“Pricing power is important in business. You want your business to have the ability to raise prices as needed, especially with regard to inflation.” (Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr) It is imperative that businesses increase their fees, rates or product prices annually by at least the rate of inflation, just to keep pace with the ongoing increases in the cost of materials and production. Inflation is the increase in the cost of goods and services in an economy. It ensures that, year after year, a business pays more and more for the same goods or services it uses in the production of its income. The higher the inflation rate, the higher the increase in your costs each year. Without related annual price increases on goods or services provided by your business, the inflationary increases in the costs of production will result in lower profits, reduced product or service quality, or even market perceptions that your goods or services are cheap. In addition, the compounding impact of not increasing prices means your business falls progressively further behind in its ability to generate the appropriate and needed levels of profits. Why do businesses neglect price increases? There are many reasons why businesses do not increase their rates annually. Some may simply not have the business skills to set or maintain correct pricing. Many business owners are concerned that in a highly competitive market, a price increase will result in lost customers - a fear that was particularly heightened during the COVID years. Most businesses may simply not know how to increase their prices, especially if they have not done so for a few years, and then a substantial increase is required just to return to previous levels of profitability. Why increases are crucial In South Africa, the inflation rate is currently at a 13-year high of 7.5% - almost double the average inflation rate of 4.5% in 2021. This means that the cost of producing goods and services has increased by 12% over just two years, and without a related increase in sales prices, your business profits are being eroded at an alarming rate and with every sale.         Conversely, increasing prices correctly can have a substantial impact on a company’s profitability. Studies quoted in The Harvard Business Review found that improvements in price typically have three to four times the effect on profitability as proportionate increases in volume. In fact, it was noted that a 1% improvement in price, assuming no loss of volume, increases operating profit by 11.1%. Top tips for implementing price increases Speak to your accountant about the impact of various price increases on your company’s income, profitability and tax liabilities. Remember to discuss the potential impact of price increases with all staff, from the production team to marketing, sales and the accounts teams. An easy place to start raising prices is to issue quotes for new business at the higher prices. Include an annual price increase clause in all new client contracts and in contracts that are…

"Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.” (American business speaker Brian Tracy) Successful communication can be the difference between a profitable business and a failing one. Leaders who are unable to get across the needs of the company to their employees will very quickly close its doors. Likewise, people who are effectively able to communicate the things they need to be done will find their reward in a harmonious team and profitable enterprise. This article is for those people who believe themselves to be among the latter. Those who have managed to traverse the minefield of communication and who find themselves surrounded by a largely effective team. In this position, it is possible you may still be making communication errors that are chipping away at your profitability and leading to a team that isn't as effective as it possibly could be. They are common errors that anyone could make and everyone has seen at some point, but they definitely impact the bottom line. Here is how to cut them out and take your company to a brand-new level. Avoid these communication errors Not answering the questionNo matter how well you explain things, being a leader sometimes requires you to answer follow-up questions from your team. While most of the time these questions are simple enough to answer, there may be occasions in which a manager may not be able to answer the question. Perhaps they don't know the answer or simply didn't take time to understand the question or misunderstood the question.When it comes to the effectiveness of your employee who is asking the question though, purposefully avoiding a response is as bad as mistakenly answering it incorrectly or ambiguously.For example, imagine your employee has sent you an email asking, “Did you say you wanted that report today, or next week?”A distracted communicator may see the first half of the message and rush to reply “Absolutely” or “Yes.” This ambiguous reply now wastes time and further confuses the employee. Does this mean the deadline has been pushed out or that it's still due today? The employee may then be forced to follow up, or worse, assume an extension has been granted when it has not. Either situation wastes that employee's time and can even lose a client.Avoid this simple error by ensuring you automatically read the full email and understand it before responding. Then make sure you make it clear which answer is to which question. Don't assume the employee will be able to infer what is meant each step of the way. Too much informationThere is a very clear difference between providing your employee with the context and information they need to do their jobs and live up to expectations and giving them too much information. Giving an order with the right amount of information and the proper context will save time…

“Metaverse isn't a thing a company builds. It's the next chapter of the internet overall” (Mark Zuckerberg, Meta) Among businesses, one of the most misunderstood aspects at the moment is ‘The Metaverse’. Businesses that do understand this new phase of the internet are currently seizing opportunities that their competition doesn't even know exist. This is beginning to change the face of business and social interaction around the world. But what is the Metaverse and why should you be paying attention? What is the Metaverse? Quite simply, the metaverse is an extension of the current internet. It is a virtual three-dimensional space where people can interact with one another by developing 3D avatars. This space can take on the appearance of numerous real-world places, such as meeting rooms or concerts, or even more fantastical spaces. It is a fully immersive space on the internet A blend of virtual reality, second lifestyle online worlds and augmented reality, the Metaverse can be accessed using a simple smartphone or laptop. This makes it extremely accessible for everyone. What will it be used for? No one knows for sure just how wide the eventual use case will be, but it will no doubt be huge. Some diverse examples will help illustrate just how fundamentally this might affect our lives and businesses: Advertising and marketing – finding new customers and communicating with them; The average person in the street - who may use it as a virtual reality gaming platform, or a place to attend a concert by an artist they would otherwise never get to see; Businesses tapping into machine learning and AI to incorporate multiple, diverse data sets into a virtual space to improve presentations and decision making; Surgeons from around the world all interacting over a patient's scans; Classrooms exploring the James Webb telescope images in 3D projections they can fly through; Immersive in-depth product demonstrations; Interactive TV shows; Remote maintenance assistance to areas where technicians are usually unavailable; or News production that puts viewers seemingly on the spot. At the moment, the opportunities seem unlimited. How will this affect your business? At the moment only a small percentage of businesses are using, or even aware of the Metaverse, but this is set to change.  A recent Gartner Marketing Survey found that 35% of consumers have never heard of the Metaverse but as per projections, Gartner expects that by 2026, 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in the Metaverse for work, shopping, education, social media, and entertainment etc. Be ready to adapt! Here are just a few areas the rapidly developing Metaverse may impact your industry: Remote work Using the Metaverse for remote work will involve more than simply creating a virtual office to connect teams that may be working from home. Short, interactive virtual reality meet-ups could allow chats between colleagues and facilitate gatherings with, for example, a comedian or musician for entertainment. Three-dimensional online shopping Online shopping has the distinct downside of not allowing customers to interact with what they…