Small Business | Michael R Lewis, ASJA

January 24, 2014January 3, 2024

How to Improve Customer Service at Your Operation

You may not be able to precisely define good customer service, but you know it when you see it. Does it begin before the sale with the image and message your company presents? Is it the process by which you handle customer complaints? Or is it the total customer experience from the time of initial contact until your product or service is delivered, payment is made, and the purchaser is satisfied? Whatever your definition, customer service is an essential – and possibly the most significant – element of business survival and success.

The essence of customer service is anticipating and meeting your customer’s needs quickly, fairly and completely. In the digital world, customer service means that the marketing, sales, and delivery of specific products and services are perfectly aligned with the needs and desires of each specific customer who purchases the product or service. Every interaction between company and customer is designed to avoid disappointment and enhance satisfaction.

Prerequisites to Great Customer Service

There is no single, perfect model of great customer service, no specific methodology you can implement, nor a recipe to follow that will guarantee that your company always delivers total customer satisfaction. The best companies understand that fulfilling each customer’s needs is a constant struggle that never ends. But their reward for persistently improving the customer’s experience is escalating revenues and profits.

7 Tax Prep Tips to Ease the Stress of Filing

December 25th and April 15th are two of the most memorable dates on the American calendar. The first is the culmination of a joyful season of celebration, gift-giving, and general goodwill, and is eagerly anticipated. The second date – the day income tax returns must be filed – is a day of dread, stress, anger, and fear for many people. Preparation for Christmas often begins in early autumn, while many people wait until the last minute to complete and file tax returns.

Despite the fact that three out of every four filers receive a refund, nobody likes income tax time. However, there are ways to make the experience less hectic and easier to endure.

How to More Easily File Your Income Tax Form

Whether you file your own taxes or use a professional preparer, the key to a satisfactory, tension-free result is organization. Trying to make sense of a rat’s nest of paper receipts, canceled checks, brokerage statements, and other miscellaneous bits of information is frustrating and time-consuming. The confusion adds time for you, and unnecessary expense if you are using a professional tax preparer. It also increases the probability of mistakes in determining the correct tax liability. If you pay too little, you may be subject to a tax audit and additional penalties; paying too much effectively gives a donation to the government that could have been returned to you in a refund. Avoid such troubles by following these tips.

What are Bitcoins? Pros, Cons & Investment Opportunities

Historically, exchanges of value – barter systems – were done face-to-face so that participants could instantly verify the respective physical properties being exchanged. As purchasers and sellers became geographically distant, agents or trusted third-parties acting on behalf of the participants became necessary to verify the quantity or quality of the property being transferred. For example, credit card issuers are examples of a third-party standing in for a buyer, guaranteeing to the seller that the buyer’s funds are good.

The growth of the Internet and the proliferation of digital transactions have exposed many limitations to traditional currencies and exchange systems in the borderless, electronic world. Current limitations include high expenses, time delays, and security risks. These limitations are particularly egregious when the transactions involve parties on each side of the globe, different national currencies, and complex products.

The idea of an international currency – independent of a country or central bank and designed for a globalized economy – has fascinated economists, business executives, computer experts, and anti-government advocates for years. The ideal currency would provide anonymity to its holders, protection from inflation, and security from theft and fraud. These ideals led to the concept of a digital currency, enabling the concept of cash or cash equivalent to be used over the Internet.

Bitcoins (BTC), the latest and most popular outcome of efforts to create a practical digital currency, first appeared in 2009 with an initial issue of 2,625,000. As of December 7, 2013, there were 12,091,050 BTCs, each with a value of $736.61 USD.

The website Shopify recently listed 75 specialty retailers that accept bitcoins, and Forbes announced its “Top 10 Bitcoin Merchant Sites,” including website development software developer WordPress. Even Baidu, Inc., China’s biggest search engine, accepted bitcoins until the nation’s central bank banned the use or ownership of the currency by financial institutions.

Description of Bitcoins

According to Anthony Gallippi, CEO of Bitpay payment processor, “Bitcoin is a more secure, faster, and more affordable option for transferring funds.” In technical terms, bitcoins are a math-based, finite, verifiable, open-sourced, decentralized virtual currency that relies upon cryptography for security.
Read more . . .

December 16, 2013January 3, 2024

For Inventors: Sources of Capital

This article initially appeared on the IPWatchdog.com website November 2, 2013

Some inventors turn to 3rd-parties for help, seeking to avoid the ego-mashing, time, and effort that seem to accompany every capital-seeking attempt. More often than not, however, they find the relationship expensive and unsuccessful. Successful efforts invariably require the inventor’s involvement as well as access to individuals who can “pull the trigger” on investment – who you know can be just as important as the product’s viability. Professional advisors may ease the process and improve your chance of success if they possess the following:

personal contacts among the sources whom you seek to solicit
an understanding of the intricacies of negotiation
prior successful experience raising capital or licensing inventions
your best interests

Whether paid by fee up-front or contingent, or as a percentage of your final arrangement, any advisor should represent you, not the potential investor.

As the girl in the fairy tale ruefully remarked, “You have to kiss a lot of toads to find a prince!” Raising capital is not much different and is often a difficult, tedious, and frustrating process.

Common sources of capital worth pursuing include the following: