42 Knock Out

Will my credit card be under a cost of goods account, expense account, loan or what? The equipment had already been paid in full by the credit card, now we are paying the credit card off. Should I name the credit card as a vendor?

I have good credit and im in the market for a business credit card. What company offers the best rates, offers, cash back programs ect? Please give me some ideas on programs i should look into from the major cards like, AE, Discover, MC, and Visa.

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Citation Details
Title: NEC-MITSUBISHI DEBUTS LG LCD SCREEN MONITORS STARTING @ $799.
Publication: PC Business Products (Newsletter)
Date: March 1, 2002
Publisher: Worldwide Videotex
Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Page: NA

Distributed by Thomson Gale… More >>

NEC-MITSUBISHI DEBUTS LG LCD SCREEN MONITORS STARTING @ $799.: An article from: PC Business Products

One of my college roommates had a brother who was a graduate business student and often visited our rooms. Since one of my possible career choices was to work in business, I asked this business student many questions about his studies and career choices. Everything he said expanded my knowledge and made me more interested in a business career.

This information meant a lot to me because I grew up in a small city where there were only two large employers, the Santa Fe Railway and the U.S. Air Force. Neither organization provided opportunities to learn about executive success in a large corporation.

When I began graduate business studies, I was pretty smug, thinking that I knew just what needed to be done: Get a prestigious degree and wait for highly attractive employers to bid for my services.

Talking with the other business students made me realize that I had a lot to learn about career success. I didn’t even understand what executives did in different industries.

My complacent eyes were opened wide one day when a management consultant from the famous McKinsey firm made a presentation. At the end of the discussion, I asked one of the other students who got to do what this presenter did for a living. My classmate quickly responded, “Strategy consultants.” I asked, “What’s a strategy consultant?” He responded that these were people who worked for McKinsey or The Boston Consulting Group. I remembered those answers and later applied to both firms, not quite knowing what to expect.

Even with all of this knowledge, I was totally unclear about how you went from being a management consultant to having a successful business career working for a large corporation. I guessed that someday a client might hire you. And that’s what did happen to me after I became a strategy consultant.

The key lesson from my experience is that you can have a wonderful education at a university and still lack important knowledge about the most fundamental elements of developing your business career.

Students typically prefer to get information about potential careers from fellow students and professors, but research shows that students and professors provide incomplete information. It’s better to also speak with people who have been developing a career for a decade or so to find out what lessons they learned in the school of hard knocks.

I was recently reminded of this source of information to make more effective business career plans when I corresponded with Dr. Robert Hartinger, a banking executive in Germany who is a Ph.D. graduate of Rushmore University. Dr. Hartinger kindly agreed to share his career experiences and lessons with me so that I could pass them along to you.

Dr. Hartinger started off presuming that the quality of your education was very important to career success. After graduating from his business program at a German university, he soon learned that you have few occasions to apply any of the theoretical knowledge that most schools provide. As a result, new graduates are stuffed full of knowledge and theory that has little relevance to what their employers need.

Instead, degrees qualify people to be considered for certain jobs. Many employers pride themselves on hiring from certain schools and restricting top jobs to those with the most advanced graduate degrees.

Traditional schooling provides few insights into what various industries and types of jobs are like. If students aren’t careful, they’ll seek a type of work that they won’t like. There are two alternatives available:

1. Examine industries and jobs carefully to set the right objectives.

2. Study at a school where you get practical experience in applying theoretical knowledge which gives you a sense of what a career doing that work might be like.

Dr. Hartinger doesn’t rule out the first alternative, but he’s confident that the second one is essential. If possible do both, but at least do the second. From what you learn, he also recommends that you focus on just a few opportunities. Otherwise, your attention and energies will be too widely scattered.

A lot of business success depends on your personality. That’s something that graduate schools often ignore. Outgoing people with pleasing, helpful personalities will do a lot better than grumpy, self-absorbed geniuses who rarely talk to anyone.

Many studies show that the ability to connect to other people in the organization greatly helps both job effectiveness and advancement. Why? It’s simple: You can’t know all of the answers, but with help from others you can do a great job.

But it’s not enough to simply be a connection point within the organization. You also need to add skills that improve your effectiveness.

Here’s where online learning can make a difference. People don’t care where you learn a skill; they are just pleased when you add one that’s relevant to your situation.

Today, many companies offer financial assistance for those who wish to learn new skills. When that assistance is provided over the Internet, costs are reduced and you can take more courses than those who enroll in classroom-based courses. In addition, learning while you work allows you the chance to apply what you are learning. In that way, you can sift through lots of theoretical knowledge to get just what you need. Dr. Hartinger also notes that if an online school offers flexibility in designing courses, your skill improvement can be even greater.

Knocking on doors to gain new customers sounds like an ancient idea. It’s sort of a relic that collects dust on the shelves of those who simply can’t afford real marketing, right? Wrong. Knocking on doors works well to build a customer base, maintain your current level of customers, or grow your existing business. In most businesses, door knocking is a great idea. Most jobs start out that way, anyhow: you need to knock on someone’s door to land a job, right? Here I want to discuss a few tips for those considering knocking on doors, and I hope it will serve your needs the way it has served mine. I’m part of a family-owned business, and I learned to knock on doors when I owned an advertising franchise. The only thing that’s changed is my close ratio (which is much higher now) and my clientele, but otherwise, a knock’s a knock. Let’s look at a few tips that have really helped propel me into the top-tier of door knocking.

1. First step: lose the stigma. Seriously, we all know it’s there. The stigma is something like, “The only people who knock on doors are charlatans and quacks. Real businesses don’t stoop so low. It’s like you’re begging for business.” First off, I know of a top-earning, millionaire Realtor that generates leads almost entirely by knocking on doors. I know in our business (let’s call it a local delivery business), 98% of our customers have come from door knocking. Our volume has gone from zilch to about $30k/month in gross sales. We’re not doing too bad, and we’re still growing. Door knocking is a legitimate way for any business owner to make face-to-face contact with his or her future customers, and it’s been working since money was invented. So long as you’re honest, knocking on doors to get new customers isn’t stooping low or begging, but it’s definitely an advantage you can have over your competitors, who all have the same stigmas, and who will lose their customers to your hard work knocking on doors.

2. Obviously you’ll need to hire someone to cover your business while you’re out knocking on doors. Don’t worry, after a while you’ll train someone or other people to knock on doors with you, and later to replace you if you choose. But that’s a future goal. Right now, you need to make time to knock on doors, even if it means on your days off.

3. Lose the excuse. I don’t care if it’s raining little drops of rain. If that happens, get into your car and then wait it out. Commit to making knocking on doors a concerted effort. Put on your new thinking cap and make a goal. Recently, my boss (brother-in-law) asked me what my goal was for new customers as we fired it up again. I told him 10/week. He thought that was a bit high. I’ve been getting 10/week. When I saw the rain clouds gathering, I stopped my deliveries to concentrate on marketing before it rained. I got 5 customers in an hour. I went back to delivering when it rained. I’m not Superman, but I have goals. You need to as well, and it all depends on your business.

4. You want to aim at premier knocking times. What I mean is, when are people home? Usually, about 4pm-8pm or so is perfect. Most folks will be eating dinner at some time in there, don’t worry. If they answer with food in their mouths, that’s your cue to give them your elevator speech. You don’t want to be doing this around lunch time, but only because most folks aren’t home then. Prime time for door knocking seems to be around that 4-8 window, but I’ve also found that the 10am-12pm and hit-or-miss from 2pm-4pm, with many people returning from errands around that time. You may need to experiment for your area, but I’m guessing that around 4pm onwards is a good window in your area as well.

5. Aim for houses that have signs of life. Sure, you can literally knock on every single door and talk to all the people who answer. I have found that as long as there’s some indication of life such as chimney smoke, lights on inside around twilight, open garages, cars in the driveway, etc., then chances are high that I’ll have a conversation. Sometimes a thorough knock will be what you need to do, and the record-keeping is easier that way. If you happen to be in a neighborhood for another customer, when you’re done with your customer, then knock the street, aiming for the homes that make the most sense as I indicated.

6. Make sure your speech includes the basics. Such as: introduction, what your business does, the benefits you offer (especially when your competition doesn’t do x,y or z), and why they need to choose you. Give them an incentive to pick you on the spot, such as a limited time offer or what have you, but try not to sound like a TV promoter or game show host. Be natural, conversational. However you do it, set the urgency in a nonchalant way, and come prepared with a free trial of some sort. Remember: you went to them, why do they want to buy what you have? Give them the incentive and motivation to buy now. Close with a free trial offer, money-back or satisfaction guarantee or a discount if it makes sense. You should also make sure your speech is front-loaded with reasons for them to keep listening to you, and keep it short. It needs to be an elevator speech of why they would simply love your service. Finally, as Zig Ziglar has often said: Always Be Closing. Remember to ask for the sale 5 times, or as close as you can to 5 times, before they turn you down. Practice that until it becomes natural.

7. Understand the objections. Make a list of your common objections. Your homework is to overcome these objections, and reduce their sales resistance by removing the risk they feel is in the way. Do this consistently, and your door knocking campaign will soon be something you look forward to. It’s an honest way to introduce yourself and your business to your new customers, and they’ll reward your efforts with their business.

8. Lastly, don’t push it. I once had a marketer come to my door and explain the prison work release program he was a part of, and when I turned him down, he tried to physically keep my door open with his hand. I’m not a Chihuahua, mind you, but I’m no Bull Mastiff, either. That felt dangerous. If you’ve asked for the sale a few times and aren’t closing the sale, then it’s time to graciously depart, thank them for their time, even apologize for the inconvenience. You want to leave on a positive note, even if they’re rude. Respect their boundaries, and especially those “No Solicitor” signs. You don’t want to lose customers when you’re out marketing, so don’t give people a reason to be turned off. Be respectful.