Posted by Lisa Hephner

We’re all facing difficult economic times right now – from big businesses to small businesses, to all of our customers.

The following 5 tips can not only help make an economic downturn work for your small business, but can also position you well against your competition – large and small – so you can best reap the benefits when the economy rebounds. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 51% [?]

Posted by Chris Kampfe

A few weeks back, our President asked me to help create a visual representation of his vision for our company. At a stage when we are tightening our future direction, it seemed a good time to make sure everyone in our organization understood what that vision is.

I decided to draw some inspiration from a book that I was recently turned on to called “The Back of the Napkin,” by Dan Roam, in which Roam contends that any business idea can be conveyed more clearly by pictures.

The task at hand for our company was a difficult one, being that we work within the payment processing industry – an environment surrounded by major players who make the rules, and bizarre language and acronyms that explain the rules. Going into the project, the level of difficultly to explain the complexities of the industry in a drawing seemed somewhere between running a lemonade stand and landing on the moon. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 41% [?]

Posted by Chad Gardner

Although low-cost domains and affordable web design are readily available, a recent survey by Warrillow shows that the majority of small businesses don’t have an independent website – in fact, 59% are without this resource.

With more and more people searching for local businesses on Google (ie. “Denver, CO florist”), it is important for small businesses to be on the first results page – if not the first result on the page – for their respective niche or at least their company name.

So, if a small business doesn’t have a website, how can they rank on a search results page or create a valuable online presence?

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 56% [?]

Posted by Chad Gardner

I wish I could remember which blog I first found out about Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty so I could give the author recognition, but there are 8,000+ blogs of all different subjects – from small business to personal to technology—registered to speak out about poverty today, and each and every one deserves acknowledgement for addressing such an important worldwide issue. This is truly an extraordinary opportunity requiring minimum effort to combine thousands of individual voices and opinions in to ONE, unwavering message.

Taking the idea that the sum is greater than the parts, I wanted to profile one of my favorite non-partisan organizations, The ONE Campaign, to show how anyone can get involved by contributing only their voice to help eradicate global hunger and poverty.

I had a chance to send some questions to a good friend of mine, Libby Crimmings, who is the Regional Field Director for the Iowa and Minnesota ONE Campaign.  I wanted to get a better feel for what this campaign is all about – including getting a grasp for the current worldwide situation and how even the smallest actions can create remarkable synergy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 46% [?]

Posted by Sarah Jordan
Co-authored by Mike Lebow, Business Development Manager for PaySimple

Regardless of the industry, everyone has had a challenging experience with customer service. Because the Internet has given businesses the opportunity to connect with more consumers, the focus on customer service quality has given way to customer service quantity.

This practice devalues the concept of customer service, which shifts emphasis to a negative, self-serving business pursuit: Breaking records by the number of customers “helped” in an hour. By taking the approach of providing unparalleled quality assistance, as opposed to only trying to increase quantity served, small businesses are guaranteed to have happier, more loyal customers.

Here are five key practices (starting with the easiest) to creating an exceptional customer experience:

1. Ask, Listen, Act and Sympathize! – Because your customer was already frustrated enough to pick up the phone and contact your customer service department, they are most likely foreseeing their experience to be a negative one. This is the chance to admit when you are wrong, and follow up by working your butt off to remedy their concerns.
2. Send an Update Email – Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. We’ve all been there, and you don’t like waiting in the dark either. By sending a simple note at the end of the day: “We’re still looking into the problem and hope to have a solution ASAP–Thank you for your patience.” you can prevent a handful of call-backs of customers just wondering what the situation is.
3. Create an FAQ Guide – To compliment direct support (whether on the phone or in person), your business can add a page that customers can go to find answers on their own. Many times, 80 percent of customer support issues are recurrent and could be addressed with a proactive answer. If you have a website, link to an FAQ or “Most Common Questions” page. Or, place copies of a Common Questions guide anywhere your customers frequent.
4. Implement Feedback Surveys – Not only is this a great customer support practice, but it’s a great selling tool, and doesn’t necessarily require a long list of questions. A Net Promoter Score survey asks one simple question, “Would you recommend us to a friend or colleague?” and is considered to be one of the most important indicators of a company’s success. The score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of “Detractors (scores of 0-6 out of 10) from Promoters (scores of 9 and 10).
5. Conduct Usability Testing – Usability Testing is an extremely useful way to see how a customer interacts with your product or website. There are firms for hire that can do this for you (more expensive) or you can put an ad on Craigslist or find acquaintances who can do it for a low price or even for free (less expensive.) For a few hundred dollars, you can find and prevent fallout points and customer roadblocks that can thwart hundreds of future customer service calls. Learn more about setting up effective usability testing here.

Share your own ideas: Is there something your customer service department does that sets you apart from your competition?

Popularity: 100% [?]

Posted by Chad Gardner

For many small businesses, the prospect of adding a new way to collect payments, with a possibly unfamiliar technology, can seem intimidating. Most small businesses want to offer their customers more flexible payment types, but they are wary of the costs, security, and requirements to set up such customer conveniences. 

The bottom line is, small businesses owners have questions, and aren’t sure who to ask.

Based on what we’ve learned from our customers, here are the Top 6 questions and concerns preventing businesses from setting up online payments:

1. “We are too small of a company.”As much as it may seem, the rule is not be big or go home.  By incorporating online payment processing functionality, such as email invoicing and recurring billing, at a lower cost than legacy billing processes, small businesses can actually leverage their collection process and compete with larger businesses in some facets.  
2. “Our customers won’t use online payments enough to justify the monthly fees.”
   On the contrary, consumers are driving the creation and adoption of such billing services.  Over 50% of all US households pay at least one monthly bill online and wish more businesses offered the convenience.*  Even non-profits like churches and fundraising organizations are adopting online payments, and realizing increased donations and sales.
3. “Do we need to have a website?”
   No.  Some online payment processing providers also provide a securely hosted online payment page that is even customizable to look like your business. 
4. “Do we need a tech person to setup and handle the system?”
   No.  As the technology in payment processing advances, setting up online payments is becoming easier and easier to do.  Not only do you not need a website, but you don’t need any technology experience.  When inquiring with a company, be sure to ask about the setup process. 
5. “Are online payments secure?”
   Yes.  Almost 85% of identity theft cases are due to offline transactions because consumers who pay bills electronically expose their information to fewer people. Additionally, using risk management features in a PCI compliant online payment solution, including adjustable fraud settings and user-based processing limits, protect both the merchant and customer.
6. “I don’t know if it will be advantageous for me to set up online payment processing.”
   Most of our customers experience faster collection cycles and increased sales or donations after setting up online payment processing.  In addition, they experience time and cost savings by drastically reducing the amount of paper invoices and checks they have to output and receive. I don’t know of a business that wouldn’t want to discover a service that enables it to follow the old mantra to “cut costs and increase efficiency.”
   

And if you’re still wary, check if the service you’re interested in offers a money back guarantee. Then you have nothing to lose by giving online payment processing a shot.

*Data from www.electronicpayments.org

Popularity: 50% [?]