Your banker can make a big difference in your long-term business success. Is yours working hard for you? The right partnerships can play a big role in the success or failure of a business, so enter into any partnership with an eye toward how it can advance your goals. Choose a bank the same way, not because it’s next door and you’ve always gone there. Finding the right bank for your needs doesn’t take a lot of work, but it can offer a lot of rewards. Asking the right questions and building a strong relationship with your banker can save you money on interest rates and result in new business opportunities. These American Bankers Association tips, discussed by Joe Taylor at Small Business Computing, can help you improve your current banking situation or help you find a bank that works for you. (MORE: Talk Your Way to Success) 1. Make it Personal Personal connections are more meaningful and memorable, so get to know the people who make decisions at your bank by having face-to-face conversations throughout the year. Discuss your accounts and let them know you’re willing to help bring business to their bank if they’re willing to help you grow your business. Banks often reward this kind of loyalty with free services or lower interest rates on credit cards (both for you and your employees) and other financial products. Be sure to ask how you can qualify for these types of discounts. 2. Request an Annual Review Banks have experts who specialize in helping other companies grow, but many small business owners fail to take advantage of their expertise. Request an annual review, where your team can present to the bank’s relationship manager and other relevant members of the staff. Ask them to share their view of your firm’s financial performance, possible business opportunities, and your prospects for growth within your industry. The information you receive can be invaluable when you’re ready to pitch your business to potential investors. 3. Monitor Give and Take Does your current banker suggest

It’s tough enough to grow a business without people ripping you off. Here are four simple ways to protect your business from fraud. Small business owners know that it takes lot of hard work to build a successful business. You most likely read this and other advice articles looking for ideas and inspiration to help push your business to even greater success. That’s awesome. But while you fine tune your sales pitches, marketing strategies and countless other aspects of your business, don’t forget to protect what you’ve already built. Criminals, who make their living by committing small business fraud, keep coming up with new, insidious ways to take your money. (MORE: Take Advantage of Free Resources to Grow Your Business) As Dr. Martin Bressler, a marketing and management professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, noted in an article at Small Business Computing that a single instance of loss due to fraud typically costs the business owner $190,000. We’re turning an old adage on its ear, because when it comes to small business fraud, your best offense is a good defense. Experts offer these four tips that you can easily incorporate into your business to foil scammers and crooks. 1. Compare checks to invoices: Keep a sharp eye on any incoming cashier’s or business checks you process. The checks may look real, and they might even make it past phone or online confirmation. The problem, however, is that they may not correspond with your customer’s order. That sketchy check is usually followed up by a distraught or embarrassed “customer” asking for a refund. It can take weeks for a bank to deal with a fraudulent check, which gives the perpetrator plenty of time to make a clean getaway with your money. 2. Institute a wire transfer policy: If you allow your customers to pay with wire transfers, you run the risk of having your business account cleaned out by an informed criminal. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix. Ask your bank to set up a free checking account and use it only for

Don’t let a tight budget keep you from growing your business. These free resources can connect you with mentors, train employees and save money on software. Whether you’re just starting a new business venture, thinking about expanding your current business or taking it in a new direction altogether, coming up with the money to fund those plans is a challenge for most aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners. That’s where free or very affordable resources can make a big difference in turning a dream into a reality. As pointed out by Maryalene LaPonsie at Small Business Computing, free tools and resources can save you money, but the benefits go beyond your immediate cash flow issues. The right information can save you or your employees from making avoidable—and expensive—missteps along the way. And just as important, it can teach you to recognize and take advantage of growth opportunities. These three information-rich resources can help. (MORE: Deliver a World-Class Customer Experience) SCORE a Trusted Advisor Could you use a mentor, someone who’s been in the business trenches, and someone who knows how to avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on the opportunities? Forget high-priced consultants (you can’t afford them anyway). You need a mentor. One of the best, free mentoring resources for anyone who wants to start, grow or expand a business is an outfit called SCORE— the Service Corp of Retired Executives. This national group of more than 340 chapters encompasses 13,000 working and retired business professionals. Their collective expertise spans 62 industries and 500 skills. SCORE also offers affordable workshops and free online tools and templates. Basic Training and Beyond Aspiring and current small business owners—and their employees—can often use training to learn or sharpen the skills necessary to build and grow a business. Through its Small Business Technology and Development Centers, the Small Business Administration offers a range of free workshops and training sessions. Topics vary depending on location, but can include workshops on how to start a business, how to write a business plan, financial management, marketing and the

Take a page out of Disney’s employee training playbook to see how creative management can lead to fully engaged employees dedicated to pleasing customers. It stands to reason that anyone who owns a business can learn a lot from studying The Walt Disney Company. The venerable business has been in existence since 1923, and it’s grown up to become both a worldwide media-and-entertainment giant and a global household name. Along with Mickey and his friends, the House of Mouse encompasses ABC, Marvel Entertainment, Pixar, Lucasfilm and ESPN. But as Dennis McCafferty points out in an article at CIO Insight, it takes more than impressive acquisitions to spur and sustain growth. It takes, among other things, a culture that’s dedicated to excellence. In a recent book entitled “Disney U: How Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer-Centric Employees” (McGraw-Hill), author Doug Lipp takes a deep dive into Disney’s workplace culture. A global training enterprise that began in 1955, Disney U is the place where the company’s leaders have defined and instilled a workplace culture that incorporates attention to detail and company values along with a healthy dose of fun. The result is an engaged workforce dedicated to providing the best possible customer experience. And Lipp provides an insider’s perspective; he helped develop the international version of the program. (MORE: When it Comes to Strategy, Size Doesn’t Matter) Below you’ll find a dozen management tips and best practices taught at Disney U. How many can you adapt to your small business to help your employees give your customers the best possible experience? 1. As Walt Disney said, “Laughter is no enemy to learning.” Disney U takes learning seriously by incorporating humor and entertainment into its training sessions. 2.  Simplified lesson plans include actionable items. Plus, the curriculum receives organization-wide support. 3. Tools to develop engaged employees include strong corporate values and incentives, like gifts and cash bonuses, in equal measure. 4. Increased understanding builds appreciation. A buddy system pairs Disney workers with different jobs, and they shadow each other

You don’t need a mountain of fancy resources to craft a strategic roadmap for your business, but you do need to give up a lot of preconceived notions about strategy. Sometimes the thing that holds a small business back the most is small thinking. For example, believing that your size is a disadvantage when it comes to strategic planning. After all, the big companies have the financial resources and the manpower to throw at market forecasting and prognostication. You don’t stand a chance, right? Fortunately common sense, not money or headcount, is the key ingredient in creating a strategic plan, and that beats (or at least matches) bells and whistles every time. According to business experts interviewed by Pedro Hernandez at Small Business Computing, your company size is not a strategic disadvantage. In fact, it lets you change course much faster than your larger competition. How can you develop your strategic-thinking chops? Listen up. Curb Your Enthusiasm You might be surprised to hear that the first step is to stop strategizing. Say what now? Yes, you need to understand your market conditions, and you still need goals; the point here is to stop planning unnecessarily or obsessively. (MORE: Soup Up Your Sales Team) Instead, business author Kaihan Krippendorff suggests relying on your company’s nimble size. Shoot for shorter, regular sessions to “address challenges, explore options and seize opportunities to out-maneuver bigger, slower rivals.” Challenge Assumptions If you’re a big believer in the status quo, you might need a big steaming cup of reality. The business climate is changing faster than ever. For an example, just consider how quickly the Internet, social media and mobile devices have changed the way people conduct business. Now consider how many companies are littering the information highway because they couldn’t see or adapt to the changing times. Question everything. Krippendorff suggests that you write down all the reasons you think an idea won’t work, and then test your reasoning. Gather your team and devise ways to make your idea viable. While it’s true that some

Turning around a losing team isn’t easy, but it is possible. These 10 tips can help. Everyone wants a winning team. The truth is, however, that some teams — whether in sports or in business — continually suffer the agony of defeat without ever experiencing the thrill of victory (think Chicago Cubs). If you’re leading a team that’s never known success, how can you turn that entrenched losing streak into a winning season? In their book, “Team Turnarounds: A Playbook for Transforming Underperforming Teams” (Jossey-Bass), authors Joe Frontiera and Daniel Leidl offer advice on how to lead and transform an uninspired team into a winning team that knows the unadulterated joy of success. Not surprisingly, the book draws on examples from professional sports as its primary model for motivation and for creating incremental changes in behavior. Much like a coach inspires average athletes to out-work and out-play the competition, managers need to find ways to help and encourage employees to recondition and strengthen both their mindset and their work ethic. (MORE: Talk Your Way to Success) Change of this magnitude won’t happen overnight, so consider it a work-in-progress. These tips from the book should help get you and your team back on the field and back in the game. 1. What you focus on expands, so stop that loser mindset right in its tracks. The more your team worries about losing, the more likely they are to lose. 2. Face facts and assess the failures—including individual and team performance—honestly. Glossing over what went wrong or discussing events in general terms doesn’t work, and it won’t help your people learn from their mistakes. 3. Clearly define team roles, and make sure individuals know what tasks and goals they own. Setting up clear accountability cultivates a self-policing ethic within the workplace. 4. Encourage your employees to suggest ways to improve processes. Giving them a voice in solving the problems ensures they’ll work harder to succeed. 5. Expect and encourage your team to be excellent. Demonstrate a commitment to quality by paying attention

If you want your business to succeed—and we’re guessing you do—then consider these tips for improving your internal communications. It’s more important than you think. You’ve heard the expression “talk is cheap.” That’s good news for small business owners with big ambitions, because talking is an essential tool if you want to succeed. It’s nice to know there’s one strategy you can implement that won’t be a line item on your budget. But exactly what kind of talking are we, uh, talking about? According to Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse, how you handle your internal communications makes a big difference in a company’s growth and success. And don’t think that size matters. No matter how many employees you have, just a few or a cast of thousands, you need to keep every one of them informed so that they feel connected to the business and to its success. (MORE: Soup Up Your Sales Team) As your business grows and employees move from being generalists wearing many hats to specialists with just one, their focus can result in a restricted view of the big picture. That, coupled with the reality that some of your managers communicate the company’s big picture to their teams and others don’t, presents a challenge. It can create an atmosphere of misinformation floating around the office, and nothing good ever comes from that. Here are a few simple ways to start talking with your employees and give them the information they need to play an active, committed role in their success — and yours. Employee Forums Schedule regular all-hands meetings that all of your employees can attend. It’s an opportunity for departments to share the projects they’re working on and to spotlight individual or team accomplishments. Make sure you give people a chance to ask questions, and don’t forget to let people inject a little fun and creativity to avoid boredom and to increase employee engagement. News That’s Fit to Print Create a monthly internal newsletter to give your employees high-level updates from throughout the company. Again,

Tepid sales may be the result of more than just a sluggish economy. Maybe it’s time to reevaluate your sales approach and how you attract new customers. Want to know how you can grow your business? Make more sales. And while the answer is a little obvious, the execution is a tad more complicated. You assess your market, price your products and services competitively, fire up your marketing and sales engines and hope for the best. But how does a small business take on the competition, deliver on its products and services, keep its customers satisfied and, at the same time, attract new customers? In a conversation with Pedro Hernandez at Small Business Computing, Joe Fuster, senior vice president of global sales for SAP Cloud, says the answer may be in how you approach sales opportunities. Here is some of his advice. (MORE: Are You Zoned for Comfort?) A Consistent Sales Force Sit down with your entire sales team and together identify and visualize what the perfect sale would look like. With that and “a successful sale and an excellent customer experience” as your goal, write down 5 or 10 steps required to get you and your sales team to that ideal. Doing so will inform the process and keep all of your sales people focused on the outcome instead of becoming mired in the details of the sale. Small businesses have an advantage over their big competitors: they’re much more nimble, which lets them react to changing conditions much more quickly. Fuster urges small business owners to take full advantage of that fact. “Use your lean and nimble business processes to help everyone involved reach a good outcome,” he says. Tap Existing Accounts Landing a customer is just the beginning of the sales odyssey. Don’t wait for repeat business. Instead, think of yourself as a general contractor and how you can provide more value to your customers. Look at your customer’s business and understand where problems might arise, and when you see a problem that your product and service