Telephone Presence
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
Making a good impression on anyone, whether they are prospective employers or prospective clients, is exceptionally important. Since the first impression usually colours any subsequent interaction with the people the impression is made upon, it is exceedingly important to present yourself to them in as good a way as possible. When the impression is made over a telephone, however, the process becomes a damned sight more difficult. There are however, things you can do to make sure that your vocal skills will favourably impress whoever you are speaking to. 
When talking over the phone, one of the most important things to be aware of is the volume of your voice. If you hold your face too close to the telephone, then the volume of your voice will be magnified to potentially catastrophic levels. If you hold it too far away, then the volume can be so low that the person on the other end of the line will not be able to hear you. This can be a big problem if you work at, say, customer service line. Therefore, it is probably a good idea to check the volume of your phone beforehand, to gauge just where you should hold your head in relation to the mouthpiece.
Another very important factor when speaking over the phone is the tone and timbre of your voice. It's usually a good thing to have your voice at an even pitch, especially since it is possible to distinguish the mood of someone simply by listening to their voice. Therefore, it's probably a good idea to keep the tone and stress of your voice at a good, neutral level. Surprisingly, one of the best ways to do this is to smile as you speak. The particular configuration of your facial muscles while smiling carries across in your voice, and gives your voice a good amount of relaxation and ease.
Tags: Telephone, First Impression, Volume, Tone, Timbre
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
First Impressions Last
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
When you are going into business or you are having your first career meeting, the first impressions are ones that last. You do not have opportunities to mess it up. However you present yourself, will be etched in the mind of the person you are meeting for a long time. Here are the major pointers that you want to adhere to in making a good first impression.
• Be on time
You should ensure you arrive at your meeting on time, if not before. You do not want to create a negative impression before you meet the person. When doing business you do not want to give your clients a reason to choose another person or company. Ensure you have made provisions for traffic and other delays when going for your first meeting. Showing up late makes you seem like you do not value the time of others, which reflects negatively on your work ethic.
• Present yourself appropriately
The way you present yourself physically is important. You have to come across like a person who is serious about the business they are engaging in. Ensure your attire is tailored for the specific meeting. For instance, if you are going to an official interview, ensure you wear a suit to make you look like a serious contender.
• Be open and confident
People can tell if you are confident or not, this also affects their belief in what you say. People want to deal with someone who is confident in their ideas and thoughts. You should also be open and honest when presenting your ideas. Being confident will also help you to be yourself and at ease. This will make the person you are meeting be at ease and comfortable with you.
• Possess a winning smile
You should never underestimate the effect a smile can have. When meeting someone for the first time, have a warm smile. A smile makes you look positive and it also helps in making both of you feel at ease. If you are not smiling, you may come off as being stiff and unfriendly, which may be taken negatively. However, do not overdo it.
• Pay attention and be courteous
Everyone loves a polite person. You should treat all your prospected business clients with respect and courtesy. For instance, you should switch off gadgets that may be distracting during your meeting. The person you are meeting should be the priority.
Tags: Career, Meeting, Business, Positive, Negatively
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeff Taylor’s Story
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
The story of Jeff Taylor, the creator and founder of Monster.com, can be an inspiration to anyone in the business world. Monster.com has seen huge success online, and has attracted thousands of users, and it was all started by one man. His inspirational tale will teach anyone that the time is always right as long, as the idea is a good one. According to Jeff, the idea of Monster.com came to him in a dream in the middle of the night, wisely, he wrote it down. The idea sprouted and grew into what it is today: one of the best job bulletin sites in the world. When the idea first came to him, he had an ad agency whose specialty was creating big ideas for their clients. During that time, a client came to him and told him that he didn’t just want a big idea, he wanted a monster idea. Those words became the name of his website and the tagline for his personal success.day: one of the best job bulletin sites in the world. Jeff Taylor’s story has one moral: ideas can come to you anywhere and at any time. Sometimes you can get the greatest idea of your life in the shower, while driving, or, as in his case, while sleeping. He says it’s important to always have a way to record your ideas at all time, so that nothing important will ever escape from your grasp. Not only that, but he also says that it’s important to pay attention to your subconscious, where those good ideas come from, and figure out a way to focus the ideas and make use of them. Jeff says he keeps a notepad by his bed every night, and he has this in common with many others of the successful business men and women of our time. Any business person or entrepreneur can learn from Jeff Taylor’s simple and inspiring story.
Tags: Taylor, Job, Ideas, Business, Agency
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Good First Impression
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
In both life and business, first impressions always count. It is more important to actually be a good person, rather than just acting like one when you first meet somebody, but if you want to create a lasting bond, you need to make that first impression count. Not everyone has the knack for hitting it off with strangers when they first meet them, but there are some tips you can follow to learn to leave the best possible first impressions. First of all, when making an impression it is important to have a good appearance. People are much more likely to trust and like someone who looks and smells well-dressed and clean. Dress appropriately and pay close attention to your appearance if you want to make the other person remember you well. Secondly, you always want to be on time. Whether you are meeting someone’s parents, going to an interview, or arriving at a conference, you need to always be on time and, if possible, early. Arriving late shows that you don’t respect the other person, and that they shouldn’t respect you either. Focus on the way you speak as well. Make sure your voice and manner both portray you as a confident and intelligent person. If you tend to mumble or speak unclearly, work on that. You’ll never see a successful businessman who chooses not to speak properly. Finally, if you want to make a good first impression, you must come prepared. You ought to follow all the steps above, but it is recommended that you think about what you will be expected to do when the time arrives for you to meet the person. Prepare what you want to talk about and arrive well-versed in the topic. Making a good first impression isn’t hard, but if it doesn’t come naturally to you, then it will take some work. Get ready adequately for when the time arrives, and you’ll find everything comes off much smoother.
Tags: Impression, Meeting, Confidence, Image, Business
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Writing Press Releases
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
What is a press release? A press release is a document that is written by a company, corporation or conglomeration. It is delivered to the media, with the intention of conveying some sort of news titbit that will be of interest. Along with many other aspects of marketing and advertising, the important thing when writing a press release is to grab the reader’s attention immediately. Make sure that the attractive and important bits of writing and news are summed up in the first paragraph. For example, let’s say that you’re writing a press release for your company about their newest model of toothbrush. What you want to do with the first paragraph is take all that is new and exciting about the new product and hit the reader in the face with it. Make the first paragraph as long or short, as you decide. But it is important to ensure that the paragraph gets the attention of any reader that happens to glance its way. The layout is a fairly standardised one. You must put the date and the company, publishing it on the heading, in order to convey the information accurately. As to the body, it should carry all the ideas that you would expect of an article or information piece. Technical language is usually not welcome, as it will detract from the desire to read it that people might experience. However, you should not shy away from describing the object or event. If you write the first paragraph correctly, then you will have got the attention of the reader. Therefore, in the main body, you can describe the object of the press release with greater detail, with the purpose of giving the reader any further necessary information. Make sure you’re clear, waffle-free and to the point. Always imagine yourself as the reader and, most importantly, make sure that there are no spelling mistakes.
Tags: Press Release, Media, News, Writing, Article
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Improved Customer Service
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
Probably the most important element of any company or business is customer relations. After all, one of the only things that will make a company successful is a good, solid clientele base. Nothing else will accomplish the desired goal of success. Therefore, the path to accomplishment is a fairly clear one: improve customer relations, and everything else will follow. One of the most effective ways of putting this into action is solidifying a specific working code that all employees must follow. This will help to create a certain unified standard that will aid your work environment to have a particular consistency to it. Humans thrive on consistency, and are incurable creatures of habit. Therefore, if your company has the reputation of being a place where you can receive consistently good customer service, you will get both regular customers and new ones who have heard of your virtues. In order to make these guidelines work, they have to be rather specific. It will do no good to make them so vague that no one really knows what they mean. This will lead to all sorts of undesired consequences, and will not result in anything good or profitable. In order to combat this, make sure that the terms of the rules are not in any way ambiguous, and leave no room for error. For example, a useful guideline to have is this rather simple maxim: “The customer is always right.” Though it is a rather intuitive principle, it is nevertheless one that should be repeated. Make sure that your employees have this principle extremely clear in their heads before they even start interacting with the customers. It will spare you a world of trouble in the future. So, rather than worrying about competition, your initial profit, or even the quality of your product and service, it is extremely important to think about the customer. Once you have them on your side, you have a solid base to experiment and hone your business into what you want it to be.
Tags: Customer, Success, Employees, Clientèle, Profit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Barriers to Communication
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
Probably the most important thing to possess in business is the ability to communicate ideas amply. This is true regardless of the position that you happen to fill in your job or company. You will need to communicate with people in every line of work, from customer relations to warehouse stocking. Therefore, it is extremely beneficial to hone these communication skills.
One of the most important elements of speech is clarity. Talking on and on without actually conveying the point does nobody any good when setting out to illustrate something. Though this is intuitively obvious, it is something that many people never seem to understand. A good way to manage this problem is to think about what you will be saying. Construct sentences in your head and try to make them as clear as possible. Since you are only engaging in casual conversation, there's no need to construct your sentences in too strict or formal. The key here is clarity, not grammatical perfection.
As with a great deal of other engagements, there is a lot to be said for interpersonal dialogue. This means that you need to engage in conversation with others as much as possible. When comparing somebody who is shy and quiet, somebody who is arrogant and rude, and somebody who is friendly and confident, who do you think is most likely to succeed in business, or any career for that matter?
As with anything, repeated practice will hone the skill to near perfection. This is especially true if, in addition to simply engaging in dialogue, you converse with other people about your communication skills. It ought not to be a person that you don't know too well, as you might bore them to death. Speak with a member of your family, or a close friend, when trying to pin down the individualities of your speech.
Tags: Communication, Skills, Speech, Dialogue, Clarity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recommended Business Reads
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
Hot business books. Recommended by a well-recognised business leader, pick up The Innovator's Delimma: When Technologies cause great firms to fail. It is often important to round out a business career by supplementing a hard cut office life with a little literature. Stay informed on new ideas, inspiration from successful stories and motivation.
Not exactly a tear jerking story about capitalist triumph, this book is a complete glimpse on how technology has historically affected business. Clayton M. Christenson illustrates through specific examples how researching the effects of technological change can determine how the business will take the hit. One chapter using the example of the Disc Drive exemplifies that new customers will demand changes conforming to new technological trends. Businesses must respond to these by listening and investing attentively and in an informed fashion. Due to changes in demand for the Disc Drive alone from the 70's to present, 7 major corporations have been demolished due to lack of keeping up with changes in the industry – while IBM was not.
Hot site. When trying to find the business section at the local bookshop or on Amazon is not an option in a schedule full of deadlines, check out Fastcompany or subscribe in having the magazine delivered to the office door. Fastcompany engages its business savvy leader readers on the very latest happenings in all business aspects: finance, economy, technology and marketing. A variety of media shows the latest business news through video interviews, blog discussions and articles.
Similar to a NYTimes style layout, Fastcompany tends to recognise important business figures. The site highlights and features people who have made significant impacts in the history of their companies. One article features a student from Emory University and his cloud computing innovation project, while numerous others recognise Steve Jobs as an important technological figure in the heyday of Apple computers.
Tags: Business, Books, Stories, Motivation, Interviews
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Online Domain Real Estate
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
It is estimated that about 93% of the words used in the English language have been incorporated into domain names, and the count is raising daily. This means that domain names and “online property” are becoming trickier to register and buy as well as get your hands on. Hence the idea of working with or even becoming an Online Domain Broker is one that fascinates many. What this job means is being empowered electronically to host and run your own domain hosting service (a completely free service) and be able to purchase your own domains and hold rights to them. The process may sound way over your head, but knowing how to do it and growing in this field is a great way to make money and be entrepreneurial from the home base.
The initial cost of becoming your own domain name broker is estimated between £2,000 and £10,000 due to advertising, research, and with some given room for trial and error. This is a fairly small down payment in order to reach the great profit and benefit that an online broker can create. Dealing in domains and site names is a great way to bring in cash from home or to augment your income, and looking carefully into this field is something that you should definitely consider.
Getting the domains themselves to match just what your client wants is quite a trick. With so much occupied in the .com field, many have moved to .co, .it, .org, .co.uk, or any of the many names and fields that there are out. There are also methods of buying back another person's domain which obviously is worth more if that is what the company wants. As you can see, the range of opportunity is great. All it takes is trying and making something for yourself in this field.
Tags: Online, Domain Name, Broker, Advertising, Online
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
New Business Mistakes
[Report Abuse]
Reason
Posted by:
talkingbusiness
When launching a new business, the times are exciting and things are happening. It's thrilling yet scary to start your own business, as there is a real fear of failure. However, by knowing a few of the most common mistakes new business owners and entrepreneurs make, you can avoid them and hopefully glide forward to a successful new career.
Most people make the mistake of starting a business without sufficient funds. A business needs cash to operate, and without enough of it, the business is bound to fail. You need to make sure that your start-up capital is more than enough, and that you have a backup plan to get more in case something goes wrong.
Another error individuals make is to try to run a business all on their own. This approach almost never works. You need the support and help of others to push the business through to success, and if you try to do it all alone, you'll never have that. Start hiring right away if you can, and see if you can find a partner to launch the business with you.
Many businesses fail right off the bat because they don't have a good plan. Some people just sort of launch a business on the energy of inspiration, without thinking it through or creating a framework or strategy. You have to know what you're doing and where you want your business to go before you start revving your engines and trying to accomplish anything.
Finally, one of the most important mistakes to avoid is to try to start a business without having a passion for it. Millions of people only try launching a new business for the money they will allegedly get, and this is the wrong way to go about it. You need to love the business enough to stick with it when times are tough and money is scarce. That's how to succeed.
>
Tags: Business, Mistakes, Entrepreneurs, Cash, Strategy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|