Students Of Success

The stag night is a tradition that goes all the way back to Ancient Greek times when the boys in Sparta gathered for a last blowout before one of their mates stepped off the abyss into married life. While we don’t have the films from those early stag do’s, we’ve got a hunch that not a lot has changed since then. The idea is to get piss-drunk, stuff your face with the best food you can get and get your fill of all the things you’ll be missing once you tie the knot (read: all the other birds in the bush that you’re trading in for the one in the hand).

The honor of planning the stag do traditionally falls to the best man - the fellow you can count on through thick and thin, rain and shine, night or day, drunk or sober.. the chap who knows where to find the strippers, booze bars and paintball courts. If that’s you and you haven’t the foggiest notion where to start, here’s some handy tips to help get you started on the path to perdition - or at least the road to the boozy blast you know you can plot.

1. First things first. Know your mate. The stag do is meant to be HIS night of ignominy, not yours. Before you make arrangements to hire the 40 Salomes with seven veils between them, be sure it’s the type of thing he’ll appreciate.

2. Once you’ve got that part out of the way, it’s time to start figuring out where to find those Salomes… or something like that. If you’ve chatted it out and decided that nothing will do for your mate but a full-blown stag weekend, you’ll need to get right on the horn to start making arrangements. Stag weekends are big business, and many of the more popular activities and venues are booked up to six months in advance. Get those enquiries out, and be prepared to put down a few deposits to hold dates open.

3. One Month Ahead (Two if you’re doing an overseas stag weekend) - run the guest list past your stag, even if you don’t tell him that’s what it is. It’s only fair for him to actually LIKE the folks he’s spending his last free party with. Then… send out the invites to give everyone plenty of time to make plans to attend the stag do.

4. Two weeks ahead - confirm all the reservations for your stag night, just to be on the safe side. While you’re at it, either designate a driver for the night, or reserve a limo to do the honors. You want everyone at the wedding - not sitting in a lonely jail cell.

5. No matter how tempting it is, don’t accept too much help from your buds. The more hands there are on the wheel, the more likely it is that someone will drop the ball - or something like that. You’re most likely to get everything done and in place if you see to it yourself.

6. OR - get professional help. If you hire a professional tour organiser to put together the plans for your stag weekend, you can just see to it that everyone shows up with their embarrassing jokes and gags - and sit back to enjoy the best stag do you didn’t have to plan.

Brett Danielson works for chillisauce.co.uk, a tour operator
specialising in unique and unusual stag weekends and stag parties to UK and
European cities. For more information and help with planning a stag do or stag weekend, visit http://www.chillisauce.co.uk.

For the great travelling worker out there, the capability to get online and utilise the tools back at the office is a major plus. Now found in an increasing volume of Nokia hand sets on sale today are Business Phones. These intelligent bits of high-technology allow you to get your data through internet browsers & e-mail your customers and workmates. In fact, your business phone operates in a similar way to your note book might, except it is smaller than half of the volume. Nokia sell business phones on their UK website.

Nokia, as they say, concerns itself with connecting people. Nokia also believe that mobility makes firms healthier. Mobility gives one the freedom to collaborate and carry out business externally to the traditional work environments and times. Nokia provides an expansive assortment of business devices. Each and every one of these is aimed at various sorts of consumer.

Drawing on their business range Nokia supply four individual types of business hand set. These are communicators, smart phones, messaging devices and mobile telephones. Nokia business devices support solutions like Nokia Intellisync Wireless Email. Nokia have done some research and it has been evident that people employing wireless email accomplished an average extra fifty five mins. of work per day. This is assumed to increase to 80 minutes extra productivity per day December 07. Yet another perk of utilising a Nokia Business sets is that they may save some dosh for your business or you individually as you’ll not depend upon two distinct devices - you can have all you need encompassed in 1 device.

Their sets are outstanding for companies and for professionals. All the sets have beautiful designs, they’re all very compatible and also very easy to use, once you’ve used them for a while. The email abilities are superb with support from Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Microsoft Office 97, 2000, 2003 & XP and also it is compatible with zip manager & Adobe Reader. Users can send & receive emails along with chatting on the sets but also they are able to get the up to date calendar and the contacts info. The email facilities will function in offline mode which means people can read & write e-mails whilst the network is unavailable.

Although the business phones from Nokia aren’t all particularly small scale, what people need to remember is the sets are good dimensions when you consider what they’re capable of. Nearly all the hand sets have a full keyboard and back-light, a large landscape screen and also an easy to use one press feature which accesses the email .

A business hand set is not going to be for everyone but for the gains it provides to folk who will make use of all the functions, it’s assuredly going to make their lives easier.

In this article, we are focusing on how to overcome objections from prospects and we will be sharing some great ideas on how you can make far more sales to really maximise the new business appointments you go on.

One reason many businesses don’t capitalise on all their opportunities, is when it comes to handling the objections and stalls from sales prospects. You probably know the ones, “let me think about it,” “our budget is spent,” “I need to get some other quotes in.” “get back to me in 3 weeks.” there are many more.

Part of the skill in dealing with objections and stalls is to get to know the prospect’s REAL reason for objecting or stalling, the real reason is usually fairly easy to get to with good listening and a little gentle questioning around the objection stated.

Key ways to get past objections to get the sale are as follows:

1, Before the meeting, consider what objections might be raised and try to include the answers in your presentation, so the prospect will have the answers, leaving less room for real objections

2, Qualify the prospect is the decision maker before the meeting, ask if you need to have other people involved in the decision to attend the meeting.

3, Listen carefully to the objection being raised, ask yourself, does this sound like it’s the real reason, do I need to ask further?

4, Check to see if it is the only objection, or are there other factors preventing a decision?

5, Be properly prepared, know your product, comparisons, prices, testimonials at the ready, so you can bring them out in an instant to get past most types of objection.

6, If a decision cannot be made now, ask: when?, then: Why then? If you know the answer to this, it may be something you can do something about.

7, When you have answered an objection, get the yes, i.e. “so if we can get this delivered three days earlier than we previously stated, will you….Sale!

Most objections are really a request for more information, a need to have a greater confidence in you or your organisation, skilled sales people welcome objections because they are often a buying signal in disguise. Once you have identified the real reason preventing a sale, and blown it away, you will normally go on to be successful.

Phil Ashforth has been involved in sales and marketing for over the last twenty years. Within that time he has held senior positions, assisting both large and small-scale enterprises with their sales and marketing strategy and implementation.

He holds a recognised marketing qualification (CIM) at post-graduate level and is a member of several marketing bodies and attends regular seminars for his commitment to continual professional development.

As a qualified and experienced business growth coach, Philip has been trained by and is part of the Peter Thomson International Plc (PTI) network. PTI is the uk’s largest business growth consultancy. He has also been trained by, and is a member of Europes leading coaching organisation, The Coaching Academy.

Philip uses his extensive business and personal experience to great effect, he offers a coaching style that is simple, intelligent and yet extremely insightful.

See http://www.synergycoaching.co.uk for more information.

The Reverse Mortgage is quickly becoming the most popular senior financial vehicles in America today. Every senior who owns a home and is over the age of 62 qualifies for the program and the immense benefits that the Reverse Mortgage offers has helped thousands of seniors to safely maximize their assets and increase the enjoyment of retirement. This article will outlay some creative ways to manage the Reverse Mortgage effectively to ensure the best use of this fantastic senior product.

While the Reverse Mortgage is a great choice for many seniors in need of increased monthly income or to produce a fund for investments, there are some points that all should be aware of when managing the Reverse Mortgage. Most who have had information on this product are aware that the Reverse Mortgage, which has an unlimited time frame, does not require repayment while the senior remains in the home. With a system like this, all closing cost and fees are charged up front on the loan. There are no out of pocket cost for the senior except for the cost of an appraisal. All of these fees are financed into the Reverse Mortgage. When judging whether a Reverse Mortgage will be effective, this must be part of the decision, because a Reverse Mortgage is most efficient when keep for longer than a few years. The up-front charges of a Reverse Mortgage are the only charges or fees for a Reverse Mortgage and become extremely affordable when spaced out over several years.

While the management of the closing cost of Reverse Mortgage is one of the easiest ways to make the most out of a Reverse Mortgage, there all several more ways to take full advantage of the Reverse Mortgage. One feature of a Reverse Mortgage that is best managed is the accumulation of interest on the loan debt. Unlike a straightforward equity loan, all interest of a Reverse Mortgage is deferred and accumulates on the balance over the life of the loan.

Troy Shellhammer is Reverse Mortgage Specialist with http://www.ReverseMortgageNation.com, a national Reverse Mortgage Lender. He can assist you with any reverse mortgage questions and can also provide a free educational video, book, and brochures. He can be reached toll free at 1-888-973-8377.

As part of my continuing series on Value and Pricing, the following article shows you how to position your company’s value contribution to support the highest value-for-value exchange.

Too many business owners, when asked about the value or ROI of their product or service, shrug their shoulders and say, “I can’t really put a value on it.” If you can’t put a value on it, think how hard it is for your prospects and customers! And if they can’t put a value on it, how likely is it for them to buy it?

We’re going to give you a simple way to identify all the value elements of your product or service and articulate it in such a way that your customers will absolutely know in quantifiable terms what your value is to them. They will see so much ROI they’ll be foolish not to want to buy from you.

The key idea here is that you communicate Return on Investment by looking at your value proposition through your customers’ eyes. In other words, why should they spend their scarce money with you, versus using the funds in some other way?

Your customers want to know how long it will take them to get back their investment or make a profit. Many will want to see a recurring return.

There’s an old marketing saying: “Make your product free”. People will pay more when they think that “it doesn’t cost them anything.” You do this by building so much intrinsic value into your offering that it far exceeds the cost to the customer; do this correctly and in their perception, it’s free.

Creating Value with Your Product or Service:

First, list all the ways that you create value for your customers.

Does your product or service…

–Help client’s increase their revenues? Does your product/service increase their sales? Create more leads? Increase their competitiveness in their market? Shorten the sales cycle? Get more repeat and referral business?

–Allow them to raise prices, or at least hold prices level? Does the value you create allow your customer to charge higher prices for their offering?

–Reduce expenses? Does it reduce initial or ongoing cost? Does it reduce overhead such as utilities and rent or carrying charges? Does it save money on materials, equipment, staff, and outside services? Does it provide a more economical installation or a longer life span? Does it reduce error rate?

–Allow them to replace some existing expense at a lower cost?

–Enable staff headcount reductions? Does it allow your customer to make headcount reductions in staff or support personnel?

–Avoid impending or predicable expenses? Does it help avoid expenses altogether?

–Increase their products’ and services’ perceived value. Does it increase the perceived value of your customer’s offering?

–Increase productivity? Does it increase your customer’s productivity or the productivity of his staff? Does it increase manufacturing production or throughput?

–Give them greater control? Does it offer some way for your customer to track results, lead generation, sales, profitability, productivity, or any other key success factor?

Next, review the list and for each of the ways you create value, figure what each is worth. This could be in terms of absolute amounts of money, some percentage of revenues, or some percentage of expense reduction.

Create proof for each of your value assertions. Proof can be in the form of worksheets, testimonials, case studies, success stories, printed statements, even survey results.

Add up each of the value elements to come up with a total value, combining earnings and savings into one number. Again, the total value can be an absolute money number, such as $645,000, or it can be a percentage of sales.

Lastly, calculate your return on investment by comparing the total value to the cost of your product. You may come up with either an ROI (return on investment) or a “payback period.” Either way, you’ve quantified your product’s value in concrete terms, justified your price, and made it far, far easier for your prospects to make a buying decision.

Success Story

One of our clients sells enterprise software in the $150,000 to $250,000 zone. After 9/11 their sales cycle began to get longer and longer and stretched out as much as eighteen months, with most prospective deals ending in “no decision.” Prospects knew they needed to replace their old software, but they simply couldn’t justify the expense in a no-growth economic climate.

To accelerate the sales process we implemented a return on investment analysis using the exact steps described above.

First we itemized each of the ways the software saved or earned the client money, including replacing old software with a high maintenance cost, reducing the cost of computer leases, reducing materials waste, decreasing the number of customer service staff required, shortening their salesman’s phone time, increasing the accuracy of sales quotes, thereby increasing the prospect’s sales AND increasing overall sales profitability.

By assigning a dollar value to each value element, and offering proof for each one, our client was able to demonstrate a payback period of around 9 months, and a significant positive return on investment thereafter.

The first two prospects who heard this value presentation said the same thing: “We’d be fools not to buy this,” resulting in the two shortest sales cycles, and coincidentally, the two largest individual sales in the company’s history.

Paul Lemberg is the president of Quantum Growth Coaching, the world’s only fully systemized business coaching program guaranteed to help entrepreneurs rapidly create More Profits and More Life for entrepreneurs. Guaranteed.

Learn about our Business Coaching Franchise.

Visit Paul’s Website for help with your Business Development Strategy?

It’s never been easier to copy a DVD movie thanks to the latest technology. With some DVD movie copy software programs it’s as easy as clicking a few buttons. Since there are many DVD copying software programs available it is important to know what features you need.

The first thing that you should consider is how difficult the program is to use. We’ve all done it, bought a program that sounded really cool - until you tried to use and found out that it would take a lot more time learning it than you wanted to spend. Don’t worry; there are a few amazingly simple DVD movie copy software programs available today.

What will you use the software for? Many of the DVD movie copy softwares available today do more than just copy a DVD. Here are some additional things you may want to consider:

• Will you need to copy a CSS encrypted movie?. This would be just about any full length movie.
  
• Do you have a damaged or scratched DVD that you would like to repair and copy? Some programs include limited error correction which may be able to make an undamaged DVD copy.
  
• Do you want to copy data from CDs?
  
• Do you want to copy VHS tapes?
  
• Would you like to copy music CD’s from MP2 & WMA files?
  
• Do you have any video games such as Xbox, Playstation, PSP, Dreamcast, etc. that you would like to copy?

Something else to consider are the speed and quality of the DVD copy. What’s the point in copying a DVD if it is going to look like a VHS recording? Many of the programs available will produce such a high quality copy that you would be hard pressed to see the difference between the original and the copy. Here’s something else to look out for, some programs take hours to copy and burn a DVD while others take less than 45 minutes - so speed is also an important consideration.

Here’s a feature that I love - try before you buy. DVD copy software free trials are a great way to try it before you buy it. It’s nice to try the program before you actually buy it - that way you’ll know it is what you want, that it’s easy to use and has all the features you need. Many manufacturers will even allow you to burn a couple DVDs.

As you are researching you may come across free dvd copy software - use caution before downloading. A lot of freeware also comes with free spyware - not a good thing. You will not find the features, support or piece of mind from free dvd copying software that you will find with a program that you must buy. Just keep in mind, you get what you pay for.

So before you buy any DVD copy software know what features you need - this will make your comparison shopping a lot easier. Also find a DVD copy software free trial, download it and give it a try. It’s quick and easy to copy a DVD with high quality results as long as you have the right program.

Jay Smith makes it easy to understand your DVD copying choices with honest reviews, informative articles & free trials. Visit today to download your Free DVD Copy Software Trial.

From little acorns do great oaks grow! Provided, of course, the acorns are actually planted!

In property terms, that translates to identifying the potential of building a property portfolio and being prepared to do something about it. In recent years, both in the UK and here in Spain, there has been a tremendous appreciation in the value of the average property. The reasons for this are many fold; low interest rates, a shortage of property to meet buyer demand (especially in the UK) and a stable economic climate. However, these conditions have changed to a degree and we have seen a flattening out of annual property growth rates. Here, as in the UK, is it a ‘buyers market’. That means that buyers are less than those wishing to sell, so prices have fallen.

But that will, in time, give rise to greater returns as new buyers are acquiring their property at a lower level. So the supposed negative of a downturn in prices gives purchasers a bonus. It is a good time to consider buying again because you are paying less than you would have done just a few months ago.

And whether you wish to build your portfolio in the UK or here in Spain, the principles of funding are the same. If you already own a property you can look to purchase the next with 100% funding courtesy of a lender. You need not use any of your hard earned savings to grow the portfolio.

The basics are fairly simple; we have to provide enough funding to meet 100% of the purchase price and related costs. Here in Spain, we need to allow circa 11% over the headline number to meet taxes, solicitors costs and borrowing fees. If you own a property from which we can access the deposit of 20% and costs to a total of say 30%, then the remainder can be mortgaged on the new acquisition.

And, as with most property portfolios, the rental income on the new addition can be used to meet the debt service of the total borrowing.

‘A picture paints a thousand words’, so let’s see if I can simplify this. I am assuming the following:

• 200,000 existing UK property value. Not mortgaged.

• 150,000 new Spanish property = total cost 165,000

• Exchange rate 1.50 per (current rate 1.46 as at 26th August 05)

• 120,000 mortgage (80% of the 150,000) @ 3% = 3,600 per annum ‘Interest Only’

• 30,000 UK mortgage (45,000 deposit and costs) @ 5.5% = 1,650 per annum (2,475)

• 6,000 net rental income per annum (600

• 6,075 total debt service (1,650 plus 3,600)

In other words, not only is the property purchased with 100% mortgage funding but the net cost to you every year is all but covered by rental income.

And that is how property portfolios start.

In time, albeit in several years, both the UK and Spanish property are almost certain to have appreciated with equity being available once again to purchase a 3rd property. And so on and so on.

But what risks are attached to this philosophy? The are several really;

1) that property prices to not rise. Looking back over the nature of the UK market for the last 100 years, the returns on property have always been sound. Yes, there have been slumps but long term the investment is good.

2) you will not achieve the desired rental income. This is always a threat, but a cautious approach to letting (i.e. do not be greedy and consider the positive cash flow promise of long term lets) can overcome some of the vagaries.

Building a property portfolio is a long term plan; you cannot expect to achieve the desired goal overnight. That translates into a realisation that you must invest for at least 5 years and conservatively 10. And there has been no 10 years that have not seen a very strong capital appreciation either in the UK or here in Spain.

To continue the analogy with the acorn, in 5 years it may still be a juvenile, but it will be strong enough to withstand a few storms. In 10 years it will be well established and resembling it’s mighty peers and mature oaks.

Mark Mountney is a partner in Rose Financial Services, a specialist mortgage brokerage and financial advisor based in the Parque Comercial, Mojacar. He is a fully qualified mortgage and financial adviser in the UK with some 10 years experience in managing his own firm. Mark was also a founder of The Association of Mortgage Advisors, the trade association for mortgage intermediaries with 13,000 members.