Great Ideas for your Small Business: Take This Quick Customer Service Quiz Take this customer service quiz to find out whether you are treating your customers the way you, yourself, would like to be treated. Do you really know who your customers are and whether you are responsive to their changing needs? If you are … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Sell Products Online After some internet security–related cold feet, consumers seem to have become more comfort- able shopping online, so it’s time to figure out if you, too, should be selling via the World Wide Web. The Commerce Department reported in November 2001 that e-commerce sales continued to grow … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Use E-Fax Rather than eliminating paperwork, personal computers generate massive piles of paper. Sure, we e-mail files around the world, but most of us then print out a copy and stick it in a file somewhere. Still, the main advantage of using electronic mail to transmit information is that … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Protect Your Business Data and Records Before disaster strikes, spend some time figuring out how to protect your business records and computer data. The first step is to make sure your customer database, payroll records, bank records, and tax information are all duplicated and safely stored off site. Details … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Buy a High-Tech Postage Meter The days of lugging a heavy postage meter to the post office for a refill are over. On March 31, 1999, the U.S. Postal Service outlawed the mechan- ical postage meters used by most small businesses. The Postal Service’s decision to phase out the … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Computerize Your Service Business Before veteran tailor and dry cleaner yoon Lim bought the Manor Cleaners in Pelham Manor, New York, whenever I forgot my yellow dry cleaning receipt, I had to sign my name in a worn spiral note- book to confirm that I had collected my clothes. … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Create a Website Creating your own website is a complex and demanding project that can cost you money instead of making you money – if you don’t do it right. Before you plan your site, determine whether you can afford to create and maintain it. You can’t just put … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Scan Your Business Cards Your rolodex is a gold mine, but flipping through it and keeping it up-to-date is a hassle. Insurance broker Richard Butwin, of Great Neck, New York, said his greatest idea was to buy a Card-Scan system. Through the miracles of modern technology, you pop a … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Use a Digital Camera for Your Website One summer, john and betsy powell, owners of Salt Marsh Pottery, skipped the Atlanta gift trade show they had attended for years. It just didn’t seem worth spending $8,000 to participate in the show, which generated only $16,000 worth of orders. Still, … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Perform a Technology Checkup With the cost of technology plummeting, there’s no excuse not to have the best hardware and software available. The right technology not only makes your life easier, but it also boosts employee morale and productivity and improves customer service. One way to figure out exactly … Read more
