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Jumat, 11 Mei 2012

Obtaining Telemarketing Services: Having In-House or Outsourced Services?


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Even with the cost-effective outsourced services available in the world today, such as telemarketing, many still choose to have in-house telemarketing services rather than to entrust it to a third party provider. However, for small and medium firms that have only recently just started and do not possess the needed resources to have in-house services, the only choice would be to go for outsourced telemarketing services. Both forms may have their pros and cons, however, in-house telemarketing services are just a bit more disadvantageous that going with outsourcing. If you are planning to have telemarketing done for you soon, then you would do well to know which type to get: outsourced or in-house services.
As said above, both sides have their positives and negatives but as also mentioned, in-house services may just be a little more of a hassle to handle unlike with outsourced services. Hopefully, this article won't discourage you from picking in-house but rather just give you a view of what you would be getting into. Although, the question still remains: should you go with in-house service? Or outsourced services?
OUTSOURCED TELEMARKETING SERVICES - This is perhaps the most widely taken choice by many firms, even those who have the needed resourced for getting their own in-house staff and call center. However, many choose this because it is a cost-effective sales and marketing solution. Also, the telemarketing companies that offer their services to clients that need them employ professional and skilled telemarketers. And although they do hire new staff every now and then, the experience that they soon earn is enough to fuel their purpose. Be it lead generation, appointment setting or plain old hard-selling, these telemarketers are experts at what they do, show professionalism no matter the circumstances they are pushed into and know just what to do and what to say to make sales happen. Also, if the services is not effective for you, it can easily be terminated after the open contract is over. This offers less risk because you won't have to spend for so much and only have it fail in the end.
IN-HOUSE TELEMARKETING SERVICES - This type of service proves to be also quite promising but it takes a bit of difficulty to manage. For one, you would need additional office space to house your own call center, something that small and medium firms, especially those who are leasing a building cannot do. This already is a huge problem to those who do not have the resourced needed to spend for the construction of an in-house call center and those without enough space within their office building. Second, aside from just the costs of construction, one would also have to deal with buying all the needed equipment for the tasks that need to be done. Third is hiring new staff, another thing that may possibly incur a heavy toll on the allotted budget. Last and not the least is time. Time is mentioned because you would need to take time to train these new employees in how to market your products and services via the phone. You can have complete control of how your telemarketing campaign functions when you have it done in-house but just remember to be prepared that if it does not go so well, you may have just spent a great portion of your hard-earned money on a major loss.
Don't fret too much, though. No matter what type of telemarketing service you get, it has proven to be quite successful; don't get discouraged about in-house services, as well. If you're a small/medium firm, then outsourcing may be your only choice. But if you're a large company and can afford it and believes that your campaign will succeed, then by all means, go for in-house telemarketing services.
Sarah Barnes is a telemarketing expert with 11 years experience as a sales leads analyst for small and medium companies. Sarah invites you to visit http://www.121directmarketing.com/ for more information on pre-qualified sales leads and appointments.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Obtaining-Telemarketing-Services:-Having-In-House-or-Outsourced-Services?&id=7053199

The Role of the Feedback Loop in Successful Management

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It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that a positive feedback loop is necessary for the success of any venture. This should be clarified to say "the continued success" since feedback will not occur until a venture is underway and hopefully it will be feedback from the successes that determine the new course of action.
A positive feedback loop feeds back the output of a system into the input so that any trends are magnified. These trends can be towards success or failure, the action of the feedback loop is the same, it will be the circumstances that are different.

 The positive feedback loop sometimes known as a vicious circle has received much attention in science and engineering since it usually causes problems that make a system run out of control. There are various methods that can be devised to control this but when we seek to increase success they are methods or influences that must be removed.
There are several topics that can be used to trigger ideas for brainstorming. The first of these occurs when there is saturation of some commodity that is required for the venture to be successful. In the case of management this might be restrictions on information fed back or simply on the time available to perform necessary tasks. It is the management's job to identify these situations and rectify them.
In an extreme case management may be cut off from necessary information entirely, due to politics within the organisation or because a management does not have the necessary technical expertise to understand the information presented.

Good management is not only about information transfer of course. Staff morale is an important ingredient in the culture of a successful organisation. Such morale, usually borne of success, is catching and can reinforce itself as it spreads through the organisation. The situation to be avoided of course is low morale which is equally likely to spread unless countered in time.

Delay in feedback has been seen to cause even the biggest companies to fail. Such delay occurs when middle management makes mistakes and hopes to rectify the problems before senior management finds out. A well-known company suffered disproportionately when its wares were found to be out of fashion and sales plummeted before the top management were made aware of the situation.
External influences can interfere with the smooth running of a company. If these are government regulations or external bureaucracies then it may not be possible to alter the situation. Interference from top management may however be causing a problem. It probably arises because the lower management is not keeping them adequately informed. If the problem is micro-management then it might be reduced by agreeing to a course of action that is only reviewed at intervals to check that a project plan is being met.
It is necessary from time to time to review the culture of an organisation. Such reviews are a form of negative feedback loop. These loops provide a compensatory influence to correct errors. An annual review with staff may be too infrequent but the good manager should have antenna to detect problems before they escalate in importance.

The author has considered how some lessons in science and engineering can be applied to problems in every day life. He has prepared the Scoldent list as an aid for solutions to typical problems. Before retirement he was a Chartered Physicist and a Chartered Engineer. His book "Vicious Loops and Pendulums" is available as an eBook or as a paper-back at http://www.scoldent.co.uk
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Role-of-the-Feedback-Loop-in-Successful-Management&id=7005638


Rabu, 09 Mei 2012

Best Investment Ideas and Best Safe Investments for 2012

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Here we list some of the best investment ideas and tackle the challenge of finding the best safe investments for 2012. What might appear to be one of the best investment ideas to the uninformed could turn out to be one of the worst.
Looking at the big picture for investment ideas in 2012, moderation in asset allocation and a balanced investment portfolio will be the most basic key to success. There are 4 asset classes, and average investors need to spread their money across at least the first three to keep their overall portfolio risk moderate. The 4 categories in asset allocation are: safe investments, bonds, stocks and alternative investments like gold and real estate (optional). Asset allocation can be simplified, because there are mutual funds available to average investors that represent each of the 4 asset classes. Now let's get more specific about the best investment ideas for 2012 starting with safe investments.
Safe investments earn interest and do not fluctuate in price. You will need to look outside of mutual funds in 2012 to find the best safe investments because record low interest rates have taken yields on money market securities (and hence money market funds) down to just about zero. One of the best investment ideas if you have an account with a discount broker or major mutual fund company is to shop for one-year CDs paying higher rates if you can't get competitive rates from your local bank. Do not tie your money up for longer periods just to earn a little more interest. One of these days interest rates will go back up and you will be locked in at a lower rate and face penalty charges if you cash in early.
Finding the best safe investments will be truly challenging in 2012, but here are some more investment ideas. If you are in a retirement plan like a 401k that has a fixed or stable account option do not overlook it. You can often get a much higher interest rate there (maybe 4% to 5%) than anywhere else outside of your retirement plan. If you own an older retirement annuity or universal life insurance policy, it might have a fixed account you can add money to that is guaranteed to never pay less than 3% or 4%. Remember, truly safe investments like U.S. Treasury bills and bank money market and savings accounts are paying WAY LESS than 1%!
Over the past 30 years bonds and bond funds have become a favorite with investors because they have been consistent performers and returned on average about 10% per year... basically about equal to what stocks have returned, but with considerably less risk. Many investors have fallen in love with their bonds funds and consider them to be among the world's best safe investments. Bond funds are NOT safe investments. They have performed well since 1981 (when interest rates and inflation were at record highs) for one primary reason. Both inflation and interest rates have been falling for 30 years, which has sent bond prices higher. Loading up on bond funds now is NOT one of the best investment ideas for 2012. In fact, it is one of the worst investment ideas.
When interest rates and/or inflation turn around and head upward bond funds, especially those that hold long-term bond issues, will be losers. That's how bonds work. One of the very best investment ideas for 2012 is to sell your long-term bond funds if you own any, and switch to funds holding bonds with average maturities of about five years. These are called intermediate-term bond funds; and average investors should have some money invested here as part of their asset allocation strategy to add balance to their investment portfolio. These are not truly safe investments, but they are much safer than long-term funds.
My best investment ideas in the stock department focus on stock funds. Do not go heavily into the more aggressive funds that invest primarily in growth and/or small company stocks. These pay little if anything in dividend income and tend to be more risky and volatile than the average stock fund. Go with funds that invest in high quality large-company stocks with excellent dividend paying histories. Look for funds that are paying 2% or more in dividends. One of the best investment ideas for 2012 and beyond: invest in no-load funds with low yearly expenses. No-load means no sales charges, and low expenses mean higher net returns to the investor.
Alternative investments include the likes of real estate, gold and other precious metals, natural resources, commodities, foreign investments and so on. One of the best investment ideas for managing a truly balanced investment portfolio is to include this fourth asset class as well. The simplest way for the average investor to add these alternatives to their portfolio is with mutual funds that specialize in these areas or sectors. My best investment ideas here: don't go heavily into any one area, and don't chase after a sector (like gold) just because it's hot. Real estate and natural resources funds would be my picks as two of the best investment ideas in the alternative investments asset class.
Moderation and diversification across the asset classes will be the key to asset allocation in 2012. I have also listed some specific best investment ideas for keeping the average investor in the game and out of serious trouble should the investment scene turn ugly. Above all else memorize this: long-term bond funds are not among the best safe investments for 2012. They are not safe investments, period.
Author James Leitz teaches investment basics, stocks, bonds, mutual funds and how to invest in his investing guide for beginners called INVEST INFORMED. Put Jim's 40 years of investing experience to work for you and get up to speed at http://www.investinformed.com. Learn how to invest.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/Best Investment Ideas and Best Safe Investments for 2012.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6800356

Senin, 07 Mei 2012

Short Selling Stocks: Taking Advantage of Downturns

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The stock market can be a great place to save money. Because of inflation, money kept in a jar or under a mattress actually loses value over time. That is, $100 in 200 only buys as much as $78.40 in 2010. In order to combat this effect, money must be kept in such a way that it appreciates at faster than the rate of inflation. So, if the rate of inflation is 3%, money must accrue interest at at least 3% to maintain value.
The stock market has generally appreciated at about 10% over its history. Of course there are many exceptions, the recession of the 2000s being the most notable in recent history. Also, the stock market and individual stocks are not the same thing. While the stock market has risen an average of 10% a year for the past several decades, individual companies sometimes do much better than that, but might also die completely, rendering the shares of their stock completely worthless.
Taking Advantage of Volatility
Because of the very real possibility that the stock market will not rise at the rate of inflation over the short-term, and because short-term can be anything less than a couple decades, some investors eschew this strategy in favor of one that capitalizes on another of the stock market's trends: volatility.
Short-term strategies take advantage of the fact that while the stock market tends to rise continuously over a half-century or so, it also tends to experience up-and-down swings over a weekly, daily and hourly basis. Selling high and buying low is a great way to capitalize this. Often an investor will make several purchases per day, and several sales per day. With this strategy, money is made by selling the stock at a higher price than it was purchased, but if the stocks one is tracking all lose value throughout that day, the time was lost.
Short selling is a way to capitalize on the volatility of the market, while not wasting time if the market falls. Basically, the strategy is the same: buy low; sell high. But the difference is that in contrast to regular stock trading (or commerce of any other sort) which requires the investor to purchase the goods before selling them, short selling allows for selling before buying.
Sell Before Buying
How can one possibly sell a stock before buying it? Does that mean you sell a stock you don't currently own? In a word, yes. Imagine that you wanted to do this with cars. For the example to work with cars, imagine that every car of a given make, model and year were the same as every other car of that make, model and year. So, for our short-selling-cars analogy, go to a car rental place and rent a car for an extended period of time. Then, sell the car to a third party. After that person drives the car for a while, the car will depreciate. Buy the car back from the third party and return it to the rental agency.
While this example won't work in real life because the rental fees will almost certainly be much higher than the amount you make from buying and selling the car. Also, when you rent a car, you don't get the title, so you can't legally sell it. But, it illustrates how short selling works. Sell a stock short, wait for it to go down in price, and then buy to cover at a lower price, profit.
The danger that exists with short selling stocks is that while cars decrease in value at a fairly steady rate, stocks might rise or fall. When selling short, the potential for loss is technically unlimited. Monitor the potential for stock gains and be sure to cut losses if the price rises above your threshold.
For more information about short-term investment strategies including short-selling, options trading research or day trading, see optionstradingresearch.com. This purely informational site seeks to provide investors with tips and strategies for navigating the often cloudy waters of options trading.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Short Selling Stocks: Taking Advantage of Downturns.

Jumat, 04 Mei 2012

Effective Shipping Business Management With Shipping Software Solutions

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Over the years, the process of shipping goods has evolved in many ways. Cargo volumes have increased every year, vessels capacity has grown and the requirements for shipping companies to comply with regulations (i.e. Customs, IMO, etc.) have also increased steadily. Freight forwarders and shipping companies used to depend highly on manual labor throughout the entire shipping process - from packing, to warehousing, inventory, loading, transshipping, and discharging of consignments. Nowadays, much of these tasks have been automated, thanks to modern shipping software solutions which enable shipping companies maximize shipping efficiency.
Maritime software solutions have been developed for companies that provide cargo transport services. They are available off-the-shelf for Shipping companies like Bulk, Tank, Container, RoRo, and break bulk carriers. They are easy to use, can be customized for specific purposes, and can be integrated into existing platforms and applications. Once employed properly, integrated shipping software can provide significant cost benefits and higher level of operational efficiency.
Since no two shipping companies are alike when it comes to their software needs, shipping software companies develop different types of shipping software depending on their functions. Container management software centrally manages a global or regional container fleet and provides visibility on container stock, container expenses and facilitates the planning and forecasting of container stocks. It maximizes the use of a container fleet. It manages complex tasks, eliminates paper works, and provides real-time reports allowing operators to monitor transaction processes from start to finish.
Modern shipping companies use container tracking software to provide their clients visibility on the actual progress of the container transport process. It generates real-time data on the exact location of containers, and provides logs of exact time each shipment leaves the port and of its estimated time of arrival.
Voyage calculation software also known as voyage accounting software enables operators to have an early forecast on costs and income to expect from each port call and/or voyage. It calculates all costs involved including port costs, canal fees, and bunker costs. With these data, operators can proactively manage their cargo mix and simulate the contribution impact for different port rotations or vessel speeds. They can then choose the most cost-effective deployment and rotation of a vessel and avoid expensive and/or less-profitable ones.
To ensure quality customer service maritime software solutions eliminate problems prevalent in cargo shipping such as lost, stolen, or damaged shipments, tracking problems, delayed delivery, uncontrolled transaction costs, and many others. Proper use of these software solutions provides powerful and seamless results, and enables shipping companies to enhance productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
Ava Cristi has been providing cotent on business solutions specialized in the shipping and maritime industry. Read more about how shipping and marine software and business solutions improve your business process at http://www.softship.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/? Effective Shipping Business Management With Shipping Software Solutions.