Member You - Business

Repair of Photographic Images
Imagine one evening while you try to put order in the old attic, amidst the dark and the dust gathered by the years, you discover an old photo album, last century’s early version of a home multimedia database…A photo album, containing mostly black & white photos of family elders –occasions like weddings, gatherings, celebrations, trips around the world, full on sentimental value, and even – why not – historical value. After all, at day end, everyone’s own history is a part of the world’s history – seeing it from a philosophical point of view.But unfortunately -as it happens with old technology storage media - time leaves its trace on

has led to improved morale, service and, consequently, sales.

Welsh is one of four global business coaches to which all Headsets.com employees have access. Besides the voice coach and the psychologist, who's based in San Diego, there's a management and organization consultant from the U.K. and a U.S.-based NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner.

"There's a huge payoff with the coaches," says Mills, who has used a few of them himself. "Sometimes it's tough to go to your supervisor with issues

Trade Show Display Lighting
Types of Exhibit LightingThere are a number of different types of lighting that can be used in conjunction with your trade show booth or trade show display. Many of our modular exhibits, popup displays, and banner stands have options to add lighting at a minimal cost to the customer. If you have ever attended a trade show, you know that the difference between a well-lit booth and a poorly-lit booth is drastic. An exhibit that is lit properly will stand out in a crowd.Las Vegas Trade Show LightsWhen purchasing your trade show lights, you need to be sure that you check with the convention or conference center

Mike Faith started Headsets.com 10 years ago, and the retailer has quickly grown to become one of the major players in the nearly $2 billion U.S headsets industry. A large portion of the staff of the San Francisco, CA-based business comprises a customer service call center that processes headset orders.

Call centers, it should be noted, have a reputation for high turnover. And, unfortunately, the reputation is not unfounded. A new study by Cornell University finds that U.S. call center turnover rates range from 25 to 50 percent. That means a lot of people coming through the door to take the seat of outgoing call center employees.

At Headsets.com, that revolving door has a jam in it. Mike Faith, the president, CEO and founder of the company, instituted a system where prospective candidates – for the call center, shipping department or any area – are interviewed at least seven or eight times before they're hired. What's more, some of these interviews are with the company's voice coach and psychologist.

"Each employee is really a key hire for us," Faith says. He isn't kidding. Many employees have started their tenure with the company in the call center and explored growth opportunities that have arisen as the business has grown. Two such employees are Rick Mills, who was a customer service phone rep in 2002 and is now CFO, and Courtney Wight, who also started as a phone rep a year and a half ago and is now customer service manager.

"The interview process is long – I remember when I went through it – but then once you work here you can see that everyone wants to work here and everyone likes it here," Wight says.

Connecting the interviews to the current culture, for those employees Headsets.com brings on, is the previously mentioned voice coach involved in the interview process, Ken Welsh. Hailing from Australia, Welsh handles coaching and team building for some big name clients in addition to Headsets.com, including BMW, Coca-Cola and IBM. Wight says her staff is reinvigorated whenever Welsh shows up, and that has led to improved morale, service and, consequently, sales.

"There's a huge payoff with the coaches," says Mills, who has used a few of them himself. "Sometimes it's tough to go to your supervisor with issues

Going Self-Employed - A Few Handy Hints
The day you decide to take the plunge and work for yourself will be one of the most life-changing choices you ever make, whether starting a company large or small or as a freelance; from the very first moment of being self-employed, you and you alone will stand or fall by your decisions and actions. You will be responsible for steering your business through all its ups and downs, good times and bad times with no guarantee that everything will turn out right in the end.When you are in charge the buck stops at one place. There is no management line to help with complications; no colleagues to share the blame for mistakes, there is only

from 25 to 50 percent. That means a lot of people coming through the door to take the seat of outgoing call center employees.

"The interview process is long – I remember when I went through it – but then once you work here you can see that everyone wants to work here and everyone likes it here," Wight says.

"There's a huge payoff with the coaches," says Mills, who has used a few of them himself. "Sometimes it's tough to go to your supervisor with issues

Selling Deck Cleaning Services by Phone
One of the best ways to get new customers for a deck cleaning or deck treating service businesses is to call the potential clients or prospect of customers on the telephone. One of the best ways to get a phone list of customers who have decks is to get with construction companies that build decks and trade and customer lists.Another way is to ask for referrals from each deck that you either clean or treat and see if those customers will not give you phone numbers of neighbors or friends and family which also own decks at their home. Deck cleaning services can generally be quoted over the telephone and for those customers who want the

ach employee is really a key hire for us," Faith says. He isn't kidding. Many employees have started their tenure with the company in the call center and explored growth opportunities that have arisen as the business has grown. Two such employees are Rick Mills, who was a customer service phone rep in 2002 and is now CFO, and Courtney Wight, who also started as a phone rep a year and a half ago and is now customer service manager.

"The interview process is long – I remember when I went through it – but then once you work here you can see that everyone wants to work here and everyone likes it here," Wight says.

"There's a huge payoff with the coaches," says Mills, who has used a few of them himself. "Sometimes it's tough to go to your supervisor with issues

Human Resource Employee Risk Profile - Management Risks Explained
Human Resource Employee Risk ProfileIs your business at risk? Do you want peace of mind?Please answer the following question honestly by drawing a circle around or shading in the column. If you can only answer part of the question in the affirmative, then you should select ‘No’ eg in Q1 if you have employment contracts for your employees and not for your management team then select ‘No’.1. I have up to date employment contracts for all employees and management Yes No2. I induct all employees into the workplace using a documented process Yes No3. I have fully documented human resources procedures and polici

once you work here you can see that everyone wants to work here and everyone likes it here," Wight says.

"There's a huge payoff with the coaches," says Mills, who has used a few of them himself. "Sometimes it's tough to go to your supervisor with issues

Now That's Service!
An elderly lady gazed at the array of smoothie options as she approached the counter at Freshens Yogurt in the DFW Airport. The line was quite long and I was eating within earshot of the counter. The interaction (note: an interaction, not a transaction) went something like this:Manager: “What type of smoothie are you in the mood for today?” Guest: “There are so many, I can’t decide.” Manager: “Well, No.1 and No.16 are the most popular ones ordered, but I’ll let you in on a little secret, No.18 is my favorite.” Guest: “I’ll try one of those.” The manager quickly made the smoothie and tendered the payment. As the

has led to improved morale, service and, consequently, sales.

"There's a huge payoff with the coaches," says Mills, who has used a few of them himself. "Sometimes it's tough to go to your supervisor with issues you're having – you don't know how it affects their impression of you as an employee. But if you have this outside person who's trained to help you, it goes a long way toward feeling like you have an open avenue not only to advance, but to work through challenges at work and ways to improve."

Of course, when the coaches aren't around, the leadership continues to work to identify opportunities to help employees succeed in their roles and to grow. Faith says that new employees who have been with the organization for 90 days receive a $600 "training allowance"; after a year the amount increases to $1500 (the same amount is awarded annually thereafter). The allowance can be applied to work-related or personal growth pursuits. "They can even spend it on something connected to their next job, if they decide they don't want to work here," Faith says.

Helping this focus is the fact that Headsets.com's leadership tries to take the inverse approach to one of Corporate America's major worker gripes: managers who love to look for things done wrong and exploit these acts.

"We try to catch somebody doing something right, instead of doing something wrong." Says Tiffany Rawson, who started with the company about two and a half years ago as a shipper and is now manager of the shipping department. "If someone is doing something wrong, I'll point it out, but I try to balance it by making sure I still find those things that they're doing right – the kinds of things that tend to go unnoticed day to day."

This kind of active, positively focused management has not gone unnoticed by the company's employees. They respond in kind not only by working harder, but by pitching their ideas, in which Faith readily places stock to help grow the business. Wight made note of two internal e-mail addresses where she encourages her staff to send ideas about anything having to do with the company. "They could be large or small, and they go right to Mike," she says. Many of the ideas are acted upon, and employees are rewarded financially for t

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What does it take to succeed? How many times have you asked that question of yourself and others? You may have heard many different answers. I have found one thing that successful people have in common. They use systems.

Power networking involves the development of a team of powerful, proactive referral partners capable of producing a steady flow of referrals for your business. Before we talk about networking, let’s take a look at some examples of the results that some have achieved by applying the principles of effective networking. We share these stories to help you understand how truly powerful networking can be for anyone who is willing to learn the principles of power networking and to apply them consistently.

There is a very simple reason some entrepreneurs do amazingly well in business while others do not. It has nothing to do with product or location or backing or education or street smarts or dumb luck. It has more to do with people willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to succeed in business.

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