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How Transparency Can Grow With Your Business

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT

  • Employees will be more likely to trust a company that keeps them informed and engaged – just like consumers will be more eager to support a business that showcases its values.
  • Transparency becomes more difficult as companies grow larger, but it also becomes more important.
  • Cross-department shadowing and in-person meetings are two effective ways to encourage transparency. 

Transparency is an essential and desirable quality for any business. Consumers demand a clear and upfront look at how companies operate, and the people who work for those companies crave the same transparency.

With fewer employees and layers of decision-makers, small businesses might find it easier to be transparent. But what happens when those businesses grow and scale? Transparency becomes more difficult, but it also becomes more important. With the right strategies and approaches, a small business can develop a culture of transparency as it grows.

One of the biggest challenges of remaining transparent as a company grows is finding ways to integrate new team members. Most of these hires will not have an understanding of the origins of early operational decisions. Rather than leaving these new team members to make their own assumptions, it's important to let them see the context of the decision-making process. This strategy will unify new employees with the rest of the team while establishing a bond of trust between them and leadership. 

Along with a unified workforce, there are other benefits to transparency. For one, it can generate more support for management. When everyone knows how decisions are made and what's important, team members are more likely to be on board when there's a change at the top. Transparency can also make it easier to adapt by providing a track record to anticipate future changes and help employees adjust to shifting conditions. 

A clear need for business transparency

It's not hard to make a case for increased transparency. Polls taken over several years show that at least two-thirds of consumers would be willing to spend more to do business with companies that prioritize transparency. When it comes to brand loyalty, 94% of consumers consider transparency to be the greatest factor in their decision to stick with a product. Transparency can also foster more trust among employees, who care much more and become more highly engaged with their businesses when they have a window into the decision-making process.

So why is this loyalty easier to maintain in smaller companies? A lot of it has to do with the size and structure of the operation. Communication is more manageable in a smaller company; there are fewer people to loop into a chain of events. When the framework is more navigable and fewer silos and barriers to communication exist, it's easier for thoughts to flow freely. As the size of a company often correlates with the scale of the work, those tasks are usually accomplished with fewer stratified layers than we see at a bigger enterprise. When the scale of work is smaller, it's easier to communicate what's being done and maintain transparency both internally and externally.

Making transparency grow along with the business

Thankfully, there are ways to ensure that transparency remains a company value as your business grows. Before you begin, you need to answer a fundamental question: How transparent should your company be? A team armed with all the facts may better execute its role and move the company forward, but sharing too much information could be distracting and detrimental to your company culture. If your enterprise is dealing with financial struggles, for instance, knowledge of those issues could paint a portrait of unsteadiness to those inside the company. Transparency should empower your employees rather than create stress.

Once that question is answered, these four strategies can help small businesses maintain open lines of communication and transparency as they grow.

1. Embrace meetings

I get it. Meetings can be slow down a company's workflow, but meetings aren't the problem  –  a lack of them can be. Conduct annual companywide meetings and regular conferences with mid- to high-level employees across departments. Develop a meeting strategy that works for your business to enhance communication and prevent wasting time.

According to research conducted at UCLA, up to 93% of communication effectiveness is conveyed through nonverbal signs. Because nonverbal communication is so important, people need to gather together so those exchanges can actually take place. As your business grows, change your role in meetings. In time, you may only need to meet with department heads.

2. Initiate cross-department job shadowing

Encourage employees to spend a day observing or learning the job of someone in another area of the company. Someone from the finance department, for instance, might help supervise the sales or marketing department and see the decisions they make on a daily basis. 

Work4, a social recruiting company, started an employee exchange program that allows anyone to spend one day learning the job of a coworker in a different department. The job shadowers become familiar with the processes, demands and challenges of their coworkers' jobs while developing a more holistic understanding of the company's operations. Rotate roles in this shadowing process to make sure your employees have a well-rounded understanding of the various duties in every area of your company.

3. Design your blog for customers and employees

Make sure your blog isn't just public-facing. Create employee-oriented content that provides top-level guidance and updates from your CEO and other senior leaders. Think of the blog as the next wave of supervisory memos that used to be printed and distributed in the office. If you're struggling to find things to write about, try sharing thoughts on the book you're reading or the podcast you're enjoying.

Buffer Open, the blog for social media management tool Buffer, strives to be completely transparent. Team members post about a range of topics, including their budget, salaries, investments, and internal pay gaps between men and women. While you may not want to follow Buffer's transparency lead to that extent, there's a value to being upfront and honest about the inner workings of your company.

4. Be open about your wins and failures

Don't sweep challenges or failures under the rug. Shine a spotlight on them so the world can see how you're dealing with and learning from difficult situations. This has almost become mandatory because of how easily customers can create a dialogue or issue complaints on social media services such as Twitter and Facebook.

Accept failure as an opportunity to learn more about day-to-day operations. This begins with leadership brave enough to model that behavior. You might schedule a regular meeting in which employees share a mistake or failure. Make it a welcoming environment by having a leader kick things off by being the first speaker.

Learn to embrace criticism. Author and entrepreneur Neil Patel wrote a blog post about the lessons he learned from a failed startup experience. That experience taught Patel how useful constructive criticism and feedback can be. While he initially hated criticism and wrote off everyone who disagreed with him as wrong, he now welcomes feedback with open arms.

A small business that openly accepts criticism is well on its way to creating a culture of transparency. As the business grows, maintaining those open lines of communication is crucial to the economic and cultural health of the company. Employees will be more likely to trust a company that keeps them informed and engaged, just like consumers will be more eager to support a business that showcases its values. All it takes is the willingness to be open and honest about how you want that growth to happen.

Why Social Selling is the Future of Sales

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Selling has changed drastically in the last few years. Gone are the days of using only the phone and email to reach out to prospective clients. With digital media creating a shift in the buyer's journey, more salespeople are using social selling to cultivate new relationships.

Social selling is a relatively new concept that consists of salespeople leveraging social platforms to engage with prospective clients and share thoughtful content, with the intent to increase sales. Not to be confused with social media marketing, the goal of social selling is to drive revenue, rather than build brand awareness.

When thinking about a sales funnel, social media marketing sits at the top of the funnel and social selling helps move prospects down the funnel. Social media marketing doesn't typically convert prospects; it stays as a top-of-funnel tactic. 

Social selling is so effective that 28% of companies are prioritizing it, according to HubSpot. While this figure isn't staggering, it proves that social selling is just getting started. Salespeople who adopt social selling now will increase their odds of engaging with high-quality prospects and push ahead of the competition.

Social selling uses social media to engage with and nurture leads. Instead of sending a follow-up email, a salesperson could connect with the prospect on LinkedIn and share a useful article with them. Social selling uses social media as touchpoints in the buyer journey. Like traditional selling, social selling relies on a social CRM to track conversations and touchpoints. Again, like traditional selling, it's important not to overwhelm the prospect by reaching out too many times. Here's a look at why social selling is gaining popularity.

Be where potential customers are active

Social media plays a vital role in the buying process. Prospective clients use social networks to find potential solutions, research vendors online, and form an opinion about which vendor is the best fit for their business. The buying process begins before a client ever contacts a salesperson. 

Moreover, Gartner research shows that customers are, on average, 57% through the purchase process before they engage with a sales professional. According to IDC, 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of executives use contacts and information from social platforms as part of their buying process. Potential clients rely heavily on social networks when making a purchasing decision.

Salespeople who don't engage in social selling aren't likely to appear in results when clients are using social networks to weigh vendor options. This presents a massive missed opportunity for sales and puts businesses at a disadvantage against competitors that are using social selling.

The HubSpot report also notes that 40% of salespeople say getting a response from a prospect has become more challenging. Cold calling is dead, and customers' inboxes are flooded with messages every day. However, social media is where salespeople have a higher chance of cutting through the clutter and engaging with prospects.

According to LinkedIn, 76% of buyers are ready to have a social media conversation with potential suppliers, and more than 62% of B2B buyers respond to salespeople who connect with them to share relevant insights and opportunities. This further proves the point that now is the time for salespeople to take advantage of social selling and its numerous benefits. 

Build a deeper relationship with prospects

One significant benefit of social selling is that it provides remarkable insights into prospective clients. People reveal a substantial amount of information on their social profiles through posts, likes and shares. This valuable information allows salespeople to understand potential customers better so that they can approach them in a more personalized way. Rather than the first point of contact being cold and disconnected, salespeople can provide content that's relevant and helpful to their prospect's needs.

Providing the right information at the right time leads to more meaningful engagement with potential clients. In fact, 31% of B2B professionals said that social selling allowed them to build deeper relationships with clients, according to CSO Insights.

Additionally, salespeople who build a strong network on various social media channels can ask for introductions to new sales prospects through current mutual connections. This makes it easier and simpler to gain new leads, and it can instantly create feelings of trust and rapport, which is vital for both clients and salespeople. Interestingly enough, LinkedIn found that 87% of B2B buyers had a favorable impression of a salesperson when they were introduced by someone in their professional network.

Social selling is an effective way to create meaningful relationships with prospective clients and seek out introductions to new sales prospects through existing mutual connections. Remember, B2B customers take much longer to move down the sales funnel than B2C. While it may seem like social selling is an excellent tactic for B2C buyers, it helps B2B prospects feel more comfortable and gain trust in the brand, which will help lead to the sale.

Generate more high-quality leads

Social selling increases the quantity and quality of leads. Salespeople equipped with meaningful content become thought leaders, offering education and value to their professional networks. People on LinkedIn, for instance, are particularly interested in this type of information. Plus, they amplify the reach and credibility of social selling efforts by sharing content with their networks. People tend to trust recommendations from friends and colleagues above all other forms of marketing, including advertisements and corporate communications.

In a survey by CSO Insights and Seismic, one in three B2B professionals said that social selling tools increased their number of leads. Furthermore, 39% of B2B professionals said that social selling reduced the amount of time they spent researching accounts and contacts. Especially since social selling is producing more quality leads, it's likely that this tactic will continue to become more widespread.

A vital approach to selling

It's clear to see that social selling works. The LinkedIn study mentioned above shows that salespeople who engage with social selling have 45% more sales opportunities than others, and are 51% more likely to hit their sales quotas.

As long as social media is a part of the buying process, salespeople will need to leverage it to find prospective clients and build trusted relationships with them. At the end of the day, businesses that encourage their sales teams to implement social selling into their strategy will drive more revenue compared to companies that don't.

Just as traditional sales has best practices, so does social selling. One of the most important rules of this new tactic is to not overwhelm or bother the prospect. If a potential lead declines a connection on social media, then it's not appropriate to continually message them or try to connect on another network. Given this, LinkedIn has become a clear winner as a social tool that aids the social selling process. The network's inherent professionalism makes it easy for sales teams to reach out to prospects and nurture them using LinkedIn.

As more and more people use social media networks for more time per day, it's no surprise that sales has changed to incorporate this change. And while many businesses have a robust social media marketing campaign in place, many salespeople don't use social media for sales in the funnel. This will soon change now that social selling is producing high-quality leads for many industries.

How To Enhance Your Team's Customer Service Department

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT

Have you ever had such a negative customer service experience with a brand that it stopped you from shopping with them again? If so, you're not alone.

A whopping 96% of consumers say customer service is important when deciding loyalty to a brand, while 89% of consumers made the switch to a competitor because of a negative experience. 

It's crucial to your business growth and success to offer proactive customer service. It's how your brand handles customer complaints, issues, feedback and questions. Without it, there's no way to gain insight from your audience about their experience with your brand so you can determine its future.

You could boast the best, most elaborately made products in the world, but if you don't cater to customer needs, you'll see a sharp decline in conversions. How you treat your customers matters because it shows them how much you, as a brand, care about them as your audience. According to Salesforce, 84% of shoppers say being treated like a person, instead of a number, is a crucial factor in winning their business and retaining them as customers.

If you provide a positive experience, you increase the chances of word of mouth marketing (WOM) doing your job for you. If a customer enjoys the experience your brand gave them, they're likely to tell a loved one about it. Since 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family over advertising, this brings you one step closer to generating sales and building brand awareness.

The key tactics to improve your business's customer service efforts are:

  • Providing adequate training for your in-house team
  • Designing your website with customers in mind
  • Collecting user feedback through multiple channels
  • Outsourcing support for better efficiency

Here are the details on each strategy.

1. Provide excellent training.

Even if you have people on your team with years of experience, it's always a good idea to provide training that's specific to your company. Every business handles their customer service department differently, so training your employees to match company protocol is essential. 

How your team handles customers determines your business's retention rate. If a customer loves your products and services but has a negative experience with a customer service representative, they likely won't be back. Research shows that 47% of customers will stop buying from a company if they have a poor experience. 

Your team should be adept in the following skills:

  • Positive attitude
  • Active listening
  • Clear communication
  • Problem-solving
  • Critical thinking

Your team must be calm, concise and helpful when handling customer issues to ensure the best possible outcome. Reassuring the customer, offering solutions and providing them with further assistance are the keys to an effective customer service experience.

2. Design your website for support.

How easy is it for visitors to receive support on your website? If it's challenging to get in touch with your brand, you need to create new ways to bring them solutions and answer their inquiries. Your website is the hub of information about your products and services and should accommodate its visitors.

Take a good look at your website. If you were a new customer trying to reach the customer service department, does it offer ways to do so easily? If not, it's time to consider a more responsive redesign.

As important as it is to act on customer support quickly, it's impossible for your in-house team of representatives to respond to queries 24/7. Live chat services use AI technology to answer visitors' questions and give them more information about your products. It improves the user experience (UX) by offering quick solutions at any time of the day. 

Use responsive contact forms on your website that suit both desktop and mobile users. Your contact forms must be mobile-friendly to accommodate every customer for the best outcome. If it's difficult to navigate, your site will see an increase in its bounce rate. Use Google's AMP Analytics to optimize and track your webpages so they load faster for mobile users and increase its site speed.

3. Collect user feedback.

Regardless of which method your company uses to collect user feedback, it's essential to track what customers think about your brand. They can give you firsthand information about what your business needs to improve on, as well as what it's doing right. That way, you know how and where to refine your customer service strategy.

There are many ways you can garner customer feedback:

  • Social media
  • Email
  • Surveys
  • Social media
  • Reviews
  • Phone calls

People are likelier to discuss their experiences with a brand, both negative and positive, on social media. They might even take it a step further and reach out to that brand directly to get what they're looking for. When brands participate in conversations on social media, it makes 44% percent of their customers feel more connected to them. 

Though phone calls are a less popular way for brands to conduct business with customers, it's an immediate way to receive valuable feedback. Consider using VoIP phone services to make and receive customer phone calls over the internet. That way, you can track your calls with customers and increase productivity with its features.

Your email list allows you to directly communicate with your audience. You can use emails to ask them u about their latest experience with your business. Link them to a survey or contact form on your website where they get in touch with you directly or leave a review about your team's service. The more information you collect, the better. So, for example, if your customers approach you with questions about the best membership site software to use or which of your products best suit their needs, you have the answers. 

4. Consider outsourcing.

Does your customer service strategy feel hectic and unorganized? Perhaps it's because your team has too much on their plate or they waste time providing the same routine answers. Or, maybe you don't want an in-house team and prefer hiring contract workers instead. If this is the case for your business, it's time to consider outsourcing.

If people don't find the answers they're looking for on your website, they'll be quick to abandon it. It needs to provide quick, useful solutions to retain its users and improve customer loyalty, which is why outsourcing is beneficial. 

Outsourcing customer service tasks comes with several benefits, including:

  • Instant, around-the-clock support
  • Increased conversion rates
  • Reduced employee workload
  • Scaling up your business
  • Lower operational costs

If you have the budget, time and resources to provide training for a contracted live support team, outsourcing is a great way to boost your business efforts. 

If your business is going to stay afloat, it's essential to put the customer first. The right strategy will help you generate sales, improve customer retention and build a loyal customer base, among other things. As long as you take the steps necessary to enhance your customer service department, you're sure to see effective results.

Tips to Help Entrepreneurs Maintain Work-Life Balance

Posted: 29 Sep 2019 12:46 AM PDT

Entrepreneurship is exasperating and exhilarating. Some days, you feel like you're ready to take on the world, but other days you feel like everything is falling apart. It is emotionally draining and trying to find the right rhythm for your business and your life can take its toll. Work, eat, sleep, repeat is the daily grind, and it can impact your physical and mental well-being. 

According to research, entrepreneurs are 30% more likely to suffer from depression than managers at the lower levels of an organization's hierarchy. This statistic is no surprise since entrepreneurship is a struggle. You may often have to work late into the night to finish a project and there is no limit to the number of hours you work. If sales are down, you may wake up in the night in a cold sweat. All told, entrepreneurship can do real damage to you if you don't take care of yourself and make efforts to achieve – and maintain – a healthy work-life balance.

Here are eight things business owners can do to gain balance in their busy lives. 

1. Don't let stress take over you

Stress is something that weighs down a lot of entrepreneurs. Life is really too short to stress over things like deadlines, sales and future cash flows. You might be spending a lot of time worrying about things you have no control over. Ask yourself, "Is this something I can change?" If it is, find a solution. If it is something that you have no control over, learn to let it go and adjust accordingly.

2. Prioritize

Are you prioritizing correctly? If your to-do list is all messed up or you've got a larger number of tasks on your plate than you can possibly accomplish, you really got to prioritize. It's a big responsibility to realize what your priorities are when you've got a full schedule. Gwynne Shotwell, part of the leadership team of SpaceX, considers prioritization as the key to finding a better work-life balance.

Look at the big picture and identify the tasks that are the most important in the long run. Then, prioritize your responsibilities by spending your time on the right things. You can plan your projects using tools like Basecamp and schedule daily and weekly tasks to keep things under control. Setting your priorities straight can also reduce stress dramatically. 

3. Don't wear "busy" as a badge of honor

"Busy" is a status that I see many people wearing as a sign of success. They think if they are busy, they are working hard and that eventually, they'll become wildly successful. But, being busy without producing results is directly related to being dull, boring and unfruitful. So, keep yourself out of the "I am busy" club. Stay no to things that do not support your goals. Make time for things that help you enjoy your life more. 

4. Be mindful and present

Making mindfulness a regular part of your life shouldn't be an overwhelming task. Although being an entrepreneur means that you're being constantly pulled in a hundred different directions, it's important to be completely present in whatever you are doing. You have to be present and able to think with complete focus to consistently produce the best results. 

5. Make little changes for big results 

Entrepreneurialism can be draining. You need to take steps now to avoid serious burnout, as that can have terrible consequences on your business. Make sure you're making an effort to take care of yourself. Here's a short list with some suggestions of small changes that you could make.

  • Get up 15 minutes early so you don't feel rushed in the morning 
  • Exercise in the morning to help you stay energized throughout the day
  • Whenever possible, don't procrastinate on tasks, take care of them now so you don't have to worry about them
  • Learn to be more tech savvy so you can use the technology you use daily with ease
  • Switch to a healthier diet 
  • Be kind to others
  • Let go of old habits 

Trust me, if you do these little things, you'll soon notice the positive effects in your business too. 

6. Create an achievement manifesto

There are going to be days of rejection and failure, but do not let these days dominate your happiness. When life seems like it's falling apart, remember the things you've achieved in the past. It will simply boost your confidence. Create your achievement manifesto by listing the things you've achieved. Whatever it is, personal or professional, write it down on the list. This will bring your confidence back when life brings you down. 

7. Establish a daily routine 

Having no routine is draining mentally, physically and emotionally, because even though you know what things are important for you to do, you feel like you have no time to do them. Find the routine that works best for you to make sure you make time for what is important.

Once you find a daily routine, you'll find that it's easier to set priorities, limit procrastination and keep track of your goals. Your daily routine will drive your motivation, making it easier to reach your goals. You will also have more physical and mental energy, which will make you feel more satisfied with your life. 

8. Regularly do something you love

Last but not least, regularly making the time to do something fun or work on a passion project will reinvigorate you. When was the last time you did something for yourself? When was the last time you did something fun? Don't remember? It's time to set a regular, recurring appointment in your schedule to do something you enjoy. It can be as simple as meeting up with friends, working on a hobby like horse riding or going to the theater. You deserve it! 

Conclusion

You're the boss. If you're not happy, it's time to make some changes. To keep doing what it takes to create and run a business, you need to have a balance in the personal and professional demands on your time. When you achieve work-life balance, you'll see positive effects in your business as well as in your life. 

SPONSORED: Shipping and the Environment – What Businesses Need to Know

Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:00 AM PDT

Whether it's a product or a commodity, nearly everything a consumer owns was transported thousands of miles to reach them. This includes the phone in your pocket, the coffee in your pantry, the fuel you pump into your car, the car itself and the clothes you wear, just to name a few things. 

For most people, the global shipping network is invisible. Consumable goods are ordered and they arrive – almost magically – in just a few weeks, if not a couple of days. This phenomenon is known in the industry as "sea blindness;" that is, the general public remains largely unaware of the vast impact shipping has on our everyday life despite the fact that roughly 90% of the world's trade happens on water. 

However, not everyone lives near the coast, so shipping is only part of the story. Once cargo makes it off a ship, it is loaded onto trucks, trains or airplanes to embark on the next phase of its journey before being distributed to manufacturers, retailers, warehouses and, finally, consumers. The objects you use every day are more than likely harvested, manufactured, assembled or sourced from raw materials halfway across the world. 

While the international system of shipping goods is inseparable from the way we live our lives in the 21st century, it has a major impact on the environment. Below, we examine the environmental cost of shipping, transportation and the impact small- and medium-size businesses have on climate change.

 

Shipping and the environment

The environmental cost of shipping is complex to say the least. There are no easy answers. Most consumers don't consider how much carbon dioxide is produced when purchasing, say, a toaster, from a brick-and-mortar store or an online store. And consumers don't realize how dramatically the carbon footprint is expanded when they choose fast delivery options such as same-day, one-day or even two-day shipping.

The environmental impact of online shopping

When Amazon first launched in 1994, online shopping was a novelty. Today, ordering products online has become deeply embedded in western culture; it's as American as apple pie. While there is evidence that online shopping produces fewer carbon emissions than traditional shopping, fast delivery methods seem to be worse for the environment. 

In an interview with NPR, the CEO of Conservation International, M. Sanjayan, said, "While online shopping does have a smaller carbon footprint than traditional retail shopping, it's only really better for the environment if you don't get rush delivery." 

To reduce your environmental footprint with online shopping, Sanjayan recommends carefully choosing which items you need rush delivered, and which ones can wait. "You don't need a pair of socks to get to you swiftly. It probably makes just as much sense to get it to you efficiently." 

In addition to super-fast delivery options, consumers who frequently return products drastically expand the carbon footprint of an online sale. This is a huge problem during holiday sales, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in which online deals entice users to purchase products they later decide they don't need. 

Online shopping has a less harmful impact on the environment versus traditional shopping, but only when consumers choose efficient – not fast – shipping methods and don't return items.

How much pollution do ships produce?

Transport ships produce a lot of cancer- and asthma-causing chemicals. Giant container ships consume over 300 tons of fuel daily, and, according to a 2009 report from The Guardian, just one of these massive ships emits almost the same amount of pollution as 50 million cars. 

There are an estimated 20 million shipping containers of varying sizes in the world. Studies show that it only takes 15 massive cargo ships to produce the same amount of emissions as all the cars in the world. It's difficult to imagine just how large of a carbon footprint the shipping industry has on the environment. To put it into perspective, though, an estimated 60,000 people die each year from emissions produced by oceangoing ship engines. 

It's not all bad news, however. While the shipping industry has been under scrutiny by environmental organizations for several years, container ships produce the least amount of carbon dioxide emissions compared to other freight methods. A large cargo ship will emit roughly 10 grams of carbon dioxide per metric ton of cargo. On the other hand, a train produces 30 grams, a freight truck produces 60 grams and an airplane produces 500 grams of CO2 for the same amount of cargo. 

Furthermore, there are promising ways to reduce emissions with freight shipping. "If ships were to move to cleaner diesel fuels," said Genevieve Giuliano, director of the METRANS Transportation Center at the University of Southern California, "that would be a big reduction in emissions."

What businesses can do to reduce shipping pollution

The first step to reduce your business's carbon footprint is to measure your company's impact on the environment by calculating how much pollution your organization produces. You can measure your carbon footprint by undertaking a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions assessment and actively adopting policies, procedures and practices that promote a cleaner environment. 

Once you have a better understanding of your carbon footprint, you can turn your focus to other efforts that have a greater impact on the environment, such as your shipping practices. Working with a shipping company that adheres to international environmental policies is perhaps the single most effective method of reducing your global carbon footprint. 

 

Next, companies can help consumers understand how their online shopping habits affect the global community. In his interview with NPR, M. Sanjayan suggests that businesses offer a green, energy-efficient shipping method to promote environmentally conscious habits. For instance, Pitney Bowes' SendPro Online eliminates trips to the post office by letting you print postage and ship items from your computer. 

"Wouldn't it be fantastic if there was a green button that when you shop online, whether you're shopping at Amazon or Walmart, or any other store, you press that green button, and it assures you maximum efficiency within some reasonable period?" says Sanjayan. 

While not every consumer will opt to wait a few extra days to receive their products, environmentally conscious consumers could make a significant impact in reducing both your business's carbon footprint and their own by not choosing rush delivery for their orders. 

With a solid shipping company in place, businesses can then examine the items they have shipped to their office, such as office supplies. Reducing redundant and unnecessary orders and carefully considering which items need to be delivered next day rather than, say, next week is another way companies can reduce their carbon footprint significantly. 

Finally, once your business has set smart shipping policies and practices, you can create a green working environment that encourages departments and employees to reduce their carbon footprint further. 

It may seem as though you, your office, your company and your personal shopping habits represent a tiny portion of the global shipping network and, in truth, it is. You can't combat CO2 emissions and climate change on your own. However, by taking small steps, including making wise choices and offering wise choices for your customers, you can reduce your impact on the environment and encourage others to do the same. 

This article is sponsored by Pitney Bowes.

 

SPONSORED: Third-Party vs. DIY Shipping – Which One Is Right for Your Business?

Posted: 26 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT

Online shopping is the new norm, attracting consumers with interests and needs across the board to e-commerce brands. However, interwoven with increased online shopping is the increased demand for efficient shipping. 

One positive aspect of visiting a brick-and-mortar location is that you leave the store with the product you purchased in hand. When buying online, you must wait – sometimes days or even weeks – for your item to arrive. 

As an e-commerce business, you must ensure your customers are satisfied with your packaging and delivery. There are multiple shipping options to consider; the two most common are third-party fulfillment shipping and a do-it-yourself approach. We outlined these two popular options below to help you choose which is right for your business.

 

What is third-party shipping?

Third-party shipping involves outsourcing another company to handle your shipping and delivery process for you. The company stores your products, and packs and ships orders to your consumers, letting you focus on other aspects of running your business. 

Typically, a seller who chooses this option does not have a warehouse of their own to store their bulk merchandise and/or the funding to staff the entire operation. Instead, the seller contracts with a fulfillment warehouse to handle these processes for them.

What is DIY shipping?

DIY shipping, on the other hand, involves handling shipping on your own. Depending on the size of your business, this might entail obtaining a warehouse and hiring in-house workers to fulfill orders. 

DIY shipping differs from drop shipping, which is a retail fulfillment method in which a business or store sells products that it doesn't stock. When a product is sold, the seller purchases the product from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. The latter option typically requires you to fill individual orders rather than bulk orders.

The benefits of DIY shipping

DIY shipping offers numerous benefits, especially for businesses with a relatively small order volume (typically less than 1,000 packages shipped per month). 

These are the main benefits of DIY shipping:

1. You have direct control over your inventory and warehouse.

Through DIY shipping, you decide how your items are stored and how orders are packaged and delivered. This control can be reassuring – your processes are completed the way you want them to be and by in-house experts you trust.

2. You can more easily offer a unique experience.

Some companies customize their deliveries by adding personalized notes or including fun packaging. This not only improves customer satisfaction but increases the visibility of your brand to consumers. If you have the time and resources to hire an in-house team who can implement what you envision for your shipping, this option might be right for your business.

3. You can expect minimal costs.

While DIY shipping can be difficult to scale quickly, if you know you can handle your current volume of orders in-house – and don't anticipate a meteoric rise in the foreseeable future – handling fulfillment yourself saves a lot of money. For example, you can expect to save up to five cents on every letter and up to 40% off USPS Priority Mail with Pitney Bowes' SendPro. These savings add up quickly, especially for smaller businesses.

4. You don't have to be a large business.

One of the best things about order self-fulfillment is that even the smallest businesses can do it with the right tool. Whether you're a retailer with a small team or a solopreneur, DIY shipping let you reach customers all over the country without outsourcing to a third-party fulfillment company.

The benefits of third-party shipping

Depending on the type of business you run and the volume of inventory you must store, one option might be better for you than the other. 

Here are some pros of working with a third-party shipping company:

1. You don't need to hire staff.

While many small business owners handle their own shipping, many hire a team to handle their shipping needs. Outsourcing the fulfillment process saves you the time and energy of recruiting and managing the right workers. 

If your business is experiencing growth, you might be wary of hiring a full-time employee, and rightfully so. Rather than managing a team of warehouse staff yourself, you can outsource this work to experts who can find the right employees and manage staffing and training for you.

2. You can offer affordable two-day shipping to more people.

Pitney Bowes noted that 91% of consumers leave a site when shipping isn't free or fast. Efficiency is everything in the e-commerce industry, and while you might be killing it with your products, you likely aren't a packaging and delivery expert. Today's consumers are impatient – and can afford to be.

Is third-party or DIY shipping right for my business?

When deciding whether you should outsource your shipping or do it yourself, ask yourself these five questions:

1. How many stock keeping units (SKUs) do you need?

A SKU is a code that identifies products for inventory management purposes by certain characteristics, like color or brand. The number of unique products you sell impacts how much you pay a third-party logistics company; in other words, the more SKUs you have, the higher your warehousing fees will be. However, if you have your own warehouse, you determine how to store your merchandise without worrying about fees.

2. Where are your customers located?

Are your customers international, or are they tied to a specific region? In other words, can you fulfill orders to your customers quickly? If you answered yes to the latter question, you likely can fulfill and ship orders yourself. If that's not the case, consider hiring a third party to help you efficiently ship orders.

3. Is your order volume based on seasonal trends?

If your shipping demands change with certain seasons, consider choosing a third-party company that can accommodate fluctuations in volume rather than renting out warehouse space yourself that might end up being too small or too large.

4. Do you want to offer a customized experience?

You might have creative ideas for your shipping process, from packaging to delivery. Perhaps you'd like to personalize each order with a thank-you note, or maybe you want to offer overnight shipping for special orders. 

According to Pitney Bowes, "The package your customer opens up is an extension of your brand's marketing." If you choose a third-party company to handle this process for you, you'll want to ensure it aligns with your vision. Otherwise, you may want to choose the DIY shipping method.

5. What is your returns process?

What happens when your customers' orders are incomplete, damaged or incorrect? Do you want to manage this process, or would you rather let someone else handle it for you? If you don't think you'll have enough time to provide the care and support your customers deserve, you should let a third party do it for you. 

The choice between a third-party shipper and DIY shipping should not be taken lightly, as it impacts your bottom line. There are many aspects to consider when making this decision, from where your customers are located to the volume of products you maintain. 

Neither choice, however, is permanent; perhaps you start with one shipping method and switch to another method. Whichever route you take, make sure both your needs and your customers' needs are being met, and with ease.

This article is sponsored by Pitney Bowes.

 
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