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What we say is often less important than the words we use to express what we want to communicate. Saying the wrong thing is easy – we’ve all been there – but how do we say the right thing? Are there words with universal appeal that will help you grow your business? Yes! These are affectionately referred to as weasel words.

 

According to Psychology Today, “Words cannot change reality, but they can change how people perceive reality”. Every astute business owner knows that perception is everything and can make or break a sale. Weasel words are designed to give the appearance of truth without boasting or claiming something you might later cause a lawsuit. They are common in advertising and marketing, where the goal is to attract people (without asking them to think too deeply). A great example is, “leaves dishes virtually spotless.” They don’t promise it will leave your dishes spotless but you are left with the perception that they will be. So what are the words that will convince a customer to put down their hard-earned cash for our service or product?

 

The number one word of all = YOU

Yes, it really is all about you (meaning them – your customers). By personalizing your content with the word, you are creating a relationship with your customer. There is then a certain aura of trust a client gives when they believe that you have their individual interest at heart.

 

Get Excited

You’re introducing/announcing your breakthrough/surprising product and the client is welcome to take advantage of this unique opportunity. It’s recommended by experts and astounding! Not only that, but for a limited time your customer can get this special offer exclusively from your business.

 

Timing is Everything

Discover an amazing opportunity for a new product or service now. Ordering is fast and easy. It’s urgent your clients take advantage and act now before this opportunity passes by.

 

Reassure & Care

You can use these easy words, that are proven and guaranteed to give your clients the reassurance they need. It’s simple. Show them you care about their family, children and health. Studies show/indicate/reveal…

 

It’s All About Saving

Make sure your customers know they will save with the reduced prices, bonus and discounts you offer. You want to help them save their money and offer free samples and gifts for repeat customers. Up to 50%…more than 50%…

 

Now that you’re armed with a basic weasel word vocabulary, act now! As much as we may laugh and mock the ads we see everyday, they do have an influence on us whether we realize it or not. This is especially true as we are exposed to the material more than once. If everywhere you go you see and hear how important it is to have fresh breath it’s only natural to ask yourself if you do. Even if you don’t, chewing gum is recommended by dentists after meals for oral health and to help fight cavities. AND the new breath freshening flavor is sugar free, so why now grab that pack while you’re in line now?

 

By the way, if you have been wondering why they are called weasel words we won’t leave you guessing. Weasels have a rep for being sneaky, clever little creatures. That’s because they eat bird eggs by making a small hole and sucking out the contents, leaving the egg appearing intact. They also excel at getting in and out of a tight spot. All of that is all fine and well until they are spotted by a hawk. If you want your marketing campaigns to succeed, be a weasel.

The franchise forecast for 2013 is ‘partly cloudy’. The US Census Bureau, in its first comprehensive statistical report on franchise businesses, issued in 2010, stated that franchises comprise a very respectable 10.5% of businesses surveyed and were responsible for a disproportionately high figure of close to one sixth of total sales. However, the 2013 franchise growth rate, predicted by IHS Global Insight, is expected to reach 1.4% (lower than 2012’s 1.5%).

If you are considering investment in a franchise, it pays to do your homework. Honest self-assessment, combined with careful study of the current franchise climate, is essential to forecasting your personal success in the marketplace.

Positive Pointers

There are three main factors that point the way to success in franchise investment: affordable rates for small business bank loans, easy availability of commercial space in most areas, aggressive wooing of investors by franchisors, including fee discounting. If the ground is fertile, then it’s time to assess your franchise dreams.

What Works

Look at the 10 most successful American franchise businesses – Hampton Hotels, Subway, Jiffy Lube International Inc., 7-Eleven Inc., Supercuts, Anytime Fitness, Servpro, Denny’s Inc., McDonald’s and Pizza Hut Inc. See how they function, what level of investment they demand and whether joining their team would be a comfortable fit for you.

What’s Strong

Strong franchise industries in 2012 were food, fitness, eldercare and child related services. These are continuing to maintain a strong presence in 2013.

What’s Hot

Providing products and services for mobile computing devices – smartphones, tablets and their ilk – heads the list of cutting edge businesses right now. Franchises that can provide this technology are hot, smoking hot.

Learning technology is also hot. Online tutoring services, which are more cost efficient and flexible than the traditional model, are a new field with potential.

Disaster clean-up, such as water damage restoration services, is big as are mobile trucks for services ranging from car detailing to pet grooming, following the food truck gravy train, show signs of taking off.

What’s Not

There have unfortunately been some spectacular failures in the franchise field lately. The worst performing group in 2012 was Golf Etc., with a failure rate among its franchisees of 71.08%. Ouch! Study the worst performers as well as the best so you will have an idea of what to stay away from.

Know Yourself

Inventory your financial assets. Know exactly how much of an investment is required of you, as well as the expected rate of return. Make sure that your sources of liquid assets are in place. Keep a prudent reserve to live on and cover emergencies for at least six months while you get the business off the ground.

Character

Just as important is taking stock of your character. An excellent prognosticator of successful franchise management is the ability, quite simply, to manage. Unlike many small businesspeople who started their enterprise because they love the field, as a franchisee you do not, “necessarily have to be passionate about what your business does … but you have to be passionate about running a business and following a franchise model,” explains Franchise Business Review in its Spring 2013 issue.

Good Luck

After doing your homework and coming up with accurate and detailed information, you will be in a position to make a clearheaded, honest decision. This will be a major factor in determining your personal franchise forecast.

These days when the speed of life and business just keep quickening, it can seem like we are never being productive enough. There is always more to stay on top of; more to do, yet less time to do it; and often with less money and other resources at our disposal.

Ironically, all this focus on productivity can end up slowing you down. Which productivity tools, techniques, and tips should you follow and how do you successfully implement them?

Though circumstances can vary from one business to another, there are nevertheless commonalities. Here are five productivity keys that can be applied to any kind of business as well as to your personal life outside of it. They are the “tricks of the trade” for productivity superstars, such as Tim Ferris and Josh Kauffman, and though they may seem simple, they can dramatically change the way you and your business functions.

1. Clearly map out your goals. It’s not enough to have some rough idea of where you are heading: I want to increase sales, improve customer service, etc. What exactly do you want to accomplish and more importantly why? Create a list of very specific goals, and list them in order of priority.

2. Break your goals down. Once you are clear about your main goals, you now need to break them down into workable chunks. Many people make the mistake of trying to bite off more than they can chew and eventually end up dropping the ball. Don’t let this happen to your business. You want to create small focus areas and then go through them one-by-one until you’ve mastered it.

3. Get the necessary resources. Make sure all the resources are in place to accomplish your goals. This includes things like equipment, materials, supplies, and even qualified workers, and it means you’re going to have to do some projections to help you anticipate what you will need to get the job done along the way.

4. Make your goals a priority. This may sound simple, but often this step is overlooked, and it can be a major pitfall. It’s not just that you need clear goals and the resources to fulfill them, but you actually have to actively commit those resources. This means setting aside the necessary time, attention, and money and doing so consistently.

5. Testing and feedback. Improving your business’ performance is not a static process. If you really want results then, you need to get feedback along the way. This will help you to stay on course and further pursue the activities and strategies that are working.

In short, if you are looking for some real increases in productivity, then make sure you are implementing the previous five steps. They may appear to be simple, but many businesses skip them, and it’s why increases in productivity can seem elusive.

 

In the trucking world, safety comes first, but continued concerns about lengthy workweeks and driver health are sending some truckers back to bed instead of onto the road. New regulations by the Obama administration, which will limit truckers’ workweek to 70 hours from 82, were announced in December 2011, but the industry had 18 months to implement the regulations.

The transitional costs over the 18-month period have already cost the industry roughly $320 million, according to Dave Osiecki, Vice President for Safety Policy at the American Trucking Association, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) estimates that the regulations could cost the industry a half-a-billion dollars.

Along with a decrease in workweek hours, the rules require that after every 70-hour workweek truckers take 34 hours off to “restart,” which must include two 1-5 a.m. time periods. Additionally, truckers can’t be on the road for more than 11 hours at a time and are now required to take a 30-minute break during the first eight hours of any shift.

The biggest complaints about the new rules have come in the form of industry concerns about costs being passed on to consumers. Fewer truckers working fewer hours means less time transporting goods from place to place, meaning consumers might have to start paying more for products and shipping.

“If you buy more trucks and hire more people to close the gap, someone has to pay for those new trucks and people. On the other hand, if companies decided to operate at less capacity, that will also increase rates, and who pays for that? The consumer,” said Lyndon Finney, Editor of The Trucker.

There is one major upshot to the regulations, and that’s safer roads and an estimated $200 million in savings from better driver health.

“FMCSA developed the rule based on the latest sleep science and sought input from all sectors including small business owners, drivers, shippers, safety advocates and trucking companies,” said Anne Ferro, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety administrator.

The number of people killed each year in large truck crashes fell by almost 30 percent, from 5,282 in 2000 to around 4,000 in 2011, and, according to the FMCSA’s analysis, the new rules will prevent some 1,400 crashes and 560 injuries, saving at least 19 lives each year.

Despite these regulations going into effect, the battle continues. In March, oral arguments were presented in a lawsuit by the American Trucking Association asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse the new regulations, but it is not clear when that ruling will be handed down.

For now, it’s hard to say what the true impact on truckers, the industry, manufacturers, and consumers will be, especially when fewer than 2 percent of drivers work the 82 hours per week. According to DOT, 85% of drivers won’t even be impacted by the new regulations. If anything, long-haul truckers that are paid by the hour and specialty shipments will be hit the hardest.

It will be a slow process for the industry to return to its pre-regulation productivity levels, but it’s not an impossible feat.

 

Online transactions are the preferred shopping method of today as this generation spends most of its time online. The prevalence of smart phones has only increased this phenomenon. In the past few years mobile payment services have become a norm increasing the already high volume of online sales. FastPivot Ecommerce states that online purchases from mobile devices increased from 2% to 8% within a two year period. According to statisticbrain.com, there is a steady, annual increase in online sales with time saving as the number one reason consumers choose to shop online. 83% of internet users have purchased one or more items online in 2012! So how can you cash in?

Having an online store you will guarantee that you reach a much wider and varied clientele. A recent survey by Lab42 Market Research revealed that:

• 73% of online shoppers do at least half of their shopping online.
• 66% prefer online shopping to store shopping.
• 4 out of 5 online shoppers feel they have access to a broader selection of items online.
• 45% of shoppers bought items online that they would not have bought in person.

If you have competitors (who doesn’t?), odds are that they already have an online presence. If you find them on Google your potential customers can find them as well. Make sure that your business turns up and stands out online. It’s relatively easy, inexpensive and quick to set up a basic fully functioning e-commerce site. The top e-commerce software packages come with all the features you need to set up an online store with a mobile version to boot and various options to help spread your online presence with social media. So if you are technically proficient, you can probably set up an e-commerce site on your own. If not, you will probably need a web developer to get your online store up and running.

What do you need?

A domain & Hosting Plan
The domain name should be as similar to your store as possible. Domains usually cost between $10 and $15 a year and can be purchased from several online registrars. Hosting plans generally cost between $4 and $6 a month. There are hundreds of hosting companies. Choose one with good customer service and you’re in good hands.

Shopping Cart Software
There are dozens of free shopping cart software packages. The packages that are most commonly used have the most features, better online assistance and helpful user forums. Magento, OS Commerce and Open Cart are just a few examples of widely used e-commerce platforms. E-commerce platforms also have a built-in option to hook up to various payment gateways. Most small businesses start off with PayPal as it is the simplest and safest payment method. Once your site reaches a high rate of sales you might want to consider other payment options such as direct credit card payments.

Images

Once your system is ready, you will need to insert images of all your products – with a digital camera or smartphone this should be a breeze.

 

Content is King
You want potential customers to find you by searching online for products that you can provide them with. Search engines like websites with compelling and relevant content so it is well worth your time to write good descriptions of your store and your products. The content you write must be authentic and not copied from a similar website. In order to stay on top of search engines, your website has to constantly be updated with new content. The best practice for writing about your store items is to use a short yet catchy headline in order to capture the attention of the reader. After that, use a professional yet conversational tone to further describe your product using as many key words as possible. There are professional content writers and bloggers who can be hired to perform this task. As we mentioned in the first section, online shoppers often end up buying products they hadn’t intended on. Good content and exciting images are the best way to draw shoppers to new and unexpected products.

Social media
Once you have customers, they can help promote you by liking a Facebook page dedicated to your store and by clicking on share, tweet and other share buttons that you can easily display on your site. Your Facebook page can contain coupons and information on new products that will encourage customers to visit and revisit your site.

In this day and age e-commerce sites are a must, especially for small businesses. As long as you put together a quality, customer friendly site you are guaranteeing an additional source of monthly income. If you already have a site, make sure to keep it up to date and interesting as well as offering the same kinds of promotions you would in your brick and mortar site.

Even the most sophisticated spam filters cannot keep out the wave of scam emails flooding inboxes world wide, and from all accounts, business for these cyber thieves is booming. According to the 2012 Internet Crime Report conducted by the FBI, there has been an 8.3 percent rise in cybercrime from the prior year. This works out to 290,000 incidents worth $525 million in financial losses to victims. The average take was $4,573.

We’re not talking cheesy requests from your “secret admirer” in Nigeria. These are some cunning, well-crafted attempts to get you to fork over your personal information. The following is a list of 8 dangerous emails containing the most sophisticated phishing scams circulating right now:

 

1. Failed Delivery Scam

Scammers send phishing messages that appear to be from UPS or FedEx notifying you that a package could not be delivered. You are then prompted to open an attachment that came with the email so that you can get everything sorted out. This attachment typically is loaded with malware or viruses that sift through your files and steal any personal information it can find.

2. Account Update Scams

You may receive “reminders” to update your personal information with your bank or your Paypal account. If you click the link provided, you will be taken to a very official looking web page in which you will be asked to provide some personal information. This information is then used to hack your accounts.

3. Charity Scams

Charity email scams typically reference some recent, well-known disaster and ask that you donate a small amount to a charity to help those who were affected by the tragedy. Ironically, the email itself may actually “warn” you to beware of online scammers! Typically, there will be a link to an official looking web page where you can make an online donation.

4. The Stranded Traveler Scam

Watch out for emails from “friends” claiming that they were robbed while traveling abroad and that they need money immediately.

5. Urgent Messages From a Bank or Government Agency

In one clever scam, hackers sent an email under the “strict security standards” of HSBC bank and requested that recipients report scam emails to the bank’s website. The link itself contained dangerous malware. Another popular scam involves the IRS usually claiming that you owe money.

6. The Cellular Carrier Email Scam

Scammers send emails directing people to a convincing clone website of their cellular carrier. They are then asked to enter their passwords and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, in order to receive credits, discounts, or prizes. The data is then used to hack into the victim’s account.

7. The Fake Purchase Scam

Scammers send emails asking recipients to confirm purchases they never made, such as items on eBay or airline tickets. They are then directed to an official looking web form to enter their personal information.

8. The Old Friend Email Scam

Be on the lookout for emails from “old friends” that may actually come from scammers who have hacked old and unused email accounts. If your friend asks you to click on a link or download anything, be suspicious.

In short, email scammers are getting more and more sophisticated at their trade. In order to protect yourself make sure you only click links and download items from trusted sources, and if something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

According to statistics of income provided by the IRS, the average revenues of sole proprietorships has been on a downward trend for the last 50 years, with the average sales per U.S. sole proprietorship dropping by two-thirds since 1966. How can we explain these numbers? Does this reflect the state of small businesses since about three quarters of all U.S. businesses are sole proprietorships?

Well… probably not. As alarming as these numbers may seem at first, there may be several explanations, and within them lies a deeper understanding of the trends that have been shaping small businesses over the past few decades.

One explanation is that the number of sole proprietorships has been increasing faster than the population, driving up the per capita number. In 1957, for example, there were 4.6 sole proprietors per 100 Americans; in 2010 there were 7.5. Part of this increase could be due to greater access to information and streamlined processes for business startup and operation that are readily accessible to the public.

Why would this make a difference? Starting and running a successful business is not for everyone. Many people are quick to quote the statistic from the SBA that half of all small businesses won’t survive past five years. So, it stands to reason as increasing numbers of people try to start businesses (those who maybe shouldn’t be starting them in the first place), it will push up the failure rate. If they hobble along for a few years before giving up, their low earnings could also push down the national average revenues.

Another explanation is that over the past 50 years, LLCs went from being non-existent to being one of the most popular type of new business formed in the United States. This includes many one-person businesses where the owners choose to form an LLC for its flexibility and liability protection. Without LLC numbers, it’s hard to speculate about what the IRS statistics really mean.

The final explanation really revolves around a culture shift: today, more people are seeking supplementary income. This means even if a sole proprietorship isn’t a full-time income generator, it is still being included as such.

Bottom line: there may be more parts to this story than initially meets the eye. Rather than considering the IRS’s numbers as such sombre statistics, they may actually be depicting a shift in the way small businesses today are started and operated.

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Due to the current recession, many companies find themselves cutting back in an attempt to reduce costs. One common measure used by many employers is reduction of office space. A 2011 Jones Lang Lasalle survey found that 73% of global companies are consolidating offices as an effective cost cutting measure. Workers in these companies are often forced to give up their offices and move into a shared workspace. It is essential for us to be aware of the challenges our employees are faced with when moving to a new environment.

 

While cost savings and bottom lines are often the reason for downsizing, there are a plethora of benefits that come with decreased distance. Being in a smaller or shared office necessitates increased engagement. When our workers develop closer bonds, it improves the mood and environment of the entire office. Employees will feel more connected to the office and will strive to be successful both personally and as team workers. Work will no longer just be a means of support; it will be a way to succeed and feel accomplished! According to Keith Perske, the President of workplace consultant agency Group 5 Consulting says, “It makes you feel more loyal to a company if there’s some energy or buzz.” Perske advocates downsizing to improve communication and relationships, leading to better teamwork and ultimately increased productivity.

 

We all know that significant changes can negatively affect the harmony of a workplace. To make the transition easier and successfully downsize without harming individual or group productivity, keep the following guidelines in mind:

 

1. My dance space, your dance space – Employees in small businesses that are sharing space should discuss and create clearly outlined guidelines. These should both provide examples of what isn’t permitted (i.e., loud music), as well as basic guidelines (i.e., headphones are our friends). Providing clear cut boundaries will minimize conflict and help employees avoid behavior that is bothersome to others.

 

2. Recognize Strengths – Having other people around to help assist you with numerous tasks is always helpful. Many times co-workers can offer assistance to each other. For instance, if an employee is having issues with something on his computer he may be able to turn to a tech-savvy co-worker. However, it is important to understand who to ask for help in each situation. Going around the office asking for help is unnecessarily time consuming and disruptive to the work flow. Noticing your colleagues’ interests and line of work, will often help you gauge his/her abilities and strengths but you must recognize the appropriate time and place to ask for assistance.

 

3. It’s a Sensitivity Thing – Sharing an office often leads to more interaction between employees. Very often, co-workers find this increased social interaction helps improve their comfort in the office and may even boost productivity. However, it is still important to be sensitive to each others’ work flow. When someone in the office is on an important business call, joking with them, or even asking them a question is inappropriate. Placing items on a workers desk that aren’t relevant to his/her work is also not a good idea. Looking over a co-workers shoulder while s/he is typing an email is another form of intrusive behavior.

 

4. Driven to Distraction – Certain behaviors that may be offensive to your co-workers or cause personal debates (i.e., political opinions) should be avoided. Making personal calls in the office is often distracting to those around you. Being smart and aware of your surroundings will help avoid unnecessary conflict and wasted time.

 

When downsizing our companies, it is important to recognize the new challenges our employees are faced with. A successful moving plan will help us avoid catastrophe and instead enrich the work experience for all of us, both employer and employee. By prompting our workers to follow the above guidelines, we can help ensure a positive, beneficial transition to our new maximized office space!

 

What steps should you take when you find out that your website is down? Though some web hosting services advertise “100% uptime,” in reality, it’s false advertising. Even if you invest in the best possible hosting service, a website’s server and associated apps can and do malfunction from time to time.

It’s not hard to find proof of this. Over the past couple of weeks, several high profile services experienced downtime causing a stir among industry watchers that even trickled down to investors. The first was Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft apologized for a recent outage that took nearly three days between between Aug. 14 and Aug. 17 to fix up. On its service status page, the company blamed a system that interacts with a protocol used by most mobile devices. “This incident was a result of a failure in a caching service that interfaces with devices using Exchange ActiveSync, including most smart phones.”

The next major site to experience some downtime was none other than Amazon.com. Though the company is most know for it’s online shopping, it also offers premium hosting services. Ouch! Amazon’s downtime was much more contained than Microsoft’s- lasting only 15 to 45 minutes (depending on who you ask). Jittery investors actually sold Amazon stock as a result of the outage. Even Google’s recent five minute outage was enough to cause a stir.

Now, if people were all abuzz over the possible monetary losses of such big name brands, where loyal customers and users were pretty likely to just wait out the glitch in services, imagine what such an outage would do to your business website? Even if you have built up a loyal following, when your website goes down and you have done little to prepare for it, it can cost you both sales and your business’ reputation.

Here are three things that you can do to help minimize the damage:

Create a custom error page. Instead of letting visitors be greeted by an error code, you can upload a branded placeholder screen. This gives the impression that you have the technical issues under control, and that they are being dealt with. For a quick tutorial on how to upload a custom error page in your cPanel, see this video.

Set up website uptime monitoring. Use a service that let’s you know instantly when your site down via emails, tweets, and SMS so that you can take action right away. There are several options to choose from. You could use a proprietary platform, such as Pingdom. You could use a freemium service, such as those listed in this post over at Hongkiat.com. Finally, you could give this totally free hack from Digital Inspiration a go.

Keep your customers updated. Once you’ve established that the site is down, you should give your readers a heads up with status updates via email and social media. Again, this gives the impression that you are on top of the situation, and the added effort can help save your online reputation.

In short, experiencing website downtime is a given part of doing business online. How you handle it will make all the difference, potentially saving you lost sales and customer respect.

If you are using Paypal to process your business’ online payments and money transfers, you may be interested in the payment platform’s new cloud packages service for business owners… at least Paypal thinks you should be. Paypal Business users now have the option of four Web-based business add-on services, dubbed the Cash and Customer Management Package.

The new services are meant to help small business owners manage their flow of cash, customer data, and communications under one central login. There is also some integration between the apps which would allow users to automatically import data from one app to another.

Each of the four services represent some pretty well-known brands. Here is a brief rundown:

• Bill.com– Bill.com is a platform designed to ease your cash flow management by automating bill approval, payment invoicing and collections. You can also use the platform to create a three month cash flow projection and approve and pay bills securely from any device.

• Outright.com– Outright is an accounting and bookkeeping application designed for small business owners and sole proprietors. It allows you to automatically import sales and expense data and organizing it into IRS-approved categories.

• Cloudconversion.com– Cloud Conversion is a CRM solution that allows you to tap into the customer relationship management features of Salesforce.com. The result is that you will gain valuable insight about your target market, including why they make their purchasing decisions.

• Constantcontact.com– Constant Contact is a well-known email marketing platform. It lets you create professional looking marketing emails from a wide variety of templates. You can manage your email list, make your emails more social, and analyze performance with an assortment of reports. The Paypal package allows you up to 5,000 email contacts or subscribers.

Paypal is currently offering a 30-day free trial of its new business add-ons package. After that, the full cost is $90 a month. Those who opt for the service will receive a single bill from PayPal for all the add-ons. According to PayPal, the cost of the package represents a 40% savings over paying for the services individually.

But the million dollar question is: will the average small business owner find this package valuable? Though relying on Paypal’s “recommendations” may save you some time shopping around for the perfect services, and the integration between the apps is also the plus, still this short list of platforms may not be suitable for many small business owners. Even the savings involved in this “packaged” approach may not be big enough to woo the vast majority of business users.

Another factor at issue is that many Paypal customers are actually not happy with the level of service that they are receiving. Anti-Paypal sentiment is actually pretty high, with many users being forced to seek alternatives. Given this, businesses that rely (unhappily) on Paypal may not trust the payment processor to be involved with other areas of their business. What if their account were limited? How would this effect the other services?

In short, though Paypal’s packaged approach to web-based services may look good on paper, in practice it may not be enticing enough to bring small businesses on board.