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Day: February 25, 2019

How Business Analysts Can Identify and Reduce Sales Gaps?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

 

Sales are worked for and don’t happen by chance. The marketing and sales departments need the sales funnel, the pipelines and effective strategy to translate them into currency. Your Business Analyst can help you grow your sales as these great marketers show you the way.

Why sales persons need a BA?

CEO Warren Kurzrock, of Porter Henry a sales-training consultancy says that salespersons don’t have enough time to track their activities, leads, and efforts. The solution lies in the statement of Aventri’s market strategy director John Kearney that you will be able to spot patterns and figure out why your leads turn into a loss, win or no go when you look through the data analysis lens and analyze performance. It helps you measure performance in terms of a lose-win ratio during the whole cycle of sales.

Motivation through effective reviews:

In the words of CEO Matthew Cook of SalesHub, it is the sales team’s motivation that drives your bottom-line, productivity, and company culture. If this is true then BA can drive the levels of sales-adrenaline up through effective reviews to help conversions. Who needs better motivation?

The gap-analysis puzzle:

Consultant Catherine Yochum at ClearPoint stresses the need to extrapolate the present state to the future goal to understand the process and resources to scale them to the future. The first step to improve your sales process through analysis is to conduct a gap analysis. This is the process of reviewing your resources and processes and predicting how they will scale into the future. 

Chief Editor Aaron Orendorff of Shopify Plus advises a gap analysis of potential Vs performance could outstrip expectations. They turn businesses to finding the right factors of success rather than dealing with solutions to problems. That for you is a solution that can be scaled and extrapolated.

Solve the cold-leads issue:

B2B marketer Amanda Nielsen of New Breed Marketing specifies the solution lies in attaching weights to qualify leads potential into levels like 

  • Marketing-Qualified ones worth the investment
  • Sales-Qualified ones ready-to-reach
  • Worth-talking-to opportunities

Opportunities mean clients. And clients mean business and brand-ambassadors.

Copy-what-works strategy:

The whole purpose of BA is to find the winning strategy which reduces leads loss, generates better strategies and provides you with insights and training on why errors occur and how not to replicate them. A satisfied customer is akin to asset acquisition.

Empower your staff:

Motivation runs high when you can forecast efficiently and juggle the leads to improve the sales funnel through an effective strategy. BA provides your sales and marketing team with the tools to succeed. It shows them how to achieve and equips them with the required timely knowledge and strategy.

In conclusion, BA sets the pace, helps you with timely strategy, reviews, causes for failures and helps literally set the timetable for work. That’s as easy as it can make your job. One must, however, being in sales convert those leads with people-skills that only the human touch can add value to.

A Career Guide To The Field Of Finance

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

What does having a career in finance mean? It refers to job opportunities in a variety of fields. These fields are namely, Investment Banking, Trading, Financial Advisory, Analytics, Financial Media, Financial Analysis, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Mergers and Acquisitions and so on. One thing common among all of these fields of finance is that a career in any of them is extremely lucrative.
This is one of the main reasons as to why candidates aspire to become highly qualified professionals in the field of Finance. While some take the route of education, go on to get graduated in any related field of Finance, then go ahead and do their masters and MBA and then look for a job. There are also quite a few who choose to go the way of the industry. By taking up professional training courses, like those offered by institutes like Imarticus Learning, these individuals are able to develop a skillset, which is way more relevant to the industry and is exactly what HR Managers are on the lookout for.

Let’s go further and discuss the various credentials that the field of finance has. As is common with every field out there, Finance also happens to have its very own professional qualifications and licenses. These include, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), as well as a series of licenses.
These series of licenses are for instance Series 7 & Series 63, both of which are usually issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Both the series of licenses, require a professional to complete a course of study and passing an exam. While these licenses work as a legal requirement, the certifications or credentials like CFA are more of resume boosters, which give great prestige to the holder.
Most of the concentration of Financial Jobs can be found in all of those cities, which are considered to be international centers of finance all over the world. These could cities like New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, and Zurich and so on. If you happen to be looking for a job, which is based in a foreign country then you must ensure that you know the basics of the native language therein.
While it may seem that your city or state does not happen to have great and stellar corporations, this does not mean you should despair. For all of those who are aware of the concept of globalization, it seems to be happening at a more rapid speed. Many large banking corporations like JP Morgan and the likes happen to have hedge funds and smaller money management firms situated in a number of locations lately.

Impact of Crowdfunding on Investment Banking

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Crowdfunding for investments or investment crowdfunding, as the name suggests is a method to source money for an institution, by collectively asking a large group of individuals, to invest in small amounts towards the larger goal of the company. And in return to this investment, these individuals will get equity shares of the said company.
Previously it was the entrepreneurs who would essentially source seed money, to begin a business, either by taking loans from the banks, angel investors, family or friends or venture capitalists, by offering them a return on investment. Investment crowdfunding, on the other hand, makes it possible for these start-ups, to ask for relatively smaller amounts, from a large number of people, when other options like those mentioned above are not available.
In the recent years, there has been a rise in platforms which offer investors, the opportunities of clubbing together and investing in properties or institutions, with the hope that they will earn good returns from their investments. Whenever there is a rise in the certain concept of investment, clearly an impact is noticed, which could have its own pros and cons.
In this blog, we have tried to put across ways in which crowdfunding will impact the investment banking scenarios.

Ease of Transactions

With the assistance of technology integration, it is noticed a sense of rapidity in the process of investment cycles has increased. Processes of investor confirmation are getting streamlined. Opportunities like direct internet investment are adding efficiency.

Increased Transparency

Both accredited and non-accredited investors will find it easy to get crowdfunding deals with clear information, which will eliminate chances of fraud. So if there is a website that has clear and transparent information on equity-based crowdfunding, then the less transparent investment bank will not gain that trust from individuals. Hence the traditional banks will need to keep up with transparent crowdfunding websites.

Professionalism and Efficiency

Start-ups looking for investment will understand the importance of clear communication of their hits and misses, as they will be more accountable to their shareholders. This will have a domino effect and create a discipline for company founders, which will further put the pressure on investment bankers to represent quality deals, thus creating a ripple effect of a win-win situation for all.

Thinner Margins

With the rise of technology, stock brokers were faced with decreased margins, similarly, technology impact on crowdfunding on investment banking will have a creative destruction. Currently, private banks charge a healthy fee for the work they put in,

in forms of underwriting of corporate debt and equity research. It is quite possible in the future for computers to take over a lot of tasks performed by human resources. Thus eliminating the need to charge heavily for services performed.
The debatable issue is, will crowdfunding and investment bankers coexist? It is likely possible but not without a few disruptions. There are many upsides but also noticeable downsides based on the kind of investors. Equity crowdfunding is still in a nascent stage, although it has the ability to impact the value chain and the role of the finance sector on a whole. It would be best if the finance sector works in regulating activities and create platforms that offer tools for tracking and transparency.

Why Is Professionalism Important at the Workplace?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

Professionalism is perhaps the most misunderstood and over described term in modern times. Therefore, it is difficult to explain the precise expectation clearly. And because we often hear how vital it is to behave “professionally” we go on with our own interpretation of the expected perception.
The customary code of conduct is our easiest adaptation on following the method of the organisation, which to us is our guide to being a professional employee. We follow guileless like the dress code, office hours, doing the given job in a timely manner, basic dos and don’ts, which are self-explanatory. One doesn’t ponder over it for long and accepts, if what is written is followed, one will be considered a professional employee.
But what to employers exactly mean by this term? Certainly, it’s good to do one’s job well and show up on time regularly. But then again are there additional things expected of you if you rightly want to be regarded as a professional?
Your employer might not tell you exactly about their idea of being professional simply because they may expect you to know about it. It may only come up when you indulge in something they term “Unprofessional” or “Unexpected”, (for instance not attending a meeting with equipment to take notes)

Ways to be considered a professional: 
Acting like or conceivably one will be considered professional if your actions and presence make others think of you as a Reliable, Competent, Dependable, Respectful, and Believer of Integrity.
Being professional would mean to be consistently good at what you do, staying true to your words, meeting deadlines dependable, to be upfront about where things stand, to approach people with respect and most importantly to be proactive in upgrading your skills, being positive, focused, not letting your personal life dominate professional, listening to what is being said, supporting others, making informed decisions.
As said earlier the definition is vast, but if genuinely thought over, the above-mentioned traits are only a few ways to building a Professional Atmosphere which has myriad advantages.

  • Creates Boundaries – Workers who conduct themselves professionally avoid crossing their line with subordinates, superiors or clients
  • Creates an Atmosphere of Improvement – A professional atmosphere is more conducive to success.
  • The sense of Responsibility – In a professional atmosphere, an employee while handling a task, sees the larger purpose, and hence are able to own their actions and take appropriate decisions. One takes pride in performing the tasks assigned to them.  This adds to the overall image of not only the employee but also showcases the value by which the organisation stands.
  • Mitigates Conflicts – businesses which promote a professional atmosphere also makes it easier to deal with diverse environments in which subordinates or even clients could have a difference of opinion however they can agree to disagree and come together on common grounds.
  • Increased Job Satisfaction – Professionalism eliminates stress to a great degree and once that is taken care of an employee thrives in a healthy atmosphere leading to enhanced performance.
  • Personal Growth – Not only in terms of job advancement, but there are a certain dignity and pride in one’s work that develops. You get appreciated for consistently good quality output and that in turn builds your confidence, makes you a more secure person who is then capable of handling difficult situations with refined emotional maturity.

It is important to note that demonstrating professionalism is important at all levels in an organisation. Professionalism is not the responsibility of the leadership team but is vital at all levels. You can display professionalism in something as small as never forgetting an attachment to your emails, or writing without any grammatical errors, or in something as complex as performing a task with limited resources in the given time even when the delay was unavoidable.
Professionalism can become a part of your personality, (not keeping people waiting, being responsive etc..,) People with high levels of professionalism are most frequently considered for Job advancement.
Professionalism goes a long way in one’s personal career success as well as the success of the organisation.

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How can a Profitable Company can Go Bankrupt?

Posted on by Imarticus Learning

To manage a business is perhaps the riskiest job one can ask for. Essentially during a start-up, it is estimated by certain research that around 49% of businesses fail or go bankrupt within the first five years and 30% businesses don’t even make it up to the one or two-year mark. While some companies might be risky in nature like opening up a restaurant or in recent times a technology-related setup which has a higher failure rate.

It is not only the nature of the business that leads to failure, but factors such as poor leadership, incorrect direction, poor financial planning in spite of having a great idea, product or service, with the probability of hitting gold in the first few years could also fail.

Depending on the way the business functions, the way it manages its finances, a company could move towards bankruptcy. It is a known fact that an increase in sales is directly proportionate to an increase in revenue. However, most start-ups or established businesses manage to oversee the fact that an increase in sales or business also means that there is an increase in inventory and accounts receivable that use up the cash. A phase in growth could also literally mean to be cash flow negative in the short term.

To maximise profits should be the ultimate goal of a company, but being profitable is only one side of the coin. It is equally important for the company to be profitable and being able to pay the bills when they are due. Many businesses, small or big come across customers who pay their bills for the services or goods in 45-60 days, yet owners or companies have to honour their commitments to the staff and vendors in 30 days, plus overheads, which means irrespective of when they receive payments they have to make arrangements on an ongoing basis.

Cash Flow is the king for business owners, without which businesses can get caught in the situation and in spite of being profitable may end up going out of business.

It is an oxymoron that a business which is profitable and has plenty of sales lined up goes down. If the cash flow is not there, even profitable businesses can go kaput. Keeping all other variables aside, here are some reasons why certain profitable companies can go under…

Ignoring cash flow and focusing on profit
No cash flow, zero business, not a happy ending! So the priority cannot be on profitability but cash flow. Some big projects can pay well but if the payment cycle is too long a wait it can create cash flow pressures which will come in the way of functioning. Business decisions need to be based on this mindset.

Receivables and payables have a rocky marriage
Receivables is the money owed to you by clients and payables is the money you pay to your suppliers or vendors, overheads etc., In an ideal scenario there should no receivables that are overdue and the company should always have the cash in hand for payables, but like all real life truths this is never the case. As a company, you cannot be lenient in this department and if required should have a separate team that works on this to ensure the cash flow.

Overestimate stock
Remember extra stock is a result of poor planning which is holding your cash flow. Even at times when the business is good, shelving stocks is not the best thing to do. To increase profits again don’t simply buy more stocks on sale. Be acutely aware of what is required as it is pivotal to business.

Incorrect Invoicing

Good finance is the backbone of your business, not knowing who owes you money is criminal pressure on cash flow. Use technology to avoid this mess.

Offering Credit
A company puts itself and the connected people at risk by extending credit and selling to people who cannot pay, such altruistic acts have no place in business.

Cash flow is imperative to sustain and excel. Amazon was not profitable in the first decade but it had great cash flow by selling stocks in the mid-1990s, almost every year they spent more than they earned. Their first profit was nearly after a decade of being in business, but mind it they could be in business because of cash flow. The stock market ensured cash flow which made up for the losses, which has made them both profitable and a company with cash flow today.

Good Financial Planning + Cash Flow = Great Business (along with disclaimers of course!)