Top 5 Business Software Applications to Improve Your Productivity

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Top 5 Business Software Applications to Improve Your Productivity

The most effective business people focus on constantly improving process.  Gains in efficiency and productivity translate into direct improvement in the bottom line.  Reclaiming more time for true innovation is another upside of process improvement.  All businesses share certain commonalities; they need to effectively reach their customers, they need to keep track of their books and at some point they need to hire employees.  These business processes represent a common foundation across almost every industry.  Given the common needs in the business world, software companies have targeted many of the business processes that are shared across industries.  As such, the software solutions for the common business needs tend to represent the most mature and effective products on the market.  If your business is looking for a boost, here is a list of 5 types of business software products that can improve your productivity.

Accounting Software
When looking to improve your bottom line, keeping track of your accounts is a great place to start.  For businesses that currently rely on outdated accounting programs or, heaven forbid, excel spreadsheets, new accounting software offers a tremendous opportunity to save time and boost organization.  Many of the top brands offer timesaving features like linking with your online bank accounts, web-based invoicing and the ability to accept online payments for account receivable.  Just image knowing exactly who owes you money, getting your money faster and easily keeping your books organized for tax season.  Top accounting software brands include QuickBooks Pro and PeachTree Complete.

Customer Relationship Management Software
Automating parts of your customer management process can boost revenue and increase customer satisfaction with your business.  Customer Relationship Management Software covers a broad range of categories including sales force automation, marketing, customer service and business analytics.  These software packages can include comprehensive solutions to cover the entire range of business needs or a la carte options for more specific requirements.  These products can provide automated cues to make additional product offers during each customer’s life cycle to help boost your average revenue per customer.  They can also help automate data entry aspects of your sales process so your sales team can dedicate more time to selling and more effectively target prospects.  Some top CRM brands include SAP, Oracle and SalesForce.

Email Marketing Software
Email Marketing Software can sometimes be included in a CRM package, but often times acts as a standalone product that works alongside your CRM.  Email Marketing Software is an inexpensive method for reaching your customers.  These products enable you to send bulk email including text and html formats to an uploaded list of customer email addresses.  They automate email marketing requirements such as unsubscribe features and also provide a white listed platform to improve email deliverability.  Email Marketing Software is generally inexpensive and easy to use.  Top Email Marketing Software brands include Constant Contact, iContact and Benchmark Email.

Applicant Tracking Software
The recruiting process is generally one business function most likely to benefit from automation. Applicant Tracking Software offers a powerful solution across all aspects of the hiring process including careers webpage management, automated job listing, equal employment opportunity compliance, applicant management, automated thank you letters and full service analytics packages to identify process bottlenecks.   These packages can increase recruiting productivity, improve the quality of new hires and save time and money.  Some top applicant tracking software brands include Newton Software and StaffingSoft.

Content Management System
Content Management Systems offer an easy solution for updating your web presence without the expensive services of a web developer.  With so much emphasis on the internet, a company’s webpage is generally their face to the world and often times a first point of contact for new customers.  Content Management Systems empower companies by allowing them to easily update pages across their site using simple graphic interfaces, many times similar to common word processing software.  When building a new corporate site explore building your web presence using a CMS backend.  These solutions are standard practice for many businesses site and often times they are completely free.  Some top content management systems include Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal.

Alex Mandossian Uses Social Media Marketing to Boost Productivity

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Alex Mandossian Uses Social Media Marketing to Boost Productivity

Alex Mandossian serves as an example of the ultramodern marketing guru who knows the power of one of the Internet’s most potent phenomenon—Social Media. Social Media started as a way for friends to connect with friends and for people to find new friends. But now it’s one of the most viral methods of marketing available on the Web that can boost your productivity. For Mandossian, Social Media is for those who want to take command of the Internet and use Social Marketing to be discovered, get seen, attract traffic and make cash.

Social Media and Hits

If you’re using Social Media sights, then your chances of being found escalate as these will help enhance your presence in searches. The more people you can attract to the Social Media sites you use the better your chances of being found by others in Internet searches. A good example of this is Mandossian’s Facebook site that is subscribed to by thousands of people.

Social Media and Views

Utilizing Social Media will allow people to not only find you but also to view your information, access any helpful content you provide and follow links to your primary site. Providing content rich pages that will attract people to your Social Media sites will help drive traffic to you.

Social Media and Traffic

Once you start getting found and people begin viewing you via Social Media, as Mandossian shows through his Facebook site, then you can point them in the direction of your primary site. In this way, Social Media sites create a sort of natural flow to you, allowing people to garner more information about you and your product or service.

Social Media and Profits

Following his Facebook link to Mandossian’s primary site, you’ll discover plenty of free, useful information. That’s an essential part of using Social Media as a marketing tool. When people get to your primary site, as well as your Social Media site, it’s important that it is content rich. The fact that you’ve given visitors important information for free will help convince them to purchase your products or services. By using Social Media, as Mandossian has, you’ve created a direct link to your online business and products.

Alex Mandossian: a Practical Example

Mandossian’s use of Social Media marketing works in a straightforward manner with the result being a rise in productivity. Those who find him on Facebook have access to helpful content and can then follow links to his site where they discover a very useful blog that’s updated on a daily basis. They can also purchase his products easily and quickly.

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4 Useful Productivity Tools For Social Media

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4 Useful Productivity Tools For Social Media

We all want to do more in less time with social media.  The good news is that there are lots of tools to help automate your social networking activities.

Although I don’t suggest automating your entire experience (that’s kind of missing the point), there are some great productivity-boosters worth checking out.

1) Ping.fm: Have you ever wanted to update your Twitter status as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites all at the same time from one place? Ping is great for this.  Tools like Ping are one of the top “secret weapons” of the most savvy social media users.

So, if you have something to say to your Twitter followers but that you would also like to share with your Facebook friends and fans and your connections on LinkedIn, you can—without going to each site and logging in separately.  Ping has the ability to update over 40 different social sites.  Talk about a major time saver!

In addition, you can even create groups, so that if you only want to update Facebook and Twitter but not LinkedIn, for example, you can do that.  It’s definitely worth exploring.

Ping also has a browser toolbar you can install, making it simple to update your social networks with a link to any web page you are on.

2) Hootsuite: I consider this to be the ultimate Twitter tool—and its ability to automate so much of your Twitter experience is pretty impressive. Hootsuite is web-based and free and here are just some of its most useful features:

•    Manage multiple Twitter profiles

•    Pre-schedule tweets to go out ahead of time

•    Monitor keywords of your choice

•    View multiple columns to see @ replies, direct messages, keyword tracking and more

•    Have multiple administrators for your Hootsuite account

•    Create groups of friends by simply dragging and dropping them into columns

•    Integrate with Ping.fm to update many social networks including Facebook and LinkedIn

•    Track statistics of how many people have clicked on the links in your tweets

•    Automatically feed RSS to your Twitter stream

3) Selective Twitter Status: If you use both Facebook and Twitter, you’ll want to take advantage of integrating the two in order to reach even more people–without more effort.

Selective Twitter Status is an application you can add to your Facebook profile or Fan Page in order to update your status with your tweets.  Once you have this application installed, you simply add #fb to the specific tweets you want to make your Facebook status as well.

4) Facebook Fan Page to Twitter tool: If you want to do the reverse and send your Fan Page status updates to Twitter, you can do that with Facebook’s Twitter tool.  This is nice because you are allowed to use over 140 characters for status updates on Facebook, so when you update Twitter (which has a 140 character limit) with a longer message, it inserts “…” along with a link back to your Fan Page so people can finish reading your update.  This means more people are driven to your Fan Page from Twitter.

So, if you’ve always wanted shortcuts to help manage your social media activity, check out these four tools and start streamlining your experience like the pros.

Time Management Tips To Increase Your Personal Work Productivity

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Time Management Tips To Increase Your Personal Work Productivity

When there is so much competing for our attention, how do we keep up our work productivity? We’ve all had days when it seems like nothing gets accomplished, facing one interruption after another. As a creature of habit, I seem to work better when I have a system to follow.
The key to getting things accomplished is to maintain focus and build momentum on the important tasks. Here’s a few things you can do to improve your time management skills.

Vary your Work Environment

These days, I do everything via a laptop computer that I can take with me. Sometimes I find that there are certain types of work for which my home office is just not conducive…such as a big research project, contemplating an important financial move, and such. These are typical things that many of us procrastinate on because it seems so cumbersome to do them.

However, I find when I change my surroundings, I can create an environment where I can actually get excited about that which I have been avoiding. This might be the local library or a coffee shop/internet cafe. The net effect is that I am creating a comfortable environment in which to put forth a focused block of time toward an important task…all contributing to a feeling of well-being.

Match Tasks with your Work Productivity Patterns
Do you find that you work most effectively if you stay focused on one task at a time? But what about those emails that need to be answered, websites you want to check out, that essential reading you need to do? I group these tasks into several categories which I handle in focused segments of time throughout the week.

For example, I handle emails in short blocks, 2 times/day. I return calls twice/day. I group my catch-up reading time and website reviews into the early evening, because this is the time when I let myself relax after a productive day. Being a morning person, this works for me; whereas, you may be a night person and setup a different routine.

Treat Important Blocks of Time as Appointments
I find it helpful to break my day into segments, being flexible around what is most pressing. Most people have no problem, typically, in blocking off a piece of the day for a meeting. Yet, if we know that we should take a block of time to design a new landing page, or write a series of articles, we often allow that time to get interrupted with phone calls, going off on internet tangents, constantly checking emails, etc. Instead, treat those segments like appointments…allowing nothing to get in the way.

Do your Most Important Project First
For me, creating forward momentum on our Internet business is the highest priority. So, the first 4 hours of my work day is when I devote to that purpose. It’s like an ongoing appointment that I do not vary unless something pressing (pre-planned) trumps it. I shut off the phones and don’t check emails. This allows me to get into the productive space such that one task flows efficiently into the next.

Then, at the end of this period, I have a feeling of accomplishment. I can then focus on the other tasks that need attention, or as is often the case, continue on my internet business-building tasks. Most importantly for me, it allows me to approach the rest of my day in a more relaxed fashion.

Try these approaches for yourself. You might just find that they increase your personal productivity.

I invite you to go to http://www.BusinessBuildingShortcuts.com — where you’ll find more targeted Tools, Techniques, and Strategies to quicken your Online Success.

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pest control equipment – Five Easy Tips to Boost up Productivity & Reduce Downtime

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pest control equipment – Five Easy Tips to Boost up Productivity & Reduce Downtime

A important number of pest control spray equipment breakdowns are fully avoidable. Do you would like to reduce equipment repair expenses, downtime and missed appointments? A few easy ideas can do wonders for your custom spray rig and technician productivity.

1. Below Pressure. Pressure is good. While not it, most power and manual pest management sprayers won’t work. The matter is too much pressure, which decreases sprayer years.

Here is an attention-grabbing observation. Once we build a brand new gas-powered pest weed control and landscape spray equipment rig, we have a tendency to install it, check it and send it out at 75-one hundred PSI. As an example, when standard spray equipment rig return into our search for service, they are often set at 150 PSI or higher.

The pressure on their weed control and landscape spray equipment rig is not magically increased by a pressure leprechaun. Pest management technicians turn up the pressure on their custom pest control rig to end their jobs faster. Higher pressure on their shortens the lifetime of pump, hoses, fittings, guns, etc. Chemical spills will be more and more serious if a component bursts at a higher instead of lower pressure. High pressure on a custom spray rig will even have an effect on spray droplet size and cause unintended consequences like spray drift.

Create positive techs are operating pest management truck mount sprayers at suggested pressure. Train technicians to unharness pressure of all power and manual compressed air power sprayers by vehicle at the top of each stop to increase the lifetime of your termite control sprayer rig and cut back breakdowns and downtime.

2. Filter Your Results. The the majority of common reason for avoidable pest equipment repairs is clogged filters. The the majority of commonly ignored advice to pest management professionals is to wash your filter.

When pest control power sprayers technicians return to our repair facility, it almost doesn’t matter what they tell us their pest control spray rig drawback is. The first issue our mechanics do is to test the filter. A grimy filter causes so many downstream issues it’s not possible to list all of them here. Be positive technicians are cleaning filters. Be sure supervisors are spot checking to create positive it’s being done.

3. Clean it Out. Debris in tanks of pest control hand truck & cart sprayers or compressed air trailer & tow behind sprayers wreaks havoc on effective pest control operations. Rinse your system with clean water periodically to get rid of old chemical buildup, debris, etc. Chemical buildup & debris can clog your filter, starve your pump, harm spray tips, and clog other elements as well. When unsure, rinse it out. Be sure to follow all labels and laws when cleaning out spray tanks.

4. Do not Ignore Problems. Here are a few indisputable good systems truths. Tiny pest sprayer issues will become big problems. Little problems are fastened quickly and cheaply. Big problems are expensive productivity killers. Water anywhere it is not supposed to be could be a problem.

We are constantly amazed by the number of major repairs on split tank spray equipment rig that might have been quickly, simply and inexpensively resolved had the equipment been brought in sooner. Train your technicians to let you know once they find equipment issues. It can save you tons of your time and money.

5. Preventative Maintenance. As mentioned, pest control spray equipment needs service. Harsh chemicals, long operating hours, temperature extremes, rough treatment all take their toll. Do not wait for your custom pest control rig to fail. It can value more and more and take longer to fix.

Many breakdowns occur throughout your busy season when weed control and landscape spray equipment rig is being used hard. This can be even your equipment repair search’s busy season, thus repairs could take longer. Schedule preventative maintenance on your termite control spray equipment rig throughout slow periods to scale back the impact on your calendar.

Finally, pest control equipment breakdowns will wreak havoc on your schedule, impact your customers and hurt company profitability. During a difficult economy, these are problems you do not need. With a very little extra coaching and designing much downtime and repair expenses can be avoided.

Andrew Greess is President, Quality Equipment & Spray, a number one manufacturer of high-quality spray equipment, right of way weed control sprayer rig, and power sprayers. You can reach Greess at Andrew@qspray.com or follow him at his blog at www.SprayEquipmentBlog.com or follow him on Twitter.

Callidus Software Named One Of “20 Top Coolest Cloud Productivity App Vendors” By Crn

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SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – February 3, 2010) – Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD), the leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM), today announced it was named one of the “20 Coolest Cloud Productivity App Vendors” as part of the list of the “100 Coolest Cloud Computing Products” by Everything Channel’s CRN. Everything Channel represents the world-wide community of product resellers, also known as Solution Providers, product vendors, distributors, and customers that together account for approximately two-thirds of all technology products and services sold each year.

CRN editors wrote: “With its on-demand sales performance and incentive compensation management applications, Callidus seeks to do for sales compensation management what Saleforce.com has done for CRM. The applications help businesses manage incentive payments to employees, distributors, brokers and — yes — channel partners, to help align those incentives with corporate goals.”

“We’re very excited to be named to the 100 Top Coolest Cloud Computing Products,” said Lorna Heynike, senior vice president of marketing at Callidus Software. “This recognition validates Callidus’ strong leadership in developing innovative cloud computing solutions in the sales performance management marketplace. It underscores our commitment to providing best-of-breed on-demand solutions that enable businesses to leverage and align sales and channel behavior to consistently and reliably meet sales targets.”

The “100 Top Coolest Cloud Computing Products” list was based on nominations from Solutions Providers rating technology, channel influence, effectiveness and visibility along with business and sales impact. The final selections were made by a panel of Everything Channel Editors. Winners were announced online at www.channelweb.com and featured in the January 25 issue of CRN.

Callidus Software’s award-winning solutions manage the entire sales life-cycle from on-boarding, deployment and payment, to talent development, while providing visibility into sales operations and financial performance. The software is used by leading companies in a broad range of verticals including high-tech, telecommunications, banking, insurance and pharmaceuticals. Since its inception nearly 15 years ago, the company has evolved into the most experienced, proven, and reliable SPM vendor in the marketplace. Callidus Software manages over $50 billion in incentives and compensation for more than 2 million payees in over 140 countries.

For more news on sales performance management, follow Callidus Software on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

About Callidus Software®

Callidus Software (www.callidussoftware.com) (NASDAQ: CALD) is the market and technology leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM). Callidus’ customers gain a competitive advantage by maximizing sales cost efficiencies and driving improvements in sales execution. Our award-winning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications set the standard for performance management across the sales force. Over 2 million employees and channel partners have their performance managed by Callidus Software.

About Everything Channel

Everything Channel, headquartered in Framingham, MA, is a technology marketing and sales solutions company. Through its “Complete Technology Channel Solution,” Everything Channel offers the right business tools to accelerate technology sales. From branding and recruiting to marketing and sales, Everything Channel offers technology marketers the unmatched breadth and depth of global brands and market intelligence combined with unparalleled audience loyalty and credibility serving all technology sales channels through an extensive database. Everything Channel provides innovative field sales and marketing solutions to the sellers of technology to achieve measurable and significant results.

About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: Worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM’s businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities — from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists — with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500-person staff in more than 30 countries is organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

© 1998-2010 Callidus Software Inc. All rights reserved. Callidus Software, the Callidus Software logo, and TrueComp Manager are trademarks, servicemarks, or registered trademarks of Callidus Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand, service or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or owners.