Is your order-to-cash cycle too slow?

In today’s installment of my series on small business growing plains I am going to talk about the order-to-cash cycle. Do you remember your very first sale? When you first started your business, I bet you were so ecstatic about … Continue reading →

Why Does it Take So Long To Set Up A New Customer?

Retail and food service businesses may not have this problem, but service companies that are growing know exactly what my post title refers to.  After identifying a customer, engaging in a protracted sales process, and wrangling over the fine details … Continue reading →

How can a CRM (customer relationship management) system help my business?

Have you ever thought that you needed a better way to keep track of your customers or clients? Have you heard about CRM systems but not really understood how they could help your business? If you have a service-based business… … Continue reading →

U.S. Economy, Fuel Costs and Healthcare Top List of Executive Concerns, Finds Saia Survey of Small to Medium Businesses

PRESS RELEASE: JOHNS CREEK, GA – June 28, 2011 – Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) today announced the findings of the 2011 National Trends in Small to Medium-sized Businesses, a nationwide survey of U.S. executives on their motivations and beliefs about economic … Continue reading →

Know How Much You Got

My last post discussed the types of coverage available under a property policy should you have a covered loss: (1) Building coverage (2) Business Personal Property or Contents coverage, (3) Loss of Income and (4) Extra Expense (the last two … Continue reading →

Are you Addicted to Spreadsheets?

Don’t act innocent, you know what I mean. Spreadsheet software is oh-so-easy to use and so inexpensive (or even free).  You can use it to keep your company books, to keep your budget and forecast, to keep lists of customers, to … Continue reading →

It’s a jungle out there – be smart online

Recently, I posted a job on craigslist for a senior systems and network engineer.  Although craigslist is a popular site, I have never used it and had some concerns about posting on a site that had received so much bad … Continue reading →

Weeding Your Garden

Many years ago, someone I considered one of my dearest friends hurt me deeply, and not for the first time. In comforting me, another friend, Bob, told me something I live by to this day. “Sometimes, you have to weed … Continue reading →

Customer Self-Service: Online Appointment Booking

In my last post I talked about how small businesses can become more convenient for their customers if they allow online self-scheduling.   This post will discuss what online appointment scheduling services are available.  This is a representative list; it isn’t … Continue reading →

Know What You Got: Property Insurance for Your Business

In my work with small business owners, I find two extremes:  (1) The passionate visionary entrepreneur who is not extremely concerned about details like insurance and bookkeeping and (2) highly detailed administrators who happen to find a good business opportunity. Most … Continue reading →