How Can Contract Billing Help my Business

Posts Tagged ‘business marketing’

Improving upon the service quality requires a lot of understanding on part of the customer service managers and the services staff to be successful at any business. An organization who can not understand or keep up with customers’ expectations can not flourish for long. Also it must be noted that not a single customer should be left out who can be valuable to your business, for ultimately it is the ‘word of mouth’ reputation which works your way towards a growing and healthy business.

In today’s organizations, often a customer service software is installed in order to maintain customer database and to take care of the existing customers. IBM is one such hot example of good service delivery organization where the Netcool software provided by them lends quality service management and customer experience management. This kind of software enabled management help the service providers to lower the operations costs and enhance the service quality. The employees at IBM are privileged to have the service management capabilities like real-time service status management, service performance management or customer experience management.

Apart from having a software to improve the service quality, there are other strategies which should be studied and implemented.

Always ask the customers for feedback: Whenever the customers come to you, ask them about your products, whether they purchase or do not purchase your products. If they have used your products previously and are satisfied, you have an extra edge to win over your customer. You can get the feedback forms filled by them and also ask them to give their suggestions

Maintain a record of complaints and act upon them: Maintaining a record is one thing but acting upon them is very vital to get more business from them. Study each complaint carefully, talk to each customer and take adequate actions.

Discuss the ways of service improvement: The employees of any organization should actively discuss the problems accrued by any customers. Regular meetings should be conducted in order to address every particular problem. If changes to be brought about has to be effected at the top level management, the necessary elements of meeting should be conveyed to them. Occasionally, role play should be taken up by employees in orde to understand the potential problem of the customers.

Reward your service staff: The service employees who work towards building a good relationship with the customers and also fetch business from them must be rewarded. If your employees are happy, indirectly your customers will also be happy. Also these employees must be motivated to perform on a regular basis.

Hire people who are interested in services industry: Many times, you hire people who do not have a knack to excel in the services sector. Those who have an experience in this line but no liking for services, will ultimately fail to deliver performance. So, it’s better to know and understand people during the time of interview.

Take heed of the above tenets of service and adopt them as your long-term or short-term goals. Do maintain a good rapport with your customers but do not stoop too much to their demands. Also, let your customers know clearly about the service practices so that they do not take undue advantage.

By: piru

Technorati Tags: business marketing, leadership training, management quality

Productivity and sales may be slow at the moment but that does not necessarily mean that you should hit the breaks on everything in relation to your business. The fact that things are a little slow from a day-to-day workload perspective means that you have more time to step back and take stock of all those things you always mean to do, but never seem to get to.

Taking the time to review and make changes to the way your business functions could prove to be beneficial both now and more importantly in the long term, as the economy picks up again.

There are numerous facets of the business that can be addressed from financial considerations to trading terms and operations/procedures. Following are some helpful questions you may like to consider to prepare your business for the tough year ahead and put it in an optimal position for when the tides turn and business is on the up!

Ask yourself the following questions. Once you have ascertained the specific areas of your business that require attention, ensure that you speak to the relevant professional in order to get the best advice on how to improve your current situation.

Banking

* Do you have a positive working relationship with your banking manager?
* Do you regularly touch base with them to provide updates on the financial status of your business and to seek any necessary advice?
* Do you have strategies in place in the unfortunate event that something should go wrong with the business financially?
* Are your business assets correctly valued in order to support any business loans that you may have?

Accounting

* Do you have a positive working relationship with your accountant?
* Is your business structured in such a way that your personal assets are protected?
* Do you have private assets held separately from the assets of your business?
* Are business owned assets held in the correct way, under the correct structure for your situation? For example, sole trader vs. partnership vs. company vs. trusts.

Operations and Trading Terms

* Are your contracts with customers and/or suppliers correctly structured and legally compliant?
* If you are supplying materials in the course of your business, does your contract allow for the retrieval of unpaid goods?
* Do your current contracts and trading terms processes include provisions to facilitate the prompt recovery of debt owed to you?
* Are there areas of your business that could be cut down or made more cost effective but will not affect the operations and daily functioning of the business?

Protecting your business

* Do you have a compliant and up-to-date shareholder’s agreement?
* Do you have clearly defined corporate governance practices in place?
* Does your current insurance policy adequately cover your business structure and assets?
* Is any intellectual property sufficiently protected and/or legally registered? For example business names and logos, personally developed products, methods or innovations.
* Do you require confidentiality, non-disclosure or restraint of trade agreements with suppliers or current or previous employees?

Protecting you, the owner

* Do you have an up-to-date and valid Will?
* Do you require an enduring power of attorney?

Of course these are just a few areas that you can look to in order to start strengthening your business. Other areas you may wish to consider include Marketing practices, Staffing and Human Resources and Management processes.

If the above checklist has highlighted some areas on your business that could do with a ‘touch up’ contact the team of accountants and lawyers at The Quinn Group. We are able to assist you with everything from drafting contracts and negotiating with financial institutions to reviewing or restructuring your business structure and providing cash flow and budgeting advice.

For more information, or to organise to speak with one of our team about your business needs call us on 1300 QUINNS or click here to submit an online enquiry.

By: Michael Quinn

Technorati Tags: business education, business marketing, sales training