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rsquo Tagged Articles
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Practice, Practice, Practice then Play
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| In the sporting world it is expected that athletes make the time to practice, practice, practice and then go and compete or play the game. Through regular practice they hone their skills, behaviours and attitudes to ensure they are ‘match fit’ and ready to compete at the highest standards.
A sports team needs to make sure that when they are in the thick of the game they can draw upon those skill drills and practice sessions to perform well as a team and perform well under pressure.
When an individual athlete is neck and neck with a competitor racing for the finish line they need to know how to dig deep and draw upon their experiences, skills, and mental and physical reserves to cross the finish line first. This cannot happen without lots of conscious, purposeful practice. |
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How Tech Firms Miss Marketing Opportunities
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| Many tech firms put a lot of emphasis on their technology and not enough on the service that goes with it. By doing this they’re missing out on a chance to differentiate themselves and including sales-talk that’s meaningful to the end-user. |
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Creating a Toronto Tagline
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| Rapport is invited to submit one clever statement to sum up Toronto’s DNA. Though rushed and free, a fun exercise and good exposure, we agreed. Read the full article to find out how we arrived at ‘Toronto... It’s Where the World is Going.’ |
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Wills Lifestyle to franchise in smaller towns, opens 6 stores
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| The expansion series will begin with the opening of stores across Vizag, Bhopal, Nasik, Amritsar, Guwahati and Mangalore among others |
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Go Chaatzz Food Franchise Forays in South India
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| South India is a humungous market for North Indian Chaat Food. A market that Go! Chaatzz.. Is targeting to capture. It has ambitious plans to be the number one North Indian Vegetarian Food & Beverage restaurant chain in South India. Hyderabad is strategically chosen as the first South Indian city to test the brand’s potential success. A cosmopolitan city with diverse culture, yet deprived of a true North Indian Vegetarian dine in atmosphere. The keys to success are simple, Go! Chaatzz.. Will provide a value for money hygienic dining experience in a very classy manner. The chic looking outlet at Himayathnagar at Hyderabad exhibits that Go! Chaatzz.. Is all set to take over the market for many years to come. With five outlets launched initially through the franchising route, there are many more in the pipeline in the next six months alone. |
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Preparing for the upturn - Retaining and attracting the best skills in the market.
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| With the first signs of economic recovery upon us employers need to be prepared for the upturn, they need to focus on retaining skills and keep employees engaged in their work, if voluntary turnover increases after an economic downturn, then companies have to bear the costs to recruit, train, and attract new employees to replace those who have left. Replacing lost employees quickly becomes expensive. Not only does turnover have financial implications, it also impacts workplace performance. However this is just the tip of the iceberg as customer relationships are impacted, knowledge is lost and often other employees have to pick up the slack, causing increased levels of stress among the remaining workforce. |
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How to Eliminate Workplace Negativity
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| As mere humans, we are bound to make mistakes such as say things that may not be perceived well, or perhaps make a decision that can affect themselves and several fellow employees negatively. Unfortunately, with workplace negativity these small issues, if not handled accurately, can fester into bigger issues within the entire organization. The extra time and effort spent to correct, an already festering negative environment could be conserved if small efforts are made to identify, and eliminate the small sparks. In this astronology article, we will find the identifying marks of a festering negative culture, and list the many ways organizations can overcome the dilemma. |
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Supervisor Training
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| The time has come within your organization to elect a new leader for a project, or to supervise a new expansion. What recognizable marks are there to help identify a potential supervisor amongst the organization? How do you train this new leader to effectively guide in such a way that proves successful? In this issue of Astronology we list some helpful tips in identifying and properly training potential and expectant supervisors. |
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Emotional Intelligence-Hiring People Who Can Do More Than Just The Job
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| Emotional Intelligence is an essential to success on the job. Perhaps as much as 75% or more of a person's success on the job can be attributed to Emotional Intelligence. In many knowledge based jobs, IQ is necessary to get the job, but Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is essential to success in those jobs. |
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Use Facebook Pages to Market Your Online Income Opportunities
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| At the last count Facebook had something like 500 Million users worldwide the majority of whom live in the USA. This social site is rapidly becoming Google’s biggest rival with Facebook advertising getting ready to take a lot of business away from Google Adwords. Because of this Facebook has become too big for any serious online business marketer to ignore. |
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Web Design & Development - Why the Huge Range in Pricing?
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| As in any industry where people specialize, the specialists can be costly and the freelancers generally cheaper. This holds true for the web development industry. Unfortunately, paying a higher price is no guarantee that your web site will be developed with the traditional creative and writing skills required for the design portion of the site. On the reverse side, using a freelancer because ‘it’s a great deal’ may get you great design but also a site that hasn’t been developed for user functionality and vice a versa. Design and web development are two distinct skill sets. |
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A COURTROOM WITH A VIEW
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| “Oh, no! Just my luck,” I fumed. I was just selected as a juror in a criminal case downtown Los Angeles. Like the jurors described in the LA Times article a few months ago, I was not happy thinking about how this was going to interfere with my work as a small business owner. |
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Incorporating Social Media into Traditional Marketing
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| It has been suggested by social media enthusiasts that by using it, businesses no longer need what is known as traditional marketing tools, i.e. business cards, web sites, etc. I believe incorporating social media into traditional marketing will enhance the ‘brick and mortar’ of traditional marketing. People still need business cards for face-to-face meetings, web sites provide essential company information and services provided. People want/expect more than a sales pitch in a tweet to encourage them to use your services. |
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THE FOUR MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EMAIL AND DIRECT MAIL
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| While there are many similarities between email and direct mail copy, there are four key differences to be aware of. Here are four of them: |
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Retaining Talented and High Performing Management Staff
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| With the economy starting to pick up, proactive HR professionals want to make sure their key talent doesn’t walk out the door. But what are the most effective ways to ensure employee retention? With all the motivational tools out there, it’s hard to know which is the "right" one to use. In this issue of Astronology we examine research results prepared by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement. Not familiar with the Forum? The Forum’s goal is to generate a better understanding of how organizations can and should implement award / motivational programs for success. Additional, the Forum strives to examine the extent to which these programs can achieve a broad range of organizational objectives. |
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When is the Right Time to Rebrand?
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| Rebranding is much like the caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly evolution. After time in a cocoon your business has matured, your competitive advantage is becoming apparent, you know who your favourite clients are – the ones you want more of. Once you’ve been in business long enough and have some experience under your belt, you can seriously tackle your competitive advantage. From these experiences, processes and case studies you can draw a true differentiator. How you do what you say makes you different, often becomes what makes you different. If you figure this out, it should become the basis of all your messaging and marketing tools. |
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Brand Positioning Sessions = Clarity
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| Brand positioning sessions are important steps in providing clarity when creating a Positioning Statement. The client is asked a number of questions about what they actually do, their ideal clients, how they find them, their goals, what makes them different. It reflects goals to strive for and is the bedrock of everything going forward – the website, all design and marketing tools. Lists of words that describe the client turn into a bunch of tag lines, present both the agency and client with several options and an opportunity to collaborate on their branding. Client and agency collaboration in branding sessions brings clarity to the client as to what their positioning statement should be and how to brand it. |
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The 7 Deadliest Financial Mistakes Self Employed Make Coming Out of Recession
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| For many of my self employed clients, the sales cycle is already on an upswing. Recovery recession has turned from a deep desire to a slow spiral of reality. Now comes regroup, refocus and rebuild. As you build plans for the rest of this year and into next, avoid these deadly financial mistakes that may kill your business during the next recession. Yes, there will be a next recession; they’re a normal. |
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WHY DO MARKETERS LEAVE THEIR BRAINS AT THE DOOR WHEN THEY CREATE THEIR WEBSITES?
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| A important Tip to keep in mind before creating your website. |
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How to take your thought leadership campaign to market: One – strategic business imperative
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| This is the first of a series of six articles on how to take your thought leadership campaign to market |
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Dating and Working Online.
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| Dating online is like going to Costco for mayo and coming out with a year's supply of turkey.
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The Leadership Genius of George Washington
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| Leadership advice you can use starting right now from America's premier leader, |
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Outcry Over Section 116 Clearance Certificates: Legitimate Barrier for Foreign Investment Firms or Convenient Scapegoat?
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| New York, October 12, 2009 – Just 17 venture capital funds raised $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2009, according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). This level represents the smallest number of venture funds raising money in a single quarter since the third quarter of 1994 when 17 funds were also raised and the lowest level of dollars committed since the first quarter of 2003 when $938 million was raised. |
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Dig It
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| Through what I refer to as my "leadership moment", I dig as deep as I ever have to uncover a climbing rope on the way to the summit of Mt Everest. |
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Finding Greenlandic Synergy
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| Discovering success through failure while suffering during an adventure race in Greeland |
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How can failure and thought leadership go hand in hand?
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| The very nature of true thought leadership means that you will fail at some point. If you are leading the conversation, debate, research, commentary in your sector there will always be detractors. Don't let fear of failure hold back your thought leadership campaign. |
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Does one quick campaign = thought leadership?
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| There are two types of thought leadership. Don't be fooled into thinking that just because you put out one white paper or commission one piece of research that you are now a thought leader in your industry. It is a step in the right direction but it takes more than that. |
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Thought leadership is powered by three key principles
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| Thought leadership rests on three key principles: It is a PR rather than an advertising led exercise; It is about sharing information and content, and: It should produce a sound business outcome. |
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Learning to Lead
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| A young mountaineer discovers his ability to lead...as climbing related to life. |
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The Diamond That Didn't Shine
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| A fledgling climber learns the hard way how to deal with fear and adversity. |
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PR for the Promotional DIY'ers!
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| Promotional DIY'ers Need Help Too! |
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Don’t Let Fear Get in the Way of Marketing Your Home Staging Business
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| Internationally recognized home stager, Staging Diva, reminds home stagers that they must never stop marketing no matter how afraid they are of becoming too busy. She offers suggestions of how to structure your business so you can easily take on more home staging clients. |
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The Honeymoon Hangover - why the ideal hire can fail
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| We often find the ideal candidate and think that he or she will take us where we need to go. Unfortunately the reality of team dynamics can mean the positive, focussed "new" team can start off well - then all of a sudden the team falters and begins to fail. I call this predictable process the honeymoon hangover. In this article I relate how it happened to a client and what we did (three easy steps) to resolve the issues that almost destroyed the team. |
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The Importance of Having A Personal Development Plan
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| A personal development plan provides a framework that will make individuals identify the areas of their strengths and weaknesses and come up with a guide that will optimize and capitalize on their existing skills and capabilities. |
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What to Do When You’re Asked to Stage a Filthy House
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| The Staging Diva®, advises home stagers on what to do when they find themselves being asked to stage an absolutely filthy home. |
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Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal - Part 6 Measuring Success
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| If you want your team to produce exceptional results, you need performance measures to guide your and their efforts. |
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Let Time Bear Dividends for You
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| I have heard so often from people that “I don’t have time” or “There is so much to do, I just can’t catch up.” The truth is that we all have the same amount of time: 24 hours x 7 days. This is the only resource that we are given equally. The only difference is where and how we spend it. In my opinion, where and how we spend our time has the greatest effect on the results in our life.
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Find your Passion because YOU ARE WORTH IT!
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| Have you found your passion? Are you living it? Passion leaves clues. It is your responsibility to find yours, become it, and let it become you. You will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you. |
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What is a Recession Proof Franchise Opportunity
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| Recession Proof franchise seems to be a phrase thats buzzing around at the moment. But what does this really mean? Is it really possible that a business can be recession proof? |
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Marketing Rx
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| The biggest marketing mistake small businesses make is using hunches to improve their business without first diagnosing their problems. |
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So where are all the Elite Sales Performers?
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| I received yet another call today from a sales manager asking me where he could find a really good sales pefomer for his business. He complained that most of the sales people in his industry had been around the block too many times and no new skills, ideas or talent where being brought into his industry. Same old people, same old things, same old results.
Trouble is he is not alone and the Elite Performers you want are most likely working in other industries or markets and are not even thinking about working for you. |
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When the Accountant Speaks, We Don't Listen!
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| Warren Buffet's very informative and enlightening Annual Report each year includes a list of owner related business principles by which Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger)have skippered the ship. Principle # 6 discusses aquisition of portions of businesses or whole companies, the related costs and taxation benefits or drawbacks. Mr. Buffett has successfully led Berkshire Hathaway to the empire it has become through steadfast reliance on money saving, intrinsic value growth and goodwill accrual principles such as these. |
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Sales Meetings
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| Have you ever sat through a pointless meeting and calculated how much of the company’s money was being wasted on individuals sitting around a table completely zoned out?
Sales meetings in particular are an important tool for helping you to keep your team’s performance on track. Effective sales meetings don’t just happen, and improving your meetings isn’t just a case of ordering drinks and a plate of muffins. Successful meetings require a range of skills, a disciplined approach and an effective leader.
Here are some handy tips on how to prepare for and conduct effective sales meetings so that you and your team get the most out of them. |
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A Car Sales Story with a difference
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| Is there such as thing as a ‘good’ car sales story?
My husband and I recently bought two new cars over the Christmas break. We initially went in to buy one car. It wasn’t a Christmas splurge if that’s what you’re thinking – nor was anything it like the recent press on luxury cars and their owners. We wanted to go smaller and greener for all sorts of reasons I am sure you can image and one of our cars was at the end of its lease. Having done our research, the ‘make’ of our last four cars wasn’t doing enough, in our opinion, to be ‘greener’ so we decided to look elsewhere and try something different instead. |
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Sales Training is not a luxury – it’s essential
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| Keeping you and your sales team ‘match fit’ and actively engaged in the market place selling effectively is paramount to your survival and success in today’s market. Yet too many businesses, large and small, do not train their sales teams in the vital skills needed in the much more consultative, value add, less product focused market of today. |
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Contact vs Connection
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| Know the feeling when you make contact with someone and you both promise that you will keep in touch but never do? Or someone you met briefly at a function, where you exchanged business cards, calls you up asking for one favour after another never seeming to return the favour? Or others still who seem to make friends with you only to use you to get to someone else and drop you and soon as they do? Well you are not alone. These are some of the pitfalls when it comes to networking and selling.
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We’ll meet again…
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| Ever been treated with an attitude of indifference? Ever been ignored as a customer because you didn’t look the part or didn’t fit the stereotype of a typical buyer? Ever been fobbed off in favor of someone else because you are (supposedly) not famous enough, well connected or prestigious enough to do business with?
The world is littered with stories of people who were passed over and ignored by judgmental, blinkered sales people only to take their business somewhere else where they were treated with respect and were able to buy what they wanted despite how they may have appeared to others. |
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Preparing for your 2008-09 Sales Year
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| If you haven’t already it may be worth your while to hold a formal review and business/sales strategy planning session with your team before the new financial year kicks in. Many markets have and are going through major changes and this requires us to be on our toes and ready for action.
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Great Story Tellers
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| I have noticed that good sales people are often great storytellers. They have the ability to find the right story to resonate with your situation.
They speak from experience and you know they know their stuff. They can paint a picture that is your picture and get you visualizing success in partnership with them.
They seem to be able to connect disparate situations, events or feelings and find the common thread that binds them all together – together for you to connect with. And even if the story they are telling is not directly relevant to your business or market, the situation or person they describe feels familiar. |
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Sustainability – the new criteria
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| What is your position on SUSTAINABILITY?
What community improvement activities is your company involved with?
These are questions, among many others, that my team and I are responding to for a Request For Proposal (RFP) document for a sales training project with a large Australian Corporation. This is the first time we have been asked to respond to these questions in a formal manner and legitimise our position on ‘sustainability’. As sales people and as business owners, not only are we being asked to legitimise our product offering, our service standards, etc. we are now required to articulate our stand on ‘sustainability’. |
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Culture and Communication
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| Selling and servicing across cultures is more common now than it has ever been. And as more and more of us come across international sales opportunities I thought it would be worth while looking at some of the challenges we may come across when trying to communicate effectively cross culturally in sales or other business areas.
In many of the articles I have written I advocate for open, honest, trust based relationships. And I still do, however being a direct, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is person that is what I value most. Therefore, by contrast, I can often find indirect, seemingly non-committal, indecisive communication a real chore. ‘Just get to the point’ I hear myself say. Or ‘are you just saying “yes” to just be nice or do you really want to go ahead?” Aaggh.
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The relationship of revenue growth to your job?
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| Every sales person knows the relationship of prospecting to sales is critical. Without prospecting you are not likely to get a sale. We all know the relationship of sales to revenue growth is high. But how many people in your company know the relationship of revenue growth to their specific job?
The sales people do. Owners do. They think about it every day. |
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A view for the other side
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| Following for last week’s piece on Procurement, I promised I would delve further into the view from the other side of the table and how, we, as sales people, view procurement and some of the practices which help or hinder sales and partnership effectiveness. And what our common enemy is.
So let’s take a look at the other side of the table.
Many a seasoned sales person can tell you story after story about the ‘Gunna Gunna’ customers:Gunna do this, gunna do that be it never goes anywhere. |
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Client Buying States
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| Selling can get quite confusing sometimes. Prospects or clients saying one thing and doing another. It’s hard enough that you put in all that effort and have your sale go nowhere.
It might help you to know, if you don’t already, when selling that there are mainly four different Buying States. They are classified as :
1. Opportunity
2. Problem
3. Static
4. Blinkered
Two Buying States show that a sale is possible.
Two Buying States show that a sale may be difficult or unlikely. |
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Making Decisions
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| Several years ago I read a great book called ‘Kids Are Worth It – Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline’ by Barbara Coloroso.
This book has served me very well as a parent giving me guidance in how to raise self-aware and self-disciplined children. In particular, I learnt by heart the following questions which I ask myself whenever I make decisions and in turn, have taught my children to ask whenever they make decisions.
The 3 Decision Questions are:
* Is it life threatening?
* Is it morally threatening?
* Is it unhealthy?
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Be Consistent & Keep Your Customers Happy
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| One of the things that frustrate me the most as a customer is inconsistent service standards, inconsistent procedures and people’s inability to deal effectively and honourably with different types of people. If left unchecked this leads to confusion, frustration, wasted time, wasted effort, impaired brands and reputations, lost revenue and lost customers.
These issues don’t seem to be as much of an issue when you deal with very small companies because usually everyone knows what everyone else is doing and how it should be done even if it is only via word of mouth. However as businesses expand and get on board more people to work in the front line you, as the customer can’t always expect to get the same person to deal with then the challenges begin. |
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Do Not Call
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| Last week Smartcompany ran a story saying that the Federal Government may include business numbers in the Do Not Call register. What are they talking about?
Prospecting for new business via the telephone (referred to as unsolicited phone calls) is still a legitimate and critical business activity necessary for anyone in sales and in business, especially in business to business sales where consumer marketing and advertising strategies do not work effectively. It is a vital activity any business or sales person worth their salt should be doing on a regular basis. Therefore I do not believe that the government should include business numbers in the DO NOT CALL register. |
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Take Note
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| I would like to focus on something, that at first glance, may appear rather trivial. In fact it might seem so inane that you are wondering why I am even writing about it.
It’s ‘note taking’.
I learnt a very salient, if not embarrassing, lesson in my early 20’s. When in my first sales consulting role I turned up to a sales meeting with a prospective client with no obvious note taking materials. Up until that time I had never been told to take notes by my managers. I hadn’t thought about talking notes myself. I relied on my memory. |
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On Show
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| Recently I have been watching the rerun of “Life at 1” on ABC TV in readiness for the “Life at 3” series as I am fascinated by all things behavioural and developmental. The series focuses on children and their development from age one and beyond, similar in concept to the Seven Up series. However this series cannot be complete without the children’s parents and siblings being involved.
I am interested in the series because I am a parent, however it is amazing what you can learn about other areas of your life from seemingly unrelated sources. This is such a case. |
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Prayer and purposeful action
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| I awoke early this morning to the sound of gentle rain falling and found myself immediately praying for more. This prayer came automatically during one of the most tragic weeks in Victoria’s history with the tragedy of the bush fires in many parts of our state.
As a Victorian I have found myself upping my prayer quotient for rain for some time now, not just for the bush fires but for the many people whose lives are affected by the drought here and elsewhere. In addition to my prayers, like many families, my family and I have been doing our best to save water and change the size of our carbon foot print. Yet at times like this one can’t help but feel somewhat helpless and useless. All I felt I could do under the circumstances was to pray and give money. |
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Creating an effective sales performance management system
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| Following on from last week’s article about managing and measuring the right things in sales, I thought it would be worth looking at some of the key principles for effective sales performance management systems.
The first place to start is to align your sales performance management system and subsequent key measures to your organisation’s strategy and goals. It’s then the job of the CEO and the Sales Leader to ensure the organisation (that means everyone else who supports the sales effort) is aligned to the sales performance management system. When this dimension is in place the organisation is best placed to sustain high sales performance. |
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Sales is a team effort
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| Sales numbers and sales processes should be understood and owned by everybody in your organisation. In today’s world if you are not directly in sales you are supporting someone who is. This is why sales really is a team effort.
Rather than being just about a feel good factor and great staff alignment, this has practical applications as well. For instance with the ability for customers (or anyone) to find and connect with anyone in your organisation through many difference channels (i.e. social networks, Google, etc.) the whole business needs to be sales fit. |
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Should I fire my bad clients?
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| Run a mental checklist over your client base right now. Who fits into the ‘good’ client list and who falls into the ‘bad’ client list?
It all really depends on what you define as good and bad.
As we know not all clients are good for your business. Some clients are a wrong fit for your business but could be a good fit for someone else; therefore in of themselves they are not necessarily ‘bad’.
However, others are just downright bad for your business. |
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How to Make Money from Home
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| Times have changed. The prevailing breakdown of the economy has adversely affected many people. Some were laid off and for the first time in their lives they have no jobs and nothing to do with themselves. In due course the money in hand like bank balances dwindle. |
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An Introduction to Home Based Business
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| The USA is still in the grip of a recession it hasn’t seen since the days of the Great Depression. Layoffs on a massive scale are the order of the day. |
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New Online Business Opportunities
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| In these days of economic recession, individual incomes have dwindled to almost nothing, to say the least. But there are ways to thrive and prosper even in these adverse times. When one door closes another one opens, so they say. And to those with the zest and inclination, there are a quite a many business opportunities if you only know where to look for them. |
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Increase Your Sales with Actionable Emails
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| I hate long emails. They take too long to read and typically include action items I just don’t have time for. No doubt you’ve experienced it, too. Your customers are no different and it’s impacting your ability to close sales. |
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10 Laws of Success
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| Are you successful in your business? Do you get out of it exactly what you had wishes for? Or are you like 97% of the people, struggling to make a success with your business? If so, maybe you are missing one or more of these success laws, which also applies to different areas of your life. |
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How To Get An Email Address For Your Home Staging Business
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| The Staging Diva, explains how home stagers can go about getting an email address that matches their business name. |
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Taking the Leap Whilst Between Gigs
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| Change being forced on us, exposes us to the opportunity to take leaps of faith in God, yourself, your society, or any combination of these, that aren't necessarily available to us when we're comfortable ensconced (or gently shackled) into a comfortable routine. |
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Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal Part 5 - Dealing with Difficult Employees
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| The Dalai Lama says that we ought to be most grateful to those who cause us the most problems for they afford us the greatest opportunity to learn. For those of you who feel that you've learned enough, here are some tips. |
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LifeWave: Is It The Business For You?
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| There is enormous possibility for LifeWave and at the end of this article I spill the beans. Read the article and find out my recommendation. |
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Home Staging and Merchant Accounts
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| Expert home stager, Staging Diva, discusses the logistics of accepting credit card payments for home staging services. |
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Guess What? Succession Planning is not Rocket Science
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| Managing your workforce more effectively than your competitors can give your organization a competitive edge. Putting the best people in the most critical positions means that better decisions are made more quickly, and this leads to better bottom line results. |
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Hire People with Organizational Grit!
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| “Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people” - so said the famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. For organizations seeking progress and change there seem to be too many reasonable people about! |
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6 Miracle Closing Techniques for Struggling Contractors
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| In-home service contractors are finding it very challenging to sell to homeowners these days. If you’re a builder, home renovator, plumber, heating and cooling contractor, pest control company, landscaper or you sell to home owners, you’re probably struggling with your sales. It’s time to change your approach with your customers or you'll go out of business.
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Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal Part 1
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| Help your employees enjoy greater success. Show them how to overcome the natural tendencies we all have, by virtue of our human nature, that get in the way of their success. In the process your organization will enjoy exceptional success as well. |
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How To Evaluate The Performance Of Your Top Sales Executive
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| This article present the performance appraisal factors that should be used to assess the performance of a top sales executive. Also, it provides the format of a monthly sales call report that should be used to record the sales call activity of sales reps. |
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Computer Obedience Training
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| A laugh at myself |
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Web Analytics that Lie
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| Make sure your web analytics are telling you the right story. |
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Leveraging the Power of Markets with Microfranchising
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| Microfranchising is a market-based approach to help alleviate poverty and build economic self reliance. |
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Stop Wasting Your Time Chasing Network Marketing Prospects-Have Them Come To You
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| Learn the secret of getting an endless supply of network marketing prospects. Stop chasing your friends and family and start attracting quality people to your business. |
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Best Internet Business Opportunity-How to Know
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| As you cruise the internet looking for the Best Internet Business Opportunity, you will quickly discover that finding the best internet business is much harder than you may have first thought. The problem is too many choices and knowing which one best for you. To be honest, the number of business ideas and opportunities is in fact quite overwhelming. |
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Aspiring Home Stagers, Don’t Count on Job Shadowing
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| The Staging Diva, advises aspiring home stagers not to search out job shadowing opportunities and offers alternative ways of gaining confidence. |
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What is the Secret to Success?
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| What is the Secret to Success? What is the mystery or magic formula for success? |
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What's Hot and What's Not: A Six Step Process to Identify Promotional Opportunities for Your Small Business
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| According to the experts, new technology appears online approximately every two and a half seconds – and theoretically, every new application has the potential to transform your business.
How do you know what’s worth your time and what’s a total time-waster? That’s a serious question, when you only have 24 hours in a day and still have a business to run.
Save time and minimize frustration by adopting this six-step process for approaching new technology. |
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4 Building Blocks of an Effective Talent Management System
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| If you reduce all the hype about talent management systems down to the bare essentials, there are only four building blocks that matter:
1. Knowing the competencies that get results
2. Managing performance well
3. Evaluating employee potential accurately
4. Recruiting the best talent
Sounds simple, but getting it right is as much an art as it is a science.
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Increase Profits Without Adding Resources Part 3
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| Two often overlooked profit drains are quality and vendor payment terms. Changing your approach in handling both of these factors can help you increase profits without adding resources. |
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Internet Cash Flow-Finding A Cash Flow Business
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| After losing years of hard work and money in real estate, I decided to start a better cash flow business. There are many cash flow systems out there but none compare to what you can do with the internet. If your are interested in improving your cash flow, internet cash flow is the way to go. |
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Home Stagers Don’t Have to Buy Their Own Accessories
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| The Staging Diva discusses how she handles the process of obtaining accessories for her home staging projects and why it’s not money out of her own pocket. |
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Increase Profits Without Adding Resources - Part 2
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| Are problem employees and troublesome customers draining your energy AND wallet? Here are a few tips for dealing with both. |
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The Brain That Changes Itself
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| Here’s a tip-read Norman Doidge’s book “The Brain That Changes Itself.” The author points out that an astonishing new science called neuro-plasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. |
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Marketing Analytics of Online Ads
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| Understanding online ad campaigns with more than just click-through rates. |
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Microfanchising and Economic Self-Reliance
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| How microfranchising has the potential to promote economic self-reliance and alleviate poverty. |
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Potential Clients Hidden in the Data
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| Using web analytics to find potential leads and turn them into clients. |
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Do We All Need Work Schedules for Productivity?
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| Are you someone who makes to-do lists and your lists are still undone at the end of the day, week, or even month? Welcome to the “I can’t stay scheduled crowd.” You are in good company. Your mind is not like everyone else’s; so don’t try to be like everyone else. Maybe you do not need that schedule you are told you do need.
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Twitter Metrics
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| Metrics that can be used to track performance on Twitter. |
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How To Write A Killer Press Release
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| So how exactly should you write a press release? Here are a few great guidelines. |
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Dealing with Job Search Discouragement
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| You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel discouragement while you are unemployed. We attach too much of our worth and self-esteem to our jobs and consequently, when we are “in between opportunities,” it’s natural to feel anxious at times. |
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Giving Employees a Test Run Before Hiring
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| Be gone with staid interviewing questions, behavioral “what ifs” and real-life simulations. Just put the candidate to work and see for yourself firsthand whether he/she is actually what he/she claims to be. Not that all other techniques should be done away with entirely, but at least with a pre-hire trial approach, decisions don’t need to be solely dependent on a set of variables that are tenuous at best. |
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Long Live Profit Sellling
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| Successful enterprises will focus on their bottom line through a combination of profit selling and cost cutting while relentlessly driving extraordinary value to selected customers. |
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The Priorities Game
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| Each one of us is a valuable resource and we all have gifts we are meant to use in service to others. There are demands on our time constantly. How do we pick and choose where we will use our time and energy? It’s tough!
The Priorities Game can help. I use it with many of my clients. Just apply these few simple questions to any demand on your time before you make a decision. You will be more intentional about your choices. Follow through based on your answers and you’ll experience more focused energy and peace. |
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How To Choose The Best Network Marketing Company: 3 More Crucial Choices, Part 2
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| Again, experience speaks volumes and here are 3 more critical question to ask of any network marketing opportunity you are researching and the answers you are looking for. Save yourself a tremendous amount of money, time and anguish.
Question #1: Does the company have a product or products that are more than "the best" in flooded niche market?
Answer #1: You are looking for a company with a very unique product or products....
Question #2: Does the company have an in-depth training system?
Answer #2: You are looking for a company rich in.....
Question #3: Does the company have a strong policy of team leadership and mentorship?
Answer #3: You are looking for a personal, hands-on.... |
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The Dos and Don’ts of Innovation
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| In his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker put forward a few simple “hard-core” Dos and Don’ts to help companies become more innovative. How does your organization stack up against Duckers checklist? |
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Home Stagers, It’s Not All About Price
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| Expert home stager, Staging Diva, discusses why there’s more to marketing a staging business than offering cheap rates. |
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How To Branch Your Business
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| If you’re thinking of growing your business (or increasing its revenue), focus on your business structure first. I’m not referring to your internal business organization (e.g., marketing, sales, administration, development, customer service, etc.) – I’m referring to your external business conversations.
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Why We Overlook Simple Solutions
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| Albert Einstein said that any fool can craft a complex solution; it takes real genius to come up with a simple one. Why are naturally inclined toward complexity? |
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CUSTOMER SERVICE CAN EITHER MAKE OR BREAK YOU BUSINESS.
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| When it comes to understanding the importance of good customer service, there are many small business owners who wonder why it is so important; why such a large focus should be placed on it. In all honesty, without trying to come across too harsh, if you don’t already know the importance of customer services, especially when it comes to running a small business, maybe you should re-think and have a diffuse understanding on your decision to be a small business owner. Yes, it is really that simple. As a business owner, you need to remember that your customers are what keep your business doors open; they are the reason why you have food to put on your table each week, and the reason why you receive a paycheck, they are the the life blood of your sales When you think about it like that, there is lots you are owning your customers. |
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3 Simple Steps to Quickly Grow Your Email Newsletter List
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| A strong email newsletter list can be a gold mine for self-employed service providers by building your trust and credibility with interested clients. These three must-do steps will help you quickly grow your list (and your client base!). |
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Pricing in a Down Economy
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| When the economy turns sour the natural tendency is to cut prices. If you do, you're sending a message to the market. The question is "Is this the message you want to send? |
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Can Social Networks provide Emotional Wealth?
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| The following is a copy of my response to a blog post by Ecademy’s Thomas Power which asked the question, “Can Social Networks provide Emotional Wealth?" |
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FTC Ruling RE Bloggers A Long Time Coming
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| In the June 11th PI Window on Business broadcast I asked a guest panel the question “Has Blogging Crossed The Threshold of Legitimacy?"
As the segment description will tell you, the basis for asking the question in the first place was an AdAge.com article from April 13, 2009 titled “Bloggers Be Warned: FTC May Monitor What You Say, ” in which writer Michael Bush reported that “As part of its review of its advertising guidelines, the FTC is proposing that word-of-mouth marketers and bloggers, as well as people on social-media sites such as Facebook, be held liable for any false statements they make about a product they are promoting.” |
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Socially Branded Journalism: Crossing the Generational Divide
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| On February 27th, 1968 Walter Cronkite closed his broadcast by introducing “an analysis that must be speculative, personal, [and] subjective.”
He was of course talking about the Vietnam War, and in particular the Tet offensive.
While those of us who have not yet cracked the half century mark in terms of years on this planet may have only a general awareness of what history has told us was a “police action” that could not be won, Cronkite’s words created a ripple effect that unknowingly and ironically has come to symbolize our fast paced, 7/24 instant access social media world. |
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Home Staging Consultations Don’t Require an Assistant
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| Home staging expert, Staging Diva, explains why home stagers do not need to bring an assistant with them to their consultations. |
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New School Year: Lessons from a Middle Schooler
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| Today is the first day of school in Michigan and I am the new mom to a Middle Schooler!. Time has flown so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that I was holding him in the rocking chair in his room. I remember looking at his little legs and thinking to myself, “some day his legs will hang over mine when he sits on my lap. I can’t even imagine it.” And now here we are, it’s been years since he’s spent any time on my lap. His legs would almost hit the ground, all in the blink of an eye. Where has the time gone?
I watch with amazement as he heads off to Middle School with nothing more than anticipation. Hallways to maneuver, new school, way more kids, lockers and classes to find. His elementary school is nothing more than a fond memory and he is ready to move on. I am so proud of him today!
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No Time........Really??
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| I love to pay attention to the language I use and also the words my clients choose. Being aware of our own language provides a window into where we may have blind spots, fears or beliefs standing in our way.
I often catch my clients using the phrase, “I just don’t have time.” It’s a sentence that suggests that we have no power over how we spend our time. And the truth is, we do. Certainly there can be negative consequences to choosing to spend our time in one way over another. And avoiding those negative consequences can drive our choices, but, at the end of the day, we are choosing! |
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Procrastination - The Symptom not the Cause
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| Procrastination is one of those buzz phrases that people use often, sometimes with a negative connotation, other times with a shrug and a laugh like it’s just the way it is and they are powerless to change it. Procrastination, itself, is never the issue though. It’s just the symptom. So, I always help my clients figure out what’s underneath the procrastinating behavior. This is where the real opportunity for change exists.
Here are some of the main causes of procrastination along with some steps you can take to eliminate the behavior – if you choose!
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The Two Key Components to Living with Tenacity
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| Tenacity is a key component to success. We must have it to reach our goals. It’s the fuel that keeps us moving through the inevitable challenges. But how often do we take the time to stop and think about what tenacity really is? Let’s spend a minute to figure out what tenacity looks like and how we can create it to use to our advantage.
When I’m working with clients I often use the analogy of getting your screaming baby strapped into a car seat to illustrate tenacity. Because, if you have kids, you have experienced tenacity! When you are putting your child in their car seat your purpose is to make your baby safe. Your baby hates to feel confined and wants nothing to do with it. You can not reason with a baby or explain your logic so you must just make it happen. |
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The Secrets to Successfully Landing Media Coverage
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| When it comes to approaching the media, keep in mind that there is no one media outlet. You are not pitching one story, nor are you pitching one media source. To be successful you need to be developing a number of different stories to pitch to a variety of different media outlets. Each media source has needs and interests that are specific to it. The primary secret to a successful PR campaign is to focus on what the various media outlets need and pitch each outlet accordingly.
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Vision: The Blessing of a Chosen Few?
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| Are there truly few visionaries in the world or are we simply looking in the wrong places? |
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Think Positive, Think Success
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| There are many types of people in this world. However, today, and for the purpose of this article, I am going to put everyone into either the ‘positive’ type or the ‘negative’ type. |
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Goal Achieving Made Easy
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| The first step towards successful goal setting and goal achieving is to realize that you do have the power to control your life. Successful people know how to achieve their goals by utilizing personal and business coaches.
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3 Reasons Sales Training Doesn’t Work
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| The fact sales training doesn’t work isn’t exactly a news flash. Neil Rackham uncovered this fact years ago. Yet sales people and business owners continue to invest millions of dollars a year on sales training in the hopes... |
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7 Questions You Must Ask Before Buying Sales Training
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| Before you whip out your wallet or sign on the dotted line there are seven questions you should ask to make certain you are making the best decision for you. After all, you wouldn’t be investing in sales training unless you expected to get real value. So... |
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Annoying Customer Behaviors
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| If you're looking for a way to distinguish yourself from your competitors, take a look at your customers' annoying behaviors. |
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Warren Buffett Owner Principle # 3
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| Warren Buffett states that Berkshire Hathaway long term principle is to 'maximize Berkshire Hathaway's average annual rate of gain in intrinsic business value on a per share basis. This article dissects and analyzes the meanings inherent in this statement and how this principle can work for you. |
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Has Your Vacation Made It Harder To Go Back To A Job That You Hate?
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| Expert home stager, Staging Diva, suggests to individuals feeling stuck in jobs they hate that it’s time to try something new. |
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Accelerating Referrals
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| If you want better referrals, stop talking demographics and start talking about the values that drive your and your customers success. |
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A Lesson from the Unsinkable Molly Brown
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| Tips for standing tall in the face of adversity. |
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Is a Slimy Secret Blocking Your Growth?
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| If you have ever dreamed of a smooth-running business which brought in abundant income and ran smoothly? Is your reality a mind-boggling list of projects, a bank account that seems to have an automatic drain and no promise of a change? |
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Pets and ADHD
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| Having pets in your life when you have ADHD is very beneficial not only in reducing unwanted ADHD symptoms, but also for your overall physical health and happiness. While you may be thinking, “but I can barely take care of myself, let alone another living creature,” it has been my experience that adults with ADHD make fabulous pet owners. While they may struggle with the stresses of life, their pet’s health is never compromised. Far from it. |
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Michael Moore, Capitalism, and Dead Peasants Insurance
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| Michael Moore's new movie shines light on corporate insurance practices called Dead Peasants Policies. Learn more about those policies here. |
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Quit Your Job - Don't "What If" Yourself to Death
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| There are SO many people who are doing work they hate. They are "stuck" in careers that they simply don't enjoy. Why? Because they imagine the worst case scenarios that might happen if they resign their position to pursue their dreams. |
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John Assaraf Review - The Universe Inside Your Brain
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| In his popular book, The Answer, John Assaraf draws parallels between the universe and our brains. How much do we really know about this power center of our body? |
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Focus Your Mind
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| In this day and age of information overload. It is important to remember that we must focus our mind on 1 task to be the most effective we can be. |
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20 Months to a Million
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| How do you turn $1 into $1 M in 20 months?? |
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Overcome Fear - Step Into the Fear
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| Everyone experiences fear. The difference with successful people is that they do not let fear stop them from achieving their goals. |
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You Were Born Rich Bob Proctor - Book Review
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| This was a book that changed my life. Here is my review of the power of this book. |
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The Coming U.S. Dollar Devaluation - A Major, Negative Impact on All of Us
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| The coming U.S. dollar devaluation will have a major impact on all of us. The fact that the dollar is falling in value means that investors consider the United States economy to be in disarray and out of control. |
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Goals Will Guide You to Success
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| If you want to be successful in life, you need to set goals for yourself. Work hard to accomplish everything you have dreamed. Analyze your weaknesses, and the areas that need improvement. You can achieve any goal if you create a plan and work hard enough. |
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A good business opportunity for difficult economic times
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| When the economy is bad, what can you do? Fast food, Wally World or standing in line for the better paying jobs along with the 1000s of others? Or - maybe rethinking having your own business?
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Pay-Per-Click Advertising; How long should a campaign last?
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| Ideally, most SEOs will say running PPC campaigns is a great short-term strategy with the long-term goal being high organic search rankings. That said, there's no "sure" answer; certain hyper-competitive industries pose a long climb up the organic search ranks, and a successfully researched and targeted PPC campaign can produce exceptional ROI. Either way, a PPC campaign should be performed along with an SEO and greater online marketing effort, as there are many ways to drive willing customers to your website.
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When It Comes To Marketing, Consistency and Discipline Beat Shiny Objects Every Time
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| When you are starting out in a new venture, all you want to know is what sort of marketing works so that you can focus on it 100%. Because there are so many options, you will be tempted to throw your efforts in 100 different directions and chase down anything that looks promising. As a result, you will find yourself chasing after each new "shiny object", abandoning avenues that will produce for you if you give them time. This is a classic path to failure. Instead of chasing the gurus, learn from what they do - spend the time to master each form of marketing before you chase the next best thing.
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Cooperation vs. Competition in Today's Business
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| If you are in business today – do you still feel the need to compete? Or are you thinking cooperation? These are two very different business models, which lead to different marketing strategies and outcomes. Because they offer great business opportunities in difficult economic times; I invite you to think cooperation in the form of Joint Ventures.
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"We Eat Our own Cooking"!
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| Warren Buffet : Ownership Principle No. 2
“We eat our own cooking!” is an article discussing the importance of integrity, honesty, and careful and consistent work in all business related matters and life as seen across a wide cross section of fields in the world.
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2009 Hottest Christmas Gift Idea
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| Give something of value this Christmas instead of the usual mundane Christmas gift. You can gift gas and grocery certificates for just pennies on the dollar, but have full value to the recipient. |
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Time-Sensitive! Breakthrough New Way for Any Business to Capitalize on Poor Economy and High Grocery Prices
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| There is no need for a slump in sales this year when you use the most sought after closing incentive that customers are crying out for today. |
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Be A Student
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| The wonderful thing I am learning about “learning”, and I am hearing it from many different locations all at once, is simply this; When you truly enter into an attitude of learning, rather than one of thinking that you know it all, and you give yourself permission to be open to other people’s ideas and suggestions, the frequency of learning opportunities becomes infinite, and your potential of greater success becomes assured. |
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How to Launch a Targeted PR Campaign
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| Media begets media; that’s the name of the game. So if you’re stuck focusing strictly on the media home runs, rethink your strategy. Don’t limit your pitches to the national media outlets; there’s a huge media world out there. Broaden your approach. Broaden the media bull’s-eye you’re targeting.
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Making Leadership Stick
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| Personal and professional growth is not a sure thing process. In order to discover things about yourself or about how the business works, you must be allowed to “experiment”, and the leader who is always telling people what to do misses out on a very important part of the whole growth cycle. It’s been said that success is a poor teacher, and in the area of growth, if you are always winning, how can you know what real success tastes like if you haven’t tasted any sort of failure. |
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Elements of a Sales Funnel and How to Optimize It
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| The front-end Products are the first products you sell. They may not even make a profit. You need at least one, preferably two or three. These can cost anywhere from nothing to hundreds of dollars, but they need to be as broadly appealing as possible. One method is to offer a very low-priced product that is an extremely good value, something that will blow the customer away. |
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How to Test your Product Without Actually Having a Product and Use a “Conversion Checklist”
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| Here’s a way to test how well a potential product of yours would do without taking the risk and going through the process of actually releasing a product which may be a total flop. |
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How to Use Surveys to Gather Market Data and How to Analyze this Data
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| There are a few types of surveys that can help you gather data about visitors to your site:
Website Intercept Surveys: Use these surveys to determine why a customer comes to your site. Give them a few seconds to look around, and then pop up a survey that asks them why they came to your site. What problem were they trying to solve? |
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A Key to Success in Your Internet Marketing Business - What Product are You Selling?
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| If you are in an internet marketing business, it’s critical that you understand what product you are selling. I can hear what you are saying. “Now that’s a pretty stupid statement, Scott. Just take a quick look at my website. It’s pretty obvious what product I am selling.” |
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Tips To Starting Your Online Business
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| Getting organized in home business |
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Why Entrepreneurs Will Save The Economy
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| I saw these stats the other day and they were eye opening. If anyone thinks bailout plans and social programs will empower the world just looks at who actually FUNDS it all. |
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Increasing Sales with Sales Checklist and Market Research
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| Market research is arguably the most important step to take before launching your product. What demographic is your primary audience? How old are they? Is the primary sex male or female? What income level are they generally at? What are their biggest complaints? What are the problems they face on a daily basis? What emotions might they be feeling? |
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The Bloomtools franchise story
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| The most successful franchise businesses are often determined not only by the strength of their marketing and products, but also by their inner business strengths. The driving team behind the franchisor needs to have strong values and an immovable vision for the success of the business and its franchisees. |
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Redneck Retirement Savings Plan-RRSP
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| If there is such a thing as free money then why aren't there more millionaires? |
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Let your feelings lead you and others
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| The human being is rather a 'human feeling'. |
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Top 10 Qualifying Fact Finding Questions That Will Earn You the Sale for Consultative Selling
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| Qualifying fact finding questions are directly connected to your industry, your products, your services and most importantly your customers. In consultative selling, I find that asking these 10 insightful qualifying questions early in the selling phase of the sales process saves me time. |
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Start Managing Using Your Sales Team’s Talents & Stop Focusing on Their Weaknesses
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| From you role in sales management, do you manage from a perspective focusing on existing talents or from a weakness one? If you truthfully answered from a more negative than positive focus, then can you answer this question?: Why do winning teams win because of their strengths or their weaknesses? Now is the team to change your management style especially if you wish to increase sales and have a high performance sales team. |
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The Powerful Secret Your Mother Never Told You
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| Embrace your personal power by tapping into the business and personal skills that serve you best. Learn how DISC can show you your strengths to enhance your business leverage. |
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Practical Advice for Making “Real Change” and “Change Real”
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| Studies show that only 15% of patients change their life style when they are told by their doctor that if they don’t they will die. It seems that, even in life or death situations, the desire to change is not enough to effect real change. So what is it that holds us back from making changes a reality? |
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Remember My Company?
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| We’ve all been to a party where we remember someone’s face, but not their name. Or their name, but not their “story”. Or their “story” but not what they look like. We even have language for it (”good with faces”, etc.). |
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Is New+Improved Better?
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| You’ve probably been taught that the phrase “new and improved” are strong words to place in your marketing copy. People are supposedly always looking for an edge, so getting the newest thing will help them better. From the customer’s perspective however, does newer = better? |
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Analysis Paralysis
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| So your probably reaching the point in your business where you’re still wanting to learn all you can get your hands on, but not sure how to transfer this information into progress. |
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How to Overcome Your Fear of Starting a Home Based Business
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| Everyday the Internet is bombarded with thousands of people looking for better lives for not only themselves but for their families as well. All have the same dream of success but few are actually willing to overcome their fears and anxieties to achieve success in their home based business. |
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Mean Girls Don’t Always Finish First
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| You see in movies and TV all the time that the successful businesswomen are cold hard witches (The Devil Wears Prada anyone?) Well why does this have to be the case? |
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The Secret Treasure that is the Internet
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| You may have read many articles that keep mentioning the Internet and how it is an endless source of information, ideas, and most intriguing money. Now if the Internet is full of resources and money then how come more people aren’t cashing in on all this? |
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How Your Negative Past Can Be an Asset According to Erica Combs
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| Many people feel beaten up by what has happened to them in their past. Many are down on themselves because of decisions they have made in the past that have not worked out. They think poorly of themselves because of the negative baggage they carry around.
It shouldn’t be this way. We weren’t placed on the earth to be miserable, to think poorly of ourselves.
Erica Combs said something about this that has really stuck with me. I think it’s a powerful statement. The purpose of this article is to try to convey that message to you. |
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The Productive E-mail Process (PEP)
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| One of the most important efficiency structures in your business is being productive in your e-mail inbox and managing large amounts of e-mail. As someone who receives hundreds and hundreds of e-mails per day, I knew that I had to create a process that worked and a process that kept me super productive. |
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Are You Rude on The Internet? It Can Hurt Your Business.
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| I don’t know about you but I’ve noticed a disturbing trend occurring both on the Internet and in real life. The trend is rudeness. I watched a taping of Oprah tonight (see the CNN breakdown of this show here) that enlightened me to a book, a doctor and a quote that made the light bulbs go off. Dr. PM Forni wrote a book called, “Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct” and although I have not read it yet, you bet it will be in my next book store purchase. |
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Why Should You Learn Internet Marketing?
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| Why should you learn internet marketing? Can you sell any product to anyone, anywhere in the world at any time? If not, you need a marketing education. |
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The Groovy Mermaid Reveals How She Found The Best Home-Based Business Opportunity
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| When I began my search for the best home-based business opportunities, I was overwhelmed with how many options there are available. I was fortunate enough to make some good decisions along the way, and I would like to motivate and inspire others to start working for themselves, get educated, be their own boss, and launch their own home-based business.
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What Parenting Can Teach Us About Marketing
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| Build a relationship with your prospects first, or expect "rebellion" when you try to get them to listen to you or buy your product or service. |
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A Legitimate Work From Home Business Teaches Be, Do, Have
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| Be, Do, Have. A simple phrase, yet so valuable when looking to operate a legitimate work from home business. Learn more about this interesting phrase as expert author Jeffrey David Nelson dives into the philosophical world of "Be, Do, Have." |
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Why do Ad Agencies never Advertise?
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| Because they know that it doesn't work! |
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Types of Home Based Businesses: Which One Is Right For You?
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| With the ups and downs of the economy the past few years, more people are exploring their entrepreneurial possibilities. With the explosion of the internet, these possibilities have become real, lucrative home business opportunities that can be implemented right from the home office, or even the kitchen table.
Home based businesses come in many shapes and sizes and with the advent of the “google” era you can find both legitimate as well as questionable opportunities offered to you online. So which idea might fit your needs? How do you decide? |
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What are you going to do if Google slaps your account
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| Advertising your web site on the internet is a large part of marketing, but if Google decides to shut it down and suspend your website indefinitely, what are you going to do? |
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3 Ways to Have Virtual Events Work with Physical Events
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| With the rise of virtual events in the marketplace, many show organizers and meeting planners are wondering how they could work together with their current physical event. This article discusses three major ways.
Realize that virtual events are here to stay, and you should view them as a new and exciting tool in your arsenal, which allows you to bring people together to exchange information. The difference is simply that they are online rather than live. You could say that they “bend the rules of business.”
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India and the U.S. remain tense about outsourcing
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| Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s visit last week has been dubbed by some the High Technology Cooperation Dialogue. Pressed by Indian governmental and business leaders about what it sees as an increasingly protectionist stance in the U.S., Clinton pledged support for working with India for better high-tech relations, but offered no specifics.
"Outsourcing is a concern for many communities and businesses in my country, so how we handle that is something that we’re very focused on doing in a way that doesn’t disrupt the great flow of trade and services that go between our countries," Clinton said in an interview on Indian television. |
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Indian outsourcing services maintain growth in recession
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| India’s role as a top player among outsourcing destinations has remained unchallenged for quite some time. In fact, AT Kearny has listed it at the number one spot on its Global Services Location Index – which ranks attractive offshoring destinations – since the list’s inception five years ago.
However, in recent years, there have been many who have questioned whether the country could withstand competition from other locations with competitive pricing and a specialized skill set.
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Recession impacts salaries, attrition in Indian BPO sector
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| Earlier this month, the association that supports and promotes India’s business process outsourcing predicted a bright future for the sector. While the past year has presented challenges, there is undoubtedly strong growth ahead, NASSCOM said at the CEO Summit 2009.
In fact, Som Mittal, the president of NASSCOM, forecast that outsourcing to India is likely to increase threefold by 2020, earning aggregate revenues of $225 billion. "While the short-term challenges exist, the potential for this industry is tremendous and the industry will not be demand constrained," he said.
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How the recession has impacted people’s career goals
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| The current recession has forced many people to rethink their career goals. Unfortunately some people have put their careers on hold while thinking that they will pick it up again in a year or two when things get better…this is probably not a good idea! |
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SEO Positioning or PPC Marketing: You Can Only Choose One.
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| There are two sides of online marketing: a. The slightly awkward, a little rough around the edges, SEO Positioning that speaks in code and works really late at night b. The smooth talking, nicely dressed, PPC Marketing, consuming numbers and spreadsheets like the entertainment section of the NY Times
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No Need To Downsize The American Dream
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| Personally, I don’t need to watch TV to hear bad news. So, much for the American dream. I hear enough at the grocery store where everyone is talking about all of today’s gloom and doom. It’s everywhere. |
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Book Review: If you hear the message three times...
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| If You Hear the Message is a highly readable and inspiring account of Patricia Heller’s transformation from living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) to becoming a spiritual and self aware healer. She takes us on her journey from curing her ‘incurable’ illness to investigating healing hands, past life regression, shamanism, manifesting greatness, automatic writing, heart centred transformation, her inner gypsy woman and many more. The book is actually an excellent survey of the healing modalities in America over the past fifteen years. |
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Article Marketing : How To Brand Yourself Inexpensively
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| Article Marketing is a simple , effective low cost method to bring very high quality visitors to your website. You can establish yourself as an authority in the industry , and build trust with your audience through articles. You don’t have to be an expert writer to have an effective article campaign.
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Money and Security -- Want to be a Millionaire?
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| In 1900 there were fewer than 5,000 Millionaires in the United States. Today there are nearly 2,000,000 Millionaires and 40 Billionaires.
100,000 more become Millionaires each year -- one each 12 minutes.
Here is a list of how people accumulate wealth in America. |
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ASK - A Magic Little Word For Every Online Entrepreneur Who Wants To Get Wealthy
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| Many people, including a fair percentage of Internet marketers, have issues with asking for help under the mistaken belief that it shows ignorance or incompetence on their part. Nothing could be further from the truth. |
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Tips for Selecting Software for your Small Business
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| Every business needs software in order to run efficiently, effectively, and productively (accounting, marketing, communication, etc.). Software technologies can be a great enabler and level the playing field for small businesses, but with so many technologies available how do you know that the ones you select for your business will be supported, remain relevant, and be around as long as you are? |
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When Managing Change - Understand The Grief Cycle
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| In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross wrote a book, called ‘On Death and Dying’ in which she described a cycle of emotional states experience by people who lose a loved one. She called this the “Grief Cycle”. The Grief Cycle is now recognized as a process that is experienced more generally by people working their way through bad news. |
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Don’t Let a Grade Determine If You Can Be a Home Stager
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| Expert home stager, Staging Diva, discusses why home stagers who have failed to obtain the required grade from another training program should not be discouraged. |
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New York Home Stager Helps Ailing Home Owner Make Quick Sale
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| Expert home stager, Staging Diva, shares a story of how Staging Diva® Graduate, Susan Atwell, helped a desperate family sell their home fast. |
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CADD - Get Knowledge On Your Side
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| CADD is all set to sign up a deal with Syscoms Information Technology. |
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Melissa Payner-Gregor on the board of directors of Destination Maternity
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| Destination Maternity Corporation, the US based retailer of designer maternity wear, has elected Ms. Mellisa Payner-Gregor, the CEO of Bluely, to its Board of Directors. |
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One Small Step for Business
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| One small step for business -
Many business owners want to take their businesses to a new level. They know they need help but hiring employees might be an expensive, daunting task. However, it is a common misconception that the next step up from "solopreneur" is "multi-employee enterprise". In this article, you'll read about the concept of scaling and how you can grow your business with an intermediate step between running your business yourself and running your business with some help.
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Hurricane Bill Wimped Out, You Don’t Have To
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| Now just because Bill wimped out doesn’t mean you have to.
What I mean by that is that working online there are lots of setbacks, warnings and precautions. |
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NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS IN SEPTEMBER
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| Forget about New Years Resolutions in January, they don’t work! You’re wasting your time! September is the best time to set New Year’s Resolutions.
Crazy idea, perhaps you disagree? Then answer this question; “why is it that most people who make them and seem quite serious about it, never really follow through and keep them?” A very good question don’t you think. I have addressed this issue before but on both occasions it was in January. Maybe now is a better time to take a different tact and initiate some thought, discussion and/or action around the idea. |
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4 Tips for Managing a Mid-Life Career Change
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| From personal experience I have found that there are only two types of people who change careers in mid life: those who want to and those who have to. And it seems that the “have to” group is in the majority these days.
With this in mind, here are four-tips for people who "have to" change their career. |
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Software developers can start earning from Palm Pre apps in September
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| This week, Palm announced the latest phase of its strategy to take on Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry by offering a range of innovative applications for users to purchase for the Palm Pre.
According to the company, software developers will be able to begin charging customers for downloading their applications from an ecommerce beta program in September. The move follows last month’s release of the Mojo Software Development Kit, which was viewed as a step forward in Palm’s efforts to strengthen relationships with developers.
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3 Tips for Customer Service Excellence
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| Customer loyalty is fundamental to business success. But just supplying customers with a quality product may not be enough to keep them coming back; companies need to go the proverbial extra mile to ensure the customer is fully satisfied- or even better, "wowed". |
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Small businesses turning to contractors
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| The number of small businesses looking to hire independent contractors has risen over the past several months, as the recession prompts companies to change the way they manage their workforce. |
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Outsourcing ‘has become a mandate’ for recession-hit firms
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| Amid the recession, companies are increasingly using outsourcing to achieve specific cost-saving goals, the findings of a new survey suggest. |
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Study: U.S. outsourcing pace doubled in three years
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| Between 2005 and 2008, the number of American firms that employed an offshoring strategy increased by more than twofold, according to a new study.
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38% of software development professionals use outsourcing
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| More than one-third (38 percent) of software development professionals at companies use some type of outsourcing to meet their organization’s needs, according to a new survey.
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Simple 4 Step Article Marketing Formula
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| Article Marketing is a POWERHOUSE marketing tactic that will get you traffic back links to your personal blog or lead capture page. Focusing on your niche with the proper keywords and back links will help your website or blog get more exposure and get indexed higher in the search engines. It is a simple, very low-cost effective way to bring good, high quality and organic visitors to your website. You don’t have to be an expert writer to have an effective article campaign. |
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Beware of Home Staging Training Snake Oil
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| The Staging Diva®, warns aspiring home stagers to think twice about choosing a home staging training program because of the credentials it offers. |
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How To On Twitter (Day 2) – Finding Followers, Managing DMs, and Automating Followers
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| 3 How To On Twitter Steps – Day 2:
(still not tweeting):
1. Repeat Day 1: Find 3 People, sift through 5 pages of their Followers to find people you’d like to Follow, and Follow.
2. Begin using TweetDeck.com for Direct Messages (DMs)
3. Begin using TweetLater.com to automate your Followers message(s).
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The Costliest PR Mistake
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| When you hire a PR firm, do yourself a favor, let them do their job. Don’t proceed to tell them how to run the campaign or to completely ignore the firm’s recommendations. This isn’t uncommon and is often the reason that PR campaigns falter. It’s not unlike hiring a doctor, doing your own diagnosing, self-prescribing – and then complaining about your medical treatment. PR can brand your company, take you to the next level, grow your business and establish you as an expert in your field. But, as with so much in life, for it to work, you sometimes have to get out of your own way.
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Why is Internet Marketing such a hard business?
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| Why is Internet marketing such a hard business? It should be easy right? The Internet is everywhere and people want to buy things, so what makes it so difficult? |
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How to Cold-Pitch a Reporter
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| If you ask journalists their biggest peeves with PR people, and especially with people trying to do their own PR, the most frequent response you’re like to get is “they waste my time with off-topic pitches. If you think the rest of us have crowded inboxes… triple it for journalists. They are looking for excuses to hit the delete button or drop your precious press kit in the recycle bin. |
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Referrals: The Path to Increased Sales
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| The main reason most salespeople do not get the number of referrals necessary to properly elevate their sales is simple. They don’t ask for them. Swept up in the euphoric high that salespeople experience when making a sale, they forget or do not feel it is important to pursue referrals. |
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Why Participate in Social Networking?
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| It’s kind of funny, but it took me quite a while to begin actually marketing on social networking sites. I’ve been on LinkedIn for probably five years, MySpace for maybe a year, and several others (Ning, Ryze, Eons, probably more I’m forgetting). But it was only when I joined Facebook in October 2007, and then shortly thereafter found my way to Plaxo and CollectiveX that I finally started using them to really do some business. |
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Succeed With Social Media
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| The key to success with social media–and I’ve built my business on it since 1995–is to interact with others the way you’d like to be interacted with. Call it the Golden Rule of Cyberspace–it’s not so different from the Golden Rule of every major religion. |
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Ten Rules for Great PR in the 21st Century
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| Ten Rule for Great PR in the 21st Century |
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Time management in network internet marketing?
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| I should say, managing you with-in time. As we all know it can be difficult with your “regular†job, family and friends to get everything done that needs to be completed. |
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Why Begin With The End In Mind?
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| The only way to accomplish anything is through the proper mindset. |
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Design on a Shoestring
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| As a marketing professional you will be not surprised to read that I am, well at least partially, obsessed with design. Yes, I like to have things looking right and in place. However, does ‘looking good’ make a real difference to bottom line results? When I started the Next Marketing business I was convinced first hand. |
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MLM Businesses: How To Get What You Want In Any MLM Business
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| What causes some people in different MLM businesses to have success and others not too? Why is it that you can have 100 people using the same online MLM system but maybe 3% get the results they are looking for? |
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Labor Day - Barbeque Party Time
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| Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated as the symbolic end of the summer. The holiday is often regarded as a day of rest. Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, firework displays, water sports, and public art events. This year, the Labor Day falls on September 7th, what you do on this special day?
barbeque tips make your barbeque party successful video clips |
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Bend the Rules of Business - Use Twitter as Your Marketing Tool (Day 1)
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| 3 Things To Do Today To Bend The Rules Of Business:
And, It Doesn’t Include Tweeting:
1. Create Your Twitter Account
2. Personalize / Brand Your Profile
3. Follow and Be Followed.
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Time to Get Organized with your Social Media Marketing
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| Take charge of your social media marketing by organizing yourself and your work. Use Getting Things Done principles to manage workflow and 80/20 thinking to cut out the useless activity.
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How A Group Of Frogs Traveling Through The Woods Turned Into A Powerful Story About Developing Leaders
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| Two lessons from this story:
1. Words have the power of life and death: a destructive word will rob someone of their spirit while a positive word speaks possibility and encouragement.
2. Anyone can speak destructive words, but it takes the power of a leader to speak life.
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Home Staging Attracts Top Notch Tenant in Deflated Rental Market
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| The Staging Diva®, shares a home staging success story from Isabelle Gelderblom, a graduate of her training program. |
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What Is Your Sales Team’s A. Q.?
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| It has been known for some time that if you want to measure an individual’s intelligence, you administer an Intelligence Quotient test. This has been an accepted method of measuring one’s intelligence for many years. In sales management, intelligence is important, but this does not get you closer to measuring or predicting your sales team’s effectiveness or the ability to predict with any certainty the projections of future sales. How do measure this? With an A. Q. test. |
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Starting a Business with Nothing
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| Does the thought of needing start up money hold you back from starting a business? It shouldn't! |
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CPA Marketing – Everything You Need to Know
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| We all know that the World Wide Web isn’t just a tool used to share information with people from different places all over the world. It’s become much, much more than that – an unfathomable library of information, a gigantic media center with photos, music, flash games and videos uploaded everyday, and even a wide and active marketplace where people can sell and buy products and services from different sellers from various parts of the world. |
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Creating Twitter Backgrounds for Twits And Other Self Acknowledged Dum-Dums
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| The Only 3 Things You Really Need To Know:
1. What makes a good background?
2. Technical stuff.
3. How to upload your background. |
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The Credibility Challenge: 7 Ways to Boost Your Credibility Online
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| Learn how to use Credibility indicators to improve your online presence and convert more sales. Also includes ideas on ways to boost your own credibility both online and off.
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The Upside to the Downside
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| I’m not denying the economic hard times, but I am saying that not only are we finally beginning to see positive news filter through, but that there have also been upsides to this financial upheaval we’ve been going through. Lessons can be learned and fortunes made during tough economic times. It was during the Great Depression that the billion dollar cosmetics industry was launched. |
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The Two-Word Secret Weapon to Effective Leadership
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| “Performance Management” is a term coined by Dr. Aubrey Daniels in the late 1970s to describe a technology for managing, both behavior, and results, the two critical elements of what is known as performance. As an entrepreneur and a leader it is critical in your business. |
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How to Tell if Home Staging Will Work in Your Small Town – Part 2
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| Expert home stager, Staging Diva offers advice to aspiring home stagers concerned with whether or not their small rural town will support such an endeavor. |
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Book Review: Influence: Science and Practice
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| Robert Cialdini’s book is all about “click, whirr†– how we’re programmed as humans, how marketing can leverage the programming, and how as individuals we can overcome the programming. |
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Are You Selling or Consulting?
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| You’ve studied your target market (in general) and know the typical problems your prospective customers are facing. You assume that each prospect that’s looking at your marketing message fits that profile (on average) and talk to them appropriately. It’s the keystone of a marketing strategy... |
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How To Drive Your Business
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| When you first learned to drive a car (or bicycle), you probably looked at the road immediately in front of you. You were looking for potholes, the edges of the road, and other obstacles/hazards that you were heading for... |
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3 Critical Franchisee Skills
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| Whether you are a franchiser attempting to find the candidates that will be both profitable and a brand asset or you are a franchisee attempting to create a thriving new enterprise, without these 3 components you will be challenged every day in your business. |
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Talkin' Trash
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| Anyone who has read any of my “vignettes knows how critical I have become of everyday “customer service”. Here’s a different spin on the mundane. Every so often you have an experience so memorable that you can’t help but tell everyone about it; something that will stick with you your entire life, or at least the near term. |
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The Power Of Daily Visualization Meditation In Your Home Based Business
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| Why do some people not take action?
They buy into the system, buy the product and then it sits in their home office with the shrink-wrap still on it. I don’t know why they DON’T– but I do understand why others DO take action: they use the power of visualization meditation.
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Thriving And Not Just Surviving Is The Key To Growth In Network Marketing
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| As a society and a culture we are programmed to survive. Not to thrive. For growth in network marketing this applies as much as anything. It’s all in your head. |
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Speakers, Coaches, and Experts: Write to Sell During a Recession
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| Money is tight, but that doesn’t mean people don’t need you and your solutions. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that the people in your market need the guidance and insight you provide now more than ever. But in a recession, it takes a little more encouragement to get people to help themselves by buying your products and services. In other words, you may need to fine-tune your marketing. |
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How to Lead the Masses
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| A Leader's Guide to the Galaxy - Part 2 |
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Learn How to Succeed in MLM When Everyone Else is Failing
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| What do you do when you are spending more money on your MLM marketing than you are earning?
Don't dump your MLM program!
Learn how to become a LEADER in your company and earn what you are worth. I know, I know. How do you do this, you ask? First, you have to FORGET everything that you have been told by everyone involved in MLM. Then you need to learn to be a leader.
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#1 Gorilla Marketing Strategy: Own Your Brand on Google
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| The #1 Gorilla Marketing Strategy is simply to own your name (and your story) on Google. When people are introduced to your business, they’ll instantly “google” your name. |
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Branding yourself for internet success is vitally important, so how do you get started?
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| Nobody really becomes an overnight internet success. But once you start to brand yourself and follow a marketing system, the results can be pretty rapid. |
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Marketing Online
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| So, some advice, know what you would like to do, and do research in to how to archive it, for it don’t it will fail, as the saying goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Also, don’t get me wrong, going into any business online or not isn’t easy for is takes you out of your comfort zone, which is good for you, because if you are not liking your own situation financial or otherwise, you have to change it. I |
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Harnessing Human Resources for Sustainable Competitive Advantage
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| Paying careful attention to the one thing companies can control - the quality of their people, especially in the leadership pool leads to generating excellent results year after year. |
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Re-Engaging the Workforce - How to Clean Up After the Economic Storm
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| As we start to make our way out of the depression/recession many companies are finding that their most critical asset, their workforce is MIA. The rash of downsizings, furloughs, and decreasing financial performance has left employees stunned, distrustful, and cynical. More typical HR offerings will do no good and hoping everything will work out on its own is a non-starter. You can't ignore it, you can't pretend it doesn't exist and that you don't know what to do doesn't mean you do nothing! This is a time when new bold action is required and the longer you wait the more difficult the challenge. Here is what to do to get your people back on board with you. |
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