Essentials of an Effective Business Letter

Business letter has a materialistic purpose but effective business letter can also strengthens the bonds between two organizations or the dealer and the customer. Business letters are used for many purposes such as to make inquiries, send replies, to place orders or bank correspondences etc. The main and the basic function of the business letter is not only to convey your message to the person who receives the letter but also to influence the reader. Following point can be used to make your business letter an effective business communication.

Language of business letter:

The language of business letter should be simple. It should not contain difficult words, phrases or technical jargons. It should have a smooth flow and should be easily understood or it should not require further explanation.

Avoid use of long sentences having many clauses. Sometimes the reader loses the beginning by the time he comes to the end of the sentence.

Avoid negative approach in the letter.

Avoid use of dull and uninteresting language. A letter with permanent style or with same tone of expression at all occasions may become stereotyped in due course. Use variety or a welcoming change in language that befits the particular occasion or pleases a particular person. But the variety should not be at the cost of clarity.

Sincerity of purpose:

Sincerity of purpose is important not only for human relations but also for business dealings. The letter should have an air of frankness and authenticity.

Avoid self-centered focusing on your own concerns or your business and focus on the recipient's needs, interests, or purposes. This "you attitude" or recipient oriented style is very useful in winning new customers and maintaining old ones. It does not mean that you should use more of "you" in your letter but you should make recipient the main focus of the letter. However, you should be cautious not to overdo anything in your letter to avoid feel of deception, superficiality or ambiguity.

Adjust oneself to the reader:

Tune your sentences to the taste of the prospective buyer. Mention the advantage a buyer would get without praising your own firm.

Business letter represents the firm, organization or the business. It is like a salesman with a difference. A salesman can instantly rectify his mistake if he has said something that looks unpleasant, but a letter writer can't.

You can use business-writing software for proofreading and to check and correct English grammar & spellings in your letter. Some software programs also has text enrichment feature to enrich your text with adjectives & adverbs, which enhances the simple sentence into more professional and sophisticated one & also suggest context related synonym for repeated words. 

By: Stephen Thomson

About Crowd Control Barriers - The Usefulness and Design

Crowd control barrier are functionally designed barrier that are strategically used when controlling a group of people from activities that are playfully or actively sophisticated or which can together make and have activities not control. The barriers have been developed with quality however there are ideas to remember to know the how to buy the best ones. This article tracks down the answer.

Crowd control barriers can play a functionally vital role in enduring the checking of crowd that could make things bad for the common people. The barriers check the likelihood of any unforeseen events and are usually installed in areas with higher security, the better the barriers are installed, more likely is the chance that the crowd can be checked from having doing anything that is worse. 

The crowd control barriers can be found or manufactured by companies that are also in the business of making patio canopies, digital printing London, powder coating services etc. since the manufacturer of the said items would also have arrangements done for crowd control barriers. Buying a barrier that can limit wrongdoing is easy, if you get the items from a renowned and well established shopper. Tips to solve the job are mentioned below. Read on!

Crowd control barriers are usually required by local police or authorities who would need to creatively use the barriers to control crowd. But having such a barrier that can easily restrict the things would need that the barriers should be functionally developed with adequate use of right technologies and means. When buying one, make sure that the manufacturer is established and that it has quality items in stock for arranging barriers quickly, with quality guidelines that are necessary to follow. The barriers are playfully designed to not hurt the crowd however these should be developed so that these are not easily swept away.

The barriers can be found in design, however the bigger the requirements you have, more likely the budget will grow and things may turn to be competitive. Buying a high end and fully sophisticated would require you to shell out extra money. The better barriers are structurally designed keeping in mind the relativity of smooth work. 

Buying such barriers from a store where you will order things such as corporate signs, signs makers, digital printing services etc., will also be beneficial. This can be useful because the manufacturer would give you added discounts for having the things bought while the main orders are related to crowd control barriers.
by RAKESH JHA

Restaurant Financial Management Issues

Restaurant owners, while being aware of the financial management of their businesses, are more likely to be involved in troubleshooting the day to day issues that keep things running smoothly. Unfortunately, a financial accountant is a luxury that many small restaurant owners cannot afford. This article will address six main accounting problems that restaurant owners often encounter and how to either prevent them from occurring or how to solve the problems once they do occur. Being a small business owner is always a challenge and the restaurant business is complex financially.

This article will concentrate on those issues that can be resolved with some good accounting skills and procedural methods. By teaching restaurant owners how to look for financial issues before they arise, an accountant, can help the owner correct or improve the financial techniques being utilized to manage profit and reduce any losses that are preventable. The six issues addressed here will focus on the:

Problem One - Absence of an Accounting System

Problem Two - When Major Operating Expenses are Higher than Total Sales

Problem Three - Menu Offerings

Problem Four - Food and Beverage Inventory

Problem Five - Issues that Occur When Inventory is Higher than Sales

Problem Six - Utilizing a Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss at Month End

By investigating these issues, which are common problems for restaurant owners, managing these issues and troubleshooting them before the restaurant is out of control financially is feasible and can help an owner utilize accounting methods.

Problem One - Absence of an Accounting System

The first issues that a restaurant owner must deal with when trying to avoid accounting issues is to invest in a good piece of computer software that will help keep track of all transactions. Nessel, who is an owner and financial consultant to restaurant owners, recommends QuickBooks for keeping a General Ledger of all financial transactions that occur in the restaurant. All financial transactions must be recorded in the General Ledger in order for accurate records to be maintained. Without attending to this, the owner is not going to be able to run the restaurant without maintaining accountability in the ledger. Nessel further states that, "My experience is that how well the business is being proactively managed is directly correlated as to how well the owner is managing his "books". Therefore, it is a primary concern for the owner to set up an accounting system in order to ensure the business runs smooth financially. Not having accounting and financial controls in place is the number one reason most businesses fail and if a restaurant is in trouble this is the first issue to address. The Restaurant Operators Complete Guide to QuickBooks, is recommended by many accountants as a guide to help setup a good accounting system.

Problem Two - When Major Operating Expenses are Higher than Total Sales

Statistics say that, "Restaurant food & beverage purchases plus labor expenses (wages plus employer paid taxes and benefits) account for 62 to 68 cents of every dollar in restaurant sales." These are referred to in accounting terms as a restaurant's "Prime Cost" and where most restaurants encounter their biggest problems. These costs are able to be controlled unlike utilities and other fixed costs. An owner can control product purchasing and handling as well as menu selection and pricing. Other controllable output costs for a restaurant include the hiring of staff and scheduling staff in an economically efficient way. "If a restaurant's Prime Cost percentage exceeds 70%, a red flag is raised. Unless the restaurant can compensate for these higher costs by having, for example, a very favorable rent expense (e.g. less than 4% of sales) it is very difficult, and perhaps impossible, to be profitable."

Rental expenses for a restaurant (if one included taxes, insurance and other expenses that may fall into this category such as any association fees) are the highest expense a restaurant will incur after the "Prime Costs." Rent averages around 6-7% of a restaurant's sales. Since it is in the category of a fixed expense it can only become a reduced ratio through an increase in sales. If the cost exceeds 8% then it is useful to divide the occupancy cost by 7% to find out what level of sales will be required to keep rental expenses under control so they do not put the restaurant out of business

Problem Three - Menu Offerings

Most offerings on a menu are priced by the owner after visiting other local restaurant competitors, viewing their offerings and menus prices. However, menu pricing should never be done by simply looking at the menus of their competitors. Menu pricing must be done (and periodically redone as supplier costs fluctuate) and documented into the software books. Some math skills will be useful as a menu is converting product prices from purchases to recipe units. A restaurant owner needs to know the cost of making a recipe in order to know how to price it. This means knowing what the ingredients and the quantity of ingredient used costs per recipe. There is software available to help with this and Microsoft Excel can be used to customize menu costing while linking to inventory items that are available.

Some of the things that an owner can do to help with accounting that are controllable through the menu would include:

- Pricing the menu for minimum wage increases.

- Using value-added meals to increase profits.

- Re-introducing price increases while still keeping your customer base.

A menu must be periodically updated as supplier costs change. This can be positive or negative according to the supplier. Either way, menu items can be adjusted according to the supplier costs with math and some help from inventory tracking software.

Problem Four - Food and Beverage Inventory

It is a common mistake for restaurant owners to review the Profit & Loss Statement and assume that what they have spent on food can be divided by sales in that period to find the cost of what was sold. This is an error. The inventory at the start and finish of the period must be known in order to calculate food costs in a precise manner. "For a restaurant with food sales of $50,000/month, an inventory difference of $1000 between the beginning and end of the month, can translate into a variance of 2%. This disparity represents half the total annual profit of a typical full service restaurant." Simply put, one cannot manage food costs if they don't keep records of what they are. Changes in inventory are essential to be aware of when calculating profit and loss.

Microsoft Excel spreadsheets can be utilized to track inventory and document pricing and know all the totals of inventory when it comes to food and beverages. Tracking this through Excel will prevent mistakes.

Problem Five - Issues that Occur When Inventory is Higher than Sales

When food inventory is too high, the costs will be too high and waste is inevitable. Calculating inventory needs is absolutely a necessity to prevent food from going bad, being over portioned in recipes or even stolen. "A typical full service restaurant should have on average no more than 7 days of inventory."

There is an equation to use to find out how much inventory is needed for a restaurant to run properly. The equation is:

Step 1) Multiply your average monthly food sales by your food cost %.

Step 2) Divide that number (your average monthly food usage) by 30 (days/month)

By using this formula and keeping records of all the beginning and ending inventory the problem of losing money due to wasted food costs is reduced or eliminated.

Problem Six - Utilizing a Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement

For a restaurant to be successful it needs to be operated like a large business by the owner as much as possible. A weekly report at the very least is needed. The formatting of the report should be categorized. Inventory, suppliers, labor and sales should all have a start and end period. Fixed expenses such as rent and electric should be broken down to fit the report if it is weekly, or daily. It is not advisable to wait until the end of the month to calculate a report as changes occur swiftly in the restaurant business.

It is a very important point that a start and end date should be included in the reporting and that even fixed expenses should be broken down so that a weekly net profit can be calculated. As previously mentioned, Microsoft Excel and other tracking software can be utilized for inventory and other costs, even scheduling which effects profit. Without keeping proper track of inventory, surplus, scheduling, menu pricing, portioning and all that has been covered in this study, can result in a restaurant going under. A restaurant owner simply needs to take the initiative to put some simple accounting strategies in place. It may seem as if a restaurant owner has to do it all; but, with some good software and a systematic method put in place keeping a restaurant on track financially will create financial rewards well worth the work.

Airbnb Is An Option To Reside In Appealing Properties Around The World

Finding a place at the destination one is traveling to have been made easy by Airbnb. It has been established just few years back and now is taken as a threat to the hotel industry. The people offer their own properties of allsorts for the lodging of the guests from all over the world that contact them through the website. The people become able to get benefit in both ways either to be a guest or a host and make money easily. It is in fact the place where people contact with each other and use the website as a platform that provide them guarantee for the deals they made on it.

Beautiful strange places are listed in this way and people get a chance to reside in them that were not possible before. The people get a chance to book a place of their liking and the monotony of hotels they can now avoid. Single rooms, complete villas, private islands and forts are also available to the people for lodging. Lodgings at strange places like in woods on the mountains and near the lakes are found there at quite reasonable price. The provision of basic facilities has always been the duty of the host and the additional to them enhance the charm for that particular property for the potential guests. It is the foremost duty of the company to make sure that the prescribed features are available to all of the guests who book through its service.

The guests are able to use this service through their smart phones as well and for this an application was introduced by the company couple of years back. So now they can not only book but also can manage their booking quite easily. Many other facilities are also come in their usage with this app. The staff of the customer care department is always on heels to respond to the quarries of the guests and also assist them in case of any trouble during their stay or before that. The company suggest to the hosts to intimate the guests about anything that is special about their property so that they can either avoid it or enjoy it.

Prior to the residing period of the guests they have a chance to contact to the hosts freely and interact with each other through various possible means in this way they become quite close to have an exact idea about each other. This opportunity also improves their social ties and consequently they have more friends in numerous parts of the world. The company was started to materialize an idea to offer spare space to the people who come from other parts and want to enjoy local hosting at very affordable charges.

Emergency Plumber London

Plumbing problems within your home can easily throw you into a panic, especially as they always arise at the most inopportune times likes in the middle of Christmas Dinner when you have the entire family round! Fortunately, it is now possible to call an emergency plumber London out whenever you experience water troubles.
 

Plumbing issues can consist of anything from a pesky leak to a busted water heater, but both can easily cause chaos if left unresolved. It is extremely important that an emergency plumber London is called to your home as quickly as possible to fix the problem and to limit any damaged caused by the plumbing problem.
 
It can be easy, as you flap around in a wild panic, realising that your mother-in-laws new shoes have been ruined by a leaking washing machine, to delve into the yellow pages and call the first plumber you come across. However, it is important to stay calm and consider a number of choices before calling someone out to your home. The most important thing to make sure of is whether a plumber as a valid licence and insurance. If not then it is extremely wise to steer clear  you re asking for trouble! His insurance will cover you should anything go wrong and pay for any mishaps.
 
How much?
One thing that you should be certain of, before agreeing to use a plumber, is how much you will be expected to pay. Often, the plumber will not be able to give you a quote until he sees the damage, but he should be able to give you a rough idea of his general charges. Once you have a quote, you can compare this to other plumbers  quotes. You may be eager to get your plumbing issue resolved, but surely you don t want to pay well over the odds to ensure this happens   be sensible and search for a good deal before committing.
 
You should also ask for references, as this will enable you to find a decent plumber who has provided a quality service to previous customers. In addition, you could search for online reviews and customer feedback, which can give you unbiased and honest views on a plumber.

On Hold Messages- Most Effective Way for Business Marketing

Advertising and promotion are the best ways to attract many customers towards your business, product or company and inform them about the most important things of your services and other things they should know about and what will the difference to them and how to make the right decision. You always find a way or opportunity to give your customer a reason to come to visit you or your business, company.

Online marketing is the way where many people or shoppers contact with you for more information by looking at websites. They try to find the complete information for a purchase before they come into your company, or shop. This process so longer and sometimes they are not able to get the right information or detail. The other thing happens during the most business phone calls, is that the client or customer is put on hold and when you put a phone caller on hold, you lose an opportunity. This is the opportunity or time where you need to do work to increase your marketing.

On hold messages in Perth is the most effective service or process that refers to informing the customer or client about businesses, company or some products while they are on hold. This service is very cost effective that provides a big profit in a less time and makes customers satisfied. On hold messaging is just like a strategy of business marketing that helps in advertising and promotion and is followed by multinational companies. These companies use such services to provide information and knowledge about the products and its features to the other business employees, customers and clients.

On hold messages in Perth is a way of cross selling the product to the existing customer. This process to provide information is much better than music on hold process which was traditionally used or followed by many companies or organizations.  With this technique, you can increase the business marketing and give your caller interesting information what they want. You can explain everything customers on hold what you do and what makes you different from your competition. You can inform callers about the most important questions to consider, and how your company has all the right answers.

The main benefit of using this technique is that you can create a professional image when you are educating or informing your customers and the most important thing is that you can also increase the traffic for product or business.

Customer Experience is todays hottest topic It is the competitive weapon of the 21st century.

We have moved from product to brand to the information society and now we are facing experiential techniques that lift the game to another level it moves the battle for the hearts and minds of consumers to another level that if you cannot play you will be relegated to the old fourth division! Extinct? 

So, if you have not got an opinion, nor a considered approach nor sit in the vanguard of developing your own Customer Branded Experience then get going now or be prepared to be ever following your competition or a worse fate still.

It is very simple a positive customer experience will keep consumers coming back to you a negative customer experience will make sure they remain wavering consumers prey to your competitors overtures they will be firmly in the market melting pot - looking for alternatives - searching for something new.  They want to be so WOWED they will tell their friends, be proud to call themselves a customer, to wear your brand as a badge of honour, or tell her next door how they solved that nagging problem by using the new service at the local council that you created. 

A very positive experience will get your customer talking about you and your service, telling family, friends, and colleagues about your service. A break through highly differentiated experience will have your customers converting to become advocates of your brand. You will have a whole army of brand champions fighting your battle for share of voice and selling your product for you.  

The absolute winner is that if you can produce a breakthrough customer experience that breaks the norm - breaks new ground, wows the audience and surprises and delights the market then you will have a viral wild fire campaign on steroids - sweeping all before you to a dominating market position.  

Can you achieve a customer experience breakthrough of your own? - And can this breakthrough be the market sweeping branded experience that accelerates your business and personal success?

Customer Experience (CE) is what is left behind when a customer has had any kind of interaction with your company.  For the customer this can be tangible or emotional.  What is left is the essence of business, it is what makes up your brand value the future intentions to buy from your customers, it is what is spoken about you and your service in the market it is your reputation.  Customers want service at the speed of life and they want information at the speed of light. 

In the current competitive landscape the positive and negative impact of a customers experience has been heightened to a new level.  Todays accelerated and magnified Word of Mouth phenomena has elevated Customer Experience to the top of competitive strategy. Viral on steroids, web, mobile, proliferation of consumer groups, forums, pressure groups, discussion groups and the power of the minority as well as people focused media with content, created by communities - has all transformed the marketing and business landscape. 

CE matters because directly or indirectly it determines the total value that your business will create and the longer-term sustainability of your business.   Good Customer experience has a positive multiplier effect on Customers and your business value, while the converse is true for bad customer experience.

So what to do about it? Well you need to pull together all the right ingredients to make an impact. The best ingredients can be found by looking at what the best in the world have been doing and understanding how they can be emulated.

The leaders are focusing all their efforts to take the perspective of the customer to see things from their point of view to put themselves in their shoes. Everyone from the leadership team downwards are focusing on what it takes to transform the perception of their service to their customers by aligning their brand, with the reality of the operation with the experience of the customer.

This we call The Branded Customer Experience. The branded customer experience helps you to connect all the communications to the market with the reality of the experience. What are the brand values that we try to emulate in the way we present our image, the way we package our product, the way we sell, the channels we use and the partners we associate with.

The same questions need to be asked when we consider our operation and when we design the call centre experience, how we execute our billing process, the way we chase bed debt in fact every part of our operation.

When you asses the best in the world there are a number of crucial ingredients that are required to develop your own Branded Experience These can include the way we lead our business, the empowerment of our people, how we engage customers, the way we reward customers, channels and staff, approaches to aligning our business to the market and much more.

There are many things to do but there are key sets of principles that are in fact rules that if not followed will invariably lead to the ruin of your most vital business asset Your Customer. If followed these rules will lead unbridled success with market dominating positions as your break through branded customer experience leaves your competitors behind. The Customer Fanatix Team have created a set of rules that have been extensively researched with the leaders in break through customer experience and they are called "The Ten Immutable Laws Of Branded Customer Experience".