Ross & Ross International

Are you starting to think about planning for next year? Do you have any feel for the top cost-effective new technology that will boost your company sales and productivity?

During the fourth quarter, we asked Small Business Executives, Managers or Owners to share  the Top 3-4 NEW Technologies that they were thinking about implementing in 2012.  Based on the survey, the following are the top 4 technologies for 2012:

1. Upgrading the Company Website with the Latest Technology
2. Implementing Smartphones and Tablets
3. Testing and Implementing Social Marketing
4. Adding Video Content for the Website including: Customer Demos, New Product Announcements, Success Stories and Best Practice Tips

Note: The votes were  anonymous and we do NOT collecting any personal info.  All poll results are available now.

Please share the poll results with other managers or owners… and add any comments or questions in the comment field below.

Question from a Small Business

I was looking to store some company files (powerpoint presentations, excel workbooks, etc) in the cloud securely and inexpensively.  That way my other partners can access them and upload updates.  Sort of like a Microsoft Share-point without the overhead.  Any suggestions?  ….keep reading for the answer!

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Question: Should I buy iPad Tablets for my Small Business? …or another manufacturer’s Tablets?

Answer: This is an easy answer – YES!.  For now, you should buy an iPad Tablet!  In 2011, 85-90% of all Tablets sold are Apple iPads. They own the market.

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A New Report was recently published on the Green Jobs and Green Business Opportunities in California.   Next 10 is an independent, nonpartisan organization that educates, engages and empowers Californians to improve the state’s future. They did a good job summarizing the key segments of the green industry below.

1. Energy generation

2. Energy efficiency

3. Clean transportation

4. Energy storage

5. Air and environment

6. Recycling and waste

7. Water and wastewater

8. Agriculture support

9. Research and advocacy

10. Business services

11. Finance and investment

12. Advanced materials

13. Green building

14. Manufacturing and industrial support

15. Energy infrastructure

Source: Next 10 and Collaborative Economics. For a copy of the January 2011 report, go to next10.org

Here is a low-cost tip for quickly Improving Sales Productivity:  Get Sales and Marketing to talk to each other!

Unfortunately, Sales and Marketing Teams do not always work together very well.  Sales Productivity often suffers as a result of having different metrics and goals. When the Teams do work together to focus on improving the existing sales process… sales results quickly go up and the cost of selling goes down.  This is a “must-have” in today’s business environment.

Here is a simple plan on how to get Sales and Marketing to quickly work together and focus on improving sales productivity in 90 days.

Simple Action Plan

1. Create a small team to focus on sales productivity
2. Summarize your current sales and marketing metrics
   Click here for Five Key Sales and Marketing Metrics (or Ratios)
3. Document the existing sales process – Keep it simple
4. Brainstorm ideas on how to improve the process and metrics
5. Prioritize the top 3 ideas
6. Implement the top changes
7. Create a spreadsheet with the metrics, measure your progress and report your results
8. Celebrate your sales productivity successes together

When you are in the middle of this project, just think about this quote:

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” C. Malesherbes

Cloud based Remote Backup Services for a Small Business or Home Office

Over the last five years,  we moved more and more of our important information from paper storage to our PCs, Smartphones and to Cloud Applications.   When we completed Spring Cleaning this year, we actually eliminated “two 4-draw File Cabinets” with folders  instead of typically adding more of them.

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