Running your Remote-Based Business with Proper Contract Management

August 23, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

If the economy does see a double-dip recession, then countless offices and small businesses across the country are sure make some extreme cutbacks. One cost-saving possibility many low-earnings entities will consider is dismantling their offices in favor of remote-based operations. With the advent of cloud computing and virtually instant mobile web access, this is becoming more and more of a practical possibility. But employers are having to come up with ways to make sure they’re still able to get the work done right with employees working outside of an office and data being stored elsewhere as well.

The best way to do that is to focus a significant part of your remote transition on making sure you have worthy contract management systems. Making sure business obligations are being met and employees are following through with their responsibilities can seem harder when you don’t have the information right there in front of you. But honestly when was the last time anybody ever referred to a contract in writing?

We all know the truth about contracts: they help in the event of legal problems. You want signed proof that certain parties agreed to certain things. In that case, when switching to remote strategies you just need to have a means to keep track of contracts that you otherwise don’t have hard copy access to. This can easily be accomplished with simple to get contract management software.

Automating the contractual side of your enterprise is sure to save you quite a bit of time and money. You won’t have to rely on someone to do it for you and you can rest assured that your contracts are professional, and most important of all, perfected with the law in mind. That’s right, most contract management software services make sure their contract agreements are optimized with a judge’s eyes in mind.

If the economy is forcing you to downsize and you’re saying goodbye to the office, then think about saying hello to some improvements in the way you handle your contract management.

Peak Potential Customer Interest With Multimedia Experience

February 18, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Nowadays, it’s impossible for entrepreneurs to run a business without a web site. Additionally, business owners are responsible for branding themselves and their company. With the help of the Internet, business owners can make use of several mediums to market their brand and expand their audience. Online video distribution is one way entrepreneurs get the attention of potential customers.

To capitalize on the video capabilities, check out these tips.

Don’t limit videos to your site exclusively.
Most posts on the Internet can be shared. Social networks make content available to millions of people who may not be prone to seeing your content elsewhere. Take advantage of video hosting sites, such as YouTube or Vimeo, your blog and maybe even cell phone apps. Distributing your videos is no easy task and requires a bulk of time. Consider employing the services of a specialist or software for online video distribution. You’ll most likely be pleased with your ROI.

Update your videos frequently.
Stagnate content turns off for visitors who return to your web site. Keep your material new so users make a habit of checking out your channel(s) on video sites. Fresh material generally means increased traffic, which is always a good thing.

Choose a target audience.
In the same vein as updating your content, create videos for the audience you want to attract. Too much variation in your videos won’t grab anybody’s attention. Produce pieces that appeal to the interests of your selected group, but try to vary the messages. This requires creativity on your part.

Simple is good.
Sure, a video that looks like it cost a lot to produce gets people’s attention. However, it’s not necessary to distribute only your most expensive clips. Take different approaches to videos, such as a quick testimonial from a happy customer or an employee discussing the perks of working for your small business. Keep an eye on hosting site’s rules as to what is considered too promotional for sharing.

With a large volume of web users watching video during every surfing session, it’s crucial that you get in on the action. Online video distribution increases your interactive media presence and online presence overall. Spreading your videos over the web is sure to boost your search engine rankings.

Running a Successful Business Meeting

January 25, 2011 0 Comments

This is a guest post by Claire Jarrett. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Many employees look at business meetings as a pure waste of time. There is an element of truth behind this perception. They are not very interesting by their inherent nature. A majority of the business meetings we attend tend to be ineffective in achieving the aims of the meeting. On many occasions, even the terms agreed upon during the meetings are overturned later. The real decisions in business usually happen in corridors or hallways, between casual conversation among the movers and shakers of the firm.

Ironically, the people who hated participating in these boring affairs through their careers get to be at the helm of these meetings one day and oversee the meetings that they so hated in their junior years. If you are the manager responsible for organizing and achieving the desired goals of a business meeting, how can you avoid it from becoming just another one of those dragging and pointless affairs?

You must have a proper plan in place. First, the real purpose of the meeting has to be understood. If the objectives of the meeting can be achieved in another manner, avoid the meeting itself. Look at the alternative avenues for gaining results and move in that route. The objectives of the meeting have to be clearly predefined. Also, ascertain if these objectives are realistically achievable or not.

A decision on the participants of the business meeting has to be made well in advance and a list created. Send out invitations to these people with information regarding the venue, date, timing etc., without any delay. Let the participants know about the agenda of the meeting also in advance. Ask them to provide suggestions on topics of interest to be discussed before-hand. This will help them to prepare well and contribute better to the meeting’s objective. This will in turn help you to control the conversation to move in the right direction, so as to achieve the desired results for the business.

The agenda of the meeting need to be organized in a logical manner. The most important aspects as well as the less important aspects of the meeting need to be spelled out clearly. Appropriate time slots can be assigned for discussion on each of these topics. Make sure the participants of the business meeting stay within the limits and do not stray too far away from it. Allocate the most time for the most important topics of the meeting and make sure that everyone sticks to the plan you have set out.

About the author:

Claire Jarrett works for Marketing By Web and recommends Hubworking, who offer meeting rooms

How To Sell Electronics Online

July 23, 2010 2 Comments

When you want to sell items online, you really need to do your research to find out if you can actually create a viable business. Ecommerce is huge and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. I only seeing it growing in the future. If you want to get into the ecommerce game, then you should know of a few tips to prepare. Products that I am most often asked about are consumer electronics. Everybody loves electronics and everybody buys electronics. The consumer electronics industry is huge and continues to grow. Here are a few tips on how to sell electronics online.

1.) Setup a legitimate company

There are many ways that you can sell items online without creating a legitimate company. The question that I have for you is have you thought about the ramifications of selling online without proper licenses and protections? It only takes one person who doesn’t get the right service, or hurts themselves while using a product that you sold them to sue you. One lawsuit can ruin your life if you do not have the proper protections and forms in place to protect yourself. The electronics industry is up there in regards to lawsuits due to people not understanding how the product works or doing something that the product was not intended for.

If you think that since you didn’t manufacture the product that you will be safe, think again. Most state laws use the supply chain to find out the responsible parties. Since you are part of the supply chain (the one that actually sells the item to the end user), you are just as responsible as the manufacturer. This responsibility can be very devastating if you are not protected. Take the time to create a business in the form of an LLC or incorporation. These types of businesses have protections for your personal property that others do not. They do cost money to setup, but in the long run, what is a couple hundred dollars compared to thousands or millions? Think about this fact before trying to sell electronics online.

2.) Educate Yourself

Without the proper education, how do you think you can sell electronics? With so many items for sale out there, I realize that it is impossible to be educated on all things electronic. Most successful companies that sell consumer electronics specialize in one area. They do this so they have the most educated people at their company who can answer customer questions and provide support. If you are the only one at your company selling electronics, then you need to educate yourself on the basics of your top sellers and main product categories. You will find out very quickly that most customers do not know how to use their items properly and they will then contact you for assistance. If you cannot assist them, then you have lost a potential repeat customer. There are many places out there to learn about electronics and how they work, which items are the best in their category, and so forth. I recommend Cnet as a great source.

3.) Find a reputable supplier

This is probably the most important step in the process. Without quality electronics, what do you expect to sell? There are many companies out there that have electronics to sell, but are they any good and will they deliver what is promised? Luckily for you, I have successfully fun an online electronics company for over 5 years. I would say that this step took the longest time because I wanted everything to be right.

Before I go any further on this subject, I want to clear away one thing right now. Most, if not all, dropshippers that you find online while searching Google are no good and not legitimate. Most of them actually just buy from a real distributor and then sell them to you. You will find out real quick that you then are left with no profit margin, so in turn you have no business. These companies include Doba, Drop Ship Design, Shopster, and many others. Stay away from these companies as they charge for their services and provide you with items that you can get directly from legitimate distributors.

Since I have been in this business before, I can tell you that one of the most reputable companies is DBL Distributing. They provide about 40,000 electronics and accessories. They were purchases a couple years back by the largest electronics distributor in the US, Ingram Micro. In order to actually use their services, you have to have a legitimate company setup. They do not sell to anyone and the reason is that they are a real company. The offer two ways to get product once you are setup. You can buy from them wholesale, which means you purchase all the items that you want to sell. This can be expensive upfront, but if you have the cash and the space to store these items, then go for it. They also provide one of the best dropshipping systems that is out there. Since they are part of Ingram Micro, they have 3 warehouses throughout the United States. This allows your customers to get their items fairly quickly, which always makes for a happy customer. You can place your orders manually or via flat file FTP transfer. If you only have a few orders, then manually is fine. Anything more than 10, you can just use flat file as it is pretty much automatic.

I will say that if you want to get an account, then sign up for one through DBL and not through Ingram Micro. DBL is still a little less stringent than its parent company Ingram, so you have a better chance of getting accepted. Signing up with Ingram will take much longer. The best part is that once signed up with DBL, you will automatically be signed up with Ingram. This is just a little trick that will speed up the process. Another good company is Petra. They provide the same services, but only have one warehouse in Oklahoma.

These are the top three items that you need in order to sell online. Of course you will need a website. Actually you will need a website that can handle a lot of products and one with a quality database and user interface. Most customers do not want to purchase from a company that doesn’t have a good website to show. Take your time in setting up your website, your company, your suppliers, and everything else. Selling electronics is a very hard task to do online due to the extreme amount of competition, but anything is possible if you do it the right way. Just remember to stay away from drop ship only suppliers, as they are just cutting into your profits.

iMark Interactive