Ask an Expert Articles

Business » Ask an Expert | By John Stanley @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 3:01 AM

Retailing is about inspiring people to buy. Theatre displays are about inspiration and magic. Whatever sector of the retail industry you belong to you need to create some excitement to make sure customers want to come back to your store rather than your competitors. Barry Urquhart, the international Retail and Marketing Consultant believes the key is not being better than your competition, the key is being different to your competition. Theatre displays give you the opportunity to dare... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By John Stanley @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 2:59 AM

Lifestyle retailing is booming, the consumer is cocooning and spending more time at home. One retail sector that should be rejoicing is the independent garden centre, but for many of them this is not the case. To stay in-tune with today’s consumer means being aware of fashion trends and to reinvent your business every four years to provide new concepts and ideas for the consumer. Alas, many traditional, independent garden centres have failed to invest in modern retail technology a... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By John Stanley @ Thursday, 4th May 2006 @ 2:58 AM

The 25 to 35 year olds are changing how retail business is carried out. Already more money is spent on viral marketing using the web, than on cinema, TV and billboard advertising put together. Fosters in Australia recently launched a new commercial on the web prior to TV and this commercial was downloaded 1.5 million times in the first week alone. Generation X is looking for a new way to be sold to. In their teens, this group were looked on as the ‘slacker’ generation, but they have no... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Tony Colon @ Tuesday, 2nd May 2006 @ 7:04 AM

In today’s fierce business climate, healthcare companies are coming under increasing pressure to cut costs to stay competitive. Today, more and more hospitals are closing due to rising costs and several hospitals have had to resort to offering bonds or other debt to try to break even. In addition, malpractice insurance has become increasingly expensive forcing executives to cut down their operations to the bare bones. But what if a CNO, CEO, CFO, CIO or HR could cut costs without actual... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Khemal Dole @ Tuesday, 2nd May 2006 @ 1:05 AM

If you are knowledgeable about e-business in general and the way the online market place works, then you may want to consider a career as an internet marketing consultant. Even if you are relatively new to the online world, but have a marketing background to call on, you can actually still become an internet marketing consultant. All it needs is just a little bit of work. But that's true for any career. But to be a consultant you need to make sure your knowledge is varied and is solid. <... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Tracey Anne @ Monday, 1st May 2006 @ 2:12 AM

Kids play hard, and sometimes that means they play really loud in the midst of exploring their worlds and role playing with siblings and friends. I know with my kids, if I'm not hearing some degree of noise; [i.e. play], from them, it probably means one of them is not feeling well, or they are coming down with a cold. My world is blessed with two very artistic and rambounous boys; 6 years and 3 years old. With their play and with their singing; [they love to sing Cou... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Tracey Anne @ Friday, 28th April 2006 @ 5:15 PM

If you are going to be using Pop-Unders, Keyword Targeted Pop-Unders, Expired Domain Traffic, AUDIO is OK traffic, there are a few very important tips that will make using the POP method of promotion more effective. You need to be aware of the difference between HITS and GUARANTEED TRAFFIC. And, you need to be aware of the differences between RAW and UNIQUE traffic. HITS - are usually traffic from sites users who didn't "want" to go to your website, they just got tricked or ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Jan Hayner @ Saturday, 22nd April 2006 @ 5:15 AM

Try it; make a list of everything you want to do tomorrow, after you read this article and see how relieved you are going to feel and how relaxed your mind is going to be. When we are constantly thinking ahead of everything that we have to do and hoping that we don't forget anything, our mind becomes clogged up and excess things cause stress. Eight Reasons To Make A List 1. Can help you take control of your time. You know how much time something will take ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Jan Hayner @ Saturday, 22nd April 2006 @ 4:15 AM

The hint to good Paper Management is Organization. Keeping track of paper,information,documents and keeping your files up to date is an enormous project. You don't have to have expensive items to store them in; start off simple and you can add to your organizing techniques as you want to. Try some of these ideas to do things the easy way. 1. Alphabetize items whether you are using the letter or name system. 2. Date materials –when the item ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Patrick McEvoy @ Friday, 21st April 2006 @ 10:21 PM

Fully 95% of my professional service firm (PSF) clients desperately want their web sites to produce high quality business leads but they simply don't know how to make it happen. Most have tried expensive web designers, graphic artists, "geeks" of every type and Google Adwords. In the end . . . the conclusion is almost universally the same, "You can't sell professional services over the internet." To this I say, "BULL!" Successful PSFs have ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Bob Corcoran @ Friday, 21st April 2006 @ 9:57 PM

The poet Guillaume Apollinaire once wrote: "Come to the edge He said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge He said. They came. He pushed them, and they flew..." Yes, edges can induce great fear. As a business coach who specializes in helping REALTORS®;, I’ve seen many agents look over that cliff with palpable dread. It’s understandable. Change – even if it’s about improving your career – raises some anxiety-provoking questions: Can I handle it? Do I hav... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Tracey Anne @ Sunday, 16th April 2006 @ 4:57 AM

First and foremost, if you don't have people to talk to about your business, you're not going to get anywhere, fast! You need to either have a warm market (people you know) to talk to, or the resources in place to contact a quality cold market; (new people you don't know yet). If you are like most people involved in a home based business, you still have your full time JOB. Not only does that make prospect-sorting a time-constraint nightmare. Most people cannot find enough ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Dave Kauppi @ Friday, 14th April 2006 @ 9:02 AM

Last week I got a call from a business owner who had decided to sell his business. He and his partners were beginning the beauty contest phase of selecting a firm to represent them in the sale. His partners had begun discussions with a merger and acquisition advisory firm. He had followed up with this firm prior to calling us and had questioned them on several issues. He shared his findings with me and asked my opinion. Generally I subscribe to my old IBM training and will not disparage a compe... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Maria Andreu @ Tuesday, 11th April 2006 @ 4:56 AM

Technology is a beautiful thing. Use it wisely! Here are a few tips to getting your technology to work for your optimum success. Get a backup, get a backup, get a backup. Need I say more? If you put out a lot of content set it up back up every day, if not once a week should be fine. And don’t rely on your memory to do it either… look for a zip drive that has software that automatically does it for you. I like the IOmega drives (their 80 gig drive is perfect for most systems and at $99.95 ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Wayne Messick @ Thursday, 30th March 2006 @ 2:05 PM

"Let's go to Disney World!" is the cry heard by millions of parents each year. "But how we get there?" parents often cry a few weeks before the trip. Planning for the long-range success of your business can be boiled down to the same three step exercise you use to map out your trip to see Mickey. First, (and of greatest importance) you have to get a handle on where you are right now, as a business and as a family. Second, you need to determine wher... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By ameen kamadia @ Thursday, 30th March 2006 @ 1:29 PM

It is our intention that these marketing tips will help you avoid common mistakes made by the majority of loan officers. Heed this advice! Mortgage Marketing Tip #1 Make your advertising and print media more effective by having a headline on everything: letters, greeting cards, ads, everything. Headlines are what get the reader. They make them want to read more. They tell the reader what benefit he/she will get from reading more. And that's exactly what you want them t... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By John Stanley @ Tuesday, 28th March 2006 @ 2:06 PM

As a consultant, retailers are often asking me how they can increase sales. But, when I put my consumers hat on I’m often exposed to what seem obvious ways to grow the business. The life blood of retail is to get existing customers to revisit a store and also to spend more than they anticipated when they walked in the door. Customers generally have a purpose when they visit a store and a good retailer adds value to the offer to ensure the consumer enjoys spending more than they in... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By John Stanley @ Tuesday, 28th March 2006 @ 1:56 PM

Billy Connolly, the Scottish comedian often jokes about his obsession with “beige” people, people without character who are quite literally beige in the look and views on life. Billy’s perspective on people could equally be applied to retail business. Retailing has developed into the hourglass environment, with the “beige” business being squeezed in the middle. Being “beige” in retailing is a recipe for failure. Retailing growth and development today is occurring at both ends of ... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By John Stanley @ Tuesday, 28th March 2006 @ 1:56 PM

Switch on the TV and you will be bombarded with reality tv programmes providing makeovers on gardens, homes and lifestyles. The ‘makeover’ is not something that is unique to the TV screen, it is part of everyday life. I was recently in the Middle East meeting a retail advisor. One part of the conversation really stuck in my mind. His strategy was that in today’s competitive retail market, stores had to reinvent themselves every four years, otherwise consumers would get bored and loyalt... more...

Business » Ask an Expert | By Khemal Dole @ Tuesday, 28th March 2006 @ 1:02 AM

Owning your own product is the best method to make money on the internet. Before you can own a product you need to create one. Creating a product can seem like a daunting task at first. Many people can’t seem to get started and never make the attempt. Creating your own product is not that hard. Here are a few tips on how to go about doing it. * What should the product be? You need to first identify a topic for your product. You need to identify an area that you feel has po... more...