Monday, 2 March 2009

Selling Timeshare in California

Ever since consummation during the late 1960s, timesharing has picked-up in popularity worldwide. You can find resorts offering timesharing at Mexico, Hawaii, Canada, Aruba, California and the Caribbean.
In choosing your timeshare resort, it is best to take into consideration the activities you want to do. If you are hoping to engage in some gambling, then maybe you should select a resort located near the Las Vegas strip. If your plan includes family, you may want to select amenities and a location that would cater to the kids. A resort with pools or playgrounds may be best for you. If a Disney vacation is what you are looking for, then maybe a resort near Disney Land in Florida or Los Angeles is for you. If you want to sun and surf, then resorts near the beaches of Mexico or Hawaii sill be to your liking. Are you looking for some golf-time or skiing? Then a resort near the Alps would suit your taste.
In selecting your resort, location is not the only consideration you should think about. You should also look into the modes of ownership, and savings you can earn from your property. There are resorts that offer flexible modes of ownership, where you are given the opportunity to change the time period of your ownership and select a better time to your liking. You should ask if the resort allows you to swap properties with other owners within the same resort, or better yet, with other resorts.
If you are hesitant in purchasing a timeshare because of possible expenses, take some time to think about what season you would like to take your vacation. Just like every resort, there are low seasons and high seasons. Aside from the availability of properties during these seasons, it also affects the cost for you as owner.

Retail management schools in California

Retail Management Schools, colleges, and universities prepare students for professional employment in the retail sales industry. Retail management requires making important decisions several times daily regarding pricing and promotions, staffing, and much more.
Retail Management Schools teach courses in principles of retailing and merchandising, management, sales promotion, advertising, business writing, marketing, economics, communications, computer applications and accounting for business, and much more. Bachelor and MBA degree programs in retail management allow students to customize their degree programs. Students might choose to focus on specializations for managing accounts, administration, marketing, human services, fashion, technology, or other specializations.
Retail management programs offer focused training and education that will help graduates obtain employment in areas such as sales, design, fashion, foods, beverages, and many others. Students acquire skills and expertise that can be applied to purchasing, promotions, marketing, and advertising. Retail management studies often emphasize areas of the retail sales industry that include store management, operations management, industry strategies, merchandising, and organizational leadership.
Bachelor degrees in retail management can net entry-level positions of $30,000 to $50,000, depending upon the level at which one is hired. Specializations and master degrees will further enhance career prospects. Highest earnings result from selling "big-ticket" items, such as cars, electronic equipment, furniture, and jewelry. Big ticket items often require a thorough understanding of the product, ability to communicate, and excellent powers of persuasion.

Pushy Sales at Networking events

You're happily networking at your favorite Chamber of Commerce event, meeting like-minded people, sharing information, getting to know each other and building relationships, when you see one coming. The pushy, aggressive, all-sales networker. You've never met this person, but the handful of business cards, the room-scanning eyes and the never-still lips are a dead giveaway. You try to duck behind someone else, but it's too late. They've got you in their tractor beam!
What do you do when you're at an event and you encounter the pushy salesperson? Your dread of - and exasperation with - these people might be one of the reasons you avoid networking. And that's not good, because you're missing out on meeting great people who truly want to build relationships.
Here are three plans for dealing with these people and the way they make you feel. Pick and choose from these strategies depending on your personality and what you feel comfortable with. Not everyone will want to use them, but knowing you have options will make your next networking event much more comfortable and productive.
Plan A: Let them do their thing, then walk away
Let them give you their pitch. Just listen, don't encourage them. You'll know it's almost over when they hand you their card. End the conversation with the tone and words that we use in wrapping up a phone conversation. "Okay, great, thank you, I'll let you know. Nice meeting you. Enjoy your evening." Shake their hand and walk away.
This might take some nerve because they might not be done with the conversation. But if you've decided you just don't want to invest any more time, end the conversation and move on. They might think you're rude, or they might not even notice. This move precludes any future relationship.
Plan B: Make them engage you as a person
Don't act like a prospect by accepting their presentation first; make them consider you as someone with a life and interests that may coincide with theirs. Take over the conversation by asking questions about them personally. Ask if they are from the area, what they did before this job, or how they found out about this event. Do not hesitate to interrupt them! They are being rude by treating you as an "easy mark." You are allowed the small incivility of breaking into their stream of consciousness.
This is a gentler way to deflect the sales pitch. You are still engaging them, but on a more personal level. You've changed the interaction from salesperson/prospect to person/person. There might be an opportunity to develop a relationship based on commonalities you may discover in the regular conversation. Or, they may relentlessly return to their sales pitch. In that case, go back to Plan A.
Plan C: Call them out
If they ask you for the sale right there, the first time you've met them, or if they are handing you five business cards "in case you know someone who could use my services," then you need to call them out. Not by going out back and settling it "High Noon" style, but by telling them that you don't do business that way. Tell them, "I appreciate your enthusiasm/interest in me, but I prefer to get to know someone a little bit before I do business or refer them to other people. Let's get together for coffee so we can learn more about each other's businesses." You are telling them that they must invest a little bit of time. And that you are looking for a mutually beneficial relationship, as true networkers do.
You will immediately separate out those who are willing to build relationships, but got carried away, from those who don't care and just want the sale. You may occasionally find those persistent sales people take the coffee meeting as another chance to pitch you. Revert to Plan B or invent an appointment and get out (Plan A)! More often, you will discover that the "pushy salesperson" is actually someone who is under pressure to perform or who just doesn't grasp the true foundation of networking. Here is your opportunity to gently guide them through example.
You'll learn that very few people at networking events are actually hard-core, no-frills, all-prospecting sales people. Why? Because they would rather be in the office making cold-calls or setting appointments. Networking is a long-term investment, not a short-term sales plan. They've been to a few events, made no sales, and gave up. You're not likely to encounter these people more than once or twice.
One of the most annoying and uncomfortable aspects of the pushy networker is that they control the interaction. These three plans have the same foundation. They allow us to take charge in a way that is compatible with positive, long-term networking. Once you have these plans in mind, and have given yourself permission to interrupt people, run the conversation and make suggestions, you'll find that you are much more comfortable with the possibility of seeing these kind of people.
Fortunately, you'll also learn that people who start with the sales pitch are often just nervous and unsure what to do. Someone told them that networking was selling, so they are selling. Or, they think it's inappropriate to talk about their lives, so what else to discuss but work? You'll help them break this pattern, be a more successful networker, and perhaps build a relationship with you. Now there's a plan that helps everyone.

Successful Sales Planning

As competition for top sales people intensifies, companies have expressed the following concerns that are motivating them to review and/or update their commission plans:
* Able to attract & retain top tier sales people
* Know what the competition is paying for different levels of sales people & sales management
* Drive sales staff behaviors to achieve organizational goals for promoting products and generating revenue
* Understand comparable structures of competitive pay packages for sales people so they can customize a plan that fits their organization and sales team
In creating a sales compensation program that consists of base pay plus incentive pay = total compensation, following are key steps that need to be done in sequence to design a sound sales comp plan that delivers a good ROI:
1). Define your company's compensation philosophy. Create a statement for your company that reflects your senior management/CEO's philosophy about how the company wants to reward and retain its employees. Questions to ask include:
* Do you want to pay at, below, or above market rates for comparable jobs?
* Are you creating a "pay for performance" environment where your company will intentionally put more pay at risk to generate higher levels of performance?
* What kind of work/life programs will your company create in order to attract and retain the level of talent necessary to support the company?
2). Market price your sales jobs. Using updated job descriptions, perform a market pricing study based upon job content. Select published salary surveys in your industry, SIC code or geographic location to source data from 4-6 surveys. You'll want to get survey recommendations from your Sales VP, plus his "buy-in" on your own recommendations for salary surveys based upon your research. Then evaluate base pay plus incentive pay findings from salary surveys to determine comparable pay packages for sales people in your industry.
3). Define desired objectives of sales incentive plan. Work with your VP of Sales to define major categories for measuring sales performance, then have your VP establish and weight goals for each sales person.
4). Design a plan that incorporates your company's philosophy on thresholds, how you want to pay in relation to the market, frequency & administration of payouts, and whether the incentive plan will be capped.
5). Working with your CFO, cost out the proposed plan. It should be self-funding if it's been designed properly. The more your company makes in revenue, the more the sales person will make in commissions.
6). Write plan documents that include a summary plan overview including your company's compensation philosophy, goals, definitions, exceptions, payments, plan eligibility, management's right to amend, etc. Then write individualized plan documents demonstrating the plan structure, each employee's assigned goals, and base pay plus incentive payout potential. Have the plan documents reviewed and approved by an attorney as they become legal contracts for payment.
7). Pilot the proposed plan before rolling it out to sales staff. Select a couple of your top performing sales people and give them a draft of the plan for their review & comment.
8). Rollout the plan to staff. Review it every quarter (from both financial and behavioral perspectives) and tweak it as needed to modify behavior or adjust financial goals.
Designing and implementing sales commission plans is both a strategic and tactical exercise that when done properly can generate significant additional revenue for your company. By creating an incentive plan that aligns your sales organization to collectively work toward achieving shared and/or individual goals that support company's financial objectives, you've directly influenced your company's balance sheet in a very positive way.

Turning a hobby in to a career

If your daily grind is grinding you down, maybe it's time to consider a change for the better. If you have a hobby you love to do... why not work at turning it into your next job?
Hobbies That Can Be Turned Into Careers
What do you love to do? And, what would spend more time doing, if you only had the time? Photography, sewing, jewelry making, woodworking, furniture refinishing, dog training or grooming, gift baskets, baking or decorating cakes... the list goes on and on.
When you think about it, these are services that we all need and use every day. So, why aren't you out there doing something you love to do?
How You Can Get Started
Lots of people who have these types of dream jobs started small.
Consider Debbi Fields of "Mrs. Fields Cookie" fame. She is proof that you can take something you love to do and turn it into an international business with hundreds of stores worldwide.
Of course, success like that doesn't happen overnight. It started by her baking chocolate chip cookies for family and friends as a young girl.
She continued experimenting with recipes until she finally got brave enough to take that "big" step and opened up her first store in Palo Alto, California.
That's how it happens. And when you think about it, world-class photographers started out as hobbyists; clothing designers started out as budding seamstresses... but they all had a vision.
Have Plan, Will Succeed
Unless you're financially able, your hobby might need to be a part-time job at first. Let's say that you are a cake decorator, with wedding cakes being your forte, for example. How do you expand your part-time business into a full-time career?
Have some inexpensive business cards made up for your cake decorating business.
Decorate cakes for friends and family. Donate your decorated cakes to local bake sale events. Make it known that you decorate cakes as a business, and include a business card in with each cake you donate.
In that way, you're beginning word-of-mouth marketing.
Create a portfolio by taking pictures of your decorated cakes. If you can, gather some testimonials from people on the quality and taste of your cakes. Offer your services to wedding planners, caterers, and bakeries.
Of course, when you start selling your cakes for profit, you'll need to treat your cake-decorating hobby as a business.
So you'll need to learn the finer points of running a small business, tax laws and such.

Top Commission

Where should you go if you want to catch a HUGE fish?
I have it on good authority that as a general rule, you’ll find the biggest catches in DEEP WATERS.
That’s where they make their homes.
Now, say you’re in sales and you want to earn top-dollar? Where should you go: To companies with DEEP POCKETS, to profitable firms?
That’s a good start, but often the companies with the best profit margins don’t part with them through excessive compensation.
So, what’s a better approach?
If you want to earn the biggest bucks, seek out commission paying jobs and specifically, those firms that are positioned to help you to sell large dollar volumes on single orders.
Before I give you a perfect example, let’s look at the type of job you should avoid.
When I was in graduate school, in addition to teaching college part-time I sold ball point pens to businesses, by phone. I earned commissions at a rate of 40%, which was quite generous and I made good money.
But to earn really big bucks, it was impossible, selling dozens of pens at a shot. The gross dollars in each sale just didn’t make that possible.
What opened my eyes, though, was when I consulted to a financial company that sells bond funds to institutional money managers at colleges and other organizations.
One of their salesmen went for 10 months without a sale one year, and in the month of November, a single order earned him a commission of ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
No kidding.
He was able to cash in because he was pitching multi-million dollar deals all year long, and statistically, one or more just had to pop.
Keep this in mind the next time you get frustrated with the minnows that you seem to be catching.
If you want the big game, go where it is likely to be found!

Direct Sales Jobs from Home

There are many options for someone wanting to work at home. The many types of work at home jobs means there is something for everyone. A person must first define what type of work at home job they want to find. This will make finding a work at home job easier.
Sales jobs are one of the biggest work at home options. There are direct sales jobs where a person maintains an inventory and sells the items. A good example of this type of sales job is cosmetic sales Then there are sales jobs where the person sells products that are then shipped from the main company. Most often these types of jobs are referred to as affiliate programs. There are also opportunities to sell through online auctions. A different type of sales job is on the phone. The typical telemarketing job is becoming a popular work at home option. Sales are not for everyone, but those who work in sales find there is amazing money making potential.
Another work at home job type is customer service. Many of these jobs are on the telephone. The typical work at home customer service phone job involves answering incoming calls from people wanting to order from catalogs or off a television ad. Customer service can also cover such niche jobs as psychic reader positions or adult phone line work.
Writing is becoming a great market for work at home jobs. The market for website content is booming and many people are finding this type of work at home job suits them well. There are also resume writings positions and advertising writing. Writing work at home jobs cover a large range of industries and open up many possibilities.
Typing jobs are becoming popular as well. For many of these positions experience is required because they are in set market areas like medical or law. Typing jobs are most often called transcription. There are not many opportunities in a work at home typing position for someone without training.
These are four great examples of types of work at home jobs. Almost any job can be done from home with the technology available today. There are so many choices that a person having a basic idea of what they want to do is going to have an easier time finding a work at home job.