Issue August 2003 - Riverside County        "Keeping Businesses Moving Towards Success"

Editor's Note

The summer season is winding down and many of you will be getting back into a more fixed routine.  During the summer it seems we all become a little less focused on our work hence the phrase "those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer." Hopefully this issue of "Business In Motion" will get you motivated to have a successful autumn in 2003.

We've included some great articles this month to help you increase sales and some helpful ideas on effective marketing and promotion strategies.  Please check out our recommended companies for the Riverside County area for your business needs.

Be sure to watch for our next issue in which you will find marketing tips, sales strategies, and business services that will help you succeed in your business endeavors.  Good luck and enjoy!  Please feel free to forward this page to an associate.

Benefits of a PC Based Phone System

PC-based telephone systems offer a solution to two potential problems in the office - the relative lack of flexibility in conventional phone systems, and the need to run separate voice and data systems.

With computerized telephony, your phones are connected to a dedicated PC, a server, which in turn plugs into one or more external phone lines. The server sits on the network, so users can easily link their PC address books and the phone system to dial directly from their computer. All the functions of the phone system are provided by more or less standard software running on a standard computer operating system; so upgrades and reconfiguration are generally a matter of selecting different options or installing an update.

There are other potential benefits too:

• Price - PC based telephone servers are built with standard PC components rather than purpose-designed hardware, and as a result can be 50 to 50 percent cheaper than equivalent proprietary PBX systems.

• Serviceability - standard components and a widely understood hardware setup make for relatively quick and easy servicing. Dealing with faults is often a matter of swapping a standard component; with traditional systems you'd have to go through an authorized dealer and pay the vendor's price

• Expandability - traditional PBX vendors usually have completely different product lines for small and mid-sized offices. The PC approach lets you grow from five or six handsets up to 100 or more.

• Independence - a network administrator or MIS department will be able to install, configure and maintain a PC-based business telephone system with little or no involvement from outside contractors.

There's a downside, of course; these systems do imply the availability of someone with technical knowledge, a full-time network administrator for instance. You'll generally have to install and maintain a PC dedicated to the telephone-management function, too, and the software required to drive it won't be trivial.

For a business phone supplier in the Riverside county area be sure to call Cortum Communications at (909)296-2199. Your business will receive a great telecommunications solution and excellent customer service or click here for more info.

Sales and Marketing Strategies In This Issue:

Business Cards -  Don't take business cards for granted.  It is your chance to make a good first impression.  Learn how to use them effectively to promote your business.

Increase Sales Now - Helpful action steps you can take right now to help you increase your sales productivity.

Marketing Building Blocks - Build your sales and marketing campaigns with a strong foundation to insure a successful business.

Brainstorming Techniques - 10 strategies for inspiring yourself to be more creative for business success.  

"Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, What's in it for me?"

By:  Brian Tracy 

directory of resources

Marketing Support -

 creativeBUSINESSworks

Number One Rated Web Sites - Save time searching through thousands of web sites.  Use this free web site to search the best of the web.

The Number One Web Site

Workplace Stress Reducer - Employees are so important to a company's success. Click here to learn how to improve the work place environment. 


Small Business Advice  -  How to promote your local business on the internet!

Make Contact. Build Relationships. Get Results. Check out ACT! 6.0 for 2004 today!

Business Travel -
Special Flight Deals on Orbitz!

Business Telephone Systems - Riverside County area Cortum Communications

FUN FACTS & TRIVIA:

• The flounder swims sideways.

• A strand of spider web may be stronger than an equal diameter of steel.

• The honeybee kills more people world-wide than all the poisonous snakes combined.

• About one-tenth of the earth's surface is permanently covered with ice.

• A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.

• Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

Monthly Riddle:

Helpful Links:

if you would like to help just click on the link: 

24,000 die of hunger each day.  Help The Hunger Site -    

The Hunger Site

Help fund mammograms for underprivileged women -

  The Breast Cancer Site

Help neglected animals - 

 The Animal Rescue Site

E-mail Marketing

In today's competitive marketplace, it can be difficult and costly to win new customers. Then, once you acquire new customers, you are faced with the daunting challenge of how to keep them. 

How can you build a one-to-one relationship and establish long-term loyalty with each customer without depleting your profits? E-mail marketing is perfectly suited for your customer retention efforts.

Marketing Tip of The Month:  

Pre-Survey the Prospect
Got a hot prospect meeting in the near future? Send the prospect a "pre-meeting survey" by email the week before. Ask them to email you the answers to specific questions (i.e., customer's needs, concerns, budget, time constraints, etc.). Target your presentation to answer these questions and you stand a better chance of speeding up the sales process and landing a new client.