Congratulations to SCORE - 50 Years Helping Small Businesses Grow

A BIG congratulations to SCORE, who has provided 50 years of FREE help to small business owners.

SCORE, funded in part by the federal government, is a resource providing counselors in offices all across the USA. ‘

These counselors, former business owners, are experienced in business growth and freely give their advice to upcoming business owners. In addition SCORE also organizers webinars and online counseling as well.

I learned my business skills from reading Inc Magazine, listening to Joe Connolly of the Wall Street Journal and WCBS Radio, attending lots of business events, reading more and more and learning from mentors - namely Yacov Wrocherinsky of Infinity Info Systems; Bruce Director, a SCORE counselor; Vivian Rodrigues. I also learned from TSOHK - the school of hard knocks - and  making lots of mistakes.

SCORE helps ensure business owners start their businesses off right.

Who else is helping small businesses?

WIBO - Workshop in Business Opporutnities, Project Enterprise and others.

Congratulations to SCORE - 50 Years Helping Small Businesses Grow

A BIG congratulations to SCORE, who has provided 50 years of FREE help to small business owners.

SCORE, funded in part by the federal government, is a resource providing counselors in offices all across the USA. ‘

These counselors, former business owners, are experienced in business growth and freely give their advice to upcoming business owners. In addition SCORE also organizers webinars and online counseling as well.

I learned my business skills from reading Inc Magazine, listening to Joe Connolly of the Wall Street Journal and WCBS Radio, attending lots of business events, reading more and more and learning from mentors - namely Yacov Wrocherinsky of Infinity Info Systems; Bruce Director, a SCORE counselor; Vivian Rodrigues. I also learned from TSOHK - the school of hard knocks - and  making lots of mistakes.

SCORE helps ensure business owners start their businesses off right.

Who else is helping small businesses?

WIBO - Workshop in Business Opporutnities, Project Enterprise and others.

How You Can Actually Kill A Sale

There are various reasons why people don’t buy from us, or don’t buy again. However, there is one huge deal killer and it is lack of trust. Lack of trust can instantly kill a sale. If your prospect or client doesn’t develop, or loses, trust in you - it’s over. You’re toast.

In the U.S. we are unfortunately dealing with a very public example of this - The Affordable Care Act. What I’m about to discuss isn’t political. It isn’t about the merits or lack thereof of the legislation. Rather, it is about the sales lesson we can learn.

So, take off your partisan hat (if you have one) and put on your sales hat.

We’ve been told that people buy from people they trust and that trust is earned and developed over time. If we look at what causes us to trust someone, it is this:

1. They are honest and truthful.
2. They have our best interest in mind.
3. They are the expert in their field.

Using our example, the people who ‘bought into’ the idea of the ACA trusted the salesperson (President Obama) because those three elements existed for them. They believed that he was honest and truthful. So when he said they could keep their healthcare plan and their doctor, they believed him.

They believed that he had their best interest in mind. They didn’t think he was trying to be political or put his legacy above their needs. He is articulate and persuasive. He is, some would say, a great salesman because he can share a message convincingly.

They believed that he had gathered enough information to be able to create a valuable product. Something that would be beneficial to them.

This is something we see every day. Salespeople tell a convincing story, they sound sincere. And frankly, they may really believe what they are saying. The company believes it has a great product or service - for everyone.

Then, what happened?

People found out that this person who they trusted wasn’t being truthful. That what he kept telling them wasn’t how the product worked.

The result?

They started fleeing his ‘company’ and his approval rating tanked. This is also something we see played out in many industries. When a client or prospect discovers you aren’t being truthful with them, you lose their trust. They will either not buy from you, or they will not buy again.

This is when they develop the belief that you really don’t have their best interest in mind. They realize that you are really only looking out for yourself and are ‘selling’ them something.

Let’s spend some time on another aspect of the ACA experience. The website didn’t work. Sometimes we have logistical problems that get in the way of us providing outstanding service. THAT is not a deal killer.

If we are honest and truthful, and have our client’s best interest in mind, and we are sincere about our dismay over a problem, and we work tirelessly to resolve it, they will stay with us. We’ve got their trust so they will work with us when there’s a problem. What was discovered here is that the vendor wasn’t the expert. The vendor didn’t realize the complexity of the product offering.

Trust issue #3 dissolved.

Once again, the value of universal healthcare is not the point of this discussion. The sales pitch, failure to perform, and subsequent appearance of a lack of concern led to the loss of trust - and a deal killer.

Do your company a favor and hold on to trust. BE the company that is honest and truthful - even if it means you can’t sell to that person/company. Keep the prospect/client’s best interest above your own.

Be the expert. Know what you are talking about so you can match your solution to those who have a need.  It matters more than anything else in winning the sale.

No Sale Photo via Shutterstock

Amazon Drones Could Deliver Packages by Air

It looks like something out of a science fiction movie. But Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos seemed quite serious when he told 60 Minutes recently the company is working on the idea of air delivering packages by drone.

The initiative is being called Amazon Air and would involve delivery by flying robotic vehicles to customers within 10 miles of an Amazon warehouse. The time from placement of an order to delivery by the drone in these areas might be just 30 minutes, Bezos speculates.

Amazon recently released a video to better demonstrate how the drone delivery system might work:

Realistically, however, implementation could take three to five years, and that’s just to get FAA approval. There may be other problems, too, in densely populated cities like Washington D.C. where no-fly zones are currently in place.

Brendan Schulman, special counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP told the Associated Press:

“The technology has moved forward faster than the law has kept pace.”

But the real impact will be on carriers like UPS and FedEx. These are the companies with the most to loose in the short-term result of Amazon’s current plan, reports Chris Ciaccia of The Street.

On 60 minutes, Bezos speculated the devices could handle about 85 percent of the packages Amazon delivers.

Those are packages that potentially would be sent by drone instead of by either of the two ground carriers allowing Amazon to speed up delivery and significantly cut costs.

The plan could also be bad news for small businesses seeking to compete with Amazon in the online selling arena. It means most of these businesses will be unable to match Amazon’s delivery time or low costs because they are still forced to ship through more traditional carriers.

Image: Amazon

The Middle School Magic of Being “Liked” Redux

Remember sitting in middle school English when your best friend slyly passed you a note that said a certain classmate who you had your eyes on “liked” you? Butterflies, right?

Those young romances are fading memories today, but our love affair with the Like button and other means of demonstrating social media approval is going strong.

It was only back in 2010 that Facebook introduced the Like button and it quickly became one of the most important barometers in social media. SmallBizTechnology was on the subject immediately. Facebook loves the Like button because it tells them your interests and helps them understand how to better select the ads they send your way.

Convert Fans to Marketers

You can use it in much the same way. However, along with allowing you to better target offers, content, ads and more, we love the Like button and other social media sharing tools, such as those offered by Pinterest, because they allow us to convert our fans into our marketing team.

Let’s look at advantages the Like button offers your business, and remember that much of what we say here also applies to the other social media, especially Google+, which continues to improve its position in the social sharing world, especially as it relates to brands and “followers” of brands.

The last figure I saw indicated that the typical Facebook user will have about 130 friends who can also Like an item that the original user has “Liked.” Do the math and carry that out through the levels of Facebook friends and you see that a single Like has the potential to expose your content or product to a huge audience. And even when others don’t jump on your Like bandwagon (brandwagon?), they are still being made aware of your product, company or website. We’re going to call this the “horizontal” potential of a Like.

Think Outside the Bun

For as long as companies have been advertising, they have placed their names, logos, slogans, and tag lines in front of consumers to build brand recognition. Likes are a free way to do this. However, you must be sure that the small snippet social media users see is in some way memorable. You need distinctive profile picture graphics, a memorable name, a great blog headline, etc.

TIP: Check out the Facebook profile pictures/graphics that are used on the pages of products like Ford Mustang or retailers like H&M. They are instantly recognizable. While few smaller businesses can achieve that level of iconicity, many businesses have profile pictures that don’t perform or communicate at all when they are shrunk in size. Don’t make that simple mistake.

The Habitual Liker

Along with the horizontal aspect of Like you need to understand the vertical aspect, or “depth” of social media users who tend to Like items. They are the people who are truly engaged in social media. They make up the potential audience that is much more likely to consume your content and this gives you a greater chance to deliver your message. If you have something to say, these people represent the “low hanging fruit” that make the easiest targets for your content, and the most likely to pass it along to others.

And this emphasizes the need to truly understand which attributes of your content or products motivate people to hit the Like button. Paradoxically, the more you can focus your offerings, the more broadly you can spread your message. This is the beauty of a social media Like and why we love it so much.

Some of us still get butterflies from a good Like.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/findyoursearch/5202301465/ ”Facebook Like Button,” © 2010 FindYourSearch, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/  Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

Are You Losing Customers On Your Website Due To Slow Website Performance?

Well we ALL know that the government’s health care web site has some MAJOR problems.

It’s been overwhelmed an not able to serve folks who are looking for and/or want insurance solutions.

What about your web site?

Are there people TRYING to get to your web site and can’t? Are there prospective customers on your web site who are turned away because it’s TOO SLOW?

1. Monitor your web server logs to ensure every is running smoothly.
2. Test your web site from time to time and ensure it’s working well from YOUR perspective.
3. Use an automatic web site monitoring service to ping you when your web site is not working. I use Pingdom

The Middle School Magic of Being “Liked” Redux

Remember sitting in middle school English when your best friend slyly passed you a note that said a certain classmate who you had your eyes on “liked” you? Butterflies, right?

Those young romances are fading memories today, but our love affair with the Like button and other means of demonstrating social media approval is going strong.

It was only back in 2010 that Facebook introduced the Like button and it quickly became one of the most important barometers in social media. SmallBizTechnology was on the subject immediately. Facebook loves the Like button because it tells them your interests and helps them understand how to better select the ads they send your way.

Convert Fans to Marketers

You can use it in much the same way. However, along with allowing you to better target offers, content, ads and more, we love the Like button and other social media sharing tools, such as those offered by Pinterest, because they allow us to convert our fans into our marketing team.

Let’s look at advantages the Like button offers your business, and remember that much of what we say here also applies to the other social media, especially Google+, which continues to improve its position in the social sharing world, especially as it relates to brands and “followers” of brands.

The last figure I saw indicated that the typical Facebook user will have about 130 friends who can also Like an item that the original user has “Liked.” Do the math and carry that out through the levels of Facebook friends and you see that a single Like has the potential to expose your content or product to a huge audience. And even when others don’t jump on your Like bandwagon (brandwagon?), they are still being made aware of your product, company or website. We’re going to call this the “horizontal” potential of a Like.

Think Outside the Bun

For as long as companies have been advertising, they have placed their names, logos, slogans, and tag lines in front of consumers to build brand recognition. Likes are a free way to do this. However, you must be sure that the small snippet social media users see is in some way memorable. You need distinctive profile picture graphics, a memorable name, a great blog headline, etc.

TIP: Check out the Facebook profile pictures/graphics that are used on the pages of products like Ford Mustang or retailers like H&M. They are instantly recognizable. While few smaller businesses can achieve that level of iconicity, many businesses have profile pictures that don’t perform or communicate at all when they are shrunk in size. Don’t make that simple mistake.

The Habitual Liker

Along with the horizontal aspect of Like you need to understand the vertical aspect, or “depth” of social media users who tend to Like items. They are the people who are truly engaged in social media. They make up the potential audience that is much more likely to consume your content and this gives you a greater chance to deliver your message. If you have something to say, these people represent the “low hanging fruit” that make the easiest targets for your content, and the most likely to pass it along to others.

And this emphasizes the need to truly understand which attributes of your content or products motivate people to hit the Like button. Paradoxically, the more you can focus your offerings, the more broadly you can spread your message. This is the beauty of a social media Like and why we love it so much.

Some of us still get butterflies from a good Like.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/findyoursearch/5202301465/ ”Facebook Like Button,” © 2010 FindYourSearch, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/  Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

A Review of Brightpod Team Collaboration for You

Collaborating on a project is growing increasingly complex with remote teams and many granular tasks. Brightpod is a new project management tool designed for the marketing professional but useful for anyone in business. If you struggle to keep up with all your content, your campaigns, and other marketing functions, this review of Brightpod is for you.

Since Brightpod is an online, cloud-based, collaboration app, there is nothing to download. You will need to spend a little time setting it up, but it is relatively easy to use. You design pods (projects), assign tasks to your team, keep track of activities, and focus on specific tasks. The service also comes with a calendar, which of course is handy when scheduling tasks. But more so, with scheduling content. (Think editorial calendar.)

If you already have pods set up, you can go straight to the attention tab to see what is on the agenda for the day. To keep track of what is happening with your team, you can click on the activity tab for a real time update. In addition, every morning you will receive an email update of all the activity that happened on the previous day. These features allow you to stay on top of what you and your team are doing.

You can create custom workflows for each pod, but Brightpod recognizes that the process you follow from one project to the next may be the same or similar. They save templates for you of workflows from your other projects. You can upload them to your new projects in a flash.

As you can see above, highlighted in pink, once I created a workflow, I placed a focus star on one item to help me prioritize it. You can drop and drag your tasks, from any of those workflow columns above, to help you keep things organized. You can create your own workflow or choose one of their savvy templates. The calendar feature allows you to coordinate tasks between pods. Once you create a task, you can just drag it to a new day if the deadline changes.

What I Really Like:

• It works with DropBox, Google Drive, and Box.com.
• The free plan now comes with 100Mb of free storage.
• I really like the archive feature. Everyone who has worked with a team has probably at one time had another team member delete something that would have been useful if it were still accessible. Brightpod automatically archives all deleted material for 30 days, allowing you to retrieve necessary items that may have slipped into someone’s trash bin.
• Daily progress report by email.

What I Would Like to See:

• An online chat function that allows you to message people outside of your company, in real time. As it is, you can include people outside of Brightpod, but it works through their email. You invite them to your discussion, and they have to read and reply to an email version of it. It would be nice if you could invite them to your discussions and they could click a link to join you. To be fair, the team has built a robust solution and “online meetings” is often beyond the scope of most project management tools.

Brightpod offers a free 14-day trial to get started and doesn’t require a credit card. After that time, you can switch to a limited free plan with 2 Pods, 3 users, and 100 MB storage. Other plans range from $19 per month to $129 per month with discounts if you pay annually. You are allowed to upgrade or downgrade whenever you want.

The more I used BrightPod, the more I liked it. Take a look and see if it can help you manage your marketing and business projects and goals.

A Review of Brightpod Team Collaboration for You

Collaborating on a project is growing increasingly complex with remote teams and many granular tasks. Brightpod is a new project management tool designed for the marketing professional but useful for anyone in business. If you struggle to keep up with all your content, your campaigns, and other marketing functions, this review of Brightpod is for you.

Since Brightpod is an online, cloud-based, collaboration app, there is nothing to download. You will need to spend a little time setting it up, but it is relatively easy to use. You design pods (projects), assign tasks to your team, keep track of activities, and focus on specific tasks. The service also comes with a calendar, which of course is handy when scheduling tasks. But more so, with scheduling content. (Think editorial calendar.)

If you already have pods set up, you can go straight to the attention tab to see what is on the agenda for the day. To keep track of what is happening with your team, you can click on the activity tab for a real time update. In addition, every morning you will receive an email update of all the activity that happened on the previous day. These features allow you to stay on top of what you and your team are doing.

You can create custom workflows for each pod, but Brightpod recognizes that the process you follow from one project to the next may be the same or similar. They save templates for you of workflows from your other projects. You can upload them to your new projects in a flash.

As you can see above, highlighted in pink, once I created a workflow, I placed a focus star on one item to help me prioritize it. You can drop and drag your tasks, from any of those workflow columns above, to help you keep things organized. You can create your own workflow or choose one of their savvy templates. The calendar feature allows you to coordinate tasks between pods. Once you create a task, you can just drag it to a new day if the deadline changes.

What I Really Like:

• It works with DropBox, Google Drive, and Box.com.
• The free plan now comes with 100Mb of free storage.
• I really like the archive feature. Everyone who has worked with a team has probably at one time had another team member delete something that would have been useful if it were still accessible. Brightpod automatically archives all deleted material for 30 days, allowing you to retrieve necessary items that may have slipped into someone’s trash bin.
• Daily progress report by email.

What I Would Like to See:

• An online chat function that allows you to message people outside of your company, in real time. As it is, you can include people outside of Brightpod, but it works through their email. You invite them to your discussion, and they have to read and reply to an email version of it. It would be nice if you could invite them to your discussions and they could click a link to join you. To be fair, the team has built a robust solution and “online meetings” is often beyond the scope of most project management tools.

Brightpod offers a free 14-day trial to get started and doesn’t require a credit card. After that time, you can switch to a limited free plan with 2 Pods, 3 users, and 100 MB storage. Other plans range from $19 per month to $129 per month with discounts if you pay annually. You are allowed to upgrade or downgrade whenever you want.

The more I used BrightPod, the more I liked it. Take a look and see if it can help you manage your marketing and business projects and goals.

Are You Losing Customers On Your Due To Slow Website Performance?

Well we ALL know that the government’s health care web site has some MAJOR problems.

It’s been overwhelmed an not able to serve folks who are looking for and/or want insurance solutions.

What about your web site?

Are there people TRYING to get to your web site and can’t? Are there prospective customers on your web site who are turned away because it’s TOO SLOW?

1. Monitor your web server logs to ensure every is running smoothly.
2. Test your web site from time to time and ensure it’s working well from YOUR perspective.
3. Use an automatic web site monitoring service to ping you when your web site is not working. I use Pingdom

Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook - The Social Media Manual for Business Marketers @Garyvee #jjjrh

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuck is the MUST READ instruction manual for understanding social media and using it as an asset to grow your business.

We know that content is important. But content alone IS NOT going to turn the dial into your success in using social media. You must ensure that your content is relevant to your audience.

There’s one more that’s really, really important- and Gary writes about it in Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. Ensure that the content you publish on social media is appropriately to the network it’s being published on and the hardware. If you’re posting something about your cupcakes make sure it looks good on Instagram and not just a 22 inch flat screen LCD monitor. Know what I mean?

Buy Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, digest it and take notes. Buy another copy for a friend.

Here’s my review of the book on Youtube and below

Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook - The Social Media Manual for Business Marketers @Garyvee #jjjrh

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuck is the MUST READ instruction manual for understanding social media and using it as an asset to grow your business.

We know that content is important. But content alone IS NOT going to turn the dial into your success in using social media. You must ensure that your content is relevant to your audience.

There’s one more that’s really, really important- and Gary writes about it in Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. Ensure that the content you publish on social media is appropriately to the network it’s being published on and the hardware. If you’re posting something about your cupcakes make sure it looks good on Instagram and not just a 22 inch flat screen LCD monitor. Know what I mean?

Buy Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, digest it and take notes. Buy another copy for a friend.

Here’s my review of the book on Youtube and below

Customer Asked to Leave Local Business Over Google Glass Policy

The Web is buzzing with what may be one of the first instances of a business asking a customer to leave over its Google Glass policy. Not too surprisingly, this happened at Seattle’s Lost Lake Cafe and Lounge.

The all-night Seattle restaurant explained its decision in a recent Facebook post:

“We recently had to ask a rude customer to leave because of their insistence on wearing and operating Google Glasses inside the restaurant. So for the record, here’s our Official Policy on Google Glass:

We kindly ask our customers to refrain from wearing and operating Google Glasses inside Lost Lake. We also ask that you not videotape anyone using any other sort of technology. If you do wear your Google Glasses inside, or film or photograph people without their permission, you will be asked to stop, or leave. And if we ask you to leave, for God’s sake, don’t start yelling about your “rights.” Just shut up and get out before you make things worse.”

Of course, there are plenty of comments both supporting and opposing the policy and the decision.

The reason all of this isn’t too surprising is that Lost Lake Cafe and Lounge owner David Meinert has already made headlines and waves on this topic. That was for banning the wearable tech at one of his other local businesses, The 5 Point Cafe.

Of course, we’ve already seen one motorist cited for wearing Google Glass while driving. But for business owners, the decision is a bit more tricky.

The customer, Nick Starr, quickly posted on Facebook complaining about the incident, reports The Seattle Times. But Starr’s feed is apparently not available at this time, perhaps because of the war of words going on.

On the other hand, business owners need to consider the privacy and preferences of the majority of their paying customers. Some of them may not appreciate becoming part of someone else’s online content.

Image: Stop the Cyborgs

Why Holiday Email Marketing Sales Emails Are Bad For Your Business

Are you getting inundated with Holiday sales emails, Happy Thanksgiving emails and the like? I am.

Guess what happens?

Readers get flooded with emails from you and 99 other retailers. Retailers they’ve never heard of, or shopped from once about 11 months ago.

All these emails come in like a flood and buried email recipients unsubscribe - or at least I do.

Instead build a relationship with your customers during the way and build up anticipation during the Holidays.

When YOUR email comes - it won’t be seen as one email in an avalanche of many. It’ll be anticipated.

One more thing - when you send your email - send an email that’s packed full of useful information for your customers (or prospective customers).

Why Holiday Email Marketing Sales Emails Are Bad For Your Business

Are you getting inundated with Holiday sales emails, Happy Thanksgiving emails and the like? I am.

Guess what happens?

Readers get flooded with emails from you and 99 other retailers. Retailers they’ve never heard of, or shopped from once about 11 months ago.

All these emails come in like a flood and buried email recipients unsubscribe - or at least I do.

Instead build a relationship with your customers during the way and build up anticipation during the Holidays.

When YOUR email comes - it won’t be seen as one email in an avalanche of many. It’ll be anticipated.

One more thing - when you send your email - send an email that’s packed full of useful information for your customers (or prospective customers).

What Problems will the ACA Cause Next Year?

Much of the recent discussion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has concentrated on the malfunctioning health insurance exchange website and the termination notices that many individual market insurance purchasers have been receiving. That’s not surprising because the media concentrates on the here and now, and these problems are currently inconveniencing a lot of people.

But as the federal government solves these problems, attention inevitably will turn to the negative effects of the health care law on employment and consumer spending. Both will emerge as issues in 2014, when consumers react to ACA-driven changes in the cost of health insurance, and small business owners grapple with the employer mandate.

Affordable Care Act Premium Increases

Health insurers are likely to raise premiums for 2015 for customers obtaining insurance through the new health care exchange. Fewer young healthy people are likely to buy insurance through the new exchange than the government originally had anticipated. While older and sicker people who need to cover pre-existing conditions will likely persist in getting coverage through a tough-to-use website, a larger-than-expected fraction of young and healthy people will likely pay the penalty for non-insurance.

The end result will be an older and sicker risk pool than policy makers had hoped for, which will cause insurers to raise premiums for 2015.

Once Americans can sign up for health insurance online, many of them will find out that the plans they can purchase have high deductibles. Those deductibles, combined with notices of rising premiums (which will be sent out by insurers sometime next year), will strain consumers’ household budgets. This sticker shock will dampen consumer spending (probably in the second half of 2014), just as big retailers like Wal-Mart are now predicting.

Affordable Care Act Job Loss

As small businesses prepare for the employer mandate, they will cut hiring and trim workers’ hours. Because companies with 50 or more employees now need to offer health care coverage to full-time workers, businesses will cut some worker hours to part-time levels. Recent surveys by the International Franchise Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) and the Gallup Organization indicate that between 12 and 18 percent of employers have already begun converting full-time jobs to part-time in response to the new law. The numbers will only grow as we get closer to the start of the employer mandate.

Unable to absorb the cost of employee health insurance, small businesses in low margin industries will cut hiring. The IFEBP survey showed that 7 percent of small companies have already cut employment in response to the law, while the Gallup poll indicated that 19 percent have shed workers.

Future hiring plans will also be trimmed. More than four-in-ten respondents to the Gallup poll said they “have held off on plans to hire new employees” and nearly four-in-ten “have pulled back on plans to grow their business” in response to the ACA. One-in-four small businesses has indicated that they will “reduce hiring” in response to the new law.

The layoffs and hiring cuts will be concentrated among businesses with just under 50 employees, as companies seek to keep their work forces below the cut-off at which they have to offer employee health insurance. The IFA-Chamber survey reveals that more than half (52 percent) of businesses with between 40 and 70 employees plan to “make personnel changes” to remain below 50 workers.

Some companies will respond to the law by dropping employee health insurance. The IFA-Chamber survey indicates that more than one quarter (28 percent) of businesses surveyed will drop employee health insurance coverage and pay the penalty for non-insurance in 2015, when the employer mandate begins.

While the termination notices and problems with the health care exchange website are today’s headlines, the major economic costs of the new health care law will not be felt until later next year. Americans should expect a slight softening of consumer spending and a modest decline in workers’ hours and employment as the new law goes into effect.

Swipeless Payments Using NFC Technology: What You Need to Know

Research and experts agree that mobile payments overall are sharply increasing. New technology is making it easier and faster to accept payments from customers. Today’s swipeless cards and payment-enabled smartphones that make payments using NFC technology are the way to go if you want a cutting-edge checkout process.

These new payment options use something called near field communication (NFC) technology. Payments using NFC technology are very secure. They have a special chip inside which sends payment information securely to credit card companies and participating banks. Information is encrypted and has multiple layers of security built in â€" that’s the beauty of using advanced technology.

To make a purchase, the customer simply waves a NFC-enabled credit card or smartphone within a few inches of a NFC point of sale receiver, and payment data is transmitted via short-range radio waves from their card or phone to the receiver.

Who Supports NFC?

Contactless payments using NFC technology are based on open standards. That means if your business already has NFC terminals that can read NFC-enabled credit cards, it can also accept NFC mobile payments. However, there are a number of mobile payment platforms customers can choose from to make purchases, and the terminal has to be configured for what you want to accept.

As far as traditional credit cards that are enabled with NFC technology, there’s MasterCard PayPass and Visa PayWave.

NFC-enabled credit cards have been around for a number of years. It is proven technology. Cards now also offer apps so that consumers can use the same payment system with certain mobile phones, instead of a plastic card.

When it comes to mobile payments using NFC technology from your phone, Google Wallet is frequently discussed. Customers can make purchases both in-store and online using Google Wallet, but only those with certain Android phones from select carriers like Sprint or Virgin Mobile can download the smartphone app.

The biggest competitor to Google Wallet in mobile payments is Isis, which is a joint venture run by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile (whose phones, by the way, do not support Google Wallet). Isis is solely focused on in-store payments using NFC technology, where Google Wallet can be used in-store and online. Isis, however, features the ability to store loyalty cards, which Google Wallet no longer allows. Isis phones offer the option to come with prepaid American Express Serve or Visa cards (called the Isis Cash Card). Isis has not yet launched nationwide, but has announced it will later this year.

What are the Benefits to NFC?

The biggest perk to an NFC checkout is just how quick and easy it is: Customers just tap their cards or phones and go. It eliminates time spent digging around for cash or swiping a card. With most NFC payment systems, approvals are almost instantaneous.

In the case of key fobs or mobile phones, you don’t even have to pull out a card. Just wave your phone or device next to the payment reader.

While that may not sound like a lot of time saved, when you multiply it over hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of transactions, the efficiencies add up. Plus, when cards are not handled, customers may feel more secure because the card does not leave their possession. Don’t forget the side benefits: This also may cut down on the spread of germs from handling cards or making change.

Customers using a platform that supports loyalty cards or coupons enjoy an even more seamless transaction. When they tap their cards or phones, the loyalty card information is sent along with payment data, making for a very efficient checkout process. All of this means shorter lines and much happier customers.

Many NFC platforms also make it possible to connect with your customers where it counts. For example, the Isis Mobile Commerce Platform allows you to deliver special offers and promotional information directly to a customer’s mobile wallet. Google Wallet touts a similar feature using Google Offers.

Are Payments Using NFC Technology Secure?

Mobile payments using NFC technology are very secure â€" they are just as secure as traditional plastic cards, and merchants have the same level of protection from fraud as with traditional credit cards. Customers’ stored account information is encrypted, and each transaction can be authenticated by PIN. Data is also encrypted when the chip and POS receiver are communicating, making it difficult for even a sophisticated fraudster to “eavesdrop” and try to steal the customer’s information.

How Much Would it Cost?

Both Google Wallet and Isis advertise that you will pay the normal card-present rates for transactions, despite the fact that the card is never swiped or shown during checkout. There are no additional charges from either company.

However, to accept payments using NFC technology from any platform, you’ll need equipment that accepts contactless payments. Talk with your merchant service provider about getting NFC equipment and the cost involved.

Expect Growth in NFC

As with any newer technology, there has been some hype around NFC payments, especially those using mobile phones instead of traditional-looking credit cards. The fact remains that growth in payments using NFC technology is likely to continue, especially as electronic and mobile payments in general soar. Hedge your bets by investigating now, educating yourself and your staff, and signing up for a system so that you are in a position to deliver what customers demand, when they demand it.

NFC Photo via Shutterstock