Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are usually excited about the prospect of starting a new business. They enjoy the thrill of developing a product, pitching ideas to financers, and seeing an idea become reality. But what many business owners are not prepared for is the role of becoming “boss” when they find they must hire staff to keep their business growing.

Wearing the boss hat is not easy, and many small business owners have a tough time adjusting to the role. Rather than focusing on selling their product or service, much time is spent searching for and interviewing potential staffers, dealing with current employee work issues, and sifting through all the tough human resources issues, such as personality conflicts and even layoffs.

So what is an entrepreneur to do when employees are involved with the business? Here are some tips to help you with the role of “boss.”

Put the Right People in the Right Job

You’ll get the best results from your staff if you hire the right staff. Hire the most qualified candidate, but also the one who fits with your company’s style. If you are not absolutely sure about hiring someone out of a batch of candidates, don’t feel you have to choose. Take the time to obtain another round of resumes in order to fill your staff positions with 100% confidence.

Include Your Team

One important strategy to help your staff feel connected to the company is to include them as much as possible. Tell them your strategies for business success. Share the positive (or negative) financial results of last quarter. It also means including everyone in a celebratory party for a big company success. Employees who feel connected are more productive.

Coach and Lead

Many entrepreneurs don’t realize that when they become bosses, they aren’t just leaders, but they are coaches as well. That means encouraging your employees, teaching them about their job, and providing the tools they need to advance their own career, as well as your business.

Hire an HR Manager

Sometimes the duties of managing employees simply become too great for a single business owner to handle. If that happens, it is time to hire a person who can be in charge of most employee matters. That frees up considerable time for you as the business owner. Don’t hesitate to delegate the roll of boss to an HR manager if you feel overwhelmed. In addition, you enjoy the perk of a human resources manager who is versed with employment law and ensuring that you are hiring, managing, and even firing the right way.

When was the last time you took a client out to lunch? Do you entertain weekly or rarely? You could be missing a valuable tax deduction if you don’t entertain, but you could also be attracting the eye of the IRS if you deduct the wrong expenses. That is why you should take special care about the amount and which receipts you use for your small business entertainment deduction.

Meals

The IRS allows meals to be expended if they serve a business purpose. For instance, if you take a client out to lunch and discuss points of a contract, the meal counts as an entertainment expense. But what if you and the client discussed the contract in your office then went out to lunch? That’s acceptable as well. You can still qualify the meal as an entertainment discussion since there was direct business occurring directly before or afterward.

Other Entertainment

Can you take a client out on the golf course? Of course. Although the cost of the greens fees is allowed as an entertainment expense, the full price of your country club dues is not. The same holds true with sporting events. Your season subscription is off limits, but you can take a client out to a game, as long as business is discussed during, before, or after the event.

How Much Can You Deduct?

Keep in mind that your entertainment expenses are only 50% deductible. For your $500 meal, only $250 will be eligible as a small business tax deduction, and the same goes with other entertainment receipts.

Many small business owners ask about including other staff employees, spouses, and even spouses of the client. Employees are absolutely eligible to be included with the entertainment deduction, as long as they are associated with the business at hand with the client. Your friends or spouses are not eligible to be included with the total receipts. Spouses of the client are treated the same.

But what if you sponsor a large banquet where you, your staff, staff spouses, and clients and their spouses engage in a big meal? This might be an acceptable situation, but you should always check with a tax professional for full rules on this type of situation.

Entertainment is expected in business transactions. Be sure you get the full tax deduction coming to you, but avoid the temptation to deduct more than you are eligible.

Your website is your online presence. It should be designed to attract and welcome new visitors, and provide easy online purchasing options. But should your site also contain customer feedback tools?

New Study: Surveys Increase Sales

The numbers from RatePoint, a leading provider of customer feedback for online businesses, show that you should. Customer reviews, opinions, feedback, and suggestions can greatly improve your online sales. Why? The survey conducted by RatePoint show that online customers are more likely to buy products online when they read previous customer feedback.

43 percent of businesses surveyed noted that they experienced more sales as a result of posting feedback and product reviews. 28 percent showed more online traffic to their website. In other research published by Deloitte and Touche, 82 percent of customers who shop online say their purchasing decisions are influenced by customer reviews.

Even Negative Feedback can be Beneficial

In addition, feedback doesn’t necessarily need to be positive. Many small business owners with an online store fear that negative feedback may result in turning customers away or discouraging sales. However, the data from the survey showed that any review is six times more likely to affect the business in a positive way. The fact is that customers put more trust in a business that allows and displays customer opinions.

One thing that many small businesses owners don’t realize is the power and potential for improvement. Customer feedback lets a business owner know what is right and what is wrong with a product. Using this valuable information a small business owner can continually develop products to meet customer needs.

Ideas for Obtaining Feedback

And what better way to serve your customer needs than to ask them directly? There are many ways you can obtain customer feedback. One is including a product review section on each product web page for customers to share their thoughts. You could also ask for customer feedback with every completed purchase. And don’t forget to ask customers for testimonials, and create a webpage strictly to include great testimonial statements.

Your website should be treated like any other marketing tool. With continual review of results and improvement, you can use customer surveys and opinions to help your business make more online sales.