Why a Paving Company Needed Help with Organizational Change

When people talk about organizational change, they’re referring to major shifts in how a company operates, its methods, structures, technologies, or strategies.  Significant changes like these aren’t just one-and-done; they have lasting ramifications and impact the employees in different ways.  Because of that, it’s important to consider how potential changes may impact your organization.

Change Impacts a Local Paving Company’s Journey

Many of you may have heard of Albany-based local paving contractor Tom Anderson, manager of Perfect Pave.  In 2017, Tom’s team went through a large organizational change when they shifted from solely residential work to taking on commercial paving projects as well.  Although the change may seem minor, it had a big impact on the budget, profitability of the business, and the employees.

Residential paving equipment ranges from a few hundred dollars to a couple thousand, which the company can make back in a few days.  But, when a paving contractor decides to take on commercial work, it comes with a laundry list of fees and expenses that NYS requires.   After paying a few hundred bucks for proper licensing in New York, Perfect Pave had to purchase commercial steam rollers, which weigh in excess of 40,000 pounds and cost more than $150,000 each.

From the employees’ perspective, the company’s financial health comes into question when large expenses arise.  Employees begin to wonder how the company can possibly afford to pay for it and still pay all of its employees.  It does help that transactions are made in cash, which saves money on credit card fees and taxes.  In Perfect Pave’s case, the paving contractors started to question the security of their roles and look elsewhere for employment as a back-up plan in case something were to happen.  When Tom discovered this, he called our team.

The first thing we identified was the need for better communication and an organizational change plan.  Because we were already behind schedule, we started by calling all the employees together to explain the shift in business.  Tom stood in front of everyone and explained the addition of commercial projects, the reason behind it, and also touched on the financial health of the company. Then, Tom opened the to a barrage of questions during a lengthy Q&A session.  From that point, we recommended that Tom provide his employees with a weekly status update of how the transition was going.

Overall, Perfect Pave’s change was a success.  However, the lesson to be learned here is that organizational change needs to be planned.  Identify possible changes that affect the company and its employees and plan a strategy for how to manage that change as it progresses, including a communication plan to keep employees in the loop.

 

Business Responsibilities to Consider Before Starting

Owning a business is not like taking a stroll in the park. The business owner encounters problems, makes decisions, keeps the operations smooth and well-organized, and a whole lot more in a day-to-day basis. Identifying the basic business activities such as the ones mentioned above that occurs almost daily to any kind of business will equip you, the business owner, with the knowledge on which areas you can focus on as well as practice and improve upon for the better. Carrying out these basic business activities effectively will allow your business to grow and is critical to running your business operations efficiently.

Crafting a budget is crucial for the business as it determines how much is allocated for the operational costs, assets investments, and such other expenses. Putting a cap on the money that your business is willing to spend will make sure that there will always be enough to spare and that you are maximizing the resources for better profit. Usually, the budget for the current year can be patterned from the budget of the previous year. Or, the revenue of last year can dictate how much money can be reasonably spent for the current year. Implementing a budget for your business can help in controlling expenses and keeping the costs down.

It is not enough to just have a budget, you should also be able to manage and track your expenses as well as your income. By accounting your finances, you can manage and track the flow of money that goes in and out of your business. Through accounting, you should be able to manage your account payables, account receivables, payroll expenses, credit accounts, collections, taxes, and so on. You should also conduct auditing to monitor your finances – to make sure that a certain sum of money is going towards where it should go and that the accounting is accurate.

You will not have a business if you cannot supply what you are trying to sell. Managing your supply chain means monitoring and maintaining a good level for your inventory and ensuring that your inventory is stored and delivered properly.

Marketing your business is a continuous endeavor and not something to be forgotten about after securing several customers. The goal of marketing is to gain new customers and to retain the existing ones. The customers that you already have can be a fickle lot so it is important to keep them engaged with your business through marketing. On the other hand, it is just as important to keep attracting new customers for your business to grow. Keep being informed of the latest market trends and keep conducting market researches to stay in tuned and not let your business get left behind.

How well you handle the sales operations is the heart of your business. This determines if your customers will be willing to conduct more business with you in the near future. Sales must be smooth and customer-friendly to guarantee good impressions from your clients and to secure more future transactions. Sales and marketing oftentimes go hand in hand as these business activities support each other.

Your relationship with the customer does not end at the conclusion of a sales transaction, you should provide them with the assurance that your business is ready to resolve any customer issues that may crop up. Also, be proactive in asking for feedback from your customers. Not only will you gain information that will be useful for your business, you are also letting your customers know that their feedback matters and that your business listens to them.

In business, you are not just expected to maintain good relations with your customers, you must also take good care of your people. Human resources-related tasks include acquiring qualified talents to work for your business, manage their compensation and benefits, motivate them, and most importantly, train and develop them. Human resources should also be able to instill teamwork among the employees and keep the harmony in the workplace to increase productivity.

Conducting regular audits to your business ensures that the operations is running accordingly, that the financial accounting is accurate, and that the quality of the products and services continues to be top-notch. Auditing will help you monitor and assess how your business is doing.

Interview with the Owner of Dallas Hood Cleaning

Today’s post is a special one because we’re interviewing Mike Anderson, the owner of Dallas Hood Cleaning, a Texas-based commercial restaurant hood cleaning company, to get the inside scoop on how to attract more customers to a restaurant without overspending on your marketing budget.

Below is the detail from the interview:

So you have established a restaurant business? Wish to attract more customers to your restaurant? The restaurant industry is one of the most competitive industries out there in the current scenario. As such, businesses involved in the restaurant industry have to constantly come up with innovative ideas to remain ahead in the competition. The ways to attract more customers to your restaurant on the cheap always serves to be a never-ending question.

A recent study revealed that around 70 percent of new restaurant setups tend to go out of business within the first 3-5 years of being in the industry. However, if you wish to make it to the remaining 30 percent of the restaurant setups that remain profitable even in the given competitive era, here are some tips to attract more customers to your business setup:

  • Make Use of Innovative Social Media Tricks: To begin with, you must know how to make use of different social media platforms effectively. The various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others can ensure the overall success of your restaurant business when utilized in the right manner. Try to be innovative in delivering social media posts with a primary focus on driving maximum customer engagement.
  • Offer Free Wi-Fi: Most of the restaurant owners fear that giving away free Wi-Fi services will only encourage the patrons to remain in the restaurant for longer without availing services significantly. However, a recent study revealed that around 62 percent of the diners tend to spend a longer time period in the restaurants offering free Wi-Fi. However, the surprising statistics reveal that around half of them tend to spend more with the allowance of utilizing free Wi-Fi services.
  • Offer Great Happy Hours: It turns out to be one of the most lucrative ways of attracting customers on the cheap. Happy hours are known to draw the attention of most kinds of customers –both the new as well as the existing ones. Moreover, it also ensures the spreading a word about your business to more such groups.
  • Special Restaurant Days & Weeks: A major key to bringing more new customers to your restaurant is to launch the concept of attractive restaurant days & weeks. Spread the word across the social media platforms for ensuring more crowds and enhanced profits.

For more information visit www.DallasHoodCleaning.net.

Company Contact:

Jake Anderson
Dallas Hood Cleaning
3131 McKinney Ave
Ste 600, #701
Dallas, TX 75204
(214) 771-9151

Top Digital Marketing Tips for Your Business

Whether you are starting out or have the reputation of a seasoned player in the field of running an online business, you cannot do without effective digital marketing. Digital marketing or digital advertising is an integral part of the modern-day business enterprises. Whether you are running a B2B or a B2C business structure, implementing the right digital marketing strategies will ensure the overall success of your business in the long run.

From harnessing the best marketing channels to drawing the attention of the end users with your unique digital marketing skills, here are some of the pro tips that can help you excel in digital advertising:

  • Add Creative Elements: When it comes to online services, the target audience is always looking for something attractive & creative. As such, it is imperative for your digital marketing strategy to have a unique creative element to attract the attention of the target audience. Whether it is your brand logo, font, the overall color scheme, or content –when you include some distinctive creative element in your marketing strategy, it will help the audience recognize your brand apart from the others.

 

  • Spend Wisely: Though you might prefer carrying out the advertising tasks all on your own, especially if you are a startup enterprise, hiring some professional digital marketing experts comes with its own set of benefits. As such, when you are investing money in the digital marketing efforts of your online business, it is recommended to spend wisely. You should neither overspend nor under-spend on the digital marketing services. By determining which particular platform you will be using for the online marketing efforts will help in deciding the overall budget of your marketing campaign.

 

  • Do Proper Research: Before setting out on becoming a pro in the digital marketing scenario, it is important for you to conduct some research in advance. Though you might have amazing ideas to attract your target audience, however, the ideas might not always prove the best for your business. You might end up anticipating your customers in a different manner while they might prefer it in a completely different direction. Therefore, do proper research before laying out specific digital marketing efforts.

 

  • Know the Target Audience Well: As a business owner, it is critical to fully know your target audience with respect to the specific tastes & preferences. When you wish to market your products or services to them, you must be aware of the particular tastes & preferences of the target audience. This turns out to be a vital step while devising your digital marketing efforts.

 

  • Social Media Integration: No digital marketing campaign is complete without proper social media integration. Make use of the different social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so more to enhance your digital marketing efforts in the right direction. By doing so, you can gather plentiful attention from a large group of target audience on such platforms.

 

Enhance your digital marketing efforts to increase the overall ROI for your business!

Top Marketing Trends You Must Know About

The world of marketing keeps changing drastically every now & then. Particularly in the modern era of highly interactive & engaging social media, audience analytics, and automated advertising technology, it is high time that organizations of the world keep pace with the latest marketing trends happening around the globe this year. Brands across the world are required to stay on top of the major marketing trends in order to successfully reach out to the target audiences, especially when the modern consumers nowadays have become more skeptical and savvier with respect to modern-age marketing strategies.

Here are some of the top marketing trends in the current business scenario that you must know about:

  • Infusion of Virtual Reality: In the recent times, virtual reality is becoming a great commonplace to serve as a leading marketing tool for both small-scale as well as large-scale businesses out there. The major challenge lies in utilizing VR in a manner that aims at making sense of the overall brand advertising and promotion amongst the target audience. Virtual Reality (VR) marketing efforts are still emerging. Therefore, it can be considered a great time to explore the rising VR marketing options for the success of your business.

 

  • Interactive Content: Several brands, particularly those in the B2B marketplace, are relying on PDF or blog content for generating potential leads as a major part of the effective content marketing strategy. With the recent marketing trends, you can expect the delivery of highly interactive content experiences to the end users towards taking leads into engaging visitors. The interactive content experiences are aimed at creating highly compelling leadership content through the use of visual & animated techniques.

 

  • Use of AI: Those who have adopted Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their marketing efforts quite early have already found it useful towards increasing the overall user engagement. However, AI integration with the messenger or chatbox of the given site might require enhanced creativity & proper understanding of the target market of the brand. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its applications have still to address the specific needs & expectations of the end users just like a human agent.

 

  • User-Generated Content: Towards the upcoming years, the consumers will be on the verge of craving for more authenticity from the brands out there. A recent study revealed that around 86 percent of the consumers claim that brand authenticity is vital while deciding which brands they should support and avail services from. Through the integration of trustworthy and user-generated content throughout the multi-channel marketing strategies, the brands will be able to win the hearts of the consumers.

 

  • Voice Search Technology: In the recent times, the use of voice search technology is becoming more adopted as it has been changing the way the consumers are able to interact with the world & businesses around them. As such, leading marketers should ensure that the major voice search technology providers like Google are filled with the correct facts towards providing the correct answers.

 

Look out for these top marketing trends now!

2018 Leadership trends that will shape your organization

There’s no such thing as a right way to be a leader. Everyone has a unique way to see the things and manage an executive role in its own style to motivate and guide people. An effective leader is the one that works best for both sides: for you and your team. The good leaders of today should know when they have to change their approach and adapt themselves to the evolving workforce and technologies.

Top leaders must be in a constant learning to inspire and motivate their teams. In this post, you’ll find some trends that will help you to achieve your company’s mission and be able to lead the masses efficiently. One of the most important things this year in the world of leadership have the motivation to get closer to your team and understand the diversity, culture, and than that make them who they are. How can you be an inspirational leader if you don’t know your audience? Here you have some trends that will help you:

  • Understanding business complexity: Besides from understanding your team, you have to be aware of the changes that are happening in the world that might affect your vision. Nowadays we have more sources of information than ever before and continues changes in the economic and political fields. These variations have made the world of business more complex and you have to be at the forefront of it.
  • Innovate: Implementing new and innovative technologies are vital in today’s leadership. Promote your unique ideas and solution to the complex problems that may affect your business. Sharing and discuss with your team different approaches and leave them space to participate is a great way to make them feel appreciated and it will help you to see new ways of proceed.
  • Encourage your team. Make them part of your vision. True leaders are recognizing that their team represents an opportunity to provide significant and unique insights into the business. You have to focus on individual growth and be aware of the power of inclusion. Get your hands dirty and get involved with every part of the project, be there for your team and make sure you’re motivating your staff to be better.
  • Global market. Move! Don’t stay at the same place all the time, great leaders will be embracing the global market in searching for better opportunities and the expansion of their business.
  • Digital transformation: If you’re not using digital tools, you’re in serious problems. Being on the digital train is vital for your vision inasmuch as they can help you to explore new technologies and they will help you to adapt easily to the constant change that are happening in the business world.

Being a great leader is not as hard as you may think. If you have the motivation and the vision there’s nothing could stop you. You’re the only one who can make your dreams into reality, make things with the best disposition, positivism, kindness and you’ll see the results soon.

 

Best tips for managing stress through organizational change

In every business, there will be a time for changing and evolving. Transformation is a certain part of life, and if we only talk about organizational, we can say it’s inescapable. Even though we understand this process and know is inevitable, it does not mean that going through it will be uncomplicated or stress-free. Each change needs structure, disposition, excitement, purpose, and hard work.

If you’re about to begin an organizational change and you don’t know how to deal with it appropriately, we’ll give you some great tips for success in this journey.

  1. Adapt yourself. Change can be uncomfortable sometimes, so you need to get used to the idea that will be a transformation. Why? Think about it, over and over again. The goal is the most important thing to have in mind. Change is always for better; it will help you to grow no matter what. Go to the root of what you’re trying to accomplish the change, and you’ll see the light.
  2. Communicate. When starting any kind of change, you should prepare the best strategic communication plan. No matter how big or small your change will be, requires attention and organization.
  3. Choose your team. Support is essential for every change. Surround yourself with people will help you throughout the process, that knows you well and knows your goal. They can make the change easier, and they should give you the motivation to be better and do the things efficiently.
  4. Anticipate obstacles. Before you even begin your organizational change, you should be aware of the potential pitfalls you could have in the process. Any development comes with some difficulties, and you may be prepared for those. Of course, it’s impossible to envision all things that could be erroneous, but for sure, you can invest in some depth thinking to avoid snags through the path.
  5. Develop a vision. Once you have an idea of the potential difficulties, you must develop your vision. Having precise details of the future will help you to achieve your goal smoothly. Define your strategy and work motivated on that.
  6. Keep a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude can be a significant determinant of your organizational change process. As long as you maintain your faith, motivation, and strength on the goal, the possibilities of succeeding will be higher. Change is stressful and confusing; if you plunge into those feelings, you’ll see everything go wrong.
  7. Your change can be changed. I know, it’s confusing, but it is a possibility! You must be easygoing and understand that anything can happen in the process. You have to adjust as needed as long as you’re working on your goal. In every step of the way, you’ll have to re-evaluate things, is an essential part of changing. Learn as you go.
  8. Celebrate. Once any part of the change has been done, celebrate! Keep always the benefits of every effort and highlight the positive. To conclude, remember that changing can be painful but is a vital part of being better and improve our lives.

The Biggest Hinders To Organizational Change

It’s a matter of common sense to change along with the times. Most organizations that fail to do this is setting itself up for failure. With certain organizations depending on change in order to survive, it’s crucial to properly identify which details may end up hindering your progress. So today, we’ll be tackling some of the biggest hinders to organizational change.

Unclear Goals

In order for change to occur, you need to understand what you’re changing from and what you’re changing into. Clarifying the reasons why change is needed is a great place to start the process from. Whenever change occurs, it can be a precarious and disconcerting time. It’s like waking up one day and being told that you need to throw pieces of your already built puzzle out the widow to make space for new ones.

In order to help all the pieces of the new puzzle to fit together, everyone needs to have a clear idea of what the overall portrait is supposed to be. To avoid losing members of your crew to uncertainty, plot out the end course and make sure everyone knows it. Keeping members in the dark is a sure way to hider the change you want to happen.

Ineffective Leadership

When change is hovering in the nearby horizon, having a trusted captain at the helm will help deliver the entire crew to their goal. When change is executed properly, the benefits can be pretty amazing.

However, when the person or persons in charge of said change bungles the job, it can mean death for an organization. As previously stated, change in an organization can be quite scary–particularly for the employees. A failure by those in managerial position to understand these fears and sensitivities is a pretty sure way of alienating the workforce and causing a divide between the different departments.

Properly providing everyone with information on what the organization as a whole stands to gain is a great way to sooth any preexisting fears or concerns.

Ineffective Communication

In any normal situation, communication is needed. In a precarious time such as a systematic and widespread organizational change, communication is crucial.

Everyone involved must be seen as a key partner to ensure a successful outcome. Clear and decisive messaging is paramount at each and every stage of the change at hand. When departments or people feel they aren’t being heard or considered in the process, it can cause some deep fissures in the system. This can mean some serious problems latter on in the implementation process.

Unnecessary Complexity Of Implementation

Change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes weeks or months of planning and gradual implementation in order to test out any issues in the process. The bigger your organization, the larger and intrinsic the process will be.

So it’s important to not overwhelm the system or the people with sudden or complicated changes in the process. For large organizations in particular, in order for change to be successful, there needs to be an unhindered perspective that ensures the correct change is applied properly and effectively.

Keeping things simple will be the best way to combat this. Small steps and gradual implementation of change is key to achieving long standing success.

The Factors That Will Dictate Organizational Change in 2017

Companies and organizations, if they wish to stay alive, cannot afford to remain stagnant in an ever changing world. Recent years have seen the rise and demise of several companies that were not able to change their business model to meet the needs of their markets. As a new year has come around, it’s a pretty sure bet that there will be new challenges that will need to be met.

Today, we discuss the factors that will most likely dictate what organizational changes need to occur.

Remote Workers

With the digital evolution of communication and accessibility, most employees prefer to work remotely. For businesses that don’t directly deal with any physical inventory, considering the possibility of remote work and remote workers is crucial.

Remote workers have a higher probability of striking a suitable work-life balance. This leads them to be happier and more productive than those who report to a brick and mortar location. Ultimately, happy workers are better for any business’ bottom line.

Changing Consumer Needs

The one thing that’s certain is that things always change. A clear example of this is the various malls that are closing down all over the US. Gone are the times when people went to malls to hang out or do their shopping. The dwindling economy marked a big change in consumer buying trends. Consumers were introduced to the concept of online shopping and online only deals.

Consumers are always known for wanting high quality products for the lowest price and online retailers met this need. As such, outlet stores in malls all over the US felt a sharp decline in their customers. Consumers have a cycle and only those who are able to anticipate and adapt to this survive.

Whatever business you have, you must always consider the current state of consumer behavior.

Data Trends

With most interactions occurring in the sphere of the online world, it has been increasingly easy for marketers and business to gather consumer data. Particularly with the blossoming concept of smart devices that aren’t limited to mobile devices, businesses would be smart to factor this in.

Smart devices will be able to map out patterns of consumer behavior and for that, maximize product recommendations. Understanding and wielding the data you gather will help any business further understand their market demographic. It is important to collate your data appropriately and ethically to fully anticipate where the trend seems to be heading.

Competition

Startups are slowly taking over the market. Any business will have competitors and it’s crucial to be ahead of the curve. So whenever new competition makes its entrance into a market, it is prudent to analyze how this will affect you.

Complacency can be the start of a pretty bad spiral.

Political Climate

With the political climate being as it is now, there’s little doubt that many businesses will be affected. Recently, we saw several large chains break ties with an already established brand. Clashing opinions often spell trouble for certain businesses.

It’s best to keep feelers out for shifting political climates. Be discerning on when it is appropriate to make a change.

Amazon.com

What started as an online bookstore using the founder’s garage in Bellevue, Washington as the starting warehouse boomed to be the largest internet-based retailer in the whole world. How did Amazon.com accomplish such an amazing feat? This company is arguably one of the best examples of the successes achieved because of organizational change. So today, we take a closer look at Amazon.com and how it became such a giant.

In 1994, Jeff Bezos decided to get in on the Internet business boom and build a business plan for what will be Amazon.com. The website itself went online in 1995. Bezos was not afraid that his business model would be copied by others–his logic was that corporate giants like McDonald’s had mimics yet stood at the top anyway. Bezos narrowed down the choices of what products his service would carry to compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, books, and videos. He chose books in the end as there was a large international market for literature and as the cost of acquisition would be lower than the other choices of his list,

This choice would prove to be the correct one as within two months of launch, Amazon was raking in around $20,000 a week. This was due to the fact that while physical stores and mail order catalogs could offer around 200,000 titles, an online store could offer more as its “warehouse” was digital. After five years, the internet company bubble had burst and several online companies folded. Amazon.com forged forward despite some setbacks like a lawsuit from Walmart. Walmart had claimed that Amazon had stolen trade secrets by hiring former Walmart executives. While the suit was settled out of court, Amazaon enacted changes in its internal restrictions. Amazon but in stricter measures and reassigned the former Walmart executives. The former Walmart employees named in the lawsuit were restricted in their duties which pertained to information systems.

Such a move made sure that no other such claims could be made again–which secured the company’s internal dealings and strengthened it as a whole. From there, Amazon made more changes. As soon as their online book market was steady, Amazon looked to adding more products to their service. In 2002, around eight years since it’s conception, Amazon.com now offered more than two dozen online “stores” which sold more than books. These websites carried cameras, cars, computers, tools, toys, and even travel packages.

Amazon partnered with Target and Circuit City and operated its own auction shop. Soon they also started selling clothing, movies, concert and event tickets. They continued to broke partnerships with existing brands in order to add more products to their site. The brands also gained mass exposure as Amazon.com was hosted in several countries and continents. It was safe to say that once you partner up with Amazon, you become an international brand.

On November of 2013, Amazon.com launched a partnership with the US Postal Service–enabling deliveries on Sundays. So instead of having one day where-in purchases weren’t delivered, Amazon made sure now that their customers would be able to shop and receive their orders 7 days a week. Just this year, Amazon announced convenience stores and plans to develop curbside pickup locations for food orders. A store in Seattle called “Amazon Go” was opened to Amazon employees. This store made use of sensors and automatically charges a shopper’s Amazon account as they walk out of the store. The primary objective being the elimination of checkout lines. They aim to open such stores for the general public early this year. Amazon Air’s beta-testing was also launched in 2016. This aimed to make use of drones to deliver orders directly to the homes of clients within minutes of purchase.

A great many lessons could be learned regarding the organizational changes that Amazon.com put into action. They started from a single product and diversified to meet a larger audience. Internal issues were dealt with swiftly. Amazon also continued to pioneer better partnerships and methods to better service their clients from daily deliveries, potential stores with no checkout lanes, and deliveries by drone.

While Amazon has had its share of roadblocks, Jeff Bezos learned from these and adjusted his business practices to keep their business model and services relevant.