1

How Starbucks Is Ruling The Indian Coffee Industry

Steaming hot and full of flavor, coffee is the most consumed beverage in India. After tea, it is the key ingredient that fuels productivity, creativity and social relationships. Starbucks understands this cultural significance of coffee and has pioneered its way into the hearts of its customers in India.

Creating strong customer loyalty involves much more than just serving a perfect cup of brewed espresso or cappuccino. Starbucks dedicates itself to connecting with customers by providing them delightful experiences from start to finish.

The company also uses smart technology to understand customer preferences so that they can continue to deliver personalized offers tailored to individual needs and wants. On top of that, their in-store staff are empowered with role-specific technology such as interactive tablets for ordering that allow for more accurate servings.

The success story does not end here; Starbucks recognizes that the Indian market is maturing day by day where value-for-money plays an important role when it comes to product prices and appealing menu options.

Its latest menu items offer an array of beverages at affordable prices while also providing different dietary requirements like vegan, gluten free, dairy free or other health conscious choices.

Starbucks goes far beyond the typical coffee house experience by creating a sense of community through initiatives such as partnerships with local businesses, live music performances and art exhibitions conducted in some outlets regularly.

Every detail has been taken into account since their launch in India – making sure they stay ahead in the industry while maintaining quality standards blended flawlessly with modern Indian culture.

If you live in India, you know that the consumption of coffee was not very high earlier as compared to now. And with time Starbucks has become the most significant player in the coffee industry. But the question comes here: How did they manage to dominate the country’s coffee market? Let’s take a look at their rise to success.

For years, Indians considered coffee something that only rich people drank. But these days, we see numerous cafes opening across the country. They sell various types of beverages ranging from cappuccino to chai tea. There are over 3,500 franchise stores of Starbucks in India today.

“Coffee consumption in India grew by 3 per cent to 1.06 lakh tonnes in 2011 as compared to 2010, according to data from the International Coffee Organisation.”

Source: ndtv.com

Starbucks was founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. Since its inception, it has grown into a global chain with over 28,000 stores worldwide. Today, Starbucks is the largest coffee retailer in America and also ranks among the top 20 companies in the world.

It also boasts the highest share in terms of revenue generation. With a strong foothold in the major metropolises, the company is expected to continue its growth in the months ahead.

After achieving massive success around the world, it came up with an innovative idea of expanding coffeehouses in India as well. India, known as a country of Tea lovers, will enjoy a variety of coffee drinks.

This question put Starbucks in difficulty in expanding its venture coffee in India. Starbucks, with high risk, took a decision and brought its coffee venture in 2003, but its turn failed.

With this, Starbucks enterprise started planning and plotting strategies for their expansion in the country and decided to start a joint venture with Ratan Tata’s brand (TATA Coffee) with this, they announced the opening of stores at various locations across the country.

The early days

In 1971, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker were the founders of Starbucks. The three friends first met at the University of San Francisco and thought to sell good-quality coffee beans.

Until 1976, the location of the Starbucks store was in Seattle. Before Howard Schultz took over Starbucks, it only sold coffee beans. In 1987, the founders sold the company to Howard Schultz, who rebranded the Starbucks company, Il Giornale.

Starbucks started growing really quickly and opened its first stores outside of Seattle. By 1989, the company opened 46 stores across the USA. In 1996, it opened its first store in Japan. Within 2 years it had 28 stores in Japan.

Later, it started getting various coffee companies and began testing a fresh-pressed coffee system. And then Starbucks started to face its share of setbacks and hurdles.

During the 2008 recession, Starbucks closed 600 stores in the United States. In the same year, the company had layouts of almost 1000 jobs. In addition, it also closed several stores in Australia as well. By 2009, they had completed around 977 stores worldwide. But, Starbucks pushed through all the hurdles and rose to the top.

Starbucks India

In October 2012, Starbucks Corporation with TATA Global Beverages entered the Indian coffee market, starting their first store in Mumbai, India. A 50:50 joint partner, owned by Tata Consumer Products and Starbucks Corporation, that owns and operates Starbucks outlets in India. The outlets are branded Starbucks “A Tata Alliance” and it got the title “Tata Starbucks”.

Today, Kevin Johnson is the CEO of Starbucks. The Starbucks store in India is owned by a joint venture of TATA Starbucks Private Limited. The brand is now known as Starbucks Coffee – “A Tata Alliance.” And also, Starbucks signed an agreement with Nestle back in 2018, which says Nestlé has the right to market Starbucks’ packaged coffee and food service products worldwide.

(Infrastructure) The Hidden Secret Success Behind Starbucks in Indian Market

The Starbucks store located at Connaught Place in New Delhi has art painted on the walls, and the store is entirely made up of mats and ropes. The store located in Pune has a designed infrastructure with localized railings and a prosperous display of treasure and copper.

1) Menu For Indian customers

Apart from the usual products offered internationally, Starbucks coffee store in India has some special Indian-style Menu offerings such as Tandoori Paneer Roll, Elaichi Mewa Croissant, Chocolate Rossomalai Mousse, Malai Chom Chom Tiramisu, Chicken Kathi Roll, and Murg Tikka Panini to offers Indian customers.

All espressos sold in Indian outlets are made from Indian roasted coffee beans which are supplied by Tata Coffee. Starbucks also sells Himalayan bottled mineral water and free Wi-Fi is available at all Starbucks stores.

In January 2017, Tata Starbucks introduced Starbucks’ tea brand Teavana which offers 18 different varieties of tea across its outlets in India. One of the varieties, called the India Spice Majesty Blend, was specifically developed for Indian customers and is only available in India. India Spice Majesty Blend is a blend of full-leaf Assam black tea infused with whole cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, cloves, star anise, and ginger.

On 15 June 2015, Tata Starbucks declared that it was suspending the use of ingredients not approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

2) Experimentation & Innovation

Starbucks always comes up with innovative ideas for presenting, roasting, and preserving themselves in the coffee market. The company took the initiative solely to keep on experimenting with making Starbucks.

3) Customer Relationships

Starbucks believes in focusing on existing relationships with customers, ensuring more fan following, and creating coffee more according to customers’ preferences. The brand advocates more impact on customers’ brains by doing tricks like mistakes in their spelling names.

4) Building Strong Social Media

Starbucks followed social media strategies, boosted social media with their posts, followed newsletters, blogs like LBB, Buzzfeed India, Social media marketing, etc. Their target audience is youth; hence they asked popular social influencers to promote and affiliate their offers on each and every page; these things helped to publicize their campaign and their coffee this way they create a strong Starbucks market.

Starbucks expects India as its top 5 market; due to its massive financial support, Starbucks has an advantage in investments and market opportunities. The thought of a joint venture with Tata Global beverages, supported by Starbucks corporation a lot, turned into a great idea for Starbucks to become a successful venture in India.

The success of Starbucks also involved quality improvement in the taste of the menu and infrastructure, particularly for the Indian market. The customers are welcomed, and the store ambience includes fast and free WiFi for their customers, with a sip of coffee, and a good time in the cafe.

How does Starbucks make money?

Starbucks’s revenue model has been categorised into operated stores, licensing fees from licensed stores, and the growth of other products. A large product of revenue comes from the company-operated stores. According to a report from 2018, around 82% of total revenue comes from this segment only.

The licensed stores do contribute much (12% to the total revenue) but are known to be very popular. The licensed stores hold lower margins and high operating margins as compared to the other company-operated stores.

These licensed stores sell products like tea, coffee, snacks and other Starbucks products and generate royalties and license fees for Starbucks.

The third source of Starbucks’ sales of packaged tea, coffee and other instant beverage products to customers, is outside the company-operated and licensed stores. Also, some premium quality coffees, Food items, Whole bean Coffees and others.

Moreover, Starbucks also sells a few coffee machines and equipment like espresso machines, coffee brewers and others to licensed stores normally.

The Gold Card Reward by Starbucks

There was a time in 2008 when Starbucks was going through layoffs and some really hard times. And that’s when Howard Schultz was re-appointed as the CEO of Starbucks, who took the Starbucks with some very remarkable alterations.

His most incredible initiative was the reward system. In this, the customer deposits some money in their Starbucks account and when they use the money for buying coffee, the company rewards them through the gold card reward.

This became the most successful marketing plan and around 41% of Americans preferred the Starbucks app for payments. And whenever a customer buys any beverage products from the store, they indirectly lend money to Starbucks at a 0% interest rate.

The money earned through this marketing plan was invested into different ventures, for the upgradation of the company. The most incredible thing about this reward back system is that the customers can only use the money to buy coffee from Starbucks and through this, there is a never-ending financial deal with the customers.

Revenue Model

Starbucks comprises different business segments that also play an important role in helping the company generate good revenues. Its focus is to provide premium quality products with warm and friendly customer service. Around 79% of company revenue normally comes from Starbucks-owned stores.

The cost structure of Starbucks majorly consists of fixed expenses such as administration and store operation pricing. Another primary cost driver is the occupancy price which is a variable expense.

Challenges faced by Starbucks’ India

1) Competition:

In India, coffee is available in every price range, posing a serious threat to Starbucks’ coffees and products. Many coffee houses offer products at a very affordable rate, and though you can say that they have a different target audience, Starbucks needs to keep an eye on these not-so-high premium brands.

2) Pandemic and Global Recession:

Like any other retail store all over the world, the coronavirus pandemic, health situation, and global recession have affected Starbucks as well due to the unpredictable situation. Starbucks temporarily closed 2000 stores in China, and overall 50% of the chain’s corporate footprint and 46% of licensed stores in the US are closed as well.

3) Rising Prices of Raw Coffee Beans:

The price of raw coffee beans – Arabica, the world’s most-produced coffee (representing over 65% of the world’s production), has risen dramatically during the pandemic due to concerns over its availability, hoarding, and supply chain disruption as well.

 Any additional dollar channeled to purchase raw coffee beans at a so costly price reduces Starbucks’ profitability and if the prices continue to increase could pose a serious challenge to Starbucks.

Starbucks current situation

Today, Starbucks is the leading successful coffeehouse chain and one of the top companies worldwide selling coffee drinks and food, the company has its merchandise and more across the globe.

Grocery shops across the United States and other countries also sell bottled coffee, cold coffee, and ice cream products. In November 2019, it opened the most prominent coffee lovers spot in Chicago with more than 200 employees.

 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company had to close several of its stores, but it eventually announced opening new stores across the world.

Starbucks Corporation has reported consolidated net revenues of $ 8.7 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the fiscal year 2023, a jump of 8% compared with the 2022 quarter. Although the company has a significant challenge of competing with other coffee shops at such high costs, what benefits Starbucks is its aesthetic vibes and peaceful environment, which is suitable for office meetings and even for studies.

In 2022, Starbucks collaborated with the South Korean multinational conglomerate Samsung. And both companies have launched mobile cases. Moreover, they have found quirky cases for Galaxy Buds as well. The companies have teamed up to make adorable and chic cases for Galaxy devices.

 All the accessories of the collaboration are manufactured with eco-friendly materials only. However, it is a limited edition across South Korea. It has been produced exclusively for the South Korean market only.

Summary

Starbucks is an American chain of coffeehouses that has world stores. Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker are the founders of Starbucks in 1971. In the early 1980s, they sold the company to Howard Schultz, who decided to convert the coffee bean store into a coffee cafe.

Starbucks comes at 114th position on the Forbes Fortune 500 list. In 2021, Starbucks made a net income of US$4.20 billion. Today, the company has over 32,000 stores all around the globe.

FAQ’s on Starbucks:

Must read articles:




The Power Of Personal Branding In Lead Generation

Lead generation can be an incredibly powerful tool for business growth. But it is a long, often difficult process. It requires continuous effort to establish and strengthen relationships with potential customers and partners.

Thankfully, there are ways to make this process easier with the help of personal branding.

Your brand is your voice – it speaks volumes without you having to utter a word. Crafting the right narrative communicates quickly who you are and what you stand for, allowing audiences to trust you almost instantly.

Branding yourself as an expert in your field through effective content writing helps establish credibility and attracts discerning customers looking for professionals they can trust. Thoughtfully planned visuals will engage prospects even further and also serve as a reference that resonates after initial contact has been made.

Brand recognition will set you apart from competitors while correctly delivering messaging across broadcast channels ranging from social media, emails and web presence to name tags or even tattoos! A well-crafted personal brand gives customers one consistent image of what they should expect from your services whatever channel it may be on.

Today people are familiar with the power that a business leader’s personality has to influence the reputation of their company. How can you separate the figure of Richard Branson from Virgin, Steve Jobs from Apple, or Elon Musk from Tesla Right? You can’t imagine those names with those products.

However, personal branding isn’t just for business leaders. Take a look at this startling statistic: “93% of people trust product or service recommendations from people they know, while only 34% trust messages from a [corporate] brand.”

Overall, by investing in yourself and leveraging strategic branding tactics, lead generation becomes more organic as customers start coming directly to you instead of being acquired by costly marketing campaigns Designed essential allays any trust concerns and ensure that each offer delivered is actionable value.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the power of personal branding as a lead generation tool.

Personal branding

Personal branding is not about being famous or being an influencer who promotes products. It’s about being known for something – be that expertise, a passion, or a message about the brand. It’s about inspiring your audience, building a tribe and having an impact on certain people.

Your personal brand is your brand reputation online. It’s what people who don’t yet know you but one day will think of you when they will see your product or whenever they wanna buy that category product.

The practice of ‘personal branding’ is not only controlling the narrative of how you’re seen but actively working to be seen as branding in a certain field.

Why Is Personal Branding Important?

In an era where people’s attention spans are getting shorter by a few minutes, the need to make an impression is more important for the brand. And the best way to do this is by creating a solid, powerful and memorable brand identity.

Unfortunately, today most business owners do not realize the importance of personal branding because they think it’s a lot of extra work.

However, the truth is that if you want to create a successful business today, you must create a successful brand first. People who know you and your business will trust you more and will buy more products and services from you which will eventually.

Types of personal brand

1) The Altruist

Altruists are people who are highly recognized for their commitment to helping others. These are people who not only dedicate themselves in terms of actions, but also with regard to being mindful of their personal relationships with others.

2) The Careerist

True careerists are the person who has shown a preference for professional way above all other personal achievements.  More often associated with business-related networks such as LinkedIn-careerists constantly share information with others that will raise their status in their industry.

3) The Hipster

Hipster branding refers to a recognized subculture of progressive people who embrace individuality above all else. Although modern hipsters are usually associated with young millennials who give up mainstream trends.

A hipster is also a person who likes to try things first and share reviews or knowledge with others. Hipsters can adopt aspects of both altruism and careerism as well. For them, sharing is seen as an important part of their existence.

4) The Boomerang

The boomerang brand type refers to people who share content and generate interactions simply to create discord through controversy with others. In many cases, its not important to agree with the content-choosing to pass on the information for the potential of being seen as provocative.

5) The Connector

Connectors are people who have pride in themselves and in their ability to bring people together. These are usually well-connected individuals who openly use their network to unite. Typically creative, they obtain validation and satisfaction through others, and people.

6) The Selective

The selective person is a person that only shares information with certain people. They usually carefully curated information based on the general needs and interests of the specific audience. They are largely known for being resourceful. To determine that often takes careful self-analysis that will let you reveal your values, strengths, and weaknesses.

3 Benefits of using personal branding for lead generation

1) Personal branding helps build trust with potential leads

When it comes to lead generation, trust is a very important factor that can make or break a potential sale. If a lead doesn’t trust you and your business, they’re unlikely to do any business or purchase from you. That’s where personal branding helps you.

Personal branding is all about presenting yourself and your expertise and skills in a way that resonates with your target audience. When you develop a strong personal brand, you’re not just promoting your products or services – you’re also showcasing your personality, skills, knowledge, values, and unique qualities. By doing so, you’re giving potential leads a reason to trust you and your business.

2) Helps in developing a powerful personal brand that resonates with your target audience

In today’s crowded digital landscape, developing a personal brand is important for standing out from the competition and building a good audience. But to be truly effective, your personal brand requires you to resonate with your target audience – that is, the people you’re trying to reach and connect with.

A personal brand helps you to resonate with your target audience, you need to start by understanding who your target audience is, what they want, and what challenges they face. You can involve doing research on your target market, surveying your existing audience list, or simply paying attention to the conversations and trends in your industry.

3) Leveraging personal branding to attract high-quality leads

Personal branding can be a great tool for attracting high-quality leads – that is, target customers who are a good fit for your business and are more possible to convert into paying customers. By leveraging your personal brand, you can establish yourself as an authority in your industry and build a loyal following that is engaged.

One way to leverage your personal brand for lead generation is to aim at creating high-quality content that offers value to your target audience. This might include blog posts, social media updates, videos, podcasts, or other forms of content that demonstrate your expertise and provide solutions to the challenges and pain points of your ideal customers.

5 key elements of a powerful personal brand

1. Experience

Ensure you’re engaging in impactful and exciting ways to embrace new opportunities and challenges so that you’ll have a variety of experiences to draw upon. And they don’t all need to be good experiences; in fact, being able to share information about times when things went wrong will lend your story authenticity and make you more relatable.

2. Collaboration

In order to demonstrate the relevance of your storyline to your audience of a potential audience, it helps if you can collaborate with your existing audience. Ask their permission to share their experiences to support your narrative.

3. Awareness

While your personal experience and working relationships are very important for building your personal brand, It’s important to be aware of the massive context in which your brand is situated.

You can increase your brand exposure by reverse engineering what a branding and digital marketing agency do for targeting your audience, as you may get even greater results.

4. Openness

It might seem senseless to talk about your weaknesses and failures as part of personal branding but remember: “a personal brand should reflect your actual personality and should not be an idealised or fake version of who you are.”

You must be willing to be open, honest, and vulnerable about your mistakes and disappointments. That’s what will give your personal brand integrity and encourage your customers to trust you.

5. Content – Creation & Distribution

Your experience, collaboration, awareness, knowledge and openness will go invisible if you don’t create compelling content to get these qualities to check assurance. This means once you’ve got the content, you need to distribute it on the right media  channels to be seen by your target audience.

When you come to distribute your content, it’s helpful to identify the timing for your personal branding marketing strategy.

For more immediate results you can choose:

  • Paid social media

  • Paid Google/Bing ads

  • On the other hand, for a longer, slow-burn approach that builds up your brand gradually, you can try:

  • Guest blogging

  • Organic social media

  • Speaking gigs and conferences

How personal branding can be used to generate leads

1) Ensure content quality

The path to grabbing the attention of people towards your expertise goes through providing helpful content.

Start strategizing what you want to convey to your audience. While coming up with content ideas, and keeping a pulse check on the challenges or issues your audience wants the solutions for- how you as a market expert can help them solve those issues?

Having consistent, high-quality content is the beginning point to use your personal brand. Optimize your social profiles and make sure you’re using high-quality images, and videos your expertise is demonstrated, and your copy is crisp and typo-free.

Your goal is to make the audience aware of what you are working for in your niche, your vision relating to your niche, and how you are a problem solver for your audience’s issues.

Considering all these points, you can create relevant and quality content to spearhead your personal branding efforts. It will drive the target audience to visit your page, generate more leads, and create brand advocates.

2) Consider your marketing content as an asset

When you are paving the way to propel your personal branding, it is important to treat your marketing content as an asset. The reason for this is simple: it will help you open up new profit avenues and create multiplied demand for your product markets.

3) Leverage the power of your followers and subscribers

According to the Edelman-LinkedIn study, 56% of decision-makers say they use thought leadership content as an important way to vet business. Incorporate thought leadership in your personal branding marketing strategy, and build and leverage relationships with other thought leaders in your niche.

Why? That’s because you will get advantages from shared branding and augmented exposure while also discovering new perspectives that you might otherwise have missed noticing. For strengthening relationships, fetching growth, and amplifying engagement, you can create shared content aligning with collaborations and fun competitions for your audience.

4) Social Media Platform

Leading your personal branding effort is directly proportional to building a beneficial and strong network. Leverage social media channels and expand your network so you to brand yourself, show professionalism, cultivate more and create more.

Utilizing social media channels makes it easier to connect with your target audience, establish relationships, and even get unexpected opportunities. When selecting social media channels, keep your brand or business goals intact.

5) LinkedIn

Linkedin is a separate use case of personal branding well, which is intentional because Linkedin is completely different from other platforms. Linkedin is the most profitable social media platform if you want to reap the most out of your personal branding efforts.

It has developed a reputation as a professional social platform, giving you ample reasons for exercising your personal branding efforts on Linkedin you can cultivate quality leads, promote your content, and find partnership opportunities.

6) Conferences & Speaking Gigs

Conference and Speaking gigs are a great medium for personal branding. Speaking at workshops and conferences is a go-to marketing strategy for lead generation. Moreover, these are a perfect way to represent your views and expertise while meeting new minds in your niche community.

Speaking gigs or conferences are the combination of two important parts when it comes to personal branding- content production and content distribution. It would be best if you aimed at educating and adding value.

Personal branding strategy

1. Know yourself First

Many people don’t know who they are and what they want to be in their careers. So many out there struggle with personal branding because they don’t understand themselves and their identity.

If you are ambiguous about your aspirations in life and know where you want to take your things in life, there is no way you can define yourself and convey that to others. Thus, before trying to establish yourself, find a clear definition of yourself, your strengths, things that define you, and your vision & mission in life.

2. Test Yourself

After strategizing all your strengths or traits, test your skills and knowledge with your circle online, or offline and arrive at a credibility score. Then start working on improving your score over a period of time.

3. Define your Target Audience

Define and get to know about your target audience which will help you choose the right medium.

4. Establish Presence

In today’s social media world, your online presence contributes 100% to your personal brand’s online reputation. You will be googled by friends, colleagues or target customers, so make sure your online content speaks about the real authentic YOU.

5. Upgrade your Social Media channel

Social Media channel is no longer about posting photos of food and fancy vacations; it has a deeper objective to protect your personal brand image and true skills across multiple platforms. And today Vlogging is one of the best trends — speaking out would give you more credit than a brief ‘about me’ section.

Tips on building a strong personal brand

1. Make those around your marketing successful:

While some personal brands are built at the expense of others, the most highly regarded personal brands are developing on the success they have created for others. Think “selfless” as opposed to “selfish.”

2. Hiring a coach or mentor:

This is something that many successful brand struggle with as their pride can be a barrier to seeking the wisdom and counsel of others. However, this is one of the best investments to build a powerful, strong and sustainable personal brand.

3. Invest in continuing education:

So you already earn a significant income, run your business and you’re busy – the reality is that it is far simpler to reach the C-suite than to remain there. You will only survive in the working environment if you continue to refine and advance your skill sets and competencies.

4. Learn to work the media, or hire someone:

You can be a target for the media channel and while the controversy is not always a bad thing it causes more unnecessary brain damage than you will possibly want to incur. You can hire someone expert to do it for you.

Personal Branding Examples

1) Elon Musk

Elon Musk, creator of Tesla and SpaceX, at least once. He is often associated with his companies’ names across the world. Elon Musk is a great example of careerist personal branding that represents new technology. People will remember his electric cars and rockets.

2) Kylie Jenner

Kylie Cosmetics, which owns cosmetics brand Kylie Jenner into the youngest “self-made” billionaire in the world. Kylie is a member of the wealthy Kardashian family. She could influence people by her own brand and used her face to demonstrate her product line.

She has a strong social media presence and brought excellent results to this young celebrity. Kylie Cosmetics now has 25.5 Million followers on Instagram and customers worldwide.

3) Shaun White

Shaun White is famous for his accomplishments in snowboarding and skateboarding across the world. Today he owns his own clothing brand. The store has everything an athlete needs. Simply put, personal branding is connected with your identity, personality, and expertise.

Summary

Building a powerful personal brand means telling your own compelling story, being open and authentic, designing on your experiences, and staying aware of the wider context. And it means making sure your brand story is heard by the right audience by producing and distributing great content.

The aim of your personal branding activities should be to educate, inform, knowledge and help your audience. Demonstrating your expertise and showing that you understand your audience’s pain points will generate leads as a natural result.

FAQ’s on Communication:




10 Ways Customer Satisfaction Impacts Business Success & Why It’s Important

If you’re looking for ways to increase company profitability, your customers are important and the customer service department is the best choice to start with. A well-trained customer service team can reflect a positive image of the business and help you attract and retain customers.

If you’re serious about building a thriving business, you’ll have to dedicate time and attention to customer service. However, customer service teams interact with customers every day. They’re on the front lines, representing your business, fixing problems, and building positive relationships.

When customer service is prioritized, companies get a lot of benefits such as more loyal customers, more positive reviews, and a boost in revenue. That’s why focusing on customer service is so important.

Customer service is not just about doing business. It’s an important part of the overall customer experience and creates an image in the market for your brand.

Why are customers important to a business?

A customer is an individual person or you can say a business that purchases another company’s goods or services. Customers are essential because they drive revenues; businesses need them to continue to exist in the market.

All businesses compete with other companies in the market in order to attract customers, either by aggressively advertising their products, by lowering prices to expand their customer bases or by developing unique products and experiences that customers will make a purchase from them over other brands from the market.

Customer satisfaction

A high level of customer satisfaction is a business goal for every brand and a key to success. Customer satisfaction affects your business overall. Low customer satisfaction levels mean your retention rates are the possibility to be low, too.

According to a book titled Marketing Metrics, businesses have a 62-72% chance of selling to an existing customer while the likelihood of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%.

But how do customers get satisfaction from your business? It’s by providing them with good customer service.

The definition and importance of customer service

Customer service is how your business interacts with its customers in daily transactions and as a problem-solving solution when issues come. It has a direct and meaningful impact on your company’s profitability as your customer service team serves as the response to your customer’s needs and is crucial for long-term customer retention.

Basically, it’s a Customer service team which supports you to offer your customers — both before and after they buy and use your products or services that helps them have an easy and enjoyable experience with you.

Offering good customer service is important to grow your business. Today’s customer service goes far beyond the traditional telephone support agent or calls centre-like service.

Now it’s available through email, the web, text messages, and social media. Many companies also offer self-service support such as frequently as a question column or chatbot, so customers can find their own answers at any time.

Customer support is more than just providing answers to doubt it’s an important part of the promise your business makes to its customers.

Here Are 10 ways customer satisfaction Relates To Business Success

1. Helps you retain customers

If a customer has a good experience and satisfaction with your business, they’re more likely to return, and the more loyal customers you have, the more your company can grow and get succeed

2. Reinforces company values and brand

Your customer service team communicates with customers on a daily basis, which means that they are directly responsible for representing your business mission and values giving customer satisfaction.

Great customer service can result in positive reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations for your business that can lead to growing your business.

3. Increases customer satisfaction for the lifetime

Customer satisfaction value represents the total amount of revenue your company can expect to receive from a single customer over time. When customers are satisfied it helps you to increase your company’s revenue without having to spend more on marketing.

Good customer satisfaction means that your customers spend more money each time they order or buy more often. Customer service is a great way to increase customer satisfaction. If customers have a positive shopping experience, they’ll be more likely to buy from you again.

4. Make better business decisions

When your customer is satisfied can help you improve virtually every aspect of your business. Your help desk can also offer an overview of CSAT (customer satisfaction) scores and customer health indicators.

Or track the most requested customer service features. When you look at a help desk solution, make sure it’s easy to get the insights you need to make faster, better smarter decisions.

5. Gives you a competitive advantage

When your customer satisfaction does more than just win over new customers and retain loyal ones. It also sets you apart from the market competitor.

By offering best-in-class customer service, you are attaching value to your company’s brand, strengthening your reputation in the market place and showing by example that you care about those who purchase your product or service.

6. Increase sales

Customer support isn’t just about retaining customers it also gives customers satisfaction. It’s also an effective way to boost sales. It’s been reported that 56% of customers will abandon online purchases if they can’t find the information they’re looking for. Provide online customer support.

Save your sale by reaching customers and prospects the information they need, when they need it.

7. Reduce marketing expenses

Satisfied customers are the most significant assets for your business. Their positive word-of-mouth lends your brand credibility and popularity and helps acquire new customers. This saves your marketing a lot of money that they would spend on marketing and promotional campaigns to acquire new customers.

8. Gives support

Satisfied customers are more able to stand by in times of crisis; they care for the business and want to see it thrive. This has been observed in many cases for big brands, such as McDonald’s, when there are rumours around that there are caterpillars in their foods. Where customers supported the brand.

9. Boost reputation and popularity

Customer satisfaction impacts business reputation and popularity. See customer feedback and figure out which areas could be improved and improve customer satisfaction.

Don’t be afraid to ask your customers; honest feedback will help manage expectations and act according to them. Famous businesses have dedicated teams and initiatives for improving customer satisfaction, which helps them achieve high sales figures.

10. Customer loyalty

When your customers are satisfied, they believe in that business and become loyal customers. These loyal customers give business repeat purchases and form a major part of the revenue.

Losing customers greatly affects your business revenue. Add to this the positive word of mouth to friends and family from your loyal customers, who can promote the brand to their loved ones for their great experiences.

Customers are important stakeholders

Customers are the people who purchase the product or use the service so they are the stakeholders who decide whether the business will be a success or not in the market.

Customers show loyalty to a business they like.

However, if a business does not satisfy customers’ needs continuously, the customers will simply take their business elsewhere.

Reasons why Customers are important stakeholders

1) The economic buyer:

The customers make the purchasing decisions and have the authority to approve contracts – often a senior executive with broad organisational responsibilities.

Where they sit in the organization depends on the size of the deal. For example a small deal will fit into a manager’s budgetary discretion, and a large deal might go up to the CFO.

2) The user buyer :

Customers will be using the product, service, or offer. Whatever the brand is selling will directly impact the customer’s buyer’s job, so their concerns will mostly be operational.

3) The technical buyer:

Usually, this type of customer will manage or oversee the integration of a brand’s technical offering. The technical buyer often has a list of specifications they will screen a potential seller against.

This means customers have the power to say “no” to a product. As such, they’re important people to engage with and learn from and are often people who encourage rapid custom changes in the product and price.

Benefits of good customer service

1. Customer loyalty

Loyal customers have many advantages for businesses. 94% of customers say a positive customer service experience makes them more likely to purchase.

Also, investing in new customers is more expensive than retaining existing customers. Creating loyal customers through good customer service can provide businesses with lucrative long-term relationships.

2. Increase profits

These long-term customer relationships established through customer service can help businesses become more profitable in the market. Businesses can grow revenues between 6% and 8% above their market when they prioritise better customer service experiences. Creating a better customer service experience than those offered by competitors can help businesses to stand out in their marketplace, in turn, make more sales.

3. Customer recommendations

Providing good customer service can create satisfied customers, who are then more likely to recommend the business to others.

95% of customers will recommend a company whose service they rate as “very good”. This is useful, as 90% of customers are influenced by positive reviews when buying a product. Customers recommending a business through word of mouth or online reviews can improve the credibility of the business.

4. Increase conversion

Good customer service can help businesses turn leads into sales which helps to boost revenue. 78% of customers say they have backed out of purchase due to a poor customer experience. It is therefore safe to assume that offering good customer service will help to increase customer confidence and in turn increase conversion.

5. Improve public image

Customer service can help businesses to improve the public perception of the business, which can then provide protection if there is a slip-up. 76% of customers will forgive a business for a mistake after receiving excellent service.

Meanwhile, almost 90% of customers report trusting a company whose service they rate as “very good.” On the other hand, only 17% of those who give a “very poor” rating trust companies to the same degree.

In what ways can you ensure that your customers are satisfied?

1) Collect customer feedback:

To better understand your customers’ needs, you must listen to them and know what they want and what their needs are. By using surveys, you can measure customer satisfaction and discover what product and service improvements your customers request.

2) Turn customer feedback into action:

Now that you know what your customers want, it’s time to turn their feedback into action and make changes.

3) Improve your product or service:

You should constantly strive to improve your product or service based on customer feedback and what their needs are.

4) Follow up with your customers:

Have you made an improvement based on what your customer’s needs are? Now it’s time to follow up with the customer to let them know about it. Keeping your customers in the loop shows that your business values customer opinion.

Summary

You have an incredible opportunity to build relationships with your customers, which will lead to a successful business. Offering exceptional customer service it’s essential.

By providing good customer service experiences, your customers will get a good feeling about your business and give them Customer satisfaction which is the pillar of your company’s success. So, improving customer satisfaction comes down to gathering customer feedback.

FAQ’s:

Must read articles:




Do’s and Don’ts Of Creating A Visual Brand

Designing for visual impact takes more than just aesthetic appeal. To create an iconic brand that resonates with audiences, we need to understand the principles of visual communication.

A great visual brand is consistent, and emotive, images, logos, and design photos that you use to promote your business do your visual brand in the market based on an understanding of your target audience.

You may not realize it, but your visual brand tells the story and journey of your business, including your company’s values, core, personality and purpose. It can be one of the best marketing tools you can use for communicating with your customers.

Meticulously craft messages to express values and ideas in ways that are both visually stunning and emotionally gripping. Focus on every detail, pick color palettes and font styles carefully, as design decisions should be anchored in a solid concept driven by a clear purpose.

Vividly illustrate stories to connect with viewers by creating meaningful symbols that tell a memorable story. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes: when perusing visuals, they should experience something fresh and original that leaves them feeling informed and inspired.

However, try not to overthink things: keep the vibe light-hearted rather than overly serious or corporate so that it’s easy for potential customers to relate to the message you’re conveying.

Always push boundaries but don’t go over the top – too much complexity can distract people from your core values or perspective, reducing the overall effect of any campaign.

Poor visual branding, however, can affect and hurt your business image. Business owners who are interested in developing their own visual brand should read this article.

Visual Branding

Visual branding is an important element of your marketing strategy. It consists of all the visual elements used to represent your business in the market, from your logo, and images to the font on your business cards. Each element works together to create the overall look and feel of your business image.

It’s important for every business to convey its brand personality and make an emotional impression on its audience. Finally, your visual branding approach will help unite the many fragments of your brand through consistent images, design and fonts, etc.

Whether your target customer looks at an email newsletter, Instagram post or brochure, shared visual branding elements will signal that it’s your business that is different from others.

The Visual Branding Process

  1. Effective your brand personality and how it relates to your business goals, aims and values.

  2. Conduct market research to understand your market competitors’ visual branding approaches and what your target audience will be looking for.

  3. Gather inspiration and collect visual images, and design references through mood boards, sketches, mockups and other exercises.

  4. Create logo design options that could represent your business, then select the one that feels like the right fit.

  5. Select other visual elements that work well with your logo, and background and complete your visual brand.

The do’s of creating a visual brand

1. Do be consistent

The visual elements you use to showcase your brand should all have a similar feel and message. Consistency is a huge part of creating visual branding for the photographer and content creator behind Art & Anthem, who works with businesses to develop their visual brand.

Consistency helps customers recognize you. It also let them connect with your brand and develop a good relationship. An inconsistent strategy to create a visual brand can create a perception that your company needs to be more genuine and trustworthy.

2. Do understand your target market

Your visual brand impacts customers’ understanding of your business. But you don’t know how to target customers who will respond to your visuals. That’s why the most important part of developing your visual brand is understanding your target market.

Consumers no longer simply buy things out of need. There are many options available in the market and your competition, so they do their research and usually lean toward the brand they can relate to more.

Once you know who your customers are and what they want to see, you can create and use visuals that appeal to those aspirations and needs. This increases your chances that consumers will select your company over your competitor’s market.

3. Be clear

Communicate with your designer and show the world what your business stands for. Bring a collection of words, images or phrases you feel represent your business. Share the story of the journey of your business.

Defining your company’s core values will let you build stronger relationships with customers, as they will be able to gain a more understanding of the foundation of your business.

Your core values will help you stand out and give you a competitive advantage over other brands in the competitors. The values of your business will help in framing your brand’s story for your target audience.

4. Do combine online and offline marketing channels

Combining both channels into your branding materials. Don’t create a calm and funky website if your office is advanced and traditional. Online and offline experiences need to be a consistent and same page. For example if you’re playing an ad on an online channel make sure you’re using the same things on offline marketing.

5. Define the core values of the business

Defining your business’s core values will let you build stronger relationships with customers, as they will be able to gain a good understanding of the foundation of your company.

Your business core values will help you stand out and give you a competitive advantage over other similar brands in the market.

Don’ts of creating a visual brand

1. Don’t just stop with your logo

Many new businesses spend a lot of time, and money to design the perfect logo. While it’s a vital part of your brand, it isn’t the only thing that matters. When considering the elements that make up your visual brand, it’s essential to suppose beyond the logo.

Consider how product images, ad photography and social media images showcase your brand. All these elements work together to create a visual brand image that tells clients what your brand stands for.

2. Don’t focus only on social media

Visuals are important in fostering a connection between the brand and its customers, especially on social media. But that doesn’t mean, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are the only platforms you need to consider the impact of your visual brand.

Every point of contact a customer has with your brand, from the photo in an announcement to the card you transport with orders, can impact how they perceive your company. All these brand visuals need to be exactly considered and integrated with each other.

3. Don’t just focus on visuals

Developing a visual brand that promotes your business images takes time. But if you’re willing to experiment and discover what your customers respond to, you’ll eventually hit on a formula that works for your business growth.

People need help to avoid trying to create visual things before understanding what they need to communicate with their target audience. Instead of starting with photos, fonts or designs that you like, take time to understand your brand and your target audience. This will help you to visualize the elements that you select and orient your efforts toward the thing of connecting with the right customers.

4. Copy from other business company

Never risk ruining your brand’s reputation by copying content or design elements from your market competitor. You must understand that what works for your brand won’t work for yours.

Your brand should be unique to you. Not only is copying going to leave a bad impression on your customers, but you could also end up in a lawsuit for copyright infringement.

5. Miss out on trends

Is every trend going to advantage your brand? No. But is it still important to stay on top of the latest trends in marketing? Yes. Staying up-to-date with what is currently trending can help your brand reach more audiences, especially when using #hashtags.

Your brand can be found/seen more when you are participating in a trend that thousands of others are also participating in around you. Although you want to stay on top of the latest trends in the market, you also want to be sure you are only participating in the trends that are going to be successful for your business.

5 Main Elements of Visual Branding

1. Logo

The very first thing is a logo. This easily-identifiable mark showcases your brand through words, an icon, or a combination of both. It doesn’t need to be a literal depiction of what you do, but should be easily recognizable as yours in the market.

2. Typography

Typography basically is the way the fonts are displayed, their hierarchy, sizes, boldness, etc. If designed correctly it helps your visuals and your brand to convey the needed message, in the order you need it to be conveyed.

3. Color Palette

Colour increases recognition by up to 86%, so having a clear, consistent, and distinctive colour palette is one of the most important things you can do for your brand.

Colour also speaks about your brand a lot of meaning, so it’s a powerful tool for conveying your brand’s personality, appealing to your ideal audience, and sharing your message.

You can select 1–3 core colours, plus some supporting neutrals representing your brand to create a cohesive, clear and consistent palette that you can use across all your touchpoints.

4. Graphic Elements

These graphic elements such as illustrations, patterns, icons, and textures pull everything together to create a cohesive brand identity.

Patterns and textures can be used for packaging, social media backgrounds, website elements and many more, while illustrations and icons can be used to elevate & communicate information or add personality to your brand which can make it different in the market.

5. Imagery

A picture is worth a thousand words, so the imagery is a very important element of your brand identity when it comes to communicating your vision, values, and the voice of your business. Establishing a direction for your photography & videography will establish your brand identity and convey your brand message in a clear and powerful way.

Summary

Visual Brand defines who you are and how people perceive your business. It’s what helps people to identify your brand through a theme song, and your tagline, and based on colour or font, reputation is the image it conveys to others that affect whether or not people do business with you.

Visual elements can give your brand a unique identity and drive you to make important decisions in your eCommerce marketing strategy. It can even increase revenue, which can reach up to 28%. Visual branding is a great tool for attracting visitors who tend to become important buyers, with the help of marketing tactics.

FAQ’s:

Must read articles:




Leadership And Management – Relationship & Differences

Leadership and management are intertwined concepts, both requiring skills to effectively guide and manage a team. However, their differences can be stark.

Some individuals in the company might have both management and leadership responsibilities. While there are critical relationships between leaders and managers, the differences are even more important to understand.

Leaders set visions and inspire with their own passion, while managers plan strategies to help those visions come true. Leaders drive progress through empowerment and engaging employees in the process, while managers maintain order and uphold stability through maintaining structure.

Leaders take risks which may not pay off in the short run, but have long term gain potential due to creativity; whereas managers proceed with caution or solidify existing processes by building on known foundations.

Management is much more focused on ensuring that a company’s day-to-day business gets done. However, leaders use their imagination and vision to seek rewards and opportunities and boost their team’s creative process.

Management’s goals arise out of necessity, while the goals of leadership result from an active and personal attitude of growth. Companies need managers and leaders to survive, boost and thrive in the market.

The first step to ensuring that your business has highly skilled individuals in leadership and management positions is understanding the relationship and differences between these essential roles.

The path for success all begins with communication. Leaders must learn how to communicate clear directions and motivate others working towards it; managers must emphasize positive feedback and accountability for tasks performed.

Ultimately, successful leaders lead from within supported by a strong management system – only then will teams reach heights never imagined before.

Definition of Leadership

The skill of leading a certain group of people and inspiring them towards giving them direction is known as Leadership. It is an interpersonal process which involves influencing a person or a group of people in the organisation, to ensure the achievement of objectives, willingly and enthusiastically.

A leader is someone who has many people following him, as their inspiration and gets motivated by it. Leadership requires a good vision of thinking out of the box.

In an organization, you can see a variety of leaders who are responsible for the work of their team members. For the achievement of a single objective, the employees of the organisation are divided into teams and each team is assigned a task and a leader is appointed to look after that task

Five essential traits of a leader:

1) Vision

A leader knows where they stand in the organisation, and where they want to go and tend to involve the team member in charting a future path and direction.

2) Honesty and Integrity

Leaders have people who believe and get motivated and walk by their side down the path the leader sets.

3) Inspiration

Leaders are usually inspirational—and help their team members to understand their own roles in an organisation.

4) Communication Skills

Leaders always keep their team informed about what’s happening in the organisation, both present and the future—along with any obstacles that stand in their way.

5) Ability to Challenge

Leaders have their own style of doing things and problem-solving and usually think outside the box.

Six ways to improve your leadership skills

1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses

People usually don’t know their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s worth understanding these so you can grow leadership skills in you. For this make a list of both your strengths and your weaknesses and to be true and as specific as possible don’t worry if your list is long or short.

When evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, it might be a good idea to ask for feedback from others which will help you to develop a better understanding of yourself and learn how to make the most of your talents.

2. Take leadership courses

One of the best ways to improve your leadership skills is to take online courses that provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to be an effective leader.

3. Grow your hard skills

Technical skills are becoming increasingly important nowadays. It’s essential, therefore, for leaders to have a strong grasp and growth of the skills relevant to their industry.

4. Determine your goals

As a leader, it’s important to have a clear vision for your team members. Without this, it can be difficult to make decisions and provide direction to others. To become a good leader, determine your goals, and start by thinking about what you want to achieve in the short term and long term.

6. Admit your failure and move on

Everyone makes mistakes in life. As a leader, it’s important to admit when you’ve failed and learn from that mistake. This shows your team members that you’re human and willing to learn from your mistakes.

Top 5 leadership books

1. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Like many great leadership books, Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek gives inspiration from military principles.

Simon makes the case that people-first leadership makes crews feel supported and respected by the team. These feelings in turn compel team members to exhibit loyalty towards the organization and exceed expectations.

Sinek states that trust and psychological safety are the main to excellence, illustrating this argument with multiple examples from different types of organizations and leaders around the world.

2. Lean In Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sanderson

is One of the most popular leadership books for women leaders. Inspired by personal experience and a TED Talk Sanderson gave back in 2010, In this book, there are ways women hold back and miss career opportunities by being passive and polite.

Which encourages women to seek strong mentors, advocate for themselves, and assert their place in the business world.

3. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell

Has guidelines for leaders to follow to maximize influence and ensure that team members achieve a common vision.

The book shares wisdom such as “leadership develops daily, not in a day,” and “leaders get to understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.”

4. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown

Dare to Lead shares lessons on the power of vulnerability and empathy in leadership which a person should know. Renowned “courage and shame” researcher Brené Brown makes the case that leadership is not about status or managing, but rather recognizing the potential in individuals and ideas. Dare to Lead showcase a guide to becoming a courageous and confident leader.

5. The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently by Tony Dungy

In this book, the Mentor Leader explains how to elevate those around you towards success by just following one simple principle: “your only job is to help your players be better.” By outlining the critical elements of mentor leadership, including introspection, an altruistic mindset, and modelling values.

Definition of Management

Management can be defined as a process of getting the work or the task done needed for achieving an organisation’s goals in an efficient and effective manner. Process implies the functions of the management in the organisation. Planning, organising, staffing, and controlling.

A manager is a professional who takes a leadership role in an organisation and manages a team of employees and staff. Managers are responsible for managing a specific department in their organisation. There are different types of managers, but they usually have duties like conducting performance reviews and making decisions.

Four essential traits of a manager:

1) The ability to create a Vision

Managers build a strategic vision and create a roadmap for their team to follow.

2) The ability to direct

Managers are responsible for daily efforts while reviewing necessary resources, and anticipating a need to make changes along the process.

3) Process Management

Managers have the authority to establish new work rules, processes, new standards, and operating procedures.

4) Problem-solver

Managers are known to look after the needs of the employees such as listening to them, involving them in certain key decisions, and accommodating reasonable requests for change to contribute to increased productivity.

Four ways to improve your management skills

1. Clear, direct communication

The most important skill you need to become a manager is clear communication.

2. Active listening

While it’s true being a good listener is also a big part of being a strong communicator, the act of listening is in itself an art that all managers strive to do on a regular basis.

3. Delegation

The ability to delegate effectively is an important asset for any successful manager and one that often takes a bit of time to master.

4. Knowing how to praise effectively

Saying thank you, complimenting a job well done and taking a moment to share your employees’ successes with others are just a few ways of being a good manager.

Challenges in management

1) Communicating effectively

Since there’s often a divide between manager and employee tasks, there may seem to be a line dividing managers from their employees regarding the existing power to complete tasks. This can lead to team members feeling uncomfortable when presenting issues to managers.

2) Motivating your team

It’s a challenge for both you and your employees, tasks can become uninteresting, and meetings can seem redundant if not done right. The result is that team members might question the need for specific processes.

3) Fostering teamwork

Many, if not most, tasks or projects require productive collaboration among employees. However, team members’ work styles may vary according to the environment.

Even if these styles differ according to employees, managers like yourself remain responsible for creating work environments that merge these approaches and help members adapt to complete their projects.

4) Handling conflicts among team members

Just as disagreements may arise between friends or couples, work relationships can have their own bouts of tension. If left to rot, these disagreements can destroy cohesion within teams and interfere with the organisation’s work environment.

Top 5 management books

1) How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The book talks about the importance of soft skills in managerial as well as personal lives. This classic shares some timeless advice such as the importance of a smile, the need to avoid complaining from others and making people feel important.

2) The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

This book entails the different traits and leadership techniques in a way that is simple to read, comprehend and easy to apply. It gives you real-life stories hidden with leadership advice and exercises to improve your leadership style.

3) Good to Great by Jim Collins

is a management book that describes the transition from being a good to a great manager journey and how most companies fail to make the transition through a series of case studies.

4) The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

The book is a concise, easily-read story that reveals three very practical secrets: Minutes Goals, One Minute Praisings, and One Minute Reprimands of managers. This is why the book has continued to appear on business bestseller lists for more than two decades and has managed to become a global sensation as well.

5) The Making Of A Manager by Julie Zhuo

The book teaches you how to build trust within a team, what to focus on in the first few months, how to get better results from the team member, how to cope with increased responsibility and many other essential management topics.

Relationships between both leaders and managers, including

  • Both work to unlock the complete potential of their teams and employees.
  • They focus primarily on improving the company.
  • Both communicate policies and changes in the firm.
  • They both get involved in an organization’s daily activities.
  • They need the same level of education and skills.
  • They both act as role models in different capacities.
  • They both work to set the strategies and future needs of the organisation.
Header

Leadership

Management

Personality Styles

Leaders are also often seen as loners and private people. They are comfortable taking risks, sometimes seemingly wild and crazy risks. Almost all leaders have high imagination.

Tend to be rational, under-control problem solvers. They often focus on goals, structures, personnel, and availability of resources. Managers’ personalities lean toward persistence, strong will, analysis, and intelligence.

Orientation

People Orientation

Task Orientation

Focus 

Leading people

Managing

Outcomes

Achievements

Results in

Approach to tasks

Simply look at problems and devise new, creative solutions. Using their charisma and commitment, they excite, motivate, and focus others to solve problems and excel.

Create strategies, policies, and methods to create teams and ideas that combine to operate smoothly. They empower people by soliciting their views, values, and principles.

They believe that this combination reduces inherent risk and generates success

Role in decision-making

Facilitative

Involved

Styles

Transformational, Consultative & Participative

Dictatorial, Authoritative, Transactional, Autocratic, Consultative and Democratic

Power through

Influence

Formal authority & Position

Summary

In an organisation, you can see both management and leadership. There is a manager in a department and a number of leaders who work with their teams in assisting the company in the accomplishment of goals.

Many times managers play the role of a leader as well, at the demand of the company. So they both go side by side as a complement to each other. An organisation needs both a manager and a leader for its growth and survival.

FAQ’s:

Must read articles:




10 Most Common Job Interview Questions And How To Respond

Looking for a new job and applying for open positions in any company can pay off once the employer lands an interview. The next step is to prepare for interview questions and answers.

Prepare to answer the obvious and be ready for the unexpected. Prepare to showcase your experience and knowledge while giving the interviewer insight into who you really are.

The key is to keep your responses concise, positive, tangible and tailored to shine a spotlight on how you’re the right fit for their unique position.

Be honest about what you don’t know and emphasize what you do know. Speak thoughtfully about your past experiences and emphasize key strengths you have that could help them achieve their desired outcome.

Be proactive in displaying problem-solving skills when describing projects or ideas that came from your own initiative.

Intentionally accentuate examples of where you’ve gone above and beyond as this will lead them to envision how they can benefit from having you there. Think through potential obstacles that might arise in this role, then move forward by gracefully discussing how easily and effectively those can be resolved because of your strengths.

No matter what happens during the interview, remain composed and ready for any question that may be thrown at you; demonstrate confidence even if it’s not always comfortable speaking about yourself in front of someone else.

Remember: preparation is half the battle won and a clear, confident mindset is always appreciated!

Crafting expert answers to gain a job offer is very important. Since most interviews follow a standard format with the most common interview questions, any person will need to know how they would answer these questions before their interview.

Here are the 10 most common job interview questions and how to respond.

1) Could you please tell me about yourself and briefly describe your background?

Interviewers like to hear stories about you (the applicant). Make sure your story has a great start, a riveting middle, and an end that makes the interviewer root for you to win the job position.

In the story, you can talk about how your academic training and your passion for the subject or industry the company specializes in,  also try to combine with your work experience, make you a great fit for the job role.

Answer: “I come from a small city with limited opportunities. Since good schools were rare there, I started using online learning to stay up to date. That’s where I learned to code and got my computer programmer certification. After I got my first job as a front-end coder, I continued to invest time in mastering both front- and back-end languages, tools, and frameworks.”

2. What are your weaknesses?

This is one of the most popular questions interviewers can ask you. Try to handle it by minimizing your weakness and emphasizing your strengths. Stay away from your personal qualities and concentrate on professional traits only.

Answer: “I am always working on improving my communication skills to be more effective in my presentive way. I recently joined communication classes, which I find very helpful.”

3. When were you most satisfied with your job?

The interviewer wants to know what motivates you in your life. If you can relate an example of a job role or project when you were excited, the interviewer will get an idea of your preferences towards the role.

Answer: “I was very satisfied in my last job because I worked directly with the clients and their problems; that is an important part of the job for me.”

4. What interests you about this Role?

A popular strategy aims at a specific area within the organization that legitimately interests the applicant, such as its history or reputation. Researching information about the organization and role before the interview shows an applicant is highly interested in the role.

Answer: “I wanted to apply for this job role because I have wanted to work at XYZ organization for years. The recent developments that XYZ organization has added to our industry and the historically well-renowned leadership here make it a desirable opportunity. Looking at the previous projects from this organisation, I think my skills and education background would suit this role and organization well.”

5. Where Do You See Yourself in the Coming Five Years?

While you may not know where you want to be in the coming five years, avoid saying “I don’t know” when an interviewer asks this question.

Share your Professional plans or goals, Desired skills within the industry, and How this role aligns with those intentions.

Answer: “I would love to become a project leader in five years. I want to explore the skills necessary in a leadership role and gain experience working with major projects and assignments. I would love to learn more about the opportunities available in this role that would help me get education about some of those skills and responsibilities.”

6. What is your ideal work environment?

Interviewers ask this question to see if your preferences and temperament align with the organisation. It is important to answer this question honestly, but do a little research before itself to see which answer benefits the applicant most.

Answer: “I believe this environment would be an ideal work environment for my way, as I enjoy being part of a good team. I do better in groups when team members support each other or share ideas, and plans. Although I also work well individually when I need to focus on a task, I enjoy being around like-minded people  who help me in growing my skills with others.”

7. What is a major challenge you’ve faced?

The answer provided here can make an applicant appear very impressive. It is important to think of an applicable challenge and the result of reactions to the challenge before the interview to showcase skills.

Be sure the answer covers future potential, how you respond to stress, and anxiety and relevant personality attributes based on the job posting.

Answer: “In a previous role, I had a manager who recognized my strong work ethic and increased my role and responsibilities in the previous company. Eventually, however, this increased responsibility proved too much as I started to fall behind and miss task deadlines.

I told my manager about my concerns and issues. We hired another person to help with the extra tasks, which increased my productivity overall. Now, I have learned to admit when help is important sooner rather than later.”

8. What Are Your Salary Expectations?

It may seem very complicated to answer this question without making it seem like the entire reason you want this role is for the salary. However, applicants should be sure they don’t sell themselves short (or ask for too much directly).

Research the market and industry norms and the sectors where you are going before the interview to determine a reasonable salary based on your job title, experience and skills, location and employer.

Answer: “I’m flexible and open to discussing salary for this role. I have significant skills and experience in this field, which I believe adds much value to my career. I understand that similar posts pay between $40,000 to $65,000, so I would anticipate the salary for this role falls on the higher end of that range due to my good background and what I believe I can bring to this company.”

9. What are your biggest strengths?

Employers ask this to see if applicants have the qualifications for the role. Applicants must mention their greatest strengths that apply to the job posting and role to ensure they are set apart from other applicants.

Answer: “I pride myself on the exceptional customer service skills I can offer. I have years of experience as a customer service specialist, and during this time, it has been important to understand and resolve customer concerns efficiently.

With customer service comes problem-solving and  decision-making skills, all of which have helped me become a better communicator and team member.”

10. What Are Your Career Goals?

The employer wants to know if you plan to stay with the organisation for a long time or if you’d leave at the first sign of trouble. As such, this question wants to determine applicants’ career paths and how the role may fit into that plan.

Applicants should keep their answers focused on the current opportunity and reiterate that this job aligns with long-term plans.

Answer: “I hope to work for an organization like this one to develop my sales skills and work with a team that strongly focuses on customer service.

Later in my career, I would love to manage a team to help them become stronger in sales marketing and learn how to take on leadership responsibilities within this field.”

Summary

Working on your resume, and perfecting your cover letter, is an important part of your job profile but landing an extensive job interview is difficult. But walking through the door is only the beginning of the interview.

You know the person across the table from you will ask some difficult interview questions which will decide whether you are getting this job or not.

If you don’t know how to respond, you might end up losing the biggest opportunities of your life. This is why it’s important for you to prepare in advance and in this article we have come up with some sample questions and answers which can help to get the job.

FAQ’s:

Must read articles:




Co-working Spaces Are Good For Employees Well Being

Today the way of living and working has changed fundamentally in the post-pandemic world and office spaces have witnessed a massive transformation.

Well-being has been considered a driver of higher productivity levels and means of solving productivity. The flexibility in working days in pursuit of productivity and good health is no longer a dream for employees.

The pandemic has forced us to reconsider the way of working and those in positions to make the change are seeking a connection between work and quality of living life.

High levels of working stress can lead to labour stress, but training resilience has been shown to produce positive effects on the well-being and productivity of employees.

Empowering employees to work and learn effectively is a key factor in driving productivity. Innovative co-working spaces provide an opportunity for individuals to hone their skills and expand their capabilities.

Maintaining a high level of employee well-being is not just about a healthy snack bar, yoga, or gym, but goes beyond physical health – factors like mood, environment, leadership, and company culture.

All of this determines productivity and co-working spaces go a long way in ensuring that the well-being and productivity of employees go together hand in hand.

By instilling autonomy, creative confidence and collaboration, these workspaces foster a supportive environment that encourages meaningful connections with colleagues. This improves morale, which directly influences performance, thus increasing job satisfaction.

Additionally by providing access to the latest technology and a flexible working style, staff can acquire new skills to remain relevant in the ever-changing digital landscape. This helps maximize available resources and enable employees to make significant contributions while feeling valued at work.

Moreover companies investing in innovation through workspace design can attract and retain top talent, keep up with customer demands, and gain an edge over competitors who haven’t embraced this trend yet.

Ultimately creating the right working atmosphere has many benefits for companies- not only do they benefit from increased employee engagement but ultimately greater return on investment as well.

Co-working spaces have established a business that focuses on employees’ wellness and overall well-being is now a key to being a good company.

In India’s co-working space market it is possible to cross 50 million square feet by 2023, workspaces designed for flexibility will be top of mind for people seeking productivity and work-life balance.

The co-working space

A co-working space is essentially an employer-agnostic office. Self-employed professionals and workers from different companies can come to the same space to do their individual jobs. Think of employees setting up their laptops to work in a coffee shop, but in a more traditional office-style setting.

But Co-working is not just about working space, it is a well-rounded ecosystem. Professionals no longer need to go to the daily office, nor do they need to suffer from a lack of social interaction as well.  Similarly, it can effectively mitigate the risk of well being, mental health issues caused by loneliness and depression.

Coworking spaces promote employee well-being in the following ways:

1) Procrastination:

Working from home could lead to a point where home chores start involving your working hours. Delays in submissions, inability to meet work deadlines and the incomplete task can cause anxiety and last-minute rush. When you choose to work out of coworking spaces, you gain better control of your working schedules and enjoy a more relaxed being.

2) Casual and friendly environment:

While working out of a coworking space, due to the casual & friendly vibes, employees can reach their offices and leave whenever they like to go. Depending on the type of membership, you can select a mobile seat, and share the working space with several others. Or you can even go in for a full private office.

3) Interacting with like-minded professionals:

The coworking spaces are buzzing with professional activity. People from a variety of companies occupy the coworking space at the same time. Social interactions reduce the feeling of loneliness and anxiety.

Having someone working alongside you leads to better engagement, job satisfaction, good mental health and productivity. As per recent studies, about 46% of employees felt much less pressure when they are within a group.

4) Networking:

Interacting with other employees of different organizations creates a progressive network of professionals. Within boundaries you can interact, discuss, seek advice, vent frustrations or take suggestions. Healthy conversation in a conducive environment improves one’s self-esteem and well-being.

The coworking environment contributes towards better mental and physical health. You may even find mentors, leaders, business partners, and new business opportunities too.

5) Facilities:

Coworking spaces make working easy and fun by meeting the specific requirements of professionals and still have no rules to follow. Coworking spaces offer unique advantages and facilities that can take away the burden off the shoulders of employees.

Some coworking spaces even offer childcare facilities, a place to take a nap, and many more. Some have designated calm spaces where you could meditate. Health enthusiasts can use the in-house gym at the coworking space and grab a snack at the food court before heading home.

The convenience, amenities and facilities under one roof help improve employee productivity and well-being.

Disadvantages of coworking space

A coworking space isn’t important for every type of business or for every person. Let’s see some disadvantages of co-working space.

1) Limited scope for customization

People who work in coworking spaces tend not to have much say in the shape, design, and layout of the office environment.

What you see is usually what you get, so if a coworking space is too small for your needs or doesn’t have the exact utilities your business needs, you’ll need to look for a more suitable space.

Less privacy

If you’re a bigger corporation, or you work on undisclosed projects or with sensitive user data, you obviously can’t have strangers looking around the place, peeking at screens, and leafing your printouts at the copy machine.

Coworking spaces are community-driven social hubs basically that thrive on collaboration, but this may mean less privacy for those who work there.

2) Reduced Productivity

Coworking may be great for professional networking and collaborative working, however, there is a thin line between business conversations and socialising.

When a business chooses a more casual collaboration space in place of a private office, they risk losing valuable hours spent by their employees chatting between themselves and talking to new people around them, who are not always business connections.

3) Lack of Exclusivity

Coworking offices provide memberships with unlimited access to communal workspaces for all types of companies. They are designed for members to come and go, and even bring as many people as they like, which can lead to overcrowded spaces and limited access to meeting rooms which can create a rush.

You also can’t guarantee that you’ll be working alongside like-minded professionals, whereas with private offices, a like-minded business environment tends to stay within the same business districts.

The connection between productivity and work culture

Recognising the important connection between productivity and the well-being of employees, employers are making provisions to make sure that employees have a work-life balance.

Modern co-working spaces are set amongst the best health and well-being facilities and activities which are now part of the new work culture.

Certain environmental factors have been linked to greater well-being and productivity like air quality, greenery, food court, etc. Ultimately, employees get the freedom to choose how they structure their working day and it has huge benefits for overall well-being.

The automation of workspaces future

An innovative technology ecosystem gave flexible and on-demand places to support convenience, functionality, productivity and well-being. Co-working companies have enabled comprehensive contactless technology and robotic technology that has attracted customers.

The traditional desk will possibly be non-existent in the future, with wearable technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet taking over co-working spaces that are transforming into autonomous workspaces.

Smart access, digital meeting rooms and receptions have already enabled cloud-based access systems, facial recognition control and real-time security monitoring data that are all now part of the culture of co-working spaces.

A recent report has stated that the emergence of the hybrid work model is the future of Indian offices and 65%  of respondents were convinced of the high potential of hybrid or remote working in India.

Currently, 48%  of India’s workforce comprises millennials who are looking for tech-smart offices. They embrace collaboration opportunities and give a window to co-working players to expand their businesses.

India is also home to 68 % of the population under the age of 35 years who are seeking greater social engagement, well being and are looking for a vibrant work environment to be part of a large professional community.

This has created an opportunity for co-working spaces where innovation, creativity, community and collaboration are at the forefront of creating a new way of working environment, one focused on helping people find meaning in what they do.

Summary

Coworking spaces are considered the solution that could offer these workers a place where they have access to basic facilities such as electricity, high-speed internet, boardrooms, and other amenities, including a food court, or cafe right next to the workspace.

In the same, these spaces provide collaborative environments to ensure that gig workers, freelancers, and even remote employees can shut out the noise from the outside and establish a clear place between work and home.

FAQ’s:

Must read articles:




How Do Businesses Use Data Confidentiality Policies?




How to Convert WordPress to a Static Website and Super Charge Your SERPs

If you’ve ever used WordPress you would definitely be aware of it’s amazing capabilities and incredible versatility. It is one of the most popular website building platforms in the world accounting for more than third of all websites that are live on the internet. 

Thanks to such massive popularity, there are some incredible things being built around the WordPress platform to make it even better, especially in terms of making it search engine friendly. 

After all, a better rank in the SERPs will result in more traffic and more traffic to a website will directly correlate to more revenue. So it’s definitely in the best interest of the website owner to make the website more search engine friendly.

It is generally agreed that static websites perform better in terms of search engine rankings as compared to dynamic websites. Let us first understand what a static website is, and how it differs from a dynamic website.

What is a Static Website?

Static Vs Dynamic Website

A static website, as the name suggests, is simply a set of web pages that are presented to the user to view and read. The user can however interact with the web pages through clicks, hovers and all other actions.

This is because a static website has javascript enabled which allows for such actions to be performed by the user. The main limitation for static websites is, however, the lack of ability to interact with any database and modify its content.

This essentially means that any user interaction, action or data input cannot be saved for retrieval later on. It also means that the website cannot have typical features such as registering for an account, logging in, publishing user generated content, etc.

Where can Static Websites be used?

A good use case for a static website would be a blog where the user only needs access to the content for viewing. There is no need for the user to be logged in or making edits to the content of the website.

Since WordPress is primarily a blogging platform and most websites built using WordPress are, in fact, blogs, it makes perfect sense to convert WordPress based blogs to static websites and enjoy the amazing SEO benefits it provides.

Dynamic Websites

Dynamic Websites

A couple of good examples of dynamic websites would be ecommerce websites and social media platforms. 

Dynamic Ecommerce Websites

Dynamic Ecommerce Website

Ecommerce stores involve a huge amount of user generated data that needs to be stored in a database. For example, customers provide their address and contact details for when they place an order. These need to be saved and stored securely in order for the company to be able to pack their order and ship the products that they have ordered to them. In addition, these details also need to be retrieved when the customer wants to view their order history or order status. 

These types of actions are only possible with a web application running on the server. This web application will take in all the requests that come from the user interactions in the front end, interact with the database and respond to the user with the dynamic content that they seek.

Dynamic Social Media Websites

Dynamic Social Media Website

With social media websites, the page displayed to each user will, by itself, be different. The updates feed for me would be posts and photos posted by my friends whereas it would be different for another person. This is the very definition of a dynamic website and requires a full fledged web application running on the server to handle such tasks. 

Benefits of Static Websites

1) Low Server Cost

Low Cost Server

It can be inferred from the above explanation that static websites don’t require a database or any complex web application running on the server. This means the load on the server is extremely low.

Hence, you only need to have a minimal and basic server running in order for a static website, even one with hundreds of thousands of different pages to be hosted. This results in massive savings in server costs. 

Thus it can be a lucrative option for individuals and small companies to convert their websites to static websites and enjoy the massive savings.

2) High Speed

Website Speed

Since there is no complex web application running in the server and there is no read or write process to the database being done, static websites are incredibly fast. 

All that’s needed is a server application like Apache or Nginx to receive the user requests coming in and send the requested pages back. The load times are thus so low that static websites almost seem to load instantaneously.

3) Great User Experience

This fast load time leads to a great overall user experience. It also means that the bounce rate for static sites will be much lower as users don’t have to wait until the page gets loaded. 

4) Static Sites and SEO

Static Sites and SEO

The ultimate aim of any search engine is to provide the user with the content that is not only the most relevant to what they are looking for, but also satisfies them. This is the primary reason why modern search engines like Google and Bing look at various metrics including site speed when they rank the websites on their Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

For any query that the user enters into the search engine, the number of relevant results can often go into millions. Of these, the best and most relevant content can number in hundreds and even thousands. 

This is why search engines look at factors like load time, bounce rate and even ease of readability to determine which pages to rank. Dynamic sites often have higher load times in the order of a few seconds whereas static sites often load in just a few hundred milliseconds.

This gives static sites a huge edge over dynamic sites in terms of SEO and ranking highly for any search term. 

How WordPress Works?

Wordpress

WordPress is a web application built using PHP. It needs to be installed in the server system and comes with a built in user login system as well as a wonderfully user friendly admin panel. This makes it extremely easy to install, configure and get a website up and running in just a few minutes.

It comes with a built-in database for storing content as well as any meta data associated with it. Whenever any page is requested, WordPress reads the relevant entry from the database, reads at the user configuration for the look and feel of the website and then builds the requested page and sends it back to the user for viewing. 

Thus, for each page that gets viewed, the server uses CPU and memory to build the page dynamically. This makes it extremely easy for the website owner to create and edit content. Since each page is being built as and when the requests come in, the edits are reflected instantaneously to the user. 

Unfortunately, to enable this ease of use, WordPress websites become completely dynamic.  

How to convert: WordPress to a Static Site?

Static Website

As we’ve seen previously, there are enormous benefits to both WordPress as well as static sites. 

Hence, it would be naturally amazing to get the best of both worlds and be able to build websites through WordPress, convert them to static sites and deploy them to the server to make it super SEO friendly. 

This is exactly what we will learn now. Let us look at the steps you need to take in order to convert your WordPress to a static website.

1) Host WordPress Locally or on a Development Server

A good way to get started would be to install a WordPress local hosting service such as XAMPP. In case you are migrating an existing website to make it static, you will need to create a backup of your database and files and move it to the local installation of wordpress. You can easily do this through any backup and restore plugin such as Updraftplus.

In case you work with others in your team who will be collaborating in content creation and editing, it would be better to host wordpress on a development server instead of locally.

Either way, get the WordPress installation up and running and create and publish all your content inside WordPress.

You will see that the published content is dynamically generated as usual in the correct local or development server URLs.

2) Install Static Generator Plugin

Install Static Generator Plugin

A static site generator is where all the magic happens with regards to making a wordpress website static. These simply crawl through all the pages of a website, build the necessary HTML, CSS, Javascript and image files necessary for each page and save them locally in a neat folder tree that corresponds to the website’s route map.

When it comes to WordPress, there are numerous wonderful static site generator plugins that get this job done fabulously. One of the best plugins that handles this for free is WP2Static

Once you’ve downloaded the plugin, head over to the ‘Install New Plugin’ section of your wordpress and use the Upload option to upload and install this plugin. Once installed, click the Activate button next to the plugin in the ‘Installed Plugins’ section to activate the plugin.

3) Generate Static Site

Once the static site generator plugin has been installed and activated, it will add a new option in WordPress’ left navigation menu called ‘Wp2static’.

Under this, you will see an ‘Options’ section where you can tweak the various settings related to how the plugin works and behaves. 

For now, you can use the defaults and head over to the ‘Run’ section. Simply click on the ‘Generate Static Site’ button and wait for the process to finish. 

It will take quite some time to finish its work. The larger and more number of pages your website has, the longer this process will take.

4) Upload the Generated Files to your Website Host

Upload the Generated Files to your Website Host

Once the static site generation has finished, you can find the generated static website files in your website’s local folder. This is usually the ‘/wp-content/uploads/wp2static-processed-site’ folder. Check this folder and you will see further subfolders containing the generated HTML and other files for your static website.

Next, use an FTP software such as FileZilla to upload all the contents of the ‘wp2static-processed-site’ folder to the host’s server folder. 

This is usually ‘/var/www/html’ but can vary depending on your hosting provider. Do check with your hosting provider and make sure you upload the files to the correct folder, otherwise the pages will not show up correctly.

Once the upload is completed, the static site should be live on the host. You can check by visiting the ip address provided by the host provider and you should see the static website opening blazingly fast!

5) Update Domain DNS Records

DNS Management

Now that the static website is live on the host server, all that’s left to do is to modify your domain’s DNS records to point to your host’s IP address.

In order to do this, head over to your domain name provider’s website and look for the DNS records option next to the particular domain.

Inside the DNS records options, you will see a specific record labelled ‘A’ record. Click on edit next to this record and in the value field, copy and paste the public IP address for your host server where you’ve just uploaded the static files of your website. 

Click update and wait for 10-30 minutes. Once the new records get propagated, your domain should now start displaying the static site.

6) Updating and Editing Content

Whenever you need to add new content, update or edit any existing content, you will need to completely regenerate the static site and reupload it to the host server using FTP.

Hence, it would be a good practice to develop an update schedule where you aggregate a bunch of posts and site updates and then generate the static files together for all these files.

That’s it! Using the above steps you can easily convert your wordpress website to a static site and enjoy the enormous benefits that it brings.

What did you think? Any important steps or points to note that we missed? Any other trick that can make the static site generation process a bit easier? Let us know in the comments below.

Author Bio:

Mohan is a Digital Marketing Associate at Swag Swami, an online E-Commerce portal for fashion wear. He is also an avid gamer who spends his free time logged into Steam. He also practices Yoga and meditation regularly and teaches Yoga at the Cosmopolitan Center in India.




A Simple Way To Introduce Yourself

If you’re confused or nervous about how to introduce yourself to others, you’re not alone. Introductions can feel uncomfortable or stressful if you need to introduce yourself to a new team of colleagues or a stranger at social events.

Presenting yourself isn’t always easy. You have to craft a story that’s both powerful and persuasive, while still being authentic and relatable.

To achieve this balance, focus on the big picture of your career instead of simply listing individual accomplishments. Describe why you’re passionate about what you do, identify areas in need of improvement, and outline how these elements will come together to create an even brighter future.

Start by emphasizing your core values and the beliefs that define who you are as a professional. Show how they shape your decisions and how they lead to meaningful outcomes that benefit those around you – clients, colleagues or customers.

Be sure to also show humility; highlight opportunities for growth without dwelling on mistakes or failures. Don’t be afraid to voice passions or take risks, but always strive for progress not perfection when presenting yourself and developing in your field.

Finally, express gratitude for all those who helped you along the way – whether it be mentors, partners or friends – stressing the importance of collaboration to drive long-term success.

You can stop worrying about awkward introductions because in this article you will learn the best way of introducing yourself professionally, benefits, and examples to make introducing yourself easier. Get ready to make a great first impression!

When do you use a self-introduction?

Self-introduction is kind of the act of introducing yourself to someone. When you meet someone new, you introduce yourself or ask them to introduce themself. You might even introduce yourself to hundreds of people at one go such as at conferences or seminars etc.

Introducing yourself means providing more information about yourself in simple, clean, clear and confident language, giving people an idea about yourself. Not to forget the use of body language which helps to showcase your confidence.

The Benefits Of A Strong Introduction

Knowing how to give an introduction professionally has many advantages. When you start with a strong introduction, others may perceive you as self-assured and capable.

An effective opening can make your conversation more engaging, whether your goal is to gain a job, make a sale, acquire a mentor or simply make a new professional connection. Establishing yourself as an open, friendly and professional person can create opportunities for you throughout your career.

● Helps to build connections.

● Improve self-confidence.

● Improves presentation skills.

● Leaves a powerful or impactful impression.

● Helps in building deep understanding and positive thinking habits.

Some tips to introduce yourself professionally

1) State your purpose

Many people introduce themselves by stating their name and current job title, but you also need to briefly introduce yourself and try to add information your new contact cannot find on your business card.

If you are at a social event, consider starting with your name, and then stating your passion. You could also mention your goal, such as finding someone to collaborate on a new idea.

If you are interviewing for a job, quickly summarize who you are and why you are there. Your interviewers already know what role you are applying for, so have your professional introduction explain your purpose in a few sentences. You need to include your name and why you are a good candidate for the job.

Make a note that you are required to start your introduction in a way that is appropriate for the context. For example, if you are at a social event, you might simply begin by shaking a new connection’s hand and giving them your first and last name.

Then, start a conversation by asking and answering questions about their background and your own.

Briefly introduce yourself example: “My name is Sarah, I moved to New York City because advertising is my passion, and this is the place to find an inspirational, innovative ad community. I have a good background in analyzing audiences for messaging optimisation and would love to tell you about the strengths I can bring to this role.”

2) Body language is important

Both your words and your body language make an impact on first impressions about yourself. Controlling your body language is essential during the introduction.

For example: when you approach a new coworker in your department, start with a strong handshake, and maintain eye contact during the conversation with that person. Doing this shows the other person you are engaged in your interaction.

When you introduce yourself to someone, you can demonstrate confidence by speaking in a clear and good voice. During your conversation with another person, maintain natural body language with relaxed shoulders and open arms. If you are seated, stand to greet the person who walks in the room, such as during an interview.

3) Explain your value

Your professional introduction is required to convey your unique experience and qualifications so you stand out from other candidates for the specific role. Hearing an introduction that sounds different from other candidates directs your new contact’s attention toward you and tends to make it more memorable for the employer.

During an interview introduction, for example, you need to let your interviewer know how you would make a valuable contribution to the team.

Example: “My name is Sarah, and I have 10 years of experience working in public relations with the Shri advertisement firm. I have worked with more than 20 destination marketing firms to increase tourism at their destinations, resulting in 40% more business at certain locations.”

4) Understand the culture

Consider researching the company before an interview or meeting to understand its company culture. For example, before an introduction to a computer programming company, review the website or social media pages to see what the company’s culture is like.

If the company seems more casual, it may be appropriate to include humour while you introduce yourself. A more formal interview or meeting with a potential customer could make you more likely to be hired or to gain the client’s business.

Introducing Yourself at a Video Interview

1) Introduction

Sometimes it happens that the moment you are escorted, you start getting nervous while facing the video. You start thinking about what questions they’ll ask and how to answer them in such a short period of time.

The first question in an interview can be nerve-wracking as it determines what the recruiter will think of you for the rest of your interview.

Here are some points on how to ace self-introduction:

So how do you respond when a recruiter asks, “tell me something about yourself”?

It’s important to be aware that the interviewer is trying to get a better understanding of your skills and background in a short time period. You should answer this question with information specific to the position you’re applying for.

key points to mention in your introduction:

  • Who am I? (Include your  complete name, where you come from, and your personal background)
  • My educational background, (where have you worked early, your best job achievements, and work experience related to the job role.)
  • Share your professional experience and training.
  • Talk about your hobbies and interests.

Education & Work Experience

For example, if you’re interviewing for a position in sales marketing, it would make sense to mention your experience in networking and interacting with people.

  • Education: Even though your CV contains this information, it’s still the best idea to remind the interviewer of how and what you studied. This will increase the chances that they pay attention to your skills during the interview section. Share your achievements and avoid sounding overconfident in what you are saying. Try to be polite and calm.
  • Professional Experience: Remember to include the details of your work experience and all you learned during that period in your resume. Mention any internships and workshops you have attended and things you got to learn there.

2) Hobbies & Interests

Mention your interests after experiences, but don’t get too informal. Try to keep things in a tone of voice that should be natural and conversational but not too casual; you want to focus on getting to know a person’s character so it’s crucial for them to know yours.

3) Why You Want the Job

Finally, it is very important that you mention what sets you apart from other candidates who may be applying for this job position. This will show the interviewer that there are reasons why they should hire you.

If possible you can state what you can do for their business. Only you know the true reason for joining the company you’re interviewing with is matter to you.

Try to be genuine and honest in your motivations for the role. Your authenticity will shine throughout the interview and be remembered by recruiters.

Things to keep improving your communication skills

1) Listen Well

To be a good communicator, you first have to listen well to what the other person is saying. Communication couldn’t happen if one of the parties involved is not listening properly. By listening well, you get every important detail of the communication, and you also improve on how to communicate back well.

2) Be to the Point

The majority of the miscommunication happens when there is too much needless information given. Keep your communication concise without compromising on its importance. This applies to both written and verbal communication ways. For written communication, proofreading, and verbal communication, try to practice saying only what is important during conversation.

3) Body Language

Body language is a great way to communicate without words but still has a profound impact on managing your body. When you are in a video conference call or face-to-face meeting, keep positive body language like an open stance, respond in between and eye contact. The other person subconsciously reads this, and their body language also becomes positive will conversation.

4) Always Proofread

People assume they have not made a mistake while they do written communication. Do not make this mistake. Proofread what you have written once or twice before sending to another person.

5 Creative ways to introduce yourself

1) Share your nickname

Suppose you want to be called something other than your name, share that. They might just respond, “Oh, I have a cousin who goes by that which can create a subject to talk about.”

2) Make a “business” card

Keep something with you to give away to new people you meet anywhere in meetings or social events which is the best way to start a talk. So that you can talk beyond your name and contact information, and list random facts about yourself, your interests, and your hobbies.

3) Just start talking

It’s possible the person you’re introducing yourself to feels a little nervous and awkward as well. Dare to start talking first into the conversation and see where it goes. They might feel relieved you talked first and relax immediately and give the next person to speak.

4) Keep it relevant

Know about your surroundings? There’s a possibility something happening around you that you can use as a topic for a conversation without just walking up to a stranger with your hand outstretched and an unsolicited handshake.

5) Search for common ground

Do a little search while you’re saying hello. Small talk is only awkward until the two people find something in common. “I’m studying English, I really love reading classic novels.” You never know, they might read the same thing.

Professional Introduction Examples

Here are some examples of professional introductions in different in scenarios:

1) At an interview

Keep your introduction short and straightforward to hold your audience’s attention.

Example: “My name is Riya, and I enjoy promoting small companies to help them boost their profits. I am excited about the opportunity to be part of a team that raises awareness of the businesses in Delhi. I have a good background in public relations and would love to tell you about the strengths I could bring to this position.

2) To new customers

A professional email introduction can be equally important to networking as a face-to-face meeting. Rather than body language and tone, emails rely on the clarity of language and accuracy of writing skills. A concise and error-free email impresses your contact and makes them consider your request.

Example: “My name is Yash, and I am reaching out from Bags Unlimited to inform you of the services we offer. Our company sends automatic shipments of various takeout bags to restaurants each month so you might always have enough for your clients.

We offer different packages based on your requirements, so I would love to set up a time to speak with you and give you more information.”

3) To a new coworker or team member

Your new colleague would possibly meet multiple people on their first day, so give them an introduction briefly.

Example: “My name is Anjali, and I work as the social media manager in the marketing department. Our team leader holds weekly meetings, and I look forward to working together in the future. Please let me know if I can help with anything as you yourself with the office.”

Example of a Student Introduction (for IELTS)

IELTS Speaking Introduction Question and Answers

  • Examiner: Can you please tell me your full name?
  • Candidate: Sure, my name’s Yash Ayudyha
  • Examiner: Thank you. And what do you want me to call you?
  • Candidate: Yash is fine.
  • Examiner: Can you tell me where you’re from or where you belong?
  • Candidate: I’m from Mumbai.
  • Examiner: Can I see your identification, please?
  • Candidate: Sure, here you are.
  • Examiner: Thank you, that’s great. Now, in this first part, I’d like to ask you some questions about yourself. Let’s talk about it.

Summary

Throughout your professional journey, you could meet various people who can help you develop needed skills and progress. You can establish a positive connection with an interviewer, network contact or mentor when you have a polished self-introduction.

In this article, we outline how to introduce yourself professionally, and its benefits, and provide instructions and examples for introducing yourself in various situations.

FAQ’s:

Must read articles: