Did you know that by legally spying on your competition you can find some new and potentially ground breaking marketing ideas for your own business? It’s true, and in most cases, it’s completely legal.

You should be looking at your business from the customer’s point of view - that is looking at your business as a client would. What’s more important than that is looking at your business from the outside - looking for new trends in the market, new ideas and new ways to advertise and market your business.

One way to look at your competition legally is to purchase goods and services from them. This is pretty basic, and you can learn how they up sell, cross sell and what back end products and services they offer - just by getting these services yourself. This is an incredibly easy way to stay on top of your competition and learn how their kicking butt in the market place. This is perfectly legal and offers you the opportunity to look at their business from a client’s perspective, and as a result, it helps you understand how your business looks to your clients as well.

You should be able to answer a few questions about your industry at any given time:

• Who is doing something amazing in your industry that is really grabbing customers?
• What does your competition do for marketing and advertising?
• What is your competition doing that is really shaking things up and making a difference to their bottom lines?

The best thing you can do is to find something that already works and then improve on it with a different spin and better marketing. That’s all it takes - personalizing someone else’s great idea and making it your own. By doing this, you are increasing your business by doing something that someone else has already proven works - by personalizing it, you aren’t copying your competition, you’re expanding on an idea and making it your own.

Major businesses do this every day - purchase their competition’s products and services, learning how they market themselves to customers, how they up-sell their products, the back end products and services they sell that complement the original products and services and how clients perceive the business.

Looking at your competition as a client will open your eyes to your own business through the eyes of your own clients. It is likely that your competition is reading this article too, and might be doing the same thing - spying on you and your marketing ideas to learn from your successes.

Legally spying on your competition is a tale as old as time - all major corporations do this. It’s one of the major reasons competing companies have similar products. Look at the two big soda companies - Coke and Pepsi, for example. How is it that they both came up with the idea for a product that has zero calories yet tastes like regular soda? One followed the other, certainly. One company then took the idea and expanded on it by adding something to the zero calorie drink. Now, the original company can take that idea and expand on it as well, and the circle of business continues.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 3% [?]

For some people, the thrill of the negotiation is akin to the thrill the rest of us receive on a giant roller coaster. When asked why they majored in business, droves of successful businessmen routinely answer, “to negotiate.” The key, of course, to successful negotiating is knowing when you have your opponent on the ropes. Being able to tell if someone is lying is important if you are a judge, a poker player or a Fortune 500 Company CEO. Let’s take a look at some aspects of lying that can give you the upper hand at the negotiating table.

There are two types of business negotiations, casual and intense. A good negotiator knows how to look for tells in both kinds of negotiations, and there are quite a few things that show up no matter what. The first, and the most clichéd, is a nervous tick of some sort that the opponent doesn’t even realize he or she is doing. It could be taking a drink of water, touching their ear, a funny sounding laugh, anything. It is your job to look for patterns to find behaviors that the person across from you is doing over and over again.

Another revealing point that many people have is using extreme sarcasm when asked a question. Instead of simply saying no, or telling you that their company wouldn’t possibly do that, their voice raises several octaves and they feign surprise or use exaggerated body language. If you listen closely when this happens, they seldom deny the accusation you just made. They instead choose to make light of it. This is a common tell that most people don’t even realize they are making.

Sudden changes in posture or facial expressions are often common aspects of lying. If the person on the other side of the table tells you something than suddenly crosses their arms and sits back while dramatically exhaling, it could simply mean that they are tired and in need of a break, but if this behavior happens several times during a single negotiation, it could be a sign that he or she is lying.

Probably the most reliable sign that someone is lying is a sudden increase in anger or defensiveness. It is the most common physical manifestation of lying since it is natural for the liar to try to deflect or project their insecurities on to the person that they are speaking with. If you notice a sudden outburst or a sudden accusation lobbed at you for no apparent reason, that’s a good sign that they are lying. If a negotiation does this on a regular basis, it is safe to assume they aren’t very good at their jobs.

Finally, if you feel like you’ve gotten into a negotiation with a seasoned pro, you might have to look for tiny tells like blinking or the amount of perspiration the other person is doing. A good negotiator knows their own signs and learns to cover them up. Ask any frequent poker player - a tell can ruin your hand or your negotiation in a heartbeat.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 7% [?]

With the free falling American dollar and a full blown recession right around the corner, more and more people are looking for ways to recession proof their business. While there is no magic wand to instantly get the job done, there are some tried and true methods you can use that will lessen the chances of your business going under as the economy gets worse.

Diversify & find a niche

The first two steps go hand in hand. First, your company should attempt to diversify what they do. If you offer a product, try to broaden the appeal of that product and sell different versions or different uses for it. No one expects you to come up with these ideas all by yourself. You can create a contest amongst your employees where they try to come up with ways of diversifying your product line or services or, better yet, go directly to the source and ask your customer base. You can use your company website or you can toss in a comment card in with every order send out. Find out what the public wants from you and simply follow suit.

Taking that thought process a step farther, if you can find a niche group to market to, you might be permanently recession proof. Many food retailers have faced the prospect of either going under or discovering a niche, so they began making all natural, organic products, and quicker than they could turn around, the money began rolling in. The same has worked for clothing manufacturers who went back to hand sewn, organically grown cotton garments and their business tripled overnight. It is up to you, your staff and even your customer base to come up with a niche product you can make a profit off of, but the possibilities really are limitless.

Concentrate your business online

With gas prices at or near all time highs, fewer and fewer people are headed to the mall to buy the products they need. They are, instead, turning to the Internet and leaving the driving, and gas usage, to the US Postal Service. If your company doesn’t have a website, get one quick. If it does have a website that isn’t pulling in the business it should, check into optimizing your webpage with a redesign and with search engine optimized text. Your web page will rank higher in various search engines and your snappy new redesign will help to rebrand your product, as well. Online shopping has nowhere to go but up. You don’t want to miss that gravy train as it leaves the station.

Redouble your efforts on the service front

If you don’t have the ability to create new products to help diversify your product line, you can make an effort to give better service every step of the way. People will go out of their way to pay more if they feel that they are being treated with respect and dignity by their favorite retailer. You may have to fire and hire new people and you might even have to pay more in salary, but what good is a business if it has a terrible reputation?

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 6% [?]

In 100 years, we’re all going to look back on this period we’re living through right now and laugh. It will seem startling that we survived this technological infancy that we find ourselves in. Websites today will be in the Smithsonian next to the first printing press and the first television. Even the most respected voices in online technology are still learning the very basics of how we, as a species, communicate through web sites. We take bits and pieces from successful ones and then try to duplicate that success with additional innovations. If you could zoom out from the Internet, it would likely look like a giant stack of Jenga blocks wobbling too and fro. Let’s take a closer look at some common websites mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Short attention span theatre

If there is one truth about the Internet, it is that the average web browser has the shortest attention span ever recorded. This means that you have a second, possibly two, to capture the attention of someone who stumbles upon your companies webpage. There are several things you can do to capture a person’s attention, but the most important thing to remember is that it is impossible to capture everyone’s. If you can get one out of every 20 people who click onto your webpage to stick around and do some exploring, you are way ahead of the field. Think of it as people strolling past your store front window on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. No matter how good your product is, you can’t bring in everyone. You do, however, want to capitalize on those that venture inside.

The Internet is powered by content

There is a reason why websites like ESPN.com, CNN.com and similar sites constantly change their front page stories. It isn’t because new and exciting news has broken and continues to break throughout the day; it is the idea of something new being available for consumption. No matter what your website sells or does, you must provide a new reason for people to visit as frequently as possible. It doesn’t matter if you are showcasing new sales, blogging about the impact of your product or service or simply changing up the look of your page, if you don’t give the public a reason to keep you in mind, they won’t.

Don’t overdo it

Most new pages that attempt to make a big splash on the Internet do so by attempting to cram as much new technology, streaming video, audio, Java applets and everything else to create an online experience you won’t forget. While the initial hurdle of having too slow a connection for any of that technology to work has been largely overcome, not everyone needs to multitask and do a dozen things at once. Yes, having bells and whistles can be a good way to attract users initially, but there has to be content and relevance to back up the flash. Even video game websites have blogs that talk about the video game industry and lists of products and services users can buy.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 6% [?]

It is no secret that marketing is one of the most important parts of today’s businesses world. The average person may not realize how much Hollywood studios, computer software companies and fast food restaurants spend on marketing every year, but it is safe to say that it is often more than development. Some big budget films now have 70-100 million dollar budgets just for marketing, an unheard of amount even 10 years ago. However, even with all this money and supposed expertise, some marketing campaigns fall flat on their face. Let’s take a look at a few common sense tips companies can follow to get the most out of their next marketing campaign.

Ignore the web at your own risk

While Arizona Senator John McCain happily announces that he not only doesn’t know how to use a computer but that he’s never been on the Internet before, he is not representative of the overwhelming majority of the American population. More and more people are not only working online, they are entertaining themselves online and the television is being pushed into the background. Not only is advertising online often cheaper than more conventional methods of advertising, but you reach the most coveted demographic online, as well, males 15-39. Granted, if you are selling life insurance and burial plots, you might want to reduce your online marketing budget, but if you are selling any other product or service in the world, the best bang for your buck is going to be in cyberspace.

Treat your audience with respect

It doesn’t matter if you are selling sugar cereal to 9 year olds or if you are selling the new Coldplay CD to teenagers and adults, people across the board are smarter today than ever before. The quickest way you can alienate a potential audience is by either talking down to them or insulting their intelligence. That’s not to say that you need to have a highbrow advertising and marketing campaign that would fit into the pages of the New Yorker; it simply means that if you make outrageous and incredible claims about your product or service, it had better live up to expectations. The days of the snake oil salesman are numbered.

Avoid blanket marketing

One of the most amazing occurrences in the cable television age is how fragmented and niche we’ve all become. It use to be that there were only a handful of networks(3 major ones + PBS), and if you wanted to run a television commercial, you tried to make it appeal to as many people as possible. The days of blanket marketing are long dead, however. Today, we have hundreds of channels, thousands of magazines and millions of websites. You are far better off creating a dozen marketing angles for your product that you can niche market to different groups to try to reach as many people as possible. Yes, it will take extra time and yes, it will take extra money, but if you don’t, your marketing campaign is likely to be dead on arrival.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 4% [?]

If there is one universal truth about today’s business world, it is that the overwhelming majority of people hate meetings. Not only are meetings seen as a waste of time, they can be difficult to organize, divisive and incredibly boring. While there is no magic formula in place to make meetings fun, there are a few things you can do to help lessen the dread that most people have for them.

In every office there are tiers of people: managers, supervisors and workers. This caste system is most apparent in meetings. Depending on the work environment you have, meetings can get absolutely nasty, with groups of people taking sides, hurling insults and simply acting unprofessional. If you want meetings to actually accomplish something, you need to set up strict rules of decorum that have penalties if broken. If someone is forced to sit through a meeting, then their opinions and feedback should be taken seriously and not belittled or mocked. The worst feeling any business professional can have at work is to have their thoughts stomped on by a superior in front of all of their peers. You will notice a huge uptick in productivity and moral if you make meetings a “respect zone.”

Since we are talking about efficient meeting strategies, the one change that most people would make to their current situation would be to significantly reduce the number of meetings they have each day. Some offices attempt to have three hours or more of meetings each day, even during their busiest season. Phones go unanswered, messages pile up, email gets hopelessly backlogged and then these same people are condemned when they don’t seem to get anything done. Try to explore alternatives to meetings. Try to compact everything you were planning to talk about in your meeting as much as possible. The less time you spend talking about work and sales goals, the more time you can spend meeting them.

If you can afford the extra cost, try to provide an incentive for prompt meeting attendance. If you can provide a fresh pot of coffee and a plate of muffins or Danish, you will notice that people will run to meetings and they might actually seem happy to be in one. It serves as a great moral boost and quietly communicates to your people that you understand that meetings aren’t a lot of fun but we, as a company, are trying to make things a little more palatable to you. You would be surprised what a plate of muffins can do.

If meetings are scheduled at the end of the day or at the beginning, have your meeting room set up so that folks can teleconference from home. We all have high speed connections these days and most of us own microphones and webcams. Set up a secure server so that your people can attend the meeting from a remote location. Of course, you might want to emphasize that they won’t be receiving any refreshments, but having remote meeting attendance available will likely help office moral more than anything.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Business people are among some of the most confident folks in the world. Not only do most business leaders have egos that can be seen from space, they often surround themselves with like minded individuals who refuse to refute anything that comes from their superiors. This, of course, leads to sales mistakes that qualify as epic in scale. While it is always important to take chances where others fear, it is also recommended that you get a second opinion on your choice from someone who isn’t afraid of you. Let’s take a look at a few common sales mistakes.

Misjudging your audience

Often times, when your company offers a product or service that is so good, you tend to forget that without the proper marketing technique, even the best product is doomed to fail. For instance, during the 1980’s Coca Cola’s market share was slipping significantly against competitor Pepsi. Coke believed that the solution to their problem was to reformulate their product to more closely resemble Pepsi. In doing so, they alienated most of the American population, and “New Coke” has gone down in history as one of the worst marketing decisions ever. What most Americans don’t realize is that “New Coke” was a huge hit around the world and is still sold all throughout Europe. The Coke company completely misjudged their audience at home, but they hit a home run abroad. Make sure you understand what your customer base really wants before you radically change your product or offer a new service. Otherwise, you may be left wondering what went wrong.

Learn how to niche market

One of the biggest challenges in today’s business world is cracking through the force field that many people have when it comes to advertising. We see so many ads every day in newspapers, magazines, television, outdoor advertising and online that most of them simply bounce off our cerebral cortex and fail to make any impression at all. While the initial investment is likely to be staggering in cost, coming up with several niche sales campaign instead of one blanket campaign is one sure way to break through that force field. If you can market your product or service to several niche areas instead of simply tossing a billboard ad out there, you are significantly increasing your chances of having the demographic you want not just see your ad but understand it and have it motivate them to action. Any other sales strategy is simply screaming at windmills.

The Internet isn’t just for kids, anymore

At the dawn of this century, the Internet was still mostly the playground of the young and the middle class and occasionally a middle aged Christmas shopper. Today, grandmothers and inner city school kids use the Internet on a daily basis. If you have been reluctant to jump on the Internet bandwagon with your product or service, now is the time. You’ll reach a larger audience than you ever thought possible, and that audience is growing each and every day.

Click on one of these links to check out sample legal documents drafted by Amlaw 200 Law Firms for Fortune 500 Companies.

Popularity: 3% [?]

One of the trickier agreements that companies must deal with is the Non-Compete Agreement, simply because the document needs to strike the right balance between protection and freedom. The non-compete agreement is a written understanding in which one party, usually a departing employee or partner, agrees not to compete in the same field or profession as the second party, usually a company or partnership, for a specified length of time and within a certain geographic area. Typically, a company will conclude a Non-Compete Agreement between itself and one of its employees. This may occur upon hiring the employee (and the “agreement” may in fact be a clause in the employment contract); or it may occur at the employee’s termination with the company, either in a formal agreement or, again, as a clause in a separation contract.

Consideration plays an important but overlooked role in Non-Compete Agreements. The employee, it must be remembered, is agreeing not to compete with his former employer in the field in which he ostensibly has certain valuable knowledge. For the employee to give up this right, even briefly, the company must offer something of worth in exchange. The promise of a job may suffice (for the new hire), as may continued employment or the prospect of a raise (for the existing employee).

Meanwhile, the company must also be protected. The point of the Non-Compete Agreement is to safeguard a company’s sensitive business information or trade secrets. Courts have determined that a certain level of protection, albeit at the expense of terminated employees, is merited. The key is reasonableness. Companies may protect their legitimate business interests. Thus, a non-compete that is overbroad-denying the employee the right to work anywhere in the state or the country, or for a period of time going into the years-likely will be struck down. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that some companies have secrets that warrant very broad non-compete agreements.

Many states courts-and the law differs in this area of the law from state to state-will strike down overbroad Non-Compete Agreements in their entirety. Others will “blue line” them-eliminating only the invalid parts. California leads the way in banning non-compete agreements altogether, except in the case of the sale of a business. In this instance, the new business owner should not be denied the company’s existing goodwill.

Another aspect to consider is how the employee left the company. If he was let go through no fault or design of his own, then a court may be less likely to enforce a non-compete agreement, especially a highly restrictive one. Conversely, if he quit or was terminated for cause, then the balance tips in favor of the company.

Sometimes, companies understand that the agreement they place before one of its employees is not likely to be enforced. For these organizations, it is enough to have the employee intimidated and wary about ever crossing the company.

All in all, the Non-Compete Agreement is a valuable tool for companies. But for it to be most useful, its drafters must find that proper equilibrium between the company’s legitimate interests and the employee’s right to work.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Letters of credit are agreements between a beneficiary, usually a person or company, and an issuer, usually a bank. These agreements formally indicate the existence of a beneficiary’s line of credit with the bank. One might wonder: Why are Letters of Credit important and when are they used? The answer to the question is simple: Letters of Credit prove the existence of a line of credit, and thus assure a seller of goods that the buyer will be able to pay for goods ordered. They are used in all sorts of commercial transactions, especially international transactions.

For example, lets say Widget Brokers, Inc. want to buy 1000 widgets from Widget Manufacturing, Inc. at a price of $10 per widget. The total price for this order is $10,000.00. Let’s say Widget Manufacturing has never conducted business with Widget Brokers before. If this is the case, Widget Manufacturing may want to see the terms of Widget Broker’s line of credit with LOC Bank. These terms will be formalized in an agreement between Widget Brokers and LOC Bank in a “Letter of Credit” agreement. If Widget Manufacturing sees that Widget Broker’s line of credit is over $10,000.00, they should rest assured that Widget Broker will be able to pay for the order.

Therefore, if you are a buyer of goods without a solid reputation, and you are looking to make a large purchase of supplies, you may want to open a line of credit with a bank and from them secure a Letter of Credit to assure the seller that you will pay for the goods as promised.

Popularity: 5% [?]

A Shareholder Voting Agreement is a legal contract among shareholders of a corporation relating to the voting of shares. The shareholder voting agreement often covers how members of the Board of Directors are to be elected and sometimes covers major corporate events such as mergers and acquisitions. Venture capital investors often expect a shareholder voting agreement to be executed in connection with their investment in a start up company.

Voting Agreements are enforceable pursuant to state statutes enacted in all 50 states. For example, the pertinent statute of Indiana’s State Statutes reads: Sec. 2.

(a) Two (2) or more shareholders may provide for the manner in which they will vote their shares by signing an agreement for that purpose.

(b) A voting agreement created under this section is not subject to the provisions of section 1 of this chapter.
Often Shareholders may choose to pool their votes for a particular goal. Voting agreements may specify that the involved shareholders will vote their shares together or cooperatively. Courts usually uphold shareholder voting agreements as long as they relate to issues upon which shareholders can vote.

For example, lets say Don and Mike are shareholders of Detric Pesticide, Inc. Let us say that neither of them likes Ben, another shareholder, and they want to formally agree that neither of them will ever vote for Ben for a seat on the board of directors. In addition, they also include a provision that if they are outvoted on this matter, they will try to convince the company to pay Ben less than the other directors.

In this hypothetical, the first part of the agreement is valid because it relates to an issue on which Mike and Jessica can vote. They can legally agree, through shareholder voting agreement, not to vote for Ben. The second provision cannot be enforced, however, as a shareholder voting agreement because Ben’s pay is within the discretion of the board of directors and will not come up for shareholder vote.

Voting pools may specify exactly how the participating shares should be voted, or they may allow for negotiation and agreement for each individual issue. Many voting pools include an alternative dispute resolution procedure for reaching agreement on such issues.

Some states require that voting pools follow specific guidelines to be valid. These laws may limit the length of a shareholder agreement, or may require that the shareholders deposit a copy of the agreement with the corporation. If a party to a valid voting agreement violates the agreement, the other parties may sue the uncooperative party. Courts may require that the dissenting shareholder vote according to the agreement, or they may disqualify violating votes.

Popularity: 9% [?]