Small Biz Scams: A Real Growth Industry
I can’t tell you if the S&P 500 will be up a year from now, but I can tell you that scams targeting small businesses will have increased. My hope is that our awareness and vigilance increase even more. With that aim in mind, let’s look at one scam that’s making the rounds right now and then share a few tips. School’s out and they’re out to get you! As schools are winding down, businesses are receiving phone calls from scammers posing as a local school employee. This person says that the school has lost purchasing account information and persuades the business to share the account information over the phone. Later, someone calls the business back and places an order “for the school.” Often the scammer directs the business to ship the order to a third party address. However, sometimes the scammer has the order shipped to the school. That adds one more step to the scam—the bad guy has to contact the school pretending to be the vendor and say that the business has wrongly shipped an order to the school and have them forward it to the correct address. Whenever you receive an inquiry like this, before you start to give out information, hang up and call back the number you have on file for the account. Also, in the same way, independently verify large orders. A bull market for scams Small businesses can be especially vulnerable to these kinds of scams. Another one that’s hitting entrepreneurs is the advance fee loan scam. With loans being hard to obtain, it’s easy to see why owners would take this bait. It’s a simple scheme: A loan “broker” takes an upfront fee with the promise of finding a loan for the business owner. The loan, of course, never materializes. Complaints to the FTC about this specific scam jumped from 43,000 in 2012 to 53,000 in 2013, according to NFIB.com. Giving small business “the business” is booming. Awareness and training Fortunately, there are a lot of online resources to help business owners stay one step ahead of the scammers. The federal government regularly updates a page on small business scams. Bookmark it and check it at least once a month. It will keep your senses sharp for anything fishy that comes down the pike. Share the information with your staff. And speaking of fish, make sure you and all your employees can smell a phishing email from a mile away. Usually these are emails that look like they come from an important source—like a bank or an e-commerce site—and urge you to take fast action to change a password or confirm something, otherwise your account will be deactivated. Identify the phish You and your employees need to know how to tell where questionable emails really come from. They might say Bank of America Customer Service, but when you find the real sender it will be some obscure email address. However, the words “bank-of-america” might be buried inside the email address somewhere, giving it a faint scent of authenticity. Some email software will reveal the true address by hovering over the sender’s “name.” Sometimes you need to look in the email header. Checkout this article on TechRepublic for more information. Finally, as I mentioned above, train your employees to recognize scams,...
read moreIs Your Small Business Conducting Exit Interviews?
At a recent women business owner conference, I participated in a roundtable with other women entrepreneurs to discuss common challenges. The dominant topic, which surprised me, was employee recruitment and retention. Many women expressed concern about hiring an employee, training them and then watching them leave after a short tenure. The High Cost of Employee Turnover. Employee turnover is expensive. Human research professionals estimate the cost of turnover ranges from 50 to 200 percent of an employee’s annual salary. Furthermore, an employee resignation can impact the morale and productivity of your remaining team members. Don’t you think you owe it to the health of your business to examine the true motivation behind an employee’s departure? That’s why it’s so important to conduct exit interviews. Exit interviews can be as eye-opening as customer complaints. They provide an opportunity to gather information about your company that might otherwise be difficult to obtain while someone is working for you. The interview may cover issues such as benefits, working conditions, opportunities for career advancement, the quality and quantity of the workload, and relationships with co-workers and supervisors. To conduct a successful exit interview, set aside about one half hour in a quiet, private area. Because it’s difficult to conduct an exit interview, carefully plan what questions you intend to ask and what information you’d like to obtain. Start off by making the employee feel comfortable. You don’t want to make the meeting confrontational. Questions to Ask a Departing Employee * Why are you leaving? * How would you suggest we train your replacement? * What were the most challenging issues in your job? * How would you improve job satisfaction here? * What did you like most about your job? * Were you happy with the pay and benefits? * How do you feel the business is run? * Were there any policiesthat made your job more difficult? * Would you recommend working for this business to friends? Why or why not? * What did you dislike most about your job? If you consider the employees a valuable part of your team, be sure to ask if there is anything you can do to make her want to stay. You might be surprised by what you learn, and the entire conversation may turn into a negotiation. For example, suppose an employee is leaving because she wants to be able to work from home, but she’s afraid it won’t be acceptable. You may be able to arrange a schedule that works for both of you, and the employee will be saved. However, don’t be disappointed if that’s not the case. By the time someone has made the decision to resign, it’s probably too late to do anything about it because that’s a really big decision. Putting What You Learn to Work If you aren’t comfortable doing the exit interview yourself, or if you don’t think the employee will be honest with you, consider using an outside human resources professional. In fact many small companies find this is actually more productive. Small business owners typically have close relationships with their employees and as a result, the employee is often more comfortable with someone from outside the firm. Finally, use what you learn. If you get negative feedback, don’t be defensive. Investigate the information and if you discover a problem — fix it. It may protect you from...
read moreIs Instant Messaging a Distraction or Productivity Enhancer?
Question: I have a small business with several employees and they have been using Instant Messaging on their computers. Do you think that’s okay? I’m afraid they are goofing off and not working. THE Small Business Expert: You bet I do. Instant messaging is becoming popular in the business world and the technology may actually increase workplace productivity. A study by researchers at Ohio State University and the University of California found that workers who use instant messaging on the job reported less interruptions during the workday than their fellow colleagues who did not. A lot of employers worry that instant messaging is just another distraction because workers would add it to other types of communications such as email, the phone or in-person office visits. But the researchers found that isn’t the case. Employees use instant messaging as a substitute for other forms of communication. The ease and convenience of using instant messages may increase the number of conversations your employees have, but those interactions are much briefer according to the co-author of the study, R. Kelly Garrett, assistant professor of communications at Ohio State. “The key take away is that instant messaging has some benefits where many people had feared it might be harmful,” Garrett said. “We found the effect of instant messaging is actually positive. People who used instant messaging reported they felt they were being interrupted less frequently.” To gain the benefits of instant messaging in your company, engage your employees in a discussion about proper usage of the technology. For example, suggest that instead of dropping in unexpectedly on a co-worker, use IM to determine their availability. Instant messaging can also be used to get a quick answer to a general business question. And if you get into the swing of using the technology too, you could help your employees increase their productivity by replying through IM to specific questions related to a project or task. This enables employees to keep the ball rolling instead of waiting until they can speak to you face-to-face to get the information they need to proceed with their work. Instant messaging also allows users to control how and when they communicate with coworkers. The technology gives people the ability to flag their availability or postpone responses to a more convenient time. Of course, as with any type of communication in your business, stress to your employees the importance of minimizing personal IM conversations because that can be a work distraction. Most every employee has the occasional need for outside contact during the workday. However, on-going instant message conversations with friends or family members can eat up time and impact job effectiveness. My suggestion to you is to embrace this new technology as an effective tool for your employees and start instant messaging your way to...
read moreSmart Business Owners Understand the Importance of Minding Their Ps & Qs
Editor’s Note: This essay originally ran in June 2014. We reprint it here today in recognition of Take Your Manners to Work Day. The advice is just as sound and important today as it was in 2014 because good manners never go out of style! People often make fun of me because I’m a stickler for etiquette. Whether it’s using the right utensils at a meal or writing a thank you note for a gift. Sometimes people say to me, “Oh, no one pays attention to that stuff anymore.” Really? Good manners simply make good business sense. Courtesy and respect will never go out-of-style. Just last week, a delivery service dropped off a box of scrumptious cookies with a handwritten thank you note from a business colleague for whom I’d done a favor. I was so impressed. Too many of us don’t take time to do those things anymore. Text or email isn’t the same as a handwritten note. And don’t get me started on table manners. I try to help some of my young family members learn basic table manners such as to putting your napkin in your lap when you’re seated, how to choose the right bread plate, and how you don’t cut your roll in half and cram butter in the middle. Geez! Yet as I try to teach them, I see adults at business luncheons making as many, if not more of the same mistakes. When I was Miss Missouri, I sat next to the editor of a newspaper who subsequently wrote a editorial piece about me. In his article he noted, “Even her table manners are impeccable.” People do notice. By now you may be wondering why I’m on my soap box. Well this week is National Business Etiquette Week. So here are a few tips to help you navigate today’s sometimes blurry business etiquette rules. Mobile Devices. Turn off your mobile devices when you’re dining with others or in a meeting. Unless there is a pending emergency, everything can wait until you’re through. Focus on the person you’re with, not your digital device. Respect Time. One of my pet peeves is when someone is habitually late or cancels a meeting at the very last minute. There are always exceptions, but too often it is carelessness. I was working with a woman who canceled a scheduled meeting three times in a row less than 30 minutes before. As a result, I was left with a hole in my schedule that I could have used productively. Needless to say, we aren’t doing business any longer. Brush Up On Your Manners. You don’t need to be Emily Post, but good table manners are important. Sloppy manners are an indicator of your character and professionalism. Many companies take job candidates to lunch to observe their behavior. Plus, bad manners make others feel uncomfortable. Don’t be a Weiner. I’m talking about Anthony Weiner, the former Congressman who was caught Tweeting inappropriate pictures of himself to women. Social media, the Internet, email, text messages – nothing is private so don’t kid yourself. If you don’t want the world to know, don’t put it in a written communication. You never know who is watching. Even lenders monitor social media to get a sense of your character when considering loan applications....
read more4 Ways to Increase your Small Business QR IQ
QR (quick response) codes are everywhere today. You know what I’m talking about, right? They’re the square—in the literal sense, not the “unhip” sense—squiggly cousins to the product bar codes that get scanned at checkout counters. People have QR code reader apps on their smartphones and when they are scanned the user is presented with information. Business of all sizes as well as solopreneurs are using them in a variety of creative ways. First you need to generate the QR code and one of my favorite websites for this is QR Stuff. You can easily generate QR codes there to go to a website, get a telephone number, start a Skype call, plot a location on google maps, link to an iTunes song and much more. Further, most of what you’ll want to do is free. Before I toss out some examples to prime your idea pump, you need to understand the difference between static and dynamic QR codes. A static QR code will always lead to the same place, usually a webpage. With a dynamic QR code, you can change the “landing page.” And this brings us to our first great use of QR codes. 1. A/B Testing I said A/B testing, but you can really test any number of alternate landing pages. With a dynamic QR code, the code itself stays the same but you have the power to point it to different web pages. This allows you to fine tune your landing page and test different ideas until you discover the one that gets the best results. Few of us do enough A/B testing. Dynamic QR codes can simplify the process. 2. ’1-800′ number replacement If you’ve been in business for a while you’ve probably featured a “1-800″ number in your promotional materials to encourage more responses. In many ways the QR code can fulfill a similar function. In fact they have the potential to be a lot more powerful. Instead of, “For more information, dial 1-800-bla-blah” just say, “For more information, scan this QR code.” Within a moment or two you can be feeding your prospects exactly the information you want them to have. 3. Pinterest pins The QR Stuff website doesn’t have a Pinterest QR code generator, but you’ll find one here. If you have a retail store you can use your Pinterest page to suggest pairings of items, color combinations or any idea that might help up-sell or cross-sell your products. Post your Pinterest QR code throughout your store. And since we’re on the subject of social media, you can use QR codes to direct users to any of your social media profiles. From there, you can gain some “likes” or “followers.” 3. Lead capture Use a QR code in tandem with some kind of offer to encourage prospects to give you their contact information. If you run print ads, put the QR code there. Offer a coupon or a free e-book—anything of value that will grow your prospect database. 4. Anything printed I just mentioned adding a QR code to print ads, but you can go further than this. How about a QR code in a product manual that leads to a product registration page, or a page that offers “updates”? One of my favorites is to have a QR code on...
read moreDo You Know the Real Cost of Doing Business?
There are some basic attributes of small business owners and entrepreneurs that I really admire and they make me enjoy being around them. These include traits such as: Enthusiasm, Personal sacrifice, and Optimism. In their best form, these traits can help propel a small business to great success. However, if they aren’t tempered with realism, they can also take us down a dark alley that leads to potential failure. Let me give you a couple of examples. When I was first growing my Internet business, I remember a conversation I had with a friend. I was about a year and a half into my project and I proudly told her that we were already profitable. With one simple question, she cut to the quick: “Are you paying yourself a salary at fair market value?” She continued, “If you aren’t paying yourself a salary, you aren’t really profitable because you’re still funding the business.” Sacrifices are costs She was right. It is very easy for enthusiastic and optimistic entrepreneurs to overlook the personal sacrifices they are making and misjudge the actual status of their startups. You might label not taking a fair salary “sweat equity,” but holding sweat equity in a business that can’t show a profit is not an enviable position. Here’s another example of failing to face the real cost of doing business. An acquaintance of mine had been in the mail order catalog sales business for many years. When e-commerce started to bloom, he decided it was the future and that it would be easy for him to start selling on the Internet. After all, with the catalog business, most of the infrastructure was already in place. He had a warehouse, shipping, customer service, writers, a graphic artist and everything else required to get products to customers. Out with the old! He developed great enthusiasm for the e-commerce side of the business and waning enthusiasm for the mail-order side of the business. He allowed his web sales to essentially “piggyback” on the existing business. For some time he kept charging overhead to the mail order business, giving his new pet project a “free ride.” Even though this guy is a very savvy accountant, he let his optimism for the eventual success of his new venture blind him to the true cost of running an e-commerce division. The mail-order business soon died. Could it have survived if the owner hadn’t abandoned it for a younger, prettier business model? I don’t know. The e-commerce business never worked out either. Moral of the stories: Don’t rush into an exciting new business venture with your eyes wide shut. Be optimistic, enthusiastic and willing to sacrifice—but also be a...
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