Office dwellers have always had to deal with distractions—from a ringing phone to a chatty colleague. But the digital devices have now filled our lives with texts, email notifications and the ever-present temptation of surfing the web. A brave few have enough willpower to ignore the buzzes and bleeps and get stuff done. For the rest of us, there are
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Summer is a busy season for many small business owners with retail stores. Longer daylight hours, warm summer nights, and family vacations can mean greater odds of having customers browse through shops in your neighbourhood. Harness that potential business and attract more customers with a store that’s ready for summer. Here’s how: Hire more people. The last thing you want
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Spring breathes fresh air into every human venture. Get ready for a productive sales season with an invigorating spring-cleaning session that spruces up your small business and rids it of clutter. Here’s how: Reduce your paper trail. It might feel necessary to keep hard-copy notes and files for every customer or supplier. But minimizing your use of paper means less
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We recently surveyed some of our 1.2 Million Vicinity cardholders to get feedback on our rewards program. We were curious to see how they discovered us, what they like about Vicinity, and how we stack up against other loyalty programs, big or small, in Canada. But before we get into that, what does the typical Vicinity cardholder look like? For
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There’s a knack for writing sales and promotional copy that attracts customer attention. It’s why professional copywriters exist in the business world. Yet many small business owners write their own promotional copy to save the expense of hiring a writer. Which is understandable, and one of the reasons why we’ve complied our “Top 5” list of copywriting tips to help
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Beer drinkers are among the most loyal of consumers because they rarely veer from their favourite brand. But true beer enthusiasts are more adventurous than your average beer drinker. They match beer to food, mood, seasons, or holidays like St. Patrick’s Day – the perfect time for a traditional stout. In fact, celebrating St. Paddy’s Day is an ideal excuse
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Everyone has an opinion. When people express their opinions about your products or services – especially in popular online consumer forums like Yelp, Google Places, and TripAdvisor – you want it to enhance the reputation of your small business. Even if it’s a bad review. That’s right. A bad review, when handled the right way, can be constructive for your
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Valentine’s Day has come and gone. And though many people wait until February 14 to give their sweetheart a gift of flowers, the fact is that flowers are perfect for giving any time of year – whether it’s a special occasion or not. Flowers have a symbolic language all their own. The meaning behind certain blooms has such deep roots
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