When Purchasing Software, Consider What Support Is Included

In this economy, businesses are frequently on tight budgets, and purchasing the right software can be an enormous help for the small business owner. There are so many different programs to help with accounting, customer relationship management, e-commerce, marketing, project management, social networking, and many other essential tasks. Finding a user-friendly program can save you the expense of hiring expensive outside consultants or part-time personnel and can streamline operations considerable. But the wrong software often comes with headaches and hidden expenses that can break the bank.

Nearly everyone has experienced the frustrations of a program that doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Some of this may be user error, but what if the software you purchased is difficult to install, doesn't work well with your operating system, crashes frequently, doesn't sync with other software it's supposed to rely upon, fails to back up or accurately produce data, or any other variant of "doesn't work"? While an owner may be able to get a refund for the software itself, can he afford to recoup what using the software cost his business?

These types of problems are why it is so important for business owners to know what they are purchasing before the purchase, either by consulting with other users or thoroughly reading reviews, or relying on a reputable VAR (Value Added Reseller) for their software needs. Much has been made of saving money by "eliminating the middle man," but when dealing with software, the middle man may not be so expendable. It's true, many types of software are designed for easy installation and use. There is no point to go through a software vendor to purchase Microsoft Office or install SugarSync on a laptop, but if your business needs complex engineering software to run simulations or your medical practice requires HIPAA-compliant management software for billing, scheduling, and record keeping, a wrong choice can be a very wrong choice.  The more complex and expensive the software, the more valuable the middle man becomes to you. After all, it's he who will be able to help you install it, answer questions about what it can do, debug your model, and help you navigate customer service of the software designer. Most critically, he will be able to advise you on which software (and how much of it) best meets your business's needs.

Be careful when selecting a VAR as well. There are plenty of companies who will be glad to sell you software at marked up prices. Ask questions about what each VAR is prepared to do for you and how quickly they are prepared to do it in case of emergency. This is your backup - make sure it's a dependable one.

While it would be nice to believe that software (and hardware) will be worth its expense and that it will work and continue to work for you over time, the truth is computers are complex, ever-changing, and prone to error. Given this, it's always best to go over your options carefully before you purchase and to find reliable consultants to help with your selection.

When it comes time to sell your small business

While many businessmen are drawn to a certain industry or have been drawn into a certain business by their family connections or a specific skill set, another type of business owner is the serial entrepreneur. For this kind of person, the thrill is in starting and building the business, not in the day-to-day maintenance of it. These people are visionaries, not managers or caretakers, and after a few years of success, they're bored and they want out.

Other small businesses sell because there's no one to take on the helm after a long era of family ownership has passed or because they need to relocate or raise funds for living expenses or some other purpose.  The owners, having spent sweat equity building something substantial, now need to recoup their investment with a sale to a good buyer. But how does an owner ensure that he gets a good price for his small business?

Max Friar specializes in the sale of small and medium-sized businesses. His company, Calder Capital, recommends that before a business owner even begins to contemplate selling, he should make sure his company is an owner independent one, and that his involvement in it is not essential to the business's maintenance or profitability. This seems, at first glance, to be counterintuitive thinking. How can a successful person not be essential for the running of a successful business? Because while the business needed a visionary to establish it, it needs a good manager to run it, and good managers are more common than successful visionaries.

Of course, not every business is designed to be sold. Many people start a business as a way of channeling their energies and making everyday expenses. They have no thought of selling because in their minds, their businesses are a natural extension of themselves. Every day men and women retire and their businesses close, and that is the way of the world. But if a business has been very successful and has established a brand that is in demand, there is no reason why someone else should not successfully take it over it and compensate the originator for his vision and hard work.

To be well compensated for his energy, however, the business originator must show that he can transfer the knowledge of how to maintain, at at least current standards, the brand he built. If an owner has his Rolodex "in his head," this is of no use to a buyer because he will not be able to make the connections necessary to run the business. If the owner has his eye on every deal or every transaction, if the business depends on him showing up to work every day and motivating his employees, the business cannot run without him, can't make money without him, and, therefore, without him, is essentially worthless. No one will pay money for it because it's throwing gold down a well.

The steps to take, then, according to Friar, would be to:

• Make sure that the client base is not small and limited to a few very profitable relationships the owner has cultivated himself. A wider array of customers looks like a safer deal to a buyer wary of an owner taking his business relationships with him. 
• Put the day-to-day management of the business in the hands of a competent manager who is incentivized to stay with the business after it is sold.
• Strengthen the business's brand. It goes without saying that a strong brand is essential to a good price.
• Put all policies and procedures in writing so that your employees and any potential buyers know they are in place already and there are no surprises in transition.

Additionally, any seller should put himself into the shoes of a potential buyer and critically examine his own business for value reducing dependencies. Once those have been addressed, a much better deal can be made and the value of his hard work will be better compensated. And who doesn't appreciate generous compensation?

Negative online reviews - don't panic.

The internet has made many more products accessible to a worldwide audience, and with that exposure has released an previously unknown level of vitriol from a certain segment of the population - the perpetually dissatisfied. While it's true that regular people will leave real reviews of negative experiences they've had with a company's products or services in order to help other customers avoid having the same experience, it's also true that there are customers who will never be happy and love to complain.

If you have a fledgling business, or even an established one, it can be upsetting to read negative reviews of your company online. The internet is a public space after all, and criticism is unpleasant. The natural reaction is to become defensive and offer reasons (or - let's be honest - excuses) to a dissatisfied customer - anything to quash the negative and move on. Some businesses, like Amy's Baking Company of Scottsdale, Arizona have taken negative reviews particularly badly and thrown epic tantrums online or threatened to call a lawyer and sue for libel.

But before you panic and go off the deep end, realize that negative reviews aren't always a bad thing. For a well known company with an established brand, yes, negative reviews are something to handle carefully because bad publicity can result in diminished sales, brand tarnishing, or even boycotts. But smaller, more obscure businesses or brands often benefit from bad reviews because they bring their companies to the attention of people who would not have known about them before.

Research done at Wharton assessed the effect that bad reviews had on book sales and discovered that for popular authors bad reviews were a negative, but for "relatively unknown authors, bad reviews caused sales to rise, by an average of 45%. This held even when the criticism was extreme." What's more, over time people would remember the name of the author or book, but forget the negative reason why they remembered it - so negative reviews ironically created positive brand building for these authors over the long term.

The curiosity factor also plays a part. An experience that causes so much emotion in one reader or user is bound to create interest in another.  "Anything but ordinary!" is one consumer motivation.  People will try or buy products that other people dislike too, when they already know their tastes differ, particularly if the review is sufficiently detailed. These people may decide to leave a positive review later if their experiences differ to "set the record straight."

Consider this, then, the next time your business gets a negative review on Yelp or Amazon, and assess your strategy for how to deal with negative reviews accordingly.

How to get people to follow your small business on Twitter

Smart small business owners are aware that branding and social media marketing aren't something that only Fortune 500 companies do and are reaching out to their clientele and potential customers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and other outlets to let them know about who they are and what they offer.  Social media is about engagement, primarily, not sales, although every business hopes and plans that engagement will in some way convert to sales and profitability.  Here are some tips for engaging and succeeding on Twitter.

• Be famous - Famous people will have followers, lots and lots of followers, no matter how dull their feeds are, just because people find them or their work interesting. Famous people often follow only other famous people on Twitter, so, from a small business point of view, following them is only useful if you are personally enriched by their Twitter feeds.
• Be polarizing - People feel that there are a number of truths that cannot be expressed in our society and are irritated by the many rules and double standards of discourse. So when someone tweets these inexpressible things, those people find a nice Twitter niche fast. It's safer to retweet something someone else says "ironically" or "informationally" than it is to go out on a limb and tweet it yourself. "Retweets are not endorsements," after all.  However, Twitter has had a significant amount of vigilantism lately, so polarizing is only something you want to be if your brand is built around it. Say, if you're a comedian, or a politician, or both. Others may tweet anonymously with some safety, but that's not possible for the small business.  Be outlandish or overly political with caution.
• Be funny - Funny people, famous or not, will gather a following on Twitter because they're rare and humor is appreciated.  
• Be an expert - People who have in-depth knowledge of some science, art, or practice also get plenty of followers. These people border on being famous without being really famous. Most of the world may not know about them, but if they are the foremost expert in the field of anything, a large number of people worldwide will be interested in reading their thoughts.
• Know a lot of people in real life - A socially expert, gregarious person can develop a decent Twitter following just by informing the people she knows about her Twitter feed. Put a link to your Twitter account in your Facebook status or on your Pinterest page. If you're a likable person, you can easily get followers this way.
• Join in a passionate Twitter conversation - the #FF (Follow Friday) hashtag has been used to make connections and advertise interesting Twitter accounts, but this is overused and not very interesting. Does anyone really care if you follow someone else? Only if you're famous or otherwise very unique. However, participating in Twitter conversations can get your followers if you offer something novel, relevant or insightful to the conversation. You'd be surprised by the bump in followers one good conversation (or argument) can bring you.
• Tweet interesting, real, helpful, original content - Pictures, jokes, fun facts, reportage of interesting events, opinions (cautiously). People are looking to be entertained and informed.  Think of what entertains and informs you and people like you and how you might put that into 140 characters and/or an image - that's good stuff.  
• Any combination of the above - If you're famous, polarizing and funny, you can tweet pretty much whatever you want and it will get favorited and retweeted ad infinitum. If Jon Stewart were to tweet a picture of his dog's new puppies - well, we'd better hope Twitter has the bandwidth.

What if you aren't famous, polarizing, funny, or a widely recognized expert in your field?  What if your business is, say, an orthodontist in a small city? You're not famous, you're not the foremost expert in orthodontic practice, and being polarizing would only cost you customers, not earn or keep them. Look to the last tips then. See if people you know in real life will connect to you, particularly people in your field.  Converse with them on Twitter. Offer some useful knowledge that you have about tooth structure or managing the expense of braces. Answer questions people have about crooked teeth. Give a few tips and tricks away, and generally show that you know what you're talking about and can solve real problems. Tweet Before & After pictures of your successes. Give your patients and their parents an incentive to connect with you on social media.

Most importantly, regularly update your Twitter feed and answer any questions or solve any problems that your patients address to you on social media.  You want to be seen as involved, responsive, interesting, and three-dimensional. That is the way to get your name out there and to turn Twitter users into patients.  

Twitter - and the rest of social media - may seem like a waste of time, but more people, and especially more young people, are using online methods of experiencing and communicating with the world. You definitely want to be a part of that.

5 Ways to Create a More Sustainable Workspace

Do you know which materials went into producing the desk chair you sit in every day or how energy efficient your office building is? Sustainable interior design has not had as much time in the green spotlight as hybrid or electric cars, but it has a much larger impact on our everyday lives than many are aware of. With the impressive increase of LEED-certified buildings in previous years, architecture and design companies have been making massive strides to ensure interior sustainability, creating healthy and sustainable interior designs for workers to benefit from.
What is sustainable interior design? Green or sustainable interior design focuses on the elimination of harmful environmental elements through thoughtful and skillful design in a room. Sustainable interior designers aim to create rooms that are safe for occupants to establish long-term relationships with their surroundings. Designers are mindful of the health, wellness, and user-efficiency of the room’s occupants. They are aware of how the furniture was manufactured and how they can increase energy efficiency in the design and flow of a room. They strive to ensure the long-term preservation of indoor atmospheres so occupants remain healthy and productive. Five aspects they focus on to make a space greener are:

• Lighting. There are now many industrial and commercial lighting options that are considerably less energy intensive and meet international standards for environmental impact. LED lighting utilizes Light-Emitting Diodes as the source of light. These diodes emit large amounts of lumens while conserving wattage. Another way of conserving energy is to incorporate as much natural light into a space as possible through the use of windows, skylights, and clear or opaque walls. 
• Furniture. Many manufacturers use greener methods of production, making the office furniture itself greener. Responsible companies offer their clients the specific details of how their products are produced and delivered. They build from the scrap generated by other industries; some of it is 100% post-industrial recycled content. Designers who care about sustainability check to see that any chairs or desks a business uses are not made from endangered rainforest wood species, but only from sustainably forested wood. Non-wood pieces can be sustainable as well. BioFlex is a chair foam that is made with soybeans grown by American farmers. Leather supplied should be 100% recyclable, and synthetic fabrics are vetted for health consciousness. Metal products should not emit unfriendly waste, as plated chrome does. Stainless steel is better. 
• Walls. In today’s workspaces, many of these are portable instead of fixed, allowing for more flexibility of design and better use of architecture and light. Movable walls can be made from recycled glass, wood and metal. 
• Heating and cooling. Much of a building’s energy efficiency is determined by its architecture and systems, but designers with an eye on future costs and comfort will pay attention to window treatments, seasonal ambient temperatures and worker placement within a workspace. 
• Water. By using low-flow toilets and automatic faucets in an office setting, thousands of gallons of water can be saved. One toilet can consume as much as 7 gallons of water per flush. Multiply this by the number of employees in a large office, and that is a lot of wasted water and money. Improperly designed bathrooms can also be breeding grounds for viruses and bacteria. Designers who monitor employee use can help create continuously healthier spaces. 

Why is sustainable interior design important? Designers who focus on sustainability have advanced knowledge of the furniture and other materials that are incorporated into floor plans as well as employee habits of use. Creating greener workspaces can be a time and paperwork intensive venture, but the rewards will pay out for years to come in health, safety, money, and conservation of our natural resources. These are the offices, classrooms and other rooms that we spend much of our time in - they should not be toxic to our physical and mental health, but should inspire us to work better and more productively.

Starting up a Home-Based Craft or Kitchen Business

"You should sell that!"

Have you ever had anyone say that to you? Sometimes they emphatically add, "You could make a lot of money!"

Home-based businesses are on the rise because the economy is still struggling on and people are attempting to replace income lost from full- or even part-time incomes. Most people can cook, can, or bake, and many have some sort of crafting or woodworking ability that could be profitable under the right conditions. Browse any farmer's market on a warm fall afternoon - or Etsy anytime - and you'll see capitalism in full swing - vegetables, meats, baked goods, soaps and salves, coffee and teas, jewelry, carved items. leather goods and other crafts - a cornucopia of handmade products to choose from, created from the talent and spare time of a whole range of people.

But how easy is it to start one of these businesses? How much regulation is there and how many hoops do you have to jump through? It depends on type of product being sold. Crafts and jewelry, furniture and knick-knacks can be sold easily at craft shows, farmer's markets, or online. Starting this type of business would require the same first steps of starting any business: investigating your market and demand, determining your costs, making a business plan, and researching local laws. Any business owner should also acquire business insurance because of the current litigious atmosphere, but if you're selling felted animals, it's unlikely anyone will claim they were carcinogenic or in any other way harmful.  With food it gets more complicated.

Opening a small food-center business has a number of obvious pluses. You have a built-in customer base in the human race, as everyone needs to eat. Additionally, cooking can be done and done well by people who have little formal training or education. Most states have lately passed cottage food laws that allow for the sale of non-perishable foods. These generally include baked goods, jams and jellies, pickles and vinegars, dehydrated foods, nuts and candy - things that won't kill people if not made exactly right.  Jams are fruits preserved in sugar and pickles are preserved in vinegar - while they are canned, the processing isn't what preserves them.  Other jarred foods, such as canned vegetables and salsas have to be processed in a pressure canner to kill any and all bacteria.  Anything with meat and dairy also must be produced in a commercial kitchen that is up to code and regularly inspected. Some small businesses avoid real estate overhead by renting time in a commercial kitchen, but this, of course, is an additional expense.  If you want to sell food, you need to check state requirements carefully for feasability before you invest any money.

Finally, of late there has been considerable interest in herbalism, naturopathy, and medicines that are more naturally and organically made. Partly this interest is an outgrowth of the organic movement - the next step in green living - and partly it's a reaction to a medical system that is convoluted and out of the price range of whole swaths of the population. The sale of any sort of medicinal tonic or application can even more highly regulated than food, however.  Guidelines vary by state, but generally these products must be made in a commercial, regularly inspected kitchen. Business owners may be required to have a degree in herbal medicine as well. Degree or not, because they are not doctors, herbalists are not allowed to state what their salves, tinctures, and teas are supposed to help or even that they are medicine at all. An herbalist may have a great deal of experience treating ear infections with vinegar and garlic & mullein oil and may have success restoring ear wax-blocked hearing loss with hydrogen peroxide and glycerin, but because he is not a family physician or an audiologist, he is not allowed to make any claims or suggestions. An herbal business also will likely require additional liability insurance - another cost to consider.

Starting any sort of business requires a great deal of research as to the market and regulations, so be willing to put some time in.  There are a number of people making money selling all of the above products, but just because it looks easy doesn't mean it is.  Do your homework and then get excited about your home business venture.

The affordable, sustainable holiday office party

It's that time of year again.  Are you ready to celebrate your business's accomplishments and treat your employees to food, drink, and entertainment?  What if you're on a budget or if your business hasn't quite gotten out of the red and into the black yet?  Can you throw a great office party on a shoestring budget?

Americans have been living with affluenza symptoms for years, but it's important to realize that great parties don't depend on overindulgence or excess, they depend on people enjoying each others' company.  A well stocked table helps, but what people will really remember is time spent together.  Think of the best party you've ever been to.  Was it in some swanky venue with an open bar and a snooty maître d'?  Probably not.  One of the better holiday parties I've gone to had no catering, no entertainment, and was light on the amenities.  It was in November 1993, and a group of American teachers were celebrating Thanksgiving together in a small Soviet dorm.  We scoured the local market for supplies, peeled our own potatoes, roasted our own small chicken, and laughed hysterically about the challenges we all had in common, swapping ideas on how to solve them.  It was a great time.  There was one tiny incident - a Russian girlfriend broke a bottle and tried to slit her wrist in the bathroom - but that's always the case, isn't it?  A holiday isn't complete without some drama.

The point is, you don't have to spend a lot of money and order a dumpster after in order to throw a great Christmas party for your coworkers.  You just need some creativity and cooperation.  Here are a few tips for a memorable, zero waste celebration:

Decorate with ornaments that can be used from year to year and then stored away.  A nice holiday tablecloth really dresses up a room, and pine cones can be gathered and then returned to their outdoor setting when the party is over.  Invite your employees to bring in their favorite holiday decorations and take a few minutes to have each one showcase hers and tell why it is important to her.  These can either be left at the office for the remainder of December or returned home after the party.

Do not use disposable plates, cutlery or napkins.  It's true, hardly anyone loves to do dirty dishes, but it also hasn't killed anybody yet to do it.  Back in the old days, before throwaway plates, how do you think people managed? They worked together.  They volunteered together.  After every potluck, that same group of ladies gathered in the kitchen and cleaned out the pots and pans while the men broke down the tables and put away chairs. They got to know each other better, and they worked off some of the calories they'd just eaten.  If your employees object to having to clean up after an office party, offer them a flex hour in compensation, to be used in the new year. It's nicer to eat with real cutlery and plates anyway, like civilized people.

Have your most detail oriented person plan the food, and order based on what will actually get eaten instead of what will fill up a table.  Better food in smaller quantities are better than lots of plates of food no one likes or bag after bag of chips that will be sampled and then thrown out.  After the party, invite people to bring home any extra food.  Ask them ahead of time to bring their own tupperware to make this easier.  Look into donating anything unopened to a food bank.  Anything else freeze and eat later.

Gift exchanges are largely unnecessary and can cause problems if the "rules" are not communicated well or some people are left out.  Skip the complimentary gift unless it's something your employees will genuinely want. Another way to think of this is: most generic gifts will be thrown away or, at best, re-gifted.  No one wants a Christmas tree ornament with your business logo on it.  If it's mass produced, it will eventually find its way into the trash.  Spend the money instead on a better cut of meat or raffling off some gift cards.  Or, if your employees approve, give the money that would have been used to a charity that can be mutually agreed upon.

Remember again this holiday season that people have enough "stuff."  What they do not have, and can never have enough of is time spent well, happily, with people they like.  Keeping that in mind will help you plan your party so that it will be less expensive but more enjoyable.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers at Small Business Excellence!