7 Simple Steps to Identify an Ideal Partner for Your Business Posted on January 19, 2018June 13, 2018 by Jonathan Herrick Every business is looking for new ways to grow sales and reach more customers. Although often overlooked, partnering with like-minded businesses can be a great channel for your business and offers a ton of advantages. One of the major benefits is that you can increase your customer base and marketing outlets with relatively low cost and zero risks. However, finding ways to identify businesses you can partner with can be a struggle. How do you identify potential business partners? There is more than one way to assess whether a business partner is suitable to work with or not. Here are some of the most common and easiest ways to determine whether a potential partnership is right for you. Find some common ground To create a beneficial partnership with someone, you need some form of common ground. Start by looking at their values. Do they align with yours? If you can’t find any overlap then the partnership will not be balanced. Next, uncover who their ideal customers are. Do they serve a similar customer to yours or are they reaching customers that are outside your wheelhouse? For example, if you serve small to mid-sized B2B customers and your potential partner has built their business on enterprise clients, then you may need to look for a partner that is a better fit. Consider their reputation Before you jump in head first into partnerships, remember that when you choose to partner up with a business, you hitch your wagon to theirs. That means you need to do your due diligence to better understand their background and have researched the company thoroughly. You don’t want to be connected with a company that has had some shady dealings in the past as your reputation will be tarred with the same brush. Search Google, check out their profile on LinkedIn and browse their Facebook pages for more of an idea about how they are regarded by online. Look at an alternative service or product If you are going to partner with a business, find one that can contribute a complimentary service, yet still has similar needs as your own. If you are in IT, then source a company which is compatible with that field. If you offer a product, search for someone that could provide a similar service which could tie in with the product. Or if you have a service, then approach a business that has a great product to bring to the table. Analyze current relationships Perhaps you already have a relationship with a potential business partner, but you have yet to take action. Maybe you haven’t thought purposefully about how beneficial a partnership between the two of you could be? Think about who you interact with currently. Existing relationships can save a lot of time and energy. Who do you think would provide particular benefits to your organization in your current day-to-day dealings? Ask for a referral Is there someone that may be able to recommend a particular business or provide you with a referral? Maybe you have a possible shortlist of local enterprises and just need to source a connection to get you in the door. If you sincerely aim to partner with someone, then put it out there. You may find that your network has many great ideas. If all fails, then reach out to your shortlist and see what comes back. Look for established businesses Partnering with a startup may be beneficial to some companies, but it may also be in your best interests to work with those that already have a lot of customers. Identify those businesses with a good social media presence and a large email list of potential clients or customers. Invest your time and get to know them on a personal level before you sign on the dotted line. If you don’t feel you are up to the task of approaching them, then hire an outside business development firm to do it for you. Go local While you may find that partnering with a larger business in another state may be in your favor, there is a lot to be said for maintaining local connections. Keep your eyes open at networking events and meetups, and browse possibilities at local business meetings and seminars. You will be able to create a stronger bond and have a better understanding of each other’s needs through regular face to face meetings. Don’t rush into making a wrong partnership decision because you have some self-imposed deadline in mind. Take your time to interview potential business partners and thoroughly research each possibility. You don’t want to find out months into your agreement that you had overlooked something major and have to backtrack out of your proposal as that will send the wrong message to your new found partner and potential customers. If you are genuine and have a well-planned strategy, then partnerships could be just the channel you have been looking for to grow your business.
7 Creative Ways to Grow Your Email List Posted on January 18, 2018June 13, 2018 by Jessica Lunk Developing a solid list of engaged email contacts is a critical component of any successful email marketing strategy. For most business owners, however, it also happens to be one of the most challenging. Thankfully, with the right tools and approach, growing your email list doesn’t have to be a burden anymore. That said, let’s take a look at seven creative ways to get more subscribers and start generating more valuable leads. Include sign-up buttons everywhere. First and foremost, if you want people to sign up for your email newsletters, you have to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. That includes adding sign-up forms and buttons everywhere you will be in contact with your target audience. And don’t forget about your emails themselves. If you’re sharing really great content, chances are your messages are being shared, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to gather more sign-ups that way as well. Host an event. Hosting events that require people to sign up or purchase tickets ahead of time is a great way to gather contact information and stay in touch. In fact, you can include an email newsletter sign-up box right on the registration form, which makes it fast, easy and convenient for people to opt-in. Even if it’s as simple as a webinar, this is a great tool for staying connected and growing your list. Attend industry events. In addition to hosting your own gatherings, attending events like tradeshows and conferences that are aligned with your industry is another great way to make quality connections, both with new prospects as well as other partnering businesses. Provide something of value in return. You’re probably already enticing visitors to sign up for your email newsletters with things like discounts and other exclusive email-only offers. Another effective way to gain more traction is to provide something immediate in return for sharing contact information, such as a free e-book, whitepaper or another downloadable resource. This type of instant gratification can be a very powerful motivator. Harness the power of mobile. Given the fact that 80 percent of Internet users today do their web surfing on a mobile device versus a traditional computer or laptop, it’s safe to say that mobile is where it’s at from a marketing perspective. To that end, you should be making it simple and convenient for new customers to join your email list using a mobile device, such as providing the option of joining via text. Leverage social media. Social media is a great tool for connecting and growing your audience, but it’s also a powerful platform for encouraging fans and followers to sign up for your email list. For instance, Facebook offers the option of including sign-up forms, making it quick and easy for them to opt-in without having to leave the app. Offer free Wi-Fi. If you own a brick and mortar business, extending free Wi-Fi in exchange for contact info is a great way to grow your list. In order to connect, guests must enter their email address and “opt-in” to your emails. It’s easy and super effective. These are just a few of the many creative and sometimes out-of-the-box ways to grow your email list. Give one or two of them a try, measure the results and take it from there. You can also come up with some ideas of your own by thinking about how you interact with your customers and identifying areas of opportunity that you may not have tapped into yet. You might be surprised at what you come up with.
6 Signs It’s Time To Quit Your Job Posted on January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 by Erin Posey Leaving your job isn’t a decision that should be taken lightly. There are financial responsibilities, familial obligations, and fear of the unknown that are all very serious considerations when debating this kind of change. Choosing to leave your job is a highly personal decision, but if you’re still mulling over the decision reflect on whether you’ve noticed any of these signs in your work life. You feel unchallenged, and your superiors don’t offer interesting opportunities. Smart people need challenges and rewarding work. Without that, talented employees quickly grow bored and miserable with their work. When you’re more interested in stability and a steady paycheck, it’s hard to notice, but after some time it’s rather hard not to feel the repetitiveness of the tasks at hand. If you find yourself heading into work dreading the tedium of the day, and interesting ideas you’ve proposed to your boss go ignored, it might be time to find a place that actually uses your talent. You’re in a toxic work environment where office politics overpowers shared purpose. Productive people don’t have time for petty squabbles, and it can be exceptionally frustrating to have to engage in it. It’s even more of a hindrance in the workplace when it leads to delays and difficulty giving or receiving feedback. In some cases, a shift in a workplace’s atmosphere is temporary and resolved by a manager who recognizes the noxious environment. But if the office climate is a continuous feature of the office and you feel like you can’t get anything useful done, consider quietly searching for work elsewhere. You have a certain business idea or project. In some cases, there’s nothing wrong with the actual work environment. Rather, there’s a nagging project you’ve always wanted to pursue but never had the time or money to. Perhaps now you do and you’d like to develop that business idea that’s been sitting in the back of your mind or write that book you’ve been outlining on the side. Practical responsibilities are important, which is why you likely didn’t drop everything sooner, but once you’re in a place to pursue a long-held passion take the plunge if you can’t stop thinking about it to avoid regret down the line. If you handle the exit strategically, you might even have a safety net in the form of your old job. Your health is being affected. It’s unfortunate how willing we are to compromise our well-being for our jobs. Proper diet, exercise, and sleep all fall by the wayside because we simply don’t have enough time. Run-of-the-mill laziness like failing to prep meals or go to the gym is one thing. Experiencing severe stress is another. Chronic stress leads to serious health conditions, and it’s often caused by systemic issues in a workplace. A heavy workload now and again is acceptable. A monstrous boss or ridiculously long work hours that lead to serious illness are not. You’re overqualified, and there’s no room for advancement. This one’s a bit different from boredom. You may not be bored, but you’re definitely being under-used, and more importantly, under-paid. You know what you’re capable of and you even have recruiters contacting you. In this case, it’s smart to go looking for greener pastures, since you have no tools with which to till your own soil. You can’t see yourself working for this company in a year. If you can’t picture yourself at this company a year from now – either because you’d leave or because you think layoffs are imminent – stop wasting time and start looking for new opportunities now. Keep in mind that leaving your job isn’t the only answer. Maybe none of these signs fit the bill, and you simply need a break. Taking an honest look at your physical and mental health as well as your goals for the future should help you make the right choice.
3 Ways To Max Out Revenues In A Service Business Posted on January 16, 2018June 13, 2018 by Guest Author A guest post by Elaine Pofeldt, author of The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business. Many entrepreneurs wish they could come up with a hot idea for a toy like Squishies to get to $1 million in revenue. What’s harder is finding a way to get to $1 million in a tiny service business—the kind that many small business owners run. Most service businesses, whether they serve other firms or individuals, are built around selling time for dollars. An accountant, for instance, will charge an hourly rate for advice. A salon will charge $60 for a 30-minute facial. Operating that way places a ceiling on their revenue because there are only so many hours to sell. It doesn’t have to be that way. In researching my book The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business (Random House, Jan. 2, 2018), I found that there are several ways that owners of service businesses can scale their revenues without simply multiplying the hours they work—even if they can’t yet afford to hire full-time employees. Here are three ideas to help you grow your business in 2018. Expand your market. Many business owners price their services based on what competitors in their area charge, assume that’s the going rate. If you’re using that approach, consider expanding to a wider geographic area where you can charge more. By marketing your services on a platform like Upwork or Freelancer, where you will get exposure to a broader marketplace, you may be able to charge rate higher than is common in your geographic region. For instance, if you’re based in a state with a low cost of living, such as Mississippi, you may be able to earn more than you do right now by cultivating clients in states where customers are accustomed to paying more, such as California, New York or Massachusetts. Of course, you will need to do some research to find out the going rate for services like yours in the states where you plan to operate. Charge more. If you offer a service that does not lend itself to remote work, take a look at the value you are providing to determine if your prices match the benefits customers are receiving. Let’s say you are a talented hair stylist who is almost always fully booked three or four weeks in advance. Given the existing demand for your services, it’s very likely that some customers might be willing to pay you a little more for a haircut so try adding a small price increase in 2018 or add a new add-on service that customers can buy when they come in for a trim. If you’re worried you may lose clients who are on a tight budget, offer a senior citizen’s discount or a lower price to those who come in during hours when you tend to be less busy. Even a small price increase for most of your customers can greatly improve your revenue over the course of a year. Consider deliverables-based pricing. If you are really good at what you do, you may be able to accomplish in one hour what it takes a less-talented or inexperienced competitor to do. In that case, charging by the hour does not work to your advantage. You are not being paid an amount that reflects the value you are actually providing to the client. In 2018, consider giving your clients the option of paying you by the project, instead of by the hour. For instance, if you do marketing work, charge a flat fee for a press release that reflects the value of the press release to the client, rather than the three hours it took you to write it. Many clients will welcome a flat fee because they know the maximum they will owe you. Your best clients will want to pay you a fair rate because they will want to know you are there when they need you and aren’t overbooked just to keep ahead of your bills. If you’re really talented at what you do and deliver unusually good results, you may be surprised at how much you can command for your services. For instance, I found in researching The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business that consultants and coaches who consistently deliver great results for their clients can charge day rates that make it very possible to get to $1 million in a year. Of course, if you charge premium rates, you need to deliver something that’s better than everyone else and show a real impact to clients’ bottom line. Once you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to a higher revenue business. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Elaine Pofeldt is an independent journalist who specializes in small business, entrepreneurship and careers. Her work has appeared in FORTUNE, Money, CNBC, Inc., Forbes, Crain’s New York Business and many other business publications and she is a contributor to the Economist Intelligence Unit. She is the author of The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business, a look at how entrepreneurs are hitting seven-figure revenue in businesses where they are the only employees, tapping automation and other technology to scale their efforts (Random House, 2018). As a senior editor at FORTUNE Small Business, where she worked for eight years, Elaine was twice nominated for the National Magazine Award for her features and ran the magazine’s annual business plan completion. During her time at FSB, she ran the magazine’s website, fsb.com, for four years, building its traffic from two to five million page views a month.
The Essential Elements of a Brand Style Guide Posted on January 15, 2018 by Allie Wolff The bigger your business grows, the more likely you’ll have people acting and creating on behalf of it. To keep things running smoothly, it helps to have a brand style guide. A brand style guide keeps everyone inside and outside of your organization informed about what your brand means and what it looks like. It includes everything from a descriptive story of your brand’s history to detailed instructions about logo specifications. What do you need to think about before creating your style guide? Before you create a style guide, you need to deeply understand your brand to begin with. Your brand is not your website, your logo, your company photos, or your about page. All of those things are part of your brand, but they are not your brand, period. Your brand is what people think and feel about your company and what sets it apart from similar players in the field. When you outline your brand it should include: Your mission/vision statement: How do you view the purpose of your company? What does it do? What makes it different? What do you see your company accomplishing in the grand scheme of things? Your target audience: Who are you helping and what problem are you solving for these people? Your values: What words or actions are representative of your company? What isn’t? Knowing this is helpful not just for creating, but for hiring as well. What sections should you have in your style guide? Your brand style guide should be functional. This means that anyone in your organization or a third-party vendor (i.e. a graphic designer) should be able to easily navigate it and find the information they need. Generally speaking, a brand style guide includes: Table of Contents The Brand Story Logo Guide Color Guide Typeface Guide Digital Guidelines Print Guidelines Physical Guidelines Let’s take a closer look at what each of these sections includes. Table of Contents This is straightforward, but no less important. Your Table of Contents is what makes this document navigable. The Brand Story Remember when you had to think about what your brand actually is in terms of a mission statement, target audience, and values? This is where you explain what those things are, narrative-style, so the reader gets a sense of what your company’s all about. Logo Guide Here’s where things get technical. Depending on the size of your organization, employees are going to use the logo frequently whether it’s to slap it on a promotional mug or include it in a PowerPoint presentation. Avoid awkward, stretched logos by including specifications on the minimum (or maximum) size of a logo. Provide different variations of the logo (i.e. black and white versions, short form versions with just the initials of the company instead of the full name). This gives your team some flexibility without confusing the brand. Work closely with your designer to figure out just how comprehensive this section needs to be. Color Guide What are your company colors? Is there a specific color that you use for backgrounds? Is there a specific color that you use for text? Pick colors for a variety of uses and then stick to using those on all of your websites, brochures and more so that everything stays consistent. Make sure you include the color codes as well so that matching is easier later. Typeface Guide Pick a few different fonts for your brand and choose what purpose each font is for. One may be for headers while others are for the body text of sales letters. This is ultimately up to you and your designer. Digital Guidelines Don’t forget things like website layouts, email signatures, social media channels, and more. Do you want tweets to be formatted a certain way? Would you like all employees to include the company logo in their email signature when sending out emails? Indicate that in this section. Print Guidelines This is similar to the digital guidelines, but for things like physical sales letters, branded invoices, and stationery. In some cases, this section may overlap with your digital guidelines like for invoices that are sent via PDF. Physical Guidelines The brand experience isn’t limited to emails and websites. Nowadays, consumers expect a good brand experience when they receive their package from an e-commerce company. It’s not enough to wrap a product in brown paper and ship it off. Include your branding guidelines for shipped products or even promotional merchandise in this section. Remember that a brand style guide is a living document. Over time, your brand will evolve. Of course, you shouldn’t change it too often (since that defeats the purpose of a guide) but keep note of feedback from employees and ideas that pop into your head. This way when the time comes for a brand revamp, you’re off to a running start.
How to Run a B2B Influencer Marketing Campaign with a Small Team Posted on January 12, 2018June 13, 2018 by Guest Author A guest blog from Michael Quoc, founder and CEO of Dealspotr, Influencer marketing is already a widely popular tactic in the B2C space. It’s easy to see how influencers can help drive regular consumers to make purchase decisions. But what about for B2B marketers? B2B businesses are just as able to use influencer marketing for better ROI, even if they aren’t taking advantage of it yet. Some big brands (think IBM, Microsoft) are already doing it, but that doesn’t mean small teams can’t win big with B2B influencer marketing as well. Here are five steps you can take to launch your own B2B influencer marketing campaign today. Step 1: Identify your marketing goals and message Just like with any marketing initiative, the first step to launching a successful B2B influencer campaign is defining what you want to achieve. Building brand awareness and driving sales are probably the most common influencer marketing goals. But you might want to target something more specific, such as building your social following or encouraging retention. As part of the planning process, you’ll also want to develop a clear idea of your brand message. Influencers will be doing the storytelling for you, but be prepared to offer them direction about your brand narrative, and how you want your audience will remember your business. Step 2: Choose your platforms Next, you’ll want to figure out where you want your influencers to help spread your brand message. This will mostly depend on two factors: (1) where your audience is, and (2) what kind of content you want to create. If you’re engaged in social media marketing, you probably already have an idea of which social platforms your target audience uses (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Choose platforms that best help you reach your audience and supports the kind of influencer content you create. For example, if you want to create a branded video with your influencers, then you should choose a platform that optimizes your use of this content type (e.g., YouTube). Of course, influencer marketing isn’t all about social media. Influencers in your industry may have a blog or website you want your business to appear on. Or you could use your own site as the platform to launch and promote influencer content. A well-rounded influencer campaign will use a combination of platforms to publish and promote. Step 3: Find the right influencers The success of your first influencer marketing campaign all boils down to your influencers. They must be good at creating and promoting impactful branded content for you to see ROI from your efforts. Luckily, there are a lot of tools and resources out there that can help you find the right influencers. Ninja Outreach, for example, is a paid tool that allows you to access and search a network of more than 25 million websites to find the right influencers for your business goals. If you’re on a budget, then really all you need is your industry keywords and the search features of social platforms like Twitter and Instagram to start finding potential influencers. But when it comes to B2B influencer marketing, you can look beyond your typical social media personalities to find great influencers as well. Don’t overlook your current customers or even your employees as potential influencers. Identity and device management software Okta, for example, reached out to their customers (Adobe, 20th Century Fox, and the like) to create videos explaining their customer journey and value they got out of the tool. To highlight these real-life success stories, Okta created unique landing pages on their site for each influencer, complete with success statistics, videos and quotes. Step 4: Create content together There are a lot of benefits to working with influencers, and reaching their engaged audiences is just one of them. Influencers are also real-world people who have insight into what consumers like themselves want. They also have the creative chops to craft a compelling message around your B2B products/services. American Express does a great job of leveraging influencer talent with their #AmexAmbassador campaign. Targeting managers and executives with their Platinum card, they enlist the help of jet setters with luxurious lifestyles to create and share their brand message: Once you do find the perfect influencers to work with, make sure you give them the creative freedom to do what they do best. Step 5: Track your results There are a lot of ways you can track the results of your campaigns. Many influencer platforms have conversion tracking built right in. If you use Traackr, for example, it not only makes it easier to build relationships with your influencers and manage your campaigns, it also helps you benchmark your brand’s influence and monitor conversions from your efforts. If you’re running a small team (and small budget) influencer campaign, then it’s easy enough to track conversions by hand. If your goal is to drive sales, for example, you can use custom coupon codes for each of your influencers or UTM codes to see which influencers are driving the most sales or traffic. Wrapping up Influencer marketing is still a fairly new strategy in the digital world, which is why B2B marketers are just now starting to try it. But just like with everyday consumers, B2B decision-makers rely on the recommendations and opinions of others to make purchase decisions. Influencer marketing is a huge opportunity for B2B and B2C businesses alike to spread their brand message and work towards marketing goals. Follow the steps in this post and see your business become one of the forerunners in B2B influencer marketing, alongside big names like IBM and American Express. About the Author Michael Quoc is the founder and CEO of Dealspotr, an open social platform connecting trend-seeking shoppers, up-and-coming brands, and micro-influencers. Michael previously served as the Director of Product Management for Yahoo’s media lab, launching multiple innovative live video & mobile social networking services. He has been awarded nine patents relating to mobile and social network applications and technology. Follow Michael on Twitter at @michaelquoc.
5 Simple Tips For Flawless Customer Retention Posted on January 11, 2018August 12, 2022 by Jessica Lunk There is one golden rule of sales: selling to returning customers is a heck of a lot easier than selling to new ones. Returning customers, by definition, already know and like your brand, making it easy to entice them with deals and coupons. The only way to ensure you have returning customers is by focusing on customer retention. Problem is, it’s difficult to achieve. If someone buys one of your organic goat-milk soaps once, and you never see them again, that’s a bad sign—did they not like the smell of your soap? Did they find a cheaper organic soap somewhere else? Did it give them a rash? You rarely have a way of knowing for sure, which is why you want to eliminate as many of those possibilities before the customer’s transaction even takes place. Ensuring your product or service is of a high quality, your customer service lines are always open and your price is comparable in the market are all ways to stave off lost customers. Let’s go over some of the best tips one-by-one. Appreciate Your Customers This should go without saying, but running a business is being involved in a relationship. If you want your customers to appreciate you, you should start by appreciating them. View post on imgur.com This starts with the first interaction—your inbound or outbound marketing efforts should entice prospects in a way that encourages them to be curious about your brand. Your website should be as clean as your living room during a dinner party. Once you have a customer in your banks, always keep things personal. Emails are ideal for personalized, tailored communication, particularly with regards to rewards and customer service. Respond to people where they are – whether on social media, a phone call, or live chat and never let your customers feel forgotten. Have a Great Social Presence If you’re doing things right, you’ll have your fans tweeting or posting to review sites about your company. (You might even encourage this with a contest giveaway.) You’ll have comments on your Facebook posts and blog articles, if you’re going down that road. The most important thing in social media is to stay engaged. Never forget the “social” part: it’s a conversation, a two-way dialogue. It’s a great platform for customer service, sure, but also marketing and joke-telling. Create a strong personality, stay human, share posts you enjoy, and your audience will be more likely to stay engaged with your brand down the road. Focus on Exceptional Customer Service When it comes to customer service, data has proven that people value speed more than any other aspect. They have a problem; they want it fixed quickly. Imagine if you just switched Internet providers, but the new network doesn’t work. You’re on the phone with the company, but their call-in waiting time is over an hour, and they only respond to your email after 24 hours. They tell you it will take a few days to solve the problem—and if it doesn’t, you’re back to emailing them and waiting for a response. It doesn’t matter how friendly the customer service is; it matters that it took a week to get online. Offering a prorated discount is a good solution, but the damage has already been done: the experience has been soured. Of course, warmth and courtesy help too. Having a reliable CRM means always having customer data on hand, which can let your customer-service agents digest the customer’s information quickly for a more efficient resolution – all while fostering a personable, friendly experience. Don’t Bother Your Customers The most ironic way to kill your own business leads is by hugging them to death, so to speak. For example, when honing your email marketing strategy, if you’re emailing your customers more than three times a week and your open rates are in the single digits, you’re probably bugging them. That will lead to more unhappy unsubscribers than anything. Space out your social posts, email blasts and other communications evenly, so as not to overload your fans with too much too quickly. Create a Foolproof Loyalty System Whether it’s coupons, cards or referral bonuses, a strong loyalty system is a must-have for customer retention. Cookies make the heart grow fonder. This is in many ways the crux of customer retention: give them something that makes them want to return. Email coupon codes are ideal for this, particularly when paired with their purchase history. If they just bought your online course, you could email them a code asking how they enjoyed the course, while mentioning an exclusive 20% coupon for your consultation services. A surprise welcome gift can work wonders, too. Airbnb sends local gift baskets to new renters; Help Scout has been known to send a tin of cookies; Wufoo sends handwritten thank-you cards to their first customers. These gestures, particularly early on, will resonate in your customers’ minds. They’ll remember it, tweet about it and keep your brand above the rest for years to come.
Hatchbuck Now Integrates With 1,000 Other Products Posted on January 10, 2018January 10, 2018 by Erin Posey We know that getting your work done requires many different web tools. In fact, the average business uses between 10 and 16 apps. You have your CRM as your hub. You have marketing tools that range from social media apps to webinar tools to chatbots and everything in between. You have back-end applications that help you manage finances, invoicing and HR. And you have customer engagement tools like survey apps, satisfaction indicators, helpdesk software and more. The point is, it can be a struggle to get all of your apps working in tandem. But we have great news! Hatchbuck now connects to 1,000 other web tools, thanks to our Zapier integration. With workflow automation tool Zapier, you can set up your own “no-coding-required” integrations called “Zaps.” Zaps will automatically send information from one tool to another, so you’ll spend less time manually transferring data between your business tools and can dedicate more focus to creative, big picture tasks. Boost Your Productivity with Popular Hatchbuck Integrations No matter what other apps you use, chances are Hatchbuck integrates with them via Zapier. Here are some of the most popular integrations that Hatchbuck users already use to be more productive. The New Year is the perfect time to evaluate your processes and find ways to boost productivity. Try out some of the Zaps above, view more ways to integrate Hatchbuck or check out premade Hatchbuck Zaps in-app under the Account Setting tab. Happy zapping!
5 Elements of a Strong Company Culture That You May Be Overlooking Posted on January 9, 2018June 13, 2018 by Jonathan Herrick Quick—describe what your company’s culture in one quick soundbite. If you ticked off something about the relaxed dress code, team bowling nights and a flexible work schedule, that’s a start. But company culture goes way beyond Casual Friday. And if you want to build a strong company culture as you grow your business, it’s important to look beyond the most visible aspects to intangible factors that play a powerful role in shaping your workplace environment. Here are five questions to ask yourself about elements of a strong workplace culture that sometimes get overlooked. Is your business part of a larger ecosystem? Many employees today want to make a difference at work. Much as they may love their jobs, it’s more inspiring for them to see themselves as part of, say, the world of conscious capitalism or tech startups, than simply as an employee. If you have made an effort to connect with other like-minded businesses—whether at in-person events like conferences and coding hackathons or via digital communities— celebrate that part of your culture and make it known to potential recruits. Does your team know where you stand on mistakes? At some point or other, every employee will make a mistake. By setting a clear tone on how to handle wrong turns and errors, you’ll help your team choose the right approach for your company. In technology startups, it’s not uncommon to celebrate failures that lead the team to “pivot” in a fresh direction. If you work in tech, embracing life’s messiness may help you build a strong culture of innovation. However, if you run a firm in a field like accounting, where clients prize accuracy, celebrating errors may not be the best way to go. Rather than encouraging team members to “fail fast,” an accounting firm might instead want to build a culture that applauds people for going the extra mile to check their work or ask their colleagues to help them troubleshoot it. Have you created a high-performance environment? Do you recall how some of your grade school teachers placed a premium on quiet and orderliness, while others prized a noisy classroom, where kids moved around the room and interacted all day? As you probably discovered, both approaches can foster a great learning environment, depending on the circumstances. A buzzing classroom may be fantastic for a music lesson but not so great for introductory algebra. The same holds true in the workplace. If you have found, for instance, that your team thrives in an open office space where the conversations are free-flowing, embrace that idea. Set up a casual seating area where employees can hang out and discuss their ideas. Similarly, if your team needs to concentrate intently to get their work done, set aside some rooms where they can go if they need to hunker down in quiet. By taking inexpensive steps to tailor your environment to an environment where your team performs at its best, you’ll build a stronger culture. Have you considered key stakeholders outside of the company? Smart business owners realize their employees have a life outside of work and consider the impact of their decisions on employees’ families and significant others. Asking your team to work until 11 pm at the last minute to meet a deadline may seem like your only course of action in some situations, but often, if you look back at these scenarios with 20-20 hindsight, they might be avoided with some advanced planning or temporary staffing help.The more you recognize that employees have other commitments beyond work, the more loyalty you will find among your team. Employees whose families resent the hours they work or who feel constant guilt about not spending time with their loved ones will not be likely to stick with you long. Are you proactive about workplace harassment? Most company owners don’t like to think about the possibility that one of their employees could be harassing others in the office, but as current headlines underline, no company can afford to simply hope for the best. Even the smallest businesses need to get in front of this issue, or they could see a harasser harm their culture and face potential legal costs if a problem erupts. There is no easy solution, so a good first step is talking with your HR team about the best practices you should be using. Be sure to consider both in-person harassment and new digital forms that can be just as disturbing to the victims. Ideally you’ll never have to apply your harassment policy to someone who is abusing others, but once you have it in place, the great workplace culture you are building will be a lot more secure.