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“Software as a service” is making computer news these days – but what’s in it for your small business? Is SaaS just a nerdy fad or does it really have a place in your business? SaaS, far from being a passing phase, has the capability to jump start your business. Do saving time and money while increasing efficiency sound good to you? The list of SaaS’s benefits starts there … and grows.

 

As you may know, SaaS is a new method of software delivery. Instead of the conventional model in use since the 90s – software which is installed onto your firm’s computers from purchased disks or downloads – SaaS is Web-based, offering access to the information you need on a subscription basis. All you have to do is sign up and log on. In fact, you are probably using one or more simple, free forms of SaaS already – online banking or webmail, perhaps.

 

Far from being pie-in-the-sky or only for Fortune 500-ers, SaaS makes sense for every enterprise, regardless of size. Besides a very impressive cost-benefit ratio, it allows small businesses room to expand and to compete with large corporations. Omri Erel, Marketing Director for walkme.com and self-proclaimed SaaS Addict, has to say on the subject: “SaaS by design is actually far more convenient for small businesses than any classical software model out there.”

 

Keep Your Customers Happy
Software as a service is gaining ground most rapidly in the field of customer relations management. By 2011, 35% of CRM software was SaaS-platform based. Gartner’s Market Trends forecasts that that percentage will rise to over 50% as of 2016.

 

Save Money
To update an old saw, why pay for the cow when you can rent the milk for much less? A relatively modest monthly payment gives you feature-rich computer services. For example, desktop applications similar to the popular Microsoft Office suite are available without the hefty licensing fee. And you completely avoid having to make an enormous initial investment in servers and infrastructure. What’s more, you benefit from your service provider’s economies of scale. IT costs are uniform and predictable.

 

Save Time
For most small business operators, software is a waste of time – literally. The amount of hours your employees invest in searching for, installing, maintaining and updating software could be better spent, simply put, on doing their jobs. Add to that staff time spent waiting for IT to deal with any problems that arise and you’ve got a serious productivity drain on your hands. By contrast, SaaS makes the latest version of the software you need available instantly, whenever you need to access it.

 

Make that wherever you need to access it, as well. You are no longer limited to just the on-site desktop computers in your office, but can conveniently get at essential information from your mobile or tablet literally anywhere you happen to be – such as a hotel room or an airport.

 

Be Consistent, Be Flexible
Whether on the road, in your new branch office or meeting in a client’s boardroom, all your staff will have access to the same data. For instance, the latest Excel spreadsheet on up-to-the-minute budget figures is available without jumping through hoops to get it. This opens the door to greater flexibility in collaborating with a team that may include your employees, clients and resource personnel, all working together on a project from different locations, yet all on the same page. Updates to software and information are applied across the board. Companies with work from home and flexible hours policies will find this equally convenient.

 

Another aspect of SaaS flexibility is the capability to scale up as your company grows, without large budgetary outlays for upgraded software or IT assistance.

 

Be Secure
Your information is protected with state of the art standards of security and encryption technology when you use SaaS. A lost or stolen laptop or a hard drive crash will no longer spell disaster. Every file is automatically backed up, so your valuable data will be safe.

The monetary savings associated with the subscription model, access to the best computers and most cutting edge software around plus efficiency, security, flexibility and ease of use leave only one question to be answered – how can you afford not to upgrade to SaaS?

 

Spending money is a complicated subject in the minds of many Americans. Everywhere on the Internet you’ll find articles by wannabe pop psychologists explaining why people spend the way they do and how they could and should spend less … or differently … or something. Guilt, shame and entitlement are the used watchwords. Poppycock. It’s really quite simple. While the majority of consumers do give in to an occasional bout of retail therapy, only about 5% of the population can be labeled compulsive spenders, according to the Journal of Psychiatry.

Most consumer spending is done for very healthy reasons, such as need, want and investment. When customers receive a high level of perceived value for their spending, their relationship with the retailer or service provider will be enhanced.

Need
John Lennon used to sing “All you need is love.” (Of course he had a fortune worth $800 million.) However, the average Joe or Jane can’t live on love alone but needs to spend money for life’s necessities. Food, clothing and shelter are considered basic needs in Western society, although the quality, amount and price tag attached to these items will vary widely depending on the individual doing the purchasing.

Want
In theory Betty Sue may only need one winter coat, but if she lives in a sophisticated urban area and/or works in the fashion or entertainment industry, she may find herself jonesing for another stylish wrap or two. Many purchases, from an upgrade to the latest smartphone to an exotic vacation, are made due to want, and if there are funds in the household budget for such splurges, “Why not?” tends to be the operative phrase governing such decisions.

Investment
Investment spending means laying out money now to obtain future value. This is the motivation for a wide variety of purchases (and the psychology behind customer loyalty programs) such as:

• ordering pizza for supper to save time for an important project
• putting down a large sum for a fine quality sofa which will have a longer lifetime than a less expensive piece
• paying for a more efficient HVAC system in order to improve quality of life and save on utility bills
• buying high ticket items like jewelry or real estate as a means of building up wealth – either to use during retirement or to pass on to one’s heirs eventually.

Perceived Value for Money
Whatever the item or service, financial savvy folks are reluctant to spend in ways they see as wasteful or “not worth it.” They are however, ready and willing to lay out hard-earned cash to receive perceived value, goods or services that deliver a real bang for one’s buck. Even the decision about which beverage to start the morning with is made on the basis of perceived value; a pricy designer coffee may give the caffeine addict more pleasure per dollar than the local diner’s brew. And if the barista gets your cappuccino to you in record time with a pleasant smile, that extra service will make the purchase even more satisfying.

 

Canny marketers know that the perception of value determines not only which of two items Carl Consumer will buy, but also his attitude and loyalty toward the seller. (See the 2008 study “Perceived value, customer attitude and loyalty in retailing” by Ruiz-Molina and Gil-Saura, published in the Journal of Retail and Leisure Property.) A more germane question for small businesspeople might be “Why Do People Spend Money on Particular Items and at Particular Enterprises?” This will encourage raising the perceived value of products and services, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and retention.

Over the past few years, crowdfunding has been steadily climbing the charts of ubiquitous Internet buzzwords. It’s inclusion in last year’s JOBS Act only added fuel to the fire and on the surface seems to give a nod of legitimacy to crowdfunding as a source of business capital.

At first glance, it’s not hard to see the allure in harnessing the crowd to potentially raise significant amounts of money. But, if you were hoping that crowdfunding would bring the end to your financing woes, make sure you know all the facts. Raising money from this kind of model may actually not be an option for the vast majority of small businesses.

Up until this point, crowdfunding platforms have mostly subsisted on a perks-and-gifts model. This is the version popularized by Indiegogo and Kickstarter in which individuals donate their money in exchange for small gifts, honors, or products, but not stock.

In theory, the crowdfunding provision in the JOBS Act was supposed to allow ordinary investors the opportunity to invest in small or early stage start-ups online in exchange for company equity. The provision provides for entities to connect companies raising money with people who want to invest. These can be existing securities brokers, or they can be so-called “funding portals.”

Currently, only individuals who meet certain wealth or income requirements are allowed to invest in private companies in exchange for ownership. The Securities and Exchange Commission was tasked with creating the rules surrounding the proposed new form of equity-based crowdfunding, but the “final product” as part of the JOBS Act was so watered down and warped that it caused industry experts to proclaim “Investment Crowdfunding in the U.S. is Dead Before Arrival.”

In a nutshell, the resulting legislation on a federal level will do little to nothing to create a new capital market of non-Accredited investors nor help “formalize” and grow the friends and family funding market.

The good news, however, is that there has been a growing adoption of state-wide crowdfunding legalization. A handful of U.S. states have recognized the value of forging ahead with their own state-wide crowdfunding legalization, something they are allowed to do as long as the investors and businesses operate within their states. Georgia, Kansas, and Wisconsin have already signed off on crowdfunding legalization, and North Carolina and Washington have followed suit with their own proposals.

So where does that leave your small business? If you happen to live in one of the states mentioned above, and you are operating a small or early stage startup, then crowdfunding may be a viable financing option to look into. If, however, you live outside these states and your business is not related to the arts, your chances of drawing money from the crowd are pretty slim. Crowdfunding may not be your financing silver bullet after all.

Growth is natural and generally considered positive; almost everything, in its own time, grows and develops. So it’s expected that your small business will reach a point at which you can make the decision to grow (i.e., expand). But how do you know that you and/or your business is ready and what will it look like?

Obviously you can persevere or you wouldn’t have started your business and seen it to a point where you are now considering expanding, but as you stand at the precipice of a new challenge are you ready for the new obstacles that may come your way? Before you embark on a new course, take a moment to look at you. After all, you are the Commander and Chief of your enterprise and if you’re not ready to sail your ship into uncharted waters, no amount of advice, effort and luck will help you. Be honest about where you’re at as a person and ask yourself the following questions.

Have you found the balance between life and career? If not, you’ll want to address this before you take on more of one or the other. It’s not easy but then again nothing worthwhile ever is.

How do you handle it when the you-know-what when it hits the fan in your business or personal life? Do you asses the situation or stress out? Blame others or accept what is, problem solve and act, then learn from the mistakes.

What kind of leader are you? Is this the kind of leader do you want to be? If not, find a leader you truly admire and let him/her be your mentor. Learn about that person and maybe print a quote by him/her to rem yourself the path you want to be on. For example, “The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Now it’s time to get to the brass tacks of your business. So how do you know if this is the time and what do you do to make it happen? Excellent questions…and the answer is more – questions, that is.

What’s the black and white of it?

You need to be in a place where your profits are holding steady, or steadily increasing, over the last few years. You’ll also need cash flow that you can earmark into investing back into the business. What about your target market and customers? If you’ve found your niche and have reached your goal for repeat customers this is the time to consider growing your business. Especially if your industry is holding or gaining consumer interest.

Who makes it happen?

Now that you’re done with the number crunching, the next step is to take stock on a more physical level. On the human level, look at your team of employees. They need to possess the skills, reliability and drive to take it to the next level. You will likely need to recruit to expand. Don’t forget to bring in new leadership (carefully) and not rely solely on the employees who have been with the company as this may create burn out. It would be a good idea to dedicate a senior employee or two to your existing customers who need someone they already know and rely to make the transition. You want more customers, not to lose the ones you have.

Am I really ready?

Next is perhaps the hardest part; take a look at yourself. Are you just as excited now as you were when you opened the business? Because you will need that energy. If you haven’t up until now, are you ready to play a more strategic role? If the answer is yes, then you need to be the (wo)man with the plan – the business extension plan, that is, rife with everything you need including best and worst case scenarios.

What’s the plan?

Jim Alles, the New York City chapter chairman of SCORE, a resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA), says, “All good plans will contain separate marketing and sales plans that deal with competitors and customers, as well as a product plan and an operation plan.” So while you’re not creating a new business plan, you definitely need to map out what you want to do and how you’re going to get there. There are a lot of ways to grow your business. These include:

• Opening another location – such as a second office or store.
• Franchising – someone else buys into your business and runs their location.
• License your product – other companies that would use your product or service can buy a license to do so.
• Merge or Acquire – buy a similar business or merge a struggling business into yours.
• Diversify – sell similar products or services, etc.
• Globalization & the Internet – import/export your products or services; if you’re not selling on the internet, start.

With so many small businesses trying to make it, and with local governments forever seeking to attract entrepreneurs and give their city an economic boost, a recently raised question has been making headlines and causing a flurry of discussion among inquiring business minds. In a policy brief published by Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, economists William Kerr and Edward Glaeser ask the question: What makes a city entrepreneurial?

According to the report (based on two articles by Glaeser and Kerr: Clusters of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship: How Much of the Spatial Distribution Can We Explain?) there are several factors regarding the correlation between geography and entrepreneurship:

• High levels of entrepreneurship (that is, the number of small businesses in an area) closely corresponds with regional economic growth (and conversely, areas with fewer new start ups are associated with a decline in job growth).

• The greater the number of small businesses, the greater the infrastructure (i.e., the presence of venture capitalists, independent suppliers and an entrepreneurial culture) and therefore the easier it is for new businesses to enter the marketplace.
• Startup growth tends to be greater in areas with a more educated workforce (who in turn tend to gravitate towards areas with favorable climates).

• A profusion of small, independent businesses bodes well for an area’s sustained economic growth.

• Strategies to improve a city’s quality of life go a long way in attracting bright young entrepreneurs.

• There is a strong link between educational institutions and certain types of businesses (for example, the success of Silicon Valley is attributed in part to the involvement of students and faculty from Stanford University).

 

Under30CEO.com recently polled their readership to discover which cities offered the best resources, schools, events, climate and social scene for a young entrepreneur. Here’s what they ended up with:

1. New York, NY  As the home of several industries, including “Silicon Alley,” it’s got the biggest scene of them all.
2. San Francisco, CA  Its proximity to Silicon Valley means it’s a hub for high-tech.
3. Austin, TX  The capital of live music begets a burgeoning corporate culture and a low cost of living.
4. Boston, MA  Education, education, education. Beantown’s a hub for brains, incubators and deep pockets.
5. Denver, CO  It’s a growing center for folks who like to work hard (inside), then play hard (outside).
6. Chicago, IL  It’s a longtime financial center that’s slowly ceding its khaki culture to a more digital community who doesn’t like living out in the ‘burbs.
7. San Diego, CA  Big tourism and big population allows this sunny clime to take advantage of California’s smartest.
8. Portland, OR  Major green credentials, a temperate climate and a growing local food scene (plus one hell of a cup of coffee) has Portland on the radar of many young entrepreneurs.
9. Washington, D.C.  President Obama may be a Democrat, but his youth has inspired younger folks of all political persuasions to relocate to the nation’s capital in a wave not seen since the 1950s.
10. Seattle, WA  This hub for technology and industry — from Amazon and Microsoft to Boeing and Starbucks — is also a doorstep to Asia. It doesn’t hurt that it has a highly-educated population, either.

So when it comes to entrepreneurship, how does your city measure up?

The growing acceptance and implementation of inbound marketing represents a definitive shift in the way businesses are approaching sales and advertising. Instead of running after customers and looking for ways to make them open their wallets, smaller companies in particular have recognized the value of creating and sharing valuable content in order to encourage potential leads and to make current customers come back for more.

In other words, it’s a way of doing business that is based on “giving,” something that very much flies in the face of the traditional business model. For this reason, smaller companies are coming out ahead and leveraging content creation channels, such as blogging, videos, imagery, and even audio along side social media, to level the playing field against their bigger competitors.

If you are new to the ideas behind inbound marketing for your own business, then here is a rundown of the major themes:

Focus on Content Creation and Promotion. You create targeted content that answers your customer’s most pressing questions and needs, and you make a concerted effort to share that content in ways that will get it noticed by your target audience.

Marketing as an Organic Process. Your customers will go through stages as they interact with your company, and at each stage you need different marketing actions and approaches. It’s as if you want your marketing efforts to “grow” and mature with your customers.

The Power of Personalization. Without realizing it, many of your customers are already be getting bombarded with personalized content and promotional offers every time they go online. This trend cannot be ignored. As you learn more about your customers over time, you can better personalize your messages to fit their specific needs.

Multi-channel Efforts. Inbound marketing is inherently multi-channeled because it is based on reaching people where they already are, in the channel where they will most want to interact with you.

Big Integration. The platforms that support your content creation, promotion, calls-to-action, and customer support as well as the analytics tools you have in place to keep tabs on it all, must work together like a well-oiled machine. This allows you to focus on publishing the right content in the right place at the right time.

In short, inbound marketing is definitely a new way of doing business. But, it presents a great deal of opportunity to smaller companies that understand that in order to encourage the interest and investment of their customers, they need to give in order to receive.

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” Martin Luther said it back in the 16^th century and it has never been truer than it is in 2013, especially when it comes to small business. CEOs of small enterprises are some of the most hopeful people around, building a business – often from the ground up – on a vision and a confidence in the future.

However the economic events in the US over the past decade have been enough to shake up even the most sanguine of businesspeople. Securities and real estate, formerly considered two of the most reliable investments, suddenly lost their value overnight. Confusion is the key word today: where is the economy going? What’s the best area of your business to invest in?

Small is the New Big

There’s been a sea change in attitudes to technology since the close of the 20^th century. Back in the day, big was … well, big, and technology tended to equate big with powerful and efficient. Investing large sums in the latest and greatest computer programs and IT staff was considered essential if not to succeed, at least to give the appearance of success. However, nowadays it’s all about small and convenient, especially when it comes to small businesses that have neither the resources nor the inclination to invest heavily in technology which could already be outdated by the time it is delivered to your door. This attitude is readily apparent when it comes to areas like information technology. Savvy small businesses are moving to SaaS, for example, to avoid investing in the accoutrements of big technology.

Get Healthy

With the implementation of Obamacare looming in 2015, the subject of mandatory health care has been big among business owners across the board. While owners of businesses which employ fewer than 50 full time workers are exempt – at least for the time being – they may find that de facto they will be forced, or at least strongly encouraged, to provide employee health care benefits simply to attract new hires who would otherwise be tempted to accept employment at larger firms that do offer health care. And a business that expands (the hope – that word again! – of most entrepreneurs) will need to provide health care once it exceeds the employee limit. With affordable Small Business Health Options Programs and small business tax credits to help cover health insurance premiums, this might just be a worthwhile area to invest in. And how about purchasing coverage to protect one of your business’s greatest assets – you, the boss – while you’re at it?

Get Smart

Another excellent arena for investment is professional guidance. According to American Banker in May 2013, only 30% of small business owners feel “very confident in their business acumen.” Expert guidance from a management consultant, banker, accountant or other professional can steer a business in the right direction and do more for the bottom line than randomly investing in the physical plant based on guesswork. An optimistic business owner is an asset to his or her enterprise; an optimistic business owner guided by a topnotch financial adviser is a tremendous asset.

Over the past few years, LinkedIn has been growing in both it’s user base and it’s reputation. The social networking platform has practically become synonymous with the online resume and business hobnobbery and recently boasted over 225 million members across 200 countries.

But, with so much happening on LinkedIn, getting noticed can be a real challenge. Add to this the fact that LinkedIn has chosen to discontinue several services and apps, such as LinkedIn Answers and Polls, that were quite popular among small business owners. For this reason, if you are just starting out on the platform, you need to do what you can to optimize your time and presence there.

To get you started, here are four LinkedIn success tips that are frequently over-looked, yet can generate a tremendous amount of interest in your business:

Include a call to action. You can have the most optimized profile in the whole of LinkedIn that’s generating tons of traffic, but if you don’t have any calls-to-action, it won’t do you much good. Instead of simply filling in LinkedIn’s generic “my website” or “my blog” links on your profile page, make the effort and to give your visitors reasons to click on your links.

Showcase your products, services, and expertise. There are several areas in LinkedIn where you can showcase your work. In your profile page, you can now highlight specific projects including media-rich documents. If you are maintaining a company page, then be sure to fill out the “Products and Services” section. Not only is this your opportunity to explain what you offer in a compelling way, individuals can recommend and share the products you list, becoming ambassadors for your brand.

Optimize your profile for search. With hundreds of millions of people searching LinkedIn, you want your company’s profile to stand out. When crafting your profile language, be sure to include keywords that are related to your business and industry to help improve the chances of your name appearing in LinkedIn’s internal search results. Think of these keywords as the words a potential client would type in when searching LinkedIn.

Use InMail and targeted updates. LinkedIn gives you the option of putting your updates and messages in front of the people who matter the most. LinkedIn’s internal mail system, InMail, can help you reach professionals that may not be so reachable elsewhere. Targeted status updates can be an effective way for business owners to tailor the content in their status updates to specific types of company followers. These can be accessed from your LinkedIn Company Page.

In short, when it comes to success on LinkedIn, you need to make sure that your presence is properly optimized. It gets your foot in the door to take advantage of all that LinkedIn has to offer.

Under the terms of a $7.2 billion settlement reached last summer between credit card companies and retailers, retailers will be allowed to impose a surcharge on customers paying by credit card. The amount of the surcharge depends on how much the retailer pays in processing fees, but it can range from 1.5 to 4 percent of an item’s the purchase price.

If you are running a small retail operation outside of the states that have prohibited such a surcharge, then you may be the debating how to go about easing the fee burden of payments made by credit card.

Some retailers have opted instead to offer a discount or other incentives to their cash paying customers. But is such a move right for you? There are definitely some benefits over here, such as that shoppers may be more receptive to either receiving or opting out of a discount than they would be to choosing whether or not a surcharge is worth it. A discount just has a nicer feel to it.

Moreover, you may not want to totally alienate your shoppers who pay with credit. Many studies point to the fact that people tend to spend more when they pay with a credit card as opposed to cash.  A surcharge, even a small one, could be enough to discourage a credit purchase and any “extras” that may have been added to it. Credit cards are also more convenient for customers. Today, most people paying with plastic generally expect the option to do so without penalty. You could quickly elicit the angst of customers caught without cash and who may be annoyed that they have to pay more for pulling out the plastic.

So, the bottom line to this is that there are definitely some key benefits to offering a discount to cash paying customers instead of tacking a surcharge onto credit card purchases. But, you really have to be in touch with the needs and attitudes of your customers. If all else fails and you are unsure which way to go, you could always just as your customers or test out the response to each strategy.

Over to you… Do you run a retail business? How have you responded to the new credit card legislation?

The importance of having the right tech tools on hand is undeniable for small business owners. If you’re not up-to-date and using all of the available channels and options available to you, you’ll eventually be left behind. Think about it this way: using tech ultimately makes your business seem bigger, giving customers greater confidence in your brand and your products.

“Small businesses can do BIG things using low-cost technology and readily available expertise,” says Ramon Ray, Journalist and Editor at Smallbiztechnology.com.

So what types of technology will launch your business? It goes without saying that you should already be setup with internet, a computer and a smartphone device, but we’ve got a few more suggestions, from the basics like a website and social media to more advanced tools like mobile hotspots and cloud storage.

Website
If you’re brick-and-mortar small business, having a website gives you the chance to brand yourself to a much wider audience. If you’re an online retailer, a website is obvious. There are plenty of easy-to-use website builders that offer e-commerce and other fun bobbles, including blogging tools, which, with constant content, will allow for search engine web crawlers to find and share your brand with the world. Also, don’t forget to make sure your site is mobile-friendly, or Google won’t give you the attention you want.

 

Social Media
The small business customer service game is played out largely on social media these days, making your business’s presence on Twitter and Facebook more important than ever. Having accounts on Vine, Instagram, and Pinterest give you an even greater edge with their visual branding possibilities. A constant social presence gives you the opportunity to get to know your customers, share brand activities, and offer new and exciting ways for customers to connect. Don’t forget to claim your business on Yelp, too!

 

CrazyEgg
A bit of a more advanced tech tool for small business owners, CrazyEgg is the king of heat mapping, which helps you figure out the ins and outs of how customers are experiencing your website. You might think aspects of your website are winning out, but through heat mapping you’ll probably discover that your customers are more attracted to certain links and images than other calls-to-action. CrazyEgg will give you the advantage in understanding your customers and being able to better cater to their behaviors and needs.

 

Social
Having a social media plan is a great, but knowing how to analyze and understand what’s happening on social is even better. Hootsuite and SproutSocial are amazing tech tools that allow you to create reports about your interactions, your posts, and your users. Curious about your demographics? Where those Twitter followers are coming from? Maybe you want to know the best time of day to post. SproutSocial gives you the upperhand on all of these things, even allowing you to create competitor reports so you know how you’re social plan is competing.

 

Mobile Hotspot
No matter where you are, as a small business owner you should always be able to access your company’s files, inventory, emails, and anything else you need to feel connected. Enter the mobile hotspot. The “hotspot” — a small device that plugs into your computer — essentially is a mobile wireless router that allows you to access the internet no matter where you go. Whether you’re at the airport heading to an investor meeting or sitting in a coffee shop, a mobile hotspot keeps you connected.

 

Cloud Storage
If you’ve got a mobile hotspot available, then setting up a cloud network will make your life all the more easy. Using cloud storage through DropBox or Google Drive gives you access to all of your important files no matter where you are. No need for large servers back at home or having to rely on someone to send you something at the last minute because you don’t have the files on your computer — with cloud storage, you have secure, convenient access to everything.

 

Of course there are hundreds of other amazing tech tools available to small business owners, ranging from point-of-sale systems to smartphone apps that will keep your operations running smoothly. However, whether you’re a seasoned veteran or newbie to the small business tech game, we recommend thinking macro until you’re comfortable and then getting down to the nitty gritty micro tech tools. Think big, and your customers will, too.