Salesforce.com (CRM) provides applications that manage customer information for sales, marketing and customer support. It has a customer base of approximately 85,000 clients. Its service provides sales leads, maintaining customer information and tracking customer interactions.

Intuit (INTU) caters to small businesses with its QuickBooks and TurboTax software. As well, it provides payroll and financial software for small businesses. The company has about 50 million users of its products.

Running a consulting business can be a juggling act. It's not easy to manage a variety of accounts while also continuing to look for new business. And, in light of the tough economy, clients are looking for ways to cut back on services.

What to do? Well, you can try to find new revenue sources. And one interesting option is to sell software products.

People who have the entrepreneurial spirit are familiar with the unique adrenaline rush that comes from the live-or-die risk of starting a business. For many, small business is a way of life that represents long hours and near-obsessive passion. With all the pressure and time constraints riding on a small business, what are the five best software applications that can greatly help these start-ups or modest operations? There are definitely some critical software choices that make a small business more efficient and more effective. And better yet, three of them are free.

According to the latest American Express (AXP) OPEN Small Business Monitor report, there are signs of improvement. Yet, the fact remains that cash flow continues to be a problem for many business owners. In fact, they have had to take some tough measures, such as cut costs, renegotiate contracts, sell personal assets and even get a second job.

But there is another way to help deal with cash flow problems -- that is, get better at invoicing and collections. While this can be uncomfortable, it is a necessity for any successful business.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

As his top pick for 2009, leading value investor Charles Mizrahi looks to Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), the maker of QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax. Here's the latest from Hidden Values Alert.

"Intuit is s a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and medium sized businesses, financial institutions, consumers, and accounting professionals.

"Their flagship products and services, including QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing.

"ProSeries and Lacerte are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. Its Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services that help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.

With "tax time" fast approaching, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) is perhaps one of the few that are happy. After all, it sells the dominant tax software product, TurboTax.

Yet, as seen with the fiscal Q2 results, things are not so rosy. Revenue increased 11% to $834.9 million and profit was $115.2 million, or 34 cents per share, down from $145.4 million, or 40 cents, a year earlier.

True, Intuit's tax business remains strong (especially the online sales). However, the company is showing some strains with its QuickBooks line (which is an accounting system for small business).

So, is this because of the slowing economy? Well, according to the conference call, Intuit wasn't sure. For example, the problem could be the result of the timing of marketing expenditures. Or, there may be strains from the credit crunch (such as the difficulties of refinancings and even getting credit lines).

As a result, it should be no surprise that Intuit has provided meager guidance. Basically, the company expects revenue growth of 5% to 7%.

Although, looking for the long haul, Intuit remains optimistic. For example, the company recently purchased Homestead, which provides websites for small businesses. This should be a nice cross sell with other Intuit products. What's more, Intuit's payroll business is still strong.

But, in today's trading, Intuit's shares are getting slammed – down 11% to $26.53.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Over the years, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) has been able to beat back Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and in the process, build a powerful franchise. But investors are wondering: where will the next stage of growth come from?

Well, if you listened to the Q3 conference call, the company is excited about the small-business category.

So, yesterday Intuit announced that it will spend $170 million for Homestead Technologies, which is a provider of websites for small businesses.

True, this is a commodity business. Yet, it can be a way to sell value-add services, such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Adwords, customer relationship management tools, and so on.

On its face, there are some clear synergies, such as with Intuit's QuickBooks and TurboTax offerings. But, since it's privately-held, it's tough the gauge the size of Homestead.

But keep in mind that the company is in a fiercely competitive business, which is undergoing consolidation. So, it should be no surprise that Homestead finally decided to sell out.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

"Gas prices are just going up, up, up, just like Google stock, baby, just like the Google stock," says Om Malik in his podcast with Niall Kennedy. eBay isn't, and in fact it is considering partnering with Microsoft (or maybe that's just a rumor it is putting out there for more bargaining power with Google).

eBay isn't working hard enough to improve the user experience, says Niall, and despite the coolness of Skype and Paypal, the core business - the auction business - is really where it needs to grow if the company is going to continue to increase its earnings.

What does eBay need to do to accomplish that? Simple, Niall and Om tell us, do these five things:

1. Integrate Paypal with the same address system, and with other services like Evite;
2. Develop a shareware application;
3. Have the ability to resell digital media like iTunes (maybe this is what they're thinking about with the Skype deal?);
4. Create a separate eBay 2.0 company that helps facilitate digital assets;
5. Buy Quicken and add it on to the eBay product line.