These days, the demands for quality but cost-effective printing services have increased. So many printing institutions have emerged; however, most of them offer services with high prices. But still, by exerting enough effort, you’ll be able to find a service that doesn’t have high printing cost.

It is for a fact that there are existing cost-effective printing services and getting them means saving your money. In any business, efficient advertising without spending much money is a key element of getting success. Imagine drawing people’s attention without spending so much.

Now, what are the effective printing services offered today that don’t cost much? How can one get cost effective printing service?

Cheap printing services are ideal if you intend to get quality prints at affordable prices. Most people think that when you say cheap printing service, it means getting bad prints. Contrary to what most people think, cheap printing services can really provide quality prints.

However, it is true that most cheap printing services are not as good as ordinary printing services. So if you are planning to use a cheap printing service, choose your printing company carefully.

Another service to think of is wholesale printing. This printing service is commonly used to produce large numbers of prints in lower printing prices. Now, wholesale printing is an ideal printing service, but it usually applies for those who want to print large numbers of their documents.

This is almost entirely similar to discount printing, except that, discount printing is a printing service wherein the total printing cost is deducted using a certain percentage of it. So if you’re only printing your documents in short runs, chances are you won’t be able to avail for any discount.

Going back to discount printing, what’s good about this printing service is that the large the numbers of printed documents, the lower your price for each copy gets. This means that the price for each printed document decreases as their quantity increases. Just like wholesale printing, this becomes more ideal as the quantity of your print job increases.

Now, prices offered by companies differ; this is a fact. So in order to find a company that offers the lowest possible printing price, you have two options in which you must perform.

First, you need to ask for recommendations from people you trust. This will provide you with an insight of how a printing company works and how they treat their clients. You won’t recommend something bad to a person who trusts you, right?

But, if they’re not able to provide you with referrals, you can go to the second option, which is the internet. Use a reliable online search engine such as Yahoo or Google. These will provide you with a list of top printing companies in your town or in the whole world.

After acquiring or making your list, try to compare each price with the other (don’t forget to consider the quality of their works. Ask for sample designs; if they’re not offering any, then they’re not worth putting on your list.). By doing so, you will be able to find a printing company that does not only offer affordable but also quality prints.

A merchant account is an account with a bank or any other financial establishment that allows a business owner to accept credit cards or electronic checks through channels that include storefronts with credit card terminals, over the internet via online credit card processing, over the telephone, etc. Depending upon the different channels used, the types of Merchant accounts may be defined.

Broadly speaking, there are three types of merchant accounts- Retail, MOTO (mail order - telephone order), and Internet. A business may have more than one merchant account, and all accounts need not be of the same type. What differentiates the three types of Merchant accounts from one another is the transaction fees charged and the rules associated with the use of the account.

A Merchant account used to process transactions for a particular merchant will depend on the merchant’s business model. This is crucial because the rates and fees are determined on business model classification. Merchant accounts are assessed and evaluated for conformity by a processor’s risk department and credit card associations routinely.

The three types of Merchant accounts are: -


* Retail Merchant Accounts- With the least restrictive rules and minimum transaction fees, retail merchant accounts involve large transactions that are to be conducted physically. In this case the credit card has to be swiped by passing it through a physical credit card terminal. Retail accounts are mostly used by "brick-and-mortar" businesses such as restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores. Since the card is present during the transaction, the rates are lower and there is less risk.

* MOTO (mail order - telephone order) Merchant Accounts- Telephone order accounts are processed in the physical absence of a credit card. Thus, they have a higher transaction rate compared to retail accounts. They were originally created to address the credit card processing needs of mail order companies who receive all of their sales by mail or telephone. Customers are not seen in person and the risk involved is high. So the rates and surcharges are normally high.

* Internet Merchant Accounts- Internet Merchant accounts are similar to MOTO merchant accounts in cost and usage. Internet Merchant accounts address the unique needs associated with online business. The payments are made using a "virtual" terminal or by using a payment service gateway with custom-designed HTML forms or a shopping cart application.

Years ago when I first got started in commercial real estate, there were various things I did to become success. The one thing which has made all the difference is doing market research.

Now, before I start discussing tips on doing market research, it helps to do one thing:

Focus.

Focus first on the type of commercial property you want to invest in and second, focus on the area you want to buy property. This is key.

Do this will save you a lot of time, energy and expense. Because you want barrow your universe of possibilities so that it is manageable and easy to not only accomplish, but keep up-to-date with.

You can not be an expert in all things. And what you’ll discover in commercial real estate is that the best investors are experts in their area of focus.

No matter whether that’s multi-family, industrial, warehouses, or whatever type of incoming producing property you are passionate about.

It pays to stick with it and learn it like “the back of your hand” as they say.

Now, in terms of market research, here are some tips I have learned over the years:

1. The first tip is sounds rather plain and unsophisticated… be organized. The most organized investor usually is the most prepared investor. Your level of organization will dictate the amount of information you can easily and quickly assimilate.

2. The second tip is to put out your feelers. Pull your research from a variety of sources and people. In other words, relying on one or two sources is hazardous to your wealth.

3. The third tips is to as much as possible or that time will allow, do your own research. Sure, you can hire professionals, but these professionals don’t have a vested interest in your success. You do. Use the professionals as sounding boards, as people to stimulate your idea generation. Use them to validate your assumptions. But never rely on their opinion solely

4. Go out into your market and study it, survey it and analyze it. Again, do this yourself. It pays huge dividends over time, because your start to develop contacts and more importantly intuition about various trends you should be aware of. One of the by products is you’ll be presented with opportunity after opportunity simply because you are in the right place at the right time and prepared enough to capitalize upon the opportunity.

5. The fifth tip is to use a clipping service. These are very inexpensive services where people will clip out articles out of the newspapers which are associated with the market you are interested. Usually they have access to all sorts of magazines and journals, plus local papers. If a clipping services is too expensive, then pay local person who wants to work at home.

6. The six tip is to read the building and zoning codebooks and maps. They are extremely useful understanding the market you want to pursue.

7. The seven tip is to take the real estate editors and reporters out to lunch. Pick up their tab when you do. And pick their brain while you are at it. You’ll find they have a wealth of information which is almost useless to them but very profitable for you. Sometimes it may even pay to employ them as researchers. Because they understand the market as well as the information they need to collect.

8. The last tip again sound rather plain: Don’t stop. Turn the research process into a lifelong passion. Before you know it, you’ll soon be an expert in the market of your choice.

The goal is simple: To collect as much useful, current, relevant, up-to-date and accurate information about the market as possible. Have your finger on the pulse market and you’ll do exceedingly well in your commercial real estate investments.

Everybody would love to make lots of money quickly, working from home, and only doing a few hours of work per week. I've spent the past two years trying to find a great way of doing this. Only over the course of the past few months have I found any "get rich quick" programs worth buying. I've been trying to make money online for a long time. I had a few small websites, but they never made much more than a few hundred per month. It was easy money and didn't require much work on my part, but I knew there were people out there doing better than I was and I knew I could do as well as them.
Now, I've seen a lot of "get rich quick" programs. Most of these people make claims about earning $2000/day with Google or something similarly insane. Almost all of these people are complete liars. Even if they were making $2000/day with Google AdSense, it'd be because they had high- traffic websites with a lot of quality content. I'd know, because in one whole month, I never even made half of what they promised I'd make daily with their programs. Maybe you've already been scammed by one of these fraudsters. Anyway, I finally got sick of what was being offered.
I decided I'd look through the all of the "get rich quick" programs I could find and see if there were any that were actually legitimate. I found that there were owners selling their programs for well over $100, but the information in them could be found almost anywhere online for free. Additionally, they all contained out-of-date information, had no e-mail support, no money back guarantees, and broken links in the downloads section.
In conclusion, almost all of the programs I found were completely useless. The owners knew it, but they couldn't care less about their customers since they didn't offer refund policies! Amazingly, while looking through all of the programs, I actually did find a few legitimate programs. They were run by ordinary people like you and me, and they had found some great methods of making money from their home by doing very little work.
I spent some time working with those programs, and my income is now ten times what it used to be. These programs provided a large amount of great information on how to make extra money on your computer doing very little work. Numerous customers had provided great feedback and reviews for their products. Many of them have started to make money just days after buying!

Their programs have excellent prices, and the authors have a group of paid staff who are dedicating to helping you or providing assistance if you need any. I must say I was amazed! If you do decide to purchase any of the programs listed below, I recommend you join quickly. Most of the owners tell me they are getting an overwhelming number of sales and plan on raising prices in the near future, so order while prices are still low!

In an LCD TV or "transmissive" display, a light source shines
through a panel of liquid crystals in order to display an
image. A white diffusion panel behind the LCD redirects and
scatters the light evenly to provide a more uniform image
than most competing technologies.

The LCD face consists of two transparent layers which
polarize a liquid crystal layer sandwiched in between. The
front layer of glass is etched with a grid pattern on the
inside surface to form a template for the liquid crystals.
Liquid crystals are rod shaped molecules that bend light
in response to an electric current; the crystals align so
that no light can pass through. Each crystal acts like a
camera's shutter, either blocking light or allowing it to
pass through. A pattern of transparent or dark crystals
forms the image. This same technology has been around for
awhile, even in such unsophisticated items as digital watches.

LCD TVs use an "active matrix" LCD; the most advanced type
of LCD. The active matrix design is based on TFT, or thin
film transistors. These are tiny switching transistors and
capacitors that are arranged in a matrix on a glass substrate,
they switch the LCD pixels on and off. In a color TV's LCD,
each color pixel is created by three sub-pixels with red, green,
and blue color filters.

One of the biggest challenges for LCD TV manufacturers has
been speeding up the pixel response time, (how fast an
individual pixel's color can change without blurring) so that
fast moving images don't exhibit motion lag or "ghosting".
This is especially critical for larger-screen LCD TVs, or
for LCD TVs on which much of the viewing will be HDTV, or
DVD movies.

An important difference between LCD technology and Plasma is
that an LCD screen doesn't have a coating of phosphor dots;
LCD TVs color is created through the use of filters. This
keeps image burn-in from being a problem--- which is good
news in-particular for people who might use a video gaming
system or PC on their TV. Another benefit of owning an LCD
TV is the energy efficiency of this technology. LCD TVs
typically consume 60% less power than comparably sized
tube-type, direct-view TVs.

In most ways that really matter there isn't much difference
between LCD TVs and Plasma TVs. Both of these highly popular
types of flat panel TVs are thin enough to be placed virtually
anywhere, and both produce images that are startlingly clear,
sharp, and bright. The most notable difference is screen size.
The majority of LCD TVs have a screen size measuring 30 inches
and smaller. Plasma TVs are, for the most part, uninhibited
by measurement restrictions.

Basically, LCD and Plasma TVs are different approaches to the
same result because the both create superior images using
radically different technology.

It is fairly obvious that the United States government is facing a productivity disaster, but why is this? One of the biggest reasons is that the federal government has imposed too many laws, rules and regulations on corporations and small businesses. The business community has turned around and pointed their finger at the federal government for being inefficient and wasteful and thus demanding that the federal government follow their own rules and regulations.

Likewise most of the Socialists and liberals or Democrats in the United States of America are trying to make everyone and everything equal and in doing so they have imposed rules and regulations, which are counter to the unique innate characteristics of the species and human groupings. The problem is that the bureaucracies in Washington, DC the government we own are human groupings, which are already inefficient.

By adding extra rules and regulations on government they become paralyzed and unable to do anything. Some people say this is a good thing because all government ever does is destroy productivity in the real world. However there are certain things our government is supposed to do for the American people; namely protect them.

Due to the inefficiencies in governments and the laws of unintended consequence the government is now facing a productivity disaster of Epic Proportions and one it cannot win. In fact due to the over regulation of the government on itself it has become so inefficient that they have to hire and outsource all of their services to the American people.

In doing this they have yet to lay off people who do nothing more than monitor what they should have done, but is now outsourced. Without a reduction of 60% of the federal workers in the United States government, especially those in Washington, DC, it will fail.

Since we own the government we need to make sure that the government downsizes and that regulations are reduced both in the public sector and the private sector or we may as well kiss the country good bye. Please consider this in 2006.

Business spending on coaching will exceed $1 billion this year. Although once considered a perk reserved exclusively for senior executives at multinational corporations, today coaches are just as likely to be found at entrepreneurial start-ups and small businesses. Still, confusion exists about exactly what coaching is and the kinds of results it delivers.

I’ll argue that enhancing self-awareness is the most important benefit of coaching, because without it things don’t change. Finding out how one is perceived by others can be eye-opening. An individual may have strengths that are not being used to his or her best advantage or weaknesses that turn out to be strong points that are over-used or applied in the wrong situations. Sometimes people assume that others are perceiving things, processing information, and learning in the same way that they do. Or, behaviors may be driven by mistaken rationales or beliefs.

Coaches assist people in developing skills in areas like organization, time management, leadership and strategic development. They also challenge the personal assumptions and beliefs that can result in clients doing of more of what’s not working, or overlooking painfully obvious solutions to problems.

Among the beliefs that I’ve encountered in my coaching practice are, “No one can do the job as well as I can” (therefore I must do everything myself); “I can’t afford good people” (so I must settle for mediocre performance); “If I ignore the situation, it might fix itself” (so I won’t confront the issue); and “I am 100% responsible for everything that people in my department do” (which means that I must review everyone’s work).

Leadership is a particular concern for the small business owner or entrepreneur. It can be quite difficult to go from being the “content expert” (the one who creates the product or service) to the “person in charge of the company.” Coaching can be invaluable for helping these executives develop and communicate a strategic plan, clarify their role as president or CEO, delegate authority to others, and focus attention on a long-term vision.

A company’s stage in the business life cycle also informs the coaching process. Executives in early-stage companies, for instance, need help managing the myriad of details involved in selecting the appropriate business structure, locating professional service providers, deciding between hiring versus outsourcing, developing marketing and sales strategies, and getting orders in the door.

Managing a growing enterprise can carry with it as much or even more stress than the initial start-up. Common issues involve revising a strategy or business plan, hiring the right talent, developing more sophisticated operating systems, evaluating competitive threats, growing at the right pace, and for many business owners, the need to delegate day-to-day tasks to other people.

In established companies, executives grapple with changing customer needs, encouraging innovation, and finding ways to increase productivity and efficiency. Sometimes there is expansion into new markets, or major new product offerings as a means of capturing additional share. Here the needs may be for methodologies to evaluate opportunities, the hiring of more experienced managers, a new management structure, or deciding on major investments in new technology or machinery.

Finally, the company may be in the throws of major change, such as a sale, merger or acquisition. In cases like these, where the quality of leadership, management, and especially communication plays such a huge role in the transaction’s success, a coach can assist the management team in working through the business, psychological, and emotional issues inherent in these kinds of events.

Selecting the Right Coach for Your Needs

Coaching is an unlicensed profession, which means that anyone can call him or herself a coach, regardless of training, skills, or background. It is this author’s observation that a fair amount of what is called coaching is really business consulting – experts evaluating a situation and offering advice and solutions. This is not to suggest that consultants don’t offer a valuable service. Rather, it means that the burden is on clients to understand what exactly is being offered.

It is advisable to look for a coach who has had some kind of formal training in coaching techniques, adult learning principles, and assessment methodologies. The ultimate goal of coaching is to make clients more resourceful and confident, and these things happen when people learn new skills and how to think differently. The right training ensures that the coach is able to accurately gauge the client’s situation and offer appropriate tools and techniques that match the individual’s learning style.

Beyond academic credentials, it is helpful if the coach has least some familiarity with the nature of your situation. For instance, a coach with no experience in business or business management might have a difficult time understanding and responding to issues that regularly arise in the workplace.

Finally, chemistry between you and your coach is critical. It is for this reason that almost all coaches offer an initial session to prospective clients at no charge. Without honest and direct two-way communication, the training, experience, and skill of the coach become irrelevant. When all is said and done, mutual respect and trust are the prerequisites of a successful outcome.

Here are some random, but important tips, tricks, and advice to increase your productivity and business efficiency to become more successful:

Email subjects: Always include a descriptive subject line. Important emails often get saved. People normally search through old emails by the description in the subject line. For example, "Important Update" would be too vague but "Attendance Numbers For Las Vegas Sales Conference" is an example of a perfectly descriptive subject line.

Voicemail messages: Always leave your name and phone number at the beginning and end of all voicemail messages, especially if you are cold calling. The easiest way to not get a call back is to leave your name and phone number at the end of a five minute voicemail. What if the recipient of your message gets distracted just as you are saying your phone number. Do you think he will sit through the entire five minute message again just to hear you phone number? NO!

Hire a personal assistant or concierge service: Personal assistants can do you menial tasks while you do your important day-to-day work. Personal assistants can do tasks such as booking meetings, making travel arrangements, event planning, car washes, laundry, taking messages, etc.

Use Google Alerts: Google Alerts can email you news on topics that interest you or are important to your business or industry. This way you get the right news right away. Best of all, Google Alerts is free.

Do priority tasks at peak hours: It is known that your energy levels are higher at the beginning of the week (Monday and Tuesday) and in the morning. Schedule these times to do your most important work tasks, the ones that require the most attention. Schedule your menial tasks during the other times.

Get an ergonomic chair: Purchase a comfortable, ergonomic chair, especially if you are a nine-to-fiver that sits in front of a computer workstation all day. Your back and arms need to be physically supported to be able to spend a full day at your desk and be productive.

Use you digital camera: You can use your digital camera to photograph documents rather than take notes or make a photocopy. This is especially useful if a copier machine is not available. A digital photograph can be uploaded and saved in your computer as an image. It is just as useful as a stored document and can be printed when necessary.

Don't bring the office home: Too many workers bring work home. Separate your work life from your home life and you’ll be more relaxed and alert; you'll get a better nightly sleep and feel more refreshed each and every new workday. This will also reduce stress. To further help reduce stress try cognitive relaxation therapies such as meditation.

Start meetings on time: Never wait for latecomers to show up for a meeting. And, don't "recap" when they do show up. This wastes yours and everyone else's time. Recapping wastes the time of everybody that did show up to the meeting on time. And, it rewards tardiness. Just keep going and get on with the business meeting.

Wear a name tag at business networking functions: Wearing a tag with your name, company, and position allows others who may be seeking your services an opportunity to spot you and make an introduction. You should want to make it as easy as possible for people to make connections with you at business networking functions.

Almost everyday people in organizations have to attend meetings. Has anyone at the organizations looked at those meetings to determine if they are productive? Does anyone in the organization know if the meetings were beneficial enough to be worth the investment? If the answer is NO, then please read on to determine how to verify the worth a meeting has to the organization.

Recognize the Productivity Level.

The value of a meeting to the organization and how productive a meeting is relates directly to how effective it is at accomplishing the meeting’s purpose. If the meeting accomplishes more then 60% of its purpose, then the meeting was beneficial and the cost of the meeting is to be considered a good investment in the success of the organization. Most average meetings accomplish around 40% - 60% of the meeting’s purpose. In this case the cost of having the meeting may be balanceable by its benefits; however this requires verifying that a benefit from the meeting is visible and verifiable. Finally, if the meeting accomplishes less than 40% of its purpose, the cost of the meeting is generally a loss to the organization.

Compute the Cost of Attendance.

How to figure out if the meeting has value related to its purpose and the investment in good meetings on future projects. Below is simple formula to use for calculations when weighing the cost of a meeting and against the potential benefits.

AC = (R x N)

MC = H x AC

To determine the actual cost of a meeting, find the following data: an approximate average hourly rate for each person attending the meeting (R) and a count of the number of people expected to attend the meeting (N). Then multiply those numbers to compute total attendee cost (AC). Then take the number of hours (H) the meetings may be to multiply by the total attendee costs to compute approximate meeting cost (MC).*

Verify the Productivity Level.

Use or create a meeting management evaluation that will help the group decide where meetings fall on the productivity scale. The evaluation should have some sort of numbering system. Then assign a percentage value to the numbers in order to compare each meeting to the productivity levels. For example on a 5 point scale evaluation, each point would be worth 20% on the productivity scale. Keeping track of productivity levels is the only way to verify that improvement is happening. Sometimes, just knowing the meeting will be evaluated at the end is enough to keep people on target to achieving the meeting purpose.

Conduct Research on Meeting Management Methodologies.

There are many great books and some good training programs related to managing meetings available on the market. Do research on the web or ask people that do led meeting well for their recommendations.

Take Improvement Steps.

As noted earlier, the best way to know meetings are improving is to track the productivity before and after improvement steps have been taken. Improvement steps may be as simple as specialized training for the leader and/or group members. Or it could be a mentoring program where a truly good meeting facilitator is used to demonstrate the required skills in group meetings and then coach future meeting leaders in how to do a better job. Either way, an evolution in responsibility and mindset for the entire group will be necessary because a change in how the meetings are conducted will have to follow.

This information should at least be a starting point for determining what meetings currently have worth to the organization. It will also help with determining which ones could use improvement in order to become more productive and beneficial to the organization.

Is your email inbox filled with junk emails, SPAM and crap? Well you are not alone and it does not appear to be going away anytime soon. You see the Federal Trade Commissions; FTC's war on SPAM is killing small businesses and flooding their inboxes with junk mail. This is causing issues with their ability to maintain productivity.

America Online indicated that it culls 75% of the incoming SPAM thru filters and many other companies are able to do this too. But what if you are a small business which does not have such features on your website? What do you do then? You cannot do a thing. Neither can the Federal Trade Commission as per their recent report to the United States Congress, which gave little hope in the War in Spam, as the insurgent Spammers are coming from over the border. But there is some good news. No this is not about saving money in your car insurance by switching to Gieko.

A concocted report from MX Logic purports that SPAM is down a whopping 9%? If you believe that you are on drugs just like the FTC. If you are a small business getting 300 junk mails per day, obviously this is not going to help you in the least as it still means you are getting over 275 junk mails a day. Worse the figure of nine-percentile is said to be a complete misrepresentation and convenient fabrication. Think on this.

The number one reason small businesses fail is due to lack of experience. “Lack of Experience” in the industry the entrepreneur enters and in management, as well. The fact of the matter is small business owners nearly tear their hair out when attempting to coexist as the CEO, Director of Marketing & Sales, Customer Service and Office Administration. After all, wearing multiple hats is challenging, especially when there’s only 24 hours in a day.

Today’s technology supports an entrepreneur’s ability to evolve into a savvy manager by computerizing internal business processes and simplifying intra-office communications with office automation software (OAS). With 90% of the market share, Microsoft Office allows opportunists world-wide to conduct effective personal information management using Outlook, prepare professional documents with Word, present proficient Power Point presentations, manage data effectively using Excel, and more. The question is, “How can entrepreneurs fully utilize Microsoft Office for positive interaction with their business’ external environment?” The solution is uniting a dynamic customer relationship manager (CRM) with the ubiquitous Microsoft Office suite.

With minimal resources and personnel, entrepreneurs can use CRM for Microsoft Office to efficiently communicate with their employees, customers, and vendors. A centralized contact manager not only streamlines common business processes but saves time and increases productivity. Whether you’re a “one-man show” or have a network of a few employees, a contact manager combined with the power of Microsoft Office, can help build long-lasting relationships with company stakeholders and make it easier to clearly focus on succeeding.

For Administration:

A centralized database of client, employee, and vendor contact information, provided by a systematic customer relationship manager, simplifies every-day administrative duties including scheduling and messaging. Business owners and administrative assistants alike can easily use a CRM Office Add-on to pull up a contact record and schedule an appointment. By integrating with Outlook, the user can create appointments or tasks from a central location and it will automatically appear in their personal Outlook or on the company’s public calendar (if in an Exchange environment). The same goes for messaging. Locate the contact record from any desk in the office, and send a message via email using Outlook.

For Marketing:

The everyday infrastructure of most businesses is already facilitated by Microsoft Office. Let’s take writing 15 thank you letters, for example. It’s almost commonplace to use Microsoft Word to create such a professional document. However, once the letter is complete, Word doesn’t provide a way to automatically format each letter with the customer’s name and address. In addition, what medium will be used to deliver the professional documents to its respective targets, all 15 of them to be exact! Can Outlook do this? Sure, if email is the method of choice for delivery. First copy and paste the content of the letter 15 times into 15 emails and then enter the email addresses for each letter. The process is not only time consuming, but often painstaking, as well. Not to mention, that’s only for 15 letters. What about 50, 100, 500 or even 1000?

With the added help of a customer relationship manager, repetitive tasks like letter writing, turn into routine processes. Create the letter template in Word and save it to the centralized database of the customer relationship manager. Next, pull up the 15 contact records of this week’s new clients. Select all 15 records and merge their contact information with the template into 15 letters. Besides the 10 minutes it takes to write the letter, the CRM creates 15 personalized copies in about 30 seconds. Hence, mass communicating is systematized and cost effective. The days of spending a week to do a mailing to the firm’s entire customer base can be done in just minutes through broadcast mailing, and even faxing or e-mailing, too.

For Sales:

Many businesses who implement CRM technology with MS Office notice benefits immediately. Once customer data is centralized and easily accessible by the sales team, the CRM becomes a great monitoring tool. The sales team is now able to conduct follow-up phone calls while having the power to view personalized, detailed notes unique to each client record or lead. Then a fortunate chain reaction is triggered. By personalizing the follow-up strategy, the customer ultimately feels more distinguished and treasured. Plus, a regular follow-up strategy helps the sales professional to build a relationship with the client, which will then increase client loyalty. To sum it all up, CRM technology makes the game of lead control a win-win situation for the firm and its clients. A CRM solution will also refine sales methods to better meet each and every need of a new prospect.

Now, add the capabilities of the CRM to Microsoft Office. From the contact record, sales professionals can add a note to their personal Outlook, write an entry in their personal Outlook journal, create an Excel spreadsheet for tracking monthly revenues or calls, email the contact through Outlook, send the contact a fax, and schedule the next follow-up call. Now the sales process is completely automated from a central point of location. Think about how much time is saved.

CRM Solutions Help Build Stronger Relationships

It’s no secret; the vast number of customer relationship managers which are currently on the market. The question is which one is right for you?

Key factors to consider when evaluating a CRM solution:

• Is the contact information you enter accurate and true?

• Is the database constantly updated and maintained?

• Can you easily retrieve and share contact information?

• Are documents such as fax cover sheets, letters, labels and lists easily constructed with the program?

• Can it communicate with Microsoft Office without complicated exporting procedures?

• Does it enable users to easily communicate with each other and the outside world?

• Does it send messages to cellular phones, PDAs, smartphones, pagers, email and two-way radios instantly?

• Can employees effectively track communication with clients and vendors?

• Does it include lead & campaign management features for prospecting?

If I asked my clients about their most valuable commodity, without a doubt they would tell me that it's their time. Many are solopreneurs and are wearing the hats of CEO, CFO, Director of Marketing, Director of Sales, and IT Director, just to name a few. When they discover a product or service that helps them reclaim time, they feel they've hit the mother load, as time is money to them.

I love to find new technology or new services that help automate my business or enhances my productivity and makes the daily chores easier and faster. How many more clients could you follow up with and add to your business if you freed up 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or as much as 2 hours a day? Here are my top 10 tools that I use to turbocharge my productivity:

1. AcqURL: AcqURL makes managing a moderate to massive amount of bookmarks very easy. You create any number of categories in which to file your favorites, and adding a favorite website is as easy as clicking a button. http://www.acqurl.com

2. AddressGrabber Business: Address Grabber Business helps small business owners capture names and addresses from sources like email signatures, web sites or documents into a chosen database (ACT, Excel, Outlook, etc.) in just one click. http://www.addressgrabber.com

3. Argali White and Yellow: Argali White and Yellow searches multiple telephone and email directories so you don't have to. The found listings are combined, formatted in uniform way and displayed as if they came from one integrated metadirectory. You can also do a reverse search for a phone number and search for area codes. And, the program updates itself with any new listings every time you open it. Both a free version and a paid version are available for download. http://www.argali.com

4. Evernote: With EverNote you can easily store and quickly access typed and handwritten memos, webpage excerpts, emails, phone messages, addresses, passwords, brainstorms, sketches, documents and more! A free version or a 30-day trial of the paid version is available for download. http://www.evernote.com/en/downloads/

5. GotoMyPC: Need access to your files but don't want to drag your laptop with you on vacation or on a business trip? A subscription to GotoMyPC.com will enable you to log into your office computer and retrieve whatever you need, just as though you were sitting in front of it. A free 30-day trial is available for download. http://www.gotomypc.com

6. MaxEmail: I bought a fax machine and it sat unopened on the floor of my office for over a month, and I eventually returned it. Why? Because MaxEmail, www.maxemail.com lets me send a receive faxes through the Internet/email and made my need for a fax machine obsolete. The faxes arrive in PDF format, so you can easily share you faxes with others as needed.

7. Practice Pay Solutions Merchant Account: If you're not taking credit cards in your business, you're missing out on sales. The coolest feature that they offer in this service is the ability to do batch uploads of charges, so if you have a number of clients on retainer that you invoice every month, you can simply create a spreadsheet and batch upload the data rather than entering each client's information individually. http://www.profcs.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=127926

8. Roboform: This program is the top-rated password manager and web form filler that completely automates password entering and form filling. You'll never have to remember a password again! I maintain both my passwords and user info and that of my clients in this program. http://www.roboform.com

9. Tidy Start Menu: As time goes by, the list of the programs in the Start Menu becomes too long. As a result, each time you want to launch a program, it takes too much time to find it in the menu. The "Tidy Start Menu" program will help you to put the menu in order and make your work comfortable. Thus, after using the program, you will have a compact menu, which will contain nothing but categories' names and you'll have no trouble finding a necessary program. A freeware version and paid version are available for download. http://www.tidystartmenu.com/index.shtml

If somebody tells you that your present corporate website can be converted to a B2B portal which will help you significantly improve your company’s productivity in both of the two primary factors: Revenue Growth and Cost Saving, and that the portal can be launched in a matter of months with a very reasonable investment, what will be your reaction? Read on to learn how corporations all over the world are missing an opportunity, which can revolutionize the way they manage their businesses.

What is a B2B portal?

A portal is defined as an access point to World Wide Web. A portal is a combination of web pages, features and services which become a primary destination for users. The word was first used to describe the sites of popular Internet access providers or search engines such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo! At a later stage, the word “portal” evolved into something bigger covering business websites, where a corporate portal or enterprise information portal acts as a base for employees, customers, suppliers and other associates of a company to access corporate information and web services. A B2B portal is a distinct kind of website with features to conduct electronic business and manage significant parts of corporate business processes.

Benefits of having a B2B portal

Today, B2B portals are not just a fancy idea! They are an absolute necessity for all enterprises of any type and size. The advantages of having a quality B2B portal are massive. Implementation of a true high quality B2B portal could have immediate impact on company productivity.

Revenue Growth

Revenue Increase from Existing Clients Existing clients get faster and easier access to product information, quicker response to their requests, get better customer support and are able to buy products online.

Revenue Increase from Value Added Services Once a B2B portal is set as the primary sales channel, spared resources can be used to create more value added services for clients. Some of the services that the portal may offer also could be utilized to generate more value.

Cost Savings

Order Processing Cost
If the B2B portal integrates supply chain management solution, it will reduce the cost of processing orders drastically. Studies show that similar solution can reduce cost of processing a purchase order from US$ 70 down in average to US$ 6 only.

Sales and support costs
Automated sales and customer support features integrated in the solution is capable of reducing overhead costs up to 30 percent.

Inventory keeping costs
Clearer visibility and forecasting ability thanks to various features of the B2B portal may help companies considerably reduce inventory keeping costs.

Other key benefits include:

Low customer acquisition cost
Effective portal branding on the Internet will help to attract customers from new sources. The cost of acquiring customers through online channels is always cheaper than other traditional methods.

Improve customer service
Ability to have constant interaction with customers through the B2B portal helps companies serve customers better. The B2B portal solution allows tracking the whole ordering process from payment to delivery and brings greater efficiency in customer service.

Reduce sourcing time cycle
The customers can select products from the integrated marketplace of the B2B portal and either sends purchase orders or directly buy products using the shopping cart. Buyers handle all their procurement related correspondence from a consolidated working page, which helps them react instantly and reduce time in document processing.

Community participation
Company buyers and sellers can create communities surrounding the B2B portal’s discussion board. This helps getting valuable feedbacks on time, building new partnerships using the networking ability of a community, and disseminating important information to members easily.

Real time access to current product information
Current information of a product is vital for an accurate buying decision. Updating product content and other information using customized forms as it is necessary, the company can help buyers and other associates to take critical decision promptly.

Control rogue spending
Consolidated and automated procurement and approval method stops maverick buying in a company.

Main components of a B2B portal

Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management solutions can deliver great values to company’s existing systems. Implementation of these solutions will help achieving incredibly high return on investment and will have tremendous impact on company’s business, which include: better productivity, faster order processing, greater visibility, the elimination of maverick or unplanned purchasing, etc.

Marketplace
This is the venue where the enterprises can post their products for sale. A sophisticated shopping cart will be integrated into the electronic marketplace in order to automate the buying process.

Auction
Electronic auction system can use both English and Dutch auction methods. For convenience the auction component can be integrated into the electronic marketplace.

Online auction helps liquidate surplus goods easily.

Reverse Auction
This solution allows the company to automate electronic procurement, where suppliers compete for business real time online.

Storefront for Participants
Each associate of the B2B portal will get a Storefront that may reflect profile of the company, its products, services or other information.

Forum
A Forum or a Discussion Board is an organized, on-line interactive message board where participants conduct discussion on a set of topics by posting questions, comments and responses.

Internal Messaging System
Elaborate Messaging System allows a participant of the B2B portal send and receive messages from other participants and the company. Since the messages do not leave a secured server, participants would not be worried about sending sensitive information over the Internet.

Classified
Catalog based bulletin board allows company associates to post important notices in various predefined formats.

Directory of Companies
This is a listing of all registered associates of the B2B portal either by business category or by alphabetical order. An advanced search engine tool is incorporated in order to find a company based on data provided.

E–catalog
E–catalog — a hierarchy of product and service categories based on UNSPCS, a global products and services classification method that covers the broadest collection of industries and commodities available today, and designed to facilitate e-commerce transactions by providing geography-independent common nomenclature system.

Product Content Adding System
Product adding mechanism based on either easy-to-use wizard or simple but detail forms allows users to integrate products or services with accurate and up-to-date information.

Product Notification
The system can generate an alert and send by email to a user, who requested to inform once a particular product or service gets added to the E-catalog.

Numerous other features could be incorporated to an existing B2B portal depending on requirement, such as: News Aggregation using RSS feed, Contact Management, Electronic Journal, Press Room, Document Repository, etc.

Time needed to set up

Using ready made B2B Portal components from a provider like Rusbiz.com a medium size portal can be built or integrated to existing website within three to four months.

By developing a B2B portal ahead of your major competitors you can give your business a significant boost and make your company stand out from the crowd.

Building a dynamic small business is a constantly evolving, increasingly demanding role.

It is very easy to get so caught up in the day to day running of our business that we neglect to take the time to look from the outside in to see what we could do to improve our profitability!

Well here are 5 Strategies that could boost your productivity overnight!

They are not rocket science…and you may have even heard some of them before, but they are 5 proven principles that you can review today to help you stay on track regarding the real issues to grow your business from here.

So why don’t you take 15 minutes…make yourself a coffee…and recharge your batteries!

1. Define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in one sentence

What is at the heart of your business that makes it unique and attractive for your customers? Summarise your key selling points that make your product or service a ‘must have’ for your clients.

You probably went through this exercise when you first started your business...but have you need to remind yourself regularly why you are doing what you are doing!

New competitors may have emerged and you don't have that same uniqueness that you once had.

Perhaps it's time to reinvent yourself and get that edge over the market once again!

2. Identify Who Your Target Market Is

When you first started your business, you knew exactly who your target market was. Is this market still the same, or have they grown up…or matured in their buying habits.

Has new technology overtaken your ideas?

Just imagine if Video Rental Stores had stubbornly refused to rent DVDs because they were just a Video Store! Your market may have changed, and you may need to reassess who you are trying to reach.

Your original target market have grown older since you began and if you are still promoting your products or service to this same group - their needs may be different!

3. Would you like Fries with That?

McDonalds have made an additional fortune by training every one of their sales force to ask one simple question with every order: ‘Would you like fries with that?’

I went to buy a tube to fix my daughter’s bike puncture the other day, and instead of just selling me a new tube, the smart salesman in the Bike Shop enquired quite genuinely if I had the right tools to fix it.

I didn't - but of course he did...so he cleverly added value to my shopping experience, and added extra profit to his bottom line.

What service or product can you offer to people to make their original purchase with you even more worthwhile?

4. Establish where your clients go before and after they visit you?

If you can determine this, then you can add instant profits to your business.

Just imagine if you owned a Real Estate business. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a Settlement Agent in house? And what about a Mortgage Broker? Or even a Removalist Company?

Perhaps you could rent out a large Furniture Trailer with your company name emblazoned all over it!

Ask yourself the same question and you can start incorporating other services that complement your existing business and watch the profits grow!

5. Ask your existing customers for referrals

If you are providing an excellent product or service, then your biggest fans will be your existing customers.

Why not offer them an incentive to put you in touch with people just like them who would also benefit from your services?

It doesn’t have to be anything really expensive…maybe even just a 10% discount off their next purchase from you.

I referred some friends to a Mortgage Broker a few months ago…and had forgotten all about it…until last week I received 2 movie tickets in the mail thanking me for the gesture.

A $20 investment leaves a nice impression in my mind that will probably make me think of him again when my next friend asks me if I know of a good Mortgage Broker!

Make sure you get Part Two of this article for another 5 Strategies to improve your small business success!

Growing your own small business can be one of the most exciting journeys you could ever embark upon!

But it's important that you continuously implement new and fresh ways to generate sales and improve your profitability in order to stay ahead of the market!

Here are the next 5 Strategies to help you propel your business to new heights of success!

1. Develop your own Loyalty Program

If you have a look in my wallet, I have a Jesters Pies Card, a Subway Card and a Video Ezy card – all of which entitle me to something for nothing once I have made enough purchases!

Some people will call me cheap…I just think it makes sense! If I’m going to buy something anyway…why not go somewhere that rewards me for my loyalty?

If people have to buy your type of product or service from somewhere, why not make it more attractive for them to buy from you?

Create your own loyalty program and create regular, satisfied customers who get rewarded for giving you their business!

2. Collect email addresses from your clients (with their permission!)

The most cost effective form of marketing today is via email and if you haven’t already started collecting your client’s email addresses then start today. You may wonder how that could possibly help you grow your business, but let me give you an example.

I recently heard of a Hairdresser who started collecting email addresses from her clients each time they came to have their hair cut – with the promise that she would keep them informed of any specials that she might be offering.

Now, when she looks at the next week’s bookings – if there are lots of spare appointments she fires out an email to all of her clients offering a special for ‘Next Week Only!’ – and bingo! She has a full week of appointments.

She’s happy and her clients are made to feel even more special that they’ve picked up a reward for their loyalty!

3. Create your own monthly newsletter

Every business has something interesting to share with their clients and I’m sure yours is no exception! Once again, by using your email addresses, you can provide a very low cost service to your clients, and give you an excuse to keep in touch with them every month.

If you’re an accountant, then why not provide financial tips relating to the time of year. Eg GST info, Tax Tips etc.

If you are a mechanic, what about some tips for keeping your engine running smoothly. Eg Checking the oil and water, tyre pressure etc.

Maybe you’re a Lawnmowing contractor…what about suggestions for keeping your grass green and lush according to the different seasons.

Of course each month you can also offer ‘specials’ to your loyal clients to bring in extra profits during the quieter times. In the meantime, you’re building a stronger relationship with your existing clients.

4. When was the last time you raised your prices?

Here’s an instant way to increase your profits!

Are you underselling your services? Have you checked what your competitors are charging recently?

By adding some of the value added services that I’ve already addressed in the previous questions, you can probably also add some increases to your pricing without too much drama from your clients.

If you have an excellent product or service, don’t become the discount king or queen…become the Exceptional Service Provider.

People don’t mind paying for good quality service…because there is so little of it around!

If you mow a fifty lawns a week at $16 each, are people really going to mind if you increased your price to $17? Or what about even $20 – but each month you left them with a special report about how to care for some aspect of their lawn or garden for that month of the year - or maybe even threw some fertilizer on their grass! (They'll need to get you back even sooner if their grass grows better!)

You just added an additional $50 - $150 to your weekly profits - for very little extra work!

Think creatively!!

5. Develop your own Board of Directors

You probably know of other successful business operators in totally different fields from you, and their ideas could also be of benefit to your business.

Why not create your own Board of Directors. Offer to take them out to lunch as a group every two months and brainstorm for ideas on what they would do if they were running your business.

You may pick up two or three new ideas which is not a bad return on your investment of lunch!

Successful people love to share their ideas, so become a sponge and learn as much as you can!

Start applying these principles to your business today, and watch your profits grow!