Joseph, a veteran salesman for a U.S. manufacturing outfit and devotee of this space, suggested I discuss a dicey topic: surviving a sales call when a top manager at your company tags along. To justify the ink (as if he had to--we've all been there, after all), Joseph shared the following story.
Hiring people who complement my company鈥檚 corporate culture has helped us push our employee satisfaction numbers to a five-year high and earned us the highest client retention rates in our industry.
Cell phones are already the most ubiquitous electronic devices in the world. And with more than 40 million Americans who are now active monthly users of the mobile internet via smartphones and mobile browsers, the cell phone is quickly becoming the most popular device for browsing the web. Throw in the fact that people are often on the go when they're looking for information about a business, and you can see why it is fast becoming a requirement that businesses are "findable" via a mobile browser.
As the economic climate continues to fluctuate and interest rates hover at record low levels, it may be a good time for small business owners to consider refinancing.
In past columns I have written about the opportunities created by our current economic climate. Regardless of where you fit on the spectrum of pessimist and optimist, you have to agree that business will never be the same as it was in the past. Too much has changed, and nothing more so than the awareness that entrepreneurs cannot take the future of their business or their current customers for granted.
Here in New England, the leaves on the trees have turned blazing colors. They're a brilliant reminder of the change of seasons, and their time is short. Soon they'll turn brown, dry up, fall off and get blown (or raked) away.
If you are looking to spend the holidays away from home, there are cities all over the world that celebrate the holidays in their own special way - and in accordance with your budget! We rank these holiday locations in terms of cost, with the cost being an estimate for air travel and hotel accommodations (provided by orbitz.com) for a family of four, two adults and two children, flying out of Washington, DC, and spending five days and four nights with three-star or better lodging in the selected location.
While most of us look forward to some much-needed rest and relaxation over the holidays, some ambitious professionals live to work during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Year's.
In a dour housing market, wouldn't it be nice to know that your remodeling project would pay off when you went to sell the property? Remodeling Magazine evaluated the top remodeling projects, how the cost-to-value has changed since the housing market implosion, and which projects are still worth the investment. Using the magazine's "Cost Vs. Value Report for 2008-2009," let's look at some of the best projects you can undertake and recoup the majority of your cost.
Anyone who is familiar with the investment industry will know that the most common way to handle the risk level of portfolios is to divide them into three categories: high, medium and low risk. This is based mainly, if not exclusively, on the proportion of equities. Give or take a few per cent either way, 75% equities entails high risk, 50% medium risk and 25% low risk.