The theme of our newsletter this month is preparing for the new year. And most people will spend the end of the year preparing their New Years resolutions. It is also a good time to do the same thing for your business. And, for me, I believe it should follow the same rules that I apply to myself when creating my resolutions - make them realistic and achieveable. So many times we set goals that have no chance of being realized. The same thing applies for setting business goals. For example, if

Your greatest resource is your time. - Brian Tracy Automation is the key to doing more, more accurately with the time and resources you have. Many of the tasks we are required to do  - or think that we should do - can be done in whole or in part by automation.  Automating routines frees us up to spend our valuable time on problem solving, creative endeavors or personal relationships. So, how can we automate those routine tasks? I have a few go-to tools that I highly recommend: 1.

I have not always been the most organized and productive person so I am personally fond of shortcuts and other tools to keep me on track. I love finding the shortest and easiest way to accomplish what I need to do. My list here is certainly not a comprehensive one, but I have outlined those tools I cannot do without...they are truly my top 5. Also, read to the end to learn about my newest BONUS productivity tool. I absolutely LOVE it!     5  Snagit-software

Our newsletter theme this month is productivity. This is near and dear to my heart being a process oriented person. And overly-organized to boot. I don't think it's possible to be too organized, but I do think it's possible to be non-productive. Just because I have my ducks in a row, and my piles organized doesn't mean I do not have moments of non-productivity. Emails are one place where I find myself the least productive. Since I get so much email, so much in fact that good emails get buried

If you have have not heard about it yet, you will in the future. IOT is the Internet of Things. Basically this is all the equipment, appliances and cars out there in the world that can access the internet. The reasoning behind this is a good one - maintenance of appliances and vehicles, systems to turn them on and off, etc.  However, they have now become a great back door for Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. Last week, DYN, one of the main DNS server hosting companies was down because of a

Many business consultants and books promote the theory that people buy from people they know, like and trust. It follows that to be successful, you should do things that will build your likability and trustworthiness. In this issue of our PEC newsletter, we have outlined many ways to express gratitude to your customers by keeping in touch via phone, social media, or just emails and other methods. All these methods of communication and staying in touch help build your relationship with your

Our newsletter theme this month is giving thanks (appropriate with November right around the corner). Each of us was challenged to create an article about gratitude, thankfulness, and how to say we appreciate our customers. Since I love social media, I decided to focus on that and how it can help you engage your customers and provide a way to say thanks. Companies talk all the time about maintaining loyalty from their customers but I think they tend to forget it's a two-way street.  Yes,

Successful businesses have figured out how to use their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to foster relationships with prospects and clients. Building these meaningful relationships starts with: Learning about your clients – professionally and personally through dialogue and on social media Adding pertinent data to your CRM And, finally, taking action Here are six ideas for using Act! to add a personal touch to your client interactions and show gratitude to them for their