How To Develop An Effective Three Minute Elevator Pitch
What is an Elevator Pitch? Quite simply, a short presentation designed to grab the attention of new prospects in a succinct yet comprehensive wayNobody seems to remember who first coined the term "elevator speech," but I know it's been around a long time and I am often asked to help design speeches for clients.An elevator speech is a short presentation that you could deliver to someone in an elevator as it travels from top to bottom or vice versa. It must be compelling as well as descriptive. It should contain such punch that the other person would love to buy from you. Of course, you can use this in ways other than travelling in an elevator.When cold calling, it is a good idea to have your pitch ready. When the buyer meets you in reception, deliver the elevator speech with enthusiasm and he or she is much more likely to agree to allocate time to you. On the phone, you can use this to obtain an appointment. You may want to use it in a sales letter where you introduce your company to the prospect. For those who attend trade shows, have your elevator speech ready for people as they approach your stand.An elevator speech should meet these criteria:• Keep it brief, long enough to convince, but short enough to hold the other person's attention.• Be articulate, use the right tone and speed so that you don't rush the message.• Make it sincere, the buyer must feel you're a credible source.• Be enthusiastic, use appropriate excitement when telling your story. Buyers take their leads from salespeople. Enthusiasm is infectious and if you are not enthusiastic about your products/services or your compan

Time for a New Job?
Whether working for a company or organization for a year or decades, it is always difficult to decide when to move on to another employer. There are certain signs that any individual can look for around the work place. While may of these seem like common sense, others are more subtle and are just an important, if not more so.Time in the jobConsider how long you have been in the same job with the same title performing the same function. If it is longer than twenty-four months and a new job for the same employer is not pending, then it may be time to look for a new job. Consider changing jobs within a company or organization every eighteen to twenty-four months. Anything longer labels you as a “lifer” in the role.PromotionAre others around you in similar roles and organizations getting promoted and you are not. Ask yourself why. If they have similar functions, skills and background and they are getting promoted about you, it is time to move on.RaiseEven though it is one of the last taboos, raises and bonuses are important indicators of who is valued and who is not. If others are getting raises and bonuses and you are not, it is time to change jobs. If others are getting larger raises or bonuses than you are, then it is time to move on too. Bosses make lots of excuses and reasons for disparity in pay treatment. Do not let these stories persuade you to stay in place. Follow the money as they say.RankingMany organizations now rank employees within departments, divisions or other teams and work groups. If you are not ranked number one or two – then it is time to move on. The money and the promoti

Offshore Employee Leasing Option: A Boon For Beleaguered Employers
Most of the employers cutting across geographical boundaries go through the common - even though too an unwanted - process of hiring new employees, training and investing in them only to later find some such employees ditch them for another company(s) with, perhaps, better benefits and attractive incentives. Employees in America are switching jobs at a rate not seen in the past three years, according to the third quarter 2005 survey on the manpower statistics conducted by the American Institute of Human Resource Management.A total of 240 companies participated in this survey, covering over 98,000 employees. The overall turnover rate in the third quarter of 2005 was 1.92%, higher than the second quarter and 8.64% higher when compared with the same period last year. The Information Tech. (14.7%) and Retail (12.5%) sectors recorded the highest turnovers.What choices do an average employer really have? Go through the same painful ordeal of hiring new employees, training them only to later find such a thing take place once again! One solution to such a problem can be: Employee Leasing. There are two major kinds of Employee Leasing: Onshore and Offshore Employee Leasing. Onshore Employee Leasing company is a Professional Employment Organization (PEO). A PEO provides employees, and since these are the direct employees of Employee Leasing Company, a PEO saves the operating company the money that it otherwise may have to spend for creating an HR department for the purpose of hiring and managing employees. In order to provide financially conservative solutions and make profits, Onshore Employee Leasing Company often excludes or avoids hiring excellent sal

Finding Jobs
Today, the economy is growing. But, that means little to individuals who are looking for jobs. Because it is very hard to find a good quality job that is in the field of your study, it takes real dedication to get in. Not only is it a lot of pressure from this front, but for parents who are looking for the right way to steer their children as well. There are fields we know are growing, and then there are those that are falling. But, the real importance is finding the jobs that everyone wants and being better than everyone else.Your first step is starting young. Sure, you have college and learning to do, but you also need to start early to get your foot in the door. Having a basic foundation to build your career is much more stable than just having the education. For this, if you plan to work in a hospital, get your foot in the door while you are young by working there or even better, volunteering.When you get your education, make it count. Do well and learn what you will need to succeed in the jobs you take on.But, once you get into the job market, there are many ways in which you can find the right job. By preparing a well written resume, with any previous experience, you have done the first step. But, you need to get your name out there and find those jobs to present that resume to. You can do this in many ways. The most beneficial is to know someone in the business. In many cases, you can go back to the boss at that job you had as a kid and see if they can open some doors for you. Or, get your resume out to all of the positions that may be available. Use all media types you can from mail, presenting it in person, and of course, the int

Are Attention Distracters Costing You Time And $$$?
Does a distracted and scattered focus impair your effectiveness and delay your much wanted success?A common complaint my clients will often share is “Michelle, I know what I need to do but when I sit down to do it; I get distracted by a million different things and I lose my focus.” My clients talk about how they start out with all these great intentions, but the end result always sees them doing something other than what they had originally set out to do. Sound familiar? Are you nodding your head right now screaming “Yes that’s me!! What can I do to develop more focus and effectiveness?” The answer: eliminate your distractions.What gets in the way of our effectiveness, is what I call ‘Attention Distracters.’ Here are the top 6 Attention Distracters’ I hear often from my clients:1. Incoming Telephone Calls / 2. Incoming Emails / 3. The Internet / 4. Employees with Questions / 5. Hunger Pains (yes it’s true) / 6. Disempowering StatesTIPS TO ELIMINATING YOUR ‘ATTENTION DISTRACTERS’Incoming Telephone Calls – ‘bling bling!’The easiest way to eliminate telephone distractions is very simple. When you need to be focused on a particular task or activity, you can one of two things. Either pull the phone out of the wall or turn the ringer down.Another tip is to allocate a certain chunk of time each day to returning phone calls so you’re not feeling pressured to answer the phone every time it rings. A strategy for managing the expectations of your callers is to simply leave a voice message that says something to the effect of: “Hi, this Joe Blow. I am currently out of the office at present but your call is ve

Business Is A Game, But What Is Your Score!
Business is a game, or is it!If it is a game where is your score card? Are you winning or losing? Are you operating your business because it is a passion and wait until the end of the financial year to find out if you've won or lost? Maybe that's how you started, but things probably changed when the bills came in. In fact I guarantee you've wondered more than once 'Where is all the money going?'You see, business is about filling a need in the market place and being profitable while doing that. But to retain the passion and the excitement, it is very important to be highly profitable. The old idea of 'You make your money when you sell the business' is just that, old. In today's world it is about cash flow, making a profit every month. Buyers don't want a business that runs at a loss every month. Unless they have money to burn or you've got something they really want. In most cases the price of the business is dictated by the cash flow generated.So, if cash flow is so important, why do business owners hire sales representatives and rely on them to generate the sales to support the business. I've seen business owners completely neglect the marketing of their business, thinking that because they have hired a sales representative, everything is taken care of? Very scary, especially if the sales representative decides to jump ship.In any business whatsoever, marketing generates the enquiries, which generates the sales, which generates the cash flow, which generates the growth in the business.Marketing is incredibly important!Marketing is the seed that grows into the tree. It doesn't make sense to delegate the marketing. It'