Reduced Overhead

Entrepreneurs dream of the sign they’ll hang at the physical office from which they plan to run their business. An office building is an essential overhead expense that a business owner cannot prevent. Some businesses don’t require physical office space; these businesses can be operated from a home office to save money.

Those savings can jeopardize your business. Working remotely from your home saves money, but a virtual office is the most cost-effective and gives added benefits. With a virtual office, you can rent office space as needed. Perhaps you operate a seasonal business. A virtual office removes weeks and months of office renting from your overhead.

The Professional Image

Businesses that get a virtual office will have a professional address for their business. If you use your home address as your business address, customers may not see your business as authoritative in the market. The benefits of a virtual office address also include mail support, access to office supplies and equipment, and receptionist support.

A business must be registered with a physical address. Virtual office addresses are physical addresses tied to a traditional office building. There are no PO boxes to manage. Your image as a new small business is essential. Use a virtual office address to get present the professional image your business deserves.

Start Up in Multiple Markets

The tremendous flexibility of having a virtual office address is the ability to test multiple markets. Startups must conduct a lot of market research. Lack of presence in a market makes it hard to test products and services.

Although you may be working from home with your small business, you can also have virtual offices set up in multiple locations. Use this to segment your market and improve productivity.

Build a Team

A successful launch requires a strong team. Virtual offices not only allow you to expand your consumer market but also allows you to attract talent from any location. Hire workers in the city of your virtual office. They can have the option to work from home or to go into the office building and use an office desk.

Your virtual office contract will determine how to use the spaces in the physical building. Conference rooms can be available for team gatherings or meetings with important customers. Even if your team is all online, a virtual office in the state of your employees helps with taxes and other regulatory benefits.

Start a Virtual Office in Surrey

Not only does a remote office offers a professional image for your business, but there are many benefits to consider. Co-working spaces provide access to the internet, private offices, and office equipment. office buildings have cutting-edge technology. Virtual office agreements include access to these same benefits.

• No Lease Commitments
• Access to Technology and Business Services
• Physical Address
• Mail Forwarding and Package Service
• A receptionist to Greet Clients

Don’t wait until you are in business and making a profit to get office space for your startup. A virtual office gives you a professional address, a physical office building, and added professional services to support your startup.

We offer flexible terms without long-term commitments. Call or visit us today to learn about our business solutions. A virtual office address in Surrey is within reach.

The post Why Should Startups Have Virtual Office Space? appeared first on Jay Tripp Consulting.

Did you know that an entrepreneur is a problem solver who takes risks? Yes. The whole concept of enterprise is about finding solutions to a pain in the marketplace. My job as a boss and entrepreneur is to address problems and find working solutions to those problems. Here are significant problem-solving steps that will help you identify and solve problems.

The Steps to Solving Problems Are Simple:

• Identify Issues
• Determine Cause and Effects
• Discover Possible Solutions
• Evaluate Solutions
• Execute a Solution
• Track Progress
• Monitor Outcomes

 Identify Issues:

The first step in the problem-solving process is to determine the problem. You can only solve a problem once you determine what it is. These are the steps you follow when identifying issues.

• Access the situation
• Be clear about the problem(s) you observe
• Consider who the problem affects

Use a tracking mechanism to identify and track how the problem will be resolved. Consider project management tools that are beneficial for this.

Who Does the Problem affect?

Every problem affects someone. If it didn’t, then it wouldn’t be a problem. Your first step is to identify the problem, and now you must determine who the problem affects and why it’s a problem. Be diligent with finding who a problem affects. Make a notation of the concerns in a list. This will help you identify solutions to the problem. Those solutions will lead to how to solve problems.

Brainstorm Solutions

Now that you have a list of problems and the effects they cause respond to each item with a solution. This is just brainstorming, so don’t spend a lot of effort trying to validate the solutions just yet. Whether good or bad, listing solutions is a way to ensure that you are considering a possible outcome that is available.

Evaluate the Solutions

This is where you take the solutions you have brainstormed and evaluate them to rule out which solutions will not work or be sufficient to resolve the problem. You should end up with a narrow list of solutions or a solution that would be the best to resolve the problem. Remember, the best solution will fix the problem(s) and prevent the problem(s) from reoccurring. If they can’t be prevented from reoccurring, then your solution should address how to respond to the problem quickly in the future effectively.

Choose your Best Solution and Apply It

You can now execute a plan to resolve the issue you identified in the beginning. From your narrow list of solutions, this is where you must be strategic. Consider which solution will be the best choice. You can plan out the solution and ensure it is appropriately executed to resolve the problem.

Accountability

Your solution may require that you follow up later on a task, or it may require you to delegate a task to someone else. Always schedule a follow-up to ensure that the solutions you have tasked or scheduled out or being completed or on schedule to be completed. It will benefit you none to find solutions to a problem but not ensure the solutions are being carried out.

Review the Results

After a solution has been implemented and tested, you must review the outcome. Evaluate whether your problem(s) have been resolved. Are there any new problems that have been created? Does your solution prevent the problem from reoccurring? If it doesn’t, has a plan been established to address the problem the next time it happens?

If you find yourself faced with an issue, it seems you don’t know what to do. Don’t freeze. Take action. I have found the best way to manage the problem is to step back and make observations. It’s tempting to panic; when we panic, we create problems in our minds that do not exist. Stepping back and using these problem-solving tips will aid you in being realistic about your problem and finding a working solution.

The post 7 Tips for Effective Problem Solving appeared first on Jay Tripp Consulting.

Some business owners only need a business plan to keep their operations on track, and others will need a business plan so they can raise capital. You can also use a business plan to understand how you stand against competitors.

Write Your Business Plan

Consider who your audience will be for your business plan. Your audience determines the research and the information that should go into your business plan. A business plan outline highlights your business model.

Simple Business Plan

A simple business plan is also called a lean business plan. Its purpose is to provide a high-level overview of your business objectives and timelines. The lean business plan should cover these areas.

• State the Market Problem
• Provide the Market Solution
• How Key Metrics Are Measured
• What Makes Your Solution Unique
• What Are the Disadvantages of Your Solution
• How will the solution be distributed?
• What is the Customer Target Market
• What is the Cost of Operation
• Identify the Revenue Potential

The simple business plan is usually a couple of pages that demonstrate the purpose of the business and the market problem that your company plans to solve.

Traditional Business Plan

A traditional business plan has a deeper reach. Not only does it cover items in a simple business plan, but it also presents information that attracts investors. Traditional business plans require a lot more research.

These types of business plans are required by banks when you are seeking financing. A traditional business plan discusses the business from a startup to its plan for the future.

Executive Summary

The executive summary names the executive leaders and their qualifications. The executive summary is the first section of a traditional business plan. It should be engaging, and it should also cover what the company’s solution is for the problem they’ve identified.

This section should is written last but listed first. Traditional business plans attract investors as its objective.

Company Description

This section gives an introduction to the company. It mentions the company’s mission and vision statements. It also identifies the business formation type and the age of the business. 

Products and Services

Identify the products and services being offered by the business. What are the prices for them and how will they be distributed?

Market Analysis

Study the market and present your competitive advantage. Your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are in the market analysis section. Also include research about your competitors.

Management Team

Highlight the management team and the roles they play. Introduce them by name and list their qualifications.

Financial Plan

Financial projections using financial statements are presented to investors and banks to help them gauge the financial risk of investing capital into your business. The financial plan should highlight the startup capital you’ve already invested and how you plan to scale the company financially.

The financial statements in this section are the cash flow statement, break-even analysis, and income statement.

Operational Plan

The operational plan outlines how the company will work to produce products and services and get them to customers. The operational plan also addresses how employees perform their jobs. It highlights any risks that are involved with carrying out daily operations.

Get a Business Plan Done Professionally

A business plan gives your business a professional presentation for other key people to see. A business plan should use professional language, be thorough, and provide a precise analysis of why the business exists and the strategy the business has to grow.

Writing a business plan requires marketing knowledge and research. You can hire a professional business plan writer for your business plan. Get help with your research and let us put your business plan together.

The post Tips for Creating the Perfect Business Plan Template appeared first on Jay Tripp Consulting.

For some leaders, this does not come naturally. Consult with a coach to develop strategies that work to help you get the results you need from your team. 

Inspect What You Expect: Why Is It Necessary?

Consider what happens if you leave a cake baking in an oven. Though all the preparation steps were properly executed, the critical part of cooking is monitoring the progress of what’s being cooked. If monitoring and follow-ups don’t happen, you will ruin the cake.

Therefore, inspecting what you expect is necessary. It ensures your objectives execute effectively. Plans without proper execution create failed expectations. Your plans are the business goals that determine your business’s profitability. 

Your team is why it is important to inspect what you expect. Ideal leadership is about developing people to perform well and increase results. Goal setting is a crucial part of team development. In fact, those who follow the S.M.A.R.T. system for goal setting have embedded inspection into meeting their goals.

When you inspect what you expect, you create opportunities to provide feedback to your team – this is different from micromanaging. With micromanaging, you take your team’s ability to be autonomous in how they carry out a task. Inspect what you expect implements managing outcomes alongside the plans and processes already in place. 

How Do You Inspect Your Employees Work?

When supervising employees, a few things are crucial for long-term success. You need to set clear expectations, stay consistent, and be present to ensure that employees will not only understand what is expected of them but will respect you more for your commitment and communication to the team.

Set Clear Expectations

The expectations you set must be clear and specific. They should also be realistic and attainable. Ensure you provide the roadmap regarding how expectations are met. It’s difficult to inspect what is not clear. The specifics give you a baseline that guides your inspection.

Stay Consistent

Nothing will frustrate your team more than moving targets. Expectations should always remain consistent. Therefore, you must provide expectations that are tested and proven. Accountability is a large part of consistency with expectations. Your inspections should be consistent without any deviation from what’s expected of your team. 

Be Present

Inspecting expectations require your presence. The benefits of holding a team accountable for results weaken if you are never around to monitor how their output is going. Your presence around the job site, factory floor, or business also gives you the opportunity to provide valuable feedback.

You can coach your team along the way as you identify what they should improve to meet expectations – this allows you to monitor the effectiveness of your processes. 

Major Difficulties When There’s a Lack of Quality in a Workplace

Quality is the name of the game when you inspect what you expect. Companies use quality control to verify if their processes work and to verify that teams are carrying out these processes correctly. Poor quality affects multiple players in your operations, and they can cause these difficulties: 

• Retaining customers
• Promoting collaborative teams
• Equipping managers to execute objectives

Most people enjoy their jobs, but low morale happens when a team’s performance quality is low. Poor morale leads to poor customer service, which affects the bottom line.

Customers who are unsatisfied become customers who cancel services and move to competitors. Therefore, you should inspect what you expect to get temperature checks on how well your team is performing and how happy your customers are with how your team is performing. 

The “Six Sigma”

The concept of inspecting what you expect is what project management training encourages. Six Sigma is a specific set of tools that provide a roadmap for managing projects and tasks by checking efficiency and accuracy along the way. 

DMAIC

Do this with DMAIC, which is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control:

1. Define – Create, document, and communicate objectives.
2. Measure – Determine how goals will be measured and put measurement tools in place.
3. Analyze – Review the data results from measurement tools and develop a meaningful analysis of the data.
4. Improve and Control – Determine what of the analysis deviates from the objective – make improvements and implement new controls to ensure the outcomes align with the goals going forward. 

Great Leaders Walk the Floor

Your presence means a lot to your team. Even if you have highly competent contributors, without the presence of the leader, what you expect from them eventually corrodes. 

It’s about awareness. Walking the floor doesn’t make you a brooding micromanager, but it allows you to get a view of how your team is managing processes. It allows you to step in and help those who may have questions. It also reminds your team to stay on task so that they can meet expectations. 

As the leader, the buck stops with you. When things go wrong with a process or an important policy has been violated, eyes will be on you as the leader about what went wrong. You are the representative of your team and should accept responsibility when something occurs.

Involve the Team

Involve the team in all stages of goal setting – this helps to make them feel more comfortable with the team and like their voices are being heard and implemented:

1. Review the desired goals with team members in detail. Show them why the goal is important, and then give suggested steps that help them to meet the goal. Receive their feedback and make changes where necessary.
2. Get an agreement from the team about the expectations – this is an opportunity to address any issues that may arise during inspection later.
3. Equip the team to meet expectations by providing tools, equipment, and training. Also, setting performance standards that allow the team to know how their performance towards meeting the goal shows you how well they are meeting expectations.
4. Inspect results. Discuss the results and include action plans that address issues preventing the member from meeting expectations – this is where consistency plays a massive role.

Be Open to Feedback

The result of your inspection opens a dialogue between you and team members about the effectiveness of meeting the expectation. Team members may use this as an opportunity for the community if an expectation is too challenging or if they don’t have the tools they need to meet the expectation.

This feedback allows you to improve processes or determine if you must invest in equipment for your team to meet expectations. Your team is on the frontline concerning your process.

Their feedback is valuable. Be willing to consider that they provide valuable insight into where your process is weak. Many times, teams are not meeting expectations because of improvements in processes that are needed.

Data Utilization to Recognize and Reward Employee Performance

Key performance indicators (KPIs) help measure how well an employee performs their job. KPIs drive data you use to evaluate where an employee needs additional training, perhaps if they deserve a promotion, or it can identify where they may be overburdened compared to their other team members. As you review KPIs, develop an incentive program that highlights top performers.

This not only encourages team members who consistently meet expectations to continue doing so. It motivates those who are not to increase their output so that they can meet expectations as well. This benefits your inspection because it also will show you if expectations are achievable or not.

KPIs can measure many areas of performance, such as:

•  Customer Service
• Quotas
•  Quality
•  Productivity

These four examples directly impact customer acquisition and retention. It costs your business if these are not inspected regularly.

In addition, if they are not being inspected, you teach your team to believe that their individual contribution to a goal is only the individual and that their inability to meet expectations carries little weight.

KPIs can be collected using electronic devices or through online surveys. In some cases, you can measure KPIs using paper methods. KPIs are the leading set of data behind the discussions you have with a team about their expectations.

They set the standard, so if you have a team member who believes they are performing at expectation – KPIs reveal otherwise. KPI removes the grey areas. You and the team are equally aware of the expectation.

The Bottomline

The start to meeting a goal is to set it. You can’t begin to succeed as a business without clear, measurable goals that everyone on the team can work toward.

The success of meeting a goal is to make it measurable and measure it – this is what it is to inspect what you expect. It is a strategy that ensures good process management. Get help with your strategy with the help of a brief consultation.

The post Inspect What You Expect: Getting Results Where It Counts appeared first on Jay Tripp Consulting.

Many businesses rely on workflow tools to address any deficiencies in the accounts receivable process. Along with effective software for managing accounts receivable, companies must have a robust process for managing accounts receivable that comprehensively covers all aspects of the AR cycle.

Common Accounts Receivable Management Issues

The AR process is a component of the order-to-cash process (OTC). AR management includes many moving parts that all work together to achieve good cash flow. While this list is not all-encompassing, these critical issues affect how well a business manages its AR.

1. Inefficient Workflows

After a sale, an order team member finalizes and enters it into an accounting system. Then a biller creates an invoice. An invoice is necessary to ensure a customer will pay. Invoicing typically occurs after the delivery of an order, and any disruptions in the flow of this part of the OTC process affect the accuracy of the invoice.

Some customers require specific documentation alongside invoices, such as evidence of delivery or a purchase order number. Failure to provide such crucial information may lead to delayed orders and late payments. AR automation tools are especially useful in high-volume settings. AR software can automate the order-to-cash process to minimize errors and improve cash flow.

The general order-to-cash process includes these areas:

• Order Management
• Billing
• Cash Applications
• Collections
• Customer Service

Businesses should consider where to include customer success teams in their hierarchy. All employees in every department of an AR team should be prepared to facilitate customer service requests. In addition, AR managers must work with other departments to ensure there are no breaks in the OTC that could cause AR issues later in the cycle. All workflows should follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

2. Weak Credit and Collection Policies

Poor collections strategy can cause cash flow shortages by leaving unpaid invoices unattended. The longer an invoice remains unpaid, the greater the risk of it remaining unpaid. AR Managers monitor collections by establishing a collections process. This involves credit evaluation, aging management, and cash applications.

The accounts receivables process covers these areas while incorporating appropriate accounting controls to ensure effectiveness. Accounting controls are systemic checks and balances to ensure a company’s accounting processes prevent fraud. The process should specify who performs each action and how it is executed and audited to ensure accuracy. Collections processes should be reviewed periodically for improved efficiency and outcomes.

If a business manages collections without software tools, they risk overlooking key accounts, leaving invoices unpaid, and potentially missing opportunities to identify misapplied cash receipts. Implementing workflow automation streamlines the collections process and prioritizes accounts that require immediate attention. Accounts receivable software provides dashboards with a high-level overview of your AR.

AR processes must include tasks to perform credit analysis on new and existing customers to verify their ability to pay. Credit limits and holds should also be implemented on customer accounts to control bad debt. Customers who fail to pay on time may lose their buying privileges. These controls can be automated using AR software.

Manual collections management causes missed opportunities to inform customers of past-due billing. This approach typically involves collectors making active calls, which may be time-consuming and less efficient. However, by adopting a workflow solution, email notifications can be automated and sent to customers with past-due balances. This strengthens results from collections activity and allows collectors to focus on aged accounts. 

3. Disorganized Accounts Receivable Data

An accounting system can generate reporting known as the aging of accounts, which shows the outstanding balances owed by customers and their respective ages. Failure to monitor this data results in a rise in bad debt exposure. Manage accounts receivable data using basic computer tools such as spreadsheets or sophisticated AR software to identify potential collection risks. AR software allows AR managers to customize reports to show past due customers by business or product line, sales volume, or customer profile type, such as premier accounts.

The more organized accounting data is, the better it is to analyze. Accounts receivable data must also be accurate. Inaccurate data leads to customer service issues. For example, if your AR data has incorrect balances, your collections team could contact a customer and demand payment for an invoice that is not past due. Automation tools prevent these problems with automated reporting.

Managing bad debt, also known as “allowance for doubtful accounts” or “write-offs,” is one of the more important reasons to organize accounts receivable data. Many companies create bad-debt reserves, funded by taking cash from net income to offset potential financial risk. Companies must expense the invoice as a write-off when a customer fails to pay an invoice. Write-offs affect a company’s bottom line. Organizing accounts receivable data for proper analysis mitigates bad debt exposure. 

4. Poor Cash Applications

The cash applications stage of the accounts receivable cycle directly impacts cash flow. Improper management can hinder the effectiveness of the AR process and increase a business’ average days-to-pay record. Cash receipts decrease the accounts receivable balance and increase the cash account. AR managers can control outstanding AR by tightening cash application processes. 

Improve cash applications in these key ways:

• Bank Deposit Reconciliation – AR departments improve cash flow by quickly monitoring incoming receipts and recording them to the accounting ledger.
• Consistent Resolution of Unapplied Cash Reports – Unapplied cash reports show AR Managers the cash receipts recorded to the ledger but not applied to an invoice.
• Increasing ACH and Credit Card Payment Methods – This deters customers from sending paper checks through the mail, which can prolong cash receiving and increase invoice aging.
• Setting Up Banking Lockbox Services – Banking lockbox services allows your cash team to focus on pertinent issues affecting cash applications. Lockbox services include receiving, scanning, and auto-applying payments in some cases.

Large businesses become overwhelmed with high volumes of incoming cash receipts. These volumes increase the likelihood of cash receipts being misapplied to the wrong customer. Overcome this challenge with accounting automation which can automate many components of cash applications. 

5. Inadequate Staffing

The effectiveness of an accounts receivable management process relies on qualified personnel. Effective accounting specialists for billing and collection roles possess customer service, negotiation, resourcefulness, and account management skills.

On the other hand, basic accounting knowledge, attention to detail, and follow-through skills are essential for cash application roles. Moreover, AR managers require data analysis, auditing, analytical, and technical skills. Every part of the OTC should be adequately staffed. When there is insufficient staffing, the AR workload will bottleneck, leading to poor customer service and frustrated employees. 

Systemic automation relieves lean accounting departments by automating simple tasks such as mass emailing collection notices, billing recurring charges, and enforcing accounting controls to prevent an accounting worker from processing transactions against GAAP standards.

Wrap up

A successful AR team has members with specialized skills. While skills are crucial, automation tools for AR can help maximize their effectiveness. Accounts receivable software increases productivity, allowing the AR team to focus on reducing AR balances, preventing a backlog of customer orders, and ensuring timely payment of invoices.

The post Top 5 Accounts Receivable Management Issues You Need to Know appeared first on Jay Tripp Consulting.