We talk on our show about how if you do a search on Google or Twitter for “customer service” or “bad customer” the only thing that ever seems to pull up is “bad customer service.” It blows our minds every time too because this is all you see and hear from people. For kicks here is a recent timeline of search.twitter at 10 am this morning with the search word “customer service.”

Do you see a pattern of what we are talking about?

As a business it’s important to listen to what they’re saying as a customer of yours but don’t feel like you have to assist those that just want something for free. Those are the customers you just have tell “you’re fired.”

But with that said here are our favorite apps we like to use with our business to help us stay organized and on top of things here at Business Beware.

1. Evernote - We come across things all the time that we want to promote on the show and most of the time we need to take a photo or take notes to show the others. This is where Evernote saves us having to write it all down and wait to discuss it later on with the crew.
2. Posterous – We love this little blog. We use it to share photos from wherever we are. We use the mobile app so we can immediately upload photos or quick notes to share with our friends and members.
3. CardMunch - When we attend events or meet new people we tend to get a stack of business cards. Cards are great but so many times we can forget about them but with CardMunch we can take a photo of the card, then they input the info right into your phone. What’s really cool is it’s real people on the other side inputting the info too.
4. Hootsuite - This is our favorite app to use for Twitter. We can keep up with all our accounts and everyone can stay on top of each account at the same time. It makes life so much easier when everything is one place.
5. Tungle.me - With all of our interview scheduling we have to have a solution for our madness and Tungle helps us tame that. It’s a great way to let people see your schedule where they can also choose what works for them while keeping you oh so organized.

Here are some great tips on how to increase your network as you start out. Never underestimate simplicity my friends. Entrepreneur Council gives you tips on how you can increase your network via Huffington Post and NeverGetARealJob.com

Don’t forget to sign up for UnGeeked Orlando March 3-5. You can come to an amazing retreat and see Mickey. What more in life do you need?

UnGeeked

unGeeked Elite Retreat is your three day retreat where you will experience “some of the formality of a conference,” and a lot of the informality of retreat. The 3-days are designed to foster not only an “intimate learning experience,” but also deeper networking and bonding with attendees like yourself who want to connect beyond the Tweet-up or cocktail party business card gala.

For more information about UnGeeked and how you can sign up to be a part of this click here. If you are attending let us know so we can make sure and meet you there!

You know there are some amazing people out there doing remarkable things where it makes you just go “wow.” We stumbled across these guys the other day – Million Dollar Road Trip (thanks to our friend Jason with iwearyourshirt) and can’t help but spread the word about them.

What is Million Dollar Road Trip?

The Million Dollar Road Trip (MDRT) is a cross-media marketing business promoting, celebrating and inspiring the American entrepreneurial spirit today. Read more about them here.

 Why advertise on MDRT’s airstream?

MDRT will attend sporting events, music festivals, conferences, college campuses, street parties, and more. We will be in every contiguous state and 50 cities. Over 4 million people will see the Airstream this year – your ad will be on it! Read more about why you should advertise with them here.

We already signed up with them and put our logo on there and here’s how excited the guys were when we jumped on board (they literally jumped):

This is not only an awesome thing that they’re doing but they are supporting small businesses everywhere and for that we love them. You can tell they have a passion for what they’re doing and believe in it so wouldn’t you want someone like that to back your business and logo? We think so.

Visit their site. Follow them on Twitter. Catch up with them on Facebook.

You still have to remember this though: many customers rant because they want things for free and know that some companies will end up giving them things for free so they keep quiet. It’s like the little boy who cried wolf…if a customer bad mouths you online or via social media of course it could make some apprehensive about using your business or service which stinks. But when you ask the customer about what happened make sure you get the other side of the story as well or who they spoke with. If they know that you’re good about giving away free stuff others will do the same until you break down and say “here it’s on us.” 

It’s completely different when it’s the businesses fault and it’s easier actually because you can say “it’s on us” because it should be and that’s common courtesy. Just don’t get so upset if someone rants about you online because there are too many out there with strong opinions even if you did everything by the book and bent over backwards for this certain customer. Just let them rant, most level headed people can tell when someone is full of it.

There are always two sides to every story my friends…have you had someone rant about your business on social media before when you had an A+ in customer service towards them?

We encourage you to try and make one of the events in either Mountain View, Salt Lake City, Boston, D.C. or Atlanta. For more information on the event and where you can register visit their official site: SmallBizTechTour.com And if you do register you can use the discount code “BusinessBeware.”

Hope to see you there!

These are a few of our favorite things….We have read so many articles from people that post about the best tools to use online, best tools for your business, best social media tools etc.  So we thought we would compile our own list of tools that we think are pretty awesome and that we are big fans of. Feel free to post others that you like or think need to be added to the list.

1. Notixtech.com – These days everyone is on their mobile texting, checking emails, checking the score of the game etc. but they are also looking up businesses online to get more information about a business.  Is your site mobile friendly?  More than likely it’s not.  With Notixtech they are “taking your business mobile” so others can find you and learn more about your business in the palm of their hand. They made Business Beware mobile, so get your phone out and check it out.

2. idesignyourlogo.com – What’s the one thing that people see and immediately should think of your business/brand? Yes, a logo! Some companies can charge a crazy amount to design a logo but these guys let you sign up for a day (each day increases by $2 that started in March) and for that whole day they promote your new logo and your company to everyone they know and then some.  They really put a lot of thought into what you want, colors, any of your ideas and a little heart and passion in it too.  They designed our logo for Business Beware and it rocks.

3. EmailMeForm.com – Whether you create your website or you have others do it this company makes it so much easier to create forms in html and php.  Let’s face it, most of us don’t know how to write code or even understand it for that matter but why do that if you have these guys?  It’s such a great tool and user-friendly that you can create a form and put it right on your site.  Big thumbs up from us.

4. Moo.com – What is another essential to promote your business even though it’s an old school way to do it?  Yes, business cards but not just any cards...Moo cards.  There is a huge difference believe us.  They have some amazing cards they can hook you up with even little mini cards that make everyone do a double take.  The prices are so awesome that it’s insane not to use them.  We love our mini cards and feel like important people when we use them.

5. FreshBooks.com – Okay another basic essential you need for your business to collect the dough is invoicing.  We don’t use this obviously because we are the ones helping you collect from customers that don’t pay their bills but this company is downright perfect to get the job done for any small business. Their service is painless and anyone can use it from a mom and pop shop to the big dogs.  The team is great and always there to answer any questions you have.

6. Flowtown – What if you could find your customers and interact with them online through social media? Hold on, you can so do that with Flowtown! Engaging with your members/customers is an important part of business. This is such a cool service where you can find out who is using your product/service and really reach out to them.  We use this since we have so many business owners from around the US and Canada where we can really engage with them and get their feedback. It’s a beautiful thing and it truly is a great concept.

7. IdeaPaint.com – Ever wanted to draw all over your walls like you did as a kid and not be confined to a certain white board? Well that is where IdeaPaint comes to save the day…they have created office and home kits where you can turn your office into one big whiteboard where you can jot your ideas down, coffee shops can write their coffee of the day and oh so much more. We love this product so much that we are thinking about opening a cafe just so we can write all of our specials on the wall.

8. Websticker.com - What is a fun way to make sure a business card sticks with a customer? Yes, a sticker how did you guess?? This company is just flat out awesome and truly care about making your business stick out from the crowd. They created our stickers for us (get our free stickers here by the way) and we definitely make a scene when someone sees it on our computers…Stickers are fun yes, but they definitely work when placed strategically…

9. Shipwire.com - If you’re like most small businesses we know you don’t have a huge office or space for that matter to store or keep all your products in one place. It’s never been easier to have an e-commerce site where you send them your products to store and once a customer purchases on your website they pack it up and ship it out for you. Take advantage of this site and don’t stretch your budget to get the bigger office.

10. Call Recorder for Skype by Ecamm – If you are podcasting, doing an online web series or just wanting to do interviews on skype and record them then this software is definitely for you. We use this with our radio show to interview guests and call ins. Even if the person doesn’t have skype you can record the conversation, it’s awesome. If you’re looking to get into podcasting or interviewing you should definitely try this out because it makes life so much easier if you do.

There are a lot of tools out there available to use but these are ones we have used or know others that do and can’t live without them. Feel free to add to the list if you think of one but before you do that make sure and check out these because it’s definitely worth your time.

I was in a food place the other day and they had a sign up on their wall that said “follow us on Twitter” so after trying the food I tweeted about their store and said how awesome the food was.  They then replied saying “so glad you loved the food and thank you for stopping by!”  Now how cool is that to communicate with a business through social media with people who come into your store? 

People want to know who you are and when they can put a personality or face with your store or business they feel like they know you and can relate to you.  It’s definitely an advantage to use the social media and “tweet” about yourself but it also may open the door to meeting some great people you would have never come across if you weren’t involved in it. 

We encourage small businesses to take advantage of the social media tools out there.  You don’t have to go over the top with it all by any means.  Start small, see how it goes and go from there.  If you need help we are more than happy to help you with it too because it can definitely get confusing when first starting out. 

Is your small business involved in social media?

We also turn 2 tomorrow!  We are giving away t-shirts and other swag as well as some free memberships!  So make sure and tune in to iwearyourshirt.com and Business Beware to get some free stuff and because what else can we say?  We’re awesome.

Make sure and tune in to the show this Saturday, we have special guest Sarah Shaw!  Visit our official radio show site for more information.

ALSO make sure to check out a great thing Jason is doing with 1millionshirts.org too.  We sent our shirts off, have you?