Last activity: 3 days ago
I've been hearing more about corporate social responsibility programs, I'm curious about a few details:
There's no formatting help button on new posts, just replies. Kinda a pain when you can't remember the formatting!
There's been a few threads here about the high cost of gas and its effect of people's business. I've taken the viewpoint that the pain now will be a boon in the near future.
Time just had a great article on some of the benefits of $4 gas. What do you think?
I've never hired sales staff before, so I have a few questions maybe others know better about. From what I've seen there's salespeople who wait for leads to come in then close the deal, then there's salespeople who go out and generate new leads and sales - I'd need the latter. What resources do you need to provide such a salesperson? Do they just walk a beat? Follow up on direct mail campaigns? Should they get a marketing budget to use as they see fit?
Also what about compensation? Is straight commission acceptable? How can I ensure good sales production while ensuring my salespeople are fairly compensated?
Seems appropriate to mention here you can get your internet fix for free-ish at most Starbucks now when you have a Starbucks card (the prepaid kind, you don't need to get the credit card).
The fine print is you get 2 hours each day within 30 days of use of your card, at Starbucks stores which have the AT&T service. Obviously its great to support the local guys, but if you find yourself in a part of town you don't know, its nice to know your free WiFi fix isn't far away.
I've been thinking about getting a work vehicle and of course wrapping it. I know wraps make sense for business-to-consumer companies like HVAC, electricians, plumbers, etc. But do wraps make sense for business-to-business companies like telecom, IT, etc?
Anyone have personal experience or case studies?
You know how you can sell your products on Amazon, I have a client that wants to sell wallbeds at Amazon but needs help. Anyone experienced and help people with this?
So its finally time to let the cat out of the bag on my second business - Business Outfitters. Its a business to business marketing company formed because I couldn't find what I wanted to get in front of my market effectively.
What I realized is there's options where potential customers go looking for you (yellow pages, web searches) and options where the message is put in front of potential customers (direct mail, cold calling, newspaper ads, etc).
Getting in front of potential customers can really drive a lot of business, but mass emailing is illegal, cold calling is becoming limited and wasn't any fun anyway, and direct mail can be expensive for the 1% return.
So I came up with a new direct mail product, first mailing is targeted for May. Its going to 5000 Bellevue/Kirkland businesses with reported revenues of .5-2.5 million. The cost for a 5x8 ad is just $750.
Drop me a line if you want to know more!
I'm naming a new product and of course went to do a trademark search. Lets say the product is "Hera" and its a unified threat management firewall. There's another trademark for "Hera" for a database admin/monitoring program. Can I call mine "Hera" and trademark it without issue? Could I name it "Hera UTM" or "Hera Firewall" and trademark it without issue?
Are you a contractor having trouble managing call load, making all your staff available from one number, or racking up huge long distance bills? Our phone systems can address all these concerns.
In exchange I'm looking for either new countertops and/or cork floors for my galley style kitchen.
I've recently proposed a few phone systems for non-profits and was pushed for deals.
I've always felt like the fair thing was the charge all clients the same thing for the same service - seems that anyone offering crazy deals is just overcharging the rest of their clients.
And lets face it, non-profits aren't necessarily charities. Some are well funded, some are not. Some do real good and contribute to society...and some don't.
So do you give non-profits discounts? All non-profits or on a case by case basis?
A client of mine needs a PHP dev to integrate Google Checkout with their custom shopping cart...any takers?
Please let me know relevant experience.
Apple just released a new lineup of iPods:
iPod Shuffle - now in colors iPod Nano - now plays video iPod Classic - now with storage up to 160GB! iPod Touch - basically an iPhone minus the phone. 3.5" Touch screen, WiFi, and more!
We've got all the new models with FREE shipping and FREE engraving!
(http://www.selkowitz.com/images/apple/atstore.html)
I've seen many questions on biztalk and inquires about small business telecommunications. Any interest in a lunch seminar explaining phone/internet service options, VoIP vs. traditional lines, advanced functionality (auto attendants, find me follow me, etc)?
Did you know Apple factory refurbished Macs can save you big bucks, carry the same warranty as new, and are still eligible for AppleCare?
As Apple Authorized Business Agents we can offer you both new and factory refurbished Macs. Check out our ever changing selection of refurb Macs below:
(http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/WebObjects/BizAgent.woa/6374007/wa/PSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=B159BFEA&node=home/specialdeals&wosid=D64gu3C9WB3v3yGsYJP18XiDyWU)
Nearly a year ago I bought my first place, one of my goals was to keep the household and personal products as green as possible. Finding green products isn't hard but there's not much in the way of analysis/reviews of products.
I tried both ecover and biokleen for clothes, preferred the latter. Biokleen wasn't as good for dishwashing detergent though...
So what's been your experience?
Talkswitch is a killer phone system for small businesses, we're Talkswitch Approved Partners and have a spare used system we used for testing.
This is a model 284vs - 2 telco lines, 8 local extensions, 10 remote extensions, and 4 VoIP channels.
Talkswitch features:
This model is usually $1395...just $995 for a lucky Biznikker =) (http://selkowitz.com/showpages.asp?pid=1039)
With all the Mac/Windows discussion in the "laptop experts" thread, I was curious who's using Linux? And not at the server, I mean on your desktop/laptop.
So a few questions:
In what manner do you use Linux (primary system, playing with it, window shopping)
What is your industry?
What distro do you use?
Why did you pick linux?
Gotta kill a bit of time before they'll let me in!
I was discussing the other day with a lawyer, accountant, etc the topic of what keeps small business owners up at night. We discussed our favorite "I can't believe businesspeople do this" stuff like backup systems which hadn't run in a year, real estate deals done with handshakes, etc.
As for me, I was literally up all night before firing an employee for the first time.
So what issues in your business keep you up? Or at least bounce around in the back of your head...
Send Message
Add to network
Make an introduction
Give Referral
Send Compliment
Bookmark