Business Operations

Customer loyalty programs work big time for big companies but small business owners are often deterred from developing one because of worries about how much it would cost or how difficult it would be to organize and manage. As a matter of fact, the very same principles that keep customers coming back to big companies can be utilized to develop a small business scale loyalty program without a lot of cost and drama.

Make customers feel like ‘members’

Creating a ‘club’ that provides special incentives to members is one of the best ways to retain customers. This approach works because it is based on the primal human need to ‘belong’ to something - especially where belonging also makes us feel we are being treated as special.

Who gets to be a member? A customer loyalty program based on membership should convey a feeling of privilege for those selected so it can’t be open to all and sundry. Customers may qualify for membership either by purchasing their entrée or by dint of their past support and loyalty.

General Nutrition Centers, a specialty retailer of vitamins and supplements, offers a Gold Card membership program that provides discounts on products, personalized mailings and email on health related topics, product news and exclusive offers. GNC found that they could even use their program to actively iron out lows in their sales pattern by offering a special discount on sales made on Tuesday, traditionally their slowest sales day. continue

Contractors will find this article which summarizes the requirements and deadlines for mechanic’s liens very useful.

There are three basic requirements to preserve, maintain, and enforce mechanic’s lien rights for California projects. Following is an outline of those three requirements.

Requirement Number 1: Preserving your lien rights by serving a California 20-day preliminary notice

The California 20-Day Preliminary Notice form (aka “preliminary notice”) preserves a lien claimant’s (the person or entity who claims the mechanic’s lien) lien rights on a construction project when the notice is timely served by the lien claimant.

The notice MUST be served by the lien claimant (unless the lien claimant was hired directly by the property owner, in which case the contract between the claimant and the property owner serves as the notice) or the lien claimant will not have any lien rights.

The notice should be served no later than 20 days after the lien claimant first provides any benefit to the property, because the notice preserves lien rights for no more than 20 days prior to the date the notice is served through the completion of the contract.

If this deadline is not met, the preliminary notice should still be served as soon as possible thereafter, as the preliminary notice will still preserve lien rights for all benefits provided starting with the day that fell 20 days prior to the date of service of the preliminary notice. continue

In the fiscal year 2004-2005, 1,423,097 civil lawsuits were filed in California. Given those statistics, odds are that many businesses will end up in court sooner or later. For those of you who have not had this misfortune, here are six crucial basics you should know about what to do—and not do—within the first thirty days of being sued.

First, gracefully accept the packet of papers (called a “summons and complaint”) from the process server. Although the natural tendency is to try to avoid the process server, such sneaky tactics inevitably lead to greater headaches later on.

Second, you ought to notify your legal counsel immediately upon receipt of the lawsuit. You only have a short period of time—thirty days—in which to file responsive papers with the court. Failure to respond within the time limit can result in the court entering a default, and eventually, a judgment, against you. Moreover, an early consultation will give your attorney sufficient time to evaluate whether a demurrer—i.e. a motion to dismiss the lawsuit—should be filed. There may not be time to prepare such a motion if you don’t get around to notifying counsel until weeks after you first receive the lawsuit.

A natural tendency is to hold off notifying counsel as long as possible in the hope of avoiding legal fees. Often this turns out to be like avoiding going to the doctor until you get really sick. Early treatment is better. Likewise, competent counsel can cooperate in minimizing fees, while at the same time providing technical advice that can go a long way in cutting the case short—by far the best way to curtail fees.

Third, review your insurance policies for potential coverage for the claim. Don’t conclude the claim is not covered until you and your counsel have carefully reviewed the policy language. If the claim is potentially covered, it is important to notify the insurance company immediately. Insurance companies will often refuse to pay litigation fees and costs incurred before notice of suit is given.

Fourth, be prepared to take immediate steps to investigate the claims raised in the lawsuit and to secure evidence that will support your defense. Primarily, this relates to documents and witnesses. Oftentimes, this is simply a matter of gathering all relevant documents—contracts, invoices, letters, emails, etc. Do not, under any circumstances, destroy or alter documents. Invariably, such conduct is discovered and then viewed in court as the equivalent of guilt, even where the documents in question were marginally relevant. It is equally important to identify all witnesses to the matters raised in the lawsuit. Conducting early interviews, and perhaps obtaining written statements, will avoid the problems of fading memories or missing witnesses. Witness tampering in any form should of course be avoided. Many a defense has met disaster over trivial discrepancies in witness testimony that arose simply because the defendant thought he could be clever by “improving” his story.

Fifth, work with your attorney early on to evaluate your potential liability and formulate a litigation strategy that fits the nature of the case. Is the lawsuit frivolous or are you facing potential liability? Is the dollar amount at stake large or small? Is the evidence at hand helpful or harmful? Come up with a plan that fits the nature of the case. You won’t want to plan a vicious legal battle where the amount at stake is small. You won’t want to take a casual approach where a significant percentage of your company’s assets are at stake. Early evaluation and planning will assure that the most effective approach is used.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, consider early resolution of the case. Often times, settlement within the first thirty days of a lawsuit is not possible due to time constraints, the amount at stake, or lack of information. Nevertheless, early exploration of settlement opportunities is the best way to control the outcome of the case and minimize legal costs.

The article presented herein is intended as a brief overview of the law and is not intended to substitute as legal advice. Any questions or concerns regarding any statute or case law should be addressed to a licensed attorney.

by Justin French, Perfect Integration - Small Business Computer Consultants

Viruses usually spread in one of three ways: from floppy disks and other media; from downloads off the Internet or certain websites; and from email attachments.

Although most people believe viruses usually spread via the Internet or through email, floppy disks and other storage media, like Zip disks, spread many of the most common viruses. Always scan disks and other media — even new shrink-wrapped software — for viruses before installing any program or opening any file. Also make sure you write-protect any disk you loan out so it can’t be infected by other machines. Perfect Integration suggests storing data on pen drives instead of floppy drives. Floppy drives go bad and become de-magnetized very easily and can cost thousands of dollars to recover data from them. Perfect integration also suggests remote backup, to secure your data off-site should a disaster take place.

Although the Internet gets a bad rap as a source of viruses, you’re no more likely to contract a virus from the Web than you are from packaged software. Still, scan everything you download, and update your antivirus software regularly. Perfect Integration is working with new virus software called Nod32 that will be available at the end of this month! Check your virus software subscription to see when it expires, and get a technician in today to switch you over to nod32. It runs more efficiently on older systems then Norton Antivirus. I highly recommend it!

Email is not the virus breeding ground it’s made out to be, either. In fact, it’s nearly impossible for a virus to be transmitted by plain-text email. Most viruses can only spread via attachments — either rich-text email or attached applications. Using antivirus software, scan attachments from people you know, and never open attachments from people you don’t. If you’re a Microsoft Outlook user, you can also select security preferences that keep email-borne viruses from exploiting the close relationship between Outlook and the Windows operating system.

These precautions will minimize the risk of infecting your computer as well as keep you from spreading viruses onto others. For more information please visit our website.

Smaller enterprises are at the greatest risk from fraud, particularly from within the organization. They’re the least likely to have dedicated security personnel, and most likely to lack adequate internal systems and controls to prevent fraud. You can minimize your exposure to fraud by learning how it’s perpetrated in businesses like yours. There are also policies you should put in place to prevent fraud from occurring. We’ll start with the two most common types of fraud, fake invoicing and cheating on expense accounts.

Fake invoicing

These common frauds are usually along the lines of an employee sending his own company a false invoice which is approved for payment. The employee receives payment that is thought to have gone to a legitimate supplier. The employee simply sets up a company as the fraudulent supplier, establishes a bank account for that business, and then begins sending invoices to his employer.

Frequently the employee has signature authority over the invoices that are sent, so approval is easily accomplished! It’s also possible that the employee is working corruptly with another employee to get the invoices approved. In any event, the company pays for something it never received.

There are variations to this type of fraud in which goods are actually supplied but the ‘vendor’ (the employee’s company) is overpaid for what is delivered. There are also instances where a third party colludes with the employee to overcharge for goods and refund a portion of the price to the employee.

Expense account frauds

In any business there are likely to be a number of employees with the authority to incur expenses on behalf of the company for which they will be reimbursed. These can vary from insignificant amounts, such as for postage and stationery items, all the way up to airfares and accommodation costs for sales staff.

Expense account cheating usually takes the form of wrongly describing the expense incurred or overstating it. Some expenses may have never happened, or were for personal use and not business related at all. Because it’s fairly easy these days to create ‘dummy’ invoices on a home PC, simply having a receipt doesn’t necessarily prove that expenditure actually took place. It’s also possible to copy a genuine invoice and increase the amount or change the details on it.

Well administered policies are the best defense

Fraud is difficult to prevent and often very hard to detect. The best way to combat workplace fraud in a smaller enterprise is to have suitable policies in place and to unfailingly enforce them.

To deter employees from submitting fake invoices, payments should never be made to suppliers that aren’t approved by the owner, nor should a sudden increase in the amounts purchased from any supplier be allowed to happen without a valid reason.

All suppliers should be qualified before any orders are placed with them or payments made to them. This includes having full details of ownership and trading references that verify a history for the business.

Expense account frauds aren’t easy to stop, but once again having appropriate policies and enforcing them will help reduce the possibility of fraudulent claims being submitted. The most basic policy is to pay only for expenses supported by original receipts; photocopies or reprints should never be allowed.

Review the amounts of all expenses and be alert for overcharging or duplication. Be aware of every employee’s responsibilities and their need to incur expenses to meet them. If an employee’s claims show a sudden increase, be sure to query them for the reason as quickly as possible. Experience shows that if they get away with a fraudulent claim once, they’ll almost surely try it again.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc.

by Justin French, Perfect Integration - Small Business Computer Consultants

Implementing these tips will help prolong the life of your computer

Like most people, I bet you’re pretty careful about maintaining your car. You change the oil every 3,000 miles, fill up your gas tank when it’s down to one- quarter full, and bring your car to the dealership every 7,500 miles for a thorough tune-up.

Yet if you’re like most small businesses, you do absolutely nothing to maintain your PC until the bloody thing crashes. “Most computer crashes are the result of very silly things that can be prevented,” says one small business owner in Carlsbad CA. “If I buy a computer the same day as you, and it is exactly the same computer, and we both utilize it for a period of one year, and I conduct the 8 steps and you do not, my PC will run more efficiently, and I will be twice as productive - GUARANTEED, says French”

Here’s a checklist of eight things you should frequently do to maintain your PC. I strongly recommend you print out this column and tape it on your computer monitor where you can see it every day. Note: The following applies only to PCs using Microsoft Windows operating systems.

1. Delete your deleted items. If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express as your e-mail program, you have two folders called “Sent Items” and “Deleted Items.” The “Deleted Items” folder contains copies of all e-mail messages you’ve deleted from your Inbox, while the “Sent Items” folder contains copies of all e-mail messages you’ve sent or forwarded. You should go through these files every week, save the ones you absolutely need, and delete the rest. French says he recently worked with a client who had more than 10,000 messages in these folders and couldn’t understand why his PC was operating so slowly.

2. Toss your cookies. Your PC keeps copies of every Web page you’ve ever viewed in a “Temporary Internet Files” folder, while a separate “Cookies” folder contains programs that help marketers track you down. You don’t need these files, and they can take up an awful lot of space. Delete them weekly.

3. Delete your “Temp” files. These are files that end in “.tmp” that French says can easily be found by searching your computer for “*.tmp.” Also delete them weekly.

4. Reboot your computer frequently. Most people start their PCs in the morning and keep them on all day (and sometimes all night). French says most problems can be solved from re-booting. Rebooting your PC at the beginning and in the middle of the day will recover system resources so the computer will work more efficiently sometimes.

5. Defrag, defrag, defrag. When your PC puts stuff onto the hard drive, it does it in random sequence. As a result, you often end up with little bits and pieces of programs scattered throughout your computer’s hard drive. While usually harmless, French says these bits and pieces “can be a little bit like space debris; they’re small and widely scattered, but if one gets in the way while you’re downloading a new program, there can be trouble.” Your PC has a “defrag” (short for “defragmenting”) program that organizes all these pieces of data. French says you should use it at least once a month, “more often if you’re running low on free disk space,” but points out that if you have less than 25 percent of your hard drive free, it may be difficult to defrag the drive. Warning: If you haven’t “defragged” in a while, running this program can take a few hours.

6. Run ScanDisk. You should run Windows’ “ScanDisk” program at least once a month. “ScanDisk is extremely thorough,” says French, “because it looks at every single file on your computer’s hard drive, decides if it’s necessary, finds a place for it if it is necessary, and deletes it if it isn’t.” French warns that running ScanDisk in “Thorough” mode can take several hours. “I tell clients who haven’t used ScanDisk in a long time to run it right before they go to bed; the program will usually be finished by the morning,” says French.

7. Dust. Finally, French says you should eliminate as much dust as possible from your computer. At least twice a year, you should:

• dust and vacuum your computer keyboard and monitor;
• remove the trackball from your mouse and blow out any dust

“Dirt and dust tend to make the computer’s temperature rise, which can damage the processor. Dirt can also create short circuits, especially in the power supply.”

8. Don’t forget to do your Windows Updates! Microsoft Windows software lets users know in the lower right-hand corner of the desktop when new updates are available for installation. You should stay on top of these. These are critical updates from Microsoft that fixes vulnerabilities that are discovered on a regular basis from their engineers.

Perfect Integration offers Scheduled maintenance of the 8 steps for a reasonable cost for small businesses that want to focus more on their business and less on their PCs!

Request our FREE REPORT on how to cut computer service costs by 25% and increase productivity in your business by 25% in the first year!

Surveys of customers can be very revealing, even indicating danger areas for your organization. This article summarizes findings from some recent surveys that show just what customers dislike the most about their interactions with businesses.

When they’re on the premises

There’s one thing that customers dislike more than anything else – employees who are busily conversing with each other and just ignore them. This is unforgivable and also very likely to cost the business a sale because the customer usually leaves and takes her business elsewhere. Whether the business is a retailer or a restaurant, customers intensely dislike being confronted by a salesperson who’s having a bad day and showing it. The customer’s perception of the business plummets and most never return, even after just one such experience.

Another real dislike is to be served by someone who’s chewing gum or eating something. It’s unattractive at best and reflects poorly on the business. Even breath mints should be sucked only while out of view of customers.

The use of industry jargon is viewed as being condescending and a means of trying to make the customer look stupid or uninformed. It intimidates all but the most knowledgeable of customers and should be avoided unless the customer has already asked a question using a particular ‘buzz phrase’.

Telephone troubles

Customers really dislike being put on hold during a call without being asked first – just telling them “Hold a minute please” and then transferring to the on-hold music is not the right way to handle it. The best way to deal with this situation is to ask the customer if they mind waiting for a few seconds while the other call is answered, then promise them that you’ll be back quickly. It’s also very much disliked when the person they have reached goes away to take another call and doesn’t return for several minutes.

Regardless of how polite the employee is when putting a customer on hold, it should only happen once. Going away repeatedly to take other calls is seen as rude and a sign that the customer is not valued by the business. Asking the customer to call back later “when we’re not so busy” is another definite turn-off. Instead, ask when it would be convenient for you to call the customer back, and then take down their contact details.

Even customers who start by telling you they have called to complain about something, or who are obviously irate and aggressive, don’t deserve to be hung up on – they are only going to be twice as irate when they call back to complain about that as well! One of the important things team members, particularly those who deal with customers on a regular basis, should be trained in is a telephone technique for how to handle difficult customers.

Customers also dislike the feeling that they’re being ‘screened’. If they ask to speak with the CEO and that person’s not available then they should be advised that the CEO is “with someone” or out of the office and then asked by the person taking the call if he/she can be of assistance. The worst thing to do is to launch into a series of questions that sounds like the customer’s being evaluated to see if they’re worthy of being put through to the person they’ve asked for.

No reply

And finally, a customer dislike that’s right out of the electronic age. So many people use the Internet for gathering information that it’s become a highly valuable sales support channel. Many websites offer a facility for submitting requests for information and are thereby making a promise to supply it. According to one study, nearly half of online companies either don’t reply at all or respond with incorrect or inappropriate information.

It’s up to you and your managers to be sure none of these customer-killers are happening in your place of business. Remember that only about ten percent of dissatisfied customers will ever complain to you – but they’ll tell everyone they know about why they’re unhappy with your business.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Loyal customers have to be created. This can take some time and effort but the ROI can be immense. “Not only do loyal customers provide incredibly valuable referrals, they also generate word of mouth that simply can’t be bought through advertising,” says Roger Hallowell, assistant professor at Harvard Business School.

When a customer buys from you it’s a signal that you have something they want. They’ve responded to the value proposition you offer and there’s immediate potential to create a relationship with lasting value for both of you. How can you do this with the greatest possible number of customers?

Review your value proposition

Your value proposition must appeal to your customers to create and retain their loyalty. Their perceptions of value change, depending on factors such as the economy, fashion trends and even seasonal variations. Regularly review the value proposition you’re offering your customers and relate every element of it to enhancing the relationships you have. An ability and willingness to change is essential to having a marketable value proposition.

Study your customers

Every customer is unique; each will respond to a different set of approaches and satisfactions. You should study your customers closely. Talk to them and get to know them so you can deliver what it is they want. Learn to identify and cater for the customers with long term prospects and then work hard to satisfy their needs. You may find that you could serve them better by modifying your trading hours or by making payment of invoices possible over the Internet. If you really get to know them you’ll find out these things and be able to capitalize on the knowledge.

Create team loyalty

When the team members of a business feel genuine loyalty towards their employer they’re much more inclined to provide customers with personalized service that gets them back. It’s a feeling of familiarity that transmits itself from your people to the people they serve.

Don’t depend on ‘salesmanship’

Today’s customers recognize most sales techniques for what they are and are likely to be put off by them. They want to formulate their own opinions and not be told what they like or don’t like. Adopt a service approach; be ready to assist the customer in making decisions and provide answers to their questions. Treat them as individuals and make it easy for them to buy from you.

Anticipate and overcome problems

Work with your team to eliminate potential sources of customer dissatisfaction, and if you notice any signs that someone’s unhappy be proactive and leap in first with a solution. Make it really easy for them to tell you what’s wrong, and then resolve the issue as quickly as possible. When customers aren’t happy with your business they usually don’t complain to you – instead, they’ll complain to just about everyone else they know. Its better that they tell you first.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

The positions in most small to medium businesses have evolved into their present form rather than having been created with specific objectives and duties. This means that the roles of team members often overlap or don’t incorporate everything the person could be doing. A thorough review of each position will clarify these vital details and put your business in a position to run more efficiently. The review should be done in conjunction with the person in the position so that both of you gain a clearer understanding of the role and its responsibilities.

Tasks of the position

Begin by making a simple list of all tasks each employee does – ‘answer telephones’, ‘purchase stationery’, ‘collect mail’ and so on. For each task list the outcomes that the work is to accomplish. Be as comprehensive as possible and ask why each task contributes to the functioning of the business. ‘Answering telephones’ makes a contribution to sales, to accounts, to public relations and frees up managers to spend their time more effectively. Then create a brief outline about how each task is performed:

• Is it performed manually or with the use of equipment?
• Is it performed independently or with the assistance of someone else in the office?
• Is it required to be performed at specific times of the day?
• How much time does it take each time the task is performed?
• What skills are required for completing the task?

Priority of each task

Assign each task a level of importance according to its contribution to the business. Use only three classifications:

• Essential – the business will not survive unless this task is done
• Valuable – contributes to the functioning of the business but not essential to its survival
• Nonessential – if the task was not performed it would have no effect on the business

This requires some sensitivity to people’s feelings as everyone thinks that what they do is important. Duties such as picking up the owner’s dry cleaning or collecting money for a weekly lottery entry may be part of somebody’s responsibilities but contribute nothing to the business.

Document the essential tasks

Prepare a ‘how to’ step-by-step manual for performing each essential task in the business. As you do this, go through every step and ask whether this is the best way to do it or if there is a way to improve it. If the person now performing a task leaves the business it will be much simpler to bring a new person up to speed because you’ll have a written procedure they can follow.

Examine the valuable tasks

Tasks that are considered valuable deserve closer examination. Each should be analyzed to answer the following questions:

1. Should this function be performed by someone else in the business?
2. Are the outcomes of the task the same as another task that is being performed?
3. Is the task being performed at the optimum time of day?
4. Is the equipment being used appropriate for the task?
5. If the task is performed with others, are you using the best combination of team members?
6. Is too much time being spent on the task?

There are a number of tasks that are valuable to a business but could be handled in a way that adds more value. If the person doing the task is struggling then consider training them up or reassigning the task; or perhaps they’re being performed inefficiently because the wrong equipment is being used; or maybe they are just being done in a way that consumes too much time.

Eliminate the nonessential tasks

The final step in your review is to eliminate any nonessential tasks. This will free up team members’ time for better performance of their other duties and for new tasks that may have been put aside because there wasn’t time for them.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc

Businesses grow by increasing the amount of work they perform. Unfortunately, this can really create extra problems for a business that doesn’t have the resources to handle the new work - especially a small firm where the workload is already evenly distributed and everyone already has enough to do.

Once you become aware that this sort of situation has developed you have to take immediate action to avoid, among other things, deterioration in your work standards and in your relationship with the team. But no matter whether you recognize the difficulties early or late, there’s a straightforward procedure for addressing the issues and getting workplace relations back to normal.

Call a team meeting

Call a meeting of everyone involved in the project. Give them an outline of where things are up to and any other information you think might be of interest to them. Go ahead and acknowledge the fact that problems are being encountered and that this meeting recognizes that and is about finding a workable solution.

Now ask for a report from each team member about their current workload - not just on the project but for everything else they are responsible for doing as well. Often new work is begun without any consideration of just how much leeway there is among the current team to take it up and incorporate it along with all the things they already do.

This will provide you with some idea of where you will need extra assistance and how much of it.

Ask for suggestions

When you’ve got a clear picture of the situation ask your team members for their suggestions as to how the project’s requirements can be met as well as making sure all the other workload needs are satisfied. There’s probably some catching-up to do and extra support may initially be needed.

Get a consensus on the final decision

You’ve already accepted ownership of the problem so make sure the solution is one that everyone agrees with. Workshop the possible answers to every problem until you get a consensus that the course of action chosen will fix the problems and will be acceptable to all parties concerned.

Act quickly to implement a solution

Whatever temporary additional resources are needed - people, equipment, software - get it in place as fast as possible. Make this your personal priority and be seen to be working hard to fix the problems.

The worst thing you can do when a project of some kind ‘implodes’ on the firm is to let things go on without confronting the situation. When the actions you’ve taken to fix the problems have succeeded and the project has been completed, have a celebration with your team and be sure that the lessons learned aren’t forgotten.

Information in this article is sourced from RAN ONE, Inc.