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Customer relationship management (CRM)

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This article is about the benefits afforded by Social CRM systems, over traditional methods of communications and networking. It begins with an introduction to CRM itself, and then goes onto analyze the transformation to Social CRM. The many advantages of using Social CRM systems are then discussed, and a mention is also made of the projected used of these in the years ahead!

CRM is basically a contact list with information about the people you know how you know them, and how you have interacted with them. This list of contacts is categorized as friends, relatives, leads, prospects, or anything that helps you explain who that person is. In short, one can say that CRM is a relationship management tool, -a data of people you know’. CRM has been in use for over 20 years by both small and large companies to keep track of their customers. -CRM systems are designed to create a process around the interaction that your company has with its customers in hopes of more efficiently closing a sale or resolving some sort of an issue. Examples of popular CRM systems include Sales force, Zoho, Sugar CRM, and many others.’ (http://www.jmorganmarketing.com/what-is-social-crm-an-introduction/)

The difference between CRM and Social CRM is just the word -social’. With Social CRM, one deals with conversations and relationships with the social customer. These conversations are held both ways (from company to customer and vice versa). -CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.- (Paul Greenberg, a leader in Social CRM)

The Author Katty dodge is a freelance writer in local newspaper and magzines covering topics like web promotion and social media

Sunglass Stores Industry Market Research Now Available From Ibisworld

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The Sunglasses Stores Industry has already begun its recovery from the economic storm. According to IBISWorld, the nations largest publisher of industry research, improving consumer sentiment and favourable demographics have helped bolster sales, benefiting companies like Luxottica Group and National Vision Inc. Revenue in the industry is expected to grow over the next five years which will be supported by higher projected household incomes and an improved sense of financial stability. For this reason, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Sunglasses Stores Industry to its growing Apparel & Accessories Stores report collection

Sales of sunglasses during the past five years have been particularly sensitive to drops in consumer confidence, as sunglasses are more of an optional purchase than prescription eye glasses. However, IBISWorld forecasts the sunglasses stores industry to rebound supported by higher projected household incomes and an improved sense of financial stability over the next five years.

Growth in the sunglasses stores industry will be driven by increasing awareness of the useful benefits and the style appeal of these accessories. Prior to the recession of 2008 and 2009, strong economic growth and easy access to credit enabled consumers to purchase sunglasses as a fashion accessory. The sunglasses market is typically distinguished by price and function, and classified into premium and value segments. According to IBISWorld analyst, Nikoleta Panteva, the premium segment has grown faster than the value segment in the five years to 2011. The fashion aspect also contributes to shorter replacement cycles and volatile sales, as styles and consumers’ financial capacity to spend change frequently.

To provide convenience for consumers, as well as to create brand awareness, sunglass stores aim to be located in high shopping traffic areas or near ophthalmic specialists. The industry remains fragmented through small retail chains and independent locations. Italian firm Luxottica Group and National Vision Inc. are the industry’s largest operators. Luxottica is a vertically integrated network of manufacturing plants, distribution operations and retail outlets. In the US Luxottica Group operates mainly through its Sunglass Hut and Oakley O locations.

Breadth and depth of product selection is also an important consideration. An appropriate product mix should tailor to match the demographic composition of the store’s market. Stores located in regions or states with a relatively higher income earning clientele should stock branded as well as private label frames, lenses, accessories and sunglasses. Additionally, stores are increasingly focusing on integrating services, such as eye exams, frame fitting, and purchasing advice to adapt to consumers’ demands for one-stop shopping.

Is It Better To Buy Or Lease Commercial Space For My Business

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Your business location should be tailor-made to fit with your company budget, spacing requirements and ease of operation. For some business owners, leasing affords a sense of freedom and relieves the financial burden of a down payment, yet may be too restrictive for some kinds of operations. The decision to buy a piece of commercial property offers its own set of risks and rewards, and should be considered carefully before entering into a mortgage contract.

Leasing Commercial Space

1. Cost Effective

Leasing a commercial space will usually require a one to two month move-in deposit, making the rental space a cost efficient way to do business. New business owners may be strapped for cash, and by leasing, rather than purchasing, your storefront or office is cost effective to set up shop with minimal funding.

2. Flexibility

Leasing a commercial space gives the entrepreneur plenty of room to grow, downsize or change locations. Although once you sign a lease, you are locked into a fixed amount of time to make the lease payments, the terms may be only a matter of months to be released and start over in another location.

3. Freedom

Setting up shop without the burden of a mortgage to pay allows a sense of financial freedom. Albeit, a purchased piece of commercial property could be leased or sold to another, there could be months before the owner receives any income from the property. A hefty mortgage may also interfere with business profits and may demand downsizing of personnel.

4. Maintenance

A leased office or shop has a landlord to lean on, taking away tedious responsibilities with the plumbing, electricity and security. In a leasing situation, any repairs or legal liabilities are left in the hands of the building management team.

5. Subletting

In some situations, you may sublet your leased office space to another. However, this must be cleared in writing from the management office, and careful attention given to their rules and regulations for renting out the space.

Buying Commercial Space

1. Secured Location

Buying a piece of commercial property adds assurance that the space is secured and cannot be given to someone else. In a leasing situation, when the lease expires, the renewal process may not have the same initial terms, thus proving unfavorable to renew. However, when you purchase, your prime location is secured.

2. Equity

As with a residential piece of property, a commercial owner may take out cash against the mortgage. In an emergency financial crisis, having a mortgage to borrow from lends a sense of security and provision of funds. Most commercial purchases will require 20 to 25 percent down on the purchase price, giving instant equity to the business owner.

3. Remodeling

When you have bought a property, it is your to do with as you wish. Remolding, expansion and reconfiguration are yours for the taking. The ownership allows the business structure to be molded around the enterprise for a perfect fit and usage of space.

4. Tax Deductions

The interest on a commercial loan is tax deductible, with allowances for deducting any depreciation.

5. Lease Your Excess Space

If you own the property, you may lease your excess space without any restrictions from a third party over your head.

Twelve Basic Predictive Analytics Techniques

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Predictive analytics is a solution used by many businesses today to gain more value out of large amounts of raw data by applying techniques that are used to predict future behaviors within an organization, it’s customer base, it’s products and services. Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of techniques from data mining, stastics and game theory that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future events.

Predictive models examine patterns found in historical and transactional data to identify opportunities and risks. Predictive models capture relationships among many factors to allow assessment of risk or potential associated with a particular set of conditions, guiding decision making for candidate transactions.

There are some basic and more complex predictive analytics techniques. Three basic techniques include:

Data Profiling and Transformations
Sequential Pattern Analysis
Time Series Tracking.

Data profiling and transformations are functions that analyze row and column attributes and dependencies, change data formats, merge fields, aggregate records, and join rows and columns.

Sequential pattern analysis discovers relationships between rows of data. Sequential pattern analysis is used to identify frequently observed sequential occurrence of items across ordered transactions over time. Such a frequently observed sequential occurrence of items (called a sequential pattern) must satisfy a user-specified minimum support. Understanding long-term customer purchase behavior is an example of the sequential pattern analysis. Other examples include customer shopping sequences, click-stream sessions, and telephone calling patterns.

Time series tracking tracks metrics that represent key behaviors or business strategies. It is an ordered sequence of values of a variable at equally spaced time intervals. Time series analysis accounts for the fact that data points taken over time may have an internal structure (such as autocorrelation, trend or seasonal variation) that should be accounted for. Examples include patterning customer sales that indicate product satisfaction and buying habits, budgetary analysis, stock market analysis, census analysis, and workforce projections.

More advanced predictive analytics techniques include:

Time Series Forecasting
Data Profiling and Transformations
Bayesian Analytics
Regression
Classification
Dependency or Association Analysis
Simulation
Optimization

Time series forecasting predicts the future value of a measure based on past values. Time series forecasting uses a model to forecast future events based on known past events. Examples include stock prices and sales revenue.

Data profiling and transformation uses functions that analyze row and column attributes and dependencies, change data formats, merge fields, aggregate records, and join rows and columns.

Bayesian analytics capture the concepts used in probability forecasting. It is a statistical procedure which estimate parameters of an underlying distribution based on the observed distribution. An example is used in a court setting by an individual juror to coherently accumulate the evidence for and against the guilt of the defendant, and to see whether, in totality, it meets their threshold for ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’.

Regression analysis is a statistical tool for the investigation of relationships between variables. Usually, the investigator seeks to ascertain the causal effect of one variable upon another-the effect of a price increase upon demand, for example, or the effect of changes in the money supply upon the inflation rate.

Classification used attributes in data to assign an object to a predefined class or predict the value of a numeric variable of interest. Examples include credit risk analysis, likelihood to purchase. Examples include acquisition, cross-sell, attrition, credit scoring and collections.

Clustering or segmentation separates data into homogeneous subgroups based on attributes. Clustering assigns a set of observations into subsets (clusters) so that observations in the same cluster are similar. An example is customer demographic segmentation.

Dependency or association analysis describes significant associations between data items. An example is market basket analysis. Market basket analysis is a modeling technique based upon the theory that if you buy a certain group of items, you are more (or less) likely to buy another group of items.

Simulation models a system structure to estimate the impact of management decisions or changes. Simulation model behavior will change in each simulation according to the set of initial parameters assumed for the environment. Examples include inventory reorder policies, currency hedging, military training.

Optimization models a system structure in terms of constraints to find the best possible solution. Optimization models form part of a larger system which people use to help them make decisions. The user is able to influence the solutions which the model produces and reviews them before making a final decision as to what to do. Examples include scheduling of shift workers, routing of train cargo, and pricing airline seats.

About Victor Holman

Victor Holman is a business performance and growth strategy coach, consultant, international speaker, entrepreneur and creator of the Business Performance Portal. He has provided his expertise to over 50 government agencies worldwide and hundreds of corporations of all sizes. His goal is to help small businesses outperform their competition by applying business growth strategies and assessment tools that work for large, successful businesses.

He provides business consulting for small and large size organizations, business coaching, team performance workshops, and in-depth on-site business assessments for business owners trying to take their business to the next level. His highly acclaimed Insider’s Secrets Club delivers fast, simple, easy to implement strategies for growing your business fast!

You can access his FREE business assessment tools, business management kits, business training programs, videos, templates, and more at http://www.lifecycle-performance-pros.com

The Benefits Of Having A Mobile Business

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Some people like working nine to five, leaving the house at the same time every morning, and arriving home at the same time each evening. They enjoy this routine because it’s stable. However, it’s hard to take vacations with this type of job, as you have to schedule time off. It’s also hard to run errands or make appointments when their working hours are the same as yours. Basically, there’s not a lot of freedom in this type of job. If you had a mobile business on the other hand, you’d be able to go anywhere you want, do anything you want to do, and more.

All you need to run a mobile business is your laptop and an internet connection. As long as you have internet access, you can conduct business anywhere, anytime. You could go work down by the beach. You could take a vacation on the fly, and you could even move on the fly if you wanted to. With a mobile business, you’re never tied down, and can earn income wherever you choose to go.

There are various types of mobile businesses. E-commerce websites where you sell services or products online, advertising / marketing jobs, writing jobs and much more. As long as you keep on top of your orders, and ensure your clients are satisfied (and this is of paramount importance, especially with online business where you don’t meet the customer face-to-face), you can run a successful business from wherever you may find yourself.

Mobile businesses are becoming increasingly popular. People like the idea of mobile business because they can travel and pretty much do what they please, according to their own schedule. In addition, these types of businesses are also great for single parents. It’s hard for a single parent to go to work each day, pay for day care, and all the other worries that come with raising a child on your own. With a mobile business, the stay at home mum or dad can work away at their online business and watch over their own child at the same time.

If you don’t like the daily grind, 9-5 structured job, and you’d like more freedom in your life, you should consider a mobile business. Find out what you like to do, and research the type of business you would like to run. As long as you have a laptop, an internet connection and a passion for your job, you can be as successful as you want to be, and you won’t be tied down like you would be with a regular job.