This is particularly true in areas where home values have dropped. The level of equity in the home may be considerably less which changes the way banks view the loan. When they go to see their banker for more funding, they may not be greeted nearly as friendly as before, when all the mortgage problems started.

Unfortunately, some people even owe more on their property than it is worth. The banks have responded by tightening up their lending practices. When the banks start holding on to their money not wanting to make bad loans businesses and consumers start to feel the pinch as they have less money as well.

Businesses that are connected in any way to the real estate business, whether commercial or residential, are seeing spending starting to tighten up. When companies aren’t able to access cash as much as they were marketing budgets, freebies and other give aways tend to be some of the first things to get cut.

While it is a true statement that you need to spend money to make money you can only spend it when you have it or at least have access to it. The mortgage crisis has definitely affected many businesses ability to have access to cash.

So what can you do about the cash crunch? Get creative. If you have regular accounts that have to spend less, communicate pro actively about what’s going on. If you have to lower your prices in the short term to save the business, that would be a better alternative that totally losing the account.

Make sure the decisions you make are smart, you are probably not a social service and don’t need to finance your customers, however, it is the time to work with your clients. Good quality clients will remember how you worked with them in their time of difficulty and the loyalty you will gain will be tremendous. Plus, it’s the right thing to do as long as it doesn’t significantly impact the running of your business.

If you sell direct to the public now is the time for special offers, discounts, and sales on your most popular items. Be sure to advertise this is the lowest price in X number of years. One time only housing crunch special, or other clever advertising phrase. You certainly don’t want to be insensitive but you will need to let people know why now is the time to buy.

The mortgage crisis is an opportunity or an obstacle depending on how you view it. If you want to seize the chance to gain loyalty, improve your value to your customers, and improve your sales now is your opportunity.

Step one: Identify the risks

There are two categories of risks facing companies: risks that directly affect the business and risks that face the business’ industry as a whole. For the former, make a list of potential risks that are affecting your business. It might include things like: specifically-named competition, price increases, material shortages, etc. Identifying the industry risks will take some research on your end. However, the good news is that most of it can be done online. The first place to start will be with the associations operating within your industry. From their websites, see if you can find any research on sales trends or social, economic or environmental issues that may have a direct effect on the industry. Second, do online searches relating to your industry and “risks”, “trends” or “research”. Third, take a look at the quarterly and annual reports for public companies operating within your industry. Many times these companies give a detailed report on risks and potential risks facing the company.

Step two: Rank the risks

Unless you make an effort to rank order the potential risks facing your business, you may very well fall into the trap of constantly putting out small fires and losing site of long-term goals. While all risks are potentially harmful to the business in one way or another, only certain ones demand immediate and undivided attention. Take the time before the risks appear to put them in order of most important to least important. This will require some time to think through the process of how the risk will affect the business and how disastrous the potential outcome could be.

Step three: Prepare an action plan

For each risk, set up a clear policy in order to manage and control it, should it directly affect your business. The policies should be specific, easy to understand and, ideally, quick to implement. The chaotic and stressful time when a business has fallen prey to one of its risks is never the time to create a how-to-bounce-back strategy. Take the time now to develop a process that is clearly thought through and will minimize negative effects.

So, while every business and every industry has potential risks looming, it’s what you can do to prevent or minimize them that will keep you ahead of the competition. An unknown risk is sure to affect an unaware business much more than a known risk to an alert business. Take the necessary steps now to put your business in the latter category. It doesn’t take much time or effort to prepare a risk prevention plan, but the detrimental effects it can avert can prove to be enormous.

First, it is a good policy to establish that whenever someone uses a credit card to make a purchase, always check a photo id. If the consumer is the person identified on the card, they will not have a problem showing you their identification. In fact, they will probably thank you for double checking.

Next, don’t just casually look at their signature. Check it against their photo id. Additionally, if the card is not signed, the customer must sign it in your presence, while you are holding their photo identification, or you can ask for another form of payment.

If you have online order or telephone order options, always get the name, address and landline telephone number of the cardholder. Then prior to actually shipping out the products, let them know you will call them to confirm delivery. This is highly effective because fraudulent people will not want to give you that information. It is also a good practice to have the Address Verification System on your credit card terminal. This will verify the billing address of the cardholder. Then you can match it up to the address you received. If your terminal does not have this function, call the processor to have this feature added.

It is also a good idea to have the customer sign the invoice as well as the credit card receipt. You can then verify the signatures again. You could also go a step further. After the customer receives the goods or services, have the customer sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the products.

When establishing a return policy, have notices posted in all communication, such as signs, invoices, etc., that you require the credit card used and the receipt to be presented for any exchanges or returns. You can also contact your credit card processor to have it added to your credit card receipt. The credit card processor can also help to implement a password protection on the refund function to avoid any unauthorized debits from your checking account. This also protects you and your employees.

Another way to protect yourself is to process the credit card transactions after you have shipped the products.

When you have to verify a credit card, only contact the voice authorization center phone number that is given to you by your credit card processor. Do not contact the number on the back of the credit card for authorization.

These tips will help to reduce the chances of fraud or losses. When in doubt, call your credit card processor. They are there to help and protect you from fraudulent credit card transactions.

The price of shoplifting on retail businesses is high. Millions of dollars are lost to shoplifting annually. This represents lost money that you have to make up through increased sales.

Even if your store loses only ten dollars a day to shoplifting (which is a low estimate for retail shops), that translates to over $3,600 a year. How much nicer would it be to have an extra $3,600 in the bank instead of trying to make up for $3,600 in stolen goods?

Reducing loss takes work. And that work will be rewarded by a boost to your company’s bottom line.

Here are tips to protecting your store from shoplifters:

1. Out of Sight, Out of Store – Shoplifters look for an opportunity to steal and get away with it. Where does your staff stand in the store? At the cash register? Near the dressing rooms? From their vantage points, are there areas of the store they cannot see clearly?

These “blind spots” are where shoplifters go to grab merchandise. Rearrange your store to allow clear sight of all the racks and items from wherever your employees are.

2. Shoplifters Hate Great Customer Service – Not only is great customer service a way to make your buying customers happy, it is also a way to scare away non-buying customers who would try to steal from you.

By making sure your employees know where all customers are and go out of their way to offer assistance, shoplifters will know that they will probably be spotted – and will be prosecuted if they try to take anything.

3. Pay Attention To The Fitting Rooms – If you run a clothing store, the fitting rooms are an area where a lot of shoplifters will try to hide merchandise in their clothes or belongings and steal them.

Make sure an employee counts the articles of clothing both on the way in and on the way out.

4. Take Temptation Away – If you look around your store with a critical eye, you can see which items will likely catch the eyes of shoplifters. Items that are more expensive and easier to sneak out with – like jewelry – should be under lock and key to keep unwanted hands out of the till.

5. Have Enough Employees – The best time for a shoplifter to strike is when there is only one employee working the cash register. They know that person is focusing on transactions, leaving them with an open window to take off with the goods. Never leave just one person running the shop.

6. Don’t Go Light on Shoplifters – Often, once a storeowner catches a shoplifter they will let them go if they “promise not to do it again”. This is a surefire way to have more shoplifters come to your store. The lighter your prosecution policy, the more likely you are of being a target.

Instead, you should prosecute shoplifters to the fullest extent of the law. This sends a message that you will not allow this activity in your store – both to the shoplifter you caught and others.

7. Get Your Employees Involved – You should have a shoplifting policy in place, letting your employees know what to do if they catch a shoplifter. Make sure they are fully trained on what and what not to do. Many businesses also offer an employee reward program, offering bonuses to employees who catch shoplifters in the act.

While you will never be able to completely stop shoplifters from trying to target your store, the more you do to make this a harder task for them, and levy consequences when they are caught, the more likely they are to avoid your store – and hit one with a lighter enforcement policy.

If you are like most business people, you favor e-mails, faxes and text messages as the preferred way of business communication, making casual agreements, contracts and promises as you correspond. Those are certainly convenient and timesaving ways to communicate, but they can also leave your company in jeopardy if you assume your typings to be legally binding, when in fact they may not comply with the standards set by the UETA. In order to be sure that all of your business dealings through electronic correspondence are legally binding, be sure to follow each of the following points:

Important points of the Uniform Electronics Transactions Act
Know them, follow them and share them with all of your employees

* The Uniform Act pertains only to communication concerning business, commercial and government dealings.

* A record or signature cannot be denied legal protection solely because it is in electronic form.

* If a law requires information to be delivered in writing, an electronic record is sufficient to comply with the law.

* If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature is sufficient to comply with the law.

* Every electronic correspondence must include an electronic record and an electronic signature in order to be protected under the UETA.

* In order for electronic correspondence (formal or informal) to become a contract, both parties must agree to conduct transactions electronically.

* To be protected under UETA, an electronic communication must be able to be stored or printed by the recipient.

How to ensure that your business’s
electronic correspondence is protected under the UETA

1. If you are proposing any type of contract or agreement via email, fax, text message, etc., it is important that the other party is in accordance with your terms. This can be shown by making sure the other party returns the electronic message with an acknowledgement and agreement to what was written by you.

2. In order to comply with the signature portion of the UETA, each party must include their name in the closing of electronic correspondences. If you haven’t already done so, set an automatic email signature to appear in all of your emails. You should be able to find this setting in the control panel of your company’s e-mail program.

If your business has employees, it is crucial that each of them knows the importance of following each of the rules set by the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act – especially when an important agreement or arrangement is on the line. Not complying can prove to be very costly for any business if the other party decides not to follow through with what was considered by you to be a binding agreement. It’s best not to leave important matters up to chance when communicating electronically in business dealings – following the guidelines set by the UETA means protecting both you and your business.

However, with anything that has a good side, there’s always a flipside. Online content is king, and many online business owners are investing a lot of time and money into the content they put on their websites, including articles, promotional content, and product descriptions. However, thanks to the continuous growth in online piracy, the threat of content being stolen is a very real one, and one that shows no signs of abating anytime soon.

Although you might think of the music industry when you hear the phrase online piracy, it’s far more serious than this. Some of the things that piracy can affect when it comes to the business world include:

* Intellectual Property, or IP
* Documents
* Brands
* Logos
* Online copy
* Company databases

As you can see from the list, there’s a lot that can be stolen from you. Imagine if you’ve worked years to establish your brand, and overnight it disappears? You can see the potential for catastrophic results, from which you might never recover. So how can you protect your business?

The best way is to employ a specialist Internet security team. The experts at these companies have years of experience in combating online piracy. They can develop special firewalls and network security systems that will ensure pirates or hackers can’t break into your company website and steal or destroy important information. Although nothing is ever 100% safe, using specialist companies can offer you the fullest protection possible.

Make sure you’re using secure servers as well. This is where your website and information on it is protected by an encrypted password system. If your website is run by the same company that hosts it, make sure they have this service in place. This should be pretty much par for the course now for web hosting companies, but make sure yours offers it anyway.

If you don’t have the financial backing to hire a professional company, there are options you can put in place yourself. Although you can’t keep your site completely content-free, you can limit some types of content – for example, if you’re a digital photograph company, only put up some samples of your work, and make sure your photos are watermarked. If you publish articles on your site, you can set up Google alerts whenever the specific titles of those articles are mentioned online. This will allow you to check up on who is publishing your content without permission. Additionally, if you’re running your own site, change the password for access frequently, and limit the people who have access to it.

Although online piracy is as big a threat to business as it is to the music and film industry, you can give yourself a better chance of protecting your company. It’s always best to pay for the best security options you can afford – a short term cost may end up saving you a much bigger amount in the long run.

Liability insurance protects companies in the event they are sued by customers or employees asserting that the actions of the organization caused harm to them. Some small business owners feel that there is no way they will ever face such a claim, and so choose not to properly insure themselves against liability.

However, it’s a fact that all businesses, no matter how small, are at risk for litigation. If a customer or employee alleges that the business is responsible for a loss or injury, the business owner can find him or herself facing expensive litigation, regardless of responsibility.

It’s a mistake to think that you can’t be ordered to pay legal claims if your company isn’t yet profitable. In the event the allegations are determined to be true and damages are awarded, you can be held personally liable, ordered to make installment payments, and even have to deal with garnishments and liens against personal property or future earnings. Facing even one liability claim without proper insurance can be devastating for a small business.

Fortunately, small business insurance is an inexpensive way to protect your personal and business assets from the threat of lawsuits. No matter how new or small your business is, you absolutely cannot afford to go without a good liability insurance policy. The protection afforded by proper coverage is a priceless asset. Getting the insurance coverage you need will cost you only a few dollars each week. Failure to protect yourself adequately can cost you your business and personal assets.

If there is no swipe of the card, it’s very easy for someone to order something and then say they did not get it. By using their credit card company’s chargeback feature, many of these dishonest customers get away with it too. There are a few things you can do to make sure this is not happening in your business. First of all, watch for warning signs, or have your staff watch for warning signs. Some of these might include:

* Orders that are larger than normal. If you notice an abnormally large order, be suspicious. While most of the time, it will be normal orders and not fraudulent ones, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

* Orders containing several units of the same type. This is one of the most common credit card fraud scams there is. Make sure to check for these types of orders, and if you have a staff to do this sort of thing for you, make sure that they are aware that you are watching for this sort of thing.

* Orders shipped overnight. Now, many people have their items shipped overnight, and most of them are decent and honest people. However, people who use fraudulent means of payment almost always have items shipped overnight. This means that you are out the cost of the items, plus the cost of an expensive shipping means.

* Orders shipped to an address other than the billing address. This is almost always the case with fraudulent orders. How are they going to get the things that they are stealing if they send it to the real cardholder’s address? Red flag orders like this.

* Multiple card numbers from one IP address. These types of orders need to be red flagged immediately as well. Normally, an honest person only uses one credit card to make orders, sometimes two. If you are seeing three, four or five different credit card numbers from the same IP address, you need to check that out right away.

The first thing you should do if you suspect fraud is to call the customer at the billing phone number. Call the merchant services and ask for the card holder’s phone number, or at least ask to match the one you have with the one in their files. At the very least, if the card company won’t give you the correct phone number (which they should), you can have them call the customer to verify the recent charge.

There are even a few preventative measures you can take before the order is placed. First of all, take the time to get your website secured so all credit card and customer information is encrypted and sent over secure channels. Secondly, you can require that the customer enter their birth date or other piece of information that the credit card company can verify against the card holder’s information. You may even require that customers register or sign in to place an order. If a new account is created with credit card information that is already in your system for a different customer account, you’ll be able to tell right away that something is amiss

By working with merchant services and implementing some simple and effective measures to secure your site and orders, you can save yourself a lot of money and a lot of headaches.