Ways to save money during seasonal holidays

Saving money during festive seasons doesn’t necessarily mean that you will miss out on all the fun things that you love to do. It simply means being in control of your expenditure. You work so hard and you serve a little indulgence. You can still enjoy seasonal holidays while still making wise financial decisions.

So, what are some of the ways you can save money during the festivities? Here are a few:

Take advantage of discounts available – Businesses are always offering discounts at certain times of the year. You can take full advantage of discount offerings such as Black Friday deals to make purchases ahead. Get the best deals with I&M Bank partnering merchants here https://bit.ly/3EtUJIF. Another way around this is to utilize promotional discounts, coupons and reward points accrued over the year to pay for items or services. A penny saved is a penny earned – Benjamin Franklin

Plan your budget – Make a shopping list of items that you will need and stick to it. This will help you avoid impulse purchases that may hurt your wallet. Setting a budget will help you set a spending limit as well. You can also save by setting money aside every month towards your goal.

Make purchases in advance - Say, for instance, you are planning to travel during the Christmas holiday - You will save quite a significant amount of money by booking your tickets and vacation in advance. If you are planning to buy presents for your friends and loved ones, you can also buy them in advance before the prices hike as they do during festive seasons.

Start a side hustle or business that will generate more income for you. You can sell seasonal products and services such as Personalized cards, home décor items, etc. Seasonal sales are a great way to get that extra money that you can spend during the festivities.

We hope that you will enjoy the festive season and that the tips will help you make better financial decisions. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

We are on your side!

Steps to Building a High-Performing Organisational Culture

Howdy,

Someone once said people with good intentions make promises. People with good character keep them. I believe I have both good intention and character, so as promised in the previous piece, today I would like to guide you on how to build a high-performing organisational culture.

Creating a great organisational culture requires developing and executing a plan with clear objectives that you can work towards and measure. The below steps should serve as a roadmap for building a culture of continuity that will deliver long-term benefits across your company.

Recognising the contributions of all team members

When everyone on the team recognises the accomplishments of others, individuals start to see how they’re part of a whole. According to experts, when an organisation makes appreciating employees part of its culture, important metrics like employee engagement, retention, and productivity improve.

Employee recognition however shouldn’t be preserved for major milestones and anniversaries only, it should be a regular occurrence for it to be part of your culture. Your culture should encourage team members to practice frequent social recognition in addition to monetary recognition.

Monetary recognition is very valuable. Generic mugs trophies and certificates will only gather dust on a shelf. Monetary reward means employees can spend the extra cash on something much more meaningful to them. This will motivate them to go an extra mile to achieve their goals.

Enable employee voice

Create a culture that listens and values feedback. This can be done through surveys and discussions on certain issues. A culture where there is room for feedback makes employees feel their voice is essential and this contributes to employee satisfaction.

Creating a culture that values feedback and encourages employee voice is essential, as failing to do so can lead to lost revenue and demotivated employees.

Make your leaders culture advocates

For your organisations culture to succeed, your company’s leadership should be on board for them to be able to cascade to their juniors. Your leadership team can help build the culture you need by prioritising it in their work lives. percent of employees agree. When employees see leaders living your culture, they’ll follow suit.

Live by your company values

The foundation of your company’s culture is your company values. Your company’s values should not just be a mission statement, you should strive to weave it into every aspect of your business.

Forge interpersonal connections between members

Your organisation’s culture should be accommodative of team members’ cultural diversity. It should also promote communication and connections between team members. Provision for team building activities can be one way to promote this.

Focus on learning and development

Workplace cultures that tend to succeed are those that are have provision for  employees to continually learn and employer willing to continually invest in staff development. Training initiatives, coaching, and providing employees with new responsibilities are all great ways to show your team that you’re invested in their success.

Personalise the employee experience

In as much as team work makes the dream work, each employee has individual needs. You can take surveys to find out what your employees’ value and what their ideal corporate culture looks like. You can use feedback from the survey to tailor your actions to personalize the employee experience for your team. Treating your employees with the same individualism and care you treat your customers will translate into a culture that motivates each individual at your organisation.

As I finish, note that organisational culture will develop even without the employer’s input, but in the absence of that guidance, it may not be healthy or productive. When developing your organisations culture, keep these three basic techniques in mind:

  • Improve communication with employees
  • Start creating a culture of recognition
  • Ensure that all members of your team put your culture into action

IMBA

We Are On Your Side

Importance of Organisational Culture and How to Build One

Howdy,

We all know how culture is close to our hearts. Most of us do certain things in a certain way despite our level of education or status in the society because it is our culture. We feel it is what defines who we are and gives us a sense of identity.

Most of us spend about 8 hours per day working. This mean means most of our time as adults is spent at work. It is therefore important for our work environment to be friendly and conducive.

Your organisation’s culture will set the tone for your organisation’s work environment. Let’s start by defining what is organisational culture? Organisational culture is a collection of values, expectations, and practices that guide and inform the actions of all team members in a company. It is more like a collection of traits that make your company what it is.

So is organisational culture the same as organisational goals or a mission statement? Of course not! Culture is created through consistent and authentic behaviours, not press releases or policy documents. A company’s culture comes to play when you see how a CEO responds to a crisis, how a team adapts to new customer demands, or how a manager corrects an employee who makes a mistake.

Importance of culture to your company

It defines your company’s internal and external identity: It defines how your organisation does business and how the team interacts with one another, your customers, partners, suppliers, media and all other stakeholders.

Organisational culture is about living your company’s core values: A strong organisational culture keeps your company’s core values front and center in all aspects of its day-to-day operations and organisational structure

Your culture can transform employees into advocates: The greatest advantages of a good organisational culture is that it has the power to turn employees into advocates.

Employees look for something more than just a steady pay-check and good benefits; they want to feel like what they do matters. And when your people feel like they matter, they’re more likely to become culture advocates—that is, people who not only contribute to your organisations culture, but also promote it and live it internally and externally.

Employee retention: employees who feel like they’re part of a community, rather than a cog in a wheel, are more likely to stay at your company.

Your culture transforms your company into a team: The culture at your organisation not only sets expectations for how people behave and work together, but also how well they function as a team.

Culture impacts performance and employee wellbeing: A healthy culture addresses employee’s performance and wellbeing and ensures there is an appropriate balance of both. A culture that stresses performance to such a degree that employees feel like their physical and mental health are being overlooked is a dysfunctional one.

In conclusion, as an employee, the above should be the beginning of a conversation of what does your company bring to the table over and above your pay-check and benefits vs what you offer your company. As an employer, the this should be the beginning of a conversation of what is your organisational culture and how to better it. With that said, let’s meet on the next article where I will guide you on how to build a high-performing organisational culture.

Your bank buddy

IMBA

We Are On Your Side

How To Win Clients with Great Customer Experience

You have probably gotten disappointed or frustrated while purchasing a product or service. We bet the unpleasant experience probably left a bad taste in your mouth. You have also experienced a seamless purchase experience that we bet left a lasting impression. Now, let us reflect on the two experiences. One experience was quite frustrating – would you consider purchasing from them again or would you rather switch to their competition? The other experience was quite pleasant - would you be willing to pay a higher price to receive the same premium customer service experience? Some food for thought right there.

In today’s world, the customer is king or queen. Customer experience (CX) is a very fundamental component of any business. It is the overall perception customers have with regards to the impression or experience they have encountered with your business or brand. The aspects can make or break your business. CX focuses on the relationship between clients and businesses as a whole. This relationship is defined by interactions and experiences throughout the customer journey. It is, therefore, also the foundation of loyalty and customer retention.

Brands must focus on improving customer experience as the expectations change. Here are some interesting reasons why:
62% of customers are willing to pay more for good customer service. (2020 Achieving Customer Amazement Study)
According to Shep Hyken’s 2020 Achieving Customer Amazement Study, Did you know that 96% of customers will leave a brand for poor service?
About 84% of consumers have stopped doing business with a brand due to a poor customer experience. (Conversocial The State of Customer Experience 2020 Report)

So, what does a great customer experience look like? You will notice:
An Increase in happy and repeat customers – Repeat purchase of your product/service offering
Speedy delivery of product/service within the set SLA (service-level agreement)
An Increase in the number of referrals - Willingness of a customer to advocate for your brand
Reduced level of churn rate - Customers are satisfied with your product/service offering
Consistent demand of your product/service – a stream of loyal customers
Increase in positive sentiments – Customers love your brand offering and customer service
A sense of brand ownership by staff and customers
Sustainable growth and a clear competitive advantage

The competition for alternative goods is quite is stiff. Customer experience has proven to be a major differentiator in today’s business environment especially in the presence of me-too type of businesses (businesses selling very similar products or services). There are major notable trends in customer experience in our era such as:

Cyber Security – Technology risks are rapidly arising. As a business, this is the practice of protecting customer information by mitigating information risks, anticipating cyber-related risks and responding appropriately when they do
Customer satisfaction surveys – an omnichannel collection of feedback
Automation of processes. e.g. optimized points of self-service, customer service bots, etc.
Rise of personalized or specially packaged messages, products and services
Increased customer engagement and retention programs
Speed, convenience and friendliness through technology while maintaining the human element

As a business or brand, Experience is everything. So, what can you do to win clients with a great customer experience?

Embrace customer feedback – implement feedback collected from (NPS) Net Promoter Score Questionnaires and customer satisfaction surveys
Improve products and services to wow customers
Proactively understand and train customer-facing employees on best practices
Utilize CRM customer data and analytics to cross-sell, match their needs or provide personalized product/service offerings that best suit or anticipate their lifestyle and needs
Exceed your customers’ expectations. Offer speedy delivery via smart automation and actionable insights — across private messaging omnichannel.
Add a human touch element to your service automation. It can be something like a simple greeting or friendly automated process or answer
Keep your delivery promise as stated in your service charter
Offer after-sale services that will encourage repeat purchase and customer retention
Offer a cashback, loyalty or affiliate program that rewards the customer for taking a service or referring clients to the business

Happy customers are the main ingredients of company success. Give customers great experiences and they will buy more from your business and even refer their family and friends.

No matter what, We Are On Your Side!