Get quick tips to help keep the positive cash flow needed to run and grow your business.

Follow a few helpful guidelines when preparing tax documents, to lessen the liklihood of IRS scrutiny.

All business owners should be curious of how much their enterprise is worth, and not just when they are getting ready to sell. Understanding the true value of a business is crucial for every day operations and can set a business up for success. Here are the top four reasons for placing an accurate value on your business: Financial Planning A reliable and accurate valuation of a company can help a business owner better manage their business and personal funds. Wealth managers, accountants, investment advisors, estate planners and other finance-related professionals will then have a precise picture of the business’s financial outlook and can provide more knowledgeable counsel for a prosperous financial future. Insuring the Company A business’s valuation is also very important to securing proper business insurance coverage, e, which, interestingly, is integral to maintaining the value of the company. Without an accurate business valuation report, a business could wind up being over- or under-insured. This is not only bad for the bottom line, but it can skew financials and affect the value of the business when it is being prepared for sale. . For instance, a business owner may find that being over-insured has tied up money that could have otherwise been put toward paying down liabilities. Those funds could also have been reinvested into the business to promote growth, instead they are unavailable which inhibits the overall value of the company. Raising Capital Having an accurate valuation report makes it easier to raise funding. Potential investors love details, and a concrete value associated with a business can help demonstrate how far that business has come, and how new funding will help it grow. Selling the Business The value of the company is arguably the most important aspect of the sale of a business. It’s the basis of negotiations, and often serves as a representation of years of hard work and success. Knowing how much a business is worth before you put it up for sale can help a business owner ensure that they’re fully and fairly compensated. Which Values Do I Need to Know? So, now that the ground work has been laid on why business valuations are important for every business owner. It is important to understand the different definitions of value and what each of them means to the business. Enterprise Value – The enterprise value is similar to a balance sheet. It is calculated by adding together the company’s debts and the total market capitalization, and then subtracting cash holdings. It’s used as a quick way to determine value. Equity Value -The equity value describes how much the company is worth to shareholders. It’s calculated by adding the company’s cash holdings to the enterprise value, as well stock options, securities, and other potential-creating investments and assets. Examining the equity value of a company is good for getting an idea of both its current and future values. Asset Sale Value -This value only takes into account the value of the company’s assets. This includes inventory, fixed assets such as paid-off real estate, equipment and vehicles, as well as intangible assets such as equity. The asset value does not include cash or liabilities. Liquidation Value -This is how much a business owner would get if they sold off all of the company’s assets. While it does include cash and other liquid funds, it does not include intangible assets. The liquidation value is most often used for bankruptcy cases, or when the company is otherwise in trouble and looking for a quick sale. Key Performance Indicators -While not entirely financial, this final type of valuation tells business owners how effective the company is at meeting its objectives. Business owners can use these benchmarks to compare their operations to other companies across their industry, allowing them to determine specific strategies for success. Key performance indicators directly correlate with the value of the company, as meeting the business owner’s specific goals is integral to growth and profit. By understanding the value of the business, business owners can position themselves for success in the near term and the future. Experian provides comprehensive reports that include multiple valuation methods and estimates you can rely on. See a sample report. Related article: Tips for Buying or Selling a Business – Richard Goeldner, Small Business Matters Podcast

Understanding the ins and outs of financial management is important for every consumer. Being educated on managing their credit, understanding the impact of a credit score, or grasping simple bookkeeping can be intimidating without the proper training. When it comes to business owners, it is even more important, because improper management of their finances can be detrimental to their bottom line. However, with current regulations in place, it makes it difficult for consumers and small business owners to know where to turn to seek out advice without having to pay a steep price for assistance.

Small businesses who send direct mail advertisements to their customers find this to be a highly effective marketing strategy. Where emails can be deleted immediately or never even looked at, people still head to their mailboxes daily. According to the United States Postal Service, 98 percent of people retrieve their mail daily, and 77 percent of people sort it immediately. This gives companies access to an audience who could potentially seek out their business right away. With direct mail marketing, there is a high potential Return on Investment because this type of advertising is extremely targeted. Small businesses can market just to the consumers they think will be most likely to purchase from them – rather than mass advertising through television on email campaigns. Direct mail proves to be a more personal way to reach potential and existing customers, and it encourages businesses to build a relationship with their customers. There is measurable feedback on direct mailing campaigns because businesses can directly count how many responses they see to their advertisements or how many people use their coupons, for instance. To make the best use of direct mail marketing, businesses can purchases data append services to update and provide more information to their existing prospect or customer lists. They also can purchase mailing lists relevant to the types of people they are looking to sell to in order to best target prospects in the area. Sources http://www.delivermagazine.com/2012/01/outside-the-box-direct-mail-continues-to-prove-its-worth/ http://oneims.com/blog/2010/03/22/6-benefits-of-direct-mail-marketing-campaigns/ https://www.usps.com/business/direct-mail-benefits.htm

When it comes to your employees, avoid these two common business mistakes.

4 ways to navigate launching a new business with a family member.

Today’s social media platforms represent enormous opportunity as well as enormous risk, as users increasingly share their opinions about businesses they frequent. If you aren’t paying attention to what your customers are saying about you online, then you’re leaving yourself open to their negative comments, while also potentially losing opportunities to react to positive reviews. To help manage your online reputation proactively, it’s imperative that you reach out to customers and ask for their testimonials. You can then use these positive reviews to implement reputation management strategies that attract positive attention for your brand. For instance, incorporate user review features on your Website that allow your customers to review products they purchase from your company. When a customer makes a purchase, send a follow-up email, allowing enough time for the item to ship and the customer to receive it, and ask for a review. You can then post the reviews on Facebook and Twitter as well as incorporate social features on your site that let users share their reviews, “like” your products and so on. If you fail to nab these opportunities, then you’re leaving it to your customers to post their opinions in their own social pages, where you likely won’t have an opportunity to respond to their comments. You also risk having these comments dominate in search engine results, as opposed to having the positive outweigh the negative. With proactive reputation management, you’ll create a positive impression with your customers. You’ll also have a better chance of getting more customers, as prospects read the good reviews and make their buying decisions.

Getting buyers to your Website is only half the battle in terms of your online marketing efforts. Once they’re there, you want them to buy — not click elsewhere or, worse, get nanoseconds away from a purchase only to abandon their shopping carts. It’s these abandoned carts that can be the most baffling. How could they get so close to buying and then simply click away? The answers are complex, but there is hope. Try out these five simple strategies, and start increasing your ecommerce conversions today: 1. Keep it simple. How many people do you know who like filling out long forms? Probably not many. Limit the first page of your checkout page to requesting the customer’s first name and email address. The reason is twofold: You’ll keep the customer engaged and moving quickly through the checkout process, and you’ll also have his or her contact information in case that customer abandons the cart. That way, you can initiate an abandoned cart nurturing campaign via email if necessary. 2. Follow up quickly. Re-engage with abandoned-cart customers right away, at least within 24 hours, to reinforce the reasons they wanted to buy your product in the first place. The more you can remind them of the connections they had with your brand and your products, the more likely they will be to revisit your site and complete their checkout. 3. Be helpful. Don’t assume your customer abandoned the cart because of price. Instead, follow up with an email expressing concern that a technical error may have prevented the customer from completing the order. Use it as an opportunity to highlight your competitive advantages, such as above-and-beyond customer service and unbeatable quality. Include a customer service phone number in case the customer wants to speak with someone or needs help completing the checkout. 4. Make a special offer. Your first or second follow-up email can include a coupon as an incentive to complete the purchase. Doing so will increase your conversions, particularly if the customer abandoned the cart based on pricing.  5. Be persistent, but not pesky. If your initial first or second emails don’t result in conversions, try offering more information about the product or your company. For instance, it’s a good idea to have some customer case studies and testimonials in your back pocket from customers who have raved about your products. Gently remind customers about your business without overwhelming them, as too many emails could mean opt-outs. By addressing multiple concerns in your abandoned-cart email campaigns, including shipping concerns, product benefits, pricing considerations and more, you’ll be more likely to touch on the reasons that a customer clicked away. These automated messages can prove priceless for your conversions.