Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Will You Add? - Team Building Part 2: Honesty is the Key!
Cold Calling - 10 Techniques that Really Work
Even the word Cold Call will send shivers down anyone's spine. Most of the people I deal with do not like them and will avoid them at any cost. I do not blame them and most often cold calls will not yield very high results. You are only likely to gain ten percent of your business (at the most) from cold calling. So why do we do it? First, there is a myth that cold calling is necessary to gain new business. Second, it seems to be a challenge to many salespeople to make the cold call. All of this is totally unnecessary if you can change the cold call into a warm call. Here are ten things that you can do for cold calling: Find out who makes the decision for the company through the receptionist (sometimes called the gatekeeper) Ask who they currently do business with for your particular product or service Put on a seminar and ask who the correct person would be for sending the invitation Find out what organizations a decision maker attends and see if there is an opportunity for you to also attend Find an opportunity to be introduced to the decision maker from someone you already know If you see an announcement in the newspaper about the company you wish to do business with, send a note with congratulations to the new person or to the person in charge of the project, then follow-up with a phone call Find the right people to
>Even the word Cold Call will send shivers down anyone's spine. Most of the people I deal with do not like them and will avoid them at any cost. I do not blame them and most often cold calls will not yield very high results. You are only likely to gain ten percent of your business (at the most) from cold calling. So why do we do it? First, there is a myth that cold calling is necessary to gain new business. Second, it seems to be a challenge to many salespeople to make the cold call. All of this is totally unnecessary if you can change the cold call into a warm call. Here are ten things that you can do for cold calling: Find out who makes the decision for the company through the receptionist (sometimes called the gatekeeper) Ask who they currently do business with for your particular product or service Put on a seminar and ask who the correct person would be for sending the invitation Find out what organizations a decision maker attends and see if there is an opportunity for you to also attend Find an opportunity to be introduced to the decision maker from someone you already know If you see an announcement in the newspaper about the company you wish to do business with, send a note with congratulations to the new person or to the person in charge of the project, then follow-up with a phone call Find the right people to
1. Honesty – The Key!
It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to impl
Marketing Story - A Room Without Number
In a well established company, all the employees were used to follow company rules and regulations. One day, the General Manager of this company has given an instruction that employees were not allowed to enter a room in 8th floor which has no number on the door. It is significantly recognized which room is not allowed to go in. There is no reason from General Manager. Since then, every one always followed this rule and nobody will enter the room without number at the 8th floor.Few months later, company has recruited a few new employees. And it is also given instruction by General Manager to all new employees that they are not allowed to enter the room without no at the 8th floor.This time, there was a young guy, called Alan.Alan asked the General Manger: "why?"General Manager replied in a serious voice, "No reason"When back to working, Alan was still keep thinking why General Manager giving such unreasonable order. However, other colleagues telling Alan do nothing but just follow the rules and regulations of the company.But, Alan still kept asking other elder colleagues, what was the reason why General Manager gave the order? Other colleagues this time warned him by quoting the rules and regulations stated in the company policies.But, this Alan paid no heed to their advice, and decided to enter the room to see what the reason was.He at first knocked at the door first li
The second in a series of 2 articles giving a slightly different viewpoint on effective team building, condensed from an original seminar presented by the author, John Roberts. John is a Freelance Training Consultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 ( Another Brick in the Wall ) dealt with selecting and building the initial team. Part 2 deals with the culture that need to be in place to run the team really effectively. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. There is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal’ way of doing things.In a well established company, all the employees were used to follow company rules and regulations. One day, the General Manager of this company has given an instruction that employees were not allowed to enter a room in 8th floor which has no number on the door. It is significantly recognized which room is not allowed to go in. There is no reason from General Manager. Since then, every one always followed this rule and nobody will enter the room without number at the 8th floor.Few months later, company has recruited a few new employees. And it is also given instruction by General Manager to all new employees that they are not allowed to enter the room without no at the 8th floor.This time, there was a young guy, called Alan.Alan asked the General Manger: "why?"General Manager replied in a serious voice, "No reason"When back to working, Alan was still keep thinking why General Manager giving such unreasonable order. However, other colleagues telling Alan do nothing but just follow the rules and regulations of the company.But, Alan still kept asking other elder colleagues, what was the reason why General Manager gave the order? Other colleagues this time warned him by quoting the rules and regulations stated in the company policies.But, this Alan paid no heed to their advice, and decided to enter the room to see what the reason was.He at first knocked at the door first li
1. Honesty – The Key!
It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to imple
Offshoring - Low Cost Does Not Have To Mean Low Quality
Off shoring, outsourcing, all are terms that are becoming very common in the market place. They are generally also associated with job loss as companies take advantage of more experienced but low cost resources in countries like India, Philippines, Eastern Europe, etc. Large companies have been taking advantage of outsourcing and off shoring for years. Small and mid-sized companies have not yet taken advantage of this phenomenon and perhaps that that is the next big wave to come - once people discover an easy way to do so.Let us look at what outsourcing and off shoring mean and what some of the challenges associated with them are:Outsourcing refers to giving work to someone outside your own company so as to only focus on core competencies in house. Outsourcing can be done locally to others who are experts in a particular service. For example, a small business can outsource all their accounting functions to an accountant or their website management to another company who would manage it. This allows a small business to focus on growing the business and taking all the non-value added tasks out of their day to day activities. So instead of doing everything themselves, they can now retain experts to perform those tasks that need to be done but are either not enjoyable or not ones that help the growth of the business.But outsourcing has its challenges when the outsourced company is so busy that it cannot
onsultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 ( Another Brick in the Wall ) dealt with selecting and building the initial team. Part 2 deals with the culture that need to be in place to run the team really effectively. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. There is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal’ way of doing things.Off shoring, outsourcing, all are terms that are becoming very common in the market place. They are generally also associated with job loss as companies take advantage of more experienced but low cost resources in countries like India, Philippines, Eastern Europe, etc. Large companies have been taking advantage of outsourcing and off shoring for years. Small and mid-sized companies have not yet taken advantage of this phenomenon and perhaps that that is the next big wave to come - once people discover an easy way to do so.Let us look at what outsourcing and off shoring mean and what some of the challenges associated with them are:Outsourcing refers to giving work to someone outside your own company so as to only focus on core competencies in house. Outsourcing can be done locally to others who are experts in a particular service. For example, a small business can outsource all their accounting functions to an accountant or their website management to another company who would manage it. This allows a small business to focus on growing the business and taking all the non-value added tasks out of their day to day activities. So instead of doing everything themselves, they can now retain experts to perform those tasks that need to be done but are either not enjoyable or not ones that help the growth of the business.But outsourcing has its challenges when the outsourced company is so busy that it cannot
1. Honesty – The Key!
It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to impl
Franchising Companies Need New Franchisee Checklists
When franchise companies are moving fast in the market place they must pay attention to the details. If a franchisor fails to give the required items as outlined in the franchise agreement to the franchisees on the prescribed timeline they risk legal issues and regulatory issues. In addition even if they do provide the items on time, there is a chance later that a franchisee may claim that something was not provided and they will use this to break the franchise agreement, sue or file a complaint with regulatory bodies at the state level or even the FTC, Federal Trade Commission. But if you keep proper records and have checklists and monitor dates and deliveries you can win a law suit or force a regulatory agency to backtrack.Below is a checklist we use in our Company, The Car Wash Guys, and as it turns out it came in handy as we had a regulatory agency attack us after false declarations and complaints were made. In fact had we not had these detailed documents and checklists in place with constant monitoring we would have been force to pay up to $800,000 in fines, as it turns out they settled out of court with us after seeing the facts. I recommend that you have a checklist in place for compliance as you cannot trust the regulators, lawyers, competitors or those who want something for nothing. Please be smart and copy this outline and modify it fit your business model and then make the supporting forms and documents to cover your com
ally effectively. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. There is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal’ way of doing things.When franchise companies are moving fast in the market place they must pay attention to the details. If a franchisor fails to give the required items as outlined in the franchise agreement to the franchisees on the prescribed timeline they risk legal issues and regulatory issues. In addition even if they do provide the items on time, there is a chance later that a franchisee may claim that something was not provided and they will use this to break the franchise agreement, sue or file a complaint with regulatory bodies at the state level or even the FTC, Federal Trade Commission. But if you keep proper records and have checklists and monitor dates and deliveries you can win a law suit or force a regulatory agency to backtrack.Below is a checklist we use in our Company, The Car Wash Guys, and as it turns out it came in handy as we had a regulatory agency attack us after false declarations and complaints were made. In fact had we not had these detailed documents and checklists in place with constant monitoring we would have been force to pay up to $800,000 in fines, as it turns out they settled out of court with us after seeing the facts. I recommend that you have a checklist in place for compliance as you cannot trust the regulators, lawyers, competitors or those who want something for nothing. Please be smart and copy this outline and modify it fit your business model and then make the supporting forms and documents to cover your com
1. Honesty – The Key!
It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to impl
Hard Times For Surety Bonds
The surety bond market is currently a very conservative market. Contract and commercial bond departments throughout the nation have tightened up their underwriting practices due to enormous loses throughout the industry. Many sureties have had to close their doors, other have had their ratings drop to a level where they can not write the same business they could in years past. Obviously this leaves the bonding companies that are still operating with a very conservative outlook when it comes to their underwriting guidelines.One thing that many do not understand is while the current surety bond market is tough, it is considered a more traditional underwriting approach. Contractors are being angered by decreases in their bond lines, or in worst cases are now being deemed "not bondable". Business owners seeking commercial bonding such as license bonds to run their business are not only finding it harder to obtain an approval, but are also seeing rates much higher than years past.Why such a drastic difference? A couple years back the industry saw the softest bond market ever, which caused a backlash to what is now today's hard market. The surety bond market is cyclical, a member of the Surety Bond Forums commented on the cycle stating:Vicious cycle:We need more profit from you - write more businessWe need to write more business, loosen up underwritingWe've loosened up underwriting - oops- lossesL
ere is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal’ way of doing things.The surety bond market is currently a very conservative market. Contract and commercial bond departments throughout the nation have tightened up their underwriting practices due to enormous loses throughout the industry. Many sureties have had to close their doors, other have had their ratings drop to a level where they can not write the same business they could in years past. Obviously this leaves the bonding companies that are still operating with a very conservative outlook when it comes to their underwriting guidelines.One thing that many do not understand is while the current surety bond market is tough, it is considered a more traditional underwriting approach. Contractors are being angered by decreases in their bond lines, or in worst cases are now being deemed "not bondable". Business owners seeking commercial bonding such as license bonds to run their business are not only finding it harder to obtain an approval, but are also seeing rates much higher than years past.Why such a drastic difference? A couple years back the industry saw the softest bond market ever, which caused a backlash to what is now today's hard market. The surety bond market is cyclical, a member of the Surety Bond Forums commented on the cycle stating:Vicious cycle:We need more profit from you - write more businessWe need to write more business, loosen up underwritingWe've loosened up underwriting - oops- lossesL
1. Honesty – The Key!
It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to impl
Forget Conventional Marketing - Embrace the Web!
Tactical marketing processes are once again undergoing fundamental shifts from traditional to web-based processes. Many traditional marketing firms/agencies are still touting the tried and true to their clients; i.e. Tradeshow attendance, Print, Traditional PR, TV and Radio. However, these conventional marketing processes work best for broad market awareness and/or branding, especially for a Fortune 1K company with significant resources to spend on demographic analysis, test marketing and more test marketing. It's much more difficult for a smaller company (startup to $50M per annum) to leverage the economies of scale that are typically available for a larger company for the media buy and operational efficiencies.It's obvious that lifestyle and business processes are shifting towards a much greater dependence on digital media - people are traveling less due to cost issues and the ever-increasing speed of business is underscoring the usage of the Internet for information and research. If you're a small to medium sized business the chances are that you've probably cut your marketing budget significantly - by eliminating or scaling back tradeshow attendance, trade magazine advertising and/or direct mail in favor of response driven marketing on the web that can be deployed faster and more cost-effectively than traditional marketing methods.Capturing leads from a web site generated by opt-in e-mail, newsletter inserts, text link ad
>Tactical marketing processes are once again undergoing fundamental shifts from traditional to web-based processes. Many traditional marketing firms/agencies are still touting the tried and true to their clients; i.e. Tradeshow attendance, Print, Traditional PR, TV and Radio. However, these conventional marketing processes work best for broad market awareness and/or branding, especially for a Fortune 1K company with significant resources to spend on demographic analysis, test marketing and more test marketing. It's much more difficult for a smaller company (startup to $50M per annum) to leverage the economies of scale that are typically available for a larger company for the media buy and operational efficiencies.It's obvious that lifestyle and business processes are shifting towards a much greater dependence on digital media - people are traveling less due to cost issues and the ever-increasing speed of business is underscoring the usage of the Internet for information and research. If you're a small to medium sized business the chances are that you've probably cut your marketing budget significantly - by eliminating or scaling back tradeshow attendance, trade magazine advertising and/or direct mail in favor of response driven marketing on the web that can be deployed faster and more cost-effectively than traditional marketing methods.Capturing leads from a web site generated by opt-in e-mail, newsletter inserts, text link ad
1. Honesty – The Key!
It really is that simple! The basic foundation of building and running REALLY successful teams is TOTAL honesty! Sounds simple, but it can be one of the hardest things to implement due to existing workplace cultures and peoples long-term conditioning to them. If you are not prepared to implement this culture change, you will only ever have functional ‘teams’ that are purely paying ‘lip service’ to the whole idea of team building.
Being honest starts here! You cant pretend to be honest, or only implement some parts of it, either as a team member or as a team leader. If you are not going to give it 100% - Give it up, because the rest depends on this to work properly!
There are two separate parts to honesty within the team scenario and both are equally important:
(a) Being honest with other people
You have to learn to be honest with everyone. If someone is not performing properly-Tell them as soon as possible, and help them to overcome the cause. If someone is performing
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/45899/atriclecheck-Team-Building-Part-2-Honesty-is-the-Key.html">Team Building Part 2: Honesty is the Key!</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/45899/atriclecheck-Team-Building-Part-2-Honesty-is-the-Key.html]Team Building Part 2: Honesty is the Key![/url]
Related Articles:
How To Get Back On Track After Being Written Up At Work
Academic Coordination With Corporations
Bookmark it:
|