By Maxine McBride    

If any aspect of life at the office makes workers elicit a feeling of dread, it’s the countless number of meetings they must endure. Today’s businesspeople spend at least 25% of their working hours in meetings, and the higher you rise in the company, the more meetings you attend. People generally dislike meetings, but done right, meetings can be productive and even fun.

Here’s how to make the most of them—whether you are an attendee or the leader.

1. Arrive five minutes early. Get everything organized before hand, including your papers, reference materials, and technology. Say hello to each person in the room and others as they join.

2. Prepare. Preparation is the key to being a good meeting leader and participant. Give all attendees an agenda 24 hours prior to the meeting. This will allow them the time to think about the meeting’s purpose and discussion items.

3. ‘De-connect.’ It is inconsiderate to ignore the meeting while you catch up on your e-mail or play on your iPhone. If you must have a phone with you, put it on vibrate. Don’t check e-mail. Don’t text. And don’t use your phone as a clock; wear a watch. If you must take a call during a meeting, let the group know at the beginning of the meeting you have an important call that may come. Seat yourself at the door so you can leave quietly.

4. Start by ending. If you are leading the meeting, start by stating what time the meeting will end. Use the agenda to stay on track.

5. Take action. At the end of the meeting confirm tasks that need to be completed. Schedule individual or group follow-up meetings and discuss contingency plans as needed. After you leave the meeting, immediately take action and follow through on assigned tasks. If you were taking meeting notes, distribute them within 48 hours after the meeting.

6. Be aware of facial expressions. Seven universal emotions are hardwired into human beings—surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, happiness and contempt. Since your face is what most people see when you are in meetings, learn more about your facial expressions and how to work with them. If you are unable to control your facial expressions, you are an open book to others in the room.

7. Watch body language. The language of the body is another important element to master for meetings. Here are some gestures you will want to use in your next meeting to convey your thoughts physically. “Yes” gestures include open palms, forward leaning, smiling, direct body orientation, enhanced eye contact and head nodding. “No” gestures include folded arms, tapping or fidgeting, hand holding up the chin or hand over the mouth, hands on the knees, constant eye movement and squinting, shaking your head, and a scowl. “Maybe” gestures include taking a sip of a drink, biting the tip of eyeglasses, cleaning glasses, scratching of the head and chin stroking.

These are just a few suggestions for mastering the art of corporate meetings. Remember that preparation and participation are the biggest factors that will make or break your next meeting.

Maxine McBride is the president of Clockwork Marketing Services, Inc., a full-service marketing firm She can be contacted at 904-280-7980 or at www.clockworkmarketing.com

By Steve Waterhouse   

Experts say the economy is going through a warming trend. Consumers are starting to spend more, but not enough for companies to justify adding staff. So, to meet increasing demands, you have to know how to get more out of your existing workforce. 

The problem is simple: You can’t do more with less if the “less” aren’t better than they were before. Trying to squeeze more out of the same employees, using the same methods, will only leave you frustrated.

Smart managers know that by working with employees more effectively, they can drive up sales and productivity, without expanding their staff  or burning out their current teams.

Unfortunately, employees are individuals, and each person responds to a different type of management style. This means that you cannot improve your company’s performance by using the same style for all employees.

How to treat whom? That’s the secret. Let’s look at an overall performance-improvement strategy as well as one for the sales department, which is (of course) the group who boost your top line.

An overall strategy

Remember that not every employee learns, becomes motivated, and responds to incentives the same way. Five changes to your leadership style can get more out of your employees, no matter their job function.

• Communicate better. Managers typically think their communication efforts are better than they really are. Here are some simple tips on improving your employee communications: Spend one-on-one time with each employee at least once a week. Never use e-mails for important information. Be open to receive constructive criticism. If you let your team offer suggestions (without fear you will chew them out or put them down), they will be more likely to listen to what you have to say.

• Improve the work environment. Studies have shown that employees who are happy at work perform better. Regularly do things (which don’t have to be expensive) to make the work environment both interesting and rewarding. For example, order pizza for your employees every Friday or run simple contests at work with a gift card or movie tickets as the prize. Whatever incentive you use, make sure it is something that is enjoyable to employees and that they are motivated to participate.

• Show appreciation. Employees want to feel appreciated and know that they are making a difference. Reward employees for jobs well done by sharing customer appreciation statements with them, showing them the pride you have in their work, and displaying their positive results for all other employees to see. If employees take pride in their work, they will consistently deliver better results.

• Avoid burnout. Burnout often occurs when stress is high and/or employees work at the same things without learning anything new. Preventing burnout in employees is not a matter of giving your employees less work (although that may reduce stress). It’s a matter of allowing for balance between work and home.

Employees who work seven days a week and have no time for leisure burn out quickly. Encourage your staff to do things outside of work that they find enjoyable, and provide the opportunities to do them.

• Be flexible. One of the biggest motivators you can offer employees is flex time. If you properly recognize that they have lives outside of work, you should provide reasonable flexibility to their schedules. Understand that their personal life is a priority, and at times, they should be able to work around it.

Productivity improvement for sales

The productivity of your sales department is a leading indicator of performance. A large disparity between your best and worst sales person means your managers are reaching only part of the team.

Three simple changes in the way you and your sales managers deal with your sales team can go a long way in improving their productivity.

• Get out of the way. Your sales team should focus on what they do best— selling. Filling out long reports or answering customer service calls takes away from making sales. Managers should do some of these tasks themselves, or hire support staff to handle them, so that sales people can sell.

• Give good leads. Any sales person will produce better results if they are given better leads. Create more effective advertising and marketing campaigns or consider hiring telemarketers to develop qualified leads. These things will increase the chances that each prospect your sales team approaches is a good fit for your product or service. Then they can close the deal.

• Support. Support. Support. Be there for your sales team to help them close opportunities. It’s the job of every manager and business owner to be the one to do everything that’s needed to make the final sale happen. Don’t rely on your salespeople to do everything and then criticize them when they fail. Instead, step in as early as possible and give as much help as they need.

By including these principles in their sales-improvement strategy, one biotech company increased its sales by 44% over two years. Restructuring the way in which managers and their sales team work together can produce dramatic results.  

Making these simple changes to your management style will increase sales and improve productivity from your employees. You will also gain their respect and loyalty.

Steve Waterhouse is president of Jacksonville-based Predictive Results (www.predictiveresults.com), a division of PI Worldwide. Predictive Results uses behavior and personality assessments to determine the best ways to improve employee performance, strengthen manager-employee relationships, and make hiring decisions. he can be reach at 904-269-2299, ext. 102.   

SIDEBAR

Customer-focused selling

Gaining new customers costs more than keeping current ones. There are five steps of customer-focused selling that sales people can use to help build long, lasting relationships with customers.

1. 1.      Be open. Build trust and credibility with customers.
2. 2.      Investigate. Identify a customer’s needs.
3. 3.      Present. Articulate the value you can bring customers.
4. 4.      Confirm. Agree to move forward with the sale.
5. 5.      Position. Create a customer for life.

By Joe Palermo    

Does the thought of preparing your business tax return leave you with an uneasy feeling? Then do not wait to the last minute to get all your documents organized. Block out time and begin the process of gathering and organizing all of your financial documentation of all business-related expenses.

Some expenses are deductible and are applied in their entirety to lower your tax bill. Other expenses are capitalized, which means a portion of them are recovered over time. And some—personal expenses—do not affect your tax bill. Unfortunately, the IRS does not allow deductions for personal expenses, such as personal living costs or personal use of your automobile. (However, if a cost is both personal and business and can be broken down with documentation, the business portion can be applied.)

Your accountant will need documentation on the following types of expenses:

• Ordinary and necessary business expenses. This is a broad category of costs incurred to run your business. They include a number of different types of expenses, including employee pay; retirement plans; rent expenses for your business property; interest charged on money you borrowed for business activities; various state, local and foreign taxes directly attributable to your business; insurance for your business; and office expenses as part of operating costs.

• Cost of goods sold. If you manufacture products or purchase goods for resale, you must generally value the inventory at the beginning and end of each tax year to determine the cost of goods sold, which is used to figure gross profits for the year by subtracting the cost of goods sold from your business’ gross receipts.

As you prepare for tax preparation, collect information on the cost of products or raw materials (including freight), storage, direct labor costs (including contributions to pensions or annuity plans) for workers who produce the products, and factory overhead expenses.

• Capital expenses. Capital expenses fall into three general categories business start-up costs; business assets; and improvements. Expenses incurred in these areas are not deducted; however, they are capitalized to help reduce your tax bill. In other words, you may b able to recover a portion of the amount you spent on a capital expense through depreciation, amortization, or depletion.

Joe Palermo, CPA, is a partner in B2B CFO and can be reached at 925-548-3395 or jpalermo@b2bcfo.com.

 SIDEBAR 1

What kind of documentation do you need?

• Bank deposit slips

• Invoices

• Credit card charge slips

• Form 1099

• Canceled checks

• Account statements

SIDEBAR 2

Prepare for 2010 taxes now

To make tax preparation easier in 2010, take these steps now:

1. Set up and maintain a file for each vendor and file paid invoices.

2. Establish a file for each customer.

3. Complete bank reconciliation for each month; never get behind.

4. Prepare financial statements each month.

5. Review the financial statement each month with your accountant or business advisor

By Dawn Josephson    

Most salespeople have great ideas, but when it comes to putting those ideas on paper for their prospects, they ramble on for pages and quickly lose their readers’ interest.

But with the proliferation of e-mail and sales-oriented web sites, writing skills are of paramount importance in today’s business landscape. In fact, when your written documents get to the point quickly and effectively, you will turn more prospects into clients, thus increasing your bottom line.

Here are the five rules of written sales communications that all salespeople need to know. Master them and watch your sales figures soar.

1. Know the specifics of your audience. Just as you would tailor your message depending on whether it was going to employees versus prospects, you also need to tailor your message to your clients’ demographics.

For example, if you’re writing promotional materials for your product or service, and the majority of the people who do business with you are older, well-established professionals, you’ll want to highlight the product or service’s safety features, reliability record, or guarantee. However, if your main clientele is primarily younger Gen Y types, you’ll want to emphasize your product or service’s trendy image, quick results, or easy to use and understand features.

Do a survey of your most loyal customers to determine which demographic gives you the most business. Also, keep track of those who visit or call your business, even if they don’t buy from you. Really get to know who walks through your doors, find out what’s important to them, and then tailor your message appropriately.

2. Organize your material according to the way your reader thinks about the subject. Not everyone thinks like you. So, just because you want your message to be organized one way does not mean your customers would have it that way.

For example, one company created a free informational booklet about its product and organized it so that the product’s most popular features appeared first. When customers still asked questions that were clearly answered in the text, the company was stumped. Why weren’t its customers reading the booklet?

After interviewing some of their customers, company managers discovered that their customers found the booklet’s organization confusing; they wanted to see the features explained alphabetically, not in the order of most popular.

The better you know who your clientele is, the better you can organize your information to meet their needs. Get inside their heads and discover how they think about your product. Do they typically want to know bottom line price first, and then want to know the features and benefits? Do they tend to think testimonials are more important than facts? When you understand how your customers think about your product, you can more easily present your information in a way that’s logical to them.

3. Write to express, not to impress. The more successful a salesperson is, the more often he or she thinks that big words and long documents impress people. In reality, just the opposite is true. People who try to write with the hope of impressing others with their knowledge accomplish only one thing—they lose the reader!

Examine each marketing piece you write and distill its core message or purpose down to one or two sentence. If you can’t do that, then your piece is not focused. If that’s the case, then go back to each paragraph within the piece and try to condense each down to one or two sentences. String those new sentences together, and then pinpoint your marketing piece’s purposes. That’s the core message you want to express! Rewrite the piece with the core message in mind, using common, everyday language. Remember: True genius happens when you can explain your idea in such a way that a five-year-old child can understand it.

4. In messages containing both good and bad news, give the bad news first. At some point, every salesperson will have to deliver bad news to a customer. Whether a particular feature isn’t available in their favorite product or the customer’s interest rate will be higher than expected, occasional bad news is a fact of life. Whenever you communicate bad news in writing, state it first, and then counter it with a bit of good news.

For example, in a follow-up email to a prospect you could write, “After checking with our warehouse, I discovered that the Widget 2000 doesn’t come in red. It does, however, come in the larger size you requested and you can have it delivered by Friday.” By ending with the good news, you take the sting off the bad news and leave your reader with a positive image.

5. Write colloquially when appropriate. People like to read documents that sound as if the message is coming from a real person, not a formally trained Ivy League scholar. If you write too formally, you’ll quickly lose your reader. Have you ever reread your own writing and said, “It sounds all wrong!”? That’s because the tone of your writing was likely wrong. Determining your tone is important, because a follow-up letter should not have the same tone as web copy.

Most salespeople try to use an excessively formal tone in all their writing as a way to show their expertise. But realize that excessive formality often comes from a writer who is insecure with his or her authority. By using an overly formal tone—complete with many large words, long sentences, and technical terms—the writer attempts to mask his or her insecurities. Most prospects don’t want to do business with someone who is insecure, so keep the tone of your writing colloquial and approachable.

The more effectively you write, the more business you’ll gain. So no matter what you’re writing—whether it’s a sales letter or a brochure—always keep the five rules for effective written sales communication in mind. Your ability to write clearly and succinctly will make your sales pieces stand out and will enable you to win the deal.

Dawn Josephson, the Master Writing Coach (www.masterwritingcoach.com) has been helping business leaders write better to earn more since 1998. She is the author of Write It Right: The Ground Rules for Self-Editing Like the Pros and Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books. Contact her at dawn@masterwritingcoach.com].[/private

By Mary Fisher    

When times get tough, the tough start marketing. That’s especially true in challenging economic times. If you don’t market now, the sad truth is that you may be out of business. But, marketing costs money, so it is critical to do it strategically by focusing on tactics that will strengthen your competitive advantage.

Here are 20 few tips to achieve that goal:

1. Create a simple marketing plan. Use the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) so that it is manageable. At the same time, make sure it targets your audience, fits your budget, and includes a method to measure results.

The key to great marketing (on a budget or not) is to communicate the benefits of your products and services effectively. Put some fresh bait on your advertising hook and explore every avenue — advertising, public relations, brochures and other print marketing material, the Internet and all its possibilities, social networking, billboards and other outside media.

A wise move would be to hire a professional to help you. (You are an expert in your business; you aren’t expected to be a marketer—just as you aren’t expected to be a CPA or an attorney, unless that’s your profession.) But, if you cannot afford to hire a marketing professional, then do one for yourself. You can find marketing-plan templates online. Look at your calendar, determine the slow times, and market to fill those slow times at least a month in advance. Fill every week with some type of marketing effort.

Remember: You don’t have to do everything in the plan all at once and, in many cases, you can implement some of the tactics yourself, at no cost

2. Communicate with your existing client base. Find out how your customers are doing and see what you can do to help them stay on course. Ask how you can help, and ask for a testimonial.

3. Ask for specials from your local advertising avenues. These include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards).

4. Advertise consistently and frequently. In print advertising, run a minimum of three to four ads consecutively. If you cannot afford three large ads, run one larger ad and scale down the size for the others. Instead of running every issue, run every other issue.

5. Update your Web site. Add timely articles. Consider adding a blog. Keep your site current. Making small changes to your Web site will help bring it up higher on the search engines.

6. Do search engine optimization (SEO). How does your Web site rank online? If it is not ranking well, hire a professional to bring it up higher. This is not an expense that will break the bank. Successful optimization will bring in more business without the need to hire additional salespeople.

Do not list your Web site on paid “link farms;” this will hurt your rankings. Google looks for an unnatural number of back links to your site. Too many at once will ban you from Google. Page titles, subheads, bulleted lists, and keyword-rich copy are most important.

7. Do social Internet marketing. This has become increasingly important. It is free. Establish a few online accounts for your business, including Linkedin.com, Plaxo.com, Facebook.com, Merchantcircle.com, YouTube.com, Twitter.

Put your Web site on each source. (This will help your search engine ranking.) Reach out and touch old customers and friends through these sources. Ask a colleague to “make an introduction” through LinkedIn. Ask clients to post a recommendation for you or your business. Business people are closing sales with social marketing.

8. Focus on your niche market, instead of every market. People like to buy from specialty providers, and you can actually have several niche markets.

9. Network at professional organizations. Get involved and volunteer to give presentations. Groups such as the Small Business Center, Women Business Owners of North Florida, Beaver Street Enterprise Center, Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida, Rotary Club, and the Chamber of Commerce are always looking for good speakers with interesting topics.

10. Enhance your image. Use your storefront to draw attention to your business. Update your signage or add a bright flag or something distinctive outside your business.

11. Send HTML-rich e-mail blasts. Use this inexpensive, quick marketing tool to send short, easy-to-read messages that offer specials and other items of interest.

12. Update your telephone on-hold script. You have a captive audience. Use it to inform your customers of new services or products.

13. Send press releases to the media. The news media is begging for stories. Look in the newspaper and magazines and determine which writer is suited for your type of story.

If you are not a writer, rough out a story and have a writing professional finish the work for you. Then send your press release to your clients as well as the media, by snail mail, regular e-mail, or as an e-mail blast. And add it to your Web site.

14. Offer an easy payment plan. Let your clients pay over several months or pay the invoice on a credit card. If you don’t take credit cards, and don’t want to pay a monthly fee, consider taking credit cards through Google Checkout or PayPal. You can send an invoice with either system. You will pay the service about 3%, but don’t have a recurring monthly fee that most merchant service accounts charge.

15. Build a large database of prospects on your Web site. Run promotions, sales, or discounts, or give away important downloadable information on your Web site. But ask the recipient for a little information to get it: Name, e-mail address, and phone number. Then use this information to do an e-mail blast, or follow up with a phone call.

A word of caution: Be selective with your mass e-mails. Only send to people who would have interest in your product, or they may opt out.

16. Barter your services. You may find a business partner who is willing to trade services or products for yours. Even a partial trade and partial cash payment is still a nice incentive.

17. Ask for referrals from business associates. Tell them, “I need your help.” Be specific about your needs to make sure get the right referrals.

18. Pay a commission for referrals. Consider paying a commission to related businesses for referrals. A 5% to 10% commission is a good incentive.

19. Choose a mentor. Find an individual who is successful and well connected who can help you, and you can help him or her. Ask for help.

20. Fish in your own pond. Locally-owned businesses produce local jobs, tax receipts, and charitable donations for your community. If you find something online at a better price, ask your local vendor to match the price. For every $100 spent in a chain store, $14 goes back into the local economy. For a locally owned business, $45 goes back into the economy.

Remember, in times like these, it pays to sharpen your image. Bait your advertising hook with a multitude of clever marketing techniques, and get ready to reel in the big ones.

Mary Fisher is owner of Mary Fisher Design, www.maryfisherdesign.com, which provides comprehensive advertising, graphic design, public relations, and sales and marketing solutions to a wide range of companies. She can be reached at mary@maryfisherdesign.com or 904-398-3699.

Collaborating with another business can benefit both of you    

By Paul Arrington    

When Jacksonville consultant and motivational speaker Zelda Greenberg wanted a venue to launch her latest book, The Art of Bouncing Back, she approached Kris Chislette at The Grape, an establishment known for its wines and gourmet bistro. Together they developed a cross-promotional marketing strategy that resulted in a mutually successful book-signing and wine-tasting event. 

Cross-promoting allowed them to tap into each other’s databases and collectively reach potential customers beyond what would have been possible through separate marketing efforts.

Cross-promotional marketing belongs in the toolkit of—and can be successfully applied by— just about every small business. Although many smart owners have responded to current economic challenges by adopting good business practices such as closely monitoring margins, keeping on top of receivables, trimming expenses, reducing payroll hours, and tightly managing inventory, they continue to underutilize cross-promotional marketing as an efficient way to grow their businesses—especially during a soft economy.  

A win-win strategy

So, what is cross-promotional marketing, and how can it improve your bottom line? Cross promotional marketing is the creation of win-win results through increased visibility, good will, and cost savings that are possible when enterprises share resources to target a common market.

Big companies cross promote all the time. Consider these examples:

• Redbox video rentals. The video-rental company places its “boxes” outside of fast-food and drugstore outlets;  

• Shell–Winn Dixie partnership. The grocery chain is offering fuel rewards for shopping in its stores;

• Smart phones and wireless companies. Wireless carriers promote specific cell phones to attract users; and

• Fast food chains in travel centers and superstores. Stop for gas along the Interstate and grab a burger of fried chicken from your favorite fast-food chain, or stop for a snack while shopping in a big-box store.

Although these large ventures are capital-intensive and therefore cost-prohibitive to small businesses, small businesses can find great success through creative cross marketing. Essentially, good cross promoting requires following three steps:

1. Understand your customers. Do an intensive analysis of who they really are and what makes them tick.

Consider: What are their ages, gender, income levels, marital status and addresses? What are their values? What do they read and how do they get their information? What leisure activities interest them? Where do they spend their money when they are not with you? What products or services do they need that are related to what you provide? 

To find the answers to these questions, use surveys and focus groups to research customer trends in your industry, including possible trade association reports.

2. Identify businesses that target similar customers. Make a list of businesses whose customers share some of the same characteristics as your customer base. Be creative. For example, a health club might find a restaurant offering a health conscious menu and serving a similar income level of clientele to be an ideal potential cross-promotional partner.

To identify those businesses, consider: Are many of your customers movie goers? Do they frequent art galleries? Engage in outdoor sports? Support charitable causes?

3. Find benefits for everyone involved. When you discuss cross-promotional marketing with a potential partner, make sure that there will be something there for everybody. For example: Begin with a contest, using each other’s products or services as the prizes. Each business would benefit from the contact list generated from those who enter the drawing.

Other suggestions: A “this week only” promotion or discount coupons for products and services of both companies; display space in each other’s stores;, back links to each other’s Web sites; joint advertising; and giving customer loyalty rewards using your partner’s products or services. 

For many businesses a cross-promotional social networking strategy can be highly rewarding. Chislette of The Grape believes that a Facebook strategy promoting The Grape as well as Greenberg’s book contributed significantly to the success of their effort.

Paul Arrington is a Certified Business Analyst and Micro Enterprise Development Director at the University of North Florida’s Small Business Development Center in Jacksonville. He can be reached at p.arrington@unf.edu or through the SBDC Web site, www.sbdc.unf.edu.

SIDEBAR

Partnering with nonprofits

Partnership with a nonprofit organization can be a great way to address a societal need while also satisfying the key purposes of cross-promotional marketing—increased visibility, good will, and cost savings. Here are some tips:  

• Make a good ‘customer’ match. Most nonprofits have multiple key stakeholders or “customers,” which may include their cause recipients, their members, and their individual and institutional donors. Apply the same rules to find a nonprofit partner as you would a for-profit partner.

• Find a good values match. Research the mission and reputation of a potential nonprofit partner: Is it a good match for your values and the message you want to send?  

• Consider in-kind methods of partnering. Think of whether donating employee hours, a percentage of receipts, space for an event, or products or your services might work better for your business promotionally rather than donating cash.

• Go all out. When making an in-kind donation to a nonprofit, do it well, or not at all. A contribution of a less than impressive bouquet by a florist or a skimpy food platter by a catering firm may well do more harm than good when it comes to developing good will with a nonprofit’s stakeholders.[/private]

If you have employees, you probably need this insurance    

By Deb Eveson    

You have a lot invested in your employees; they are your most important assets. If they are unable to work because of a work-related injury or illness, not only do they suffer, but you suffer as well: All the time and training you have invested in them is lost, and you may have to train someone else to replace them while they recover.

One way your employees are protected is through workers’ compensation. Here is a primer on the basics of workers’ comp in Florida:

• What is workers’ compensation? Workers compensation is an insurance program that pays employees who are injured on the job. Payment includes benefits for all medical costs related to the injury and disability benefits if the employee is unable to return to work. But workers comp is not only for employees: It also protects you—the employer—from litigation relating to workplace injuries.

• Who must have it? Any non-construction Florida employer with four or more full or part-time employees must provide workers’ compensation insurance. Note, though, that although you are not required to carry workers’ comp insurance if you have three or fewer employees, you could still incur liability for covering claims from an injury or illness that is job-related.

If your company is in the construction industry and employs even one full or part-time employee, you must carry workers’ comp insurance. There are also specific requirements for farmers and state and local governments which may fall outside of these guidelines.

Several types of employees are not covered under workers’ comp insurance: domestic servants; workers on small farms employees that employ five or fewer regular employees and fewer than 12 other employees at one time for seasonal labor not exceeding 30 days; professional athletes; sports officials for interscholastic sports and public or private non-profit amateur, sports events; labor under sentence of a court to perform community service (DUI law); state and county prisoners unless working for private employees; and employees covered by the Defense Base Act

• What kinds of injuries are covered? Workers’ comp claims are paid based on the direct result of workplace activity, whether it is an injury, disease, or accident from the job. Claims can result from a variety of causes, such as disease contracted as a result of exposure on the job, accidental injury on the job, or other injuries from a work-related activity.

• Who counts as an employee under workers’ comp? An owner or operator may not be counted as an employee under certain circumstances. For example, a sole proprietor or a partner is considered to be the employer, not an employee. These individuals, therefore, are not provided benefits under the law. However, the law provides them the opportunity to elect to be covered by filing the proper election form with the Division of Workers Comp.

An officer of a corporation is an employee if the officer performs services for the corporation for pay. When the officer is considered to be an employee under this rule, the law allows the option to exempt the officer from coverage by filing the proper notice with the Division. Corporations in the construction industry can exempt no more than three officers and those officers must own a minimum of 10% of the corporation. For non-construction corporations, there is no limit to the number of exemptions allowed.

• How can you save money on premiums? The standard rate charged for workers’ comp is calculated on every $100 of payroll, based on risk classifications of your operations. A manufacturing environment, for instance, has a different rate from a business operating in an office environment.  

Certain modifications may apply when premiums reach certain levels. The Experience Rating Plan, which is mandatory for risks exceeding certain annual premiums, recognizes the prior loss experience of the risk and applies either a debit for unfavorable experience or a credit for better-than-expected loss results.

All aspects of rating are administered and enforced by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The Council files rules and rates with the State Insurance Department, establishes classifications, promulgates experience modifications, and audits all policies for correctness under a rule requiring that a copy of every policy issued must be filed with the Council. 

• Any other requirements? Florida requires employers to place two posters in a prominent place where employees can easily access them. “The Broken Arm Poster” alerts employees of their rights under Florida law; you must place your insurer’s information on the poster. “The Anti-Fraud Notice” warns employees about workers’ compensation fraud.

You are also required to report all job-related injuries to the state within seven days of occurrence. 

• What’s the best rule for dealing with workers’ comp? Think safety first in preventing accidents and injuries to protect your employees and keep your claims and your premiums down. If you have employees, you need workers’ comp coverage.

Find an insurance agent you are comfortable with who has experience with workers’ compensation insurance. Use your business network to get referrals. Choose the agent with the experience and service delivery that best suits your business needs.

To download a copy of Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Guide, click here.

Deb Eveson is agency owner of Eveson Insurance Agency (www.allstate.com/debeveson), 12525 Philips Hwy, Suite 206 Jacksonville, FL 32256. She can be reached at 904-400-6450 or DebEveson@Allstate.com.

SIDEBAR

How can you minimize exposure to claims?

Since claims are made because of accidents and injuries, take proactive steps to reduce the opportunity for injury. In other words, think and “preach” safety—to everyone in your employment, whether they are in a job that has inherent risks or in a “safe” job, such as working in an office environment.

Consider the type of activities prevalent in your industry, and those that create an environment for potential hazards for employees. Involve your employees; they know their jobs better than anyone else. And, don’t tolerate short-cutting safety to get a job done faster.

Here are some suggestions to get your started:

• Vehicle safety. Provide a vehicle safety course. Conduct a safety checklist. Install backup alarms on trucks. Consider speed governors.

• Office environment. Involve employees in reporting safety issues they uncover in the workplace, such as slippery floors; ask employees to close desk drawers to prevent bruised shins and worse; don’t allow the use of extension cords to reduce fire risk.

• Keyboarding. Tell employees to stretch and move from their desks every few hours. Provide ergonomic chairs; train employees how to use them properly. Set up work stations for proper keyboard use.

• Manufacturing. Thoroughly train employees on how to safely operate equipment. Issue safety glasses and hearing protection and enforce their usage. Convene a safety committee; get employees involved in identifying and eliminating risks. Run regular safety inspections; correct problems immediately.

By Cathy Bracken    

A commonsense business rule is “make it easy for customers to pay.” Credit cards do that. So do other non-cash forms of payment, such as debit and purchasing cards. All of these things increase customer satisfaction and contribute to increased business volume.

These electronic non-cash transactions are processed through a merchant account, facilitated through  point-of-sale (POS) solutions,  only offered by merchant services providers.

The goal of a merchant account is to facilitate fast, reliable cash flow. Almost all types of businesses—even nonprofits— can qualify to have a merchant account, provided you have a business checking account and satisfy the processor’s underwriting credit guidelines. The size of your business really doesn’t matter.

To decide what kind of merchant account or POS solution is right for you consider asking the merchant services provider these questions:

• How do you want to process transactions? It is important to select the right POS solution(s) for your business. For example, a brick-and-mortar business may best benefit from a traditional retail POS merchant account—using a swipe terminal. But if that business also conducts transactions on the Internet, through mail order or telephone sales, or on-the-go, it would need additional types of POS  solutions.

Hint: Work with a merchants services professional who will customize a POS solution to meet your unique needs. There is no “one size fits all” solution in merchant accounts.

• Do you want to lease,  or buy your POS solution? Talk with your merchant services provider about the advantages and disadvantages of owning vs. leasing POS solutions.

• What do you get for the money? POS solutions come with fees. Ask questions to get the full picture about the services and their costs. Is there a set-up fee? Monthly service fees? You have a right to understand fully your merchant account services, how the transaction process will work for you, when you will be funded, and who you are paying each month.

• What are your risks and responsibilities? Ask about your responsibilities in having a merchant account, and find out if there are some types of transactions that carry a higher  risk  of chargebacks and what you must do if you process these types of transactions.

• What other services can be added to the merchant account? Most merchant service providers offer other value-added services, such as electronic check processing, as well as gift-card, specialty-card, and loyalty-card acceptance. 

• How much will a merchant account cost? The merchant account pricing options available today allow for you to be custom-fitted for services based on who your customers are and what types of cards you accept. There are three basic pricing programs— flat-rate pricing, break-out rate pricing, and interchange pass-through pricing. All three offer cost benefits, depending upon your business:

Flat-rate pricing is the most traditional type of pricing program. This pricing program is best for low processing merchants that accept only consumer credit cards. The program is the easiest to understand and reconcile on your monthly statement. It is still very popular, and the most widely marketed to date. If you are considering this type of pricing program, ask for rate detail and fine print in this pricing program to make sure it is the best fit for you.

Break-out rate pricing prices each transaction by the basic card-type categories— non PIN debit check cards, credit cards, reward cards, and commercial cards. These categories are cross-bucket into transaction types as well. Those transaction types are called qualified, mid or partially qualified, and non-qualified transactions. Depending on the processor, you may have from three to 12 different rates for Visa, MasterCard and Discover Cards in all the available categories the processor offers. Each card brand can have a different applicable rate for the card and transaction type categories.  Although it sounds complicated, this type of pricing is excellent for most merchants.

Interchange pass-through pricing prices each transaction at its base cost then adds a processing mark-up.  With more than 160 categories a single transaction can bucket into, this pricing program assures the greatest flexibility in processing venues as well as the most accurate lowest per transaction cost versus the standard averaged costing methods traditionally used.  Interchange pricing is the pricing method of choice traditionally reserved for high transaction volume merchants who accept many types of bankcards originating from several card issuing banks.

Work with your merchant services provider to create a win-win in providing the best processing services and POS solutions at a cost that makes sense for your business.

• What kind of commitment is required? Signing up for a merchant account is easy. There will be an application containing a contractual agreement, with some fine print that usually has a length of term provision and early cancellation penalties. Review the fine print carefully before signing the agreement. It’s also a good idea to inquire about the circumstances, if any, under which you may request to have fees waived.

Before your application is accepted, you will be required to provide basic business documents such as a company check, a business license, Web site(s), and marketing materials to support information provided on the merchant account application.

Merchant services are a great value to businesses. With so much uncertainty affecting businesses today, you can better prepare for future growth and prosperity by strengthening all processes within your control that are certain to yield improved cash flow. 

Cathy Bracken is the CEO of Cyberauthorize.Com (www.cyberauthorize.com), a 10-year-old local merchant services provider that services merchants nationally. She can be reached at 904-564 1228, Ext 204.

By Hal Rogers    

In bad economic times, good retirement planning is more important than ever. For personal accounts, one of the best opportunities still available comes from Individual Retirement Accounts, more commonly known as IRAs. 

Provisions for IRAs are found in the U.S. Tax Code Section 408(a).  Traditional IRAs were introduced into law in 1974 with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  Originally limited to people who were not participants in employer-sponsored plans, they became available to all taxpayers in 1981 with the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act.  The Taxpayer Relief Act brought us Roth IRAs in 1997. 

Between traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs, the traditional IRA, referred to simply as an IRA, is the more popular. However the Roth IRA is generally considered to be the more advantageous of the two. Subject to income limitations, the traditional IRA allows an account owner to take an income tax deduction for the amount of the contribution in the year of the contribution, and then earnings accumulate tax deferred.  All distributions from the account are fully taxable at the account owner’s ordinary income tax bracket. 

The Roth IRA doesn’t have income limitations on tax deductibility; Roth IRA contributions are not tax deductible.  However, in addition to tax deferral during the life of the account, for account owners who are at least 59½ and have held the account for at least five years, Roth IRAs provide completely tax-free income.

So, which is best, an income tax deduction on the contribution, or tax-free income from the entire account?  This is not difficult to determine if you ask the question a different way: “Would you rather pay taxes on the seed or on the harvest?”  The Roth IRA makes you pay taxes on the seed, but the harvest is income tax-free.

Beginning in January 2010, anyone who earns income can contribute to a Roth IRA.  Contribution limits are the lesser of: 

• Your earned income for the year, or

• $5,000 if you are under age 50, or

• $6,000 if you are age 50 or older.

What’s more important for most individuals, however, is the opportunity to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.  The advantage of the Roth IRA is that at distribution time it allows tax-free distributions for the life of the account owner, the owner’s beneficiary spouse, and even beneficiary children, grandchildren, and other heirs. 

So where’s the rub?  Funds transferred to a Roth IRA are taxable in the year of the transfer—except for funds transferred in 2010. IRS has taxes “on sale” in 2010 for taxpayers who convert to a Roth IRA.  For this year only, there are no taxes on Roth Conversions.  Instead, half the taxes on the distribution are due for the 2011 tax year (paid in 2012) and half are due for the 2012 tax year (paid in 2013). 

So, what happens if you execute a Roth conversion, and the market subsequently plummets? You have now paid taxes on account values that no longer exist.  Not to worry.  Imagine that you are in a game of Texas Hold ’em.  You have been dealt a hand that looks pretty good, and you place your bet.  But, after seeing two more cards, you discover that your hand hasn’t worked out to your liking at all.  How would you like to be able to not only fold your hand, but get your bet back?

This is exactly what the IRS allows you to do.  It is called a Roth re-characterization.  If you act within a prescribed period of time from the time you executed the conversion, you simply return the money from the Roth conversion back to a traditional IRA and file an amended tax return. The IRS will give you your taxes back.  By the way, after a prescribed period of time, the IRS then allows you to start over and do the Roth conversion again, this time at the lower account values, thus permanently reducing your taxes on the transaction.  My kind of poker!

Timing is important in these transactions; check with a financial or tax advisor who is “in the know” for details to make sure you don’t run afoul of the rules. 

Harold J. Rogers, CFP, CSA, president of Retirement Services, is a registered representative with ProEquities, Inc.  Securities offered through ProEquities, Inc., a Registered Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA & SIPC.  Information is for informational purposes and should not be construed to be specific tax, legal, or investment advice. 

By Al Bagocius    

Starting a new business, especially from your home, creates many challenges and needs for behavioral control. Going from a job situation to a self-employed endeavor, you find unlimited freedom but at the cost of not receiving a paycheck two weeks.

Working out of your home to start a new business has so many distractions that you could fail in a very short period of time.

When I started my own business, I adopted the following fail-safe system. If you incorporate it as one of your planning tools, you’ll find it will help you keep afloat and successful. The system is based on accomplishing a quota of activities that ensures success in as short a time period as possible. The quota is defined as a weekly point goal; I suggest you aim to “earn” 1,000 points each week.

Point values

To tally 1,000 points, you earn points for various types of activities:

• Phone calls, 1 point. However, you only earn that point for each call that results in talking directly to a prospect or customer.

• E-mail, 1 point. These must be directed to the prospect or customer.

• Mailing marketing information to a customer, 1 point. Because mailing is a black hole that too often gets little or no response, its point value is low.

• Account visitation, 10 points. Meeting the customer face-to-face in most businesses is so important that has a value 10 times that of other activities.

• Order entry, 33% of the dollar value of the profit. The calculation for points for order entry should only be made on profit above cost. For example, if the profit on your $1,500 order is $500, the calculation would be: 33% x $500 = $166 (that is, 166 points).

• Invoice to customer, 33% of dollar value of the profit. (Calculated the same way as for order entry.)

• Checks received from Customers, 33% of dollar value of profit. (Same as above.)

The order cycle develops in three stages: order entry, invoicing the customer, and finally cashing the check that is received from the customer. A sales mentor of mine many years ago only defined an order as one in which the customer’s check clears. How right he was.

Too often, new business owners snooker themselves with a false sense of security, counting the money made at order entry and spending accordingly. If you use the point system, however, you will track all of the components of the order cycle each week, and you will have a clear picture of how well you are doing, how well you did in the immediate past, and what you need to do in the near future.

One more thing: Along with maintaining a high activity level to earn points and ensure success, you should also find a way to give back to the community. You don’t earn points for this activity, but it will pay you pay tenfold in the long run. Consider donating products, service, or time to local organizations.

Al Bagocius is owner of A & I Consulting Group: Creative Marketing Solutions, www.aicreativepackaging.com. He can be reached at 904-367-9322 or al@aicreativepackaging.com