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Curtis Bingham asked:
Copyright (c) 2008 Curtis Bingham
AFTER $14 MILLION dollars and four years, our customers don’t want to buy what we have? What a depressing statement from a VP of Sales. How many times can you afford to have a new product fail in the marketplace? How many customers can you afford to lose because you don’t meet their needs?
Shortest time to market no longer cuts it, nor does lowest cost. And excellent customer service is now expected. As the old rules for achieving competitive advantage fade away, what can you do to secure customers and vanquish competitors?
The only true, sustainable competitive advantage is an intimate understanding of customer needs. You can develop such “clear customer insight” in many ways and use it to win profits and the loyalty of “savvy” customers.
Learn About Your Customers
Often, we attempt to understand our customers by employing approximations of customer needs and wants, such as third-party market research, anecdotal evidence from sales or service organizations, competitive activities, website tracking, and, worse, our own opinions. We need to go directly to the source, gathering real, direct customer insight that’s accurate, current, and meaningful, and upon which we can bet our businesses.
Not every customer has something to offer. The 80/20 rule applies here: select the most valuable 20 percent of your customers according to an accepted metric such as strategic fit, gross revenue, gross margin, cost to support, or frequency of purchase, and cultivate long-term, two-way relationships with them. Ask them to share with you their candid opinions. Go visit them and observe the use of your product or service in actual environments.
While customers are critical to learn from, prospects may be even more valuable. In many cases, customers keep doing what they’ve always done, and are poor predictors of new technologies or other marketplace shifts. But prospects are not already infatuated with you or your current products, and will communicate more realistic views of the changing marketplace. So listen to prospects as well as customers.
Information to Gather
What information needs to be gathered to obtain clear customer insight?
*Working environment* Ask, “What is the environment that our customers are working in?” “Who is using the product vs. who is the buyer?” Understanding the environment may provide clues as to how your products are used and how their use could be improved, there by increasing the value to customers. You need to know how customers are or would be using your product or service.
Ideally, you should go directly to your customer site and watch the product or service being used. In this way, you can gather information that may not be evident as someone describes their environment and can’t be uncovered using surveys or other impersonal means.
*New opportunities* The greatest value in gathering firsthand customer insight may be the ability to uncover new opportunities, either for new applications of existing products or for new products. During direct customer interviews, you can uncover latent needs that customers may not even know they have. Frequently, your company will be uniquely capable of addressing these needs.
Acting on the Results
Without this step, nothing else even matters. Here are a few ideas:
1. Draw a poster-sized picture of your stereotypical customer and post it in the most prominent spot you can. Give this stereotypical customer a name. Record on the picture all of the details about the customer that you know, including the environment they are in, their worries and concerns, and their most painful needs.
2. Laminate smaller versions of the poster and hand them out at meetings. Before making decisions, ask yourselves if your customers (by name) will even care about the decision you are making. If they do, will your decision alleviate their pain?
3. Examine your current products and services for problems you are causing your customers. Are you destroying your relationships despite yourself? Make a list of everything that you can do to improve. Rank each improvement according to the value to the customer and the difficulty to implement. Select the most critical and the easiest to implement and fix it this week.
4. Explore new areas you can profitably address. What areas of significant pain (or latent needs) did you uncover? How can you provide added services or products to address these needs? Flesh these out and review them with customers and prospects.
5. Have customers rank your forthcoming new features or product and service offerings. Describe the changes to existing or new products and services you are considering based on your newfound insight. Have your customers and prospects rank your changes. You might have them spread $100 over each change to signify both order of importance and relative value, or rank them from 1 to 10 to signify order of importance. Determine how much they might pay by either asking for a figure or using comparative methods.
6. Create an implementation plan that balances real customer insight with business reality. Create a resource allocation plan that heavily weights the customer value and more lightly weighs the strategic fit of the change with the corporate direction, as well as the difficulty/cost of implementation.
7. Execute. Armed with real customer insight, you are prepared to keep your most valuable customers as your gre a test allies in thwarting competitors.
The only sustainable competitive advantage is clear customer insight. By leveraging your customer knowledge, you can make strategic and tactical business decisions that your customers and prospects will appreciate. Even better, they will pay for them, increasing your revenue, profits and overall success.
Copyright (c) 2008 Curtis Bingham
AFTER $14 MILLION dollars and four years, our customers don’t want to buy what we have? What a depressing statement from a VP of Sales. How many times can you afford to have a new product fail in the marketplace? How many customers can you afford to lose because you don’t meet their needs?
Shortest time to market no longer cuts it, nor does lowest cost. And excellent customer service is now expected. As the old rules for achieving competitive advantage fade away, what can you do to secure customers and vanquish competitors?
The only true, sustainable competitive advantage is an intimate understanding of customer needs. You can develop such “clear customer insight” in many ways and use it to win profits and the loyalty of “savvy” customers.
Learn About Your Customers
Often, we attempt to understand our customers by employing approximations of customer needs and wants, such as third-party market research, anecdotal evidence from sales or service organizations, competitive activities, website tracking, and, worse, our own opinions. We need to go directly to the source, gathering real, direct customer insight that’s accurate, current, and meaningful, and upon which we can bet our businesses.
Not every customer has something to offer. The 80/20 rule applies here: select the most valuable 20 percent of your customers according to an accepted metric such as strategic fit, gross revenue, gross margin, cost to support, or frequency of purchase, and cultivate long-term, two-way relationships with them. Ask them to share with you their candid opinions. Go visit them and observe the use of your product or service in actual environments.
While customers are critical to learn from, prospects may be even more valuable. In many cases, customers keep doing what they’ve always done, and are poor predictors of new technologies or other marketplace shifts. But prospects are not already infatuated with you or your current products, and will communicate more realistic views of the changing marketplace. So listen to prospects as well as customers.
Information to Gather
What information needs to be gathered to obtain clear customer insight?
*Working environment* Ask, “What is the environment that our customers are working in?” “Who is using the product vs. who is the buyer?” Understanding the environment may provide clues as to how your products are used and how their use could be improved, there by increasing the value to customers. You need to know how customers are or would be using your product or service.
Ideally, you should go directly to your customer site and watch the product or service being used. In this way, you can gather information that may not be evident as someone describes their environment and can’t be uncovered using surveys or other impersonal means.
*New opportunities* The greatest value in gathering firsthand customer insight may be the ability to uncover new opportunities, either for new applications of existing products or for new products. During direct customer interviews, you can uncover latent needs that customers may not even know they have. Frequently, your company will be uniquely capable of addressing these needs.
Acting on the Results
Without this step, nothing else even matters. Here are a few ideas:
1. Draw a poster-sized picture of your stereotypical customer and post it in the most prominent spot you can. Give this stereotypical customer a name. Record on the picture all of the details about the customer that you know, including the environment they are in, their worries and concerns, and their most painful needs.
2. Laminate smaller versions of the poster and hand them out at meetings. Before making decisions, ask yourselves if your customers (by name) will even care about the decision you are making. If they do, will your decision alleviate their pain?
3. Examine your current products and services for problems you are causing your customers. Are you destroying your relationships despite yourself? Make a list of everything that you can do to improve. Rank each improvement according to the value to the customer and the difficulty to implement. Select the most critical and the easiest to implement and fix it this week.
4. Explore new areas you can profitably address. What areas of significant pain (or latent needs) did you uncover? How can you provide added services or products to address these needs? Flesh these out and review them with customers and prospects.
5. Have customers rank your forthcoming new features or product and service offerings. Describe the changes to existing or new products and services you are considering based on your newfound insight. Have your customers and prospects rank your changes. You might have them spread $100 over each change to signify both order of importance and relative value, or rank them from 1 to 10 to signify order of importance. Determine how much they might pay by either asking for a figure or using comparative methods.
6. Create an implementation plan that balances real customer insight with business reality. Create a resource allocation plan that heavily weights the customer value and more lightly weighs the strategic fit of the change with the corporate direction, as well as the difficulty/cost of implementation.
7. Execute. Armed with real customer insight, you are prepared to keep your most valuable customers as your gre a test allies in thwarting competitors.
The only sustainable competitive advantage is clear customer insight. By leveraging your customer knowledge, you can make strategic and tactical business decisions that your customers and prospects will appreciate. Even better, they will pay for them, increasing your revenue, profits and overall success.
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- Tags: Gross Margin, Marketplace, Prospects
Wildfire Marketing Group asked:
Whether you’re starting a new business or attempting to grow an existing one, it’s easy to spin your wheels when it comes to effective marketing. Often times, business owners will try to make a big splash by running a large ad in a local newspaper or a television commercial during the most expensive time slot. While these will probably be seen, they probably won’t have much impact because there is often no repetition. The business owner runs them once (or a few times) and then simply stops with the conclusion that advertising doesn’t work. In order to achieve results from any form of advertising, you need repetition of your message. This has always been true, but it’s even more important with the number of marketing messages that today’s consumers are presented each day.
If you’re ready to start marketing your business, begin with the basic building blocks to form your foundation and grow from there.
Network — many networking events can be found in just about any city or town. If you, like most business owners, are short on time, focus on the ones that are during the evening hours. In many cases, these events are free, so the only cost is your time. Networking is a great way to make face to face contact with prospects without the distractions you would normally face during the work day. All you need is a handful of business cards, a winning smile and a great attitude.
Business cards — Obviously, you’ll need them for networking and sales calls. Don’t forget all the other ways you can distribute them. Business cards a an easy and inexpensive way to generate exposure for your business.
Direct mail — You don’t need to mail to a list of 50,000 for direct mail to be effective, you just need to be consistent. You can have 1,000 postcards printed, affix postage and labels yourself, and mail out 50 or 100 to the same targeted list each week. As you begin to generate revenue from this, you can increase the size of your mailing list.
Web site — If you don’t have a web site, you are wrong. Plain and simple. Web sites aren’t just for e commerce, nor are they just for large companies. These days, people use the internet for comparing companies and without a web site, you’re out of the running. You don’t need all of the bells and whistles, but you do need an effective and professional web site.
There you have it. The basic building blocks you’ll need to effectively market your business. With these blocks in place, you can begin to add additional things, such as search engine optimization, television and radio advertising, or billboards. The idea is to build a foundation, and as you achieve results, add more to your marketing campaign.
Whether you’re starting a new business or attempting to grow an existing one, it’s easy to spin your wheels when it comes to effective marketing. Often times, business owners will try to make a big splash by running a large ad in a local newspaper or a television commercial during the most expensive time slot. While these will probably be seen, they probably won’t have much impact because there is often no repetition. The business owner runs them once (or a few times) and then simply stops with the conclusion that advertising doesn’t work. In order to achieve results from any form of advertising, you need repetition of your message. This has always been true, but it’s even more important with the number of marketing messages that today’s consumers are presented each day.
If you’re ready to start marketing your business, begin with the basic building blocks to form your foundation and grow from there.
Network — many networking events can be found in just about any city or town. If you, like most business owners, are short on time, focus on the ones that are during the evening hours. In many cases, these events are free, so the only cost is your time. Networking is a great way to make face to face contact with prospects without the distractions you would normally face during the work day. All you need is a handful of business cards, a winning smile and a great attitude.
Business cards — Obviously, you’ll need them for networking and sales calls. Don’t forget all the other ways you can distribute them. Business cards a an easy and inexpensive way to generate exposure for your business.
Direct mail — You don’t need to mail to a list of 50,000 for direct mail to be effective, you just need to be consistent. You can have 1,000 postcards printed, affix postage and labels yourself, and mail out 50 or 100 to the same targeted list each week. As you begin to generate revenue from this, you can increase the size of your mailing list.
Web site — If you don’t have a web site, you are wrong. Plain and simple. Web sites aren’t just for e commerce, nor are they just for large companies. These days, people use the internet for comparing companies and without a web site, you’re out of the running. You don’t need all of the bells and whistles, but you do need an effective and professional web site.
There you have it. The basic building blocks you’ll need to effectively market your business. With these blocks in place, you can begin to add additional things, such as search engine optimization, television and radio advertising, or billboards. The idea is to build a foundation, and as you achieve results, add more to your marketing campaign.
Tom Noonan asked:
Also known as seller financing, owner financing is growing in popularity in today’s economy. With the credit markets slowing down and people finding it harder and harder to borrow, owner financing is looking better and better as an alternative to traditional financing. Owner financing is when the seller of the property basically agrees to take payments rather than a lump sum. Here are a few things that need to happen in order for the owner to be able to finance your deal:
The owner needs to have considerable equity in the property. The owner will usually have their own mortgage they will need to pay back in full when they sell the property to you. If they don’t have a whole lot of equity, they usually can’t offer to finance a whole lot of the deal. The best scenario is an older owner that is close to retirement. Odds are that they have a good amount of equity or even own the property free and clear. They are looking to retire and just want a steady cash flow rather than a lump sum when they sell the place. The owner should have a desire to accept owner financing. If the seller wants to roll the funds over into another property or needs the lump sum of cash for one reason or another, they probably won’t want to take on very much seller financing. The terms need to be right for both parties. The interest rate, duration and repayment structure need to be acceptable for both parties. This usually requires a good deal of negotiation.
If you have all your ducks in a row and seller financing seems like it might be a possibility, here are some of the benefits to consider if you are thinking about locking in owner financing:
You might not have to get traditional financing. This depends on how much the owner is willing to finance. If they are willing to finance just a little bit, this might help you lower your down payment or help you qualify for traditional financing, but won’t completely eliminate traditional financing unless you pay the remaining amount due as a down payment. You could get more flexible terms than you would on a standard mortgage. You have the power of negotiating so that both the buyer and the seller walk away with a fair deal. You typically can’t do this with a traditional bank. The seller is still somewhat on the hook for the property. You know that you aren’t getting totally ripped off, because the seller still hasn’t received all their money. There is a possibility that you could pay a little bit of a premium for the deal. If they end up totally screwing you, and the property completely falls apart in a few years and you let it fall into foreclosure, the seller only stands to get the property back. The seller isn’t going to want to lend to you using a bum property as collateral.
If owner financing seems like it would work for you, there is no reason to start looking for properties for sale with owner financing. Even if a property isn’t advertised as offering owner financing, you may be able to talk with any seller and see if they are willing to negotiate on terms.
Also known as seller financing, owner financing is growing in popularity in today’s economy. With the credit markets slowing down and people finding it harder and harder to borrow, owner financing is looking better and better as an alternative to traditional financing. Owner financing is when the seller of the property basically agrees to take payments rather than a lump sum. Here are a few things that need to happen in order for the owner to be able to finance your deal:
The owner needs to have considerable equity in the property. The owner will usually have their own mortgage they will need to pay back in full when they sell the property to you. If they don’t have a whole lot of equity, they usually can’t offer to finance a whole lot of the deal. The best scenario is an older owner that is close to retirement. Odds are that they have a good amount of equity or even own the property free and clear. They are looking to retire and just want a steady cash flow rather than a lump sum when they sell the place. The owner should have a desire to accept owner financing. If the seller wants to roll the funds over into another property or needs the lump sum of cash for one reason or another, they probably won’t want to take on very much seller financing. The terms need to be right for both parties. The interest rate, duration and repayment structure need to be acceptable for both parties. This usually requires a good deal of negotiation.
If you have all your ducks in a row and seller financing seems like it might be a possibility, here are some of the benefits to consider if you are thinking about locking in owner financing:
You might not have to get traditional financing. This depends on how much the owner is willing to finance. If they are willing to finance just a little bit, this might help you lower your down payment or help you qualify for traditional financing, but won’t completely eliminate traditional financing unless you pay the remaining amount due as a down payment. You could get more flexible terms than you would on a standard mortgage. You have the power of negotiating so that both the buyer and the seller walk away with a fair deal. You typically can’t do this with a traditional bank. The seller is still somewhat on the hook for the property. You know that you aren’t getting totally ripped off, because the seller still hasn’t received all their money. There is a possibility that you could pay a little bit of a premium for the deal. If they end up totally screwing you, and the property completely falls apart in a few years and you let it fall into foreclosure, the seller only stands to get the property back. The seller isn’t going to want to lend to you using a bum property as collateral.
If owner financing seems like it would work for you, there is no reason to start looking for properties for sale with owner financing. Even if a property isn’t advertised as offering owner financing, you may be able to talk with any seller and see if they are willing to negotiate on terms.
G D Williams asked:
The New York Times has recently released a survey that shows customer service work at home job opportunities have increased by a large amount in United States. Customer service jobs also called call center jobs require employing agents who work at home as customer service agents. The advantage of this type of work is that it provides a steady income to single or stay-at-home parents and the physically challenged.
Customer service agent jobs vary from call handling to technical support. If you apply for such a job, you would need to have the basic essentials, like a modern computer, which has the latest operating system installed on it . You will also need a reliable internet connection, which is normally supplied buy your phone service. Excellent communication skills will be required by you to handle the various customers that you will be dealing with.
How to get a customer service work at home job?
If you wish to get a genuine customer service work at home job that will provide you with a income, then you will find that the under mentioned tips are essential for you
1. The first step in getting a work at home customer service job is to understand the type of employment that you will be applying for. This job will entail that the company hiring your services routes their incoming customer service calls to your home phone.
2. Then you must understand the type of duties that you will be required to be perform. Nearly all customer service jobs include taking and logging orders, processing transactions, providing help and assistance to customers as required by the company that has hired you, etc.
3. You will soon discover the benefits of working at home. Work at home customer service jobs are of great advantage to stay-at-home mothers, disabled people, retired seniors and college students. If you are unable to step out of your home but need to earn a income, then you can select any of the large amount customer service jobs that are available, according to your ability. Since agent hiring, training and scheduling jobs is now being conducted online, you will not even have to leave your home to get a job.
4. Once you decided to work at home, you need to do a lot of homework to select a legitimate home based customer service job. You should start by browsing through the internet to find a list of companies and websites regarding this.
5. When you find a company that fits your requirements, then submit your application and resume to the company. Always take the care to prepare the application properly and professionally, just like you would do the case of any job you apply for.
There are various benefits of doing customer service jobs at home. This is the reason why one quarter of customer service agents in North America start work at home. The convenience and independence of working at home are the two main benefits of customer service work at home jobs.
Every business requires customers and it is very important to retain an empathetic and trusting relationship with your customers. This will ensure customer commitment. Loyal customers will add to the long term success of any business and so their requirements should be dealt with as soon as possible.
This is why there is a overwhelming need for customer service agents. This is a good situation for you, as it will provide more available job opportunities. If you have the ability to do this sort of work, then you can earn a income that will fit around your circumstances.
Employing you as a work at home customer service agent, is of a great advantage to any company. As they will save money on office rent, utilities and equipment. So as you can see, customer service agent jobs benefits both the companies and the work at home agents.
The New York Times has recently released a survey that shows customer service work at home job opportunities have increased by a large amount in United States. Customer service jobs also called call center jobs require employing agents who work at home as customer service agents. The advantage of this type of work is that it provides a steady income to single or stay-at-home parents and the physically challenged.
Customer service agent jobs vary from call handling to technical support. If you apply for such a job, you would need to have the basic essentials, like a modern computer, which has the latest operating system installed on it . You will also need a reliable internet connection, which is normally supplied buy your phone service. Excellent communication skills will be required by you to handle the various customers that you will be dealing with.
How to get a customer service work at home job?
If you wish to get a genuine customer service work at home job that will provide you with a income, then you will find that the under mentioned tips are essential for you
1. The first step in getting a work at home customer service job is to understand the type of employment that you will be applying for. This job will entail that the company hiring your services routes their incoming customer service calls to your home phone.
2. Then you must understand the type of duties that you will be required to be perform. Nearly all customer service jobs include taking and logging orders, processing transactions, providing help and assistance to customers as required by the company that has hired you, etc.
3. You will soon discover the benefits of working at home. Work at home customer service jobs are of great advantage to stay-at-home mothers, disabled people, retired seniors and college students. If you are unable to step out of your home but need to earn a income, then you can select any of the large amount customer service jobs that are available, according to your ability. Since agent hiring, training and scheduling jobs is now being conducted online, you will not even have to leave your home to get a job.
4. Once you decided to work at home, you need to do a lot of homework to select a legitimate home based customer service job. You should start by browsing through the internet to find a list of companies and websites regarding this.
5. When you find a company that fits your requirements, then submit your application and resume to the company. Always take the care to prepare the application properly and professionally, just like you would do the case of any job you apply for.
There are various benefits of doing customer service jobs at home. This is the reason why one quarter of customer service agents in North America start work at home. The convenience and independence of working at home are the two main benefits of customer service work at home jobs.
Every business requires customers and it is very important to retain an empathetic and trusting relationship with your customers. This will ensure customer commitment. Loyal customers will add to the long term success of any business and so their requirements should be dealt with as soon as possible.
This is why there is a overwhelming need for customer service agents. This is a good situation for you, as it will provide more available job opportunities. If you have the ability to do this sort of work, then you can earn a income that will fit around your circumstances.
Employing you as a work at home customer service agent, is of a great advantage to any company. As they will save money on office rent, utilities and equipment. So as you can see, customer service agent jobs benefits both the companies and the work at home agents.
Donna Ray Chmura asked:
Identity theft occurs when someone uses personally identifying information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, without permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. Thieves obtain this personally identifiable information by going through business trash, intercepting credit card information, “pretexting” or “phishing” to obtain personal information under false pretenses, or hacking into vulnerable computer systems.
Identity theft is serious. While some identity theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others spend thousands of dollars and countless hours repairing damage to their good name and credit record. Some victims may lose out on jobs, or be denied loans because of negative information on their credit reports. In rare cases, they may even be arrested for crimes they did not commit. And the business that allows customer information to be compromised faces a significant customer relations problem.
Many companies collect personal information from their customers, including names, addresses, and phone numbers; bank and credit card account numbers; income and credit histories; and Social Security numbers. In addition, businesses collect and store a multitude of personal information from their employees as well. It is essential that businesses take adequate steps to safeguard this data, and to prevent identify theft.
Employers should keep employee personnel records under lock and key. These records contain names, addresses and Social Security numbers, as well as performance information and salary history. Stored separately, and also under lock and key, should be information relating to employee health information, including workers comp information, doctors’ notes, and leave requests.
These records should be taken out only when needed, and otherwise locked. Employees should not leave this information lying around. Rather, employees should secure such information if they need a bathroom break or are needed on the sales floor.
Protecting customer information is just as important.
First, be conservative in what information is collected in the first place. What is the minimum amount of information needed on each customer? Social Security numbers should be used only for reporting employee taxes and not as customer identification numbers.
Think about whether you should keep customer credit card numbers and expiration dates on file at all. Does it serve an important business function? Is the convenience to your customers of having this information on file important enough to justify the potential risks? Full credit card numbers should not be printed on receipts – use the last four digits only. Expiration dates should not be stored. Check the default settings on credit card processing machines and make sure they are not set to store this information permanently and are printing only the last four digits of the credit card number.
If you do need to keep private customer information for business reasons or to comply with the law, we recommend having a written document retention policy that sets forth how long you will keep the information, and how you will destroy it.
Paper records should be shredded so that they can’t be reconstructed. Media containing electronic records should be erased or destroyed so that records cannot be recovered or reconstructed.
Many of these records will be kept electronically. It is imperative that your computer have adequate firewalls and anti-virus protection. These programs should be updated regularly. Sensitive information should be kept in password protected files.
Sensitive information may also be stored in cash registers, inventory scanners or cell phones, and the security of these devices should be assessed as well. If possible, store sensitive information on a computer that does not have an Internet connection. Web applications, including those where you send information to vendors, are particularly vulnerable to hackers or security breaches.
If a computer is compromised, disconnect it immediately from Internet access. Investigate incidents immediately. You may be required by law to make certain notifications to customers, law enforcement, credit bureaus or your business partners (banks, credit card processors, etc). It is important to have a security plan in place.
The Federal Trade Commission has significant information on how to protect yourself and your customers from identity theft, as well as what to do if you’ve had a breach of security. For example: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/idtheft/bus69.pdf
Identity theft occurs when someone uses personally identifying information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, without permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. Thieves obtain this personally identifiable information by going through business trash, intercepting credit card information, “pretexting” or “phishing” to obtain personal information under false pretenses, or hacking into vulnerable computer systems.
Identity theft is serious. While some identity theft victims can resolve their problems quickly, others spend thousands of dollars and countless hours repairing damage to their good name and credit record. Some victims may lose out on jobs, or be denied loans because of negative information on their credit reports. In rare cases, they may even be arrested for crimes they did not commit. And the business that allows customer information to be compromised faces a significant customer relations problem.
Many companies collect personal information from their customers, including names, addresses, and phone numbers; bank and credit card account numbers; income and credit histories; and Social Security numbers. In addition, businesses collect and store a multitude of personal information from their employees as well. It is essential that businesses take adequate steps to safeguard this data, and to prevent identify theft.
Employers should keep employee personnel records under lock and key. These records contain names, addresses and Social Security numbers, as well as performance information and salary history. Stored separately, and also under lock and key, should be information relating to employee health information, including workers comp information, doctors’ notes, and leave requests.
These records should be taken out only when needed, and otherwise locked. Employees should not leave this information lying around. Rather, employees should secure such information if they need a bathroom break or are needed on the sales floor.
Protecting customer information is just as important.
First, be conservative in what information is collected in the first place. What is the minimum amount of information needed on each customer? Social Security numbers should be used only for reporting employee taxes and not as customer identification numbers.
Think about whether you should keep customer credit card numbers and expiration dates on file at all. Does it serve an important business function? Is the convenience to your customers of having this information on file important enough to justify the potential risks? Full credit card numbers should not be printed on receipts – use the last four digits only. Expiration dates should not be stored. Check the default settings on credit card processing machines and make sure they are not set to store this information permanently and are printing only the last four digits of the credit card number.
If you do need to keep private customer information for business reasons or to comply with the law, we recommend having a written document retention policy that sets forth how long you will keep the information, and how you will destroy it.
Paper records should be shredded so that they can’t be reconstructed. Media containing electronic records should be erased or destroyed so that records cannot be recovered or reconstructed.
Many of these records will be kept electronically. It is imperative that your computer have adequate firewalls and anti-virus protection. These programs should be updated regularly. Sensitive information should be kept in password protected files.
Sensitive information may also be stored in cash registers, inventory scanners or cell phones, and the security of these devices should be assessed as well. If possible, store sensitive information on a computer that does not have an Internet connection. Web applications, including those where you send information to vendors, are particularly vulnerable to hackers or security breaches.
If a computer is compromised, disconnect it immediately from Internet access. Investigate incidents immediately. You may be required by law to make certain notifications to customers, law enforcement, credit bureaus or your business partners (banks, credit card processors, etc). It is important to have a security plan in place.
The Federal Trade Commission has significant information on how to protect yourself and your customers from identity theft, as well as what to do if you’ve had a breach of security. For example: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/idtheft/bus69.pdf
phillip@ysatisfy asked:
Hmm your thinking, this writer has lost his head, what the hell does an insect shedding its skin have to do with me growing my business? Give me a second and I’ll explain, all businesses go through a process of big changes from time to time, which are necessary to keep them moving forward. These can include: moving to a new premises, hiring new staff, owners delegating day to day management, teaming up with other businesses or focussing on bigger customers. Changes like these are analogous to the growth of insects, it’s a tough process to shed a skin and the new skin means big potential for growth etc…. So is it so different?
Over the years I have worked with many large and small businesses who are approaching a point of a step change. Microsoft a huge behemoth of a company, is a great example of a large business struggling with the need for change. It’s hard when you make $100s of millions a year to make a big step change, but without it, the pressures from the likes of Google, Apple and Linux will be overwhelming. The same is also true for much smaller companies, especially those who have grown steadily and now have to make the jump to a medium sized business. Like the insect who struggles to free themselves from their carapace, so do businesses struggle to change and to meet the demands of stepping up a level. It’s a dangerous time for business, large or small, like the insect, they’re vulnerable to predators (competitors) and even death from the sheer strain of change. With this in mind, here are some useful hints and tips on how best to approach business change from a customer perspective. If you keep your customers happy, then any change you make is much more likely to succeed and be successful, so here goes:
Understanding your customers
· Make sure you have a clear idea of the type of customers you service and their needs
· Take a hard look at your customer base and try to segment them based on value to you. It’s a temptation for all businesses to measure success based on customer base size. Success is based on profitability, so making sure you understand how your customers deliver this for you, is key to make the next step
· What do your valuable customers think about your, what is their customer satisfaction and what important services do you need to provide them to keep them coming back
· Know your competitors and the services they are offering to their customers. Make sure yours is better where it counts!
Once you have completed a review of your customers, you can use this to inform your business strategy. If you are planning to grow your business and move to the next level, you’ll need a business strategy and it will also need to be designed around your customers. If you don’t pay attention to your customers and put them at the heart of your business, you’ll be in trouble. Here are some tips to helping you build that customer focussed business strategy:
Building a customer-centric business strategy
· Understand how big your potential valuable customer base can actually be. If it looks like there are lots out there, your business is probably ready for change.
· Review your services and how they meet the needs of your valuable customers and review the services you offer that don’t add value to your valuable customers and ask the question, should I continue with them?
· Look at your organisation / staff and how best you can organise your business to meet your customer needs. Remember, to deliver sustainable growth for your business, you need to make sure you deliver great customer satisfaction and build customer loyalty. This can only be done, if your staff are able to quickly respond to customer needs, especially customer dissatisfaction. To achieve this goal, you’ll need to empower your staff to make decisions and take action. For the boss, this means a re-think of day to day management and let’s face it, the scary decision of letting go of day to day management to your people.
· Look at your most valuable customers and identify how you can win more of them through marketing or conversion of less valuable current customers.
· Dump customers who are not profitable, so you can make time and resource available for your valuable customers. This isn’t easy to do but it is essential for business growth.
· Based on your findings build a business plan around your valuable customers covering all the points above.
· Look at how you can track progress, so you and those who work for you, know how they are doing.
· Finally, measure through customer feedback or using customer satisfaction surveys, how satisfied your customers are through your business transition. This is a key metric in tracking progress.
Well I hope you’ve found this useful. It’s important to use an approach like this, as it really helps you take the plunge to move your business to the next level, but also provides the peace of mind, which says your on the right track. If you’d like to find out more, check out this site for a free guide http://ysatisfy.com/customer_focus/customer_focus.html
Phillip Hunt
Head of Ysatisfy customer satisfaction and Internet consultancts
http://www.ysatisfy.com
Hmm your thinking, this writer has lost his head, what the hell does an insect shedding its skin have to do with me growing my business? Give me a second and I’ll explain, all businesses go through a process of big changes from time to time, which are necessary to keep them moving forward. These can include: moving to a new premises, hiring new staff, owners delegating day to day management, teaming up with other businesses or focussing on bigger customers. Changes like these are analogous to the growth of insects, it’s a tough process to shed a skin and the new skin means big potential for growth etc…. So is it so different?
Over the years I have worked with many large and small businesses who are approaching a point of a step change. Microsoft a huge behemoth of a company, is a great example of a large business struggling with the need for change. It’s hard when you make $100s of millions a year to make a big step change, but without it, the pressures from the likes of Google, Apple and Linux will be overwhelming. The same is also true for much smaller companies, especially those who have grown steadily and now have to make the jump to a medium sized business. Like the insect who struggles to free themselves from their carapace, so do businesses struggle to change and to meet the demands of stepping up a level. It’s a dangerous time for business, large or small, like the insect, they’re vulnerable to predators (competitors) and even death from the sheer strain of change. With this in mind, here are some useful hints and tips on how best to approach business change from a customer perspective. If you keep your customers happy, then any change you make is much more likely to succeed and be successful, so here goes:
Understanding your customers
· Make sure you have a clear idea of the type of customers you service and their needs
· Take a hard look at your customer base and try to segment them based on value to you. It’s a temptation for all businesses to measure success based on customer base size. Success is based on profitability, so making sure you understand how your customers deliver this for you, is key to make the next step
· What do your valuable customers think about your, what is their customer satisfaction and what important services do you need to provide them to keep them coming back
· Know your competitors and the services they are offering to their customers. Make sure yours is better where it counts!
Once you have completed a review of your customers, you can use this to inform your business strategy. If you are planning to grow your business and move to the next level, you’ll need a business strategy and it will also need to be designed around your customers. If you don’t pay attention to your customers and put them at the heart of your business, you’ll be in trouble. Here are some tips to helping you build that customer focussed business strategy:
Building a customer-centric business strategy
· Understand how big your potential valuable customer base can actually be. If it looks like there are lots out there, your business is probably ready for change.
· Review your services and how they meet the needs of your valuable customers and review the services you offer that don’t add value to your valuable customers and ask the question, should I continue with them?
· Look at your organisation / staff and how best you can organise your business to meet your customer needs. Remember, to deliver sustainable growth for your business, you need to make sure you deliver great customer satisfaction and build customer loyalty. This can only be done, if your staff are able to quickly respond to customer needs, especially customer dissatisfaction. To achieve this goal, you’ll need to empower your staff to make decisions and take action. For the boss, this means a re-think of day to day management and let’s face it, the scary decision of letting go of day to day management to your people.
· Look at your most valuable customers and identify how you can win more of them through marketing or conversion of less valuable current customers.
· Dump customers who are not profitable, so you can make time and resource available for your valuable customers. This isn’t easy to do but it is essential for business growth.
· Based on your findings build a business plan around your valuable customers covering all the points above.
· Look at how you can track progress, so you and those who work for you, know how they are doing.
· Finally, measure through customer feedback or using customer satisfaction surveys, how satisfied your customers are through your business transition. This is a key metric in tracking progress.
Well I hope you’ve found this useful. It’s important to use an approach like this, as it really helps you take the plunge to move your business to the next level, but also provides the peace of mind, which says your on the right track. If you’d like to find out more, check out this site for a free guide http://ysatisfy.com/customer_focus/customer_focus.html
Phillip Hunt
Head of Ysatisfy customer satisfaction and Internet consultancts
http://www.ysatisfy.com
Alison Kramer for 919 Marketing asked:
Holly Springs, NC – March 10, 2008 – 919 Marketing, a leading Triangle-based marketing and public relations firm, is currently seeking dynamic, motivated and tenacious college students for its summer internship program, which runs from May to August 2008. The deadline for application submissions is Friday, March 21, 2008. Preference is given to students in their junior and senior years of college who can work at least 15 hours per week.
“919 provided my first meaningful PR experience, helped me strengthen my portfolio, and as a result, opened doors of opportunity that may not have come otherwise,” said Ashley Simmons a UNC student who recently interned with the agency.
Interns learn first-hand the day-to-day workings of one of the Triangle area’s top ten public relations firms and learn directly from experts the ins and outs of the public relations and marketing industries.
919 provides opportunities for both undergraduates and recent graduates through its program. Requirements include current enrollment in or a B.A. from an accredited 4-year college or university, an overall GPA of at least 3.0 and strong written and verbal communication skills. Majors in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Business and Marketing are preferred, though not a requirement. 919 will work with universities to give interns academic credit for their work if applicable. Intern positions are unpaid.
Because 919 works very closely with its interns to make sure they get the most out of their experience, many of former interns are now employees of 919.
To apply for the summer program, email your resume and cover letter to hr@919marketing.com on or before March 21, 2008.
For more information about 919 Marketing, visit www.919marketing.com.
# # #
Holly Springs, NC – March 10, 2008 – 919 Marketing, a leading Triangle-based marketing and public relations firm, is currently seeking dynamic, motivated and tenacious college students for its summer internship program, which runs from May to August 2008. The deadline for application submissions is Friday, March 21, 2008. Preference is given to students in their junior and senior years of college who can work at least 15 hours per week.
“919 provided my first meaningful PR experience, helped me strengthen my portfolio, and as a result, opened doors of opportunity that may not have come otherwise,” said Ashley Simmons a UNC student who recently interned with the agency.
Interns learn first-hand the day-to-day workings of one of the Triangle area’s top ten public relations firms and learn directly from experts the ins and outs of the public relations and marketing industries.
919 provides opportunities for both undergraduates and recent graduates through its program. Requirements include current enrollment in or a B.A. from an accredited 4-year college or university, an overall GPA of at least 3.0 and strong written and verbal communication skills. Majors in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Business and Marketing are preferred, though not a requirement. 919 will work with universities to give interns academic credit for their work if applicable. Intern positions are unpaid.
Because 919 works very closely with its interns to make sure they get the most out of their experience, many of former interns are now employees of 919.
To apply for the summer program, email your resume and cover letter to hr@919marketing.com on or before March 21, 2008.
For more information about 919 Marketing, visit www.919marketing.com.
# # #
Harrine E. Freeman asked:
A few days after you apply for a mortgage loan your phone starts ringing off the hook with calls from other lenders trying to offer you a better deal. You ask yourself, How did they get my number; I didn’t do business with them? When your credit report is pulled by a lender or broker, the request for your credit report triggers an alert, which informs the 3 major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, that you are a potential lead looking to purchase a home or refinance your existing loan. This process is called a “trigger lead.”
The credit bureaus sell these trigger leads to lenders and brokers who have subscribed to the service and provide them with a list of potential candidates who are looking for a loan and meet criteria such as consumers who have a certain credit score or have never filed for bankruptcy. Contact information such as applicant name, address and telephone number and the number of credit cards a consumer possesses is provided.
Many mortgage industry experts believe trigger leads are helpful. When a lender already has some basic information about you they can develop a plan to their advantage, and although the deal may sound good it may not be the best deal for you. However, you can get a better deal if they shopped around for various offers because you can ask specific questions related to the type of loan you are seeking.
You may feel trigger leads are a violation of privacy. You can request that your contact information be removed from their call list and third party call lists. The company may respond by saying that it will be removed at a later date, so be persistent and request that your information be removed immediately.
When your credit report is pulled you can request that the lender or broker not enter your telephone number, which may reduce telemarketer calls. However, they are phone matching programs available that can be used before the trigger leads are sold. As long as they have your SSN, they can match up your name, address and phone number. To prevent this from occurring, list your contact information as unpublished with your local telephone company.
When applying for a mortgage loan, or filling out any application that requests your personal information, ask the following questions:
1. What procedures are in place to protect customer information if the company goes bankrupt or merges with another company?
2. Has the company experienced any security threats or attacks and if so how were they handled?
3. How can I obtain my personal records when I end my business relationship with the company?
4. How can I get a copy of the privacy policy?
To reduce telemarketer calls, register your telephone number with the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222 and register your address with the Direct Marketing Association at 1-888-567-8688. To file a complaint against a company, contact the Better Business Bureau or your state Attorney General’s Office. Protect your personal information as you would your life – handle with care.
A few days after you apply for a mortgage loan your phone starts ringing off the hook with calls from other lenders trying to offer you a better deal. You ask yourself, How did they get my number; I didn’t do business with them? When your credit report is pulled by a lender or broker, the request for your credit report triggers an alert, which informs the 3 major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, that you are a potential lead looking to purchase a home or refinance your existing loan. This process is called a “trigger lead.”
The credit bureaus sell these trigger leads to lenders and brokers who have subscribed to the service and provide them with a list of potential candidates who are looking for a loan and meet criteria such as consumers who have a certain credit score or have never filed for bankruptcy. Contact information such as applicant name, address and telephone number and the number of credit cards a consumer possesses is provided.
Many mortgage industry experts believe trigger leads are helpful. When a lender already has some basic information about you they can develop a plan to their advantage, and although the deal may sound good it may not be the best deal for you. However, you can get a better deal if they shopped around for various offers because you can ask specific questions related to the type of loan you are seeking.
You may feel trigger leads are a violation of privacy. You can request that your contact information be removed from their call list and third party call lists. The company may respond by saying that it will be removed at a later date, so be persistent and request that your information be removed immediately.
When your credit report is pulled you can request that the lender or broker not enter your telephone number, which may reduce telemarketer calls. However, they are phone matching programs available that can be used before the trigger leads are sold. As long as they have your SSN, they can match up your name, address and phone number. To prevent this from occurring, list your contact information as unpublished with your local telephone company.
When applying for a mortgage loan, or filling out any application that requests your personal information, ask the following questions:
1. What procedures are in place to protect customer information if the company goes bankrupt or merges with another company?
2. Has the company experienced any security threats or attacks and if so how were they handled?
3. How can I obtain my personal records when I end my business relationship with the company?
4. How can I get a copy of the privacy policy?
To reduce telemarketer calls, register your telephone number with the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222 and register your address with the Direct Marketing Association at 1-888-567-8688. To file a complaint against a company, contact the Better Business Bureau or your state Attorney General’s Office. Protect your personal information as you would your life – handle with care.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: Few Days, Mortgage Loan, Transunion
Instead of buying our children high tech games, it will be better if this time we give them a traditional toy that able to closer the whole family member or at least with their sister or bother. Giving them kids play tent can be a good idea and it can give children a different gaming experience. If we are going to buy them kids play tents, then there are things that we should consider like our children’s interest, tent size, tent placement, and quality.
Think about out children’s interest. If they love military games, then make sure to choose kids play tents with military themes. The first impression will be able to attract them to play on the tents. The next thing to do is choosing the size. Think about the perfect size and the placement. If we are going to put the tent in their room, then small sized tent is recommended. Canvas tarps or polyester can be the perfect material. The material is having good durability and can be cleaned easily.
To find a good deal on kids play tents, we can go to Canopiesandtarps.com. On the website, various tents are provided Read the rest of this entry »
Dylan Sun asked:
With all the modern technology available today, businesses use the online market, online suppliers, global sourcing, multinational purchasing, and Internet sourcing to cut costs in anyway possible. But is the online market secure? With all the stories in the news about identity fraud and theft, any smart business owner has questions about the security of the online market and multinational purchasing. With the number of hacker attacks on businesses, including online suppliers in the online market, asking about security is justified for any consumer or business, especially concerning payment or other financial information. Global sourcing, Internet sourcing, and multinational purchasing are all very efficient, cost effective, and time saving to use, but is it at the cost of security?
-Just How Secure Is the Online Market?
The online market has millions of online suppliers, and most of these suppliers protect confidential information as much as possible using the latest in Internet security technology. Obviously an online supplier would not last long in business if multinational purchasing and financial information was not kept secure and private, however people get scammed every year by businesses who do not practice secure business policies and practices. How can you tell these online suppliers apart when global sourcing and multinational purchasing for your business? Do your homework and research all potential online suppliers on the online market before choosing one. Make sure the online supplier you choose has a proven track record of satisfied customers, and that the products purchased using multinational purchasing are up to your quality standards for that product.
-How Can I Tell If the Online Supplier I choose Is Secure?
Online suppliers should have a website that is encrypted and authenticated. This is usually done by a site security expert, like Verisign, that sets up and maintains site security. When global sourcing and multinational purchasing, look for the name of the security company securing the site, as well as an SSL certificate which validates the security of the site links. Ask questions from suppliers on the online market while Internet sourcing, before any private or financial information is sent. A good online supplier will understand the need for security and helpfully answer all your questions.
With all the modern technology available today, businesses use the online market, online suppliers, global sourcing, multinational purchasing, and Internet sourcing to cut costs in anyway possible. But is the online market secure? With all the stories in the news about identity fraud and theft, any smart business owner has questions about the security of the online market and multinational purchasing. With the number of hacker attacks on businesses, including online suppliers in the online market, asking about security is justified for any consumer or business, especially concerning payment or other financial information. Global sourcing, Internet sourcing, and multinational purchasing are all very efficient, cost effective, and time saving to use, but is it at the cost of security?
-Just How Secure Is the Online Market?
The online market has millions of online suppliers, and most of these suppliers protect confidential information as much as possible using the latest in Internet security technology. Obviously an online supplier would not last long in business if multinational purchasing and financial information was not kept secure and private, however people get scammed every year by businesses who do not practice secure business policies and practices. How can you tell these online suppliers apart when global sourcing and multinational purchasing for your business? Do your homework and research all potential online suppliers on the online market before choosing one. Make sure the online supplier you choose has a proven track record of satisfied customers, and that the products purchased using multinational purchasing are up to your quality standards for that product.
-How Can I Tell If the Online Supplier I choose Is Secure?
Online suppliers should have a website that is encrypted and authenticated. This is usually done by a site security expert, like Verisign, that sets up and maintains site security. When global sourcing and multinational purchasing, look for the name of the security company securing the site, as well as an SSL certificate which validates the security of the site links. Ask questions from suppliers on the online market while Internet sourcing, before any private or financial information is sent. A good online supplier will understand the need for security and helpfully answer all your questions.
