With the state of the current economy many businesses are needing to find ways to reduce their overheads as the recession takes hold. For some employers, this means redundancies and for others, adopting alternative ways to make the necessary cost savings whilst trying to maintain their existing staff in whom they have invested time and resources. You should however turn to layoffs only after you’ve tried just about everything else. So before you sign the first of those pay slips, and think about these alternatives, which includes -

Considering reaching an agreement with staff to reduce their salary or benefits. It is essential that staff agree to any such changes or you will be vulnerable to claims for breach of contract or unlawful deduction from wages.However, sometimes (not all the time, only some), it’s your customers that are costing you too much. The solution: Get rid of them and stick to the customers who make you money. For example, American Express sent select customers 300 pounds if they agreed to pay down and close their accounts. In addition, Amex flat-out closed 2.7 million accounts because they had zero balances or had been inactive for two years.

Also review your employee benefits. It may be that by shopping around or engaging the services of a broker you can find alternative providers for your employee benefits, such as medical insurance and life assurance, which will save you costs. Some employees, particularly those with caring commitments, may also be happy to take up part-time working or reduced-hours flexible working that will cut your wage bill. Such flexible working may include late starts and early ends to the day, term-time working or job sharing.

Businesses across the country are struggling, so knowing how to attract new clients to your business is crucial. One of the key factors to attracting new clients is marketing.

First thing first is you need to ask yourself these questions; Why do people buy from you? What do you really do for your customers? How are you better than your competition and what special skills or advantages do you have? The answers to these questions are your competitive advantages. They are what make you stand out from your competition. Ask yourself what you are doing right and what might be going wrong in your business. Evaluate your processes, allocation of labor, training programs and marketing materials. Make a list of at least five things that are working and five that aren’t.

Also try and develop a clear offer for each prospective partner. Come up with a free or deeply discounted product or service that has a high perceived value for the consumer with a low cost for you. And do whatever it takes to get the word out about your store. Whether is a website, newspaper ad, tv ad etc etc… But not forgetting word of mouth! Word of mouth is one of the best ways to attract to new customers, so ensure they all receive great service (because bad word of mouth can have devastating effects). The key in successful marketing is to deliver the right message to the right people as often as your budget will allow. So, you need a message that tells your target market why they should do business with you.

So… you have decided to start trading online. You have years of business experience (or not), but not a clue about the Internet. Your screaming “what does it take to trade like a professional online?” Well stop right there, because online trading has become a trend today and its unlikely that you will come across a business that doesn’t trade online. Firstly, you will need to set up a legal entity which is required if you want to trade online. To register your company and get a company registration number go to Companies House– the cost of this starts from about £20 and can even be arranged on the same day if required.

Next you need to choose a profitable product (if you haven’t already done so) In order to choose a profitable product to sell, you need to follow four steps: observe, analyze, test and commit. Start by observing the world around you. Look at trends reported daily in the news. For instance, obesity in the UK gets a lot of coverage and based upon your observations, it appears to be true.  Next, make some assumptions about the trend you have identified. For instance, if people are generally fatter, we can assume they don’t like that and they are probably wearing bigger size clothes. Next test those assumptions.

If by now you are starting to a sense demand, there are two options for turning a marketable hobby into a real online business: shacking up with an established site, or striking out on your own. Which strategy you pick depends on how easy you want the process to be versus how much independence you’re looking for. Those snazzy corporate web sites can cost millions of dollars. Do you need one? No! Customers expect you will have a web presence but start out easy. An eBay Store will cost you $15.99 a month (about the same as web hosting) and you can set it up in a day. HOWEVER, if you think you business is going well at a later date, then getting a website is a MUST!! Establishing a website consists of three steps: securing a domain name, designing the website, and finding a web hosting service. Website design can be done without professional assistance but not very effectively for a novice. You don’t want a website that looks like a beginner did it. So get help with the design.

Unemployment throughout the UK is on the rise again. In fact the rate has increased to a near 17-year high after another rise in the jobless total to almost 2.7 million. The Office for National Statistics, which published its assessment of the impact of the strike on the labour market alongside the latest figures, said the last time a strike had such an impact was in 1989.

The info also shows that pay growth in the public sector, excluding the bailed-out banks, is running at just 1.4% a year, the slowest rate since comparable records began in 2001. Unemployment across the economy rose by 118,000 in the three months to November, to 2.68 million, the ONS said, in the latest sign that the UK slowed sharply in the autumn. However, not all is bad, the number of people in work increased by 9,000 in the quarter to January to 29.1 million, while the 28,000 increase in unemployment was the lowest for almost a year.

Unemployment amongst women accounted for most of the increase. Not only that, but the number of people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job increased by 110,000 to 1.3 million, the highest since records began in 1992. Part-time employment rose by 60,000 to 6.6 million, while self-employment fell by 52,000 to just over four million. The government said the data showed the situation was “stabilising” but Labour said ministers were being “complacent”. The UK’s jobs crisis shows no signs of letting up, yet complacent ministers are failing to act

At some point, everyone in business has to deal with an upset customer. Whether you’re a large company or small business, you’re likely to have to deal with a client complaint. Dealing with customer complaints effectively can improve customer retention and help your company gain a reputation for providing good service. Although lots of customers don’t even bother to complain. They simply leave and buy from your competitors. Research suggests up to 80% of customers who leave were in fact “satisfied” with the original company. Obviously “customer satisfaction” is not enough. You need to positively delight customers if you want to earn their loyalty. Executives, managers, and employees involved in customer service should handle customer complaints with the following keys in mind.

Listen carefully to what the customer has to say, and let them finish and don’t get defensive. Try and be open-minded and understanding about the situation. Write down anything you feel is important and ask questions. Once you receive a complaint, don’t leave it. Reply to the letter, email, phone call, blog post or tweet as soon as possible, no matter how outrageous you might think it is.

Next apologize without pointing the blame. When a customer senses that you are sincerely sorry, it usually diffuses the situation. Don’t blame another person or department. Just say, “I’m sorry about that.” Regardless of your opinion, offering some form of apology can help. While in some cases it may not be legally advisable to apologise, you can still say ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’, ‘I’m sorry that wasn’t our intention’, or ‘I am sorry for your inconvenience’. This shows your sympathy and may help to calm the situation. Once you have explained what you are going to do to resolve the customer’s problem, do it. Follow it through and ensure that what you promised is delivered. Hopefully, by this point, you will have a happy customer who will return to your company, not to mention a happy agent whose days are a little less stressful!

You might consider the risks that your business faces to be small or even affordable, but if this is the case then there is a very good chance that you are underestimating it. Good luck and positive thinking will probably not protect your business from losses. Unfortunately, bad things happen to the most conscientious business owners. That is why you need insurance.

If you can reasonably imagine it happening to you, it might. In a business-to-business setting, an insurance policy acts almost like a credential. By having a high level of cover you are demonstrating that you are a respectable business which takes health and safety very seriously, and that you fully understand your own responsibilities. Without ample business insurance, you could leave yourself vulnerable to costly compensation claims, expensive legal costs or financial difficulties from damaged assets and disruption to your daily work activities.

With so many different types of business insurance available it’s hard to know which ones do you need to have, which should you have, and which don’t you need at all? Insurance you must legally have include liability insurance, motor insurance and public liability. Running a business and making it a success is hard work. Don’t throw it all away by not having adequate insurance. So, if you want protection for your assets, your employees, your customers and your commercial property then you must seek out several types of insurance.

One of best ways for you to prepare to make an informed decision about choosing an insurance company is to know exactly what your business does (and doesn’t do) as well as its future direction; then find out a bit about the types of coverage you think might be helpful in your line of work before going and talking to any insurance company.

With the economy the way it currently is and a record numbers of young people out of work, it is not surprising that some are taking matters into their own hands and starting their own businesses. So instead of waiting for someone else to hire you, why not set up a company and employ yourself? So if you’ve ever had an idea for a product or service that you think could net you a fortune, you may well have considered setting up an business with the aim of sitting back and watching the money roll in. Here are a few tips on how to go about just that!
1 – HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN! This may seem obvious, but the starting point for any new venture is to create a business plan.You need to know your target market, know your competition, attract funding, secure good resources, build consumer loyalty – especially blogger coverage – and forge alliances with strategic partners. Preparation and research is the key!
2 – SEEK OUT FINANCE – Once you have a good business plan and enough evidence to believe that your idea is viable, it is time to go and see the bank manager. Unless you have sufficient funds or family or friends who are willing and able to financially support your business, you will most likely need to obtain a business loan from a bank.
3 – GO AHREAD REGARDLESS OF THE ECOMONY – It is tricky to start a business at any time – not just during a recession – so you need to have a business idea that is so niche, so focussed, and so special that you can shrug off the gloom and just get on with it. The upside of starting a business during a downturn is that things can only get better as the economic climate improves, and you will have learnt an awful lot in the difficult times that you can use in the easier ones.
4 – MARKET YOUR COMPANY – There are too many people that fall into the trap of developing their product or service and then expect orders to come racing in. With no ‘shop window’ through which to promote yourself, how are potential customers going to find you? You need to get advertising! The best way to do this is via the internet.
5 – CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION – To ensure you attract customers, you must offer something different to your competitors. Visit similar businesses in your town, gather as much knowledge as you can about them and try to price competitively.