Mohit Tater's Blog, page 589

Types of Cover Available for Business Cars

It is important for businesses in
many different industries to have at least one automobile. This could be a key
part of their service, such as for delivery, or it could simply be so that
staff are able to easily travel to meetings, industry events etc. As a business
owner, it is important that you make sure that these vehicles are properly
covered in case something were to happen.

These are the main types of cover to
consider.

Business Car Insurance

Business car insurance is essential if you will be using the car for business purposes – this could include running errands, making deliveries, travelling to meetings or travelling between business sites. Essentially, this is a type of cover that is required unless you only use the vehicle to travel to and from work each day. This type of cover is important because company cars travel further on average than domestic drivers and therefore a large percentage of crashes involve a company car. There are different classes of cover for this type of insurance so always make sure that you read about each one to determine which is best for you.

Commercial Insurance

For certain industries, commercial
insurance will be required as you will not be covered by business insurance.
This includes if your business is making deliveries or if you are a taxi
driver.

GAP Insurance

GAP insurance is a smart purchase for any motorist as it could save you thousands of pounds. If the company car were to be written off either through an accident or if it is stolen and never recovered, the car insurance policy would only pay the current market value for the vehicle. Due to depreciation, this could be a significant amount less and make it tricky to replace the car. A GAP insurance policy will cover the shortfall between the original amount paid and the amount paid by the insurer. Write-offs occur far too frequently so it is better to be safe than sorry.

Extended Warranty

If the original manufacturer warranty
has expired, it is also a good idea to take out an extended warranty.
Automobiles can break down at any moment in their lifetime and they can be
costly to repair – you do not want to use the company money to foot the bill so
an extended warranty will provide protection and peace of mind.

Company cars are an important asset in many different industries. It is important that you have the right level of cover so that you and your staff can use the car each day with confidence and have protection in place if you were to encounter any issues with the vehicle. The above are the main types of insurance that you will need for a company car and all smart purchases to make.

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5 Tips to Brand In-Store

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, it’s easy to think brands with brick and mortar locations should focus marketing strategies on growing digital sales. However, according to the Robin Report 72% of Americans still prefer making purchases in-store. The in-store experience is important, and should be curated to appeal to a broad consumer base. Here are four tips to help curate and brand an in-store experience.     

Hire Consultants Not Salespeople

A clever way to reconsider in-store branding is to begin with employees. Salespeople pouncing on customers as soon as they enter the store is an ineffective and dated tactic that comes across as invasive and disingenuous. Train employees to be ‘consultants’ for your brand and experts on specific details of key products across all product lines. This shifts the focus to solving a problem for the customer, rather than making a sale. Customers are more inclined to make a purchase when needs are met and questions are answered.        

Minimize to Monetize

Try thinking of your retail space as a gallery, and curate your product presentations accordingly.  Instead of filling shelves and stocking every corner of the space with product, aim for minimal displays that feature specific products or highlight unique aspects. Minimal product displays suggest to customers that brands are less interested in pushing sales, and more invested in providing customers with products that are of high quality and value. If it shows that a brand is putting care into how products are displayed, consumers will pick up on it and care more about the products, too.

Channel Surf

Having a store doesn’t mean purchasing has to be confined to a physical location. Use in-store spaces, such as walls, shelves, floor decals or window signage to promote your brand’s online platforms to encourage online conversions. Different customers interact with brands in different ways, and offering a variety of channels from which to purchase can have a direct impact on sales. Customers may browse in a store but prefer to purchase online. Conversely, some customers may enjoy perusing products online and wish to come to the store to pick up purchased items when it’s convenient. The feeling of control and choice when purchasing is more effective in encouraging sales than promoting in-store impulse buys.

Create an Experience

Pop-ups are an influential marketing trend because they turn brands into experiences. But experiences don’t have to be limited to an off-site pop-up. Special events and promos can easily be held in-store to highlight a new product line or strengthen branding.

Create an interesting, immersive experience that customers can take part in and share, either with friends in the moment or online. For example, an outdoor equipment brand might offer in-store classes or workshops in hiking or camping, or a kitchen supply store may offer cooking workshops or lectures by recognized chefs. Consider sponsoring local events and having in-store signage or pamphlets that promote those events. This enables customers to visualize how products will enhance pre-existing hobbies or interests, which can directly influence sales.

In-store branding isn’t difficult, and can be enjoyable for customers and employees alike.  It should suggest a multitude of ways that products are beneficial and how they will retain value in everyday life.  Effective in-store branding will create lasting impressions that can positively sway future business.

Author: StickerYou Founder & President, Andrew Witkin

As the founder of a global e-commerce leader in custom-printed,
die-cut products, Andrew Witkin is widely recognized as a leading
authority on e-commerce, customization, startups, marketing and the tech
economy. Witkin has also served as VP North American Licensing for
Nelvana/Corus Entertainment and Director of Marketing for
MegaBrands/Mattel.

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Impact of SEO on Local Business

When I look around my city, I see A LOT of local businesses. It’s great! For many entrepreneurs, there is no greater feeling than running a successful business in your community. But what about when customers are searching for a service or product that you sell and you’re not at the top of those online search results? What do you do? How do you broaden your reach? That’s where local SEO comes in.

Local SEO is taking your current SEO strategy and adding localization
to it. Using localization helps businesses target customers who are actively
looking for you, in real time. And at that exact moment a customer is looking
for you, you want your services and products available at the top of those
search results!

Think about when you conduct a Google search. Have you ever noticed Google’s “snack pack” above the search results? Having a strong local SEO strategy can get you inside that snack pack or at the top of those proceeding organic search results. As a local business, this is exactly where you want to be! Having a position in the snack pack or at the top of the organic search results can definitely yield an increase in your bottom line.

So
how does it work? There are many ways to improve your local SEO. Here are 3
ways to start:

Localized content – Make sure the content you put out is localized. Does it connect with your customers, as well as businesses around you?Local on-page optimization – Think about the content on your website. Does it include your location across the site?Google My Business optimization – Google My Business is a tool to keep your NAP (name, address, phone number) and other business information up to date. Your business profile appears in Google Search and Google Maps.

There are many more reasons why local SEO is so important. BCC Interactive, a Philadelphia SEO agency, has put together an engaging infographic, showing you 15 reasons why local SEO is more important than ever.

Author
bio:

Cory Young is a creative and innovative internet marketer with
10 + years’ experience in digital marketing, with a specialization in Search
Engine Optimization and data analytics. Cory is the founder of BCC Interactive,
an SEO agency based in Philadelphia, PA. He and his team are experts at
developing holistic digital marketing strategies that help businesses achieve
their growth targets.

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How To Get Your New Product To Market

If you’ve had a new idea, product or
invention and feel great about it but not sure where to go next then this guide
will give you an overview of where to go next with the process.

Be Aware Of Your Target Market

This is a key stage, it might be a great
idea, but you need to know exactly who will use it. Firstly you need to have a
profile of your average customer, this is the type of person who will be your
target, if others use it as well then great but it’s essential that you know who
you are marketing to as this allows you to see if your target audience is
willing to pay for this product. If you are unsure there are plenty of
specialist market research companies that can arrange the correct strategy for
you.

Make Sure You Have A Website And Social
Media Presence

For people to find your product or idea it
is key to have an online presence, even if they heard of it some other way then
it’s a sure thing they will Google it as everyone does these days. So make sure
you are up to speed on how to make a
website and also to set up Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to
showcase your product.

Make Sure It’s Legal And Been Properly
Tested

For any product you’re bringing to market it is key that it meets all legal requirements for health and safety as you could be in a lot of bother if you are not thorough at this stage, the government guidelines can be lengthy but it’s important you ensure you are on top of them as you’ll quickly be shut down if you have not followed correct health and safety procedure.

Know Your Competition

Is your idea unique? Unless the answer is a complete yes then you are going to have competition even if it’s not an exact direct product in competition there is surely going to be alternatives to your solution or product so it’s important to see if there is space in the market for your product. Firstly it’s good to try and see if they are successful, simply because they exist doesn’t mean they are making a profit, check out their website and any reviews and see how it looks, if they are a company you can look up their published accounts. You can check a competitors SEO to see how much reach their website has, this will give you an idea of how much exposure it has. Finally you can always become a customer buy their product or use their service and make notes on what they do well and what they do poorly to give you hints and tips on how you will do it differently.

Patents and Trademarks

If your product is unique enough you might want to consider copyright, trademarks or patents to protect your intellectual property, copyright can be applied to artistic creations such as writing or music, a trademark protects a name, phrase, design etc and patents apply to inventions and industrial processes. If going down this route take expert legal advice as it can be trick and easily done incorrectly which would leave you unprotected.

It’s a lot of work to get that product to
market but this guide will have given you a few pointers of some of the key
aspects to get it out there. Best of luck and hopefully your new product will
be a great hit!

The post How To Get Your New Product To Market appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Instagram Tips for Your Home-based Business

Small businesses are always looking to improve what they do. From carefully considering what products to sell from home in 2019 to making important changes to their digital marketing strategies, there is much to be done. If your home-based business has been using Instagram as part of its social media marketing campaign, there are some Instagram platform updates that you should know about.  These updates and tools may be used to help you optimize what you’re already doing. If you’re trying to see how they can be used effectively by you and your team, we have some information you may need.

Alternative Text Descriptions: Grow a diverse following

Growing your following
means finding and using accessibility strategies and tools. These will allow
you to connect with every potential consumer out there, including individuals
with disabilities who may have previously been unable to access important
information. Technological advances such as alternative text allow the visually
impaired or blind to have a narrated description of what’s happening in the
image or video. This means that consumers who use screen readers will now be
able to have the text read aloud to them, providing them with important
information that was previously unavailable.

As a visual platform, Instagram’s alternative text description feature will give businesses two options. You can rely on automatic alternative text that uses object recognition technology to create its own audio description of the photo, or you can manually write your own text-based description. This second option gives your business a chance to highlight features of the product or service that matter most to you or that you feel will impact the consumer the most.

Voice
messaging: Personalize your messages

Voice messaging is a second feature Instagram has recently rolled out. Businesses may find it can not only benefit some consumers with disabilities, but it can also create a personalized connection with brand reps. Voice messaging is a direct messaging feature that can create a sense of urgency for sales, discounts, or events with your most loyal consumers. Voice messages will have permanency, unlike other features on Instagram, and the one-minute long message can be sent both one-on-one chats and group chats.

Close
Friends List for Stories: Promote your Story

You can now create “close friends lists” on Stories on both personal and business profiles. This feature allows only the people you choose to see your stories to be able to view it. You can optimize membership and share specific content with only your top-tier platinum members, or you can reward your brand reps with exclusive offers.  

The Promote Stories from
Business page feature is yet another feature that will be coming soon. This
feature is currently being tested and will allow business profiles to boost
their organic stories for increased exposure. Organic posts reach a wider
audience than sponsored ads, allowing businesses to have some control over who
is seeing the post. This way, your business can auto-target consumers that are
similar in demographics to their current follower audience.

Retargeting
audiences: Advertise more easily and effectively

Advertise to people based on age, interest, and location because  Instagram enjoys one of the most advanced social media advertising platforms. Your business can retarget individuals who have visited and browsed your site but did not make any purchases. Visitors who build and abandon their shopping carts can become part of a retargeted audience. You can learn about their habits, including engagement, video views, and even their email addresses to help with those sales conversions. Instagram believes you will find this consumer engagement targeting tool especially useful for your small business.  

Video
features: Generate more user engagement

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? Instagram 60-second videos allow you to add a filter, a caption, and tag your location before you share the post. Video posts are known to generate more user engagement than still pictures. And if you’ve used that successfully, your home-based business may also want to try the Live Video features. Your followers can get a notification telling them you’re going live. The feature also allows your followers to comment on or like the video stream in real time. This feature can allow your business to build brand awareness and improve brand transparency.

What are some ways in which your brand intends to use Instagram in 2019? How might these features, tricks, and tips influence your current marketing campaign, improve your reach, grow your following, and move you closer toward becoming a significant influencer in your industry? Feel free to share your ideas here.

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How to Prepare for your Next Business Negotiation?

Business negotiation is a difficult skill to master. A lot of focus is put on when you are in the room, but a successful negotiation starts long before that. To ensure you make the most out of your next negotiation here are some simple yet important steps you can take.

Managing Expectations

The
first thing to do is to ask yourself, what is the most I can expect to gain? Consider
the market conditions and who you are dealing with and based on that, make an
informed and reasonable estimate about the terms of a good deal. This is the
optimal scenario and the most you could reasonably stand to make. But odds are
you may not, in which you need to consider the next question:

What
is the minimum acceptable amount? Below a certain threshold amount, a deal is
not economical and not worth making. If someone makes an offer below this
amount you should obviously not accept it. The whole point of a negotiation is to avoid a bad deal so
you must be crystal clear on your reservation price. If you stick to these
steps you can ensure that you will end up with a deal that you are satisfied with.

As mentioned in The Negotiation Book by Steve Gates, founder of The Gap Partnership, there are six primary variables than must be considered.

Price (How much will I be paid?)  Volume (How many – Which Products?) Delivery (When, Where and How Soon)The
Contract (The
length and conditions of the contract) Payment
terms (When
will I be paid – What currency – Down Payments?) Specification (The product – What is included in the deal)

For a
negotiation to be successful you should consider all of these factors to decide
the true value of a deal and not just consider the headline price.

Cultural Values Matter

Due to the international nature of trade, you
must pay attention to cultural values and act to ensure you respect them. For
instance, as mentioned in The Negotiation Book, when an oil company secured a permit
to drill in Hobbs, New Mexico, they had to enter intense discussions with
Native American Indians who owned the land. After 6-months negotiations ground
to a halt due to a lack of cultural understanding between the parties. Quest, a
large oil refinery company with links to the deal sent in their expert negotiators
with experience of dealing with Native Americans in and the deal was completed
in only 2 weeks. This success can be attributed to the respect and broader view
taken by the skilled negotiators.

Do
your research

Knowing
the basic facts such as with whom, what and why you are negotiating is key. If
you attended a negotiation without having thoroughly researched the surrounding conditions and terms of
the deal as well as the people you are dealing with you will look underprepared
and put yourself at a disadvantage. It also means that you will not have the
ability to spot flaws in the other company’s arguments and you won’t have the opportunity
to counter-argue their points, ultimately resulting in a worse deal.

Training

To become a complete skills negotiator, you can always turn to professional help. Business such as The Gap Partnership provide professional negotiation consulting in both the UK and USA to make sure you are as well prepared for tough negotiations as you can be. A negotiation course will provide you with the background theory of negotiations, give you tactics and tips on how to best implement these and allow you to practice these skills in simulations so that you can be fully prepared when it comes to the real thing. ­­

Have
a plan B

Finally, while it is good to have a clear picture of what you expect to happen during each negotiation, things don’t always turn out as planned. It’ll be a test of your ability to deal with new information that alters the course of the negotiation as well as your ability to adapt your position accordingly.

This ability to be flexible in how you deal with these
situations as well as how you present your side of the argument is what may
decide the outcome of the negotiations.

The post How to Prepare for your Next Business Negotiation? appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

6 Features Retailers Need in their POS Software

The search for a retail point of sale (POS) system can be quite daunting. Not only are there dozens of systems to choose from, but each system also offers its own set of features that your business may or may not benefit from. Choosing POS software for your company isn’t a decision to make lightly.

As a retailer, there are some must-have
features that you want out of the POS system you select so that your retail
business can grow and succeed now and long into the future.

Continue reading to learn about 6 features
that retailers will want to have in their POS software so that they can reap
the most benefits.

1. Customer Management

Retailers that collect data from their
customers are most likely to succeed. As a retailer, there’s a host of
information that you’ll want to know about each customer, most importantly
purchase history. By tracking a customer’s purchase history, you can identify
what each shopper purchases the most often.

With a customer management feature, you’re
able to create deeper and more emotional relationships with your most valuable
customers. In turn, you can drive loyalty and pinpoint brand ambassadors that
can help to grow your company even more.

You can also use customer management data
to create a customer loyalty program. This way you can develop programs that
work best for your customers as the program will be tailored to meet specific
customer needs.

2. Inventory Management

Have you ever run out of a top-selling product at your store? Do you spend hours each week conducting manual inventory checks? When you use dynamic POS software, you can keep track of your entire catalog of products.

Proper management of on-site inventory is a
critical part of being a successful retailer. Using a POS system, you’ll have a
real-time window into your store’s inventory, allowing you to order products
that are low before they’re completely gone.

With inventory management you’re able to
completely eliminate efficiencies to include:

Having to “look for items
in the back” when they’re no longer available on shelvesManual inventory countingPaper-based checklistsHuman error and miscalculations

As a retailer, you’ll greatly benefit from
automated inventory management. You’ll have more time to dedicate to other
business operations.

3. Sales Reporting

All retailers need to have a clear
understanding of their store’s sales data. With a POS system, you can have a
real-time snapshot of how well each store is performing by simply looking at
the reports and metrics.

By having the right data at hand, you can
eliminate the need for guesswork and making business decisions in the dark.
Informed business decisions are more likely to be smart ones. This allows you
to set up your business to increase profitability and sales.

With full visibility into your business,
you can see which products are selling the most and how much revenue you’re
making. In turn, you can better manage your store’s inventory. This means
you’ll never run out of the items that are selling the fastest, ensuring your
customers always leave your store satisfied.

4. Support for Various Payment
Methods

Consumers still use cash to pay for retail
purchases, but plastic and mobile payments continue to grow in popularity. A
competitive retailer is one that accepts EMV chip cards and mobile payments.

Aside from a POS system that accepts a
variety of payment methods, you’ll also want to look for one that allows
customers to split their payments. Sometimes a shopper may have a large
purchase and will want to split the cost between two different payment methods.
This feature is convenient for customers and will improve overall satisfaction.

5. Mobile Registers

We live in a digital era where customers
are looking for instant satisfaction. One feature you don’t want to be without
as a retailer is mobile registers. With mobile registers, customers can check
out no matter where they’re located in the store.

Mobile registers allow the POS software to
run on iPads, tablets, and other mobile devices. This feature offers plenty of
convenience and flexibility.

Mobile registers can also be used for
pop-up shop, at tradeshows, or on the road.

6. Quick Keys & Product
Lookup

If you’re a large retailer that sells
hundreds, possibly thousands of different items, it can be impossible for
cashiers to efficiently use the existing point of sale process. But, with the
right POS system, sales associates can tap a single button to ring up an item.
Most retailers use quick keys to notate commonly sold items.

It’s also just as important to have a POS
system that makes the rest of your product inventory just as accessible. Find
POS software that offers quick product search and lookup. The ideal POS system
will have the search function available on the home screen, making the lookup
process quick and easy.

Conclusion

Retailers need to research and be well aware of the features that come with the POS system they choose. To remain competitive and to keep your customers happy, ensure that the system you purchase has these features available.

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Errors to Avoid When Building a New Home

You’re going to build your dream home
and you’ve thought it all through – or so you’ve thought. You know exactly what
you need and want to have in your home, but have you thought about what you
don’t want and what you don’t need? Have you considered the whole thing
through?

You have given much thought and
consideration to what will work for you, but have you taken the time to think
about what won’t work? According to Windows in Calgary, these are mistakes to
avoid when building your Home.

Pay Attention to Your HVAC System

Poor planning here can lead to issues
with moisture and terrible mold growth. This can lend itself to significant
health concerns. Furthermore, careful attention should be given to the size of
your units. Models that are too small will be underperforming and won’t cool
and heat your home efficiently. You’ll come to regret this when your house is
too cold in the wintertime and not cool enough during the hot summer months.
Conversely those that are too large will utilize too much energy.

Poor Space Planning

Windows Lifetime Warranty believes that space planning and design is crucial. Ample storage is necessary, but pay attention to where you place your storage space. Does the master bedroom need an oversized walk-in closet when space could potentially be added to your bedroom or master bath? Pay attention to where you place your cabinets.

Poor Overall Planning

When designing your own home, you should take your lifestyle and habits into consideration. How long do you plan on staying in this home? Will you need to accommodate safety features for new or young children? Or might you need to think of your needs later in life as you reach retirement age and beyond? Think ahead, long term, to see where you will be and what you will need from your home.

Poorly Lit Homes

Light fixtures and outlets should be plentiful—as should Windows in Calgary. Windows should be present in every room and as large as possible. Natural light, when possible, should be the primary source of light. Think about adding skylights as well.

Under-Utilized Rooms

The addition of a playroom, Windows
Lifetime Warranty or multipurpose room sounds enticing but only plan to build a
room that will get used. What good is a wasted home gym where the treadmill is
used to hold clothes from last season? Often an unused room becomes a dumping
ground to place those things that never get used. If you plan on adding a spare
room, make sure that it is a room that can transition well from one type to the
next.

Placement Of The Laundry Room

This is a very personal decision. I’ve
had laundry rooms in the basement and off the mudroom far away from all the
bedrooms. Neither was ideal. Placement of the laundry room, or washer and
dryer, should be relatively close to the bedrooms. I love an upstairs laundry
room, but many do not.

The post Errors to Avoid When Building a New Home appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.

Four ways to Advance yourself at Work

In this day and age where competition to reach the top
is at a premium, you have to work very hard to stand out from the crowd and to
earn promotions. For you, advancement might be about reaching the top of the corporate
ladder, it could be about earning more, or it could be about being able to make
more of a difference and exert more influence in your role. Whatever your
motivations may be, standing out from the crowd and ensuring that you can get
to where you want to go require some hard work and focus. In order to help put
you onto the right path, here are a few things that will stand you in good
stead.

Always look to learn

You should always be taking on board new skills and knowledge. Be it learning from colleagues, attending conferences or reading important journals, you should always be looking to learn more. One of the best ways to do this is to study. Ask your bosses if they will sponsor your studies. This is useful in many ways. It will make you better at your job. It means you don’t need to pay for your studies, and you may well be given time off to learn. It means that you get a qualification which makes you more employable when you want to leave. Start with an online search for a phrase like ‘diploma project management’ and see what comes back. You don’t necessarily have to take the year off to study, you can do it online and upskill yourself very quickly.

Don’t miss deadlines

If you are assigned a task, make sure that you
complete it. It might sound like a very simple thing to say, but if the goal is
to try and stand out from the rest of the crowd, then you need to take the
simplest opportunities to do so. If you can be relied on to do what you are
asked to do, and to do it well then you will very quickly develop a solid
reputation internally.

Play for the team

The best way to achieve is as part of a winning team. In a work environment it is almost never as an individual that you will stand out. Fostering unity, showing the ability to work together and sharing the credit is the way to go. If you alienate your fellow workers then, no matter how good you are, you will quickly find that you are being excluded from important discussions, that you are fighting against internal resistance to get things done and that everything that you want to do is harder to accomplish.

Get out and about

Advancing your career is not just about your
internal connections, it is also about getting out and networking. Make sure
that you develop a good network of contacts and that you position yourself as a
leader,
as a face of your company and a person who is doing good work. That way you are
not just making yourself central to the success of your company, but you are
also creating external options for advancement in the event that you want to
leave.

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Tech Every Pest Control Professional Needs to Know About in 2019

Small business owners take on a lot of
responsibility in their business operation, as well as their own lives. It
often seems like there’s no such thing as work-life balance when you’re working
around the clock to manage your employees, schedule new jobs, and grow your
business. And to top it all off, you’re likely working on a limited budget—so hiring more
helping hands may be out of the question. But the good news is, with new
applications and tech to make life easier for pest control professionals and
service-industry pros alike, a new day of proper work-life balance is on the
horizon! We’re going over some of the top advancements in service technology to
make small business ownership make more sense for you.

Remote pest monitoring is the way of the future

Many pest control businesses are already using remote monitoring to make their services more efficient and ultimately, more effective. By sending photos of the lured pests, these smart traps alert the business immediately, and archive the images in a cloud-based storage system. TRAPVIEW uses a mobile application to collect trap data and help professionals monitor traps installed at various locations. Incorporating a smart app into your service could help eliminate the need to make continuous service calls throughout the job and instead, allow technicians to focus more on strategic visits. Plus, by tracking data related to your traps, you can see what’s working and what’s not—which could be a huge time-saver for your pest control company.

Run your small
business operations efficiently

Like we said before, there is a lot to handle when you’re a small business owner in the service industry. You’re constantly doing something— scheduling jobs, processing invoices, and cycling through day-to-day procedures. With the structural pest control software from Housecall Pro, you can manage your business all in one place. If you’re looking for a way to improve your efficiency, this is a great addition to your pest control business. Process payments, schedule jobs, and communicate with your staff and customers from anywhere—even if you’re out of the office.

Equip your technicians with the right tech

From documenting job information and signing contracts to filing customer service surveys, your technicians need to have the right technology to do their jobs in this modern age. Invest in a tablet for technicians so that they can access important information right from the job location.

Look toward the
future of small business HR

Maxed out on your labor budget but need someone to manage your human resources processes? Try using an HR management software solution like Zenefits to help you process payroll, keep track of time off, and file important hiring documents. This HR solution can eliminate the need for a professional HR department if your business is small enough—like most pest control companies are. If you’ve been running your own HR processes in the past, you’ll be happy to find a little more flexibility in your schedule when you use a tool to help.

Use your customer
feedback as important data

Customer feedback is probably one of the most important pieces of information you can gather to grow your business. Their experience can give you useful insight into customer service, strategy, and ultimately, their satisfaction with your business. Whether or not you feel like you need to adjust your customer service process, it’s a good idea to continuously issue customer service feedback surveys to constantly improve your service strategy and grow your business.

Relevancy is built
online

Not many people are using the Yellow Pages to find businesses these days—not the paper version anyway. In order to stay relevant and top-of-mind for your existing and potential customers, you’ve got to build a presence online. This marketing strategy often starts with a website build. If you’re on a budget, consider using Wix to build your small business’ website. It’s super user-friendly, free, and customizable.

And the online marketing doesn’t stop there! From creating Yelp profiles and Google My Business accounts to advertising on social media, there’s a lot to do online. Luckily, marketing your pest control service online is a lot simpler than producing the gigantic billboards and distributing countless print ads from the past!

In conclusion

Although running a small business operation is no
small feat, it is definitely a rewarding experience to help customers and
provide local jobs to your community. But with new developments in the service
industry and small business technology, there are plenty of resources to help
make running your own business a little bit more manageable!

The post Tech Every Pest Control Professional Needs to Know About in 2019 appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.