Did you know that according to research conducted by Google and CEB, "customers that are emotionally connected to a brand are twice as likely to purchase a product or service, and are four-times as likely to defend their purchase decisions? As a small business, you have a responsibility to do everything within your power to make that connection happen for your clients. In order to do that, you need to implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. 

When you’re running a small business, it doesn’t take long to discover that one of the hardest aspects of management for small businesses is time. Large and small businesses alike have the same responsibilities: administration, customer service, product development, meeting customer needs, maintaining an online presence, and much more. They also have the same amount of time available in a work day (8-9 hours). The advantage of large companies, when it comes to tackling this list of tasks within the time constraints of a typical work day, is a larger amount of resources at their disposal as well as a larger team to receive delegation. For small businesses with limited resources and staff, the focus becomes how to maximize their time.

In order to build valuable customer relationships, small businesses must have great customer service. For many consumers, this is the primary factor in why they choose to buy a product or service from a small business instead of a large company. Clients want more than good customer service. They want relationship.

One of the most common pieces of advice given to people in relationships is that communication is key. This advice is most often applied to romantic relationships, but it can also be applied to business relationships. As a small business, you have a specific message about who you are and what you have to offer that you need to communicate with your current and potential customers, so it’s important that you understand all of the channels that are available to help you communicate your message effectively.

When you hear the word agile, it’s likely that you immediately envision someone in action—whether running, jumping, or even dancing. To be agile is to be able to move quickly and easily. In the business arena, we have something called operational agility, which means to be able to easily adapt and improve operational systems

In every business, there are day-to-day tasks that contribute to the overall success of the organization as a whole—we’ll refer to the sum of these tasks as business operations. Typical business operations could include purchasing and organizing resources, creating products, providing services, keeping track of accounts, and general office management.