Archives for November 2018

November
17, 2018

2 min read

According to an infographic by Business Backer, 93 percent of employees feel that trust in their boss is essential to being satisfied at work. Employees who aren’t satisfied might be tempted to work with less excitement, to miss work or cause problems within the workplace.

That’s why, if you want to keep your business running smoothly, it’s important to build trust with your employees. Good leaders use all sorts of communication tricks to learn what their employees are feeling, adapt based on those feelings and then clearly explain what to do next.

This infographic breaks down 10 proven ways to build trust, which include:

1. Show them the big picture. If your employees can understand the company’s direction, they can contextualize their efforts and see why they’re important. That’s why you should always introduce company goals, ways of working and role expectations for every new employee.
2. Set clear expectations. This goes back to the first point. But if you can define exactly what’s needed, then your employees can be more focused and trust that their efforts are worthwhile. You should ask them to recap what you’re telling them and ask if your expectations are achievable. That way, everyone is on the same page about what comes next.

You can learn about the other strategies in the infographic below.

November
16, 2018

8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Amazon recently opened two of its three Amazon 4-star stores, making its collective brick-and-mortar experiences tally up at over 100 locations between Amazon Books, Amazon Pop-Up, Amazon Go and now Amazon 4-star. These investments from Amazon have customers, competitors and commerce-driven professionals alike speculating the future and the present of what Amazon is up to, but one thing is for certain … physical retail is here to stay. Make no mistake, however, that Amazon’s investment into this space is unlike anything we have seen in the past.

Related: Why This Online Clothing Company Started Sharing Its Profits With Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Merging its extensive consumer and inventory data generated from Amazon.com with futuristic ideas of what brick-and-mortar retail should look like, Amazon has opened its 4-star stores in the Soho neighborhood of New York City, a suburban town just outside of Denver, Colo., and most recently in Berkley, Calif. Presumably, these stores blend in with others if you were to simply stroll by and take a quick peak, but blending in with other retailers is exactly the opposite of what Amazon 4-star delivers.

In a recent interview I had with Cameron Janes, vice president of physical stores for Amazon, he explained that Amazon 4-star has been “built around customers and will continue to operate with consumers at the core of every decision we make.” Expanding on this, Janes stressed that “with data leading decisions, humans have approved every single product in our stores.”

With the human touch often dismissed in our technology-centric world, how is an online marketplace giant like Amazon welcoming the human touch in their physical storefront experiences? And what can other business leaders learn from this?

Below, consider four tips to take away from the newly introduced Amazon 4-star stores.

1. Customer insight should drive every decision businesses make.

Amazon 4-star stores have a curated mix of products that are only rated at four stars and above by customers on Amazon.com or are recognized through sales data as top selling or top trending items. Collectively, these details reflect what customers across the globe are buying and loving — ultimately helping to narrow down expansive product searches for customers and deliver trusted consumer finds. This approach to identifying the inventory assortment available at Amazon 4-star stores is something any business leader can learn from, but too often businesses dismiss data generated from their customers. At Amazon 4-star, however, this data is proactively reviewed and then applied to the decisions made regarding immediate and future inventory assortments — among other decisions, as well.

Related: What Small Retailers Can Learn From the Industry’s Push Towards AI and Big Data

Genna Gold, senior manager of local business outreach for Yelp, explained to me that the value of consumer ratings “have changed the way consumers evaluate where to spend their time and money.” Expanding on this, Gold shares that “reviews support customers in their purchasing decisions when they’re already in buy mode, which makes them highly transactional.”

According to a BrightLocal survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers, 85 percent of respondents trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Amazon 4-star is smart — to say the least — to bring this review strategy into its physical environments. Supporting these 4-star or higher ratings are actual customer testimonials, which Amazon 4-star displays via printed review cards merchandised next to each respective product in combination with digital signage that is updated in real-time and highlights the price, customer ratings, product details and Amazon Prime price savings. The main takeaway here, however? Past customer purchases are what help push future customer sales.

2. Be where your customers are and know who they are.

When it came time for Amazon to identify where it would open its first three Amazon 4-star stores, it knew one thing mattered most.

“Whether it’s in a mall like our Colorado location or is free-standing such as our Soho store is, we just wanted to be where our customers are,” explained Janes.

The Colorado location marks Amazon’s second physical store within Park Meadows, Colorado’s largest mall. Joining an Amazon Pop-Up, the Amazon 4-star store benefits from already having established data on the local demographics of this particular area. And local — believe it or not — is an important factor in the Amazon 4-star strategy.

As Janes explained to me, “In each of our Amazon 4-star locations, customers will find products curated specifically to their regional market. In our Colorado location, for example, we feature ‘Trending Around Denver’ items that have been top-performing items sold in that area. We’re able to change this frequently based on sales data to proactively accommodate local customers and ultimately better support each unique, local environment.”

As it turns out, being where your customers are is only one piece to the retail puzzle for Amazon. Knowing who they are is just as important — and as Amazon 4-star shows us by example, supporting customers with real-time inventory insight and product offerings in direct response to historic sales, local market trends and real-time data can help achieve this. Business leaders across all categories can use this same strategy in their own efforts to achieve stronger sales success.

Related: Alibaba’s Futuristic Supermarket in China Is Light-Years Ahead of the U.S. — and Shows Where Amazon Will Likely Take Whole Foods

3. Focus on your customers, not your competition.

When challenged with whether other merchants impacted Amazon’s decision-making in opening physical stores, Janes confidently stated that “we don’t focus a lot on the competition.” Instead, Janes stressed multiple times that what Amazon does focus on is “our customers.”

With a customer-centric strategy leading their decisions, Amazon recognizes that for most consumers, the stores will be the first physical interaction they have with Amazon. As a result, employees are trained to put customers first — plain and simple.

“What matters to Amazon is customer obsession. We obsess over their experiences and want the employees within Amazon 4-star to do the same,” Janes explained.

To help support its customers, Amazon 4-star designed its stores with an easy-to-navigate floor plan that highlights various categories of products that include consumer electronics, kitchen products, home decor, toys, books, games and more through simple merchandising strategies without distracting displays. Using both traditional signage and digital signage, customers shopping within an Amazon 4-star store can easily gain product knowledge, customer ratings and even suggested products to complement other items based on past customer purchases. This clutter free approach to merchandising has another benefit, as well, which is allowing employees to easily see throughout the store and more easily support customers as a result.

“Our merchandising is simple because it doesn’t need to be complicated. We answer the most obvious questions that customers want to know through our signage and there’s a clear line of vision throughout any point of our store. This helps our employees engage more easily with customers and view the entire store to identify who may need assistance at any given time,” explained Janes.

Expanding on this, Janes shared that “it’s a responsibility for our employees to know about our inventory so that they can make sure our customers end up with the right products based on what they need.”

This customer-centric approach is not futurist like many of Amazon’s other commerce strategies, but then again today’s modern merchants are not necessarily known for customer service anymore. Amazon is re-inventing how customer service looks in brick-and-mortar environments — as well as that despite competition, the customer should always remain top-of-mind.

4. Incorporate technology in combination with the human touch.

Amazon 4-star stores are highly curated and represent a direct reflection of their customers, but this doesn’t happen by observation alone. Amazon depends greatly on technology and data to identify what are top selling items and must-have products for its stores. Additionally, Amazon 4-star is the perfect destination for consumers to engage with tech products such as Alexa to help customers identify if it’s a purchase they want to make. Collectively, these experiences help Amazon 4-star deliver stronger customer engagement opportunities and sales alike. But, the human touch is not dismissed in these actions since every product being sold is in fact based on past human choices thanks to technology.

Related: Amazon Opens 4-Star Store in New York City

Through technology, Amazon has gained more clarity about who its customers are, what their customers want and how they can better support their customers in their end goals, which is to purchase products they both need and want. Conveniently enough, when putting the customer first, Amazon also reaches its goal, which is to continue to be a leader in the world of commerce — not just online.

As you aim to reach your own goals in business, consider who is really leading your decisions. Is it exclusively technology? Or do you welcome the human touch, as well?

As Janes explains best, aim to create something that is “data driven yet human approved.”

November
14, 2018

2 min read

Last week we reported that the NFL was teaming up with developer Epic Games to bring all 32 team uniforms to one of the most popular video games in the world, Fortnite. The reasoning, it seemed, was twofold: current fans would be excited about wrapping their characters in the “skins” of their favorite players, and potential fans would be exposed to a beleaguered league that needs all the new viewers it can get. They stated the outfits would be available in the game’s Battle Royale Item Shop starting Nov. 9, with no end date mentioned.

Related: Developing an App or a Game? Take a (Retro) Lesson From ‘PAC-MAN.’

The skins have now been removed from Fortnite’s online store, Epic Games announced on Monday via Twitter. But in the short time they were available — items in the store cycle in and cycle out — some unscrupulous players created sick, controversial scenarios utilizing the uniforms. Yahoo collected a rundown of what we’re talking about.

There’s Michael Vick, dog abuser, carrying a pooch.

Ohhh shit dont do him like that pic.twitter.com/uCk6SGt5RX

— Fake SportsCenter (@FakeSportsCentr) November 10, 2018

Aaron Hernandez, convicted murderer, with a gun.

Ok fortnite pic.twitter.com/1FqmZP8vrZ

— NAMING MY SON MITCH (@FlowsAndolini) November 10, 2018

Jason Pierre-Paul, who damaged multiple fingers in a Fourth of July fireworks accident, playing with sparkers.

And, finally, O.J. Simpson ready to “murder opponents.”

@StoolGametime OJ Simpson skin so I can murder these opponents and try to get away with the W! pic.twitter.com/QrR8T6v2mW

— Thankful Matt Speck (@The_Speck24) November 10, 2018

November
13, 2018

6 min read

Wish you could shed a few pounds? You’re not the only one. According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of all American adults surveyed said that they were trying to lose weight. (Emphasis on “trying” rather than “succeeding.”)

It seems so simple to just eat less and exercise more, right? But as all too many of us know, it ain’t that easy. We get busy, we’re exhausted, so we shove bad things in our mouths to save time, to get a quick energy boost, or, let’s face it, because a lot of bad things taste great! The planning and willpower it takes to radically change our lives in order to fit into last year’s jeans usually last as long as that Häagen-Dazs bar in our hands.

But here’s the thing: you don’t actually have to do anything radical to lose weight, says Jonathan Dugas, Ph.D., health and research consultant at Vitality Group and an endurance coach. Dugas says that we all can reap huge health benefits by making a couple of small changes in our lifestyles. Here are nine tips he offers to help you lose weight without being miserable.

1. You can’t outrun a poor diet.

Image credit:

Don Emmert | Getty Images

“The first important point is that you can’t out exercise a poor diet. While being active does mean you burn calories, being overweight or obesity is strictly a function of diet and not activity levels. As such, we try to help everyone be active for the health benefits, but eat healthily for the weight benefits. It is important to remember that weight loss really is a marathon and not a sprint. Individuals who are more overweight or obese can experience more rapid weight loss, but that is because they have more weight to lose. Managing expectations is key to staying the course and achieving one’s goals.”

2. Pick a diet. Any diet.

Image credit:

Enrique Díaz | 7cero | Getty Images

“The key to diets is that, by design, they all create an energy deficit, and to lose weight a deficit is required. So, if one adopts a diet and follows it, then they are almost certain to lose weight, although the amount of weight they lose, and whether they lose more fat than muscle mass, will vary widely. Do not be afraid to abandon a diet and try a new one if it is not working for you. Expect to do some trial and error before you find one that you feel like is a good fit for your lifestyle.”

Related: Exercise Is One Thing Most Successful People Do Everyday

3. Skip working out for now — and skip those smoothies!

Image credit:

Foment | Getty Images

“It’s not uncommon for an individual to have a wakeup call and get motived to take action. The tendency, however, is to be too ambitious and try to fix everything at once. This can be problematic. If weight loss is your goal, focus on weight loss. That means changing your dietary habits to achieve that daily and weekly calorie deficit, but it also means you do not increase your physical activity. Not only does adding more workouts just soak up bandwidth, but the increase in energy expenditure will actually drive appetite up. For most of us, we feel justified indulging after a workout because we feel like we earned it. However, a 16 oz. sports drink (~100 calories) and an energy bar (200-300 calories) is all it takes to match the 300-400 calories you just burned at the gym. And forget about the post-workout smoothie, those babies can run you in excess of 500 calories easy.”

4. Eat what you make and take what you make.

Image credit:

Luis Alvarez | Getty Images

“We are surrounded by very convenient and affordable, yet calorie-dense, food options. In some situations, these make sense, for example having to catch an early flight and eating breakfast at the airport. However, preparing your own food, even if you do not choose the healthiest ingredients 100 percent of the time, will almost always result in lower intake. Therefore, opting to prepare your own meals when you can is a big win. The key is understanding that few of us can do this all the time — and that’s okay. Instead, set some weekly goals like bringing your lunch to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Your bank account will thank you, too.”

Related: 5 Ways Switching to Plant-Based Diet Boosts Your Productivity

5. Be social.

Image credit:

Thomas Barwick | Getty Images

“Cooking for one or two can seem like a lot more effort than just eating out. Instead, leverage the power of your social network and rotate dinners with your friends. And I don’t mean extravagant dinner parties with all the trimmings. Chances are you aren’t the only one who wants to do things a little healthier, so set out some criteria with your buddies and agree to cook for the group one night a week. All it takes is two or three of you and suddenly most weeknights can be covered, plus you get to hang with your friends.”

6. Limit, but don’t eliminate, alcohol.

Image credit:

franckreporter | Getty Images

“Enjoying a drink isn’t a crime, and it won’t wreck your health. Drinking in excess, however, can derail your weight loss efforts in a hurry because alcoholic beverages can be extremely high in calories. Limiting alcohol in any way will help. For some that means not drinking on certain days of the week, for others, it means simply stopping at one drink, or maybe giving up beer for wine. Find an approach that is comfortable for you.”

Related: 10 Healthy Habits for People Who Work Remotely

7. Don’t drink your calories when you can eat them.

Image credit:

Dmitry Ageev | Getty Images

“When given the opportunity to eat your calories instead of drinking them, always choose the former. Water is really always the best choice, but there is a long list of zero and low-calorie beverages. At around 150 calories per can, sugary beverages like sodas, sports drinks, and juice (yes, juice), are the primary offenders here. Even just two a day is like having an extra sandwich at lunch.”

8. Get professional help.

Image credit:

bymuratdeniz | Getty Images

“Consider accessing a pro. Dieticians train specifically to help people manage their weight. If you are overweight or obese, dietician services might even be covered by your health plan, but you’ll have to investigate to be sure. But even if you aren’t, consider the professional insights, support, and accountability an investment in your health and future. A typical approach is between 3-6 months, so while being healthy is a lifelong commitment, getting help from a dietician isn’t.”

Related: 11 Strategies for Eating Healthy on a Business Trip

9. Don’t be afraid to change.

Image credit:

Raquel Lonas | Getty Images

“Don’t be afraid to change course if something is not working. Getting to the right mix of habits and behaviors that fits with you almost certainly will require trial and error. To that end, be willing to change it up if you feel like something is a dead end.”

November
10, 2018

2 min read

If you’ve ever watched Entrepreneur’s original series, Elevator Pitch, then you’ve probably seen smart founders make dumb mistakes while pitching their ideas to potential investors. They might flub an answer or get tongue-tied, or they might just be a little boring. Other times, you might notice that something seemed off about a pitch, but you can’t quite put your finger on why.

Investors are gambling every time they put money into a new project or idea. Your job when pitching is to prove to them that you’re worth the risk. That means you’ll need to not only show them the possible upside of what they have to gain, but also be clear about what they could possibly expect to lose and their odds. In other words, you need to give them a holistic view of what you do, not just the one good idea.

You might have pitched an investor yourself and thought you crushed it, only to hear that the investor isn’t interested. If that’s the case, there’s a chance the pitch was missing one of 10 essential elements.

This infographic by Buffalo 7 breaks down 10 slides you should have in your next investment pitch deck. If you’re not presenting formally, though, you can still keep track of these aspects in your head and make sure you cover each one. They include:

1. The vision, where you concisely explain your idea.
2. The problem. Why is your vision necessary or helpful?
3. The opportunity. What is the market size, and how can you position yourself to earn a share of it?

This is just the start, though. Check out the infographic below to see the rest of the slides you need when pitching investors.