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August, 2010

10 Ways to Get Rid of Your Customers

Submitted by Terri Seymour on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 15:42
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When you are in business, you need to remember that without your customers, you are nothing. I have been in the ebook business for 5 years (internet marketing over 10 years) and have grown to appreciate my customers immensely. It always amazes me when a fellow online business owner shows his/her customers no appreciation. I even had one fellow ebook store owner say that he wanted everything as easy as possible because he did not want to have to bother with his customers. I was stunned!

So, if you are like the above mentioned business owner and don’t want to have to “bother” with your customers, here are ten effective tips for doing just that!

What’s Your Online Marketing Score?

Submitted by Shawn Elledge on Wed, 08/04/2010 - 14:34
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The biggest challenge for marketing professionals a decade ago was getting online, and transforming their mass communications-style marketing efforts into more segmented online models.

But now that online marketing is a standard element of every company’s efforts, one expert believes that many of those campaigns are falling short because companies don’t use newer technologies aimed at tracking their online tactics.

The Business Case for Open Book Management

Submitted by Gene Siciliano on Wed, 08/04/2010 - 16:46

What if there was a way for you to get your employees truly invested in helping your company earn a profit and achieve its key goals? You’d just tell your employees what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’re progressing, and they’d become rabid fans and supporters.

Does this sound too good to be true? Well, it actually happens in some companies where management has been able to adjust its way of thinking about the employee-employer relationship and practice true Open Book Management, or OBM.

Mobile Retailers Idea

Submitted by Neil Jones on Tue, 08/10/2010 - 08:51
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It’s hard to believe that mobile phones have been with us for nearly 30 years, they no longer look like something you could build a wall with, now they’re sleek stylish and for most people a fashion accessory. Long gone are the days when your phone was used only to make calls, now they are an extension of you, they keep you connected with the whole world around you.

Cell phones have now become our new best friend and constant companion; they are there when we go to sleep and when we turn off the alarm in the morning. Because they are such an integral part of our lives retailers are doing everything in their powers to become a part of this. Some of the world’s largest chain stores see mobile retailing as a new sales stream. In short it won’t be to long before there are 4 recognised sales channels, Store, Catalogue, Web and Mobile. The lessons learned with the dot com bubble will ensure mobile retailing will be a home run. The other big advantage is that mobile retailing will also help to facilitate sales in the more traditional sales channels.

Asset Based Lenders: Serving a True Need in Today’s Marketplace

Submitted by Tracy Eden on Wed, 08/11/2010 - 18:16
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Asset-based lenders provide creative business financing solutions for companies that don’t qualify for traditional bank loans and credit lines, whether this is due to their start-up nature, rapid growth, or financial ratios that don’t measure up to a bank’s requirements. These solutions typically include asset-based loans, accounts receivable financing and factoring.

In 2009, factors provided $140 billion in financing, up slightly from the year before, reports the Commercial Finance Association. And total outstanding asset-based loans increased 1.25 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Fix Those Leaks with Added Document Security

Submitted by Patrick Kelly on Thu, 08/12/2010 - 11:36
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The term document can refer to any number of things. Regardless of what type of business you are in, somewhere or somehow you have documents of some kind. A document can be an interoffice memo, employee personnel records, an invoice containing purchase information, a draft press release or the office electrical bill.

All-American Fencing Academy - Putting the Idea Cafe grant win to work!

Submitted by Gerhard Guevarra on Fri, 08/13/2010 - 14:21
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Editor Note: As a rule, all Idea Cafe grant winners provide monthly reports on how their business is doing since receiving Idea Cafe's Grant. Here is the first update from Gerhard Guevarra, owner of All-American Fencing Academy, where he passes on his business wisdom and entrepreneurial spirit, and shares thoughts on how to use the grant money most effectively to take his business to the next level.

The All-American Fencing Academy has now survived two summers as a fully fledged LLC. Since 2003, the All-American Fencing Academy has been in existence, providing fencing programs, but it had existed upon the shoulders of Parks and Recreation programs and other community sponsored activities. In 2008, the All-American Fencing Academy took a flying leap into the small business world.

Do You Make This Mistake With Your Logo?

Submitted by Jerry McLaughlin on Mon, 08/16/2010 - 14:17
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When Designing Promotional Products, Aspect Ratio can Make or Break You

If you’re like most small business owners, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your logo’s aspect ratio. A lot of people don’t. But seemingly small changes in the aspect ratio – the proportion of your logo’s height to width – can really change the readability and overall look of your logo.

Mobile Restaurant POS Systems

Submitted by Dane Ludolph on Tue, 08/17/2010 - 18:19
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In the restaurant industry speed and efficiency within operating procedures directly affect company profit margins. Restaurant owners are continually searching for new ways to save money and make order placing a much more speedy process.

A recent press release from Dinerware who is a leading restaurant software company announced their release of SpeedMenu. SpeedMenu is a mobile menuing, ordering and payment service that enables guests to add, close and pay out their tabs via their Internet-enabled mobile devices.

The Top 5 Reasons to Use E-checks

Submitted by CheckAlt.com on Wed, 08/18/2010 - 14:16
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Business professionals and their clients want an easy, more streamlined means to make and receive payments. E-checks, or the Automated Clearing House (ACH), allow payments to be processed via the internet and offer a multitude of benefits.

1. Save money. No more wire transfer or credit card processing fees. E-checks are transferred directly from the consumer's account to the merchant's. Money, time and other valuable resources are no longer spent on processing payments. Since the entire transaction, from invoice to payment to receipt, is handled digitally, with a lower payment processing fee, merchants stand to reduce their bottom line.