Newsletter

Telecommuting saves gas, time and money while it helps you go green.

Telecommuting gives you the flexibility to work from home, a hotel room in another city or from almost anywhere in the world. With the right technology and a strong high-speed internet connection, you can access your company's data and be part of the phone system just as if you were in a cubicle back in the office. While many products offer remote workers "bare-bones" features, Toshiba includes everything that the office system has like the ability to intercom, transfer calls back and forth, and see when another person is on their phone.

New technology, high gas prices and the costs of providing office space are prompting a growing number of companies to adopt telecommuting for some of their workforce. Benefits include:

• Smaller office space means significant savings.
• Less space lowers utility bills.
• Less office furniture has to be purchased.
• Flexibility makes it possible to keep excellent employees who are unable or unwilling to make the daily commute.
• Get the freedom to travel and still be as connected to the business as you choose.

Employees who telecommute not only save gas and wear-and-tear on their vehicles, but they also save time. Let's assume the average commute in the Greater Kansas City Area is thirty minutes. An hour a day on the road for fifty weeks a year is the equivalent of over 31 eight-hour days spent driving to and from work. That also means 250 hours worth of "stuff" puffed out into the atmosphere by their cars. Some people are more productive when they work from home. They experience a better quality of life with the ability to spend more time with family.

Telecommuting can bring many benefits, but it isn't without challenges. There are technical issues which must be addressed including the volatility and security of the internet. Plus there are personnel issues to consider. Obviously, not all people will flourish in a telecommuter environment, but for some businesses and some workers, it is a win-win solution.

Five Ways to Grow Your Business During a Recession

The economy is facing some challenges, no doubt about it. But now is not the time for small–business owners to develop a "recession" mindset. Here are five tips to help you create your own success while everyone else is expecting the worse:

1. Start spending: It may sound counter–intuitive, but hard times call for you to increase some of your expenditures. For example, if sales is the lifeblood of your business, you should consider adding to your sales team by staffing up or investing in a product that could make your sales process more efficient. Or, you could boost morale and positive energy within your sales team by raising commissions for top performers, or giving them gifts that they will appreciate, such as tickets to a sporting event or a concert.

   Obviously, this does not mean you should increase spending across the board. Rather, make spending decisions with your customers in mind. For example, if you run a coffee shop, consider going from two baristas to three because your competitors are likely trimming their staff, and you could gain customers who don't want to wait in a long line.

2. Make friends: A friendly phone call or two to your vendors and creditors is very important at this time. Building rapport and camaraderie with your suppliers can be crucial if your own customers are slow to pay. If you have built a solid working relationship with vendors, in some cases you could ask them to lengthen your payment cycles from 30 days to 90 days, or renegotiate rates.

   Keep the phone lines open to your bank as well, and be sure to have a plan in place if you need loans in the near future. If you don't already have a strong history with your bank, it may be to your advantage to take out some small loans and pay them back on schedule to strengthen your credit.

3. Focus your vision: This is the perfect time to take a close look at your products and services to see which are worth keeping and which you need to sacrifice. Get rid of losses, of course, and consider ones which are profitable, but may not justify the effort of making and selling them. Having a tight focus may help you thrive. It is often better to give a narrow group of customers something you know they want or need, than to pursue a wider group whom you don't really understand.

   One way to assess the value of your product line is through an activity–based cost analysis, which tallies the cost of making each of your products and the cost of serving each set of customers. In the end, you will know which product line to eliminate and which customers you'd be better off not serving.

4. Diversify customers: When the economy is fickle, it's important to diversify, and avoid giving more than 20 percent of your business to one customer. If they go under, you don't want to be dragged down with them. One way to diversify is to consider products that are closely related to what you do best that could get you into slightly different markets. Such half–step diversifications can be less risky than sitting back and hoping to hang on to the existing products and services you offer.

5. Smart marketing: The first step in formulating a proper marketing strategy during these times is to acknowledge that consumer behavior will change and learn how those changes will impact your business. Understand that most people will have economic anxiety; even people who are doing OK themselves will be cautious. People will act more penny–wise and tighten the belt, for example by holding on to a car a few extra months or eating out less often. So as you market your products or services, you should expect cost to be a bigger part of every consumer decision.

   However, remember that self-image matters and people who are struggling don't want it to show it, and on the flip side, people who are unaffected don't want to rub it in other people's faces. So this is the time to take a look at your ideal client profile and re-assess their decision making process to make sure your business prospers.

   The good news about hard times is that some of your rivals will give up, giving you a chance to gain market share, enter a new niche, or simply find some bargain investments. But most importantly, as a business owner you should avoid adopting the victim mentality and capitalize on this opportunity to grow your business, while others shrink.

OneCoach members have access to dozens of articles like this one, covering every aspect of small–business growth, as well as interactive coaching, networking and other business–building resources. If you are a small business owner who would like a complimentary business–growth strategy session with a OneCoach Advisor, call 816–761–5100 or visit

www.MO–KS.OneCoach.com.

News from Toshiba FYI...

Toshiba is pleased to announce the launch of its new Strata® CIX™1200 VoIP business communication system, bringing Toshiba quality, reliability and affordability to medium–to–large companies. Supporting up to 1,152 ports, the Strata CIX1200 is designed for 200 to 1,000 users and delivers networked applications for as many as 128 sites.

"The new Strata CIX1200 expands Toshiba's reach in the medium–to–large market segment, giving enterprises a robust Toshiba solution at nearly double the port capacity of our Strata CIX670," said Brian Metherell, Toshiba TSD Vice President and General Manager.

Strata CIX1200 highlights include:

• A 1,000+ port system that offers a very high level of user customization (FeatureFlex®)
• Can be networked up to 128 sites
• Easy migration to Strata CIX1200 from other Toshiba Strata CIX systems
• Value-added applications on a single MAS server delivers clean integration and affordability

With all these innovative and unique features, it is no wonder Internet Telephony Magazine has already awarded the Strata CIX1200 with a 2008 TMC Labs Innovation Award.

Congratulations to bijin salon and spa and the Webster House.

The September issue of KC Magazine includes the list called "2008 City's Best". Honorees were chosen in 125 diverse categories from Best TV Personality to Best Museum and more.

All of us at COMMWORLD send our sincere congratulations to our clients and friends who made this list. bijin salon and Spa is the winner of the Best Day Spa category and Webster House is the winner of Best Antiques.

We are especially proud that the telecommunication system was sited as a contributing factor to bijin's exceptional customer service. As seen in KC Magazine...

"Spending a day in the lap of luxury just got a whole lot easier – and more relaxing. bijin just opened an off–site call center, with at least three dedicated employees answering the phone and setting up appoint- ments. This way the girls at the front desk can give clients their full attention and ensure that the chaos of a ringing phone stays far, far away."

$2500 to $8000 for every referral who becomes a OneCoach Business Partner.

COMMWORLD of Kansas City is proud to introduce OneCoach to our area. OneCoach is the leading business growth network helping small business owners get the answers they need to grow the business they want. OneCoach is launching franchise operations across the United States.

What does this mean to you?

We're looking for people interested in this exceptional franchise opportunity — specifically we're seeking sales and marketing professionals who seriously exceed expectations, who want to help small businesses grow and want to own their own business.

So think about the most successful sales professionals you know. And then think of who among them has the drive, the resources and the integrity to bring the OneCoach business growth network to a protected territory in Kansas or Missouri. That's who we're looking for and when they become a OneCoach Business Partner, you'll receive a generous finder's fee of $2500 to $8000.

You'll be doing your qualified friends and colleagues a tremendous favor by alerting them to this opportunity. The OneCoach business growth network works for any small business, in any location, under any circumstances. OneCoach franchisees are backed by world–class support, and a runaway brand.

Aside from all that, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor. To learn more, visit www.OneCoach.com. Please, contact Linda Bennett with your questions and referrals at lkb@COMMWORLD-KC.com or 816–763–1100.

Thank you for helping OneCoach help small business owners build the business of their dreams.

To your success!

Meet Mr. Michael Carpenter...

Michael Carpenter is COMMWORLD's "go to" guy for computer and telephony hardware issues. "I've seen him work miracles reviving a dead computer or voice mail that anyone else would have given up on and saving our clients hundreds or thousands of dollars," reports Operations Manager Cindy Harries. Michael joined the company in 1994. He has been in the industry for nearly 20 years. Michael has an Associates Degree and is manufacturer-certified in over twenty different product lines. He has proven to be a valuable asset for both COMMWORLD and our partners and customers. He is tenacious when it comes to service issues, and won't give up until all avenues have been exhausted. He is instrumental in resolving and repairing hardware "hiccups", and recovering valuable data that would have been deemed "unrecoverable" by someone with lesser skills. Michael is a devoted Dad and husband and he is an avid Chiefs fan.

Phone Facts...

In 1877, Edwin Holmes, the operator of an electric burglar alarm business in Boston, installed the first telephone exchange. The first switchboard was connected to telephones in the offices of six businesses which had purchased alarms from Mr. Holmes. It served as a telephone system by day and a burglar alarm system by night.

It was a complicated setup, but the important thing is that it was the first telephone exchange. Prior to the development of the exchange, each home or business with a phone had to be hard wired to every other location with a phone in order to converse. Telephones on competitor systems could not communicate. This led to cables criss-crossing neighborhoods and cities. Without the exchange, the use of the telephone was severely limited. The exchange permitted endless social and business contacts, even between strangers, in ways never before possible.