Archive for the ‘Business Advice’ Category
Great Ways to Conduct Market Research For Your Product or Service
Accountants in Birmingham – Market Research
Market research is an approach for gathering data related to products and services. One of the major reasons for conducting market research is to determine the success or failure of a product or service. In other terms it can be considered as a precautionary measure which can be used to forecast the potential of a new product or service.
Good market research is usually undertaken with the following 3 step approach:
- Plan
- Gather
- Analyze
Proper planning should be done before starting any market research, which should include well-defined objectives, the actual purpose for conducting the market research, what kind of inputs need to go into the research and who will be responsible for it. Once a formal plan has been finalised you can move on to the next step of information gathering.
Information or data gathering can be done in many different ways, depending on the product or service for which the market research is being conducted. Some of the most common ways of gathering information for this purpose includes:
- Questionnaires
- Surveys
- Interviewing experts and common consumers
You can choose the best method depending on the type of market your product is intended for. For example, if it is an online product, the focus should be geared to Internet based users and information gathering techniques like online questionnaires and surveys need to be used.
The final step is to analyze the information or data which has been gathered. Well-gathered information should be able to clearly answer the following questions:
- How would the product benefit the customer and the company?
- Who are your competitors?
- What type of advertising strategies could be used?
- In what way is your product or service better than those already available on the market?
- Who is the target audience for your product or service?
Once all these questions have been answered, you should have a clear understanding of the customers’ preferences. Therefore, you can then start deciding on your launching and pricing strategies and how to position your product or service in your chosen market place.
A well-organised and well-planned market research campaign is a crucial step to take when evaluating your product and service and its potential impact on the market place. It can give you external intelligence as to what your potential customers require, what they are prepared to pay and what competition you will be facing, among other things. However, like all other aspects, any market research needs to be planned properly with major emphasis on the best ways to gather and analyse the information you are after.
The Business of Being Green- How to Make Savings in Business by Recycling
Accountants in Birmingham – Cost Cutting
We are all now far more aware of how to do the best for our planet; we understand that our resources are dwindling and even if we are not wholly green, most of us do our bit to separate plastic and paper from the rest of our refuse. Bottle banks have now been around for so long that the very idea of putting glass in with your household waste is a strange and ancient philosophy from another time.
The business of recycling is booming and many commercial enterprises have sprung-up to profit from the world’s desire for change. With specialist recycling companies making money out of the re-use of stuff otherwise destined to be land fill. Other businesses have realised the fashion for all things green and have developed new and artistic products using our rubbish.
The manufacturing industries are just starting to realise that there is profit in their waste, with the many by-products of manufacture now being sold on to others as products they can use, and everything from precious metals extracted from used car parts to gypsum from old plaster board being used to create new cash streams.
Setting aside the obvious need for the planet to recycle what limited resources it has left and the fact that most of us, especially in the business world, could probably do more to help; there are other very good reasons why businesses should look at recycling, not least because of the tremendous savings that can be made by being more sensible about waste.
However, do not think that it is only big industry that can turn their wasteful practices into revenue. All businesses even the smallest can make a saving by adopting greener working habits.
If your business sells a product that can be refurbished, reused or recycled or contains a salvageable material, then it might be possible to set-up a customer part exchange program, allowing them to return their used product for a saving on a replacement; this of course has the added benefit of keeping your customers returning to you for new business, as well as the money you can make from the scrap.
If you are in a service industry, examine areas of waste that will bring your overheads down as well as reducing your carbon footprint. Most business use far too much paper for instance, but rather than simply putting used paper in to a recycling bin why not research the various ‘paperless office’ systems now available. Moving to new technologies will enhance your business in other ways too.
All businesses could look at their transport policies to see if savings could be made and encouraging staff to get involved with car shares etc. will enlist the help of the whole business in your money saving activities.
Along with the obvious warm feeling that doing the right thing for the planet will bring and the extra streams of revenue or significant savings to overheads, trying to be greener also has the unavoidable knock-on effect of making your business more attractive to customers by improving its profile. It is after all good to be seen as a caring business in a world where business is very rarely viewed this way.
How to Deal With Customer Complaints Effectively
Accountants in Birmingham – Customer Service Tips
Customers play the most important part in any business, be it big or small. Thus providing good customer service becomes very crucial for a company’s success. A successful company is one that provides the best service in terms of continued customer support. One challenge that every customer support professional faces is dealing with customer complaints. Handling customer complaints has always been a challenge, but when armed with the right kind of tools and staff this becomes more of an advantage than a challenge.
Three very common mistakes made by the customer support professionals when dealing with customer complaints are:
- Not listening to the customer’s complaint.
- Not armed with adequate knowledge or information.
- Not being courteous and polite to the customer.
Listening is the key to dealing with many business problems, and the same holds true when dealing with customer complaints. Jumping in to give a solution without properly understanding the problem tend to lead to more confusion and customer frustration. So listening and understanding the problem should be the first step when tackling customer complaints.
Customer care staff members are the first line of defense, so make sure they are properly trained and are well informed about the product or service the business offers. A well-planned training program needs to be put in place to achieve this. Also make sure the working environment is as stress- free as possible. Organizing regular stress management programs will help them tackle customer complaints more effectively.
When you talk to customers make you deal with them in a professional and appropriate manner. Be courteous, polite and kind while dealing with their complaints. Apologising tends to calm down even the most irate and frustrated customers. Also remember to thank them both before and after the problem has been dealt with.
Finally, do not see a customer complaint as a purely a ‘negative point’ for the business. Look at them as a challenge for improving the product and service which is being offered. Also see complaints as a chance for you and your staff to get to know your customers better. Treating every customer’s complaint in the proper manner will hopefully bring them one step closer to being loyal to your business.
Important Items to Include on Your VAT Sales Invoices
A sales invoice is an essential document, which is issued to the customer as a record for the goods or services provided to them. These days they can either be issued on paper and sent in the post or issued in an electronic form. An invoice is normally issued to the customer after the completion of a service or after the delivery of goods. An invoice typically consists of two copies, one of which is given to the customer and the seller keeps the other copy (copy invoice).
VAT (Value Added Tax) is a consumption tax levied by the government on most goods and services and is normally calculated as a percentage of sale price charged by the seller to the customer. It is mandatory for a VAT registered supplier to issue a VAT invoice their customers.
A ‘typical VAT invoice’ can be broken down in to three separate sections. The first section should include the following,
- A unique invoice number.
- Business name and address.
- Business VAT registration number.
- Date of sale (will usually become tax-point date of transaction)
- Name of the customer or client.
The second section should contain,
- Name of the goods/services purchased and description where appropriate.
- Quantity purchased.
- Unit price.
- Discount given (if any)
- VAT rate charged
And finally the third section should comprise of,
- Net amount, Vat amount and Gross Amount of the Invoice
- Payment terms/Due date for payment
The backside of an invoice can also be used to detail the ‘terms and conditions’ of the sale and can normally include clauses like ‘goods once sold cannot be returned’ etc. Alternatively, you can use the backside to advertise new products and services, promotions or any other information that may be useful to the seller.
As an invoice is a legal document, the ‘copy invoice’ should be stored safely. The seller should also maintain an invoice daybook in order to record the details of all the invoices issued. Indeed, tax officials or auditors may require the copy invoices and daybooks.
Since the VAT is ultimately passed on to the customer from the manufacturer or distributor, it is the right of every customer to demand for a vat invoice if not provided by the seller. A VAT invoice holds legal value and so the seller should also be very careful when issuing it and ensure it contains correct and accurate information.
Understanding Accounts Payable – The Benefit of Early Payment for Small Businesses
Most businesses continually play the game of ‘pass the cash’ with a strange juggling act taking place. Money is owed to you as a business and no doubt you owe money to others and it is likely that your creditors also owe money in their turn and so it goes on with everyone owing some and chasing the debts of others. This, in short, is how the business world works. Most of the time you probably don’t even consider it very deeply. A bill comes in and if the money is available you pay it, but learning to understand business creditors is a little more important than dealing with your bills at home.
Creditors all work in different ways and examining their terms is as vital as setting your own carefully when extending credit to your customers. Although creditors such as utility companies will employ very standard terms, where a monthly bill is followed by expected payment, vendors will vary considerably in the terms they offer.
Getting a handle on the area of ‘accounts payable’ is something that you may want to have a chat with your accountant for, but whether you choose to pump a professional for advice or look into it on your own, it is an area that you do need to understand to run your business smoothly.
You may be presented with terms such as ‘within 30 days’, which is pretty self explanatory, more confusing however could be ‘net 30’ or ‘2/10 net 30’. You would probably have a stab at guessing that ‘net 30’ means the same as ‘within 30 days’ and you’d be right, but ‘2/10 net 30’ seems more cryptic. The numbers may vary, but the meaning of the format stays the same; breaking these terms down, the 2/10 part refers to a discount for early payment, put simply, the first number, in this case 2 is the percentage discount you are being offered if you can pay within the second number (here 10); the ‘net 30’ is as before, so that the terms are ‘pay within 30 days, however if you pay within 10 days you will receive a 2% discount’.
In large businesses that run a separate accounts department, it is rarely a single individual who is responsible for paying bills; this is often, quite rightly, the recommendation of the business’ accountant who will suggest that to prevent fraud and/or theft more than one person should be involved, with different stages of the payment process falling to different members of staff; this will inevitably slow the whole bill paying process down considerably and so make it unlikely that they would be able to take-up discount offers for early payment, also with more than one individual involved such discount offers can get lost in the mix. With a small business however, where it is often the business owner themselves who pays the bills, taking advantage of such savings can make a huge difference over the course of a year.
Becoming familiar with the sort of terms offered will not only allow you to take advantage of valuable savings, but it will help you know what terms you can be expected to offer your customers in return.