The Incredible Power Of Retail Marketing

| Wednesday, November 3, 2010
By Adriana Noton

The world of retail is often one filled with an incredible amount of opportunity for consumer based growth and marketing principles. Throughout the past several years, retail stores and chains have developed their brands and experiences molded around capturing as much of the competitive pool as possible while many of them have even turned more toward online shopping and internet marketing for their consumer growth needs. As this is often the case, there truly is an incredible amount of benefits offered from a powerful retail marketing campaign and strategy.

Consumers are given an amazing amount of options when it comes to retailers and where they make their purchases on a routine basis. Throughout the globe, there are truly an incredible amount of retailers that provide much of the same products and services offered at the same retailers. This fact merely means that retailers must constantly evolve and find more effective means of attracting as many consumers as possible.

When anyone interested researches the topic, they quickly come to learn that there are an incredible amount of opportunities and methods used in retail marketing that are all actually quite powerful and incredible to use. Research and development has come quite a long way in helping retailers shape and mold their marketing plans around what works and what is able to bring in consumers and repeat customers. Thus, upon close examination, one sees that there truly are an incredible amount of opportunities found if marketing correctly.

The overall economic health of consumers today as well as stretched budgets from retailers becoming more of a daily reality, there truly are countless means by which retailers are providing more affordable products and services. Getting the word out has truly been a powerful source of competition. Thus, the benefits from such have truly been remarkable to see.

Providing a specific brand is often the cornerstone of an incredible marketing strategy. With several other retailers often offering the same products at similar prices, each retailer must find their specific niche in order to remain viable and competitive. As such, there truly are countless techniques by which retailers all provide very guided and principled products and services for consumption.

Consumer loyalty programs are also incredibly beneficial. As more consumers are more concerned about saving money, providing loyalty cards with specific coupons and discounts offered is often the best means in bringing them in the door. This has been occurring from several retailers for quite some time now.

Providing services as well as products is also something that many retailers currently provide. These often include pharmacy well programs and dietary recipes to name a couple that are actually quite powerful. This not only adds value for the consumer but also sets the retailer apart from the others in many cases.

When retail marketing is executed powerfully and correctly, there are countless advantages and benefits that are present. Basically, this often means that they will generate larger consumer bases in the process as well as keep repeat business. Thus, there truly are incredible means by which a wide reaching consumer base is possible.

About the Author:

READ MORE - The Incredible Power Of Retail Marketing

Great Customer Relationships=Customers For Life

| Tuesday, October 5, 2010
By Kathy Jiamboi

As Mother Teresa once said, "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread."

What a powerful statement. Everyone is looking for love and appreciation. If you are looking to demonstrate trust and create an endless bond with clients, showing appreciation is a great approach.

Most businesses spend less money on their existing customers than the funds spent on gaining new clients. Your list of present customers is your greatest resource. To get more profits focus your dollars on your existing clients or patients.

One thing you could do in your business is develop a customer appreciation program. Recognize your top customers each month with some sort of gift or acknowledgment. Send thank you notes after each order. Reward them with gift cards for client referrals. Acknowledge birthdays, weddings, births, and other important life events. These are little things that are a lost art in business today. When was the last time you received any kind of personal correspondence from a company you do or did business with? Just adding this to your marketing mix will make a difference.

Here are some suggestions for beginning your own client recognition program.

Make use of Holidays.

Send Valentine's Day candy and cards with the message, We Love Our Customers.

Send an ornament at Christmas.

Deliver chocolate bunnies at Eastertime.

Use Halloween to send a bag of treats.

Memorial Day or July 4th are great for showing patriotism with flags, red, white and blue items.

Make use of the Seasons.

Send something cold on a hot and humid day.

When the leaves begin to fall, deliver pumpkins or apple cider.

In the dead of winter, send some hot chocolate and a coffee mug with your logo.

Send out flowering seed packets in the spring.

Make use of your vendors and resources.

Develop a vendor offering created just for your clients.

Get your vendors to provide an educational seminar.

Who do you know who has specialized knowledge who would love the opportunity to provide helpful information and gain access to potential clients?

Make use of Education

Deliver educational books either of interest to your clients or ones that maybe beneficial to their business.

Invitations are a great resource.

Invite your customers to breakfast.

Invite them to stimulating workshops.

Use Events.

Throw an annual client appreciation bash. Let them invite a friend (maybe a new client for you). Here are some ideas:

Have a Cinema Party-give out popcorn, candy and beverages, show a classic film. Thank your customers with your own movie before the feature film.

Have a Photos with Santa Day. Everyone loves pictures. A local photographer may provide a special price to get the opportunity to reach your customers.

Throw a party at a water park.

Have a special day at a museum. Have photos taken and give each guest a commemorative photo.

After all is said and done, our existing customers are all any business has. Make sure you a treating them as valuable as they are to your business.

About the Author:

READ MORE - Great Customer Relationships=Customers For Life

Why Customer Service Training Is Essential For Your Staff

| Thursday, September 9, 2010
By Study IT All

A companies brand can establish itself as both a mental and emotional state in the minds and hearts of customers. A company that lives up to it's brand's promise can and often do charge 100% more than their competition. Because they are satisfied with the products and the service from the company, customers and staff tend to stay longer. That being said, many of us have experienced customer service that is quite far from that of the brand's performance. Many of us have been at the receiving end of extremely poor service delivery and it may have seemed that we knew more about the product or service than the company itself. On other occasions we may have been behind the counter ourselves, providing poor customer service that is inconsistent with our own brand's promise.

Service for products vary from product to product as customer demands and expected measurement of delivery may vary too. Service delivery intensive businesses have more work to do. Staff have the option of either providing service that negates the brand or that supports the brand. There are occasions where one staff member may fulfill the service delivery to a customer, just to have another staff member drop the ball. These kinds of businesses have to make sure that there is consistency with regards to the level of service delivery at every point during the customer experience. Unfortunately staff cannot deliver what they don't understand or know. The majority of staff members receive inadequate training and no real brand orientation. They are not given enough knowledge to deliver on the brand's promise.

But, staff can't deliver what they don't know or understand. The question is how many people know what a mission and vision statement is all about and how many people know that mission statements are the underlining promise of a brand. The need for staff to be trained on customer service delivery, brand awareness, Office etiquette and office protocols can not be overemphasized. Studies reveal that an average of 56% of employees who interface with customers lack their own management's support to deliver their brand effectively. Not unlikely, as 50% of those managers don't understand the positioning of the brand themselves.

Hence organizations look at employing individuals with such skills to add value to their organizations. You most always receive excellent service at both ends of the counter. It's important to note here that such successful companies spend more on employee training than on marketing. It is critical that we learn to link staff behavior with our own brands vision,mission, policies and customer service. We must teach everyone on our team from the CFO to the janitor, what our brand means and how that meaning determines the distinct level of service we must deliver to support the brand. It's important that our team deliver that full brand value on a consistent basis day in and day out. Big corporations in the world have survived the harsh economic times simply because of consistent customer service.

An experience I had some time back, was at UCO where for every day glitch or downtime experienced during training that adds up to a week, the online training college promises free course training for under privileged delegates from the townships, indirectly giving back to society through such schemes. A mail goes out to the delegate carrying the complain and what has been done to put the issue right. What an interesting new way to promise great customer service! I commented on the new sign to the gal at the register. Studies reveal that 40% of marketing is wasted on unmotivated or uninformed staff members. Again, staff can't deliver what they don't know.

Recently, I had some time back, was at UCO where for every day glitch or downtime experienced during training that adds up to a week, the online training college promises a free course training for under privileged delegates from the townships, indirectly giving back to society through such schemes. A mail goes out to the delegate with reason for complain and on what has been done to put the issue right. What an interesting new way to promise great customer service! I commented on the new sign to the gal at the register. Studies reveal that at least 40% of marketing is wasted on unmotivated or uninformed staff members. Again, staff can't deliver what they don't know.

The other critical pitfall is that the most management teams who have in fact taken the time needed to flush out the brands fabric in full, have not figured out how to effectively communicate those deliverables to the rest of their team. Team members need to be reading from same page of the playbook to deliver consistent brand value. In next month's issue of Deep Insights, we will further outline brand fabric and introduce a plan to get your own brand fabric into the hands of your team members who can drive service that supports your brands full value.

About the Author:

READ MORE - Why Customer Service Training Is Essential For Your Staff

Why Not Invest In Home Security

| Saturday, August 28, 2010
By Dwayne Stoltzfus

The residential burglar alarm and monitoring marketplace is apparently on pace to develop 9 pct in 2010, and 27 per-cent over the subsequent three years, according to Park Associates, leaders in analysis and analysis in digital living technologies. This is a much-required projection for the multi-billion dollar market that was indeed affected by the economic downturn.

Residence security product sales across the United States took a tough hit in 2008 and 2009 primarily since the genuine estate marketplace swiftly tanked. A hurt economy resulted in far fewer new houses being constructed, which also resulted in fewer new consumers. A widespread tightening of consumer budgets also slowed potential sales. When an current residence with an alarm method is sold, alarm companies have the chance to make two new product sales. Initial, the homebuyer is most likely to retain the present program and turn out to be a new buyer. Second, the house seller is most likely to hire the alarm organization to install a technique within the new home. Arguably, out of the recession came an extra industry sector: the fear driven buyer.

In accordance to the Defense Dealer Magazine (SDM), house alarm protection systems carry on to be a necessity in America's houses and businesses, even in these turbulent and unknown monetary times. The proof is identified in the solid numbers, showing a 6 each-cent growth in the monthly monitoring rate, and a 2 for each and every-cent rise in the total annual revenue.

Several businesses felt the painful affects of the global recession. There was a new sharp focus on customer retention as lost of consumers struggled to pay the bills. As with any market, companies that prepare early by improving operation efficiencies and expense cutting, managed to survive the harsh financial storm. Recessions often force businesses be critical about investing their time and dollars in both effective and profitable methods. They also bring new approaches of thinking and various techniques of carrying out points.

The outlook for 2010 in the alarm market remains somewhat positive. A lot more than half of all alarm protection dealers, according to the SDM, think that right after a far better year in 2009, the next 12 months will hold increased revenues. Parks Associates estimates the United States residential intrusion and monitoring market place will account for much more than $9 billion in 2010. Nearly 75 % of the client-level investing will are available from monitoring revenues ($6.7 billion), although just under 20 % will appear from hardware purchases ($1.8 billion), and 6 per-cent of revenues will appear from installation labor ($521 million). Ultimately, the alarm business will carry on to develop and change as it looks to bounce back from an unusually poor 12 months.

About the Author:

READ MORE - Why Not Invest In Home Security

Customer Loyalty Programs For Retail Marketing

| Wednesday, August 18, 2010
By Adriana Noton

Competition is stiff in retail business. You need to be ahead of your competitors to stay in business. One of the retail marketing strategies to keep your customer coming back to you is to use customer loyalty program. It has the benefits of encouraging customers to shop at your place and to give them many benefits. Other name for this program is reward program.

The purpose of a reward program is to attract your customers to return or shop more. Benefits that are very attractive to your customers to apply for this program special discounts and gifts for members. You can also assign point or token system where they will get points they can exchange for some items. There are wide range of varieties for this kind of program.

To identify members from non members, you can usually give your customer a member or loyalty card. Members will show their card to get the benefit when they are checking out. You can still employ customer loyalty program in an online shop. Instead of physical card, you can assign them an ID number instead.

There are several ways for customers to gain this card. They can make purchase for certain amount at once or in a period of time. You can also give the cards away when you first open the business to attract new customers. Some stores ask the customer to buy the loyalty cards.

You can combine your members only benefit with stamp system which is open to non members and members alike. Each time a customer make a purchase that fits the criteria, you give them a stamp. After they collect certain amount of stamp, they can use it to exchange for rewards. The rewards vary. You can give them shopping vouchers, gifts, or an opportunity to buy limited items with lower price.

Each company will have different strategies in their program. Some companies give loyalty cards and member benefits discount generously while other companies save them for their top buyers. There is no right or wrong answer, you need to adjust your strategy depending on the characteristic of your products and customers.

It is perfectly fine to mix a few strategies in one campaign. You can do this by reserving VIP cards for your best customers. In the same time, you also offer general member cards for regular customers. You may need to employ this strategy if your shop has many kinds of products with wide range of price.

It is important to remember that loyalty program is meant to give rewards to your customer and improve their satisfaction in shopping at your place. With that in mind, avoid upsetting your customers. Most customers are upset because they find too many conditions and terms when using their member card. It is best to use simple term and condition that is clear and easy to understand. Avoid hidden fees that will disappoint your customers. Remember that if you lose your customers, it is not as easy to gain them.

If you intend to make sure your customer is satisfied with your products and services for long term success, your customer loyalty program will be successful. However if your intention is merely to increase profit quickly, then maybe Customer loyalty program is not suitable for your retail marketing strategy.

About the Author:

READ MORE - Customer Loyalty Programs For Retail Marketing

Tips For Using Retail Marketing In Your Business

| Thursday, August 12, 2010
By A Noton

Using retail marketing in your business is one of the fastest and best ways to increase your profitability and be more successful overall. There are so many businesses that just open their doors and expect the customers to come flowing in, but in reality you need to encourage customers to come to you in order to have your business reach its potential.

It is easy to get bogged down in the every day running of your business and forget about how to keep your business expanding and becoming more profitable. If you find that you do spend too much time working "in" your business and not enough time working "on" your business, then you might need the help of a retail and marketing consultant to help you identify areas where you can delegate and free up time.

If you want people to know about your business and choose you instead of your competitors, then you need to start learning all you can about successfully marketing your business. No one will come to you if they do not know that you exist or what type of products and services they can get from your business. On top of this, the process of marketing is often very interesting and motivating for business owners.

There are two different parts of retail marketing: getting people to visit and then making them come back and spend more money in your store. Loyalty cards are very successful at doing this and so is having highly trained staff that are personable and can connect with customers. This is a highly overlooked area and one that can totally transform your business.

Some people are scared off marketing their business because they think that they have to spend crazy sums of money in order to pay for advertising. The good news is that there is no reason to spend large sums on advertising that gets you little reaction. You have to create a reason for people to come and visit you and when you are running a marketing campaign you need to measure the response that you get so that you can work out what works best for your business.

There are so many different things that you can do in order to encourage people to come to you in the first instance and then keep coming back. Some of these include: rewards programs, loyalty cards, excellent customer service, coupons, prize draws, competitions, special days where you offer free or discounted services, flyer and brochure deliveries to local areas, have informational sessions instore, have an after hours event, have product launches and much more.

When you have people coming into your store you need to make sure that you have well trained staff to give a good impression of your business as well as setting out your shop in the best way to take advantage of store traffic. Loyalty programs and customer rewards programs are also extremely effective at getting people to come back to your business time and time again. There are many techniques that you can learn for doing this.

Using aReward programwith retail marketing is not only very effective for your business and gets results that you only dreamed of before, but you will enjoy the process of doing it too.

About the Author:

READ MORE - Tips For Using Retail Marketing In Your Business

How To Create Value In A Membership Site ?

| Friday, July 30, 2010
By Trevor Weir

Running a membership site can be a little hard particularly if it appears that your members are leaving faster than they are coming in. However, while this is certainly one of your key issues, your members have a different problem and that is, quite frankly a perception of value for their time and or money.

Creating huge value is very important if you want to get members and keep those paying members. Everyone likes to feel as if they have gotten more than they paid for. It's true that some may not gripe about getting fundamentally good information, however this should not stop you from attempting to raise the perception bar significantly. Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising medium.

There are a couple of ways to increase this perception and one is the offer of special bonuses. These can be either announced or unannounced. Pleasant surprise offerings can be a way of letting your members know that you care. These bonuses can be resell rights or PLR products that you picked up on the side (hand's off for you!). These are quite inexpensive for you to purchase and the perceived increased value can be quite high!

Another thing you can do is offer more than one format of content. That doesn't mean you need to create new information for each form of content. For example, you could create an article, a video, and audio that all get the same basic information across, but in different formats. Having audio, video and text enables the material to find resonance with many different audience learning styles. Your chances of giving user satisfaction is much higher this way.

One of my media instructors, taught me that sometimes, contrary to what your mom told you, cheating is the best way. That wonderful video that you took has an audio track that can be re-used and re syndicated perhaps even as a podcast. Look mom, no additional work. You can then have the video transcribed in the form of text. Voil! You now have three different formats that will satisfy your members and enable them to feel as if they are getting a great bargain!

Another thing you can do is make sure your site looks professional. Some membership site owners manage to squeak by with minimalistic sites but the truth is that simple but relevant graphics and a clean easy to navigate layout will go far towards membership satisfaction.My teachers have always told me not to judge a book by its cover -- and guess what ? I rarely ever heeded that important advice. I nearly always buy books based on the excellent cover designs and though I have no hard empirical proof I suspect many others do too! When your membership site looks nice, people will likely have a better impression of it.

Try to do all of the above mentioned tips. A rule of thumb is give 10 times the monthly value and your clients won't leave.When your members are highly grateful for the information that you are providing, word-of-mouth will spread and your members will continue their membership. Remember the first 30 days are the most critical. Soon enough you'll have built this into a wonderful membership site that people are proud to be a part of.

About the Author:

READ MORE - How To Create Value In A Membership Site ?

Security System's Revenue To Increase In 2010

| Wednesday, June 16, 2010
By Dwayne Stoltzfus

According to Park Associates, leaders in research and analysis in digital living technologies, the residential burglar alarm and monitoring market is on track to increase 9 percent in 2010, and 27 percent over the next three years. This is a positive projection for the multi-billion dollar industry that took a hard hit from the economic downturn.

Home security sales across the United States took a hard hit in 2008 and 2009 primarily because the real estate market quickly tanked. A hurt economy resulted in far fewer new homes being constructed, which also resulted in fewer new customers. A widespread tightening of consumer budgets also slowed potential sales. When an existing home with an alarm system is sold, alarm companies have the chance to make two new sales. First, the homebuyer is likely to retain the existing system and become a new customer. Second, the home seller is likely to hire the alarm company to install a system within the new house. Arguably, out of the recession came an additional market sector: the fear driven consumer.

According to the Security Dealer Magazine (SDM), home alarm security systems continue to be a necessity in America's homes and businesses, even in these turbulent and unknown economic times. The proof is found in the solid numbers, showing a 6 percent growth in the monthly monitoring rate, and a 2 percent rise in the total annual revenue.

Many companies felt the effects of the global recession. There was a new increased focus on customer retention as many customers struggled to pay everyday bills. Like with any industry, those companies that prepared early, improving operation efficiencies and cost cutting, managed to weather the harsh economic storm. Recessions often force companies to think more critically about spending both time and money with respects to efficiency and profitability. They bring about new thinking and change.

The outlook for 2010 in the alarm industry remains somewhat positive. More than half of all alarm security dealers, according to the SDM, believe that after a better year in 2009, the next year will hold increased revenues. Parks Associates estimates the United States residential intrusion and monitoring market will account for more than $9 billion in 2010. Nearly 75 percent of the consumer-level spending will come from monitoring revenues ($6.7 billion), while just under 20 percent will come from hardware purchases ($1.8 billion), and 6 percent of revenues will come from installation labor ($521 million). Ultimately, the alarm industry will continue to grow and change as it looks to bounce back from an unusually poor year.

About the Author:

READ MORE - Security System's Revenue To Increase In 2010

Telephone Answering Services - How To Get More For

| Saturday, June 12, 2010
By Joseph Taylor

Managing a company is not all that simple and looking at the economic dilemma of late makes it all the more reason for a business to offer nothing but the best service to the customers. Telephone answering is the very basic requirement of a fruitful commerce however it can also be one that can take out a lot of money out of a company without even realizing it!

## Why get a telephone answering contract? Because it will help you to improve your business!

A receptionist service that is provided by an outsource firm is the perfect technique to ensure that incoming calls to your office are greeted in a proficient way.

## What is wrong with a call operator? Let me explain...

The cost for hiring a fulltime worker that is eligible for holidays, sick leaves, day offs, time offs, as well as a set of complete utensils is extremely pricey especially when many calls are still left unanswered. Cut back by getting a telephone answering service that is much cheaper as well as better customer handling!

## What advantages do I get out of it?

For a fixed charge every month, your calls will be managed by an outsourced answering service that will handle your call activities on behalf of your company using your company's identity and deliver your messages through fax, SMS or email. You also have the option to get calls transferred to you to make telephone answering easier, more economical and trustworthy ever!

## Last but not least...

A first class telephone answering service will deliver all the things as explained above at better rate compared to what you normally pay for your worker.

So, do you think your company too can benefit from using Phone Answering Service? Then find a great answering service provider now and let professionals do their job!

About the Author:

READ MORE - Telephone Answering Services - How To Get More For

4 Simple Methods To Ensure Customer Loyalty

| Monday, June 7, 2010
By Sally Thompson

It is always essential for an internet marketer to provide good service to his customers. There is no big mystery behind this. If you are running an internet based business, then it is necessary that you must redouble your customer service efforts.

No matter how you earned your JV customers, it is always important to remember that a repeat business is necessary for most of the businesses. Moreover, you should also keep in mind that customers, both new and existing can always go to your business rivals in case they feel that you don't deserve their business.

1. Give them Extra Value: Always make sure that your customers get the best of your business. Let us consider an example. Consider you have a JV business that deals with hair products and there are five other companies dealing with the same products. What could be the reason for customers to flock to your stores? Well, it may because of the free trial that you are offering ,free hair washes, complimentary samples or maybe just because you sell your products at a much lower price than your competitors. Whatever be the reason, people will always prefer you because of the extra value or care that they receive from you. Make sure you provide them with many benefits and offers and keep them satisfied in order to make them return to you for more business.

2. Responding to queries and complaints personally and promptly will help you earn a name among your customers. Will you keep your customers waiting for business in case you had a brick and motor store? You surely cannot get away with the delay habit every time.

3. You must aim for continuous improvement. Do not sell similar products always, without change. You must have variety of products and labels as well as a "wow' effect to beat your competitors and to keep your customers from being drawn from you. There must be a constant effort to improve the quality of the goods you produce. You can also look at the way your JV product is packed. If you are marketing a service, put more features into it or redesign the packaging so that you add more value to it.

4. Respect your Customers Always: Respecting your customers is the best way to gain their loyalty. Although many feel that the custom of referring to people by their last name is not in fashion now, you can bring back the custom again in your JV business. Make sure that you greet your customers with a smile. Always be sincere in attending to your customers and respect their needs. Thanking them for their business by using terms such as "we'll see you next time" or "it's been a pleasure" will make them feel extra special.

5. Offering easy access for customers to contact you is very important. People will refrain from visiting your site or purchasing from you if you do not have proper contact details. Lack of contact details will label you as a scammer. It is not possible to run a business and stay anonymous without giving some personal service to people. So people might want to contact you in some way or the other. This could bring about additional sales. Just the thought of having your contact number can transform mere visitors into paying customers. Providing good customer service should not be considered as a chore. Making small updates to your service will help you gain more sales and customers.

Always be friendly to your customers and try to sort out difficulties with a smile. Try to substitute the oft repeated phrase "have a nice day" with other informal words like "thank you for your business", "it's been a pleasure" or maybe "we'll see you next time",

Spending some time to ensure that your customer receives the best service is certainly not a waste. This could prove to be useful especially when there is a possibility of your profits being doubled.

About the Author:

READ MORE - 4 Simple Methods To Ensure Customer Loyalty

How To Survey Your Buyers And Keep Them Too

|
By Chris Green

The secret of running a good business is to find our exactly what your customers are looking for and to try and give it to them. But unless you claim to be clairvoyant, you would need some assistance in figuring out these imponderables. The simplest way, perhaps, is to ask your customers to tell you what they want. Here is how you can do that. Here are some tips you can follow:

Here are some tips to help you improve on customer service:

1. First, understand your purpose for surveying your customers. If you are a fashion designer you might be interested in latest trends and seasonal clothing that people are buying. If you are trainer, you may be looking for some feedback on a program you want to promote. If you can get your customers' views on the title, content and style of your survey, you can design your programs to suit the real needs of the customers

2. You can access three online tools that will help you build your survey online for free. In each program you just have to key in your questions and set the answers you are looking for .When you are finished, the program will direct you to a page that you can link to. These free tools are Google Docs,Survey Monkey and Free Online Surveys.

3. Regularly treat your customers to little gifts. This makes people take the effort to contact you. You need not dive away individual prizes. Just organize a contest of your choice.

4. Give them due respect

When you respect your customers you may be sure that they will come back to you. In earlier days, customers used to be referred to by last names. It isn't a bad idea to re-establish that practice in your business. Always talk to your customers pleasantly and handle their issues with a smile. And instead of the clichd terms of greeting, "have a nice day", say" thank you for your business", "we'll see you next time", or even, "it's been a pleasure".

You need loyal customers who will keep your business growing all the time. You will never regret the time and effort you spend to make sure your customers are always happy with your service.

Comments: In your survey, set aside a form for questions and miscellaneous feedback. Some of your respondents may want to leave a novel idea or suggestion and would appreciate a little box for "Any Other Comments or Great Ideas You'd Like to Share?" Free Gifts: You can think of giving some free gifts like an ebook, gift coupon or free service as an incentive to complete the survey. Make the gift accessible form the final page or just call for email addresses to send the gifts to.

About the Author:

READ MORE - How To Survey Your Buyers And Keep Them Too

New Technology For The Small Business Gift Card Or Loyalty Card Promotions

| Wednesday, June 2, 2010
By Robert MacKenzie Wallace

Out of date Loyalty Card and Gift Card software is steadily evolving into new and money making methods.The great part is that the money making and keen promotional abilities of gift card and loyalty card software are in tact and as strong as ever. The cost per swipe is down 50% and monthly fees are greatly reduced. Sometimes for as low as $40.00.

For the small business, the new technology of processing gift card and loyalty card transactions is unlimited, more flexible, and best of all the cost is more like nothing, yes nothing, for database management, processing patron information like addresses and phone numbers. The opportunities for cost efficient PC-based technology are now here. Even small iPad like terminals are available for under $60.00 for a merchant looking to increase profitability and repeat business with gift cards.

The small business has unlimited possibilities with the new technology. Custom crafted software functions can be created that allow you to offer courtesy comp cards, patron refund cards, re-loadable and employee discount cards too. The ability to make your own designed promotional loyalty and gift card promotions that bring more revenue to your business are no possible.

When evaluating PC-based card systems, it's always best to keep future needs in mind. As a business grows, so will the database of customers who have cards. So it's important to choose a commercial strength software product which has database architecture sufficient to handle a large amount of data, for example, Microsoft's SQL database. There are some pc-based card systems out there which fall short in this regard and utilize desktop databases like Microsoft's Access database. Merchants generally run into problems a couple of years down the road with these types of databases.

These are the innovations now available to the small business. From Joe's Pizza to Walmart in China. Terminal, not just PC Based hardware and software is readily available for Gift Card and Loyalty Card software solutions for your business.

About the Author:

READ MORE - New Technology For The Small Business Gift Card Or Loyalty Card Promotions