Winding up the Sterling Rotary Club’s series, “Tools for Tough Times” on April 6, Rotarians Rick Miller and Steve Radich addressed club members and guests on “Leveraging Technology to Outperform Competition.”
Miller, the creative director of Steppingstone LLC, and Radich, founder and owner of BitShop.com, made their presentation as a modified tag-team, opening with the disclaimer, “Pardon the Geeks.”
What followed was a valuable question-and-answer session moderated by Steve Grant. Topics included:
- Client Resource Management is critical. Knowing what your customers or clients want, have purchased from you in the past–and when–is key to meeting their needs and continuing as their source. Open source software is available–from Salesforce.com, for example–as well as other programs. Miller stressed the importance of having more than one-time customers.
- Your own Web site. While Miller stated that the newer, more simplified and less expensive Web site programs would “put people like us out of business,” both he and Radich stressed the importance of a presence on the Internet. They discussed the various social networks (Facebook, MySpace, blogging) and the advantages of moving up to a real Web site.
- Social networks. Some are better than others in terms of utility and privacy protection. While the basic networks are good for sharing information, sites like LinkedIn are better for professionals, “…allowing you to connect with people you might not otherwise,” according to Radich.
- Computer file back up. “If your life is on your computer, you could lose it if it is stolen or destroyed,” noted Miller, adding that back up files should be stored in a safe place off-site, not right next to your computer system. Recommendation: use of an external hard drive that can be easily loaded and stored in a fireproof safe or other secure location. Low tech solution: printout the information you consider critical and save it as a hard copy. In any case, be sure to test your back up method to be sure it really works before starting to rely on it.
- Online Marketing. Create an online presence and make sure people can find you through the Internet search engines. This is done by getting linked to other sites and building your site with good, fresh content that will get you more hits, and on a regular basis.
- Scams. Phishing and phony e-mails that look like they are from reputable senders are abundant. The speakers pointed out that computers read addresses from right to left, so a reputable name followed by a series of codes is more than likely fraudulent. “If you receive an e-mail that is interesting but you’re concerned, go to the (supposed-sender’s) Web site instead of opening the link,” said Miller.
- Phony “reviews.” Checking out a seller’s or sender’s reputation on the Internet is often done through “reviews” by supposed satisfied customers, but even these can be bogus. Sellers can boost their ratings on eBay or Amazon by purchasing low-cost items themselves, and then moving into high-ticket items that they won’t deliver. The example of a seller who successfully sold a few CDs and then used his high rating when offering an automobile was given.
- Online payments. The online bill paying programs offered by the larger banks are very secure, PayPal somewhat less, although your money is held in escrow until the deal is done. Using PayPal through a credit card that gives you the right to dispute charges is even better. If you don’t want to give out your credit card information, Radich suggests you use a prepaid “cash card” or gift card that is only good up to a certain amount. Buyer “guarantees” like those offered by some online selling sites are less effective, since they can take a very long time to resolve a dispute.
> Open source software is available–from Salesforce.com, for example–as well as other programs.
Actually SalesForce.com is commercial solutions and hosted / Software as a Service / Cloud system.
vTiger.com is the open source one I feel is best, we include it in our small business technology package (web site with content management, blogging, and CRM in one package). There are plenty of other solutions out there also, SugarCRM is another very popular open source one. Microsoft has a CRM offering (commercial).
The open source ones are free if you have the expertise in house to run / manage the software, some have commercial offerings with either more features or additional support.