Manage These 2 Facets of Customer Relationship Well to Grow Business

January 20, 2014

Manage These 2 Facets of Customer Relationship to Grow Business
Every business lives and dies by how it manages customer relations. Companies that manage this relationship well can grow consistently for number of years.  We have seen this with customer focused companies such as Amazon, Southwest Airlines and Ritz Carlton. Think about the great customer service experience you received from any such companies and you will understand what I am talking about. On the other hand, companies that do not manage customer relationship well can lead to their own demise in a short time.

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Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With:

5 Essential Tips to Improve Credit Score for Small Business Owners

January 18, 2014

5 essential tips to imrpove credit score for small business owners
Taking control of your personal finances is a must if you want to save more, invest, buy a new vehicle or home, take a vacation, or simply improve your budgeting and cut expenses. Grabbing hold of your finances firmly is also an excellent way to improve your credit, which is often a topic of concern for many people. The sad truth is that it doesn’t take much to damage your credit – a couple of delinquent payments and a few credit card applications can send your credit score plummeting. It doesn’t take long to see your credit score drop to the 700s or even the 600s, but it can be awfully hard to get it back up into the 700s. So what can you to improve your finances, and in turn your credit score. Here are five essential tips.

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Filed Under: Finance Tagged With:

How Far can a Million Take You Today?

January 16, 2014

How far can a million take you today
A million pounds earned today is not the same as what it used to be a decade ago. The definition of “rich” is constantly changing. In the mid 1990s you could be considered “rich” if you had million pounds. Today, you are not “rich” with million pounds of total worth. You are just “well-off.” You might be able to retire comfortably, but you will not be able to send your kids to college, and you will still have to make plans for your long-term healthcare needs, depending on where you live.

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How Can You Stay Fit While Traveling for Business

January 15, 2014

How can you stay fit while travelling for business
For business owners work life balance is of paramount importance. With the amount of work they have it is easy for small business owners to ignore their own fitness. After all, who can afford to spend time on workout when you can sign one more customer account. This could be dangerous not only to your health, but also to your business’ financial health.

Imagine this scenario. You are going away on business. You’ve got all the clothes you need. You are bringing your tablet. You’ve got all your business papers in order. You are just missing one thing: your fitness plan. Just because you’ll be away on business doesn’t mean you can’t still work out. Most resorts and even smaller hotels have workout or fitness rooms these days. Here’s how to stay in shape, regardless of whether you’re flying half-way around the country or just taking a short trip out of town.

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Filed Under: Operations Tagged With: ,

Does Your Small Business Accept Customer Payments via Phone or Mail?

January 15, 2014

Customer Payment
While an increasing number of customers prefer to pay via credit or debit card online these days, a large number of consumers still prefer to pay over the phone or via snail mail. Furthermore, not all customers are comfortable with providing credit card information with these types of payments and would prefer to write a check instead. For this reason, business owners who want to make it as easy as possible for customers to make their preferred forms of payment should have a merchant account that offers not only electronic credit card payment processing, but phone and mail payment processing as well.

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7 Fantastic Tips for Building Great Brand for Small Business

January 13, 2014

7 tips for creating great brand for small business
Building a brand for your business can create long-term competitive advantage and add thousands of dollars of additional business. Branding your business is all about giving the audience something to remember you by. All the greats (names like Apple, Samsung, Coca Cola and Nike) know that you have to become a part of consumer culture if you want to be a household name. It is equal parts knowing your audience, as in the case of Old Spice, where the target audience was receptive to over the top masculinity, and knowing your product. In today’s landscape, you have to be proactive if you want to develop a brand that will resonate with consumers. We describe below 7 fantastic tips you can use to build and sustain great brand for your business.

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Where is My Package? How Online Retailers Can Plan for Busy Season

January 10, 2014

How online retailers can plan for busy season
As an online business owner, you must know when to expect a major increase in the number of orders you’ll receive. After all, it’s no mystery why some major retailers increase their workforces by tens of thousands of people during the holiday season.

There are plenty of other times outside the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas when your business could see a spike in orders, and if you are not prepared to manage them, you could end up with dozens of unhappy customers, and less-than-stellar online reputation that will undoubtedly turn those high volume order periods into non-existent order periods.

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Filed Under: Operations, Technology Tagged With: ,

4 Must-Haves for Freelancer or At-Home Small Business Owner

January 8, 2014

4 Must-Haves for the Freelancer or the At-Home Small Business Owner
When you own your own business or work as a freelancer from home, you don’t have to answer to anyone but your clients to reach your goals. At the same time you don’t have higher-ups providing you with all the tools you need to make your work day go smoothly. Whether you’re just starting out as a small business owner or freelancer or you’ve been at it for a while and think there must be more efficient ways to run things, invest in these must-haves.

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ,

Small Business Owners: Are you using E-Commerce to Grow Sales?

January 3, 2014

Shopping Cart
E-Commerce sales continue to grow at rapid pace. Online retailers such as Amazon and eBay have been growing at double digit rate for the last several years and are expected to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Traditional brick and mortar retailers have recognized this trend and have started to take aggressive actions to increase their online presence. Every single retailer is focusing on integrating traditional and online shopping with the ability to order for online items right from the store and return items purchased online to the store.

Small business owners can benefit equally well by including ecommerce channel with their traditional operations. As I will explain below, when you consider what is required to set up the ecommerce operation and the resources available to do so, it becomes a no brainer to set up an online store. You can improve sales by tapping into this additional channel to get customers who otherwise would not visit your traditional store.

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Filed Under: Sellers, Technology Tagged With: ,

How to Bring out the Best in Your Employees

January 2, 2014

How to bring out the best in your employees
No business owner or leader wants to hire mediocre employees. They all want the best employees to work for them – those who will provide best customer service, develop the best products, and in doing so help the business grow. The reality is it doesn’t quite work out this way. It starts with hiring a really good employee, who is eager to learn new things and contribute to the business. After some time, however, this passion starts to fizzle out and the employee gets stuck in the rut of doing everyday chores. The end result is the business owner doesn’t get what he had hoped when he hired the employee.

So, what motivates employees to continue giving their best to their employers? What can business owners do to bring out the best in their employees so it creates a win-win for both employees and employers? Here are some tips.

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