Casual Articles - Business

Promoting Your Customer as a Brand Strategy
Promote your customers through your brand. If you put on a special event such as a seminar, make sure you include your current customers and have them invite their customers. This way you are spreading the brand recognition and your customers have been able to participate in an event with their customers present. This is usually done for partners or channel partners. Some of the larger companies such as Avaya have channel partners that sell their products or services. Avaya in turn puts on user seminars for the partners who can in turn invite some of their best customers. This way the brand is supported by the channel and even further down the line to the ultimate consumer. This type of scenario works well for potential alliances. Putting on customer special events should be part of your brand strategy. A strategy is a long term approach to involving the customer in the branding process. If you plan well, then customer loyalty and business relationships will become stronger. What you are really after in the strategy is to continue to create brand awareness over a long period of time. What tac

Earthlink, MSN, CoreComm, MCI,etc.

ISDN
64kbs or 128kbs
$40-70/month
Earthlink, MSN, Telocity, AT&T, MCI, etc.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
128 - 1544Kbs
$40-300/month
Earthlink, MSN, Telocity, AT&T, MCI, etc.

Cable
56 - 1544kbs
$40-70/month
Time Warner, Adelphi, CableVision, etc

Satellite (2-way)
150 - 500kbs
$40-70/month
Starband, MSN, DishNetwork, DirectPC/DirectTV, etc.

Frame Relay
56 - 1544kbs
$200-1500/month
Ameritech,

The Primacy Of Planning
“@#$%& it! Will you quit bugging me with your planning meetings – I’ve got work to do!”That was a statement made to me by a manager when I asked him - for the third time - to work with a group of us assigned a critical project. The project, if carried off well, would have profound effects on the long term health of the business. But it ended up fizzling after two months. Why? Because this manager, in a crucial department, didn’t see the need for planning, and wouldn’t ‘play’.Planning can be looked on as a pain in the neck. Often, at the very best, we do it because we know we ought to. But it’s done grudgingly, and because of that incompletely. And then when the plan doesn’t work we reinforce the thought that planning is a waste of time. But really, is it? What are the pitfalls of not planning?PITFALLS OF NOT PLANNING Well, first there’s the effect on the plan itself. What happens when we don’t plan at all? That’s more easily seen if we look at a good vacation. Most of us wouldn’t think of going on an extended vacation without doing significant planning. Why? Because

The Internet has grown significantly in the last several years. Almost all businesses today use email for everyday correspondence. It is being used in the towing industry by motorclubs and towers alike. The motorclubs dispatch calls and accept claims over the Internet. Many towers are using it to send pages to drivers, to track their truck locations, and in some cases they have even virtually eliminated the radio by using two-way pages or Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs). The next generation of towing software promises an even greater integration with the Internet.

This trend is likely to continue because of the dramatic cost savings that can be realized using the Internet. Motorclub calls now take less than 3 minutes from start to finish using Digital Dispatch. Whereas before, using the phone, a call could take 5-10 minutes. These few minutes add up to tremendous savings for both motorclubs and service providers.

You can even locate a service provider online using sites like www.wrecker.com. The call can then be sent via email, fax, phone, and using digital dispatch like the motorclubs.

The next generation of towing software and management systems promises to be completely integrated with the Internet. You will no longer have to have an expensive, high-powered server networked with several fast workstations to run your towing software. Furthermore these networks require a true computer geek to keep them fine-tuned and running. Backups will be a thing of the past. Access from home is presently complex and slow. This too will no longer be a problem with the newer towing software packages. An Application Service Provider (ASP) will run these packages from a central location. These new solutions can be accessed from anywhere with your security code and an Internet connection (office, home, motel room, etc).

When it comes to Internet connections you have many affordable choices today. The table below lists the common types available:

Connection Type
Expected Speed
Typical Cost
Service Providers

Dial-up
28.8 – 53kbs*
$0-25/month
AOL, AT&T, Earthlink, MSN, CoreComm, MCI,etc.

ISDN
64kbs or 128kbs
$40-70/month
Earthlink, MSN, Telocity, AT&T, MCI, etc.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
128 - 1544Kbs
$40-300/month
Earthlink, MSN, Telocity, AT&T, MCI, etc.

Cable
56 - 1544kbs
$40-70/month
Time Warner, Adelphi, CableVision, etc

Satellite (2-way)
150 - 500kbs
$40-70/month
Starband, MSN, DishNetwork, DirectPC/DirectTV, etc.

Frame Relay
56 - 1544kbs
$200-1500/month
Ameritech,

Flowers Have Magic of Countenance
Perhaps the most popular way to present a gift is to present flowers because flowers appeal to all our senses and brighten up our lives and our hearts. Perhaps you can find difficult to express your exact feelings and sentiments in words but you can express your exact sentiments by presenting flowers. Flowers bring good cheer and convey the right message in their own language – truest language of love. That’s why the popularity of flowers is.But there is a question which arise in our mind is when to send flowers and when not to. Flowers are a classic gift for any occasion and are always welcomed. There are many occasions when flowers are sent to loved ones. Wedding ceremony, birthday, Valentines Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day are some such occasions when you send flowers to your friends and relatives.If you present beautiful flowers together with a carefully selected gift enhances the beauty of the gift. If you present flowers to the newly wed couples, you express your wish for their wedding life to be filled with the same sweet fragrance as that of flowers. A red rose gift

er integration with the Internet.