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Category: Business Insights

Insights and strategies for growing your business in international markets.

What is Average Call Duration? (How to Measure & Optimize)

23rd July 2024 blog
Average call duration guide

Even though digital communication channels are growing, a surprising 65% of potential customers still prefer reaching brands by phone. This makes phone calls a critical touchpoint for businesses. However, lengthy …Read More »

How Healthcare Organizations Use Virtual Numbers (9 Use Cases)

25th June 2024 blog
how healthcare organizations use virtual numbers

A staggering 88% of healthcare appointments are booked by phone, indicating that calling remains the preferred way of scheduling appointments and receiving other assistance. Because of this, healthcare organizations need …Read More »

Offering 24/7 Global Support as a Travel Company

24th June 2024 blog
24/7 customer support for a travel company

Are you in the travel and hospitality business, striving to enhance global support? Imagine offering round-the-clock assistance to your global clientele, leveraging the latest in cloud telephony. Travel companies face …Read More »

Calling the Middle East (Everything You Need to Know)

5th June 2024 blog
Making outbound calls to the Middle East.

If you do business with the Middle East often, you’ll have noticed that certain communication services (like VoIP) and apps (like WhatsApp, Skype, etc) are restricted across GCC regions. This …Read More »

4 Key Problems with Multi-Carrier Phone Services

4th June 2024 blog
4 problems with using multiple carriers for business phone service

Having multiple phone service carriers catering to various global communication needs sounds like a good idea, right? But it is a complex landscape, especially for organizations operating across diverse regions …Read More »

Importance of Reliable Voice Phone Services for Businesses

3rd June 2024 blog
The importance of Reliable Voice Phone Services for Businesses.

In business, where every interaction counts, the role of reliable communication cannot be overstated. At the heart of customer trust lies positive customer experiences, and your business phone service serves …Read More »

Earning the Trust of Your Customers: Why It’s a Long-Term Investment

22nd May 2019 blog, Business Insights

One of the most, if not the most, important aspects of the customer experience is based on trust. Customers simply will not do business with a company they do not trust. Today, consumer trust is sadly at an all-time low. This is not due to a single event or even a handful of events, but instead, due to a slow and painful chipping away at the relationships between businesses and consumers. Relationships can be long-lasting depending on how you nurture them which is why earning the trust of your customers is so important.

Every time a company makes a customer repeat themselves multiple times, wait on hold for an unreasonable amount of time, fill out a pile of paperwork or complete any other extraordinarily frustrating task, the customer loses a bit of trust in the company. And without trust, there is no relationship between a customer and the company.

Why Earning Trust is Important in Customer Relationships

Many companies are hyper-focused on getting tasks accomplished quickly. There are a lot of discussions related to streamlining processes and finding ways to become more efficient. It all sounds great in theory until you realize that the operational efficiency many times works in complete counter to a quality customer experience. By trying to get through as many customers as possible in a short amount of time, you may increase your volume, but the company is also sacrificing personalized customer support, and this erodes customer trust in the company. Instead of a customer feeling like a human who is able to trust a company to help them solve any issue, a customer is left feeling like a number who is rapidly being pushed down an assembly line dubbed, “customer care.”

This is not the ultimate goal for a business to be successful. Instead, earning the trust of your customers should be at the core of every conversation and decision. Building trust doesn’t happen quickly or easily. A business must remain consistent in the messaging, understand the personas of those in their market, and deliver on promises made over time. When your customers and prospects trust you, they are more likely to invest in your brand. When you have their trust, you are also typically able to command a higher price for your goods and/or services and boost the lifetime value of each of your customers.

Earning the Trust of Your Customers
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#100179306196

Strategies that Benefit Your Business in the Long Run

Here are some strategies in planning for earning the trust of your customers as a long-term investment:

Make yourself available to your customers for questions and concerns. Customers often have questions and if there is no way for them to get answers or they can’t get the answers in a timely manner, they will often go elsewhere.

Offer a product that is reliable. Selling something and boasting about all of the features is one thing, but delivering a product that is exactly what was promised is another thing. If you sell a low-quality product, it is sure to draw negative reviews and this can lead to a break in trust and a decrease in credibility within the market. Putting a product through rigorous testing is a good way to resolve this and ensure you are delivering a product that is high quality, as you have promised.

Other ways to earn the trust of your customers:

  • Be transparent
  • Bring value to your clients
  • Maintain consistency
  • Ensure your messaging is in line with your actions
  • Create consistent imagery across all of your marketing materials
  • Know your prospects
  • Deliver the expected brand experience

Earning the trust of your customers should be at the center of every strategic planning session and every action was taken by an organization because, without trust, a business cannot succeed.

We all know that trust is the precursor to any meaningful and long-lasting relationship. Buyers, ultimately, must put their faith in the companies and people they choose to do business with. Trust is a byproduct of commitment. It is the universal factor that will essentially make or break an opportunity. In mapping out a plan for earning the trust of your customers, you should aim to deliver the right results to the right people. In the long-term, they will trust you and your business and invest in your product and service offerings. Once you have carved out your identity within your market, stay on top of communications and back up everything you say with tangible actions. This is the path to business growth and success in any industry.

Accountability: Why Your Business Needs It

22nd May 2019 blog, Business Insights

To effectively carry out a complex project or implement a strategic business plan, a culture of accountability must be developed throughout an organization. In order to achieve success, everyone within the organization needs to understand the organization’s strategy, their individual roles within the organization, and all specific tasks they are responsible for. Accountability is not limited to staff members within an organization. Managers and business leaders must also follow through on their promises and maintain a commitment to their organizational goals and to their individual performance.

How To Build Accountability in Business

When accountability is absent, the effects can snowball through an entire organization. Particularly when there is a large team with multiple people working in various roles on a project, this can pose issues. The result will be delays in project completion (if the project is completed at all) and negativity eroding attitudes of team members. A lack of trust could develop and both the performance and overall culture of an organization can suffer greatly.

If you want a high-performing team that is committed to taking ownership of their tasks and projects, read on. Here are some tips regarding accountability and why your business needs it.

1. Accountability means creating and nurturing an environment of trust and openness

When team members are behind or make mistakes, it is important that they feel comfortable enough to approach others on the team or a leader of the team for advice or help, with enough time to address and correct the issue. Asking for help can be very difficult, but it can also help to build trust, understanding, and autonomy, which leads to the development of strong teams that are very productive. This is just one tip, which highlights the importance of accountability and why your business needs it.

2. Understanding staff and what individually motivates them

Everyone has different motivations. Despite this, there are specific business culture traits that will lead to increased workplace satisfaction. When team members are given the opportunity to learn, grow, and develop in their roles, along with being made to feel that their contribution is essential, this is a plus for everyone. To help sustain a business culture that supports these values in conjunction with accountability and performance, business owners can avoid micromanagement, stay open to communicating, encourage collaboration, support employee education, and growth, and continue their own educations through conferences and workshops.

Accountability Why Your Business Needs It
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#100050738501

3. Set clear goals that are actionable and provide metrics for success

When a team leaves a meeting or a conversation, it is important that they leave with a clear understanding of what their specific tasks and responsibilities are. This involves going over timelines and deadlines. By defining these aspects clearly, a team can leave a meeting with an understanding of what the next steps to take are, how much time they should spend on these tasks, and what the resulting product should be. Again, this is another critical step in establishing accountability.

4. Track and periodically review your progress, notice successes, and failures

In order for a team member to know when a project is completed and the level of quality that is expected of them, there has to be some form of tracking in place. This tracking method must have clearly defined definitions of success worked into it. Whether the progress is monitored on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, it is important to do this to figure out if the project is on track and within scope.

Even leaders need to remember that they need help in staying accountable. A leader may become too focused on day-to-day tasks and lose sight of the big picture or, in contrast, they may develop such a wide scope that they have a hard time understanding the more intricate aspects of the organization. On the short-term, this may not necessarily cause a problem, but if this continues, this could lead to great difficulty in maintaining accountability to the organizational strategy.

Working with a partner that helps with strategy from outside of the organization could assist in this area. A partner could help leaders to maintain an understanding of where the business is going, as well as to maintain momentum. This outside partner could also help in keeping the team motivated and aligned with the company vision and strategies.

When leaders are committed to their accountability, it can make a huge impact on their organization, which leads to alignment and the overall success of the organization.

Key Steps to Creating an Environment of Trust and Security in the Workplace

20th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

A business leader’s ability to inspire and motivate their employees is based on trust and security. When people trust a business, they feel confident in the business owner’s decisions and suggestions and even during times of uncertainty, the business owner’s leadership will influence them. That is because they trust you and they expect you will follow through with what you have said you will do. Taking key steps to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace is essential to the success of any type of business.

Ensuring that your words are in alignment with your actions is key in building trust and security in the workplace. Research indicates that employees say that what leaders say and do is what has the most impact on their perception of the organization they are employed with. When there is a disconnect between an organization leader’s words and actions, staff members are less likely to become engaged and remain committed to the organization. Actions matter more if you want to earn the trust of employees and keep them engaged. Starting with the leader, it requires the involvement at every level of the organization in order to create a deep bond of believability that motivates the employees to put forth the effort that is needed to make the business a success.

Key Steps to Create an Environment of Trust and Security

Understanding the Necessity of Trust

The first key step to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace is acknowledging that building trust takes hard work and focused efforts. Trust has to be earned and it comes from conscious effort to follow through with what you say you will do.

The next key steps to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace are to be honest and supportive. Even when it is difficult, you must tell the truth and not just when it relates to things you know people want to hear. Make every effort to understand what employees need to know and communicate facts clearly while being considerate of their efforts and while being reasonably sensitive to their feelings. Showing support for your staff and your team members, even when mistakes are made, goes a long way as it pertains to building trust as the leader of an organization.

Demonstrate Sincere Commitment

Committing to follow through is another of the key steps to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace. Saying you will do something is only worth as much as the follow through. If there is a chance that you will not be able to deliver, then do not commit to something. Failing to follow through on your word can destroy the trust that has been built and make people less inclined to trust you again in the future.

Consistency is also critical when discussing key steps to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace. Consistently following through with what you say you will do builds trust over time. It can’t be something that is done on occasion. It must be consistent. Keeping commitments must be at the very center of your behaviors, in all relationships, on a daily basis and year after year in order to build and maintain the trust of your team members.

Trust and Security in the Workplace
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#100016896641

Leading by Example

Leading by example is another of the key steps to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace. Nothing is more representative of the culture of an organization than the behavior of the leader of it, who has the most influence with regard to employee action and influence on driving their results. If you say that teamwork is important, then reinforce that point by collaborating across individual teams within the organization and across various functions of the organization. It is also important to give credit when team members do great work and you will set the stage for a very appreciative culture by recognizing their efforts.

Building accountability is also a critical component. When you and other leaders of organizations acknowledge your errors as well as your successes, employees see you as credible and will follow your lead. You can best encourage honest dialogue and foster accountability within the organization by building in processes that become important aspects of the culture, such as evaluation of projects (positive attributes, as well as negative ones and elements that need modification) and next steps in meeting agendas to help track deadlines and milestones.

Following these key steps to creating an environment of trust and security in the workplace will help to improve morale and, ultimately, help to guarantee a business’ success.

Giving Proper Credit to Employees and Building Trust

16th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

If customers are the backbone of any successful company, then employees are the foundation. When an employee doesn’t trust the company that they work for, then your company will not succeed. This is why building trust with your team is an important aspect of running your business. Employees do not want to give 100% to a company they do not trust. Your employees may just be giving the bare minimum not to get fired. When an employee likes the company that they work for, you will find that they are acting with more passion and enthusiasm for the job.

Building Trust within your Team

So how do you establish trust with your employees? There are plenty of steps to take to earn the trust of your employees.

1. Establish initial trust with employees
Since managers are in direct communication with their employees, the first step is to be sure that the managers are doing everything they can to establish trust with their employees. Managers can do this by just being honest with their employees. They must be effective communicators who offer help and support. Managers should not only be helpful, but they need to have a friendly and professional relationship with their team. Consider taking your team to lunch once a week to establish a better connection.

2. Engage your employees
The easiest way to get to know your team is to ask them questions. That’s all it takes. Once you open up communication, you can begin building trust in your relationships. If you’re not sure how to establish communication with members of your team, ask them what you can do to be better. Take this feedback and then acknowledge and act upon it.

3. Listen to your team
Now that you are getting good at asking your employees about what they feel and want, you must listen to what your employees are answering. In this regard, you must take a more in-depth look, because more often than not, your employees will sugar-coat things with surface-level conversations. It is your job as the manager to dive deeper into these conversations and find out what it is your employees are too shy to ask for.

Building Trust with your Team
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#:100223779788

4. Respect your employees
Don’t try to scare your employees with surprise reviews. If you have something serious to discuss with an employee, let them know that it is coming so they have time to prepare. Schedule your time with employees so that way you’re not bursting in on an important project they’re working on with bad news. It is better for the overall health of your business to be completely transparent with your employees.

5. Let your team know that you trust them
An easy way to show your team that you are building trust in them is to give them a project and let them run with it. If you don’t believe they could do a difficult task without your help, start with an easy task. Try not to micromanage their lives and you’ll find that once you start showing trust to your team, they will begin to demonstrate confidence in return.

6. Treat them like humans
When you’re a manager, you may come off as intimidating to your employees without even realizing it. Although you want to maintain a reasonable amount of respect, don’t forget to show that you’re a human too. Little things like making eye contact, greeting your employees every day and listening to them can make a big difference.

7. Build up your team
Show that you have confidence in your employees by taking an interest in your employees’ personal lives. Of course, this must be done on a respectful and professional level, but it’s important to know when your employees may be struggling so you can provide support during these times. For example, if you recognize that one of your employees is going through a divorce or is having another issue at home, you might notice that it is affecting their work performance. When you can provide sympathy and take an interest in their personal lives during these downtimes your employees will feel supported and ready to give their all again. On the other side, when things are going well, don’t forget to celebrate!

Building a Professional Name for Yourself: Why Credibility is so Important

16th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

In today’s market, brands and products are introduced at super speeds. Research indicates that approximately 250,000 products are launched per year and these products have an average of an 85 to 95 percent failure rate. While new brands come and go, some stand out and last. At the root of being a brand that lasts, is credibility and trust. Trust and transparency rank even higher than product quality. This brings us to the topic of building a professional name for yourself and why credibility is so important.

Customers are wary of scams and shady marketing tactics and they are more often basing their purchasing decisions on how genuine they believe a company to be. Unfortunately, many companies do not practice authenticity and instead try to build their companies on what they believe customers want to hear. Listening to customers, however, is not all about repeating back to them whey they say. This is not the path to building a professional name for yourself. It is not about trapping customers with empty promises. Instead, it is about steadfastly proclaiming what you believe in and then taking a step back to see who is drawn to the message.

Brands that are authentic are able to establish and maintain a loyal following. In discussing building a professional name for yourself, it should be part of the business’s core to maintain authenticity and produce results and outcomes based on this. Customers will then share their experiences with their friends and family and if the company stays true to their message and continues to provide products or services that are in line with customers’ expectations, you will develop a brand that will stand the test of time.

If you are thinking of launching a startup or introducing a new brand, here are some points which are key to building a professional name for yourself.

Clearly define your mission and values. This could take a while to mull over. You will need to choose which values you are ready to commit to unwaveringly and you will want to convey this with clear messaging.

Do not half-heartedly commit to something that you are not fully prepared to embrace. Customers will see through this and credibility will not be established.

Determine how and where you will showcase your authenticity in establishing credibility. Whether it is online with social media or your blog or behind the scenes interactions with others, really get to know your audience and allow them to get to know you as well.

Keep your messaging consistent. The messages that you are sending out through marketing, promotions, and social media should be completely in line with the in-person experience that you are providing to customers.

Prepare for opposition. When a business gains a certain level of publicity, this often attracts backlash. Do not let this distract you or discourage you from your values and mission. Stay true to your messaging, your core beliefs, and you will gain the respect you deserve from those around you. Loyal customers will continue to support you based on the trust and credibility you have established.

Why Credibility is so Important
Source: Stockphoto.com O#100186311516 ID#100200144052

Credibility in leadership is just as important as establishing credibility in the brand. Actively engaging, as a leader, in actions that follow the same value system as the brand is a critical part in establishing credibility and trust for your brand. Again, acting with integrity, being consistent, communicating, caring for others, being committed and inspiring others as a leader will support you in building a professional name for yourself as well as establishing credibility and trust.

In the end, launching a business and building a professional name is about being true to your values, expressing those values unwaveringly, and following through on promises to customers and clients. For those who adopt this method in embracing authenticity for establishing a business or a brand, you will find that building a company on a solid foundation provides lasting and tremendous stability that is unparalleled, no matter the challenges that lie ahead.

How to Earn a Reputation Based on Credibility in Your Industry

13th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

There are a number of traits that can help a business earn a reputation to become more successful. Credibility is at the top of that list. Credibility means others look to your company as a reliable source and if others rely on you, they trust you and do business with you, and this propels your business ahead.

Being credible means that you establish and nurture a very specific set of qualities. It really doesn’t make a difference which type of organization or industry you are in – these qualities work the same across the board.

Learning How to Earn a Reputation for Credibility: Step by Step.

If you are serious about establishing yourself as credible, here are some tips regarding how to earn a reputation based on credibility in your industry:

1. Build trust: If you are wondering how to earn a reputation based on credibility in your industry, you have to start with trust. In order to cultivate credibility, you have to build trust, earn it, and maintain it. If people like you, they will trust you and they will be more willing to do business with you. The trust you build with your market is more important than your bottom line.

2. Become an expert: Being competent within your industry means having the ability to analyze a situation and develop several potential solutions. Being confident in your capabilities is important so that others know they can count on you.

3. Consistency: Another important tip regarding how to earn a reputation based on credibility in your industry is related to consistency. Everything that your company states and does should be consistent. The messages that your organization is sending out, the actions that you take as an organization, and the things you allow in your organization should all be in complete and total alignment. In figuring out how to earn a reputation based on credibility in your industry, this should be carefully considered as people do not trust a person or company that “flip flops.” They feel safe with consistency, knowing what to expect, and whom they can rely on.

4. Authenticity: In mapping out how to earn a reputation based on credibility in your industry, you need authenticity. When trying to earn trust, you cannot rely on the “fake it until you make it” approach. This will lead to disaster. The basis for establishing yourself as a leader and your business as a leading organization is a solid foundation that offers others long-lasting stability, no matter what challenges are faced.

5. Sincerity: Being credible equals being sincere. This means that you don’t necessarily say everything that you think, but you do mean everything that you say. True sincerity requires commitment and a willingness to be unmovable and straightforward no matter what.

6. Respect: Truly considering the feelings of others could mean everything to them. Treating others with respect because they deserve it and understanding why that is important is paramount. Respect earns credibility.

7. Accountability: In order to establish credibility, you have to be accountable for your actions and decisions. When making mistakes, it is important to own up to them and correct anything that stands as an error.

8. Loyalty: Credibility is connected to serving and protecting others. When you have the best interests of others in mind, and this is clear, this tends to build loyalty and credibility.

9. Honesty: In figuring out how to earn a reputation based on credibility in your industry, it is extremely important to be honest. Total transparency is a fundamental keystone to business and it is at the core of credibility.

10. Communicate: Communication is at the core of establishing credibility. This means that you need to make sure you are effectively communicating the vision of your business, helping your market to understand what sets you apart from your competition, and helping to carry your brand message through each of your marketing initiatives. This is also important within your organization, in building credibility with your staff and other team leaders.

Earn a Reputation Woman on Laptop
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 – ID#100070154817

Credibility Builds Better Business

Credibility as a business leader allows your staff to look at you as a reliable resource for decision-making and information. A leader that is credible has gained the respect of their peers and their staff by displaying positive and strong attributes. Credibility translates into improved employee morale, improved staff performance, and the ultimate success of an organization. Credibility is essential in building relationships within your industry as a business leader and as a brand.

Whether you own a brick-and-mortar shop, a virtual consultancy, or another kind of business, all businesses need to display honesty and credibility in order to gain trust and earn a reputation based on credibility within the industry they are in. Credibility has to be earned. It takes time and consistency to establish it, along with an effort to maintain it, but it is necessary on the ultimate path to success.

Delegating Tasks and Managing a Team

9th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

One of the primary tasks of an entrepreneur is to delegate tasks and managing a team. Without proper delegation, business owners run the risk of using up too much of their energy, ensuring burnout and inefficiency.

Effectively Managing a Team with GCF

Luckily, modern business models have made it incredibly easy to manage their staff, especially with the recent innovations made in telecommunication. In this article, we’ll take a look at several ways to delegate tasks efficiently using Global Call Forwarding’s telecom solutions.

Time of Day Routing

One of the more popular add-ons that aids delegation for subscribers to Global Call Forwarding is “time of day routing.” As implied by the name, time of day routing redirects inbound calls based on when the call is placed. This means that you can delegate tasks by the department, for example, when another group is in a meeting. Similarly, you can redirect calls with the time of day routing to ensure that even outside of regular business hours, customers can get in touch with a representative from your organization to answer their inquiries. This helps offset overwhelming your team with an abundance of callers daily, spreading the workload around.

Also, time of day routing enables your business to outsource inbound calls out of business hours to call centers that are located in more favorable time zones. For instance, if you have a business in New York, you’re probably aware of how few hours of overlap there are between London and your headquarters. To cover those early morning hours and late afternoon calls, time of day routing can enable your business to employ a call center in the United Kingdom.

White Listing & Black Listing

Using Global Call Forwarding’s whitelisting and blacklisting capabilities can focus on which department and staff members receive calls from various sources. For instance, you may want to keep your sales team whitelisted to ensure that only important company calls are made between departments. Or, you may want your accounts receivable department to blacklist problematic callers that can gum up the workflow. By limiting and enabling different parts of your company’s communication networks, your business is more easily managed and a natural flow of delegation is possible.

Managing A Team Woman on Phone
Stockphoto.com O#23559 – ID#100158068988

The Use of Directories

Having a directory for your phone system automatically delegates inbound calls to the appropriate sources. By empowering your customers and clients with the option to self-select through your directory, each part of your organization and individual staff members have a higher likelihood of receiving inquiries from the appropriate caller.

Global Call Forwarding offers many customizable ways to create a functional directory system for your organization. These include IVR and PBX. PBX, short for Private Branch Exchange, helps create a system where customers can dial their choices numerically. For instance, using it, you can add extensions for key staff members for high-priority calls. IVR, or Integrated Voice Response, allows customers to use voice recognition technology to navigate through your directory. By having the ability to reach a staff member directly through your company, communication is easier when it comes to assigning tasks (especially in comparison to email, which may contend with important messages relegated to the SPAM folder).

Voicemail to Email

Voicemail messages are important for communication in your company, particularly when contacting staff members that have a busy schedule. However, they can be hard to access for team members on the go. Being able to access emails, however, can be an easier option. That’s where Global Call Forwarding’s voicemail to email service can make delegating through emails a cinch. When enabled, voicemails are immediately converted to mp3 files.

The advantages of voicemail to email are numerous. First, having a reference document for team members helps make sure your orders are carried out to your specifications. Second, it opens up access to documents that can be easily duplicated from user to user. Third, these voicemails can help log information and serve as a backup.

Simultaneous Ringing

Simultaneous ringing is just as the name implies: when a virtual phone number is dialed, devices connected to a particular virtual phone number ring at the same time. While this feature enables customers to have a minimum wait time, it also helps ensure that each available employee can handle incoming customers. For large volume businesses, simultaneous ringing is a must, but it can also serve as a great benefit for workplaces with a number of employees performing different roles. For instance, a call may be answered by a secretary, salesperson, or a customer service agent – which helps evenly distribute the workload depending on your team’s current availability.

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If you are interested in learning more about how Global Call Forwarding can make delegating tasks throughout your business easier, be sure to explore our website. You’ll find in-depth topics that can answer your questions and spark new ways for your business to manage itself effectively.

Good Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs

9th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

Tips for Good Habits for Entrepreneurs

You’ve probably heard the phrase that “humans are creatures of habit.” For good or for bad, it is true. Some habits make us happy and successful while others take up too much of our time or make us unhealthy or unhappy. It is essential for entrepreneurs to develop good habits that can make them successful and effective in their careers. Good habits help us to work smarter, work smoother, organize, and assist us when making effective decisions. If you are unorganized, lazy, or putting too much effort in other things, then perhaps you have not cultivated many good habits. So what are some good practices for entrepreneurs to make them more effective? Read on to discover some great habits that you can easily streamline into your everyday routine.

Visualize your goals

Well-thought-out plans often work out better than ones that you pursue right away without taking time out to think. Visualization is a way to expand your creativity; it’s like daydreaming; only more organized with a specific goal in mind. Take a little bit of time out at the beginning of your day and decide on how you wish for your day to pan out. Think about the people that you want to interact with, which deals you want to close, even how you want to interact with your family that day. This little exercise can help make your day go by much smoother, and you can use visualization on your work, too. If you’re stuck on a project, take a breath and visualize your end goals, let your subconscious mind take over and let it show you discoveries. We all can imagine and be creative, but some of us have to work on it more than others. Visualization is an easy way to work at expanding your creativity.

Get a head start to your day

Early risers are usually the most productive people. If you’re the type of person who can barely get out of bed in the morning, try to figure out what it is that’s keeping you from jumping out of bed, ready to tackle the day. Most people are exhausted when they get out of bed, but usually starting the day with a trip to the gym or just some jumping jacks can get you out of that funk. If you think that your problem may be because you’re not getting enough sleep, go to bed earlier. Turn off all electronics a few hours before bed, don’t eat anything right before bed, and save the stimulating conversation for earlier in the day. It also helps to avoid alcoholic beverages before bed, which can interfere with your REM sleep cycles. People who arrive to work before everyone else also tend to get more work done before all the others shuffle in.

Good Habits for Entrepreneurs Business Woman on Phone
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 – ID#100005666678

Create a schedule and stick to it

Successful entrepreneurs know that work is essential and that they need to finish a certain amount of tasks in a day before they can move on to other things like socializing. But socializing is also vital for all humans. Make sure that you are scheduling yourself well enough that you have time for both. Yes, it is essential to get all of your work done, but it is also important to get up from your computer and schedule time to connect with the humans around you.

Simplify your life

Create a practical routine for yourself instead of overpacking your schedule. Don’t take on heavy workloads that you know you can’t tackle. Taking on too much work will overwhelm you with stress. Simplify by setting limits for yourself, such as working only during a specific part of the day. Minimizing your tasks in an efficient matter can help free up space to focus on the important things.

Keep a journal

Writing in a journal is a great way to keep all of the necessary things you need to remember in one spot. You can use this paper to write down your thoughts, dreams, ideas, make lists, write out your goals, etc. Anything that is important to you or strikes you as interesting – write it down. This might seem unnecessary since you have a phone and computer that you carry around already, but writing helps you to connect with more existential pieces of life. Journaling can also help improve your emotional intelligence. Seeing goals in your handwriting will have more of a profound effect on you than keeping them in a document you never open on your MacBook.

What are some of the habits that you apply in your daily life that have made you more successful?

Why Inspiring Trust and Trusting Others are Important Leadership Skills

9th May 2019 blog, Business Insights

To trust others and to inspire trust in others is a top trait to look for when finding a leader for your team. It’s not an easy thing to learn; it is dependent on the ability to stabilize a precarious scale that can easily tip in one direction or another. For example, those that are too trusting can get duped very quickly, and those that don’t trust enough will lose the faith of those around them. Even great leaders have lost the trust of their followers at one time or another. However, the key is to know how to gain that trust back.

Personality Traits for Leadership

Many different personality traits make up a great leader. However, trust is among the most important. If you can get the handle of balancing trust just right, then you can become an inspiring leader.

The Importance of Trust

The first thing that a successful leader must do is be trustworthy themselves, which means that they must be able to inspire those around them to trust them. Being known as an honest person can help with difficult situations, especially in the event a crisis needs to be remedied at work.

Another aspect of gaining trust at work is that trust works both ways. Everyone around you won’t trust you until you believe in them yourself. You may have the reputation of a trustworthy person, but that is shot if you begin to show to your team that you do not trust them to make decisions or work on certain things. Managers who behave in this way are often overworked because they don’t believe in anyone enough to lean on them when the person in management has been given too much work for them to handle on their own. When a manager doesn’t trust his team enough to lighten his own workload, then he will become drained and begin to victimize himself. When a manager refuses to trust his employees with tasks, the work environment can start to tip unfavorably. The employees will become lazy or demoralized.

A photo of a leader building trust within his team.
Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 – ID#100030374487

A More Effective Team

Leaders who can inspire trust will be much more successful. These people have an understanding of how to organize their work and strategize what is placed in front of them. They know their team members’ strengths and weaknesses which means they can delegate work tasks accordingly. These managers are well-liked by their teams because no one is afraid to approach these people with a problem. They feel like their voice is heard and that inspires workers to be more outspoken and excel faster since they are more comfortable at their job. Managers who trust others also learn about those that they work with. With knowledge of everyone’s abilities, these managers create the most cohesive teams. And the bottom line is that managers who inspire confidence and trust help build morale throughout the entire company.

The fine line between trusting and going overboard is thin, and those in managerial and leadership positions should be conscious of this. When a leader trusts their employees too much, the employees will often see how much they can get away with under this leader. All leaders must still do their due diligence in spotting the moments when an employee will take advantage.

Keep a lookout for managers and leaders who put too much intention behind being well-liked in the office. A manager must maintain a delicate balance between likability and being dominant.

When looking for types of managers who would excel in a leadership position, always look to those who are trustworthy and inspire trust. It is essential that the people you choose to lead your company are balanced and honest. These people must also be aware that trust can be broken. Again, it is all about balance when choosing the right leader for your company. They must understand that the reality is that although they might be a trustworthy individual, that does not mean that every person around them is as well. You must be able to decipher between giving someone the benefit of the doubt and letting them get away with something.