Business Discussions

"Despite being the first stage of the sales funnel, prospecting is one of the most challenging tasks for sales representatives. Generating prospects is often time-consuming and it certainly isn’t as rewarding as closing a deal, which means it’s not uncommon to postpone this task until it absolutely has to be done. However, with the right strategy and commitment, salespeople can refine their sales skills and learn how to identify promising prospects quickly."Hi, friends, and happy Friday to each of you! Thanks for joining me for another entry here in the Business Discussion space. As we cruise toward the weekend, I wanted to share a business write-up I read earlier. This article was presented by USChamber.com and covers strategies to start prospecting sales to grow your business, which is always a good thing! Shall we take a look? Utilize social networkingI've said it before, but here I am to say it again. Social media is your friend and can be a great tool when it comes to g

It's Friday once again, we made it! I hope you all are ready for the weekend. I'm hoping to spend some much needed time with my family and just relax. I think we all need a little more of that, don't you? Anyways, today as I was reading through some articles, I found one from Forbes.com that discussed how to determine who your key customers are. After reading the post, I figured this was great info any business owner would love to know. Here's what the article had to say...   Take InventoryNow, I know what you're thinking. But this is actually a different kind of inventory. In this first step, the writer suggests taking inventory of your customers. In this process you'll be making a list of each and every customer group. This is also referred to as market segmentation.   Segment CustomersOnce you made your list, it's then time to breakdown each group further, into segments: Key Customers: "These are the people and groups that you see align perfectly (or a

  Is your business growing faster than your systems can cope?  If your business processes are starting to hold you back, join business and bookkeeping experts Lynda Artesani and Matthew Fulton to find out how a few simple changes could have an immediate impact on the growth of your business.        And if you are looking for more like this, make sure to check out our Ask the Expert playlist on YouTube.      

Hey there, Community! Thanks for joining me again in another Business Discussion. In my area, the transition to the fall season is happening quicker than I expected. The temperature was in the low 40s when I woke up this morning! As the season changes, now may be a good opportunity to make some small changes to your business. Focusing on several smaller changes can help you and your customers both feel refreshed. Here are a few ideas to consider...   Community OutreachIf you aren't already, one small (yet very impactful) change to make is to participate in some form of Community outreach, and then make it a habit. There's plenty of room for creativity here. One way to help in your Community would be to rally your employees after work or on a weekend and do a park clean-up project. You could advertise the event in your store and on social media and invite customers to participate with you. Another idea is to hold a food drive with all of your employees bringing in non-perishable f

  Dealing with late payments from a client or customer is simply no fun. And when your client is a chronic offender, financial tardiness is more than just annoying. Consistently late payments can severely curb your cash flow and put your whole business at risk.   Good news is your invoice can be a powerful tool of persuasion when it comes to addressing the late-payment plight. These five strategies related to invoicing and more can help keep your cash coming in.   Send your invoices on time. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Nothing gets you paid faster and more reliably than sending your invoice as soon as it’s due. Whether your payment cycle is weekly, monthly or something else entirely (50% payment upfront with the rest when the project is done? Great!), stick like Velcro to your agreed-upon schedule.   Negotiate terms up front. Speaking of payment schedules, make sure you and your client agree to one during your initial contract negotiations. Put al

  "It takes as much energy to wish as to plan"  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt   A quick internet search will show that being more organized can help you be more productive at work.  And there are endless ways to go about it, so many in fact, that it can be a little overwhelming.   By sharing our tips and tricks for organizing, we hope that you will find something that resonates with you.        ++++++   @CoreyDenis, Social and Community Senior Manager Everything I needed to know about organization, I learned from Schoolhouse Rock. Specifically, the song “3 Is a Magic Number.” I didn’t realize it during childhood, but the magic of three would become my secret sauce to prioritization.   I’m a to-do list kind of person, but I have found when I include personal to-do items with work related to-do items, I am more easily stressed and a lot less organized. Every morning, coffee in hand, I make 2 to-do lists. One is for work, the other i

As Gratitude Week comes to an end, I ask you to step outside the box and put a connotation to the word. The dictionary tells us that Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, and readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Simply put, it’s the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you’re happy to know a person, humbled to be in a place, or glad to have a thing. It’s the definition’s latter half that I find most interesting: readiness to return kindness. If kindness breeds gratitude, and gratitude breeds kindness, are they really any different? I’d argue they’re one and the same. Every end is a beginning, and every beginning is an end, it’s a nonstop chain reaction!   Chemistry teaches us that reactions require a catalyst, or energy input to kick things off. ‘Get the ball rolling’, so to speak. That energy will remain in motion until it meets resistance. Think of it like a chain of cars in a fast-food drive-thru, where one car pays for the order behind it. The trend co

Good Thursday afternoon! As you may have noticed, we’re celebrating Gratitude Week. With that, today I wanted to share a little about the people, a place, and thing I’m grateful for and ultimately get me through my day. PeopleTo put it simply, my people! My people are my husband and two year old son. My husband, Nathaniel, is let’s just say what husband material is made of. He’s strong, supportive, really handsome, and somehow puts up with my nonsense. Not to get too mushy but he’s my best friend and I really don’t know what I’d do without him. Then there’s our two year old, Rhett. Now Rhett, he gives me a run for my money! As you can imagine, he’s rowdy, adventurous, wild, silly, hilarious, and so much more. His smile is always a great reminder to be my best, everyday.PlaceI'm from a small town in Southwest Virginia. So my place I'm grateful for is this region in general. On my profile, I've added a beautiful picture of what our area is best known for - the Appalachian Mountains. I'm

Welcome back to the Talk About Your Business  page! Happy Wednesday, and I hope you guys are having a productive day! I was wondering, how do you show your customers your appreciation? I know some businesses do this in the form of thank you letters or emails. However, have you ever thought about showing your appreciation through your social media?   By now, we all know that social media has been effective in communicating with customers. If you have any updates, new merchandise, or a sale, this is an excellent means of sharing information. I recently followed a small business profile on Instagram, and lately, they have been doing "Customer's Appreciation" posts. They created a poster with the customer wearing their product and their testimonial of what they thought. I thought this was a neat idea and a great strategy to increase brand awareness and display your product or services.   This could be a grand gesture to incorporate into your social media platform.

Hey there, my Community people! While I was grabbing some breakfast and gathering my thoughts on today's post, the term Kindness came to mind. I decided to go on an adventure and ask each member of my family what act of kindness have they done this week.     The first person I asked was my aunty. She mentioned that she made little potted plants to distribute to her neighbors. She said that when she gave them the plants, their smiles made her smile. She revealed that it warms her heart to see how much they appreciate it.   I asked my little cousin next what act of kindness has he done this week. He expresses that he shared his peanut butter cookies and honey bun with me was his act of kindness. He stated, "This made me happy to share my snacks with you."   My uncle was next on the agenda. His act of kindness was that he helped an elderly couple by getting a scooter and brought it to their car, to help them get into the store. He said when they said, "Thank

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~Robert Brault     World Gratitude Day began rather simply, with a gathering of people deciding that there should be one day out of the year that the entire world could express gratitude and thanks together.    The driving idea behind this being that by starting with one day of mindful gratitude, you can begin to develop a habit of expressing gratitude and thanks regularly.     It's been shown that practicing gratitude regularly has a positive effect on the chemistry of your brain.  And in a year filled with constant change and challenges, being grateful for the things that we have can help us deal with the things that we can't control.        I'm a big fan of using post it notes as reminders - my walls are all white, so I often leave a bright pink or electric green note when I want to make sure I see something.  I'm going to s

Hello, hello and happy Friday! Did anybody catch my attempt at a movie reference in the title? Anybody? No? Ok... moving on. Earlier this week I read an article presented by Entrepreneur.com covering some great tips on how to reduce business debt. I don't know about you, but these kind of pointers are always welcome. Let's take a look.   Identify ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ debtFirst things first, begin by evaluating your checkbook with the mindset that not all debt is going to be bad. The article provides a great example of how you can identify good and bad debt: "For example, if a company has a significant amount of liability associated with the ownership of an office space, that could be considered good debt due to the long-term benefit of potential appreciation and taxable offset opportunities. If a large portion of a company’s current debt is associated with revolving credit not backed by collateral (e.g. credit cards), that is likely something to identify."Tack

Learn common accounting terms used in QuickBooks.  You don't need a degree in accounting to keep up with your bookkeeping. However, it's good to know basic terms so you understand what goes on behind the scenes in QuickBooks.    Here are the basic accounting terms you'll see in QuickBooks.    A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z    A   Accrual Method Accounting   The simple definition: An accounting method that reports money from completed as well as pending transactions.   Tip: When you start your business, you should pick one accounting method and stick to it. Changing methods will require help from your accountant.    Textbook definition: With the accrual method, you record and report your income and expenses when they’re billed. You record money when it's billed, whether or not you receive it. This includes accounts pa

  Having the right bank account for your small business can make all the difference when it comes to making money work harder and faster for you.     Join the Ask the Expert live Q&A this Thursday. We’ll share tips on the benefits of integrating banking and accounting.        And if you are looking for more like this, make sure to check out our Ask the Expert playlist on YouTube.  

In our first Community Chatter installment, we shared some of our work from home hacks, and this week we are taking the next step and sharing pictures of our workspaces.    With so much going on, it's more important than ever to have a dedicated space that is relatively free from distractions and lets you focus on being productive.   It's even better if your space is comfortable and out of the way, but as this year has shown time and again, sometimes it's all about being adaptable and using what you have to create what you need.     There is no "one true way" to set up your work from home space, after all, someone who lives in a studio apartment will not have the same issues as a mother of four living in a 3 bedroom house.  And as you'll see below, (and in our Intuit Accountants and TurboTax communities) our workspaces vary as much as we do.      I'll start us off by sharing my kitchen table setup.  "I’ve always been a bit o

Hi all, I have developed a SaaS product SubscriptionFlow an AI-Based subscription management software. I need suggestions for marketing and how I can improve my product critics are also welcomed.

Happy Fri-yay, I mean Friday, everyone! I hope the work week has treated you well. Today I wanted to share an article I came across, published by Forbes.com, that discusses simple philosophies to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Here are a few points that caught my eye... Prep Your MindsetPreparing your mindset encompasses thinking long-term regarding your business. We're offered a reminder that entrepreneurial success doesn't happen overnight and your ways of thinking should reflect that. "Prepare your mindset. Entrepreneurship is a work of heart and not a perfect, straight line to success. It’s supposed to feel crazy at the beginning. You have nothing to lose." When you think about the long-term success of your business, this includes answers to questions like what you want to get out of the entire venture, as well as how much time will you spend working? How much will you be paid? How many employees will you have? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?Be Unapologetically Yo

Happy Wednesday, and welcome to the Talk Your Business page. Today, I wanted to change gears for a sec. For the past few days, this question has been on my mind, "What aspect of your business gets you excited?".   I wanted to bring back that warm-fuzzy feeling of what brings you joy in your industry to create some good vibes for a minute. Therefore, I decided to interview a few entrepreneurs from around the world to get their take. Here's what they had to say:   Kamoyia W., the founder of Maxi's Fashion, explained that she enjoys the fact that she meets new clients daily. She also expresses that she loves to pay attention to her pieces' quality because she wants her customers to have one of the best quality. She did add that making money contributes to her excitement, but most importantly, seeing that satisfaction on her customers' faces. Before ending the interview, she said something that made me smile. She stated, "At the end of the day, it is nice to see

  A) Satisfying or B) Confusing? Pick one & tell us why, we'd love to hear from you!

"...Social media remains one of the fastest-growing and most important channels for small businesses everywhere, offering unmatched reach and potential compared to other marketing channels."     Hello hello and happy Friday! Welcome back to another edition of the Business Discussion board. We all know that social media is hugely popular in today's day and age. We also know that the use of social media can be a very helpful tool for small businesses. With that in mind, today I wanted to share some points I read in an article from squareup.com focusing on how small businesses can use social media to grow. Embrace VideoVideo marketing popularity is growing rapidly. Even with that being said, many businesses struggle with what content to include and how to relay it to their customers. Here are a few suggestions from the article about what to include in your videos: Sort your blog content in order of most traffic and create videos around those topics. Follow peers a

Hi, howdy, hey! It's mid-week and I'm back to share some small business pointers. Have you ever thought that your product or service is so unique or so focused you feel you may have a hard time finding success? Well, today I want to share how your niche business can work for you. Less competitionThere's nothing wrong with a little friendly competition. On the other hand, small businesses already have plenty of hurdles to overcome so let's be real. With less competition, there's more potential. With a specific business, you're less likely to run into similar competitive brands. Less clash means you'll be able to optimize sales and build a loyal customer base.Find your focusA niche business offering very specific products or services allows you to find your passion. Making a career out of something you're passionate about means you'll never have to work a day in your life! This point brings to mind a local artist. She makes incredible pottery of all shapes and sizes and sales her pieces

  Everyone has seen a lot of change this year, and one of the most common changes is the way our work life has shifted in response to the global pandemic.   Many companies embraced the work from home model as a way of protecting their workers, and similarly, a lot of small businesses had to shift their models to allow them to continue their businesses in a socially responsible and safe manner.    But whether working from home is new to you or you are a seasoned pro, it can present unique challenges depending on a multitude of factors.      We are sharing our tips for success below, and hope that you will join the conversation and share what works best for you.  We'll collect some of the responses and round them up for you again later in the week.       Ami Defesche, Community Moderator   Living in a studio apartment when we started working from home presented a lot of challenges, but the biggest was not having a def

Good afternoon, Community members! It's Friday once again, and today I'm here to share another business article with you all. Earlier I was reading this article from uschamber.com and thought it was a very beneficial one to share. This post in particular covers identifying and resolving skills gaps within your business.   IdentificationAs the write-up mentions, "No single person possesses all the necessary skills to run a business effectively. Identifying skills gaps, in both yourself and your team, will ensure your company can grow." With that being said, a skill gap is "the difference between the skills required for a position and the skills an employee actually possesses." These differences can be identified by conducting an analysis with your employees. Notice I said with because you will participating as well. Here are the steps to recognize any gaps that need to be filled:   Important skills Communicating the skills that are actually important is

Hello out there! Are there any Quickbooks Online Accountant/ProConnect users in the Central Coast California area near Paso Robles? I am new to the area and would love to talk with you!

Happy Wednesday! Quick question, what is the history of your business? A brand story gives customers insight into what you're about and shows customers why you do this. This is one of the many strategies of drawing customers in. Have you perfected your story? I have taken the time to jot down a few tips to help you when presenting your story to the world. Be Transparent and Engaging There are a few questions you should ask yourself when writing your business story? This should be easy to remember seeing they all start with the letter W. Why- Why are you writing this story, and why do you think it's significant? When- When did this all start? Where- Where is this story taking place? Who- Who has contributed a part in this establishment? What- What are you trying to achieve, and what failures have you experienced thus far? Using this will show a sense of direction and focus, where the audience can see the history unfold before them.   Be Real and TruthfulTry not to oversell your