What Do You Have to Give?Written by Deirdre McEachern
"Happiness is not a matter of good fortune or worldly possessions. It's a mental attitude. It comes from appreciating what we have, instead of being miserable about what we don't have. It's so simple -- yet so hard for human mind to comprehend." ~ Bits & Pieces Every year millions of us set New Year's resolutions to lose weight, exercise more, manage our money more closely, eat more nutritious foods etc. etc. We usually take a critical look at ourselves and highlight negative things we feel we need to change. Today, I offer you a fresh perspective on idea of resolutions. I invite you to consider instead: what it is that you have to *offer* to world that up until now you have not been offering fully? Let's make this your year of contribution. I would like you to take a quick inventory of your natural talents and gifts. Believe me, you have more than you give yourself credit for! Now list one way you can use each gift toward benefit of others this year. Are you a good listener? Can you make more of an effort to listen to others this year? Are you a talented musician? How could you share your talent with world? What are you naturally good at and how could you give more of that to your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your job or your community? Are you a talented cook, or painter? Who could you cook for this year that you haven't before? Who could you paint for?
| | Hallo! Who is dis? ... Handling business phone calls!Written by Rena E. Toupin
We too often take telephone for granted. I hear so many people speaking on phone in same way they would face-to-face. Then, when we want to escape from world, or a particular person, we leave answering machine on to screen calls. However, realize that most people don't like to leave a message and would rather talk to a real live human being. The telephone used to be a miracle device, and now we use it as though it were just a toaster. But, telephone is a powerful device and can be used to enhance your business in ways you may not have considered!--- Answering Calls --- As a small company, I cannot always answer all my telephone calls. This does cause problems in my mobile notary business in that client usually needs immediate service and will simply hang up on answering machine and move on to next notary. But, I do play back my messages as soon as possible and return telephone calls immediately to those who did leave messages. In fact, every time I return a telephone message customer will compliment me on my immediate call return. This tells me a large majority of people lose business because they are afraid to return a simple phone call. One important method of ensuring that you client, or potential client, leaves a message when you can't answer your phone is to call them. I call my client list regularly to let them know that I am here and available. It is important that they know that you are near phone and will return their calls as soon as possible. --- Let me speak! --- One thing I learned years ago is to let client do all talking. This, because when you and client complete phone call, they will feel good simply because they did all talking! Consider this point for just a moment. The first step is to "relax". The client is not a deity, but they do help to pay bills and enhance your reputation. Getting turned down is not as big a deal as you might think because, if anything, you were at least able to practice your script! If you appear nervous and frigid, they will be totally turned off and probably not hire your services. There are exceptions, but this situation holds true most of time.
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