Business Tips by Chris Reich

They "get it".I have been an eBay customer for a long time as both a seller and a buyer. I have logged about 1,500 transactions with 90% of those  as a seller. My feedback rating is nearly 100% positive with only two negative feedbacks in all those...

And your parting gifts are...I travel enough to be a Marriott Platinum member. That means I spend a lot of nights per year in Marriott rooms around the country. Being a Platinum member gives me certain benefits like knowing there will be a room available if I have...

Teamwork made that much difference?Yes. Wheeling Hospital in West Virginia was losing $60 million per year just a short time ago. Today it makes millions in profit.That's a pretty serious turn around to the credit of Mr. Ron Violi. How'd he do it? He didn't cut, cut,...

I did not know that. Johnny CarsonI keeping with my theme of trying to save you time and increase productivity, here's a great little Outlook tip.Outlook can map anyone in your address book. You do not have to go to a mapping site and input the address.Here are the...

I couldn't have said it better myself.I had an email exchange today with my dear friend, Sam McNally about her choice for the '08 Presidential election. Sam is what we Republicans would call a "flaming" liberal. I consider my self a Reagan Republican. Labels are...

Money can't buy it.The Clintons learned a lesson this week. It's a lesson that every business needs to learn: it is far more important what others are saying about you than what you have to say about yourself.Bill and Hillary tried to play the race card. Bill and...

If you think a website is a static billboard to advertise your business, go back in time.There's a website that might scare the hell out of you. It's a sort of web time machine. If your own site looks like the typical site of 1999, you'd better get to work on bringing...

If I had to pick one, I'd take the robot maid over the flying car.Considering the way people drive on controlled roads, I don't think flying cars would be a very good thing. However, the futurists have promised mechanical servants for the past 100 years and we still...

It's 2 cents cheaper across the street.Ever wonder why us old-timers call gas stations, "service stations"? Back in the day, a uniformed attendant would run out to your car as soon as you pulled into a gas station. You'd tell him to "fill 'er up with regular" and he'd...

I hate it when that happens.The latest government blunder is the best one yet. Bernanke cut interest rates 75 basis points to "prevent" recession. Prevent? We're in it. I said 6 months ago we'd be in one by now. Look back at my Blog posts. Cutting interest rates is...

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve! Andrew CarnegieOver the next several months, those of us in business are going to hear a lot of bad economic news and dire predictions for...

Nokia saved a bunch of money but lost their customers.Nokia announced a plant closure in Germany this week. The company will move manufacturing from the Ruhr District of Germany to the cheaper labor pool of Romania. The move will cost Germany about 2,300 jobs. It's...

What's not to like?"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable," said Penny Curtis, senior researcher at the University of Sheffield which questioned 250 children aged between four and 16.This piece of...

I'd rather eat it.   Corn futures hit a 12 year high today on speculation that more of the precious commodity would be needed to make alternative fuels. (AP)   Is it not insanity to use a nation's food supply to keep cars running?   ...

There's good news and bad news.   First, the bad news. We are headed for a recession. I posted a warning about this months ago. Actually, we're in it. Review the Christmas sales that left retailers in a panic. I believe this recession will be deeper and more...

An American parable.   HotShot Inc. is closed. Too bad. In their glory days HotShot had $200 million in sales, great margins and terrific prospects for the future. The only evidence remaining of the company's existence are a few lawsuits yet to be settled....

You don't want him running your customer service department.  You don't want him running your customer service department.  Customer service ought to be a revenue source and not a cost. If your customer service department is cost item, something is seriously...

Data costs a lot of money to produce and much of it has no value.   Many businesses are wasting money on data collection and report generation that could be better spent elsewhere . Often the first step toward resolving a problem is to take measurements. While...