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Avoid Being Left Hanging By Your Clients

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Customer blue puzzle pieces assembledWhat makes your business tick?

For many business owners, it is making sure that they keep their company running on an efficient schedule. Remember, efficiency is key to keeping the customers coming through the front door etc.

That said it can be somewhat easy for business owners to get off track at times, especially if they are not putting technology to great use in running their businesses.

One way this becomes a problem is if clients are not showing up for scheduled appointments or are coming in late. When this happens, a day’s schedule can easily get out of kilter.

So, how are you going about making sure you do not get left hanging by your clients?

Let Technology Work for You

So that you are able to manage your working hours as efficiently as possible, remember these tips:

  1. Understanding your business needs – First and foremost, the type of business you run oftentimes dictates what your time management needs will be. As an example, if your run a salon and/or nail business, keep in mind that clients are regularly coming through your doors. As a result, it is important that you don’t have regular breaks in the action, breaks that can ultimately lead to your revenue stream being impacted in a negative manner. In order to lessen the chances of that happening, having a Salon appointment book is a great way to keep things flowing. For example, if you are open say from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., you expect to have clients coming in during those hours, save maybe except for a lunch or dinner break on your part. If some clients either wonder in a half hour late or miss their appointments altogether, it is real easy for the day to get messed up. What you end up having is an unorganized approach to doing business, one that can mean less money coming in and more customers going out;
  2. Reminding clients of their appointments with you – Just as you get quite busy at times, your clients can be equally as if not busier than you. As a result, sending them a “friendly” reminder about their appointment with you simply makes sense. You are not being a nag, simply reminding them that they committed to time with you on a certain day and time. The reminder can be sent as a simple email or text, leaving them no excuse to say they forgot about their time with you;
  3. Keeping yourself on track – With all you have to do in your personal life, running a business can easily overlap into the former. So that you do not have to worry about that happening, using an online appointment book just makes sense. Such a book makes it easy for you to schedule how many hours you plan to work each day, along with determining how many clients you can squeeze in on a regular basis. Lastly, you can keep track of any time off you plan on taking (a day off, vacation time etc.), allowing you to plan out your working appointments months ahead of time.

Being Your Own Boss

There are many advantages that come with running your own business.

One of the great things in doing this is being able to determine your own working schedule. In doing that, there is still a lot of responsibility that falls on your shoulders on a daily basis.

In the past, many small business owners would rely on a paper calendar or even notepads to record when their clients were scheduled to pay them a visit. Even though that worked for countless business owners (it still does for some), many running small businesses will tell you that they’d be lost without their online software to plan out their days.

If you are in need of better planning your work days, look at the different software programs out there on the market.

Inevitably, you will discover one that is best suited for your business needs, needs that require you to be on time.

As for being on time, the same holds true for your clients.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Keep Internet Thieves at Bay

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Online Security Protection Internet Safety Learning Education CoIf you run a business and think that you’re not a target, think again.

Whether your company is small, midsize or large, you have a target on your back simply by the fact that you are an entrepreneur. If thieves can get their hands on your products, services, and especially information that will lead to a financial windfall for them, you can be singled out at any moment.

With that in mind, it behooves business owners to make sure they have their backs and the backs of their customers covered at all times. Remember, it just takes one slip-up for a hacker to make your life and your financial life miserable.

Be Pro-Active and Not Reactive

In order to make sure your Internet security is protected as much as possible from hackers (namely identity theft thieves), keep these tidbits in mind:

  • Be Pro-active – The last thing you want to do as a business owner is always be reacting to things, notably hackers. It is no secret that hacking is a profession for countless men and women, many of whom don’t care if you play by the rules or not. In order to decrease the chances of being financially hit, make sure you update your Internet protection software regularly. Look for cracks and kinks in its armor, thereby hopefully seeing them before thieves do. Just as you would use the appropriate computer software to limit your kids’ access to reaching inappropriate websites on your home computer, the same care and concern must be done for your business site. The goal here is to make sure no one is getting through to your company website without your approval;
  • Watch for employee red flags – While it would be comforting to think that all of your employees can always be trusted with sensitive company and customer data, it has proven time and time again that that is not the case. Even though you might think that the attack or attacks will come from the outside, many businesses have unfortunately discovered otherwise. Lessen the chances your business will become a victim by making sure you hire the best and brightest employees. If during the interview process you catch any red flags (past firings from jobs for disciplinary reasons such as stealing from employers and/or hacking websites, run-ins with the law etc.), think twice about bringing on that applicant as an employee. Also be sure to alert all employees once they are under your employ that in no shape or form will you tolerate illegal activities, notably as they relate to misusing company or customer data. If someone is caught doing just that, let it be known they could lose their job and potentially face criminal charges;
  • Be careful with outsourcing – While outsourcing business tasks is something many businesses do on a regular basis, this is another area where one must proceed with caution. Let’s say you outsource some or all of your accounting or client marketing needs to save on some of the workload for your in-house staff. In doing so, you provide the individual or individuals who will be working on accounting and client marketing sensitive data etc. It could be weeks or even months before you discover someone is then using that data for illegal purposes. Along with the financial hit to you and some of your customers, the public relations mess now on your hands is just as bad. Make sure you thoroughly research who you might outsource work to in order to lessen the odds they will be a problem for you and your clients down the road.

Running a business these days of course carries risks, risks that you sometimes have little control over.

When it comes to protecting your business website (both from outside and inside threats), you do have more control than you might think.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and technology issues on the web.

 

Let Software Help Keep You on Schedule

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asoftwareRunning a business takes plenty of time and effort. In fact, most business owners will tell you there is not enough time in the day to get everything done that they want to.

With that in mind, what if your business life could be made just a little bit easier, especially when it comes to keeping your employee schedules in check?

Given all business owners must deal with when it comes to their customers, having a good repertoire with their employees is critical, especially in a day and age when more and more employees are telecommuting. Whether your employees all work under one roof or some are working from home and/or the road, keeping their schedules in sync is crucial to running a smooth operation.

Know When Your Employees Are on the Clock

Whether your company employs only a few people or hundreds of workers, keeping their days running smoothly with the right scheduling software is important for several reasons. Among them:

  • Continuity – Having a business that runs on time is important, especially given the fact that consumers have more and more choices these days with where their dollars will be spent;
  • Production – If you have employees coming and going at all hours of the day and no real schedule in place, your production schedule could suffer. The right scheduling software allows you to coordinate the proper shifts from the minute your business day begins;
  • Fairness – Face it, some offices have to deal with office politics at times. In order to keep everyone relatively happy when it comes to work schedules, having a software program in place dedicated to coordinating shifts can do wonders for your business. Its biggest attribute is it should cut down on any potential complaints from co-workers that so-and-so is not reporting for work on time and/or cutting out too early;
  • Absenteeism – As all too many business owners discover over time, absenteeism can have a profoundly negative impact on their company. Many workers can certainly have legitimate excuses for missing work, ranging from illness to injury involving themselves or a loved one. That said many others will try and milk the system, taking advantage of their bosses in the process. When this happens, not only is the employee ultimately hurting him or herself, but they are negatively impacting their place of employment. More pressure is put on other employees to pick up the slack, thereby making it more difficult for them to do their own jobs. This can also result in lower office morale, something that can ultimately have a significant impact on the company’s ability to meet the needs of customers.

If your company has essentially let employee schedules run on the fly over time, now might be a good time to turn to technology to better enforce worker schedules.

By investing in the right scheduling software, you can schedule and communicate with your hourly workers right from day one of their employment. Keeping them on schedule will ultimately keep your business on schedule with the people who matter most, your customers.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes for a variety of websites on topics such as human resources and running a small business.

Does Your Accounting Software Account for Success?

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While saving money is a great thing for the small business owner, trying to do that at the cost of service to your company can come with a price. Unfortunately, that price over time can be lost business.

For those owners who are looking for an accounting software program, be it for the first time or to replace the one they currently have, a number of factors should always go into the decision making process.

Meantime, those business owners looking to outsource their accounting needs should do so with the idea that such a decision should be well researched. If you choose the wrong accounting provider, you could be left with more than just financial headaches.

In searching for the right accounting provider at the right price, remember to:

* Determine your needs – What got you to consider outsourcing your accounting needs in the first place? For many small business owners, their workforce size is manageable enough that they can hire an in-house accounting person and/or even oversee it themselves. In the event the company grows over time, then they can outsource the need if it becomes too big a responsibility for the person on staff. Take a look at your current needs, your projected growth in the next year or two, and if you will save more money by keeping the task in-house;

* Shop around – If you pick and choose the first accounting company you come across, you may get lucky, then again you may not. Just as in shopping for other important needs for your company, choosing an accounting provider demands the right amount of time too. Look at each company’s financial stability, customer service record, any issues with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), rates, and its ability to meet your needs. At minimum, get anywhere from 3 to 6 quotes, giving you a number of providers to choose from;

* Look at more time in the office – In the event you do go with outsourcing your accounting needs, think of the time and manpower you free up in your office. Presumably, one or more of your workers has been or would have been doing accounting tasks for you. With the need outsourced, that person or persons can direct their efforts to other responsibilities. You also presumably put your accounting needs in the hands of a company that does this on a regular basis, meaning you should get quality service in turn for your monetary agreement with them. By outsourcing, you also lessen the need by one employee (at least) to have someone on hand strictly do accounting. You not only save on salary, but also health benefits, etc.;

* Impress upon security – Finally, whether your accounting needs are handled in-house or outsourced, security should never be taken for granted. Given you are dealing with personal information of employees including incomes, Social Security numbers, addresses and more, security needs to be prioritized. Make sure any outside provider makes security a priority, preventing you and themselves from running into any potential legal issues.

If this is the year you decide to outsource your company’s accounting responsibilities, make it your business to run the numbers on which provider best fits your needs.

Photo credit: Zodiacproedge.com

Dave Thomas covers a wide array of topics for various websites, including gray hair treatment.