How To Get Your Message Through To Top Executives
Direct marketing guru and author Denny Hatch has a colorful name for executive assistants. He calls these good people, whose responsibilities include screening phone calls, sorting the mail and helping to manage the daily activities of their high-powered bosses…”White Fang.” And these days “White Fang” has very capable assistants of his or her own in the form of caller ID, voice mail and email filters.
Let’s face it, a big part of their job is to keep us – the B-to-B Marketer and sales professional – out. But because these senior-level executives can make or break our sales and marketing efforts, it’s imperative that we find ways to get our message in. And few marketing tools are better suited for this task than direct mail.
- Make Your Mail Peer-To-Peer Personal
- Use Dimensional Mail
- Don’t Use Teaser Copy
- Use Overnight Mail
- Offer Useful Information
Mobile Hair Salon
An entrepreneur finds a niche by bringing mobile hair salons to Silicon Valley workers.
Silicon Valley’s technology workers may be among the most likely to succeed, but they aren’t usually voted best tressed.
Dena Kaufel, the 43-year-old founder of Onsite Haircuts, recognized the root of the problem – “Not everyone wants to take two hours out of his workday to drive to a salon” – and responded.
Kaufel and her staff drive a pair of Winnebagos outfitted as traveling beauty salons, complete with barber chairs, mirrors and sinks, to 11 company parking lots throughout the area.
Customers schedule same-day $18 cuts at onsitehaircuts.com, a service created with the help of an engineer who came in for a trim.
With stops at Google (Charts), eBay (Charts), and Yahoo (Charts), Onsite saw revenues increase 800 percent, to about $200,000, this year.
The company also bought a third Winnebago, demonstrating its ability to grow alongside its clients’ employers (and their hair).
FSB Magazine
A Web site sells stolen items
Last year PropertyRoom.com, an auction Web site that sells lost, stolen or forfeited goods from police departments, opened its doors to third-party vendors.
Revenues jumped 33 percent, to $8 million, and are projected to hit $10 million to $12 million in 2006.
PropertyRoom.com has signed up more than 750 departments since it was launched in 1999, and its 70 employees ensure each product’s authenticity and condition.
By extending that vigilance to third-party vendors – conducting background checks on all merchants, including jewelers and electronics sellers – the company hopes to allay the concerns of e-shoppers. “We’re after a fraud-free environment on the Internet,” Lane says.
FSB Magazine
Make A Million On Butterflies
An entrepreneur starts a business on a dare – and wins.
Jose Muñiz’s career began when a friend bet him $100 that he could not sell butterflies for a living. Now, seven years later, the former business consultant and his wife, Karen, own Amazing Butterflies, a live-butterfly distributor with offices in Tamarac, Fla., and San Jose, and a projected $1 million in revenues in 2006.
The dramatic effect created by the release of scores of butterflies has made the business popular among wedding, funeral and charity event planners.
The company, which charges as much as $95 for a dozen monarchs, has also worked events for companies such as Viacom’s (Charts) Nickelodeon, which ordered several hundred butterflies in August for a filming in Burbank, Calif.
The butterfly-shipping industry has attracted some controversy from conservationists, but that hasn’t slowed Muñiz’s business.
Next spring, the company plans to open a third office, in Dallas. Though Muñiz, 47, is still waiting for his $100, he says that he has backed his way into a job that he loves. "I could never go back [to consulting]," he says. "This is just too much fun."
CNN Money
How to Deduct Entertainment Costs
Most business owners know that certain entertainment expenses are deductible under some circumstances, but judging by the large number of questions I get on this topic, I don´t think many people actually know the rules.
Like all business deductions, entertainment costs must be “ordinary and necessary” in order to qualify. If your business is a used furniture shop, it´s not very likely that the cost of taking one of your customers to dinner and a movie would be an ordinary and necessary business expense. On the other hand, it could be, if for example the customer you take out for the evening is furnishing a motel and is prepared to spend $45,000 on furniture.
Here is the information Sara needs to record in order for the cost of taking Emily to lunch to qualify as a deductible business expense:
- The location — Mavis´s Downtown Country Cooking
- Names of people entertained — Emily (in “real life” you would want to include the person´s last name), owner Clean as a Whistle
- Date — November 8, 2006
- Business purpose — Discuss flex plan with business owner
- Amount spent — $35
Treasury Regulations state that this information must be recorded in a timely manner — in other words, you should record the information soon after the entertainment event rather than waiting until the day before an IRS audit.
The location, date, and amount spent are already on the receipt Sara gets from the restaurant, so all Sara needs to do is write Emily´s name and the business purpose somewhere on the receipt and make sure the receipt is properly filed.
10 Ways To Fix Cash Cash Flow Problems
Cash flow is a problem that plagues every small office from time to time. On paper you look like you’re doing very well. Your sales are higher than your expenses. Things look like you should be making a profit. But your creditors are breathing down your neck and you’re always playing catch up. What can you do about it? Here are some tips to get you moving in the right direction.
- Get Invoices Out Promptly
- Raise Your Prices
- Blame it on your accountant
- Work on retainer
- Watch check clearance times
- Accept credit cards to speed up cash flow
- Shift your receivables to a finance company
- Get some or all of your money up-front
- Check credit ratings before the sale
- Catch credit problems early
The World’s Biggest Shortest Film
A buck to have your name in the credits of a movie, the right to submit your name to the Internet Movie Database as a movie producer, and to have your name listed in the Producer credits on the same film as Pierce Brosnan, Bill Pullman, Corbin Bernsen, Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Alan Cumming, Woody Harrelson, and more.
Before you start shaking your head and making that tsk-tsk-tsk noise — these guys have raised over $100,000 for the Global Fund for Women.
Check them out at The1SecondFilm.com — and maybe I’ll see your name up on the silver screen (right along with mine.)
