Business.com

Business.com

Boosting Your Business: Market Your Company Website the Right Way

Posted: 24 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT

In a world that's always connected, there are many ways that businesses can promote their offerings and reach potential buyers on the internet. At the very least, it is expected that businesses large and small have a company website.

Having a company website is imperative for the overall success of your business. It helps your business increase its customer base through promoting your products or services, it puts you on equal footing with your competition, and it offers other benefits as well, including increased credibility.

Understanding your target audience and their needs should be the foundation of your website.

To build an invaluable online presence, your first step is to understand your key audiences and why they are compelled to visit your website. Once you identify these different audiences and their motivations, you can begin using various marketing tactics and tools to increase the visibility of your company to these consumers and enhance the overall performance of your website.

Let's dive deeper into a few key strategies: lead generation forms, site widgets, paid advertising platforms and other internet-based best practices.

To reach and convert leads into customers, implement these 4 strategies.

Use lead generation forms to understand customer needs.

Lead generation forms are a common way consumers can request information about a product or service online. These can be questionnaires or click-through forms where a consumer enters his or her personal data and/or contact info for follow-up purposes. 

Having a lead generation form on your website offers two distinct benefits for your business. One, it delivers qualified leads for your sales team. These are consumers with a genuine interest in your product or service. Two, lead generation forms provide valuable data in other forms. For instance, they could help you understand consumers better, such as how or where they are learning about your products or services, or it can help you identify areas of your website, e.g., site navigation, that could be improved.

Lead gen forms typically ask for more than a name and e-mail address – this information helps to personalize the follow-up and makes the prospective customer feel important – but it  is vital to understand what works and what doesn't with the information you request.

Asking for too much info may scare a potential customer away, but not asking enough information lessens the chance of a successful follow-up sale.  When designing your lead gen form, it's important to balance your objectives with the needs and wishes of your target customer – your form should allow you to capture enough info that you understand the customer's needs without potentially scaring customers away.

Ensure your website is compatible across all platforms.

Everyone has a different level of understanding when it comes to using the internet. That's why your website should be simple, straightforward and easy to navigate.

Navigating throughout the site should be smooth – information should be easy to find, and it should be helpful, not overwhelming.  You can ensure a pleasant user experience by testing out variants to understand what is most convenient and comfortable for your website's visitor.  Check the functionality of forms, links and any other relevant site content. How helpful is the information? Do your forms load quickly? How helpful are the links and related content? Do they help consumers make a buying decision about your products or services?

Keep in mind that people visit your website using different devices. Don't design your website for online shoppers on their desktops; many people will access your site from a smartphone or tablet. The user experience must be fluid for both desktops and mobile devices.

If someone reaches your website on a browser/device your site isn't optimized for, they will judge your business accordingly. They may think your business is outdated, and they may leave your site for a competitor's site that offers a better user experience.     

Offer live chat and/or community engagement opportunities.

Visitors to your site will likely have a few questions. Make it easy for your customers to find the answer to their questions or to post their question and get a quick answer.

A FAQs page is one effective option; however, there are many other ways to engage visitors and ensure that their questions are answered. Many people feel more comfortable reaching out somewhat anonymously to a company. Consider using a chatbot, for instance, to provide answers to common questions consumers have about your product or service. Create a community page where people can post their questions or experiences with your company, or another option is to add live chat to your website.

Having the opportunity to connect with your company and talk with someone (even other customers) demonstrates your commitment to customers and lessens the chance of miscommunication or misinformation on the site. There are other benefits, too, including that it can provide your business with valuable feedback, such as if consumers have a common misunderstanding about your product. Perhaps the best benefit though is that it demonstrates transparency with your customers.

Implement paid advertising to drive traffic to your website.

Once you have a beautiful, engaging website, make sure people see it! Paid advertising is an excellent way to direct more traffic to your website. This style of advertising comprises inserting ads (which link back to your website) into the content of another site, matching the content's look and feel. 

While your website may be set up very well, you will benefit significantly from the addition of network traffic. Network trafficking sites can help you generate the clicks and impressions that introduce a broader community to your website. Due to the number of platforms that provide network advertising opportunities, this is a marketing tool with limitless opportunity to grow your business.  

At business.com, we utilize all of these tactics to help our business and the businesses we work with. As a digital media company and B2B web destination, we know how important it is to digitize your business. It is essential to engage your audience and create a natural and secure manner of communication between you and your customers.

Following these tips will help boost your business and market your website the right way.

Is Shared Office Space Right for Your Small Business?

Posted: 24 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT

Co-working passes what we call the "great idea" test.  Although it's only been around for a few years, it's already become so integrated into our lifestyles that it's impossible to imagine life without it, much like social media or ridesharing. 

And though co-working spaces, with their casual dress codes, first-come, first-served seating arrangements, and Thursday happy hours, can seem slightly whimsical, co-working is very serious business. Industry leader WeWork has become the second-most valuable "unicorn" startup in the world, behind only Uber, and is currently valued at a staggering $47 billion. Not bad for a company that was founded less than a decade ago.

Here at Clever Real Estate, we spent our first year at local co-working space T-REX, and although we've since moved to our own office, we still miss the vibrancy and energy of sharing a workspace with so many other inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs. Of course, there are also things we don't miss, like toting our laptops home and back every day and having to book meeting spaces in advance. Like most things in life, coworking has its unique pros and cons.

What is Shared Office Space?

The vast majority of co-working spaces use the same general model. For a monthly fee, users get access to a large, shared office space. Basic users have access to desks, tables and offices on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning that if you roll in at 10 a.m., you're probably going to end up sitting at the desk by the bathroom. Users who upgrade their plan can rent a desk or even an office for their exclusive use, and there are usually a limited number of conference and meeting rooms, though these need to be booked in advance.

Most co-working spaces have shared common areas and kitchen. Many host weekly networking events, during which users of the space can socialize and learn about each other. That's more or less all there is to it. Why has it become so popular, so fast? The short answer is that the recent emergence of the gig economy, widespread entrepreneur/startup culture, and remote work apps like Slack have created a perfect storm of demand almost overnight. But that doesn't mean co-working makes sense for every business.

What are the pros of shared office space? 

Inspiration

Working in a traditional office means seeing the same people every day of every week for years at a time. Even if you love your co-workers, it's easy for a traditional office to fall into a creative rut. Not so at a shared office space. Anyone who's ever spent time around a startup entrepreneur knows how energizing it is to be close to intense ambition. Now imagine being surrounded by those people every day. Hustle and creativity are contagious, and shared office spaces can be incredibly effective incubators. In fact, companies like Uber, Spotify and Instagram all started out in co-working spaces.

Defined boundaries

When you're just starting out as a company, it's tempting to work out of your home. After all, it's free, there are snacks in the kitchen, and the commute is short. But anyone who's ever worked from home on a long term basis knows how difficult it can be. You're surrounded by distractions, and the sheer informality of it quickly dissolves any boundaries between your work and your home lives.

Working in a shared office space solves that problem. When you're at the office, you're able to focus and work at maximum productivity, and when you're at home, you can relax and recharge. One study showed that workers who use co-working spaces are 74% more productive, and far more creative and collaborative. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, employees who use co-working spaces report much higher levels of job satisfaction than workers in traditional offices.

Cost

When you talk about traditional offices, the elephant in the room is cost. Office space is expensive. Co-working spaces offer a cheaper alternative, and come with unprecedented flexibility, compared to the years-long leases at a traditional office building. 

After all, when you're assessing the cost of having a traditional office, rent is just the beginning. An office needs to be furnished, and there are ongoing costs like electricity, internet, heating/cooling, cleaning and maintenance. On top of that, in most major markets, commercial landlords will ask you to sign leases that run for several years. Businesses that are just starting out know they may not even exist in five years.

What are the cons of shared office space?

Logistics

When your business uses shared office space, that can mean your employees won't even sit together consistently. That can make it hard for them to stay in contact or collaborate. And if your team is struck with sudden inspiration, you may have to hold your brainstorming session at a noisy, crowded Starbucks if all the conference rooms are already booked. 

Many co-working spaces don't offer much storage either, which means you'll have to lug your laptops and anything else you need to and from the space every day. Meeting a friend for a drink after work is much more complicated when you're carrying the contents of an entire cubicle in your backpack. 

Commuting

The main reason that traditional office space is so expensive is the same reason that any real estate is expensive: location. Prime office space is centrally located, and easily accessible to employees. Not so with co-working spaces. With so many studies finding a correlation between worker satisfaction and short commute times, getting your employees to traipse out to the warehouse district every day is not only a very big ask, it could actually impact their overall productivity and quality of work life.

Is shared office space right for your small business?

Only you can answer that question. But there are a couple of general metrics you can use to illuminate an answer.

How many employees do you have? Depending on how much office space costs in your market, there's going to be an exact point where a traditional office becomes more cost-effective than co-working. In a market like Boston, with lots of shared office spaces and high commercial rents, that magic number is 20 employees, meaning that until you have 20 employees, it's going to be cheaper to co-work. On the other hand, in a market like Dallas, that number could be as low as three. 

How stable is your business? If the office spaces you're targeting are asking for five or 10-year leases, how confident are you that your business is going to last that long? Do a ruthlessly objective assessment of your business's long-term viability before you sign a long-term lease. If there's significant doubt, consider co-working until your outlook firms up.

How much will you actually use your office space? If your business employes programmers who are going to be grinding out 80-hour weeks, a great private space is probably worth it. But if you work in a field where you're going to be traveling for conferences, networking events and raising funds 40 weeks a year, it doesn't make sense to pay rent on a space that's going to be empty a majority of the year.

4 Strategies to Counteract Declining Growth

Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:00 AM PDT

The struggle is real for small businesses in declining industries. Over the past several years, there's been a negative shift in sales growth for many traditional trades: department stores, bookstores and newspaper publishers, to name a few.

It can be tempting to solely blame e-commerce competition for the decrease in popularity of traditional brick-and-mortar institutions. While that certainly is a factor, there are other issues affecting struggling industries and leading to their decline. Among some of the specific reasons for their regression are

  • Dependence on trends and consumer spending. For many businesses selling discretionary products, consumer spending drives sales. If their products are not seen as necessary, consumers may abstain or shop for less expensive alternatives during tough economic periods. Trends and fads also drive demand for discretionary items and can even give a business a reputation for being dated. This is a common challenge for department stores.
  • Inability to realize economies of scale. Flat pricing of goods makes maintaining margins difficult for retailers, as they lack the volume to realize economies of scale. For example, maximum prices for books are determined by publishers (in the traditional model), so bookstores must rely on increased volume or decreased discounts to sustain profitability. Fierce competition from Amazon, whose prices can be determined by individual sellers of books, has made growth increasingly unstable.
  • Rapid technological innovation. Demand for certain products can be driven by technological innovation. To survive in a highly competitive market, companies must constantly develop new products and features. For example, demand for print advertising decreased substantially with the advent of Facebook ads and Google Ads. Newspaper publishers lost a significant source of revenue and have struggled to make a dent in the online advertising space.
  • The rise of automation. The usability improvements and cost savings that companies can achieve by automating certain tasks have resulted in declining demand for many human-provided services. Companies and individuals that provide these services, such as travel agencies, language translators, accountants, secretaries, job recruiters, customer service reps, postal workers, and even farmers are suffering as demand shifts toward faster, more seamless service.

In these tough times, some brands have perished and others have risen to meet the challenge. The ones that survived paid thoughtful attention to the marketplace, maintained flexibility and implemented creative solutions to stay relevant in the face of changing demand. 

In times that call for increased flexibility, being small does have its advantages. Lower costs can allow small businesses to fill voids left by larger competitors who have cut back or left the market. Smaller companies tend to be more agile, able to adjust more quickly to market conditions and implement new ideas with less friction. Most importantly, you know your customers better than anyone. It is much more likely that the owner of a small business is personally and routinely in touch with his customers than the owner of a huge corporation would be. 

That being said, adjusting to changing times, both digitally and otherwise, requires creativity. Combine the opportunities listed below with the advantages of being small to increase your relevance and stand out in the marketplace in 2019. 

Offer an experience

While many huge bookstore chains have faced big declines, small independent bookstores are making a comeback, experiencing year over year growth since 2015. Why? Because they can provide an experience that Amazon cannot. The smell of a new (or old) book, a unique selection of titles that you can browse and discover on your own, a coffee shop with local blends you've never tried before. Small businesses, especially retail businesses, can often provide a personal kind of experience that you won't find online or in a chain. Capitalize on what makes you unique and make it a focal point to create a memorable experience for your customers.

Meet customers where they are

Even though Nordstrom is a large company, it started out as a small family-owned business, and it considers its customers part of that family. It was one of the first movers into the discount department store trade with its Rack unit, and the company developed its online business aggressively early on. Now, customers can purchase their merchandise while browsing Instagram or Pinterest. Barnes & Noble has been able to compete with Amazon by offering the same-day delivery that customers demand. What do your customers value in a shopping experience? Find out how to market your small business, and invest your resources accordingly.

Empower your employees

Small local newspapers have not seen the decline in readership that some national giants have. One reason for this could be that their employees often live in the communities they serve. Their staff often has access to unique details and information about local, county, and state matters that national papers wouldn't have. Small papers also often have limited staffing resources, so they hire more carefully to avoid the costly process of bringing on someone new. Hiring quality employees and empowering them to reach your customers without asking permission results in added value to the consumer in the form of enhanced service and personalized content.

Superior customer service

Have you ever called a company to ask for help, only to be stuck on the phone for hours with an automated system that can't understand you? Not fun. Good automation saves time and resources while easing the "consumer journey"; automation that frustrates the customer tends to be counter-productive. Delivering excellent customer service can really strengthen customer loyalty and increase your chances of receiving a referral. Prioritizing the customer experience is a great way to demonstrate your company's value to your customers, differentiate your business from the competition, and lure new customers away from firms offering a less pleasant, less personal experience.

Of course, all these strategies require the right marketing to really be an asset to your company, and many small businesses get pushed out of the market by larger companies with huge marketing budgets. But if you take small steps and focus your efforts in the right place, you can make a lot of headway with a relatively small investment.

As mentioned above, an advantage of being small is that you may have a more personal relationship with your customers. Talk to them about their consumer journey. Find out how they heard about your business and what they like about it. This can help you determine whether you should focus your marketing efforts on social media or on in-person networking and what sort of incentives (such as discounts or convenience) might be attractive to your target audience.

Smart strategies for differentiation can help a small business counteract declining growth. As competition intensifies, creating strong differentiators and advertising them effectively can help you stay in the fight. The strategies above can help you not only retain existing customers but attract new ones who value atmosphere, service, experience and personalization.

Every business is different, which means there's an opportunity to highlight your distinctive qualities and truly resonate with consumers on a personal level. Whether it's your location, your employees, your customers, or your customer service that make you stand out, it's advantageous to refine and emphasize your best qualities, personalize the experience for your customers and fight declining growth with authenticity.

4 Tips to Successfully Launching an Online Business

Posted: 24 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT

It's admirable to want to launch an online business, but without the proper preparation, it's already doomed to fail. Thanks to rapid advances in technology, nearly anyone with an internet connection can start an online business, but keeping it afloat and reaching success is another ordeal. It takes the right amount of skill, planning, resources and time to create a business that withstands hardship and achieves its objectives.

Nasdaq estimates that by the year 2040, 95% of purchases will be through e-commerce. People are leaning more towards online purchases as opposed to buying items in person because it offers a personalized and straightforward customer experience specifically tailored to users' needs. 

To launch an online business, it's crucial to:

  • Know your target audience

  • Take advantage of outsourcing routine tasks

  • Polish your customer service strategy

  • Hire team members with the appropriate skills

Here is more info on these four tips in an effort to help you launch an online business you're proud of.

1. Analyze your target market

The answer to most of your business issues lies somewhere in your audience. They are what keep your business afloat and who you need to cater to if you want to reach your goals. It's essential to know as much about your audience as possible because this will help you create a conversion strategy centered around how to serve them. That's how you move them down the sales funnel so they turn into paying customers.

The easiest way to analyze your audience is by creating buyer personas, or detailed customer profiles that list out important details about your target market. This includes age, income, education level, pain points, buying behaviors, and more. It gives you insight into your customers' motivations for purchasing so you can create content, products and services that are relevant to their needs.

There are several ways to go about getting information about your target market. If you have an existing email list, send subscribers a survey about their experience with your brand. Pose the question to your followers on social media and sett up polls. Study the audience of your competitors to gauge their customers' needs, interests and problems. 

2. Delegate certain tasks

You'll quickly realize just how much work goes into starting a new business and how little time there is in a day. There's so much to do and not enough hours to do it. Too often, business owners waste time throughout the workday performing routine tasks that a machine could perform.

One of the easiest ways to save time and effort is by outsourcing routine tasks. This could either be through marketing automation where software handles these tasks or outsourcing to an employee. When you outsource, you make room to excel in other areas of your business, cater to customers and refine your marketing strategy. 

A recent study found that 84% of consumers want businesses to treat them like individuals rather than sales numbers. However, this is difficult to achieve when you have too much on your plate. If you don't have the time or resources necessary to cater to your target market, your online business will fail quickly.

If you aren't sure if you should outsource, ask yourself these questions:

  • Do you spend too much time on this task?

  • Do you procrastinate when it's time to complete this task?

  • Is this something you dread doing?

  • Is there someone who could do this better?

If you answer yes to most of these questions, it's time to hand over the work to someone else.

3. Make customer service a priority

The most important part of your business is your customers. If they aren't interested in what you have to offer or aren't impressed with the customer experience (CX) you provide, you won't be able to reach your objectives, make sales, or move them through the sales funnel. That's why you need to make customer service a priority. 

A whopping 96% of customers say that customer service is a critical factor in determining how loyal they are to a brand. Do you remember a time you were excited to purchase a product only to change your mind because the service you received from the company was subpar? It's an all too common problem businesses face because they're more focused on creating sales than building authentic relationships. If you aren't prioritizing your audience, your business is sure to fail. 

Offer your audience the best customer service experience by being present and actively listening to their concerns and needs. Engage with them often. Send out customer surveys or questionnaires looking for feedback on how you can serve them better and offer them more value than you are now. Go the extra mile to make them happy so you stand out in their mind as the company that made a mistake but efficiently made up for it.

4. Hire efficiently

Eventually, as your business grows, you'll find yourself loaded with more work to do and less time to do it. Even after outsourcing, there are still tasks to complete and deadlines to meet, but you're already swamped with other matters. Hiring the right employees to get the job done makes all the difference in how your business performs and whether it's able to meet its goals.

You might feel rushed to hire people right away so you can build your personal brand quickly. However, scanning for the right people is essential. It's wiser to spend time, money, and resources hiring the right person who will deliver results long-term rather than to invest in someone without the skills needed for the job. 

Take time to thoroughly interview candidates, get to know their behaviors, and gauge their work ethic. Hard skills are vital, but soft skills are just as imperative, which include:

  • Communication

  • Motivation

  • Critical thinking

  • Decision making

  • Problem-solving

  • Leadership

  • Teamwork

It's more obvious for employers to search for candidates with hard skills because, for so long, experience and hard skill trumped everything else. Nowadays, recruiters are paying more attention to someone's ability to work with others, handle conflict, remain positive and show leadership. You can always learn new technical skills, but if you aren't good with people, that takes time to build.

Know what you want when going through the hiring process. Write down a list of qualities you prefer your team members to have, such as attitudes and mindsets. Can they think quick on their feet? Are they organized enough to meet deadlines? Do they have enough self-motivation to complete tasks without micromanagement? 

Launching an online business is no easy task. It requires tons of preparation, planning and quick decision-making. However, if you take the steps necessary to simplify the process, it could take a massive weight off your shoulders. Analyze your target market, outsource tasks, provide quality customer service and hire for success to get the best results. If you want to reach a high level of success, it's vital to plan ahead and know what your customers want. Taking the time to do things for your brand that will benefit your future is essential if you're going to achieve your business goals. 

How Would Medicare for All Impact Small Business Owners?

Posted: 24 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT

  • Medicare for All would transition the U.S. away from an employer-sponsored private health insurance model to a single-payer, government-run system.
  • Current funding proposals for a Medicare for All system include the establishment of a 7.5% payroll tax, a 4% tax on all American households and reimbursement reductions for healthcare providers.
  • Implementing Medicare for All would be a massive domestic policy shift that requires Congressional approval, and it is likely to take years to achieve.

The Democratic Party's primary season is already in full swing as the crowded field of candidates vie for the 2020 presidential nomination. A common theme in the discourse has been whether the U.S. should switch from an employer-sponsored health insurance system under the Patient Portability and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to a single-payer system frequently referred to as Medicare for All.

Presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have championed Medicare for All, while an alternative proposal sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal and the House Progressive Caucus has been introduced in the House of Representatives. While it is unclear whether any of these initiatives will be implemented, even if Sanders or Warren were to secure the presidency in 2020, the question of how a Medicare for All healthcare system would impact small business owners has been on the minds of many entrepreneurs.

Would Medicare for All reduce the expenses associated with providing health insurance for employees? Or would tax increases required to fund such a program put a strain on small business owners? Does ending employer-sponsored health insurance remove a bargaining chip for companies trying to attract top talent in a competitive labor market? Or would it free up dollars to entice candidates with more attractive compensation packages?

The answers to these questions, as it turns out, are not so straightforward.

What is Medicare for All?

Medicare for All refers to a healthcare system in which the federal government replaces private insurers as the source of all Americans' healthcare coverage. The primary goal behind Medicare for All plans is to ensure that every American has active health insurance coverage, compared with the roughly 30 million who are uninsured today. As the name suggests, Medicare for All would achieve this goal by effectively expanding the Medicare program, which currently covers Americans age 65 and older, to every American citizen regardless of age.

There are important distinctions between Medicare for All bills and the current system. Both Sanders' and Jayapal's proposals, for instance, would provide Medicare for All to cover any essential treatments with no premiums or deductibles. Medicare today does have premiums and deductibles for participants.

"Medicare for All is pretty much what it says it is," said Gary Branning, assistant professor of professional practice at the Rutgers Business School. "It's universal coverage driven through the Medicare process."

An expansion of Medicare to all Americans would be a massive undertaking that requires a multifaceted funding mechanism, Branning added. Currently, Medicare for All proposals include a 7.5% payroll tax on employers and a 4% tax on all American households. Additionally, Branning said, a reduction in reimbursements to healthcare providers would likely also be necessary.

In addition to Medicare for All, there are hybrid proposals that would create a more robust public plan alongside the existing private insurance industry. One of the most prominent hybrid proposals is Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Jan Schakowsky's Medicare for America bill, which would provide universal health insurance coverage through some tax increases while preserving significant elements of the employer-sponsored private insurance system.

Additionally, Medicare and Medicaid buy-in proposals would allow more beneficiaries to enter those existing systems in exchange for paying a premium alongside the subsidized beneficiaries currently participating in those programs.

How would Medicare for All change the employer-sponsored health insurance system?

Under the current arrangement, both individuals and their employers pay a portion of insurance premiums. Generally, employees can select from several plans, which are chosen by their employers and vary in structure as well as in specific elements such as copayments and deductibles. These include preferred provider organizations (PPOs), health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and health savings accounts (HSAs), each of which comes with its own set of rules. Depending on the insurance company, the number of in-network healthcare providers can vary greatly. Today, about half of all Americans get their health insurance through their workplace.

Under the ACA, companies with 50 or more full-time employees must provide healthcare coverage or pay a penalty. This requirement, known as the employer mandate, is an essential element of the Obama-era healthcare law. Large companies generally can choose from group health insurance plans. Alternatively, large employers can use reimbursement accounts, such as Expected Benefit Health Reimbursement Accounts (EBHRAs) and Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Accounts (ICHRA). Finally, large employers also commonly offer employees tax-advantaged HSAs.

"With more employees, more options are available," said Brian Cairns, founder of ProStrategix Consulting. "If you have less than 20 employees, your options are limited. You are likely better off with reimbursing employees, who carry their own coverage."

In that case, smaller employers can choose primarily from two major programs, Cairns said. These include Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Accounts (QSEHRA) or the ICHRAs mentioned above. If this is all becoming confusing, rest assured, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

On the provider side of the equation, things get even messier. Generally, each payer has its own set of agreements with each provider, meaning it is rare that two different payers ever pay the same amount for the same set of services to the same providers. In many cases, even healthcare providers are uncertain of how much they will be getting paid for services rendered, or even when that payment will come. In addition, providers often must manage denied claims that insurance companies reject for a litany of reasons, which has turned revenue cycle management into a multibillion-dollar industry.

A Medicare for All, single-payer system would dramatically alter this existing landscape. Instead of many private insurance companies acting as payers, as well as state governments and the federal government in the case of Medicaid and Medicare, there would be just one: the federal government. The goals are relatively simple: Extend health insurance coverage to every American, control the price of healthcare and pharmaceuticals through the leverage of a single large entity, and simplify the insurance landscape to create new efficiencies. However, there is some debate about whether Medicare for All would achieve these goals in practice.

Pros and cons of single-payer healthcare for small business owners

It is difficult to answer the question of how, exactly, Medicare for All would impact small businesses. The primary challenge, of course, lies in the fact that Medicare for All has not been implemented.

Making the task even more difficult is the multiple different proposals currently on the table, whether it is Sanders' or Jayapal's single-payer plans or one of the many hybrid proposals. For the sake of simplicity, let's examine some of the pros and cons claimed by advocates and critics alike around a single-payer system, such as the one described by Sanders, who first elevated the idea to a national discussion during the 2016 election.

Pro

  • A single-payer system eliminates health insurance expenses: Perhaps the most obvious benefit of a single-payer system would be that businesses no longer have to pay for employee health insurance. Theoretically, Medicare for All could free up cash that businesses are currently spending on health insurance packages and allow them to direct it toward other uses. Whether that means better employee compensation or increased investment in operations, more liquid capital is a good thing. Of course, that's only true if increased business taxes don't completely eat up the difference. "Small business owners face a complex and tangled web of options, which is ripe for exploitation by unscrupulous actors," Cairns said. "Medicare for All would greatly simplify things. No more alphabet soup. One plan; no administrative costs. Now comes the kicker: Who pays for it?"

Con

  • A single-payer system likely requires business tax increases: A single-payer system would inevitably require tax increases. Sanders and others have proposed a number of ways to raise the needed revenue, many of which include increased business taxes either in the form of a payroll tax or capital gains tax. Depending on how funding for a Medicare for All system is raised, the increased taxes could fall on small businesses as well. "Though we would save on premiums, several politicians have also said that they would help to pay for this single-payer system with significant employer taxes," said Danielle Kunkle Roberts, founding partner and senior executive at Boomer Benefits. "I worry that those taxes would be higher than what we spend on healthcare coverage for employees."

Pro

  • Medicare for All simplifies benefits documentation: Under the current system, healthcare benefits are one of the most complicated aspects of an employee's compensation package. Documentation, training and education all take substantial time and dollars. A single-payer system would take this burden off employers and remove a complex part of administering employee benefits. "Smaller employers are more cost-conscious," said Branning. "When you think about the healthcare expense, it's quite a burden on a smaller employer. And part of it is not being able to compete in the global marketplace; a small employer competing on a global scale is disadvantaged from the start [compared to a company from a country with single-payer healthcare.]"

Cons

  • A single-payer system eliminates health benefits as a recruitment tool: Today, many companies are using their healthcare benefits to differentiate themselves from competitors when trying to attract skilled job candidates. In a tight labor market, every company is looking for a competitive edge in recruiting; a single-payer healthcare system would remove this element from a company's recruitment playbook."Shifting to Medicare for All would certainly change a major part of compensation and benefits for small employers," said Kunkle Roberts. "The health insurance plan that I offer to my employees is a major part of attracting and keeping good employees. This benefit would not be something we can use in the future to increase employee longevity." 
  • Single payer would require a lengthy and complex implementation process: Shifting to a Medicare for All single-payer system would likely require a massively labor-intensive process that could take years. Branning highlighted the flawed launch of the much smaller-in-scope ACA as evidence of just how difficult implementing Medicare for All could be. "If something passed following the election, we're talking probably a minimum of five years," Branning said, adding that the public exchanges established under the ACA were only able to sign up six beneficiaries on day one – even after four years of preparation. "We're talking about people getting insured that have never been insured before and also changing everyone's insurance over to a Medicare package."

Baked into all these pros and cons are a lot of "what-ifs," most of which depend on the specifics of any single-payer healthcare bill proposed in Congress. Of course, that bill would also have to pass Congress and be signed by the sitting president at the time. Then the law would have to be implemented, which is no small task. A shift toward Medicare for All would be a massive undertaking that impacts trillions of dollars in spending.

That kind of shift doesn't happen overnight, and the impacts would not be felt immediately. 

Medicare for All's impact on small businesses depends on a lot of moving parts

A Medicare for All single-payer system would be a dramatic change to a sprawling and complex health insurance system. Precisely how that change would be implemented (if it were implemented) could influence a wide range of actors, from employers to individuals to healthcare providers to insurance companies.

How a single-payer program would be funded and whether it allows private insurance companies to exist alongside it or not are major variables that could determine whether it would be a boon or a detriment to small businesses.

Answering the question "how would Medicare for All impact small businesses" is not a straightforward endeavor, but rather depends on the many moving parts in the ceaselessly complicated world of American healthcare.
Posted by: at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)