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Q: How do I renegotiate my lease to obtain a lower rate?
A: If you are negotiating a lease renewal, talk to the landlord about all the vacant and unleased space in your neighborhood. Remind him or her that you have been a good tenant and paid your bills on time. Now, is the time to ask for a reduced rate on your lease. The landlord can keep the space filled and you can get a rate competitive to today’s market conditions.

If you are in the middle of a lease term, you can talk to the landlord about renegotiating your lease. You can also discuss reducing your rental rate by using less space. Before you go into the meeting, have a plan. You can meet with a SCORE counselor in your town, to talk about local market conditions and how you can make the best lease arrangement for your business.

If this is new to you, SCORE can help. Find SCORE near you to meet with a mentor in person or Ask SCORE online.

Barbara Lippard, Guest Blogger
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I received the following article about how Dell is using Twitter to engage customers and solidify their brand. It had some good tips so I thought I’d share. (Reprinted with permission.)

Dell Demonstrates Twitter’s “Soft” ROI
Not many companies can boast a $1 million return on investment with Twitter. Dell can do that and more. Beyond driving sales through its 28 Twitter accounts – including @DellOutlet, @Alienware and @DellSmBizOffers – the PC-maker is driving a return that’s not as easy to measure but may be worth millions to the brand name.

Indeed, the value of connecting with customers and building relationships can pay dividends for decades to come. And that’s just what Dell is doing with its growing Twitter following. @DellOutlet has nearly 30,000 followers, and its other accounts combined total almost as many.

For Dell, it’s not about winning followers; it’s about starting conversations, fostering relationships and building communities. In doing so, the company is building a positive brand awareness in the social media world.

Of course, the return of investment of branding efforts is at best squishy and at worst nearly impossible to quantify. Add the social media element to the mix and it gets even more difficult to peg. Drill down to the Twitter level and some may say it’s impossible. But not for Dell.

Addressing Consumer Concerns
“We have resolved hundreds of thousands of customer issues through social media,” says Richard Binhammer, Dell’s social media guru. “People talk on the Web, and we’ve discovered you don’t have to wait until negative comments are reported in the media to address them.” more…