Why Is Customer Satisfaction Important?*

As a business owner, there are so many different things – big and small – to be aware of, and trying to keep them all in mind can feel impossible, and yet it’s crucial too (assuming you want to do well and get ahead of the competition, of course, which is highly likely!). 

One way to do it is to make a list of all the things you need to think about and take them one by one, making sure you’re doing all you can in that area. Once you’ve reached the end of the list, go back to the beginning to ensure you’ve got everything done and to account for any changes that might have happened in the meantime – and there will more than likely have been some changes. 

One thing that absolutely has to be on that list is customer satisfaction, so let’s take a look at why it’s so important to help you check it out and make sure you’re doing all you can. 

Photo by Tim Douglas

Improves Brand Reputation

When you’re running a business, a good brand reputation is a massively important asset, and to get that in place, you’ll need some great customer satisfaction levels – that’s essentially what drives the whole thing. 

Remember, when customers are happy with a product or service, they’re much more likely to share their ideas and opinions with their friends and family, or perhaps write a review so that strangers can get a better idea of your business and how good it might be. This word-of-mouth promotion is such a powerful thing to have in place, and as a business owner, it’s definitely something you’ll be looking for as it’s free but it can spread a really long way for a long time. As you can see, good customer satisfaction can improve your brand reputation and bring in additional sales, so it’s something you’ll need to have as a priority one hundred percent of the time. 

Increases Loyalty

Something that goes hand in hand with the above point is that customer satisfaction is sure to increase customer loyalty. When customers feel valued and they’re happy with how a business communicates and interacts with them, and with the products and services on offer, they’re much more likely to return, and this repeat business is something you can rely on to keep your business going and growing. 

Loyal customers aren’t just more likely to return to make more purchases, but they’ll also be (generally) less bothered about price changes, for example, plus, if you were to start a new branch of the business and learn how to start a webcam business, you’ll automatically have a built in customer base for it (assuming it’s linked to your current business in some way). 

A Competitive Advantage 

In a competitive market, which, no matter what you do, you will be in, customer satisfaction can be something that helps you to stand out, be different, and be noticed, and that’s always a good thing. 

If you can truly excel when it comes to customer satisfaction, you’re going to be remembered in a positive way, and if someone wants to buy whatever it is you sell, they’ll choose you first because of the way you treated them before – your competition won’t get a chance to steal them from you. 

What to Do When You Have Been Injured at Work*

Injuries can happen in the workplace. That is the unfortunate truth. If you experienced an injury in the workplace, there are certain things you must do immediately to ensure that you get well as soon as possible and that you also get any compensation that is owed to you.

To get compensation, you need to make sure that you take all the right steps immediately after the injury has occurred. Here is a look at what you need to do to ensure that you heal quickly and get any compensation that is owed to you.

Report Your Injury to Your Employer

One of the most important steps you will need to take is to report your injury to your employer. You need to ensure that you give a detailed report whether in writing or through email of the circumstances surrounding your injury. 

This means you need to tell your employer when, and where it occurred. Failure to do this can significantly impact your case in the long run.

Seek Medical Attention

Seeking medical attention is probably the first thing that you will do once you have been injured. It is a good idea to let your doctor know that it is a workplace injury so that it can be documented in your medical records.

Your medical records will be critical to your case. Make sure that you do not leave anything out and that your doctor knows everything that happened to you. This will ensure that you not only get the right medical treatment but that your doctor can make the correct recommendations about how much time off you will need and the medical expenses that you will incur.

A workplace injury, often requires that you contact an attorney for legal advice, especially if your claim is contested. Even the most diligent personal injury attorneys are going to need evidence to win your case. This is why medical records are so important.

Keep Your Records

When you have been injured at work and it’s up to you to ensure that you keep accurate records of all the days that you are out of work and any income that you have lost. You cannot depend on anyone else to do this for you. 

Your employer, while they should be keeping a strict check on this, may not have your best interests at heart.

Even if they do, it is still up to you to ensure that you keep good records of when you are absent from work, how long you have been out, and how much money you have been spending on your medical expenses. All of this will be looked at when the time for your compensation for your injuries occurs. 

You are usually not only entitled to compensation for any pain that you may lose but you are often entitled to any mileage that you have incurred because you need to travel to the doctor or other medical facilities to deal with your injury.

Get Legal Help

One of the things you need to do if you are injured on the job is to get an attorney. This is especially true if the insurance company is having issues with your claim. It may be because they would like you to settle for less than you deserve or because your employer does not want to pay you for the injury that happened.

Unfortunately, this does happen and it is not wise for you to try to make your legal journey by yourself. The law can get complicated when it comes to compensation for work injuries. If you feel like you’re being shortchanged in any way it’s best to seek legal representation.

Get Compensation

A workplace injury is something that can happen to anyone. If you have an injury it is very important that you get medical help as soon as possible  You need to make sure that you give your doctor all the necessary information so that they can write up your medical records. 

You also need to ensure that you inform your employer as soon as possible. Make sure that you report your injury in as much detail as you can, so that when you make a claim your employer or the insurance company won’t say that you did not report the incident soon enough.

Finally, make sure that you keep accurate records yourself so that you will know exactly what to tell your attorney. The evidence that you provide will be critical and help your lawyer win your case.

Quiz To Ensure You Handle Business Payments With Compliance *

All businesses need to be PCI-DSS compliant if they are accepting payments. 

The payment industry is evolving rapidly. As the likes of Swyftx will confirm, more people are paying with the likes of Bitcoin these days. 

No matter what payments you accept, you need to make a dedicated effort to protect your customers. Here are some questions to ask to make sure you are doing that.

Q1 – Do you offer free Wi-Fi for your customers?

a) YES

b) NO

Q2 – Do you segregate payment traffic from all other traffic on the network?

a) YES

b) NO

Q3 – Do you use default passwords that have been supplied from your vendor?

a) YES

b) NO

Q4 – Do you use additional means of protection, such as encryption or

cryptography? Or, are passwords your only form of security?

a) YES – Additional methods used.

b) NO – No, we only use passwords.

If you have answered yes to Q1 and no to Q2, you are putting your sensitive data at serious risk of falling into the wrong hands. PCI DSS requires a Cardholder Data Environment (CDE) to be created, which restricts access to sensitive payment information. Experts can help you to rectify this problem.

If you have answered no to Q1, risks are lowered by not offering free Wi-Fi. However, if you do in the future, make sure you go about it in a secure way. 

If you have answered yes to Q3, you are failing to comply with PCI DSS standards, as default passwords are not strong enough to protect your systems. You must ensure you use strong passwords and additional methods of protection.

If you have answered yes to Q3 and no to Q4, you are putting your sensitive data at extreme risk, as your systems aren’t secured effectively. Access will be easy for hackers because your passwords aren’t strong and they are your only form of protection.

If you have answered no to question 4, you need to add an additional layer of protection to your systems in the form of cryptography, encryption, or any other effective method.

Yes to Q1, no to Q2, yes to Q3, no to Q4.

You are putting your sensitive data at serious risk of falling into the wrong hands. PCI DSS requires a Cardholder Data Environment (CDE) to be created, which restricts access to sensitive payment information. Again, experts can help you to rectify this problem.

You are also at extreme risk, as your business systems aren’t secured effectively. Access will be easy for hackers because your passwords aren’t strong and they are your only form of protection.

If you have answered yes to all questions, congratulations, you’re currently complying with the PCI DSS. Please make sure you continue to update your practices and maintain the methods you’ve set in place.

If you are struggling to determine whether or not your business is compliant and what you need to do to achieve this, seek expert assistance. Do not risk it.

Helping Your Side Hustle Stand Out In Your Community*

Photo by Вальдемар from Pexels

People run businesses for all kinds of reasons. Of course none would be created, unless adhering to the special designation of a non-profit, if there wasn’t the chance that money could be made in a positive sense. However, to think that vast fame and riches are all that people care about when crafting a side hustle is truly incorrect.

For some the financial measures are a motivator, yes, but are not all of the picture. They may wish to help out the community, take a hobby and potentially develop it into a full time career, or simply share their talent with the world in a self-sustaining manner. For example, while cliche and quite rare at this point, would you think that an Elvis impersonator would get into that gig for the wealth they would create, or simply because of how much of a blast they would have representing him? We would say it’s likely equal.

So, helping your side hustle stand out in your community is a great step when trying to become more noticeable as a small business. Let us consider some worthwhile advice to this end:

Help Out 

Helping out in the local community is a sure fire way to not only do some good, but to spread your business message. It shouldn’t be something that you overly market yourself for. People will notice. It’s more important to be reliable, to give yourself to projects you care about, and perhaps let things develop from there. For example, consider you own a landscaping company operating near a local village and town. As part of your service, you are more than happy to cut and sculpt the garden of a local elderly woman in her 90s for free, because she deserves to live in a comfort and peace as much as possible. Helping out where you can not only helps you take things a step further than other businesses might, but it gives you a real impact.

Brand Yourself Well

Brand yourself in an unmistakable fashion. Perhaps painting or using stickers on a Saxon Bridge used van can help you brand yourself around the village, helping you become a fixture in the local area. Branding means more than the baseline contact information or simply logo you might wish to show. Get creative! You could consider branded clothing using free embroidery designs, or could having an artist design a beautiful template for the mural of your van help people take notice as you drive past? You might even become a local landmark within your branding if you’re careful enough. You would be astonished just how well this can be regarded.

Stay Reliable

Stay reliable in how you price, how you turn work around, and how you interact with the local community. You cannot expect the positives to happen overnight. Yet with this advice, people will notice you, and also wish to support local business. You just need to prove yourself first.

With this in mind, you are certain to help your side hustle stand out in your community.


What New Drivers Have To Remember*

If you are just about to start your driving adventure for the first time, it can be a very exciting time, but also something of a worrying one. Most people find that they get a bit nervous about being out on the roads for the first time, and that makes complete sense; it is, after all, a completely novel and frightening thing to do. But as long as you bear in mind a few essential things you should be able to keep yourself and those around you safe, and make the most of driving too. Here are some of the things you should try to remember as a new driver (and things I wish I knew).

One of the things that happens as you drive more and more is you often become more and more impatient. Once you start to drive on the public roads you are going to see this everywhere in other drivers, and you might be a little shocked by it at first. In order to stop yourself falling into the same trap you have to make sure that you are fighting against that same impatient impulse. If you don’t, it could end up costing lives, and that is something that you would find very difficult to overcome. Take care to hold on to your patience as best as you can.

Insurance Is A Legal Responsibility

If you are a driver in the UK you have to insure your car by law. Failing to do so will not only mean that you are going to be in trouble with the law, it could even cause you to lose your licence without any preceding action. Of course, you don’t want that, and besides – insurance is quite a useful thing to have. Even for minor incidents, insurance helps you to sort out when you are owed money, and it can protect you a great deal. Make sure you take out car insurance with Call Wiser or a similar provider before you drive your car. It really isn’t worth not having it.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

As a driver you don’t necessarily need to know everything about how a car is put together and how it runs, but what you do need to do is to find out about the very basics of how a car works. Knowing that will mean that you can much more easily tell the mechanic what has been going wrong. It is also going to equip you with the ability to be able to diagnose a problem with your car in many cases as you drive,  which can help in a pinch and even make for a safer drive in the long run. So consider looking up some of the essentials about how cars work if you want to feel like a much safer driver on the whole. I’m still yet to master this, but luckily I have Bob on hand!

With these things in mind, you should be a much safer and more sensible driver, and you should find that you get a lot more out of it too.