An Interchange Plus Pricing Structure Can Greatly Reduce Your Monthly Credit Card Processing Fees
Traditionally small to mid sized businesses have been set up with what is called multi-tier pricing for their credit card processing. This system is usually set up with three tiers (qualified, mid-qualified, and non-qualifed.) Occassionally, if the business owner has negotiated well, there will be a fourth tier for qualified offline debit cards. While this system has worked well for many years, the increasing number of rewards and corporate cards being issued has made this type of pricing obsolete.Visa and Mastercard have many different interchange categories for the multiple card types that are issued. Tier pricing takes a large number of these categories and lumps them into one of the three tier buckets available to the merchant. If the merchant only ever takes standard credit cards then this system will work well for them. Once they start to see more debit, rewards, and corporate cards being used in their place of business they will notice that their merchant services bill has increased dramatically. This is because many of these transactions are falling in to the mid or non qualified transaction categories.Some of these cards are actually not that much more to process than a standard credit card, but the underwriting company for the merchant account needs to make sure that they are profiting on every transaction. They can ensure profit if they charge a large mark up for any transactions that are not qualified. So you may pay 2.9% for a mid quali

Career Counseling Advice: You Gotta Sell Yourself!
Don’t know how to sell yourself? You’ll miss out on the best career counseling advice!It all starts with changing some misconceptions about job search. You see, most of us were given career counseling advice that an interview or a meeting with a prospective employer means talking about your background and work history.Nothing could be further from the truth.It’s not about your past or what you used to do for someone else. It’s about how you come across right now, in the present moment. That means you have to sell yourself so people get a powerful snapshot of you . . . one that makes them sit up and pay attention to you!And since some of your best job recommendations and referrals are going to come from people you already know and respect, you must be able to sell them as well.So how do you do that?Here's some powerful career counseling advice: prepare a carefully crafted assertive story about you. Then rehearse it. Here are some tips to help you put together this important sales presentation.1. Make a list of your personal work-related qualities, values and accomplishments (not your work history).2. Select two or three work accomplishments you are particularly proud of that illustrate your qualities and capabilities.3. Now put together a short (one or two minutes) assertive story that weaves together a picture of you at work--one that illustrates the most representative of your qualities and values.

The Cost Of College Vs. Entry Level Salary
The job market for college graduates is said to be at its best right now. However, the average salary isn’t as promising if you fall within the majority of graduates, even with the vast amount of jobs available. And, if you had to take out student loans to pay for education, the amount of money you make at a new entry level job isn’t comparable to what you owe student loan companies for your education.In a recent article from USNews.com, “America’s Best Colleges 2007,” at least fifty percent of college students in the U.S. receive a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts. Some of the most popular majors fall under Liberal Arts: English, Public Relations, Political Science, Journalism, etc. But while choosing a Liberal Arts major may appeal to your interests, it doesn’t show promising income for the future.According to a NACE Salary Survey from Spring 2006, liberal arts and educational careers have the lowest average salary for entry level positions. Entry level positions for careers within a Liberal Arts major pay an average of $30,958 annually.Thirty one thousand a year doesn’t seem so bad, but if you paid for school with student loans and attended a private university, it may take about thirty years to pay back your student loans. According to an article in 1010 Wins, two out of three students in New York borrow money to attend college and some 460,000 college graduates in “the empire state” will carry more than $6.4 billion in debt (www.1010wins.com).<

Beware Of The Ides Of March And Other Doomsday Theories
We all have recollections of historical dates of significance. So as you plan out your yearly calendar, have a little fun with what is going on in the outside world. Look for clever dates and innovation memorials that you can use as a marketing tool. Not only can you use these little tidbits to amuse yourself, you can also use them to reconnect with friends, colleagues, associates, bosses, potential employer, and reporters.March 15th was the day Julius Caesar was given the warning of impending doom. He, as history connotes, ignored the warning. If you are Irish, St. Patrick's Day is a big one and it is just around the corner. Also, did you know that the rubber band was invented on that same day in 1845? Can you imagine life without them?Consider the rubber band. Get creative and mail someone an envelope full of them with a clever, personal note. Some suggestions: "Think of me when you need a rubber band.” "I'm stretching myself to figure out why I haven't heard from you.” “I'm like this rubber band and bouncing back into your like.” OK! Some of these sound corny, but you get the picture.You can even invent your own holiday and submit it to Chases Calendar @ Chases.com. Think of all the excitement you can generate around a holiday you created. The point is I'm not telling you WHAT to say just that you need to RECONNECT. Using innovation and creativity will make it a whole lot more fun and will imprint your in someone's memory book.Remember my a

Acquisition Of Sears And Kmart
The Kmart Holding Corporation informed about its intention to acquire Sears and all business publications all over the country reported on the outcomes on the retailers, the real estate implications and the resolve of this step. It is clear that the acquisition of Sears by Kmart Holding Corporation may change the course of future corporation’s actions and plans. The Kmart is presently number three retailer after Wal-Mart and Target in the country.Tom Speh, the Rees Distinguished Professor of Distribution at Miami University, thinks the acquisition is a wrong step in this situation: "I do not think these companies have clear aims and will fit each other," he states. "It is not a similar situation with a merger of Kraft and Nabisco where one takes present opportunities and sells more product to reach the greater benefit. Until this moment, I do not see a weighty reason for acquisition."The new company will start selling brand products in Sears locations and using Kenmore appliances in Kmart stores. The corporation will carry out the research work according to which it will examine which brands work in which retail environments. Nevertheless, there question is whether Kenmore appliances fit in the same stores and whether one line of products gives way to the other. In addition, the new Holdings Corporation has to master the science in order to get essential savings in logistics administrative prices. For instance, the new entity could reduce its expenses in de

Call Center Innovations
Call center innovations refer to the deployment of customized software solutions that fundamentally changes the way call centers have traditionally tried to balance the appropriate levels of customer care with call center operating efficiency. Innovations help call centers to remain profitable, offer better services to customers, and stay ahead of competing call centers.Innovative solutions use multiple algorithms to solve primary problems of almost all call centers such as providing fast customer care support, effective leveraging of agent expertise and time, increasing revenue, reduce operating expenses, and simplify call center management.Innovative call center solutions do not use the traditional "first-in-first-out" approach of queuing callers and instead concentrate more on analyzing the needs of callers, their potential business value, and desire to wait. It also analyzes agent skills to predict their availability and designates agents to handle specific callers regardless of their position in queue. Innovative solutions, for the first time, have shifted call centers in favor of a system that fairly balances the workload of the agents while matching them to the best prospect for the business. Call center innovations make it easier for agents to give callers high quality services that generates customer loyalty and sales, but at a lower cost to the business.Innovative solutions allow call centers to minimize caller wait times by optimizing the