Archive for May 7th, 2012

DSEF & CBBB: Nickeled and Dimed – Six Things That Used to Be Free

DSEF & CBBB: Nickeled and Dimed – Six Things That Used to Be Free

Nickeled and Dimed – Six Things That Used to Be Free

By Katherine Hutt

“Our free society is turning into a fee society,” says Bankrate.com, a website that (still) offers free rate information to consumers. “Many services and goods that were once freebies now cost money.”

On its blog, the online financial newsletter notes that lots of things – like free checking, hotel pillow chocolates, and free online news – are disappearing from the marketplace. Penn State marketing professor Fred Hurvitz chalks it up to creative price increases. “You can up your basic price and include all of the service as if it’s free,” he notes, “Or you can try to keep the base prices as low as possible — and charge separately for extras.”

No-cost banking is rare, according to Bankrate’s 2011 Checking Account Survey. Even noninterest checking accounts usually are not free, and average account maintenance fees are $4.37 a month, compared to $2.49 just a year earlier. And the average fee for a noncustomer to use a bank’s ATM? A whooping $2.40.

Other small fees that hit hard:

• Most pizza chains are now charging $2-3 for delivery (and, yes, you still need to tip the driver)
• Service station often charge to us the air pumps (which means you are paying for air)
• Snacks, headphones and blankets on airplanes now cost you…even seat selection can come with a fee

For the full story, go to Bankrate.com http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/freebies-now-you-pay-for.aspx

DSEF and Council on Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) fosters honest and responsive relationships between businesses and consumers—instilling consumer confidence and advancing a trustworthy marketplace for all.

About the Better Business Bureaus
As the leader in advancing marketplace trust, Better Business Bureau is an unbiased non-profit organization that sets and upholds high standards for fair and honest business behavior. Every year, more than 87 million consumers rely on BBB Business Reviews® and BBB Wise Giving Reports® to help them find trustworthy businesses and charities across North America. Visitwww.bbb.org/us for more information.

How to Create an Effective Action Plan

How to Create an Effective Action Plan

Throughout the course of running a business, you will need to set goals for yourself along the way.  These may be related to customer service, marketing, professional development, or anything else that will contribute to the success of your business.  However, it isn’t enough to simply set a goal; you must create a plan of action that will guide you in achieving it.  For most people, a step-by-step guide that includes benchmarks and due dates is effective.  Here is a list of things to consider when creating your action plan.

  • Prepare for success. Think of an action plan like a race. Just like in a race, warm up your body and mind before you make your action plan. See yourself reaching the finish line, celebrating the win, and have a reward ready for once you complete your tasks. Successful people know they will win before they even start the race.
  • PrioritizeMost projects or goals require a multitude of steps to complete, often overlapping and dependent on each other.  As with any other aspect of business, time is of the essence, and you likely will not be able to exclusively work on this project all day every day.  For this reason, prioritize the steps included in your plan so you can work on the most imperative ones first.  Tip:  When deciding on an item’s priority level, also put the most difficult tasks at the top of the list.  This is especially important if the list includes items that you dread.  For example, if your action plan includes making follow-up calls to collect overdue payments from clients, it’s a good idea to put it near the top of the list.  Asking for money, even money owed to us, is never pleasant, so instead of procrastinating, get a task like this out of the way.
  • Break down long-term projects into smaller chunks.  If you have something that needs to be done within the next six months, for example, create more short-term checkpoints that will allow the project to be completed on time.  This way, even if you don’t get to work on it every day or even every week, you will still have a plan in place for getting it done because the tasks involved are more manageable.  If something seems too overwhelming, we tend to do nothing because we don’t know where to start.  Breaking down projects into smaller tasks will prevent this from happening.
  • Plan realistically.  Because you are the backbone of your business, you should have a very good sense of how much time you have to commit to all of your responsibilities.  Keep this in mind when writing the action plan, especially when choosing deadlines and benchmarks.  If you only give yourself three days to completely overhaul your entire filing system, you are setting yourself up for failure.  Consider not only your other business responsibilities, but also your personal ones as well.  If you are the one your family depends on to take your turn in the soccer carpool, have dinner ready when everyone comes home, or walk the dog every evening, don’t forget to factor those types of things into your day.  Planning too much in too little time will only frustrate you, add stress to your life, and even prevent you from accomplishing your goal altogether.
  • Revisit and adapt as needed.  Sometimes in life and in business, things do not play out as we had hoped or planned.  To prepare for and deal with the unexpected, take the initiative to review your action plan and change it if necessary.  Let’s say your goal was to implement online ordering by the end of the quarter.  However, your local competitor has just launched a new website that includes this feature.  You now need to go back to your action plan and re-work it so that you can get your website up and running by the end of the month so you don’t lose customers that want this convenience.  As business owners, we must always be flexible, prepared, and willing to adapt to change and unforeseen circumstances.

How do you create an action plan for your business?  Please share your ideas below!

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