Great Ideas for your Small Business: Get to Know Your Customers Personally One of the benefits of owning a small business is being able to get to know your customers, suppliers, and vendors. When you meet people, jot down a few personal notes on the back of their business cards or on Rolodex cards. Ask … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Demand Great Service from Vendors David gumpert, an author, journalist, and website wizard, gave me a great idea when we met in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Small Business Week a few years ago. When he’s negotiating with new suppliers or vendors that he wants to do business with, he … Read more
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: 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: 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
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Take Advantage of an Online Technology Marketplace Licensing new technology to other companies is a win-win scenario for everyone involved. Corporations invested $187 billion in research and development in 2001, according to the Battelle Memorial Institute, and selling licenses and collecting royalties is one way to earn back that … Read more
Great Ideas for your Small Business: Train Your Employees Online In the rush to upgrade computers and buy new software, many business owners forget that people need to be taught how to use the software before they can begin to be more productive. Employees can lose up to three weeks of work time tackling computer … Read more
