4 Ways Market Research Professionals Can Improve Your Business | Cool Business Ideas

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Your company might have started experiencing a decline in sales despite being the market leader for the past two decades. If you don’t understand why this is happening, it’s time to employ the market research professionals. It could be that the new generation simply isn’t aware of your brand, or they might think your website performs too slowly compared to your competitors. Perhaps they believe the competition conveys more professionalism than your company, or maybe your products are a little outdated. Regardless of the problem, market research can find the solution to help you get back on track and secure the sales you need.

According to Communications for Research, “the most successful businesses in the world are those that anticipate changes in their marketplace, and make proactive adjustments that put them in the right position, at the right time, with the right products, programs and pricing.” Embracing change is crucial if you want to stay on top, and the only way to find out how you should adapt is by researching the market thoroughly. Here’s how market research can help you:

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What to Consider Before Buying a Company Car for Your Startup | The Startup Magazine

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Maybe you need a transportation van to make home deliveries. Maybe you want a souped-up truck to carry all your tools and equipment from home to work. Whatever your reason for considering buying a company car, you should take a breath and consider whether you’ve thought the decision through.

A company car ― just like a personal car ― is a significant expense, and if it doesn’t provide any additional value to the business, it might be the cause of your business’s downfall. Especially in new and relatively unproven businesses like startups, such an expense could bleed your business checking account dry before you know it.

Here are a few considerations you should make before you make any trips to the auto dealership for your startup’s first car.

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Choosing a Digital Copier for Your Business | Business News Daily

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If you’re looking for a new copier for your business, you’ll want to make sure you consider whether a digital copier is right for you.

Though analog copiers are still available on the used market, the bulk of copier sales now belong to digital models. Often multifunctional in scope, digital copiers are all-in-one office suites, capable of scanning, copying, printing (via network connectivity), faxing, downloading and emailing.

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The top 15 events that happened in space in 2016 | TechCrunch

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2016 was a big year for research and discovery in space. The year started off with Caltech astronomers picking up the presence of a ninth planet while researchers at LIGO were detecting gravitational waves for the first time. NASA’s Juno spacecraft finally arrived in orbit around Jupiter, and astronomers found the closest exoplanet to Earth. Blue Origin showed off their suborbital rocket reusability skills and Elon Musk revealed a plan to colonize Mars. Not to mention the huge developments for SpaceX, which successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship in the ocean for the first time, but then suffered a devastating explosion later in the year. These are the top events for space in 2016.

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These facts about millennials and driving will blow your mind (Allstate) | Mashable

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When it comes to driving, car ownership and vehicle maintenance, millennials’ status as OG digital natives is especially evident.

Millennials love their apps. There is literally an app for almost every element of the daily routine: waking up, meditating (important to this health-obsessed, new-agey generation), keeping track of finances and managing the morning commute. There’s even an app to tell them when to drink water.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that millennials depend heavily upon apps when they hit the road. Navigation systems are huge: In fact, millennials say nav apps are the number one technology they use when en route.

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19 Wellness Program Ideas for Your Company | Getentrepreneurial.com

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As an employer, you need your company and its workers to be productive. Keeping staff motivated, engaged, and happy on the job is hard enough—but when you factor in the many health conditions affecting the United States, balancing the challenge of keeping everyone healthy and happy so they can work (and you can save money) can feel overwhelming. Obesity and related chronic diseases are very costly to employers averaging $93 billion per year in health insurance claims. Many of these conditions are strongly linked to factors that include smoking, inadequate exercise and poor dietary choices—all of which can be modified with the help of company wellness programs.

Tips for successful wellness programs

Workplace wellness programs can help offset some of these challenges. After all, what’s more fun than competing against your friends and co-workers for bragging rights and fitting in to a smaller pair of jeans? For the best possible buy-in, allow your employees to have a say or suggest programs they would like to participate in. Send around a survey or list of some ideas and ask them for their own. Regular and short term programs. Activities that have a quick duration (usually no longer than a month) will help employees stay motivated and focused on the goal ahead. At the end of the challenge period, offer a prize for their efforts. Just make sure it’s something healthy and beneficial, not something that would set them back.

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84 Percent of Online Customers Trust Online Reviews, New Survey Says | Small Biz Trends

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Here’s a good reason to pay extra attention to your online reputation.

According to a new survey, 84 percent of customers trust online reviews as a personal recommendation.

Customers Trust Online Reviews

Online Reviews Matter

What’s more, 74 percent of online customers say positive reviews make them trust a local business more.

These astonishing insights have come from the Annual BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2016. For the survey, BrightLocal interviewed 1,062 people.

Among other things, the survey has revealed 54 percent of people visit a website after reading positive reviews about it. In other words, a positive word of mouth can help you draw potential customers to your site.

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Wells Fargo’s Hometown Penalizes Bank Amid Fake-Accounts Scandal | Bloomberg

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Wells Fargo & Co., the bank working to contain a scandal over bogus accounts, was suspended from doing some business with its hometown of San Francisco.

The city’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday suspended the firm for two years from providing services as a broker dealer, in commercial banking and in commercial paper. The measure, sponsored by Supervisor John Avalos, also removed Wells Fargo from securities investments and counterparty/repurchasing agreements. San Francisco had barred the lender in September from a banking program for low-income residents.

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Four Reasons You Hate Networking And What To Do Instead | Fast Company

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If you’re a normal professional, you may just feel at least a smidge of apprehension or resentment when it comes time to drag yourself to (or get dragged to) a professional networking event. Sure, sure, the crab puffs might be killer, but there are so many things to not love about these shindigs that I’d be here for hours if I tried to highlight each one.

Because that doesn’t sound fun for either of us, let’s start with four common reasons why you don’t enjoy them—even when you know (or suspect) they’re important to attend. And then let’s find a better option for every stinking one of them.

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Retail sales show massive shift in restaurant industry | Business Insider

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Wednesday’s retail sales report was disappointing, missing economists’ expectations and raising concerns over the outlook for the holiday shopping season.

Within the retail sales report, however, was an interesting nugget that may be worrying for America’s major restaurant chains.

The percentage of retail sales devoted to bars and restaurants compared with food and beverage stores was nearly the smallest gap in decades, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

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