In my sort of business testimonials and referrals are the oxygen that powers the business growth. I try never to miss an opportunity to ask a Client, or a delegate, for a testimonial and similarly I always try to obtain three referrals from every Client I have.

But why should that apply only to my sort of business? I’m sure we’ve all been in shoe shops where the assistant says:

“a good choice sir (or madam) - I’ve got a pair of those”.

That’s a testimonial and it does help persuade us to buy.

It is just the same for your business - no matter what it is, no matter what size of business you are, prospective clients will be more likely to buy your products or services if they see, or hear, testimonials from others talking about the experience they have had with you and/or your products or services.

This is totally free marketing!

Despite this obvious truth I look at the websites of many businesses which, not only, don’t seem to “sell” to me at all but include no testimonials from satisfied customers.

That’s a big opportunity lost.

Many of you will have heard me talk about how I believe businesses now need to differentiate themselves - and that’s on the process they take customers through rather than on the quality and performance of their products or services. Everywhere I travel around the world I find these days that there simply aren’t mediocre products or services any more - or indeed, mediocre companies. If you are mediocre you are dead, it’s as simple as that. We all have such high expectations now on the quality of the products or services we buy. Many of us can remember how cars used to regularly break down, for example, but no more - that is simply unacceptable.

This means then that we must differentiate ourselves on the “experience” a client has in dealing with us - the way we treat them, the efficiency of our processes, and the professionalism and approachability of our people.

If this is the case then testimonials become an even more important part of our sales and marketing strategy. Only from testimonials (and referrals - but more of that shortly) will potential clients hear about the real experience of doing business with you.

So, please, if you’re not already doing it, from this moment on:

Ask Clients for Testimonials

–and guide them in what you want. Ask them to include in their testimonial more about the experience of doing business with you than about the quality of the product or service you provide.
— and, by the way, a video testimonial that you can then put up on your website is worth three written ones!

Now what about referrals? A referral is where a client specifically recommends you to another potential client. Referrals are worth their weight in gold! - they are the hottest lead you’re ever likely to get and must, therefore, be worth going to some lengths to achieve.

Many of us don’t like to ask the client for referrals - it can, perhaps, feel confrontational but my friend Frank Furness has an answer to that.

What Frank recommends is that you ask the client:

“If you were me, who would be the three people you would approach to get business?”

Try it - it works!

I would suggest to you, therefore, that you must ensure that a fundamental part of your sales and marketing process is that you and your salespeople never, ever, miss an opportunity to

- ask for three referrals from every single customer.

You don’t have to be clever at maths to work out the free business growth that could so easily generate for you.

PS. I find that some members of the traditional professions - Solicitors, Architects, Accountants etc. don’t think anything of what I say applies to them.

Well it Does! - you, above all, should be in the business of testimonials and referrals - big time!

© 2007 Roger Harrop Associates

Speaker of the Year with the Academy for Chief Executives, Roger Harrop is a former plc CEO, international speaker, author, business adviser and consultant. He is an expert on sustainable profitable business growth. Get your free e-book “Everything you wanted to know about profitable growth but didn’t know whom to ask” at http://www.rogerharrop.com/speaker

The Nokia 6300 phone is slim and decorous. It befits polished personalities and can be used for both work and pleasure. The handset has a stainless steel body, which makes it sturdy and sleek. It is available in two colours - silver and black. Silver dons executive look and black exudes style.

The Nokia 6300 phone hosts messaging features aplenty. These make it an ideal communication device. Users can customize correspondence by choosing a mode that optimizes a particular expression. For instance, you can use the SMS facility to exchange formal messages with colleagues if you are late for office. If you’re on a holiday to the Alps, you can send a picture message to a friend using MMS. If you vex your girlfriend and she refuses to talk, you can record a song or a romantic message and send it to her using the Xpress Audio Message feature. With that she wouldn’t be able to resist your implorations for long.

With the Nokia 6300 phone, you can be at work outside your office. The phone offers you emailing facility. You can even browse the web using WAP and xHTML browsers. GPRS and EDGE expedite mailing and browsing. Bluetooth and USB aid sending and receiving of data and applications to and from the handset. The SyncML feature establishes compatibility between the handset and other devices. This facilitates data exchange between incompatible gadgets.

The Nokia 6300 has a 2 mega pixel camera, 8x Digital Zoom, Viewfinder, Video Recorder, Video Player and much more. It facilitates sreaming of live video, which is of utmost importance during a cricket or soccer match. Macromedia Flash Life 2.0 provides the platform to run multimedia files/videos.

Utile music functionalities and a multitude of gaming options make this phone an incredible entertainer. With organisational powers that far surpass those of your personal assistant, the Nokia 6300 phone is set to break its way in to your house and office.

Nokia 6300

Alice Erin is an expert Author.He has written good quality articles on Mobile Phone Deals .
Check out the latest
Contract Phones .

More and more people are becoming very conscious of their own health and fitness. On the one hand, this is a positive trend, with many people eating more healthily and taking regular exercise. However, when taken to extremes, this can have negative effects on healthy and well-being. This is often the result of marketing, as advertisements for perfume, clothes, cars and a host of other products constantly tell us, indirectly, that we need to have perfect bodies to achieve the good life.

As a result of the increased focus on health and fitness, gyms, health clubs and other fitness centers have been set up all over the western world, raking in a huge profit in the process. Celebrities are pictured on the front of magazines, looking young, slim and beautiful, with the hidden message that this is the path to happiness and wealth.

On cable TV, exercise machines, weight loss products, such as DVDs, videos and low calorie foods have pretty much taken over the airwaves during the commercial breaks and have consequently made their way into households all over the country.

Thousands of magazine, books and websites claim to provide the perfect diet. Dubious at best, with a new one on the market just about every week, but with so many different approaches on offer, which diet is most effective and which one should you follow?

Diet programs can be of use in helping you shed excess pounds, but only if they suit your lifestyle, which means they must be doable. The most important factor is healthy eating and therefore if you do choose to follow a specific program, it is essential to ensure that you do not leave out important nutrients.

Next, you must make sure you have time to buy and prepare the food. If you run out, the temptation to eat forbidden foods will be enormous. It’s also important that you don’t feel deprived and so don’t choose a diet plan which is inflexible or overly strict. It is possible to lose weight and still enjoy occasional treats.

You should also be able to follow an eating pattern which keeps your blood sugar levels stable throughout the day, ensuring that you don’t experience hunger pangs which can lead to mini-binges, which in turn often causes people to give up the diet completely.

Whatever your lifestyle, exercise is important, but doesn’t have to be excessive. Extra walking during the day and a couple of sessions of a favourite sport at weekends is enough to burn off some calories and help you achieve your weight loss goals. Of course, if you do want to look like someone on the cover of a fitness magazine, you’ll have to work hard - they do! To lose weight and improve your overall health, you should eat a healthy diet, reduce intake of high fat and sugar foods and increase the amount of exercise you do.

© Waller Jamison 2007

Waller Jamison is a qualified acupuncturist and reflexologist whose main focus is writing. Kick start your weight loss - find out how you can

burn fat right now. And while you’re at it, step up your motivation with Weekly Weight Loss Tips.

Wondering what to do when the weather has you down? There are lots of activities parents might suggest, but many have been shunned or are not as wholesome as you might prefer. Rather than sitting around all day in front of the television, try something new.

Family Togetherness
Do something as a family. Use the weather as the perfect excuse to head to the mall for a little family bonding time. Pop into everyone’s favorite store and pick out a little something new. Rain or snow makes it hard to keep from getting restless, but a brisk walk inside a closed mall might make things fun, and if you stop for smoothies or coffee drinks and encourage conversation, all the better!

Something Different
Being stuck in the house doesn’t mean things have to be exactly the same. Sure it might be easy to tell kids to go put in a movie or play with their toys, but be ready for them to sigh heavily and profess their boredom. If you are not a huge fan of video games, but your kids are, go and rent them something new. If you sit and play with them, it will make the experience more meaningful to everyone and you might just get hooked.

If you’d rather leave the television off, give your kids a rare treat. Let them see your old slides or photo albums. Perhaps you can make cookies, or if it’s a particularly bad day weather-wise, show your kids how to make bread from scratch. Kneading a few loaves might burn off a little energy.

Go Online
The computer is a scary place for parents sometimes, but there are tons of great sites that don’t have predators or unhealthy motives. Find education games or websites that boost creativity. Find a site, such as The Doll Palace with dress up girls, and let your kids experiment with fashion. Encourage story telling and creativity. Let your kids have a contest on who can dress up girls the best and then make them tell you all about their creations.

There are lots of other things to do on the internet besides dress up girls and games, however. Try finding online communities that appeal to their interests and let them loose. If your son is into trains or sharks, there are plenty of sites that specialize in those topics and most are education based. Read articles, play educational games, try puzzles, and let them search. The internet does have dangerous content, but with parents helping children understand what a good site is and what it’s not, you are empowering them for the future and teaching crucial lessons we didn’t have to worry about until just a few years ago.

Have Fun
Regardless of what activity (or activities) you chose for the day, have fun. Childhood is so fleeting that many parents wish they had spent more time with their children while they could. If soccer practice gets rained out or your kids can’t go outside in a thunderstorm, encourage family fun. Spending time together is crucial to happy families, and rainy days might be one of the best chances you get!

This article was provided by The Doll Palace - creator of doll makers and fashion dress up games for girls. For more information about cartoon dolls, avatars and The Doll Palace, visit http://www.thedollpalace.com/

http://www.thedollpalace.com

The trend of outsourcing web design, software development and Internet marketing projects or part of IT departments activities gained an extreme popularity in the e-commerce domain - even if you are a small or middle size company you can easily gain benefits outsourcing.

Case: A customer want your proposal on a web site development and that’s what you do best - except for an element of the project - you are not proficient in this specific web technology. But this element is required to win this contract. What should you do in this case? A dead end: you can’t lose this contract but its unacceptable for you to hire a new employee. Or another scenario, when you need some programming for your own site but can’t spare any time to it at all. Its best for you to focus on your core competencies that generate revenue for you.

So much technology, so much competition.

Web development is an immense domain with multiple technologies involved - hardly a small development company is able to encompass everything. However, without qualified designers and developers ensuring omni-faceted expertise, it will be almost impossible for small firms to win contracts due to a lack of required expertise.

The very idea of outsourcing projects or project components may be formidable for the bulk of small operators, but consider this opportunity as a ticket to the bright future of your company.

What should be outsourced?

A small web design and development company can get seasoned in particular areas - and these are your strong suit that should be operated, the rest can be outsourced.

How to point out the tight spots in your development processes? If graphics and design for web sites is one of your challenges, then to outsource that work may be the sole way out. But paying $80 per hour to graphic artist is too much taking into account that you charge only $50 an hour, but you should look at it from the other side:

Customer wishes a Flash element created and Flash isn’t your shot and you don’t know how long the implementation will take, even approximately, and you have agreed the total project price. You stipulated 6 man-hours for Flash animation - so at a rate of $50 per hour, it will cost you $300 to implement. Even if third party designer charges $80 per hour, it can take him only 2 hours to develop, plus consultation with external designer and total $210. So, you saved almost a hundred dollars and stayed ahead saving time for other projects or elements.

If you are dedicated to web design but also responsible for accounting of your business, then you are probably lose your money. Its much cheaper to contract bookkeepers’ services. If you have free time to manage your finances it would be better and more efficient to spend it submitting tenders and marketing your business.

Web designer from outsourcing web design company

Southwest home decor is popular with people from all backgrounds. The bright, vibrant colors attract many folks who love the rich culture that it represents and there are many ways to incorporate this decorating style into your home.

Decorating in a Southwestern style utilizes beautiful, saturated colors. Many people enjoy using these colors on their walls. If you don’t want so much color all over the room, paint most of your walls a neutral color and only one wall a bright color as an accent. You can include the bright colors in pretty throw pillows and knick knacks.

Pottery is a big part of the southwest decorating style. You can get beautiful pottery in all different sizes. You can use this type of pottery as vases for bright sunflowers, or just as pretty things to look at. You can use them in the kitchen as canisters for flour, sugar, and such. Southwest pottery is very versatile.

Southwest home decor is also great in the garden. Pottery is again useful here as terra cotta is very durable and stands up to heat very well. You can decorate these pots with colorful paint for your plants and set them around your porch for some festive decorations. You can buy things indicative of the southwest in the form of stepping stones, and perhaps a lizard or two for fun. These ideas bring your love of the Southwest into your outdoor living space.

Use Indian printed fabrics for chair coverings and bed coverings. An entire couch in this material may be a little overkill, but a strategically placed throw can bring out the theme nicely. If you have existing fairly neutral furniture, make or purchase some southwestern style throw pillows. They will liven up a room and bring in the theme that you like.

There are so many decorations you can use on the walls and shelves. A beautiful landscape of a desert sunset would be a sunning focal point in a room. You could also hang an Indian blanket on the wall as art. On shelves or bookcases you can place a small potted cactus, some earth toned candles, or small figures like lizards or kokopelli.

Wrought iron is another staple of this design style. This makes striking wall sconces and tables top candle holders. If you have a fireplace, wrought iron makes a nice fireplace grate. It is also nice for candle holders, coffee tables, and end tables. You can get this work as simple and rustic or as elegant as you like.

Southwest home decor is very versatile. Due to its popularity this type of home decor is widely available and there are many stores and websites dedicated to southwest home decor, so have fun exploring all of the different options.

Lee Dobbins writes for You Decorating where you can find out how easy it is to decorate as well as learn about different interior decorating styles.

When it comes to apartments you may be limited in what you can do with regard to decorating. This is especially the case if the apartment is rented, and the guidelines may be even stricter if it is a furnished rented apartment.

Some landlords or letting agents will let you decorate a furnished apartment while others have very strict rules on what a tenant can and can’t do.

If you want to put your own stamp on an apartment and are not sure about what the lease allows then start by putting up some posters. Another thing that you can do is to get some throws and cushions for the furniture that will brighten the place up.

Place books on a window ledge if there are no shelves or no space for any. Alternatively put up a makeshift bookshelf with a couple of bricks and planks of wood - not ideal maybe but better than nothing and books are a way of expressing who you are. Another thing you can do in this situation is to get yourself some potted plants, providing you look after them and don’t over water they really will brighten up your apartment.

If the owner of the apartment gives their permission for you to wallpaper or paint the place then that is a different story. This means than you can put more of a personal stamp on the place with your choice of color and materials. Get a neutral color for at least three of the walls, cream and magnolia are a good background for the rest of your belongings. You could either paper the fourth wall or cover it in pictures and posters - whatever suits you the best.

Some apartments don’t have separate bedrooms. If that is what your apartment is like then try using a room divider. You can make one from a hardboard, a few planks of wood and some castors. It is a good idea to close off your sleeping quarters as this gives you a place to retire to where other people are not allowed - unless you personally invite them that is. If you have a window in this area of the apartment then get some blinds or drapes that will tone in with your bedding. Buy some bright cushions and put those on the bed. Make this space as calm as possible and you should get a good night’s rest.

Keep the kitchen space clean and tidy. If it is visible from the living area then your best bet is to clear up as you go. Have as much storage as possible in the kitchen. Keep the colors neutral and add some bright blinds and kitchen towels.

Lee Dobbins writes for Perfect Home Decor where you can get more home decorating tips.

A kitchen, no matter its size, is one of the most important rooms in the house. Everyone gathers in the kitchen, but what do you do if your kitchen is too small to hold your family? Can it still be an important room if it’s small? Absolutely it can and these small kitchen design tips below may even be able to make it seem bigger.

Many kitchens have a lot on their countertops. There’s the cookie jar, the toaster, the coffee maker, the sugar, coffee, and tea containers, among others. If your kitchen is small, any of that you can put away will help add space as well as a decorative touch to your kitchen. Clutter is never decorative, but clean lines in the kitchen can be. Having all of these things in the cabinets instead of on the countertops will create the clean lines.

Believe it or not, one of the keys to small kitchen design and decorating is bright colors whic will help to open up the kitchen. If you prefer the wood grain for your cabinets, the walls can be painted a bright color. A textured look, depending on the texture, and color of the mix, can add to the openness of the room. A soft yellow, sky blue, or field green may be a good choice for this room because they are all colors that are reminiscent of the expansive outdoors. They will help add to the illusion of more space. If you’d rather take on the look of painted cabinets, again, choosing the softer shades will be a nice touch to the cabinets and it will also enhance the space in the kitchen.

If you have wall space and would like to display artwork on the walls, choose just a few pieces so as not to clutter the walls. If possible, choose pieces with scenery of open spaces. This will further enhance the illusion of space in the kitchen while retaining an inviting decor. Make sure the pieces that you display are not large. A moderate sized few paintings add a nice decorative touch to a small kitchen.

Functional items with decorative touches are another nice touch to this kitchen. These will add to the decor while being necessary pieces of your kitchen. A holder for your cooking utensils made designed to match the colors or items in your kitchen will enhance it without making it look cluttered. These are great items for the small kitchen because you will use them often, yet they become wonderful integrated parts of your decor.

A small kitchen is one with a cozy feel. It brings everyone together and strong bonds are made in this room. A feeling of unity within the decor of the room further enhances those bonds created by friends and family.

Lee Dobbins writes for Look 4 Decor where you can get more decorating tips and learn more about kitchen design.

During the cold winter, a trip to the tropics sounds wonderful to just about everyone. Yet, we can’t all just get up and go. We can, however, bring the tropics into our homes with a little bit of tropical home decor.

When I imagine a tropical home, I see soft winds blowing sheer curtains from the ceiling to floor windows. I see much used patios complete with palm trees facing a beach then an ocean. I see bright colors and seashells gracing the walls and shelves of the home. I also see large plants that are placed on the floor and can grow as tall as the ceiling. These are the types of things that you’ll want if you want to bring the tropics into your home.

To enhance your tropical home decor, the furnishing should be light. If the current fabrics are dark, a slipcover could do this job nicely. If you have any wicker furniture, it should be out and used perhaps in the living room. Wicker furnishings of any sort should be accentuated. The wicker may be natural or painted white. If the wicker is painted white, most other things in the home should be white as well. The color of all of your furnishings should either be the natural honey colored woods or painted white. Both of these options lead to an open and airy feeling in the room.

Whether or not you have floor to ceiling windows is not as important as having that length in sheer curtains. Your curtains should be sheer for days when you open your windows. This will allow the curtains to gently sway in the breezes that come through the windows. Also, you don’t have to live in front of a beach to have the feel of a beach right outside. You can add this feeling by incorporating these colors into your decor.

If you choose to paint the walls, you may choose a light sky blue or you may choose sandy beige. Or you can leave your walls as white as the clouds floating by. If you choose to leave the walls white, artwork depicting ocean scenes will help with a tropical atmosphere. Another addition to a tropical feel would be the use of seashells in your decor. They can be in the form or artwork or actually use the seashells in various places in your home for decor. Place them around an ocean blue candle on a clear glass plate and use as the centerpiece on your coffee table.

A wonderful touch to a tropical feel is the use of plants. There shouldn’t be many. You don’t want to turn tropics into the rain forest. There should be perhaps one or two large plants that sit on the floor. These plants should grow fairly large, but should not become too tall for the room they will live in. The elephant plant is perfect for this type of atmosphere. It’s aesthetically pleasing by bringing just a hint of green into your decor just like there is just a little bit of green on found in tropical regions usually in the form of palm trees.

A tropical atmosphere is a light and airy one. Once you have created your tropical home decor, you can get the feeling of an exotic vacation everyday!

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.home-improvement-solution.com where you can get more decorating and home improvement tips.

Many of the decorating styles that are popular right now are fraught with dark, rich colors. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with that, yet it’s not for everyone. Some people would rather have bright cheery colors all around them when they are at home. In this case there are options that will help to bring the sunshine in and leave out the dank mysterious look of the darker colors.

If you love to be outside and something like gardening is a passion, why not bring it inside? Bright colorful walls would be great for this type of decorating. Bright greens, soft yellows, sky blues, and floral purples come to mind immediately when desiring paint for the walls. Contrasting wall colors can be a fun way to bring the wonderful colors of spring and summer to your home. You may also choose to do a ragging or sponging technique to add some whimsy to the walls and overall feel of the room.

To enhance this gardening atmosphere, you may choose knickknacks that bring out the colors you have chosen for each room. Rather than choosing knickknacks based on holidays, choose terra cotta planters to put candles in. Create a centerpiece for the dining room table out of artificial grasses and artificial spring flowers. Use an antique wheelbarrow as a decorative piece and fill it with artificial flowers or grasses in a hue that will match or contrast with the paint on the walls. Use a pitcher to hold real cut flowers rather than a vase. All of these accessories will add to the outdoor garden atmosphere that you have created.

The furniture that you’ll want to choose will have lighter fabrics and at least one piece will be made from wicker or rattan. Save the darker furniture for the den or bedrooms, use lighter woods and light, soft materials for pillows and other accessory pieces in the living room. Fabrics should be light and airy, bold green leaf patterns or bright paisley patterns come to mind with the fabrics you’ll use. If you choose wicker, you may want to choose the kind that’s been painted white. This will add to the light feeling of the room.

A colorful decorating idea is one that is bright and cheery. It is inviting to those that encounter it. As well, those that live amongst it cannot help but enjoy the contrasts and excitement a colorful room can bring.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.homediy101.com where you can learn more about different decorating styles and get interior design tips for every room in the house.