Business Instrument

Archive for April, 2009

Yellow Pages Australia Banned?!

Could it actually be true ?
Could we really see the Yellow Pages Australia banned ?

You know I believe 4 out of 5 New Businesses fail through not keeping up with the latest trends.

A while back I came across a report from the USA titled ‘How To Unsubscribe From The Yellow Pages’ instructing its citizens on the process of delisting from phone book publications.

If you are involved in Small Business your traditional means of advertising may be under threat ! It would seem that a number of U.S. Cities are now taking the view that such publications are not only ‘Unsolicited Mail’ and an Environmental Nightmare but also an indication of property vacancy prompting serious security concerns ! As a result in what could soon become a World Wide Trend numerous Councils including Boston amp; Cambridge are considering proposing legislation requiring every USA Telephone Directory Publisher to set up a Do not receive Registry.

Think about it when was the last time you called your phone company and requested a directory be delivered and dropped on your doorstep?

According to the Star Tribune:

“…85 of telephone directories are dumped into the regular trash even though it has been illegal to do so since 1992. State pollution officials call it one of Minnesota’s biggest solidwaste problems.

The Solution…

The Internet !

Phone numbers addresses and business directories can all be found on the Internet. It’s much faster than flipping pages and if you have ‘Skype’ you can click on the number for instant connection plus it might result in saving some trees from unnecessary destruction.

So having the Yellow Pages Australia banned may be good for the environment but remember ‘4 out of 5 new Businesses fail’ I believe mainly through not keeping up with the latest trends.

Don’t you fall for the same trap!

toplistedsites.net

Resources:

http://www.toplistedsites.net

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/550648

http://www.startribune.com/17144696.html

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;A former Award Winning Small Businessman I am now happily retired on the coast of Australia.My wife I have 3 cats no children.My wife is as a Medical Secretary while I have my own Internet Business supplying Top Ranked Websites for local Small Business:http://www.toplistedsites.net

Working Collaboratively With Your Cross-Functional Project Team: The Goal-Setting Process

Leading a crossfunctional team can present different challenges than leading one in your department possibly requiring different qualities in the team leader. Team leaders need the ability and willingness to lead to develop and communicate an agreedupon vision among colleagues you probably do not know and who may have radically different viewpoints and the patience to lead by building consensus. Developing a “poker face” also helped me out of some tight spots.

Would I find all of these qualities in myself? Could I use them effectively in order to help my team accomplish the objective before us? I found out when I was given the opportunity to lead a crossfunctional team at a major insurance company in New York.

I led a crossfunctional project team whose responsibility it was to review enrollment applications for the company’s deferred annuitybased Section 403b retirement plans and to make sure that they continued to meet our customers’ expectations and all New York State Insurance Department regulatory requirements.

Our goal was to reduce what had been a fourpage form to a single signup page with an accompanying page for instructions. The primary purpose was to accommodate a new electronic documentimaging system the company had installed but there were also obvious customer service benefits to shortening and simplifying the applications.

We succeeded well beyond our expectations in creating onepage easytouse annuity enrollment applications that customers liked and that met all applicable state regulatory standards. Service quality studies showed that customer satisfaction with the new enrollment applications was well over 90 percent.

My team included 22 colleagues from six departments most of whom I did not know or had never met. There were staff members representing an IT area that was the primary client at least two legal and compliance areas an administrative area that had an important liaison role with the state’s insurance regulators plus a graphic design representative who developed mockups of the enrollment forms throughout the project team’s discussions.

Forming a crossdivisional team for this project kept the process more horizontally focused. A key advantage of a crossdivisional team is that it allows changes in products and processes to be made by employees who know the most about them. Finding this range of expertise means cutting across divisional lines. We pooled the knowledge of employees from many different areas of the company and obtained a more comprehensive solution than any single vertical department or division could have achieved.

Team Leader’s Role

The team leader’s role is crucial and must be clearly defined. You are in charge of all team meetings and discussions and you decide when to delegate discussion of technical matters to any experts on the team. Your job includes at least the following responsibilities before team meetings begin:

• If possible become the subject matter expert or primary source of information;

• Suggest possible team members if given input by senior managers;

• Ensure that all team members understand the project’s goals and objectives;

• Develop your meeting schedule;

• Create meeting agendas provide accurate minutes of each meeting;

• Discourage “back channels” of communication;

• Represent the team at all meetings with senior managers.

Because the leader’s role is so important to the success of the team you should not be neutral or a nonparticipating member during the group’s discussions and development of the finished product. In fact expressing your preferences may provide the group with a rough idea of solutions that you would favor. But don’t push it: team members will decide whether they agree with you as discussions proceed. And be careful about how you express yourself.

Adopting the role of consensus builder and facilitator of the group process may be the toughest part of the team leader’s job. However you will find that it is the best strategy for reaching an outcome that all team members can support. If you are too assertive team members might interpret this as your attempt to impose a solution which could create resistance within the team. If you are not assertive enough it may appear that the team lacks direction which could set off a contest for dominance within the group. You’ll be walking that proverbial “fine line” between the two. but it goes with the job.

About the writer:  Michael Bauch is a New York Citybased freelance financial writer. He writes extensively about investments legal issues and business matters.

Wholesale Closeouts Are Helping Many Lower Costs

The world today is experiencing a huge upsurge in commodity prices. From groceries to gas prices to household appliances; virtually everything has gone up in price. This has left the consumer with very little money to spend on the important things let alone luxuries. Thus people are finding wholesale products from closeouts very attractive. These products are cheaper and are still very good quality in most all cases. Companies dealing in liquidations and products from wholesale closeouts are the ones ensuring that people can still afford to move on with life in these treacherous times. They sell products that are of high quality mainly from manufacturers and retail stores as well as catalog companies. Large amounts of products can be seized from organizations and individuals that have gone bankrupt. After seizure these items are sold in large quantities at very friendly prices. It therefore makes sense that people are flocking to these deals; quality products at a very low or affordable price is extremely enticing. Even though products from closeouts sales; together with other goods from liquidations can only be sold in bulk. People still prefer to buy them because they are assured that the middle person is not in the situation. This is a sure way to get great products at super low prices. The best possible price is just what they want. People can now afford to buy designer clothes at throw away prices by finding high quality wholesale and liquidation companies. Shopping for furniture and other domestic products without going to a retail vendor is now a more friendly activity in all respects. The list goes on you can find jewelry house wares clothing and more items that one could not buy before and only admire. Household products that were previously beyond the average persons reach is now available to ordinary people. In addition children are excited because their parents can now buy that toy that they have been asking for without spending an arm and a leg. To ensure that we are operating on leaner budgets when we buy wholesale goods from closeouts suppliers you must shop around. We recommend searching the internet for these vendors. If you compare this shopping method with going to popular department stores; it is a very worthwhile and wise venture. It is a great way to help protect your pocket book or wallet and keep that all elusive dollar. For the businessminded this area of selling closeouts at wholesale prices could also be a ticket to success. Taking you from your current financial slump to a place where you can spend without having to feel a pinch. This business is attractive because it does not cost a fortune to invest in and has huge potential rewards. The only thing to watch out for is that you ensure you get good liquidation products that are in demand. You also need to find out who you will sell it to and at what price. If you get a product that is in high wholesale demand you will be in a position to sell it at a good price that most people will consider fair. After you have accomplished this you are officially in business. It can be treacherous at times if you lack the patience and that innate ability to know what is moving and what just occupies your space. You could end up with liquidation products that people don’t need. One negative is that you can buy a lot of products in large quantities and therefore clearing it out isn’t always easy. The other challenge is making sure you obtain good bargains when you are purchasing closeouts. This will help you to sell at prices that many will admire and act upon.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Joel McLaughlin
RhinoMart Publisher
Interested in buying wholesale? We offer Wholesale Closeouts and Liquidations online. Buy Wholesale goods at closeout liquidation prices. Original Article