Do you need a break from the cold? If you need to thaw out then consider taking a vacation to a warm weather destination. You will return tan, refreshed and ready to brave the rest of the winter. Here are some suggestions for taking a winter holiday.

First off, you need to decide how long you can get away and how much travel you want to do. Since most of the U.S. is cold in winter youll have to go south to find warm weather. If you only have a few days then it makes sense to keep your winter trip close to home since you dont want to spend a large part of your holiday on a plane.

Consider visiting southern Florida which has loads of options and tropical weather throughout the winter. Miami is fantastic for visiting the beach, soaking up the sun and enjoying the nightlife of South Beach. If you want a slower pace and fewer crowds, consider the Florida Keys. Key West is a quaint city full of bed and breakfasts with plenty to do for the entire family including water sports and nightlife.

A bit farther (but not by much) is the Caribbean. Youll need a passport and the flights are more expensive but it is well worth it. There are tons of tropical islands from which to choose and there are French, Dutch, British, Latin and other influences to give you some culture. The Dominican Republic is know for its inexpensive all inclusive resorts; included in the packages is accommodation, food, transfers and water sports.

If you have more time and money then consider taking a winter vacation in the Southern Hemisphere which is summer during the U.S. winter. Rio de Janeiro has the world famous beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana with Sugar Loaf as a rugged mountain backdrop. Since Rio is a large city, it boasts five star hotels, fine dining and many nightlife options. Another holiday destination south of the equator is Australia. The Gold Coast is full of sun and sand options and the cities of Sydney and Melbourne have a European feel. If youre up for some adventure then visit the interior and explore the outback.

Southeast Asia is a popular destination due to its affordability and richness in culture. Singapore is not only full of sights, luxury hotels and culture but it is known for being a very clean country. Malaysia has many white sand beaches and islands with accommodations ranging from simple bungalows to lavish resorts. Thailand is another country brimming with ancient sights and gorgeous beaches and its people are known for their hospitality.

If you need to find some warm weather then there are many options for winter vacations. Take lots of pictures and dont forget your sunscreen!

Being specifically passionate about Alicante, Jack Blacksmith was writing plenty of publications in this particular field. Writing for reports, the author expressed his deep knowledge on information like Torrevieja.

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Have you ever been transferred on the telephone to the so-called customer service department and the lady or gentleman on the other end cannot or rather will not help you with your problem? All you get is a bureaucratic; I am sorry but that is our policy.

And you think to yourself; I am sorry but I was your customer and now I am your competitors customer and I am going to tell the whole friggin world too. Well if you have had this experience and such thoughts you are not alone. In fact this is exactly the problem that businesses and corporations face these days.

They cannot find anyone smart enough to do the job right, so they make all sorts of insane policies, which do nothing more than piss off the consumer, get them in trouble with Federal Consumer Regulators and help the their competition in the market place.

But one good thing for the company when this is occurring is that they can fix this problem. Of course the longer they wait the more damage that is done. How do they fix it? Well they need to bring in some professionals to do the trick. Because if it has gotten to this point then obviously they do not know what they are doing. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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The mechanical paper tape adding machines setting on corporate desks next to high priced personal computers are not normally thought of as an inordinate expense. In fact, it is my experience that those mechanical machines are considered by companies to be a necessity. Nothing, in my opinion, could be further from the truth on either count. Those antiquated, mechanical dinosaurs can actually be a very expensive and unnecessary addiction to which there is an inexpensive alternative.

Hypothesis

My hypothesis is that mechanical paper tape adding machines, or printing calculators, are no longer viable office equipment when they are sitting next to personal computers. Pencil and paper spreadsheets pretty much disappeared shortly after the advent of the personal computer. This migration of spreadsheets to software was seen as a very sensible move since electronic spreadsheets provided much more functionality in a very easy to use format.

A similar migration, in my opinion, is long overdue for mechanical paper tape adding machines. With the availability of feature rich adding machine programs like myOwn10-Key, it no longer makes sense to continue using the costly, feature deprived mechanical devices. The electronic adding machines, like electronic spreadsheets, offer much more functionality in a very easy to use format. Electronic tapes also contribute significantly to the bottom line when compared to antiquated printing calculators.

Analysis Factors

To test my hypothesis, I did an ROI analysis of converting to myOwn10-Key for United Parcel Service. Why choose Brown? Because the UPS web site displays very detailed technical information for the company. The number I needed was a count of personal computers in use at UPS. As of Sunday, August 5, 2007, the number of LAN Workstations in use at UPS was listed on their web site as 149,000. That was the starting point for my calculations.

Here are the other assumptions I needed to complete the analysis. I tried to be on the conservative side for all of these factors.

• Percent of personal computers with a printing calculator sitting beside it 30%.
• Price of paper rolls $8.48 / 12 pk.
• How often a new paper roll is installed on each printing calculator every 2 months (6 / yr).
• Price of printer cartridges $3.00 ea.
• How many printer cartridges are consumed on each printing calculator 1 / yr.
• Percent of printing calculators replaced per year 10%

The cost of purchasing mechanical paper tape adding machines for new employees is not considered in this analysis. Also not considered in the additional cost of the power required to operate the mechanical adding machines.

Annual Cost Of The Dinosaurs

For this analysis, I created an ROI analysis etape with myOwn10-Key. You can view the entire analysis etape in another browser window or tab by clicking on the View eTape link in the resource area at the end of this article. I encourage you to click on that link now so you can follow along on the etape.

The etape calculates the annual expense of maintaining an estimated population of mechanical adding machines first seen on line 4. As seen in the first part of the etape (lines 1 through 33), the annual expense of maintaining the printing calculators, is, in my opinion, revealed as something much more than trivial. On line 33 you can see that the annual price tag for keeping all those mechanical tape adding machines on desks next to personal computers is just under $550,000.

The next question is what would happen if those antiquated dinosaurs were replaced with a full featured adding machine program like myOwn10-Key? The remainder of the ROI analysis etape answers that question.

Cost Of Converting To myOwn10-Key

On lines 35 through 50 of the etape a quote is calculated for a site license for myOwn10-Key. I based this calculation on my 60-40 Plan which is available to large corporate customers. Under this plan, the price is based on 60% of the personal computer population being licensed. A 40% discount is applied. The site license is then issued for 100% of the PC population being considered.

For this analysis, Im assuming that UPS would want a site license only for those personal computers on which a companion mechanical adding machine is being replaced with myOwn10-Key. Company PCs that do not have a companion printing calculator are not included in the site license.

As seen on line 48 of the ROI etape, converting to electronic tapes with myOwn10-Key has a very attractive, one time price tag of just over $320,000. The ROI period works out to about 7 months. This analysis illustrates that the savings to be realized from converting to myOwn10-Key can be substantial. Remember, these numbers are based on conservative analysis factors. The actual savings could be much more. These annual amounts fall straight to the bottom line.

• Savings first year $226,093.
• Minimum savings each year thereafter $547,128.

In addition to these dollar savings, there are also environmental benefits. Not buying paper tape and ribbons in cardboard packaging means less pressure on our forests. And not throwing out broken machines and exhausted ribbon cartridges means fewer non-degradable plastics going into our landfills.

Do Your Own Analysis

These potentially large savings, plus the environmental benefits of converting from mechanical paper tape adding machines to myOwn10-Key are available to any large corporation. To find out what kind of savings your company can realize, download the myOwn10-Key ROI analysis etape (link provided below) and plug in your own values on the below tape lines. (The 60-40 Plan assumes a PC population of at least several hundred. There is a different discount schedule for smaller populations.)

• 2 Total PC Population
• 3 Percent of your PCs with printing calculators sitting beside them
• 7 Price you pay for each paper roll 12 pack
• 13 Average number of paper rolls consumed by each calculator each year
• 19 Average number of ribbon cartridges installed in each calculator each year
• 20 Price you pay for each printer cartridge
• 25 Estimate of the percent of your calculators that are replaced each year
• 26 Estimated cost you pay for new printing calculators

When any of the above values are changed on the etape, the entire etape is recalculated. The lines on the etape that are highlighted in blue and green (when the etape is opened in myOwn10-Key) are Master/Derived Values. These lines are linked such that updated subtotals cascade to following sections on the etape.

Conclusion

In my opinion, mechanical paper tape adding machines are a costly, outdated addiction. Migrating the adding machine functionality to electronic adding machine software, like myOwn10-Key, makes excellent business sense both from cost and environmental perspectives. I think its time the mechanical paper tape dinosaurs faded into the same sunset where pencil and paper spreadsheets disappeared almost 30 years ago.

George Gilbert

View eTape: myOwn10-Key ROI Analysis (60-40 Plan)
Web Page: myOwn10-Key

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If you run a mobile car washing firm we recommend trading for as many products and services as possible. You should trade for both personal and business items. You need to keep in mind that your gross sales will go down as you do this because money will not be taken in for these services you perform. You will however, notice a significant increase in your standard of living. This is because you will generally end up trading: Wholesale To Wholesale; Retail To Retail; Retail To Wholesale; Wholesale To Retail

In other words, if you trade a pair of shoes which costs the shoe store owner $15.00, which he usually sells for $45.00, for a wash and wax on his car which costs you about $11.50 (including labor, product, soap, eater, etc.) which you usually sell for $50.00, that is wholesale to wholesale. $11.50 of your cost for $15.00 of his costs.

This is the best way to trade. You basically are out your time, which you value at $11.50. The shoe store owner loses nothing because he got a $50.00 wax job for $15.00. Everyone is happy.

Trading retail to retail is by far the easiest. This is trading the $50.00 wax job for a $50.00 pair of shoes. Its really easy to figure out and very easy to sell. Both parties walk away feeling good.

When you trade retail to wholesale, you really come out ahead. For example, if you wash the shoe store owners car three times which equals $15.00 worth of your services at retail for his wholesale cost of $15.00 for the shoes, you really win big. Your cost for three washes is $1.13 times three, which equals $3.39, your actual cost and he gives you a $45.00 pair of Nikes. Excuse me, but this is a great deal. The only problem is that it is too good of a deal, so give a little extra. Wash his managers car and a customer who buys three pairs of shoes while you are there. Tell them Since you are such a good customer of Sams Shoe Store, Im going to give you a free car wash. This makes Sam happy, the customer happy with you and Sam, and Sams manager happy with you and his boss. You will probably end up with four new customers from this deal:

Sam

Sams Manager

Sams Customer

A Referral Customer from one of the three

Now you are ready to drive into the sunset sporting a new pair of Nikes, driving a mobile car wash rig.

Try not to trade wholesale to retail unless you are doing it to kill time or for a family member. If Sam was your father it might be ok to take this scenario: Your cost for a car wash is $1.13. The cost for the Nikes is $45.00. $1.13 divided by $45.00 is 39.82, almost 40. Thats a lot of car washes for a lousy pair of shoes.

Oh well. They are Nikes (the best) and Sam is your father. On second thought, we dont recommend this after all. For instance: $ 5.00 Price Per Car Wash X 40 Number Of Car Washes = $200.00 Total You Would Have Made. You see you could have bought 4.4 pairs of shoes for that amount of money or some really nice expensive cowboy boots.

So, our basic advice is this: Its ok to trade and it makes good sense, but please make sure its a Win/Win situation for every one involved especially the other guy. (Sam)

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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I remember moving my family to Argentina as Vice President of Sales for Latin America. I was in charge of managing five regional offices, Argentina of course being one of them.

In the companys ten year history of selling into Latin America it had never exceeded $14 million (M) in annual sales. The Argentina office itself had never produced more than $400 thousand (K) in sales. My task was to increase the sales locally in Argentina, but more importantly throughout Latin America.

I remember sitting in my office one day, looking out the window and wondering, How the heck am I going to grow this business with problems in Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico and other hot spots? How can I grow this business beyond $14M when no one in the past has been able to do so? Forget the movie Sleepless in Seattle, I was Sleepless in Argentina, trying to map out a strategy. How would I make sales happen?!

A confession to you the reader: I was scared! Please dont tell anyone!

One day while on the phone with a customer, I heard loud noises from across my office building. After getting off the phone, I opened the window and looked at the shorter building next door. On the rooftop, I saw several men using a scrapping machine to rip apart the flat roof the size of two tennis courts. This noise went on for days.

Then one day I noticed the silence. I looked outside and discovered that the men had finishing stripping the rooftop and were now laying small ceramic tiles. Given the size of the roof I remember thinking, Thats going to take them a very long time.

A few days later to my surprise and amazement I looked outside and saw that they were three-quarters of the way complete. Amazing! How were they able to lay so many small tiles so quickly?

Satori, a moment of enlightenment.

At that very moment, a new mindset was born for building sales. Instead of focusing in on the enormous task of increasing sales for the entire region (the whole roof), I would focus on building the companys sales slowly (one ceramic tile or sales office at a time).

It was this paradigm shift, this Latin American version of eating an elephant one-bite-at-a-time that helped me maintain the patience and sanity needed to grow the business. I considered each country in Latin America a tile. I set out to make sure that each tile I laid was positioned correctly in the marketplace. The result? First year, we hit $14.3M. Second year $45M. By the end of the third year, the regions annual sales had grown to $98M. The Argentina office itself went from $400K in sales to $5M.

Success, in sales and in life, starts when you break things up into smaller pieces; you begin to feel a sense of control. And as I began to take action, I began to feel a sense of momentum. Control and momentum became my engine for success. And every time I felt overwhelmed or anxious, I thought to myself, Victor, lets just lay one tile at a time.

Confucius said, It is not a matter of how fast or slow, but simply a matter of you moving. I learned that progress or success never happens overnight, but over timeone tile at time. I learned how to become a sales carpintero (carpenter who builds things).

Victor Gonzalez, top Hispanic motivational speaker and author of The LOGIC of Success. For more info go to: http://www.thelogicofsuccess.com or by email victor@thelogicofsuccess.com

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When faced with a foreign language document that has landed upon our desk, unless fairly proficient in the source language, many of us will be temporarily taken aback. Whether we have a basic knowledge of the language or none at all, we will then be faced with a choice - whether to opt for a free online translation or a professional translation.

An online translation can be a legitimate aid to linguistic decipherment. It is especially useful in instances where one already has a basic knowledge of the source language but not quite enough to translate the entire corpus of the text.

In most cases, a simple substitution of words from one language to another carried out by the online translator, although very mechanical in its output (being as it is, a dictionary based word substitution), will enable one to use existing knowledge combined with previously unknown translated words, to arrive at a satisfactory approximation of the whole.

With previous knowledge of a language one is able to bypass the main weakness of online translation engines; as previously mentioned many of the translation engines algorithms carry out a dictionary based translation. As you can imagine though, this might not always produce a translated output with regard to the many tenses, conjugations or cases (e.g. nominative, accusative and dative), common to most foreign languages. In these cases only a prior knowledge of a language will enable one to isolate the root verb or case components in order to arrive at an alternate form to input into the engine.

Even with no prior linguistic knowledge, online translations are very often more than sufficient to give one at least an inkling of a texts meaning; a major attraction of online translations though, is that an online translation is free and for many businesses and private individuals, a free approximation of a text suffices well enough.

There are of course, circumstances where an approximate translation is not acceptable and in these instances, you are best advised to take up the services of a company that can provide professional document translation services.

One such circumstance is when attempting to translate an English document into another language. This is invariably done for business purposes and as with everything that a company produces, its quality, or lack thereof, will directly reflect upon your business reputation.

The other obvious circumstance where only a professional translation is acceptable is whenever any type of legal, financial, medical, technical or business critical translation is required. The bottom line with these types of documents is that anything other than a clear and accurate translation that conveys not only the documents meaning but also the original intent behind the text is a sure road to business disaster.

In summary, it can be fairly said that; if a linguistic guesstimate will suffice, then an online translation will see you through. For anything that really matters though, you had best seek the services of a professional translator!

Ioana Mihailas is a linguist for Lingo24 translations companies London, a provider of high quality technical translations services.

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Networking is more than just putting your business name out there for people to find you, but it is also a part of getting to know people, who are going to spread the word about what you do, what you sell, and that are going to support you in all that you do. Networking is going to involve getting to know as many people in life as you can, and putting your business in front of those people, so they will represent your name, your business, and will tell others about what you have to offer.

If your business requires that you travel often, or perhaps you travel often to find supplies, visit relatives or just because you like it. You should make it a point to get to know those who you are sitting beside, those who are surrounding you on the plane, even those who are sitting on the bench while waiting in the airport. Make it a point to meet and greet at least one new person a day.

How are you going to get started on this?

Start the conversation by saying hello, how are you today?
Ask questions. The best way to get to know someone is to ask questions. Without asking questions, it can be difficult to carry on a conversation. Asking questions is a good icebreaker, in turn, the person is going to want to talk about their self, and where they are traveling too. You can then lead into something like, is this business trip or a personal trip? As you go on with the conversation, the person is going to ask you questions, which is where you will be able to talk about your business and what you do.

As you make it a point to get to know at least one new person a day- you are going to increase your network, which means you will increase the people that you know in life. Increasing your business network is going to be dependent on your abilities to carry on a conversation and to talk with others. Force yourself to do this. Force yourself to stick to your habit of meeting at least one new person a day. As you make this a point, you will make this a habit and in the long run, your business will thrive for it.

Author, Mike Freije, contributes articles on Business Networking for http://www.globalnewsarticles.com . For more information, visit http://business-networking.tagandlink.com and his Success University on http://mfreije1.successuniversity.com/new.

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Do you know today a website is as essential as a business card? Yet many professionals feel overwhelmed with the prospect of setting up their business websites.

Do you feel overwhelmed with the idea of starting your own website? Website Development: Top 3 Tips for Getting Started and No Longer Feeling Overwhelmed provides three easy to follow tips to begin your entry into the world wide web!

1. Create A Name.

One of the first steps for developing a coaching website is creating a business name, and registering a domain name for your website.

A domain name is the keyword before .com, .net, .org, etc. For example the domain name for bayareacoach.com is bayareacoach.

For your coaching business, you ideally want to register a .com domain name. The reason for this is .com is associated with businesses, whereas .org is for non-profits, and .net is for networking companies (i.e. verizon.net).

You can go to any number of free domain name search engines (for example go to directnic.com), to see if your domain name is available. Be patient with this process as it takes a lot of creativity to find a name that has not already been taken.

2. Remember Your Own Name Has Value

With professions that require a personal touch such as coaching or medicine, you will want to register your own name (yourname.com). For example, I own neerapuri.com. Registering a domain name is relatively inexpensive. Sometimes people are more likely to remember your name, than even your business. If they misplace your business card, and try to google your name, your registered personal name will show up in a domain name search.

Once you know a domain name is available, you will want to contact your web designer to know where to register the domain name for your website development. Many professionals do register multiple domain names, given they are so affordable. Usually with your domain name registration, you can set up a free domain forwarding rule that will point any domain you register to your working website. This way, you can focus on developing one really good website, and forward the other inexpensive domain names you registered to your main business website.

3. Registering Your Domain Name

You generally want to register your domain name with the place you are going to host your website- the place it will be held for work by the web designer. For example, if your web designer prefers to host your website on Bluehost.com, then you want to register your domain there.

Once you register your domain name for your website, you will feel marvelous, overcome your fear of websites, and be on your way to your first professional website!

Visit http://www.bayareacoach.com for tips and strategies for marketing your website. Dr. Neera Puri is the founder and CEO of Bayareacoach.com. She is a clinical psychologist and business coach who assists with creative marketing, practice building, and overcoming writing blocks. Contact her at http://www.bayareacoach.com

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The Memorial and Museum was created to honor those killed, those survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The Memorial and Museum is located at 620 North Harvey Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was the target of the most significant act of domestic terrorism on American soil. The building contained regional government offices for the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms, and Explosives, and other agencies.

April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh planted explosives inside a rental truck parked in front of the Federal Building, which created a massive explosion at 9:02 a.m. and destroyed the entire north side of the building. The explosion left 168 people dead.

Following investigations and the recovery of victims bodies, the remaining structure was demolished on May 23, 1995. The entire site subsequently became home to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. The site is unique. It has become a haven for all those seeking comfort and serenity from the violence that took place on April 19, 1995 as well as educating others about the effects of violence.

Hours of Operation

The Outdoor Symbolic Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Memorial Museum is open Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Admission Cost

Adults $10
Senior (62+) $8
Student (6-17 or college student with current ID) $6
5 years and under is free
Groups rates are available for student groups of 10 or more or adult groups of 20 or more

Telephone: 404-5235-3313. Toll Free: 1-888-542-HOPE

Exhibits include:

A chronological, self-guided tour through the story of April 19, 1995, the days, weeks and years that followed the bombing of Oklahoma Citys Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It is told in chapters taking visitors through the event beginning early morning April 19, 1995 and ending with a message of hope.
Chapter 1: Background on Terrorism
Chapter 2: History of the Site
Chapter 3A: The Hearing
Chapter 3B: Confusion
Chapter 4A: Chaos
Chapter 4B: Survivor Experiences
Investigation Story: The First Hours
Chapter 5A: World Reaction
Chapter 5B: Rescue and Recovery
Investigation Story: The First Days
Chapter 6: Watching and Waiting
Chapter 7A: Gallery of Honor
Investigation Story: The First Year
Chapter 8: Impact
Chapter 9: Behind the Scene: The OK Bomb Investigation
Chapter 10: Hope

Childrens Area & Classroom

This is a space designed to teach children about the impact of violence.

Special Exhibit Hall

On a semi-annual basis, special exhibits relating to the Memorials Mission rotate through the Special Exhibit Hall. Current exhibit on display at time of this article writing is:

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War

Exhibit beginning January 12, 2008 will be:

Sharing Hope: One Stitch at a Time

Source: Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum Online

Important Disclaimer: The URL address in the resource box of this article is not associated with The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This article and the web site are offered as a resource for formulating vacation ideas.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reserved

Written by: Connie Limon. For more vacation ideas visit http://smalldogs2.com/VacationIdeas For a variety of FREE reprint articles and special topic articles rarely found elsewhere visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com

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I want you to deliver more:

- Profit

- Sales

- Productivity

- Customers

- Quality

And, by the way, youve got less:

- Money

- Staff

- Time

Sound familiar? Year on year, sales leaders are being asked to achieve improved results with fewer resources or, at least, more from the same. To most Sales Directors, the attainment of a permanent increase in sales revenues must seem like the search for eternal youth; unending and, ultimately, unavailing.

Unfortunately, the task of selling never becomes any easier and as competition continues to intensify, sales people will face issues that can be extremely difficult to deal with e.g. decreased product uniqueness, increased competition within safe markets, longer sales cycles and shorter product life spans.

The reality is that whatever got you where you are today will not be sufficient to keep you there. A rapidly changing environment is the regular background against which organisations must develop.

Change is continuous and will become more rapid as we move forward over time. Sales management must be capable of reacting to those changes, be prepared to take advantage of them and yet stay within the overall framework of a formalised strategy.

The role of strategy is fundamental if the people within an organisation are to be enabled to make the level of contribution of which they are capable. Strategy, based on a good grasp of the core competencies of a business, is an essential precursor to achieving optimal shareholder value.

Getting more for less or more from the same level of resources, is my simple definition of efficiency.

Here then are six steps you can take in 2007 that will help you achieve those increased targets:

Step One: Understand your operation

- Do you know your operation well enough to improve it?

Step Two: Set the right objectives

- Do you have the right objectives to steer improvement?

Step Three: Check customer perception

- How can you identify non-value-added (wasteful) activity?

- How can you remove it?

Step Four: Increase capacity

- Are you meeting demand?

- What action(s) can you take?

- How efficient are your resources?

Step Five: Continuously improve

- Do you have a systematic approach to constant improvement?

Step Six: Check customer perception

- How effective have your efforts been?

- How can you tell?

And finally, when you review your performance in 2006, consider benchmarking yourself against the Sales Management Acid Test:

The Acid Test When thinking about your own sales force,

- Did you understand their motivators what was driving them?

- Did you always have visibility of their numbers year to date, forecast vs. required performance?

- Activity levels did they work hard and smart enough?

- Engagement did they always meet with the right level in their prospects/accounts?

- Messaging were they capable of delivering an appropriate message at the right level?

- Qualification did they only spend time on deals where they could compete and ultimately win?

- Closing did they construct successful campaigns and close enough business?

Copyright 2006 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved

Jonathan Farrington is the Managing Partner of The jfa Group thejfagroup.

His weekly blog giving dedicated sales professionals a voice is updated every Friday visit http://www.thejfblogit.co.uk

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