Dazzle Your Customers

Check out these terrific customer service tips from Micah Solomon in my Smart Answers column this week.

What's The Word?

When I ask business owners to tell me what their company does, in a nutshell, they often stumble, hem, haw or guffaw.

Eventually, most read off or stumble through a recitation of a formal "mission statement" that they've cooked up with their marketing team. Since it's typically a string of oddly related, formal words incomprehensible to the average reader, I usually have to boil down what they do by myself.

It's amazing to me how few CEOs can succinctly and spontaneously say what it is their business actually does.

That's why I like this one-word mission statement, proposed by a long-time Internet marketing source, Todd Miechiels.

It got me thinking about what one word would best encapsulate what I do writing about and for entrepreneurs. Explain? Encourage? Nurture? Advocate? I'll have to think about it.

What one word best describes your company or personal mission in life?

Sad Reality

I've been incredibly fortunate to see my way through this horrid recession and most of my friends and loved ones (though not all) have similarly been able to stay afloat.

But not everyone has been so lucky, by any means. This week, I answer a question from a former small business owner who not only lost his bagel shop in Claremont (the long-time local favorite Tasty Bagel) but also pretty much his whole life in the past couple of years.

Interviewing people like this really bring home a few things: The tragedy of our economic downturn; the crushing damage that a sliver of greedy, short-sighted individuals unleashed on "the least of these" in society and how fortunate those of us who've escaped ruin really are.

The Bully Pulpit

Have you ever worked for a bully? I have, and it made my life truly miserable.

For some perverse - and sad - reason, women in journalism back in the '80s tended to be much more difficult to work for then male editors. Maybe the women were trying to prove that they were tough and mean enough to ride herd over newspaper staffs. Whatever the reason, female editors tended to bully more than males did (in my experience at least).

My bullying editor demanded that I produce long, weekly feature stories, despite the fact that I also was expected to produce several stories every day on a busy, complex beat. I had a long, unpredictable commute downtown every morning, but if I checked in even three or four minutes late, she would direct a diatribe at me.

The stress of working for her contributed in large part to my decision to leave full-time employment and become self-employed 21 years ago.

I guess I should thank my bully, since I have carved out a successful career for myself as a freelancer and have been extremely happy working from home all these years. But at the time, thanking her was the last thing I contemplated doing!

Business owners who tolerate or ignore bullying managers put themselves at risk of lawsuits, employment actions and high turnover rates. Read this week's Smart Answers column for more.

The Second Generation

What's a business owner to do when the next generation isn't interested in taking over? Turns out there are options.

We Get Questions

Interesting questions from readers recently, including an Indian freight forwarding company looking to partner with Western counterparts and someone needing a definition for an elusive bit of jargon.

The New One-Armed Bandits

Business owners hate it when new expenses crop up. The biggest one for many entrepreneurs is the monthly mobile phone bill.

A few years ago, nobody paid a dime for cell phones, let alone smart phone service. Now, many businesses are finding that they must issue BlackBerrys - or at least mobiles - to all their employees. Yes, they do great things and help improve communications and productivity, but they often add a big chunk to the expense column.

This week, I interview a cellular phone expert about how small businesses should manage their cell phone plans and audit their bills.

In the course of researching the column, my own cell phone bill came up. Mindy, the expert, said that my per-unit cost (take your total expense and divide by the number of mobile phone lines you have) was pretty reasonable.

In digging deeper, however, she noted that I wasn't using the full minutes on the plan I had, and could probably downgrade to a less-expensive plan without going over the usage limit. She also advised that I cancel a video-streaming service that I wasn't using, but that was costing me $15/month.

Mindy's recommendations got me thinking. I got out my land line bill and looked it over, only to find that I was still paying for call waiting and line insurance on my home phone, which almost never rings these days. In fact, we'd been thinking about dropping it altogether.

My son, who is honing his negotiating skills for a possible job in business, got on the telephone. Verizon tried to talk us out of downgrading our plan, but he held firm and saved us $25/month. AT&T, whose customer service reps are not likely to be on commission (as Verizon's are), not only happily revoked the services we weren't using, but they also recommended a new long-distance plan that will provide unlimited calls at less monthly cost.

Cha-ching! Another $20 in monthly savings. What's the lesson here? Whether you run a small business, are self-employed or are just looking to reduce your household budget, take a few minutes to look over the little things. You can't do it all at once, so maybe this month comb through your phone bills. Next month, see if there's room to save somewhere else.

In this economy, every little bit counts.

Insuring Small Business Risk

Entrepreneur insurance - really?

That was my reaction when I heard about a new insurance product that indemnifies small business founders and investors from personal loss when they take out commercial debt.

With the blisteringly high failure rates for small business, it has always taken a strong constitution and high levels of risk tolerance to open a business. But in the past, one could get a bank loan and limit personal risk if a business was established and had a good chance for growth.

Not so anymore. Personal guarantees, once reserved for startups and those with shaky financial backgrounds, are now de rigueur for any business owner seeking a loan - no matter how stable and successful their businesses are.

Enter Asterisk Financial, the subject of my Q&A this week. Its founders have developed a new-fangled product that pays half of the personal loss for policyholders who have signed personal guarantees and then defaulted on their business loans.

An innovative idea, and one that would probably not be possible (or necessary) outside of the current credit crisis.

The Birds and the Bees

I've developed a serious (layperson's) interest in science recently, after years of bewildered suspicion on the subject.

So when I hear about ways that science intersects with my own topic, small business, I like to explore them.

This week, I write about a new book from National Geographic senior editor Peter Miller. He believes that the collective intelligence of "The Smart Swarm" can inform entrepreneurs in management decisions.

Specialty Networking

Entrepreneurs are often told to narrow their marketing efforts and target specific customers. But how effective is the highly targeted networking that is enabled online these days?

I address that question in telling the story of a new social networking group for LGBT professionals and their allies. Check it out.

Health Care Resource

I wrote recently about the top health care reform myths and realities.

As with any health care reform articles, additional questions and concerns (along with a fair share of rants) cropped up in the follow up comments.

I'm sure I'll write about reform again, but meanwhile a new, interactive forum aims to continue the discussion. HealthyChat, created by insurance giant WellPoint (parent company of Anthem), is an "effort to engage consumers using technology and social media to help improve their health IQ, help them work toward improving their own health as well as the health of those close to them," according to the company.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Dog Days of Summer

As I confessed here recently, I had some trouble gearing-up for work after my vacation.

But small business owners don't have to lose their edge this summer if they have employees who tend to be slow getting back in the groove. They can take the stellar advice presented in my Smart Answers column this week.

Just don't crack the whip too hard on your vacation-addled employees. We all need a little break now and then.

Facts vs Fantasy on Health Care

The small business world is in a tizzy over health care reform.

This week's Smart Answers column aims to sort the myth from the reality.

Last week (while I was recovering from vacation - something I'm writing about for next week!) I did a take on how to choose a web designer.

Take a look; I hope you find these tidbits helpful.

Entrepreneur Love

Today's Smart Answers column is all about the latest American hero: The small business owner.

But does that admiration translate to the bottom line, or is it just theoretical?

Click the link to get the answers, and to read about a local SGV business owner's brush with stardom.

Misner Q&A

As promised, here is BNI CEO Ivan Misner's take on what entrepreneurs are doing wrong when it comes to social media marketing.

I'm Lovin' It

What makes someone love your small business - or hate it?

There's a rather mysterious pull about companies that inspire strong feelings from their customers, but most agree that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.

I interviewed brand marketing guru B.J. Bueno about encouraging brand fanatics and managing brand detractors (he pointed out that some people even become brand terrorists, which I've actually seen) in a recent Smart Answers column.

It's much easier for entertainment brands to spawn love/hate relationships, mostly because we are hardwired to respond to stories. Check out these examples of fan-atic love for ABC TV's Lost, which ends its six-season run of sci-fi mega-madness this weekend.

Think that only TV shows and rock bands can inspire such loyalty? Think again and check out this shopper-produced YouTube anthem to Trader Joe's.

Now the only question is, how can your small business connect so strongly with customers that it inspires spontaneous poems and videos?

A Helping Hand

What motivates people to help small business? Sometimes there's a monetary reward, or an investment opportunity involved.

But during this recession, a number of seasoned business people have stepped forward to become small business advisers.

They tend to be retired, financially set and motivated more by the challenge than by the promise of a pay out.

Read about a few of them in this week's Smart Answers column.

Undercover Customer

Most small business owners would need a full-on disguise to go on reality TV's new hit show, "Undercover Boss." And even then, the phony beard or wig would only fool their staffers for about five minutes.

In fact, the entire premise of a corporate CEO needing to eavesdrop on employees to figure out what's really going on doesn't fit the small biz model, where the boss is usually right down in the trenches.

But entrepreneurs could benefit from becoming Undercover Customers, as I outline in this week's Smart Answers column.

Getting Paid

The questioner in my column this week is apparently not the only freelancer having trouble getting paid.

I have to laugh a little at the Journal's intrepid reporting: Freelancers often have a hard time collecting on their invoices!

Will wonders never cease?

Those of us who have freelanced for a couple of decades know that this is hardly big news. Okay, more people are working as independent contractors these days, so maybe more are noticing that this whole "getting paid" thing isn't always cut-and-dried.

Since I got burned way back in the '90s for a $500 payment (big money for my family at that time!) from a now-defunct business journal, I've learned how to make sure I get paid.

And I have a one-off policy: Late or non-existent payment? I don't take another assignment from that client. Period.

Good Time to Sell?

If you're thinking about selling your business this year, your timing might be fortuitous.

My Smart Answers column this week talks about the prospects for mergers and acquisitions in 2010.