There are quite a few software programs available for the small business owner. Some of the expensive software programs of the past were very large and intended for large business concerns. The small business owner was often overwhelmed by the complexity of them and by the cost. Lately, there have been programs that have been designed for the small business owner. Although most of these business programs are broad based and cover all aspects of the small business, some have become directed at specific elements. Forecasting software has been developed that can evaluate trends and predict upcoming investment opportunities. Another more specific software is budgeting software. This type of software helps to design and flesh out an operating budget and then measures performance in maintenance of the budget.

The budget is an essential element of the business process. It allocates the financial resources of the company according to a preset plan and forecasts cash flow. How well the business adheres to the budget and how quickly it can react to deviation from the budget are often determining factors in the success or failure of the enterprise. Budgeting software that can assist in this becomes a great aid to the small business owner. The following are three of the top budgeting software programs available on the market today that are geared for small business.

Microsoft Forecaster is the first. It works well with a variety of general ledgers and coordinates with other Microsoft small business software to automate and simplify the entire budgeting process. It is considered a very intuitive type program, and the fact that it is so similar in its appearance to other Microsoft programs makes it very easy for the small business owner, and his key people to quickly grasp its operation and to benefit from its features.

Budget Maestro by Centage is the second entry. It has a very sophisticated logic that is built into the program and continually tracks the income statement, balance sheet, and the cash position. It allows manager to see the bottom line impact of plans and combines forecasting software and budgeting software into one easy package.

The third on the list is the Applix Budgeting TM1 program. This software has been designed to work well with Excel spreadsheets. It takes the spreadsheet past the limitations of Excel and is also very much a forecasting software with its “what if” modeling features. There are many good budgeting software programs and another’s Top 3 list might appear different, but the bottom line is that the small business owner has the help he needs for this important business function.

Natalie Aranda writes about small business. Forecasting software has been developed that can evaluate trends and predict upcoming investment opportunities. Another more specific software is budgeting software. This type of software helps to design and flesh out an operating budget and then measures performance in maintenance of the budget.

The temporary staffing industry continues to expand, with yearly double-digit growth being commonplace. Companies find it convenient and cost-effective to work with a temporary staffing agency to fulfill unforeseen demand, fill short-term vacancies, and assist with changing workloads due to restructuring or mergers. Additionally, employers are enticed by the idea of "test driving" new employees to minimize risk and ensure a good match for permanent positions.

Many a job seeker has reaped great rewards from temporary staffing. Skilled but yet-inexperienced workers are able to get a foot in the door at prestigious companies, where a weak resume would have made it very difficult to be considered. Similarly, "drifters" (those who tend to rapidly drift from job to job) may be plagued by an overly-long resume. Temporary staffing services can be ideal for drifters, as they have the opportunity to work on short-term projects and move on without the negative repercussions. Retirees and college students are also very common candidates. A retired nurse may find enjoyment and extra income from a temporary medical staffing firm. A computer science major can gain valuable experience working with a technical agency.

Only a small number of personnel is required to handle recruiting and clientele. Even the largest international firms tend to function with small, mostly-independent branch offices serving specific regions. This modular structure means it is quite possible for a one-office temporary staffing agency to compete effectively with established firms.

Overall, the triple-benefit to clients, associates, and entrepreneurs has contributed to the phenomenal growth of the temporary staffing industry. Because of these advantages, it will remain an integral part of the employment process through good times and bad.

Start Up Costs and Financing Sources:

$5,000 to $25,000

The startup and operating costs of a temporary staffing agency are much lower than many other businesses. The basic requirements are a small office with the typical supplies, a computer system with general accounting software and database software for organizing contracts, and the people skills to work with clientele and associates. It would not be impossible to start a temporary staffing agency on a shoestring budget of a few thousand dollars.

The largest business expense is payroll. It is common for associates to be paid by the agency before the agency is paid by the client. An account must be maintained with sufficient funds to cover payroll costs until bills are paid by the clients.

It is difficult - but not impossible - to get help from venture capitalists in covering part of the costs of setting up a temporary staffing agency. A well-researched, forward-looking business plan is essential.

Pricing Guidelines for Service:

Associates are paid by the hour, and the agency covers its costs by charging a premium to the amount billed to the client. The exact amount of the premium differs from case to case and can vary from 5% to 50% or more. Some associates are willing to work for less and some clients are willing to pay more, which when properly matched can result in very decent profits for the temporary staffing agency. The contract usually spells out a flat fee to be paid to the agency in the event that a client decides to permanently hire an associate.

Advertising and Marketing:

A competitive hurdle for small startups is that larger agencies already have established reputations and brand recognition. This is actually a minor obstacle because of the localized nature of the business. It is not necessary to wage a national marketing war to gain exposure for a new agency. An inexpensive and well-directed marketing campaign can quickly build a valuable reputation within the local operating region of the startup.

Essential Equipment:

An office (perhaps a home office) should be equipped with the standard office supplies and at least two telephone lines.

At least one computer system with accounting software and a database for keeping track of projects is mandatory. A printer is used for printing invoices and job listings, and a high-speed Internet connection connects the agency with online job search sites.

Many temporary staffing services have computers with tutorial software available to help associates to train their keyboarding and basic office software skills. These computers are also used to test the skills of applicants.

Income Potential:

Many billions of dollars are spent on temporary staffing services each year. A small, single-office agency can earn profits in the tens of thousands of dollars. The large, international firms rake in millions every year.

Target Market:

A temporary staffing agency is the middleman between two distinct markets: clients and associates.

It is usually not a difficult matter to reach hundreds of applicants with simple help wanted advertisements. More focus will probably be placed on connecting with client companies and convincing them that your services will help their businesses.

Certain industries seem more receptive to temporary staffing. Financial institutions and other office-centric companies are constantly seeking qualified office support staff. Factories frequently need labor for light industrial work, product assembly, and shipping and receiving tasks. Hospitals and clinics use temporary medical staffing to hire transcriptionists, certified nursing professionals, and other support staff. Increasingly, high-technology companies hire computer programmers, database specialists, and systems engineers on a temporary basis through agencies specializing in technical placements.

Tips for Success:

Offering high levels of process automation, recruitment software plays an indispensable part in reducing a staffing agency's administrative burden. However, today's recruitment applications are designed to do a whole lot more than just reduce paperwork. They can make a significant contribution to a company's marketing and sales activity.

Effective client contact management and timely, personalised business communications are essential to the success of any recruitment company. The first step in getting more from your marketing and sales activity is to better understand your existing and prospective client base.

In today's frenetic business environment it's simply not enough to send generic email shots to everyone on your database and hope they generate some interest. With numerous demands on their time and attention, your existing clients and prospects surely won't appreciate another bland missive to an already bulging Inbox. Worse still, they might simply block all future email communications from you.

An audience of one

The days of “load and send” email campaigns are long over. Today email marketers are focused on increasing response, conversion and retention rates using a combination of personalisation, segmentation and triggers. Increasingly segmented and triggered emails are driven by behavioural data, such as which links a recipient clicked, whether someone did or did not open an email, what pages they visited on the sender's website or whether they did or did not take a specific action.

Design matters

Something like 95 percent of all commercial email campaigns are sent in HTML today. As a result, design has become critical for a number of reasons. Recipients might have their email setup to block images. Many people now use their Outlook “preview panel” as a handy filtering tool to weed out unwanted emails. Designers also need to consider inconsistent rendering by different email clients. The way an email looks on Gmail differs from Yahoo, for example. Some designers have adopted a purely graphical approach to email campaigns in an attempt to bypass content filters, but this brings us back to where we started.

Bombarded by evermore junk mail, most people will only read about 15-20 commercial emails per day, and in many cases much less. As a result, layout, readability and usability are critical to differentiating your emails from everyone else’s. In reality your email will have just seconds to provoke interest, convey value and trust, and prompt action.

Democracy at work

Email has been described as the ultimate democratic form of marketing communication. After all, it's the recipient who decides whether they want to opt-in or opt-out of your mailing list; if and when they open, read and act on your email; how much information they wish to share with you; and when they want to unsubscribe.

Recruiters who do not wish to fall foul of increasingly stringent anti-spam legislation and want to build genuinely lasting client relationships will learn to deploy various tactics to increase trust and build brand loyalty, such as ensuring only permission-based emails are sent from your company, switch to a double-opt in subscription process, and publicise your privacy policies. Those recruiters recognised and trusted by clients and prospects will be able to mine for more information. In turn, this will enable them to deliver higher value emails through ever-greater personalisation and segmentation.

Recruitment software mail centres

Today’s sophisticated, made for purpose recruitment applications, such as Bond Adapt, RDB Pro and Eclipse integrate with third party email clients and offer a range of contact management or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) features.

Chris Pawsey, Business Development Team Leader at Bond International Software (UK) Ltd, explains: “Bond Adapt integrates email via Microsoft Outlook. Since Outlook is by far and away the market leading product we (Bond) make use of many of the functions therein. It is also possible to integrate Bond Adapt with other email clients.”

It is this contact management or CRM functionality that allows recruitment agencies and staffing professionals to create and retain email, letter and fax templates; conduct email marketing campaigns; and record response data. However, what these applications cannot do is prepare marketing materials, or ensure promotional activity is properly monitored and measured to ensure continuous improvement.

Matter of design

If you want your emails to succeed in generating interest in your services then they must always look professional. Don't make the same mistake many applicants do when sending CVs/resumes in response to job advertisements i.e. fail to spell check and proofread them properly. If you send an email full of spelling mistakes, it will cost you sales and could permanently damage your credibility.

Next, send test versions of your emails to yourself. You can sign up to any number of free email account providers such as Yahoo, MSN Hotmail and Google’s Gmail. Include these email accounts in your test mailings. The point here is to catch any formatting errors that might show up in the different email programs. It's quite common to find a HTML email that looks great in Outlook and is missing all of its images in Yahoo or Gmail.

Before you send your email you should also ask yourself one fundamental question: "How relevant is this email to the recipient?" Don't assume that the recipients will automatically see why your email is relevant to them. Often it needs to be spelt out. Succinctly explain how your recruitment company can help them and why now is such a good time to spend money on your services. You might want to consider using a professional copywriter to help you.

Two of the most effective ways to highlight the relevance of your offer are to put a strong emphasis on the benefits and make your offer exclusive. Tailor any promotions you run so that they are exclusive to your recipients, giving them a strong reason to act immediately.

As well as facing an avalanche of commercial emails every time we visit our In-boxes these days there's also the ubiquitous spam, much of which comes with the added threat of viruses. In fact, a recent article in London’s Metro daily newspaper suggested that as many as one in every 43 emails received world-wide is infected with some harmful entity. So, not only does your email have to compete for the recipient's limited time and attention, it also has to overcome their fears and apprehensions.

Even with a good understanding of your target audience, establishing which email design elements work will be a matter of trial and error. To help you identify weaknesses and build on strengths, it's a good idea to take one email design and then produce two or three variations (split test). For example, you might use the same headline and supporting image, but change the subject line. Response levels and email tracking will enable you to identify strengths and weaknesses of your promotion.

Email Design Tips

Effective subject lines

Subject lines should be clear, direct, attention grabbing and benefits related, such as “Reduce your recruitment spend by 60%.”

Get your hooks into ‘em

Just like other forms of advertising, emails have to capture the reader’s attention within the first couple of sentences. Otherwise, it’s all over. The hook should be a distillation of your email’s overall message and strongly appeal to the reader’s self-interest e.g. what do they get, how do they benefit.

Sign posts

Generally it’s considered best practice to keep your emails text length to about 250 words. The body copy must support your “hook” with a clear focus on benefits, and then close with a clear, direct call to action. It’s extremely important that there is no ambiguity about what you want the recipient to do e.g. “click here,” “register now,” “reply.”

Mind your language

A well-written email message uses the active voice and short, concise sentences. This is critical as the stark reality is that most readers won’t progress beyond the first couple of lines. You have to be clear, direct and focus on how your offer benefits the reader. Avoid diluting your message by making more than one offer or going into needless detail. At the same time, it’s important that you include all essential information such as the cost savings to be gained, contact details and deadline to respond, for example.

Readability

Almost as important as what you say is how you present your text to the reader. Try to keep your paragraphs short – no longer than five lines. Use 1.5 or double line spacing, and a font that’s easy on the eye and big enough to read. Use bullets to emphasize key points, but avoid text in all caps or multiple exclamation marks. Set text width at 68 characters or less per line so it displays correctly in e-mail applications. Also, avoid breaking or wrapping URLs into two lines - it may cause technical problems. The more barriers you eliminate the better your chances of a positive response.

Note

As mentioned earlier, you should always give recipients the option to “opt-out” or “unsubscribe” and elect to be permanently removed from your mailing list. Failure to do this or to act on the recipient’s wishes is not only bad business practice, but could make you liable to prosecution under current UK anti-spam legislation. The Office of the Information Commissioner enforces UK regulations. Any breaches of enforcement orders can result in fines of up to £5,000 in a magistrate's court, or an unlimited fine if the case is heard by a Crown Court (trial by jury).

Keeping track

Having segmented your audience, prepared your marketing message and sent your email out, you’ll want to know it has been received and acted upon. Tracking email responses is essential if you are to identify and eliminate weaknesses and build on the strengths of your campaigns. Here are some suggestions that will enable you to monitor and analyze the effectiveness of your email marketing for free. For accuracy, be sure to use a unique tracking code for each of your different email test variables and keep accurate records.

MS Outlook provides you with a simple tracking facility which informs you when a message was sent, when it arrived and when it was opened. The downside here is if the recipient just glanced at your email in the panel view of their Inbox and then deleted the item you’ll only know because you will never receive a corresponding “read” message from your Outlook tracker.

To switch on MS Outlook 2003 email tracking:

1. Launch MS Outlook
2. Click on the Tools menu at the top of the page, scroll down and click on Options.
3. Click E-mail Options, which is top-right of the Preferences page.
4. Next, click Tracking Options.
5. Select the Read receipt and/or the Delivery receipt check boxes
6. Click OK.

One idea is to simply ask respondents to place something unique in the subject line that acts as a tracking code for your email campaigns. However that puts the burden of responsibility on your respondents, which is something you might to avoid. Instead us the following little trick to automatically place what you want in the subject line of a response email message:

Click on this example:

mailto:user@domain.com?subject=Send-Info.aboutyourcompany

Replace user@domain.com in the above example with the email address you want to use and a unique campaign code.

When the above link is clicked on in your email promotional message, the text immediately following ?subject= automatically appears in the subject line of a new email message. This should work in most email packages.

Vital statistics

If you have access to even the most basic website statistics you can track hits to your web pages by placing a question mark (?) after your web address (URL) when used in each email promotion, followed by your unique tracking code.

For instance, you send 3 email promotions. Each carries a corresponding URL tracking code:

Email Ad 1. http://www.yourdomainhere.com/homepage/htm?EM1
Email Ad 2. http://www.yourdomainhere.com/clients/htm?EM2
Email Ad3. http://www.yourdomainhere.com/applicants/htm?EM3

Hyperlinks with your own unique tracking codes added to the end of a URL don't adversely affect the ability of recipients to access your web pages in any way, but will show up in the server log files. To determine the exact number of hits that a particular email generates, look at your log files within hours or days of sending your mail shot. You can check with your ISP or web host for access to your log files.

If you don’t mind having other peoples advertising on your website then there is a range of free website tracking services available. Take a look at AddFreeStats.com and FreeStats.com.

Landing pages

Having created a cracking email campaign it’s vital you follow through. Creating email or advertisement specific landing pages is another excellent way to track your recipient or audience response rates. Landing pages allow you to build on the initial success and interest generated by your email or advertisement. A landing page gives you the opportunity to present more detailed product or service information, answer commonly asked questions, overcome resistance, build confidence, and gather client or prospect data by including a short form, for example.

Your landing page should reflect the look and feel of your email or advertisement in terms of design layout, tone of voice, fonts, images and colours. In turn, these must be sympatric to the overall design of your company website. Consistency is the golden rule here.

Pack your landing pages with lots of recruitment specific keywords and then submit the individual URLs (web addresses) to search engines. Search engine spiders love landing pages because they are so targeted, and traffic searching for your keywords and phrases will find itself directed your way.

By using some of the simple, free tracking and analysis methods explained here you can continually refine your email marketing, measure its effectiveness and get more from your recruitment software. For more information and professional help preparing your next email campaign, sales promotion or advertising visit www.charlie-the-copywriter.co.uk