One of the best projects to undertake as an online marketer is to master the art of generating sales from your warm market contacts. A warm market is simply people who have already been exposed to your business and marketing plan. It can be described as "breaking the ice" with your potential customers. The best way to generate a warm market is with lead generation marketing tools. A marketing tool is a tool that people use to create what we call...more
Never a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression, or so the saying goes. We all know that when someone is introduced into your work environment for the first time, their peers size them up immediately. How they are dressed, how they talk, and how they set up their workspace. Especially in large companies, where there is constant personnel movement, keeping up your appearance is a full time task. In smaller companies, how you compose yourself from Day...more
Every year, thousands of business owners and financial managers are faced with the task of obtaining attractive financing for equipment their firms want to acquire. Snaring the best leasing arrangement requires only a bit of planning and a smidgeon of finesse. You can save time, land a better lease deal and make the leasing experience less of a conundrum by considering several important factors. Plan AheadBefore seeking lease proposals, invest a little time in planning and preparing. Establish priorities by considering the relative importance of such factors as lease pricing, balance sheet considerations, ongoing leasing needs and the necessity of the prospective lessor to have specialized equipment/industry knowledge. If the transaction is relatively insignificant in the overall scheme of things, a truncated planning process might be in order. If not, allow enough time to: 1) identify and pre-qualify lessors, 2) review and select a lease proposal, 3) allow selected lessor to conduct due diligence and get credit approval, and 4) to complete lease documentation.Assemble an information package for prospective lessors that anticipates what they will want to know before submitting a...more
In 2003, venture capitalists and investors dispense over $18 billion to promising young US companies, according to VentureOne and Ernst & Young Quarterly Venture Capital Report. Less documented and reported is venture leasing's activity and volume. This form of equipment financing contributed greatly to the growth of US start-ups. Yearly, specialty...more
Have you ever noticed how the same people's names always seem to appear in magazines and newspapers articles which quote them as a source of info and advice on their own particular subject, whether it is web functionality and design, cosmetic surgery or investment banking? They don't just get there by accident. They, or their PR Company, have put...more
If I were coaching you as a business, non-profit or association manager on how to get the biggest bang for your public relations dollar, I would sum it up for you this way. Use the fundamental premise of public relations to produce external stakeholder behavior change - the kind that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives. Usually, that outside behavior change can be created in the financial, marketing, crisis resolution, reputation management and other sectors of the public relations discipline. Thus, you do something positive about the behaviors of those outside audiences that MOST affect your organization. And you do so by persuading those important external folks to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed. The reality is, your public relations effort must involve more than press releases, brochures and special events if you expect to get your money's worth. And that's what the fundamental premise of public relations really says when it points out that people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we...more
It sounds simple- right? You are where you THINK you are! And it is simple but do we practice it? Of course we are where we think we are! The question is where do YOU think you are? It's a principle I talk about all the time. Everything we do, we...more
One of the first great things I learned when starting my business, is that there are two ways of thinking. You can believe that there is more than enough business to go around or you can have the scarcity mentality. Either way you believe you are...more
One thing all successful small business owners have in common is the knowledge that their business is based on enthusiastic customers. Despite their multi-tasking titles of bookkeeper, service provider and sales-manager, their most important title is...more
The Importance of setting appointments is crucial to running a business. They are the key to a successful business.When making appointments try to make your call between one and two minutes maximum. Practice keeping your calls to this time scale,...more
Has your broker ever told you that a stock is "overbought" or "oversold"? He probably went on the explain that the stock you own (I hope you didn't) had gone down so far that it now was oversold and due for a rally. He might also have encouraged you...more
Every stock market investor faces one primal enemy. An enemy so perverse, it will drive thousands of investors from the stock market through its ability to defeat even the most practiced investment strategy. Who is this enemy you ask? Your arch...more