· Identify your goals – What are you hoping to accomplish with these survey? Improve customer service platforms? Survey audience response for a new product or service? Make sure you know what your goals are before you begin to construct a survey.

· Pick your tools – When it comes to online survey software, you can either host the software or employ a vendor. Using a vendor is highly recommended since it allows you to focus on either things besides the technology side of administering a survey, such as quality of the questions and managing incoming results.

· Write your questions – Take into consideration the wording and order of the questions. Something as simple as the tone of the survey can affect the responses of participants. Also consider whether you want multiple choice or open-ended questions.

· Test your survey – Once the survey questions have been written and revised, test the survey on a small handful of customers to see how well it is received.

· Launch your survey – The next step is to launch your survey; announce it to your target audience and guarantee maximum participation. This can be done by advertising the survey to more people than you need. For example, if you are looking to garner 200 responses, invite 400 customers to ensure you meet that goal.

· Measure your results – Identify results that are similar and indicate numerous customers respond in a particular way. You may also want to look for unforeseen results may open your eyes to issues or concerns you weren’t aware of or had not considered.

The latest in Consumer Reviews brings us to the doorstep of the latest and greatest… Consupo.  Providing an online community for consumers to express their opinions, Consupo’s motto is, “We believe that companies should be held accountable for their business practices – both positive and negative.”  Consupo is designed to be used by consumers of literally everything.  Whether it’s a product, a movie, a company, a restaurant, a politician, or even a school… you name it, you can review it.  By giving “Props” (positive feedback) or “Beef” (negative feedback) your voice can be heard.  Consupo reviews also allow you to post videos or pictures as evidence for your case.

So check it out.  Take a look at what others are saying.

Innovation after innovation becomes available and completely blows away the public because of its ingenuity, complexity, and the problems it solves. Live Wire is that type of company. Since 2003, they’ve specialized in arc fault breaker technology. Faulty wiring can cost a company a great deal of money–especially if it is not detected pre-flight for airplanes. With Live Wire’s electrical circuit test, the electrical fault can usually be detected within a few feet. And they are so confident in their services that if can’t find the fault, the company doesn’t pay. Live Wire’s technology is pretty complex. If you want to learn more about what their company offers, visit their website.

Many will agree that the key to business success is finding a niche market and satisfying the demand for something where no one has thought to go before; Concealment Industries has done just that.   By creating hats that are stylish, yet can easily be transformed into a protection device, they have catered their products to gardening connoisseurs and hunters everywhere.  Their gardening line includes bee and mosquito hats in a variation of styles and colors and their hunting line includes camo boonie hats, bucket hats and snow camo baseball hats.  All of the hats have a netted lining sewn inconspicuously  into the top of the hat and can be deployed by unzipping the pouch and pulling the net over your face and neck for protection from insects.

In response to the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (commonly referred to as SOX), companies nationwide are altering the way business is done in order to meet compliance regulations.  How much is compliance costing? Billions.  According to a 2006 survey conducted by the FBI, when asked whether the benefits of compliance with SOX have exceeded their costs, 22 percent of businesses agreed, while 78 percent said the costs were far outweighing the benefits.  With compliance measures in place, it’s no wonder that businesses providing record retention software are doing so well.  Constantly on the cutting edge of risk management software innovations, software companies are discovering more advanced measures in which companies can literally keep track of millions of documents whether they be on office computers, home computers, USB drives or in someone’s email inbox across the globe.

Do you have satisfied employees? Any business can run more efficiently and effectively when their workers are happy. If you want to find out the level of satisfaction from your employees, consider giving them 360 degree feedback surveys. This way, you’ll be able to fix issues before they become problems.

Whether you run a small home business or a booming enterprise, computer backup is essential. One mistake many companies make is not backing up important and sensitive information. Frankly, there isn’t an excuse for not having it since there are some backup companies that offer it as low as $4 a month–depending on the size of your company and the files you need to save. Or you might have to resort to this…

Here are a few of our favorite resources to help you get on track to carve out your nice and establish yourself in the competitive business world:

• Entrepreneur.com – An absolute wealth of knowledge, entrepreneur.com is pure gold for those wanting to start their own business.  From start-up basics to how-to guides to advertising information, entrepreneur.com has just about everything and anything relevant to entrepreneurism and starting a business.
• SBA – The U.S. Small Business Administration is another great resource, especially to introduce and learn more about government backed programs and services available to small businesses.
• The IRS – The IRS website provides an entire section dedicated to start-ups, with vital information regarding business taxes and financial records.
• Depending on the industry you are in, there are literally thousands of resources available for that specific industry.  For example, DropShipDesign.com (a dropship supplier) provides guides and information for individuals interested in starting their own online retail website.
• Are you looking for tips on getting the best loans? Then we suggest you check out Loan-pay-day.info.

They say that a picture is “worth a thousand words” but does the cliché necessarily apply when it comes to business photography?  Will a real estate agent acquire more clients because they use a self-portrait on their advertising (as opposed to no picture)?   

The calculating use of photography can be far more powerful and convincing than the most eloquent lengthy prose.  Humans tend to be visual creatures, so adding a humorous, poignant, or outrageous picture to your advertising will surely catch more eyes than an unimaginative title. 

When it comes to advertising, which would you be more inclined to look at?

“The World’s Ugliest Dog”

or

Get my point?

Source: Our preferred Utah business photographer of choice.

Orchestrating a corporate event or convention can be a monumental and overwhelming task, especially when the event is high-profile, imperative for business, or an opportunity to showcase. One of the biggest components of a major corporate event is the catering: from the food to the decor to the furniture, the catering company is arguably the most important part of the event. So which company do you select? Here’s our favorites from around the country:

• New York City: Chef & Company, a Big Apple favorite catering company.
• Los Angeles: Event Solutions, one of L.A.’s renowned catering services that offers a myriad of corporate catering solutions.
• Dallas: Eddie Deen has more than 25 years catering experience in the Dallas greater area.
• Salt Lake City: Culinary Crafts, the premier Salt Lake City catering company.
• Boston: Gourmet Caterers has been known to cater for corporate events with more than 10,000 people.
• Washington D.C.: Ridgewells is Capital Hill’s darling when it comes to preferred corporate catering.