Business

Top 5 Ways To Lose A Customer

August 14, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

In the business world, there are too many things that can go wrong. You might as well not make things worse on yourself by not treating your customers the right way. It is really easy to be turned off as a customer, especially when there are a thousand other companies that do the same thing as you, but are a lot cooler about it. Here are my 5 favorite things that you could be doing to lose customers… So read them and stop doing them.

1. Having Inaccurate Data

As a company, customers are the most important thing for you. Without them, you actually have nothing. You can’t just call yourself a business and make money, people have to believe in you and your product. What happens when you don’t treat your customers right? Nothing. And Nothing is bad.

Your customers should always feel important. If you reach out to them with an email or something and get something simple like their name wrong, that is pretty offensive. Not only that, but it can make them feel like you don’t care enough about your company to even get simple things right. If you can’t get a name right, then how are they supposed to believe in your product or service? What about that are you going to mess up too?

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In order to run a successful business, you have to make sure every single customer feels important. Not only that, but you yourself have to know that they actually are important.

2. Not Maintaining A Relationship

Once you get done making your deal with your customer, that shouldn’t be the last you hear from them. It also shouldn’t be the last they hear from you. A lot of companies fail because of thinking that way. If you maintain a positive relationship with every new customer, that means you will always be on their mind to some extent. It is also way more likely that they will return to you for their future needs. This does, however, bring me to my next point…

3. Being Annoying

Yes, it’s important to maintain a relationship with your customers and clients. BUT… You don’t want to be the type of company who is constantly calling and trying to shove yourself down people’s throats. You can’t force people to spend money, and it’s really annoying to them to feel like they are being pressured. Nothing is wrong with giving them a little nudge in the right direction, but when that nudge becomes a push, they are going to avoid doing business with you at all.

Different age groups also prefer to be contacted and followed up with in different ways, so make sure you do a little bit of research first. It’s not hard to Google these things and find tons of studies on them. Younger customers prefer to get emails. They check them regularly and they go straight to their smartphones. Older customers probably hardly ever check their email, so sending them is just a waste of time. Instead, try sending out letters through snail mail.

4. Ignoring Them On Social Media

If you are a company, you either have a social media presence, or you’re going out of business soon. You need to either accept your client’s friend requests, follow them back, or whatever it may be that you do on that specific website. Most customers expect a response within an hour, and none of them really has any sympathy for a delayed response, even if it is a night or a weekend.

It would be silly not to do these things anyway. Social media gives you the best of everything. You get free marketing, you can always keep people updated on the latest news from your company, and you can gather very valuable information from anyone you are connected with on any social media site. Don’t be a fool, get the most out of it that you can.

5. Not Listening

It is not hard to see what people think about you, your products, your services, or anything about your company. People post online about pretty much everything. You’ll be able to see what people like, what they don’t like, anything. You can also use the internet to give surveys and gather analytics. Not listening to what your customers have to say is ridiculous. Not using negative survey feedback to your advantage is ridiculous. Instead of looking at negative comments and bad experiences as a negative thing in general that you should ignore… use it as a positive thing and give the people what they want. Your business should be alive (growing, changing, evolving) all the time. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of constructive criticism. At the end of the day, it just means more business.

Customers are the life force of any business and it is crucial that you keep these customers happy. These 5 things are surefire ways to lose valuable customers, which will certainly mean the downfall of your company. So, needless to say, avoid these things AT ALL COSTS!

Content originally published here

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The 2015 Boston Small Business Expo At A Glance!

July 13, 2015 by mluciano Leave a Comment

small business growth Whether you’re in the startup phase or a long-established company, the Small Business Expo has the right resources for you. They’re the nation’s largest business-to-business expo, and they’ve made it their mission to help small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve their business dreams. Their free, one-day expo offers invaluable insights and exclusive networking opportunities with a wide range of business-critical workshops, seminars, and presentations from top industry experts. If you’re looking to drive your business forward and take the next step to success, join them this year at their Boston expo location for this can’t miss event!

Develop business leads &new customers!
Network with peers in your industry!
Shop for new innovative products and & services!
Gain invaluable industry insights!

Are you looking for a display or monitor rental for the 2015 Boston Small Business Expo?

Why Should You Attend?

Every year, over 50,000 small business professionals and entrepreneurs across the country attend Small Business Expo to take their business to the next level. Join us in learning from the best and the brightest in the industry as you network with like-minded business professionals and learn strategies to advance your business.

WHERE:

Hynes Convention Center | Halls A & B
900 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02115

WHEN:

Thursday, October 8, 2015, from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM (PDT)

Are you looking attend this year’s event and searching for hotels in the Boston area? The Small Business Expo site has a list of travel accommodations, including parking options for the event. The site does offer discounts as well!

If you’re looking to register for this year’s event, registration is still FREE for the Boston location!

This content was originally published here.

*Rentacomputer.com is not affiliated with or in any way authorized by the 2015 Boston Small Business Expo. Rentacomputer.com is an independent nationwide technology rental provider and this information in no way implies affiliation to the event or venue described above.

How to Handle Rejection in Business

June 9, 2015 by Zack Duncan Leave a Comment

For a lot of people, hearing the word “no” a lot can really bring you down. Constant rejection can lead to a lack of self confidence, and really change the way you act and your personality. You might get so frustrated that you want to give up, BUT, that is pretty normal I suppose.

The correct thing to do though is to keep moving forward. Letting yourself fall into depression and having a lack of confidence isn’t the right answer, and it hurts you so much in the long run. Here are a few good ways to deal with hearing the word “no” in a business setting, cope with it and move on.

1.) Maintain Confident Body Language

There are a lot of different ways that this can help. If you are constantly getting rejected, it is certainly going to eat away at your self confidence. And when that happens, the best thing to do is to pretend like you are just as confident as always. If you project positivity and confidence with your body language, it actually starts to make you feel more confident. Not only that, but if you come at someone with a confident pose and putting off good energy then there is probably a good chance that you won’t end up getting rejected next time! See how that works? Stand up straight and look great.

2.) Surround Yourself with Supportive People

If you surround yourself with positive people, positive things will happen. If you surround yourself with successful people, you will find success. Think about it like this: there are plenty of people out there who think they are doing you favors by telling you to keep your goals realistic. Those people mean well, probably, but they are just sucking away your confidence and putting a damper on your dreams. You need people around you who are going to push you and keep you motivated. People who you can learn from and look up to. These people will give you all the reasons in the world to keep pushing forward. Plan B is an excuse for failure. You need friends who can keep you in that mindset.

3.) Don’t Give Up

One of the key things in any business is to stay persistent. Just because a deal didn’t go through or someone says “no” right now doesn’t mean that they won’t say “yes” next week. Take that “no” and learn from it. Focus on what it would take to make that into a “yes”. Always be thinking about how you can improve instead of only focusing on what you are doing wrong.

4. Get Rejected

This might sound stupid, but check it out: Everyone is going to get rejected at some point. And also, practice makes perfect. If you have the courage to put yourself out there enough times, even though you know you might get rejected, you are going to get really good at dealing with it.

5.) Never Forget Your Victories

This is one thing a lot of people don’t do. You have to stay positive and a good way to do that is to remember all of the good things that your business endeavors have brought to you. Be thankful, and look forward to the many victories that await you in the future.

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Rejection is one thing that everyone has to deal with in life. How you respond to that rejection is what separates you from being successful or being a failure. These tips will help you deal with those rejections so you can move forward on to your next success!

Content originally published here

Dallas Business Journal’s Best Places to Work Awards 2015

June 1, 2015 by Zack Duncan Leave a Comment

The 13th annual Best Place to Work Awards is a super high energy event thrown by the Dallas Business Journal on Thursday June 25th 2015. The event kicks off at 11:00 AM at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas and lasts until 2:00 in the afternoon. This year’s theme has to do with super heroes, and they ask that you wear your favorite super hero colors. There will even be an award for the company who brings the most spirit to the show, so you might as well go all out with the super hero thing.

The event agenda goes like this:

11:00am – 11:30am – Registration & networking
11:30am – 11:45am – Ballroom doors open, seating
11:45am – 11:55am – Opening remarks by Tracy Merzi, Publisher of the DBJ
11:55am – 12:15pm – Break for lunch service
12:15pm – 1:15pm – Best Places to Work Awards Presentation (official rankings announced!)
1:15pm – 1:30pm – Post-awards celebrations and networking

When you register for the event, you get to network with lots of different people, including executives from different companies who have created what are considered to be some of the best working environments ever. The whole event is basically to celebrate these companies in a huge way, so you get free noise makers when you get there, and even a free three course lunch. It is going to be about business, but there is going to be a ton of fun to be had. More so than your average business event.

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Registration is now open and there are two different ticket options available. The first is the Table Sponsor. According to the event, “Make out like Batman or Superman with a Table for 10 with premium reserved seating, 1/4 page full color ad in special section, company recognition on signage, on stage and in post-event thank you ad. Also includes 1 year subscription to the Dallas Business Journal.” The other ticket is the Single Standard Ticket, which basically just gets you in the door. The Table Sponsor Ticket will run you $4,500 per ticket with the single standard ticket costing $140 ($126 if you’re a DBJ subscriber).

The event takes place Thursday, June 25, 2015 from 11:00am to 2:00pm at the Fairmont Hotel Dallas located at 1717 N Akard St. Dallas TX 75201 with suggested dress including business casual or super hero gear.

Content originally published here

SMB Company Celebrates 25 Years

November 20, 2012 by John Beagle Leave a Comment

Headquartered at 6730 Roosevelt Ave, Middletown, Ohio 45005 [near Dayton and Cincinnati], Rentacomputer.com celebrates 25 years in the Technology Rental Industry. Rentacomputer.com works in over 1500 cities worldwide with hundreds of LOCAL installers and computer/av rental companies.

The president of the company is John Beagle. He along with Rose and David Morgan started the company on April 27, 1987. Rentacomputer’s first order was delivered to a defense contractor during the first week of May 1987.

In 1983, Gary Eiserman started a computer training company which ultimately became a computer rental company named, Rent-A-Computer, Inc. The computer industry was just getting started and Gary was operating in the Washington DC market. The company was originally a franchisee of Rent-A-Computer, Inc operating in Middletown, Ohio and servicing the Dayton-Wright-Patt Market. By 1989, CFR, Inc. dba Rent-A-Computer became an independent company with no franchise ties to the original company located in Bethesda, Maryland near Washington DC.

Above: Logo as it appeared in 1987.

Story Continues: Rent-A-Computer History

Top 10 Threats to SMB Data Security and Privacy

May 12, 2011 by brawlinmelgar 1 Comment

by Ann Noder of Pitch Public Relations

Without the benefits of a large scale IT department, many SMBs have to operate their critical software on computers that are old, slow, and insecure. myID.com has 10 real threats facing small businesses… and inexpensive or free ways to fix them. myID.com is a new service from SafetyWeb.com that protects personal information and shields from identity theft with real-time alerts. Here are the top 10 threats to business.

Top 10 Threats to Data Security and Privacy for SMBs:

1. Data Breach Resulting From Poor Networking Choices

Cisco. Sun. These are enterprise-level networking choices that are found in large IT departments around the world. The price tags, however, price small or medium business (SMB) out of the market. If these SMBs have networks at all, they may use networking devices targeted at home users. Some may forgo the use of routers at all, plugging directly into the Internet. SMB owners can block most threats by using a quality router, like a NETGEAR or Buffalo brand router and making sure to change the router password from the default.

2. Data Breach Resulting From Improper Shredding Practices

Dumpster diving identity thieves target businesses that throw out paperwork without shredding it. Most home shredders will suffice for small businesses in a pinch, but a commercial shredder is a wise investment if private information is printed and shredded daily.

3. Identity Theft Resulting From Public Databases

Individuals, especially SMB owners, often publish lots of information about themselves in public databases. SMBs are registered with the county clerk, telephone numbers are in the phone book, many individuals have Facebook profiles with their address and date of birth. Many identity thieves can use information searchable publicly to construct a complete identity.

4. Identity Theft Resulting from Using a Personal Name Instead of Filing a DBA

Sole-proprietors that do not take the time to file a Doing Business As application are at a far higher risk of identity theft due to their personal name, rather than their SMB business names, being published publicly.

5. Tax Records Theft Around Tax Time

SMBs must ensure that tax returns are dropped off at the post office and refunds are collected promptly from the mailbox. Identity thieves often steal tax returns from an outbox or mailbox.

6. Bank Fraud Due To Gap in Protection or Monitoring

SMB owners know that it is vital to balance their accounts every month to ensure that checks are not being written out of business funds by embezzlers, but many SMBs rarely, if ever, check what kind of credit accounts have been opened under the business name. Monitoring services like myID.com can alert SMB owners when new credit accounts are opened fraudulently.

7. Poor E-mailing Standards

Many SMBs treat e-mails as confidential communications, but this is far from the case. They are available to a number of people other than the recipient. It’s more appropriate to treat e-mails as postcards, rather than sealed letters.

8. Failing to Choose a Secure Password

In fact, many security experts are recommending the use of a pass phrase, rather than a pass word. Pass phrases are several words long, at least three, and are far more secure than passwords. A pass phrase like “friday blue jeans” can be typed far quicker than a complicated password, and it doesn’t need to be written down on a post-it.

9. Not Securing New Computers or Hard Drives

SMBs that had their IT system professionally installed may opt to upgrade a computer or two by themselves. This is strongly discouraged on a business network, as new computers must be professionally secured or else they pose a serious threat and an entry point for hackers.

10. Social Engineering

Social engineers are individuals that call and claim they are from another organization. They may even claim to be with a firm that a SMB owner does business with. If someone you do not know calls on the phone, be sure that it is the person you think it is before revealing passwords or confidential information.

Find out what is going on in the Tech Army World.

What are the Top 10 Money Making Missions?
What other companies have joined and what do they do?

How do I join the Tech Army Organization ?

If You Can’t Find A Job, Try Creating One

August 3, 2010 by Etha Walters Leave a Comment

Cheese!

It seems that everyone is trying to stretch a penny these days, and for small businesses that can lead to cutbacks or layoffs. Losing a job in a recession is a devastating thing, especially when jobs are scarce. Unemployment will only last for so long and the bills keep coming in. Statistics show that there are 6 unemployed people to every available job. In small towns it can be as many as 20 unemployed to each available position. So what is a person to do?

If you are one of those many Americans who are having trouble finding a job, how about creating your own? This isn’t a strange idea in the face of a recession. Micro-businesses are businesses that have 10 people or less and over half of small businesses in the United States are home based. According to Startupnation, you can not only survive, but thrive in this economy.

Inc Magazine printed a story about CEO Paul Mann who was looking for a responsible dog sitter in a bind. After taking some observations of the people who responded to his ad, he felt a little discouraged in finding someone he could trust. That is when a light went on in Paul Mann’s head. He ended up leaving his corporate position for the comforts of working from home and started Fetch! Pet Care, a local network of pet sitters and dog walkers. If you asked him today if he would go back out into the world of glass doors and windows, his answer would be a very enthusiastic “no!”

The advantages of a home business include low over-head, tax deductions, shoe-string start up capabilities, and you can work in your pajamas. All you need is a phone line, high-speed internet, a place to keep records and a really great idea for a product or service that people need even if there is an economic downturn. While no one will tell you that starting a home business is easy, with a little research and a lot of hard work you might be able to give yourself a job.

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So What Does Obama Care Mean for Small Business?

March 24, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Be careful little hands what you do!

Congress last night enacted President Obama’s sweeping healthcare plan, but like many things congress didn’t consider all the details. The idea was to assist small business and individual Americans in purchasing healthcare, what it will end up doing is slow and reduce hiring in the future.

The president’s plan is number driven: business from x amount of employees to y amount of employees pay z much toward healthcare, or if they do not, they are fined w amount. This was a fair idea if American company’s personnel strategy was still to hire employees, but frankly, they missed the boat. Instead of hiring marginal employees, companies will either do without the marginal hire or use temps and/or contractors to do the job. Furthermore, with all of the job quota entanglements (and they still are out there), a business owner will have to consider if he or she is going to break a certain healthcare number threshold. Business owners are going to pay very close attention especially if they are near the 50 employee point and this creates a very discomforting scenario.

Suppose a business is at 49 employees and it needs to hire a transportation manager. Looking through the list of employees, there is the transportation secretary who has been a very good employee, but is a secretary. What should the business owner do? Well, the smart thing (but brutal thing) to do is fire/layoff/RIF the secretary and hire the transportation manger; addition by subtraction is going to be rampant! Who will get hurt? The people the president was most trying to help, average hard working Americans! Of course, the secretary might be advised that she can “contract” her old job back with xyz temporary service. What a crock! Of course, xyz temporary service will also have to consider the numbers game, but that leads to some brutal consequences as well. How long can you be a contractor/temp before you are automatically switched out (again to duck the numbers game)?

Also, just how hard is it to start a company as a separate legal entity? A business owner can start an LLC in about 2 days, and a small corporation, like a chapter S, does not take much longer. Remember each of these legal business entities are totally separate “persons.” Therefore the employee counter starts all over again. So too, cost center accounting has been around for years, and each department bills other departments for the work it does. For example, customer service bills sales for processing its orders. How hard would it be to create separate companies, each one under 10 or 25 employees?

Lastly, some companies are just not going to go through the aggravation of the numbers game, and will move some parts of their company off shore. More jobs lost for more Americans, I seem to be recalling which road that it is that’s paved with good intentions…

What Kind of Employee Are You?

March 23, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Usually this blog has a viewpoint from an ownership perspective, but in the final analysis we all work for ourselves-no matter the deal we’ve cut with our employer. So, it’s good from time to time to evaluate just what kind of employee are you? There are certainly some very fine lines being drawn (even though HR managers and agency counselors tend to deny it). I think for myself I have narrowed it down to 5 types of employee, and only one of these types is desirable. The five types are: highly valued employee, temporary employee, contract employee, casual hire employee, and disposable (planned short time) employee. In these uncertain economic times, it’s good to figure out just where you stand.

The highly valued employee is someone who may have been recruited off campus or military. The company might have gone through an executive search firm and paid big money to bring this person into the business. These people are expected to provide leadership, management, and specialized skills. If recruited out of school they might have been offered top wages and the “fast track.” If this is not you, I must sadly ask you to read on. If this is you, terrific and congratulations!

The temporary employee has really only one advantage, they know that they are temporary. This gives a “temp” a lot of flexibility. Turn over for temps is extremely high and work quality is usually fair at best. (Yes, I know there are some temps that get in and do a superb job, but they are the exception to the rule-and this is becoming more prevalent). Agency Counselors have tried to improve the level of work by often stating or insinuating that this job is/could be temporary to permanent (temp to perm), but experienced temps have become very inquisitive about this situation. Before I started a new assignment I always went over this with the company when they asked if I had any questions. “Is it correct that this job could become permanent?” Boy, listen to the company back track! If they do, you should suspect that your counselor might be engaged in a little “puffery.” If however, the company lays out a plan for your hire (assuming all goes well both for yourself and the company-and it is budgeted), then you just might have a temp to perm position, if this is not the case, keep sending out your resume’ and doing interviews, (even during work time), because your life expectancy is short as a temp.

Contract employees generally fill a very specific niche in a company’s employment structure, and are generally contracted to do a certain job function for a certain length of time (the due date). Almost always these personnel contribute specific business expertise or knowledge. These people are generally treated fairly well (unlike temp’s who can really be treated poorly). Unlike temps, contractors generally do a very professional job, but most “have been around the block a few times.” Contractors will sometimes speed up or slow down a particular job to suit their own needs (I know, I did it-and I was not alone, in fact very far from being alone). This happens especially with a “soft due date.” On the other hand, there can be problems if a “hard due date” is assigned, and then it is extended since contract employees are always looking for their next contract position. Companies have had contractors leave right before a huge project is due!

The casual hire is a person that generally works for a company part time with limited benefits. They must not exceed a certain number of hours or be considered full time (and offered health care benefits and retirement plans). Since these employees are offered very little, turn over is very high. The goal of most casual hire employees is to find a full time job somewhere (else). From the company’s viewpoint, these employees can be added or subtracted as business dictates.

The most recent type of employee is the short time hire (or disposable employee). These people work directly for the company, but what they don’t know is that they have a limited shelf life. What the company gets is more loyalty and better work quality, but they pay more for it-briefly. This situation usually happens when a part of a company-say the credit /collection/AR department is moved from one part of the country or another. Millions of dollars of receivables are transferred to a different location, and more personnel are hired to handle the in flow of receivables. After this business is mastered (and it might take 18 months to 2 years), there wont be a need for so many A/R type people, so the company may (or may not) keep the best, and lay off the rest.

It’s good to know who and what you are to your company. Going back to the macro-view of this blog, America has lost some of its appeal around the world for producing the best quality and most innovative products at the lowest possible prices. President Obama has stated many times that it is his great desire to return this prestige to America. Well, Mr. President let me clue you in on one thing. America is never going return to prominence as long as we remain a nation of temps, contractors, casual, and short time hires.

How to improve your businesses commercial credit appeal

March 10, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

How to improve your businesses commercial credit appeal

So how can your business increase its credit appeal to other business from which you want trade credit terms? The best way is simply to make it easy for the Credit Manager or Credit Analyst to say yes. As was mentioned before paying your invoices on time is an important step, but there are other factors as well. Part of these relate to how important a particular supplier is to your business. Let me give an example:

Suppose you set up a small manufacturing business selling (you hope) the world famous “Whoitz.” In order to make the “Whoitz” you must have parts for it which mainly consist of the “Whatitz”, the “Wigget”, and the “Watchyamacallit.” Suppose a freight company who you contacted to ship your “Whoitz” wants to do investigate your credit. If all you list on your trade references are such businesses as office supply, quick printers, and the like-these are called weak references. They are not major or vital business partners and could be fairly easily changed if there was a problem. The person analyzing your credit wants to know how you pay your major suppliers-this is called the payment hierarchy and for your business, the suppliers of “Whatitz”, ” “Wigget,” and “Watchyamacallit” will stand first in the payment line because their products are vital. A company supplying paper and pencils will be at the end of the line and seasoned credit people know this. A perspective supplier will try to predict where his company will stand in the payment line, so when its time to pay bills, make sure your major suppliers, and other vital services like power and light, stand first in line. This makes financial sense.

You may also have a sheet of credit references prepared: printed, faxable, and E-mailable. As was mentioned in another article, you have already started building a business relationship with your major trade credit people and your business banker. Everything from a credit standpoint is in order and easily found, and in a professionally provided format. This makes your business appealing to a credit person, and makes it more likely that they will grant your credit terms request.