Wholesale Dropshippers & Dropshipping Product Suppliers Blog

Analyzing different ways to enter into export market

2009-12-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

When you mark some potentially lucrative export market and decide that it’s worth giving a try. You need to make a very important decision, which is to decide on what exporting method are you going to use, in order to make inroads into that market? This decision is crucial for many reasons. For example, you are short on resources. Exporting needs substantial funds and expertise that differs from market to market. Or maybe you have got the resources but you are not ready to risk them all on this new endeavor. Another reason could be the size of your business that doesn’t allow you to start direct exports. It’s better to play safe when you are new at something. That is why you can choose one of these methods to start with. Once you gain the experience and confidence, you can change the nature of export later.

Hire an exporting agent:
First choice is to hire an agent to represent you in that market. A good export agent will bring many advantages, the most important being the previous experience of operating in that particular market. Selling or marketing your products through some agent is a lot easier. You can obtain the much-needed presence in that market without having the need of spending big amounts on setting up an office. All you need to do is to choose a seasoned sales agent, who has got the experience and the staff to get the job done for you.

Form Partnership:
Going into partnership (also called export consortium) is another option available for you. Partnership means more resources and more experience. Your partner may well be having a better know-how of the targeted market. It also helps in meeting large orders in due time.

Apart from these two commonly used indirect exporting methods, other alternates are exporting through trading companies, licensing or franchising. Note that when going into partnership or hiring an agent, it is still advisable to personally visit the country, at least once.

Direct Export:
If you have the time and resources and you are ready to take the risk, you can go for the real trade, where you’d be at the helm of affairs for almost everything, from launching your product in the market to marketing, from distribution to collection. Selling directly to the end users needs a lot of efforts but at the same time, it is the most profitable venture among all the methods discussed above.

Sales oriented B2B marketing

2009-12-06T22:41:00.000-08:00

Businesses are normally involved in three types of transactions.

B2B (Business to Business) transactions
B2C (Business to Consumer) transactions
B2G (Business to Government) transactions

B2B amount to the biggest part of transactions made online. Creating sales - oriented marketing plan and strategies is essential when starting some B2B online business. Sales - oriented marketing plan is the one aimed at generating sales, rather than creating just brand awareness or exposure. Here is how you can do that.

Choose your unique niche market:
Target some market segment which is less explored, and make sure you start by offering some product or service to this specific niche. You cannot create some product which satisfies all segments of the market. Instead of offering something which every customer will find less than satisfactory, offer some product which some of them will find exclusively designed for themselves. Isn’t it better to have a few loyal customers in the initial stage of your business than having little more unsatisfied ones, who will never buy from you again?

Credibility:
Customers are turning into practical and no-nonsense types in this age of information. These types of customers will not buy from you, unless you establish your credibility. All your marketing techniques will fail to provide you with sales if your customers are not having trust in you. Exhibitions, business magazines, testimonials and trade shows can all help you in achieving this much needed credibility.

Lead management:
Lead management is all about generating leads and then making the most of it. Lead generation and then a healthy rate of conversion can do wonders for instant growth. E-mail marketing, referrals, seminar, cold calls are some of the mediums used for lead generation. You can think of your own methods as well, depending on your business.

Landing Pages:
Leads alone cannot provide you with sales; you need to convert these leads into sales. The first step is to make an effective landing page (AKA lead capture page). This is the page on which some customer lands or arrives after clicking on your link at some referral page or advertisement. This is not necessarily your homepage; it can be a blog or sign-up page as well. You can include images, frequently asked questions, sales pitch or testimonials. Ideally the landing page should be focused on selling just one product or service. In case, there are many offers, customer will get confused and leave.

Train your sales staff:
An effective marketing practice combines the two objectives of retaining old customers with attracting new customers effectively. Train your sales staff for this purpose because, after all your costly advertisements and marketing campaigns, it is your sales staff that will actually be making sales and reaching your customers with the follow-up calls. Sales staff should be fully aware of the business and offers, capable of coping with customer’s initial resistance or hesitation and well equipped with presentation skills.

Qualities of an entrepreneur - Are you an entrepreneur

2009-12-02T20:40:00.001-08:00

Entrepreneur is described as a person who forms a business out of nothing. Entrepreneur sees the opportunity where a common man just passes by. Everybody who starts a business is not an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are not made; in fact they are born with these qualities. Some distinctive features of an entrepreneur are

1. Self Motivated
2. Opportunist
3. Hard working
4. Education
5. Immoveable

Self Motivated:
Entrepreneurs are self motivated. To be an entrepreneur, you have got to be passionate by nature and capable of seeing hope in the gloomiest of situations. An entrepreneur life is prone to failures, disappointments and hazards. Entrepreneur should be able to fall, recover, stand up and get going again all on his/her own. Small pitfalls can not shake their belief in themselves.

Opportunist:
While the word may sound a little harsh and more of a negative trait than positive but the fact is that entrepreneurs are extremely good at spotting the opportunity and grabbing it with both hands when it comes their way. Not only will they make lemonade of every lemon they get, they will look forward to sell it.

More Work – Less Talk:
Entrepreneurs do not indulge themselves in years of planning and thinking process, they are more interested in executing the idea, instead of looking for its drawbacks. They prefer to give it a try. If you have got some business idea and you have been discussing it with everyone around you for sometime without doing anything about it, then you can be anything but an entrepreneur.

Education:
Mostly entrepreneurs are pretty sharp and intelligent when it comes to grasping the basic ideas but you will hardly find them topping the position chart or scoring extra ordinary marks in exams. They are normally interested in knowledge that is going to help them in their future ambitions; they don’t go around stuffing their mind with extensive knowledge which they know will never be used.

Immovable personality:
Entrepreneurs are bad listeners when someone is trying to discourage or criticize their plans. If they think the opportunity is there to grab, they will simply discard all “what” and “if”, especially if they are coming from someone else. This may hurt their social reputation but they hardly ever care. However, this stubbornness will never stop them from being flexible; they are quick to figure out if something is not working, and they are ready to change. They are quick to accept failure and move on to the next venture.

Pros and cons of different approaches for decision making

2009-11-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

Whether your business or professional career meets success or an abrupt failure, it is going to depend largely on your decision making skills. The difference between a successful entrepreneur and a failed businessman is basically the effectiveness of decisions they will make in critical situations. Some have this ability to hit the nail on the head while others waste time in pointless arguments and analysis. Making right decision is of use only if made at the right time, not after you have suffered the loss.

So how can you prepare yourself to make correct and timely decisions? Do your decision making style really affects the appropriateness of your decision? Read on to know the answers.

The importance of Discussions:
Discussions are very important, even if the point in discussion does not affect anyone else but you. Discussion is not about asking someone else to assess the situation and come up with a solution, because you are not capable to do so. It should be a dialogue between you and other concerned persons, where everybody comes up with their own viewpoints and ideas. A decision made after some healthy discussions and with majority's consent is supposed to be a more sound one, as it has been pored over and scrutinized by a group of people (and not just one person).

Democratic approach vs. the despotic style:
There are two ways to settle on a decision after sufficient discussions and arguments. First, asking everybody to vote and putting down an autonomous decision. Second, the manager concludes with his/her own verdict as the final decision after listening to everybody's viewpoint. Democratic approach works best when you need to motivate your employees by making them a part of the decision. However, you cannot cast off autocratic style completely, as it has its own benefits. For example, sometimes the manager has the vision and information to see things differently, or because workers or staff will be inclined towards a decision, which is more advantageous to them than the company. For all these reasons, manager have to make a decision that may not be well-liked by everyone, but in the end it is the manager who will be held responsible.

Analytical vs. Impulsive:
Analytical decision making approach is a scientific approach that involves mathematical, statistics, analytical software or any other mediums to examine the situation and finishing off with the most logical solution, whereas impulsive decision making works best when you have to make a decision, then and there. Both of these approaches are effective, problem occurs when somebody starts wasting time in analyzing when a quick decision is needed, or else when someone makes an impulsive decision when he/she was having all the time to analyze the situation and weigh different options.

Planning for your business travel? - Read this

2009-11-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

Business travels can be exciting, challenging and nerve-racking, all at the same time. There are people who love to travel around, and there are people who'd like to avoid traveling unless it becomes absolutely indispensable. If you belong to the first category (those who like traveling around) then good for you, but if you are one of those who reflect on traveling as a source of fatigue, you really need to stir up.

After all, you do travel from your home to the office and other places on daily basis, why lose sleep over traveling to some other state or country? Especially when you know that business travels open up a whole new set of opportunities. In most cases it's a wonderful experience where you learn so many new things, get the hang of new technologies, pick up new ideas and take hold of a completely new market.

Plan in advance:
No matter how much "in control" do you feel of yourself, last minute preparations are always risky because most of the times you'll end up missing out on some important items or documents. When you are traveling abroad, you need to plan in detail, from booking your tickets and hotel rooms to making a to-do list, trying to plan your journey in the nick of time would certainly make you overlook some of these.

Get as much as necessary sleep:
Business travels are quite challenging, both physically and mentally. You are constantly on road, moving around, meeting new people, making quick decisions and all. You may feel exhausted and worn out, especially if you are not getting sufficient rest. Good sleep is the biggest energy boost you can get and the most beneficial as well. It has an effect on your productivity, decision making capabilities and overall health. Give your body and mind adequate sleeping hours while traveling and they will take care of the rest. If you are undergoing JET LAG, drinking plenty of fluids can help.

Keep your luggage to a bare minimum:
When shopping or packing the accessories for traveling, you should try to come up with the lightest possible travel baggage (there’s no need to carry the best part of your wardrobe with you). A burdensome luggage will most certainly prove to be a hindrance at some stage of your journey. Make a list for all necessary items, give it another read and try to take out some non-compulsory stuff, do this a number of times, for example if you are traveling to a major city there’s no need to carry stuff like alarm clocks, compass, plastic bags, preventive medicines or toilet papers, etc.

Travel Safe:
Now days, security concerns are at an all time high, you are advised to be a lot more attentive and watchful irrespective of the city or country you are traveling into. Keep an eye on your luggage when on airports or railway stations; try not to wander around especially in less populated areas, try to hang around at some well reputed places, frankly ask for directions or guidance from your hosts or hotel staff.

Part time business - Do they really exist

2009-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

You must have heard about how part time businesses turned into large corporations, and how some business started as a hobby converted into a ground breaking company. These success stories are often considered flukes, and people brush aside ideas of having a part time business, knowing that no business can thrive unless you give it your 100 percent. They are not totally wrong but not entirely correct as well. Part time businesses exist and many of them grow into full time money spinning ventures, not merely by a twist of fate.

Businesses are like plants, they need your time, care, and patience before they develop into something fruitful. Some may need less time than others, but you can't just start a business and leave it to grow on its own. Ok, you are supposed to invest relatively less time into these part-time ventures but you can not completely ignore them.

Advantages:
When you have got an idea, but you are unsure about the outcome, you can always give it a try by starting on part time basis. Just to get a grip of the possible results. You can try something totally new, some interesting innovation; target some untouched niche or anything else like that. You can use your time in something productive instead of wasting all the time in watching useless soaps or motion pictures. Even if the business fails, you'll still end up having a lot of experience on your hands.

Disadvantages:
Part time businesses are not for everyone, only well organized and disciplined people can carry a successful side business. Otherwise they will just add into the list of your incomplete tasks. Another disadvantage is that your social life will be disturbed; your family members may also find it hard to adjust with your extra working hours. Your employer can also have some problem if your nature of business clash with their interests.

Do's and Don'ts:
Part time businesses should be related to some task that you enjoy doing. So much that you don't care about a lot for monetary gains. Make sure you are not putting too much time and investments into your part time business in its early stages, at the same time don't completely ignore it. Do not get over excited at earliest signs of success and dump your primary job or business for that, give it some time before you conclude on its fate and make decisions about your future.

Versatility & Change in Management

2009-11-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

Managers have always been defined as a person who plans, organize, manages situations and direct a team of subordinates to achieve the chief goals of the organizations. Now as the time changes and we relate a manager’s duty to today’s environment that contains much more competitive and complex consumer market; the management is also making its way ahead with various changes within itself.

The Increasing Importance of Customers:

The duties of a manager cannot be limited to internal management only, they must think beyond the boundaries of the organization, giving the priority to customer’s values and satisfaction. Managing customer relationships and aiming for customer satisfaction should be the main goal for all managers, if they are looking to succeed in business competition within the targeted market segment. In addition to this, consistency of high quality customer services is essential for survival in the competitive market.

Innovation:

A successful manager is the one who is full of ground-breaking ideas and is able to cope up with the changing trends in the market. Innovation may refer to constant improvement, revolutionary ideas and systematic changes in products, processes, or other organization operations. We expect good managers to do things differently while exploring vast territories and taking high but premeditated risks. Not only that but they should encourage employees to stay updated and grab any new opportunity that comes up, in order to sustain competitive advantage.

Marketing for small businesses with low budget

2009-11-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

If you are running a small/home based business, you are supposed to be low on budget. That's quite obvious; consider it an advantage or disadvantage, but small or home-run businesses can't spend fortunes on marketing that is not generating sales in real time. For this type of enterprises, this is just so important to ensure some return on all investments they make on marketing. Small businesses do not have the funds for unproductive marketing; they need sales to keep up. In this regard, first advice and the most important one as well, do some research and make sure that the product you are going to offer is already in demand. Remember, if you fail to do this, you are most probably in for a disaster.

Choose a market segment and stick to your niche market:
Targeting the whole market may sound more lucrative but that's not practical for small businesses, at all. They do not have resources, funds or skills for that kind of penetration, for them the best option is to choose a particular segment and design their products in line with this segment's needs and requirements. Remember, by choosing and serving some specific segment of the market, you can effectively kill half of the competition, straight away.

Be consistent and steady:
Don't judge the success of your marketing campaign on day to day basis, some days your cold calls, promotional e-mails or other marketing attempts may generate lots of leads, while on other days you'll find yourself not up to snuff. But you need to be consistent and patient, especially when the times are tough like recent economic crisis. Keep a note of your conversion rate, work extremely hard to put the required finishing touches if your conversion rate is somewhat below average. You can boost it up by working on minor things like your landing page copy or improving the quality of your follow-up calls.

Internet & Social Media Marketing:
Internet can prove to be a stroke of luck for small businesses, in particular with the inception and growth of social media networks. For many small businesses, Internet and social networking websites can prove to be so effective that ignoring them should be declared a crime, for their own betterment. Using these social networks and social media websites, with a little creativity can produce unbelievable results, and the best part is that it won't cost you a dime, as long as you can come up with something interesting, informative and valuable to share with your targeted customers.

Making use of your expertise to start a business consulting service

2009-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

If you are an expert in some particular field, you like working with new people, love challenges, and you are keen on starting and running your own business (in other (and more appealing) words “be your own boss”), then working as an independent consultant is the perfect business for you, which accommodates all of the above mentioned features. Do you think your expertise is sellable in today’s business world? Well, what are you waiting for? Get your skates on and go, sell it.

These days, consultancy businesses are growing like mushrooms. Businesses may use their advice or services in many scenarios, for example to spot the fault, training the staff or helping the business coming to grips with a new market or technology.

Different types of business consultants include:
Management Consultant: Helps with issues related to management such as business planning, implementing new strategies, brainstorming, etc.

Marketing Consultant: Helps you in getting started with marketing campaigns, identifying the niche, making market penetration plans, writing marketing copies or creating the buzz for your business.

Human Resource Consultant: Deals in recruiting and training the staff, also helps when the business has to go through some downsizing.

Financial consultant: Financial consultant can help you in financial planning, budgeting or making some crucial decisions of financial nature.

IT consultant: Many types of consultancy services may fall under this category like networking consultant, Microsoft consultant or SEO consultant.

Legal Consultant: You may seek their advice on all of the laws and policies related to your business.

These are just few of the promising consultancy services, but of course, these are not the only options, the fact is that you can offer just about any kind of consultancy service that maybe helpful to some businesses. You may or may not need to obtain relevant degree or certification, depending upon the competition, but for the sake of outshining your competitors, it is always recommended to have sufficient educational background along with your experience.

Starting and advertising a consultation business:
If you have got the knowledge and expertise, starting a consultancy business is not much of a fuss. You can start from your home, and you don’t really need any staff in the beginning (though having an assistant or secretary can be helpful). Real challenge is to reach your potential clients and establish yourself as an expert, in your respective field. There are various methods of advertising, such as brochures, newspaper’s classified section or public speaking, etc. Then we have a relatively new but mighty effective method known as "Blogging", use the ever growing internet to start a Blog and write regularly on your specific topic.

Keeping an eye on your advertising effectiveness

2009-10-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely, majority of businesses now understand the importance of marketing. Even the businesses with minimum resources are aware of the concept and significance of marketing. But there’s one thing that still goes without being noticed by many of them, that is advertising effectiveness. Many businesses have no idea on how to measure the success of their marketing campaigns. As a result, they keep running advertisements and marketing campaigns without really knowing if it is effectively working or not. Keeping a check on your advertising effectiveness is very important, or you may be wasting your resources on something useless, without even knowing it. On the other hand, measuring the accomplishment of your advertisement or marketing initiative is not as simple as measuring the increase in sales or inquiries.

How do we know if a commercial is effective or not?
A commercial that turns out to be extremely popular, doesn’t guarantee to be effective. For the reason, that the effectiveness of a commercial can be judged by evaluating its achievements and not by the hilarity in it. Therefore, if a commercial or any other marketing material that was meant to bring in more customers or to build a strong brand image is not effective unless there’s a positive change in the number of enquiries or the brand awareness. In fact, sometimes the storyline gets so interesting that it overrides the intended message in customer’s minds.

Setting objectives:
It is very important to jot down goals or objectives before initiating a marketing campaign. Most of the time, advertisement is targeted at generating sales but other equally important targets could be customer loyalty, product awareness, persuading customers or brand recognition. When setting objectives, make sure these are unambiguous and measurable, especially if you are delegating the project to some outside company.

Evaluating effectiveness:
Many companies test their ads or infomercials on a sample group of targeted customers to see the reaction. For small businesses that may not be possible but you can get the help from your family members or friends and ask for their opinion, the earlier you spot an ineffective medium, the better. If, after spending plenty of time and resources the end result is not impressive, don't waste more resources in distributing, publishing or making it public. Getting the accurate feedback is the key to constructive evaluation. Also, if you are trying to asses on the basis of increase in sales or revenue, don't rush into the process as soon as the commercial goes on air; you need to give it some time to develop.

International payments - Some commonly used methods for International Export

2009-10-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

When trying to setup an export business (especially one that's intended to be operating at small scale), one has to make some vital decisions. One of them is deciding on a method for collecting payments from an overseas party. Ideally, as an exporter you'd like to collect payment in advance, but advance payments are hard to obtain in international market (in fact it's the same with local markets as well). Unless you have some large, internationally reputable business, you can't expect your seller to trust you with advance payment. But you don't need to worry; there are some other alternatives, though not as secure as advance payments, still reasonably safe. Let's take into account some regularly used ones.

Letter of Credit (LOC):
This is the most widely used and the most recommended method for international export. The biggest advantage of choosing "letter of credit" as your payment method is that it provides security to both buyer and seller; therefore it is equally acceptable for both parties. When all details are finalized between the buyer and seller; the buyer contacts his/her bank and asks for the issuance of "letter of credit". The buyer's bank sends out the LOC to seller's bank. Once the seller is notified, he/she will dispatch the items to the address provided by the buyer. The shipping documents are sent to the buyer's bank via seller's bank. Buyer then make payment to his/her bank, which is transferred to the seller's bank in due time.

Open Account:
Completely opposite to "advance payments" and advisable only if the buyer is extremely trustworthy, open account method allows buyer to pay after he/she has received the products. While at first it may sound like "a risk too big to take", the method is quite common when you are dealing with large established businesses as your buyers, because of their trustworthiness and business history. Still, the method is risky and not practical for exporters who are just starting, for example if the buyer defaults with the payment, you are left in dire straits, especially if you fail to provide sufficient documented proofs in the foreign court.

Document against Payment:
Safer than "open account" but still reasonably risky mode of payment, in this method the goods are shipped by seller, but the buyer can only take the possession when he/she has agreed to the obligation of paying the seller. Two types of collecting documents are normally used, known as "document on payment" and "document on acceptance".

There are some other mediums as well, like credit cards or online payments but those are normally used to make small payments.

International Export Packaging – A checklist

2009-10-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

In international export, it may take several days, even weeks before the products reach to the customer, after being dispatched by exporters. Being an exporter, it's your responsibility to package all exporting items in a way that your customers will acquire them in excellent condition. Apart from protection; packaging is also used for marketing (labels & logos) or information (guidelines for consumers) purposes. Exporting products are vulnerable against physical shocks, crushing, climate change, mishandling, etc and the packaging should be able to safeguard them against all these hazards. Though the packaging standards differ with the countries and products, there are some minimum requirements that you need to take care of.

Packaging Box and Tapes:
Usually cardboard boxes are used when packaging for shipment. Always use firm boxes with proper flaps; extra padding (or cushioning) is compulsory for breakable items. Size of the box should be according to the product size, not too small (that you have to forcefully stuff all items inside) and not too large (that the goods can move around and clash with each other). Use separate wrapping for each item. If the products are of fragile nature, you can use wooden box for extra protection. Use standard tapes instead of normal household tapes, special tapes for packaging purpose are easily available. Extra safety measures are needed when you are exporting "food" items.

Addressing & Labeling:
Recipient address should be clearly mentioned, also the sender address where the products will return in case they don't reach the addressee. Also, mention the recipient contact number to ensure the delivery. Your business or brand logos on the package can be used for marketing and promotional objectives. Sometimes attractive packaging is used as a competitor advantage. You can also use the packaging to communicate with the customers about the other products or services you are offering. If the products are fragile or breakable, you can state these characteristics outside the box and give instructions for careful handling.

When exporting to developed countries, be sure to obtain knowledge about the acceptable packaging standards in that country. You can also refer to ISO standards in these cases. It's better to have a clear idea of all the possible hazards that the products can face before they will reach their destination. Remember the main motives of packaging that includes physical protection, quality preservation, storage convenience, marketing and product information. Adopting world-class standards is vital when doing international export, not only your product but your packaging should be of export quality in order to stand out.

Implications of the "Incoterms" in international import & export

2009-09-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

Communication is crucial in international import & export, where both buyers and sellers are located a long way away, there’s every chance of misunderstanding in the interpretation of various terms used in contracts and agreements. These confusions and misapprehensions can cost one or both parties, dearly. What sounds pretty simple and straight-forward to a buyer sitting in United States, could turn out to be a perplexing one for the seller in China.

This problem continued to exist and resulted in many mix-ups and losses until the International Chamber of Commerce set down “Incoterms”, which is a set of 13 terms, referred as

1. EX-Works
2. FOB (Free On Board)
3. FCA (Free Carrier)
4. FAS (Free Alongside Ship)
5. CFR (Cost and Freight)
6. CIF (Cost, Insurance & Freight)
7. CPT (Carriage Paid to)
8. CIP (Carriage and Insurance Paid to)
9. DAF (Delivered at Frontier)
10. DES (Delivered Ex Ship)
11. DEQ (Delivered Ex Quay)
12. DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid)
13. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid)

Businesses can choose any of these 13 terms according to their own needs and requirements. For example, "Ex-works" inflict the minimum liability for seller; on the other hand "Delivered Duty Paid" makes it obligatory for the seller to arrange for almost everything including export duty expenses, loading and unloading expenses, landing charges, transportation, insurance and custom clearance. Incoterms are not applicable to all aspects of trade, however they do standardize most of the terms used in international trade. For example, they spell out the terms of delivery in detail, and establish the responsibilities for buyers and sellers as to who will bear the expenses of insurance, clearance or various other taxes. Another important implication of "Incoterms" is the reduction (or removal) of uncertainty about the transfer of risk.

As an exporter or importer, you need to spend some time on understanding each of these 13 "Incoterms" and their explanations given on the official website of "International Chamber of Commerce". Each of them is an agreement in essence, with predetermined terms and condition, for that reason each of them has got different advantages and disadvantages. After a careful study, maybe you can underline the best ones and then stress on using that particular Incoterms when getting into an agreement with some buyer or seller. Incoterms are acknowledged all over the world (by courts, governments, etc); therefore a good comprehension of all of these terms is a must for all international exporters. Remember, ICC keep making minor changes (not very often though), it's important to keep a track of these modifications.

How to deal with employee's high turnover rate

2009-09-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

Turnover rate is the ratio of employees leaving the company (or some specific industry) in a given period. A company or industry has high turnover rate when the workers of that company tend to ditch their jobs more often than the employees of other companies (in the same industry). Some industries and jobs have high turnover rates because of the nature of work, however if your company has a high turnover rate than your competitor and you are not able to sustain your employees with you, there maybe something wrong with your policies. In case you don’t pay attention, not only you will be loosing your good employees to your competitors, your business will also suffer from high costs of attracting, recruiting and training the new staff.

Atmosphere and working conditions:
At certain workplaces, you will feel the tense atmosphere as soon as you put your feet in, reason can be strict management or unrealistic targets. Being a manager, it is necessary to maintain some discipline but some managers overdo it by importing rules straight from the books of military. For many individuals (especially fresh graduates) it becomes really hard to adjust in this kind of atmosphere.

Working conditions are linked with health related issues. Light, ventilation, air conditioning, heating systems and safety measures are some of the basic requisites. Sometimes, improving your high turnover can be as simple as loosening up some rules or dealing with some unhealthy environment issues.

Salary & Growth Opportunities:
Excessive work, no incentives and low salaries, these are all grounds for a high turnover rate. Employees are here to earn, and their morale is directly related to their income. If you are expecting them to give their 100 %, you should be giving back in form of good enough salaries. Your salary packages should be competitive if not the best in market. A good salary package will make up for many other factors, but if the salaries are low from the market standards, nothing can hold the employees for long. Similarly, motivating employees by providing growth opportunities is also necessary.

Choosing the right candidate and the nature of the work:
If your recruitment and hiring process is flawed, you are destined to have a high turnover. Many small businesses, in a hurry to fill out vacant positions, hire some unskilled individuals, thinking that he/she will learn the traits with the passage of time. Such hiring is nothing but wastage of time, both for employee and employer. The interviewee should have complete knowledge of the skills required for some particular job, and the successful candidate must be having most of them, if not all.

Sometimes the reason for high turnover is the nature of work, for example the jobs that require night shifts or excessive late sittings. These types of jobs are not suitable for everyone; hence turnover rates are often high in such jobs. These are just some of reasons, apart from looking into these areas; you can communicate with your employees to get the idea if they are having any reservations.

How important are Performance Appraisals

2009-09-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

There may be a huge difference between the performances of two employees, even when their qualifications or all other variables are same. Reason can be the difference in their dedication, commitment or personal traits. Quite obviously, the one who put more effort, more time or more commitment, for the growth of business than his/her counterparts, should be getting some extra reward for that. A timely salary increment or promotion for the best employee is not only an encouragement for the frontrunner; it also motivates others to work harder. If you don't come up with any kind of bonuses or rewards, it won't take long before you see a drop in that employee's performance graph too. Also, performance appraisals are essentials to keep a track of your overall business performance and figure out the deficiencies.

It may sound quite simple to choose the best contributing worker and hand him the reward. In reality, performance appraisals are something that needs lots of planning and careful thinking. Sure, it brings the sense of competition in your workforce, but the evaluations will also attract lots of puckered brows and objections. A flawed performance appraisal will go as far as completely shattering employee's confidence or loyalty towards your company. Bottom-line … don't take it lightly; you need to be extra cautious and fair when planning and implementing some performance appraisal program.

Guidelines for performance appraisal system:
Performance appraisal systems are based on some ranking or scaling criteria. Ideally, the judgment should be made with the help of statistics, along with the feedback coming from managers, coordinates and peers. Assessment criteria must be uncomplicated and easily available to everybody. Give them a transparent review system, where employees can judge themselves against their fellow workers, at any given time. Monitor the performance on regular basis instead of waiting for the month end before you go through the evaluation process. Don't try to stuff your performance appraisal plan with too many attributes and benchmarks, keep the requirements simple and easy to comprehend.

Performance appraisal Meetings:
The most important part of performance appraisal is to communicate with employees and discuss their overall performance. Don't discuss anybody's problem or dismal performance in front of his/her colleagues. Also, don't ignore past performances when judging an employee, if the worker has constantly been performing well except the present month, ask for the reason, especially if something is bothering him/her at workplace. Keep in mind the main objective of performance appraisal i.e. to encourage and motivate your employees, not to mark their short comings or hurt somebody's feelings.

Decorating your office - the right way

2009-09-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Office design and decoration plays an important role in the overall environment of the office, by the same token the overall environment plays an imperative role in the productivity of the company. Hence, a professional and pleasant looking office is as important as anything in your business success. Remember, you need to maintain a balance in all aspects when trying to decorate your office. For example, employer's comfort is vital but not to an extent that they start getting drowsy or lethargic in the working space. Similarly, it's good to try and make your office a fun place to be but it should not be giving an impression of some discothèque. Here are some important considerations for workplace setting and decoration.

'Light' Delights:
Surprisingly, light has been treated as an addendum when planning for your workplace. Whereas proper lighting at workplace is supposed to be your first priority, because that is where you spend most of your time. Bad lighting will harm your mental and physical health; in addition to this it may have a negative impact on your productivity. Excessive use of computers has made it so important that hiring some lighting expert is not a bad idea if you are not good with lighting standards or requirements. Ideal lighting arrangement should give your working space a feel of comfort and openness.

Comfortable Furniture:
Do some planning before going out to purchase your office furniture, so that you have a clear picture of the furniture that is fitting for your office space, this will save you from buying some needless fixtures. A chair or table that looks classy at furniture shop can turn out to be extremely inappropriate when placed in your office settings. Don't go for the looks, price or designs, comfort should be the main concern. You can go and talk to some sales person at furniture store, tell them your requirements and they'd show you the right piece of furniture.

Right colors for the Right mood:
Even before we had these research works, we knew that some colors have kind of soothing effect on our nerves; on the contrary some colors are quite stimulating. It means that using the right blend of colors, when painting your office walls can bring forth the right set of feelings in you and your staff. It's better to use different colors in different sections, like using neutral colors at workplace and cool colors at recreation room.

Coping with the workforce diversity for manager

2009-09-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

Workforce diversity is often considered a characteristic of large corporations, with considerably large pool of employees; however workforce diversity is not limited to just large companies. If we go by the definition, any business having two or more than two employees coming from different age groups, ethnic backgrounds, religious sectors, race or gender, etc is basically having a diverse workforce. Sometimes the differences are trivial and hard to notice, sometimes quite flagrant.

Workforce diversity is not something to be wary of, even if it requires a little bit more planning and thinking at manager's end, because it brings so many different perspectives and thought patterns to the organization, hence a diverse workforce is more of a plus than minus for businesses. A diverse workforce results in a more flexible and innovative business. That is why, there's no need to panic, if you find yourself managing a multitalented workforce. Wasting your time in planning to avoid people coming from difference age groups, gender or religious backgrounds is not only a discriminatory practice, but also a bad management decision. By doing this, you are closing your doors to a more versatile workforce, which is more capable of dealing with challenges.

Do's:
First of all, you need to accept diversity and allow your employees to carry and develop their own unique personalities (as long as it doesn't clash with office discipline and business objectives). It comes handy during the process of decision making and business meetings, where some sort of brain storming is needed. A group that consists of managers or attendees with similar ages, genders or experiences is more likely to miss out some noteworthy aspects, which a more diverse group can easily point out. As a manager, you must make use of the diversity when making some important decisions like finalizing a project, making appraisal plans or launching a new business.

Dont's:
Never go over the top with your efforts to eradicate individuality from the work place, with the intention of developing a more standardized workforce. By doing this, you may end up killing the creativity of your staff, a business having no originality or inventiveness can never reach its true potential. Take the example of this world, despite of so many disasters and challenges; this world continues to exist so far because of its diversity. To manage a diverse workforce efficiently, a manager should be having excellent communication skills and an understanding of human behaviors.

Choosing the right Freight forwarding agency

2009-08-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

Many small businesses (or those who have just started) find it extremely hard to go through the frustrating procedures of documentation, legalities and clearance, that unfortunately, is a must in all types of international trade. There are quite a number of fronts to handle, and more often than not you find yourself trapped in these time-consuming tasks, when you should be working on the more important ones like marketing, communicating with clients and finalizing new business deals. As a small business, you are left with two options, either hire more staff for these jobs or outsource everything to a freight forwarding agency.

Professional freight forwarders have a clear advantage over your newly hired staff, first they are far more experienced, second they have good working relations with many parties involved in transaction and third, they know many cheap alternatives for transportation. A good freight forward agent will be able to assist you from the word go if you have no real knowledge of international trade. Best way is to engage a freight forwarding agent even before you finalize the prices, as he/she can give you an exact idea on how much documentation, insurance or shipment can cost.

While choosing the freight forwarding (or clearing) agent, you must consider following guidelines.

Experience:
The prime reason for you going to the freight forwarding agent is his/her experience for carrying out those tasks. No matter how qualified your freight forwarding agent seems to be, don't close your eyes to the past experience he/she has in the field. An experienced freight forwarder can prove to be a lot more helpful because he/she will be having working relations with relevant parties. Being an "old hand" also reflects that the freight forwarding agency is a long-standing business.

Knowledge:
Choose the one with extensive knowledge of the market, policies, rules and procedures, and more importantly the best modes of shipment. The agent should be capable enough to go through complete process with ease and in a timely manner. An ideal freight forwarding agent will have the knowledge, skills and technology to provide, you and your customers with top-notch services.

Price:
Freight forwarding agent substitutes you for a good number of tasks, plus he/she will provide you with valuable counseling and guidance as well. So, the fees are supposed to be considerably high. Decide all the services you expect to receive and settle on prices in complete details, make sure there will be no additional charges in the future. If you are dealing with a freight forwarding agent from another country, bear in mind the communication problems (because of foreign language involved) that can arise in the future.

Choosing the right bank for international trade

2009-08-16T21:24:00.001-07:00

International exporters need the services of banks or financial institutions at many stages of their trading business. They need loan to help with initial setup, they need financing for production phase, and they need the services of banks to make or receive payments (letter of credit, wire transfer, etc), they can avail lots of other services like online banking, small business loans, credit cards, etc. When deciding on your bank you should consider following points carefully, because you can't keep changing your bank often.

Interest Rates and Service Fee:
Normally, there’s not much difference between interest rates offered by various banks operating in the same market and circumstances, mainly because of cut throat competition. However, that doesn’t mean you should completely ignore the small differences at hand. Similarly, banks charge different fees for different services, if you have a clear idea of the services you are going to avail, you can easily decide on the most suitable bank. Banks have to rely on these service charges and fees for their profits, but you must make sure that you are not getting ripped off by your personal bank.

Repute & History:
A well reputed bank of good standing will also speak for your business credibility at international export, so you better go for some bank, which is highly regarded among business circles. If you are choosing a bank for long term relations, you should go through its business history, past performance and achievements. Another question to go over is how financially strong that bank is, especially after we have seen more than 15 US banks failures in first three months of 2009. Just because they deal in money, doesn’t mean they’d never run out of it.

Customer Relations & Customer Service:
Good banker-customer relations are a result of mutual understanding and collaboration. Bank staff normally consists of well mannered and courteous individuals; still some banks go that extra mile to please their customers and establish long term relationships. Customer service can slightly vary on branch to branch basis as well. Don’t get overwhelmed by the politeness and the display of utmost sincerity when going through the procedures of opening an account, instead you should talk to some existing customers to make sure they are satisfied with the banking services and the behavior of staff.

In addition to the points described above, you can look for the quality of products and services offered by the bank.

Checklist for organizing successful meetings

2009-08-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Company meetings are meant to be highly informative, problem-solving and solution-providing events, however most of the times these meetings end without accomplishing any of these targets. That is why many people consider these meetings as a waste of time, for them participating in the meeting is nothing but an obligation that doesn't make any sense to them. For all these reasons, as a chairperson or someone who's looking into the task of organizing a company meeting, you need to take care of these points, in order to turn it into a constructive and valuable experience for participants.

Purpose of the meeting:
As earlier mentioned, all meetings are supposed to have a clear purpose; these are not mere gatherings where some employees spend some time sitting around the table and crack jokes at each other. For example, some meetings are meant for informational objectives like holding a meeting to explain some policy that has recently being implemented, or to pass out instructions for the use of some newly introduced technology. Another likely purpose could be to analyze or get to the bottom of some problem. The person who is named as the chairperson must have an unmistakable idea on what the meeting is all about.

Choosing the participants:
Preferably, a meeting should be having a small number of participants; however that doesn't mean some persons who are closely linked to the meeting agenda are left out just for the sake of having the least possible partakers. Choose the participants according to the nature of meeting; if the meeting has been conducted for instructive purpose, it's quite obvious that you must have an expert speaker who'll brief the participants on that particular topic. If the meeting is taking place because a problem has occurred and some kind of brainstorming is needed, it's better to have managers or representatives from all departments.

Controlling the discussion:
If you are chairing the meeting, your role is of utmost significance. First thing first, don't try to get overly authoritative, that will discourage free flow of information and ideas, once you have started the discussion, encourage everyone to take part, don't impose your ideas on anybody, during the discussion your main role is to keep the dialogue on track. Settle down the situation if participants are getting excessively aggressive, rude or emotional. Once everybody has shared his/her opinions with the group members, it's now your turn to evaluate and come up with conclusions, which will be based on the discussion and everybody's opinion. Last but not the least, prepare the minutes of the meeting and forward the detailed report to higher management.

An insight into the Path Goal Theory for leading your workforce

2009-08-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

Alternative trading systems and organization

2009-07-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

Fair trade is a relatively old phenomenon that presents an alternate trading system, which facilitates small scale producers and workers (mainly from undeveloped countries), so that they can sell their products in the developed markets without being duped by the middleman or the capitalist who pay these workers the smallest amount but sells the product to consumers at a hefty price. At the end of the day, it is the middlemen or industrialist, who takes home the larger profits while the real worker is left with little or no opportunities to grow, which is quite unfair. For that reason a fair trading system has been introduced that tends to be directed more by socialist viewpoint than the capitalist.

Alternative Trade Organizations:
Fair trade (also known as alternative trade) calls for market access for low level producers, so that they’ll be able to sell their products at reasonable price. This is what these alternative trade organizations (or fair trade organizations) works for. Fair trade movement, which was started back in 1940’s, was initially based on religious or ethical commandments. With the passage of time, as more and more people including NGO’s and students joined in the cause, it is now becoming more and more popular especially in Europe and North America. For the reason that it’s not only the worker who benefits, but the whole society, especially the consumers who will be paying fair price.

To achieve their ultimate goal (which is to empower destitute workers towards economic prosperity), fair trade organizations works toward promoting this trade system, and spreading awareness among consumers. Such products are not easily available in all markets, so these organizations have to endorse the locations and stores where such merchandise is available. There is a type of certification known as Fair trade Certification, granted to businesses who meet the standards (works pretty much the same like ISO certification). Some of these standards are no gender discrimination, decent wages for workers, no child labor and safe working conditions. Though there’s no restraint but till now the fair-trade is normally limited to simple household stuff like tea and coffee, fruits, chocolate or handicrafts.

Alternate trading systems:
Some people confuse alternative trade with alternate trading system, because of the similarity in the names. Alternate trading systems are actually unconventional trading system set up for the convenience of stocks buyers and sellers. These are not necessarily stock exchange, though a set of regulations made by SEC applies on them. Online trading system is an example of alternate trading.

Understanding workplace bullies and dealing with them

2009-07-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Workplace, like any other place in the world has a variety of individuals such as introverts, extroverts, some of them are bold and outspoken, others diplomatic and tactful, some friendly and outgoing, and others totally unreceptive. In short no two individuals are same. This variance is what prevents our offices (or this world) from becoming a dull and monotonous place. Difference of opinion and the professional contentions between colleagues actually motivates them and an atmosphere of productive competition is good for the company's progress. However, this diversity in the workforce has its fare share of negatives. The most bothersome being the presence of workplace bullies. Somehow, these arrogant, mean and wicked fellows are able to sneak into all workplaces by hook or by crook.

These workplace bullies are not aggressive with everyone around them, and most of the times their subordinates or the new comers are the victims. Their intimidating traits are normally disguised under the cover of false righteousness; that's why it's hard for the management or anyone else to notice, except for the person who's being suppressed. Therefore, if you are unfortunate enough to be targeted by a workplace bully, it's only you and nobody else who can do something about it. The best time to hit back is the moment you realize they are starting to target you as a prey. If you ignore or overlook their tactics in the beginning, it will become all too difficult later on, when they have overpowered you by damaging your self confidence.

Take all things into account:

Some people will just shrug off the idea of doing anything about this bullying stuff. But if you are experiencing some serious harassment, you should see to it as soon as possible. Consider everything with a cool mind, how important is the job for you? How influential really is the person (the one who is bullying)? Do you have access to go and talk with more senior management about the harassment? What can be the worse outcome if you reciprocate with the same approach?

Fight back:

Most of the times, a minor display of controlled aggression is all you need to make them retreat, especially if they are not holding a senior level position than yours. Even if the harassment is coming from your seniors, there's absolutely nothing wrong in voicing your disapproval. Go to the more senior management, usually they have an idea of their employee’s nature and your complaint will be enough to make them take some corrective actions. Even if that doesn’t work, look for a job elsewhere and quit, there’s no point in ruining your peace of mind and self-possession for few bucks.

Starting your own export business, The process explained

2009-07-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Whenever you decide to start something big, a little time spent on planning in the beginning will save you from lots of thinking sessions (filled with frustration, panic and disappointments) later on. You can make giant looking tasks a lot easier by dividing them in small, practical step-by-step procedures. Starting an export business is not a walk in the park, and when you decide to get into this business, you have to make quite a number of arrangements such as deciding your product, choosing shipment mode, arranging finance and much more.

Initial Stage:

i. Select your product
ii. Determine potential buyers
iii. Market research
iv. Exporting method
v. Comprehensive business plan

First you have to select the product; in case you are not already involved in producing or exporting some product locally (even then you may need to improve its quality and features for international export). After choosing the product, you can now assess the targeted customers. Do some research on the market and analyze it carefully. Next step is to decide upon the exporting method. Remember, all of these decisions and selections should be based on some facts and figures, and not mere assumptions. As stated earlier, time spent in planning & research will save you from possible loss and failures in the future. You need to be watchful, alert and patient in the start, so that you don’t fall in hands of frauds and scams.

Middle Stage:

i. Determine Price
ii. Payment terms & conditions
iii. Terms and conditions for delivery and shipment issues
iv. Shipping mode

After you are done with initial research and planning work, you now have a plan in your hands. You know your potential customers by now. Next step is to determine prices, while doing this, keep all costs and expenses in mind, don’t try to take too much risk by offering extra ordinary low prices. Payment terms and the mode of payment is also an important decision, so is the selection of shipment mode you are going to use.

Final Stage:

i. Financing
ii. Production/Manufacturing
iii. Packaging
iv. Shipment
v. Collection of payment through your bank or some payment processor

After all the planning and marketing, you will start receiving orders from interested customers. At this point, you need to have sufficient funds in hands to manufacture or arrange the products you are looking to export. Once you have got the funds, and you are done with the production work, you need to go through packaging and documentation work before making a shipment to the customers.

This is the basic framework for starting an export business, which will help you in starting smoothly and gradually growing.

Sorting out business failures, you haven't lost it all

2009-07-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

Businesses may fail to prosper for many reasons, bad marketing, insufficient funding, poor customer service, non-supportive market conditions or incapable management. But this article is not about escaping business failures, because failures are a part of life and sometimes all the efforts and capital spent on planning/management can go in vain. If you are into reading success stories or biographies of successful businessmen, you'll note a common pattern in all of these memoirs i.e. they started, fell short, learn from their mistakes, tried again and carried on with the pattern until they accomplished their goals. They all seem to agree on this one point, that the secret to their success was their "never say die" approach.

No failure means No improvement:
It may sound quite idiotic, but the more failures you have in your early days the better, only as long as you are learning from these failures and constantly improving. Let the failures take care of your short comings and make sure you work on your weaklings once they have been revealed by some kind of failure. As a result, your chances of a slip-up decrease in later stages. What comes out of this string of "blunders and correction" is an experienced fellow who knows what's actually going to work and what's not.

You are not a failure just because your business fails:
Quite obvious, isn't it? Still many of us go down with their businesses and never recover. You need to realize that there are many other factors that will decide the fate of your business other than your personal skills, and many of these factors are not even in your control. Businesses should be treated like businesses, an investment or a gamble. Sure, you've got to work hard, give your 100 percent, apply all your experience and skills but please don't put your self-belief on stake.

Don't spend a lifetime in grieving over your failures:
In words of Marlon Brando, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger". Luckily business failures hardly kill anyone; they are not the end of the world even if you have lost it all. To tell the truth, financial deficit is the easiest to regain (you can't recapture youth, friends or time once you lose them). Getting into a mourning mode and staying like that forever will make the situation worse. Business failures (or any other failure) are just a stopover in the journey of your life; do not treat them as your final destinations.