Tips from November 12, 2009 The Small Business tips today discuss different sales strategies for marketing for the holidays. Have a "12 Days of Your Company/Product/Savings." Each day change the promotion, gift, or sale. Keep your customers coming back each day. Have overstock? A complimentary gift of extra products for customers spending a certain amount of money will help balance out your stock room. Advertise new techniques, products, or services via social media. Upload coupons on your Facebook Fan page or Tweet out links to these deals. Do good for others during the holidays: offer a dollar off a product if customers bring in an item to donate to a local food pantry to help the hungry. Daily Overview: Let your customers feel like they're important and allow them to get more for their money while helping others at the same time. [Read Full Article]

  Government and Economy Has the US Become the New Russia? In the May issue of the Atlantic Monthly, Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the IMF and a professor at the Sloan School of Management at MIT compares the “financial oligarchy” running US policy with the business elites in emerging countries. FT.com SBA Lending Assistance Stalling T he parts of the federal government's stimulus program aimed at small-business owners aren't working as they should, say local owners and small-business experts who are trying to figure out what to do about the problem. Management and Fina... [Read Full Article]

  Government and Economy After the Fed’s Money Flood, Will Democracy Need a Bailout? The bailouts may be the least popular government program in history, and if the Treasury needs more money to keep it going, who knows whether Congress would provide it? As a result, Treasury and the Fed have been running what Kevin Hassett, director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, sees as a scam. Bloomberg.com Small Business Fights Back Against the Banks As banks pull back on lending and work to purge bad loans from their balance sheets, some small business borrowers are on the attack, filing lawsuits, putting out news release... [Read Full Article]

  Government and Economy UN Planning for Big Economic Changes A UN document on "climate change" envisions trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes and tariffs, industrial relocations, subsidies and complex payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes—all under UN supervision. FoxNews.com Consumer Spending Rises Consumers increased spending for a second straight month in February even though their incomes slipped due to continuing massive layoffs. Associated Press Management and Financial Issues ... [Read Full Article]