kilulujournal

Azox has successfully completed its first French store for Mitutoyo ! This ecommerce website utilizes eSource B2B with a variety of features to sell meteorological testing equipment to customers. One desired feature of this Microsoft Dynamics GP ecommerce solution was a navigable site. To successfully provide smooth navigation and make finding products easier, Mitutoyo needed advanced search capabilities. There are a few features that helped Mitutoyo provide this to customers. First, the company has their inventory organized into a catalog. This catalog groups similar products together based on assigned attributes. To further improve browsing, Mitutoyo also uses filters. Filters allow customers to search for items by specific criteria, like product attributes and features. While browsing this web store, customers will also be presented with related products in order to up sell or cross sell additional items. Mitutoyo’s site also features saved carts, analytics and multi store. Saved c...

Women’s Leadership Breakfast is 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 13 at Marriott Centerpoint, 3600 Centerpoint Parkway, Pontiac. The Center for Women in Business will offer information on key factors that help women succeed in corporate America. Following the presentation, a panel discussion of corporate executives will provide insight and advice on corporate advancement for women in business. Partner hosts include Auburn Hills Chamber of Commerce, Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce and Troy Chamber of Commerce. Ticket prices are $25 for chamber members and $30 for non-members. Add $5 per ticket after March 11. Speakers include: Roberta Zenn Phillips, Executive Director of Center for Women in Business, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Lori Blaker, president/CEO of TTi, Inc.; Steve Henderson, general manager of Dow Automotive and Rumia Ambrose- Burbank, president/founder. For information, contact the Auburn Hills Chamber of Commerce at 248-853-7862 or v isit www.auburnhillschamber.com

Submitted by Hannah Auerbach Newman Communications of Watertown, MA As businesses become increasingly globally focused, managers need to understand how to lead, motivate, and inspire multicultural, virtual, multigenerational teams. Communication expert Lisa B. Marshall created an authoritative reference guide - 288 pages of tactical and practical inspiration to help people master what Lisa calls "smart talk". SMART TALK (St. Martin's Griffin; January 22, 2013) is a swiss army knife of communication-a comprehensive set of tools to avoid communication breakdowns in any business situation. Here are three tips from her book: Provide restorative feedback: When utilized correctly, feedback is one of the fastest ways to improve productivity. To emphasize this importance, Marshall created the term restorative feedback, which is a respectful and collaborative way to illuminate blind spots and reinforce a job well done. For maximum improvement, use a 5:1 positive to negative feedb...

A consumer-facing B2C site for Zila went live a couple weeks ago and now the company’s B2B ecommerce website is ready. Zila is an oral hygiene company that makes products used for oral care and cancer screening and sells them to dental professionals. The company’s B2B ecommerce website provides an environment that these professionals can use to browse electric toothbrushes, lasers, oral medications and more. While searching Zila’s inventory, users will be shown related products based on what they are viewing to encourage up selling and cross selling. From the back end, Zila employees are also able to assign specific users unique catalogs as they deemed fit. This web store is equipped with a shipping rate calculator that provides UPS, USPS, FedEx and Purolater rates as well as Azox Credit Card Extension, which allows customers to submit credit card payments in Microsoft Dynamics GP that are processed real time. In addition to this new B2B site, Azox has also completed an upgrade for E...

TROY — “Hire and Keep That Elusive 'Ideal' Employee” is 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 27 at Automation Alley Headquarters. 2675 Bellingham Drive, Troy. John M. Jones, director, business leader - talent and rewards, of Towers Watson presents tips on how to hire and keep that elusive ‘ideal’ employee. The cost is $30 for members and  $50 for non-members at the door. For information, visit www.automationalley.com or call 800-427-5100. FERNDALE — Valentine Vodka owner Rifino Valentine will share his story and path to success at a special Marketing and Sales Executives of Detroit (MSED) networking event on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The event will be held at Valentine Vodka, located at 161 Vester Street in Ferndale. The evening features networking and appetizers at 5 p.m., a distillery tour and tasting at 6 p.m. and pizza and networking at 6:30 p.m. The cost for the event is $55 for MSED members and $70 for non-members. To register, call 248-643-6950 or visit www.msedetroit.org.

Feb. 19 ROYAL OAK — The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) - Detroit chapter presents a special evening with voice-image specialist Marlena Reigh at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19, at a private home in Farmington Hills. Reigh, president of Voice Image Specialist, LLC, will share the five voice habits that sabotage a woman’s business success and how to avoid them. It only takes seconds for others to want to listen to us, based on the sound quality of our voices. Find out how to have a voice image that gets the professional results you want. Reigh has more than 20 years of experience in speaking, coaching, and leading seminars. MARS Advertising of Southfield is the spotlight sponsor. The evening will begin with networking and a light supper, followed by the program. The cost is $20 for members, $25 for nonmembers, and $15 for students. Register at www.womcomdetroit.org or call 866-385-1784.   Feb. 27 WATERFORD TWP. — Women’s Business Certification Orientation is 9-...

The Inventors Council of Mid-Michigan, holds a gathering of the minds of inventors on the second Thursday of each month. The next meeting is 7 p.m. Thursday Feb. 14 at Walli's Restaurant & Banquet Center , ( I-69 and Center Road) 1341 S. Center Road, Burton. Admission is $5 for nonmembers, members get in free. The council is a resource for creative people who need ideas on how to take an idea and run with it. As Orville Crain, CEO of Klever Innovations LLC said, "You're not an inventor until you do something with that idea." The Inventors Council was started by Bob Ross of Service Corps Of Retired Executives (SCORE) and Larry Ford, president of the Flint Area Chamber of Commerce (FACC), in 1997. Call 810-621-3468 or email Jim Harris with questions to harris03@charter.net or visit inventorscouncil.org.

The first of our monthly webinars will take place this week and will cover the benefits of using online bill pay. Interested in a different topic? Each month, we host three webinars. Topics covered include benefits of using our ecommerce solution that integrates with Microsoft Dynamics GP, secure payment processing and online bill pay. These webinars are available at no cost to you and last about 30 minutes. Please join us to learn more about our products! This month, the webinar schedule is as follows: Advantagesof Online Bill Payment for Microsoft Dynamics GP Wednesday, February 13, 2013 12:00 – 12:30 p.m. EST Using our online bill pay solution will make it easier for your business to collect payments efficiently and on time. This solution, which integrates with Microsoft Dynamics GP, can be added to new or existing websites and allows customers to view, print and pay invoices online. Secure Credit Card Processing in Microsoft Dynamics GP Wednesday, February 20, 2013 12:00 – 12:30 p....

WASHINGTON - The number of improving housing markets continued to expand for a sixth consecutive month to a total of 259 metropolitan areas on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for February. This is up from 242 markets listed as improving in January, and includes entrants from all 50 states and the District of the Columbia. The IMI identifies metro areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months. A total of 20 new metros were added to the list and three were dropped from it this month. Newly added metros include such geographically diverse locations as Rome, Ga.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Racine, Wis.  "The fact that all 50 states now have at least one metro on the improving list shows that the housing recovery has substantial momentum and continues to expand from one market to the n...

Submitted by Hannah Auerbach, Account Executive, New man Communica tions Drawing on their experience from coaching executives and training world-class organizations, Merrick Rosenberg and Daniel Silvert have writ ten a book,  "Taking Flight!" about four work styles, using the acronym, DISC. The book lays out a b lueprint for understanding how to get more productivity out of workers and helps workers i dentify what style they are and what they should look for in a job. Take Flight!" e xcerpt: "The degree to which people like their jobs is largely a function of the corporate culture in which they work. People spend a significant percentage of their waking lives at work, so matching work environment with style can lea d to greater job satisfaction and a more rewarding career. Although no setting will likely satisfy every want or need, there’s a lot to be said for understanding the types of environments that bring out our best. What follows are optimal work e...

Online retailers haven’t made it past the holiday craze just yet. Christmas may be behind us, but Valentine’s Day, the second largest gift giving holiday of the year, will be here in no time. National Retail Federation has predicted that consumers will each spend $130.97 on gifts, up from $126.03 last year, with an estimated total of $18.6 billion. Consumers purchases will include candy, flowers, jewelry, greeting cards, gift cards and other goods for their significant others as well as for family members, friends, co-workers and even their pets. Given the current economic conditions, it will be more common for consumers to buy conventional items, like candy or greeting cards this Valentine’s Day. Not only is spending predicted to increase, but so will the amount of consumers planning to shop online. Based on a survey of 5,815 consumers, 26.3 percent of them will choose to do their Valentine’s Day shopping online, an increase of 7 percent from 2012. Additionally, 40.7 percent of those ...

The second annual Entrepreneur-YOU women's conference is 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Walsh College's Troy campus. Entrepreneur-YOU is designed to provide supportive resources for women who are growing or starting any type of business. The program was initiated in 2012 through the collaboration of successful local business women seeking to help women in Southeast Michigan who have entrepreneurial talent. Event collaborators include Huntington Bank, Inforum, Michigan Women's Foundation and Walsh College. The day-long conference offers four tracks with work sessions and panels to assist participants at every stage of entrepreneurship. The keynote speaker for the event is Lori Blaker, CEO of TTi Global, a staffing, training and outsourcing solutions provider. Blaker has led her company to rank among the top 25 women-run businesses in the United States, and she has earned honors that include Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year. Recently she was part of t...