TedFind » Business

BPO Can Help Companies Succeed

admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Have you heard about the cloud? It is a generic term for any type of computer software, storage, or processing that is done on remote servers instead of at a company’s offices . Even private citizens access the cloud when they store pictures, videos, and other documents on free services like YouTube and Google Docs. Anytime information is being handled or stored away from the main computer or server, it resides in the cloud.

For businesses, the evolution of cloud computing has led to a variety of benefits. One of the most well known of these is outsourcing. Without the ability to share customer and product data across state lines and international borders, outsourcing would be impossible. More and more companies are realizing that by outsourcing some of their functions they can streamline their business and actually provide better products and services to their customers.

This all starts with Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Companies hire a BPO to take over those mundane business tasks that have nothing to do with their core line of business. They hand over accounting, billing, and related processes to the BPO, thus freeing their employees and funds to focus on product development and client services. In turn, the BPO is able to provide more efficient services, since that is their primary focus.

Any company that is considering hiring a BPO should do thorough research on the companies and services that are available. They should look at industry ratings, customer recommendations , and even examine things like company growth and profits. This will help them choose the outsourcing partner who can improve not only their bottom line, but help them improve their quality of service as well. That way they will have not only happy shareholders, but also happy customers.

BPO Can Help Companies Succeed is a post from: TedFind

Running Multiple Ebay Stores

admin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:00:00 +0000

If you’re enjoying success with your existing eBay store you may be wondering how to expand on that success without overextending your resources and capital. While it is simple enough to branch out into new inventory lines within your existing store, you may want to consider opening additional stores so that you can carefully target different niche products.

The advantage to opening a second store instead of expanding the categories in the same store is that targeting. While the new products may be related to your existing inventory, it is likely different enough that it will appeal to a slightly different niche market. By opening a second store, you can focus on what makes that niche different than your first store.

You will, however, want to make sure that any additional stores are closely tied to your current brand. Using the same ebay store design , including logo and color scheme, will make the trip from one store to the next seamless to customers. It will also reinforce that the same quality of merchandise and dedication to service applies in each store.

Think of yourself as opening a chain of related stores all under the same brand. Only it’s much cheaper to do with eBay than with brick and mortar locations.

Running Multiple Ebay Stores is a post from: TedFind

Restaurant Menus Should Match the Overall Theme

admin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Eating a meal involves more than just chewing the food on a plate. It is an experience of all the senses and the surrounding environment is as much a part of that experience as the food itself. This is why the best restaurants will sometimes spend large chunks of their budget on the design of a room, including the furnishings, linens, colors, and artwork. The desire is to create a comprehensive experience that will enhance the food and bring guests back again and again.

Of course, every restaurant is going to have its own unique experience. In some cases it is sumptuous and luxurious but in others it is gritty like a favorite greasy spoon or homey like the neighborhood mom and pop restaurant. This is why custom menu covers were invented. They allow restaurant owners or managers to choose the cover that best suits the feel of a given eatery.

A dark leather cover would be out of place at a kids burger joint. Likewise a plastic sheet cover would cause a disconnect with diners at an old world Indian restaurant. Custom covers do more than just match the decor of a restaurant, they are designed to blend in seamlessly, mimicking the colors, font, and style of the menu itself. They may have the restaurant’s logo and name on the outside or some other custom notation that lets the diner know that it is a part of the experience and not something to distract them.

Restaurant Menus Should Match the Overall Theme is a post from: TedFind

The Career of Katie Yeakle

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Twenty or so years ago, Katie Yeakle was a run of the mill copy editor in a large direct marketing firm. Over the decades, she dug in her heels and learned everything she could about the direct response industry . She did stints not only in writing sales copy, but also worked as a product manager for a while as well as a stint as a marketing manager. This experience gave her an excellent grounding in the direct response — an industry that is now worth nearly $2 trillion in revenues each year.

In 1997 Yeakle and a few partners formed AWAI (American Writers & Artists Inc). This organization was created to share their professional insights and strategies in order to help others become successful freelance copywriters. AWAI began with a few courses in how to craft an effective sales letter and how to find work as a freelance writer. Over the years the offerings grew to include courses for graphic designers.

Today, katie yeakle remains Executive Director of AWAI. With a staff over over twenty writing and design professionals, AWAI is able to help students with everything from resume writing and identifying leads, to how to develop a direct response website or become a publicist. Through AWAI and her extensive public speaking schedule, Yeakle has helped thousands of people leave behind cookie cutter jobs and create their own fulfilling and financially successful careers.

The Career of Katie Yeakle is a post from: TedFind

Important Things for All Salespeople

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Sales are the backbone of all companies. Even if the company is one lone person who does a lot of talks and speeches, you have to sell yourself and the speeches as the product to get people to buy what you do. You will have to have some kind of customer base in order to sell this product, but there will also mostly be new customers which means that you have to be a salesman as well as a master of your field to make sure that you can continue to make a living doing what you love. Every person approaching sales for the first time should understand a few key points.

Make sure you know yourself. Don’t get try to sell something you don’t love. Don’t try to sell in a way that goes against your identity, or your DNA. Know how you work best and what distracts you from that work. If you have to take on multiple roles, know which ones you will do well and which ones you may need some corporate training or business training to help you develop. If they aren’t something that you can learn and do on your own you may want to consider getting someone who is good at these things to help you out.

Express your passion for your product, service, or field. Passion can not be taught, or learned. If you are passionate, no one will be able to stop you. If you are selling what you love, you will know everything about the product including all the bad things about it. Be willing to admit to the bad things and help people find the appropriate product for their needs. If you are passionate, you probably know about more than one product and could talk about any given one for hours.

Work to develop your own brand . If you are your own brand people will eventually want to buy from you because they will see you as someone to be trusted. Be distinctive, be known. Get your voice out there and have fun with it. One of the easiest ways to get people to trust you is to entertain them. Do so in an honest way and people will take notice of it. This doesn’t just apply to people selling wine or talking about tea but it also works for people who professionally prepare taxes or who try legal cases.

Remember that all jobs are sales positions. Even when working for someone else, you are selling your product with each interaction you make. If you find that you are more interested in this idea take a sales process improvement course. It can help you better understand what makes people buy.

Important Things for All Salespeople is a post from: TedFind

Direct Selling and Gender

admin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Direct selling has a long history. The things most people think about when they think about the direct selling of the past are Tupperware parties and MaryKay sales women and while it is obvious that for many direct selling opportunities women have dominated the market because it allowed a way for women to work their own hours and at home with the kids. It also gave them an excuse for social events such as having Tupperware parties or other social events of the same nature that asked friends and family to come over, have fun and experience a product that could change their homes. However, overall women did not dominate the direct selling market for a long time and these two companies were not the only ones that were out there selling door to door.

Southwestern Company is a good example of a direct seller who has been in business for a long time. It was only recently that they started hiring women. This was less because of prejudiced and more because of cultural norms. Southwestern Company asks the sellers to travel away from home for long periods of time, live in a new area for a summer or longer and sell door to door. These sales aren’t as fun either. While there are probably a few people who have tried to have book parties, it is not a very common practice and would be harder to turn into a social gathering in which it doesn’t feel like the product is the main point of the show rather than socializing being the main point. This has a turn off effect when it comes to buying because then people feel like they are being sold to. For these reasons it has not been a company that many women have wanted to work at until recently.

Now days there are a number of men and women working in the direct selling field across the board. Many of these people become very rich from their sales, while others find that they can live on what they make and don’t have to work as many hours. For many people that makes this work very much worth it.

Direct Selling and Gender is a post from: TedFind

Successful Property Management

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:33:56 +0000

What are the keys to successful property management? At Transglobe Property Management, they know that one of those keys is the quality of customer service and the relationship with the tenants. Good relations means happy clients, and happy clients remain renting for long periods of time. This is the key to great customer service, not only between the company and the tenants, but between the company and the owner as well. Expect nothing less the best of the best, a company that is professional and cares about your property and those who are renting from you.

A great company will always communicate with the owner on issues or ideas meant to maintain the buildings and ensure that they remain competitive in the market. This saves an enormous amount of money, as the units will be less likely to sit empty for extended periods of time. And should it come time for tenants to move, if they were treated well, releasing will not be an issue. Good words travel fast, and they will do your advertising for you. The management must care and this should always be a consideration when looking for someone to manage your property.

One should also look for a firm that knows accounting and business. Dealing with the expenses and revenues can be a daunting task, especially when one owns numerous different buildings. A knowledgeable management firm will take care of your property and your investment for you. Usually it is the managers and not the owners that collect the rent from the tenants each month, and a great firm like Transglobe Property Management will ensure that those checks are in the account of the owner in a speedy manager. This is important for the owners so as they are the ones gaining the interest in their accounts.

Successful Property Management is a post from: TedFind

An Exhibit of the Women of the New York City Business World

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:55:08 +0000

The times they are a changin’, famous line of a great tune from the mind of the legendary folk singer Bob Dylan. This is something that is being illustrated in an exhibit on Wall Street for the next couple of months. It is a journey into the famous, and notorious, women who made their way in world of New York business. Hotels are finding that many people traveling to the city, have every intention of visiting the Museum of Finance to learn about and to become inspired by the famous women who have paved the way throughout history.

These are times in which an African-American man is the Commander in Chief of the United States. This time and need for a change began in 1872, when Victoria Woodhull became the first woman in American history to run for president. She provided the platform in which Hillary Clinton was able to stand upon just about a year ago. Not many people know of her today, however during her days she was one of the most famous women in America.

Those who knew her and who have written about her state that she was a woman that was far too ahead of her times. Not only did she run for president, she was an advocate for social reform. It has been written that she treated everyone equally and with respect, from the society class to the street beggars and prostitutes. She simply led an ethical life.

She was known to visit people in prison, to feed the hungry and to voluntarily care for the ill and elderly. Her life was not without scandal however, and she eventually left the United States to live out the rest of her life in Worcestershire, England. She is just one of five women whose lives are featured at the exhibit in New York City. An incredible, must see exhibit for anyone traveling to the city of New York in the next few months.

An Exhibit of the Women of the New York City Business World is a post from: TedFind

Early history of African Americans in business and sales

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:55:07 +0000

The initial business African Americans engaged in before the Civil War usually involved a tie to their experiences as slaves. Thusly, personal assistances and trade in crafts were usually the types of business that former slaves who had bought their freedom went into. Because educational opportunities for African Americans were severely lacking in those days, their business training was nil, and often their jobs were very similar to those held as former slaves. Research demonstrates how back then it was extremely difficult for African Americans to receive any kind of credit in order to start up a business. More formal types of business opportunities, such as bookkeeping work, required higher education, which African Americans had no access to due to pervading negative ideologies maintained about them.

Yet in the 1850s this was not always the rule. About twenty African Americans owned traditional businesses by this time. Though a seemingly wretched number by standards today, it was quite a figure in those days. These business owners were also worth quite a bit of capital—around a hundred grand, with Stephen Smith the most successful of the bunch. He has many operations and investments in his portfolio, including coal shipment, real estate ventures, lumberyards, and a bank too.

The Gold Rush of 1849 brought even greater accomplishments from the African American community. It was quite the era for entrepreneurs. Because of the demand for supplies and materials various kinds and because of the lacking supplies and materials, it was an immense prospect for African Americans to make their claim too. In aiming at the larger white demographic, African Americans were able to flourish in many areas notoriously difficult to even maintain a subsistent lifestyle. Their ways of doing business could be prime modules for modern sales training. However, when the ration between supply and demand balanced out, African American again in history had difficulty procuring a part in business.

Early history of African Americans in business and sales is a post from: TedFind

Steve Barbarich Knows the Importance of Repeat Customers

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:17:09 +0000

What is good customer service? Is it offering price-slashing sales, or promotions or bargains? Sometimes, but it is so much more. For sales and good deals may get people in the door for the first time, it does not necessarily mean that they will be back. Businesses rely on repeat customers, and in order to have that happen, those customers must return time and again, even when there are no promotions currently being offered.

There is a tiny restaurant in the Chicago neighborhood of Lincoln Park, called Via Carducci. This restaurant has customers that come in a couple times during the week. One customer comes in while doing business in Chicago. He lives in San Francisco now, and when he’s in town, he stops in for a meal, and then takes a platter of pasta which he freezes and takes back to California with him. He must, for just as he loves the pasta so his wife does as well, and if he shows up without it back home, his wife becomes terribly upset.

That is the result of the great product and the great customer service that the restaurant’s owner and his staff have provided for people for the last fifteen years. This is a concept that Steve Barbarich is very well aware of. Having had the experience himself, of being treated poorly by a customer service representative, he decided to form his own business that specialized not only the products that they manufactured, but in the utmost of standards when it comes to how to treat those who come to him with their concerns and with their accolades.

For the repeat customers are more than just the financial gains that keeps the business running, they show, or are a testament to the integrity of the staff, and to company itself, as providing not only the most quality merchandise but that they serve in the most honorable way, their customers. Repeat business is more a kin to just trustworthiness, and in this day and age, bad businesses will crash fast. People are watching where they spend their money, and to be in business and to stay in business, quality customer service is vital and necessary.

Steve Barbarich Knows the Importance of Repeat Customers is a post from: TedFind