Complicating matters is the fact that every customer or applicant has a unique financial situation.

Some have easily verifiable income from a traditional employer. But you’ll find others don’t have a simple, streamlined source of cash flow that pays their bills. A handful of clients may be self-employed. Others might rely on freelance work in addition to a traditional job. And then, some will receive income from relatives, government benefits, pension plans, or other investments.

While complications may sometimes slow down the income verification process, new technologies can make it more effective and efficient. Verification solutions that sync with payroll providers and let customers upload their documents represent a few examples. Here are some successful means for verifying customer income sources and amounts.

Use income verification technology.

Software programs can make just about anything more efficient. This includes organizing and verifying all the documents loan applicants must provide. Applying for a car loan or credit card might be less complex than a mortgage. However, lenders still need to verify an applicant’s credit history and income.

That’s where things can get sticky for lenders and creditors that have to either approve or deny an application.

Anyone can say they make so many dollars a year, but that doesn’t mean they actually do. Lenders don’t want to approve someone for a loan or a line of credit if they can’t comfortably afford the payments. They’ll either repossess a secured asset like a vehicle or write off the debt if it’s unsecured. It’s not a good outcome for either side.

Income verification technology, such as Truework, helps lenders confirm a customer’s income within a few minutes. Since these solutions connect to many employers’ payroll networks, it’s more difficult for applicants to fudge the numbers. Some income verification solutions also verify freelance income from popular independent contractor platforms like Upwork. This saves applicants time hunting down bank statements and pay stubs.

Consider government-run verification services.

When approving applicants, mortgage lenders have their work cut out for them. Without a doubt, a home loan involves more risk since property ownership goes back to the bank if a borrower defaults. Real estate markets can sometimes be fickle, and lenders might lose money when auctioning off a foreclosure.

For these reasons and more, mortgage applications go through underwriting and a high level of scrutiny. That usually means two years of tax returns, W-2s, and bank statements for savings, checking, and investment accounts. Clients may also need to fork over other loan statements or documentation if the amounts are significant. These obligations might include student loan balances or other loans they’ve cosigned.

Because of the level of complexity involved, mortgage lenders may want to consider using the IRS’s income verification express service. The process usually takes two to three business days, but the technology helps put any questions to rest. IRS records can verify an applicant’s income from conventional and not-so-traditional sources. Plus, the service confirms whether a mortgage client’s tax returns are accurate.

Outsource manual income verifications.

Technology can automate and perform a lot of tasks. But sometimes, using tech isn’t possible, or it isn’t the most feasible solution.

In some cases, you may have an applicant who earns income from an employer that doesn’t use a payroll provider. The employer might be a small business that does payroll manually. Your borrower might have also switched jobs within the past year, and a previous employer is no longer in business.

In these cases, manual income verification is one of the only routes to take. As a busy landlord or lending department, you don’t have time to play phone tag or hunt down contacts. This might be okay if you only had one applicant to deal with. However, you receive applications nearly every day, and the work it takes to verify all the details adds up. Manual verifications are challenging to keep track of and follow up on.

By working with an income verification service, you can outsource those tasks.

Verifying customer income solutions sometimes provide manual confirmation services so you can focus on other aspects of your business. Your vendor handles the phone calls to HR departments and employers. They focus their efforts on confirming an applicant’s previous jobs and earnings, producing results faster for you and your customers. You can make decisions within days instead of weeks.

Efficient and Effective Income Verification

Verifying customers’ income is part of the job for property management companies, lenders, and some government agencies. In a less intricate process, income verification may only involve checking a W-2 from one employer.

However, most lenders and landlords deal with more proof and documentation than that. Complex and unique situations can slow down the process and cause frustration for all sides.

Income verification technologies and services make confirming a customer’s income more efficient and effective. Software that syncs with payroll providers, IRS services, and outsourced manual verification services helps remove obstacles and mitigate delays. Using these technologies and services creates better experiences for applicants and decision makers.

The post How to Effectively Verify Customer Income appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, there is one thing that your sales team alone cannot cure. And that is customer churn. If customers don’t return, no amount of new customers can help achieve a steady growth rate for your business.

Yet many sales and marketing leaders in organizations are always busy looking “out there” for new customers instead of introspecting and improving customer retention. In fact, a paltry 40% of businesses are equally prioritizing both customer retention and acquisition.

Don’t let your company fall into the same trap. You should find ways to delight and generate more revenue from your current customers than relying solely on acquiring new customers. Below, we’ll look at the top reasons why.

Why You Should Prioritize Customer Retention

There are several benefits that make customer retention critical to your company’s bottom line.

Every loyal customer presents an opportunity to develop a brand advocate, get more referrals, and encourage word-of-mouth marketing. Let’s take a closer look at each key advantage, one by one.

Get positive word of mouth.

75% of customers loyal to a brand will refer their friends and family to the same. And this desire to spread the word comes from the customer retention efforts of the brand.

A decision to prioritize customer retention initiatives has the power to convert customers into brand advocates, increasing your likelihood of gaining referrals. A recommendation from a third party can be the final nudge that moves a prospect to action and persuade them to buy from you.

When customers are happy with your brand, you can even launch a referral program to realize their full potential in promoting your business. Ellevest is a great example. The company rewards both the referrer and the referee for each successful transaction.

To launch a similar program, you can use a tool such as Early Parrot. It lets you create referral marketing campaigns. These can seamlessly integrate with any of the major website builders in the market.

However, you can’t expect such an initiative to work without a focus on retaining customers. Disengaged customers are less likely to tell others about you, even if you reward them for doing so.

Boost conversion rates.

A customer who has bought from your business twice is 9 times more likely to purchase again than a new buyer, as per a study by Adobe. In other words, current customers help you get more conversions and make more money.

CVS Pharmacy is great at targeting present customers, for example. The company sends customers personalized email messages with deals and coupons based on what they have purchased before.

An email campaign is not the only way to target current customers. You can also insert Google Ads or Facebook pixels within your website’s code. These snippets can be used to run advertising that targets people who have already visited or purchased from your website.

Since the customers are likely to need similar products again, a retargeting campaign allows the company to bring customers back and sell more in the process.

Increase your customer lifetime value (CLV).

In case you’re unaware, customer lifetime value is the total monetary worth of a customer during the period of their relationship with your business. And it’s an important metric that speaks to the overall financial health of your company.

A recent study suggests that 37% of buyers will shell out more money on a business if they’re loyal to the brand. So repeat customers are not just more likely to buy from you as we discussed above, but they are also inclined to spend more.

The result? High CLV and low cost of marketing, which brings us to the next benefit of prioritizing customer retention.

Reduce marketing expenses.

It is widely agreed that customer acquisition costs more than customer retention.

When you acquire customers, you also get to learn about the best ways to reach them. And you have the contact information to reach them again and again in a cost-effective manner.

Acquiring new customers, on the other hand, requires you to allocate a dedicated budget to sourcing new leads, advertising your website, lead nurturing, and customer onboarding. No matter how careful you are, you are always left with a huge dent in your pocket.

Get predictable revenue.

Running a business is a game of risk and uncertainty. But that doesn’t mean you can overlook ways to minimize them as much as possible. And that’s another aspect where customer retention shines more than customer acquisition.

As we discussed above, happy and satisfied customers will keep buying from you again and again. As a result, your overall revenue is more steady and predictable.

In fact, annual subscriptions — a recent business model that has taken the world by storm — relies solely on a business’s ability to retain customers as the main source of growth.

When a customer pays for the annual subscription, the business has a certain amount of assured income for the whole year. And at the end of 12 months, customers renew their subscription based on their needs and level of satisfaction with the product or service.

The global SaaS market (subscription software) is projected to touch $437 billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 12.5%. So you can imagine the kind of growth possible with retaining customers for the long-term.

By retaining customers, you can say goodbye to your day-to-day sales worries and focus more on the future vision of your brand.

Shield your business from the competition.

The more customers connect with your business, the more habitual they get in terms of preferring your brand. They do not get easily swayed by other brands as long as your product or service is working fine for them. And this is a huge competitive advantage to have in a fickle world.

A brilliant example of a brand that builds customer loyalty with an authentic connection is Bombas. The company openly communicates its philanthropic mission of donating to the needy, which plays a big role in customer retention.

When customers are served with stories that help them connect with a brand’s mission and values, they experience a strong sense of loyalty.

Improve business operations.

82% of consumers agree that they would move to another brand if they experience poor customer service from the brand they were loyal to. As scary as it seems, the truth is that it takes just one bad experience to push buyers away from your business.

That means you must do everything in your power to ensure that your business operations are aligned with customer preferences. And that’s another area where customer retention can help.

Loyal customers give you a valuable source of feedback that helps improve your products, services, and overall customer experience.

Case in point: Southwest Airlines. The company quickly follows up with customers who voice a negative experience or a piece of feedback, even on social media platforms. In doing so, it gets insights straight from the customers instead of relying only on internal research and development.

Wrapping Up

The value of acquiring new customers can’t be denied. However, it’s equally important to level up your customer retention strategy. If you’re focusing only on empowering your sales reps while your customer success team is grasping at straws, then you’re compromising your organization’s potential to succeed.

The solution? Give equal weightage to customer retention. As we discussed above, customer retention is crucial for the long-term sustainability of your business. Moreover, it gives you new opportunities to leverage the trust you have built with current customers to take your business to the next level.

After all, customer retention is what differentiates one-hit wonders from strong and stable brands that dominate their industry for decades.

The post Why You Should Prioritize Customer Retention Over Customer Acquisition  appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Why is SMB Important to Salesforce?

While you may have thought Salesforce was only for big enterprises, the company’s leadership is also highly committed to helping small businesses make their dreams come true. Did you know Salesforce started as a small business? If that wasn’t enough of a reason, small businesses were their first customers. Salesforce has over 150,000 companies who started out with Salesforce as small businesses. Meredith shared that small businesses and SMBs are, “the heart and soul of Salesforce” and after hearing her conversation with Ramon, we couldn’t agree more.

So, What is SMB Essentials?

Here is what you need to know about SMB Essentials and how it can work for your small business:

1. Meredith calls SMB Essentials “a new best friend for small business.”

SMB Essentials is designed and built with small businesses in mind. No matter the size of your operation, whether you have 200 people, 50 people, or 2 people, this product is perfect for your small business. Furthermore, they designed it specifically for small businesses, but you still get the beauty of the platform and the benefits of being part of Salesforce.

2. Get Access to Salesforce AI.

One of the benefits of being part of such a large company like Salesforce is having access to their AI. “It doesn’t matter if you are one user, you get AI at your fingertips,” Meredith continues, “It is powerful stuff.”

3. It’s Easy to Use

Essentials takes everything Salesforce has to offer and makes it easy for small businesses. Meredith said it herself, “we built it so it’s easy.”

4. We used it!

We tried it out and it is so easy! Set up is incredibly simple. With just a click of a button, it’s out of the box and ready to use! Essentials connects to your Gmail or Outlook account and that’s it, it’s done. It’s reading your emails and creating tasks for you. Isn’t that incredible?

5. You can set up a Help Center in less than 5 minutes!

You can even use the reports dashboard, to analyze your data. SMB Essentials is a total upgrade from post-it notes and spreadsheets, because, as Meredith so accurately put it, “you can’t get reports from a spreadsheet.” Meredith promises that the best part is, you don’t have to tech-savvy to use SMB Essentials. “Anybody like me or you can do it, and I’m not technical,” she says.

Meredith is all about helping you save time with SMB Essentials. “You’re trying to do a job, and we are here to help you do your job, and really automate those mundane tasks.” This automated, admin-list product will give you more time to focus on your customers. Meredith and the Salesforce team are dedicated to making the “path of success” broader for small businesses everywhere.

The post SMB Essentials- “A New Best Friend for Small Business” appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

• Are all your customer interactions and information (Web visits, content consumed, emails, and phone calls) stored in one convenient location and accessible to everyone in your company?
• Can you verify that all leads in the sales pipeline are being followed up on in a timely manner?
• Are you able to initiate marketing campaigns and follow up activities along with the sales team?
• Can you create a forecast of your pipeline without your accountant?
• Can you view all the sales activity and results by day, week, month and year?
• Is your sales team able to access customer information and respond to customers when they are out of the office?
• Do you know how many customer service issues each customer had and why?
• Can you get help setting up your CRM?
• Is there customer support via a knowledgeable representative?
• Are there free resources and training provided to get your team up to speed?

• Specific focus. The way different companies interact with their customers will vary dramatically, depending on their vertical. Just like your small business, your CRM doesn’t need to tackle every challenge facing consumers today. Your business challenges are unique, and the most efficient use of your time and money will be finding a CRM that meets those needs, and nothing else.
• Small Data Driven. Having access to tons of data sounds great, but won’t always be as valuable as you may think. When you have a niche target audiences, understanding the needs of that unique set of people is what’s valuable, even if this data set is only a fraction of what larger CRMs will offer.
• Ease of Use.Tools with the highest adoption rates are ones that just make sense. They show you what you want, when you want it, with an intuitive design that fits with your everyday business operations. When your CRM platform is as easy to use as Facebook, that’s when it will get the most use, and make the biggest impact on your business.
• On the Go. In many different industries, doing your job well means you’re not sitting at your desk. In real estate for instance, agents who are closing the most deals are the one’s out in the field, meeting with clients in and out of homes on the market. That’s where mobile CRM comes in. Being able to engage with clients and have access to customer data on the go are capabilities that’ll elevate small business to a level of efficiency rarely found in traditional industries.

The post How Highly Specialized CRM’s Are Transforming The Way that Small Businesses Work appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Be Part of a Small Business Revolution!

Small Business Revolution was a project started by Deluxe in 2015, aimed at showcasing the stories of 100 exceptional small businesses. The event was held again in 2016 and became even bigger, with a competition where one town would win a $500,000 main street makeover. Wabash, Indiana was crowned the winner, and now Deluxe is sharing a special eight-episode series about the town’s revival! This is certainly an inspirational story, but you will also be happy to know that nominations are now open for the NEXT $500,000 small town, small business boost! Find out more by checking out this article.

Click to read $500,000, 100 Stories, and a Small Business Revolution in Small Town America

It’s Time to Reach More Customers

“The companies that are winning are the companies that know their customers.” That’s a quote from Jamie Domenici, the VP of Product and SMB Marketing at Salesforce. Recently, Ramon Ray interviewed Jamie, who had great advice for small businesses that want to reach more customers. According to Jamie, the three pillars of sales and marketing are Find, Win, and Keep, and you can learn more about that by checking out this article.

Click to read Find, Win, and Keep Customers: 3 Pillars of Sales and Marketing Success

Advice for Startup Software Developers

With apps escalating in popularity, software startups seem to be popping up all over the place. There is fierce competition and only the strongest will survive. Want to make sure your small business is one of them? In this article, Ramon Ray interviews Vinay Pai, the VP of Intuit Developer Relations who shares tips for how to build an ecosystem.

Click to read How to Build a Community of Software Developers: Intuit Exec Shares Success Tips

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Join the Small Business Revolution, Reach Your Customers & More appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Tips for Improving Your Likability

In this intriguing Smart Hustle interview, Ramon Ray spoke with Dave Kerpen who shared the many ways that becoming more likeable can improve your business – building trust with mentors and business colleagues, developing a company culture that empowers your employees, and listening to your customers so you know what they value and how to help them.

Click to read Dave Kerpen’s 5 Simple Rules for Being More Likable and Successful in Business

Must-Have E-commerce Tools

There are around 110,000 e-commerce stores online. How can you stand out in the crowd and grow a profitable small business? By using the right tools! This article covers six of the most important e-commerce tools that will help your online store run smoothly.

Click to read 6 Essential Tools for Every E-commerce Business

The Importance of Non-Revenue Assets

When asked what drives the value of your business, most small business owners say it is revenue, but in fact, much of the value of your business is locked up in non-revenue assets – whether it is equipment, processes, intellectual property, customers, or something else. These assets are particularly important when selling your business to a strategic buyer, so it is essential that you understand the non-revenue assets that will drive up value. This article shares three tips for doing so.

Click to read The Hidden Value of Your Business in Non-Revenue Assets

Boost Your Startup Valuation

Valuation is essential for startups because it helps build buzz and draw in potential investors and lenders. However, it is now easier than ever to start a business, so competition is fierce. This article teaches you how to guard the value of your startup with three important tips.

Click to read How to Make Waves with a Startup Valuation

At Smart Hustle, we strive to provide tips and insights on all aspects of running a business – advice specifically for small business owners.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Increase Your Likability, E-commerce Tools, and More! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

New Business Has Slowed? Here’s Why

The key to business growth is acquiring new customers, so if you’ve noticed that things have slowed down, it’s time to take notice. While slow business growth can happen for reasons like an economic downturn, there are often business missteps that are to blame. In this article, sales guru Adrian Miller is sharing five reasons why you might not be seeing the new business you’d like. Figure out which are applicable to your situation, then use her advice to fix it.

Click to read 5 Reasons Why You Might Not Be Winning New Business

Connecting with Customers via Facebook Live

Video marketing is a hot trend right now, but do you know what is even hotter? Live video. The thought of appearing live and unscripted on camera in front of your customers might sound daunting. However, when you understand the benefits of live video (and the fact that your fears are largely exaggerated!), you’ll be ready to take the first step into this promising area of marketing. In this Smart Hustle interview, social media expert Kim Garst shares the benefits of Facebook Live and five tips that will calm your fears and get you prepared for your first live video.

Click to read 5 Tips for Using Facebook Live to Get Closer to Your Customers

Enhance Your IT Security Today

A sobering statistic for you: in a recent survey of 500 IT professionals, 30 percent said they believe there is nothing they can do to protect the security of their company. If you’ve ever felt the same way, it’s time to eradicate that self-defeating thought and take charge because you definitely CAN improve IT security at your business! In this article, cloud service LogMeIn is sharing four simple things you can do to greatly enhance the security of your company.

Click to read How to Improve IT Security in Four Simple Steps

So what is troubling you these days? Winning new business and sales? Forming better relationships with your customers? The security of your business data? These articles are sure to help, and for more tips and advice, catch new content over at SmartHustle.com.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Winning New Business, Facebook Live & IT Security appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Establishing Culture in Your Business

Culture is what differentiates those companies where the employees love to come to work from those where the employees dread ‘punching in.’ How your employees feel about their job is then reflected down to the customers, which is why every business owner should think carefully about the kind of culture and the core values they want the business to represent. Need a little guidance? This article offers four great tips for how to improve your work environment.

Click to read How to Build a Rock Slid Company Culture

Making Analytics Work for Your Business

Business data provides valuable insights into how to improve your business, but many times, business owners collect data and then aren’t sure what to do with it. Ideally, analytics should be the driving force behind the decisions you make, and all employees should understand how to use analytics. This article will help, with four training tips that will teach your whole team how to use analytics effectively.

Click to read How to Train Your Team in Better Analytics

Upgrading the Point of Sales Experience

The point of sales is that final moment in the journey where a person officially becomes a customer. Think now to the point of sales experience in your business – does it positively add to the customer’s experience or does it hurt your chance of making a sale? This article has a valuable lesson on what not to do, then some tips for improving the experience, like upgrading your point of sales technology and empowering your sales staff.

Click to read 3 Ways to Improve the Point of Sales Experience

Business Tips for Artists

Although artists funnel their passion into their artwork, interview guest Crista Cloutier says that artists are also entrepreneurs and they must learn how to build their business if they want to be successful. An artist herself, Crista also runs a program called The Working Artist which teaches artists the business skills they need. In this interview, Crista gives tips for how people in creative industries can plan out their business and execute their marketing.

Click to read The Working Artist, Crista Cloutier, Shares Business Tips for the Creative Industries

Successful business owners know they have to pay attention to those important details, including creating a positive culture, listening to analytics, and giving customers a good point of sales experience. What little details in your business could use some TLC? Chances are you’ll find the tips and advice you need on SmartHustle.com.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Establishing Culture in Your Business, Better Analytics, & More appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Importance of Existing Customers

These days, people do business with companies that they’ve formed “relationships” with, which means that a focus on existing customers can boost your customer retention, customer loyalty and, therefore, your profit. This article features four best practices for paying attention to existing customers, including how to deepen your relationships, stay in contact, and give your customers exactly what they’re looking for.

Click to read Why and How Successful Businesses Grow Revenue by Paying Attention to Existing Customers

Should You Surcharge?

Surcharging has definite benefits and costs. On the one hand, it helps you recoup the costs of credit card charges. However, on the other hand, your customers might not appreciate these extra fees. This article is designed to help you decide if surcharging is right for your business, sharing pros, cons, considerations, and alternatives to surcharging.

Click to read Surcharging Credit Cards in Your Small Business: What You Need to Consider

Boost Your Training with a Learning Management System

Training is an important part of bringing new employees aboard, implementing new systems and procedures, and keeping all of your team members at the top of their game. Have you ever considered a learning management system? These online systems help you create training programs that standardize the training process in an online e-learning program that you can customize to employees and also use to track their progress.

Click to read Why Your Company Needs a Learning Management System

What Is Holding You Back from Success?  

Do you ever feel frustrated because you seem to be hitting an invisible brick wall – that there is something holding you back, but you can’t quite pinpoint what it is? It’s time to let go of these hidden blocks so you can find the success you deserve! This article reveals three potential sources of your hidden blocks, so you can resolve the issue and move forward in your business.

Click to read 3 Ways to Uncover Your Hidden Blocks to Business Success

Smart Hustle aims to tackle the various problems that small business owners face, whether related to sales, marketing, business operations, technology, or any other area that is crucial to small business success. So what is on the top of your mind these days? Bring it to our attention in the Smart Hustle Community, and for other great stories, visit SmartHustle.com.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: The Importance of Existing Customers, Surcharging Credit Cards, & More! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

• There has never been a better time for e-commerce.
• It has never been easier to set up an online storefront.

But as simple as it is to set up an e-commerce presence, it’s important to know how to build and market your store before you get started. With the right tools in place, you can build a winning website and draw customers in. Once you’ve set up your e-commerce shop, you’ll need to know how to leverage it to get the best results.

How to Leverage an Ecommerce Platform

As beneficial as an online store can be to your business’s success, it isn’t the only option. If you aren’t quite ready to set up your own online store, consider leveraging one of the many existing platforms for reaching customers online. Marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay will let you set up a store and reach their already robust customer bases. Angi (formerly Angie’s List) and Thumbtack will help you connect with local customers who are looking for services like yours. The best thing about these resources is that you’ll be able to enjoy quick setup without a huge financial commitment.

If you decide to use a site like Etsy or Amazon as your sole selling platform, you should buy the domain name that best relates to your business and point that domain to your online store. This will give you a single address on the web, whether that address is connected to your Amazon seller account, your Etsy shop, or your own dedicated website. This will give you one online address, as well as the benefit of an easily-remembered address that promotes your own brand up front. It will also give you a company-branded email address.

How to Build Your Own Online Store

Once you’re ready to build your dedicated online store, getting started is easy. Useful website builders like Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix let you build an online store using drag-and-drop tools. These sites offer features like shopping carts, site hosting, and search engine optimization, making sure your online store is easy to use, has a professional look, and ranks well when customers are searching for certain products or services.

While these services generally aren’t free, businesses usually find they’re budget friendly. Generally do-it-yourself site builders cost less than $75 a year and may even be free if shop owners are willing to allow third-party ads on their sites. Best of all, these tools come with customer support to provide technical help when needed.

3 Tips to Guide You

1. Identify your website needs – Your online store can be simple and streamlined or a sophisticated multimedia marketing and sales hub. Determine your requirements before you begin building. If you decide you want a lot of bells and whistles on your site, you may want to consider a professional web developer to help.
   2. Pick a domain name – Your domain name will be your virtual address, as well as your online identity, on the web. Even if some solutions offer to host your site on their domains, you should put your website on your owndomain name to have a consistent, branded web address for your customers to remember. It will also give you an attractive, professional web address to use in your marketing.
   3. Select the right website builder – You can find an array of solutions by doing an Internet search for ‘e-commerce website builder.’ Take time to research and compare two to three options. Make sure they have an e-commerce option and that they will not only meet your needs for today but in the future as well.

With so many great resources, entrepreneurs can easily set up an online store and begin promoting it immediately. Before choosing your site’s platform, make sure you carefully research all of the available options and choose the one that’s best for your own business.

This article was written in partnership with Verisign; however, all opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

The post Tips to Help Your Business Build a Winning Ecommerce Store appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small Business Owners Can Capitalize on Freelance Workers

Freelance workers currently make up 34 percent of the United States workforce. Is your small business capitalizing on this group of skilled workers yet? If you said no, you probably aren’t sure what freelance workers offer your company and how to find them. This article will clear up all of your questions.

The article includes an interview with Constantine Anastasakis, the Senior Director of Business Development at Fiverr. Constantine is sharing more about how Fiverr works and how you can use freelance workers to push your own small business ahead. This is a trend every small business owner should be embracing! Learn how to do so by reading this helpful article.

Click to read Fiverr Interview: How to Use Freelancers as Your Competitive Advantage.

Boosting Your Small Biz Security

Hackers do not discriminate – your small business is just as vulnerable as your larger competitors (and perhaps even more so). Security breaches cost money ($3.79 million total in 2015) and they can also cost your customers’ trust. Fortunately, boosting your small business security does not have to be costly or complex. This article covers 6 of the best ways that you can secure and protect your small business.

Click to read 6 Easy Ways to Secure Your Business and Find Peace of Mind.

Calming Down Angry Customers

No matter how focused on customer service your business is, an angry customer will eventually fall through the cracks and you have to know how to successfully deal with them. When someone is yelling at you, it is easy to become frustrated and yell back, but this only makes the matter worse. So how should you deal with angry customers? This article is full of tips on what you can do when things heat up to turn the negative experience around and turn that angry customer into a loyal supporter of your business.

Click to read How to Calm Down Infuriated Customers to Your Advantage.

So what’s on your mind this week – building a remote team of workers, boosting your business security, or dealing with angry customers? Get help with the articles above, and check out the Smart Hustle homepage to read the latest stories.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Capitalizing on Freelance Workers, Boosting Biz Security & Calming Angry Customers appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

I’ve asked Loretta Jones, vice president of marketing, Insightly CRM to share some further insight on this.

There’s no denying that the customer relationship management (CRM) market has quickly become a crowded space. Not only are there an overwhelming number of platforms available, but also more niche offerings for specific industries make it difficult for the average small business owner to determine the tool that will best suit their needs. Making it even more confusing, some argue that the CRM acronym has become tired and overused, and needs an upgrade. There may be some truth to that for the large enterprise that uses CRM for traditional sales. But, for small business owners seeking effective methods for managing their businesses, CRM maintains its value as long as the “customer” remains the focus.

Businesses have traditionally turned to CRM because it’s an easy way to collect and organize customer data across the organization. As an added bonus, SMBs that emphasize using the information already stored in the CRM to improve customer relationships can expect to see an increase in employee productivity, revenues and customer loyalty.

Customers are at the core

Every business, big or small, understands that customers are the keys to success. In order to attract and retain those customers, small business owners need to make sure that every interaction with them is nothing less than stellar. With the help of a CRM, small business owners can track every email, phone conversation, and face-to-face meeting in one central location.

As a result, customer information is stored and accessible across the company, creating a customer experience cloud. This helps ensure that every employee is up-to-date on customer details, such as the product last purchased, the last point of contact and what was specifically discussed, or required next steps. Armed with this information, employees can anticipate customer needs and address problems swiftly. For example, a customer that calls the help desk about a recurring issue will have a far superior experience if the service representative can quickly pull up her record and review past service complaints without asking her to describe the entire problem all over again.

Similarly, if a product typically needs to be replaced or renewed every six months, a business representative can set an alert to follow up with customers when that date is approaching to help them avoid service gaps. This customer-centrality and service is what sets businesses apart from their competition.

Use data for a 360-degree view

According to a recent Zendesk study, 40 percent of customers begin purchasing from a competitor because of its reputation for great customer service. By collecting and analyzing customer information, SMBs can determine how they can best meet customers’ needs, especially if those needs change based on location and buying behaviors. By segmenting customers, business owners can see where they are falling short on meeting their needs and what needs to be done in order to negate the issue. For example, an integration with a tool that tracks customer support tickets can highlight the issues customers are complaining about most and allow SMBs owners to monitor how quickly employees are responding to these issues. In addition, it can provide valuable insight into potential product upgrades or new capabilities if there is an upward trend in requests.

Tracking this data and the conversations your reps are having with customers can help your business quickly determine what needs to happen in order to keep customers happy. Are new customers getting the education and resources they need to be successful? Is there a common complaint about the billing process? Is there an opportunity to support customers who’ve relocated to a new city or job? Identifying and addressing such problems makes it clear to customers that the businesses they are working with are paying attention to their needs, which results in more loyal and satisfied customers. It also shows that a business puts the success of its own customers high on its priority list.

Providing a great customer service experience should be at the core of every business decision. By using your CRM to collect and analyze the customer data that is most important, businesses can uncover valuable and actionable intelligence that can have an immediate impact on customer satisfaction. And by putting customer service, experience, and overall loyalty first, small business owners are giving their business the best shot at success.

Loretta Jones is the vice president of marketing at Insightly, a San Francisco-based SaaS CRM application for small businesses. With more than 15 years of experience in marketing, including marketing strategy, communications and lead generation, Loretta has grown marketing programs for both SMB and enterprise customers at Coveo, Adobe EchoSign and several other companies. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

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