Category: Process & Business Expansion

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Innovative Ideas for Entrepreneurs to Keep Restaurant Startups Rolling Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Apart from unique challenges, the COVID-19 brought fresh opportunities for India in the hospitality and allied sectors. Here are few ideas which entrepreneurs in restaurant startups can try to keep their businesses rolling.
Innovative Ideas for Businesses

Mumbai, August 11: With almost five months out of business due to the coronavirus lockdown, one of the worst-hit sectors in India is the food and restaurant businesses. While many startups opted for innovative ideas, others failed to survive the lockdown. India’s lockdown against COVID-19 is considered to be among the toughest, however, relief measures given by the central government did keep the hope alive.

Apart from unique challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic brought fresh opportunities for India in the hospitality and allied sectors. Many startups succumbed, but few thrive as they looked for a window to keep their businesses running. Use of social networking and personal relations still make those few reaping profits in adverse market conditions.

Here Are Some Ideas Which Helped Small Restaurant Businesses Survive:

1) Use of Social Media:

During the lockdown, the biggest challenge for a restaurant business is to connect with their customers. Social media became a boon for all those startups who remained in contact with their valued customers. Be it Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Gmail or Instagram, these social media apps helped the small entrepreneurs to keep their businesses running.

Apart from providing the latest information regarding the renovations in restaurants to take away services, people came to know it from social media only — if their favourite dining places are open or closed. Also, updating the precautionary measures taken by the firm to keep its customers safe, did make a lot of difference.

2) Adaptations and Collaborations:

Adaptation to norms and guidelines issued by the administration did play a great part for startups. For example, Chaayos — which started in 2012 — joined hands with another influencer marketing platform called Pulpkey. Apart from serving the ‘signature “Meri Wali Chai“, they also decided to create awareness among people. For this, they hired renowned content creators and influencers and started sharing quality content straight to the customers’ mobiles via social media. Hence, Chaayos is still serving the ‘chai drinking nation’ with the same zeal and love.

3) Takeaway and Door-Step Delivery With COVID-19 Protection:

Foodies anywhere are foodies. Be it rain, dawn, dusk or midnight, foodies will order food online. However, the COVID-19 stopped the wheels of food-delivery guys for some time. Business took a hit and many wrapped up their shops.

With the Unlock guidelines issued, the wheels started to roll and food-delivery was again back on track. This time, the food delivery system was a little different. First, the delivery guys maintained a 6-feet distance and secondly hygiene maintenance was observed very strictly. The result was small entrepreneurs in the hotel business managed to survive. Special mentions to food warriors of Swiggy, Uber Eats and Zomato.

4) Marginal Charge for Hygiene:

This is something that customers in India don’t like. Since lockdown is in place and sit-in dining is almost restricted in most places, charging extra for take-away to door-step deliveries — by asking customers to pay for hygiene practices — may take not be a welcome move.

However, making valuable customers understand the importance of hygiene practices and costs associated with it, the gesture might help. These days customers are well aware of the dangers of COVID-19 and are willing to pay extra to cleanliness and hygiene. So looking at the broader prospect, the idea of charging a marginal fee for cleanliness may help entrepreneurs to keep their business functioning.

5) Financial Management and Revenue Generation:

Among all the other factors, the utmost requirement is to keep the startup moving forward with proper financial management skills. Due to the COVID-19 revenues of almost all food-allied entrepreneurs declined, some even bailed-out too. But few are still sustaining and may sustain for long as they have ample revenues for it.

For those, whose revenues are crippling and businesses are on the verge of shutting down, one of the easiest ways is to reach out to banks — which provides loans under MSME schemes at nominal interest rates and easy instalments. Reaching out for funds to family members and friends is another good idea.

6) Patience and Perseverance:

Difficulties and challenges are part of startups. COVID-19 may have seized the business ideas and expansion, but what’s important is entrepreneurs shall not lose hope and patience. They should keep inventing innovating ideas and persevere to reach their goals. Things may take a little time, but with calculative risks and patience, the flower of success will bloom.

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Process & Business Expansion

Which Franchise Model is Good For Your Business

सफल उद्दमी
सफल उद्दमी

Franchising is a superb avenue to explore while starting a business. Before investing money in the franchise, entrepreneurs should look for best Franchise Business Models which can work. While doing so, there are many questions that come up in everybody’s mind- 

Which Franchise Model will bear the most benefits? 

How are these models different from each other? 

What are the pros and cons of these models? 

If you’re one among them, then throw away your worries, we’ve got it covered for you.

COCO (Company Owned Company Operated) 

  • The COCO franchise business model is primarily run by the franchisor itself and the franchise partner only has a stake in the property.
  • COCO model offers franchisees a unique opportunity to generate profit from an established and well-loved brand.
  • The only thing required in this model is an investment. The franchisee does not have to engage in the daily running and gets a guaranteed return.  

FOCO (Franchise Owned Company Operated) 

  • In the FOCO Franchise Model the initial set up cost is borne by the franchise or the owner of the business.
  • The franchisee gets a percentage of revenue or minimum guarantee while the running cost is borne by the company.
  • The company will be responsible in operating it and taking care of all the things necessary to run an outlet, such as Marketing, Logistics, Staff wages, Electricity, rent etc. and the franchise is the owner of the business.
  • The company will also have to give a fixed percentage of profit shares to the franchise owner.

FOFO (Franchise Owned Franchise Operated)
 

  • In the FOFO business model, the company basically rents out the brand for a pre-agreed time period and a particular non-refundable sum.
  • Merchandising and money are decided by the company although the company provides a few similar benefits like in the FOCO model; such as marketing, print and electronic.
  • This Franchise Model is owned by the store, that’s why the operational cost has to be borne by the franchise itself. The Franchise has to assured the percentage share of revenue and the minimum guarantee to the company.
  • This model is adopted for faster expansion of business/brand by the company. 

For example; in a Fast Food Chain where the business is operated and owned by the franchise but regular audits are done by the company to ensure standards are maintained.

COFO (Company Owned Franchise Operated)

  • This Franchise Business Model is adopted by companies when they want to reduce the operational expenses.
  • In this model the company leases the operations to an interested franchise to ensure standards are adhered to.
  • The business ownership still lies solely with the organization, the franchise partner can be changed when the company identifies a more profitable and efficient franchisee.
  • This model is adopted by the company only in well established markets where the company has operated and got a high return on investment.

FICO (Franchise Invested Company Operated) 

  • This business model is similar to FOCO but unlike the FOCO the franchise does not involve themselves in the business operations.
  • Only a fixed amount is paid to the Franchisee by the company as an investment done by franchisee in the business.
  • In this model there can be multiple franchise partners and investors as the company runs the business operations with end-to-end control of the supply chain.

Hope this account has given you a clear Idea about the different kinds of models that are present in the Franchise Business. Hence, evaluate all propositions before getting into the franchise model depending on which side of the table do you stand.  

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Process & Business Expansion

How to Transform Your Business From Physical to Digital

How to Transform Your Business From Physical to Digital
How to Transform Your Business From Physical to Digital

Move your Offline Business to an Online Business

Setting up an online business has become the new trend these days. The usage of smartphones is rising and so is the demand for an online market for everything. It’s time to get out of the traditional forms of running a business by adopting the path of Online Business Transformation. Ecommerce companies can reduce their physical infrastructure costs at the same time be available to customers at the click of a button from anywhere in the country.

Want to take your business online? Here are some key steps for easy Business Transformation.

Open a Seller Account –

Amazon is the world’s largest e-commerce company with an expertise in this for over 2 decades. One needs to register as a seller first on Amazon. Other online platforms are also available such as Flipkart (now owned by Walmart), Snapdeal, Myntra, etc. Opening a seller account is free of cost and the process is very simple. The seller just needs to add company details like:

  1. Name of the company
  2. GSTIN
  3. Bank Account Details (to receive payments) etc.

Creating a seller account is the first Business Transformation step that an entrepreneur needs to take

Product Listing –

The second Business Transformation step is to create a product listing. The seller needs to list the entire product range he wishes to sell online. A proper Product title, Bullet points, description, images, videos are required to create a good product listing. It is important that the seller should add as much information about the product with its price to make it easy for the customers to grasp and then make their buying decision quickly.

Order Fulfillment Method –

For easy Business Transformation, major e-commerce companies allow sellers to choose from different fulfillment methods i.e.,

  • Self-Ship – Here seller needs to pack all the orders themselves and take responsibility for the timely delivery of orders received within the given time period.
  • Drop Ship – The Seller is required to pack the products. Ecommerce Company gets the ordered product picked by their logistic partners. The seller is not responsible for any delay in delivery.
  • Fulfilled– Amazon and Flipkart have their own fulfillment channel called FBA and FK Assured respectively. Sellers are required to transport their stock to the warehouses of e-commerce companies in bulk. All the packaging and order delivery is then handled by the company itself.

Regular Payment –

There are no issues of payments when one decides to go for digital Business Transformation. Normally, the first few payments of the orders dispatched is credited to the seller’s bank account within 15 days. Post that, the seller receives payment every 7 days. The seller should keep track of all the transactions. Any delay in payments should be notified to the Ecommerce Company.

Amazon and Flipkart is very seller centric, they get these issues resolved in 24-48 hours.

Account Health –

Last but not least, the seller account health is very crucial for future business and this is a key Business Transformation step. Account Health or Seller account reputation is a reflection of customers’ good or bad experiences. When orders get delivered to the buyer, the Ecommerce player asks for customer feedback which is added to the seller account health. Satisfied customers can give a 5-star rating on the products; on the other hand, unsatisfied buyers will give lesser star ratings. This way the seller will be alert at all times and will supply perfect products to reserve the goodwill. Frequent negative ratings from buyers can result in the suspension of your seller account as well.

Easier said than done, right now these digital Business Transformation steps may seem easy, but providing a good quality product and strong backend operations to keep you ahead from the competition is a tough task. Today E-commerce deals in almost every product providing discounts and benefits to their customers. The customers take more interest to shop online than stepping out as they can buy whatever they want and that too at prices lower than the market. Going digital is cost-efficient and effortless for both sellers and consumers at the same time.

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Process & Business Expansion

How To Write A Business Proposal

स्टार्टअप इनोवेटर्स
स्टार्टअप इनोवेटर्स
create a winning business proposal
A Business proposal bridges the gap between you and a potential client. The proposal consists of key project details, summary and other key objectives about your business. It outlines the value proposition of your business and the primary purpose is to persuade the client to do business with you.
A solid business proposal increases your chances to win a new business. It is a definitive sales record, and answers all the concerns your client has. There can be tons of ways and approaches to write a proposal; from the content to the designing, each piece of a triumphant business proposal requires keen arranging and advancement.
Before crafting the perfect Business proposal, it is important to understand whom are you writing this proposal for, and hence it needs a little preparation.
Preparation
The arrangement stage represents the moment of truth for your business proposal. It guarantees that the proposal doesn’t simply say what your identity is, it recognizes why you are the best choice to serve the customer.
Think about these inquiries before writing a business proposal: 
  • What do they do?
  • Who is the decision-maker?
  • What are their primary concerns?
  • What support or assets do they currently have?
  • Which arrangement would give the best worth?
Here are a few points you need to know before writing an effective Business proposal:-
1. Start with the title
Your business proposal should begin with a cover sheet, which ought to incorporate your name, the name of your organization, the name of the individual to whom you’re presenting your proposition and the date submitted.
  • Make sure you include your name, contact information, logo, your company name, date, and details of the client you are submitting the business proposal to.
  • You should be very clear on the points ’Prepared by’ and ’Prepared for’.
2. Cover letter/Introduction
  • The introductory letter is all about the presentation, mission, and vision of your organization.
  • Start with a small company introduction, a concise background of your organization, and a short passage of what makes your business better and unique than the rest.
  • Highlight the accreditations, awards, and achievements of your company in the introductory letter.
  • Make sure your introductory letter is clear and ought to urge your customers to pose the inquiry.
  • Try to clarify the fundamental belief of your organization.
3. Table of contents
Contingent upon to what extent your proposal is, a chapter by chapter list is a pleasant touch. Incorporate it after your cover sheet or title page, and before you dispatch it into any details. In case you’re conveying it as a PDF, include grapple interfaces/anchor link down to each segment, so it’s easy to get to specific point and area. If you are sending an electronic proposal, make sure you are creating a clickable table.
  • The table of content depends on how long your proposal is?
  • The table of content includes the page number where each segment and sub-segments can be found for easy navigation of your readers.
4. Executive summary
Present your proposal with an incredible executive summary, one that truly sells your business and product you are offering’it clearly states why you’re the correct organization for the job.
  • Explain why you are sending this proposal and why you have the best answer for your prospective customer.
  • Mention how your organization and service is taking care of the consuming issues to make it more engaging and relevant.
  • Summarize the offer and the value proposition of your organization.
  • Your customers ought to have a clear thought regarding your organization and product in the executive summary, regardless of whether they read the full proposal or not. 
The executive summary covers the entire body of your proposal. It incorporates 5Ws and 1H. It includes the problem, solution to that problem, deliverables, project milestones, budget and pricing, clients & references, social proof, and terms & conditions.
 

Let’s separate it to understand better:- 

  1. Problem ’
    Here you need to give the outline of the problem that is affecting your potential client. Show them that you comprehend and feel their concern and the massive need to eliminate it.
  2. Solution ’ 
    You have to tell them that you know about the difficulties in the undertaking and give them a plan of how you would move towards solving the problem. Ensure you alter the solution according to the customer’s needs.
  3. Deliverables ’
    This segment characterizes the statement of work. Covey your exact timelines, manpower, cost requirements. This segment of your business proposal makes the data increasingly critical and time-bound.
  4. Project Milestone ’
    Here you will give the customer a smart thought of how the advancement of the venture will look like. Try to separate the task into a few stages and feature the key events and expectations required at each stage.
  5. Budget and Pricing Create a table for your financial plan that clearly shows your whole product and administration costs. Try not to overestimate the spending that frightens your customer. Be more specific with your costing to negotiate late down the line.
  6. Social Proof ’
    Including tributes and remarks from a portion of your fulfilled customers and clients help in constructing believability. Disclose to them why they should trust you. Have 2-3 effective contextual case studies of your past projects; this will build confidence among the other party that you handle the venture well.
  7. Terms & Conditions ’
    This segment incorporates the insights concerning the payment plan, venture timelines, how the proposition can be revised, and the span of the agreement. Terms and conditions incorporate an outline of what is concurred among you and your customer. Make a point to be extremely clear about the terms and conditions with your legal team before sending it.
  8. Final Touches-
    The final touch is to incorporate space for signature at the end of the document. 
A business proposal is your chance to exhibit your business’ abilities and your one of a kind strategy to address a client’s pain point. Focus on the length and language while writing the proposal. Keep it simple and clear for your customer. Building up a solid proposition should not be done in haste because thought through proposals can lead to big business achievement.
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Process & Business Expansion

Importance of Customer Survey in Business Growth

जॉब
जॉब

3 Ways Customer Surveys Can Improve Your Business

Today it is very easy for business owners to reach out to their prospective or existing customers through an online customer survey. These business surveys allow the company to interact with the market directly.  Customer surveys can help you gauge how to retain existing customers and also find ways on how to attract new ones. 

A Customer survey is a valuable tool for achieving product innovation, making an important business decision and understanding customer pain points. 

Let’s understand a few benefits of customer survey and how it can grow your business: 

1. The survey can help you customize your product

  • Conduct a personalized survey for your customers and employees to ask about your product & get feedback.
  • Ask your customers to rate your product on a scale of 1-10. This technique is also called Net Promoter Score (NPS).
  • Whenever your customer buys any product from your website, send them a survey based on the product which will help you to understand their reaction and behaviour.
  • Customer survey data can tell you about the new trends in the market.
  • A survey can help you identify how much your customers are willing to pay if there is a demand for a particular product.

2. The survey can help you customize your service

  • You should always analyze the data and use that to improve your business strategies.
  • If you notice that your customers are having the same problem again and again it means your service is not addressing the issue, perhaps it is the time to take possible action to improve your customer service. A survey for customer satisfaction will help you address the issue.
  • Use negative feedback as a learning and growth opportunity to improve your services.
  • Try to make the Customer survey short and simple to follow.
  • Survey needs to be prompt and personal if you want to grow your business.
  • The most critical lesson you can take from a survey for customer satisfaction is that there is always a scope of improvement in your product and service.
  • Show your customers that you are taking their opinions seriously and are making some important business decisions based on them. Make them their opinion is important for your company.

3. The survey can help you understand your customer beyond just business

  • In the end, our customers are more than a name on the screen.
  • You should always focus on the pain points of your customers beyond just business to improve the survey for customer satisfaction.
  • Start collecting their birthdays, anniversaries, family details, etc. to touch them emotionally.
  • Send them offers and discount coupons on their special day to make them feel important; this will also lead to more sales and revenue generation for the company.
  • The best Customer survey includes open-ended questions, scaled questions and the combination of yes/no question.
  • Send a thank-you note or good health mail regularly to make them feel that you care for them. This practice will keep them interested enough to come back again for the purchase.
  • Write blogs on tips and tricks on the best use of your product based on customized needs which you have gathered through survey for customer satisfaction.

A Survey for customer satisfaction is more than just collecting the data and improving your product. It also creates a sense of involvement and importance in your potential customers. You want your customers to know that their opinion is important and matters to the company.

Here are the top 4 reasons you must be in touch with your customers regularly:-

  1. Show them that you respect-
    Asking for their valuable opinion shows them that you respect what they say. A customer that feels respected and important will stay with you for the long run.
  2. Measure their loyalty-
    Analyze the existing customer data to know their loyalty towards your company or product.
  3. Identify new opportunities-
    With the help of regular customer surveys; one can identify their need and problem which will lead you to delve on a new opportunity to solve that problem.
  4. Learn more about your customer-
    By understanding their needs, personal feelings and what they want, you can directly get to know how they think and feel. 

Customer survey boosts the overall brand awareness amongst your target group and strengthens your brand image in their mind. Try to customize the look and feel of the survey according to your audience. Select different colors and font for unique customer experience. However, the outcome should be one- valuable insights that can help you garner a high score on customer satisfaction.

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Process & Business Expansion

How to Manage Your Inventory Effectively

बिजनेस
बिजनेस

Tips for Retailers to Manage Inventory Better

Inventory management is one of the most important parts for a retail business Paying attention to your sales data and inventory details is very crucial for the smooth running of your business operations. The objective of inventory control is to strike a balance between sufficient stock and over-stock. The stock maintained by a business entity at a particular point in time should be sufficient to meet the production requirements so that uninterrupted production flow can be maintained at all times. 

Here are some top inventory management techniques for entrepreneurs:
 

1. Use Barcode Reader 

  • Keeping track of inventory is a cumbersome job. These days it is very difficult to keep a record of inventory flow without any software. There must be a proper record-keeping system for all the stock one is holding. Using a bar code reader for inflow and outflow of the stock is one of the best inventory management techniques one can opt for.
  • There are EAN/UPCs printed on most of the products, barcode reader device can scan the EAN or UPC and adds the inventory to the software it is linked to. This way you’ll be able to see the entire inventory on your computer screen with just a single click. For any outflow of inventory similar process should be followed. This way the retailer will be able to see the current on-hand inventory at any point in time.
  • Along with inventory management, daily sales reports can be generated with the available data. You just need to subtract today’s opening stock with yesterday’s opening stock you’ll get the sales numbers for the day.   

    

2. Inventory Racking System

  • Retailers cannot keep the entire inventory on a single pallet. It needs to be segregated to the designated areas and that too with proper labeling. For example ’ in grocery store daily household items like bread, biscuits, chips are kept near the counter as they are perishable and sell out very quickly. Desi Ghee will be kept on a separate rack as it doesn’t move out that frequently.
  • Labeling the racks and pallets helps in creating a separate section for similar products. This way at the time of order you will know which items are placed where and picking & packaging will be done more efficiently.

Segregation of stock proves to be the top inventory management technique because: –

A. Saves time in picking and packing of the products.

B. One can easily find out which items need reordering by just looking at the designated section.

C. Popular FIFO (First in First Out) inventory system can be easily executed.

3. Improve stock ordering

Ordering the right products by keeping your customers’ needs in mind is indispensable to ensure proper inventory management. For this, it is important to keep an eye on how products are moving and to observe how customers are interacting with your merchandise. For example, the average normal usage of a material component A is 50 units per week.

4.  Physical Stock Check

  • With barcode readers and Proper Inventory Systems, the retailer can do inventory management very effectively. There won’t be any issues finding:

?
On hand inventory

?
The bestselling products

?
Products to be reordered

?
Slow-moving products

  • Regular check on the physical stock is required to make sure the inventory showing in the software matches with the actual inventory status. There could be a situation when the retailer forgets to mark the inward stock by barcode and it will not show up in the software, whereas the stock is physically available in the store. Similarly, any miss in the scanning of outward supply can show the inventory in the software but won’t be available physically. Building a strong inventory management technique checklist to fulfill the complete requirement of physical stock checking will help in resolving this issue.
  • To overcome such a situation the best inventory management technique would be physical stock check. No doubt it can be a little time taking activity but is worth the effort. The monthly physical stock check should be a regular practice for a retailer who wants to do the best inventory management technique. 

5. Know the Minimum Stock Level

It signifies ’at least how much to stock’. Every business entity must determine the minimum level of stock required by it. It is the lowest level of material stock, which must be maintained in hand at all times so that there is no stoppage of production due to the non-availability of stock. Suppose the average normal time taken to get an order from supplier to the stores, known as lead time, is 5 weeks. Here, the minimum stock level that must be maintained all the time for material A would be 450 units ’ (50 units ’ 5) = 200 units. 

6. Know Maximum Stock Level of the business

It is important to then determine the maximum level of stock for a particular business. It signifies ’up to how much to stock’. It is the highest level of quantity for any material/inventory item which can be held in stock at any time. Any quantity of stock beyond this level leads to an extra amount of expenditure due to the engagement of funds, cost of storage, obsolescence, etc.

7. Set the level of buffer stock

In any business, some quantity of stock may be kept for the contingency to be used in case of sudden orders. This stock is known as buffer stock.

Almost all businesses today are moving their base online. When the flow of sale and purchase rises, the retailers need to keep track of the top inventory management techniques discussed above to create a flexible functioning of the business.

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Process & Business Expansion

How to Start an Online Business Instantly

ई-कॉमर्स
ई-कॉमर्स

7 Online Business Ideas That You Can Start Immediately

There are several ideas available in the market to choose from if you want to start an online business in India. We tell you a few ready to start ideas that do not require too much backend technology, investment or complete knowledge of its know-how.

1. Blogging:

Writing a blog is one of the best online businesses in India today. If you love to write and want to share your experience and thoughts, blogging can turn out to be a profitable business. It mostly depends on your consistency and effectiveness to do so. Providing persuasive content to generate leads and appreciation is all you need. Blog writing can help you gather more and more followers. Now you can start earning money by selling ad space or products which can be extremely beneficial over the time. Although it takes some time to strengthen your follower base, but eventually it’s totally worth the effort.

2. Become a Vlogger:

You just need to think of unique video concepts and there you are- all set on your journey to become a vlogger or a Youtuber. Record and edit videos via a camera or a smartphone on topics that interest; engaging content is what everyone is looking for. Social Media platforms like YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok help you sell your content directly just by engaging with a good number of followers.

3. E-commerce Retailer:

There is demand for everything and anything. If you have a shop or a small business and want to make your business digital, you can enroll yourself as an e-commerce player expanding your business worldwide and reaping the benefits of online business in India. Of course you would have to work on your delivery mechanism, payment gateways but since you already have presence in retail the backend work should not be much of hassle for you.

4. Freelancing:

One of the most underrated concept amongst all the online business in India. Freelancing can be a great option to earn money as you are providing services as per your ability and expertise and also at the convenience of your time. This of course is not a full-time job or business, but you’ll be able to make some handsome amount of money with time.  

5. Conduct Webinars or Become an Online Professor:

Over a period of time webinars as a concept has gained immense popularity in India. People with good speaking skills, knowledge about a topic along with great presentation skills can conduct webinars and turn it into a successful business model for them. For example ’ if you are a professor or a subject matter expert, you can get yourself registered with educational platforms like Bada Business, where you can create content for entrepreneurs and solve their business problems through your lecture. 

6. E-Book Author:

If you have an interesting storyline which can be converted into an e-book that could attract huge audience, you can work towards getting it published on online portals such as Amazon.

7. Stock Market Trading:

There is an orthodox mindset among a group of people who confuse trading with gambling. Online trading is one of the best online businesses one can think off. You risk some capital to gain some. One can make a good return on capital by just following these two simple  rules:

  • Buy low & sell high
  • Sell high & buy low. 

There are a variety of asset classes available in India to trade, like Equities, Forex and Commodity. All you need is just to open a trading account with a good broker and you are all to set to start your online business.

These businesses do not require too much money to be spent, just a bit of thought and strategy and you are all set to become an entrepreneur by switching or opening a new online business in India.

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Process & Business Expansion

How to Create a Successful Subscription Business Model

How to Build a Successful Subscription Business model

We all have realized that the Subscription business model is here to stay. A large number of businesses are moving from a product economy to a subscription economy. 

Why does a subscription-based business model work?

There are 4 factors that we can attribute to this:

  1. It gives you the opportunity to move towards a recurring revenue model. The model is devised in a such a way that the customer will have to pay monthly, quarterly or yearly for your product and service and if you keep providing him quality, chances are higher that there will be a repeat subscription
  2. It allows you to constantly engage and connect with the consumer. Business-customer relationship should not be limited to just a single point purchase
  3. New revenue streams can be created from the current customers by adding more services to your product
  4. A subscription business model can make you take the plunge into digital which can help you save a lot of cost and can help you scale faster

Now if you have chosen to walk the subscription path, you still need to work hard on your product, on your pricing and your service to make sure it is a success. Here are a few tips to succeed using a subscription model

1. Align your Pricing with the Business Goal

  • Pricing is the most important strategy in a subscription business model to make sure your business is a success. It can help you in a lot of ways to acquire new customers, create more revenue streams from existing customers and also make sure the retention rate is high.
  • Structure your pricing tiers on the basis of monthly, quarterly or a yearly based subscription model
  • Also take into account other factors like usage levels, loyalty, new schemes
  • You can start with some basic pricing tiers & adjust it over time keeping in mind customer feedback

2. Bring in Uniqueness

  • Provide the customer with new products and services that add value to them
  • In a subscription-based business model, customer sometimes might not know about the differentiating services provided by you. Spell it out through constant alerts to prospective clients
  • Your product needs to constantly connect with the consumer for it to work

3. Give the Consumer Convenience

  • Today most companies that provide anytime, anywhere convenience to the customers are the ones making money
  • For e.g. All OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hotstar give the consumer an option to watch shows/movies anytime and anywhere. Netflix has also devised a pricing strategy for content watching for mobile-only users. This is cheaper than its usual monthly package.
  • Provide the consumer with variety at the click of a button

4. Streamline Cash flow & Billing
 

  • In a subscription based model most of the cash being received by you is upfront, the maximum credit cycle is also 30-45 days. Hence, make sure you are rotating your cash efficiently
  • Bring in automation and software to ease our the billing process and optimize cash collection

5. Build Customer Relationships

  • Customer Relations form the basis of every business and similar is the case in a subscription business model
  • If the customer is not happy with your product or service he will cancel the subscription for the next time. Hence, innovation and building strong relationships is key
  • Get to know your customer well and then design products for him. This will also help in deciding the pricing strategy

6. Give your Customer a Choice

  • In a subscription business model, the one size fits all strategy might not work well for everyone. Hence, give the customer a choice to choose a specific service or a specific pricing tier according to their likes and needs
  • This will help you attain more customers as paying according to choice will appeal to your target audience

Every entrepreneur wants a regular income in his business for positive cash flow and business growth. Subscription based business models provide the perfect platform to enable that ambition, but the cheery on the cake will always lie in your product quality and customer satisfaction.

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Process & Business Expansion

Learn How to Start Your Company From Scratch

स्टार्टअप
स्टार्टअप

Start a Company with Ease!

Every business has to start from the very beginning, and it’s the passion behind it that drives you to start something and be your own boss. Starting a company from scratch need not be complicated, but requires a lot of planning and backend work. Here are a few tips on how to start a company from ground zero.

1. Research & Refine your Idea

If you are thinking about how to start a company and set a business, you must be having an idea. Thorough background research of the idea is critical

Analyze what market leaders are doing in that space and learn from their mistakes 

Talk to a lot of customers, understand their pain point and try to solve that problem

Conduct surveys, hold focus group meetings and research SEOs

2. Prepare a Business Plan

After researching your business idea, the next phase is preparing a business plan that reflects steady & realistic growth

Don’t rush into things before understanding the key aspects of a business. For e.g. 

  • What is the objective of your business?
  • Your defined customer base
  • Price points
  • Sales projections
  • Operational costs
  • Market Strategy

All this has to be a part of a well-defined business plan

3. Choose your Business Structure

This is very important before you decide to start a company. There are a few structures that SMEs can choose from:

  • Sole Proprietorship where you are the ultimate boss and the cost of setting up is the least
  • Partnership- Where you can start the company with a friend, family member or a business partner and decide your profit and loss sharing ratio
  • Limited Liability Company (LLC)- This is a popular choice for small to medium sized businesses. The cost of set up is not very high and there is a separation between the owners and the company

Once you choose a structure, register the company and follow all mandates to make it official

4. Make a financial breakdown chart

If you are starting a new company, you need to address finances and see how the funding will take place 

One of the ways to do this is to prepare a break-even analysis. This is essential for financial planning to know when your business will be profitable 

The simplest way to do this is to calculate your fixed costs and your variable costs and get the difference between the two

Set a financial goal, this will help in keeping a check of whether you are stretching your budget or there is room for margin

Keep a list of the funding options available to you and at what stage you would like to use them

5. Build a Founding Team

Human resources are important to every business and an entrepreneur should be clear that he cannot manage all the functions

Get together a team by assessing their strengths and weaknesses, so that everyone is an asset to the company

Delegate work effectively

Incentivize the team so that when the company grows, they also benefit from it

6. Improve on the Go

Once you have clarity on all your initial steps, there is never a better time for starting up. Improvisations can be made as you go along. 

Most successful companies have launched with imperfections but that did not deter them from adapting to the changes

Learn from the journey and enjoy every bit of it!

7. Decide a launch Strategy

Once you start a company and your product is ready to hit the market, be clear about how you want it to launch

Think about media spends and the mediums you want to use, how do you want to market the product initially and grow it phase by phase

Start branding yourself using social media. Build a following on Facebook and Instagram to create the initial buzz  

Build a logo, create a website and let people identify with your brand

8. Feedback is Essential

Once the company has started and you have launched your product, let people use it and give feedback. A perspective from the consumer will help you see the product in a different light

Customer feedback will help in improving your business 

There is no perfect route to start a company and grow your business, but a killer instinct and the ability to adapt will help you achieve success. Have a quick problem-solving approach as you will

be constantly competing against time. Don’t rush into things and you will be on your way to building a company that you always dreamt of.

Categories
Process & Business Expansion

ERP For Small Business: Going The Right way!

Transform your business using ERP solutions

Billionaire Entrepreneur Bill Gates has said, ’Vision without execution is day dreaming’. Managing business requires handling many functions and verticals and to align this together ERP software tools need to take center stage.  The advantages of using ERP solutions for small businesses are immense which will eventually help their companies to grow. Here are 8 benefits of implementing ERP small business software:

1. Cost Reduction

  • Implementation of the best ERP tools will reduce administrative costs considerably. This also helps in better turnaround time. Employees won’t have to waste time in doing manual jobs and entries into the system
  • Capability of your employees can be used for bigger and more profitable projects and plans 

2. Automation with Increased Efficiency

  • Automation in workflow will help avoid the possibility of human error. Hence, reduction in any delays or problems related to customer interface leading to increased efficiency
  • Industry best practices can be adopted and aligned with the company’s goal and vision
  • Increased Efficiency is one of the biggest benefits of ERP tools for Small businesses

3. Visibility and Transparency

  • Visibility & Transparency is one of the biggest selling points for ERP small business software. It allows access to most of the critical functions of the business by keeping a track of every department.
  • For e.g. you can keep track of your distribution network, your inventory in the store house and how much of it is in transit as well as your marketing spends & financial books.

4. Single Reporting Structure

  • In SMBs there are not too many departmental heads, hence with the help of ERP small business software, a single reporting structure is created making it easier to analyze, report and draw conclusions

5. Improved Planning & Departmental Collaboration

  • Since the software gives you accessibility and the ability to analyse and compare reports from across departments, it can help plan inventory and financial management in a better and efficient manner making ERP small business software highly beneficial

6. Inventory/Supply Chain Management

  • For businesses with inventory requirements, ERP solutions create the opportunity for another kind of savings in the form of inventory management
  • ERP for small business can help calculate demand for specific materials, decrease overstocking and track real-time supply
  • When supply chain management runs smoothly, the entire organization will benefit

7. Data Reliability and Security

  • Data is the heart of any organization and needs to be secure all the time
  • ERP tools have controls that can keep your data secure by having restricted rights of edit, copy and deletion monitored continuously
  • Since there is a single source of data, accuracy and security are most important

8. Mobility

  • Today organizations are working on the move especially Startups and SMEs, hence effective ERP systems help in giving the same opportunities to employees who are working on the field
  • Employees can have access to a central database where they can carry out work from any location and any device making them a productive asset for the company. 

ERP for small business is a boon that companies need to embrace and understand. The company needs to weigh which ERP solution is best suited to its goals and objectives and can deliver the ROI expected; hence decisions regarding ERP small business software need to be made strategically before jumping the gun.

Though every business has its own need and requirements, these are some of the Best ERP tools for Small & Medium Businesses

NetSuite ERP

Business Cloud Essentials

Sage Intact

SYSPRO

SAP Business One

Oracle ERP Cloud

Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management

Epicor ERP