The boost we all sometimes need

I get such an energy boost from going to New York City, professionally and personally.

I am fortunate enough to belong to two great networking groups there and have met people involved in levels of their professions that are truly inspiring. That rubs off on me in very profound ways.

It's a benchmarking opportunity for me.

Many are trusting enough to refer me to others, even if it means a leap of faith in that they don't know from personal experience exactly how I work. Not to worry-I will never disappoint them or their contacts!

But the train ride home allows me an hour or so to reflect on the aspects of these relationships and how I can make them more meaningful and reciprocate.

An example: I try to bring the best-of-the-best I know to lead private seminars for my clients here in Connecticut. This has been successful. I refer them whenever possible.

It's the pay it forward concept. What goes around comes around. It's better to give than receive.

I have always believed in this and thank my colleagues who have referred me without concrete experience of how I can help their clients.

Thanks for letting me expound a bit. More like gush...

It's what we do

From time to time we get an email thanking us for what we do best: support the client....a radical concept in this world of outsourced customer support and just plain poorly run business!

We were actually surprised this week when we emailed a complaint to Suncast about a snow shovel that wasn't wearing well and they replaced the item with a brand new one in 2 business days--unusual. But we are digressing...

Such outstanding customer support can lead to referrals to new clients or to additional business with existing clients down the road. (Buy Suncast!)

This was one such week of satisfaction:
1) a compliment from a new nonprofit client for our recently completed project,
2) the offer from a client to use him as a reference at a later time,
3) a client referred us to someone starting a new e-commerce business,
4) and the best was a client supplementing the existing work we do with them with a brand new donation/shopping cart to support their product sales and new online fundraising and event planning needs in the early spring.

It feels good. My client feels good. The latter is more important than the former.

cool website

Go to www.interesting.com
It literally caught my eye when a friend sent some holiday cards a month or so ago.
(Thanks Ellin!)

You can customize fine art work on an e-postcard and it really catches the recipient's attention.
I sent some to recent University of Phoenix graduates that I had taught and I think I will start using this to thank new clients for their business. Today I have someone to send a thank-you to.

LinkedIn is a gift

If you aren't already optimizing your use of LinkedIn, you are missing a great opportunity. This is a relatively underutilized tool, as we are finding from the great people we already know and are actively linking to.

The LinkedIn site is easy to navigate and work. There are presenters who will come to your group (ask us about one guy in NYC in particular) and books (ask us about a great book that you can purchase online), so no matter how you prefer to learn about LinkedIn, there is a method out there for you.

Start at www.linkedin.com and create a profile.
Add your Linkedin profile URL to your email.
You can even post a PowerPoint presentation describing your business right on your profile! On Sunday a guy in California linked to our slide presentation. Still not sure why, but perhaps we have a prospective client on the West Coast...

Open yourself up to this online networking gift.

We already have new business directly attributable to our profile (http://www.linkedin.com/in/marchalpert)on LinkedIn and the great people we are connected to.

Upsetting

It's upsetting that some people out there purport to be helpful in givng you the ability to accept credit card payment, when in fact they are charging outrageous prices. Namely, (well, I won't really name names...)
1) There is a .com doing so at 5.5% on each transaction. That's DOUBLE what it should be!
2) There is another.com doing this for nonprofits alone, at 4.75% (a bargain, huh?)and they mail you a paper check once a month. That's not fair! They are earning money on the nonprofit's donations!
I am sure there are more.

Questions? Ask us.
Caveat emptor!

Thanks!

First, I want to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Be thankful for:

· the business relationships you have earned this past year,

· for the friends you rely on,

· for the family that surrounds you, and

· for those who are trying to make significant changes to preserve, and improve, our way of life.

Second, thanks to those of you who are my clients.

Finally and not insignificant in the least, thank you for the gift that is Gotham.

Thank you to those who have referred business to me (you know who you are and how special that is to me).

I value my entire network of business relationships, for whom I try to provide the attention and service we all deserve but seldom receive.

Have a great holiday!

Obama

If Time magazine doesn't make Barack Hussein Obama its Man of the Year, I'm not sure who they could possibly pick who is more deserving.

No matter your politics, the challenge this brave and articulate man has ahead of him is immense.

We all must unite around him in order to assure we prevail as a nation.

Technorati Profile

reboot

It's another computer term that may apply to us, now that the summer is almost over.

So many businesses slide along in the summer, not undertaking anything new.

They reevaluate and enact changes in September, thus rebooting themselves.

Change is constant and taking a few months off that affects cash flow improvements, delaying what could have been, is dangerous.

If you are thinking of making a change in business cash flow improvement, carpe diem! Do it now. Don't wait to reboot.

In re the death of customer service-now hear this!

I just received this in an email and thought it was brilliant:

Customers want you to listen to them. They want you to show them respect and listen to their needs. Don’t assume you know what they’re going to say. Let them tell you. And don’t interrupt them!

Customers want you to take responsibility. They want you to own them and their problem. Don’t pass the buck. Take care of them the way you would take care of your grandmother. See their issue through to completion. And then follow up with them and make sure they are happy with the outcome.

Customers want you to pay attention to the details. They want you to use their name when speaking to them, and call them back when you say you are going to. They want to feel important because they are!

Customers want you to remember it is their time and money. They don’t have to do business with you; there are other companies they can buy from. Remember, you are not doing them a favor. They are the reason you are in business. To serve them!

Give customers what THEY want, and they’ll be sure to come back! And they’ll tell others to come as well. And isn’t that what WE want?

I printed this and placed it on my bulletin board next to my office phone. I hope you will too.

This guy walks into a lawyer's office one day...

...and walks out with a new client. The lawyer received the customary service quality. And the attorney sent him an email:

Many thanks. Appreciate your taking the time to clarify this information (and so promptly). Others might have said "just go read the papers you signed". Which I should have done, of course. Thanks for making this so easy and user-friendly.

I would definitely like to be available as a reference for you if you are in discussions with other lawyers considering your services. Or any other business, for that matter. And I will spread the good word to my professional colleagues about your excellent service any time I can.

This is a real testimonial. I am pleased he is pleased.

And you thought from the start of this blog posting was going to be another lawyer joke, huh?

Customer Centricity

A snippet of something someone said about us today in an email: "He’s great at getting back quickly."

That's nice to hear, because that's how we operate.

I hear horror stories about interminable wait times on so-called client service 800 numbers, lack of follow through by the service provider and the all-time worse: an emailed answer to a question you didn't ask, not answering the question you DID ask!

We are here for the client-that makes us client-centric!
Let us know if you need help.

podcast...cooooool

I never did a radio show before but was thrilled when Liz Kopyscinski, Vice President Belray Asset Management, asked me to spend a half-hour on her weekly podcast about local businesses. It went so fast and when you enjoy doing something it's easy to speak about it! Thanks, Liz, for the invite and I hope all of you enjoy listening:

http://www.belraycommunity.com/radio/belray-radio.html

It really IS better to give than receive!

Science proves what we have been helping nonprofits do for 6 years: receive from their donors in a smarter way.

Donors feel better (see article) and nonprofits keep more of the donations.

Everyone feels better this way!

Have a nice holiday weekend.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Good-to-Give.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=better+to+give+than+receive&st=nyt&oref=slogin

We were asked to be a guest blogger

... on bizriskadvice, a blog produced by HUB International in New York City.

Thanks to Michael Zeldes of HUB International, and a fellow Gothamite for the invitation.

I hope to add more value on this topic for his clients at another date.
http://bizriskadvice.com/blog/clients-who-pay-by-check-how-your-company-can-protect-its-cash-flow-with-new-payment-technologies.html

www.greinvoice.com in the press

Here's some recent coverage of www.greinvoice.com in the trade press in the payments industry. I expect more soon so come back later to see what the industry thinks of our new product.

• see page 2 in http://www.cardforum.com/attachments/20080228NT50CPQN-1-February%2028,%202008.pdf
• our press release reproduced on GreenSheet.com; this will be expanded to a spotlight on new products later this week: http://www.greensheet.com/newswire.php?newswire_id=8759

Preparing your company for a recession

An article dated 30Jan08 by Tim Reason on CFO.com entitled, "Preparing Your Company for Recession" and was subtitled "Face it: Financial Crises are Inevitable. To Emerge Strong, Companies Must Be Quick and Smart in Their Responses" spoke about 3 general ways to prepare for a recession:
1) seek ways to reduce costs
2) optimize working capital
3) measure your performance

How right he is.

I want to embellish some of his points hinting at how our services work to prepare any size company or nonprofit for the economic downturn we are in and will see continue for a while. But why wait for a recession to implement keener business and achieve smarterpayments (name rings a bell, huh?)?

1) How can you reduce costs that can be pared down, and use technology to do so?
Think anew about all your routine processes and ask: Is there a better way? Does it have to be done this way? Can technology, especially email and the internet, accomplish the same?

Consider paper invoicing, mailing and labor costs: could an invoice travel from you to your customer by email, be opened and paid all in one transmission? Sure. See this blog's most recent posting or cruise over to our greinvoice website, for details of a new service we offer: http://www.greinvoice.com. Imagine saving postage (goes up again in May!), paper and envelope costs (I cannot believe how expensive paper is getting), and getting paid faster right on the email/web-based invoice you send the customer. That gives you more time and money to do other things like optimize your cash flow or measure your business results while your payment is on its way to you. Win win.

2) Why not optimize working capital: that's an essential practice even in good economic times?
Have you tried to get a loan recently? Bank liquidity is drying up; I know, a bad pun, but you get the point. Bankers sleep best at night knowing their customers' working capital (especially their CASH FLOW) is as smooth and efficient as possible. After all, that's what's paying them back.

However, banks do not market all the best solutions. You need to go outside the banking industry to find out about ways to improve cash flow. Independent financial consultants offer new ways that banks don't offer. And each service should be tailored ot your specific needs. Like: faster cash in the bank account, no matter who helps you get it there faster, is what makes a lower interest rate on your loan, or whether the bank gives you a loan at all. If you don't do this, someone at the bank will measure your efficiency, which brings me to #3.

3) How and what do you measure? Who has the time????
Statistical measurement is anathema when your business is growing quickly. There's just no time to stop and measure. When business slows down, you are fixated on revving it up. Once again, no time or inclination to measure.

Certain services we offer provide historic totals and other ways at looking at your business graphically and seeing things in a new way. We made it easy to see a graph or chart, so you could gain new insight. If you do not measure your business, your banker will (see discussion in #2 above).


So, there you have it, another installment of how we can help you prepare for the recession. Just ask, or we may just suggest a few services.