Will Limkemann
Business Advisor
The Constant Entrepreneur:
Advice for Running a Productive Business
Discounts
I have never been a big advocate of offering general product or service discounts. Discounting tends to not only devalue a product or service but can also get a customer wondering where the bottom price point exits. Discounting to resellers or for volume purchases is a different matter. What I’m referring to are discounts to lure customers to make a buying decision.
So I was in a bit of a quandary Read more
A great buying experience
I hate shopping, but I had an amazing shopping experience yesterday. I bought an IPhone. Well, not the new IPhone 4 but the prior version. I bought the phone at the Crocker Park Apple store.
Two things made the experience amazing, and both are lessons for any retailer of technical or high-end goods.
First, the sales associate was friendly, knew his product and, most importantly, listened to my needs and wants. Understanding Read more
How much do credit card transactions really cost you, the merchant?
Almost all businesses now consider credit card sales to be part of the cost of doing business. It’s not only competitive to accept plastic, but credit cards provide instant cash and eliminate problems associated with collecting past-due accounts receivable. Certainly the convenience of credit cards come with a cost, and the cost can vary depending upon the processor you have contracted with. But, do you really know and understand what Read more
Strengthen the positive
As individuals and organizations we tend to focus on improving our weaknesses rather than exploit our strengths. Today I received a blog post from the Institute of Management Consultants addressing this. While the post specifically is aimed at consultants, the advice is good for all individuals and organizations. Read this post.
Are you compromising security when making copies?
The digital copy machine is a marvel. It not only copies but can create seemingly unlimited sets from one set of originals, can save paper by printing on two sides, and enable enlarging, shrinking, cropping and more. Depending upon the features included in the machine it can fax, scan, and output directly from a computer.
The dirty little secret that the sales people forget to tell is that every time the Read more
Does Ethical Behaviour Pay?
I firmly believe that most business owners strive to do what is right for their employees and customers, and act in socially responsible ways. Other than having a clear conscience and being able to sleep at night, are there rewards for such good behavior? I’ve always liked to believe that customers would prefer to deal with ethical companies. Studies are now proving that believe to be fact. Read this Wall Read more
Internet marketing
My lamp manufacturing business primarily markets on the Internet, leading me to spend much time, energy, and thought on how to best use the Internet and various tools available for marketing, selling, and analysis. It looks like we’ve done some things right, as our primary product, a music lamps for organs, is currently at the number 1 position on the first page of Google searches when the key words “organ Read more
A better pizza site
Over the past few months I have become very sensitive to effective and ineffective web sites as we have worked hard to continually improve and measure the effectiveness of the site for our line of lamps – www.ektralamp.com.
One of the best commercial sites I’ve run across lately I discovered when my grand-daughters wanted pizza. In particular they asked for Dominos Pizza and suggested that I order over the Internet. This Read more
Boards
In the past I’ve mentioned the value of boards of advisors for even the smallest businesses. With advisors you will have a sounding board, mentors, and possibly even hands-on help when you need it. But you need to carefully select your board, nuture it, and most important, listen to what it has to say.
But how do you effectively assemble and use a board? If you are in Northeast Ohio you Read more
Royalty Financing
Here is an innovative financing strategy for cash-strapped businesses. It’s called royalty financing. It works like this: The business borrows money against future sales and in turn pays a small percentage (royalty) of each invoice to the lender until the loan and interest is paid off. I’ve just recently run across this interesting financing strategy, and it may be worth businesses looking into. My suspicion is that it is a Read more