Own a business ... check this out

With mounting costs and an uncertain economic climate business owners now have to sell their businesses even harder than ever and BayToday is here to help. Baytoday in partnership with Dear Vivian is offering the chance for one lucky business owner in North Bay to receive free services and support for their business for the next year.

Who or what is Dear Vivian you might ask, well Dear Vivian is an online service that makes it easy and convenient for customers to communicate directly with business owners and offer feedback on what they like and what improvements they would like to see.

Customers who visit the Dear Vivian website can leave comments on a specific business either anonymously or with their contact information, and an email notification is sent to the business when comments are received so that they can quickly review and respond.

Other Dear Vivian features include the ability for businesses to ask customers questions, offer incentives, or advertise special offers whenever they want.

Business owners may ask how can Dear Vivian benefit our business, the answer is quite simple, Dear Vivian allows you to get to know your customers better in order to improve your business on every level.

Having the instant feedback about what is working and what is not working with the business form the customers’ point of view offers a huge advantage over competitors as well as helping to make better business decisions.

“The more you learn, the faster your business will grow and prosper,” says Lou Derrer of Dear Vivian.

“Your customers have a lot more to say about your business than you think. Make it easy for them to communicate with you and they will.”

Derrer says the whole process of virtually connecting with customers saves time and in some cases can save great deals of cash and in some cases the business altogether.

“First, being selected for this opportunity could provide a tremendous boost to your business in 2009, and help you ride out the current economic downturn.”

“Second, businesses that are not selected for the grand prize will receive a free one month membership on Dear Vivian - just for participating!”

“The value of the grand prize package is $4,700 and consists of a one year membership on Dear Vivian including all promotional materials. Also a three hour consultation with me Lou Derrer of Derrer Marketing, Free publicity and exposure throughout the year on Dear Vivian and Baytoday, and a free banner ad on Baytoday for one year.”

Any business in North Bay that has been operating less than three years is eligible for the give-away.

If your business doesn’t meet the eligibility check out Dear Vivian and let BayToday know how we are doing, and remember to check out Lou Derrer's weekly column Jump Start Your Business.

Click here to sign-up http://blog.dearvivian.com.