Guerrilla Guide to Trade Shows
from AllBusiness.com via Smart Money's Small Biz
Before committing to a trade show exhibit, first visit at least one show in the same or a similar industry. Pay close attention to your competition's handiwork and look for unusual and eye-catching displays. Which exhibits draw you in? Why? What makes them stand out from the crowd? Find a way to incorporate those kinds of ideas into your own booth. More

Customers Your Business Doesn't Want
from BusinessWeek
Do a quick exercise: Take a minute and jot down three types of customers your company doesn't want. If you're like most business leaders, identifying customers you don't want isn't easy, especially in times like these. But it can be helpful to consider which of your customers are least important, if for no other reason than to help you focus on the most important ones. More

Data Privacy Rules Coming
from BNET Retail
A privacy bill under consideration in Washington would significantly impact retail through provisions that would spell out how companies would have to protect customer data and what they must do if information is compromised, yet, as worrisome as that might be for some, any concern is essentially moot because a Massachusetts regulation with substantially the same provisions will go into effect Jan. 1. And the rule is written in a way that essentially gives it jurisdiction in all 50 states. More

Customer Service and Empowerment
from DMSRetail
Where is the training for human beings to deal with the other things that can, and will, go wrong? Why must customers work so hard to get satisfaction? Why must they lose their valuable time, waste energy and experience high stress levels just to get their issue resolved? Why is it, that when businesses are closing all over and those that are still in business are experiencing sharp declines in revenue and profit from prior years, that they are not able to understand that their people are not doing the job – the job of retaining the precious customers they have; the ones that are spending money even now? More

Busting the Nine Myths of Cloud Computing
from CIO
Wherever you turn, someone's ready to tell (or sell) you something related to cloud computing. Cutting through the myths is essential to deciding whether, when, and how the cloud is right for you. Here is CIO's take on the matter. More

What Are You Afraid Of?
from Entrepreneur
Admit it. You're scared out of your mind. Whether it's financial stress, uncertainty about the business partners you've chosen or just plain fear of failure, some aspect of your business is keeping you up at night. So Entrepreneur brought in the authorities: Colleen Long, a psychologist who specializes in entrepreneurship and Jim Koch, a well-known entrepreneur with decades of business experience. They analyzed your top five fears and offered up their best advice on how to handle them. More

Under Armour's Kevin Plank on How to Motivate Employees
from Inc.
Motivation, passion, and focus have to come from the top. Your attitude is contagious. There's been a lot of negative news about the economy lately, but if you have a good product or service, you'll find a way to make it. So keep on moving and don't use the economic climate as an excuse to fail. More

How to Identify Your Employees' Hidden Talents
from Harvard Business Publishing Blog
There's no shortage of advice about finding and attracting the best people to work for you. Or even about scouring your own organization to identify top performers within the ranks. It's even more vital to look within individual employees for hidden strengths, especially at times when hiring and promotions are on hold. In short, plumb the depths of each person you currently manage to fish out the talents that lurk beneath. More