Nov/090
Office Space Rental: The Best Choice
The starting point for determining your operating costs under an office lease is identifying what services the landlord provides, what services the tenant must get directly, and who bears the cost. The following are common costs for office space:
Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (commonly referred to as “HVAC”); cleaning and janitorial services, electricity, repairs, security.
Term of the lease. Landlords are typically willing to make concessions for longer-term leases. A company’s needs may change, however, so try to negotiate a shorter-term lease with renewal options.
Usable square footage is less than rentable square footage because it deducts common areas such as public corridors, elevators, lobbies, and bathrooms from the overall calculation. So, to compare apples to apples, you have to know the exact usable square footage of each space you are considering.
In this case, your company’s moving in will naturally cause cost increases. Get the landlord to count the base-year costs as if the building were fully occupied and operational.
Repairs, improvements and replacements. Be aware of a clause that says that at the end of the lease premises must be returned in their original condition. Assignment and subletting. Companies should negotiate enough flexibility in the assignment and subletting clause to allow for mergers, reorganizations, and share ownership changes. Option to renew. Try to get the option to renew your rent at a fixed predetermined price, not based on a “fair market” price.
Right of first offer or first refusal for additional space. A right of first offer obligates your landlord to present any space that becomes available in the building to you first before marketing it to third parties. A right of first refusal on space obligates the landlord to bring you any deals he is willing to sign with third parties for space in the building and allow you to match the deal and preempt the third party. See Option to Expand Under Office Leases for more information.
Keep in mind that different buildings have different costs and landlords may charge for services in a different manner. So the types and amounts of the costs that the landlord passes on to the tenant can have a big impact on the economics of a lease
Finding the best information about office space for lease can be overwhelming at times. One of the best places we found online to get the straight facts is office space rental in miami fl
Sep/090
Easy Ways To Market Your Business
Direct marketing is not just about brochures, emails and coupons. It requires creativity. Regardless of the communication channel, the key is to ask for a response by any means. One of the major difficulties in trying to define the specificity of direct marketing consists in choosing the most complete definition. Here’s one of the definitions proposed by Direct Marketing Association (DMA): “Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing that uses one or more means of communication to obtain a measurable response that can lead in some cases, to acquisition.” The most popular tools used in direct marketing are: door to door leaflet marketing, radio, television, direct mail, the Internet, call centers, coupons, voicemail, direct sales, etc.
Direct marketing focuses on a particular audience, promoting products, services and ideas through various channels of communication. Its main advantage is that the results achieved are measurable.
Marketing activities for each company are an investment and must have measurable results that justify the investment. Also, direct marketing involves indicators and methods for evaluating the results obtained in each stage and financial resources.
It is much cheaper to develop a direct marketing campaign by using the email, because the costs of recruiting members are much lower. Moreover, such a campaign offers you the possibility to make accurate predictions.
Direct marketing can help the company to avoid spending money unnecessarily, because the products can be tested on a targeted audience. Thus, if a product causes negative reactions, being ineffective, it can be improved or replaced. All the studies involved are tested in real conditions, providing concise and relevant results.
Receiving feedback from clients is another advantage of using direct marketing campaigns. The company can improve the products and services, based on the reactions and opinions provided by customers.
This type of marketing, like other activity, has its own rules that must be considered:
Setting clear objectives is essential. Theodore Levitt, the famous marketing guru, describes the process of direct marketing as a way of “attracting and keeping customers.” In fact, direct marketing, being based on mail or phone messages, represents a way to build marketing relationships between company and clients.
Direct marketing must focus on a relevant database, while using not only to generate sales, but also for a more effective communication with the customers. This database should provide information about the customer’s profile (preferences, work place, income, geographic location, interests).
The customers must understand clearly why the company’s products are more desirable than those provided by others. They must be attracted by the product’s efficiency and not only by the way in which it is presented.
Take into account the existence of a simple interface that allows you to receive feedback from customers.
April Kerr owns website Ecometrist which is all about topics relating to direct marketing help, tools for marketing your business and such like.