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Management Tips
How did Michael Dell get his start?
In 1984, Michael Dell left college to start a computer company. In the
ultimate story of small business success, he turned his $1,000 in startup
capital into a $32 billion global phenomenon.
What advice then does he have for small business owners? An interview
with Mr. Dell covers the following:
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Acquiring capital for growth |
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Building the company and delegating responsibility |
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Accounting for rapid growth |
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Beating out larger competitors |
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Taking the business to the next level
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To learn more, read a summary of the interview or watch the video.
Michael Dell Interview Summary
Michael Dell Interview Video
Technology Tips
Keeping a Windows XP computer healthy and happy
doesn't need to involve complex routines
In this article from Hewlett-Packard, you'll learn about some simple utilities you can use on a regular basis to keep your computer running smoothly.
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How to check a drive for errors |
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How to defragment the file system |
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How to safely delete unneeded files |
Hewlett-Packard article - Routine Maintenance for a Healthy Computer
Drop Us A Line!
Send us management & technology tips you find interesting. And, if
you want your company to appear in ServiceCEO® Newsletter, drop
us a line!
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Franchise Update Article Features Mr. Handyman
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Read
the Franchise Update article
“Mr. Handyman was feeling growing
pains caused by its management software, a proprietary product
developed in-house when the company first started. Software
problems mounted: systems crashed, data was lost, reports
failed to reflect information needed by franchisees to run
their businesses. Soon, franchise owners started complaining.”
“We investigated all avenues
and the best approach was clearly partnering with a 'best
of class' software company," stated John Eggenberger, Executive
Vice President, Mr. Handyman. "After exploring over a dozen
packages, ServiceCEO, a product produced by Insight Direct,
was the clear winner.”
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Mr. Handyman fixes its own technology,
with Toolbox Plus!
Toolbox Plus! is a branded version of ServiceCEO®
that was released in February
of this year. Toolbox Plus! is a hit - over
75% of Service Brands' 120 Mr. Handyman franchise locations
have already been converted from their old proprietary system!
First developed in-house in 1995, Mr. Handyman's Toolbox
system, had twice won top honors and global distinction
at Microsoft's Windows World Open.
In early 2003, Service Brands began a comprehensive review
of Toolbox eventually deciding to partner with
Insight Direct to replace Toolbox with ServiceCEO.
Service Brands purchased our franchise branding option,
which renamed ServiceCEO as Toolbox Plus! thereby
extending the branding that Mr. Handyman had established
back in 1995.
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Next Customer Showcase: Mr. Handyman, 12/2 at 4:00 ET
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Want to learn what
the ServiceCEO Franchise System is and how Mr. Handyman set up this
system to quickly deploy Toolbox Plus! to its franchisees?
On the first Thursday of each month at
4:00 ET we co-host Customer Showcases. This month John Eggenberger,
Executive Vice President, Mr.
Handyman will be our host.
Mr. Handyman is a $27 million Service Brands International
franchise company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan providing
building repair, maintenance and improvement services to residential
and commercial customers through 120 locations in North America.
Service Brands International needed to replace their
franchise IT solution for Mr. Handyman, yet wanted to retain expertise
in their IT department. They also sought to keep a tight control
on software licensing through centralized purchasing and delivery
of technical support and training so their franchisees would continue
to value technology as a key component of the franchise system.
Insight Direct worked with Mr. Handyman leading up
to the official launch of Toolbox Plus! to establish their
ServiceCEO Franchise System - the system used to
set up, train and support each Mr. Handyman franchisee using Toolbox
Plus!. Today, Mr. Eggenberger's IT department are ServiceCEO
experts and handle 100% of their franchisee's training and technology
requirements while relying on Insight Direct's ongoing software
engineering investments in ServiceCEO to meet their future software
needs.
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Mr. Handyman
Customer Showcase
Thursday, 12/2 at 4pm ET
| How Can You Join In? |
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Complete our
Sales Contact Form and an Account Executive will provide
you login instructions for the online meeting |
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Or, if you're already a customer with an active Membership
Plan, you can login through the Member
Center just like you do for the online training class |
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| Previous Showcases |
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Fritz Thompson and Len Hume, Professional Carpet Systems
Carpet Cleaning industry
Watch
the video. |
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Jon Lawrence, President Data
Balance
Computer Services industry
Watch
the video. |
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New ServiceCEO Subscription Pricing
Option Now Available
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Want to purchase ServiceCEO, but
need the flexibility of paying month-to-month?
We are now offering a new financing option for
customers who prefer to subscribe to -- rather than purchase --
ServiceCEO software licenses. Customers can now license ServiceCEO
with a subscription starting at $100 per month for a single-user
system, complete with technical support, online training and software
upgrades.
“A ServiceCEO subscription is
an ideal solution for small and medium-sized service businesses
and especially those companies just getting started,” said
Paul Mandragouras, VP Sales, Insight Direct.
“We understand the challenges service businesses face with managing cash flow and have responded with a flexible pricing option that we're confident our customers will find attractive. In fact, response during our trial period this past month has been incredible, with 15 percent of new customers choosing the subscription option.”
Subscription Pricing Program
Product subscriptions have a six-month minimum commitment with the
opportunity to apply 50% of the first six payments to the full purchase
price of ServiceCEO. A ServiceCEO subscription includes the following:
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ServiceCEO software
CD, complete with a digital library of technical documentation |
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Detailed User's
Guide and Implementation
Manual provided digitally and in hardcopy form |
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Unlimited access to
live, online
training classes run by ServiceCEO experts that share best
practices and answer customers’ questions |
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Pre-recorded training
videos available for downloading and viewing at any time - view
a sample training video |
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ServiceCEO upgrades
available at no additional cost |
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Online
Knowledge Base access to hundreds of ServiceCEO solutions
to common issues and questions - the same Knowledge Base our
technical support engineers use |
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60-minute technical
support plan:
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Online support ticket
system for rapid response |
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Direct, one-on-one support from
technical support engineers via telephone, e-mail or remote
computer access via a secure Internet connection |
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