Is The Chair Your Worst Enemy?

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.

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Why Consumer Spending Dropped During Black Friday

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.

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Tim Hortons To Increase Coffee and Breakfast Sandwich Prices

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.

 

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Facebook Reportedly Working On Website For Office Use

Facebook is coming out with an office version of its social media platform for employee-to-employee communication at work. The pilot project is still in the test stages of development and will not be out for another few months. By taking on this project, it is taking on entrenched rivals, such as Microsoft, Google, Skype and a number of other smaller companies aiming their sights at the ever-evolving landscape.

It’s referred to as “Facebook at Work,” and the look and feel will be just like the current social media website. The only differences are that it’s meant for communicating with colleagues and management and collaborating on office projects.

This would not be the first idea or change Facebook proposed or made this year.  In April of this year it officially launched Business Manager, a tool that lets marketers and agencies manage multiple campaigns via one interface. Just three weeks ago it also made changes to its privacy policy and shortened it by 75%.

Social Media scholars regard this as a wise move. Given that Facebook already has 1.35 billion users who access the social media network on a monthly basis, it’s well poised to bring it into an office environment as well. Facebook employees and their managers are already using the social network to collaborate internally, but nothing officially.

Facebook at Work

What does this mean for business professionals?

If Facebook can get companies to adopt their idea, it could open up new and exciting opportunities. For instance, it will allow employees to make their professional profiles “public,” which would turn Facebook into a professional social network that could compete against LinkedIn directly.

Facebook has declined to make a statement about this new development. The news was reported by Financial Times on November 16, 2014. Carmel Vision will update you as soon as more information becomes available.

 

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Email Contact Management- Why Every Business Needs It

Approximately 50% of new small businesses in North America close within five years, and most of those that survive these statistics are just barely making it by. They’re making just enough money to stay in business, but never manage to generate enough capital for upgrades and expansions that would allow them to grow.

There are, of course,  new small businesses that seem to be super-charged. They may begin with one or two people working, but the next thing you know they have over a dozen or even hundreds of people and their offices or products are everywhere in the world. Two perfect examples are WhatsApp (purchased by Facebook) and Twitch (purchased by Google).

What makes those businesses different? Why do some small businesses take off while others close? This is obviously a broad question and there are business experts who make a great deal of money selling their input. But there is one part of the answer that is simple and clear: in order to succeed, a small business must have an effective contact management system. 

supercharged employees

There are many contact management software solutions on the market today but few are good at both managing contacts and emails. Take Microsoft Outlook, the most well-known contact management software on the market, is good at managing your contacts but lacks on the email management side.

To properly manage your emails in Outlook you need to set rules and filters so that the email automatically links to the contact. Most users of Outlook however do not know how to set this up and tend to create folders and drag and drop each email to the folder manually. A typical inbox today has 10,000 plus emails so one can only imagine all the time you can save not having to do this task.

With InfoFlo’s contact manager software you get auto email linking built right into the core $99 package. It’s simple all the user is required to do is either add a new contact or import your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, CSV etc. Once this is done then all your emails will be automatically linked for you.

Another great email management feature built into the $99 InfoFlo core package is the spam filter. When an email comes into the system it will display it as known or unknown. A known email is one that is linked to a contact in your contact list and the unknown is an email address not added to your contact database. This spam filter is a great feature because now users do not need to go through one long list of emails and spend their valuable time sifting through spam something they normally do in Outlook. For information please visit www.carmelvision.com

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How Safe Is Your Personal Information on Social Media?

Have you ever been approached on the street by some random stranger who knew your name along with some other personal information about you?

Stalker, right? If you geo-target your Twitter Tweets, Instagram pics, or public Facebook posts, that could very well happen to you.

Comedian Jack Vale decided to search through Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms for posts tagged near his location. He stalked the posters’ feeds, called them out in the street, and started conversations around the information that he had learned about them on social media.

Check out the video:

Cnet also reported that whenever you click a Facebook ‘like’ button, your preference is not just shared with your friends and followers, but data about your interests is sent back to Facebook’s servers – ready to be sold to third party advertisers. What’s more, personal data is exchanged when you use apps via Facebook. It has even been reported that signing up for these apps will give those companies who created the apps access to your personal data – even details you specifically told Facebook to keep a secret.

Rule of Thumb: Don’t share any private, confidential information on your social media channels. The less people know about your whereabouts and likings, the better.

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80% of Companies Believe They Provide Good Customer Service

A recent study found that 80% of companies believe that they provide great customer service….unfortunately, only 8% of their customers believed that they actually provided a superior service.

Is your business one of the few that are actually living up to their promises? If so, then it’s very likely that you’re using social media and a customer relationship management tool to enhance your customer service offerings.

In case you’re not 100% sure, this blog post offers you tips on how you can keep your “superior” customer services top notch.

 

customer service

 

1. Be Personable & Social

The moment that consumers have a negative experience with a business, one of the first things they do is make a complaint on Yelp or Google+. If they feel they’ve been cheated, they will want the whole world to know how bad they thought your business was. When this happens, you should already have staff in place that will find these people and try to resolve their problems, professionally. When you do this, you are letting other customers and prospects witness how your business actually takes care of its customers and complaints.

 

2. Exceed Expectations

Over 55% of consumers don’t expect their complaints or inquiries to be responded to within an hour. What happens if you exceed their expectations? What if you had a social media manager or CRM software that could help you pinpoint the issue and resolve it in 30 minutes or less? It would significantly improve your customer service and exceed your customers’ expectations.

 

3. Make things convenient

Now a day, customers expect almost real-time complaint resolution and want to be able to communicate with organizations through a wide variety of channels (email, phone, SMS, mail, Web, social media). If a customer complaints to you on Facebook, don’t respond through email or a phone call. Respond on the platform so that the customer used, so all others viewing the complaint will see how you resolved it. Once the complaint has been addressed, offer the customers other ways to get a reach of you if they have any other concerns or questions.

 

4. Keep a record!

Be sure to record each and every complaint you receive in your CRM system, no matter how small or innocent it may seem. This will give insight into what processes are consistently going wrong in your business. CRM software can help keep things from slipping through the cracks, but in order for it to be effective, the information needs to be collected and analyzed.

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4 Secrets to a Stellar Business Presentation

One of the best ways to succeed at owning a business is to acquire top-notch presentation skills.  Use these tips to get your next stellar presentation well underway.

1. Creatively Transfer Enthusiasm

It goes without saying, the boring presentations are often the ones that convey the least enthusiasm. Presenting a monotone, or overly wordy Power Point can leave an audience feeling their valuable time has been wasted. If you’re thrilled about your business strategy or product, find creative ways to transfer that enthusiasm to your audience, so that they can be, too.

2. Use Impact Stories and Anecdotes

Of course, this doesn’t mean spewing lengthy historical run-downs or sharing company quips that really only make sense to employees and co-workers. What it does mean is submitting relevant background that makes powerful impact and succeeds at bringing presentation points home.  These will serve to illustrate your position in a practical and down-to-earth way.

3. Bring in Meaningful Props or Statistics

That perfect photo or even a product prototype never hurts to spruce up an otherwise mediocre business presentation. Props give presenters a chance to be creative and to give their presentation personality. They also help visual learners in the audience identify quickly with the subject matter. Plus, they lend a degree of variance to what the audience eye beholds, keeping things interesting and on-point.

4. Use Natural Delivery Techniques

Relaxed body language and simple diction convey a sense of everyday charm to audiences – even in business.  The corporate world is full of formal stiffness and robotic sound-bites. Make a difference and stand out with a delivery style that’s both natural and professional. By rehearsing several times before the presentation, this style can easily be mastered in no time.

 

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What Are the Long Term Benefits of a CRM?

Since the latter part of the 1990s, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become a buzz term especially among business practitioners and enterpreneurs. Companies, both big and small, have invested or are hoping to invest huge amounts to implement CRM strategies, tools and infrastructure in order to win the battle in the increasingly competitive economy. However, many executives are struggling to determine how their organization will balance the business value of CRM against its costs to determine CRM return on investment.

Many businesses in search of solutions and opportunities for increased sales and productivity may also be wondering, what are the long term effects of CRM.  CRM software can have a number of positive long-term effects worth exploring. In the short term, business relationships improve as a result of better behind- the-scenes organization and progress tracking, but even later down the line, CRM can prove to be a great return on initial investment.

For starters, companies can expect to see long-term improvement in sales. Due to the increase in valuable productivity time, sales teams spend less time manually compiling business relationship data and integrating complex information with other lines of communication. This means more freedom and flexibility for compiling evaluative reports such as sales forecasts and tracking progress over time – key ways to get ahead in today’s competitive markets.

Lasting cost-savings is also one of the long-term effects of CRM software.  Of course this benefit depends on making the very best selection possible when it comes to choosing the right solution for your company. If you decide to to get a hosted package be prepared to pay a set monthly cost for as long as you are own the software. On the other hand purchasing an on-premise package can save a company a lot of money in the long term since there is only a one-time cost. Be careful though some companies force you to pay yearly maintenance packages or charge you for upgrades so be sure to do your homework before making a choice.

Effective CRM software provides users with the tools to conveniently oversee business relationships from start to sale and even continuing on to regular follow-up. Without CRM, the task of tracking customers and their expectations can become enormously difficult.  With the right CRM software in place, companies can ensure clients and customers stay with them even beyond the critical first sale for lasting success even in the long-term.

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How to Respond to Complaints with Contact Management System

Just last week, I was dealing with a service outage in my area. The internet as well as the phone lines and television services were not working. I called my service provider for assistance and they told me that they wouldn’t be able to fix the issue until a week later. I wanted to cancel because my alarm system was not working and causing me to have security concerns.

In this midst of finding out information about cancellation, the customer service representative’s line got disconnected. I wasn’t quite sure what to do because I had a contract with the service provider and wanted to weigh my options. Instead of calling me back, the CSR immediately assumed that cancellation was the only way out for me and cancelled my services. When I tried calling back, the tech department told me the billing department was closed. The next day I spent 6 hours, with long wait holds, on the phone trying to get an answer out of them. Upon the 6 hour mark, I decided to cancel because I was tired of being transferred from billing to technical from technical to billing and from billing to management.

Two hours after cancellation, I get a call from the retention department. They were sad to see me go after only 7 months with them. I was shocked! I was a customer of theirs for 7 months in my current location. In my previous residence, I was their customer since 2002. The bottom line was they would not tear up a contract for interruptions, large or small. Irregardless of the security concerns it was causing.

After careful consideration, I called and emailed the level 3 manager I previously spoke with about continuing our discussion about customer retention. I was promised a call back within 24 hours. 1 week later, I still have not received a call from that manager. What I did receive was an email blast from the VP of Loyalty telling me that he is sorry to see me go and recommended that I call their retention department to get the best deals.

If the company had invested in a proper contact management system, they would have known that I was interested in staying on and already tried to email and call the level 3 manager who clearly was avoiding my calls and emails. It is also safe to say that if they had a comprehensive contact management software they would have known that I was their client since 2002 and not for 7 months.

I am the first to admit that sales and customers are two of the most sensitive topics in the world of business. First impressions are very important and you don’t want to start off your relationship with prospects and customers on the wrong foot. Here are some tips you can follow when responding to a complaint or negative review.

 

customer service - contact management system

 

Stay Calm

When you receive a complaint about your business, your automatic reaction will be to respond immediately, defending yourself and trying to make things right. The problem with this is your emotional response will probably not sound too professional. Stick to a rule of waiting a couple hours before responding. This will give you time to calm and allow you to think straight.

 

Acknowledge their feedback

It may seem wrong at first to thank someone for complaining about your business, but just like in real life, courtesy can go a long way in putting out the fire. Start off your response by thanking the commenter for their constructive feedback and immediately follow that with an apology that they were unhappy. Encourage the commenter to contact you in person so that you can immediately rectify the situation.

 

Be honest

If there’s a true, honest explanation for why your customer had a bad experience, be open about it. Perhaps it was all just a big misunderstanding. Lay your cards on the table. Just keep it brief. If there isn’t an explanation, don’t be tempted to make up an excuse. Just own the fact that what happened did happen and it’s time to move past it.

 

Take action

Propose a solution to the complainant, if possible, that will help correct the problem at hand. Make sure that they understand their business is very important to you. Offer a discount on future services. But don’t get too carried away. Sometimes there’s no pleasing for an upset customer. Going back and forth may not do you any good.

 

Invest in Contact Management System!

Most often, customers aren’t happy with the services they receive because they feel that the service provider does not understand their needs and does not fit their goals. It’s a learning curve for some organization and business leaders  who should be looking at complaints as something positive and something that they could utilize to improve the organization in the future. A good place to start is to purchase a comprehensive contact management system, such as InfoFlo.

A comprehensive contact management software allows you to input as many important details about a customer or prospect as possible. Information can include invoices sent to customers, recent transactions, contracts signed, important milestones, birthdays of C-Level executives etc. You can even set yourself reminders in the calendar to ensure you don’t forget to follow up with them and see how they’re doing. Another purpose of setting up reminders is so that you can send occasional email blasts to those customers/prospects to show your appreciation for their business.

 

Your feedback about our services and our products is very important to us. We incorporate your comments into R&D and to delivering solutions that align with your requirements. Download your free trial today. 

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