10 Powerful Management Insights from Apple, P&G, Yum Brands and Gilt Groupe

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My book pile has begun to bulge with new "how we did it" books by managers from established, brand-name corporations -- and one newer disruptive startup, the luxury-fashion, flash-sale ecommerce hit Gilt Groupe. So often these tomes are overflowing with self-aggrandizing blather, but, to my surprise, this crop has some useful tips on how to start and grow a successful business.
Here's a rundown on the management traits these solid-gold brands used to get their startups off the ground, and to keep driving their companies forward.

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Why Next-Gen Displays Might Be Your Next Point-of-Sale Marketing Tool

Next-generation screen technologies such as transparent displays, or those that render 3-D images without glasses, are becoming practical tools for small businesses. While they haven't caught on with consumers just yet, they can be used by businesses as interactive digital signage, an eye-catching presentation tool at a sales kiosk or simply as something compelling for your customers to watch while they're waiting in line.
To be sure, cutting-edge displays tend to be pricey -- as much as $10,000 or more for higher-end models. Sticker shock aside, considering that $400 can buy a high-quality traditional LCD TV, prices on these devices should drop quickly.
Here are three emerging display technologies to keep an

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Twitter Makes Room for Your Ad Dollars

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It used to be that advertising on Twitter was limited to large companies and brands that could afford it and with whom the microblogging platform chose to work. But come late March, any business or brand -- regardless of its size -- can promote their product or service on Twitter by using a new self-service tool similar to the ones offered by Facebook and Google AdWords.
To kick things off, Twitter announced a partnership with American Express late last week to give the first 10,000

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Online Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Every small business wants to emulate the success of the FTSE 100 companies‘ online marketing strategies. But as many SMEs have significantly smaller budgets they believe that these strategies are simply too expensive for them. Recent developments in marketing, such as social media and consumer

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End of ARC’s or Automatically Renewable Contracts

Ofcom’s ban on automatically renewable contracts (ARCs) or ‘rolling’ contracts came into effect on 31st December 2011. This means it is now unlawful for telecom providers to roll customers over onto a new contract without their permission. But what does this mean for small businesses?

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Six Strategies for Partnering with Big Brands

Tom Szaky didn't even try to get his product--a worm excrement fertilizer packed in a recycled bottle--into small retailers when he started TerraCycle six years ago. Instead, he reached as high as he could: Wal-Mart. "If I want to be big and do it quickly, the best way … is to work with the world's biggest companies," he says. "They can accelerate your cycle much more quickly than any other company can."
The Trenton, N.J.-based company's first big partnership with Wal-Mart in Canada was just the start of what has become a $14 million business. TerraCycle now gathers unrecyclable trash and converts it into products and packaging for such big brands as Kraft, Pepsi and Mars. Last year, corporate partners spent $45 million on TerraCycle-related marketing--far more than Szaky could have ever done alone.

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A Mini Guide to Business Insurance

There are many different types of insurance cover that a business will need to look into, and some that are required by law. You can find a full listing and evaluation of these on online comparison sites like Money Supermarket. But here is a list of some of the main policies that should be considered by businesses and details of what they provide if something goes wrong.

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Collaborate to Accumulate

There’s no denying times are tough for small business. Competition for customers is fierce, overhead costs are rising, and although there is much talk of ‘going global’ the reality is for many small enterprises the costs of breaking in to new markets are often prohibitive.
Yet there is a way for small business to remain competitive, increase capacity, enter new markets and secure new customers with expansion costs being kept to a minimum – collaborate.  In its’ simplest form, collaboration involves two or more people working together with a common goal to improve their position. In many cases this will involve sharing knowledge and planning how best to use the joint resources (client lists, technology, networks, investments etc.) to achieve the goal or goals for each party.

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Sometimes great customer service only needs to be easy and familiar

We’ve all seen the news lately and heard of lots of large and small businesses closing down. No doubt, you’ve also seen the impact on your high street with both large and smaller, independent retailers shutting up shop.

However, it’s important to realise that despite uncertainty in the economic environment, high levels of competition and increasingly value and price conscious customers, there is demand and opportunity out there for businesses that provide good value products and services combined with great customer service.

This is backed up by research from the Institute of Customer Service which states that:

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Online Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

Every small business wants to emulate the success of the FTSE 100 companies‘ online marketing strategies. But as many SMEs have significantly smaller budgets they believe that these strategies are simply too expensive for them. Recent developments in marketing, such as social media and consumer driven marketing stunts, are however within reach for even the smallest companies. Here are a few examples of consumer driven marketing in the corporate world and examples of how you too can stimulate the same conversations with your customers:

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Crowdfunding – could it work for your business?

Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly popular method for small businesses and social ventures to raise much needed funds.  The map below gives you some idea of the scale of growth in Crowdfunding over recent years.  Interestingly, the same source indicates that 46% of all UK Crowdfunding platforms were launched in 2011 alone, so with the growth in such sites I wanted to write about the ups and downs of Crowdfunding from a small business perspective.
What exactly is Crowdfunding?

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Top 5 Business Data Cloud Storage Tips

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.
1. Although you often pay a monthly fee for cloud storage, it still usually works out cheaper than buying physical hardware for data storage.
2. The cost of cloud storage covers the outlay of the cloud provider for storing your data in a much more highly secured environment than would be possible for a small business.
3. Cloud storage is scalable and will cost far less per megabyte when you buy bigger storage packages.
4. Remote access to your stored files usually allows you to access them from your laptop or smartphone.
5. Don’t rely on free cloud hosts to store your business data. There is no guarantee that your host will be there from one day to the next.

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Some bad customer feedback can make your good customer feedback shine even brighter

In a recent article from Econsultancy: Bad reviews improve conversion by 67%, which referred to a study undertaken by Reevoo (a provider of impartial product reviews, ratings and price comparison) called Bad Reviews are Good for Business, they found that “68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores” and if customers don’t see ‘poor’ reviews “30% suspect censorship or faked reviews”. To add extra power to this, when prospective customers actually read bad reviews they 67% more likely to convert into a real customer than the average prospect.

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Factoring for start-ups

There are several types of business in the UK – but one thing every business has in common is a starting point.
You need cash to start a business. There’s a lot to do and one essential job is finding the right source of business finance. You might have a leading commercial idea but without this immediate injection of funds, your new business will most likely not go anywhere.
Nonetheless, thousands of entrepreneurs do find the money to start a business. How do they find these funds? How do they get started?

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Data management – failing to plan is preparing for failure

In the 1980s, the idea of protecting your company against a data loss may simply have been a policy of “back that file up on a floppy disk”. Fast-forward a quarter of a century and the reliance on digital systems is so massive it is a safe conclusion to say that the vast majority of companies would be unable to function should their IT systems breakdown. With this in mind, two new business sectors have developed: Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery.

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Top 5 Tips for Resolving Business Conflict

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.
1. The first step is to work out what the actual problem is. Encourage employees who have issues within your business to speak up about these problems.
2. As the business owner, make sure that you remain impartial in any internal conflict. Don’t get involved in arguments between individuals until you know all the facts.
3. Be prepared to ask people to make concessions in order to reach an agreement that is suitable for all parties.
4. Find out from all parties what their ideal resolution to the conflict would be.
5. Ideally you should aim to prevent conflicts from ever developing in the first place. Take a look at the flashpoints that are causing them to occur and work to remedy them.

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Top 5 Tips for Small Business Videoconferencing

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.

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Guide to Winning New Clients

Your business will only succeed if you have a healthy client base. In that respect any business, big or small, faces two continuing tasks. Winning new clients and keeping existing clients. Both are as important as each other and together they will ensure the success of any business. In the current economic climate, winning new business can be extremely difficult, but there are various techniques you can use to your advantage.
Here we’ve got a few tips on how to win those all important new clients.

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Competitive strategies for small business

The danger of trying to undercut competitors. How can we add value in different areas?

This was a question posed on Twitter last week and my immediate response was: “Don’t compromise & undercut competitors, offer something special/better in areas such as customer service, added extras…”
My thinking behind this reply was that all too often we focus on price as a way to compete yet this can be a disastrous strategy for small business operating within already tiny margins.  If you are in an industry competing with big business, it’s essential to find and build on competitive alternatives. This may be in areas I mentioned in my Twitter response such as customer service and those ‘added extras’ which big business are just, well, too big to offer. So, here are some ideas to get you started.

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A Bias For Action – Vital

Successful Business Ownership
Many commentators point to ‘innovation’, ‘nimbleness’ and ‘flexibility’ as advantages entrepreneurs and small business owners have over their BigCo competitors. This is often true but I think more important is a ‘bias for action’.

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Building Trust With Your Customer

        It did remind me of something else that I have been thinking about lately: Skepticism is rife and trust is not easily won but your people can help. The two that I really like are Follow up calls to check that everything is ok! and giving me the same deal as the new customers you’re trying to attract!

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