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With new businesses cropping up everywhere, it is important to try and stay ahead of the game. You have to be that much better than your competitors to truly succeed in the business world. Here are three small tips to improve your business:

1.  Get Organized! Whatever you have to do to get your business organized, do it. Being organized improves business transactions, reduces stress in the workplace, and puts you at an advantage because you will know exactly where everything is and how to find important documents.
2. Market Yourself! A lot of smaller companies stick to billboards and door-to-door giving of the business cards. You need more than that to succeed in today’s market. Online marketing is one of the best ways to get your name out there because the majority of people research companies online rather than in a phonebook. Depending on your type of company, consider local marketing like Utah search engine optimization or Cincinnati on-page optimization or national campaigns that will hit all your target markets and increase traffic to your site.
3. Employee and Customer Satisfaction! This is huge to a successful business. Both are integral to a booming business. Online survey software is the best mode for this because you can hit both the employee and the customer with satisfaction surveys. Once you know what is going on, you can improve your business and retain both the employees and customers.

 It is a common experience to leave a business disgusted with the service. It happens all too often. I have heard, and experienced personally, horror story after horror story of department stores, restaurants, and other types of businesses that treat their customers as scum. If businesses really hope to succeed, they should consider the customer’s opinion on service and treatment. I think every business should begin customer satisfaction surveys. Not only will they have a heads up with problems and issues, but they can assure the customers of improving service in the future.

When looking for a trucking job, there are many different companies to consider. The hard part is the leg work of researching each and every company so that you can find the best company to work for–with the best benefits. A large trucking company is Swift. So, if you are looking into some Swift jobs, take a quick look at their  company background info.

Originally called “Common Market”, Jerry Moyes is the founder of “Swift Transportation” in 1966. Swift started out small but grew to large proportions. By 1984, the company was making an annual revenue of $25 million. And it has continued to expand and serve America ever since. Today, Swift Transportation makes an annual revenue of $3 billion.

As many celebrate the recently announced price-drop for the newest version of the iPhone, others view the publicized changes to the high-tech mobile phone in a much darker light. Reginald*, a night clerk at 7-11 and part-time doomsday cultist, claims that Steve Jobs’ recent announcements  have put humanity in very real danger.

Reginald stated that “I think it goes without saying that the iPhone 2.0 is going to attract extraterrestrial attention from nearby galaxies,” before going on to point out that “these aliens, jealous of our technology, will most likely enslave mankind before feeding us to their larva.”

When not forecasting the gruesome demise of our species, the pimple-faced prophet enjoys reading graphic novels and translating Japanese Symbols.

*Names changed to protect the innocent

Now that summer is approaching many people are looking into taking a few trips. But with the economy as bad as it is, it is going to be a little hard to afford it. If you are looking for some extra cash to put towards your vacations, take a look at some of these ideas:

•  Garage Sale: Classic. Not only will you be able to get rid of your junk (or someone else’s treasured finds), but a few extra dollars wouldn’t hurt.

• Sell Online: You can either sell stuff that you already have at home or look into using dropship design–this way, you won’t have to clutter up your house with merchandise.

• Odd Jobs: This should make you enough money for whatever you are planning to do this summer. The great thing about this job is that you can do it as much as you want. There is always a need for people to do little things around the house and yard.

Father’s Day is coming up pretty soon here. And I think I’ve found the perfect gift for my old man: a bee hat. My dad is a pretty tough guy, but he is afraid of one thing…bees. And the sad part of it all is that he loves being outside. But one bee encounter can leave him sour for weeks.  I definitely deserve some props for coming up with this idea!

Ok. Just kidding. It doesn’t look like that. But that would be humorous.

Spring is the season of love, right? At least…it seems that way. Couples everywhere get married during the blissful springtime. I am sure that it seems this way in the state you live, but Utah seems to have more  marriages during the spring than any other state. All of my friends are not-so-slowly getting hitched and I’ve had to throw bridal shower after bridal shower. Here are some of the best ways I’ve found to make it an amazing party without it being a burden on my shoulders:

• Depending on if this is a surprise party or not, have the bride-to-be get you a preferred guest list (with addresses!) at least a month before the actual bridal shower is supposed to take place. This should give you enough time to get together invitations, send them out, and give the receivers a chance to RSVP without anyone feeling stressed over it.

• Food is a big part of any bridal shower. The guests and the future bride expect to be well-fed with deliciously amazing food. When I was on the hunt for some great Utah caterers. I know I needed something perfect but wouldn’t break the bank. I had to do a lot of searching, looking, and hoping, but I finally found the best caterer. Believe me! After finding the caterer, everything else just seemed to fall into place.

• Decorations are also important for any bridal shower. Keep it consistent with what the bride likes or what she wants. But above all, have fun with it!

• And don’t worry; it will all be over soon. And, of course, you and the bride will have lots of fun once it is all planned.

In a previous post, we linked to some awful customer service stories. Well they are only awful if they happened to you…when you read about them, they can sometimes be amusing. But when you are a business owner or in the upper echelons of the company, you will need to make sure to give a listening ear to those who have to deal with customer service calls all day. If day in and day out your employees have to deal with angry and annoying customers, their work performance is going to suffer. One great way to get ideas of what your employees are going through and what they suggest can be done to help their situation is with online survey software. Not only will you be able to see what is bothering your customers about your customer service, but you will be able to see both sides of the story–from the employees. You never know; this could be what you need to keep peace in the workplace.

As the weather gets nicer, it gets harder to not get antsy to be outside. If you are anything like me, you know you spend long periods of time just staring out the window at work thinking It looks so nice outside. And by the time you get out there, it is too late to really enjoy it. So, if you are looking for a new industry to work in, consider trucking jobs. Not only will you get to stare out your window the whole time you are working, but you can be out on the open road…what’s better than that? And now is the best time to get into the trucking industry because of the huge need of quality, trained drivers. Many companies are offering fantastic compensation and benefits to newly signed drivers. Why wait? The need is so high and they are offering great things…go for it!

All you have to do is google that phrase and you will have hit after hit of horrendous stories. There are many companies who have reputations for the worst customer service. And to make it all worse they usually have on hold messages that are irritating or non-existent. The least they can do is have a creative and entertaining…maybe even soothing on hold music message.

If you want to read some of these horrible, yet entertaining stories of customer service of all kinds, click here.