Smallbiztechnology.com: Tech Insight and News for Small Businesses

January 6, 2009

Sales Compensation: It's Not Something You Can Learn In School (Let Software Help)

Knowing what to pay your sales team is not easy. There are so many variables and so many ways to compensate for a sale.

According to Liz Cobb, CEO of Makana Solutions, "No one goes to college for sales compensation. As a result, business leaders struggle with a myriad of legacy plans, spreadsheets, and other details to design and manage sales compensation, rarely achieving optimal results and often experiencing unintended consequences such as overpayment, less-than-adequate business results, and teams that work against each other."

Technology might help. In the same way we use an accounting program to assist with financial management, business planning software to help develop or evolve a business plan and a hammer to fix a broken desk drawer, there are software tools you might want to consider to help you develop a sales compensation strategy.

Writing about sales compensation, Adrian Miller writes in an issue of the New York Enterprise Report It is critical to remember that sales reps are generally unhappy about having their sales compensation plan changed without ample notice and participation. Ask for input and, if possible, make this a group process. Your sales reps should also have easy access to their sales data so that they know where they stand. Your new plan should help you recruit and motivate well-qualified reps, decrease sales staff attrition and continuously improve your company’s competitiveness.

At the end of the day, once you do all you can to manually (interviews, gut, past experience, etc) figure out how to compensate your sales staff, using software to help calculate the best sales compensation for your sales staff could assist and ensure you are on the right track.

One tool you could consider is Makana Motivator Pro Sales Compensation which helps you in three areas:

Sales compensation planning

Sales compensation payment

Graphical reports for easy to read feed-back

“Our research has found that sales compensation is hampered by spreadsheets, email and scattered information that contribute to a decline of sales productivity,” said Mark Smith, CEO and executive vice president of research, Ventana Research.

Although most of us use a variety of tools to help manage and grow our businesses, as much as we can use less tools that are specialized for particular tasks, especially tasks (like sales compensation) of key importance to our business.

If your business relies on a sales team to grow your business, it's important that they are paid correctly (pay too little and you wont' have a happy sales team, pay too much and you'll be out of business). Consider using software to help or at least be a "second opinion" to your existing sales compensation framework.

tags: sales compensation, software | 0 comments

January 5, 2009

Why Are You Missing Out On Cost Per Click Advertising?

Sadly, there will continue to be a technology gap between those businesses that see value in using technology as a tool to grow their businesses and those who do not. Those who leverage technology - be it mobile, wireless, hosted applications or online marketing will continue to boost their sales and enhance customer loyalty more than their competition.

A recent survey showed that 60% of businesses with web sites are not taking advantage of cost per click marketing. Cost per click marketing is very easy to implement and has a very low risk. If no one clicks on your advertisements you don't pay for it.

Of course you want people to click and buy, but this type of advertising is much more cost effective for a small business than buying a print, TV or even radio advertisement. You instantly measure the effectiveness of your advertisement.

In the survey, sponsored by Microsoft AdCenter Surprisingly, seven in 10 small-business owners who participated revealed that they would rather try to do their own taxes than start a paid search marketing campaign.

Online advertising on one hand is easy to do - you simply go online, select your keywords, create the text of your advertisement (or now you can use video or images in some cases), select where your advertisement will run, enter your payment information and that's about it.

The more complex part of the advertisement include:

Measuring the results of your advertising campaign
Optimizing your keywords
Tweaking the text of your advertisement
Creating and optimizing your landing page(s) - the resulting page that people see once they click on your advertisement.

Cost per click (CPC) advertising is not just for search engines but Facebook and other sites offer CPC advertising solutions as well. Also keep in mind LOCAL advertising. If you are a local florist, mechanic, plumber, accountant, designer - whatever - there are many local people who want your services but just need to know you are there. They are NOT using the Yellow Pages anymore. They are using their mice.

Ready?

Check out Microsoft, Google, Ask.com

tags: ask.com, cost per click advertising, cpc, google, microsoft | 0 comments

January 5, 2009

Your Body and Notebooks: The Two Are Not Naturaly Made For Each Other

Notebook computers are increasingly being used as replacements for desktop computers. They are light weight, enable more mobility and take up less space on the desk. One problem with using notebooks, especially on a constant basis, is that notebooks are not designed for our bodies.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article Dr. Norman Marcus, a muscle-pain specialist in New York City, writes Laptops are inherently unergonomic--unless you're 2 feet tall.

If you are using a lop top month after month and year after year you should setup your workspace for maximum comfort so that you take care of your body while computing. The article gives the following suggestions:

Get a laptop stand to get the keyboard higher
Use an external keyboard that slopes away from you
A keyboard tray puts it at elbow level
An external mouse increases comfort

These are just a few ways to make your daily computing experience not just more comfortable but also healthier for your body overall.

As an owner of a business or technology adviser you have an obligation to ensure your employees and/or those you are consulting do not just have the technology they need but that they also are using it in comfort and health.

Although the cost of using a notebook will go up if you ensure everyone has the right chair, desk and lighting, the investment you make now will go far in ensuring your employees work better next week and in 3 - 5 years.

As I write this article my keyboard is on a table too high....hmmm....I guess I need to consider reorientating my own work environment.

tags: ergonomics, notebooks | 0 comments

January 1, 2009

NetBooks: Understand Before Buying To Save Disappointment Later

Netbooks, the mini-notebooks produced by a number of PC vendors, are being returned to retails in larger numbers than is expected. The reason these notebooks are being returned in higher numbers, says an industry veteran is because consumers (and businesses) buying them are not buying them for the right reason.

The notebooks are not made to be a main notebook but to be supplement to a traditional notebook computer and/or smartphone.

InternetNews.com writes that another reason for the returns is the ergonomics of the smaller netbook, which usually has an eight to 10-inch screen instead of the 14- or 15-inch minimum for laptops and a corresponding small keyboard. After a few hours of Web surfing, that gets uncomfortable. A secondary problem is that netbooks don't have the right audience - yet.

What about you?

Are you looking at the price tag of $300 for a NetBook vs $500 - $1,500 for a traditional notebook and thinking hmm...I can save money buying a NetBook? Don't.

When considering if you need a netbook for your business - you want to buy one if you need to do occasional web browsing, email or document writing editing on the road and want something VERY light but more powerful than a smartphone. That's it.

NetBook processors are not built for processor intensive, multi program computing. Someone told me they can watch video son their Dell NetBook just fine but if you want to play games or run data intensive programs you probably want to look into a fuller size notebook.

Come see Dell's line of hardware for small businesses at Fourth Annual Small Business Summit (http://www.smallbiztechsummit.com) 2009 - February 3, 2009

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January 1, 2009

Karen Mills Nominated as Barack Obama's SBA Head

As you know we mainly (99.9%) cover small business technology issues, but a new head of the Small Business Administration is important. As the new SBA head directs and oversees small business loans and so many other programs.

Karen Mills has been nominated by President Elect Obama as the head of the Small Business Administration

Forbes writes Karen Mills of Brunswick, Maine, is no stranger to the concerns and demands of the business community. Mills has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co. and as a product manager for General Foods.. In 1999 she co-founded the New York-based venture capital firm Solera Capital, and she is currently the managing director of Scotts Miracle-Gro and a director of Arrow Electronics (nyse: ARW - news - people ), a Mellville, N.Y.-based distributor with a $2.1 billion market capitalization. She also serves as an adviser to Maine Gov. John Baldacci and as the chair of his Council on Competitiveness and the Economy.

Although there are so many variables related to the success or failure of any particular business, the governments agency overseeing small business growth and development, the SBA, plays an important role.

The SBA oversees, the Small Business Development Centers (wherein consultants help small businesses), Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) which provides free counseling from retired executives to small businesses and oversees small business loans. These programs and others are critical to many small businesses.

tags: karen mills, sba | 0 comments

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