There's nothing that says your cleaning company is doing a great job more than when your building's restrooms are not only clean, but fresh-smelling. After all, when employees or visitors enter a restroom they "hope" to be confronted with a pleasant scent - pine, citrus or just a clean smell. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Often when individuals enter a restroom they are assaulted with an overpowering scent or even unpleasant odors.

Looking through any janitorial supply catalog there is a wide range of products to combat odors  - urinal screens and cakes, air fresheners of all shapes, sizes and fragrances, air sanitizers and commode and urinal mats. As a cleaning contractor, where do you begin?

To get a clean smelling restroom the first thing you have to do is remove any foul odors. Begin by assessing the restroom. Odors can come from many sources - restrooms do have their own share of "natural" odors and in addition dirt and bacteria can cause even more offensive smells. Check and monitor drains as they are a well-known source of fostering odors.

The first step to keeping odors under control is thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting restroom surfaces. Also consider using enzymes in drains to help break down materials that are decaying and that can lead to problem odors. Proper cleaning should remove not only the dirt you can see, but places that catch dirt and bacteria that can lead to offensive smells.

Odors can thrive in tile floors in men's restrooms as urine can easily get into the grout. Mopping every day can get the surface dirt, but dirt and urine that have penetrated the grout need more aggressive treatment. You may need to use a floor machine or vigorously scrub the grout to remove any build-up.

Use a neutral cleaner/disinfectant/deodorizer when cleaning floors, urinals, toilets and the partitions between stalls. If you mix up your solution in a mop bucket, you can pour the water down the drain after cleaning the restroom to help keep the drain smelling fresh. Check under toilet rims, countertops and other areas where soil may have collected.

Proper employee training is also critical in keeping restrooms odor free. An employee who rushes through a bathroom with a squirt of disinfectant and quickly sloshing a mop across the floor is going to be creating rather than solving odor problems. Employees must know how to use cleaners and disinfectants properly and be sure to allow the right amount of dwell time.

Once you have a restroom clean, putting the right products in place will help keep it smelling fresh. Urinal and commode mats are gaining popularity. Place these items under urinals and around toilets to collect any urine that drips on the floor. Besides capturing liquids, the mats also contain a deodorant that helps cut down on odors. Once full, simply toss the mats into the trash.

Air freshener dispensers come in all shapes, sizes and fragrances. Take care in choosing fragrances that are not overpowering. Strong smells, whether they be of pine, vanilla, cinnamon, green apple or citrus, can be offensive. Also remember when choosing fragrances to make sure that air dispensers, urinal cakes and others, all emit the same scent. Competing scents can interact and make your restroom odor problems worse.

There are many variables when it you are first trying to rid a restroom of foul or unpleasant odors. Because of increased scrubbing, when you first thoroughly clean a restroom more odors may be created as you are stirring up dormant smells. However, this is a sign that your cleaning will remove the problems and your customers will end up with a clean and fresh smelling restroom. The overall benefit of a "fresh smelling restroom" will make your cleaning clients happy and your cash register ring!

Oftentimes when I meet someone for the second or third time, they say, “aren’t you in accounting?” While I am into accounting, which is the methodology and measuring aspect of my work, the profession as a whole is better labeled as ‘accountancy’.

Accountancy is the profession and accounting it the methods by which accountants measure, track and report on financial information so that resource allocation decisions can be made by, well, whoever the decision makers are.

For a small business owner’s personal finances, as an example, I may be measuring the finances of a few people (the family), and reporting the necessary information to the small business owner. In this situation, the decision maker is the small business owner and his decisions involve deciding how much money he has to put toward family necessities.

Generally speaking, there are two main types of accounting. There is financial accounting and there is auditing. Financial accounting typically involves processing of financial information about a business operation where information is recorded, organized, summarized, interpreted and finally communicated.

Auditing, on the other hand, is there process that an independent auditor examines accounting records and financial statements so that he or she can express a professional opinion about the financial records and answer questions about projections.

At the heart of accountancy lies the need to take stock of the day to day state of various sales and expenses. In the modern world when many contracts are partially fulfilled at varying times, bookkeeping is the only way to know where you and your business stand in the greater scheme of things.

If you operate your own small business, you may be able to do just fine with some accounting software. Take a look around for some flowchart templates. These can make monthly financial recording and reporting, dare I say it, fun. Simply enter in the various types of income and expenses, then each subsection updates the appropriate fields. Before you know it you’ve got proof that all bills have been allotted for and you’ve got your bottom line.

If you find you can manage your business finances on your own, then, by all means, stick with the system that you know works for you. If, however, you start running into complications that make it hard for you to see where discrepancies are coming from, it may be time to enlist the services of a professional accountant.

memory bus is also called an address bus or front side bus and both busses are high speed digital superhighways. Access methods and speed are two of the fundamental technical differences between memory and mass storage devices. All memory sizes and storage capacities will inevitably be exceeded with advances in technology over time.

Cache memory is a special type of internal memory used by many central processing units to increase their performance or throughput. Some of the information in the main memory is duplicated in the cache memory, which is slightly slower but of much greater capacity than the processor registers, and faster but much smaller than main memory. Multi level cache memory is also commonly used. Primary cache is the smallest, fastest and closest to the processing device. Secondary cache is larger and slower, but still faster and much smaller than main memory.

Semiconductor memory uses semiconductor based integrated circuits to store information. A semiconductor memory chip may contain millions of tiny transistors or capacitors. Both volatile and non volatile forms of semiconductor memory exist. In modern computers, primary storage almost exclusively consists of dynamic volatile semiconductor memory or dynamic random access memory. Since the turn of the century, a type of non volatile semiconductor memory known as flash memory has steadily gained share as offline storage for home computers. Non volatile semiconductor memory is also used for secondary storage in various advanced electronic devices and specialized computers.

If you're looking for an inventory software solution, a simple Web search gives you a myriad of options. It's difficult to know which inventory management software will fit your needs, so here are some tips to find the system that is right for you.

Choose an Industry Leader

Inventory control software is too important to leave to companies that haven't proven their mettle. The best products come from companies that have deployed their software in a wide variety of industries, from aerospace and apparel to manufacturing and sporting goods.

Look for Robust Functionality

The best inventory software solutions provide you with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that integrates solutions for all aspects of your business. Features to look for include:

Analytics: Information is critical to managing and growing your business, but you need more than numbers on a page to transform data into actionable information. Robust inventory control software will give you a range of customizable reporting options, including advanced analysis for the decision makers in your company.

Expiration Date Tracking: If your inventory includes time-sensitive products, your inventory software should track expiration dates from the moment they are received until they are shipped. Because expiration-related issues could crop up in the future, the software should also include the ability to track historical expiration date data.

Manufacturing: Smooth production cycles depend upon sound management of resource planning and production. The right software can allow you to gain a competitive advantage because it gives you the ability to respond quickly to the needs of your customers.

Remote Data Collection: The top inventory software providers can combine software and hardware solutions that will allow you to remotely access vendor and customer data, track inventory and fixed assets, and issue sales orders and receive purchase orders.

Retail Management: If you have retail locations, look for an inventory software solution that can increase the productivity of your employees, adjust inventory at point-of-sale, and automate purchasing.

And, of Course, Inventory Control

The inventory software solution that you choose should have the ability to track serial number, print barcodes, and store item images. It should allow you to define automatic reorder points, the purchase currency and cost, and the sales currency and cost. If you have unique pricing requirements, the software should allow you to assign different price points to the same item. It should also allow for manual counts and adjustments, as well as provide an audit trail for inventory adjustments.

Flexibility is Key

An inventory software solution should be robust, but it should also be flexible. If, for example, you deal in apparel, a module that tracks color, size, and style should be available. If your company provides service and returns, you may need a module that allows you to issue return merchandise authorization numbers, receive replacement items from your vendors, and issue replacement items to your customers.

Whichever inventory software solution you choose, make sure that it has both the features you need at the present time, and those that you may need in the future. In today's competitive marketplace, you can't afford not to have the most up-to-date information available in a form that enables you to make decisions in response to market demands.

Product Management--what does this mean in a High Tech company? What is the function, and where does it belong? I've held permanent positions in a number of high tech concerns, as with PJM Consulting I have worked with many more in a consulting capacity.

Product Management is all over the map in High Tech. Most often it resides in the marketing department. Sometimes, it's in the engineering/product development department. Occasionally you will see it as it's own function. And again, what does the term mean in a High Tech company? Sometimes it is used interchangeably with the term "Product Marketing". In this case, it means responsibility from cradle to grave of the product planning and marketing functions for a particular product or product line. In other words, working with the developers to define the product (product planning), as well as driving the other "3Ps" for the product--setting pricing, distribution strategy and promotional strategy.

In larger companies you will often find this function separated into two distinct jobs: Product Management as the Product Planning portion, and Product Marketing as the function that manages the product once it is released into the market--driving pricing, promotion and distribution. In this case both functions may still reside in the marketing department, or the Product Planning portion is sometimes in the engineering department.

The last variance on this theme that is sometimes seen is that the Product Management resides in the engineering department, but it only vaguely resembles the traditional definition of the term. In this case it is "Product Planning", but the job and skill set more closely fit the definition of an engineering project manager, with very little weight put on exploring the market to match marketplace needs with engineering capabilities.

In High Tech, the Product Management function is most typically a "matrix" position: lots of responsibility for a product's success, with very little actual authority to ensure that success. Normally a Product Manager's success will be decided based upon his/her ability to convince other stakeholders in the organization that the path laid out is the best thing for the company (and the individual stakeholders as well!) People skills are therefore as important as having a technical grasp of the job in a Product Manager's ultimate success.

In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power--often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).

So what's the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn't one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly that most high tech businesses would benefit by structuring the Product Management function to be strong. Tthere is much to gain by putting a strong, experienced Marketer with a strong technical background in a Product Manager role where they are graded and compensated by the results of the P&L of their product line. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Product Development should report to the Product Manager in a High Tech company, but I would give them discretionary budgetary authority on at least a portion of the marketing budget for the product line. I would also make sure they have management backing to deal with the developers from at least an equal position of strength. This lack of product management strength is a huge problem in many High Tech companies, particularly those founded by product developers.

The Product Manager's mentality should be that of a "mini-CEO" with his product line analogous to the overall company for a real CEO. Too often in technology companies the Product Management/Marketing functions do not have the ability to stand up to Engineering. This leads to a culture of building what suits someone's fancy, not building what the market will buy--a very dangerous thing in the long term. A strong Product Management function will lead to an advocate for that product line whose sole business "purpose in life" is for his product to succeed. This outlook ensures that the big picture will always been looked out for, eliminating the potential for a product line's performance to be reduced by turf wars-- or sub-optimal tactical moves due to poor inter-department communication. The Product Manager is there to rationalize and orchestrate to ensure the product line has the best chance of success.

That's my take--what's yours?

We rarely think about our prospect’s problems when we cold call. It’s just easier to focus on our product or service. Naturally, it’s really tempting to make cold calling all about us and what we have to offer, rather than about the other person.

In this new cold calling approach, we think about the potential client. We especially look at problems they’re having, and we build our conversations around that. This is the most effective way to do cold calling, and here’s why:

1. Potential Clients Listen Better

In the old traditional sales mindset, we’ve been trained that the best way to make a sale is by talking about us, our company, our product, and the benefits it can offer to potential clients.

Well, the problem with this approach is that it’s all about you. The standard pitch - "I’m so-and-so, I’m with such-and-such, and we do such-and-such..." is about who you are and what you do. The moment the people you’re talking with realize that you’re making the conversation about you, they tune out and turn off. We all do this in our everyday life when we’re confronted by someone who talks on and on about themselves.

2. We Avoid the Numbers Game

The new cold calling approach walks away from the "numbers game."

The numbers game is the belief that if you call enough people, some of them will listen to your presentation and that some of those who listen will buy.

However, when we focus on solving the other person’s problems, we break out of that grim scenario. It’s no longer about how many people you call and pitch. It’s about your ability to connect and build trust within each one of those calls.

This is because you’re focusing on something (a problem) that others can immediately relate to. Rather than offering a long pitch and rolling the dice, hoping that someone will respond positively.

3. Trust and Integrity Become Part of the Process

Most cold calling approaches try to slip in the back door by using strategies and techniques designed to "get the sale." Sometimes these techniques feel manipulative. Sometimes they’re annoying to the potential client.

For example, there’s a cold calling approach that’s based around intricate questioning techniques. It’s designed to get at potential clients’ pain and lead them into a sale. The problem with approaches like this is that the goal is always to get the sale, not find out the truth of whether there’s a fit between you and your prospect.

In this new way of cold calling, we’re focused on the other person and their problems. We’re looking for opportunities to assist, and we’re doing it with the highest of integrity.

This approach to cold calling doesn’t use influence techniques in any way. It speaks straight to the customer’s problems in a non-threatening manner. All you have to do is focus on the truth.

4. Problem Solving Feels Better than Selling

When you follow the new cold calling approach, you become a problem solver rather than a salesperson. This is the most powerful shift you can make.  From this place, you’re building trusting conversations. You are speaking to the problems of your prospects rather than pitching your solution. You are thinking from their perspective and engaging them in their world.

Most of us like "fixing things." There’s a greater sense of fulfillment in discovering whether we can help someone fix a problem. We’re engaging some of the best character traits we have as people, and that feels good. Our days end with a sense of satisfaction rather than frustration.

These are just a few good reasons why problem-focused cold calling works best. You’ll find opening conversations will become effortless. You will also attract people’s attention because you’re addressing a specific problem that is of concern to them. Prospects won’t look at you as a "salesperson." You’ll stand out, because most people who sell are trained to just promote their service or product. Moreover, you’ll eventually discover an overall sense of ease permeating your cold calling day.