Learning how to write a money order is easy, but it’s important to get it right. Here are five steps to complete one and make sure the funds are delivered to the right person or business: Fill in the recipient’s name. Write your address in the purchaser section. Include your account number if you’re paying...
Credit and debt have their own vocabulary, and it’s not always easy to understand. So when you’re puzzling over a credit card statement or your credit report, don’t feel like a fool: Sometimes those terms conceal as much as they reveal. In honor of April Fools’ Day, we explain a few terms that can trip...
Since Donald Trump was elected president, the stock market, especially bank stocks, has stormed higher. The S&P 500 index has soared 10% on expectations that the Trump administration would implement a business-friendly agenda, stoking investment and growth. Yet more than two months into Trump’s term, talk of tariffs and moves on immigration restrictions have made...
Marcus Garrett Audit manager Marcus Garrett learned the hard way about the need to budget. Before the 34-year-old was a personal finance podcast host, he was buried in debt. At 18, operating without a budget, Garrett opened up a series of credit card accounts. He racked up $9,000 in debt on the usual college student vices:...
Studies show women make better investors than men, but you wouldn’t know that looking at women’s retirement accounts. Here are the harrowing numbers: Men’s average 401(k) balances are more than 50% higher than the average for women, according to a 2015 Vanguard study. On average, men contributed about 22% more to individual retirement accounts of...
The Great Recession hit Shirley Green hard. The 65-year-old had moved to Florida from Denver during the housing boom, but she lost her home when the real estate bubble burst. She filed for bankruptcy. “I started getting credit card offers and thought I should start rebuilding my credit score,” she explains. When she faced medical...
A personal loan is money borrowed from a bank, credit union or online lender that you pay back in fixed monthly payments, typically over two to five years. Lender rates can range from 7% to 36% APR. Most personal loans are “unsecured” — not backed by collateral. A secured loan backed by a car or...
Mortgage rates for 30- and 15-year fixed home loans, as well as 5/1 ARMs, all held firm today, according to a NerdWallet survey of current mortgage rates published by national lenders Friday morning. The stock and bond markets have had little to feed on lately, with tame economic reports and continued uncertainties in Washington. Mortgage rates are...
As a small business owner, do you ever feel that your local business is at an unfair disadvantage compared to big, national chains? Surprise: You actually have a significant advantage over these competitors, according to a recent survey by Yodle.
The poll of over 6,000 consumers nationwide found customers trust and use local businesses, and even prefer them to national chains. Here’s what you need to know.
More than eight in 10 consumers (82%) currently use local businesses, and in the next year, 48% plan to patronize local businesses even more often. (Fewer than 1% expect to use local businesses less often.) In fact, consumers use local businesses more often than national chains. In the last 12 months, local businesses accounted for 56% of total business use, compared to 44% for national chains. Consumers also use local businesses a lot—83% of respondents have done so in the last week.
Consumers aren’t turning to local businesses out of necessity, but out of preference. The survey asked respondents to judge whether local businesses or big businesses have each of the following qualities. Here’s what people said local businesses offer:
National chains outperform small businesses in only two areas: 70% believe national chains are more likely to be stable than a local business, and 77% say they offer more competitive prices. Still, 72% of respondents are willing to pay more in order to get the quality service they believe local businesses offer.
Though the average local business is doing a lot of things right, there’s still room for improvement. Here’s what customers want to see that local businesses aren’t delivering:
Clearly, there’s a lot of room for improvement in how businesses communicate with their customers. Here are five steps your local business can take to stay ahead of the pack.
Make sure it looks current, is easy to navigate and has the basic information customers are looking for (address, phone, hours of operation, prices, services). It should also be mobile-friendly since many customers do their research on their phones or tablets.
You can kill several birds with one by sending your customers a monthly newsletter with advice and helpful tips, updates about your business and new services you’re offering, and special offers or deals.
Use customer relationship management software to send personalized emails after you provide service to a customer. Thank them for their business and asked them to take a quick online survey so you can get feedback about how well you’re doing. You can also do this by phone if you have customers who prefer to talk live.
A whopping 89% of respondents say they’re willing to do this, but just 7% have ever been asked. Worried about negative reviews? You shouldn’t be: Eight in 10 people who have ever posted an online review were prompted by positive experiences.
This is simple to do and can reduce your staffing needs, too. BookedIn, TimeTap and AppointmentPlus are a few appointment-scheduling options to investigate. Of course, you should still provide the option for customers to make appointments the old-fashioned way, by phone, if they prefer. It’s all about choice.
The post 5 Super Simple Ways to Market Your Local Business appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post 5 Super Simple Ways to Market Your Local Business appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Rieva Lesonsky.
There’s nothing easy about scaling your B2B sales team for the future. Aim too high too fast, and you could end up like the leaders of the recruiting app WePow: burning through hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and being forced to lay off 80% of the sales department. Aim too low, and you’ll risk missing out on numerous opportunities for growth in a primed market.
So while it’s not an easy proposition, there are some strategies that can make the endeavor simpler. By having a plan for scaling that’s built around a logical and data-driven structure, you can create a sales unit that will deliver many years of sustainable growth.
If you aren’t building a sales team from scratch, you have a few different options when it comes to modeling how to scale your team with your desired results. Notably, you can implement a top-down model, where you begin with a goal and adjust the necessary performance of your team accordingly. Or, you can go from the bottom up, where you take your team’s previous results and scale it to fit projections.
Instead of asking yourself which model will better fit your company, build both and closely examine the costs, time commitments, and logistical considerations of each.
If you determine that you need 10 salespeople to close 45 deals per year, each worth an average of $5,000 in order to reach your projections, don’t think that you’re going to be able to hire 10 people and start hitting that number the next month. Remember that hiring sales reps and onboarding them takes time, and you need to incorporate ramp time into your budget for the periods you won’t be reaching projected revenues.
The following panicked sentiment has sunk many a sales leader attempting to scale their team: “I just need to get some bodies in here as quickly as possible to hit the targets the CEO has set. Then we can evaluate what is working and what isn’t and make adjustments from there.”
It’s natural to want to get up to capacity as quickly as possible, but spending a lot of time throughout the growth phase dealing with employee attrition because you prioritize speed over quality is only going to delay your results further.
Even if you fall short of your initial goals, scaling plans have enormous value. If you simply guessed the number of sales reps you thought you needed for growth and you end up being wrong, you’ll be held accountable for either overestimating costly resources or not getting enough production out of your team. But if your decisions are backed by data, you and your leadership team can examine where gaps occurred and optimize accordingly.
The market for business development and sales acceleration software has never been more crowded. Intense market competition is obviously good for buyers looking at the big picture, but the widespread availability of software programs is causing some sales leaders to underestimate the costs of switching.
When you’re searching for software solutions for your sales teams, seek out platforms that can accommodate your goals for at least a couple of years, so that you can avoid any setbacks that may come with new onboarding resources.
It’s somewhat shocking the number of companies with growth goals that are not doing a good enough job of tracking basic metrics. The results of one study indicate that 77% of companies surveyed weren’t exceeding their revenue projections, and of these, 74% weren’t tracking monthly visitors, leads, market qualified leads (MQLs), or opportunities.
But it isn’t just about evaluating individual metrics, you have to examine multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) in conjunction with one another to create a complete story of your performance. For instance, if your win rate is lagging, figure out what other metrics could be contributing to that result.
Let’s say you’ve set your budget, hired the appropriate number of salespeople, and determined the number of pipeline opportunities and average deal values you need. Then, through collaboration with your team you discover a workflow improvement that increases efficiency across the board. Rather than keep everything the same, since it’s already been done, incorporate these efficiency gains into your plans to get a true picture of your team’s capacity. Your scaling plan should be a guideline that adapts to the realities of your situation when necessary.
The post 7 Tips for Scaling Your Sales Operation for the Future appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post 7 Tips for Scaling Your Sales Operation for the Future appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Danny Wong.
“Ask Brianna” is a Q&A column for 20-somethings or anyone else starting out. I’m here to help you manage your money, find a job and pay off student loans — all the real-world stuff no one taught us how to do in college. Send your questions about postgrad life to askbrianna@nerdwallet.com. This week’s question: “You’ve...
Mistakes are a wonderful way to learn, but you have to realize you’ve made one for the learning to happen. Here are five mistakes tax pros say people make all the time — often without knowing it — and what you can do to avoid these expensive “learning opportunities.” Mistake No. 1: Giving the government...
Transgender Americans can pay a steep price if they have gender confirmation surgeries as part of their transition. For Brandon L. Beck, a 39-year-old transgender man who began transitioning from female to male in his early thirties, his third and final surgery comes with a potentially unattainable cost: $72,500. As part of his transition, Beck, of San...
There’s nothing easy about scaling your B2B sales team for the future. Aim too high too fast, and you could end up like the leaders of the recruiting app WePow: burning through hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and being forced to lay off 80% of the sales department. Aim too low, and you’ll risk missing out on numerous opportunities for growth in a primed market.
So while it’s not an easy proposition, there are some strategies that can make the endeavor simpler. By having a plan for scaling that’s built around a logical and data-driven structure, you can create a sales unit that will deliver many years of sustainable growth.
If you aren’t building a sales team from scratch, you have a few different options when it comes to modeling how to scale your team with your desired results. Notably, you can implement a top-down model, where you begin with a goal and adjust the necessary performance of your team accordingly. Or, you can go from the bottom up, where you take your team’s previous results and scale it to fit projections.
Instead of asking yourself which model will better fit your company, build both and closely examine the costs, time commitments, and logistical considerations of each.
If you determine that you need 10 salespeople to close 45 deals per year, each worth an average of $5,000 in order to reach your projections, don’t think that you’re going to be able to hire 10 people and start hitting that number the next month. Remember that hiring sales reps and onboarding them takes time, and you need to incorporate ramp time into your budget for the periods you won’t be reaching projected revenues.
The following panicked sentiment has sunk many a sales leader attempting to scale their team: “I just need to get some bodies in here as quickly as possible to hit the targets the CEO has set. Then we can evaluate what is working and what isn’t and make adjustments from there.”
It’s natural to want to get up to capacity as quickly as possible, but spending a lot of time throughout the growth phase dealing with employee attrition because you prioritize speed over quality is only going to delay your results further.
Even if you fall short of your initial goals, scaling plans have enormous value. If you simply guessed the number of sales reps you thought you needed for growth and you end up being wrong, you’ll be held accountable for either overestimating costly resources or not getting enough production out of your team. But if your decisions are backed by data, you and your leadership team can examine where gaps occurred and optimize accordingly.
The market for business development and sales acceleration software has never been more crowded. Intense market competition is obviously good for buyers looking at the big picture, but the widespread availability of software programs is causing some sales leaders to underestimate the costs of switching.
When you’re searching for software solutions for your sales teams, seek out platforms that can accommodate your goals for at least a couple of years, so that you can avoid any setbacks that may come with new onboarding resources.
It’s somewhat shocking the number of companies with growth goals that are not doing a good enough job of tracking basic metrics. The results of one study indicate that 77% of companies surveyed weren’t exceeding their revenue projections, and of these, 74% weren’t tracking monthly visitors, leads, market qualified leads (MQLs), or opportunities.
But it isn’t just about evaluating individual metrics, you have to examine multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) in conjunction with one another to create a complete story of your performance. For instance, if your win rate is lagging, figure out what other metrics could be contributing to that result.
Let’s say you’ve set your budget, hired the appropriate number of salespeople, and determined the number of pipeline opportunities and average deal values you need. Then, through collaboration with your team you discover a workflow improvement that increases efficiency across the board. Rather than keep everything the same, since it’s already been done, incorporate these efficiency gains into your plans to get a true picture of your team’s capacity. Your scaling plan should be a guideline that adapts to the realities of your situation when necessary.
The post 7 Tips for Scaling Your Sales Operation for the Future appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post 7 Tips for Scaling Your Sales Operation for the Future appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Danny Wong.
Energy bill too high? It might be time to consider the physics behind your energy use. The scientific attributes of heat and energy mean particular appliances and factors affect your utilities bill disproportionately. If this all sounds like high school science class, don’t fall asleep — this lesson can save you money. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the typical...
The job of bank teller used to be one of the fastest-growing occupations in America, reaching a peak of 531,000 jobs in 1980 and trailing only computer operators and specialists in growth rate during the 1970s. Now technology lets bank customers tap their smartphone screens to transfer money between accounts or deposit checks — activities...
The same week legendary investor Warren Buffett put his California vacation house on the market, a friend told me her widowed mother had sold the family home in Cleveland. Buffett bought his Laguna Beach place in 1971 for $150,000 and is asking $11 million. My friend’s parents bought their home for $24,500 in 1965 and...
Mortgage rates today for 30-year fixed home loans were slightly lower, while 15-year fixed rates ticked higher and 5/1 ARMs improved a fraction, according to a NerdWallet survey of mortgage rates published by national lenders Thursday morning. After weeks of volatility, home loan rates are generally where they ended the month of February, according to the NerdWallet...
With a solid content marketer on your team you can guarantee that great copy is written, fantastic content is shared, and your brand story is honed to perfection. But is it delivering sales?
Marketing can’t just be about the best stories and highest quality writing. It has become a tech-driven discipline—even if you’re consistently producing exceptional quality content, if it’s not being seen or delivered in a strategic, effective way, it won’t deliver results. Underpinning the success of marketing your brand and marketing technology is the need to coordinate and integrate with IT.
78% of U.S. marketers and 63% of European marketers now believe that understanding marketing tech (“martech”) is critical for success in a senior marketing role. Further to this, it is critical that the outdated silo-driven approach to strategy is given up too, with departments merging for success and to drive sales.
There has been a significant rise in Chief Marketing Technologists (CMT) in top companies as they ensure that IT and marketing are perfectly merged, as Scott Brinker says: “CMTs facilitate and prioritise technology requests from marketing, translating between technical and marketing requirements and making sure that marketing’s systems adhere to IT policies.”
How does this translate for your brand? The first step is to stop looking at your tech department as the Department of “No” and realise that it’s the Department of “Know”.
Storytelling is driving modern marketing. It’s what customers like; it keeps them engaged and respects that they are more intelligent than to simply be bought by a hard sell. Your stories need to be the best they can be, but they also need to be fed through a marketing system that ensures they reach the right audience, can be tracked and analysed, repurposed if necessary, and reimagined for future use.
A good marketing story should never be used just once, but without the right technology you may simply put out a piece of content and never think of it again. This is extremely wasteful behaviour; your best marketing content deserves to be used in as many ways as possible, to once again drive engagement and in turn sales. Every 60 seconds 700,000 Google searches are performed. No one is looking for your story so you need to make sure it is seen, and that it is seen by the right people.
Seeing marketing as a purely creative art form is foolish; today it is much more sophisticated and essential than that, and it is driven by technology. With the acceptance of technology as core to successful marketing, we must conclude that far from simply being an art form, marketing is also an exacting science. To succeed in tech you need a systematic and strategic approach, and of course you also need the expertise of IT professional support. You also need to be innovative in your thinking—look to the future and see what technologies are emerging (such as blockchain) that could be game-changers now, but become standard practice in the future.
There are many things you can probably put together without direct support of the IT department, but in some instances their support and collaboration are essential. With the strategic alignment of marketing operations and technology, IT input is integral. The following areas are key moments where IT are a necessary component of marketing operations:
Your business probably has a number of different marketing apps for different purposes. For real, cohesive success they need to integrate, and to do this there are complex tech requirements which rely upon IT expertise. Integrating your marketing apps requires the use of APIs or direct integration, which must be facilitated by IT.
Management of your company’s data needs to be treated with real respect and organisational focus. A central data store, cloud-based or otherwise, is essential for easy analysis and deployment when required. IT can help ensure this store is created, managed, and maintained.
For effective strategy going forward, you need standards. Your IT department should create foundational data governance and systems that allow for access to high-quality data for all users, apps, and departments dependent on permissions. The architecture of the data store and processes is a feat of IT which ultimately improves the marketing process.
Data protection compliance and ensuring all data is held securely in line with company policy is, again, a necessary function of the IT department. Any data breaches or data issues can ruin a business’ reputation.
Your marketing tech stack should be an agile yet robust construction. The tech required for your business is something you will build brick by brick, and supporting you in this are the IT professionals who have the technological expertise to integrate and connect your stacked technologies where necessary.
The days of an adversarial relationship between IT and marketing are over. The only way to succeed is to be joined at the hip with your colleagues in IT. It may not be a relationship that forms overnight, but as changes are made, both parties—not to mention the company as a whole—will reap the benefits.
The post Marketers: Harness Tech to Transform Your Brand Stories into Powerful Sales Triggers appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post Marketers: Harness Tech to Transform Your Brand Stories into Powerful Sales Triggers appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Lyndon Wood.
Buying life insurance might not be a top priority for many new parents, with the demands of caring for a tiny human on their minds. But a new study suggests expectant parents could be skipping coverage on themselves for the wrong reasons. When a parent dies without life insurance, the family’s grief is compounded by...
The best financial advice tends to apply to pretty much everyone. You don’t need a spreadsheet of pros and cons and complex scenarios. What you need is a rule of thumb. There’s no shame in using one-size-fits-all advice. A study of West Point cadets, for example, found teaching rules of thumb was at least as effective as standard...
So you have developed a mobile app and want to obtain funding for it from angel investors or venture capital firms? A key step in this process is to prepare an effective “pitch deck” that showcases your company, your app, and your management team for prospective investors.
There are a lot of “do’s” and “don’ts” when putting together an investor pitch decks. Be sure to read the comprehensive article How to Create a Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing.
In this article, I walk you through the 17 key PowerPoint slides for a winning presentation on Recuperate.com, a hypothetical mobile app company. Obviously, you will need to tailor the deck to your particular company and app, but it’s a good starting point for preparing a investor pitch deck that gets results. (The full sample investor pitch deck is downloadable here.)
The cover page of the pitch deck should be simple—all it needs is the company name, logo, and the title “Executive Summary.” Make sure you add the following at the bottom: “Confidential and Proprietary. Copyright © by [Name of Company]. All Rights Reserved.” And don’t put a date on the cover, as it will look outdated fairly quickly. Here is the cover page for Recuperate.com:
After the cover page, it’s useful to summarize your business, the experience of the management team, and any early traction established. This should be done in the Company Overview slide of the investor pitch deck, such as follows:
In this slide, you want a short summary of both the vision and mission of the company. This shouldn’t be longer than 2-4 sentences. For example:
The Market Opportunity slide of the deck should show investors that your mobile app addresses a big market opportunity, such as:
You should articulate the problem or need that your mobile app is solving, such as:
The Solution slide of your investor pitch deck should set forth your proposed solution and why it’s better than competitor solutions, such as:
The Product slide of the pitch deck should describe your mobile app and why it’s unique. Images, visuals, and videos can be important here. And plan to have a demonstration for investors in person. Here is the slide for Recuperate.com:
You want to highlight the experience and background of the key management team in this slide, to reassure investors that you have a dedicated team with the expertise to grow the company significantly. For example:
This is the slide of the investor pitch deck where you highlight early customers or prominent partners, such as:
In this slide of the investor pitch deck, you want to describe any early traction of the company, such as the number of app downloads, press and accolades, and testimonials, such as:
This slide of the pitch decks outlines how you plan to make money, the pricing model, the long-term value of a customer, and the like, such as:
You want this slide to describe your company’s technology (both existing and proposed) and highlight any proprietary rights such as patents. Here is the slide for Recuperate.com:
Under the Competition slide you should show an understanding of the competitive landscape and your differentiating advantage, such as:
The Marketing Plan slide of the pitch deck should cover your plan to market the app, customer acquisition costs, PR plans, and social media and viral marketing efforts. For example:
The Financials slide will give the investors an understanding of the company’s current and projected financial picture, such as:
The Ask slide of the investor pitch deck will set forth the amount of financing you are seeking to raise, how long that financing will last, and the key milestones you expect to achieve with that financing. For example:
The last slide can be a “thank you” page with testimonials, such as:
For related advice, see:
Be sure your pitch deck is professional looking, visually interesting, and thorough. A great investor pitch deck can be invaluable in helping your mobile app startup obtain the angel or VC financing it needs in order to launch and grow.
Copyright © by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved.
Richard D. Harroch is a Managing Director and Global Head of M&A at VantagePoint Capital Partners, a large venture capital fund in the San Francisco area. His focus is on investing in Internet and digital media companies, and he was the founder of several Internet companies. His articles have appeared online in Forbes, Fortune, MSN, Yahoo, Fox Business, and AllBusiness.com. Richard is the author of several books on startups and entrepreneurship as well as the co-author of Poker for Dummies and a Wall Street Journal-bestselling book on small business. He was also a corporate partner at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, with experience in startups, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and venture capital. Richard can be reached through LinkedIn.
The post Want to Raise Financing for Your Mobile App Startup? Here’s the Ultimate Investor Pitch Deck appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post Want to Raise Financing for Your Mobile App Startup? Here’s the Ultimate Investor Pitch Deck appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Richard Harroch.
Ever feel like your days are becoming more hectic yet less productive? You’re probably allowing your list of tasks and to-do’s get the best of you before you even start your day. So what should you really be doing in the morning to get your head in the game?
We asked five entrepreneurs from FounderSociety the following question:
Nothing is more stressful than fighting your way through busy streets during rush hour or rolling into the office late. Beating everyone else to the office gives you some quiet time in the morning to concentrate and get important tasks taken care of without interruptions. It gives you a “winning” feeling that will drive you forward the rest of the day! —Jasmine Pickel, Atlas Communications
Meditation is the workout for your mind. It gives you more clarity and levelheadedness throughout the day. The more you do it, the stronger your mind will get, and the more you’ll find yourself excelling over time. Getting refocused to take action and make an impact is key to starting my day. —Todd Giannattasio, Tresnic Media
Every morning I make sure to drink a large glass of water and have breakfast (actual food, not just caffeine). I find I am less distracted by my physical needs and can think clearly on the tasks at hand for the day. Eating breakfast has also been shown to rev up your metabolism, boost cognitive function, as well as reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes. —Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs
I follow the same routine almost to a tee every morning. It makes it easier on my brain to do the same thing every morning and not have to think about it. Because my days vary with meetings and phone calls after I get to work, I’d prefer not to have to figure out what time to wake up, what to eat, and when to get to the office. Essentially, I’m on autopilot for the first hour of every day. —Ben Walker, Transcription Outsourcing, LLC
I start my day with exercise—whether it’s the gym, yoga, or a jog. It boosts my mood, gives me a positive mindset, and is a great way to start the day! I also do it first thing in the morning to ensure I don’t skip it later due to competing priorities. —Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group
The post 5 Ways to Set Yourself Up for a Stress-Free Day appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post 5 Ways to Set Yourself Up for a Stress-Free Day appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about FounderSociety.
Ever feel like your days are becoming more hectic yet less productive? You’re probably allowing your list of tasks and to-do’s get the best of you before you even start your day. So what should you really be doing in the morning to get your head in the game?
We asked five entrepreneurs from FounderSociety the following question:
Nothing is more stressful than fighting your way through busy streets during rush hour or rolling into the office late. Beating everyone else to the office gives you some quiet time in the morning to concentrate and get important tasks taken care of without interruptions. It gives you a “winning” feeling that will drive you forward the rest of the day! —Jasmine Pickel, Atlas Communications
Meditation is the workout for your mind. It gives you more clarity and levelheadedness throughout the day. The more you do it, the stronger your mind will get, and the more you’ll find yourself excelling over time. Getting refocused to take action and make an impact is key to starting my day. —Todd Giannattasio, Tresnic Media
Every morning I make sure to drink a large glass of water and have breakfast (actual food, not just caffeine). I find I am less distracted by my physical needs and can think clearly on the tasks at hand for the day. Eating breakfast has also been shown to rev up your metabolism, boost cognitive function, as well as reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes. —Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs
I follow the same routine almost to a tee every morning. It makes it easier on my brain to do the same thing every morning and not have to think about it. Because my days vary with meetings and phone calls after I get to work, I’d prefer not to have to figure out what time to wake up, what to eat, and when to get to the office. Essentially, I’m on autopilot for the first hour of every day. —Ben Walker, Transcription Outsourcing, LLC
I start my day with exercise—whether it’s the gym, yoga, or a jog. It boosts my mood, gives me a positive mindset, and is a great way to start the day! I also do it first thing in the morning to ensure I don’t skip it later due to competing priorities. —Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group
The post 5 Ways to Set Yourself Up for a Stress-Free Day appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post 5 Ways to Set Yourself Up for a Stress-Free Day appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about FounderSociety.
So you have developed a mobile app and want to obtain funding for it from angel investors or venture capital firms? A key step in this process is to prepare an effective “pitch deck” that showcases your company, your app, and your management team for prospective investors.
There are a lot of “do’s” and “don’ts” when putting together an investor pitch decks. Be sure to read the comprehensive article How to Create a Great Investor Pitch Deck for Startups Seeking Financing.
In this article, I walk you through the 17 key PowerPoint slides for a winning presentation on Recuperate.com, a hypothetical mobile app company. Obviously, you will need to tailor the deck to your particular company and app, but it’s a good starting point for preparing a investor pitch deck that gets results. (The full sample investor pitch deck is downloadable here.)
The cover page of the pitch deck should be simple—all it needs is the company name, logo, and the title “Executive Summary.” Make sure you add the following at the bottom: “Confidential and Proprietary. Copyright © by [Name of Company]. All Rights Reserved.” And don’t put a date on the cover, as it will look outdated fairly quickly. Here is the cover page for Recuperate.com:
After the cover page, it’s useful to summarize your business, the experience of the management team, and any early traction established. This should be done in the Company Overview slide of the investor pitch deck, such as follows:
In this slide, you want a short summary of both the vision and mission of the company. This shouldn’t be longer than 2-4 sentences. For example:
The Market Opportunity slide of the deck should show investors that your mobile app addresses a big market opportunity, such as:
You should articulate the problem or need that your mobile app is solving, such as:
The Solution slide of your investor pitch deck should set forth your proposed solution and why it’s better than competitor solutions, such as:
The Product slide of the pitch deck should describe your mobile app and why it’s unique. Images, visuals, and videos can be important here. And plan to have a demonstration for investors in person. Here is the slide for Recuperate.com:
You want to highlight the experience and background of the key management team in this slide, to reassure investors that you have a dedicated team with the expertise to grow the company significantly. For example:
This is the slide of the investor pitch deck where you highlight early customers or prominent partners, such as:
In this slide of the investor pitch deck, you want to describe any early traction of the company, such as the number of app downloads, press and accolades, and testimonials, such as:
This slide of the pitch decks outlines how you plan to make money, the pricing model, the long-term value of a customer, and the like, such as:
You want this slide to describe your company’s technology (both existing and proposed) and highlight any proprietary rights such as patents. Here is the slide for Recuperate.com:
Under the Competition slide you should show an understanding of the competitive landscape and your differentiating advantage, such as:
The Marketing Plan slide of the pitch deck should cover your plan to market the app, customer acquisition costs, PR plans, and social media and viral marketing efforts. For example:
The Financials slide will give the investors an understanding of the company’s current and projected financial picture, such as:
The Ask slide of the investor pitch deck will set forth the amount of financing you are seeking to raise, how long that financing will last, and the key milestones you expect to achieve with that financing. For example:
The last slide can be a “thank you” page with testimonials, such as:
For related advice, see:
Be sure your pitch deck is professional looking, visually interesting, and thorough. A great investor pitch deck can be invaluable in helping your mobile app startup obtain the angel or VC financing it needs in order to launch and grow.
Copyright © by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved.
Richard D. Harroch is a Managing Director and Global Head of M&A at VantagePoint Capital Partners, a large venture capital fund in the San Francisco area. His focus is on investing in Internet and digital media companies, and he was the founder of several Internet companies. His articles have appeared online in Forbes, Fortune, MSN, Yahoo, Fox Business, and AllBusiness.com. Richard is the author of several books on startups and entrepreneurship as well as the co-author of Poker for Dummies and a Wall Street Journal-bestselling book on small business. He was also a corporate partner at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, with experience in startups, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and venture capital. Richard can be reached through LinkedIn.
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“Ask Brianna” is a Q&A column from NerdWallet for 20-somethings or anyone else starting out. I’m here to help you manage your money, find a job and pay off student loans — all the real-world stuff no one taught us how to do in college. Send your questions about postgrad life to askbrianna@nerdwallet.com. This week’s...
If Wells Fargo charged you fees for accounts you never authorized, you’re set to get your money back. Wells Fargo agreed Tuesday to a $110 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought after bank employees opened accounts without customers’ consent. The settlement would include repayment of fees as well as “millions of dollars of additional...
Consumers have a new reason to check their bank accounts for fraudulent charges. On Wednesday, FICO reported the number of debit cards compromised at ATMs and merchant devices in this country rose 70% in 2016 over the previous year. And compromised cards can lead to money being drained from your account. The number of hacked...
While April’s showers prep flowers for May, you can get ready for spring cleaning, taxes and more with sales. Take advantage of this month’s discounts and avoid the duds with our list of the top things you should buy — and a few you should skip — in April. Buy: Vacuums If spring cleaning season has...
Mortgage rates for 30- and 15-year fixed loans, as well as 5/1 ARMs, all bounced a bit higher today, according to a NerdWallet survey of current mortgage rates published by national lenders Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, home loan applications barely budged last week, falling just 0.8% from the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. However, as...
As a business owner, you should always look for new ways to improve your business. You must find ways to solve problems, increase productivity, and edge out competitors. I’ve been in business for 30 years, so I can tell you competition and problems never go away.
How do you find new ways to do things? You need creativity and innovation.
Without those two things, you will be stuck doing things the same old way. And, you’ll end up copying your competitors so you can keep up with them, instead of creating original ideas that will help you grow beyond your competitors.
There are many reasons why you should develop innovative thinking in the workplace.
Does your business have a problem that doesn’t seem to go away no matter how many times you try to get rid of it? Maybe the reason the problem persists is because you came up with a status quo solution. Perhaps what you need is a creative answer.
When you think outside the box, you might find an answer that no one else thought of before. Whether it’s a better way to make your product, store your inventory, or ship to customers, you find a creative solution to better your business.
If you and your staff are bogged down with work and struggle to get everything done, it might be time to become more productive. But, to increase workplace productivity, you have to find new processes.
Use your creativity to think of better ways to do company processes. What things can you streamline? What things can you cut out? What can you delegate to other employees or outside agencies? Are there programs or workflows you can use to increase productivity?
At my companies, we use our homegrown project tracker system to assign tasks, monitor progress, and prioritize tasks. There are plenty of methods out there that we could use, but instead we built one that meets our specific needs. And, we can update the software as our needs change so we can remain productive.
In your business, test out your ideas. You might be surprised by the combination of ideas that work together to make your new, innovative productivity plan.
You can use creativity and innovation to make your business stand out from other businesses in your locality and niche. This is where unique small business marketing comes in.
You need innovative ideas that make people remember your business. Maybe you come up with a unique brand story, develop a quirky business personality, or work with a local nonprofit.
Once your business has a unique character, you need to market it. Show off what makes your business different. Innovate a marketing plan that matches your business’s personality. You don’t have to be like all the other businesses. Customers will probably remember you better if you aren’t like other businesses.
When you are an innovative thinker in business, you can beat out your competitors. With a little creativity, you can come up with better ways to design products, connect with customers, market your business, and develop promotions.
Instead of using standard business ideas or copying your competitors, you’ll be coming up with your own ideas. And because your innovations are like no other business’s, hopefully potential customers will take notice and go to your business instead of another.
Now that you know the advantages of innovation in business, you need to add innovation to your business. Innovation isn’t a one-time deal, though. Innovation must be nonstop so you have a continuous stream of ways to improve your business. So, how do you make innovation a part of your company culture?
You certainly can bear the sole responsibility for creative thinking in the workplace. You can set aside time every day or week to work on innovation. But, generating new ideas and ways to do things can take a while.
If you have employees, rely on them to help with innovation. Come up with a way to gather ideas from employees. Support employees and encourage them to create more ideas. Stress the importance of creativity in business to the organization’s future success. Be transparent and let them know what happened with their previous ideas. Accepting, using, and giving updates on employee ideas will help foster an innovative staff.
When you hire new employees, ask them about their previous innovations. What did they come up with at previous jobs? What is their creative process? By asking the right questions, you can hire great employees who can contribute to the creativity in your business.
Also, talk to your customers. Ask for reviews on the buying process and your product. Your customers might say something that sparks your creativity and causes you to improve your business.
When you integrate innovation into your business, you need to become comfortable with failure. Not every innovative idea will work. But, the possibility of failure shouldn’t scare you off from trying your creative, new ideas and reaping the benefits of innovation in business.
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So your resume got noticed and you’ve been asked to come in for a face-to-face interview—congratulations! But in order to shine during the interview and land that job offer, careful preparation beforehand is essential. You need to be ready in advance for the questions you will be asked, have done your research on the company and the job, and have all the necessary documents and references at your fingertips.
Before the big day, be sure to review these helpful pre-interview tips so that you go into your meeting feeling confident and ready to impress your potential new employer.
You should thoroughly research the company you are interviewing with, as you want to make sure you understand the business and anticipate the kinds of questions the interviewer may ask. Good research would include the following:
Before your interview, try and get a list of the people you will be meeting with. Then research these individuals, including:
The goal is to learn about your interviewers’ backgrounds and interests so that it will be easier to establish a rapport. Show interest in them and their role in the company.
It’s important to think early on about the questions you may be asked so that you can prepare an articulate and polished response. You don’t want to be caught off-guard by difficult questions.
These types of general interview questions are often asked:
For a full list, read 40 of the Most Frequently Asked Job Interview Questions.
Consider doing a practice interview with friends or family members (especially if they have experience interviewing employees themselves). The practice will be helpful and give you more confidence. Ask for feedback on your answers, your body language, and your preparedness. Have the mock interviewer ask both common questions as well as offbeat ones to see how well you can think on your feet.
If you can, you should test and use the company’s products or services—no matter what role you are interviewing for. This will help you prepare for any questions about these products or services that may come up in the interview. It will also show your interviewer that you went an extra step in preparing for the interview.
It might also be useful to check in with customers of the company, to see how they view the product or service, and take note of any constructive feedback they might have.
Employers often review Facebook and other social media sites to get information and background on prospective employees. So make sure to review your online postings and pictures and delete any information that is embarrassing or could cast you in a negative light with the prospective employer.
It’s also useful to Google yourself to see what your prospective employer would see if they did a search on you.
You want to dress appropriately and professionally for the job interview. It usually won’t hurt to dress more formally for your interview than you would on the job. If you have a contact who works for the employer, ask them about the general dress code. Show up neat and groomed.
Make sure to arrive at the interview on time (you don’t want the first impression of you to be of a person who can’t be on time). Download directions in advance. Anticipate traffic delays, and get there early (but don’t show up on the company’s door steps more than 5 to 10 minutes early). Make sure to turn off your cell phone so it doesn’t ring or buzz during the interview.
You should bring 5 or 6 copies of documents with you for the interview, in case the need arises. Such documents could include:
After your interview, you should let your professional references know that the employer might be contacting them. Give them a heads up on the company and job position.
You might also want to bring along a list of questions you have for the interviewer.
You should check out Glassdoor for reviews of the company you are interviewing with. There may be reviews from current and past employees, along with information on salary and the types of questions interviewers ask at the company. These reviews can be helpful for background and to give you a sense of employee issues, but they should not be taken as gospel.
There are a great number of practical steps you can do to prepare for a job interview. By following the advice in this article, you will be better prepared and more confident for your interview. Good luck!
Copyright © by Richard D. Harroch. All Rights Reserved.
Richard D. Harroch is a Managing Director and Global Head of M&A at VantagePoint Capital Partners, a large venture capital fund in the San Francisco area. His focus is on investing in Internet and digital media companies, and he was the founder of several Internet companies. His articles have appeared online in Forbes, Fortune, MSN, Yahoo, Fox Business, and AllBusiness.com. Richard is the author of several books on startups and entrepreneurship as well as the co-author of Poker for Dummies and a Wall Street Journal-bestselling book on small business. He was also a corporate partner at the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, with experience in startups, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and venture capital. Richard can be reached through LinkedIn.
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Like rainy weather and the NCAA championships, divorce is seasonal. That’s according to University of Washington researchers who reviewed 14 years of the state’s divorce filings and found consistent peaks in March and August. Other states show similar patterns. Why this “March Madness” for marriage? Researchers say the aftermath of Christmas and summer holidays might play a role....
If you have student debt, you don’t have to go looking for confusing jargon — it’s built right into the system. Take student loan refinance and student loan consolidation. These terms are often used interchangeably, since both let you bundle several loans into one. But the similarities stop there. That’s because federal consolidation and refinancing,...
In an alternate universe, Ron Sheble would retire in his mid-60s and move to Arizona to hike the desert with his wife, living off savings and stock options from his years in corporate finance. But life works out in funny ways. Since 2013, the 59-year-old Lincolnshire, Illinois, resident has co-owned and operated Advanced Vehicle Technology...
Being a mom is hard work; being in debt makes it even more difficult. And tackling that debt while juggling other family responsibilities can feel impossible. Where do you start? How long will it take? What do you tell the kids? Plenty of moms have been in this position, each with her own journey toward...
By Bill Brown Learn more about Bill on NerdWallet’s Ask an Advisor The mortgage interest deduction and the state and local property tax deduction are probably the best-known tax incentives for homeownership and real estate investment. That’s no surprise. Roughly 9 out of 10 home buyers borrow money to buy a home, meaning they likely...
A year after it began offering credit cards to eligible international students, alternative lending company SelfScore is increasing its portfolio of financial products. On Tuesday, it’s rolling out the SelfScore Achieve Mastercard, a student credit card with a higher credit limit, cash-back rewards and an introductory 0% annual percentage rate on purchases. At first the new...
Mortgage rates today for 30- and 15-year fixed loans dropped by 2 basis points, while 5/1 ARMs fell by 1 basis point, according to a NerdWallet survey of mortgage rates published by national lenders Tuesday morning. The 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed and the 5/1 ARM are continuing a downward slide after hitting peak levels in mid-March, NerdWallet’s analysis shows. The...
In this series, NerdWallet interviews people who have triumphed over debt using a combination of commitment, budgeting and smart financial choices. Their stories may even inspire you to pay off your debt. Family CEO blogger Julie Mayfield and her husband paid off $59,000 in debt in less than two years. Julie Mayfield and her husband...
Kids are expensive, and estimating how much you’ll spend on your first bundle of joy is tricky. There are diapers, clothing, furniture, food and toys to think of, as well as costs that may not spring immediately to mind, like life insurance and college savings. But whether you’re expecting a child now or planning for...
If something goes on sale after you bought it, don’t kick yourself. You won’t necessarily have to eat the cost of your inopportune timing. Here are some options for getting money back. Ask for a price adjustment If you spot a lower price within a few weeks of purchase, you’ll often be able to get...
Mortgage rates today for 30-year fixed loans and 5/1 ARMs dropped, while rates for 15-year fixed loans rose, according to a NerdWallet survey of mortgage rates published by national lenders Monday morning. House_pricetag Mortgage Rates Today, Monday, March 27 (Change from 3/24) 30-year fixed: 4.29% APR (-0.05)15-year fixed: 3.69% APR (+0.01)5-1 ARM: 3.84% APR (-0.02) See your personalized...
Are your business’s marketing emails hitting the mark? If not, the second annual Global Email Benchmark Report from SendGrid has some good advice for you. SendGrid assessed data from almost 50 billion emails from more than 100,000 different senders in 25 industries to provide benchmarks that businesses can use to improve their email marketing results. Here’s what to know:
What’s the takeaway from this study? There’s much more industry-specific information in the report that can help you identify benchmarks for your own business (download it here). However, the report makes these recommendations for all industries:
The number-one lesson from the study is how much your sending frequency affects customer engagement. With so many emails in the average recipient’s inbox, it’s important to optimize the number of emails you send every month. Use the monthly send rate benchmarks in the report as guidelines to help you gauge the ideal frequency. If your sending frequency is lower than your industry’s benchmarks, consider emailing customers more often. On the other hand, if your frequency is above average, you may want to send fewer emails to see if each one gets more engagement. Monitor how the number of emails you send affects your unique open rates and unique click rates.
The rapid migration of users to mobile devices is another important lesson from the survey. Since your customers may be reading emails on multiple screens of different sizes, email messages need to be responsive to the device they’re viewed on. Beyond reading the emails, users must be able to take action on the email on any device and have a consistently positive user experience.
Monitor where user addresses are collected, especially whether they are collected via app-based / mobile signup or via a website. Establishing an email-based relationship with a user who signed up within an app can be tricky, because the email address of the account linked to the app may have become invalid. Make sure users are aware of the shift and understand what types and what frequency of messages to expect. You should also store as much information as possible about how you collect email addresses (such as IP address, date, time, form, URL, etc.). These details may be useful if you run into issues with blacklist operators and ISPs.
Measuring your email marketing results against industry benchmarks is all well and good, but it’s more important to measure results against your own benchmarks and focus on your own recipients. Monitor metrics such as sending frequency, opens, clicks and unsubscribes. Always conduct A/B testing before making changes to your email marketing program.
Using email personalization allows you to target specific audiences. For example, if more women than men typically read your emails, you can take steps to create personalized emails for female recipients to boost open rates for that audience. Create emails targeted to segments of your email list based on factors such as age, gender, open and click rates, and prior purchasing behavior.
Use the industry averages in the report, combined with your own email marketing metrics, to set concrete goals for improving your results. Can you beat the industry average? Can you beat your own “personal best”?
The report advises that opens and clicks should be a critical focus for businesses. By paying attention to open and click rates, you’ll be better able to address problems such as unresponsive email addresses, recipients who are no longer engaged with your emails, or content that isn’t hitting the mark.
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As a leader, part of your responsibilities as the boss is to inspire your employees. This may seem like a complicated and daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. By adopting some simple habits and demonstrating them every day, you can inspire your employees to have a more positive attitude toward their work, customers, and other staff members.
Start the day with a smile. As the boss, your attitude and demeanor upon entering the office can influence the kind of day it will shape up to be for your employees. A warm smile sends a message of optimism for what’s ahead, and it evokes a sense of being encouraged and supported. There’s even some research out there that indicates smiling can influence others to smile. What could be more uplifting and productive than an office full of joyful people?
Take an interest in them. Your employees are real people with families, pets, unique hobbies, challenges to overcome, triumphs to celebrate, etc. Take the time to show an interest in them beyond what they do for your company. A simple “How are you?” or “What’s new with you?” or “How was your weekend?” can show team members you care about them as individuals.
In addition to making the effort to communicate like this every day, I also enjoy scheduling one-on-one lunches with each of my staff members individually every quarter. By carving out this time, I’ve learned more about them, they’ve learned more about me, and we’ve formed stronger working relationships. As a result, they are more engaged and enthusiastic employees.
Demonstrate patience. You make mistakes, and so will your employees at times. It’s one of the realities of being human. Show patience and understanding when your team members mess up. Keep a cool head, discuss the mistake and how to correct it, and identify a plan/steps to avoid it in the future. A calm demeanor on your part when addressing slip-ups will help your employees concentrate on what they need to do to resolve the issue. Wouldn’t you agree that’s a much better approach than yelling and chastising, which makes people defensive and disheartened?
Always use ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.’ As a parent, I’m constantly reminding my four children to do this. Sadly, I see plenty of grown-up, professional adults who fail to mind their manners. When you say, “please,” “thank you,” “excuse me,” etc., you demonstrate respect for other people. When people hear those magic words, they know they matter to you. By showing your attention to minding your p’s and q’s, you’ll help foster a culture of caring and mutual respect within your company.
Have a sense of humor. According the Mayo Clinic, laughter helps alleviate stress and can make people feel more capable of dealing with adversity. By infusing some lighthearted banter at work, you can help employees feel more at ease and relaxed. Of course, choose your humor wisely so you don’t offend or alienate people.
Empower them. Give them an opportunity to share their ideas about how to do their jobs better and how your company can improve its processes and products. By giving them a say in how things are done, you can instill in them a sense of ownership of their work and your company’s success. In my experience, people are excited to bring value to a company when they feel their thoughts are valued.
The attitudes and actions you bring to work every day will have an impact on your employees, so be conscious of how you conduct yourself.
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With spring break plans booked and paid for, many college students are now looking forward to their next adventure by prepping for study abroad in the summer or applying to do so in the fall. More than 300,000 U.S. students headed to another country to study during the 2014-15 school year, according to the Institute...
With a solid content marketer on your team you can guarantee that great copy is written, fantastic content is shared, and your brand story is honed to perfection. But is it delivering sales? Marketing can’t just be about the best stories and highest quality writing. It has become a tech-driven discipline and even if you’re consistently producing exceptional quality content, if it’s not being seen and not delivered in a strategic, effective way, it won’t deliver results. Underpinning the success of marketing your brand and marketing technology, is the need to coordinate and integrate with IT.
78% of US marketers and 63% of European marketers now believe that understanding marketing tech is critical for success in a senior marketing role. Further to this, it is critical that the outdated silo-driven approach to strategy is given up too, with departments merging for success and to drive sales. There has been a significant rise in Chief Marketing Technologies in top companies as they ensure that IT and marketing are perfectly merged, as Scott Brinker says: “CMTs facilitate and prioritise technology requests from marketing, translating between technical and marketing requirements and making sure that marketing’s systems adhere to IT policies.” How does this translate for your brand? The first step is to stop looking at your tech department as the Department of “No”, and realise that it’s the Department of “Know”.
Storytelling is driving modern marketing. It’s what customers like, it keeps them engaged and it respects that they are more intelligent than to simply be bought by a hard sell. Your stories need to be the best they can but they also need to be fed through a marketing system which ensures they reach the right audience, can be tracked and analysed, repurposed if necessary and reimagined for future use. A good marketing story should never be used just once but without the right technology you may simply put out a piece of content and never think of it again. This is extremely wasteful behaviour, your best marketing content deserves to be used in as many ways as possible, to once again drive engagement and in turn sales. Every 60 seconds, 700,000 Google searches are performed, no one is looking for your story so you need to make sure it is seen and seen by the right people.
Seeing marketing as a purely creative art form is foolish. It is much more sophisticated than that now and essential, driven by technology. With the acceptance of technology as core to successful marketing, we must conclude that far from simply being an art form, marketing is also an exacting science. To succeed in tech you need a systematic and strategic approach, and of course you also need the expertise of IT professional support. You also need to be innovative in your thinking – look to the future and see what technologies are emerging (such as blockchain) that could be gamechangers now, but become standard practice in the future.
There are many things you can probably put together without direct support of the IT department but in some instances their support and collaboration is essential and with the strategic alignment of marketing operations and technology, IT input is integral. The following areas show key moments where IT are a necessary component of marketing operations:
Your business probably has a number of different marketing apps for different purposes. For real cohesive success they need to integrate and to do this there are complex tech requirements which rely upon IT expertise. Integrating your marketing apps requires the use of APIs or direct integration, facilitated by IT.
Management of your company’s data needs to be treated with real respect and organisational focus. A central data store, cloud-based or otherwise, is essential for easy analysis and deployment as and when its required. IT again, will ensure this store is created, managed and maintained.
For effective strategy going forward, you need standards. Your IT department should create foundational data governance and systems which allow for access to high-quality data for all users, apps and departments dependent on permissions. The architecture of the data store and processes is a feat of IT which ultimately improves the marketing process.
Data protection compliance and ensuring all data is held securely in line with company policy is again, a necessary function of the IT department. Any data breaches or data issues can ruin a business’ reputation.
Your marketing tech stack should be an agile yet robust construction. The tech required for your business is something you will build brick by brick and supporting you in this are the IT professionals who have the technological expertise to integrate and connect your stacked technologies where necessary.
The days of an adversarial relationship between IT and marketing are over. The only way to succeed is to be joined at the hip with your colleagues in IT. It may not be a relationship that forms overnight but as changes are made both parties will reap the benefits and the company as a whole will see the benefits it brings.
Good Fortunes to you; I hope I have helped your approach and mind set to marketing and business.
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