Organizations that consistently develop negotiation skills improve their financial outcomes by roughly 30 percent compared to their peers, according to McKinsey research. It makes perfect sense, considering that negotiation touches nearly every part of running a business, from finalizing supplier agreements to setting the terms…
You probably didn’t mean to overstock. Maybe you were preparing for a surge in demand, a customer delayed a large order, or your procurement team was trying to lock in better pricing. Surpluses have a way of sneaking up on businesses and holding working capital…
If you’re running a business, especially one that’s growing or evolving, you already know how easy it is for things to stall or break down. A continuous improvement culture lets you spot the roadblocks that create those issues and address them early on, so they…
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship,” Benjamin Franklin once said. People often take this quote at face value and focus on the importance of monitoring expenses and implementing cost-cutting strategies. This is part of it, but the often-overlooked wisdom…
“If you’re starting a business and you take out a loan, you’re a moron,” Shark Tank investor and long-term entrepreneur Mark Cuban says. While his words may come across as harsh or even crass, he goes on to make a fair point: “There are so…
Profitability slipping or cash flow feeling tight? One of the biggest culprits for small and growing businesses is overhead. By mastering the art of managing business overhead costs and using practical cost-saving strategies, you can boost your bottom line and create financial stability. On this…
More than two-thirds of small businesses are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, according to the latest Small Business AI Adoption survey. However, adoption rates are lower among those with lesser revenue. This is an unfortunate catch-22, as those with reduced revenue often hold off on…
Imagine logging onto your work computer one morning, only to be met with a notification informing you that your data has been stolen by hackers. To get it back, you need to pay $100,000. What are your next steps? The answer likely hinges on whether…
Eight in ten small businesses say the holiday season is essential to their overall profit, according to the Small Business Administration. Yet, even if your business isn’t impacted by these final few weeks of the year, chances are your sales ebb and flow based on…
Did you know a typical mid-sized business spends almost two days each week chasing payments, according to Intuit? While this figure may seem unreal to some, it’s only the tip of the iceberg for others. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Technology in…
