Month: May 2018

Lead management is now considered as core process of business administration because this automated process is nowadays implemented as one of the significant data management process. Lead Management process is comprised of three or four processes like lead generation, lead filtration, lead tracking, and lead nurturing process, etc.

All these processes are intermingled with each other and it serves the purpose of a complete solution for business administration and for further plan for business expansion and relevant business development.

If lead is considered the real pulse of a business for its existence as well as for expansion, it is easily understood how management of the same is important.

In the age of media exposure leads are not generated from sales field only, web media works as one of the most fields for lead generation. The leads which are generated from web source are called internet leads and unless Lead Tracking system of automated lead managing system is not employed, 100% efficiency cannot be achieved.

Loan modification leads, education leads are best collected as Internet Leads and these leads require better tracking not only for accumulation from different web sources but also for running consistent follow up for these leads to convert them into sales prospect.

There are different processes of follow up of a lead like it can be postal communication as well as it can be e-communication. While the mailers, courtesy e-mail, product or new service launch details are sent to the prospective leads periodical phone calls and courtesy conversations are also parts of lead track system which are ideally and strategically closely related to the customer relation management policy of a business unit.

There are several long term benefits of CRM solution. One of the major advantages of CRM is retention of existing customer. Therefore service industries put maximum emphasis on CRM. Retention of customer can have two immediate advantages, one id consistent flow of business and the second advantage is the generation of referral customers which ensures further growth and prosperity of the said business unit.

Business units like dealing with mortgage and education especially thrive on referral customers and most potential immediate prospects of insurance leads and education leads are best available form referral process. Therefore, nurturing potential leads, which is also a function of lead managing system, leads two purposes; it supports brand promotional activities of a business unit and it initiates generation of new business which is again goes back to the initial stage of lead managing system and it is lead generation.

Lead managing system ensures better productivity and over all reduced the gaps between different processes of sales and customer care administration. In business management process, sales and marketing policy- planning work as substitute and supportive to each other. The output and analysis of lead managing system ensures better coordination between sales and marketing planning and suggests better policy planning to increase market share.

Effective lead management process is an ongoing tool to analyze present market trend and the likes and dislikes of general consumers. It helps in future product planning for a business venture. Professional lead managing protocol minimizes the use of man power and works as covering input provider for complete business development program.

I have watched or listened to several successful entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires being interviewed. I have read several business books and studied the business success strategies of famous entrepreneurs; and they all seem to share one thing in common. They all attribute their rapid business growth to their business management team. Now why is a business team important to an entrepreneur? Why should you build an in-house business management team when you can always seek external advice? What impact will a business team have on your business?

These are usually the questions I receive when I discuss the importance of having a business team with my protgs. You may be a small business owner operating a mom and pop shop but I still want you to know that you need a business team. It may not be your short term goal but you need to include it in your long term plan.

“Individuals don’t win in business; teams do.” – Sam Walton

No successful entrepreneur assembled a business management team in a day; it’s a process that can take as long as ten year before the perfect team assembles. Finding the right business team is definitely not an easy task and it is one of the ten major business challenges entrepreneurs face when starting a business. Now why do you need a business management team? Well, below are ten strategic reasons why you building a business team should be your long term goal.

Ten Strategic Reasons why You Need a Business Management Team

1. Raising Capital: One of the key reasons why startup entrepreneurs don’t get the venture capital is because they are trying to raise capital alone. A business mentor of mine once said that venture capitalists prefer an average product with an excellent business team than an excellent product with an average business team. If you should consider this statement; you will come to acknowledge that it’s the truth in its entirety. A business team is vital to the process of raising capital for your business; in fact, it increases your chances of securing the capital. Show me an entrepreneur that raised billions of dollars in capital and I will show you an entrepreneur backed by a strong business management team. Just like said in the investment world; money always follow management.

2. Taking advantage of new or existing opportunities: Having your own business management team will give you the leverage to take advantage of business opportunities effortlessly. A business team will be your eyes, ears and nose in the business world; they will not only help you sniff out opportunities but will also help you create opportunities out of thin air.

“A business idea is just another idea. But an idea backed by a strong feasibility, a thorough business plan and a smart team is no longer an idea. It’s now a solid business opportunity worth pursuing.”

3. Strategic business development: Do you want to grow your business from the inside? Do you want to strengthen your bottom line? Then build your own business management team. Strategic business development is not the doing of an individual but a collective effort of a business team. Employee performance programs, staff motivation and operational excellence are part of the duty of a business team.

4. Rapid expansion and growth: Take a close look at companies that grows rapidly and stands strong in times of economic recess and you will find a strong business management team behind such companies. The massive outside expansion of any company is the handiwork of the business team. An entrepreneur visualizes while the business team draws the plan; critique the plan and executes the business plan. For instance, take a look at the rapid acquisition move taken by Oracle Corporation; buying up a total of 57 companies within five years. That’s the power of a good management driven company.

5. Business leverage: How is a company able to operate successfully in different sectors of the economy? How can an entrepreneur successfully run a business conglomerate? The answer is leverage. The leverage of a business team is the reason successful entrepreneurs became billionaires effortlessly. Leverage is the reason why entrepreneurs such as J. Paul Getty and Carlos Slim Helu are able to run over 200 companies without burning themselves out. The leverage of a business team is a form of intellectual leverage. Just as a man is known by the friends he keeps; so is a business respected by the management team it keeps.

“Successful businessmen share the ability to hire people smarter than they are.” – Dillard Munford

“People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the company’s product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash

6. Increase confidence of the investors: Just like I stated above; money follows management and who provides the money? The answer is the investors. Nothing inspires or boosts the confidence of an investor than the professionalism of the business management team piloting the affairs of the company he/she invested in. Have you tried raising capital before? Have you tried sourcing for contracts before? Have you tried sending a business proposal to another company before? Have you ever tried selling a business before? Or better still buying a business? Have you ever taken a company public before? If you have engaged in any of these acts; you will come to accept the fact that one of the most popular questions investors ask is this:
Who is on your team?

Who on your team has taken a company public before?

Who on your team has experience in business management?

The questions above are real life questions asked by investors because they feel comfortable hearing the fact that the managers of their investments are competent.

7. Increase the entrepreneur’s credibility and competence: Observe the words of successful entrepreneurs and drop out billionaires carefully; and you will see that they attribute much of their success to their team. Have you ever wondered why some drop outs end up successful business owners? The reason is because they built their business on the shoulders of intellectual giants; who happen to be members of their business management team. An entrepreneur can never know it all and that’s why he/she relies on the calculative initiative of the business team. Show me an entrepreneur backed by a weak business team and I will show you an incompetent entrepreneur. So if being recognized as an entrepreneur of credibility and competence sounds good enough to be added to your resume; then build your own in-house business management team.

8. Strategic innovative thinking: Innovative companies are usually companies driven by a strong management team. Observe companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and Sony; and you will come to realize that these companies have being built, driven and sustained competitively on innovation. Now who are the engineers of innovation? It’s the business team; the brains behind the company. Tactical approach to issues, detailed competitive analysis and strategic thinking are benefits derived from having your own business team; so would you rather not have one?

9. Critical problem solving: How does a company survives a recession? How does a company survive in a fierce market? The answer still lies in the team. Entrepreneurs are known as critical problem solvers but I also want to add that problem solving is a product of collective strategies and ideas put together by a group of individuals; and such individuals in this case is your business team. Critical problem solving is the reason why teams go on brainstorming sessions. Now tell me, how do you create a brainstorming session when you don’t have a business team? I leave that for you to answer.

10. Increases the value of the business: Value appreciation is the last but not the least reason why you need a business management team. One of the most important assets of a business is the management team because with a good business management team; every other asset can be synergized into yielding positive results for the company. The reason why I call a business team your most important asset is because other assets are easy to create or control once the right business team is in place. So instead of focusing on improving your lifestyle; acquiring investments individually or running your business solely, I will advice you first build a business management team and the rest will fall in place.

Founded in 2003, LifeVantage Corporation is a publicly traded (ticker LFVN) MLM business specializing in scientific anti-aging products using its clinically studied Protandim supplement.

LifeVantage has a very interesting history

The company’s stock skyrocketed earlier on 2005 after they made public the clinical studies and television specials by ABC, the Today Show and PBS concerning their Protandim product in 2005, The corporation’s stock went through the roof. This early publicity sent their stock up to more than twenty dollars per share but it could not sustain it with no sales to support the hype. During this time Protantim was just obtainable by means of retail channels and it did not do well on the shelves of nutritional stores.

On May, 2009, after more than 6 months of planning and research they ventured into MLM for distribution|After more than 6 months of developing and preparation, in May of 2009. Not surprising to those who know the power of Multi-Level Marketing, LifeVantage sales have dramatically improved and with that their stock price has more than tripled from its lowest point of less than $0.10 in Nov. 2008. Still a bit too early to say, but it looks like network marketing is proving to be a good strategy.

As with all assessment, let’s start off with the easiest area to spot a scam THE PRODUCT!

Protandim Review – I cannot speak for the product since I’ve not yet tested it speak for the product. What I do know is I am more willing to try it than any other nutritional product I have seen recently due to the extensive clinical studies and peer reviewed studies that was used on it. More than twenty universities have started a number of self funded medical studies on the product in relationship to its relation on anti-aging and disease. Quite a few have been completed and are posted on www.pubmed.gov under Protandim to see.

In contrast to the majority of nutritional merchandise, Protandim is not an antioxidant by supplementation but rather a merchandise that activates the body’s production of its own natural enzymes which the body makes use of to tear down free radicals. Clinical studies appear to prove that it is many times more efficient than taking external antioxidants for this purpose. The LifeVantage corporate website (http://www.lifevantage.com) lists access to all the studies, information and news video releases on their product that explains how it acts and what it does.

What I like most regarding Protandim is the distinctive marketing approach it has

In constrast to many MLM companies which almost always use the old “try it out (for 30, 60 or 90 days) and see how you feel” script, LifeVantage distributors are able toconfidently exclaim that Protandim is clinically proven to lessen oxidative stress by slowing down the rate of cell aging to that of a 20 year old.

This alone is not enough to build a business on, but it’s a huge introduction for distributors. More often than not the hardest part in shaping a nutritional networking business is getting individuals to check out the product and LifeVantage holds the aces in this area.

I was pleasantly surprised at the price of the product. In an industry where product autoships are almost always above one hundred dollars per month, a one month autoship supply of Protandim for a retail “preferred customer” is only $39! This pricing is way less than the industry norm, thus making it doable to gain loyal retail consumers.

Besides the Protandim product, LifeVantage also has a skin care product called TrueScience which is a skin cream designed with the anti-aging properties of Protandim. What’s striking about the overall product line is its simplicity; just two fundamental products, with one core selling point, and a cost that is truly not expensive.

Ultimately it is going to take a lot more than research and advertising for a product to make it. Protandim will have to make a noticeable impression on the overall health of people taking it, whether it be additional energy, improved sleep, not getting sick as often, etc. There’s not a lot of individuals who will use their splurge on a product monthly based on research alone. If you are reading this article and have actually tried Protandim, please feel free give us comment on the product.

LifeVantage MLM compensation plan

I’m not going to go to the matter of how lucrative the MLM compensation plan is. There is quite a lot of money available in every MLM compensation plan as long as it’s legit. If you hear somebody going on about how their MLM comp plan pays the highest in the business, huge chance something is not right.

Technically speaking LifeVantage uses a unilevel pay plan paying down 9 dynamically compressed levels with the potential for a matching bonus on the 1st 4 levels and a coded bonus for LifeVantage pack qualifiers that allows for bonuses to be earned through unlimited depth. If none of this makes sense to you don’t worry about it.

The most important part about the MLM compensation plan is legal, because it only pays commissions on product sales. LifeVantage has taken an added step to promote the movement of product that I truly like and which does a lot to ensure legitimacy. Like all company, distributors must stay qualified to earn commissions, here in LifeVantage this means 200 PV per month in personal volume. The nice thing is that the volume generated from personal “preferred customers” reduces personal volume requirements for distributors. This means that as a distributor, I can reduce my monthly personal volume requirement down to the minimum of 30 PV if I have enough personal customers consuming product.

Behavior rewarded will be duplicated so when you see a company reward the enrollment of loyal retail “preferred customers” (individuals buying the product, but not does not involve themselves in the business opportunity), you will most likely have a higher customer to distributor ratio. This ratio is one of the most crucial things the attorney general and FTC look at when determining if a company is a pyramid scheme or not.

Company and Leadership of LifeVantage

There are a few notable points of interest about the LifeVantage beyond the short history I have mentioned. The company is a member of the Direct Selling Association (http://www.dsa.org/forms/CompanyFormPublicMembers/view?id=44F6200000362) and the BBB (http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/health-and-diet-products-retail/lifevantage-corporation-in-littleton-co-90014185). They were implicated in and settled a lawsuit with Zrii. In this lawsuit, they were alleged to have conspired with ex- Zrii management/distributors to breach contracts and switch to companies. It was settled for 400,000 even if the lawsuit asked for damages of 250 million. This type of lawsuit is normal in the network marketing business and in my opinion nothing to be worried about.

As for the leadership behind the company, formerly with Metabolife, David Brown, is the CEO and Dr. Joe McCord, the driving force behind Protandim, is the Director of Science. It is noteworthy that Dr. McCord was the co-discoverer of antioxidant enzymes and their relationship to free radicals in 1968 at Duke University. It is also good to know that LifeVantage has skilled in-house legal counsel with Eric Marchant, who has counseled multi-national hundred million dollar network marketings in the past.

A quick look at the industry and competition

It is common knowledge that nutrition is the backbone of MLM industry and there is no doubt that the health and wellness industry is growing and will on the rise and will still increase. On the flipside I think at present you have an overload of companies coming into the industry and it is easy to get confused and be lost inside the rubble unless you have something exceptional I think LifeVantage has just that. With a low product price point and the type of studies and publicity behind Protandim, I think they are suited to thrive in the networking business.

In conclusion…

LifeVantage sells a legitimate product at a price point that real customers can afford and together with a compensation plan that for me solid more sturdy than your standard Multi-Level Marketing. While there is a lot of research and publicity behind this company you still want to be sure your belief is 100% behind it before delving into it. In multilevel marketing, belief in a product is still top priority and you cannot trade whatever amount of research for that. If you’re not willing to give it a year, then better if you don’t give it any other day at all. LifeVantage will work if you work it.

WordPress is an amazing tool, I use it on so many websites, I really would be at a loss without it, but what one of the things that makes it so great is the over whelming amount of plugins that are available. If there’s something you want to do in WordPress, there’s normally a plugin to help you do it.

SEO Ultimate – I think this plugin deserves more recognition than it’s gotten up till now. I have never seen a plugin with such a massive array of features, this does everything that platinum SEO and All In One SEO, also throws in the functionality found within SEO Smart Links and a number of other plugins it is essentially the swiss army knife of WordPress plugins. Some examples of its additional features include; code inserter (for use with adding Google Analytics, Adsense section targeting etc) Webmaster verification assistant, Link Mask Generator, Robots.txt editor and there’s even an option for exporting your SEO Ultimate settings to a file so you can import later or use on another blog if you need to, along with support for importing post meta data from All In One SEO – and there’s more, well worth checking out.

W3 Total Cache Plugin – This plugin when fully configured can give at least 10x improvement in overall site performance and give you up to 80% bandwidth savings via minify and HTTP compression of HTML. In A/B testing this great WordPress Plugin beats other optimisation plugins like WP Super Cache hands down in terms of page load time, and not only that but it has Amazon S3 integration. This plugin is so good at performance optimization that it is trusted by sites such as mashable.com, smashingmagazine.com and many others.

Cbnet Ping Optimizer – Within your WordPress admin panel, if you click on the writing option within the settings tab, you will see at the bottom a section called Update Services, now each time you publish a post or update a post WordPress will ping the sites in this list. So if you update a post frequently, some of these services may blacklist your site, this handy plugin stops WordPress from pinging these services when you edit a post, but allows it to ping them when you first add the post, removing the possibility of being blacklisted as a spammer on those services.

TinyMCE Advanced – WordPress uses the standard version of TinyMCE as its WYSIWYG editor, this is the advanced version that will add 17 plugins to TinyMCE. These include: Advanced HR, Advanced Image, Advanced Link, Advanced List, Context Menu, Emotions (Smilies), Date and Time, IESpell, Layer, Embed Media, Nonbreaking, Print, Search and Replace, Style, Table, Visual Characters and XHTML Extras.

WPtouch – Once this WordPress plugin is installed and activated it will transform your blog into an iPhone application-style theme when it is viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and Blackberry Storm/Torch mobile devices. With web browsing via mobile devices this is an extremely important plugin to utilise, as it will provide fast and user-friendly browsing from the mobile devices mentioned and this will not affect your desktop theme in anyway. On top of that you can customise various aspects of its appearance within the admin panel and it will also display ads from Google Adsense which is very handy.

Maintenance Mode – This nifty plugin will add a splash page to your blog to let its visitors know that your WordPress blog is down for maintenance, it will also inform the visitor when the site will be accessible. The message is completely customisable and logged in administrators will get full access to the blog including the front-end.

Broken Link Checker – It can be quite frustrating for the reader of a page on your blog who has become engrossed in whatever article/post it is they are reading when they try clicking a link within your page and the site is broken. However this will always happen from time to time and can’t be avoided, but when you’ve been blogging for a while and you’ve amounted a sizable archive of posts and articles it would be impossible to check them all.

WP-DBManager – The worst thing that can happen for any blogger is to put your heart and soul into writing great posts and then then just lose it all, whether it’s down to your webhost or something else. This great WordPress plugin makes it so easy to back up your WP database, and even optimise and repair it too. It supports backup scheduling and allows you to either download the backup file or email it to you. This plugin is a must have for anyone who is serious about using WordPress.

Invention and entrepreneurship are concepts that are synonymous with Scotland. Scotland has a long standing tradition of producing world renowned inventors and entrepreneurs. The invention of the steam engine, television and penicillin can all be attributed to Scottish inventors and in this article I would like to highlight some of the most famous Scottish entrepreneurs of recent years.

Arnold Clark

Sir Arnold Clark grew up in Glasgow and joined the RAF in 1944, aged 17. He rose quickly through the ranks eventually becoming a Corporal and a Motor Mechanics Instructor. Upon leaving the RAF, Clark began buying and selling cars, and opened his first showroom in 1954 in Glasgows Park Road. Arnold Clark Automobiles is now the largest car dealership in Scotland, with over 145 car dealerships throughout the UK.

Michelle Mone

Michelle Mone OBE is the co-owner of MJM International and creator of Ultimo. She grew up in Glasgow and began her corporate career with Labatt Brewers. She rose quickly through the company and was running the Sales and Marketing department by the time she was 20. In 1996, came up with the idea to create Ultimo after wearing an uncomfortable bra to a dinner dance. Today Ultimo is one of the UKs leading designer lingerie brands.

Sir David Murray

Sir David Murray was born in Ayr in 1954 and educated at Ayr Academy, Fettes College and Broughton high School. By the age of 23 Murray had set up the metal company, Murray International Metals Limited. The Murray Group has expanded to include a wide range of industries including property, call centres, venture capital and mining.

Sir Brian Souter

Sir Brian Souter is another famous Scottish entrepreneur. Sir Brian Souter started his working life as student bus conductor while studying at University. Upon finishing University, Sir Brian Souter began working with Arthur Andersen, a leading chartered accountancy firm. In 1980, using his fathers redundancy money, Sir Brian Souter established Stagecoach Group with his sister. Thirty years later Stagecoach is one the largest transport companies in the world with 13,000 buses, coaches, trains and trams, employing over 30,000 employees worldwide. Sir Brian Souter also founded Souter Investments and the Souter Charitable Trust.