? That’s fine. But these pro shots should be combined with “real” or “day-to-day” shots of staff being human beings. Such images could include “behind the scenes” looks, pictures that don’t look posed, and higher ups in “regular people” situations. Appearing too sleek can backfire. It’s important to show customers that there are faces behind the logo.

Be Accessible: The best way to reach out as a truly authentic brand is to be accessible to everyone. Provide 24/7 customer support. Answer all queries customers or interested parties submit. Create as many avenues as possible for customers to get in touch with the company, such as email, phone, or live chat. Accessibility is the key to reaching out.

Think seriously about the above strategies when giving your brand a more genuine makeover. You can find more information about how our consultants can help with your marketing strategy at CBS-CBS.com.