How to set up a small business credit card account?

A business credit card allows companies to separate business expenses from personal expenses and makes business transactions easily by phone, via the Internet or in person. The advantage of a business credit is obvious. But what kind of steps should be carried out to be successful? This article will illustrate the steps into detail.

If a company draws the decision to take a small business credit card, the decision must be followed by several other steps.
Firstly, the company must calculate the total amount of revolving credit that it will need. Secondly, it would be wise to determine how many card the company will need and which employees will require cards.
Thirdly, the company might consider whether it needs a system to help keep track of employees' expenses. Some card issuers offer this type of reporting package along with the card and allow downloading of data to Quickbooks, etc.
Fourthly, an examination of the travel and entertainment needs of the company would be sensible. Does the enterprise need a card that allows it to earn miles and provides special hotel and rental car benefits? Does the enterprise need travel accident insurance?
And finally, one should look for certain features like a low or no annual membership fee, a low interest rate, 24-hour customer service, local branch access, merchant acceptance, overdraft protection and account reports customized for business needs.

On the whole many important steps have to be done and not only these five described here. Nevertheless, if the firm carrying out this steps right it could separate business and private expenses and could have a clear view on the whole expenses.

Electronic checks

Electronic checks are one emerging e-payment option. Due to electronic checks could be complicated this article will begin to explain the process of using electronic checks. The following paragraphs will take a view on this topic.

Through a process called check conversion, brick-and-mortar merchants can transform their customers' paper checks into electronic transactions that are processed through the automated clearing house (ACH) network. Funds are automatically deposited into their merchant accounts, usually within 48 hours.

To perform check conversions, a store owner must have an account with an electronic-check service provider as well as a magnetic-ink character recognition (MICR) check reader or a payment terminal that supports check conversion.

Benefits of check conversion include a reduction in bank charges from bounced checks,
electronic batch closing, which helps eliminate errors and reduces time spent preparing and reconciling deposits, electronic deposits, which reduce trips to the bank, reduced risk of identity theft for customers because merchants return paper checks to them at the point of sale, checks typically returned to merchants in days (paper checks may take weeks), allowing a merchant to cut off services sooner or begin the collection process when timeliness is critical.

The above described arguments deliver a satisfactory explanation why one could not exclude electronic checks as attractive alternative to credit cards.

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

When you venture into a business there are a few things you keep in mind before plunging into it. One of them is planning without which you cannot proceed and which is pivotal Planning is mandatory for a successful business. Fail to plan and you plan to fail.

Planning is considerably difficult as one cannot gain an insight into its value. If you start thinking of initiating and operating your business in the same lines as sailing on a boat, the purpose and advantages of planning become clearer.

When you start sailing you never know what to expect: sudden change in weather conditions, lost or broken equipment, mistakes regarding the correct direction, an injury, dangerous sea animals etc. Planning for these eventualities will allow one to deal with them and still reach their objective in spite of temporary setbacks. Lack of planning, on the other hand can spell disaster. The more careful we are with our planning, its more likely that problems will be anticipated and not allowed to interfere with our ultimate business objective.

The Business Plan :Innumerable books and articles have been written on how to adopt an "effective" business plan. The traditional business plan is a very well defined. It is written as a presentation to lenders, potential investors, and bankers in order to raise capital. It is a kind of an advertising document and, may tend to exaggerate a little. The business plan which is considered to be a planning document, is generally not in lieu of these exaggerations. After a while YOU tend to believe the business plan ... even when you know that the matter within the document is absurd and far fetched in places. (Yes sir, there are no second notions about it, sales will rise easily each year ... as long as there is no shortage in obtaining adequate financing.)

A traditional business plan is required when you require investor capital at the onset. But if you are like so many of those who are starting a small business venture where little or no formal investment is needed, you need another plan ... A plan for YOURSELF ... You need a strategic plan.

The strategic Plan
A strategic plan is your plan for success. It defines your business mission, your current situation, and where you want to be in three to five years. Like the traditional business plan, a strategic plan should be well-structured, and complete and should cover the requirements.

Source: http://www.isquare.com/planning.cfm

When Sales Go Down...

Any business which has been in existence for several years will likely have seen periods when sales did not go according to plan and decreased. When a business has been operating for an extended period with increasing or substantial and steady sales, there is not usually a major problem with the product. The product can always be improved and it should be continuously, gradually and steadily improved in the normal course of business but this isn’t going to generate the extra sales that are needed. The problem is not with the product – it is with the customers. There aren’t enough of them. To solve the problem the focus has to be on the customers, not on the product.

When the focus is in the right place, a number of questions immediately present themselves:

1. Who were the customers before the decrease in sales?
2. Who are the customers now?
3. What characteristics do the lost customers have in common?
4. Why are those customers not buying now?

Asking these and similar questions will let the owner determine whether the drop in sales results from something within the control of the business or from external factors.
If the sales downturn is a result of something the business did – like raise prices, reduce advertising, change staff – then the solution is relatively easy. The owner just has to go back to what he was doing before.

If the sales downturn is because of external factors – saturated market, increased competition, changing market characteristics – then the solution is more difficult and the approach for solving the problem must be completely different. A new business strategy is needed with new target markets and new sales and competition strategies. The key there is to study the customers that have stayed with the business and find out why they stayed. To bring sales back, more of this kind of customer is needed and if the owner can determine the key characteristics of those loyal customers, then he can find more like them.

In any case, fiddling with the product is not likely to help. Small business owners tend to identify closely with their products and tend to be focused on them when they should focus much more on the people paying the bills – the customers.

Source: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/small_business/113144

Online Retailing in 2005

Part 1: Traditional Retailers Should Dominate
Traditional retailers are quickly becoming the dominant retailers online because they are the best positioned to master the economics of online retailing and capture growing consumer demand. According to a new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), The Next Chapter in Business-to-Consumer E-Commerce: Advantage Incumbent, bricks-and-mortar retailers have a golden opportunity to use their inherent advantages to grow customer share dramatically.
The long-term prospects for online retailing are strong. Demand for goods and services online will continue to grow as consumers become more accustomed to multichannel shopping. Sales in the nine leading online categories have the potential to grow from $34 billion in 2000 to $168 billion by 2005. Most of the growth will take place in the leisure travel, grocery, and clothing categories.

source: http://retailindustry.about.com

Emerging Retail Trends

The responsibility of managing inventory will shift up the value chain towards the manufacturers. Assembly of the final product will move down the supply chain and as close to the customer as possible (owing to the increased need of mass-customization).
Preponderance of web driven sourcing.
Retailers will use Systematic and Spot sourcing from the many B2B sites to meet their requirements of core merchandise as well as peripherals.
Supermarkets and discounters will rely on thin client technology whereas specialty retailers who need a higher level of customer interaction and information sharing would continue to rely on fat clients.
Source: http://retailindustry.about.com/

Appealing to Repeat, Loyal Customers

Here is why it is so important to target current customers, as well as new ones: • Develop a data base with the appropriate customer information. This could be done by giving your shoppers a small prize for filling out a short form and then updating the information periodically.

Computerization is not necessary to do this, although it helps.
• Set up some type of frequent shopper program that can reward people for their continued patronage. The program does not have to be complex. For instance, many car washes give out punch cards (or a similar variation) whereby customers can earn free services based upon a certain number of washes.

• Communicate with repeat customers on a regular basis. Mail them a letter at least quarterly. Call them at least once per year. Customers are often quite impressed when they receive 'friendship' rather than "sales pitch" letters and calls. People like to feel appreciated.

• Run special events for good customers. This also lets them know how important they are to the firm.

• Offer extra services, such as free delivery or more liberal return policies, for good customers.

• Do not reward your new customers at the expense of the current ones. Think carefully about having promotions that offer benefits to new customers that are not available to current ones, such as reduced credit terms for first-time car buyers. Try to run promotions in a way that also offers benefits to current customers, such as also having special trade-in terms for people who have bought their previous car from the same dealer.

source: http://retailindustry.about.com/

Effective Retail Signage

As a customer walks by your store, you have about 3 seconds to let them know what they will find inside. What message are you sending? Professional signage will attract the customer, provide just the right amount of information and invite the customer to enter your store or try your product. Signage is one of the most important ways to convey your message to your customers. Your store name, promotions, pricing, and product information may all be conveyed through signage. Are you getting these messages across effectively?

Source: http://www.sideroad.com/Retail_Services/retail_signage.html

The importance of retail merchandising

In today's competitive retail environment a retailer cannot afford to consider merchandising as a 'frill'. Everyone is competing for the customers' dollar. There are more choices out there for consumers than ever before. With all these choices, what will grab the consumer's attention? You've invested the money to get that expensive, high traffic location, but how will you keep the customers from walking right by your door? How will you encourage them to return? What is unique about your store? After investing money on the important priorities such as merchandise, great location, part-time staff, insurance, accountant, advertising, your carefully budgeted money can be lost if your store doesn't measure up to the customers' expectations.

Merchandising is more than simply the arrangement of products on the shelf. It is an integral component of the business image. It should be considered when you design your logo, business cards, brochures, letterhead, packaging, and product mix.

Source: http://www.sideroad.com/Retail_Services

13 Ways to Promote your Retail Business

If you're trying to promote your store, but you don't have a big advertising budget, relax. There are lots of ways you get in front of the audience you want to reach by using free publicity. Here are tips that will boost your publicity efforts and help you finally get noticed. Invite a reporter from your local newspaper or magazine for coffee or lunch. Instead of asking, "Will you write about me?" a better question is "How can I help you?" Offer yourself as a resource in your area of expertise. Talk about trends you are seeing in your industry. See How to be a Valuable News Source the Media Love.

Write articles for electronic magazines and include a paragraph of information at the end that leads readers to your web site.

Pitch stories about your product, service, cause or issue that tie into the weather. Weather stories are mandatory at most media outlets, and newspapers and TV stations, in particular, are always looking for fresh angles that tie into today s and tomorrow s forecast….

Source: http://www.sideroad.com/