Why Twitter?
Business Strategy July 29th, 2010
OK, the first few times you say it, you feel silly. And we’re still working out the verb forms: tweeting, twittering, twitting?
But Twitter is making an undeniable impact on our business and on many other businesses. It is changing the way we communicate with our various audiences (clients, employees, other business partners, vendors) and the rate at which communication happens. Twitter (along with other social networking tools) is leveling the playing field, allowing small businesses to market with the big guys - all in fewer than 140 characters!
Once you decide to jump in and start, here are a few pointers to help you make the most of Twitter:
- Optimize your profile: customize your background, include your website, a targeted landing page, or a blog address, so your audience recognizes your brand and knows how to contact you.
- Measure activity: lots of tools (such as Hootsuite, CoTweet, TweetDeck) are available to measure the clicks you are getting and leads that come from Twitter.
- Use search to keep an eye on competitors, relevant analysts, and thought-leaders in your industry.
- Use tweets to drive potential customers to contests, promotions, events, webinars, online content (eBooks and whitepapers) and to your blog.
- Publish helpful and educational content to position yourself as a thought-leader.
- Build a community around your company and engage with direct messages and retweets. Create discussions.
- Follow those that follow you. That’s basic Twitter etiquette.
- Use automated tools to feed to and from blogs, Facebook, or your website to streamline your posting process.
Are you using twitter? Follow Blytheco and join the conversation!
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Meet the Team - Account Executives
Uncategorized July 27th, 2010
Kelly Rayburn and Nathan Triplett members of our Customer Account Executive Team.
Blytheco’s Customer Account Executives serve as our clients’ personal advocates. Their primary purpose is to help clients take advantage of all of the Sage and Blytheco resources available to them
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Kelly
Your favorite thing about working for Blytheco: “The people I have met.”
What do you do in your spare time? “Work out, spend time with my husband and our 
two dogs, and hang out with friends.”
What’s the last book you read or movie you saw? “The last movie I saw was ‘Robin Hood’ with Russell Crowe.”
Something you can’t say no to: “Sweets!!”
Nathan
Your favorite thing about working for Blytheco: “My favorite thing about working for Blytheco is the opportunity to become a valuable resource for our clients.”
What do you do in your spare time? ”I enjoy spending time with my family, playing and listening to music, reading, traveling, and fishing.”
What’s the last book you read or movie you saw? “I just finished ‘Into Thin Air’ by Jon Krakauer.”
Something you can’t say no to: “Fishing, I’m hooked!”
They days of point-and-shoot marketing are over, as are the days when one sales approach could work for all of your company’s clients. Today’s customer is sophisticated and technically savvy. Their customer experiences with heavy hitters like Amazon and Zappos have taught them to demand information that is customized to their needs and delivered in their format of choice.
The answers on an ongoing LinkedIn discussion on the topic of selling to existing customers all boil down to one message: understand your customers. Do this by:
- Segmenting your database in a way that makes sense for your business. Whether that’s by product line, company size, industry, geography, breaking down the numbers will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses and start to provide a more custom experience for each customer interaction.
- Survey your customers. Ask them what their needs are, and how they want to receive information from you. Then act on their feedback.
- Work with your sales team. Give them the training and tools they need to discover and define customer needs, and the products they need to meet those needs. Test different approaches to see what works. Close the loop by evaluating initiatives and improving on what you have learned.
Businesses of all sizes can implement these simple steps to increase customer sales. What is your company doing?
How to get to Best In Class - Managing Regulatory Compliance
ERP July 23rd, 2010
Many companies, particularly manufacturers, are required to comply with complex regulatory requirements. Being able to deliver the data needed to demonstrate compliance without compromising efficiency can have a big impact on your bottom line.
The ERP system plays a central role in complying with government regulations. It serves as a central database for the information needed and can eliminate many manual processes around compliance.
If your business is subject to regulation, some important features to look for in an ERP system are:
- Audit Trail – the system should maintain data about system activity, and historical transaction information for several years.
- Digital Signatures – unique e-signatures are often required for audit or industry regulations, and the system should provide a framework for managing these important security tools.
- Quality Control – the system should be rules-based and allow for the implementation of inspection checkpoints throughout its processes, to ensure products conform to necessary standards.
- Security Features – the system should protect against external and internal crime, and log all user activity.
An Aberdeen Group study found that 93% of manufacturers still relying on manual processes for compliance were unable to reach “Best in Class” status. To become Best in Class, companies should rely on systems that allow them to meet regulatory requirements and that offer flexibility to adapt to changing business processes and external conditions.
Read the white paper “Managing Government Regulations with ERP: Key features to look for when selecting your new system,” or to learn more about Sage ERP X3, contact us today.
Sage ERP X3 combines all the advantages of ERP performance while maintaining simplicity, flexibility, and scalability in a fully integrated, cost effective end-to-end solution.
The Canary in Your Coalmine
Business Strategy, Events July 22nd, 2010
We had another great hour in our Summer Webinar Series yesterday. Ron Baker of the Verasage Institute spoke to the group on “Measuring What Matters Most” - how carefully choosing what to measure in your business can lead to a serious competitive advantage.
We’ve all heard “What you can measure, you can manage.” Ron quickly debunked this - if this were true, he said, we could all change our weight simply by weighing ourselves. I’ve tried - and this is definitely NOT true.
What companies need to do to improve is to identify the “canary in a coalmine” for the business. What are the indicators that are most important to your customers, that create major shifts in customer mindset or intention? Those are the measures to focus on.
Most business still rely on “lagging” vs. “leading” indicators. Lagging indicators are measured in the past, like financial statements or sales reports. Leading indicators are predictive. They combine measurements with theories or judgments about what customers think is important (NOT what you assume is important), and are much more useful. But they are also more difficult to identify, and to measure.
He gave the great example of Continental Airlines. They identified three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that were vitally important to customer behavior and thus to their overall performance.
- On-time performance
- Lost luggage
- Customer complaints
By focusing on measuring these three items, Continental CEO Gordon Bethune was able to turn around the company’s dismal performance. They eventually won more JD Power awards for customer service than any other airline worldwide.
How does your business identify its KPIs? Start with your customers. Ask them what is important to them. It’s not an easy process, but it’s an important step in making your business perform better.
What are you measuring in your business?
Join us for more of the Summer Webinar Series. See upcoming events, recordings of past events, and speaker info here.
Giving it away for FREE - crazy or creative?
Business Strategy July 21st, 2010
“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing”
Hindu Proverb
Back in the go-go days pre-recession, you would have thought someone was nuts to give away their products or services for free. After all, when Mama needs a new pair of Manolos, free just isn’t going to get it done.
Those days are gone, and so is the reluctance to give stuff away. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but for a few visionary companies, giving away services to good clients has been a way to adapt to the new economy and the new business models it requires.
Why do it?
- Karma. It builds goodwill.
- Marketing. It keeps your business in the public eye and in your clients’ minds.
- It keeps employees busy and motivated.
- It helps out people who need a hand.
At Blytheco, our 1,000 Hours initiative is about giving it away. For our 30 year anniversary, Blytheco is giving away 1,000 Hours to produce $1,000,000 in revenue for clients and $100,000 for charity. Our goal is to create $1,000,000 worth of measurable results in our clients’ businesses with our free consulting work, and to generate $100,000 in donations from our business community to our selected charities.
We’re already getting some interesting projects lined up.
Interested? Want to apply for your hours? Click here.
And try giving something away today.
Sales Tax Collection Becomes Urgent for Cash-Strapped States
Business Strategy, ERP, Events July 20th, 2010
As states continue to tighten their belts in response to dwindling tax revenues, the pressure mounts on businesses of all sizes (even eBay sellers!) to collect and submit sales taxes on their transactions. Billions of dollars of potential revenue are at stake - the average state and local sales tax in the US is 8.6%.
According to Forbes Magazine, “[b]eginning in 2012 (for transactions taking place in 2011 and later) credit card companies and third-party transaction handlers such as eBay and Amazon.com must report to the IRS annually the gross sales of any U.S. seller doing more than 200 transactions and $20,000 in sales per year. Congress passed this requirement in 2008 to help pay for the first-time-home-buyer tax credit.”
Of particular concern are out-of-state transactions. States are lobbying hard in Congress to push legislation to require merchants (even brick-and-mortar stores) without nexus to collect sales taxes across state lines.
It’s a moving target! Laws are changing quickly, and enforcement varies. We are trying to help our clients deal with the confusion by providing educational resources as well as effective solutions.
Want to see the actual cost of your company’s sales tax headache? That’s the ROI you get when you use a sales tax management system like SpeedTax.
Want to learn more? Join us Thursday for “Relief from your Sales Tax Headache,” our free web event discussing the issues and solutions around sales tax management.
How is your business dealing with the stress of sales tax?
Blytheco Again Recognized for Avalara Sales Achievements
Channel News July 19th, 2010
Blytheco, LLC recently announced that the company has been recognized by Avalara (www.avalara.com) as its Business Partner of the Year for the second consecutive year. Avalara is the industry’s premier web-powered automated sales and use tax solutions provider for businesses of all sizes.
“Blytheco is one of the most successful and widely recognized Sage business partners in North America,” according to Avalara CEO and President Scott McFarlane. “From day one,” McFarlane explained, “Blytheco has exceeded our expectations for MAS 90/200 and MAS 500 sales with Sage Sales Tax. Looking forward, we see our partnership resulting in even greater growth and levels of satisfaction as customers continue to face the growing complexities surrounding sales tax management.”
Avalara, which monitors nearly 15,000 taxing jurisdictions and provides – on a monthly basis – its more than 25,000 licensed users and on-demand sales tax management clients with the most up-to-date rate and boundary information, annually recognizes the strategic channel partner with the best overall performance of sales, service, client satisfaction and shared profitability.
Upon receiving this award, Stephen Blythe, Blytheco CEO said, “We are honored to once again be identified as Avalara’s Business Partner of the Year. By offering our customers the industry-leading automated and certified sales tax application – Avalara - we create piece of mind and a significant win for our clients through greater business efficiencies. Blytheco has always been focused on our clients’ business needs to ensure their total satisfaction. Offering Sage Sales Tax powered by Avalara extends our abilities to consistently exceed expectations.”
We enjoyed a great webinar today presented by Dawn Westerberg, titled: “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Referrals.” Dawn discussed the impact of referred customers on a business and how companies can ramp up their referrals and their profitability.
It’s a fact that referred leads (customers that come to you on the recommendation of a third-party) are better qualified, leading to a shorter sales cycle and increased profitability per lead. But why, Dawn asked, do companies NOT get more referrals? Because they don’t ASK for referrals.
To get more referrals, you have to set up a process in your business. Find out where your referrals come from. Is it your customers, your employees or friends, or maybe a Referral Alliance? A Referral Alliance is a group of companies that serves the same market but are not competing directly with each other.
Solicit referrals by setting the expectation of a referral at the beginning of your relationship with a customer. While you are “selling” them all of the benefits of working with you, let them know that your ultimate goal is that they become “raving fans” of your business who spread the word to others.
Then acknowledge those who refer to you. Thank them both prior to any actual transaction, and after the sale to the referred customer. Write them a note, or maybe give a gift or a donation in their name. Referral fees might work in some situations. What’s important is that your process is appropriate to your business, your culture, and your market.
Of course, you have to first make sure you have a business worth referring. Focus on attracting and keeping the “raving fan” customer with “repetitive excellence” in every aspect of your business.
These are just a few of the great points Dawn shared with us today. We’ll be posting the recorded presentation online shortly, so stay tuned to learn more. And join us for more events in our informative Summer Webinar Series.
Are you using referrals to grow your business?
Companies of all sizes and types are turning to social media websites to enhance their profiles and connect with customers, partners, and employees. We recently asked our online community how they were making use of tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn to grow their businesses.
Organizations are using these tools for various functions:
- For news distribution: Facebook fan pages, Twitter, Youtube
- For customer support: Twitter
- To discuss products: Twitter, Youtube
- To connect with prospects and potential employees: LinkedIn
Before getting started with social media, it helps to take the following steps.
- Monitor social sites to see where relevant conversations about your brand or niche are happening. Find the places online where your customers are active, and get involved.
- Determine your social media goals. Do you want to build better relationships with existing customers or find new customers? Are you open to providing customer support via social media, and do you have the resources to do that?
- Get buy-in from the boss. Share metrics about how social media activity benefits your business and get support from your company’s leadership. Validating the value of social media will help you get others involved and improve your company’s online profile.
- Be authentic, and be patient. The essence of social media is transparency. Represent your company as a human being, not a “brand,” to build trust. And keep at it…it can take time to get traction, but the connections are worth it.
For more tips on getting started with Twitter, read our eNews story “Why Twitter?”.
Is your company using social media to spread the word?