You’ve got a website. Now where are the customers?

April 7, 2011

boredA website in 2011 is what a Yellow Pages ad was in 1970.

If your small business doesn’t have one, you don’t exist to many of your potential customers.

So… you finally broke down, got on the Internet bandwagon and had a website designed for your business. But instead of the onslaught of customers you expected, your sales haven’t changed.

Take a look at your website and make sure you haven’t made these common mistakes:

1. You’re Too Hard to Find
If you’re not getting any traffic to your website, you’re probably too hard to find. Make sure that your site is mobile friendly (i.e., your potential customers can access your site from their phone or PDA) and that your content has been optimized to make it easy for search engines to find you. Before you spend a lot of money on fancy graphics, a sharp logo and really catchy flash images, make sure you’re using the right keywords, your links are working properly and that the major search engines can find you. If your site isn’t responding to how your customers are searching, they’ll never see the really cool video you spent time and money adding to your site.

2. Not Telling Your Customers What You Want Them To Do
If you don’t tell your customers what you want them to do, they won’t do it. Lead them through the purchase process with easy to read content and a clear call to action (for example – “Order your XYZ here”, “Sign up for your membership now”) and don’t lead them through multiple pages to complete the transaction. Make it easy and painless for them to shop with you.

3. You Have a “Dead” Website
If you want your customers to relate to you, you can’t put up a website and forget about it. You have to update your content, offerings, etc. at least weekly to remain relevant. If a new customer looks at your site and can tell you haven’t bothered to update it, they’ll assume you and your products are no longer relevant – or worse, that you’re no longer in business – and they’ll click away from your site. You just lost a potential sale.

4. It’s All About You
Your website should be about what you can do for your customer – not a litany of all the great things about you. Think about how your customer is searching for you when they go online. They don’t Google “companies that have been in business since 1985 with a great owner” to find you. They look for the solution to a particular problem or answer to a question. Make sure your website shows them how they can benefit from doing business with you.

If you’re not getting the results you expected from your site, don’t lose heart. Make sure you haven’t made these mistakes. If you have, they’re easy to correct and most can be corrected with simple tweaks of your web copy. Sit down with your web designer, work out the bugs and send the right message to your customers. Online customers should feel as welcome when they visit you online as they would in a brick and mortar business.

Written By Kerry Slatter Categories: Business Comments (0)

Charitable Giving Abroad

April 5, 2011

Earthquakes…

Tsunamis…

Typhoons…

We watch in horror as these natural disasters and the human suffering they bring unfold before our eyes.

And we want to help…

We reach for our cell phones to text a donation to the Red Cross…

Or we reach for our credit card or checkbook to send money where it’s needed.

Not just in the United States but virtually anywhere on the planet.

The tax deduction for charitable donations is almost an afterthought when you’re trying to get funds to charities in an emergency; however, especially if you give a sizable donation, you really need to consider the tax implications.

Americans give approximately $300 billion every year to charity. And about five percent (5%) of that amount is given to international causes like many of the organizations currently helping out in Japan.

Before you write that next check, here’s what you need to think about:

Make Sure the Nonprofit is Registered with the IRS

Global giving is a wonderful thing and technology has made it as easy as giving to the local Girl Scouts. But not all international nonprofits are registered as tax exempt with the Internal Revenue Service.

If they aren’t registered, your donation is not eligible for a tax deduction.

There are a lot of nonprofits registered in the United States that support international relief. And many of them are very well organized and highly effective. If you’re going to give money to an international assistance agency or group, you might as well get the tax deduction for it and know that your money is going to a reputable organization. Some of the better known ones are:

- American Red Cross

- Doctors Without Borders

- Oxfam America

- Global Fund for Women

- Grassroots International

- Development Gap

- Living Goods

- CARE

- Mercy Corps

If you want to give money and you’re still not sure about the reputation of the organization you’re considering, check out CharityNavigator.com to find out which agencies are working in which areas.

Giving Beyond the Next Emergency

If you want to make a habit of planned giving to philanthropic organizations, you can establish a Charitable Gift Account through a national charitable fund. Sometimes called “donor advised funds”, these charitable accounts are open to anyone who can give $5000 or more. Your contributions to the fund are tax deductible. The funds you contribute are invested and the proceeds are used to make future contributions to organizations you choose.

This type of fund is especially helpful if you want to give to international causes. You can choose charities that are actually based in the United States but do the bulk of their work internationally. Since they are based in the United States, it’s easy to determine if they’re recognized as tax exempt by the IRS and your contributions will be eligible for a tax deduction.

Yet another option for global giving is to give to an intermediary organization like Give to Asia or Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. They will charge you a fee for handling your donations but they are very familiar with local charities in the regions you want to donate to so they know who to contact to ensure that your money gets to where it’s needed.

Do Your Homework

Ultimately, the best thing you can do for yourself and the people of the region you want to help is to do your homework.

If you know you want to give but you’re not really sure where the help is needed most (if a natural disaster isn’t making headlines), go to websites like OneWorld or visit the Reuters Foundation. Either of these sites will give you information on the regions with serious humanitarian needs. You can even select the issue you want to research and donate to (i.e., malaria, hunger, AIDs, etc.).

Written By Kerry Slatter Categories: Estate Planning Comments (0)

Six Money Mistakes Young Parents Make

April 3, 2011

It’s hard to go from handling your money as a single person to handling money as a couple…

When you add children to the mix, it gets even tougher…

Birthday parties, karate lessons, family vacations…

All the things we want our children to have can put a pinch on the family budget.

If you have a young family, you need to be smart about your finances to make sure your family is taken care of.

Here are six common mistakes young families make when it comes to money. How many apply to you?

1. Too Much Debt

Most people see debt as a way of life. But if you want your children to have a sound future, do whatever you can to avoid carrying excess debt. Pay off those credit card balances as quickly as possible, or at least make sure that if you do use debt, you are still living within your means. Forego a new car every 4 or 5 years.

2. No Budget

Say the word “budget” and many young parents will just laugh and say, “Who can afford to budget?” The real question is who can afford not to. A budget is nothing more than a smart plan for how you spend your money. If you don’t plan, it’s too easy to go on binge shopping sprees or pick up that little something extra at the grocery store that you really don’t need. Budgets help curb impulse buying.

And when you’re sitting down to do your budget, be honest. Most young couples underestimate their expenses by 20%.

3. No Retirement Savings

Retirement may seem like it’s a lifetime away when you’re raising your children but it will be upon you before you know it. First, get out of debt and save some money for emergencies. Then do everything you can to put money away for retirement. If your employer matches your 401(k) contributions, you need to contribute as much as possible. Forget about saving for a new car until you’ve maxed out your 401(k) contribution.

4. No Insurance

As young parents, a term life insurance policy is probably all you need. Term life is less expensive than whole life insurance. Talk to a reputable insurance agent about how much you need and the best policy for your family.

5. Not Saving for Education

The cost of a college education has gone through the roof. Now, just imagine what it will be like when your 3-year-old is ready for college. Some estimates are that in 18 years, a four year private college education will cost more than $300,000.

After you’ve put money away in an emergency fund, cleared your debt and maxed out your 401(k), your next savings goal should be your children’s education fund.

6. No Emergency Savings

By now, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve mentioned emergency savings several times. That’s because so many young couples don’t think about planning for emergencies. It’s tough to put extra money away “just in case” when you’re raising a family. Every penny seems to be spoken for.

But you need to have three to six months’ salary set aside for emergencies. Put a little away every time you possibly can. Don’t let the numbers daunt you. Just set it aside in an account and leave it there. With today’s job market, having those emergency funds is more important than ever.

You may be thinking that right now it’s all you can do to just take care of your children. But planning ahead for your family’s welfare is the greatest gift you will ever give them.

Until next week…

Kerry

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Hot Hiring Topics for Businesses

March 29, 2011

No doubt about it, 2010 was a tough year for employers and the 10% of the working population looking for jobs.

As more businesses are hiring and the economy is slowly trying to move forward.

With this potential increase in hiring comes increased need for appropriate pre-employment screening to ensure that you’re getting the right employees for your small business. There are a lot of potential candidates out there and competition is fierce. Make sure you’re choosing the right candidate for the job.

According to the Aberdeen Group, a leading human resources industry analyst firm, three areas are trending to be the hot topics in hiring and employment screening in 2011. Make sure you’re prepared to deal with them:

1. Comprehensive Background Screening

The fact that there are so many qualified candidates out there looking for jobs makes it even more important to do a complete background screening on potential candidates. Make sure you’re looking at more than just their resume. Research has shown that companies who completely screen candidates – that means, at the very least, a criminal background check, employment/education verification and reference checks – actually hired more quality people with the right skill sets for the positions they were filling. Full background checks may be time consuming but they will pay great dividends for your business in the long run.

2. Social Media Screening

Many companies are using the internet for screening potential new hires and we don’t just mean Google searches.Employers are looking at social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to check out candidates. While that may make perfect sense, exercise caution. If you don’t use these resources properly, you could find yourself in trouble with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or even subject to claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Talk to an attorney before you rely on what you find on social media sites to make hiring decisions to make sue you’re following the law.

3. Employment Legislation Update

Employment law changes all the time. And changes in legislation aren’t something that happens in D.C. and stays in D.C. You need to remain current on how those legislation changes affect your business and how you hire. Two areas to pay particular attention to this year are medical marijuana and using credit reports for employment screening.

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have now legalized medical marijuana. If you have a 100% drug free policy for your business, you can refuse to hire someone who tests positive for marijuana even if they have a medical marijuana permit; however, if you terminate an employee for testing positive for marijuana and they have a medical marijuana permit, you could be facing lawsuits for wrongful discharge based on disability discrimination. Talk to your attorney and have your company policy reviewed to ensure that you handle this potential problem correctly.

As for using credit reports to screen candidates, several states including Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Illinois have passed laws that govern how credit reports can be used in the employment screening process. The EEOC is currently reviewing their use as a possible discriminatory practice and there is much speculation that the use of credit reports may be prohibited completely. If you use credit reports as part of your pre- employment screening process, make sure you’re doing it properly. Talk to your attorney for guidance. You could be running the risk of a discrimination lawsuit.

Keep these three issues on your hiring radar for the rest of 2011 and make sure that your hiring process is legal. And stay current on employment law changes.

Talk to us.

Call us today to schedule your comprehensive LIFT™ (legal, insurance, financial and tax) Foundation Audit to make sure you’re staying within the bounds of all current laws in screening potential employees. Normally, this session is $1250, but if you mention this article and we still have room on our calendar, we will waive that fee.

Until next week…

Kerry

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What You Don’t Know About FMLA Can Hurt You

March 29, 2011

One of the most daunting chores you can face as a small business owner is compliance with FMLA (the Family Medical Leave Act.)

Just when you think you have a handle on it, something changes and you have to go back to the books to make sure you fully understand what is and is not covered.

Make sure your supervisory personnel are fully aware of the requirements as well.

To protect yourself and your business, make sure that these common misconceptions about FMLA aren’t about to land you in court.

1. If it’s going to cause a serious problem for the company, you can deny FMLA leave.

Wrong.

If your company is covered by FMLA, you have to grant leave to any employee who is eligible and meets the standards for one of the FMLA leaves available.

If the employee meets the requirements, it doesn’t matter what it will cost you to cover their position or how inconvenient it may be, you have to approve the leave. Make sure your managers know these are not discretionary leaves. If they deny an eligible employee, your next stop will be the courthouse to defend a lawsuit – and you will lose.

2. You can give the employee a hard time for requesting FMLA leave. After all, it’s a free country, you can say what you want.

Sure you can…if you want to defend a retaliation charge further down the line.

If you’re openly unpleasant or in any way threatening to the employee requesting the leave, you could be setting yourself up for a lawsuit alleging retaliation if you have to discipline or even terminate the same employee after they return from leave.

Remind your managers that they must have good documentation for any disciplinary action or termination but especially in cases where the employee has taken FMLA leave.

3. The exigency leave provision is for emergencies only.

Not necessarily.

The exigency leave provision within FMLA is broad. An eligible employee is entitled to exigency leave if the need arises under any of the following events:

  • Short notice deployment – if covered military personnel are notified of a deployment within 7 calendar days.
  • Child care and school activities – if a covered employee needs to provide or arrange for child care due to an urgent need (not just as a matter of routine or on a regular basis). This includes time off needed to transfer to a new school or daycare or to attend meetings at school or daycare.
  • Military events or related activities - if a covered employee needs to attend an official military ceremony, program or event in relation to active duty status.
  • Financial/legal arrangements - to tend to financial or legal matters.
  • Counseling – if an eligible employee needs to attend counseling for a child, a covered military member, or for themselves.
  • Rest and recuperation – if an eligible employee needs to spend time with a covered military member home on short term or temporary lave during their deployment.
  • Post-deployment activities – for up to 90 days after the end of deployment, an eligible employee can take leave to attend ceremonies, reintegration briefings and/or events, or any other official ceremony sponsored by the military, or to attend to matters that arise due to the death of a covered military member.
  • Additional covered activities - if an eligible employee needs to address other events that qualify as an emergency as agreed by you and the employee.

Don’t take chances with adherence to FMLA requirements. You and your managers could be held personally liable for failure to abide by the rules.

Call us. We can help you wade through the FMLA.

Until next week…

Kerry

Written By Kerry Slatter Categories: Business Comments (0)

Cutting Salaries? Approach With Caution

March 24, 2011

Everyone is looking for ways to save these days.

Your small business is no exception.

You can’t afford to cut anymore personnel so now you’re thinking of cutting salaries…

Before you take out the red pen and start slashing employee wages, make sure you understand the legal issues you could be dealing with. You could end up spending more in legal fees than you saved in cutting pay.

What To Do First

Before you announce the first salary cut, make sure you review individual employment agreements, offer letters, and any collective bargaining agreements that apply to your employees. Employment agreements that give you the right to terminate at will do not give you the right to reduce compensation at will unless you specified that in the agreement. Coordinate any pay cuts with the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, wage payment and other laws and any collective bargaining agreements if you employ union workers.

Under most state wage payment and collection laws, you must give your employees reasonable notice before you cut their hours or rate of pay. While no specific amount of time may be required, you should give them as much notice as you possibly can and you must tell them before the change goes into effect.

How To Cut Wages

The safest and cleanest way to legally cut wages is an across the board cut. That way all employees are treated equally and no one can claim that they were treated unfairly.

However, that may not be the best choice for you for business reasons. You might be better off using the same type of formula for cutting wages that you would normally use for cutting headcount. If you decide to cut pay for specific positions, be objective about it and document everything.

And beware, even if you treat everyone in a particular employment classification equally, you can still be subject to claims. For example, if you choose a particular classification that has more female than male employees, you could be looking at a discrimination claim.

Your legal risk is even greater if you choose specific employees within an employee group for cuts. Make sure you define, apply and document the criteria for every single pay cut you make so you can illustrate how these specific employees were chosen.

Act in Haste, Repent in Leisure

That’s a very old phrase but it is definitely applicable in this case. Your company may be hemorrhaging red ink and you want to act now to stop the flow. But acting in haste without careful consideration for all options when it comes to employee compensation can expose you to legal claims that are very expensive to defend. You could end up doing more harm than good.

Before you take the drastic step of cutting salaries to balance your books, talk to us.

Call us today to schedule your comprehensive LIFT™ (legal, insurance, financial and tax) Foundation Audit. We can advise you on the most legally sound methods of cutting expenses and saving jobs. Normally, this session is $1250, but if you mention this article and we still have room on our calendar this month, we will waive that fee.


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Handling the Unhappy Customer

January 9, 2011

The internet has made communication at the speed of light an everyday occurrence.

Unfortunately, the internet has also made it possible for unhappy customers to trash your business at the same speed.

You really can’t please all the people, all the time.

From the start, establish a company policy for dealing with the inevitable unhappy customer to minimize the impact on your business.

Here are some tips to help you formulate your company’s policy for dealing with the negative:

1. Don’t Ignore the Problem

Listen to the customer’s complaint. They may be abusive or obnoxious at first but let them vent. Once they’ve had an opportunity to vent, they will usually calm down and become more reasonable.

2. Don’t Let Time Go By

The dissatisfied customer should receive a response from you immediately. Even if you haven’t had time to figure out exactly what you’re going to do, let them know they’ve been heard. Don’t make any promises you can’t keep but at least let them know you hear them, you’re looking into it and you’ll get back to them. And do it quickly.

3. Keep Them Advised

It may actually take some time to figure out what to do. Remember that you know you’re working on it; the unhappy customer does not. If they don’t hear from you in a reasonable period of time, they’ll assume that your promise of looking into their issue was an empty one and that will give them an even worse impression of your business. In this case, no news is not good news. Let them know they haven’t fallen off your radar – you are working on addressing their issue.

4. Advise Them of Your Final Action

Let them know what you are going to do about their problem. If at all possible, make it a positive outcome for the unhappy customer. Even if you can’t actually solve the original problem, offer them something – a discount, a free product, something to leave them with a good feeling about your business. Above all else, be a professional.

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Public Speaking 101

September 9, 2010

There are few low-cost marketing opportunities for your small business that are more effective than public speaking.

That is, if you do it right.

While you may be so caught up in what you intend to say and what you stand to gain from the experience, you could be forgetting the most important aspect of public speaking (and marketing).

It’s not about you. It’s about your customer…Or in this case, your audience.

To make the most of your public speaking opportunities:

1. Stay On Topic

It’s really easy to get caught up in the moment and your enthusiasm for your subject and just go off on a roll. Using a prepared outline will help you stay on topic and organized. Remember it’s not about what you have to say, it’s about what your audience wants to hear.

2. Talk To Attendees Before Your Speech

Get a feel for who is attending. This will help you personalize the presentation while still staying on topic. Look for the people you interacted with in the audience and speak to them. “Knowing” who you’re talking to will ease some of the pre-speech nerves you’re feeling.

3. Leave Them With A Positive Feeling

Even if you’re speaking on a topic that your audience may have a negative feeling about, always try to leave the stage on a positive note. For example, if your talk is about the problems facing the particular field of your audience, leave them with possible solutions at the end of your topic. They will remember you more favorably.

4. Leave Selling Your Service For Another Time

Don’t use the stage to sell. Your goal should be to show your expertise in a field or service that can solve a problem or address an issue your audience faces. They’re taking their time to hear you speak because they want to educate themselves, not buy something. Make sure you give them what they came for. You can and should give them an option afterward to follow up with you through the use of an appointment sheet or brochures, but that should not be the point of your presentation.
Remember – practice your speech, present yourself with confidence and keep these four tips in mind and your business will grow.

Written By Kerry Slatter Categories: Business Tags: Comments (0)

Reasons to Have a Will

October 4, 2009

Who needs a will? Every adult over the age of eighteen should have a will.  But why?  Listed below are some reasons why you want a will:

1. With a will you can dispose of your property as you see fit.

2  Often, a will can help lessen the amount of estate taxes imposed at your death.

3.  A will lets you decide the individual, bank, etc. who will serve as executor of your estate.  Without a will, your beneficiaries will have to petition the probate court for an administrator to serve in such a role, which can be expensive.

These are just a few of the reasons you want to make sure you have a will.  The alternative is dying without a will (referred to as “dying intestate”), which can be costly, plus you do not get to decide who shares in your estate.  That decision will be left up to the probate court.

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Knowing When to Review Your Estate Plan

August 16, 2009

It’s important to remember that after you have executed your estate planning documents (i.e. will, trusts, power of attorney), your life circumstances may change in the future.  Therefore, you need to review your estate plan periodically to determine if any revisions need to be made.  The following life events may require you to change your estate plan:

  1. Marriage or divorce
  2. Birth or adoption of a child
  3. Purchase or sale of real estate or a business
  4. Purchase of life insurance
  5. Substantial increase in the size of your estate (i.e. inheritance)
  6. Change of beneficiaries
  7. Change in estate tax laws

How often do you need to review your estate plan?  At least every 2 to 3 years or sooner if any of the events listed above should occur.

If you are a Georgia resident and believe you need legal advice regarding your estate plan, please register today to discuss your options with an attorney.

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