If you’re losing track of current leads or struggling to close deals – or your sales team grows to more than a couple of people – then having a formal sales pipeline could be the right call for you. Here, we explain what a sales pipeline is, how you should set it up and how to manage it.

What is a sales pipeline?

A sales pipeline gives you a visual overview of sales prospects. It’s typically represented by a horizontal or vertical bar and includes the different stages of the sales cycle. Having a sales pipeline will break down deals into small, achievable tasks.

They’re usually used for gathering sales leads, building relationships with prospective customers and closing deals.

The markers of success in a sales pipeline can be:

• Number of deals
• Conversion rate
• Average deal size
• Average win rate
• Sales velocity (how quickly a sales team closes a deal and generates revenue)

In the early days, a sales pipeline can be created with Excel or Google Sheets as a lower-cost solution. “If you were starting a business and you’ve literally got a handful of leads, you might well get a standalone Excel spreadsheet or a flipchart or a whiteboard on the wall,” said Martin Knowles, co-founder of Sales Untangled.

When you’re generating more sales though, it’s worth moving to a sales pipeline platform. Most of the time, a sales pipeline will be part of a larger Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

“A Sales CRM enables you to keep all your customer and deal records safe and up to date in one place,” said Jonathan Branney, strategy director of BANC.

The next decision to make is who oversees your sales pipeline. “A common mistake is setting up a sales pipeline within a CRM tool without having someone appointed internally to keep on top of this. The process requires constant resource and attention — but investing this time and energy will only pay dividends for a more managed and effective process,” said Branney. Note that you won’t need to hire someone to oversee it unless you have a larger sales team. Say, 30 or more people.

Naturally, the features that are in your sales pipeline/CRM should be near the top of the list of considerations. You want the usability that your business needs now and will need in the future, but without the bloat of unnecessary extras.

“The thing about CRM is you can get yourself in a world of pain by focusing on hygiene and filling in a CRM. There’s a real balance between it being a useful amount of information and a burden on people who are trying to close stuff,” said Emma Maslen, founder of sales strategy consultancy, inspir’em.

Knowles agrees, acknowledging the importance of budget. There’s everything from free to very expensive platforms – even from the same supplier. “If you do decide to switch suppliers, you want a relatively easy transition,” he added.

How a CRM fits into your company and its culture must rank highly too. “However good your system is, how your people use it will determine how successful it is,” said Knowles. “It’s about how easy it is for people to input and how much value it adds to them in their jobs, which will then encourage them to actually keep the data up to date and keep it relevant rather than you ending up with an expensive database that doesn’t work.” Read a few reviews before buying a CRM.

Setting up a pipeline for sales

First of all, establish your needs as a business. “Set out your objectives first and be really clear what it is that you want the system to do for you. It’s almost like you design your sales process before you decide what tool best does it for you,” said Knowles.

The second is to know who your audience are along with their needs. Gather a list of prospective buyers (based on buyer persona – demographics, education, interests, buying habits and other traits).

For those B2B firms looking for whomever holds the purse strings, strategise carefully. “The problem with budget holders is [that] budgets get withdrawn at a moment’s notice,” said Maslen. “Look at what’s happening – we’ve had Covid, there was Truss, the cost-of-living crisis, we’ve had Ukraine, we’ve now got Israel. The budgets are really fluid right now.

“If, all of a sudden, a budget holder is not a top priority, they’ll have their budgets withdrawn. What you need to do is be picking people who can go and access discretionary funds and get things on the priority list so that they’re always on the priority list.”

Then define your sales process. What steps does your team need to conduct to close a deal? We’ll go over how to define pipeline stages in just a moment.

“I don’t recommend flipping the customer over to someone else, because you will lose time and lose relationship currency”

Emma Maslen, founder of inspir’em

Look at what you can automate, such as email and text messages that go out to prospects or leads. This will save you a lot of hassle day-to-day.

Sales pipeline stages

Many pipelines are made up of five stages, but some could be up to eight stages, depending on how refined you want your sales process to be. It’s all based on your business’ needs.  

Maslen said that these can essentially be broken down into the research phase, scoping phase and closing phase.

Nothing has to be too rigid here as you can refine stages as you go along. Stages can be set into sub-stages too. One pointer is to try and keep the sales cycle as short as you can to avoid overcomplicating the process for the customer. A lot of back and forth might encourage them to abandon a sale altogether.

“I think one of the best things for your CRM is having the stages in there, but also having really clear criteria, a small number of criteria, about how you move [customers] between the stages and what constitutes a move,” said Maslen. “When you talk to a lot of small business owners, they say, ‘Oh, we’re awash with pipeline and it’s all near to closing. But for some reason, we can’t close it, we can’t convert it.’

“They all have those deals all over the place. Some of them know why the customer is buying something. Some of them know who the buyer is. In some cases, they know who the procurement person is, but there’s no consistency with those stages of deals. So, these gates just allow you to be consistent. And they prompt you to think, ‘Okay, have I got everything to be able to move it forward?”

Regardless of how many stages you decide to go for, simplicity, consistency and relationship building should be a focus throughout the pipeline. “I don’t recommend flipping the customer over to someone else, because you will lose time and lose relationship currency,” added Maslen.

So, what are some of the stages you could consider?

Prospecting

This is the point where your potential customers discover who you are through some kind of promotional material.

You might want to think about where your audience are so that you can find them through email marketing, social media, through your website, over the phone and at trade shows. “Making yourself easy to do business with is underpins the success of it,” said Knowles.

Lead qualification

A qualified lead is the right fit for what you’re selling, which is why it’s so important to establish your target audience profile early on. Qualify them based on budget, need and readiness to buy.

You could always place leads in different pipelines if you have that option available. Multiple pipelines are suitable when you’ve got multiple sales channels or you sell different types of product.

Demonstration or meeting

This is your first contact with a possible buyer – this could be over the phone, email, in-person or on social media. This will be their proper introduction to your product or service.

Proposal

Where you go for the sell. Try and convince the potential customer that your product or service can help them with any pain points they have at a reasonable cost.

Negotiation

Discuss the specifics of the sale such as expectations and pricing.

Sale

Closing the deal and/or signing the contract.

Post-sale/retention

Some experts will regard this as a stage in your sales pipeline, while others won’t. It seemed worth mentioning here anyway.

Post-sale can involve referrals, feedback and targeting these customers with future products, maintaining a relationship beyond the sale. Remember the Pareto Principle when applied to sales (it was originally based on population). Under this principle, 20 per cent of leads account for 80 per cent of revenue, so it’s worth focusing on them – even post-sale.

“The customers that you’ve sold to are your best ambassadors, which means they’re also going to shout from the rooftops around the stuff that you’ve delivered for them,” said Maslen.

“Anybody that comes through those referrals is going to be cheaper than getting a new customer. But also, they should be the ones that you’re focused on in terms of upsell, because again, it will be a cheaper upsell for you than a hit and run sales approach.”

She suggests inviting them to be case studies, or to user groups/advisory groups. “They’ll post that on LinkedIn, and they’ll say that they had a good time – it’s more customer advocacy. Invite them to give you some recommendations on the product as well. People like to be asked their opinion, and then they like to tell people that they’ve been asked their opinion.”

Sales pipeline templates

If you’re completely bewildered by the whole thing, start off with a sales pipeline template. These can be very simple or very complex depending on the nature of your company sales.

Most of the pipeline software providers we list out further down this article have templates as part of their offering. Here are a few other examples available online (some as downloads):

• OnePageCRM – A spreadsheet template for either Excel or Google Sheets to create a step-by-step sales process from scratch
• Spreadsheet.com – Includes built-in charts and the ability to breakdown your pipeline in multiple ways.
• Atlassian – If your company already uses Jira for project management then you might consider using this template based on its Kanban-style visualisation.
• Indzara – A free Google Sheets template. They also a offer an Excel version.
• Notion by Template Road – If you are a user of the Notion workspace app this template is available for US$4.00.

Sales pipeline management

Monitor the performance of these sales (the ‘key markers of success’ bullet-pointed earlier can be a good set to start with) and see if there are any obvious flaws or irregularities in the process.

Now, there’ll always be the chance that a prospect will disappear unexpectedly, even if they’ve agreed to the sale. “There is an attrition rate from that and it’s probably one of the biggest sources of frustration if the customer says, ‘Yes, okay, sounds great’ and then they don’t go ahead because they disappear or they start ghosting suppliers – it drives people mad,” said Knowles. “But there are various reasons why things go wrong, even at the last minute.”

That’s part of the reason why you should review your pipeline regularly. “The best thing to do when the pipeline is stalling near the end, is to go back to the beginning: why is the customer even interested in the first place? Just by going back to the beginning, and starting again, you will accelerate your pipeline. It feels like that’s counterproductive, but it’s really not because usually you’ve missed something in the beginning,” said Maslen.

That missing piece is often researching your prospects enough to carry the sale through.

“We have this term that we use quite a lot, which is ‘show up and throw up’,” said Maslen. “This is when we get really excited when people come through our website and say, ‘Hey, we’d like a meeting’ or ‘Hey, we’d like a demo’. Then we don’t do any research, we just turn up and hit them with all of the stuff. It’s almost like we’re throwing as much stuff up against the wall just to see what sticks.

“Most people say, ‘It takes us several meetings before we get conversion.’ It’s because, actually, you’re taking several meetings to listen to what you should have been listening to in the first couple of meetings.”

She says that three of the most effective questions to ask are:

• What’s the implication if they don’t solve the problem that they’re trying to solve?
• Is the problem that they’re trying to solve a paper cut which they could live with and just crack on? Is their business going to bleed out? Or is it going to be a leg amputation, which means that they are going to be more in a hurry to get something done?
• If they solve this problem, what would success mean to them?

“Whatever the thing is, and just by asking them those questions, then the customer will realise, ‘Well, actually, this is a big deal to us. Because if we don’t solve this, we’ve got a really big problem. And if we do solve this, we’ve got great success’,” added Maslen.

If it isn’t a big problem after all, you can then focus your efforts on another prospect.

You can set up multiple automated processes and introduce more over time too, which is why it’s worth considering in regular reviews. Think about tasks that you do repeatedly and whether they can be automated.

Finally, for potential buyers and those even earlier in their decision making process, build content that will attract and retain leads. These draw customers to your website and give them something informative and practical to associate with your brand.

Create content for them at all stages in their search. This could be how-to guides, point-of-view articles on news stories, infographics, videos and podcasts. Remember those calls to action (CTA) too.

Sales pipeline software

Here are some sales pipeline/CRM providers, complete with features and pricing.  

Small Business Pro

https://smallbusiness.co.uk/business-pro/

With Small Business Pro, you can build sales pipelines with a tool tailored to small businesses, at a fraction of the cost of other CRM systems. It comes as part of a full membership which includes low-cost payments, 24/7 access to NHS GPs and legal and employee protection. Plus, you’ll automatically be entered into a monthly competition to win a £2,500 grant.

For full Small Business Pro membership

Sole trader: £39.99 a month (including VAT)
1 to 30 employees: £49.99 a month (including VAT)

HubSpot

https://www.hubspot.com/

The HubSpot sales pipeline is customisable, allowing you to add, edit and delete sales stages. Plus, it’s easy to drag and drop these deals between stages as they progress. It’s easy to identify roadblocks and identify revenue blockages so that you can optimise sales performance.   

It also has a sales pipeline template for Microsoft Excel.

Prices for CRM suite

Free: £0
Starter: From £18 a month
Professional: From £1,404 a month

Insightly

https://www.insightly.com/

On Insightly, centralise customer data, create engaging customer journeys and connect to the apps you already use including Xero, Slack, asana and WordPress. Have your sales reports created in a Kanban-style and alter your settings for automated pipeline alerts.

Free: £0
Plus: $29 (£24) per user, per month
Professional: $49 (£40.50) per user, per month
Enterprise: $99 (£82) per user, per month

Monday.com

https://monday.com/crm?selectedTag=sales_pipeline

Look at your sales pipelines in multiple views on Monday.com: table, form, chart and calendar. Customise which steps of the sales process that you automate. Monday.com has integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp and more. Use the Mirror feature to view and edit columns’ data from connected boards for easier collaboration.

The sales pipeline template lets you forecast revenue, generate insights and learn where to focus your efforts.

Free: £0
Basic: £7 per seat, per month
Standard: £9 per seat, per month
Pro: £14 per seat, per month
Enterprise: Bespoke

Pipedrive

https://www.pipedrive.com/en/products/what-is-crm

Spot opportunities, measure key activities and set automated reminders and follow-ups to increase productivity, with real-time reports to help you shape priorities. Customise your pipeline so that you can see your entire sales process at a glance.

Pipedrive has a sales pipeline template for Microsoft Excel.

Essential: £14.90 per user, per month
Advanced: £27.90 per user, per month
Professional: £49.90 per user, per month
Power: £64.90 per user, per month
Enterprise: £79.90 per user, per month

Zendesk

https://www.zendesk.co.uk/sell/features/sales-pipeline-software/

Zendesk features end-to-end conversational CRM and automated outreach, as well as forecasting and analytics. Integrations from Zendesk Marketplace include Shopify, Slack and Google Reviews. Plus, you can store and access details so that you can access contacts quickly.

It has a sales pipeline template for Microsoft Excel.

Sell Team: £15 per agent, per month
Sell Growth: £45 per agent, per month
Sell Professional: £89 per agent, per month

Zoho

https://www.zoho.com/crm/sales-pipeline.html?source_from=crm-ft

Zoho promises more accurate pipeline management and forecasting, helping you to allocate resources to the right deal. Create notes, tasks and comments easily. Make cross-selling and upselling more straightforward by identifying those that are more likely to buy and targeting your efforts at them.

Standard: £12 per user, per month
Professional: £18 per user, per month
Enterprise: £35 per user, per month
Ultimate: £42 per user, per month

Further reading on sales

The best CRM system for your micro business – A customer relationship management (CRM) system can really help your micro business to grow. We take a look at key features and platforms

Building a sales team: What to consider as a small business – Building a sales team is a daunting prospect for any growing company, but can be achieved with the right people, technology, and activities. Here are some tips to getting it right

A beginner’s guide to sales prospecting – For businesses to find success, they need to understand and actively hunt sales. In this article, Katie Deverill, operations manager at Company Check, offers some prospecting tips for businesses

The post Sales pipeline management from a small business perspective appeared first on Small Business UK.

Entrepreneurs are facing more challenges than ever before. From the rapidly evolving economic environment, to the increasing need to do more with less, the pressures on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can feel overwhelming right now.

You’re probably looking for some solutions you can count on; tools that will make your life a little easier. That’s where Amazon Ads can help.

In 2022, more than 125,000 European small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sold more than 1.2 billion products to Amazon customers worldwide. This is equivalent to more than 2,200 sales every minute, according to the 2023 Amazon EU Economic Impact Report. Advertising is helping these smaller brands get noticed; small and medium businesses in Europe saw 120% more glance views, on average, within 20 weeks of launching sponsored ads in their home country.

Successful brands don’t exist in a vacuum. Advertising with Amazon Ads is a great way for brands to help get in front of new customers. Think of them as ads that work whilst you work, eat, sleep and repeat. 

Advertising isn’t just for enterprise businesses

It’s a misconception that only big brands advertise on Amazon. Amazon Ads products are designed for everyone, including small businesses, and have helped these businesses grow their sales. In the UK, small businesses saw 23% of their sales, on average, driven by Amazon Ads.

No matter your budget, sponsored ads are designed to work within it. You can choose your ad products based on your goals, and in general, it’s possible to see results like ad impressions, clicks, or sales with a budget of around €10/£10 a day. We recommend starting with Sponsored Products, which are cost-per-click ads that promote individual product listings.

From here, you can move on to incorporating other products into your advertising mix to help with brand building, or reaching more customers, such as Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display. Sponsored Brands creative ads appear in relevant Amazon shopping results to help customers discover your brand, and Sponsored Display self-service display ads help you engage shoppers across their shopping journey, on and off Amazon.

With low barriers to entry and a flexible budget, Amazon Ads can be an affordable and effective marketing tool for entrepreneurs looking to grow their sales and expand their customer base.

Amazon Ads also provides valuable insights into your ad performance, allowing you to refine your targeting and messaging to improve return on ad spend (ROAS). 

Get your brand noticed by customers

Amazon Launchpad is a program that supports start-ups and small business owners across various stages of their business journey. For example, Amazon Launchpad helps entrepreneurs with marketing or with distributing their products to millions of Amazon customers around the world. To-date, Amazon Launchpad has helped small business owners launch over 4,000 new products. As part of Launchpad, those who sign up receive Amazon Ads click credits to spend on advertising.

Pier Carlo Montali, the CEO and co-founder of Security Watch, the company that invented the WinLet—an innovative portable female protection device—has seen success using solutions by Amazon Ads. Montali is a previous winner of the prestigious Launchpad Innovation Awards, and has since grown his business into a success story.

“We have been investing in Amazon Ads every day for almost a year,” said Montali. “It’s simple, you see immediate results and if you have a quality product, Amazon Ads can help you to sell large volumes right away. Investing in Amazon Ads allows you to be seen by customers who are ready to buy immediately and not by people who are browsing for information or are simply curious. In my opinion, this is the real added value of Amazon Ads and the reason why I would recommend it.”

Advertising on Amazon helps deliver results. Small and medium businesses in Europe saw 57% more sales, on average, within 20 weeks of launching sponsored ads in their home country.

Let Amazon Ads be a helping hand to your business and get started with advertising now.

Learn how Amazon Ads can help your small business.

The post How Amazon Ads is supporting entrepreneurs appeared first on Small Business UK.

The art of active listening is not a new idea, but is an invaluable skill which is too often overlooked by many sales professionals. You may think you naturally know how to listen, but few do, as it takes concerted effort to master this skill. It is all too easy to talk at someone, with a lengthy, pre-planned sales pitch, but this is not exactly the most effective strategy for success. However, with a few simple techniques, you can hone your listening skills and maximise your sales.

Active listening, as the name suggests, is a system of actively listening to a speaker, rather than just passively hearing, and takes practice to perfect. Perhaps rooted in the 1940s, with Carl Roger’s theory of ‘reflective listening’, it is also sometimes referred to as ‘effective listening’.

But, you might ask, why should I bother learning to do this? Well, when you consider that research suggests most of us only remember up to 25 per cent of what we hear, we are missing out on a whole lot of information – information which is indispensable if you want to succeed at selling. So, it pays to learn to listen better. In fact, really listening also builds rapport and respect with your customers and enables you to learn more about how you can actually help them. Indeed, to really compete in the 21st-century sales arena you need to learn to listen for all you’re worth! In fact, so important is listening in all areas of our lives today – business and personal relationships – that there is even an International Day of Listening.

So, to get a head start with this most vital of skills, here’s a few tips to set you on your way to success.

1. Silence is golden

Getting the balance of how much you listen and how much you talk is all important, if you want to succeed in sales. Aiming for a ratio of 2:1 – that is twice as much listening as speaking – enables your customers to feel heard and valued, and you to learn more and personalise your sales pitch to the individual.

As the Greek philosopher Epictetus said, ‘We have two ears and one mouth, so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.’ It really is no coincidence that the words ‘silent’ and ‘listen’ have the same letters in them, as you need to learn when to be quiet and listen – silence is certainly golden, as it will help you succeed at sales, provided you use your silence to really listen to the person that is speaking and learn what your customers are looking for. You can then better meet their needs.

2. Never interrupt

To truly listen well, it is important that you never interrupt the other person while they are speaking – be careful not to turn the conversation into a contest! This shows respect and builds a strong bond with your customers. If you forget this vital rule, it can be frustrating for the speaker, disrupting their flow of thought. So, let them finish then ask open questions to clarify any points you are unsure of – this will encourage them to open up and you will learn more.

When you do speak, although the temptation can be to talk 10 to the dozen, especially out of nervousness, talking quickly can only harm your relationship with your customers, stressing them out, making them feel like they’re not being heard and switching off their interest. It is far better to slow down your speech, articulating at a speed they can easily digest and pausing to allow them to ask questions when they want.

3. Stay focused and learn

To perfect the art of active listening, you must pay attention to the person who is speaking very carefully. You cannot let yourself become distracted by things around you – so, put away that phone! You also need to avoid forming counter-arguments in your head while the other person is speaking, as many make the mistake of listening just to respond, rather than listening to fully understand before speaking.

To stay focused, you may find it helpful to try repeating what the speaker is saying, in your head, as they say it, as this will reinforce the meaning and help you to concentrate. Indeed, if you want to maximise sales success, you need to be serious about learning to listen well, and it is a good idea to get professional training, such as that offered by Supply Gem, to help you really crack this essential skill.

4. Show you are listening

Now you’re getting the hang of listening well, be sure to let the person speaking know they have your full attention. Look straight at them, lean in and show your interest. This will not only convey a favourable impression, but make it easier for you to take in what they are saying.

It is also a good idea to smile, nod and say ‘yes’ at appropriate moments, to show you are listening. Likewise, when they have finished, summarise what they’ve said in your own words, to confirm you understand. You will also build a great relationship with your customers if you remember any anecdotes they mention, for example, about their family. You can then refer to these in future conversations, which will personalise communications and establish even greater rapport. It really is the little things that make a difference and your consideration will help you stand out from the crowd!

5. Listen between the lines

Listening well is also about understanding the complete message someone is conveying, which is not just about the words they use, but ‘listening’ between the lines to how they speak and non-verbal signs. For example, listening to the speed, volume and tone someone speaks at can indicate how they’re truly feeling and their stress levels, which can help you pick up on any concerns they have. If having a conversation with a customer in person, watching their body language, such as whether their gestures are open or defensive, can also give vital clues as to how the conversation is going, and indicate whether they are receptive or resistant to the products you are offering. You can then adjust your approach to accommodate this response and ensure a positive sales outcome. Indeed, the most successful salespeople harness this skill to achieve great success.

6. Ask the right follow-up questions

Your follow-up questions should reflect the listening skills that we touched on earlier. Use key phrases to show you’re paying attention, such as:

• ‘It sounds like…’
• ‘Based on what you’ve said so far…’
• ‘Tell me more about…’

‘Why…’ and ‘How…’ are better than ‘Do you…?’ questions as they’re open-ended and invite answers that provide more qualitative feedback.

Questions should be open-ended not only to discourage dead end ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers; they also encourage your prospect to elaborate on what they’ve already said and any further pain points that they may wish to discuss:

• ‘What is the biggest [marketing, for example] problem for your business?’
• ‘What would convince you to consider our product?’
• ‘What are your feelings about…?’

So, to seriously succeed in the demanding field of sales, learning to actively listen to your customers is a skill that should never be overlooked, as it can just take your business to a whole new level.

See also: Ten sales and marketing tips to help you get the message across and build a customer base

The post How to maximise sales through the art of listening appeared first on Small Business UK.

A successful sales strategy not only generates leads but fuels sustainable business growth. In the dynamic world of business, a clear sales strategy isn’t just vital for survival, it’s the key to thriving and expanding. Here are my six vital steps to help your company forge a sales strategy guaranteeing immediate lead generation and business expansion.

#1 – Understand and adapt to your audience

The foundation of any effective sales plan is a thorough understanding of your target demographic by determining its needs, challenges and aspirations. To obtain these important insights, do market research, conduct surveys and communicate with existing consumers. Understanding your audience allows you to adjust your sales strategy to fit their individual needs, resulting in a customised and effective sales pitch.

Remember that not every client responds the same way. Recognise these variables and tailor your pitch to increase conversion rates.

Top tip: if one salesman is unsuccessful with a client, have another representative follow up to evaluate the client’s experience — perhaps it was a personality clash.

#2 – Develop a compelling value proposition

Once you understand your audience, craft a compelling value proposition outlining how your product or service solves your client’s problems. Highlight unique features and benefits setting your offering apart from competitors. A strong value proposition not only attracts potential customers but also equips your sales team to communicate your business effectively. One thing I coach is the difference between being a commodity and a valuable product. Effective value diminishes price as the sole deciding factor.

#3 – Leverage technology

In the digital age, leveraging technology is vital for successful sales strategies. Implement customer relationship management (CRM) systems, sales automation tools and analytics software to streamline processes, track customer interactions, and analyse data. Technology enhances efficiency and provides valuable insights, enabling your team to make informed decisions and refine its approach based on real-time feedback.

Top Tip: Encourage your sales team to record personal and business details about clients in your CRM system for future personalised interactions

The best CRM system for your micro business – A customer relationship management (CRM) system can really help your micro business to grow. We take a look at key features and platforms

#4 – Empower and train your sales team

Invest in continual training and development for your sales team. Equip it with necessary skills, product knowledge, and effective sales techniques. Foster a culture of collaboration and motivation, encouraging your team to share insights and learn from one another. A well-trained and motivated sales team significantly impacts lead generation and contributes to business growth. Plus, high team morale enhances customer service, retention and close rates.

#5 – Implement a multi-channel approach

Diversify your sales channels to reach a broader audience. Use social media platforms, email marketing, content marketing, and other online and offline channels to engage potential customers. Each channel offers unique opportunities to connect with different segments of your audience. A multi-channel approach ensures your message reaches the right people at the right time, maximising lead generation potential. Where possible, emphasise the human aspect by having your team engage personally with clients, fostering rapport and ongoing value.

#6 – Monitor, analyse and adapt

A successful sales strategy is not static; it evolves based on market trends, customer feedback, and performance data. Implement a robust system to monitor sales activities, analyse results, and gather feedback from customers. Use this data to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Stay agile and adaptive, fine-tuning your sales strategy to ensure it remains effective in the ever-changing business landscape. Also, don’t forget to look outside your company for new trends, competitor strategies, and emerging technologies that could positively influence your approach.

Successful sales strategy

Crafting a successful sales strategy for guaranteed lead generation and business growth demands dedication, consistency, understanding, adaptability, and a great team.

By understanding your potential clients, developing a compelling value proposition, leveraging technology, empowering your sales team, implementing a multi-channel approach and continually monitoring and adapting your strategies, your company can achieve sustainable success. At Closers Ace, we believe that with the right strategy, every lead can be a potential opportunity, propelling your business in a competitive market. Implement these steps today and witness your business flourish.

Tom Luke is founder and CEO of Closers Ace sales coaching and recruitment. You can book a consultation session with Tom here

More on sales strategy

Building a sales team: what to consider as a small business – Building a sales team is a daunting prospect for any growing company, but can be achieved with the right people, technology, and activities. Here are some tips to getting it right

The post How to create a successful sales strategy appeared first on Small Business UK.

Shopify is the gorilla in the room when it comes to ecommerce website builders. Shopify controls 32 per cent of the global ecommerce platform market with over 180,000 UK ecommerce stores. But it may not be the best option for UK small business owners, who may be looking for something more specialised or cheaper or even free. But what are the best Shopify alternatives for UK businesses?

In this piece we will make suggestions for best Shopify alternatives for UK businesses based whether you are a dropshipper, looking for something UK based or a free Shopify alternative.

Is Shopify the best ecommerce platform?

Shopify

Shopify is touted as the crown jewel of e-commerce website builders, with many agreeing the title is well deserved. Shopify is well-known for its extensive range of solutions to help you run an online business from anywhere.

Shopify is one of the leading platforms when it comes to ecommerce. It’s not surprising that Shopify is loaded with features, which are all available in the Basic package and you can add more features when you move onto the standard Shopify or Advanced packages.

Themes

The Shopify Customizer is one of the best customizers on the market to help you build your website. This means you can go far beyond just product information on your home page. This will also benefit your SEO as your homepage will have more content, which Google likes.

However, the theme customizer is only available for the home page and not other pages, which is disappointing.

Marketing

When it comes to marketing, Shopify is really strong when it comes to promoting your business, including its own email marketing system, so you don’t have to use a separate email service such as Mailchimp.

Reporting and analytics

Again, Shopify scores highly when it comes to reporting and analytics, offering product reports, traffic flows, as well as integrating with Google Analytics.

App store

The store is stocked with over 3,000 apps that cover a variety of ecommerce, marketing and SEO. But not all these apps are free to use, which can make Shopify expensive to use on a monthly basis.

Dashboard

The Shopify dashboard is really easy to use and is almost minimalistic in its layout. If even if you are new to ecommerce, it won’t take you long to get to grips with its logical workflows.

How much does Shopify cost?

To begin, Shopify offers a free trial for three days and then costs just £1 a month for three months.

Beyond that, Shopify has three main pricing plans: Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. You’ve probably heard of the headline rate of £25 per month.

A monthly fee under £30 sure sounds reasonable but when you add in other fees, need paid-for assistance from a Shopify expert or incur fees from Shopify Payments, that £25 price can quickly spiral.

Here’s a look at the three primary pricing Shopify UK pricing plans:

Shopify Basic – £25 p/mo

• Basic reports
• Up to 1,000 SKUs
• 2 staff accounts

Credit card rates:

• Online credit card rate: 2% + 25p online
• In-person credit card rate: 1.7% + 0p
• Additional Shopify Fees if NOT Using Shopify Payments: 2%

Shopify – £65 p/mo

• Professional reports
• Up to 1,000 SKUs
• 5 staff accounts

Credit card rates:

• Online credit card rate: 1.7% + 25p
• In-person credit card rate: 1.6% + 0p in person
• Additional Shopify Fees if NOT Using Shopify Payments: 1%

Advanced – £344 p/mo

• Custom report builder
• Up to 1,000 SKUs
• 15 staff accounts

Credit card rates

• Online credit card rate: 1.5% + 25p online
• In-person credit card rate: 1.5% + 0p in person
• Additional Shopify Fees if NOT Using Shopify Payments: 0.5%

Transaction fees

Each of Shopify’s plans means that you have to pay an additional transaction fee to Shopify (in addition to the fee you pay to your payment gateway) if you’re not using Shopify Payments.

This can tot up.

For example, if you use PayPal instead of Shopify Payments, a customer spending £100, Shopify would cost you £5.60 to process the transaction.

If you use Shopify’s own payment gateway, you don’t pay this transaction fee.

Shopify is unique among major ecommerce platforms in charging payment transaction fees to its users – no matter which payment method is used. The concept of an additional transaction fee on top of the processing fee that a merchant pays to their payment gateway was developed by Shopify to “push” its clients towards Shopify Payments.

What is Shopify Payments?

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own payment gateway that allows Shopify users to process credit and debit card payments. Instead of Shopify merchants using a payment gateway such as PayPal, they can instead open a Shopify Payments account (from within their main Shopify account), meaning they don’t have to deal with any third-party merchant account or payment gateway provider (such as Stripe or Opayo).

One advantage of using Shopify’s payments system is that all aspects of your payment gateway account are accessible from within the Shopify account in real time, meaning that you don’t have to login to a separate Stripe account.

Shopify pros

• Ease of functionality
• Huge app marketplace
• Ability to issue refunds within Shopify
• Built-in fraud analysis tools

Shopify cons

• Pricy transaction fees
• Not all apps are free
• Basic order management
• Collections system complicated
• Support can be difficult to locate

Shopify clients: Emma Bridgewater, Gymshark, Decathlon, Pasta Evangelists, Cult Pens

Is Shopify right for your small business?

Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms available. It is easy to use and has loads of features, a great theme customizer and an easy-to-use dashboard.

Five tips to get started taking card payments – Andy Macauley, chief operating officer of Handepay, gives some concise pointers to taking card payments

Are there any cheaper Shopify alternatives?

Shopify alternatives payment transaction fees compared

Best UK Shopify alternative

ShopWired

ShopWired is a UK-focused ecommerce platform, built and developed from a UK perspective.

ShopWired includes a range of features and also features that you can include in the form of apps, ranging from ecommerce to marketing, SEO, reports and analytics. It also offers a strong range of solutions for B2B businesses. Some of these aps however need to be coded into your site as opposed to 1-click installation.

According to ShopWired, increasing numbers of UK businesses are moving their Shopify e-commerce websites across to ShopWired. Customers joining from Shopify complain that they are tired of all the different apps you need to pay for to achieve basic functionality, as opposed to ShopWired, where they are included in its core platform. Almost all of ShopWired’s apps store apps have been built and developed inhouse.

ShopWired offers easy migration from other platforms too, including BigCommerce and EKM.

If you are a UK-focused small business, ShopWired has the advantage of being a UK-centric platform with local support team.

Payment processors

ShopWired works with a good range of payment gateways including Stripe, Amazon Pay, Klarna, Worldpay and SagePay.

Themes

There are 20 ecommerce website themes to choose from. ShopWired introduced its version 5 framework in the summer of 2022 and is still porting some of its older version 4 themes across.

Theme customisation used to be poor, but it is now one of the best ecommerce sites available, enabling you to create custom pages for your site.

Website builder

The ShopWired website builder is excellent with a nice selection of themes, even though the selection of themes is a little on the small side.

Other features

Out of the box, ShopWired comes with a good selection of built-in features and over 70 apps that add a range of different features and integrations to your store including:

• Multichannel selling with Ebay, Etsy and Google
• Shipping with Shipstation and Royal Mail Click & Go
• Content marketing tools such as a blog and custom SEO tools
• Dropshipping with DropWired (AliExpress integration), Printful and Prinitfy
• Email marketing with MailChimp, Klaviyo and Mailerlite integrations
• Onsite marketing tools such as abandoned cart recovery and reward Points
• Accounting software integrations with Sage, Xero and Clearbooks
• B2B features including trade accounts, bulk discounts and min/max order quantity

How much does ShopWired cost?

In terms of monthly pricing, ShopWired is competitive compared to the competition.

And if you sign up for more than one year, you get a 10 per cent discount for year one, 20 per cent for a two-year agreement and 30 per cent for three years.

ShopWired Pro -£34.95pm

For turnover of up to £75,000 per year

• 0% Transaction Fees
• Free SSL Certificate
• Up to 750 Products
• Unlimited 5* ShopWired Support
• 2 Admin Accounts
• ShopWired Accounting Apps £5 Per Month
• Trade Accounts £10 Per Month
• Royal Mail Click & Drop
• eBay App/Integration

ShopWired Advanced – £69.95pm

For turnover of up to £200,000 per year

• 0% Transaction Fees
• Free SSL Certificate
• Unlimited Products
• Unlimited 5* ShopWired Support
• 5 Admin Accounts
• ShopWired Accounting Apps Free of Charge
• Trade Accounts Free of Charge
• Royal Mail Click & Drop
• eBay App/Integration
• Advanced Reports
• Use Zapier

ShopWired Premium – £129.95pm

For turnover of up to £500,000 per year

• 0% transaction Fees
• Free SSL Certificate
• Unimited Products
• Unlimited 5* ShopWired Support
• 15 Admin Accounts
• ShopWired Accounting Apps Free of Charge
• Trade Accounts Free of Charge
• Royal Mail Click & Drop
• eBay App/Integration
• Advanced Reports
• Use Zapier
• 3rd Party Support
• Priority Support
• All Apps Free of Charge

Pros

• All themes offered free of charge
• 0% transaction fees
• Optimised for mobile commerce
• Works with Royal Mail’s Click & Drop service
• Syncs with Quickbooks, Clearbooks and Xero
• Advanced VAT features for selling into EU

Cons

• Some apps need to be coded into your ecommerce site
• No customer support at weekends
• Turnover-based pricing
• Bulk inventory management lacks functionality

ShopWired clients: The Spectator, Superdrug, Marks & Spencer, Lloyds Bank, EDF, Tui

Is ShopWired right for your business?

One of the few ecommerce platforms that has no glaring weaknesses, ShopWired is a good, reasonably priced, all-round option which is easy to use.

Best buy now, pay later platforms for small businesses – More people are now using the buy now, pay later method as a direct result of the rise in cost of living. Here are the best platforms to use for your small business

Best Shopify alternative for UK dropshippers

EKM

Touting itself as the best alternative to Shopify for UK businesses, EKM is the largest UK ecommerce platform with over 80,000 businesses selling in the UK.

Back in 2002, founder Antony Chesworth started building an ecommerce platform which would let anyone build an online shop from his student bedroom. Today, Lancashire-based EKM has more than 70 staff servicing 100,000 customers worldwide. EKM says it powers one in five online shops in Britain.

Features

Most features are included as standard in EKM, including a powerful order management system which includes printing off sticky labels for mailing and downloading orders in CSV format.

Some of these features are available out of the box and others can be added by a simple one-click install, giving you the flexibility to configure your store exactly how you want it:

• Add a free 03 number and Facebook Messenger to your storefront
• Onsite SEO tools including custom meta information, blog and customer reviews
• Increase customer retention with abandoned cart tools and loyalty points
• Print on demand integrations with PitchPrint, Snuggle and Printify
• Affiliate network creation with Tapfiliate
• Third-party shipping integrations with ShipStation, Click & Drop and Parcel2Go
• Integration with Xero and Quickbooks accounting software
• Integrations with Linnworks and Cloud Commerce Pro for store management

Themes

EKM used to be quite restrictive in terms of design but now has a theme customizer, which is a welcome improvement.

Evolution Mode

Evolution Mode is EKM’s own term for its team of ecommerce specialists who audit your ecommerce store, come up with a list of suggestions as how to improve, and implement those changes. This can be as frequent as once a week, depending on which package you’re on. It’s like having your own team of ecommerce experts on hand to optimise your website and comes with the Standard, Advanced and Pro packages.

Payment gateways

EKM has integrations with 19 payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal and WorldPay.

Support

EKM is highly rated when it comes to support, which is available through live chat, email, and phone seven days a week.

How much does EKM cost?

Despite the initial 14-day free trial offer, EKM is one of the more expensive when it comes to launching an ecommerce store.

Lite – £19.99 + VAT pm

For businesses with up to £15,000 in online sales per year.

• Live chat support
• Unlimited products
• All essential features
• Shop health reports
• 1 employee account

Credit card cost

1.4% + 20p credit card rate

Basic – £37.49 + VAT pm

For businesses with up to £50,000 in online sales per year.

Everything in Lite plus:

• Free domain name
• Blog feature
• Loyalty points
• Telephone and live chat support
• Unlimited products
• Basic Evolution mode
• Subscriptions

Credit card cost

1.4% + 20p credit card rate

Standard – £76.99 + VAT pm

For businesses with up to £150,000 in online sales per year

Everything in Basic plus:

• 6 months account manager
• Yearly Evolution mode
• Priority UK support
• Full analytics
• 5 employee accounts
• Loyalty points
• Product urgency features
• Gift cards
• 6-month moneyback guarantee

Credit card cost

1.4% + 20p credit card rate

Pros

• UK-based support team and account managers
• Evolution Mode feature
• Large selection of free themes and features
• Free SSL certificate

Cons

• Admin dashboard clunky to use
• Theme customisation could be better
• Transaction fees

EKM clients: Pilot World Shop, Soap Shack, Just Blinds

Is EKM right for your small business?

If you’re looking for Shopify alternatives, then EKM is a platform you should consider. The platform is easy to use and performs well. And, because it is a UK-based business, it understands the local market.

But where EKM stands out as one of the alternatives to Shopify is its functionality when it comes to UK dropshippers.

One of the reasons why people opt for Shopify is because they want to start a dropshipping business but Shopify is not the best for UK dropshippers. EKM outperforms Shopify when it comes to UK dropshipping, offering a range of integrations with UK-based dropshipping suppliers to remove some of the headaches when dealing with suppliers in the Far East.

Best free Shopify alternative

Square

Primarily known for its POS system, Square also offers its own ecommerce website builder aimed squarely (sorry!) at restaurants and retail businesses.

Square launched in 2009 as a card reader on a pay-as-you-go basis but then it acquired website builder Weebly in 2018, giving Square POS users the chance to set up their own online ecommerce websites.

Like Shopify with its Shopify Payments, seamless integration between Square Online and any Square POS means you can manage online and instore sales through a single unified system.

However, getting started with Square Online is a bit of a complicated process. Because Square is primarily a payment system, you have to sign up for the payment gateway before you get through to the Square Online store.

Features

• Facebook and Instagram integration
• Full integration with Square POS
• Selection of shipping options, including local delivery and in-store pick-up
• Small selection of apps
• Create discounts and promotions
• Facebook and Google ad options directly in the dashboard
• Facebook Messenger for live chat on your storefront

Themes

Square Online offers an easy-to-use dashboard to help you create a simple, attractive website. There is just one default theme but with plenty of customisation options with Square’s excellent easy-to-use customizer.

However, Square Online does lack some bulk editors, which is not ideal for businesses with a large number of SKUs.

Payments

Square Online accepts all major credit cards, PayPal (not on Free plan), Google Pay, Apple Pay, Clearpay and Square Pay.

Support

Square offers email support with a 24-hour response window. Its telephone support helpline runs from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

How much does Square Online cost?

Free

The Free option is pretty generous when it comes to features.

Pro tip: you cannot use your own domain name on the Free package and the front end of your site will include Square branding. This is not great from an SEO perspective

• Website builder with SEO tools
• Sync with Square POS and more
• Pickup & delivery
• Sell on social
• Accept multiple payment types

Credit card cost:

1.4% + 25p per UK card

2.5% + 25p per non-UK card

Plus

£20 p/mo billed annually

Everything in Free plus:

• Expanded site customisation
• Self-serve (QR code) ordering
• Personalised ordering
• Advanced item settings
• Accept PayPal
• Subscriptions
• Free domain for one year

Credit card cost:

• 1.4% + 25p per UK card
• 2.5% + 25p per non-UK card

Premium

£64 p/mo

Everything in Plus plus:

• Lower processing rates
• Real-time delivery rates

Credit card cost:

• 1.4% + 25p per UK card
• 2.5% + 25p per non-UK card

Pros

• Unlimited product lines
• No turnover limit
• Free SSL certificate
• No transaction fees

Cons

• Limited payment options
• No pre-built themes
• Limited bulk-editor options
• No priority support

Square clients: Skin Future, Fair Shot, Tender Cow, Wicks Barbershop

Is Square right for your small business?

If you are looking for a free Shopify alternative, Square is your best option. Square Online is a pretty easy-to-use website builder with a great range of features. And its paid versions are ideal for small retailers or independent restaurants. However, its online store is not ideal for businesses with a large product inventory.

And if you already a Square POS customer, migrating to Square Online is a no-brainer.

However, the number of payment gateways other than Square is restricted, which is hardly surprising given Square’s history.

More on Shopify alternatives

Taking payments online for ecommerce businesses – There are countless ways for an ecommerce business to accept online payments. We explain your best options

The post Shopify alternatives for UK businesses appeared first on Small Business UK.

Businesses big and small are preparing for Black Friday, which falls on the last Friday in November.

If you haven’t been swayed into doing your own sales yet, there are plenty of reasons to get involved. UK shoppers are expected to spend £8.71bn over the Black Friday 2022 weekend, £4.81bn of which will be spent online.

According to research from Statista, the UK accounted for over ten per cent of Black Friday online searches globally in September 2021. Millennials and Gen X are expected to be the biggest spenders this year, with a planned spend of £209 and £217 each respectively.

A survey by hotukdeals, in partnership with Retail Economics, reveals that half of shoppers will spend on electricals, followed by 42 per cent going for clothing and footwear and 30 per cent buying toys and games in the run-up to Christmas.

You need a good conversion strategy to make the most of those online sales to keep customers coming back.

Check out the infographic below from Market Inspector for helpful tips on addressing general website issues, sending personalised cart reminder emails and more.

Related: 5 ways online retailers can win at customer experience on Black Friday

The post Black Friday: 12 e-commerce conversion tips to boost sales appeared first on Small Business UK.

Black Friday is coming around again and your SEO in the run-up and on the day is crucial for sales.

This year, Black Friday falls on November 25 with Cyber Monday on November 28.

In 2022, UK Black Friday sales are expected to drop by £850m, down 18 per cent from 2021, with spend per person expected to drop by £85 (31 per cent) to £189.59. However, the rise in British people shopping the sales has risen to 39 per cent, a six per cent increase from 2021, according to Finder. That’s why this year your SEO is all-important.

The most popular items are expected to be small kitchen appliances, with 22 per cent of shoppers planning to purchase something in this category. This is closely followed by gaming consoles and devices (20 per cent) and home decorations (20 per cent). The least popular items are predicted to be floorcare appliances such as vacuum cleaners, with only nine per cent of shoppers buying.    

Improve your Black Friday SEO

The team over at The Audit Lab have shared five tips to improve your Black Friday SEO.

Always have a Black Friday page live

Have a live Black Friday page that is linked from somewhere on the site that users can access year-round. This can be updated each Black Friday to let your customers know when sales and promotions start. It should be live all year round to gain search engine authority and relevance for the right keywords.

Use Black Friday SEO keywords

Speaking of which, ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Cyber Monday’ are great starting points for keywords, but they’ll be very competitive. It’ll help to have the page live all through the year to help with optimisation.

Try targeting these keywords too:

• Black Friday deals
• Black Friday sale
• Black Friday sales
• Cyber Monday deals
• Cyber Monday sales

Follow these keywords with the current year, such as Black Friday deals 2022, for extra traffic.

Utilise long-tail keywords

Include long-tail keywords on your main Black Friday page as, once again, they’ll help you rank for relevant keywords. These keywords are longer and more specific than short-tail keywords. Terms such as ‘when is Black Friday [current year]’ tend to work well.

Produce Black Friday SEO-optimised content

Written content, video and infographics around Black Friday will encourage people to engage with your website and social media. Make it easy to share on social media and blogs to maximise reach.

Write content early (get started now!) so that it can get picked up by search engines in the run-up to Black Friday. Large evergreen guides that can be updated yearly will perform better over time, with specific yearly guides peppered in there to get acute searches and trends.

Create Black Friday buying guides

It is as it sounds – create guides for people buying gifts for certain occasions or certain people in their lives. Think easy-to-read ‘Black Friday wishlist’ or ‘Top 10’ listicles.

Don’t go into a lot of detail as you want to make sure that the images do most of the talking and that users will click through to your products.

Try getting in touch with influencers and websites which do relevant Black Friday gift guides to see if you can be featured.

Have a separate page for Cyber Monday

Though they’re very closely linked, Cyber Monday is exclusively online so it warrants a webpage of its own. Long-tail keywords around Cyber Monday get a lot of search volume so it’s worth doing.

The same principles apply as your Black Friday page. Have a page with long-tail keyword questions running the whole year round. At the beginning of November, add banners which say ‘coming soon’ or similar. Repeat the process after that year’s sales are done.

Be prepared

Get started with your Black Friday content in early November. This gives you time for your search authority to build up and for keen shoppers to get in the know. Acquire links from other retailers, websites and brands to elevate your search above the competition, such as in an aforementioned Black Friday gift guide.

On the day, keep those long-tail keyword questions at the bottom of your Black Friday page as they will already have authority and will drive more traffic to your website.

>See also: How to prepare your website for Black Friday traffic

Black Friday SEO examples 2022

For 2022, ASOS has a Black Friday ‘warm-up’ page with option to get an additional 20 per cent off if you download the app. There’s also a page displaying deals of up to 60 per cent off.

Meanwhile, the top of John Lewis’ homepage is made up of Black Friday deals, leading through to a dedicated page of deals.

Argos has really got in on the action by doing a pre-Black Friday deals page with a promise that prices won’t go down during Black Friday to encourage shoppers to buy now.    

Gymshark has a great example of a Black Friday FAQ page, including both questions that are specific to Black Friday 2022 as well as evergreen headings such as ‘Black Friday discounts’. This serves to both answer customer questions and build SEO authority.

On top of that, the slug of ‘gymshark-black-friday-all-you-need-to-know’ means that the article can be updated year after without losing its ranking power.

After Black Friday

For most of the year, your Black Friday page should only have your long-tail questions and answers. Include calls to action such as signing up to a newsletter so that customers can be the first to hear about next year’s Black Friday offers and when the sale starts. Offering a discount on your products on sign-up will sweeten the deal.

Read more

Essential Black Friday tips for Amazon sellers

The post 5 tips to boost your Black Friday SEO appeared first on Small Business UK.

Amazon introduced Black Friday to the UK over a decade ago and since then the sales event has grown to be a huge success for many e-commerce sellers.

Although Black Friday began as a single day of sales it now often runs for longer and once more, Amazon is very much leading the way. Many retailers now run offers for the entire Black Friday weekend or even for a whole week. Amazon takes it even further, with Black Friday sales that can last for 12 days and requires them to double their workforce in November and December by taking on thousands of seasonal workers. In 2022, it’s running from 18-28 November.

If you are an Amazon seller you are bound to want to take advantage of the opportunity to grow your sales. So, here are some essential tips you can follow as you gear up for Black Friday in November.

Understand how Amazon promotions work

To begin with, you need to make sure you understand how Amazon’s promotions work. Even if you’ve run promotions on Amazon before, it is worth going over them again, so your efforts aren’t derailed by a mistake you could easily have avoided.

Go through how they calculate the discount being offered and their promotion rules. Also make sure you clearly explain your terms and conditions, so customers understand what makes them eligible for a particular offer and the outcome of applying the discount. The same goes for your promotional messaging, which needs to be straightforward and not leave any room for misinterpretation.

Research products

The products you choose to put on offer can make all the difference to your success on Black Friday.

Take the time to research and source products that are likely to sell well. You can work out which products to sell based on your historical sales data. You could also use a tool like Jungle Scout to help you estimate the sales and profit you can expect from various products.

Social media is another useful source of information on what products are popular. So there really is no reason why you should risk losing money by guessing which products to sell.

Be savvy about sourcing products

After you’ve done your research, it’s time to source your products.

If you are worried about how buying products for Black Friday will affect your cash flow, you could negotiate with suppliers, especially if you have a longstanding relationship with them. You could ask for a discount on larger orders, or negotiate more favourable payment terms, such as a smaller deposit to pay before shipment.

When sourcing products from abroad, it is also worth considering the value of the currency in the country you are buying from. If your currency is worth more to the seller, consider asking for a discount to take this into account.

Check your inventory

Being unable to fulfil orders on Black Friday can tarnish your reputation and result in you losing instead of winning customers. According to Amazon, ‘Customers who submit orders for products that are not in stock are likely to leave negative feedback, especially around the holidays. To ensure that buyers cannot place orders for out-of-stock items, keep your inventory updated.’

Overbuying can also be a risk, so take your projected sales into account when you decide how much you need to buy.

There’s an extra challenge in 2022 as Royal Mail and Parcel Force will be on strike during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Check out What alternatives are there to Royal Mail? to assess your options.

Use product bundles

Bundle offers can be useful for several reasons. They can be a handy way of encouraging additional sales, particularly if you create a bundle with products customers often buy together.

If you have products you’ve been struggling to sell, you could bundle them with more popular but related ones. Bundles can also be a great way of winning a place in the Buy Box. This is the white box that appears on the top right hand corner of the product detail page with a call to action to ‘Add to Cart’. The Buy Box accounts for 83 per cent of Amazon sales but not every seller is eligible to get the coveted spot.

There are several ways to increase your chances of being featured in the Buy Box, including offering a competitive price, since most products on Amazon are sold by several sellers. Another option is to be the exclusive seller of a particular product but this isn’t easy, so instead you could create a unique bundle. The bundle will be treated as a product and help you win a place in the Buy Box.

Bundles are also great for sellers who use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA), since they are treated as a unit, so you’ll be charged less.

Offer free shipping

Shoppers flock to Amazon because it’s convenient, so you want to avoid putting barriers in their way. During the Christmas period, when shoppers are likely to buy several products online, all those shipping fees can be off-putting. Offering free shipping may just give you the edge you need over your competitors. Amazon says free shipping can also increase your chances of winning the Buy Box.

Ask for post-sale reviews

Reviews will not only boost your business now but will build trust in your Amazon store see you through future Black Friday events. What’s more, positive reviews give you a greater justification to charge more for your products. It could be the difference between you getting a sale over a competitor offering a similar product with less-than-stellar reviews.

Mike Cockfield is managing director of Khaos Control Cloud.

Further reading on Black Friday

• Black Friday e-commerce conversion tips to boost sales

The post Essential Black Friday tips for Amazon sellers appeared first on Small Business UK.

With Royal Mail announcing strikes, small businesses may be wondering what alternatives are out there to help them get through these periods.

Around 115,000 Royal Mail workers will be going on strike over Black Friday (24 and 25 November) and Cyber Monday (30 November and 1 December).

Here, we take a look at some of the other delivery providers available. Prices for businesses tend to be bespoke depending on how many packages you want to send and what type and weight they are.

A note on the Post Office

The Post Office will be open on the days that postal workers are on strike, but they expect queues so they’re advising people who want to deliver parcels to get there early. Collections by Royal Mail from Post Offices will be limited and some services will be disrupted.

DPD

https://www.dpd.co.uk/index.jsp

Delivery options

Standard: 1-2 working days

DPD 10:30 and DPD 12:00 – ensure parcels arrive by 10:30 or midday the following day.

Next Day – ensure parcels by the end of the following day

Saturday and Sunday delivery – by 10:30, 12 on Saturday or a nationwide Sunday service

Link with ecommerce accounts?

No.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – there are 6,000 DPD pick-up points around the UK.

Other features:

Fulfilment service, one-hour delivery window for customers, secure contract delivery and signing services, combine delivery and collection in one.

Evri (formerly Hermes)

https://www.evri.com/business-accounts

Delivery options

Standard: 2-5 days
Next day – must be presented before midday for next day delivery

Link with ecommerce accounts?

Yes – connect your account with Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, Not on the High Street, WooCommerce and CSV.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – ParcelShops based in over 7,000 local businesses across the UK, plus over 3,000 lockers.

Other features:

Print parcel label in the shop, courier tracking options, signature on delivery, you get an account manager, next day delivery, recipients get a two-hour delivery window and three delivery attempts.

DHL

https://www.dhl.com/gb-en/home.html

Delivery options

Next day delivery

Saturday delivery

Link with ecommerce accounts?

Yes – connect your account with Etsy, eBay, BigCommerce, Amazon, CSV, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopify, Squarespace, WooCommerce.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – over 3,500 DHL partner stores around the UK.

Other features:

Mail sorting service, 15 per cent off first order, no minimum spend amount, Quick Send service for ecommerce platforms.

APC Overnight

https://apc-overnight.com/

Delivery options

Timed delivery – weekday by 10am, 12pm or 4pm
Saturday – by 10am, 12pm or 4pm
(upgrades are available for fragile goods)

Link with ecommerce accounts?

Yes – connect with eBay, Amazon, Squarespace, Magento.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – there are over 3,500 DHL parcel points around the UK. Over 50 depots around the UK where you can drop items off.

Other features:

Fragile service, liquid service, security service.

Whistl

https://www.whistl.co.uk/

Delivery options

Standard: 2-8 days

Tracked next day
Tracked 2-day
Tracked 3-day
Part-tracked parcel delivery

Link with ecommerce accounts?

No.

Pick-up points for customers?

No.

Other features:

Bespoke solutions for finance and healthcare businesses, ecommerce fulfilment centres, direct to consumer fulfilment and B2B orders, import and export services.

Yodel

https://www.yodel.co.uk/

Delivery options

Yodel Xpress – one or two days for small and medium-sized parcels
Yodel Xpect – provides customers with a two-hour window notification
Yodel Xpert – additional features for specialised delivery requirements such as address only, high-value goods, exchange and BFPO services

Link with ecommerce accounts?

Yes – connect to eBay, Amazon, Etsy, BigCommerce, CSV, Magento, PrestaShop, SquareSpace, WooCommerce.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – thousands around the UK. Find the nearest using the store locator.

Other features:

Have label printed in-store free when you deliver your parcel, customer rewards scheme, customers can be given two-hour predicted delivery window, additional care for packages which involve a more complicated journey in reaching their customer.

UPS

https://www.ups.com/gb/en/Home.page

Delivery options

Standard: 1-2 business days
Morning delivery service – before 10:30am the next business day or by 12pm for a bit cheaper

Link with ecommerce accounts?

No.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – find your nearest UPS Access Point here.

Other features:

Step-by-step tracking, UPS MyChoice for customers with up-to-date delivery alerts and the ability to track multiple deliveries at once.

FedEx

https://www.fedex.com/en-gb/home.html

Delivery options

Standard: 2-3 business days
Same day
Same day plus
FedEx next day by 9am
FedEx next day by 10am
FedEx next day by 12 noon
FedEx end of business day (end of next working day)

Saturday delivery option is available for timed and end of next business day services.

Link with ecommerce accounts?

Yes – connect with BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, WooCommerce.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – over 240,000 worldwide.

Other features:

Sustainable packaging, redirect package to a FedEx location, free FedEx shipping supplies with account, integrate FedEx account number into your merchant account.

ParcelForce

* Please note that ParcelForce will also be on strike on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2022

https://www.parcelforce.com/

Delivery options

Standard: 2 working days

ExpressAM (by 9am, 10am or 12pm the next day)
ExpressPM (for the next working afternoon)
Express24 (by end of next business working day)
Express48 (within two working days)
Express48 Large (within two working days for large packages
Sameday (same working day)

Link with ecommerce accounts?

Yes – connect with Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, PrestaShop, CSV.

Pick-up points for customers?

Yes – either from over 11,000 Post Office branches or up to 7pm from one of 54 depots.

Other features:

If you send two domestic or one international parcel per week then it may be worth getting a ParcelForce account.

You’ll get a named account manager, can pay as you go or have a monthly payment commitment set up, tracking and payment dashboard.

Read more

Import duty explained

The post What alternatives are there to Royal Mail? appeared first on Small Business UK.

It’s an important question that every small business should ask themselves: cash or cashless?

There’s an increasing amount of pressure to choose the latter, but many customers still like having the option of paying cash.  

The Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst towards cashless but cash withdrawal figures have gone in the opposite direction since, partly because of budgeting to cope with the cost of living crisis. The Post Office handled £801 million in personal cash withdrawals in July 2022, but this could also be due to an increase in tourism.   

To help you decide, we take a comprehensive look at the pros and cons of going cashless for small businesses.

The pros of cashless

Less crime

As your business won’t have physical cash, there’s less chance of you being burgled so you’re more likely to have lower insurance premiums.

A significant 36% believe that a cashless society would reduce crime, according to the Access to Cash Review.

What’s more, you and your staff are more likely to feel safe in a space with no physical money, especially at the end of the day when you would’ve been cashing up. According to Paymentsense, 31% of business owners admit to feeling safer using new payment technology.

More efficient

Cutting out the faff of handling cash will save you and your staff a considerable amount of time, especially during peak trading hours.

And without cash, there’ll be no more checking notes with that nifty counterfeit pen or holding tenners up towards the ceiling.

Easier for your accounting

As there’s less room for human error, you’re much more likely to have the right amount of money in your coffers at the end of the day. 

Avoiding the bank

Firstly, there’s the issue of going to find the bank in the first place. Branches are disappearing rapidly, meaning that small business owners and staff are having to travel further to do their cash-related banking. That’s before you even consider the time taken waiting in the queue.

More convenient for customers

Customers won’t have to go to the ATM or break big notes for spare change. Even now, some customers get annoyed with cash-only establishments, having been turned away when they’ve only had card in the past.

Moving towards a cashless society

The rise of tech coupled with bank closures is reportedly forcing people away from cash. And technology-wise, we’re moving towards biometric payments like finger print and eye scans.

People are already more likely to use non-cash methods for automated payments like household bills. According to the Access to Cash Review, only 13% pay rent in cash, 10% for gas, electricity and water and 8% for TV licence. A huge 86% pay for newspaper using cash, which suggests that it is older people – who make up a greater proportion of newspaper readership – that are more inclined to use it.

> See also: Five tips to get started taking card payments

Against going cashless

Inconvenience for poorer customers

Despite increasing uptake, the Access to Cash Review said that over 8 million people (17% of the population) would struggle to cope in a cashless society.

Reportedly, 2.2 million people are using cash for all of their day-to-day transactions. They’re already having difficulties as, since 2018, 12,178 free-to-use ATMs have gone.

Poorer people are the most reliant on cash as it helps them to budget as well as giving them choice, privacy and peace of mind. A significant proportion of the population (1.3 million people) don’t have a bank account so would be faced with difficulties making purchases on a day-to-day basis.

Many pay tradespeople using cash, including gardeners (81%), cleaners (76%) and window cleaners (85%).

An announcement in the Rishi Sunak’s 2020 Budget vowed to protect access to cash, imposing measures such as customers being able to claim cashback without having to make a purchase and requiring banks to have withdrawal facilities within a certain distance of customers.  

Troubles during power outage/ banking systems going down

British banks being hit by IT failures prevented customers making transactions at an average rate of more than once per day in the last nine months of 2018, according to Which? Money. A lot of small businesses are based in rural areas which are more susceptible to dips (or full-on outages) of power, meaning they could miss out on customers and income.

Even something as simple as a dead battery can stop you from using your card and mobile payment systems.

Reduced flexibility

A significant number of people still use cash, especially those in vulnerable groups. In fact, 10% of consumers use cash for all or most of their purchases, according to the FCA.

Debt companies even advise people with debt to cut up their cards so that they can get a hold of their budgeting. These people may gravitate to establishments that take cash where they feel more in control.

Increases chances of fraud and data breaches

Where there is a fall in burglaries and crimes involving physical money, going cashless opens avenues for hackers. We can see this in the growing number of data breaches hitting businesses and their customers. It’s not just money – hackers might be able to get hold of personal and sensitive details too.

Unable to tip specific staff for service

This is especially the case for restaurants. If a server or other member of staff offers brilliant service, customers want to reward them with a larger tip. If the customer doesn’t pay in cash, then they can’t guarantee that their money will go towards that employee’s tips.

Difficult for tourists

Though the use of prepaid cards is growing, a lot of tourists still choose to exchange physical cash before they travel. They could be hit by transaction charges if they use card which will put them off going to certain shops and restaurants which don’t accept cash.

What the entrepreneurs did

We spoke to a couple of small business owners about why they have – and haven’t – decided to go cashless.

Ben Page-Phillips, co-founder and managing director of Nincomsoup, says that going cashless was the best option for the business.

Why did you switch to cashless?

When we launched 20 years ago, 85% of our payments were made in cash. Now it’s reversed, meaning 85% is made by card.

It takes us a lot of time to process cash payments – up to two hours a day going to and from the bank. What’s worse is that they’re charging for change bags as well as depositing cash now.

Credit card payments are costing us less now as we’ve reached a threshold, so the charge is only 1%.

Having cash on-site throws up security issues as well – it leaves us more open to crime. There’s also extra training in handling cash and dealing with exports involved which takes up more time and money. Fortunately this hasn’t been the case yet, but if we had any untrustworthy employees, having cash in tills puts us at extra risk of theft too.

It’s changed the way we pay traders. Instead of using cash, we use a prepaid credit card.

How did you prepare for the move to cashless?

I put up some signs in the shop and next to the tills as well as on the daily specials chalkboard we have outside. We did this around two weeks beforehand to warn customers about the change. I do think we need to do better with signage, though.

How has the reaction from your customers been?

Some customers – more often our regulars – have been frustrated with the move. Some of them used to have the exact change ready to pay every time they came in.

There were even people who paid cash because they assumed that we would prefer it. I’ve done the same in the past. If you want to support a small business, you give them cash so that they don’t have to deal with card charges.

How about other difficulties?

There were concerns over the charity box we used to have and whether we would raise as much money. We put up a notice next to the till asking customers to tell us if they want to add a 25p charity donation onto their purchase.

Is a cashless society on the way and what is influencing it?

I think that a cashless society is inevitable. A lot of people are with mobile banks like Starling Bank and Monzo. They auto-categorise your purchases and give you a huge amount of information – having that level of knowledge over your spending makes you want to put all your purchases through on the card.

As for people who don’t have much money or have bad credit, they can load money onto prepaid cards.

Damian Williams (left), co-founder and director of Vintage Bus Bar, explains why he won’t make the switch.

Why don’t you want to go cashless with your business?

It’s costly to introduce and maintain the technology and that erodes my margin. Our customers often highlight that it should be their option whether they pay with cash or via another method. If the only option we’re providing is card or contactless, we’re then treated somewhat alien to the usual multi-optional payment methods available at other pubs and shops.

We also have to rely on live connections to the internet to take card payments. They’re often unpredictable and unreliable, especially if we’re working at an event in the middle of a field at a festival or a horse racing event. The barriers to going cashless in our bars currently outweigh the benefits, however I can see how this will improve with time.

What proportion of your customers pay cash, debit card, credit card, prepaid card and mobile?

When we have offered all of these options simultaneously, 70% is mobile or contactless, 25% cash and 5% chip and PIN.

How do you pay traders and how would going cashless affect that?

Traders are usually paid by BACS. However, commission on pitches are usually paid on the day by cash from the takings. If we went cashless, terms would have to be set up with the venues in order to pay them by BACS instead.

What difficulties do you experience in accepting cash payments?

Difficulties in accepting cash relate to relying on staff to count correctly and give the right amount of change. Tills can be up or down hundreds of pounds on a bad day.

Unfortunately, staff do have the opportunity to try to conceal cash unlawfully and if you don’t have 100% trust in them, it can be a big dilemma. It is also more of a hassle to manage floats and count tills at the end of trading, as opposed to taking card only and printing out the automated final takings slip.

Are we heading towards a cashless society and what do you think is influencing it?

The government and its policies are moving toward a cashless society, there’s no two ways about it. They want seamless transactions through one place of control: the banks.

‘The government and its policies are moving toward a cashless society, there’s no two ways about it’

In turn, it is being made harder through cashier-less banks to pay in, exchange and get cash out. You can also no longer pay in without pre-printed slips. Banks costs would also drastically reduce if everything became technology-based so they are another large influencer in becoming a cashless society.

The banks and vendors are hugely reliant on cashless reaching the whole retail market, but the benefits are currently only there to be seen in large scale vending environments and it is only time until the technology improves enough to follow this out to smaller vendors.

The post Why businesses should go cashless: pros and cons appeared first on Small Business UK.

“Customer is king” has never rung truer than it does in today’s retail environment. The rapid growth of online retail means people have more choice than ever before. Businesses that don’t offer what the customer wants, when they want it – in short, premium customer experience – are at risk of falling by the wayside.

What I call a “MeCommerce” strategy puts the person you’re trying to sell to at the forefront of your strategy. Customers feel valued through communication and engagement with the business and its values. The products they buy are tailored to their specification. Everything is centred on the customer.

Applying the ideas of MeCommerce has allowed my business, Engravers Guild, to reach new audiences and give my customers a truly personalised experience. While personalising products is central to my business, that’s just one small part of MeCommerce. Any business can succeed by making the customer feel like the world revolves around them.

I’ve put this guide together to help other businesses who are thinking of adjusting their strategies.

Personalising how you sell online

Customisability

Giving the customer options is central to a successful MeCommerce strategy. In the tech industry, companies like HP let you select the processor, RAM and storage capacity for your laptop or PC, giving you the freedom to tailor the machine to your needs.

For ecommerce sites, this might mean offering size or colour variants. For B2B companies, tiers of service are a sensible way to suit differing needs.

‘Any business can succeed by making the customer feel like the world revolves around them’

Care

It is no longer enough to simply provide a good product – you need to make the customer feel special. Excellent service throughout the customer experience journey is needed, letting them engage with your brand’s values and opening communication between business and consumer.

Cosmetics retailer, Lush, has perfected this feeling of care. Its brand values are at the forefront of all of its marketing, and each product is labelled with the name and face of the person who prepared it. It’s a nice way of adding a personal touch to what can be a somewhat faceless process.

>See also: The pros and cons of selling through your own website

Convenience

In an online world, customer convenience is key. The modern shopper doesn’t have to visit a store when they can order through their phone at any time of day. They also shouldn’t have to browse; you should be recommending products for your customers based on their shopping habits.

Technology has become democratised to the extent that small businesses can incorporate many things that were formerly unique to major retailers.

Most website building platforms can allow users to log in, view past purchases and see products recommended for them based on their buying habits.

4 steps to personalise customer experience

#1- Build your platform for mobile devices

This feels like an obvious point, but it’s more important now than ever before. Offering convenience means allowing people to order through their mobile. 54 per cent of e-commerce sales were made through mobile devices in 2021, and that number is only going to increase.

It’s not just a case of making your website responsive. For a truly mobile-first and customer-centric experience it should be possible for customers to buy items, track the progress of their order (and shipment), leave feedback and engage with customer service through mobile too.

#2 – Utilise the power of your website

Used correctly, a website is one of the most powerful assets your business has – but many businesses fail to take full advantage of the capabilities of online selling.

Your website can collect customer data (based on purchase and browsing habits) to provide tailored recommendations and highlight popular products based on demographics.

The customer should feel that your business truly reflects their values and can allow them to become an ideal version of themselves. Reviews, testimonials, and helpful information should all be placed around the site to help the customer feel supported, understood and valued.

>See also: Taking payments online for ecommerce businesses

#3 – Be consistent

The website is usually the hub of your business online, but it’s not everything. Social media plays an increasingly important role in modern commerce – and there’s no better way to engage with customers in a direct way.

It can be hard to achieve an authentic, value-based connection with your audience by treating social media as a junior discipline. Social media posts need to be regular, eye-catching and should be consistent with the tone of voice used across other marketing channels.

In short, the messaging on your social platforms should reflect your target demographic, their values and the factors that make them want to buy.

Social media also offers a way to literally speak to customers by responding to comments and questions. Consider it your direct line to customers and treat it as an opportunity to impress them.

#4 – Automate what you can

Marketing automation is a complex discipline, but these are two basic systems pretty much anyone can set up quite easily:

• Product recommendations

Using past data to predict what customers might need means you can offer up-sells, cross-sells and more – and plugins make it easy to set up.

Offering customisability where possible means some retailers may need to re-evaluate their inventory. Tailor-made clothes, personalised engravings and custom-built PCs means many MeCommerce businesses are carrying less inventory and instead focusing on making items “to order”.

• Automated emails / SMS

Send your customers deals on their birthday. It’s a simple idea but it makes them feel loved. Other automated emails are: order updates (confirmation, dispatch notification, tracking info, feedback request); reminders (“You might be running low – is it time to re-order?”) and more recommendations (Since you bought x, we think you’ll like y)

Businesses need to adapt to survive in today’s e-commerce retail environment. John Lewis may have built its brand on in-store personalised shopping experiences, but its recent pivot to close physical stores and focus on online sales highlights that times are changing.

Harnessing the power of the internet is key. Those willing to create responsive, engaging websites and embrace social media can deliver better value for their customers, through accurate data and open communication. Consumers drive retail, and businesses that place them at the centre of their strategy will see greater success.

Elliot Bishton is the founder of Engravers Guild of London, an online start-up designed to be the pre-eminent destination for all personalised goods, delivered direct to the consumer.

Further reading

Q&A: Adrian Swinscoe talks about improving customer experience

The post How to personalise your customer experience appeared first on Small Business UK.

The Government has updated its Help to Grow: Digital scheme to support 760,000 more small businesses with discounted tech support and software.

It has relaxed the scheme’s eligibility criteria for small businesses as well as making more types of software available and including one-to-one support for SMEs.

The Association of Associated Technicians (AAT) led the campaign to change the scheme’s rules. In February, the body sent a letter to the Small Business Minister with three key recommendations which have all been accepted:

• Reduce the eligibility threshold from companies employing five or more staff to those employing one or more
• Expand the range of software available
• Broaden the range of costs that the £5,000 of available funding can cover to include 1-2-1 training and advice

Changes come into effect from today (July 25).

What is Help to Grow: Digital?

With Help to Grow: Digital, discounts of up to £5,000 are available for one-year licences each on approved digital accounting and customer relations management (CRM) software. It is up to the business as to which software it most needs.

The Government hopes this discounted software will help small businesses manage their finances and build customer relationships, using the same kind of tech used by bigger companies, helping to scale their business.

As part of its announcement, the Government has also made eCommerce software available to help small businesses manage their inventory, take payments and gather data and insight based on customers’ needs. So, businesses can now access up to £5,000 on 30 software solutions from 14 technology suppliers for eCommerce, digital accounting and CRM software.

Applications will be launching for advice platforms to partner with the scheme from today and the advice service will go live later this year.

Former exchequer secretary Helen Whately told SmallBusiness: “This could help thousands of businesses. It’s a huge opportunity and that’s why we’re doing it.”

The Federation of Small Businesses says that one in four businesses lack confidence in their own basic digital skills, research which chimes with Whately who said business owners told her deciding which technology to adopt is complex.

This is why the business department has launched a new online platform offering support and advice on how to choose the right digital technologies to boost their growth and productivity.

The UK ranks eighth in the world for innovation but only 31^st in the world for IT adoption.

“There’s a £100bn opportunity if we increase our productivity either through technology or better management practices,” said Ms Whately.

Some small business owners have questioned why they are in effect being penalised with no software discount for having stayed abreast of technology, either using digital CRM or accounting packages already.

Whately said: “You could say, let’s do nothing but we know that Britain has a productivity gap. The size of the prize could be £100bn if we increase our productivity. Now we want to help those remaining businesses get over the hump.”

How do I qualify for Help to Grow: Digital?

To qualify for the Help to Grow: Digital financial discount under the new rules, businesses can be from any business sector, but must meet all four of the following criteria:

• Be a business based in the UK registered with Companies House or be a registered society on the Financial Conduct Authorities Mutuals Register
• Employ between one person (who must not be an owner) and 249 people
• Have been actively trading for over 12 months, and have an incorporation date of, at least, 365 days prior to application
• Be purchasing the approved software for the first time

How much is the Help to Grow: Digital discount worth?

Eligible businesses will receive one financial discount towards the purchase of one approved software product up to a maximum of £5,000 (not including VAT) for customer relationship management, digital accounting software or eCommerce products.

The financial discount covers 12 months’ worth of approved software product core costs, exclusive of VAT.

Who offers eCommerce software?

• Shopwired
• Gob2b
• Kentico
• Comgem
• EKM
• Big Commerce

Who offers CRM software?

• Capsule
• Zymplify
• Livepoint
• Gold-Vision CRM
• Deskpro

Who offers accounting software?

• Sage
• Intuit
• Crunch

Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said:

“We are very pleased to have worked hard with BEIS to adopt our ask to expand the eligibility criteria of the Help to Grow: Digital scheme to support more small businesses getting the software they need.

“Our research shows the smallest firms are least likely to have adopted tech products because of the lack of resources although they would make the most productivity gains through adoption.

“It’s good that Ministers are listening. Together with the addition of e-Commerce software and one-to-one advice for SMEs on technology adoption, this will help small businesses enhance their operations and drive efficiency and growth.”

Help to Grow: Management

Help to Grow: Digital scheme sits alongside the existing Help to Grow: Management scheme launched in 2021.

Help to Grow: Management offers business leaders management and leadership training. Designed to be manageable alongside full-time work, businesses receive 50 hours of training across 12 weeks. The course is 90 per cent funded by Government and delivered by business schools across the UK, with the support of experienced entrepreneurs and leading industry figures. Courses have been running at business schools across the UK since June.

More on Help to Grow

Government to launch £520m Help to Grow scheme for SMEs

The post Help to Grow: Digital – how can it help my business? appeared first on Small Business UK.

In this article, we’ll show you how to set up an Amazon US seller account, how to make your product stand out to US customers, and how to fulfil your products whilst remaining VAT compliant.

We’ll also give you tips on how to reduce the costs associated with selling internationally on the world’s biggest marketplace.   

What are the benefits of selling on Amazon US?

The short answer is: you can sell more stuff.

Amazon US net sales in 2021 totalled $314 billion according to Statistica. That figure is nearly 10 times greater than the UK, which pulled in a mere $31.91 billion.   

As well as reaching a larger audience of online shoppers, you may find that your products enjoy greater market fit in the US than in Europe. 

The brand Bugaboo is an example of this phenomenon. Bugaboo initially launched in the Netherlands and enjoyed marginal local success. But it wasn’t until they expanded to the US that they became the chic buggy of choice for parents worldwide. 

How to set up an Amazon global seller account

Before you launch on Amazon US, you’ll need to register as a global seller by following these steps:

1. Sign into Amazon Seller Central and select Global Selling from the Inventory dropdown.
2. Click on the regions where you’d like to start selling (the US in this case) then hit Register.
3. Complete the registration by providing your details.

And you’re done!

You will now be able to manage your Amazon US and UK sales from a single linked account. 

Amazon US VAT compliance 

Selling internationally comes with some tax complications. 

To ensure you remain VAT compliant, you can use a specialist accountant or VAT service such as Elver eCommerce Accountants or SimplyVAT.

You can also use Amazon’s VAT calculation tool to automatically calculate the applicable VAT at your checkout.  

How much does it cost to sell on Amazon US from the UK?

Amazon charges its merchants a host of fees, although they would argue that these fees are lower than the amount you would pay to sell and fulfil your products with other providers.

You can roughly break Amazon’s fees down into seven categories. Categories 1-6 apply whether you’re selling at home or abroad, whilst category 7 only applies to international sellers.

1. Account fees: a flat fee of £25 per month if you’re on the Professional plan, or £0.75 per sale if you’re on the Individual plan.
   
2. Referral fees: 5 – 45% of the order value, depending on the category and value of your products. 
   
3. Fulfilment fees: store and ship products yourself or use Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA), whichever option you choose, Amazon charges a fee.
   
4. Refund administration: 20% of the order value up to £5.
   
5. Closing fees: this cost is exclusive to media items such as video games, books and software. The fee is £1 for books and £0.50 for other media.
   
6. High volume listing fees: £0.0003 per SKU if you list more than 2 million SKUs in a month. This does not apply to media items.
   
7. International seller fees: additional fulfilment charges, cross border fees and currency conversion fees.

What are the additional costs of selling on Amazon US from the UK?

Amazon Pay Multi-currency allows merchants to collect payments from customers in a variety of local currencies. However, if your Amazon account is linked to a UK bank account, you will be charged additional fees when customers pay you in US Dollars. These include:

1. Cross-border fee: 0.5% to sell from the UK to the US.
2. Authorisation fee: £0.30 per transaction.
3. Processing fee: 2.7%
4. Currency conversion fee: 2.5% above the wholesale exchange rate. 

Fortunately, there is a way to reduce these fees. 

How to reduce international Amazon Pay fees

If your Amazon account is linked to a UK bank account, you will have to pay additional fees when accepting payment in US Dollars. 

To get around these fees, you have two choices:

Open a local bank account in the US

You can open a US Dollar bank account from the UK and connect it to your Amazon US seller account. By funnelling US sales revenue into this account, you can avoid Amazon’s cross-border and currency conversion fees.

The problem here is that high street banks also charge high FX and transfer fees. That means when it comes to transferring your money back to your UK bank account, you could be charged up to 3.5% above the interbank rate, plus a transaction fee.

Sign up for a global business account

Sign up for a free global business account with Airwallex and you can open foreign domicile accounts in multiple currencies – including US Dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling and Hong Kong Dollars – in a click.

Connect your Airwallex USD account to your Amazon US seller account and collect USD from your customers with no forced currency conversions or unnecessary fees.

Airwallex charges a more reasonable rate of 0.5% above the interbank rate to exchange USD to GBP. Considerably cheaper than Amazon Pay and UK high street banks.

Depending on the volume of your international sales, you could add hundreds of thousands of pounds back into your bottom line using this workaround. 

You’ll also have the convenience of managing your money from a central account, rather than dealing with several foreign currency bank accounts. For this reason, Airwallex is a great business bank account option for eCommerce businesses that wish to scale across borders.  

How to fulfil your products in the US

Before you launch your products in the US, you need to work out the logistics. There are three steps to establishing a sound fulfilment process:

1. Import goods to the US

If you’re dealing with large volumes, it makes sense to import your products in bulk to the States and store them in local warehouses, rather than posting individual items to your US customers.

Importing in bulk will reduce your shipping times and costs, and make your products more desirable to US customers. 

To move your products through customs, you must have your paperwork in order. It’s best to hire a customs broker to advise you, or choose a freight company that offers brokerage as part of their service. 

2. Store goods

The US is a big place, almost as big as the whole of Europe combined, so it’s best to research where your core customer base is and choose nearby warehouses to store your products.

Warehouse options include ShipBob, FedEx and of course, Amazon itself. 

3. Pack and ship products 

Amazon requires that goods are packed and shipped to an exacting standard. You must check that your fulfilment company meets these standards to avoid incurring a fine.

A smooth returns process is also mandatory, so double check that your chosen warehouse has one.

If you prefer an easy life, Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) will take care of all three steps for you. 

By choosing FBA, you’ll know your products will be stored, packed and shipped to Amazon’s standards, and your returns process will be taken care of. 

Merchants who use FBA may also be eligible for Amazon Prime benefits, such as next-day delivery, which can dramatically boost your ranking and sales.  

How to improve sales on Amazon US 

You’ve set up your Amazon US seller account, you’ve linked it to a multi-currency business account, and you’ve sorted out your fulfilment process. 

As they say at NASA, you’re go for launch!

Here’s how to make the launch a grand success. 

Do your keyword research

The Amazon marketplace operates a bit like a search engine. You must include relevant keywords on your product pages in order to rank for customer searches. 

Keywords differ by region, even in English-speaking countries. In the US a baby’s cot is called a crib, trainers are called sneakers, jumpers are called sweaters…you get the picture.

To ensure you’re hitting the right keywords, research the descriptions your competitors use on Amazon US marketplace. You can also use Google Trends to discover the terms customers use when searching for your product in the States.

Take note of US holidays

Some US events, such as Black Friday, have been exported to the UK. Others, such as Independence Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day and ThanksGiving, remain unique to the States.

Take note of these public holidays and plan your marketing campaigns around them.

Generate customer reviews

Reviews play a big part in both search ranking and sales conversion on Amazon.

Your UK reviews will show up on your US pages, but they won’t be featured in the main review section, so it’s best to generate some local reviews too.

The best way to get customer reviews is to ask for them. Use an automated email tool to encourage customers to review your products after they receive them. To boost response, you can make use of Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program.

Final thoughts

With a global audience of 1.2 billion, Amazon provides a perfect platform for UK businesses to launch internationally.

As well as offering a gateway to millions of online shoppers, Amazon removes many of the obstacles that can make international fulfilment difficult for smaller businesses. 

If there is demand for your products in the US, and you’re able to make a good profit margin when accounting for Amazon’s fees, you can use the world’s biggest ecommerce site to push into new markets without ever leaving home. 

The post How to launch on Amazon US from the UK appeared first on Small Business UK.

If you’re finding it tough running a business, you’re not alone. But what can you do to help manage your stress? In this first video, we look at one of the biggest opportunities for small businesses – making sales both on and offline.

The pandemic has transformed the way consumers shop, as noted in PayPal’s Business of Change report, and micro and small businesses have been forced to adapt their sales strategy in order to thrive.

Watch this exclusive panel chat to learn practical insights and steps to grow your sales, including:

• Why it is important to have an omnichannel (on and offline) presence today
• Tips on how to differentiate your service based on the senses. For instance, adding smells to your bricks and mortar store for an instant uplift in sales
• How you can ensure a seamless experience for customers across all sales touchpoints (website, mobile, social media and in-person) – and make shopping easier for the customer
• How to build a brand across all channels and increase customer conversions

How to improve your sales – key takeaways

Small Business editor Tim Adler hosted a really interesting panel discussion with the head of SME for PayPal UK, Ben Ramsden, shopper behaviour analyst Philip Adcock of Adcock Solutions and Sandy Ruddock, founder of condiment company Scarlett & Mustard.  

The importance of omnichannel

Omnichannel means selling your products through all the different channels (eg. your shop, your website, social media platforms) and as Philip stressed, it’s important for small businesses to tailor the experience for customers according to the channel.

“In store, you can use smells. We’ve pumped the aroma of chocolate into stores and got sales of chocolate up by 40%. Even the sounds in the background have an impact, when we played German music in the background of a store, sales of German wine went up by 72%.”  

Having an omnichannel strategy also means ensuring you have a clear presence across multiple channels. As Ben commented:

“Customers might see your product on social media, then go to your website and order it, then go to pick it up in store. At its simplest, it’s identifying where your customers search and purchase, and as you get more sophisticated, it’s tying those channels together.”

It’s also crucial to remember it’s all for the customer, not you. For instance, 90% of humans are right-handed so there are huge gains to be made by tailoring product placement, even online, to the right. Philip did a project where an online advert online switched the images of a bottle and wine glass (so the glass was now to the right and customers could imagine it being poured as they would) and it resulted in a 30% uplift in sales.

The change in consumer shopping habits

Habits are ingrained behaviours. As Philip noted: “We’ve all had retail for our entire lives, so we’ve learnt how to shop, it’s automatic for us. Covid broke our habits, and it has forced people to shop in ways they didn’t before.”

For businesses this means you need to try and ensure you’re making it mentally as easy as possible for your customers. A simple example could be to make sure that if you’re selling a local product that your website doesn’t ask customers to choose their country from a hard-to-navigate and irrelevant dropdown of all the countries in the world.

Ben concurred that the PayPal data shows these new habits persisting. Small businesses were able to reach and identify new audiences. For instance, rural businesses expanding online to explore wider markets.

For Scarlett & Mustard, the pandemic meant a huge pivot. Pre-covid, 50% of trade came from shows and events which “fell off a cliff during lockdown”, said Sandy, and their website was representative of just 1% of sales so it wasn’t invested in. In 2020, as online sales soared, they decided to rebuild their website and online sales is now “the fastest growing channel”.

Making the purchase process easier

The simple takeaway from this session, Phillip stresses, is that “if you can make purchasing easier, with less friction, you should”.

One of PayPal’s key aims is to help remove the number of steps a consumer must go through when purchasing and throughout the payment process. Ben advises “test going through the process yourself, what can you pre-populate?”.

Scarlett & Mustard gave lots of consideration to the check-out process when redoing its website – and changes had a huge impact. Sandy noted that prior to the launch the business wasn’t integrated with PayPal but now 75% of customers use it as a payment method, highlighting the importance of offering customers a range of ways to pay in the simplest way possible.  

Other big wins were adding a ‘quick add’ button and using market research to find out what’s really important to your customer to prioritise what you invest in.

Adding personalisation to the online experience

There are an increasing number of tools available now to make your website – and the shopping experience – more personal. As Ben notes, you can use software that allows shoppers to create an account so you can offer tailored promotions, pre-populated data and abandoned basket prompts.

For PayPal, it’s essential that its software plugs in to these different tools so everything is seamless.

For Scarlett & Mustard, everything comes back to the product. One tactic the brand uses is to add in a sample product when consumers spend over a certain amount, as well as recipe cards and personalised packing slips and an email strategy with tailored rewards.

Be generous with your product, is one of the best pieces of advice Sandy received and it’s a tactic that has worked really well. A free sample is particularly powerful, notes Philip, as it triggers the law of reciprocity. When we get something free, we feel obliged to be loyal and give something back.

Increasing customer trust online

Customer reviews are so important, and even customer complaints can be used to your benefit. At Scarlett & Mustard, Sandy has found that if there has been an issue and you deal with it quickly and generously you can turn someone into a champion of your brand.

The future is here today

According to Ben, “The future is here today. If you look at some of the things larger brands do already in terms of unifying their channels, we’ll see more small businesses doing this effectively and an acceleration of the number of businesses doing it well.”

Getting the basics right will be an essential – having both a brand and a digital payment system that works across channels, will be crucial.

Final advice on sales

The session ended with some final advice from the panellists:

• Reevaluate your whole customer journey and challenge yourself on what you can do to make it easier
• Keep it simple, do the easy things initially and do them well
• Put your customer first, and walk a mile in their shoes

For advice on facing your financial wellness head on and building resilience into your business, head to Build Business Resilience – Tips &Tools at PayPal UK

More PayPal Check-In Festival

The PayPal Check-In Festival is a series of practical webinars aimed at supporting small business owners.

Each session shares stories, expertise and knowledge from peers and industry experts around a particular pain point for business owners

How to control your small business cashflow – Our experts cover everything from common cash flow problems to your different financing options

Help maximise your international trade opportunities – It’s never been easier to sell your products overseas using platforms such as Amazon, Shopify or PayPal. But the rules and regulations get increasingly complicated. Don’t worry, help is at hand

The post How to help grow your small business sales on and offline appeared first on Small Business UK.