Professionalisms
Microsoft’s Cloud-First, Mobile-First Bets To Start Paying Off: TBR
Jack Narcotta, Devices Analyst at Technology Business Research, looks at Microsoft's fiscal 2Q15/calendar 4Q14 earnings.
Savvy Sales Techniques For Startups
Even if you have come up with a winning product or service idea, it won’t bring your startup business success unless you know how to sell it. There are several sales techniques that every startup should be aware of before they enter the market.
Five Ways A Password Manager Can Make Your Life Easier
With a password manager, you just have to remember one master password, and the password manager automatically creates and manages secure passwords for all of the sites you visit. Bill Carey, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development at Siber Systems Inc. explains why one can make your life easier while keeping your accounts more secure.
How to Pick the Best POS Technology for Your SMB
How do you know which POS solution is best suited for your business? Joe Pergola, President, AccuPOS Point of Sale offers some tips to help SMBs choose the right system, the first time around.
How To Successfully Integrate Emerging E-commerce Strategies
E-commerce companies need to be at the top of their game when it comes to attracting customers and encouraging purchases. JR Reichl, Senior Director, Marketing Communications at Hostway Services, Inc. highlights some of today’s top e-commerce trends.
Afraid To Admit That You Don’t Understand Social Media?
Social media is the world’s biggest cocktail party and everyone’s there – including your competitors and your potential customers. But make sure you're aware that certain rules apply, says Marsha Friedman, CEO of EMSI Public Relations and author of “Celebritize Yourself”.
4 Tips For Food Product Label Design To Attract Customers
Designing an attractive, consistent and clear food label is the key to winning hearts. However, the job is no as easy as it sounds. With an increasing number of food products being introduced in the market, what should you do to make your food item get noticed? Emily Smith, marketing strategies associate for The Label Company offers 4 tips.
Animated Video: A Huge Draw For Marketers
Look for animated videos to continue to spring up across the web throughout 2015; this is a very exciting development for marketers and consumers alike, predicts Josh Anish of GoAnimate.
Small Business Promotion: Harmonising Your Print And Digital Campaigns
by John Sollars, managing director at StinkyInk
Print is an effective means of marketing, yet, today, many opt for digital methods of advertising. Older businesspeople pledge allegiance...
Don’t Believe Everything You’ve Heard About Selling
Martin Limbeck, “NO is Short for Next Opportunity: How Top Sales Professionals Think“ says that as a small business owner, it’s critical that you don’t fall into the trap of following the fallacies of selling or you might find yourself out of business. He explains.
Here are the seven most talked about myths of selling, along with the way it really is.
Why Training Courses Are Vital for Business Owners, Not Just Employees
You might have read information about the benefits of offering training to your employees. But business owners and directors need to undergo training too, perhaps even before they reach the point of hiring staff.
The 12 Types of Bosses And How To Deal With Them
There are 12 types of bosses, each with a different management style, says Geoffrey James, author of "Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know". And the way you deal with them is also different.
How To Make it In Mobile: New Customer Experience Research & Trends For 2015
Mobile is opening the door for designing new experiences that compliment a brand’s physical presence. According to Comrade’s User Experience Research Report findings, here are six top mobile tips and customer experience trends that companies should look out for and implement in the year ahead.
Quality, Not Quantity: 7 Tried-And-True Tools For Building Strong Customer Relationships
Advanced technology, social media, CRM software, and other tools are changing the way companies market their brand and products. While these new techniques bring their own benefits, says Gareth Cartman of Clever Little Design, there are benefits from so-called old-school approaches that still help businesses create a better connection with their customers.
Risky Business: Reasons Learning On-The-Go Doesn’t Work For Successful Startups
For most small businesses, employees do on-the-job training, but that can spell disaster for startups that need to get workers out there in a hurry, says Bruce Richards, full time trainer at Best STL.
Real Time Bidding In The European Market
Real Time Bidding (RTB) focuses on the auctioning of ad space on a per-impression basis, with the auctioning process being completed before the page is loaded, meaning the user never sees the process taking place.
Is The Customer The Most Important Person In Your Call Centre?
The Internet has given the public such power with review sites and an explosion of choice, that now your customers should be the most important people in your contact centre and your staff should do everything to make them happy, says Nichola Ansbro, Contact Centre Manager, officekitten.co.uk.
What Makes A Successful Franchisee?
Over the past decade, franchising has become a much more attractive option for young talent looking to rapidly create and grow their own businesses. But before candidates can decide if franchising is the right move for them, they must understand the skill set required to successfully run a franchise.
Coping With Late Payment – Managing Asia’s Slow Payers
In an economy where 50 per cent of exports are traded on an open account (i.e. credit terms), a rise in daily sales outstanding, or DSO, affects the cash flows of local businesses. Unfortunately, some customers often pay late. Anthony Coundouris, trade finance evangelist for ApexPeak shares a few measures suppliers can take to both improve DSO and reduce uncollectable receivables.
Holiday Marketing – Plan For Your Best Year Ever
Do your holiday marketing not only to get the sale, but more to really connect with your clients and potential clients. Diana Ennen offers some tips to master your holiday marketing.
How To Market Your Food Product Effectively
by Emily Smith, professional market analyst and writer for The Label Company
Making your product stand out of the crowd is quite challenging. The challenge is more when...
5 Ways Small Business Owners Can Improve Their Agility In The New Year
The New Year brings new events that may positively or negatively affect your business. Known events are possible to plan for in advance. Taffy Williams, author of "Think Agile: How Smart Entrepreneurs Adapt in Order to Succeed" shares some agile activities may help you be more prepared in the New Year.
Are Your Customer Service Scripts Naughty Or Nice? Five Quick Responses To Customer Complaints.
The last thing a stressed, dissatisfied customer wants to hear you say is:"You're wrong." Ron Kaufman, author of ”Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet“, offers a few quick scripts to use when responding to customer complaints.
Cash Flow Matters: Accounts Receivable Financing Fuels New Model Of Working Capital
When it comes to cash flow your start-up needs are typically in direct opposition of your customers, as each entity works to manage its own working capital requirements. It’s this battle to control the stop and go nature of start-up cash flow that is driving growth in accounts receivable financing, also known as factoring, says Jeff Bell, senior vice president of eCapital.
Improving Your Sales Reps’ Performance
In order to increase conversion numbers and boost the bottom line, sales reps need to accomplish the following tasks in the first quarter: reduce response rate, increase lead follow up, learn how to sell themselves first, personalize, says John McGee.
Why Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Is A Thing Of The Past And What You Should...
The passing of the Affordable Care Act made it official: The era of group health insurance is over. And whether you’re an employer, employee, insurance broker, or some other type of trusted adviser, it’s time to leverage the huge opportunities that come with this new reality. Authors Paul Zane Pilzer and Rick Lindquist explain what you should do right now.
10 Tips for Effectively Handling Customer Complaints During The Holiday Rush
The holiday shopping season is a veritable minefield of potential customer complaints. Ron Kaufman offers advice on how to handle those complaints so that your unhappy customers become customers for life.
How To Prepare Your Business For Black Friday
Carla Freberg, Sales Manager at Vendor Services Group of Balboa Capital shares some real-world strategies to make the busiest shopping day of the year a huge success.
Primary Problems with Enforcing Non-Compete Agreements
Just because an employee has signed a non-compete agreement does not make the agreement valid under the law, says Yasir Billoo of Golden & Grimes LLP. Beware of these issues before you require an employee to sign an agreement that may turn out to be unenforceable later.
The Learning Curve: Your Company’s Only Sustainable Competitive Advantage And How To Develop It
Old-school competitive advantages that depend on all-knowing leaders and better mousetraps are dead. In today’s competitive, rapidly evolving global marketplace, says Professor Edward D. Hess, the only way to develop and sustain a competitive advantage is to create a “learning organization.” Here, Hess explains what that means and shares four key points to keep in mind as your company makes the transition.