Monday, March 22, 2010
How effectice a CRM solution for a startup
Starting a Small Business has BIG challenges. With so many people starting out as entrepreneurs the number of small businesses has increased drastically over the last decade or so. The personalized service that such small startup companies offer is what endears them to their potential and existing customers. Not everyone prefers to do business with a relatively unknown company, no matter what word of mouth reputation it may have. Many variables can influence their success. One factor crucial to the success of a small business customer relationship management is keeping in touch with your customers and potential customers. In a small business you do not depend on the sales volume as much as you do on repeat business. This means that you need to be constantly on your toes following up with any existing customers. At the same time you cannot ignore a potential lead which may turn into a loyal customer. For a big corporation with tens of people in marketing & sales department this is not a problem. They can assign a number of people to the different tasks involved in CRM. The Disadvantage of being a Small Business, being a small business means that you have limited resource (man power and funds). You may have the same people doubling up as sales and after sales support. So who gets to organize the customer relationship management? Most people are too busy handling the regular day to day crises to pay attention to special CRM needs. It is here that managing the database of your existing customers and potential customers becomes a major contributing factor to the success or failure of your business. To make it easy to handle, a lot of small companies are now going in for web based CRM systems. The ideal solution for a Small Business set up: A web based contact management software allows you and your core business development team to keep track of your existing customers with ease. You can feed in contact information, purchase history, special notes and even add follow up alerts for each individual customer. That way when you need to get in touch with a particular customer you will not be hunting for that small diary in which you made special notes to remember while speaking to this particular client. With a click on a button you can get access to all the information you need. The added advantage: In the given economic situation where we are experiencing a global growth decline the customer truly is king and needs to be pampered. CRM systems give small businesses many strategic advantages such as the ability to personalize relationships with customers regardless of which employee is service them. So Customer Relationship Management assumes a great deal of importance. If you can keep your present customer base happy, they will stay loyal. With a central CRM data management system you are giving your sales team the added advantage of knowing just how to handle each individual. If the customer is an old lady who lives with a cat and when you call up you ask after her cat by name, believe me you are going to close a sale that day. Using CRM data, marketing campaigns can be co-ordinated more effectively by ensuring that promotions do not target customers who have already purchased that particular products. It also ensures higher customer retention by introducing loyalty programs. A business would never like to see a product to a customer who has just bought it recently. In a short over view using CRM, a small business can:
1) Provide Better Customer Service
2) Increase Customer Revenues
3) Discover New Customers
4) “Cross Sell” and “Up Sell” Products More Effectively
5) Help Sales Staff Close Deals Faster
6) Simplify Marketing and Sales Processes
In a one line definition about the CRM, it allows the business to give its customers the option of choosing how they want to communication with the business.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Senator asks drugmakers to explain prices
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate Democrat asked top drugmakers on Wednesday to explain why Americans pay higher prices for prescription drugs than patients do in other developed nations.
Senator Herb Kohl, who chairs the Special Committee on Aging, sent letters to AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis .
Kohl said Americans on average pay twice as much as people in other industrialized countries.
"While I firmly believe that drug quality should not be sacrificed for cost, the large discrepancies in the cost of identical drugs cannot be explained by differences in production or manufacturing," Kohl wrote to the companies.
Some Democrats have attacked drugmakers as the U.S. Congress works on an overhaul of U.S. healthcare system.
The pharmaceutical industry has pledged to pay $80 billion over 10 years in price cuts and other concessions to help fund wider insurance coverage as part of a healthcare overhaul under consideration in Congress.
Some lawmakers have criticized that amount as a small price to pay for a $315 billion-a-year industry that stands to gain tens of millions of new customers if insurance coverage expands. Democrats are trying to pass a final bill for President Barack Obama to sign into law in the coming weeks.
Eli Lilly, responding to Kohl's letter, said drug prices were lower in other countries for various reasons including currency value, market dynamics or government price controls.
The United States "relies on competition rather than government-imposed price controls that contain costs" and U.S. patients "have the greatest access to the newest medicines," Lilly spokesman Ed Sagebiel said.
Pfizer spokeswoman Kristen Neese said the company "stands behind the value our innovative medicines bring to patients." The company provides free or discounted medicines to uninsured other needy patients, she said.
Novartis is reviewing the senator's request and will respond to the committee, a company spoke Hot News: Solved Biology CBSE XII Board Paper 2010 absolutely FREE on meritnation.com!
The Purpose Driven Corporation - How Charities Can Make a Profit and an Impact
Chris Ryan proposes an interest tact in addressing the ongoing funding pressures inherent in non-profit organizations. At the heart of what’s being proposed is the historical dependancy of non-profit groups on commercial enterprises. With increased pressure to shore up expenses on both sides of the relationship, one solution is providing non-profits the tools and legislation to create and employ for profit entities that in turn support the non-profit mandate.
Simply, we couldn’t agree more. Charities impact every facet of our lives and the current state of affairs dictates that business is unable to sustain itself and the levels of charitble contribution we’ve seen in the past. For the non-profit to survive…the solution can be quite simple. That said, “simple” rarely means “easy”.
The following is an article written by Chris Ryan Senior Editor for Newswire.net on March 18, 2010. The article can be seen HERE.
The single most pressing problem facing every charitable enterprise in the United States is one that is inherently tied to the fundamental nature of non-profits: funding. Regardless of whether the enterprise is a non-religious charity or a church-sponsored structure, the difficulty remains the same. Funding levels are inevitably dependent upon the goodwill and graciousness of sponsors and other donors who underwrite the enterprise’s activities.
Of course, few people would claim that there is a crisis in charitable giving in the United States. After all, though total charitable giving in 2008 and 2009 saw a real decrease in inflation-adjusted dollars, the total amount of money given was still in excess of $300 billion in each year – hardly a number about which to complain. Still, with Federal and State budgets across the nation stretched thin through a combination of overspending and shortfalls in revenue – and with the nation’s economic condition balancing the tightrope between fragile recovery and double-dip recession, many non-profits are bracing themselves for even larger revenue shortfalls in the years ahead.
Unfortunately, any reduction in the revenues received by charities and churches will have an ever-increasing impact on the most vulnerable of society. As government budgets face burgeoning deficits and the very real threat of across-the board freezes or outright cuts in programs that serve the poor and disadvantaged, charities and churches will be needed more than ever to help meet these societal needs. The problem is that demand for these services is peaking at precisely the moment that the financial resources of most charitable enterprises are at their weakest point in decades.
Given that the demand for charitable services is most keenly felt during times of strong economic distress – such as the current recession, and that it is during such times of distress that these charitable entities often have the fewest resources with which to meet demand, should we not work to find a better way to provide funding to charities and churches to ensure that they have the opportunity to meet the needs of the people they service? In other words, should we not strive to find a means by which charities and churches are allowed to be self-empowering entities?
An Historic ProblemThe principle difficulty in empowering charities is primarily derived from the history of such entities within the United States. In fact, the very term “non-profit” is perhaps illustrative of the underlying reason why so many charitable enterprises struggle so mightily to achieve their goals. Derived from the Latin word “profectus”, the word profit literally means “to progress”. In like manner, the word “non-profit” means the opposite –not to progress. Indeed, the history of American charities makes clear that these entities were expected to do precisely that.
The earliest history of organized charitable activity in what would later become the United States occurred with the Puritans who settled in the Northeast. Though devoted to a strong work ethic derived from Biblical directives regarding man’s duty to work diligently, the Puritans nevertheless retained the Calvinist need to compartmentalize profit and charity. Keenly aware of the Bible’s warnings regarding the difficulty rich men would have in obtaining salvation, The Calvinist Puritans quickly developed an answer in the form of Puritan charity as a means to assuage capitalist guilt. This view of charity differed little from the Catholic sentiment that penance for sins should commonly take the form of charitable activity to help the less fortunate, save that the Catholic penance was a ritualized removal of guilt for sin, while charity in early America allowed those early businesspeople to compartmentalize any guilt they felt for gaining riches while those around them suffered from want.
Unfortunately, that distinct separation between the way the Puritans conducted their business and the way they conducted their charities remains with us to this day. Businesses were expected to accomplish their goals through savvy market decisions, an expansive mentality, and keen investment strategies. Charities were expected to accomplish their goals through what was, in essence, organized begging. Four hundred years later, little has changed.
Today’s CharitiesThe history of charitable entities in the United States has not served to impede the growth of such entities. In fact, there are currently more than 1.4 million recognized charitable enterprises in the country – or more than one charity for every three hundred people. Though some might find that number excessive, the truth is that the scope and reach of most of these enterprises is far more limited than the average citizen might think. Hamstrung by archaic rules that prevent the recruitment of top talent, adequate long-term investment strategies, and direct investment in for-profit enterprises, most non-profit companies are left scrambling for scarce resources to accomplish their mission, while simultaneously scrambling to retain their most talented employees.
The religiously-inspired differences in the way for-profit and non-profit enterprises conduct their affairs would, on the surface, seem to have little validity in today’s marketplace. Where Christian society once recognized a divine command to set aside 10% of all earnings in the form of a tithe that was designed to aid churches in their mission to care for the poor and infirm, recent trends demonstrate that actual charitable giving falls far short of that mark. It is obvious that a ten trillion dollar economy should see charitable giving of at least one trillion dollars each year – a number more than three times the actual amount of U.S. annual charitable giving.
Given the disconnect between the religious underpinnings of charitable contributions and the modern practice of giving, non-profit enterprises have become more reliant than ever upon government grants, corporate endowments, and hastily-constructed fundraising efforts. The law’s prohibitions against profits have caused most non-profit entities to look no further than the next quarter in their financial planning. Indeed, most are called to task every twelve months to account for how the previous year’s monetary capacity has been managed.
How much more successful could these organizations be if they were allowed to take a more long-range view toward the capitalization of their mission? How many more people in need could they reach if they were given the freedom to take greater risks and reap greater rewards in their efforts to build capacity? In other words, are there not ways in which society at large would benefit from non-profits being allowed to pursue capital expansion through many of the same means which for-profit enterprises use to increase their profitability?
A Change In Direction
Any solution to non-profit capacity building will not flow from policy makers in Washington D.C., nor is it likely that the individual States will take up the cause any time soon. What is needed is a fundamental shift in the paradigm that there must always be an inseparable wall between business and charity. Though that wall once served a religious compartmentalization purpose four centuries ago – business is what you do to make money, while charity is what you give as penance for making money – the need for it no longer exists. Unfortunately, the illusion that non-profit poverty somehow equates to purity and greater ethics still persists in our culture, and more importantly, in our law.
One of the most obvious solutions would be to permit non-profits to more directly invest in the profitability of for-profit ventures. The limitations with respect to non-profit investment in capital ventures are at present so restrictive as to almost preclude this possibility. Yet it remains one of the most viable means by which non-profits could make sound investments in the marketplace, thereby building greater capacity to accomplish their mission and serve their constituents.
One obstruction to such investment can be found in the aversion to risk that many non-profits share. With limited funding – and outside skeptics who oppose any use of charitable funds for investment purposes – most charitable boards are understandably reluctant to take even the mildest of risks in the pursuit of capacity. Because non-profits have to acknowledge donor concerns about how money is allocated, the majority of charities suffer from chronic shortages of funding.
To change the status quo and enable non-profits to seek greater capacity through sound investments, one solution involves finding a way for these charitable institutions to bypass the concerns of their donors, and directly invest in the future profitability of various for-profit enterprises – unencumbered by the need to immediately spend every donor dollar they receive to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Of course, the question immediately arises: is such a strategy even possible?
Fortunately, it is. As restrictive as the laws are with respect to how non-profits may and may not invest in other firms, those restrictions provide opportunities as well. In fact, they provide the very means by which non-profits can directly benefit from the profitability of private companies undergoing public offerings – with relatively small risk to the charity or its donors.
The Solution
The accomplishment of these goals involves a straightforward strategy of allowing a non profit the ability of incubating a for profit enterprise. In return the for profit entity alligns itself with a charity (purpose drive corporation) by donating stock to the non profit which in turn utilizes its stakeholders base and tax bracket as an underwiritn vehicle for the corporation at hand.
The tas deduction of the non profit status acts as a mitigation tool of risk of the stakeholders whle the charity becomes the ultimate beneficiary of gain and groowht of the enterprize it incubates.
This solution takes advantage of an alignment of interests from the various parties involved. For the corporation itself, the process enables the raising of capital necessary to take the company public; for the non-profit, it provides a means for investment that does not involve funds that are otherwise needed for the missions operations of the charity; for the donors and investors involved, it allows them to promote and support their chosen charitable endeavor while retaining the opportunity to profit from their investment.
Today we need more than ever the allignment of our greatest financial minds in creating the next generation of financail instruments. Not for the purpose of using computer programs to arbitraige profit potential, but rather to create the new instruments which will once again create value for our country.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
B2B Marketing Principles 8: Slow uptake of digital marketing techniques
The debate has raged in the business press about the merits of digital marketing techniques in B2B.
B2B companies predominantly sell product and operating a sales driven approach, so it is not a surprise that some if not most continue to use unsophisticated marketing methods to drive interest, stimulate enquiry, convert, and remain in long term dialogue with their customers.
Sales teams want material that supports their presentation of the business, positions the product, helps handle objections, compares with competitor products and closes the sale. This in itself gives some context for why communication problems are created when companies try and introduce a marketing led approach to a sales focused business. Marketing techniques, including digital, are aimed to drive enquiry, work 24-7 and when done well keep your sales teams busy.
Companies in B2B can be slow to adapt digital marketing techniques for several reasons.
1/ Information skills gaps mean there isn’t always someone who sufficiently understands the technology or is able to argue the case for its use at a senior level, contributing to a general reluctance within the business to embrace it.
2/ The fear and cost of change (including the cost of hardware, software, training, resource and maintenance and upgrades) puts some companies off.
3/ The challenge of converting from legacy paper based systems to digital can be process obstacle to overcome.
4/ The bewildering selection of database, CRM, eCRM, types and styles of website can put off important decisions.
5/ The emergence of social media and with it an era of direct communication and engagement frankly scares many companies. They have also spent years building lucrative distribution relationships to secure market penetration and don’t want to risk upsetting business partners by entering into it.
So where does this leave us? Most B2B companies operate limited database and communications systems, do not maximise customer relationships, do not leverage prospects, have underperforming websites and limited awareness online.
But the benefits of embracing digital marketing techniques are vast (and will be covered in an entire series on digital marketing in April 2010). Every click, enquiry, visit, recommendation, connection, friend, fan, follow, email, advertisement can be tracked, measured and evaluated in ways offline marketing techniques can only dream of.
As a minimum, consider putting in place the following:
- A hosted database/eCRM package – like Project Sales Achiever.
- A website with a contact form, news and email opt in subscription and RSS feed.
- Encourage (and incentivise) 1-2 passionate employees to start blogs about what you do.
- Register an email address with Google and set up the following
- Google Reader – to keep on top of industry news without increasing the amount of email you receive
- Google Analytics – to monitor traffic to each and every page of your website
- Google Adwords – even if only £5 a month, create a presence in customer searches
- Have an expert assess the SEO functionality of your site, these guys are my pick www.latitudegroup.com
- Create a Linkedin profile for yourself, join relevant groups and create a company profile and encourage your staff to join it
These are small steps but they will give you additional exposure on the web, raise your profile and give your credibility a shot in the arm.
Social Media Meltdown
If it hasn’t happened to you yet, you will inevitably hear the words “We need to be on Facebook and Twitter.” Now mind you this isn’t coming from some profound strategy or remarkable use for the technology — but simply because that is what all the lemmings are doing. You”ll find these words freshly dripping from the mouth of many senior and mid-level leadership returning from business conference who ironically have:
a) never been on Facebook.
b) if they have, still don’t have a profile picture.
or my personal favorite
c) sign their name/initials to all of their posts.
As much as I enjoy social media and the many humorous laughs it affords, I don’t think marketer’s (and especially trade journals that cater to marketers) really understand that Social Media has its limits. From reading Ad Age you would think that the Apocalypse will now happen in 140 characters or less.
Many marketers suffer from the delusion that customer’s want to have a personal connection or relationship with a brand. I hate to burst your bubble, but they actually just really like your product. Don’t get me wrong, but as much as I like Coca-Cola, I could care less if they are trying to get their 2 millioneth fan on Facebook . . . I just want a refreshing drink when I’m thirsty. Of particular interest to me are the businesses like steel manufacturers getting fan pages. Really?
I certainly hope every business joins Facebook soon so that I can become a fan . . . because afterall, fans = sales, right? Well . . . not necessarily . . . someone put it like this: If a restaurant has 1,000 people sitting in its establishment because they like it, but no one buys a meals . . . you aren’t going to make any money – shocking, I know.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate social media at all. It’s a tool . . . but just that a tool. If you are going to use Social Media have a plan, stick to your plan but don’t make it your business plan.
Rememeber, that your business made money long before facebook and it will continue to make money long after facebook. I hope that businesses will realize the folly of hiring twitter experts or facebook gurus with proven experience in social media (how does one even define proven experience . . . ?) If you’ve hired one of these so-called experts, I hope you see a return on your investment, a real one – not simply 20 comments in response to your post of “Will the groundhog see his shadow?”
Just as we learned the hard way in the late 1990’s with the dot-com burst. I won’t be a bit surprised to hear of the Social Media Meltdown of 2011. You’ve heard it from me, consider yourself warned . . . the writing is on the wall – literally?
Monday, March 15, 2010
Marketing for the storm recession
Image : http://www.flickr.com
Once an afterthought for many companies to market quickly becomes important as the oil revenues dry up, the phones have not played, word of mouth recommendations are not more common, and the unemployment rate begins to rise. How does the average small business will continue to work to build a business professional, keep your head above water and the storm that will take place this recession, with a tsunami earthquake weather?
Just like a beer hurricane in the Atlanticthe world has been a huge amount of warning that this day was coming, and we had a great idea where it came down to earth. When the storm at sea in force, the time when many small businesses need to start was down their marketing efforts, many do not know, and who will be asked to remote desert island, business, what had happened.
However, you can correct the course, if you now take immediate action. It does not take aa lot of money to make the impact in your community, but it is an investment in time to benefit. First, everything starts with a plan, and many small businesses see marketing as something you stumble upon. We were all there, on the phone from the phone manufacturer or seller of this ring, visited with some glossy magazine ads. We all advertising like this from time to time. Now is the time to stop this behavior.
Marketing your businesscan be effective as a military operation was thinking, it must be deliberate, planned and executed and measured. Shooting from the hip in today's economy is no longer, as can be if the economy was strong work. Now is the time for effective marketing, is the evidence, it is time to be creative and some of the things that your competitors are there or not realized they can do. Also, some continue to sleep their way out.
They arewin if you act and do something now. Here are five areas that you can be on the bench, without breaking.
Press release – Journalists are always hungry for great stories, giving them a competitive advantage in newspapers, magazines sell subscriptions to more people can tune into their news program, and so forth. There was once a time when the only people who read the press release was average, but those days are long gone with the Internet. All future of yourCustomers have access to your messages. You need a machine to make headlines. Announce new partnerships, improving service, key staff changes and so on.
Internet – Your company uses the Internet as a tool for your business? With Web 2.0 and now Web 3.0 Strategies are now in full bloom, you use the power of social networks? How about creating a podcast for your community? Your company has a blog? His web page a poster orPresentation of your skills and results? The Internet is not everywhere, combined with more and more companies are using applications in the cloud and services on the Internet, because it is not on the Web, as well?
Search Engine Optimization – When you have a large Web presence have established, are in the situation? Many companies have a website and many blogs out there hiding. The trick to using the Internet as a marketing resource that in fact the peopleYou can find and learn the broader your line up card. What makes you different? What products and services for sale or service? How people find you? Use the Internet and copy writing that people find you are able to be very important. Now more than ever, optimization of search engines is a key factor in the marketing plan.
Networking – The area is perhaps one of the most important priorities that we have to get out of your office andfind out where the target audience. Where to take your customers and ideals for which she flirts with. The success of small businesses are marketing machines that know they are always on the road, meet people and particularly to ensure that people know. Owners of small companies have down in the ditch, that's where the battles won, from hand to hand combat business occurs in the trenches. Take advantage of your Chamber of Commerce, the organizations are networked, just start yourBusiness Club The key is to learn and people.
Be unique – Crack the shell to try something new, different things and see how it works for your business. Do not make the same old thing and expect different results. Brainstorm with a professional, seek the advice of colleagues, or remove something that day at operations of days. There are many ideas in other fields who work for you. We must be clear and search marketing or sales tactics.They use the Internet to push you and share your network with those around you.
More than ever, especially in economic conditions of today's society that meets the best markets, the right people, create the right strategic alliances, has very strong relationships, partner with winners and use the tools that are potential customers to products and services may be able to make these economic storms, now flows into the sea with a storm surge climate, thedrown many of those who are not ready.
Can you survive?
Marketing Director (Texas)
Marketing Director – Technology Companies
POSTED: Feb 18
Salary: Open Location: Texas
Employer: Spiceworks Type: Full Time – Experienced
Category: Marketing: Communications Required Education: 4 Year Degree
Employer Information
About Spiceworks
Founded in 2006, Spiceworks™ develops the first free social business application that combines systems and network management software with an online community of IT professionals to help over 850,000 IT pros and 80,000 managed service providers (MSPs) simplify everything IT. Spiceworks makes it easy for businesses to manage their networks, collaborate to solve technology problems, and find the best practices, products and services they need day-to-day. Through its Voice of IT™ market research p….more info
Job Description
Summary: What’s this job about?
Simply put, you need to position Spiceworks as the #1 brand for IT marketing in the minds of approximately 100,000 technology marketers in the world. While you are doing that you’ll work closely with the Spiceworks sales team helping them more than double sales this year. You’ll also be the key leader in telling our development team the features to add to our offering as we build out the Spiceworks Marketing Platform.
Spiceworks has the unique opportunity to transform how technology products (hardware, software, and IT services) are marketed and sold to the world’s five million IT professionals in small- and medium-businesses (SMBs) with fewer than 1,000 employees. This is a $750 billion market per year. Marketing to this highly fragmented industry has been highly inefficient and ineffective. As Spiceworks has now aggregated over 20% of these IT pros we have a unique opportunity to develop a much more efficient and effective way to market and sell to them.
We need a leader. We need someone who has industry presence and connections. We need someone who has a creative mind coupled with an off-the-charts execution gene. We need someone who ‘gets’ we have the potential to create a brand and solution that is as powerful to technology marketers as Bloomberg is for the financial industry or as Google is for online marketers.
NOTES: US Residents Only
Requirements
Responsibilities: What will I do?
• Scope and identify Spiceworks’ market size and targets (companies, positions, etc.) • Develop and implement marketing strategies for both long-term brand awareness and near-term sales with marketers in technology companies and their advertising agencies • Identify relevant events, submit proposals and present • Maintain a steady stream of communications and conversations via blog, Twitter and email with industry thought leaders • Document advertiser and marketer case studies • Identify and cross-pollinate sales team best practices • Influence product direction for the Spiceworks Marketing Platform • Name products and offerings in our Spiceworks Marketing Platform and Spiceworks Voice of IT Market Research Program portfolio • Direct agenda for the Voice of IT research series • Update pricing for existing products based on competitive positioning; effectively price new producs • Create and update sales presentations and marketing materials
The Marketing Director will report to the VP Marketing, Jay Hallberg, a Spiceworks co-founder. The position initially has no direct reports but will work closely with the marketing, sales and development teams.
Qualifications: What does it take to do this job?
• A passion for the IT industry and knowledge of IT products • An even deeper passion for B2B marketing and knowledge of the marketing, ad agency, media buyer, and market research roles • Experience in scaling revenues 2-4x per year • Successful product launches from idea to first sales including contract execution • Demonstrable experience in provisioning a global sales force • Experience in positioning and growing that brand • Track record in successful presentations to both clients and at industry events. • Presence in and mastery of social media • Ability to get extraordinary amounts of work done without direct reports • Connections in the marketing, agency and analyst/blogger communities • Ability to build product line business models • Frustration with the status quo – you know there is a better way for B2B marketers to do their job. • Quiet confidence that are you going to change the world (backed up with a record to show you can)! • Experience in technology marketing, advertising and market research. • MBA strongly preferred.
Friday, March 12, 2010
GPS Device
1. The position of the satellites is known by GPS receiver based on the ephemeris (5 orbital elements), parameters that are transmitted by the satellites themselves. The collection of ephemerides of the entire constellation is completed every 12 minutes and stored in the GPS receiver.
2. The GPS works by measuring its distance from the satellites, and uses that data to calculate its position. This distance is measured by calculating the time that signals take to reach the receiver. Known that time and based on the fact that the signal travels at the speed of light (except for some corrections that apply), we can calculate the distance between receiver and satellite.
3. Each satellite indicates that the receiver is at a point on the surface of the sphere centered at the own satellite radio and the total distance to the receiver.
4. Getting information from two satellites shows that the receiver is on the circle that results when the two spheres intersect.
5. If we acquire the same information from a third satellite we note that the new sphere intersects the circumference just above two points. One of them can be discarded because it offers an absurd position. In this way we would have the position in 3-D. However, since the clock incorporating with GPS receivers it is not synchronized with atomic clocks in GPS satellites; the two given points are not precise.
6. Taking information from a fourth satellite, we eliminate the inconvenience of a lack of synchronization between the clocks of the GPS receiver and satellite clocks. And this is when the GPS receiver can determine a precise 3-D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). As they are not synchronized (clocks between the receiver and satellites), the intersection of four spheres centered at these satellites is a small volume rather than a point. The correction is made to adjust the time of the receiver so that this volume becomes a point.
Reliability of received data
Because of the military nature of GPS system, it is also used by the Department of Defense. It is reserved the possibility of including some degree of random error, which could vary from 15 to 100 m. The so-called selective availability (S / A) was eliminated on May 2, 2000. Although it is not currently operated such induced error, the inherent accuracy of GPS depends on the number of visible satellites at the certain time and place.
When a large number of satellites are recruited (there could be seven, eight or nine satellites), and if they have a proper geometry (if they are scattered), all the details can be obtained in less than 2.5 meters in 95% of cases. If you activate the SBS system called DGPS (WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS), the accuracy improvement can be less than one meter in 97% of cases. But, there are some countries that do not use this advanced system. For example, these systems do not apply SBS in South America because this part of the world does not have this type of geostationary satellites. For More Information Please visit. http://www.gps-teknik.se/
“We have the lowest prices on the products you want so you can hear ‘you got the job’ more often.” – Home Depot radio ad.
That kind of marketing is what you would expect from a company whose whole strategy is the lowest pricing. If you have ever bought and installed anything from a big box store and installed it in your home or on a job then you have probably felt the disappointment of knowing you paid too much for the quality you got. Homeowners will tell you they want the cheapest product with a brand name but is that reality?
Let’s not forget these ten basic principles about homeowners in this industry.
- They want to be sold.
- They want to believe that what they are buying is special.
- They want the highest quality they think they can afford.
- They want a good value, not necessarily the cheapest product.
- They don’t always go with the lowest bidder despite what Home Depot says.
- They want the piece of mind of a great warranty.
- They want the project to go smoothly.
- They want the products to be low maintenance.
- They want to be able to brag about their choice in the end.
- THEY WANT YOU TO BE SPECIAL SO THEY FEEL SMART FOR CHOOSING YOU!
Do you think you can give the homeowner all of these things buying products from the big box stores? Do you think Home Depot really cares if you do a good job at those ten things? Do you think when your prospective customer walks in and sees the price of what you are selling them that they think you bring much value to the table?
Selling what is readily available at big box stores shows what kind of contractor you believe that you are. Homeowners actually want you to tell them you are better. They like to believe that there is something special about what they are buying and who they are buying it from. Their perception of how much quality they can afford is one of the easiest things of all to control in your presentation. They too have gone to Home Depot and Menard’s and bought something that met the basic need but ultimately did not satisfy them.
So why when Home Depot sells a version of one of our key products do some dealers think it is the end of the world while still others jump on the bandwagon and buy the materials there? I think it has more to do with us than Home Depot and they know it. That’s why they do it.
It is easier for us to complain about it or give in. It is much harder to take the high road and sell the value of our products but more importantly the value of dealing with you. We have the resources at our disposal to help. If you need help adding value to your presentations we would love to help you with that. If you need more products that can differentiate you and the systems that you sell, lets talk. Do it now before the selling season is in full swing.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Speaker And Author Offers A Chance To An Empowered Life
Robert Newkirk, an author and motivational speaker. With the help of his book, You Diamond life, it will be an easier trip to the actualization of his potential.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Log-PR (Press Release) – March 10, 2010 – Centerville, VA 03/05 – Newkirkknows truck accident lawyers.com is pleased to announce its offer of a better life for all. Motivational speaker and author Robert Newkirk serves as an inspiration for anyone who needs motivation to pursue positive growth. He speaks of various groups that include young audiences, religious organizations and other associations that most of its staff advocacy.Every person comes with a set of potentialities. These are things we must work to make the most of what was originally assigned to him to develop and use.Sometimes a gift inside each of us, and we all use to the maximum level in order to get what we deserve to have. The thought of an individual is strongly influenced by the thoughts of the environment. There is no denying that the negativity so many things happening around us, and it may take us down without us knowing about sometimes.This this is where the power of the mind can be very useful. The information entered into his brain made a great impact on a process of thought and therefore through his actions. Therefore, it is essential that we have power in mind before the body can not pursue the steps necessary to success.At Currently, there are various tools that are created for the purpose of mobilizing the same spirit human. A large selection of pieces of motivation in different formats can be acquired and simply listened. Subconsciously, the brain processes this information and stores it deeply.This is then used for negative vibes when attack.To begin to learn more about this opportunity to strengthen the self in general towards a better life, http://www.newkirkknows.com visit….
The best thing ever.
I was tempted to hang onto this painting, but a wise friend reminded me what I’ve always said, that I need to move my work out of the studio and into the world. Partly because that is the whole point. Also because if I keep looking at favorite completed work, it tends to narrow my choices as I go forward, the antithesis of what I want in these freedom paintings. So this one is up for sale on eBay.
"She's Crazy for It," a new abstract painting by Genie Maples
You can bid for this painting here. The starting bid was $49. As I type this, it stands at $172.
I think this is my most successful painting ever.
I hope the bids go high, of course. Babies got to eat. But the important thing is that I completed a very, very good painting, someone will enjoy it for a long time, and I will make money so I can keep doing this.
I could not ask for a better life. Generosity all around. There is nothing better.
Monday, March 8, 2010
How do you create a list?
Alice
Start with who you already know. Send out an invitation to all the people you have contact with, but make sure that they are eligible. The prequel to this post reminded you how important it is to understand your customers, so focusing on a relevant audience means you won’t be wasting your efforts.
Other ways of gathering more contacts is through your website and excellent content. The former is to make it easy for visitors to sign up, and the latter is to gain a reputation as a useful source of information. Remember to work on your customers’ problems by providing a relevant and poignant solution.
To encourage signups from your website, the subscription form on the webpage should be a priority for capturing visitors’ contact details. Don’t hide it away under the fold or behind some innocuous link, make it blatantly part of the decision making process each website visitor undergoes when they land on your website, such as: is this website the correct one, and what can I do on it? – eg click on a link to go further into the site or sign up to something like an e-newsletter with its incentive.
Unfortunately an incentive is almost imperative: many people now expect something for nothing, so create a free offer in exchange for their contact details, as well as a regular newsletter. This could be an ebook, special report, teleseminar recording, interview with an expert, sample chapter of your book – as long as this is not expensive for you and provides good value for them. Position a graphic of this incentive next to the sign up form; promote your expertise and provide some relevant and valuable information your customer would certainly appreciate.
Another incentive would be the quality of the information you are providing; not just from your special offer, but also from what they expect to receive for their subscription. If they can view past newsletters or articles you have written, to give them a flavour of your expertise, they would be more likely to respond favourably. You could also encourage a wider audience through a ‘send to a friend’ button or a similar device to make it easier to share your newsletter, and by using RSS your content could be fed to social networking websites to reach a different readership. All this should be accompanied with a strong call to action to stimulate the readers to sign up.
My next post will talk about what you can do with your list once you’ve collected enough contacts, and I welcome all comments and questions you may have.
Facebook As A Branding Strategy
By Lindsay Dicks
Once you are logged into Facebook, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Advertising,” and then click “Pages.” There is some great information here about fan pages, so take a moment to read through the information, when you are ready click “Create Page.” As you go through the set-up process, remember that in any branding and marketing it is important to categorize your company in the right area to help people find you. So choose carefully.
One of the great things about Facebook is the ease of set up navigation. From here, setting up a fan page is really about following the prompts. Rather than point out each step, let’s look at the important ones to get your personal branding going.
1) Photo – Before you do anything else, make sure you have the perfect photo for your page. Maybe your logo is the best photo for your page, but maybe not. Think about other branding materials you have, maybe something seasonal. Obviously, you want your fans to see your photo and recognize your brand – that’s the goal. But if you have a creative image that is also recognizable, it might help your fan page attract fans with an element of fun.
2) Write something about your company – See the little box under your picture that says “Write something about your company” this is very important because this is one of the items that is visible on every tab of your fan page. This is your elevator statement in 250 characters or less. Be sure to include a link to your website here, and in order to make your link clickable, don’t forget the http:// before the www. (Note – this statement can be changed at any time, so it is a great place to highlight a promotion or other important happening for your company.)
3) Wall Settings – Another important tool in the set up of your page are the wall settings. You have to decide if you want visitors to be able to post messages for everyone to see or if you only want your own messages shown. Unless you have a super controversial company, I recommend starting with allowing everything. It will help you build your wall faster because people like to post messages. If the posts become out of control or unflattering, you can always delete individual posts or turn off the setting all together later. (You will find “Wall settings” under “Edit page.”)
Once you fill in all of the basic information, you have successfully created a fan page. Don’t forget, it is easy to change if something changes, so don’t sweat it.
Now you are ready to take your page live, it is important for you to let people know about your page. This is where having an already active personal profile comes in handy because if you already have a lot of “friends” who are interested in your company, you can “suggest” your new page to them.
Alright you have a page, you have suggested to all of your friends, now what? Now you start the real work. Marketing and branding takes time and attentiveness. You can’t just set up this page and hope people find you. If there is nothing on your page that interests people, no one will become a fan. Social media is fun – your fan page should be too. Post interesting things about your company, but don’t be afraid to post something fun too. Try posting open-ended questions (to entice responses from your fans) such as “What is your favorite XYZ?” “What do you plan to do for the XYZ holiday?”
Posting links and/or photos are also a great way to get people interested, plus they are more visually appealing so people are more apt to pay attention. Posting links to your website has the added benefit of pushing people to your site to find out more. Try posting on your fan page every time you update your blog – “Check this out” and attach a link to your blog.
Remember, the most important reason you have a Facebook fan page is to use it as a branding strategy to promote your personal brand. So, if your company is very “green” conscious, share tidbits about being green. If your company is all about marketing and branding (like us), you might post pictures of events, links to blog posts and information about the companies you help brand.
Those are the basic features of a Facebook fan page, but once you get going you will realize that there are many more things you can add to your fan page such as customizable apps, connect the page to your Twitter feed, and much more. But you can’t do any of the fancy things until you get started with the basics, so for now create your page and start building your fans. Oh, and don’t forget to include a new link on your website to let people know they can become a fan on Facebook.
And that is how you can use Facebook as a branding strategy for your business.
Friday, March 5, 2010
The real reason why most do not succeed in Network Marketing
We have all heard many reasons why the majority of people, about 95%, not with network marketing.
Most call it a lack of prospects, or do not have the time to invest in a home.
Some also blame their company's marketing network for its failure.
Or is it the product itself, that this great collapse was caused, and made a mess of the collector.
Blah, blah, blah ….. This is what I say to all those people. Blah, blah, blah.
Ok, seriously, some of theseIf it can be valid. But more than likely, they are not.
Since 95% of the time, is the reason why people are not in network marketing, so QUIT.
That's it. Yup. He stopped working in order to decide and that is because they have not signed anyone, and she has 3 or 4 months since they started, and then you have this thing really stinks and I do not do it!
You see, if only not to hold off giving up this business and not just at the beginning, feels frustratedis a light to find a hot sun on you to reward your determination.
Yes, determination and motivation. You need these things to be successful in network marketing. If you do not, then get now. You need to motivate themselves.
You can use many different things to get motivated. First, it has done what for your business in the first place? Maybe your boss is a problem? Maybe he hates 9-5 jobs? Maybe you need to spend more timefamily.
Whatever it is, use the unit. You do not have to do myself. You can do for your family. But do not give up. If you do this, then you will surely fail.
Network marketing is like a mirror to his face and looks at you. By setting the square that in your eyes, wondering "what should I look?" "I have one that" takes?
It 'a funny thing, but in general, if you're struggling with something, anything in life if you can keep outthrough this struggle and groped to reach the other side, something magical happened.
They recognize that the fight would never have learned so much. Has never to the point that they moved. And you would never have come this far.
The fact is, network marketing is easy if you follow some simple rules and instructions.
One of these rules is not to give up. You create a goal for yourself and follow through the call of the potential customer, pay-per-LearningClick to learn texts Werbebrief do everything, be the best.
You define your goals and plans to implement. You see the result before you and you feel the opening of the big, fat Commission inspections and jumping up and down! Be happy to have chosen a noble profession of network marketing. All have the ability and all the tools available.
Keep your head, keep your eyes fixed on your goals, and Don "t Give Up. Do not be one of the 95% ending the call, will5%. Can be done.
To your success,
James Hosmer
Town renames itself Google in bid fo superfast internet
The city of Topeka, Kansas, has renamed itself ‘Google’ in an attempt to secure themselves as as a Google test location for superfast internet trials. Google announced that they were planning to launch the experiment at one or more locations across America and encouraged cities to make their interest known to the company.
The trials would provide the town with broadband internet speeds up to 100 times faster than the average American household.
This spiked interest for a number of cities across American including Topeka, Kansas, where Mayor William Bunten announced that his town would be renaming itself Google for the month of March. One of the city’s restaurants, Boss Hawg’s Barbeque has even renamed themselves Boss Hawg’s Google-Q for the duration.
Topeka’s stunt caused the Minnesota port town of Duluth to make a subsequent announcement that they would name every first born boy Google Fiber and every first born girl Googlette Fiber.
But they were just kidding. Duluth released a video via YouTube as a spoof ‘in the spirit of good-natured competition between cities’.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Good design sells. Fact.
Starting out in the big world of running your own business can be scary but also very exciting. We have come across a number of people setting up their business who don’t invest time and effort into their logo, branding and marketing material. This may include business cards, letterheads, leaflets and even their website.
I will call this type of start up “The Hard Work and Cheap Joinery Company” (HWCJC for short). Often, what we hear is: “…Well, I have a mate who can knock me something up in Microsoft Word, using every colour in the rainbow and a font like ‘Comic Sans’” or “my son who’s at school has done it for me”.
This will then be followed by a strict and detailed process as follows:
- The logo gets printed onto some card that is just thin enough to go through the printer for the business cards, but will add nice smudge marks to them.
- They are cut out by hand with blunt scissors.
- The Letterheads, to maintain a corporate identity, are printed onto 80gsm (toilet) paper. But hey, it’s cheap.
Onto the website, which again, is to be handled by a mate who’s good on the PC. First of all, he’s purchased the following domain name:
www. freespacesomewhereinspace.com/my-new-business-setup-by-my-mate. (link does not work just to prove a point)
The site design is then handled by their “web-savvy” mate, who will maintain their corporate style with numerous colours, text saved as images (search engine friendly? No.) and META tags or keywords. The finished article will be placed into Google’s top 1,000,000 results, just below “Betty’s Ironing Service”.
Then they start their business and wonder why they are not winning on quotes…
As a well known advert says “…there has to be a better way”. This is what another person who understands the power of creativity would do. First of all, they would set a budget of let’s say £500 to invest in their branding, letterheads, business cards and website.
Lets call this business “Cool Looking Joinery” (or, CLJ for short). CLJ will first of all meet up will with a creative and professional design company. Between them, they would work out who CLJ’s customers are, what their target audience is, and what image and branding is needed to attract the right customers. After the initial meeting, the designer would come up with some great creative ideas, using the right colours, a quality font, relevant and appealing imagery. These would then be worked up into business cards and letterheads, linked together by a fresh and implemented corporate identity.
CLJ are very happy with the designs and then look at having them printed. The designer recommends printing the business cards on a high quality 400gsm board, in full colour, with the letterheads being produced on a 115gsm white bright paper stock which adds to the look and professional style.
The designer and the chap from CLJ progress onto the website and the options available to best suit their needs. As CLJ are joiners, all they need is to have good web presence as they don’t need to sell direct to their client base. The designer recommends work on a small, 3 page web brochure, to be produced in the same corporate style as the printed material.
They get the right domain name in “www.coollookingjoinery.co.uk” which helps customers find CLJ. Then, the designer creates the site using relevant keywords and tags so that the little spiders from Google can find it in a heartbeat. Betty’s Ironing isn’t even on the same page.
Both CLJ and HWCJC get telephone calls from Mr and Mrs Needakitchen. They both go and have a look at the job, then go away and work out the quote.
Both CLJ and HWCJC are going to use the same kitchen units bought from a well known DIY chain, both will do it in the same time frame and both have the same basic quote price. The quotes arrive in the post. HWCJC’s quote is printed on cheap paper, with a poor logo and a business card that looks like a dog’s eaten it. CLJ’s is printed on quality paper, is well designed and comes with a professional business card with the photographs reminding Mr and Mrs Needakitchen of the high class workmanship that CLJ have done before.
So, let’s say you have the to quotes in front of you. One looks and feels professional, the other looks and feels poor. Which would you take?
We know which one the majority of us would go for.
So lets say for example the kitchen cost £10,000 an investment of say £500 in branding and professional material was an excellent return on investment. The key point that I am making is good design sells and is cost effective, bad design will eventually cost you money in lost sales.
Mike Handley, Graphic Reults
35 Creative Ad campaigns
From Design Tutorial 4 U (parent link below as well)
…one of the great sources of design inspiration can be found in the world around us. When you step away from the computer and open a magazine, take a walk or go to the book store you can find great ideas for your next project. The world of print advertising; in magazines, billboards and ambient/alternative ads are a great medium to find just the right idea or finishing touch for your design.
Today, lets take a look at 35 creative and innovative advertising campaigns to help give us some great ideas and inspiration that can provide that idea we were searching for.
HERE is just one sample below. Clever, huh?
Monday, March 1, 2010
One at a time.
It is very tempting for marketers to become all sweaty about the prospect of a message going viral, all that free awareness, when in the old days, it would take lots and lots of advertising, costing big dollars.
If only it was that easy, just make a funny video and load it up!
It is still a matter of deciding who you want to delight, executing, and then you have a chance that they will spread the word, but without the focus on the small group to whom the experience of whatever it is you are selling is compelling, it is unlikely anyone will make the effort to spread your word for you.
In the early stages, it is inevitably, “one at a time” marketing, and the web does not make it easier than it jhas always been, it is just a different tool.
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