Does Your Business Really Need To Go Wireless?

In-Stat recently released a study which predicts that wireless services would have exceeded wireline voice by 2012. This is not surprising as more businesses consider mobility as a business necessity rather than just a lark.

small businesses are going wireless

The importance of connectivity is emphasized now more than ever and it is particularly crucial since more businesses operate online and do not have a brick and mortar presence. According to the same study, small business spending would be spent more on wireless technology and the largest that the industry will be spending on is cloud computing.

It seems that working in a remote location is more than just a passing trend.  …

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Embrace Bad Customer Reviews For Marketing Success

bad customer reviewsWhile the dawn of the internet has brought us e-commerce and a brand new channel to market, it has also empowered the consumer in an unprecedented way. Websites like Trip Advisor and Review Centre have given unhappy customers a very public platform on which to vent their spleen about any perceived injustice and this can have business owners running for cover.

All of this can be quite scary for business owners who can start living in fear of the dreaded online bad review. Unlike any other form of review, this is as public as it gets, and often they can appear on the first page of the search results pages when somebody Googles your business name.…

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3 Ways To Ensure Your Business Is Protected Online

Technology has undoubtedly been beneficial to businesses of all sizes. With the promise of convenience, convergence and collaboration, we have yet to see a promising business which has an aversion to using technological tools.

Although it is tempting to get the latest trends and tools for business improvement, there are still, in my opinion, two things that may make business owners become apprehensive about: lack of budget and security breach risks. While the budget can be worked out by allotting funds to strengthen the business, security breaches are often the most overlooked.

keeping your business secure online

Small businesses have as much to fear on online targeted attacks as corporation giants do, maybe even more.…

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Tired Of Hearing About Facebook? The Value of a Facebook Fan May Change Your Mind

If you are a small company, chances are you have taken advantage of every free opportunity you can to market your product or service – including Facebook. Creating a Facebook page for your company is a great idea not only because it is free, but because it offers yet another medium for which customers can find your product or service.

value of a feacbook fan

Today there are approximately 750 million active Facebook users, so you likely have a large audience who feels comfortable using this platform to learn about different companies that peak their interest. Furthermore, Facebook is about the easiest way to reach out to family and friends.…

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Tips For Operating A Successful Remote Business

tips for operating a remote businessWith the advent of technology comes a convenient way of running your business. Who would have thought that social media, gadgets and various business tools can enable even the technologically-challenged entrepreneur to be connected even if they are away from the office?

Working remotely or out of the office is fast becoming more a necessity than just a mere trend as business owners try to juggle work and personal time. If you are one of those business owners who like to think outside the box and work that way, here are some tips to help you run your business even while you are away from the office.…

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Angry Customers Mean More than Just Heartburn

Your employees and perhaps even you have dealt with these individuals at one time or another – the angry customer.

In jobs that involve a lot of customer service calls, undoubtedly some of your employees have met the wrath of that man or woman who doesn’t like the service, the product they acquired, the prices charged or more.

In order to placate these individuals, you can take the beating like a man or you can write them off as a customer and never have to deal with them again.

angry customers

For those companies that choose to work with these angry customers, it can take some comforting remarks, coupons and/or discounts on future purchases and more to win them over.…

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Shrink Your Website Downtime and Get Tech Support Questions Answered Faster

website down, get tech answers fasterEvery second that your business website is down, your software isn’t working, or your hardware is offline costs you money and customers. You need to get back up and running as quickly as possible. And while a lot depends on what you need and the quality of your tech support, you can help make it all happen a little faster.

Here’s how:

Try to Recreate the Problem

If you get an error, or can’t get a feature to work, try rebooting everything and trying again. You may even want to try the same process on a different computer. If it’s a genuine problem that needs fixing, it should happen again.…

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3 Ideas For Ensuring Employee Loyalty

According to a recent MetLife study, while small businesses are quite optimistic with the general economy employee retention may be the next hurdle to overcome.   It’s not enough to make your customers happy so that they will come back to be patrons of your business. Another important factor to consider is how to retain your employees.

Think back to when you were an employee yourself. What were the factors that made you stay with a company for years? Was it really just because of the salary? Let’s face it, other businesses (other companies who want to “pirate” your star employee) can offer more competitive salaries to the best employees out there.…

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Can Outsourcing Work For Your Business?

outsourcing benefits and risks

Business owners have different reasons for outsourcing some of their business processes. In some cases, it may not even be a want but rather, a need. It’s tough to run a business where you feel the need to do everything yourself. Sometimes it is wise to delegate tasks to a maven or an assistant for you to be able to concentrate on running the actual business at hand. While there are outsourcing risks that you need to be wary of, there are benefits to it as well. As with any major decisions, you have to think twice before outsourcing any task.…

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Leadership Lessons From 3 Great Business Leaders

Being a CEO of any business is not a walk in the park. Leadership is more than just sitting behind a desk all day,  preparing action plans for employee misdemeanors and clocking out at 6. Tenured employees may know all about business operations but tenure is just one of the factors to be considered for a managerial position.

leadership lesson from 3 great leaders

While it takes time to make any one person a leader, there are some born with the qualities inherent in being an effective business leader. Aside from leadership styles, it is the leadership qualities of a CEO, a manager, a supervisor even, which sets a mediocre operation apart from a thriving, successful business.…

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