Small Business Revolution

12Power Tools

I AM NOT referring to those other kinds of power tools. What we will learn about in this chapter are quite a few tools that you can immediately apply in your business to grow it. Some of them are useful in certain circumstances, and others are vital for every small business to have.

A Robust Payment System

There are two kinds of features with products and services: the kind that are highly visible when done well and the kind that are invisible when done well.

The first kind is obvious. If I just had an amazing experience—a great day skiing or boating, say, or a juicy steak with family and friends—I'm probably pretty happy.

On the other hand, we take a lot of things for granted. Most of us never give electricity a thought, until the power goes out. We notice the wings on an airplane, and then forget about them, although we trust them with our lives.

In a sense, the whole system of getting and making payments is like wings on a plane or your electrical outlet. You very much need payments to work, and only really notice when a problem occurs.

I know you've been in this situation: you decide on a product and put it in your online shopping cart. You go to check out, fill in all the details including your credit card, and hit send.

Then nothing.

No confirmation, no error message—just nothing. Now what? You just attempted to send a business money, maybe a lot of money. You don't want to click the button again and risk being charged twice.

Does this sound familiar? ...