eBusiness Management –What Customers Expect Today

Communicating with customers in writing:

Now that we have discussed how important it is to be honest with your customers through your website, let’s take it to the next step – communications with those customers. Let’s assume a few things here for the purpose of illustrations and examples. First, let’s assume your main way of communicating with customers is in writing in either letters or emails.

No one likes to get a stiff, complicated and wordy business letter to read; especially if it is filled with acronyms, technical terms and jargon unfamiliar to the reader. When we get those, it usually tells us the author is stiff, serious and not a good communicator. Ever talk to an insurance salesman? Now be honest, how much did you REALLY understand of what he/she was saying? 10%? Maybe 20%? Don’t be like that to your customers! We should never allow our customers to think that of us if we are trying to sell them something! It furthers the misconception of the buyer that, “If I buy something from this guy, dealing with him will not be a pleasant experience.” They will most likely go elsewhere.

The best way to write any business correspondence is to write it the same way you would explain it to them in person. Practice it. It’s called “Conversational Writing” and has long been taught in good business schools everywhere. For some reason however, not everyone passed the course. Especially lawyers – they are trained to write thousands of words which mean absolutely nothing to the average Joe. That guarantees them that we must hire them to read and interpret what others (or they) write. Don’t make your customers feel like that! Be conversational and leave out complicated words, acronyms or jargon particular to your line of business. If you must use a “special” word, then make sure define it without demeaning them into feeling uninformed. They will be much more impressed with your ability to write plainly and clearly to them than they would be if you tried to “snow” them with overly complicated phrases or words, just to prove how smart you are. It will have the opposite effect, guaranteed.

Many have defined the perfect business letter as “Yellow, Red, Green.”
The first (YELLOW) part means put the greeting up front and briefly state what you will discuss with them and what you expect the letter to accomplish.

Next (the RED part) explain in detail (not too complicated) what you are writing about. Be specific and even add a series of steps for them to perform if necessary.
Thirdly comes the GREEN part. Thank them for their business and assure them that their business is important to you and your company. Leave them happy with a confirming statement.

That should produce a good business letter or email for you. Practice, practice, practice! Then re-read the letter to yourself as if you were the recipient. Is it plainly stated? Is it simple to understand and not contain unnecessary buzz words or technical jargon? Does it accomplish the goal you set for the when writing it in the first place? If you received it, how would you feel?

Terminal Services and MAS 200 Explained

MAS 90 and MAS 200 from Sage Software are two of the most widely used midsize business management and accounting applications in service today. Both MAS 90 and MAS 200 share the same end-user capability and functionality. The primary difference between MAS 90 and MAS 200 is the back-end technology. MAS 200 is a client-server application which works more efficiently than MAS 90 on wide area networks and large user counts.

One method gaining popularity among business that own MAS 90 and MAS 200 is the use of Terminal Services to host MAS. There are a number of benefits to using Terminal Services for MAS 90/200. Here is a list of some of the benefits:

1. Improved Security
Something your MAS consultant may not tell you is that Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 require Full Access network security rights to not only the installation directory on the server, but often times the Program Files directory as well. Hosting MAS 200 on a Terminal Server improves security because network administrators can limit the terminal session to only execute MAS, and then close the session when MAS is closed - therefore it is not a problem that the user has full control rights because the only software they can run in the terminal session is MAS itself. Using the MAS 200 client directly on the network without Terminal Services exposes your network to either malicious or silly employee errors.

2. Remote Office Capability
Using TERMINAL SERVICES for MAS 200 also makes connecting remote offices and at-home users much more efficient and capable. IT pros familiar with MAS know that even the "thin-client" install of MAS 200 is not very efficient over a wide area network. Even with Sage's addition of a client server ODBC driver, the performance of the direct MAS 200 Client over a wide area network is not ideal and has frustrated many an end-user. Using Terminal Server to host MAS 200 is the "no brainer" solution for connecting home offices and remote offices to a centralized MAS 200 installation.

Search our article archive for more information about HOSTED MAS 200 solutions. Or come back again soon as we continue to discuss the benefits and potential problems associated with Terminal Services and MAS 200.

Welcome to the Tekoa Software Blog

Running a successful online business is not as easy as you might think and requires a unique blend of expertise, insight and skill. Running a successful ebusiness is a unique blend of marketing, sales, technology and customer service.

The goal of this blog is to explore online business topics, provide tips, tricks and useful advice that when employed, edify online business managers and help streamline online business practices.

Take your online business to the next level and make it a real part of your business, a true source of revenue, an improved customer service tool, and an effective marketing avenue. Make your web site more than just an electronic brochure, make it an online business tool and leverage technology into new horizons for your traditional business.