It’s a competitive market out there. With consolidators gobbling up firms and others hiring salespeople to sell services, it’s important to keep an edge on competition. Soliciting feedback can help. It might even point you in a strategic direction that’s best for your firm.When clients are dissatisfied, they usually won’t complain to you; they will simply leave. What’s more is that when that person leaves, they take 250 contacts with them (this is the average number of people each person knows).

I’m running, not walking, to the nearest store so I can check out the latest tool I found. The new specialized scanner and software combo, the Corex CardScan Executive, Version 5.0 ($250), is designed to help me put all the business cards I collect into electronic format. A quick calculation of the time involved to enter business cards tells me this is going to be well worth the green.The CardScan 500 scanner has a convenient tray for catching scanned cards and the companion software, CardScan 5.0, now better recognizes international business cards.

How are world-class companies saving millions and improving systems? They are harnessing the power of knowledge management systems specifically designed to directly contribute to larger corporate goals, according to Best Practices, LLC’s report, “Knowledge Management of Internal Best Practices.The report cites a leading chemical manufacturer that uses a systematic approach to ensure that knowledge management supports corporate strategy as an example.

In this supersonic age of getting it there on time with few moments to spare, which of the mailing services is the most economical?Kiplinger.com decided to test the waters by sending a 10- pound fruitcake across the United States. They surveyed various overnight carriers as well as the U.S. Postal Service.The results? They found that the service was mostly the same around the country, but found that the U.S.

Meeting clients in public spaces is a solid alternative than meeting at your office, especially if you telecommute and that office is in your home.Although almost anyone that has a home office is proud of his or her environment, the home as "meeting space" is not always idea. There are children, of course, that can be a distraction, but so are pets and other interruptions.

Nearly 40% of cell phone customers have a plan that is inappropriate for their level of usage. Contact your cellular provider and ask them to do a rate analysis on your usage and recommend the best plan available. New plans are implemented all the time, and competition is forcing the providers to be slightly more flexible in allowing you to jump in and out of plans depending on your usage.

As a manager, you know that employee morale can work for you or against you. When employee morale is high, so is productivity and vice versa. What makes employee morale go south is another idea completely. It could be a result of any one of hundreds of workplace situations. Do you have a partner or manager who disrupts your work environment? Do employees feel unappreciated? Your role as a manager is to ferret out these issues and put employee morale back on top.Figuring out the root of the problem can be a challenge.

The audit department has been dealing with it for years: deep discounts in the price of an audit in exchange for higher fees on the consulting side. Now the commoditization of tax return preparation -- already hammered by do-it-yourself software -- has reached the ultimate in price wars. Financial management company H D Vest announced that it will provide it's customers with free tax return preparation beginning this next season. The hook? More clients, more assets under management, more profits for HD Vest.Through the H.D.

When you were a little kid, your brain was like a sponge. It soaked up everything that spewed out of the teacher’s mouth. Well, you’ve grown up and now your brain is like the rest of your muscles – it needs a break in between periods of hard work. Learning is hard work for the adult mind, you know.Adults learn better in short, concentrated sessions followed by on-the-job practice where they can immediately put their new concepts to work.