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A unified conferencing solution: audio-video-WEBconference

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Many years of running voice messaging and electronic mail, we have lost sight that essential communications happens during real time and not differed time. Although, we've all had the occasion to experiment with direct communication technology like: audio-conference, videoconference and WEB conference.

Each of these technologies presents advantages accompanied by their disadvantages. Audioconferencing transports voices to many while leaving us in the dark. Videoconferencing gives us color but it is not useful for collaboration around a presentation or a document. For the most part, WEB-conferencing is designed to collaborate with screen sharing and sometimes giving the impression of talking into space.

Today, unified conferencing integrates audio, video and WEBconference onto one interface for PC. It replicates in the domain of conferences what unified messaging has realized while integrating vocal messaging with email. Although, it's the screen sharing that changes everything making participants in a WEBconference, actors and not just spectators. That constitutes the most important catalyst of collaboration and source of synergy in the organizations.

Tele-efficiency also releases, Accessware, a bi-directional remote screen sharing add-on for Conferenceware, its unified conferencing solution. During a WEBconference with Accessware, the presenter could show the screen of a participant to all. Inversely, he or she could give control of his/her screen to another participant, which then becomes a co-presenter.

Increase Profits by Marketing to Existing Customers

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Business owners want more leads, more customers, more sales. It sounds logical: attract more customers and more sales will follow, leading to increased profits. But is this the best way to maximize profits? Sometimes it’s difficult to see the forest for the trees.

What about the customers your business already has?

It can cost up to seven times more to acquire a new customer than it can to sell more to an existing customer. Yes, generating leads is important, and attracting many new customers may lead to fast profits. But looking after your existing customers, providing quality service and developing a long term relationship will allow you to tap into an ongoing profit source.

Marketing is the most powerful tool for attracting customers, and search marketing techniques can pinpoint the preferences of your target market using data from search engines. Knowing what your market is thinking is the key to generating fat profits. Online strategies are vital to uncovering the potential of your business. Once you have found your niche and have a sophisticated marketing strategy in place, you need to systematize your business to achieve automation. Profit will come with satisfied customers and having the proper systems in place will ensure that customers are satisfied, employees are productive and your business is generally running on autopilot. Profit is more or less guaranteed once this is the case.

Increased profits are achieved through a step by step process where marketing and customer satisfaction are at the core of the business. While there are methods to quickly generate leads and achieve fast profits, a certain level dedication is required to create a truly successful business. There is no quick fix solution to achieve the profit and success you want.

B2B Directory

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A B2B directory is fundamentally different from a search engine, even though it also presents a list of links to a certain topic. Search engines look for sites on the whole B2B based on the keywords one has entered, whereas a B2B directory has a set amount of links, usually entered by the owners of the corresponding site, which are sorted according to topic, usually not more than one or two per site, and always referencing the whole site, not simply subpages of it.

Directories may vary in size and scope, some only dealing with a small amount of topics or being specific to a small geographic region, where as others might be extremely large. Examples o the latter are Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project (ODP), which is huge and open for search engines and other directories to use.

There are several different types of directories and ways they treat listing. Some offer their service free of charge, some demand a one time or recurring fee, some even let you bid or pay for the best positions within the directory. Some directories, especially the free ones, put restrictions on their listings for example they could make it impossible for search engines to follow the links behind the listing. In addition, some might require a link back to the directory on every page they add to their listing.

B2B directories basically work like a telephone book for the internet, all you need to know is the starting address for the directory and what

you want to find.

How to Recognize and Diffuse Hidden Pressures in Cold Calling

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Here are four hidden sales pressures that we bring to our cold calling:

1. Focusing On the Sale

If you're like most people who make cold calls, you're hoping to make a sale -- or at least an appointment -- before you even pick up the phone. The problem is the people you call somehow almost immediately notice your mindset. They sense that you are only focused on your goals and interests, rather than on finding out what they might need or want. This short-circuits the whole process of communication and trust building.

So try this. Practice shifting your mental focus into thinking, "When I make this call, first I'm going to build a conversation. From this, a level of trust can emerge which allows us to exchange information back and forth. And then we can both determine if there's a fit or not." When your focus shifts from making a sale into making a conversation, there’s no sales pressure. Many people enjoy conversations. Moreover, as long as you’re sincere, this will be one of them.

You’re also exchanging information rather than "informing" someone of your product or service. This helps your potential client know that he or she matters to you. This means you’re not being experienced as "pushy."

Keep in mind that letting go of trying to force the outcome of the conversation into a sales event means being totally relaxed with the idea that your solution may not be a fit for them. When you’re exploring right along with another person whether there’s a "fit," then that person feels no sales pressure.

2. Talking About Ourselves First

When we start our cold calls with a mini-pitch about who we are and what we have to offer, we’ve introduced sales pressure right away. The other person knows we want to make a sale, and they have to respond to that pressure. Most will respond with defense or rejection.

So instead, start your conversation by focusing on a need or issue you know the other person is likely facing. Step into their world and invite them to share whether they’re open to exploring possible solutions with you.

3. Forcing the Conversation into a Pre-Planned Strategy or Script

Here’s a hard one to avoid if we’re using scripts or carefully planned cold calling strategies. When we rely on these methods, it’s usually because we just don’t know how else to "do" cold calling. However, when we take charge of a conversation in this way, the other person almost always feels like they are being maneuvered. That’s pressure.

If we aren’t allowing someone else to be fully involved in the conversation, then we’re using sales pressure to try to control the outcome. Potential clients feel this sales pressure, even when it’s subtle. Therefore, once again, "The Wall" goes up.

I’m not suggesting that we don’t prepare and plan for our cold calls. There are some really good ways to begin cold calls that we’ll want to use over and over. Additionally, there are special phrases we can use that convey well the fact that we’re interested in solving a problem for the other person.

What we want to avoid, however, is trying to control a cold calling conversation. This almost always happens with scripts and old-style sales strategies. Potential clients feel this pressure and respond negatively.

4. Over-Enthusiasm

The problem with over-enthusiasm in our cold calling is that the other person has to make a decision whether to "buy into" our perspective, or reject it. They feel the hidden sales pressure that wants them to be carried along with our enthusiasm. This usually means braking, whether gently or abruptly.

With over-enthusiasm (which is often just an offshoot of our tension), potential clients feel somewhat boxed in. They feel the pressure of our expectations so they feel compelled to respond either positively or negatively. Most will almost always respond negatively.

Completely eliminating all sales pressure from your cold calling conversations will certainly invite the other person to respond much more warmly and positively.

How Copper started the legend of Che Guevara

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Locals around the Chuquicamata continue to claim that the Ernesto Guevara who visited the area in 1952 was nothing more than a brawling drunk, with a penchant for one-night stands. If Che had caught the boat to Easter Island, as one story goes, “there would have been no Cuban Revolution.” That may well be an exaggeration; but a good case can be made for the proposition that the huge open-pit copper mine of Chuquicamata, or Chuqui as it is commonly known in Chile, remained firmly etched in the psyche of the Argentinean revolutionary right until his death.

Copper production in Chuquicamata began in 1915, just as German scientific successes in the quest for artificial nitrates had resulted in the collapse of the world market for Chile’s traditional export: saltpetre (potassium nitrate). Since then copper acquired a pre-eminent position in Chile’s economy, and thousands of indigenous workers deserted the floundering haciendas to find work in copper mines like Chuquicamata, El Salvador and El Teniente, all American-owned until the Chilean copper nationalization program of the late-1960s.

Initially, it was the plight of those mine workers which shocked Che as he headed north from the historic city of Valparaiso, after abandoning plans to reach Easter Island. But as Che and his companion, Alberto Granado, entered the Chuquicamata mining complex, the full story of Chile’s copper, and the world demand for that copper, began to unfold. Chuquicamata also emerged as a classic example of the relationship between supposedly modern mining techniques and crucial role of exceptionally cheap labor on the commercialization of copper.

It was at Chuquicamata that Che learnt, from a mine foreman, the value of copper in the post-war industrialization of North America and Europe. In Valparaiso, a barroom conversation with an American prospector had left Che wondering why ordinary Chileans were obsessed with their copper deposits. “There is an unimaginable amount of gold and silver riches lying hidden in the Andes Mountains,” the prospector repeated to anybody who cared to listen. But, as a Chuquicamata foreman explained to his visitors, “there is one and only one truth about mining, any mining, and the gringos will tell you that: focus on keeping the production cost as low as possible, let the rest of the world worry about demand and supply cycles.”

The picturization of life around the Chuquicamata in The Motorcycle Diaries left Robert Redford and his guests deeply moved at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. But Che apparently took away more than the images of extreme poverty from Chuquicamata. In later years, he was able to see how the United Fruit Company used clout and politics to make windfall profits, year after year, from its Chiquita bananas in Guatemala. During an essentially failed trip to Africa, to advance the Laurent Kabila-led insurgency, he saw how foreign companies were scrambling for the vast mineral potential of the Congo, and destroying the social fabric of the region in the process. Finally, a few weeks prior to his death in 1967, Che studied the tin mining sector of the Bolivian economy and noted, once again, that mine owners and traders had continued to make profits, regardless of boom and bust cycles in the industrialized economies.

Though he never returned to Chuquicamata, Che kept abreast of the story of Chile’s copper. And perhaps the story of Chile’s copper continued shaping the Che legend. Since copper constituted a significant portion of Chilean exports, American mining interests exercised a domineering influence in the Chilean economy. At the same time, disease and hunger continued to cast dark shadows over the shanty towns around Chile’s copper mine, whatever the level of international copper prices. Citing copper, Che regularly warned Latin American governments, at every available opportunity, that foreign domination would only compound the problem of impoverishment.

But who was listening? “This continent is full of Chuquicamatas,” said a senior Chilean mining official at a seminar in Havana as the socialist government of Salvador Allende proceeded to nationalize Chile’s copper mines and introduce worker emancipation legislation in 1971. “The mining laws need to be revamped urgently. But who has the will, and the muscle?”

President Allende, an ardent admirer of Che, came to power as a result of the 1970 elections. Three years later he was overthrown in a military coup; while the nationalization of the copper mines was not reversed, trade unionists in Chile’s copper belt had to wait for another 30 years to legitimize the demands of those indigenous workers Che encountered along the road from Valparaiso to the Peruvian border.

Getting A Job Through Cold Calling

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It sounds a little like a telephone on ice, but the cold call is actually an important tool of networking. Cold calling is calling a person or business without prior contact in order to inquire about employment opportunities. For many, the idea of cold calling is chilling. Dialing up a complete stranger doesn't seem like a logical way to carry out a job search. Yet when done correctly, a cold call can showcase some important professional traits, including resilience, determination, and interpersonal skills. In the best-case scenario, it can also lead to an interview.

Cold calling is a salesman's device. The premise is that the more people you contact, the better your chances of scoring a deal. In a way salesmanship is integrally connected to the job search, only instead of selling a product or service, you're selling yourself. Specifically, you're selling the notion that you would be a valuable addition to a company's team. And therein lies the key to the cold call. When you pick up the phone, you must think of yourself not as a nervous jobseeker eager for a lead, but rather, as a confident professional who has the qualifications that would benefit an employer.

How do you make this leap? It's not easy, admits one woman in retail who had taken off several years to raise two children and wanted to rejoin the workforce. She admits the cold call took some practice. "I was much smoother on my eighth or ninth attempt than I was on my first.... I called up many businesses, and the majority of them didn't take more than fifteen seconds to decide they weren't interested. Finally, I caught one man who asked me where I'd gone to school. As it happened, we'd gone to the same college. He took a liking to me after that. I was asked in for an interview the following week."

This woman's example shows that it helps to make a connection with the person you are cold calling. However, this is not always possible. The plain truth about cold calling is that the failure rate is high. Yet the rewards can be great if you encounter even one person who recognizes your potential. Below are some techniques for making the cold call a little warmer.

* Write a script for your cold call, outlining one or two of your most valuable Key Selling Points (see chapter 7). Remember that you are trying to impress the person on the other end of the line. Modify your script so that these selling points are in sync with each company's specific needs. A customized delivery is crucial.

* Be clear on your goals and what you have to offer. Nothing will turn off an employer faster than a person who is not clear about his objectives.

* Introduce yourself in a way that will spark interest. Saying your name immediately followed by your area of expertise might do the trick.

* Work on your voice-make sure you sound professional, sharp, and cheerful, but never insincere or calculating. It helps to practice both your voice and your script on a trusted friend who can offer you feedback and suggestions.

* Figure out who is on the other end of the line. Receptionists and other gatekeepers will usually pick up the phone before hiring managers will. Be prepared to answer gatekeeper-type questions such as "What is the reason for your call?" and "What company are you with?" A confident answer and an assured tone might allow you to pass through this initial screen. No matter who picks up the phone, be professional. Treat everyone with equal courtesy and respect.

* Use the "rule of three." If you've tried calling three times, or left up to three messages with no response, throw in the towel. Calling any more than that will only irritate the person you are trying to reach. Says a senior human resources consultant with a wellknown mutual insurance company: "Candidates can call me and leave a voicemail message, but it's hard for me to do callbacks due to the volume of calls I receive." She goes on to say she does follow up with many people who leave inquiries, but that repeat messages "are more burden than value."

* Substitute your e-mail account for your phone. These days many businesspeople are more apt to answer e-mails than voicemail messages anyway. E-mailing requires less effort on both ends because people don't need to think and speak on the fly; they can actually take the time to word their correspondence carefully if you're better at written communication than you are at oral communication, consider sending "cold e-mails" rather than making cold calls. In this case, though, you'll need to address your e-mail to a single person. Consider calling the company gatekeeper, who may be more inclined to pass along the e-mail address of the hiring manager than the phone number. Blindly e-mailing a company at a general address can pretty much guarantee a lack of resultsunless the company happens to be very small.

* Keep track of your phone calls. If you leave a message, you'll want to know the name and title of the person who is returning your call and what information you've already provided.

* Be prepared for standard responses from human resources personnel and other hiring managers. You will probably receive some brush-off responses like, "The only thing you can do is send your resume to our HR department," or even, "We are not currently hiring." However, some responses will allow you more opportunity to sell yourself Be prepared to sell yourself if you hear a question such as "What kind of experience do you have?" or "What attracts you to our company?"

* Don't become discouraged. Cold calling isn't easy, and a few hang-ups can make even the most stalwart person question himself Take breaks and keep in mind that the process isn't personal.

* Remember that your ultimate goal is to get an interview. To that end, if you do speak with someone who has hiring power and if you establish a rapport with that person, ask outright if you can come in for an interview. The question might seem presumptuous, but it's been known to work.

Panama offshore Legal bank account

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Offshore Legal is situated in Panama and overseas. They offer offshore bank accounts, offshore foundations, Asset protection and Offshore Corporation. You can create a Panama Bank account in 3-5 days.

The documents required for the bank account are Bank reference letter, notarized copy of passport, notarized copy of drivers license, reference letter from the accountant, business or lawyer in general.

Panama bank accounts protects its customers by strong bank secrecy, which can call a person for fines, prison and also a person can sue the bank for violations of any kind. Panama bank account can either be in Euros or US dollars. You can also get your Mastercard, Visa card or an ATM card. There is an easy option for online banking with international wire transfer sending capabilities along with statements and balance history. The minimum deposit required at the Panama bank is around 1000 US dollars. US and Canadian passport holders must have foundation or corporate bank accounts and no personal accounts. The corporate accounts can be opened by using existing corporations from some jurisdiction based corporation.

Panama offshore bank is world wide and so there are banks that operate in Panama and there are also banks that operate world wide, the bank sees to suit the preference of customers. Banks with global presence, you should know that the banking entity in Panama would be a separate banking corporation.

Offshore packages include, Panama bank account starting at 695 US dollars with online banking, ATM card, large bank with billions of dollars under management. Panama bearer Share Corporation and bank account starts at 1795 US dollars or 1495 US dollars without a bank account that includes, Resident agent and expenses, the Power of attorney, three nominee directors with, annual tax, resignation letters, register book, corporate resolution, share certificates, translation, transfer of subscription and articles of incorporation. Caution can be taken by those offering cheaper prices; they usually exclude the three nominee director or the annual tax of 300 US dollars. This can be a scam where one corporation can be sold to more than one person at once.

Panama Foundation with bank account usually is 1795 US dollars and that include secret beneficiary wishes letter, one of their attorneys, foundation protector agreement, registered agent, translation, resolution from nominee, council members to open a bank account, Power of attorney and three nominee council members.

Panama foundation owning a corporation with 2 bank accounts of around 3300 US dollars and they offer Layered banking secrecy this is a bullet proof package, it is completely anonymous.

The last is the Stock trading account which is 495 US dollars and it allows your money to grow in an offshore tax haven which is fully protected.

There are benefits offered by Panama offshore bank, right inquiries have to be made so that you are not scammed and you get the best of the bank account that you decide to have.

The Challange – Security Vs. Mobility

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The overwhelming increase in the mobility of the corporate workforce and the availability of wireless internet connections in airports, hotels, and coffee houses, creates an unbearable challenge to IT managers. Whenever employees, travelling with their laptops, connect to a hotel hotspot, they are in fact connecting their corporate computers to an unsecured network, shared by hundreds of guests. This innocent connection jeopardizes sensitive data and can bring back security threats into the corporate network when returned to the office. For this reason, IT managers have adopted rigid security policies, creating a conflict between the need for security and the productivity of the mobile workforce. For example, some organizations consider the returning laptops as “infected”. The infected laptops are completely formatted and cleaned. Some allow dial-up connections-only (no Wi-Fi), while others go further to completely prohibit the connection of laptops to the Internet outside the corporate network.

This unbearable conflict between security and mobility can only be solved if the mobile force is equipped with the same level of security as they have inside the corporate network. To understand what this means, we should examine the level of security that is maintained inside the corporate networks.

Corporate Network - Two Lines of Defense

Corporate users enjoy higher security levels inside the corporate network because they operate behind two lines of defense. The first line of defense, is a set of robust security appliances, installed at the IT center and exclusively controlled by the IT department. It is largely based on a comprehensive set of IT security appliances running secured and hardened OS, with Firewall, IDS, IPS, Anti Virus, Anti Spyware,

Anti Spam and Content filtering. The second line is based on the Personal FW and Anti Virus software installed on end-user’s computers.

The first line of defense completely isolates the user at the physical and logical layers.

Unlike PCs, these appliances are equipped with a Hardened operating systems that do not have security holes, “back-doors”, or unsecured layers. They are designed for a single purpose, to provide security.

The first line of defense provides the following advantages:

-      Mobile code is not run - content arriving from the internet is not executed on these appliances it just goes or does not go through into the network. It makes it more difficult to attack as the mobile code delivered by the hackers does not run on the appliances.

Cannot be uninstalled – Security attacks often start by targeting the security software, while trying to uninstall it or stop its activity.

Software-based security solutions, as any software program includes an uninstall option that can be targeted. In contrast, the hardware-based security appliances cannot be uninstalled as they are hard coded into the hardware.

-      Non-writable Memory - Hardware-based solutions manage the memory in a restricted and controlled manner. The security appliances can prohibit access to its memory, providing greater protection against attacks on the security mechanism.

-      Controlled by IT personnel – The security appliances are controlled by IT, who constantly maintains the highest security policies and updates.

-      Performance - The security appliances are optimized for maximum security and operate independently from computers in the network, not degrading the performance of the desktops or consuming their resources.

Consequently, the corporate PCs reside in a secured environment. If the security is breached, at least the damage stops at the gateway. The first line of defense prevents threats from entering the corporate network. While the second line serves as a precaution and help defend against threats that may have already entered the network (e.g. emails). But the real problem starts when the corporate PCs go in and out of this secured environment. Outside the corporate network they are at the frontline with no first line of defense. The problem intensifies as they return, bypassing the first line of defense as they enter the network. These laptops can be considered as the greatest threat because they unknowingly infiltrate security threats

into the supposedly safe network.

Panama Banks Assets and Profits Growing at Record Pace

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Introduction - At the end of May 2007 it has been reported that the Panama Banks have collective assets of over $55,000,000,000 (55 Billion dollars). This is 17% higher than the preceding year (2006). Seventeen percent is very respectable growth by any standards.

The Panama banks reported net gains of $444,000,000 in the first five months of 2007. This is 19% higher than the same figure reported in the year 2006. They are even growing in profits.

This year two new banks have opened in Panama and five others are in the process of getting their doors opened now. Business is good.

Discussion - This is no mystery to us. Panama is currently the most secure jurisdiction for asset protection. Panama has truly anonymous bearer share corporations and truly anonymous foundations. There is no recording of ownership for either in any database or registry. The bearer shares of the corporations do not need to be held by anyone in particular and need not be kept in Panama and the shares can be made out in blank. The books and records for the corporation or foundation can be kept anywhere in the world. Panama bank secrecy laws are among the tightest anywhere in the world. Panama has no tax treaties of any sort with any country. Panama has no mutual judgment collection treaties of any sort for collection of any sort of civil judgment. Panama has some of the best banks in the world. People are finding out that the Switzerland of South America is actually better than Switzerland.

Conclusion - We expect to see more and more banks opening up in Panama. We are seeing floods of new accounts being opened in Panama from investors coming from many different countries. Since Panama is the number one retirement haven as well as being the number one tax haven, this means even more dollars are flowing into the banks as the people move here to enjoy their retirement years in a tropical paradise with low crime, low prices, nice beaches, good fishing and warm weather.