Month: January 2016

A new year always arrives with new challenges — and new opportunities. While 2016 will see the continuation of some long-running trends – mobile tech will continue to dominate, Millennials will grow as an essential market, online video will keep rising in importance – a number of issues impacting small business owners are just now beginning to emerge.

Here are five new, big trends that small businesses will face in the coming year and beyond.

EMV Liability and A Shifting Payments Landscape

In late 2015, you might have been asked by a retailer to slide your credit card into a slot instead of swiping it through the reader like you’ve been doing for years. In October 2015, liability for fraudulent purchases formally shifted from credit card issuers to retailers unless they adopted EMV technology, which is embodied by the tiny chip embedded in new credit cards. While controversial, EMV is designed to improve the security of credit cards and make them harder to counterfeit, but if you haven’t upgraded your card readers – or don’t use them properly – you could be on the hook for major losses down the line.

Note that EMV impacts everyone, so even if you’ve been using a mobile card reader like one from Square or GoPayment, you aren’t immune from the new rules. Upgrade mobile readers now (Square’s is here) to stay protected.

Minimum Wage Hikes and Other Labor Laws

More than 20 states have set higher minimum wages for 2016, and some regions have dramatically hiked the amount workers must be paid. Seattle famously pushed its minimum wage from $11 to $15 in 2015, which has left many small businesses – especially restaurants – scrambling financially. Preliminary data has shown Seattle restaurant jobs on the (slight) decline vs. the rest of Washington, leaving some to wonder about the ultimate economic impact the law will have in the years to come.

Minimum wage isn’t the only thing employers will contend with in the HR universe. New rules like California’s Fair Pay Act, the federal mandatory sick leave order, and potential changes in overtime exemption rules all threaten to upend the way employers budget for labor costs. The upshot: Watch for big moves toward automation, kiosk-based customer service, and other human-free systems across all business lines.

Same Day Delivery Entices Customers

In a world where music and movies are available for instantaneous download, consumers are becoming increasingly impatient with lengthy waits for physical products to be delivered, and Amazon’s popular Prime subscription delivery service has made consumers even more fanatical about getting stuff fast. The next step is same-day delivery, which Amazon is also testing, along with a whole cadre of get-it-now instant gratification services.

The upshot of all this is that delivery speed is rapidly becoming an area where businesses can generate a real competitive advantage. Can your business speed up the way it reaches customers in 2016, either directly or through a partnership that’s already built out an infrastructure?

Hackers Love Small Businesses

A sea change is underway in the world of online security: Now more than ever, small businesses are being targeted by hackers and other, surprisingly coordinated, online criminals. It’s easy to see why: While large companies represent potentially massive windfalls to attackers, small businesses have fewer resources to protect themselves and are less likely to even be aware they’re under attack. Last year, Symantec research found that 60 percent of all attacks targeted small and medium sized businesses, and a typical successful attack can cost a business hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

The smart move for 2016 isn’t necessarily to bone up on constantly-evolving security tactics but rather to outsource security to someone who already does. So-called managed security service providers are on the rise and can offer a level of protection that few small businesses can achieve in-house.

Laser Targeting of Potential Customers

Broad advertising (like TV and radio) isn’t going anywhere, but the days of “spray and pray” ad campaigns are rapidly coming to an end. Facebook already lets you target potential buyers with laser-like accuracy, based both on demographics and their stated interests, and newer technologies are taking this even further. Want to reach all the moms who live in a seven-mile radius from your store? You’ll be able to reach them directly, by name, with a series of cross-device ads – and even send them mobile messages through beacon technology should they wander near your shop.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

About the Author: Christopher Null is an award-winning business and technology journalist. His work frequently appears on Wired, PC World, and TechBeacon. Follow him on Twitter @christophernull.

Whether you’re running a B2C or B2B company, your customers’ experiences with you and your team can define success or failure. Happy, satisfied customers stick around, working with vendors or service providers to solve their problems. Unhappy customers look elsewhere. And most turn to competitors. Keeping your customers engaged, satisfied and coming back for more means prioritizing the relationship with both a customer-focused culture and technology that promotes account information sharing.

Prioritize consistent service and delivery

Anyone on your team that interacts with customers needs access to the most recent, relevant account information. When your teams have updated account details, they provide better service and answer customer questions quickly. Your customers don’t want to explain every detail of their account to someone every time they make a call or send an email. Technology that helps you provide consistent service levels makes customers comfortable and supports faster, more efficient problem solving and support. Anyone who’s ever sat on hold with the cable company, understands this concept.

Measure the effectiveness and outcome of interactions

The channels for customer interaction seem to grow every day. Social media, email, phone calls and other dialogue produce meaningful insights and outcomes that define customer service. A negative tweet can’t only be the concern of the social media team. Every time a customer reaches out to your business, the sentiment they share should be measured, shared and analyzed. Overarching customer experience initiatives depend on information sharing and also the improvements to services or products as a result.

Remember, you’re dealing with people

You aren’t managing accounts or clients. You’re working with people. People respond to personalized service and businesses that actively try to improve their lives. Sharing customer information throughout your company – and making it easily accessible – ensures that employees can speak to customers on a personal level. More than anything else, a personal connection keeps customers engaged. Personalized service will make your company stand out from the pack and attract prospective customers looking for something more from the companies they give their money to.

Customer relationships are the heart of any business. It’s not easy to keep every detail in mind. However, a CRM solution promotes information sharing, and a companywide commitment to service creates an atmosphere of long-term customer retention and satisfaction.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

Internal automation may not be at the top of your small business’ 2016 priority list. One big reason being small business owners are busy, and integrating and implementing another software can seem daunting, especially for those that identify as being technologically impaired. Fear not, though. Automation gives small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) the chance to reach the next level of success by streamlining day-to-day activities and – most importantly – saving time.

Ditch data entry

Timing is everything when it comes to winning business. Rather than inputting data manually into spreadsheets, automation relieves users from this duty and even makes for more complete data capture since there’s no risk of human error. Tools like Torpio or Zapier can automate tedious dual data entry. Application programming interface (API) technology allows employees and business owners to automate data retrieval and modification, freeing up valuable time for employees to spend on more important activities.

Automated pipelines = $$$

Not only does automation cut down on time spent on data entry, it can also improve the efficiency of your workflows. Users can create sets of tasks and events associated to specific activities. Now, these can be applied in one batch rather than having to manually add each every time the specific event happens. For example, when a real estate agent is in the process of selling a house, there is a standard series of tasks and events that are repeated for every sale. With a defined activity set, these tasks are automatically assigned, saving time and ensuring the process moves forward. As projects move through the pipeline and into the subsequent stages, automated activity sets are immediately populated and assigned. With this streamlined process, deals close faster without important details falling through the cracks. This all leads to the ability to take on more business with increased efficiency. And more business means more revenue.

There’s a consistent demand to keep pace with the latest and greatest in terms of technology, especially for SMBs that compete against bigger organizations. By investing in automation, SMB owners and employees can spend less time and effort on tedious tasks, and more time on what needs to happen to move business forward.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

When you’ve got tons of leads zooming by your head, it’s important to stay organized so you can maximize your conversion rate. These super simple tips will help you be efficient in following leads down the pipeline and boost sales as well!

1. Define Activities & Campaigns at Each Stage

Your lead’s needs change as she moves into your pipeline from opportunity to prospect, to customer, and hopefully, repeat customer. Make sure you’re delivering content and marketing campaigns at every stage of the pipeline to match her ever-changing requirements.

When she first enters the pipeline, you can ply her with informative emails to help her make the decision to purchase from you. Once she’s become a customer, move her to a different email list based on her purchase and behavior details. She’ll need more sophisticated communication at this stage to build on the relationship you’ve established.

2. Track Prospect Value

When you know how much a given opportunity is worth, you can allot the appropriate resources to nurturing the lead or existing customer. For example, if you have a customer who made a small one-time purchase, you might not need to spend as much time nurturing that relationship as one who signed up for $60,000 worth of services for the year.

Tracking sales opportunity value allows you to prioritize your efforts and decide where your time spent will have the most impact.

3. Make it a Team Effort

You may not be the only person on your sales and marketing team who needs to touch a lead in the pipeline. CRM is great for teams in that you can assign a task to a team member, make sure it’s done before the deadline, and track conversations around a given sales effort.

With project management integrated into your CRM, you can see, at a glance, the status of any project (and you can definitely consider a sales opportunity as a project).

4. Use Reports to Your Advantage

With all the rich data you can get about closed sales, funnel analysis, and even why customers say no, Insightly reports are among some of the best tools you can use to tweak future sales strategies.

Reports help you identify patterns. If you notice a trend of people are saying no due to price, you can try a campaign with a discounted offer to see if you can boost sales conversions. If people are unsubscribing from your newsletter, you can assess why it isn’t providing the value you want.

Knowing what works (and what doesn’t) arms you to be smarter in your sales tactics in the future.

Each of these tactics is incredibly simple to implement with Insightly, and can show huge results within a short period of time.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

When a small business looks at investing in a CRM platform, there are always going to be many features to choose from. The most basic CRM features allow a small business to maintain their database and organize their contacts, but there are other CRM features that can truly help a small business to succeed. By investigating the potential of other CRM features, a small business can maximize its ROI when it purchases a CRM platform.

Photo by Stuart Miles

Social Media Integration

Small businesses make sure that their CRM software offers integration with social media platforms. Social media can tell you what types of content your business contacts enjoy, what types of products they endorse, and keep you up to date on any personal items that could help you to develop a stronger customer bond. Your CRM platform needs to have the ability to integrate with social media if you want to learn everything you need to know about your clients.

Versatile Access

Compare Business Products tells us that a CRM that is not able to be shared across the Internet or across multiple computing platforms is not a very helpful tool at all. Your CRM needs to be accessible via the Internet to help satellite offices and to allow employees to work from home. Access using mobile devices is essential for field personnel and for anyone working your company’s trade show booth at important industry events.

Robust Project Management

When Insightly talks about its product offering, it talks about much more than just managing contacts. It talks about developing interactive projects that include customer milestones and critical customer contact information. A good CRM platform allows you to develop various marketing events for specific customers and then offers the ability to track those events and make changes along the way.

A good CRM software platform includes project management features such as integrated scheduling, budgeting, and the ability to develop specific contact lists for each project. You should be able to analyze the data from each marketing project and determine better ways to segment your customer base and develop much more effective marketing plans

Sales Pipeline Tracking

When a small business can see exactly where every opportunity in the sales pipeline is in the sales process, then it becomes easier to follow up on those opportunities and close deals. A CRM platform without a sales pipeline tracking mechanism is almost useless to a small business. With sales tracking, a small business can better organize its limited resources and get better results each time.

Insightly can be the most cost-effective business tool for any small business, provided that the small business owner maximizes the functionality of the Insightly CRM platform. Check out the pricing on the various Insightly programs and decide which one is right for your business. Then talk to an Insightly expert to determine which features you will need to add to get the very most out of the Insightly online CRM solution.

George N Root III is a professional freelance writer who has expertise in topics such as Internet marketing, business, advertising, and personal finance.

At Insightly, we offer a CRM used by small and mid-sized businesses from a huge variety of verticals. Learn about all of Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial.

Turn It Up Tuesday: Tips from Insightly to Take Your Business to 11

Welcome to Turn It Up Tuesday, where we bring you 3 weekly tips—a tip on running your business, a tip on using Insightly CRM, and a tip on improving your life. Enjoy this week’s tips!

	Clear Off Your Digital Desktop
	Every year I promise myself I won’t let the condition of my computer desktop get out of control. And every year, sure enough, file creep sets in and I struggle to locate the icon associated with the document I need, let alone actually see the wallpaper I’ve selected as a desktop background. It’s frustrating and at times embarrassing when someone catches a glimpse of the chaos. According to psychologist Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, having a cluttered desktop can have a negative affect our ability to focus. Following a few simple tips such as limiting the number of browser windows you have open, selecting a desktop background that won’t obscure icons, and deleting or hiding every desktop icon you don’t use on a regular basis can improve your productivity.
	Creating a Custom Report in Advanced Reporting
	With Insightly’s Advanced Reporting, you can pick and choose which fields to display in a tabular report, filter and summarize them by specific values, and save and share the reports you create. If you have a paid subscription, you can also set up schedules and alerts for reports. To create a new report: Go to the Reports tab in the left navigation menu. Click the Advanced Reporting button to access the custom reports.   Click the New Report button in the upper right. You can also select a report type from the Insightly template folders on the left Select a report type from the list. You can search the list by typing in a record name, like “Project” or “Lead.” We’ll select Project Activity for this example, where we’ll produce a report of tasks in progress for each project.
	Through the Looking Glass
	The advent of contact lenses was a game changer for many. It cleared the way for us to not only have better vision, but to also move away from the misguided stigma of being the nerd or the shy one hiding behind our spectacles. Well, glasses have become quite the fashion statement which means you can you leverage this purposeful accessory to create your own unique style. You can also improve the overall health of your eyes by wearing glasses instead of contacts. Contact lenses, which cover the cornea of the eyes, decreases the oxygen supply which makes your eyes more susceptible to inflammation or dry eye syndrome. Research also shows that wearing glasses suggests a higher degree of intelligence.       Check out Insightly’s features and plans on our pricing page or sign up for a free trial of the best CRM around. Send Us Your Tips. Would you like to share your tips with Insightly customers? Send them to us! If we use one in our weekly feature we’ll send you a $10 Amazon Gift Card! Contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or send us an email. About the author: Marta Bright is Insightly’s Content Manager. She’s been writing about the “business of technology” in the Silicon Valley for more than a decade.