Business.com |
- What LLCs Need to Know About Taxes
- House Passes Bill to Bar IRS From Making an In-House Tax Filing Method
- 4 Email Marketing Metrics to Track Your ROI
- Best Big Data Certifications
- How to Improve Your YouTube Visibility with Better SEO
- How to Create a Successful Internship Program
- How Professionals Can Navigate Sales Challenges in 2019
| What LLCs Need to Know About Taxes Posted: 10 Apr 2019 11:49 AM PDT  All businesses must pay taxes, with the amount determined by the level of your profits and the tax rate. If you have a limited liability company (LLC), you get the benefit of deciding to file your federal and state income taxes as a corporation or as an individual, so you can choose the status that provides the best result for you. For example, say you and your business partner drive together to a client meeting and on the way injure someone in a car crash. The injured party then sues your company. "While the LLC might have to pay damages in a lawsuit, if the LLC is operated legitimately, you and your business partner's personal assets can be protected," said Hal Shelton, SCORE mentor, angel investor and author of an Amazon best-selling book, The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan. Editor's note: Seeking a tax debt relief service? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you with free information.
1. Make your business genuine.Legitimacy, as stated above, means much more than having the LLC certificate from the state where you applied for it. You need to operate your business as a separate entity from your personal life, says Shelton. That means having a business bank account, a credit card only used for business expenses and even stationery with your company's name on the letterhead. Including these components in the structure help make your LLC successful. "Otherwise, lawyers (in case of a lawsuit) may say your LLC is a sham," said Shelton. "If they are successful with this claim, your personal assets could be at risk." Once you've created an authentic LLC, you need to know how it will be taxed. [In debt and in need of relief? Check out our best picks and reviews of tax debt relief companies.] 2. Understand how income tax is determined.First you apply to your state to become an LLC. Your state charges you a fee for this designation; anywhere from $100 to $250 (not a tax) per year. When you file your federal income tax, you will elect to be taxed either as a corporation or as an individual/sole proprietor. If you select "corporation," the LLC will prepare the tax return on IRS Schedule 1120-C or 1120-S. If you decide on "individual," it is called a tax pass-through, since you, not the LLC, will be paying the taxes. An example of the individual method would be a company that made $100,000 in profits last year and has three owners: Owner A and Owner B each received 30% of the profits, while Owner C is entitled to 40%. This allocation was previously agreed upon and is included in the LLC operating agreement. The LLC fills out IRS Form 1065 and sends it to the IRS – this is known as an information return, because the three owners will be paying the taxes. The LLC also prepares a Schedule K-1 for each of the owners showing their share: Owners A and B got $30,000, while Owner C received $40,000. "Then each of the owners must file a Form 1040 with an attached Schedule C, where they will show their share of the LLC profits," said Shelton. "The IRS will then match the Form 1065 from the LLC and the three owners' Schedule Cs to make sure all the taxes have been paid." That's the pass-through and where the actual taxes are paid. [Looking for tax software? Check out our reviews and best picks on our sister site, Business News Daily.] 3. Give every entity its share.All but seven states in the U.S. require residents to pay state income tax. Those 43 states have different tax rates. The amount you pay depends on your overall income and your state's tax rate. An LLC also pays the same taxes as any business would. If you have employees, you'll pay wage taxes (Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance). Selling a product or service that's subject to sales tax means you need to remit those taxes to your state and any other state you sell in, says Shelton. An LLC that owns real estate might incur property tax. The amount of these taxes is calculated according to a different formula for each one. "Because the process of how LLCs are taxed is not intuitive, I recommend you seek counsel by contacting a SCORE mentor," said Shelton. "You can meet face to face [or] via email, telephone or video conference." You can visit SCORE to find a mentor. Surround yourself with advisors and counselors, because the more knowledge you can tap into, the better you'll run your business. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| House Passes Bill to Bar IRS From Making an In-House Tax Filing Method Posted: 10 Apr 2019 10:57 AM PDT  For the first time in decades, the IRS itself is facing real reforms from Capitol Hill that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle believe will help most taxpayers. Proponents of the bill are excited that it passed in the House yesterday, but opponents derided the measure as a big favor for tax filing companies. H.R. 1957, dubbed the Taxpayer First Act, passed the House Ways and Means Committee on April 2 with bipartisan support. Both parties further backed the bill yesterday, voting 225-192 in its favor. Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said the bill has the tools to "protect low- and moderate-income taxpayers, create sensible enforcement reforms, and ensure the IRS provides taxpayers and small businesses the assistance they deserve." "The commonsense, much-needed reforms in this legislation will modernize the IRS and rightfully prioritize taxpayers," he continued. The Ways and Means Committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, said the need to make changes at the IRS was "years in the making" but became especially necessary after recent changes to the tax code. He called the Taxpayer First Act a "bold step to redesign the IRS." "We are refocusing the agency to live up to its mission of serving taxpayers, overhauling the IRS's tools of enforcement, and strengthening the IRS's ability to proactively combat identity theft and fraud," Brady said. "Good, bipartisan work like the reforms the House passed today should be where Congress' focus remains, not on a misguided rush to impeachment like many on the left continue to push." Even though both parties support the measure and it is expected to quickly make its way through the Senate, some of its proposals have opponents worried. Bill blocks a free solution from the IRSIn what may be the most controversial part of the bill, lawmakers inserted a provision in the Taxpayer First Act that prevents the IRS from ever creating its own free tax filing tool. As a result, millions of Americans will have to use third-party applications like TurboTax, Quicken and H&R Block to file their taxes when they may not have needed to. As it stands, the IRS has a memorandum of understanding agreement with the Free File Alliance that it will not create its own tax software as long as companies that offer their own tax preparation services provide a free option for people who make less than $66,000 annually. Roughly 70% of Americans fall within the threshold for filing their taxes for free. While roughly 97 million taxpayers can take advantage of the free services, just 3% have taken advantage of the offer. Opponents of an IRS-run alternative warned that such a free public option would be detrimental to private companies. Those in favor of an in-house IRS free tax preparation solution, however, said not taking such a measure means millions of Americans will be at risk of paying for services they may not need. Following the Taxpayer First Act's passage in the House, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the bill was exactly the thing he's opposed for years. What he's suggested in the past is that the U.S. join the three dozen countries around the world that have "return-free" systems. "Again and again in my service in the Senate, I have battled the tax-preparation software industry to simplify filing taxes for the typical American," Wyden said. "In fact, the industry spent millions to fight my proposals in two tax-reform bills to allow a 'simple return,' which would require the IRS to send any American a pre-filed tax return on request using the agency's tax information. I will continue to push for my proposal for the pre-filed 'simple' return and the principle that a taxpayer should not have to use a private company to pay their taxes online." Bill addresses IRS audits and disputesThough the prohibition of a free tax filing solution from the IRS may be the marquee provision in the Taxpayer First Act, there are other considerations in the bill that could fundamentally alter how the IRS functions. The bill includes measures that would change how disputes between the IRS and taxpayers will be handled. If it passes, an independent appeals process would be created "so that taxpayers would know they are being treated fairly," according to officials. In that same vein, taxpayers would be able to access the same information that the IRS has during an ongoing dispute. The bill also requires the IRS to submit a plan to Congress that restructures the agency, in a bid to "improve efficiency, enhance cybersecurity and better meet the needs of the taxpayers," said Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee. When the agency conducts an audit, taxpayers will receive notice before their friends, neighbors and clients are notified. The IRS will also be required to extend advanced notice before seizing assets. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 Email Marketing Metrics to Track Your ROI Posted: 10 Apr 2019 10:30 AM PDT  There are few things as necessary as your email marketing campaign. The success of your newsletter and other email-themed promotional material can have a significant impact on the financial status and health of your company. If you need to know what kind of impact your email marketing campaign has on your brand, consider the following stats from a case study by Delivra. They found that:
Now that we know why email marketing is important, it's time to figure out which Return On Investment (ROI) metrics you need to track to make the most of your lead list. Editor's note: Looking for email marketing software for your business? Fill out the questionnaire below to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.
Check your open rateYour open rate is one of the best ways to tell whether or not your marketing plan is working and resonating with customers. Figuring out your open rate and tracking it may seem like a pain, but it's the best way to see if you're reaching customers and whether they are interested in what you're offering. To check your open rate, figure out not how many emails you sent out, but how many "stick," In other words, don't include emails that get kicked back to you because the account is closed or perhaps just never existed. Once you figure out how many emails went through, look at how many people opened the delivered emails. Just divide the number of people who opened the emails against the total number of emails sent and you'll have your open rate. For example, if you sent out 1,000 (assuming none were kicked back) and 200 people opened your email, divide 200 by 1,000, and you have your open rate. [Interested in email marketing software for your business? Check out the reviews and best picks on Business.com.] A Constant Contact study shows that the average open rate for emails across all industries is 15.75%, with most of the email opening occurred on desktops. Monitor your click rateYour click rate goes hand in hand with your open rate. After your customer opens your email, the goal is to get them to follow through and land on your website. Those who follow through make up your click rate. Though the average open rate is nearly 16 percent, the average click rate is much smaller. The average email click rate is 7.77%. Because the gap between those who click through varies so far away from the number of actual emails sent, it's vital that you track your email marketing ROI. You can do this by looking at the number of people "clicking through" and buying a product versus the amount the company is spending on email marketing. In the case of almost all experienced marketers, having an email marketing plan results in a positive ROI. Pay attention to unsubscribersNo one has the perfect business model that retains every single customer that comes through. Unsubscribing happens, there's no doubt about it. You have to watch your unsubscribe rate and look for trends perhaps relating to new content you've published. The average unsubscribe rate is tiny – 0.23 of 1% to be exact. That number allows for some wiggle room, depending on your specific industry. But if you start to notice trends such as an ever-increasing unsubscribe rate, above average numbers, or fluctuations of unsubscriptions when you publish specific content, it's time to take notice. You can crush your ROI by way of having large flocks of your customer base leaving. It may take some time to sift through the data and figure out what is causing the variance, but once you resolve the issue, you'll be glad you did. Bounce rateTake a look at how bounce rates impact the success of your email marketing plan. In most cases, including when using Google Analytics, there are two types of bounce rates – hard and soft bounces. A hard bounce is a phrase used to describe an email that was kicked back to the business owner. The main reason this happens is that the email account is no longer active, or never existed. On the other hand, a soft bounce is an email that is kicked back, but only temporarily. The most common reasons for this happening is that the email account isn't accepting new emails right now or their inbox is otherwise full. The average rate for a soft bounce is around .6 of one percent, while hard bounces occur approximately 0.39% of the time. Much like the unsubscribe rate, it's okay to have a slight variance plus or minus the average. However, if you're noticing that you're getting tons of kickbacks regularly, this can be bad for your ROI. You can minimize the number of people who bounce from your website--improving the odds that they will stick around and sign up with a valid email address – by using retargeting pixels. It's possible you may know retargeting pixels as cookies. There's serious evidence that this retargeting customers who bounce can improve your ROI. For example, IncStores saw an increase of 750 subscribers per week with an overall increase of 300 percent, with the help of retargeting pixels. Check your bounce rates often and see how you can improve. Adding a two-step verification when signing up for your newsletter can usually resolve this problem. The recipient needs to confirm that their email address is correct and functioning.
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| Posted: 10 Apr 2019 08:25 AM PDT  Today's organizations are looking for better ways to pull the information they need from massive volumes of data available to them. Big data system administrators store, manage and transfer large sets of data, making them amenable to analysis. Data analytics is the practice of examining the raw data to identify patterns and draw conclusions. Business intelligence involves the collection and organization of information to report on business activities, often pulling data from those very sets. Along with the surge in big data interest comes a growing number of certifications to recognize the necessary skills in working with enormous data sets. The target audience is IT professionals with a background in analytics, data mining, business intelligence or data management, along with a knack for and interest in mathematics and statistics. Big data engineers are in reasonably high demand and usually command salaries of $101,000 or more, where data scientists average about $128,500 in salary. We took a detailed look at certifications from INFORMS, Microsoft, MongoDB, Oracle and SAS. Check out the results from our informal search of various job boards to see which certifications employers really want. However, these results are a snapshot from a specific day, time and geography, so they may not reflect actual job demands in your locality when you search for yourself. Job board search results (in alphabetical order, by certification)
*Certified Analytics Professional CAP: Certified Analytics ProfessionalINFORMS is a membership-based association aimed at practitioners, researchers and instructors in analytics, as well as operations research and management sciences. The association reports about 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, most of whom participate in various educational and networking opportunities via their INFORMS membership. The organization also sponsors the vendor-neutral Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) certification. CAP focuses on seven domains of the analytics process:
Candidates must meet rigorous education and experience requirements, obtain confirmation from a supervisor (current or former) of acceptable soft skills, agree to a code of ethics, and pass one computer-based exam. This credential must be renewed every three years by earning 30 professional development units (PDUs). INFORMS also requires a $100 annual maintenance fee beginning in the fourth year after certification. CAP facts and figures
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| Certification name | MCSE: Data Management and Analytics |
| Prerequisites and required courses | Prerequisites (1 required):
Training courses available and recommended for all certifications but not required. |
| Number of exams | One of the following:
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| Cost per exam | $165, administered by Pearson VUE. |
| URL | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/mcse-data-management-analytics.aspx |
| Self-mtudy Materials | Each exam page has links to instructor-led training, exam prep videos, self-paced training, practice tests and books. |
*Exam to be retired on June 30, 2019. Replacement test not yet released but should be available prior to that date.
MongoDB NoSQL certifications
MongoDB is both an open-source, NoSQL document-oriented database and the name of the company providing that technology. Because of its document-oriented NoSQL model, MongoDB is well suited for managing large amounts of loosely structured data, as is so often the case in big data projects.
MongoDB was deemed a leader in Forrester Wave: Big Data NoSQL, Q3 2016, and Gartner selected MongoDB as a challenger in its 2016 Magic Quadrant for Operational Database Management Systems. The database ranks fifth in overall database engine popularity as of March 2019.
The MongoDB NoSQL certification program recognizes developers and operations professionals who can create and run applications on MongoDB. The program offers two associate-level credentials: MongoDB Certified DBA and MongoDB Certified Developer. The company plans to eventually roll out higher-level certifications. The current exams are based on MongoDB V4.0.
MongoDB offers private, instructor-led classroom training as well as free online video training through MongoDB University. Each online course typically runs for 3-7 weeks and features video lectures, quizzes, weekly assignments, and a final exam or project. Students may use the forums to interact and address each other's questions; instructors and teaching assistants monitor forums and jump in when needed.
For database professionals interested in venturing into big data projects and NoSQL databases, the MongoDB certification is certainly a worthwhile goal.
MongoDB NoSQL certification facts and figures
| Certification name | MongoDB Certified DBA, Associate Level |
| Prerequisites and required courses | None; training recommended but not required |
| Number of exams | 1 exam per credential (multiple-choice questions, 90 minutes; delivered online through MongoDB's proctoring partner) |
| Cost per exam | $150 (or local currency equivalent) |
| URL | |
| Self-study materials | MongoDB University offers public and private training, as well as free online courses. Each exam webpage includes a study guide and links to documentation, presentations and exam study sessions (if available). |
Oracle Business Intelligence certification
Oracle has one of the largest certification programs in the world, and it has granted more than 1 million Oracle and Sun certifications.
Oracle offers its Business Intelligence (BI) certifications across several applications and platforms, such as Business Intelligence Applications 7 for CRM, Business Intelligence Applications 7 for ERP, and Business Intelligence Foundation 11g. To narrow down the field, we focused on the Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11g Certified Implementation Specialist credential.
Candidates for this certification are intermediate-level professionals (architects, analysts, developers and administrators) who work with Oracle Business Intelligence Suite solutions, performing tasks such as installing, building, querying, configuring, and managing the platform and BI dashboards.
Although anyone can attempt the exam, the certification is designed for members of the Oracle Partner Network who sell and deploy the technology.
New exams and training courses based on Oracle BI 12c are also becoming available as those courses and exams are released to the public.
Oracle Business Intelligence certification facts and figures
| Certification name | Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11g Certified Implementation Specialist |
| Prerequisites and required courses | None.
|
| Number of exams | 1 exam: 1Z0-591 Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite 11g Essentials (75 multiple-choice questions, 120 minutes, 63% passing score) |
| Cost per exam | $245, administered by Pearson VUE. Exam vouchers may be purchased from Oracle University or Pearson VUE; Oracle Testing ID required to register; Oracle Partner Network members also need their OPN Company ID. |
| URL | |
| Self-study materials | Training is available, including classroom, live virtual class, training on demand, self-study, learning streams and practice exams. Additional exam preparation materials are listed on the exam webpage. |
SAS Certified Data Scientist
SAS is a multibillion-dollar global corporation that specializes in business analytics software and services. The company's well-honed certification program offers nine credentials across programming, information and data management, advanced analytics, and business intelligence.
Three noteworthy SAS certifications are the SAS Certified Data Scientist, SAS Certified Statistical Business Analyst Using SAS 9: Regression and Modeling, Business Intelligence Content Developer for SAS 9, and SAS Certified Big Data Professional Using SAS 9. We concentrated on the SAS Certified Data Scientist Using SAS 9.
Candidates for the Data Scientist certification should have in-depth knowledge of and skills in manipulating big data using SAS and open-source tools, using complex machine learning models, making business recommendations, and deploying models. Candidates must pass five exams to earn the SAS Certified Data Scientist credential.
SAS doesn't require candidates to take certification courses as a prerequisite for exams, but the company offers an official curriculum for those who have the budget and need the extra preparation.
SAS "versioned" credentials, such as the SAS Certified Data Scientist Using SAS 9, do not expire. However, SAS may retire exams as new or enhanced software is released.
SAS Certified Data Scientist facts and figures
| Certification name | SAS Certified Data Scientist Using SAS 9 |
| Prerequisites and required courses | SAS Certified Big Data Professional Using SAS 9 |
| Number of exams |
Exams include multiple-choice, short-answer and interactive questions (interactives are in simulated SAS environment). Exams available through Pearson VUE. |
| Cost per exam | $180; Predictive Modeling exam is $250 |
| URL | https://www.sas.com/en_us/certification/credentials/advanced-analytics/data-scientist.html |
| Self-study materials | List of exam preparation training and materials available on individual exam pages. Free sample questions available. Practice exams ($500) available through SAS and Pearson VUE. |
Beyond the top 5: More big data certifications
It was a real challenge to whittle down this year's list of popular big data certifications. The Cloudera Certified Professional Data Engineer (CCP Data Engineer) missed a spot in the top five by a small margin. The company also offers CCA Spark and Hadoop Developer and CCA Data Analyst certifications. Given the company's leadership status in software and services based on Hadoop, the CCP Data Engineer certification is worth your consideration.
Other notable certifications include the IBM Certified Data Architect, the EMC: Data Science (EMCDS), and those from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Hortonworks, MapR and Teradata.
Check out Stanford's Data Mining and Applications graduate certificate. Although it's not a vendor-neutral or vendor-specific certification (it's a college certificate), TechExams forum members like it in terms of popularity and job prospects. The certificate requires completion of three courses (nine college units) at a cost of $11,340 to $12,600. The Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) currently offers four tracks for online education with course completion certificates, including two relevant tracks: one on data science, the other on big data. These are worth checking out as well, and significantly cheaper than the Stanford certificate program.
There are many more. A quick Google search every month or two should reveal a growing list of big data, data analytics and BI certifications, and we think one or more of these is a smart way to spend your certification dollars.
How to Improve Your YouTube Visibility with Better SEO
Posted: 10 Apr 2019 08:00 AM PDT
When you think of SEO, what comes to your mind? Many people think about the Google Search bar and building keywords on their e-commerce store or blog. Times have changed, and now more people are watching video content than ever before.
YouTube, the second largest search engine behind Google, is an excellent way to generate traffic and conversions – providing you are working hard to build your channel's SEO. According to The Wall Street Journal, people watch more than 1 billion hours of YouTube video content every day. As such, it can be challenging to make it to the top results and recommended videos on YouTube.
We want to help you improve your visibility on YouTube through video SEO marketing. Here are some tips to encourage growth on your channel.
Include a transcript
In most cases, YouTube will use artificial intelligence to generate closed captions for your videos. Captions are excellent for helping your subscribers and viewers read along and understand what's going on in your video.
However, there is an issue with YouTube's predictive captions. Just because the words register across the screen, that doesn't mean that your channel will increase in ranking based on what you say during the video. The good news is you can include your own captions and a transcript. If you generate your own transcript, YouTube's algorithm can easily pick up keywords and phrases in your copy, which improves visibility.
Create catchy titles
Much like website content, your YouTube videos need to have catchy titles mixed with your website's keywords. If your title is catchy and informative, you're more likely to get viewers to watch your videos and subscribe, which increases visibility.
The best way to create titles is by doing some keyword research and looking for words or phrases that have a low-medium competition and a medium-high search volume. After you've picked your SEO keywords, it's time to create your titles.
According to Google, the four most popular categories used in YouTube titles include: How to, comedy, music, entertainment/pop culture. If you can create a great title and blend one of these categories into your video, you may see an increase in visibility based on the popularity of your video and your keywords.
Tag semantic keywords
One of the best ways to increase your visibility using SEO is by taking advantage of the tag feature when you're uploading your video. YouTube allows uploaders to go in and pick semantic keywords to accompany their upload.
Semantic keywords are words or phrases that are related to your company's direct keywords. You should try to add around 10 of these tags to each video. If you add too many, your video may actually decrease in visibility because YouTube's algorithm could assume that you're trying to game their system.
Think carefully about the keywords that you want to add to your video as tags, and plug them in prior to uploading your content. The more varied and accurate your keywords, the better chance you have of ranking high for those words or phrases.
Increase engagement
YouTube holds audience engagement on a pedestal. Four times as many people would prefer to watch a video than to read about it. This is because videos are easier to understand, and the fact that it's easy for them to engage and ask questions. The more people who like your videos, share your content, comment on your uploads, and subscribe to your channel, the better your videos and channel will rank.
There are plenty of great ways to increase engagement on your videos in your SEO efforts. It all starts with quality content. You have to make sure you're passionate and uploading content that you believe in. Some people will let their videos 'rest' for a couple of days before they upload them so they can make sure that they are delivering excellent content that doesn't require additional editing.
Beyond uploading excellent content, you should also try to encourage your audience to subscribe and comment on your uploads. Your content should engage with the audience by asking their opinion on the subject. You can try posing a question, making a statement, and generally asking for people to sound off with their opinion.
If you're getting hundreds or thousands of subscribers a month and people are commenting and liking your videos consistently, YouTube recognizes this as a quality video and is more likely to show it when people are searching for something to watch.
Conclusion
There's no doubt that video content marketing is on the rise. Now that everyone has a smart device in their pocket, your videos can receive views day and night from all over the world. If you use these tips you'll be able to get an SEO edge and increase your visibility on YouTube's search bar and featured videos.
How to Create a Successful Internship Program
Posted: 10 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT
Internships aren't just about grunt work anymore. With the right program, you can develop young talent and lay a foundation for recruiting brilliant young minds to work for your company. Smaller companies especially have an opportunity to edge out larger competitors by providing interns with opportunities to develop and staying in touch after graduation.
"We've hired former interns to become full-time employees multiple times," said Liz Wessel, co-founder and CEO of WayUp. "I like to think of it as a two- to three-month interview."
WayUp matches employers and job candidates seeking full-time roles and internships, which has allowed Wessel to get a glimpse into the internship programs of several companies. WayUp hired (and will be paying) interns for this coming summer as part of a development program that includes guest speakers and lunch with Wessel.
Small businesses have a big opportunity when it comes to interns. By developing and working with interns, you can foster growth in an inexperienced individual who could one day become a major player for your company.
The first step is establishing the right kind of program and paying your interns to ensure you're attracting talent that can contribute to your organization. Here's how to do it.
1. Establish an intern program coordinator
Having a person in charge of your interns is crucial to building a program that pushes candidates and ensures they're getting the most out of their experience. The best part is, for small businesses, this position doesn't need to be a separate full-time position. Wessel said that WayUp's internship program is run by two coordinators who work in full-time roles for the company. She said these individuals contribute about five hours a week to the program, and the responsibilities don't impede their full-time obligations.
Internship coordinators can build a program that ensures your interns are having a collective learning experience. Steven Benson, founder and CEO of Badger Maps, is an example of someone who puts in extra effort to develop interns.
"During the internship, I teach classes on various business topics, give career advice, do trainings to make them successful at their job role and help them develop valuable skills," Benson wrote in an email. "Interns at Badger are executing on major projects from beginning to end, and thereby get meaningful work experience."
2. Give each intern a mentor or "buddy"
Providing a mentor means giving interns an avenue for personalized feedback on matters that extend beyond their work. You want to provide a dynamic feedback experience for the intern, so assigning them mentors from upper-level management may not be the best idea, since they'll likely already be receiving feedback from their direct supervisor.
Instead, provide your interns with junior-level employees to create a relaxed relationship that promotes professional growth and development. After all, if this is an intern's first corporate experience, they may have questions that they don't feel comfortable asking their manager.
3. Set goals and workloads
Setting goals for your interns and revisiting their progress throughout their tenure is another important step in development. Wessel said that often, interns will work on two to three major projects, depending on the length of their internship. The key is tracking their progress and making sure there's a defined beginning, middle, and end to their work.
"It's really nice for an intern to feel like they've come in, they've started something, and they've completed that, as opposed to them feeling like they've … been working on something and they never get to see it through to the end," Wessel said.
4. Make intern development a daily commitment
As your interns get into the swing of things, make sure you have some structure set up so they are constantly receiving feedback and are on track with your goals. This is an important step in providing a personalized experience, but it's also crucial for you as a business owner – with the right feedback, you'll get the right kind of work from your intern.
Josh Skalniak, a public relations manager with Fingerpaint Marketing, said that each week, managers meet to review what each intern is working on and develop detailed to-do lists for the coming week. These meetings are for the managers only and provide a basic framework so that interns don't get lost in an abstract corporate environment.
"We all get to learn who is assigning [interns] work and how much. While we could simply ask the intern how their workload is going, we often find that interns are eager to please and don't speak up when they are overworked," said Skalniak. "The meeting gives us a broad picture of their workload and keeps us from overloading them."
Wessel said that managers should also have weekly one-on-one meetings with interns to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
How you structure your internship program depends on your business's needs. However, one key insight is to ensure you're constantly communicating with the interns. Otherwise, they may drift from their responsibilities and lose sight of their role within the company.
"[If they] have never worked in a corporate environment before … they might not realize they should speak up about the fact that they are lost," she said. "They might not even realize that they're lost – it's part of being so junior."
5. Stay in touch
Once your internship comes to a close, try and maintain at least a tenuous connection with your former interns. There's no telling what opportunities they could move on to and what doors they could open for you in the future. Staying in touch with interns acts as proactive networking – by keeping in contact, you provide the opportunity to reconnect in the future.
Of course, another great reason to keep in contact with good interns is if you want to offer them a full-time role once they graduate. A good internship program acts as a training ground for young talent. You can filter out interns who aren't a good fit for your company and discover new talent that could one day serve your company on a full-time basis.
What not to do
Running a great internship program is as much about avoiding bad practices as it is about implementing great ones. Besides obvious bad practices, like giving your interns menial tasks that don't offer any chance for development, there are some other practices that Wessel and Skalniak outlined.
- Avoid alcohol: Your intern may be under 21. Don't put them in a position where they could feel pressured to drink. It could also be an uncomfortable situation for an underage intern who may think they could get fired for drinking with co-workers.
- Don't overlook an intern: Interns need guidance. You can't expect them to speak up like a full-time employee would when there's a problem or they're confused about what they need to do. Providing too much flexibility can result in interns who aren't working toward the goals you've set for them.
Structuring your internship program
These tips and best practices are a starting point. How you set up your internship program will be specific to your business and reflective of your organization's values. It's important to foster strong communication between your intern and multiple sources, like mentors, managers, and other interns and create a collective experience where an intern can feel like their work contributed to your overall organization. By developing bright young minds and fostering talent in your interns, your company can retain great people and be the starting point of illustrious, successful careers.
We've created "a program and environment that enables [interns] to be successful and thrive at Badger as well as in their future jobs," Benson said. "This is obviously a big investment on our part, but that is how many of our former interns got jobs at Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Square, Salesforce and a bunch of other cool companies."
The other important aspect that should never be overlooked is that you should pay your interns. Paying your interns will allow you to access talented candidates that may otherwise have never applied. Plus, it may be illegal not to pay them minimum wage. Federal labor laws, as well as some state's laws, may require it.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) offers a six-part test to see if your intern can go unpaid.
- The internship is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment.
- The full experience is purely for the benefit of the intern.
- The intern doesn't replace regular employees but still works closely with existing staff.
- The employer receives no immediate advantage from the work the intern does; in fact, operations may be impeded.
- There is no job guaranteed at the end of the internship.
- Both the intern and employer know there are no expectations for wages
Paying interns "makes them feel appreciated, it makes them work harder," Wessel said. "It will allow for greater diversity when it comes to you hiring, because if you're not paying your interns, it probably means you're only going to attract people whose parents … can [financially] support their kids. If they're doing real work for you, you should pay them."
How Professionals Can Navigate Sales Challenges in 2019
Posted: 10 Apr 2019 05:00 AM PDT
According to independent research conducted by Richardson Sales Training the most pressing challenge facing sales professionals in 2019 is navigating the increased complexity in selling today. The research reveals it is no longer enough to rely on one skill. Success now requires managing multiple touchpoints even within one selling opportunity.
Sales professionals need to consider how they will maintain a consistent cadence across multiple channels, overcome the buyers' misperception of what they need, and find ways to add relevant value for various stakeholders.
Here we explore insights that will help sales professionals overcome these challenges.
Maintaining consistent contact across multiple channels
Sales professionals can maintain consistency across channels by simplifying their messages. Rather than relying on detailed product explanations, sales professionals should use concise, clear language to make the most of their limited time with the customer.
This tight messaging should be used to underscore how others in the same or similar industries have adopted the solution with successful results. This approach relies on what psychologists call "normative messaging." This technique aligns the customer to the solution's value by proving its efficacy with other customers.
Prospecting succeeds or fails in the span of only a few minutes. Making each minute count means developing a carefully crafted, concise message that underscores how others have succeeded with the solution.
Overcoming the buyers' misperceptions
Overcoming the buyers' misperceptions means asserting a point of view to guide or reframe thinking.
Sales professionals must first create a safety zone by normalizing the situation and reassuring the customer that misperceptions are common. Next, the sales professional should clarify their intent to share their perspective. Then, sales professionals need a structured statement that identifies the issue, action, and value underpinning the perspective. Finally, it's critical to ask reflection questions to see how the customer is receiving the point of view.
Once feedback is offered, sales professionals can align on action by agreeing on a specific path forward.
This approach requires transparency on the part of the sales professional. In many cases, the sales professional's willingness to share information is more influential than the content of the information.
Building a case for change
Sales professionals need to address the elements of change within the customer's business.
These elements include the customer's strategy, the core issue, desired outcomes, solution options, and perceptions of value and risk. It's the sales professionals job to bring these elements into clear view and share insights and value to shape each element in their favor.
To reach a buying decision, the case for change must be strong enough to prevail against all the forces driving against change.
Finding ways to add value for various stakeholders
Developing relevant value for stakeholders begins with an understanding of what the customer is trying to accomplish.
Customer goals all fit into one of three categories: to make money, save money, or reduce risk. Once a sales professional knows which of these three is driving the customer's decisions, they can begin to develop value by considering the customer's objectives, issues, initiatives, values, and culture.
For example, business issues fall into one of six major categories: resources, market, competitive, regulatory, financial, and operational. Real value creation arises from the overlap between the customer's strategic initiatives and the solution.
Balancing sales and relationship management
The sale extends beyond closing. The sales professional must ensure that the customer is satisfied with implementation and ongoing support. Without ensuring that these steps unfold properly, the sales professional has little hope of expanding the selling relationship later.
This characteristic of selling is truly a balancing act because the sales professional must be willing to let others in their organization complete these follow-up steps while also remaining close enough to the action to ensure that all touchpoints are successful.
Sales professionals who learn how to build agility and overcome common challenges in a competitive and increasingly undifferentiated market will succeed in 2019.
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