How to Steal Customers

The book Grab more Market Share-How to Wrangle Business Away from Lazy Competitors by Ross Shafer lays out a slew strategies for growing your business by stealing away competitors' customers.

Here are five of Shafer's tips for snatching more market share:
1. Stay relevant through innovation. One great way to gain market share is to spot new trends ahead of competitors. Listen carefully when you're chatting with friends, watching the news, or listening to kids talk about what they like. Think about how new technology might change your industry-in the U.S. that was Netflix's opening to crush Blockbuster. There may be change in the wind your business can jump on.
2. Respond to customers-fast. Remember when leaving a voice mail that says. "I'll get back to you within 24 hours" seemed responsive? Not anymore. In this age of real-time Twitter customer-support, shoppers are increasingly loyal to the company that can fix their problem right now. Check out how fast your competitors respond, and then be faster, and customer will take notice.
3. Use customers' Ideas. Companies such as Treadless have thrived by putting customers at the center of their business and letting them design their t-shirts. Keep an open channel for customers ideas-one of them might be your next hit product.
4. Snap up competitors. Sometimes the easiest way to get more customers is to simply buy them. Watch for competitors that might be up for sale and purchase their customers lists. Shafer loves Baron Rothschild's famous quote, "The time to buy is when there is blood in the streets." Capitalize on today's economic chaos to solidify your business's position.
5. Be more flexible. Are your competitors still expecting workers to warm a chair from 9 to 5 in their office every weekday? You could steal their best people by simply offering more flexibility in how and where people work.

Pinoy SMES, DOF Turning to Google APPS

Seeing the business benefits of computing with the cloud. Filipino -owned firm Pointwest Technologies migrated 800 of its users to Google Apps this year, and the Department of Finance has also "Gone Google" with the help of Orange and Bronze Software Labs (O&B).
In a "Why Go Google?" seminar at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, Raymond Posadas of Pointwest shared his company's experience in migrating to Google Apps with the help of O&B, a Google Enterpise Partner in the Philippines.
"Our previous e-mail provider couldn't cope with our exponential growth when we grew from around 50 employees on our first year (2003) to 2007," says Posadas, a pioneer employee at Pointwest, "We had to switch providers then. Now that we are at 800 employees, we had to look for a new solution that could cope with our growth and business demands."

It is Time to Train Children Invest and Earn

Most parents don't mind to teach children to manage money at young age, they waited until their children had practice spending money, and it is very hard for them to control spending and sparing some amount to save. The proper time to start to train child regarding money management is at the stage that they recognize money and it's amount or value. Parents must show how to earn, save, spend, and donate their money.
If parents can't teach their young to be wise with cash, it will be a big problem later own, not only for parents but to themselves, the children.

Understanding money's value
According to research, the average age of which Filipino kids start saving money is at the age of seven year old. About 98 percent of Filipino parents believe their children should learn money management skills, and only 19 percent think their children have adequate money management skills.

Secretary of Education Armin Luistro says it's very important that children understand the value of money