Here’s something that every business owner needs to know: modernizing your business is a piece of cake. Sure, it requires a little effort and financial investment, but it’s not even close to the challenge you think it is.
No matter how big or small your business is, it’s time to bring it into the 21st century. No more fax machines, no more dated website designs, and no more bad customer service. It’s out with the old, in with the new.
So, when you’re ready, let’s examine the five steps you need to take to modernize your business. And don’t worry, even if you’re an ‘old school’ type of businessperson, you’ll soon get the grasp of everything!
1. Screen Job Applicants Before Hiring Them
As every business manager and HR department can attest to, hiring the right employees is difficult.
On paper, a candidate could seem incredible. However, after hiring them, you could soon discover that they’re a troublemaker with a history of causing problems – which is a nightmare you don’t want to happen.
This is why thoroughly screening your job applicants is essential. You can’t afford to cut corners: every employee must be screened. The reasons for this are simple:
- You reduce the risk of fraud and theft
- Your staff remain safe
- Your public reputation won’t take any damage
- You avoid any costly lawsuits
However, as you might already know, screening job applicants is difficult. Sure, you can examine their social media pages, but that’s not enough. Instead, you need to do a fast and detailed background check.
Thankfully, you can get help with job candidate screening from DataCheck, which are industry experts. They will make life easy for your HR department – ensuring that you only hire the most talented employees.
2. Use a VoIP Phone System
The next step in your journey is to use a VoIP phone system.
If you and your team members spend a lot of time making phone calls in the office or remotely, a VoIP phone system (which is basically a digital phone system where you can make calls over the internet using your laptops and smartphones) is going to take your communications to a whole new level.
3. Market Your Business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn
Pretty soon, traditional marketing strategies – such as radio advertisements and leaflets – are going to become obsolete. This is because digital marketing – specifically, social media marketing – has taken over.
Now, to be a modern business, you need to have business pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These three platforms allow you to:
- Communicate with your customers
- Quickly post company news and updates
- Promote your products and services
- Provide customer service
- Save costs compared to traditional marketing methods (after all, social media is free to use)
So, if you don’t already, make sure to join these platforms.
Also, don’t forget about LinkedIn, which is essentially the professional, business-based version of Facebook.
4. Collect Customer Email Addresses and Phone Numbers
Email and SMS marketing are also incredibly important. This is why you should collect customer email addresses and phone numbers at every opportunity. For example, you could start a scheme whereby, in order to get product discounts, customers need to register their email addresses through your website.
5. Invest in Reusable Packaging
Lastly, being a modern business is all about eco-friendliness.
Ideally, you should be using reusable packaging. This way, customers can recycle your packaging and (when they aren’t satisfied with a product) use it to send their returns back to you.
This way, you can save the planet and cut down on your business costs.
