RESOURCE CENTRE

Your EnterQuest Bulletin - 9 March 2004

In this week's issue:

• avoiding copyright theft
• a factsheet about complying with copyright
• keeping your customers for life
• a book about trading on eBay

Avoiding copyright theft

A couple of weeks ago, one of our research team came across an article on the Internet, an online version of a trade magazine, which appeared very familiar to us. Familiar because, it was a straight lift of one of our entire factsheets.

Digging a bit more, we found that several of our factsheets had been used to publish even more of these articles, without our knowledge or permission, and with no acknowledgment that we were the owners of the information.

In legal terms, this is known as copyright infringement. In layman's terms, it's known as theft. Theft of our original work.

Why would someone do this? Well, that is a frustrating question for us, because we come across instances like this all the time in our line of work, often by organisations in the public and voluntary sectors, whose job it is to advise small businesses.

These people will rip off someone else's copyright or intellectual property and pass it off as their own, because it will save them the time and cost of doing the work themselves, or because they can't do it themselves. In some cases, they actually believe that information is not anyone's property, and that they are free to use it as they please.

Ignorant people who are ignorant of the law.

In this particular case, the offenders' only defence was that they thought they had permission from another organisation that had drawn their attention to our factsheets. Therefore, it was all unintentional and innocent infringement.

With copyright law, this is no defence at all, and anyone proven guilty can face fines, claims for damages and loss of profits, other financial compensation, and, in serious cases, even imprisonment.

The moral of this particular story?

Copyright legislation is a confusing and alien subject not just for newly started businesses, but also for many experienced traders, and many unfortunate entrepreneurs fall foul of this area of law.

Using, copying, reproducing, extracting and distributing information belonging to someone else without their knowledge or consent can land you in very hot water indeed, and may well result in you being accused of copyright infringement, even if it was genuinely unintentional.

If you come across some information in a book, report, training course, or on a website that you would like to use, refer to or republish, then there is a simple policy you should follow every time. Contact the author or publisher and ask their permission to use it, as generally they will be delighted to come to an arrangement, sometimes at no cost, in exchange for acknowledgment of ownership.

To help you understand copyright law a bit more thoroughly, see if you know the answers in each of these situations.

Which of the following does and which does not generally infringe copyright?

a) lifting one entire section from someone's training manual and using it in your own manual, word-for-word.
b) using a page you find displayed freely on the Internet and publishing it as your own on your website.
c) photocopying some pages from a published market report for your own personal research.
d) copying small extracts from a published report, and publishing these in your own report.

The answers are at the end of this bulletin, or in the following factsheet, which will also provide you with a useful guide to complying with copyright legislation.

Here is the factsheet:

A Guide to Complying with the Copyright of Others

Weekly business tip

Keeping your customers for life

There is no single secret formula to growing a business effectively, and there are many different strategies that a business can use. But any strategy or formula that is going to succeed will generally include the following four ingredients:

1. attracting more new customers
2. increasing your average sales amount
3. making your customers buy from you more often
4. keeping your customers for life

It is in each of these four strategy areas that you need to leverage your marketing efforts, to ensure you are locking your customers into a lifetime relationship with your business.

You need to find unique ways to offer added value to them so that they want you and your business to be a part of their life for as long as possible; in other words, creating lifetime loyalty.

There are many different ways you can do this in each of these four areas, but here are a few examples to help you get started:

• Develop an education-based marketing strategy that compels your prospects to contact you to learn more about how you can help them.
• Continually suggest add-on items and services that will complement your customers' purchases.
• Offer several items in bundles that would cost less than if sold individually.
• Establish ongoing communication with them; for example, in a regular newsletter that presents compelling offers that are difficult to turn down.
• Track your customers' usage and buying patterns to suggest new purchases before they actually need them.
• Follow up with satisfaction surveys to see how they're enjoying the benefits of what you sold them, and suggest products or services that would increase their satisfaction.
• Find ways to offer uncommon or currently unmatched customer service levels.

Educating, guiding, counselling, suggesting ideas, offering valuable upgrades and continually adding new benefits to your service will make your customers want you to continue to be part of their life, and help you develop the lifetime relationships that ensure your enterprise will be a success.

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New business idea

Each week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business ideas in the UK.

Here is this week's idea:

• Concierge Services

Just one word

Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.

What is the meaning of the word "improvident"?

a) lacking foresight
b) unfaithful
c) shameless
d) needing proof

Answer at the end of Bulletin.