How leaders can manage change strategically?.

In organizations there are many changes that can occur. To prevent short comings you can as the leader beware of these mistakes that you and your team might make. There is a high failure rate when organizational changes happen. You need to have a clear vision of what the changes might bring. You need to know what the changes might cost your profits. Draw a timeline about the situation in your business before the change, during the change and after the change. There are studies that show what happens throughout changes and what it causes in our brains. 

Get a clear vision of the changes.

Let your employees know what will remain the same and what will change. Establish a plan what impact it will have when the management is changed or the software is being replaced. You need to know what the changes will cost you. Share with your employees what it is when you and your team face changes. Are they going to find it exciting?. Are they going to be happy?. Or are they going to quit their job because of the changes. For the cashiers in 2002 in Western Europe was major task take their country's past currency and give change in Euro's. These changes might occur and when a new president takes over the government there can be new changes for the country.

Create a time-line.

Let the employees know what the goals were before what change. Also let them know what the new goals are after the change. And you need to let the employees know how the situation is during the change and after the change. Get your team of workers involved with informing them about what points they need to be aware about. Ask employees questions about their readiness and if they are mentally prepared for the change. Information about the change is needed like water to prepare your team for the change they are about to face. During the change you can discuss the points what is going on and what the team should be more aware of. Form a strong team like Triades or Italian mob. You are all together in the same boat during the change.

Support your team.

Support your team you as the team leader informing to take away their fear of change, stress and other negative emotions. Getting the employees involved in the process of changes are the best ways to succeed. Teach the team what the whole process is going to do before the change, during the change and after the change. If there is a change of the production line is going to change by taking over by a robot arm. Then hire a consultant to teach the human force how to program the robot arms and how to work efficient for example. Learn them how to be more risk-free and to take more causion. Learn the team to be more patience and deal with negative feelings with more causion. 

Stimulate 2-way communication.

Give your team the opportunity to discuss matters that going to happen before the change, during the change and after the change. Let them talk amongst each other what the pros and cons are. What opporunities there are going to get. Give them off-site chance to talk about how the change is going to comfort them or disturb them. After the change you can give the team to give comments about their experiences. Communicate with your team what the major changes are and what the minor changes going to be. Who takes the lead when the change is going to occur. 

Develop skills.

To face the change properly you can teach the team with skills to be stress free, to take actions to beware of the time-frame in which the change is going to occur, Develop a good communication skill with your team to operate to face the change. For the leaders and employees there is a good thing to take a change management training to succeed.      

What are the benefits of retail automation?.

To improve your brand's recognizion and customer experience can be automation in retail the solution. To be efficient and  to save time and money then implementing technology and up-to-date tools is the solution. In constantly changing business environment you need to be relevant to keep up with the competition. If you fall behind when it comes to tools and technolgy. It can cost you profits and long term assets like loyal customers. People have needs that you supply. The world is spinning at a fast pace. People are getting tired of being patience killers. Take computer browsers for example. These browsers need to be fast. People want to be move quick.

What are the benefits of automation in retail?

Reduce your labour costs.

Repetitive tasks can be done with less human interventions and hard work which needs to be done with manual labour can be done by robots for example. Or just imagine help-your-self supermarkets. You come to the supermarket get your shopping cart and pay at the end your self. There is no interventions of another human involved. You do not have get help from a cashier. Or implementing chips for your computers at a labour line. If you automate it with robot arms this will save you lots of costs when you hire humans to do manual labour.

It takes care of proper efficiency.

Automation works most accurate and faster. You can handle the process of taking care of customer service through the phone or rather with Artficial Intelligence chatbox. People can find help through chatting. People can find answers through the A.I chatbox if not,  they can be connected to a human customer service employee. For example manual record keeping can be surpassed by single click automation. The service consistancy can be improved with less human error.

Less human errors.

Technolgy brings in an accurate workflow and less human errors. We can not imagine human labour can be taken over by automation from the workfloor. But automation will take lots of loads off the back of the human employees. The repetitive work can be totally or partly automated and humans will make mistakes when they have to do the same tasks all the time. When there is distraction people will fail to do the tasks like it should. For example inventory management, billing and customer service can be automated to save time and money.

The automation process will increase customer satisfaction.

If you approach the customers by their name and suggest relevant products based on their past purchases. You will have an increased customer satisfaction. Let customers know how your customer service is better than the competition by offering one of a kind customer experience. Fast processing and service offered by you will be a great remark to the  customers. When customers once know how good the vision of your employees are of the inventory record keeping because it is registered at the billing department. Then they will not get a no for an answer.

Automation will help your scale your business.

Automation will help you grow your business by making it easy to manage the workflow by automation. Make profits faster than when intervene human manual labour. Automation process will attract and keep your current loyal customer base by offering them good customer care and faster service at the store when using a P.O.S (Point Of Sale) system to make the billing faster. This will make your profits bigger in relevent time frame than using manual labour.

Lower risks for your business.

When you accept credit cards, checks and other payment methods there are risks involved. You can be at risk when you not aware that there are frauds at large walking into your supermarket and using a fake credit card to scam your business. If you do not keep a close eye on these frauds it can take chunks of your profits bit by bit. That is not all also the physical inventory in your store can at danger. If you do not have detectors to prevent theft.

Signs of a successful business ownership.

It is not alway certain how your business is going to run in the future. To be successful you need your company's factors set up well and it should function well. The sales department and the marketing department should be well synched to communicate well and generate sales. When do you know how well your business is doing?. When you make enough money even when you are asleep or on vacation. Or when you make money 24/7 on autopilot and when you have your savings account stashed to the fullest. 

Earn money while you are on vacation.

If your company is making money while you are even on vacation means that you are doing beyond surviving. This means you have set up sales channels and distributing channels to generate money even when you are asleep. If your business is making enough money that you can getaway with your family to a tropical Island for example. Means that your business is striving to generate lots of sales. 

Your business site shows up on the first page of the search engines.

Once your company's site is well optimized with keywords and it shows up on the first page of Google.com, Bing.com and Yahoo.com. This means that you will have good amount of organic traffic through the search engines and you also can set up pay-per-click campaigns to generate even more sales. If your site do not show up on the first page of google, bing or yahoo. Then add new content regularly. Write new posts and add new products to your e-commerce website. 

You made a difference in customer's life.

Doing business is about demand and supply. Customers are looking for solutions to satisfy their needs. This might be on a material level or emotional level. Customers got a certain budget and they have needs. If you can make the difference by offering relief to their pain points then you know that you are doing good making money with your business. The money is not always the issue with the customers. Just look at the status symbols like playing Golf or riding in a new electric Tesla. 

Your business can be found without any problem.

It is a must to make your company found by prospects. If you have set up proper marketing channels and your customers know how to approach you. Then you know that you are on the right track. To make your business grow you need to advertise to a targeted market to let the people know that you sell what they are looking for. It is just matters of fact when a customer want a certain product they will do some background research and will find your business to buy from you. So the social media can not be leaved untapped.

You know that you are not the only elephant in the jungle.

It is good to know that you are not alone and on the journey of making money doing business you know that you depend on other businesses to. If there is no compitition the customers will never know why your products are different from the competition. The local governments try to stimulate the competition. It is good for to know that when you sell Canada Dry ale people know that this is the flavour they are looking for will buy that Canada Dry ale rather than  a Coca-Cola. You need to separte from the rest to standout.

When your business gets referals.

Once customers know what you are selling they will spread the word through social media or word-of-mouth. So when you have proven that your products offer the solution to the everyday problems of the customer. This will bring your business to the next level when customers refer your company's products to family and friends. You can give out sample at the local supermarket if you are a soda company or give out free t-shirts with your logo on it to the local soccer team. Also you can donate to the local charity in exchange for advertising.

 

How to market your business to an International market?.

It is not easy to launch your products to an International market. Even large companies struggle when they run into obstackles such as language barriers and cultural barriers. To penetrate a global market you need to promote in the local language. The advertising material need to adjust to serve the local customers. It is even wiser to hire local employees to do the job. They speak the domestic language and they know the culture. It is hard for an American to adapt in no time to while having a 9 till 5 in a foreign country.

How to launch a business in new and emerging markets?.

It is quite important to know the market you are serving. The commercial goals need to be written down precisely. The business plan should be written in terms of what the marketing goals are?. New trends that is coming up can be seen by businesses by studying the new music, movie or fashion cultures. Adidas made a huge impact amongst the hip hop fans. All the B-Boys dress in these clothing brand. It is just unimaginable to hear that not a single fan bought Adidas sneakers at least once.

How you are going to reach the customers?.

What marketing channels you are going to use?. To reach your audience. You need to create a style guide that shines a true image of your brand personality to the an International market. It is important to keep your brand's image when operating on the International market. If you are going to reach customers through the social media sites then you need to define the targeted audience first. And write compelling marketing material which is helpful for the prospects. 

Write marketing material in the local languages.

Do not translate. Learn the local slang when appealing to sub-cultures. You can not promote the Adidas sweatsuit to a kid in The Bronx, N.Y.C who is a hip hop fan with slang that is appealing to a Malibu surfer. This means you need to know the cultures and sub-cultures. Learn the ways of the local cultures. There are also common markets. You can reach party people of all the sub-cultures with creating ad for the television if you are the marketing department of the brands like Bailey's or Heineken. 

You can not leave the social media untapped.

Local market penetration is possible when you focus on the market segment to promote your products to. Through social media site like Facebook and Twitter you can get shares for your marketing material. You can set up ad campaigns on sites such a Facebook or LinkedIn when you are promoting products or looking for employees. Depending on geography and demographics you can get relevant pricing for the clicks with pay-per-click. Create compelling messages that is easy to read and remember. Make slogans and create images with suitable colours which is entertaining.

Run a focus group for your business.

This means you can gather small amount of people who never bought your company's product and gather information about their needs and ideas on what need the products should satisfy. You will find out what problem your products should solve and what features should be more advanced to supply the demand in the near future. These discussions can give you insights what slogans the representives of the focus group prefer and and also how they want to be reached. You can talk with these people of the focus group what information you have gathered through the surveys of the marketing research.

Get insights through website and social media analytics.

These analytics will give a good portion of insights where your traffic came from. Which ad generated the most traffic from social sites and which website got what type of traffic. The traffic might be traffic from the US, UK or Germany. This will give you an idea what the quantities traffic it is. This means when successful ad campaigns are seen by your marketing employees. They can rinse and repeat those traffic ads. These analytics will give you an idea of the engaging customers and what webpage they have explored and left without buying and even how long they been on a certain webpage.

How to create an effective communication plan?.

To launch company's products to the targeted audience you need to communicate in a certain manner with the market. It is the key messages you deliver to the market to generate profits for your business. That is how we can describe what a communication plan is. Your communication plan consists of the market segment you want to promote your products to. Also how you are going to show the image to the market of your business' brand. What type of message you deliver to the targeted audience. Also what way you are going to convey this message to the targeted market segment.

Research your current comminication plan.

This way you can get a clear idea where you stand with your communication plan at the moment. You can decide where you want to set sail to operating even more effective. It is researching the communication material and strategies. Make a good deal with your self how you are going to communicate. Make a list of exact places where you are going to communicate. This means it can be busstop or a football field where you place banners at the sidelines. Get a clear picture of the communication successes and losses. Keep an open eye on the trends to focus on growing demand. Ask for feedback about the communication campaign from stakeholders, clients or team members. These people you can ask for insights through e-mail, surveys or marketing research from person to person. Find out about the strenghts and weaknesses are of the campaign.

Write down what the marketing communication objectives are.

Describe what your business goals are. This can be that you want to scale through the years. Make 50.000 usd more every year. Then define what your marketing goals are. This means you can get more specific about your marketing goals. What segment you are going to promote to for example and how you are going to compete with other businesses. To generate money you need to tap into a market which is not crowded. Do a proper marketing research. Find out what your strenghts are. Find out what is going to give your business a Columbian necktie. To know your strenghts and weaknesses is to know how you are going to overcome obstackles. 

Write down what brand mission and what unique selling proposition you have.

Make sure that you describe what that trait is that makes your brand unique. How you are going to stand out to get ahead of the competition. What is the main thing that appeal to your targeted market?. You need to show the market why your product is different from others. Why it is better?. What advantages it has?. What problem it solves and why other businesses can not deliver the products you are selling. Let the customers know why the price and quality is relevant. Create a statement with your brand. 

Create an image of the ideal client.

To know who your buyers are you need to know who they are. What age category they fall into?. What gender they are?. How much their annual income is?. This means you need to describe what their backgrounds are and what they preferences are. This is major part in your communication plan to get the right image of the ideal customers. To find out who is going to buy the new product you launch you can outsource the process of marketing research to a marketing firm to get a clear idea of the market potential. After you have gathered information make a short sentence description about your ideal customer. 

Write down what the crucial messages are that you are going to present your audience to.

As you know what your targeted audience is you can write down message how you are going to communicate with your targeted market. It can be a statement that you want to deliver to the specific audience. What are the significant issues you want to clear to your market about your business?. What wrong image do you want to get rid of what the prosprects have about your company?. Adapt to the culture of the customers and communicate in their native languages. Define all the issues why the customers relate to your company's brand or products. 

Set up communication channels.

You start a company blog to high-light all the new products that your company launched and what your customers have to say after buying your products. Through e-mail you can send new offers and salesletters. Also you can convert prospects into buyers through this method. You can use text messaging to customers let them know about discounts and deals. You can print flyers and print promotional t-shirts and caps to give to your client base. Advertise on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. You can also set up an pay-per-click campaign for example at Adwords for example. Also the television, radio and the newspapers you can not leave untapped.

How to build an effective sales team?.

It is easy said than done to say with a passionate and experienced sales team can have your company sales generated like it is money growing on trees. There are lots of factors involved to have your sales team working for their bonuses and making their boss rich. There are lots of team work and patience needed to work with each other. Also there are training programmes and staying up-to-date with all the trends that is coming up and happen now is also few issues you need to keep your eyes open on.

When is the perfect timing to build a sales team?.

If you are just launching a product there is lots of promotion needed and what you can do is to think about how successful this product is going to be after promoting for a certain time. It is for sure without promotion that your product is not going to sell like Coca-Cola or Nike. You need to find out what your targeted market is. To find out you need to do a market research. Depending on the product you can give out samples  if it is soda or candy brand you can offer taste tests. It is not always known to businesses that is starting out is risky. Especially when you lend lots of money to build a sales team and not launching a successful product. Depending on size of the company you can launch a sales team or outsource the sales department to generate sales through the phone for example.

What skills must your sales representives need to posses?.

If the sales person has affinity with your company?. For example hiring a sales person who is experienced in selling shoes at a sportswear store can become at your streetwear store the manager. So the sales person who you are going to hire need to have relevant sales experience. Or if you have a large company then you can train your sales people with extra knowledge to put into practice. These sales people must have the communication skills to be a team player. Also a good dosage of humour and patience. Realize if the sales person is going to be loyal to stick with your company for a long-term. You can find out what the sales person motivates. Is it the money?. Or the pure sales results this person fights to get.

What are skills are needed to sell?.

For a new sales person is not easy with good manners, charm and patience to sell like a 10 years experienced salesman who constantly sold stocks through the phone for example. The sales person should have the sales DNA such as knowing the terms like turnover, added sales tax and also be involved in the company's ethics. They must meet the sales target. 

They must be good story tellers and be active on social platforms.

The sales persons must be telling stories to sell. For example about ex-customers experiences with the products of your company. Why your product is different from other brands. What the advantages of this product is why it is easy to use and if it is a soda brand what flavour is most sold and why?. The sales persons must be active on the social platforms and communicate through e-mail in a proper manner. Site like Facebook is a huge site with lots of users. This is a source that the sales team can not leave untapped to generate sales.

Listen to customers need.

The sales person need a good dosage of active listening skills. They need to concentrate on the problem what the customer has. These customers need help to make their life easier or just on the emotional level to feel satisfied. The customers have a budget and they are willing to spend it for the right cause. It is up to as the sales person to stimulate the customers to buy from you. Money is not always the issue depending on what type of customer it is. Through listening you can explore the customers pain point and you can get a sense of the what need they have.

What can an investment consultant do for you?.

Making money with investing is big business. There are many advantages and also risks involved. You can nowadays go to a major site like etoro.com or plus500.com and sign up to make money with investing. If you are an experienced investor you will have more insights in the financial world and you will eventually succeed. It is kind of risky business to make money as the big timers if you a newbie. You need to analyze the financial markets and also the stocks you are going to invest in. 

What is an investment consultant?.

That is person who plan and advice you about the financial markets to invest in the profitable stocks. This person is a financial expert mostly with a degree and a licence like series 7 or 6. These people work at an investment firms. There are fund managers who sell stocks through the phone and meet people like investment bankers to get more clientele. For investment strategies and advice you can turn to a investment consultant. These people will help you to reach financial goals and make profits through investing. Some of the financial planners and financial advisors can be considered as investment consultants. These persons are well experienced experts in the field of finance.

More detailed definition of investment consultant.

The clients of an investment consultant can be a buisness or an individual. There are also large coporation involed who is asking for financial advice from investment consultant. These people can monitor the portfolio of a business, individual or coperation to give advice, plan and excute such as buying and selling stocks, gold or equity. Because of the fact that their clients need long-term advice. The relationship they build last long. It depends on the portfolio of the client and what the investment terms are. The investment consultants work at banks, independent firms and also asset management firms. 

How much do an investment consultant make?.

Mostly the new school investment executives have a degree and work experience and they make around 73.000 usd per year. There are some crucial skills involved if you want to be an investment consultant. Skills such as highly developed problem-solving abilility, communication skills, math is a subject you need to master at all cause. This skill is one of the most important skill involved because the clients need to deal with all the objectives and the investment consultant is responsible. There are emotions of the clients involved when there are losses. It is just mind-boggeling what types of risks the investment consultant have to take make money for others. There is a huge sense of reponsibility needed to do this work.

There are 4 types of investment representives.

Registered representives.

There are stockbrokers, financial planners and financial planners who sell stocks through banks, investment firms and financial firms who get a commission. They sell financial products such as stocks and insurance instruments. If you have extra 300 usd you can invest in long-term investment instruments such as residential equity to have high yield financial products in your investment profolio. Registered representives hold the ownership of series 6 or 7 to buy and sell stocks for example.  

Financial planners.

Investment consultants who are certified are people such as financial planners who manage your personal accounts to make money such as investing in stocks, gold or equity. There are firms that can help you to manage your college tution fees for example. There are certified managers of these accounts with certificates such as (CFP) Certified Financial Planners. (CPA) Certified Public Accountant. (PFS) Personal Financial Specialist certification. 

Financial advisor.

If you are wealthy. I am talking about when you are retired at 65 and you have saved 100.000 usd on your savings account. You can get advice from a financial advisor they charge you a fee for their advice. And you like to make more of the 100.000 usd on your savings account. Then buying stocks or investing in equity is an option. Or you can ask these financial advisor if it is fruitful to flip houses or building and selling for example. They know how the market is at the moment. How demanding it is to sell houses or commercial buildings.

Money managers.

These are people at buy-side firms who make descions for their clients when the clients want to expand their profolio with new penny stocks or Coca-Cola stocks for example. The investment consultants who work as money managers might also manage your hedge funds or other funds. These people also manage your assets at asset firms.