Productivity at work is always going to be a hot topic because there are continually so many emerging techniques that are supposed to help employees and employers get the most out of every working day. Often, these techniques are ones that are centred around an individual and while that is a fundamental starting point, people usually forget to assess the environment they’re working in – the office itself. There are many simple ways to organise your office to help improve productivity and we’ve listed some below. Office equipment It sounds obvious, but it’s important that you have the right equipment in order to work effectively. If you are doing lots of tasks on a computer then a second screen can really improve productivity and efficiencies. If you are using a second screen or laptop screen then these need to be at eye level to reduce eye strain and back and neck injury. Screen levels can be adjusted with risers if needs be. As well as any technical requirements, making sure you have adequate desk space and a comfortable chair in good working order are essential. If these items are old and broken then they can also lead to counterproductivity. You can buy replacements for fittings such as castors online so you often won’t have to replace whole units if they need fixing. 2. Office lighting Artificial lighting can strain your eyes and lead to headaches and tiredness which will hinder productivity. If you can, use natural light from outside to brighten your office and provide natural views to help keep you stimulated. There are LED office lights that can emulate natural light so if it isn’t possible to get it from outside, consider how these can be used to help. 3. Colour Colours stimulate different emotions and can improve productivity. If you work in an office that needs to be creative, then yellow is a colour that can help boost this alongside optimism and confidence. If you’re in an office that needs a lot of focus and concentration, then blue is an ideal colour. You can always use colours to break up different areas of the office to create different moods and feelings so that you can be productive however you need to. 4. Clutter and cleanliness By being surrounded by clutter in an unclean environment, you can easily get distracted and lose focus. It’s easy to let clutter build-up, especially if you have lots of important documents and files to sort through. Try to make it a weekly habit of cleaning up your desk area. A good day to do this is on a Friday because it means that when you come back on Monday, you’re ready to start the working week in a productive environment. By following these steps and making changes to the space around you, it will be much easier to improve your productivity in the office.

When you’re trying to create and manage a marketing campaign for your business, it can be a lot to keep track of. A marketing campaign is something that your business will rely upon for likely months, and potentially years at a time for growth—with some necessary audits and updates of course. Creating a marketing campaign is a big job in and of itself, and one that takes up much of your time as a marketing manager or business owner. It’s an important aspect of the business and something that will play a vital role in the success and life of the company.  Considering how important a marketing campaign is, one can only deduce that the actual implementation of said marketing efforts is as well. A plan is no good without the action that follows, and neither is a marketing plan without proper implementation and management of it. Just as marketing itself is a big task and a whole division of a business on its own, so is managing and keeping up with those efforts too. A marketing strategy, especially one that spans the long-term, is something that’ll require much time and effort on part of those in charge of it.  Because of this, and the importance of it, it’s crucial that you find ways to better manage your marketing efforts that can help contribute not only to growth, but sustainability and efficiency as well throughout the life of your business. There are a number of different tools and tactics you can implement to start this process, with a few listed below.  Options To Better Manage Your Marketing Efforts For Your Business In 2020, the market for marketing and automation tools presented to business owners is ripe like never before. The sheer number of different and similar software available to business owners and marketing managers alike is overwhelming, and it’s crucial to be able to apply your situation in picking the right options for your business.  Some are more useful than others, boasting a wide range of capabilities that can be applied across multiple aspects of a business to cover various needs, but there are also specialty products and tactics you can implement as well to help better manage your marketing efforts. Both are equally useful, and both undoubtedly have their place.  Make Use Of Phone And Text Software There’s perhaps no more useful software a business can start using than something that can automate their dialing and text message marketing process. Client communications is an absolutely critical aspect of the success and marketing of any business, and something that can, of course, never be overlooked. This can be time consuming though, especially if you find your marketing campaigns to be rather successful, and your employees are trying to onboard and communicate with multiple new clients a day. Calling each appointment individually can be a rather inefficient process, even more so when you take into account the fact that many won’t be available to talk the first time.  Because of these exact situations, software like Call Cowboy and others was created to help with this. Services such as these can be put into place to do a range of functions for your business, ranging from telemarketing with predictive dialers all the way to text message marketing. All of these tools contribute to making managing your marketing efforts that much simpler. Auto Dialers One of the most common features of this software is the auto dialer, which is something businesses can use for several different things. It can be used to follow up on clients and see how their experience with your product or service is going, remind them of appointments, call back missed calls, leave a voicemail, and many other features.  Predictive Dialers You can make use of predictive dialers to automate your marketing process to an extent, only further increasing your efficiency and the ease with which you can manage your marketing efforts. A predictive dialer will typically automatically make calls from a list of numbers you feed it from whatever source you may choose, and it’ll keep going until it makes a connection. It will then refer that connection to a live agent for further conversation. You can even get a free 800 number for this if you don’t wish to use your present one to reach out.  Text Message Marketing Text message marketing is a classic in the marketing world, and something that will likely continue to be useful for years to come. Text messaging is a great way to contact your clients in a way that they’re almost sure to see, and in a subtle way that doesn’t interrupt their day either.  Not all customers will be checking their emails or able to answer the phone at any given time, and this is why using text message marketing to send out reminders and other forms of communication like sales and promotions can be a great method for both you and the customer.  Text message marketing can make managing your marketing efforts easier because of automation as well, alleviating some of the repetitive manual aspects that have been traditionally associated with this type of marketing.  2.Don’t Overlook Implementing A CRM If you’ve been in business or entrepreneurship for any length of time, it’s unlikely you’ve made it this far without being shown an advertisement or two about a CRM that your business could use. Whether you’ve given into the hype or not though, the value presented by this incredibly flexible software is not something to be overlooked.  A CRM stands for customer relationship management, which may sound vague for some. A CRM allows you to manage multiple streams of information in one place, with each software having several different extensions and plugins that handle different aspects of your overall marketing efforts and communications as a whole. The uses of CRMs can range from customer support, social media, marketing campaign data analysis, contact management, and a lot more in some cases. Using CRMs For Data Analysis With the

For many people, property development is a goal in their future. There are over 25 million property developers alone in the UK, and it’s a sector that is growing while delivering reliable returns at the same time. People always want to buy houses to live in, and there are always investors looking for property to buy and rent out to tenants. The value of property raises over time, which means that if you step into the shoes of a property developer and decide to develop property yourself, you’re going to be gaining some considerable benefits. You may have thought of everything from the architectural company you use to map out blueprints, to the construction company and whether they use laser cutting machines to be more efficient. So, you should consider all of the ways that you can get into property development and we’ve got five of them for you below: You can start with buying residential property to renovate or sell. It’s a good way to get a foot on the ladder in property development, and it’s the quickest way into the business. Run-down, outdated homes need some money injected to fix it up and then sell it on. The makeover that you are giving to the house is what raises the value and helps you to get it on the market again. You could also choose to buy commercial property and convert it to residential properties. You can change an office space into studio flats and turn stores into open homes. The lighting is often better with such huge windows, but there has to be some changes made to make it work as a residential property. Conversions of residential property are becoming more and more popular. Some developers choose to commission construction teams to build a second home on the same land that they already have a property. Those who go this way often start with their own personal land and grow their business from there. You can save a lot of money on a purchase of land when you do it this way. You can also choose to do a ground-up development, where you buy the land in a vacant block and build executive homes in their place. First timer developers will know that this is a challenging first project, but it’s got such exciting profit potential that it’s worth it! Buying up land to sell it on is the last way to get into the property development business. It’s a bold strategy as it comes with risk to spend a lot of money on land, but you risk not having a developer to buy it from you. Usually, if you are smart about the land that you buy, though, this is not a problem. Land is a lucrative way to develop your business, and it’s a good place to start – if a little riskier than the other options.  Property development takes time to build – why not get started with researching where you want to begin.