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Brian Tracy's "How to OUTSELL your competition -- in any market!"

An excerpt from Brian Tracy's The Art of Closing The Sale:

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Nine Objections You Must Answer:

1. Unspoken Objections

The first type of objection you will get is an unspoken objection. The customer has concerns with your offering but doesn't tell you anything. He or she nods and listens to you, but you get no feedback to tell you where you are or how you are doing.

The solution to unspoken objections is to let the prospect talk more. Ask open-ended questions, lean forward, and listen intently to the answers. The more a prospect has an opportunity to answer your questions, the more likely it is that she will tell you exactly what might be holding her back from buying.

2. Excuses, Excuses

The second form of objections is excuses. These are usually instinctive reactions to any sales approach.

"We already have all we need."

"We are really not interested at the moment."

These are just excuses. They are really not serious. The best salespeople nod, smile, agree, and then ask a question to take control of the conversation. The very best way to handle any initial sales resistance, including excuses and impulse is with these words: "That's all right.

Most people in your situation felt the same way when I first called on them. But now they have become our best customers, and they recommend us to their friends." This response immediately shifts the focus of the conversation away from your product and onto other satisfied customers. It almost invariably triggers the response you want: "Oh really, What is it, then?"

3. Malicious Objections

Then there are the malicious objections. Because you call on many different people, you will occasionally call on individuals who are unhappy or angry about their current situations. Since they cannot shout at their bosses or spouses, they take it out on the friendly salesperson.

These people tend to be negative in their demeanor and behavior. They criticize your product or compare it unfavorably to those of your competitors. They sometimes imply that you charge too much or that your product is not pf particularly good quality.

The way to deal with malicious objections is to realize that you are not the target. The person you are talking to has problems of his own that have nothing to do with you. You are just caught in the emotional crossfire between him and other factors in his life. You job, as a professional, is to remain calm, confident, positive, and polite throughout. Very often this behavior on your part will soften the negativity of the prospect and eventually encourage him to open up to you.

4. Requests for Information

The fourth most common objection is a request for information. This is the best type of objection for you to hear, because you know how to answer this as well or better than any other part of your presentation. Whenever a prospect asks for information about the results or benefits she will get from your product or service and how she can get them, you are moving into excellent field position to make a sale.

Use all your objection-handling skills. Welcome the objection. Compliment the person for asking the question. Thank her for bringing it up. And then answer it completely, ending with, "Does that answer your question?"

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5. Show- Off Objections

Another type of objection is the show-off objection. Sometimes prospects try to show you how much they already know about your product or service. They make sophisticated observations or ask you complex questions about your product, service, or industry.

When this happens, respond by taking the low road. Show how impressed you are by how much the prospect already knows. Dominate the listening and let the prospect dominate the talking. Be conciliatory and polite. Remember, when you make a prospect feel important by listening to him with rapt attention, he is much more likely to warm up to buy from you.

6. Subjective Objections

The sixth most common type of objections are subjective or personal objections. These objections are aimed at you as a person. Prospects say things such as, "You look like you are doing pretty well in this business." Ort "You seem to be making a lot of money selling this product."

Whenever a person becomes critical of you, it could be a sign that you are talking too much about yourself. The prospect is attempting to bring you down a little bit by criticizing your appearance or behavior.

When you find yourself talking too much about your company, your product or service, or your personal life, stop and ask a question. Start talking about the customer rather than yourself. Ask questions about what the customer wants and needs. Make the customer the center of attention, and the subjective objections will stop.

7. Objective Objections

You may also hear the objective or factual objection. These are directed at your product offering and the claims that you make in terms of what it will do for the customer. The prospect may say, "I don't think that it will do the job that we require." Or "It looks good, but it's not satisfactory for our needs."

If you can answer an objective objection, you can often get the sale. The very best way to do this is to provide testimonials an other proof that make it clear that your product will do what you say it will. Assure the prospect that she will get the benefits that you promise and you have just made it easier for her to buy from you.

8. General Sales Resistance

The eighth most common form of objection is what we have called general sales resistance. This always occurs at the beginning of a presentation. Until you neutralize the general sales resistance, the customer will be listening to you with a closed mind.

Lower initial sales resistance by using the approach close. Say, "Mr. Prospect, thank you very much for your time. Please relax. I'm not going to try to sell you anything today. All I want to do is ask you some questions and see if there is some way that my company can help you achieve your goals in a cost-effective way. Would that be all right?"

When the prospect relaxes and gives you permission to ask him questions, you immediately begin your preselected open-ended questions to qualify the prospect and find out what he really needs that you can provide for him.

9. Last-Ditch

The final most-common objection is called the last-ditch objection. You have make your presentation, and the prospect clearly sees how she would be better off with your product or service. She knows and understands what you are selling and how much you are asking. She is on the verge of making a buying decision, but she still hesitates.

"How do I know I'm getting my money's worth?" she might say. Or "Are you sure this is the best deal I can get?" Listen with respect; then assure the prospect that yours is an excellent product or service, at a good price, and that everyone else who is using it today is very happy with their decision.

You have then overcome the last-ditch objection.

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Managers, Employees Can Work Through Generation Gaps

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Managers, Employees Can Work Through Generation Gaps
By Leigh Branham

Managers born before 1960 have two battles to fight daily - the "war for talent" and the "generational war" with workers born in the 1960s and 1970s, not to mention the up-and-coming "nexters."

Because there are 20 million fewer Generation X-ers than baby boomers, retaining 21- to 41- year old workers has become a crucial priority for most companies, especially since boomers have begun to retire.

Differences between boomer and X-ers have been thoroughly documented for two decade, but frustrations continue. Boomer managers still complain that X-ers are slackers who won't pay their dues and insist on doing things their own way. Many X-ers see boomer as inflexible, technologically backward, overly political and as one-dimensional workaholics who need to lighten up.

Both generations earned the right to see things as they do because of different life experiences Boomers grew up amid social calm and prosperity and were welling to patiently climb the career ladders, because they knew there were other boomers who could take their jobs.

X-ers grew up amid uncertainty. They watched Nixon resign, the Challenger explode and their parents lose their jobs after years of paying their dues. Now X-ers find themselves in an economy that, despite its recent softening, is still expected to create far more jobs than workers for the next two decades.

Boomer managers must accept that X-ers have many employment options.

When managers say 'you may get promoted in three years if you are patient and work hard,' they think, 'the heck with that... I'll just take the job with the other company that's willing to challenge me and now and let me grow at my own rate.'

That is why companies such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which give X-ers the challenge and responsibility they desire, are retaining more than their share of X-ers.

One 26-year old computer software whiz flatly turned down an attractive offer after learning that he would have to slowly earn vacation days over a two-year period. Like many X-ers, he wanted time for leisure pursuits - in his case, rock-climbing trips. "Having a life outside of work" is a recruiting theme with X-ers that many boomer-dominated companies have been slow to accept, and their policies reflect it. But it takes more than just perks, policies and pay to keep good workers. Mostly, it's about the manager-employee relationship. Smart companies know they must make sure their boomer managers understand a few keys to retaining X-ers:

"Don't mention ladder-climbing or dues-paying. Look for ways to challenge X-ers now, focusing on just-in-time training and short-term missions. Ask them about their dream jobs, then work with them in trying to create them

"Allow X-ers to reinvent themselves within the organization by learning new skills, moving cross-functionally finding a new mentor, working flexible hours or from a different location "Make the work environment fun and informal. Introduce them to other and encourage work-place friendships

"Invite them to talk about what it will take to keep them in the organization, then negotiate a "personal retention plan" that meets their needs for growth, flexibility and balance. This means letting go of the "treat-everyone-the-same" dictum by which most boomer managers have lived

"When X-ers say they want to leave, give them the option of continuing to contribute as a part-timer, flex-timer, telecommuter, periodic temp or consultant.

If following these guidelines seems to suggest that a manager must bend backward instead of meeting X-ers halfway, then understand that there is a new reality - both generations must be willing to give a little.

After all, it is supposed to be partnership, not a war.

About Canadian Management Centre:

With over 40 years experience; Canadian Management Centre has earned the reputation as a trusted partner in worldwide professional development and management education that improves the immediate performance and long-term results of over 12,000 Canadians every year.

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How To Create A More Positive Cash Flow

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How To Create A More Positive Cash Flow
By Terry H Hill

If, as many experts agree, that the golden rule of business is "cash is king," then happiness in business is a positive cash flow. Cash flow is the movement of money in and out of your business over a defined period of time (weekly, monthly, or quarterly). If cash coming into your business exceeds the cash going out of your business, your company has a positive cash flow. However, if your cash outflow exceeds the cash inflow, then your company has a negative cash flow. To create a positive cash flow, generate more cash and collect the cash in a more timely manner and at the same time, maintain or reduce your expenses.

Positive cash flow does not happen by accident; it happens because a well-defined financial management technique called "cash management" is functioning. A good cash management system helps to efficiently and effectively manage the activities that produce cash. Maintaining an optimal level of cash that is neither excessive, nor deficient is of the upmost importance. Accelerating cash inflows wherever possible is a mandatory practice. Two activities that accelerate cash inflows include invoicing customers as quickly as possible and collecting cash on past due accounts. Delaying cash outflows until they come due is a critical step in good cash conservation. Negotiating extended payment terms with suppliers also delays cash outflows. In addition, investing surplus cash to earn the highest rate of return is a good business practice.

In order to understand the magnitude and timing of cash flows, plotting cash movement, with the use of cash flow forecasts, is critical. A cash flow forecast provides you with a clearer picture of your cash sources and their expected date of arrival. Identifying these two factors will help you to determine "what" you will spend the cash on, and "when" you will need to spend it.

Your financial reporting documents should include an Income Statement, a Balance Sheet and a Statement of Cash Flows. Your "cash flow forecast" reflects the same three types of cash flow activities that appear in your Statement of Cash Flows. The three types of cash flow activities are:

• Cash Flows from Operating Activities: This is the cash flow that is generated which is the direct result of the sales of your product/services.

• Cash Flows from Investing Activities: This is the cash flow that is generated from non-operating activities, such as, investments in plant and equipment or other fixed assets.

• Cash Flows from Financing Activities: This is the cash flow that is generated from external sources--- lenders and investors.

These three types of cash flow activities are interrelated. They depend on, and affect each other. The cash flow forecast should take this into account, and provide a complete picture of where cash will come from and how it will be used for the period being forecasted. The relationships between the different cash flow activities may depend on the nature of your business, the stage of development of your business, as well as, general economic conditions, or conditions within the market or industry in which your business operates.

Cash outflows and inflows seldom occur together. In most cases, cash inflows seem to lag behind cash outflows, leaving your business short on cash. This shortfall is your "cash flow gap." The cash flow gap is the period (number of days) between your business payment of cash for goods and services purchased, and the receipt of cash from your customers for goods or services sold. In other words, inventory days on hand + receivables collection period - accounts payable period = the cash flow gap. This interval, the cash flow gap, must be financed. Keep in mind the fact, that for each day your cash flow gap is extended, so too is the amount of interest being accrued. Even when interest rates are low, the cost of financing can add up quickly.

Here are three ways your company can narrow its cash flow gap:

1. Stretch out your payment terms on purchases for inventory. In most industries, payment terms are largely determined by tradition and vary from industry to industry.

2. Shorten the collection period. The faster your company can collect money for products and/or services sold, the smaller its cash flow gap will be.

3. Increase inventory turnover. The faster your company moves inventory, the less cash it needs. The key to managing inventory successfully is to continuously monitor your daily sales activity to your inventory on-hand.

Profit growth does not necessarily mean more cash on hand. Profit (or net income) is the difference between your company's total revenue and its total expenses. It measures how efficiently your business is operating. Cash flow measures your company's liquidity (the ability to pay bills and other financial obligations on time). You cannot spend profit; you can only spend cash to pay suppliers, employees, the government, and lenders.

Many small business owners have discovered that profitability does not guarantee liquidity. Over time, your company's profits are of little value if they are not accompanied by a positive net cash flow. To create a positive net cash flow, generate more cash and collect the cash in a more timely manner and at the same time, maintain or reduce your expenses. The four ways that can help your company to generate more cash, are:

1. Increase sales by attracting new customers. Your business cannot sustain itself without the addition of new customers. New customer acquisition is a process that combines market data with direct marketing tools to identify and reach high-potential prospects and convert those prospects into customers.

2. Increase sales by selling additional product/services to existing customers. It is far less expensive to generate additional business from your existing customer base than it is to generate new business from new customers. A regular review of your customers' buying history and frequency of purchases can reveal some interesting facts about your customers' buying habits.

3. Generate more cash from each dollar of sales. More cash is generated because of increased profit margins made possible by increasing selling prices and reducing costs of goods sold.

4. Reduce overhead. Overhead costs generally include facilities, equipment, administrative and management personnel. The key is to produce a larger volume of business at a lower cost.

Ideally, during your business cycle, money flowing into your business should be greater than money flowing out of it. The buildup of a surplus cash balance is important because it enables you to plug cash flow gaps when necessary, to pursue expansion initiatives, and to reassure lenders and investors that your business is in good financial health.

Copyright © 2008 Terry H. Hill

You may reprint this article free of charge in your newsletter, magazine, or on your website, provided that the article is unedited, and that the copyright, author's bio, and contact information below appears with each article. Articles appearing on the web must provide a hyperlink to the author's web site.

An author, speaker, and consultant, Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc., a business consulting and advisory services firm based in Sarasota, Florida. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. Contact Terry by email at http://www.legacyai.com or telephone him at 941-556-1299.

An author, speaker, and consultant, Terry H. Hill is the founder and managing partner of Legacy Associates, Inc., a business consulting and advisory services firm based in Sarasota, Florida. A veteran chief executive, Terry works directly with business owners of privately held companies on the issues and challenges that they face in each stage of their business life cycle. Terry is the author of the business desk-reference book, How to Jump Start Your Business. He hosts the Business Insights from Legacy Blog at http://blog.legacyai.com and writes a bi-monthly eNewsletter, "Business Insights from Legacy eZine."

By signing up for Business Insights from Legacy eZine at http://www.legacyai.com/Business_Insights_eZine.html you can keep abreast of the latest tips, tactics, and best business practices. You will, also, receive the free eBook, Jump Start Your Knowledge of Business.

Contact Terry by email at http://www.legacyai.com or telephone him at 941-556-1299.

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Business Ideas and Opportunities Evaluation

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Business Ideas and Opportunities Evaluation
By William King

The best way to acquire something is remaining attached to it closely. If you want to spark up with any idea, you need to have proper knowledge of the market and commerce. You may read books or magazines, or watch TV on business world and the trend running all over. But you need to have practical knowledge in the field you are adapting to. Then slowly you will be able to update yourself in correct predictions.

The proverb goes, opportunities do not come awhile. In the business world, you can't miss out on any. Opportunity, in business term, is a state of future possibility and storage, which the decision makers judge as "desirable" or "feasible". The level of opportunity arises when a bundle of resources is sold at a higher price than the cost of the package and the resultant delivery of it. Idea is different from it. The entrepreneurs are ready with different ideas clustered from several resources. Now, this is idea, acknowledged from different sectors, that enlightens any possibility of gain from the opportunity. Idea creates a space which can be termed as Opportunity Evaluation.

Capitalizing on business ideas properly, you understand the need of this opportunity. While conceptualizing on any idea, you should keep the demand of the product, ready market, and a solid return of investment, in mind. Otherwise the idea would lead to a perfect damnation of possibility.

While starting to crop up any idea of business, you should know to very basic things of Economics-demand and supply. For example, the IT industry is booming worldwide. So any business related to online marketing would fetch you to a gaining side. Customer and market are the two key issues for opportunity-focused entrepreneurs. They consequentially move on to analyze market size and growth, market structure and industry issues, market capacity, attainable market share, cost structure, the core economics, exit strategy issues, time to break even, opportunity costs, and barriers to entry, not to leave, definitely, the rate.

You can follow their paths by adopting these strategies the entrepreneurs use in structuring a business:

1. How much value your product creates.
2. Who is your target market?
3. How would you collect them?
4. How would you shoe that your company is unique?
5. What is the quality of your competition?
6. What percentage of market-share you would like to capture?
7. What type of company you are to set up; Corporation or High Potential; depends on demand.
8. What will it cost initially?
9. Do you need investment or not? If yes then, how much?
10. How do you pay the investors back?

There is more information on internet. If you are inspired by business, and want to make a good, competent display of business, acquire as many stories of success as you can. The idea must be backed by zeal. The live experience provides courage. Along with articles on net, there are legal tips and counseling available throughout the country. Lastly, have proper knowledge, be positive, do things sincerely, and the Opportunity Evaluation goes symmetrically with your sparkling business idea.

William King is the director of Dubai Property & UAE Property & Dubai Real Estate Portal , France Wholesalers - French Wholesale Dropshippers & Suppliers Directory, Lahore Real Estate & Property in Pakistan Property Portal. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

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Reason or Gut Instinct - Which Rules?

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Reason or Gut Instinct - Which Rules?
By Lawton Howell

Well-bred instinct meets reason halfway. - George Santayana

As you build your business and serve more patients, problems get more complex and decisions must be made more quickly. However, the ability to make instantaneous decisions, the experts tell us, is far from a rational and logical process. And at some level, having a reliable gut instinct is worth even more than having an MBA from Harvard.

Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon, a professor of psychology and computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who has studied human decision making for decades, thinks that we are able to develop a "gut instinct" because experience enables us to "chunk" information so that we can store and retrieve it easily. Our brains then "cross-index" this stored information, automatically finding patterns in one area that correspond to patterns in another. For example, a marketing executive might see something in a health-oriented advertising campaign that subconsciously suggests something he should do in a financial promotion.

In other words, your gut instinct tells you more than you can logically know, because it represents much, much more information than you could ever logically process.

That said, most people will admit that, sometimes, their gut instincts have been wrong. I think that's what happens if your subconscious mind has been improperly programmed -- either because the data (patterns) going in are false or because the conclusions that you keep attaching to them are invalid.

For example, let's say that every Thursday you put on a blue wool suit and discover that when you put your hand on your office door you get a shock. The pattern you've been noticing is valid. Blue suit. Thursday. Shock. But if you conclude that the problem is Thursday or the color blue, you'll be wrong.

This type of bad programming is common for two reasons. First, we all have a capacity to misinterpret our own experiences. Second, we can easily fall victim to indirect "faulty" experiences from things we read and from things we see on television. These secondary experiences can "feel" very real to the subconscious mind. They can be internalized just as readily, I believe, as primary experiences.

Also, there is the problem of perspective. Take any experience -- a ball game, a traffic accident, or a business meeting, for example -- and ask four people what took place. Chances are you'll get four different answers.

So how do you educate your gut instinct? How do you develop a powerful business intuition that is much, much better than that of the average leader?

Trust more in your experience than the experience of others. Remember, the experience of others may be distorted by misperception or miscommunication. Your experience, if you are lucid, is genuine.

Is an experience fact or rumor? How often have you had an employee or an Associate leave and then spread trash about you or your business? Was it true? Probably not. Most former employees need to make themselves more important and blameless so they build stories to enhance their internal perspective and boost their personal agendas. This is normal. But, would you make a decision about a business or another person based solely on the ramblings of a former employee? I hope not. Consider the source of the experience that you are using for decision making opportunities, particular when information is delivered in a negative context.

Trusting in your experience doesn't mean trusting the conclusions you draw. As explained above, we are all prone to incorrect inductions. Challenge your conclusions and interpretations by talking to others...separating fact from rumors. After an important incident, one that might have suggested a lesson to you, have a conversation with others. How did they see what happened? What lessons did they draw?

You should still give primary weight to your own reactions, but temper them by listening to the interpretations of others.

Analyze every business deal you do. Ask yourself:

"What went right?"

"What went wrong?"

"How could it have been better?"

"How could it have been worse?"

Again, ask your T.E.A.M. for their opinions. Do they agree with your views on what went right and wrong? If not, why not? Resist the impulse to make yourself "right" in retrospect.

The conclusions you draw from your actual, primary business experiences are the most valuable resources you have. They are collectively the foundation of your future decisions, the bedrock on which your future success will be built.

The author may be contacted toll free at 877-935.6371 extension 201 or email at ceo@wellnessone.net. Mr. Howell is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of WellnessOne Corporation, a national alliance of chiropractic and wellness centers.

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Controlling the Risk Versus the Reward of Hiring

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Controlling the Risk Versus the Reward of Hiring
By Dirk Zeller

Too often, we examine the risk and make it too large. We view the first hiring of an administrative assistant as a $30,000 per year expenditure. This is especially true for your very first hire. Your mind says, "Well, what if I don't increase sales; what if I have an off year; what if the assistant doesn't get it?" These are natural thoughts, but in many cases, they are blown out of proportion.

While you might invest $30,000, or $40,000, or even $50,000 over the course of the year in pay, taxes, and benefits for an assistant, you aren't taking that level of risk without some safety value. If, six months after hiring your first or adding another administrative assistant, your production doesn't increase or show signs of increasing, would you keep the employee? For most business people, the answer would be NO. A good business owner will not go much beyond a reasonable period of time to try a new technique, staff member, or lead generation system. I believe that six months is ample time to know if something is working and producing a result. With a staff member, it could be closer to ninety days.

Your financial investment during that time period could be $7,500 to $15,000. For most agents, the expense is around two commission checks to test the waters. We invest two commission checks on hair-brained marketing gimmicks almost at will. We are really trading their $10 to $20 per hour in pay for our potential to earn $300 to $1,000 per hour. Can you invest greater time in success producing activities, even though you have to invest time in training?

With buyer's agents, we have to evaluate difficulty. The question is, if you don't work with some of these buyer leads, can you invest your time to secure more seller leads? Can you then convert those seller leads effectively enough to offset the buyer income reduction and turn a profit? Do you have a choice because you might need to secure more listings to grow your business anyway?

I frequently coach agents to do the "old" Ben Franklin close when evaluating the risk and reward; to draw a line down the middle of the paper and put risk on one side and reward on the other. Then just brainstorm each side. I encourage them to write as much as they can as quickly as they can. When you do this, don't evaluate, score, or interpret what you put down . . . just write. The time to evaluate is not at hand yet. Once you have brainstormed it, then you will need to see the difference in the number of items on each side. The shear volume is one factor to consider. The quality of the items must also be evaluated. Some of the risk items on your list will be small, but others will be more significant.

I have had times when I personally did this exercise when the reward side presented a tremendous opportunity and upside. There was a large volume difference of items on the reward side versus the risk side. The problem is there was one item on the risk side that swayed my thinking. It killed the option of moving forward. Do this evaluation with the critical business decision you are facing.

WHEN TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP

I want to share with you a few benchmarks to evaluate in your business. These are benchmarks that I have constructed through years of coaching agent to build teams.

The Rule of 30: Most agents reach the point of diminishing return at around thirty units in production. They have difficulty increasing their production much more than that as a singular agent. They might be able to squeeze another five or even ten units, but they are bumping up against the ceiling of production for a singular agent. The mix of your business will also influence this Rule of 30. If you generate more transactions through buyer representation, rather than listings taken, your maximum will be closer to thirty.

Most agents who surpass the Rule of 30 (as singular agents) by more than ten units pay a high price in terms of their time and quality of life. They are merely willing to work more hours and often too many hours to grow their production. This 24/7 model isn't sustainable for the future, and leads to health problems, children challenges, and relationship issues. It isn't the way to live and run a business.

Another clue to pick up on would be survey scores. I believe that every agent should establish some type of customer survey system. We need to know how we are doing. If you survey your clients, you will be able to learn what's most important to them, what you did well, and what you didn't do well. You might find, through surveys, that your staffing levels are too low; that your communication, reporting, feedback, and overall service was less than the client wanted or expected.

In order to achieve a high level of efficiency and a high return on your investment of time, your buyer's agents need to be doing in excess of thirty units of production a year. That would be at the bottom of the good scale on an efficiency model. If you had five buyer's agents who did thirty units each and you did seventy-five units on the listing side in your personal production, your total units for the year would be 225. You would have six people, including yourself, for those 225 units or thirty-seven units per person. That would put you in a solid efficiency category for effort and return on investment. The goal is to be north of the thirty units, based on the producing members on the team. You also count in that group.

Using an efficiency model to see if change is needed is a wonderful way to check your progress. After coaching hundreds of teams personally in almost ten years of coaching, it's clear to me that we need to understand the average production that should be done per staff member. By calculating per producing agent production per unit as overall staff member production per unit, we can apply a scale of performance to see if we are efficiently handling business and when to add more staff.

A Champion Lead Agent will produce between seventy-five and 100 units a year in sales. These sales will result from listing activity almost exclusively. There will be few transactions on the buyer side of the business. This Champion Lead Agent will have limited involvement in administration, so their listing coordinator and transaction coordinator must be stellar to achieve these levels of individual performance.

Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President & CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 250,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. He's the widely published author of Your First Year in Real Estate, The Champion Real Estate Agent, The Champion Agent Team and over 300 articles in print.

Real Estate Champions is a premier coaching company. Training covers a wide spectrum from new agents, to seasoned, as well as those interested in real estate marketing or real estate investing.

You can get more information at Real Estate Training, Free Resources For Realtors, Realtors-Build Your Skills

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Employee Time Tracking Software for More Efficient and Accurate Control

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Employee Time Tracking Software for More Efficient and Accurate Control
By Tom Brinic

Employee time tracking used to be simple. All you had to do was rely on the honesty of your employees and on the reliability of your watchdogs and you have a good basis for the computation of employee salaries. You also have a basis for determining the productivity of your people. However, things have become much more complicated than that, which requires that you turn to employee time tracking software for more efficient monitoring.

What you can expect from employee time tracking software

In the past, the only way you could track your employee's time was through the good old time sheet and the time clock. Those were the only records you have of how much time your employees have put into their job. With an employee time tracking software, a program is in place that lets you monitor how much time your employees have actually spent working, whether as part of their daily tasks or for a project. Because there is an element of control, there is no need to worry that your employee will be over-reporting their actual time.

Here are some examples of employee time tracking software that you can use:

Time Panic

If you want a simple employee time tracking software, this is a good choice. It's often used for tracking time spent for projects but it's also an excellent program for general time monitoring. This is perfect if your employees spend most of their work in front of a computer.

Time Panic lets you monitor how much time is being spent on a particular task for a given day. It also helps you view which projects are being worked on, which clients are being met and served and how much time is being spent by your employees on each. With Time Panic, you can also view the number of projects and tasks that need to be completed so you can decide what your priorities will be.

Complete Time Tracking

This employee time tracking software has been given high marks by over 30 software review sites. It's simple to install and use and allows you to keep accurate track of the time your employees spend at work.

This employee time tracking software has two editions, so you can choose whether it will be utilized for individual users or multiple users. Time is tracked individually and then sent to a server or central computer to be recorded. There are also several categories for time recording, so users can simply pick which suits them best. Users have to log in with their user name and password.

Complete Time Tracking is an excellent software to use for employees and managers. But it also works well if you'll be working with contractors and consultants. It's also flexible enough to be of real value to accountants, lawyers, software and web developers and architects.

Complete Time Tracking is also an affordable employee time tracking software. You can try it free of cost for one month (fully functional, so you don't miss out on the important features) and then simply buy the product later. There are also freebies such as e-books and software that can help you improve the efficiency of your business.

Time Writer

Time Writer is a user-friendly application that lets you track your employee's time efficiently. It's highly intuitive, so there's not a lot of learning you'll have to do. It's actually a time billing software that justifies all the hours that a person has worked. There's also plenty of reporting formats you can use, which lets you view the time in graph form or in text. It's a very reliable software, which lets your employees bill their time accurately and efficiently.

Employee time tracking software is a necessity that every employer can benefit from. Learn to make the right choice by knowing what's best for your company's needs.

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How To Build An Innovative Culture So You Can Leave Your Competition In The Dust

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How To Build An Innovative Culture So You Can Leave Your Competition In The Dust
By Jennifer Selby Long

Earlier this week, my husband and I spent time with my sister and her family near Portland. What on earth does this have to do with innovative companies? Read on.

On Sunday, my nephew, Logan, was busily working on a homework assignment with his friends Ryan and Dillon. It was amazing what these three sixth-graders were doing. They created a video about the Himalayas, complete with slides culled from the internet, homemade cardboard mountains, a painted-foam demonstration of how the mountains were formed, an action sequence involving India moving through the ocean to join the Asian continent, detailed explanations about the earth's crust, and the grand finale - Indian music played in unison on a cello, electric guitar, and trumpet. O.k., it was an, um, unusual way to score the piece, but I had to admire their boldness in charting new musical terrain.

It was amazing how much innovative thought these three kids put into their creation and in bringing it to the market (the market in this case being their teacher, Mr. Lee).

Even more amazing was the all-out fanatical mobilization of eight adults (all of the kids' parents, plus Kirk and myself) to execute the project after it hit an enormous speed bump. After spending hours trying to get their video on to a DVD for the class, Logan asked for help. Many hours later, the various parents who had tried to figure it out threw in the towel, got a little sleep, and went to work.

Since they were unable to transfer the video to DVD, my sister gave up her computer for the day (the one she needs for her business, by the way), so Logan could take it to class to play the video.

The kids tried to get the volume high enough for Mr. Lee to hear, but he couldn't hear it, and admonished them for wasting 30 minutes of class time. Believe me, I had a few choice words to describe Mr. Lee at that point, none of which can be printed in this newsletter.

He did, however, give them one more night to fix the problem.

That evening, as the tension mounted, it was an all-out technical SWOT team attack. Luckily for my family, I married an IT guy.

Even though Kirk doesn't do much hands-on work with computers these days, he dove in and started problem-solving, eventually finding an obscure program that was out on the internet, which he downloaded and used to transfer the video to DVD. He is now the family hero.

In all, we estimated that the kids spent 15 hours creating the video and at least four more trying to transfer it to a DVD, and the adults spent a whooping 18 hours bringing the creation to life, while also pursuing their other work responsibilities, the ones associated with our jobs, that is. We were tempted to send Mr. Lee an invoice.

Now, here's the connection with innovative companies. Doesn't this make you wonder how the naturally creative and innovative processes of children, and the rabid enthusiasm of parents to support their kids' innovation, turn into the idea-crushing, soul-smashing bureaucracy of the workplace?

The pithy answer is that companies and markets are bigger and a lot more complicated, and adults don't care about their own ideas as much as their kids' ideas, and there's some truth in all that.

However, some companies do manage to pull off significant innovation, much to their advantage. It comes down to a dozen factors that are directly correlated with innovation. Some of them are obvious, while others are surprising. They are:

1. Support and encouragement of taking risks rather than maintaining the status quo. In the words of Guy Kawasaki, "Don't worry, be crappy."

2. A corporate leadership team that plans for most of the company's growth through the development of new products and services, and is diligent in ensuring that the best ideas are exploited and less promising ideas killed early on.

3. Inspirational leadership with an inspirational vision.

4. High trust relationships, relatively free of interpersonal conflict.

5. Investment in and encouragement of skill development at all levels.

6. Substantial, sustained information sharing, which creates well informed employees. These employees can apply their extensive knowledge of customer desires, the company's goals and strategies, and competitive threats to improve their own work, as well as offer innovative solutions beyond their own immediate area of responsibility.

7. Family friendly or "life friendly" work practices. Some examples are flexible office hours, child care, part-time arrangements, or telecommuting. Take note: this one I found through quite a bit of research, not through my direct experience, and it amazed me that it was directly correlated with innovation. I had always seen this as an all-around good idea for attracting and retaining employees, but did not realize that it is directly correlated with innovation success. Go figure. I learn something new every day.

8. Demonstrable valuing of differences. This includes the traditional dimensions such as gender, race, physical disability, etc. as well as the less visible dimensions, such as different ways of thinking or approaching the work to be done, different personal values, religious or spiritual beliefs, different lifestyles, etc.

9. Semi- or fully autonomous teams, who are free to solve most problems and make decisions on their own or by working directly with other teams -- without escalating to management for approval. This can and should include decisions about which of their creative ideas to further explore and which to kill off.

10. Direct employee involvement in innovation via routine team briefings with feedback, and involvement in the decisions on how work is organized and outcomes improved.

11. Goals relevant to innovation such as increase in number of new services launched, success rate of innovative products and services, decrease in non-value-added work due to process innovation, better speed to market, etc., and a means of measuring progress toward them.

12. Adequate resources to exploit ideas. Some examples include hiring temporary staff to cover some routine day-to-day functions while key team members dedicate themselves to bringing up a new business, funding market research for new ideas, and hiring process engineers to teach employees how to map and improve their work processes so they can free up more time to pursue new ideas.

As I look back on Logan's project, I see a lot of these.

The kids never questioned the necessity of going through many creative ideas and rejecting them before landing on the winner.

I must begrudgingly admit that Mr. Lee is excellent at pushing the kids to grow through the development of something new on their part rather than rote memorization, and he invests an incredible amount of time encouraging the development of their skills.

The kids and parents have gotten to know one another well, and enjoy a high level of trust with relatively little interpersonal conflict, and they accept their children's individual personalities as they are--quirks and all.

The kids had to work as an autonomous team, working through conflicts and making decisions without escalating to Mr. Lee.

And the list goes on.

In a way, what it takes for a company to innovate is not so different from what it takes for a kid to innovate, after all. It just takes a lot more discipline, focus, change management, and people skills.

The kids took their DVD to class the next day, and played it for Mr. Lee. They got an A+.

Jennifer Selby Long, Founder and Principal of Selby Group, provides executive coaching and organizational development services. Jennifer's knack is helping clients navigate the leadership and organizational challenges triggered by change and growth. Visit Jennifer at: http://selbygroup.com. For more on the secrets of innovative companies, go to http://www.selbygroup.com/whitepapers.html

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Chronicle Your Path to Success - Document Everything

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Chronicle Your Path to Success - Document Everything
By Melissa Vokoun

From your organization's infancy to going public, your record of documentation should be complete and thorough. In the beginning you might wonder why you should document the 2% raise you gave your bookkeeper or why you reprimanded your sales staff for failing to answer by the third ring. The answer is that, though you might not question these decisions now, someday you will. And someday you may need to explain and justify these decisions to others. Documenting from the start is a health and safe habit to form.

One of your highest priorities should be to document are areas of personnel or human resource management. All employees, even though you may have known them since kindergarten, must have an application and/or resume on file. Because you know everything about them does not mean that your future employees, managers, and investors also know them. It is the first step in building a trail of documents that shows your business' growth and development. Following, each employee should receive an annual review which is added to their personnel file. This is simply good business. Your business is going to have a long life that will outlive your short-term memory and performance appraisals will give you a base-line to determine employee growth as well as performance.

Another area that may seem obvious is all your financial transactions and decisions. With audits and reviews always a possibility, no financial transaction should be left undocumented. This is sometimes the most challenging task but in many ways the easiest of your responsibilities. Because we file taxes quarterly and yearly, most business owners are always on their toes when it comes to fiscal recording. But remember to keep the same diligence when it comes to petty cash, postage, and other incidental transactions. The book of stamps, weekly payment to the newspaper carrier, and boxes of thank you cards can seem like small expenses but they add up and will throw off your balance sheet. Just always remember the simple rule that whatever comes in has to be matched by what goes out.

In that all important file cabinet should also be instruction books, warranty information, and owner's manuals for all equipment you purchase, even if the equipment was free or a gift. This can be your central location for software licenses, serial numbers, and office furniture warranties. Everything from the ceiling fan to the office copier should have the receipt, serial number, and warranty information located in an area where it is immediately accessible. Many businesses spend needless dollars replacing equipment that is still covered by a warranty and having the necessary documents can save you money in the long run.

One thing that many entrepreneurs frequently forget to save is schedules, appointment books, and time cards. Schedules and time cards are essential event of pay or commission disputes; they are your first line of defense. Also, saving appointment books or computerized calendars can help you track sales data, customer service efforts, and schedule timely follow-ups.

Of course, the advantage is to keep as much of your records as possible on your computer. A CD-ROM takes up a lot less space than file folders full of papers and legally, computerized records not requiring signature are equally acceptable. Unfortunately, there will always be the necessity for that file cabinet for your hard copies. Security for these documents is essential and access should be limited to the business owner or primary manager.

In the beginning these things are easy to overlook when you are flush with your first successes and things are more intimate. But, as I said, documentation is a healthy habit to maintain so starting to document from your first steps will ensure that your business will not only make history but will have it's own history well documented.

Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor and Trainer. As President of NuVo Partners, Inc - a Professional Office Ensemble offering Financial, Marketing and Administrative Services and Successful Business Advisors, she works with entrepreneurs and small business owners. NuVo Partner, Charles Vokoun, has 27 years in both public and private accounting. The CFO Advisor service is one of the offerings for entrepreneurs and small business owners. For these successful professionals, Charlie is an objective advisor addressing all aspects of their financial situation. For more information, please visit the website at: http://www.nuvo-partners.com or call 847-392-6886 for more information.

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Drawing Up the Efficiency Scorecard

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Drawing Up the Efficiency Scorecard
By Sam Miller

When it comes to the overall success of the business, you would have to check for efficiency in all aspects entailed. And by all aspects, this means each and every aspect entailed in the whole of the business. Whether you look at the business aspect, or at system improvement, or even project development, you have to keep in mind that efficiency is an imperative in all of them. Efficiency actually depends on your activities and how they are properly projected, in relation to targets originally laid out and the achievements and results. However, not all of these can be achieved, less you have the ability to see far into the future. Thus, there is a definite need to implement what is known as the efficiency scorecard. And where efficiency scorecards go is where efficiency metrics would follow because these two concepts actually go hand in hand.

Efficiency metrics are very important in the thorough assessment of the overall performance of an existing business entity. These are comprised of various key performance indicators, otherwise known as KPIs. These indicators actually function to indicate or exhibit how the business is performing at various levels and aspects. Now, the key performance indicators included in efficiency metrics, which will in turn be reflected on the efficiency scorecard, actually depend on the current needs of the business. The indicators are chosen according to the different aspects of performance that need to be measured in the business. But bear in mind, businesses would have different efficiency metrics implemented in their systems. There is a simple reason for this, actually. It is the fact that businesses have different needs and different objectives that have been laid out ever since. What businesses have in common is merely the goal of earning profit. As for other goals and objectives, they can come as relatively as just about anything. Thus, efficiency metrics, as well as efficiency scorecards, can very much vary from one company to another.

To draw up your very own efficiency scorecard, you will have to conduct a lot of studies and research accordingly. If you would take the time to look and browse through the many efforts exerted by companies previously, you would see that there have certainly been a lot of studies conducted for this purpose. To cite some, there have been studies that are related to productive time, environment, transport, corporate management, corporate environment, and more.

When the perfect blend of metrics is implemented on the efficiency scorecard, you will then have a reliable system for the assessment of future requirements of the company. Particularly, you can have a system to predict the life span of your products, and just how early your products would be obsolete in the eyes of your prospective markets. Studies have shown much promise in this system of predicting future requirements. In fact, the system has been dubbed as quite accurate, especially where the major points of the businesses involved are concerned. Of course, you would have to expect allowances for marginal errors. Still, with a close to perfect system of determining future requirements, the efficiency scorecard is definitely one tool your business cannot be without.

If you are interested in efficiency scorecard, check this web-site to learn more about efficiency kpi.

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