inicio mail me! sindicaci;ón

Archive for Off Topic

Bank of America The Worlds Largest Financial Institutions (How to start a business)

April 11, 2008 at 2:18 am · Filed under Off Topic

Bank of America is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, online banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. They are a joint of the Global ATM Alliance, a attachment venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally.

This bank now processes more transactions online than it does through all of its physical banking centers. However, when a bank tells its customers that its online banking system is safe and secure, most people would be shocked to find out otherwise. Bank of America the leader in online banking rolled out its Mobile Banking service to consumers nationwide in May. The service enables more than 20 million online banking customers to bank directly from their cell phone or smart phone with built-in security features.

The company offers securities underwriting and other investment banking services to corporations. Bank of America has recently spent $675 million building its US investment banking business and is looking to become one of the top five investment banks worldwide. They operates more than 5,700 branch locations from which the company offers investment, banking, and loan services to consumers and businesses. Bank of America, itself a product of several big deals to create a retail bank that stretched from coast to coast, has long desired to be an investment banking power.

Customers looking for the nearest Bank of America ATM or banking center through the new service are served with Microsoft Map Point technology. Customers can seamlessly use Map Point from their phone to find the most convenient bank location around town. Consider One of the world’s leading financial services companies, Bank of America is committed to making banking work for customers like it never has before.

Bank of America is a coast-to-coast dominant bank with a powerful and complete consumer franchise. This financial institution is in business is to help make communities stronger and to help people achieve their dreams. They are committed to taking a leadership role in helping to make economic development and environmental protection compatible. They are a leading global provider of integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to business and corporate clients of all sizes, financial institutions and governments worldwide.

azmsug | hawberryquiltshow | islandquiltersguild | greatstartbabies | maverickmavis | domiweb | greencalifornia | jennylindbakery | jimnickel | kevinkula | lookatyounowvideo | ci-forum | mrbluehands | peliculaelrey | pimaondemand | sabekisgem | rvcareers | sprayberryfest | excelsiortechnology | symmetris | rvcharters | rvdeal | affranti | alkolympia | captrading | yanqiqi | toneweb | featureupdate

Comments

What Makes a Great Trainer?

April 3, 2008 at 7:29 am · Filed under Off Topic

I recently overheard a conversation between a trainer and one of their participants, who was asking how the trainer had got into the role. I was a little shocked when the participant said, “It just surprises me a little as you’re not particularly dynamic are you?” Putting aside that individual’s perception of the trainer, the comment begged the question, ‘What makes a great trainer?’

It is often said that training is a role that people ‘fall into’, it’s rare that a person sets out to become a trainer as a career choice (this author, it seems, being the exception that proves the rule!) When asked, a lot of trainers will say that they where one day thrust into the position, loved it, and have not looked back since. Others enter the role later in their career when they make the choice to become a consultant or are asked to deliver due to their experience. There are of course many other variables, but this seems to cover the main.

So if it’s knowledge of a subject that throws people into the job of trainer, is it knowledge that makes you good at training? The simple answer to this question has to be a resounding ‘no’. My Religious Studies teacher at school certainly had a lot of knowledge on the topic and it’s not just my failing the exams that tells me he wasn’t the best trainer in the world.

Of course, if you have no knowledge at all of a topic, then you really shouldn’t be training others. However, it’s possible to facilitate a training session on which you are not the subject matter expert. In fact, I’d argue that a ‘great’ trainer is one that can facilitate training on a topic where the participants are the experts.

Knowledge, for me, is not the answer.

Let’s go back to the participants comment I overheard; does a great trainer have to be dynamic? I guess first we should ask what ‘dynamic’ means. My trusty Oxford English Dictionary tells me that dynamic means active and energetic. Now, if a participant wants me to come racing into a room, waving a flag, whilst singing, ‘Oh Susanna!’, then I’m afraid I am not a great trainer. I have certainly seen trainers that would model the active and energetic principles and a lot of them were great trainers. However, I’ve also seen a lot of trainers that don’t encapsulate this style and they have often exceeded my expectations.

Maybe the participant was a little confused about the term dynamic and what they actually meant was enthusiastic and engaging. This I could put a little more belief in. I certainly think you have to be passionate about the subject you are training in and if you don’t engage and enthuse the learners, you will struggle to get your point across. This is training 101 and every trainer should aim to come across in this way. However, I don’t think that being engaging and enthusiastic will do it alone. There has to be a ‘point’ to the training in order for people to learn something, no matter how engaging you are.

Dynamism, in whatever form, for me, is not the answer.

I often receive feedback from training courses where participants say, ‘…it was fun’ or ‘I enjoyed myself’. So, does a great trainer have to make people laugh, be funny or encourage others to have fun? Again, I think this is something that is certainly important to training. People tend to learn more effectively when they have fun and enjoy the experience. However, laughing alone does not a good course make. I have attended many a session where I had great fun and enjoyed the experience, but due to the fact that the trainer did not relate the fun to any learning point, the value was lost. In fact, I’d argue that this is where a lot of trainers fail. They will get repeat business and heavy praise for their ‘event’, but the learner has been let down by the pure and simple fact that they have learnt nothing.

Fun, for me, is not the answer.

Often the best learning I have ever achieved is through the fact that I have been challenged in my thinking. I have been taken out of my comfort zone and truly made to work for the knowledge. This learning has been embedded into my core and helped me to grow and develop. So, is a great trainer someone that challenges his participants?

Whilst being challenged is valuable and important, it can become demoralising when this is the only form of teaching. We need to be encouraged and enjoy the experience because being tested constantly can become tedious and dull.

Challenging, for me, is not the answer.

I could go on. There are of course many elements to consider when we think about training and delivery and all of them play a part in some way. No one thing will make you a great trainer, although one thing may make you a bad trainer!

I think what we’ve learnt is that a great trainer is the sum of their parts. They need to be knowledgeable, engaging, funny, challenging and a host of other things. They also need to know when the right time to be each is. So whether you’re in this role by design or default, remember one thing…it’s not bloody easy!

Andrew is the Managing Director of Trainer Bubble Ltd. who provide training course materials, training games, exercises and other useful tools for trainers and managers. You can view these great training resources at our website Trainer Bubble

 

azmsug | hawberryquiltshow | islandquiltersguild | maverickmavis
greatstartbabies | mimux

Comments

Increase Your Franchise’s Performance by Understanding its Territories

March 2, 2008 at 11:29 pm · Filed under Off Topic

Investing into a franchise is a great way to succeed as a business owner. One of the reasons for this is that you are often offered exclusive rights to sell your products and services within a specified geographic territory. The only problem with that is franchisors don’t usually live up to their end of the agreement.

Not sure what exclusive territories are? Well, in business and most notably in the franchising industry exclusive territories give a business owner assurance that a direct competitor from the same franchise won’t open up a business within a certain distance of your operation. It’s one of the first things you should discuss with a franchisor before you make a decision to buy into a a franchise. Always know your franchising territory. Here are some other details to pay attention to:

  • First get a copy of the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular and read it over, looking for any rules or regulations on the number of franchisees allowed to operate in a particular area. This is usually done geographically or demographically. You are looking for any type of information that deals with the rights of existing franchisees and your rights if one wants to open near you using the same company logo and branding. Never sign a contract without agreeing to some territorial protection.
  • The next thing you want to do is find a good accountant or attorney that can help you assess the franchise’s offer. They can potentially save you thousands of dollars by keeping you out of a long term contract that is written in a way that prevents you from truly succeeding.
  • You should think seriously about your territorial earnings expectations and projections . Do you think your franchise can meet those guidelines set for your area? If you don’t, then be aware that your franchisor may push for new franchisees to be opened in your designated region before yours even has a chance to develop. One way to do this by traveling around your set geographical area to assess the validity of your delineation. If what you were approved for won’t work, then you need to negotiate for something better.
  • An important aspect of business to remember is that bigger isn’t always better. This holds especially true for some bigger territories. Your franchise may cover a large territory but discover later on that it is under serviced by the franchise. Think about your business’s capacity when deciding upon an appropriate territory. I recommend looking at the average home expenditure figures of a territory and business saturation levels for your franchise when creating territories.
  • Check to see if your territory holds any physical barriers that may impede business and traffic flow. The last thing you want to do is open up your business at the end of a non-through road or find that your building lacks proper street access. These things often result in lower than expected business and can be grounds for you to ask for a larger protected territory.

seocontest2008 | pinoy money talk

Comments

The Incorrect Assumption On Billboard Height

March 2, 2008 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Off Topic

When I first got in the billboard business, I assumed that the taller the sign, the better the sign. When I was driving down the interstate and I saw a really tall billboard, I would think to myself “now there’s a valuable sign”.

I used to compare my signs to others by saying “my sign’s the tallest and, therefore, is the best”. Unfortunately, that’s a bad mindset and I messed up some great opportunities in my quest for being the “tallest”.

The whole point to a billboard, from the advertiser’s perspective (and they are the boss in reality), is for the billboard to have maximum visibility of their ad message. The easier and longer the traffic can read the ad message, the better.

Being real tall doesn’t often get this job done.

Tall signs actually reduce the ability to read the advertiser’s message for two key reasons:

A sign that is twice the height of the other signs creates a reduction of the apparent size of the ad message by a huge percentage. It’s just math - the farther away something is, the smaller it appears. In Houston, for example, where signs can easily be over 100′ to the bottom of the ad message, giant 14′ x 48′ bulletins look like 4′ x 8′ sheets of plywood. The average driver in Houston will have trouble believing that the ad on top of a 100′ monopole is the same size as that on a 30′ monopole - it looks like about 50%.

Tall signs go out of your field of vision quickly, and so you cannot read the message very long and certainly not from a distance where the copy is legible. Just as the traffic can begin to read the exit, the sign goes out the “top” of their windshield and so they move on to the next ad message. Now, you may argue that they can see the tall sign from farther back, as it stands majestically above the trees and other obstructions, and that is true, but you can’t read the copy except for the largest words, so you don’t really even know what they are selling. Unless the advertiser’s message is “Wendy’s Exit Now”, the value of the copy is great impaired.

I learned this lesson the hard way on my colossal 120′ high 20′ x 60′ monopole in Dallas. I was so proud of building one of the largest signs in the city that I never bother to think of what the appropriate height would be - only what the tallest I could afford was.

As a result, instead of a dominant giant 20′ x 60′ ad face dwarfing a sea of 14′ x 48′ ad faces, instead I had what looked like a 14′ x 48′ on steroids. The mega height made the ad face look no larger than the surrounding signs, and it also made the sign hard to read except from a large distance - the sign was already out of your field of vision, out of the top of your windshield, from about 1,000′ away.

Tallest may be important in basketball, but in sign world, it’s often a misunderstood negative!

If you would like more articles and resources about Outdoor Advertising & Media, click here

Frank Rolfe is the author of an Outdoor Advertising & Media book, and just recently finished a new series on how to succeed and make money in the Billboard Business. A series of 6 one hour tele-seminars to teach you about the Outdoor Advertising Industry is available on our site.

Rolfe started his billboard empire from his coffee table, as a fresh graduate from Stanford University. It began as a resume builder for graduate school applications, and ended with a sale to a public company 14 years later.

Using unique strategies he developed from desperate competition with much larger adversaries, Rolfe eventually owned more billboard units than any private individual in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Along the way, he fine-tuned the techniques to find billboard locations, rent advertising space, and sell signs and leases. For More info please call 1-800-937-6151 or email.

jooii | globaltrekkers | lidram | ampedmail | i1internet | radicalrick | houstonopinions
cornersoul | wise1520 | promiseoflife | tekvibe | appleberry | ctec-show | coloradocitizen
commongroundhsv | westportresourcescorp | muz-nar | global1million | jromkema | supertourtravel | lincheum
fanaust | picobody | sanestats | picobody | domantica | byobeliefs | twofoolscafe
janneumann | neu-pro | domantia | sanemetrics | lsuwelcometothenow | welcometothenow | westdesmoinesweb
thinklikeacat | kryptmail | dmmengineering | mybermudabook | wiki-pyrenees | economic-theory | hyperactivebob
eraia | mistyscove | public-economics | neuro-patch | healthyhomespec | clearlybookkeeping | ciesadesignoldtown
seanvlog | jordancreekweb | thescripts.info | best-websites | photoshelter | onlinecasinoville | jobpogo | partystumbler
718workers | ilider | mygreensboro | mondoinviaggio | 718workersonline | xmlandado | villayamaha
firstoakbrookbancshares | firstoakbrook | findjameskim | secretauctionitems | carolebugge | sspthanksgivingtournament
utilitybusinesssolutions | avec-sarkozy | sitehost101 | humandabs | rmsunblock | crofthillproperties
humandab | domansis | jiali888 | fingerlakeslimos | thelandrush | foss-at-work | leylaboral
etangsdudomaine | otterboxforipod

Comments

Huns yellow pages - Business Coaches and Consultants Need Training Too Right?

February 18, 2008 at 4:32 pm · Filed under Off Topic

Well, they can surely use off the shelf business leadership training content if they want to add another valuable service to their clients.

As a business coach or a consultant one of your best weapons is asking questions. To be a successful consultant you must dive deep into your clients organization and ask questions the verify answers to really analyze their situation. This will allow you to come up solutions and help you in advising your client on how to plan and execute to address opportunity areas. So what are the reoccurring opportunity areas that you see time and time again? Answer: Employee training, growth and development, leadership and business training, and many “training related” areas I’m sure.

I know because I have had many business coaches and consultants (especially small business consultants) come to me for guidance in that area. It’s a common opportunity area for small businesses. Most small businesses focus more on operations and revenue than they do on their employee’s growth and development. What they sometimes fail to realize is that the employee is more of an asset to invest in they understand. Soft skills or interpersonal communication skills is absolutely one of the most important traits of a customer focused business. If your employees do not receive training in this area of person-to-person contact then they are destined to have shortcomings.

Now most consultants and coaches just advise their clients to invest in some career training or soft skills courses. They may refer their clients to a few colleagues of theirs (like my colleagues do for my firm) and then move on to their next client or follow up with that client with questions about how the plan is going and if they took the training advise. What if you as a coach or consultant had your own business leadership or career training programs to offer? Don’t worry about developing a training program from scratch for every client. You would have to grow a complete training staff to do that anyway. Why not invest in some off the shelf courseware to offer your clients?

What is off the shelf courseware? This is a training program in a box really. It may be one topic or many or a cluster of topics that fall into your clients opportunity areas of employee training and development. Imagine handing you’re client a course that’s ready to go and that they could use to facilitate the soft skills training or business leadership training needs of their organization with just a few edits or customization so that it appears to be their own training product/program. Off the shelf career or business leadership or soft skills training courseware should be a must have for every business consultant or business coach out there. Instead of just advising a client to get that done because it’s needed and an area for them to improve their business - why not give them what they ask for and you advise them to do as well?

Where is the selling point for the client? There need not be one really. You can give the training to them. You could sell it as an additional product as well, but for the client they get a training program that didn’t have to spend months or years to develop. They can customize it and brand it to their company and facilitate internal training so they take ownership in growing leaders from within. The client doesn’t have to figure it out or spend thousands on seminars, workshops and travel/entertainment expense for their employees. It is really a “no brainer” for consultants and coaches to have off the shelf courseware in their back pocket and as an added benefit for their clients. It’s amazing how many consultants out there who spend more time referring this task or outsourcing it so that others can capitalize on the training opportunity area. Training content or courseware for consultants just makes sense.

Where is the benefit for you the consultant or coach? Well - your clients’ benefit above should the most important. Also, you can purchase training content from some training providers restriction free. It’s called re-usability training. Some organizations focus solely on developing business leadership and soft skills training programs that anyone can use as courseware to re-brand, edit, sell or customize any way they like.

In summary: business coaches and consultants do need training too. They need it not just for them to grow and develop, but they need courseware to add value to their service offerings and enhance their clients’ experience.

Richard Hull is founder and CEO of The Instructor Group, which provides training content in career training, soft skills training programs - systems, online training courseware, classroom training on demand, training consulting services, and custom developed training solutions. The company is a leader in corporate and continuing education training, with an unprecedented commitment to customer service. TIG’s philosophy on training and employee development is based on determining the needs of its customers and developing custom-tailored solutions that grow with your business. To learn more please visit: http://www.theinstructorgroup.com

–

jooii | globaltrekkers | lidram | ampedmail | i1internet | radicalrick | houstonopinions | cornersoul | wise1520 | promiseoflife | tekvibe | appleberry | ctec-show | coloradocitizen | commongroundhsv | westportresourcescorp | muz-nar | global1million | jromkema | supertourtravel | lincheum | fanaust | picobody | sanestats | picobody | domantica | byobeliefs | Online Casino | twofoolscafe | janneumann | neu-pro | domantia | sanemetrics | lsuwelcometothenow | welcometothenow | westdesmoinesweb | thinklikeacat | kryptmail | dmmengineering | mybermudabook | wiki-pyrenees | economic-theory | hyperactivebob | eraia | mistyscove | public-economics | neuro-patch | healthyhomespec | clearlybookkeeping | ciesadesignoldtown | seanvlog | jordancreekweb | thescripts.info | best-websites | photoshelter | onlinecasinoville

–

Comments

Sample business plan - Generation Gap

February 18, 2008 at 7:42 am · Filed under Off Topic

I’m hearing a lot about the generation gap in business; that young people are not working well with their elders, and there may very well be a lot of truth in this. Following World War II, the "Greatest Generation" took over and dominated business like never before. The 50’s and 60’s were the go-go years that propelled the American economy. During the 1960s’ the "Baby Boomers" started to rebel and attacked the taboos of the day. Nonetheless, they eventually acclimated into the corporate cultures and learned from their elders. But a generational split occurred during the 1980’s and 90’s, and I attribute it to two reasons:

First, when the PC was introduced in the 1980’s a new generation of younger workers were introduced to program and maintain them, A split then occurred in the Information Technology field whereby the "old guys" took care of the mainframes and the "young guys" stood in the opposing camp. Both thought they were right and wouldn’t cooperate, hence the split. Ironically, both groups were right as we needed both technologies. But management didn’t see this and allowed the division to grow and fester. This carried over into other parts of the work force where new attitudes challenged older and more established ones. In other words, technology played a significant role in the split.

Second, during the cost-cutting and downsizing years of the 1980’s and 1990’s companies abandoned the mentoring system, whereby older employees worked with younger people to teach them the business. Without such mentoring, the younger generation pushed the envelope over how business was conducted. Hence, the rise of individualism and changes in the workplace such as dress and social attitudes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments

Destressing at the Clink of a Mouse

January 12, 2008 at 6:42 am · Filed under Off Topic

So you’re finding it difficult to succeed in life. No, it’s not about erasing all negative thoughts – it doesn’t work that way. What you have to do is to overcome these problems and develop yourself as a person, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

eVISIONomics can help you with this. All you need to do is to go to their website at http://www.evisionomics.com and register to be able to access their various audio files. These audio files are the sessions or lessons that you will need to listen to for your self-improvement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments

Building Your Vision for a Better Future

January 12, 2008 at 6:40 am · Filed under Off Topic

Leading a tough life? Finding it hard to cope with your business or work? Tried all the options that you can think of? Then maybe it’s time to sit back and think: perhaps the problem is you.

Like many people in the world, you might be suffering from a lack of vision, not enough motivation, and a need to have more drive. Join the many satisfied subscribers of eVISIONomics and go to their website at http://www.evisionomics.com.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments

Help Boatangel.com in Achieving their Mission

December 26, 2007 at 11:01 pm · Filed under Off Topic

For some, donating expensive boats may sound absurd, but Boatangel.com means serious business. They need your help through Charity Boat Donations so that they can continue their outreach programs across the globe. The boat donations will go a long way, both for the donor and the recipient of Boatangel.com’s programs.

Boatangel.com uses the money from boat sales to fund their outreach programs, such as building schools for little children in poor countries, put up facilities so that others can learn a livelihood or give away free DVDs as educational tools.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments