“Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself.”

- Roy Croc, Founder of McDonald’s

It’s never easy to watch a business fail. Especially one that has enjoyed success for years and years.

And it’s particularly frustrating to watch a business squander this success simply because it has become lazy and out-of-synch.

But, tragically, fewer things will permanently erase any company’s hard earned progress quicker than losing sight of the fundamentals.

For example, went to a sporting good chainstore - which shall remain nameless - and spent 1.5 hours searching for shoes.

“Why 90 minutes,” you ask?

Well, because not once did anyone offer to help. Heavy-handed sales are never welcome, but treating your customers like ghosts is ten times worse.

I finally found some shoes and checked out. But what did mine eyes reveal when checking my receipt? The cashier overcharged me, and to have it corrected required waiting in a secondary “Customer Service” line.

Twenty minutes later, I was informed that the products I had selected were mispriced, and weren’t part of the storewide sale.

To make a long story short, I returned all of the shoes for a full refund.

The store manager did not recognize that by saving his store the $20 discount I was mislead to believe I qualified for, he was actually losing a $150 sale.

Let’s pray that short-sighted business practices are a thing of the past, shall we?

Happy New Year!

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

We all know celebrities are Big Business.

However, pop culture entertainment value aside, there is a terrific danger for businesses that make their brand indistinguishable from celebrity.

The latest business/celebrity revelation adds fuel to what was the finally subsiding options scandal: apparently, Steve Jobs may have received some special financial privileges which weren’t exactly handled by the book.

Shocker? Apple’s been delaying its year-end report for weeks now. Something obviously was up.

And this is a biggie. The iPod company had previously stated that Jobs was nowhere near any of Apple’s options issues. Suddenly they figure out that he was chest-deep in them?

This indicates how far a company, even a smart company can be forced to go - in other words, too far - when it’s trying to shield a celebrity executive from harm’s way. If Jobs was anyone other than Jobs, full disclosure would have taken place months ago, when Apple was first mired in the controversy.

Instead, we have a Cinderella-story company taking a long walk way out on an SEC-shortened plank to protect not just an individual, but the harsh reality that Jobs isn’t just Jobs, he’s the personification of Apple’s professional reputation. If he falls, you better believe Apple’s stock price will be in free fall right behind him.

Get ready for crazy talk: What if you made your product and service, not some excecutive celebrity, what it is that your business revolves around? What if you stayed focused on that? What if you just sold customers on that? What if you got the press excited about that?

It’s a gold-standard business practice, and it’s also more conservative. After all, what happens if the celebrity not only blows it, but decides to jump ship?

Get your business the photo ops and red carpet treatment it deserves. Develop a cult of personality that puts your business model first, and celebrity modeling far, far behind.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

and all through the house, many were stirring, in anticipation of some serious holiday after-sales.

Come on, admit it.

Yes, you got and gave everything you hoped for. And of course we’re all grateful for everything that we have - and will be expressing that gratitude with our thank you cards, right? But since many are also off this entire week - and perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones - you know you’re looking to score some additional loot.

Hey, who isn’t looking for the latest iPod goodie, right? And watching prices of flat panel high definition televisions has become the latest national pastime.

On that note, I have a relative who paid five grand for a 26″ TV eighteen months that is going for about $400 right now. No one wants to make that kind of a financial mistake.

Watching for bargains is key to saving money. In buying, as in selling, it’s all about being smart with your money, and striking when the iron’s hot.

So when it comes to post-holiday sales, who hasn’t been conditioned to expect some serious blowout bargains? And it you’re a good businessperson, you’ve been responsible for some of that conditioning, too. Because the kind of cash register purring created by this kind of supply and demand relationship is music to our ears.
OK, so where are the crazy sales??

Christmas Day, bought a paper, expecting 5 pounds of advertising circulars. I got two.

The Day after Christmas, bought a paper, thinking that today must be the day retailers were going to try and motivate some inventory movement via those major ad dollars. Total circulars: zero. Huh?

In this, the Land of the Free Market Economy, Capitalism is not just King, it’s Master & Commander. The Big Sale is the Holy Grail of business.

So why isn’t anyone trying to bring in the customers? According to the latest reports, this holiday season’s sales were nothing to write home about. Are the big box retailers counting on tax write-offs to make their ‘06 sales numbers? Who knows?

What I do know is that the successful small businessperson never misses a chance to leverage current events for new sales. It’s called smart business.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

We’ve all been there. Shackled to a desk. Victims of face-time management. Living the Office Space nightmare.

Most still are!

We all know there’s a better way to boost profits, a way to escape the routine, to break away from the way business has always been done.

Because what, again, is it about the bottom line that has anything to do with spending 8 hours in one spot?

Let alone anything to do with getting interrupted by water cooler chit-chat, politics, or another bad joke from that guy.

But who, really, estimates that it’s ever going to? At least, on anything but a one-off basis?

So what a shock when a mainstream company, like Best Buy for instance?!?, swoops in with revolutionary approach to business success.

And one that was implemented from the bottom up, not the top down, no less. That takes some serious will!

So, what’s the point?

Why, simply nothing other than the fact that at this time of seasonal merriment and wondrous holiday joy, miracles can come true.

And maybe, just maybe, the old cubicle ball and chain concept is something Santa can pack with him up the chimney this year once and for all.
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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

It’s looming large, which means it’s time to get moving.

If you’re lucky, your shopping is done.

If you’re not, here’s a hint: the internet is your friend.

It’s not going to help for you PS3 fans. But the Wii is where the action is, anyway.

A little too much, turns out!

Here’s another hint: time’s a-wastin’!

A quick check of the calendar tells us that the time to start searching around for those wish list items is officially yesterday.

But Home Stretch Week, although very important for gift getting, is particularly important to entrepreneurs for something arguably of far more importance.

Gift selling.

Because this time of year like no other is the time to pull out all the stops, and get that inventory moving out the door.

And what are the best ways to make the sales? Well, how about a refresher?

The first order of business is to establish the right mind set: namely, it’s never to late to have a holiday sale.

Bake some cookies, dress up like Santa, crank the carols.

Acting Scrooge-like when your customers want to feel good about buying, buying, buying is a sure fire way to put a lump of goal in your ledger.

It’s called The Home Stretch for a reason.

Like it or not, the finish line is in sight, so kick in the turbo sales power and light up your season the right way - profitably.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

The tragic story of James Kim reached across the globe.

Fortunately his family was found, and some of the lessons being learned from this story of a vacation gone terribly wrong may help prevent future incidents from taking a similarly sad turn.

Spotlighted through all of this is the increasing importance of cell phones, as well as global positioning technology.

The Kims attempted to make several calls, which rescuers state provided critical evidence in their attempt to extend their search efforts and hone in on the family’s location.

Of course, it is widely acknowledged that Mr. Kim’s professional affiliation with media company Cnet helped generate in no small way to the significant publicity for the family’s plight.

Yet part of the story’s sad irony is that while Kim was steeped in the business of technology as resident MP3 expert, he had no GPS in his Saab.

GPS is much more than a convenience: It is a safety net.

And if history is any guide, anticipate a sharp increase in demand for handheld GPS devices, and GPS-enabled phones, as well as some kind of cell phone alert system that will pinpoint location in an emergency.

It’s true that privacy concerns have often proven the market detriment to businesses pushing for the embrace of this type of technology, although companies like Disney already offer these products.

But I anticipate that the Kim story will relegate most of these concerns - often somewhat Big Brother-esque paranoid in nature - to the backburner, and help put location communicating products into the hands of many more consumers.

In which case, it will be another example of business proving its value not just to business owners, investors and shareholders, but to individuals with fundamental needs for products and services that can help preserve their family’s health and well-being.

What better purpose can business serve?

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

So I’ve got satellite radio, and it rocks.

It’s only like $12 a month, and worth every 2.7 pennies per day. Even on days I don’t listen at all, knowing that 150 radio stations are at my disposal - all commercial free - is pretty fantastic.

OK, OK…so I only listen to 5-6 of the stations on a regular basis. But, hey, if I want to get some holiday decorating tips from Martha, she’s there for me!

So as a satisfied customer, I want nothing else but for the business of orbiting radio to succeed.

But I also appreciate that paying Howard Stern $100 million for a 5-year-contract - and keeping those satellites from dipping into the atmosphere and getting singed - costs some precious coin.

The battle for subscribers it tough, and the quarterly reports are far from rosy, indicating that profits for both Sirius and XM still prove elusive.

So I found it pretty clever today to learn that the two arch-enemies might find victory by teaming up and pooling their resources.

And why not?

If the only thing standing between you and business success is a single competitor, and there’s more than enough market share to go around, doesn’t it make more sense to combine efforts in securing the customers, and less effort tearing each other down?

I’m a satisfied customer. I just want my music stations to stay where I like them, and I’m willing to pay for it. And I guarantee there’s plenty of my clones at the competitor, too.

Sometimes there really can be more than one winner, and taking all isn’t the smartest or quickest path to success.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

So, my cell phone died.

It’s one of those Motorola Rockrs. You know, the iPod phones? They took a bad rap post publicity-blitz, but it’s actually a pretty good phone.

Good design, intuitive layout, quality ringtones. And a fantastic MP3 player!

But even the best laid plans can sometimes go awry. The phone was low on juice so I plugged it into the charger and forgot about it.

Next morning, problem. No battery charging image, and the power button would not cooperate. Hey, accidents happen. Better call warranty support.

Commence disappointment: “Your approximate hold time is 15 minutes.”

Fifteen minutes? For cell phone tech support? In 2006? Huh??

Upside: marketing had clearly put plenty of thought into the hold music, as it was very soothing and, dare I say it, even enjoyable.

But after 45 minutes, the sooth was 30 minutes long gone.

So what’s to be learned?

You can be good at one thing in business if you want to attract customers.

But if you want to keep them, you better be good at everything commerce-related. That means learning how to diversify your passion.

It means ensuring that not only do you get your products and services right, you send out professional invoices, put some serious effort into your web presence - and appreciate that a hold time of any more than 5 minutes is absolutely unacceptable.

Sometimes even the heavy hitters stuggle to get it right. But who says they have a monopoly on genius? There’s plenty of opportunity for the little guys among us to pick up the slack, and make success work for us, too.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.

Businesses come, and businesses go.

But do you really think the ones with the power to make it around are the ones that don’t give any attention to the importance of their brand identity?

Think again.

So what is it about Microsoft - or Nike, or JetBlue, or Cingular - that contribute to popularity, longevity and profitability?

Well, it’s a lot of things, actually.

A sound business idea, for starters.

Smart planning.

Some financial acumen never hurts.

And, of course, all the smarts in the world doesn’t matter very much if your timing is all wrong.

But one of the key fundamentals? It’s as simple as what you’re going to call yourself, i.e. the name of your business.

Which is why it’s always somewhat shocking to encounter business names that obviously weren’t considered all that carefully before the checks, letterhead and business cards were printed up.

“Johnny’s Transmissions?” No. “Johnny’s House of Tone?” Yes!

Ho-hum names do nothing to separate any business, whether web-based or not, from all the clutter out there. Customers need something that offers a clever hook, or humor. Put a smile on their face, and count on lots of new sales.

Give people something to think about, something they’ll never forget, and let the cash registers ring. Naming is the most crucial branding exercise you will ever undertake, so take your time, get it right and give your company a critical marketing boost out of the gate.

What’s in a name? Only one thing that counts: success.

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Grow My Business can help lighten the load on understanding how to get started, gain momentum, and manage growth for the long run. And for small and home business software needs, check out Avanquest, the company that brings you the biggest bang for your hard-earned entrepreneurial buck.