Give Your Business Time to Think - Outsourcing in a Modern World

A common phrase uttered by the older generation is 'You young people have it lucky, things were a lot harder in my day!' and to an extent this is somewhat true. We no longer walk 27 miles to school and back in the wind, hail and rain wearing nothing but a pair of shoes with cardboard soles held together with a piece of string, we're much luckier - we have all sorts of gadgets and gizmos at our disposal to make our lives so much easier. However it seems that the very technology that was invented to make things easier for the Generation Xs and Ys is almost causing us to have less and less time to spend with our family, and indeed ourselves. Sure we have microwave ovens that can cook a meal in two minutes instead of twenty, but in todays society it still seems that we get home from work later, we do chores around the house later, and end up finally going to sleep around midnight, only to wake up in 6 hours time tired and weary and ready to do it all over again.

Take for example the wonder that is the cellphone (or the PDA). 'You can communicate with anyone, anytime!' the brochures stated 'Wonder at the amazing mobile technology!' Yes times have changed since the 60's - not only does Dad wear a t-shirt and jeans to the office, but he also carries a PDA that beeps work at him 18 hours a day.

What a weary race advancements in technology seem to have made us. But it doesn't have to be that way if we begin to embrace technology and utilize it in a way that WE define, not that is defined for us.

You see 'in the old days' it was easier for people to switch off between work and home life. Growing up in the 70's it seemed that everyone was home for dinner, the customers never rang outside of work hours and evenings were spent either watching tv or doing a hobby of some sort. Now the customers ring or email all hours and it seems that all you do is work - whether it be in the office, on the road, or catching up with the chores at home.

Similarly, any business will know that it is harder to get everything done these days. Wage and general running costs mean that companies don't have the overabundance of staff they may have had twenty years ago, which means that the day is spent fighting fires, and not spent guiding and promoting business growth. How many times have you heard 'I've got quite a few big plans for the company, if only I could find the time to implement them!'

So where to start? One way to do this is look at what we fill in our days with, and see what can be outsourced to someone else. Outsourcing simply put is employing someone to add value to your business or life without having them as a permanent employee. In fact many small businesses have outsourced for years - getting accountants to do their tax returns, and print bureaus to design their brochures (to name but two examples out of the many). So, if it's been done 'manually' for years, why not embrace technology and try the internet way of doing it? The internet-based outsourcing business is one that has grown considerably over the past few years and has slowly been embraced by business owners as a way to cost effectively dole out some of their day to day business activities thus leaving them time to focus on the core aspects of their business that they want to grow.

Some businesses approach internet-based outsourcing warily. They believe that outsourcing work to overseas markets for a quarter of the price it takes a local to do the task is anti-local, anti-national, and that it is taking jobs away from ones own countrymen and women. What a lot of people fail to understand is that with outsourcing you don't HAVE to take the cheapest offer on the outsourcing table. You don't have to take an offer from a freelancer in a country different to your own if you don't want to. Ultimately you take the offer that offers the best value, expertise and skill for what you are prepared to pay.

To successfully make the most out of outsourcing, a business owner needs to decide 2 things - 1. What processes they have that can be easily outsourced (and easily managed); and 2. How much they are prepared to pay for it. Most business processes outsourced via the internet tend to be along the lines of logo or website designs, bespoke software development, admin and data entry tasks, marketing, call messaging, with Virtual Assistants being touted as the next revolutionary outsourced occupation. With Virtual Assistants for example you can have your minutes typed, meetings scheduled, out of business hours calls answered, and all by someone who may live in another state or another country.

How much a business is prepared to pay for outsourcing services differs from business to business, but this decision must be approached sensibly. A business owner with a limited budget may find that choosing someone who charges only $10 per hour may not necessarily deliver the quality of work required, ending in added costs involved in getting rework down by someone else who charges $40 per hour for example. In saying this though, hourly rates quoted by freelancers do not necessarily define the quality of work that may be delivered (in some cases the quality of work carried out by a $10 per hour freelancer can be vastly superior to that of one who charges considerably more). At the end of the day to ensure the outsourced work is completed to the expected standards and requirements, business owners need to get a feel for a freelancers work skills, quality and ethics before deciding on the right person to fulfill their allotted task.

The most common form of internet based outsourcing is bid based. Project details are posted on freelance marketplaces by business owners and prospective freelancers with the required skill sets bid on the project - listing the services they offer, examples of their work etc. The business or 'project owner' then looks at the offers on the table and chooses a winning bid that matches their requirements and budget. By outsourcing work in this way businesses get the change to have enquiries of interest come to them instead of having to spend countless hours tracking down companies to get quotes.

By embracing the modern technology of the internet, businesses can free up time during their working day to spend on future planning and business growth - the flow on effects of which can be increased productivity, increased workforce, and increased profits.

Embrace the internet by outsourcing and ultimately you will give your business time to think.

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How to Start a Web Store - Why Outsourcing is a Best Bet

So your business is going well and you are thinking it's time to expand. What a better way to present your products and services to a wider range of customers than on the world wide web. You potential client list is going to increase infinitely but you are unsure of how to go about getting your store up and running.

While you are too busy running your business to get involved in creating your own web store, you always have the option of outsourcing that responsibility to another company. There are existing companies that specialize in web stores, but you must be wondering, what does a web store entail?

Most web stores contain:

Domain registration and hosting
Shopping cart
Secure, SSL-encrypted credit card processing
Marketing and Merchandising Tools
Product catalog

With a list of responsibilities, I would recommend outsourcing the duties of such a chore to a company that specializes in such business. Find a company that is an ecommerce solution that enables small and medium sized businesses to sell products and services online through a fully customized Web store. These web store companies make creating a Web store easy for your visitors to use, with built-in, step-by-step wizards that help you design the look of your store, upload products, and set up shipping and sales tax information.

Web stores are a by-product of company growth, and if you want to "keep up with the joneses", your only choice is to go online with a store of your own. The potential of your customer base will be increased in amounts you can only dream of right now.

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Four Things a Professional Employment Organization Can Do For Your Business

A PEO (which is short for "Professional Employment Organization" or "Professional Employer Organization") is a type of entity that can save you a lot of headaches and frustration by taking over some of the major employee-related functions that you as a business owner or manager are responsible for. These are tasks that can soak up your time and make you want to pull your hair out. Functions so heavy in paperwork and bureaucracy that you're not even left with enough time to run your business. Running a business is tough, and there is often only the slimmest of margins between succeeding and failing. So you will be well-served to position yourself so that you can concentrate on actually running your business rather than doing paperwork. By outsourcing certain employee-related functions, you are freed up to take care of the things that affect your bottom line.

A professional employment organization provides services that fall into four major categories. The following sections discuss each of those categories.

Workers' Compensation Administration

Workers' compensation administration includes tasks such as reviewing and administering claims; performing safety-related audits and reviews; creating and administering workers safety plans; reporting and documenting on-the-job accidents; complying with OSHA regulations; and workers compensation billing reconciliation.

With a PEO, workers' comp claims at your company are charged against the PEO for purposes of re-evaluating insurance costs, rather than your own company. It prevents the potential disaster of having a major claim filed against your business, which could possibly be so large that it raises your workers' comp insurance rates past the point where you can possibly pay them. If you operate in an industry in which there is a reasonable chance of someone getting hurt, then using a PEO to manage your workers' comp can save you many thousands of dollars, or possibly even prevent you from going out of business.

Payroll Administration

Payroll administration includes functions such as preparing and distributing payroll checks; making employee direct deposits; managing government withholdings; reporting; preparing W2s, W3s, and other employee-related documents; payroll record keeping for audits and inquiries; and tracking vacation and sick time. If you currently, do your own payroll, then you know what a burden it is. A PEO can take care of this for you and save you so much money in other areas that payroll administration is practically free.

Benefits Administration

Benefits administration includes tasks such as 401k administration; management of disability plans; life insurance administration; COBRA compliance; benefits handbook creation; flexible spending account administration; annual benefit plan review; and administration of employee assistance plans.

Providing your employees with the best benefits you can possibly afford is a good way to keep your employees happy and productivity high. Hiring a PEO to manage your employee benefits can save you a large amount of time and money by freeing you from having to research, shop, and compare benefits plans. It also saves you money by offering you lower rates than you would be able to get on your own.

Human Resources Administration

Human resources administration includes such tasks as accepting employment applications; performing background checks; creating employee handbooks or communicating employment policies by other means; audit compliance; managing EPLI insurance; and legal assistance. Hiring the wrong people, or having employees who are not clear on their roles and responsibilities, can do your business much harm. Rather than have lax HR policies or spending hours managing HR functions yourself, you can have everything done for you and avoid the headaches associated with poor human resources management.

As you can see, hiring a professional employment organization can take many burdens off of your shoulders so you can concentrate on what's really important, which is running your business.

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How to Make Money Online As a Virtual Assistant

You love the hustle and bustle of the corporate world. At the same time, however, you're loathe to leave your young ones at home or subject yourself to the stress and pressures of working in an office, working as a virtual assistant should be perfect for you. As a VA, you not only make money online but you get to enjoy the career of your choice as well.

What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?

The types of duties or responsibilities a VA has differ from case to case, but most, if not all of them, can be categorized as administrative, technical, or social. These include but aren't limited to planning and coordinating events of a personal or business nature, taking charge of correspondence, bill paying, and managing relations online.

How to Find Work as a Virtual Assistant

There are basically two ways for you to find work as a virtual assistant. The easier way to do so is by applying to an employment agency. The latter shall find the best job for you but in return, the agency could take a substantial cut from your paycheck.

Of course, you also have the option of applying directly to individuals or businesses looking for a virtual assistant. This is a somewhat longer process compared to applying to an agency, but it does allow you to enjoy your wages without any deductions.

How to Become an Excellent Virtual Assistant

You can make more money online if you establish your reputation as a VA. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Be accessible 24/7.

In most cases, working as a VA requires you to work for employers from other countries, places which may have different time zones from yours. These people would naturally prefer VAs who can work according to their schedule and timetable. They'd appreciate it all the more if you remain online 24/7 such as activating the online IM services of your phone when you're away from the computer.

Be punctual.

Just because you don't have any timecard for you to clock in isn't an excuse for tardiness. You still need to be punctual. Make allowances for technical difficulties as well. Downtime in your area could prevent you from going online on time, but if you checked in advance, you could still have enough time to look for alternative means for going online.

Be organized.

Organization is one of the most prized traits among VAs. As your employer can't physically and constantly supervise your work, it is your job to ensure that you have your work in order.

Be adaptable.

Working as a VA may make you encounter all sorts of people from different places and cultures. Such things should not hamper you at work. It is your job to adapt to them and find a middle ground to work with.

Be reliable.

Discretion is also desired from a VA and especially when you are entrusted by your boss with sensitive information. It's your job to keep your PC safe from all kinds of malware and risk getting the wrong information in the wrong hands.

Be hardworking.

Finally, work hard. Just because your boss is never around doesn't mean you can always take it easy and work without initiative. Remember: you're not the lone or even the best VA in the planet. If your employer is unsatisfied with your performance, you could find yourself out of a job sooner or later.

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13 Tools to Motivate Your Sales Force (And Keep Them Motivated)

Why would you want to motivate your sales force anyway? Because the better they are, the more money your company makes and everyone is happy.

Usually there are 10% of any sales force producing 90% of the results (sometimes it's just one person), the rest are mediocre and underperform, and the bottom 20% should be fired. But why is that? What makes the top 10% better than the others? Some people say "good sales people are born that way." That may be true for those naturals, but for the rest of the population, they have to be trained with the techniques that the naturals have and use constantly.

1. Get Them To Write Their Goals

a. You probably have seen this one a million times but we still have to throw this one in.
b. Getting them to write their own goals not only makes them committed to the goals, but also engages their minds on what they want (seeing the car or the mansion) and gives a bulls eye to reach it.

2. Get Them To Write Out Their Successes, No Matter How Small

a. Most sales people neglect all the little successes they have and instead focus on close or no close. While that is how they are judged in a company, in reality, sales is a process and has several steps. Mastering each step is an accomplishment on its own.
b. Show them comparisons (show them that unsuccessful sales people call only 1-3x).

3. Get Them To Write All The Reasons They Have To Succeed

a. The why is the most important (ie., why are they in sales)
b. The more "whys" they have, the more things that will keep them motivated despite occasional setbacks.
c. And it's your job to understand their motivations (what they want and are interested in.). Show them how doing well in sales will give them that, and they will be happy.

4. Get Them To Write Out All The Possibilities and Consequences For Their Success

a. What could happen when they accomplish their goals.

5. Get Them To Write Out What Could Happen If They Fail

a. Most people do things (or not do things) to avoid something. Get them to write out their fears and negative outcomes if they DO NOT reach their goals/succeed.

6. Reframe Things For Them, and Then Show Them How To Do It Themselves

a. In the beginning, reframe objections and rejections for them.
b. Example: sales person says "I'm a bad closer", then you say "You aren't a bad closer, you just haven't mastered the skills yet"
c. Show them how to do it themselves so they can reframe objections/rejections on the spot and continue calling.

7. Sales Is A Process - Break It Down For Them

a. Process: The time you first talk to someone to the time you close them are a few steps , show them each step. They require mastering systematically.

8. Practice

a. Sales is like acting, must rehearse constantly.
b. Go through potential scenarios with them (Mad, skeptical, pleasant, immediate buy, foreigner)
c. Record them (voice or camera) and let them see their performance.
d. Also, how are they perceived, what is their body language, what is their tonality like (annoying people rarely sell well).

9. Help them overcome their fears

a. Rejection, failure, and public speaking are the top fears and cripple most people from reaching their goals.
b. Work with them on those.

10. Walk Them Through Their Failures

a. An expert closer may leave because he is too frustrated, if only a little more attention was paid in the right areas, he would shine.
b. Walk him through his process and show him what happened.
c. Most sales people don't have the tools to understand frustrations, mental things, psychologies etc. They just assume really bad things about their abilities.

11. If One Person Discovers Something That Triggers A Response In Prospects, Test It And Then Show The Others How To Use It.

a. Corning example: Top salesperson didn't say much , he just went to prospects and hit a glass (the glass he wanted them to buy) with a ballpene hammer. It didn't shatter and he closed practically every deal.
b. Sometimes other sales people will say "oh I couldn't do that", that is where you the sales manager or trainer comes in: show them how to use it, motivate them to be able to use it well.

12. Accountability

a. They have to be held accountable for their progress
b. Have daily meetings. One in the morning to discuss daily goals, One in the evening to discuss successes/results.

13. Lastly, Make Them Proud To Be In Sales.

a. Nothing happens in this world without a sale.
b. Sale could be an idea, a cheque or getting someone to go to the movies with you that they don't want to see.
c. People think negatively about salespeople. Just a knee jerk reaction and is nothing personal.

In general, sales people are only as good as their training. With the proper tools, you can shape sales people to your will without all the frustration at their lack of performance. And if you show them how to use those tools themselves, you can create a legion of super closers.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... Rank: wait... wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

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Secret to Loving Sales, and Becoming a Top Sales Professional in Any Field

Have you noticed that everyone wants to have a booming and flourishing internet business, but if you mention the need to do some selling in order to market your business, the vast majority of people run for the hills. It's really a very interesting phenomenon. Why do so many people hate, fear or break out in hives, whenever the topic of sales comes up?

Probably the biggest reason for all this distress is our pre-conceived image of what a salesman is, and what they do to us. I'm sure we all have this very negative picture of the classic "used car salesman," who traps us into buying that junk on wheels or that traveling vacuum cleaner salesman who pushes his way into our home and won't leave until he yanks money out of our pockets. None of us want to be like that, yet at the same time, there's probably that tiny bit of envy for that person who has the courage and personal self confidence to be able to put themselves in our face, and sell us something.

There probably are people who try to sell things like that. Some of them may actually succeed in making a sale or two. The truth is, that is totally NOT what the professional sales person is or does. It's very safe to say that anyone who practiced those outlandish and obnoxious methods, would definitely crash and burn before ever realizing any success in sales.

Salesmanship is a honed skill that requires practice and training. It requires the person to be a professional, and to practice excellent communication skills. Of course, it's important that the salesperson be self confident and not afraid to approach and talk to strangers. However, EFFECTIVE communication skills include the ability and knowledge of knowing when NOT to talk, but rather to LISTEN.

I have written several articles on how to conduct a successful sales presentation. I respectfully invite you to look them over, when you have the moment. However, what I want to stress in this article is a very important factor that every sales professional must always remember, if they want to consistently earn those commissions.

If you keep your focus on doing what's right and best for your customer, you will find that you will close more sales, and work less hard at doing it. The reason for this is very simple. People, whenever they have the choice, will always opt to do business with people they like and trust. When your customer honestly feels that you are looking after their best interests, they will continually seek you out. You will find that rather than handling objections and overcoming sales pitch armor, you will be doing a lot more referring, which always leads to more repeat business.

It's a sad truth, but in today's world, people have become more cynical and more skeptical. They EXPECT to be lied to and taken advantage of...especially from people they perceive as salesmen. If you don't think this is so, how do YOU react, when you are first approached by a new salesman? By treating your customer with respect and honesty, and listening to what they want and then giving them that, you build your own credibility. You will truly begin to stand apart from your competition, and people will seek you out, to do business with you.

Promise more than is expected and deliver on it, and you will also find that you will love being a sales professional. That's when this becomes one of the greatest careers, around.

See you at the top!

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How to Succeed in Sales

Selling is like Cheese. You either love it or hate it. Both for the same reasons attributed to its taste and smell. So why do some people love sales and others shun it like a disease. That's because the thought of rejection is so hard to take, that by itself is a very strong barrier which prevents most people from embracing this profession unless they have no choice.

Here's how you can excel as a salesperson:

1) Familiarize and internalize your product features and benefits. What we want to do here is to be able to understand how our product solves our customers' problems.

2) Always learn from someone better than you. Never assume that you are able to improve on your own without the help of others. Talk to top sales individuals, get tips and ideas from them. Find a mentor and learn all you can from the person. Your improvement will show as time goes by.

3) Be prepared to put in long hours and also more effort when dealing with a new client, new product line or new company. When new in the game of sales, things tend to happen slow at first. Always hang in there and persevere, it's the solution to any dry spell.

4) Satisfy your existing customers on a routine basis. Ask for their product feedback regularly and respond to it as needed. If quality issues are a concern, meet with the quality department or production staff to initiate changes.

5) Be open, friendly and cooperative on the job with everyone. Being assertive is a good trait in closing sales, but it is not advisable to be over assertive until you have become aggressive.

6) Uphold your promises to everyone especially your customer. If you cannot make something happen, tell them so. Make yourself a reliable source where they can depend on when they need to.

7) Always follow up persistently. A sale is always made after the 24th call. The first 23 are just for you to gather information, offer customers with product options and to set the ground work for closing. Read More..

How to Select a Domain Name That Will Increase Your Web Site Traffic

Selecting your domain name does not mean anything, right? Well, that is not true! In fact, selecting a good domain name can be the difference between having a website who is making money or not. Right now, we are going to talk about how to select a domain name that will increase your website traffic.

This is a big deal, because we all know that the success of your online business is going to be linked to the number of different hits you get on your website. The more hits, the better. The less hits you get, the less business you are going to have. It is as simple as that. When you get done reading this, you should be able to see that there are main different things that actually play into the name of your website domain.

The first thing that you want to do is make sure that you get a good ending for your website. For example, you are going to want to get a .com, .org, or .net in order to get some traffic. Most people do not visit sites that are not one of those. It is also a good idea to buy up the domain names for all of them. For example, let's say that your website had a .com ending. However, someone tried to visit you and put a .net ending. You would still want them to be taken to your website. Thus, it is important to register your website with all type of extensions. This also can help stop other companies from coming along and using your name with a different extension in order to use your marketing strategies.

Also, your domain name has to be easy to remember for you website visitor. It has to be catchy so that they do not forget it. Try not to make your domain name too long with too many different characters in it. You want it to be short and sweet. Pretty much, you want it to be to the point. Also, try to use numbers in your name as well.

For example, if your website was going to be something like 'books for cash', you could do something like "books 4 cash." This way it still sounds the same, but it is likely to be something that someone else will remember a lot easier. It is all about getting someone to remember your website. That way when they are online trying to find you, it is much more likely that they well remember it.

To Your Success! Read More..

1,000,000 Dollars For a Domain

The internet has redefined craziness, but what domain name is worth $1,000,000? This domain must be so obviously at the forefront of a huge national or international trend that it begs for that much money and more, or, it's an existing business that is raking in the cash. The business sale isn't as impressive as what it actually is. It seems that someone has purchased all of the domain names that pertain to the campaign for Obama for King. Yeah, it sounds wild, right! It really is, but think of the genius of thinking that far ahead.

What would you have paid for the domain names, obamaforpresident.com, or barackobamaforpresident.com. How many ways could you have made money off of that brand during this past election? It's not even funny to think about. The ad revenue alone would have been in the millions, let alone the email list you could have developed and the ongoing merchandise sales you could have raked in. This past election was a multi-billion dollar enterprise, and those domain names were at the center of the online movement. So the entrepreneur in you says you wish you'd have thought about those names when Obama first hit the national stage. Now, you have a whole new opportunity, though you'll have to pay a little more for it. If you take the entire Obama for King brand and tie it up, that's what you get for a minimum bid of $1,000,000.

Let's be serious, that's a lot of money. But you have to admit the genius in securing those names and the value they hold. There are natural seekers of that internet property, both pro and con. Think about BET or JET, or one of the many political organizations that want to use those names to build their empire even greater. What about MySpace.com or DailyKos.com, or even the DNC. These organizations must be drooling over the prospect of getting those names. The problem is that the RNC, the Drudgereport.com, National Review and World Net Daily have equally compelling reasons to take those names and twist them for their purposes.

I've watched a lot of internet property switch hands over the years. I'm watching Microsoft and Yahoo.com battle each other and Google dance along surpassing everyone. But, in all of the transactions that have taken place, this is the one that will stand out as a beautiful example of setting up camp on the right property before anyone else is even looking. The great thing is that with all of the hooplah surrounding the historical election and the socialist policies of Obama, no one took it to its logical, though extended, conclusion. Obama for King.

The future owner of these sites has purchased themselves a seat at the table of internet history, and most probably at the court of King Barack Obama. There are some things that you can put a price on, then there are things that go far beyond the tangibles. This seems to meet all of the criteria for a fantastic opportunity that can't be defined in dollars. Read More..