Archive for April, 2008

» Cleaning plasma screens

Keeping an HD Televisions screen clean is easy, but you’ll soon notice the dust, as it awlays does, start to collect. However, you should not use polish or liquid screen cleaner to wipe the dust off - you run the risk of damaging the screen (at least, with horrendous smears across it!)

The best way to clean a screen is with microfibre cloths. These are relatively cheap - usually from 99p to a few pounds, and you do not need any chemicals. These microfiber cleaning cloths are wonderful for allergy and asthmas sufferers, as well as anyone with multiple chemical sensitivities.

They will also remove smudges, finger prints, and oily screens and you can get them either online, or from supermarkets like Tescos.

To clean a microfibre cloth, wash with warm soapy water and rinse well. The warm water opens up the fibers, allowing them to release the locked in dirt. Placing the cloths in a washing machine and then drying them in a dryer on low heat is also effective. No fabric softeners of any kind should be used as the chemicals clog up the microfibers, making them less effective. Ironing should also be avoided.

 

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» Simplifying the Retail Payment Process

In retail, speed of service is a significant factor in top line growth. More people though the lines equals more revenue for a given store. For large retailers, a small speed of service improvement at the point of sale translates to big dollars when you’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of locations.
 
One way to improve speed of service at the point of sale is to simplify the payment process. This is done by reducing the transaction down to the smallest number of steps. To illustrate this, let’s compare a credit card purchase at Safeway versus Target.
 
Safeway Credit Card Transaction
  1. Take Safeway Card out of wallet
  2. Swipe Safeway Card on terminal
  3. Put Safeway Card back in wallet
  4. Pick-up pen attached to terminal
  5. Select Credit on the screen using pen
  6. Put pen down
  7. Take credit card out of wallet
  8. Swipe credit card
  9. Put credit card back in wallet
  10. Wait for the cashier to finish ringing items
  11. Pick-up pen
  12. Sign screen using pen
  13. Put pen down
  14. Receive receipt from cashier
Target Credit Card Transaction
  1. Take credit card out of wallet
  2. Insert credit card into terminal
  3. Pick-up pen
  4. Sign screen using pen
  5. Put pen down
  6. Retrieve card from terminal and put back in wallet
  7. Wait for cashier to finish ringing items 
  8. Receive receipt from cashier
As you can see, Target’s payment process uses nearly half as many steps. Additionally, the customer doesn’t have to wait for the cashier to finish ringing up the items before signing the screen and completing the payment process. Target’s payment process is also more customer-friendly as there is less switching hands between cards and the pen. Pay attention to this next time you are in Safeway and Target and you will see what a significant difference this can be.
 
Simplicity can be a significant factor in speed of service as well as customer experience. Retailers are wise to take a close look at their payment process to fine tune it to the least number of steps.
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» Back to Basics??

I’ve just got a quick question for anyone who may be listening out there.

Has anyone tried to either a) Go back to basics and use a ledger or spreadsheet to do their bookkeeping? or b) Roll out their own custom accounting software?

As time goes on, and as my file gets bigger and bigger, QuickBooks is really showing its limitations. I seem to be spending as much time tweaking the settings and playing the “Is there a way I can get this report?” game as I do actually administering the company records. I’m getting to the point where I’m really tempted to, at least for my end of the work, go back to a simple Excel file to track the important facts.

Now, I’ve got clients who have fairly substantial files, so I’m not talking about tracking my personal expenses. On that note, I would love to hear from anyone out there who has gone this route, or who is at least considering it.

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