It’s Friday morning. I am looking forward to the weekend, but know I have a busy day ahead of me. I have to produce a blog for our company’s blog page, make some follow up calls and create a marketing plan for the month of March. I always work a month ahead and then monitor and adjust when necessary.

Whilst completing my tasks, I wonder what motivates me to complete those tasks and what role does my company’s resources and managers play in my satisfaction. My curiosity is now the topic of this blog post.

Every organization and its managers knows that the best way to attract and retain the best talents is to ensure employee satisfaction. Unfortunately, offering raises to employees may not be enough to make your best workers stick around. Here are 5 things, other than money, that I believe keeps employees happy.

1. Offer Comprehensive Training

Mentorship and training sessions lead to better engagement among staff. Commitment to training and mentorships show employees that you value their skills and contributions. As well, it shows that you put more emphasis on progress rather the end product – both in achievements as well as in the careers of its people.

2. Smile

I believe that a smile can go a long way in diffusing tensions in the office. I remember the first time I was told that the company I was working for was hoping to automate their process by investing in a CRM software tool. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that my job was on the line. My manager simply smiled and said that our jobs are safe and the company is simply looking to be more productive and expand their portfolios using the resources they have.

3. Give workers balance in life

This may be a challenge for some companies, but it presents an opportunity for you to keep your employees happy. Today, the top employers are the ones who create an environment where staff feel connected to the organization and have a positive work experience that’s part of a rich, fulfilling life. As well, a new study done by American Psychological Association shows that 67% of employees will stay with a company long term if they know that there is a balance between work and life.

4. Give Ownership

No one enjoys being micromanaged? People work best — and are happiest — when they have ownership of their tasks, when they can solve problems their way and express their individuality.

5. Invest in Technology

According to Dell.com study, 25% of employees around the world say that they are influenced by the technology provided to them at work and would consider taking a new position if provided better technology that helps them be more creative and dynamic. One such tool is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

About InfoFlo CRM Tool

Carmel Vision, a Toronto based CRM software development company, is focused on delivering a powerful management infrastructure that is designed to collect, search, and archive all content, contact and communication activities that take place in a typical office. We understand and listen to all of our customers’ needs and strive to give excellent quality at affordable prices.

Our flagship product, InfoFlo – is a central management system specifically designed to combat one of the biggest technical challenges facing any professional organization, how to efficiently organize, archive, filter and search the vital information that bombards our desktops on a daily basis. Our infrastructure allows all office activities to coexist together under one umbrella, making all critical information readily available at your fingertips.

In the video, Kare Anderson helps her listeners think about the ways we collaborate and connect with others both in our personal lives and in the business world. Collaborations, she argues, can come from the most unexpected places! Sometimes it pays to think outside the box…

Anderson’s idea of reimagining the world is one where all human beings become greater opportunity-makers with and for others. She strongly believes that there’s no greater opportunity than to become opportunity-makers, to use the best talents together for the greater good and to accomplish things we couldn’t have done alone. She urges her listeners to not stop after the first opportunity comes knocking. For her, it’s after you’ve had that first experience and you trust each. It’s the unexpected things that you devise together and never could have predicted that matter most in life. And she’s right!

I can easily relate to Anderson, as I grew up with a stuttering problem. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to attend one of her conferences and my life changed for the better. I hope yours does to. Enjoy!

InfoFlo is a CRM Software tool that empowers organizations to help their employees make use of their talents for the greater good and accomplish things they couldn’t have done alone. For just $99, InfoFlo is a feature-packed Contact Management System with over 20 built-in components and includes free upgrades for life. Download free trial here.

If you have a small office, improving efficiency in the way you manage your files is not as difficult as you may think. You would just have to be more organized and systematic. Do a weekly review of your paper files. Clean up, throw out, prioritize, and plan. Then categorize new tasks needed to be complete. Locate papers that have to be filed and file them, separating them from papers to recycle. Managing your documents this way can reduce clutter and give you a clear picture of what you should do the week ahead.

The right solution to managing your voluminous documentation would be to invest in document scanning and conversion into digital formats that can be conveniently stored on a computer. Let’s examine why.

Increased Productivity with Data Scanning Services

Documents are the starting point for many business processes and any delay in timely access would affect the overall productivity any firm. Overload of files, disorganization, and information mismanagement are some of the common obstacles that firms relying on paper-based documentation face. According to the studies conducted by National Association of Professional Organizers, paper clutter is the foremost issue faced by many businesses. Clutter stands in the way of productivity and profitability.

By opting for professional document scanning services, businesses get all their paper-based documents converted to digital format. InfoFlo is a solution that can assist any business, big or small, with proper document management system. The scanned documents are saved to a database which employees and managers could use. The All folders are also labeled appropriately, arranged in chronological order and the files alphabetized.

Many Business Benefits

Here are the many business benefits that could come your way with thee implementation of a professional document scanning and conversion solutions:

• Time savings in managing day-to-day workload
• More time for core legal tasks
• Easy access to files with everything stored in an organized manner on the office computers
• Speedier workflow with ease of data access
• Easy inputting of new data and document
• Better collaboration among employees with access to shared data
• Reduced costs of handling, storing and copying paper documents
• Elimination of data redundancy
• Need for less physical storage space
• Improved customer service with more efficient document management
• Overall cost savings of 30-40%

Businesses that can manage their cloud-based documents are better positioned to meet the challenges of competition. So make a plan to get organized, cut clutter, and see your productivity and efficiency soar.

What does it mean to be a savvy consumer? A savvy consumer is someone who puts more weight in their friends’ opinions and independent product reviews. Before we buy a new gadget or try a new restaurant, most of us look at the reviews on Yelp, Facebook and Google+ to make sure we’re not wasting our money on something that is useless.

Unfortunately, not all reviews are reliable. Some are useless and anger some, while others are so glowing that they are too good to be true. The best reviews are the ones that walk in between. Regardless of the consumer experience, they offer up the type of information that’s invaluable to those making an informed decision.

This article offers tips on how to write an effective review that will resonate with all readers:

1. Leave out names

One of the biggest criticisms of online reviews is that too many of them are malicious and targeted at specific employees of the company, instead of addressing the actual issue. If the sales rep is there only temporarily, or if the manager quits a year later, your review is already useless and outdated. Instead, discuss the experience you had with the company and how the products and/or services met your needs.

2. Create content that has substance

When writing a good review, it’s important to avoid frills and convoluted sentences. Get to the point as soon as possible. After all, this is why the reader is reading the review in the first place. Think about what you would want to know if you were looking for reviews on that product.

3. Weigh the pros and cons fairly

Avoid generic phrases that praise or criticize the product or service. Write about what is provided by the company and what the product does or does not do. Don’t brag about the pros or criticize the product too much. Have a balance of pros and cons in your review and maintain a decent word length for each.

4. Compare with other products

Compare the product with other products on the market, and tell your readers why the current product is much more or less effective and worth or not worth every penny. Use concrete examples, such as differences in features, to explicate your argument.

5. Re-read the review

Re-reading the review before hitting the publish button will help you clear some of the repetition you had when you first wrote it. You can also get a fresh perspective when you return to the writing piece after a small breather or break.

Writing a review is a big responsibility, especially when your opinion matters to someone reading it. Believe in what you promote and stick with only the facts when criticizing it.

The evidence is in — your chair is your worst enemy. Many office employees sit in a chair for more than 12 hours each day. They get up in the morning, drive to work, sit all day long at their desks, drive home, eat dinner, watch TV and surf the Internet before going to sleep in their comfortable beds. This degree of excess sitting is not what our bodies need. Studies in agricultural communities, where people move naturally, argue that our bodies are made to move all day and only use a chair for a well-deserved rest. People were never designed to be crammed into chairs: sitting all day long is lethal.

Lethal sitting is associated with many chronic disease and conditions — diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease,cancer, and depression, to name only a few. Here are 4 tips for escaping your chair bondage:
 

1. Know what makes you more likely to sit, and plan an alternative.

Where sitting stimuli are likely to appear, make alternative arrangement easily accessible and preferable. That means informing your colleagues and managers that from now on, your Monday morning meetings will be “walk and talk.” It also means putting a sticky note reminder on your phone to notify you that every time you get texts or a call, you will get up and out of your chair. As well, bring the treadmill from the basement and put it in front of the TV.

2. Keep track of your progress.

One of the more useful ways to reverse an addiction is to self-monitor. There are a number of devices and apps to assist you with it. Activity tracking apps are free. Unfortunately, Many people get bored with self-monitoring once they see improvement. Our tech specialists suggest that use your self-tracker app or device for a few weeks at time to make sure that you’re on the right path and that you are progressing rather than regressing.

3. Train your thought patterns to stop being so hard on yourself.
I have heard this from clients who are overweight, “I feel so bad when I go out,” or, “I feel ugly.” The reality is that this is ALL said by your internal voice. You must stop putting yourself down. If you don’t love yourself, why should anyone else love you? Stick a pitchfork in that negative voice and toss it away. Get up, look at yourself in the mirror (yes, do it), smile and get out there and live life — vibrantly.
 

4. Get social support.
Social support is the final weapon to beating this addiction. I cannot count the number of times by family, friends, colleagues or even strangers have lifted me up. If you are having trouble getting up, look for a friend to help you. If you see someone struggling to get up, help them.

Consumers spending dropped during Black Friday weekend sales in comparison to the numbers that we saw last year. According to the National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving weekend spending survey 55.1% of holiday shoppers were expected to visit stores or go online to make their purchases, down from 58.7% last year.

The decline can be attributed to an improving economy as well as changing shopping habits. Consumers are no longer relying on deep discounts and early promotions and are instead to make their much needed purchases online. This blog post examines the 4 main reason why Black Friday sales are dropping in detail:

1. Loss of Magic

Officially, Black Friday does not start until after Thanksgiving Day. This year, many retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy started to unveil deep discounts as early as Halloween weekend. This gave shoppers almost a month to shop around and make informed decisions without having to shop on the whim on the official day(s).

2. Loss of Urgency

Since many retailers started early this year, there was no sense of urgency to be the first in line. There were still lines, but the frenzied anticipation of the best deals was not there. And even if consumers did not get what they wanted, they still have between now and January to redeem their gift cards and make their purchases.

3. Shopper Fatigue

Many businesses would beg to disagree on that. The moment that the new iPhone or new iPad comes out, people stand in line for days to get their hands on it. Unfortunately with holiday deals and sales, consumers aren’t noticing any big must-have products that they want like with Apple products. And with the improving economy, most people opt to pay more rather than stand in line in the cold for hours.

4. Online Shopping Boom

The shift from brick and mortar to online shopping increased this year. Target reported that its website saw a 40% increase in sales on Thanksgiving, making its biggest online sales day ever. Wal-Mart said Thanksgiving was its second-highest online day ever, only surpassed by Cyber Monday last year.

Tim Hortons coffee and breakfast sandwiches are about to get a little more expensive as the North American coffee chain prepares to raise its prices next Wednesday. The price for coffee will jump up by an average of 10 cents. Breakfast sandwich prices will also jump up by 10 cents in all provinces but Ontario to $2.99.

Tim Hortons isn’t the only brand raising its prices due to the coffee Arabica coffee bean price hike last October. Keurig, makers of “k-cup” coffee pods, raised their prices earlier this month by 9% and Starbucks raised the cost of their coffee products over the summer as well.

Why The Price Increase

Brazil is the largest producer of coffee beans in the world and this summer’s drought is wreaking particular havoc on Brazilian coffee growers and as a result world prices as well.

How Demographics Affect Pricing

Tim Hortons’ flagship product is coffee. Not only does Tim Hortons own 62% of Canada’s coffee market, but it also has more outlets in Canada than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. Naturally, a brand with wider market appeal will be less expensive than a brand with less market appeal. Tim Hortons positions itself as the brand for small towns, sports fans, and the working-class Canadians. It is not a brand for middle-class families and business professionals; that market is reserved for Starbucks. It’s also a type of brand that is less likely to pay a premium to boost its image and the consumer experience.

How Geography Affects Pricing

Tim Hortons’ first store opened in Ontario and is more dominant in central and eastern Canada. McCafe also entered Canada through Ontario, but has a better foothold in British Columbia and Quebec. Tim Hortons, on the other hand, didn’t enter Quebec until the 1970s. Appealing to Quebec was more of an after-thought. Out West, Starbucks dominates the market with its appeal to the laid-back west-coast culture. So if you’re wondering why the price of Tim Hortons coffee is higher in Quebec and British Columbia than it is in Ontario, geography and market dominance have a lot to do with it. 

The price of your Cup of Joe is increasing, but the cost of owning a CRM Software is stay put. Customers are drawn to InfoFlo because they are tired of spending time and money trying to “figure out” the complexities of traditional CRM products. Traditionally customers are stuck deciding between an overpriced, feature rich CRM or a cost conscious CRM with very limited functionality. With InfoFlo you can have the best of both worlds and get a feature rich CRM at price point that is fair and also includes free upgrades for life.  Click here to download your free trial now.