The Future Of Retail And America In The Post-COVID World

by Erik D. Rosenstrauch, Founder and CEO of FUEL Partnerships

In approaching the COVID-19 crisis from the marketer’s perspective, the question is how, not if, the world will change when the restrictions are lifted. My intuition relies on what marketers believe and researchers have proven – the repeated behavior learned during this several month crisis will form new consumer habits. In particular, we think the post-COVID world will see a permanent shift in the way people shop for groceries, personal goods, and other essentials; the retailers that provide a tech-enabled, multi-channel approach will gain a larger share.

Consumers have demonstrated massive trial and adoption of these purchase methods over the past five weeks.  Walmart reported online grocery sales of over $900 million in March, an increase of 21% from February 2020 and an astounding 99% increase from March 2019. The Walmart Grocery app has now grabbed the number one ranking position across all Shopping app downloads in the US, according to a new analysis from app intelligence firm App Annie. Sense360 reports that 31% of US households used online Grocery pickup or delivery for the first time over the past four weeks. By comparison, only 13% of US households used the same service in August 2019. And an impressive 37% of shoppers report that they will continue to use online grocery pickup or delivery in the future.

The New Table Stakes in Grocery Retail.

Retail is going through a rapid transformation during this unusual period of home-confined buying. Consumer purchase drivers now favor speed, value, and convenience – these attributes are the new table stakes in retail, and can be met by a handful of the largest retailers, namely Walmart, Costco, and Target. In general, “Clicks to Bricks” retailers are gaining share due to BOPIS (Buy Online and Pick up In Store/Curbside) and delivery offerings from physical retail locations.

Post COVID-19 Behavior.

After several months of being forced to shop differently, we believe consumers will demand a combination of speed, value and convenience moving forward. Let’s clearly define each trait which will lead to the winning retailers who thrive post-COVID.

Speed equals immediacy AND certainty of delivery (in stock): Consumers want same day or next day delivery more than ever before. The retailers that win in the future, MUST be able to provide this level of service.  Two-day delivery, or pick up next week does not equate to speed. Walmart, Amazon, Instacart are all attempting to rapidly hire hundreds of thousands of employees to meet the expectations of their customers. In my local area, Instacart orders can take up to five days to deliver, Walmart pickup is three days wait, and even with my Amazon prime membership, shipments can take a week to arrive. Product availability and wait times will normalize post-COVID, but physical retailers still hold an advantage for those that need essential goods now.

Value equals minimal fees and charges: Even with aggressive economic rebound scenarios, tens of millions of Americans have been pressured financially by COVID-19. The average American shopper cannot afford to pay for membership or delivery fees. In our view, retailers must absorb the additional costs of the new distribution requirements if they want to be part of the future retail landscape. The retailers who can deliver speed and value are positioned for long term success.

Convenience allows consumers to shop on their terms: One of online retail’s key competitive advantages has been its always open, shop when you want approach. However, the largest traditional retailers have invested billions in providing a similarly capable technology platform, leveling the playing field. Anyone can now shop and place an order at Walmart, Target, Kroger, Amazon, Costco, Publix and most other retailers at any time. Mobile apps and scanning features have also improved for traditional retailers, eroding the distinct competitive advantage once held by Amazon and other e-commerce platforms.

Recent consumer behavior and future need states shows an enhanced importance of physical retailers, particularly those who are implementing digital tools, and an omnichannel approach that can provide immediate product availability. Increasingly, stores will become localized distribution facilities that allow consumers to choose their delivery method to obtain the products they need. Flexibility is the key to future success – in-store, pick up curbside, or have the order delivered to home.

Timing and Messaging Matter Too.

So, when does the country re-open for business? Given recent trends, politics and data, it feels like the months of May and June will be transitional months, as testing expands and people get back to work, carefully and tentatively. When we look ahead, it feels like the 4^th of July 2020 will bring “a rebirth of America” for consumers and brands, and planning for that event should begin soon. Big group celebrations, concerts, and sporting events are likely to be delayed or pushed off until next year, or maybe replaced by small group gatherings and spectator-less games. Not everything will be the same, so marketers need to adapt to that reality.

Messaging also needs to adapt to the post-COVID reality. Marketing campaigns that celebrate family togetherness will resonate. We also believe patriotic themes are likely to dominate this post-COVID world. After 9/11, the World Series in New York City was an historic event, and one that was celebrated patriotically. We may not have an Olympics to enjoy this year, or be able to go to baseball games as a spectator, but we will start to see some sports on television again. Those smaller steps towards normalcy will be something to celebrate.

And along with the re-opening of the economy, people will feel more comfortable going back into retail locations to shop, even if consumers need to wear masks for added protection and peace of mind. Embracing both in-store promotions and online tools will become even more important, particularly for emerging brands.

In conclusion, the retailers that deliver the consumers’ needs of speed, value and convenience along with multiple delivery methods and the brands that best adapt to the future and have clear benefits for consumers will continue to grow and win share. The marketing mix will adapt as well, both online and instore.

 

Erik D. Rosenstrauch is the Founder and CEO of FUEL Partnerships. He is a proven industry leader with over three decades of experience in consumer products and retail marketing. Erik gained diverse experience by working for PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, where he succeeded by turning ideas into a reality in the salty snack category and leading the creation and execution of campaigns for Ruffles and Tostitos. During his tenure on these brands, his team’s exceptional program results were recognized by winning various marketing awards including; a Gold Reggie, Effie and PRO.

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More Data, More Problems: 3 Data Headaches And Their Solutions

With every year that passes, data becomes more and more important to businesses of every size in every industry. Consumer profiles, usage metrics, web traffic — everything that can be quantized into discrete data points is totted up and gathered into silos, where huge computational resources are used, milling it into useful metrics.

Trying to get a grasp on these data processes is daunting: Here are three common pitfalls to avoid as you begin using data in your business.

1. Poor Quality.

The first and most obvious issue you may have with your data is its quality. Data is an odd resource because one way — the simplest way, in fact — to improve its quality is to improve its quantity.

The laws of probability indicate that the more information you gather on a population, the closer your basic metrics (like averages) are to the real values for the population. That said, some thought should go into the sources for your data as well. Customer surveys, for instance, tend to capture the extremes: very satisfied customers or very upset ones. Usage data gathered anonymously is biased away from users who opt-out of reporting it — in software, this tends to be the most enfranchised users.

In general, look for outliers in the data and ask questions about why they are arising. Then, take steps to eliminate them.

2. Bad Metrics.

Once you have good data, it’s equally important that you’re doing the right things with it. Your data might be impeccable, experimentally sound and voluminous, but if you’re asking the wrong questions about it, all the effort that went into collecting it is wasted.

For example, the tendency is to default to averages when working with data, as it’s an easy metric to understand, but don’t underestimate the median when working with certain populations. Say you have a service where most users are spending a few dollars, while some users are spending thousands. Your average revenue per user may be in the tens of dollars, and from that, you might be tempted to conclude that, if you select a user at random, they are probably spending around that amount on your service.

However, this is not the case; if you select a user at random from this population, it’s vastly more likely that they’re spending only a few dollars, a fact that the median would have captured. This is only one of the ways common metrics like the average can be deceptive, so always take time to think through the literal meaning of your statistics and be careful of jumping to conclusions.

3. Inconvenient Access.

Finally, you can have wonderful data and excellent metrics and still not be able to use any of it. Particularly at the enterprise level, the sheer amount of data provides a challenge of its own, as straightforward computing methods for sifting through it begin to break down.

The science of data usage at this level is its own academic and professional discipline, and there are myriad approaches to storage and access of data. While you don’t necessarily need to know everything about knowledge graphs, it’s worth learning a thing or two about enterprise data management. At the very least, you should understand that at a certain enterprise size, working with data gets more complicated than running a few commands in Excel. Keep this in mind when working with outside sources for your data management. Be patient and willing to listen, and your consultants will thank you.

There is a lot to take in when it comes to enterprise data and many subtle distinctions that can lead you down the wrong path. Avoid these common mistakes when working with your data, and you can make your data work for you.

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Top 3 Remote Work Software Tools To Empower Your WFH Employees

The work-from-home (WFH) culture has officially come of age. With masses of employees huddled at home, safe from the ravages of the novel coronavirus threat looming on our horizon, remote work is no longer an option for millions of companies across the globe. However, there’s a big challenge that faces most employers who are unfamiliar with the remote work setup: what software tools do your staff need in order to stay in the game and run your day to day operations with minimal business impact? This is a question every employer in 2020 must ask themselves to maintain and boost productivity levels in such a scenario.

To help you in that quest, we’ve curated some of the top remote work utilities that have become absolute essentials for today’s transformed workforce. Let’s take a look at what they are and what they can do to empower your work-at-home employees.

#1: PDFelement 7 Pro.

Regardless of the nature of your operation and your industry segment, there is bound to be some amount of documentation to take care of on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Whether it’s vendor invoices, customer bills, external communication, internal paperwork, or other document workflows, PDFelement 7 Pro will allow you to handle your document workloads in a professional manner. It will increase the efficiency and productivity of your employees by giving them the tools they need to do their work from the safety of their homes. Here are some of the key features and benefits of deploying PDFelement as part of your software portfolio.

Features

• Create PDFs from more than 300 different document and file formats for easy manipulation, sharing, and archiving.
• Fully edit any element in a PDF file, including main content (images, text, links, etc.) and other PDF layers like footers and headers, watermarks, pagination, Bates Numbering, embedded media, and much more.
• Convert documents from PDF back into their native formats for detailed editing in their respective applications, such as MS Word, MS PowerPoint, HTML editors, text editors, etc.
• Annotate and markup documents under review, add comments and even embed multimedia content into your PDFs.
• Protect your PDF documents from unauthorized access or accidental changes using strong password-based encryption and highly granular restrictions for printing, copying, editing, etc.
• Share documents directly with other collaborators using cloud integration.
• Manage your form workflows, fill and sign forms, extract form data, convert paper forms into editable digital forms, and even do complex tasks such as automatic form field recognition.
• Use advanced features like OCR and batch processes for various purposes, including file conversion, encryption, watermarking, and much more.

Benefits

• Save time and paper by digitizing your entire document repository with optical character recognition and converting them into editable files, making it easier to find documents, search archives, edit content, and standardize your workflows to ISO requirements (PDF/A format support.)
• Quickly make changes to existing documents or create them from scratch with intuitive features and controls.
• Make team collaboration a breeze with annotations and direct integration with popular cloud storage services like Dropbox and Google Drive.
• Easily convert documents to and from PDF to suit your specific needs without affecting the content, layout, and other attributes of your files.
• Provide strong protection to digital information with advanced encryption algorithms, ensuring the confidentiality of internal and externally shared information.
• Process large batches of documents to tremendously boost your team’s productivity and daily throughput.
• No learning curve for new users of PDFelement 7 Pro; your remote staff can hit the ground running, making your company operationally more efficient.

#2: Office 365.

Cloud-based services like Office 365 from Microsoft offer a superb collaborative environment where teams and departments can operate together in a secure environment without having to worry about local memory, individual software needs, and so on. Office 365 offers a full suite of office productivity tools to make life easier for remote workers. This subscription-based service includes key office tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and a long list of other applications hosted on the cloud. The purpose of these tools is to allow you to create a central repository of documents and other files that can be accessed by all your employees based on various permission levels set by an administrator. The admin handles all the backend tasks and can manage users remotely, giving your other employees the freedom to work from anywhere they want. Let’s look at some of the key features and benefits of deploying Office 365 for your remote staff.

Features

• Office productivity tools for document and file workflow management.
• Communication utilities for chat, audio and video calls, file-sharing, screen-sharing, and other collaborative tasks.
• Offline option for downloadable applications.
• Real-time editing environment.
• Automated version control.
• Enterprise plans for large-scale deployment.
• Dashboards for workflow and project management.
• Powerful encryption to protect data.

Benefits

• Give your employees tools they’re familiar with, like Word and Excel.
• Communicate instantly and clearly across teams with robust chat and conferencing tools.
• Work offline when you don’t have an Internet and it syncs automatically when you’re online.
• Let your employees work in real-time document environments for greater speed and efficiency.
• Never worry about document version management.
• Works for any team size.
• Comprehensive admin tools give you full control over users and permissions.
• Protect your work on secure cloud servers.

#3: Trello.

One of the best tools for task and project management is Trello, a tremendous tool that provides an engaging visual environment. It is a cloud-based tool that can be accessed from anywhere using an Internet connection. Though not strictly adherent to “agile” project management protocols like its sibling, Jira (also from Atlassian), it offers a compelling interface that uses drag-and-drop, click-to-edit, and other such convenient features. The software uses boards and cards to represents projects and tasks, respectively, and there are features for adding deadlines, attaching files, making notes, sharing documents, creating custom tracking lists, and much more. It also offers integration with more than 100 other applications like Google Drive, Slack, etc. for enhanced collaboration and higher overall productivity.

Features

• Invite team members via email.
• Assign tasks and projects to specific individuals with a drag-and-drop interface.
• Discussion and commenting tools.
• Notification system on desktop and mobile.
• Calendars, checklists, calendars, etc. for time-sensitive tasks.
• Real-time, cloud-synced environment.
• Cross-platform support with OS-specific apps.
• Comprehensive labeling, filtering, and search functions.
• Create task cards and insert comments via email.
• Full control over user permissions.

Benefits

• Gentle learning curve for new users to get up to speed quickly.
• Easy ways to create and assign projects and tasks.
• Track the progress of tasks in a visual manner.
• Share content, schedules, and more with a drag-and-drop interface.
• Syncs automatically across devices.
• Easily find tasks, lists, and other content with extensive filtering and search functions.
• Set specific deadlines to increase the productivity and efficiency of your teams.
• Convenient email integration even on mobile devices without app installation.

Conclusion.

Remote work tools need to meet certain specific criteria for you to get the most value for your money as an employer, and they should offer key features and benefits that are suited to your operations and make tasks easier to complete. The tools listed above do all that and go beyond, giving your employees user-friendly functions and powerful features that will enhance their work throughput, facilitate better communication, and promote collaboration in a tangible way. Try them out and see whether they make a good fit for your own company before you deploy them organization-wide. All of them offer free trial periods so you can test the features and capabilities to see if they’re right for you.

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Top Marketing Ideas To Boost Sales

There is more to marketing than just selling a product. You need to sell an idea. Who your customer can be if they buy your products. What solution you can offer that no one else can. Marketing needs to hit directly, which means that you need to use your marketing to build a relationship with each and every customer.

One loyal customer is worth it. They will bring in repeat sales. They are the ones that advertise your store to their friends and family. You don’t need to pay to keep targeting ads towards them, and instead can instead use quality customer service to keep them coming back again and again.

With that definition of marketing in mind, try out these top ideas to help you boost sales now and in the long term:

1. Invest in Demographic Research.

It is a good idea to understand the behavior behind a one-time purchase and the behavior of loyal customers. How you get this information will differ in both cases. A loyal customer is likely to complete a quiz either for free or for a small discount. A one-off customer will need to be understood through analytics.

2. Improve Your Message.

With this demographic research in mind you can better target your message. Understanding why people buy from you can help you focus on your strengths and better improve your weaknesses.

3. Be Real with Your Marketing Materials.

People want authenticity. Models that have been airbrushed beyond recognition do not offer this. Try to represent a real version of your brand or product in the most beautiful way possible – it will better convey how your product or service can genuinely benefit their life.

4. Be Fun With Store Marketing.

Store marketing is typically used to entice people inside your store, but nowadays it can do so much more. They can be used as clever billboard signs that advertise your store from the road. They can also be used indoors to entice people throughout your store, rather than just near the checkout. Retail signs can be instrumental to boosting your customers’ mood and bringing in sales to your store.

5. Make Your Website Fun to Spend Time on.

A typical business site has a home page and product pages, but if you really want customers to spend more time online and be more likely to buy then you need to give them a reason to stay. Quizzes, tutorials, how-to guides, and so on can all do wonders for your brand. You want visitors to return again and again, because each time they return they are more likely to buy.

6. Make Your Product or Packaging ‘Instagramable’.

Unboxings are very popular, and you can encourage them from your customer base by improving the package marketing for your products (both items they buy in-store and items that are shipped to them). A beautiful box and unwrapping experience can instantly improve the experience of buying with you, and many customers will want to repeat that experience again.

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Are You Ready For The MBA? 6 Things You Should Know First

An MBA may seem like the next step in your career plan – a credential you need to advance your career. However, that doesn’t mean an MBA is the right choice. What if the MBA is necessary to follow your dream job or move into a new profession? You may not be ready for the MBA and the opportunities it opens up.

If you’re not sure whether you’re ready or not, here are 6 things you should know first.

1. Your Intended Career Path.

College students really shouldn’t use their years in undergraduate studies to find themselves. However, graduate school is definitely not the place to “find yourself”. You should know how the MBA furthers your career plans and be confident in your decision.

On the flipside, you shouldn’t earn an MBA in the mere hope it will help your career. For example, an MBA from a top school won’t matter if it doesn’t apply to your next job. You may also want to earn a specialized degree like an MBA focused on human resources, international business, finance, marketing or big data to move into the area you want to work in.

Know what you’re getting into and determine if an MBA is necessary. If an MBA is necessary, you will want to identify which schools teach what you need to learn and offer a degree valued by employers for providing that expertise.

2. Your Job Experience.

Earning an MBA right after earning a bachelor’s degree is not always the best option. An MBA may be necessary to work in finance, investment banking, and a few other roles. In most other cases, it isn’t useful until you’re ready to move into management.

That’s why the average age of MBA students is 28. Employers want to see career experience in addition to the credential. In fact, business schools want to see job experience, too. Top business schools want to see several years of work experience. Some schools will welcome entrepreneurs, while others prefer future managers.

3. Your Finances.

MBA programs can be expensive. Online MBAs may eliminate the need to travel to school, arrange childcare or live on campus, but tuition fees remain. Furthermore, you must dedicate yourself to studying to succeed in the program, which is time you might otherwise use to earn money. So, understand all of the costs involved, then compare the costs relative to your ability to pay.

Can you afford to attend a program full-time? Could you find a comparable program that lets you attend part-time? Also, will you see a decent return on the investment? Don’t earn an MBA in the mere hope of a pay raise; know how this credential will translate into higher pay. Your employer may automatically give you a raise if you have a master’s degree, or you may be able to move into a higher paying position once you have the credential. Do research on the post-MBA job placement rate and the average salaries for these graduates, because this information may help you determine which school or MBA program is best for you.

Also, learn employer tuition reimbursement programs. Ask about scholarships and grants, but don’t treat loans as if they’re free money. If you must take out a student loan, shop around and do everything you can to keep the debt to a minimum. A part-time program is the best choice if you want to work while attending school.

4. The Networking Opportunities.

One of the benefits of an MBA program is that it connects you with other highly motivated professionals. The question is whether or not the network is valuable to you and will aid you in your career. For example, someone who wants to go into nonprofit management should seek out a school that connects you with others working in the nonprofit sector.

If your goal is to work at a big consulting firm, you’ll want to attend the schools they recruit from. Then you can use the alumni network to help you get a job there. Someone who wants to work in international business may want to attend a program known for its international student body or students who’ve worked abroad. Talk to the alumni as well as current students.

Don’t limit yourself to online research, however; tour the schools or find events where you can talk to people face to face. The MBA Tour, for instance, lets you meet people from top business schools. Consider visiting one of these events if you aren’t sure if a school is a culture fit or offers classes that are related to your intended niche. They will also give an opportunity to ask about your odds of being accepted and get advice on what you can do to improve your profile.

5. The Application Process.

Let’s suppose an MBA will result in a higher pay grade or allow you to move into your dream job. You’ve determined how you’ll pay for it, but are you ready for the application process? The application process for graduate school is rigorous and time-consuming – a mistake here will result in rejection.

You’ll need your undergraduate transcript, a resume outlining your job experience, letters of recommendation and a list of extracurricular activities. Depending on the program, you may have to pass the GMAT and get a high enough score to be considered. You may need to go back to school to be a serious contender for an MBA, too.

For example, business schools want to see that you have the necessary quantitative abilities. You may need to go back to school to complete some advanced math classes, and you may want to take a few business classes. Foreign students may need to pass the ESOL or otherwise demonstrate fluency in English. Identify gaps and address them as soon as possible before you begin the application process.

6. The Work You’ll Need to Do to Get the Most Out of the Program.

Don’t assume that attending class or logging into online sessions is enough to see the benefits of an MBA program. Know how you can get the most out of the MBA program. Identify classes that will teach you what you need to know if you want to start your own business or be a better team leader. Bring up problems at your employer and ask classmates for advice in solving them.

This has the side benefit of helping you be seen as a problem-solver at work. Ask professors about real-world examples when they’re discussing a topic. This allows you to better understand the concepts, and it gives you great examples to cite when you’re explaining these ideas to others. Get to know your classmates, since these are the people most likely to help you in class and after graduation.

On the other hand, you need to know what you need to do to get the full value of the program. Have a list of questions to ask about business case studies and content. Complete the required reading before you attend class and take notes on what you read so you can keep up with the discussion and ask questions about the material. You can reduce that workload by taking collaborative notes with classmates. Read linked articles in the syllabus, too. In short, do all the prep work, and know what that means before you sign up.

However, what if you aren’t getting what you expect out of the program? In this case, you can hold the professors accountable. If that isn’t good enough, you may need to change classes or programs.

A good MBA program continues to offer a good return on the investment. However, there is far more work involved than many appreciate if you’re going to achieve that high ROI. Make sure you’re ready if you want to see these benefits.

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Four Steps To Protect Your Business From Cyber Attacks

One of the gravest threats to modern businesses operating in the digital space are cyber attacks. Though they can take many forms – including deliberate hacks, or senseless malware intrusions – you need to find ways in which to protect from all of these threats to your business. By protecting your data, your programs, and your network from these threats, you’ll avoid damaging leaks, business downtime, and the damaging PR that goes with it.

Read on, then, to learn how you can protect your business from cyberattacks in 2020.

Training.

As many cybersecurity firms will tell you, one of the key weaknesses in your IT infrastructure, when it comes to cyberattacks, isn’t actually the attacks themselves. In fact, the gateway through which malware arrives into your company’s digital network is often provided, unintentionally, by an employee. That is because emails, messages, and websites often carry damaging downloads that poorly trained employees cannot spot. The solution, of course, is to train all of your employees in web safety, thus helping them to avoid these mishaps, and to remain vigilant in the face of cyberthreats from across the web.

Software.

Meanwhile, all businesses should operate with cybersecurity software. These are provided in a B2B fashion by all of the major players in technology. This is not an area in which to scrimp and save. In fact, you should ensure you are fully protected, with a full suite of cybersecurity programs, to avoid anything sneaking through to damage your internal systems and damage your data. Find the best deal for your company with the help of online advisory forums and articles, and ensure that you understand the coverage you’re going to be offered when signing up to a deal with a leading cybersecurity firm.

Infrastructure.

While your cybersecurity software is your first line of defense – a wall over which most of the malware ad hacks aimed at your company will fail to scale – there are still cyber threats to your company that require infrastructure maintenance and upgrades to work through. For instance, your overlapping digital infrastructure can often become slow and glitch because of the operating system, and pending upgrades, queued in your system. This can get heavily technical, which is why you must be able to get help from 24×7 IT Solutions services instantly to remedy the most debilitating and challenging issues with your technology infrastructure.

Data Law.

Finally, you must be able to protect the data that you possess within your company. That data will include the details of your customers and clients, which is deemed incredibly sensitive – and valuable to hackers who will sell it on for cash. If you’re serious about protecting your data and abiding by strict new data protection laws, you should assign a chief data officer in your business to monitor the use of data, and its protection, throughout the working year. This principle of responsibility will ensure that your company is always applying the best modern data protection protocols to the sensitive data that it handles.

Protect your company and its IT infrastructure with the tips outlined above.

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4 Tips To Streamline Your Small Business

The costs associated with operating a small business can weigh heavily on growth and the ability to compete with other companies. Streamlining some of those tasks can help ease the burdens, and there are many ways your company could be streamlining which not only saves you money but increases productivity and customer service.

Here are some ways your business could streamline some of its day to day functions.

1. Business to Business Communication.

Also know as B2B, business to business is a form of commerce that takes place between two businesses rather than business to consumer. Business to business relationships are just as important as business to consumer relationships, as these businesses work together to bring the finished product to the consumer. The communications between businesses working to meet an end goal is vital to the success of each business, and these communications can be improved through e-commerce. Sharing information virtually will speed up communication, increase sales and improve cash flow. Empowering your employees to aid in this communication will make the process even better.

2. Outsourcing.

There are some jobs your small business may not have the expertise or the time to perform. These are the tasks that can be passed to professionals outside your business. Outsourcing saves time and money. If you send all your income and tax information to an accountant, then you don’t have to take the time to learn about tax and finance laws and practices and can focus on business operations. You also save money because you don’t have to hire a full-time employee to handle the tasks. An accountant my only spend an hour or two per week on preparing your income and tax documents.

3. Mobile Technology.

The days of the landline are almost gone and for good reason. There is so much more a business can accomplish with mobile technology. Customer service is important to every business, and if you run a business that offers products and services to consumers through e-commerce rather than a brick and mortar store, that service becomes even more important to your success. A linked phone allows all your employees to share in the same communication no matter where they are and up to five phones can be linked. A great benefit to this type of setup is you can allow text communication with your customers, and if you don’t have the answer the customer needs, perhaps someone on the team does and can step in to answer those questions. This is all set up through an app and can be utilized by existing phones. According to Ninja Number, the app tracks your customer communications so you can keep track of who received a response. It’s like having an additional team member!

4. Your Business Software.

Your business software has the ability to allow all of your employees to have access to the same information no matter their location. You can share cloud storage and utilize spreadsheet software to track inventory, clients, tasks and vendors. By allowing your team access to the same software and files, there is no need for paper files which can take time to manage, from labeling the files to tracking the paperwork. These files can even be accessed on a mobile phone or tablet if you’re away from your desk or work location. The setup to start utilizing these processes is simple and takes little time, yet reaps huge rewards.

5. Stay on Task.

Staying on task sounds easy, but if you don’t have a plan, your team won’t be able to stay on task with you. Keep your plans and goals updated and shareable. Have metrics set that are attainable and a goal for growth each year. Having these things in writing will increase your chance of success.

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Do The Work In The Meeting: How To Establish A Meeting Culture In Your Startup

by Douglas Ferguson, founder of Voltage Control and author of “Beyond The Prototype: A roadmap for navigating the fuzzy area between ideas and outcomes“

At a startup, while you are just starting to define practices and company culture, I would recommend adopting an optional meeting policy like we practice at Voltage Control. That’s right, we’ve made all meetings optional. If a team member doesn’t think they need to attend a meeting, they’re free to decline it. It’s a small gesture, but a reflection of our belief that many meetings just don’t need to happen. It leads to an increase in quick and direct conversations and, ultimately, to fewer meetings and more space and time for the things we want (and need) to do.

That’s because we’re on a personal mission to rid the world of shitty meetings, and we encourage you to do the same for optimum success. More efficient and productive meetings are not only possible, they’re essential to flourishing business. Why? For one, effective meetings save money and time – both vital resources for any startup. In January 2019, the meeting scheduling company Doodle released its The State of Meetings Report and estimated that “pointless meetings will cost companies $541 billion in 2019.” Wow.

I’m convinced this is why I see so many people energized and excited when they participate in one of Voltage Control’s Design Sprints or innovation workshops: although they are technically “tied up” for five days, they get authentic work done. They’re making decisions. They’re progressing. They end the week with a touchable, tangible prototype. Things happened! (Now just think of how this dynamic will positively impact your meeting culture if you incorporate an effective meeting policy from the jump.)

This kind of energetic and spirited meeting dynamic is in stark contrast to most people’s typical daily experience. Just think about your own work experiences, past or present. For the most part, companies’ poor meeting structures lead to calendar-bombing their employees with tons of meetings that aren’t even necessary for them to be in. Employees then show up without much attention to whether or not they can add value. Everyone ends up booked with back-to-back meetings, buffered only by a quick restroom break. This kind of packed and unnecessary scheduling begs the central question: When are you supposed to do the things you got assigned in your last meeting?

In a recent talk, I told the participants, “Do the real work in the meeting.” I felt everyone sit up in their chairs. It struck a chord. We’re so busy talking about the work we need to do when we could be rolling up our sleeves and getting to work in the session itself.

We’ve got things backward: we meet and then do “the work” after the meeting.

Circular Conversations. Little Action.

What do you want meetings to look like in your organization? Let’s talk about a couple of typical scenarios. Here’s the worst-case: Participants don’t know why you’re meeting. No one shows up with an agenda. Everyone starts talking haphazardly and conversations go in circles. No decisions get made. Everyone leaves the meeting with no idea about what happens next. Maybe they’re hoping someone else will take action.

“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’”― Dave Barry

Now the best-case scenario, or maybe call it your standard, run-of-the-mill meeting: someone’s pulled together a meeting agenda and sent it out beforehand. You have a focused discussion. You conclude with a handful of action items and people have tasks they need to do after. But, even in this situation, I’ve seen the process go awry. Meetings aren’t always adequately documented. There’s misunderstanding after about the direction or next steps. People start working on items discussed in the meeting, but something gets lost in translation.

Don’t instill a meeting structure that saves the work for when everyone disperses back to their desks.

Poorly designed and executed meetings are not efficient, effective, and they’re certainly not an inspiring way to work. You have the opportunity to construct the type of meeting standards you want for your startup. If you want to bring the spirit of innovation into your daily work, push yourself and others to start doing the work in the meeting.

“The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.”– Thomas Sowell, American writer and economist

Challenge Yourself.

When you focus on doing work in the meeting, not after the meeting, it will encourage the following:

First, your meetings won’t be so dull. They are now working sessions instead of slogs. There are concrete things to talk about. Everyone’s excited and engaged.

Second, more will get accomplished. The prototype pushes things along just enough to get the ball rolling. It drives momentum and action.

Third, there will be more clarity about where you’re going and why. There’s something to reference.

While you are defining and fine-tuning the best practices and operations for your business, implement strong meeting practices with your team. Doing so will ensure more work is accomplished in the meeting, rather than less meeting and then working. Starting the habit now will not only set the bar for best practices, but you will also benefit from more productive and effective meetings right away and in the future.

 

 

Douglas Ferguson is the author of “Beyond The Prototype“ and a Design Sprint facilitator who has worked with teams from U.S. SOCOM, the Air Force, Adobe, Dropbox, Fidelity, Vrbo, Liberty Mutual, Humana, and SAIC. He’s an author, entrepreneur, and human-centered technologist with over 20 years of experience. Douglas is president of Voltage Control, an Austin-based workshop agency that specializes in Design Sprints and innovation workshops. Before Voltage Control, Douglas held CTO positions at numerous Austin startups, where he led product and engineering teams using Agile, Lean, and human-centered design principles.

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Tips To Help Freelancers Concentrate

Freelancing is a popular career track for many Americans these days. The old 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs are great, but contracting gives workers a lot of freedom. For people who love to travel, getting degrees in higher education like masters in school counseling, criminal justice, or something else, picking when you want to work is really important. Sometimes, you just won’t be able to sit in an office all day, five days a week.

On the other hand, freelancing from home can be a little difficult. Corporate offices are designed to maximize productivity and profitability. Chances are, your house just isn’t. That makes it a little bit harder to concentrate. Freelance writers often complain about falling into meme or YouTube holes while they are researching. The struggle is real.

If you are a freelancer who’s been experiencing this problem, don’t fret. There are steps you can take to create an environment that’ll help you concentrate on what you are doing.

Create a Dedicated Workspace.

First things first: do you have a dedicated workspace? No, your sofa in front of the television does not count. You need a space where you can go so that your brain has an easier time switching to work mode.

You don’t need an extra room in your home to create an office. Although, if you have one, use it. All you really need is a corner or about a 4-foot space against the wall. This area works better if it’s away from the rest of the house, especially if you live with other people. If that isn’t possible, ask the people you live with to avoid speaking to you while you’re at your desk.

This workspace will allow you to go “to the office” in your house. It really helps get your mind in the right place.

Turn Social Media Off.

When you work in the gig economy, you might have to use social media sometimes. In fact, some companies you contract with may use something like Facebook Messenger to keep in contact with team members. That can be a little distracting especially if you are a social person.

To keep yourself from getting lost in the news feeds of your various social media sites, only keep the app you need open. Make sure you turn off notifications for posts and comments. Also, making yourself unavailable, if possible, on the apps makes it easier for your friends to determine when you are working. Setting boundaries is helpful. If you don’t, there will be people who forget that working from home is still work.

Figure Out Your Best Hours of Productivity.

Not everyone is at their most productive during the day. If you are one of those people, don’t be afraid to work in the evening. As long as you are available for your clients when they need you and you are meeting your deadlines, it shouldn’t matter.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Breaks.

Finally, just like in an office, you can take a break while you’re at home. Get up, stretch, look at those social media sites, and get a bite to eat. We recommend limiting the minutes you spend doing this like you would at a job outside of your home.

Learning to minimize your distractions at home takes some discipline at first, but practice makes perfect. Don’t forget to set boundaries with the people around you so that know they should not disturb you while you’re working. After a few weeks, you will be just as productive as you were in a traditional office!

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6 Reasons To Hold Conventions And Events In Las Vegas

Las Vegas is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country and, indeed, around the world. There’s simply so much to love about Vegas and people just keep coming back for more.

Aside from being a travel mecca, the Entertainment Capital of the World is also a great destination for events. In fact, Vegas has been a choice MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) venue since the opening of the Las Vegas Convention Center in 1959. Indeed, the size and the date of the event doesn’t matter; Las Vegas is the perfect place to conduct it.

Why? Here a just a few reasons to convince you.

1. A Wealth of Accommodations and Venues.

One of the primary considerations when holding events, especially multi-day ones, is where the guests will stay. In Vegas, you won’t have this problem. There are close to 150,000 rooms in the city, so you can easily accommodate 50, 500, or 5,000 guests. You don’t have to think too much about your budget, either, because there are hotels at every price point in Vegas.

You also won’t have any trouble finding a Las Vegas meeting space or convention center. It doesn’t matter if you’re holding a company workshop for a hundred employees or organizing a global event with an expected attendance of 100,000. You can find hotels and a wide variety of other venues in which to hold your event. Indeed, Las Vegas is home to three of America’s largest convention facilities: the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and the Las Vegas Convention Center. All in all, Sin City has more than 12 million square feet of meeting, convention, and exhibits space ready to welcome guests.

2. Everyone Wants to Go There.

As mentioned earlier, Vegas is a popular tourist destination. You don’t need a reason to convince people to go because, at the back of their minds, they already want to go. This means that you won’t have to work very hard to encourage attendance to almost any kind of event. Indeed, studies have shown that the average attendance for meetings and conventions increases by 5 to 10 percent when it’s held in Las Vegas. This is especially valuable for events that rely on ticket sales. What’s more, there’s plenty of evidence that participants are more engaged and stay longer when the event is held in Las Vegas. This is favorable for exhibitors who want to make an impression on their customers.

3. It’s Accessible and Walkable.

Las Vegas is a popular destination, which means you don’t have to worry about accessibility. McCarran International Airport is just 2 miles from Las Vegas Boulevard and just 3.5 miles from Las Vegas Convention Center. There are also plenty of hotels that are just 15 to 20 minutes away from the airport. This significantly reduces the need for taxis or bus rides, further driving down the cost for both the organizers and the participants.

4. The Dining Options Are Endless.

Las Vegas is not the Entertainment Capital of the World for nothing. It’s not only replete with tourist attractions, it also has some of the best restaurants that serve a plethora of culinary options. Some establishments are tourist destinations in and of themselves, especially the celebrity-owned ones like CUT by Wolfgang Puck and Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Indeed, foodies attending your event will be more than pleased to go to Vegas. For those booking hotel venues, you’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to dining packages.

Another advantage of having hundreds of food options is that it can accommodate different dietary requirements. Does someone have allergies? Does someone need Halal food? Is there a vegetarian or a vegan in the group? You don’t have to worry because Las Vegas can cater to everyone.

5. Sunny Weather Year-Round.

One of the worst enemies of events is bad weather. It doesn’t only get in the way of outdoor events, but it can also make travel a little more difficult. When you hold your event in Las Vegas, you don’t have to worry about the weather at all. This desert city gets an average of 320 sunny days a year, which is perfect for meetings, conventions, and all sorts of events any time.

6. Event Innovations.

Because of its popularity as a MICE destination, Las Vegas is a hotspot for different kinds of event innovations. For example, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recently launched “Lili,” which is a chatbot that helps with event planning and booking. LVCVA has also partnered with companies like Tencent and WeChat to create a more seamless travel experience for foreign guests. More and more trade shows held in Vegas have also started developing eco-friendly practices and programs.

So you see, Las Vegas isn’t just a place of glitz, glamor, and impromptu weddings. It’s also the perfect venue for events. Start planning your Vegas meeting, conference, and convention today and prepare for a successful result!

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The 5 Biggest Crisis-Related Mistakes Your Business Is Probably Making

by Shannon Tucker, Vice President of Media Relations at SSPR

Two words that make me cringe: “No comment.”

I’ve been working in PR for close to 15 years, and I still spend more time than I’d like trying to get clients to understand the importance of crisis planning. Many see it as an afterthought, others prefer the, “No comment,” approach and want to run as fast as they can in the opposite direction.

Let’s change that. COVID-19 has given all businesses a reason to pay closer attention to crisis planning. Here, I’ve compiled the biggest crisis-related mistakes businesses make and how to solve for them.

1. You’re running from the crisis.

Your company may have been featured negatively in the press or your team made a mistake that went public on social media. Don’t hide and hope it will blow over. Lean into the fear! In most cases, going radio silent on your social media channels or telling a reporter, “No comment,” is a major misstep. A crisis can be scary, but it also represents an opportunity for your organization to come out stronger than before – if dealt with appropriately. Many companies actually come out of a crisis as heroes. If you respond in the right manner, own your mistakes and tell your side of the story, you may gain new supporters and customers.

2. You’re not preparing for a crisis.

No one thinks it will happen to them. Crisis planning is the easiest thing to put at the bottom of the to-do list or the budget. Even if your team has a crisis plan or you’ve attended a crisis workshop, your work is not done. Don’t get your crisis strategy in place and then let it collect dust on the shelf. When a real crisis hits, you want the plan to be second nature. Go through practice drills at least once a quarter, at a minimum. Ensure your crisis plan is part of your new hire onboarding, as well.

3. You’re too slow.

You lose control of the narrative when you’re too slow to respond. You don’t want stakeholders, employees and partners hearing negative news about your brand from the media. Without an official response from you, rumors and misinformation dominate the conversation. Be concise, strategic and a united front with your message. By having an active crisis comms plan in your toolbelt and ready to go, one your team is familiar with, you can be on the proactive end of the conversation.

4. You’re still too damn slow.

This bears repeating because it’s critical. One of the first emails I received from a company directly impacted by COVID-19 was United Airlines. My trust in them grew. Southwest and other airlines came limping after. I will always remember United as being one of the leaders in responding. When your competitors are faster than you in responding, they appear more intentional and in control of the situation. You look late to the party and disorganized. Be the first one with a strong message and you’ll come out of the crisis ahead.

5. You’re using a crisis as a PR ploy.

Your heart might be in the right place, but the public can smell self-promotion a mile away. COVID-19 is a great example. If you have an expert or a product/service to offer that can truly help right now, fine. Otherwise, know when it’s appropriate to sit back.

No company or person is immune to a crisis – don’t be caught in a panic or scramble. Prepare now and prepare well. When (not if) the crisis happens, you’ll be ready.

 

As Vice President of Media Relations at SSPR, Shannon Tucker is known for her perfect balance of strategic vision and tactical precision, showing and teaching her junior teams how to drive the most return on investment for their clients. She herself provides strategic oversight on many of SSPR’s most demanding accounts – unafraid to jump in and offer hands-on support to her teams. She was selected as an honoree in Ragan Communications 2019 Top Women in Communications Awards. 

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A Guide To Reputation Management For Startups

In an always-connected digital landscape, consumers have more power than ever. Now, the average consumer will compare companies before they commit to a purchase, and the right experience will see them returning again and again. Startups are uniquely placed in the online world because they have to work hard to get noticed, and being visible when competing against established brands is always going to be a challenge. In a time when it is reviews and reputation that can make or break a startup, taking control of the brand narrative is essential.

If you want your startup to last the distance, then having a more thorough understanding of brand reputation and how to manage it is more important than ever.

Understanding Reputation Management.

When your startup is in its early days, you will usually have a blank slate on which to build your reputation. There are no existing, visible mishaps, inappropriate tweets, or negative online reviews simply because you have had little chance to make those mistakes. Of course, the longer that you trade for, the more likely that you will fall victim to a reputation crisis. Now that every business needs to be visible online and the fact that posting something online can be very challenging to remove, online reputation management needs to be a priority even before your startup launch. When consumers use trust and credibility to help decide where to spend their money, running a startup with a negative online reputation can hinder your potential growth very quickly.

Boosting Reviews.

You need to start managing your reputation as soon as you have an online presence. The goal is to ensure that you accumulate as many positive reviews as possible and as quickly as possible. That way, subsequent negative reviews will have less of an impact on your overall ratings. Review management can be a time-consuming task, and it only gets more difficult the bigger your startup gets. Email communication can be very useful in this regard because emailing every customer after a sale to get feedback on their experience helps you control their narrative. If they have had a bad experience and you can get them to vent to you instead of on social media pages, then you can have the opportunity to turn that negative experience into a positive one. Of course, if their experience was positive, then you can link them directly to the platforms where you need the most improvement to your reviews.

Preempting Bad Reviews.

Your startup will have no credibility or authority in its early days. Those are something that you are going to need to focus on, and reputation management is part of that task. Without established brand awareness, you need to ensure that everyone that Googles your business name is met by as much authority and positivity as possible. Startups have everything to prove, and the margin for error is slim indeed. When a negative online reputation can cut your startup off before it gains any momentum, you must be more proactive when it comes to protecting your reputation. The good news is that it’s never been easier for brands of all sizes and sectors to control their reputations.

Positive Associations and Name Recognition.

Most startups will not have to tackle a dramatic reputation crisis, but that doesn’t mean that they can relax and hope for the best. Large-scale PR disasters do happen, and they are something that you will want to avoid. Reputation management means ensuring that you are consistently building on positive reception, satisfied customers, and positive reviews. You can achieve this more easily by:

Understanding SERPs: Search engine results pages (SERPS) are where your brand’s reputation will be visible to most people. When most consumer shopping sprees start with a Google search you want to appear as high on the SERPs as possible. If you’re on page two of a Google search then you might as well just be invisible to most shoppers. Make sure that you know some SEO basics, paying particular attention to keyword use and content marketing. If you have negative reviews or are experiencing a crisis, then it’s timeto start cleaning up your Google results. An internet removal strategy can help improve rankings in those SERPs.

Using Social Media: All startups need to have a social media presence, although you will need to identify which ones are most likely to be used by your target audience. There is little point in spending hours on your Snapchat account if all of your potential customers are using TikTok. Once you know the best platforms to use, create your business pages, and then keep them updated regularly. Once you are building a following, engage with your audience, and interact with other businesses. Point satisfied clients to your social pages and invite them to follow you there for new updates.

Brand Monitoring: Once you have set up your online presence, you need to monitor what people are saying about your brand. The problem with trying to monitor mentions of your startup is that it can be time-consuming, and next to impossible to effectively identify every single mention of your company. Automating your mentions is vital, and both Google and Bing have automation systems that can alert you via email when certain keywords are used online.

Thinking Long-Term.

Startups will always struggle to think long-term because, by necessity, they are forced to act in the now. However, you must take a step back and think about how even the slow development of multiple negative reviews will affect your ability to grow, even if you do last the distance.

Thinking long-term means taking steps early on to ensure that your reputation is as clean and polished as possible. Remember to:

• Encourage positive reviews on multiple platforms
• Use a content marketing strategy that you use to engage with customers
• Share industry news so that you build your brand’s reputation up as an industry leader
• Highlight positive press mentions and share them on your social pages
• Improve customer loyalty by interacting with them when they like or comment on your posts
• Be prepared for negative reviews and have an established plan for responding to them

Failing to consider reputation management as a fundamental part of your startup planning means exposure to unnecessary risks. Make sure that you have a proactive reputation plan and that you review it regularly. If you ignore the importance of your reputation, your startup is at greater risk of failure.

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Going Global: How To Build A Distributed Team

Going global is often a requisite growth path for businesses seeking to expand and whilst the model of setting up satellite offices is a tried and tested way to expand overseas a more recent organizational model is that of ‘distributed’ teams or companies.

What exactly defined a distributed company though and what are some of the challenges in running a company using this relatively new organizational model?

Distributed Teams: An Overview.

Also referred to as a virtual or geographically dispersed team, a distributed team is a group of people who work as a team across time, space, and organizational boundaries. Some equate distributed teams to remote teams, but they are not always the same. Creating remote teams, however, does not usually have the conscious intention of dispersing team members across different geographical locations. Remote workers are hired regardless of their location (e.g., it can be in the same city, but not within the same physical office). In contrast, distributed teams are created with the goal of having team members based in specific locations.

In terms of organization, a distributed team is not like a “branch office” or “country office” approach, in which a company has a head office or headquarters in a certain country and discrete units in other countries. This is a new paradigm for doing business–the entire company is considered as one contiguous unit, despite the distributed nature of its offices or employees.

Overcoming the Challenges of Running a Distributed Team.

Distributed teams certainly have their advantages. However, setting up and managing one entails some challenges. In addressing these challenges, it’s important to consider the basic points of finding the right people, using suitable software tools, and effective management.

The Need for a Harmonious Work Culture.

It’s not easy working with people who come from different cultural backgrounds. Distributed teams may need to establish new playbooks to manage day-to-day interactions, on top of the usual drawbacks, which include employee loneliness, dissatisfaction, and the feeling of not having opportunities for development.

To mitigate culture-related issues, companies need to hire the right people who are willing to work together considering the diversity of other employees and adapt to a remote-based work arrangement. On the other hand, software can be used to help bring distributed employees together by facilitating a semblance of “water-cooler-talk” and “team-building” activities in a distributed environment. An employee performance management platform like Glint can help achieve this as it provides employee engagement solutions that allow companies to track and improve worker satisfaction, development, as well as culture.

Global Payroll, Cross-Border Payments, and HR compliance.

Going global entails differences in labor laws and computation of pay, benefits, and taxes. Unfortunately, many companies resort to highly manual processes as they handle payroll for their international operation. To address this, businesses will need a unified way to handle payroll for a distributed workforce. A global human capital management or HCM system for distributed teams will also make it possible to address compliance needs and streamline payroll processing for workers across different countries.

To get up and running quickly with overseas hiring companies can make use of Employer-of-Records or EoR. These can take care of formal employment arrangements for distributed teams in different countries — something that will be useful in taking care of taxation, benefits, and other labor law compliance matters outside of the one’s own country – without having to set up formal legal entities

Collaboration and Communication.

Working together across geographic distances is another big challenge. Even with all the advanced tools for communication and interaction over the internet, it’s still difficult to avoid employee isolation. That’s why it’s important to hire workers who have collaborative instincts and the natural inclination to work with others. Additionally, businesses should employ the right collaboration tools.

The choice of a collaboration tool depends on the nature of the task to be undertaken. For software development, for example, there are specialized platforms like Github and Crowdsourcer.io. For those involved in research, Authorea is a good option. There’s also Aconex for those in the engineering and construction fields. When it comes to general collaboration, it’s advisable to choose tools that include screen sharing, document management, and internal communication features like what Fuze and Circuit have.

Knowledge Sharing.

Having information silos can also be a big productivity killer. Team members might refuse to engage in discussions or share what they know. This could be due to hesitation to interact with unfamiliar workmates or difficulty in establishing rapport.

To promote knowledge sharing, it helps to have the right tools or platforms. Communication solutions like Yac.Chat, Loom, Jamm, and Tandem offer new and exciting ways for both synchronous and asynchronous communication and collaboration as they support not only voice and video communication but also offer screen sharing and other features that facilitate collaboration. A platform like Donut also provides an excellent way to bring employees together and foster strong relationships and collaboration. It helps connect workmates, who may not know each other, through productive conversations and activities that bolster a sense of community.

Ultimately, resolving the challenges of establishing and running a distributed team requires the right people, software tools, and management. Time and culture differences can’t be resolved by software and good management alone. It is important to hire the right people for the job. Likewise, hiring the best accountant would not be enough to achieve efficient payroll management. Companies will need to consider getting software tools that make the process more efficient. The same goes with collaboration and knowledge sharing.

In Conclusion.

Creating a distributed team requires, at a minimum, the right people, the right software and the right management. Distributed teams have been proven to work, and companies looking for the right human capital regardless of borders, states and citizenship can benefit from this model of working to boost their growth.

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