...Feedback Employee Benefits Network: BenefitsPro FreeERISA Benefits Selling Broker Innovation Lab Benefits Selling Expo eNewsletters Magazine Feedback? Search Twitter Facebook Google+ LinkedIn Read Next Article Best sales and marketing tips: Social media Share This Story Advertisement Home / Benefits Brokers / Sales Strategies Best sales and marketing tips: Old school 100 sales and marketing tips, part 2 Jan 06, 2015 | By Kathryn Mayer Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Google+ Share This Story (Image courtesy of ponsulak/FreeDigitalPhotos.net) (Image courtesy of ponsulak/FreeDigitalPhotos.net) Our 100 sales and marketing tips list this year is broken down into 10 important categories. We've already covered social media. This list focuses on old school sales techniques. 11. Forget the group meetings, the conference calls, the social media posts: Meet with clients one-on-one. They still like it. 12. Send cards to your clients for birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas (via snail mail, not just email). Advertisement 13. Always carry business cards with you (and give them out!) 14. Smile. Make eye contact. You know, be a friendly person. 15. Get up early. —F. George du Pont; employee benefits specialist, Aflac 16. Send thank you cards. 17. Be honest and transparent. —Daniel LaBroad, president and CEO, Ovation Health & Life Services, Inc.;...
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...The Dos and Don’ts of Effective Business Communication in Today’s World Business communication takes different forms including verbal, oral and electronic. It is essential for the success of every company and organization nowadays as it influences its managing and performance. (Vitez, 2014) Therefore there are main dos and don’ts that everybody from employees to top managers should know in order to communicate efficiently. To begin with, one should know what to do when communicating in a business environment. There are main things to be considered before starting a communication. Firstly, the receiver of the information should be identified. It allows the sender to understand how to gain attention and make the information understandable and appropriate. For example, an email written for the top manager has to be different than one for an intern as they have different knowledge and interests. The next step is to know what is the main message and its aim. Knowing what the sender wants to say to the auience and why allows him to structure the information in a clear way and stay focused. (“10 Tips For Effective Business Writing”, n.d.) The formulation of this information also affects its effeciveness. The best thing to do is to begin with the main message. (O'Hara, 2014) It helps the receiver to understand quickly the reason behind it and to grab the attention. When communicating through writing gramatical and speling mistakes might occure. Therefore, the sender should check...
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...Online Marketing Guide Tips + Advice to Grow Your Business Through Online Marketing The Small Business Why you should be marketing online Case study: How Happy Hound gets 90% of its sales online 10 things you can do today to boost your online marketing Worksheet: How you can get started Contents 4. Why Your Business Needs to Market Online 6. 10 Ways to Use the Internet to Grow Your Business 9. Measuring Your Results 10. Tip a Day: Map Your Path to Online Success 12. Case Study: Happy Hound 13. Online Marketing: Something for Every Business 14. Key Terms 16. Worksheet Suzanne Golter of Happy Hound dog day care and boarding 2 Welcome Every day we hear from business owners who think they need special skills to reach new customers online. Overwhelmed by the number and seeming complexity of online marketing options, they sit on the sidelines, eager to get in the game but confused about where to start. Sound familiar? If so, this guide is for you. Whether you’re new to online marketing or just looking to do it better, the advice in this guide can help you reach your business goals. You’ll learn: • How many new customers you can find online • 10 ways to use the Internet to grow your business • How to measure your results • How one small business gets 90% of its sales online • Key terms and what they mean We’ve also created a daily tip sheet filled with ideas to help you get started as well as marketing plans for four different types of businesses. Get started right...
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...report indicates that Brazil leads all other South American countries in terms of infrastructure and technological development. Combine these facts with the stabilising economic and political landscape — (the twin nightmares of corruption and hyper-inflation ravaged the country for decades) — and it is easy to see why Brazil attracts a higher percentage of total global foreign direct investment year on year. However, anybody wishing to do business with Brazil and the Brazilians should be aware of the various cultural and structural barriers which might confront them. Probably the most pervasive barrier encountered by the unwary traveller would be the 'Custo Basil' or the 'Brazil Cost'. This term refers to the very real extra costs of doing business in Brazil — corruption, governmental inefficiency, legal and bureaucratic complications, excessive taxation, poor infrastructure, inflation etc. Although this 'costa' is difficult to define and has lessened in recent years, it remains real and the cause of great frustration for international business people. Due to this 'Custo Brasil', it is important to work closely with local lawyers and accountants. Many people have found the services of local middlemen (despachante) extremely useful in overcoming many of the...
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...Employee Training Tips 1 Well-trained employees are the key to your small business success. Studies have shown that the most successful, productive employees are those who have received extensive training. They’re the cream of the crop, often having the strongest stake in the company’s future. In an ideal world, you would be able to hire people who already possess the exact skills your business needs. But in today’s competitive labor market, demand for skilled workers far exceeds supply. That’s where training comes in. Not only does instruction arm your employees with needed professional or technical skills, but it also shows that you are invested in them and interested in bringing them with you into the company’s future. This helps keep workers motivated and involved. To successfully launch an employee training program in your own company, follow these 10 helpful tips: 1. Stress training as investment. The reason training is often considered optional at many companies is because it is thought of as an expense rather than an investment. While it’s true that training can be costly up front, it's a long-term investment in the growth and development of your human resources. 2. Determine your needs. As you probably don’t have unlimited time or funds to execute an employee training program, you should decide early on what the focus of your training program should be. Determine what skills are most pertinent to address current or future company needs or ones that will...
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...German business culture tips Keep in mind most of this is copy and pasted and has not been reworded and extracted yet. Background of German business culture In Germany, much greater attention has been paid to academic, technical education and its value to business in general. Therefore, companies tend to be run by technical experts rather than lawyers and accountants and this is reflected in the high regard in which engineers are held by other Germans. Diligence and competence are characteristics which are held in high esteem by colleagues and are seen as the key indicators of performance. Appraisal systems based on the softer competencies as favoured by many U.K. and U.S. firms are still not common in traditional German companies. German business structures Most of the power in German companies is vested in the hands of a few senior managers. Larger companies (AG & GmbH) have a Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) which appoints the Management Board (Vorstand). The management board is the final decision-maker on policy matters which affect management. However below Vorstand level, companies tend to have a strictly hierarchical approach within which individual's specific roles and responsibilities are tightly defined and compartmentalised. This results in a methodical approach to most business issues where procedures and adherence to well-defined rules are respected. This methodical approach has both good and bad points. On the plus side, everybody knows what is expected...
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...reported by the Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated them. These offenses occurred in nearly 100 countries on six continents, offering readers a view into the global nature of occupational fraud. As in previous years, what is perhaps most striking about the data we gathered is how consistent the patterns of fraud are around the globe and over time. We believe this consistency reaffirms the value of our research efforts and the reliability of our findings as truly representative of the characteristics of occupational fraudsters and their schemes. On behalf of the ACFE, and in honor of its founder, Dr. Wells, I am pleased to present the 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. It is my hope that practitioners, business and government organizations, academics, the media and the general public throughout the world will find the information contained in this Report of value in their efforts to prevent,...
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...the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia is bordered on the north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; on the east by the Persian Gulf and Qatar; on the southeast by the United Arab Emirates and Oman on the south by the Republic of Yemen; and on the west by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The southeast and southern boundaries are not precisely defined. The Middle East, bordering Iraq 814 km, Jordan 744 km, Kuwait 222 km, Oman 676 km, Qatar 60 km, UAE 457 km, Yemen 1,458 km Capital: Riyadh Climate: harsh, dry desert with great temperature extremes Population: 25,795,938 including 5,576,076 non-nationals (July 2004 est.) Ethnic Make-up: Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10% Religions: Muslim 100% Government: monarchy Language in Saudi Arabia Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia, but English is widely spoken. It is used in business and is a compulsory second language in schools. Among the non-Saudi population, many people speak Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, and other Asian languages such as Farsi and Turkish. Arabic is spoken by almost 200 million people in more than 22 countries. It is the language of the Qur'an, the Holy Book of Islam, and of Arab poetry and literature. While spoken Arabic varies from country to country, classical Arabic has remained unchanged for centuries. In Saudi, there are differences between the dialects spoken in urban areas and those spoken in rural areas. Saudi Society & Culture Islam Islam is practised by all Saudis and governs their personal...
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...Methods and Requirements By Autumn Bryant Small Business Management MT209 Running a business has its perks we all know. This means we are living our dreams doing what we want. Living your own dream does however come with many challenges. One of those challenges is by deciding if use of employees is going to be required. Orgazmz' will require the need to hire employees because it is to much work for a bar to be ran solely by one person. There are three main positions, which will need to be filled. A manager will need to be hired as well as a full time bartender and also a part time bartender. Of course there will be other positions down the road that will need to be filled as business picks up, like waitresses and musicians. A manager is the most important part. He/she is going to be the go to person to deal with many of the everyday functions of the daily business. He/she will report directly to me (the owner). This will be a full-time position, which is 40+ hours a week. The manager can work the hours of 9am to 6pm Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays. He/she can work 6pm to close (2am) Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. As business picks up and profits start making good margins then there will be possibilities for possible benefits like medical, dental, and vision. The manager would be paid differently as the other employees because of the higher position. He/she will be paid beginning salary of $30,000-$40,000 a year plus tips. This position will require a mixology degree...
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...Doing Business in South Korea South Korea has to be classed as one of the world’s great economic success stories. Along with Taiwan, South Korea is the only country which has recorded five consecutive decades of economic growth in excess of 5%. This is an amazing achievement which is the result of careful governmental macro-engineering, sound business practice and sheer hard work from the population at large. Economists feel that, given the lengthy stagflation seen in Japan, that it will not be too long before South Korean levels of prosperity are at a par with Japan. Both South Korea and Japan are intensely conformist societies (one of the many similarities between the two countries) but they differ in one fundamental thing. When faced with hardship or adversity the Japanese tend to turn inwards and backwards towards the familiar and comfortable whereas the South Koreans are absolute masters of change and rebuild. If things aren’t working, they just change them and they have proved adept at doing this very quickly and very effectively – you only need to look at the contrasting reactions to the crisis that hit Asia in the 1990’s. Japan is, arguably, still recovering while South Korea has long been in rude health. South Korea has also re-invented itself as the cultural epicentre of Asian culture. Korean pop music, or K-pop, has been exported with great success all over the continent and Korean TV dramas are watched from Tokyo to Beijing. South Korean films are...
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...|Qualification |Edexcel BTEC National Level 3 Extended Diploma in Business | |Unit number and title |Unit 39: International Business | |Learner Name | | |Assessor Name | | |Date issued |31/10/13 | Assessment criteria to be assessed in this assignment |Criteria Reference|To achieve the criteria the evidence must show that the learner is able to: |Task No. |Page No. | |P1 |Explain the international business environment in which a selected organisation operates |1.1 | | |P2 |Describe the mechanisms that regulate international trade |1.2 | | |P3 |Describe how the environment and culture of another country affects |1.5 | | | |a business operating internationally ...
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...Critical Issues: In order to grow Best Financial’s business steadily in the future and make it become a leader in the Sarnia market, it has to address the following: * How to increase the daily work efficiency in the office so that Best Financial can serve more clients than it currently does which is 600. * Which option Linda should choose so that the company will grow in a sustainable way. * How to maintain existing clients so that Best Financial’s existing client base (600) will be loyal and stable. * How to develop a new marketing plan so that it will be more cost-effective. (unnecessary marketing expenses will decrease by approximately $550 per year) Analysis: Due to Best Financial’s good work ethic and values, its sales level and client base had been growing steadily throughout the years. However, things have changed right now, the recent loss of the top client-Gerald Young was a wake-up call for both Linda and Best Financial. First, the competition in the financial services industry in Sarnia is high (Exhibit 2), especially because of the existence of those 4 big companies (Exhibit 3). Second, according to Sun life Financial’s annual report, its sales decreased by 12.8% in 2007. This might be a big signal that the overall market environment is facing a recession. Therefore, if Best Financial still wants to grow in the future, it has to take advantage of its strengths and try to improve or avoid its weaknesses (Exhibit 1). In last couple years, Best...
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...technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for identifying both the Opportunities open to you and the Threats you face. Used in a business context, a SWOT Analysis helps you carve a sustainable niche in your market. Used in a personal context , it helps you develop your career in a way that takes best advantage of your talents, abilities and opportunities. This article looks at how to use SWOT in a business context. (Click here to learn how to do a Personal SWOT Analysis .) Business SWOT Analysis What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that, with a little thought, it can help you uncover opportunities that you are well placed to exploit. And by understanding the weaknesses of your business, you can manage and eliminate threats that would otherwise catch you unawares. More than this, by looking at yourself and your competitors using the SWOT framework, you can start to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors, so that you can compete successfully in your market. How to Use SWOT Analysis Originated by Albert S Humphrey in the 1960s, SWOT Analysis is as useful now as it was then. You can use it in two ways – as a simple icebreaker helping people get together to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool. Tip: Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats generally relate to external factors. For this...
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...ABE Level 5 Diploma Unit Title: The Business Environment Learning Outcome: 1. Understand the significance of the environment on business activity. Please note that the content of this Lecture Guide is listed in its recommended teaching order, rather than in numerical order. Indicative Content: 1.1.1 Explain the business organisation as a transformation process: • Business organisations undergo a transformation process from inputs into outputs, using physical inputs plus finance and skills to produce both goods and services. • Use examples from both manufacturing and service sector organisations to illustrate the process. 1.1.2 Describe the different ways in which a business may structure its activities: • Organisational structures can be based on the functions of the organisation, its product ranges, or geographical regions. Alternatively some less hierarchical organisations may use a matrix structure, especially if the firm is project based. 1.2.1 Discuss the complexity, volatility and uniqueness of an organisation's environment: • The organisation in its environment has to face a wide range of internal and external influences which affect business activity. • The immediate or operational environment interacts with suppliers, competitors, the labour market and financial institutions. • The general or contextual environment consists of economic, political, legal, and social factors. Each functional area of the organisation may be affected. • Whilst organisations have some...
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...8. Sell cheap clothing Home-based business managed simply should sell a product that does not quickly expired and durable. One of them is cheap clothes. Capital needed is actually relatively cheap, depending on the stock to be retrieved. For example for capital of US $ 1000, you can buy some cheap clothes from a number of wholesalers such as Dewagrosir.com that offer an assortment of cheap clothing. Several products with low price and needed are house dress. It is only worth US$ 5, praying clothes for US$ 7- US$ 10, and gloves woven US $ 15. You do not have to worry that is overpriced because you can go to buy the product at wholesale. Wholesale clothing sites below can be made as comparison: • http://deltagrosir.com • http://www.tanahabangpgmta.com...
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