Archive September 29, 2023

The Best 10 CRM Software for Small Business

By in Business Management, Sales Tag

by Mandy Bray for HubSpot As a small business owner, you toggle between marketing, sales, operations, and customer service daily — and sometimes within the same hour. To serve your customers without dropping the ball, you need a tool to help you track and manage all of your relationships. What you need is customer relationship management (CRM) software. If you think a CRM is an expensive tool only for large businesses, think again. A CRM solution can save you time, keep your team organized, and boost sales and customer retention, no matter your size. Learn more about why HubSpot's CRM platform has…

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Denying Religious Accommodations Now More Difficult Under Federal Law

By in Human Resources Tag

By Mackenzie Clark for HR Daily Advisors Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) requires employers to accommodate employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs unless accommodation would result in an undue hardship. Historically, denial of a religious accommodation has carried a minimal burden of showing hardship, but a recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court just made denying a religious accommodation because of undue hardship more difficult. The Facts The issue of religious accommodation became significant during the COVID-19 pandemic, when employees who objected to vaccination because of their religious beliefs brought a slew of litigation across…

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Is Your Office Worth the Commute?

By in Human Resources, Work Tag ,

By Morten Brogger for HR Daily Advisor From packed buses to standstill rush hour traffic, commuting is rife with inconveniences. Long commute times are linked to negative effects on sleep, productivity, and overall quality of life. Commuting Americans spend, on average, 52 minutes per day traveling to and from work — an increase of about 20% since the U.S. Census began collecting that data in 1980. Recently, ever-increasing housing costs within big cities have given rise to “super commuters” who travel more than 90 minutes each way, some even by plane! Super commuters aside, a typical worker can expect to lose 408 days to…

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7 Mundane Sales Tasks You Can Skip with AI [& How to Do It]

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sales Tag

by Mandy Bray for HubSpot McKinsey Institute reports that one-fifth of sales functions could be automated with artificial intelligence (AI). Before you close this tab to panic-update your resume, wait till you hear which fifth: writing cold emails, entering call notes in your CRM, and scheduling calls. If these tasks make you groan inside (or out loud), you aren’t alone. Sales pros spend hours a day on manual and administrative tasks. These functions are important for your company to operate, but they aren’t the most important or enjoyable parts of your job. Luckily, AI is paving the way to reduce or even eliminate…

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Trojan horse SEO: How to gain traction in new markets

By in Marketing Tag , ,

by Adam Tanguay  for Search Engine Land We all love Netflix binge-watching now, but do you remember how you first learned about Netflix? I’m guessing it wasn’t by typing “DVD mail rental subscription” into Google on a whim. And that represents a similar challenge for any business with a new or disruptive idea: how do you build engagement for something nobody knows exists? Luckily, there is an audience for your product or service, regardless if they already know it. And you do have a category, regardless of its keyword volume. Much like paid search practitioners occasionally like to borrow competitor clout and…

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My Client Is Always Late Paying Me

By in Finance, Human Resources Tag , , ,

... and three other tricky workplace dilemmas. BY ALISON GREEN for Inc. Here's a roundup of answers to four questions from readers. 1. My client is always late paying me One of my clients, a creative agency, has always had issues paying my invoices on time, but it's getting worse. Every single time I send an invoice, I have to go back and remind them to pay me. It's a great company, but I'm starting to get frustrated that I can't send an invoice without having to follow up repeatedly. Sometimes they say they missed the invoice, sometimes they apologize, but I eventually always get paid.…

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Maximizing your event marketing impact

By in Events, Marketing

by LIZ CHRISTO for Dear Stage 2 DEAR STAGE 2: We’re starting to build out our budget for 2024 and events are under a lot of scrutiny. Historically, they have been very productive for our industry and get a lot of decision makers in the same room — however, it’s a big line item and my new company hasn’t seen success. Any tips to get the most of an event budget? Or thoughts on how to quantify the impact of this spend/channel? ~EVENTS ENTHUSIAST Get more year-end tips! DEAR EVENTS ENTHUSIAST: For the right event — and the right audience — we…

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How to Get to Inbox Zero in Gmail, Once and for All

By in Work Tag , ,

by Lindsay Kolowich Cox for HubSpot We’re inundated with email daily — making it hard to keep track of tasks and manage your workflow. However, organizing your emails doesn’t have to be a pain. In fact, it’s possible to get your Gmail inbox to zero in as little as 15 minutes. While we can’t stop new emails from coming in, we can help you organize it better. → Download Now: The Beginner's Guide to Email Marketing I stumbled upon Andreas Klinger’s inbox zero method for Gmail years ago and his method still works for me to this day. In this post, I'll show…

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Want to Double the Chance of Getting a Response to Your Email? Make It Shorter

By in Email Marketing

Research from a pair of Harvard professors shows people are dramatically more likely to respond to shorter emails. BY JESSICA STILLMAN for Inc. Sometimes all that stands between an entrepreneur and business success is getting the right person to read your email. Which is why tips and tricks to make your emails more compelling and increase your response rates are so valuable. There are plenty of good ones out there, but few are as easy to implement as one recently highlighted by a pair of Harvard researchers in their new book.  Half as many words leads to twice as many reads.  An excerpt of Writing for Busy Readers by…

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