Archives for 2020

Photo by CoWomen from Pexels

Taking any significant financial or professional leap can feel risky and daunting for business owners, particularly in times like these. Whether you’re at the beginning of your business journey or a yours is a well-established enterprise looking to expand, you need support services to help you succeed.

While it’s true that the risk is great, the reward is greater. However, it’s understandable to feel apprehensive with so many complex challenges ahead. Thankfully, whatever stage your business is at, you’re not alone. There are plenty of support services out there that exist to help your enterprise flourish when you need it most.

RELATED CONTENT: LEAD GENERATION TRENDS: TURN LEADS INTO BUSINESS PARTNERS

These are just five such services ready and waiting to assist.

The Chamber of Commerce

The local Chamber of Commerce is a business network that includes businesses across your city. The network provides support services in the form of business relationships.

Larger Chambers, such as the British Chamber of Commerce, also have a global network which supports businesses in domestic and international trade. It’s particularly useful for businesses that aspire to participated in globalization. Additionally, the British Chamber seeks to provide support in the face of economic challenges such as Brexit and the pandemic lockdown.

MentorsMe

When looking for advice and support as a developing enterprise, much of the information you encounter will be conflicting. It can be difficult to determine not only what is correct, but also what is relevant to your business situation.

With MentorsMe, you can find a business mentor with the exact skills and experience you need. Rather than relying on vague guidance and guesswork, you can find the specific support service your business needs to further your progression in the most efficient and productive way.

Mason Bullock

With business growth comes workforce growth. Growth is a positive symptom of change. However, it produces its own inherent challenges when it comes to managing employees.

Mason Bullock Solicitors specialize in support services to help. Things like CCJ (County Court Judgment) removal and settlement agreements are available. Also, they can help with employment tribunal support for both employees and employers.

Their extensive expertise in employment law will cover you when you need it most.

Timpi

Timpi is a virtual assistant service that provides support for individuals. Specializing in lifestyle management as well as business support services, Timpi is extremely thorough.

RELATED CONTENT: THE BEST PHONE SERVICES FOR US STARTUPS IN 2020

Offerings range from bookkeeping to business event planning and even travel coordination. Timpi’s highly efficient service will help your operations run like clockwork. Thankfully, Timpi takes organizational administration out of your hands so you can focus on your customer and client relationships.

SAGE

There are plenty of payroll support services out there, but SAGE is possibly the most popular, with good reason.

SAGE’s payroll and HR software is safe and secure as well as fully compliant with current legislation and legal requirements. The system is accessible for both employees and employers, limiting complications when it comes to communication.

Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels

The software is also fully integrated with SAGE’s accounting software. As such, your business is fully equipped and prepared when it comes to finance administration.

Utilize These Support Services to Help Your Business

These five services will help you maximize efficiency, kick-start growth and discover new opportunities. Get the support services you need to succeed in your industry today.

Featured image by alexacrib

Junk removal services collect discarded materials from domestic, commercial, construction, or demolition sites, then safely dispose of them in an environmentally friendly manner.

The US Has a Trash Problem

The US creates more than 624,000 metric tons of waste—in a single day!

A lot of this junk ends up in overflowing landfills because of lack of awareness among the general populace about the options available to them. For example, people could be recycling, reusing, donating, or repurposing. However, some people simply don’t think of it as that big of a deal.

RELATED ARTICLE: ENVIRONMENTAL CAREERS: SOME OPTIONS TO CONSIDER

What Happens to Junk?

Junk removal services collect trash and old appliances from domestic, commercial, construction, and demolition sites. Then they safely dispose of these materials in an environmentally friendly manner. A lot of what they collect can be recycled. They take care of other materials, like heavy metals, hazardous waste, or plant matter, in the best way possible.

Should We Worry About Junk Removal?

• The amount of waste generated per person in the US is the highest of any country. Solid waste management costs roughly $200 billion every year, including the energy resources necessary for trash disposal.
• In a few years, we’ll likely run out of landfills, because the amount of waste production is rising rapidly.
• A huge amount of plastic gets produced, and 80 percent of it becomes waste. What’s frightening, however, is the fact that people either don’t bother to recycle, or they don’t have access to recycling, for 91 percent of this plastic.
• We could save a huge amount of energy by recycling plastic instead of producing more of it.
• With technological advances, the amount of e-waste has seen a startling rise. Moreover, an increasing amount of e-waste is a matter of grave concern, as a lot of it is toxic waste.

Photo by tanvi sharma on Unsplash

These problems need our immediate attention. We should all give recycling, donating, and upcycling high priority in our daily lives.

Consider a Career in Junk Removal

Junk removal can be a rewarding career option. For starters, it offers you the opportunity to do your part in keeping the planet clean. By focusing on sustainable junk removal, you’ll be providing an important service to your community.

Here are several other reasons why this is a rewarding career choice:

1. A junk removal business doesn’t require a large investment or setting up an office for its startup. Neither does it need a lot of time. The ongoing expenses relating to this business are also relatively low. In fact, a truck driver and an assistant can provide all the services needed. At the onset, the owner can operate as the primary driver.
2. Junk removal businesses are booming because of the increasing amount of waste Americans produces.
3. Another reason why junk removal services are in demand is that people buy a lot of stuff, a lot more than they need. This is partly because buying in bulk is ostensibly cheaper. However, it’s also because advertisements are tempting. What’s more, the average American moves more than ten times in their lifetime, and they require junk removal services each time.
4. Junk removal businesses are likely to do well even during times of recession. This is because people accumulate waste and dispose of it regardless of whether the economy is good or bad. Therefore, this business is recession-proof, and investors and lenders are usually willing to put up the necessary capital to launch a new junk removal business.
5. People are becoming more aware of the availability of junk removal services. This is especially true of people who are hoarders who have realized they now have the option to get rid of the trash that’s been holding them back in life.
6. You will earn money for removing junk from people’s houses or businesses. Additionally, you will also be making a profit by selling these discarded items, as people often throw away things that are either still useful or have significant value.
7. You get to work for yourself!

Get Started Today

All you need to get started is a truck and a trailer. Then you can apply for junk removal subcontracting and junk removal jobs. So why wait? Start your new career in junk removal today.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels

Preparing a retail pricing strategy can feel like navigating a minefield. Beneath the tense, competitive surface lie the real threats to your success: unchecked resellers. They offer similar products at below-list prices, thereby sabotaging your brand’s value and reputation. It’s a dark game they play. But luckily, you have a trick up your sleeve: MAP pricing.

A minimum advertised price (MAP) policy is an agreement between suppliers and retailers on the lowest rate that they can promote certain items. If sellers are found to be dipping below this agreed-upon threshold, they can be penalized accordingly. And as for those unmonitored resellers, this is a means of keeping their nefarious activity in check.

If you can successfully implement a MAP pricing policy and curb those violations, the benefits you stand to gain are tremendous. From competitive advantage to product margins to customer relationships, here’s why you need to take MAP seriously:

MAP Pricing Oversees Industry Trends and Prevents Counterfeit Activity

For starters, an effective MAP pricing strategy is vital for surveilling your competitors’ activities. As the old adage goes: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In this context, this means doing your due diligence with respect to tracking prices market-wide and subsequently making more informed decisions within the context of your industry.

Of course, the real purpose of monitoring is ensuring that none of your competitors violates MAP pricing agreements. This is because, if they get away with it, your entire industry runs the risk of a dangerous race to the bottom.

Just imagine a world without MAP pricing: Your competitor lists item X at a lower price than you do. So how do you respond? By stooping lower to beat their already-cheap price. In turn, they may reciprocate with yet a lower price, engaging you in a price war that ends in disaster for all involved.

What you end up with here is a short-sighted pricing strategy guaranteed to cripple your market position over time. Sure, it may win you the favor of some quick customers delighted to strike on unbeatable deals. But how are you ever going to hit your profit targets with this approach? You simply can’t. But neither can your rivals.

Price wars are lose-lose scenarios. On the other hand, MAP pricing establishes a playing field where win-wins are possible.

Protect the Value of Your Products

Part of the issue with price battles is that they directly harm the integrity of your goods. With MAP pricing, you won’t be tempted to undervalue items just to keep up with the competition. Instead, you can optimize their worth and protect your profits.

RELATED CONTENT: HOW PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS CAN BOOST YOUR BRAND

Similarly, MAP pricing keeps your products from being undermined by third-party sellers. By prohibiting them from setting unreasonably low prices, your products maintain their value and your sales enjoy relative stability.

This brings up another side-effect. MAP pricing enforcement enables smarter stocking procedures. If some unhinged seller comes along selling your items at dirt-cheap prices, that may disrupt your flow of demand. In turn, it will also affect your patterns of supply. Avoiding such market chaos equates to more sustainable inventory turns in the long haul.

By avoiding tumult in the supply chain, you also stand to improve your relationships with every entity involved. At its core, MAP pricing can prove beneficial to manufacturers, retailers, and resellers alike.

Strengthen Your Customer Relationships

Strong MAP policies erase the desire to haphazardly flip flop prices. Instead, you can adopt a policy that cements your brand identity and price image. This image dictates what your goods should be valued at, and it’s a direct reflection of your company’s reputation.

Consider a brand like Whole Foods. They can sell groceries at higher-than-average prices because customers perceive their goods to be worth such elevated prices. If, however, they were inclined to wage a price war against a discount grocer like LIDL, Whole Foods’ prestigious reputation would be quite difficult to recover.

With MAP pricing, you can confidently keep prices—and your brand identity—more stable. And believe it or not, your customers will thank you for it.

Photo by Quintin Gellar from Pexels

After all, inconsistency in pricing makes you look inconsistent overall. Consider, for instance, a recent Intelligence Node study on an upstart Korean beauty brand that lost its market momentum despite an initial wave of praise. It turns out that they failed to thwart an influx of inauthentic retailers who listed their goods at various prices. Such fluctuations then generated heaps of negative reviews.

Why did they receive these negative reviews? It was because buyers want to know what they’re getting into when they consider shopping for your products. It’s the trust factor inherent to all market transactions. Had that beauty company effectively enforced MAP pricing, they could have demonstrated stability and cultivated that trust. In essence, staying true to brand value is a necessity for genuine customer satisfaction.

Final Word: MAP Pricing Requires Enforcement

By now the importance of MAP pricing is quite evident, but realizing this means nothing if you don’t aggressively find the violators and hold them accountable. Setting the law is only half the battle. You need to enforce it as well.

That’s where price monitoring software comes into play. At Intelligence Node, we‘re proud to offer an industry-leading MAP compliance solution. This will give your brand the safety blanket it deserves. Check out the details and drop us a line if you have any questions about how it can help your business grow to new heights.

About the Author

Lokesh Aryan is founder at Lokesh Aryan Digital and marketing analyst at Intelligence Node. Intelligence Node is a real-time retail price intelligence platform that empowers retailers and brands to grow profitability and margins using AI and ML data-driven competitive insights. Lokesh helps entrepreneurs, small business owners, and executives at large companies to establish a strong search presence by generating organic traffic and quality leads. Follow him on Twitter @lav_aryan1095.