MADELEINE BUSINESS

Your company has spent many months developing a new version of your system and now it is time to show it off to prospective customers. What is the best approach? How should you structure the demonstration for maximum effect?

To answer this question, we should first consider the reasons behind giving a demo. What is the demo meant to do? Is it to show how it works? Is to prove the technology works or is it to open your audience’s minds to new ways of working, to the potential of your system in providing solutions to their current business problems?

For most demos the objective should be the latter. To create a vision of success which you’re prospective customers can buy into. Where many people go wrong is in thinking that the demo is the place to show how it all works and to impress people with all the nifty technology which they have spent so long developing. People aren’t really interested in the technology; they are only interested in what the technology enables them to do.

Remember when you are giving a demo; you should be giving a demonstration of a solution not of a product.

This one statement affects the whole process of giving a demo. It means it is imperative that you establish up front, before you even start the demonstration, what problems people have, what their current situation is and what they would see as a solution to those problems. If you do not have a good understanding of this then it is unlikely that your demo will address their needs. So I recommend that you start by asking some questions so that you understand the problems your customer faces and the implications that those problems lead to. Only then will you start to understand what your prospective customer needs.

Now you know what problems the customers have, you need to map your technology on to how it helps solve those business problems and addresses the customer’s needs. There are probably a whole host of different things your system can do which will help the customer. Pick the most impressive one and do that first. Many demos that I have seen (and even some that I have done myself in the past), start by describing the environment, showing the background and then building to a climax. The problem with this approach is it can easily fall in to the frog in the pan syndrome. You know the old theory, if you drop a frog in a pan of boiling water it will jump straight back out, but if you put it in a pan of cold water and gently heat it, the frog will stay there until it’s cooked! If you build slowly to your climax then your audience get used to each small incremental jump and when you do reach your climax it will just be another small step.

When you are buying office furniture, you cannot simply look at the functionality, durability and form of the products. Whether the furniture is classic looking and whether it fits into your office’s overall appearance will also make a lot of appearance. Since first impression matters greatly, you do not want to chase away potential customers or lower the morale of your employees with the lack of aesthetics in your office. The good news is, you can easily combine class and convenience with a solid wood computer desk. There are many advantages to purchasing this type of computer desks.

1. Psychological Benefits
if you design your office with a professional and modern look, the furniture used is usually made of plastic and fiberglass. Anyone who enters the office will tend to find the office atmosphere to be unfriendly and cold. On the other hand, the solid wood computer desk gives visitors a feeling of warmth and friendliness. As such, your potential will not be put off by the office atmosphere and would instead let their guards down. In this way, they would be more willing to do business with you.

You may already have noticed that the offices of lawyers, psychologists and any other professionals that desire to emit a feeling of warmth to their customers will usually use these kind of wooden desks. In this way, the customers will not feel that they have entered an office whose intentions are strictly official without any personal approach.

2. Timeless Design
when you purchase a solid wood computer desk, you do not have to worry about the design getting out-dated or that it might not fit in with the rest of the modern design in the office. This is because these wooden tables are essentially timeless in outlook so it will blend in perfectly with your office theme, regardless of what design you have. This is unlike the conventional plastic and metal computer workstations which were very popular at one stage but are now out of place in a modern office design.

3. Durability
Another great benefit of using a solid wood computer desk is that it can last you for a very long time. Being made of a solid material and with its heavy construction, it can withstand heat well. As such, these wooden tables will not warp under extreme heat or exposure to age. However, you might find moving them to be difficult since they are very heavy.

As you have seen above, a solid wood computer desk has many advantages and there are also lots of designs, materials made and finish choosing from, thus it is always better to carry out your research well before deciding. Make sure you select one that fits in perfectly with your business nature and you will appreciate it even more.

Oh Ireland, what have you done to deserve this? when Irish eyes no longer smile.

Greedy bankers, a government that does not appear to listen and an ailing economy have brought Ireland to its knees.

It’s so unfortunate, not too long ago Ireland’s economy was recognized as a power house to be reckoned with among the international elite. The Celtic Tiger has come and gone leaving the people of Ireland, the ordinary Joe Soap picking up the pieces created by a corrupt and greedy class in Irish society.

The government does not appear to realize their own implication in this emerging travesty and the main reason behind the people’s discontent with the continued free fall of the Irish economy. Total recognition and hands up attitude of “well we did wrong” might help somewhat in rebuilding trust with the Irish people.

Oh the bankers, another more appropriate name not beginning with ‘B’ destroyed everything Ireland stood for in the boom years. It is true what they say “the more people have, the more they want, the greedier they get”. This statement epitomizes Irish bankers to a tee.

The criminality committed by this sector would not be tolerated in any other society; unfortunately bureaucracy is a way of life in Ireland. Criminal investigation would implicate many other individuals not directly associated with the banking sector and highlight ‘how’ rotten to the core the trusted (apparently so) leaders of Ireland are.

The people of Ireland are left to carry the burden of immense debt created by the unscrupulous, mistrusted, and unconvincing leaders of a country dying a slow death.

Opportunity no longer exists in this once booming economy. The plight of the Irish was well documented on a recently aired live show “The Late, Late Show” an institution when it comes to Irish broadcasting. The show reflected the turmoil Irish people are facing now and will continue to do for many years to come.

Emigration is returning to the shores of Ireland at an alarming rate. Opportunity has come and gone. The young and highly educated work force of Ireland has no choice other than to pack up and go in search of a better life beyond the shores of Ireland.

Effective business communication, for the business professional, is already above average. However you and I know that business communication needs to be constantly added, improved and enhanced in order to keep us growing and to stay in the race of effective leadership.

Three important areas of communication in business are found in meetings, writings and presentations. Two of these require verbal activities and one written. Effective business communication means that meetings need to be lead (not let to happen). Writing needs to be clear, and presenting needs to be credible.

Here are three ways to enhance your effective business communication:

#1 – Effective business communication – Meetings need to be lead (not let to happen):

Let’s face it, most business colleagues hate meetings. Why? Because they are usually too long, unfocused, un-lead, boring, and too frequent.

So how does one undo this image of meetings?

For one thing, don’t call meetings on a moment’s notice, as too many do, and drag your people on for hours, taking away from their already overloaded work schedules. That’s one sure way to discourage them from coming to your meetings — let alone liking them.

It is good to realize that meetings cost a company a lot of money. If you have 5 people in your meeting who make twenty dollars an hour and you keep them for three hours, that’s three hundred dollars direct financial loss right there.

Then you have the actual time and productivity loss that each of the people is responsible for within each their department. While they are in the meeting, they are not working at their job function. If these are sales people the value lost is even multiplied.

So, one way to enhance your effective business communication within your meeting activities is to think of the cost of the meeting, then decide if it can wait for another day, then plan ahead, organize and edit it for maximum impact, giving it a definite shortest possible time-frame to get to the result that is expected of the meeting.

#2 – effective business communications – Writing needs to be clear:

From what I hear people tell me, not many business folks like putting letters and memos together. It is a very happy person who enjoys this task. How efficient is your writing? Do you have a process that you go through before you begin writing?

If not, here’s some help: First, know the purpose you are writing about. Write directly to your reader. Write a draft first and don’t worry about mistakes.

Then re-arrange your draft into 1) a summary of your idea or purpose. 2) A summary of the actions you require of your reader as to who will do what (I, we, you, or personal name).

If the content is long, it is better to use two easy-to-read pages than one page stuffed with too much information and data that’s hard to follow. Break it down with the summary of your idea or purpose then refer to the actions to be taken which you outline clearly on the second page.

Team building for work can be defined as “a participation that improves organizational effectiveness and vision through the development of individual role simplicity and teaming spirit.” It is important that conduct a team building activities in work which show not only benefits the company, also the members of the team personally.

Inspire your team by focus the goal that going to achieve. Identify the function of every members clearly, work together to achieve the goal. The clearer and the better perceptive for your team why they want to achieve.

Verify if everyone and everything of your team does now works toward achieving the goal after recognize the purpose. Do not force, do not lost temper if the goal is not vibrate with its team. Employees will get tired of working and frustrated when only to be forced into obedience. Then everything will be lost control.

Be calm and find out the reason. It may be not encouraging teammates to work together or it may seem to be working, but your team is not perform well, it means the team environment is not encouraging enough for members to be accommodating about how they’re feeling. Stop everything you have done, change your way and fix it.