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Category Archives: Small business

Customer Relationship Management In A Small Business

What is Customer Relationship Management, sometimes called CRM? To trendy business gurus, it is a data management system that consolidates all the data about your customers and allows all levels of your business to access that data so as to provide the best customer service and contact. But that's like saying the right way to service your car is with a box of tools! Customer Relationship Management is all about the managing of good relations with customers and prospective customers. The key to winning and keeping customers has always been about relationships. People like to do business with people they like. The question is how do you do this? (more…)...
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Keep Emotions Out of Negotiations

Negotiating is part of being a small business owner. You negotiate contracts with suppliers. You negotiate employment contracts with your employees. You negotiate sales agreements, you negotiate pay-rises, you negotiate your rent! More often than not it is a stressful process (if not for you, then certainly for the other party) because the "normal" mindset is that one party loses to some extent, and the other party wins. So, you get ready to do your best when you enter that room, in order to "win". Once you allow that mindset to establish itself, negotiations become an emotional exercise - we get stressed, as I've already said; we get angry, we get fearful, we feel like celebrating, we feel wronged, we feel tough, we feel weak. But it doesn't have to be like that. (more…)...
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Meet Disruptive Change Head On

Business today is in a disruptive phase and small business owners cannot avoid the disruption. Changes to business models and industries have been caused by technology (the move from the use of desktop PC's to mobile technology), the sharing economy (Uber and Air BNB), the platform model (Trip Advisor, Hotels.com), international trends like the Coronavirus pandemic and the rise and fall of new and old industrial giants. In a small business, for example, if you ignore mobile technology and focus your website to the PC, customers used to scrolling through sales sites on their phones will turn away from old-fashioned websites that don't respond to their phone screens. Even in a small business, if you are in a disrupted industry, you will have to act to meet disruptive change head-on, or risk becoming a minor competitor to leading businesses in your industry. (more…)...
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Managing Cashflow & Working Capital During Covid

Australia seems to have coped with the economic effects of Covid better than some other countries, but small businesses will still have a long haul to get back to where they were. This is especially true of some industries like the hospitality and tourism industries which suffer from a lack of demand, and the agricultural industries suffering from lack of supply (labour). Other industries may have fared better and are probably starting to look at new strategies and even opportunistically looking at merging or acquisition of another business. Whatever their situation there will soon be a need for more capital in Australian small businesses, and the need to manage cash flow and working capital. In this blog post, I will look at short-term cash and liquidity initiatives as well as cash flow forecasting. But before we start, I'd like to invite you to take a look at our revamped website at otsmanagement.com.au where we have clarified our focus on our two areas of service. Please take a look and explore our special focus areas of Small Business Advisory services and Managing Indigenous Organisations. We specialise in only these two client sectors and we invite you to take a look at what we...
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