Online Business Blog

Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

Telemarketing has gained tremendous popularity lately as it gives you good money and adds you dimension to the company’s success. There are a lot of people who are willing to build a carrier out of it. You need to be tough to be a telemarketer. Because it is cold calling and people are not expecting your calls. And in most cases your calls are not appreciated by them and you have to be mentally prepared to deal with a lot of rejections. Telemarketing is all about numbers. At the end of the day, you need to make sales and when you do that, people won’t care how you made them. But if you do not make sales, your potential will be questioned.

You might think that, you will get more sales if you make more calls. But you do not have to wait for sale. You will have to make sales. Use the basic tips below and convert a not so interested customer into a sale and be a successful telemarketer.

Be prepared and do your home work properly. Before you go live and start calling you need to know as much as possible about the product that you are trying to sale, the company you are representing and the probable questions that you are likely to be asked.

It is very important to make a good first impression. You need to be energized, enthusiastic and lively when you are on calls. You have to be friendly and polite and read the customers mind. If you fail to do that, the customer will probably hang up on your face. So develop a conversation and lead the customer to where you want them. Start with a lively greeting, not too animated but friendly. The way you talk to a nice person you know personally. Always wear a smile on your face as that affects your voice.

Telemarketing gives you the chance to make the dealings more personal and you need to use this to the fullest extent. Personalize your script. Do not just call and start terrifying the customers with all your product knowledge. Ask them how are they. Ask about their family and children.  Make a bond with the customer. Ask them their needs as a friend and solve their issues with your product. Even if you do not get a sale out of that customer, a good conversation will inspire you to be nice to the next customer you get and that is very important.

If you are in a business, no matter how small or large it is, information and data are the main assets that you have. But it happens so many times that we lose our precious information or business data and not to mention that sometimes cost us a fortune. You need to know the ways of preserving the data and safeguard it from getting lost from your system.

We tend to depend a lot on our computer and digital assistance for storing our data and important documents and that is more convenient. But when you do that you need to take the possibilities of any sort of failure in account. May be you can retrieve the information but what if is an emergency? You will have to be prepared to access all your information within no time.

For that the first thing you need to do is to have a backup system in case the main source fails to provide you with the data. You cannot be reluctant to set up a backup system. If it is not possible to store all the data in the back up on a daily basis, do it on a weekly basis. Always keep the backup system updated with all the emails, orders and all other necessary documents that you need to run your business. Use external hard drives to safe your business data.

You will have to use data encryption. Have a technical team ensuring all these things. The encryption will help you to save the information from those people whom you do not want to share the information with. You will have to select a few people who have the access to that information hub and they will be in charge of taking care of that system.

You need to build a safe and secured network that would protect all your information from being hacked or accessed without proper authorization. Keep all your crucial data copied and in a secured place, so that you do not fall flat on your face if your main system gets out of order.

Use your head and keep the most valuable information in a personal vault outside your office and in a secured place so that no one can have access to that without your authorization. Be careful and act smart so that you never let yourself down because of technical failure.

I grew up during a time when dads were not expected to be involved with their families.  The message for them was to sacrifice everything related to home and to be the sole providers for their families.

Gender roles were at extreme poles.  Moms were mons, and dads were…well, unfortunately not allowed to be dads.

Fortunately, times have changed. The 21st century is a time where we are all trying to find the center in our lives.

Women are trying to break in to higher levels of the workplace and men are trying to break out.   The reality is that the old suit that men have worn for years doesn’t fit them any longer.  Like women, men want fuller lives.  We may not be completely there yet, but we are certainly moving in the right direction.

But we often come up against the wrath of old thinking.  Rigid roles of the past are passé.  And yet, they do pop up in our heads too frequently.  Dads who choose to stop working at 4pm to rush home to coach their kid’s baseball team have to confront this judgment.  As do fathers who chose to become stay-at-home dads.  Even worst, what about the guy that wants to reinvent himself and step away from a high-paying, high-stress job to pursue a “less practical” passion?

When I wrote my book, The Connected and Committed Leader, my hope was to help redefine leadership in the workplace so that collectively, men and women could thrive. It is not about achieving balance, but finding a center in the extremes that no longer work for us. In other words, creating work that works in today’s world.  Since my leadership insights draw on the heart-driven aspects of parenting and apply them back to business, many people thought that my book was strictly geared towards women.  After all, how often do we speak of home when it comes to men?  Not often enough.

However, in my work today with corporate and entrepreneurial professionals, I find men really connect to my insights in different ways than women.  Men are seeking permission to shed the corporate armor and to be more human at work and at home.  Where as women are looking for validation that they can keep being themselves without the armor and still be successful in business.

In truth, we are all tired of the old ways; the rigid hierarchies and the command and control models no longer work.

Armin Brott, better known as “Mr. Dad” is an author of eight books trying to change how our society and the workplace look at men as dads. He believes that there is still too much societal expectation for men to be “tough” resulting in them becoming emotionally removed and unavailable.  As a result, families, workplaces and society as a whole suffer.  I agree completely.

Leadership at home and at work requires emotional presence.  If we don’t allow men to bring this forth, how can workplaces and homes thrive and move beyond where we are today?  Men have to be able to shed some of that armor in order to be connected to those around them.  Ironically, when they do, they become even more influential and can make a bigger impact.

Here are some things to think about:

Believe and Let Go

Control is not leadership. Believing in others and guiding them to excellence, is.  When you control, you are controlled by the need to control. You are unable to connect when you attempt to control and fix everything.  When you let go, you can become the leader that is already within you.  Start first by believing in that leader within you and let go.  The first place to address these judgments and expectations that society has on you, is by addressing it first within yourself.  When you start to believe and let go, you give yourself this permission and in turn, help others around you to do the same.

Be Receptive and Yield

The word receptivity is often attributed to women. Women receive, but men don’t.  However, in order to lead, we must first receive.  To receive is to be in a position of guidance.  You can only guide others when you are open enough to receive them and their ideas.  When men start to receive they begin to loosen that burden they carry, and as a result, they become more available and connected to those around them.  This fosters a position of strength that enables growth in you and in others.

Be Vulnerable and Give of Yourself

We all know that the stereotype exists that men don’t like to ask for directions. Why?  Because that would mean that they are vulnerable.  Strength comes from stretching yourself to be more and more comfortable with vulnerability.  That stretch develops a resiliency that is necessary for leaders.  The best leaders are those that are vulnerable enough to know that they can be on the bottom of the heap tomorrow.  Those that believe that they are above-the-rest and can’t and won’t ever tumble… are in a position to break.  Think Bernie.