You Made It Yourself: Now What? 29 Places to Sell Your Handmade Creations

by TJ McCue

The word “handmade” evokes feelings of warmth, of comfort, of craftsmanship. Earlier this summer, I mentioned some cool niche sites serving the artisan community in my 19 new additions to a large ecommerce list.  Amazon and eBay are certainly well known marketplaces among those looking to sell just about anything, but niche marketplaces and communities are growing quickly. These 29 Marketplaces offer a way to buy and sell handmade goods.
Etsy is probably one of the best-known marketplaces for artisans and craftpeople of all types. You’ll find new and vintage goods on Etsy. You will find curated lists by category or topic as well as a directory of local shops in your area. They have an excellent blog with deeper topics, such as The Value of Home Economics and other topics you might not expect to find in an online marketplace.
ArtFire is a well-known indie marketplace with a great community feel to it.  Another feature that really stood out for me: you can place an item on your Amazon wishlist. The fact that ArtFire tied into Amazon’s Universal Wishlist technology is a brilliant move.
Supermarket offers an elegantly simple marketplace. They don’t offer every category under the sun, but four meta ones: everything, wear + carry, space + place, and paper + prints.  You’ll see photos of items on the home page; clicking that item takes you into a designer’s store. It is a clean and simple structure including a directory of designers.
eCrater is both a free Web store builder and an online marketplace. If you are a seller, you can create your own free online store in minutes. You can also import an eBay store into eCrater. If you are a buyer, you can browse and search millions of products.
Craftly is one of those hot, new startups that earns points for online marketing savvy. It’s online marketplace meets Kickstarter (the crowdfunding site), but for artists and craftspeople. The site is just getting started, but holds promise as a great place to test the market before you start making your product on a bigger scale.
Free Craft Fair is less a marketplace and more of a Yahoo-type directory. Still, it serves a purpose for those looking to get in front of craft buyers.
Handmade Artists’ Shop is a combination of marketplace and community forum. If you are looking for a collection of artists and craftspeople learning from one another, this forum might provide some useful help.
Folksy is a U.K.-based handmade goods marketplace. With everything from books to jewelry to soap, Folksy has plenty for sale. But they also have a Make magazine-style do-it-yourself section.
ShopWindoz (a German site) is for creatives of all types who are turning exciting ideas into unique products outside the mainstream. ShopWindoz gives designers and artists the opportunity to become shop owners and sell their products online to a global audience.
Notmassproduced is a do-it-for-you type of model.  You set up your store,  pricing and shipping, but they handle everything else. They manage the sales process, you ship to the customer, they pay you from the Notmassproduced service. Each vendor is selected to be on the site, so it validates each artisan to assure a match. U.K. and Europe focus.
Misi is a U.K. online craft marketplace. Sellers get a “free for life” shop including a subdomain. They have a forum to help you get your business started or to advance your marketing skills, for example. There is a low commission on sold items.
Coriandr is a fun U.K.-based marketplace for buying and selling handmade gifts. It has an easy-to-set-up storefront and some enthusiastic marketing materials and badges to drive people to your store. I like their gifts under £20 section (conceptually because it drives people to a bargain area in this crazy  economy). They even have a “mini shop” idea that lets you embed a store quickly into your own blog or website.
Dawanda takes an interesting approach that lets buyers create unique collections of products and share them with their friends. If you are a seller of handmade or unique products, this marketplace is well organized and looks seller-friendly.
SpoonFlower is one of my favorite discoveries for local, handmade products from artisans. They focus on fabric and make it possible for individuals to design, print and sell their own fabric designs. As many readers know, I love to find entrepreneurs who dig deep into a niche and do something no one else is doing. Spoonflower is precisely that. If you’re looking for fabrics or looking to sell them, try Spoonflower.
Zibbet looks pretty competitive with no listing fees, no commission fees and a free level account. What’s not to like about that? They have an Etsy importer, too, if you’re leaving that service.
I Made It Market is a nomadic indie crafts marketplace that provides opportunities for artists to bring their wares to market. They do it by partnering with community, arts and nonprofit organizations to raise funds and awareness to assist them in improving communities. Artists and craftspeople apply to be part of live events.
PoppyTalk Handmade is a monthly online street market curated by Poppytalk to showcase, buy and sell handmade goods of emerging design talent from around the world. The key word here is “curated” as PoppyTalk finds and accepts only certain merchants for its storefront. But the Buy button on this curated site drives the buyer back to your existing online storefront, whether it is your own, Etsy or another marketplace. They have won a number of awards for best blog and best site.
iCraft is for original handmade products, not vintage, not for resellers and not for food products. In fact, they are very, very specific about what they accept in their marketplace and it is actually refreshing to see such clarity. It may not be for everyone, but you will know if you fit or not. The pricing structure seems to resonate for lots of artisans.
Silk Fair allows you to have a free Market Booth on their marketplace or to build a full-fledged custom online store with their Web-based software. You can appear in the marketplace and as your own independent store.
Bonanza has been cited as the best alternative to eBay and Etsy. They have free listings and low fees. And something that caught my eye was their emphasis on having live humans available for sales consultations — to help you sell more — at no cost.
Made It Myself is a free marketplace where you can list your products for sale. It is still in beta and looks to be a rapidly growing community and handmade artisan service.
eBay has a special fair-trade marketplace that is worth mentioning. World of Good is a marketplace dedicated to socially and environmentally responsible shopping, featuring tens of thousands of stylish and unique products from around the world, and all backed by the eBay name.
Mymela is a marketplace for arts and crafts from India. It is a combination of ecommerce storefront and micro-finance in that buyers or consumers can also donate or make a small loan to an aspiring merchant. They call it Integrated Micro Advance Funding and it works slightly differently than traditional micro-finance.
Renegade Craft is not a directory or online marketplace, but a cool bunch of craft fairs around the world. Worth a look.
Of course, there are the Maker Faires, which are among the best known do-it-yourself events anywhere.
If you make or sell food items, check out the following:
Foodoro is a marketplace for artisanal food that connects passionate Foodmakers directly with consumers.. If you’re a food producer, this is an online storefront technology worth checking out.
Foodzie has a very cool model: They are not your traditional online marketplace and appear to take a commission on successful sales. So, if they are not successful in helping you sell more, it looks like you don’t pay anything. They help passionate small food producers and farmers across the U.S. reach new customers and connect directly to foodies searching for wonderful foods and gifts.
LocalHarvest is an organic and local food website. They offer a definitive and reliable directory of small farms, farmers markets and other local food sources around the nation.
Fooducopia is a marketplace for indie food producers and small scale farmers. You can open a store on their marketplace and they help do the heavy lifting, so to speak, of helping you sell and market your goods.


culled from:smallbiztrends.com

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4 Common Leadership Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

By Nicole Fallon

By Nicole Fallon

As a leader, you've got a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Despite your best efforts and intentions, mistakes can happen, and when they do, it's important to deal with them in an open, professional manner. Here are some of the most common mistakes people in leadership positions make — and how to avoid them in the future.
Hiring too quickly

In a startup environment, founders have to work very hard in the beginning stages to accomplish everything that needs to be done. It's tempting to hire the first potential candidate as soon as your budget allows for it so you can start building a team to help you. However, hasty hiring can be detrimental to your business.

"We've hired too fast because our team was spread thin, and that ended up backfiring in a lot of ways," said Mona Bijoor, founder and CEO of fashion startup JOOR. "People encourage you to hire, hire, hire. We've found that it's best to take our time and go slowly.

Bijoor cautions hiring managers to beware of candidates who don't fit the company culture and don't share the same passion and work ethic as the rest of the team. If a bad hiring decision is made and the employee simply isn't right, it's better to let them go as soon as possible rather than stick it out until someone better comes along.

"At the end of the day, you have to have the best team to execute your business," Bijoor said. "You need to have the right chemistry of people."
Expecting too much

Sometimes, the problem with a new hire isn't that he or she isn't right for the job, but that you as a leader are expecting too much of that person too soon. Anthony Lolli, founder and CEO of real estate firm Rapid Realty, noted that a promising employee can fail if he or she isn't given the proper tools.

"When you run a business, you eventually want to buy some freedom by hiring employees," Lolli said. "You give them a week of training to do what you've been doing by yourself for two years and wonder why they weren't able to survive."

Take the time to thoroughly train your team members before leaving responsibilities fully in their hands, Lolli advised. If you don't cut them enough slack in the beginning, they'll either disappoint you, or become overwhelmed and leave.
Assuming you're right

A dangerous trap leaders can fall into is thinking their decision-making power means that their way is automatically the right one.

"Oftentimes, leaders assume that because they have the title, that makes them the thought leader," said Mitchell Levy, author of "#Creating Thought Leaders Tweet" and CEO of THiNKaha. "They assume that what they say goes just because they say it, even if they act contrary to that."

A related mistake leaders often make is to not critically listen to team members. Duggan Cooley, president and CEO of United Way of Pasco County, said leaders are sometimes so driven to get their point across and get the job done that they don't take the time to hear what others are saying. This can lead to major communication problems within an organization.

To solve these issues, Levy urges leaders to take a step back and let others aggregate, curate and originate ideas both internally among the staff and externally to draw prospects and customers.

"You need to encourage this behavior and allow your team to get credit for their initiatives," he said.
Failure to delegate

Leaders who like things done a specific way tend to think they're the only ones who know how to do certain tasks. With a full schedule and a tremendous to-do list, bosses with the inability to delegate can quickly run out of time to get the really important tasks accomplished.

"The most critical thing you can do as a leader is know yourself and your style of leadership," Cooley told BusinessNewsDaily. "If you're overwhelmed, ask yourself if it's because of [a lack of] delegation. Could you have gotten others involved? Should you have been asking people to get something done or deal with an issue, but didn't?"

Cooley acknowledged that it can be difficult for leaders to ask others for help, especially when it comes to assessing their own challenges, but also noted that delegation to trusted colleagues can not only help build the morale of your team, but also take some responsibilities off your already-full plate.



What can you do to ensure that if you do make a mistake, you'll still retain the trust and respect of your team? All four sources agree that admitting and owning up to an error is the first and most important step to recovery.

"Be clear about why the situation didn't work and what failed," Bijoor recommended. "It's so important to talk with your team about why things didn't go well."

Similarly, Cooley noted that people appreciate honesty and humility when their leader makes a mistake. In fact, it can go a long way in helping to bring a team back together.

"As a leader, you not only lead the team, but you're part of it," he said. "Humility conveys that you're not above others but working with them."


culled from:businessnewsdaily.com

As a leader, you've got a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Despite your best efforts and intentions, mistakes can happen, and when they do, it's important to deal with them in an open, professional manner. Here are some of the most common mistakes people in leadership positions make — and how to avoid them in the future.

Hiring too quickly

In a startup environment, founders have to work very hard in the beginning stages to accomplish everything that needs to be done. It's tempting to hire the first potential candidate as soon as your budget allows for it so you can start building a team to help you. However, hasty hiring can be detrimental to your business.
"We've hired too fast because our team was spread thin, and that ended up backfiring in a lot of ways," said Mona Bijoor, founder and CEO of fashion startup JOOR. "People encourage you to hire, hire, hire. We've found that it's best to take our time and go slowly."
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5174-avoiding-leadership-mistakes.html#sthash.x0zGMnVh.dpuf

As a leader, you've got a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Despite your best efforts and intentions, mistakes can happen, and when they do, it's important to deal with them in an open, professional manner. Here are some of the most common mistakes people in leadership positions make — and how to avoid them in the future.

Hiring too quickly

In a startup environment, founders have to work very hard in the beginning stages to accomplish everything that needs to be done. It's tempting to hire the first potential candidate as soon as your budget allows for it so you can start building a team to help you. However, hasty hiring can be detrimental to your business.
"We've hired too fast because our team was spread thin, and that ended up backfiring in a lot of ways," said Mona Bijoor, founder and CEO of fashion startup JOOR. "People encourage you to hire, hire, hire. We've found that it's best to take our time and go slowly."
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5174-avoiding-leadership-mistakes.html#sthash.x0zGMnVh.dpuf

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3 Ways to Use the Green-Eyed Monster to Your Advantage

Marc Mawhinney

Contributor

People seem to share everything on social media nowadays: their political opinions, cat videos and even pictures of what they had for breakfast. So it’s not surprising that they also share the big wins in their businesses -- the victories that they’re excited about.
When you see others celebrating their successes, how do you feel? Let’s be completely honest, and admit that you might feel a pang of envy shooting through your body when you see others doing well. This doesn’t make you a bad person.
It makes you human.

I used to struggle with envy when I was a brand-new coach, and I wasn’t getting the kind of traction that I wanted with my business. I’d be going along with my daily tasks, and then a celebratory post from someone would pop up on social media and throw me off my game. I looked at what they were achieving and wondered why I was struggling so much.
Yes, the Green-Eyed Monster had entered.
When you’re an entrepreneur who’s pushing hard to grow your business, seeing others talking about their successes doesn’t always make you feel better. Although envy is a natural feeling, you can’t let it drag you down.
It’s essential that you instead turn envy to your advantage. Here are three things that you can do to make it work for you:

1. Put it in perspective.

Remember that when you see the success of others, you’re not seeing the amount of blood, sweat and tears that the person went through to achieve what they did. The path to success is rarely an easy one, and every entrepreneur suffers through many setbacks along the way.
I love what Steve Furtick said: “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel”. What you’re seeing from other people is really just part of their story.

2. Congratulate the other person.

I realized that being bitter and envious of others would do me no good. I decided to change my approach and celebrate with other people instead. Now, when I see others doing well, I congratulate them. I send messages with sincere kudos, which improves my mood and makes me a lot of new friends in the process.
Try sending out a couple congratulatory messages today, and you’ll find that it will give you more energy and make you feel a lot better. Ask them the secret to their success. You will get some great tips to help you in your journey.

3. Use the success of others as motivation.

Instead of wasting your precious time and energy focusing on what others are doing, use those feelings of envy as fuel to push you to take greater action for your dreams. The good news is that if others are achieving success -- it means that you can as well. They don’t have magical powers, and they’ve proven that success is within a person’s grasp.
I’ve had the opportunity to interview hundreds of successful guests on my podcast, and I’ve noticed something about each of them. Successful people aren’t envious -- they’re too busy working on their own goals to be bitter about the success of others. They’re the opposite of envious. They’re cheerleaders for others and recognize that there’s a huge pie out there for entrepreneurs. Just because someone else achieves something it doesn’t take opportunity away from you.
I recently received an email from someone who publishes a monthly income report to his email subscribers. When I opened it and saw his revenue for the previous month, my eyes almost bugged out of my head -- it was way higher number than mine! But I took a deep breath, smiled, and felt genuinely happy for him. He reached the top of the mountain, and I’ll keep climbing to get up there with him.
I sincerely hope to see you there too.

culled from:entrepreneur.com

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6 Things Successful Leaders Do Differently

Travis Bradberry

Contributor

Great leadership can be a difficult thing to pin down and understand. You know a great leader when you’re working for one, but even they can have a hard time articulating what it is that makes their leadership so effective.
It was recently rumored that Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz would run for president, but Schultz shut the idea down almost immediately. He wrote in an article:
“Despite the encouragement of others, I have no intention of entering the presidential fray. I’m not done serving at Starbucks.”
Schultz commitment to his company over the temptation of the limelight is interesting. What’s admirable is his desire to be a leader who serves.
Service isn’t just something Schulz gives lip service to in the press; his mission is to create a company where people are treated with respect and dignity, and he backs this rhetoric up with his money and time. Starbucks will spend $250 million over the next 10 years to put benefit-eligible employees through college, and Schultz wakes up every day at 4:00 a.m. to send motivational e-mails to his employees (the email he wrote yesterday asking employees to show empathy for customers who have been affected by the plummeting stock market is an interesting, recent example of this).
It’s through a leader’s actions—what he or she does and says on a daily basis—that the essence of great leadership becomes apparent.

“Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others think possible. Care more than others think wise.”   –Howard Schultz

Behavior can change, and leaders who work to improve their skills get results.
In Schultz’s case, he’s been honing his leadership craft for three decades through, among other things, the direct coaching and mentoring of leadership expert Warren Bennis at USC.
Related: What Really Makes a Good Leader?
Not everyone can take on Warren Bennis as a mentor, of course, but when it comes down to it, improving your leadership skills is within your control. You just need to study what great leaders do and to incorporate these behaviors into your repertoire.
There are six critical things that great leaders do that really stand out. Any of us can do the same.

They’re kind without being weak

One of the toughest things for leaders to master is kindness. Kindness shares credit and offers enthusiastic praise for others’ work. It’s a balancing act, between being genuinely kind and not looking weak. The key to finding that balance is to recognize that true kindness is inherently strong—it’s direct and straightforward. Telling people the difficult truth they need to hear is much kinder than protecting them (or yourself) from a difficult conversation. This is weak.
True kindness also doesn’t come with expectations. Kindness is weak when you use it in a self-serving manner. Self-serving kindness is thin—people can see right through it when a kind leader has an agenda. Think of Schultz, who dedicated $250 million to employee education with no strings attached, and as soon as employees finish their degree, they are free to walk out the door. That’s true kindness.

They’re strong without being harsh 

Strength is an important quality in a leader. People will wait to see if a leader is strong before they decide to follow his or her lead or not. People need courage in their leaders. They need someone who can make difficult decisions and watch over the good of the group. They need a leader who will stay the course when things get tough. People are far more likely to show strength themselves when their leader does the same.
A lot of leaders mistake domineering, controlling, and otherwise harsh behavior for strength. They think that taking control and pushing people around will somehow inspire a loyal following. Strength isn’t something you can force on people; it’s something you earn by demonstrating it time and again in the face of adversity. Only then will people trust that they should follow you.

3. They’re confident, without being arrogant

We gravitate to confident leaders because confidence is contagious, and it helps us to believe that there are great things in store. The trick, as a leader, is to make certain your confidence doesn’t slip into arrogance and cockiness. Confidence is about passion and belief in your ability to make things happen, but when your confidence loses touch with reality, you begin to think you can do things you can’t and have done things you haven’t. Suddenly it’s all about you. This arrogance makes you lose credibility.
Related: 9 Habits of Profoundly Influential People
Great, confident leaders are still humble. They don’t allow their accomplishments and position of authority to make them feel that they’re better than anyone else. As such, they don’t hesitate to jump in and do the dirty work when needed, and they don’t ask their followers to do anything they aren’t willing to do themselves.

4. They stay positive, but remain realistic 

Another major challenge that leaders face is finding the balance between keeping things positive and still being realistic. Think of a sailboat with three people aboard: a pessimist, an optimist, and a great leader. Everything is going smoothly until the wind suddenly sours. The pessimist throws his hands up and complains about the wind; the optimist sits back, saying that things will improve; but the great leaders says, “We can do this!” and he adjusts the sails and keeps the ship moving forward. The right combination of positivity and realism is what keeps things moving forward.

5. They’re role models, not preachers

Great leaders inspire trust and admiration through their actions, not just their words. Many leaders saythat integrity is important to them, but great leaders walk their talk by demonstrating integrity every day. Harping on people all day long about the behavior you want to see has a tiny fraction of the impact you achieve by demonstrating that behavior yourself.

6. They’re willing to take a bullet for their people 

The best leaders will do anything for their teams, and they have their people’s backs no matter what. They don’t try to shift blame, and they don’t avoid shame when they fail. They’re never afraid to say, “The buck stops here,” and they earn people’s trust by backing them up. Great leaders also make it clear that they welcome challenges, criticism, and viewpoints other than their own. They know that an environment where people are afraid to speak up, offer insights, and ask good questions is destined for failure.

Bringing it all together

Great leadership is dynamic; it melds a variety of unique skills into an integrated whole. Incorporate the behaviors above into your repertoire, and you’ll see immediate improvement in your leadership skills.


culled from:entrepreneur.com

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Are Assessments Good For Your Career?

Jim Schreier

Assessments, from heavily researched personality tests to the scores of instruments that measure “personal styles” in some manner, are praised by publishers and criticized by a variety of sources including academics. In addition, I’ve recently seen an article providing “tips” on how to take these types of tests. I will first admit that I am a firm supporter of testing if done correctly and used the right way in the right situations. I’ve taken scores of “assessments,” administered hundreds in a variety of settings, and completed graduate level education in psychological testing.

Myers-Briggs And Other “Style” Assessments

While I’ve always been sensitive to articles criticizing testing, I was recently piqued by an article challenging the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) assessment on three points:

1. Low reliability, particularly “test-retest” reliability.
2. The assessment “puts you in a box,” labeling as a particular set of letters, e.g., ENTJ
3. The assessment purports to “guide to a perfect career.”

These criticisms have also been applied to the dozens of other “style-type” assessments that are essentially based on the same core dynamic of the ancient “four temperaments” and the personality theory of Alfred Jung. I believe these three criticisms are significantly missing the mark. A more valid criticism is the fact that there are dozens of different assessments claiming to be significantly different from one another when in reality they measure the same basic four elements.

Low Reliability Or Situational?

I’ll begin to address the low-reliability argument with a particular example. For several years, I worked with a particular version of an assessment that measured the four basic styles and during that time I completed the test personally at least twenty times. The results were always the same, within one or two points. My dominant style was always the same. Then, as part of an international training program in England, I administered the test to 200 plus participants and the staff of presenters I was supervising. I took the test again myself – and surprisingly came up with significantly different results. Contemplating this, and discussing it with a close colleague who was working with me on this project, we quickly realized that all of the circumstances were different. My task responsibilities for this particular program, even the physical setting, put me in a very different “role” – one perfectly represented by the style profile I’d just completed. The point is simple: personal “style” is to a major degree situational. My mother demonstrated a completely different style at home than she did at work. Scores of my workshop participants have reported their spouses or children scoring them differently than the role they perform at work.

Deeper Scores Not Labels

The second criticism represents the importance of any assessment being used correctly. Yes, the Myers-Briggs labels a person using a combination of the four elements. However, the criticism that this is an absolute, or black and white, category is false. Almost all these types of assessments calculate scores that indicate the strength of a particular style. Many will show a graphical plot that indicates the strengths of the scores. A colleague of mine recently completed the MBTI under my direction. His profile states that he is INTJ (Introverted-Intuition-Thinking-Judging). However, his detailed report reveals that, on two of these scales, his “preference” is only “slight,” less than five points on a 30 point scale. On another the “preference” is only “moderate,” seven points on the scale. Only one of the elements is “very clear,” 27 points on the 30 point scale. So a real understanding of my colleague’s profile is not that he is simply an INTJ – it is a much finer interpretation of what these scores really mean. This is why assessments should be administered and interpreted by a professional.

Not A “Guide To A Perfect Career”

From long before even my high school days decades ago, assessments intended to provide career information have been misunderstood. Unfortunately, this misunderstanding survives today. Even more unfortunately, it is often due, not to the design or purposes of the assessment itself, but to poor application by the organization or test administrator. When the printout of an assessment is simply handed out to students, like it was done for me, with no guidance or individual discussion, it heightens the danger of the “this is what it tells me to do” error. Whenever I sit down to discuss a “career” report based on the Myers-Briggs, or any other career interest type interpretation, I always issue a strong disclaimer that this information does not “tell you what to do.” The Myers-Briggs Career Report includes a strong clarification of this point of the first page of the report: “This report is only one source of information. When choosing a career or contemplating a career change, you must also consider your abilities and skills, your occupational and leisure interests, and your values and goals. You will also need information about specific tasks involved in different occupations, as well as current career opportunities.”

Conclusion

Although frustrating at times, I accept criticism of psychological assessments as part of a mostly valid process and too often the marketing driven process of competition. In reality, there are many versions of this type of assessments that claim to measure style with only a few questions and then state results too strongly. However, when the criticisms themselves are too simply stated or incorrect, it creates a risk that the valuable information provided by these instruments will not be available to career seekers who may be supported by the guidance.


culled from:careerealism.com

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Best Practices for CRM Marketing Integration

by Megan Totka

If your business is considering investing in a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to create synergy between your sales and marketing teams, the way you implement it into the workflow matters.
Using these best practices, your business can successfully integrate CRM marketing to get the most out of the CRM and the data it offers.

Train Employees on How to Use CRM

Spend time working with employees in the sales and marketing departments to train them on the effective use of the CRM. Understand that some employees will take the training seriously, while others may not. Fifty four percent of employees say they’d be more likely to perform a task if it included game elements, so gamification of the training experience can help encourage participation.

Use All CRM Features

Many CRMs include a number of features and integrations with other tools and apps you’re already using. Closely look at the features your CRM has and determine how you can use them to not only improve company workflow and productivity, but to improve the customer experience.
If your business involves managing projects for your clients, why run a completely separate project management system? If your CRM has a built-in project management system, use it to:

• Create tasks and milestones for various projects.
• Track email correspondence.
• Keep an eye on who’s doing what over the course of a project.

Take advantage of CRM reports. These reports can provide critical information about what’s going on in your business, including:

• Which employees have created the most sales opportunities over the course of the month.
• Which clients produce the most revenue for your business.
• Identify the main reasons you’re losing business.

Automate Where Possible

Some everyday tasks are repetitive and boring. Use tools within your CRM to automate parts of your company’s workflow, such as assigning tasks to members of the team. Task automation tools like Zapier integrate with your CRM to perform file backups (saving a Gmail attachment to Dropbox, for example), create contacts in your CRM, add contacts to your email marketing lists, and more.

Process All Leads Through the CRM

Once your staff is comfortable with the CRM, create a plan for a smooth transition from your old method to the new technology. The sooner you completely integrate the system, the better off the company will be in the long run. Set a date and require all new leads be processed through the CRM by this time. An incomplete transition to the new system could wreak havoc on internal communication or cause valued customers to fall through the cracks.

Meet with Employees to Discuss Refining the System

After the employees have had time to actively use the system, meet with them to determine how well it is working for them. Find out what they love about it, what improvements they’d like to see made, and any difficulties they’ve encountered. Use their feedback to make adjustments where possible. Forty eight percent of employees say giving them a chance to provide feedback, and then seeing it implemented, is part of what entices them to stay with a company. So working with and listening to your employees plays a key role in the success of changes within the company.

Use CRM Marketing with Social Media

Using social media for business plays a critical role in the sales and marketing process. So if your CRM integrates with social channels, make the most of it. Using a contact’s email address, CRMs can detect social profiles attached to the contact. Use this information to bring your clients and social media together whenever and wherever possible. As your relationships grow, you can collect information from their social profiles to foster long-term relationships. Use social CRM to engage customers directly, as well.
In 2009, Best Buy launched the Twelpforce initiative to integrate the Best Buy Community team with Twitter. Their approach allows anyone in the community team to respond to respond to questions directly from the social network. Not only does the community see an average of 600,000 visitors, and more than 22 million pages of content, the initial community engagements provided a $5 million benefit (PDF) to the company.
Bosch used social CRM to target select trades on Facebook. With the tool, they were able to determine their Facebook audience was a separate, and younger audience. Bosch also learned a higher than average number of their Facebook fans were woodworkers, so they adjusted their marketing to the group with staging of power tools in woodworking.
Taking time to craft a CRM marketing strategy and determine exactly how your company will use all the features of your CRM can make implementing it much easier. With the robust features of CRM, social media and employee support, your business will continue to grow and see increased profits.



culled from:smallbiztrends.com

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Business Insurance Coverage You Should Have (But Might Not)

By Nicole Fallon Taylor

Like home and auto insurance, business insurance provides you with financial protection, should your company suffer from damages, lawsuits or some other costly event that involves your business. In addition to mandatory workers' compensation and unemployment insurance (if a business has employees), most business owners know they should have some sort of general liability or business owner's policy. But these policies don't cover every scenario — and just because most types of business insurance are optional, that doesn't mean you should skimp on your coverage.

Insurance experts shared a few important policies that many business owners should have but may not have thought to purchase.
Auto and home insurance riders

Do you use your personal car and/or home for business purposes? If so, your regular insurance policies for these assets may not fully protect you. Dan Klaras, president of Assurance insurance agency, said that if you don't own a separate commercial vehicle, you should get nonowned and hired auto liability insurance. This covers any claims against your business for incidents that occur while you or your employees are driving your car during a workday.

Business interruption insurance

Fires, floods, building collapse, theft. Any of these situations — and others — could make you have to temporarily shut down your business and a consequent loss of income.

"Any time you have a loss of income [as a small business], a couple of months could put you out of business," Klaras said.

Business interruption insurance will compensate you for some or all of the money you lose by not being fully operational. The Insurance Information Institute provides more information about whether or not your company needs this type of coverage.
Credit insurance

If your business sells goods or services on credit, you open yourself up to the risk that the buyer may not come through with the money. Credit insurance provides coverage for a variety of losses related to bad debt situations, Klaras said. Depending on your policy, credit insurance may cover all or part of your accounts receivables and help with your customer credit management/debt collection.
Cyberinsurance

According to research by the Ponemon Institute, more than 40 percent of U.S. companies have experienced a data breach in the last year — and yet 27 percent didn't have a data breach response plan or team in place. Klaras advised all business owners to look into cyberinsurance to protect sensitive employee, client and financial information in the event of a data breach.

"If a small business has a website, it has exposure [and] needs to have this coverage," Klaras told Business News Daily. "Cybercriminals are focused on small businesses for the simple reason that they know network security is much less sophisticated. It's easier to get in and get the information. In having [cyber] coverage, you're getting ... the best practices to keep a cyber breach from happening, and that value alone is important."
Employment practices liability

Employers are required by law to have certain types of insurance to cover their employees, but what about protection for your business if an employee sues? Because of the close-knit culture of most small businesses, Klaras said that many owners see their employees as friends, and don't believe they'd ever sue. However, should a disgruntled worker take you to court for an issue like wrongful termination or sexual harassment, you could lose a significant amount of money, even if you're not guilty. Employment practices liability ensures that your business won't go bankrupt defending itself if an employee files a claim.
Errors and omissions insurance

Most small business owners don't think it will ever happen to them, but lawsuits can and do frequently occur when business disputes need to be settled. Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, also known as professional liability insurance, protects your business and reputation in the event that a client or customer files a lawsuit, Klaras said. This is most important for service-based businesses, and helps fill in some of the gaps in general liability coverage. In certain states such insurance is required for certain professions, such as medical doctors.

Hunter Hoffmann, head of U.S. communications at small business insurer Hiscox, agreed that professional liability insurance is a key consideration for any business owner.

"Professional liability insurance protects you and your employees if you're sued for errors or negligence," Hoffmann said. "Even if you've done nothing wrong, the costs to defend against a lawsuit can be significant for a small business, and insurance provides for both legal representation and payment of any judgment made against you."

Less than half of small businesses carried professional liability insurance, according to the 2015 Hiscox DNA of an Entrepreneur Report.
Product recall

As a business owner, you have a certain responsibility to the people who purchase your products. Ted Devine, CEO of small business insurance provider Insureon, said that U.S. laws have evolved in recent years to favor consumers by applying a "strict liability" doctrine. This means that anyone — vendor, distributor, manufacturer, etc. — involved in the sale of a product that causes injury or illness when it is used correctly can be held legally and financially responsible for those damages.

While product liability itself is often covered within a general liability policy (though Devine advised double-checking to make sure), you're not covered if you need to undergo the expensive, time-consuming and potentially reputation-damaging process of a recall. To help you with this, product recall insurance may be available as a rider to your general liability policy.

"Product recall insurance ... can cover the cost of recalling products, including getting them off the shelves, destroying them and running a PR or advertising campaign to rebuild public trust," Devine said.
Does your company really need these policies?

Every company has different insurance needs, depending on the industry, location and nature of the business. While the above-named policies are recommended, they may or may not be right for your business. Be sure to consult with your insurance agent frequently to assess your risks and ensure that your business is getting all the protection it needs.

"Set up a regular time frame to meet with your agent and update him or her on your business and any changes [that have occurred] to make sure you're adding the coverage you need," Klaras said.

"Do your research ... and make sure you're covered," Hoffmann added. "The costs can be very reasonable and insurance provides the protection you need to make sure somebody else doesn't get in the way of your path to success."


culled from:businessnewsdaily.com

Additionally, homeowner's insurance is not designed to provide business coverage, so Klaras advised home-based business owners to speak with an agent about adding endorsements or riders to their policy to cover their business activities. [5 Websites for Comparing Small Business Insurance Quotes]

Business interruption insurance

Fires, floods, building collapse, theft. Any of these situations — and others — could make you have to temporarily shut down your business and a consequent loss of income.
"Any time you have a loss of income [as a small business], a couple of months could put you out of business," Klaras said.
Business interruption insurance will compensate you for some or all of the money you lose by not being fully operational. The Insurance Information Institute provides more information about whether or not your company needs this type of coverage.

Credit insurance

If your business sells goods or services on credit, you open yourself up to the risk that the buyer may not come through with the money. Credit insurance provides coverage for a variety of losses related to bad debt situations, Klaras said. Depending on your policy, credit insurance may cover all or part of your accounts receivables and help with your customer credit management/debt collection.

Cyberinsurance

According to research by the Ponemon Institute, more than 40 percent of U.S. companies have experienced a data breach in the last year — and yet 27 percent didn't have a data breach response plan or team in place. Klaras advised all business owners to look into cyberinsurance to protect sensitive employee, client and financial information in the event of a data breach.
"If a small business has a website, it has exposure [and] needs to have this coverage," Klaras told Business News Daily. "Cybercriminals are focused on small businesses for the simple reason that they know network security is much less sophisticated. It's easier to get in and get the information. In having [cyber] coverage, you're getting ... the best practices to keep a cyber breach from happening, and that value alone is important."

Employment practices liability

Employers are required by law to have certain types of insurance to cover their employees, but what about protection for your business if an employee sues? Because of the close-knit culture of most small businesses, Klaras said that many owners see their employees as friends, and don't believe they'd ever sue. However, should a disgruntled worker take you to court for an issue like wrongful termination or sexual harassment, you could lose a significant amount of money, even if you're not guilty. Employment practices liability ensures that your business won't go bankrupt defending itself if an employee files a claim.

Errors and omissions insurance

Most small business owners don't think it will ever happen to them, but lawsuits can and do frequently occur when business disputes need to be settled. Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, also known as professional liability insurance, protects your business and reputation in the event that a client or customer files a lawsuit, Klaras said. This is most important for service-based businesses, and helps fill in some of the gaps in general liability coverage. In certain states such insurance is required for certain professions, such as medical doctors.
Hunter Hoffmann, head of U.S. communications at small business insurer Hiscox, agreed that professional liability insurance is a key consideration for any business owner.
"Professional liability insurance protects you and your employees if you're sued for errors or negligence," Hoffmann said. "Even if you've done nothing wrong, the costs to defend against a lawsuit can be significant for a small business, and insurance provides for both legal representation and payment of any judgment made against you."
Less than half of small businesses carried professional liability insurance, according to the 2015 Hiscox DNA of an Entrepreneur Report.

Product recall

As a business owner, you have a certain responsibility to the people who purchase your products. Ted Devine, CEO of small business insurance provider Insureon, said that U.S. laws have evolved in recent years to favor consumers by applying a "strict liability" doctrine. This means that anyone — vendor, distributor, manufacturer, etc. — involved in the sale of a product that causes injury or illness when it is used correctly can be held legally and financially responsible for those damages.
While product liability itself is often covered within a general liability policy (though Devine advised double-checking to make sure), you're not covered if you need to undergo the expensive, time-consuming and potentially reputation-damaging process of a recall. To help you with this, product recall insurance may be available as a rider to your general liability policy.
"Product recall insurance ... can cover the cost of recalling products, including getting them off the shelves, destroying them and running a PR or advertising campaign to rebuild public trust," Devine said.

Does your company really need these policies?

Every company has different insurance needs, depending on the industry, location and nature of the business. While the above-named policies are recommended, they may or may not be right for your business. Be sure to consult with your insurance agent frequently to assess your risks and ensure that your business is getting all the protection it needs.
"Set up a regular time frame to meet with your agent and update him or her on your business and any changes [that have occurred] to make sure you're adding the coverage you need," Klaras said.
"Do your research ... and make sure you're covered," Hoffmann added. "The costs can be very reasonable and insurance provides the protection you need to make sure somebody else doesn't get in the way of your path to success."
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8558-important-business-insurance-coverage.html#sthash.Fzv9nUjQ.dpuf

Like home and auto insurance, business insurance provides you with financial protection, should your company suffer from damages, lawsuits or some other costly event that involves your business. In addition to mandatory workers' compensation and unemployment insurance (if a business has employees), most business owners know they should have some sort of general liability or business owner's policy. But these policies don't cover every scenario — and just because most types of business insurance are optional, that doesn't mean you should skimp on your coverage.
Insurance experts shared a few important policies that many business owners should have but may not have thought to purchase.

Auto and home insurance riders

Do you use your personal car and/or home for business purposes? If so, your regular insurance policies for these assets may not fully protect you. Dan Klaras, president of Assurance insurance agency, said that if you don't own a separate commercial vehicle, you should get nonowned and hired auto liability insurance. This covers any claims against your business for incidents that occur while you or your employees are driving your car during a workday.
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8558-important-business-insurance-coverage.html#sthash.Fzv9nUjQ.dpuf

Like home and auto insurance, business insurance provides you with financial protection, should your company suffer from damages, lawsuits or some other costly event that involves your business. In addition to mandatory workers' compensation and unemployment insurance (if a business has employees), most business owners know they should have some sort of general liability or business owner's policy. But these policies don't cover every scenario — and just because most types of business insurance are optional, that doesn't mean you should skimp on your coverage.
Insurance experts shared a few important policies that many business owners should have but may not have thought to purchase.

Auto and home insurance riders

Do you use your personal car and/or home for business purposes? If so, your regular insurance policies for these assets may not fully protect you. Dan Klaras, president of Assurance insurance agency, said that if you don't own a separate commercial vehicle, you should get nonowned and hired auto liability insurance. This covers any claims against your business for incidents that occur while you or your employees are driving your car during a workday.
- See more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8558-important-business-insurance-coverage.html#sthash.Fzv9nUjQ.dpuf

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From Battlefield to Business: These Companies Are Looking to Hire Veterans

Jason Daley

Franchise systems are picky. But JDog Junk Removal & Hauling might be the most selective of all. The Berwyn, Pa.-based company sells units exclusively to military veterans and their families -- no exceptions -- and hires as many veterans as possible to clean out, transport and repurpose customers’ junk. It’s great marketing. When a JDog crew shows up to do a job in camouflage trucks and trailers and military-style uniforms, it’s hard not to take notice.
“When these guys walk into the consumer’s home, people instantly respond and say, ‘Thank you for your service,’” says Army veteran Jerry Flanagan, who began franchising the brand in 2013 and now has 21 units operating in seven states. “It makes marketing much easier because we are able to show how we are different. We’re able to penetrate new markets quickly. People really want to get behind veteran-owned and -operated businesses.”
When he launched his business in 2011 in a Philadelphia suburb, he didn’t plan to employ a post-military work force, though he did hire as many veterans as he could. What he found was that employees with a military background often had better leadership skills and were more likely to follow his systems than other staffers. They showed up on time, caused few problems and took pride in their work.
“I’m not really looking for entrepreneurs to be my franchisees,” Flanagan says. “I’m looking for guys who can follow orders and can look at my playbook and follow it effectively.”
While JDog’s vets-only policy is unique, Flanagan is not alone in realizing that veterans have skills that make them great franchisees. In fact, over the past decade, franchise systems have made aggressive efforts to recruit military veterans, offering discounts, incentives and even free equipment to get them through the door.
But it has taken time for franchise brands to fully realize the potential of the veteran community. In 1991, at the end of the first Gulf War, Don Dwyer, founder of the Dwyer Group of franchises that include Mr. Rooter and Glass Doctor, started a program called VetFran, which was a loose affiliation of franchise brands that recruited vets to help them transition to civilian life.
Over the next decade and a half, the program had periods of high and low activity, but in 2007, as increasing numbers of those who’d served in Iraq and Afghanistan began transitioning out of the military, member brands ramped things up. VetFran became a program of the International Franchise Association designed to educate vets about franchising and connect them with companies offering incentives.
In 2011 VetFran launched Hiring Our Heroes, a program aimed at bringing 80,000 veterans into the franchise industry; as of 2014, it had brought 203,890 former service members into the fold, including 5,608 franchisees. Today VetFran comprises nearly 700 franchise brands.
“In February I visited with Budget Blinds, which waives their $75,000 franchise fee for veterans,” notes George Eldridge, program manager of VetFran, who left active duty in 2012. “They were so impressed by the vets they’d worked with that they wanted more. That was nice to hear. Here’s a company making decisions not on what vets have done in the past, but what they can do now. No vet wants a handout. All the franchise brands I talk to say the same thing: They wouldn’t be doing their vet programs if there was no return on investment.”
Former Navy SEAL Monty Heath is executive director of VetToCEO, a Marietta, Ga.-based nonprofit that offers free online programs for veterans exploring entrepreneurship. He believes franchising is perfectly suited to the mentality of many veterans.
“These guys learn leadership and perseverance in the service. They are hard-working and mission-focused, and they complete the task in front of them no matter what,” Heath explains. “Guys and gals in the military are very much used to giving orders and executing. That’s how franchising is. They’re given a playbook and they figure out how to execute it. The military mind is set up to be in that environment. That’s what a veteran provides vs. someone who has to start from scratch learning how to run a business.”
Mosquito Joe, a franchise system based in Hampton Roads, Va., home to several large military installations, is investing heavily in veterans; some 15 to 20 percent of its franchisees are former service members. While the company offers a $2,500 discount on its franchise fee to veterans, COO Brian Garrison, who left the military in 2012, believes vets are attracted to the brand’s culture. Many members of Mosquito Joe’s corporate team also served in the military.
“We feel vets bring the right set of experiences and work ethic to our business,” Garrison says. “Veterans coming through the pipeline look at the other vets in our system, and it resonates with them. Our team has close to 100 years of franchise support experience. We can look veterans in the eye and say, ‘We understand that you don’t have any experience in the private sector. But we can be a backstop for you as you make the transition.’”
Indeed, Mosquito Joe’s culture resonated with Dennis Corrigan from the start. He grew up in a military family and spent the first 24 years of his adult life as a U.S. naval aviator. After retirement from the cockpit, he spent the next 17 years on the fringes of the Navy designing training materials for pilots and air crews. When he decided to go into business for himself, he signed on with Mosquito Joe and launched his unit in Virginia Beach, Va. “I found that because of their focus on the military and because we have the same values, it made it much nicer to interact with them,” he says. “I was able to build relationships with corporate almost immediately based on our common work ethic.”
Corrigan is paying his success forward by primarily hiring veterans and firemen on his crews, which control mosquitoes in homeowners’ backyards and in outdoor areas before events. “I have found that folks from the military have a different commitment to the job,” he says. “They understand a lot about customer service, although they may not know they’re doing it. They are really good at completing a job to the best of their ability and on time.”
Jan-Pro, the 10,000-unit commercial cleaning franchise, and its recently launched residential cleaning brand Maid Right, have sought to employ former service members since 2000, when the company launched its VetConnection Program. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based company offers a 10 percent franchise-fee reduction for vets. Because of its master franchisee model, the company aims to find individuals who have experience managing large groups of people.
Scott Thompson, vice president of franchise development for Jan-Pro and Maid Right, looks to match the right veteran with the right opportunity. “I probably wouldn’t give an infantryman who never managed a larger unit a master franchisee license, and I probably wouldn’t give a major who worked hard to learn leadership skills a small package,” he explains. “We try to align our opportunity to a veteran’s goals, skill set and capital.”
Thompson adds that many service veterans have the advantage of a military pension, which gives them a level of security that other prospective franchisees may lack. “That pension gives them flexibility,” he says. “They have some income already as they’re ramping up their business. In some cases, what they make from their franchise is just gravy. They can take the time to build their business up correctly.”
Eric Freeman, who served in the Gulf War and now works as a Dallas policeman, started his Maid Right franchise last May. By August, he’d exceeded his personal goals by signing up more than 60 clients in his first six months. “The military made me goal-oriented and driven,” he says. “I grew up in a military family and learned discipline. I won’t sit around and wait for someone to do something for me.”
Workout Anytime, an Alpharetta-based fitness franchise, reduces its $30,000 franchise fee by a third for vets. Co-founder and president John Quattrocchi says the past few years remind him of when he returned home from Vietnam after serving four years in the Air Force.
“It seems like an awful lot of people are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and are looking for work, and we have a great need for people with the tools they’ve learned to help us expand,” he says. “When I came home in the ’60s we faced the same thing. I was able to get a job in a steel mill after college, but a lot of friends who served in Southeast Asia couldn’t find a job. I certainly have a soft spot for veterans. We should give back to anyone who serves their country.”



culled from:entrepreneur.com

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