The best tools for an effective decision making

All managers face the daily challenge of making decisions. In such a busy market and where information flows at a very fast pace, it is not always easy to have the right information at the right time, which complicates the decision-making process. It’s essential that managers equip themselves with the appropriate tools to enable them to make objective and assertive decisions. In today’s article, we talk about the best tools for an effective decision making!

Cloud Storage Solutions

Mobility is a growing trend and in many sectors is already an everyday reality. Employees and managers should have easy access to the most important information about the business, because only then will they be able to make effective and timely decisions. Cloud computing has facilitated labor mobility by allowing important business documents to be consulted and edited anywhere. This will contribute for an effective decision making.

Real-time information tool

The day-to-day of a manager is quite busy and it is humanly impossible to keep up with all the situations that happen in the business. It’s very important to have a real-time business monitoring system that allows you to set business alerts so that you are advised whenever any important situation requires immediate intervention. Multipeers is a BAM system that allows you to define business alerts that warn you whenever a situation requires your attention. In this way, you will always be aware of the events of your business and will be able to decide in good time. Many of the decisions are made based on reports a few days late, which makes the company have a reactive and non-proactive action. With Multipeers you can always be ahead of the competition.

KPI’s

The KPIs relate to the previous point. A KPI – performance indicator – is a value that demonstrates whether the company is achieving its primary goals. The company can and should have well-defined KPIs. Likewise, each department and employee must know their KPIs so that they can work towards their goals and help the company grow. “If we doN’t know where we are going any way is good”: in this way, it’s indispensable that each employee knows his role in the company so that he can guide his daily work in order to reach all his objectives. With Multipeers, you can track KPIs in real time.

PDCA Cycle

PDCA is the go to plan, do, check and act. It is a management technique linked to the improvement of a company’s processes. Its purpose is to solve problems, pointing out the causes for potential deviations and productive failures. This process makes the organization of the company more efficient in the long run and it is essential that it be applied from the moment of creation of a business, so that the improvement can be continuous. Based on this tool, it’s possible to make more effective decisions because there is a greater knowledge about the company.

7 Lessons from Steve Jobs to better manage your business

The name of Steve Jobs doesn’t leave anyone indifferent. In addition to the incredible technologies he has developed throughout his life, Steve Jobs has also left a story that still inspires a lot of entrepreneurs and managers. Its unique way of meeting the challenges and managing people is an inspiration to many professionals. In today’s article, we highlight the top 7 lessons of Steve Jobs to better manage your business!

Accept that you cannot do everything by yourself

Many managers think that they can do everything on their own and this is a big mistake, as it can even compromise the whole company. Listening to the opinion of work teams is essential to getting to know other points of view and other ways of solving the same problem. Steve Jobs didn’t create the iPhone alone and gave immense value to the opinion of those around him.

Keep the focus even in the middle of the chaos

All managers need focus to guide their work. When Steve Jobs arrived at Apple, he found a chaotic scenario where several versions of the Macintosh were being produced simultaneously. It was necessary to guide the work team, focusing on two products: a laptop and a Desktop version. The end result was two products that were well-suited to meet the real needs of customers.

Do what you really like

Nowadays, it is not easy to work only on what we like, but having a passion for our work will make all the difference in the final results. Jobs was very fond of the area where he worked and so he was more committed than most people. Only with real passion for our work can we be happy every day!

Simplify processes

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”: this was Apple’s marketing motto. Steve Jobs wished that all actions of the iPhone were accomplished in 3 clicks only. It is essential that companies offer practical and simple solutions to their customers, because today’s consumers are very demanding and like ready-to-use and easy-to-handle solutions.

Learn from mistakes

Even the best pros fail and Steve Jobs was no exception. Many managers are frustrated when they make mistakes and fail to take advantage of the lessons that all mistakes have to offer us. After a fall, you must have enough strength to stand up and this is achieved through an objective and realistic analysis of what went wrong.

Don’t settle

Many companies settle when they reach the desired level of success. It is a mistake to think that they can accommodate themselves and that they no longer need to strive harder to please customers. Innovation and the search for improvements must be a constant in the action of companies, because only in this way will they be able to have dynamic and profitable businesses.

Seek perfection in everything you do

It is not enough to deliver what is acceptable: we must go further and try to always do the best we can. Perfection is a subjective concept, but if each employee and manager of a company does its best in every task, the end result will be exceptional and it will be very difficult for the competition to do better!

Digital marketing: how to monitor your company’s social media in real time

Business is happening at a very fast pace today, which forces managers to monitor in real time everything that happens in companies. Nowadays, it is no longer advisable to only analyse reports with a few days: the market demands that you be always aware of what happens in your business. In addition, the increasing dependence of the human being on social networks dictates how companies must follow everything that goes on in their social media profiles. Thus, it is essential to always be aware of what happens in the digital world so that you can take advantage of all the emerging business opportunities. In today’s article, we cover the key ways to monitor your company’s social media in real time.

Buffer

This tool was created in 2010 to schedule tweets. However, the success was so great that it started to make the scheduling of publications available to other social networks. In addition to publishing schedules, this tool also allows you to create reports on each publication.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite also allows scheduling of publications and gives us a real perspective on the positioning of the brand in each social network. Hootsuite lets you know in real time what is said about a brand and also allows you to create alerts that let you know when someone mentions your brand.

Impactana

Tool that analyses the behaviour of the visitors in their profiles in the most diverse social networks. This tool makes it possible to check the statistics of clicks, downloads, backlinks and comments quite easily and in real time.

Multipeers

Multipeers is a business monitoring system that allows you to analyse what is happening in the company. It is a BAM system that gives us information about the state of each department, as it condenses information from the various data sources into a single platform. In this way, it is easier for managers to know what goes on in each department, improving communication among all and allowing improvements and corrections to be applied. In addition, it is also possible to connect the tool to various social media profiles and be alerted whenever there is activity in the profiles of your brand.

Why should I monitor what happens on social networks in real time?

  • Identifying business opportunities: By monitoring real-time social networks you can identify opportunities right when they appear, allowing you to stay one step ahead of your competition. A fluctuation in demand for a product, for example, could lead you to launch a specific campaign, increasing sales and improving company results.

  • Possibility of Alerts: Business monitoring software such as Multipeers allows you to set up business alerts whenever there is a deviation from what is considered normal within your company. Wherever you are, you will be notified by SMS or email about any changes and you can act immediately, even before there is damage to the organization.

  • Better decisions: When you know exactly what your audience thinks about you and what they need, it’s much easier to make the right decision. Analysing what they say about you in real time will give you all the inputs you need so that you can consciously decide on the best course to take. The reports with a few days present outdated information, which doesn’t correspond to the actual state of the company at that time. Therefore, often the decisions made are mismatched and don’t benefit the business.

5 Infallible Strategies for Customer Loyalty

There is no doubt that customers are the most important audience of any business. All the activities of the companies are designed to please the customer and more and more managers find it difficult to please the current consumer, who is much more informed and demanding than before. Thus, more important than winning new customers is to ensure that the current ones are satisfied, so that we can keep them loyal to our brand and to our products and/or services. At a time when the consumer lives online, we need to develop tactics that meet the real needs of our current customers. In today’s article, we present 5 infallible strategies for customer loyalty!

Listen carefully to the customer

Customers like to talk and feel that companies are attentive to their needs and desires. Many sellers fall into the error of talking too much because they want to show in a short time all the benefits of the product or service they have to offer. However, today’s consumers are looking for quick fixes as we live in a society that is constantly in a hurry and if you talk too much, your customers will get bored, especially if they hear a standardized speech. So, it is very important that you listen first to what the client has to say to you, so that you can present the possible solutions in a practical and very objective way.

Track the results of your actions

It is not enough to launch marketing actions and campaigns and not monitor their results. It is very important that you define indicators and analyze all the results of your actions. Only in this way you will be able to promote continuous improvement, which will certainly also have an effect on the number of clients raised. The current market is very dynamic and must ensure that your product or service doesn’t stay static. Multipeers helps you to monitor in real time all the marketing actions launched, through a simple and very intuitive dashboard. So with this tool, you’ll be able to act in a timely manner if any of your campaigns are not producing the intended effects.

Use a good content strategy

Digital marketing is increasingly present in corporate strategies and many brands use a content strategy in which they write articles and case studies about their area of ​​expertise. This will make current customers look to the company as a reference entity and this will increase the confidence and likelihood of remaining loyal to the brand and recommending it to others.

Offer exclusive deals to current customers

Most companies use a new customer attraction strategy in which they offer more affordable prices to new customers and charge higher prices to current customers. This strategy is widely used by television service companies, for example. Although it is acceptable that you want to win new customers through the price, we have to think that current customers will feel bad for not having some kind of discount. So one of the best ways to keep current customers loyal is by offering them something to be our customers. It may be a discount on the next purchase, for example. What is important is that the customer feels special because he is already our customer! And this will also be important to potential customers, who will understand that the company values ​​the customers they already are with them!

Keep going after the sale

The sale doesn’t end when it takes place. This moment marks the beginning of the relationship with the client. Thus, it is necessary to continue creating processes to get to know the customer better. Find out the client’s date of birth and take targeted marketing action on your birthday. After-sales service is one of the most important factors for the customer to stay loyal to the brand, so don’t neglect this area!

10 marketing KPI’s for all companies

Having defined KPIs is essential to the good performance of a company. KPIs are key performance indicators that tell us what state the business is in and how far (or near) we are from meeting the stated goals. Based on the indicators and the company’s performance, managers can make informed decisions. BAM tools such as Multipeers allow you to track KPIs continuously and in real time. Analyzing performance consistently ensures that more attention is paid to meeting the objectives, effectively increasing the degree of achievement of the objectives. Marketing is one of the areas that most benefits from the use of KPI monitoring tools. In today’s article, we will address 10 KPI’s of marketing for every business!

Conversion rate

Having many visits on the website is very important and means that the same is performing well and appears in the search engines. However, it is not enough that the visitor navigates the site and leaves it without leaving a contact or without buying something. The conversion rate compares the number of visitors to the website with the number of visitors actually making a purchase. It’s a very important indicator because it allows us to understand how appealing our website really is and if it is encouraging its visitors to make a purchase.

ROI

ROI means return on investment and measures the end result of an investment: it relates all the expenses involved in an action to the profits made by that same action. The formula for calculating ROI is as follows: ROI = Net Profit (Total Profit from Investment – Cost of Total Investment) / Cost of Investment. If the ROI is greater than zero, it means that the investment was positive for the company. If it has negative values, there was a loss. It’s one of the most important indicators in the marketing area since there must always be an evaluation of all the actions carried out.

Cost by lead

This indicator shows us how much it costs the company to acquire a lead. We get the value after dividing the amount of money invested in marketing by the number of leads generated. Studies report that the cost per lead generated through digital marketing is about 61% lower than the leads generated by traditional marketing. Knowing how much it costs us to generate a lead is essential so that we can redistribute the investments and improve the results.

Bounce rate

Bounce rate shows us the percentage of visitors who were only on one page of your site. The higher this ratio, the worse your performance will be, as it means that there were many visitors quickly giving up on exploring your site. This may mean that your site is not appealing or has little relevant information. Whenever this value is too high, you should invest time in improving the website. Otherwise, you may lose many business opportunities.

Annual growth rate

The annual growth rate is calculated by comparing data between two consecutive years. At this rate, it becomes easier to perceive the annual performance of the campaigns and to withdraw the values that the effects of seasonality may cause. This annual growth rate also allows you to find trends.

Traffic origin

Indicator that reveals the origin of a visit to the website. It’s an important indicator for us to realize which social media strategies are working better, whether the newsletter is generating visits or if paid campaigns are producing results. Knowing what platforms our customers and potential customers are on is an important guide to all our action.

Client retention rate

To obtain the customer retention rate simply add up the total number of customers and subtract the number of customers that have been lost in a certain period. Then just divide the result by the total number of customers. The higher the retention is, the lower the need to acquire new customers and the greater the likelihood of generating new sales for the same business portfolio.

Number of submitted proposals

The number of proposals is important to realize how many potential customers have expressed a real interest in buying something from our company. The number of proposals must always be based on the total number of contacts made.

Visits generated by social networks

If your company is communicating through social networks, you should always measure the impact it has on your website and business. It’s no use putting good material into company profiles if it doesn’t translate into visits and sales. Weekly, you should measure how many visits you had from each social network and should invest more in those that more visits generate. If a social network doesn’t continuously generate any visit, you should consider whether it is worth continuing to invest in that network.

Visits to the website

This metric is essential in the online world we currently live in and shows us how many visits the website had in a given period. It’s important not to confuse this metric with the number of people who visited the site: this indicator merely states how many visits users made to the site, and the same person could have accessed it several times. This indicator is critical to the success of the sales funnel because the more visitors you have, the greater the likelihood of generating leads and sales. You can easily find this value in the Google Analytics dashboard.

 

IT management: 4 essential indicators in your company

Having defined KPIs is essential to the good performance of a company. KPIs are key performance indicators that tell us what state the business is in and how far (or near) we are from meeting the stated goals. Based on the indicators and the company’s performance, managers can make more informed decisions. The IT area is one of the most important in any business, as it supports all the activity of the company. In today’s article, we cover 4 essential IT metrics in your business!

Performance of applications

This is one of the most important IT metrics, and for this purpose it is necessary to use constant monitoring tools that evaluate the performance of the applications in the end user’s perspective. Companies increasingly rely on the management of their IT assets to specialised companies that guarantee security, high performance and permanent availability.

Average offline time

This KPI is used to analyse the average time an IT device or infrastructure was not available. It is a metric known as MDT (mean down time). This metric tells us all the time that the service was not available, either because of minor problems, malfunctions, among others. This value is obtained by adding the time the system was not available dividing by the number of occurrences in that period.

Average service time

Another very important metric is the average time that professionals take to respond to requests placed in the service desk. The faster the service and the resolution of the situation, the better the IT performance.

Uptime Index

This is one of the most important IT metrics. It tells us how long IT applications have been available to users, so the longer it is, the better the IT structure performs. It is essential that the company’s technological infrastructures are always available so that productivity rates remain constant.

 

BAM tools such as Multipeers allow you to track KPIs continuously and in real time. Analysing performance consistently ensures that more attention is paid to meeting the objectives, effectively increasing the degree of achievement of the objectives. Continuous performance monitoring plays a key role in planning and subsequent control because it provides information on processes developed by the organization. The effectiveness of any control strategy depends to a large extent on the correct suitability of developed performance metrics and KPIs.

What is the impact of real-time analysis on business?

Business is happening at a very fast pace today, which means that managers need to monitor in real time everything that happens in companies, otherwise they will lose relevant information that is needed for conscious decision making. Nowadays, it is no longer advisable to only analyze reports that are a few days late: the market demands that you always keep abreast of what happens in your business. In today’s article, we will realize what the impact of real-time data analysis is for business.

More efficient decision making

When you know exactly what is going on in your business, it is much easier to make the right decisions. Analyzing your business in real time will give you all the inputs you need so you can consciously decide on the best course to take. The reports with a few days present outdated information, which doesn’t correspond to the actual state of the company at that time. Therefore, often the decisions made are mismatched and don’t benefit the business. Monitoring the business in real time will change this scenario, because you will have reliable information in your hand and will be able to make better decisions.

Possibility of correcting deviations in operational processes

A failure in the production process can mean serious problems with customers, suppliers and partners if it is not detected and corrected in a timely manner. Keeping track of the production process in real time allows us to identify any failures and their correctness, without letting the process with a problem drag to its final stage. Thus, even if there are problems in the production phase, it will be easier to avoid that these problems have an impact on the final result.

Using multiple sources of data and content

With the use of a system of data analysis in real time it’s possible to aggregate in a single system all the information related to the company. In this way, access to information becomes much easier and the time previously spent to gather information from various sources is reduced. There will no longer be a need to open multiple programs to understand what happened at a given time.

Ability to set business alerts

Business monitoring software such as Multipeers allows you to set up business alerts whenever there is a deviation from what is considered normal within your company. Wherever you are, you will be notified by SMS or email about any changes and you can act immediately, even before there is damage to the organization. This proves to be an enormous competitive advantage because it enables immediate action, even before there are consequences for the company’s processes.

More efficient people management

Real-time information on human resources can be a great competitive advantage for companies that want to adapt to changes. The monitoring systems provide immediate data on the distribution of employees in different sectors of the company, as well as updated information on their availability. Thus, it becomes easier to manage teams and optimize the work of employees, increasing the collective income.

KPI’s sales that every business needs

Defining KPIs is essential to the good performance of a company. KPIs are key performance indicators that tell us what state the business is in and how far (or near) we are from meeting the stated goals. Based on the indicators and the company’s performance, managers can make more informed decisions. The sales area is one of the most important in any business, because it is through sales that companies manage to generate wealth to keep the business running. Each business has its own specifics, but there are KPIs across all areas. In today’s article, we’ll cover the sales KPIs that every business needs!

Speed of sale

Measuring the speed at which a sale is made is an important strategy to evaluate the company’s performance in attracting customers and responding to their expectations. The lower the sales cycle, the greater the effectiveness. Thus, it’s essential to invest in actions that stimulate the customer’s interest and in strategies that accelerate the purchase.

Average value of sale

This indicator is the result of the division of revenue generated by a seller by the number of sales made by the professional in a given period. This indicator is important because it allows to establish a profile for the members of a team and allows people to adapt according to their characteristics.

Churn Rate

The Churn rate indicates the percentage of abandonment of a product or service, meaning the number of customers who have given up on continuing with your business. The higher the churn rate, the lower the company’s chances of growth, as new customers will only serve to replace leaving customers and don’t generate new wealth.

Number of won deals

It’s important to know the number of closed deals in a given period to create realistic goals. A good example of the applicability of this indicator is to compare 2 sellers and check the number of closed deals and the average ticket. There are salespeople who prefer to work better on the lead, spending more time with it, and this lead can have a greater return from that customer.

Customer Recommendation Index

Indicator that shows us the percentage of current customers who arrived at the company due to the recommendation of another customer. To measure it, just ask the new customer how he met the company at the time of the sale. The best advertising for a business will always be word of mouth, so if this rate is too low you need to invest in this area to increase current customer satisfaction.

Follow up rate

Few sales are made on first contact with the prospect. You need to keep in touch with him a few times. This indicator aims to answer the question: how many contacts are needed to make a sale? In this indicator it’s also important to know how many customers close deals in the first three contacts. The answers to these questions will help define a new follow-up strategy.

Defining business indicators in a conscious way is fundamental to being able to analyze the business objectively. It is essential that the indicators analyzed show managers the way forward in order to correct errors and apply new strategies. Multipeers offers you a set of 50 KPIs essential for 360º management of your business. Download our e-book!

What dashboards cannot miss in your company?

A dashboard is a dashboard that visually displays the most important information about the business. In case of using a tool like Multipeers, the information is updated permanently and automatically, so that you have at your disposal the most current information on everything that happens in the company. By using a dashboard, you can easily see if your business goals are being met. Linking KPIs with day-to-day activities is essential if individual and global goals are achieved more simply. In today’s article, we leave you 5 dashboards that you cannot miss in your company!

Executive Dashboard

An executive dashboard groups essential information for decision making. It is a panel that uses graphical features to simplify the general understanding of information. It is a very useful dashboard to analyze the KPIs and all the processes of a company. The standard executive dashboard is based on management methodologies such as the Balance Scorecard. The objective of this panel is to provide all executives with access to important data for the correct evaluation of new opportunities and improvement points.

Operational Dashboard

This dashboard is used by the work teams and focuses on the processes that each team needs to perform its functions. The data contained in this dashboard are intended to identify critical points of the operation, helping to correct them. They also facilitate communication between all members of the same team.

Analytic dashboard

This dashboard provides detailed information and is used to set trends against corporate goals. This panel allows you to see the results of internal actions as well as external public reactions to campaigns. A good example of this type of dashboard is Google Analytics.

Dashboard project management

This panel allows to follow all the management of the project, from planned activities, schedules, among other aspects. It is a very important tool because it decreases the probability of error and increases the effectiveness of communication.

 

Managers are not always able to identify deviations in work routines in a timely manner, which compromises business productivity. The dashboard will aggregate the history of the company’s operations and can set defaults to detect deviations and anomalies in real time. So the system is able to realize that something is not right and to alert you right away so that you can act before it becomes a serious problem!

Good Practices for Controlling a Company’s Inventory

Controlling a company’s inventory is a vital activity. It represents the source of supply to meet business demand, which ultimately means that it is one of the most important activities for the organization to deliver on what has been promised to its customers.

Therefore, it is of great importance to define clear strategies and maintain the attention of the responsible team in performing an efficient management of the stock, aligned with the organizational objectives. This becomes all the more essential because it is a process with several challenges to be overcome and of great impact on profitability.

Let’s look at some practices that can help you with your inventory management and open doors for better results.

Control the Stock

Inventory turnover is among the key indicators for controlling enterprise stock. Basically, it measures the number of times the stock has been renewed in a given time interval. That way, you can gauge if you have maintained an optimal volume of items.

If stock turnover is high, it means you have an efficient operation, where products are not “stuck” on the shelves. In this way, the capital of the business remains free for investments in other aspects that produce return to the organization, rather than fixed assets.

Work with Security Stock

One of the great objectives of inventory control is to prevent missing units for customer service. Therefore, one of the main tools to meet such a requirement is the security stock.  This is a quantity of items calculated as surplus to the zeroed stock. Thus, when it arrives at the resupply point, which is the minimum acceptable stock for new units to be ordered, the request is made and, in addition to the volume of items required until the new consignment is received, there should be a quantity for covering unforeseen, such as delays.

Invest in Technology

Technology is a central factor for any business today. It has become an indispensable item for the development of a series of activities, which includes inventory management.

Some examples of contributions that it brings in this case are specific programs to develop the steps involved and various possibilities of process automation. Therefore, this is one of the main ways for the consistent control of its inventory operation.

Attention to Valuable Items

Another good practice involved in inventory management is validity control. It is necessary to find ways, if possible automated, to ensure that you only work with items within the ideal condition of use, which excludes overdue items.

Many techniques help in this process and one of the best known is the FIFO, acronym for First In, First Out, which in free translation means “First to enter, first to leave.” Basically, it advocates that the items should be used depending on their arrival in the stock, releasing first those who arrived first and reducing the possibility of maturities.

Analyze the Usage Profile of each Item and Assemble a Rational Stock

Our sixth tip refers to logistic factors, as is the case of displacement. The more an item is sued, the more it will be taken off the shelf. This indicates that it is better that the most used items have a lower access distance than the lesser used items.

This is just one of the principles that must govern the assembly of the business inventory layout. No matter how simple items look, many organizations overlook their potential gains and lose large amounts every year, thanks to the small losses that accumulate and become gigantic losses over time.

So the trick is: work for a rational stock.

Integrate Processes Associated with Inventory Control

The last good stock control practice we want to highlight is process integration. The activities of each department of a company are interrelated and must be conducted in an integrated manner to generate synergy.

Therefore, the ideal is for you to evaluate, for example, the impact of sales on your stock which, in turn, will affect your financial control.

A great way to have this comprehensive view and maintain accurate control of the entire chain is to use an ERP. It is a software specially directed to offer a virtual interface of your organization and to enable a broad management of your processes.

By: GestãoClick