John has provided another excellent business marketing resource with The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself. I read his first book, Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide and began implementing the ideas he shared with several businesses I was involved with. I can say that these books are not just for small business, but ANY business in any arena. Those that read The Referral Engine and begin to implement the strategies into tactical plans will see results. I ordered the pre-sale book and just finished it today and John has mastered the art of helping business people taking the strategic concepts and moving them into implementation with very clear and concise steps. While some will argue they don't have the time, in actuality, they can't afford not to. I highly recommend this book to those looking to rev their business. Not only does the book provide great examples, it will get the gears turning for creative ways to use the practical steps in your own business. Read more at The Referral Engine.

If you operate a company, you might want to re-think your business model if you are acting unethically. Technology enabled customers and victims are forcing businesses to listen. And well, if they don't, their businesses will fail soon. I read with interest the All Facebook article, "Towing Company Sues Student For $750,000 For Creating A Facebook Group." Some students are alleging that T & J Towing company is breaking into vehicles, taking the parking sticker, then towing the vehicle an finally charging the students $118 to get it out of impound. The FB group is nearly 10,000 strong with many people stating the same issue. This will be very interesting to see how the situation plays out.

Another reason the United States Postal Service (USPS) is behind the times is the classic PO Box. I went to renew the PO Box for Color by the Sun today. I got a renewal notice via email (which is a nice feature, btw) last week that told me I could renew for 6 months for $55. So I'm at the counter and told the clerk I wanted to renew. He asked if I would like to renew for 6 months for $55. I asked him how much it would be for 1 year. He said, oh, a hundred and something. Then he checked and it was $110 for the year. I sarcastically replied, wow, what a deal. Give me 6 months then. Just out of curiosity, I called my local UPS Store to inquire what the box rates are for the UPS Mail Service. The UPS Store worker told me that a small box would be $16 month, so 6 months would be $96, or I could do 12 months and get 3 months free. So $144 for the year for the UPS Mail Service or $110/year for the USPS service. The UPS Mail Service has several additional benefits, like getting a real address, package notification by text or email, accepting of packages from all carriers, mail forwarding, and call-in mail checking by phone.

I did a brief search on the number of PO Boxes and found that most Central Business Districts (CBDs) have over 100,000 PO Boxes available. I don't know what the "unused" rate is for USPS PO Boxes, but I'd be willing to bet that if they offered a $10 discount for 1 year and made it an even $100/year, they would retain more PO Box users. They would have signed me up for a year on the spot.

Retaining customers should always be a priority. Using a little common sense marketing and giving your existing customers some incentive to renew for a longer term is easy. Thinking like a business isn't so easy when you are part of the government.

For many people, the thought of getting up in front of their peers or people they don't know causes the pulse to race and anxiety to rise. Practicing in front of a mirror, friends and family members will help alleviate the worry and also improve your delivery. Here are some basic presentation tips called the The 10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint from Guy Kawasaki and an ironic "How to Give a Lousy Presentation" to help you in your journey.