The Hottest and Most Brilliant Business Tips for YOU – Make the Most Meaningful Business Connections and More

Our research ninjas at Credit Suite smuggled out ten amazing business tips for you! Be fierce and score in business with the best tips around the web. You can use them today and see fast results. You can take that to the bank – these are foolproof! So let’s start making meaningful business connections!

Stop making stupid decisions and start powering up your business. Demolish your business nightmares and start celebrating as your business fulfills its promise.

And these brilliant business tips are all here for free! So settle in and scoop up these tantalizing goodies before your competition does!

#10. Let HR Lead the Way in Fulfilling Business Objectives

Our first jaw-dropping tip is all about hitting your business objectives with Human Resources.  Effortless HR says Human Resources is a great place to start when it comes to meeting certain business goals.

Our favorite tip was all about corporate culture. We particularly loved the idea of HR being a vehicle for anonymous surveys and other means of taking the temperature of the workforce.

Getting a handle on whether employees are happy is a laudable goal for any organization. By putting HR in charge of that, it removes the personal nature of such an inquiry from the equation. Rather than being pressured to say everything is awesome, employees can feel free to be honest in their assessments.

A corollary to this is working with HR to get a pipeline of employee suggestions set up. Because on the other side, HR can be the buffer between employees and management. A more frank discussion can happen if there is a referee. And HR, with its traditional tact-filled role, is perfect for the job.

#9. Stop Shrinking!

The next awesome tip is about effectively stopping shrinkage in your business. Business KnowHow lays it all out for us.

Er, what’s shrinkage? If you are a seller of goods rather than services, then you are all too familiar with it. It’s when the amount of stock you think you have on hand does not correspond to the amount of stock you actually do have on hand.

What Causes Shrinking?

The article lays out four reasons and three of them are criminal in nature. Those are shoplifting, employee theft, and return fraud. Return fraud comes in many forms, such as fake receipts or ‘returning’ goods which were shoplifted in the first place.

The only one of the four which is not criminal in nature is administrative errors. Even with computers and impeccably honest employees, someone just might enter a 9 when they meant to enter a 6.

Fix Your Incredibly Shrinking Problems

The solutions are likely the ones you would expect. Better store layouts with fewer blind spots can deter shoplifters. Improving employee hiring practices can cut down on employee theft. That is, if you ask for references, follow up on them! As for return fraud, better employee training can help, so your employees can spot this fraud and feel empowered enough to push for receipts and even identification. As for administrative errors, an improved point of sale system can help, as can better employee training.

We would also suggest doing inventories more often, so if there is a problem, it’s found before it snowballs into a disaster.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Make meaningful business connections today.

#8. Bring it All Home

Our following life-changing tip concerns your inbound marketing strategy. G2 says it’s all about the specificity.

Inbound marketing is, essentially, the use of a website to attract prospects. By creating sharable, findable content, you bring people to your website (more about making your website awesome in tips #4 and #3). These often are ‘warm prospects’, i.e. people who are seriously considering plonking down some money on either what you sell or something awfully similar thereto.

Hence inbound marketing is an exceptionally important tool in your kit. But when you’re scattershot, your inbound marketing efforts are wasted. Or, at the very least, they involve a lot more effort than they should.

The part we really loved was the ‘blink test’. Which is: can you find the value on any given page in two seconds?

Yes, two seconds, less time than it takes for the fastest humans to run a 100 meter dash.

So the moral of the story is, get to the point. Yesterday.

#7. Defrost Your Emails

For our next sensational tip, we looked at cold email tips. Sales Hacker tells us there are some basic, almost universal components to a good cold email.

A cold email, of course, is a lot like a cold call.

But the first element is, unlike a 100% cold call, you introduce yourself and give a reason why you’re emailing. You make the contact a little less out of the blue this way.

Next up are the offer, and proof that it works. After all, why should your prospect download your e-book or schedule a demo or whatever if they have no idea what’s in it for them?

Last are the call to action and what to do next. “So hit reply and I’ll….”

That’s it? That’s it!

#6. Why Don’t You Write Me?

This tip is so cool, and it works! Foundr tells us all about how to make money with your email list.

We have written about email marketing before, but it bears repeating: it may not feel glamorous or cutting edge, but it sure does sell. And that’s kind of the whole point, now, isn’t it?

Segmentation, Measurement, Timing, and Calls to Action

Let’s say you own a residential real estate business. Don’t your childless clients have different needs from those who have kids? So why are you sending emails with information about school districts to people who aren’t parents and aren’t planning to change any time soon?

Measurement and metrics are, of course, some of our favorite things (we also kind of like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, if you must ask). But measurement, ah measurement. It’s the surest way we know of to know if we’re succeeding. So bring on the yardsticks (and see tip #2)!

Timing matters because your customers and prospects might prefer weekend shopping, so an email on Monday is too late. Or they might want to take advantage of a sale – so they need some lead time.

As for calls to action, we sprinkle them throughout our blog posts and you have undoubtedly noticed them. These can be anything from ‘click her to buy’ to ‘call now for a free consultation’. Because your customers and prospects won’t know what you want from them unless you tell them.

#5. Make the Most Meaningful Business Connections

Grab this mind-blowing tip while it’s hot!

Meaningful business connections will help you sell – because it’s all about the business relationship these days. And customers don’t want a summer fling – they want a business relationship with some heft to it. Entrepreneur gives us the lowdown.

Go beyond networking and create meaningful business connections. But how?

Everyone Has Value

We had really hoped this would be 100% intuitive. You know, the kind of common sense which turns out to be utterly uncommon? Yeah, that stuff.

So the concept here is to be kind to everyone. As in the taxi driver, the receptionist, and the person who delivers your food. This should, when we get right down to it, be the kind of thing we all do instinctively. But unfortunately that is not always the case. So consider this a little refresher, okay?

And gather ‘round the electronic hearth because it’s time for a true story.

True Story

Nobody starts at the top, and your intrepid blog writer is no exception. Hence, way back (as in the Reagan Administration), I was a receptionist. It’s a fairly repetitive job. You answer calls, leave messages, and occasionally file or make copies. Keep in mind, this is way before the internet and a PC on every desk.

Of course job seekers would come in. They were always pretty obvious – nervous-looking people who seemed overly uncomfortable in their good clothes. They rarely accepted any offers of water or coffee.

So far, so good.

Most people are good and kind-hearted. We’ve all been in the same or a rather similar boat. Most people are polite and can sometimes be to a fault.

Then there’s the (thank goodness) minority.

Being barked at is no one’s idea of fun. It’s not even a cocker spaniel’s idea of fun.

Have you ever heard a story about a person who didn’t get a job because they were rude to the receptionist? That is a 100% true story. Yes, of course I told the powers that be if someone was rude. You better believe it.

Meaningful business connections start with being good to everyone, for you never know who can help you. Be a jerk or be successful. It’s your call.

Make Networking a Lifelong Habit

For a lot of people, networking can feel like a minuet of sorts. We trot it out only when we need work, and then it feels forced and weird.

But what if you did it every minute of every day? And what if you stopped calling it networking? What if, instead, you called it talking to people?

When networking and other attempts at forging meaningful business connections are only done when you want something, you’ll never get comfortable with the process. By the way, this also applies to your personal life. If you only talk to the gender of the person you desperately want to ask out when you want to ask someone out, then every single one of those conversations will be fraught with meaning. The stakes will be unbelievably high. The pressure will be enormous.

So cut yourself some slack and communicate more often with your fellow human beings. Yes, even if the pretty ones where you get all tongue-tied. This is the best way we know of to relieve that kind of social pressure.

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Make meaningful business connections today.

#4. Don’t Let Your Domain Name Crush Your Business

Check out this spectacular tip, all about choosing the right domain name. Lead Pages tells us there are a lot of ways you can mess up your domain name. And some of them you might not even realize.

Scrap, Therapist, and More Unintentionally Funny and Cringeworthy Domain Name Words

Woe be unto Benjamin Dover, a scrap metal dealer with multiple hits and a therapy business on the side. And consider the problems William Todd Farmer (he’s a real person – just Google him) has when he just wants to use his initials.

So write out your proposed domain name. Then write it out again. And again. Get people you know and trust to give it a look-see. They might spot something you don’t.

And be prepared to change your idea of an ideal domain name.

So perhaps the best piece of advice is one we get from reading between the lines. And it is this. Until money changes hands and you actually own a coveted domain name, don’t get too attached to it, just in case you find out it’s a bad choice after all.

Top Level Domains

The article also repeated some information which we find to be exceptionally helpful. And that is, if you are buying .com, then you should buy .net, .us, etc. as well. Why? Because you don’t want someone to spoof your site, particularly when you are right in the middle of a social media crisis. And you also don’t want to have to buy those extra top level domains at an inflated price if you need them some time later.

So spend a few extra bucks at the start and cover these bases. You will be unbelievably glad you did.

#3. Build Your Business Empire Online

It’s not your imagination: this winning tip can help you create a business website – fast! Crowdspring lays it all out for us.

One of our imperatives when it comes to business credit building is to set up a professional business website. The first step is one we discussed in tip #4 – get a good domain name.

Logos, Design, and Coding

You may or may not be artistic, and you may or many not understand HTML or WordPress. But lots of other people do – and they are easy to hire.

Why do you want to hire a professional? Because otherwise you run the risk of getting a generic logo, a boring design, and out of the box, by-the-numbers coding. We highly recommend Upwork and Fiverr for these necessities. You can spend less and still get a great website.

#2. Bring on the Yardsticks!

Our second to last unbeatable tip can give you a new perspective on using Google Analytics. Main Street ROI tells us there are lots of great ways to use this amazing data. But they recommend five rather specific measurements.

Channels, Pages, and Products

Do you know where your visitors are coming from? Do you know if you’re getting more visitors from Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter? And do you know if your widget page is doing better than your signup page?

Measuring People

What are the main characteristics of the people who visit their website? What makes them ditch their shopping carts? How old are they? Where are they? When do they visit your website?

Google Analytics makes all of this measuring possible. We loved this article, and we highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

#1. From Local to Online and Back Again

We saved the best for last. For our favorite remarkable tip, we focused on how a home services company can improve their online sales. Young Upstarts says a purely local business such a plumber can still get great sales from online visitors.

Our favorite tip was to provide more detailed information. As in, probably a lot more detail than you might expect.

For instance, let’s say you own a day spa. Do you offer manicures? And if you do, do you offer gel manicures, or nail art? You may think it’s overdoing it, but giving your prospects a better idea of what you can do for them will tell them whether it’s worthwhile to head on over to your shop.

And much like in tip #8, you’ll attract prospects who are searching for what you can provide. After all, they won’t know what that is, unless you tell them. So tell them!

So which one of our brilliant business tips was your favorite? And which one will you be implementing now?

If you are as passionate about succeeding in business as we are, please help us spread the word about how to take the plunge and save time and money – and your sanity! Make meaningful business connections today.