In the session, ‘Inner Game of Prospecting: How to Overcome Sales Call Reluctance & Tools for Sales Success’, attendees were told how to sell more and and shown some of the top tools to help boost sales.

Speakers of this session included:

Connie Kadansky, Exceptional Sales Performance

Shannon Duffy, Salesforce.com

A big thanks to Dell for being a major sponsor of the Summit.  For more information on how Dell can help your business move to the cloud, see this link:  http://www.dellcloudapplications.com and for information on Dell’s tech tools for your small business, see this link:  http://www.dell.com/smalloffice.

You can see the full video from the Summit below:

If you take the time to think about it, the number can be quite astounding, even if that number turns out to be only an hour per day. The truth is that, even if you don’t spend that much time today responding to emails, you might turn into the average business owner who spends one quarter of his/her entire work day replying to emails.

Why do emails take so long? There are four simple reasons:

• Reading takes longer than listening to a conversation would take.
• Emails sometimes can be longer than one paragraph.
• Typing takes longer than speaking does.
• You must think about how to express yourself, given the lack of body language and voice tone.

What if you could find an alternative to email that could drive you and your employees to faster communication and collaboration? Let’s have a look at a few ways you could replace email, or at least save time with emails, within your business’ IT infrastructure:

• Instant messaging – Want to send something short to someone? Why not message the person? A little beep will sound and the person will reply very quickly without having to log in to an email interface.
• Use the phone! - We’ve gotten so used to the digital age that we’ve allowed our phones to sit on our offices and collect dust! It’s time to pick up the receiver and make a quick call. As long as you don’t let it turn into a life story, you’ll be finishing that conversation before you typed your first two sentences in an otherwise boring email.
• Use solutions like Gmail’s important messages filter – Gmail has come up with a way to filter messages by their importance. It intelligently figures out what you consider important and puts it at the top of your pile in the inbox. Outlook also allows you to flag messages as important.
• Be brief – It might come off as rude, but writing a short email can save a ton of time. This should be a no-brainer, but the numbers are startling when you count how many emails you receive that contain more than 100 words. Encourage your employees to use the same convention when contacting you, and you’re set for shorter emails at least within your internal operations.
• Set time frames – Answering an email as soon as it comes in eats up time throughout your day. Try setting a small window of time that feels comfortable for you in which you’d answer your emails. This also helps with keeping emails short, as previously mentioned.

The majority of this information is thanks to CEO Heinan Landa of Optimal Networks, a company that specializes in providing network and computer support to SMBs.

Remember not to allow your inbox to control your work time. Take control of your inbox, instead!

This brings forth an important question: Is it really worth it to go the extra mile and make an investment in Windows 8? My answer is “not for most small businesses.” It really all depends on the sector you’re working in. If you’re a major industry hulk, you might have to take advantage of the IT management features in Enterprise. If you provide accounting services to major firms, then you shouldn’t have to worry about managing an IT department.

Here’s a couple of benefits of Windows 8 that have been seen in the consumer preview when I took apart the OS myself:

• Smooth streamlined interface - Think of it as having a tablet-y operating system installed on your personal computer. It’s psychologically enticing and more relaxing than the point-and-click style of Windows 7. If you’re using W8 on a tablet, expect to be greeted by your applications right when you start your computer.
• Superb application API – Windows has always received an “A+” in its application programming interface (API), which is used to develop all the programs that you use on your computer. Its “app” API isn’t any different, offering a humongous amount of versatility in app creation, allowing apps to interact in a level that you won’t often find in other environments.
• Impeccable boot time - Because of the new boot loader integrated in Windows 8, you can expect your computer to boot at least 30 percent faster than it would have on Windows 7. The installation was also incredibly fast, lasting around 10 minutes and installing all drivers and software within that tiny time frame.
• Full-screen apps - Many companies provide their customers with interfaces on displays they can manage, giving them a significant amount of power. Now, you can host your app on those panels powered by Windows 8 in an elegant style and without any messy taskbar, toolbars, or sidebars.
• It runs well on low-power hardware - Previously, you needed to lug around hardware to make Windows 7 work well in your business. Windows 8 offers you the advantage of low power usage to save you money and space.
• Windows 8 Enterprise – The “Ultimate” version of Windows 8 shall now be dubbed “Enterprise” for its environment tailored specifically to businesses with an IT department. This edition of Win8 will contain features specific to firms, such as IT management utilities, elevated security, high-end virtualization capabilities, and a hunk of other features that Microsoft has too little time to tell us about just now. It sounds promising, but only time can tell exactly what is in store for us!

We’re still a long way from knowing how many of these features could change in the official release of Windows 8. At least we now know that Windows 8 will come in four editions: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 RT, and Windows 8 Enterprise. Windows RT will run specifically on ARM-based machines and tablets that have much lower power requirements than the traditional desktop computer.

Let’s hope that this news about Windows 8 has made you consider upgrading. According to what we’ve seen in the Consumer Preview, its elegant redesign of the desktop and smooth menus might brighten anyone’s day.

In the session, ‘What We’ve Learned from Small Business’, the Summit was given insight to highlights of best practices and challenges as seen by NY Times writers covering small business.

Speakers of this session included:

Loren Feldman, New York  Times

Gene Marks, Marks Group and NY Times Writer

A big thanks to Dell for being a major sponsor of the Summit.  For more information on how Dell can help your business move to the cloud, see this link:  http://www.dellcloudapplications.com and for information on Dell’s tech tools for your small business, see this link:  http://www.dell.com/smalloffice.

You can see the full video from the Summit below:

In recent years, Cloud technology has become more accessible to SMBs, but not quite as much at the level that it should be. There are companies that are trying to change this, and as they do, the amount of time juggling you have to do goes down significantly. According to eVoice, a company that provides Cloud-based mobile business phone systems (similar to a Cloud-based private branch exchange, or PBX):

• 38% of business owners consider time the most valuable part of their business. 36% said their computer is their most valuable asset.
• 25% of business owners value their time so much that they would pay $500 for just one extra hour of the work day.
• 30% of business owners declare that keeping up with changes in technology is the biggest challenge they face right now.
• 71% of business owners claim that they’ve gone more mobile within the past two years.

Given all these facts, don’t you think that a Cloud-based phone system will help your business become less time-consuming to run, give you that extra hour, and help you keep up with new technological advances? If you’re one of the 71 percent who have gone more mobile, perhaps that’s not enough. No. It’s time to go even further!

Below are two services that offer Cloud-based business phone services with extensions and all the goods:

• eVoice – A company we’ve already mentioned above already, eVoice not only provides you with a Cloud-based phone service with extensions, but also offers you a complete receptionist experience. You get to leverage their “Auto Attendant,” which directs people to different departments of your business, all of which can route to a mobile phone! Their plans start at $9.95 a month with two extensions and 300 monthly minutes. Their biggest plan costs $29.95 a month and gives you 5 extensions with 1000 monthly minutes. Let’s not forget the voicemail transcription feature! That’s right. You can get a voicemail in text form via email or SMS.
• RingCentral – This company started offering Cloud-based PBX services recently, but has always been a trusted company for the PBX and telecommunications market. It so happens that this company also offers similar prices on their packages as eVoice does, with a bit of a twist. Their “Pro” plan costs $9.99 a month, includes 10 extensions, gives you 100 minutes, and gives you Internet facsimile (fax) services. Their “Pro Business” plan, however, gives you unlimited local and long-distance minutes, unlimited extensions, Internet fax w/dedicated number, and a “dial by name” directory. All plans include an “auto receptionist,” a toll-free number, advanced call forwarding, call queuing, and the ability to keep the number you currently use to receive calls.

Whether you choose one way or another isn’t important. You must learn to be one with the Cloud and take the next step to making your business a well-oiled machine. By the way, customers who call a business and are met with an auto-receptionist often have a higher opinion of the business’ seriousness than those who are met with an immediate answer by the owner of the company.

In the session, ‘Listening to Customers and Hiring Smarter:  A Lesson in Success’, the Summit learned some great secrets from a successful entrepreneur…one of which is humility!

Speakers of this session included:

Scott Hintz, TripIt

A big thanks to Dell for being a major sponsor of the Summit.  For more information on how Dell can help your business move to the cloud, see this link:  http://www.dellcloudapplications.com and for information on Dell’s tech tools for your small business, see this link:  http://www.dell.com/smalloffice.

You can see the full video from the Summit below:

NextAdvisor is here to help. The site refers individuals and businesses to the best online services in a variety of categories. Below are the legal services NextAdvisor recommends for small businesses seeking legal advice.

• LegalZoom. If you have a radio or TV set, you’ve heard of LegalZoom. All that advertising is paying off. LegalZoom is one of the most popular online legal services available. Geared toward the legal novice, LegalZoom provides easy-to-understand paperwork for everything from forming an LLC to trademarking or patenting ideas. For just $29.99 a month, businesses can have real advice from legal counsel licensed in the state in which the business is located. But if you’re simply looking to obtain a trademark, you can get away with paying on a per-service basis with this site.
• RocketLawyer. RocketLawyer is based on monthly fees, so it’s designed for businesses that need ongoing legal services. It’s a little higher-priced than LegalZoom at $39.99 per month for business accounts but, according to NextAdvisor, the site has more forms and services than the others, so you may find it well worth it.
• CorpNet. Designed solely for businesses, CorpNet is standing by to help you fill out your paperwork to form an LLC or ask for a patent. Ready to incorporate your business? CorpNet has the forms for it. Packages begin at $49 plus applicable state fees.
• U.S. Legal. This site is not for the newbie. It specializes in do-it-yourself forms for businesses and individuals. Nobody has as many forms as U.S. Legal, but unless you know what you’re looking for and what forms you need, you may get lost in the complicated interface and legalese. The site is rated lower than the others for its difficulty in use, as well as issues like charging extra fees to file forms.

NextAdvisor is only one of many sites that rank legal services. Check out the recommendations of people like you on Comparz or Pricegrabber before purchasing.

So, after seeing all of this, you may wonder why bother paying legal counsel with all this online help. As TacticalIP’s Scott Nyman pointed out, these services provide no guarantee of the services you receive from them. Nyman quotes from LegalZoom’s terms of service.

“[LegalZoom provides] an automated software solution to individuals who choose to prepare their own legal documents,” LegalZoom writes. “At no time do we review your answers for legal sufficiency, draw legal conclusions, provide legal advice, or apply the law to the facts of your particular situation.” The site then goes on to say it is no substitute for the advice of an attorney.

Let those be your words of caution.

Some companies today still don’t know the benefits of having a Twitter account, let alone getting involved on any social network, for any matter. There’s also the added pressure of adding such integration to a website. How can you do this?

VSplash‘s SMB DigitalScape shows us very appalling statistics about business websites you might also be interested in. Who knows? Perhaps your website is guilty of one of these things:

• 60% of business websites don’t have a contact number on the home page, making a person have to browse through the site for the “Contact” page.
• 74.7% of business websites don’t even have an email link on the front page. If you are afraid of spam, many solutions exist to get rid of it.
• 65.7% of web presences don’t include a form that would allow customers to ask about a product or request more info about the company.
• 93.3% of business websites don’t conform to standards for mobile phone web programming, which makes it difficult to acquire customer loyalty from mobile junkies.

All that said, you should surely make your web-presence more information-friendly by providing as many ways to contact you as possible, particularly linking to social network presences and providing phone numbers at least on the front page somewhere.

Be sure to put things “above the fold.” In other words, have all the important information about your company above the area where people will need to scroll down to see it. A vast majority of people actually are too lazy to scroll down a page, at least on desktop and laptop computers. This may or may not also be true for people on tablets and smartphones, but don’t take the chance. Having your company’s information in an easily-accessible location will drive more people to make a call or hit you up with an email!

In the session, ‘Persuading Customers To Buy By Leveraging Their Friends’, the Summit shared with attendees how you can use social media to persuade YOUR CUSTOMERS to buy from you, through the influence of THEIR friends

Speakers of this session included:

John Lawson, ColderICE

A big thanks to Dell for being a major sponsor of the Summit.  For more information on how Dell can help your business move to the cloud, see this link:  http://www.dellcloudapplications.com and for information on Dell’s tech tools for your small business, see this link:  http://www.dell.com/smalloffice.

You can see the full video from the Summit below:

Our very own, Ramon Ray, sat down with Ingrid Vanderveldt, Dell Entrepreneur-In-Residence, at SXSW 2012 to speak about the traits of successful entrepreneurs and what’s happening in Tech.  In the interview, Ramon speaks about what he sees as the ‘hottest’ trends in tech now; mobile payments and the concept of being ‘mobile’.

In addition, Ramon shares his thoughts on the most significant traits of successful entrepreneurs:  Sense of Humility and ‘Can Do’ Attitude / Perseverance.  Ramon mentions Scott Hintz, of TripIt , who he feels exemplifies these characteristic, which is partially why he’s been so incredibly successful.

Ramon and Ingrid also talk about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur and what he feels Dell can do to help growing entrepreneurs.

Check out the entire article and watch the video here.  You can also watch the video below: