Your clients are the foundation of your business and you need them to be happy and satisfied for long-term success. It’s not only important to continue to win over new clients but to also retrain and keep the old ones.
There are ways to provide better client service at your business so you can get and stay ahead. Your job will become less stressful and there will be fewer fires to put out when your clients are pleased with your service. Let these ideas inspire you to want to do better and work even harder so you can increase sales and keep customers coming back time and time again.
Be Available
No one wants to work with a business owner who’s never around or is hard to get a hold of. You can provide better client service at your business by being available and ready to respond to those who require your attention. For example, you can get detailed information here realjustice.com, about how personal injury lawyers handle their clients and how they successfully satisfy their needs.
If you give your clients multiple channels and ways to get in touch with you then make sure there’s someone on the other end to respond promptly. If someone is unhappy or needs help then make sure you address it and connect with them instead of look the other way.
Travel to Your Clients
Another way to provide better client service at your business is to travel to your clients and meet with them in person. Sometimes it’s better to have conversations in-person and get a better feel for how someone views you and your business. If you’re driving a lot for work it’s important that you get plenty of sleep and follow the rules of the road to avoid an accident. Make sure you service your company car regularly and eliminate distractions when you’re traveling to your client location. Get in touch with a personal injury attorney should you get into an auto accident and don’t believe you were at fault and need assistance with your case.
Solve Problems Quickly
Customers don’t want to sit around waiting and wondering when you’ll get back to them with answers. Therefore, make it a point to solve problems quickly and not let them linger on for too long. Come up with policies and procedures that help you achieve this goal and so you’re always consistent with your practices. If you don’t have the answers right away then let the client know this and tell them specifically when you’ll be following up with a solution.
Train Your Employees
Provide better customer service at your business by training your employees so everyone is on the same page. You want anyone who picks up the phone or responds to an email to do so correctly and with the right language and a solution that’s acceptable. The better trained your employees are in the area of customer service the happier your clients are going to be because your staff members will be knowledgeable and quick to resolve issues.
Conclusion
These are a few ways to provide better client service at your business and ensure your customers are happy with you. You’ll receive more positive reviews for it and be able to build trust and improve your brand reputation when you follow through with these suggestions.
The Mac is a perfect product for business owners and creative professionals. The enhanced hardware, security, and long-lasting battery make it a great system for business. Today, many of the latest Apple laptops in the market keep up with the blend of style, portability, convenience, and power.
Apple is constantly upgrading its features and improving the new OS. These features offer several exquisite choices that help keep the work organized and efficient than ever. The availability of its ideal features for business owners makes it the finest choice. Take a look at these business-friendly features to boost up your progress.
Dark Mode
If you have been longing for a dark mac screen interface, there is an optional dark mode, which you can switch in your System Preferences. It impacts the entire system from Apple’s apps like Photos and iTunes to all of your windows.
The apps like Mail, Messages, Maps, Calendar, and Photos are also open to third-party apps. Dark Mode especially works like magic for artists, designers, and professional photographers. It even works in Apple’s programming environment Xcode, which makes coding much simpler on the eyes.
Battery Life
Apple claims an all-day battery life on the MacBook Air. This means 12 hours of battery life without wireless web use. It also offers up to 13 hours of iTunes movie playback. But you can also stumble upon the list of problems on the battery life.
The issues can be avoided by taking preventive measures. Good battery life is one of the standout business features of the MacBook. The battery capacity is at the same level as the longest-lasting laptops on the market.
Quick Look
Quick Look is a wonderful time-saving feature, which lets you match a document without having to launch an app or opening a new file. You can take the advantage of it by just pressing the spacebar.
This feature helps you to execute Quick Actions to mark up or edit files. For example, inserting a signature into a document, rotating a photo, trimming a video, or performing other actions to the file’s format.
Touch ID and security
Apple creates a fingerprint sensor into the keyboard, allowing you to unlock the computer without any delay. It loosens up from the hassle of typing a password. It not only protects your biometric and personal information but also protects you from Touch ID information. Analyzes software to ensure that nothing has tampered with. It provides data encryption for everything stored on your SSD.
Stacks
You come across a situation when you switch on your system and confront a desktop full of unsorted icons. Stacks feature offers you an automatic arrangement for the files based on document types such as images, PDFs, spreadsheets, photos, and movies.
To better organize your products, you can also classify them by date created, added, modified, or last opened, or by tags. On clicking on a stack, you see an expanded view of all its contents. Converging back into the stack is as easy as clicking the stack arrow.
Having edgy features, the MacBook is designed for worker’s bee. Keeping this in mind, these systems have all those features that business users should have.
Inheriting a large amount of money gives you an opportunity to improve your financial situation and move towards your goal of financial freedom. For many people, it is the silver lining after the loss of a loved one.
Unfortunately, people don’t always know how to handle their inheritance and they make a few bad decisions which leads to a lot of missed opportunities. But if you follow these simple rules, you can make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes.
Give Yourself Time To Plan
When you receive a large lump sum of cash, it’s tempting to start spending it right away. You can finally get the car fixed or maybe do some home renovations that you’ve been wanting to do for a while. But even if you spend the money on practical things, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are making good choices.
In most cases, it’s best to consider how to use that money to establish long term financial stability rather than deal with short term expenses. So, the best thing to do is give yourself time to plan and work out how best to spend the money before you make any decisions.
Start Dealing With Property Immediately
Dealing with an inherited property can be a very time consuming process, especially if it is shared between multiple people. There may be disputes and even inherited properties that are passed to a single beneficiary can be difficult to manage. You need to decide whether you want to keep the property and rent it out, sell it on, or even live in it yourself. All of these questions need to be discussed with the family before you can do anything else.
Clear Debts First
You might think it’s best to put your entire inheritance into an investment of some kind. If you’re completely debt free, that is one of the best things to do. But if you have a lot of debts, the interest you pay on them is often higher than what you would earn from your investments.
That means that your overall financial situation won’t get better until you can clear those debts. If you are struggling to do that on your own, your inheritance can be a lifeline and you should take the opportunity to get rid of any debts. If you don’t want to use the entire lump sum to clear debts, at least pay off the ones with the highest interest levels. This will make it easier to pay off the rest of your debts in the future.
Save Some For Your Emergency Fund
Whatever you do with the money, you should always put a chunk of it into your emergency fund. Having emergency savings is the best way to avoid debt because you are not forced to borrow money when you get hit with unexpected expenses. Use this inheritance as an opportunity to bolster your emergency fund and you will be able to protect your finances in the future.
Knowing how to deal with an inheritance can be tough, but if you follow these rules, you can use it to improve your long term financial situation.
In this modern world where there is so much heartache due to the pandemic, business owners have to take on a newer type of responsibility. They must play a more active role in the care and progression of their employees. No longer, is just giving them a good healthcare plan enough.
No, now you must be able to show them that you care about their mental health, their professional growth, their understanding of management roles, being able to collaborate with others businesses and more especially, their clients that they work with on a daily basis. Helping employees has evolved into a totally different aspect of the professional workplace.
Business owners now have to become mentors, teachers, friends and even equals in some areas, to their employees. Here are some ways in which you can achieve this.
Provide flexibility
Working from home is going to become the norm for many professionals. Recent estimates show that in the future, about 10-20% of the workforce in modern nations, will be those that work from home. Remote working and working from home are the same things, but these titles have to be merged now. A remote worker was once seen as an extra or freelance role. Working from home is pretty much what we have all been doing since the pandemic. But in the future, millions of people will be doing their job from home, for most of the time. Some say it could be 3 days out of the 5-day working week; showing up in person, for meetings and presentations of reports etc.
So how can you be more flexible? Consider all the roles you have, and choose which of those could be done from home. More workers are saying they want flexible working hours, so jobs which don’t have to be done in the normal 9-to-5 should be considered for remote worker roles. Your admin teams could work from home, spotting problems and presenting solutions and doing research about improvements in internal systems, from their home office. Can you offer more flexible working hours and more remote working opportunities? Then be more flexible and offer it to your workers.
Working closely with clients
Employees work with clients very closely. More often than not, one or a group of people handle specific queries and calls, from clients. Whether they are investors, B2B clients or other, clients should be seen as opportunities for your employees to build relationships with. But don’t your employees already do that? Well, of course, they do; but not on the level that they could enjoy.
Allow employees that have a good reputation and are mild-mannered, to have breakfast meetings with their client. If it helps to keep a client happy, informed and made to feel cared for, an employee that has struck up a relationship with that client can be offloaded to handle them personally. This is so valuable when you have a small team.
Allow employees to build a client profile. This takes time but when you know a client inside and out, you can pinpoint the types of purchases they make, the things they like about you and the areas which they would like to see improvement.
Employees that have built up a relationship with a client, shouldn’t be separated from them if possible. Too many companies are happy to break this link when a client is finally onboard. The person that got them to come on board should continue to keep them on your side.
Specialism progression
Employees should be given the opportunity to progress in their chosen specialism. Many of your staff would like to stay as they are. They love their job and they may not see or want any need to progress into a chosen field. But many employees would love to start venturing into unique and often, complex disciplines. For example, an employee in your marketing department may want to learn more about social media marketing. A design employee might want to learn new software that could be used by your company in future. A financial employee might want to learn more about risk management, etc.
But how do you go about offering this? Your best bet is to work with industry experts that do this for a living. Various firms offer in-house employee training programs which can be implemented with their help. Or, they can show up to your place of work and train employees in person. They can also send your employees to visit their offices. CTC or corporate training companies offer courses in every area. Make contact with a CTC that operates in your industry to see what your options are.
Better healthcare
Every company that wants to keep its employees happy, will not just have basic coverage, but great basic coverage. There is a difference! If you look at this affordable health insurance from TrueCoverage, you see how this is possible. Emergency services are covered, as well as prescription drugs. If your employees are hospitalized and or need lab tests to find out what is going on with them, this is a plan that covers all of it. They also have some pediatric services, such as dental and vision care. And of course, perhaps one of the most important services of mental health is offered too. This should not be understated in its importance.
If your employees have deeply hidden problems such as drug abuse and they need preventative or rehabilitation services, this plan also covers these areas. As you can see, a comprehensive basic coverage plan is well worth it. You’re not just taking care of your employees when something happens to them at work, but everyday life outside of work too.
Regular communication
Now that we’re working from home, we as business owners have found out how important regular communication is. We are using Zoom and other software for video calling online, but, it’s just not the same! In-person face to face conversations will never be replaced. This period of reflection should give you time to consider how you could improve the latter. You’d be surprised at how much employees would love it if you just talked to them more regularly.
General chit chat. Yes, employees love it when their boss tries to talk about everyday things with them! There’s nothing sadder than a boss that tries to talk about last night’s football game and not actually knowing anything about it. So, don’t try to just start a conversation, want to start it!
Speak to your employees about their ideas. Set aside some time in your meetings to just open the floor. This could be with managers or just, regular employees. Usually, your meetings will be limited to just management. However, you could ask managers to give your feedback from your wider workforce.
Take the time to explain your reasoning behind decisions. You will be shocked at how understanding employees are when you explain why you made a tough decision that is negatively impacting them. Explain to them in person, why you want them to work longer hours. Maybe something went wrong during a project and now you have to catch up on lost time. Just be honest and talk to them, don’t give them a notice or late working days.
Reward employees
This is by certainly not the least bit of worry for most business owners. They don’t really worry about ‘rewards’ because they believe their paying a worker a salary is enough. Wrong, it’s not. Sure you will keep an employee satisfied, but you can’t buy loyalty with a salary for some of your most talented workers. They know that they could go to work for your competition for a higher salary if they are really that great. So rewards have to play a big part in keeping them on board and interested in staying for a long time.
Recognize hard work. If an employee really hit it out of the park for a particular job or project, give them some kind of reward. Whether it’s an extra week off with paid leave or just a round of applause and recognition.
Bonuses at the end of the year are always looked forward to. But, you could give your employees a bonus during the year too. If they have worked very hard, you could give them a financial bonus with their monthly salary payment.
Give an employee something they could use in their normal life. A pair of boots, leather gloves, a gift card for a high-quality ham, turkey or duck, or maybe a gift voucher for a spa visit. Something of this nature that makes them feel special.
Invite them to the executive office where they can meet the most senior-ranked C-suite roles. Giving them a moment to meet the top team and showing them that we’re watching and enjoying their success, is a real motivator.
Supporting your employees has become more complex, more involved and more crucial to keeping them happy and loyal. This pandemic has shown us that we should start to really fight for our workforce and cherish them like never before.
Do you find you are often frustrated on the road? It’s because of other drivers, isn’t it? It’s because people are not good at driving and break the rules without thinking. This may be true, but how often do you stop to consider your own driving ability?
You might think you’re a good driver, but there’s always room for improvement. One very effective way to improve is to use mindfulness to slow you down and bring more attention to the road.
Better road awareness
When you bring your awareness into the present moment, you free yourself from distracting thoughts and ideas that generally swim around your head. It might be thoughts about where you’re coming from or where you’re going-to that takes your attention off the road and other drivers. This can cause incidents of frustration and anger towards other road users. With your mind on the moment, however, you will notice more of what’s going on.
Fewer distractions
Normally your mind is not in the moment at all. You might be thinking about a situation in work, what someone said to you the other day, or what you need to do before going home – get fuel or stop for groceries.
All of this amounts to distractions that can be lead to reckless driving, which is dangerous for sure.
Distracting thoughts and ideas are generally stressful, especially when you begin asking and answering questions in your head. Then someone cuts into the lane or arrogantly overtakes you, and you’re already primed to shout about it. If you drive in a state of mindfulness, however, you will drive more slowly and will be less likely to react or even encounter frustrations on the road. If you do encounter frustrations, they are far less likely to affect you.
A more comfortable ride
When you practice mindfulness while driving, all your attention is on the moment. You’re listening to the sound of the wheels on the road, watching the road with alert attention, and noticing how you feel at the same time. This tends to bring awareness to your driving and slows the car down, making the ride more comfortable and safer for your passengers. When you approach a junction in your Flex Fleet hire vehicle, for instance, you won’t have to brake quickly to avoid a collision; instead, you will roll up slowly, fully aware of what’s happening on the road around you.
Better fuel consumption
Mindful driving is also excellent for your vehicle and your budget. Mindful driving makes you a slower, more considerate driver, which translates into more money in your pocket at the same time. How is this possible? Firstly you drive slower, meaning you use less gas. No matter what fuel consumption you have on your vehicle, it will improve with slower, more careful driving. Furthermore, your vehicle will need fewer serves and repairs, saving you money there too.
It’s not easy to make sure you’re putting your money in all the right places, but it’s always going to be worth the time and effort if it helps you to save and make more money.
There’s more to it than just choosing not to buy things or picking cheaper options; there are workarounds that can help you get what you want now rather than later.
First of all, let’s talk about options. When making investments, whether pricey or cheap, doing your research is a must. You need to know whether what you’re buying will be worth the price tag it has on it.
For some people, going for the cheaper option might feel like they’re saving more money, but the quality will always be a factor no matter whether you’re buying products or services.
Settling for the cheaper option but then having to reinvest once again because its quality was not what you were hoping for is a loss in the long run. Ensure that you know what it is that you’re investing in before you do it.
Out of reach payments are always going to be there. There’s always going to be something that’s out of our budget, but what if it’s needed here and now. Well, there’s a way around that!
For products and even services, you can often take on a different payment method that lets you pay the sum over time or maybe even borrow money. Need a car/vehicle? You can finance or rent it. Need a lawyer? Services like Legal Bay offer loans for that! There are so many services out there that can help you work around those high price tags.
Another option you have is to invest your money, which can mean what you want it to. Investing your money doesn’t always mean going straight to buying shares or stocks; it can be anything of your choosing. This method often means putting a lot of time into market research, but it can take you a long way financially. So what can you invest in?
Well, the options are almost limitless, but it’s important to look for options within your capabilities and boundaries. If you’re looking to invest a large sum of money, many people opt-in for buildings to rent out – which would provide you with a consistent flow of income. If you’re into making smaller or riskier investments, you could always look towards something like cars, art, or antiques! It can take a lot of time and effort to find things worth putting your money into, but there’s a lot to be made if you have the capital and know-how.
Trying to stretch your money can be dangerous for your wallet if you’re not properly informed on what you’re doing. It would be best if you never took any unnecessary risks when spending or making large investments; frequent mistakes like that can ruin you financially. It’s vital that you’re putting in time and effort when you’re planning to invest; else, you may be waving goodbye to your earnings
Shopping for a new car is an exciting prospect, but it is also a purchase that requires a lot of thought. The vehicle you drive is one of your most significant assets, so choosing the right car is essential.
Your vehicle is so much more than just a means to get from A to B. Instead, cars hold great meaning to many people and act as a status symbol, a means of expressing themselves, as well as something that brings them enjoyment. With so much emotion wrapped up in choosing a car, shopping smart for your new vehicle is a must. Here are some tips to help you find a vehicle that is your perfect match:
Consider Size
When it comes to shopping for your new vehicle, size most definitely matters. Buying a car that is too big or small can become incredibly frustrating. Think about how you use your car, right now, or how you plan to use it over the coming few years. If you plan to have kids, don’t forget that you need a vehicle that can fit a stroller, grocery shopping, and a whole lot more in the back. However, buying a huge vehicle may not be the best option if you are single or a couple, and you may even want to opt for something sportier instead.
Price
When you are trying to shop smart for a car, the price is one of your biggest considerations. If you want to buy a new vehicle without paying the full price, continue reading this to help you choose a car packed with features at a discounted price. It is always worth looking for special offers to ensure that you don’t pay more than you need to for your new ride.
Features
Comparing vehicle features is an excellent way to narrow down your choice of car. Making a list of features that you are prepared to compromise on and those you cannot live without is a perfect starting point. Think about the features that your current car has that you love, and which ones you feel are missing, but would improve your driving experience.
Fuel Economy
For some drivers, the power of their car is everything to them. If you are one of those people, you may be happy to forget about fuel economy and instead focus on your new vehicle’s power. Weighing up whether you would prefer to save money on your motoring costs with a fuel-efficient car, or would rather have a high-performance vehicle that costs more to run is something you will need to consider.
Driving Experience
Once you have narrowed down your options, it is time to book in for some test drives. Driving the car yourself is the only way to get a real feel for it and assess whether the driving experience and comfort suit your needs.
Carefully weighing up the driving experience and practical factors such as running costs and features will help you shop smart and avoid any expensive mistakes.
As you hit your thirties, it’s important to do an inventory of finances to make sure you’re on track to hit your goals. By auditing your income, expenses, savings, and investments, you can ensure that you’re protecting your future and making the most of your funds.
Of course, now could be a good time to make new investments too. If you’re eager to increase your capital or generate extra income, take a look at the best investments to make in your thirties:
Pensions
Paying into a pension is one of the best ways to save for your retirement. If your employer offers a workplace pension, they will typically contribute to it as well, which means you can maximize your savings. However, if your employer doesn’t provide this benefit, taking out a private, individual pension can be a wise move.
Although you may not plan to retire for another thirty or forty years, paying into a pension now will give your funds enough time to generate an impressive return. Furthermore, investing over a long period allows you to overcome falls in the market and cash your pension in at a time when it’s generating the highest outputs.
Property
If you’ve already purchased your own home, you may want to consider investing in property in other ways. Buying an apartment with help from strata lawyers and leasing it to a tenant can generate a second income and potentially increase your capital, for example.
Alternatively, investing in real estate investment trusts allows you to profit from the market, even if you don’t have the funds to buy a second property outright.
Cryptocurrency
If you’re looking for a high-risk investment, cryptocurrency could be a good option. Digital currency has become far more mainstream in recent years, so there’s a good chance you’ll be able to make a generous return, providing you choose the right currency to invest in.
Although high-risk investments can be volatile, it can be a good strategy to lower the level of risk you take the older you get, which means you’ll still have time to make high and moderate-risk investments in your thirties.
Gold
Gold is typically seen as a low-risk investment because it tends to hold its value over time, even when global economies are disrupted and things are looking bleak. Furthermore, gold reacts to market events differently to other commodities, such as oil.
This means that gold can be an effective way to diversify your portfolio. If you stand to lose money on stocks or other commodities in the event of a recession, for example, your investment in gold could offset these losses, providing it retains its value.
Planning Your Investment Portfolio
Making investments in your thirties allows you to use long-term strategies to generate high yields and profitable returns. However, it’s important to consider all of your options before you decide where to invest your funds. Additionally, seeking professional financial, legal and tax advice can help to ensure that you’re managing your finances in the most effective way.
