Visit www.score.org/accelerate for featured content, including:

Free Resource : Understand Online Customer Service. Learn the differences between online and traditional customer service, their advantages and disadvantages, how to keep up with customer expectations, and what every online customer service plan should include..

Start Now: Follow @scorementors on Twitter. Sign up with Twitter and get free resources and info to help start, manage and grow your business. Read posts online at http://twitter.com/scorementors.
Quick eGuide: Personalizing the Customer Experience. Find out how to make a personal connection with customers and get them to return.
Quiz: Do Your Customers Come Back for More? Take this short quiz and discover if you are doing everything you can to focus on customers and treat them right.

How To: Set a Standard in Your Small Business. Learn how to set, manage, compare and evaluate your customer service. Get your employees to put customers first.

Mentors: Ask SCORE & Find SCORE. Entrepreneurs can count on SCORE for free and confidential business mentoring. Get advice by email through Ask SCORE at www.score.org/ask_score.html.. Use the Find SCORE locator to find a SCORE office instantly at www.score.org/findscore.

Each month, SCORE offers a new online toolkit with special articles, templates, podcasts and workshops at www.score.org/accelerate. Look for new resources in August.

Since 1964, SCORE “Counselors to America ’s Small Business” has helped more than 8.4 million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling and business workshops. More than 11,200 volunteer business counselors in 370 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneur education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses.

For more information about starting or operating a small business, call 1-800/634-0245 for the SCORE chapter nearest you. Visit SCORE on the Web at www.score.org and www.score.org/women.

From Small Business Trends

Accelerate Your Customer Retention

When asked what positions HR will be struggling the hardest to fill, 60% claimed Information Technology (IT) talent is anticipated to be the most in-demand, followed by Sales and Operations both at 30%. Although 50% claim to be proactively preparing for the hiring return, TalentDrive when on to ask how confident they are in their department’s readiness to handle the influx of open positions and hiring needs. 50% of the respondents said “yes”, they are prepared for future hiring needs, while the other 50% claimed “maybe”.

The survey went on to ask what areas HR plans to spend the largest portion of its budget, once the recession turns. 100% of those surveyed said they would invest in implementing new marketing tactics to help recruit new talent, while 50% said they would be investing directly in re-hiring full-time employees.

Over 8,000 F1000 Companies and HR Professionals were surveyed. This survey was conducted between April 23rd, 2009 and June 23rd, 2009.

In summary, the survey found these key points:
50% of HR Professionals are proactively preparing for employment recovery
60% anticipate Information Technology (IT) talent to be the most in-demand
50% of HR Departments feel confident they are adequately prepared for the influx of hiring; 50% said “maybe”
100% of HR Departments plan to invest in implementing new marketing tactics to recruit, while 50% plan to invest directly in re-hiring full time employees

“I was pleased to find the majority of HR Professionals surveyed proactively preparing for the return of hiring. Although no one can predict without a doubt when the hiring spike will occur, I feel strongly that HR Departments need to make use of this recession by pipelining candidates and planning budget allocation according to business initiatives beforehand. With 100% of those surveyed investing in new marketing tactics, not only is there increased B2B spending on the horizon, but TalentDrive is pleased to offer a technology that provides a creative new solution to proactively target candidates via online recruitment marketing,” Sean Bisceglia, CEO TalentDrive.

About TalentDrive:

TalentDrive has released the industry’s most innovative SaaS sourcing solution, TalentFilterSM. Over 55 global companies have helped us develop one of the most easy to use, on-demand,talent sourcing tools on the market. As a subscriber, our recruitment technology sweeps and unifies thousands of paid and free resume databases in one location. TalentFilterSM then matches, hierarchies the results, and provides contact through auto scheduling for candidate interviews, chosen by you. In addition, through powerful analytics you are able to manage your ROI for online recruiting. TalentFilterSM now services the United States, Europe, and The Pacific Rim. One search, one location, one technology.One search, one location, one technology. Thousands of sources.

From Small Business Trends

Human Resources’ Top Future Hiring Needs

“Fleet owners today need peace of mind and insurance against rising fuel prices,” said Pricelock CEO and Founder Robert Fell. “Pricelock’s patented service offerings allow fleet owners to manage fuel costs closely in a time of extreme price volatility.”

With gas prices rapidly rising, companies with fleets have been working with Pricelock to protect their fuel exposures. For example, Pricelock is currently providing a budget-protection program for a wholesale building-materials supply company that will help insulate the company
against a spike in the price of fuel used by its fleet of 4,000 vehicles.

Pricelock, founded in 2006, was the company behind Chrysler’s “Let’s Refuel America” campaign last year that generated more than 17,000 new customers for Chrysler. It is currently partnering with Hyundai to provide gasoline for a year at $1.49 per gallon to buyers of selected new car models.
Pricelock combines technology, strong expertise in commodities and an online management platform to serve companies in many industries. These businesses want budget predictability for fleet operations, a sales incentive or an employee recruiting and retention program that they can offer workers to
lower commuting costs.

Pricelock has been responsible for more than 100 million gallons of fuel-price protection since 2008. Pricelock’s consultative sales and service offerings also include a carbon-neutrality program through its
Carbonlock(tm) product for fleet owners, automotive companies, and employers. A full description of Pricelock’s suite of service offerings can be found at www.pricelock.com.

Pricelock’s investors include Goldman Sachs and Artiman Ventures, a venture-capital firm that specializes in helping technology-driven entrepreneurs create world-class companies. Artiman has provided technology counsel, as well as growth capital. Michael Bonsignore, former CEO of
Honeywell, is the Founding Chairman of the Company.

For more information about Pricelock’s fuel-price management consulting and services, visit www.pricelock.com.
About Pricelock

Pricelock, based in Redwood City, California, is the world’s first company
to combine patented technology and commodities expertise to bring businesses
price predictability to increasingly volatile fuel prices. The company also
offers Carbonlock(tm), a unique, patented “green fleet” program that allows
fleets and businesses to efficiently acquire certified carbon offsets and
become carbon neutral. Pricelock can be found on the Web at
www.pricelock.com.

From Small Business Trends

Pricelock Offers Fleet Owners Fuel-Price Management Services

1. Yellowpages
2. Superpages
3. Citysearch
4. Yelp
5. MERCHANTCIRCLE
6. Local.com
7. Urbanspoon
8. Insiderpages
9. Yellowbook
10. Servicemagic

“We’re extremely pleased that we’ve been able to nearly double the number of unique visitors who find local business owners through MerchantCircle to 17 million a month,” says Darren Waddell, Vice President of MerchantCircle. “Not only are consumers finding the local businesses they’re looking for, they’re able to connect with local merchants through the MerchantCircle platform to access new deals and events.”

To further increase local business exposure online, MerchantCircle also announces the first-ever local city coupon Twitter feed. Merchant-built coupons are now automatically fed to city-specific Twitter feeds, so that local consumers can find local coupons and events in real-time. MerchantCircle local business owners create more than 50,000 online coupons and events every month. Merchant-created deals and events are automatically posted to the new Twitter feeds to expose local merchants to even more potential customers.

“I’m thrilled MerchantCircle is always coming up with ways that make it easier for customers to find us,” says Ken Mapel, owner of The Glass Guy in St. Paul, MN. “I can create coupons for free on MerchantCircle and they distribute them across the web. And now with the direct Twitter feed, they’re making it even easier to find more local customers. I currently receive around 80 calls per month from consumers who have found me on MerchantCircle; I’m looking forward to this bringing in even more.”

Local MerchantCircle coupons are available today at: @MCircleNY, MCircleLA, MCircleChicago, MCirclePhilly, MCircleDallas, MCircleSF, MCircleOakland, MCircleSanJose, MCircleBoston, MCircleAtlanta, MCircleDC, MCircleHouston, MCircleDetroit, MCirclePhoenix, MCircleTampa, MCMinneapolis, MCircleMiami, MCircleDenver, MCircleOrlando, MCSacramento, MCircleStLouis, MCirclePortland, MCCharlotte, MCIndianapolis, amongst other cities.

About MerchantCircle

Founded in 2005, MerchantCircle is the largest social network of local business owners in the nation, combining social networking features with a customizable web listing that allows local merchants to attract new customers. More than 15 million MerchantCircle business listings across the country are easily accessed on major search engines.

Currently, over 770,000 merchants on the MerchantCircle network upload pictures, blog, create coupons and newsletters, and connect with other merchants. In addition to its free services, MerchantCircle offers a portfolio of online advertising services including Search Engine Marketing, Website Directory Submission, Web Content Creation, Instant Website Development and Business Verification Services.

MerchantCircle was co-founded by Ben T. Smith, IV, co-founder of Spoke and current CEO of MerchantCircle. The company is located on Main St. in downtown Los Altos, Calif., and is funded by Rustic Canyon Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Disney’s Steamboat Ventures, and IAC. Learn more at www.MerchantCircle.com.

From Small Business Trends

Largest Social Network of Businesses

Inability to access data due to Internet outages (55%) and data security (55%) were the top two concerns cited among small businesses utilizing cloud computing software solutions.

“There is no doubt that cloud-based computing services offer significant benefits to small businesses looking for ease and efficiency in storage and collaboration,” said Jeff Boles, senior analyst for the Taneja Group. “However, the cloud is still in its early stages with some questions about reliability, latency and control – not to mention the fact that you always have to be tied to an Internet connection.”

Among other key findings from the survey:
Almost half (48%) of small businesses identified trust and security as top attributes for selecting an on-demand or cloud-based file server. Interestingly, 27% of respondents said that the product’s ease of use was the second most important consideration in their decision, with price and performance (23%) a close third. Customer service (7%) and ability to scale with the business (4%) was listed last.

99% of small business respondents validated that Internet outages can be detrimental to business. In fact, the survey showed that if the Internet was down for only one hour, over half (51%) would be moderately impacted and nearly a quarter of respondents (20%) severely impacted.

To gain small business owners’ trust, 66% of respondents said that offering hybrid solutions that connect online and offline was most important, while 54% said that providing exceptional customer service, such as 24/7 helplines with live support comes second.

Vineet Jain, CEO of Egnyte said, “To help small businesses enjoy the cost-benefits of cloud computing with the peace of mind and control of having their data on premise, Egnyte offers its customers a hybrid cloud/on-premise file server solution: Egnyte Local Cloud. The integrated solution is a significant step forward in next-generation cloud computing technology. Egnyte’s Local Cloud blends a hosted online solution with an on-premise solution, providing small businesses up-to-date and complete access to their file servers, whether they have an Internet connection or not.”

Egnyte’s hybrid file server provides businesses the benefits of both the online and offline worlds, as it enables the cost benefits, high availability and scalability of on-demand computing with the ability to access and work in network files locally. Egnyte’s hybrid software solution synchronizes the On Demand File Server to the Egnyte Local Cloud seamlessly so that businesses continually have an up-to-date local copy of their data to ensure reliability and control if the Internet goes down.

“By tying together local data and cloud computing data, Egnyte is solving a fundamental concern for SMBs. Hybrid solutions will be key to increasing the adoption rate for storage services in the Internet cloud,” said Boles.

Survey respondents were also asked to weigh in on their thoughts about cloud computing in the federal government and whether Washington’s use of cloud computing would make them feel more secure. Over 81% said the government doesn’t bear any impact on their view of cloud computing. In fact, 4% of respondents said government’s adoption made them feel less secure.

About the Survey

Egnyte conducted this survey from June 11, 2009 to June 24, 2009. Over 300 Egnyte small business customers answered an online survey. For more information on the survey or the complete results, visit http://blog.egnyte.com/.

About Egnyte

Egnyte is a leading provider of on-demand file server solutions for small businesses and professionals. Egnyte was founded in 2006 and is privately financed. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information, please visit www.egnyte.com or call 1-877-7EGNYTE.

From Small Business Trends

Small Businesses Cloud Computing Solutions Survey

According to a recent survey from online payroll provider SurePayroll, this nightmare appears to be transforming into a reality for many small business owners.

The survey reveals that three out of four surveyed business owners admitted to hiring at least one employee they later wished they never had, and many indicated that the mistake resulted in a significant financial loss – more than $10,000 a pop, according to 12 percent of respondents.

SurePayroll attributes the growing trend of hiring mistakes to difficult economic times that have placed a considerable number of highly competitive and eager job-seekers into the market.

“The businesses we talk to say they are seeing more individuals lying on their résumés or exaggerating their skill sets in order to get scarce jobs. In a down economy, small business owners must be especially vigilant when they bring on new employees,” says SurePayroll President Michael Alter.

How Hiring Mistakes are Made

According to the survey results, many small business owners are overlooking steps to reduce the likelihood of a hiring mistake. Most who admitted to bad hiring decisions said they resulted from a failure to accurately assess an employee’s personality, character or skill set. Responses included:

“We hired an employee without doing a background check, and then I caught her stealing.”
“We rely mainly on a strong ‘gut feeling’ to determine if the candidate seems qualified and references checking out.”

“Our hiring errors have been largely due to time constraints – we needed to fill a position fast and quickly chose what appeared to be the best applicant from resumes received.”

So what do business owners do when they realize they’ve made a hiring mistake? The most common reaction is to give the employee extra training. Others cut right to the chase and fire the unsatisfactory employee. Either tactic produces the same result: more time and money spent in training or recruiting, not generating revenue for the business.

How Business Owners Can Avoid Hiring Mistakes

According to Alter, the best way to avoid making a bad hire is conducting candidate research during the pre-employment phase. Rather than simply relying on gut feeling, he suggests using these proven, objective screening methods:

Perform Background Checks - Nearly half of all small business job applicants submit résumés with false information. A background check will help ensure that the candidates employers hire and entrust with their finances and proprietary information are who they claim to be.

Assess Personality Traits - Understanding candidates’ underlying personalities and temperaments helps an employer determine whose work style will fit best in the company.

Conduct Skills Testing - Skills testing reveals what a candidate is truly capable of before even coming in for an interview. Tests are even available in highly specialized, technical areas including C++, Oracle and Java.

Deploy Drug Screening Tests - Experts in toxicology research state that 75 percent of illegal drug users are employed, and most work for small-and medium-sized businesses. Drug screening services help employers keep their workplaces safe and ensure the competency of the employees they trust every day.

“For small business owners, the psychological and economic strain of making a hiring mistake can be a massive burden on the company,” says Alter. “What’s more, these kinds of hiring mistakes can be reduced or avoided altogether by implementing proper precautionary measures. Investing in pre-employment screening services is worth the small upfront investment.”

To assist small business owners with employment screening, SurePayroll recently rolled out a new suite of affordable pre-employment screening product offerings that specifically cater to small business needs. For more information, visit http://www.surepayroll.com/pes.

About SurePayroll:

SurePayroll is the online alternative to ADP and Paychex. SurePayroll’s service and team members are dedicated to providing an easy, convenient online payroll service at a price small business owners can afford. Tens of thousands of customers rely on SurePayroll to process payroll wherever they want in as few as two minutes.

In addition, SurePayroll offers small businesses solutions for managing 401(k) plans, health insurance, workers’ compensation, HR compliance and employee screening. For accountants and banking partners, SurePayroll provides private-label services that enable them to offer payroll processing to their small business clients.

Over the last decade, SurePayroll has received numerous prestigious awards for its innovative technology and outstanding customer service, including recognition from PC Magazine, Inc. 500, Accounting Today, the Stevie Awards and many others.

For more information, you can visit http://www.surepayroll.com, call 877.954.7873 or follow us on http://twitter.com/SurePayroll.

From Small Business Trends

How Business Owners Can Avoid Hiring Mistakes

As America’s Small Business Coach, he will be giving away 1 million copies of his book The Recession-Proof Business: Lessons from the Greatest Recession Success Stories of All Time.

“According to the Small Business Administration, small business owners create 7 out of 10 new jobs in this country. It’s crazy for Obama to be giving the big guys all the money and not doing more to help the little guys-especially when the little guys are creating the jobs that will drive our economy’s recovery,” says Cheng.

“Frustrated with President Obama, I decided to take things into my own hands by giving away 1 million digital copies of my book The Recession-Proof Business, to help ensure that other small businesses survive and even prosper during this economic crisis.”

Cheng’s expertise as a small business recession survival expert has been featured by Fox Business, MSNBC, MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. magazine, SmartMoney magazine, and a dozen radio talk shows.

From Small Business Trends

Fed Up Entrepreneur to “Bail Out” 1 Million Small Businesses

“Particularly during these economic times, our country needs more business investment, not less. This certainly is the case with respect to investments that yield greater efficiencies and cost savings for U.S. entrepreneurs,” said SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan.

According to SBE Council, there is no reason for the FCC to change course by intervening in this market. Special access services are high capacity dedicated transmission links used to distribute voice and data traffic. Abundant data and studies continue to demonstrate that competition is strong and growing with respect to special access services. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that from 2001 to 2006, prices have dropped. Private sector companies/providers have also submitted extensive data proving that special access prices have been falling for years in an increasingly competitive environment. Of course, small business owners have greatly benefitted from these declining prices.

“Small business owners throughout the country have a vested interest in stable telecommunications policy as entrepreneurs stand to gain the most from technological advancements and tools that come with robust investment in this sector. In addition, entrepreneurs, and small to mid-size businesses and their employees that are helping to deploy and service our nation’s broadband infrastructure will continue to benefit from the certainty that comes with a steady policy environment. The economy desperately needs the activity of these growth-oriented firms, and an uncertain and damaging investment climate will no doubt affect the innovation and job creation that is generated by them,” adds SBE Council Chief Economist Raymond Keating.

SBE Council says that there is no reason for the FCC to radically change course as proponents are advocating. Special interest players pushing for the re-imposition of price regulation have not provided meaningful data or information to the FCC about their networks, and have not proven that “a problem” exists to warrant such intervention.

The evidence and data clearly demonstrates that the FCC should re-affirm its long-standing policy of giving phone companies flexibility where competition exists to set prices as market conditions warrant. Such policy certainty will continue to encourage network investment, and in turn small business owners and the economy will benefit. Conversely, the re-imposition of price regulation will hurt broadband investment, innovation and job growth, and undermine the very competition that policymakers are aiming to foster in the high capacity services market,” concludes Keating
SBE Council is a 70,000-member national, nonprofit small business advocacy organization dedicated to protecting small business and promoting entrepreneurship. For more information, please visit www.sbecouncil.org.

From Small Business Trends

FCC Re-Regulation of “Special Access” Services Will Hurt Investment and Economy

Protecting personal content with SimpleSave is as easy as plugging the drive in to a USB connection, so families can feel confident that their precious memories are safe.

“With SimpleSave, once connected, back-up is automatic and virtually hands-free,” said Jason Zajac, vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Attach Group, HP. “As the worldwide leader in personal computer, our goal is to make technology simple and useful, ensuring no learning curve and no complicated choices to make.”

The new SimpleSave hard drive family consists of two products, SimpleSave Portable, available in 320 and 500 GB capacities, and SimpleSave Desktop, available in 1 and 2 TB capacities. Both devices feature pre-installed backup software. SimpleSave is so simple that anyone can use it. The software automatically finds and backs up the data on the PC, and after the first backup, automatically updates the backup with file changes whenever the computer is idle.

A single SimpleSave drive can be used to backup all the PCs in the home, with data from each PC clearly identified by name on the drive to make finding and restoring a specific PC’s data is a snap.
The SimpleSave hard drives are designed with heat-dissipating cases that stay cool and run quietly without a fan. The SimpleSave Portable is powered by the PC’s USB 2.0 port and does not require an external power supply. In addition, the 2.5-inch portable model is designed with a shock-resistant case to protect the drive from the bumps and jolts of everyday usage.

Other features include:
· Generous storage space: The ultra portable 2.5-inch SimpleSave portable is available in 320GB and 500GB. The 3.5-inch SimpleSave Desktop ships with 1TB or 2TB of storage.
· Hundreds of file formats supported: Supports the most common file types for photo, music and documents including, jpg, mpeg, bmp, gif, tif, mp3, aac, xls, ppt, doc, pdf, tax, qdf and many more.
· Frequent backup update: Backs up new and changed files every time the PC is idle for five minutes.
· Plug-and-play storage: Connect it to a USB port and it’s ready to use.
· Support for large files: NTFS file system offers improved support for metadata and use of advanced data structures, improving performance, reliability and disk space.
· Two-year warranty

Pricing and Availability

SimpleSave external hard drives will be available in August. Manufacturers suggested list prices(1) are:
SimpleSave Portable: 320GB, $119.99; 2.5-inch hard drive, 500GB, $149.
SimpleSave Desktop: 1TB hard drive , $149.99; 2TB hard drive, 329.99

About HP

HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

(1) Estimated U.S. retail price. Actual price may vary.

This news advisory contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions.

All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; any statements regarding anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing.

Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the achievement of expected operational and financial results; and other risks that are described in HP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2009 and HP’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

From Small Business Trends

HP Announces Easy-to-use SimpleSave Back-up Solution

“Banks are not giving small businesses financing,” says Rachel Walker, financing expert for FastUpFront [http://www.fastupfront.com/], a leader in the cash advance industry. “Small businesses are being turned away by traditional lenders. Many have even stopped trying to get loans.”

FastUpFront is aiming to change that. “We want to give out $10 million a month,” says Walker. “We’re taking on new borrowers and are committed to growing and financing existing small businesses.”
FastUpFront, a provider of small business financing {http://www.fastupfront.com/small_business_loans.html], has experienced double digit growth in the past year with an increase of over 20 percent in businesses funded and a 25 percent increase in financing. FastUpFront’s approval rate of new borrowers is over 80 percent – unheard of in an era of increasingly tightening credit.

FastUpFront’s financing comes from a number of different sources and is not based on credit scores or assets. Borrowers with credit card receivables qualify for a loan and payback is tied to revenue. If there’s a slowdown in business, the payback slows down because FastUpFront derives its income from a percentage of the receivables.

“This is a better option in harder times because, with a bank loan, the borrower has to pay back the same amount, no matter what is going on in their business,” says Gary Barzel, manager of Business Development for FastUpFront. “Cash advance is a more workable situation and a more viable option for the economic reality that we’re in now.”

FastUpFront has established itself as a leader in the lending industry. Its mission is to help businesses succeed by offering simple and effective programs for financing while focusing on quality service. The firm’s unsecured cash advance program [http://www.fastupfront.com/unsecured_business_loans.html] makes borrowing money simple and quick, and cuts out the strict application requirements normally associated with business loans. Their unsecured cash advance works for business on a variety of levels and in ways that make small business loans either unattainable or not suitable due to repayment schedules or credit history.

From Small Business Trends

FastUpFront Becoming a Lifeline for Small Business Financing