In this series, we continue to look at how data-driven decisions sit at the heart of running a successful business.

With the best possible data insights, you can set the core foundations needed for growth

Without growth, your business is failing to live up to its potential. But planting the seeds of growth can be tricky when you don’t have enough detailed information at your fingertips.

The good news is that you likely already have all the data you need, sitting idle in your software systems. The trick is to consolidate this data, analyze it and to pull out the important patterns, trends and useful data insights.

Armed with this data, you have the best possible bedrock on which to base your next strategic move or the fundamentals of your growth plan.

Let’s take a look at how data can transform your growth:

Identify the growth opportunities

Start by looking at the trends in your own sales data and by reviewing the latest market trends. Where are the opportunities to diversify into new areas or improve your targeting of specific audiences? With a clearer overview of these opportunities, you can start to build a more solid growth strategy.

Allocate resources more effectively

Delving deeper into your operational data helps you understand how to invest in areas that will drive the most growth and profitability. Where could more staffing make a difference? Where do you need updated equipment? Which processes could be automated to free up resources for growth-based activity?

Set more realistic goals

Setting clear goals as a business is what drives the forward movement of the company. But with access to the most in-depth data insights, it’s easier to set realistic and achievable goals for your business. You want to challenge yourself and the team but also put goals and measures in place that are actually attainable.

Measure performance and adjust your strategy

With a growth plan in place, you can track your progress against your agreed goals and milestones. Recording performance data and key performance indicators (KPIs) allows you to track your journey, understand the company’s performance and amend your strategy for the best results.

Support data-based decision-making

Instead of making big business decisions on a wing and prayer, you have the foundational insights from your business data to inform you. Instead of relying on bias, assumptions and guesswork, your growth strategy can focus on data-backed opportunities and rational, attainable growth goals.

Talk to us about using data to improve your operations and inventory

Leading from the front isn’t just about having good business ideas. It’s about having the data, the evidence and the historic information to back up your ideas. By switching to data-based decision-making, you put solid data insights at the heart of your growth strategy as a company.

Our team would be more than happy to explain the benefits of data-based insights. We’ll explain how to create the most insightful metrics and reporting for driving your growth journey.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

When your business needs new plant or equipment, what’s the best choice – buy or lease?

The answer will depend on your specific circumstances, but there are some basic considerations to help you weigh up the options.

The advantages of buying

Buying gives you certainty and ownership, at a higher upfront price, but a lower total price. Owning an item of plant or equipment gives you unrestricted use for the lifetime of the item. You can alter it to suit your business, and you can sell it if you need to free up some cash. The full cost is paid up front, so you have no ongoing payments, and there may be opportunities for tax depreciation.

When equipment lasts for a long time and maintains its value, ownership can be a particularly good choice. Overall, the total price of ownership is usually lower than the total cost of leasing the item.

The advantages of leasing

Leasing tends to give you more flexibility, at a higher cost. It spreads out the cost of an expensive item – you don’t need to save or borrow the purchase price, and instead you make regular payments. You can return a leased item if it’s not working out, or upgrade to a better model as your business grows.

If the equipment or plant is something that quickly becomes obsolete, or that you’re likely to upgrade, or that you’re not totally certain is right for your business, leasing could be ideal. While leasing is generally more expensive across the lifetime of the item, it also frees up your money to invest in other areas of the business.

Running the numbers can help you find the right decision

The decision to invest in new plant or equipment can be a tricky one, but we can help. We can tally up the upfront and ongoing costs, and weigh these against the economic benefits you might get from the new equipment. We consider your cashflow, the cost of borrowing, and sales projections, so you can make an informed choice.

Drop us an email or give us a call – we’re here to help.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Do you have direct debits and online payments set up for your business?

Making it easy for your customers to pay you is vital to business success. Getting direct debits and alternative payment methods linked to your business is so easy these days there’s no excuse not to give your customers multiple ways of making payment.

Many service-based businesses choose direct debit arrangements with their clients to avoid late payment. If you’re often chasing overdue payments, consider implementing direct debit arrangements to reduce your administration time.

If you’re already using online accounting software, check the add-on solutions and choose one that integrates with your accounts. This means the payment platform information feeds directly into your accounting software to be easily matched to customer transactions.

Make it Easy

You probably already have bank transfer information set up, but adding several other methods such as PayPal, debit cards, and credit cards allows customers to choose the method most convenient for them. Many customers appreciate the automation and simplicity of direct debits. Make sure your payment terms and conditions are clear on your website and invoices and don’t forget to include all your chosen payment methods for customers!

Worried About Costly Fees?

You have the option to choose whether you will absorb the cost of the payment gateway processing fees or whether you will add the cost to your invoice and charge clients extra. Your accounting software will then allocate the funds accordingly to invoice payment and fees received.

Better Transaction Recording

When you integrate direct debits and online payment methods with your accounting system, you dramatically reduce errors in recording customer payments – which means less time spent on your accounts!

Not Sure Where to Start?

If you’d like to make it easier for customers to pay you, talk to us about which solutions are best for your business. We can discuss which platforms have the best and most secure integrations with the accounting software you use. We’ll help streamline your payment systems.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Inflation may be down but there’s still real uncertainty for business owners.

We’ve been trading in challenging times for a number of years now. Knowing what step to take next is a key worry, we know you invest more than simply time and money into your business. It is more than a job but part of your identity.

So, how do you get more clarity for your future plans? And how do you work on the short-term future of the business, when sales, income and cash may be in short supply?

Focusing your efforts in the right places

As a business owner, you can always think of new business-critical issues – but the reality is that you CAN’T control all these elements. This sense of mounting uncertainty is likely to raise your stress levels and make you more anxious.

So, how do you overcome these worries and find a practical solution?

Try to focus on the things you can control:

• • • Identify the things that matter to the short, medium and long-term success of the business
    • Find the things you can control and over which you have some influence.

It’s too overwhelming to try and work on everything at the same time. Instead, try to focus on one major thing you can achieve each day to improve business performance.

• • • Review your overheads and costs – one way to reduce your cashflow worries is to reduce your spending. Look at your controllable overheads and see if there are ways to negotiate better terms with suppliers, cut down on expenses or pause any subscriptions.
    • Talk to debtors and creditors – if you can bring down your aged debt, that will help your overall financial health. Talk to any late-paying customers and agree when these debts will be paid. And talk to suppliers about extending payment terms, if possible.
    • Consider alternative revenue streams – if your current business model isn’t working well, are there other services that you could diversify into? Any new revenue streams will help to bolster your income and cash position, working with partners could be a keyway to grow your revenue.
    • Update your website and marketing – having a great online presence is vital, is yours up to date with all the changes we’ve seen over the last 4 years?
    • Encourage your team – maintaining motivation and nurturing team spirit is even more crucial in this more rapidly changing world. The more engaged your team is, the easier it will be to embrace change together.

Talk to us about other strategies for dealing with uncertainty in your business.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

More than ever, cashflow is a vital part of staying afloat, whether your business is in recovery or growth mode.

Revenue, profit and your bottom line all deserve your attention. But keeping everything running is the baseline.

Regular cashflow forecasts help you keep that in focus. Here’s why:

• • • Cost control – If you can’t reach your targets for income, reining in your costs may give you a little extra head room to manage cashflow while you plan your next move.
    • Visibility on outgoings – Cost control can be a challenge when it’s hard to pinpoint hidden costs or where established ways of doing things cost more money than they should. You may also have been coping with unexpected expenses, as you’ve adapted your business for unplanned circumstances or increased costs.
    • Improving business practice – It’s more than only keeping an eye on outgoings (though that’s important). It’s about looking at each aspect of your business and business systems (or the gaps where there should be business systems) to see if poor practice is driving costs up unnecessarily.
    • It can be useful to break it down – You can look at cost centers such as office supplies or freight. Or you can look at what those costs do for your business. It can help to analyze costs in terms of cost of sale and overheads.

Cost of sale and overheads

Cost of sale (also known as Cost of Goods Sold or CoGS) is how much it costs you to make a sale.

In a business that sells products, CoGS is based on the price paid for the product, plus any costs necessary to put the merchandise into inventory and make it ready for sale, including shipping and handling. You can even break it down to calculate the cost of sale of individual units.

Overheads are general business expenses. They can’t be tracked directly to sales. Overheads are what it costs you to open your doors (whether online or actual) every morning.

What’s your plan?

• • • Reduce unnecessary expenses – Trim expenses that aren’t related to your core product or service.
    • Suppliers – Are you able to work with your providers to ask for discounts or more favorable payment terms on either cost of sale or overhead expenses?
    • Talk to your team – Analyse your costs and involve your team, including frontline sales staff.
    • Efficiencies – Are there efficiencies that could save you money, this can be anything from reducing shipments from suppliers or between stores, to taking advantage of AI to save you time, money or both.
    • Advertising – It might be a false economy to cut back on advertising, as customers are always looking for bargains and price-checking alternatives. But would targeted campaigns work better?
    • Prioritize – Can you pinpoint products most likely to bring the fastest or best return and hold back on products that are a slower sell?
    • Promote or discount – If you have old or slow-moving stock, can you discount it and convert old stock to cash? If you attract customers now, you may be able to use it to spotlight other products.

Every dollar you pull back from your costs can go straight into cash flow. Talk to us if you’d like to review your costs and your systems to keep costs under control. Whether your sales are boom or bust, make sure your costs aren’t holding you back.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.

Your end users are the life and blood of your business.

They’re the drivers of your relationships, sales, income and end profit. So, having a good user experience (UX) isn’t just a ‘nice to have’, it’s actually a critical requirement for any ambitious business to aspire to.

Understanding what your ‘UX’ is, and how it can be improved, is vital business knowledge. So, let’s dive in and find the important UX areas you should be focusing on.

4 ways to enhance your UX

Your ‘user experience’, or UX for short, refers to the ways your customers and prospects interact with your products and services. It’s about how they engage with your website. How easy it is to order an item and navigate your online store. And it’s the ways your end users interact and communicate with your people during post-sales support stages too.

In short, a business with a good UX will design its interface, processes and support teams to make the buying process as simple as possible. Your end users want to be able to find your products and/or services easily, understand the value they offer and buy these goods, hassle-free.

In the spirit of improving your UX, it’s vital to constantly review and assess the way your business works. This helps you meet new customer needs and keep your UX fresh.

Areas of your UX to focus on can include:

1. Researching your users’ needs – think about conducting detailed user research to help you understand your target audience’s needs and preferences. With plenty of information and data about your users’ needs, you can make sure your UX design aligns as closely as possible with their expectations.
2. Streamlining your navigation – if you streamline your online navigation and minimize the complexity, you make your end user’s life easier. By using intuitive interface design, clear information architecture and logical user flows you help to simplify the user’s journey. This gets them to the products and services they’re interested in, and does it fast, with minimal user interface (UI) frustrations, hassle and time-wasting
3. Optimizing your digital performance – getting the optimum performance from your website, solutions and apps is vital. Users want fast loading times and responsive interactions when browsing and using your digital services. By making loading times and responses as fast as possible, you create a frustration-free user experience – and that makes it far more likely that customers will buy your goods and services.
4. Gathering constant user feedback – it’s important to know what your end users think about your current UX. Good practice means continuously gathering user feedback and analyzing metrics for user performance and satisfaction levels. Armed with this goldmine of user data, you can upgrade your existing UX design and bring about a process of continual improvement. It also helps you to tailor your UX precisely to the needs of your audience, creating upgrades and new functionality that keeps customers happy.

Talk to us about improving your current UX

An external pair of eyes is helpful to improve your user experience. We can help you look for the opportunities to review, analyze and enhance your UX for future success.

The following content was originally published by BOMA. We have updated some of this article for our readers.