Posts Tagged ‘ Better Business ’

The Right Way–and Wrong Way– to Interview Someone for a Job

By Ashley Smissen , July 25, 2011 in Business Resources

Job interviews offer business owners the opportunity to learn if an applicant has the right skills, background, training, personality and work ethic to fit in at their shop. Choosing the questions to discover this information can be a bit tricky. Certain questions are always OK to ask, while others could be inappropriate or, possibly, illegal to ask. It’s important to correctly word each of the questions you pose to potential employees.

So which questions are OK to pose to job applicants? Small business expert Rieva Lesonsky shared this list of interview question dos and don’ts in a recent article for Bizy Deal.

Study Finds That Yellow Page Ads Are Still Effective

By Devlin Smith , July 18, 2011 in Business Resources, Rod Shops

With the Internet more and more becoming the go-to information resource, it’s easy for small business owners to focus their local marketing efforts online and cancel their Yellow Pages ads. New research reported by BusinessNewsDaily could have you investing in Yellow Pages ads once again.

“The print and online Yellow Pages are still the most trusted information source for consumers shopping locally, even though use of the print pages has declined, new research shows,” the site reported. “But print still has power; print Yellow Pages and white pages still outrank search engines in terms of trust, accuracy and ease of use.”

The Local Search Association study found that consumers use Yellow Pages and search engines most to find local businesses.

While the usage of print Yellow Pages has declined as local media information has become available in more places, U.S. consumers still look up information in a print directory billions of times per year,” BusinessNewsDaily reported. “In 2010, consumers generated 11 billion references to print Yellow pages. The digital marketing research firm comScore found that Internet Yellow Pages generated 5.6 billion searches in 2010.”

How to Manage Employees From Multiple Generations

By Devlin Smith , July 11, 2011 in Business Resources, Rod Shops

In some workplaces, employers are managing workers from up to four different generations—veterans (those over 65), Baby Boomers, Generation X-ers and Generation Y-ers.

“This demographic mix makes for richly diverse workplaces, experts say, with each generation bringing a distinguishing set of strengths,” Marjo Johne wrote in a recent article for The Globe and Mail. “But it also creates challenges for employers who must strike a happy balance between workers who are often separated by differences in values, communication styles and attitudes.”

Should Your Shop Have a Dress Code?

By Devlin Smith , July 6, 2011 in Business Resources, Rod Shops

The employees at Greenway Auto Repair in Phoenix used to wear an all-white uniform. Though the white pants and work shirts did reflect the desert heat well, not all of the employees were fans.

“A lot of times the guys here, when they would wear all white, they felt that they were bakers or house painters, because they wear that, too,” said Bill MacKenzie, the shop’s president. “Everybody was happy when we went to the gray colors, with the exception of the heat that is drawn into the darker colors versus the white.”

Today, the employees at his shop wear solid gray pants and a pinstriped gray shirt.

Having a dress code or uniform policy in place doesn’t mean your staffers have to look like milkmen or be uncomfortable. Shop owners today are implementing policies that allow their workers to look professional and unified, while, at the same time, dressing for safety and comfort.

Should You Give Yourself a Paycheck?

By Devlin Smith , June 28, 2011 in Business Resources

If your small business is starting to bring in solid revenue, should you start paying yourself? The Young Entrepreneur Council, a nonprofit organization that provides young entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship and educational resources that support each stage of their development and growth, posed that question to some of its members. Their answers were shared in a recent BNET column.

The 10 entrepreneurs surveyed agreed that it’s important to pay yourself something, but many added that reinvesting in the business is also essential.

“Take only what you need from the business and nothing more,” advised Todd Garland with BuySellAds.com. “Focus on growing revenue for the business without thinking about how it gets back into your personal bank account.

Editor’s Corner: The Importance of E-Mail Etiquette

By Ashley Smissen , June 15, 2011 in Business Resources, Editor's Corner

By Travis Weeks

I recently asked a shop owner if he received the weekly Hotrod & Restoration e-newsletter. When he told me he didn’t, I told him to simply go on the HRR website, click on the e-news sign-up on the right-hand side of the page, enter his information and he’d get it delivered to his inbox box every Wednesday.

He told me he only checks his e-mail once every three weeks or so. This totally blew me away, especially after he also said maybe he should check it because he was waiting on an answer from one of his customers.

Not responding to a customer not only disappoints that customer and potentially leaves money on the table, but also could cause that person to go to your competitor’s shop. We don’t sell hamburgers at a truck stop here, we’re in a people business and if we don’t consistently invest in the relationships with our customers, someone else will.

This is really more or less a simple customer service and communication thing, but it does bring up some thoughts about e-mail. It seems more and more that e-mail is the preferred method of communication. However, it shouldn’t be a replacement for verbal conversation.

8 Ways to Create a Winning Banking Strategy for Your Business

By Ashley Smissen , June 15, 2011 in Business Resources

New service charges, confusing account options and wildly varying interest rates on savings accounts and CDs are just a few of the techniques banks are using to improve their bottom lines these days—at your expense.

How bad is it? One former bank executive estimates that you’ll likely overpay your bank through service charges, mortgages, credit cards, business loans, and checking and savings fees by thousands of dollars in the lifetime of your business, unless you learn how to beat the banks at their own game.

Here are eight ways to help your business save money on bank accounts, services and transactions.

Three Ways to Get Customers to Pay More

By Devlin Smith , June 10, 2011 in Business Resources, Rod Shops

Are your customers willing to pay more for a product or service at your shop? Entrepreneur contributors Dan Kennedy and Jason Marrs think they are, if given sufficient motivation.

“[The] association between your product and the price you’ve assigned it most likely is not fixed in your consumers’ minds the way it might be in yours,” the pair wrote in a recent article. “Business owners can and should think creatively when it comes to pricing their products and experiment with various price points that are different from what they initially think they can charge.”

Kennedy and Marrs offered three suggestions to small business owners who would like to charge more for their products and services.

Happy Employees Keep Customers Coming Back

By Devlin Smith , June 10, 2011 in Business Resources

BusinessNewsDaily is reporting on new research from the University of Missouri (MU) that found that bosses who pay attention to employee job satisfaction are able to boost both customer satisfaction and increase the number of customers who intend to do repeat business with the company.

“You might think that as an owner, you only need to pay attention to the customers, providing them with what they want,” Christopher Groening, assistant professor of marketing in the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business at MU, told BusinessNewsDaily. “Yet, we found that keeping your employees satisfied with their work experience, providing them with challenges and allowing them to have a sense of ownership in the business can have a tremendous effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty.”