Make mornings easier with end-of-day rituals

As all productive workers know, the end of a working day is just as important as the beginning. While the lead up to finishing time in the late afternoon usually sees the majority of workers counting down the minutes until they can clock off, productive workers that engage in a few simple rituals at the end of the day can help them get off to a fast start in the morning.

Closing rituals can help you pinpoint exactly what you have to do the next day as soon as you walk into the office, increasing the likelihood of getting more things done, and not having to take your work home with you. Here is a three-step routine to help you to make sure you start every day on track.

Triage your to-do list
Evaluate what you can realistically complete today, and what could be pushed back to the next day. Adjust your to-do list based on this. Any task that is non-essential can be moved further back, delegated to someone else, or removed entirely.

Review tomorrow’s calendar
While it is natural to focus on what you have to get done now on busy days, making a point of checking your calendar a few hours before you finish work can mitigate the possibility of forgetting about a commitment that requires preparation work. For example, if you need to prepare for a meeting tomorrow, judge whether you should start preparing this afternoon or first thing in the morning.

Update tomorrow’s to-do list
When you’ve finished all of today’s tasks, spend a couple of minutes reviewing tomorrow’s to-do list. Decide whether tasks need to be completed in a certain order or prioritise items based on their importance. Organising tomorrow’s to-do list means you can walk into work the next morning knowing exactly what you’re going to work on instead of spending precious time getting organised.

Effectively apologising to customers

Quite often, the words ‘I’m sorry’ aren’t enough for an unsatisfied customer. Whether it is because you had to deny a request, made a mistake with an order or left a customer waiting to be served for too long, there will always a time when a business will need to apologise to their customer.

While it might seem tricky trying to find the right way to apologise to a customer, businesses should always remember that apologies are key to showing a business’s commitment to meeting their needs and satisfying their requests.

So instead of coming off as insincere with just an ‘I’m sorry’, here are some tips for delivering a genuine apology to a disgruntled customer:

• Avoid a ‘non-apology’

Businesses need to be able to recognise the kind of language that conveys regret and remorse, and the kind that can turn an apology into a dismissal or condescension. Before apologising to a customer, make sure the words you use have any hint of defensiveness. Being testy or on edge can also make your apology come across as a non-apology.

• Listen carefully

Actively listening to a customer’s problem can help businesses come up with a good apology. It helps businesses understand exactly why they are issuing an apology. Customers are more likely to accept an apology if they believe that their struggle has been truly understood.

• Take responsibility

Sometimes what you are apologising for isn’t necessarily your fault. But if you’re the person who is representing as the face of a business, the blame will need to go somewhere. Apologise on behalf of your team and acknowledge where things went wrong. Taking responsibility shows customers that their issue hasn’t been taken lightly.

• Offer explanations

If a customer wants to know why something went wrong, the business must be able to tell them why. However, businesses also need to cushion an explanation with adequate measures of blame, e.g. “Your problem happened because of X. However, this is no reason why you had to wait for so long.”

• Communicate the solution

Tell the customer what comes next or what options are available. Customers want to know that the business will actually make things right again.

Managing online reviews

Online reviews are important to business and need to be managed appropriately as they can influence the purchasing behaviour of customers and your overall reputation.

Online reviews provide information about your business’s products and services based on the opinions of customers. One of the first steps in managing online reviews is monitoring where they appear. Reviews can be found on a business’s own website, social media, blogs or third party review sites. Managing your online presence helps to monitor customer satisfaction and provides leverage from criticisms to improve your business.

Responding to feedback
To successfully manage online reviews, both positive and negative feedback should be constructively responded to. It is a good idea to allocate a staff member to handle online reviews. Responding to positive feedback shows your appreciation which helps to foster a relationship with your customer. On the other hand, negative feedback should not be ignored, instead it can be turned into an opportunity to show your concern and rectify the problem.

Identifying fake reviews
Fake or misleading reviews pose a concern for business owners but there are ways to identify and combat reviews that are not genuine. It can be challenging to distinguish between fake and genuine reviews; however there are some characteristics to look out for:

• a significant spike in reviews about a business over a limited period of time

• written in overly enthusiastic writing style or extreme use of marketing jargon

• written in a similar language as other reviews of the same business

• written about the same business, product or service where the reviewers’ accounts are very similar

• written from the same email or IP address as one another

Avoid misleading reviews for your business
To ensure your business’ reviews are not misleading they must not be written by the reviewed business, someone who has been paid write the review but has not used the product or by someone who has used the product but written an inflated review to receive a monetary or non-monetary benefit.

A review may be deemed as misleading if you encourage family and friends to write reviews without asserting their personal connection to the business or request others to write reviews about your business or a competitor if they haven’t experienced the product or service. Businesses should also be wary if considering offering incentives to those that write positive reviews for their business as it may be considered misleading.

Protecting your confidential information

Protecting your business’s confidential information is a high priority for employers, especially when employees leave.

Confidential information such as client lists, pricing information, market research data, sales and marketing plans are all considered to be confidential in nature and are at a greater risk of exposure especially when employees leave to take on a role with a competitor.

There are some ways to minimise risks and protect your confidential information, including the following:

Identify and label your trade secrets
Information that is not accessible to the general public and is valuable to the employer is considered confidential information. The information may provide the employer with a competitive advantage and is not easily accessible by others. If the information is viable from other legitimate sources or is used by employees in their usual work routine it may not be considered confidential.

When assessing your business be realistic and avoid overreaching every aspect of your business as a trade secret. After identifying confidential information and trade secrets, you may consider labelling documents or electronic information as “confidential” so employees are aware of what is considered confidential.

Limit access
Implementing internal controls is one way to restrict access to only the employees who need the information to complete their tasks. For example, physical documents containing confidential information may be stored in locked file cabinets and for electronic data, passwords should only be given to appropriate staff. When an employee departs your business, it is important to collect documents and valuables provided such as smartphones and laptops to protect information from being leaked.

Consider a confidentiality policy
To ensure employees are aware of their expectations in regards to confidential information, you may consider adding a confidential policy to the employee’s handbook. The policy should clearly identify what you consider to be confidential information in your business and when employees are allowed to access this information. The policy should coincide with the employee contract which should include a provision to prohibit use or disclosure of the business’s confidential information and trade secrets.

Have you considered seasonal packaging?

Even though special seasonal packaging has become an important part of the holiday season for many brands, is it always a worthwhile endeavour for smaller businesses?

Getting seasonal packaging right can be difficult and may take a few years of practice which involves making mistakes and then learning from them. Even though it might be an easy way to engage with, and attract new customers to your business, there are still quite a few things that can go wrong.

Getting your business’s numbers right in terms of both demand and distribution is very important for a special holiday packaging initiative. Overestimating customer demand or expectation can end up in a business discounting their leftover products, which can severely eat into a company’s profit margins.

Seasonal packaging is a fun way for businesses to mix up their traditional brand identities, but going too far may lose customers, not gain them. Straying too far from your original or traditional identity may confuse and even annoy customers who may not be able to find your product because it looks so different.

Large businesses can often afford to make mistakes with seasonal packaging. Sadly, many small businesses often do not have this kind of luxury and are usually the ones who have the most to lose from taking this kind of marketing approach.

Clever seasonal packaging can play the deciding factor for a new customer choosing between your product and a cheaper, more generic option. So if your small business is ready to take the risk, all it comes down to is if you’re going to do it, make sure you do it right!

Setting out terms and conditions

Entrepreneurs embarking on new business ventures often enter new customer and business arrangements.  

Setting out the terms and conditions of these arrangements might not be of highest priority to those new business owners with never-ending to-do lists; however, neglecting this aspect of business may create future financial burdens.

To avoid monetary disputes and the risk of late payments, the terms and conditions should be established from the beginning of the business deal. The terms and conditions should be in writing and cover the responsibilities, duties, rights and roles of each party.

The terms and conditions need to be specific and clearly state:

• What products and services will be provided

• When payment is to be made

• What happens if a product or service is faulty – is there any guarantees or warranties offered

• A refund policy

• If a guarantor is needed

When drafting up your business’s terms and conditions make sure they comply with the Australian Consumer Law and other relevant legislation. If you are unsure, seek professional advice.

Who is your target market?

Having a clear definition of the exact type of customer your business is trying to reach can make the most of limited marketing dollars and have the biggest impact on your bottom line.

Narrowing the type of customers you’d most like to reach (and the kind that are most likely to be willing, eager and able to buy from you) is a key building block to success. Defining your target market gives focus to all your marketing and sales activities, helps you craft your advertising messages and images, choose where and when to advertise and influences which distribution channels you use.

When defining your target market, keep the image of an actual target in mind. The outermost ring of the target is the universe of potential customers — everyone who might ever possibly be interested in your product or service. As you get closer to the centre of the target, focus on customers who are more likely to actually make a purchase. The group at the centre should be those you would most like to have as customers, who you can reach and sell to affordably, and who are most likely to buy.

Some of the factors to help you close in on the bull’s-eye:

• The features and benefits of your product or service

• The competition

• Market trends

• Most motivated buyers

• Ease of reaching and selling to your prospects

Dealing with workplace accidents

Despite a staff member’s or employer’s best intentions, there is always the chance that things can go wrong in the workplace. And when accidents do happen, it is important that businesses know how to respond and follow correct, lawful procedures.

An important step is to report the injury to the workers compensation insurer as soon as possible. Often there is an excess to be paid if the report isn’t made within a certain time frame.

Also, getting quick treatment for the injured employee helps them to return to work quickly, minimising the impact their absence would have on the business.

No matter how small the injury may seem it is still important to report it. What may initially appear as a minor injury could end up with serious consequences, especially in relation to muscle strains.

If the employee is unable to resume their regular job, it may be an idea to give them other tasks so that they can still be involved in the business.

The most important step in dealing with workplace accidents is to show concern and support for the injured worker and assist them in making a return to the business.

What happens to your business if something happens to you?

For many entrepreneurs, their business is their most valuable asset. Yet they’ve done little to make sure its value is sustained if they’re out of commission. Even if you’re unavailable for a relatively short period of time, can your business keep going without you?

On the most basic level, you want to make certain your business can continue if you’re merely indisposed. You don’t want to lose money just because no one has the authority to pay a bill or has the password to access your email.

Ideally, it would be best if you don’t lose customers while you’re out of pocket, and there are ways to find back-ups even if you work alone. Here are some of the things you can address to handle short-term difficulties:

Minor expenses
To make it easy to handle day-to-day purchases, get a credit card (with a low credit limit) for the person who’s going to handle your administrative matters.

Passwords
Can anyone else access the information in your email, computer documents, bank accounts, or manage your website? Make sure someone trustworthy knows where to find your passwords.

Basic knowledge of business affairs
If you don’t have an administrative employee, does anyone in your family know how to locate your tax records, find your accounts receivable or use your software program? Do they know who your attorney or accountant are? Make a list of such details and show a family member.

When to get a business partner

Starting and running a business can be a lot more fun when you’re working with someone you like and respect. With a partner, you have someone to share the excitement and risks of running a company; someone to bounce ideas off of; to help shoulder the financial and work-load burden.

But partnerships have perils. Over time, partners are likely to have disagreements, resentments, changing goals and lifestyle choices. Partners may also have conflicts about how to spend money, who to hire, which direction to take the company. When partners don’t get along, the business inevitably suffers.

Before you get into a partnership, be sure to:

Have an in-depth conversation with your partner
Some issues you should thoroughly discuss include:

• What is the ownership division and who owns what percent?

• What jobs/responsibilities does each partner have?

• How will serious disputes be resolved?

Draw up written partnership agreement
Once you’ve discussed all the key issues, approach an attorney to draw up a legally binding contract, spelling out the terms of your partnership. If you’re already working with a partner, you still need to do this! If one partner doesn’t want to do this, that’s a big red flag.

Consider a buy/sell agreement
A “Buy/Sell” agreement spells out the terms by which one partner can buy the other out. In the event of a dispute or differing goals, a buy/sell agreement can enable the company to survive. Discuss ways, such as purchasing life insurance, to buy out a partner’s heirs in the event of death or disability. You may not want to run the business with your partner’s spouse or children.

Partnerships can be terrific, but when things go wrong between the partners, it can often mean the demise of the whole company.