Improvisation Techniques Will Boost Sales
Last fall I started taking improvisation lessons. I am a somewhat self-conscious introvert, and I wanted to learn how to think faster on my feet, and how to speak up in meetings without feeling a clench in my stomach. I also thought improv techniques would help me work more fluidly with my coaching clients, and that the classes would add some zest to my usual round of activities. The experience has been great.What I didn’t know was:There are rules for improvisation; If we followed some of these rules in business we would quickly increase the ability to trust our teammates and bosses, think more effectively under pressure, se11 and manage more powerfully, and have a lot of fun in the process. Above all, improv is about teaching kindness. Who knew?For example, we played a game called ‘Hotspot’. As a group we turned our faces to the wall, and one of us had to go into the middle of the room and start singing. Of course, the first person was embarrassed. Very quickly, one of us facing the wall had to save the singer by taking his place and starting to sing. Then we repeated the process: save and sing, save and sing. The goals of the exercise are to take a risk, not let your teammate look silly for too long, and to save each other graciously, even making the previous singer look good.What a concept! What if that was the focus of how we interact with each other in sales meetings? Take a risk . . . I will save you when you risk embarrassment . . . and I’ll try to make you look good. sales meetings could even become enjoyable, and more people would look forward to attending them.Here are some other improv exercises that could help living up your meetings, teach some valuable skills, and boost business at the same time. Each activity only t

Billing Software, Free and Open this Time
Billing is one important area of all small and big businesses. Billing software market is crowded that choice of one becomes so difficult for a start up business owner. The question is will billing software survives the flood of software suits or packages offered by small and big software developing companies.It should. The problem open software community today faces is the lack of skills or interest to learn the basics of programming and working of programs.People also seek comfort zones all the time. We all live in an age of instant gratification and we are hardly programmed to wait or try hard to get something. This is the general trend and they will go for easily available packaged solutions, instead of trying to learn what it is about the working behind the things they see.Needless to say a billing cum accounting system will, to a great extent take the load of learning accounting from your shoulders. With Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) the modern mantra, it is quite understandable if a few companies have taken the initiative to make major inroads into the field of free open source billing software.It is necessary for the user to have a basic coding and programming knowledge to tweak the pieces of software to a workable suite. Then again the attempts in that direction should be recognized.When introducing an open-source billing software, it is sure to be met with much skepticism and prejudices. No open source software is an exception. The whole hearted attempts from skilful people keep the trend alive.A recent addition to free software, specifically billing software is JBilling, located at http://www.jbilling.com/. The open source software works with all major operating syst

You, Marketing-Minded Financial Planner, Can Be an Author
After you’ve gotten in the groove of turning out articles and notes to reporters about your topic, take it to the next step: Write and self-publish a book about your topics.Does this seem intimidating, or even impossible (not to mention expensive). Believe me, it isn't. I know, because I did it.You can write the entire thing in a word processor, and a publisher will turn it into a book. It's not hard, and is less expensive than you might think.A reputable self-publisher will create a book with a professional-looking cover and an ISBN number so you can sell it on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It's not likely to become a best-seller, but you might generate a little bit of revenue.Besides, the point of the book isn't to top the New York Times charts. Instead, you can use it to grow your financial planning practice through marketing and publicity.Being an author gives you automatic credibility with the media, most of whom would kill to have the time to write a book. You can even use the event of the book's launch to line up some local TV or radio interviews.Give the book to everyone, including the media. Send it to your best clients and your best sources for referrals. Sell it for a cheap rate, if you can, when you give speeches to community or business groups. It's a powerful tool to build your reputation and get your name in front of prospects.

Four Questions to Boost Collaboration
Building strong partnerships is big business. But it doesn’t have to be a big problem.You can initiate powerful improvements with your customers, suppliers, colleagues – even with your family members.Just ask these four simple but powerful questions and listen carefully to the answers!1. What would you like me/us to do more of?2. What would you like me/us to do less of?3. What would you like me/us to start doing?4. What would you like me/us to stop doing?The answers you receive reveal what other people value, and what bothers them, too. Armed with this precious information, take action to make things better.Key Learning PointTighten bonds now with your customers, suppliers, managers, employees, colleagues, friends and family. These four simple questions will get a dialog going, and keep your relationships growing.Action StepsCall a meeting, send an e-mail, draft a survey or post a feedback form on your website. Ask for candid comments, study the replies, then launch into appropriate, appreciated action.

London's Business Travelers: Choose A Bed That's Close To Your Arrival And Departure Gates
As an international centre of business, the City of London hosts countless business events and conventions at any given time of the year. Moreover, many UK and worldwide business’ headquarters are based in London, prompting routine and special business meetings to take place in the city. Consequently, the city of London is well practiced at catering to the business industry and providing its fleeting business commuters with the best accommodation and business facilities available.Certainly, one thing that London's business travellers will never have trouble finding is suitable accommodation. And whilst hotels which cater specifically to business travellers can be found all across the city, an increasing number of these travellers are choosing to stay in London's various airport hotels - and with good reason, as there are various benefits to staying in an airport hotel while on your business trip to London.For instance, on arriving in London, you won’t have to endure another leg of your journey in an effort to wade through the hectic London traffic to reach your hotel. Moreover, airport hotels usually have shuttle services from the airport, so you and your luggage can be comfortably and conveniently transported to your accommodation. And on departing from London, you won’t have to withstand any rush to make your flight, because you’ll be right around the corner from the airport. In addition, because so many business travellers already stay in airport hotels, they are particularly well equipped to cater to both business individuals and parties. For example, conference rooms and a frequent shuttle service to the city's business districts are usually offered. However, London's airport hotels are also fully equipped with parking and car hire contacts - so you can choos

Article Marketing For Bloggers - 4 Tips To Build Traffic For Your Blog
Bloggers blog. That’s what they do. A blog is short for ‘weblog’ and it’s really an online journal that can be updated easily and frequently without any knowledge of HTML code.Traditionally, article marketing has been used by authors who are promoting their books or information products. Lately, I’ve noticed a growing trend of bloggers using article marketing to grow the traffic to their blog and you should too.Three reasons why it makes sense for bloggers to engage in article marketing:1) You’ve already got a lot of content produced in each of your blog posts. 200 words should be your floor for each article that you produce. In some cases, you already have enough words per post to create 10-50 articles instantly. If you don’t, then stitch posts together of a similar theme until you have 200+ word articles to put into article marketing distribution.2) A blogger has the same traffic building problems that any typical website has, and therefore article marketing can help your blog in the same ways it can help a non-blog website. Benefits include qualified traffic coming to your site year round, quality backlinks being built without any messy recip-linking campaigns, and you’re expanding your reach to other experts that might not otherwise have found your blog.3) Bloggers by nature are more Internet savvy than your typical author. With this said, most bloggers already understand how to create revenue with pay per click (PPC) advertising programs. As such, you already know how to produce keyword intelligent titles for their articles. This guarantees maximum traffic impact for each of your articles.If you are already a blogger and are new to article marketing, here’s how you get started:1) Produce a cache of 10-25+ artic