Category: Business Advice

The Do’s and Don’ts of pricing in a recession

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No matter how big or successful your company is, maintaining business throughout a recession is hard. With fluctuating demands, losses in sales and competitive price drops, the whole experience can feel like a rollercoaster ride. So how do you survive the economic chaos?

To help guide you through, we’ve created a comprehensive list of pricing do’s and don’ts. These tips can help you find long-term solutions to your turbulent, but hopefully temporary, problems and ensure you not only survive the recession but develop strategies to help you thrive long after.

The Do’s

Do promote your value

Unforeseen circumstances can quickly change the landscape of the economy. However, these external factors shouldn’t directly impact the value of your products or services. Therefore, we believe the best way to navigate a recession and stand out from your competitors is to focus on communicating the intrinsic value of your products and services. Through effective marketing, you can remind your clientele of your unwavering commitment to high-quality service and customer satisfaction regardless of the economic landscape.

Not to mention that it will take you a lot longer to do all your finances than a professional anyway. Why would you waste your time when you could be doing what you do best and what you actually enjoy?

Do control your costs and address inefficiencies

Controlling your prices during a recession is incredibly important. Why? Because the decisions you make during times of crisis strongly reflect your company standards and values. Make the wrong call, and it can irreparably damage your reputation and relationships with customers, which in turn will harm your sales long after the recession is over.

Instead of altering your prices to increase your profit margins or sales, focus on streamlining your companies’ processes. Address any inefficiencies, create long-term solutions and invest in your team’s development.

Do create valuable bundles

Dramatic price cuts aren’t as effective as you may think – not to mention, they’re almost always unsustainable. Instead, you want to find solutions that will accommodate your customer’s current needs without compromising the value of your products or services.

Creating valuable bundles and packages is one solution that is both reliable and sustainable. By offering a range of bundles (from low to high value), you’re able to attract a variety of customers and cater for their varying needs. As a result, you’re able to drive up sales, preserve the value of your products and services, and accommodate your cost-conscious customers throughout these difficult times.

Do keep looking ahead

Every business owner, CEO and partner knows that for a business to succeed, you must constantly be looking ahead – innovating and improving upon your current position. (Even amidst a recession, you must focus on long-term solutions.) Therefore, it’s vitally important to focus on your research and development strategies. Assess your customer’s wants and needs – ask them how you can improve and really listen. You can then use this information to improve upon and create products/services that incentivise customers to start (or continue) investing in your business.

The Don’ts

Don’t rapidly reduce your prices

There are several reasons why rapidly reducing your prices is an ineffective and ultimately damaging tactic during an economic downturn. However, we believe the most significant reasons are:

  1. You can destroy your long-term value. If you lock in a long-term price drop, you’re signaling to customers that the value of your products and services are significantly lower than your standard price point.
  2. Discounts won’t resolve your demand issues. If your products or services aren’t currently in demand, lowering your prices won’t change a thing. For example, there was little to no demand for theatre tickets at the height of the pandemic. However, since restrictions have eased, sales have returned to normal, and box offices have successfully maintained their original prices.

So don’t fall into the trap of lowering your prices – they are not the problem.

Don’t rapidly increase your prices

If you’re experiencing a sudden surge in sales – fantastic! Be grateful, not greedy. Rapidly increasing your prices when your products/services are in high demand implies that you are taking advantage of your customers and their needs. Not only will this alienate your customers and damage your reputation, but it can also lead to legal implications. So, whenever you are increasing your prices, make sure you do so ethically and sustainably.

Don’t get into a pricing war

If a competitor reduces their prices, don’t immediately assume you have to do the same. Competitive pricing will only damage your value (and your profit margins). Now, that isn’t to say you can’t develop a cheaper product or service that’s of equal value to your competitor’s offering – but you should only cheapen your services if you have adjusted their intrinsic value.

Remember, customers will respect your pricing so long as the services or products you provide are of a high standard.

Don’t focus on quality over quantity

Guiding your business through a recession is no mean feat. It takes a lot of courage to maintain your prices and values. However, this perseverance will help to preserve your reputation and uphold your high standards. So, instead of taking a reactive approach, focus on being proactive! Find long-term solutions, provide non-monetary discounts and drive sales based upon the quality of your products and services.

How accountants can make you look good

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When you as a business owner think of an accountant, you think of taxes, financial reporting, or loan applications. While this is all correct, it is just the beginning!

Accountants may be the frontrunners when it comes to your finances, but we can offer so much more than that. One of our most valuable offerings is making you look good!

Here are some ways that accountants can help you with your image:

1) They help you look professional 

Accountants can help you manage your accounts, budget smartly, and fix your cash flow, all of which are the foundations of a successful business. They can also help you to automate your business and work more efficiently.

For example, automating your invoicing system so you no longer need to chase unpaid invoices or reconcile payments manually. Not only does this save you a lot of time and free you up to focus on other areas of your business, but it also makes you look professional to your clients as they can see that you’re on top of your processes.

2) They help you remain competitive

One of the most common mistakes that business owners make is that they become too chargeable. I.e., they are not charging enough for their services. While this may bring in more business initially, in the long term, it will start choking your business growth.

By pricing correctly, you can let go of the clients who are not paying enough or who don’t align with the direction of your business. Once you start pricing what you’re worth, you’ll soon see that you will attract the right types of clients – the ones who support your growth and overall goal.

3) They help you look & feel confident

With an accountant by your side, you will be able to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. You will be making smarter business decisions such as increasing your capacity by outsourcing working rather than hiring a full-time employee, and you will have the figures you need at your fingertips. Figures that will give you, your clients, and any other third-party peace of mind.

4) They help to reassure your clients

If your business grows suddenly and takes on more clients, some of your existing clients may be worried that you can’t handle this growth, or they worry that they will become less important to you. To reassure your clients that you’re growing sustainably, an accountant can help you forecast the future and outline your business strategy. They can help you make necessary changes now so that you’re prepared for any growing pains.

Invest in your image 

A good impression of your brand is incredibly important, so invest in an accountant to make sure that you give off a positive one. From helping your business run smarter, to outlining the future for your business, an accountant can help you to reassure yourself and your clients that you will sustain value and growth for the foreseeable future.

KPI blog

Setting KPIs for your business: 6 tips

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KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics that tell you if what you’re doing is working or not. As you can imagine, this makes them incredibly important for productivity and business growth.

How do you know that you’re on the right track to achieving your goals if you don’t measure progress?

How do you know that you’re doing exactly what you should to get to the place that you want to be?

The short answer is, you don’t.

If you want your team to work more efficiently and if you want to actually reach the goals that you set out for your business, you need to start setting and monitoring the right KPIs. Here’s how.

1) Set KPIs for everyone

Regardless of the size of your business and team, you need to set KPIs for each team member. Metrics allow you to measure performance and improve it, so don’t be tempted to not set them at all.

2) Don’t set too many KPIs

This is a big mistake that many business owners make. Avoid this. Less is more when it comes to improving performance, as too many goals affect focus. Aim to have no more than 5 KPIs for each team member.

3) Choose KPIs that are relevant to the businesses overall goal

KPIs need to directly link to the demands of the individual’s role and what the business is trying to achieve, so look at your business plan. Where is the business going? What are the key figures that you need to know and measure?

4) Agree on these with each individual

Once you’ve chosen the KPIs for each individual, sit down with them and agree on them. Set your expectations but also explain how they will support the business by achieving these targets. The more you can show them how they contribute to the overall success of the business, the better.

5) Measure and monitor KPIs

It’s not enough just setting KPIs, you need to measure and review them. Setting and monitoring KPIs is an essential business development task, so schedule in time to review this data every month. When you do, you’ll see what tweaks you need to make to improve productivity and move the business forward.

6) Review and reset these every quarter

As your business grows and changes, your targets will be out of date. Make sure to review them with your team every 3 months so that you can update them and ensure they are still relevant. During this time, give your employees feedback, seek out their views on what is working or not working, tell them how the business is performing, and discuss what they can influence to move the business forward.

Start getting results by setting KPIs

Don’t just set arbitrary goals, set KPIs too. If you do, and you track them and monitor performance, you’ll soon see if you’re getting the results that you want. If you’re not, then the great thing about KPIs is that you can identify that something isn’t working a lot sooner. All it takes is another tweak here and an improvement there, and you’ll find what works best for you and your business.

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How to attract the right clients (ones who value what you do)

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I heard this saying recently, “you get the clients you deserve.” At first, I wasn’t sure what it meant so I dug a little deeper, but my conclusion was and still is, that this is 100% true.

Think about it, if you’re accepting low-paying, nit-picky clients and you’re not setting their expectations for how you actually like to work, you’re going to keep getting these types of clients who you don’t even enjoy working for. Conversely, if you stick to your guns with your prices, you set client expectations, and you emanate confidence and passion for what you do, you’re going to weed out the energy-drainers and only attract the type of clients that you actually want.

Sounds perfect, right? It really is as simple as that. If you want to attract the right kinds of clients – the ones who actually value what you do and are willing to pay for it – here is how you do it.

Step 1: Create a growth plan and strategy

Choose your ‘one big focus’ for your business for the year ahead. Maybe it’s to win X amount of clients or to reach a financial goal. Whatever it is, write it down and work backwards to create actions that you need to take every month, week, and day, to reach this goal.

Step 2: do a full client portfolio analysis

Make a spreadsheet of all your clients and go through them all individually. Record what you do for them, how long it takes, your profit margin, whether they are easy/medium/hard to work with, if you like working with them, and whether you’d be happy to lose them.

Step 3: create your client personas

Now you have identified your best clients, create a client persona/s. This should outline their age, gender, occupation, education, family/marital status, goals, values, personal aspirations, fears, challenges, and pain points. The more detailed you can be with this, the clearer the picture will be of who you are targeting, what they want, and how you should communicate with them.

Step 4: tailor your marketing to your client personas

The mistake that many business owners make is being too generic with their marketing. They want to cast as wide a net as possible to “appeal to more people,” but what ends up happening is they make no impact at all. When you have your client personas, adapt your marketing message to target them. You only want to win these types of clients so address their specific pain points and position yourself as the solution or the guide that can help them achieve their goals.

Step 5: ditch your ‘D’ clients

Look back at your client portfolio analysis and identify your A-B-C-D clients. Typically, they are as follows:

  • Clients who make up 65% of your sales = A clients
  • Clients who make up 20% of your sales = B clients
  • Clients who make up 15% of your sales = C clients

D clients are those low-paying, nit-picking clients who you’re not really happy with and who don’t contribute a huge amount to your bottom line.

The last step in the process of attracting the right clients is to ditch these clients. Not only does this give you more time to go after the ones you actually want, but it makes room for them too so that you can provide them with the service they deserve.

3 hacks for embracing change in the workplace!

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Embracing change is the secret to business growth. It allows us to learn how to do things better and adapt to survive, which is an essential skill in today’s economy! This is easier said than done though. We all like our comfort zones, and it can be really difficult to break out of them. Then, we also have to help our employees get out of their comfort zones as well!

If you want to move your business forward, here is how to embrace change in the workplace and how to get your team to get behind it too.

1) Get yourself in the right mindset, so you can lead by example

You won’t be able to implement a change if you’re not behind it yourself, so take some time to embrace it first. What are the positives that will come from this change? Why is it needed? What will you and your team get out of this change? Re-frame this in your mind, and you’ll be far more effective in embracing and then leading this change.

2) Communicate the change to your support team

The worst thing you can do is spring change on your team and not communicate what it really means. You want to implement change in your business successfully and your team is a major key player in that, so you really need to communicate this in the right way.

To avoid resistance from your team, make sure to:

  • Communicate changes that are happening as early as possible -NOT at the point where it needs to be implemented.
  • Involve the right people in the process as early as possible – they have valuable insight and need to be the ‘champions’ of this change.
  • Share the overall vision with the team – your team needs to understand how this all links together and having a shared purpose increases the chance of success.
  • Communicate “what’s in it for me?” for every team member, not just how it will help the business – reward is a massive motivator so help your team get personally invested.
  • Provide them with sufficient training and support – how do you need to support them to implement the change successfully?.

3) Nurture the right habits and behaviours in the long term.

When times get tough and things are going wrong, this is when your team will revert to old behaviours and habits and how things were done before. To avoid this, start nurturing the right behaviours now by working on resilience and wellbeing. This will help to make sure that the change is a long term one.

Try implementing one or more of these strategies:

  • Rewards – take your team out for lunch or give them the afternoon off if they need motivation.
  • Check-ins – have monthly 1:1s to make sure each team member has what they need to succeed.
  • Good habits – encourage self-care among your team, especially everyone getting enough sleep, exercise, good food and recharge time.
  • Mindset – help your team reframe their thinking if they are struggling and lead by example.
  • Nurture initiative – if team members need help, don’t solve their problems straight away. Ask the right questions to guide them to the answer. This will help them start to identify and initiate change to improve working practices themselves too!

Following these hacks will not only help you and your team embrace change, but it will set you up for positive growth in the future!

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8 Key Marketing Tips for 2022

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Marketing today looks vastly different from that of ten years ago. Gone are the days where paid ads, membership of a local networking group and a presence at a local trade show were all you needed to promote your small business. To help you navigate this new age of marketing, we’ve outlined our top 8 marketing tips to promote your business in 2022.

1)Focus on your branding

Developing a strong brand is imperative if you want your marketing strategies (and business) to succeed. Your brand is what makes your business unique – it should encapsulate your values and services whilst also being distinctly recognisable. Effective branding should:

  • Be visually appealing.
  • Be consistent across all mediums. On and offline, your colour palette, font choices and imagery should all be cohesive. (PS Instagram is no longer just for creative people)
  • Convey your services and values through slogans and taglines.
  • Attract your target audience.

2) Refine your web design

Your website is the virtual hub of your business – it is the centre of all your online activity. Therefore, it must represent your business positively and professionally. If your website is unappealing and difficult to navigate, you will struggle to attract new customers and clients.

To ensure your website reflects the quality of your business, it must be:

  • Informative
  • Easy to navigate
  • Mobile-friendly
  • Linked to all of your other online platforms

3) Develop your online presence

To attract new clients, you must be active online – this means regularly posting on your website and social media channels. Posting helpful and informative content will allow your clients to engage with your business, whilst SEO strategies will ensure your posts are visible across multiple search engines.

If done consistently, you will successfully drive more traffic to your website.

A good way to see what social media platforms are useful for your business is look at your Google Analytics. Which of your social channels are bringing in the most traffic and buying customers? These are the social channels to spend most of your time creating and repurposing content for.

4) Harness social media platforms

Social media is a great way to reach new clients. It is also a fantastic way to develop brand loyalty amongst your current clientele.

Articles, captions and videos all add tremendous value to your social media followers, whilst comment sections, direct messages and re-tweets allow customers to interact directly with your team.

Social media platforms change all the time. What used to be a great platform for your business to be active on may not be as good. For example, you may find that Instagram is getting more traction and results than Facebook or Twitter now. If you are aiming to get your messages in front of teenagers then Tiktok is the place to be. So pay attention to your marketing analytics to see where you should be putting your marketing efforts.

5) Create original content

Did you know that websites with blogs attract 55% more traffic than those that don’t? Having a blog allows you to connect with your audience by sharing your expertise. By posting helpful and relevant content, you’re able to answer consumer questions, build trust and draw more people to your website.

If your business already has a blog, why not take it further and start producing downloadable templates and guides?

6) Utilise email subscription services

Email subscriptions ensure your customers and clients don’t miss out on any news, posts or updates, by delivering weekly/monthly newsletters directly to their mailboxes. Other reasons to invest in email marketing are:

  • It’s inexpensive
  • It has a high ROI
  • It draws people back to your website via direct links
  • It promotes customer loyalty

7) Encourage customer reviews

Whether you’re buying a new toothbrush or switching energy companies, we all like to do our research – and that means checking the reviews.

Reviews are vitally important to any business as they provide an honest and unfiltered response to your quality of service. So as long as you’re providing excellent service, more reviews can only encourage more customers! There are loads of places where your customers and clients can place a review for your business. Always ask them to put a review on Google, and potentially Facebook or any other important recommendation platform for your business such as TripAdvisor for hospitality and leisure businesses.

8) Sponsor local events

Not all marketing strategies are online, nor should they be. Sponsoring local events can be hugely beneficial for your business. It provides you with the opportunity to meet new clients, share your company values and, of course, promote your business to the local community.

Similarly, attending local charity events, making donations and partaking in voluntary work will also paint your business in a positive light.

Marketing made easy 

Effective marketing is essential to attract new clients and expand your business. Therefore, you must dedicate sufficient time and effort to developing your brand and online presence.

The devil is in the details, so focus on upholding consistently high standards (for branding and content) across all of your platforms and watch your online traffic surge.

Marketing done well costs money. However, if you are aiming to maintain or grow your business in 2022, marketing is an activity which needs to constantly happen in your business. If you are unsure of how much of your income you can afford to spend on marketing, get in touch. We can help you see how your numbers stack up and whether you can afford to spend what you marketing suppliers are suggesting you need to spend!

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7 Ways an Accountant Can Save You Money

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In today’s competitive business world, it is not uncommon for people to do their own bookkeeping and accounting. There are many reasons why this is done – the most common being that you can save money doing so. Of course, saving a couple of hundred pounds is an enticing prospect, but there are actually many more ways in which hiring the services of one will help you make money instead. Here are 7 ways an accountant can save you money:

1) They free up your time

Time IS money, so the more time you free up doing your bookkeeping, taxes, and financial statements, the more time you can dedicate to the tasks that will actually generate money for your business.

Not to mention that it will take you a lot longer to do all your finances than a professional anyway. Why would you waste your time when you could be doing what you do best and what you actually enjoy?

2) They help you be more tax-efficient

Accountants can help you save money by being more tax-efficient. This means claiming what you can, obtaining loans if you are entitled to financial support, and maximising the tax deductions you are entitled to.

3) They help you avoid fines and penalties

You need to file your taxes correctly and you need to do this on time. With legislation changing all the time, this isn’t easy, and you could be leaving yourself vulnerable to penalties and charges, simply because you didn’t know.

By hiring an accountant, you can always be reassured that you’re filing on time and that your taxes are correct. You can have peace of mind that you won’t get a surprise letter from HMRC and you don’t even have to deal with them at all if you don’t want to.

4) They identify opportunities for growth

Accountants keep your records up-to-date so you will always know the figures of your business. At a glance, you’ll be able to see how you’re performing, what’s coming in and what’s going out, and also your liquidity.

There is power in data! For example, your accountant can help you ascertain how long you could survive if there was a recession, where you can cut down expenses to save money, and where you should be delegating most of your budget if you want to grow.

5) They assist in gaining funding

It takes a lot of time to secure financing from banks and as we said previously, time is money. Your accountant can help you secure loans and financing really easily from creating a business plan and helping you budget to applying and assisting you in the loan process.

6) They advise on investments

If you’re interested in investing, an accountant can help you understand different investment options. From stocks and money markets to real estate and investment vehicles, they can show you how you can grow your money and which opportunities are the best for you and your business.

7) They offer invaluable business advice

As well as accountancy, accountants can offer business guidance to help you increase your chances of success. They can help you build a business from the ground up; they can help you with goal setting and planning, budgeting and forecasting, and pricing to increase your profit margin. This isn’t even everything that’s included in their advisory services so make sure to take advantage of their knowledge.

Spend money to make money

While you can save a couple of hundred pounds doing your own books, you won’t save as much with an accountant and you could actually end up losing a lot more. With an accountant on your team, you can save both time and money while having the reassurance and peace of mind that you’re making sound business decisions for your future.

4 Productivity Tips From 1 Accounts To Kickstart Your New Year

4 Productivity Tips To Kickstart Your New Year!

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Many people find it hard to return to work after the long Christmas and New Year slowdown, but the pandemic has slowed many people down to a halt. It may take longer than normal for some people to return to their usual productivity levels – but why stop at “usual” when things are unusual? Why not aim higher?

To help you do just that, here are 4 productivity tips to being as productive as possible when you return to work.

1. Know what you want to be different

Think about what normally happens when you start back at work. What tasks do you do that don’t really need to be done? What high-value tasks can you do instead? How much time do you usually have before things properly kick in and you’re very busy?

If you think about what you want to change so that you can start the year right, your intentions will be clear going into your first day and you’ll be far more likely to achieve what you want.

2. Identify the habits you’ll need to change

When you know your intentions (i.e. what you want to change), you then need to think about what action you will take. What steps do you need to take every day? Do you need to break bad habits that waste time and create new ones or do you just need to adapt them?

For example, if you want to develop a habit to do business development every day, try to link this to another habit that you already have. Something like, every morning after I get a cup of coffee and switch on my computer, I will do 10 minutes of engagement on LinkedIn.

3. Prioritise the right tasks

You shouldn’t have mounting emails or multiple requests from team members on your first day back, so use this time wisely. Prioritise the tasks that give you the most bang for your buck or the essentials that usually get pushed further and further down your to-do list. Plan your work for the next few months and start getting ahead.

You can even use this time to build those all-important relationships with your network. Phone up your best clients to find out how their Christmas went, let them know you’re back and to give you a shout if they need anything.

4. Don’t forget to look after yourself

Yes, looking after yourself is essential for productivity! The worst thing you can do is return to work and slot right back into the busyness and leave all those benefits that come with having a break behind. All that will do is result in you getting overwhelmed and potentially burning out after a few weeks or months. Instead, you should use this time to implement some self-care elements into your routine which you can carry on throughout the year.

Find out what works for you. Maybe it’s writing down a few things that you’re grateful for at the start of every workday. Maybe it’s going for a walk at lunch or the gym after work. Whatever helps you to focus when you’re working and switch off when you’re not, you need to make these a part of your daily work routine. What you’ll find is that you’ll keep that holiday feeling for as long as possible AND you’ll transition into a much healthier way of working where you’re far more productive.

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How to combat Christmas stress in your workforce

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Although Christmas is a magical time of year full of celebration and quality time with family and friends, it can cause stress too. Beyond just the pressure of gift buying and financial stress, the month is a lot shorter and there’s an increased pressure to meet deadlines, hit end-of-year targets, and attend additional social functions. And that’s not even mentioning the stress that comes with hosting people for the actual holidays!

According to the Health and Safety Executive, approximately 50% of all work-related illnesses in 2019/2020 were caused by stress, anxiety or depression. And that was without the stress that comes with the holiday season. Too much stress at work can lead to bigger problems for your employees – impacting productivity, morale, and wellbeing – so as an employer, you need to think about how you can support your team through this time of year.

To help combat Christmas stress (so that rather than burn out, your employees come back in January refreshed, engaged and motivated to get going), here is an essential checklist.

Your ‘combat Christmas stress’ checklist

1 . Plan Christmas-themed activities

If you have your team in one office, get everyone to decorate together. An easy group activity such as this can be very therapeutic. As well as decorating their own desks, you can also arrange festive activities such as Secret Santa, Christmas jumper day, and of course, the office Christmas party.

If you have a remote team, think about how you can bring the team together and nurture festiveness. Can you send the whole team gifts which will be opened together at the virtual Christmas party?

2. Help staff manage their workload

Time management is a big source of stress in December, so can you help your employees with this? Since the season has fewer work days but the same amount of work, help your employees plan ahead as much as possible so that their productivity isn’t affected.

Another option is to outsource or take on temporary staff over busy periods.

3. Maintain effective communication

Is everyone doing okay? Do your employees need anything from you to make this time easier on them? Make sure to increase your communication with your employees this season or at least maintain effective channels when things get busy.

One of the most important things to communicate during this period is when everyone will be taking their holiday. Help your employees communicate this to each other and also to their clients! If everyone is clear who is off and when in advance, then things won’t build up right before Christmas and your employees can properly switch off without worrying about what they are coming back to.

4. Help staff reduce their financial stress

Financial stress is one of the biggest pressures during December, so think about the ways you can help your employees with this. Can you give your employees an end-of-year bonus? Or other financial rewards such as gift cards or vouchers? Can you recommend finance planning apps for budgeting? Or get a financial expert to come in and run a workshop on “holiday budgeting” or “how to avoid overspending”?

5. Encourage healthy eating and exercise

The holiday season is full of rich, unhealthy foods and drinks, all of which can reduce mood and energy and increase stress and anxiety. If you want your employees to come back in January healthy and raring to go, help them to make wiser food choices.

You can start by offering healthier food at the company Christmas party and encourage the team to compete over the holidays – who can eat healthier and log more steps? Maybe you can all do a food or exercise challenge together?

6. Check for signs of anxiety/depression

Is anyone displaying signs of social withdrawal, anxiety, depression or grief? Keep your eyes open for the tell-tale signs and be prepared to give extra support to these people.

Christmas and New Year can be a lonely time for people, especially for those who have recently lost a loved one, so be aware that some may need alone time while others may feel isolated and will need encouragement to get involved.

Other things you can do is to maximise natural light in the office and encourage employees to take vitamin D!

7. Encourage work/life balance

Can you offer your employees flexible hours or to work from home this season? If your employees can schedule work around their personal lives, you’ll see a huge difference in productivity and wellbeing. Even if it’s a simple as allowing people to work earlier and leave earlier, so they can take care of their children or finish their Christmas shopping. A good work-life balance is essential for mental and physical wellbeing.

Pave the way for a prosperous New Year!

The more you can reduce stress in December, the more productive the New Year will be, so help your employees. Help them manage their workload, their client expectations and their work-life balance. Think about how you can help to reduce their financial stress and always keep an eye out for anyone who is struggling.  If you do this, you will combat Christmas stress and you’ll have a full team who switched off during the holidays and have come back refreshed, motivated and raring to go.

 

why should I switch to a digital payment process

Why should I switch to a digital payment process?

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According to studies, SMEs spend on average, a whopping £4.4 billion per annum chasing late payments. This problem is only exacerbated by traditional (and slow!) payment methods too such as cash and cheques, so what is the solution to this?

To reduce the time between invoicing and the money actually clearing into your accounts receivables – thereby minimising the negative impact on your cash flow – small and medium businesses should consider switching to digital payment. Here’s why.

6 benefits of switching to a digital payment process

1 . Consistent cash flow

Digital payments mean a faster processing time which results in a much faster cash conversion cycle. This means no more big gaps in cash flow due to late payments.

2 . Lower processing costs

Switching to digital means lower payment processing fees than standard bank transfers. As there’s no need for manual reconciliation, labour costs are also reduced.

3 . Greater visibility of your finances in real-time

Businesses that use a digital payment process always have their accounts receivables in real-time. This allows them to refine their credit control processes and make informed strategic decisions.

4. Quicker reconciliation

Digital payments don’t take days to reconcile, they show up on your accounts receivable almost instantly. The result? Better documentation and more time for your staff to focus on the high-value stuff instead.

5. Happier clients

Going digital benefits your clients too as it gives them the widest and most convenient range of payment options to choose from. Making it quick and easy for your clients to pay makes them happy and it builds loyal relationships too!

6. Security compliant

The vast majority of software providers abide by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). This means all business and client data can be processed securely.

Wave goodbye to late payments

Payment delays can build and threaten the future of your company. To avoid potentially irreparable damage, implement digital payments sooner rather than later. Not only will this balance out your monthly cash flow and reduce manual work and extra costs, but it will also improve your client journey and most likely ensure repeat business.