Posts Tagged ‘small business’
May 15th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Karen Axelton
Are small businesses taking a cue from the nation’s consumers—in other words, borrowing less and paying down debts? That seems to be the case based on two separate reports out from PayNet.
The latest Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index declined in March, which could indicate slowing in the nation’s economic growth. The Index tracks the overall volume of lending to small businesses nationwide. In March, it declined to 98.5, down from 101.8 in February. Although small business borrowing did increase 10 percent compared to the same time last year, that is the smallest 12-month growth rate since January 2011.
On the plus side, a separate indicator from PayNet, its most recent 30+/90+ Day Delinquency report, found that small businesses are having no trouble paying off their debts. The report, which uses real-time datat to measure the percentage of loans to small and medium-sized businesses that are past due by 30 or more days and 90 or more days, found that accounts in moderate delinquency (late 30 days or more) dropped to 1.39 percent in March, down from 1.47 percent in February. At their height in May 2009 these accounts hit 4.42 percent.
Accounts in severe delinquency (late 90 days or more) hit a record low of 0.34 percent in March. That’s down from 0.36 percent in February. And accounts in default (late 180 days or more) dropped to 0.48 percent in March, down from 0.50 percent in February.
There’s good news and bad news in these two reports. Clearly, the fact that business delinquency is down is a positive sign for the health of the nation’s small businesses. At the same time, the lack of interest in borrowing could indicate small businesses are either feeling uncertain about the nation’s economy, have given up on getting the financing they need, or are feeling too cautious to expand their companies.
What financial steps are you taking in your business these days? Are you focused on debt repayment, or on expansion financing?
Image by Flickr user Vectorportal (Creative Commons)
Tags: accounting, Capital Access, Raising Capital, small business, taxes
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Capital Access, Compliance, Raising Capital, Small Business, small business, Uncategorized | No Comments »
May 14th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
BusinessIQExpress
In this recovering economy it’s not enough to get new customers; you need to get new customers who can pay you. Experian, the leading credit scoring company, has developed a new tool to help small businesses to manage their risk by evaluating, monitoring and collecting from their customers. With BusinessIQExpress, small businesses can search Experian’s extensive database to find a potential business and see what kind of risk the company would be before entering into any kind of relationship. Once the customer is part of the small business’s portfolio, BusinessIQExpress will monitor the customer and alert the small business of any changes (good or bad) to the customer’s credit risk. There are also tools for collection, if the situation comes to that.
Tags: accounting, Resources, small business, taxes
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Business Law, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business | No Comments »
May 14th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
U.S. consumers are more likely than consumers in other nations to shop online—and increasingly, they’re using mobile devices to shop online, according to the recently released Global Online Shopper Report, conducted by WorldPay and reported in Internet Retailer.
The study found that U.S. consumers spend an average of 23 percent of their disposable income on online purchases—above the overall average of 22 percent for consumers in all 15 countries that were surveyed. They also spend an average of 5.4 hours a month shopping online—above the global average of 5 hours.
The survey covered the three months prior to March 2012, and found that among customers who had made a purchase online during that time, 53 percent had used a smartphone or tablet to buy clothes, 46 percent had used a smartphone or tablet to buy books and 42 percent had used a smartphone or tablet to buy DVDs or online games.
Of course, purchasers of books or games could be simply downloading ebooks or games to use on their mobile devices. But to me, the fact that more than half of shoppers are buying clothes with their mobile devices shows a sea change is underway.
The report took a closer look at m-commerce spending among people who are “heavy spenders” online (spending 30 percent or more of their disposable income online) and who owned mobile devices. Fifty-one percent of U.S. “heavy spenders” had made purchases on a smartphone and 55 percent had done so on a tablet. Globally, the figures were even higher, with 55 percent of heavy spenders having bought something via smartphone and 67 percent having done so on a tablet.
Other findings in the report:
- 95 percent of e-commerce purchases worldwide are made at home;
- 59 percent of online U.S. consumers watch TV while shopping online;
- The most common time of day for online shopping among U.S. consumers is 10:30 a.m.
With online shopping rapidly moving mobile, it’s no surprise that the new Small Business Mobile Survey from Web.com found that 69 percent of small businesses say mobile marketing will be crucial to their growth in the next five years, and 64 percent plan to increase their investment in mobile marketing this year.
You can find a full copy of the Web.com Small Business Mobile report and Infographic at http://bit.ly/JwvrMU. Help your friends in the small business community go mobile during National Small Business Month by sharing this report on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn using the hashtag #smbmobile.
Image by Flickr user Lululemon Athletica (Creative Commons)
Tags: Marketing, mobile marketing, small business, Technology, Web Design
Posted in Marketing, sales process, Small Business, small business, Technology, Uncategorized, Web Design | No Comments »
May 11th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
Count Me In’s Urban Rebound-Los Angeles Conference and Competition
Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, a leading provider of resources, business education, and community support for women entrepreneurs, will hold the Urban Rebound-Los Angeles Conference and Competition on May 10 and 11, 2012, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Downtown Los Angeles. The goal is to help women entrepreneurs in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and Riverside Counties grow their businesses, and specifically to help 100 women-owned businesses in the area to reach $250,000 in annual revenues within 12 to 18 months. Participants in the competition will pitch their businesses to a panel of experts for a chance to be part of the Count Me In Business Accelerator Program.
Tags: Resources, small business, women entrepreneurs
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Resources, Small Business, small business | No Comments »
May 11th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
It’s long been the stereotype that women are more “social” than men—in the offline world, they’re typically the ones who plan social events, keep family connections going and love to chat. Apparently, when it comes to the online world, women are even more social, according to a new study by Nielsen reported in The Atlantic.
Here are some of the findings:
Compared to the average online adult, women are 8 percent more likely to have a personal blog. Men are 9 percent less likely to have one.
Compared to the average online adult, women are 18 percent more likely to like or follow brands on social media sites. Men are 21 percent less likely to do so.
Compared to the average online adult, women are 6 percent more likely to have at least one social media account. Men are 7 percent less likely.
Not only are women more likely to get social online, they’re more likely to buy online. Compared to the average online adult, women were 12 percent more likely to have purchased a product they saw on TV. Men were 14 percent less likely.
What do these statistics mean for your business? If you’re marketing to women—and I sure hope you are—you need to get active where they are.
- Reach out to women through social media accounts for your business and your brands. Create posts and content that resonates with women.
- Find out which influential women in your industry or market have blogs of their own. Comment on them and encourage the bloggers to check out your own site or blog.
- Don’t forget about women in business. Social media can be a powerful tool for selling BtoB to female decision-makers or women small business owners.
- Connect your website, your print or offline marketing and your social media accounts so it’s easy for customers who see your product or service somewhere else to find you and buy from you.
- Get active on rating and review sites, and encourage reviews from your customers. Respond to reviews in a positive manner and be part of the conversation.
By targeting women where they live today—online—you can raise your business’s profile and your sales.
Image by Flickr user Jerry Bunkers (Creative Commons)
Tags: Marketing, sales process, small business, social media
Posted in Branding, Business Development, Marketing, Sales Process, sales process, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Uncategorized, Web Design | No Comments »
May 10th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
Adobe FormsCentral
Adobe has updated its Web-based forms and survey builder, FormsCentral. The update makes it even easier for users to create, distribute and collect and analyze data using fillable Portable Document Format (PDF) forms, whether online or offline. The PDF recipient can choose from a Web form or a fillable PDF document. Also, form authors now have more options for collecting information online or offline. Users can post results directly to FormsCentral or distribute a fillable PDF form to respondents and have the data returned via a basic PDF. If you want to make the form available for collaboration, respondents can post to a Response table where you can see the results in real time.
Tags: market research, Marketing, Resources, small business, surveys, Web Design
Posted in Marketing, Resources, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Web Design | No Comments »
May 10th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
By Maria Valdez Haubrich
You may have heard of cross-training in regard to fitness, but do you know what cross-training can do for your business? When it comes to employees, cross-training simply means training your team to do more than one job. Cross-training has many benefits, both for you and your employees. Here are a few:
- Employees gain new skills and feel a sense of accomplishment
- Employees get better at their jobs when they have to train others to do them
- You have better coverage when employees are absent or ill
- Your workforce becomes nimbler and more flexible
- Your company can provide better service to clients and customers
All of these sound like pretty good things, right? So how do you effectively cross-train employees and where do you start?
Begin by choosing the proper time to implement cross-training. This isn’t something you’ll want to throw at your team during their busy season or most frantic time of the day. Choose an opportunity when there is some downtime so the team can focus on cross-training without worrying about their regular duties. Depending on your business, this might mean cross-training for an hour a day, or doing an intensive cross-training week during the slow season.
Decide who learns what. Employees in the same departments are naturals to learn each others’ jobs. Or you may want employees in different departments, but with related duties, to learn each others’ jobs.
Explain the concept and its value. Some employees may be less than enthusiastic about cross-training because they’ll feel like you’re giving them more work without commensurate pay. Others will feel like it’s an excuse to slack off because someone else will be able to handle their jobs. Explain that this is an opportunity to learn new skills and become more valuable to the company. You want employees to be excited about the concept, so explain how it will benefit them.
Put systems in place and oversee the process. Not all employees are naturals at training, so give everyone a basic system to follow, such as showing them how to create a written “cheat sheet” for key tasks. You’ll also want to observe the training and step in where necessary. Make sure employees get plenty of time to practice their new roles, and give lots of feedback.
Make it ongoing. Hold regular refreshers so employees keep their skills up to date. Also do new cross-trainings when procedures change. Emphasize that learning is continuous and you’ll get more from your staff.
Image by Flickr user aflcio (Creative Commons)
Tags: small business, Workforce
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »
May 9th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
BodeTree
Hate doing your company’s finances? Promising to awaken your “inner CFO,” BodeTree provides business owners with a real-time dashboard of all their financials with access to detailed reporting and analysis. Designed to create a Zen-like atmosphere for financial recording, the dashboard is simple to read, which takes the stress out of the work. BodeTree works with QuickBooks Pro, Premier, Accountant and Enterprise desktop 2009 and later. For $250 a year or $24.99 per month, the information you gather can help you size up your business against the competition, value your business and more.
Tags: accounting and taxes, bookkeeping, Resources, small business
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business | No Comments »
May 9th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Do you despair over the high percentage of ecommerce shopping carts that go abandoned on your site? You might be worrying unnecessarily. Website conversion company SeeWhy reported that the shopping cart abandonment rate rose in 2011 (as it has for the past three years) and predicts this trend will continue in 2012. Why? SeeWhy says consumers are simply becoming more sophisticated about shopping online, meaning they’re more likely to fill carts, seek deals and leave their carts for prolonged periods either as “wish lists” or because they can’t find acceptable discounts for the items.
But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do about abandoned carts. In fact, smart marketers look at them as an opportunity to convert to a sale. Here are some of the strategies you can try:
Remind them. You can send reminders via email to alert customers about an empty cart. Provide links consumers can use to follow up with you if the cart was abandoned due to a technical difficulty with your site, or because they had questions about a product. Season the pot with a discounted offer, if you like. Time is of the essence; aim to send the reminder within 4 hours of cart abandonment.
Advertise. If you use online advertising such as Google AdWords, you can “remarket” by using a conversion code so that remarketing ads (featuring the products customers were looking at) show up on the AdWords network. This keeps the products top-of-mind so consumers don’t forget their carts.
Don’t empty carts too soon. It’s a good idea to keep abandoned carts active for at least 60 days. With customers spending more time shopping online these days, you may need to be patient to grab the sale.
Consider the big picture. If you have a high percentage of abandoned carts that never get checked out, assess whether your checkout process is too complex, confusing or time-consuming. Make sure customers can easily get answers to questions about tax, shipping costs and delivery times without going through several steps of the checkout process. Make FAQs, customer service phone numbers and instant chat options easy to find.
Abandoned shopping carts don’t necessarily represent a lost sale. Treated correctly, they can represent opportunity for your business—as long as you know how to handle them.
Image by Flickr user Adele Prince (Creative Commons)
Tags: ecommerce, Marketing, sales process, small business, Technology
Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Sales Process, sales process, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | 1 Comment »
May 8th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
Bill Losey Retirement Solutions
It’s never a bad idea to hear financial advice from more than one source so you can know all your options. And if you’re looking for advice to help you plan for your financial future after retirement, you might want to check out the Bill Losey Retirement Solutions website. Bill Losey is the author of several financial books, and his website contains articles and a blog full of useful information, such as 15 Prudent Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund. Sign up for his free weekly newsletter to get advice delivered directly to your inbox.
Tags: accounting and taxes, financial advice, Resources, retirement, small business
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business | No Comments »
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