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It turns out there are a surprising number of opportunities for minority business owners to seek financing assistance and helpful advice. Consider these six resources.

U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)

Established in 1969 by Richard Nixon, the MBDA is exclusively dedicated to furthering the success of minority businesses. In fiscal year 2012, the agency helped minority-owned businesses obtain more than $3.6 billion in capital awards and contracts.

The MBDA offers extensive information on grants and loans and government contracts, including current opportunities. The organization also provides a plethora of business advice on its website. You can be inspired by success stories or learn about how to apply for various minority certifications, which helps you earn contracts.

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

OPEN Forum community member Raymond A. Los, president and CEO of The Hamptons Corporation,  suggests trying the SBA’s extensive services, which include management and technical assistance, training and education as well as help accessing markets and capital, and more specifically the special programs geared toward minority and women-owned businesses. The SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program was specifically created to assist small, disadvantaged businesses in competing in the marketplace. According to the SBA, 8(a) participants can earn in sole-source contracts up to $4 million for goods and services and $6.5 million for manufacturing.

City Minority Business Assistance Programs

Some cities have their own minority business assistance programs, so it pays to call your local economic development department and ask. In Ohio, for instance, the Akron Urban League’s Minority Entrepreneur Empowerment Center offers programs for new entrepreneurs, a minority business acceleration program and financial assistance. The Cambridge, Massachusetts Economic Development Department assists minority-owned businesses as well as including each in a minority-owned business directory.

Minority Chamber of Commerce

Affiliated with the National Business Association, the Minority Chamber of Commerce (MCC) is a nonprofit that provides its members with educational opportunities, as well as financing information and assistance with contract bids.

Many local chambers of commerce, like the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, also have their own programs for minorities that offer advice and financial assistance, so it’s a good idea to give your local chamber a call and inquire.

SCORE

A nonprofit organization, SCORE is composed of volunteer business mentors who offer mentorship and educational opportunities, often working one-on-one or in small groups with entrepreneurs seeking assistance. The organization serves all small-business owners, but they do have a focus on minority entrepreneurs, including offering classes, seminars and resources that provide assistance in setting up and operating your minority business. Consult with your local SCORE office to find a program near you.

Affinity Groups

Community member Lani Gholston is project coordinator for the nonprofit organization the Yavapai Reentry Project. She has found success gaining valuable business information and assistance by participating in a variety of affinity groups.

“A socially based women’s group, for instance, may be packed with professionals who can connect you with business partners or with valuable information,” she says. “I currently work in a small community, and the best way to find resources for the nonprofit I work for has been networking indirectly within affinity groups.” Gholston recently joined an affinity group, and in just one meeting, she connected with a major media outlet and met a representative from a firm that is now considering a sponsorship position for one of their upcoming fundraisers.

Helena Reich is a Korean American, who runs the business Swoon Luxe, which features 100 percent handcrafted, luxury exotic-skin handbags, backpacks and accessories. She has had recent luck networking with affinity groups in her industry, including involvement in a forum run by an established clothing designer open to emerging designers who have a prototype.

“The founder of the company has answered my questions about the industry via email, which has been really helpful,” Reich says. “Ask around in your particular industry. You’re bound to find help.”

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This article was originally published on February 28, 2014.

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“The stock market has overpriced IPOs unrealistically over the past couple of years, and as a result the market is very cautious right now,” believes Jordan Edwards, president of Mixology Clothing Company. “It’s time for business 101 again—valuations based on profits and long-term forecasting for emerging businesses.”

If this trend toward a limited number of IPOs continues, this could mean potentially less competition and noise on the way in for small businesses that do go public, but once public, your business can change markedly.

“Shareholders own your company, holding it to performance and treating the value and the interest in the company purely on the delivery of business,” Edwards says. This can have business altering consequences.

Benefits of Going Public

An IPO can offer several advantages for the small-business owner—one of the biggest may be the potential to raise large amounts of capital for your company. This can be a boon if you require funding and prefer not to secure loans, and it may also lead to a very big payday for company owners.

Providing there’s a market demand for your stock, as a public company, you can also issue more stock in the future to raise funds. In addition, mergers and acquisitions may be easier to facilitate, because stock can be a part of a deal. Going public may also enable you to create a stock ownership plan that can help attract top talent, and prestige may come with becoming a publicly traded company.

Going Public Is Not for Everyone

Going public may not be for every small business. You would likely have to operate in an industry that’s in the public eye and has a significant amount of public interest, so your stock will sell. Your small business may also require an established record of steadily increasing earnings and sales amounting to an annual growth rate of about 20 percent. Prior to an IPO, it’s mandatory to have several years of audited financials by a major accounting firm, and you’ll need outside directors on your board.

When it comes to going public, it can take money to make money. “Having the opportunity to raise more money in the public markets is a valuable tool in the arsenal of a growing business, but it does not come cheaply,” Edwards says. “Your senior management team better be talented, or you face losing everything you’ve built in the lead up to the offering if your company doesn’t perform.”

In reality, an IPO may be the most expensive way to raise money, because of the upfront investment in specialists like accountants and lawyers. And the expenses may not stop once you go public, thanks to a wide variety of regulations and resulting fees.

Going public can also profoundly alter the personality of your small business. You will no longer be a private firm where financial details are kept behind closed doors. Launching an IPO can create a fishbowl existence. Going public requires that you issue a public prospectus containing financial details, including executive salaries. You can also expect to answer to investors at mandatory meetings.

When an IPO Makes Sense

“The bottom line is that timing is everything when it comes to an IPO. Going out too early usually leads to poor performance that does not meet the public’s expectations,” Edwards says. “This results in your company becoming a publicly held business with your hands tied to quarterly returns and the inability to run the business the way a growing company needs to be operated.”

The ideal time for a small business to go public may be when it has a good use for the funds it will raise from the offering, and its financial house is in order, Edwards believes.

“For your company to thrive after an IPO, beforehand report its financial conditions as if it was a public entity and get internal controls in place with very clear plans for both top and bottom line performance,” he says. “Once you’re ready, an IPO could be just what your small business needs to take your company to the next level.”

_{The information contained in this article is for generalized informational and educational purposes only and is not designed to substitute for, or replace, a professional opinion about any particular business or situation or judgment about the risks or appropriateness of any financial or business strategy or approach for any specific business or situation. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. The views and opinions expressed in authored articles on OPEN Forum represent the opinion of their author and do not necessarily represent the views, opinions and/or judgments of American Express Company or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or divisions (including, without limitation, American Express OPEN). American Express makes no representation as to, and is not responsible for, the accuracy, timeliness, completeness or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made in this article.}

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The domino effect caused by extreme weather conditions can profoundly influence business, notes Sandy Schwartz, a partner at SLK Law Firm. “Mondays are typically our busiest, with new client intakes for real estate deals put together during the prior weekend,” Schwartz says. “The recent storm hitting on a Saturday essentially crippled the real estate market for the weekend, which, in turn, resulted in minimal new transactions coming into the office.”

Small businesses inevitably can lose sales opportunities when storms strike, agrees Joseph Michelli, CEO of The Michelli Experience  and author of seven books, including Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way and The Zappos Experience: 5 Principles to Inspire, Engage, and WOW. “All businesses are challenged by simply getting staff to the workplace. Even if employees can circumnavigate the weather hazards, they often face other challenges, like closed child-care facilities,” he says. “And virtual employees are at the mercy of downed power lines and even Internet outages.”

Preparing for Inevitable Interruptions

Winter storms can likely disrupt your small business in one way or another. Severe weather may lead to property damage and risk for employees and customers. Even if you’re not caught in the eye of the storm, your company can experience the collateral effects, resulting in a slowdown.

Here are some steps you can take to help minimize damage in the event of a severe storm, so your business has a better chance of recovering quickly.

• Stockpile emergency supplies. Have on hand items that you may need in case a storm hits, including flashlights, blankets, food and water, first aid kit, battery powered radio, shovels, sandbags and road salt.
• Establish backup power. You may determine that your business would be best equipped with a generator in case of a power outage. This could be used for equipment that requires continual electricity, as well as a backup heating source.
• Determine an emergency plan of action. Pinpoint where on the business premises employees and customers should gather if a storm hits. Discuss ways to minimize safety risks. Regularly review this plan with your workforce.
• Financially plan for downtime. During the recent storm, Martha Johnson, leadership coach and co-author of Navigating an Organizational Crisis: When Leadership Matters Most, had to reschedule clients and saw a “hiccup in revenue. Schools set master schedules that accommodate a number of snow days, so it’s always a good idea to do the same thing in projecting revenue,” she says.

“Effective small-business owners reinvest and create reserves in the ‘boom’ times to ensure they get through the downtimes,” Michelli says. “If you are profitable but don’t reinvest or save a portion of that profit for the inevitable ebbs and flows of business, you likely won’t be around for the long haul—storms or no storms.”

Michelle Tennant Nicholson, chief creative officer of Wasabi Publicity, agrees. “All small businesses only survive if they save their ‘nuts.’ Just like a squirrel saves for hard times during winter, so must small-business owners. Determine how much payroll money you require to survive lean months and save that during prosperous times for rainy or snowy days.”

Business During and After Stormy Weather

Your response to your customers during and after a shutdown can be critical and may determine how well you spring back.

“People who retain electrical power in their homes often hunker down in front of television and computer screens,” Michelli says. “This gives your company great opportunities for exposure to brand messages and online purchasing.”

A storm gives you the opportunity to ramp up your online sales, adds Tennant Nicholson. “If you have an online business, think about leveraging people’s indoor cabin fever during a storm by advertising and marketing around search terms about blizzards and similar terms,” she says. “For example, blizzard blowout prices.”

Whenever possible, keep in contact with your customers, Michelli advises. “Customers understand,” he says. “They look out their windows or see the affected area in the news. Some may be annoyed about being inconvenienced by your unavailability, but most simply want you to communicate with them about resumption of operations and demonstrate an eagerness to serve them. They don’t want excuses, false promises or explanations. They just want you poised and ready to care for them as soon as safely possible.”

Communication is critical, Johnson agrees. “Let people know where/when/how you are doing. If you are going to be late on a delivery, let your customers know immediately.”

Show Gratitude

After the storm, consider thanking all who stood by you, including your customers. “Storms and other acts of nature often bring out the best in people,” says Michelli. “It’s as if we are all reminded of our individual vulnerability when a storm disrupts so many of our daily rituals. Storms also remind us of those people and businesses that we value and miss. The aftermath of a storm is a great time for small-business owners to let their customers know they were missed and how grateful the business owners are to be entrusted to care for and about them.”

Do thank your loyal customers, agrees Tennant Nicholson. “Small-business owners get to write their own stories, much like creating their own snowmen. Are you going to make hot chocolate and snowballs, or are you going to be left dripping wet from complaints? Clients like successful businesses, so tell a story of gratitude, success and happiness, no matter the weather outside.”

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“Most of us learn about the color wheel as children, but color theory goes deeper than knowing how to mix finger-paints to get the right shade of purple,” says Pamela Webber, chief marketing officer for the online graphic design marketplace, 99designs, which recently completed a comprehensive research project on the power and psychology of color  as used by small businesses in their branding and marketing.

“Color theory is the collision of science, art and culture,” Webber says. “How your customers respond to colors and color combinations is influenced by aesthetics, learned cultural associations and evolutionary programing.”

Color Affects Mood

For decades, business professionals have found anecdotally that colors do affect mood, claims Donna Hamilton, chief wellness officer of Manifest Excellence, LLC  and author of Wellness Your Way. “Early landmark studies found that the color red, considered a warm color, was associated with the increased emotional responses of love, fear and anger, and if already energized, those who experienced red found it disturbing,” Hamilton says. “Blue, on the other hand, is considered a cool color and was found to have a calming effect. Business research shows that colors can have a strong effect on how customers perceive and react to your brand.”

Color can be a powerful tool, agrees Mona Patel, founder and CEO of Motivate Design  and author of Reframe: Shift the Way You Work, Innovate, and Think. “Different colors can make us feel different emotions,” she says. “Warm colors [reds, oranges, yellows] make us think of the sun, so they can be used to create a cozy feel and bring people together, whereas cool colors [blues, greens, purples] remind us of the sky and ocean, so they calm us. Motivate Design’s primary brand color is bright orange, which is sharp and alive. The color creates a welcoming, collaborative office environment and portrays our employees as creative, friendly, focused and standing out from the crowd.”

Choosing Company Colors

“Because color can affect psychological and emotional response, it’s wise for small-business owners who offer in-person services to pay attention to the colors they expose their clients to, such as in their office decor and clothing, like staff uniforms,” Hamilton says. “For example, companies offering stress management or relaxation products and services might want to use a more soothing palate in their office, for their logo and on their website, whereas businesses that promote services based on speed might want to use more stimulating colors.”

“Choosing the color of your company’s logo or brand identity is not as simple as liking green and wanting a dark forest logo,” Webber agrees. “Consider the traits and attributes associated with the primary colors used in your brands and logos and whether those are traits you want your business to communicate. The ideal colors enable you to share your brand’s true personality with customers.”

When selecting your brand colors, you may also consider the choices of others in your industry. “Many food and beverage companies use reds, blacks and yellows. And Internet, software and social media companies have a tendency to use blues,” says Patel. “When it comes to color choice, it can be advantageous to position your brand within the norms of your industry, or you might want to deliberately set yourself apart.”

“Consider your specific industry and the most popular colors used in that sector,” Webber adds. “Maybe it would be best to stand apart and be memorable by choosing a more original color scheme. Can you benefit from being the exciting, fun company in a more traditional field? Sometimes zagging is far better than following everyone else’s zigging.”

Also consider the effect office colors can have on you and your employees. “You can’t work well if you don’t feel well, so use colors that have a positive emotional effect on you and your staff,” Hamilton says. “Depending on the sensitivity of your office team, some people could feel overly stimulated, especially by warmer colors, or overly sedated by cooler colors.”

Color and Company Image

Color can be most important in defining your company’s brand identity, believes Patel, who suggests creating a color palette with primary and secondary colors that are harmonious, yet contrast. “After deciding on a color palette, use it to design all visual touch points of your brand, such as the logo, website, promotional materials, signage and social media assets,” she says. “You want to create a cohesive experience for your customers.”

Once you’ve decided on a color palette, stick with it, advises Patel. “Don’t add colors haphazardly. The use of color should always be considered and intentional. By adhering to a defined set of colors for your brand in a consistent way, you can create brand recognition and trust with your customers, and that can set your company up for success.”

Read more articles about branding.

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There may be some reason for concern, believes ER Wolf, a business technology expert and founder and CEO of Elify. “The stock market plunge negatively impacts the mindset of the entire country and can make people more cautious about spending money,” he says.

David Weliver, publisher of MoneyUnder30.com, agrees. “I think market volatility shakes consumer confidence, which can cause people to spend less on larger purchases or put them off altogether. Although the stock market shouldn’t have the same impact as rising unemployment or a prolonged recession and it shouldn’t affect a business’s ability to grow in the long run, when people see their retirement balances going down, they may tighten their belts in the short term.”

There may be morale issues with employees if they’re invested in the company retirement plan, agrees Andy Martin, president of 7Twelve Advisors, LLC, which creates and manages diversified investment products for the public markets, and a registered securities principal with Girard Securities, Inc. “It’s important to keep in mind that though we have come out of the worst week beginning for the market in history, the market is only down 10.4 percent from its May 19, 2015, peak. A 20 percent drop without a corresponding increase is considered a ‘correction,’ and even a correction is not a ‘crash.’”

Upside to Stock Market Fluctuations

In a prolonged down market, businesses might have a unique opportunity to woo angel investors who are looking for investment opportunities outside of Wall Street, believes Weliver. “On a lighter note, a business might seize an opportunity for a clever promotion, such as giving customers a ‘consolation’ discount on days or weeks the stock market drops,” he explains.

Whenever there is change, there may also be opportunity, adds Joshua Mellberg, founder and CEO of J.D. Mellberg Financial. “Opportunities can arise when there is a need for a product or service and there was no need before,” Mellberg says. “Smart small-business owners will be looking for the opportunities arising out of those new needs.”

Stock market troubles can open up avenues for people needing extra income, adds Wolf. “Oftentimes after major stock market adjustments, we see an increase in side business startups. This country was built on small businesses growing into large businesses. When there is a crash, large companies may be impacted, which opens the opportunity for small businesses to come in with new goods and services, so it’s important to focus on where the opportunities are and not on what was lost.”

Patience Is a Virtue

Whether you’re managing your own investments or working on your business strategy, it can be critical to take a long-term view. “The stock market has wild swings from month to month and even year to year, but it has grown consistently over decades,” Weliver says. “For the most part, changing an otherwise sound strategy based on what the stock market’s doing doesn’t make sense. The exception might be business owners planning to retire in the next couple of years—in that case they might choose to delay retirement until the market recovers a bit.”

While Martin doesn’t advise small-business owners to give investment advice to employees, he does suggest using the stock market fluctuations as teaching moments.

“Remind employees about the benefits of dollar cost averaging—as prices drop they have the opportunity to buy more shares,” Martin says. “And for those workers who still have 20 years or so left in the workforce, the good news is that there has never been a 20-year period when an investor would have lost money in a diverse portfolio of U.S. Large Cap stocks—such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or S&P 500. Investors who diversify and are patient outperform investors who are temperamental. Patience beats impatience every time.”

_{The information contained in this article is for generalized informational and educational purposes only and is not designed to substitute for, or replace, a professional opinion about any particular business or situation or judgment about the risks or appropriateness of any financial or business strategy or approach for any specific business or situation. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. The views and opinions expressed in authored articles on OPEN Forum represent the opinion of their author and do not necessarily represent the views, opinions and/or judgments of American Express Company or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or divisions (including, without limitation, American Express OPEN). American Express makes no representation as to, and is not responsible for, the accuracy, timeliness, completeness or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made in this article.}

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Here are a few of the highlights that may be worth looking into for your company.

Cybersecurity

Discussing new technologies, the first annual Cybersecurity Forum  at CES is presenting information from security experts and technology developers that enable businesses to better protect themselves from cyberattack.

“The threat of cyberattack is looming, and it’s going to continue to be a growing problem,” says Greg Davis, owner of South Coast Computers,  who attended the forum to glean information on new technologies that can enable him to further protect his clients from the threat of security breaches.

“Developers are continually coming up with new technologies, such as antivirus software, that helps small businesses stay ahead of the growing cyberattack trend,” he says. “Those companies that act rather than react to protect their products, data, employees and customers are the ones that will be most likely to circumvent the potentially disastrous effects of security breaches.”

Affordable Cellphone Options

If you provide your employees with cellphones, doing so may become more affordable. At CES, cellphone manufacturers, including those from overseas, are making a big push, as many cellphone carriers seem to be getting rid of their contracts. That means many customers are now responsible for getting their own smartphones.

Chinese smartphone companies operating in the U.S., such as ZTE and Alcatel One Touch, have unveiled a variety of products at CES, including Alcatel OneTouch’s new Watch that works with iOS and Android devices and ZTE’s new 6-inch jumbo smartphone.

4K Display Technology

Also known as UHD (Ultra High Definition), 4K display technology for televisions offers nearly digital cinema quality in resolution and color. If you regularly give presentations for your small business, this revolutionary technology could help make those presentations even more impressive. The closer you are to the screen, the more crystal clear the display, which means that this technology may be especially useful for small group presentations.

Improved Projectors

If you use projectors for demonstration or instructional purposes, the technology in this area is also much improved. For instance, you can find projectors that are more lightweight and portable than ever and offer features like wireless and Bluetooth connectivity and better overall viewing.

Wider, Higher Resolution Monitors

Curved monitors, such as new, wide models from LG and HP that measure 34 inches, are creating extra screen viewing capabilities and a higher resolution experience. The larger screens and enhanced picture quality means that you and your employees can likely work more efficiently at the computer.

Smart Home/Smart Office

A wide variety of smart home technologies are being unveiled at CES, and many of those technologies could be transferred to the office environment. Features such as thermostats with environmental sensors that adjust the thermostat automatically, improved security systems and monitoring devices and smart smoke detectors can help make running an office more efficient and lead to an even safer environment.

There are even door locks that can be locked and unlocked remotely, and codes can be given out that allow access—which makes handing out keys or exchanging them unnecessary.

Wearable Payment Devices

Although the technology is new and the kinks are still being worked out, the wave of the future seems to be in wearable devices like smart watches, jewelry and clothing that can be embedded with a NFC chip that will enable consumers to use such devices to pay for items. Small-business owners know that some sales are spur of the moment—so the more customers who have the ability to pay readily accessible, the better the chances for potential sales.

Read more articles about digital tools.

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DECEMBER 16, 2015In a landmark agreement on December 12, 196 nations agreed to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the intention of curbing global warming. Countries from around the globe, including the United States, made history by adopting the Paris Climate Agreement at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“The agreement comprises 29 articles and has been reported as signaling a massive shift toward low-and zero-carbon emissions technologies and services that governments and businesses will voluntarily undertake,” says Anilla Cherian, author of Energy and Global Climate Change: Bridging the Sustainable Development Divide.

A major collaborative breakthrough on an issue that has stymied world governments for decades, the deal not only has the potential for impacting the state of the environment, it may also significantly affect business, according to Paula DiPerna, special advisor to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and former vice president for International Affairs for the Cousteau Society.

“The Climate Accord is the most important and beneficial action to reach the U.S. economy in a long time, because it offers an opportunity for the economy to refresh, rebuild, redesign and re-envision almost all of our economic processes and infrastructure,” says DiPerna, who attended the event in Paris.

“This means small businesses that understand the demands for a low carbon economy stand to gain as the economy shifts to a carbon diet,” she adds. “As a result, green thinking enterprises will be much in demand, particularly those that can offer new pathways to energy efficiencies. Those small businesses that can market themselves as part of the solution and then deliver those solutions in an affordable, timely manner [may] be successful.”

Unprecedented Business Opportunities

Small businesses focused on offering sustainable energy in developing countries may have significant opportunities, Cherian believes. “Small businesses focused on wide ranging, clean energy solutions, innovative services and tools that enable universal access to sustainable energy in developing countries are at the forefront of harnessing new opportunities. Businesses that are well-positioned and oriented to take advantage of the enhanced promotion and use of renewable energy technologies, services and systems in [locations such as] Africa are advised to get a head start.”

Whereas the required energy changes may prove challenging for large companies dependent on producing high levels of carbon dioxide, small businesses like tech startups have the potential to thrive, suggests Karin Miller, author of Global Values: A New Paradigm For A New World. “The energy industry will attract new innovators and startups, which makes for great small-business opportunities,” she says.

All businesses have the potential for benefiting from the focus on reducing carbon emissions, DiPerna claims. “Industrial designers, architects, engineers, accountants and project managers stand to profit, as well as carpenters, plumbers and solar panel installers,” she says. “Also, wealth advisors and managers who understand the green economy will be in an ideal position to attract and advise clients on how to minimize risks and maximize benefits of the shift toward the carbon diet.”

Climate Accord Drawbacks for Small Business

Due to the ramifications of not complying with carbon emission rules, many large companies that use small-business suppliers may begin scrutinizing supply chains to ensure energy efficiency, DiPerna notes. “It is likely that procurement departments for cities and large companies will move away from suppliers who do not contribute to the overall carbon diet. Procurement departments are likely to ask more questions about how a given supplier can help buyers meet low carbon requirements.”

Effectively handling the climate accord ramifications takes preparation, claims Scott Brennan, president of BOLDbreak, Inc. and author of The Surging Team: 10 BOLDskills for Accelerated Team Success.

“Wise business owners prepare an annual business plan that includes a SWOT [strengths, weakness, opportunities and marketplace threats] analysis. This challenges company leadership to understand their company’s current strengths and weaknesses and also any outside or marketplace factors which could pose a threat to the company,” Brennan says. “New EPA regulations can significantly increase costs and may even push a product out of the market. Companies that develop what I call a surging team culture can engage their employees at all levels, including business plan development, and will be in the best position to not only survive but to thrive with the new energy requirements.”

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With many consumers skipping TV ads, those companies seem to be making a strategic move, believes Eric Lofholm, president and CEO of Eric Lofholm International, Inc. and author of How To Sell In The New Economy. “There are a couple of reasons for this shift,” he says. “First, millennials don’t watch TV anymore. Instead, they’re moving to online streaming services, and advertisers are losing out on this young audience, 18 to 34, in the television format.”

Broad marketing efforts may not be as efficient as the targeted ones online, adds Brett Glass, founder and CEO of Gift Card Impressions. “The generational differences of today’s consumers require different messaging, and they view these messages through different means in today’s digital world. Hallmark’s move makes sense as they attempt to make a larger impact on the fastest growing consumer segment, the millennials, who are less traditional than the baby boomers.”

Kirill Storch, Internet marketing strategist and CEO of Electric Web, agrees. “Hallmark’s recent move to 100 percent digital is significant in the sense that it is a venerable company and the ritual of watching tear-jerking Hallmark commercials on TV has become a rite of passage in many American homes. The fact is that Hallmark has had a robust digital strategy for a number of years now and this latest step was consistent with the trends. Anyone who has their finger on the pulse of digital advertising knows it’s growing quickly.”

Moving from TV to online ads makes financial sense, adds Richard Krevolin of Power Story Consulting Inc. and author of THE HOOK: How to Share Your Brand’s Unique Story to Engage Customers, Boost Sales, and Achieve Heartfelt Success. “Online allows companies to target their demographic more carefully with cheaper buys, and it also allows them to produce longer videos online that will outlive their 30-second TV counterparts. They can create a 60- or 120-second ad that can be shared over and over free of charge.”

Inevitable Shift

As consumers spend an increasing number of hours online, brands should get in front of them in the places they’re actually spending time, believes Nicole Kroese, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Likeable Local. “Failing to adopt an online ad strategy means missed opportunities to convert new business. And with online marketing comes huge advances in tracking and reporting, agility and, in many cases, cost-optimizing, which create new efficiencies for advertisers.”

As advertisers see a downtrend in the return on investment through traditional marketing forms such as TV, print and radio, they’re finding it necessary to spend their marketing dollars on Internet marketing, but many advertisers are scrambling to play catch up while entering the space, believes Joshua Keller, cofounder and president of Union Square Media. “The only reason why online marketing is being ignored by some is that advertisers do not understand how to optimize it. There’s been a push and pull trying to fend off Internet marketing, while now it’s undeniable that they have to adapt.”

Help or Hurt Small Business?

There’s concern whether big companies’ move toward digital advertising could cause more noise online for consumers, possibly raising prices for small businesses or even making it tough for them to get impressions in front of their consumers, notes Kevin Layton, CEO of Data-Dynamix and author of Building your Digital Marketing Machine.

Lofholm believes that this trend can actually give small businesses a leg up. “No longer is advertising as expensive of a proposition as it was 10 years ago,” he says. “Small businesses are able to pick and choose ad space and ad formats via programmatic ad buying, lowering their costs and narrowing in on the audience they want to reach.”

Big business in the mix online could raise costs, but online, a small company can do just as good a job as a major corporation, notes Krevolin. “So, the small business has to be better at telling their story and targeting their market,” he says. “However, online consumers tend to accept lower quality videos than TV consumers, so small businesses need not rely on huge productions to create their content.”

And the number of opportunities to deliver ads online are much greater than in traditional TV advertising, which may have between three and four commercial segments per show, points out Jay York, senior digital marketing strategist for EMSI Public Relations. “This means there is room for both the big retailers and the small businesses that are both seeking the same market,” he says. “It may actually encourage more small businesses to use these mediums for ad delivery.”

Read more articles about advertising.

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“Small-business owners should take this El Nino season very seriously,” says Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, which frequently hears from small businesses during and after climate events.

“The current El Nino pattern and intensity will certainly impact small businesses, both through direct climate regional changes and through supply and demand disruptions,” Dorfman says. “The issues stemming from the effects of El Nino can be very challenging for small businesses, because they frequently have less financial cushions and other resources to withstand sudden shifts.”

Trickle Down Effects of El Nino

The effects of inclement and unpredictable weather on small business can run the gamut and affect entire regions.

“Most firms are reliant upon the Internet for connectivity to customers and suppliers,” Dorfman says. “Prolonged outage of electricity and Internet access can incapacitate basic communications and business activity. Supplies and services may also be delayed, or there may be sudden price spikes. And, if a small business is a vital supplier of goods and services in a region, the entire community may be impacted. These issues can snowball, causing small businesses to lay off personnel and slow their own supply orders.”

The potential repercussions of El Nino are a concern, agrees Susan Schlapkohl, vice president and co-founder of InterVac Design Corp, which manufactures compact central vacuum systems for recreational vehicles, boats and condos.

When weather events like hurricanes and snow and ice storms hit, they disrupt business, Schlapkohl notes. “Businesses can experience a loss of power and trucking comes to a halt, because most gas stations do not have generators, which makes refueling impossible,” she says. “Snow and ice storms also make roads impassable for trucking. The resulting missed deliveries for both incoming raw materials and outgoing finished products create the potential to, at a minimum, increase shipping cost as goods have to be air freighted and, at its worst, cause a loss of customers due to missed deliveries. Loss of crops because of flooding and drought also can drive up food prices and creates headaches for resellers.”

How to Prepare for El Nino

Of course, nature can be difficult to predict, but there are certain tactics you can take to help mitigate problems should weather conditions become disagreeable and disrupt your business:

• Plan ahead for communication interruptions. “Prepare and communicate plans in case of electrical interruptions, Internet interruptions and even evacuation,” Dorfman says. “Back up computer information and have alternative locations from which communications can be made.”
• Build up inventory. Ensure that you have enough key supplies to get the business through a disruption in receiving supplies. Also prepare excess finished goods, in case of a loss of power.
• Talk with suppliers. “We recommend business owners talk with their suppliers now to control costs and leverage their relationships during these times to keep supplies and costs as stable as possible,” Dorfman says. “It can’t hurt to also talk with alternative suppliers now to get an understanding of costs and requirements should your business be forced to secure supplies from another vendor.”
• Come up with a shipping plan. This may be a good time to plan backup shipping routes in case El Nino causes delays with your regular means of transport. Or you could consider shipping early, as you may be able to mitigate delivery delays by sending out product earlier than required due dates.
• Familiarize with assistance sources. The Small Business Administration and FEMA provide assistance during times of trouble, Dorfman advises. “Reach out now to make connections and understand the resources available from these government agencies in the event that you need assistance,” she says. “We also recommend reaching out to Congressional representatives, as these offices frequently have lists of all resources available in a region.”

Read more articles about strategic planning.

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Though the idea of skipping such a big sales day may seem contradictory to good business, the move could gain customer respect, believes Rod Robertson, managing partner of Briggs Capital, which assists businesses in financial matters, and author of Winning at Entrepreneurship.

“Retail is about taking bold stands, be it new product lines or on social issues,” says Robertson. “By shutting down on Black Friday, which is now an over baked sale-a-thon, small-business owners may be able to battle the hydra of big boxes and online competitors. This boycott of Black Friday could be a blessing if the small-business owner can take a stand and give shoppers an alternative solution.”

PR Potential

“For a small business, any news is good news,” Robertson says. “Taking on the giants and standing tall as entrepreneurs could attract a new admiring client base tired of rampant commercialism. By not running with the thundering herd and instead taking the high road, a retailer with a carefully planned marketing initiative can be seen as bold and contributing to a paradigm shift.”

Taking a values stand as REI has done can appeal to certain groups of consumers, notes Stacy DeBroff, founder & CEO of Influence Central.

“REI’s decision to remain closed on Black Friday focuses on the company’s values of getting outdoors and staying active. Increasingly, consumers, especially millennials, are aligning themselves with brands that remain closer to their personal values. We recently conducted a study of more than 1,000 millennial women and moms, as well as boomer and Gen X women, and found that millennial moms in particular look to connect with brands that they feel reflect their own lifestyle values—ones they see as honest, transparent and authentic.”

Making the Most of Bold Moves

If you decide to close down your business on Black Friday, you’ll want to make the most of the tactic, advises Olga Mizrahi, CEO of ohso! design and author of Sell Local, Think Global. “First, explain to your customers and the community why you are closing for the day and to what greater purpose. Think a lot about how your company defines success, and then be really clear about your success markers and what you’re doing to hit them. Also, capitalize on the PR that comes with doing something different. Have a hashtag for the occasion, create a buzz, take a stand and weave your ‘stunt’ into your company’s story.”

Mizrahi also suggests featuring a “thank you” wall at your place of business with dry erase markers where customers and employees can leave public thanks to echo the sentiment of the closing. “Maybe they’ll tout their spending time with family or giving thanks to the community by participating in charitable events happening that day,” she says.

Aim for Lost Sales Recovery

“Taking a stand against Black Friday should not entail losing revenue,” Robertson says.

Mizrahi agrees. “Distribute branded thank-you notes to customers in-store and online that invite them in for a big sale on [Saturday],” she says.

Of course, Black Friday is so crucial to holiday sales that skipping it may be unlikely to catch on in a big way. “While brands’ core values increasingly resonate with consumers, it remains to be seen if other retailers will follow REI’s lead and make similar moves,” Debroff says.

If it works for your small business to close up on Black Friday, it might be worth a try. If nothing else, doing so may give you and your employees some much needed downtime before the holiday season rush.

Read more articles about customer engagement.

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“In this era where almost everyone has smartphones and many have tablets and wearable technology, the world is increasingly connected to online commerce,” says Benjamin Hordell, founding partner of DXagency. “An entire retail ecosystem is at customers’ fingertips with plenty of deals to be had.”

The line between online and offline is permanently blurred, believes Haresh Kumar, vice president of marketing for Moovweb, which specializes in powering engaging mobile experiences. “Customers are omni-channel, meaning the discovery to purchase journey happens on all channels—TV, mobile, desktop, in-store, etc.—but mobile is the only channel that complements all these channels. It’s the second screen and often the first screen for buyers.”

The increasing shift toward mobile means the playing field may now be much more level for small-business owners than it’s ever been, Hordell adds. “All these small businesses are now in the same ‘malls’ as the big brands.”

André Walters, founder and CEO of Yuno, a social shopping e-commerce site, agrees. “Small-business owners are no longer limited to brick-and-mortar traffic—the Internet allows them a global reach.”

Despite the potential for hefty online sales, shopping cart abandonment may be one of the biggest hurdles small-business owners must overcome to experience successful sales.

“A recent study by Statista shows that 56 percent of people abandon their shopping carts online due to encountering unexpected costs at checkout,” Walters says. “If you can cut the cost for shoppers, with free shipping and extended return periods, this can help prevent abandonment.”

Given the potentially lucrative sales your small business can make through mobile sales, it makes sense to try to ensure your mobile experience is the best it can be for your customers. Here’s how to encourage shoppers to finish purchasing and return for more.

Streamline the Experience

If you had a physical store, you’d want your customers to have an incident-free, seamless experience. The same goes for their online shopping. “It’s important to take their hands and lead them to the top items you’d love for them to buy and then make it as easy as possible to checkout,” says Jen Hansard, co-founder of Simple Green Smoothies. “It’s amazing how convenient and pleasant you can make the buying experience if you approach it from the viewpoint of the consumer. The key is a responsive platform that includes ‘add to cart’ buttons that save customers from even having to visit your online shop first.”

Have an Easy-to-Navigate Checkout

The secret to avoiding shopping cart abandonment and closing mobile sales is providing a frictionless checkout flow that isn’t cumbersome, according to Kumar. “Make it easy for consumers to go from browsing to selection to purchase. The number of checkout steps isn’t important—it’s what you ask your customers to do at each step. Use prefilling fields for information like addresses.”

Also make sure to give full shipping costs before the last page, suggests Jeff Sauro, owner of MeasuringU, a research firm that focuses on measuring and improving the website and mobile experience for retailers. “Not providing the full shipping cost until the checkout page is a major cause of shopping cart abandonment.”

Use Promo Codes

Consider having promo codes available, as customers expect them, Hordell advises. “A key component of online shopping is the experience of shopping and then finding a coupon/offer to apply and see the cost drop. If people can’t find a coupon, they often will not check out. Make sure there is a coupon or offer code accessible on every page and factor these discounts into your pricing.”

Also be cognizant of where you place the coupon code. “Consumers often abandon the cart at the ‘promo code’ field because the customer leaves the checkout flow hunting for the promo code and never comes back,” Kumar says. “Instead, make the coupon field collapsed so that it’s available to users but not part of the direct checkout flow.”

Be Responsive

One of the advantages of being a small business with a mobile presence is the ability to be available to the consumer during the buying cycle, notes Samantha Fein, vice president of marketing for Totspot, a peer-to-peer mobile marketplace for buying and selling children’s used clothing.

“For example, our sellers receive alerts when an item is liked,” she says. “Clever shop owners reply or comment on the item and ask if they can offer assistance or answer questions about the ‘liked’ product, which brings the small-business sentiment into the mobile shopping environment. The best thing a small-business owner on a shopping platform can do is be human and speak with your customers.”

Hansard reports that her business is built around a community experience and thrives because of it. “We moved our commerce site to the mobile responsive platform, Shopify. It was a lot of work to move our products over and learn a whole new system, but we believe it was worth it for our community, as more than 70 percent of our clients are getting to use the platform through mobile devices or tablets.”

Make It Enjoyable

“As people spend more time on mobile devices, they’re using some of that time to interact with shopping sites that give them an experience,” Walters says. “We’re finding that the discovery of products is an entertaining experience in and of itself, and our platform entices conversations around products. If small-business owners can make customer interactions with their products an experience and not just another sale, then they will increase their potential for converting visitors into paying customers.”

Read more articles about digital tools.

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“Sitting on cash reserves and not making the necessary investments in your company can inhibit its growth and success in the long term,” Byrne says. “You can have a ‘cash cow’ now, but if you don’t invest those profits back into the business, you may find that increased competition, changes in customer expectations and economic cycles turn your cash cow into a sunken ship.”

Dave Kurrasch, vice president and general manager of Small Business Payments Company, agrees with that line of thought. You might have a problem if you don’t use positive cash flow to exploit market, expansion and product opportunities, he says.

“Firms can be very successful in the short run, and profits and cash flow can be very rewarding to owners and shareholders,” Kurrasch says, “but if a company relies on products and services that are gradually becoming irrelevant or unpopular, the business will certainly face a crisis at some time in the future.”

Signs You’re Headed in the Wrong Direction

Having plenty of cash looks great on your balance sheet and offers protection during difficult times, but when a company is growing too rapidly and making outsized profits, it can experience financial and other operational problems, including mismanaged profits and uncontrolled growth. Some of the warning signs:

• Decreased productivity due to long hours and low employee morale
• Failure to properly train new employees or plan for succession in management
• Hiring too many employees without a firm plan for their function or placement within the company
• Diminished quality of products and/or services
• Trouble with inventory management
• Increase in customer complaints
• Business owner(s) assuming responsibility for an overabundance of daily operational functions, causing a loss in focus of the company’s core objectives and growth goals
• Cash-rich mindset that leads to spending based on impulse rather than long-term planning, such as moving into expensive offices or overspending on office equipment and technology

Backed by a solid plan, however, you can take advantage of the profitable times when they come. Doing so requires that you manage your cash flow and continue to proactively improve upon your products and services.

“Having the right systems in place to effectively manage cash flow can help business owners make investments based on sound financial evaluation,” Byrne says. “A positive cash flow keeps a small business moving forward and helps it weather unexpected slow sales periods. It also prepares small-business owners for success when seeking additional capital for opportunities like expansion initiatives and equipment acquisition.”

Effectively Managing Your Money

Effective cash flow management begins with analyzing future cash flow requirements in order to predict potential trouble ahead of time, Kurrasch says: “All companies, and in particular small businesses, should create a rigorous cash forecast that looks out three to six months at a minimum, if not longer. This is particularly true for very capital-intensive businesses that must continually invest in inventory, plant and equipment.”

Strong strategies for improving cash flow, according to Byrne, include:

• reviewing sales and expenses daily
• sending invoices on time
• paying bills promptly
• creating sales forecasts
• reducing expenses
• continually investing in the company

“Rather than taking out every dollar earned by the business in the form of a salary or dividend, you must balance your own cash needs with those that will maximize the long-term success of your business,” Byrne says.

Read more articles on cash flow. 

This article originally ran on October 7, 2014.

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“Cybersecurity is not just about IT. The best detection tools only do part of the job,” says James Pooley, an IP and legal security consultant and author of Secrets: Managing Information Assets in the Age of Cyberespionage. “Hacks come from the outside, but they usually succeed only with help from the inside,” he says. “It’s usually accidental, like what happened with the Sony hack. Someone saw an email that looked legitimate and clicked on an attachment that opened a door, letting malicious software enter the system. It sat there like a sleeper cell, gathering data and waiting for the perfect time to strike.”

While external hacks make headlines, the most common data breaches stem from employee negligence, agrees Michael Bruemmer, vice president of consumer protection at Experian. “Cyber-attacks exploiting human mistakes are extremely common. It only takes an employee surfing the Web and accidentally allowing viruses on his or her computer or receiving an email from an unknown source and clicking on a phishing scam link to put the company at risk.”

Social Media a Culprit

Many people reveal a great deal about themselves on social media, believes Pooley, and that can allow hackers to “scrape” those sites for information and use it to craft messages that look like they’re coming from friends or coworkers. “The message might have an attachment or a link to a fake website that hosts the invasive software. Everyone in a company has the potential to become an unwitting accomplice for hackers,” he says.

“Some of the biggest hacks are what we call social hacks,” agrees Erik Knight, CEO of SimpleWan. “Most of the time the computer systems are not what fail. It’s the people problem. The quickest way to gain access to a system is to talk your way into it.”

Action Necessary

Cyber-breaches will likely continue to get worse, so it can be critical for small-business owners to get a handle on the situation, Knight believes. “As Fortune 500 companies toughen up their security, hackers are going to start targeting smaller organizations, because they lack the procedures and technology to protect themselves. Technology is important, but the people factor can circumvent almost any of those technologies if not properly addressed early on,” he says.

“For every high-profile retail breach you’ve heard about, you can bet there were at least a dozen cyber-attacks on small and medium-sized businesses,” Bruemmer adds. “Small businesses are often preyed upon by cyber-criminals, who view the category as having fewer resources to manage cyber-security.”

Whether hackers succeed may depend on how careful you and your employees are. To help develop a culture of cybersecurity for your company, keep the following tips in mind.

Train Employees

“The single most important and cost-effective action any company can do to raise its game on information security is training, but it can’t be a one-time orientation video for new hires,” Pooley says. “To be really effective, training has to be continuous; varied, so it’s interesting; world class, which means hiring experts, and inclusive, [which means] executives have to join in.”

According to Pooley, the best training should include real-world examples that enable employees to see how cybersecurity leads to job security. “When an employee does detect something and report it, publicly thank the staff member—people notice that,” he says.

“Frequently remind employees about security procedures and conduct trainings every year,” Bruemmer says. “There are many other best practices to follow, including requiring mobile devices to be tested for security prior to connecting to networks or enterprise systems, improving access and authentication practices to make sure that only the appropriate employees and contractors have access to its information systems, and encrypting sensitive or confidential personal and business information stored on computers.”

Teach Red Flags

“Cybersecurity starts with employee awareness, so the more you teach them about the threats, such as phishing scams, adware, malware and viruses, the better,” says Kevin Layton, CEO of Data-Dynamix, which specializes in demographic data and marketing strategies. “Giving guidance about what to look for in emails and computer performance is very important to minimize the threat. Strong and changing passwords are also key, as well as policies that discourage sharing them.”

For the best protection, staff should be kept up-to-date on the latest cyber threats, believes John Canfield, vice president of risk management at WePay, where the company regularly does training to update employees. “For example, spear phishing is an email that comes from a cyber-thief but appears to be from someone within your operations or from another company you do business with in an attempt to obtain data. Staff aware of such threats can then double check to make sure the request is coming from a legitimate source rather than unknowingly releasing sensitive information.”

Have a Plan

Once cyber-threats are detected, employees should know what to do with the information, which is why having an incident response plan can be crucial. “A plan can help your company act quickly if a data breach occurs and acting quickly can help to prevent further data loss, significant fines and costly customer backlash,” Bruemmer says.

Read more articles about cybersecurity.

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OCTOBER 14, 2015It’s not just large companies that can benefit from hiring a celebrity spokesperson. Small businesses can, too. In fact, hiring a celebrity spokesperson can get your small business noticed in a big way.

“Taking advantage of a celebrity spokesperson can be a game changer for a small business,” says Shawn Prez, president and CEO of Power Moves Inc., an alternative marketing agency that serves both small businesses and music industry personalities. When appropriate, Prez enthusiastically recommends that his small-business clients hire a spokesperson.

If the idea of having someone well known be your business’s cheerleader sounds too pricy, it might be helpful to know it doesn’t have to cost a lot. “Many small businesses have seen great returns on their investments by using the celebrity of local influencers in their market niches, such as clergymen, DJs or radio personalities,” Prez says. “More times than not, such local celebrities won’t break your budget, and they’re often accessible and easy to work with.”

Before making a celebrity spokesperson part of your marketing strategy, it may help to keep the following tips in mind:

Find a Good Fit

Bringing in a celebrity spokesperson is no different from establishing any new business relationship, Prez explains. “The spokesperson should have direct synergies with your business. Far too often, companies make the mistake of hiring celebrities with huge names and popularity but don’t give a thought to how the person’s notable achievements correlate with their business. …The best spokespeople appear organic, authentic and a natural fit.”

For example, if you’re in the business of selling high-end merchandise, you should consider hiring a celebrity who’s known for living an aspirational lifestyle, Prez suggests.

Milorganite is a company that creates fertilizer through a sustainable process, so hiring a gardening expert and TV/radio host made perfect sense for the company.

“Our goal in utilizing a spokesperson is to create a human connection between our product and the consumer,” says Milorganite’s sales and marketing manager Tisa Overman. “We believe that having a knowledgeable, likeable personality who relates to the target audience gives our product and organization a personality people can relate to.”

Seek a Shared Vision

Jordan Fliegel, CEO and founder of CoachUp, recently struck up partnerships with well-known basketball and football players. “As a company that’s created a service where athletes can find sport-specific private coaches and personal trainers, it was natural for us to connect with well-known athletes that share our company’s vision,” Fleigel says.

The athletes that Fliegel chose to represent his company are committed to his mission, which is to help kids change the trajectory of their lives through sports. “We talk a lot at CoachUp about athlete development, achieving your goals and the positive outcomes of private coaching, including gaining confidence,” says Fliegel, who’s also the author of Reaching Another Level.

When seeking a company spokesperson, consider individuals who’ve already benefited from your type of service. That will help make their marketing efforts authentic and resonate more powerfully with your customers.

Fliegel’s other spokesperson is an excellent example of a celebrity who’s benefited from the service he’s representing. “He was told that he was too small,” Fliegel says of the now-star wide receiver. “He decided to outwork everyone and seek the help and guidance of private coaches and personal trainers to push him beyond normal limits.” That drive meshes well with CoachUp’s goals.

Hiring Tips

When hiring your own company spokesperson, keep these additional pointers in mind:

• Aim for authenticity. Align your business with someone who truly believes in your product or service and ideally patronizes your business. Such an individual has knowledge about what you do and is tied in some way to your business.
• Look for enthusiasm. It’s important that the spokesperson is excited about what you’re doing and proud to represent your brand.
• Insist on impeccable conduct. Remember that your spokesperson reflects on your business, so it’s important to know your consumer base and not hire someone who might offend their beliefs or lifestyle. For instance, Fliegel choose spokespeople who conduct themselves well both on and off the field and court.
• Never hire someone just so you can say you have a spokesperson. “If the spokesperson doesn’t believe in your brand, goals, vision and mission and just wants the gig as a means to a paycheck,” Prez explains, “he or she will sound fake, and the messages will come across as unauthentic.”
• Take full advantage of your spokespeople. Since you’ve gone to the expense and work of securing a spokesperson, get the most you can out of the arrangement. “Shoot viral videos that capture your spokesperson interacting with the product or business,” Prez suggests. “Viral platforms such as Twitter and Instagram are great outlets to post these videos. Local cable stations also provide an inexpensive way to run low-cost commercials starring your spokesperson.”

Read more articles on marketing and sales.

This article was originally published on October 9, 2014.

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If you can survive the immense amount of paperwork required as part of the government contractapplication and have the good fortune to secure a contract, before breaking out the champagne, you should line up all your proverbial ducks and prepare yourself, your employees and your suppliers for the project, advises former Air Force contracting officer Eldonna Lewis-Fernandez, CEO of Dynamic Vision International.

“It’s imperative that you prepare for the inevitable demand for increased manpower—which may be substantial,” says Lewis-Fernandez, who is also a negotiation expert and author of Think Like A Negotiator.

Ask Plenty of Questions about Your Government Contract

Once you’ve received a government contract, you should discover as soon as possible exactly what’s required according to the demands of the contract so you can calculate the necessary manpower and other resources you’ll need.

“It’s important to understand that the people awarding the contracts are government contracting personnel,” Lewis-Fernandez explains. “They are not the end user and [may] not understand for the most part much about what they are buying. Their job is to award the contracts and get them off their desks. They also generally have never been in business and [may] not understand anything about costs, overhead, labor, etc., from the perspective of the small-business owner. This is why it’s so important that you take the responsibility to ask these questions yourself—because they [may not] come up otherwise.”

Inquire About Hidden Requirements

According to Lewis-Fernandez, it’s the hidden requirements that come out after the contract award that can cause trouble. “It’s important to have a strategy for how you’ll handle those requirements that seemingly come out of the blue once you receive the contract,” Lewis-Fernandez says.

“Often, bids are low price driven and many bidders leave out some of those extra man hours from their proposals,” she says. “You have to read between the lines and ask questions about extra requirements. If they want a monthly report, for instance, what is going to be required in that report? How much manpower will that process take? The statement of work usually isn’t completely clear regarding what the government wants. Asking questions in advance is the key to discovering the hidden requirements that will be necessary in order to honor the contract.”

Consult With Small-Business Contractors

You may be able to get useful tips for staffing your business in the event of winning a government contract by consulting with other companies that have received contracts and fulfilled them. Hearing straight from another small-business owner what it was like to get a contract in terms of the demands and any possible constraints on their business goes a long way toward giving you useful guidelines for what to do and not do as you proceed.

Meet With Your Employees

Once you have a good indication of the extra work and hours you’ll require of employees, you should have a meeting to outline how the contract will benefit the company and your employees. Be fair in your assessment. Cover the fact that they will see an increased workload, yet also emphasize the many ways the increased capital can be good for the company and them. Allow employees to voice concerns, and relay any plans to hire more personnel. Your employees may even know of good candidates.

Alert Your Suppliers

Speak with those vendors that provide the goods and services you require to run your company. Now is the time to discuss having sufficient inventory to meet demand. If a supplier says they may not be able to handle the uptick, this can give you some time to find additional support.

Remember Your Regular Customers

At some point, the contract will end. During the process, you should continue to provide excellent service to your regular customers, who have stood by you and helped get your business to where it is today. True, you may secure another government contract, but you can’t be sure of this. Consider dedicating an employee to oversee regular clients to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that your company continues to place a premium on excellent customer service for everyone.

Read more articles about government contracting.

_{The information contained in this article is for generalized informational and educational purposes only and is not designed to substitute for, or replace, a professional opinion about any particular business or situation or judgment about the risks or appropriateness of any government contracting strategy or approach for any specific business or situation. THIS ARTICLE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING ADVICE. The views and opinions expressed in authored articles on OPEN Forum represent the opinion of their author and do not necessarily represent the views, opinions and/or judgments of American Express Company or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries or divisions (including, without limitation, American Express OPEN). American Express makes no representation as to, and is not responsible for, the accuracy, timeliness, completeness or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made in this article.}

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2015Doing more in less time seems to be a running theme for many of today’s small-business owners. That means embracing innovations that can make your business more productive is more than a good idea—it may be a necessity.

Fortunately, intelligent personal assistants, such as theiPhone’s Siri, can help make it easier than ever to increase productivity and run your business successfully. This built-in feature that allows you to make voice commands for things like directions and reminders has become even more powerful in the all new iOS 9.

“Today’s business owners have to do more per unit of time, and everyone is looking for ways to improve productivity and maximize the time we spend on our business and personal relationships,” says Ken Moll, founder of the business advisory firm Blue Elevator™. “The Siri enhancements are again moving the proverbial needle. As more of our life transitions into the electronic or virtual realm, these improved Siri features with iOS 9 look to bring us back to the balance we all need to live a more ‘present’ life while still remaining ‘plugged in.’”

Siri for iOS 9 can complete literally hundreds of tasks activated by your voice, adds Rob Nelson, founder and CEO of Grow. “It allows you to read messages, launch apps, set reminders, find notes, manage social media accounts, solve math equations, schedule or reschedule meetings and much more. Any tool such as this that allows you to access the data you need quickly and easily should be in your business arsenal.”Here are the highlights of the new Siri for iOS 9 upgrades that have the potential for making the running of your business more smooth and productive.

• Set tasks by location. “One of the most powerful aspects of Siri in iOS 9 is the ability to set tasks by location and not just by a specific time period,” Nelson says. “This allows you to be reminded about not leaving important documents before stepping outside your home or to grab the company credit card before leaving to wine and dine a client.”
• Voice activation. Rather than having to search out your phone and touch the screen home button, you can now call out to Siri and give your virtual assistant instructions. Your phone could be across the room; you need only shout to get it to do what you want.
• Updated photo search functions. If you think of a great photo you took and want to use in a blog post or for social media, Siri for iOS 9 allows you to search by location or time. For instance, you can tell it to show you photos taken at a specific tradeshow and the dates. Or you can simply tell the device to display photos from a certain date.
• Intuitive. The new Siri doesn’t just answer your questions. Your intelligent virtual assistant is so good that it can predict what you want to do and with whom you want to talk. For instance, it will make suggestions for who you might like to contact and the apps you may want to use. There is even a suggestion screen that directs you to restaurants, which can make choosing a place to meet a potential client quick and easy.

Read more articles about productivity tools.

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