The World Business

Archive for March, 2010

Automated Business Center Systems are charging into the home office and sweeping aside many of the old-fashioned ways of doing business. They offer a quantum jump in efficiencies and are fundamentally changing the way part-timers run their home based businesses.

Imagine having an automated system in place that delivered all of your personally addressed promo material electronically to interested people. Then persistently – and without any fear of rejection – did the follow up while you slept.

Imagine new people being trained automatically and being kept fully informed of their progress every step of the way.

Welcome to the world of the Automated Business Center (ABC).

Simply speaking, an Automated Business Center is a sophisticated web-based software package designed to automatically deliver all types of information and perform many of the repetitive, boring, day-to-day tasks that can take up so much time in running a home based business.

Most Home Business owners run their operation part-time. They have to work smart and the ABC allows much of their business to run automatically while they are at their other job or business. The ABC allows the home business owner to operate more efficiently, even while they sleep, which will be the case if they are operating internationally.

Every module in the platform interfaces with the main database and all other modules in the system. This means that the “shopping list” of features is limited only by the imagination of the designer and web team – and the financial budget.

These systems don’t come cheap! Plan to invest well in excess of $250 000+ if you’re looking to build your own!

Here are some of the key features you will find in a state-of-the-art Network Marketing platform like the ABC AutoBiz Center:

• Promotional front-end
• Sponsoring Center
• Training Center
• Resource Center
• Family Tree Center
• Coaching Center
• Email Coaching
• Contact and Archive

For the astute part-time home business owner, being “time efficient” is everything. Cutting edge systems like the the ABC AutoBiz Center platform offer this as their central core benefit – and anything that helps us move toward that goal of a seven day weekend has to be worth a quick look!

A trade show, also known as a merchandise show or market week, is an exhibition or a business gathering organized by companies that showcase and demonstrate their new products and services and also their latest offerings. Trade shows also provide opportunities for companies to meet their customers, to learn new trends and to identify new prospects.

Trade shows are not open to the public and can only be attended by company representatives, members of the trade and members of the press. One advantage of holding a trade show is that it shortens the time it takes for companies to look for prospective customers. But the major disadvantage is that customers and prospects pay little attention to the many exhibitors and their products due to the many distractions and the busy atmosphere inherent in trade shows.

Exhibitors can make effective use of trade show displays in trade shows to direct visitors to their main display area. Trade show displays are used to give visitors a better understanding or appreciation of the products or services being marketed. Although exhibitors are only supposed to put their trade show displays within the confines of their designated trade show exhibit area, exhibitors also display items in strategic areas of the fair grounds. Trade show displays often used include banner stands, counters and cabinets, panel display etc. that clearly display the company logo, basic company information and company slogan.

The trade show booth is an important component of the trade show display as it aims to enhance the brand and marketing experience for the visitor. It facilitates valuable direct face-to-face contact between the companies and their prospective customers. The whole booth set-up includes counters kiosks, lighting, flooring, literature racks, banner stands and high impact graphics, with the booth design, the staffing and the handouts the main factors to a successful trade show booth.

Many companies prefer to rent pre-owned trade show exhibits and displays rather than to buy or to create them from scratch to save on the trade show booth construction costs and also on the expense of warehousing the displays after the trade show is over.

Trade shows demand a lot of work and effort, and exhibitors have to plan well in advance so as to make the trade show a success. It is because any successful trade show offers exhibitors with a very valuable opportunity to build relationships face-to-face with their clients and to close lucrative business deals.

Small business owners and home based entrepreneurs sometimes reach the point where they realize their company is ready to grow, and then they begin to consider the advantages of an ecommerce Internet merchant account. Those who accept merely cash or check payments may decide to increase the ways in which a customer can pay for goods or services. A merchant account will let business owners accept credit card payments in many different ways. That is why so many business people opt to apply for an Internet merchant account.

If you do not already have an Internet Website to promote your business, this would be a good time to put one in place by opening an Ecommerce Internet Merchant account. More and more, consumers are looking to the Internet to find companies that offer the products and terms they want. Conducting business on the Internet or through technological means is called “ecommerce,” sometimes spelled as “e-commerce,” and it is growing at a tremendously rapid rate. Once your Website is operational, you will want to update it often with your latest product lines and descriptions and price lists. Once customers from any other computer in the world know where to find you, chances are they will return time and again if they like your site; they might even bookmark it.
To keep customers coming back, get an Ecommerce Internet merchant account that will let you accept credit card payments. That way, customers can buy things at your store locations, whether online or at a physical site, and pay for them instantly. You won’t have to send out statements or wait for checks to arrive in the mail. Instead, your credit-processing feature will let them pay with a credit card, and your underwriter can facilitate the payment by converting currency and deposit profits in your account, using real time.
An ecommerce Internet merchant account can put you leagues ahead of other companies in your industry. While they still take just check or cash payments, you can be busy processing credit card payments that could push your sales volume to new record heights. Naturally, you will want to keep your store looking attractive, and your Website should offer helpful information that will make guests want to return and possibly even bookmark your site for frequent reference. When the word gets out that you are accepting credit payments, more customers may browse your Website to check out your wares and plunk down a credit card in payment. One of the nice things about using credit is its convenience. Customers don’t have to worry about carrying enough cash or making an account deposit before going shopping. They can browse spontaneously, and when they find something they want to buy, they need not be constrained by a lack of cash on hand or forgetting to order new checks for the checkbook.
Why not apply for your merchant account services account soon so that you can enjoy the status and benefits of attracting customers who prefer using credit when they hear about your ecommerce Internet merchant account.

Supposed you’ve decided to move part of your business overseas, those administrative fees could look like illegal bribes.

Let’s say that to open a manufacturing plant in Southeast Asia you need a permit from the local government.  A government agent there offers to get you the permit within a week – and his commission will only be $1,000.  Back off! Watch your step here.  In many countries, kickbacks and bribes have long been the accepted cost of doing business.  However, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), enacted by Congress in l977, prohibits bribery of officials in other countries.

It’s illegal to make payments, offers or even promises of anything of value to foreign officials to obtain or retain business or get an advantage.  It’s also illegal to make such payment to a third party (say the official’s wife or sibling).

For over 20 years the United States was the only country trying to prohibit bribery to foreign officials.  U.S. companies complained they faced either bribing foreign officials and risking FCPA prosecution or losing the contract.

Since then, with the urging of the US, international organizations have enacted treaties and conventions aimed at stamping out this practice.  The European Union, the United Nations, and the World Bank have adopted resolutions and policies against corruption which has helped to level the playing field.

You don’t want to get tangled up in bribery!  The problem is it’s rarely easy to tell whether a proposed payment is actually a bribe.  For instance, the FCPA doesn’t prohibit “grease payments” which are fees paid to foreign officials to expedite the actions the government would eventually take anyway, such as issuing a routine permit.  But suppose you need a permit to build an oil pipeline, and a government agent asks for a few thousand dollars for advising you on environmental issues and compliances to make sure you get the permit.  Would that be a “grease payment,” or a bribe for the officials to look the other way?

In light of the new rulings and laws, people of authority rarely ask for bribes, but they may ask for a small payment for advice on doing business there. For instance, if a government agency asks your company to build a park or pave a road in exchange for approval, that wouldn’t count as a “bribe.”

This whole scenario is further complicated by the layers of people it might take to get a job done.  So, if you hire an agent to work with an agent abroad, how do you know he isn’t paying bribes and implicating your firm in corruption?  Know what the deal should cost, so you can tell if money is leaking out.

Because complying with the many overlapping laws is tricky, don’t try it alone.  Hire a lawyer with experience in international business to help you through this minefield.

In fact, it makes one wonder whether it wouldn’t be better just to stay on your home turf!  Such is the way it goes when you start doing business overseas.