If you own a small business, you likely have customers and clients to deal with on a daily basis. Your customers will appreciate having magazines to browse through, regardless of the industry you’re in.

Significant Discounts

When you subscribe to a magazine service, you can enjoy significant discounts; often up to 80% off of the retail price. This allows you to order a variety of magazines so that you can cater to your diverse selection of customers and clients. Most discount magazine companies offer thousands of titles to choose from, from sports to fashion and everything in-between.   

Waiting/Reception Rooms

If you have a business in which you book appointments for your customers, you no doubt pride yourself on keeping to a strict schedule so your patients/customers are not kept waiting too long. Sometimes, however, circumstances dictate that your patients need to wait a few minutes past their appointment time. When this happens, you want to give them a selection of magazines to choose from, as many don’t bring their own reading material with them.  

A better Customer Experience

Most of your customers and patients will understand and actually expect that they will be waiting for at least a few minutes to meet with you; having some reading material to peruse while they wait will lessen the inconvenience and irritation. When you give them a selection of magazines to choose from, you are essentially telling them that you appreciate their business, and you understand that their time is valuable as well.  

Who Should buy Magazine Subscriptions?

Magazine subscriptions are essential for many types of businesses, including:

·         Doctor’s offices

As a consultant and professional speaker, I often travel by myself and frequently dine alone. This affords me the opportunity to combine two of my favorite pastimes: eating great food and watching people.

One night at dinner in an ocean-side resort, I noticed a man and a woman seated across the room. It was a beautiful image and it caught my attention. The couple sat in silhouette, framed by a large picture window, while the setting sun turned the background shades of yellow, orange, magenta and deep purple. 

Then I began to observe the couple’s body language. During the course of the meal, I watched the man lean toward the woman—and saw her respond by pulling away from him. He leaned toward her again—and again she pulled away. The more the man leaned forward, the more his dinner companion would tilt back. By dessert, he was almost sprawled across the table and she was practically falling off her chair. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying, but it was perfectly obvious that whatever he was proposing—she wasn’t signing on!

The funny part was, the man seemed totally oblivious to the nonverbal signals the woman was so clearly sending. He would have been much more successful if he had (literally) backed off.

Last month I was reminded of this episode as I sat at another restaurant watching two men at the bar. This time I was close enough to overhear their conversation, so I knew that one man was in sales and the other was a potential client. By the time they’d finished their drinks, I also knew the deal was dead. And it wasn’t anything that was said. In the midst of a normal “getting-to-know-you” conversation, I watched the salesman move so close to his prospect that the client began, very slowly, to inch away. This went on for some time, but finally the client could stand it no longer. He excused himself to make a phone call – and left the restaurant shortly afterward.

One of the easiest mistakes to make during a business encounter with someone is to misjudge how much space the other person needs.

“So, what does ‘sustainable’ actually mean?”

When asked this, I always pause to consider my response, as there are so many things that live beneath the “sustainable roof.” In fact, I believe everything has a sustainable counterpart: transportation, electricity, clothes, vacations, and yes, especially food. 

My passion for environmental stewardship led me into a career in the “green” industry – and to become an expert in sustainability! To share my passion and learning experiences with you, below is my personal glossary of terms when it comes to sustainable food:

Antibiotic free: Animals that are given antibiotics to promote growth and compensate for unfit living circumstances rather than for therapeutic purposes like they were developed for.  There are negative repercussions for people and the environment. The use of antibiotics in animals is now causing a resistance to antibiotic treatment in humans.  Due to runoff, antibiotics are now showing up in water systems throughout the U.S. 

Hormone free: Animals are given hormones to make them grow to market size much faster than they would naturally.  There are negative repercussions for people and the animals.  These hormones are ingested by humans.  People are growing increasingly concerned the hormones are causing cancer and early puberty, though little research has been done.  The animals that are being pumped with hormones are growing at an unnatural speed.

Artisanal: This term is meant to imply that a product is made in a non-industrialized, small scale type production.  As there is no legal definition for this term, it can be applied to any item - regardless of how it was produced.