Improving productivity

Staying productive in the workplace can be challenging – whether it’s interruptions from colleagues, unnecessary meetings or simply distractions such as social media, it is hard to stay focused on the task at hand.

Here are three ways to be more productive in your work day:

Take more breaks
Although taking more breaks sounds counterintuitive to productivity; breaks provide time to refresh and therefore can improve performance. Break up long tasks by taking a short break at least every hour or so to maintain concentration.

Reduce time of meetings
Meetings can take up a large part of your work day; stealing many of your most productive hours. Effective meetings usually have a strict end time, only include essential staff members and stick to an agenda. Before organising your next meeting, consider which staff members are necessary (and which can afford not to go) and write up an agenda prior to the meeting.

Break up big tasks into small parts
It can be easy to procrastinate when it comes to a large project, as the prospect of starting the task may seem overwhelming. One way to combat procrastination is to break up the task into smaller, more manageable parts. Breaking up the task helps you to feel more control over your work and can improve your mindset towards the task.

2017 Business Resolutions

The start of the New Year is generally a time to reflect on the previous year’s achievements and challenges and work towards setting new goals.

The New Year can offer business owners a powerful motivation for business growth. Whether you want to expand your business or increase your network; goal-setting plays a critical role in achieving success.

Here are three business resolutions to consider for 2017:

Network, network, network
Consider joining a professional networking group or new business organisation to meet like-minded individuals in your industry. A large networking circle can help you access new business opportunities, expand your knowledge within a field and raise your professional profile. Participating in networking activities and events often leads to more connections, which can help generate referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.

Create a productive work space
The physical characteristics of a work space can have an enormous impact on productivity, health and safety, and comfort. A well-planned office space can assist employees to carry out their daily task effectively.

Elements such as lighting, colour, layout and noise all contribute to a positive and productive work environment. Ideal work environments are exposed to a significant amount of natural light, are free from clutter and control noise. Ergonomics also plays a significant role in productivity. Office furniture can be the cause of physical pain such as migraines, stiff necks and back pain, so be sure to provide comfortable seating.

Focus on relationships
Building and maintaining relationships is a solid part of running a business. Minor problems with suppliers, customers, staff or community members can quickly unfold if they are not addressed in the right manner. Commit to improving your communication style by demonstrating assertiveness, providing constructive criticism and ultimately, being open and honest in all of your interactions.

Tips for hiring entry-level employees

Hiring entry-level employees is a difficult yet unavoidable task for many employers.

Entry-level employees are often essential to fill junior positions in a business and can provide businesses with an opportunity to grow. However, hiring a person with lack of experience and professional referees can often be quite challenging. Here are three tips to consider when assessing entry-level candidates:

Create a clear picture
When creating a job description, it is important to have a clear image of an ideal candidate. Think of specific strengths, skills and traits the applicant must possess. Creating a profile for the ideal applicant not only helps you in the selection process but it also helps to prevent unsuitable or overqualified applicants from applying for the role.

Evaluate involvement outside education
Generally, entry-level candidates do not have a lot of prior professional experience within an industry and are often limited to university education. This lack of real-world experience means employers must find new ways of assessing compatibility. Instead of focusing on marks alone, look at a candidate’s extracurricular activities, volunteer work, leadership roles, awards and internships.

Think long-term
Entry-level candidates can turn into long-term employees if they are given the chance to develop their career. Ask applicants about their long-term career goals and explain ways in which they can achieve these goals through your business. Use examples of other staff members who have advanced their career through your business and make every effort to train employees to demonstrate your commitment to career advancement.

A guide to performance reviews

When carried out effectively, formalised performance reviews can be beneficial for both you and your employees.

It is an opportunity for you to demonstrate how much you appreciate your employees’ contributions and undertake collaborative reflection on potential business improvements.

However, there are a lot of potential pitfalls that can undermine the effectiveness of performance reviews, sometimes even resulting in negative outcomes. If the review is unfocused it will fail to bring about any tangible results, which can lead to anxiety, confusion and occasionally even job dissatisfaction.

Additionally, unproductive performance reviews can be a waste of valuable resources. Here are some guidelines to help ensure that your performance reviews are as rewarding as possible:

A review is part of an ongoing process
Performance reviews cannot provide the same benefits as having continuous channels of communication between management levels. It is problematic when performance reviews become the designated time in which issues are addressed. If an employee has been underperforming then you should not wait until their scheduled review to address the problem.

Your company will benefit from creating a culture in which there is an ongoing informal review process, with managers and subordinates communicating effectively about expectations, difficulties and outcomes.

Be specific
Every aspect of the performance review should be specific to the individual employee and their responsibilities. Your comments and questions should be targeted, drawing on and requesting examples to back up any claims. The performance indicators you use do not need to be uniform, and should be individualised to staff members.

Turn your findings into actions
The information you collect throughout performance reviews can guide you in many business decisions. For example, you may see the need to make changes to remuneration packages, redefine job descriptions, or pursue further staff training.

Most importantly, the review process is a chance for you and your employees to take some time out from the day to day operations of your business and reflect on the bigger picture.

The ultimate end goal should be to reach a consensus on future aspirations and cement milestones that are both challenging and achievable.

Benefits of a flexible working space

Although flexible work spaces are not suitable for everyone or every business, there are significant benefits to offering flexible working arrangements.

Businesses can deliver better results from allowing employees to work from where they need – whether it be home, a cafe or even on their daily commute.

Flexible working can increase employee productivity as it gives employees the option to determine their best working arrangement to meet their personal needs. This can lead to higher levels of engagement, commitment to the business and more motivation to achieve results.

Offering flexible working arrangements can also help when looking to recruit new staff. Flexible working is a highly desirable benefit, especially for younger generations. Flexible policies demonstrate that your business is willing to adapt to changing environments, which can help attract top talent.

For many businesses, flexible working also results in less office space, providing the potential to save money on desk space. In addition, flexible workers are shown to have higher levels of job satisfaction and are more likely to stay with your business, leading to lower turnover rates and hiring costs.

What’s in a name?

The name of your business can have a quite an impact when it comes to marketing your brand, how you are perceived by customers and whether or not you stand out from the competition.

Strong business names send a clear message to the public to help customers identify with the business. They also make a business stand out from the competition.

When choosing a new business name or tweaking an old one, business owners should try and choose a short and punchy name that is easy to remember. Consider the success of brands like Nike, Apple and Twitter – companies with names that are catchy and are only made up of two or three syllables.

Owners should also stick with the traditional way of spelling as well. While it is great to think ‘outside the box’ when thinking of a name, try to avoid being too quirky by spelling your business name incorrectly. This can often confuse and even deter customers, especially if they are searching for your business online.

Tap into the spending season

The holiday season provides the perfect opportunity to connect with customers and leverage off the seasonal shopping period.

For many businesses, the upcoming Christmas season presents a peak in sales and revenue. Businesses that fail to maximise the holiday shopping season can miss out on a huge revenue opportunity and risk losing customers to competition.

It pays to adjust your marketing based on seasonal sales opportunities. A marketing campaign that capitalises on the upcoming season provides businesses with the opportunity to position themselves as an adaptive and quick-to-react business.

When crafting your holiday marketing campaign, it is not a good idea to leave planning and execution to the last minute. Here are five ways to boost sales and awareness this holiday season:

• Pick the right opportunities

Ensure your marketing campaign meets the needs of your target market. Understanding your target market and their purchasing behaviour will help to hone into the festivities that may appeal to them and allows you to design your marketing campaign based around their wants and needs.

• Advertise ahead of the holidays

Consider offering special discounts, increasing your availability for appointments (if you are a service based business), and introducing early bird offers to attract customers who like to shop ahead. Promoting your holiday sale early helps to prime customers to choose your business as a default shopping destination before your competitors get a chance.

• Integrate with social media

Successful holiday campaigns integrate social media to increase reach and engagement. A strong social media strategy will help brands increase their social subscribers while encouraging customers to purchase. Consider enticing customers to subscribe with special offers such as free shipping or percentage discounts.

• Reuse, recycle

As marketing efforts can be relatively expensive, consider reusing past marketing campaigns that were successful. Past campaigns may be recycled if they are still relevant or only need a few minor amendments. When developing a seasonal marketing campaign avoid time-specific references so the content can be used again.

• Include a call-to-action

Seasonal campaigns will often have a deadline due to the nature of the campaign and therefore require a call-to-action. Encourage customers to contact your business via email, telephone or social media in your campaign and include deadlines for any special offers to create a sense of urgency. If uptake on promotions is not as expected you may extend offers for additional time.

Developing a code of conduct

A well-written code of conduct is essential for every business – it can provide guidance to staff as well as stating your business’ values and ethical principles.

A code of conduct provides staff with clear guidelines for expected behaviour in a variety of situations, for example, attending work-related social events or taking business trips. A workplace code of conduct can cover any areas of behaviour and generally includes a standard of conduct and practice, values, ethical principles, accountability and disciplinary actions for violation of the code.

Here are some tips for writing a code of conduct:

Involve all staff and management
Consult staff members and management from all departments for their input on ethical guidelines and performance. A good way to get employees involved is to hold a meeting to discuss your ideas and encourage feedback.

Be specific
Provide specific scenarios of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour to clarify your points and make the code easier to understand. Ensure your examples are relevant to the situations your employees are likely to encounter.

Deal with breaches promptly
Enforcing the code demonstrates your business’ commitment to implementing the code. Any breaches to the code should be dealt with promptly and must be consistent across the board. Set a good example by ensuring you and senior staff members follow the code – this ensures credibility of the code as a formal policy.

Building brand loyalty

Converting casual customers into brand-loyal customers is challenging in today’s competitive marketplace.

With thousands of brands competing to stay top of mind; retaining customers is no easy feat. Fortunately, there are some ways businesses can encourage repeat purchase customers:

• Be consistent

Surpass your customers’ expectations by consistently delivering the same level of quality in your product and service offerings. Customers will return to your business if you deliver on your brand promise through each and every transaction.

• Focus on customer needs

Understand what drives customer behaviour by listening to their concerns and encouraging feedback. Consider introducing a loyalty program to give customers a reason to come back to you instead of competitors.

• Stay in touch

Connect with your customers regularly to remind them of upcoming sales and promotions, industry news and events that are happening. Engaging with your customers on a frequent basis helps to build relationships with your new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers.

Tips for achieving success from scratch

The financial power and freedom that comes from being a successful business owner can be enough to entice anyone to take on the financial risk of starting up a business. But growing a successful business from scratch is no easy feat.

Work harder than everyone else: Accept that you may need to work harder than others to get what you want. Making excuses for why other people have the success that you want does nothing to help you reach your goals.

Use the right motivation: Although money and fame are enjoyable rewards for working hard, don’t just use these superficial perks as your main source of motivation. Continue to challenge yourself to be the best that you can be, and in due course, the rewards will eventually follow.