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Business continuity covers a range of aspects relating to a business being able to perform in the event of a disaster – building access, IT requirements, data records, the list goes on. However, some small businesses take succession planning for granted, but you can never tell what’s going to happen in the future. The current business owner might suddenly retire early or there is a critical case of the owner’s inevitable and untimely death. That is why it is better and important to consider and have a business succession plan as early as now.

An efficient business succession plan has the corresponding importance:

An important factor that is usually the reason why small businesses fail once the head of the family or the founder dies is the lack of planning when it comes to proper transition. It is very depressing and devastating if certain profitable and flourishing businesses lose and fail just because succession planning was not taken into account. The original business owner’s endeavors and sacrifices are basically put to waste.

Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing new leaders who can replace old leaders when they leave, retire or die. Succession planning increases the availability of experienced and capable employees that are prepared to assume these roles as they become available. Taken narrowly, “replacement planning” for key roles is the heart of succession planning.

The Disaster Recovery Journal (DRJ) defines Business Continuity Management (BCM) as, “A holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience with the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities. Similarly, the management of recovery or continuity in the event of a disaster. Also the management of the overall program through training, rehearsals, and reviews, to ensure the plan stays current and up to date.”

Within the scope of BCM comes succession planning, defined by DRJ as “A predetermined plan for ensuring the continuity of authority, decision-making, and communication in the event that key members of executive management unexpectedly become incapacitated.”

Bartercard provides a great opportunity to be part of an enormous community of businesses, providing you with many tools to help build and grow your business, and plan for the future, by introducing you to new customers to help fill your idle capacity whether that’s products or services, so for more information on excess stock, increasing sales and increasing business profits please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

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In today’s global economy, it is a ‘given’ that a large part of your business will be transacted overseas, as the world-wide web has opened up opportunities we couldn’t have dreamt about years ago.  Similarly, online retail stores are replacing the high street walk in boutiques.  With so many opportunities presented to us, where do you start to market your business overseas?

Firstly, you need to identify your market and decide who is your target audience. Bartercard advises that just because your product is popular in your home country, it won’t always have the same impact elsewhere, and they say, start small and then grow big.  Maybe consider piloting it in one country first and see what the response is like. It’s obviously better to learn from any mistakes and adapt your approach before going global.

They also recommend you do your research, endeavouring to understand the cultural differences of those countries you’re targeting.  Each market may need a different approach and so your sales and marketing efforts will need to reflect this, and you will soon learn that there’s no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to marketing your business overseas.  You’ll need to consider pricing and any currency variations, shipping, payment terms and packaging.

Make sure you fully research the countries you’ll be exporting to – each country will be different, and the last thing you want is an unhappy customer who is suddenly faced with an unexpected bill just to have their parcel accepted into the country. While English is accepted as a universal language, you should consider translating your marketing approach into different languages, and if you want to be noticed and for your products to sell, don’t expect people to buy from you in your own language.

Expanding is great, and necessary, but you need to ensure your own infrastructure is set up to cope with the demand – both from a resource perspective and a systems and processes point of view.  Ensure those involved in the process are fully informed of expectations, and the timescales by which orders should be turned around.

Entering the international arena needs careful consideration, and a great deal of planning and strategising must take place before you embark on your global journey.  However, the flip-slide is there are a great number of benefits, so for more information on increased sales, increasing sales and excess stock please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

On 30 June 2013, the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Act 2009 came into effect in New Zealand, imposing a number of obligations on banks, fund managers, financial advisers, debt collectors, safe deposit box vaults and numerous other entities, and was designed to ensure such businesses and financial instructions were able to detect and report potentially criminal origins or purposes of money.

These legislative requirements are now being extended to the legal, real estate, sports betting and high value goods industries (jewellery, precious metals, precious stones, watches, motor vehicles, boats, art or antiques where they take cash payments of $15,000 or more) and will come into effect from mid-2018 to mid-2019.

Under the legislation, each reporting entity needs a Risk Assessment of the potential for your business to be exposed to money laundering and financing of terrorism activities, an AML/CFT Programme with procedures to detect, deter, manage and mitigate the possibility of money laundering taking place and a Compliance Officer appointed to administer and maintain your AML/CFT programme.

You also need Customer Due Diligence processes, including customer identification and identity verification, Suspicious Transaction Reporting, Auditing and Annual Reporting processes and to file an annual report with their supervisor (the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Financial Markets Authority or the Department of Internal Affairs).

An employee must be designated to administer and maintain a business’ AML/CFT programme, who must report to a senior manager of the reporting entity with access to any board of directors or relevant management committee. Most importantly for the Compliance Officer themselves, they are personally liable for breaches of the Act, the penalties for which can be up to $200,000 per breach.

A major component of the AML/CFT system is Customer Due Diligence which must be performed on new customers. It is also expected that it will be necessary to carry out customer due diligence on all existing business relationships in the future. Under the Act, reporting entities are required to undertake Customer Due Diligence on a customer, any beneficial owner (an individual who owns 25% or more of the customer or has effective control of that customer), and any person acting on behalf of a customer.

The most important aspect is understanding when a transaction or a customer’s activity is suspicious. This comes down to knowing your customer so you are able to tell when their activity is unusual or out of step with what you would normally expect for that type of customer. International wire transfers of $1,000 or more and any physical cash transaction of $10,000 or more must be reported to the Police Financial Intelligence Unit. For high value goods dealers, they will have to file reports on any cash transaction of $15,000 or greater, and may file a report on suspicious activity that does not result in a transaction.

For more information on increased sales, excess stock and increased profit please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

Bartercard has some New Year’s resolutions to set up the best systems and practices in your business, encompassing digital, investing and budgeting, and they recommend you start planning from day one. You can start by setting

up systems and processes that support your business goals, especially if you are looking to expand or tackle a new direction. Implementing fail-safe strategies early in the piece will set you on the right track, especially as the more profitable you become, the more complicated finances get.

Secondly, you should de-clutter by photographing receipts as you spend – lose the paper! There are many accounting software apps that will let you photograph and file receipts – so you won’t get buried under paper. You should also cut out non-essential spends, There are hundreds of media outlets within Bartercard where you can conserve cash on advertising while gaining exposure and cut-through in the cash market. Bartercard members have the option to purchase products from other Bartercard suppliers at wholesale or retail rates, adding new stock to their product line which they can on-sell in the cash and/or trade economy.

You can reconcile your bank accounts and credit cards with Xero. Bartercard is linked with Xero and MYOB which makes reconciliation simple and takes the manual work out of recording every Bartercard transaction into your accounting software. The new year is a also a good time to re-visit your long-term wealth-building strategies including real estate that can really set you up for the future. Listing a property through Bartercard is an effective way to sell relatively quickly compared to the cash market and conserve costs in a range of areas.

You should also know the basics of bookkeeping. Even if you already have a reliable bookkeeper or accountant, knowing how to do your own bookkeeping means you will know exactly what information you should be taking to your advisor to get the most out of tax time. If you’re looking for more tips on how to deal with change and other business related matters, why not check out The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Small Business Owners – and work smarter, not harder on your business.

For more information on operating your cash flow, website reviews and customer loyalty please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

Exhibiting at a trade show or business expo can be hugely beneficial to growing your business. Your brand gets exposure, you can prospect and receive new business contacts with an active, engaged audience and although they tend to be long days, you can get so much more done in one or two days than a regular business day, saving you time and money in the long run. Obviously, there has to be some planning involved and here Bartercard cover their top tips for exhibiting at a trade show.

Appearances are everything – make sure your stand is smart, eye catching and reflects well on your company/brand/product, and have someone in charge from set-up to break-down of the stand. While it’s difficult to be on your feet for any length of time, try to avoid sitting down – it can give off the wrong vibes and show that you’re not interested. This is a great opportunity to sell to hundreds of other customers in a relatively short space of time so make the most of it.

It is imperative to follow up on any leads/product enquiries in a timely manner. Write notes on the business cards you collect; where you met the person and how, for example, you think you could solve a problem for them. Within two days add the cards’ details and notes to your CRM or other system for maintaining client relationships, while your memory is fresh. Make sure you have enough of your own business cards too.

Give potential customers the opportunity  to experience your product or service. Display items in an appropriate setting and have samples that people can try out. Keep it simple, one large picture or banner may have greater impact than many small ones, and a single slogan which describes your business may say more than lots of text.

All of this might sound obvious, particularly for those who exhibit regularly, but Bartercard say that by having a simple checklist, it goes someway to helping you organise the day. Bartercard holds annual trade shows around the country which provide the opportunity to showcase your product or service to hundreds of customers.

If you’re a current Bartercard member, you can go on to their website to register to exhibit at one of their shows. If you’re new to Bartercard and looking to join, you will receive a FREE trade show stand when you join today! Just register your interest on their website

For more information on customer loyalty strategy, excess stock and increasing profits please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

Bartercard New Zealand has over 6,000 members who can help you attract new customers and conserve cash in your business, and they ask the question, “Do you have a customer referral programme in place, and if so, are you using it in the most effective way?” Here, they offer some customer referral tips to fast track new business. Firstly, ask your existing customers if they know of anyone who could benefit from your services. Make them aware of any products or services they might not already know about. Secondly, you should provide incentives for referrals such as vouchers and gifts, making sure both the referrer and referee benefit from the rewards.

Another way is to conduct surveys of customers to see how they found your business. If they were referred to you, see if you can find out who made the referral and contact them to say thank you, and consider offering a reward to show your appreciation. You can also create valuable content on your website and ask your followers to share it with others if they find it valuable. Here you can include a ‘referrals appreciated’ (or rewarded) line in your emails.

Another very good way is to network with other businesses, both online (on platforms like LinkedIn) and offline, asking for referrals and offering to do the same for them. Similarly, social media can provide your business with some very low-cost or free marketing opportunities; make use of it and invite followers to share your website content, campaigns and special offers with their online contacts.

Every business should know the cost of their customer acquisition, and implementing a customer referral programme will not only push this cost down, but the cost of putting it in place can be minimal, depending on how big you want to go. There are many levels of referral programmes, some rewarding cash or the opportunity to win prizes, but it can be as simple as asking, “Do you know anyone who would benefit from using our products or services?” A customer who receives exceptional service will usually be happy to tell other people about it.

You can create a referral page and post it on your website and social media, and tracking how well your programme is working enables you to find out what works, what doesn’t, and how your programme can be refined. To share the benefits of growing their Bartercard community, Bartercard New Zealand offers all members the opportunity to earn referral payments. For each business you refer that joins Bartercard, you will be paid a referral bounty of T$500.

For more information about increasing profit margins, selling old stock and excess stock please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

Building a trusted brand is critical in a digital age, and in this press release Bartercard explain why you should strategically build trust in the right places to maximise impact, brand reach and market sway – and also increase profit.

Bartercard explain, that firstly, we live in a ‘trust economy, where reputational capital is crucial. The impact of trust is scalable to small and medium-sized businesses too, and the old marketing maxim that ‘a happy customer will tell one person about you, but an unhappy customer will tell five’ now vastly understates the case. If you’ve upset a customer who happens to have fifty thousand Twitter followers…well, you have a serious problem on your hands.

The traditional way to build reputation and trust is delivering on your promises and providing great customer service – but that’s not enough. You should think like a customer and what you would expect and appreciate. That’s how to build customer loyalty.

Companies often put processes in place originally intended to improve customer service or business results. However, over time, staff start focusing more on the process and lose track of the actual outcome it was put in place to achieve. You just need a simple statement to do whatever it takes, adding value and expertise to build credibility and trust.

As brand innovators, Bartercard say, there are several ways to do this. You can include free case studies on your website that focus on addressing common customer problems, making sure they are written in a way that focuses on the customer and their business, not on your products and services. You can also write articles and blogs on relevant third party websites covering topics of interest to your customers and prospects. When doing this, remember to follow the golden rule of content marketing: to never talk about yourself, rather focusing on the customer and their issues.

Finally, Bartercard say, “Trust is built on relationships. So don’t just get to know customers and prospects from a business perspective. Get to know them as people. Trust is the crucial currency in today’s business world. Technology and social media are powerful platforms to reach your market, so combine these and the fundamentals of building effective relationships and you’ll be positioning your business for sustained success.”

For more information on how to increase profit, selling old stock and ways to get new customers please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

If your brand lacks direction or needs a fresh start, Bartercard have some essential business staples, tips and insights to staying ahead of the curve, as they know that there is more to a successful business than ‘following your passion’. In reality a business involves so much more, from strategy, finance, research and sourcing, to paying your suppliers, ticking off mundane tasks like paying bills down to sheer stamina.

Research is critical to test the feasibility of your business idea, and see where similar concepts thrived or fell over, so thoroughly research your competitors to see where you stand apart. To remain sustainable you should stay authentic and true to your core values. Consistency and congruence across every aspect of your business is critical, or the stress, pressure and work will outpace you.

Bartercard recommend there are three essential steps for getting your research right, and the first is to define your market. Who are your customers, what do they like, what hurdles and setbacks do they face and what solutions can you offer? Secondly, you need to research the competition and investigate who your competitiors are, and thirdly, do a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

You also need to write a business plan, which is like a blueprint for your business, detailing your vision, strategy, budget, finances, marketing, competitors and contingency, and it should include a Cover Page with contact details, an executive summary describing what your business does and what it solves, a company overview, an industry analysis and a customer analysis. It should also include a competitive analysis, a marketing plan, an operations plan, a management section, outlining the key company personnel, a financial plan and an appendix including income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements. A business plan also makes you accountable and keeps you on course, so start writing!

It is also recommended to follow the successes and failures of entrepreneurs, learning from their mistakes, while leveraging off their lessons and successes, and research and attend local industry events. One of the key benefits of joining Bartercard is the networking events which provide opportunities for meeting local business owners within your region, with over 6,000 business owners nationwide. Seasonal Trade Shows provide the opportunity to showcase your product to hundreds of consumers.

For more business tips and tricks, download Bartercard’s eBook The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Small Business Owners or enquire about joining Bartercard today, and for more information on where to spend your Bartercard dollars, sell excess stock and get new customers please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .