How to Calculate Total Cost of IT Ownership
from Forbes
Cost-cutting may reduce your bottom line, but it can also cripple your information-technology infrastructure. That's why, when making smart decisions about where to invest (and save) your IT dollars, it's critical to calculate the "total cost of ownership." Bmighty aims to help, with its Total Cost of Ownership Calculator, provided courtesy of Info-Tech Research Group. This free Excel-based calculator accurately estimates your IT costs at the strategic and daily operational levels. It can account for both direct and indirect costs, including hardware, software, systems management, support and services. More

Small Retailers Push for Online Sales
from BusinessWeek
Nicole DeBoom watched online sales at her women's sportswear company drop 25 percent in early November—a sign that buyers were pulling back just when holiday shopping should have started. So DeBoom, who is chief executive of SkirtSports, a five-person company she founded three years ago in Boulder, Colo., planned to cut prices 30 percent on old inventory at the company's online outlet, SkirtSportsOutlet.com, starting the Monday after Thanksgiving. "We think it'll spark a major feeding frenzy. Our margins are going to take a hit, but at this point, we just need volume," DeBoom says. She hopes the discount will keep sales on a level with the 2007 holiday season, even as her profits shrink because of those thinner margins. More

Press Releases: Target Your Market
from Entrepreneur
In a tough economy, with businesses and consumers cutting back on spending, even the best advertising may not be enough to sway shoppers. Right now, PR is an indispensable part of a campaign thanks to its influence over consumers' buying decisions. When asked to rank the factors that sway them to buy a product or service, many Americans cite reading about it or seeing a recommendation. And though PR tactics that earn news coverage are still standard practice, these new PR tactics can help you gain credibility and grab the attention of customers. It all starts with a press release. But it's what you do with your release these days that counts. Here are four ways to use PR as a conduit to sales. More

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Schallert Group Introduces Webinar Wednesdays
from The Schallert Group
This is Jon Schallert. Here is a training offer for business owners, specifically to help them with this challenging economy. If you are a Chamber Director, a Downtown Director, or you lead a small business organization, feel free to pass this along to all of your business membership. Many businesses I am consulting with need a good 4th quarter of the year. They need their sales to end strong. To help them achieve this, I will be conducting four no cost webinars over the next four Wednesdays between now and Christmas. During these "Webinar Wednesdays," I will be discussing how to increase customer traffic, sales, and other issues of concern to owners this holiday season. There will be no specific topic for each webinar. Instead, those owners who participate will be able to submit questions to me on their specific business issues, and their questions will create the content of each webinar. I encourage groups of owners to get together at a central meeting space, and use a projector to broadcast these Webinars on a screen, so more owners can benefit from it, and then, network after it. More

Finding the 'Zone' in a Tough Economy
fromSmall Biz Trends
Every top performer - in whatever the industry - knows there is a “zone” they sometimes achieve when everything is rolling, a state of mind where success comes easily. They can seemingly do no wrong when they’re in the zone. So, how do we as business owners find “the zone” in a tough economy? More

The Psychology of Customer Service
from America's Best Magazine
People buy from people they like. That’s a fact. You may believe that if you have the best products at the lowest price, that’s what really matters. However, if a potential client doesn’t like you, they are likely to do business somewhere else. When it comes to dealing with customers, it’s all about human psychology. Despite the importance of involving psychology in customer service practices, there are still far too few businesses that have undertaken this effort. More

Technology for Tough Times
from Small Business Computing
In an economic crisis, cutting costs tops the list of most every business. But can spending money on technology help your small business survive the tough times ahead? Small Business Computing asked professional advisers and got some surprising, and occasionally contradictory, responses. The short answer: yes, but. More