Chicago home to the 3rd.- largest Hispanic population in the US

Chicago's Hispanic market untapped

Canada Export---March 23, 2009

As Canadian companies look for ways to bring their products and services to the Chicago market, they may want to consider the rapidly rising Hispanic demographic.

While the Hispanic community is vibrant all across the U.S., Canadian companies looking closer to home may want to consider the Chicago area which boasts the third-largest Hispanic population in the U.S. This group accounts for 26% of the population in the Chicago area, and their numbers continue to climb.

Named the fastest-growing group in America by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population grew more than 61% between 1990 and 2003. According to Canadian trade commissioners, this demographic holds great potential as consumers of Canadian products and services but it remains largely untapped.

“The Chicago Hispanic market is young, conscious of changing trends, has a higher than average disposable income and holds a buying power of over $11 billion per year in Chicago and $19 billion in Illinois,” says Ann F. Rosen, Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago. “For Canadian companies looking to expand into the Midwest U.S. market, this is a group that cannot be ignored. To be competitive, Canadian companies must learn about how to reach this booming section of the market.”

According to the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, most American companies only allot an average of 2.4% of their advertising resources to targeting the Hispanic market. They also point out that a minimum 8% allotment is necessary to effectively begin to reach the market. This leaves the field wide open to opportunities for Canadian companies.

“Companies looking to enter this market must be aware of its cultural differences, the varying levels of acculturation to American customs, the nuances of language as seen through Hispanic eyes and the impact of packaging,” says Rosen.

For the Canadian company this might mean packaging products with a knowledge of what styles, fonts and colours appeal most to this market. Companies might need to carefully consider wording their packaging to reach out to this specific consumer who may have different needs, values and desires than other consumers. Also, the use of both English and Spanish on all materials is another key tool.

However, the research cannot stop there. In fact, this is where the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service can assist. Trade commissioners can help companies go beyond a superficial approach to targeting this market and move towards an educated, culturally relevant method of promoting their products.

“By discovering the personality and pulse point of this expanding market—which we know well—Canadian companies can find ways to make their products more appealing to this group and, in turn, secure a firm position in Chicago's Hispanic market,” says Rosen.

Networking through the social media...

Putting a new spin on networking

Whether you offer professional services, specialized products aimed at other businesses or consumer goods, social media can give you great visibility.

Social media is the term used for communities of people interacting through a website, by posting comments, pictures, videos or audio. Integrating social media into your marketing strategy can help keep you in touch with current and potential customers, with suppliers, colleagues and other stakeholders.

5 tips for effective use of social media

1. Set clear goals and processes
The world of social media sites is broad and complex, and creating a presence using these sites can be very time-consuming. Your new online activities should complement your marketing strategy so that you make the best possible use of your time. If your main goal is finding new clients, you may wish to focus on creating a presence on social or business networking sites and in microcommunities that may be frequented by your customers.

For example, if you sell canoes, you may want to participate regularly in a camping micro-community site. However, if your focus is on building customer loyalty, you may want to think about adding a blog to your website, where you offer tips and recommendations to your existing customers, and where users can discuss your products and their uses.

2. Focus on quality over quantity
Social media sites are designed to create a community. It is more important to participate fully and sincerely in a few sites than to spread yourself too thin. By building a strong presence, you will create respect for you and your company.

3. Think give, not take
Don't focus on pushing your products or services. In fact, some sites (such as Flickr) specifically prohibit commercial use. Rather, think about what you can give the community. Share comments, information and content that are relevant and useful for all users. If you market yourself as an expert and the content is relevant, others will keep coming back.

4. Put your best foot forward
In the online world, like in the real world, it pays to be polite, pleasant and honest.

5. Be linkable
Link to other sites, and make it easy for others to link to your site. If you have a blog, make sure you register it with the main blog search sites. Advise your readers of content updates by offering RSS feeds (a file that automatically publishes frequently updated content, such as blog entries, to let users keep up with new posts).

An overview of social media
Social media sites create interactive communities. The focus of these sites ranges from socializing, business networking, sharing information or other resources, and collaborating on shared projects.

Social networking
Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are designed for personal networking. These sites let you create a personal profile page, and their focus is on helping you keep in touch with the people you know. Some sites let you upload photos and videos, post news and other links, and update your status from your cell phones.

Business networking
These networking sites are designed with professionals in mind. They allow you to

• make connections with people you know and make new contacts
• gain visibility
• discuss issues, such as investment techniques, with other professionals
• post jobs and hire personnel
• find business advice

Examples of this type of site include LinkedIn, Ryze, FastPitch, and Naymz. There are also sites that are specially tailored for small businesses, such as My Cubicle Space.

Sharing information and multimedia content
These sites offer a forum where users can post content that can be viewed, commented on, marked as a favourite, or linked to, by people around the world.

Information

1. Blogs
Blogs are websites that are updated regularly with posts by one or several users. The entries can include general comments or journal entries or information on a particular subject, or multimedia material like links, photos, videos, and audio files. Also, readers generally have space to comment and discuss postings with other viewers.

There are also search sites that collect information from blogs and other sites, ranking them by subject and popularity. These include Technocrati and Newsvine. The sites allow users to search for content by keyword. Bloggers can register with these sites to increase their visibility.

2. Microcommunities
Sites created for groups of people linked by a common interest, ex. wine, yoga, gardening, traveling and shoes. These microcommunities often feature product reviews, recommendations, and discussion boards. They offer a unique way to tap into the preferences of their clientele, and to participate in discussions with the client group.

Collaboration
These sites bring together people working on a common project, such as a wiki (a collaborative website designed to let users contribute or edit content, ex. Wikipedia), open-source software (where participants work together via the web to create computer programs), or other collaborative projects focusing on specific areas, such as the arts.

Good personal selling helps small retailers !

Good personal selling is a viable means to create a competitive edge, especially for small retailers. To learn more, check this out:

Good creative selling can provide the competitive edge.

Understanding and Developing Your Sales Force

An important ingredient in the successful retail or service business is good selling. Without it, many sales are lost sales that may mean the difference between success and failure. This publication tells how you can train yourself and your employees to become creative sales people.

Summary

To many customers, the salesperson is the business. Therefore, if the sales personnel are bad, then so is the firm. Although important to all business, effective sales personnel are especially important to small business to compete with the big firms on things like assortment, price, and promotion. Selling effort, on the other hand, is one place where the small product or service retail business can compete with larger competitors and win.

Effective selling does not happen by accident. The small entrepreneur must work to achieve a high level of sales effectiveness in his or her business. In order to work toward this goal, the businessperson should be aware of the different types of salespersons, the selling process, and the attributes of effective salespersons. Applying such knowledge to a business situation should result in the desired goal of effective sales personnel the competitive advantage.

Types of Salespersons

There are three main types of sales personnel: (Classified by Level of Creative Effort)

Routine Effort _____________________________________________Creative Effort

Order-Handler

Order-Taker

Order-Getter

Figure 1. Types of Retail Sales Personnel

Order-Handler
The ticket-taker at the concert, the checker at the food store—these salespeople are working in a routine selling environment. But due to the nature of their jobs, they will be asked numerous questions by customers as well as hear complaints about prices and service. A knowledgeable person with a pleasant personality is especially needed for this job because this is usually the person who is dealing with the customer when the customer's money (payment) is received.

Order-Taker
As noted above, more creativity is found in this job as compared to the order-handler. The counter attendant at the fast food restaurant may take the order and then suggest that the customer might also wish to buy a hot apple turnover. Pleasant personality, fast service, and suggestion selling on the part of the order-taker can result in many additional sales.

Order-Getter
For many businesses, the heart of the selling process rests with the creative selling efforts of their salespeople. Of course, one of the greatest problems is that there are numerous order-handlers and order-takers in selling positions that should have order-getters for optimum selling effectiveness. Clothing, furniture, jewellery and appliances are just some of the many items that call for order-getters (a person who can handle a transaction, take an order, and most importantly, get an order). As for services, the home security salesperson, for example, who calls on a prospect because it is observed that the house has no dead bolt locks, is making that special effort to be an order-getter.

Even though all selling situations do not call for order-getters, all salespeople will be called upon to sell creatively from time to time. It is for this reason that all sales personnel need to have a working knowledge of the creative selling process.

Creative Selling Process

The creative selling process consists of eight steps, none of which is less important than any other if the process is to be effective. It should be emphasized to all employees that all steps are vital to the achievement of all effective selling.

Pre-Customer Contact
A smart builder would not attempt to build a house without a good foundation. Likewise, a businessperson should not place people on the sales floor or telephone until these people know the business, merchandise, services and customers. Before any contact is made with the customer, every salesperson should know:

Policies, Procedures, and Rules. Have these in writing for all employees to see and know.

Operation of Equipment
No matter whether the register is electronic or mechanical, the time to learn how to work it is not after a sale while the customer waits for change.

Target Market Knowledge
The best salesperson knows something of the likes and dislikes of the firm's primary customers. The business operator should tell all sales personnel about the business' customers and their life-styles. Tell the salespeople about customer's interests and ability to buy.

Product Knowledge
A salesperson gains confidence by knowing about the products and services he or she is selling. If a person sells shoes, it helps to know the merchandise as well as how to fit them. If a person sells building materials, the selling job is probably more effective if the salesperson can also help answer questions about home repairs.

It helps the person who sells clothes to know something about fabrics and current fashions. If the person is in the lawn service business, that person should know about lawn care. Most sales personnel will not take the initiative to acquire product knowledge. Management should make such knowledge available to them.

Prospecting
Although not appropriate to every selling situation, prospecting should be used whenever possible. Essentially, prospecting involves not waiting for the customer to show up at a store or to phone about a service. It is concerned with taking the initiative by going to the customer with a product or service idea. Prospecting may be two types: new or regular customer prospecting.

New Customer Prospecting
A salesperson sees that a person is getting married. Action is taken on this knowledge by contacting the person and telling her about appropriate items (or services) that might be of assistance to a new bride. By using newspapers and personal contacts, a salesperson can take the initiative to contact and create new customers.

Regular Customer Prospecting
A firm's best prospects are its current customers. A salesperson should make a practice of calling regular customers on a periodic basis to tell them about products or services. "Hello, Mrs. Anderson, I just wanted to tell you about the new shipment of dresses that we received today. As I unpacked them, I saw several that made me think of you". Prospecting with regular customers works! All salespeople should be encouraged to prospect by phone and in-person whenever they see regular customers. A word of caution must be emphasized. Don't go to the well too often. Prospecting with the same regular customer on a frequent basis can make prospecting lose the special feeling that it can create in customers. Do not overuse it.

Initial Contact
The most effective way to close a sale is to open it on a positive note. Unfortunately, most sales do not open this way.

The typical initial store contact begins in this manner:
Clerk: "May I help you?"
Customer: "No thank you, I'm just looking."

This ritual leaves much to be desired. Why? It is an automatic statement that shows no creativity on the part of the salesperson. Also, because the customer has heard the statement many times, his or her response is usually given without thinking what was said. Every salesperson should be challenged to treat each customer as an individual by responding differently to each customer.

Initial contact also means responding to customers when they enter the sales areas even when they cannot be waited on immediately. Salespeople should be instructed to tell waiting customers that "I'll be with you in a moment". Such actions will reduce the number of customers who leave without being served. When the employee is free to help the waiting customer, the initial comment should be "Thank you for waiting". A courteous, creative initial contact with the customer can go a long way to promote sales.

Presentation of Merchandise
In presenting merchandise (or service) to the customer, the salesperson should use product knowledge to the best advantage. How?

Buyer benefits
Although it is good to talk about the lawnmower's 3 1/2 horsepower motor, customers may be more interested in hearing about how fast the lawnmower will cut the grass. Product knowledge is important but the salesperson must remember what makes the customer buy. Clothes may be made of durable fabrics but it is also important to stress the implied benefit.

Customer Involvement
Product knowledge can be used to get customer involvement. Show the customer several features of the digital watch and then have the customer put it on and work it.

If the interest is there, it will be hard for the customer to take off the watch so that the salesperson can put it back into the case. The best way to present many products is to get involvement. Want to sell dance lessons? Get the customer on the dance floor and let the fun of dancing do some of the selling. The same is true with clothes, perfume, sports equipment and almost anything else.

Limit the Choices
If during the sales presentation more than three items are in front of the customers, the chances of a sale are reduced while the possibility of shoplifting is increased. If, for example, the salesperson continues to carry dresses into the fitting room for the customer to try without removing any, the customer will likely not buy any because of the inability to decide from among so many choices. Also, with so many items under study, the clerk may lose track of how many items are in the fitting room. It is possible that some may be put on under the customer's clothes while the clerk is not present, thereby resulting in an expensive experience for the store. Likewise, if a travel agency attempts to sell a customer a Caribbean cruise, the chances of making the sale will diminish if too many trip options are presented. Unless there is a definite reason for an exception, the rule of three (never show more than three choices at one time) should be followed whenever merchandise is presented. Limited choices have been found to promote sales.

Use Showmanship
In presenting merchandise to the customer, encourage all personnel to be creative. Be enthusiastic about the merchandise. Hold the necklace up for the customer to see it. Make the portable baby crib "look" easy to work. Lay the different pieces of the cookware set before the customer in an attractive, easy-to-see everything manner. Ask your salespeople to think like a customer. If I were a customer, what would I like to see?

Message Adaptation
A knowledgeable salesperson should know about the products being sold. Message adaptation involves deciding what information is needed to sell a particular customer and how that information should be presented to that customer. Canned sales presentations do not allow for adaptation. The effective salesperson will make an effort to adjust the presentation to the customer.

If the customer knows about gardens and lawns, the person selling a lawn service should adapt the sales presentation to the level of the customer's expertise. Don't bore the customer with known facts. It could lose a sale.

Handling Objections
Remember, if objections are present, progress is probably being made on the sale. Most salespeople are afraid of objections. Stress to all employees that objections are a natural part of the selling process. They do not mean that the sale is lost. In most cases, all that is required to overcome an objection is more selling on the part of the salesperson.

Common types of customer objections that are faced by a salespersons are:

• Product: "That dress looks out-of-date";
• Store: "You never have the right merchandise";
• Service: "If I believe what I hear, I can't get good service from you";
• Price: "It is just too expensive";
• Salesperson: "Are you sure these shoes fit right?"

These and other objections can be met by the salesperson in several ways. Using the above product objection as an example, these methods include: Yes-But: "Yes, it does look out-of-date, but it is the latest." This approach begins on a positive note by agreeing with the customer and then moves on to answer the objection.

Counter-question. "Why do you feel it's out-of-date?" the counter-question puts the ball back in the customer's court. By asking "Why?" the real reason of the objection may become known.

Restate Objection. "You feel that the dress looks out-of-date." By restating the objection, the customer may respond by saying, "No, I mean it just doesn't look right on me", or something of a similar nature.

This approach tends to reduce the magnitude of the objection in the eyes of the customer.

Direct Response. "The dress you have on was first shown at the market this season. It is the latest thing." Although offensive to some, this approach may be necessary if the customer is not going to buy unless the untruth can be corrected. Tact is important when using this approach.

These four approaches for handling objections are not meant to be all-inclusive. These and other approaches do point out, however, that objections should and can be answered by the salesperson unless objections are overcome to the satisfaction of the customer, it is questionable that the sale will be made.

Closing the Sale
In various ways, the salesperson can assist the customer by helping him or her to make the buying decision. Closing techniques that can aid in this effort include:

• Offer a service. "Let us deliver it to you this afternoon." A "Yes" implies purchase.
• Give a Choice. "Do you want the five-piece or eight-piece cooking set?" Either choice implies purchase. Note that "No" was not one of the choices.
• Offer an Incentive. "If you buy now, you get 10% off the already low price." If you wait, you don't get the 10% discount.
• Better Not Wait. "If you want this refrigerator, better get it now. It's the last one in stock." Note: it pays to be honest. If the customer buys and then comes by the store the next day and sees that the store did have another one, this closing technique may have made the sale but it could lose the customer.

Suggestion Selling
The customer has made a purchase. Now what? Encourage your sales personnel to make a definite suggestion for a possible additional sale. For many businesses, sales can be increased by 25 percent through positive suggestion selling. Please note that statements such as" "Will there by something else?" or "Can I get you something else?" are not suggestion selling. They do not make a positive suggestion. When a customer buys a lamp, what about a light bulb to go in it? If a picture is purchased, what about the necessary hardware to hang it properly? If a suit is bought, what about a new blouse or shirt that goes well with the colour? Where appropriate, the creative salesperson will actually get the suggested item and show it to the customer. Or if a person brings in a watch to be repaired, why not also clean it while it is taken apart? This type of initiative usually results in more sales. It should be emphasized that most customers like to receive a valid suggestion. In some cases, suggestions may even permit the customer to avoid another shopping trip to pick up that needed item that they had not thought about. Good suggestion selling makes sales and builds confidence in the firm's business.

Sales Follow-up
Although not apparent to many salespeople, follow-up is a part of every sale. The closing statement, "Thank you for shopping at (name of store)," is a form of sales follow-up if done with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, just making the statement in an automatic manner is about as effective as the other worn out phrase, "May I help you?" If done correctly, however, it allows the customer to leave on a positive note, thereby increasing the chances of repeat business by the customer.

Follow-up may also concern itself with checking on anything that was promised to the customer after the sale. If delivery is supposed to take place on Friday, the salesperson will check to make sure that the promise will be met and, if not, will notify the customer of the problem. Good sales follow-up will prevent the type of situation that occurs so often when the customer calls on Friday asking, "Where is the delivery truck?" A business with a reputation for sales follow-up is going to obtain additional business because of its concern about the sale.

Sincere sales follow-up is good business. Imagine the impact that can be had on a customer when the carpet cleaning service telephones the customer 48 hours after cleaning her carpets to be sure that everything is satisfactory. Sales follow-up builds goodwill and repeat business.

Attributes of a Creative Salesperson

In addition to having personnel who understand and apply the creative selling process, an organization should try to have salespeople who possess certain attributes that can make them ore effective in their jobs. These attributes, which can be grouped into mental and physical categories, merit further discussions.

Judgement
Common sense, maturity, intelligence—these and other terms are used interchangeably with judgement. A salesperson knows that it does not pay to argue with a customer. The salesperson also knows that the firm should never be "cut" in front of customers. These situations reflect the use of good judgement on the part of the employee. Please note that the term maturity is sometimes used in place of judgement but that it is not necessarily a function of age. Many older people do not use good judgement while some younger employees have a high level of common sense.

Tact
If an employee has a keen sense of what to say and do, many problems can be overcome before they are created. Many employees give little thought to the impact of their actions. A child playing with toys in the toy store is told in a blunt manner to "quit playing with the toys and go find your mother." While all this is going on, the mother is standing behind the salesperson. Was a confrontation with the child necessary? No. Could it have been handled differently? Yes. How does the child and mother feel about the store? The feeling is not good. This salesperson lacked the ability to know what to do and say in order to maintain good customer relations. Be tactful.

Attitude
A good salesperson will have a positive attitude toward customers, merchandise, services, and the business. A good attitude means that an employee is willing to accept suggestions, to learn and to apply the steps in the creative selling process, and to not be afraid of work. A salesperson with a bad attitude can create unnecessary problems. A bad attitude is contagious. If an employee is otherwise competent, management should work with the employee to develop a positive attitude. Positive attitudes can result in sales.

Word of Caution
Mental and physical attributes of salespersons are important. Management must continue to observe sales personnel in regard to the desired traits. Either mental or physical attributes of individuals may change over time relative to desired attributes.

Management must be aware of this possibility and attempt to correct any deviations from desired norms before problems are created.

A business can greatly enhance its probability of success by stressing the creative selling process, giving special attention to the desired mental and physical attributes of a creative salesperson. Good creative selling can provide the competitive edge.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration
Prepared by: Government of Saskatchewan

Why Global Chaos is the Dollar’s Best Friend

International Living's Saturday Essay: Is Jack Crooks insane? He believes the U.S. dollar is entering a long-term bull market. In the report that follows, he explains how you can profit while the world plays catch-up.

International Living Postcards--your daily escape
Saturday, March 21, 2009

Dear International Living Reader,

What explains why the financial system crumbled…why the global economy is sinking…and why the U.S. dollar is the best looking currency around?

Look no further than “tight coupling.”

Tight coupling exists throughout the financial markets. A good example would be the recent subprime mortgage-backed securities scenario. Everything was hunky-dory but then:

- Home prices started falling…
- Borrowers were unable to afford loans…
- Bundled loans became less attractive…
- The market for this newly-created product froze up…
- Losses started piling up for investors in these bundled assets…

Finally, investors who had never touched mortgage-backed securities experienced losses, as the tightly coupled financial industry unwound and asset values across the board deteriorated.

Decoupling Predictions Proved to Be Wrong

In hindsight we realize how flawed the idea of decoupling was. The U.S. economy is still the big dog pulling the global economic sled.

But as recently as the middle of 2008, market bulls clung to the hope that the global economy would decouple from its dependence on the U.S. And why not? The global economy was chugging along:

* Emerging markets provided raw materials and input products to China.

* China gobbled up these raw materials and produced consumer goods to sell to the developed world.

* The developed world supplied the global capital necessary to keep the growth circuit unbroken.

The profit potential was huge. Many abandoned dreary U.S. investments in search of more-lucrative returns.

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Of course, “more lucrative” implies “more risky.”

When emerging economies plowed their trade surpluses into their lop-sided export-centric growth models, they neglected to invest in their domestic sectors. Their leftover capital was instead shoveled into the U.S. in exchange for safer returns.

Risk takers Stampede To Safety

The problem arose when the U.S. could no longer find places to channel trade surpluses that overseas economies were pumping into our capital markets.

All sorts of new derivative products and investment avenues became accessible…in hopes of allowing liquidity to flow efficiently. But of course, as is the case with tight coupling, the complexity of new initiatives opened the door for error.

Asset bubbles inflated and popped as investors realized they had little understanding of new financial instruments. Consumers watched their stock market and housing wealth evaporate. Spending across developed nations retreated--and export-centric growth models suffered as global liquidity vanished.

For all these reasons, global capital flow has morphed. Many markets dependent upon steady liquidity have become extremely correlated, as often occurs in times of crisis. What this has done is create a stampede away from risk-taking and towards risk aversion.

In other words--a run on the U.S. dollar.

In Such an Environment, It’s All Relative

If these ideas are new to you, then you’re probably thinking one of two things:

1. This guy Jack Crooks is insane. Doesn’t he know the U.S. dollar is doomed?

Or…

2. This makes some sense. But how can the U.S. dollar escape the awful fundamentals staring it right in the face?

If you think I’m insane, you might be right…but for the wrong reasons!

You see, in the game of foreign exchange--one currency is paired versus another currency--it’s all relative. And if you automatically think the U.S. dollar is relatively worse off than other currencies, you might want to think again. Since the global economy has gone on the fritz, the U.S. dollar’s relative fundamental backdrop has actually improved dramatically.

The global financial meltdown started this mess. And the crisis won’t come to an end until banks are able to overcome the burden of insufficient capital, dysfunctional lending and borrowing, and toxic assets.

But consider…

* U.S. bank liabilities sit at levels equivalent to 85% of U.S. GDP. However, bank liabilities of Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Eurozone sit at 650%, 430% and 320% of their respective GDPs.

* Cross-border lending by U.S. banks to emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America totals the equivalent of 4% of U.S. GDP, whereas the same figure sits at 24% and 21% of the respective GDPs for the United Kingdom and Europe.

* European bank exposure to emerging markets is roughly six times the size of U.S. subprime mortgage-backed securities. With that in mind, I’m partial to the U.S. as a far more capable candidate to weather this financial storm.

Profit While the World Plays Catch-Up

European and Australian central banks are now scurrying to play catch-up to the Federal Reserve and cut back interest rates. That alone is a driver of the currency market as the once negative interest yield spread on the dollar is improving.

Now I’m not saying it’s become an even playing field. I’m not sure that’s even possible. But it’s getting about as close as it can to becoming one. And in such circumstances, the U.S. dollar has a lot going for it that other currencies don’t have.

As this cleansing cycle runs its course, risk-aversion and de-leveraging will continue to steer capital back to the U.S.--and the dollar will remain the quintessential safe haven currency. Despite the warts in the U.S. system, it still remains the most flexible of all the major economies. Just consider all the things that our Fed and Treasury have already tried and abandoned. Many say that zaps confidence and proves the U.S. system’s weakness.

I beg to differ. I say it proves the U.S. will do whatever it takes to get us out of this mess and do it a lot faster than the other major countries. That’s a huge strength!

I am confident the U.S. will be the first to emerge from this global morass. And that will be the catalyst for a whole new level of international investment flowing to the world’s major economy.

A long-term bull market in the U.S. dollar is in the making. It’s time to hop on board.

Jack Crooks
Editor, The Money Trader

Editor's note: Jack Crooks is known as “the trader who never sleeps.” Up by 5.00 a.m. each weekday, Jack scours the news and market action of currencies all over the world, mapping out his medium-term trading strategies in currency options and the spot market. With a typical trading time ranging from five days to three months, Jack gives his readers plenty of time to act and profit from his significant moves in the forex market. Read more about The Money Trader here.

Eyeing the international markets

Smaller businesses looking abroad

By Purchasingb2b staff | March 11, 2009

The majority of Canadian small and mid-sized companies see the benefits of doing business in international markets, according to a recent survey from HSBC Bank Canada.

The study—which involved 250 owners of small and mid-sized businesses producing between $1 million and $20 million in annual revenues—was conducted by Phase 5 Research in November 2008.

According to the data, 45 per cent of small and mid-sized businesses are currently conducting some trade outside Canada, while an additional eight per cent plan to develop some involvement in international markets over the next two years.

"These findings show that even in the current challenging economic times, Canadian businesses understand that their future lies not in retreating into our home market but in continuing to look beyond our borders for new growth opportunities," said Jon Hountalas, executive vice-president of commercial banking with HSBC Bank Canada.

HSBC made suggestions to help offset the risk of going overseas:
• Understand the country, currency, and payment risk. Recent economic challenges have forced some foreign buyers and suppliers to change the level of required guarantees of credit needed to ensure transactions get completed;
• When dealing in foreign markets, up-to-date local knowledge can be key. Understand and plan for the financial risks of small business exports in advance;
• Importers should review their contracts and prepare for ongoing adjustments as markets change. Importing to Canada also represents risks to small business. Even long-standing foreign business suppliers may soon be asking for new types of financial guarantees based on changes to their own banking requirements;
• Look to the future but stay focused on the current business. Establishing new relationships with buyers and sellers in foreign markets takes time, effort and money; all of which can distract business owners from running their day-to-day business.

The survey showed the sectors most likely to be doing business abroad include information services and manufacturing industries. Of the companies currently doing business outside of Canada, 72 per cent sell their products and services abroad, while 28 per cent source some of their products from outside the country, according to HSBC.

Bonus payments cause for anger!

AIG Head Says Retention Payments "distasteful."

The chairman of insurance giant AIG admitted Wednesday that bonuses recently paid out to executives are "distasteful" but said the company is working on a restructuring plan that will make good use of billions in government bailout funds.

In a statement read before a House Financial Services panel on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Edward M. Liddy, chairman and CEO of American International Group Inc., said that retention payments recently paid to company executives were a necessary cost of doing business.

"We have to continue managing our business as a business -- taking account of the cold realities of competition for customers, for revenues and for employees," Liddy said.

"Because of this, and because of certain legal obligations, AIG has recently made a set of compensation payments, some of which I find distasteful."

But, he told lawmakers, "I want to assure you that the people at AIG today are working as hard as we can to execute the restructuring plan that, we believe, offers America's taxpayers the best possible income."

In his statement, Liddy acknowledged that AIG has received "generous amounts" of government aid.

The insurance giant has received more bailout funds than any other company, to the tune of US$170 billion.

Liddy said Wednesday that AIG grew to become an internal hedge fund that was overexposed to market risks.

"Mistakes were made at AIG on a scale few could have every imagined possible," Liddy said.

Despite the financial turmoil, the company has paid out more than $200 million in bonuses that were designed to prevent employees from leaving the company's financial products division.

The payments, which range from $1,000 to nearly $6.5 million, were part of contracts that were signed early last year, before then-treasury secretary Henry Paulson asked Liddy to take over AIG.

However, the payments were made and Congress now wants the money back.

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the U.S. government must "assert our ownership rights" in the company. The government now owns 80 per cent of the insurer.

Frank said Congress will ask for a list of names of employees who received bonuses, but if a list is not forthcoming, he will convene the committee to issue a subpoena.

"We do intend to use our power to get the names," he said Wednesday after Liddy spoke.

Earlier Wednesday, Frank said that Congress should have been able to place tougher conditions on the AIG bailout.

He called for a 1930s-era law that the Federal Reserve used to give the bailout directly to AIG to be rewritten.

Frank told CBS's "The Early Show" that Congress was not involved in the decision to give $85 billion in taxpayer funds to the insurance conglomerate last fall.

If Congress had been consulted, there would have been conditions placed on the detail that would have limited executive bonuses, he said.

Frank said lawmakers have since "gotten tougher on conditions," and said that "it is my hope" that Congress will amend the statute that allowed for the direct loan.

AIG is the largest recipient of government help. While free marketeers may argue that companies should be allowed to fail, BNN's Michael Kane said, AIG's financial transactions were considered too integrated to let the company go under.

"The big question is, what is too big to fail? What is so integrated into society that if you let it fail then you cascade the negative effects and make it worse," Kane said during an interview on Newsnet. "That is almost a case-by-case basis."

Liddy told lawmakers that AIG's new management team found the company's "overall structure is too complex, too unwieldy and too opaque for its component businesses to be well managed as one company."

He said the team has "addressed our liquidity crisis and stabilized the company's cash position," and is preparing to shut down the financial products end of the business.

Can payments be reversed?

Representatives in Congress and within the Obama administration are using the AIG case as an example of corporate excess and lawmakers are now hoping to find a way to reverse the corporate bonuses.

Max Baucus of Montana, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, as well as the committee's top Republican, Charles Grassley of Iowa, proposed legislation that would require companies and individuals to pay a 35 per cent tax on retention payments and bonuses that total more than $50,000.

"If you don't return it on your own, we will do it for you," said Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York.

For his part, Geithner said he is working with the Justice Department to devise other options to recoup the money. For example, a provision in the recent economic stimulus legislation gives him the authority to review compensation to the most highly paid employees of companies that are receiving government aid.

In total, AIG has paid $220 million in retention payments to employees in the financial products division. About $55 million was paid out in December and another $165 million had to be paid by Friday.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said last week, AIG paid bonuses of $1 million or more to 73 employees, including 11 who have left the company.

And while Liddy is under fire for the large payouts, Geithner said Tuesday that Liddy, "inherited a difficult situation, including these...retention contracts, which were entered prior to his or the government's involvement with AIG."

In a weekend letter to Geithner, Liddy said he would have designed the payments differently and to equal less money. However, he said he did not have the power to change the contracts.

"Honouring contractual commitments is at the heart of what we do in the insurance business," he said.

With files from The Associated Press.

Signs of Recovery in 2010

Plunging stocks main factor behind net worth decline

The drop in stock market prices pushed household net worth in Canada down 4.4 per cent, an overall drop of $252 billion, in the fourth quarter.

16/03/2009 12:54:34 PM

Plunging stocks behind net worth decline View more MSN videosGo to CTV.ca

CTV.ca News Staff

According to Statistics Canada, on a per capita basis, household net worth fell from $179,300 in the second quarter of 2008 to $165,300 in the fourth quarter -- a loss of $14,000.

The report says the Standard and Poor's-Toronto Stock Exchange composite index ended 2008 down 24 per cent from the previous quarter.

The poor stock market results, led by significant declines in energy stocks, were a major contributor to the fourth quarter loss.

"If you take an average of the prices of commodities produced in Canada it's sitting at less than half of where it was last July," TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond said Monday.

"We export an awful lot of commodities and it's really hammered both the volumes and the values of those exports."

The report says the quarterly loss was the largest recorded since at least 1990.

Meanwhile, the total value of household assets fell 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter.

"The turmoil on equity markets significantly reduced the value of shareholdings as well as that of pension and life insurance assets of households," says the report.

"The decline in households' assets was partially offset by the increase in non-financial assets, specifically residential structures."

Additionally, credit market debt of the household sector grew by 1.7 per cent, hitting $1.3 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter.

The increase was smaller than the 2.4 per cent growth recorded in the last quarter, mainly because mortgage borrowing slowed.

Total household liabilities relative to net worth edged up in the fourth quarter with households having 24.5 cents of debt for every dollar of net worth.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported that American household wealth fell by $5.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2008, which is from October to December.

The nine per cent loss was the sixth straight quarterly decline in the U.S.

Drummond said the economy will continue to decline until the end of 2009 but there will be signs of recovery in 2010 at a "tepid" pace.

Writing Your Business Plan

Thinking of writing a business plan? Here is a business plan outline, listing the sections of the business plan in the order in which they will appear in your completed business plan with a brief explanation of each section to help you get organized and guide you through the writing a business plan process.

The Executive Summary

While appearing first, this section of the business plan is written last. It summarizes the key elements of the entire business plan. (Executive Summary Example)

Resume Fakery in Decline

Catching the Lies in a Resume

by Charles Davies, October 2005, revised July 2007

The job candidate sitting across the table from you is attractive, young, bright, well-groomed and surprisingly well-experienced in your company's field. And her resume reads like a dream, an almost ideal combination of academic achievement, community service, employment responsibility and impeccable character references. It seems too good to be true.

And just maybe it is.

We now know that resume padding happens in the highest echelons. Take, for example, Michael Brown, the former head of U.S. Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Before Hurricane Katrina exposed his management and leadership failings, few outside the White House were aware that he previously had no meaningful emergency management experience.

Less well known is the statistic noted recently by the U.S.-based Professional Ethics Report that up to 25% of all resumes have some degree of padding. And it seems the exaggerations come from every quarter. "It's not limited to certain areas or certain levels or positions," says Michael Palmer, who leads the talent acquisition practice for Ceridian Canada, a human resource consultancy. "We see it across all [business] areas and across all lines - gender, race, creed."

As someone who teaches recruiting techniques to corporate clients as well as interviewing in the field, Palmer has come across his share of resume whoppers. One of his favourites was the individual who claimed to have an undergraduate degree, a masters and a Ph.D., all from the same non-existent U.S. university. More often, he's run into people who claimed to have managed multimillion dollar projects for previous employers when, in fact, they were comparatively low-level managers with no real financial responsibility at all.

Most often, Palmer says, job candidates don't lie blatantly on their resumes. Rather, they stretch the truth or omit pertinent facts. "We see resume enhancements - that's probably a nicer way to say it - where, say, a person worked at a company for three years, had one successful project that ran for maybe three weeks in those three years. That's what shows up on their resume, not the two years, 11 months and one week where they had nothing but failures."

And some things are never revealed. As Palmer says, out of a thousand potential hires, perhaps 10 or 15 will have criminal records, but you'll never find a reference to one in a CV.

Weeding out even petty resume exaggerations can be a particular problem for small businesses, he says. Small, entrepreneurial firms very often make hiring decisions on gut instincts, worrying more about how a person will fit into a tight-knit family atmosphere rather than zeroing in on the personal characteristics and skills that may actually be needed for the job.

So what are the most likely ways job candidates will embellish their resumes? Here are the top five:

1. Education enhancement

This is the most common fudging mechanism and it can be anything from blatant to subtle. At the extreme end is the long-ago case of the Toronto Stock Exchange vice-president who claimed a degree from the London School of Economics. More commonly, resume writers will let you fill in the blanks. They'll mention they attended a certain school in search of a particular degree and allow you to assume that they actually graduated. Similar tactics can be used for various professional courses given by associations or other professional bodies.

2. Data manipulation

The second most popular offense and, like assumed university degrees, is another variation on the sin of omission. If someone has a blot on their employment record - say, an inconveniently long period between previous jobs, they may cover it up by only giving the years they worked in particular locations rather than providing specific months of employment.

3. Work responsibilities

As Palmer noted earlier, job candidates like to accentuate past successes, no matter how fleeting they may have been, while slipping over long periods where they either accomplished little or may even have fouled up. Therefore, they may structure the resume to read in a way that suggests projects or assignments were much more significant than they actually were or went on much longer than they actually did.

4. References

By definition, no one is going to provide you with the name of someone who will trash them outright or cast even the slightest aspersions on their abilities. Even so, candidates may try to impress by securing references from persons of note -- and who may therefore be difficult to contact -- rather than providing names of people who can more accurately attest to their demonstrated ability.

5. Interview style

Job candidates should present a confident exterior when discussing their resume, but some may take it to unreasonable extremes, presenting themselves as having deep knowledge and experience when it's actually superficial. Depending on the presentation skills of the individual, however, blarney isn't always easy to spot.

Luckily for you as a recruiter, there are ways to avoid being taken in by resume enhancement. Point one is to try, within your financial and time constraints, to act like larger corporations when hiring new help. This may mean buying some of the training you may need. Palmer, for example, says few smaller companies have any professional interviewing skills, or use outside providers to help in the selection process. The key thing you should do, Palmer says, is to have a pre-employment background check done on any planned hire. They need only cost about $200 each, a small investment to avoid hiring someone who could cost your company much more if they perform poorly or behave badly in the future.

You can also hire outside human resources consultants to run the hiring process. That way, you'll be sure candidates will be subjected to detailed questioning that drills down into the details of their resumes. They'll also be required to pass rigorous background checks and maybe, depending on the applicable laws, even credit checks.

If you don't think you can afford hired expertise, at least employ Palmer's three common-sense rules of engagement:

1. Step one is to write a detailed job description before you interview anyone, focusing clearly on the precise skills and experience you require.

2. Step two is to be deeply curious, to refuse to take a candidate's resume at face value. This means asking detailed questions about a candidate's past experience, making them go into considerable detail about the projects and responsibilities they had with former employers. Make them talk in detail about their educational attainments. Ask them for specifics about their customer service experiences.

3. Step three is to focus the job interview. One way to do this is to conduct what's long been called the "one-question interview." Simply, you zero in on one aspect of a person's resume - say a major project they may have been involved with - and make them go through it in minute detail. "It's a simplistic view of how to interview, but it might be useful for a small business," Palmer says.

Finally, you can take heart at the prospect that resume fakery may be in decline. The reason? "Corporations and even smaller companies are spending more time on due diligence than they ever did before," Palmer says. "People are starting to realize that we check backgrounds, education and verify where they worked and when they worked."

An Increase in Employee Fraud

Fraud against small business on the rise

Talbot Boggs

March 03, 2009

Small businesses form the backbone of the Canadian economy. In 2007 they employed more than five million workers, nearly half the total private sector labour force.In fact, more than 98 per cent of all businesses in Canada are small businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees) and approximately 140,000 new small businesses start up each year.

In the past, many small businesses, including retailers, didn't pay much attention to credit card fraud because they essentially thought they were immune to it.However, it appears that credit card fraud against small businesses is growing. Visa Canada reports that about 70 per cent of credit card fraud and data security breaches now are perpetrated against small businesses.

The reason is that most small businesses think they are immune to the crime. "There is a shift by the criminal element to small businesses because many of them still believe they are impervious to it," says Michael D'Sa, senior manager of data security and investigations with Visa Canada. "When it does happen to them, it usually comes as a complete shock."

A survey by Visa Canada has found that only 25 per cent of store managers believe their businesses are somewhat vulnerable to credit card fraud and only31 per cent train their staff in fraud reduction procedures when they experience a problem.The situation is the same south of the border, where many small businesses engage in activities that can put customer information at risk, such as storing customer social security numbers, bank account numbers and copies of customers' cheques.

More than half of small businesses keep at least one of these sensitive pieces of information and 57 per cent don't believe that making customer data secure is something that needs formal planning. A well, 61 per cent of small businesses have never tried to get information about how they can properly handle and store customer information.

D'Sa says most of the problem could be eliminated if small businesses removed prohibited data and properly secured the data that was left. "Often, businesses will keep personal and credit card data on their customers for five or 10 years that is not needed," he says.

Small businesses need to understand their point of sale systems and examine what information they are keeping and what can be deleted. Businesses only need to keep the first and last four credit card digits, and the date, time and location of the transaction.

A lot of credit card fraud - between 70 and 80 per cent - is perpetrated by employees. D'Sa urges small businesses to do criminal background checks on employees and potential hires, and report any suspected cases of fraud or security breaches to police, the credit card company or their bank. "A lot of organizations might secure their perimeter but have no controls over the inside," D'Sa says.

In a brochure on the subject, Visa Canada urges small businesses to know about and comply to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which sets requirements for protecting sensitive transaction information. The standard, which has been in place since 2004, is supported buy major payment card brands and consists of 12 basic requirements for safeguarding account data.

Stimulus Money for Small Business

$700M for small business in Obama's budget

Obama's proposed budget allocates more money for the SBA than it has received in recent years, but advocates say there's still a long way to go.

By Emily Maltby, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: March 3, 2009: 11:43 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Small Business Administration is still waiting for a detailed budget and breakdown of its financial priorities for the next fiscal year, but the budget overview President Barack Obama released last week earmarks around $700 million to support the agency in 2010, enough for it to back $28 billion in loans to small businesses.

The money allocated in the 2010 fiscal budget comes on top of the $730 million in funding the SBA received from the stimulus bill, which will support emergency lending initiatives through September 2010.

Though a detailed budget proposal won't be available for several weeks, the $700 million Obama's budget recommends to fund the agency would be enough to sustain the SBA's existing lending and educational programs, and to advance administrative priorities like improving the agency's loan accounting and other IT systems.

"[The budget] is comparatively more than most of the recent years," said SBA spokesman Mike Stamler.

The SBA's budget fluctuates drastically from year to year thanks to the agency's disaster-lending program, which directly makes loans to businesses and homeowners affected by disasters like fires, floods and hurricanes. In years with significant disasters, such as 2005's Hurricane Katrina, the SBA's total budget spikes into the billions.

But the agency's core budget, to fund its administrative programs and its flagship lending initiatives, has been whittled away over the past decade. Programs that once received subsidies, such as the SBA's 7(a) and 504 programs that guarantee a portion of bank loans made to qualifying small companies, are now generally expected to support themselves through the fees they charge participants.

Small business advocate Nydia M. Velázquez, chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business, offered mild criticism of the proposed funding levels.

"While this [budget] is an important step, more needs to be done," she said in a statement. "Just as the SBA's programs were not created overnight, we cannot expect that they will be revitalized overnight. Still, I know President Obama shares my commitment to our nation's small businesses and I will work with the administration to ensure that SBA has sufficient resources to perform its mission."

Obama's proposed budget supports up to $17.5 billion in loan guarantees through the SBA's 7(a) program, as part of the $28 billion in small business loans from banks that the SBA is authorized to insure.

That's a higher loan volume than the SBA has backed in any other year this decade. Last year, the SBA backed $12.8 billion in loans through the program, a 12% drop from 2007's total. Reduced demand from entrepreneurs and banks' reluctance to issue small business loans, even with the SBA's guarantees, have contributed to the decline.