Happy Earth Day Small Businesses!

In honor of Earth Day, this blog will be some common sense tips (that might also save you money in the long run) on becoming a more earth friendly establishment.


Although it may seem that Earth Day is just an excuse for crazy hippies to berate “the Man,” and large corporations, I see it as an opportunity to discuss some practical, easy, money saving ideas for small businesses that happen to help the earth along the way.

*Just for everyone’s information, I was long into the “green movement” before it became chic in the last few years. In fact, my elementary school put on a play about conservation when I was in the 5th grade. I remember a song called “Driving Miss Lazy” that my friend Kendall Strickland sang in front of the entire school. Ok, I digress.

Also, don’t forget about the organic lollipop samples at Linens-N-Things today from Yummy Earth!

Tips for a greener business:
1. Find a supplier for your office needs that carries “green” products. This could mean recycled paper, cleaners made with all natural ingredients, etc. You can usually find a local, independently owned business that you can help support instead of going to Office Depot for everything. For example, a local green supply business here in Houston is Savannah Supplies, Inc. They carry a huge variety of earth friendly products at an affordable price. Their website was down today, but keep them in your bookmarks and check back to see what they have to offer.

2. Bring your own coffee cup to work. I know it sounds stupidly simple, but you’d be amazed at the amount of Styrofoam cups an office can go through in a week (especially for the hard-core coffee addicts that use at least 3 cups a day). It may take a few extra seconds out of your day to wash your mug, but it saves on having to buy new sleeves of cups and saves a lot of cups going into a landfill. Managers and business owners, it IS likely that you’ll get a collective groan from any employees that are apathetic toward the cause, but guess what, it’s your business. You can even have a sign up that keeps a running tally of how many cups you’ve prevented from going into a landfill to make your employees more aware of what they’re doing. Going cold turkey is best, and within a week, no one will even notice the difference.

3. STOP BUYING PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES. There are better ways of having good, cold, clean water available to employees and clients in your office. Get an energy saver fridge with an icemaker, and attach a filter to your kitchen sink and save on having a water cooler or plastic bottles. If you have a water cooler, have employees bring their own cups (just like the coffee mugs). I have one client that refuses to switch from water bottles to a water filter or water cooler, because “the employees like having the portable water bottles to take places.” My answer to that is that everyone has cup holders in their car, so the water is still portable (after all, it’s their cups they’re using). If they want to take water places, there are also reusable water bottles you can bring into the office with even more portability. If you’re really crafty, you can have reusable water bottles made up with your logo on the front to give away to employees and clients that stop by the office. If you’re not as concerned about the environmental aspect, a case of water retails for $6.99 a piece (on the Office Depot website), and a company with 20 employees purchases 12 cases a week (on average). This amounts to a little over $4,300/year. If you’re leasing an office and don’t have a water bill, that is $4,300 (not to mention sales tax) you’ve saved over the course of a year.

4. Turn off the lights when you go to lunch and when you leave for the day. It sounds like such a simple idea, but when I worked in an office with over 20 people, I was amazed that when I stayed in for lunch, when everyone was gone, all their office lights remained on. If you have offices with individual switches, it is obviously much easier to do…Even leaving a post-it note on everyone’s switch reminding them would be something you could do with very little effort.


5. If you’re thinking about building a new office, use an architect that is LEED certified. If you’ve never heard of the acronym, it stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” The architect can help you find ways to save on energy costs and create a sustainable building. If no one in your town or city is doing so, it would be a great way to lead your community. It would also garner you lots of free press in the local media (as a nice bonus).

Once you decide to “go green” (as overused as that phrase has become), publicize your actions to your clients, employees and customers. They will appreciate your efforts and harbor more admiration and loyalty to your company. All it takes is one person to start positive change within a company! Please leave comments on how your company, family, or organization has done something positive for the planet.

How to separate business and friendships

A: Is it even possible to separate business and friendships when you own or operate a small business? After all, a majority of small business revenue is drummed up through referrals from friends or family members. Or perhaps some of your business is friends or family members. Sometimes clients turn into friends.
My philosophy is this:

1. It’s ok to work with family and/or friends.

2. It’s ok to become friends with clients.

3. It’s not ok to pretend like you’re friends with people to turn them into clients.

This philosophy is not without a few guidelines.

Regarding number 1, if you treat these people with the same respect you treat clients/customers you’ve not previously known, there will be no reason to worry about something going sour and causing a rift in your personal relationships. This is only true when reciprocated by the client/customer that starts out as a family member or friend. If you treat all clients and customers as if they were family or friends, your business will only become known as having excellent customer service and keep all clients coming back for more.

K: I think it is great to be upfront with friends/family on how you want your new business relationship handled. Let them know that you have many clients and will treat them with the same respect as you would the others. If a friend or family member thinks they deserve special attention, it is good to get it all out in the open in the beginning.

A: Regarding #2, (it’s ok to become friends with clients), just don’t expect to become friends with ALL of your clients. Sometimes spending long hours on tough projects or coming into contact with a customer for frequent orders provides an inevitable opening for conversations to eventually turn to something other than work. It is ok to do this (in my opinion) and can forge an even stronger bond and loyalty between the two parties. Perhaps you’ll find a new drinking buddy or golfing partner.

For both 1 and 2 the most important rule is to NEVER take people for granted. This means as friends and family OR as a client/customer. If you follow this rule, you should be able to mesh the two with harmony.

Ok, now for #3. Don’t run into someone you had one class with in college and pretend like you were best friends to try and make a sale. You will be more transparent than an albino tadpole. People do not like salespeople or business owners acting as a “friend” first and salesperson second. This approach always rings false and reduces your credibility to below used car salesman status. Just be honest with yourself and the potential client/customer. You don’t even need to mention the class you shared in college. If you approach with honesty and knowledge, it will be a better sales tool than dredging up desperate references to the past.

K: There is no worse feeling than talking to someone who is obviously being fake. This is not to say casual acquaintances shouldn't be acknowledged. Use your judgement wisely and approach with sincerity.

Vector Magic

http://vectormagic.com/

Vector Magic is a great online tool when you to smooth out an image and you don't need or have Adobe Illustrator to do it. The process only takes a few minutes at most to go through the handy guide. I have used it on our actual Marketeers logo and the result was beautiful. This is especially handy if all you have on file is a small jpeg and you need to size the image up for a poster. I highly recommend trying Vector Magic out. Let us know your experience is after you try it out!

Read this Cell Phone Rudees

Taken from Road & Travel Magazine online.
Here's a link to the original: CELL PHONE RUDENESSRules

Here are some basic rules of etiquette for using your cellphone. (Car phone use is another subject.)

First, think of your phone as a tool for emergencies (i.e. the baby sitter to say that your child has made a hole in one of a neighbor kid's head with your nine iron; the hospital to say your father's long-awaited kidney is on the helicopter; your staff to alert you the jury is returning; your neighbor to say Ed McMahon is hovering about your door with a massive rectangle of cardboard.

Second, think of your phone as a portable answering machine. It takes messages and when you are in an appropriate place, say your car BEFORE you unpark it; a park bench far from anyone else; a phone booth (!) no one else wants (phone booths are fairly quiet), etc.

Restaurants:

• Ask if there are special restrictions on phone use.

• Initiate only essential calls.

• Keep conversations brief to terse. Use an at-table call primarily to make an appointment for a more appropriate time for a call-back.

• If you simply must be available you can put your phone on "vibrate" - say for your anticipated dinner companion to tell you that he is caught in traffic like a grape in aspic so have another drink. (If your phone does not have a vibrate capability maybe it's time for a new one.)

• Practice speaking in a quiet conversational tone. If no one looks your way I think you've got it.

Theaters, concerts, meetings etc:

• Check at the entrance to be sure your phone is "off." If you're compulsive, check for voice mail at breaks. (Remember, you used to have to go home to check your messages.)

• If the only time you could get tickets to take the kids to "The Lion King" coincides with the only time a major mucky-muck is available for a conference call, put your phone on "vibrate" close to your heart and dash for the exit at the first tremor.

• If you forget both "off" and "vibrate" and your phone rings, turn it off instantly. (And as unobtrusively as possible so nobody will suspect you are the jerk responsible). No matter what: DO NOT ANSWER IT!

Museums and art galleries:

• Consider the reasons you are in such a place and be there totally. Turn off the phone, or better yet check it with your coat or tote bags.

Someone else's house or office:

• Turn off your phone. If you are expecting a call of extreme importance, ask if it is acceptable that you receive an inaudible signal so you can leave the room to take the call.

Places of Worship:

• Leave the cellphone at home, in the car or at least turn it off before you enter. God may call you but it's unlikely He will use Verizon.

Airline Travel:

• Follow airline personnel instructions. Usually cellphones must be off as soon as the aircraft doors are closed until the doors open again on arrival. (Unless otherwise informed on long apron delays etc.)

• Be particularly diligent if you have a cellphone with you but haven't used it lately. It could be on; there is adequate evidence the electronics within can interfere with those that guide the plane.

Face-to-face with someone:

• Do not talk on the phone while someone is trying to take your order in a restaurant, locate an upgrade for you on an airplane or return the shoes you had half-soled. Attend to the face-to-face business totally even if you have to ask the one on the line to hold. Continuing to use the phone while nodding and signaling to the person in front of you is belittling and so extremely rude I've only seen the obnoxiously self-important do it.

Now here's a thought: Do you really want to be available all the time? Does that truly make you more productive, or does it just spread the productivity thinner over more time?

I once read studies of supermarkets vying to stay open longer than their competition. Then surveys demonstrated that beyond a point they were not necessarily increasing business, but rather spreading it out. And expensively so.

Keep in mind, the more available you make yourself the more available everyone will expect you to be. People will actually be miffed if you are not instantly and constantly available rather than being pleased when you do call.

Think: Do you really need to be - or want to be - "connected" 24/7/365? And ask: what's it doing for that tension across your upper back?

If you can summon the discipline to be unavailable at certain times - and even for uncertain lengths of time - it's doubtful much will change, except your peace of mind. I remember from childhood a friend's mother at an eat-over-supper halting her daughter's urge to jump up and answer the phone. She told her: "If it isn't important you've wasted the effort; if it is important they'll call back."

And that was before answering services or recording devices picked up after a few rings. That phone call was like the tree in an unpeopled forest: it fell and was forgotten, unnoticed forever.
The world still turned.

Business (Namely- Cell Phone) Etiquette

This post should probably not be applicable to any one reading this, however, I feel it needs to be addressed. A few weeks back, I attended a conference with different forums. In one of the forums, at the very end, as one of the speakers was still presenting information to the forum, a man in the audience picked up his cell phone and called someone. This man then proceeded to have an entire (at least 2 minute) conversation on his phone in a normal volume while the person leading the forum was still speaking. Unbelievable!

What do you do in these situations? What is the proper etiquette? Had I been close enough to the man on his phone, would it have been rude of me to ask him to either A.) please continue his conversation outside the room, or B.) get off the phone? Should the speaker have stopped to single this man out instead of ignoring it? Is there a right answer besides giving this rude little man a lobotomy?

The emergence of technology has been able to speed up business and aid in efficiency (see this previous post). However, it has also created a distraction from other human beings.

Another example of what I deem to be rude occurred at a luncheon just last week. I was sitting at a table with several strangers listening to a speaker give a presentation. Granted, the speaker wasn't exactly enthralling, but nonetheless, still standing up in front of a large crowd exerting energy and attempting to inform all of us. 3 out of the 5 other people at the table were checking their email or text messaging others the entire time. By entire time, I mean half an hour. That's a lot of time to be diddling with your cell phone. You might think, well, Amber's young, she was probably at a luncheon with other "younger" people who get distracted easily and rely on technology more than older, more respectable adults. This was not the case. These men (yes, they were all male) were in the age range of 45-60 and couldn't look up from their blackberries for most of the presentation.


I hate to sound like Debbie Downer on this issue (wah, wah...), but if I had taken time out of my day to speak in front of either one of those crowds and had noticed that people were talking or checking email the whole time, I would be truly disappointed and probably a little angry. When did it become acceptable for us to blatantly ignore others giving their time to us?

Please share your thoughts and experiences on this issue.

Lollipops and Lessons

K: First off, I am a huge fan of John & Kate plus 8. If you have never heard of this show, it is about how a family deals with having a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. Yup John & Kate have 8 children who only vary in age by 3 years. Ok now for my point: I've been hearing the mom, Kate, talk about how she doesn't feed her kids candy, except for organic lollipops. Really, someone is making good candy?

They are giving a free tasting April 22nd, Earth Day, at Linens-N-Things.

Yes, it seems the candy market is finding a new branch of targets: concerned parents. Even regular candy is trying to reinvent itself with a "no we aren't that bad for you" spin.

You can now find "All natural flavors" written on packaging, but really what does that mean? How do you market something that is inherently bad for you, (sugar filled candy) to a market that shouldn't really have it (kids). Change the way parents perceive it. The organic lollipops really are much healthier, but as for regular candy with new packaging the hype is unreal.

A: How does that translate to your business? You can learn a lesson on good business practices through the adaptation of a certain product to make it better (in this case, healthier). The concept that candy can be healthy is certainly unrealistic in my book, but at least the creators of the product saw a niche that needed to be filled, and jumped at the chance. The marketing of the product seems to be done in a responsible way (not making any crazy health claims, just producing a better alternative to traditional candies).

Adapting to the market is a way to stay ahead of competitors that insist on doing things "the way they've always been done," and showing your customers that you do pay attention to what they need and want. Adaptation--if done well, can get you lots of free press (therefore additional customers), respect, and push the value of your company to higher levels.

However, it is also a lesson in what NOT to do when coming up with a marketing campaign or developing your core marketing concepts. Do not give customers expectations about your product that don't exist (for example, claiming a lotion is 100% natural if it has weird chemical names that no one else can pronounce in the ingredient list). Customers will get hip to your scheme very quickly and put you out of business.

Do not give guarantees you can't live up to. Remember the Domino's guarantee that your pizza would be delivered in 30 minutes or it would be free? Delivery drivers were wrecking like crazy trying to make the deliveries on time and Domino's ended up having to settle LOTS of lawsuits with a few people even being killed by delivery drivers. In the end, Domino's had to discontinue the guarantee and do a lot of apologizing, and shell out a lot of cash. Now, their guarantee is for the quality of the pizza rather than the timing of it (which is what customers expect anyway).

Marketing should be an offshoot of your business's core principles and practices. If the heart of your business is unhealthy, your marketing will not be able to repair that. Honesty is the best policy, and if you don't truly believe in the product or service your offering, it's probably best you found a new career.