How Companies Are Using Software to Predict Their Customers’ Ethnicities | Inc.com

November 18, 2016November 18, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ethnic Technologies, a 19-year-old company based in South Hackensack, New Jersey, develops software that helps businesses target different ethnic groups. Its algorithms are designed to identify a person’s ethnicity on the basis of his or her full name, address, and ZIP code.

The company, whose software considers 158 distinct ethnicities–including more segmentation for Hispanics and African Americans–claims it has an accuracy rate of 90 percent. This could lend a huge hand in marketing: With minorities expected to account for more than half of the population by 2044, the ability to target those customers is key to driving sales growth.

How Entrepreneurs Can Beat the Odds: 7 Strategies for Business Success | AllBusiness.com

November 17, 2016November 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are enough statistics available to scare any would-be entrepreneur from going into business. Although over 99 percent of all businesses with employees in the U.S. are considered to be small, the staggering statistic is the expected lifespan of a new business. It is estimated that only 70 percent of new businesses will still be operating in two years, and only 50 percent will still be operating in five years. Wow, pretty gruesome if you’re thinking about opening a business or already own a fairly new business.

Rather than simply operating day-to-day hoping for better results tomorrow, successful small business and SME owners practice many of the same principles. There’s no need to be a statistic of failure when you can be a statistic of success by implementing the following seven strategies:

What This Ad Agency Hopes to Learn by Living With an Ordinary Family for a Week | Adweek

November 17, 2016November 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

David Ogilvy once said, “The customer is not a moron. She’s your wife.”

It’s easy to say, but how many agencies live by the notion that consumers are people we know and love? Italian agency Le Balene is about to find out whether it meets the bar … and it’s looking for someone to join them.

Creatives in Italy have a similar saying to Ogilvy’s. Developed by writer Alberto Arbasino in the ’60s, it’s become a compass for pitches and brainstorms: “This should be understandable for the Voghera housewife”—Voghera being a small town in Lombardy, and the Voghera housewife being the average person.

Building a Cool Business with Bitcoin: Three of the Best Bitcoin Business Ideas | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

November 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Take a monetary system that exists but doesn’t really exist, add in a few creative tech types and let their imaginations run wild and what do you get? Yes, you’ve guessed it: some cool business ideas. Bitcoin may have come into existence only in 2009, but as we head into 2017 it’s starting to become a mainstream hit to some interesting and innovative ideas.

For those who don’t know, Bitcoin is basically a virtual currency that’s created online, transferred and spent online and, importantly, has no physical form. Made by computers in a network using a process known as mining, Bitcoin isn’t controlled by any government and, in essence, is the perfect Internet currency.

With Bitcoin opening up new ways for people to pay online, it’s little wonder that you can now get slicker, cheaper and better services in the virtual arena. In fact, when you take a look at the following business ideas, you’ll see why Bitcoin is now fueling the next stage of the digital revolution.

Ready for the Holidays? 5 Small Business Saturday Survival Tips | Business News Daily

November 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The holiday shopping season is the retail industry’s busiest time of year. However, not all holiday shopping is done at big box stores: Small business owners also anticipate this time of year as bringing in serious revenue. Small Business Saturday (Nov. 26, 2016) encourages consumers to shop local, and is a great opportunity to the small retailers to increase their profits for the year.

Founded by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday is an annual shopping day supporting the independently owned businesses that help create jobs and help make local economies thrive. According to a press release, small businesses will be offered new resources for a successful holiday shopping season.

Outlook gets its own lightweight CRM, Outlook Customer Manager | TechCrunch

November 15, 2016November 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft today is rolling out a new tool for business owners using Office 365 and Outlook called Customer Service Manager, a lightweight CRM for companies that need to track their customer interactions and history, but aren’t yet ready for a more robust platform like Dynamics 365. The new tool lets businesses track tasks and deals in progress directly in Outlook, and will pop-up reminders aimed at helping them stay on top of their customer relationships, the company says.

Once enabled, Outlook Customer Manager will automatically organize customer information, including emails, meetings, calls, notes, files, tasks, deals and deadlines. This information – which is collected from email, calendar and call log data – is presented in a timeline format next to the inbox.

After going viral, this unbelievable cliffside home is becoming a reality | Inhabitat

November 15, 2016November 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s official: the beautiful and bizarre house-in-a-cliff known as Casa Brutale is actually being built. We reported last July on this crazy concrete design, which would be carved into a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea, roofed by a transparent swimming pool and with a dizzying view of the sea below. The stunning design quickly went viral, but few expected the project to actually receive the funding needed to become a reality.

The house, originally conceived as a volumetrically inverted conceptual homage to the iconic Casa Malaparte in Naples, Italy, took on a life of its own once it was announced by the Open Platform for Architecture (OPA). The firm quickly found a partner in engineering and construction firm Arup, which pledged to consult on the structural and geotechnical challenges required to embed a house within a cliff face, provided they could find a serious client to back the project.

Set Your Company Apart By Using Multiple Forms Of Communication With Customers | Getentrepreneurial.com

November 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As your business grows, you will find that the time your employees spend interacting with customers is growing to grow substantially as well. In order to keep in line with what you need your bottom line to be and to ensure customer satisfaction, you will want to expand on the various ways you assist your customers.

Why Speed Is Of Importance

Most customers are going to lose faith in a company that is giving them the run around when it comes to getting their questions and concerns answered. Even if you are not really giving them the run around, they might feel as though you are if they have to be transferred to one department after another, explaining their story all over again each time, just to have one simple problem addressed.

Why You Should Organize Donation Drives for Your Small Business | Small Biz Trends

November 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You may think it is easier to just throw their old or lightly used items away instead of donating them. It often seems like the process of donating clothing items, electronics or even office furnishings to charity is too cumbersome or time consuming for individuals — or for your small business.

However, organizing and planning for a charitable donation drive isn’t as difficult as you might think with a bit of help, suggests GreenDrop, an East Coast company that collects lightly used clothing and other denotable items on behalf of charities.

9 ways to get better at small talk | Business Insider

November 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In a recent article for Wired magazine, Kristen Berman and behavioral economist Dan Ariely share their experience hosting a dinner party with one key rule: “Absolutely no small talk.”

Apparently, the guests were all the happier for it — and the authors conclude in their headline that “small talk should be banned.”

Whether this sounds to you like a great idea or a terrifying prospect, the fact is that most event organizers won’t go so far as to prohibit small talk — so you’d best get good at it.