Regional Small Business Assistance

The U.S. SBA has regional offices and state small business development centers (SBDCs). By using such search engines as Google and the appropriate keywords, you can locate state-, county-, and city specific organizations that help small businesses in their respective regions by providing useful information and services. The following is a sample of available websites.

Free assistance with technical, financial, and marketing issues, including one-on-one counseling; a clearinghouse of information on wide variety of business subjects intended to help one grow or start a small business. Visit http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/economicdev/edd_smallbus.html

A partnership between the U.S. SBA and the University of California-Merced
Visit http://www.ccsbdc.org/

Online version of Florida’s small business resource publication
Visit http://www.floridasmallbusiness.com/

NYC’s portal for small business development and assistance
Visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/home.html

Management education to promote small business success
Visit http://www.ntsbdc.org/

A conduit to professional guidance, connecting Ohio entrepreneurs with research, financing sources, and training opportunities.
Visit http://www.odod.state.oh.us/edd/osb/sbdc/

For Free informaton on gift basket , flower or gift giving ideas please visit Genye In A Basket

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The Internet Can Make a World of Difference

The Internet remains a popular mean for small business to reach customers, especially when marketing goods and services in the U.S. GENYE IN A BASKET was created in 2004 to sell gourmet gift basket and fresh exotic flower online, reaching out to clients who want a fast, easy, and affordable way to buy gift basket for any occasion. Using the power of the internet, GENYE IN A BASKET offers customers access to more than eighty gift baskets and flowers, all at the click of a mouse.

Has the internet helped the company to execute their marketing strategy in the U.S? Paul Anthony, 27-year-old CEO and founder of the South Orange, New Jersey-based Company, says that it has. “Relationships with strong clientele and word-of-mouth referral, allowing us to have a presence in the USA.” Indeed, the company increased sales by 30-45 percent between 2005 and 2006, and the internet stands at the center of that strategy. Most of its sales come from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Appropriate website development can help to spur sales—for example: make it easy to buy, make a strong first impression, minimize distractions and advertising isn’t always necessary, make it personal, avoid long instructions, show off products, encourage spontaneous purchases, and allow users to collect items.

Internet-based commerce is not without its challenges. However, it deserves serious consideration because of the awesome potential it holds for small companies with aspirations.

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Gifts Are Good for Business

Customer relationship management goes beyond contacts with final customers. It also applies to small firm’s relationships with corporate and personal buyers.

Consider Paul Anthony’s, South Orange, New Jersey-based, which helps corporate and personal customers outsource their gift giving. The site execute all of a firm’s gift giving, from baby announcements to holiday perks, sending out anything from gourmet gift basket, corporate gift, spa gift, baby gift and flower.

AT GENYE IN A BASKET, profits do not set aside customer satisfaction, but rather follow it. To that end, Anthony has developed in-house CRM software with several capabilities.

Features such as online registration form that allows users to save time and experience a quick check out process. The option to contact by email or telephone. The company’s computer system also alert operators when a customer inserts a wrong zip code. Last and not least, GENYE IN A BASKET personally confirms the delivery of each order.

In a society where time is precious, clicking a mouse to send a get well gift or thank you gift is appealing, when the alternative is skipping lunch to fight crowds at the mall and waiting in line at the post office. Creating satisfied customers helped GENYE IN A BASKET to attain $1.5 million in sales revenue in 2004.

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