Many businesses that were able to survive the economic downturn did so by keeping a careful eye on every penny. This cost-cutting mindset seems to be the new norm, especially when it comes to spending money on the latest technology. It doesn’t take an online finance degree to see that products and services that take the place of indispensable business utilities should be invested in, while those technologies that are trendy, but do not help to improve the bottom line should be avoided.

The very first step in using technology is to use it to keep basic business tools, like company websites, maintained. Due to the rapid change in industries and technological advances, top class websites can become obsolete in as little as three years. Keeping them updated does not cost much, but is essential when it comes to projecting the image of a company. Check to see if your company website has a high page rank on Google. If your page rank turns out to be low, you may want to invest in some high quality content. This is not an expensive prospect and provides a company with good visibility. Likewise, if your company is selling products or services online, then it is important that the buying system is easy to use and quick to respond. A 10- to 15-second delay in the appearance of a Web page can result in a 15 percent – 20 percent loss in sales. Since a website is relatively inexpensive to set up and update and gives a company positive returns, every business should invest in building and maintaining a website.

Similarly, if your business does online sales and does not need a brick and mortar location, you should not invest in the construction of a nice office or retail location. There are companies that use technology to give a larger, more professional image of a company to incoming callers by routing calls smoothly to small or home office, eliminating the need for an on-site attendant. They can even give a company’s remote employees an 800 number to make it look like the employee is working out of the office.

These days, it seems like nearly everyone has a smart phone and uses Google Maps and other location identifying services to get around. It's a good idea, if your business has a location, to register with Google Maps so that customers can find your business easily.

Another tool that businesses can use to save costs is Skype for Business. Skype, and other similar setups that offer more than just VoIP calls, generally have big file sharing capabilities, face-to-face video calls, and business control panels where employees can set up accounts and allocate credit. These types of services help to save on travel costs and allow employees to stay connected when they do have to travel, thus improving efficiency.

Cloud computing is another new technology that is cost effective for many businesses. Cloud computing is Internet-based computing that uses shared servers to provide resources, software, and data to computers on demand. Moving disaster recovery to the cloud makes great sense, since it is more affordable for many businesses, as there are no storage and hardware replicating costs involved. Cloud computing also allows companies to do away with any server-management costs and headaches. However, if your company is thinking in terms of utility-billing using the cloud, it is not really any cheaper in the long run, and there may be other disadvantages as well, so just because it is the latest technology trend, does not mean that it is perfect for every business.

Investing wisely in technology requires long term planning. Start by determining which areas your company plans to grow and develop in the coming years. Next, make one person in the organization responsible for tracking IT trends that can help the business, based on the direction the company is headed.

With an explosion of technologies on the horizon, not all are going to be suitable for all types of business. There is no point in investing in technologies that do not bring a return just because everyone else is doing it. After all, when it comes to technology, one size does not fit all.

Kate Manning is a business major who has worked under others and as a self-employed entrepreneur. She currently owns and manages her own business in Washington State.

When you have a small business, you must follow a budget so that you can avoid falling into debt.  You may also need to get debt consolidation help to become debt-free, but if you have a well-planned business, you can avoid this (and may have a good savings account, too).

There are several ways you can work toward your small business, but also avoid falling into debt.

Step 1: Create a budget.

Having a budget is the first step toward your successful business.  You must create a budget in such a away that you don’t fall into debt, and if you need extra money, you can use your emergency fund.   Frugal living is the best way to make your budget work.  You must save where you can.  Try to create a visible line between your “needs” and “wants.”  This way, you can make your budget work and get better returns from your business.

Step 2: Advertise on a budget.

You may want to know how you can advertise your small business on a budget, but with the help of social media and networking, you can easily do it without spending much.  There are a lot of networking websites that can help you advertise your business, as well as get good advice from your consumers.

Step 3: Have a home-based business.

If you take any space to start up a small business, you need to pay rent.  This takes away a lot of money from your budget, but if you try to operate that same business from home, you can save the money on rent and use it for expanding your business or pay off debt.

These three easy steps can help your business run well, while helping you remain debt free forever.

Image courtesy of Office Desk Reviews

Whether there is an interior designer dying to jump out of you or you feel you lack all creativity necessary to design a home office, here are some helpful suggestions you might want to consider. With a little time and patience, you will not only have been able to designate a room, but also have it ready to start working in it.

Which Room is Best To Designate for Your Home Office?

The intended purpose of your home office will dictate the answer to this question. If you are a freelancer who rarely, if ever, sees clients, having an office in the back of the house is suggested. The rear tends to offer more peace, as the rooms are off the street and face other bedrooms. Also, neighbors who know you work from home might have a tendency to bother you more if they see the office light on. Working from home requires not only tranquility, but also discipline not to answer the door or the telephone every single time it rings.

Conversely, if you have a steady stream of clients meandering in and out, having a home office that's closer to the front entrance is more desirable. You will want to avoid those who are not family and friends traipsing through your house.

Sharing Your Office with the Family Room or Another Room

Sometimes, although it's not ideal, a home office has to share its space with either a guest bedroom or the family room. Again, while it's not ideal, it is truly workable. It will require more creativity and patience on everyone's part, but it can be done. If separating your home office from the rest of the family is a must, there are many creative ways to do this that won't be tacky. If you like antiques or Asian-inspired furniture, both will carry decorative screens that you can use as an elegant divider between your family room and your new home office.

Big Space or Small Space, You Can Work With It!

Although you might assume that the bigger the space you have to work with, the better, but this is not always the case. You will get more out of your room if you use the space efficiently, rather than attempt to jam pack it with useless furniture. Larger rooms require more and bigger furniture, whether you need it or not, and smaller rooms require you to be more creative so you don't feel consumed by your furnishings. If you are a minimalist, it might not be a bad idea to share your home office with the guest bedroom after all. Look around the room, take measurements, and make realistic assessments about what you have available to you. This will help you figure out what goes where, what accessories can compliment your furniture, etc. If you feel like you need help with any of this, here's a link that will help get the brain storming.

Furniture, Décor, and Colors

Being mindful of your budget of course, it's time to go shopping. Deciding what desk to get needn't be an agonizing thing at all. Be true to your personality. If you are a person who prefers clean lines, don't go for a desk that would be comfortable living with the Queen Mother. If you like Mission furniture, by all means, get a desk that represents this practical and yet unadorned style. If there is room, add a tasteful credenza or filing cabinet.

Glass corner computer desks are a popular choice because they need little room, they fit in small spaces, and buying one won't break the bank. A helpful tip: If you are short on space, but need a filing cabinet, buying one that easily rolls into your closet when it's not in use is a handy way to deal with space issues.

Many people live in fear of color on their walls. Then there are those who are controlled by the entire psychology behind color. Although some live by these rigid rules, ignorance is bliss! If you want orange on your walls, paint them orange. If your mood says red, go with red. If you are inclined to like one color over another, all the psychology in the world won't make a certain color better over another. Your love for it will be more than enough inspiration every time you look at your walls.

Paintings and other artwork are great to adorn your freshly painted walls. They not only help fill wall space, but they will also help cheer you up and offer something to focus on when you need a little lift. Whether it's a Chagall or a lesser-known artist, such as your best friend or your son's work, whatever gets you going should be on your walls.

Focus on Me! No, Focus on Me!

Every room needs a place to focus on when you walk in it. Interior designers are adept at this and know how to get every passer-by to focus on the same thing with relative ease. You, too, can do this. It's fairly easy, pick one thing that you'd like to be the main focus for people as they walk in and highlight it.

Your office desk is the obvious one. You can achieve this by clustering artwork around your desk or have something spectacular above your desk. If you have a hutch, perhaps to the left or right of the desk can hang your Chagall or your son's latest framed art. If you want to take the focus of your desk, adding a brightly colored area rug either to the floor as a wall hanging can easily do the trick.

How Many Pieces of Flair Does Your Office Have?

You're almost done designing your brand new home office, but offices needn't be wholly utilitarian to be functional. Indeed a printer/scanner/fax and phone are required, but so also are photos of your family, ones of that heart-stopping trip to Yosemite or that aerial shot of you propelling from an airplane. In other words, even in the most limited space can you make the most of it.

Most office desks come equipped with drawers for your supplies and smaller peripherals, which leaves plenty of surface space to decorate an otherwise boring printer. If you prefer task lighting to overhead lighting, a decorative lamp or track or spot lighting serve both a practical as well an aesthetic purpose.

Now that you've designed and decorated your office, working in it should be easy, right?

About the Author - Formerly an auditor, after years of sitting behind a desk, Lloyd Burrell knows what works and what doesn't. He has extensive experience giving advice to those setting up offices, both home and corporate. Bush furniture desks, L-shaped computer desks, computer desks with a hutch, and Sauder desks are just some of the models Lloyd has reviewed. Born and raised in England, Lloyd Burrell lives on the West Coast of France with his wife Emmanuelle and two kids.

The problem with buying bargain equipment is there is no guarantee you will get great equipment.  More than likely, you will end up with something that is mediocre at best.  Cheap office equipment is wrought with problems. From paper jams in the office copiers, to terrible customer support, your office will have too much downtime, and too much time will be spent on trying to overcome problems rather than just doing the work.

Whether you are looking for digital copiers or other kinds of office equipment, it's important to not be afraid to spend more on technology. Here are a few things to look for when choosing good office equipment.

Look for a Brand Name

The reason why certain products are considered brand names is because they have gained recognition for excellence. They have a tendency to be reliable and to live up to the claims they make, which leads businesses to purchase them in the first place. Brand names cost a little bit more than those without as much of a reputation, but it is worth it for the amount they will be used and their importance to the success of the business.

Look for Good Customer Service

It's important to pay attention to the ability to get good customer service, should there be a problem or should assistance be needed. To find out how the customer service is for a company, it's possible to go online and look for information others have posted in regards to rating how well the customer service handles calls. In many cases, just having customer service is enough to sell businesses on their need to purchase the equipment they need.

Look for Purchasing Options

Buying some of the higher end equipment is not always easy for a startup. Look for options in how the equipment can be obtained. It's possible to find different services which rent out equipment to businesses. You will pay to get great equipment in the office as well as paying to have someone service the equipment should there be a problem.

If renting is not an option, look for companies which just recently failed. They are looking to get rid of everything they own for pennies on the dollar. Offer to purchase all of the equipment needed to start your office. Lucky businesses are able to find everything they need all in one going out of business sale. Worst case scenario will have you looking at different businesses for the equipment they can sell you.

Resource Nation provides free tools, tips, and purchasing advice for business owners and entrepreneurs in over 100 business categories ranging from phone systems to credit card processing. Whether it's connecting businesses with local and national pre-screened vendors, or offering easy service comparisons on a VoIP service, Resource Nation empowers business decision makers by providing the information they need to make smart choices.

Small business owners will eventually ask themselves: is it possible to use credit cards without falling into massive debt? I do believe it's possible. All you have to do is protect your credit.

The early years of any business can be considered the most significant period. During this time period, a very thorough and highly organized budgeting plan is your lifeline between massive debt and punctual spending. Any business owner must give this time careful consideration and realistic budgeting expense charts in order to develop an accurate assessment of cash flow during your earliest stage. With this accountancy in place, you'll know where every penny is going and why -- very important in order to establish organizational cohesion.

It's widely acknowledged that small business fail so easily due to under-capitalization -- not knowing how much money you really need and/or not having sufficient revenue resources. Naturally, business credit cards are an excellent tool for the beginning stage. Thinking they can keep using it, many small business owners over-do it, raking up huge debt in the end, and if they don't have a business credit card, they end up overloading their private-use credit cards.

Some business credit cardholders become so reliant on their cards that they forget to use other means to pay off their expenses, which hampers their overall expenditure significantly. The result of too much reliance is clear -- accumulated interests, balances being carried over to subsequent months, late fees and penalties accumulating, the worst case scenario for any startup business.

Business credit cards are best used for short-term spending, because these will be the quickest aspects of your monthly bill that you can pay off. Furthermore, this will build an excellent credit history portfolio, which can become incredibly advantageous once they see your reputable payment behaviours. Once you've developed a solid business reputation with your credit history, it will become infinitely easier to request new loans, allowing your business to continually grow.

With a budget already safely organized and cohesively intact, collect as much information about your credit activity as possible, including cash flow details and expense tracking. Request a transaction history from your bank as well, which might even be available for download at your credit card's login page. The more you have on your expense and cash flow data, the better you'll manage your business credit card.

According to AllBusiness.com, 44% of small business fail at least four years into their reign, simply because of the following: overexpansion, poor capital structure, overspending, lack of reserve funds, bad business location, poor execution and internal controls, an inadequate business plan, failure to change with the times, ineffective marketing and self-promotion, underestimating the competition. Each of these issues can really hamper your small business development, so when you chart your expenses in your business plan, consider those major aspects and use a credit card wisely to build an excellent portfolio.

Sufi Mohamed and his staff operate The Glaring Facts, one of the leading and densely populated websites involving psychology, media-related material, history of science, and money management. We are certain you will find something that will fascinate you.

It seems the only companies making any money are those who buy debt leads. Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It may require many people and businesses investing in debt consolidation to eliminate the debt, but it is possible to get rid of it and move forward. Until that time, many businesses need to learn how to cope with the modern state of affairs. Luckily, there are many ways in which this can be accomplished.

Do Not be Afraid to Hire

As the economy strengthens, it is time to start moving forward. It is easy to keep the belt tight after having weathered the past few years in such a manner. The only problem is that if the belt stays tight and hiring remains stagnant, there is no way the economy will ever be able to recover. The banks will be less willing to create new loans for any businesses or consumers. Another byproduct of a freeze on hiring is that the consumers will keep their belts tightened. No money will go out and no new demand will be created. Hiring new employees is the only way to make money.

Be Willing to Extend Credit

While it is understandable that you are trying to watch out for your bottom line, the winning attitude seems to be one of that we are all in the same boat together. If you have clients who can show you how your products will allow them to stay viable in the current marketplace, it is a good idea to show them the courtesy of credit. If you cannot allow them to simply have the products and pay you later, consider working on consignment with clients. Anything you can do which will generate a profit for you, and your clients will help to improve the state of the economy.

Generate Interest

The biggest problem with the debt situation in the modern economy is its effect on people’s willingness to buy things. They simply do not want to purchase anything which is not an essential. It is important businesses are able to show consumers how products while not being an essential in their life will help to make their life better. Using low-cost, direct marketing techniques allows businesses to connect with consumers on a personal level which generates interest in a product or company. Using things like blogs, emails, Twitter, and Facebook are all great ways to spread the word.

Resource Nation provides free tools, tips, and purchasing advice for business owners and entrepreneurs in over 100 business categories ranging from phone systems to credit card processing.  Whether it's connecting businesses with local and national pre-screened vendors, or offering easy service comparisons on a VoIP service, Resource Nation empowers business decision makers by providing the information they need to make smart choices.

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The green office is no longer a pie in the sky idea. In fact, if you are not taking measures to be greener in your office, you could very well be left out in the cold. There are many ways that you can improve your company’s status by implementing different green initiatives. Here are five great ways you can get started.

1. Upgrading Systems.  When you use such things as IP phone systems, you have the ability to have employees who work from anywhere.  Many businesses have started asking employees to work from home recently to save on company expenses, which also has an impact on the environment by burning less gas to drive to work.  The additional bonus here is that with the right VoIP phones, you will not have to travel around the country to meet with clients. You will be able to have face to face business meetings by using the ability to have video conferences right from the phones. You will be able to save money on travel expenses as well.
2. Go Paperless.  The paperless office is something which has been talked about for years.  Now, with the ability to upload documents to a system and have them backed up through the Internet, you do not have to produce copies of every document to distribute throughout your office or even to your clients.  Using PDF documents from Adobe for official documents gives you the ability to protect the integrity of the document while still giving people access to the information.  This saves you money by reducing paper, upgrades the security of your documents, and improves your ability to transmit documents quickly to employees and clients.
3. Energy Saving Equipment.  There are many different kinds of office equipment which are perfect to help you save energy.  Not only will you be able to save money initially through the lower energy bills you will pay every month, you will also spend less on many of the products which carry the Energy Star seal.  While there is no federal tax initiative yet for businesses to use these products, it seems only a matter of time.  With a federal tax credit for homes that use similar devices already in place, it seems the next logical step for a government concerned with climate change to take.
4. Install Better Plumbing.  If you have restrooms in your office, it is possible to save a lot of money by saving on the water you use.  Installing such things as automatic flushing toilets with 1.5L tanks and no-touch sink fixtures will help to reduce water waste.  They will also help to reduce the amount of germs being spread in your office.  Another wasteful device you can upgrade in your office bathroom which will help is to get rid of the paper towels for a more economical no-touch blower.  The newer models have a more powerful air stream, which will dry your hands without the use of heat.  Having all of these high tech devices in the bathroom also serves the purpose of impressing your clients.
5. Recycle e-Material.  The biggest mistake many businesses make is to simply toss out their old electronics.  You have many options to get rid of your old equipment, including selling it to others and through recycling services.  Such businesses as TBS Industries will help to alleviate data security concerns while giving you the ability to recycle your old material.  The best part about recycling all of your old electronics is it gives you the ability to buy the newest gadgets. This not only means having the shiniest new devices. It also means having the most ecologically friendly devices available.

No matter what methods you use to go green or what your motivations for doing it are, you will reap the rewards.  These are just a few of the examples of ways that your business can be greener.  The more you do, the more you will likely discover in terms of tactics to making your office greener.  The object is to incorporate what you want in the office with the things which will be best for the environment.  When this is accomplished, we all win!

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer based in San Diego, California.  She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as phone systems & VoIP service at Resource Nation.

We often read about case studies of big brands doing things right: a successful viral marketing campaign, a unique differentiator, a delightful customer experience that spreads like wildfire.  But, what about the biggest branding mistakes out there?

Many of these apply to small businesses whose owners are doing everything themselves, often on a shoestring, but I’ve seen many larger companies commit these sins as well, which just goes to show that what matters isn't how much money you have to spend on branding and marketing, but how you spend it.

Here are some mistakes to avoid if you are trying to grow your business and build a brand.

MISTAKE #1: Trying to be all things to all people

If you don’t focus on a specific ideal or persona representing your target audience and merely just try to reach anyone who will listen, you are setting yourself up for failure.  You cannot be all things to all people.  If you try, you will end up alienating or repelling one group or the other, so focus on the 2-3 niches that really matter and go deep.

Get to know them.  Create an ideal client persona for which you can aim.  The more intimately you know this person and their daily life – their likes, dislikes, demographic data, where they get their information, what groups they belong to, what magazines they read – the more your brand communications will be talking to someone and resonating with them, forming a connection versus bland generic messages that speak to a fictional, made-up blob.

Brand communications that matter to people are the ones that speak their language, speak to their needs, and speak to benefits that they care about.

MISTAKE #2: Talking about yourself, not what your customers care about

Too many businesses talk about what they do and not what the customers gets.  Customers are selfish beings.  They only care about “what’s in it for me?,” so tell them.  Don’t start everything with “I do this” or “We sell that.”  Tell customers what value or benefit they get from what you do.

Once you hook them with the “why,” then they’ll care about the “how.”  Paint a vision of what their life will be like, what pain you solve, before launching into how you do it.  What will they gain from using your products or services?  More time?  Less stress?  The praise of co-workers?  A promotion?  A new customer of their own?  More energy?  Think about your messages from their  point of view, not your own.

MISTAKE #3: Talking the talk, but not walking the walk

You can’t just “slap a coat of brand paint” over your business and expect people to believe.  You have to be authentic.  If your brand screams that customer service is your number one priority, then it better be easy to reach someone on the phone or get an email response in less than 8 hours.  Your brand strategy should start from your authentic strengths and differentiators, but then you need to be set up, inside and out, to deliver on that brand promise.  Telling people you do something is much less powerful than also showing them, and since brand is not just visual and verbal, but experiential as well, then your store/website/consultants better be set up to deliver what you say.  That means your brand extends way beyond your marketing team to your operations, your policies, your hiring practices, and your employees.  Think about brand from the inside out to ensure that customers get the consistency of experience required to make the brand truly stick.

MISTAKE  #4: Creating a logo and design look before thinking through your brand strategy

Would you build a house without architecture plans?  Even more than that, would you start decorating the house before the foundation was even poured and you knew what rooms you were working with?

Too many businesses start with the visual aspects before thinking through what those are designed to communicate and to whom.

Before you can work with a designer or writer, you need to know what your brand promise is and what audience you are trying to reach.  Only then can you pick a name or logo or colors that will convey the exact right message and will attract the exact right customers.

Before you deal with the tactics, you have to have the brand strategy in place first, or I see countless billable hours and many stress headaches in your future.

MISTAKE #5: Forgetting that little things mean a lot

Similar to #3, brand has to beyond the visual into both the verbal and experiential.  This means that every single customer touch point has to deliver the same compelling, delightful, and consistent message each and every time, so think about even the smallest details – how you wrap purchases, how you word your automated emails, how you follow-up with customers, which gifts you buy clients – and use all of those touch points as a way to seal your brand into their hearts and minds.

This is what makes a company “buzzworthy,” but those touches should be consistent with the brand and who you are.  If your auto-email is witty and snarky and makes people laugh, that is great, but not if your brand is more conservative and refined.  Make sure the little things that you do are consistent with your brand, and find all the different ways to surprise your audience with your brand: email signatures, taglines, office voicemail messages.

I once worked for a company that even had specific hold music when you called corporate HQ that was consistent with their brand.  They saw that as another branding opportunity and didn’t want to waste it.  This is really where you can get creative about spending money, since many of these touches can be free or inexpensive – you have to do them anyway, right?

MISTAKE #6: Skimping on good design

We’ve all seen it – and maybe done it.  We spend money on lawyers or accountants to build our business the right way, but when it comes to something like a logo or a website, we think, “Hey, my neighbor’s teenage niece knows how to use Illustrator!  Maybe she can do my logo for free,” or, “I just need to get a simple website up.  Let me just slap together a DIY template and get the page up and running.”

While these are steps you may need to take initially to get your business off the ground and money coming in the door, skimping on well-thought-out and intentional branding long-term can cost you way more in sales later on.

And while brand is more than the visual identity, your logo and design are still key parts of the brand and the first thing people will see.  Buyers make decisions subconsciously and need to be attracted to your look and feel first before they will learn enough to buy from you.  Just like dating, your appearance does not define who you are in total, but it does factor in to initial first impressions.

In addition, if they hear one thing about you through word of mouth but get a different visual impression, this causes disconnect and confusion and could make them turn away, so why do so many entrepreneurs try to cut corners on such an important part of the brand?

Hiring unqualified people or designers who don’t ask you anything about your value proposition, differentiators, or target audience is not the way to save money.  I talk to many people who threw away money because their brand strategy was not baked yet.  Good design is a skill: it’s a skill that involves taking a message and communicating it visually, not just creating a pretty picture.  You will lose more in lost sales by getting this part wrong than you will save on cutting corners.

MISTAKE #7: Forgetting that “no brand” is still a brand choice

Even if you think branding is all “fluff” and has no bearing on sales, your choice to not deal with brand is actually a brand choice.  If you create a plain black and white email or purely functional website, that is still a brand choice that communicates something to the customer - just maybe not the communication you had in mind, or worse, it actually repels them from your product or service.

I once received an email from a winery which was a black and white boring “business letter” looking thing, and while the copy talked about a “unique wine experience” and factually gave me all the information on the wine and the vintage, I was completely turned off.  They seemed utilitarian, stuffy, and boring: the last adjectives I want to associate with a pleasant wine-drinking experience.  So, yes, they could check the box that they sent me some good information, but it was dressed in some awful clothes that all but ensured I will never turn to them as experts in good wine – especially when I’m selecting my next wine gift to impress a dinner party hostess.

Not every brand needs to be “warm,” “refined,” or “hip.”  There is a time, place and market for everything – but you do need to ensure your brand is communicating the right personality for the ideal customer niche which you are targeting.  Sometimes that can mean “cheap and disposable,” in which case plain black and white and a boring email header might indeed work well for you, but you need to think about it before you act.

People are complex creatures and no matter what your product or service, you need to try and create an emotional or human connection with your brand, so every word, every color, every marketing activity makes a statement about your brand.  If you ignore that, you do so at your own business peril.

Maria Ross is the founder and chief strategist of Red Slice, a branding and marketing consultancy based in Seattle.  She helps businesses large and small engage, inform, and delight their audiences.  Maria is also the author of Branding Basics for Small Business: How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget.

You can’t please everyone.  That is just a fact.  There is always going to be someone somewhere who for whatever reason is just not satisfied with your business.  With that said, because social media sites have become so popular, one tweet could start a wild fire of bad mouthing.  So, what do you need to do to keep this from happening?

Monitor

If you don’t know someone isn’t happy with your business, you won’t be able to fix anything.  Even if your company doesn’t engage in social media, you should at least monitor mentions of your company.  Setting up Google alerts for your company name is also a good idea.  You will be able to see who is mentioning you in forums and group discussion and get a sense of how more vocal customers view your company.

Say You’re Sorry

If something truly did happen on your end, don’t cover it up.  Instead, acknowledge something happened, and then tell your customers how you are going to fix it.  Looking back at the mess BP had is a great example of what NOT to do.  Even when they said they would fix something, they didn’t.  Be accountable for your actions and make sure you are going to do what you say you are going to do.

Update

If the situation has become very public, make sure you are updating your customers on how you are rectifying the situation.  Going back to the BP example, this is another thing they neglected to do.  No one knew what they were planning, or even a time frame for the situation to be fixed.  Keeping your public up to date on your crisis solution is also key.

Do What You Said You Would

Besides updating your public on the situation, you need to follow through with what was planned.  This will gain trust and should rectify the problem.  Gaining your public’s trust should be a top priority.  If they believe you, they will be more forgiving when situations arise, because they know you will fix it.

Of course, the best solution is to minimize crisis situations from happening.  Training your employees on the best way to interact with your customers is a big help.  Customer service is a huge part of any company.  Every employee you have — no matter their role — is representing your company, and because of this, they need to know how to interact with customers, no matter if they do so on a regular basis or not.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on inbound call centers based in San Diego, California.  She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as telephone answering services at Resource Nation.