Hot Tip: Privacy Guidelines
In the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the National Retail Federation (NRF), which is based in Washington,D.C., and is the largest U.S. trade group f... Read more
Customers
Recent Customers Articles
In Good Company
It's no accident that Jackson Lan locates his 17 computer stores in close proximity to big retailers like CompUSA and Computer City. The CEO of PC Club, w... Read more
Damage Control
Like many businesses, Professional Exhibits & Graphics, in Sunnyvale, Calif., sends its customers follow-up letters that include customer survey response ... Read more
A Few Well-Placed Questions
The president of Riester-Robb Advertising and Public Relations reviews InstantSurvey, an Internet service that designs and distributes surveys, and then anal... Read more
Something for Something
Prepaid phone cards make great giveaways, but they're also good for getting something back: customer information. In the past someone dialing the toll-fre... Read more
Upstarts: New-Biz Watch
A look at Mark Begelman's MARS, a music and recording superstore that encourages customers to touch the merchandise, plus four shorter articles about the ret... Read more
The 5% Solution
The founder and CEO of PSS/World Medical Inc. explains how he keeps his company poised for future growth by maintaining a reserve sales force of 50 reps--5% ... Read more
Hiring for Growth
CEO Brodsky gives four rules for hiring salespeople who will be loyal and represent you well. Read more
The New Market Research
Forget focus groups and mail surveys; with constantly changing markets and ever-increasing competition, companies are finding new ways to determine what cust... Read more
Dressed for Success
The CEO of Executive Fashions explains why he designed his fledgling company's operations around a software product--instead of installing it after the busin... Read more
The Numbers on Open-book Management
Inc.'s editor looks at the effects open-book management can have on a company's bottom line; the mutual benefits of mentoring; and a photo lab that offers bu... Read more
Hot Tip: Sales
John McManus, president of Magellan's Catalogue, a $10 million travel accessories supplier in Santa Barbara, Calif., wants to keep employees interested in... Read more
The Ultimate Sales Skill
It happens once or twice a month. A young, eager salesperson (experienced salespeople rarely ask any questions in public) e-mails or walks up to me at som... Read more
You, Me, and All Those Others Just Like Us
The cofounder of PC Connection explains how her company's success stemmed from its extensive customer support, and describes the complications that arose by ... Read more
The Most Entrepreneurial City in America: Vegas
A look at why Las Vegas, a city with little history and very few natural resources, is the country's hottest spot for start-ups. It produced over 17,000 new ... Read more
The Only New Business in La Moure, North Dakota
Mike Kratz, owner of Kratz Aerial Ag Service Inc., was the only person to start a business in his town last year. He describes how he carved a niche for hims... Read more
Everyone's a Salesperson
Last June, memberships were off a little at Ten Thousand Waves, a 70-employee full-service health spa based in Santa Fe. And there was still a good week t... Read more
The Noahs of Grand Forks
Business owners from Grand Forks, ND tell how their companies were affected by the flood that hit their city last year. While the flood was disasterous for s... Read more
What Can I Do to Improve Customer Service?
One possibility: start before customers have even used your product or service. At the Little Nell Hotel, in Aspen, Colo., concierges routinely telephone ... Read more
How Can We Get Employees to Focus on Serving Customers?
Infinity Graphics, a $20 million printing company in Enfield, Conn., wants its workers to know how important its key customers are. So in its monthly news... Read more
How're You Gonna Keep 'Em Down On the Firm?
Sean Durham and Eric Rabinowitz of IHS HelpDesk Service uncovered a hidden growth strategy when they realized that rampant employee turnover was affecting th... Read more
Build a Customer Database That Works
Here are five tips to consider if you're thinking about automating your customer database: 1. Pinpoint your objectives. Do you want to exp... Read more
Control Your Need to Know
Since 1990, Ann Cavoukian, coauthor with Don Tapscott of Who Knows: Safeguarding Your Privacy in a Networked World (McGraw-Hill, 800-338-3987, 19... Read more
Go Global--Electronically
Communication with customers is a source of competitive edge. You can improve your products and services if you learn from your markets. Before it was acq... Read more
For Everything a Season
If you're competing with a pack of companies in an overcrowded market, discovering an overlooked niche is like getting a breath of fresh air. Ed Fitzsimmo... Read more
Rewiring Auto Motives
Selling cars has always been a commission-based business that encourages the salesperson to strip the customer's wallet. Pete Ellis, founder of the Intern... Read more
Remodel Your Leads
For five years Paul Eldrenkamp cultivated relationships with architects in hopes of getting referrals for Byggmeister, his home-remodeling business in New... Read more
Divide and Conquer
Brooke Barrett, part owner of Manhattan East Suite Hotels, in New York City, resists the temptation simply to assign geographic territories to the sales f... Read more
Patience Makes Perfect
When Norm Brodsky went into a large accounting firm in New York City to pitch CitiS... Read more
Racy Entertainment
Mixing business and pleasure isn't necessarily a bad thing. Henry Camferdam Jr., president of Indianapolis-based Support Net, claims that his company's ac... Read more
Money Grows on Shoe Trees
Mike Larkin, president of the $20-million Border Cafe restaurants, used to bring two pairs of shoes to the airport when he dropped off or picked somebody ... Read more
Riskless Business
When you own a small, growing company, the secret to overcoming sales resistance--or, better yet, making sure potential objections never come up--is to ad... Read more
Cast into the Past
These days, Orvis Co., the upscale outfitter founded in 1856 and based in Manchester, Vt., sells more clothing and gifts than its original stock-in-trade-... Read more