Sometimes you just need to see a happy face.

This is Baxter. He is a rescue dog from Kentucky but living here with us in Ohio now. He's settled in to our family and made himself a home but it took a short time before he felt totally acclimated. As he settled, we let him and our other dog, Zino, run free in the backyard during a cookout.  Zino stayed close to the food prep area while Baxter went to the middle of the drive way, looked at us, and took off.  I managed to catch up with him though. 

Now, every night, as I lay on the sofa, Baxter comes and snuggles on my chest.  He's come a long way. 

Automated Check Cashing is Here!

Video courtesy of SAMCO.  

Without going into why nearly 70 million working Americans have no or limited bank access, each week across the country, individuals search for places to cash their paychecks. Today the alternative financial services (AFS) industry is a $6 billion industry providing check cashing, loans, bill payment services, prepaid debit cards, money orders and more in a variety of settings.  The typical is a store front - a brick and mortar business with employees generally sitting behind glass partitions. Many grocery stores will cash paychecks, stores such as Walmart too, but often with limitations as to the amount and many times requiring you join some shoppers club.

Along about 2014, the automated check cashing kiosk began to pop up here and there. The first few companies failed to gain traction in the market place.  Near Cleveland, Ohio, an enterprising convenience store owner introduced a kiosk in his stores.



How to cash a check in a kiosk. No human interaction makes it fast, secure and confidential.

How to get around Bank Holds on Funds

LIKE MANY SMALL BUSINESSES, you work hard to get customers, work hard to satisfy them with a quality product, then it's time for them to pay. This sometimes takes a while and when they finally send a check - boom!  Your bank wants to hold the funds for several days until the money clears.  There is a lot of talk and discussion on the immediacy of electronic transfers and while it's true the transfer happen fast, it's the notification of the transfer that's comes immediately to the recipient bank. It may take several days for the funds to clear through the Federal Reserve system.  Bottom line, your bank isn't messing with you but they could, if you've been a good customer, give you a pass and let the funds be available to you.  

When they won't or don't, there are alternatives.  I spoke with Kam Patel at Shop 'N Go, a convenience store in Bedford Heights, OH.  He cashed checks at his store, nearly any type of check. He says he will and has cashed business checks up to as high as $175,000.  It's pretty simple he says, just come in the store and leave with cash.  If the amount is sizable, it's best to call in the morning so he has time to round up all your cash. 

Ways to Market Your Business

As Forest might say, "there are a Go-Zillion ways to market your business."

You probably can’t, maybe shouldn’t even try, all the means available; at least not from the get-go.  A good way to start is utilize the free and low cost services such as email marketing and blog posting.  They help build your audience over time and provide valued content for search engine crawlers. 

Here are ways to market:

·        Email marketing

·        Social media posting

·        Search engine optimization

·        Window signs to attract walk-in trade

·        In-store displays to sell add-on services

·        Text messaging

·        Getting on the GSA schedule 

·        Responding to RFPs

·        Off-line word-of-mouth advertising

·        Network at business meetings

·        Giving speeches and seminars

The following have costs associated:

·        Posting videos on YouTube

·        Ads on search engines

·        Banner ads or links on websites

·        Guest posting on websites

·        Using affiliates to promote your products

·        Direct mail  

·        Print Classified ads

·        Paid display advertising in newspapers or magazines

·        Radio advertising

·        TV advertising

·        Ads on side of your vehicle

·        Door-to-door canvasing

·        Cold-call telemarketing

·        Ad in the Yellow Pages

·        Exhibiting at trade shows

When you get customers, especially in the early days, it is important to find out how they came to hear of you; that is, what ad form got them to act.

Marketing Your Business

Marketing your business begins with an Air-Tight Plan

Use one sheet for each product group.

The short listing below will help you refine your marketing strategy and get your business started on a full fledged plan.  Look for other posts to continue this discussion. 

Your Product/Service  Name:  

Describe the types of individuals or businesses you expect to use these services. Include age, gender, income, and other important demographics.

Indicate when and how often they might need your services.

Describe the benefits your products and services will offer customers (the SPECIFIC problems the product solves or SPECIFIC advantages it offers to the customer)

How many other companies offer services like yours are in your area?

How will your service differ from your competitors?  

What's your primary competitive edge?
What makes you different from (and better than) your competitors? 

The 11 Second Elevator Pitch

Do you have an 11-second elevator pitch?

Here's a few examples:

Franklin Jones Corp. is a buyer and reseller of medical equipment used in pain management and minimally invasive procedures when a live x-ray image is required by the doctor.  

ZEG-IT Media is a marketing firm for small businesses and startups that performs essential marketing functions at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time market staff.

It something you be using EVERY TIME you tell people what you do.  If it takes longer than 11 seconds, you need to rethink it.  

Profile of a Sales Person

Don't hide from the truth!

Is your our company holding you to the highest standards of professionalism, your customers surely are.  You need to learn and practice your sales skills daily. Why?  Simply because from your first contact with a customer, you’re being graded – by the customer. Often times, the first impression that you make may determine whether or not you’ll later make a sale. Be positive and upbeat without being overbearing. Practicing your opening dialogue (presentation) will allow you to ease the flow of conversation and listen to cues from the customer. By setting a level of comfort that extends from you to the customer, you will dramatically increase your ability to obtain information and close sales. 

In addition to developing your speaking and message delivery skills, you will also need to work on your listening skills. Since your overall goal is to motivate and direct a customer through the many stages of the sales process, you must be a good listener. To effectively ensure that one call will lead to the next stage, you must develop superb notetaking skills, noting and recording key points along the way. The key points are your signposts to help you know where you are in the sales cycle.

How important is this?

Extremely important.  Here’s why.  I was entertaining two executives from a large Fortune 500 company interested in doing a joint venture for computer hardware.  We were in my office and I was explaining how our company monitored and recorded sales calls for training purposes.  At any given time, I could enter a call and listen to the conversation between the sales rep and customer. The execs asked for a demo so I clicked into one of our newer reps line.  This rep was a law school grad but decided he hated practicing law and came to us.  I won’t go into all the details of the call but suffice to say it was eye-opening.



The customer made some comment about the Cleveland Browns and the sales rep responded by saying our chances looked good this year with the new pitcher the Indians had just traded for.  It went on and on with the total disconnect. In other words, the sales rep just wasn’t really listening.  He was so delighted that the customer was talking, he ignored the real conversation.  The whole call lasted nearly 20 minutes without so much as one customer problem being uncovered or any product being offered. 

The rep did mention we had a big inventory, so he was sure we could help the customer.  The problem was, he had no idea what the customer needed.  Why?  He, the rep, talked too much.  When the call ended, I said to the two execs that he was new but that was no excuse for the dismal performance.  To make matters worse, I told them, I’ll bet you lunch that the sales rep will be knocking on my door in a few minutes and telling me that he just had a great conversation. 

True enough a knock was heard and in walked the rep, excited to convey his happy call performance.  It’s easy to confuse conversation with sales dialogue.  In sales, you need to be directing the action, not merely responding to it.  You need to get the customer to tell you about his business.  You need to listen to what the customer is saying and respond accordingly, constantly shifting the conversation back to the customer’s business and what pain or problem they are experiencing.