Latest news with #businessowners
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
‘Plywood Avenue': Chamber asking city to help with rising cost of vandalism, security on businesses in Saskatoon
Taylor Cross has had her fair share of run-ins with safety concerns and vandalism nearly two years after opening Seven Sundays on 2nd Avenue. A little more than a month ago, Cross received a text message from a fellow business owner that one of her windows was smashed. She arrived at work minutes later to see that it was from a large rock thrown through the window. 'It was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Being a new business, we're just shy of two years being downtown. It's unfortunate when our staff doesn't always feel safe coming in to work downtown.' Cross says she has learned plenty about operating a business on 'Plywood Avenue,' as other business owners have come to call the street after repeated vandalism. She says she has had to protect her staff and business in a number of ways, and she thinks the city could do more to understand the concerns from business owners and address growing problems. Jason Aebig, the CEO of Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, agrees. His team recently organized a survey of 263 businesses from across Saskatoon, which found security costs, property damage, and frequent encounters with vulnerable populations are on the rise – and it's affecting their bottom lines. 'We've talked for some time about the invisible costs that's borne by our local business community -- just regular small and mid-sized companies that are also dealing with the impact of this challenge and in many ways are absorbing those costs into their business,' Aebig said. 'That doesn't get included as part of the calculation, and we wanted to get some better data to understand what that really looks like.' Key findings of the survey reveal that 85 per cent of businesses report increases in security costs, 58 per cent of businesses say insurance premiums have increased, and 25 per cent of businesses experience 'incidents associated with vulnerable populations on a weekly or more frequent basis.' Aebig says these issues are also persisting in more places than ever with areas like Stonebridge reporting vandalism and interactions with homeless people affecting business operations. 'We are hearing from businesses in suburban centers that are now dealing with similar challenges to what we've traditionally heard downtown,' he said. Seven Sundays Seven Sundays had its front window smashed earlier this spring. (Submitted/Taylor Cross) According to Aebig, not only are more businesses investing more money into training staff or hiring external security to manage and communicate with someone experiencing a mental health challenge or episode of psychosis, but they're also not reporting crimes to police altogether. 'They are not engaging police in these cases because they feel that the response will be slow or completely non-existent,' Aebig said. 'So, they're absorbing 100 per cent of the costs for repairs, vandalism and other challenges.' Cross says the broken window will cost her roughly $1,000 with the downtown business improvement district reimbursing a percentage. She says the broken window is a small concern in the grand scheme of the challenges plaguing Saskatoon. But she wants to see some of the concerns highlighted in the survey addressed and prioritized accordingly. 'It's affecting all of the businesses that are trying to contribute to our local economy and build our city up,' she said. The chamber has written a letter to councillors and Mayor Cynthia Block. He says the city could look at other jurisdictions and explore a municipal grant to help businesses recoup some of its costs and help businesses like Seven Sundays thrive. 'I don't have the ability to change things, but the people that do, they need to do something about it,' Cross said.
Forbes
19 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
How To Predictably Recruit And Retain Commission-Based Sales Reps
Ryan Hohman, Founder and CEO at Sales Recruiting University. getty Recruiting and retaining top talent for a commission-based sales force can be one of the most significant challenges business owners face. Building a productive team involves more than finding skilled salespeople; it requires mastering a targeted recruitment strategy and effectively highlighting your company's unique strengths. As the founder of Sales Recruiting University, a company that recruits over 1,000 commission-based sales representatives monthly, I've learned firsthand what it takes to predictably attract and retain top-performing salespeople. Here's how businesses across all industries can strategically build their teams. Understanding The Realities Of Commission-Based Recruiting Most job seekers probably aren't actively seeking commission-only roles that require self-generating leads or direct selling. Recognizing that this majority won't initially be drawn to your opportunity helps set realistic expectations. Effective recruitment, therefore, relies on attracting and efficiently screening large volumes of candidates. Targeting The Right Candidates Exclusively targeting top-performing sales reps from your industry can significantly limit your talent pool. High achievers often prefer companies offering proven career growth, competitive compensation and strong employer branding. Therefore, unless you're among your industry's elite, you'll need to strategically widen your recruiting scope. A sustainable and scalable method is the 10-30-60 rule: • Top 10%: High-performing salespeople actively pursued by leading organizations. • Middle 30%: Average performers who align with your company's mission, vision and values and can grow into top performers through effective training and leadership. • Bottom 60%: Candidates likely not suited to your sales roles. Focusing primarily on that middle 30% (average performers) significantly expands your candidate pool and provides opportunities to cultivate motivated individuals into high performers. Implementing An Efficient Recruitment Process The traditional recruiting process—reviewing individual résumés, conducting phone screenings and holding multiple rounds of interviews—is inefficient and often resource-intensive. This can lead to significant time investment with minimal return. A streamlined recruitment approach includes four critical steps: Creative Advertising To attract a high volume of candidates, diversify your job listings beyond generic titles to broaden appeal. For instance, advertise roles like "Independent Sales Associate," "High-Ticket Sales Consultant" or "Commission-Based Sales Representative." Automated Screening And Scheduling Utilize technology to efficiently filter applications. Automated email and text messaging, paired with self-scheduling for group interviews, greatly streamline candidate processing. Group Interviews Clearly present your company's culture, vision, compensation and realistic job expectations in concise group sessions (20-30 minutes). This method quickly filters and excites candidates about the opportunity. Personalized Final Interviews Conduct targeted one-on-one interviews with pre-screened candidates to deeply understand their goals, motivations and alignment with your company's mission and values. Clearly demonstrate how your role supports their career aspirations. Optimizing Retention Through Strategic Onboarding And Training Effective recruiting is only half the battle. Retaining talent hinges on your onboarding process, ongoing training and management support. Organizations excelling in these areas routinely experience higher retention rates. Ensure your onboarding and training programs clearly outline career paths, performance expectations and tangible rewards. Strong management and supportive leadership dramatically increase employee engagement and productivity. The Long-Term Advantage Building a robust commission-based sales force doesn't happen overnight. It demands a thoughtful, systematic recruitment and retention strategy. By employing targeted candidate attraction methods, efficient screening and hiring processes, and comprehensive training and support systems, businesses can consistently attract, develop and retain high-quality talent. Ultimately, mastering this approach not only enhances your sales performance but positions your company among the industry's top-tier, significantly easing future recruitment and fueling sustainable growth. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Tourists risk £1,500 fine for breaking new rules in major tourist destination
Tourists visiting a popular resort town in Europe could face on-the-spot fines of up to £1,500 under tough new rules aimed at curbing antisocial behaviour. Albufeira in southern Portugal, long known for its sun-soaked beaches and vibrant nightlife, has seen increasing scrutiny over the behaviour of some tourists - particularly during the summer high season The city's new Code of Conduct targets a range of disruptive actions that have sparked concern among locals and authorities - banning everything from public nudity and sex acts to street drinking, loud noise, and urinating in public. The harshest penalties - between €500 (£426) and €1,800 (£1,500) - will apply to those caught fully naked or engaging in sexual acts in public. Partial nudity away from designated beach areas, public drinking, urinating or defecating in public, and creating excessive noise are also punishable by fines ranging from €300 (£255) to €1,500 (£1,277). Other violations listed in the code include spitting, misuse of public furniture, and abandoning shopping trolleys, as Albufeira City Council seeks to restore order and cleanliness in high-traffic tourist zones. The crackdown follows a series of incidents, including a viral video last year of eight British men dancing naked on a bar in broad daylight on Albufeira's main party strip, Rua da Oura. The footage led to widespread outrage, prompting an emergency meeting between local authorities and business owners. The UK Foreign Office issued a travel alert on Thursday, 26 June, warning British nationals of the new regulations, declaring: 'The municipality of Albufeira has introduced a code of conduct which bans inappropriate behaviour in public places. 'Check out the rules that are now in force. If you break the rules, you could be fined on the spot from between 150 and 1,800 euros.' The city council for the Algarve city approved the new code of conduct in May 'to prevent abusive behaviour by tourists', as reported by Travel Weekly. The crackdown follows a series of incidents, including a viral video last year of eight British men dancing naked on a bar in broad daylight on Albufeira's main party strip, Rua da Oura (pictured) Speaking in May, Mayor José Carlos Rolo said the code was part of a broader strategy to repair Albufeira's image, adding that the rules hope to 'promote harmony' between the tourism sector and local population. Meanwhile, Faro Airport in Portugal will start the rollout of e-gate access to UK arrivals this month ahead of the peak summer season in the Algarve, a minister revealed today. The announcement comes after the Government said on May 19 that British passport holders will be able to use e-gates at more European airports as part of a UK-EU deal. Since Brexit, Britons arriving at EU airports have generally been forced to queue for manned desks to have their passports stamped, rather than use automated gates with facial recognition technology – leading to long waits, particularly in peak periods.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How To Replace An Underperforming Team Member With An AI Agent
How to replace an underperforming team member with an AI agent Your business no longer runs on people. It runs on AI. Every day, business owners make the same revenue with a lower headcount. They make more impact and have more free time without the endless meetings, annoying HR tasks, and repetitive questions. What if that could be you? Your best team members are too smart to be replaced by AI. They're testing tools and figuring out how to outproduce. But the worst ones face a ticking time bomb, and they're probably aware. AI agents are the future, but the power can be in your team's hands. ChatGPT can help you progress your best people and filter out the worst. Upskill together, for the benefit of your clients. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through. Transform your team with ChatGPT: the AI replacement playbook Your underperforming team members know they are coasting. They are stuck in 2022 and hoping this will pass. It won't. But before you can replace anyone, you need to know exactly what they do all day. Business owners rarely know the specifics. They hired someone years ago and now that person does... stuff. It won't cut it. Get specific about every single task, every recurring responsibility, every output they create. "Based on what you know about my business structure and goals from our previous conversations, help me audit a specific team member's role. Ask me questions about their daily tasks, weekly responsibilities, and monthly deliverables. For each duty I mention, probe deeper about the specific steps involved, time spent, and quality standards required. Once we have a complete picture, categorize these duties into three groups: tasks AI could do immediately, tasks AI can help with but require human oversight, and tasks that must remain human. Present this as a clear decision matrix." Set standards for each workflow. Create rules. Content creation needs prompts, quality control guardrails and a proficient human editor. Customer service needs response templates and escalation triggers. Data entry needs validation checks. When I sold my agency, every single process had documentation that made it sellable and replaceable. Turn knowledge trapped in their heads into systematic processes. "Using the duties we just identified, help me create detailed SOPs for the 3 most time-consuming tasks that AI could be involved in. Ask me to describe each process. Break them down into numbered steps that an AI agent could follow. Include decision points, quality checks, and specific outputs expected at each stage. Make each SOP so detailed that someone with no context (or an AI agent) could execute it perfectly. Start with the one that is the easiest to automate." AI agent setup demands the right combination for each role, and the tool stack matters. Content creation might need specific tools working together. Customer service requires different integrations. Sales needs its own ecosystem. Stop thinking in individual tools. Start thinking in complete systems. Task your best team member with putting this in place and have them manage it. Progress their role to them running a team of robots. "Based on the SOPs we've created and what you know about my business needs, identify the optimal AI tool stack for automating these processes. Suggest 3 different tool combinations for each major duty. Include estimated costs, integration requirements, and learning curves. Explain exactly how the tools would work together to replicate the human workflow. Prioritize solutions I can implement within 30 days." There's a risk to automation and that's always been the case. Don't automate something key to your business success. Not yet. Start with lower risk areas. Get versed in making agents and go from there. Calculate the real cost of keeping a human versus switching. Include training time, error rates, scalability, and customer satisfaction. Don't remove headaches only to create new ones. "Create a comprehensive risk/reward analysis for replacing this role with AI. Based on the duties and proposed solutions we've discussed, build a comparison table including: monthly cost (human vs AI), output capacity, error rates, customer impact, implementation time, and scalability potential. Score both options from 1 to 10 for each factor. Give me 3 specific metrics to track during a 30-day pilot program." You have two options. Use AI to do less: hire fewer people, make the same money in less time. Or use it to do more and get your team onboard. Give everyone the task of 10xing their output. Tell them there's budget available if they make a case. When someone steps forward, support them. When someone isn't bothered, warn them it won't help their career. Only go forward with winners on your team. "Based on what you know about my business philosophy and team structure from our conversations, design an AI adoption program that empowers rather than threatens my team. Create a 30-day challenge where each team member identifies one aspect of their role to enhance with AI. Include: communication strategies, department-specific goals, budget framework for tool requests, and recognition systems for early adopters. Draft sample messaging to launch this program." Your AI transformation starts now: level up your business AI isn't coming for your business. It's already here. Your best people will use it to become superhuman. Your worst people will be replaced by it. How fast can you adopt AI agents that do awesome work? Get your best team members to do the research, then test AI agent platforms to start small and build big. Follow the recommendations ChatGPT gives you, and sign up for the agentic trials of your existing tools. Document everything. Test systematically. Scale what works. Make your AI agents work alongside your empowered humans. Make more impact with much less work. Access all my best ChatGPT content prompts.
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Banking on equality: The journey to build first women's bank
In 2019, I joined a group of entrepreneurial women with one bold goal: to create the only bank in the country strategically built to close the gender lending gap. That vision became First Women's Bank. We were motivated by the numbers, and the opportunity to drive change. Women are transforming the economy in this country, owning over 14 million businesses representing 39% of all businesses, employing over 12 million people and generating $2.7 trillion. But despite this momentum, women are still not accessing the capital at equal rates as men. Women receive just 16% of commercial bank loans —and only 4.4% of total dollars lent in the small business economy. That is the gender lending gap. It is layered. It is complex. But it is also highly addressable. Every business owner is unique, so we don't paint all women-owned businesses with a broad brush. But when you look at the data, a few patterns emerge. Understand the financing options First, many women simply aren't connecting with the right forms of commercial capital. We often see women over-relying on personal credit tools when starting out, and sometimes throughout the life of their business. That might mean using credit cards, personal savings, or home equity lines to keep the business afloat. While resourceful, this approach is also limiting, and it can hurt their ability to qualify for commercial debt financing down the line. At the other end of the spectrum, we see women running high performing, growing firms turning to equity financing to fund expansion. Sometimes, depending on the industry or the company's life stage, that's the right call. But in many cases, it isn't. Some women may not be aware of their other options or realize that a competitively priced commercial loan can be a more cost-effective way to finance growth. This has real consequences. Studies show that on average, women founders retain just 48 cents of equity for every $1 retained by male business owners. Think about that: Women are overcoming obstacles, building successful companies, and then only owning half of their own success. We believe that needs to change. Our goal is to connect with women earlier in their business journey. We're encouraging them to think about commercial financing not just as a last resort, but as a strategic tool for growth. Education and outreach Over the years, we've also seen that women feel left behind in the lending process. They want to make informed financial decisions, but when the information or guidance isn't accessible, they get discouraged and disconnect from the process entirely. Imagine the potential if women could double or triple their access to capital, the ripple effect across jobs, communities, would be transformational—not just for women, but for the entire U.S. economy. So, we rolled up our sleeves. We strategized, we led, and we built. Over two years, we raised nearly $40 million—the most ever raised by a startup bank in Illinois. We launched in 2021 with a simple mission: to grow the economy by elevating the role of women within it. And from the start, investors and partne rs saw th e power in what we were doing. Our success is rooted in that clarity of purpose. It takes a village But from the beginning, we knew we weren't going to do this alone. It takes a village. Our ability to lend and support women-owned businesses is powered by deposits, and we've been fortunate to partner with some of the largest and most respected companies in the country. These organizations support First Women's Bank by holding zero interest deposits with us, creating real impact with their cash. The corporate mission partnerships are a concrete way for companies to bank with their values, support gender equity, and strengthen financial inclusion. We also knew we needed the right advocates at the table, leaders who could help amplify our mission on a national level. That's why we created our Strategic Advisory Board, made up of lifelong champions of equality who have helped bring national attention to the power and potential of the women's economy. Billie Jean King, Sophia Bush, Nia Batts, Allyson Felix, and Wes Felix have all been instrumental in our journey. The solution is layered So, while the gender lending gap has many causes, it also has clear solutions. It starts with access. It grows through education. It scales through capital. And it thrives through partnership. This work is deeply personal to me. Throughout my career, I've seen how often women are underestimated and how often we underestimate ourselves. I've also seen what happens when women access the tools, the capital, and the support they need: They thrive, they lift others, and they transform communities. That's why I'm here. That's why this bank exists. And when women rise, we all rise.
